Top 10 Worst Games on the 2600 (In my Opinion)

[zzip]

On 4/17/2020 at 5:15 PM, BassGuitari said:

Spike's Peak - I agree with the assessment that it's messy-looking and generally misses its mark, but I wouldn't call it one of the worst.

I went back and tried to play this over the weekend.   I always enjoyed it BITD.  Yes the graphics are kinda messy, but it did always give me the feel that I was climbing a mountain, so they worked for me.

 

But playing it now..   the biggest issue is it depends so much on luck.   On the second screen if you push the button and hang on to the ledge as the boulder is coming and it hits you, sometimes it only moves you slightly other times it sends you flying to your death, and it seems that there is no way of knowing until it hits you.

 

But the third screen is by far the most frustrating.   Sometimes when you press the button, your stick locks you in place and it protects you against the ice flow,  other times you press it when idle and you throw the stick to a place where you'll probably never be able to fetch it again as the ice flow knocks you to the bottom of the screen. 

 

Still would not call it the worst, but it's more frustrating than I remember!

[Atariperson23]

51 minutes ago, zzip said:

Don't you need a second player to play Sneak n Peek with?   I remember the problem I had with it was the other people I played with would cheat and peek while I was hiding and it felt pointless.

There's something long sticking out between the people's hips: I wonder if this was an unreleased Mystique/Playaround game...

[bluejay]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

Don't you need a second player to play Sneak n Peek with?   I remember the problem I had with it was the other people I played with would cheat and peek while I was hiding and it felt pointless.

You can do a 1 player mode where the computer hides and you try to find it.

[chewy]

IMO Karate has more button-to-movement radio than original double dragon.  the characters are in constant motion, but when i do a button combo and i can clearly see the move being deployed on screen- not saying its a good game, but the play potential seems greater than original double dragon.  (2 button DD hack fixed this a lot)

[BassGuitari]

On 4/19/2020 at 8:17 PM, DoctorSpuds said:

 

 

Foot

but don't play the game there are better games to play

 

Yeah, but when you get tired of those, it's fun to play something weird. ?

 

(...Foot? ?)

[DoctorSpuds]

1 minute ago, BassGuitari said:

 

Yeah, but when you get tired of those, it's fun to play something weird. ?

 

(...Foot? ?)

Yeah. Put the console on the floor, the cords are long enough, and operate the whole thing with your foot. If you have an UNO or Harmony cart you won't even have to bend down to swap carts.

 

On the thread topic of terrible games I challenge everybody to find anything redeemable in Bomb's The Great Escape, I can't make any sense of it.

Also... Opinions on any of Avalon Hill's games, they've all struck me as "interesting but not in a fun way."

[fluxit]

Quote

On the thread topic of terrible games I challenge everybody to find anything redeemable in Bomb's The Great Escape, I can't make any sense of it.

What I see is that you are being pursued by the big flying saucer, which shows up pink on your radar.  If it comes within range it will cause you to lose a life.

Running away doesn't work, because while your ship is faster than the saucer when accellerated, there's no way to determine what path might be safe as you can't see obstacles at speed until you collide with them.

 

Control is 4-way only.  Small alien ships and asteroids(?) can be shot while onscreen, but they don't maintain their positions when off-screened, so lining up your shots is very difficult.

 

The graphics and sound are somewhat compelling, but the game play is not enjoyable.  Just about any change to this game could have made it better.  It's kind of a shame, really.  I don't have a bottom 10 games list, but this would probably be on it.

[high voltage]

I like Spike's Peak, it was challenging making it to the top of the mountain, but I did. It's like wow you've made it...

Bit of a graphical mess is Robin Hood, but also, I had lots of fun with this game, saving Maid Marian.

Sir Lancelot is a very good game, enjoyed playing it.

Chuck Norris/Super Kung-Fu, now there's a bad game, there's no goal.

Artillery Duel, OKish game for two players.

Ghost Manor, of course, Xonox best effort, kill Dracula, save the girl/boy, it's still loved playing it with my buddies.

Motocross Racer, never liked it 

Tomarc, wow, now there's an awful game, less said the better.

