Excluding Pac-Man and ET, which is the worst game?

[+FujiSkunk]

Honestly, I think the only companies that produced more than one game I liked are Atari, Activision, Imagic, M Network, and Parker Brothers. (OK, as much as I hate to admit it, I need to put Coleco on that list too...)

928526[/snapback]

 

What about CBS, Epyx and Sega?

[Foxsolo2000]

Supercat I agree that the whole point of a game is to have slightly faster enemies than yourself but in Burger Time they moved a hell of a lot faster than your chef who moved like a crippled pensioner at the best of times. All I am saying it could have been a lot better, especially in the control department for both the Intellivision and Colecovision versions allowed for smooth movement and a decent speed of the chef.

[Room 34]

Honestly, I think the only companies that produced more than one game I liked are Atari, Activision, Imagic, M Network, and Parker Brothers. (OK, as much as I hate to admit it, I need to put Coleco on that list too...)

928526[/snapback]

 

What about CBS, Epyx and Sega?

928557[/snapback]

I never played (or had even heard of) any of the games those companies made until I got back into collecting in 2002, and although I own one or two games by each of them, I've never really played them... so I guess I'm not qualified to say!

 

I don't know what it was... I guess I lived in too much of a backwater as a kid. Stores in my hometown (pop. 25,000) ONLY carried Atari games... I didn't even know "third party" companies existed until I was at a store in a nearby larger city (pop. 60,000) and I saw games by Activision.

 

Eventually the local stores did start carrying a few of the third parties... but now that I think about it, the third parties I list as being the good ones are simply the ones I actually knew as a kid. Wow... maybe my whole mindset about the 2600 experience was wrong...

 

 

 

(Times like this, I wish I had CPUWIZ's giant library of emoticons... someone give me an exploding brain animated emoticon...)

[Room 34]

What about CBS, Epyx and Sega?

928557[/snapback]

I never played (or had even heard of) any of the games those companies made until I got back into collecting in 2002...

Clarification of what I clumsily stated above: Of course I had HEARD of those 3 companies long before 2002; I just didn't realize they had made Atari 2600 games before that.

[HP Atari King of Michigan]

The name of this topic has been changed to "Excluding Pac-Man and ET, which is the worst game?" from "Besides Pac-Man and ET" to avoid confusion. Same topic, new name!

 

P.S. Thanks to Random Terrain for the suggestion.

[supercat]

Sorry... I was a bit hasty when I wrote that.  I really meant companies that produced multiple good games. Honestly, I think the only companies that produced more than one game I liked are Atari, Activision, Imagic, M Network, and Parker Brothers. (OK, as much as I hate to admit it, I need to put Coleco on that list too. I liked Venture and Mouse Trap, and I even liked Donkey Kong, although the only one of those 3 that I still like today is Venture.)

928526[/snapback]

 

It is interesting that if one listed all of the companies that produced at least one original title (as distinct from pirates or hacks), the most common number of games they produced that can be played enjoyably is probably one. As noted from my list, a lot of companies produced at least one halfway-decent game. But for a lot of 'em one would hard-pressed to find a second game that could be called halfway-decent. Perhaps the Crash game just as companies were figuring out how to do things decently.

 

BTW, I find it interesting that Jess' "Solar Plexus" is a simpler game than Mythicon's, and yet so much better. The people who referred to bB as a "Firefly construction set" weren't exactly wrong, but SP shows that simplicity need not be bad.

[Jess Ragan]

Speak of the devil...!

 

When I designed Solar Plexus, I didn't sit and think, "How do I make this better than a Mythicon game?" It just kind of turned out that way. The thrust button and a clear objective went a long way toward making SP work. It's been a while since I've played any of them, but I think Mythicon's games just had you scooting along at the speed of snail, dodging alien droppings. The action wasn't fast, wasn't varied, and had no urgency. As a game, there's really not much there.

 

Now Solar Plexus has its own problems; the graphics are admittedly simplistic even by 2600 standards, and adjusting TIA settings to create "new" suns was a dirty cheat straight out of the Combat playbook. I'm of mixed minds about some of the flourishes, too... I stand by the title and game over screens, but that lame bonus game just wasted space that could have been used more productively. However, it was a fun project and worked as a game, even if it was a very simple one.

 

Also, I can't believe it's been eight years since I made this. How time flies!

[+Random Terrain]

Also, I can't believe it's been eight years since I made this. How time flies!

