NSG's Rankings of Every Atari 7800 Game (Video)

[nosweargamer]

I've been wanting to do this for years, and finally after some pushing from @HDN, and some extra work behind the scenes, I've finally finished my video ranking every officially released game for the Atari 7800!

 

[HDN]

Thanks, @nosweargamer! I'm currently cleaning my ProLine controllers and this will be great listening!

[nosweargamer]

3 minutes ago, HDN said:

Thanks, @nosweargamer! I'm currently cleaning my ProLine controllers and this will be great listening!

I'm afraid this one requires watching as well, unless you can identify games by sound 😁🎵

[HDN]

8 minutes ago, nosweargamer said:

I'm afraid this one requires watching as well, unless you can identify games by sound 😁🎵

Oh, do not fret. Basically here's how it works:

*glance over at phone*

Oh, it's Mario Bros!

*scrubs board with toothbrush and alchohol*

*enjoys glorious TIA sound effects*

Rinse and repeat!

[Sabertooth]

This is easier to watch than to listen to! 😉

These subjective lists are always so interesting because of the broad range of opinion. For example, I was surprised Tomcat F-14 is so high on your list (13)!  I'll have to give it another look. 

[HDN]

1 hour ago, Sabertooth said:

This is easier to watch than to listen to! 😉

Well, it worked out ok. I surprisingly could recognize most of the games by sound. The most confusing ones were the flight sims.

By the way, that ProLine sure was stubborn to reassemble! Have either you, @nosweargamer, or anyone else here tried putting one back together by yourself? Well, actually, knowing the community here I'm going to guess yes. But seriously! Yeesh.

[socrates63]

@HDN  you influenced an influencer! What does that make you? 🙂 

Congratulations @nosweargamer on this video release! It's great to see everything in one video.

I own 38 of the 58 games on your list. Too bad I don't own 1-38 🙂 For my curiosity, I did a breakdown of my collection based on your rankings:

• 1-10 own half
• 11-20 missing only Mean 18
• 21-30 own half
• 31-40 own half
• 41-50 own 7 of the 10
• 51-58 missing only Sentinel

I'm missing most of #24-38 (only have 5 of the 15) in my collection, and I believe most of these are on the pricier side, but it'd be good to fill in a few more from this range.

Most of the #1-#23 are very affordable so that's good for those starting out!

Too bad I didn't have this list when I was starting out my 7800 collection. Otherwise, I could have saved some money by skipping some of the bottom feeders. As it is, I own all the games #46-58 except Sentinel 😮 Yay? 🙂 

[HDN]

@socrates63 Isn't Sentinel PAL only?

Also, I consider myself an Influenceree. Or... Something.

[socrates63]

Sentinel was originally PAL only but apparently there was an NTSC release. That’s what I assume was covered by NSG’s video. 

[nosweargamer]

13 hours ago, Sabertooth said:

These subjective lists are always so interesting because of the broad range of opinion. For example, I was surprised Tomcat F-14 is so high on your list (13)!  I'll have to give it another look. 

To be fair, I like flight sims, and grew up with the 2600 version. It has a big learning curve and requires you to stay close to the system to use some of the buttons/switches on the console, but if you like flight sims, it's worth the effort imho.

1 hour ago, socrates63 said:

Sentinel was originally PAL only but apparently there was an NTSC release. That’s what I assume was covered by NSG’s video. 

Officially, it was only a PAL game, but a friend of the podcast lent me a custom made, NTSC cart to use for my review.

 

10 hours ago, HDN said:

Also, I consider myself an Influenceree. Or... Something.

Yes. It's your fault. I've wanted to do it for a while, which helps, but you pushed it over the edge, lol.

[RickR]

This video is great @nosweargamer.  When I first started watching, I kept thinking "Ugh!  The 7800 is terrible!".  But things got much much better after getting past the bad games. 

I'm amazed at how crappy some of those bad games are.  Example:  Hat Trick is so dang choppy.  2600 "Ice Hockey" is 100 times better. 

The other thing that is apparent is how bad the sound on the system is.  And even the POKEY games sound dated, as it's the same sound chip as the 8-bit computers and 5200.  Sounds good, but just another "same-old". 

 

[Paul Westphal]

Hat Trick was written in Fourth.. 🙂

Edited September 11, 2020 by Paul Westphal

[HDN]

For those of you who don't have time to watch this video or are looking for a specific game's ranking and don't want to watch the whole video again, I have compiled @nosweargamer's rankings in list form here, from highest to lowest ranked:

