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Popular Games You Are Not Crazy About


sandmountainslim

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What are some near universally popular VCS games that do little or nothing for you?

There are two that fit neatly into that category with me and they are

 

Pitfall Just falling into a bunch of holes like ET gets scorned for doing while running around with no music or real sounds. Boring game.

 

Yar's Revenge My least favorite space shooter. Shooting sideways at walls (yawn) Excuse me while I play Space Jockey instead.

 

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I've posted about these games before, and my opinions haven't changed much, so ...

Pitfall!: It looks great, and we all know it was a groundbreaker, but there just isn't enough "game" there for it to hold my attention. "Pitfall! II: Lost Caverns" was a significant improvement—especially on the A8/5200, which added a second level—but even that didn't offer as much replay value as I would have liked. Both titles could have used some more random elements to make the gameplay more varied.

Megamania: For some reason, this is a major fan favorite, but I found it to be superficial and boring. A spaceship shooting wave after monotonous wave of (mostly unrecognizable) household items? I couldn't stay interested for more than the first few levels. I think "rose-colored glasses nostalgia" is driving a lot of the affection for this one.

I would also mention 2600 Atlantis: compared to the Intellivision version by Pat Ransil, which came later, the 2600 original by Dennis Koble feels like a promising but strangely unfinished game. The Intellivision version added crosshairs, a "night mode," and other features which polished the gameplay considerably and gave it a lot more variety.

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I agree about Yars' Revenge. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a bad game by any stretch, but there's nothing mind-blowing about it, either. I never understood why this one is put up on such a high pedestal. I keep hoping maybe one day I'll see the light, but I never do.

It's funny to me that Megamania came up because I had sort of the opposite reaction recently. I randomly decided to fire it up literally two days ago; it's a game I never really got into before but I had a weird itch to play it, and I loved it. (It was a royal pain in the ass getting it to boot in my 7800 though.)

I think Pitfall's actually more fun if you don't really know what you're going. The exploration it offered was the best thing about it for it. I still think it's a great game, though. It might be a little tedious, but everything else about it is just...I dunno...right.

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Pitfall is definitely one for me as well. Yes it was a groundbreaking game as it was one of the first side scrolling platformers. I found the game to be boring. There is no catchy sound effects, except when you swing on a vine. In my opinion Pitfall is absolutley the most overrated game for the system. Pitfall 2 is much much better. You have unlimited lives, no timer, and checkpoints.

 

Laser Blast is another one for me. I find the game to be way too easy and tedious for my liking. It seems like the cannons will put some cheap shots on your saucer. Once you know the pattern you will play the game for hours on end. I scored 1,000,000 points which ends the game. But after doing so I have never played it again. It took me 5 hours!!

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Mario Bros. tends to get lots of love & affection around here, maybe mainly since it seems to be an accomplishment on the system & a fairly decent co-op game, but if you're familiar with/used to the arcade game, there are several subtle gameplay elements missing from the home version that will bother you.

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Mario Bros. tends to get lots of love & affection around here, maybe mainly since it seems to be an accomplishment on the system & a fairly decent co-op game, but if you're familiar with/used to the arcade game, there are several subtle gameplay elements missing from the home version that will bother you.

Yeah I would add that one to my list also. The original Mario Brothers is poor when compared to SMB for NES and DK even for the VCS. Boring boring boring.

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First i have to say River Raid. When i finally got hold of a cart in decent condition i was super hyped since everyone seems to be all crazy about it, but i found it quite dull just moving upwards at different speeds listening to different pitched static noise and going apeshit over the enemy planes being able to fly over land but your plane only being able to fly over water for some stupid f-ing reason.

 

Also Breakout and Super Breakout needs honorable mention as games i love and hate at the same time. I love paddle games but i absolutely HATE HATE HATE the fact that the Atari apparently thinks real life physics can go take it deep up the rear big time and then make up its own laws of physics that defies all logic and reason.

 

Ball going sharply to the right at a ridiculous angle after coming from the same direction and hitting the very leftmost part of the board? Perfectly normal in the Twilight Zone where Breakout apparently takes place. Makes me want to bash my head through the wall every time.

 

Still having mostly fun playing it though.

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First i have to say River Raid. When i finally got hold of a cart in decent condition i was super hyped since everyone seems to be all crazy about it, but i found it quite dull just moving upwards at different speeds listening to different pitched static noise and going apeshit over the enemy planes being able to fly over land but your plane only being able to fly over water for some stupid f-ing reason.

 

Also Breakout and Super Breakout needs honorable mention as games i love and hate at the same time. I love paddle games but i absolutely HATE HATE HATE the fact that the Atari apparently thinks real life physics can go take it deep up the rear big time and then make up its own laws of physics that defies all logic and reason.

 

Ball going sharply to the right at a ridiculous angle after coming from the same direction and hitting the very leftmost part of the board? Perfectly normal in the Twilight Zone where Breakout apparently takes place. Makes me want to bash my head through the wall every time.

 

Still having mostly fun playing it though.

I used to see if the controllers would bounce like a basketball. Only two bounces tho.. Worst was the short controller cables and having the 2600 on a table and some people playing would jump the controller with their man and pull the atari off the table and would go to a black screen and make a nnnaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh sound..

