Atari 2600 Games - ranked by preference

Release Date: 2010 (NA)
Publisher: AtariAge
Developer: Ed Fries
Genre: Action

I'm not a huge first-person shooter guy, so it's probably no surprise that my favorite Halo game isn't one. Halo 2600 is an absolutely fantastic game made for the Atari 2600 in 2010. It's brilliantly designed with minor aspects of modern gaming applied to the old style and very limited data space of older Atari 2600 games. Ed Fries deserves an award, for he has created one of my favorite games for the console roughly 25 years after the Atari VCS's prime.

Release Date: 1979 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Adventure

Adventure is basically the game that started the "adventure" genre. It laid down the groundwork for games like the Legend of Zelda to come along and improve upon. Playing Adventure today, you'll be able to see the similarities between this game and the 2D Zelda titles. But anyway, Adventure was fantastic back when it was released, and it's still pretty fun today. It's also got an awesome cheesiness factor to it since you're controlling a dot and fighting dragons that look like seahorses. Good fun.

Release Date: 1984 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Action

Pengo was one of the last games released for the Atari 2600 until the console's short-lived "rebirth" in the late 80's, which is a shame because it's also one of the best games on the console. Pengo basically has you taking the roll of a penguin that shoves blocks of ice at enemies to crush them with various levels to do the crushing on. It's actually really fun and well worth picking up if you're ever lucky enough to spot a copy.

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Activision
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

Seaquest is easily one of my favorite Atari 2600 games. The gameplay is simple enough - shoot the fish or enemy subs in your way while saving any scuba divers you see swimming around. This alone would be fairly fun, but Seaquest adds in another element, that being the need to rise to the surface for oxygen. That adds just enough strategy to an already fun concept to make this an absolutely great game for its time.

Release Date: 1981 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

Yars' Revenge is a unique little shooter only spans one screen, and is pretty repetitive...But so dang addicting that the repetition doesn't affect it much. You control a Yar, which is the fly-lookin' thing, and you want to destroy the shield in front of the Quotile hiding behind it, avoiding the deadly swirl and using the Ion shield (the multi-colored stripe on the screen) to shield yourself from the Quotile's regular, homing fire. After destroying the Quotile by using the Zorlon Cannon, you get a screen-sized explosion...Followed by another Quotile to destroy. The difficulty increases as you survive, which doesn't make it too repetitive...But as I stated earlier, the game is good enough where repetition could be seen as something to look forward to.

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: Parker Bros.
Developer: Western Technologies, Inc.
Genre: Puzzle - Action

It doesn't look pretty, but it gets the job done just fine. Q*Bert on the Atari 2600 may look absolutely hideous compared to the arcade original, but it plays nearly as good with tight controls and the gameplay almost entirely intact. Younger gamers may not realize it, but Q*Bert was actually a very popular game in arcade right before the video game crash, so having a worthwhile home console release of the game was a pretty big deal. If you start an Atari 2600 collection, this quality arcade port definitely deserves a spot in it.

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

Galaxian was a massive hit in arcades, and the Atari 2600 version is one of the few to live up to, or at least close to, the quality of the arcade original. It's a blast to play, and was proof that even as the video game crash was about to happen due to poor quality of games, a few must-buy titles were still slipping through the cracks. If you're a fan of the arcade original, then this version of Galaxian is well worth a purchase.

Release Date: 1978 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Action

Breakout is one of my favorites from the early days of video games. It's simple, and looks boring at first glance, but frantically trying to keep the ball bouncing off the walls, essentially playing a game of Pong by yourself, is a blast even today. There's a reason that Breakout was one of the biggest hits in the early days of video games - it's designed well enough where it's still fun over 35 years later.

Release Date: 1978 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

The Atari VCS port of Space Invaders is surprisingly good. ..I'd even go as far to say that it's a near-perfect port. To be able to enjoy Space Invaders at home, without having to plop quarters in all the time...That was a big deal in 1978. This home version of Space Invaders was a big reason for the success of the Atari 2600, and is easily one of the best games available for the console.

