25 replies to this topic

[ravenxau]

Just sat down for a couple of hours playing Rampage on the 2600 - After getting used to the controls and learning what to eat and what to avoid, I managed a score of 55,000 (the world record on twingalaxies.com is listed as being  about 80,000). This game is actually very enjoyable - more so than the commodore 64 version!. Yes the graphics are of "2600 quality" - but it is a fun and challenging game. Anybody else have any thoughts of this great port of an awesome game?

[TheGreatPW]

ravenxau, on Sat Apr 5, 2008 11:31 PM, said:

Just sat down for a couple of hours playing Rampage on the 2600 - After getting used to the controls and learning what to eat and what to avoid, I managed a score of 55,000 (the world record on twingalaxies.com is listed as being  about 80,000). This game is actually very enjoyable - more so than the commodore 64 version!. Yes the graphics are of "2600 quality" - but it is a fun and challenging game. Anybody else have any thoughts of this great port of an awesome game?

After seeing Activision's late titles like Rampage and Kung Fu Master, you get the idea that this system could do almost any game a programmer can put his or her mind to.  However I am not sure Rampage for the Atari 2600 was their best efforts whether it was due to not having enough RAM or if he was just going for game play instead.  The buildings in the game for example could have been a tad better.  I am not sure how Atari would have done it if they were going to do a conversion but there are some subtle nice touches to the game.  One of them is being the skyline that a lot of Activision games feature.

Overall he did a great job of getting the game into the Atari cartridge however and it just lacked some polish which maybe some more RAM or time could have definitely helped with.  I am not going to take anything away due to the game coming so late in the development cycle of the Atari 2600.  This is a nice cherry to have on top of your ice cream.

[StanJr]

SHOCK!  But I have never played any Rampage game outside of the VCS (and that one only as recently as several years ago).  I know this game is all the rage and lives on today on modern consoles, but I never really understood the appeal.  I remember it being HUGE on the NES, but I just never played it.

That said, I really enjoy the VCS Rampage.  I think it strikes at the game's core and does a decent enough job of including all gameplay elements.  It is not my first pick, but it gets its fair share of play time when it makes it into the Atari.

[ravenxau]

143,600 - New record Score!

(done on stella emulator with a $10 USB gamepad - so i'm not going to claim any "official" form of record)

Edited by ravenxau, Sun Apr 6, 2008 1:48 AM.

[Mister VCS]

The animated title-screen and the intermissions are fascinating for a 2600 game.
The buildings looks all the same besides the colors. Gamplay is a little bit boring
after a few games. I think this game is a mixed bag!

[remowilliams]

ravenxau, on Sat Apr 5, 2008 11:31 PM, said:

Anybody else have any thoughts of this great port of an awesome game?

It's a valiant though incredibly piss poor attempt compared to proper ports or the arcade game.  The 2600 though it will always occupy a special place in my heart, is not capable of everything.  

[Crazy Climber]

I actually can't remember playing this one, I remember owning it at one time but it was sealed so I just left it alone. I'll have to give it a try, I did like Rampage in it's day. It was a lot of fun in the arcades, I remember it's not the same though without that friend factor. If you play it alone it's actually kind of boring, you have to have 3 of you jamming away then it is a blast!

[ninermaniac]

Just played it again. I'm not to good with it. I like it. I scored a whopping 22,000 points. Woooo.....

[bcprs1]

I enjoy both the 2600 and 7800 versions, but admit that the game does get boring after a while.  The 7800 version is definitely easier to play with the addition of the second button.  I just wished both games had some sort of "ending".  The game just loops on the cities when you get to the end.

[Crazy Climber]

bcprs1, on Sun Apr 6, 2008 10:59 AM, said:

I enjoy both the 2600 and 7800 versions, but admit that the game does get boring after a while.  The 7800 version is definitely easier to play with the addition of the second button.  I just wished both games had some sort of "ending".  The game just loops on the cities when you get to the end.

