Coleco

[NE146]

Reviving this thread...

 

But where did my original post go?

 

Halfway down the thread...  D'oh!

 

 

Yeah you'll notice that a lot of the original/old posts on the then-"new" Atariage boards are all mixed up! Go figure..

[DEBRO]

I hear/read a lot of criticism about Donkey Kong. I don't think Coleco intentionally crippled this game. Garry Kitchen programmed this game as a contractor. You have to remember that this was Garry's 2nd 2600 program (the first being Space Jockey).

 

He learned to program the 2600 by reverse engineering other 2600 games. Based on that I think he did a great job. Take a look at his code. He's using tricks to squeeze the code into 4K (well...unconditional branches). It looks to me as if he took the effort to make it the best he could do at the time.

[SteveW]

I always thought the 2600 was harder to program than the ColecoVision. The programmers probably had a difficult time getting the games to be halfway decent and still make their deadlines. The later releases are at least okay, but those first 2600 Coleco games were not as good as they could have been.

[Cootster]

I always thought Nintendo programmed that one themselves, and highly crippled it so the soon-to-be-created Famicom would blow Atari away even harder . . .

 

You're telling me the same guy, who, a few years later, created the best and prettiest platform game on the 2600 (KK), made that flaming turd?

 

Space Jockey, I can see, since it's a relatively good game and is a bit better than most other fine Quaker Oats products (besides the apple-cinnamon oatmeal), but DK?

 

And still you don't think some clueless executive said "Mr. Kitchen, we have an incentive program for you? The more horrid this game is, the more we pay you."

 

Or at least making him cram it into 4K had that same effect . . .

 

But no, I've never liked this one, even as a kid. And I like E. T., Swordquest, and oodles of other "bad" games.

 

And, yeah, they took their INTV titles in the tank, too. Two words: Lady Bug. God, INTV Lady Bug is so beyond bad it isn't even funny.

[Vic George 2K3]

Just goes to show that even the best programmers could give their all doing certain game translations and it still scores zero, though to me 2600 Donkey Kong stinks a whole lot less than 2600 Donkey Kong Jr.

[Megamaniac]

Venture -- What can I say about Venture that hasn't already been said?  Good graphis and great gameplay.  An all around winner.

 

Donkey Kong -- Has a bad rep, but it is not as bad as people call it.  My only real gripe is the repetitveness and the lack of difficulty.

 

Zaxxon --  Take off the zaxxon name, and it is a thoroughly enjoyable space shooter.

 

That's what makes this so interesting...creative differences. Personally, I think Zaxxon is one of the worst games I've ever seen on the Atari. The only thing that made it remotely interesting in the arcade was the 3-d-like perspective. Once you got past that it was a weak game.

 

Donkey Kong might be better than we credit it for. The arcade was such a brilliant game, so definitive, it's like comparing a movie to the book.

 

Venture? Blech. We've been brainwashed for the arcade and 2600 version. Geez...Coleco didn't even put any effort into sound effects!

 

Again, these are just my humble opinions....the games I like some people abhor!

[NE146]

That's what makes this so interesting...creative differences.  Personally, I think Zaxxon is one of the worst games I've ever seen on the Atari.  The only thing that made it remotely interesting in the arcade was the 3-d-like perspective.  Once you got past that it was a weak game.

 

Yeah but can you think of any other 2600 space shooter game that is like 2600 Zaxxon?

 

I agree with Inky. If you take away the Zaxxon name and call it "Space Assault" or something, it's a very unique and cool shoot-em-up for the 2600. And it has a Boss too! It's the Zaxxon name that made the expectations leap, and dragged it down though