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Action

Jungle Hunt was Atari's attempt to compete with Activision's extremely popular Pitfall! and it's not bad at all...In fact, it's very good for its time. The game is split into three levels - swinging from vine to vine, swimming while avoiding alligators, and running and jumping over what I always assumed to be logs rolling towards you. The controls are tight and the three-level variety, seen in many arcade games at the time, helped prevent this from getting tedious too quickly. While not quite at Pitfall! quality, Jungle Hunt is still one of the best games Atari released near the end of the 2600's original lifespan.

Release Date: 1977 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

Combat is a simple game, but a blast to play when you've got friends around to compete with. Combat is a multiplayer-only game that sees players try to shoot each other with tanks, jets, and airplanes. The most "kills" at the end is the winner. That variety in vehicles to control, and the noticible difference in how each one controls helps bring longevity to a game that may otherwise get old quick. In regards to the early Atari 2600 games, Combat stands tall among the best games of its time.

Release Date: 1980 (NA)
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Activision
Genre: Sports - Fishing

I really like this game. The concept has you battling against either the computer or a friend in an effort to catch the most fish. Fish deeper down in the water net you more points than shallow fish, but the catch is that there's a shark swimming near the surface that'll eat your fish before you can get the points. So what's your strategy? Spend the time going for the big points knowing that the shark might have made your effort a waste of time or go for the little points and hope that the small numbers eventually add up for the win? This is quite the fantastic game, and one that I feel gets overlooked far too often when people list off quality Atari 2600 games.

Release Date: 1988 (NA)
Publisher: Telegames
Developer: VSS
Genre: Action

Universal Chaos is actually pretty fun...And that kind of surprised me. Basically, you've got a grid on the screen and you control a car that can fire bullets forward. You want to shoot the other cars on the screen while they make an effort to ram into you. The action can get frantic at times, which is really where the game seems to be at its most fun. It's a solid action game that deserves a spot in any Atari 2600 collector's collection.

Release Date: 1982 (NA)
Publisher: Parker Bros.
Developer: Parker Bros.
Genre: Action

Let's face it, as fun as it is to ignore the game and just swing around with Spider-Man's web-shot, the real fun is "accidentally" missing your shot and watching Spidey plummet to his demise. Spider-Man was one of the first games where I had just as much fun just goofing around as I did actually trying to play the game the "right way." In all honesty, it was probably the best Spider-Man game until the first Playstation One Spider-Man game hit store shelves 18 years later. Not too shabby.

Release Date: 1984 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Action

Gremlins is one of those games that is a very pleasant surprise when you play it. Let's face it - a vast majority of licensed games are terrible. Gremlins doesn't fit that bill...In fact, it's very fun. The game is split up into two parts. The first part involves you trying to prevent the Mogwais from getting to some hamburgers that just happen to be all over the ground. If you miss, then they get the burger and transform into a little cocoon. If you have any burgers left after a few rounds of that, you get bonus points, but the burgers transform into cocoons anyway and the second half of the game begins - the cocoons hatch and you need to shoot and kill the gremlins as they make their way down the screen before they can reach you. This combination of two fun styles of gameplay really make this a very worthwhile experience for any Atari 2600 owner...Just a shame that a lot of folks missed out on it due to the video game crash.

Release Date: 1992 (EU)
Publisher: Salu
Developer: Salu
Genre: Puzzle

Acid Drop is one of the many puzzle games that appeared after the massive success of Tetris. The difference being that Acid Drop was on the Atari 2600...about 10 years after the popularity of that system had hit its peak. Acid Drop is basically most like Columns in that you've got blocks of multiple colors and your goal is to match-up three of each color. It's not horrible by any means, but due to the console that it was released on, not too many have experienced it...or even heard of it, for that matter.

Release Date: 1977 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Sports - Olympics

Video Olympics was basically the way for Atari VCS owners to get a copy of Pong...Except Video Olympics also has crude versions of soccer, basketball, volleyball, hockey, etc. to play. But really, nobody got this to play those other modes, though some aren't too shabby. This was all about Pong, and this compilation is worth getting for that video game version of ping pong by itself. Toss in the other modes and you've got a nice little launch title for a debuting video game console like the VCS.

