pocketmego

I just got my first order from Atari Age in and amongst the stuff I ordered was Hunchy 2. It is my first Himebrew cartridge and it is AWESOME. No doubt all of you here have already played it, but i couldn't NOT mention how addictive and fun this game is. It really puts a lot of the vintage 2600 platformers to shame. Its smooth, looks great, has zero or no flicker and the game play just draws you right in. Plus the level designs and puzzle elements border on sheer briliance. This is HIGH QUALITY and an excellent first modern game for my collection. Think of games like Manic Miner, Miner 2049er, or even Donkey Kong... Then play this and see a game that is better than all of those. Great GAME!! -Ray

Actually, you're right. I was out of line. I sometimes post here after I get home from work and I should wait until I unwind. The truth is I should have looked up a little info on Bushnell before making assumptions. I would like to let bygones be bygones if you will. -Ray

I never got why it only had 2 levels anyway. DKjr had more than 2. That helped DKjr considerable and I think the addition of one more level would certainly help DK. -Ray

LOL, yeah I've noticed that too. One thing about the 2600 version it sure is easier than the C64 version. I could barely get past the first bird that flies at you in the Commodore version. -Ray

Awesome post. Bob will always be one of the GREATS for me. If nothing else he made my favorite 2600 game EVER. Its also one I stil can't come close to beating. Nice to meet you Ken, I'm Ray, I think I joined while you were away. -Ray

Absoultely. I mean the 2600 is to me the greatest game machine of all time. Not because it had the best graphics, or the best anything really. But, what it did have was just awesome titles across the board. GREAT original material, GREAT ports, and recently some GREAT Homebrews. The 2600 defintely deserved to be the king of it's era. -Ray

Q8Bert's Qubes was an arcade game first? I didn't know that. -Ray Yup. The 2600 version is quite a nifty port. It doesn't look nearly as good as the arcade, but most of the gameplay is intact, even the bonus rounds. Too bad it's so rare. I was surprised to see the arcade machine at Hershey Park. That game rocks! http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=9183 Thanks for the link, apparently even the arcade machine is kind of rare. -Ray

Q8Bert's Qubes was an arcade game first? I didn't know that. -Ray

My memory isn't what it used to be either. I just got that Konami televisioon Games stick they put Gyruss on and I assumed it was the old Arcade game. The boss battles seemed a bit out of place for me, but I figured it was just my bad memory. But, apparently they put the NES version on the stick. So I guess no boss battles then. -Ray

That's fair Nova, you sure know your history, man. I hope I can be an obnoxious turd like you when I grow up. Hell, I'd just settle for that rapier self promoting humor you employ as a thinly veiled defense mechanism. Nerd much? -Ray

I have 10 bucks that say IT'S PANCAKE BOY. Open Open Open I'll eat a 2600 system if it turns out to be Pancake Boy. ..Al LOL, that is pretty FREAKIN' funny. Was this for real? -Ray

Becasue Atariage is populated by people from all over the world and they deserve just as much of a say as people from North America. Plus, both of those machines as well as the MSX were fine fine gamming machines. -Ray I know, but it's dominated by North Americans and I can tell you right now most are going to say C64. Any discussion here about 8 bit computers/gaming quickly becomes all about the C64, a little bit about the A800 and nothing else. I'm not saying it's right, it's just that's how it is. A valid point, and the C64 will probably win because it was pretty popular in Europe as well. But, the ZX Spectrum was certainly no push over, I saw it play a game of Street Fighter and even though it had black and white graphics (or color clash, or whatever made it look like that) the graphics were amazing and the game moved fast. It looked like a black and white version of the Street Fighter I played on my SNES and that is something I know my Commdore could NOT do. For those unfamiliar with the Spectrum here is a video showing it's version of one of the more popular C64 games, Bruce Lee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86SOveCkoeQ -Ray

Its definately worth your time and a worthy translation of the source material. Though the previous poster is right when he mentioned that the later levels do become all about tracking fireballs. -Ray

I could turn over Asteroids as a kid with no sweat. The reason for that is that when I had problems I'd play Asteroids and use it to clear my head and think about what was bothering me. Over time I got so good I can almost pay the thing on Auto-Pilot. I was thrilled to see I can still rool it over even now. -Ray

