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Best Atari Games to induce Ragequit? :)


Xebec

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So what are your (favorite :)) nominations for Atari 8bit games that are most capable of inducing #Ragequit?

 

Yes these are just games, and yes they're all meant to be enjoyed.. but let's have some fun and assume you're predisposed to raging at "unfair" games -- what would they be? :)

 

A few to start the discussion:

 

- Fort Apocalypse - some sections are *extremely* unforgiving on collisions requiring a lot of patience

- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves - If you're not prepared for constantly respawning (Dark Souls style) then you won't have a good time

- The Last V8 - played on a NTSC system when it's intended for PAL is quite the challenge

 

What else do others recommend? :)

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Henry's House, has very good gfx, but for me it is much too hard (played with cheat "CPM" and still could not solve the last level)

 

Cavernia, again good gfx, but hard and quite unfair (e.g. you must jump on the moving platforms, but these do not move you)

 

Elektraglide, very good gfx, but I always get killed by the circles/spheres and other fast moving obstacles, no fun to play that game

 

Amaurote, Amaurote+ and Amaurote 128, good gfx, very hard, very repetitive and boring (for me); if I play with normal lives and energy, I get killed within a few seconds; playing with collision-detecion switched off, makes the game very easy, but then it is very boring killing the Alien Queen again and again and again (and the 25 levels do not look that different to me)...

 

Dropzone, or the name I give it "die-a-lot", I rarely finish level 1 and die dozens of times in that game; an alternative name could be "die-as-fast-as-you-can"; the volcano spits out small pixels that do not hurt you, the enemies also spit out small shots/pixels, that will kill you when you touch them; and of course my reflexes (for this and other A8 games) are much too slow nowadays...

 

Animal Party: a very funny game with very good gfx, alas, my reflexes are much too slow nowadays

 

Well, I could continue that list, but instead I wrote two articles for issue 15 of Proc Atari Magazin, one of them is named "Top of the Flops" and mentions more than 100 awful, boring, crap, etc. A8 games, the other article is named "Die hard - and die often" and mentions dozens of A8 games that are good, but much too hard, require pixel-perfection, require very good+fast reflexes, etc. However, I am not sure if/when PAM 15 will get released and IF it will include these two evil+subjective articles from me.  ;-)

 

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I think almost any classic arcade style game has the potential to frustrate players. They usually start off easy and doable. Then the number of elements to interact with increases or the required reaction time decreases significantly. Sometimes you react with your joystick but the game isn't responsive enough. This is all exaggerated by us being used to modern games with very fast reactions, fluid play, and less arcade style interaction. I think even PacMan can induce what you call RageQuit. 

 

Two examples of frustrating games to me are DigDug and Donkey Kong. DigDug feels like it was written in BASIC and Donkey Kong feels like it's just more-more-more with all those barrels being dropped.

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Finished Montezuma's revenge and Henry's House back in the day.  Never really rage quit back then.  Just stopped trying after a while like with Fort Apocalypse and Captain Beeble.  Did manage to complete Shamus and The Pharaoh's Curse.

 

Nowadays I play Atari 8-bit games and just enjoy them.  Being over 50 years old, if I don't finish them, well that is ok lol.  It is still nice to see all the great software for the platform.

Edited by TheNameOfTheGame
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Donkey Kong.. it just feels "random" and you only have 3 lives. I haver tried to like it but it is rage-inducing task.

Mr Do is a fantastic game that I discovered not long ago, but the controls really drive me crazy.

Those two for now

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5 minutes ago, manterola said:

Donkey Kong.. it just feels "random" and you only have 3 lives. I haver tried to like it but it is rage-inducing task.

Mr Do is a fantastic game that I discovered not long ago, but the controls really drive me crazy.

Those two for now

 

Yes, Mr. Do was frustrating but I really enjoyed it. I always seemed to go back to it back in the day.  Donkey Kong was such a great conversion it was a joy to play but challenging for sure.  I get better scores on my mame arcade cabinet to be honest lol.

 

For some reason Atari 8-bit and Atari ST games never induced rage in me.  I even finished ST Side Arms which was crazy.  Maybe it was because I was younger.

 

The main systems I had bad frustration with games had to be Gamecube and PS2.  Other than that it's all good.

