Mythicon

[VectorGamer]

I'm excited that I am close to completing my Mythicon collection, which is all of three carts. : ]

 

What's the deal with the smiley face in the upper left hand corner of each game?

 

Didn't they pretty much take the same code, do a "find and replace" and call them three separate games?

 

In my mind, they had more to do with the crash then Atari did with ET and Pac-Man. But, I think Atari is often blamed because they were high profile.

[Mirage]

I had never even seen or heard of Mythicon carts or games until I got more "serious" about collecting a few years back. That's the only reason I'm sort of skeptical they had a strong influence on the "crash" -- they didn't seem to be too visible back then. But, I grew up in Minnesota... maybe they were sold only in certain regions?

 

They sure are crap though.

[Kripto]

I grew up in the New York area and Mythicon was around for sure. Cheap, but bad...

[VectorGamer]

I had never even seen or heard of Mythicon carts or games until I got more "serious" about collecting a few years back. That's the only reason I'm sort of skeptical they had a strong influence on the "crash" -- they didn't seem to be too visible back then. But, I grew up in Minnesota... maybe they were sold only in certain regions?

 

They sure are crap though.

 

I probably should have clarified that Mythicon didn't single handedly take down the market. As you said "not too visible" as the inverse of Atari.

 

Conspiring with other crap "companies" like CommaVid, Data Age and US Games, for example, with their crap releases of Cosmic Swarm and Airlock going straight to the 99 cent dumpster diving bin had more to do with gamer's skepticism and the resultant reluctance to believe that the actual game play equalled the "hype" printed on the respective box. <<deep breath>> Since these garbage companies represented a small percentage of market share, their financial losses contributed little to the crash.

 

Atari's Pac-Man and ET, as tiresome the reference, you could argue were dominant forces in the crash financially although the companies mentioned above were probably more responsible for the negative consumer sentiment, although in the end the two aspects are relative. I suppose my point is that Atari games were of better quality than those released by Mythicon.

 

I feel like I'm chasing tail, if you know what I mean - nyuk-nyuk...

 

Need more coffee! : ]

[Mirage]

Absolutely they were better quality than Mythicon games. I can't think of a single Atari-branded game that's anywhere near as bad as those steaming piles. I'm sure they all played a part in the crash... more of a cumulative effect than anything. One third-party company putting out bad games probably wouldn't have had much of an effect, but the lot of them together, oh yeah...

 

BTW, I don't think of Data Age or US Games as being crap companies at all. Sure, eventually they put out some stinkers, but they started out with some decent offerings.

Edited December 1, 2009 by Mirage1972

[VectorGamer]

Another argument regarding the crash is how it was possible for the home console market to take down the entire industry. You read over and over again about POS Pac-Man and ET landfills yet laser disc games were just coming to market. You never hear about laser disc games taking down the industry.

 

This is a question I posed in the article I wrote for Classic Video Gamer magazine, of which you'll have to purchase January's issue to find what that is all about. : ]

 

And to shamelessly plug the upcoming issue: If you ever written an article, essay or whatever you may feel like I do and get sick and tired of the editing process and reading the same content over and over. But, I have to tell you that the article I contributed (that is mentioned on the front page of AtariAge regarding the "arcade retrospective" in the upcoming CVG issue) is worth the price of admission alone.

 

After having put the article down for about two weeks, I decided to give it one more read and it was at that time I appreciated how good the article really is. And that is credit to the two gentlemen I interviewed, Joe LeVan of Challenge Arcade and Todd Tuckey of TNT Amusements, for making it an entertaining and interesting read.

 

I think any classic gamer out there will truly enjoy this article and if you don't you can PM your constructive commendations and recommendations.

 

It's funny the twists and turns these threads take! : ]

[GideonsDad]

I know it's pointless and redundant but I kinda like Sorcerer. It has to be the best of the 3 Mythicon titles.

