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The 4 Worst Pack-In Games


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I haven't watched your video yet, but here's how I'd go:

  1. Super Breakout - Atari 5200.  This game was old and tired years before the 5200 came out.
  2. Any system that didn't come with a pack in game.  This was a terrible trend.
  3. Keith Courage - TurboGrafx 16.  I went and tried this one in emulation when Justin told me it was terrible....and it was terrible.  Just a very tired and boring platformer.
  4. Las Vegas Poker and Blackjack - Intellivision.  The game is good, but it's a boring choice for a pack-in game.
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Another cool video, NSG.  Super Breakout was about as poor a choice as Atari could have made for the 5200, IMO.  To offer any breakout-type game without a paddle/spinner of some kind to play it with is already asking for trouble, before you even get to the quality and enjoyability of it.

 

Getting back to Mt. Rushmore for a minute -- would you consider Minestorm a pack-in game?  It's obviously not featured on a standalone cartridge, but being built-in on the Vectrex and coming with an overlay, I think it qualifies... what do you say?

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My top 4 worst:

 

1. Pac-Man in the later 2600s: A game so bad they resorted to giving it away free with their consoles.

2. Super Breakout for the 5200: For the same reason as Rick mentioned. I mean come on Atari, nobody wanted more Breakout.

3. Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy: While not bad, per sé, I think it was probably a rather lackluster pack-in title for North America.

4. Altered Beast for the Genesis: Thank God Sega of America wised up and switched this for Sonic the Hedgehog. Altered Beast is fine enough, in short bursts, but good Lord, it has not really aged all that well. I consider it vastly subpar to what could be found on the SNES, so the decision to go with Sonic instead was brilliant in the long run.

"I'd buy that for a dollar!" -Smash T.V.

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I am going to have to make one disagreement on one game...Super Breakout.  Yea...it didn't show off the system's true abilities as far as graphics and sounds were concerned but it was the only game at the time to support the four controller ports on the console.  I fell the mistake Atari made with this pack-in game was not including all four controllers with the system.  And...while Keith Courage was not a system seller it was not too bad.  It moved too slow for me and really didn't make any sense but having that game with the system is better than no game at all.

 

Let's see...four worst pack-in games...

 

1.  Gyromite - While the system was a huge success practically overnight the inclusion of the robot was cool.  But those that got the Deluxe Set were left out in the cold when others got the more basic set that came with Nintendo's smash hit Super Mario Bros.  While I was stuck playing Duck Hunt because I had no interest in the robot my friends were getting to play Super Mario when I couldn't.  At the time, finding that game by itself was a nightmare as it was selling faster than I could get one.  I would purposely use the second controller to play Game B and would get so bored that I would purposely squish my character to break the monotony.

 

2.  Solitaire - I found a Game.Com on clearance at Wal-Mart many moons ago.  To my surprise it did not come with a game cartridge.  Instead mine came with Soltaire.  After trying Sonic and Duke Nukem 3D on the system I have to say that Solitaire played better but it didn't make me want to play the system.  In all honesty I probably played the system only a few times.  Mine was the transparent pink one.

 

3.  Altered Beast - While not a bad game in its own right packing it in with a next-gen console didn't make much sense to me.  Then again I already had a Master System and Altered Beast for the SMS.  When placed side by side the two were hard to tell apart.  I wasn't much of a fan of the game anyway.  Only when Sonic came out, and became the pack-in game for the Genesis, did I get to see the real difference between the two consoles.

 

4.  Safari Hunt - Again, not really a bad game but compared to Duck Hunt it seemed a bit below expectations.  In Duck Hunt you only had to worry about two objects at a time...either a duck or a clay pigeon.  In Safari Hunt I felt there was too much to shoot at and the gun at times didn't feel right compared to the NES' Zapper.  One of the two SMS systems I got for Christmas the same year came with Great Football which I found better than Safari Hunt. 

 

Those would be my picks.  I guess I never will see Super Breakout as a bad pack-in game because that was what I woke up to as child who just got an Atari...and spending hours on it before parents woke up are what got me started in the hobby of video games.  If it wasn't for that I might not have been into video games as much as I am now.  So I owe a lot to my Mother, the 5200, and Super Breakout for getting me started.

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Getting back to Mt. Rushmore for a minute -- would you consider Minestorm a pack-in game?  It's obviously not featured on a standalone cartridge, but being built-in on the Vectrex and coming with an overlay, I think it qualifies... what do you say?

