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Wanted: Feedback For Tomcat F-14 Flight Simulator & Super Skateboardin’


nosweargamer

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I'm looking for feedback for the next episode of the Atari 7800 Game By Game Podcast (you can find it on iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube or use this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/78gbg )



What are your memories and/or thoughts on Tomcat F-14 Flight Simulator & Super Skateboardin on the 7800?


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Also, how would you rate them? I use a system of 4 choices (From Best to Worst):



Hall of Fame Game (Top 5 game on the system)


Solid Game


"Meh" Game


Trash Game (Bottom 5 game on the system)



These games will be covered on Episode 26


You can also e-mail text or audio to atari7800podcast@aol.com


If you get it in by Friday, it should make the show, but late submissions sometimes get squeezed in too, so send it even if it's late.


Just keep it family friendly :)


You can also send feedback on previously covered games or the system itself.


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Super Skateboardin' isn't super and is only tangentially related to skateboarding.

It's not a terrible game, but once you solve it, there's no need to play it ever again. All you do is look for the fastest path to turn off all electrical equipment in a factory. That's it. If there were more to the game, perhaps even a building that randomizes where everything is, that would be something, but that having been said, I don't think I've fired this one up in.. I'd say 18 years.

This game is a very low "Meh."

Oh, and when you say "Keep it family friendly," whose family are you talking about? The Manson family?

Edited by Inky
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Tomcat F-14...Solid Game..often misunderstood in it's intent. It is a game, no scratch that, a flight simulator on an 8 bit system that performs above and beyond for an 8 bit title. One HAS to spend time with this title in order to get any satisfaction out of it. Not a title for everyone...but to me a solid title all the same. My highest number of kills is 11. I still plug this in and play it from time to time.

 

Super Skateboarding... for me it is a Meh game...a puzzle game more then a skateboarding game. Once you have solved the fastest route..then no longer holds interest.

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TOMCAT F-14 FLIGHT SIMULATOR - TRASH game for me. It's the game which I mostly HATE on 7800 system, according to my own eyes.

 

SUPER SKATEBORDIN' - SOLID game for me. This is the unique Absolute title which I enjoy very much on 7800.

Super Skatebordin' is a game which involves knowledge in Electricity and Energy Efficiency (the main objective is to turn off all the equipments, machines and light bulbs as quickly as possible, and save more money with electricity bills).

Just to let Atari Age members know, I'm graduated in Electric Engineering since April 2008, at Federal University of Technology in Curitiba (UTFPR in Brazilian Portuguese). Energy Saving / Energy Efficiency was my TOP favorite subject in the university.

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Tomcat - Trash.

 

My favourite part of it was the box it came in ... that looked cool!

 

Honestly, the controls were so complicated with various joystick combos plus weird interactions with the console switches and buttons as well to make the game work. I mean seriously - hold the RESET to perform a game function, but then hold it for a longer period of time to reset the game? Flip the difficulty switches to control elements of the game? Use the select button? A game like this is not meant to be played on a console. It required you to sit next to your 7800 instead of on your couch!

 

The graphics look good in terms of the cockpit. Nothing to see really but skies and oceans. I could never really hit a lot of other planes or land the plane either.

In short, I found it to be about no fun whatsoever.

 

Super Skateboarding: Solid

It's amusing if unremarkable. Of the ABSOLUTE BRANDED titles that company put out, I liked this and Kung Fu Master the best. Graphics are ok, challenge is fun, game is fast paced (unlike Tomcat), some sound effects are neat like the projector.

 

This game almost felt like a precursor to their first NES game, A BOY AND HIS BLOB with the screen to screen engine. Main character looked similar too.

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Tomcat F-14 Flight Simulator = Trash. Being completely transparent of my opinion, regarding game genres, strategic, slow(er) paced simulations are at the bottom of the pile. However, heavily action oriented simulations often can be great (I.E. BattleZone, After Burner (II)). This is no After Burner though, definitely leans towards the slow-paced, and likely best to avoid unless an absolute die-hard fan of the genre or/and a collection completist. For those willing to give it a try, be forewarned, your console serves as an extension of the controller. You have to utilize the Select, Reset and Difficulty Switches to perform certain actions within a game.


Super Skateboardin’ = Meh. The game overall is just “okay” from my perspective; including graphics, sound, and gameplay. It’s somewhat of a shame because better performance in just one of those key areas may have made a significant difference in the game’s overall rating for me. As it stands, there’s nothing about the game that bumps it beyond a “Meh” feeling, unfortunately. As a side note, ensure the difficulty switches are in the correct position [Right Switch B (Left)], so there is background music. As relatively simple as the music may be, without it, the near silence is deafening.