 

GideonsDad

[atari_envy]

Absolutely they were better quality than Mythicon games. I can't think of a single Atari-branded game that's anywhere near as bad as those steaming piles.

I have Mythicon Sorcerer and like it. It gets fairly regular play. Much more than Slot Machine, Basic Math, Slot Racers, 3-D Tic Tac Toe and some other Atari branded games.

 

The The Video Game Critic even goes so far as to state that "this rare game is a gem." Not perfect, true, but very playable.

[Mirage]

Absolutely they were better quality than Mythicon games. I can't think of a single Atari-branded game that's anywhere near as bad as those steaming piles.

I have Mythicon Sorcerer and like it. It gets fairly regular play. Much more than Slot Machine, Basic Math, Slot Racers, 3-D Tic Tac Toe and some other Atari branded games.

 

The The Video Game Critic even goes so far as to state that "this rare game is a gem." Not perfect, true, but very playable.

 

Wow, okay, I'll give it another chance. I should have my 2600 hooked up again in a few days. I probably played the other junk games first and maybe didn't give Sorcerer enough of a chance. Maybe.

 

BTW, I didn't mean that all Atari-brand games were "fun", just that they aren't as crudely programmed. The Mythicon games I recall playing were so unpolished and unplayable it was ridiculous. At least Basic Math is playable, even if you don't want to play it!

[atari_envy]

Absolutely they were better quality than Mythicon games. I can't think of a single Atari-branded game that's anywhere near as bad as those steaming piles.

I have Mythicon Sorcerer and like it. It gets fairly regular play. Much more than Slot Machine, Basic Math, Slot Racers, 3-D Tic Tac Toe and some other Atari branded games.

 

The The Video Game Critic even goes so far as to state that "this rare game is a gem." Not perfect, true, but very playable.

 

Wow, okay, I'll give it another chance. I should have my 2600 hooked up again in a few days. I probably played the other junk games first and maybe didn't give Sorcerer enough of a chance. Maybe.

 

BTW, I didn't mean that all Atari-brand games were "fun", just that they aren't as crudely programmed. The Mythicon games I recall playing were so unpolished and unplayable it was ridiculous. At least Basic Math is playable, even if you don't want to play it!

I will concede that the other two Mythicon games are bad, and I don't play them. But I am glad you are willing to give this one a chance.

 

Sorcerer isn't perfect -- I think The VGC does a good job at pointing out its shortcomings -- but it is different, playable, and fun (which I admint is relative to the gamer). The music is a nice touch that is absent in most games of the time, and you will be surprised by the variety of creatures to battle. It is apparent that a lot of effort went into this one. Maybe Mythicon's thought was that if they could make the first one good, people would pay for the substandard sequels (kinda like the movie industry today).

 

Make sure you jump on the little flying disc at the beginning (They should have done away with the whole jump-on-the-disc-challenge)

[StanJr]

Sorcerer is playable, that is about it. The other two are supposed to be games?

[+Nathan Strum]

What's the deal with the smiley face in the upper left hand corner of each game?

According to the manual, that's "practice mode". No score, unlimited lives.

[shadow460]

There's a Sorcerer cart available locally. I thought about grabbing it for trade bait. If anyone's interested, I will.

 

Sorcerer is far easier if you don't jump on the "flying carpet" at the beginning. Instead of having to dodge knives every so many stages, the flying carpet re appears. Remember you can jump in any screen. Jumping to shoot down enemies is just a matter of timing. Those knives, on the other hand, are very unpredicatble and usually eat one or two of my lives each time I face them.

 

Also remember that if you hold the joystick up after you've been shot, your man will continue to fly and shoot even though he is dead! Just don't let off of it or he will fall and you'll start the next life.

 

I can stand up for Data Age and US games. Granted, by the time the Quaker Oats Company changed to the blue and white carts, most of their stuff was crapware. The only one I remotely enjoyed from that collection was Entombed. Piece o' Cake is fun in small quantities, and as VGC pointed out the detail on your character is amazing. Before they switched, though, US Games/Vidtec did produce some quality titles in Commando Raid and Towering Inferno.

