Raiding the River.

In 1982 Activision released the classic Atari 2600 title, River Raid. I received this game by trade with a fellow student at my elementary school, a steal since he wanted to trade it for my copy of Demons to Diamonds.

In River Raid your tasked with...well...using your jet fighter to raid the River of No Return, destroying tankers, enemy jets, and helicopters on your way. This was one of the first 2600 games that I can remember where fuel was a concern, luckily you could refill by flying over a fuel tank...assuming you didn't shoot the thing when it appeared on the screen...ahem, not that I ever did such a thing.

You had to be quick with the Joystick as the canyon walls would sometime narrow or even a landmass would appear forcing you to choose a path to fly through. Most often the path I chose would be incorrect and as I looked at my flashing fuel gauge I could see a tank mocking me from the other side of the canyon walls.

Of course the real challenge was obtaining 15,000 points so that you could secure the River Raiders patch, I even heard they let children fly commercial airliners if they saw that patch...that's what I heard. Apparently the highest score you can achieve is 1,000,000 points. Which I can only hope would net you a real jet fighter.