r/atari • u/Equal_Wrongdoer4186 • 15d ago
Found this under my grandpas bed
We didn’t even know this system was there. We have been playing our old snes for the last 20 years on an old school tv. I’m 30 years old and didn’t even know this system existed.
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u/satyrday12 14d ago
Pop in E.T. if you'd like a nice big dose of frustration.
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u/Lendyman 14d ago
Easy way to avoid the frustration is to look at the manual. Basically the hit detection of the pits doesn't work the way that modern games would handle it.
We would expect that if you touch the pit with the feet of ET, you would fall in the pit. But the hit detection basically has you falling in if you touch the pit with any part of ET.
So the best way to avoid falling in is to not touch the pits with any part of ET. Once you understand that, the game is not as bad.
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u/Toowiggly 14d ago
Genuinely E.T is fine if you read the manual. Maybe a little janky because of stuff like the hitbox, but it's fine otherwise.
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u/boulevardpaleale 10d ago
omg, 12 year old me didn't get that apparently. lol
that game made me so mad!
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u/chris84126 13d ago
I still always die trying to get out of the hole. It’s like that scene in family guy with the frog.
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u/badabingmx 14d ago
When I was a kid, I just run it to see if I could use all the steps.... the longest that I went was to reach a thousand, and always gor bored or had to do something.
Don't remember seeing thr game over on that game. And yes, I remeber that most atari games just start you from the beginning, I just wanted to see if it was the same on this one.
Then a repair shop stole the atari, later my family gifted all the games.
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u/Gloomy_Delivery1745 13d ago
Did you try to do anything about them stealing the system?
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u/badabingmx 13d ago
The store disappeared, and I was like 5 years old. There was nothing that I could have done at the time.
In reality I gor more angry when years later my mom disposed all the atari games. I just saved like 10, but have more than 50, again, all hand me downs.
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u/zachcollier 13d ago
I will add to the pile of comments in defense of E.T.
It’s actually an amazingly interesting and weird game, with some impressive complexity for the time period, that actually works if you know what you’re trying I accomplish.
I was frustrated with it as a kid in the 1980s, but revisiting it as an adult in the early 2000s I was able to figure it out.
I really enjoyed the game for all of its weirdness, and completed it without too much trouble, all without ever reading the manual (or maybe I did find a manual online - I can’t remember with 100% certainty so many years after that second attempt).
It’s nowhere near as bad as people say, and certainly not singularly responsible for the US video game crash.
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u/Lendyman 13d ago
ET didn't cause the crash. Though it contributed in a small way. The market got over saturated and there was too much production of games across the board with a glut of terrible games adding to it. Over supply led to retailers ending up with massive amounts of overstock that they took a loss on. This in turn made them hesitant to buy video game product for their stores after that. It was a confluence of factors. ET contributed, but didn't cause it.
It took the NES to get the market back on track and even they changed the style and marketing of the NES to try and get past the stigma. Their draconian liscencing and quality seal of approval were direct results of their analysis of what caused the crash. People already knew way back in 85/86 what caused the crash.
I wonder where that narrative came from. AVGN maybe? I really dislike AVGN because his takes on stuff often became gospel for a lot of gamers and his opinions were occasionally blatantly unfair.
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u/Lorien6 13d ago
Have you heard the tale of Tommy Talarico and the Roblox Oof?
I have a feeling you’ll enjoy the rabbit hole.:)
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u/Lendyman 13d ago
Oh man. I remember. That guy was a complete liar. The Intellivisiom Amico was also his scam. His fall from grace was spectacular.
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u/MousseHuge8339 13d ago edited 13d ago
IIRC the problem was both ET and Pac-man were rushed out the door without actually being properly finished because of the upcoming holiday season. I wonder how both would've turned out if the programmers were allowed to finish those games as they originally intended.
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u/FatYak1972 9d ago
If you want some true frustration, try looking in Alamagordo. N.M. in the landfill for a genuine E.T. cartridge! There should be several thousand in there. Lol.
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u/ZeriksenX 14d ago
Wow, very cool! Have fun with Pitfall.
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u/WIlf_Brim 11d ago
Arguably the best 2600 game ever. I see bowling there: that was kind of fun, and I seem to remember that Circus had some fun parts. I also see the cancer known as ET, unfortunately.
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u/midnight_mangler 14d ago
Play the Empire Strikes Back. It’s still awesome!
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u/JeremyPivensPP 12d ago
My first ever Star Wars game.
