1Littlebeast

Hey Everyone I'm going to have a Bandai America Rep on my podcast if anyone has any questions you would like me to ask them let me know. 

Welcome @1Littlebeast This is a great place to be...it’s where the cool kids hang out 😁

Welcome! I love Pac Man and Space Invaders!

WELCOME to Atari I/O @1Littlebeast it's great to have you join us!! I hope you enjoy your time here in the forums! If you have any questions or need anything, I am always around to help so feel free to PM me anytime for any reason. My favorite arcade game to play has to be RoadBlasters in the sit-down cabinet. I can play that game endlessly.

Today I was reacquainted with the Atari 2600 version of Crystal Castles using an online emulator.

I fist played the arcade version of Crystal Castles around 2013 on the XBOX collection Atari Anthology. I thought it was a bit odd. Here was a game I had never heard of surrounded by true classics: Centipede, Asteroids, Pong, Super Breakout, Tempest, and more. I played this "weird 3D Pac-Man clone" with a D-Pad at the time, and I'm not sure if I knew I could jump until later! I thought it was just okay. Little did I know that the reason I didn't like it was because of the D-Pad! I'm not a fan of analog sticks with old games, so I almost never use them. Not that the analog stick is any better for Crystal Castles. Until I found the cabinet in person, I didn't even know it was a trak ball game. After playing the cab, I grew to love the game. A ton. If I could get any arcade cabinet, Crystal Castles would be it. I played it on an Arcade  1up machine in a game store in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I don't know if the machine was broken, but the minuscule trak ball was puny, imprecise, and honestly horrible. I want to say it was the Asteroids cab. Nevertheless, if it was cheaper I would totally pick it up. I think @MaliciousCarp might have one, but maybe I'm thinking of someone else.
I love the arcade game so much,  I went and got the high score. This was on the cab I found while staying at a hotel. We went back, and YEAH! High score still standing! Sadly I didn't snap a pic of the score itself, but I did take a picture of my initials on the first level. Anyone else know the warp in level one that nets you 140,000 points?

The 2600 port I played shortly after I first played the arcade game, also on Atari Anthology. For me, it has always been a "you get an A for effort" kind of game. It's very impressive for the system, yes, but I never liked the controls or hit detection on the video waf-- I mean, gems. This morning, however, I was reading through my first ever topic on this site asking your top ten 2600 titles. I saw that some people really liked this port. I thought I'd give it a second chance like I did with ET and Dragster. I don't have the physical cartridge for it (shocker), but I did have my old Windows Vista machine out, so I looked up an online JavaScript emulator and started playing with the keyboard. I don't normally like using the keyboard for games, but it really does work well for this title. I didn't like the D-pad controls, but I imagine it would work well with the 2600 joystick, which is what I normally use. I got a pretty decent score I feel. The level design is much, much simpler here, but it doesn't hurt the game at all. There are loads of 3D levels crammed into the cart, and that's very impressive. They're all symmetrical, too, but that is very typical of the 2600's backgrounds, as seen in Adventure, Combat, Pac-Man, and many others.
Like ET and Dragster, I had a blast playing 2600 Crystal Castles again. It's on my new wish list. Sadly my local game store is selling for $10, nearly twice the amount on price charting.com without shipping. Would I get my money's worth? Yes, but that's still a bit much in my opinion. Overall, I would say it's an A-tier Atari 2600 title when played with the right controller. I would definitely buy it if it were just a little cheaper. I think $5 would be a good price. To me, not many 2600 games are worth over that. Tunnel Runner, Pitfall II, Montezuma's Revenge, maybe Mountain King. Price charting.com puts Crystal Castles at about $5 at the time of writing this. 
Special thanks to @1Littlebeast for getting me thinking about Crystal Castles, and for recommending the 2600 version I thank @TrekMD and@Atari 5200 Guy

Hello everyone Glad to be apart of Atari.io Huge retro and current gen nerd 😃. What's Everyone favorite Arcade to play?  Mines gotta be Tapper whenever i go to the Barcades i make it a mission to play it. 

Hello everyone Glad to be apart of Atari.io Huge retro and current gen nerd 😃. What's Everyone favorite Arcade to play?  Mines gotta be Tapper whenever i go to the Barcades i make it a mission to play it. 

Tunnel Runner I had way back in the late 1980s.  It's a very fun and unique game.  But it's a bit pricey these days.  Sort of crazy how that works; games back then no one could sell for a penny are all of a sudden worth tons of money.  Makes no sense to me.

Tunnel Runner is on that list!

I've been trying to get this guy to play Tunnel Runner since I got here. If he plays this Pokemon Risk game before it, I swear...

I'll put on my list of games to play.  Thanks for the recommendation.  It takes me forever to get through a game, but I do have fun with them.  I'll get to them all eventually!
 

Hahahah @HDN! I was wondering where this post went! 

Welcome to Atari I/O @1Littlebeast.  You'll love it here.  Favorite arcade game?  Gee...you had to play that card?  Ummm...lemme think.  I have two actually each from different eras.  Pre-crash I'd have to pick Galaxian.  Post-crash has to be OutRun.  Gyruss is good, too.  Gotta love the music in that one.

I think you may have posted in the wrong neighborhood, @Sabertooth! Unless you want to show the new guy your mad Galaxian skills. If that's the case, go right ahead!

This came in yesterday  and I'm so excited to be able to play this little gem again. I bought it when it originally came out and about a week later someone stole it from me. Needless to say I've got some history with this game and I'm going to be able to finally beat it 8 years later I can't wait.

I love the ds. @RickR i highly suggest pokemon conquest it's literally pokemon meets risk. 

22,520. A slight improvement. 

I love the ds. @RickR i highly suggest pokemon conquest it's literally pokemon meets risk. 

This came in yesterday  and I'm so excited to be able to play this little gem again. I bought it when it originally came out and about a week later someone stole it from me. Needless to say I've got some history with this game and I'm going to be able to finally beat it 8 years later I can't wait.

Welcome to atari.io @1Littlebeast! I'm originally from the buckeye state! It's good to see another retro nerd from Ohio on the forums! 

Great! I need the physical cart for that, too. I have emulated it, but something tells me that like many other classic Atari games like Galaxian, it is much better on real hardware with the OG 2600 controller. It is a decent port and very impressive for the system, but do find a real arcade cab someday!

Hello everyone Glad to be apart of Atari.io Huge retro and current gen nerd 😃. What's Everyone favorite Arcade to play?  Mines gotta be Tapper whenever i go to the Barcades i make it a mission to play it. 

This came in yesterday  and I'm so excited to be able to play this little gem again. I bought it when it originally came out and about a week later someone stole it from me. Needless to say I've got some history with this game and I'm going to be able to finally beat it 8 years later I can't wait.

@HDN I found the Atari 2600 version pretty cheap i will defiantly have to add it to my list of pickups. @socrates63 😂 WRKP There is some good barcades near me Galaga is always a good one. @TrekMD Glad to be here. @RickR I love Tron if i remember correctly it had the transparent control stick on top of the backlights i have always loved the transparent controllers and consoles etc just seeing them tick as you play it always has seemed cool to me.
 

It's a good list, and makes me want to try some of these games.  And the love given to E.T (Spoiler alert!) makes it legit in my eyes.