2021/10/17: Atari 2600: Haunted House, Return to Haunted House

[VideoGameCritic]

In order to review Return to Haunted House (from the Atari Flashback systems) I felt as if I needed to revisit the original Haunted House. That review is more of a touch-up, with the same grade.

Return to Haunted House isn't bad provided you've read the manual (which doesn't come with the Flashback consoles but is available online).

[Retro STrife]

Definitely enjoyed these reviews. I have good memories of Haunted House - pretty impressive how well it conveys creepiness and tension for such an early game.

It was actually a stroke of bad luck that led me to invest lots of time into Haunted House. I wore glasses sometime around 1999, and they broke one weekend, and I had to wait to get them fixed. Well, I was practically blind and I couldn't see a thing on my TV, so my usual Playstation gaming was out of the question. But I couldn't just go all weekend without gaming.. so, Atari 2600 to the rescue.. I pulled out my family's Atari games, because the blocky graphics were much easier to see. And Haunted House was one of the few games with the right graphics and slow enough speed to play along. This was in the days before I was retro gamer - so I wouldn't have taken the Atari over the PS1 by choice - but circumstances led me to play a bunch more Haunted House than I ever intended. And it's a real solid game.

I haven't played Haunted House since that weekend 20+ years ago. And having recently gotten Lasik, not sure when I will again.

[Luigi & Peach]

My thoughts on Haunted House are similar to your thoughts on Return to Haunted House. I tried playing the game without a manual and had no clue what was going on. I quit about 15 minutes into the game and haven't tried playing it since. It may be a great game, but it's definitely not self-explanatory.

[matmico399]

Retro great story! I really enjoyed reading it. I love when people tell their stories when they were young about their memories of this game. Haunted house the original is one of my favorite 2600 games. What's crazy is I had never played it until about 5 years ago. Good review.

[BlasteroidAli]

Yep, I played in in 1981. It was so awesome. Top Notch graphics. It got it cheap as I remember. They were starting to get rid of Atari games and I guess I was just lucky. The zx81 had just been released and it was become the go to computer for games. That it was black and white, with 1k of memory had nothing to do with it. Also you could get a ram extension up to 16k. So I played Haunted house and wow was it scary. I used to play it late at night. An early fave of mine.

Its on the Atari vault and i put it on recently. I was totally useless at it. I think I will give another go.

I have not played the second one but it looks intriguing.

[BlasteroidAli]

https://atariage.com/manual_html_page.php?SystemID=2600&SoftwareID=1076&itemTypeID=HTMLMANUAL

Here is the manual L and P to help you if you ever want to give it another go.

[Luigi & Peach]

https://atariage.com/manual_html_page.php?SystemID=2600&SoftwareID=1076&itemTypeID=HTMLMANUAL

Here is the manual L and G to help you if you ever want to give it another go.

I would never have guessed this game had such a thorough back story! I don't know of I'll get the chance to play this anytime soon (I'd have to dig out my Atari 7800 first), but having knowledge of this the game sounds fun.
Thanks for the info.

[Retro STrife]

https://atariage.com/manual_html_page.php?SystemID=2600&SoftwareID=1076&itemTypeID=HTMLMANUAL

Here is the manual L and G to help you if you ever want to give it another go.

I would never have guessed this game had such a thorough back story! I don't know of I'll get the chance to play this anytime soon (I'd have to dig out my Atari 7800 first), but having knowledge of this the game sounds fun.
Thanks for the info.

Agreed. Just read it myself. If anyone hasn’t clicked that link and read the first couple paragraphs yet - worth it.