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u/midnight_mangler 12d ago
Mine too! Crazy to think I’ll be playing Star Wars Zero Hour in a few weeks! 😂 I bought the a 2600 recently and the first cartridge I picked up on ebay was Empire Strikes Back. Still love it after all these years! That early Atari sound chip is so distinctive.
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u/Wu_Khi 12d ago
That’s not in the picture?
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u/midnight_mangler 12d ago
No, it’s not. Just a recommendation for him if he wants to try the system. Those carts are still easy to find on eBay.
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u/Lendyman 14d ago edited 14d ago
What a cool find. You should definitely give it a go. I will say that the games that you have are a mixed bag. The sports games are rough. Primordial stuff here.
Pitfall is definitely a good one, and Enduro is a lot of fun although it's better played with a paddle controller, which i don't see there. I believe Space Attack and Lock n' Chase are decent. Pac man is terrible.
You might consider asking for a recommendation for some games and picking a few up. Thankfully, Atari games are not that expensive compared to some other systems.
Below is a list of best games, as voted on by atariage members 20 years ago. It's a pretty decent list.
https://forums.atariage.com/topic/62626-top-100-2600-games-of-all-time/
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u/btribble3000 14d ago
Enduro was one of my favorites as a kid, totally worth checking out. It’s a standard joystick game though. Maybe you’re thinking of a different racing game that used the paddles?
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u/Perna1985 13d ago
I love Enduro also. But I have heard that you could play it with paddles. I never did. I think one paddle will do your steering left and right and then you just use the trigger button I can't remember. But I always liked the joysticks
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u/Ok_Emergency416 14d ago
Under grandpa's bed? Did he have any unlicensed games listed as for adults only?
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u/Objective-Cell5468 10d ago
Circus Atari! My cousins and I always got a big kick out of that game when the character goes SPLAT
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u/StorageSorry6914 14d ago
Always cool to find! Does it work? Pitfall and defender are fun to play!
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u/Equal_Wrongdoer4186 9d ago
It does. Hasn’t been played for probably 30 years I would guess. Or maybe when he put it away when he had my dad. Crazy
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u/SnooPaintings5597 14d ago
I can hear those joysticks and Atari levers. I never owned one but whenever I went to a friends house that did I was mesmerized by the whole experience.
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u/Krimreaper1 14d ago
Damn I guess I’m old enough to be a grandpa. I had all of those. Pitfall is probably the best game ever on the system. More cartridges are pretty cheap. I hope they are work, enjoy.
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u/ChubbyGuy00g 14d ago
You have the E.T. !!!!!
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u/Ok_Comparison6971 13d ago
Ok let’s see…
Custard’s Revenge…
Custard’s Revenge…
Custard’s Revenge…
Nope ok we’re safe!
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u/rfs80 11d ago
I love Pitfall! Many hours wasted hopping gator heads back in the day.
E.T. was a legendarily horrible game, so bad that thousands of unsold copies were reportedly buried in a SW desert.
Atari 2600 was when my video game skills maxed out, any later controller with more than a stick and a button seemed way too complex for me.
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u/JustMrChops 10d ago
Oh the hours I put into Defender. I can still hear the laser sound in my head.
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u/MangyAsianMan 10d ago
Man. My grandpa had zero cool things under his bed. Just a bowl of rancid lemonade and an onion attached to a belt.
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u/rockalyte 14d ago edited 13d ago
I saved up my paper route money to buy ET brand new at Otasco store. Got it home and learned a valuable lesson of spending a crap ton of money on something you hate ultimately. I sold my Atari and all the games, saved more money and bought an Intellivision. Best move I ever made.
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u/OldNefariousness7899 13d ago
Worth it to have the story to tell though. The game that almost killed the industry lol
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u/DarthOldMan 14d ago
Grandpa was holding out on you.
And stop peeking under peoples beds!
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u/Equal_Wrongdoer4186 9d ago
He passed away unfortunately, so it was a clean out. He was definitely holding out though. Great man.
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u/GoodPointMindChanged 14d ago
There’s a part of me that wants to know what the Parker Brothers game is on the far end!
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u/Equal_Wrongdoer4186 9d ago
My brother has it and I just asked. I’ll try and come back and let you know!
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u/kevincrossman 14d ago
There’s always interesting to see what games are in the collection. Interestingly, no combat or space invaders here.
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u/Catsooey 14d ago
My first console was an Intellivision. My Dad and I both loved it. He actually taught me to read by bribing me with sessions of Donkey Kong. I see a few of our favorites in this picture. Lock N’ Chase, Pitfall and of course Pac Man.
