Little known to the general public, the Paddle has many advantages. Like any analog controller, it allows fast and precise movements at the same time (which is difficult to achieve with a joystick). In addition, Atari paddles come in pairs, that is to say that there are two of them on the same socket, so that you can connect up to four paddles to the console. This last point opens the Atari 2600 to multiplayer experiences. But you should know that the paddles only work with the games dedicated to it... and there are only thirteen of them. Some are limited to two players who alternate (alter2) while others allow up to four players to play at the same time (multi4).

The first successful arcade machine was a racket game: Pong. This is therefore one of the first games ported to the Atari 2600, under the name Video Olympics (multi4) which offers many variations of games. Three other arcade games suffered the same fate: Breakout (multi4) is nice, but the new version Super Breakout (alter2) is much better, especially the single player version called progressive (variant 7). Finally, Warlords (multi4) is a must have: To live this experience, do it only with four players, this is really where the challenge and the fun are at their peak.

In Night Driver, you drive a car in the middle of the night. Although it may make you smile today, the immersive effect of “3D” was surprising at the time. More classic, Street Racer (multi4) offers to drive as fast as possible avoiding obstacles (cars or motorbikes) or passing through doors (skiing). As for Steeplechase (multi4), it will put you in the shoes of a jockey who determines with the paddle the height of the jump of his horse (with the paddle) and when he must jump (with the button). This delicately handled game has never been distributed in France and only exists in an Ntsc version.

Brains and other mathematicians will find the greatest pleasure in games of chance or reflection. As such Blackjack (multi3) will suit those who want to get rich at this card game, getting as close as possible to 21 without ever exceeding it. But as long as you do, you might as well get a Casino (multi4) which not only allows you to face the dealer in blackjack, but also in poker or even to try your hand at poker solitaire. Still in the spirit of the James Bond films, two players can compete in a game of Backgammon (alter2) or train alone against the AI.

There are other game mechanics, such as Canyon Bomber, which makes us wonder why play paddle there, since only the button is useful (?) With Circus Atari (alter2), we reconnect with traditional racket games, and in which it is no longer a ball that needs to be caught up, but two clowns who make each other jump on the pendulum that is steered with a paddle. Finally, the very little-known Demons to Diamonds (multi2) should make you addicted, if you take the trouble to study the instruction booklet for this game. With Atari games, it is sometimes essential to consult the manual because it does not there is no learning mode on the screen. And even for "obvious" games, consulting the instructions allows you to discover subtleties that are often overlooked.