JankenTheGreat Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Everyone here seems to think that Karate is the worst 2600 game. Well, I just got done playing Slots, and I think that's even worse. Anyone else think Slots blows worse than Karate???[/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe C. Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Anyone else think Slots blows worse than Karate???[/i] Me Playing slots on Atari is boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Personally I think all computer slot machine games are dumb, but David Crane told me he wrote the 2600 one for his grandma (or was it his mother?) because she enjoyed slot machines and she couldn't get out much. Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DamonicFury Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Slots (I presume you mean the Sears version of Atari's Slot Machine) IS boring as can be, but for a 70's era cart, it's about what you would expect of a 2600 slot machine simulator. Even a modern day slot machine simulator is going to be dull. Karate, on the other hand, has been proven repeatedly to be an engaging video game sport... Froggo's/Ultravision's version simply is just unplayable, so for that reason, yes, it's still worse than Slots! I could forgive the graphics, but the lack of any kind of control or proper hit detection makes it utterly miserable to play. On the other hand, maybe there's some secret to it. People swear that it's possible to play the 2600 Activision version of Double Dragon which seems just as impossible to control as Karate to me. But at least it's pretty good looking for a 2600 game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Karate is not the worst 2600 game I've ever played, and definitely isn't as mind numbing as games like E.T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Everyone here seems to think that Karate is the worst 2600 game.[/i] Everyone? Name names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe C. Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I think most people enjoy Karate games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hepcat Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I do not think that Karate is the worst Atari 2600 game. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Donkey Kong Jr. is the worst game ever made for the Atari 2600. As for Slots vs. Karate, it's been awhile, but I seem to remember both of them being equally awful. --Jason Everyone here seems to think that Karate is the worst 2600 game. Well, I just got done playing Slots, and I think that's even worse. Anyone else think Slots blows worse than Karate???[/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 I've said it before and I'll say it again: Donkey Kong Jr. is the worst game ever made for the Atari 2600. No way. There are far worse games on the 2600 than DK Jr. At least it has three screens (or 4, never did get past #3.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 8, 2003 Share Posted July 8, 2003 Off Your Rocker is rarely mentioned in these 2600 game bashing fests, but I believe it deserves its moment in the low light. All it is is Simon (or Touch Me, as devout Atarians prefer). Big deal. I've never been impressed with Simon, primarily because it's so brain dullingly simple. Off Your Rocker does pitifully little to disguise the simplicity of the game on which it is based. You've got four big, chunky graphics thingies that look like...who knows what they are? There's a simpleton in the middle of the four thingies who always points to the thingie in the opposite direction of whichever of them color thingies lights up. Other than that, there's an annoying animated ambulance that supposedly carries you off to the looney bin as soon as youv'e guessed the wrong thingie in the thingie sequence. It's kind of funny. Once. But after you've seen it once, the ambulance animation is just a needless waste of your time. Now that I think of it, that's a rather fitting metaphor for the game as a whole. So, Off Your Rocker is Simon with a few anti-gameplay tokens thrown into the mix. It's a 4K ROM, but I'd bet if the programmer had to, he could have coded it in as few as 500 bytes with half his brain tied behind his back. The thing that bugs me most about Off Your Rocker, the thing that bothered me most about Simon when it first came out and still does to this day, is that you don't even need to buy a videogame (or a handheld) to play it. All you need is a deck of cards and no detectable zest for life. For the unimaginitive among us (i.e. the sort who might actually enjoy Simon), here's my recipie for "Cheapskate Simon": 1. Get a deck of cards 2. Shuffle the deck 3. Draw the top card 4. Say the name of the suit out loud 5. Return card to top of deck 6. Say the name of the suit of the top card out loud without looking 7. Draw the card to verify your accuracy 8. If unsuccessful, your score is zero. Proceed to step 14. 