Atari 2600: Atlantis
September 22, 2008 - 4:51 pm - Posted by Sean R.
Thanks to its attractive, high-resolution graphics, Atlantis by Imagic won over a lot of gamers in 1982.
The bottom half of the screen features a colorful, submerged city with all sorts of strange-looking buildings and reactors.
Overhead, rainbow-colored hostile alien ships zip back and forth until they descend low enough to disintegrate one of the structures.
Using three cannons, one in the middle and one on each side, it’s your job to keep these invaders at bay for as long as possible.
Since you can’t aim, the gameplay is remarkably simple – just select your cannon with the joystick and fire.
Game variation one is far too easy because you can rely almost solely on the middle cannon, which shoots straight up unlike the side cannons that shoot diagonally.
Even when the middle cannon is finally destroyed, it’s promptly replaced thanks to the overgenerous bonus system.
Variation two is much better because the middle cannon is disabled, so you’ll need to time your shots carefully. The two-player cooperative mode is also a nice option.
Besides its sharp graphics, Atlantis is also interesting from an historical perspective.
It was one of the first console games to have a real “ending”, which briefly depicts a flying saucer escaping after your city is completely destroyed.
Additionally, it was the first 2600 game to produce a “sequel”: Imagic’s Cosmic Ark.
Atlantis is an interesting game to look back on. It sort of reminds me of Missile Command.
After playing it again after all these years, I think it’s now in my Top 10 Atari 2600 games to play.
2 Responses to “Atari 2600: Atlantis”
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I remember this game but it was’t one of my favorite. It was way too easy to win. Missile command was awesome because you could move your pointer anywhere in the screen.
Off Topic, but do you remember or have Berzerk? I LOVED that game. It’s definitely one of my all time favorites.
Mrs. Pacman, Berzerk, Missile Command, Defender, Space Invaders, Centipede, Combat, Pitfall, Pole position, and Frogger. Yup, those are my top ten.
@Tony: With most Atari 2600 games there is an easy difficulty setting and a hard difficulty setting, so maybe you had it on the easy one?
I agree, Missile Command is fun but I still like Atlantis better, but that’s just my opinion of course
As for Berzerk, indeed, I also have that for the Atari 2600.
Who doesn’t remember the catchy phrases ‘Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!’, ‘Chicken, Fight Like A Robot’ or ‘Humanoid Must Not Escape’. Awesome!
I’ll be doing a review of it soon enough here on Recycled Gaming.
Nice Top 10 list by the way.