my personal favorite was Maze Craze due to the fact that you had a different maze each time, and the variety of different rules you could pic. I didn't own MegaMania but, from what you've shown me it looks like a game I would have played a lot.
Megamania is a fantastic game for sure, but my favorite 2600 game (and a sure contender for the best of all time) is Solaris. It's deep! It's challenging! It looks incredible! It's the 2600 firing on all cylinders, and as a showpiece for the system it just doesn't get any better.
Thank you for defending THE best game on the 2600. When I started building my collection, it was the first game I intentionally sought out. As a kid, I spent hours playing it. Your points about its greatness are spot on, and I have never understood those who deride Megamania while upholding games like Space Invaders by saying that Megamania is repetitive. It is everything but.
So yeah, this is another video that has been "moved" from my other channel to this one. I increased it to 60 FPS, altered the timing of some of the jokes, and did a few other things.
All games are not derivative. Missile Command, for example, was completely original. Megamania was one more entry in the extremely crowded field of slide n shoots. That’s why it never received that attention it perhaps deserves.
Your wife participation was perfect, specially "breaking the 4th wall" when speaking to us about the text she read but knew nothing about the game. She should participate more often, it might help becoming more comfortable with the videos.
I never had Megamania back in the day, but for all the reasons you give, there is no reason why it shouldn't get a GOAT award by those who loved it. And while I personally would have put Phoenix, Space Invaders, and Demon Attack above it in the vertical shooter department, I must confess that it would be more for reasons of nostalgia since Megamania genuinely does offer a greater dimension of gameplay. If you love Megamania, and have access to MAME or the original machine, make sure you also give Astro Blaster a try which offers very similar gameplay, even better than Megamainia IMO, but of course, which had actual arcade machine tech to work with. My personal GOAT award, for what its worth (while ignoring nostalgia), I think would go to Mountain King. This was one of the last (if not the last) cartridge I ever bought for my 2600 before moving on to the Colecovision, but despite its clunky jump control (that once you're used to, isn't too bad), brought forth one of the most original and deep platformers, combining the fantastic use of sound and music clues and cues, platforming skills, collect-the-dot maze runner attributes, both horizontal and vertical scrolling, randomly placed secret treasure hunt, and race-to-the-end mechanics all while remaining surprisingly spooky and mysterious. If you try it though, make sure you read the manual. It's a must.
I was able to do that also. Unlike newer games, there is no pause and resume on the 2600, so my hands would be cramping. Same thing happened on Pac-Man. I got to like 300,000 and my hands gave out. I was never able to get in a zone like that again for Pac-Man.
Another great video, dude! Megamania was one of my favorite games, and I regret selling my Atari 2600 all those years ago. You're inspiring me to want to pick another one of those consoles up just so I can play in this one again, and also have a few others that I absolutely loved playing back then. River Raid, Burgertime, Missile Command, Jr./Ms. Pac-Man, Oink!, Jungle Hunt, Breakout, Space Invaders, Mario Bros., and Demon Attack, just to name a few. Also, not sure if you've ever played Dragonfire, but that was also one of my absolute favorites!
I also love Megamania! I don't really have a favorite Atari 2600 game as I'm always finding new ones, or getting better at ones I've already played! Most of my favorites I enjoy simply for the thrill of pushing my score higher! I personally enjoy Circus Atari, Dig Dug and Star Gunner more than Megamania due to this even though they have much less variation! I don't understand why someone would like a game less for its enemies lol Also, I think you meant Atari 2600 video game console, Not video game cartridge in the description ; )
I enjoy Megamania but Spider Fighter, Demon Attack, and Atlantis are higher on my personal 2600 shooter list. Those games have a lot of atmosphere which is something difficult to pull off on the Atari 2600. I think the 5200 / 8-bit version of Megamania is the definitive version of the game since it easier to tell exactly what the strange objects you are shooting actually represent. As far as Laser Blast goes...I think it is one of the worst games on the 2600. Being able to kamikaze the cannons doesn't make up for how repetitive the game is even by 2600 standards.
Completely agree! Megamania is incredible and one that I still play today. I also love H.E.R.O., Enduro, Atlantis, Cosmic Ark, River Raid, and Commando Raid (and several others), but if I could only pick one game for the 2600, it's Megamania.
It's funny you showed Enduro after talking about Astro Blast. Enduro is also based on another arcade game. It's NOT Pole Position! We had the arcade cabinet for the game Enduro was based on in our family owned restaurant. It played exactly the way Enduro did but the copyright date pre-dated Enduro. I wish I could remember the name of that game!
A friend of mine and I loved playing Megamania back in the day. In fact on the occasions we get together these days, we always pop it in and give it a shot for the nostalgia and for old times sake. H.E.R.O. is still the best Atari 2600 game of all time though.
Great video, and hello to your wife! Megamania is definitely an impressive achievement, but I had a hard time getting into it because of its visual intensity. The enemies wrapping around from one side of the screen to the other makes them feel like an endless hoard, and when they started moving down and crashing into me I was just overwhelmed psychologically! Perhaps that inaccessibility keeps some people from ranking it higher.
I had always thought this to be a version of Sega's 1981 arcade game, "Astro Blaster". Very similar attack patterns and ship designs. The reimagined version from later takes this resemblance even further.
Megamania has a lot of variety and may be the best in that context, but what it's missing in terms of various progression is an ending, i.e. being able to beat the game. Phoenix, for example, has a huge final boss, and when you defeat it you've won. You can of course play through the game again, but you've already beaten it. Megamania is 4 kilobytes, while Phoenix is 8, and it shows.
Agreed, Megamania is an underrated gem. I did not realize how much replayablilty was in this game. The kids today may not be impressed but the vast majority of 2600 games were the same experience every time for every stage. I think the reason it's not ranked higher in those lists is because most people didn't play it deeply enough to get that replayability nuance, and just remembered it as a generic (if well-constructed) space shooter and scroller game. Also, it had a loud, confusing (and frankly off-putting) TV commercial with a rock band that had little if anything to do with space combat. I myself won't call it the best 2600 game, but that's going to vary for everybody. Not everyone likes the same games. My two picks are Adventure (because it was arguably the first multi-screen adventure/puzzle game that itself had massive replayability value) and Combat! (but only with two players. Single player was kind of a drag). Honorable mention goes to Popeye, which I think belongs in at least the top 10. The graphics were lousy, yes, but the fact is, the game captured every single mechanic of the arcade.