Release Date: 1989 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Action

Road Runner was one of the games released while Atari made the attempt to resurrect the 2600 from the dead in the late 80's...And quite frankly, if Atari had put out games of this quality prior to the game crash in '83, there may have never been a crash at all. In this game, you try to avoid Wile E. Coyote while picking up bird seed and trying to get the ol' coyote run over by trucks driving by to boost your score. Along the way, there are traps and obstacles in your path, too. It's a very simple game, but a game that always had me coming back for more.

Release Date: 1980 (NA)
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Activision
Genre: Fighting - Boxing

Boxing, much like Pong, is a prime example of how games can be so simplistic, and yet provide so much fun. There's nothing to boxing. Move the joystick to move your boxer. Hit the button to punch. You're done. The goal is to land as many punches as you can within the time limit and hope that your punches landed beats your opponents. This is mildly fun playing alone, but an absolute blast when playing with a friend....Especially when the friendly trash talk gets going.

Release Date: 1987 (NA)
Publisher: Epyx
Developer: Epyx
Genre: Sports - Olympics

Epyx brought its popular Winter Games to the Atari 2600 when Atari made the attempt to resurrect its dead system. The end result actually wasn't bad - a variety of winter olympic events like skiing and bobsledding help make the game have more replay value. It's one of the better sports games on the Atari VCS.

Release Date: 1981 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

Missile Command was fun in the arcades, and while graphically inferior, the Atari 2600 version brought a very similar experience to your home, without the need for quarters or dealing with joysticks coated with pizza grease from the hands of total strangers. The concept, for those not in the know, or too young to remember, is simple - missiles are coming down from the top of the screen. Your goal is to cause explosions in the air to destroy the missiles before they can destroy anything on the ground - and destroying multiple missiles with a single explosion is the key to surviving the later levels. It's very simple, and it's also still quite fun today.

Release Date: 1980 (EU)
Publisher: Funvision
Developer: Funvision
Genre: Action

Challenge is very mildly like Frogger in that it's your goal to make your way through a level without being hit by anything. You have to weave your way past four walls (only two are visible on the screenshot - the walls flicker so only two are visible on a still frame at a time) while trying to avoid the enemies that go from side to side on the screen, each one a different speed. When compared to games of its time, Challenge stands out as a solid game that provides some, you guessed it, "challenge."

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

Pepsi Invaders (or "Coke Wins!" in some circles) is essentially just Space Invaders reprogrammed. The only major difference, aside from the visual aspect, is that Space Invaders had gameplay with limited lives, but unlimited time to play. Pepsi Invaders goes the opposite route, as you've got unlimited lives, but you're limited to a three-minute time limit...Which, I think helps the game rather than hurts it, as you're frantically trying to beat the score you got in the previous three-minute run. Copies today can go for over $2,000 USD, as they are very rare and were only released at an 1983 sales convention where 125 CocaCola sales executives were given a copy.

Release Date: 1977 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Racing

Indy 500 was a special game when it was released as a launch title with the Atari VCS. It was special because it got packaged with its own, unique controllers for playing the game with. The game itself was mildly fun, and like most multiplayer Atari games of the time, the goal is to get more laps (points) in a race than your opponent. Whoever has the most laps at the end is the winner. Then you can claim to be the winner of the Indy 500 and get sponsorship deals from your local, toddler-owned lemonade stand.

Release Date: 1982 (NA)
Publisher: Coleco
Developer: James Wickstead Design Associates
Genre: Action

Mouse Trap is Coleco's answer to the popularity of Pac-Man. It plays like Pac-Man except in Mouse Trap, you control a mouse. Instead of obtaining power pellets that instantly allow you to eat ghosts, the mouse can pick up power-ups and stock up on them, to use when needed. When used, these power ups transform the mouse into a giant dog head, which scares the cats into hiding. It's a decent Pac-Man clone, and better than the 2600 Pac-Man game, but nowhere near the quality of the arcade version of the game that the yellow Namco mascot stars in.

Release Date: 1978 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Action

Dodge 'Em may remind some of Pac-Man, except instead of being a yellow circle thing dodging ghosts, you're an old-timey car dodging another old-timey car. The goal is to switch lanes and collect the pellets in each lane without crashing head-first into the other car, which seems to want to crash into you. The end result is a fast-paced, hectic game of chance and a wee bit of strategy. It's not absolutely great, but it's a decent game for the early days of the Atari 2600.

