joeybastard Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Overall Imagic has more good games but Activision has a select few that are so incredibly good it puts them on top of everybody. There are no Imagic titles as good as HERO, Pressure Cooker and Kaboom. Activision does not have a shooter as good as Demon Attack. Really for me it's a tie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 It's tough to campare because Activsion was around longer and was far more prolific. Going through the libraries I tried to come up with a good/bad ratio for both companies.ACTIVISION: 23 good, 21 bad IMAGIC: 15 good, 2 bad (Fire Fighter and Shootin Gallery) *SNIP* You know, if it was a discussion of Activison-vs-Imagic on the Intellivison, there wouldn't even be a debate. I actually don't know much about the Intellivision, but Dreadnought Factor is a-frickin-mazing. Both have great games for the Atari, though I think I ultimately give the credit to Activision for being first to break into the 3rd party market, and also the way they brought the programmers to the forefront. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bivotar Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 I know this is a comparison of the two companies specifically on the 2600, but if you factor in the Intellivision you have to be impressed by Imagic. Imagic took advantage of the hardware differences between consoles and actually took the opportunity to improve the graphics. Activsion pretty much kept things the same between console versions. An example is Demon Attack on the Intellivision (fighting a boss ship). Plus Imagic came up with unique titles for the Intellivision that capitalized on the systems capabilities (Microsurgeon, Truckin', etc.). Having said that, I'd still favor Activision on the 2600, but Imagic is a winner for me if you factor in other consoles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
128bytes Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Activision had me with the drop shadow in Tennis. (apologies to Cameron Crowe...) Seriously, as a kid I heard a radio interview with Alan Miller (I believe) who talked about how they put in a shadow to help track the ball in Tennis. The game (which my neighbor bought) was as awesome as we thought it would be. In 2K, all the same gameplay existed as there is today on Tennis Addict for Palm/Pocket PC (www.hexacto.com) Games cost so much $ back then -- especially after Pac-Man, I had so much more confidence spending my savings on an Activision game than any other kind. Ones bought or played at neighbor's houses and loved (in order of seeing them) Boxing (neighbor) Tennis (neighbor) Skiing (bought) Freeway (neighbor) Kaboom (bought) Ice Hockey (neighbor) Chopper Command (bought) Pitfall! (neighbor) River Raid (neighbor) Keystone Kapers (bought) Nowadays I'm lucky enough to have Frostbite, Pitfall II (that was one expensive cartridge back in the day!), Enduro, Cosmic Commuter, Seaquest, Fishing Derby, Starmaster, Robot Tank, Ice Hockey, Megamania, Boxing, Sky Jinks, Oink, and Ghostbusters. (also GBA Anthology, but that doesn't count) Imagic games are awesome, too -- they just didn't capture my attention as much back in the early 80's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candiru Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 I find it fascinating that given the limited hardware the companies still managed to give their games a distinctive look and feel. Activision managed a crispness that you just don't see in other games. I have to admit though that the day I came home with my first Imagic games, Atlantis, Cosmic Ark and Demon Attack, I was pretty blown away because I'd never seen anything quite like that coming out of my Atari. I like the soccer analogy too, but if I have to pick one it's Activision because I replay those games more often. I like a lot of the timed games too since I enjoy trying to beat my best times. Plus, those little grooves and logo in the Imagic handles are a nuisance to get dust out of. This is why you'll so often hear "May you clean nothing but Imagic carts" used as a curse by classic gamers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
128bytes Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 The hard-to-clean Imagic grooves are a pain, but ActiPlaque is equally painful... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaineMaxwell Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Activision for me. To this day I still play their games more often, not to mention the amount of variety in every one of their games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davepesc Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Cosmic Ark and Riddle of the Sphynx are my 2 favorite 2600 games. I have always thought of Imacic as my favorite developer. Aside from the games themselves, the labels are just so cooooool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Imagic did fantastic graphics, but I was never really nuts about any of their titles. Activision on the other hand, produced all of my favorite third party games. I vote Activision without even needing to consider the question for very long. -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted April 16, 2004 Share Posted April 16, 2004 Sorry im late but my vote is Activision! River Raid always keeps me coming back for more and as for Megamania well thats a true classic too! There are many other Imagic games I like too but Activision beats Imagic hands down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cootster Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 Activision unquestionably made some of the best games on the system, and they all hold up as well in 2004 as they did then . . . They (and Absolute/Epyx also) made things look more modern than the others, and the games usually played well, too. Imagic games are cool, and they pushed the envelope, but I can't even call them my second-favorite third party (That's either PB or CBS). . . And for the most part, Acti's concepts were completely original*. A lot of Imagic games are at least a little bit arcade-clone. *Obviously, that ignores the paper/board game conversions, and Freeway, but I don't really see the Frostbite/Q*Bert comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaXpress Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 And for the most part, Acti's concepts were completely original. We'll call Freeway and Frogger a draw. Decathlon = Track & Field Chopper Command = Defender Dragster = Drag Race Enduro = Turbo Kaboom = Avalanche Robot Tank = Battlezone Spider Fighter = Bandits