What are the games you feel deserve, but never get, recognition?

[Lord Thag]

Getting a Retron 77 has me testing out my whole library, and playing a bunch of games I that don't make it into my usual rotation. Which in turn, reminded me of how many great games tend to get forgotten on my Atari wall. Thought it might be fun if we all posted our top five unappreciated gems.

Here are my current picks, after spending a week playing through my library:

1. Rescue Terra I (Venturevision): While this one is not forgotten at all for me, it is for most people due to the rarity. The prequel to Laser Gates, this is a long, complex shooter with an actual ending and a high degree of challenge. It was put our by Venturevision, but has the graphics and play control of a good Imagic or Activision game. The longer you last, the more you have to face new enemies and challenges. While it's very rare, the Harmony cart, Stella, or the Retron 77 make this easily playable now. By far the best rare game on the system. If you've never spent time with this, please do. It's amazingly good.

 

2. Radar Lock (Atari): While more visible now due to the Atgames products including it, nobody ever talks about this game. And they should, it's gorgeous, involved, and is basically like a more complex Afterburner. It's a great re-purposing of the Solaris engine, and different enough from that game to make it stand on it's own two feet. It's also very challenging. I think I made post about it years ago. Great game that nobody seems to play.

 

3. Private Eye (Activision): Unlike a lot of late release Activision titles, this one doesn't overreach the systems capabilities the way Double Dragon or Rampage do. This is a brilliant game, with five increasingly huge levels, the last of which being so big even a map is impractical (3 pages long). You drive around a ton of Pitfall-esque levels dodging hazards while finding stolen items and returning them to their owners, ultimately doing the same with the thief. Each increasingly large (and different) level has you doing this against an unforgiving clock. The gameplay reminds me of a cross between something like Pitfall, Moon Patrol (your drive a car) and practicing a modern speed-run (since the clock is unforgiving). The end result is a game that requires dedication, patience and skill to win. This one is not to be missed.

 

4. Subterrania (Imagic): Another scarce, late release that doesn't get the attention it deserves. A vertically and horizontally scrolling shooter that reminds me of a cross between Defender and something like Fort Apocalypse on the 8-bit Atari PCs. It gets tough fairly quick and features one of the best looking and animated bosses in any VCS game. It's very fun, and diving deeper into the ground yields ever-more challenging enemies and levels.

 

5. Shuttle Orbiter (Avalon Hill): Nobody mentions this one, and it's vastly more fun than Activision's Space Shuttle. The game has you changing orbits to refuel, pick up satellite parts, and constructing a new satellite. The orbit mechanic is really clever, and the action sequences are very fun, and way less 'sim-like' than Activision's attempt. This one gets missed because no one ever reads the manual. It's easy to learn, but not obvious what to do initially without it. Highly recommended.

So, what's jumping out at all of you as you this week?

[onemoretime]

1. Activisions Fishing Derby. Great two player fun, and beautifully done for a one screener.

 

2. Combat. Packed in with the early consoles. Two player fun only, but a lot of fun especially on the bounce shot games.

 

3. Go Fish! This is a homebrew for sale on Atariage. I can t say how enjoyable this game is. It starts off slow, and is the type of game early on to give a calming effect, but later in the game becomes a frenzy of action required to stay alive. Also, this game isn t a game that s over as soon as you start it, even though you only have the one life.

 

4. Princess Rescue. I ve never even seen this homebrew on cart, but it is amazingly well done. For the guys that never tried it, you don t know what you re missing.

 

5. Activisions Boxing. Another great two player game with pretty good collision detection.

 

Keep in mind that my Atari gets lots of use around Christmas time, when folk are over here shooting pool and scarfing down vittles.

[Sapicco]

[quote name="onemoretime" post="4075365" timestamp="1532112646

4. Princess Rescue. I ve never even seen this homebrew on cart, but it is amazingly well done. For the guys that never tried it, you don t know what you re missing

 

s.

I just bought a copy off eBay, its a nice novelty for the 2600!

[cvga]

Space Attack by MNetwork - people don't bother to read the instructions so they don't understand how to play. The graphics in the battle sequences are amazing.

[Lord Thag]

Space Attack by MNetwork - people don't bother to read the instructions so they don't understand how to play. The graphics in the battle sequences are amazing.

Yeah, this one doesn't get any credit on t he Atari or the Intellivision. Fun game. I think the long range scanner screen confuses people.

 

A couple more that never get mentioned:

 

Riddle of the Sphynx: This game is very fun to play, and vastly more intuitive than Raiders of the Lost Ark, yet no one mentions it. It's different everytime you play as well, like Adventure, yet nobody ever seems to list in when discussing games like Adventure, Haunted House, Raiders etc.

 

River Raid II: The first one deservedly gets tons of press, but the sequel is just as good, though it's got more of a learning curve. Tons of targets, a lot of variety, and tough as nails. What's not to like?

