what pack in game could compete with DK?

[tyranthraxus]

Just for the sake of arguing What do you think would have been a

Donkey Kong killing pack in game in 1982? Coleco cashed in on the DK

craze, Atari gave us Super Breakout which is game that never should

have appeared on the 5200. So if you where in the CEO's chair what

would you have done to launch the new system?

 

John

[Room 34]

Well Pac-Man from the very beginning would have been a good start.

[jetset]

Pacman or Centipede. Both really showed how well Atari could port the coin-ops. Maybe even missle Command, but by the time the 5200 was released I think that game lost it's appeal...

[Tempest]

Ms. Pac-Man would have made a good pack in, but the port didn't come out until late 83.

 

Tempest

[NoahsMyBro]

While Pac Man would have been a killer pack-in, another one could have been Star Raiders. On the one hand it had already been out for a while (and was an effective killer app) for the Atari 400 & 800, but on the other hand there may have been MANY people, myself included, who would have loved to have Star Raiders, but didn't have or want a computer system.

[Ralph3]

If the manufacture didn't matter, I would have Star Wars The Arcade Game be the pack-in which showed how "cough" good the joystick is.

[Room 34]

While Pac Man would have been a killer pack-in, another one could have been Star Raiders. On the one hand it had already been out for a while (and was an effective killer app) for the Atari 400 & 800, but on the other hand there may have been MANY people, myself included, who would have loved to have Star Raiders, but didn't have or want a computer system.

I think the pack-in needs to be a more straightforward arcade-style game. I haven't really given 5200 Star Raiders much attention, but as an 8-year-old I was bored as hell with Star Raiders when I got it for the 2600 at Christmas 1982. I don't think a complicated "gotta read the manual" type game is a good choice for pack-in... witness the "success" of the built-in Flight Simulator on the XEGS.

 

[joeybastard]

Space Dungeon, Centipede or Berzerk. Maybe Berzerk because talking games were considered super cool in those days.

[+Cafeman]

Pac-Man or Centipede would have been great from the start. What on earth was Atari thinking by putting Breakout in there at first?!

 

In time, Ms. Pac-Man could have been a good replacement pack-in, but it never came to be.

 

When the CV and Donkey Kong hit, Pac-Man was still popular as was Centipede. Donkey Kong was probably the ultimate of pack ins though, Coleco played their cards well with that one.

[Room 34]

Well I'll revise what I said a bit, in light of other comments...

 

I was actually thinking Berzerk. I don't have the 5200 version, but the 2600 version is one of my favorites, so I'm sure that, with speech, would have been a super-cool pack-in. Of the 17 games I actually own for the 5200, I personally think Centipede would've been the best pack-in, but I think in terms of sales, Pac-Man would've been best.

 

The thing to keep in mind is that the idea of packing your KILLER game in with the system was a brand new idea with the ColecoVision. Before that, I think companies included a pack-in just as a courtesy to buyers (so they could get a complete system with something to play all in one box -- the idea of cartridges was new and people expected to buy the machine and be able to USE it right away), so the thinking was "Don't pack in the best game; make people PAY for it!" But when CV hit, competition was a lot more fierce, and suddenly the pack-in game was what sold the system! Nintendo certainly learned this in time for the debut of the NES. Atari, on the other hand, was still in the old mentality, which I am sure is what led them to pack in Super Breakout, the game that, among the original 5200 releases, was probably the LEAST likely to sell on its own.

 

OK... excessive detail that most of you already know, I'm sure. To summarize:

 

MY PERSONAL CHOICES FOR 5200 PACK-IN:

Centipede or Berzerk

 

BEST CHOICE FROM A SALES PERSPECTIVE:

Pac-Man

 

(Too bad when they finally did include Pac-Man it was already too late.)

[tyranthraxus]

That is a very excellent point you made there. I really had forgotten

what the 1982 mindset was like. Pac-man was Atari's ace and is

probably the only thing that could counter Coleco's DK. Especially if

they were ballsy enough to make it a 5200 exclusive for a few months

around Xmas but Atari went for the easy 2600 money which is

understandable. While putting a hot game in a console was new as I

understand it the CV came out a few months before the 5200 so Atari

had plenty of time to think about how to react to the new system.

 

Bezerk I think is a great choice. Its a simple action game and the

voice is a great gimick that would make new owners want to show off

their new toy. I recall quite well how the parents of the kids I knew who

got CV or NESs were pretty keen on showing off the hot new game

that came with it.

 

John

[NE146]

Why.. the 5200 version of Donkey Kong of course! i.e. the 400/800 version.

 

Yeah I know it couldn't have happened. Still nice to dream though It slays the Colecovision version.

[+davidcalgary29]

The 5200 should have been released with Xari Arena instead of Breakout, and Super Pac-Man instead of Pac-Man.

 

Realistic pack-ins: Joust or Pole Position.

[sku_u]

Berzerk would have been a good choice for reasons already mentioned, but Space Invaders may have ended up selling more systems, given the popularity of the arcade game at the time.

[NE146]

Berzerk would have been a good choice for reasons already mentioned, but Space Invaders may have ended up selling more systems, given the popularity of the arcade game at the time.

 

I'm pretty sure by the time the 5200 had come out, Space Invaders was already a couple years old and pretty much phased out of arcades more or less. I know because I was a TOTAL SPACE INVADERS KID (and still sorta am)

[povlok1]

Well.. at least they didnt pack ET!

[Room 34]

Yeah... although they DID manufacture more copies of E.T. than there were 2600 consoles sold up to the point of the game's release. What were they thinking? (Would people really be inclined to go out and BUY THE SYSTEM just to be able to play E.T.???)

[sku_u]

Yeah... although they DID manufacture more copies of E.T. than there were 2600 consoles sold up to the point of the game's release. What were they thinking? (Would people really be inclined to go out and BUY THE SYSTEM just to be able to play E.T.???)

 

What blows my mind is that Atari actually printed a second run of E.T. carts with greyish labels.

[Breakpack]

I think the killer app for the 5200 would have been a game that wasn't programmed for it.Pac-Man Plus.I'd think that'd been an awesome game to have came out and was a pack-in.

[jsoper]

Good ideas. I remember being kinda tired of Pacman games by the time DK rolled around.

But maybe a two game packin of Ms Pacman and Bezerk could have competed.

[CPUWIZ]

I wonder why nobody has written a version of Donkey Kong for the 5200 yet. I bet people would love to have a copy of that.

[NE146]

I bet people would love to have a copy of that.

 

Hellz yeah bro that's one of my frequent mantras here on this forum But it usually gets met with something to the effect of "why not just play the 400/800 version" or something to that effect

[Room 34]

The implication there, of course, is that SOME OF US DON'T OWN A 400/800!!! (I'm one of them.)

 

I would LOVE to have one of our programming aces around here port the 400/800 version of DK over to the 5200!

[+RangerG]

I second or third the Donkey Kong for the Atari 5200. I have posted that several times over the last few years. I honestly would Paypal you right now for a good DK translation on the 5200.

[Brad2600]

I too, wonder why Donkey Kong hasn't been done on the 5200 yet.

 

As for a good pack in game, If the manufacturer didn't matter....I'd go by Miner 2049er. As crazy as it sounds, this game could blow Donkey kong right out of the water.