AkashicRecord Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 Should I be worried, or concerned? I'm not sure what's worse; that, or the fact that he can essentially get as far as I ever could! I'm sure that game is a thrice-beaten dead horse around here, but I've always thought it kind of got a bad rap over the years. But, I'm glad he can grow up with the VCS like I did in the early '80s, and hopefully have some nostalgia for it some decades later... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 Should I be worried, or concerned? I'm not sure what's worse; that, or the fact that he can essentially get as far as I ever could! I'm sure that game is a thrice-beaten dead horse around here, but I've always thought it kind of got a bad rap over the years. But, I'm glad he can grow up with the VCS like I did in the early '80s, and hopefully have some nostalgia for it some decades later... There is a version with the hole issue fixed around here somewhere.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NostAlgae37 Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 Should I be worried, or concerned? I'm not sure what's worse; that, or the fact that he can essentially get as far as I ever could! I'm sure that game is a thrice-beaten dead horse around here, but I've always thought it kind of got a bad rap over the years. But, I'm glad he can grow up with the VCS like I did in the early '80s, and hopefully have some nostalgia for it some decades later... Hey Akashic, I wouldn't be that worried about it, I used to love that game as a kid. Chalk it up to bad taste or ignorance or whatever, but I never understood the bad rap that game has gotten over the years. I used to be pretty good at it too, "magnetic" pits and all, but I would still recommend getting one of the "fixed" versions of the rom to reduce the frustration for your 3-year old. I also loved HSW's Raiders of the Lost Ark game when I was young and played it for too many hours to mention, despite the trippy content that diverged vastly from the actual movie plot (that sort of embellishment was commonplace in movie-licensed games back in that era). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 If I were to make a rubric, detailing what made a good Atari game, E.T. would probably get high marks in every category. Problem is it's frustrating; a lot of subtle flaws you wouldn't think about hold it down. I've had fun with it, but it's not my favorite. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkashicRecord Posted March 8, 2019 Author Share Posted March 8, 2019 Thanks for the mention of the bug-fixed version, i stumbled across that yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. I was joking a bit in my original post, but I do agree that E.T. was actually a pretty good game...albeit with a few bugs. No one made games in 5 weeks...people were incredibly fortunate or lucky to have a (good) game in 5 months! Hell, it took probably 10+ months for Keystone Kapers, and David Crane himself said that designing just the cars in Grand Prix took 3 months alone; that game sprang directly from its graphics! That said, in my son's defense, he also really loves Adventure, Surround, Maze Craze, Space Shuttle, Haunted House and Starmaster, to name a few. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 Mandatory E.T. link: randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrummy Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 (edited) One day, I will have the time and inclination to sink some time into mastering ET. Currently, it's just a frustrating mess for me, but I have known people who say they have mastered it, and even watched someone repeatedly play it at an excellent level. It's one of those things that I believe is hiding gold, but you have to dig to find it. Edited March 8, 2019 by scrummy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 One day, I will have the time and inclination to sink some time into mastering ET. Currently, it's just a frustrating mess for me, but I have known people who say they have mastered it, and even watched someone repeatedly play it at an excellent level. It's one of those things that I believe is hiding gold, but you have to dig to find it. This page has many videos to help people learn: randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-et-tips.html Be sure to check out the Imaginary Rectangles section. Below are a few of the videos from that page: youtube.com/watch?v=zh4U3BwlTcY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh4U3BwlTcY youtube.com/watch?v=A8bR4xsNgIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8bR4xsNgIA youtube.com/watch?v=mcAoIThBDyA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcAoIThBDyA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsteakraw Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 I don't know if this is child abuse or how long a person could pull this off but what if you gave your kids the old tech and Atari 2600 and pretended like it was the latest and greatest video game system? You then later give them a 7800 or NES claiming it just came out until later they get a Sega Genesis again claiming it is new. Then the PlayStation and so on and so forth. If you manage to shield them enough the Ruse will go on far enough. They will get to experience the games the way you did with the same sense of progression. You can try to get others in on the Ruse to not show any cell phone games, and to pretend that that the system they are playing is new. At some point like Santa Clause they will probably catch on but by that time they should be caught up and the mission would be accomplished. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think a person could pull this off and do you think lying about things is immoral if so how would this be any different from the Tooth Fairy, or Santa Clause ruse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 My parents always told me Santa & the Tooth Fairy were just stories... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NostAlgae37 Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 (edited) That said, in my son's defense, he also really loves Adventure, Surround, Maze Craze, Space Shuttle, Haunted House and Starmaster, to name a few. Your son has very good taste in games. Adventure and Haunted House are acknowledged classics, and Starmaster is vastly under-rated in my opinion (it seems to get less accolades than Star Raiders, but I always thought that it was the better of the 2 games and worked more intuitively without the gimmicky keypad controller). Please introduce him to Stampede, Spider Fighter, H.E.R.O., Keystone Kapers and also Kaboom! if you have paddle controllers and he has twitch reflexes (unfortunately, I had neither as a kid ). Personally, I always thought that the Pitfall! games were a bit over-rated (I found them a tad bit boring), and Pressure Cooker is cool if a bit too obtuse for a 3-year old (I still have trouble understanding the objectives, but I am bad with colors). Ghostbusters is OK but a much better experience on the Sega Master System. 2 other non-Activision games that I would heartily recommend are Riddle of the Sphinx by Imagic (maybe a bit too advanced for a 3-year old) and Sorcerer by Mythicon (I had so much fun with this much-maligned game when I was young). Montezuma's Revenge is superb but too damned hard even for an adult; I imagine that its difficulty level would put off a 3-year old right away. Edited March 9, 2019 by NostAlgae37 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainBreakout Posted March 9, 2019 Share Posted March 9, 2019 I like to joke with other parents that my kids (2 and 3) think it's 1984 as far as the state of technology at our house. That's not really true. We jump around from system to system when it's super-duper game night. They don't really seem to notice the big graphical changes between, say, the 2600 versus the Saturn unless it's back-to-back. Gameplay is gameplay, and presentation counts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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