[high voltage]

Just played Motocross Racer, actually, it is a bit like Spike's Peak, only a bit less enjoyable. 

[Atariperson23]

14 hours ago, high voltage said:

Just played Motocross Racer, actually, it is a bit like Spike's Peak, only a bit less enjoyable. 

Is this Motocross Racer? Plays more like Enduro than Spike's Peak.

[DoctorSpuds]

25 minutes ago, Atariperson23 said:

Is this Motocross Racer? Plays more like Enduro than Spike's Peak.

Nope. That's one of the more unique PAL region games most commonly found from companies like Quelle and Rainbowvision. It does exists in NTSC supposedly from several smaller South American publishers but there isn't much detail on Atarimania about them. 

 

Here's Motocross Racer.

[chewy]

On 4/20/2020 at 7:57 AM, zzip said:

I went back and tried to play this over the weekend.   I always enjoyed it BITD.  Yes the graphics are kinda messy, but it did always give me the feel that I was climbing a mountain, so they worked for me.

 

But playing it now..   the biggest issue is it depends so much on luck.   On the second screen if you push the button and hang on to the ledge as the boulder is coming and it hits you, sometimes it only moves you slightly other times it sends you flying to your death, and it seems that there is no way of knowing until it hits you.

 

But the third screen is by far the most frustrating.   Sometimes when you press the button, your stick locks you in place and it protects you against the ice flow,  other times you press it when idle and you throw the stick to a place where you'll probably never be able to fetch it again as the ice flow knocks you to the bottom of the screen. 

 

Still would not call it the worst, but it's more frustrating than I remember!

 

theres a 2nd screen?  can never make it past the first ledge in spikes, maybe i should check the difficulity settings.  the bird comes down and kills you or something always kills you on the first bit of the 2nd ledge screen one! 

[chewy]

on stella trying it w/ "B" settings and its the smae- the griffin comes down and nabs you, 

[chewy]

OH GOD YOU CAN HIDE BEHIND THE BLOCKS i never knew that- i think im finnally gonna load this to harmony- i might be able to play it after all- i do like the xonox games for the most part- very very different programming.  very different programming

[chewy]

only one i wont have on cart now will be Tomarc- still confused on playabilityof that one (am not alone ) 

[BassGuitari]

22 hours ago, DoctorSpuds said:

Put the console on the floor

What am I, some kind of animal? ?

 

1 hour ago, chewy said:

only one i wont have on cart now will be Tomarc- still confused on playabilityof that one (am not alone ) 

The jumping is really weird in Tomarc. It's an interesting game but the jumping mechanics make it hard to play. You can get the hang of it to an extent, but you might get frustrated in the process. ? There's also the aspect that you actually control two characters--you occasionally have to switch to the captive princess so she can protect herself from bats or something.

[DoctorSpuds]

1 hour ago, BassGuitari said:

What am I, some kind of animal?

Perhaps...

3 hours ago, chewy said:

only one i wont have on cart now will be Tomarc- still confused on playabilityof that one (am not alone ) 

You gotta be in the right mood for Tomarc and if anything its best left as a conversation starter about Xonox or just bad/unenjoyable games on the system in general.

It's definitely not the worst but probably doesn't clear the bottom 30.

 

I'm finding myself growing very apathetic to most Parker Brothers games, I consider Amidar and Sky Skipper to be rather appalling and James Bond 007 is a disaster.

They have some excellent games, don't get me wrong, but most of them fall into the realm of "meh" which might be worse. I'll actively play bad games to laugh at them but I'll never play Popeye or Star Wars or Frogger 'cause they don't make me feel anything.

[bluejay]

I also don't much like Strategy X. Not terrible and certainly not the worst but I don't like the auto scrolling and bad controls. I mean, how do you screw up the controls in a game where there's only 1 button and a joystick?

[zzip]

14 hours ago, chewy said:

 

theres a 2nd screen?  can never make it past the first ledge in spikes, maybe i should check the difficulity settings.  the bird comes down and kills you or something always kills you on the first bit of the 2nd ledge screen one! 