I’m an avid gamer….. First games I ever played were on the Atari 800 and the TI 99/4A. I grew up playing Atrai, NES, etc. and loved those games, however, it’s hard to go back to them now. Every now and again I’ll put on some retro game like this for a little nostalgia kick or to kill some time, but most of these games don’t hold up and require to much attention if you want to learn them and get far (without guides because that’s just sacrilegious). Being a kid and only having a few games I wouldn’t mind spending hours on a game that was just ok, playing the first few levels over and over again until they were mastered and you could move onto mastering the next, eventually beating the game. Now, being 42 with a wife, two kids and a big boy job, the time I have for gaming is limited. I tend to lean towards either competitive multiplayer games where I have a short matches with a little lobby break in between each, or a single player story driven game that doesn’t exceed the 20 hour gameplay mark to complete. Even those are hard to get into because by the time I can sit down to game I’m too tired to get invested in any kind of story……. Ehhh….. I’m rambling now and am done using the bathroom…… time to wipe and be on my way……
As someone close to your age (39) with two toddlers and a teenager, I feel you. I just wanted to say this to you because we’re in a similar boat. I bought a Steam Deck. Holy shit, it’s been a great purchase. I’ve been playing through the Metroid series again. I got stuck on Dread awhile back and took a break. I decided to replay them all before I go back and restart. I’ve played Zero Mission, Super Metroid, Fusion, AM2R (amazing fan made Metroid 2 remake), Samus Returns, Prime, and now I’m on Prime 2. I’m gonna finish that and move to 3 before I go back to the switch to play Dread. I’m also playing Uncharted 4 and Fallout 4. I would have NEVER had the chance to do all of this. It has been the single greatest gaming device I have ever purchased. Buy one. Play it in your downtime. Play it while your wife watches her shows. Play it while you wait at the doctor’s office. It’s there and you can practically play anything that was released from the 70s to now. I even dock it when I can and play Counter Strike Source (I’m old. That’s the one I love). I’ve also been playing Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 with an arcade stick. I literally can’t believe what all I can do with it. I absolutely love it. A lot of people have been playing the new Zelda on if, but I play my switch games on the switch. Take care, fellow old man. :p
@@TehOneTrewIdjut Yeah man, I do want a Steam Deck. I’m not big into computer gaming, but that system seems more like a handheld console than a computer which is very enticing to me. What’s funny is that my Steam collection mainly consists of 90’s point and click adventure games that I loved back in the day, or ones I always wanted to play but never did. It would be like having a sports car and only driving 25mph. But I love those games, especially the ones with FMV. At one point I bought the whole Tex Murphy series for just a few bucks (Under a Killing Moon is super nostalgic for me….. love that game). I have a bunch more like Phantasmagoria, 7th Guest, 11th Hour and Leisure Suit Larry: Land of the Lounge Lizards to name a few. I have some newer adventure games for it too, and 2 “older” FPS games (the two Left 4 Dead games). I will definitely pick one up at some point. Playing Under a Killing Moon on the go like that sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing buddy! Enjoy your family time and keep gaming. It’s a great escape after a long day of work and taking care of the family. What’s even better is I do a Friday game night with my kids where I share my love of gaming with them. They love Super Mario World and some other retro games, but I also picked up games like Paw Patrol, Spirit and My Life: Pet Vet that we enjoy together. We’re actually working on getting those games Platinumed (I mainly play on PlayStation systems). Cheers 🍻!
Megamania is one of the 3 or 4 Atari 2600 games that I will still go back and play. I have to give a shout out to Warlords, an awesome game to play couch co-op with friends.
I like Megamania. As a kid, I thought it was a knockoff of Star Trek and was supposed to be the Enterprise flying through weird alien worlds like one of those original series episodes where they are trapped in a weird alternative dimension or something. Megamania does have a lot of variety in its levels. Not just for a 2600 game, but for SHUMPs in general. There are ship shooter games for much newer systems that don't have this much variety in them. I have a WiiU. I may have to try to find that Wii version of the game. Looks cool.
Love the video. Love the wifey cameo. That was funny. I don't really care for Megamania. It's too fast and I don't like the enemy mechanics. I don't think changing the graphics to something more definitively alien would help either. I like Space Invaders better because I can start a game on easy, and play that one game for much longer than I can Megamania. You have good info in your videos.
Megamania was one of my favorite games on the Atari 2600. I would have to rank River Raid first, followed by Pitfall, Kaboom, Pac-Man and Megamania. My sleeper fun game on the 2600 is Stampede.
Megamania is definitely one of my favorite VCS games. It's always one of the first carts I grab when firing up the system. I love the look on your wife's face after she mentions Doki Doki Panic. Gives the sense that she's thinking "my work here is done". 😈 Edit: I forgot to mention that I always have thought the ship looked more like a Klingon D-7. 🖖
the games I play most are Pole Position, Demon Attack, Pitfall, Atlantis, Beam Rider, River Raid, Frostbite, Chopper Command, Yars Revenge and Megamania of course. Probably a couple others but these are just so pick up and play and enjoy that I always play them. Hero isn't a game I especially enjoy while it is evidently well designed and excellent technically. Keystone Kapers is a bloody marvel but I find it's a slow game to get to point that it then begins to challenging and then you have been playing for ages- is there a difficulty option for this one. Maybe I'm missing something with these Mega mania is simply on the wrong side of challenge for a lot of folk which is why people don't have as much fun with it. Beam Rider for example is more doable but can ramp up quite a bit and I'd argue it's the superior game in terms of the type of gymnastics required in formulating on the fly strategy. Megamania too has this but not to the same extent I would say. I think the argument that there are lots of variants more than any other isn't necessarily a strong case because the nature of Megamania is more high level focus like Say Atlantis when you get to be very good at that. I'd be willing to bet that Atlantis is on the wrong side of challenge too for many that play that. Sometimes I like a more frenzy based experience but then other times that level of play doesn't feel like a good time. When you are good enough at something especially games then we enjoy them more generally and that's more likely why it is easy for you to sing such high praise for Megamania but most people don't tend to get to a high enough skill level to enjoy it which is likely the biggest reason it's not put into their top 5. Atlantis another game that can destroy players once at a certain point but it's a joy if you have the focus to play it well because you're at a level of skill that most can't reach
This has always been one of my favorite games. It really doesn’t get the love it deserves. Top three for me and that’s just from memory nice I haven’t had the chance to ply it since I was a kid and really need too. Back then it was always about trying to beat your high score, and I’m not saying that wasn’t the case with Megamania, but it was also about seeing what the next stage was like and how different it is. I wonder how well I would do now compared to how I did when I was a kid. Excellent video. Thanks for the memories.
