Least Favorite Atari 7800 games

[+Mitch]

well I dont like how they play thats why I said that statement about 7800, I love the 2600 system and always will just very dissapointed in how they did the 7800 so wrong when it had so much promise with graphics and play ability only if **Tramiel** had any brains plus I'm just giving my opinion about it I'm not bashing anyone on here if they do like a lot of the 7800 games, so sorry to anyone if me not liking 88-92% of the 7800 games offended them.

 

I agree with DracIsBack, are you really saying there are only 5 or 6 good 7800 games?? What are you doing in a 7800 forum then?

 

Mitch

[Armonigann]

well I dont like how they play thats why I said that statement about 7800, I love the 2600 system and always will just very dissapointed in how they did the 7800 so wrong when it had so much promise with graphics and play ability only if **Tramiel** had any brains plus I'm just giving my opinion about it I'm not bashing anyone on here if they do like a lot of the 7800 games, so sorry to anyone if me not liking 88-92% of the 7800 games offended them.

 

I agree with DracIsBack, are you really saying there are only 5 or 6 good 7800 games?? What are you doing in a 7800 forum then?

 

Mitch

Exactly! Why would you express some ignorant statement such as that in A 7800 FORUM! Especially since in one of your previous threads you said your 12 away from having the complete 7800 collection..Why collect for somethng you obviously do not like the majority of?..

[thursday83]

I love the guy that went through every game. He was pretty much right on. I'll give you my 5 most hated, but since this is my favorite system - I still agree with Mitch, et al, re: that 88-92% of the games suck. That's just fodder for angst on this forum. You probably know that by now. Anyhoo:

 

1. Well - no. There's no #1 just yet. Let's clear the air, and just go with the popular vote by saying that all of the flight sims on the 7800 - the 3 of them - aren't worth discussing. No one gives a rat's ass about ace of aces, etc....so the top 5 suck games after we leave those flight sims out, are:

 

1 again. Mat Mania Challenge: Mat mania being one of my favorite arcade games, turned into the translation of complete garbage in the 7800 format. Guys don't stay down after major damage being laid on them, impossible to do most of the moves on the games due to the overly easy reversal aspect, and basically most matches ending up in pointless slugfests....

Not to mention that there is no goal - you can win and win and just continue to face the same guy over and over again (that looks exactly like you with blue trunks) and it doesn't stop. Stupid. I WANT A GOOD WRESTLING GAME FOR THE 7800!!! I'VE SAID IT SEVERAL TIMES ON THIS FORUM!!!

 

 

 

2. Fight Night: The good graphics, the nice title screen, I thought at first we were looking at a promising fun fighting game. So, the enemies looked good, but you can't fight as them. And, they all have a "power or special punch" and you do not. So you beat them with lame patterns of repeated body blows and switching to the head. Boring. And you can't barely defend against their big power punch. This game could have potentially been much, much better, and it didn't happen. It's too bad.

 

3. Jinks: Graphics are good, the gameplay could be good but ends up sucking, and the game never goes anywhere. Awful. It's too bad, it seems fun for the first 28 seconds, then you finally realize that "this is it?". and yes it is. Fuck this game, it's a frustrating and useless waste of time.

 

4. Title Match Pro Wrestling: Way to incorporate the 2600 game engine into this 7800 platform in this travesty of what could of been a good game. Why didn't they follow the Nintendo "Pro Wrestling" engine/style and have guys have lock ups and moves, etc....the gameplay is simply awful and should be shot. I WANT A GOOD WRESTLING GAME FOR THE 7800!!! I'VE SAID IT SEVERAL TIMES ON THIS FORUM!!!

 

5. Crack'ed: No Gun, no glory. Graphics are decent, but the gameplay is not playable. Too bad, with another name and a gun option, this game would have been fun.

 

Honorable mentions:

 

Combat 1990 - joke of a remake....especially for the 7800

Real Sports Baseball - can't believe they even tauted this one as realistic

Meltdown - yeah, I'll play it, but what the fuck. What's the deal here....

