On Super Breakout and Space Invaders

[Inky]

Wayyy back in the day when I originally owned a 5200 at the tail end of its life, I had the 52 with the Super Breakout pack in.

 

Now I do agree with everyone that its a bad pack-in game -- Pac Man would have been a much better pack in -- but SB was by no means a bad game. In fact the only thing that disappointed me about it was the lack of the sound from the 2600 version. Other than that, graphically, it was neat the way the blocks dissolved, and it was a perfect game for the stock controllers. Indeed not bad by any means.

 

 

As for Space Invaders... Yeah it was an acient title atthe time, but this too was not a bad title. I remember being in awe att he variety of enemy graphics in the game. I remember practicing on it to see what the invaders at the later levels looked like. Once again, by no means a bad title.

 

In reality there were few bad titles that I can remember on the 5200. I was never a fan of galaxian in the arccade, so that colors my opinion of it on the 52, and I thought that defender looked too messy to these eyes. BUt really, those werent too bad either.

 

IN short, SB and SI are good solid titles.. not the best, but dont deserve the bad rep I hear from time to time.

[joeybastard]

5200 Super Breakout is a good game although I still prefer using paddles on the VCS version.

 

5200 SI is a good game too but I think much of the negative comments comes from it's straying from the arcade SI. I think it's further from the coin-op version than the VCS SI. If they had an option where you could play a balls-on accurate arcade port or the new "enhanced" version(like they do with modern compilations), I think it would be more warmly received. I like to play 5200 SI with the trakball just for a different play dynamic.

Edited March 9, 2008 by joeybastard

[jboypacman]

I like Super Breakout on the 5200 i picked it up last year at Goodwill CIB and i played it quite abit for the first month i had it i might have to "break it out" again and play it some more(Pun intended).

 

 

Space Invaders for the 5200 is a different story for me i got it free about 2 years ago i think from PressureCooker i think and i was pretty excited when it arrived in the mail as i love Space Invaders but after i played it on the 5200 i went right back and started playing the 2600 version which i still like better.

[Inky]

As I said in another thread, I got to get my 5200 fixed. Got it a few years ago from my dad who found it in a basement. (Wish I still had my original 5200, but that's a sad story for another time) I want to revisit all my favorite old 5200 games (Esp 5200 SPace Dungeon).

 

As for SI.. JOey, I think the changes kept the game fresh. Tho I agree, a good classic version of the arcade game would be a welcome addition.

[jboypacman]

I got Space Dungeon on a trade a while back i really need to sit down and give it a good play sometime.

[midnight8]

I like Super Breakout on the 5200 i picked it up last year at Goodwill CIB and i played it quite abit for the first month i had it i might have to "break it out" again and play it some more(Pun intended).

 

 

Space Invaders for the 5200 is a different story for me i got it free about 2 years ago i think from PressureCooker i think and i was pretty excited when it arrived in the mail as i love Space Invaders but after i played it on the 5200 i went right back and started playing the 2600 version which i still like better.

 

I actually like space invaders on the 5200. I like the way it looks and even like the sound on it. I have always been partial to the 5200 though. It was the system I had the most fun with as a kid. I wish I still had my master play interfaces I had when I was a kid.

[NE146]

Here's the thing about Space Invaders home ports back then as I was a SI freak in the 70's as a kid, and got every home port/handheld I could find.

 

I liked and played them all just fine... but the one thing that bugged me even then as now was that yes, I didn't mind so much that they changed it from the original, HOWEVER if they would just have incorporated SOME aspects that made the arcade game unique from other shooters at the time then it would have enhanced it that much more. And it wasn't much.. of course I'm talking about dumb little things like counting shots, the wall of death (where the invaders don't shoot on the bottom row), and maybe even a rainbow bonus when shooting a bottom invader last. And yes, as a kid on every friggin new port of Space Invaders I got my hands on including LED handhelds those were the very first things I would try

 

So yeah I think 5200/8bit Invaders or any computer/console port could have remained the same games they are, but just put those things in it! Instead most if not all completely ignored all those gameplay aspects.. Without it, it sort of takes out the strategy aspect of Space Invaders and reduces it to a simple Galaxian style shooter. And in Galaxian, the only thing to do is "shoot aliens. Avoid bullets".