Data Age's better titles would have to be Journey Escape and Frankenstein's Monster, although Encounter at L-5 can be fun if you give it a chance.

As for CommaVid, I played Cosmic Swarm all of once and I hated it. I think I asked my Dad to take it back to the dude he borrowed it from and borrow something else.

[jahfish]

the only thing i like from mythicon is the sales folder i got

[Evil Plant]

This subject makes me want to tell a story.

 

-=MYTHICON=-

a nostalgic memory rant by evil plant

 

 

I have distinct memories of rummaging through the actual honest-to-god and somewhat-mystic "Bargain Bin" at KB Toy Store somewhere around 1984. Actually... it was more a bargain trough. And there were three. They were large (maybe 6ft x 3ft x 1ft deep) acrylic 'islands' right out by the entryway of the famous mall-toystore chain. All of these troughs were full of many hundreds of new atari games, rummaged through many times over hourly.

 

I also remember looking at the price tags. Each of them was marked down multiple times (usually just by crossing out prices with a BIC ball-point pen). My 6-year old brain was amazed at this goings-on, and since my allowance was $1 a week, I knew I could make my meager savings count here. These were GAMES and in my brain at the time, and to a certain extent even now, games were GOLD.

 

I liked space-ships. As far as my choices go, I didn't have much to go on except the picture on the box.

 

And there were Mythicon boxes galore in here. Looking back, of course I should have gone for almost ANYTHING else, but this was all part of the disillusionment that I guess everyone went through that killed the Atari market, I just was a bit late.

 

I made a small stack of games. One was Star Fox, and paid for it with dollar bills, the origin of each I remembered.

 

Star Fox sucks, but I didn't fully realize this for several years.

 

I tried to like it. My older brother kinda sneered at it and asked something like "You bought THAT?".

 

"Yeah! They had lots of them!" - I'm pretty sure I said this back.

 

My brother had played it before. He showed me the basics (kinda humoring me on how the whole experience wasn't a good one) and then turned the joystick over to me. I remember trying to complete the objective... getting the diamond or whatever from the bottom of the screen over and over for at least a half-hour, but even at that age... feeling that even doing something right was about the same as not doing anything at all in that game... in short, the game seemed pointless.

 

Existentialism followed about a decade later.

 

Oddly, I just bought the game again from another collector and should be arriving soon in the mail... amongst other (all better) games too just so you don't think I'm completely insane.

[CRV]

Mythicon games aren't bad, per se. There's just not much to them. They are at least playable.

 

Interview with Mythicon programmer Bruce de Graaf

Edited December 2, 2009 by CRV

[VectorGamer]

I don't have Star Fox yet, but what about the fact that Sorcerer and Firefly are identical with minor graphic differences?

[VectorGamer]

I don't have Star Fox yet, but what about the fact that Sorcerer and Firefly are identical with minor graphic differences?

 

Actually, it says exactly this from the DP interview:

 

DP: What was the easiest/hardest part of designing it?

 

Bruce de Graaf: Designing is easy! Cramming something playable into 4k and delivering in a short period of time is where the real art comes in. The inspiration for it was, I had to blow up something, and I kind of liked lasers… but Star Fox ended up being a very long way from my original thoughts.

 

Sorcerer and Fire Fly were essentially the same code base with different graphics. The first test versions appeared to shoot bombs out of a flying horse's butt - had to make some quick rewrites there.

 

By the way, the Happy Face mode was not some special test mode; it was a non-scoring mode that reduced the need to lean forward and reset the machine at the end of each game - a feature that seemed useful after 15 or 20 beers.

[black dog]

A few years back there was a guy on Ebay selling cartons of new Mythicon games along with sales and advertising flyers.

[GideonsDad]

What's the deal with the smiley face in the upper left hand corner of each game?

According to the manual, that's "practice mode". No score, unlimited lives.

