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HDN

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Everything posted by HDN

  1. Oh lord. This game is simply a blast to play. For a 2600 title, it’s very unique. No lives, multiple screens with drastically different gameplay, fun and satisfying mechanics, great graphics; everything that makes a great 2600 gem. I would have to say that one of my favorite parts of this game is seeing what alien creatures I’ll be rescuing next. There are a ton of the little guys! Who needs Pokémon when you have Cosmic Ark? The Space Zap section is also a lot of fun. It gets so heated and intense in the later levels, and the mode works because you’re punished if you shoot your lasers Willy-nilly. You have to be precise in your shooting. Overall, this game rocks! It’s a shame we didn’t see a sequel. I would have loved to see Atlantis III.
  2. You got it! I was expecting to trick someone, but you are all too clever!
  3. Oh God. That’s horrible! But it’s dark enough to be funny. “Stevie likes to hear his friends having fun” LOL
  4. When I get home from the farmers market, I’ll have to take a picture of my collection of “classic” games I have.
  5. Ikari Warriors is probably my favorite AVGN episode. I love it so much. Especially the bloopers. (Relatively mature content warning)
  6. I’ve always been interested in 2600 Backgammon. It looks like it would be fun if you knew what you were doing. However, I DON’T know what I’m doing, so I’ll have to check out the manual! I don’t know how they did it, either. I think the crazy part, though, is how they even managed to make the computer think AT ALL with the 128 *bytes* of RAM the 2600 had! Even showing all the pieces on the chess board is a feat in itself!
  7. Casino is actually my favorite Blackjack game! At least it’s the one I go back to the most often. Something about it clicks with me. @MaximumRD that’s ok! Everyone has different interests. I think a lot of people had that opinion, because we didn’t see a lot of board games at all on the 2600 after the early days. Because, when you get down to it, what’s the point? I enjoy them, but why not just play them with other people? Other than games like Slot Machine and arguably Video Chess and Checkers, there is no reason to play the 2600 game over the real deal. But, I personally like most of these games, so there’s no wrong opinion.
  8. “Summer! It turns me upside down. SUMMER! It’s like a merry-go-round!” Every time i hear the word “summer”, I’ll always think of the song Magic by The Cars. My summer of 2017 was fueled by their greatest hit compilation. I listened to that thing on cassette 24/7 (this was back before my Walkman broke). Sadly, I never really listened to any of their actual albums and I still haven’t. I do have that greatest hit collection on CD nowadays, though. I ought to listen to that for a nostalgia trip soon.

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. HDN

      HDN

      I would have to go with Ric, as most if not all of those songs on that cassette featured him on lead vocals. He had such a distinct voice.

      I almost picked up a Cars album once a few years ago at the record store, but decided against it for whatever reason. I’ll have to borrow some from the library or something and listen to more of their stuff sometime.

    3. RickR

      RickR

      Interesting.  When I (and they) were young, I preferred Ric too.  But as I aged, Benjamin Orr is my favorite.  I remember being so sad and shocked when he passed away too young. Let's see...just from memory:  "Just What I Needed", "It's All I Can Do".  OK, I think I know what will be on my playlist this weekend. 

      There's no right/wrong answer.  They both are great. 

      I never did see The Cars live.  Maybe they were part of one of the big "Live Aid" shows?  But that was on TV, so doesn't count.  I'm glad you brought this up, as it's good to remember. 

       

    4. RickR

      RickR

      If your library has some, you should.  These guys were one of the great bands that pulled New Wave music more into the mainstream. 

       

  9. The Atari 2600 has a lot of classic games, like Pitfall and Space Invaders. HOWEVER, when I say classic in this context, I mean GAMES THAT WERE CLASSICS BEFORE THE VCS CAME AROUND! Mainly board and card games, but also games like Hangman qualify too. But not sports games. I couldn’t think of a better way to put this in the title, so sorry for any confusion. In the early years of the VCS, we saw a lot of conversions of existing, traditional games. Games like Blackjack, Checkers, Chess, etc. Inexplicably, these games have always fascinated me. They’re extremely primitive and have a lot of flaws, but even in an era of modern simulations of these games I find myself going back to Casino and Video Chess a ton! Maybe it’s the charm and novelty of playing these games on one of my favorite systems, even though the game is objectively worse than a modern simulation of it is. But I know this isn’t the same for everyone. I’d like to know what you guys think of these old takes on even older, physical games! Do you still play the creaking 2600 “ports”, or have you moved on to the greener pastures of more modern takes? What are your favorites of these “classic games”? Have a good evening and summer, everyone.
  10. Glad to be back, @RickR! Atari.io has always been such a nice place. I’m so happy to have the time to enjoy it again. Everyone here is the best!
  11. I wasn’t really considering that aspect. I was thinking more along the lines of new people buying the games for the very first time. Though what you’re saying does make a lot of sense. Like how people would buy new arcade ports so they’d have more things closer to the arcade version compared to their older ports on less capable hardware. Activision’s games were made for home so the only way to get repeat customers would be to add stuff that wasn’t there before. Interesting. Thanks for enlightening me and for the new perspective on this.
  12. I wouldn’t say “lazy”. But Activision’s 5200 games were certainly a lot less technically impressive than they were on the 2600. Think of it like this: the 2600 wasn’t *supposed* to be able to pull off the complex nature that many of Activision’s games had. The 2600 was built with only two player sprites (solid color), two missiles, a ball, a super blocky and symmetrical background, etc. Therefore, a game like Kaboom or Pitfall required incredible knowledge of the VCS and its quirks to make look as good as it did, or even run at all. The 5200 and 8 bit ports, while still rather good looking in most cases, only look primitive because of how far Activision’s crew was able to push the aging 2600. In a vacuum, the 5200/8bit versions would look just fine IMO. However, there is the other issue of Activision not changing anything from the gameplay (in many cases) to do something the 2600 couldn’t do even in the best of hands. Demon Attack on Intv and Tandy are great examples of taking advantage of the more powerful hardware to get more out of the system. Activision simply didn’t do that for their games most of the time on the 5200, which was really a missed opportunity. But really, do you need them? Activision’s games were already so good!
  13. Let us know how that goes @RickR. It would be cool to play it on an unocart! Ha ha. If you were to make this game, would it use joysticks or paddles like Blackjack and Casino did?
  14. Indeed! And @RickR, if you're looking for ideas, why not try to make a "Video Uno"?
  15. Pengo! I LOVE PENGO! I wrote Pengo comics back in the day
  16. You know how to program for the 2600, @RickR? And I’ll have to find that homebrew and put it on my uno. I hope it uses driving controllers! Oh yeah, your turn!
  17. The library is holding this book for me. I'm excited to see what it's like. Atari art is so sublime.
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