ZAXXON: Atari 2600 vs Intellivision version?

[rhindlethereddragon]

Unlike other titles in the "coleco" series, the port of ZAXXON between the two systems are both very, very similar, though there are SOME differences. Which one is ultimately better in your opinion? And why?

[shadow460]

I played both just long enough to be disgusted by each. The Atari 2600 version is slightly better, IMO. Zaxxon is not a game that should have been attempted on either system... or even the ColecoVision for that matter.

 

I used to kill some Zaxxon on an Apple II clone. I used an analog joystick and an Amdek monitor--all in this amber color.

[Gregory DG]

Hm... Seems that a true 3/4 perspective of Zazzon on the 2600 would be a good challenge for someone!

[shadow460]

Hm... Seems that a true 3/4 perspective of Zazzon on the 2600 would be a good challenge for someone!

 

Wait a sec... you're right. Let me revise my statement and say that Zaxxon is not a game that should have been attempted on either system in the early 1980's. These days, though, we have homebrew authors that could program anything. I bet Bob or Ken could program a deck of playing cards to surf the internet.

Edited March 9, 2013 by shadow460

[Shinju]

I thought the coleco version was pretty good considering the limitations without the Adam computer expansion.

 

I have no doubts that the intellivision could have done a good zaxxon port if coleco wasn't behind it as they wanted to make both ports FAR less superior to their own system.

 

I liked the 8bit versions too.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Shinju

[rhindlethereddragon]

I thought the coleco version was pretty good considering the limitations without the Adam computer expansion.

 

I have no doubts that the intellivision could have done a good zaxxon port if coleco wasn't behind it as they wanted to make both ports FAR less superior to their own system.

 

I liked the 8bit versions too.

If this is really true, then why - for example - is "Ladybug" on the Intellivision just as good if not better than the Coleco version?

[ColecoDan]

If this is really true, then why - for example - is "Ladybug" on the Intellivision just as good if not better than the Coleco version?

 

It is probably because the truth is not a devious plan to make something worse, how do you make money if you are going to make a crappy game.

 

The real reason probably comes down to who they had programming it and how much time they were allowed to spend on it. Those two factors are probably true for every game created in the 80s

 

Maybe zaxxon was the first game they attempted to program on the intellivison and they got better and did a better job on ladybug if it was the same programmers. I know the first company programs I made suck compared to how I would redo them with my knowledge and technology of today.

[NinjaWarrior]

I think Zaxxon could of been better on both the VCS and the Intellivision

 

I think Coleco did it so they could make the Colecovision version better, Like what they did to Donkey Kong

[+Psionic]

I have no doubts that the intellivision could have done a good zaxxon port if coleco wasn't behind it as they wanted to make both ports FAR less superior to their own system.

I think Zaxxon could of been better on both the VCS and the Intellivision

 

I think Coleco did it so they could make the Colecovision version better, Like what they did to Donkey Kong

 

Coleco: "Hey, we need you to convert Donkey Kong to the Atari 2600 for us, since we don't have any 2600 coders in-house. We'll pay you whatever you want, but could you do us a huge favor and make the game really shitty?"

 

Garry Kitchen: "Sure, no problem!"

 

 

I really wish people would stop repeating these silly accusations of Coleco making games bad on purpose. For one thing, Coleco didn't even develop the 2600 and Intellivision versions of Donkey Kong and Zaxxon. Like most of their other games, they were done by outside contractors. The idea that Coleco would pay people to intentionally create bad games is ridiculous. And even if they had tried to do this, what self-respecting programmer with any sense of dignity would have complied with their wishes? What sense would it make for Coleco to release lousy ports of games they had exclusive rights to anyway? Why not just make DK a Coleco exclusive and force people to buy a ColecoVision or ADAM to play it?

 

The fact is most of these games turned out poorly because they were assigned to unskilled programmers, and because Coleco often gave the developers unreasonable deadlines for completing the projects. Garry Kitchen has been asked numerous times about 2600 DK and he agrees that he could've done better. But he did his best with the available time (6 weeks) and available memory (4K) he was given.

[slab0meat]

I don't have an answer to the proposed question, but I thought the ColecoVision Zaxxon was a good version back then.

[Chuck D. Head]

If this is really true, then why - for example - is "Ladybug" on the Intellivision just as good if not better than the Coleco version?

 

Mouse Trap compares well to the CV version also. I just think they rushed DK and Zaxxon out the door. Both versions of Zaxxon are stinky, but I was dissapointed with the Inty version, because I really expected better. I bought it and Zaxxon Motherbase for 32X the same day and have been scared to even try that one.

[+Cafeman]

Man, Zaxxon could have had great sequels. Why did SEGA abandon it (after screwing up the scroll speed of Super Zaxxon, too!) ? Imagine the levels possible, all at the same 3/4 perspective. I thought the 2600 game wasn't bad but should not have been called "Zaxxon", it being so different. I never tried the Intelli version but I'm surprised it wasn't a bit "better" than the 2600 version.

[+Psionic]

I bought it and Zaxxon Motherbase for 32X the same day and have been scared to even try that one.

 

Motherbase isn't really a Zaxxon game and wasn't sold as one overseas. It was only marketed as such in North America.