I did own the 7800 version, a nice boxed one IIRC I think Y-bot has it now...anyways, it was a lot of fun and unique in it's own ways

[Lord Thag]

I was never a big fan of either the 2600 or the 7800 versions of this. This is one of the few times I prefer the NES version. The VCS port is pretty good for what it is, but the buildings are just to chunky. Had the programmer spent more time making the buildings less 'street racer', I might have enjoyed it more. The VCS' vertical rezolution would certainly have not been an obstacle.

All in all, it's not bad. Just not one of the really amazing, and unsung games like Tapper or Spy Hunter. Of the three Activision 'crazy graphics' ports, I like Kung Fu the best.

[A Sprite]

I owned this game. It's a good enough conversion. Really, this game is nearly the same on every console. Destroy everything you can while looking for snack people, and dance in the rain of ammunition, laughing at your enemies until your slow and painful death hours later.  

It's kinda boring, actually.

Take away the Godzilla theme: it's a bare bones treasure hunt for small slivers of health. All the while, drip by drip, you lose even more small slivers of health...

Barring any games you invent for yourself with the trollies, nothing you do inside the game really changes the way you play the game. All you can do is extend it's playing time.

You can get the same effect (For free!) by asking a trusted friend to stab you for one evening with a hot needle until you give up on life while you raid their kitchen for loose snacks. Either you'll attack your friend for enjoying this too much (the preferred method), or you'll grit your teeth and pretend you aren't wishing you were playing some other game instead. (what kind of snacks are in that kitchen?)

Either way, you'll lose a piece of your soul.

The only way in known theory it could be any worse is to play the same game of hot needle attack in your own kitchen, alone...

Edited by A Sprite, Mon Apr 7, 2008 5:26 AM.

[aftermac]

I heard the U.S. Military baned this as a form of torture.   

[ZylonBane]

StanJr, on Sun Apr 6, 2008 12:52 AM, said:

I have never played any Rampage game outside of the VCS ... I never really understood the appeal.

If only you realized how much you just answered your own question.

This is like saying, "I only ever played Dragon's Lair on the NES. I never really understood the appeal."

[ls650]

Tried it, didn't like it.  The Lynx version is okay, but gets repetitive after only 10 or 15 minutes.  At least the Lynx version has good graphics to save it: the 2600 gameplay is about the same, but the harsh blocky graphics make it boring to even look at.

[Godzilla]

when you've played the superlative amiga version with four players at once, and the great lynx version (which is the best one player rampage, imho,) the pale, poor 2600 version just doesn't cut the mustard. I'm one of the first ones to prefer the 2600s ability to capture the esence of a games play and fun over the harder arcade games (I prefer 2600 joust to the arcade,) but rampage is one of the few 2600 arcade conversions that didn't get it right. The control just isn't there.

[StanJr]

ZylonBane, on Mon Apr 7, 2008 12:27 PM, said:

StanJr, on Sun Apr 6, 2008 12:52 AM, said:

I have never played any Rampage game outside of the VCS ... I never really understood the appeal.

If only you realized how much you just answered your own question.

This is like saying, "I only ever played Dragon's Lair on the NES. I never really understood the appeal."

oh, no, I understand the VCS's stripped down stylings for Rampage, ( I hadn't played any Rampage games until like 4 years ago) I just never understood the appeal of Rampage in general before I even knew there was a VCS version.

And, please, let us NEVER speak of NES Dragon's Lair...shudder

[Video]

I love rampage for the 2600, it was one of my favorites fo ryears (heck, we wore that thing out)  It took me years to find another copy, but it was worth it.

There's a few things I don't really like, and if it was ever hacked, would love to see adressed.

The buildings, the individual 'windows' and 'floors' are WAY to tall.  If I had made it, Graphically, I would have cut the height of each to about 1/2 or 1/3 of what it currently is (the verticle resolution fo the VCS certainly wasn't a factor here)

Second (also to do with the buildings) why no damage?  I know the 2600 wasn't much graphically, especially for BG image, but knock out every other line of a section of a building and you got damage.  May or may not add to the game that much, but it would look a lot cooler than the 'one hit and it's gone' setup currently.

