Sunday, February 10, 2013

Atari 2600 Video Game TV Commercials


I recently paid a visit to a local vintage toy store, The House of Fun in Oaklyn, New Jersey, with my 6-year-old son. The store had a huge assortment of toys from the 70s and 80s, from Star Wars to Masters of the Universe to you name it. One small section had a collection of used video games; among them, games for my first video game system, the Atari 2600.

Chances are the Atari 2600 was the first game system anyone whose a member of Generation X owned. It was affordable and had a nearly endless supply of games. Of course, the graphics are Neanderthal compared to the X-Boxes and Playstations of today, but back then, the Atari 2600 was totally rad. See just how rad in the following commercials!

Have you played Atari today?



Even in the earliest days of video games, they were addictive!



Even celebrities got into the act. Pete Rose, Don Knotts, and Pele to name a few.



Jack Black!



Did I mention that a lot of games and accessories were made for the 2600?



I have an Atari 2600 in my attic. I think it's time to blow the dust off of it and give it a try!

2 comments:

FilmFather said...

Biggest mistake I ever made: As a starving 23-year-old at my first job, I sold my Atari 2600 and 28 games to the night watchman for...50 bucks.

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Phillyradiogeek said...

FF: ouch! Fortunately, both the console and the games are pretty easy to find if you want to reclaim them. And there are amateur game makers still making games for the system today!

I recommend checking out www.atariage.com and videogamecritic.com/2600.htm for fun games, reviews, and links about the system.