Death Trap on Atari 2600 Is WAY Better Than You’ve Heard
Try Afterplay: https://genxgrownup.com/afterplay
Death Trap for the Atari 2600 has a pretty rough reputation, but after spending real time with it, I think that reputation misses what makes this game so interesting.
Released by Avalon Hill in 1983, Death Trap is a surprisingly sophisticated score chase built around a finite mission. You’re not just trying to survive until your reflexes fail — you’re trying to complete the mission as efficiently as possible, while managing damage, guiding your own torpedoes, avoiding shrinking shields, and maximizing your score along the way.
In this Friday Plays, we take a closer look at one of the Atari 2600’s more unusual and overlooked games and find out why Death Trap deserves a lot more credit than it usually gets.
#atari #retrogaming #atari2600 #genxgrownup
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@JustWasted3HoursHere
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Meh, I think 10 year old me would just find this too much trouble to be worth it.
@kdrc
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
What movie is that shirt quote from?
@danielbowden6330
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Obscure for sure! Nice one.
@GregsGameZone
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Wow, Jon, thanks so much for this feature. This game looks extremely deep, for a VCS game, even a late one! I wonder if this can be found in the wild!?
@edtruthseeker3337
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
batocera is the way to go.
@jessragan6714
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
I reviewed this game years ago. I wasn't kind to it, and I stand by that opinion.
"Each cannon takes an absurd amount of damage to destroy, needlessly drawing out the action and turning the gameplay into a long and repetitive chore. Just when you think you're on the edge of victory, ANOTHER cannon pops up to take the place of the ones you just vaporized! What does this stupid trap kill you with anyway, lethal doses of boredom?!"
@gregwesson8815
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Very cool!!! I'm sure the loose cart value just spiked. XD
@Soule6
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Vertical Yars Revenge! 🤙🥰
@literallyunderrated
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Its another example of how the limits of the hardware made the developers get imaginative. Thanks Jon for introducing these overlooked games to us fellow Gen Xers and everyone
@Gen-X-Memories
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
I couldn't bet the game on the medium difficulty. It was just to hard getting a shot through and that bottom shield coming up would kill me.
@sithcritic8906
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
I’m just thankful there is a reviewer that reads the manual.
@heckensteiner4713
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Great overview! I'll need to try this one out again. You should do Marauder by Tigervision for a Friday plays! It's a very underlooked and misunderstood Berzerk-like. I like it even more than Berzerk! It's got a unique line of site mechanic and there's actually a purpose to the maze/rooms (find and destroy the core as fast as you can). I got to 117,000 on game mode 4. See if you can beat it!
@KatDoomsong
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Interesting. Considering that Avalon Hill was primarily a board game maker, I'm not suprised about the complexity of the rules. It is nice to see a game you can finish. There were others on the 2600, but they were more the exception than the rule.
@STR82DVD
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Jon, that was a problem back in 1983. When I was a young adult collecting for the 2600 there was a lot of "going for a walk with your dog" games out there which is why us Boomers stopped buying the games for the kiddos.
@ButterSpider3
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Avalon Hill made a 2600 cart?!?!? Woah, mind blown! I used to play lots of their tabletop war games as a kid. I have never heard of this game. That’s sad. It looks so good. It seems so challenging. There is such a neat goal. I gotta go find this one.
@danielespeziari5545
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
The Atari 2600 library never fails to impress. Always new games to discover, and pretty elaborate too
@exidy-yt
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Also Jon, I think you'll find it easier to focus on 1 reactor at a time, that way you only have 1 shield line to worry about with the first reactor, and can easier line up your shots so that the 'invulnerable' spots are grouped close together making it easier to do the same with the second reactor which should make the 3rd one cake.
@jeremiahthomas8140
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
I have not spent a whole lot of time with Death Trap, but it is easily the Avalon Hill game I have spent the most time with.
@exidy-yt
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Avalon Hill was actually a fairly large developer of highly respected computer and tabletop simulations and RPGs, especially wargames. They were #2 right behind Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) or even ahead in some categories but I didn't know they published ANYTHING for the VCS/2600, I would have thought it far too limiting for the type of games they made. This is super interesting, and now I want to check out the other 4 games they made for the VCS.
@solidus0079
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Oh no you died
@Carlb328
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
I'm still waiting for more 8 bit. How about Crossfire or Stellar Shuttle?
@luca_verce_969
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
I completely missed this game, at that time I had put aside the VCS, however a very interesting game, thanks Jonny
@shireoryx6153
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Wonderful galaxian space invaders breakout frogger game
@ronm6585
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Thanks Jon.
@Back4More-420
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
I played many Atari 2600 games never saw this one. I am now gonna hunt for this game to emulate thanks
@Reaperman4711
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
I do like hearing the talk-through on the RTFM games. It usually doesn't make me want to play them, but it is good to know that there was something going in there.
@jayme69
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Good game with definite Yars vibes going on 🙂 Great stuff Jon and thanks for sharing!
@sandranemeth2164
August 15, 2026 at 4:51 am
Rad I’m surprised I never heard of this game before