joeybastard Posted February 8, 2005 Author Share Posted February 8, 2005 I think since the industy was in its infancy, you didn't have many real expectations from the consumer either. If the game was remotely like the original, then people considered it to be the same. Speaking as someone who has been heavily into video games since the 70's I'd like to point out that we didn't consider it to be the same. It's not like we were morons and didn't notice the difference. Being able to play video games at home was such a novelty that close was good enough. -S Exactly, plus you needed a bit of imagination as well. I was playing asteroids at home dammit! And my friends could come over too! But then again, given the chance to ride my bike up to the arcade with my buddies, well that trumped everything I was a kid in the 70's too so I know what you're saying. Anything at home was great. It's just that I remember many discussions among friends back in the day regarding how VCS games looked so bad against many of the other systems. Now that we see how great the games could have matched their coin-op daddies, it brought up my question. The fact is, the only thing that ever bothered me as a kid on the VCS arcade translations were the floating eggs in Joust. I still don;t plat the VCS version because of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 . Porting games from arcade to home was a relatively new concept at the time. Try unheard of AFAIK every game had gone at the very least by an new name until SI came along Ummm, almost all of the initial 2600 library was arcade ports. Heck, it was built with the specific purpose of porting Atari's popular arcade games to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maibock Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 I think since the industy was in its infancy, you didn't have many real expectations from the consumer either. If the game was remotely like the original, then people considered it to be the same. Speaking as someone who has been heavily into video games since the 70's I'd like to point out that we didn't consider it to be the same. It's not like we were morons and didn't notice the difference. Being able to play video games at home was such a novelty that close was good enough. -S Exactly, plus you needed a bit of imagination as well. I was playing asteroids at home dammit! And my friends could come over too! But then again, given the chance to ride my bike up to the arcade with my buddies, well that trumped everything I was a kid in the 70's too so I know what you're saying. Anything at home was great. It's just that I remember many discussions among friends back in the day regarding how VCS games looked so bad against many of the other systems. Now that we see how great the games could have matched their coin-op daddies, it brought up my question. The fact is, the only thing that ever bothered me as a kid on the VCS arcade translations were the floating eggs in Joust. I still don;t plat the VCS version because of that. Yeah, we knew the games were off too, but we were ok with it since we were playing at home! for free!! And it's a great question to bring up, since I don't think it was only beacuse of the VCS's limitations, your SI example was a good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stingray Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Ummm, almost all of the initial 2600 library was arcade ports. Heck, it was built with the specific purpose of porting Atari's popular arcade games to it. Which of these were arcade ports? http://www.atariage.com/label_page.html?LabelID=3 -S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maibock Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Ummm, almost all of the initial 2600 library was arcade ports. Heck, it was built with the specific purpose of porting Atari's popular arcade games to it. Which of these were arcade ports? http://www.atariage.com/label_page.html?LabelID=3 -S I'd venture a guess with Indy 500, but I think that's about it ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeybastard Posted February 8, 2005 Author Share Posted February 8, 2005 Video Olympics is Pong Combat is Tank Air Sea Battle is Anti Aircaraft Starship is Starship There's more later ones. Maze Craze is Gotcha, Canyon Bomber retained the name, etc. It's funny when you look at the early atari coin-ops. It's surprising that Atari couldn't sue Activision over Kaboom being similar to Avalanche. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Nah come on you guys, lots of those had B&W original arcade games that the 2600 games tried to simulate.. there were often several variations, etc too but the basic ideas are all there. Air Sea Battle = Anti-Aircraft II Combat = Tank Indy 500 = Sprint (series) or even Indy 800 Star Ship = Starship I (although I'll admit it's a stretch) Video Olympics = Pong Surround = Barricade (not Atari...but they didn't care ) Sorry.. I gave up on putting links at the end.. got lazy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 It's funny when you look at the early atari coin-ops. It's surprising that Atari couldn't sue Activision over Kaboom being similar to Avalanche. Or heck, Activision's Dragster's similarity to Drag Race! Activision was a rip off a minute. But I guess they didn't think about it that way then. Or did they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maibock Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 