5200 Galaxian

[Atariboy]

"See... this is exactly what I mean. I don't see how you can be familiar with the arcade version and think that the 5200 version sucks... especially as a relative thing (that is... the 5200 version was the FIRST good home version of Galaxian available on any console)."

 

Well, Galaxian sucks anywhere you play it, many people thought so back then as well. But I thought the 5200 version was particularly bad, I'd rather play the 2600 version even. I don't even like the arcade version, why did they make it where the aliens stop every couple seconds before continuing to move?

 

Hate it, I'd rather play Galaga anyday.

Edited March 26, 2006 by Atariboy

[Inky]

I never really cared for Galaxian on the 5200 or 8-bit. The 'dong' effect was reall annoying... There was just something about it that I didn't care for, and really can't place my finger on it..

 

 

However, it is a little interesting to play the easy variation and not fire... Kamikaze Galaxian, where you try to get the aliens to hit the missle on your ship as they dive bomb...

[ZylonBane]

Graphics-wise it is tough to compare the 5200 ver to the arcade. The graphics are sharper whereas the arcade graphics were cartoon-ish to a degree.

Ummm... what? This is just gibberish. The arcade version is higher-res, and runs wired directly to an RGB monitor. You must be using the word "sharper" in some peculiar sense that I'm not familiar with. I don't see where you're getting "cartoonish" from either-- both versions use basically the same colors. If anything the 5200 version is the more garish of the two.

 

Gameplay, of course, is subjective. But there's no denying that the Galaxian movement on the 5200 is inferior. It totally lacks the grace and sense of inertia of the arcade version. They jerk and lurch their way down the screen... sometimes they'll even stop descending and just slide back and forth! Even the 2600 version has better movement.

 

Oh, and the 5200 version leaves out the unique flagship graphics. For shame.

 

EDIT: This guy runs a pretty cool, though far from comprehensive, Galaxian fan page:

http://www.galaxian.dds.nl/index.html

Edited March 26, 2006 by ZylonBane

[Paranoid]

I don't get that the 5200 version was "sharper", although the Atari 5200 did have a very unique "look" to it that I can see trying to describe as "sharp". Not high resolution or millions of colors, but a lot of the games just looked real vibrant and the colors seemed very dynamic. I've touched on this in the 7800 thread (the NES and 7800 both had graphics and colors that seemed real "flat"). The 5200 version does have a "cleaner" look that seems colder and more "techie". I mean, obviously, look at the adjectives I'm using to describe it... and they're all subjective, but I *think* I understand what he was trying to get across.

 

The "hanging/sliding" Galaxians are a noticable difference and I agree that the arcade version has a superior feel in this sense. That still doesn't make 5200 Galaxian "suck". It just plays a little different. Again, I maintain that at the time, this was the BEST thing going, and a pretty damn good effort for the day. Which is what my whole thread really has been about. Collecting these classics, for me, is about putting them in their proper frame of reference in time. Listen, the reason to have an Atari 5200 in the day was really it's arcade ports. Today, if it were simply about having the "best" version available at home, I wouldn't bother with the 5200 at all. I'd have a MAME cabinet and be done with it. There is NO arcade game that the 5200 or Coleco did as well as the Arcade version of the same title. If you're interested in having the "best" version, you're wasting your time with any Atari console or PC. Build yourself a MAME cabinet. Around 1982, 83... 5200 Galaxian was the *best* (and a relatively GOOD) version that you could own in your own house, and play without a pocket full of quarters. Galaxian for the 5200 seems to suffer from the same unqualified criticisms that the 5200 joysticks suffer from (and oddly enough, Galaxian is one of the few 5200 titles that really leverages the 5200 sticks properly, also). I certainly know that 5200 Galaxian didn't disappoint me when I first plugged it in like Defender or Pac-Man or Raiders of the Lost Ark or ET or a score of other *really awful* 2600 titles. I suppose a lot of times you'll hear negative criticisms about the 5200 Pac-Man, too... which is one of my favorite versions of Pac-Man. The only theory I can come up with is that you must not have been playing these titles when they were the only option (and MOST impressive for their day and age).

