# Not-So-Memorable Atari 2600 Games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 18, 2008, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735 "2008-05-18T06:47:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/1 "2008-05-18T06:47:45Z")
[This humor piece](http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2008/04/21/fun-from-yesterday/) amused me a lot, taking real art from Atari 2600 boxes and giving them a new twist. I actually thought they were real until I got to “Every Sport Ever In Pong Form.” For some reason, I would want to play some of these games. (Thanks to Telltale Games) ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/2 "2008-05-18T07:00:56Z")
I would so play **Aliens vs Ghosts** what’s not the love about that concept? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/3 "2008-05-18T08:16:48Z")
I’d like to play _Oh, I Say!_ and _Old-Timey Cop With A Stick_. Limitless potential. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/4 "2008-05-18T13:01:06Z")
Man, I couldn’t begin to tell you of all the hours and and hours I spent playing _I’ve Wasted My Life_. I’d get home from school and run right to my Atari and you wouldn’t see me until the ne…oh, waitaminute… ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/5 "2008-05-18T14:09:20Z")
ET No, wait, I guess this is the exception that proves the rule. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/6 "2008-05-19T08:11:08Z")
Heh, I actually recognized the majority of those boxes… ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/7 "2008-05-19T09:47:21Z")
Y’know…as late as the _16-bit_ era, a lot of box illustrations bore no resemblance to anything that was actually in the game. Cf. Kendo Rage, Super Buster Bros., Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball, WWF Royal Rumble, etc. Let’s remember that professional-quality paint and ink graphics came along many, many years before video games even existed. It only makes sense that they’d need a while to catch up. In any event, I don’t really see why we always gotta go all the way back to my barely-out-of-diapers years for photomanip humor. That said, I find “Gay French Mario Bros.” weirdly funny. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/8 "2008-05-19T16:25:40Z")
**DKW** , how could you forget _Phalanx_? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/9 "2008-05-19T16:37:23Z")
Continuing on your comment- I think the reason that the 2600 age is the go-to era for video game humor is the poor graphics combined with the cheesy box art. The SNES- and even the NES- had graphics which looked like what they were supposed to be. The 2600, not so much (“somebody get this freakin’ duck away from me!”), so the box art had to interpret what the blips were supposed to be. Since everything cheesy from the '70s is now automatically funny, the now-dated art is now amusing in itself. Gay French Mario Bros. indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/10 "2008-05-19T16:56:55Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] I’d like to play _Oh, I Say!_ and _Old-Timey Cop With A Stick_ [/QUOTE] …who is about to run into Gallagher. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-memorable-atari-2600-games/449735/11 "2008-05-19T17:18:24Z")
Brilliant. I recognized a couple, but man…I’m still giggling.