9. Draw an additional card and recite its suit out loud 10. Return all examined cards to the top of the deck, preserving their order 11. Recite the name of the suit of each card you've previously examined from memory, as you draw them one at a time from the top of the deck. 12. If by drawing any pre-examined card you discover you've incorrectly recalled it's suit, count the number of cards you guessed correctly to determine your score. Then proceed to step 14. 13. If you make it all the way through all pre-examined cards without making any suit-naming errors, procede to step 9. 14. You're an idiot. Game over. No matter how long you play or how well, all roads eventually lead to step 14. So, who needs a time-waster of a videogame like this? To have squandered good money on this bomb back in the day, why you'd have to have been off your rocker. Maybe the title was Amiga's last little joke on us before they finally went under. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 What can I even say after a post like Ben's? Karate on the 2600 is pretty bad. I think Skeet Shoot is worse. Slot Machine is pretty pointless too. I still hate Star Ship most... only because the concept promises to be engaging, but the reality of the game is anything but. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Atari Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I think Karate is by far the worst 2600 game. Even E.T. was beatable, Karate is simply impossible, and there's no excuse for those graphics, which are sad even by 2600 standards. Double Dragon on the 2600 IS beatable, as I and a few others have demonstrated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCroniger Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Karate is pretty bad. It may be the worse game ever. I don't like Chase the Chuckwaggon either. Slots, on the other had, is actually decent. I really liked it when it came out. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black dog Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I have a sealed MIB copy of Karate, but I'm afraid If I open it, something evil will be released, destroying all life as we now know it. Thats how bad this game is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Yes... it is definitely worse than that ghost in the jar that was on eBay a few weeks ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doppel Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 come on now, is it really worse than any of the apollo games for the 2600? (esp skeet shoot) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeybastard Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 IMHO, Karate is the worst VCS game because it is completely unplayable. Slot Machine is dull but at least it's playable. The first time I played Karate, I had to keep hitting reset becuase I didn't seem to be controlling either man on screen. Then I found out that was basically the control scheme of that piece o' crap cart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitfall Harry Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 come on now, is it really worse than any of the apollo games for the 2600? (esp skeet shoot) I used to keep my copy of Skeet Shoot in a zip-locked plastic bag inside a second zip-locked bag stuffed with shoe deodorizer. But now that I've switched to storing the game in a cryogenic evacuation chamber, my lawn is a much more vibrant green and dead birds don't drop out of the sky when they fly over my house anymore. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Ben.. your Simon for cheapskates sounds kind of fun... but it makes for a lousy keychain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hepcat Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I've said it before and I'll say it again: Donkey Kong Jr. is the worst game ever made for the Atari 2600. No way. There are far worse games on the 2600 than DK Jr. At least it has three screens (or 4, never did get past #3.) Sorry, I’m not budging on this one. Choosing the worst Atari 2600 game ever is an admittedly daunting task, as so many of the challengers for the crown (Pac-man, Ssssnake, Karate, etc., etc.,) are indeed stupefying in their mediocrity. To defend my choice of Donkey Kong Jr., I am going to reproduce (to the best of my recollection), and expand upon, the comments on this atrocious game that I posted on the old Atari2600Nexus message boards. Donkey Kong Jr. remains one of my favorite arcade games and I remember spending a lot of the money I earned on my paper route learning to master it. When I heard it was coming out for the 2600 I was thrilled, and bought it as soon as it came out. That decision turned out to be the biggest waste of money of my life up to that time, and possibly ever. The first thing I noticed was the horrific sound effects. The sound of Junior climbing up and down vines is identical to that of fingernails being scraped across a blackboard. The only way to tolerate it is to turn the volume down...which forces you to confront the game’s laughable