I already know this has been asked before, but I'll post it as a new topic again anyway... What do you all think was the 2600 best Arcade port, translation, whatever? I have to say Gyruss and Q*bert are neck and neck for me on this one. Both are terrific translations graphically and both maintain the many of the same gameplay elements as their Arcade counterparts. Q*bert especially seems to have retained almost every single element from the arcade game. Plus it plays with very little flicker and is just as addiciting as the arcade machine. Gyruss is missing quite a few of the arcade elements, most notably the boss battles. But, it took guts to even attempt to do this game on the 2600. however it plays with a lot of the same intensity and the basic FUn Factor of what makes Gyruss great is still there. Coming up third for me would be Mario Bros. Which, would come REAL close to being 1st, but a lack of a few elements, most notably not being able to jump ON the Power Button is a rough spot in the game. What do you you ladies and gentlemen think? -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. I also want to point out that most of the richest men in this country were thieves. Its not about stealing its about knowning what and when to steal. Just ask Bill Gates. Obviously Magnavox just didn't have what the public REALLY wanted, or they wouldn't have all wanted Ataris. If Bushnell had kept Atari just a little longe HE and not Kassar would have gotten the rights to produce Space Invaders for the system and once he did that money would not have bene an issue and he would have maintained a much better morale amongst his programmers. There would be no Activision, I tell you that. Instead warner's put Evil Incarnate in the Big Boss chair and created the systems downfall from day one, unknowingly of course. -Ray

Becasue Atariage is populated by people from all over the world and they deserve just as much of a say as people from North America. Plus, both of those machines as well as the MSX were fine fine gamming machines. -Ray

First of all, WELCOME to the forums. I'm 32 myself and I am here largely to re-live many of the wonderful memories of my youth. A friend and I were just having this very conversation. The fact is that I was on the cusp of buying an X-Box 360 and more and more it began to feel very wrong to me. All said and done a 360 would have cost me 800 Dollars and I was already loosing a lot of interest in modern 3-D games. The life and fun seems to have been sucked out of this industry and I thinka BIG part of that is the loss of single programmers from the old days VS modern games programmed by multiple teams. So, I bought a new computer instead of an X-Box and went totally into retro gaming. I have been becvoming increasingly more interested in the British and European Retro side of things due to the Magazine Retro Gamer and leaqrning that many of the games I loved growing up were born in the UK. -Ray

Ok, here is my confession. My poll was a result of my own ignorance. I thought the Atari 400 was the 8 Bit and the 800XL was a 16 Bit machine like the Amiga. Thus it didn't make the list. So once again Atari fans, I apologize. -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

Fair is certainly fair, I forgot all about the MSX when compiling my poll. I do have to ask our MSX fans to forgive me on that ne, it was also a fine machine. -Ray

I, uh, gotta go with the NES as a better port of DKjr. Sorry. -Ray

I have to go with the Commodore 64 as my choice. I would be half tempted to vote it as the best gaming MACHINE of the 1980's period. That system managed to produce terrific original games and Awesome Arcade PORTS from the end of the Atari era, through the NES era and right on into the 16 Bit Sega and SNES eras. Jack Tramiel might have been a lot of things but he was certainly NOT stupid. He understood something few others seemed to get at the time. Computers were cool and people liked having them, but withouta decent game library, computers of the 80's were just not powerful enough to offer up much in the way of anything to consumers. The Commodore 64 was a powerful and versatile machine and I went through three of them all the way through to the end of the system's life time. I am a PROUD C64 owner. What is your opinion? -Ray

Using Winvice turned out to be awesome, thanks for the advice it worked MUCH better than Mess. -Ray

I don't know how common it is in the wild here either. There was the one that just wasn't ever going to work and the one I bought and cleaned until it did work. I notice later Atari games lack the dust shields, or maybe its just third party games that do, but in any event, this is the source of a lot of that crud. The problem with the first unplayable copy I got was that it was kept ina Flea Market in one of those backroom shops with no air conditioning. All of his electronics were iffy and at leasty 3 of the six games I bought from him failed to work. The heat is just No good for him. That is why I passed on his offer to get me a Commodore 64, I can just imagine an entire system under those conditions. -Ray