Worst Arcade Port.....

[smf_4ever]

Here is a question..What is the worst (playabllity wise) VCS arcage port? (not do to graphics and the VCS limitations.. just the playing of the acual cart)

 

After messing around with some last night.. I have to vote on Crystal Castles.. I HATE the gameplay!! makes me appreciate Donkey Kong Jr a bit more (not that much more.. come on..)

[Marco(2)]

Pengo and Mr.Do!, two of my all-time arcade favourites, are at the top of my 2600 disappointment list...

 

Cheers,

 

Marco

[Room 34]

I'd have to go with Q*Bert. I just got it recently, so maybe I haven't given it enough time, but am I not mistaken that you can't actually move the joystick diagonally in it? It seems like there's some arcane process of up-down-left-right that somehow determines which diagonal direction Q*Bert jumps. Incredibly lame!

 

This now beats out my previous whipping boy for lamest arcade conversion, Pac-Man. (At least that game's playable.)

[smf_4ever]

quote:

---

Originally posted by room34:

but am I not mistaken that you can't actually move the joystick

diagonally

in it? It seems like there's some arcane process of up-down-left-right that somehow determines which diagonal direction Q*Bert jumps. Incredibly lame!

---

Just hold the joystick at an angle with the fire button at 12-o'clock.... Graphically is it horrible.. but I like pac-man

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by room34:

I'd have to go with Q*Bert. I just got it recently, so maybe I haven't given it enough time, but am I not mistaken that you can't actually move the joystick

diagonally

in it? It seems like there's some arcane process of up-down-left-right that somehow determines which diagonal direction Q*Bert jumps. Incredibly lame!

---

 

What you're supposed to do is rotate the joystick 45 degrees, so the fire button is located at the top. Then you move the joystick diagonally, which will correspond to up-down-left-right. I'm sure this was done to make movement more reliable, and I can't really blame them too much. However, I'm not saying that makes the game any better.

 

..Al

[HawgWyld]

Oh, boy! Another chance to bash "Pac-Man!"

 

I know some folks love that game, but I'll tell ya why I think it was the single worst arcade port for the Atari 2600.

 

Way on back in the early days of Atari, the company scored some big hits with arcade ports (think of "Space Invaders," "Missile Command" and "Asteroids"). While those ports weren't "perfect," they were good enough for home users. Hell, they were good enough to inspire folks to run out and purchase 2600s.

 

So, the expectations were high for "Pac-Man." And, I rushed out and bought it when it was released. Like, many others, I was, errr, less than happy with the 2600 version.

 

"Pac-Man," see, just sent up all sorts of red flags -- it was truly the first time that Atari truly fell far short of expectations.

 

While it may not be the absolute worst arcade translation (I think "Reactor" may claim that honor), it was pretty damn bad. To get an idea of how horrible it truly is, compare "Pac-Man" to the truly fantastic "Ms. Pac-Man" for the 2600.

 

Indeed, "Pac-Man" was a sign of trouble on the horizon, and was the first time I truly remember Atari failing horribly.

[+Atari_Warlord]

From a control stand point, I vote for Double Dragon.

[Room 34]

Well, I criticized Pac-Man earlier, a criticism that is based on the past 20 years of experience. But I must confess my origins...

 

I got my Atari 2600 in May 1982, when I was 8. I had NEVER played an arcade game before (too short). I had HEARD of Pac-Man, but I had never played it. The reason we GOT the Atari was to get Pac-Man. At the time, I LOVED Atari Pac-Man, but it was only because I didn't know any better!

 

A couple years later, I finally got tall enough to play arcade games, and I was shocked when I played the real Pac-Man how much better it was than what I was used to. Of course, by then about 1984 even Ms. Pac-Man was already ancient history!

[Chris++]

Kangaroo and Popeye would tie for second worst. We all know that Pac-Man wins first place...which is ironic, since Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man would be right around first place for BEST adaptation!

[NoahsMyBro]

Defender on the 2600. No contest.

 

The playability is actually, fundamentally, changed!