1. BallBlazer
2. Food Fight
3. Ninja Golf
4. Ikari Warriors
5. Commando
6. Ms. Pac-Man
7. Alien Brigade
8. Xevious
9. Dig Dug
10. Midnight Mutants
11. Xenophobe
12. Donkey Kong Junior
13. Tomcat F-14
14. Desert Falcon
15. Galaga
16. Joust
17. Mario Brothers
18. Mean 18 Ultimate Golf
19. Donkey Kong
20. Centipede
21. Crossbow
22. Winter Games
23. One-on-One Basketball
24. Rampage
25. Planet Smashers
26. Asteroids
27. Pete Rose Baseball
28. Basketbrawl
29. Motor Psycho
30. Super Skateboardin'
31. Double Dragon
32. Super Huey
33. Kung Fu Master
34. Impossible Mission (Broken US version)
35. Robotron 2084
36. Fatal Run
37. Ace of Aces
38. F-18 Hornet
39. Dark Chambers
40. Choplifter!
41. Pole Position II
42. Scrapyard Dog
43. Summer Games
44. Tank Command
45. Water Ski
46. Karateka
47. Crack'ed
48. Hat Trick
49. Tower Toppler
50. Barnyard Blaster
51. Jinks
52. Sentinel
53. Fight Night
54. Mat Mania Challenge
55. Meltdown
56. Realsports Baseball
57. Touchdown Football
58. Title Match Pro Wrestling

Edited October 28, 2020 by HDN
Put games I don't have yet in bold.

[socrates63]

With recent cartridge-only pick up of Rampage and Double Dragon (on the way), I'm down to 11 remaining for the official NTSC set. By the way, I found that GooodDealGames.com sells the fixed Impossible Mission cartridge. I'll pick that up at some point.

4. Ikari Warriors

10. Midnight Mutants

18. Mean 18 Ultimate Golf

25. Planet Smashers

27. Pete Rose Baseball

28. Basketbrawl

29. Motor Psycho

33. Kung Fu Master

42. Scrapyard Dog

44. Tank Command

45. Water Ski

[nosweargamer]

On 10/6/2020 at 6:19 PM, socrates63 said:

With recent cartridge-only pick up of Rampage and Double Dragon (on the way), I'm down to 11 remaining for the official NTSC set. By the way, I found that GooodDealGames.com sells the fixed Impossible Mission cartridge. I'll pick that up at some point.

4. Ikari Warriors

10. Midnight Mutants

18. Mean 18 Ultimate Golf

25. Planet Smashers

27. Pete Rose Baseball

28. Basketbrawl

29. Motor Psycho

33. Kung Fu Master

42. Scrapyard Dog

44. Tank Command

45. Water Ski

One of the nice aspects of collecting 7800,  is that you can get about 3/4 of the library, including some of the best games, pretty affordably. 

And, unlike the NES, even the rare games aren't crazy expensive. Only 11 games cost more than $50 loose, and only one, Tank Command, costs more than $100.

Edited October 9, 2020 by nosweargamer

[RickR]

I've kind of hit a dead end on collecting 7800 games.  Impossible MIssion is one I've been looking for, but why is it so hard to find? Planet Smashers as well.  I guess maybe I'm just not looking often enough.

 

[HDN]

I feel I can realistically get a complete NA 7800 set someday. I mean, I have six games and I am already almost 10% done! Now, it won't be for a while, but someday I can probably collect them all.

And you are right, @nosweargamer, about the affordability of it. Lots of my local game store's NES games are cheaper than the average price for a 7800 game, but lots of the NES games are also more expensive. Most of the 7800 games are the same price, while each NES game is priced individually. All the Atari games in general are labeled as just "assorted" on the store labels while the Nintendo games have the game's title printed on there.

 

[nosweargamer]

1 hour ago, RickR said:

I've kind of hit a dead end on collecting 7800 games.  Impossible MIssion is one I've been looking for, but why is it so hard to find? Planet Smashers as well.  I guess maybe I'm just not looking often enough.

 

Planet Smashers was a late release, so that makes sense. I never saw it in stores by me. Impossible Mission is a head scratcher. It's not as common as Xevious or Galaga, but it should be somewhat easy to find, like Ballblazer and Desert Falcon. I bought it as a kid and used to see it often on eBay.

[HDN]

5 hours ago, nosweargamer said:

Planet Smashers was a late release, so that makes sense. I never saw it in stores by me. Impossible Mission is a head scratcher. It's not as common as Xevious or Galaga, but it should be somewhat easy to find, like Ballblazer and Desert Falcon. I bought it as a kid and used to see it often on eBay.

Impossible Mission looks fun, but I really wish it was possible. I know there's the hack, but you won't find that in a retro game store. It does look like a type of game I would really like, but I just can't get it. I don't have lots of money floating around to buy stuff that doesn't function, you know?

I think the YouTube channel Frame Rater put it best when he said Planet Smashers was like a single step above an Action 52 game. It doesn't look too good. I don't think you are missing out on much, @RickR.

I think it's cool that some of you, like @nosweargamer and @Atari 5200 Guy, actually had the system growing up. I love hearing stories about people who had these things, especially the less popular systems like the 7800. Since I wasn't around when these systems were relevant, the only way I can experience them is through stories of others'.

[nosweargamer]

9 hours ago, HDN said:

I think the YouTube channel Frame Rater put it best when he said Planet Smashers was like a single step above an Action 52 game. It doesn't look too good. I don't think you are missing out on much, @RickR.

