Got Food Fight in the mail - so First Impressions:

[Giles N]

Food Fight - so I had to check it out.

I didn’t think this would be my type of game. It looked a bit minimalistic, and... throwing food at chefs..., hm, well... 

 

But... it was ported from an Arcade so I thought, well, they often playtest stuff to get it to be easy to pick up on, playable etc.

 

And boy was I right about the latter!

It was actually a very fine, little, charming game... I’d say certainly inspired from the concepts being thrown around in gaming-companies at the time (early 80ies): cartoon-like heroes, silly tasks and game-objects, much to do on 1 screen with black background for the player, coloful chuncky objects.

 

You control this kid on the screen, -usually a black playingfield filled with game-elemtents, in 8 directions.

Lo and behold; a huge Ice Cream on the other side! This you are to run for and ... eat!!

But 4 chefs come up of the ground and moves towards you to get you.

If they touch you, you loose a life. 

So heaps of fruits and nuts and corn(?), lays in piles strewn around ...almost like ammunition.

 

Walk over one heap and you pick up 1 food-item to throw as 1 projectile.

 

Stand over the food-pile; and you can throw rapidly lots of food around you.

 

The point is not to take out the chefs, but just to get that Ice Cream

as speed-runny as possible.

 

Points adds up after each level for:

time, foods not used.

 

 

So

Graphics: 8,5/10

I played on an CRT TV - and it looked like a beatiful homerepresentation of the Arcade. Not exactly 1:1, but very close. Its all feel-good, light hearted and coloful designs and characters

 

Sound: 7,5/10

Nice ‘get ready’ music and satisfying slurks-slap sound when hitting.

Nice early-80-ies arcadey sounds.

 

Gameplay: 9/10

Plays like a dream.

Very simple mission: get the cream, shoot the chefs.

But its all smoothly done, with crisp and clear controls.

It feels good to move this kid/bratt-character around. Responsive and nice. Standing knee deep in hacked-apart ...melons are a good position from where to launch satisfying pulps of, well, ...melon-pulps...unto those chefs...

Seriously: silly task but plays very well!!

 

Its all from the age of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong etc.

 

So I got to round 23 on easy.

 

But could only take it for a few goes.

 

My First Impression is: 9/10

 

(I’ve not learnt to take good pictures of my own gameplay, so Screenshots are stills from YouTube)

 

What do you think of the game?

 

Opinions on this ‘First Impression’-piece?

 

Was it worthy an of Ice Cream after work, or a tomato thrown in my face?

 

Let me know.

(but in words please)

Edited August 14, 2019 by Giles N

[+sramirez2008]

This is great 7800 game.?  Don’t recall how to trigger it, but the instant replay is pretty cool when it happens.

[Giles N]

3 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

This is great 7800 game.?  Don’t recall how to trigger it, but the instant replay is pretty cool when it happens.

I think its triggered if you use very little time getting to the ice cream.

It may be others factors too.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Giles N

[Trebor]

A disassembly of the game was done by Dan Boris some time ago which allowed him to figure out the trigger(s) for the Instant Replay:

 

"As some people mentioned above it mainly has to do with having only a little time left on the cone (you can't leave the level in less then 12 seconds), and having a certain quantity of "close calls" with the chefs. There are also restrictions on which levels it can happen on and how often it can happen. Replays can happen on levels 5-17, 100-499, 600 and up. Seems like an odd set of numbers but that's what the code says. Also once you get a replay you have to wait for 5 more levels where you didn't leave the level early before you will get another replay."

Source.

[Giles N]

3 hours ago, Trebor said:

A disassembly of the game was done by Dan Boris some time ago which allowed him to figure out the trigger(s) for the Instant Replay:

 

"As some people mentioned above it mainly has to do with having only a little time left on the cone (you can't leave the level in less then 12 seconds), and having a certain quantity of "close calls" with the chefs. There are also restrictions on which levels it can happen on and how often it can happen. Replays can happen on levels 5-17, 100-499, 600 and up. Seems like an odd set of numbers but that's what the code says. Also once you get a replay you have to wait for 5 more levels where you didn't leave the level early before you will get another replay."

Source.

