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Master Chief joins the Atari age in Halo 2600 photo

As I've probably said before, demakes are a pretty cool thing. The idea of playing Halo on an Atari 2600 won't cause anybody to cancel their pre-order of Reach but it might give you a few minutes of amusement.

Halo 2600 is a surprisingly capable game, actually. You control Master Chief through four regions, gunning down Covenant forces while you search for the key to the next area. It's not easy. A single shot will take you out, unless you have collected a shield which gives lets you take an extra shot before croaking. 

When I started it up and saw the opening screen, I was really impressed. Then I started the game and it looked like I was about to play E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial except it controls competently. And then it utterly whooped my sorry ass.

The game is designed to run on original hardware, but there's a flash emulated version you can check out. Halo 2600 was playable at this weekend's Classic Gaming Expo and they even had 500 real cartridges on hand. I think I'm going to have to go a couple of more rounds before I give up. I hear there's a huge boss at the end.

Halo 2600 [CodeMystics via Joystiq]








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Conrad Zimmerman is Destructoid's News Editor and home to the busiest mustache in the gaming press. An amateur historian and pop culture fanatic, Conrad possesses a nearly limitless wealth of videogame factoids and a passion for the power of games to teach, inspire and entertain. He enjoys reading, writing and turning things which should be fun into work. Likes Mega Man 2, Arcade Games, Books about games, Board games, Having cultural interests that aren't games Meet the rest of the team



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11 comments | showing # 1 to 11
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hpv's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 02:24
hpv
Wow, this thing actually sucks MORE than a real Halo game. Impressive!
Mark Griffiths's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 02:33
Mark Griffiths
It's... strange...
I didn't realise I had to go and find a weapon and got surprisingly far without one. Silly me.
I like demakes. Thanks for posting it.
Josef Hargreaves's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 02:36
Josef Hargreaves
I'm just impressed they made cartridges for it. That's awesome in itself!
Sir Tobbii's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 03:03
Sir Tobbii
This is the best Halo game I've played.
pl0x kthanxbai's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 04:51
pl0x kthanxbai
shitty controls, half of the deaths werent my fault
Anjo's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 05:14
Anjo
@pl0x kthanxbai

Welcome to the Atari 2600.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 06:46
Jonathan Holmes
That was surprisingly compelling. They add new enemies and environments at a solid rate, which kept me curious about what would happen next.

Also, boots.
Pyrex is Metal's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 08:03
Pyrex is Metal
Wants for my 2600, I need a rom, I'll make the damn cart myself.
Spykron's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 09:41
Spykron
I really can't get into most atari styled games. It has to be an "outside the box" type game to hold my interest.
bustaballs's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 11:45
bustaballs
I've never had this much fun playing a Halo game before.
wanderingpixel's Avatar - Comment posted on 08/02/2010 13:09
wanderingpixel
Pretty cool. I yelled "Holy shit!" when I found the room with 9 Elites.
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