Yay! He's back, missed seeing your videos, I saw the last one you recently came out with too. These are great. I never grew up with those, my first system was NES, but that game looks very innovative for the Atari, with all the points you made and such. Very interesting!
@@sirhcman Ah ok, been a bit since I've seen it then. I just thought he really liked that game since I know he talked about it before. And now it makes sense. lol Thanks for clearing that up!
I've played countless hours of not only 2600 Megamania, but also A8/5200 Megamania over the years. I had a great time watching this (with Panzer Dragoon music in the bg too). This video brings the hammers of justice on behalf of a great game. (I like River Raid a bit more).
Megamania is definitely one of the better shooters. As far as your variance progression variable... HERO and Crystal Castles just keep getting harder with new surprises at each level. Those are two of the top games for me when comes to enticing the player to "level-up".
I grew up with 6th and 7th gen systems, so I'm very young for Atari, and when I first got the system and a box full of games years ago, I hadn't heard of most of them except Pitfall and the arcade ports. This one became my favorite very quickly tho, so I was stoked you picked this one for the vid!! And surprised because I really haven't heard much talk about it!
You make a pretty good case for Megamania here, but I am still not a huge fan. Maybe it's because it's not one of the games I actually owned as a kid so I didn't get to play it that often, but I think it's more because by the time it came out there were just *so many* Space Invaders variant games like this on the system that it got lost in the mix. (Probably also not great that Activision released both this and Spider Fighter so close together, and they kind of just got lumped together in my mind.) I don't think it's a bad game, just not one I can get super interested in playing now. Honestly even among the 2600 games I've always put in my top 10 lists, very few are that engaging to me anymore. I never seem to get tired of playing Keystone Kapers though, or, strangely enough… Bowling.
Great video again man. Adding the wife was genius. Her comments were funny and being in the video is even better. Thanks for the video and letting me know about mega mania. Never played it
What what a great video! I never heard of this title back in theday. If l had, then l'm SURE it would have competed for my attention along with Missle Command. This is one of the most impressive VCS games l've now seen!
One of the reason space invaders rank so high is all the different game modes where many of them actually provides really different and good gameplay Like the mode where the enemies are invisible and only briefly becomes visible when you hit one of them is such a great challenge compared to the normal mode
I really enjoyed watching this video, especially the moment when you had a perfect run of wiping out the bugs without a miss. That was one of my favorite things to do when I played it, so it brought back memories. Megamania has always been one of my favorites as well. I think another reason that some people might not like it as much, is that it can be really hard until you learn the patterns to beat the cookies, dice and irons. Some people shy away from a challenge, others take it as a privilege to have the opportunity to figure something out, because when you do it becomes an even more rewarding experience. The other top shooters for the 2600 like Space Invaders, Demon Attack and Phoenix, require more traditional shooter skills, whereas, as you mentioned, there is an extra layer to Megamania in terms of its rhythm and movement. It isn't just the shooting that is enjoyable here, but the weaving through the enemies while shooting. Its a unique quality to the game which must have come from the "fine tuning" that Cartwright mentioned when talking about why the game was so successful. He deliberately coded in that rhythm and those extra waves of variety, and that effort paid off in a superior game experience. An excellent argument for a superb game. One of my favorites as well. Thanks for putting in the hard work and making a terrific video, I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of your clips!
As a connoisseur of the classics, i 100% agree with your assessment of the quality of this game. Despite the limitations of that system, this utilized the concept of "playability" to the max. You could take a photograph of your screen and submit it to Activision to be certified as a "Megamaniac" if you achieved a certain high score, and recieve a patch! I have mine to this day, and despite receiving it when I was 9 years old, I am as proud of it as I am of my high school and college diplomas.
As I was watching the intro, you showed a shot of my two favorite games stacked on top of each other; HERO and Megamania. I played both of these games into the ground…and yes, your point of the variance is a key reason. But the sounds and visuals of megamania was hypnotizing.
Yes! I never understand why this isn't on every top 10 list!! Amazing design, smooth play, satisfying sounds, easy to play, yet challenging, great replay value. Super fun!!
I picked up Megamania at a fleamarket for 3 bucks popped it in and wondered why no one talks about it. Now here we are XD. Space invaders is DEAD BORING imo.
This is exactly the kind of argument I appreciate when reviewing a retro video game. The Atari 2600 is no doubt the console for us "old nerds" because that was all we had to play with, before NES. Game replay-ability is an outstanding trait to have on a cart from a console that is so old, or any console for that matter. Your selection is valid, and I recall this game being tough. Like many Atari games, it gets a few tries before accomplishing something, or getting frustrated, it gets ejected in favor of something else. Depends on how much fun that process is. Activision games always seemed to be quite good. One of my favorite games, one that i keep going back to (and is playable on any computer thanks to emulation on the web), is "Dark Cavern". In my opinion, this game has positives and negatives. The positive: It gets the heart rate moving. It requires precision, planning, and strategy. Once you find the rhythm, the pattern, you will start getting points, and remain in a sustainable position to keep playing, and scoring highly. As game play continues, difficulty increases. I recall as a kid playing this, the joystick would be sweaty from intense gameplay. Now I just use the keyboard, and one better not mess it up! The negatives: It gets repetitive after awhile. Novices get destroyed quickly. Mistakes are punished, and the board/playfield stays the same the entire game. I wish it would change, and get you to a new one to try to increase your skill. After you've gotten a high score from a good run, you might not want to play it for awhile. I say, give it a shot. It's definitely my go-to for Atari nostalgia that doesn't need a large commitment of time. Peace!
