Best Homebrews?

[Steel76]

I finally got a Videopac system, after all these years (been wanting one since 1981, but never pulled the trigger), and was thinking about getting a few Homebrews for it.

But most of the ones I have seen videos of, seems to be about dodging enemies, tunnels, objects.

Are there any good shoot em ups? Or games where you fight back with weapons?

 

Also wondering about the "Mage" games, but the info is VERY slim, and there are only the commercials available on youtube.

Are you actually fighting the enemies, or are you just dodging them? And is it just a labyrinth game, or is there actually things to pick up and use?

 

Been looking into some of the games from Revival Studios, but I wish there was more info about the games, and real gameplay videos, with the original sound, and how they look on an regular Videopac system, without the "+" backgrounds.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Steel76

[BassGuitari]

I think the best Odyssey homebrew is still KTAA!, from back around 2003. Whether that's a testament to KTAA!'s quality or an indictment of the Odyssey homebrew scene, I leave to you to decide. Either way, it's probably the kind of game you're looking for: shooting stuff, collecting powerups, and battling across multiple levels. Great game.

The Revival games in general are kind of let-downs, IMO. The games are often overly simplistic (often involving nothing more than dodging things, and I credit the Mage games for being exceptions), and the labels on the cartridges I've seen are surprisingly poor quality; they look like they were printed with an inkjet printer. You just expect more from them. The best game I played from Revival was probably Air Assault, honestly, though it's nothing more than a prettier version of the old BASIC Blitz/Bomber/City Bomber games that proliferated on home computers in the late '70s and early '80s. Mayhem is okay, too, being essentially an updated version of the old Channel F game Dodge It.

IIRC with Mage, you only avoid enemies and can't actually fight them. I only played the first one, and only briefly (it didn't do much for me), so I could be mistaken, and I can't speak for the second and third games.

(And not to pile on Revival--and this is just a personal preference--but I can't stand the horizontal line graphics design that appears in almost all of their games. It's especially garish in Cavity, for example.)

Don't forget to check out Packrat Video Games as well. The selection is a little bit slimmer, but I like the games better overall (Planet Lander and Puzzle Piece Panic are very good).

Edited July 5, 2015 by BassGuitari

[Steel76]

I checked out KTAA on the emulator, and I really liked it, so I will order it from Packrat.

Gonna check out the other two you mentioned as well

 

Thanks!

[Seob]

Can only talk about the mage series, but i really liked them. Sure you only dodge the enemys, but you have to pick up items in the game to get further. Graphics wish they really look nice. But i like games where you shoot more then i like dodging so that's why i only have the mage serie.

Ktaa is great. Other homebrews i cannot say, since i don't collect them.

[+atari2600land]

If you're a fan of Tetris or puzzle games, you must get Puzzle Piece Panic!

[Atari2008]

I think the best Odyssey homebrew is still KTAA!, from back around 2003. Whether that's a testament to KTAA!'s quality or an indictment of the Odyssey homebrew scene, I leave to you to decide. Either way, it's probably the kind of game you're looking for: shooting stuff, collecting powerups, and battling across multiple levels. Great game.

 

The Revival games in general are kind of let-downs, IMO. The games are often overly simplistic (often involving nothing more than dodging things, and I credit the Mage games for being exceptions), and the labels on the cartridges I've seen are surprisingly poor quality; they look like they were printed with an inkjet printer. You just expect more from them. The best game I played from Revival was probably Air Assault, honestly, though it's nothing more than a prettier version of the old BASIC Blitz/Bomber/City Bomber games that proliferated on home computers in the late '70s and early '80s. Mayhem is okay, too, being essentially an updated version of the old Channel F game Dodge It.

 

IIRC with Mage, you only avoid enemies and can't actually fight them. I only played the first one, and only briefly (it didn't do much for me), so I could be mistaken, and I can't speak for the second and third games.

 

(And not to pile on Revival--and this is just a personal preference--but I can't stand the horizontal line graphics design that appears in almost all of their games. It's especially garish in Cavity, for example.)

 

Don't forget to check out Packrat Video Games as well. The selection is a little bit slimmer, but I like the games better overall (Planet Lander and Puzzle Piece Panic are very good).

I have to concur here. When I did have an O2, the tipping point for me was when Revival decided to make homebrews for it. I thought yay the O2 is now getting some homebrew love. I ordered directly from them so I remember them being kinda pricey and very much a let down when I did get the games. They never seemed to measure up in terms of excitement and complexity, although visually I thought a lot of them looked great, I found the game play shallow. I concur with the labels, they're of rather poor quality, and for that much money, I felt I would've been better off just hunting down original titles. Before I sold the O2, I sold all my Revival games and didn't miss them at all. I'm blown away that I didn't realize how close Mayhem is to Dodge It, being a Channel F aficionado. I've never played KTAA but I've heard nothing but good things about it.