Kung Fu Master - love the arcade and most other versions....why don't the guys fall instead of just dissapearing when you hit them? And how come no stairs at the end of each round?

Winter Games - could use some love on the cross country shit.....

 

so there you have it

 

thursday83

[kourt]

well I dont like how they play thats why I said that statement about 7800, I love the 2600 system and always will just very dissapointed in how they did the 7800 so wrong when it had so much promise with graphics and play ability only if **Tramiel** had any brains plus I'm just giving my opinion about it I'm not bashing anyone on here if they do like a lot of the 7800 games, so sorry to anyone if me not liking 88-92% of the 7800 games offended them.

 

I agree with DracIsBack, are you really saying there are only 5 or 6 good 7800 games?? What are you doing in a 7800 forum then?

 

Mitch

Exactly! Why would you express some ignorant statement such as that in A 7800 FORUM! Especially since in one of your previous threads you said your 12 away from having the complete 7800 collection..Why collect for somethng you obviously do not like the majority of?..

well I'm collecting them to sell the entire collection to somebody who wants to own it all thats why, I like about 12 games is all I havent played any homebrew games so I dont count them as part of what I said, and dont reply if you dont like what I said.

[The_Laird]

 

well I'm collecting them to sell the entire collection to somebody who wants to own it all thats why, I like about 12 games is all I havent played any homebrew games so I dont count them as part of what I said, and dont reply if you dont like what I said.

 

Then you are totally mental as everyone knows that you never ever make as much money selling a collection as a whole as you would do selling individual games and you would most certainly make a MASSIVE loss on what you spent collecting it doing it this way/

[Underball]

well I dont like how they play thats why I said that statement about 7800, I love the 2600 system and always will just very dissapointed in how they did the 7800 so wrong when it had so much promise with graphics and play ability only if **Tramiel** had any brains plus I'm just giving my opinion about it I'm not bashing anyone on here if they do like a lot of the 7800 games, so sorry to anyone if me not liking 88-92% of the 7800 games offended them.

 

I agree with DracIsBack, are you really saying there are only 5 or 6 good 7800 games?? What are you doing in a 7800 forum then?

 

Mitch

Exactly! Why would you express some ignorant statement such as that in A 7800 FORUM! Especially since in one of your previous threads you said your 12 away from having the complete 7800 collection..Why collect for somethng you obviously do not like the majority of?..

well I'm collecting them to sell the entire collection to somebody who wants to own it all thats why, I like about 12 games is all I havent played any homebrew games so I dont count them as part of what I said, and dont reply if you dont like what I said.

And well, there you have it.

 

He doesn't really like this system and is only in it for the sale/money aspect.

 

I really just plain don't like classic gaming scene vultures/price gougers like this. It's as bad as that other thread where people who say things like "Yeah you can find R4 and R5 7800 games for $10 in the wild", yet these same guys are trying to sell these same R4 games on here on AA to some of us for $30 or $40.

 

It you're in it to play the games, I'm down with that. If you're trying to complete a collection for yourself, that's cool too. If you're only here to "flip" semi-rare games for some retarded profit and drive up the price of games that aren't worth as much as you'd like to make on them - I don't believe you should be allowed to post here.

 

 

/end rant.

Edited January 15, 2010 by Underball

[+save2600]

Commando - Atari did a great Job with this one. Best console version available at the time.

 

Hey, that was kinda fun going through your list like that, but I'd have to say that the NES version of Commando was the best of the console versions. 7800 port was quite admirable, but there's something too linear about the gameplay or level design, which I never felt on the NES. Also, the fact you can only chuck your grenades forward is pretty lame and lack of 2-player simultaneous mode. Still, a great port for what it is and what system it's on. Funny how us Atari 7800 and Jaguar users never tire of defending "our" systems that way. lol

Edited January 15, 2010 by save2600

[BrianC]

Hey, that was kinda fun going through your list like that, but I'd have to say that the NES version of Commando was the best of the console versions. 7800 port was quite admirable, but there's something too linear about the gameplay or level design, which I never felt on the NES. Also, the fact you can only chuck your grenades forward is pretty lame and lack of 2-player simultaneous mode. Still, a great port for what it is and what system it's on.

