+FujiSkunk Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 EDIT: I misread. "Dumbest", not "Horrible". OK then, I would have to vote Rubik's Cube. Why did anyone think that digitizing a cheap, ubiquitous toy would be fun? Because it was ubiquitous. As popular as the Cube was, somebody was going to buy a video game version. Atari was betting it would be several somebodies, enough to justify the game's release. Having said that, what's really dumb about {Atari Video|Rubik's} Cube is that it plays nothing like a real Rubik's Cube! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorfy Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 How 'bout Skeet Shoot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Because it was ubiquitous. As popular as the Cube was, somebody was going to buy a video game version. Atari was betting it would be several somebodies, enough to justify the game's release. Yeah, that's a good point, but I was looking at it not from a business perspective, but more along the lines of it seems dumb to digitize a simple toy that is cheap to buy. Whether they did or not wasn't really my point at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 Yeah, that's a good point, but I was looking at it not from a business perspective, but more along the lines of it seems dumb to digitize a simple toy that is cheap to buy. No argument there, but that was also par for the course back then. Video games were still fairly new at home, so people were still ga-ga over things like, "Hey look! The computer's playing chess!" At least that was the assumption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 I know, I get it, I was there too. I guess I didn't realize this was such a serious thread. Just was the dumbest game I could think of by whatever metric we're using here. I guess I was wrong! :) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeETC Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Sssnake sssucks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Another vote for Sssnake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+frankodragon Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Journey Escape gets my vote. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildBillTX Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Apollo's Racquetball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
someone3760 Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Sneak n peek! Sneak n peek! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 I don't think the dumbest VCS game ever has been made yet. I'm sure if they tried, someone could come up with something way dumber than anything mentioned so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Yes, perhaps "Dumbest VCS Game So Far" might be a better title. I'm sure the expanded access to 2600 programming afforded in recent years will bring in people who are much dumber than the old days. Even I can write 2600 games now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feralstorm Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 ^^^^^^^ This Mangia was one of those games I couldn't figure out how to control AT ALL. I would have loved to be in on the pitch meeting that resulted in that game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennybingo Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Knight Rider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeETC Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Slot Racers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot2600 Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 I'm not sure anyone ever played 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Acid Drop. A half-finished Columns clone accented with the world's worst rendition of Fur Elise? Me thinks someone was dropping acid themselves when they made this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Mangia' has to be one of the weirdest VCS games, to be sure. It's kind of interesting at least, even if it isn't a particularly great game.I wouldn't say 3D Tic-Tac-Toe or Stellar Track. Both of those games, or similar games, were popular (or at least "standard fare") on computer systems of the day. It stands to reason that there may have been some expectation that translations of games like these would appear on a console, considering that the differences between console games and computer games were perhaps less defined, or at least less understood (which wasn't helped by the fact that systems like the Atari were kind of positioned as a special class of computer, which of course they technically are; it's even in the name!). At the very least, Atari translations of these popular computer games was logical. (I only wish Stellar Track used the keyboard controller.)Sneak 'N' Peek is a pretty dumb game in the sense that, yeah, you could just as easily play actual hide-and-seek and probably have more fun. But the same could be said for sports games (to a degree). One-on-one basketball at the park, or Atari Basketball? Rec league baseball with your buddies, or Home Run? On the other hand, of all possible recreational activities to emulate in video form, U.S. Games went with hide-and-seek. That, and it is a video game which actually requires one player to not look at the screen while the other hides. So maybe there's a point there after all. How about Fun With Numbers? Basic Math served a purpose in that was calculated (pardon the pun) to sell parents on getting an Atari for their kids. But by the time the name was changed to Fun With Numbers, was that even really a thing anymore? Even if it was, wasn't there Math Gran Prix, which at least had graphics? And the Intellivision had those Electric Company games. It seems that by the time Basic Math became Fun With Numbers, it's raison d'etre was basically gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Mangia (which I pronounced "Man-gi-ah" when I was a kid) has to be taken in the proper context. It's a Game & Watch-style twitch game, where the player has to scramble to balance all the onscreen chaos. For what it's worth, I think the concept is innovative and clever, if a little dark. Doesn't the kid explode if he overeats? I think someone at Spectravision was watching too much Monty Python! One Spectravision title which I thought was supremely dumb, at least from a marketing standpoint, was Tape Worm. Yes yes, I get the pun (although they're not tapes, they're cartridges!), but who's gonna want to play a game where the lead character is a disgusting parasite? It's like if Atari had named Yar's Revenge 'Bot Fly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Most of the porn titles look pretty dumb to me. Is there a single one that has any real gameplay value? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot2600 Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 I would play a game in which the lead character was a disgusting parasite. Where's my E Coli game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 How 'bout Skeet Shoot? IIRC Skeet Shoot was programmed by a highschool freshman. The Apollo rep would pick him up after school and he would go program for them. Yeah, it's bad but all things considered not that bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariFriend Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Knight Rider. Topic said dumbest not greatest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 Topic said dumbest not greatest Most epic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennybingo Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Topic said dumbest not greatest Most epic true...but the game is still still non-existent!!! I think you are confusing the Knight Rider game, with the Knight Rider thread. To that point, I would have to agree that the Knight Rider thread (hardwork, Kinkos and all) is both epic and the greatest (next to Backin89). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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