The 7 Greatest Platformers for the Iconic Atari 2600

Before we dive into the games, let‘s quickly recap what made the Atari 2600 (A2600) so revolutionary–and yet challenging for complex game genres like platformers. Released in 1977, the A2600 pioneered interchangeable video game cartridges with color graphics, multi-channel sound, and switch-controlled paddles and joysticks1. These innovations made arcade-style games viable at home for the first time. However, its low-resolution television output (160×192 or 320×192 pixels) and 1MHz 8-bit CPU constrained memory and processing power compared to arcade cabinets2.

Smooth side-scrolling movement posed a particular hurdle. Game developer David Crane shares that the A2600 could only display 8 unique sprites at once. So games had to reuse and redraw sprites creatively to animate characters walking across the screen3. Given these limitations, what‘s incredible is that multiple seminal platformers still emerged for the console. Let‘s dive into the 7 titles that represent the pinnacle of platforming gameplay, audiovisuals and innovation possible on the A2600 hardware.

#7: Donkey Kong

The original smash-hit arcade game that launched Mario into enduring stardom, Donkey Kong introduced players to a hotheaded carpenter striving to rescue his lady friend Pauline from the clutches of a giant rampaging primate. The game‘s pioneering climbing-based platforming mechanics have you ascend girders and ladders across construction sites while pouncing over barrels and flames hammered down by DK himself.

Ported to the A2600 in 1982, this version animates Mario‘s movements more smoothly than even the NES translation. However, significant graphical downgrades were unavoidable compared to Nintendo‘s arcade original. For example, Pauline‘s now dowdy pixelation epitomizes the aesthetic limitations 4K-accustomed gamers may find jarring today. Thankfully the play control and responsive jumping physics retain the arcade magic. But with only 2 levels compared to 4 on NES, Donkey Kong wraps up quickly even by era standards. Still, Coleco‘s ambitious port undoubtedly gave the A2600 one of earliest platforming greats.

#6: Adventures of Tron

Every A2600 gamer fondly recalls this vibrant standout based on Disney’s Tron film that electrified theaters in 1982. Drawing gameplay concepts from the movie’s Light Cycle and Solar Sailer scenes, you guide the eponymous security program Tron toward communication towers to gain access codes. Your path swerves over floating data pathways while vaulting orbs of searing energy using properly timed leaps.

The playfield backdrop evokes cyberspace through trippy flickering color effects. Audiovisuals aside, at its core Adventures of Tron operates as a basic action title. Yet the clever integration of movie theming adds platforming elements absent from nearly all contemporaries. Executed on capable hardware, this game could have been a mesmerizing simulation. But the Atari‘s limited sprite count couldn’t render light cycle races faithfully. Nonetheless Tron’s audiovisual innovations illustrate how intelligent adaptation of cinema production values overcame hardware constraints to craft an addictive, genre-advancing platformer.

#5: Pitfall!

Among history’s most influential side-view platformers, Pitfall! earns a spot here for literally inventing the side-scrolling run-and-jump formula later perfected by Mario and Sonic. You assume the role of adventurer Pitfall Harry scouring a jungle for scattered treasures. Running, jumping, and swinging over lakes and scorpion pits, the game popularized horizontally scrolling screens to portray platforms extended depth-wise. With a 20-minute time limit encouraging speed runs through screens teeming with hazards, Pitfall! pioneered nonlinear level design focused on discoverable secrets — concepts Super Mario Bros exponentially expanded in 1985.

Developer David Crane maximized the A2600‘s capabilities to render smoothly scrolling playfields5, albeit with flickering multi-color sprites and nearly monochrome underground caverns. The ambitious territorial scale truly pushed hardware boundaries. Modern gamers may find Harry hard to control given ample obstacles and deadly creatures lining paths narrower than Mario’s spacious lanes. But despite its aesthetic crudity compared to NES ports, Pitfall! earns recognition for trailblazing side-scrollers on primitive hardware and inspiring Indiana Jones-esque adventure platformers for decades to follow.

#4: Montezuma‘s Revenge

This 1984 platformer resembled no other A2600 title, immersing you in underground labyrinths of interlacing tunnels, ladders and trapdoors spanning dozens of crypt-like rooms. Loosely tying into 16th century Aztec treasure lore, you guide protagonist Panama Joe in search of keys that unlock subsequent levels. Leaping platforms over pits in an early realization of multi-plane platforming, one false step spells instant death! With no excessive background details to distract from the core mechanics, Montezuma’s Revenge zeroes in on physical room traversal as the singular gameplay focus.

