I think I was eleven or twelve when childhood pal Alan Buchbinder left on vacation with his family for a week and let me borrow his Atari 2600 while he was gone. I played that thing until I made myself sick, and that’s not an exaggeration. I flirted with epilepsy, dehydration and starvation, and that was only the first day.
Why so obsessed with the 2600? Well, somewhat due to the exciting cartridge packaging. These were always painted tableaus of drama, espionage, military conflict, dragons and kings – hilarious already since the games themselves were rendered in flickery 8-bit boxes you shoved around using a joystick.
Apparently, this guy has a different, considerably more awesome recollection of the game titles.
(Thanks to Andy Lester)
I grew up on the 2600 myself, but a little later on, when the NES became big, a friend and I pulled an all-nighter trying to beat “Rampage”, which took several hours. As was the norm at that point, most Data East games simply ended with “Congratulations! The End”, or something similar, and “Rampage” was no exception. That was probably the first time I played a game until I was sick, as I had an incredible headache and it hurt to close my eyes, because neither of us had blinked in probably about an hour and a half. The crushing disappointment didn’t help the situation any. It’s been about 20 years, and I don’t think I’ve played that damn game since.