Activision is the first third-party publisher in videogames. In 1979, after seeing Atari take all credit and all proceeds for games released on the Atari 2600, a few key developers broke off to start their own publisher -- one where the developer would get plenty of credit for their hard work. The result was a series of best-sellers that enthralled 2600 gamers. Activision's game had a reputation for great production values. Plus, Activision courted gamer participation by offering special patches to players that reached score thresholds. Take a photo of your TV with the score on display, send it in, and several weeks later, you'd have a pretty cool patch to prove your gaming prowess.
Activision is now one of the biggest players in the videogame industry, especially following their recent merger with Vivendi games. The publisher is known for blockbuster games like Call of Duty and Guitar Hero. But almost 30 years ago, it was just the brainchild of some disgruntled coders. IGN Retro is happy to celebrate the legacy of Activision by naming our top 10 classics for the Atari 2600.
| 10) Spider Fighter | |
| Activision had a number of shooters, such as Megamania and Plaque Attack, but Spider Fighter stands out for a number of reasons. The difficulty curve is just right. The first few stages are good for getting your feet wet. But then those spiders really get nasty while trying to steal your fruit. The crunchy sound effects and the popping appearance of the arachnids gives the game a little edge, too. | |
| 9) Robot Tank | |
| There's no need to hide the fact that this was Activision's take on Battlezone. However, Activision's take trumps the original with the addition of weather effects (the fog could hide an enemy tank until the last second), time effects while day turned to night, and different tank functions like radar or speed that shorted out when you took damage. Alan Miller's Robot Tank could really get the blood pumping thanks to the knack of enemy tanks to swerve into view as you turned your tank. And those night scenes? The only color was the sudden appearance of incoming fire, streaking toward you. Awesome. | |
| 8) Dolphin | |
| Ecco has nothing on the 2600 swimmers (Imagic's Fathom was another great dolphin game). Matthew Hubbard's side-scroller charged you with escape from a giant squid that just... never... stops. You must use your sonar to find the openings in incoming waves of sea horses. Occasionally, a seagull flies overhead and if you manage to touch it, you turn the tables on the squid. Dolphin's use of audio cues, such as the sonar returns or the arrival of the gull, was amazing in 1983. The game looked fantastic, too, even on the aging 2600. This is well worth your time and effort to locate a copy or score a compilation collection that includes it. | |
| 7) Chopper Command | |
| Robert Whitehead's Chopper Command is sort of like a cross between Defender and Choplifter. You must protect rolling truck convoys at the bottom of the screen by blasting through waves of jet fighters and helicopters. The game is not easy, but a little practice gets you into the "zone." You will be able to control your fire, slamming it up into incoming enemies or fire while making an evasive turn -- essentially shooting one way while flying another. The game's appearance in pretty spartan, but the on-screen map and the Activision "sunset" are nice touches. This 1982 release is one of the better shooters for the 2600. | |
| 6) H.E.R.O. | |
| H.E.R.O. sends you deep beneath the surface to rescue trapped miners with only your prop pack (a helicopter/backpack) and a helmet that fires lasers. Already, developers John Van Ryzin has put his best foot forward. Down in the mines, you must drop dynamite to blast walls, avoid lava pools and lava walls, and shoot bats and spiders. Once you find the miner at the bottom of the shaft, it's off to the next stage which ups the ante with more walls, more enemies, and stages the take place in the dark, requiring you to look for visual cues. Part puzzle, part action -- H.E.R.O. is all fun. One of the best 2600 games of 1984, the console's last big year. | |
| 5) Barnstorming | |
| Steve Cartwright created a number of games for Activision -- Megamania, Seaquest, and Frostbite (which would come in at number 11) -- but his top achievement is also his first: Barnstorming. Simple concept: Fly a classic aeroplane through barns. Avoid bird. Avoid windmills. Avoid weathervanes. The whole game is a test of twitch skill set against that Activision "sunset." There's something about its breezy formula that is still winning today. | |
| 4) Kaboom! | |
| Larry Kaplan wanted you to buy extra paddles. That is the only explanation for Kaboom!, released in 1981, to great sales. This bomb-catching game had to slamming the paddle wheel from one side to the other, desperately trying to fill your buckets with the falling explosives. Alternating between slow and fast rounds, Kaboom! was a game that shredded your nerves. Wicked tough -- but never unfair -- Kaboom! remains one of Activision's defining early games. Don't bother trying it on a compilation disc. It must be experienced with a paddle. | |
| 3) River Raid | |
| Noted in our list of the top 10 classic shoot-'em-ups, River Raid is one of the best Atari 2600 shooters you can find. You strafe over a series of randomly generated rivers (no two games are the same), blasting ships, tanks, choppers, and planes. You must keep an eye on your fuel gauge so you don't end up in the drink yourself. Fly over the fuel depots to refill your tanks and then get back in the action. River Raid's tech is all backstage, thanks to the sweet algorithms that generated the rivers and enemy placements, but it's by no means a bad-looking game. Fun fact: This game was an adults-only game in Germany that was kept behind the counter, as a national review board designated it a para-military training tool. | |
| 2) Pressure Cooker | |
| Garry Kitchen's short-order cook sim is one of Activision greatest legacy games. You must assemble burger orders projected on a screen by grabbing the necessary ingredients flung across the screen, placing them on burgers as they roll down a conveyor belt, and then dropped the bagged order into the right slot. If you see a condiment you don't need, like lettuce, just bounce it back with your rotund belly. Thanks to the harried pacing and restaurant theme, you can draw a straight line between the casual hit Diner Dash and Pressure Cooker. Personal note: Pressure Cooker is one of my favorite 2600 games. I can whistle the theme music at the drop of a hat. And do. When hats get dropped. | |
| 1) Pitfall | |
| This is it -- Pitfall is the best-selling Atari 2600 game and the genesis of the platformer genre. David Crane's achievement here is unparalleled and deserves every ounce of praise it got in 1982 and continues to get in 2008. If you have never played Pitfall, you have done yourself a great disservice. Remedy that ASAP. | |
What were your favorite Activision games on the Atari 2600? Did we omit yours? We're you nuts for Stampede? Should Keystone Kapers be up there? Did you think Plaque Attack was tops? Drop a note in the comment and submit your own top ten. Just don't try to convince anybody that Oink is good. It's not. And you'll just embarrass yourself by trying.
Special thanks to VGMuseum for the images.
