Krytol Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 I thought of this topic while playing Street Racer. I'm thinking Golf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 How could you be playing Street Racer and think of any game other than Street Racer in the "bad graphics" category? Well, OK, maybe Outlaw. Actually, I think the worst graphics -- not lowest-detail, just worst quality -- are definitely in Journey Escape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattK Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 Frogs and Flies. The Intellivision version is much better (i.e., the bugs actually look like bugs instead of flying dots). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 I agree. The Frogs & Flies playfield looks like a big graphics crash. Runners-up would definitely be Bobby Is Going Home by Puzzy/Bit, or Condor Attack by Ultravision. That game moves like a flip-it book with every third page torn out. The characters move and shoot as if they're in a movie being played on a projector with chewing gum stuck in the gears. Unless this cannon thing can help me with the condors in Pitfall II, I'm not interested. Third runner-up would definitely have to be Mr. Postman, also an import from Puzzy/Bit. The scarcity of the cart is deserved (like most super-rare games). CF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 Well, now we're talking about motion and gameplay, not graphics. I'd give a big vote to Super Cobra in that department. I used to have an old PC game that was a clone of Super Cobra that I loved to play (despite its white, cyan, and magenta color palette!) and when I saw a screenshot of Super Cobra for the 2600 recently, I thought, "EXCELLENT... now I can play this game I loved on my old PC, on the 2600!" Needless to say, I was very disappointed when I got it. Graphically it's more than adequate, but the movement is so jerky it is almost unplayable. Can anyone give me an assessment of Commando Raid? It looks like an old Apple II game I used to love called Sabotage, but I'd like to know how the gameplay is before I get a copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 Regarding Commando Raid: There's nothing more frustrating than playing a game that could be addictive but which has been ruined by a bug or oversight. The graphics are excellent and the cannon-at-the-bottom concept's actually unique in this case; you don't have to worry about threats to the gun itself, since it's not harmed by paratroopers (which is a good thing, since you can't move anything except its aim). You just have to protect the cities to either side from men who want to land on them, because when enough reach one city, they can get underground and start tunneling toward your cannon. And they ain't a-comin' over to play records. This Missile Command-like defensive campaign could've been a lot of fun, especially with these graphics and this fluid movement; but it's not a good game. Not at all. The collision detection routine in the code fails at least half the time. You have to shoot a trooper two or three times before the game realizes that he's dead. You can almost hear the ol' 2600 saying, "Oh yeah. Sorry." The gun can't aim very low, which augments the bug; by the time you've managed to register a shot, edge-of-screen baddies have fallen below your gun's extreme shooting angle. If the collision detection routine worked, I'd recommend this game. But it's frustrating because of the bug. -- Verbose Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 That's too bad. Sabotage on the Apple II was a great way to kill time in studyhall back in high school! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari freak 1 Posted June 26, 2002 Share Posted June 26, 2002 What about home run? All it is, is 4 dots and 2 stick men. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ataribernie Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 Karate by Froggo has the worst graphics AND the worst gameplay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 Karate by Froggo has the worst graphics AND the worst gameplay! My God! You are correct! This is hideous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian M Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 Amidar by Parker Bros has the ugliest, most unappealing graphics I've seen on any system. Hated that game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Atari Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 Everything about Karate makes me sick. Karate is definitely the worst 2600 game ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torr Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 I haven't played EVERY 2600 game, but of the ones I did play, it'd be a tie between Amidar and Challenge... And by the way, I have a Zellars copy of Challenge and the box art is REAL crazy. The plot of Challenge is your a duck trying to get thru a maze The box and cart label for it show two guy who look like Ghostbusters (they even have the patch on their shoulder) zapping a big monster with there "guns". I must say Donkey Kong Jr almost made it into that tie, but it's graphcs are only bad when you compare it to the original... really they aren't THAT bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ulikemeinoit Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 Karate and Surround, cmon, just blocks appearing on a plain field... