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What was the worst 2600 arcade conversion?


The_Laird

What do you think was the worst arcade conversion for the humble VCS?  

181 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think was the worst arcade conversion for the humble VCS?

    • Pacman
      45
    • Donkey Kong
      11
    • Battlezone
      1
    • Amidar
      18
    • Congo Bongo
      18
    • Zaxxon
      49
    • Centipede
      0
    • Defender
      11
    • Missile Command
      0
    • Gyruss
      5

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On 2/10/2023 at 9:00 PM, ls650 said:

I think Donkey Kong is actually pretty decent.   Sure there are only two screens but what is there is good.  I still play DK 2600 occasionally. 

Donkey Kong is a tough one,  I can see where the effort was made,  but at the same time a lot of my friends BITD felt it was weak or took the "Coleco made it bad on purpose" conspiracy stance.

Like Pacman they should at least get the colors right where possible.   Platforms on level 1 should be reddish magenta of the arcade not purple, and the mario sprite should be red and blue not purple and green.   That might have helped perception of the game

 

Quick mockup of what I'm talking about.   I also think you could shave a couple pixels off Mario's nose so it doesn't look so huge:

Before

 

image.png.559135dddb368e2cd005f1b2ad6f7a03.png

After

image.png.ae7e6021dc3ca144978f60db0980df9d.png

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17 hours ago, doctorclu said:
For those ripping on 2600 games, have you seen the Atari 2600?   I mean, certainly you have, but let's remember...
 
It was powerful for it's time, but not arcade level powerful.  It was mostly about interpretation into a lesser powerful system and gameplay.
 
Sure, we now have hacked these very games with better sprites, but it seems the programmers were not often graphics artists, or were just rushing to meet deadlines to get games out.   And a lot of us who have hacked or programmed better versions in many cases were done over a more generous amount of time.

 

Yeah, AFAIK the lazy-programmer meme has no basis in reality. It might be more accurate to say mismanagement, at least at Atari itself from 1980-1982 when they were swimming in cash and still skimping on development costs.

 

EDIT: Regardless of whatever was going on at Atari Inc. at the time, I agree with you that most of these games are at least decent on the 2600. I definitely enjoyed Centipede and Defender BITD.

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Defender was a huge step ahead. Sure, it didn't look the same, but the game play was good, included the scanner, and they made it over a city which made more sense. I made a controller for it with properly working reverse button. I put the thrust button on the ground to the com contact on an on-on push button that switched between left and right and latched. Made the game so much more fun. I came up with that control scheme at age 14.

 

Stargate was much truer to the arcade, and I had moved on to computers so never got it back in the day, but If I had, I'd have added hyperspace and smart bomb and a second cable. It is sort of the basis of my super controller concept I have posted here in the past that everyone shit on.

 

Pacman sucked because it was so bad. I cannot say anything about Amidar since I never even saw it in an arcade, and figured it was a suckass third rate game Coleco got just to increase their arcade count to say they had the most. If it was just a blue maze with a black background (taboo on the 2600 then) it would have been orders of magnitude better. Those colors... Ughh.

 

Zazzon was pretty bad, but it was a good effort at the time.


Asteroids was another that I loved, but wished it was a bit better.

Edited by Zonie
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12 hours ago, ls650 said:

I agree.  As far as gameplay, Centipede 2600 is great - it just looks like ass.

 

I didn't have it back in the day but after seeing that awesome opening screen and then getting the gameplay screen... would have been a bit of a let down.

 

Those selecting Donkey Kong I'm thinking it is the worst that you remember out of the games listed.   Those worse you have blotted from memory.

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On 2/2/2023 at 9:39 PM, cvga said:

Check out Space Raid for the Atari 2600. It's an improved port of Zaxxon.

 

 

Wow! Okay that's a definite improvement over the original. The first was like a top down schmup and just didn't do it like in the arcade. This though is something I'd get.  

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18 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

The thing about Zaxxon was that it was crazy it even existed.  Everyone knew there's no way...Might as well port Dragon's Lair while you're at it.

