Best carts for the XL/XE?

[+johnnywc]

Hello all -

 

I just received my Atari XE in the mail - pretty cool!! I was wondering what are considered the "top ten" cartridge based games for the system? Any "must haves"?

 

Thanks!

[+davidcalgary29]

You can't go wrong with any Atari release. Other carts are really hit-and-miss, and quite expensive.

[snorlaxnut]

Spider City is a good game.

[+davidcalgary29]

...but whatever you do, avoid "Hypnotic Lands" (not that you'll find it easily). It's easily the worst commercial release I've ever played. Ugh!

[Nukey Shay]

I'd say that Atari had some titles that were done poorly. Though some of them eventually had new versions made to cover gripes *cough* Dig-Dug *cough*

 

Must-haves would probably include Star Raiders (if your XE has the keyboard), Miner2049er, BallBlazer, Deluxe Invaders, Wizard Of Wor, Donkey Kong, Robotron2084, Defender...heck, most arcade ports.

[Atari Smeghead]

What about...

Archon, Dreadnaught Factor, Blue Max, Choplifter, K-razy Shootout, Joust, Protector II... The list really does go on!

 

Some of those you can find on the cheap, but ya might want to scope out a disk drive.

 

----------

snorlaxnut,

What is Spider City all about? Is it a game that a person can easily pick up on, without instructions? Reason I ask is that B & C is selling it "cart only" for $5.00. Sounds like a deal to me! So, any advice'd be cool!

[+davidcalgary29]

Nukey's already stated this, but it's worth repeating: Defender on the 8-bits in incredible. In fact, it's probably the best version of the arcade game out there.

[svenski]

Can someone remind me how to pick up the guys in Defender so I can go drop them off at the landing pad.

 

They keep screaming out to me but all I do is fly by...haven't played it in over 15 years

 

 

Also, am I the only one who finds Donkey Kong (how do I get past level 2) and Donkey Kong Jr incredibly hard - how do I get past level 1?!!!!!

 

Ok there is always Bounty Bob, *but* I want some variety ya knows. Now if I could only find my Star Raiders cart........

[Callipygous]

Hmm, Svenski , you have enough questions there for five other topics! Might want to try posting new topics like "Defender question", "Donkey Kong difficulty" etc. I share your experience with DK, but its really off-topic in this thread.

[Nukey Shay]

Can someone remind me how to pick up the guys in Defender so I can go drop them off at the landing pad.

 

They keep screaming out to me but all I do is fly by...haven't played it in over 15 years

 

I think that you might be confusing Choplifter with Defender...in Choplifter, you set down the your helicopter to pick up the hostages on the ground before the tanks shoot them or you...and then you fly them back to your embassy's landing pad. The first building is already broken into to let them out...the remaining three buildings must be shot open by either you or the tanks. The helicopter can only hold 16 (the full amount in each building), so you need to make a few trips to save them all.

 

In Defender, alien ships will land and attempt to carry a human to the top of the screen. The humans make a high "scream" when being picked up...so you'll know when one is in trouble. If the alien makes it to the top, it will mutate into a more deadly alien...so you need to shoot it before it reaches the top. When freed, the human will fall back to the planet, so you'll also need to catch it (by touching it) if it is too high to fall a believable distance to the ground (about 3 or 4 human-heights...I think). The humans are also susceptable to your shots...so you need to aim carefully. Caught humans can be carried or returned to the surface...but if your ship is hit, a carried human will also die. If all 10 humans are killed or mutated, the planet blows away for the remainder of a 10-level group (meaning you'll have to contend with a lot of mutants until you get another 10).

 

Both excellent games

[svenski]

Nukey,

 

Thanks for the info re Defender.

 

It is appreciated. Looks like I was confusing it with choplifter

 

Now I'm off to play Command & Conquer Generals on my 2600.

[Wrathchild]

Looks like I was confusing it with choplifter

 

Easily done, I was confusing what you thought was Choplifter with DropZone

 

Mark.

[andylama]

A few of the must-have carts for the 8-bits are:

 

Miner 2049er

Bounty Bob Strikes Back

Ballblazer

Archon

Necromancer

Jumpman Jr.

Rescue on Fractalus

Blue Max

Star Raiders & S.R. II

[AtariDude]

Necromancer was my all time favorite Atari 8-Bit game. Definitely should get that one.

[A2600]

This Might be kinda dumb but Pole Position keep me occupied for hours...

 

But now a blue screen displaying BOOT ERROR is my worst nightmare!!

[Gunstar]

Pretty much any of the XEGS cartridges are good, even if they are remakes/re-releases of disk games. They were good games to start with...

[andylama]

The older 400/800 carts (brown cart with yellow lettering) are pretty hit-and-miss (some classics, many duds), since they were generally pretty small (8/16K) programs. Many of these games are decent, but very repetetive, and thus, boring (i.e. Pacman - a great port, but oh-so monotonous!) Star Raiders and Defender are probably the all-time best in this series, IMHO.

 

The XE series carts (gray plastic carts with full-color labels) are much better in general...but there are still some tremendous dogs in this series too.

 

Best Electronics offers "Bruce Lee" as an "unreleased prototype". It is expensive, but it is a very good platformer. See: http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/xe_game.htm

[andylama]

Ataridude,

 

Yeh, Necromancer is incredible, ain't it?

 

Synapse consistently produced some of the most impressive software ever written for the 8-bits. They were true innovators.

 

The music and sound effects in Necromancer still amaze me ("touch the spinning ring!")