VectorGamer Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Looking at what Activision released for the ColecoVision, I'm not too excited about how these compare to the 2600 releases. I have Beamrider for both the 2600 and the ColecoVision and this particular title was improved nicely for the CV. I have HERO for the ColecoVision and I think it looks nice. I don't own it for the 2600 so I can't say how much of an improvement it is (if at all). Other than that, I have Keystone Kapers, Pitfall, Pitfall II and River Raid and none of those seem like much of an improvement over what they released for the 2600. Then there's the omissions. How about some of the games that were released for the 2600 that weren't released for the ColecoVision? Enduro is one title that jumps out for me. This would have been a great title to release for the ColecoVision with driving controller support. Or are the omissions a case of Coleco ceasing production on the CV before Activision had the opportunity to port these titles over to the CV? Time's yours... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 How does Decathlon compare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Activision probably decided not to port all their games to the ColecoVision and there are only six Activision titles that I have in my rather lengthy "Unreleased List": - Kaboom - Pastfinder - Toy Bizarre and the other three that did see a release via TeleGames and INTV Productions/Retrotopia: - Alcazar - Roch'n Bolt - SteamRoller There may have been more announced/planned, but these are the ones I can provide quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I'm trying to see it from the point of view of David Crane and his merry crew from the early days of Activision, and I figure they felt that some games were really meant to be Atari 2600 exclusives. They were the kind of guys who tried to push the limits of the 2600 hardware, and when they found a programming technique that worked well, they got creative and made one or more games around it. But when it came time to consider converting some of those games to other consoles, they must have felt that they accomplished their mission with the 2600 version and were not motivated to start over from scratch on different hardware. So only the high-profile properties like Pitfall, River Raid and H.E.R.O. were made and released on other systems like the ColecoVision. To this day, I'm still surprised they bothered to port Keystone Kapers to the CV, but I'm really glad they did! Assuming my assessment is correct, I tend to disagree with their decisions. Frostbite could have been awesome on the ColecoVision, and Pressure Cooker even more so. Chopper Command could have made some waves, and StarMaster would certainly have been very cool to play with the keypad. I'm not sure Enduro would have made a good candidate because Turbo was already very nicely done on the ColecoVision, so Enduro could have been seen as redundant. Some other games like Robot Tank and Barnstorming made such good use of the 2600 hardware that they couldn't have been made much better on the ColecoVision: You could have just played the 2600 versions via the Expansion Module #1 and not seen a lot of difference in terms of gameplay and graphical quality. And then there's Ghostbusters and Space Shuttle, which were both released on other system (more notably the MSX computer) but were never released on the ColecoVision. Way to go, Activision... But then, we can look on the bright side: If we really want to see games like Frostbite, Pressure Cooker, Plaque Attack or Spider Fighter on the ColecoVision, or maybe even the "simpler" games like Crackpots, Megamania or Seaquest, they're all up for grabs for ColecoVision homebrewers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 (edited) To this day, I'm still surprised they bothered to port Keystone Kapers to the CV, but I'm really glad they did! Did I have a brain burst or I completely missed something EDIT: Memory came back! I definitely had a brain burst! Edited February 7, 2014 by retroillucid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Did I have a brain burst or I completely missed something EDIT: Memory came back! I definitely had a brain burst! I told you before, J-F: Get some sleep! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Invader Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I quite like the CV version of River Raid. The C64 version is also pretty good. The only version which is significantly inferior to the 2600 original is on the ZX Spectrum. It would have been interesting to see Ghostbusters on the CV. The definitive version is on the C64, but the 2600 version is an impressive port given the hardware limitations. I imagine a CV Ghostbusters would have been something of a compromise between the C64 and the Master System. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartsfam Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Ohhh. I love Megamania. Favorite shooter on the 2600. PERIOD. I would have loved to see what could have been done on the CV with this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I quite like the CV version of River Raid. The C64 version is also pretty good. The only version which is significantly inferior to the 2600 original is on the ZX Spectrum. It would have been interesting to see Ghostbusters on the CV. The definitive version is on the C64, but the 2600 version is an impressive port given the hardware limitations. I imagine a CV Ghostbusters would have been something of a compromise between the C64 and the Master System. River Raid is good on almost any system. Activision Ghostbusters is horrible on any system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Wasn't Eduardo going to do Ghostbusters? I would love to see that game. I would play the Atari computer version for hours. And then there's Ghostbusters and Space Shuttle, which were both released on other system (more notably the MSX computer) but were never released on the ColecoVision. Way to go, Activision... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Really? Good Lord when I was a kid, we all hated Ghostbusters by Activision. My friend had it on C64, and another was unfortunate enough to have it on NES. