Rampage Review... unappreciated or overrated? Arcade port favorites list...

[gorfcadet]

 

I really appreciate how hard the devs must have tried to replicate the complete game experience. I know the monsters don't really get there graphically, but so many little bits of the arcade's total package made it in that I have to really show some love for this game. Considering the arcade game was built around hardware that the 7800 couldn't really match they made some really good visual choices and kept most of the gameplay intact.

 

Anyway, what do you all think?

 

My favorite 7800 arcade ports line up like this:

1. Robotron 2084

2. Joust

3. Commando

4. Centipede

5. Rampage

6. Mario Bros

7. Food Fight

8. Pole Position II

9. Donkey Kong

10. Dig Dug

 

That list gets turned on its ear if I add homebrews...

1. Robotron 2084 (only when using 2 SEGA pads!)

2. Baby Pac Man

3. Joust

4. Froggie

5. DK XM

6. Super Pac Man

7. Centipede

8. Scramble

9. Rampage

10. Frenzy

 

 

 

[Trebor]

Anyway, what do you all think?

 

Rampage often falls middle of the road for me, including the Arcade original and the various ports. It definitely benefits when the multi-player aspect is engaged. The 7800 port is no exception. On a scale of 1-10, single player it's a 5-6; two or more playing, 6-7.

 

 

I know the monsters don't really get there graphically, but so many little bits of the arcade's total package made it in that I have to really show some love for this game. Considering the arcade game was built around hardware that the 7800 couldn't really match they made some really good visual choices and kept most of the gameplay intact.

 

As KevinMos3 has done for Double Dragon, he has shown Rampage could look much better too, even while staying within the original templates of the developers.

[AtariLeaf]

I think Muppet Baby Rampage on the 7800 is a really good port. Not great but good. If I were to list my favorite arcade ports on the system it would be

 

Centipede

Asteroids

Food Fight

Robotron

Joust

Galaga

Ms Pacman

Donkey Kong

Rampage

Dig Dug

 

Of course if you throw homebrews in there that changes everything. I would put Super Circus Atariage at the top for sure and yea I know technically not an arcade game but it is based on Circus Atari which is based on Circus so I'm "six degrees of Kevin Bacon'ing" it to the top, followed by Frenzy which is just awesome.

[gorfcadet]

I think Muppet Baby Rampage on the 7800 is a really good port. Not great but good. If I were to list my favorite arcade ports on the system it would be

 

Centipede

Asteroids

Food Fight

Robotron

Joust

Galaga

Ms Pacman

Donkey Kong

Rampage

Dig Dug

 

Of course if you throw homebrews in there that changes everything. I would put Super Circus Atariage at the top for sure and yea I know technically not an arcade game but it is based on Circus Atari which is based on Circus so I'm "six degrees of Kevin Bacon'ing" it to the top, followed by Frenzy which is just awesome.

 

I love Super Circus, but daaaaaaang I suck at it. Still, I played it so much and the original for that matter, that it is truly a shock to me that I still suck at it as bad as I do! I agree wholeheartedly on that and Frenzy being top tier 7800 games. I only wish the Circus games allowed for wider target zones on the see saw for people who are skill impaired.

[Inky]

I've never really been a huge fan of Rampage. I like it, but it gets way too repetitive. At least on single player. The 7800 port of Rampage is way better than the 7800 port of Xenophobe (Both arcade games created by Gary Nauman and Brian Colin.. Dauber and I at Pie Factory Podcast interviewed Brian Colin.)

 

That having been said, Rampage World Tour is a much better game.

[+save2600]

Curious... for those rating Dig Dug at the bottom of their favorite arcade lists, wondering what it is you don't like about it? I too like Rampage for what it is and tries to be, but feel it ultimately ends up a bit repetitive or an exercise in tolerating how long you want to play. I'd probably rate it as a little underrated vs. overrated though.

