Your biggest 2600 disappointment

[zylon]

What was your biggest letdown in 2600 gaming. Lots of threads on the best games, but quite a few stinkers on 2600. Over time, I've learned that rare games are rare for a variety of reasons including "because they suck". For instance, I loved Threshold on the C64 and still do. Last month, I found the 2600 version and it's terrible. It's no E.T., but still bad.

[VectorGamer]

Easy: Pac-Man

[zylon]

Oddly, I enjoyed Pacman on the 2600. It was my first exposure to the game so I didn't have any expectations for it.

[Mirage]

Well, I wouldn't necessarily say any particular game, but seeing some of the first box art, then seeing the actual games (early releases) on the in-store kiosk and seeing that they weren't anything like the box art. (Sue me, I was a little kid). I got over it pretty quick though once I was playing.

[Ransom]

Some of my biggest disappointments with the 2600 were released during the period when they seemed to be pumping out games to meet a marketing deadline rather than when they were ready for distribution. Games like Pac-Man and Defender disappointed me mightily, back when.

 

But the absolute #1 biggest disappointment was Swordquest: Earthworld. It was originally listed in catalogs as being like Adventure, which was my favorite game at the time. And then the marketing hype about the contest got me really keyed up. Boy, what a disappointment that game was!

Edited January 5, 2010 by Ransom

[Mirage]

Oh, for crying out loud, why did I not first think of Earthworld. I wanted that game SOOOO badly! I ended up playing the minigames for awhile to entertain myself, and read the comic, and that was the end of my fun.

[eegad]

Well, for me there were a lot of games that felt like let-downs....donkey kong, defender, asteroids, gorf, and more. And yet, each of those game were "okay" and I did play them quite a bit. But I must say the biggest deal-breaker for me was pac-man. I was *SO* wanting that game to finally be released, and within 10 seconds of playing it I yelled "this sucks". It really was quite bad.

[atari_envy]

... It's no E.T., but still bad.

 

Dear gawd, please don't let this become yet another E.T. thread....

 

 

But to answer your question, I was appalled by Dig Dug's graphics, and I never gave it a chance back in the day.

[AtariLeaf]

+1 on Defender. I was a huge fan and that 2600 port was awful. I've come to appreciate it now as a fun quirky little game in its own right but if I want to play defender on the 2600 I reach for the far superior Stargate/Defender II

 

EDIT - The centipede port on the 2600 disappointed me too. A square shooting at circles and more squares. One of those games that could have been SO much better.

Edited January 5, 2010 by AtariLeaf

[cybercylon]

I'd have to say Earthworld. Didn't care for Fireworld either, but Earthworld prepared me for the fact that fireworld might be a POS.

[zylon]

Did anyone actually win those prizes in the swordquest contest? I'd heard they were never awarded.

Some of these games make you wonder if anyone actually played them first or just pumped them out. Every system has some bad eggs, even to this day.

[brojamfootball]

Donkey Kong and Pac-Man tie for biggest disappointment to me.

[tz101]

Superman. Man, those graphics were blocky and horrible.

[SnapCraft]

+1 on Defender. I was a huge fan and that 2600 port was awful. I've come to appreciate it now as a fun quirky little game in its own right but if I want to play defender on the 2600 I reach for the far superior Stargate/Defender II

 

I understand limitations, but what got me is when they would fake things.

 

My top two: (1) Donkey Kong, where the flame guys on the Rivets screen couldn't go up or down the ladders. Side to side, really? (2) Defender, when you hit that one enemy (Pod) and it turns into 4 swarmers, yet the swarmers didn't swarm--they were one connected blob.

 

At least Pac-Man played like Pac-Man. Swarmers in the real defender were feared. 2600 version? One hit.

[+save2600]

Donkey Kong does suck graphically (and I hate that the ducks can't climb), but it's a wonderfully playable game - back in the day and all things considered.

 

Hmm... I can't say I paid attention to the hype of too many games back then, but I do remember reading the catalogs that came with some games. Swordquest series has to be up there for me for games back in the day, but all in all - easily the largest disappointment in 2600 gaming came as I acquired and paid big bucks for the rare, ER and UR games back in the 90's (although I did score a Condor Attack T-handle cart for $1 at a flea market). I wanted to play some decent games that I didn't have or ever heard of and most of them were total shite. Ikari Warriors quickly comes to mind. Room of Doom, Mountain King (despite some glowing reviews, I still hate that game), Threshold (most Tigervision games for that matter), most of the 20th Century Fox rarities, James Bond, Q*Bert's Qubes, Mr. Do!'s Castle, Frogger II, yeah... pretty much dislike most rare and "valuable" 2600 games

 

If I had to pick one single most game that I kind of got excited about (reading about it in the Atari catalog), but couldn't stand was Haunted House. What a steaming pile of doggy doo (sorry if it happens to be one of your favs) it is. To this day, I just don't get the appeal. Searching for things in the dark is not something I want to do in real life, let alone in a video game. The description was super cool, but jeez... lol Guess that explains why I can't stand Resident Evil type games either.

Edited January 5, 2010 by save2600

[+cvga]

For me it's probably Miner 2049er. I read about how great this game was and couldn't wait to get it for my Atari. Tigervision games weren't easy to find where I lived so the fact that we had to search for it made me want it that much more. My parents got this game for me while I was sick. Unfortunately it played so terribly slow, it made me even sicker

[+save2600]

For me it's probably Miner 2049er. I read about how great this game was and couldn't wait to get it for my Atari. Tigervision games weren't easy to find where I lived so the fact that we had to search for it made me want it that much more. My parents got this game for me while I was sick. Unfortunately it played so terribly slow, it made me even sicker

 

That's another one I wasn't even aware existed until the 90's. Anyway, got rid of my copy long ago... have the TI-99 version and love it! Burgertime has got to be up there also for unnecessarily slow gameplay.