[NE146]

Yknow.. it's funny because even though I was an original 5200 owner who got it as soon as it came out.. I never really tried Galaxian! Why? Because as others have said, by that time Galaxian was such an old game already. I didn't think it was worth the full $35 or whatever it was to get it.

 

I've only tried it these past couple of years.. it does indeed seem weird as far as gameplay goes in comparison to the arcade game. But I'm guess if I played it back in the day it would've been a "sufficient" port.

 

Incidentally Galaxian is the purest sense of "move left/right, shoot aliens, avoid shots" type of game. People often mistake Space Invaders for the same thing

[jetset]

Graphics-wise it is tough to compare the 5200 ver to the arcade. The graphics are sharper whereas the arcade graphics were cartoon-ish to a degree.

Ummm... what? This is just gibberish. The arcade version is higher-res, and runs wired directly to an RGB monitor. You must be using the word "sharper" in some peculiar sense that I'm not familiar with. I don't see where you're getting "cartoonish" from either-- both versions use basically the same colors. If anything the 5200 version is the more garish of the two.

 

Gameplay, of course, is subjective. But there's no denying that the Galaxian movement on the 5200 is inferior. It totally lacks the grace and sense of inertia of the arcade version. They jerk and lurch their way down the screen... sometimes they'll even stop descending and just slide back and forth! Even the 2600 version has better movement.

 

Oh, and the 5200 version leaves out the unique flagship graphics. For shame.

 

EDIT: This guy runs a pretty cool, though far from comprehensive, Galaxian fan page:

http://www.galaxian.dds.nl/index.html

 

Ummm..no, its not gibberish. It's no secret you rarely if ever have anything positive to say about the 5200. In fact, you so often bash the system that I doubt anyone gives half a shit what you have to say about it. I certainly don't.

[JB]

Graphics-wise it is tough to compare the 5200 ver to the arcade. The graphics are sharper whereas the arcade graphics were cartoon-ish to a degree.

Ummm... what? This is just gibberish. The arcade version is higher-res, and runs wired directly to an RGB monitor. You must be using the word "sharper" in some peculiar sense that I'm not familiar with. I don't see where you're getting "cartoonish" from either-- both versions use basically the same colors. If anything the 5200 version is the more garish of the two.

It's quite clear what he's saying if you stop to think about it instead of looking for a reason to flame someone.

 

The higher resolution of the arcade version let them do rounded, detailed, "cartoony" characters.

The lower-res Atari version was, by comparison, highly pixellated. While sharper may not have actually been the correct word, it was hardly a confusing one.

[Zonie]

Awesome game. I like how you can see the Atari logo when you kill enemies.

I got my eBay 5200 running today. Billy Galaxy sent me the right power supply, and I jumpered the dead relay in the switchbox (4-port) I looked for the atari logo when blasting aliens, but didn't see it. I kinda like it with the 5200 controllers though. They are not as bad as everyone says.

[NovaXpress]

The fanboys are really shining today.

 

I love my 5200. I loved it when I acquired one back in 1983. But you can't re-write history, people. Whether you like the game or not, it was a symbol of the 5200's failure. Their big exclusive launch title was Galaxian, a game from 1979! Meanwhile the Colecovision was offering some of the hottest games of 1982.

 

The 5200 was steamrolled in the marketplace by Coleco in 1982. Of course, the 5200 would have more great games in the long run.

[ZylonBane]

Ummm..no, its not gibberish. It's no secret you rarely if ever have anything positive to say about the 5200. In fact, you so often bash the system that I doubt anyone gives half a shit what you have to say about it. I certainly don't.

...aaaand that's how jetset avoids defending his silly claims.

 

 

The higher resolution of the arcade version let them do rounded, detailed, "cartoony" characters.

The lower-res Atari version was, by comparison, highly pixellated. While sharper may not have actually been the correct word, it was hardly a confusing one.

Higher resolution does indeed allow for better detail, but Galaxian didn't use it for that. The bugs in Galaxian are a scant 11 pixels wide-- only three pixels wider than the 5200 sprites. And the 5200 version's fuzzy composite video display was most certainly not sharper than the arcade's RGB display.