 

Commando always had linear level design. The 7800 level designs come from the arcade. All other versions of Commando, including NES and arcade, only have forward fire for grenades and lack co-op too. NES version has secret passageways (which 7800 does too), but the level design is linear for that too. I have to play the NES one more for an opinion, but, from what I have seen, the NES version of Commando seems to be a bit buggy and seems to have less space to move around in than in other versions.

Edited January 16, 2010 by BrianC

[nonner242]

I still wanna get the steal on games you guys seem to get.

I got a few....very few steals here. But I can name 1 or 2 that I would say rocked

But Most of the time if it something fairly good (sometimes not) Im still paying/trading for about ebay prices or more here on AA.

Even in the wild by me there are not any great deal or anything. I guess I just live in a fairly crappy area for games or I always miss them.

It has not always been this way 8+ years ago when the Flea Bizzars here and there, but I think Ebay and such made everyone into power shopper/sellers.

What we need is a fairly up to date video Game Guide for systems and such. Taken by Ebay/Amazon/CTCW/GameGavel(insert others stes here) auction averages.

But if I want it I have no real choice than Ebay...so I gotta pay.

Edited January 16, 2010 by nonner242

[+save2600]

Commando always had linear level design. The 7800 level designs come from the arcade. All other versions of Commando, including NES and arcade, only have forward fire for grenades and lack co-op too. NES version has secret passageways (which 7800 does too), but the level design is linear for that too. I have to play the NES one more for an opinion, but, from what I have seen, the NES version of Commando seems to be a bit buggy and seems to have less space to move around in than in other versions.

 

Right you are - boy do I feel like an ass. Just played the arcade version and was surprised to find my memory about Commando was so different. lol Could have sworn you could throw the grenade 360˙ and had 2-play simul play. Looks like they did a helluva job with the conversion then and yeah, I do remember the NES version having flicker. Oh well - thanks for the eye opener. I like the 7800 version that much more now!!

[nonner242]

Maybe you got Ikari Fever on the mind?

 

 

[+save2600]

Maybe you got Ikari Fever on the mind?

 

Yep, that's it! lol Funny thing is, despite the lack of Ikari like features of Commando, I think I like it better than Ikari Warriors. Now if they could have combined the two... wait, how about this for a homebrew idea... Gunsmoke! I love that game to this day. Have it in arcade form. Now that, I remember being excellent on the NES back in the day.

 

 

 

 

[kourt]

Maybe you got Ikari Fever on the mind?

 

Yep, that's it! lol Funny thing is, despite the lack of Ikari like features of Commando, I think I like it better than Ikari Warriors. Now if they could have combined the two... wait, how about this for a homebrew idea... Gunsmoke! I love that game to this day. Have it in arcade form. Now that, I remember being excellent on the NES back in the day.

ya Gunsmoke was an awesome game for the nes system, and if done right would be fun to play for any atari system if it were made correctly.

[BrianC]

Funny thing is, despite the lack of Ikari like features of Commando, I think I like it better than Ikari Warriors. Now if they could have combined the two...

 

You might want to try Secret Command/Rambo: First Blood Part II for the SMS. It has co-op and grenades that fire in more than one direction. It also has a lot of similarities to Commando.

 

I wouldn't mind a port of Gunsmoke, but the arcade one had three buttons. I prefer the arcade for its difficulty, more stages, and not having to find wanted posters, but I like the NES port as well.

Edited January 16, 2010 by BrianC

[jaybird3rd]

Here is the basic rule of thumb I use when it comes to ranking 7800 games:

 

The original titles from GCC most obviously rank at the top: they understood the 7800 and knew how to get the most out of it, having designed it for Atari, and the arcade ports they did are among the best versions of those games (particularly Asteroids and Centipede, which added the outstanding cooperative/competitive multiplayer modes).

