How is K.C. Munchkin for the 7800?

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Hey guys, I am seriously thinking of wanting to buy the 7800 version of K.C. Munchkin. I of cpurse never owned or played it. I for one never owned or played an Odyssey 2. And considering the system is old as I am. I want to hear some feedback to those that have got the 7800 homebrew. Is it a great game? Are the controls great and responsive? And is it worth the $30 to pick it up? I am highly intrigued by it and like to add this baby to my huge game room. Any thoughts and insight is much appreciated. Thanks!!!

[AtariBrian]

Very worth it and I think you can play the original game on it also .

[Gabriel]

Hey guys, I am seriously thinking of wanting to buy the 7800 version of K.C. Munchkin. I of cpurse never owned or played it. I for one never owned or played an Odyssey 2. And considering the system is old as I am. I want to hear some feedback to those that have got the 7800 homebrew. Is it a great game? Are the controls great and responsive? And is it worth the $30 to pick it up? I am highly intrigued by it and like to add this baby to my huge game room. Any thoughts and insight is much appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

Yes. I am highly satisfied with it. It plays great and has a highly addictive play quality.

 

The controls are responsive, but keep in mind that KC Munchkin moves on large "tiles" and must move entirely to the next "tile" before he can change direction. On lower levels when KC is slow, this makes him feel unresponsive, but this isn't a flaw. It is instead a feature and a distinguishing quality of the game.

 

If you get tired of the basic maze, there are still two others as well as invisible mazes. If you get tired of that, you can make your own mazes.

 

Is it the best maze muncher for the 7800? No. Pac Man Collection, Super Pac Man, and Jr Pac Man are all better. However, if you already have all of those, then KC Munchkin is the next logical choice. If you don't have all of those and instead just want a simpler maze muncher, then KC Munchkin might still be something you'd want to add to your library.

[iesposta]

For me it was more nostalgia.

I played it at a friends house and is probably the only Odyssey 2 game I remember.

That and the fact that I learned about its history of selling for a year and being pulled due to a lawsuit. I never knew about that back then.

Both the graphic update and the original graphics are in there.

Chasing after the moving dots is a twist, as is having to go into the moving center enemy box to get to all of the maze areas.

[SS]

I really enjoy KC Munchkin on the 7800; it is a great conversion of the title. However, I once owned and enjoyed the game on an O2 but I no longer own that system. If I were going into the game completely fresh, I don't know if it would quite hold as much interest for me. You should definitely try it out on an emulator to get a first-hand idea about the game play.

[+save2600]

How do you access the original game and graphics?

[iesposta]

How do you access the original game and graphics?

 

Hold PAUSE and press POWER.

 

[+save2600]

Awesome, thanks iesposta!

 

Gotta admit, like the original graphics better. Been so long since I played the O2 version, but is the movement tiled as this version is? Feels like you do find yourself getting "stuck" or caught on something once in a while in this version. I bet that'll go away though once you get used to the mechanics of his movement.

 

Love the game! Thought to myself why anyone would want to port such a title to the 7800, but it really does have its charms and is definitely different enough from Pac-Man as to be chock full of playability. Different mazes, floating pills, monster cage that rotates - causing variances within the same maze, one life, high score initial entry, etc. Really glad Bob decided to port one of the best O2 games over for those of us that don't care to maintain an O2 collection or bugger with emulation.

 

Later as I get better at it, will be fun to compare high scores. The simplicity of one life and going for the best score, really helps make this game that much more special, challenging and rewarding.

[Trebor]

Been so long since I played the O2 version, but is the movement tiled as this version is?

 

Yes. Bob is a huge fan of the original, compared it to the O2 (which he owns), ensuring it matched. Both the 7800 port and the O2 original use a grid of sorts to indicate when movement can be reversed/changed. It was illustrated here.

 

Of course, being the perfectionist that Bob is just assisted in the replication of the original game.

 

The Odyssey2 Homepage used terms describing the 7800 port as:

 

"...impressively accurate...faithfully recreates...strikingly accurate."

 

May not be for everyone, especially if you're looking for a more exacting clone of Pac-Man movement and behavior. However, if you're looking for a similar yet significantly different take on Pac-Man, this is one heck of a game. A stand-out in its own right.

[+save2600]

 

May not be for everyone, especially if you're looking for a more exacting clone of Pac-Man movement and behavior. However, if you're looking for a similar yet significantly different take on Pac-Man, this is one heck of a game. A stand-out in its own right.

 

Absolutely! So yeah, tiled movement marks yet another difference and departure from Pac-Man. Not sure how aware I was of the lawsuit back then, but man, today… sure seems there are enough differences that the whole case would be thrown out. Especially considering all the other 'collect the dots and chase a maze' games made since. Lock 'n' Chase, Chase the Chuckwagon, Lochjaw/Shark! Shark!, Alien, Bank Heist, etc., etc., etc.