 

And bB wasn't as good then. Now there are more features and more tools.

[roadrunner]

Sssnake

[shadow460]

Wow, old thread. I might have said this before, but right now I'm thinking of Squeeze Box. I always disliked Pac-Man in most forms, and ET is a decent game IMO.

[Robot2600]

Pac-Man is great for 2600. E.T. is pure garbage.

 

I also find Atari Checkers to be unplayable, but Activision's is good.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Take a close look at these Boxarts!

 

 

Have these in my collection and have played them numerous times. They're still two of the worst game ever made (not for gameplay but for other reasons) but I still play Custer's Revenge and Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em every now and then just for the LOLz!

Edited November 19, 2013 by stardust4ever

[LynxVGL]

Shark Attack by Apollo. Bad Pac Man rip off with the worst collision detection ever. Just try navigating the map without getting stuck. Blech.

[Kombalar]

"Karate" is pretty pathetic.

 

 

I also thought the Kangaroo conversion was pretty bad.

[grownup]

I hear so much complaining about ET and PAC MAN. Those games arent really that bad, you know. Want to try out some real bad games? How about Squeeze Box, as someone mentioned earlier here. This game is aweful. The controlls are aweful. The game is boring. Im bored with it after about 30 seconds. Games like this should have been made for the paddle controllers. The paddle controllers are one of the best and unique options the Video Computer System gives us. I recently bought Squeeze Box from a guy locally. Never "judge a book by its cover". That interestring US games cartridge style may look fun, the but the game inside is poor programming. When David Crane was speaking about poorly programmed, cheap games, he was probabably thinking of games like this one.

[grownup]

Let me be more clear. ET and PAC MAN are both good games. People just dont want to take the time to learn how to play ET properly, and people are comparing PAC MAN to better versions. But if we compare just only 2600 stuff. theres a LOT worse stuff out there that was made.

[+save2600]

Someone mentioned Mountain King and I chuckled. For a game that's supposedly so heralded, I think it sucks. Didn't even care to keep it in my collection.

 

I don't know what I feel is the absolute worst, but it surely isn't Pac-Man or E.T. When thinking of piss poor arcade translations, gotta go with Burgertime. Between its super slow and sluggish gameplay, to the nondescript baddies - what a steaming pile of poop this turned out to be. At least 2600 Pac-Man is playable.

 

Agree with most others though when it comes to the Swordquest games, Mythicon, Froggo and some of the Data Age stuff.

 

Someone also mentioned Infiltrate... I love that game! Gotta get into the flow and rhythm of it though I guess.

[grownup]

Mountain King, are you kidding me? Thats a great game! Its challenging, adventurous, and even has an big easter egg! People who are really "in the know" know how to get up into the heavenly easter egg levels! This is how more gmaes should be. But thats just my opinion, everyone's different.

[+save2600]

I've tried to get into Mountain King a few different times in my life and just couldn't. Think it's terribly overrated, like some other real popular games (Boulderdash quickly comes to mind), but that's just me.

[maiki]

I do not agree with Shark Attack - it is not that bad at all. I already deleted Karate - really terrible game. Mountain King is somewhat weird on Atari 2600. I still did not get into it and it might end up deteted as rather unplayable partial garbage as well. Apparently the 2600 code is not very capable compared to Commodore 64 version.

[godzillajoe]

How is Mountain King a bad game? Just because you suck at it or don't "get it" doesn't make it a bad game. Otherwise Stampede! and Jr. Pac-Man are the worst games ever made.

[The Usotsuki]

Mountain King plays better on the ColecoVision than the 2600.

[LidLikesIntellivision]

I like King of the Mountain.

I didn't know the game in the 80s, I discovered last year and still liked it (I wasn't affected by nostalgia or overrated game).

 

Here it's me playing the game.

[+save2600]

How is Mountain King a bad game? Just because you suck at it or don't "get it" doesn't make it a bad game.

 

I get how to play the game and its objective - just can't get *into* it. Big difference there. Game is little more than an open air Pac-Man type game to me, but you're racing against time and have to make cockamamie jumps. Pretty much dislike all countdown timer games though. Mountain King is not without its merits (like the change in volume when you're close to the flame spirit for example), but again and as a whole - just not my type of game. I find it boring and repetitive, that's why I think it sucks.

[godzillajoe]

Yeah I guess we can at least agree on the "timer" aspect. This is why I always didn't have the love for Pitfall! that most do. Am I a jungle explorer or running a race?