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: Wizard Video Games
Developer: MicroGraphicImage
Genre: Action - Horror

Halloween is not a bad representation of horror films, considering the hardware it runs on. The goal in the game is to find children in the house, take them by the hand, and walk them to safety while trying to avoid Michael Myers as he randomly appears with a giant knife in an attempt to stab you. Some rooms have flickering lights, resulting you in not being able to see exactly where Myers is...But that's ultimately the only danger you face. You can even pick up a knife of your own and use it to make Myers run away for a while. Unfortunately, the very slow pace and general ease that it is to avoid death hinder the game as a whole, but it's still not a terrible game to pick up and play every now and then.

Release Date: December 27, 1982 (NA)
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Activision
Genre: Action

What a disturbing game. Oink! puts you in the roll of the three little pigs from the fable where the wolf blows their houses down...Except in Oink!, instead of blowing their houses down, the wolf has a tongue like a frog and uses his tongue to demolish your house one brick at a time...While he does this, you need to try to patch up the holes. If he breaks down enough of the wall with his disturbingly long tongue, the wolf will then try to lasso you with his mouth-based anatomy and drag you to your death. Overall, it's a decent game and not a bad one to pick up if you're looking to expand your Atari 2600 collection.

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: Bomb
Developer: Bomb
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

I thought for sure that Z-Tack would be terrible. The name sounds dumb. The box art looks dumb. But the gameplay is anything but dumb. While not mind-blowingly great, Z-Tack is a decent third-person shooter where the screen is basically tilted 180 degrees compared to most shooters at the time since you're shooting down instead of up. If there was a bit more variety, I probably would have given the game a higher score, but unfortunately, despite the initial fun, Z-Tack does get very repetitive very quickly. It's still worth checking out if you're ever lucky enough to come across a copy.

Release Date: 1982 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Racing - Education

Math Gran Prix would have been a game that I loved when I was a kid if I had owned it. I was fond of educational games with a twist to them, and Math Grand Prix was essentially a board game where instead of rolling dice to advance, you just solved basic math problems. It's a very basic game, but considering the target audience, it didn't need to be really fancy...Although, for its time, it still was pretty fancy anyway. It lacks enough variety for me to give it a higher score, but it's still a quality game in the education genre.

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Developer: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Shooter - First-Person

The Earth Dies Screaming is a little known movie-based video game, and it's actually not too bad for its time. Basically, the game has you in the cockpit of some spacecraft as you try to shoot down enemy ships while also avoiding their fire. It's not perfect by any means, but back in '83, this was actually fairly well done for its genre. If you're into cockpit-perspective shooters, then the Earth Dies Screaming might be worth checking out.

Release Date: May 16, 1983 (NA)
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Activision
Genre: Action

So, you've got a bunch of spiders running around...and a bunch of flowerpots laying around...Sounds like you've got a great weapon to eliminate the arachnids, huh? The folks that made Crackpots thought so, as your goal is to hurl flowerpots at spiders in order to kill them and gain a high score. Or maybe they're crabs?....The box art makes it seem like they should be caterpillars. Well, whatever they are, the game is decent but not great. I'd imagine throwing real flower pots at stuff would be much more fun than this so-so game.

Release Date: 1978 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Trivia

Wrong title. No man gets hung in this game. If you fail, you see a monkey hanging from a pole by its arm. I doubt a stick figure man hanging by its neck would be something that parents would've been up in arms about back in the 70's...But then again, some of the stuff I see people complain about these days makes me wonder about how lame humanity has become, so who knows? Philosophical opinions aside, Hangman is an okay game, but like many games in the early Atari VCS library, it's actually more fun to grab a friend and participate in the actual pen-and-paper game of Hangman than it is to play a video game version of it.

Release Date: 1980 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Sports - Soccer

I have no idea who Pele is. I just know that he's a soccer fella and that he's got a fancy kick named after him. I do know that his little Atari soccer game isn't bad, but it's also not anything to write home about. While the game is passable, it's also pretty clunky-feeling at times. I have a feeling that if this Pele guy was this clunky when he played, he wouldn't have a game named after him. I suppose it goes without saying that it probably didn't live up to his name.

