ACTIVISION vs. IMAGIC!!

[Mind Master]

Let's settle this once and for all (or try to..)!! Which company made better games for the 2600, Activision or Imagic? I'm interested to see which company gets more support.

[NE146]

My vote goes to Imagic. Activision's all good and stuff. But their games for the most part were somewhat bland (I mean come on.. Barnstorming?!). And a lot of their earlier games were timed.

 

Imagic had that unexplainable "luster" and their games had more action.

[Godzilla]

IMAGIC all the way. Activision may have pushed the envelope at times, but IMAGIC had already torn through as was on the other side laughing.

 

Imagination, and a touch of Magic.

[sku_u]

If this was a soccer match, it would end 1-1 with Activision scoring first.

[TwiliteZoner]

Activision on the strength of Pitfall. That game alone revolutionized the gaming industry!

[Godzilla]

I agree pitfall was a revolutionary game, but so was demon attack, riddle of the sphinx, cosmic ark, moonsweeper, etc. i dont think u can hand out 'winner' just on pitfalls back.

[Swingtown]

I agree pitfall was a revolutionary game, but so was demon attack, riddle of the sphinx, cosmic ark, moonsweeper, etc. i dont think u can hand out 'winner' just on pitfalls back.

Yeah, Pitfall is a great game, but my vote goes to Imagic.

[maibock]

Activision - I just thoroughly enjoy most of their games

[King Atari]

That's a hard decision. Activision made some definite classics, no doubt. Pitfall!, Pitfall II, Chopper Command, Robot Tank, excellent 2600 games. However, I agree that many of the games seem a bit bland. I've never liked Barnstorming, and what can I say about Laser Blast that hasn't been said before? Personally, I think they did a great job with Ghostbusters, and some of their later games really pushed the 2600 (playability aside ).

 

However, Imagic also made some fantastic games. In fact, almost every one of them is a winner. There are a few bad ones, but those are few. Demon Attack, Riddle of the Sphinx (one I used to play the h*ll out of), and Atlantis are all great games.

 

 

I don't know, as much as I'd like to say tie, I'll have to go with Activision, perhaps because they're still around today, but probably more because when they did a good game on the 2600, it came off excpetional.

[Godzilla]

see thats the difference. i enjoyed EVERY imagic game!

[joeybastard]

Activision but only because of HERO and Pressure Cooker. Imagic's shooters are WAY WAY better but that's not enough for me.

[StanJr]

While both are AMAZING, I have to go Activision here, simply on size and quality of the library. Activision put out TONS of great games (whether you like Barnstorming or not, its a good game). If Imagic had put out an equal number of great games, then Imagic could win (although I have NEVER understood why everyone is SO enamored with Demon Attack).

 

Its really too close to call, however, and I'm a bit miffed that you people glossed right over Parker Bros who's library is EVERY bit as strong as these guys...

 

[sku_u]

I'm a bit miffed that you people glossed right over Parker Bros who's library is EVERY bit as strong as these guys...  

 

 

You're 100% right on there

[NE146]

Who's glossing over PB? They're awesome! (Frogger anyone?)

 

...But that aint the topic

[Xot]

Activision all the way. I love Atlantis, Demon Attack, Quick Step, Cosmic Ark and all the others as much as the next guy, but Activision simply has more "highest quality" titles, IMHO, such as Pitfall, Pitfall II, HERO, Crackpots, Kaboom,, Private Eye, Pressure Cooker, Spider Fighter, Kung Fu Master, Rampage and River Raid.

[Xot]

Double post. Woops. But that's okay since I forgot Megamania in the first post.

[Godzilla]

oh yea, strawberry shortcake rawks!!

 

Seriously tho, yes, PBs library is hella solid with some great !WTF is that doing on the vcs! titles (like gyruss with the music, star wars arcade w/ all 3 areas, montezumas revenge, etc.) But there are turd nuggest like mr dos castle. Which is why Imagic owns em all. Quality over quantity. and Imagic has no Turd Nuggets.

[kyle]

I'll have to go with activision. Truth be told of 3rd party 2600 companies imagic is about my 4th favorite. Behind parker bros and epyx. Now dont get me wrong i love imagic just not as much as everyone else i guess?

[chrisbid]

i think the soccer analogy works the best here

[Atariman]

I personally like Activision the best. I used to love keystone kapers when I was a little kid. Never got tired of jumping over obstacles and getting all the way to level 4!! (I kinda sucked at it, but I didn't care). They have a ton of good games. I've only been truly disappointed with a few of my activision games (at least dissappointed enough for me to remember it right now). I also liked the Activision games because you could figure most of them out without the manual. (which was important since I collected many of them from Goodwill.) As for Imagic... I never did quite understand what was going on with Riddle of the Sphinx when I first got it... I would also have to agree that I like Activision because of their huge library of games, too. (Even if they DID make Plaque Attack. )

[StanJr]

Imagic has no Turd Nuggets.

 

So I take it you've never played Fire Fighter?

[+Nathan Strum]

Imagic has no Turd Nuggets.

 

So I take it you've never played Fire Fighter?

 

I can't say much for Trick Shot either.

 

I always thought Imagic's graphics looked cooler than anyone elses, because they tended to have that glowing, multi-colored look to everything. Great eye-candy, and slick gameplay. I bought No Escape! and Dragonfire solely because the graphics were cool. And Moonsweeper is still one of my favorite games.

 

But... I'd have to give the edge to Activision, though. H.E.R.O., Pitfall, Pitfall II, Beamrider, Kaboom!, Megamania, Chopper Command. The list of really good, solid games just goes on and on. They set a new standard that everyone else had to live up to. There was more variety in the types of games they made (drag racing, skiing, roping cattle, tennis, flying, exporing jungles, etc.), and some of their games had unrivaled depth to them.

 

I also agree about Parker Bros. I've always thought a lot of their games were among the best for the 2600.

[Witchfynde]

I'd have to go with Activision, although Imagic is probably right behind them in my book (I say "probably" because I hadn't thought of this before ). I don't know, even though Imagic produced some great games with great graphics, Activision's games (which also mostly had good graphics) had a bit of a "warmer" feel to me, or something. A lot of Imagic's games seemed impossibly hard at first (like Dragonfire...at first), whereas most of Activision's you could warm up to with the pacing and all (like with Stampede, although Frostbite seemed pretty tough at first too).

[SS]

I own 85% of the Activision releases but only 38% of Imagic ones. That casts my vote, I guess.

[Big Player]

Activision all the way. I used to have dreams back then of new Activision games being released. And I got back into collecting for the 2600 by obtaining all the Activision games I had wanted as a kid but never got.

 

Imagic has a good solid library of games, but none of their games make it into my top ten. But they are right there with Parker Brothers as the greatest 3rd party company next to Activision.

 

Besides, on the Stella at 20 video, the Imagic designers say that the Activision guys were the best. They used to love seeing the new Activision games at the trade shows.