[Keatah]

Slot Racers

Basic Programming

Miniature Golf

Video Pinball

Night Driver

Flag Capture

[RJ]

Maze Craze

[Spriggy]

River Raid II: The first one deservedly gets tons of press, but the sequel is just as good, though it's got more of a learning curve. Tons of targets, a lot of variety, and tough as nails. What's not to like?

 

+1. Absolutely

 

Flash Gordon

Cross Force

Marauder

[Lord Thag]

 

+1. Absolutely

 

Flash Gordon

Cross Force

Marauder

Nice to see another Marauder fan, I really like that as well, though it goes from challenging to 'stupid hard' really fast.

 

I like Cross Force too, it's kind of a fancier take on the old Colony 7/Atlantis style game. Keeping track of enemies top and bottom with those bases that move opposite directions is tough!

 

Mines of Minos is another really fun game, once you understand how to play it, though it's REALLY hard to get anywhere, even on the easier variations.

[Spriggy]

Mines of Minos is another really fun game, once you understand how to play it, though it's REALLY hard to get anywhere, even on the easier variations.

 

I thought of that right after I posted, but didn't bother editing. 1 god damn life!!!! The epitome of challenging.

[Lord Thag]

 

I thought of that right after I posted, but didn't bother editing. 1 god damn life!!!! The epitome of challenging.

I know, right? I don't think I have played another game where you start with only 1 life, but the goal is to quickly amass as many as possible, only to intentionally lose them destroying your objective. It's neat. Rage inducing at times, but neat.

[Ranger03]

...might as well say it: Pac man. Before you flame me, listen. The game is the result of browbeating and limited memory. Fry did what he could, but Atari is at fault here. classic? no, a technical achievement? yes. People always talk of how it killed the industry. i'm talking not about it's flaws, but about it's positive points. For one, Memory wise, i am astonished that someone could squeeze the arcade game into 4k! granted, it looks awful (hell i own both it and ET!) and needs polish regarding graphics. but it plays fine, and the ghosts flicker isn't that bad. i come back to it again and again because it's a simple game and the more i hear of it's infamous legacy, the more i laugh at the haters. So the ghost's flicker and the sound is terrible, so what? i don't care if the screen is a garbled mess and the ghost's resemble demons, i'd still play it. let's face it, there are games that are far worse than E.T and Pac-Man. Like Checkered Flag for Jaguar or Doom for 3DO.

 

edit: Fry is now a millionare

Edited July 24, 2018 by Ranger03

[+pixelpedant]

Well, I certainly wouldn't say it never gets recognition. But I've always been surprised by the way Demon Attack isn't more widely celebrated, and frequently mentioned. It's just so damn well put together. Fast, frenetic action. And cool enemy patterns. I feel like it stands the test of time really well.

[FOX2600]

Porkys.

[VectorGamer]

Didn't we just do this in another thread only a couple of months ago?

[Lord Thag]

...might as well say it: Pac man. Before you flame me, listen. The game is the result of browbeating and limited memory. Fry did what he could, but Atari is at fault here. classic? no, a technical achievement? yes. People always talk of how it killed the industry. i'm talking not about it's flaws, but about it's positive points. For one, Memory wise, i am astonished that someone could squeeze the arcade game into 4k! granted, it looks awful (hell i own both it and ET!) and needs polish regarding graphics. but it plays fine, and the ghosts flicker isn't that bad. i come back to it again and again because it's a simple game and the more i hear of it's infamous legacy, the more i laugh at the haters. So the ghost's flicker and the sound is terrible, so what? i don't care if the screen is a garbled mess and the ghost's resemble demons, i'd still play it. let's face it, there are games that are far worse than E.T and Pac-Man. Like Checkered Flag for Jaguar or Doom for 3DO.

 

edit: Fry is now a millionare

Nah, you have a totally valid point. For a rushed, 4k game it's not a bad job. It's only bad when you consider the amount made, market effect, and the differences between expectation and reality. It hurt the market for sure, but as a game, taken on it's own merits, it's not much better or worse than something like Alien or Jawbreaker. E.T. is in a similar category. It's pretty amazing for a 6-week game with the tech and dev kits they had back then, it's only bad because Atari's marketing department was run by a bunch of out of touch idiots.

 

 

 

 

Well, I certainly wouldn't say it never gets recognition. But I've always been surprised by the way Demon Attack isn't more widely celebrated, and frequently mentioned. It's just so damn well put together. Fast, frenetic action. And cool enemy patterns. I feel like it stands the test of time really well.

I think it gets second billing to Phoenix due to the atari lawsuit over the boss ship. When you play the Intellivision version, you see what Imagic wanted to do with it but couldn't, due to that suit. That said, it's a really good game.

[hizzy]

Basketball

Bowling

Fantastic Voyage

[xybot67]

Just look at my avatar. Tunnel Runner is a great game that in feel doesn't quite get the recognition it deserves. With a little practice you can zoom around the 3d tunnels with ease until you make a wrong turn and turn right into a monster. Great fun