 

BTW: grew up in Libertyville, IL and never knew Tigervision had an office on Orchard in Mundelein (next town over)! lol

Edited January 5, 2010 by save2600

[Godzilla]

donkey kong for me too, the play was ok, but god, i couldn't stand how much better it looked on the colecovision.

[+Random Terrain]

Pac-Man was a huge disappointment. Defender was a pretty big one too. After playing Space Invaders and being able to shoot the shields, I thought Atari had the ability to make mushrooms that would have damage like that, but noooo. The mushrooms didn't show any damage. Donkey Kong was a disappointment, but when looking back, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

[+cvga]

For me it's probably Miner 2049er. I read about how great this game was and couldn't wait to get it for my Atari. Tigervision games weren't easy to find where I lived so the fact that we had to search for it made me want it that much more. My parents got this game for me while I was sick. Unfortunately it played so terribly slow, it made me even sicker

 

That's another one I wasn't even aware existed until the 90's. Anyway, got rid of my copy long ago... have the TI-99 version and love it! Burgertime has got to be up there also for unnecessarily slow gameplay...

 

Burgertime is another one of my disappointments! We played it tons on my best friends intellivision and I was pretty excited to finally be able to get this for my

Atari. In general I thought MNetwork did a pretty good job in porting games over to the 2600 but Burgertime was the exception. I'm generally pretty forgiving when it comes to graphics as long as the gameplay is good. In this case they screwed up both the graphics and the gameplay!

[homerwannabee]

For me it had to be this Quentin Tarantino quote. Basically the same quote with a couple of words replaced.

 

Tarantino "“This CGI crap is the death knell of cinema. If I'd wanted all that computer game crap, I'd have stuck my penis in a Nintendo.”

 

Personally I love CGI movies, and think they are great. So was Tarantino correct in saying that sticking your Johnson into an older game system brings about an experience better than CGI Cinema ? So I had an Atari 2600 laying around, and I was in a crazy mood. I decide to take the little guy out, and stick it right into the Atari 2600 cartridge slot, but nothing happened. But then it occurred to me. Maybe I need to stick my little general in when the system is turned on. Well this time there definitely was an effect. I received a shock so strong that my nads were doing the electronic boogie, and it shriveled my peter up to less than an inch. I thought I was staring in a movie called "Honey I shrunk my junk!" Except there was no wife involved with this little mishap. Thank goodness for women everywhere. Fortunately after about a week, it went back to its gargantuan size of 2 and a half inches. Everything is fine now but I swear my ding-a-ling temporarily shrinks a half an inch every time I watch a Tarantino flick or play an Atari 2600 game.

[zylon]

A lot of these games I blocked out from my childhood. Here's another one: Space Jockey

[atari_envy]

Did anyone actually win those prizes in the swordquest contest? I'd heard they were never awarded.

 

Check this thread out.

 

Not only were they awarded, but one of the winners is an AA member, and he posted some pics and comments. Very cool stuff.

[+cvga]

Did anyone actually win those prizes in the swordquest contest? I'd heard they were never awarded.

 

Check this thread out.

 

Not only were they awarded, but one of the winners is an AA member, and he posted some pics and comments. Very cool stuff.

 

Wow! Thanks for posting that link! I can't believe I missed that thread the first time around. Michael is very helpful and extremely friendly in the programming forum. I'm glad he won

[JacobZu7zu7]

For me it's probably Miner 2049er. I read about how great this game was and couldn't wait to get it for my Atari. Tigervision games weren't easy to find where I lived so the fact that we had to search for it made me want it that much more. My parents got this game for me while I was sick. Unfortunately it played so terribly slow, it made me even sicker

 

That's another one I wasn't even aware existed until the 90's. Anyway, got rid of my copy long ago... have the TI-99 version and love it! Burgertime has got to be up there also for unnecessarily slow gameplay.

 

BTW: grew up in Libertyville, IL and never knew Tigervision had an office on Orchard in Mundelein (next town over)! lol

 

Cool, I grew up in Lake County IL and been to Mundelein many times. I also didn't know of Tigervision bein' there. Though my bro found 2 Tigervision games complete in box, at McHenry Salvation Army. KING KONG and JAWBREAKER. 1 dollar each.

 

PS, Mundelein translates in German as 'Mouthlet'.

What the heck is a mouthlet lol

 

As for my most dissapointing 2600 games - Double Dragon and Pac-man.

I had bought D.D. new and what a hell difficult time. Broke a joystick playing it.

and Pac-man, I never played it at arcade as I was only 2 yrs old when it was big.

But when I played it on 2600... wow, lame. I do like it (ok) now, but still knew it coulda'

been way better.

I can't say I was dissapointed with Swordquest Earthworld as I got it

during the internet age, and knew the bad things people said about it.

It had plenty of potential but was way too complicated in dropping off the items

to each room. Should have been easier...

 

PS, Mountain King, yeah... I was dissapointed playing that one too...

I still have yet to get up to the f____n' top with the crown on my head.

Those bats really can wreck everything... and I hate the jumping controls..

when you land you are stuck on ur knees for like 3 full seconds.

But besides that it is an 'ok' game. But nothin to be really excited about.