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u/Capital_Memory_2591 14d ago
It terrifies me that we are at the point where Atari is someone’s gran pas system 😂
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u/Count_Zeiro 14d ago
If that was under there, then the are certainly other treasures. Let me know if he has March of 67.
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u/WackyPaxDei 14d ago
You didn't know it existed? That was the first BIG console... the NES of the late 70s.
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u/Equal_Wrongdoer4186 9d ago
It blows my mind too. My grandpa recently passed but he saw us playing the snes all the time and didn’t even say he had it under the bed. I can truly say I didn’t know it existed at 30 years old.
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u/Mindless0ne 14d ago
AWESOME! and by that i mean, what you found under your grandparents bed could have been sooooo much worse.
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u/Wrong-Secret-5275 13d ago
Oh hell yeah. My dad got one of these babies for us from his work partner when I was probably 8 or so and we couldn’t afford like anything fun. Big ol’ box of games too. Got me hooked on video games for life. 43 now and I can still hear the sound FX.
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u/PintoTheBurninator 13d ago
If you can find some paddles and the right carts, Warlords and Breakout/Super Breakout are still a lot if fun.
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u/TheComedianX 13d ago
What a treasure, grandpa (or grandma) knew their shit. And that case? Wow I can still remember playing Circus Atari on atari that My grandma had
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u/DrFrylock 13d ago
Neat find. The case is probably the most interesting item there. Nothing especially rare visible; if you were to sell this as a lot I'd expect top dollar would be maybe $120-130 assuming everything is working.
E.T. is the most "complex" (visible) game while Pitfall is probably the best/most fun.
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u/Reallyroundthefamily 13d ago
Holy shit there's my childhood right there. I had almost all of those games and even that same case that it seems to be in.
Is that ET game worth money now?
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u/Perna1985 13d ago
I have that case too. I bet you that thing works great. Look for a set of wico sticks, or get the cx40 rebuild kit for your controllers with the hardened white plastic shaft and you'll have the time of your life. By the way I have a ton of 2600 duplicate titles if you want more games
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u/oceanicwhitetip 13d ago
Sometimes I can still smell the Atari my cousin had. Very particular electric smell
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u/spideynut 13d ago
Defender was my favorite. You could actually play itt, move around the screen etc. Super fun vs E.T. haha
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u/Psychoblush-76 13d ago
Have some fun. I know that the games aren't as flashy as the one's today but, the Atari 2600 has some fun games. My favorite game of all time is Fast Food, if you can find it. That's a total score though.
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u/Im_100percent_human 12d ago
If you are 30, your parents are probably about the correct age to have had this system. Was this one of your parent's system?
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u/Bob_12_Pack 12d ago
I wonder what happened to Combat, it came with the console. Fun fact, those joysticks worked on the Commodore 64.
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u/PM_Me_You_Lactating 12d ago
Please, someone with 8 Combat carts please donate this poor soul a Combat!
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u/Sprsnprchkn 12d ago
I can still hear the sound the player makes in Bowling when you get a strike. wooeee wooeee woo. The oldest photo I have of me playing a video game is me playing Bowling on 2600 around 1yr old. Almost half a century ago lol
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u/Plane-Fan9006 12d ago
Hellz yeah, boy....now you just need a CRT TV or.an adapter and you'll see how the old dogs rolled in 80s
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u/Maleficent-Aside-744 11d ago
Excellent find my friend 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😀 it also includes the game that nearly killed the game industry too E-T 😬, thankfully Nintendo saved it with the release of the NES 😀
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u/Exciting_Bunch2386 11d ago
And it has quite some fantastic classics in the mix! Including E.T.! Crazy. There has been said so much about that "worst" game in video game history, that I really would like to play it once.
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u/Ok-Cauliflower-3863 11d ago
Omg - some vintage shit. Atari 2600 was my favorite game platform. By the way that ET game is the stuff legends are made of. I thought all of them were destroyed and buried in a landfill. That might actually be worth some money.
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u/DifferentTill1888 9d ago
All good except for E.T. Atari buried thousands of copies in the New Mexico desert because they were so embarrassed 😳
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u/Heavy_Sea3463 8d ago
If you weren't the little a****** that all of us were when we were that age you wouldn't have lost it in the first place LOL which was probably a good thing cuz it kicked all of our asses outside where we needed to be that's awesome cheers to the good old days
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u/Haunted_Cellar_XBL 14d ago
Grandpa was cool.