Worst Graphics On The 2600?

[A Sprite]

So even good games can compete for a "worst of" thread...

[Artlover]

Surround.

[2600Lives]

Airlock. The little dude doesn't even animate, just sort of stutters along to simulate walking, I suppose, and the "torpedoes" look like orange suitcases. The sprite for your man is super tiny and looks like he's morbidly obese. Just terrible all around.

 

Donkey Kong is also pretty bad, but then again, most of Coleco's stuff on the 2600 was pretty bad. I wonder why?

[+RandomPerson]

pong sports

[+RandomPerson]

breakout

[Captain Beard]

Burgertime

[RaRoss]

E.T....errr oh thats worse game. The player sprite in Donkey Kong Jr

[BassGuitari]

Possibly the airplanes in Jet Shooter.

 

Maybe Basic Math?

[Video]

Well, Pac-man, but so did all the 77 games too, but damn, if you could find someone to play with, they sure were fun

[Room 34]

I don't think it's fair to say Pong or Breakout has the worst graphics. Those games are so abstract, little rectangles are just fine graphic-wise.

 

I say the worst is Outlaw.

[supercat]

Maybe Basic Math?

 

I'd nominate Basic Math and Hangman. Those two cartridges don't even use any sprite graphics despite the fact that both could have been improved easily and considerably had they done so.

 

Video Olympics/Pong Sports and Surround/Chase both have quite spartan graphics, but neither game's design fundamentally calls for anything better.

 

Street Racer/Speedway II suffers from its use of playfield graphics, but that's pretty much an unavoidable consequence of trying to show four objects per line. Atari might have been able to manage a workaround, but since that game was one of the first ones for the 2600 it wouldn't seem fair to complain too much.

[supercat]

I say the worst is Outlaw.

 

The fact that big sprites are blocky is not really a good basis for complaint, especially on those early titles. The fact that Basic Math used the 4x5 playfield digits instead of e.g. 8x9 sprites is a fair basis for complaint. Park the player sprites at suitable spots and they can be written just as easily as the playfield. The operator (+-x/) could be displayed easily using the missiles.

[BydoEmpire]

Airlock. The little dude doesn't even animate, just sort of stutters along to simulate walking, I suppose, and the "torpedoes" look like orange suitcases. The sprite for your man is super tiny and looks like he's morbidly obese. Just terrible all around.

That was going to be my pick, too.

[Room 34]

To each their own. I don't care so much about the arcana of how 2600 games are programmed in relation to the graphics. Outlaw looks like crap, end of story.

 

Basic Math has problems far beyond the graphics. Who cares if numbers are blocky? It's a stupid, pointless "game," no matter what it looks like.

[opeygon]

Burgertime

 

burgertime for sure! what in the hell are you making anyway??!!!

 

as for pong sports, surround and breakout, i disagree. these games didn,t really call for anything more graphically and i think they are perfect as is

[+Nathan Strum]

I'll throw in a nomination for Math Gran Prix. It's ugly and they attempted to pass it off as a "game".

Edited August 18, 2007 by Nathan Strum

[Christophero Sly]

Warplock.

[supercat]

Basic Math has problems far beyond the graphics. Who cares if numbers are blocky? It's a stupid, pointless "game," no matter what it looks like.

 

It was clearly inferior to the dedicated toys like L'il Professor, etc. even when it debuted. Had it done anything to use the 2600's features while providing the functionality of such toys, it would have been worthwhile. As it was, it was a total dog.

 

Ironic that it uses joystick control when keypad control would have been better, and yet most of the keypad games would have been better with joystick.

[MagMax667]

I think it's pretty infamous that Adventure had terrible graphics. Everyone knows that you played as a square, the sword was an arrow, and the dragons looked like ducks. That game proved that graphics don't matter when there is solid gameplay.

 

Zaxxon, however, is my pick. Let's face it, that game is ugly, but after playing the game for a few minutes I was surprised to find that once you get past the ugliness of the game, it actually plays just like arcade game. But still, the graphics are such a downgrade that it actually hurts the game. Not only does it not look like Zaxxon, but it's hard to judge exactly how far off the ground the player and the enemies are, making it difficult to shoot at enemies. And in the end, it just doesn't FEEL like Zaxxon.

[inextremis staple]

I'll blaspheme here and say Adventure. You're a square and to quote StrongBad, "Somebody get this freakin' duck away from me!"

 

is

[racer raul]

SSSnake...

[SINGLE TOOTH]

Yeah, Im gonna go with Street Racer.

[Brian R.]

I'll throw in a nomination for Math Gran Prix. It's ugly and they attempted to pass it off as a "game".

 

My brother and I played the hell out of that game when we were kids. We loved it. And the competition was fierce. It will always have a special place in my heart, believe it or not.

 

I'd say most if not all of the early titles were pretty shitty. There's a lot of stuff there that's just unplayable today. It wasn't until the arcade translations came along that things got better, and of course with the contributions from Activision, Imagic, and such.

 

Come to think of it... are there any games made by Atari for the VCS that were native to the VCS that weren't poor in the graphics department?

Edited August 19, 2007 by Brian R.

[Foxsolo2000]

Ssssnake & Burgertime

[codyr783]

Pac-Kong

 

Not only a horrible game,a horrible game with horrible graphics!

 

The graphics are so horrible I think a 4 legged kangaroo is throwing garlic and onions at me!

Edited August 19, 2007 by codyr783