I owned and played that game... fun yes... #1 overall? No... no way... heck, I might even argue one of the best games was one of the earliest and most simple... Combat... spent more hours on that playing friends than probably any other game.
Two of my favorite games on the intellivision that were super repetitive but always kept my interest were night stalker and shark shark. I'm not sure what they did to keep my interest as this game did for you, but certain games just hit right to keep you captivated and coming back.
Somewhere I have a few ancient spiral notebooks. In the notebook are dates and scores representing my own personal bests (and eventually my neighbors’ as well). A few games have only one or two entries, some have several columns on a page. Megamania has two entire pages with a couple columns on each page. And an ENTIRE separate notebook… Those cookies get fast, but eventually the speed caps out if I recall and the fuel actually becomes a bigger issue but if you can get to that point then your score ends due to mom hollering or your hand cramping….
i loved megamania too. more than space invaders. but then again i also prefer 2600 pac-man to the arcade version and that's basically a video heresy punishable by death
I definitely like Megamania, but to me, it's not even the best Activision game on the 2600, to say nothing about the very best game on the system full stop. My favorite Activision game is Keystone Kapers, and my all-time favorite on the console is Yars' Revenge. I know that's an obvious pick, but that's because it's irresistible to play.
I am from 1981 and got a atari 2600jr when i was 5 or 6. Got Megamania and Criminal Pursuit. Till this day, Megamania is my number 1 favourite game. I am pleased to see i am not the only one thinks the game is underrated and great to play. I still play it from time to time.
Holyty crap! This is the right answer! My favorite game too! I actually think it is fair to have 2 favorites, one Paddle, one joystick, as they are so different. So Megamania, and Kaboom! for best padle game
Thank you! Megamania doesn't get nearly enough love. It's pretty common for people to leave it out of their Best 2600 Games list, and that's just insane. Is it the absolute very best? I'm not ready to say for sure, but it's certainly in the running. Where I think it falls significantly short of other games like Seaquest and Demon Attack is that it's challenging enough that your play sessions end up being shorter, and you may not have that same feeling of "getting into the zone". But it makes up for that with interesting variation. Demon Attack also benefits from having a really cool look/vibe to it. I actually agree with the people who think it would be cooler if you were fighting spaceships in Megamania rather than random weird objects, and that doesn't help its vibe, but it's a relatively minor quibble with a game that plays very well. But putting Space Invaders above Megamania for any reason other than historical significance is insane. There's a reason I always chose Gorf over Space Invaders in the arcade: it switched things up, giving you a handful of games in one, rather than just the same thing over and over, and Megamania has even more stages.
Megamania era o jogo que mais me viciava no atari 2600 quando eu era criança. Eu e minhas irmãs competiamos para ver quem jogava melhor. É um jogo fantástico e pouco lembrado quando se fala em Atari 2600. Concordo com tudo que você falou sobre os níveis de dificuldade crescentes, mudanças de padrões e velocidades. Os programadores fizeram o melhor que podiam com os poucos recursos computacionais disponíveis na época. Uma obra prima pouco lembrada.
Wow my friend, I was guessing what game after the intro and based on my gameplay over the years, if 53 and was lucky to have a lot of games built up over 7-8 years. I nailed it megamania. I still play it today the gameplay is perfect and unique to the Atari.
![Jack Harlow - Hello Miss Johnson [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q86_nlRoIGw/mqdefault.jpg)
If you are wondering what the rest of my favorite 2600 games are, see my Top 10: ruclips.net/video/XVgKqaPD0K4/видео.html
my personal favorite was Maze Craze due to the fact that you had a different maze each time, and the variety of different rules you could pic. I didn't own MegaMania but, from what you've shown me it looks like a game I would have played a lot.
Megamania is a fantastic game for sure, but my favorite 2600 game (and a sure contender for the best of all time) is Solaris. It's deep! It's challenging! It looks incredible! It's the 2600 firing on all cylinders, and as a showpiece for the system it just doesn't get any better.
Thank you for defending THE best game on the 2600. When I started building my collection, it was the first game I intentionally sought out. As a kid, I spent hours playing it. Your points about its greatness are spot on, and I have never understood those who deride Megamania while upholding games like Space Invaders by saying that Megamania is repetitive. It is everything but.
So yeah, this is another video that has been "moved" from my other channel to this one. I increased it to 60 FPS, altered the timing of some of the jokes, and did a few other things.
wut no Oyua?
You must have missed it.
What a great video. I need to play MEGAMANIA!
Your wife's honest support is exactly how my wife would chime in to help me. That was a nice touch.
All games are not derivative. Missile Command, for example, was completely original. Megamania was one more entry in the extremely crowded field of slide n shoots. That’s why it never received that attention it perhaps deserves.
Your wife participation was perfect, specially "breaking the 4th wall" when speaking to us about the text she read but knew nothing about the game. She should participate more often, it might help becoming more comfortable with the videos.
Also the fact that that in itself is "VP" was pretty clever
*especially (different meaning)
*often. It (to fix your comma splice run-on)
Her voice is so warm too. I absolutely loved hearing her talk.
My love of Astro Blaster just adds to my love of Megamania!
I never had Megamania back in the day, but for all the reasons you give, there is no reason why it shouldn't get a GOAT award by those who loved it. And while I personally would have put Phoenix, Space Invaders, and Demon Attack above it in the vertical shooter department, I must confess that it would be more for reasons of nostalgia since Megamania genuinely does offer a greater dimension of gameplay. If you love Megamania, and have access to MAME or the original machine, make sure you also give Astro Blaster a try which offers very similar gameplay, even better than Megamainia IMO, but of course, which had actual arcade machine tech to work with.
