When you say the word “Atari” to anyone my age you can guarantee a conversation full of smiles and fond memories of games we loved to play. Thinking of these games immediately brings about memories of childhood. I have put together a list of games that seem to rank among the most popular games played by former Atari owners.
Donkey Kong
The object of Donkey Kong was for you, Mario, to reach Pauline, who was being held captive by Donkey Kong. To get to her, you had to climb over series of ladders and levels while avoiding barrels that Kong was throwing at you. Each level got progressively more challenging than the previous. This game formed the idea for the Mario Bros. spin-off.
Pacman
The object of the game was to move Pacman around the maze to eat all the little white dots while avoiding the ghosts. Power pills, when eaten, eliminated all the ghost. Eating the fruits earned you bonus points.
Asteroids
The object of the game was to control the spaceship that shot and destroyed asteroids and flying saucers while avoiding counter-fire and collisions with them.
Space Invaders
Your job was to simply kill all the aliens before they reached the bottom of the screen while avoiding their counter-fire. As you proceeded to the next level the aliens moved one row closer to you. They would also start to move quicker toward you after a certain number of them were eliminated.
Frostbite
The object of this game was to simply build an igloo little by little by jumping from one ice clamper to the next while they moved across the screen. You had to do this before the temperature reached zero degrees. You had to avoid falling into the water, running into the deadly birds or crabs, and the deadly bear patrolling your igloo site.
Q-Bert
By hopping from cube to cube, Q-Berts purpose was to change the colour of each cube to a specified color while avoiding falling off the pyramid. Each level got a little more complex and often involved cubes having to be touched twice, cubes changing back to the wrong color if they get hopped on again, etc.
Frogger
The object of Frogger was to guide a frog to his home which required crossing a busy street and a river containing dangerous predators. You had to get the frog to its home before time ran out.
Pong
Pong was simply a tennis table game which involved hitting the ball across the playing field past your opponents paddle.