 

To me, 7800 Dig Dug is a great port. A true arcade classic that never really gets old. And in true arcade classic fashion (unlike Rampage in this case IMO), it's fun to reach for a higher score. Fun to strategically wait and crush as many baddies under one rock as possible. Fun to string the baddies along by pumping them up, then letting them deflate as you wait for the center prize to appear. Gaining points as you "dig", etc.

[John Stamos Mullet]

Curious... for those rating Dig Dug at the bottom of their favorite arcade lists, wondering what it is you don't like about it? I too like Rampage for what it is and tries to be, but feel it ultimately ends up a bit repetitive or an exercise in tolerating how long you want to play.

 

To me, 7800 Dig Dug is a great port. A true arcade classic that never really gets old. And in true arcade classic fashion (unlike Rampage in this case IMO), it's fun to reach for a higher score. Fun to strategically wait and crush as many baddies under one rock as possible. Fun to string the baddies along by pumping them up, then letting them deflate as you wait for the center prize to appear. Gaining points as you "dig", etc.

Dig Dug for 7800 is a great port - even if the sounds are 100% clipped from the 2600 version.

 

For me - it's just that the original arcade game is ... meh. I know it's a classic, but to me it's just boring.

[rocketmonkey101]

hey gorfcadet, how are you using two sega controllers for robotron?

Edited May 21, 2019 by rocketmonkey101

[BassGuitari]

Not a bad game, but it suffers from the same problem as every version of the game: it devolves into monotony in pretty short order. It's way better with two players.

[DracIsBack]

I echo a lot of the comments here. I like Rampage for a bit, but then I find it just gets repetitive. I once played through all 132 levels over the course of an afternoon as a kid and then discovered it repeated. As a port, it's ok, but honestly - the artwork is pretty terrible IMHO. It really didn't need to be. Hated the muppet baby look and the buildings were ugly and needlessly simple. Did like the title screen and I did like the vehicles.

[King Atari]

Even though it (apparently) came a bit later than the NES and SMS versions, I like that the 7800 got another then-fairly-current arcade port of its own. Nevertheless, I'm just not a big fan of this game; much too repetitive for me, though I appreciate the King Kong and Godzilla inspirations. I grew up with those movies and still love 'em, so I want to like the game much more than I actually do. Honestly though, my favorite port is the 2600 version. Sure, it's just as repetitive as the rest, but it seems they crammed most (all?) of the gameplay elements of the coin-op in, plus it's on a console that it really, really shouldn't be. (That said, I am a sucker for those almost-arcade-quality graphics on the SMS; dull gameplay or not, it sure looks good on there!)

[AtariLeaf]

Dig Dug for 7800 is a great port - even if the sounds are 100% clipped from the 2600 version.

 

For me - it's just that the original arcade game is ... meh. I know it's a classic, but to me it's just boring.

 

That's my feeling too. Dig Dug itself just doesn't grab me. I like it enough to play now and then but I'd rather play Mr. Do. It's near the bottom of my list not because it's a poor port but because I personally just don't love it more than many of the other ports on the 7800

[Jinks]

Dig dug is great. Rampage is play once and shelf for 5 years game. Boring and the same over and over.

[gorfcadet]

Curious... for those rating Dig Dug at the bottom of their favorite arcade lists, wondering what it is you don't like about it? I too like Rampage for what it is and tries to be, but feel it ultimately ends up a bit repetitive or an exercise in tolerating how long you want to play. I'd probably rate it as a little underrated vs. overrated though.

 

To me, 7800 Dig Dug is a great port. A true arcade classic that never really gets old. And in true arcade classic fashion (unlike Rampage in this case IMO), it's fun to reach for a higher score. Fun to strategically wait and crush as many baddies under one rock as possible. Fun to string the baddies along by pumping them up, then letting them deflate as you wait for the center prize to appear. Gaining points as you "dig", etc.

