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Why do AtGames Atari 2600 systems use 5200 Space Invaders?


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Does anyone know why the AtGames Atari systems use the 5200 version of Space Invaders, instead of the 2600 Space Invaders? All the other games on the system appear to be the 2600 versions.

It's a custom port just for the unit, as is Frogger.

 

This squiggly thing is the 5200 version.

https://youtu.be/qBDW3IervjI

 

I don't feel AtGames deserves the hate it gets. "Because AtGames" isn't as funny as some people think it is.

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In the case of Frogger, it was due to copyrighted music they were unable to license, so it was easier to reimplement the arcade version sans music than hire a 2600 programmer trying to lift or replace the music from the 2600 version. When it comes to Space Invaders, I have no clue, perhaps it is a similar situation where the do-dum-do-dum-do-dum sound is copyrighted and needed to be lifted or replaced?

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I'm sure there's some marketing logic behind it all, like they showed a focus group the headliner games for the Flashback iteration they were making and people in the focus group said "I remember Pac-Man / Frogger / Space Invaders / etc. looking better than that!". So by making custom graphically improved versions of the big name system seller games they're appealing to the general public's false memories of how cool Atari games were 40 years ago, not the reality of the way the games were that folks around here are keenly aware of because we still play them all the time.

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Thanks for the responses -

Also, why were Front Line, Polairs, and Jungle Hunt not the 2600 versions in Atari Flashback?

And, what is the game "Strip Off"?

 

Chris.

 

The other Taito games ARE the 2600 originals. Strip Off and other games with less recognizable names are homebrews that are included. As was stated, the ONLY games that are not native to the Atari 2600 are Frogger and Space Invaders, and that's for the reasons previously stated.

 

Stay tuned for announcements about the 2018 products and their feature-sets and game lists. Any issues with the game lists will be addressed in the best way possible.

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Because Taito didn't want the "inferior" version from the 2600 used so they put in an arcade port instead. I don't know why since Atari's verison of SI wasn't that bad like say Pac-man...

 

This is correct. I too disagreed with the decision, because Atari 2600 Space Invaders IS a great game, and in many ways better than the original arcade version (when you can't play on the beautiful original arcade machine itself, with that awesome holographic mirror effect). Fortunately, with an SD card slot (like found on the Portable), you can put on the Atari 2600 version yourself.

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A dig would be more like, oh yeah, Bill he's so muscular and a careful writer (i.e. more about my own failings than yours)

 

WATCH THIS SPACE for more up to the minute updates about AtGames!

 

DON'T CLOSE THAT BROWSER WINDOW

 

just don't be like "Atari," with "sign up for our mailing list!"

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just speculation, but one reason why Taito may have insisted on an arcade adaptation over the 2600 port has to do with the artwork.

 

Space Invaders is a pop-culture thing, and Taito markets all kinds of merchandise - mugs, bags, T-shirts, etc etc - using the invader sprite artwork from the original arcade game. The 2600 sprites, while attractive in their own right, don't look like the arcade invaders at all.

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  • 5 years later...

Space Invaders on a product sold to Atari VCS fans should be supplied with the superior, due to many gameplay enhancements, VCS Space Invaders, it's that simple. If you don't see it like that then you are not a true lover of the VCS and I am not interested in comments from such people weren't there at the birth of the home video gaming explosion. Atari changed everything in 1980, this is the most important game in that achievement. ANY company that puts out anything other than a 100% perfect port of the version of the game that turned the VCS, and the console industry, into a going concern for the rest of time has no respect, or love, for the actual heritage of the VCS and the historical importance of that killer app kickstarting the whole revolution from 1980 onwards.

 

Whilst it may have 2 columns of invaders less and doesn't look/sound like the arcade the VCS port has many many advantages that take it from 10 minutes worth of occasional  mediocre gameplay of the arcade to something both with more longevity and more nostalgia in a double whammy. Why just Space Invaders too, why not Pac-Man and Asteroids which are in far more desperate need of replacement with something more like the arcade.

 

Is it a licensing problem, perhaps the license for that port granted to Atari had a time limit in the contract. Either way seeing that garbage version on the Flashback 50th Anniversary is a slap in the face. Why go to all that effort in making the 50th Anniversary DVD and then bastardise the console.

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1 hour ago, oky2000 said:

 

 

Is it a licensing problem, perhaps the license for that port granted to Atari had a time limit in the contract. Either way seeing that garbage version on the Flashback 50th Anniversary is a slap in the face. Why go to all that effort in making the 50th Anniversary DVD and then bastardise the console.

This has been discussed multiple times before. TAITO does not want the original Atari version out there. It has to be a newer, more faithful arcade version. So it was that or nothing. Same thing with Konami and Frogger. The original has music rights issues, so you'll likely never see an original arcade version port ever again.

 

And AtGames has released homebrew versions of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 that have been more faithful than Atari's original. Some people feel the same about that. You simply can't please everyone. And personally, I really like the Atari 2600 original Asteroids. I'd much rather play that than a more faithful arcade port (since I can easily play the arcade original multiple ways), but again, that's just me.

 

In any case, if you don't see a specific version of a game, take a breath and consider why that might be rather than assuming it's ignorance. There are typically specific business reasons.

Edited by Bill Loguidice
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4 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

Same thing with Konami and Frogger. The original has music rights issues, so you'll likely never see an original arcade version port ever again.

 

What Frogger music has rights issues?    I thought most of the frogger soundtrack was PD even back then-   Camptown Races, Yankee Doodle

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44 minutes ago, zzip said:

What Frogger music has rights issues?    I thought most of the frogger soundtrack was PD even back then-   Camptown Races, Yankee Doodle

"

The opening tune is the first verse of a Japanese children's song called "Inu No Omawarisan" ("The Dog Policeman"). Other Japanese tunes include the themes to the anime series Hana no Ko Lunlun and Rascal the Raccoon. The American release has the same opening song plus "Yankee Doodle".

"

 

No permission.

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