Current Events > Worst Atari 2600 Game Ever

(+) Yeah! (+)

LeoRavus posted...

Outside of classic arcade games, most 2600 games were garbage. It's the only reason why kids still played outside in the 80s

This is my logic when Gen xers get on to us for still playing video games. I tell em yeah I woulda quit gaming too if I had nothing but that garbage.

I know a 55 year old guy who's addicted to apex. He stuck around to see video games get better

I'll explain my post. This game this topic is about has a special meaning. My sister and played the hell out it. My sister actually beat it. My memory is foggy, but you had to pick up weapons and items and move the correct rooms. Since there was no dialog in game to tell you were to go we had to figure it out for ourselves. There were no guides, internet or anything like that. We were obsessed. When we played outside we imagined we were playing the mini games. Mind you we were very young 6-9. It's a great game for the time.

Sufferedphoenix posted...

This is my logic when Gen xers get on to us for still playing video games. I tell em yeah I woulda quit gaming too if I had nothing but that garbage.

I know a 55 year old guy who's addicted to apex. He stuck around to see video games get better

Im Gen-X and play still.

TyVulpine posted...

Im Gen-X and play still.

Yeah it's not everyone I even mentioned one in my post. But it likely is the majority.

CassandraCroft posted...

These two games would like to say hello:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCPpgt0s70U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmrQkQsM9FU

I am one of the clowns that owned BOTH games.

Argh, my eyes! I hated that version of Pac-Man. Luckily I only played it when I went to my next door neighbors house.

It came out a few years ago in the iTunes Store but didnt last long.

vycebrand2 posted...

I'll explain my post. This game this topic is about has a special meaning. My sister and played the hell out it. My sister actually beat it. My memory is foggy, but you had to pick up weapons and items and move the correct rooms. Since there was no dialog in game to tell you were to go we had to figure it out for ourselves. There were no guides, internet or anything like that. We were obsessed. When we played outside we imagined we were playing the mini games. Mind you we were very young 6-9. It's a great game for the time.

This is the right answer. I'm probably 10-15 years younger than you at least, but I remember the times of recreating video game-games with my action figure playsets, or in make believe outside.

My sister and zi begged my parents for a game system in the early 80s because everyone in the neighborhood had one. Instead of an Atari though, they got us a Colecovision and I found it better than the Atari. sadly, it had no pac-man.

It did come with some good games though. BurgerTime, Donkey Kong and Jr,, Frogger, Montezumas revenge, Popeye, q-Bert, mousetrap and a few others.

,

I almost got a Colecovision and with the Atari add on. Damn you eBay auctions and myself getting out bid in the last seconds literally. I was already bidding 85 dollars or so. This was 2007, but Coleco was almost in my grasp. Was I supposed to have maxed up my bid higher?

It does piss me off when even Pat the NES Punk was like yeah I used auction sniper bots. Why wouldn't I, was I was supposed to just sit there and hope I'd win. It is an auction. Bots are cheating.

action52 posted...

This is the worst by far. Not only is the gameplay terrible, it's also horribly racist and sexist.

I recall they also had to keep it stocked out of sight behind the counter.

Also in a topic about awful 8 bit games, your name is appropriate. (But was that Atari 2600?)

What was it with Atari and even up to the SNES always having GOAT tier box and cartridge art? Boxart for games nowadays is nowhere near as cool.

toadfan64 posted...

What was it with Atari and even up to the SNES always having GOAT tier box and cartridge art? Boxart for games nowadays is nowhere near as cool.

Back then, the art was supposed to get your attention and make you buy a game you have never heard about.
These days you got hundreds of reviews with a few seconds on your cellphone.

Man Atari games were sooo bad, just nothing but caveman crap. Thank god the NES saved gaming or we'd be sitting around playing with sticks and leaves.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Also in a topic about awful 8 bit games, your name is appropriate. (But was that Atari 2600?)

Action 52 was on the NES

UnholyMudcrab posted...

Action 52 was on the NES

Genesis got a version as well.

sfcalimari posted...

Man Atari games were sooo bad, just nothing but caveman crap. Thank god the NES saved gaming or we'd be sitting around playing with sticks and leaves.

Yars Revenge is a great game

toadfan64 posted...

Yars Revenge is a great game

Hell yeah

sfcalimari posted...

Man Atari games were sooo bad, just nothing but caveman crap. Thank god the NES saved gaming or we'd be sitting around playing with sticks and leaves.

There were tons of great games. Just also a lot more shit due to way less quality control.

sfcalimari posted...

Man Atari games were sooo bad, just nothing but caveman crap. Thank god the NES saved gaming or we'd be sitting around playing with sticks and leaves.