 

I agree it is a great port, but Dig Dug never grabbed my like many other arcade classics of the era. It isn't a jab at the ports quality; I simply prefer other arcade games of the time more. If it was side by side with Joust, Robotron, Pac-Man, etc. I would go with any of those first. I actually passed on a Dig Dug arcade cabinet twice in my life. Once I passed on it for a Pac-Man and the other time I chose to go with a SEGA Power Drift cabinet because... SEGA! Now my daughter who is in this week's video LOVES Dig Dug and treats my vinyl Pooka and Fygar figurines like babies. She drags my table top Dig Dug with her around the house constantly.

[gorfcadet]

hey gorfcadet, how are you using two sega controllers for robotron?

 

They just work since you don't need the button 2 at all. I just hold one in each hand and rack up the points. You don't need an adapter for a SEGA 3 or 6 button pad unless you need button 2. So for games like Rikki & Vikki, Midnight Mutants, Commando, Xevious, etc. you'd want a Seagull adapter. It also makes the 8bitdo M30 work on a 7800!

 

Sometimes I use two of the SEGA arcade sticks for Robotron when I can get my coffee table cleared off. That is when the kids are napping and its time to get serious!

[Shawn]

If Rampage could only have had a proper ending after you beat all the Cities it would rank a little higher than it does for me. As it is? Still pretty damn good all things considered. I"ll echo what Steve said that it's a 6 or 7/10 game. If it had a proper ending? For me that would bump it up to an 8/10 simply due to adding a satisfaction of completing something with this game.

[Inky]

Does the 7800 version of Rampage have the same set of cities? The reason the arcade game starts in Illinois is because MIdway is in Chicago, and the reason the last two cities are in Homewood, IL and Plano, IL are because one of the creators of the game and the company Game Refuge are in homewood, and the small town of Plano is where the programmer lives.

[+Karl G]

It fits the niche of "mindless two-player fun" pretty well, IMO.

[DracIsBack]

Even though it (apparently) came a bit later than the NES and SMS versions, I like that the 7800 got another then-fairly-current arcade port of its own. Nevertheless, I'm just not a big fan of this game; much too repetitive for me, though I appreciate the King Kong and Godzilla inspirations. I grew up with those movies and still love 'em, so I want to like the game much more than I actually do. Honestly though, my favorite port is the 2600 version. Sure, it's just as repetitive as the rest, but it seems they crammed most (all?) of the gameplay elements of the coin-op in, plus it's on a console that it really, really shouldn't be. (That said, I am a sucker for those almost-arcade-quality graphics on the SMS; dull gameplay or not, it sure looks good on there!)

The SMS version does look great. Another port that looks surprisingly good is the Tandy Co Co 3 version.

 

That said, there’s no reason the 7800 version itself couldn’t have looked significantly better. Rampage just isn’t that complicated of a game really. As noted above Kevmos3’s version where the existing designs were altered without changing the engine was a big improvement

[+GoldenWheels]

I think 7800 Joust is the absolute best version of any platform it is on, including the arcade. It has basically perfect physics/control.

 

A8 version also has great physics/control, just not as sharp graphically.

 

I would do awful, awful things for any one who could do Joust 2 on the 7800. Make it better than the arcade. There's a cool game in there.

[King Atari]

That said, theres no reason the 7800 version itself couldnt have looked significantly better. Rampage just isnt that complicated of a game really. As noted above Kevmos3s version where the existing designs were altered without changing the engine was a big improvement

It certainly could have. Though, gotta admit, even with the squatty characters I think the 7800 version looks somewhat better than the NES one. Maybe I'm in the minority there though.

 

(Doesn't one of the 8-bit ports feature an ending? Was it NES or SMS? I can't remember, but having an ultimate goal does help things for me...a little bit.)

Edited May 24, 2019 by King Atari

[DracIsBack]

It certainly could have. Though, gotta admit, even with the squatty characters I think the 7800 version looks somewhat better than the NES one. Maybe I'm in the minority there though.

(Doesn't one of the 8-bit ports feature an ending? Was it NES or SMS? I can't remember, but having an ultimate goal does help things for me...a little bit.)

I think the NES one does. My friend and I spent another summer day playing through that one and I’m almost positive it does. But it’s been thirty years