 

Thought I read somewhere Atari especially didn't like the way K.C. was drawn or maybe it was his chomping animation. If that were the case today, you'd think all they'd have to do is change the character graphic and be done with it vs. pulling the entire game. Different times for sure and yes, considering the infancy of electronic gaming back then. Seems Atari was lucky to have won the lawsuits they did for all those years. Really should get cracking on some of the industry insider books I've bought recently. One of these days!

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Well, you guys convinced me. I will be getting K.C. Munchkin!:-) I appreciate all the suggestions. And I will let you know when it arrives. I saw the Easter Egg for playing the original game is holding the pause button as you power on the 7800, and wait til the "Atari" bios passes to the title screen. Thanks everyone!!

[gilsaluki]

I am sorry to disagree with all. Have the game and no offense to anyone, but it is not fun. It, for some reason, is frustrating for me to play. Still haven't figured it out. I would not get this one.

[+save2600]

I am sorry to disagree with all. Have the game and no offense to anyone, but it is not fun. It, for some reason, is frustrating for me to play. Still haven't figured it out. I would not get this one.

 

Why? Your controllers not working correctly? You using the original 7800 joysticks, which suck for just about every game?

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I have the 7800 European gamepad controllers. I know it won't be a problem. I hate the proline "painline" controllers.

[Jinks]

 

Why? Your controllers not working correctly? You using the original 7800 joysticks, which suck for just about every game?

Its a hard game. If you suck at it you will not have fun. Is that not the truth for any game?

[gilsaluki]

To all. Again, I am sorry I don't like the game. It has nothing to do with the controllers, I have ALL the various types of controllers. Don't take offense, to each his/her own (although I suspect there aren't many "hers" playing it). I don't suck at all games, this is one of them--can't seem to get the hang of the darned thing.

[Jinks]

To all. Again, I am sorry I don't like the game. It has nothing to do with the controllers, I have ALL the various types of controllers. Don't take offense, to each his/her own (although I suspect there aren't many "hers" playing it). I don't suck at all games, this is one of them--can't seem to get the hang of the darned thing.

Its ok dude. jus like ya said each his own. We cool.

[+save2600]

To all. Again, I am sorry I don't like the game. It has nothing to do with the controllers, I have ALL the various types of controllers. Don't take offense, to each his/her own (although I suspect there aren't many "hers" playing it). I don't suck at all games, this is one of them--can't seem to get the hang of the darned thing.

It's all good brother! Just wondering how you were playing it is all. The game is not for everybody obviously, but best enjoyed with a bog standard 2600 controller or 7800 Euro pad.

[Jaynz]

It's awesome and gilsaluki has no soul!

[+Atarius Maximus]

I wanted to throw in my .02¢. I played it for the first time a few weeks ago having never played the O2 version before. I thought it was great. I'd of course seen screenshots of the original but had no idea that the dots moved, and moved faster as you progressed! I think the original was an incredibly creative way to re-create the pac-man experience on the old odyssey, knowing that they couldn't fill the entire screen with dots like the original pac-man. I couldn't stop playing for at least a half an hour once I downloaded it for the first time, despite having lots of other things I needed to get done. I love it! I don't own a physical copy yet but it's on my list to buy.

 

Edit: I saw the controller discussion. Not sure it matters, but I was playing on real hardware with a Cuttle Cart 2, a Sega Genesis controller and edladdin's adapter.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Mail call!! Got to play it. Like aome of you said it moves one notch at a time, and it will take some time for me to get used to it. Other than that I enjoy it.

[Gabriel]

Mail call!! Got to play it. Like aome of you said it moves one notch at a time, and it will take some time for me to get used to it. Other than that I enjoy it.

 

Have fun with it.

[+Atarius Maximus]

Mail call!! Got to play it. Like aome of you said it moves one notch at a time, and it will take some time for me to get used to it. Other than that I enjoy it.

 

Cool, glad to see you picked up a copy. I just bought "byte before Christmas" and KC is next on my wish list. Enjoy!

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Cool, glad to see you picked up a copy. I just bought "byte before Christmas" and KC is next on my wish list. Enjoy!

I really do enjoy it! Especially the easter egg when you hold pause to power it on past the bios screen to the title screen you can play the 1981 graphic version. Also, is there any word about the Bentley's Crystal Quest game. I absolutley want to get that!!! Bob DeCrescenzo has done an amazing job on the 7800 homebrews. If he done all this in 1984. The 7800 would have been an even more outstanding system and not get any of the hate it did back when the NES dominated. Probably one of if not the most underrated and most under appreciated console of all time.

[+save2600]

Probably one of if not the most underrated and most under appreciated console of all time.

 

Absolutely. You just wonder how things might have been had most all of Bob and Ken's releases been released BITD. Two different types of gamers *maybe*, but both yearning for something a little "closer to home" if you know what I mean.