When you see both bears hide in a cave, that means the eagle is coming,  so you have to duck in a cave as well (push up) or behind ledge (push down).    Nothing can hurt you when in cave/ledge, but your oxygen starts to run low so you can't stay in there forever.

 

So I get past the first screen by watching what the bears do.   And that is easy compared to what comes next :)

[Atariperson23]

On 4/22/2020 at 9:24 PM, bluejay said:

I also don't much like Strategy X. Not terrible and certainly not the worst but I don't like the auto scrolling and bad controls. I mean, how do you screw up the controls in a game where there's only 1 button and a joystick?

Maybe it learned from the Sancho/Froggo games...

[patroclus99]

Re. the OP, I guess we can add I Want My Mommy and Kool-Aid Man to the list; I think I traded Up'n Down for Kool-Aid Man.  I remember playing I Want My Mommy at some birthday party and then watching Culture Club on AB.  It's kind of surreal to reminisce on these things.

 

And, yeah, I guess throw in China Syndrome into the mix. . . can't remember what I did with that one.  Some of these weird titles my mom ordered for me through some video game club. . . Planet Patrol was pretty cool though.

[Atariperson23]

8 hours ago, patroclus99 said:

 

 

And, yeah, I guess throw in China Syndrome into the mix. . . can't remember what I did with that one.  Some of these weird titles my mom ordered for me through some video game club. . . Planet Patrol was pretty cool though.

China Syndrome? The premise is cool, execution is agreeably lackluster but not awful.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

On 4/17/2020 at 2:15 PM, BassGuitari said:

The problem with this game is the same problem EVERY version of Rampage has: it drags on too long. Until the tedium sets in, this game is good. Fight me.

Because it's such a cool concept and the (arcade) graphics are so great and it's laugh out loud funny at times, I always think I like Rampage more than I do. Then I actually play it and after a few cities I remember what a slog the game can be. I do like it, just not nearly as much as I want to like it.

[roadrunner]

On 4/23/2020 at 12:24 AM, bluejay said:

I also don't much like Strategy X. Not terrible and certainly not the worst but I don't like the auto scrolling and bad controls. I mean, how do you screw up the controls in a game where there's only 1 button and a joystick?

I agree, i don't like the auto scrolling on Strategy X.  

I wonder if it can be hacked so it don't do this? 
 

[JasperAK]

On 4/15/2020 at 9:38 PM, retrorussell said:

I lump the porn games into one for one of the 10 worst.  Custer's Revenge is arguably the worst of all of them but they all deserve to swim in the same cesspool together.

 

There was a game called "Pac-Kong" that is also bash-your-head-against-the-wall bad.

 

I would include ET, and Laser Blast would at least be close to my 10 worst list.

 

Star Ship, even if it is a launch title, is pretty bad.

Star Ship gets a pass because it's a launch title.

 

I am so glad I see someone put Laser Blast on their list. It is without a doubt in my bottom three. It has the worst challenge level in just about any game I've played for the 2600. In one month of playing I had a high score of 1,890. A week later I figured out the trick (maybe from youtube), and I turned the game off around 30,000. Screw the patch.

 

Dolphin is one that sits right near the bottom with Laser Blast for me though for similar reasons. Both games have nearly identical learning curves. I could barely get get more than 6,000 points in Dolphin after playing between November 2018 and July 2019. Then on the 20th I got 16,000 and then 60,000 points. I figured out the trick and increased my score ten-fold. Where this one was different though is that the game eventually got harder and kept me engaged, but I find no desire to go back to it. Although I see Chopper Command as a similar game with the difficulty ramping up, I go back to it all the time. Not really sure why. Maybe because I don't have to invest 15 minutes to get to the hard parts; I don't know.

 

Barnstorming also sits at the bottom for me as well. Got my patch I will probably never play it again.

 

Mega Mania is also close by the bottom because I've never figured out the trick. I can't pass 10,000.

 

Oh, and Fecking Tennis. Feck that game left and right.

 

Funny thing as I look at these games I listed, you'd think I didn't like Activision. You'd be wrong since the games I continue to play are: Beamrider, Ice Hockey, River Raid, Pitfall, Spider Fighter, Defender, Warlords, Berzerk, and Empire Strikes Back.