Good games by subpar developers

[AtariWarlord]

Obviously, everyone is going to have a different idea of which companies were subpar and which were not. I'm generally talking about the ones that generally had a less-than-stellar reputation for putting out good Atari 2600 games: Panda, Sancho, Froggo, Data Age, Mystique, Apollo, U.S. Games. For me, Spectravision is kind of half-and-half; it's like they really tried to put out good games but often failed in execution. Here are a few of my votes:

Data Age: Frankenstein's Monster is excellent. I also really like Journey Escape but I doubt many will agree with me.

U.S. Games: Entombed is a lot of fun and a real challenge.

[BassGuitari]

People will certainly debate some of these, but these are some of my preferred titles from their corresponding companies:

Data Age: Warplock, Encounter At L-5
Apollo: Guardian, Infiltrate
U.S. Games/Vidtec: Commando Raid, Space Jockey, Squeeze Box, Name This Game, Picnic
Panda: Harbor Escape (it's just a hack of River Raid, which I love, so it kinda wouldn't make sense to not like this game, even if it was a lazy release.)
Coleco: Donkey Kong, Zaxxon (It's debatable whether Coleco really qualifies as "subpar;" most of their games just don't interest me.)
Telesys: Stargunner, Demolition Herby
Xonox: Robin Hood, Ghost Manor

I think Spectravision is underrated as a publisher. I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of all their games (I love Cross Force, though, and Gangster Alley and Tapeworm are pretty decent), but they all seem to be well done, at least.

Edited August 14, 2017 by BassGuitari

[+cvga]

Data Age: Journey Escape

U.S. Games: Gopher

Tigervision: Jawbreaker

20th Century Fox: probably Bank Heist but there are several games I haven't played in years

Coleco: Donkey Kong (their lineup of games is weaker than I expected)

CBS: Solar Fox (their lineup of games is stronger than I initially thought so I probably shouldn't have even included them on this list)

[AtariWarlord]

Some interesting choices. Would definitely agree with Encounter at L-5, Commando Raid and Ghost Manor. I would also agree that Coleco's 2600 lineup puts them in the subpar category, although I really like both Mr. Do! and Mouse Trap and feel they captured Donkey Kong as best they could. I actually think Tigervision and 20th Century Fox were among the more consistent game developers. For the latter, Turmoil, Fantastic Voyage, Fast Eddie, M*A*S*H and Alien all stand out for me. Tigervision gave us Jawbreaker (as cvga mentioned) but also Espial, Marauder and King Kong, which was a decent Donkey Kong ripoff.

 

CommaVid was among the most sincere of the third-party players. Even though they may have failed in execution at times, their attempts to design original games was admirable. They had at least one truly excellent game in Mines of Minos, in my mind one of the most sophisticated 2600 games gameplay-wise. Cosmic Creeps and Cakewalk were very good as well with above-average graphics.

 

Apollo is one that stumps me. I owned both Infiltrate and Space Cavern as a kid and enjoyed them both, but I find they don't hold up today. It seems to me that most of the lesser third-party developers had their triumphs but I can't really think of one for Apollo.

[DrSidneyZweibel]

Coleco: Time Pilot.

 

20th Century Fox: Worm War I

[BassGuitari]

Yeah, I wouldn't put Fox, Tigervision, or CBS in the "subpar" category, personally. IMO they each had more good games than duds.

Look at Fox--Alien, Fantastic Voyage, Spacemaster X-7, Turmoil, Flash Gordon, Crash Dive, Megaforce, Fast Eddie, Worm War I...that's some goodness right there.

CBS--GORF, Wizard of Wor, Solar Fox, Tunnel Runner, Mountain King. Excellent games, all (or at least above average). Omega Race isn't really my speed but still enjoyable enough if you feel like screwing around with a Booster Grip or Coleco controller.

Tigervision--Jawbreaker, Polaris, Threshold. I even like Miner 2049er...until I die and have to plod through the whoooooole level all over again.

I was on the fence about putting Coleco in there, too. Most of their games actually range from decent to good IMO (not DKjr. ), they're just not my kinds of games.

Commavid was one I forgot. I've only got Cosmic Swarm, but I like it!

[VectorGamer]

CommaVid was among the most sincere of the third-party players. Even though they may have failed in execution at times, their attempts to design original games was admirable. They had at least one truly excellent game in Mines of Minos, in my mind one of the most sophisticated 2600 games gameplay-wise. Cosmic Creeps and Cakewalk were very good as well with above-average graphics.

 

 

Cosmic Creeps was by Telesys

[AtariWarlord]

 

Cosmic Creeps was by Telesys

 

Sorry, my mistake. Come to think about it, Telesys was another company with good intentions that didn't always succeed.

[BassGuitari]

 

Come to think about it, Telesys was another company with good intentions that didn't always succeed.

Come to think of that, I mentioned Stargunner and Demolition Herby, but Fast Food was another good one from Telesys as well. And much easier to find.