pocketmego

I haven't met anyone who can get past the first couple of guys in Double Dragon, I'm assuming you are better at it than I am. -Ray

Keystone Kapers is awesome, but it's not obscure at all. It is one of the more well known Activision titles. I like No Escape quite a bit. Trying to shoot down the ceiling blocks to hit the enemies without shooting the enemies is quite fun. Quick Step is another one I like, though it's a better two player game than a one player one. The weird thing is that I only have you guys to judge by, becasue I don't remember what was really hot, other than the obvious ones back in the day. I mean the average person you ask about Atari will mention Asteroids, Pac-man, Donkey Kong, Pitfall..etc... So instead of Keystone Kapers, I guess I'll throw Solaris out there. -Ray

Spider Fighter. You just never hear people talk enough about this TERRIFIC shooter. I'd also say Keystone Kapers which is just an all around great platformer and it has great graphics as well. -Ray

Its not on here, because I forgot to add it. I take nothing away from that fine machine. I assure you. -Ray

You found Custer's Revenge interesting enough to play until you flipped it. That is truely hardcore, man. -Ray lol, nope it's a lame game useful only for laughs, but I flipped it cause by the time I got tired I was like "what the hell lets see if it rolls" and I kept going. LMAO!!! That still makes you hardcore in my book man. -Ray

I am certainly not taking anythign away from these Alamo style games. One of my favorite Atari games is Demon Attack, which defines this kind of gameplay. In fact I question which is bewtter as well. Certainly the true sense of the classic is maintained when playing these kind of games. Another game which sort of created the "gotta finish it" mentality was Super Mario Brothers. Where Mario Brothers was actually a throw back to the wave after wave mentality, Super Mario was most certainly about finishing the quest. In point of fact most NES games were about reaching some sort of goal. The 2600 was more about reaching PERSONAL goals. -Ray

VCS - Hunchy 2, Demon Attack, and Yars' Revenge 7800 - Ninja Golf, Ace of Aces, and Donkey Kong Arcade - Tempest and Red Barron -Ray

Which means its is an exact replica of the arcade game. Or, At least the C64 version of the arcade game, because I was just playing that last night and was about to pull my hair out on that scene, if it hadn't been for a trainer mode... -Ray

But you then again do "win" in Donkey Kong.. it just happens to start over again. Doom had an ending too did it not? I have no idea where my mind was when I typed that. It doesn't even make any sense to me. Ignore that will ya. Thanks -Ray

I often wonder what the history of the company might have been had he kept control. It would certainly have been different. For all of his brilliance there is every indication that Bushnell was not the greatest book keeper in the world. Every company he owned seemed to struggle for money at one time or another. So the company might have struggled to stay afloat ona pretty regular basis. This is largely due to his being very innovative and we would CERTAINLY have seen the 5200 and 7800 units LONG before Warner ever got to them. Atari would have been the company that put the NES out in America and as a result would probably still be in busines today. -Ray I totally agree Yes, me too. I see Bushnell as sort of the Steve Jobs of the videogame world. He had a vision, and he followed it no matter what happened. Of course the paths split when Bushnell sold to Warner -- I believe it had more to do with distribution than anything else (but correct me if I'm wrong) -- whereas Jobs kept control. His own methods have been up and down as well, sometimes seen as the saviour (like now with the iPod phenomenon) and at other times the albatross around the neck (like when he was kicked out by his own BoD). I imagine that Bushnell would have had his own ups and downs, but his success with Chuck E. Cheese showed that he did have at least some business sense. Who knows what might have happened, though the NES deal would have probably gone through in some form or another. But no matter what happened, the Atari name would have been more of a beloved brand than a semi-lucrative commodity kicked around by various corporations like it has over the years... ~G Not that he didn't have business sense. He knew how to make money to be sure. It was maintaining that money that seemed to be his biggest problem. As for him not doing anything in the videogame industry in the last 40 years, the man owns Chuck E. Cheese, he never has to work again...EVER. No, he doesn't. The Chuck E. Cheese he owned went bankrupt in 1984 and it's assets purchased by Showbiz. Showbiz eventually used the Chuck E. Cheese characters and name exclusively due to the fact that they owned them outright, unlike the Showbixz characters which were licensed. Pete Rittwage Yes, we established this a few posts back. The only books I've read on the matter end with him buying Chuck E. I had no idea it fell apart so soon afterward. -Ray