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Super Skateboardin' - meh - it controls well and the gameplay is fairly unique, but it's just a dull game. Graphics are bland, and there isn't a lot of excitement or tension when playing. There are certainly a lot of worse games, but this isn't one I reach for very often.

 

Never played Tomcat.

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Tomcat: You know that I like simulators, and I found myself having fun with this one also, once I put in the time with it. And that's the thing -- like the other fight sims that you have covered already for the 7800, I enjoy these but they have a learning curve. You have to read the manual, study the controls, and get used to playing them. if you're willing to invest the time this is a good flight sim, not as good as Ace of Aces on this system but better then the others, with nice graphics, sound effects, and good gameplay. However, I can't fault anyone for hating this. It's a very niche game. Rating: solid

 

Super Skateboarding: Not a bad game, but not a great one either. The controls are easy enough to get the hang off, the sound effects get the job done, and the graphics are decent enough. The gameplay is boring though after a while, though, and the challenge rating seems way too high. The game is very unforgiving for mistakes. Once I found the switch for the background magic, that helped some also. But it just gets 'doing the same thing over and over' to me after a while. Rating: meh

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F-14: this one's tough for me to judge. I can see that there's probably a relatively respectable combat flight sim in there somewhere. I just can't figure out how to get to it; I keep crashing on takeoff. It's a "read the manual" game and I apparently could never be bothered to do so. So I guess for me it's "meh" by default: interesting, but not interesting enough to learn to play. Every time I try to play F-14, I end up playing River Raid II instead.

Super Skateboardin': "Meh." Kind of a strange premise, skateboarding around a factory and turning stuff on/off. Unfortunately there's not much of a game there for me. I did like that you can actually fall off the roof, though. :-D I remember the 2600 version--minus the "Super"-- being both more fun (slightly) and more pertinent to skateboarding.

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Tomcat F-14 Fighter Simulator- "Trash Game" This is one of the worst if not the worst game I have ever played on the 7800! Don't like using the select and reset to navigate the computer menu. Difficult to shoot down enemy planes. Just a tedious and frustrating task to get into this monstrosity.

 

Super Skateboardin'- "Meh Game" I thought this was a game to showcase your skateboarding skills. Instead you have to turn off equipment and power. I guess it's a game to teach people how to save and conserve energy while navigating a huge maze. Worst of all the main character is disturbing to look at.

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Tomcat - Meh

An old friend and I still have a memory about Tomcat that we repeat to this day. It was the late 80s and we must've seen an ad or something for it because when we got to the toy store in the mall (Kay-Bee or Circus World, don't remember which), we saw Tomcat sitting on the shelf behind the counter. We looked at each other and simultaneously said "F-14 Tomcat!" then, after a short pause we said, again simultaneously, "What? What'd you say?". Then we proceeded to laugh about it. Anyway, long story short, I ended up getting the game and we got a little bit of enjoyment out of it. It's ambitious enough. Like Space Shuttle for the 2600 it uses the console controls, which I think is cool for these simulator games. Overall I would say it's a "meh" game. I tried playing it recently and it always feels like I can never catch up to the bogey. No matter how hard I turn nor for how long, the enemy plane is always at the corner of the screen. It's a bit disappointing. I don't remember that happening in the late 80s so maybe I'm forgetting something about the controls. I've played better airplane simulators on the computer in later years so this one is hard to go back to.

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I'll defer comments on F-14.

However, Super Skateboardin' I think is pretty solid.

 

If you just plug it in and try it a little, you might think it sucks and run out of time. It takes a little effort to learn the maze.

So, let's say you keep playing, and then you finally manage to turn off all of the electricity. Props to you.

But, the interesting part is the instruction manual, which I believe tells you what time is the record to beat.

That involves: getting the speed-up from the right conveyor belt, following the map, and ignoring sections of the map that have no electricity.

 

I've always wanted to Speed Run this game; I would love to see that.

 

My favorite thing about Super Skateboardin' was going up to the roof, picking up your skateboard, walking to the edge of the screen and pressing down. You'll "drop" your skateboard-- right off the roof. After that, you're in trouble-- no way to get down through the pipes; only option left is to jump. I usually stroll to the other side to jump. Oh, and if you're squatting when you zip off the roof, his animation looks ridiculous as he falls.

 

Is there a full-color map available? Anyone tempted to try a speed run?

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