Mind Master

Which Imagic game is the company's greatest achievement? I haven't seen them all, but Demon Attack, even though everyone has it, is a very strong candidate.

I find that Atari fits my schedule. I don't have time for complex games anymore. Right, Left, Up, Down, Fire button - that's it for me!!!

...assuming you've got a power source for your 2600 on the island, that is. Think carefully. Mine would be: Adventure Othello Video Chess

They won't think you're square. They'll think you're pixellated.

Does anybody know where these guys are now and what they're up to?

I think Kaplan's wild hair is indicative of the type of personality that could produce both Kaboom! and Bridge - two games on completely the opposite ends of the gaming spectrum. Crane's odd helmet head look is reflective of his games: simple yet very different.

Agreed - I make fun of their 70s/80s hair but I take my hat off to all of them. I had a lot of fun back then due to this crew. Kaboom! forever!

Don't get me wrong - I'll be the first to admit I had a pretty bad haircut back in the day - but looking through my old Activision manuals I just couldn't help but reflect on what awful haircuts these guys had. They gave us some of the greatest games ever made for the 2600, but...that hair!!!

Is this a complete list? M Network Super Challenge Football Atari's original Football Realsports Football Late Atari's "Super Football" or whatever they called it Anyone who has all four care to review these?

Try Pacifist Asteroids. Clear the whole screen without firing a shot. Hint: Satellites and UFOs are needed!

I'd like to get into programming a VCS (2600) game. I know nothing about it but am willing to learn. Where does one begin?

two more questions: - are there any game variations? - how's the challenge level?

I seem to remember years ago reading an edition of Atari Age in which a reader asks why the ghosts flicker in Pac Man. The response said (after the technical explanation) something along the lines of "we expect ghosts to flicker because they're ghosts". I thought it was pretty shameful to try and excuse bad programming that way. Can anyone find the quote in one of their Atari Ages and post it here?

Before I plunk down my $20... - Do the ghosts eyes look in the direction of movement? - Are the ghosts four distinctly different colors? - Are all the fruits from the arcade present (along with the keys)? - When you eat the fruit, is the sound effect satisfactory? - What sound does Pac Man make while eating the dots/dashes? - Is there a siren sound effect in the background? - Are there any intermissions? - Is there a title screen?

Seriously. I never owned RS Baseball, I rented it for two weeks. Maybe I need to take another look at it or something - but I remember wishing I'd rented something else. It could be a matter of expectations. When I bought Home Run I thought "here's the crummy game Intellivision used in its ads". I was pleasantly surprised when I got hooked on it.

I picked up Home Run on the cheap after the crash back in 1985 or so. I know people beat up on it, but I got much more enjoyment out of it than Realsports baseball, which to me was a confusing mess. I like the pitching and batting control in Home Run, and the fast pace. Graphics aren't everything!

...for example, I used to lean a book on the fire button of the second controller so I could play the airplane version of "Combat" alone. I played a lot of M Network's Super Challenge Football solo, too - not sure how I managed. Armor Ambush was difficult to play alone.

Maybe some of you Asteroids players should try it without shields or hyperspace or "flip". As for what's too easy - Demon Attack.

Short of buying the arcade unit, the best home version of Pac Man I've found is the NES version with the NES arcade joystick. This surpasses even the N64 version because of the arcade-style joystick.

...I read in the manual there's a way to "rehab" the dragon rather than slay it...how's it done?

I'm considering purchasing a 5200 - but I'm wondering if the controllers are so bad it wouldn't be worth it (read the 5200 reviews on www.videogamecritic.net). Can some 5200 owners comment on the controllers and their effect on enjoying the system?

If you're like me, for the most part when you were a kid your parents didn't play much atari with you. But there were a few rare exceptions- games that pulled my dad in. This is the complete list of games that got my dad hooked, in order of magnitude: 1. Kaboom! He really got into that one. 2. Golf 3. Grand Prix 4. Indy 500 He was also fond of watching me play Escape from the Mindmaster. I tried to get him to like Video Chess but he didn't (I didn't either).

What does everyone think about Imagic's Dragonfire? I hear good things about it but I don't understand how it can be very interesting - it sounds so simple. How about some Dragonfire owners writing a review?

Can anybody name two atari games that share an IDENTICAL (not just close) sound effect? I know there are some but I can't think of any offhand...

I think the dragons move diagonally when left alone offscreen, in much the same way the bat moves most of the time. Diagonal movement ensures the dragons will visit every (non-interior castle) screen until they run into the player, an object they guard, or the bat.