Ranking the 9 Atari VCS Release Games from 1977 | Nostalgia Galore!

I grew up in this era, I played arcade games though and while yes Atari was cool and the games were fun, with friends, the fidelity was trash, so the game HAD to be fun. I am now 50 and still play games for upwards of a quarter of my day.
I will never bash anyone on the genre or the types of games they play, we are all different and what relaxes one person, might make another have anxiety.
Let these games bridge the age gap and have fun with them as they are and have a few laughs at how bad looking they were.

if i had to be serious for a minute, i would say that Indy 500 is my favorite Atari 2600 game of 1977. i like racing games, city builders, tycoon games, simulation games, level editors, RPG Maker, other game creation software such as "Dreams" for the ps4 and "Game Builder Garage" on the Nintendo Switch.

One of the things I loved about these games was how many variants there were on a single cartridge. You weren't just getting Pong, but fifty different variations that, sure, all had a similar theme (two sets of paddles knocking a ball back and forth) but played differently enough to almost be entirely different games.
I never had Air Sea Battle, so Combat is an easy #1 for me. The Biplanes vs. Bomber variant was a favorite for my brother and me, just because it was so silly to us as kids having three little planes beating up on the big fat one (it was always a lopsided match every time we played).

The first person in my family ever to have an Atari VCS was my sister. She got it the week it came out in 1977 (I was 20 and living at home) and she called us to come to her house to see it, and it was amazing and the game she had on was blackjack. We must have played that game for 3 hours and it was so much fun. So if you weren't there when the machine first came out, you wouldn't understand the visceral thrill of being able to play that game and how much fun it actually was. It wasn't much to look at, but at the time, there wasn't that much to see anyway. Incidentally, air sea battle is my favorite of the launch titles as well. I've pretty.much always been a solo game player, so Combat didn't appeal to me unless I had a friend over.

For the Sears system, Target Fun (Air-Sea Battle) was the pack-in game instead of Combat. I played that game to death! lol There was one game mode with the steerable bullets that I never lost once in my (childhood) life. I should stay retired from the game so I can guarantee I die with that minor honor of being unbeaten. ;-)

Thats funny, i thought for some reason i had the title "math racer" in my brain where Street Racer is related but i couldn't figure out why , but i finally saw the part here thar showed the othee variants of racing and there it is, the math racer. Lol i completely forgot about the skiing part and the planes and the numbers racing versions.
I always liked the ski one.
The smash up noise was always a favorite also.
I'd get my friend so mad when he'd play those and keep wrecking into stuff.

When as a lower grade schooler, i had trouble memorizing multiplication tables, but i was reading books way before other kids as i was reading before i got to kindergarten.
Anyway, ive never had good brain function when it came to maths.
So, my mom liked that Basic Math game for me as it helped me at home study and learn multiplication and division.
After I had covid back in 2020 and then had couple other versions of it over last couple years, my brain got so damaged i think i need to go back to studying with the Math game as i find i couldnt recall a couple number sets correctly the other day. Lol

Light cycles were not a thing in 77, that is groundbreaking

Basically the Fairchild ports

As a, hopefully fairly young person who once got the flashback plug and plays as a kid, i see a charm in the atari games that i feel like might be a forever niche, it almost reminds me of Flash Games in a way, like a less advanced version of those. And i think thats timeless.

I wonder if Street Racer's Jet Shooter was the first shoot-em-up game to be played on a home console.

I still remember with love that distant 1977 winter, when the first color TV and the legendary VCS (wow, a Video Computer System in our hands!!) arrived at the home of a friend and neighbor of mine. How many hours spent with these rudimentary video games that to us, 7 year old children, seemed a super high-tech coming from the future, and in fact they wrote and profoundly influenced the future.
I only had the black and white Pong console, at that time and the VCS was a real quantum leap.
Then one or two years later I got the Mattel Intellivision, that was a leap in quality too.
But these first games, you listed, will always remain in our hearts.

