A Time For Atari

30 years ago today, on 16th October 1982, I got my hands on an Atari 2600 video games system. Released five years previously it was one of the first consoles to contain microprocessor based architecture with games on swappable cartridges rather than those where the game code was built into the hardware itself. While not the very first it was the one that achieved the greatest success and did the most to tempt the masses who would become the first generation of console gamers, myself included.

 

As I recall the console came with twin paddle sticks, two joysticks and a copy of Pong. The paddles took a hammering initially since Pong was my entire games collection but I don't remember the paddles getting an awful lot of use after that. I can state with some degree of certainty that the joysticks were rock solid and robust as hell. They were the most durable I have ever owned lasting long beyond the Atari and throughout much of my Commodore 64 usage as well. Other, fancier, joysticks came and broke but the black-with-a-single-red-button controller outlasted them all.

I have been racking my brains trying to remember the other games I owned for it over the following few years but I'm struggling. Obviously there were a few of the classics such as Pac-man, Space Invaders (with all of it's 112 different game modes!) and Asteroids.

 

Then there were others such as Combat, Frogger, Adventure, Berzerk, Super Cobra, Enduro, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Amidar. Most of them I remember quite well while others exist in my rapidly vanishing memory cells on a name only basis and I can recall absolutely nothing about the gameplay. Just what the hell was Amidar ?

The Atari eventually gave way to the Commodore 64 and subsequently an Amiga 1200. These days it's mainly the Playstation 3 and the odd PC game which gobble up all my gaming time. But, although my Atari console itself is no more, I may yet, in true Indiana Jones fashion, one day uncover those dusty cartridges – probably when I next explore my parents loft – and will no doubt reminisce fondly of bygone days.

So thank you Atari for kickstarting my gaming habbit. It's one I haven't yet been able to break and, if I'm honest, I have no intention of trying. While videogames have changed somewhat in the many years since I last powered you up, I will never forget all the happy hours we had together.
 

Thanks for all the good times even if it is making me feel that little bit older today.

 

Ade