The NES was a much more capable console, and offers many games that are a lot richer and deeper.
But, if you're in the right mood, and have a screen with low input lag, the Atari 2600 offers a more immediate and direct feel. I think my favorite game is the progressive mode in Super Breakout; when you get going and the field moves toward you everytime you bounce the ball back, wham. And the paddle controllers feel connected in a way that joysticks don't (although, if your paddle controllers don't work well, then that's dissonant)
There's a lot of games where you can (hopefully) get into the zone and have a somewhat meditative experience in a way that gets harder when games get more complex. But you do also have to be ok with losing, a lot of the better games are either arcade ports or arcade like.
OTOH I haven't played all the sports games, but the ones I played are rather abstract, the NES offered sports that felt more like sports. Of course, 16-bit sports were much better again. Atari Basketball is not something you could play for hours, but the NBA Jam port for the Genesis (and even the GameBoy) got a lot of playtime for me.
Yeah, the paddle controller on a zero-lag CRT offers an incredible experience that no modern hardware does. Super Breakout's progressive mode is still amazing today. Kaboom is the other big one, also Video Olympics in the higher speed modes. There are rotary controllers to work with Mame but they're a pale imitation of the real thing.
For sports, there's one surprisingly good (American) football game on the 2600: Super Challenge Football. You invent your own play calls every down by instructing each player individually. It's quite unknown, as it's only playable 2-player (no computer AI), and came out late in the system's life as a port from an Intellivision game. There's also a Super Challenge Baseball, also 2P only. Both games use weird control schemes that you'd never figure out without the manual, but do a decent enough job of controlling the sport with only one button.
But, if you're in the right mood, and have a screen with low input lag, the Atari 2600 offers a more immediate and direct feel. I think my favorite game is the progressive mode in Super Breakout; when you get going and the field moves toward you everytime you bounce the ball back, wham. And the paddle controllers feel connected in a way that joysticks don't (although, if your paddle controllers don't work well, then that's dissonant)
There's a lot of games where you can (hopefully) get into the zone and have a somewhat meditative experience in a way that gets harder when games get more complex. But you do also have to be ok with losing, a lot of the better games are either arcade ports or arcade like.
OTOH I haven't played all the sports games, but the ones I played are rather abstract, the NES offered sports that felt more like sports. Of course, 16-bit sports were much better again. Atari Basketball is not something you could play for hours, but the NBA Jam port for the Genesis (and even the GameBoy) got a lot of playtime for me.