graphics. I’ve developed a theory about these, namely that DKJr is actually a prototype of the next game in Atari’s Sesame Street series. Doesn’t Junior when moving horizontally resemble Big Bird riding a skateboard? Doesn’t Donkey Kong himself bear a striking resemblance to Oscar the Grouch sans trash can? I think once Atari realized what a terrible game they had on their hands, they abandoned the project. Coleco then picked it up out of the trash heap, mass produced it, slapped on some “Donkey Kong Jr.” labels, and unleashed it on an unsuspecting public. I can hear some objections already. C’mon hepcat, how can you say DKJr is the worst? What about games like Basic Math, Street Racer, and other block fests like Basic Programming and the dreadful Hangman? My response is that these “games” were released very early in the 2600's life, before its programmers had learned how to fully exploit the 2600's capabilities. For Coleco to release a game like DKJr in 1983 is inexcusable. Don’t even try and tell me that by 1983, the same year that saw the release of such masterpieces as Keystone Kapers, Tunnel Runner, and Moon Patrol, Atari 2600 programmers could not have figured out how to put more than one "bleeping" bird on the key screen!!! DKJr has also been defended because it has three screens. I don’t buy that either. DKJr’s third “screen” consists of Junior/Big Bird riding his skateboard back and forth across mattresses while being chased by hungry paper clips. The gaming public would have been far better served had Coleco stuck to two boards, and made junior look like an ape instead of a Sesame Street character. I’ve read Pitfall Harry’s recent comments on “Off Your Rocker.” I’d never heard of that game, and agree that it sounds pretty awful. However, as far as I’m concerned Donkey Kong Junior remains the true king of Atari 2600 duds. --Jason Edit for typo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeybastard Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 come on now, is it really worse than any of the apollo games for the 2600? (esp skeet shoot) I used to keep my copy of Skeet Shoot in a zip-locked plastic bag inside a second zip-locked bag stuffed with shoe deodorizer. But now that I've switched to storing the game in a cryogenic evacuation chamber, my lawn is a much more vibrant green and dead birds don't drop out of the sky when they fly over my house anymore. Ben Skeet shoot is a tie with Karate for me as it is completely unplayable also. DKjr. does suck but at least I can control the character so I think it's better then Karate and Skeet Shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaXpress Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I’ve developed a theory about these, namely that DKJr is actually a prototype of the next game in Atari’s Sesame Street series. Doesn’t Junior when moving horizontally resemble Big Bird riding a skateboard? Doesn’t Donkey Kong himself bear a striking resemblance to Oscar the Grouch sans trash can? I think once Atari realized what a terrible game they had on their hands, they abandoned the project. Coleco then picked it up out of the trash heap, mass produced it, slapped on some “Donkey Kong Jr.” labels, and unleashed it on an unsuspecting public. Guess again. Was that a joke, or did you really think Atari once had the rights to DKJr? I'll settle on Skeet Shoot as the worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hepcat Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I’ve developed a theory about these, namely that DKJr is actually a prototype of the next game in Atari’s Sesame Street series. Doesn’t Junior when moving horizontally resemble Big Bird riding a skateboard? Doesn’t Donkey Kong himself bear a striking resemblance to Oscar the Grouch sans trash can? I think once Atari realized what a terrible game they had on their hands, they abandoned the project. Coleco then picked it up out of the trash heap, mass produced it, slapped on some “Donkey Kong Jr.” labels, and unleashed it on an unsuspecting public. Guess again. Was that a joke, or did you really think Atari once had the rights to DKJr? I'll settle on Skeet Shoot as the worst. Sure it was a joke, but I think anyone who's had the misfortune of playing DKJr. will have to admit it's plausible. :wink: Atari did release this travesty as one of their red label carts. They must have (re)acquired the rights somewhere along the line. --Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 Say what you want, but in sheer craptacularness DK Jr. doesn't even hold a candle to E.T. The former may be a bad port of an arcade game, but it can still (marginally) be fun to play. E.T. is NOT fun to play. It never has been, and it never will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted July 9, 2003 Share Posted July 9, 2003 I beg to differ. 2600 DKJr is NOT fun to play. It ranges from miserable to impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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