My generation’s first exposure to gaming was most likely through the Nintendo Entertain System. Before us, however, were the proud few who got their start on the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, games for the Atari 2600 have not aged well at all, and even clueless gamers like Conan O’Brien can see that.
In his latest entry to the Clueless Gamer series, O’Brien tackles some classics from the Atari 2600. These games are largely terrible, but that just only adds to the fun of watching O’Brien stumble his way through an era where game design was largely non-existent and games were made in a matter of months.
As expected, he hates pretty much everything, but there’s one bright spot. Space Invaders on the Atari 2600 still holds up pretty well. It may look inferior to its arcade counterpart, but it’s pretty hard to mess up the timeless gameplay of Space Invaders. Unfortunately, another alien game soured him on the Atari 2600 experience.
It wouldn’t be an Atari 2600 retrospective without a playthrough of E.T. Through his strange rating system where Flock of Seagulls is good and Duran Duran is bad, he gives E.T. a rating of Men at Work.