DoctorSpuds Reviews Things - Phillip the 2600, What has he defiled today? (

RSS Bot · January 19, 2019

Phillip the 2600 is a twisted amalgamation of chips, boards, and switches from several destroyed 2600’s. Despite having shorts in several chips Phillip still insists on playing games, though what results is usually far from normal. Over time I will play and catalog every game I currently own on Phillip to see what happens. I will have a small changelog beneath this paragraph for every time I update it so you’ll know what’s new.

Changelog:
Added Publishers: Imagic, Telesys, Brazilian Bootlegs, Amiga, Panda, Zimag,Gamex, Mythicon
Data Age

Encounter At L-5 – Most sprites are slightly warped but you can see it most on the Data Age logo at the top right. Sounds are mostly the same with an off note here or there, nothing serious. Conclusion… Completely playable
Bugs – Most ‘Bugs’ are intact but some are scrambled to high hell, the transition scene is unaltered. Sounds are intact with nothing seriously out of the ordinary. Conclusion… Completely playable.
Warplock – The only sprites that show signs of being off are the score sprites at the top of the screen, everything else is unchanged. Yep sounds are still terrible so there’s nothing wrong there. Conclusion… Completely playable.
Bermuda Triangle – Most of the graphics are unchanged except now the sprites will wrap around the screen before they emerge from the sides, you’ll see half of a giant fish on either side of the screen before it appears then the two halves vanish. There is a constant buzzing noise that plays while the game is turned on, nothing will change it. Conclusion… Completely playable.
Sssnake – The graphics are slightly screwed up so that some of the squares are together forming large channels of nothing in the grid. The track that you’re stuck on has moved to be partially inside the grid, I have now found out that the squares do in fact kill you on contact, which they really didn’t need to program. Sounds are fine but the game is completely unplayable.
Airlock – The color pallet is completely off since the floors and walls are now blue instead of pink/purple. The movement is rather jerky but the enemies still behave the same. Sounds are slightly off but nothing too noticeable. Conclusion… Completely playable.
Journey: Escape – DEAR GOD THE MUSIC!!! MAKE IT STOP PLEASE!!! The weird swirly background is now relegated to a one pixel vertical strip moving side to side and the opening scene is completely butchered as parts of sprites are either missing or in the wrong place.
Frankenstein’s Monster – The monster has been cut in half has skinny chicken legs and is yellow, the environment is largely unchanged. The spiders are also yellow, but sounds are pretty much the same, apart from the jumping noise which sounds very off now. It’s still completely playable.

U.S. Games

Eggomania – The bird has become a twisted evil creation of Satan, the frog is blue, and the music will kill your ears, but it’s still playable.
M.A.D. – The cities are even more scrambled than they were before but otherwise everything is fine, the sounds are largely unchanged as well. It’s still completely playable
Gopher – The farmer has three faces, one looking left, one looking right, and one look straight into your soul. Everything else is largely unchanged and is still playable.
Entombed – some of the corridors are only half the standard width and despite being that perfect size you still can’t squeeze through them rendering the game unplayable in some circumstances, the music is also butchered to hell and back.
Name This Game – That octopus has seen better days since its pixels are spazzing left and right making it look very frightening. There is some minor sprite warping on everything and the sounds are mostly all right apart from the jingle but otherwise it’s playable.
Raft Rider – Same things as Bermuda Triangle except there are now thick green vertical bars on either side of the screen. There is some gnarly sprite warping on the moose but otherwise everything is fairly normal and completely playable.

Froggo

Sea Hawk – The color palette is out of wack since the sky is pink and the waves are green, the sprites are surprisingly intact as well. Also you explode immediately whenever you respawn rendering the game unplayable.
Sea Hunt – The colors are also out of wack but the sprites are unaffected apart from the Sancho logo at the bottom of the screen. The tune that plays is absolute murder on the ears as it seems almost all the keys have been jumped up several octaves and are being played in the wrong order, the game is still playable though.
Cruise Missile – The enemies at the top of the screen are stuck as the explosion sprite rendering them invincible and making the game unplayable, otherwise the game is almost completely fine.
Spiderdroid – some girders are completely invisible or show up in the wrong place but it’s otherwise unchanged in terms of graphics, sound, and gameplay.