Edited March 27, 2006 by ZylonBane

[Vic George 2K3]

I never thought that Galaxian sucked in any format. Certainly not the clones that came afterward like Super Galaxian and Moon Alien Pt. 2, with the aliens dive-bombing your ship like crazy, and the flagships gone mad with more escorts than you can realistically shoot down.

[Paranoid]

The fanboys are really shining today.

 

I love my 5200. I loved it when I acquired one back in 1983. But you can't re-write history, people. Whether you like the game or not, it was a symbol of the 5200's failure. Their big exclusive launch title was Galaxian, a game from 1979! Meanwhile the Colecovision was offering some of the hottest games of 1982.

 

The 5200 was steamrolled in the marketplace by Coleco in 1982. Of course, the 5200 would have more great games in the long run.

 

A-hem...

 

The pack-in game was Super Breakout. That was their "exclusive launch title" to compete with Donkey Kong.

 

The 5200 was designed to compete with the *Intellivision*, and did, in fact, compete instead with the Colecovision, eventually becoming a faster seller in higher demand (although far too late and not during the all critical Christmas shopping season).

 

Colecovision offered DONKEY KONG... and a bunch of obscure, strange Exidy titles that MOST people hadn't heard of and were usually *broken* when you encountered them in the back, dark corner of an arcade. I had a Colecovision Adam and a real respectable library of games. They were fun, but most of my friends were left pretty cold by them. And you know, now that you mention it, I'm going to add the Colecovision to the NES and 7800 for having those oddly "flat" colored graphics that just didn't seem very vibrant or dynamic. If Galaxian is a symbol of Atari's failure, then Donkey Kong is a symbol of Coleco's failure. Donkey Kong on the wrong side, incomplete levels, missing elements of gameplay. The 5200 was not steamrolled by Coleco... the 5200 was steamrolled by Nintendo, and more appropriately, by Donkey Kong. It was literallly the thousand pound gorillia of that season. There was little if *anything* that could have competed with it. It would be as if the 5200 and Coleco were released just a couple of years earlier, and the 5200 had included Pac Man as the pack-in game. Without the Donkey Kong license, Colecovision would have been the "WTF?!?" system, with titles comparable to the Intellivision titles on the "Hmmm" scale of pre-adolescent desire.

 

I can see how the 7800 launch titles of arcade games 4 or 5 years was a clear blunder. I just don't see what launch titles would have competed with Donkey Kong, the year the 5200 and Coleco were released.

 

And, oh, I'm absolutely a "Fanboy" for the Atari 5200. I can't imagine why anyone remotely interested in the Atari line wouldn't be. Best games and best design of any of the first 3 generations of Atari consoles (I can't speak after that, having had no actual experience beyond those). The few liabilities of the system are easily addressed, and often not really liabilities, anyhow. The 5200 is hands down the best console of it's era and possibly the only console that *really* is worth owning an original of, today. The 2600 occupies a spot here because of nostaligia and a few exclusive games that just aren't the same on anything else. The 7800, solely because of the 2600 compatability and the flexibility of the CC2. For actual entertainment value, the 5200 still reigns supreme.

[ZylonBane]

If Galaxian is a symbol of Atari's failure, then Donkey Kong is a symbol of Coleco's failure.

Where the heck did "Galaxian is a symbol of Atari's failure" come from? The only thing it's a symbol of is Atari's inability to create an authentic Galaxian port. For the record, when Colecovision Donkey Kong came out it was pretty much universally hailed by the gaming press as one of the best arcade-to-home translations to date.

 

I don't know what you think the 5200's few liabilities are, but its biggest is the controller, and that is NOT easily addressed.

[NovaXpress]

Do you really think that I don't know what the pack-in game was? Out of the 5200 package of Fall 82 launch titles (see, "launch titles" means all of the games released at launch, not just the pack-in), the only ones that were exclusives to the 5200 were Galaxian and Qix. Galaxian was the most hyped of the 5200 launch titles. Meanwhile, Coleco offered Donkey Kong as the freaking pack-in as well as a couple of "minor hits" called Turbo and Zaxxon.

 

So for their respective 1982 launches, Coleco had three of the hottest current arcade hits plus the dazzling Smurf Rescue while Atari offered games that were one to four years old and for the most part already available and purchased for the 2600. And those obscure Exidy ports such as Venture and Ladybug turned into monster hits at home. The 5200 library ate shit until 1983 got underway.

