What is the ultimate A8 game you have ever played?

[Keatah]

39 minutes ago, leech said:

My understanding is that a vast majority of games on the Apple II used artifacting due to lack of decent color capabilities.  I always felt the Atari didn't really need such things, though I suppose if you wanted higher resolutions, it did.

All Apple II graphics are artifacted color. It's how it gets any color to begin with.

[_The Doctor__]

The Best things about the Apple was the expansion slots and the parallel disk drives. One of the first of the 'home','hobby' machines I mucked about with, it really was underwhelming in all respects. They ran those machines out to just about any school that would take them knowing even if it was break even, it would make sure families would feel the need to buy what was in the school. They always go after the kids when they can't do it any other way.

Edited March 3, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[Doctorx]

Impossible to name just one though I think Galahad and the Holy Grail would be the last game I played if I knew I was about to die and had to play a game.. lol.. I was a lover of Adventure on the 2600 though so that makes perfect sense.

 

I loved the simple little spaceship game called “Stealth”

 

Leaderboard was fantastic and far beyond its time to me Hardball was another sports game that I would spend hours with ….

 

Great American Cross Country Road Race was great fun…

 

And of course, the staples, Star Raiders, Dig Dug, Lucasfilm stuff, Defender…..

 

Though I was always looking more for stuff like BBS software, term programs, and phreaking apps more than I looked for games when BBS’ing..

[adam242]

2 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Lode Runner, and Championship Lode Runner artifact.

Lode Runners Rescue was 3D improved color and sound effects, you could make your own levels and screens etc. too.

There are modified versions of Lode Runner and Lode Runner II that use ANTIC mode E for proper color without artifacting.

 

Lode Runner is another favorite of mine, a 'desert island' title for the endless replay value due to the construction set. Great game.

[adam242]

(accidental double post, please delete)

Edited March 3, 2023 by adam242

[leech]

54 minutes ago, Keatah said:

All Apple II graphics are artifacted color. It's how it gets any color to begin with.

Right, what I meant by 'vast majority' was that games which were monochrome clearly didn't need to. 

[Keatah]

1 hour ago, leech said:

Right, what I meant by 'vast majority' was that games which were monochrome clearly didn't need to. 

Even the monochrome games' video generation method was by artifacting. No difference.

[scotty]

Some of my go to games on the Atari 8-bit:

 

Lode Runner

Mr. Robot and his Robot Factory (Very under rated game!!)

Zeppelin

Star League Baseball

Deluxe Invaders

Jr. Pac-Man

 

Never did take the time to memorize all the controls on Star Raiders, but I know even BITD, it was everyone favorite game.

 

[Keatah]

4 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

The Best things about the Apple was the expansion slots and the parallel disk drives.

Even my Jr. High self had appreciated the importance of the expansion slots. Granted I didn't know what technical aspects of the slots were important, which signals and all that, all I knew was that I could add circuits to the computer thus making it able to grow over time. Never allowing it to become obsolete. Imagine the load I blew when I found out about the Mountain Hardware Expansion Chassis! A whole EXTRA box of slots for even MOAR stuff.

 

I didn't know right away that the Disk II subsystem was parallel in nature when I first got it. I was just happy at how well it integrated with Applesoft Basic and how quickly I was able to learn how to use it. It was practically plain English in how commands were issued or errors reported. I learned about 70% of it the first day I got it. And brushed up on the rest and fine points in the ensuing days.

 

Eventually we got fast DOSes and even a DOS that displayed the track/sector number as it worked. And ultimately we got a copier that did a single-sided disk in 28 seconds. Spellbinding! Breathtaking speeds!

 

4 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

One of the first of the 'home','hobby' machines I mucked about with, it really was underwhelming in all respects.

I thought it rather polished and sophisticated - straddling the line between hobbyist and consumer very nicely. The blank canvas of the machine fired off my imagination like no other machine before or after. With exception of the advent of DOS gaming and eventual 3D gaming in the 90's on PC.

 

4 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

They ran those machines out to just about any school that would take them knowing even if it was break even, it would make sure families would feel the need to buy what was in the school.

I had my A2 long before being in high school. And in grade school there was zero-talk of computers amongst the teaching staff till I actually bought mine in for show'n'tell.

 

The high school computing lab had Apple II and IBM PC. Maybe PET or Trash-80 too, IDR. It didn't matter, however, as my math grades suckedadickus and you had to have As to get access. But whatever it was they were teaching in there I could have written the text books and programs they used. So piss'n'shit all over'em! Dumb asses!

 

The A2 taught me many concepts I use till this very day. Apple's early marketing approach was one that did the Information Age good.

 

4 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

They always go after the kids when they can't do it any other way.

That explains a lot about today's videogame consoles and how they're marketed.

 

And getting kids on-board is a good thing. I was happy my micro of choice was being adopted by schools. It reaffirmed that I was on the right track.

[oky2000]

2 hours ago, scotty said:

Some of my go to games on the Atari 8-bit:

 

Lode Runner

Mr. Robot and his Robot Factory (Very under rated game!!)

Zeppelin

Star League Baseball

Deluxe Invaders

Jr. Pac-Man

 

Never did take the time to memorize all the controls on Star Raiders, but I know even BITD, it was everyone favorite game.

 

Mr Robot is a brilliant game and like you say very underrated, hopefully I can scrape together some sort of SD based solution so I can play these games I don't own. I remember loading it up just to test the tape....30 minutes later I'm still playing it after the battery for the camera ran out of juice lol

 

If Zeppelin is the 8 way scrolling early-mid 80s Ariolasoft(?) game I have seen on other platforms I played that too and it's a cool game too. I probably did play it on the Atari too back then but my friend had hundreds and hundreds of games so it's hard to remember all of them.