Asteroids I never liked too much.. It pissed me off. pew pew pew shit pew pew pew ah for #$/@ sakes!! Then Mom saying the next time you say that word I am smashing all your games. Then me saying shut up. Then dad ripping the cords out of the wall and me getting a beating. See asteroids really is all about Domestic violence. They were going to call it that but the "space"theme was a hot seller that year.

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Mario Bros. tends to get lots of love & affection around here, maybe mainly since it seems to be an accomplishment on the system & a fairly decent co-op game, but if you're familiar with/used to the arcade game, there are several subtle gameplay elements missing from the home version that will bother you.

Couldn't the same be said for every 2600 game?

 

The original Mario Brothers is poor when compared to SMB for NES and DK even for the VCS. Boring boring boring.

And Super Mario Bros. is poor when compared to Super Mario 64. Two or three console generations later, one would hope so. It's not really a fair comparison.

 

Also Breakout and Super Breakout needs honorable mention as games i love and hate at the same time. I love paddle games but i absolutely HATE HATE HATE the fact that the Atari apparently thinks real life physics can go take it deep up the rear big time and then make up its own laws of physics that defies all logic and reason.

As opposed to other 2600 games that are super realistic? :P

Edited by BassGuitari
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Wow, I love Pitfall. Everything about it seems perfect to me.

 

I agree that Laser Blast is boring but I'm not sure it was ever all that popular.

 

As far as popular games go, Combat never really did much for me. I'll also admit that I wasn't the biggest fan of Space Invaders. I enjoy it but there are lots and lots of games I like more.

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Megamania: For some reason, this is a major fan favorite, but I found it to be superficial and boring. A spaceship shooting wave after monotonous wave of (mostly unrecognizable) household items? I couldn't stay interested for more than the first few levels. I think "rose-colored glasses nostalgia" is driving a lot of the affection for this one.

 

I would also mention 2600 Atlantis: compared to the Intellivision version by Pat Ransil, which came later, the 2600 original by Dennis Koble feels like a promising but strangely unfinished game. The Intellivision version added crosshairs, a "night mode," and other features which polished the gameplay considerably and gave it a lot more variety.

 

 

I think Megamania is possibly the best vertical shooter on the 2600. The graphics and "story" are lame, but the variety of enemies and the increasing challenge offer something that not many other 2600 games have. Play this one specifically for score and see if you like it any more.

 

I agree that Atlantis is overrated, and it is hard for Pitfall! to NOT be overrated since it gets so much attention.

 

 

For me, I think it is Keystone Kapers. Nothing overly wrong with it; It just kinda controls sorta rigidly IMO and I don't enjoy trying to make those jumps.

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I forgot to mention Mario Bros. The 5200, 7800, and NES versions are top notch. But for the 2600 version despite you can change the game variations to include fireballs or not. As I was playing the game for the 2600 high score club. I scored about 80,000 points without a life lost. Once you get to stage 10 the fireballs become absolute f'ng dicks and you will find yourself getting cheap deaths and numerous lives lost continuously. I had gamer rage and was flipping out. :lol: It was a good game in terms of graphics but the physics are terrible. Choppy jumping, hard to hit coins underneath at times, and randomized F'N FIREBALLS!!

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Couldn't the same be said for every 2600 game?

 

And Super Mario Bros. is poor when compared to Super Mario 64. Two or three console generations later, one would hope so. It's not really a fair comparison.

 

As opposed to other 2600 games that are super realistic? :P

 

I'd disagree to that one.

 

And regarding popular games that I never got into, I'll agree with the OP and say Yars' Revenge. I never owned it as a kid, so I didn't really sit down and play it for a while until a few years ago. I'll admit it's better than I thought it was when I was younger. However, I still don't see why everyone seems to list it in their top 5 2600 games.

Edited by Ramses
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Some that quickly come to mind:

Pitfall! (warming up to it, but still not a top game for me)
Megamania
HERO
Freeway - feels like a poor mans unfinished Frogger clone
Pressure Cooker
Frogs N Flies
Adventure - I've tried and tried, but just a wee bit too primitive for my tastes. Would have been a great O2 game. lol

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Couldn't the same be said for every 2600 game?

Do you mean every 2600 arcade conversion?

 

I agree there's a certain necessary "dumbing down" (or we can say "simplifying" ) to make an arcade conversion to the 2600 (& I was pretty sure someone was going to say what you did, Bass) but in Mario Bros' case there are gameplay aspects missing that alter the game for the worse, & I'm not talking about colors or what the characters look like or SFX or wafers vs coins.

Edited by RJ
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Obviously, taste is subjective. I like Pitfall for what it is, and only grew to love Yars' Revenge this past year, once I rediscovered it as an adult. But I get most of the criticism. Likewise, my affinity for Megamania is largely based in nostalgia, but hot dog, do I love firing that one up and trying to play for "patch points".

 

But Adventure and Haunted House and Raiders and those kinds of "quest" games leave me cold. I get it, and I get why people like them. I just don't enjoy playing them.

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As opposed to other 2600 games that are super realistic? :P

Of course not. But when ypu have a game about using a paddle to bat a ball around you could at least expect to get some half-decent attempt at real paddle-and-ball physics. The much older Pong could do it decently so why not Breakout?

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