BrianC

I disagree - the Tank games series (Tank, Tank II, Tank III, Tank 8, Ultra Tank, and the copycat Tankers) were definitely better, with land mines, more players, more complex mazes, etc. The "plane modes" in Combat are based on other arcade games of the time - BiPlane and Jet Fighter. Those games were also better in their arcade versions. Ultra Tank actually came out after than the 2600 Combat, so nothing in Combat was ported from it. All arcade Tank versions have more complex mazes than the 2600 Combat, though Ultra Tank has smaller mazes than the other arcade Tank games. What makes BiPlane and Jet Fighter arcade better than the modes based on them in the 2600 Combat? Do they also have the 2 on 2 BiPlane, 1 on 3 BiPlane, 3 on 1 jet, or 2 on 2 jet variations?

doh. Posted too late. That unreleased Roadrunner for the 5200 was a real mystery (and could possibly linked to the Locomotion box). It was planned years before the arcade game and it's a Locomotion clone. The re-release of DigDug on cart is in the newer XL style with the stripes, right?

I wonder what the max number of spiders in the GCC proto of Millipede is.

I disaggre that Joust is better than the original, but it's still a fine port to the 2600. I also disagree that Super Breakout is the only 2600 game better than the original. The original Breakout is also better than the original arcade game and has features that the arcade game lacks like the awesome Breakthru mode. I actually prefer the 2600 Breakout over Super Breakout. Super Breakout is awesome, but it doesn't have any new features like Breakout does. Seawolf and Star Fire are also better than the originals, though those probably don't count since those aren't official arcade conversions. I don't like the 2600 Battlezone better than the original, but I think it's a fine version of the game. Missing stuff from the arcade like barriers to hide behind keep it from being as good as the original IMO. I actually prefer Robot Tank over both games with the added stuff like weather conditions. Some of the games chosen for the poll confuse me. Gyruss, Battlezone, Missile Command, and Centipede have no business being on that poll. I think Mouse Trap, Donkey Kong Jr., Sky Skipper, and Mr. Do's Castle should have been on the poll. Edit: I can't believe I forgot about the 2600 DK Jr. That is a real stinker. I can't believe that Atari actually re-released that game as red label cart.

What about "Qubes" and throw in an extra mode based on Q*Bert's Qubes for good measure?

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The site cleary says that it's an Atari 8-bit conversion. That means it comes from Atari's 8-bit line of computers like the 400/800, 800XL, etc.

All the majority of the Asteroids hacks do is reverse an intentional (and IMHO, correct) design decision to not even try to make it look like a vector game. The "vector" hacks are interesting novelties, but hardly improvements. The underlying kernel is still identical. Well there's a little more than that.. Thomas did change the difficulty of the game by making the Asteroids move in all sorts of different diagonal trajectories Yeah the kernel's the same, but that's definitely a gameplay issue that was taken care of. That was always one of my biggest complaints about the original 2600 Asteroids.. not the graphics (although I did change that in my landmark 1999 hack .. *cough*), but rather that the asteroids only moved UP and DOWN! Unless of course you played the misnamed "fast" asteroids variation then you had one more diagonal angle the smaller rocks could go. But it still was a far cray from the arcade game where they came from all angles. Exactly. I wasn't referring to the vector graphics in the hacks at all (though they are nice). I was referring to how the range of movement of the asteroids was improved in the hacks. Asteroids DC+ does more than just add driving controls and vector graphics, it has an increase in the range of movement too. Also, for a really hard Asteroids variation with Asteroids moving in all directions, try Sadisroids.

Centipede may be as good as the 2600 can do, but Asteroids has been improved with various hacks. Neither of them are rush jobs, though. I love both ports. I think Moon Patrol would be a hard one to make better. There is a hack that gives it graphics more like the arcade, but the gameplay is kept the same. The moving rocks and an odd looking attempt to make the buggy look more like the one in the arcade were actually in early prototypes of Moon Patrol. From what I heard, the moving rocks in the prototype bounce instead of roll. It seems like GCC was having a hard time making the moving rocks and original buggy work and went with the current design. The scrolling and gameplay of Moon Patrol are quite impressive for the 2600 despite the changes made. I doubt that a much better Moon Patrol would be possible on the 2600.

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How do you want me to treat this? Like this: 1. Star Fire 2. Marble Craze 3. Thrust+ 4. Seawolf 5. Oystron Yeah, that should do. Thanks.

The top jumping bug is a bug that keeps you from losing a life if you jump to the upper right from the top square while running from the snake.