 

"Fanboy" means being the type of fan who has no sense of reality. I think the 5200 is a better system than the Colecovision, but the launch was completely fucked and I don't see how any reasonable person can argue with that.

Edited March 27, 2006 by NovaXpress

[jetset]

Do you really think that I don't know what the pack-in game was? Out of the 5200 package of Fall 82 launch titles (see, "launch titles" means all of the games released at launch, not just the pack-in), the only ones that were exclusives to the 5200 were Galaxian and Qix. Galaxian was the most hyped of the 5200 launch titles. Meanwhile, Coleco offered Donkey Kong as the freaking pack-in as well as a couple of "minor hits" called Turbo and Zaxxon.

 

So for their respective 1982 launches, Coleco had three of the hottest current arcade hits plus the dazzling Smurf Rescue while Atari offered games that were one to four years old and for the most part already available and purchased for the 2600. And those obscure Exidy ports such as Venture and Ladybug turned into monster hits at home. The 5200 library ate shit until 1983 got underway.

 

"Fanboy" means being the type of fan who has no sense of reality. I think the 5200 is a better system than the Colecovision, but the launch was completely fucked and I don't see how any reasonable person can argue with that.

 

There's no doubt the CV had the better pack in. But overall launch titles? I dont know what systems had Missile Command, Defender, PacMan, and Centipede to make them not "exclusives", but they were pretty well known arcade games even if they were a few years old. And I would also give the CV the nod with the release of Zaxxon, although watching it in a still picture it looked good, but it was a crappy port, and it certainly didnt have the popularity of games like Centipede and Defender... Im not sure what other launch titles the CV had so I can't compare, but considering a good half of their arcade ports were knock-offs of other games (Ladybug, Cosmis Avenger, Slither, Space Fury, Mouse Trap, etc...) I would say with the exception of one or 2 titles, I'd give the 5200 the nod.

To say the 5200's launch titles ate shit honestly is just an opinion...and you can say what you want, but thats about as fanboy a statement as you can make.

[NovaXpress]

Accusing me of being a 5200 hater is about as fanboy as one can get. "Ooo, a negative statement about something I like. I'm all offended."

 

The sales charts in 1982 would indicate that other gamers were unimpressed. Then look at what happened in 1983. Coleco's hits slowed to a trickle while the 5200 really started to shine.

Edited March 27, 2006 by NovaXpress

[jetset]

Accusing me of being a 5200 hater is about as fanboy as one can get. "Ooo, a negative statement about something I like. I'm all offended."

 

The sales charts in 1982 would indicate that other gamers were unimpressed. Then look at what happened in 1983. Coleco's hits slowed to a trickle while the 5200 really started to shine.

 

I dont believe I said you were a 5200 hater. I disagree with your opinion is all, and to say the launch titles "ate shit"...well, tell me that doesn't sound fanboy????

And I also never said the CV didnt sell less than the 5200. But, it has as much to do with the hype at the time. Atari back then was like Microsoft is today. The big, bad zillion dollar company who had the corner on the market. The CV was something new, and it also came out first. The CV also had the backing of the critics of the time as most gaming magazines had the CV touted as such a "superior" system, or at best there *may* have been one or two that had them equal. Remember (obviously) there was no internet to get an idea for what system to get back then. There was mostly onle the opinions of the writers in the gaming mags. There were endless articles about the CV and very few about the 5200. I think what happened was yes, the CV shot out of the gate on the hype and the attention it got, but later when gamers caught on to what a better system the 5200 was, it started to gain ground. Unfortunately by then the "crash" happened and both systems went bye-bye.

For the record...I know/admit/realize/concur/believe the CV outsold the 5200. Then again...Britney Spears first CD outsold the likes of Abbey Road, Led Zeppelin (thier first), 1984, Achtung Baby, Synchronicity, Core...the list goes on...

Sales do not always equal better.

[NE146]

Hey listen to me.. I was there in the trenches. If anyone around is able to tell you what "gamers" thought of the 5200 launch, then you don't have to go looking further then your local neighborhood NE Yes sir I was there reading every single 5200 vs. Colecovision article and rooting for my favorite... which of course was the 5200 (although I have no problems admitting now I also secretely coveted the Colecovision).. ahh to be a kid with no money of your own...