[Rybags]

13 hours ago, ClausB said:

You have to disagree again?

 

I calculated 1.32.

 

Distant stars flicker darker and near stars brighter. Look at the code.

 

I've done a net speed calculation for SR.  Note that this can vary slightly since both NTSC/PAL don't have integer frame rates so a 1 second sample could start/end at different screen positions.  But for the sake of this, lets say the 1 second starts at scanline 0.  Also when you get status messages the game puts a Mode 6 line in place of some of the starfield.

 

My numbers say 1.41 NTSC and 1.43 PAL.

 

CYCLES STOLEN PER FRAME:
DList:  109
Refresh:  9 x 262 or 9 x 312    = 2358 or 2808
Mode  D : 92 x 40        = 3680
Mode 6:  2 x 20 + 8 x 20    = 200

TOTAL gross Cycles / Frame    = 29868 or 35568
TOTAL DMA / Frame        = 6347 or 6797
Net cycles available / Frame    = 23521 or 28771

Machine gross speed        = 1789771 or 1773445
Net speed            = 1409441 or 1434542

 

Overall speeds based on "hardware frame rate" as seen in Altirra options - 59.9227 NTSC, 49.8607 PAL

 

[ClausB]

3 hours ago, Rybags said:

TOTAL DMA / Frame        = 6347 or 6797

Plus PMG DMA

[ClausB]

3 hours ago, Rybags said:

Mode 6:  2 x 20 + 8 x 20    = 200

Should be 2x20+16x20

[Rybags]

Forgot all about that... recalculation gives net speed of 1,327,946 NTSC, 1366731 PAL.

 

Could just about make it worthwhile having the DLI turn PMG DMA off/on when it's not needed.

[LarsImNetz]

Hi,

my favorite games on Atari 8bit are in the 80/90ties are

 

- Donkey Kong
- Dropzone
- River Raid
- Miner 2049er
- Boulder Dash
- Rescue on Fractalus
- Archon
- Elektraglide

 

But, please, wait for Night Knight... It's not ready yet.

 

[Flyindrew]

Being a 130 XE owner as well as a die hard baseball (NY Mets) fan in the mid 1980's, Id have to say my # 1 go to game was "Micro League Baseball". I think I must have recreated every season from like 1984-1989 as well as my own old timer leagues.

[oky2000]

Archon was a game I used to play with my friend, forgot all about that. Dropzone is another fine bit of game development by Archer.

 

Don't think I ever played any other baseball game on any system up to PS5. Only one I ever played was the action/arcade orientated World Series Baseball (incorrectly attributed to Ocean/Imagine but it was pretty much complete when Ocean/Imagine bought old Imagine Software in 84 etc but they had no money to pay for any artwork/inlays/cassette duplication so it came out on the Ocean owned Imagine yellow clamshell series).

[adam242]

20 hours ago, Keatah said:

... Imagine the load I blew...

I don't think any of us want to do that.

[Ute]

 

Archon, The Eidolon, Boulderdash, Loderunner, Beach Head 1 and 2, FLight Sim 2(Even though it ran slow and was difficult to play.)Too many to list them all.

 

Bruce Lee was my all time favorite. Sadly I never want to play that game again.

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Ute

[+MrFish]

10 hours ago, Ute said:

Bruce Lee was my all time favorite. Sadly I never want to play that game again.

Hahaha... 

 

Give it 5 or 10 years...

 

[eegad]

Alternate Reality - City more than Dungeon. 

 

 

Other top mentions - zombies, sea dragon, pharoahs curse, preppie, caverns of mars, dropzone.

[+CharlieChaplin]

- Montezumas Revenge

 (16k version only, since I don't like the the original version with its decorations and most of all its burning lianas)

- Bruce Lee (one of the few A8 games that I finished)

- Archon (vs. computer only, since I once played vs. a human player and he only moved to his dark squares and in a battle he always waited in one corner and never moved away from it, so he almost always had more power than me and he almost always could shoot faster than me; simply did the same thing he did to show him how boring the gameplay then becomes)

- Caverns of Mars II or Mars Mission II, my favourite Scramble clone, until Scramble finally appeared

- Fort Apocalypse (another A8 game I finished, but a little too short!)

 

honorable mention: Wavy Navy, Pitfall II and Bandits!

 

 

 

[Eric Badger]

LodeRunner

Ultima IV

M.U.L.E.

7 Cities of Gold

 

[Flyindrew]

Another 8 bit "go to" game for me was Flight Simulator. In addition to the main disk, I remember purchasing scenery disks which allowed you to fly in specific regions in the United States, and I think there was even one for Japan. Back in 1987 I thought the graphics were "amazing". These days, playing Flight Simulator on XBox, those graphics from 36 years ago are so primitive, like something from the dark ages.

[zzip]

1 hour ago, Flyindrew said:

Another 8 bit "go to" game for me was Flight Simulator. In addition to the main disk, I remember purchasing scenery disks which allowed you to fly in specific regions in the United States, and I think there was even one for Japan. Back in 1987 I thought the graphics were "amazing". These days, playing Flight Simulator on XBox, those graphics from 36 years ago are so primitive, like something from the dark ages.

I had the opposite reaction.   I read glowing reviews of FS2 in magazines,  but when I got a copy it was a let down,  barely any scenery and extremely slow framerate.   Seemed like that type of game had a long way to go.