I guess you could say i fit into the younger category. Im 32, was born in 1992 and we had the NES and SNES at about the same time and the first game i ever played was Link to the Past. But for many years now ive always been more fascinated with retro gaming as opposed to modern gaming, for the most part i play an N64 and i even ordered an Atari 2600 a little over a week ago with a few games (i got Asteroids with it because that was always my favorite arcade game)

Combat is the best out of them all .

Back when people were actually sociable & got together & had fun in person instead of behind screens.

Noticing that you can control the speed of your shots really kicked ass in this game so yes you are CORREX ASB #1

I am 14 at the moment and i love the 2600! Modern games are fun and all but the atari lets me feel something that those games don't.

I remember trying to explain the appeal of the 2600 version of the Smurfs game; they weren’t having it 😅😅😅

Totally agree on the top games. never knew anyone who actually owned the #1 choice, only played it at Sears and did not know there were variations. Just eventually figured out hitting blimps when together with planes was either no point or negative? I think was just no points............

Cool video, i got my Atari2600 in its 2nd gen plastic guise so much fun,
Mario,Crystal Castles,River Raid,Cowboy shootout,Centipide,Qbert,Fatal run the list goes on

I am one of the younger viewers (2012), I got the Atari 7800 when I was 5 and I immediately fell in love with it. I have Food Fight, Pac-Man, Basketball, Frogger, Q*bert, Adventure, Combat, Dodge ‘Em, Haunted House, Maze Craze, Missile Command, RealSports Volleyball, Surround, Video Pinball, and Yars’ Revenge.

The only one I disagree with here is surround, I have great memories of playing that on the living room TV with my mom as a kid! That being said I don't know where else I'd put it haha

I'd really like to see a video that goes over the relationship between Sears and Atari. I know that Sears sold Atari products under different names and styles but I was never really clear on what the story was. You mentioned Sears telegames a few times during the video and It brought it to mind!

Another idea for a video that I think would be cool would be the most overpriced Atari games. Games that are rare and expensive but aren't very good. As an adult collector I'm sadly familiar with this phenomenon.... Rampage 2600?

Keep up the great content!

Absolutely spot on the mere fact that I could control what moves on the TV was fascinating to me. I would play combat by just driving the tank around and that was fun for me. I loved it. We got our Atari on 1981 for Space Invaders. I was 4 years old and I still Plat that same 6 switcher I had back then.

Does this "Surround"/"Chase" have some additional memory chip in the cartridge?

Kids are idiots and can't play anything that takes skill and pattern recognition modern games are easy to win if your not just running around shooting which is fun for about five minutes maybe they don't get it

Combat is an old favorite for me. The yelling, laughing, and shoulder punches from playing Combat didnt happen with most other games. Great game.

Fun thx!!!!

I just got the Atari Gamestation Pro this past Christmas and I am elated to play Pong, Combat and Air Sea Battle. I grew up a bit later with gaming in '87 with my first console (7800) and I got to play some really fun 2600 games on it because of backwards compatibility. But I missed out on the really cool earlier launch titles. And yes, my 13 yr old son can appreciate some of these, especially Combat!

Lots of people saying "what the youngsters don't understand is..." But thank you for reminding me that what I AM old enough to understand BUT KEEP FORGETTING is that in the 1970s, videogaming was a family / social activity. For me, it was squatting on the lounge floor with my little bro playing our Binatone "Pong" console - we weren't allowed Atari! As I moved into teens and adulthood, I kept on gaming but it became a strictly solo pursuit; I had other hobbies that were social, but videogames were "Me Time". That still holds 40 years later. As such, I can get very little fun out of "Combat" and "Air Sea Battle", and am thankful for games like "Indy 500" and the AI modes (however limited) of "Video Olympics" to give me my "route in" to early Atari gaming.

