Atari 2600: River Raid
March 15, 2009 - 10:00 am - Posted by Sean
River Raid designed by Carol Shaw for Activision has got to rank as one of the top five Atari 2600 games of all time.
This excellent vertical shooter requires precision flying and accurate shooting as you guide a jet through a river valley while blasting ships, helicopters, planes, and bridges.
Flying over fuel barges restores your ever-dwindling fuel supply, and savvy gamers will destroy these just after refueling (for extra points). When your fuel gets low, it’s a good idea to hold you fire so you don’t accidentally blast an upcoming barge.
Part of River Raid’s challenge lies in navigating narrow channels (which often branch) without crashing into the sides.
The game is expertly programmed (Thanks Carol), with crisp controls, smooth animation, and tight collision detection.
The wonderful graphics feature multi-colored objects, satisfying explosions, and even some scenery on the riverbanks.
You can control the speed of your jet by pushing the joystick up or down, and difficulty switches let you select between straight or guided missiles.
The difficulty ramps very slowly, which is nice, resulting in lengthy play sessions for expert players like myself 
All in all, River Raid is easy to play and just plain fun. On the Atari 2600, it really doesn’t get a whole lot better than this.
I use to play this game all the time when I would visit my grandparents. They had an Atari 2600. I also liked playing Donkey Kong too.
This is a true classic. I had the 5200 version but this is a good version as well. This is one of the few games that actually worked well on that dreadful 5200 controller!
My brother and I use to play River Raid all the time as kids. It’s nice to see classic games making a come back.
This was one of my favorite games of all time when I was a kid. I can remember blowing hours at a time with my old man. I’m going to go bust that sucker out right now!