Release Date: 2000 (NA)
Publisher: Hozer Video Games
Developer: Russell Babylon
Genre: Board

It's Yahtzee. You've played Yahtzee, right? Same thing here. The only difference is that there's a glitch where the left-most dice shows up as two dice when the game only registers it as one. Otherwise, it's the same basic deal...My only real question is why Atari never tried to put out a version of this themselves. It's simple, easy, and probably would have sold quite a bit if released in the late 70's/early 80's. Instead, it got created unofficially in 2000. Eh, at least we got it eventually, I suppose.

Release Date: 1990 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Sculptured Software
Genre: Racing

Fatal Run is a decently-made racing game that, unfortunately, was a few years behind both in terms of gameplay and the hardware that it was on. Games like OutRun and Rad Racer with similar gameplay had already been out for years when Fatal Run came out and both were superior games. That said, it IS impressive that this game is on the Atari 2600, and had it been released back in the late 70's or early 80's, it would have been amazing for its time...Unfortunately, that's not the case, and Fatal Run was just too little, too late.

Release Date: 1990 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Action

Xenophobe is kind of hard for me to review - on one hand, it's very technically impressive for the hardware that it's on. On the other hand, I never really ever saw the appeal of Xenophobe as a game. It seems to be a love it or hate it game, with some folks swearing up and down that it's great while others insist that it stinks. I'm in the middle - I don't hate it, I just don't get the appeal. That said, this is very impressive from the technical aspects of the system, and a rare game to boot, which makes it desirable for collectors, but unless you enjoy of Xenophobe on other platforms, I don't think that the Atari 2600 will convert you into being a fan.

Release Date: 1982 (NA)
Publisher: US Games
Developer: Western Technologies, Inc.
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

M.A.D. feels like a different take on the Missile Command formula. Instead of dealing with missiles, in M.A.D. you have to deal with kamikaze pilots of planes and helicopters. The aircraft enter the screen and turn white if they're about to nose-dive into the buildings below. You're also not armed with explosives, but bullets and you've got to try and carefully aim for the suicide aircraft as they try to take everything out. It's not a horrible game, but it feels like an inferior knock-off of Missle Command rather than a fun, unique game.

Release Date: 1980 (NA)
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Activision
Genre: Sports - Skiing

I've never been skiing, but I imagine that if I did go, I'd fly down the frost-covered mountain and glide right into a big, ol' pine tree. In the Atari 2600 version of Skiing, big accidents like the one above don't happen...Nor does a sense of speed. It's a pretty mild crawl down to the bottom of the hill. While the game lacks a lot excitement, the gameplay is still passable, allowing Atari 2600 owners an opportunity to ride the slopes without the risk of being clotheslined by a tree branch.

Release Date: 1978 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Sports - Basketball

Basketball is a passable sports game that Atari made. It's not great, but it's okay. Another multi-player game, it's you versus a friend in one-on-one basketball. This is basic stuff, though. No slam dunks, just get open and take a shot. The person with the most baskets at the end of the game wins. Again, it's not great, but its an okay time killer if you've got a friend around, but actually going out with said friend and playing with a real basketball is a bit more fun.

Release Date: 1983 (NA)
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Developer: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Action

Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes, I guess, was 20th Century Fox's attempt to cash in on Attack of the Killer Tomatoes...maybe? I know sequels to the Killer Tomato film were put out by 20th Century Fox, so maybe they just hadn't obtained the license to use the name yet. If they didn't, why Beefsteak instead of Killer? I dunno. I do know, however, this this is a decent little action game that could be better, but is still decent for what it is.

Release Date: 1978 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Racing

Night Driver takes some getting used to. I crashed all the time when I first played the game...But after a few minutes of trying, I got better and better...Eventually, before I knew it, I was completing the course without crashing once. That said, it's still not all that great of a game. For its time, it was kind of cool, but the better racing game in the early days of the Atari 2600 was Indy 500 - that game was excellent. Night Driver is simply passable.

Release Date: 1981 (NA)
Publisher: Apollo
Developer: Apollo
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

Spacechase, in my opinion, is one of the more visually pleasing Atari 2600 games. I suppose I'm just a fan of the rotating planet background. But anyway, this is just a basic shooter...But it never really becomes anything special. Basically, you need to shoot ships. Ships appear on the screen in waves of four and they move back and forth, firing at you along the way. That's it. Sure, the ships get faster and faster...But that's not enough to make this game worthwhile when you've got other games like Space Invaders available on the system that do this formula bigger and better.

