7800 games that should have existed?

[NIKON]

All I can say to this stuff about the 7800 release...is.. it is what it is...you can't unscramble eggs...those who wanted a 7800 got one...software was a real issue for the 7800.

 

There is data available to make more 7800 consoles if so desired...you just have to get permission from those who own the copyrights before you start.

 

Same goes with the software that people want ported....permission needs to be secured.

 

Jack is gone (RIP) nothing we say or do is going change that...he did what he had to do...made a decision and stuck by it. The only people that really know what happened and knew his mind are the ones that were there.

 

It is pointless to debate shoulda coulda woulda..but didn't.

 

Besides I thought this thread was about games that should have been made for the 7800..not what transpired concerning the 7800 console or Atari at the time.

[+Cafeman]

I remember my surprise at seeing the 7800 on the shelf at a K-mart store. It was probably around 1986 or so. I marveled at the "3D" look of the asteroids and the other obviously great visuals, even though I kind of laughed to myself that Atari was still trying to sell "Asteroids". If the box had screenshots of 7800 versions of Crystal Castles, Kangaroo, Tempest, Black Widow, Gauntlet, or Star Wars/ Empire Strikes Back (Atari coin-ops that never really "came home" in perfect form), I'd have had more interest. Food Fight always appealed to me the most. Every game needed a Pokey chip in it though, I hate the TIA sounds after becoming used to Pokey sounds with the 5200 and A8 computer line.

[DracIsBack]

I remember my surprise at seeing the 7800 on the shelf at a K-mart store. It was probably around 1986 or so. I marveled at the "3D" look of the asteroids and the other obviously great visuals, even though I kind of laughed to myself that Atari was still trying to sell "Asteroids". If the box had screenshots of 7800 versions of Crystal Castles, Kangaroo, Tempest, Black Widow, Gauntlet, or Star Wars/ Empire Strikes Back (Atari coin-ops that never really "came home" in perfect form), I'd have had more interest. Food Fight always appealed to me the most. Every game needed a Pokey chip in it though, I hate the TIA sounds after becoming used to Pokey sounds with the 5200 and A8 computer line.

 

Well, you'll just have to make your ADVENTURE II for the 7800 XM then ...

[+Cafeman]

Well, you'll just have to make your ADVENTURE II for the 7800 XM then ...

 

"Quest for the Golden Chalice 7800" * #

 

 

*requires pokey chip!!!!!

 

# available 2017

 

Edited October 23, 2012 by Cafeman

[Retro Rogue]

LoL......he should of changed his mind in 1984 BEFORE NES CAME OUT.........

 

It's a little hard to when you don't own the 7800. GCC's contract was with Warner Communications, and they were still owed all the development costs for the MARIA chip and launch titles. He spent from August '84 through May '85 negotiating with Warner and GCC for the costs of development, then another two months on the launch titles. By the end of the Summer he was looking to relaunch the 7800 BEFORE THE NES.

 

To that end he lured away Mike Katz from Epyx in September to head up the new Entertainment Electronics division. Mike started up the 7800 program again in early October.

[Stun Runner 87]

It's a little hard to when you don't own the 7800. GCC's contract was with Warner Communications, and they were still owed all the development costs for the MARIA chip and launch titles. He spent from August '84 through May '85 negotiating with Warner and GCC for the costs of development, then another two months on the launch titles. By the end of the Summer he was looking to relaunch the 7800 BEFORE THE NES.

 

To that end he lured away Mike Katz from Epyx in September to head up the new Entertainment Electronics division. Mike started up the 7800 program again in early October.

I hear you....you guys probably have more insight on this subject than me I'm sure...thanks for educating me on this subject...I'm convinced that Jack Tremiel did what he could to keep Atari alive.........But there is just 1 idea I havnt layed down...What if someone else bought Atari?? Is it slightly possible that someone else could of done better? Just sayin..........Sorry, I thought id throw that question out there.... Regardless how the 7800 came out, I still love the 7800 and arcade ports more than any console, for some reason and I don't know why...I even like the weird sound effects, LoL...its a cute machine. R.I.P Jack Tremiel, sincerely mean that..

[Jaynz]

In 1987 no one really WANTED Atari, including Atari. This was largely due to the idea that many companies had the idea that the 'damn fad had finally passed on'. Many 'experienced marketers' didn't look at video gaming as a genre, but instead as another faddish toy that had gone on unusually long, no different than hula-hoops, He Man, or the Rubik's Cube. They were eager to move on to the 'next toy' rather than to invest dime one into video games again. That's actually why Nintendo advertised itself initially as a TOY, rather than as a video game - they couldn't get into the stores otherwise.

