By the standards of current games, you would be forgiven for thinking that almost everything about the Atari 2600 is atrocious. You’d be wrong, but forgiven. Don’t be cruel to my first love, and let me explain why I will never forget my first gaming system.
When I was a kid, “video games” were not only a niche hobby, but they were primitive at best. I was born just prior to the bubble burst. For better or worse, it was a saturated market. I don’t remember my parents physically buying the 2600. I even asked my parents how and when they got it, and they don’t remember. It’s as if the system just kinda appeared in our house. Fate, I guess, injected itself into my life, setting me on a course I still travel.
It All Starts With Pitfall
“…like Indiana Jones, but I got to be the hero.”
It’s hard to believe today, in an age of hyper-connectivity, but in the early 80s there was almost literally ZERO way of getting any real info on games. The box art, a small incredibly misleading blurb on the back, and a hefty amount of imagination was all we had. I don’t remember ever paying for a game (I was probably too young to have any money anyway) but we were never at a loss for things to play.
My first real game specific memory was of Pitfall. I remember seeing the box art and thinking it was like Indiana Jones, but I got to be the hero. It’s funny how back then when games were quieter literally a few colored squares moving on larger colored squares, your brain fills in the imaginary “gaps”. At the time it seemed as though playing Pitfall was the best it would ever be. Controlling the on-screen character “Pitfall Harry” made me feel like an adventurer. I was going to places I had never been before, finding treasure, avoiding giant beast, and swinging from vines like Tarzan. Seen through the eyes of a child’s imagination, it was a wonderfully vibrant and living world I was in. Looking back now, it looks like something easily made on an office window out of Post-Its.
There were other games, of course, that would capture my attention on this mystical box in my house. I remember thinking that I was the coolest kid on the block playing Asteroids, Empire Strikes Back, Name This Game, and how could I not mention Combat. They all seemed at the time to be wonders of modern technology.
The Most Important Thing In Life Will Always Be Family
Hours of my entire family’s lives were spent playing Atari 2600 games. We would play and play and then at the end of our respective gaming sessions, we would record our “High Scores” in a red spiral notebook, with a red crayon. I would love to be able to get my hands on that lost piece of my childhood. There were also a lot of competitive games, aside from the high scores. My older sister and I would play Combat for hours trying to see who could best who the most, before my parents had to step in and tell us to turn it off. We also had Boxing matches, and plenty of terrible Pac-Man sessions, but none of them were as memorable as Combat.
My family and I don’t play games together anymore, and that makes me sad. We all have “lives to lead” and I know it’s damn near impossible to do in all the madness, but I really do wish we could get together, however infrequently, and just play like we used to. I may actually suggest this to everyone as something we could do maybe once a month. I guess even as an adult, with children of my own, I still want to find time to be a kid with my family. These are the memories of my early life that I cherish the most.
I guess I never thought games would cause emotional memories to bubble up for me. I know that it may seem weird, but more than anything else, I remember the smiles on everyone’s faces. I truly do. My sister and I laughing. My father pretending to be terrible at games so that the kids could win. My mother watching from the background pretending to she didn’t care, when beneath it all, she was smiling as her family was enjoying time together.
The Future Is What I Make It – Sort Of
“It’s adorably heart-melting to hear him cheer “Go brother! Go!”
The Atari 2600 may not be a relevant system to really anyone currently playing games, but to me and my family, it was a constant source of fun and memories that really stuck around. Video games have never really left my life. I am almost forty now, with two kids of my own, and I still try to carve out some time to play. More important than that, I try to find fun games that my son and I can play, either together, or as a player/spectator thing. We’ve really bonded playing all sorts of games. LEGO games, Disney Infinity, Skylanders, Mario Kart, even more “adult” games like Destiny, Persona, and Forza Horizon. We are currently looking forward to playing the FH3 expansion that includes Hot Wheels cars and tracks.
As a family, and as a father, I find it extremely important to have fun, when allowable. It’s a bit harder at the moment with a three year old that can’t sit still to play any board games but soon, I can see lots of fun nights sitting around a table playing Scrabble, Life, Clue and others (never Monopoly, though. Never). The younger of the two will watch his big brother or I play games sometimes and cheer us on. It’s adorably heart-melting to hear him cheer “Go brother! Go!” when he watches him play. I want my sons to look back on their childhood and remember these moments as fondly as I remember them with my family. I know at the moment, and in the moment, I cherish these memories as much, and sometimes more than, most other memories.
There’s Always A Man, A Game, And A Gaming Console
“Gaming has always been the one constant in my life…”
At the heart of all this family related fun was the Atari 2600. I never would have thought, even in the midst of all these formative memories, that a little plastic and faux wooden box would be the cornerstone of so much of my adult life. My parents probably never would have guessed that it would, I can say that much. Gaming has always been the one constant in my life (as far as inanimate objects go) that I have never had to question. It was always there for me, no matter what my life threw at me. When I was still living at home and all my friends had moved away, I knew I could power on a console and always have a friend ready to play.
Lots of people like to look down their noses at games and gaming culture, but it’s grown to a multi-billion dollar industry. It came from humble beginnings, exploded into something that almost killed it, and then came back even stronger. I’ve been playing almost literally since I could hold a controller. I’ve played a LOT of bad games, and seen a LOT of things happen in and to the industry. I am no expert, but I’ve been around long enough to know that games are important. I can say without a doubt that if games were not a part of my life, things would be infinitely different for me. Games most likely kept me from drugs, drinking, and any other number of things that could have changed my life. To my parents, I would like to say thank you. I know you couldn’t have possibly have known it then, but you forever altered my life by introducing me to gaming. Honestly I couldn’t be more happy you did.
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