Apollo

Wabbit – All the graphics are unchanged apart from the field which appears to be participating in a rave since it’s flashing through every shade of brown the 2600 can muster at light speed. Sounds seem unaffected as does the gameplay so it’s still completely playable.
Shark Attack – The diamonds have a tendency to flicker and duplicate giving you twice the normal amount as usual, unfortunately you are unable to access 75% of the maze as you appear to be too fat, rendering the game unplayable unless you want to wait for the shark to eat 45 diamonds.
Infiltrate – Almost completely unaffected, the only thing wrong is that the elevators are shifted to the side a little bit but you can still use them. This game is completely fine.
Lost Luggage – Some minor sprite warping and the color palette is slightly off but it’s otherwise pristine.
Spacechase- Same as Lost Luggage, it’s completely fine.
Final Approach – Same as Spacechase…
Space Cavern – Same as Final Approach…
Racquetball – since it uses sprites for the lines of the room they are either missing or located in the wrong part of the room, the balls shadows are also out of sorts not allowing you to see its proper location rendering the game pretty much unplayable.
Skeet Shoot – Nothing wrong, but still unplayable.

Taiwan Cooper

Tank mission/Thunderground – Only some very minor sprite warping coupled with the color palette being completely screwed up.
Mr. Postman – The graphics are mostly unchanged but the music is absolutely mangled. The final screen, Silent City, makes the game unbeatable since the passageways have constricted not allowing the Postman to squeeze through and complete the game, rendering the game unplayable.
UFO/Condor Attack – The sprites for the enemies are screwed up but that’s pretty much it, everything acts and sounds normal.
Mission 3000 A.D. – Everything looks and acts normally but the sounds are now even more abrasive than before.
Cross Force – There is a constant buzzing noise that is frightening to listen to. The shooting only works on half the screen, and the act of shooting makes the whole screen flash and judder, the game is only semi playable though it’s probably a good handicap for skilled players.
Karate – the fighters now have pinheads and are missing one of their knees, but the game still acts the same
Open Sesame/I Want My Mommy – The music is butchered as usual but the graphics and gameplay remain fairly unchanged only everything that was white is now yellow.
Spider/Spacemaster X-7 – half of the shield is missing and has reappeared on the far right of the screen leaving the left half of the station completely unguarded making the game a breeze to play even in the harder difficulty levels, I easily quintupled my previous high score.
Squirrel – completely fine, apart from the standard sprite warping there is nothing wrong with it.

Tigervision

Polaris – the sonar sound effect is even worse to listen to than before, otherwise the game plays the same and apart from the standard sprite warping looks fine as well.
Jawbreaker – the game behaves normally and apart from some thick blue bars outside the play area and some of the dots not being where they should the game looks fine as well.
Miner 2049er – First off… Ow my ears that music is mangled to shit, otherwise everything is fairly normal apart from a crazy color palette.

Parker Bros.