[Retro Rogue]

I hear you....you guys probably have more insight on this subject than me I'm sure...thanks for educating me on this subject...I'm convinced that Jack Tremiel did what he could to keep Atari alive.........But there is just 1 idea I havnt layed down...What if someone else bought Atari?? Is it slightly possible that someone else could of done better? Just sayin..........Sorry, I thought id throw that question out there.... Regardless how the 7800 came out, I still love the 7800 and arcade ports more than any console, for some reason and I don't know why...I even like the weird sound effects, LoL...its a cute machine. R.I.P Jack Tremiel, sincerely mean that..

 

Steve Ross actually tried to sell Atari in whole or part, to a number of different companies - including Philips. Nobody would take it, Jack was the only one.

 

In 1987 no one really WANTED Atari, including Atari. This was largely due to the idea that many companies had the idea that the 'damn fad had finally passed on'. Many 'experienced marketers' didn't look at video gaming as a genre, but instead as another faddish toy that had gone on unusually long, no different than hula-hoops, He Man, or the Rubik's Cube. They were eager to move on to the 'next toy' rather than to invest dime one into video games again. That's actually why Nintendo advertised itself initially as a TOY, rather than as a video game - they couldn't get into the stores otherwise.

 

Way way off there. That was 1985 they did the toy thing and that people thought it was a fad that had ended. By 1987 it was already seen as being "revived" and Wall street and the press were more than covering the massive regrowth of said industry.

[Stun Runner 87]

1 thing for sure, ATARI CERTAINLY NEVER WAS A FAD BECAUSE WE STILL PLAY IT IN 2012..

..LMAO

ATARI IS STILL ALIVE AND BREATHING....IT LIVES, OR AT LEAST UNTIL WE ARE ALL DEAD AND BURIED WITH JACK.....

Edited October 23, 2012 by Stun Runner 87

[Jaynz]

Way way off there. That was 1985 they did the toy thing and that people thought it was a fad that had ended. By 1987 it was already seen as being "revived" and Wall street and the press were more than covering the massive regrowth of said industry.

 

You're right. I'm off by a year. It was 1986... heh. that was when Nintendo was having to GIVE shelf-space out to get the NES stocked and was offering 'full cost guarantees' just to get on the market. Now, this changed VERY quickly (as did the press) as the launch was phenomenally successful, but in the early part of the year the 'market experts' really did hail the video game as dead. It's still amazing how quickly the mindset changed from 'poison' to 'gold' again.

[Retro Rogue]

You're right. I'm off by a year. It was 1986... heh. that was when Nintendo was having to GIVE shelf-space out to get the NES stocked and was offering 'full cost guarantees' just to get on the market.

 

It was 1985, during the initial test marketing in New York. They didn't have quite the same problem at the February '86 Los Angeles test marketing. And even less as they slowly expanded to other cities across the U.S. until the national launch later that year.

 

 

Now, this changed VERY quickly (as did the press) as the launch was phenomenally successful, but in the early part of the year the 'market experts' really did hail the video game as dead. It's still amazing how quickly the mindset changed from 'poison' to 'gold' again.

 

It was around Spring it started to change, and by the June CES they were talking about the market looking like it was reviving because of the NES, 7800, and the upcoming appearance of the yet to be released Sega Master System.

[Stun Runner 87]

[Jaynz]

I was just reading one of my 'history of video games' books - of which they conflict and I likely have too many - but it does seem that 1986 was pretty contentious for most companies in regards to the NES (to say nothing of the Atari, whose corporate name for video games was still not looked well upon). The test markets went well, but apparently Children's Palace, Toys R Us, and K*Mart (the big three video-game movers at the time) were loathe to get on board even then.. and Sears, which had been Atari's biggest outlet, didn't want to touch the NES. Like I said, though, the mood changed quickly once the NES was moving in mid-year... Interesting times, though.. the only people in America who didn't think video-games were dead were the millions of people who were playing them even during the 'crash'.

[Jinks]

Knight Rider should have come out on the 7800. I hear the 2600 version was pretty cool.

Ya know the 2600 can have hasselhoff.

I vote us 7800ers For The A Team.. Fool!

[Stun Runner 87]

You guys want to know what the 7800 really need????? Sone more dang LIGHT GUN GAMES......there are only like 4 games btotal for the light gun.....Maybe a Duck Hunt type game or Hogans Alley would be cool....

[Stun Runner 87]

Sorry for my mispelled words...the edit isn't working LIGHT GUN GAMES, YES?

[gorfcadet]

Hmmm... light gun games.... A variation of Duck Hunt with Joust assets? What were some good shooters that never made it to nes? Ok Joust Hunt sounds promising.

[ntavio]

I think Tempest definitely should have been done for the 7800.

 

TRON the arcade game would have also been cool. Hopefully Bob is thinking about developing it.

[Reaperman]

I'd say xybots, rampart and apb were the fancy new atari games, that would have been nice, but would never have been brought to the system. Since 7800 seemed so focused on older games, maybe MULE, blue max, koronis rift or lode runner.