 

That is correct. Definitely pointless in practice mode. Play with 3 lives and a score and it actually feels like a game. The enemies / lightning from the cloud movements are very erratic and can be somewhat challenging. Not a bad game really. Plus I like all the different treasures you collect ^_^

 

GideonsDad

[Mirage]

Absolutely they were better quality than Mythicon games. I can't think of a single Atari-branded game that's anywhere near as bad as those steaming piles.

I have Mythicon Sorcerer and like it. It gets fairly regular play. Much more than Slot Machine, Basic Math, Slot Racers, 3-D Tic Tac Toe and some other Atari branded games.

 

The The Video Game Critic even goes so far as to state that "this rare game is a gem." Not perfect, true, but very playable.

 

Wow, okay, I'll give it another chance. I should have my 2600 hooked up again in a few days. I probably played the other junk games first and maybe didn't give Sorcerer enough of a chance. Maybe.

 

BTW, I didn't mean that all Atari-brand games were "fun", just that they aren't as crudely programmed. The Mythicon games I recall playing were so unpolished and unplayable it was ridiculous. At least Basic Math is playable, even if you don't want to play it!

I will concede that the other two Mythicon games are bad, and I don't play them. But I am glad you are willing to give this one a chance.

 

Sorcerer isn't perfect -- I think The VGC does a good job at pointing out its shortcomings -- but it is different, playable, and fun (which I admint is relative to the gamer). The music is a nice touch that is absent in most games of the time, and you will be surprised by the variety of creatures to battle. It is apparent that a lot of effort went into this one. Maybe Mythicon's thought was that if they could make the first one good, people would pay for the substandard sequels (kinda like the movie industry today).

 

Make sure you jump on the little flying disc at the beginning (They should have done away with the whole jump-on-the-disc-challenge)

 

Okay, I finally got the 2600 hooked up last night and played Sorcerer (and some homebrews). It's not as horrid as I had remembered, but I'm not willing to back off my prior feelings that it pretty much sucks, sorry. But obviously that's just my opinion. The main issue is that the collision detection is awful. Plenty of times, the foes should have killed me, but miraculously didn't. Plus I kept going, and it was just more and more of the same. I will give it a little more time though, maybe I'm missing something more. I admit there's far worse 2600 games, but over time I've become a lot more picky (the incredible homebrews have spoiled me to a great extent also) and can't really tolerate cruft like this anymore.

[atari_envy]

Okay, I finally got the 2600 hooked up last night and played Sorcerer (and some homebrews). It's not as horrid as I had remembered, but I'm not willing to back off my prior feelings that it pretty much sucks, sorry. But obviously that's just my opinion. The main issue is that the collision detection is awful. Plenty of times, the foes should have killed me, but miraculously didn't. Plus I kept going, and it was just more and more of the same. I will give it a little more time though, maybe I'm missing something more. I admit there's far worse 2600 games, but over time I've become a lot more picky (the incredible homebrews have spoiled me to a great extent also) and can't really tolerate cruft like this anymore.

Fair enough, you gave it a second chance, and everyone has different likes/dislikes. But I am surprised that it was not able to shake off the "sucks" rating. I don't feel the collision detection is that bad (but admittedly not perfect). For variety, enemies are different from screen to screen, multiply, speed up, and then become invisible. You also have different treasures falling from the sky. No points for the music?

 

Did it at least shed the title of "steaming pile"?

[Mirage]

LOL, yes, it sheds "steaming pile", that's fair enough!

 

I will play it more this afternoon and give a better review. I didn't even notice the music, oddly. I will try the other 2 games as well, to see if I still consider those to be steaming piles.

[shadow460]

I actually played Sorcerer long enough to roll it on the hardest setting. It rolls at 10K. I don't think I stepped foot on the flying carpet even once.

 

It's not a bad game, IMO. It's worth throwing it into the system once in a while. The only thing the other two are worth throwing into is the toilet. Now that's just my humble opinion.