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 and another was unfortunate enough to have it on NES. true, it's really bad Altough, the Ghostbusters 2 released in Japan/Europe (unreleased in America) is really a great game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamecat80 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Yeah, for whatever reason, the Activision games are not that impressive graphically on the CV. Activision games from the early days look more-or-less similar on different systems. As much as I love the ColecoVision and generally prefer it over the Atari 5200, the Activision games tend to look better on the 5200 (Pitfall 1&2, Keystone Kapers, etc.) Those same games have mediocre graphics on the ColecoVision. An even more extreme example is the Intellivision versions of those Activision games. Pitfall! looks nearly identical on the Intellivision & Atari 2600! The Intellivision and ColecoVision were certainly capable of better graphics than what Activision made for them. Look at the Imagic games between those systems (Dragonfire is a good example), and you will see that they made much better use of the graphics capabilities of the systems than did Activision. Luckily, the Activision games PLAY well and are well-programmed on all systems; they just have very mediocre graphics. Pitfall! on the ColecoVision is my favorite version of that game, and imo, has the best sound of all classic versions. Keystone Kapers is FUN on the CV, despite it's average-at-best graphics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLic0ne t0aD Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I love Keystone Kapers! I have it both the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision versions, with the CV being a lot better IMHO. Sadly it's the only Activision title I have out of the 55 games I have Lol so I can't vouch for the others.. :-/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 It's all a matter of tastes...one person may love a particular game, the next will hate it... Really? Good Lord when I was a kid, we all hated Ghostbusters by Activision. My friend had it on C64, and another was unfortunate enough to have it on NES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 (edited) It's all a matter of tastes...one person may love a particular game, the next will hate it... Sure!... like me who enjoy Cabbage Patch Kids Adventure in the Park while some others hate it EDIT: talking about CPK .... CollectorVision is going to release Super Cabbage Patch Kids CIB soon Edited February 9, 2014 by retroillucid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youki Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I read somewherein a book about history of activision and few other video game company (but i can not remind the title of that book ;( ). that there was a rules at Activision, that games accross plateform should keep the exact same look and feel and should not be improved even if the plateform would allow it. Each activision game has to be identifiable in a eye's blink what ever the plateform and must offer the same gameplay on all. It is ,for instance, one of the reason , why the second level of PitFall 2 on the Atari XL has been hidden to Activision. This kind of thing was forbidden by internal's 'marketting' rules. Then of course, as luc said , there is the fact that some game are so dependent of 2600 hardware that it would required lot of work to translate them to CV. And for the GhostBuster 's case , i think he never appear on the CV because the CV was already commercially dead when it has been released. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Invader Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 It's all a matter of tastes...one person may love a particular game, the next will hate it... I love Ghostbusters because I grew up idolising the films and the cartoons. I don't think I would like the game as much if I wasn't a GB fan, but it's still a great game IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I love Ghostbusters because I grew up idolising the films and the cartoons. I don't think I would like the game as much if I wasn't a GB fan, but it's still a great game IMO. Any game that makes good use of the keypad is a welcomed addition to the CV library in my book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 As far as the Activision titles that were developed for the CV, on top of what Youki stated about keeping the games similar across different game systems, one also has to take into account that some of their titles were contracted out and not developed In-House and then there would be the all-mighty and rushed DEADLINE that would limit the programmers ability to do the best possible job that they could. - SteamRoller = Cheshire Engineering - H.E.R.O. = The Softworks/Berkely SoftWorks - Decathlon, BeamRider, Pitfall, Zenji = Action Graphics 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I love Ghostbusters because I grew up idolising the films and the cartoons. I don't think I would like the game as much if I wasn't a GB fan, but it's still a great game IMO. I am a huge GB fan as well, which is why I hate the Activision game! Ha ha. The Genesis game (non-Activision) is much better. On the topic, I have discovered that Activision did far better porting to Intellivision than CV. Though it's ironic that the games they farmed out (per NIAD) are some of their best on CV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 ...some of their titles were contracted out and not developed In-House and then there would be the all-mighty and rushed DEADLINE that would limit the programmers ability to do the best possible job that they could. Though it's ironic that the games they farmed out (per NIAD) are some of their best on CV. As far as I know, all of their CV ports were done by outside contractors. I don't think Robert Rutkowski (Pitfall II for CV and MSX) worked in-house at Activision...I'm pretty sure he was an independent developer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Actually, I have to credit PingvinBlueJeans for the info I was able to list above.... http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Special:Search?search=ColecoVision&fulltext=Search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Actually, I have to credit PingvinBlueJeans for the info I was able to list above.... Most of those Activision credits came straight from the original manuals. It would've been nice if they gave credit to the specific people involved instead of just the software house, but at least they went that far. It's no surprise that most of their ports (for all systems) were contracted out. I'm sure they wanted people with proven game design skills working on new games, not spending time converting games to other systems (which could be done by anyone with decent programming abilities). And I'm sure that was agreeable to David Crane and company, who probably had no interest in porting Pitfall et al to every system imaginable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamecat80 Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 On the topic, I have discovered that Activision did far better porting to Intellivision than CV. Though it's ironic that the games they farmed out (per NIAD) are some of their best on CV. Dunno about that. Pitfall! on the Intellivision looks almost exactly the same as the Atari 2600 version. No graphical improvement whatsoever; just different sound effects. Quite disappointing. The Intv was certainly capable of better graphics. At least on the ColecoVision version, the graphics are a little better; though I still think they could have been improved. What sets the CV version of Pitfall! apart for me are the fantastic sound effects -- particularly the "stereo-echo" Tarzan yell. That game plays really well on CV, too. Things like that give the CV a more "arcade" feel to it. Actually, I have to credit PingvinBlueJeans for the info I was able to list above.... http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Special:Search?search=ColecoVision&fulltext=Search Great site! Bookmarked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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