 

2600 Dragon's Lair.  Wow... what a concept.  :P

 

 

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On 2/17/2023 at 5:46 AM, tremoloman2006 said:

Although not on the list, I'll go with M-Network's Burgertime.  It looks and plays like an Alpha release.  Talk about uninspiring.

 

 

bt.JPG

Agreed on Burgertime, if you want a much better port of it I highly recommend you check out and download @splendidnut's rendition of it that BLOWS AWAY the M Network version, Chaotic Grill,  that, and if you also want a better port of its sister release Lock 'n' Chase, even though the M Network version wasn't so bad, check out @RaymanC's fantastic Lucky Chase!!!

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2 hours ago, BIGHMW said:

Agreed on Burgertime, if you want a much better port of it I highly recommend you check out and download @splendidnut's rendition of it that BLOWS AWAY the M Network version, Chaotic Grill,  that, and if you also want a better port of its sister release Lock 'n' Chase, even though the M Network version wasn't so bad, check out @RaymanC's fantastic Lucky Chase!!!

Wow!  Thank you for informing me of these remakes!  I had no idea they existed.  Really nice work!

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The first time I played any of these games, it was probably on the 2600 first, not the arcade.  So my view of them is a little different than those that played the arcade first.  Amidar was actually one of my favorites as kid, still like it to this day, but I still have never played the arcade game.  I played quite a bit of Donkey Kong and Defender back in the day too.  Pac-Man and Centipede got play time too, but not as much.  The rest I got as an adult, but still before ever playing the arcade versions.  I have to this day never played the arcade versions of Battlezone, Gyruss, Zaxxon, and the previously mentioned Amidar.

 

Back on point, I enjoy every one of these to varying degrees today.  None are arcade perfect, but each has some fun to be found.

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20 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

... I have to this day never played the arcade versions of Battlezone, Gyruss, Zaxxon, and the previously mentioned Amidar.

 

I get what you're saying about the games in and of themselves being fun.   That's how I feel about Pac-Mac, which in my opinion is more fun than the arcade Pac-Man in gameplay, not necessarily comparing graphics or sound.

 

That said, Zaxxon was mind blowing when it came out.   This was one of the first games I remember that challenged me as a gamer that when I shot at an opponent that there were 3 dimensions to consider.  Still find it to be cool to watch.

 

Gyruss was a type of gameplay not seen often except for maybe Tempest and even then when it came out Tempest was strangely a faint memory.   (We were fickle like that in the 80s).    And the use of classical music from Bach probably not only saved them a ton on royalties, but was also the one of best applications of a classical song in video games I've seen.   Inspired this awesome tribute video.

 

 

Playing both Zaxxon and Gyruss in the arcade (or emulation or whatever) at least once should be on your bucket list.

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On 2/17/2023 at 8:46 AM, tremoloman2006 said:

Although not on the list, I'll go with M-Network's Burgertime.  It looks and plays like an Alpha release.  Talk about uninspiring.

 

 

bt.JPG

I was actually scanning thru myself to make sure this horrid version of my beloved game had been mentioned.

It's not that it's THAT bad, but to really play for high scores, the gameplay is just soooo incredibly slow, groupings, if you can accomplish them at all, take AGES, you have to send most of the baddies to one side of the screen, trap them with angles, "what you CAN do" is clearly there, it's just not really worth the time it takes.

Mebbe more fun, as a casual game, but that's just not how I play.

:(

 

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21 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

The first time I played any of these games, it was probably on the 2600 first, not the arcade.  So my view of them is a little different than those that played the arcade first.  Amidar was actually one of my favorites as kid, still like it to this day, but I still have never played the arcade game.  I played quite a bit of Donkey Kong and Defender back in the day too.  Pac-Man and Centipede got play time too, but not as much.  The rest I got as an adult, but still before ever playing the arcade versions.  I have to this day never played the arcade versions of Battlezone, Gyruss, Zaxxon, and the previously mentioned Amidar.

 

Back on point, I enjoy every one of these to varying degrees today.  None are arcade perfect, but each has some fun to be found.

Same here. I have fond memories of all these games, probably because I never went to an arcade as a kid (where I grew up you had to be 18+ or with an adult) so I only knew the home versions.

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