Well, I wouldn't say that totally.. I mean Sega Ages 2500 was pretty much just released a couple months ago. You can't get much older games than some of the stuff on there And, they even put the effort to make remixes of them It's not just called SEGA Ages 2500. It's called somthing like SEGA Memorial Selection. It's actually not the first Memorial Selection. There are two for the SEGA Saturn. The first Memorial Selection for Saturn has Pengo, Up 'n Down, Head On, and Flicky. The second has SEGA Samurai, Star Jacker, Monaco GP, Ninja Princess, Penguin Land SG-1000, and Sindbad Mysteries. They both have some older SEGA games in them. No remixes for the Saturn ones, though. http://www.segagagadomain.com/saturn6/segaages-memorial1.htm http://www.segagagadomain.com/saturn12/segamemorial2.htm

1. Pitfall 2 2. Solaris 3. Crystal Castles 4. Jr. Pac-Man 5. Moon Patrol 6. Demon Attack 7. Ms. Pac-Man 8. Cosmic Ark 9. California Games 10. Summer Games Homebrews: 1. Star Fire 2. Marble Craze (List is short since it only has games I own in cart form, but out of the ones I played, but don't have on cart, Thrust+, Seawolf, and Oystron are my favorites.)

Last Starfighter isn't non-existant any more. It's listed at www.atariprotos.com and it has been confirmed to be an earlier version of Solaris. http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/tlsf/tlsf.htm

Quarth actually is an arcade game, though the GB one is a bit different from the arcade one. Still wouldn't mind having it ported along with other arcade puzzle games like Puyo Puyo. Other non-arcade ports I would like to see (these might be a strech): Bomberman (NES) Atomic Punk/Bomber Boy (GB) Star Soldier (NES) Nemesis (GB) Yie Ar Kung Fu 2 (MSX) Anartic Adventure (MSX/CV) Athletic Land (MSX) Magical Tree (MSX) Comic Bakery (MSX) Knightmare (MSX) Knightmare 2 (MSX) Sky Jaguar (MSX)

Are you in the UK, Europe, or the US? I'm in the US and I have never had a single customs problem with play-asia, but I heard that people in the UK or Europe have had customs problems with play-asia.

I wouldn't mind that either, but the Coleco Tabletop version is basically Nintendo's tabletop version with some outside stickers. This version is also availabe in Panorama handheld. But yeah, it would definatly make a cool 2600 game.

odd. I don't remember having any problems when I used the regular Genesis controller with my DK red label, but it's been awhile since I played using Genesis controllers. I mostly played using my 7800, though. However, I think I did have some problems with the 6 button Genesis controller when the mode button wasn't held down for a couple 800 and 2600 games, if I remember correctly.

Some I would like to see: Gridrunner (vic 20/c64) Wild Gunmen (NES) Duck Hunt (NES) Hogan's Alley (NES) Mario Bros (Game and Watch, different from the arcade) Climber (Game and Watch) Super Mario Bros (Game and Watch) Balloon Fight (Game and Watch) Fire (Game and Watch) Donkey Kong Jr., gray and white version (Game and Watch) Dr. Mario (NES) Solar Striker (GB) Pac-Man (Micro Games Keychain, the verison where the walls move whenever you move to the other side of the screen, but the dots stay in the same place. In this version, there are no power pills, but special fruit that appear from time to time that work as power pills) Micro Machines (NES/various other systems)

All they say is "just like the arcade". Hence the quotation marks. I'm guessing they mean play like the arcade, but, if I remember correctly, the Ms. Pac-Man box used to have a sticker on it that said "arcade like graphics".

I've never played this one. How can you get away with no scrolling in a scrolling shooter? Fly from one side of the screen to the other, then do a quick change, like in Pitfall? Yeah, basically. Also, the copter moves forward by itself. Yeah, the game definatly is fast and stable, but it doesn't feel like Defender. More like a combination of Defender and Asteroids. There is no backdrop in Freedom Fighters like there is in Defender either.

Yeah, even the later O2 games have simplistic graphics, but in the case of games like Q*Bert, KTAA, KC Munchkin, and a few others, the gameplay shines through. Despite the simplistic looks, Q*Bert O2 actually has some missing elements from the 2600 version like discs in different places, level intro screens (though they have been simplified for O2), and the enemies missing from the 2600 version. The O2 Q*Bert also has a full sized playfied. Despite the simplistic looks, the O2 version is quite good. I like both versions. Super Cobra O2 is odd. No scrolling and automatic movement. I like the 2600 one better. Super Cobra doesn't feel right with no scrolling. The other games in those pics are better on the 2600, but not bad on O2. Also, Popeye O2 doesn't seem to have level progression. Is this a problem with the emulator on the game itself? I'm not completely sure, but the running man seemed to be more of a M-Network/Mattel/Intv trademark than the result of the character sets. The running man was even used in their 2600 games. Most third party intellivsion games don't use the running man and most of Intv/Mattel's own arcade ports didn't use it (what's really odd is that the 2600 Lock 'n Chase uses running man like sprites, but the Intellivision one doesn't). I don't know the extent of character sets on the Intellivsion, but they are definatly more varied than the ones on the O2.

I checked out some of those commericals. I find it humorous how both the Parker Bros 2600 Frogger and Atari 2600 Vanguard commericals say "just like the arcade". I love both ports, though. I especially liked the Vanguard commerical. "Who destroys the gond?"

...I admit I jumped the gun a bit, but that was still uncalled for. The second comment was probably just a joke anyway, hence the winking similie.