Level 600 ... eh...?

 

I thought I was getting close by getting to level 23...!

 

?

Edited August 14, 2019 by Giles N

[+sixersfan105]

This is the best version of Food Fight! Way better than the A8 version. It was developed by GCC, the company who made the 7800 for Atari, so it's not too surprising that they made an excellent version for the console they designed  

 

Good review. Keep it up.

[+davidcalgary29]

10 hours ago, Trebor said:

A disassembly of the game was done by Dan Boris some time ago which allowed him to figure out the trigger(s) for the Instant Replay:

 

"As some people mentioned above it mainly has to do with having only a little time left on the cone (you can't leave the level in less then 12 seconds), and having a certain quantity of "close calls" with the chefs. There are also restrictions on which levels it can happen on and how often it can happen. Replays can happen on levels 5-17, 100-499, 600 and up. Seems like an odd set of numbers but that's what the code says. Also once you get a replay you have to wait for 5 more levels where you didn't leave the level early before you will get another replay."

Source.

Then the XE port must differ in this regard. I haven't played it in awhile, but I recall being able to get instant replays on consecutive levels where the criteria (similar to the 7800 port) are met.

[SS]

I used to say that Food Fight and Ballblazer were the two real reasons to own a 7800.  That's not quite true anymore though; HOMEBREWS are the reason to own a 7800 in 2019! 

[+Karl G]

Food fight is good mindless fun.  One of the better games for sure!

[Giles N]

51 minutes ago, SS said:

I used to say that Food Fight and Ballblazer were the two real reasons to own a 7800.  That's not quite true anymore though; HOMEBREWS are the reason to own a 7800 in 2019! 

Ok so list your top 10

Homebrew titles?

[SS]

6 minutes ago, Giles N said:

Ok so list your top 10

Homebrew titles?

Slightly more than 10 and in no particular order.  If I was absolutely pressed to pick a favorite it would be "Donkey Kong PK" but all of these games are high quality and very worth playing and owing.

 

Armor Attack II 

Asteroids Deluxe 

Baby Pac-Man

Beef Drop

bonQ

Donkey Kong PK

Frenzy / Berzerk

Froggie

KC Munchkin

Pac-Man Collection

Rip-Off

Space Invaders

Super Pac-Man

 

HONERABLE MENTION :

Centipede Trak-ball Hack

[Giles N]

2 hours ago, SS said:

I used to say that Food Fight and Ballblazer were the two real reasons to own a 7800.  

As a retro-gamer or back in the days when it was on the market?

 

Comparing along side the Commodore64, SegaMaster and NES, there would certainly be titles of appeal to me back in 1986-1990.

[MrBeefy]

This is the game that made me want to get a 7800. It is simple, sully, fun.

 

Like mentioned homebrews seem to get more attention now, but its hard to top the fun of this.

 

Like the review. 

Edited August 16, 2019 by MrBeefy

[+sramirez2008]

On 8/14/2019 at 8:30 PM, SS said:

HONERABLE MENTION :

Centipede Trak-ball Hack

Centipede TB is excellent! If you have a single Trak-Ball controller, you can choose from the One Player or Two Player Alternating modes. However, this game really comes to life with two Trak-Ball controllers, which allow you to choose from Dual Player Competition or Team Play modes. 

Dual player competition pits you against your opponent and actually allows you to shoot your opponent. Team Play is a true co-op effort, in which both players combine to attack those pesky centipedes, spiders, fleas and scorpions. This mode aggregates both scores for an overall HS, while also displaying each individual’s score, so you can still claim bragging rights. 

The Trak-Ball support is silky smooth and turns an already great game into a must buy.

[Giles N]

On 8/16/2019 at 4:55 AM, MrBeefy said:

This is the game that made me want to get a 7800. It is simple, sully, fun.

 

Like mentioned homebrews seem to get more attention now, but its hard to top the fun of this.

 

Like the review. 

Like get it, back in the old days, or get it as a retro-console?

[MrBeefy]

6 hours ago, Giles N said:

Like get it, back in the old days, or get it as a retro-console?