The challenges come from navigation and memory-mapping passages between chambers housing the level keys. Compared even to NES contemporaries, the complexity of routes through each screen surpasses most peers from an era when developers rarely strayed from linear left-to-right level formats. While later platformers incorporated exploration elements, the concealed secrets and cryptic navigation gameplay make Montezuma’s Revenge a true pioneer of Metroidvania-style adventure platformers.

#3: Mario Bros

Riding skyrocket high on the breakthrough success of Donkey Kong in 1981, Nintendo whisked Mario back into arcades just a year later alongside debuting brother Luigi in the aptly titled Mario Bros. Faithfully translated to the A2600 by Atari in 1983, this follow-up wasn‘t groundbreaking, yet merits recognition for catapulting gaming‘s most famous icon into his earliest solo spotlight. The setting this round positions within a subterranean sewer maze plagued by pesky critters crawling from drainage pipes below that the brothers set forth exterminating.

Unlike any prior platformers, Mario Bros wraps the single-screen stages into a cylinder enabling enemies to ambush from any side, demanding awareness in all directions rather than just left & right. To dispatch foes including crabs, flies and turtles, players first bump them upside down then kick them offscreen before they recover footing. With smooth play control, endearing sprites and colorful backdrops contrasting the hollow voids below, Mario Bros proved Mario could headline his own hit beyond Donkey Kong. Short and simple it may be, but this proto-platformer secured Mario‘s skyrocketing status for eons to follow.

#2: Q*bert

This isometric platformer sprang onto A2600 in 1983 bringing the zany hopping hero of Q*bert‘s Quest to homes alongside near-identical mechanics as the popular arcade. As the eponymous large-nosed orange fuzzball, players navigate a pyramid of multi-hued cubes to change their colors by hopping diagonally from block to block using the Intellivision-style number pad.

Meanwhile, avoid getting cornered by the pursuing enemies Coily the snake, balls Ugg and Wrongway, and Slick sliding toward you. Just don‘t misstep off the cube pyramid entirely! QBert packs pick-up-and-play accessibility with underlying strategic depth – hop fast before cubes revert or get wedged into dead ends. Arcade-caliber animation and inputs gave this port a smoothness exceeding most A2600 games. Despite audiovisual simplicity vs the arcade, Qbert‘s controls and addictive challenge solidified it among the most replayable A2600 platformers with enduring appeal.

#1: Burgertime

Unseating all challengers for A2600 platforming supremacy rules Data East’s zesty burger-builder BurgerTime. Originally an arcade darling, developer Mattel carried the addictive gameplay, play mechanics, crisp controls and smooth animation nearly intact into this home version from 1982. Playing as chef Peter Pepper, guide your way across stacks of hamburger fixings including buns, patties, lettuce leaves, cheese wedges down ladders while avoiding roving enemy foods Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Pickle, Mr. Egg determined to throttle your recipe.complete each burger fixings stack to finish the meal and progress.

With five ascending difficulty levels and support for the seldom-used second fire button to unleash pepper spray for temporary immobilization, BurgerTime outclasses nearly all A2600 platformers in responsive controls and fluid acrobatics. Compared even to its arcade parent, the vibrant detailed sprites and backgrounds, improbably smooth animation on twitch jumps and climbs, and absence of flickering sprites reflect incredible optimization mastery by Mattel’s programmers. For elevating the technical and creative limits of 2600 platforming to their highest potential peak both then and since, BurgerTime reigns as the undisputed supreme monarch ruling this tasty kingdom!

While dozens of later consoles far surpassed the Atari‘s horsepower to evolve the platforming into today‘s sprawling 3D worlds, never overlook the ingenuity these 7 classics encapsulated to innovate enduring gameplay foundations on very humble hardware. I hope you‘ve enjoyed this nostalgic tour through my picks for the A2600’s pioneering platformer royalty! Let me know your memories of these or other favorites in the comments below!

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References

1. Montfort, N., & Bogost, I. (2009). Racing the beam: The Atari video computer system. MIT press.

2. Gorges, F., & Yamazaki, I. (2016). The Atari 2600 encyclopedia: volume 1. Syzygy Press.

3. https://atariage.com/developer_interviews/david_crane.html

4. https://www.polygon.com/features/2020/2/19/21138254/the-making-of-donkey-kong-nintendo-miyamoto

5. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3938/the_history_of_activision.php