Biggest Atari 2600 Letdowns

[Tempest]

Actually there WAS a reasoning to the EW puzzles. Follow the comic and see. FW just seemed totally random to me though (anyone figure out the pattern?).

 

Tempest

[Torr]

By the way, I don't share a lot of your views of how crappy most games were ported, eg Pac Man, Defender, Donkey Kong (jr), etc...

 

I grew up in a small town with NO arcade so I never played ANY of these games in an arcade, in fact I STILL have never played any actual stand up arcade version of ANY game that was ported to the 2600 (except Mario Bros & Mr Do. (which I OWN muhahahaha)

 

In Fact, I remember my friend having Pac Man on her NES when the NES first came out and I still had my 2600 thinking, wow, Nintendo sure screwed up Pacman! boy did "I" have that back asswards!

[Paul Slocum]

Yup now that you mention it, Swordquest Earthworld was by far the biggest let down when I was a kid. I'd heard so much hype about it, then got it and realized it was boring and stupid. The more I think about it, the more I really think that's the worst game ever put out by Atari. Basically it is a game of trying thousands of permutations. That's not fun. I'm still convinced that the winner just disassembled the ROM.

 

-Paul

[Nukey Shay]

Never owned the SQ games, so I can't comment on those. You are correct about the hype though. From the description, you would think that it is a game with the added bonus of being a contest...when in fact it's the other way around "Adventure II"...bah!

 

I was a complete Pac-head, though...so that was the turning point for me. It is a pretty good game, but not PacMan (which was the point of getting it to me).

[Godzilla]

for me at the time, as a kid, there weren't really any let downs. and of the few games I could afford to buy were all awesome to me, no matter how much they may have actually sucked. Later on, when game prices were throw-away ($.50c each for s/w new 2600 games at odd-lots,) and I started stocking up, and just the fact that I had 5 2600 games instead of 4 was no longer a cause for celebration (since I would sometimes buy them 10 or 20 at a time,) It was much easier to not force myself to play the turds :-)

 

And from that time period, my biggest let down would definately have to be Burger Time. He Man was close. Even though I was really impressed with the AMAZING prince adam artwork in he-man (LOL) I had already been spoilt by the INTV versions of those games, and the 2600 versions made me gag.

[Inky]

The Swordquest series by FAR is the greatest disappointment

 

 

I say ALL games Coleco made for the 2600  - they stink and were probably part of a deliberate effort to make it look bad.

 

???

 

Mouse Trap pretty well rocked, and is a much much better maze game than Pac-Man, Zaxxon is playable if you forget it's Zaxxon, Smurf was a neat little platformer. I thoroughly enjoyed Carnival, and Venture is considered an all-time 2600 classic.

[NE146]

Biggest letdown as a kid with my 2600

 

Freeway

I was expecting head to head style Frogger. Maybe even able to push the other character if you get close to them.

But no, just forward, backward, forward, foward, backward, waiting for a car to pass...

 

I had the EXACT same experience. I thought "oooh a Frogger with chickens!" only to find you could only move up and down . And to top it off.. it was a friggin TIMED game (arrghh we hates those). I think I talked about this in the "least favorite Activision" thread from a while ago as well

 

Good thing Parker Bros. Frogger came out later and was as awesome as it was Now THERE was a game. PB Frogger rulez all!

 

(And please don't respond with a "Starpath Frogger was so much better". Yes we ALL know about Starpath Frogger. But it seems that any time someone mentions Parker Bros. Frogger, you get some dude chiming in with the "enlightening" news about the Starpath version )

[sku_u]

Here's my list of flops for the Atari 2600:

 

1. ET

2. Swordquest Waterworld

3. Swordquest Earthworld

4. Swordquest Fireworld

5. Donkey Kong

6. Donkey Kong Jr.

 

 

All of the above games pretty much sucked royally.

[black dog]

Paying for my thrust+ 8 months ago and still not receiving it.

[joeybastard]

No Robotron is my biggest VCS letdown. I wanted it sooooooo bad as a kid.

[Bivotar]

I still recall the sad day when after my brother and I had saved up enough money to buy a 2600 game, only to get Imagic's "Riddle of the Sphinx". He wanted to get Cosmic Ark, but me being a fan of Adventure thought Riddle of Sphinx looked cool. Boy was my brother mad at me. They should have called it Riddle of the Sphincter.

 

We never finished it, didn't care to, and it was by far our biggest disappointment on the 2600. I definitely let him pick the next game!

[MegaManFan]

I still recall the sad day when after my brother and I had saved up enough money to buy a 2600 game, only to get Imagic's "Riddle of the Sphinx".  He wanted to get Cosmic Ark, but me being a fan of Adventure thought Riddle of Sphinx looked cool.  Boy was my brother mad at me.  They should have called it Riddle of the Sphincter.  

 

We never finished it, didn't care to, and it was by far our biggest disappointment on the 2600.  I definitely let him pick the next game!

 

That's precisely what jaded me about "console gaming" when I was young - no matter how good the advertising on TV, in Electronic Games, or on the box was, the game never looked or played half as cool. Once I got a Commodore 64, I swore I'd never play a console game again.. until I saw somebody playing Legend of Zelda on an NES. I was like WHAT IS THAT? Then I saw Link +throw+ his sword across the screen with that cool P-YAOW sound and I was like :love: . Someday I'll have to write Nintendo a thank you letter for saving console gaming for me, otherwise I'd never have come all the way back to Atari classics! I can now genuinely appreciate the older games because the advertising and graphics don't even factor in any more - only whether it's fun and if I don't already have one.

