I want to beat every 7800 game that can be...

[7800 Pro Gamer]

A few years ago now I decided to get a full Atari 7800 game collection. The console means a lot to me and I wanted to complete my love for it. Since then I feel the need to justify buying all those games by reviewing or just finding any excuse to play each game. And not just for a few minutes, but for extended periods of time. 

Lately I've been thinking about how many of those games can be finished (as in there is an ending screen, and it's not just a high score endless arcade game) and if anybody has ever beat them all.  Now I've beaten a few before, games like Scrapyard Dog, Ninja Golf and some homebrews, but I'm gonna start from scratch. That means I'm not counting those previous games and I'm gonna start now at 0 games completed. 

Between now, and December 31st at 11:59pm, I'm going to attempt to beat every possible retail and homebrew game that can be beaten, and return to this thread with proof and to discuss each one. I may also return to ask for advice and help prior to finishing a game.  Feel free to follow along or attempt it yourself. So how many games can be beat?

Well...

Scrapyard Dog, Fatal Run, Karateka, PAL Impossible Mission, Ninja Golf, Alien Brigade, Planet Smashers, Choplifter, Double Dragon, Fight Night, Ikari Warriors, Meltdown, Midnight Mutants, Sentinel, Super Skateboarding, Tower Toppler, Bentley Bear, Dragons Descent, GoSub, Knight Guy, Rikki & Vikki, and Missing in Action. Did I miss any? Should I count games that loop endlessly like Kung Fu Master, which has a final boss on the fifth floor but never ends?

If I missed any games then I appreciate the input, and please stay tuned for updates. Let me know if you've ever attempted anything similar or what games you've beaten yourself!

[CrossBow]

There are a few other home brews that could be added but might not yet exist in physical cartridge form and are only ROM files. One that comes to mind is another of VHZC's games... Slide boy. That has an ending as well since I've beta tested it quite a bit although I still prefer the control overall in his 2600 version of the game.

I'm sure there area some others that escape me, but wasn't sure if you are limiting yourself to just physical released games or not?

 

[RickR]

I may join you on a few of these.  For example, I didn't realize PAL Impossible Mission fixed the impossible to finish bug. 

In any case, this is an awesome idea and I'll be following. 

 

[RickR]

2 hours ago, Silver Back said:

Should I count games that loop endlessly like Kung Fu Master, which has a final boss on the fifth floor but never ends?

I say yes, but put them at the end of your list. 

And maybe add in the sports games with the goal of "winning" a game. 

 

[7800 Pro Gamer]

1 hour ago, RickR said:

I say yes, but put them at the end of your list. 

And maybe add in the sports games with the goal of "winning" a game. 

 

Ok, so I'll add the sports titles to the list with the goal of beating the CPU.  

 

1 hour ago, RickR said:

I say yes, but put them at the end of your list. 

And maybe add in the sports games with the goal of "winning" a game. 

 

Yeah that's what I thought, I'll add the endless loop games with the goal of completing a full loop. 

 

1 hour ago, RickR said:

I may join you on a few of these.  For example, I didn't realize PAL Impossible Mission fixed the impossible to finish bug. 

In any case, this is an awesome idea and I'll be following. 

 

I thought the pal version was fixed. Either way I have the copy of "possible mission" that fixed the issues of the original. 

1 hour ago, CrossBow said:

There are a few other home brews that could be added but might not yet exist in physical cartridge form and are only ROM files. One that comes to mind is another of VHZC's games... Slide boy. That has an ending as well since I've beta tested it quite a bit although I still prefer the control overall in his 2600 version of the game.

I'm sure there area some others that escape me, but wasn't sure if you are limiting yourself to just physical released games or not?

 

I plan on only doing games with physical releases. I wanted to put that limit in place because there are a lot of roms out there and I don't want to do anything too crazy. This is mostly an excuse to justify buying all those retail games and homebrews, so if they aren't on a stand alone cart I'm not really interested. I'll update with my full list and what game I'm starting with tonight. 