 

But anyway, Although I didn't think of things in terms of "launch".. I just knew I had to have the 5200. And when I did, well.. lets just say that I was more excited in regards to games TO COME rather than what we had available initially.

 

The fact is.. the 5200 launch games were anything but exciting even for it's time. And we all knew it. I had Pacman, Countermeasure, & Super Breakout. I remember exactly my feelings as a kid. I wasn't dissapointed by any stretch. But I certainly wasn't having heart palpitations like I did when my friend loaned me his Colecovision with Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, and Smurf Rescue!

 

I really just looked at lists in the magazines of 5200 games that were to be released. THAT'S what got me excited. The games I had at first.. didn't. As we all know though things eventually came around though. When I got that Joust & Space Dungeon for the 5200 that one christmas it all came together.

 

I'm still a huge 5200 fan. But come on... the 5200 launch blew. That's no secret.

[Nukey Shay]

If Galaxian is a symbol of Atari's failure, then Donkey Kong is a symbol of Coleco's failure.

Where the heck did "Galaxian is a symbol of Atari's failure" come from? The only thing it's a symbol of is Atari's inability to create an authentic Galaxian port. For the record, when Colecovision Donkey Kong came out it was pretty much universally hailed by the gaming press as one of the best arcade-to-home translations to date.

 

I don't know what you think the 5200's few liabilities are, but its biggest is the controller, and that is NOT easily addressed.

 

Actually, the 5200 could have done better if some hadn't recognised it for what it was...an Atari home computer in a new package. Any exclusive title made for it would inevitably end up (or had already been on) their home computer format...and not necessarily be limited by cartridge size. The only thing that the 5200 really had over the home computers was that it's ports offered true trackball support (and that's because Atari generally didn't allow multiple control schemes for it's games).

Donkey Kong was THE killer app for Coleco. But it didn't matter for either console, since the home console market was already sliding downhill within a few months of it's release (and there was nothing to stop it). In a short time span, Atarisoft had already aquired the home computer rights to DK (and actually managed to get the game right for once). Come to think of it, the biggest gripe about the ColecoVision was also it's oversized doorknob controller...but at least you could plug in a generic one.

 

So for the 5200, Colecovision, etc...it didn't matter what exclusives they had. The market wasn't there for them anymore. And them's the facts. Home computers were still doing alright tho (but Atari would soon drop the ball with that one as well). The 8-bit computer line was also on the decline (due to cheap PC clones), just not as sharply defined as the home console market. In comparison, the C64 and AppleII computers lasted a great deal longer.

[NovaXpress]

The video game market was in fine shap, but the companies fucked up and the retailers were too dumb to stop it.

 

The 2600 should have been discontinued in 1982. Sorry, but you gotta push the new system. Reduce it to a 2-system horse race and suddenly games aren't sitting off the shelves. Two viable systems would have been very profitable, with the 5200 likely the winner. The crash never would have happened if Atari hadn't flooded the market with product.

[Big Player]

Actually, the 5200 could have done better if some hadn't recognised it for what it was...an Atari home computer in a new package. Any exclusive title made for it would inevitably end up (or had already been on) their home computer format...and not necessarily be limited by cartridge size. The only thing that the 5200 really had over the home computers was that it's ports offered true trackball support (and that's because Atari generally didn't allow multiple control schemes for it's games).

 

This was the 5200's big problem. It wasn't anything new. The launch titles looked exactly like the 8-bit computer versions. And at the time I had no idea it was an Atari 400 without the keyboard. I could just look at the Space Invaders screen shot in EG magazine and know it was the same game.

 

Activision's founders were still at Atari and had even designed the 8-bits operating system. They all passed on designing games for the 5200. If they had stopped making 2600 games in 1982 and switched to the 5200, that might have given the system a chance.

 

No one I knew back then bought a 5200. You either stuck with your 2600 or got a Colecovision. Or you bought a computer, where you could play games with a lot more depth to them like MULE and Murder on the Zinderneuf.

