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Which Atari 7800 games are to one you love most, and why these?


Giles N

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On 8/1/2019 at 5:20 PM, FujiSkunk said:

Yes, but those came later, when Atari (and Activision) realized the 7800 needed such titles to compete with the NES.  And yet the irony is, with the possible exception of Double Dragon, players weren't really flocking to the NES for those games either, not when things like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Castlevania were available.

It seems that Scrapyard Dog is the game that Atari developed to compete with the Mario franchise...
 
Some say that Midnight Mutants (which I haven´t played) kind of resembles Zelda in gameplay-style... (so a possible competition against Zelda)

Both Sega and other companies have tried to create iconic mascot-characters... and none of them have reached the level of fame or have had that strange,lasting endurance as Mario ... a ... plumber of italian origin with a heavy mustache... 
... as to why that stuck with people... who knows...
... I guess 9/10 or 10/10-playability in these games had a lot to say...

Anyway... Mario is actually on two games on the 7800... perhaps a bit late... but methinks Nintendo would not have been speedy to port Super Mario Bros 1,2,3 to another 8-bit console...

... so Mario Bros and Donkey Kong... and they are done very nicely...

...and Donkey Kong Jr... (but you can´t BE Mario there , only BEAT Mario there... well, heck, its in the same world...so three Mario-gameworld games on the 7800...).

Edited by Giles N
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12 hours ago, Giles N said:

How is the 7800 version better than the Arcade (I haven´t played the arcade, and did not come across it as a kid)?

The arcade version just doesn't give enough lift or hold enough lift per flap (a fault of the NES version as well), nor do the fall rate/bounces feel accurate or consistent. So it plays slow and it fights the actual point of the game (being able to climb quickly at the last second to gain an advantage, and what happens after you win a joust physics wise). It's a great concept, not perfectly executed.

 

Both the XE and 7800 version play fast and control like butter. Perfecto.

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4 hours ago, GoldenWheels said:

The arcade version just doesn't give enough lift or hold enough lift per flap (a fault of the NES version as well), nor do the fall rate/bounces feel accurate or consistent. So it plays slow and it fights the actual point of the game (being able to climb quickly at the last second to gain an advantage, and what happens after you win a joust physics wise). It's a great concept, not perfectly executed.

 

Both the XE and 7800 version play fast and control like butter. Perfecto.

It is the best version of Joust, period.

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Commando and Midnight Mutants are probably my 2 favorites on the 7800.

 

Commando plays so smooth, is always fun no matter how many times I play, and the music is great.  I think it's probably the best of any home console port, and definitely a showcase title for the system.  Once I discovered the underground prisons several years ago, it totally renewed the game for me.

 

Midnight Mutants because of the more complex gameplay, world, and graphics.  I was always craving more NES type games at the time, and there were not many on the 7800.  This was one I could show friends to surprise them and kinda brag on the 7800 a bit.

 

There are other notable mentions, like Ikari Warriors (which really needs a Pokey), Xenophobe, Tower Toppler, and Scrapyard Dog, but in the case of the latter, it looks good but is a bit too difficult to compete with Super Mario.

 

Now, I really enjoy some of the more simple arcade ports, but back when the 7800 was still on the market, I just really craved games with multiple levels, bosses, and an ending.  Games like Food Fight, Joust, Centipede, and Xevious were always fun though.

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15 minutes ago, Giles N said:

Why «oh my»?

 

Despite owning the game for years, wasn't aware of them 'til now! At least, don't remember being aware of them. I usually just run through the levels as fast as I can. Next time I fire up the game, will be looking for the bonus levels for sure.   :)

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30 minutes ago, save2600 said:

Despite owning the game for years, wasn't aware of them 'til now! At least, don't remember being aware of them. I usually just run through the levels as fast as I can. Next time I fire up the game, will be looking for the bonus levels for sure.   :)

Ah, I see.

 

I actually bought the atari 5200 and 7800 w games, within the last 11 months, so I’d seen through many YouTube vids beforehand of buying the games.

 

Didn’t own neither an 5200 (particulary since it was/is NTSC only, and I live in Europe), nor 7800 back in 8-bit days.

 

Grew up with a Dragon 32 (it was contemporary with the 5200) and the Commodore64 (contemporary with the 7800). Then the 16-bit era came etc.

