And the worst Activisions games are...

[accousticguitar]

I like Oink! It controls fine for me.

[tz101]

I'll get clobbered for this one... but the most disappointing* one for me is Keystone Kapers. It looks like it should be fun, but it just seems dull, plodding, and repetetive to the extreme. Am I playing it wrong???

 

 

 

 

* Note: "disappointing" does not equal "worst", I just didn't have anything interesting to say about "worst"

 

Keystone Kapers strikes me the same. At first I kinda liked it, but it is so repetitive and gets boring fast. Plus the difficulty ramps up too fast, making it impossible to play in short order.

[Chris++]

Private Eye was the most disappointing. I don't like time limits. They keep me from having fun exploring, mapping, and really getting into an adventure-style game. If I ever take the time to learn how to modify a VCS game, the first thing I'm doing is to remove the timer in this game (or at least start it so high that it's not an issue)!

 

In terms of the "worst," they're all done well (except for the later Karate-style games that someone has already pointed out, but I've never liked that genre anyway, so maybe I can't tell). I'll have to default to the least interesting to play, which means Dragster, Freeway, Sky Jinks and Space Shuttle.

Edited September 19, 2010 by Chris++

[Nukey Shay]

Private Eye, infinite time

 

$D8DF and $D8E9...changed those to $2E (store decreased time values to invalid ram, the actual ram counters remain untouched).

Private_Eye(Infinite_Time).zip

[Chris++]

Holy cow. What did that take you, five seconds?!

 

The Shay comes through again, in characteristic surprise fashion.

 

THANK YOU.

[CGQuarterly]

Oink! instantly came to mind for me. I hate that game.

 

Chris

[Cebus Capucinis]

If you think of Oink! as reverse breakout....

 

 

it's still bad.

 

My least favorites are Oink and Barnstorming.

[Nukey Shay]

Just a search for SED (set decimal mode) followed by SBC #$01 (subtract 1). Changed the next STA's argument to $2E so the original ram location wasn't altered after the math. Decimal mode is rarely used for anything but digit counter display routines (score, timer)...so it's really easy to find such things by searching for SED. Good way to begin the reverse-engineering process, since you'd immediately find out where point tables are hidden...and reserve lives too (if the game awards them at score intervals).

 

NOTE: I originally altered the SBC instruction's argument to #0, but for some reason that didn't freeze it all the time. Hmm...program being too stubborn to deal with in DOS debug? I just redirected it's saves instead - HAH! Maybe I'll disassemble via Distella later to look at what was happening with the carry flag.

[Chris++]

Well, I really appreciate it. It seems as if you've mastered that language. At my current level, I would've been quite lost without something like:

 

10 T$="000500"

20 GOSUB 40:REM JOYSTICK ROUTINE

30 T=VAL(T$)-1:PRINT"[HOME]";T$:IF T=0 THEN END

[Rex Dart]

... dull, plodding, and repetetive to the extreme. Am I playing it wrong???

 

 

 

*calls the Atari police*

"Yeah, we've got an Atari dissenter...."

 

 

I still have a bunch of lame-o looking Activision carts to try, still. The worst I've played have been Freeway, Sky Jinks, Ghostbusters, Dragster, and Skiing. Skiing's alright, but DAMN it's just so slow. I picked it up thinking it'd be remotely like Ski Free for Windows 3.1. It only looks the same.

Edited September 19, 2010 by Rex Dart

[yuppicide]

Laser Blast. Definitely. That one doesn't deserve to have a patch.

 

I absolutely HATE Enduro. But then again I hate a lot of racing games. Probably because my relatives would sit for hours playing it around the holidays.

Edited September 19, 2010 by yuppicide

[Cliff Friedel]

Here are the ones I don't especially like:

 

Barnstorming

Pressure Cooker

Double Dragon

[holgibo]

I'm suprised that no one has chosen Plaque Attack yet. Even the idea of this game is worse...

[townparkradio]

Freeway. I hated that game as a child, still hate it as an adult. My brother and I, in our 30's, played Activision Anthology on the PS2 and he goes "Oh man I LOVE Freeway!" and wanted to paly 2 player. I proceeded to rack up 35 as my brother floundered to 12. He then said, "you're really good at this... I thought you hated this game?" and I responded, "Duh. That's WHY I got so good at it. So I could kick your (redacted) so hard at the game so repeatedly you'd stop trying to make me play it."

 

And I haven't played it since. I came to hate that game with a burning white hot intensity that I still, after 20 years not playing it, was only a few points down from the world record FOR the game.

[KiwiGamer]

... dull, plodding, and repetetive to the extreme. Am I playing it wrong???

 

 

 

*calls the Atari police*

"Yeah, we've got an Atari dissenter...."

 

 

I still have a bunch of lame-o looking Activision carts to try, still. The worst I've played have been Freeway, Sky Jinks, Ghostbusters, Dragster, and Skiing. Skiing's alright, but DAMN it's just so slow. I picked it up thinking it'd be remotely like Ski Free for Windows 3.1. It only looks the same.

 

wow crazy, that's the same reason why i picked up skiing, because of 3.11 windows ski free, although the atari does not have the sasquatch

[psquare75]

Sky Jinks... Barnstorming... Grand Prix.. Skiing..... All those (IMO) stupid 1 player timed games.

[RJ]

Dragster

Sky Jinks

Freeway too, I guess. Frogger does the concept so much better. Freeway's easier for kids.

 

 

Laser Blast. Definitely. That one doesn't deserve to have a patch.

& yet, it has TWO!!

 

I absolutely HATE Enduro.

 

Shame on you.

[Animan]

I absolutely HATE Enduro.

 

Shame on you.

[toiletunes]

"Kaboom!"

 

Great sounds, excellent graphics. First few rounds are okay, then it gets so fast you might as well close your eyes and twist the paddle blindfolded.

 

I just played oink, and now my hands hurt. That's enough oink for one year.

Edited September 21, 2010 by toiletunes

[opeygon]

Oink! is great! I love playing two player in this game

[Emehr]

"Kaboom!"

 

Great sounds, excellent graphics. First few rounds are okay, then it gets so fast you might as well close your eyes and twist the paddle blindfolded.

You need to get into "The Zone" with Kaboom. That's the beauty of it.

 

As for worst Activision game, hmmm, the later Activision games (Rampage, Double Dragon, Commando) are up there simply because they tried to emulate current arcade games instead of focusing on the strengths of the 2600. Sure, they did a reasonable job of capturing key gameplay elements (Rampage is admirable), but all they really did was expose the weaknesses of the console.

[Lord Helmet]

Hands down the worst one (and the most boring) is Freeway.

[homerwannabee]

Glad to see that Megamania one of my favorite Activision games has not been presented as a worst game yet.

 

Here is one to ponder though that has not been presented. How bout Spider-fighter? It is a decent game, but it does get repetitive super fast. By the way this is not my most hated Activision game it is just the worst one not mentioned yet.

[Zoyx]

Spider Fighter is what I call, "meh" game. Seems pretty cool and well done when you fire it up. Can't say I play it often, though.

[Omegamatrix]

I never cared for Sky Jinks or Cosmic Commuter. A lot of people find Barnstorming boring, but I don't hate it that much. I think it's a beautifully colored game screen too.