Night Driver?

[StanJr]

There are only about a ba-zillion copies of this around here. I remember this game as a kid being a very weak Pole Position/Enduro kinda game. Is it even worth the $1 to have in my collection? I'm not sure I'd play it much, maybe once or twice to make sure it works. I'm not a completist collector (at least not right now, sometimes I get a little loopy), so should I just go ahead and get it (its only one sawbuck) or let it be? I'll let you decide the fate of Night Driver. (so don't give me any middle of the road stuff)

 

Stan Driver

[ubersaurus]

I kinda enjoyed it as a kid. It's no pole position or enduro, but its a decent first gen game.

[Lemmi]

Get it stan its only 4 quarters, then maybe one day you will find a dollar on the ground so then it would be free

[atari70s]

night driver , YUCK is the only word that comes to mind on it. for somereason i could put up with teh poor screen and such. id go a 1.00 if it was a special Copywrite varations or if your doing all carts ever made. but for pure enjoyment id pass taht game up. that and maybe the 2600 version of pacman. the later versions 8 bit and 5200 (which are strikingly the same) are much better off and for me more my cup of tea.

[NE146]

Well all things considered, NightDriver was probably one of the CLOSEST arcade ports in the 2600 catalog. Excellent translation and the graphics were just like the arcade!

[Albert]

If you'd like to try out Night Driver before making your important purchase decision, you can always download the ROM from here and give it a whirl in one of the many Atari 2600 emulators. Then if you like the game you can cough up the $1 for it, otherwise you can set your sites on something else.

 

It is interesting from a historical perspective since it is the first "3D" racing game to come out for the 2600. But it's not a very captivating game. In my opinion, racing sims are one of those genres that just don't age very well on console systems. I find it difficult to pop Night Driver into my 2600 when I can play Gran Turismo 3 on the Playstation 2.

 

..Al

[Ze_ro]

I actually rather like Night Driver... at least it uses the paddle rather than a joystick, so you get a little more accurate control that you would with Enduro or Pole Position. Of course, the graphics are nowhere near as good, but I'd say it should definitely be part of your collection.

 

I'd buy any Atari game for $1 if I didn't already have it... even Skeet Shoot.

 

--Zero

[Joel D. Park]

I had night driver back in the day. I think it was rather fun. In the faster games you can get into the twitch playing like in Kaboom.. I love the paddle controller.

[Cassidy Nolen]

I would argue its a pretty sloppy translation. I have the cockpit arcade, and the game is just lines on the sides of the road. No trees, houses, and breakneck turns. The game lets you shift, which is part strategy because the gas is either on or off. In the 2600, you go so fast you cant control the game. Reminds me of one of those kids toys that has a film of the road and you move the plastic car over the road.

 

I got Rob Fulop to sign my 2600 cart at CGE. Just another reason to go. Game not so good, getting to meet the designer, way cool.

 

Cassidy

[liveinabin]

ah heck, its cheap and you get to use the paddle. It's gonna entertain you for at least 5 minutes - which is a lot better than Tekken tag

[NE146]

quote

I would argue its a pretty sloppy translation.  

 

Oh yeah, forgot about the shifting (I used to play the game as it sat next to a Lunar Lander many moons ago).

 

Well I was really just trying to be facetious but if ya think about it, in terms of just the road boundaries (and in line with some of the recent topics here) it probably is pretty much one of the closer 2600 arcade translations *graphically* ...for all that's worth heheh

[Parcel]

I kind of like it, not sure why.

[liquid_sky]

Harry, I think you need a Skeet Shoot avatar

 

they really do need a sarcastic avatar..

[khryssun]

ben,

I know what you mean about skeet shoot.

I had this game in a pack of games I bought... in my opinion, it's the worst atari 2600 game I ever play... Is far as we can talk playing about skeet shoot... It's a anti game

[bcprs1]

Night driver is pretty bad, but nothing is worse than Skeet Shoot. I remember everyone talking about it on these channels. I didn't understand how everyone could bash this game until I actually played it. I would have been VERY PISSED if I bought this thing new. What were they thinking????

[StanJr]

It ends up being a moot point as Night Driver was part of a massive package moycon (he's the coolest) sent me. So now I have it and don't have to sweat the greenback.

 

Now, should I take that sawbuck and pick up SLOT RACER?

 

The beat goes on...Stan

[beattheindierock]

I say slap the dollar down for the cart. Can't buy much for a dollar these days. And even though you are getting Night Driver (in top 5 WORST ever 2600 games IMO) it could be much worse. You could end up spending that buck on a greasy McD's cheeseburger or a box of sandwich bags torn at the bottom.

[King Asmo]

I'd buy *any* Atari cart I didn't have for $1.00, and I felt that way when I had only 15 or so (that was 5 years ago, now I have closer to 415). You never know which carts you'll like.

 

I actually kind of like Night Driver.. it's a great game for playing on the higher levels when you've drank too much coffee. I'd say there's a LOT worse games in the 2600 library.

 

Slot Racers isn't bad either, but it isn't great. I prefer Night Driver. Of course I prefer Seaquest and Stampede to any of them.

[philnyy]

i thought it was a good game when i got it

almost 25 yrs. ago for $32.95! night driver,

or any atari 2600 game, is worth $1- especially if you don't own it yet. buy it-

it'll last you forever.

[ubersaurus]

Slot Racers is a game I actually like, but not too many others do.

[Lemmi]

ROFL

[Ze_ro]

Street Racer is a lot worse than Night Driver in my opinion... but I haven't played much of the different variations... are the four player modes any good?

 

As for that Skeet Shoot avatar... I think it would look a little better without the zooming label scan. Just the shooter shooting alternately left and right. I also think hitting the target is a little optimistic (Is it just me, or is it impossible to hit half the targets?). Just some constructive criticism

 

--Zero

[liveinabin]

So now you have it, what's the verdict?

gold or beans?

[StanJr]

MMMMM. I like beans....