Here’s a doozy of a sound quiz for you. I have collected thirty sound samples of games made for the Atari 2600 video game console.
Your mission (if you choose to accept it) is to identify the games by the sounds and clues I have given you.
Sound 01
The standard to judge all other Atari 2600 games by. And it even has an easter egg! The winning game sound at the end of the clip is probably my favorite sound effect from the 2600.
Sound 02
A fun game where you can fly around and grab bad guys who are stuck having to get around via the subway. My brother and I used to compete with each other to see who could finish the game the fastest. I think I got mine under a minute, but I can’t remember for sure.
Sound 03
I like the spooky sound effects and the music bits on this game a lot. It’s probably the most nerve-wracking game I have played on the 2600.
Sound 04
I would say that very few 2600 console-owners went out and purchased this game, but paradoxically, most of them played this.
Sound 05
Probably no one will get this one. I can’t remember where we got this game. Maybe we got it used — I don’t remember buying it in a store. It wasn’t made by Atari or the other relatively big game-producers (Activision, Imagic). It’s got pretty crude graphics and sounds, but it’s still fun to play.
Sound 06
This is a lesser-known title, I think. It’s a great game, with nice sound effects, and awesome, awesome music.
Sound 07
This game is a descendant of Space Invaders. It’s much more fun, too.
Sound 08
When Atari 2600 gamers brought this game home, they tasted the bitter disappointment of a poor translation of a popular arcade game to the home console. You can occasionally hear the sounds of this game in TV shows and movies, where it’s used for sound effects when someone plays a videogame. In fact, I just heard it in a TV show a couple months ago. I don’t know what’s so special about the sounds that it gets reused years after the game came out.
Sound 09
A great driving game, and the sound played when you finish a level (at the end of this sound clip) always gives me a jolt of happiness.
Sound 10
Atari tried doing a big fancy contest, and planned a series of games around a fantasy concept. This was the first game in the series (which was later abruptly ended after the second title tanked). This is an awful, awful game, and I’m sorry for purchasing and playing it.
Sound 11
Let’s go from a reviled game to a revered one. I would hope that many people would recognize this game, as it has some very recognizable, pleasant sound effects. There was a twenty minute time limit on this game — I always wondered whether it was possible to win this. I played a sequel of this game on the Commodore 64 which did have a definite ending, and was very fun to play.
Sound 12
A nice flying-and-shooting game, a little similar to the arcade game Defender.
Sound 13
Another interesting variation on Space Invaders — at one point you shoot red bowties! This game has some of my favorite sound effects heard on the Atari 2600.
Sound 14
A relatively obscure game. More swords ‘n sorcery. It’s sort of fun, but don’t cancel any vacation plans to play it.
Sound 15
One of the classics. Addictive, exhilarating and entertaining.
Sound 16
I believe this was designed by the same guy who did Game #15. This is a pretty reviled cartridge among most gamers. If you can stop falling in those damn holes, it really isn’t that bad.
Sound 17
This was a nice translation of an arcade game to the home console. It’s a flying game where you can shoot up, down, left and right from your ship.
Sound 18
Another well-done arcade game translation. The death sound effect (near the end of the sound clip) is really jarring, just as it is in the arcade.
Sound 19
It took me this long to get to a sports game? Yeah, I guess so. Hopefully the sound effects should give a clue as to what sport it is.
Sound 20
Yet another arcade to console translation. Apparently Atari learned from their mistakes made on Game #8 (this game is a sequel to it), as this was done much better.
Sound 21
I regretted getting this arcade game translation. It sucked, and it sucked even more to see a really well-done translation of this game on the ColecoVision.
Sound 22
I’m not sure how many people played this. It was loosely based on a 1960’s science fiction movie. This was one of the most enjoyable games I played on the 2600. It was really great.
Sound 23
I only recently played this on an Atari 2600 emulator. Of course, I had to include it, as it was a designed by a friend of this blog. I played it without first reading the instructions, but I still did reasonably well before dying.
Sound 24
Another obscure game, possibly. The character you move around is a mouth. That’s it — a mouth.
Sound 25
I remember seeing the ads for this on TV when I was a kid. Oh, I wanted this game *so bad*! But I never ended up getting it. It’s kind of like Crazy Climber, with a superhero twist.
Sound 26
This is sort of a Missile Command ripoff, but an enjoyable game nonetheless. It had some great sound effects, too.
Sound 27
No music, no cutesy bleeps — just wall-to-wall punching.
Sound 28
A great, hyper game where you could play with up to four players. Probably the only game using paddles (as opposed to joysticks) that I enjoyed playing.
Sound 29
A nice spaceship game with some decent graphics and sound effects. One nice twist was that when you got shot out of the sky you could still destroy your enemy by piloting yourself into them.
Sound 30
An arcade to home console translation, done relatively well. Still, nothing can hold a candle to the sweet, sweet original arcade game.
UPDATE:
Answers posted!