Though Atari games were well before my time (was born 1992), i have a deep appreciation for them. I grew up playing them on compilations and a couple of the Flashback consoles, and the more simple straightforward gameplay honestly appeals to me. As games are gradually becoming biggger and unwieldy for me, I find the pick up and play Atari games a breath of fresh air at times. And personally, I find the chunkier pixel art has a certain charm to it.

I am a child but I love altari games and gaming history

Games like The Last of Us on PS3 are nothing like old games, completely different experience. It's not even like 1980s BMW classic car vs 2020s BMW. It's more like milkshake vs cheeseburger :)

Yes I grew up playing Street Racer and Combat all the time. It was fun.

Some other games not mentioned venture Millipede jailbreak starwars blackwidow a.nd before donkey Kong there was kangaroo

First love the work you do I am 52 and just glad some one from out generation can be so knowledgeable and some one bringing all these great games to light from the 80's and early 90's and in my opinion when games were games!! Do you know any systems that just have atari and or Activision games that we love?? Thanks and keep doing what your doing!! Lou in Tampa, Fla

Back in 1980 I got the VCS for xmas.... a real surprise was not expecting it as money was tight in our family... I'm actually not sure when the VCS hit the UK but I remember there were not many kids with them and most kids were getting handheld games at that time.

We only had Combat for quite a while as the cost of carts was quite frankly ridiculous... and looking back I think it was the best title for the pack-in title... I remember seeing Air Sea Battle at a friends house... and it looked really good. The rest of the titles in the original launch look really terrible.. that Starship title... ouch...

I bought Night Driver in 1981 and was able to pick up Asteroids, Defender and Star Raiders the following year.... after saving like crazy on my newspaper delivery round. A total rip off looking back.

Thank god the C64 was coming a few years later...

I think what people forget about is the variety. Sure, it's only 9 carts, but there are so many variations in each cart that you often never saw; Video Olympics alone had 50 variations. No wonder that select switch wore out. :-) What I've seen over the years is eye candy and subscription revenue has become more important than gameplay. The reason the Atari is so good is because it fills a different need and is not directly comparable to what's available today. It was trying to bring the arcade experience into the home, and that experience was "turn on and play" instant fun. It was simulating dropping a quarter in the machine, playing for 5 minutes, then doing it all over again. It wasn't about a deep world backstory with lore and photorealistic visuals. Why it still holds up today is because that's still the experience and it has infinite replay-ability. So much of the new stuff is meant to be played once and tossed in the corner, or meant to siphon money off you one dollar at a time. What your rankings show, however, is there were plenty of stinkers in the 70s; it wasn't all roses and no amount of nostalgia is going to save some of that garbage.

My personal ranking of the games on this video would be more or less the same, although I'd place Surround higher and Street Racer lower. Basic Math is the only bad one on this list, the others are solid, and I would also put Air-Sea Battle at top, above Combat and Indy 500.

As someone who's become deeply interested in playing and reviewing 2600 games, I really like that a video like this exists, see the opinions of someone else who knows a lot more about actually experiencing this early era of video games firsthand. As for me, a 22 year old who started out with the GBA and slowly worked his way BACK, here's my personal ranking:
9. Basic Math
8. Street Racer
7. Indy 500 (no steering controller or a second player like you warned about!)
6. Star Ship
5. Blackjack (I found it very addictive)
4. Surround (the doodle mode really elevated it, decent multiplayer affair otherwise)
3. Air-Sea Battle (visually the second best and had the most intrigue to me as the very first title alphabetically)
2. Combat (Multiplayer-only hurts it a bit)
1. Video Olympics (mostly because of the amount of modes implemented and being derived off of a concept that always worked, Pong)

Excited to binge more videos later!

Back in the day, these blocky primitive graphics were all we had. It was either play this, or go outside and ride your bike around the neighborhood...

I don't understand how people play modern games. All you do is walk around. It's more like watching a movie.

