bigmessowires Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 What are some good examples of slower-paced Atari 2600 games, ones that mostly emphasize strategy and planning over fast joystick reflexes? Adventure is the first one that jumps to my mind. Yes you'll need to race to fight the dragons and avoid the bat, but most of the game is exploration, mapping, and working out clues. Any kind of puzzle game would certainly fit in this category too. I would love to see something in the spirit of Civilization or SimCity for the 2600. What slower-paced Atari games have you enjoyed? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Raiders of the Lost Ark, Secret Quest, Riddle of the Sphinx, Quest for Quintana Roo, and of course the Swordquest games come to mind. DragonStomper and Survival Island are a couple you may want to check out also, although I've never played them as I do not own a Supercharger. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 6 minutes ago, Psionic said: DragonStomper and Survival Island are a couple you may want to check out also, although I've never played them as I do not own a Supercharger. On a bit of a tangent, you can get a version of Supercharger games that will play on a Harmony Cart (possibly other multicarts). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) Puzzle-wise: While it's graphically simplistic, a homebrew game that I like is Chunkout 2600. Maybe because it's graphically simplistic. For a technically and graphically impressive game, also homebrew, check out Strat-o-Gems ("slower paced", but only at first). Edited January 23 by BigO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmessowires Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 1 hour ago, Psionic said: Riddle of the Sphinx, Quest for Quintana Roo, and of course the Swordquest games Thanks, maybe I need to RTFM for the games I already have! I tried Swordquest but had no idea what was going on. I reached a point where I had to cross a room by jumping through tiny gaps in a moving rainbow-colored wall, and gave up after repeatedly failing. Riddle of the Sphinx seemed like a straightforward vertically-scrolling shooter, so I must have missed something important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Sadly, there are few titles on the 2600 that could be described as "strategy games". Honestly, the only thing that comes to mind is the implementation of traditional board games like Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, and Othello. Bridge would presumably also fall into this category. I, too, am a big fan of strategy games, but there is not very much (on any console) before the advent of the NES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+littaum Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Two of the more recent homebrews that would fit this category are Blocks, which is a "match the same color of blocks along rows and columns" and Dark Keep, which is an adaptation of a 1980's board game (the one with the electronic tower). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmessowires Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Thanks, these are some great examples! Interesting that so many of them are homebrews instead of original games. Dark Keep looks impressive but will definitely require some time reading the manual. I don't see anything in the spirit of Civ, SimCity, or Farmville. Could be it's too ambitious for the 2600? Requires too much RAM? Maybe I'll take a shot at writing something. 2D scrollable terrain map, each map tile can be one of N different types, and tiles contain resources or "factories" to create new resources over time. The player moves about collecting resources, upgrading tiles, and deciding what and where to upgrade next. To help reduce RAM usage, some of the state data could be constructed from a deterministic random number generator, and regenerated on the fly whenever it's needed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+littaum Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 If you are looking for examples of scrollable tile games, there is Penult, an RPG in development, and Lord of Biscay, which is an RPG demo for the PlusCart, as well as a nice port of Boulder Dash. All push the boundaries of the 2600 in one way or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edladdin Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 These are not strategy games, per se, but when I'm not in the mood for twitch games, my favorites are: Atari Backgammon Atari Bowling Atari Golf Atari Miniature Golf and the AA "Plus" hack Atari Othello Imagic Trick Shot There's the other board and card games, if you like them. Once in a while I'll play 3D Tic Tac Toe, but I'm not usually excited enough to reach for Blackjack/Casino, Checkers, Hangman, or Concentration/Hunt & Score. Let alone Rubik's Cube/Video Cube. And I'll admit I own but have never actually tried Sneak n Peek. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 15 hours ago, BigO said: On a bit of a tangent, you can get a version of Supercharger games that will play on a Harmony Cart (possibly other multicarts). Yeah, I know. I've had a Harmony Cartridge for quite a while too...I'm just long overdue in checking those games out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 1 hour ago, bigmessowires said: I don't see anything in the spirit of Civ, SimCity, or Farmville. Could be it's too ambitious for the 2600? Requires too much RAM? Maybe I'll take a shot at writing something. While it is not on the 2600, there is Utopia on the Intellivision. It is 2-player only, but it is the closest (only?) thing from this era. There is resource harvesting, random weather, military actions, etc. It may be possible to create a version of this game for the 2600; I am not a programmer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 On 1/23/2023 at 1:19 PM, jhd said: While it is not on the 2600, there is Utopia on the Intellivision. It is 2-player only, but it is the closest (only?) thing from this era. There is resource harvesting, random weather, military actions, etc. It may be possible to create a version of this game for the 2600; I am not a programmer. The ColecoVision has Fortune Builder. My understanding is that it was written by the person that went on to create the Sim series of games (correct me if I'm wrong).... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Atari_Warlord Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 The homebrew Jammed is a fun puzzle game that would fit the strategy category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Chess and Basic Programming 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 6 hours ago, else said: The ColecoVision has Fortune Builder. My understanding is that it was written by the person that went on to create the Sim series of games (correct me if I'm wrong).... Will Wright had nothing to do with Fortune Builder. He claims to have come up with the idea for SimCity while using a level editor during the development of Raid on Bungeling Bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4ever2600 Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 The homebrew Dungeon and Dungeon 2 are great turn based RPGs that are available right here in the AA store. There were also a couple of homebrew adventure sequels available here on the AA store. Evil Magician Returns 2, Epic Adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tifany Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 You might try Stellar Track - it's a version of the old "Star Trek" game that's been around since the 70's. Its turn based and does require a bit of strategy and resource management. Not a lot of folks are into it, but I played the heck out of it when I was a kid! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 I'll throw in my own "Qb" which is kind of an action puzzler that requires strategy of sorts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Eyeball Mural Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 Some of these may fit the bill (when it comes to "mood" or "vibe"), while some are borderline cases. Some have already been mentioned in prior posts. - 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe - 2048 - Adventure - Atarowg - Backgammon - Checkers - Codebreaker - Computer Chess - Concentration - Crypts of Chaos - Dark Keep - Dice Puzzle - Dungeon - Encaved - Four-Play - Kuru Kuru Tsuchinoko - Moth - Othello - Raiders of the Lost Ark - Raster Fahndung - Riddle of the Sphinx - Stellar Track - Video Checkers This list is not exhaustive. As for the "sim" or "civ" type of game, I don't know of any 2600 title that approaches that concept. Stellar Track (a GREAT game!) might come the closest. For slow-pace and for strategy, my recommendations are 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, Adventure, Crypts of Chaos, Dungeon, Riddle of the Sphinx and Stellar Track. Yes, read the manuals! Atari 2600 games are often more intricate and nuanced than they seem at first, and many folks give up on games not realizing there is more meat on the bone. 2600 titles just usually aren't self-teaching in the way we became accustomed to from NES onward. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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