10 Best Activision games for Atari 2600

Activision made some of the BEST Atari 2600 games & here is my Top 10 Favorites! More MetalJesusRocks: Subscribe!

Facebook:

T-Shirts & Merch:

Podcast: All Gen Gamers

[Original Background Music Copyright: MetalJesusRocks]

[emeraldshine]

I'm happy you put
Megamania on your honorable mentions
^_^
Its so far my favorite Atari game
I've actually just started collecting for the 2600

[missteachbytouch]

I think the advantage Activision had over Atari was, Atari was locked into trying to port over the arcade hits which was a daunting task. Activision took a lot of the same ideas but were free to expand and work within the 2600's limits but still concentrate on fun instead of duplication.

[Robman]

STAMPEDE is a must have! Love it still today! As you mentioned, KABOOM with a paddle is one of the best games ever. Oh wait, don't forget the all-time "controller destroyer" TRACK & FIELD!

[loretano]

How could Keystone Kapers not make it as one of the top 5??

[MrVenom]

I played Pitfall 2, Hero & River Raid to the death. Activision made so many great games on the 2600! Also my favs are: Beamrider, Chopper Command, Decathlon, Keystone Kapers & Ice Hockey. Thanks for the video!

[marekvrbka]

Remember when Activision did some work into their games and made sequels original and fresh? MetalJesusRocks remembers

[bugradio]

10:50 - MEGAMANIA!!!
Love it. Never played this until about 7 years ago. Was impressed with its look, the animation, and the play mechanics. Played it for hours and hours.

[Barnone]

Laser blast was one of my all time favorites. I also loved stampede. If you have never played that, I highly recommend it :)

[achoicebmade]

Great stuff!!  So many good memories.  I saw a MAJOR omission from your list.  At the end of the clip, you show your MEGAMANIA, but it wasn't on the list!?!  That was an AMAZING game and was always my favorite!

Rock on...

[atarileaf]

Great video. Surprised Ice hockey didn't even get an honorable mention. Personally I find River Raid over-rated. I don't think it's random as you suggest because the enemies seem to be in the exact same spot every time.

[jcharr]

very nice list. Laser Blast and Keystone Capers were 2 of my favorite 2600 games. I had completely forgotten about Seaquest. I really enjoyed that one as a kid too. My only minor quibble is that you didn't mention one of the most remarkable features of Pitfall 2 which was that it actually had multichannel background music, which was completely unheard of for the 2600.

[wildbilltexas]

Nice list. Beamrider, Megamaina and Laser Blast were among my favorites too. Somebody could make some money printing up Activision replacement labels. Mine look that bad too. 

[CCQ]

Man, I'm a big fan of yours. I love your videos and I love the fact that we are almost the same age (I was born in 1975) so I did too grow up playing Atari back in the day, i even remember when my dad brought home the Pong console for the first time. Some of my favorite Atari games are: (not in order):
Adventure - Superman - Combat - Grogs and flies - Boxing - Chopper Command - Ice Hockey - Defender - Sea Quest, among many others.
Greetings from Venezuela!

[SnapCraft]

MJR and HERO.  Any doubt about #1?  Almost should have counted down, at least that would have been more exciting.  :)  Under-rated: Ice Hockey, Stampede, Tennis & Crackpots.  Over-rated: Laser Blast.

[ThePSXcollector]

Great video :) I managed to pickup a 2600 with a stack of games before xmas, I'm surprised how fun it is to play! :)

[Jayrod]

One thing I love about Atari games in general is their ability to light a dark room with their special effects. When you see these kinds of effects for the first time, it's unlike any game you can play today. The only time it's really been matched is when getting hit by directly by a Flashbang in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2019, and that's with HDR turned on. The reason this happens is that a lot Atari's early arcade games, which are some of their best work BTW, have black backgrounds and thus high contrast ratio.

[ThreeBitsShort]

Love the video! More Atari videos would be great! Also a NES Hidden Gems from John would be awesome too!

[The_Real_DCT]

it's kind of amusing to think Activision began life as a company founded by a bunch of disgruntled Atari programmers who were upset at how the new owners(Waner Bros.)  ran things only to eventually become the very thing they were founded against

[bluebull]

I loved enduro, when the weather changed for me that was just mind blowing, especially the fog. I guess we just had better imaginations as kids! Pitfall 2 was a game I dreamed about owning but never did. Our local games store didn't have it.

[NYBredBamaFed]

I'm surprised that Kaboom! didn't even make the honorable mention list.  It's considered one of the best 2600 games ever.  I guess Metal Jesus just didn't care for that one.  

Other than that, great list!  Activision really did have quality games for the 2600.