Release Date: 1982 (NA)
Publisher: Coleco
Developer: Coleco
Genre: Adventure

I think Venture was Coleco's attempt at creating a better adventure game than Atari's Adventure. It didn't work. Not even close, actually. While Venture is a passable game, and not terrible, it lacks the quality and sense of exploration that Adventure had. It's not horrible, like I said, and worth playing if you get a chance, but if you can only play one adventure game on the Atari 2600, skip this game and play the game that the genre was essentially named after - Adventure.

Release Date: June 30, 2013 (NA)
Publisher: Rabbit 2600
Developer: Rabbit 2600
Genre: Action

A programmer by the name of Rabbit 2600 created a Katamari game for the 2600 which isn't necessarily bad - it's just boring. Fans of the series will probably find enjoyment in the novelty of playing an Atari VCS version of one of their favorite video game franchises for a little while, but boredom will probably settle in sooner rather than later. Basically, Katamari is split into two parts - rolling up random objects, which requires zero skill and where much of the boredom comes from since nothing happens when you pick them up, and then after a little bit of that, you get thrust before the King of the Cosmos as he shoots lightning bolts at you and you have to avoid them. It's passable, but if you're not a fan of the Katamari games, you probably won't find much to enjoy here.

Release Date: 1977 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Shooter - Third-Person

Air-Sea Battle is a multi-player game where your goal is to shoot down more stuff than your friend. Planes and fish fly past (it is "Air-Sea" in the title, you know) and your job is to shoot 'em down. It's mildly fun at first, but the fun wears thin after a while. It's passable, but only just barely.

Release Date: 1981 (NA)
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Genre: Shooter - Third Person

Defender in the arcades is quite good and probably one of the must-play titles from the early days of video games...The Atari 2600 version - not nearly as good. The home version of Defender is barely passable and was alright if you absolutely must have had something similar to the arcade classic in your home, but heading to the local arcade and popping in a few quarters would have been a much better choice than buying this game.

Release Date: 1982 (NA)
Publisher: Apollo
Developer: Apollo
Genre: Action

Lost Luggage basically puts you in the roll of picking up luggage hurled out of a UFO. Why? I don't know. Maybe the guys collecting the luggage cheated on their girlfriends on the UFO, the ladies found out, locked the fellas out of the flying saucer, and hurled their belongings out of the windows...which you then needed to catch. Sounded like a good story in my head. Anyway, the very low difficulty makes this game get very boring very quickly. It's not necessarily a horrible game...but after more than 30 seconds of gameplay, you'll probably be looking for something else to pop in your Atari VCS.

Release Date: 1982 (NA)
Publisher: Mystique
Developer: Mystique
Genre: Action

I don't really know where to start with this game...Nor do I have any idea how the people at Mystique/Playaround came up with this stuff. But anyway, Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em has you controlling two naked women on the street while a naked fellow on a rooftop, with his dingaling hanging out over the roof ledge, shoots his semen down to the street. Your goal is to catch the semen in the mouths of the naked lady folk. If any touches the street, it's game over. If they catch it all, they look at you and smile. It's rather disturbing. Perverted aspects aside, the game itself is mildly entertaining and may be the best Mystique game that I've played...But that's not really saying a whole lot.

Release Date: 1987 (NA)
Publisher: Absolute Entertainment
Developer: Imagineering Inc
Genre: Fighting - Wrestling

I think the best way to describe Title Match Pro Wrestling is that it's basically a thumb-wrestling match in video form. It is extremely basic, but when playing with a friend it can actually be kind of fun - kind of like thumb wrestling - very basic, not deep at all, but can be enjoyable for a few minutes when playing with a friend. When the game first released, there were already a few good wrestling games on the market, so this game didn't make much of a splash, but had it been released in the late 70's, it may have gained some popularity. Either way, if you love wrestling games, Title Match Pro Wrestling is worth a shot if you've got a friend around to play with...But even then, you might get bored after a few bouts.