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Worst Atari 2600 Company ever?


Atariperson23

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16 minutes ago, eddhell said:

not one person mentioned the Coleco "arcade translations"......I don't think many of their carts ever spent more than 10 minutes plugged in....Everyone I knew was pissed that Donkey Kong only had two shitty levels and a gingerbread looking Kong....People bought the damn thing ANYWAY knowing in advance that it only had two levels....Venture was about the only one close to the arcade version....

Venture was good, and I think Carnival was as well.

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8 minutes ago, zzip said:

again Pitfall was another boring, repetitive game that dazzled us with its graphics.  

I got Pitfall BITD and thought it was great. I don't think much of it now though.

 

I would agree that their 2600 catalog is overrated. They made some great games though like Beamrider, Enduro, Megamania, Pressure Cooker and Robot Tank which I still play today.

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34 minutes ago, eddhell said:

not one person mentioned the Coleco "arcade translations"......I don't think many of their carts ever spent more than 10 minutes plugged in....Everyone I knew was pissed that Donkey Kong only had two shitty levels and a gingerbread looking Kong....People bought the damn thing ANYWAY knowing in advance that it only had two levels....Venture was about the only one close to the arcade version....

One person did. Post #11.

 

It's easy to bag on Donkey Kong. Only two screens. Ugly "gorilla." But it's a pretty amazing feat. A high resolution, asymmetrical playfield when no one was doing that. And no flicker. Plus, it's a fun game in short bursts. Coleco's reputation is worse than they deserve. Carnival is a very good port, it's just missing the bonus stage. Venture is solid. Frontline and Roc n' Rope are serviceable ports. Zaxxon is barely recognizable as Zaxxon, but is kind of a fun game in it's own way. The only real stinker is Donkey Kong Jr.

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30 minutes ago, zzip said:

again Pitfall was another boring, repetitive game that dazzled us with its graphics.   I think "Pitfall II" was a much more interesting game.   But that doesn't change my observation that most of the early (81-82) Activision games are dull and lack replayability. 

I agree with you about Pitfall.  I hardly play it anymore if ever.  However I do think Activision does have some games that are still fun to play today like Beamrider, Enduro, Frostbite, Ice Hockey, River Raid, and Robot Tank.  I couldn't do without these games in my library.

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4 minutes ago, atarifan88 said:

I agree with you about Pitfall.  I hardly play it anymore if ever.  However I do think Activision does have some games that are still fun to play today like Beamrider, Enduro, Frostbite, Ice Hockey, River Raid, and Robot Tank.  I couldn't do without these games in my library.

They do,  but a lot of those games came later.    It's mostly their early games with simple, repetitive gameplay that I am saying don't hold up well.

 

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1 hour ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

It's easy to bag on Donkey Kong. Only two screens. Ugly "gorilla." But it's a pretty amazing feat. A high resolution, asymmetrical playfield when no one was doing that. And no flicker. Plus, it's a fun game in short bursts. Coleco's reputation is worse than they deserve. Carnival is a very good port, it's just missing the bonus stage. Venture is solid. Frontline and Roc n' Rope are serviceable ports. Zaxxon is barely recognizable as Zaxxon, but is kind of a fun game in it's own way. The only real stinker is Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong sucks in every way.

 

Zaxxon rocks if you just take it for what it is.

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Wow,  surprised at how many people mention activision (yes,  derivative,  but often better than the similar games by atari and others)  and coleco (hey,  i think their arcade game versions are at least as good quality as atari's.... Donkey kong and venture I liked back in the day) . As for mystique,  well,  while I might agree with many critisisms,  I don't  think they were sold in regular stores... As I recall they were sold through mail order outlets and ads in Playboy,  so a specialty market.  My vote for worst company?  Apollo. I would personally vote Skeet Shoot as worst game ever.  But most of their others were pretty bad as well. 

 

Oops,  forgot about Mythicon....  I revise my vote for Firefly as worst game. 

Edited by eegad
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7 hours ago, VectorGamer said:

IMO there are too many shit games for the 2600. Would be easier to ask who the best company was.

 

 

Ditto. And that's what led to the video game crash. So many uninspiring games where just going pew-pew was going to do it? From 1977 to 1982, the games became more creative and adventurous considering hardware limitations... but all the makers thought the same. Pew pew, it stunk.

 

Yes, Pac-Man and E.T. were scapegoated in, but Pac-Man seemed cool at the time and ET wasn't unplayable. Just different. The latter's fixes in a homebrew makes it a bit less stressful as well, though! Both being made in a shockingly limited period of time and accorded the smallest possible ROM complement - all while Atari preemptively manufacturing so many cartridges in the belief they'd sell... if Pac-Man had twice the ROM size they would have gotten it right.

 

 

7 hours ago, zzip said:

again Pitfall was another boring, repetitive game that dazzled us with its graphics.   I think "Pitfall II" was a much more interesting game.   But that doesn't change my observation that most of the early (81-82) Activision games are dull and lack replayability. 

 

The original Pitfall was different to the predominant shooters of the time. The screens and simulated adventure did make it exciting. Even if it's running and jumping between static objects, random objects, and (for those that cared) figuring out the path to get the highest possible score.

 

If only Pitfall II had codes you could input between the various + points. The 7800 missed the same boat with the larger-world games like Midnight Mutants, et al.

 

But looking back, "Megamania" was another pew-pew shooter, and the player's ship looked like the USS Enteprise from dop-down view, hehe.

 

"Keystone Kapers" was repetitive but also ran around the "pew pew" motif too many 2600 games were saddled with.