LOL you still believe that myth? The NES was never a big deal in Europe and people carried on with microcomputers like Amiga, C64, Spectrum etc.

And like I said before, most early NES games are no better than Atari 7800 games. It wasn't until 1987 when the heavy hitters arrived on the US NES like Castlevania, Contra, Megaman, Tetris, Zelda etc

LeoRavus posted...

Outside of classic arcade games, most 2600 games were garbage. It's the only reason why kids still played outside in the 80s

Well, you got to learn to walk before you can run.

Fenriswolf posted...

And like I said before, most early NES games are no better than Atari 7800 games.

You dissing the black box games that were pure magic in my childhood?

Name like three Atari 7800 games even in the same ballpark as Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Excitebike, Kung Fu, or Balloon Fight.

We had an Atari 400. I think DonkeyKong Jr was better than the NES version. We only had a few games though. Star Raiders was objectively the best. Middle Command was too stressful. Pac Man port was OK, River Raid and Demon Attack played well.

ablegator posted...

We had an Atari 400. I think DonkeyKong Jr was better than the NES version

https://youtu.be/NEKjz4JsVQY

https://youtu.be/2vL5aw6v8QI

Nah the NES one is considerably better, but that Atari 400 one pretty damn good. I checked out the Donkey Kong port for the 400/800 and it sucked ass. This DK JR. port is a massive improvement.

Torgo posted...

Name like three Atari 7800 games even in the same ballpark as Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Excitebike, Kung Fu, or Balloon Fight.

Food Fight, Ballblazer, and... uh... ???

The 7800 ports of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr looked pretty good.
But that audio... so bad ...

Fenriswolf posted...

LOL you still believe that myth? The NES was never a big deal in Europe and people carried on with microcomputers like Amiga, C64, Spectrum etc.

And like I said before, most early NES games are no better than Atari 7800 games. It wasn't until 1987 when the heavy hitters arrived on the US NES like Castlevania, Contra, Megaman, Tetris, Zelda etc

Nobody cares about Europe. Japan and America as far as I know are the big markets for video games. Didnt Europe used to get games super late? I know at least a few titles took forever to get over there.

And yeah nes for the most part was shit but you can't deny super Mario bros was a massive hit. You talk to most people in my age range and they will say it was their first game.

Sufferedphoenix posted...

Nobody cares about Europe. Japan and America as far as I know are the big markets for video games. Didnt Europe used to get games super late? I know at least a few titles took forever to get over there.

And yeah nes for the most part was shit but you can't deny super Mario bros was a massive hit. You talk to most people in my age range and they will say it was their first game.

Japan is only big in terms of influence and not raw sales, given the population disparity between the three regions. And also Japan had many successful platforms there like the PC Engine (which outsold Mega Drive in Japan), PC 88, MSX, Sharp X68000 etc which are almost unheard of in the West.

Also NES didn't do well in Europe as America due to some botched distribution deal, so those not gaming on their microcomputers were on Sega's Master System and Mega Drive, which are more fondly remembered there.

Fenriswolf posted...

Japan is only big in terms of influence and not raw sales, given the population disparity between the three regions. And also Japan had many successful platforms there like the PC Engine (which outsold Mega Drive in Japan), PC 88, MSX, Sharp X68000 etc which are almost unheard of in the West.

Also NES didn't do well in Europe as America due to some botched distribution deal, so those not gaming on their microcomputers were on Sega's Master System and Mega Drive, which are more fondly remembered there.

I haven't done it in awhile but I used to look at release dates and Europe always seemed like a afterthought. It's not a slight against them as they can't help that.

Europe back then; Games released later, sometimes years later, if they were released at all, and most of the time not optimized for PAL, which meant black bars, slower gameplay and/or slower music.
One example of the music is
https://youtu.be/5v65gkHB7DA?si=H5z768AphQXX8-Bg
VS
https://youtu.be/QNXUE8X1mNI?si=wRyFQvg9UDdBztgw

WilliamPorygon posted...

My position is that the game is godawful if you don't know the rules but merely lousy if you do. Besides the collision detection for the pits being way too finicky, I find games 1 and 2 damn near impossible because the FBI agent and scientist constantly show up seemingly at random and grabbing you with no warning when changing screens and interfering with calling/boarding the ship (should you actually make it that far somehow), whereas without those guys game 3 is too easy and boring and you could just go on forever with no challenge.

There's definitely some balance adjustments that could be made to collision and difficulty but one unsalvageable part is how you just stop if you run out of food and the only way to proceed is to just wait until Elliot finds you which could take a long time. If that part of the game was cut out it would improve by like 1000%