 

Pirates!, Sundog, or Wasteland would have been a really nice change of pace, but I think their size might have kept them off of 7800 carts.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Reaperman

[Bones Brigade]

Crystal Castles

Edited October 25, 2012 by Bones Brigade

[DracIsBack]

I thnk Tempest definitely should have been done for the 7800.

 

GroovyBee was porting this a while back.

[Stun Runner 87]

Major Havoc, Super Sprint, Marble Madness, Pac Mania, Millipede and RoadBlaster..........

[Stun Runner 87]

Galaga 88, Gravatar....blah blah blah, etc etc etc........I also wonder how bad a port of Stun Runer would look on the 7800, but it probably wouldn't be possible..........

[number six]

I was just reading one of my 'history of video games' books - of which they conflict and I likely have too many - but it does seem that 1986 was pretty contentious for most companies in regards to the NES (to say nothing of the Atari, whose corporate name for video games was still not looked well upon). The test markets went well, but apparently Children's Palace, Toys R Us, and K*Mart (the big three video-game movers at the time) were loathe to get on board even then.. and Sears, which had been Atari's biggest outlet, didn't want to touch the NES. Like I said, though, the mood changed quickly once the NES was moving in mid-year... Interesting times, though.. the only people in America who didn't think video-games were dead were the millions of people who were playing them even during the 'crash'.

 

I got a 7800 for Christmas 1986. My 2600 had died a bit before and I still had several dozen 2600 cartridges so the backwards compatibility was actually a big bonus there. They also had blitzed all the cartoons with those 7800 commercials that made it look very cool.. so Atari was on my christmas list. At this point I dont think Nintendo was really on the Radar for me. I know I was a bit dissapointed by its port of Kung Fu Master, mainly because it was called Kung Fu (dropping the 'master' part.. probably something to do with Data East's license). Don't ask why that bothered me so much, but it did.. I was only 10 what can I say. Of course the NES version was actually really good even if the sprites looked quite a bit different than the arcade but I wouldn't find that out until i played it more later.

 

The next year would be big though. Nintendo really put on the heat in '87. So the next Christmas I asked for a NES and that was that. The 7800 got put in a box. I did still buy the odd 7800 game on clearance and I remember actually buying a few 2600 games later on just to see how they managed to port games like Ghostbusters or California Games to the 2600.

 

Anyway back on topic.. the 7800 desperately needed new games. While the updated ports were OK I think most everyone was over Pac-Man et al by 1986. Don't get me wrong, i played the hell out of Joust and Galaga.. but i had more fun with games like Jordan vs. Bird or Food Fight simply because I wasn't familiar with them. There were plenty of games they could have ported.. many of the games making the rounds on the computers at the time could have been shoe horned in. They tried that with Impossible Mission etc, but there were plenty more. But of course by this time Atari was in trouble. Nintendo quickly took over and nobody was going to waste the time on the 7800 especially with the iron fisted licensing agreements Nintendo was forcing on everyone. Had the 7800 launched in 1984 as intended it might have had more of a chance.

[Stun Runner 87]

I got a 7800 for Christmas 1986. My 2600 had died a bit before and I still had several dozen 2600 cartridges so the backwards compatibility was actually a big bonus there. They also had blitzed all the cartoons with those 7800 commercials that made it look very cool.. so Atari was on my christmas list. At this point I dont think Nintendo was really on the Radar for me. I know I was a bit dissapointed by its port of Kung Fu Master, mainly because it was called Kung Fu (dropping the 'master' part.. probably something to do with Data East's license). Don't ask why that bothered me so much, but it did.. I was only 10 what can I say. Of course the NES version was actually really good even if the sprites looked quite a bit different than the arcade but I wouldn't find that out until i played it more later.

 

The next year would be big though. Nintendo really put on the heat in '87. So the next Christmas I asked for a NES and that was that. The 7800 got put in a box. I did still buy the odd 7800 game on clearance and I remember actually buying a few 2600 games later on just to see how they managed to port games like Ghostbusters or California Games to the 2600.

 

Anyway back on topic.. the 7800 desperately needed new games. While the updated ports were OK I think most everyone was over Pac-Man et al by 1986. Don't get me wrong, i played the hell out of Joust and Galaga.. but i had more fun with games like Jordan vs. Bird or Food Fight simply because I wasn't familiar with them. There were plenty of games they could have ported.. many of the games making the rounds on the computers at the time could have been shoe horned in. They tried that with Impossible Mission etc, but there were plenty more. But of course by this time Atari was in trouble. Nintendo quickly took over and nobody was going to waste the time on the 7800 especially with the iron fisted licensing agreements Nintendo was forcing on everyone. Had the 7800 launched in 1984 as intended it might have had more of a chance.

Jordan vs Bird???????? I think you mean Dr. J vs. Bird