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On 7/31/2019 at 9:32 PM, Giles N said:

Xenophobe - hm, never played the Arcade nor the NES-version, I kind of liked the 7800 version).

The 7800 version is way better than NES Xenophobe. It's better yet on the Lynx. Arcade original is just OK. 

 

Freon a technical point of view, is there anything that the 7800 can do that the NES just can't, either with or without stuffing extra chips in the cartridge? 

 

Besides playing Atari 2600 games, of course. ;-)

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6 hours ago, save2600 said:

^  believe the 7800 has more colors and can produce more sprites (flicker free to boot) floating around at once.

The 7800 could display 30 sprites one one horizontal line, without flickering.
NES and SegaMaster:8 

The 7800 could have 100 sprites on screen at the same time (I think Robotron 2084 may be using something like that).

But how much the CPU then either got bogged down or actually got any help from the graphichs card to move them, I don´t know... 

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On 8/6/2019 at 1:31 AM, KevinMos3 said:

Commando and Midnight Mutants are probably my 2 favorites on the 7800.

 

Commando plays so smooth, is always fun no matter how many times I play, and the music is great.  I think it's probably the best of any home console port, and definitely a showcase title for the system.  Once I discovered the underground prisons several years ago, it totally renewed the game for me.

 

Midnight Mutants because of the more complex gameplay, world, and graphics.  I was always craving more NES type games at the time, and there were not many on the 7800.  This was one I could show friends to surprise them and kinda brag on the 7800 a bit.

 

There are other notable mentions, like Ikari Warriors (which really needs a Pokey), Xenophobe, Tower Toppler, and Scrapyard Dog, but in the case of the latter, it looks good but is a bit too difficult to compete with Super Mario.

 

Now, I really enjoy some of the more simple arcade ports, but back when the 7800 was still on the market, I just really craved games with multiple levels, bosses, and an ending.  Games like Food Fight, Joust, Centipede, and Xevious were always fun though.

In what category would you place Pole Position 2?

Its an Arcade conversion.
It has 4 stages to select from (while Segas later (95) Virtua Racing only had three.
Each of them could be finished.

Scrapyard Dog is hands down quite hard. And it takes time and focus. But it has really grown a lot on me.

So, any bosses throughout Xenophobe, and how many space stations are there, and can you firmly win the game? 

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9 hours ago, Giles N said:

Grew up with a Dragon 32 (it was contemporary with the 5200) and the Commodore64 (contemporary with the 7800). Then the 16-bit era came etc.

Being in the US, I was totally unaware of the Dragon 32 until I stumbled upon a video from Retro Man Cave:
 


He does a restore of one. Pretty interesting.

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3 hours ago, Giles N said:

In what category would you place Pole Position 2?
Its an Arcade conversion.
It has 4 stages to select from (while Segas later (95) Virtua Racing only had three.
Each of them could be finished.

 

Pole Position was the 1st game I owned for the 7800, since it was a pack-in.  It's the game that made me immediately fall in love the 7800.  I've always loved it, but in a list of my two favorites, it doesn't make the cut.  (For whatever reason, I read the topic to be our two favorite games... I guess the title is oddly worded).

 

3 hours ago, Giles N said:

Scrapyard Dog is hands down quite hard. And it takes time and focus. But it has really grown a lot on me.

 

I think I played through this one on an emulator for the original Xbox utilizing save-states.  I remember having a lot of difficulty with some of the jumps in the sewer.

 

3 hours ago, Giles N said:

So, any bosses throughout Xenophobe, and how many space stations are there, and can you firmly win the game? 

 

No bosses.  Not sure about number of space stations.  I think the Lynx version has 23, but I could be wrong.  I would guess the 7800 just loops forever, but I don't know.  I think in some ways the 7800 version is better than the arcade, since the arcade was actually unfinished if I recall correctly.  The Lynx version is my favorite, and I HAVE to get a couple more ppl to play co-op so we can have someone play as the snotterpillar.  I was actually getting pretty close to completing the Lynx version just the other day, but I went to pause and accidentally pressed the Option 1 button at the same time, resetting my game.  I couldn't believe I did that.  The only time in my life that I accidentally reset the Lynx.