 

The flight sim and sports games--with the exception of Summer Games and Winter Games--rank most obviously at the bottom: most of them seem to have been done in a hurry to flesh out the 7800 catalog and are pretty forgettable.

 

All of the others (at least among Atari's official releases) are somewhere in the middle, and unfortunately, more of them seem to be closer to the bottom than the top. However, the good games that the 7800 has to offer make it a pleasure to own, and that's especially true now that we're seeing some great work being done by homebrew developers.

 

So, leaving out the obvious categories I've just mentioned, here are my least favorite games (in no particular order):

 

Karateka: Could have been a decent port, but the bizarre control scheme and choppy graphics sinks it.

Crack'ed: Again, this one could have been good. It's an interesting concept, and it looks great, but it really needed to be a light gun game.

Jinks: Potentially interesting concept, horrid implementation. Its one and only redeeming characteristic is the fully-populated C300565 board and 8K RAM chip that was used in the cartridge, making it an ideal and guilt-free donor for new homebrew games.

Super Skateboardin': Yet another multi-screen horizontal platformer from David Crane. A monotonous, disappointing effort that looks and feels like something that could have been done on the 2600.

Planet Smashers: Just plain boring. If you want a scrolling shooter, skip this one and check out Plutos and Sirius.

[kourt]

Here is the basic rule of thumb I use when it comes to ranking 7800 games:

 

The original titles from GCC most obviously rank at the top: they understood the 7800 and knew how to get the most out of it, having designed it for Atari, and the arcade ports they did are among the best versions of those games (particularly Asteroids and Centipede, which added the outstanding cooperative/competitive multiplayer modes).

 

The flight sim and sports games--with the exception of Summer Games and Winter Games--rank most obviously at the bottom: most of them seem to have been done in a hurry to flesh out the 7800 catalog and are pretty forgettable.

 

All of the others (at least among Atari's official releases) are somewhere in the middle, and unfortunately, more of them seem to be closer to the bottom than the top. However, the good games that the 7800 has to offer make it a pleasure to own, and that's especially true now that we're seeing some great work being done by homebrew developers.

 

So, leaving out the obvious categories I've just mentioned, here are my least favorite games (in no particular order):

 

Karateka: Could have been a decent port, but the bizarre control scheme and choppy graphics sinks it.

Crack'ed: Again, this one could have been good. It's an interesting concept, and it looks great, but it really needed to be a light gun game.

Jinks: Potentially interesting concept, horrid implementation. Its one and only redeeming characteristic is the fully-populated C300565 board and 8K RAM chip that was used in the cartridge, making it an ideal and guilt-free donor for new homebrew games.

Super Skateboardin': Yet another multi-screen horizontal platformer from David Crane. A monotonous, disappointing effort that looks and feels like something that could have been done on the 2600.

Planet Smashers: Just plain boring. If you want a scrolling shooter, skip this one and check out Plutos and Sirius.

ya, I dont hear much about scrapyard dog It seems like a decent game just havent gotten around to playing it much

[DracIsBack]

Karateka: Could have been a decent port, but the bizarre control scheme and choppy graphics sinks it.]/quote]

 

Yeah. You please the XE version (a cart ported from the disk) and you realize how rushed and sloppy this on on the 7800.

 

Jinks: Potentially interesting concept, horrid implementation. Its one and only redeeming characteristic is the fully-populated C300565 board and 8K RAM chip that was used in the cartridge, making it an ideal and guilt-free donor for new homebrew games.

 

I'm not getting all the Jinks hate here. I don't particularly like the game, but I don't think it's anywhere near "bottom five" material. I can think of a number of games I'd rank below it. And it has digitized sound.

 

Super Skateboardin': Yet another multi-screen horizontal platformer from David Crane. A monotonous, disappointing effort that looks and feels like something that could have been done on the 2600.

 

That's a bit of an exaggeration. :-)

[Vic George 2K3]

My two least favorites are Karateka and Choplifter.