My personal GOAT award, for what its worth (while ignoring nostalgia), I think would go to Mountain King. This was one of the last (if not the last) cartridge I ever bought for my 2600 before moving on to the Colecovision, but despite its clunky jump control (that once you're used to, isn't too bad), brought forth one of the most original and deep platformers, combining the fantastic use of sound and music clues and cues, platforming skills, collect-the-dot maze runner attributes, both horizontal and vertical scrolling, randomly placed secret treasure hunt, and race-to-the-end mechanics all while remaining surprisingly spooky and mysterious. If you try it though, make sure you read the manual. It's a must.
Star Raiders. It was the one game Atari had that Colecovision couldn't beat.
My mom was crazy good at megamania. Million points was the norm for her.
I was able to do that also. Unlike newer games, there is no pause and resume on the 2600, so my hands would be cramping. Same thing happened on Pac-Man. I got to like 300,000 and my hands gave out. I was never able to get in a zone like that again for Pac-Man.
Another great video, dude! Megamania was one of my favorite games, and I regret selling my Atari 2600 all those years ago. You're inspiring me to want to pick another one of those consoles up just so I can play in this one again, and also have a few others that I absolutely loved playing back then. River Raid, Burgertime, Missile Command, Jr./Ms. Pac-Man, Oink!, Jungle Hunt, Breakout, Space Invaders, Mario Bros., and Demon Attack, just to name a few. Also, not sure if you've ever played Dragonfire, but that was also one of my absolute favorites!
I also love Megamania! I don't really have a favorite Atari 2600 game as I'm always finding new ones, or getting better at ones I've already played! Most of my favorites I enjoy simply for the thrill of pushing my score higher! I personally enjoy Circus Atari, Dig Dug and Star Gunner more than Megamania due to this even though they have much less variation! I don't understand why someone would like a game less for its enemies lol Also, I think you meant Atari 2600 video game console, Not video game cartridge in the description ; )
I enjoy Megamania but Spider Fighter, Demon Attack, and Atlantis are higher on my personal 2600 shooter list. Those games have a lot of atmosphere which is something difficult to pull off on the Atari 2600. I think the 5200 / 8-bit version of Megamania is the definitive version of the game since it easier to tell exactly what the strange objects you are shooting actually represent. As far as Laser Blast goes...I think it is one of the worst games on the 2600. Being able to kamikaze the cannons doesn't make up for how repetitive the game is even by 2600 standards.
I have to admit, i didn't see it coming - 'Megamania'. Good video explaining why.
I've never played Megamania, but you made a strong case for it. I'll have to check it out. Great video!
Yes, Atari video!!!
Thank you for the good videos. This is my favorite channel. Simple and to the point. Keep up the good work !
MEGAMANIA was and still is awesome to play to this day... Love your channel, dude!!!
Completely agree! Megamania is incredible and one that I still play today. I also love H.E.R.O., Enduro, Atlantis, Cosmic Ark, River Raid, and Commando Raid (and several others), but if I could only pick one game for the 2600, it's Megamania.
It's funny you showed Enduro after talking about Astro Blast. Enduro is also based on another arcade game. It's NOT Pole Position! We had the arcade cabinet for the game Enduro was based on in our family owned restaurant. It played exactly the way Enduro did but the copyright date pre-dated Enduro.
I wish I could remember the name of that game!
A friend of mine and I loved playing Megamania back in the day. In fact on the occasions we get together these days, we always pop it in and give it a shot for the nostalgia and for old times sake. H.E.R.O. is still the best Atari 2600 game of all time though.
Great video, and hello to your wife! Megamania is definitely an impressive achievement, but I had a hard time getting into it because of its visual intensity. The enemies wrapping around from one side of the screen to the other makes them feel like an endless hoard, and when they started moving down and crashing into me I was just overwhelmed psychologically! Perhaps that inaccessibility keeps some people from ranking it higher.
I have a number of Atari 2600 cartridge's My top 5 Go-to games are...
Midnight Magic .
Frostbite .
Keystone Kapers.
Spider fighter.
Galaxian .
I had always thought this to be a version of Sega's 1981 arcade game, "Astro Blaster". Very similar attack patterns and ship designs. The reimagined version from later takes this resemblance even further.
Agreed!! This game is the best, hands down!! You can replay it numerous times and never get tired of it.
Megamania has a lot of variety and may be the best in that context, but what it's missing in terms of various progression is an ending, i.e. being able to beat the game. Phoenix, for example, has a huge final boss, and when you defeat it you've won. You can of course play through the game again, but you've already beaten it. Megamania is 4 kilobytes, while Phoenix is 8, and it shows.
Agreed, Megamania is an underrated gem. I did not realize how much replayablilty was in this game. The kids today may not be impressed but the vast majority of 2600 games were the same experience every time for every stage.
I think the reason it's not ranked higher in those lists is because most people didn't play it deeply enough to get that replayability nuance, and just remembered it as a generic (if well-constructed) space shooter and scroller game. Also, it had a loud, confusing (and frankly off-putting) TV commercial with a rock band that had little if anything to do with space combat.
I myself won't call it the best 2600 game, but that's going to vary for everybody. Not everyone likes the same games. My two picks are Adventure (because it was arguably the first multi-screen adventure/puzzle game that itself had massive replayability value) and Combat! (but only with two players. Single player was kind of a drag).
Honorable mention goes to Popeye, which I think belongs in at least the top 10. The graphics were lousy, yes, but the fact is, the game captured every single mechanic of the arcade.
I got this game with my atari 7800, and I would agree it is definitely one of my favorites, especially with the “replay value” compared to other games
I’m an avid gamer….. First games I ever played were on the Atari 800 and the TI 99/4A. I grew up playing Atrai, NES, etc. and loved those games, however, it’s hard to go back to them now. Every now and again I’ll put on some retro game like this for a little nostalgia kick or to kill some time, but most of these games don’t hold up and require to much attention if you want to learn them and get far (without guides because that’s just sacrilegious). Being a kid and only having a few games I wouldn’t mind spending hours on a game that was just ok, playing the first few levels over and over again until they were mastered and you could move onto mastering the next, eventually beating the game. Now, being 42 with a wife, two kids and a big boy job, the time I have for gaming is limited. I tend to lean towards either competitive multiplayer games where I have a short matches with a little lobby break in between each, or a single player story driven game that doesn’t exceed the 20 hour gameplay mark to complete. Even those are hard to get into because by the time I can sit down to game I’m too tired to get invested in any kind of story……. Ehhh….. I’m rambling now and am done using the bathroom…… time to wipe and be on my way……
As someone close to your age (39) with two toddlers and a teenager, I feel you.