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 I must say Donkey Kong Jr almost made it into that tie, but it's graphcs are only bad when you compare it to the original... really they aren't THAT bad... DKJr is pretty bad. I am used to the 7800 version, which I love (enough so that Junior was my avatar on this board for a while!), but I find the 2600 version completely unplayable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Sixer Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 Worst graphics? The winner is... Pong! C'mon, it's two rectangles and a square. Graphics straight from the clearance aisle at K-Mart. Third place (after Surround) probably belongs to Video Olympics, since it's nothing more than "Ultimate Pong". Instead of two rectangles and a square, you get lots of rectangles and squares! Whoo-hoo! Movin' up to the big time, now! I agree that Street Racer's graphics are bad - they're almost painful to witness. However, I'm not inclined to be so hard on Frogs & Flies. I admit to being biased, as this is an old favorite of mine. The Intellivision's graphics were better, but the 2600 game was more fun, simply because the controls and animation of the latter were far smoother than those of the former. I also like Donkey Kong Jr., despite its dismal renderings. HEAVY***6***er Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 I know what you mean. In fact, as usual, I've prepared a discourse on Pong, this piece being for the Atari Times: http://www.ataritimes.com/arcade/reviews/rev_pong.html So I catch your drift. -- Never-ashamed-of-plugging-himself Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 Worst graphics? The winner is... Pong! C'mon, it's two rectangles and a square. Graphics straight from the clearance aisle at K-Mart. Third place (after Surround) probably belongs to Video Olympics, since it's nothing more than "Ultimate Pong". Instead of two rectangles and a square, you get lots of rectangles and squares! Whoo-hoo! Movin' up to the big time, now! But aren't we talking about the 2600? There was no "Pong" game for the 2600, just Video Olympics (a.k.a. Pong Sports at Sears). Yeah, I guess I am going to go back and say Video Olympics has the worst graphics. But, it is what it is. This was one of the initial batch of games for the 2600, and it was what everyone wanted back then. At the time, pretty much the only home video game systems that existed were Pong-type games, with maybe 6 or 7 variations built-in, but here was a cartridge based system that had 50 variations of Pong... IN COLOR! I think the very early (circa 1977-1978) 2600 games are much maligned, because they are taken out of context. It's not like Outlaw and Pitfall! came out at the same time, after all! A lot happened in the video game universe between 1978 and 1982. It's a testament to the flexibility of the 2600 (and the skill of the game programmers) that it was able to handle those changes, such that even in 1990 a few commercial games were still being produced for the system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 I agree -- primitive games from the late '70s have to be perceived in context. It was still quite a novelty to even be able to move an object manually on your TV screen. Television turned from passive entertainment to active pretty quickly, and people were still fascinated by the first examples of what could be done with this flourishing technology. It's like the Sgt. Pepper album. Parts of it might sound silly and dated these days, but it's more fun to listen to if you realize that those who first listened to it had never heard anything even remotely like it before. -- Stop-Me-Before-I-Subreference-Again Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 It's like the Sgt. Pepper album. Parts of it might sound silly and dated these days, but it's more fun to listen to if you realize that those who first listened to it had never heard anything even remotely like it before. So... If the early Atari 2600 titles were to video games what the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper is to rock music, then what is the video game counterpart to the soundtrack of the Sgt. Pepper movie, starring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 Myst. ...i.e. a good idea -- an adventure game -- being concocted as a pale imitation of its predecessors, rendered dull by having its interaction reduced to something modern yet less involved (mouse/disco). Good question! Bad film! CF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Slocum Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 I vote for Miniature Golf. There aren't really any graphics in that game. -Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCorcoran Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 Sinistar. Ick! O.K., maybe I'm confusing gameplay with graphical quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Tails Prower Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 Everything about Karate makes me sick. Karate is definitely the worst 2600 game ever. It is bad, but I think Condor Attack is worse. I mean at least Karate is playable... As for graphics, definatley Miniature Golf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuckandCover Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 Personally speaking, Karate holds a special place of infamy amongst 2600 carts. It's graphics are horrific, and the game play is amongst the most frustrating of any game I've ever played. It's particularly horrible in light of the fact that it was a later release for the 2600, not one of the earlier, more primitive efforts. I've never played Condor Attack, but I am curious to try it just once, just so I can say I've experienced how awful it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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