Gyruss - As is common with all forms of sound coming from Phillip it is a twisted and evil sound that this game spits out of the speakers. The gameplay is perfectly fine and even the graphics are only affected to a minor degree, it's fine as long as you press the mute button.
G.I. Joe - Good lord that snake is twisted, it's face has separated from the rest of it's body and is now purely nightmare fuel. The small running soldiers now resemble cave drawings (seriously) and the palette is overall ruined, but the game still plays alright though the cobra seems a bit harder to hit than before.
Amidar - Exact same as Spiderdroid.
Sky Skipper - The opening tune hits notes so high I think I can hear the neighborhood dog population going crazy. The game is rendered unplayable due to the fact that as soon as you hit reset you phase into the floor and lose all of your lives in approximately four seconds, the game is just broken plain and simple.
Tutankham - The music is completely broken as usual but thankfully it isn't too much of an ear-sore. Sometimes there are walls narrowing the pathways but you can walk right through them, the game behaves normally and apart from the sounds it's completely fine. Even the color palette is normal.
Frogger - Apart from the hellish music, once more the game looks and acts like it should apart from a few flickering bits on the borders which is standard across the board, even the sprites look fine.
Reactor - I can never tell if this game is behaving correctly or not, but it seems to be fine, only a misplaced block or two.
Spiderman - The webs are invisible, and the graphics are warped, Spiderman looks like he was run over by a truck and I can't even get up high enough to see what the Goblin looks like, yeah the game's pretty much unplayable. Though, invisible web mode would be a good variation for experienced players.
Star Wars:Death Star Battle - The sounds and graphics are about right, though the grid pattern on the shield is messed up and the death star is missing a large chunk of it's right half. The game is still completely playable.
Star Wars: TESB - This is most definitely the worst rendition of the Star Wars theme I've ever heard, the palette is fine and so is the gameplay. There is very little wrong with the graphics, only a few juddering sprites and parts of the background detaching and jumping around, nothing gamebreaking.
Star Wars: Jedi Arena - I take it back... THIS is the worst rendition of the Star Wars theme I've ever heard. You're swinging around a lightsaber thicker than a human torso but that's about it for broken graphics, the game plays fine. There's nothing much wrong with this one.
Q*bert - He only has one leg! The music is also completely trashed but the game plays fine.
Super Cobra - The game plays fine but there is a wall of tiles situated in the center of the screen at all times and if they make contact with any of the terrain the terrain vanishes and reappears, also the sounds are screwed up, but you knew that already.
Popeye - Screwy sounds, flickering and slightly muddled visuals but you can still make everything out and play the game just fine, you're just going to get a headache while doing it.

Spectravision

Gangster Alley - The game looks and plays okay apart from a screwy color palette (It's not the color wheel I've checked multiple times). The sounds are okay because there just aren't any in the first place, yeah this one's fine.
Planet Patrol - honestly... It's just fine, the only thing that stands out is the random disco mesa in the background but otherwise everything is fine.
Chase the Chuckwagon - At first lance it looks fine, the graphics aren't screwed up and some of the text is even legible but when you hit the reset switch nothing will happen... If you press the game select switch the game will go into full seizure mode. You will be stuck in place and killed as the screen flashes red and a horrible buzzing assaults your ears. The game is unplayable.
Bumper Bash - the playfield is all sorts of screwed up, most of the walls are in the incorrect spots, in fact you can even get the ball stuck in the blue border. The game is impossible to play since the ball will get stuck every time, or the physics will break and the ball will get stuck in an endless loop of bouncing.

Imagic

Fathom – Amazingly enough the only thing wrong with it is a bit of mild sprite warping, even the sounds are fine!
Demon Attack – a classic case of screwy sounds, but the graphics are fine with just a few screwed up sprites.
Dragonfire – sounds are fine, so are the graphics. The gamebreaking bug though is that you are not allowed to go right when collecting treasures, if you do you will be taken back to the doorway instantly, but you don’t lose a life for doing so, but if anything is to the right of the door or directly above then the game is over.
Quick Step – completely fine… seriously!
Moonsweeper – Apart from some minor sprite warping and some slight tearing on the larger sprites there is nothing wrong sound-wise and play-wise.
No Escape! – The sounds are particularly nasty here but otherwise everything is correct apart from everything that was formerly white being yellow.
Solar Storm – Everything from the sounds to the sprites to the palette are perfect.
Cosmic Ark – the graphics, sounds, and gameplay are all fine, with one exception. When first starting the game the background is just like it was with Journey: Escape where it is a single vertical line moving side to side.
Atlantis – The screen has been cut into two halves, and the land is freaking out around the cities, it’s all juddery. Sounds and gameplay are okay.
Trick Shot – The brown on the table has been turned to black, but otherwise everything is fine in all departments.
Fire Fighter – The building flickers between grey and yellow occasionally and the ladder is spazzing out but the more complex graphics are untouched. Sounds are good and the gameplay is unaffected.
Star Voyager – the palette’s been hit, the blue border is now vomit green, but otherwise pretty much everything is fine with an off-key note here or there.
Riddle of the Sphinx – All the palm trees are missing their trunks, and the desert has turned into a yellow I can only describe as Kraft Single. The gameplay is unchanged so you can at least enjoy the eye rotting yellow.