I just wanted to say this to you because we’re in a similar boat.
I bought a Steam Deck. Holy shit, it’s been a great purchase. I’ve been playing through the Metroid series again. I got stuck on Dread awhile back and took a break. I decided to replay them all before I go back and restart. I’ve played Zero Mission, Super Metroid, Fusion, AM2R (amazing fan made Metroid 2 remake), Samus Returns, Prime, and now I’m on Prime 2.
I’m gonna finish that and move to 3 before I go back to the switch to play Dread.
I’m also playing Uncharted 4 and Fallout 4.
I would have NEVER had the chance to do all of this.
It has been the single greatest gaming device I have ever purchased.
Buy one. Play it in your downtime.
Play it while your wife watches her shows. Play it while you wait at the doctor’s office.
It’s there and you can practically play anything that was released from the 70s to now.
I even dock it when I can and play Counter Strike Source (I’m old. That’s the one I love). I’ve also been playing Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 with an arcade stick.
I literally can’t believe what all I can do with it. I absolutely love it.
A lot of people have been playing the new Zelda on if, but I play my switch games on the switch.
Take care, fellow old man. :p
@@TehOneTrewIdjut Yeah man, I do want a Steam Deck. I’m not big into computer gaming, but that system seems more like a handheld console than a computer which is very enticing to me. What’s funny is that my Steam collection mainly consists of 90’s point and click adventure games that I loved back in the day, or ones I always wanted to play but never did. It would be like having a sports car and only driving 25mph. But I love those games, especially the ones with FMV. At one point I bought the whole Tex Murphy series for just a few bucks (Under a Killing Moon is super nostalgic for me….. love that game). I have a bunch more like Phantasmagoria, 7th Guest, 11th Hour and Leisure Suit Larry: Land of the Lounge Lizards to name a few. I have some newer adventure games for it too, and 2 “older” FPS games (the two Left 4 Dead games). I will definitely pick one up at some point. Playing Under a Killing Moon on the go like that sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing buddy! Enjoy your family time and keep gaming. It’s a great escape after a long day of work and taking care of the family. What’s even better is I do a Friday game night with my kids where I share my love of gaming with them. They love Super Mario World and some other retro games, but I also picked up games like Paw Patrol, Spirit and My Life: Pet Vet that we enjoy together. We’re actually working on getting those games Platinumed (I mainly play on PlayStation systems).
Cheers 🍻!
Megamania is one of the 3 or 4 Atari 2600 games that I will still go back and play. I have to give a shout out to Warlords, an awesome game to play couch co-op with friends.
With Warlords you need multiple working paddles tho
I really liked Cosmic Creeps, you're the first person I've seen to have a copy. Honestly, you can't go wrong with most Activision games.
Yeah, an Activision logo on the back of a 2600 cartridge pretty much said quality.
I always come back to either Megamania or Demon Attack.
HAHAHA! I loved the random voiceover and cameo from your wife. She seems funny. If she's willing, please consider including her more.
I will honor this request.
Not only is Megamania a great game, it has one hell of a commercial, too.
I like Megamania. As a kid, I thought it was a knockoff of Star Trek and was supposed to be the Enterprise flying through weird alien worlds like one of those original series episodes where they are trapped in a weird alternative dimension or something. Megamania does have a lot of variety in its levels. Not just for a 2600 game, but for SHUMPs in general. There are ship shooter games for much newer systems that don't have this much variety in them.
I have a WiiU. I may have to try to find that Wii version of the game. Looks cool.
Love the video. Love the wifey cameo. That was funny. I don't really care for Megamania. It's too fast and I don't like the enemy mechanics. I don't think changing the graphics to something more definitively alien would help either. I like Space Invaders better because I can start a game on easy, and play that one game for much longer than I can Megamania. You have good info in your videos.
Megamania was one of my favorite games on the Atari 2600. I would have to rank River Raid first, followed by Pitfall, Kaboom, Pac-Man and Megamania. My sleeper fun game on the 2600 is Stampede.
Megamania is definitely one of my favorite VCS games. It's always one of the first carts I grab when firing up the system.
I love the look on your wife's face after she mentions Doki Doki Panic. Gives the sense that she's thinking "my work here is done". 😈
Edit: I forgot to mention that I always have thought the ship looked more like a Klingon D-7. 🖖
Heck yeah, Megamania!!
Was my favorite game as a kid when i had a the 2600.
the games I play most are Pole Position, Demon Attack, Pitfall, Atlantis, Beam Rider, River Raid, Frostbite, Chopper Command, Yars Revenge and Megamania of course. Probably a couple others but these are just so pick up and play and enjoy that I always play them. Hero isn't a game I especially enjoy while it is evidently well designed and excellent technically. Keystone Kapers is a bloody marvel but I find it's a slow game to get to point that it then begins to challenging and then you have been playing for ages- is there a difficulty option for this one. Maybe I'm missing something with these
Mega mania is simply on the wrong side of challenge for a lot of folk which is why people don't have as much fun with it. Beam Rider for example is more doable but can ramp up quite a bit and I'd argue it's the superior game in terms of the type of gymnastics required in formulating on the fly strategy. Megamania too has this but not to the same extent I would say. I think the argument that there are lots of variants more than any other isn't necessarily a strong case because the nature of Megamania is more high level focus like Say Atlantis when you get to be very good at that. I'd be willing to bet that Atlantis is on the wrong side of challenge too for many that play that. Sometimes I like a more frenzy based experience but then other times that level of play doesn't feel like a good time. When you are good enough at something especially games then we enjoy them more generally and that's more likely why it is easy for you to sing such high praise for Megamania but most people don't tend to get to a high enough skill level to enjoy it which is likely the biggest reason it's not put into their top 5. Atlantis another game that can destroy players once at a certain point but it's a joy if you have the focus to play it well because you're at a level of skill that most can't reach
This has always been one of my favorite games. It really doesn’t get the love it deserves. Top three for me and that’s just from memory nice I haven’t had the chance to ply it since I was a kid and really need too.