 

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Not including homebrews, I'd say my top 5 in rough order:

Food Fight (not widely ported, great pick-up-and-play fun, challenging but fair, great graphics and control)

Galaga (to me, more fun than the arcade, I like the slower difficulty ramp)

Dig Dug (great port, plays well)

Crossbow (because I'm a sucker for D&D types of games, fun but challenging, option to play w/out a light gun)

Asteroids (unique version of  classic, 2p mode)

 

Honorable mentions to Ms. Pac Man, Joust, One-one-One and Hat Trick

 

I don't have tons of homebrews, but my top 3 would be:

Pac Man Collection (one of the best homebrews ever made for any system - a 'desert island' cart)

Dungeon Stalker (I'm a big fan of the Inty original, and I love all the additions in this version - looks great and plays well)

KC Munchkin (I sold my O2 collection a few years back so it's great to be able to play this again)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/7/2019 at 1:59 PM, BydoEmpire said:

Not including homebrews, I'd say my top 5 in rough order:

Food Fight (not widely ported, great pick-up-and-play fun, challenging but fair, great graphics and control)

Galaga (to me, more fun than the arcade, I like the slower difficulty ramp)

Dig Dug (great port, plays well)

Crossbow (because I'm a sucker for D&D types of games, fun but challenging, option to play w/out a light gun)

Asteroids (unique version of  classic, 2p mode)

 

Honorable mentions to Ms. Pac Man, Joust, One-one-One and Hat Trick

 

I don't have tons of homebrews, but my top 3 would be:

Pac Man Collection (one of the best homebrews ever made for any system - a 'desert island' cart)

Dungeon Stalker (I'm a big fan of the Inty original, and I love all the additions in this version - looks great and plays well)

KC Munchkin (I sold my O2 collection a few years back so it's great to be able to play this again)

 

I haven’t gotten Crossbow.

 

What about it do you like?

 

How would you describe the game and its gameplay?

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On 8/7/2019 at 7:15 AM, KevinMos3 said:

 

Pole Position was the 1st game I owned for the 7800, since it was a pack-in.  It's the game that made me immediately fall in love the 7800.  I've always loved it, but in a list of my two favorites, it doesn't make the cut.  (For whatever reason, I read the topic to be our two favorite games... I guess the title is oddly worded).

 

 

I think I played through this one on an emulator for the original Xbox utilizing save-states.  I remember having a lot of difficulty with some of the jumps in the sewer.

 

 

No bosses.  Not sure about number of space stations.  I think the Lynx version has 23, but I could be wrong.  I would guess the 7800 just loops forever, but I don't know.  I think in some ways the 7800 version is better than the arcade, since the arcade was actually unfinished if I recall correctly.  The Lynx version is my favorite, and I HAVE to get a couple more ppl to play co-op so we can have someone play as the snotterpillar.  I was actually getting pretty close to completing the Lynx version just the other day, but I went to pause and accidentally pressed the Option 1 button at the same time, resetting my game.  I couldn't believe I did that.  The only time in my life that I accidentally reset the Lynx.

 

I think the manual speaks about 9 space-stations.

 

But after that, does it loop or end?

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10 hours ago, Giles N said:

I haven’t gotten Crossbow.

 

What about it do you like?

 

How would you describe the game and its gameplay?

It's Crossbow!  D&D themed light gun game.  I like that it's challenging, but you can still feel like you're doing well and get better at it the more you play.  I like the variety of enemies and stages.  I like the presentation.

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1 hour ago, BydoEmpire said:

It's Crossbow!  D&D themed light gun game.  I like that it's challenging, but you can still feel like you're doing well and get better at it the more you play.  I like the variety of enemies and stages.  I like the presentation.

Hm, I actually have a CRT ntsc TV, so I could actually play it with an actual light gun.

 

But I don’t have one for the A7800.

 

I have one for my PAL/european SMS, where Space Gun is my definitive favourite (played the arcade lots and lots on liners/ships on holidays back in 91-93).

 

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1 hour ago, Giles N said:

Hm, I actually have a CRT ntsc TV, so I could actually play it with an actual light gun.

 

But I don’t have one for the A7800.

 

I have one for my PAL/european SMS, where Space Gun is my definitive favourite (played the arcade lots and lots on liners/ships on holidays back in 91-93).

 

You can play with a joystick.  It's not the same of course, but surprisingly playable and fun imho.

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