Activision Hits Remixed Comments by Kristan Reed

I'd consider myself an avid retro gamer, but still I wouldn't dream of paying 10 bucks for a 2600 game collection. ice hockey and river raid are still bliss tho. The third game I'd still go for, Decathlon, just doesn't work on non-joystick controllers. Not if you played it the right (stick trashing) way.

Yesterday I visited a museum conference about how to preserve video games for the future (Howard Besser if you know the bloke). The problem is that, even with excellent convertions and compilations such as this, there is no way to preserve the initial wonder and excitement that (most of) these games were greeted with.

...because these games have had their time?

"The problem is that, even with excellent convertions and compilations such as this, there is no way to preserve the initial wonder and excitement that (most of) these games were greeted with."

True, but you can preserve people's memories of that excitement through interviews, videos, websites etc.

I think it's very important to preserve games like this because they were how the whole games industry began. If games ever become as mainstream as films or TV, we'll want to know how it started, and how people felt about it.

I'd love to know how the first audiences of the film King Kong reacted to it in the 1930s, and maybe people in the future will want to know how the first players of Donkey Kong reacted in the 1980s.

Almost all of the first ever films and the first ever TV shows, even the ones that were huge hits in their own time, have been lost forever because nobody thought that anyone in the future would be interested. We mustn't repeat that mistake with games.

So, what games are on it, then? Looks like Activision Anthology for the GBA to me. Could you buy a GBA and the game for less than the price of the PSP game?

So, what games are on it, then? Looks like Activision Anthology for the GBA to me. Could you buy a GBA and the game for less than the price of the PSP game?

The thing is, nobody would buy a GBA for this either.

The Philips Videopac was far better then the 2600. It had a touch sensitive keyboard and a game of pacman that you could design your own mazes!!!

I have to disagree with the Beamrider bashing.
Played it on fMSX a couple of weeks ago and it was still a fun game (or was the 2600 version much worse?).

As much fondness as I hold for the 2600, I couldn't bring myself to fork over good money for these games slunk onto a UMD.

For the same money I could get either the Sega or Capcom collections with games that I actually want to play after the first five minutes of teary-eyed nostalgia.

I know how much publishers *love* to churn out re-issues of their existing portfolio of ageing game IP (at least the accountants do), but the line really must be drawn somewhere.

Actually, Activision was founded after several Atari programmers got fed up with receiving no bonuses for top-sellers and the "no credit for developers" policy and the whole third party issue only appeared after the company established, but that's a completely different story.

The problem with A2600 (and let's be honest, any pre-16 bit system) is that only an handful of games still manage to carry any weight now. From the complete A2600 library, there only about 10 games I still find enjoyable now: River Raid, Keystone Kapers, Crackpots, Fishing Derby, Pitfall, Frostbite, Frogs and Flies, Missile Control, Ram It, Ice Hockey and Seaquest. All rest was outdone by now and it doesn't make much difference to have 10 games you wouldn't care or 100.

"Pitfall [...] The sequel, though, is blighted by [...] a baffling death mechanic which systematically drags you back to the beginning if you die."

Erm, no it isn't. It takes you back to the most recent cross you stepped on, and as the game essentially gives you infinite lives, you young whippersnappers should be grateful, dammit.

Chupachups wrote: "True, but you can preserve people's memories of that excitement through interviews, videos, websites etc."

Agree, hope someone goes through the trouble of recording those things. There are a lot of decent websites around that tries to do that to an extent. It's easy to forget your own first reactions to certain games as well. I remember having nightmares from playing Syndicate, that version of the future was too frightening for my fragile young mind to handle ;_;

I had an Acorn Atom while my mate had a swanky Atari 2600. I had to type in all the games I wanted to play, which was nice and cheap but resulted in many Syntax errors. He on the other hand had parents rich enough (Or stupid enough) to pay £30 per game.

Playing these old retro collections is a cheap way to relive those early days of video gaming bliss. Love em to bits, even if they are ropey as hell by today's standards.

I guess if you weren't there the first time round you will never 'get' this kind of collection. If you were it ends up being either an enjoyable nostalgia trip or a harsh realisation of just how far gaming has come. Me? I side with the former!

UNBAN ME PLEASE!!!

UNBAN ME PLEASE!!!

UNBAN ME PLEASE!!!

UNBAN ME PLEASE!!!

UNBAN ME PLEASE!!!

UNBAN ME PLEASE!!!

UNBAN ME PLEASE!!!

I remember my Dad buying my brother an Atari 2600 for Christmas one year but he did something quite clever ... he played it 1st and after seeing the wonders of my NES I'd got few months before quite rightly returned it and exchanged it for something called a Sega master System II with sonic and Alex kidd ever since my Dad has never played a game again... bad 2600

The gaming industry resembles more than ever now that old Smiths gem "Paint a Vulgar Picture". One day even EA haters will count the days for a "EA console Hits Vol 1" with "extra" games and a tacky badge....

HI peeps

Long time reader of this site.
Long time atari fan.
Long time sony fan.
Long time stick with a hoop fan.
Long time spotting, thats a dinosaur fan.
Yes im that old.

while its nice to see the old games making a return into the brave new world of next gen, i cant help thinking, why?.

Do you really need "classics" to sell a nextgen system.

The past is that, the past. read about it in a book, watch it on tv.

Or better still play them on your old console.
VCS still going strong, Sword Of Saros played one week ago in a drunken stupor, ahhhhh happy times, how i wish we could revisit them happy days, oh wait we can.

The end

Here's the thing. There were a few good games on the ATARI VCS. However they were licensed and NEVER appear on these stoopid compilations. Step forward, Space Invaders, Phoenix, Asteroids and breakout. Circus was good, Adventure too. Also , games like circus, Kaboom and breakout were completely reliant on the paddle controller and are shit on anything else. WAKE UP you lazy developers.

Until someone can get all the various licenses together and put out an all encompassing collection they will all be like the one reviewd here. Shit.

er... nah ta.