Animation Un-LOC`d

A personal Blog for Larry Loc to rant and rave about all things animation and videogame. For feedback larry(at)agni-animation(dot)com (and make sure to use a good Subject Line that tells what the email is about)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Atari in the Rearview mirror



Atari Flashback 2, it says on the screen. The case looks a lot like the case for the Atari 2600 but 1/4 size and without the game slot. My son picked it up at a rummage sale at a local church and kindly passed it on to me for my birthday. But I have seen a number of them for sale on the Internet at around the $30 mark. Connection is to RCA plugs which is the only difference between this and the single RCA plug to a Coaxial of the original 2600.





There are 40, count them 40, classic Atari games built into the mini-console including Adventure that holds the first Easter Egg and Battlezone which was adapted from Atari`s US Army Tank training system. And a number of unreleased games.

Classic games include Pong, of course. Hell, here is the list:

Adventure (1st Easter Egg)
Adventure II
Haunted House
Return to Haunted House
Secret Quest
Wizard
Arcade Asteroids
Arcade Pong
Asteroids Deluxe
Centipede
Lunar Lander
Millipede
Missile Command
Space Duel
Battlezone (Tank Trainer for the Army)
Caverns of Mars
Quarrun
Saboreur
Space War
Yars` Return
Yars` Revenge
3D Tic Tak Toe
Aquaventure
Atari Climber (Unreleased Donkey Kong Rip)
Combat
Combat2
Dodge`m
Fatal Run
Frog Pond
Hangman
Human Cannonball
Maze Craze
Off the Wall
Pitfall
Radar Look
River Raid
Save Mary
Video Checkers
Video Chess

Atari Flashback came out in 2004 and Flashback 2 came out in 2005. The controls are the standard 2600 home system controls. This is good for most of the games but hurts you on some of the arcade games like Centipede and Millipede, which had a trackball in the arcade. The 2600 joystick controller is not as much of a disadvantage as you would think. I have ported versions of Centipede on other systems and the more ergonomic modern controllers make it unplayable. A mouse is a little better. The joystick works very well and is the next best thing to a trackball.



You might want to look for these systems on the Net. Lots of fun! Going to be a great help in my Gaming History Class.

posted by Larry Loc @ 7:42 AM  

1 Comments:

  • At April 22, 2009 5:34 AM , Anonymous Ryan H. said...

    Atari... man, that's brings back memories! Was not aware of 'Flashback 2' though.

    I recall (vaguely) 'owning' such gems as JUNGLE HUNT, KUNG FU SIDEKICKS, SUPERMAN, and of course PITFALL! (and its sequel - Pitfall II: Lost Caverns)

    A 40-game console sounds pretty cool, though I wonder how long one's interest in such a system will last, especially these days.

    Though, look at "James Bond 007" - it's like you're there, man!:

    http://www.videogamecritic.net/images/2600/james_bond_007.png

    I must say though, "Pong" is a genuine classic in the world of gaming, as are at least two other titles seemingly influenced by its simple design and addictive playability: "Tetris", and the underrated and sadly forgotten Playstation gem, "Kurushi" (aka "Intelligent Qube").

    Anyway, cool post Larry and thanks for the memories!

     

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