Telesys

Cosmic Creeps – There is some major sprite tearing on the spaceship and sun but everything else is fine. The sounds are mostly alright except when it tries to do anything complicated. Gameplay is unaltered and completely playable.
Fast Food – Some of the sprites are a little bit messed up but he “You’re getting fatter” and “Closed” intermissions are screwed up beyond comprehension. The gameplay is fine, nothing wrong there and even the sounds are untouched
Coconuts – the tree trunks are completely missing, and the monkey is now the spawn of Satan’s asscrack. Gameplay and sounds are fine, nothing wrong there.

Brazilian Bootlegs

Bobby is Going Home – The music is no thoroughly unsettling as it is now in the minor key and just plain disturbing, the jumping sound has been destroyed. The gameplay and visuals are untouched for the most part.
Crackpots – The guy is now a Cyclops with a toupee that has a mind of its own, apart from that the palette is a bit screwy and parts of the game will flash on the black left border. Gameplay is fine, as are most of the sounds with perhaps an off-key note once in a while

Amiga

Mogul Maniac – You are skiing in the land of Kraft Singles since the whole planet has turned disturbingly yellow. Gameplay has remained unaffected, and apart from the awful rendition of the Olypmic Anthem being made even more awful, the sounds are unchanged.

Panda

Tank Brigade/Tanks But No Tanks – The graphics and sounds are mostly fine, but the game is rendered unplayable if you shoot either the far left or far right border walls since your shot will just stick into them not allowing you to shoot again until you die or an enemy drives into it. The enemy AI has become dumber than a box of rocks driving into the walls until they either warp to the other side or vanish and respawn. Enemy shots will also stick to the walls which might be why they’re freaking out… Hard Mode?

Zimag

Dishaster – The music is even worse than before, but the other sounds are okay. Gameplay is unchanged, but the graphics are a bit screwy, the poles will fracture in some places or be two pixels thick, and some of the plates will spaz side to side on occasion. The game still sucks though.

Universal-Gamex

X-Man – On the intro screen it seems the woman has swallowed a tire since she’s gotten quite round, the man is now grey and has little skinny chicken legs that grow in size whenever he’s walking, and the enemies will make the screen flicker a little bit as well. The game has been rendered unplayable for the same reasons as Entombed, the pathways have constricted and you are unable to move anywhere. The maze selector is also broken only picking two of the three mazes and one far more than the other, the one it usually chooses also constantly plays a high pitched sound just to give you a headache, the sounds are just horrible and off-key. Even if you wanted to play it you couldn’t.

Mythicon

Star Fox – The sounds are just as broken as is it was on a functioning console except all the annoying ones have been reduced in pitch to a near tolerable level. Gameplay and graphics remain unaltered. Hmmm it seems playing Star Fox on a broken console has wound up making it slightly better.
Fire Fly – HOLY SHIT THAT MUSIC!!! My ears hurt! It’s all been raised a couple octaves apart from a few notes that were on the lower end staying correct. The graphics couldn’t be more messed up in the first place so it seems Phillip has actually improved some of them by destroying them further.
Sorcerer – the white mountain top is made of year old Cheez Whizz but everything else seems fine with the graphics, scratch that the mountains have turned yellow and the mountain top is now grey, now it’s back to normal, what the hell. I’m afraid to hit reset, but here goes… OH GOD MY EARS!!!

http://atariage.com/forums/blog/729/entry-15431-phillip-the-2600-what-has-he-defiled-today-updated-11919/