Atari 2600 Inducted Into Toy Hall of Fame

[Guard Dog]

 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - To celebrate the toys inducted Thursday in the National Toy Hall of Fame, hug a red-haired doll, grab a single-button joystick -- or go fly a kite.

 

Raggedy Andy, the Atari 2600 video game system and the kite were chosen for entry into the Strong National Museum of Play's all-star lineup, joining the bicycle, Lionel model trains, Mr. Potato Head and 33 other classic playthings.

 

In 1977, Atari converted a television set, for good or bad, into a toy. While it wasn't the first home video game system, it popularized the fledging electronic games genre with its bright colors, catchy music and pop-in cartridge versions of arcade favorites such as Pac-Man, Frogger and Space Invaders.

 

"It may look primitive compared to the advanced video game systems available today, but it helped make these possible," said the museum's curator, Patricia Hogan.

 

The game system is the most recently invented member of the hall.

 

Excerpt, link to original:Sun Sentinel

 

This is so cool. I still have mine and I pull is out every once in a while for some nostalgic space invader zapping. If you ever owned one of these what were your favorite games? For me is was Tanks, Outlaw, Asteroids, and Star Raiders.

[Pidesco]

What is it you Americans and Halls Of Fame? It's like the USA is a character in High Fidelity.

[Gfted1]

Ah, the memories. Some of my favorites were Pitfall, Missile Command and this one based on Indiana Jones.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Jesus CHRIST! Is that thing made out of wood?!

[tripleRRR]

Part of it yes.

[Guard Dog]

No it has a faux wood front. It was plastic with an aluminum frame. Remember is was made in the 70's, they thought fake wood grain was cool back then. They also thought the Beejees and Donnie and Marie were cool too so you have to make allowances.

 

The amazing thing is this system has less computing power than a cheap microwave oven. It got very hot too if you played it too long.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

The amazing thing is this system has less computing power than a cheap microwave oven. It got very hot too if you played it too long.

 

It's like the old gameboys, there's more technology in a simple alarm clock.

[Azure79]

I remember my first Atari. I had Pitfall, another game where you controlled tanks or airplanes and tried to shoot each other and Pac-man. I think I had more, but I can't remember.

 

My father and I used to play against each other in Pacman. He used to kick my ass and then laugh in my face. Talk about abuse. I remember screaming in frustration while my mom scolded my dad for laughing.

 

Wow...I can't believe I was around for the Atari console, makes me feel old suddenly.

[Kor Qel Droma]

Ahhh, memories from the 2600. Pitafall was the shizznit, and I also really really enjoyed River Raid(er?). Pac Man was ok, but I preferred titles such as Kangaroo and Q-Bert.

[Dark_Raven]

C00l. I still have mine. Defender and Astroids kicked ass.

[Guard Dog]

I remember the day I scored high enough to roll the Asteroids game over. And it was on the hard setting where the UFO was invisible and the asteroids went diagonal as well as up and down. I was in a zone! It was the greatest accomplishemt in the nine years of life I had lived!

 

Hmmm based on how my life has gone, maybe it still is.