What was the worst 2600 arcade conversion?

[supercat]

The weakness of Pac-Man is exaggerated.

1001776[/snapback]

 

Pac-Man is better than it got credit for. But in the 1980's, first impressions counted for a lot, and Pac-Man gives a very bad first impression.

[Shawn]

zaxxon was pretty bad but pacman takes the cake.

 

EDIT: I enjoyed Defender quite a bit 20 years ago and I still pop it in the 2600 once in a while. Not a perfect port but I wasn't allowed to go to the arcade when I was like 5..lol.. ATARI defender is all I knew.

Edited January 17, 2006 by silver_surfer

[Laner]

I have to give an pro-Defender vote as well - at the time, I thought it was quite good, and I was a big fan of the arcade game. While having to fly up/down in order to smart bomb or hyperspace was awkward, the solution they came up with for Stargate was even worse (two joysticks for a twitchy arcade game? Yuck).

 

As for your ship disappearing when you fired - I always saw that as a feature, not a bug

[NovaXpress]

We were all jazzed about Defender until Demon Attack came out that summer. There wasn't much competition at the time. Defender was one of the last releases before the new generation systems (Colecovision and 5200) landed. 2600 games didn't start to really become mind-blowing until 1983.

[+LS650]

Pacman was worst for me, followed by Zaxxon.

I actually think Donkey Kong and Defender are okay.

[Lord Helmet]

Amidar. Out of all of those listed, it's so bad that I never play it at all. The others get some play every once in a while.

[galaxy warrior]

double dragon was really bad. it should be on the list. but pacman gets my vote. 2600 version looks like a knock off it should be called spot muncher or something lame like that.

[Foxsolo2000]

Did any of you guys who voted for Pac Man actually play Amidar at all At least with Pac Man you could fool yourself into thinking you were having a good time

[The_Laird]

Did any of you guys who voted for Pac Man actually play Amidar at all    At least with Pac Man you could fool yourself into thinking you were having a good time

1002002[/snapback]

It might be a bit slow and the graphics arn't all that but I actully like Amidar!

[Smiley]

Probably Pacman; but nowadays, with old 80's games available through emulation on MAME, I have a hard time going back to any watered down version of the original.

[fabventure2600]

I think pac man could be similar to arcade(that labirinto isnt good),Donkey Kong,could have more stages.but its not a wrost "arcadenoid",Mr Do,yes, it was a weak conversion..,so thats it,now im gonna play mi arcades...

[Christophero Sly]

Did any of you guys who voted for Pac Man actually play Amidar at all     At least with Pac Man you could fool yourself into thinking you were having a good time

1002002[/snapback]

It might be a bit slow and the graphics arn't all that but I actully like Amidar!

1002022[/snapback]

I enjoy Amidar too. It might not be a good arcade conversion, I don't know, I can't really remember the arcade version, but I think it's a highly underrated game on the VCS.

[Tempest]

Someone voted for Gyruss? The 2600 port is actually my favorite home version...

 

Tempest

[G.Whiz]

I think the difference between Defender and Pac-Man was that nobody expected a good port with Defender -- hey, how do you replace seven buttons with one?!? And everyone expected that the flicker would be about as bad as it could get (everyone was right). So reviewers and gamers alike came into it with lower expectations.

 

Pac-Man on the other hand was highly-anticipated. It wasn't all that complicated (compared to Defender) and though everyone knew there wouldn't be the same resolution, gameplay was expected to be somewhat similiar. Space Invaders had already proved to be a fairly accurate port, and Pac-Man was expected to be the same.

 

Well, it wasn't... as we all know. I think the disappointment in Pac-Man ran at different levels. First, there was disappointment in the game itself. But there was also the fact that Activision, Imagic, and others were starting to creep into the scene with slick titles -- I distinctly remember thinking that this was a major slip on Atari's part, and wondered if they should consider moving aside for the up-and-coming programmers and just concentrate on the system.

 

Also, it was one of the first (if not first) failures on the part of Atari. In retrospect, I'd say that Pac-Man was about the time that Atari "jumped the shark".

 

To me personally, I'd have to say that Asteroids was an even bigger disappointment (though it wasn't listed in the poll). Never was a big Pac-Man fan anyway, but Asteroids, look out!

 

~G

[Lauren Tyler]

While I admit Coleco didn't have much to work with, DK was still the worst on the list. Off the list, though, I could think of others.

[tillenterprises]

The weakness of Pac-Man is exaggerated.

 

Congo Bongo is so hideous, though, that I can't imagine ANYONE saying anything positive about it.

 

 

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The label looks nice... Seriously, I voted CongoBongo, too. I own the arcade game, and the 2600 version is just a mess. I liked Defender, BTW. Yes, I have Stargate, but 2600 Defender was huge when it came out, and I liked it better than the arcade version, since I've always sucked at the arcade version. Ditto for 2600 Missile Command vs. arcade version

[HP Atari King of Michigan]

Amidar. Hands down!! Sucks ass big time!!!

[chuckwalla]

The weakness of Pac-Man is exaggerated.

 

For me, it was down to Zaxxon or Congo Bongo. I had to go with Congo Bongo, because even though Zaxxon looks nothing like the arcade game, some people say it's at least a decent game in its own right. Congo Bongo is so hideous, though, that I can't imagine ANYONE saying anything positive about it.

 

(#3 would've been Amidar.)

1001776[/snapback]

 

I very much agree - Congo Bongo was a total waste; Zaxxon, a somewhat decent game, amounted to more of a "bait 'n' switch"/"scaled down"/"sloppy remake" (like a compliment and insult combined).

[Inky]

And here I thought they did a decent job with Congo Bongo...

[joeybastard]

And here I thought they did a decent job with Congo Bongo...

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It's certainly better than the pretty much unplayable 5200 version.

[Cootster]

Out of this bunch, I must vote for Amidar, because it's the only truly bad 2600 game on the list.

 

Pac-Man: looks bad, but plays OK.

DK: At least it's a little better than Amidar and the controls are smooth.

Battlezone: Better than the arcade, why is it even on this list?

Congo Bongo: Decent once you figure out their attempts at perspective.

Zaxxon: Ditto.

Centipede: Doesn't belong on the list either.

Defender: Way too easy, but otherwise not an abomination.

Missile Command: Best possible conversion, good game, doesn't belong on the list.

Gyruss: Not that good either, but it is fun.

 

However, if it were on the list, I would vote for Up & Down. Great little arcade game, would seem highly doable on the 2600, but the port we got was horrible. At least Zaxxon and Congo Bongo are essentially playable and you can tell what games they're supposed to be kind of.

[RickHarrisMaine]

I don't think that Pac-Man is that bad, the gameplay is actually pretty good. It would be nice if Donkey Kong had more than 2 screens. But I tried to play Congo Bongo a couple of nights ago, and man, did it stink!!!

 

And I like Gyruss. Its good on the 5200 too

[NovaXpress]

As I pointed out in the coleco thread, 2600 Tac-Scan and Solar Fox are two of the worst conversions ever made.

 

Good games in their own right though.

[sandmountainslim]

What are some VCS ports that you think are BETTER than the arcade original?? I vote for Joust! Maybe Joust is the only game what was better in the home version?

[NovaXpress]

I disagree on Joust in a big way. The only 2600 game that was better than the original was Super Breakout.