KIDS REACT TO ATARI 2600

- (children) Kids react to technology!

This episode: Atari 2600!

- (Finebros) So today
you're not actually reacting to a video.

- I'm a little scared.

- What will I be reacting to?

- (Finebros) You'll be reacting to this.

- Oh. Um...

I have totally never seen this before.

- Oh no, this is like
those old-fashioned video games.

- Is this an Atari Genesis or something?

- This is like Atari.

I think there's some
Mario games on this, right?

- Ah, the Atari!

We have one of these at my house.

- I heard of it in CeeLo Green's song
(laughing) "Forget You."

- (children) Question time!

- (Finebros) This is called the Atari 2600.

- 2600?

- That a weird name.

- Oh, the Atar-- I'm thinking
Nintendo 64 or something.

- My parents probably played
with this or something.

- (Finebros) It was popular
throughout the 1970's and early '80s.

- Oh, that's a while ago.

- Well, my mom and dad
were born in the 1970's,

so it's as old as my mom and my dad.

- (Finebros) Ready to play the Atari?
- Yes!

- I'm ready.

- I will beat it.

- Yeah, do I need this?

- (Finebros) We're gonna have you play this.

- Eh... "Asteroids."

- There's a rocketship
You have to kill all the asteroids.

- We had this one!

I never played it myself,
but my dad played it.

- (Finebros) Okay,
go ahead and try to put it in.

- Okay. Does it come out?

- Wait, is this the whole thing?

- I'm so sorry for anybody
who grew up in the 1970's and '80s.

- Am I doing it the right way?

(fumbling)

(game clicks into place)

- Wait...

(huffs)

(game clicks into place)
Okay.

- (Finebros) Okay,
now you can power it on.

- "1981 Atari Incorporated."

- This is to shoot.

Then this is to move.

(pew! pew! pew!)

- Am I moving? I can't tell.

- The joystick's a little hard
to move around.

- The graphics aren't too good.
It's kind of hard to control.

- I'm lost.

Oh! (laughing)

It's really hard to keep up with this.

- I keep moving everywhere
and I really don't care

because I'm winning.

- Just keep blastin'.

(pew!)
Everything will be all right, boy.

Get dunked on!

And I died.

- You... (squeals)

I died.

- It's actually fun.
I love old games.

- It's really cool because
how fun a game could be

without the good graphics.

- I'm trying to see where I'm...
this is actually harder

than I thought it would be.

- I'm just trying to keep it
in one area and just shoot there.

Wait, don't came at me.
Don't come at me!

DON'T!

Unfair.

- I'm not good at these games.

And this is proving what I'm saying.

- I've played Pong once.
Pong's much better than this.

(warbling)
- What's happening?

Could someone please inform
me what's happening?

- The asteroids keep coming,
so I keep getting hit by them.

- Nowadays, it
actually looks like real life,

but this is just a bunch of pixels.

- I think I died.
No. No, I did not.

(inhaling)

(groaning)

Okay.

- Okay. It's gone again!

Oh wait, there it-- oh my gosh.
I keep getting hit by asteroids.

- Oh. Are you serious? Dude.

This is unfair.

I am very frustrated right now.

- I died.

I die.

- I don't like it at all.

(laughing) It's really hard to work.

- The controller
of the Atari, it's really bad.

And it feels horrible.

- I mean, the game's okay.

Nintendo topped this.

- It stinks!

Not meaning to be rude or disrespectful.

It's like early on 1970's,
but from my point of view,

if this was made in the 2000 generations,

what kind of low-budget thing is this?!

- (Finebros) Before systems like Atari,
you had to go out to the arcade

to play any video game
and you could not play at home.

Can you imagine that today?

- That would suck.

- That would just be sad.

- I would explode a tiny bit,
but I can survive.

- We wouldn't want to go to an arcade

where you actually might end up
paying more money than buying the game.

- (Finebros) Well, Atari
and other video game consoles

got so big and there were so many of them

that in 1983 almost every company
went out of business

because people actually stopped
buying video game consoles.

- Really?

- It's like you make something unique,
then everybody copies them

and it just loses its uniqueness.

- (Finebros) People at that time
ended up thinking that

home video games were just a trend
that just would fade away.

Were they right or wrong?
- They were wrong.

- They were really, really wrong.

I've seen some gaming channels that play
games on YouTube for a living.

- If you go to almost
every middle schooler's house,

they all mostly have
either an Xbox One or a PS4.

- (Finebros) Okay, before you go,
we want you to play one more game,

a game many consider to be
the worst video game of all time.

- Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

- I-- I don't want to.

Um... "E.T."

- "E.T." Oh god.

I've heard of the movie,
never watched it.

- I watched this on a video
on Top 10 Worst Games.

- Oh my god! It's the E.T.

I've heard people say
that it's the worst game in history.

- Oh god! (laughing)

- I have no words!

- "1982." I wasn't alive.

- (Finebros) So you will play as E.T.,

and you'll need to escape
from the men who show up

trying to catch you,
while collecting Reeses Pieces,

and trying to find the parts
of a phone so you can go home.

- Okay.

(chipbit sound effects)

- Okay, I think I'm playing.

- Um, I think this is supposed to be E.T.

- What-- ooh!
(button mashing)

Die! (laughing)
Did I kill him?

- Oh my god. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, no! Neh.

- He has me, he has me.
What do I do?

He put me in prison.

I escaped.

- I'm confused how to play it.

- I'm so confused right now.

- I like this one way better
than Asteroids.

This is a boss? I don't know
why people hate this.

- Oh! There's a dot.
Eat the dot.

Sustenance.

- What? Go, go, go.
(descending bloop)

What happened?

- How come--? What the--?

- Oh, huh, no, ha!

Okay. Wait. What?

- We're stuck?
Am I stuck?

- The question is...
how do I get out of the hole?!

- (Finebros) Try holding the red button.

- Oh my god, yes!
You can only go straight up.

Oops.

- Does E.T.'s neck stretch like that?

- Did my neck extend?

(descending bloop)

So am I a giraffe or am I an alien?

- That doesn't really seem like
there is that much to it.

(exhales)

- (whispering) I got this.

(grunts)

What the--?

- I am doing-- am I doing horribly?

Or did the other kids do horribly than me?

(descending bloop)

- Why am I keep falling down?

- I-- okay.

I just got--
(descending bloop)

- I don't even care. I'll get--.

Is there actually a proper way
how to escape?

- It seems like you only have
a certain amount of step--

This stupid hole!

- I don't want to do this. (laughing)

And I'm back in the pit. How?

I quit. I can't.

(laughing) I'm done, guys.

- I kept falling in the hole!

- You suck!

- That was awesome.

- I did not know what
I was doing one single bit.

But guess what?
I enjoyed them.

- (Finebros) Many consider
Atari one of the main reasons

that we all play video games today,

so what do you want
to say to the Atari 2600?

- Um, thank you.

You can go be put in the trash can again.

- You made people
want to do better than this.

- Thank you for making this
so that I could get my PS4

and my Xbox 360.

- Thank you for making
the Atari because without this

we wouldn't have most
of the stuff that we have today.

- If this was never made,
you would never have Halo.

You would never have Call of Duty.

Thank you, Atari.

- Thank you for making it
so all of us have games today.

Making it so, in the future,
we have technology and video games

like Pokémon GO.

Hee hee.

- Thanks for watching
this episode of Kids React.

- Let us know in the comments

what old technology
we should react to next.

- Thanks for watching.

Oh no! Asteroids!
(angry buzzing noises)

I'm sorry! I like E.T. better!

♪ (theme music) ♪