Back then it was always about trying to beat your high score, and I’m not saying that wasn’t the case with Megamania, but it was also about seeing what the next stage was like and how different it is. I wonder how well I would do now compared to how I did when I was a kid.
Excellent video. Thanks for the memories.
You're making me want to play this game. It looks really good. Thank you for making a video about it.
Fantastic vid. Really enjoyed your style, and really get a kick out of the way you and your wife work together, was really fun to watch. Subscribed.
Yay! He's back, missed seeing your videos, I saw the last one you recently came out with too. These are great. I never grew up with those, my first system was NES, but that game looks very innovative for the Atari, with all the points you made and such. Very interesting!
This video is a repost.
@@sirhcman Ah ok, been a bit since I've seen it then. I just thought he really liked that game since I know he talked about it before. And now it makes sense. lol Thanks for clearing that up!
This is the game I always tell people about when it comes to the Atari 2600. I still play this from time to time.
Megamania a awesome game but it reminds me of the arcade game Astro Blaster of 1982
Dude you are correct... I totally love this game...Great video...
I've played countless hours of not only 2600 Megamania, but also A8/5200 Megamania over the years. I had a great time watching this (with Panzer Dragoon music in the bg too). This video brings the hammers of justice on behalf of a great game. (I like River Raid a bit more).
Megamania is definitely one of the better shooters. As far as your variance progression variable... HERO and Crystal Castles just keep getting harder with new surprises at each level. Those are two of the top games for me when comes to enticing the player to "level-up".
I grew up with 6th and 7th gen systems, so I'm very young for Atari, and when I first got the system and a box full of games years ago, I hadn't heard of most of them except Pitfall and the arcade ports. This one became my favorite very quickly tho, so I was stoked you picked this one for the vid!! And surprised because I really haven't heard much talk about it!
You make a pretty good case for Megamania here, but I am still not a huge fan. Maybe it's because it's not one of the games I actually owned as a kid so I didn't get to play it that often, but I think it's more because by the time it came out there were just *so many* Space Invaders variant games like this on the system that it got lost in the mix. (Probably also not great that Activision released both this and Spider Fighter so close together, and they kind of just got lumped together in my mind.) I don't think it's a bad game, just not one I can get super interested in playing now. Honestly even among the 2600 games I've always put in my top 10 lists, very few are that engaging to me anymore. I never seem to get tired of playing Keystone Kapers though, or, strangely enough… Bowling.
megamania design was quite ahead of its time.
Great video again man. Adding the wife was genius. Her comments were funny and being in the video is even better. Thanks for the video and letting me know about mega mania. Never played it
What what a great video! I never heard of this title back in theday. If l had, then l'm SURE it would have competed for my attention along with Missle Command. This is one of the most impressive VCS games l've now seen!
Megamania is totally addictive. I would put it against Keystone Kapers and Pitfall II in competition for top three best Atari games.
What a great video. That is a fantastic game! I have played it a bunch and it gets super hard farther in! I love the 2600 coverage!
Your accurate description of Adventure was exactly how I described the game until my mid 20s.
One of the reason space invaders rank so high is all the different game modes where many of them actually provides really different and good gameplay
Like the mode where the enemies are invisible and only briefly becomes visible when you hit one of them is such a great challenge compared to the normal mode
Activision made many of my favorite Atari 2600 games.
I agree, MegaMania is a highly underrated game. As a kid, I found myself going back to it again and again.
I really enjoyed watching this video, especially the moment when you had a perfect run of wiping out the bugs without a miss. That was one of my favorite things to do when I played it, so it brought back memories. Megamania has always been one of my favorites as well. I think another reason that some people might not like it as much, is that it can be really hard until you learn the patterns to beat the cookies, dice and irons.
Some people shy away from a challenge, others take it as a privilege to have the opportunity to figure something out, because when you do it becomes an even more rewarding experience. The other top shooters for the 2600 like Space Invaders, Demon Attack and Phoenix, require more traditional shooter skills, whereas, as you mentioned, there is an extra layer to Megamania in terms of its rhythm and movement.
It isn't just the shooting that is enjoyable here, but the weaving through the enemies while shooting. Its a unique quality to the game which must have come from the "fine tuning" that Cartwright mentioned when talking about why the game was so successful. He deliberately coded in that rhythm and those extra waves of variety, and that effort paid off in a superior game experience.
An excellent argument for a superb game. One of my favorites as well. Thanks for putting in the hard work and making a terrific video, I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of your clips!
Damn that's crazy man. Megamania is my favorite 2600 game as well.
As a connoisseur of the classics, i 100% agree with your assessment of the quality of this game. Despite the limitations of that system, this utilized the concept of "playability" to the max. You could take a photograph of your screen and submit it to Activision to be certified as a "Megamaniac" if you achieved a certain high score, and recieve a patch! I have mine to this day, and despite receiving it when I was 9 years old, I am as proud of it as I am of my high school and college diplomas.
It is probably Fast Food for me. Idk why i like it so much, its just addiciting.
As I was watching the intro, you showed a shot of my two favorite games stacked on top of each other; HERO and Megamania. I played both of these games into the ground…and yes, your point of the variance is a key reason. But the sounds and visuals of megamania was hypnotizing.
I just discovered your channel and I love it! I hope your channel takes off and you get alot more subscribers you deserve it!
Yes! I never understand why this isn't on every top 10 list!! Amazing design, smooth play, satisfying sounds, easy to play, yet challenging, great replay value. Super fun!!
7:08 - Yes!!! It's like a rhythm game. The precise controls are key, but the sharp, crisp sounds help too.
Great game! I also love the commercial, which features an original song by Fee Waybill of The Tubes, who is also also seen in rotoscoped animation!
I picked up Megamania at a fleamarket for 3 bucks popped it in and wondered why no one talks about it. Now here we are XD. Space invaders is DEAD BORING imo.
