RickR

I really like these posts! And I think it's fun to add NES when possible. The NES hardware is a definite child of Colecovision design IMO. It's not as impressive as the 7800 in some regards (but more in others). But it's the software, business-savvy, and dedication to gaming where NES just wiped the floor with Atari. It's so frustrating! Why didn't Atari (GCC) include a Pokey sound chip in the 7800 itself? Why didn't they switch to a gamepad as soon as it became clear that was the controller design of choice? Why didn't they give developers the time and resources to make the very best games?

Here's the NES version for comparison. I'd say the 7800 is the best of the three. Much more colorful and no flicker. The XE version looks like they went with the "close enough" attitude. Lots of missing "little things".

Good scores top to bottom. It's a really fun game. The only think i think they could have improved on is the rolling ball sound.

It's an old thread, but I've found a new favorite. At Costco, they sell a Kirkland brand "Triple Blade". For $20, you get 15 cartridges and handle. And I'll tell you, they are excellent. The blades last a good two+ weeks for me, and no nicks or cuts.

Here's one of young me taking a "selfie" with a stuffed tiger at one of the Carnegie museums in Pittsburgh.

Shouldn't there be two separate lists for Atari and Intv? The two versions have a completely different difficulty level. Nice job Creep!

This weekend, an Atari 2600 bowling tournament is being held at 2600 Club. Join in! Top 50 scores get a cool trading card. https://2600club.com/atari-bowling-tourney/

For sure! I hope no one takes any of my negativity seriously. I love to collect and play and talk about the differences in the various versions.

This is one that I have not played on either system. In just looking at the videos, I agree with your assessment. It just feels like a lot of the 7800 games are missing that final polish and quality, like maybe they were rush jobs or something.

Oh wow. I never realized there were two versions of Choplifter for 8-bit. I only knew of the "pink" version, which was pretty disappointing given the power of the hardware. My all-time favorite version of Choplifter is the VIC-20 version, which looks similar to the pink version and gets really slow with lots of objects on the screen. Still, the fact that they fit the whole game on the VIC-20 is incredible. My opinion of the 7800 version isn't very good, and maybe I need to spend more time playing it. I agree that it's well programmed. But it feels unfinished/unpolished to me. For example, the slowness in hostages getting off the chopper. And the bad collision detection on trying to bomb tanks. Is it possible this one was rushed out the door before being perfected?

Sounds like they are doing their best to keep people safe. I'm glad you had fun!

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Cool! I didn't know there was a C compiler for Atari 8-bit. I'll have to check that out. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for posting this! It looks like a lot of fun, and I hope to try it soon.

I tried once more last night on the Atari version, but couldn't beat my prior score (I came close, though). There is no "secret" to this game, @kamakazi20012....it's just that the Atari version allows you to use paddles, and that makes the game a lot more fun.

Here's a really good series. A young guy restoring an old Pontiac Fiero. I think it's great because he doesn't white-wash mistakes. And it's funny.

Oh man, I never realized that Food Fight in the arcade was rare. I remember playing it and loving it. I never understood why no one made a home version (other than the really bad 8-bit Atari version). I may have mentioned before that I never even knew the 7800 existed until I started collecting as an adult. In my mind, Food Fight is the premier game for the 7800. I also think Asteroids is right up there with it. Food Fight is very close to the arcade version (except for the smaller screen area). The 7800 version handles all that frenetic movement perfectly. Asteroids on 7800 is a really nice upgrade to a tired classic. I love the animation of the rocks, and the addition of 2-player co-op mode is astounding.

Very good, thanks for sharing. I had a project car, got it road-worthy once again, and sold it. I do not miss it. It was so space and time consuming. I'd rather focus on my work and play video games in my spare time. But I do enjoy watching videos like these a lot. Someday, I may get another project car. But for now, I'm happy with less stuff.

I will tell you, this was the case for me. I had an 800XL, and Food Fight was such a disappointment. Keep in mind that the 8-bit ports of various arcade games had always been excellent. Most consider the 8-bit version of Donkey Kong to be the best home version, for example. Food Fight was a stinker, and I disliked it. Way too choppy and not very fun. I didn't play it much at all.

I have them both, and I'm with Lance...the 7800 is smoother. Also, the graphics are more detailed. Do "Food Fight" next! The 8-bit version is a mess, and the 7800 version is an A+.

XE good things (kind of): I like the redesigned grey carts with the grooves on the side. They look good, have a nice large sticker with box art, and the size is compact. Nice! I do not like that they yet again forgot the end-labels. Another thing they fixed on the 7800. The XE blue boxes for games look really good IMO. A good fix for the gigantic (for no reason) 400/800 era boxes. I like that Atari licensed games from other firms. It's cool to get a Blue Max cart (for example) instead of having to load a disk or tape. I like that it's a more elegant design than the C64 ever was. An easy to use cart slot. Reset/Option/Select/Start buttons. Disks that load automatically instead of having to type in LOAD "*",8,1.

And that S.O.B. dog that laughs at you in Duck Hunt. It's such a lame game, but so memorable and fun for what it was.