The Activision Decathlon

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Activision

People seem to love of hate how track and field-style games tend to play. In my opinion, though, for when Activision Decathlon was released on the Atari 2600 in 1983, that button-mashing, joystick rattling gameplay was both new(ish) and it resulted in a game that, like many track and field games that play the same way, is perfect for a night of competition amongst friends. Making everything better is that Activision crammed ten different events into the cart, giving you some good variety in the gameplay. The ten events (100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400-meter race, 110-meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1500-meter race) all played well. Games like the 100-meter dash are easy for beginners to pick up and play with ease, while games like the pole vault require a little more practice to consistently do well. The only real downside to Activision Decathlon, is that due to how violently some players will be moving the joystick while playing, there's a possibility that you'll wind up with a broken joystick…or twenty, since that still may not deter you from playing this. A year later, Activision ported the game to Atari 8-bit computers and managed to keep all of the solid gameplay intact while also improving the visuals and sound. While no new events were added, the improved presentation may have been more than enough to lure some fans of the original into purchasing this port. And if you hadn't played the original on the Atari 2600, but owned an Atari 8-bit computer, then this was the version to pick up.

Review added: 08/02/2026

Adventureland

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Adventure International

Adventureland is a text-based adventure game that was released on just about every home computer in the 70s and 80s. It's an odd little game that doesn't really seem to have a plot except that you're searching for thirteen lost artifacts in a fantasy world. The game is entirely text (though it was re-released in 1982 with graphics for the player to see objects and scenery) so, having a good imagination can be helpful…and so can drawing a map for yourself so you know where you came from as you journey on. Everything in this game is either done with one word or two words. For example if you wanted to head north, you could either say "GO NORTH" or simply "NORTH." The game claims that it can recognize 120 words, but it can't really. It only takes the first three letters into account…so instead of "CLIMB TREE," you could type "CLI TRE" and the game would interpret it as "CLIMB TREE." Unfortunately, recognizing words in this way also means that the game sometimes misidentifies what you type in. Anyway, like I mentioned at the start, there is not story here to keep you hooked and make you want to advance…it's simply a treasure hunt to find the thirteen artifacts. Adventureland will likely entertain you to a degree if you play it…like when you decide to throw an axe at a sleeping dragon…and there's a reason it was popular enough to port to so many various computer systems, but it's not quite as good as other text-based adventure games like Zork. The Atari 8-bit version of the game (the text-based one, at least) decided to use a cursive font for the text. While it adds some personality to the game, it's also not as easy on the eyes in terms of reading. Much like hand-written cursive, it seems like it's easier to have bad hand writing when using cursive compared to when using standard text. Typed cursive somewhat suffers from this, too.  While not unreadable, it simply looks more sloppy than standard, typed text does. It's a minor complaint, though, and other than that, this is basically the same game that you'll find on other computers.

Review added: 07/19/2026

Aerobics

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Spinnaker Software

Aerobics is one of those games that's a bit hard to rate…is it actually a game? Ultimately, I gave it a passing score since it successfully does what it tries to do - function as an aerobics instructor. Almost a quarter of a century before Wii Fit helped video game owners get exercise, and make overweight children cry when the game called them fat, Spinnaker Software put out Aerobics. Aerobics reminds me of one of those old aerobics shows that you'd see on television, where they would instruct you while you sat on the couch eating potato chips. What? They didn't know I wasn't exercising, and it felt nice to hear the instructor to say "five more," like she knew exactly how many more potato chips I wanted to stuff in my mouth. Then I'd hear a good job after eating them. Those shows were confidence boosters, I tell you!! But anyway, while I was in decent shape as a youngster, I am not in great shape as an old geezer, and this game did a pretty good job of making me sweat. I don't think I had this much sweat during an aerobics session since I was sweatin' it to the oldies, following Richard Simmons' instructions. I'm so jealous of that guy's hair. Anyway, while Aerobics isn't exactly full of "gameplay," it still does a good job of getting you fit so you can go outside and do something besides playing video games all day. So, if you need video games to be a part of absolutely everything that you do, and you want to get a nice workout in, then Aerobics may be right up your alley.

Review added: 08/02/2026

Archon: The Light and the Dark

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Free Fall Associates

Have you ever wanted to play chess, but throw the strategy right out the window and rely on your skill or shooting and whacking stuff in video games instead? Well, that's basically what you do in Archon. Archon takes place on a chess board, but when you move your piece to a square to where your opponent has a piece, or when they move their piece to a square where you have a piece, then it's not as simple as, "I've out-witted you and taken this square." Instead a battle takes place, where you and your opponent both control those pieces and battle it to the death and the winner takes control (or keeps control) of that square. Essentially, if you're skilled at those battles, you could win this game without ever initiating a fight…the complete opposite of how it would work in chess. While this concept sounds interesting, it takes most of the strategy out of the game, which is part of the appeal of chess. The only real strategy here is to try to not attack pieces more powerful than the one that you're moving…unless, of course, you're much more skilled than your opponent at the combat that will take place afterward. The combat itself feels a bit dated…this is similar to games like Combat, but instead of controlling tanks, you're controlling mythical creatures. While these battles aren't terrible, in 1983 video games had evolved quite a bit from when this type of gameplay was popular in the 70's. So, while I like the concept of Archon, you're left with a weird game that fans of chess may not like due to the lack of strategy and fans of action games may not have liked since the action portions felt a bit dated. Archon isn't a bad game, but there's just a little too much going against it to make it a great one.

Review added: 08/02/2026

Asteroids

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Atari

This port of Asteroids isn't bad by any stretch, but it's a bit of a disappointment that Atari put out such a solid port on the Atari 2600, and that this port, on more powerful hardware doesn't quite reach that same quality...well, at least in my opinion. The most notable difference is that the Atari 8-bit version of Asteroids does away with the colorful asteroids floating around the screen. Now every asteroid on screen is the same color. This makes it visually boring when compared to the Atari 2600 port. It also lacks some of the extra modes found in the Atari 2600 port. On the positive side, though, the Atari 8-bit port of Asteroids allows up to four players to play at once. In the Melee modes, all four players are on the screen, blasting away at the asteroids. If playing Melee Patrol, then you don’t need to worry about the fire from the other players, however in Melee Combat, if you're not careful with your aiming or dodging, you'll either be shooting down a fellow player or getting shot down yourself. This can create some pretty chaotic moments, which is good fun. There is also a co-op version of the game where all players share the same pool of lives, so it's to everyone's benefit to work together. Team Asteroids is another new mode here, where your goal is to work with your teammate to blast away both the asteroids AND the other team. Anyway, while I found this variation of Asteroids to be not quite as good as the Atari 2600 version, if you're big on multiplayer games, then this port of Asteroids may wind up being your favorite.

Review added: 07/19/2026