 

p.s. Incidentally Entex Space Invader handheld is the one home port that includes counting as far as I know. That's what made it awesome

 

[midnight8]

for some reason I used to always try to shoot the top ones first too. I don't really know why.

 

 

Here's the thing about Space Invaders home ports back then as I was a SI freak in the 70's as a kid, and got every home port/handheld I could find.

 

I liked and played them all just fine... but the one thing that bugged me even then as now was that yes, I didn't mind so much that they changed it from the original, HOWEVER if they would just have incorporated SOME aspects that made the arcade game unique from other shooters at the time then it would have enhanced it that much more. And it wasn't much.. of course I'm talking about dumb little things like counting shots, the wall of death (where the invaders don't shoot on the bottom row), and maybe even a rainbow bonus when shooting a bottom invader last. And yes, as a kid on every friggin new port of Space Invaders I got my hands on including LED handhelds those were the very first things I would try

 

So yeah I think 5200/8bit Invaders or any computer/console port could have remained the same games they are, but just put those things in it! Instead most if not all completely ignored all those gameplay aspects.. Without it, it sort of takes out the strategy aspect of Space Invaders and reduces it to a simple Galaxian style shooter. And in Galaxian, the only thing to do is "shoot aliens. Avoid bullets".

 

p.s. Incidentally Entex Space Invader handheld is the one home port that includes counting as far as I know. That's what made it awesome

 

[Recycled]

 

 

I had one of those!! I didn't remember until I saw the photo. I had a crummy LED pac man as well.

[jboypacman]

Having gotten the Space Invaders Collection for the ColecoVision recently i must say its the best home port of the game i have played.

[phuzaxeman]

super breakout was one of my favorite games. one of the best things on the game was it rated you by commenting, "good, excellent, etc"

 

i was getting really good at it. progressive and double were my favs. i personally think it was a top 10 5200 game and you couldnt play this version on any other console.

[BydoEmpire]

I had an Entex handheld Space Invaders, too - it was awesome. I played soooo much of that game.

 

The first time I ever played 5200 SI was for the HSC, and I enjoyed it. I kind of liked that it was a little different than the arcade.

[tyranthraxus]

What does that LED Space Invaders sell for these days?

[mimo]

I love the 5200 Invaders, I love that Rob Fullop got his initials in the bottom 2 rows of invaders

I much prefer it over the 2600 version, but not as much as the Roklan 8bit version.

 

Looking forward to Pac Man Plus getting round to doing SI for the 7800.

 

Super Breakout is much more fun with a paddle controller imo

[CV Gus]

Well, it's true- neither game was bad, and with my paddle controller, I do like Super Breakout- but if anyone did, they had the 2600 version. My only guess was Atari knew that it's sales of cartridges, not consoles, that makes a company money, so by including that game people would buy a cartridge right off. Intelligent stupidity- people would feel ripped off.

 

Space Invaders? By itself, not bad. But the 2600 version was better, especially with the simultaneous 2-player options. And it was much closer to the arcade version in spirit. The graphics and sound were just as good, too- but the 2600 base looked better.

 

Atari did stumble there.

[opeygon]

i think space invaders for the 5200 kicks ass! i've been dying to get my hands on a space invaders collection for the colecovision like jboy has. untill i try that, the 5200 port is my fav. when i'm really jonesin for space invaders, i fire up mame

 

super breakout is pretty good, but like many others, i find it much more enjoyable with a paddle controller.

[flowmotion]

I never got the hang of SB with the sticks, but SI is a well executed game.

 

However, from a strategic standpoint I'm not sure if Atari should have released these games for the 5200 in the first place and certainly not as launch titles. Neither of them really showed off the power of the 5200 over the 2600.

[Lord Helmet]

 

 

I had one of those!! I didn't remember until I saw the photo. I had a crummy LED pac man as well.

 

IMHO Entex made the best hand held games. I even liked them better than the tabletop Coleco games. I has Space Invaders back in the day. Now I have several Entex games. Love 'em.