[Paul Slocum]

Actually there WAS a reasoning to the EW puzzles.  Follow the comic and see.

 

Really? Enough to figure out those really big complex combinations of items towards the end?

 

-Paul

[NE146]

Actually there WAS a reasoning to the EW puzzles.  Follow the comic and see.

 

Really? Enough to figure out those really big complex combinations of items towards the end?

 

-Paul

 

Eh? there were PUZZLES in Swordquest? I don't seem to recall any :lol:

 

Again, I think the whole point of Swordquest can be plainly seen if we simply do my idea for a LIVE Swordquest event. (Maybe the at the upcoming CGE?). To recant a previous post:

 

You start with a large house with many rooms and in each room put in a table. Then you get a bunch of items (like a coke can, a turnip, a wico joystick, a watermelon, etc.) Then get some contestant to walk around and see if he can figure out what items to put on what table using an old Teenage Ninja Turtles comic book as his guide.

 

Of course you'd have to figure out a few details like maybe having the guy solve some kind of crossword puzzle each time to get the chance to put a watermelon on the table in the living room. And some guys to open or lock doors to rooms depending on what items are on what tables. But that's it! First person to place the correct items on each of the tables wins!

[Godzilla]

I loved Riddle of the Sphinx, I couldn't stop playing it till I beat it. But I haven't really played it much since. Cosmic Ark, however, is one of the greatest games of all time, ever.

(RE freeway. GOD I hate timed games, too. & yes 26k pb frogger is just plain awesome as a good ol simple 2600 game. Extra ram? we don't need no stinkin' extra ram!) & most of coleco's later games are still damn impressive, like Front Line & Time Pilot

 

And, yes, Black Dog, I know your pain. Soon it will be a YEAR since I paid for my Thrust +... and lord knows how long I've been waiting for the manual/fixed board for QB....

[Robert M]

If we are arguing the biggest difference between the advertising hype and the actual game. I would have to vote for SQ Earthworld. That "game" was so far from the hype. The comic book made you think there would be combat of some sort. When I realized you couldn't die, and you just move the objects endlessly around hoping to see some numbers, I was really bummed. I was hoping for an improved Adventure.

[Rob Mitchell]

ooohh! Video Olympics..game of the GODS

 

Agreed! I bought a second pair of paddles in 1979 just to play 4 person Pong Sports. That made for some video game parties then!

 

A disappointment then was not finding a "Catch" version on that cart.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Nukey Shay]

If we are arguing the biggest difference between the advertising hype and the actual game. I would have to vote for SQ Earthworld.   That "game" was so far from the hype.    The comic book made you think there would be combat of some sort.   When I realized you couldn't die, and you just move the objects endlessly around hoping to see some numbers, I was really bummed.  I was hoping for an improved Adventure.

 

That was kind of a side topic. In your case SQ:EW probably filled both (biggest letdown and unwarrented hype).

[Paul Slocum]

ooohh! Video Olympics..game of the GODS

 

I have a lot more respect for Video Olympics now. I just remember really thinking it sucked when I first played it. The graphics are about as simple as you can get, and I got it kind of late and had already been dazzled by a lot of nice Activision graphics.

 

I still think Space Attack blows, though.

 

-Paul

[Godzilla]

Man, I just remembered another HUGE let-down I had as a kid. I -REALLY- wanted Atari's graduate module for the 2600 so I could make my on 2600 games. And it NEVER came out. Even though one of my game magazines had a big feature on it, with pictures of the unit and everything. What a tease.

[Nukey Shay]

There's always Basic Programming

 

 

Look!  I made a program that overflows memory!

 

1 Note<-Note+Key

2 Print"BOOK"

3 Goto1

[Room 34]

And I liked Donkey Kong, BTW. Sure it only had 2 screens, but they both played well.

I agree... I know DK was not as good as the arcade version, but it was VERY playable... I actually find it more playable than the 7800 version, which is a lot closer to the arcade. For some reason, I always have trouble getting off the tops of the ladders in that one.

 

As for Pac-Man and Defender, well... I was 8 when those came out for the 2600, and had never played EITHER in the arcade! I loved them both, and was actually disappointed with the ARCADE versions the first time I tried them a year or two later. (OK, I got over my disappointment with arcade Pac-Man pretty quickly... but I still think arcade Defender is too stinkin' HARD!)

[Room 34]

Biggest letdown as a kid with my 2600

 

Freeway

I was expecting head to head style Frogger.

 

I had the EXACT same experience. I thought "oooh a Frogger with chickens!" only to find you could only move up and down .

 

Of course, Freeway actually came out BEFORE the ARCADE Frogger...

 

I agree with NE1, though... Parker Bros.' Frogger is on my top 10 list!

[+cvga]

Another game that I thought was a letdown was Firefighter by Imagic. I couldn't wait to get this game home and play it when I was about 12 years old. The graphics are good and the concept is cool but the game seems incomplete. I haven't played it in a long time but is it ever worthwhile to use the water to reduce the flames?

[Big Player]

I liked both Freeway and Donkey Kong.

 

Freeway was a good game when you had a bunch of kids over, the timed aspect kept everyone from just watching. I also liked just playing two players as well.

 

Donkey Kong wasn't great, but I enjoyed playing it. It didn't disapoint me at the time, since most 2600 ports at the time were weak compared to the arcade. And it was a much better port than Pac Man.