As someone who was born far after the existence of the 2600 and even the NES, shortly after the first Playstation was released in the US, even i can appreciate the simplicity and charm of these games. Helps that various collections of Atari and Intellivision games on the PS2 built a lot of anachronistic nostalgia in me. In fact, my interest was enough that in my late preteens i actually bought a real 2600 at a yard sale and a bunch of games. Played it on an old period-accurate tv we had in storage. I still have that 2600 and im waiting for a moment i can pop some money down on a Harmony cart and some new controllers and run it through my vcr and retrotink. Miss the old crt tho. 😢

Back in those days, you sort of had to use your imagination a little bit. Also, great rankings. I respect that you put Air sea battle at number 1, as both that and combat are definitely top tier games from the launch series, and the library of the 2600 as a whole. Also, Is it just me, or does a couple of the modes in air sea battle, (where you play as a turret), seem like an early version or predecessor to Imagic's Atlantis? Please don't tell me that this is just me.

I'm of the younger generation, in my mid teens, and honestly, while I do see why people crap on these old games, you really have to give them a chance. I don't think the younger ones out there hate or dislike these games, as much as they just don't understand them or give them a chance to see just how fun a lot of these older games are. I, personally, enjoy a lot of them, but I think that it sort of depends on the kind of games you like. Arcade style games? Sure, in my case.

I got the 1982 blue Atari Logbook when it came out, but then found online in 2017 there had been a 1979 green Logbook with challenges for games they had later discontinued (Basic Math, Black Jack, Surround, Star Ship). There are 3 challenges for each cart in order: Pro, Master and Wizard.

Basic Math, game 7 with difficulty B: Pro 6/10, Master 8/10, Wizard 10/10
Black Jack, game 1: Pro 400 chips, Master 800 chips, Wizard 1000 chips.
Surround, game 4, difficulty A: Pro win 10-4, Master 10-2, Wizard 10-0.
Street Racer, game 15, your difficulty B, computer's A: Pro 20, Master 31, Wizard 46.
Star Ship, game 4, difficulty B: Pro 10 points, Master 21 points, Wizard 32 points.
Indy 500, game 4, difficulty B: Pro 6 laps, Master 8 laps, Wizard 11 laps.
Video Olympics, game 2, difficulty B: Pro win 21-7, Master 21-3, Wizard 21-0.
Combat, game 15, difficulty B: Pro shoot 17, Master 26, Wizard 34.
Air-Sea Battle, game 12, difficulty B: Pro 26, Master 38, Wizard 58.

I don't have the first two, but I made Wizard in all the others, though Combat, Surround and Star Ship in 2020 when at home during the Pandemic. For some reason the challenges for Video Olympics weren't in the green logbook, but were in the blue logbook.

Indy 500 is better with the driving controller

I'm a younger gen-Xer (43,) but I was still stuck with seeing Atari 2600 games for the first six years of my life because Nintendo would not have their nation-wide launch of the NES until late 1986. During those six years, I mostly experienced a post-crash Atari (I would be three years old during the crash,) but just because the sales were dropping doesn't mean Atari just disappeared. Because they were being sold off and games were in bargain bins I actually knew TONS of kids with Atari consoles and games. I was too young to experience the launch, but old enough to be introduced to home gaming with the Atari VCS. There were some rare moments where I saw an Intellivision being sold by a desperate salesman, and my mom's friend had a ColecoVision which blew me away at the time (pre-NES,) but I mostly saw Atari games. Sadly, I never got to have a game console of my own until 1990, even when "the fun was back" and Atari Jr was being sold for $49.99. Lots of kids got an Atari during that time though, and it was sitting there right next to their NES consoles. Once I had my fill of Super Mario Bros I would ask them to let me play the Atari.

One of the very best things about an atari cartridge was the catalogue books. I would drink in every illustration, imagine every world they were creating. I didn't care that it was a square on the screen, your imagination did the rest. I loved the artistic style. I still glance at those every so often, more often than I try and play any of those games, that's for sure.

Basic Math is a classic!! just kidding but for some reason i do like popping that in once in a blue moon