man, my Atari knowledge really sucks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 most of those earlier games were ported pretty faithfully. It wasn't until Space Invaders that there are huge differences in graphics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Outlaw = Gunfight Night Driver = Night Driver Breakout = Breakout Dodge 'Em = Head-On Circus Atari = Clowns & Balloons . Porting games from arcade to home was a relatively new concept at the time. Try unheard of AFAIK every game had gone at the very least by an new name until SI came along Ummm, almost all of the initial 2600 library was arcade ports. Heck, it was built with the specific purpose of porting Atari's popular arcade games to it. That's not what I meant, and you know it well I meant that Space Invaders was probably the first recognisable name from the arcade to hit the 2600. But I stand corrected anyway, since Breakout and Night Driver had already beaten it (or Pong...if you count Atari's earlier consoles). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Dodge 'Em = Head-On What about Dodgem? http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter...D&game_id=12721 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Dodge 'Em = Head-On What about Dodgem? http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=D&game_id=12721 It's hard to tell without a good screenshot, but it doesn't seem like it. 2600 Dodge 'Em definitely looks like Head-On. http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter...=H&game_id=8090 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 If you fire up MAME, Dodgem looks pretty much the same except it is B&W instead of blue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaXpress Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Activision was a rip off a minute. But I guess they didn't think about it that way then. Or did they?Activision rarely came up with an original play mechcanic. I always assumed that their intention was to rip off other games and pretty up the graphics. Remember, you can't sue over play mechanic, just graphics. That's why Atari sued over Dragster but didn't even try with Kaboom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Activision was a rip off a minute. But I guess they didn't think about it that way then. Or did they?Activision rarely came up with an original play mechcanic. I always assumed that their intention was to rip off other games and pretty up the graphics. Remember, you can't sue over play mechanic, just graphics. That's why Atari sued over Dragster but didn't even try with Kaboom. I've forgotten...why did Atari sue over Dragster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Activision rarely came up with an original play mechcanic. There are easily just as many original titles as derivative ones in Activision's library. Remember Ghostbusters? Dolphin? HERO? Keystone Kapers? Laser Blast? Pitfall? Pressure Cooker? Fishing Derby? Stampede? Come on, now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaXpress Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 There are easily just as many original titles as derivative ones in Activision's library. Remember Ghostbusters? Dolphin? HERO? Keystone Kapers? Laser Blast? Pitfall? Pressure Cooker? Fishing Derby? Stampede? All good examples, David Crane in particular pulled out very innovative stuff. But I think of all the derivatives (which seems the be the carts I owned as a kid, I never even had a Kaboom until 7 years ago). So let's see: Decathlon = Track&Field Chopper Command = Defender Crackpots = Avalanche Dragster = Drag race Enduro = Turbo Freeway = Frogger (which I still beleieve was out first by several months) Frostbite = QBert Kaboom = Avalanche Megamania = standard shooter Robot Tank = Battlezone Spider Fighter = Bandits Starmaster = Star Raiders So thats 12 I'd call a blatant rip-off, then take away the sports/card games and you really only have a handful of truly groundbreaking games. Which is,of course, a handful more than most companies ever made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I'd say Crackpots isn't like avalanche/kaboom...just a small point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Megamania was definitely based on Astro Blaster Also: Grand Prix = Monaco GP (among others) But Activision still managed a lot of innovation, and they took generally forgotten game concepts (even at that time) and made them into hits. After all, you don't see Burger King giving away an "Avalanche" LCD game, do you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feralstorm Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 I kind of assumed most of the earliest Activision games started life as projects the programmers were working on while still working at Atari, (like arcade ports of Drag Race or Avalanche) reworked and polished up to makes them more their own entities. It's a little unfair to talk about Activision being any more rip-offy than anyone else in the industry at the time. After all, several of the games mentioned in this thread, like Circus, Gunfight, Head-On, and others were NOT Atari arcade games, and not licensed AFAIK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaXpress Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Activision was just the best at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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