 

"Stampede" was basic but still felt original. Lassoing and grabbing instead of pew-pewing.

 

Never got into "Drag Racer", that one was a drag...

 

The original "Freeway" with human trying to cross the road and getting splattered was not for kids (so they turn him into a... chicken, and it became a nice fun game for the family. Mum and I played it often...)

 

14 hours ago, high voltage said:

Xonox great games: Ghost Manor, Spikes Peak, Sir Lancelot, Robin Hood, Artillery Duel

 

Ghost Manor may have had more rooms in the C64, but the 2600 version was more colorful and engaging despite being too quick. The 2600 version is the one I always go back to, never the C64.

Spike's Peak was difficult as heck but I always loved it despite how insanely hard it was in the latter stages.

Never played Lancealot or Robin Hood.

Artillery Duel was basic but passable.

Chuck Norris Superkicks was difficult and one needed the instruction manual to make any sense of the controls, ugh...

Edited by CommodoreDecker
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On 11/11/2019 at 3:11 PM, ZippyRedPlumber said:

Here's some that I think made the WORST 2600 games;

21st Century Fox

Games by Apollo

US Games

Xonox

Whoever made that shitty Bobby game (Bit Corp?)

Zimag

Froggo

Telegames

Data Age

Mystique

Mythicon

Wizard Video Games

EVERY CHINESE/TAIWANESE BOOTLEGER EVER

 

How's that did I hit the Ball Park? Am I forgetting anyone else?

I don't know, I kind of liked Bobby Is Going Home

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Mythicon was by far the worst. They made one horrible game, cloned it twice, sold it as 3 different games, and all 3 are not only pure garbage; they are borderline unplayable.

 

terrible graphics, horrendous sounds, piss poor collision detection, etc.

 

(and for the guy who mentioned us games, space jockey & word zapper (etc.) are at least playable & enjoyable games) and Coleco donkey Kong is also playable. the basic gameplay is there.

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All the colour box version (Atari) are great games, home video gaming was new, programmers could experiment with whatever genre was available, in their eyes they made excellent games.

 

But sometimes you guys are right, it's like real life, not every 'worker' obviously excels at their job.

Edited by high voltage
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I liked Air Sea Battle. It was 10 times better then Combat. Which was really Atari’s better option for the pack-in game. Why the hell they went with “Tank” mystified me. Most likely because they expected family’s to buy & play the Atari system together.

 

But since Combat was a 1-player only game, I mean, I was like, SAY WHAT!? And since nobody ever cared to play Atari in my house, not even when I first got it on my birthday, I was bored beyond belief. You can at least play & score points in Air Sea Battle. I enjoyed it much more.

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7 hours ago, Supergun said:

(and for the guy who mentioned us games, space jockey & word zapper (etc.) are at least playable & enjoyable games) and Coleco donkey Kong is also playable. the basic gameplay is there.

I realize nowadays some of those games i mentioned were "at least playable," but seriously, back in the 80's you could not GIVE those games away.  We could not afford to buy every game possible when it came out, so our crowd relied on bartering.  Back then, you couldn't even throw in any U.S. Games or Mythicon game as extra trade bait, would generally screw up the deal and piss off the other person.

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and don't forget, EDU-tainment was a big selling point during the 1980's....the companies tried like hell to shove that crap into our gullets....didn't work. (although they did manage to fool some parents into thinking their children would 'learn' something from a video game system)  Hence anything half ass educational (even in the game title) was immediately dismissed as crap.  Word Zapper was doomed from the start because of the title alone (with our crowd anyway)....Math Gran Prix, all the Sesame Street titles, they were all pretty much unwanted back then....

Edited by eddhell
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There were a lot of poor companies cranking out bad to middling games back then. Half the Coleco library sucks, Mythicon, Apollo, Dataage etc. Then you had the clone/pirate people like Froggo.

The worst game is probably Sssnake. I agree on the worst company as a whole probably being Mythicon. None of their games are fun or even playable. All the other bad companies like Apollo, Panda etc all have at least one playable title in their lineup.

 

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I also liked Air Sea Battle in the Atari's early days. First 2600 game I ever played actually, at a friends house. It would have been a much better pack-in game than Combat (because at least there are 1 player games in it).  Another one of those early day games from Atari, I also used to like Starship at the time and played it quite a bit - it was one of the first games I ever got when I finally got my own 2600 (along with Human Cannonball and Sky Diver).

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17 hours ago, CommodoreDecker said:

Yes, Pac-Man and E.T. were scapegoated in, but Pac-Man seemed cool at the time and ET wasn't unplayable. Just different. The latter's fixes in a homebrew makes it a bit less stressful as well, though! Both being made in a shockingly limited period of time and accorded the smallest possible ROM complement - all while Atari preemptively manufacturing so many cartridges in the belief they'd sell... if Pac-Man had twice the ROM size they would have gotten it right.

The Pac-man rom size is scandalous.    I looked it up and it was one of the last 4K carts released before 8K carts started springing up.   It was the biggest IP Atari scored, but they couldn't be bothered to give it 8K, while giving 8K to other games in development at the same time.  8K alone would not have saved it of course.   Every other design choice about the game was wrong, from the colors, to the sounds, to the character designs (Pacman isn't supposed to have an eye)

 

I really do think Pac-man was a factor in the crash though.  It was by far the most anticipated 2600 game, and it disappointed many.  I'm sure many a disillusioned gamer moved onto other interests after that, leading to the softening sales of games in the 1982 Christmas season that ET was the victim of. not cause.

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