Starmaster = Star Raiders These examples above are serious rip-offs. If Atari got KC Muchkin pulled off the shelves, they could have done the same with much of these titles. But then Atari wasn't getting any royaty from Mgnavox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cootster Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 And for the most part, Acti's concepts were completely original. We'll call Freeway and Frogger a draw. Chopper Command = Defender Never understood that one either. . . They;re both side-scrolling shooters, but that's the extent of the comparison . . . In CC, you don't pick up objects from the ground, you don't have bombs, there is much less freedom of motion, et al . . . No, if they had wanted to do a Defender clone, it would have had the characteristic elements of Defender. Like the one Imagic made (forget the name). Dragster = Drag Race Enduro = Turbo Kaboom = Avalanche Eh, but the games on the right were never on the 2600. Robot Tank = Battlezone Spider Fighter = Bandits Starmaster = Star Raiders Can't defend these three, except to say that they're better. These examples above are serious rip-offs. If Atari got KC Muchkin pulled off the shelves, they could have done the same with much of these titles. But then Atari wasn't getting any royaty from Mgnavox. And they're not the majority of Activision titles. Pitfall River Raid HERO Keystone Kapers Pressure Cooker Private Eye Plaque Attack Stampede All highly original, and some of the best stuff on the system. Heck, even the sports games had original mechanics at the time. And when they did make clones, there was usually some improvement over the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geosteve Posted April 17, 2004 Share Posted April 17, 2004 I give my vote to Activision for River Raid II and Starmaster, those are 2 of my all time favorites for the 2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2600phreak Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 I stumbled upon this conversation after trying to find out who wrote 'Demon Attack' - My version says Activision but a friend of mine said it was Imagic! As of yet I still haven't answered this question but I'm into the argument about who was best! I am with Activision all the way. I hold that they have never done a bad game on any platform! The 2600 stuff is fantastic and the C64 versions are too. They are just so polished with perfect learning curves. Someone mentioned 'H.E.R.O.' Amazing - Pitfall,River Raid, Mega Mania etc..... Cant fault them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 Demon Attack is from Imagic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mik's Arcade Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 (edited) I was the poor kid who never owned an Atari 2600, but me and my 2 brother pooled all of our odd job money and eventually got an Intellivision. Boy did I just LOVE the Imagic library on that system. So many unique and fun games. I only played a couple of the Atari 2600 Activision exclusive titles at friends house back in the day, like Barnstorming and Megamania. I just so happen to be going through the Atari 2600 library on my Raspberry Pi at the moment and I have to say, I am quite impressed with the Activision titles. On the Atari 2600, I think Activision might out muscle the Imagic library, thought I recently played Imagic's Cosmic Ark for the first time and really like it. I was just reading about how impressive the port of Kung Fu Master on the Atari 2600 was because of the technical limitations, and that the port was done by Garry Kitchen's brother. I was actually playing Keystone Capers for quite a bit just last night. It's so great how fun gameplay never gets old. Edited November 9, 2021 by Mik's Arcade 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 This one's hard for me. My feeling is that Activision is overrated in general because so many of their games are extremely simplistic gameplay with nice graphics. This is especially true of their early games. But they also have masterpieces like Pitfall II. The Imagic library is much smaller, but I think the average gameplay of an Imagic game beats the gameplay of an average Activision game. However the best Activision games beat the best Imagic games so I think I will have to give the nod to Activision for that reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 Activision by a landslide. They had a larger number of great games than Imagic. Not much more to debate than that for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogerpoco Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 I'm gonna guess the "Activision Shelves" in people's collections outnumber the "Imagic Shelves" by ten to one, so I imagine that's kinda sums it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 (edited) I like the "Parker Bros Shelves" quite a bit as well. I guess when the programmers from Atari formed Activision and they came out with games being 'the next level', Atari had no choice but to do the 'silver box series'. Edited November 9, 2021 by high voltage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariSphinx Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 I like the detailed graphics of the Imagic games and some games are gems such as Laser Gates. The issue with the Imagic games is the difficulty ramp on many. They start out nicely then the difficulty ramps way too quickly. Many don't have many game variations and those that do are even harder modes. A more gradual difficulty curve for default game mode and game variations to make more difficult would have made the games more enjoyable depending on your game mood. I do like the difficulty but I always felt it ramped too quickly in many of their games by default. Let player get further to feel accomplished then allow for more difficulty modes to extend game play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melvin Missile Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 Loving this 17 year old thread! If quantity matters, I have to give it to Activision. So many excellent games. Also: patches! But... if we're talking about average game quality... I think I have to give it to Imagic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithbk Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 Here's an easy way to determine... which do you like better: Activision's Star Master Imagic's Star Voyager 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 100% StarMaster. Much more strategy involved. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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