Opinions on Newer 8 Bit Carts

[Atari Smeghead]

Hello!

 

I was all ready to plunk down some $$ on a couple of games, but I realized that I know nothing about a lot of these. Maybe you can help?

 

These are cartridges from B&C ...

 

Sharp Shooter (Light Gun)

Crime Buster (Light Gun)

 

DEFLECTOR (CART ONLY) 19.95

PAC MAN JR (CART ONLY) 19.95

STARGATE (CART ONLY) 19.95

SUPER PAC MAN (CART ONLY) 19.95

SUPERMAN III (CART ONLY) 14.95

TOWER TOPPLER (CART ONLY) 19.95

 

NEWLY RELEASED CARTRIDGES

MONTANA SOLITAIRE XL/XE 19.95

PADDLE PACK PONG XL/XE REQ PADDLES 19.95

PADDLE WARS (PONG)REQ PADDLE 48K 19.95***

PUZZLER 20 DUNGEONS OF PUZZLES 48K 19.95

RICOCHET ARCADE XL/XE + REQ PADDLE 19.95

ROCKS, 2 PLAYER XL/XE 19.95

VIDEO POKER BY H. BROWN 16K 19.95

VIDEO SLOTS XL/XE 19.95

 

Actually, I'm going to stop there. I WAS going to list the ones that Video 61 has, but man, there's a LOT of names I don't recall.

 

***Actually, I do know about Paddle Wars. I owned it for a while. It sucked hard. It's a Pong game that required 48k. It was jerky with inconsistant speed. Very hard to play for any amount of time.

 

If anyone has opinions, please share 'em!

 

Thanks,

Smeg

[Goochman]

Tower Toppler isnt that great

I enjoyed StarGate (bought it when it was first released)

Pac Man Jr and Super Pac Man are good conversions if you like those type games.

Superman III - not so hot

[+davidcalgary29]

Tower Toppler is an excellent platformer, but you will need to use a TV or composite monitor to enjoy the full benefit of its artifacted displays.

 

Commando is an excellent game, and probably -- along with Gauntlet -- the best blaster for the system. It very well could have been a big hit had it been released with the XEGS.

 

MIDIMaze is an astounding FPS that boasts instant in-game messaging (and this was coded in '89!) and multi-machine player linkup. You can play with another XE, or even an ST! This is what Wolfenstein 3D looked like in the late '80s.

 

Mean 18 is strictly for gaming masochists.

 

You might also want to give Rampage a pass unless you're particularly fond of the arcade game, and don't have a port of it for any other system.

 

Super Pac-Man is wonderful, and much more fun to play than Jr. Pac-Man. It is, however, available on a multicart from Sunmark.

[+davidcalgary29]

...and you will probably want to avoid Stargate if you enjoyed Defender on the 8-bits. It's just too slow, cluttered, and flickery too enjoy.

[Atari Smeghead]

Sorry...meant to say this a bit sooner...

 

Thanks for those who replied. I do appreciate it!

 

I went ahead and purchased Ricochet from B&C.

 

Ricochet is an XL/XL game which requires 64k and paddles. It's a Breakout-type game with three rows of balloons on the left side of the screen and your paddle on the right. You bounce the ball through the balloons, off the back wall and it comes back to you. If you clear off a back row before the front row is cleared, that row reappears.

 

It's not the most exciting game, but I had some fun playing it. I like how the speed of the ball increases so minutely that you don't notice it until it's really speeding along. The ball is animated well enough so it's not too noticeably jerky.

 

The game is in an old-style 400/800 brown cartridge, with a crappy black-inked paper label taped to it. The box is white with no artwork, and the instructions are a photo-copied piece of typed paper. (From the very first word, you know it's not terribly well-written. It starts, "Too play the game...")

 

So, worth $19.95? Maybe not, but I'm satisfied.

 

Smeg

[+davidcalgary29]

Sorry...meant to say this a bit sooner...

 

Thanks for those who replied.  I do appreciate it!

 

I went ahead and purchased Ricochet from B&C.

 

Ricochet is an XL/XL game which requires 64k and paddles.   It's a Breakout-type game with three rows of balloons on the left side of the screen and your paddle on the right.  You bounce the ball through the balloons, off the back wall and it comes back to you.  If you clear off a back row before the front row is cleared, that row reappears.

 

It's not the most exciting game, but I had some fun playing it. I like how the speed of the ball increases so minutely that you don't notice it until it's really speeding along.  The ball is animated well enough so it's not too noticeably jerky.

 

The game is in an old-style 400/800 brown cartridge, with a crappy black-inked paper label taped to it.  The box is white with no artwork, and the instructions are a photo-copied piece of typed paper. (From the very first word, you know it's not terribly well-written. It starts, "Too play the game...")

 

So, worth $19.95?  Maybe not, but I'm satisfied.

 

Smeg

 

Get Castle Crisis if you don't already have it. It's one of the best games ever put out for the 8-bits -- period -- and is worth every penny of its purchase price.

[Atari Smeghead]

Get Castle Crisis if you don't already have it. It's one of the best games ever put out for the 8-bits -- period -- and is worth every penny of its purchase price.  

 

David,

Yup, I definitely picked that one up! I will always try to support anyone who takes the time to publish new material for our beloved machines.

 

It's a great paddle game, to be sure! I haven't been able to get four-way play yet, but I've gotten a couple of friends to pick up the paddles with me.

 

Thanks again,

Smeg