That statement leads me to believe he didn't take the time to learn the game. While a single screen shot may make it look like a step above a shovelware game, it actually has a lot of depth with weapon upgrades, level color codes, invisibility power and varied boss battles. I'm not the biggest fan of the game, I find the levels too long and the difficulty too high, but I'd give it more credit than that. IIRC, we also did a High Score Squad for it a couple of years ago.

There's also an inferior version of it on the first Atari Flashback.

[RickR]

1 hour ago, nosweargamer said:

That statement leads me to believe he didn't take the time to learn the game. While a single screen shot may make it look like a step above a shovelware game, it actually has a lot of depth with weapon upgrades, level color codes, invisibility power and varied boss battles. I'm not the biggest fan of the game, I find the levels too long and the difficulty too high, but I'd give it more credit than that. IIRC, we also did a High Score Squad for it a couple of years ago.

There's also an inferior version of it on the first Atari Flashback.

I agree.  I remember the High Score challenge too, and I thought it was really fun.  One of these days I'll find one for a reasonable price.

 

[HDN]

Well, you guys know what's up, so I'll take your word for it. To me it just looked a little barebones and a little slow paced. There didn't seem to be all that much happening on screen at once. I'm not a big scrolling shooter fan, but I enjoy them enough.1943 on NES is one of my favorite retro games, after all.

And the Atari Flashback 1 looks horrible! They did so much better with the NOAC recreations in the OG Jakks Pacific Atari joystick plug & play (though that might be a little clouded by nostalgia). If I ever find one at a garage sale or something, I'm totally picking it up. It just looks so horrible and I need to check it out someday!

[RickR]

Although I will agree with @HDN  too...if you just plug Planet Smashers in and play for a few minutes, it comes off as pretty lame.  You gotta read the manual and learn the depths of the power ups.  Once you do, the game becomes much better.  

Clearly, though, I think we all know Harry PLAYS his games and finds the joy in them.  That's cool, and nice to see.  I'm thinking of Miniature Golf (his blog post).  Most reviewers pan it.  But give it a chance, and it is fun and more like billiards.  That's probably another game that would be better with a homebrew graphical update.  Maybe we should have a Miniature Golf tournament here on the forums sometime soon.  

 

[RickR]

1 minute ago, HDN said:

And the Atari Flashback 1 looks horrible! They did so much better with the NOAC recreations in the OG Jakks Pacific Atari joystick plug & play (though that might be a little clouded by nostalgia). If I ever find one at a garage sale or something, I'm totally picking it up. It just looks so horrible and I need to check it out someday!

It *IS* horrible.  Do not buy!  I had one.  I bought it new at Target when it first came out.  I was so excited, and then I played it.  TERRIBLE.  Every single game is wrong in some obvious way.  Example:  No momentum in Asteroids.  Lay off the thrust and your ship just stops.  Or the sounds and colors of Adventure.  Don't mess with my nostalgia like that!

I hated it so much that it actually made me angry just to look at it.  I ended up selling it.  

Flashback 2 is 1000 times better.  Just get one of those.  

[HDN]

If I ever try Planet Smashers, I will let you two know. But before I get that game, I would really like to purchase Desert Falcon. I hated the 2600 version until I listened to the 7800 GBG podcast and learned the rules of the game (you know, with the heiros and such). Now I rather enjoy the 2600 version, but the 7800 version looks so much better. I'm not a big Zaxxon type of person, but I did enjoy the 2600 port of the game. For $10, the 7800 game is worth a shot I feel.

I know, @RickR! That's why I want one! I watched the NSG review (what hasn't that guy reviewed) a while back, and it just looks so bad! Sure, I could get a FlashBack 2 (which I might someday as it's actually really cool), but what's the point if I already have a system? Plus, honestly, if it wasn't using real 2600 hardware inside it would be a little boring. The Flashback 1, while cursed, is interesting because of it's NES hardware and how it's based on the 7800 instead of the 2600 seen in all other units. If I find it for cheap at a garage sale, I'm still going to pick it up. Now, what they really should do is make an Atari 5200 Flashback.

21 minutes ago, RickR said:

Clearly, though, I think we all know Harry PLAYS his games and finds the joy in them.  That's cool, and nice to see.  I'm thinking of Miniature Golf (his blog post).  Most reviewers pan it.  But give it a chance, and it is fun and more like billiards.  That's probably another game that would be better with a homebrew graphical update.  Maybe we should have a Miniature Golf tournament here on the forums sometime soon. 

Miniature Golf is one of my favorites on the system and DEFINITELY worth a try. I have been replaying a lot of 2600 games I didn't much care for since I joined this site, like Dragster, GORF, and Crystal Castles, and finding that I enjoy them much more than I used to. I guess every game is worth a second look. You might start to really like them like I did!

And yes, a Miniature Golf tournament would be awesome. I'm starting to wonder how a homebrew graphical update would look like though. The game is a little too abstract already that I'm not sure if there's any saving it! Though they did make a sequel you can get on a physical cart over at AtariAge.