 

Yes! If a company advertises a full game, built-in on the box, I would count it. After all, it is packed-into the system  :D

For instance, Minestorm, Asteroids on the PAL 7800 and the Alex Kidd game on the model 2 Sega Master System would all count.

 

Personally, I typically wouldn't count smaller, unadvertised and/or hidden games like Snail Maze on the Master System or Solitaire on the game.com as pack-ins. To me, they are more like small bonuses.

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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I'm with you on Gyromite, Kamakazi. If Nintendo had at least bothered to make more than just TWO games for ROB, then it would have at least make him somewhat useful. Instead, beside being a neat concept, the execution fell completely flat.

 

That said, I TOTALLY want my own ROB. Ugh, he's too EXPENSIVE.

Edited by LeeJ07

"I'd buy that for a dollar!" -Smash T.V.

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Any system that didn't come with a pack in game.  This was a terrible trend.

 

 

Yes. I sound like an old foggy, but I miss the days when every system came with one full game and two controllers. To me, the day that the PSone was released marked the beginning of the end of this trend.  :(

 

1.  Gyromite - While the system was a huge success practically overnight the inclusion of the robot was cool.  But those that got the Deluxe Set were left out in the cold when others got the more basic set that came with Nintendo's smash hit Super Mario Bros.  While I was stuck playing Duck Hunt because I had no interest in the robot my friends were getting to play Super Mario when I couldn't.  At the time, finding that game by itself was a nightmare as it was selling faster than I could get one.  I would purposely use the second controller to play Game B and would get so bored that I would purposely squish my character to break the monotony.

 

2.  Solitaire - I found a Game.Com on clearance at Wal-Mart many moons ago.  To my surprise it did not come with a game cartridge.  Instead mine came with Soltaire.  After trying Sonic and Duke Nukem 3D on the system I have to say that Solitaire played better but it didn't make me want to play the system.  In all honesty I probably played the system only a few times.  Mine was the transparent pink one.

 

 

Gyromite is a good suggestion, but at least Duck Hunt was there to help soften the blow! 

 

And it sounds like you got the later version of the game.com, the pocket pro, that didn't come with any cartridges most of the time. Like I said above, I really don't count solitaire as it was there along with the personal organizer and calculator just to give the device a more PC feel. But it did end up being one of the better game.com games, so in that case, if I counted it as a pack-in, it probably isn't one of the worst.

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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Yes. I sound like an old foggy, but I miss the days when every system came with one full game and two controllers. To me, the day that the PSone was released marked the beginning of the end of this trend.  :(

 

 

 

Gyromite is a good suggestion, but at least Duck Hunt was there to help soften the blow! 

 

And it sounds like you got the later version of the game.com, the pocket pro, that didn't come with any cartridges most of the time. Like I said above, I really don't count solitaire as it was there along with the personal organizer and calculator just to give the device a more PC feel. But it did end up being one of the better game.com games, so in that case, if I counted it as a pack-in, it probably isn't one of the worst.

So does that make the game.com a portable game system with PDA abilities or a PDA that just happens to be able to play games? It was the only game I had for a few months so at the time so Solitaire felt like a pack-in. But it was the better game unfortunately. Would have been nice to see Tiger do some originals like remakes of their LCD line with updated visuals and sounds. I believe the Game.Com could have done that.

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Great video, NSG! I agree with you and others regarding Super Breakout for the 5200. The Colecovision had an amazing version of DK and Atari goes with something that screams last gen and was essentially unchanged from the 2600 version. It was definitely a horrible choice - even if the game itself is enjoyable.

 

One console that provided a lot of value out of the box was the Atari XEGS. It came with Missle Command (built-in), Bug Hunt and Flight Simulator II. The problem was, much like Super Breakout, none of these games were exciting in 1987's post Super Mario Bros.

 

Not a lot of love for Genesis' Altered Beast? I think it's a great game on the console and was pretty envious of my friends with the early Genesis. I agree that it was wise to switch to Sonic by the time the SNES rolled around, if only for its broader appeal.

Edited by atarilbc
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Combat, really? Not the best but hardly the worst IMO.

Absolutely.   Zero single player value makes it pretty high on my worst list.  Even Poker and Blackjack was quite playable for a single player. 

Edited by Rowsdower70

"For you - Rowsdower from the 70 - have been appointed Omnivisioner of the Game Grid."  ~ Atari Adventure Square

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