There's never more than one vehicle (or type, for that matter) on the screen at once.  Why?  They are on a different scanline from the playfield anyways, so two would be perfectly acceptable.  Also, why no humans (or is that what the pink flamingo thingy is supposed to be?)

And last, but not least, hit detection is off a bit (or maybe it's to precise?) It's a bit difficult to get on a building sometimes.

Other than that, I really like the game, in fact, I'd take this one over the Nintendo cause Ralph was always my favorite characture (and why did the NES not have him?) It's got things in it you didn't really suspect, like the ability to hit in different directions, bridges (though you died if you broke one) and the many skylines, rather than one over and over.

Over all, it's still a blast to play, especially with a friend.

[ZylonBane]

StanJr, on Mon Apr 7, 2008 7:46 PM, said:

oh, no, I understand the VCS's stripped down stylings for Rampage, ( I hadn't played any Rampage games until like 4 years ago) I just never understood the appeal of Rampage in general before I even knew there was a VCS version.

The appeal is that big cartoon monsters pounding on buildings and eating little cartoon people and bathtubs and whatever is funny. Any version of less than arcade resolution loses this quality.

[StanJr]

Yeah, I understand that is supposed to be the appeal, but such doings in vicarious video game venues just doesn't "wow" me like it does most people.  Don't ask me why.  It sounds like fun, but...meh.

[KevinMos3]

Okay, so I'm going to resurrect a very old topic here...

About a week or so ago, I was putting new sprites into this game.  Today, I was reading the manual and noticed it said the game has 85 cities to destroy.  So I'm wondering if it just loops after 85 cities or what?  I searched the forums for threads about Rampage to see if anyone had posted about the game having an ending.  I found one thread where a guy said he was going to find out, but no update.  Does anyone know the answer to this?

While reading in this thread, I noticed the high score and remembered that about a week ago, I did this:

...until I just got tired of playing/needed to do other things.  I had 9 lives at that point and I'm sure I could have played all day, but I had things to do so I turned it off.  I don't know how many cities I went through, but I'm sure it wasn't 85 and I really don't think I'd have the patience to go through them all.  I just now checked twingalaxies to see if the record had changed since the above post stating 80,000.  Unfortunately, the record on real hardware is 1,000,000 set back in 2003... a pretty significant accomplishment, as that's a number that I don't think I'd have the patience to play to.




Meh... a little off topic, but while I'm at it -- instead of starting a new thread somewhere for these; here are screenshots of the endings of Ikari Warriors and Double Dragon (my graphics hack).  Of course on real hardware and with a good ol' joystick.

[AtariLeaf]

I've always loved Rampage, and yes I've even come to enjoy the 2600 version (since getting a CIB copy off ebay). I think the 7800 version is very good but when I really want to play a home version, I'll dig out the Master System.

[SoulBlazer]

AtariLeaf, on Sat May 5, 2012 5:21 AM, said:

I've always loved Rampage, and yes I've even come to enjoy the 2600 version (since getting a CIB copy off ebay). I think the 7800 version is very good but when I really want to play a home version, I'll dig out the Master System.

With all due respect, while the 2600 version is a masterpiece of a late system game (and playable also), I think the NES got the best port of the game.  It still only suported 2 players at once as opposed to 3 like the arcade, but hay.

Rampage is one of those games, though, where none of the home ports really did it justice for various reasons, IMHO.  Like not being able to have three playing at once, as just mentioned.  It also gets borring fast if you're playing it by yourself.

[AtariLeaf]

The NES version is good too. I just prefer the SMS version personally. But no one's mentioned another great version:

[Cynicaster]

Wow, people actually like this game?  To me, it might be the game that proved without a doubt the 2600 was finally finished.  Almost like that once great sports hero who tries to stick around for just one more season, and ends up making an ass of himself.

Honestly, I think I'd rather play Sorcerer.  At least that game is a piece of shit in its own right, and not a hack job of something else.