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About this blog

I review games... How original...

Entries in this blog

 

Eggomania (U.S. Games)

When it comes to Catch ‘em games one reigns supreme Kaboom! But we’re not going to be reviewing Kaboom! for a while, we’re looking at one of the games it inspired. Which could be? Could it be Lost Luggage, Eggomania, Big Bird’s Egg Catch, Berenstain Bears, did I find the unreleased prototype of Kickman? (Hint: it’s no). I’ve already looked at two of the more notorious Catch ‘em games, Beat ‘em & Eat ‘em and The Music Machine, and chances are you’ve read the title to this review so you alread
DoctorSpuds

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Indy 500 (Atari)

Welp, my laptop is dead, it freezes at the password screen and that's just the end of it. I've gotten a new computer that'll hopefully last as long or longer as my laptop. I'm tired and suffering from a mild migraine at the moment so I'm sorry if this particular review is a bit nonsensical as I am both completely exhausted and caffeinated out of my mind.      Of the nine games available at the 2600’s launch there are two that I feel still hold up well today. I’ve already discussed Combat
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Harrier 7 (Avantage)

Harrier 7 (Avantage)

Budget titles always have been, and always will be, mixed bags. You might get a hidden gem of a game or you might get stuck with a bunch of trash. I honestly don’t know how it was back in the 80’s with computer and console gaming being a bit more of a fledgling market, or even which publishers were considered budget, well I know of a few. The publisher of today’s game is most certainly a budget company, it’s pretty obvious, their tagline is “The best in low-priced entertainment software™” for cr
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Bugs (Data Age)

Even though I may have softened somewhat on Data Age as time has gone by it doesn’t mean I won’t still ridicule them for producing some awful titles, the three games that I would classify as ‘as bad as people say they are’ are as follows: Airlock, Warplock, and Bugs. Now, Bugs and I have a bit of a history together, in that it was the first Paddle game I bought, long before I actually had a set of Paddle controllers, so I got to look at it on my shelf for oh so long, and when I finally got my fi
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My Favorite 2600 games (and then some)

Since I don’t normally post reviews on Mondays I decided to do something a little different. Instead of posting a review how about I put up a list of my personal favorite games on my personal favorite console the Atari 2600. These aren’t in any particular order; they are simply the games that have given me the most enjoyment during my time playing the 2600. There may be some titles that you think should be on this list, so please tell me your favorite games in the comment section. 20th Century
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Gamma-Attack (Gammation)

Gamma-Attack, much like Air Raid, has languished in obscurity and myth for many years until its eventual discovery in 2008. From the get-go this game was set up to have a very limited release, and to truly understand HOW limited we have to briefly take a look at the company that made it, Gammation. Gammation was a one man company out of Ohio that made and sold turbo attachments for the 2600 through mail-order. The only way to get business would be to have ads in the large gaming magazines, and f
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Commando Raid (Vidtec/U.S. Games)

I would describe Commando Raid as a decent mix of Atlantis by Imagic and Atari's Missile Command, and is among the better games released under the Vidtec label. I will not deny this game's quality of programming since it is indeed high, at least when compared to other games from Vidtec. This was actually the final game I needed to complete my Vidtec 'collection', does that ever happen to you? You need a rather common game to round off a publisher set, and it's probably the most common one they p
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Walker/Schussel,der Polizistenschreck (Suntek/Quelle)

What the hell is this!?! This game causes me great distress. This will not be a full review; it will just be me reacting to what has been put before me. Walker by Suntek is one of the weirdest and most nonsensical things I’ve ever had the displeasure of laying my eyes on. This is an incredibly basic platforming game where you are an extremely tall clown that jumps over Bobbies, British slang for police, while meandering through some of the strangest scenery I’ve ever seen.   Screen one: Thi
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Monday Box Review! (Tigervision)

I’ll admit that when it comes to the 2600 library, and actually most game libraries in general, the box designs can get rather samey or at the very least lacking in originality. Some consoles like the NES and 2600 can have very creative box arts, and in a few unique cases box shapes and designs, though the PC still reigns supreme in that respect. Other consoles like the Sega Master System, and SNES had rather boring designs where the art itself is limited to the front of the box while the rest
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Capture the Flag (Sirius Software)

Sorry for missing the review yesterday, but for reasons way within my control I just simply couldn’t (I.E. I was just lazy). I had a friend over yesterday to play some games, and even though the big winner of the night was Pachinko! On Odyssey 2, because he was winning by a country mile the whole time, followed by Survivor by Synapse, since it’s just a damn fun game, the third most played game was Capture the Flag by Sirius on Atari 800 and that’s the game we’re looking at today. Sirius Software
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Fantastic Voyage (20th Century Fox)

20th Century Fox was, admittedly, one of the strangest publishers on the 2600. This was, in the most part, due to their partnership with Sirius Software Inc., the TCF classics Fast Eddie, Deadly Duck, Beany Bopper, and Worm War 1, were from Red Sirius, and they are all undeniably weird. And because Fox also owned the rights to many films they were also the “Movie Tie-In game” publisher as well, and as such they released several games based on their films and various IP’s. Somehow despite their v
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Red Sea Crossing (Inspirational Video Concepts/Steve Stack)

Wait a second… Wasn’t I supposed to review Video Life from Commavid? Well I was, but I decided against it because there really wasn’t anything to review, all you do is look at the pretty pictures while your ears explode, so I decided to instead replace it with a game that’s not currently on the R10 list but I’m fairly sure will be on it eventually, Red Sea Crossing. It’s odd, isn’t it, that three of the rarest 2600 games are also the only three religious themed games in the 2600 library? It seem
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Strange Atari Catalog