[CrossBow]

3 minutes ago, Silver Back said:

I plan on only doing games with physical releases. I wanted to put that limit in place because there are a lot of roms out there and I don't want to do anything too crazy. This is mostly an excuse to justify buying all those retail games and homebrews, so if they aren't on a stand alone cart I'm not really interested. I'll update with my full list and what game I'm starting with tonight. 

Understood. However, given how long it might actually take to accomplish this, some of those 'brews might end up getting physically released before you are able to complete the initial list.

I know of at least 1 7800 'brew release scheduled for October during PRGE as an example that has a definite ending to the game.

 

[7800 Pro Gamer]

Here's the list so far:

Games with Ending

Alien Brigade

Double Dragon DONE

Fatal Run

Fight Night DONE

Ikari Warriors DONE

Impossible Mission

Karateka

Meltdown

Midnight Mutants DONE

Ninja Golf DONE

Planet Smashers

Scrapyard Dog

Sentinel

Super Skateboarding DONE

Tower Toppler

Bentley Bears Crystal Quest

Dragons Descent

Failsafe

GoSub

Knight Guy DONE

Rikki and Vikki

Missing in Action DONE

The Adventures of Olli Troll

Draker Quest

Draker Quest II

Wizards Dungeon

Hearty Manslapper

Water Ski

Tank Command

Games that Loop (complete 1 loop)

Commando DONE

Crossbow

Donkey Kong DONE

Donkey Kong Jr DONE

Donkey Kong pk 

Kung Fu Master DONE

Sirius

Pluto's

Choplifter (I know it doesn't really loop but I didn't know where else to put it)

F-18 Hornet

Sports Games (Beat CPU)

Ballblazer DONE

Hat Trick DONE

Mat Mania Challenge DONE

One on One Basketball DONE

Pete Rose Baseball

Real sports Baseball

Title Match Pro Wrestling DONE

Touchdown Football DONE

I'm sure I've missed some, and as @CrossBow said others games may be released before I'm done and I'll add those as I obtain the cartridges. So I'll update the list as their pointed out.  I think I'm gonna start with Midnight Mutants and Double Dragon as I've finished those before and will help me start out with some momentum.

Edited June 27, 2022 by Silver Back

[CrossBow]

You forgot F18? Technically the missions are selected individually but there are conditions in the manual for ACE level completion for those missions.

 

[7800 Pro Gamer]

1 hour ago, CrossBow said:

You forgot F18? Technically the missions are selected individually but there are conditions in the manual for ACE level completion for those missions.

 

Ugh I was hoping nobody would call me out for the flight sims. Okay added

[CrossBow]

I think only F18 has missions that technically end. I actually played it a bunch as a kid. I also thought F-14 was really good but sadly my cartridge of the game only lasted a week before it just refused to work anymore. I ended up exchanging it for F-18 LOL! But I think F-14 just repeats over and over although you do take off, take down a set number of bogeys and then land.

As for Choplifter it does end. Either when you lose all of your lives or live long enough to save as many POWs as you can. Although to really consider it beaten, you need to finish the game with all 64 POWs rescued. I managed to do it maybe 2 or 3 times back in the day, but no way I could remember my method of doing it today.

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by CrossBow

[7800 Pro Gamer]

Day 1. Games beaten 0

I attempted to beat Double Dragon first by spamming the jumping back kick. I wasted 2 continues by fighting abobo and falling off the bottom of the screen and was easily killed by the enemy wave before machine gun willy. I know I can beat this one and came close, but I gave up after this an made snow cones for the family. 

After snow cones I popped in Midnight Mutants, a game I've beaten at least once a year for the last couple years. This should've been a given but I got lost in the cave maze somehow until my blood meter reached 0. This one was frustrating, and I essentially gave up for the day. 

So I'm still at 0 games beaten. I have to beat 1 game every four days to achieve my goal, and that's if nothing gets added. But I think I can conquer a handful of games this weekend. More to come...