 

That all being said, I did move up to an 800XL and I do own a 5200 now after a long search. Though maybe I like it so much because it's easier to collect for than a computer.

[Paranoid]

If Galaxian is a symbol of Atari's failure, then Donkey Kong is a symbol of Coleco's failure.

Where the heck did "Galaxian is a symbol of Atari's failure" come from? The only thing it's a symbol of is Atari's inability to create an authentic Galaxian port. For the record, when Colecovision Donkey Kong came out it was pretty much universally hailed by the gaming press as one of the best arcade-to-home translations to date.

 

I don't know what you think the 5200's few liabilities are, but its biggest is the controller, and that is NOT easily addressed.

 

Did you actually ever play Colecovision Donkey Kong?

 

I remember some pretty scathing reviews of it. It sure looked good compared to 2600 Pac Man... but I wouldn't go much further than that.

[Paranoid]

Do you really think that I don't know what the pack-in game was? Out of the 5200 package of Fall 82 launch titles (see, "launch titles" means all of the games released at launch, not just the pack-in), the only ones that were exclusives to the 5200 were Galaxian and Qix. Galaxian was the most hyped of the 5200 launch titles. Meanwhile, Coleco offered Donkey Kong as the freaking pack-in as well as a couple of "minor hits" called Turbo and Zaxxon.

 

So for their respective 1982 launches, Coleco had three of the hottest current arcade hits plus the dazzling Smurf Rescue while Atari offered games that were one to four years old and for the most part already available and purchased for the 2600. And those obscure Exidy ports such as Venture and Ladybug turned into monster hits at home. The 5200 library ate shit until 1983 got underway.

 

"Fanboy" means being the type of fan who has no sense of reality. I think the 5200 is a better system than the Colecovision, but the launch was completely fucked and I don't see how any reasonable person can argue with that.

 

I forgot about Zaxxon, although Turbo was *never* in the leauge of Zaxxon, Donkey Kong, or Pac Man (or Galaxian, for that matter).

 

Granted, all of those games like Lady Bug and Venture *were* pretty fun on the Coleco. That still doesn't make them compelling titles.

 

Wasn't Countermeasure a 5200 release title, and exclusive, as well. Maybe you're just into cutesy jumping games with little blue socialist gnomes, where I am more drawn to gritty realism, action and strategy... *smirk*

[Paranoid]

Hey listen to me.. I was there in the trenches. If anyone around is able to tell you what "gamers" thought of the 5200 launch, then you don't have to go looking further then your local neighborhood NE Yes sir I was there reading every single 5200 vs. Colecovision article and rooting for my favorite... which of course was the 5200 (although I have no problems admitting now I also secretely coveted the Colecovision).. ahh to be a kid with no money of your own...

 

But anyway, Although I didn't think of things in terms of "launch".. I just knew I had to have the 5200. And when I did, well.. lets just say that I was more excited in regards to games TO COME rather than what we had available initially.

 

The fact is.. the 5200 launch games were anything but exciting even for it's time. And we all knew it. I had Pacman, Countermeasure, & Super Breakout. I remember exactly my feelings as a kid. I wasn't dissapointed by any stretch. But I certainly wasn't having heart palpitations like I did when my friend loaned me his Colecovision with Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, and Smurf Rescue!

 

I really just looked at lists in the magazines of 5200 games that were to be released. THAT'S what got me excited. The games I had at first.. didn't. As we all know though things eventually came around though. When I got that Joust & Space Dungeon for the 5200 that one christmas it all came together.

 

I'm still a huge 5200 fan. But come on... the 5200 launch blew. That's no secret.

 

I had both... and maybe I'm strange, but right away I was far more excited about the 5200. The Coleco (I actually had the Adam)... was nice... but it wasn't my favorite, even from the launch. I suppose *having* both, I might not have realized how bad off I was if I only had the 5200.

[NE146]

I had both... and maybe I'm strange, but right away I was far more excited about the 5200. The Coleco (I actually had the Adam)... was nice... but it wasn't my favorite, even from the launch. I suppose *having* both, I might not have realized how bad off I was if I only had the 5200.

 

But didn't the Adam come out a lot later? I seem to remember the Colecovision (and the 5200 of course) being out for a good while before I even saw an Adam being hyped in magazines.