 

Man, Zaxxon could have had great sequels. Why did SEGA abandon it (after screwing up the scroll speed of Super Zaxxon, too!) ?

 

Yeah, Super Zaxxon was just brutal. There was that Zaxxon-meets-Spy Hunter pseudo-sequel Future Spy done during the Bally Midway/Sega period as well. None of these games have really done the original any justice.

[+Ransom]

I thought the 2600 game wasn't bad but should not have been called "Zaxxon", it being so different.

 

Good point. The scrolling 3/4 perspective was part and parcel of Zaxxon.

 

I thought the ColecoVision version was great back in the day (and I still think it's pretty good). I feel sorry for the folks doing the ports back then. I wish they'd all had access to the code for the arcade machines (and the game design documents if there were any). Those poor sods had to figure the game out from playing it, then implement it as best they could given whatever time constraint they were required to work under. Just an awful way to go about porting a popular game.

[NE146]

I think attempting to pass it off as an arcade port pretty much doomed these games for history since of course, everyone expected "Zaxxon", and still do.

 

If you just don't think of them as such.. i.e. as "Zaxxon", they all of a sudden becomes decent & unique space shooters on each console. Or maybe it's just me.

[+Psionic]

I feel sorry for the folks doing the ports back then. I wish they'd all had access to the code for the arcade machines (and the game design documents if there were any). Those poor sods had to figure the game out from playing it, then implement it as best they could given whatever time constraint they were required to work under. Just an awful way to go about porting a popular game.

 

And nevermind the arcade code...sometimes the developers didn't even have direct access to the coin-op to play it. They were expected to port the game based on just a design document and maybe a few screen shots or artist renditions. They'd have to go out arcade hunting to look for an actual coin-op if they wanted to play and study it, and with some of the obscure games this was not an easy task.

[akator]

Back in the day I loved CV Donkey Kong and Zaxxon. So did everyone who came over to my house. They were actually recognizable as being similar in play and appearance to the arcade originals. Today there's too much whining about how they aren't arcade perfect, an opinion I didn't read or hear once until the last decade. MAME... creating revisionist retrogaming d-bags for over a decade, comparing everything in minutia to the original and ruining the fun for everyone.

[+Gemintronic]

Any Zaxxon tht isn't isometric isn't Zaxxon.

[+thegoldenband]

If you just don't think of them as such.. i.e. as "Zaxxon", they all of a sudden becomes decent & unique space shooters on each console. Or maybe it's just me.

 

Or they could've changed the name to make it clear it wasn't an exact port of the arcade game and used a somewhat different gameplay style/angle, e.g. "Zaxxon Prime" or whatever. But maybe some sort of licensing arrangement forbade that -- and of course from a $$$ POV, the whole point was to put out "the arcade game", even if the console wasn't remotely capable of it.

 

(I wonder what the first home arcade port was to do that, i.e. to explicitly rebrand the game by adding to the original name in the title? I suppose you could invoke Circus Atari but that's sort of a different case.)

[Vic George 2K3]

I think they're both pretty good, but then again, I never played the INTV Zaxxon on a native system...only through emulation, and with better controllers.

 

I personally think Zaxxon could have been done better on the Atari 2600, if Atari's attempt to do Desert Falcon on the system is any indication. But that would have to be with modern programmers like those on this forum who had the time to actually study the system to see all the things it could do.

[+Ransom]

And nevermind the arcade code...sometimes the developers didn't even have direct access to the coin-op to play it. They were expected to port the game based on just a design document and maybe a few screen shots or artist renditions. They'd have to go out arcade hunting to look for an actual coin-op if they wanted to play and study it, and with some of the obscure games this was not an easy task.

 

Yeesh. We're lucky we got what we did, in that case!

[high voltage]

Congo Bongo is a good game on VCS, Zaxxon could have been done like that

[+Psionic]

Congo Bongo is a good game on VCS, Zaxxon could have been done like that

 

Yes...Congo Bongo turned out pretty good, but it took quite a bit of effort and programming tricks to get it to look and play that well. And unlike Zaxxon, there's no scrolling in Congo Bongo.

[youki]

I never played the IntTV version, but back in time i played hours on CV version , and i think the CV version was quiet good taking in account console limitation and business constraint... A better version could have been done i'm sure but for a "commercial" product with business constraint behind that's a pretty good version.

 

I played the Atari 2600 version also... ok .. first impression was "what is this sh*t..." ... but i give it a second chance and did abstraction of what i know from zaxxon... and in fact it is not a bad game on 2600 as well. we can have some good fun. But hard to imagine it as a Zaxxon game.

 

Coleco did not make game for other console volontary bad. They just invest less money , less time and also depending on coder the result can vary... If you take DK on atari 2600 , except graphically it could be better i think , but it plays very well in my opinion. Of course one level miss if you compare to the coleco version , but the game is quiet good.

 

There is also one "coleco" game where i prefer the Atari 2600 version better than the Coleco version. It is Smurf 's rescue to gargamel castle. the 2600 version is better imho .

[NinjaWarrior]

Someone should do a Zaxxon Arcade for the VCS and the Intellivison