This game is HARD! My personal favorite is Dig Dug, Pole Position, or Mario Bros.
Good recomendation with Megamania. I'll check that one but a little concerned about the shot movement being so different.
This is exactly the kind of argument I appreciate when reviewing a retro video game. The Atari 2600 is no doubt the console for us "old nerds" because that was all we had to play with, before NES. Game replay-ability is an outstanding trait to have on a cart from a console that is so old, or any console for that matter. Your selection is valid, and I recall this game being tough. Like many Atari games, it gets a few tries before accomplishing something, or getting frustrated, it gets ejected in favor of something else. Depends on how much fun that process is. Activision games always seemed to be quite good.
One of my favorite games, one that i keep going back to (and is playable on any computer thanks to emulation on the web), is "Dark Cavern". In my opinion, this game has positives and negatives. The positive: It gets the heart rate moving. It requires precision, planning, and strategy. Once you find the rhythm, the pattern, you will start getting points, and remain in a sustainable position to keep playing, and scoring highly. As game play continues, difficulty increases. I recall as a kid playing this, the joystick would be sweaty from intense gameplay. Now I just use the keyboard, and one better not mess it up!
The negatives: It gets repetitive after awhile. Novices get destroyed quickly. Mistakes are punished, and the board/playfield stays the same the entire game. I wish it would change, and get you to a new one to try to increase your skill. After you've gotten a high score from a good run, you might not want to play it for awhile.
I say, give it a shot. It's definitely my go-to for Atari nostalgia that doesn't need a large commitment of time. Peace!
I owned and played that game... fun yes... #1 overall? No... no way... heck, I might even argue one of the best games was one of the earliest and most simple... Combat... spent more hours on that playing friends than probably any other game.
Two of my favorite games on the intellivision that were super repetitive but always kept my interest were night stalker and shark shark. I'm not sure what they did to keep my interest as this game did for you, but certain games just hit right to keep you captivated and coming back.
Megamania is in my top tier. Other shooters on that shelf for me are Solaris and Beamrider!
MegaMania was my all time favorite!!!!
Somewhere I have a few ancient spiral notebooks. In the notebook are dates and scores representing my own personal bests (and eventually my neighbors’ as well). A few games have only one or two entries, some have several columns on a page.
Megamania has two entire pages with a couple columns on each page.
And an ENTIRE separate notebook…
Those cookies get fast, but eventually the speed caps out if I recall and the fuel actually becomes a bigger issue but if you can get to that point then your score ends due to mom hollering or your hand cramping….
your wife is a good sport. fun video but everyone knows frankensteins monster is the best game on the 2600, full stop 😁
Watching the footage, before you even mentioned VP, I was struck by how varied the gameplay looked. That is a very rare thing in 2600 games.
Flipped the score on this game when i was 6 years old. No game brought sweat to my palms more than this game. I concur. My goat atari game.
Thanks for the very interesting and spirited celebration of Megamania. Will try it out! :)
Great video, i still twitch and jump watching videos of the gamez i played growing up
i loved megamania too. more than space invaders. but then again i also prefer 2600 pac-man to the arcade version and that's basically a video heresy punishable by death
I definitely like Megamania, but to me, it's not even the best Activision game on the 2600, to say nothing about the very best game on the system full stop. My favorite Activision game is Keystone Kapers, and my all-time favorite on the console is Yars' Revenge. I know that's an obvious pick, but that's because it's irresistible to play.
The Metroid intro w game room scene as the opening scene is excellent 👍🏻
Used to love Megamania. Wish I still have it...
CGR is back, and your videos are getting even better. Life is sweet.
Some of my favorite 2600 games: Battlezone. Pole Position. Boing! Pac-Man Jr. Keystone Kapers. Tapper.
I am from 1981 and got a atari 2600jr when i was 5 or 6. Got Megamania and Criminal Pursuit. Till this day, Megamania is my number 1 favourite game. I am pleased to see i am not the only one thinks the game is underrated and great to play. I still play it from time to time.
great game, my personal favorite too
very good list you have there. I remember so many of those games. thanks man
i picked this game up randomly, and was not disappointed. absolutely love this game!
Holyty crap! This is the right answer! My favorite game too! I actually think it is fair to have 2 favorites, one Paddle, one joystick, as they are so different. So Megamania, and Kaboom! for best padle game
Thank you! Megamania doesn't get nearly enough love. It's pretty common for people to leave it out of their Best 2600 Games list, and that's just insane. Is it the absolute very best? I'm not ready to say for sure, but it's certainly in the running.
Where I think it falls significantly short of other games like Seaquest and Demon Attack is that it's challenging enough that your play sessions end up being shorter, and you may not have that same feeling of "getting into the zone". But it makes up for that with interesting variation. Demon Attack also benefits from having a really cool look/vibe to it. I actually agree with the people who think it would be cooler if you were fighting spaceships in Megamania rather than random weird objects, and that doesn't help its vibe, but it's a relatively minor quibble with a game that plays very well.
But putting Space Invaders above Megamania for any reason other than historical significance is insane. There's a reason I always chose Gorf over Space Invaders in the arcade: it switched things up, giving you a handful of games in one, rather than just the same thing over and over, and Megamania has even more stages.
I immediately booted it up. Yeah, it's really fun! Thanks for the suggestion. I will play this one again!
Totally my favourite 2600 game is Megamania.
Megamania era o jogo que mais me viciava no atari 2600 quando eu era criança. Eu e minhas irmãs competiamos para ver quem jogava melhor. É um jogo fantástico e pouco lembrado quando se fala em Atari 2600. Concordo com tudo que você falou sobre os níveis de dificuldade crescentes, mudanças de padrões e velocidades. Os programadores fizeram o melhor que podiam com os poucos recursos computacionais disponíveis na época. Uma obra prima pouco lembrada.
Wow my friend, I was guessing what game after the intro and based on my gameplay over the years, if 53 and was lucky to have a lot of games built up over 7-8 years. I nailed it megamania. I still play it today the gameplay is perfect and unique to the Atari.
Lol the wife bit was fantastic! Very clever and definitely got my attention