retroeight Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 It seems whenever members talk about "bad" games that Apollo games always come up. I am writing a blog post about how there are some gems there. Anyone else here think Apollo gets a bad reputation that may not be so deserved. lloyd 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Cowboy Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 No, but I'm willing to hear your argument. What Apollo games do you think are good?Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 Space Caverns, Infiltrate (love that game), Guardian, lost luggage, and Final Approach. I also liked the scrolling background in Space Chase. Working on my reasons. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cjherr Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 There are Apollo carts that I enjoy. They're generally simple games, but I find them entertaining off and on. Guardian, Infiltrate, ,Shark Attack, and Space Cavern come to mind. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 I don't actually own any Apollo games, so I can't trash or defend them. But the popular narrative is that a bunch of fly-by-night companies rushed bad quality games for the 2600 in 1982, and destroyed the entire videogame market in the process. But when you actually go and look at the output of these "fly by night" that littered the bargain bins the most in that era, you find that many of them actually had some unique hidden gems. So you realize "US games" didn't suck so bad, "Xonox" didn't suck so bad, "CBS" was actually pretty good, "Games by Apollo" aha! There's the problem! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithbk Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Apollo gets a bad rap after he tried to force Captain Kirk to worship him and threatened to crush the Enterprise. I won't have anything to do with him, even if he does cast himself to the wind and say he's sorry. 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitanClassic Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 11 minutes ago, keithbk said: Apollo gets a bad rap after he tried to force Captain Kirk to worship him and threatened to crush the Enterprise. I won't have anything to do with him, even if he does cast himself to the wind and say he's sorry. People forget how many bad episodes of ST:OS there really were in their 3 season run. Sure there are gems like the Trouble with Tribbles, and The Corbomite Maneuver, but there are so many episodes that feature witches and goblins, or 1920s gangsters, or Spock’s Brain that don’t belong in a science fiction show. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Cowboy Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Infiltrate could have been good, but thanks to the poor programming all you need to do is get it stuck in an infinite loopSent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 1 hour ago, CapitanClassic said: 1920s gangsters Hey, "A Piece Of The Action" is a great episode! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BONEMAN Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Space Cavern is the only one I had as a kid. I know it's nothing ground breaking but I always thought it was fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy the Atarian Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 I first came across Apollo with Infiltrate, and as a I kid I loved it. But as an adult, I wish there was something like a 7800 version that could expand on the concept a bit. In a way, it's sort of like Elevator Action, just no doors to go into. I really love the explosions in it though The weird graphical glitches also have some charm to them, but that's just nostalgia talking. The only other one of their games I've played some since was Space Cavern, which is decent. I think I tried Lochjaw and Lost Luggage once or twice, but can't really remember them. Overall so much of what they made was pretty shallow, so I get why they get the bad rap. It's kind of like Data Age, where most of their stuff was rushed crap, then you suddenly had this gem of Frankenstein's Monster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 (edited) I like Lost Luggage. Wabbit: Billy Sue, the first human female main character in a video game Edited December 9, 2020 by high voltage 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Related link: randomterrain.com/rt-atari-2600-game-list.html#apollo Maybe people confuse Apollo with Data Age. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitanClassic Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 The only two Apollo games I owned back in the day were Space Cavern and Final Approach. Space Cavern was an uninspiring shooter. I would much rather play Megamania or GI Joe Cobra Strike (the graphics in this one felt reminiscent). Final Approach was actually a unique game concept. It was fun for a limited amount of time, and was a precursor to those mobile time management games, Flight Control/Traffic Rush, that you need to prevent collisions. So someone thought the idea had merit. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_Control_(video_game) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 The problem with Apollo is so many "almost" good games... When a game is "almost" good it's almost worse than being just bad. The first few levels start out fun then the difficulty gets unplayable or minor/major nuisances start becoming more prevalent. A game like Wabbit starts out awesome, then quickly sucks...you keep trying to like it, playing it every so often, then you remember why you shelved it...would have been better if it just sucked completely and didn't tease me with being almost good. Infiltrate kind of suffers from this too...Shark Attack was so close but meh, every time I come back to it I remember... So many games in the Apollo library could have been so much better if they tried just a little harder, took a little extra time...maybe they were rushed? Ever restart a game of lost luggage because you accidentally hit the fire button? At least they fixed it in later revisions but the game itself still suffered from "almost" good... I don't know, thats my guess as to why they get shat on so hard. Nothing worse then liking a game for a few minutes, then quickly hating it 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 I like Skeet Shoot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitanClassic Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 24 minutes ago, roadrunner said: I like Skeet Shoot Does Skeet Shoot support paddle controls? is it similar in gameplay to the Bally Astrocade game Dog Patch? I loved Dog Patch. That game was a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 5 minutes ago, CapitanClassic said: Does Skeet Shoot support paddle controls? is it similar in gameplay to the Bally Astrocade game Dog Patch? I loved Dog Patch. That game was a blast. It uses joysticks. I haven't played Dog Patch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitanClassic Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 13 minutes ago, roadrunner said: It uses joysticks. I haven't played Dog Patch. That is unfortunate (joystick control). Dog Patch was an arcade port (didn't know this) for the Bally Astrocade. I believe it was only a two player game. It used the tops of the Bally controllers (paddle) to adjust the angle of your shotgun, and the trigger fires a shot. The object of the game is to shoot the can that is thrown up in the air over your opponents head to score. The score is based on the number of hits by both players before clearing the screen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Cowboy Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 I haven't played Dog Patch, or the Astrocade at all, but based on your description it must be much better than Skeet ShootSent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 5 hours ago, Love Cowboy said: Infiltrate could have been good, but thanks to the poor programming all you need to do is get it stuck in an infinite loop Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk How do u do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroeight Posted December 9, 2020 Author Share Posted December 9, 2020 1 hour ago, CapitanClassic said: Does Skeet Shoot support paddle controls? is it similar in gameplay to the Bally Astrocade game Dog Patch? I loved Dog Patch. That game was a blast. After your 12th beer, Skeet shoot is actually fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Cowboy Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 How do u do that?I'm not quite sure how I made it happen, but basically I found myself in a position where I could just stand in one spot and constantly shoot and I don't die and the bad guys just kept running into my bullets. So I just sat there with my finger on the button for 3 hours and rolled the scoreSent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BydoEmpire Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Hm, I haven't heard that much particularly negative about Apollo. Generally I enjoy their games. Space Cavern was always a favorite. I like Infiltrate and Lost Luggage as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted December 9, 2020 Share Posted December 9, 2020 Infiltrate was the only Apollo game I played. But I really enjoyed it. The enemies looked just like Fry Guys. It was very nerve-wracking when they shot super-fast and would wait on the opposite side of an elevator from you and just hold down the trigger. Yikes! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.