I guess as a retro-console. I'm a mid 80's kid. So I started out on a 2600 Jr. but then went to NES. However, I played my uncle's 7800 a lot and Food Fight was the game I played the most. So I would have wanted a 7800 back in the day but I wasn't the one buying the systems. To be fair I wanted an NES too. 

 

I got lucky and got one as a birthday gift probably about 15 or so years ago. Fast Food is the main game (in the 7800 library) that I remember playing and loving. It also wasn't on any other system to my knowledge. 7800 Asteroids was cool but I could play that on the 2600. I didn't have that type of option with Food Fight.

 

Now if you would ask me if I would have picked a 7800 over a NES if given the option? No, sorry I love the 7800 especially with the homebrews, but it doesn't beat a NES. Really if you took out the backwards compatibility I would also choose the 2600 over it. If you had more games back in the day like the homebrews it may have not been skipped over as much in retro discussions, but I still don't think it would have touched the NES.

 

Sorry for the tangent from the subject matter.

Edited August 21, 2019 by MrBeefy

[Giles N]

12 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I guess as a retro-console. I'm a mid 80's kid. So I started out on a 2600 Jr. but then went to NES. However, I played my uncle's 7800 a lot and Food Fight was the game I played the most. So I would have wanted a 7800 back in the day but I wasn't the one buying the systems. To be fair I wanted an NES too. 

 

I got lucky and got one as a birthday gift probably about 15 or so years ago. Fast Food is the main game (in the 7800 library) that I remember playing and loving. It also wasn't on any other system to my knowledge. 7800 Asteroids was cool but I could play that on the 2600. I didn't have that type of option with Food Fight.

 

Now if you would ask me if I would have picked a 7800 over a NES if given the option? No, sorry I love the 7800 especially with the homebrews, but it doesn't beat a NES. Really if you took out the backwards compatibility I would also choose the 2600 over it. If you had more games back in the day like the homebrews it may have not been skipped over as much in retro discussions, but I still don't think it would have touched the NES.

 

Sorry for the tangent from the subject matter.

Well, it was me asking.

 

?

 

Guess, thing is, Nintendo has kept much of their old games continually accessible up until today...

 

I’ve got an actual NES-console too, with some games, but most of the Nintendo hits are easily available on Switch, which my brother has.

 

And the handfull of rare gems costs like, well, I can’t afford it (but I did get hold of this Noahs Ark platform game by Konami methinks, don’t know how rare it is, but its sort of well made).

 

Anyway, I’ve gotten a little collection of non-Nintendo NES classics which are really cool (for example rusn n attack, trojan, 1943, gauntlet 2, Lifeforce)

 

 

Edited August 21, 2019 by Giles N

[Galactus]

On 8/14/2019 at 8:30 PM, SS said:

Slightly more than 10 and in no particular order.  If I was absolutely pressed to pick a favorite it would be "Donkey Kong PK" but all of these games are high quality and very worth playing and owing.

 

Armor Attack II 

Asteroids Deluxe 

Baby Pac-Man

Beef Drop

bonQ

Donkey Kong PK

Frenzy / Berzerk

Froggie

KC Munchkin

Pac-Man Collection

Rip-Off

Space Invaders

Super Pac-Man

 

HONERABLE MENTION :

Centipede Trak-ball Hack

It looks like alphabetical order to me.  ?.  So, if you had to recommend a first/must buy one, can You?  I have quite a few 2600 brews, but no 7800 ones. I didn't have the console growing up, so I don't have a lot of playing time with it.  I would jump on PMC if it was still in the store, but it sounds like it's coming back next month, so I can wait.  Thanks much.  I do love the system and most of the 15 or so games I have for it.

[MrBeefy]

On 8/26/2019 at 1:37 PM, Galactus said:

It looks like alphabetical order to me.  ?.  So, if you had to recommend a first/must buy one, can You?  I have quite a few 2600 brews, but no 7800 ones. I didn't have the console growing up, so I don't have a lot of playing time with it.  I would jump on PMC if it was still in the store, but it sounds like it's coming back next month, so I can wait.  Thanks much.  I do love the system and most of the 15 or so games I have for it.

Bently Bear Crystal Quest

T:Me Salvo

PMC (pm Albert about it)