Horrible game by a solid developer...

[Army Of 2600]

What do YOU think? For me, Parker Brothers Sky Skipper and Imagic's Firefighter are atrocious.

[karokoenig]

I like Sky Skipper.

 

Many Activision titles are really quite dull. Stupidest of all may be Dragster.

[Rhomaios]

Sega's otherwise quality offerings included Tac/Scan and a lousy version of Congo Bongo for the 2600.

[VectorGamer]

Many Activision titles are really quite dull. Stupidest of all may be Dragster.

 

I think that title should go to Oink! - that game is just horrible. I don't play Dragster much, but I think there's more purpose to that game than Oink!

[+nanochess]

Interestingly I don't expect much from Atari VCS games but when I played Sky Skipper I really had a thrill trying to control the plane, and I wanted to play more levels.

 

In Firefighter and Zaxxon still I don't see the fun, or at least a small feeling of accomplishing something.

[davidbrit2]

None can out-suck the 2600 version of Mr. Do's Castle. It's almost totally unplayable. Parker Bros. didn't exactly set the bar for 2600 development, but most of their stuff was pretty solid and playable. Except for that one.

[Crazy Climber]

Sky Skipper is actually pretty fun. I still would love to see the arcade version. Rumor has it only one prototype exists and it's located in the Nintendo HQ breakroom...

[+FujiSkunk]

Sky Skipper is playable in MAME, so somebody obviously got a hold of it. My understanding is it was released, but only in Japan. I have screenshots here.

 

I have to agree that once you've played the arcade game, the 2600 version is incredibly lacking. To me it competes pretty well with Amidar for the title of Parker Bros' worst arcade port.

[davidbrit2]

Sky Skipper is playable in MAME, so somebody obviously got a hold of it. My understanding is it was released, but only in Japan. I have screenshots here.

 

I have to agree that once you've played the arcade game, the 2600 version is incredibly lacking. To me it competes pretty well with Amidar for the title of Parker Bros' worst arcade port.

No way. Have you played (or rather, attempted to play) Mr. Do's Castle? Sky Skipper is a little drab, and Amidar really needs some speed adjustments, but Mr. Do's Castle is just outright broken.

[+FujiSkunk]

Admittedly I have not. Perhaps it's really a three-way battle?

[Rhomaios]

If I ever get around to making a game, I'd love to update Amidar. So much wasted potential.

[godzillajoe]

The only thing wrong with Fire Fighter is that it's ridiculously easy. Looks nice, solid controls. But no challenge. It's essentially a kids game.

[+save2600]

Never heard of Mr.Do's Castle BITD, so when I discovered it for the 2600 in the mid 90's popped it into my Atari and had absolutely no idea how to play the game. That instantly qualifies as a shit game IMO.

 

Q*berts Qubes and Frogger II are a couple of others that didn't need to happen. And again, never even knew they existed until the mid to late 90's.

[Tempest]

None can out-suck the 2600 version of Mr. Do's Castle. It's almost totally unplayable. Parker Bros. didn't exactly set the bar for 2600 development, but most of their stuff was pretty solid and playable. Except for that one.

That's because it's really a Coleco game. PB just published it after Coleco pulled out of the 2600 market.

[imstarryeyed]

My votes goes to barnstorming and to sky jinks. I found these games so boring and more of a tech demo with no real point.

[godzillajoe]

Barnstorming is just Grand Prix with a plane and Sky Jinks is Skiing with a plane.

 

They look nice though.

 

But I never understood Activision's fascination with timed games.

 

Did any other company make so many?

[WolfAmongWolves]

 

I think that title should go to Oink! - that game is just horrible. I don't play Dragster much, but I think there's more purpose to that game than Oink!

 

Hm, I haven't seen Oink! on a lot of "worst games" lists. I think it's actually kind of fun, especially with two players. It's always a big hit when my nephews come to visit, although they both always want to play as the wolf.

 

I think the "classic" worst game from Activision is Laser Blast. Simplistic, repetitive, just plain boring.

[+save2600]

Oink! is infinitely more playable than Mr. Do's castle is.

[godzillajoe]

Oink! is infinitely more playable than Mr. Do's castle is.

 

I spent some time with MDC tonight. It's not as horrible as I remember. If they patched up kicking ladders and knocking out blocks a bit, it would be pretty good. It's kinda frustrating but not unplayable. After some practice even that stuff became less annoying.

[Tempest]

 

I spent some time with MDC tonight. It's not as horrible as I remember. If they patched up kicking ladders and knocking out blocks a bit, it would be pretty good. It's kinda frustrating but not unplayable. After some practice even that stuff became less annoying.

There are two huge problems with MDC

 

1. It's too hard to tell if you're lined up with a hole when you hit it with your hammer

2. The ladders aren't angled so you can't tell where you need to kick them to move them

 

Fixing those problems would make it a somewhat passable game, but I still don't like that they used playfield graphics for the blocks. They don't look right.

[+MattelAquarius]

I agree that Barnstorming, Laser Blast, and Grand Prix are boring. Barnstorming dazzled me a bit, when I was young, because those graphics were somehow impressive.

 

Oink, on the other hand, I have always had fun with.

[godzillajoe]

There are two huge problems with MDC

 

1. It's too hard to tell if you're lined up with a hole when you hit it with your hammer

2. The ladders aren't angled so you can't tell where you need to kick them to move them

 

Fixing those problems would make it a somewhat passable game, but I still don't like that they used playfield graphics for the blocks. They don't look right.

 

They even say in the manual that you should line up Do's foot in the space between the blocks when you try to knock them out. So obviously it was a known issue in testing.

[WolfAmongWolves]

Barnstorming is just Grand Prix with a plane and Sky Jinks is Skiing with a plane.

 

They look nice though.

 

But I never understood Activision's fascination with timed games.

 

Did any other company make so many?

 

The fascination probably stems in part from laziness. These timed games like Grand Prix and Sky Jinks are the easiest to come up with and to program. All you basically need to do as a designer/programmer is set up one static obstacle course, add a timer, and you're done. No AI, randomness, or increasing difficulty to worry about. The entire game is just the player trying to memorize the course and move through it a little faster each time.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Along with Mr Do's Castle which someone mentioned, Miner '49er was another shit game on the 2600 with a solid Colecovision port.

 

In fact seems many games that got ported to both systems played better on the Coleco. But there's a lot of great Atari 2600 games, so maybe the Coleco guys who got all the Atari ports were smoking pot or something?

 

I've heard rumors that Coleco intentionally made their Atari 2600 ports suck, but maybe in reality they just didn't understand the system? Confused.

[Rhomaios]

Along with Mr Do's Castle which someone mentioned, Miner '49er was another shit game on the 2600 with a solid Colecovision port.

 

In fact seems many games that got ported to both systems played better on the Coleco. But there's a lot of great Atari 2600 games, so maybe the Coleco guys who got all the Atari ports were smoking pot or something?

 

I've heard rumors that Coleco intentionally made their Atari 2600 ports suck, but maybe in reality they just didn't understand the system? Confused.

 

ColecoVision is a more powerful machine, so it's not really a surprise that its ports are better. The rumors about the intentional ports actually concern Donkey Kong, since Coleco had the console rights at the time.