My Old Console Addiction (Part II)

I have quite a few old game consoles*, but I only want to write about a couple that I really enjoy. The Gameboy Pocket has already been written about, so this is my other favourite out of my old consoles – the Atari 2600!

This 2600 is referred to as a "Vader" console, you can also get another 2600 which is black/gray and looks quite different (but plays the same cartridges, however).

This was the first gaming console that I ever played. I’d even go as far as to say that this machine allowed me to play the first video games that I’d ever played – PC, console or otherwise. I believe this Atari 2600 was selling in the early eighties, and I remember playing it when I was around three – five years old in 1990-1992, so it would have been a little outdated when I had it.

Unfortunately, the console that I’ve got now, the one pictured, isn’t the one I played as a kid, but rather just another one that I purchased of the exact same model that I had. The one I had as a kid was taken to a pawn shop to make way for the next console that my family purchased (the Sega Mega Drive, and I do still have that very one)

I had to get my hands on one of these, there’s just something so cool about it to me – and I’m probably one of the only people who get excited about stuff like this – but how cool is it that this was once the best gaming console out? I played this for hours on end the same way that kids today play the PS3, and it seemed really exciting for the time – it’s a piece of gaming history! But even if you don’t think that’s as cool as I do, the games are still pretty wicked. Space Invaders still remains too hard for me, despite me being at least five times the age of when I first played it.

Here’s a shot of the games I have for it at the moment:

Games: Berzerk, Pacman, Bowling, Space Invaders, Othello, Missile Command, Basketball, Combat, Sprintmaster, Asteroids, River Raid II, Outlaw, Human Cannonball, Indy 500, Freeway, Slot Machine, Seaquest, Asteroids (again), Crystal Castles. And Kung-Fu Master, Summer & Winter Games.

Berzerk remains my favourite game; it’s just a classic running around with a gun shooting mindless robots kind of game. It used to scare me a bit as a kid, but it’s quite fun. It’s also noted as the first video game that someone has died playing (I think two did, actually). Another version of Berzerk on another console (don’t remember which one) was also one of the first (if not, the first) games to have voices in it.

Anyway, that’s enough mindless babbling for now.

*Other consoles I own include Sega Mega Drive II, Super Nintendo, Gameboy Color, Nintendo 64 and GameCube.

~ by jessiespaghetti on 24th April, 2009.