Quick Jump: Choose Section Introduction Ms. Pac-Man TV Games Atari Paddle TV Games Classic Pinball TV Games Conclusions

Atari Paddle TV Games

If you're a fan of the old Atari 2600 games system, this collection of 2600 paddle games may be right up your gaming alley. The Atari Paddle TV Games rounds up eleven Atari 2600 paddle games: Breakout, Canyon Bomber, Casino, Circus Atari, Demons to Diamonds, Night Driver, Steeplechase, Street Racer, Super Breakout, Video Olympics, and Warlords. It also throws in two arcade paddle games: Pong and Warlords.

The Atari Paddle TV Games Controller

The controller itself is modeled after the original Atari 2600 paddle controller...well, it would be if the Atari paddle were much longer and thicker! The larger size actually proved to be advantageous, since it fit my grown-up hands better than the original paddles probably would have. Different age, different size of controllers — nostalgia's even better when sized to current realities. ;-)

Holding the Paddle

Unlike the reproduction versions of the games in the Ms. Pac-Man collection, the software that runs the Atari paddle games is an actual emulator, compliments of Digital Eclipse. If you don't recognize the name, you never played the excellent emulated versions of Williams arcade games released by Digital Eclipse back in the 90's (before MAME, their emulators were the only way to get a pure fix of Robotron goodness!)

The Atari Paddle Games Menu Screen

This emulation extends to a "virtual console" that is brought up using the menu button on the controller. From the virtual console you can pick game variations, even switch from color to b/w, just like on the original 2600 console system.

The "Virtual 2600 Console"

Overall the emulation seemed very good to me — I've heard that the sound for the games had to be simulated instead of emulated, since it apparently wasn't possible to emulate the sound chip used in the 2600. Still, to my ears things sounded fine (it's been decades since I've played 2600 games, please note!)

The games are from the early days of the 2600 console, and as such, are of the "ultra-primative" variety. The graphics are clunky, the gameplay as simple as humanly possible, and the sound effects all variations on a simple "bloop."

2600 Steeplechase: jump your blob over the oncoming blocks..

Ultimately, this trip down nostalgia lane proves that not everything in the past was all that great. The best thing about the paddle games on the original 2600 console was the fact that you could play them with up to three other human players. Here, with a single paddle, you lose that one element of fun that made these games tolerable.

There's a two-player version of the Atari Paddle TV Games that includes a second paddle, and I'd highly recommend that unit over the single player unit. This may be the most accurate of the TV game systems in this review, but there's only so much excitement you can squeeze out of these creaky early relics of the home console revolution. Even the inclusion of the arcade game versions of Pong and Warlords doesn't really up the adrenaline quotient.