Yes, I played Atari today... Who wants to know? Yes, I play every night after work a in between posting to you guys. Right now I've been playing a LOT because I'm addicted to Hunchy 2. -Ray

Hey Chris, You can put me down as a buyer for Hunchy 3 right now. But seriously, I had no problem with the sound effects, it reminded me a lot of Manic Miner, which is by no means a bad thing. I'll say this much you have a real talent for programming on the 2600, had this been made in the 80's, I do believe it wold have been one of the LEGENDARY Atari titles like Yars Revenge and Pitfall. And I don't say such things lightly. -Ray

Well, certainly not to argue this one. I found that Street Fighter Video playing on the Speccy. It was a pretty AMAZING machine and I wish it had had better distribution in the States, I'd like to try my hand at a few games on it. Was it not for my sheer love of Commodore, I'd almost be tempted to change my vote (not that its possible). -Ray

The conveyor belt sequence is on the C64 version and all and all the Commodore 64 has probably the most faithful arcade to home port of DK there is. But, getting back on topic, I gotta go with the 7800, and the sounds on it don't bother me all that much. I prefer it's sounds to the CV version. -Ray

Excellent idea, i went and did just that. -Ray

Why do you guys think there were so many Alamo style VCS games? By Alamo i mean, using a historical contex, battling an endless horde of enemies advancing in waves with no ACTUAL way to win. These are games where victory is never an option and highscores are the only means to determine success. Was it because Space Invader was so popular, ESPECIALLY the 2600 version? Or was it because these games were just easy to do on the 2600 hardware and its limitations lent itself to such games? What do you think? -Ray

Well... it sounds like you're only playing game variation 1. Maybe you outta branch out to variation 2 and then 3 for a change I had an Atari when I saw this particular game at my cousin's house and had to own it. I thought it was one of the most amazing games I'd ever seen. The simplistic graphics created in my mind that it was using some sort of digitized construction paper model type animation (I was 6). It was the way everything seemed to stand against the screen, playing it now does not illicit the same wonder, but it can still be an enjoyable game. And yes, it does sound like you are only playing the first game level. -Ray

I can't stop playing it. I haven't been this addicted to a new Atari game since I was a kid. In fact it is a game that really makes me feel like a kid again. This is exactly the kind of Neo-Classic gaming experience I was seeking when I sought out this site. I am so glad I found Atari Age and all of you great people. -Ray

Don't forget Conquest of Mars Homebrew for 2600. Took me a while to figure that out the fist time. Yeah gotta love crashing into those fuel tan ks two or three times to figure out you re-fuel by sdhooting them. LOL -Ray

Ever shot a powder keg? Admittedly no, but in videogames you can shoot garbage cans and they explode. -Ray

Now does anyone know how this game compares to the Hunchy that was released on the 2005 Mini-Multipack? -Ray

The gameplay in Pheonix is top notch and it does mimick the arcade brilliantly. However, the problem I have with the 2600 Version is that the ship design which looked great in the arcade comes off looking like a plucked , ready to cook, headless, chicken. Also, I don't think anyone here mentioned Berzerk. Was it a good comparison to the coin-op vcersion? I have only the very vaguest memories of Berzerk in the arcades. -Ray

You found Custer's Revenge interesting enough to play until you flipped it. That is truely hardcore, man. -Ray

There are no screenshots, just a small inset with a shot of DK from the first game. Does anybody know anything about this game and what became of it? It seems very odd that Nintendo didn't release another Donkey Kong game until 1994. With the "you in controll" line it sounds like they had it in mind to do a Donkey Kong Country style game on the NES. t probably just didn't see the light of day until later due to technical limitations or something. -Ray

I don't know about any other games they pirated, but in terms of Ocean City Defender, they made VERY minor graphical changes to the game. They altered the ships slightly. Other than that, nothing. -Ray