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I agree with @TheNameOfTheGame above. Separate frustration from RageQuit and it is all good. :) I've seen some dramatic videos of people throwing controllers and whole consoles. People cry, yell, scream, and stomp. I don't think there are any games for any Atari platform would drive someone to hurl their computer with SIO cables and all toward their screen. While I have been frustrated, I've never even been close to full throttle rage. Reasonable levels of frustration can be healthy because it can keep you engaged with the game and motivated to try again. Rage just eats you up. At that point play something else. It's not like we don't have 1000's of other choices on our Atari platforms.

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Interesting that Fort Apocalypse turns up here. I always had the impression that it was my own fault when I was killed and I don't remember "random death". On the contrary, I was disappointed when it ended so soon and would love to see the fan programmed C64 extra levels on the Atari.

 

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As a depressive I've sort of learned when to stop if something is annoying me so I don't get upset about it..

 

Must admit Shamus II was a nightmare for me, the number of times I just turned the machine off after getting so far and then just losing lives all over the place almost at random..I don't go near it now and my reactions are slower..

 

Pang is also one I stopped playing, when it splits to the little balls and you have them coming at you from both sides it becomes a WHEN I will die, not if..

 

In general I enjoy most games, if I'm not doing well I put it down to me be slower and not so good now rather than blame the game, I use it as a pep to try and be better the next time..

 

I guess its like the advert for gambling here in the UK, its says "If it stops being fun then STOP", if a game is annoying you that much then simply don't play it..

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I think Last V8 gets a special place in this list - IMHO its #1 by a long shot

 

I cant think of another game which I was not able to atleast get through some %% and enjoy to a degree.  Of course Shamus I and II I would curse after playing for a long time and not progressing.  Eastern Front and Legionairre also fit into this category, but again frustrations came after long sessions.


Last V8 is 20 seconds of "I cant believe a game with crappy control that penalizes you with never enough time to see the second stage"  rage.

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Hobgoblin is another example. Gorgeous and really inviting, but so hard and frustrating. After I got a turbo freezer I actually made progress for the first time because I would just do a save state each time I'd make any progress whatsoever. That was the only way for me to get anywhere.


Sent from my E6533 using Tapatalk

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44 minutes ago, Ripdubski said:

8 bit: Pharaohs Curse

2600: E.T.

 

Modern: Oceanhorn (boss fight, post-updates -> still difficult)

Pharaohs curse, really?  That game is very forgiving :) Now figuring you where the last piece you need is can be frustrating!

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5 hours ago, Goochman said:

Pharaohs curse, really?  That game is very forgiving :) Now figuring you where the last piece you need is can be frustrating!

But when the bird carries you away and drops you somewhere deadly...

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27 minutes ago, slx said:

But when the bird carries you away and drops you somewhere deadly...

very true.  That aspect is very random.    But I loved Pharaoh's curse and it still gives me an instant time warp nostalgia every time I play it.  It has a loose jangly feel to it (and the sound fx add to that), and so many memorable screens.    But yeah, that dang bird!   

 

It definitely was NOT a "rage quit" game for me though.  I could never put it down back in the day. 

 

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On 2/28/2021 at 11:50 AM, erichenneke said:

Montezuma's revenge  and  Dropzone are both beautiful games that I've tried so many times, and want to love them,  but they are just too dang hard.

 

 

If you are playing original Dropzone on a NTSC machine it's the pits, it's best played on a PAL machine for correct timing and an easier game play (there is also a NTSC patched version to correct the timing) 

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1 hour ago, orpheuswaking said:

If you are playing original Dropzone on a NTSC machine it's the pits, it's best played on a PAL machine for correct timing and an easier game play (there is also a NTSC patched version to correct the timing) 

it was patched for NTSC, and the patched version is here on AA. Same thing for elektraglide.... which is still a pisser even in pal

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Pharaoh's Curse is a great fun game imho, I still play it these days even though I completed it plenty of times. The bird can be annoying but in general its well balanced, if anything the bird actually brings more challenge to it.

 

But then again, if the game is hard for you it matters not what I think :)

 

To be honest some of the old text adventures annoyed the hell out of me because you had to try and work out what devious and often totally unlikely event you had to do. I seem to remember one was "Put feather in the crack in the wall"  wtf????

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4 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

it was patched for NTSC, and the patched version is here on AA. Same thing for elektraglide.... which is still a pisser even in pal

Yes I wrote that there is a patched version. nice of you to omit that part from the quoted text. I added that as not everyone is familiar with it. 

 

Elektraglide... Speak for yourself. I enjoy both games in PAL. 

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