I have never seen anything like this before. The inside is similar as the regular 45 game catalog it just has a different front cover. the # is CO16725-Rev. D just like a regular catalog
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Keystone Kapers (Activision)

You’ll likely remember how in Sunday’s review I criticized Barnstorming for being ‘style over substance’, well I think Keystone Kapers may have finally balanced these two opposing forces. The premise is fairly basic, you are a cop who needs to catch a burglar who is escaping through a shopping mall, you must avoid obstacles in order to catch the thieving fiend. Everything in this game screams effort, from the animated escalators, to the running animations of both the cop and the burglar, to tha
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Pac-Man (Atari)

This game is a glorious mess. And despite being one of the most commonly mocked and disliked games in the Atari library, I don't mind it. Let me just say this up front, I don't think that this is a 'Pac-Man' game, I think it's a Pac-Man style game. Same name different game, each share similar game-play and graphics (Sounds are not applicable here), but Atari Pac-Man shook things up a little bit. Also like the other mainstream whipping boy E.T., this game was rushed to completion, and also suffer
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Marauder (Tigervision)

I think we can all agree that Tigervision was an all around okay company, they published some pretty excellent games like Polaris and Jawbreaker, but they also had a few stinkers as well. But apart from their incredibly rare and expensive games and their incredibly terrible games there were a few in the middle that just seem to get no attention whatsoever, games like King Kong, Threshold, and Marauder always seem to fly under the radar. Perhaps there is a reason for that, today let’s just focus
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SpaceChase *Re-reviewed* (Apollo)

I’ve been thinking back to my Spacechase review that I posted all the way back in June, it was my second review and I feel it is one of my worst. There is almost no talking about the game itself just me bashing it for being a bad game, and holy crap the second and fourth paragraphs are just one sentence each! That’s terrible! So I think it’s about time to go back and give this review a facelift.   Spacechase by Apollo is an unabashed and shameless copycat of Demon Attack that totall- Wait what
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Star Strike (Mattel)

I have neglected my other systems for too long and it seems to be about time to remedy that. With my recent acquisition of an Intellivision II system I felt the urge to go back and play through all the games I have for it. I don’t have many Intellivision games and honestly most of them wouldn’t make a very interesting review, but I do have one game that is just so meh that I can’t help but be slightly angered by it. The game in question is Star Strike, and I have incredibly mixed feelings about
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Lady in Wading (Playaround)

As far as I can tell nobody really knows anything about the publisher of today’s game, and the only thing I can find is an essay blocked behind a $36 paywall so that ain’t happening. Playaround is an oddity, instead of taking the hint from Mystique’s predictable end they decided to go full speed ahead, buy the rights to the Mystique titles, and program several of their own. Playaround recycled the box design, the manual design, and even the leather cartridge cases that Mystique used, which has l
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Sneak 'N Peek (Vidtec/U.S. Games)

Why was this game made? I have no idea... but I do know that Sneak 'n Peek from Vidtec/ U.S. Games, is one of the worst games for the system. I mean... Hide and go seek on the 2600? This kind of formula wouldn't even work today. I'm gonna keep this one short, because this game just makes me mad.   Graphics... Now this is what makes me angry! Why does this game have some of the best visuals on the system?!? The opening screen is a large well brawn house with smoke smoothly rising from the chimn
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Turmoil (20th Century Fox)

I wasn't very happy with my original Turmoil review so i decided to go back and give it a bit more of an in-depth look.   2600 games aren’t known for being all too complex, and that’s for a very good reason, the controller simply wouldn’t allow for it. There were a few enterprising games that came with alternate controllers or addons to make things a bit easier, the Booster Grip for Omega Race, the dual controller thingy for Spy Hunter, basically the entirety of Amiga’s offerings were going to
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Omega Race (CBS Electronics)

Omega Race (CBS Electronics)

There is nothing worse than a common game that is locked behind an obscure peripheral. In the case of most Atari games with these obscure peripherals you can still play the game normally since these things only act as a substitute for the standard controller. Milton Bradley Games and many of the games slated to be released by Amiga are prime examples of this, there are three games however that ARE locked behind this wall of inaccessibility, Sentinel by Atari which required the usage of an XE lig
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Windows is a Bastard! So you must beat it into submission...

Windows 3.1 is an utter bastard! And I love it! More specifically I use Windows 3.11 for Workgroups as a customizable frontend to launch MS-DOS and early Windows games, it works well but it tends to misbehave. I have had my fair share of freezes and crashes (of the virtual machine, not my actual computer) which has lead to some strange behavior that is usually sorted out with a hard reset. My two personal favorite glitches are when the color scheme alters to something wild like magenta and black
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Time Warp (Zellers)

Alright kiddos, sit down and SHUT UP, because papa Spuds is gonna go real obscure on you today. To those collectors who live in the U.S. and Canada Zellers cartridges aren't too rare, they are far less common in the U.S. but they still show up once in a while. A little context is probably necessary, Zellers is a budget store that currently operates in Canada, back in the 80's instead of paying Atari or the other third party companies who published games for it's console, Zellers simply stole the
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Carnival Shooter/Sabtotage (PD/Ultravision?)

I have for you all today another oddity that I found in my ROM folder, actually its two oddities but they’re strangely related. When doing my Shootin’ Gallery/Carnival review I found a game called Carnival Shooter, it is a strange seizure inducing non-game where you just shoot a bunch of strange objects that are whizzing around the screen. There is no end to the game there are no lives and there are no points, giving the game no discernable play value. The graphics are horrendous and I would ser
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