Atari 5200 Guy

I always thought this game had great graphics and I love the speed of the game.  But the limited firing options just don't cut it for me.  And once I lose that center gun, the game usually ends pretty quickly. 
 
Right on the money regarding the Imagic packaging. 

Ironically, I think a lot of the later releases weren't made by Atari, but rather by GCC or other outside contractors.  If they had focused on such quality earlier (for example on Defender and Pac Man), would it have prevented the crash? 

Atari.io forums had a Secret Quest challenge a few months back.  It was a great way to learn and discover this game. 
 
I like the game a lot.  It's very Nintendo-esque. 

Very well done! I'm hooked on Space Invaders right now. Do you have Q Bert, Frogger or Vangaurd? 3 of my favorite arcade ports for the 2600.

Your list is good...but missing Realsports Baseball.  I think I'd remove Qix to add it...but that's just my personal preference!  Great post.

Very interesting choices.  Great descriptions!  The only change I'd make here is Super Breakout over Breakout -- just because of the multi-ball options.  My list would have to include my all-time favorite Adventure. 

Anyways, nice job.

Now that's hilarious!  LOL.  I had both versions and they are good games.  I guess I'm just more partial to the 5200 port.  I did like the 8-bit version when you hit the wrong key.  "What's wrong?", would pop up on the screen.  

I read an interesting article about the game, and specifically about that lag you mentioned.  The author of the game wrote a pretty elaborate 3-D rendering algorithm for the explosions that pretty much brought the CPU to it's knees.  He says if he had more time, he would have simplified that.  I always thought it was kind of cool.  Like a crude version of "bullet time" to savor your victory over those Zylon scum!

Star Raiders on the 5200 is probably a top-3 game for me in terms of how much I played it.  The only game deficiency I remember is the lag when an enemy explosion was on-screen, especially one close to your ship.  But that was a minor annoyance -- the quality and complexity of the game more than made up for any little detriments.
 
I wish I'd kept track of some of my rankings from back in the day!

Now that's hilarious!  LOL.  I had both versions and they are good games.  I guess I'm just more partial to the 5200 port.  I did like the 8-bit version when you hit the wrong key.  "What's wrong?", would pop up on the screen.  

The computer version is absolutely one of my all-time favorites.  I do have the 5200 version, and agree with you that the joystick works well.  Plus they fixed a bug or two.  But I miss the keyboard, which really gave it that "Star Trek" feel.  In fact, it wasn't uncommon to have one player manning the joystick and another on the keyboard with the computer version.  Of course, you HAD to call the keyboard guy "Mr. Sulu". 

Naa...ET just needs a big ol' gun from Doom!

It would have been cool to be able to trap the FBI agent and scientist in a pit.  Give the game a little offensive element. 

It's a fun game, but the instructions are a must.  The key to the pits is simply to only go into the ones that contain phone pieces. 

I wouldn't want so much for a more modern 8-bit computer.  I have an XL and I still say it does better than most modern computers, tablets, and smartphones.  I don't have an OS constantly looking over my shoulder and saying what I can and can't do.  
 
If I was to want something it would be a way to connect that XL to a modern online connection.  I don't necessarily want Google, Facebook, Twitter, or such online places but maybe a modern internet connection where I can visit, or go so far as to create, a bulletin board and chat with other Atari owners.  At least this way I wouldn't have to worry about malware and viruses.  So...for me I would want, as an accessory, an 10/100 NIC/Ethernet communications device for my Atari XL.  That would be the only thing I could think of.  Well...that and a CD-ROM.

The trick to E.T. was to start on Game #3 not #1. For those of us who bought the game brand new (back-in-the-day) there was a poster included inside the box that stated this......
 

 
Good write up Kam!

I find that I often feel like I need some "special tablets" after playing 2600 Pac-Man.
 
One thing that I felt was inexcusable in the 2600 port were the sound effects.  Or, in the case of Pac-Man doing nothing, the lack of one (i.e. no background siren).  Cramming better sound into 2K of ROM may have been a herculean task -- I don't know the programming ins and outs, but I imagine that programming any complex sound just takes that much more valuable code space -- but it was a needed one.
 
The game would almost certainly have been much better received with sound effects that at least seemed to *try* to approximate the arcade sounds.  I think people would have been willing to give the graphics more of a pass if they weren't stuck listening to the harsh buzz-pops of eating dots, the boooooops of eating "vitamins", etc.

I do not have this one, but sounds like I need to find a copy.

Just found a copy on ebay.  Thanks for the recommendation. 

OK...then how about a sign for the game room?