[CrossBow]

Double Dragon for me...the secret was both the reverse jump kick and... the elbow punch. And as I've stated before, what you need to do is move slowly across the screens so that you can try and keep it to only 2 enemies at a time. Then, if you quickly move your character up/down on the opposite side of where the enemy is, you will find that they start to lock in coming towards you on one horizontal plane. As a result you sneak up below as they walk towards you or from above and elbow punch them. That is the best way to deal with Abobo's if you don't have a weapon in hand.

 

[7800 Pro Gamer]

End of Day 2.  Games Beaten: 2

Well I get to check off two games today. I went back to Double Dragon and Midnight Mutants with better results. 

In Double Dragon I used @CrossBows advice and made it to Machine Gun Willy with 3 lives. I ended up killing him but before he blinked out his henchmen got me with an uppercut and it was game over. %!#$&.  I started again and again made it to the end but this time I only lost one life to Willy. I've beaten this one several times before so it was a given but it still felt good. 

Midnight Mutants went much better tonight. It took me about an hour but I got through it with really no problem. Last night I got lost in the repeating portion of the caves looking for the mega blaster but tonight I had no such issue. The final boss is always difficult but I managed him by playing it safe and staying to the bottom corners. Grampa Munster is safe and this one is done. 

I plan on knocking out some sports games and looping arcade games with the rest of the weekend. I need to beat one game every four days but I have a feeling games like Karateka will eat up a ton of time so I want to be get a sizeable head start. I might not post an update Saturday but I'll definitely have something Sunday night or Monday morning.  

Hoping to have 5 games finished total by then...

[CrossBow]

Very cool! I've not played DD for the 7800 in any great length for many many years. I likely burned myself out on it back in the day playing it all the time LOL!

I have Midnight Mutants but didn't have it originally back in the day so I'm not very good at it at all and die quickly anytime I've tried to play it.

 

[Funkmaster V]

On 6/9/2022 at 9:24 AM, Silver Back said:

A few years ago now I decided to get a full Atari 7800 game collection. The console means a lot to me and I wanted to complete my love for it. Since then I feel the need to justify buying all those games by reviewing or just finding any excuse to play each game. And not just for a few minutes, but for extended periods of time. 

Lately I've been thinking about how many of those games can be finished (as in there is an ending screen, and it's not just a high score endless arcade game) and if anybody has ever beat them all.  Now I've beaten a few before, games like Scrapyard Dog, Ninja Golf and some homebrews, but I'm gonna start from scratch. That means I'm not counting those previous games and I'm gonna start now at 0 games completed. 

Between now, and December 31st at 11:59pm, I'm going to attempt to beat every possible retail and homebrew game that can be beaten, and return to this thread with proof and to discuss each one. I may also return to ask for advice and help prior to finishing a game.  Feel free to follow along or attempt it yourself. So how many games can be beat?

Well...

Scrapyard Dog, Fatal Run, Karateka, PAL Impossible Mission, Ninja Golf, Alien Brigade, Planet Smashers, Choplifter, Double Dragon, Fight Night, Ikari Warriors, Meltdown, Midnight Mutants, Sentinel, Super Skateboarding, Tower Toppler, Bentley Bear, Dragons Descent, GoSub, Knight Guy, Rikki & Vikki, and Missing in Action. Did I miss any? Should I count games that loop endlessly like Kung Fu Master, which has a final boss on the fifth floor but never ends?

If I missed any games then I appreciate the input, and please stay tuned for updates. Let me know if you've ever attempted anything similar or what games you've beaten yourself!

Are ya nuts? We just talked about a couple you didn't even mention on the list. 

Here's all the ones on cart:
http://www.atari7800forever.com/badd.html


I think we should make an article for the Atari 7800 Forever page about it. We update it with the score, date and screen shot of each game you beat and see which one you can't. Whaddya say?

[Funkmaster V]

Hearty Manslapper

 

And Tank Command and Water Ski don't loop

[7800 Pro Gamer]

Thanks for the info, some of the games I was guessing on. