Demon Attack vs. Phoenix

[128bytes]

I really like Demon Attack's Imagic-style 2 player gameplay (also used on games like Dragonfire, and also used by Atari Defender), where play alternates from wave to wave, so you don't have to wait forever to play if the other player is good.

 

Paranoid was right on track when he said that Demon Attack "looked as good as a coin-op" when it came out - it did!

 

I also like Atari Phoenix. They are both good games.

[NE146]

This thread has more lives than the damn Knight Rider incident.

 

For the record: Phoenix was released for Xmas 1982, six months after Demon Attack. Demon Attack was made for MANY systems and PCs. And Demon Attack is still the better game.

 

This debate still runs a distant second to the Battlezone-Robot Tank controversy. And aren't we due for another one of those arguments? I swear it's been almost eight days since the last one.

 

EXCEPT! Robot Tank and Battlezone have a lot more in common than Demon Attack & Phoenix.

 

It drives me nuts too to be quite honest. The only reason people compare Demon Attack to Phoenix is the similarity of the 'birds' in the first stage of Demon Attack to the friggin birds in the 2nd/3rd stage of Phoenix.

 

I dont believe Demon Attack programmers had Phoenix the arcade game in mind when making the original Demon Attack for the 2600. I really don't. Unlike Robot Tank which is HIGHLY probable the programmers were cognizant of Battlezone the arcade game

 

But yeah, why not compare 2600 Phoenix to 2600 Galaxian? I mean it'll make just as much sense

 

 

This thread has more lives than the damn Knight Rider incident.

 

For the record: Phoenix was released for Xmas 1982, six months after Demon Attack. Demon Attack was made for MANY systems and PCs. And Demon Attack is still the better game.

 

This debate still runs a distant second to the Battlezone-Robot Tank controversy. And aren't we due for another one of those arguments? I swear it's been almost eight days since the last one.

 

 

So why does this bother you so much?

 

 

Well.. to be fair, there are probably 3 or 4 other threads with almost the exact same title here at Atariage "Demon Attack vs. Phoenix" or "Phoenix vs. Demon Attack" and whatnot.

 

But then again, I guess I've come to expect ever since the r.g.v.c days, that we're talking about the same old 25 year old games.. so some repitition is expected over the years

Edited December 18, 2006 by NE146

[lokidchser]

My nod needs to go to DDemon Attack. As was said before, the colors were richer, the music increased the tensio and the way the demons materialized blew me away the first time I saw it. The only thing that I liked about Phoenix was that if you shot the birds wings, they just grew back. The only way to kill the big birds was to hit them dead on.

[XCALBR8]

I would have to say Demon Attack. I've clocked in more hours on that one, and to me it has a smoother pace that builds throughout the game. Phoenix is a close second though, and it's games like these that I keep an old 2600 hooked up to this day.

[atarifan88]

I was going to start a thread about the debate of Phoenix vs Demon Attack, but found this doing a search. So here is my two cents. While both games are very repetitive, Phoenix changes targets for each level/screen. Most importantly, at the end of it all, Phoenix rewards you with a boss level, which makes going through all the previous levels bearable. So I will go with Phoenix as the better game. Demon Attack just gets old after a few levels. Phoenix holds up better and is therefore the better game without a doubt!

[+Random Terrain]

For the record: Phoenix was released for Xmas 1982, six months after Demon Attack. Demon Attack was made for MANY systems and PCs. And Demon Attack is still the better game.

For people reading this thread in the future, Demon Attack was released in March of 1982 and Phoenix was released in January/February of 1983.

[+save2600]

VCS Phoenix for me. Like the game a lot, and consider it one of the best shooters on the system.

 

Did not have Demon Attack BITD, so when I played it over a decade later, found it way too easy and repetitive. Kept the game, but didn't touch it for years and years until I met my GF. She grew up playing it and is actually quite good, so I don't mind (encourage really) we play once in a while. I've even introduced her to the fixed version of the game that she seems to enjoy as well.

[kennetzel]

It was always Phoenix for me too. I truly enjoyed the arcade version and found the Atari translation to be pretty good. I do have Demon Attack and enjoy it too, but Phoenix is my go to game.

[davyK]

I'm on the Demon Attack side of the argument. I just find myself playing it more then Phoenix - even though it's a solid port of one of my all time favourite arcade games. Phoenix feels a bit easy and I find Demon Attack much tougher.

 

Demon Attack has 2 player modes too don't forget - including a great mode where the control changes player every few seconds.

Edited December 21, 2017 by davyK

[VectorGamer]

I thought I was the only that played Phoenix at the bowling alley. So I was surprised when Atari released it.

[Serguei2]

Someone should start a new topic with a poll. So we can see the winner.

Edited December 22, 2017 by Serguei2

[Keatah]

Well I'm glad there are both games. Both games were sophisticated enough (to a kid) at the time to have replay value. Depending on my "tech mood" I can favor one over the other.

 

But I dislike Phoenix Arcade because it was rather flat and stiff. Tile based movement of the birds clashed with the smoother scrolling of everything else. Anyways I liked StarJacker instead and wished that'd have come home. But that's irrelevant, now, with mame.