 

The absolute biggest disappointment I can remember from my childhood was finally getting Defender home & trying it out.

 

Man, it sucked.

 

Steve

[Inky]

This is easy..

 

Burgertime! Play sucks, graphics suck, sound sucks, the cart design sucks, even the sucky parts of the game suck.

 

Reactor rules, and is probably one of the best play-wise...

[King Atari]

quote

From a control stand point, I vote for Double Dragon.  

 

Double Dragon's controls are complicated, but not bad, just tricky. I've mastered the controls, it's just that set of Abobos that keep getting me in Mission 3!

 

Worst arcade conversion? HMMMM...Zaxxon or Donkey Kong JR.

[ATARIPITBULL]

I would have to say that the all time king of the worst arcade ports has to be Pac-Man.

 

I was just a little boy when Pac-man came out so I asked my dad to get it for me and he did, but when I turned it on and saw that the maze looked nothing like the Arcade game, I was mad as hell and traded it to a friend of mine for his Burger time.

[DuckandCover]

I was really lucky back in the day. A friend of mine rushed out and bought Pac-Man just a day or two after it was released, and not long afterward, I went over to his house to try it out. After playing it, I never wanted the cartridge. Pac-Man has to rule the roost when it comes to bad 2600 arcade ports.

 

Donkey Kong Jr. was pretty disappointing too.

[kyle]

Pac-man with out a dout! Qbert for 2600 rules thoe!

[AtariKen64]

um no one mentions donkey kong???

[Krytol]

I have to go with Pac-man too; the way the ghosts will BARELY touch you and you die - no close calls.

Also, I hate the 'transparent' colors of the ghosts - how you can hardly tell if they're still blue or not.

And why is the scoring different?

A VITAMIN? What about the fruit?

OK, I'm done ranting.

 

BEST port? I'm thinking Missile Command.

[bcprs1]

I don't know why people say Q*bert and Popeye are bad. Those are two of my favorites on the 2600.

I would have put my votes in for Congo Bongo, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr.

[Joel D. Park]

I used to play Defender back before I even knew it was an arcade game (Just as someone mentioned above), if not compared to the arcade, I think it rules. I still think it's really good even compared against the arcade but that might be because I suck at both games.

[ubersaurus]

Space War was a bad port. Most of the options didn't make the cut, gravity was really weak, and there was no asteroid. I will admit though, all they had was 2k.

[NE146]

I thought Qbert was a great port playability-wise. As a matter of fact I got good at the arcade game simply by practicing it on the 2600! To illustrate what I mean: for example, you can't get good at the arcade Space Invaders by practicing the 2600 port (good a game as it may be). So Qbert gets my nod.

 

Popeye I think does a great job of translating the arcade gameplay to the 2600. Too bad the graphics sucked, but come on.. it's the 2600.

 

Space War I think was ok. Just lower down the brightness on your old tv to make the background black instead of that 'football-field green'. (What were they thinking?!)

 

Crystal Castles I liked. It aint the arcade game, but it's a good fun game in it's own right if you give it half a chance. I guess what I liked about it was the large variety of the castle playing fields.

 

ok now ON TO THE SUBJECT! My vote for worst playability wise? I vote AMIDAR.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

quote:

---

Originally posted by NE146:

My vote for worst playability wise? I vote AMIDAR.

---

Yes, Amidar is way to slow to be fun to play.

 

[ 05-11-2002: Message edited by: Thomas Jentzsch ]

[BatmiteReturns]

I would have to say Zaxxon because it didn't even resemble the arcade game. The point of view was changed completely.

 

As far as Donkey Kong, Pac-man, Q-bert, etc, at least they resembled those games.

[Pitfall Harry]

I know it's not an arcade port. But I thought I'd take this opportunity to bash Skeet Shoot anyway. That game really sucks.

 

Ben

[Guest]

I also vote for Amidar.

 

In the arcade version boxes had to be conjoined for you to fill them with the paint roller. The VCS version does not have this requirement which is a major change in the games rules and strategy. It actually makes the game too easy.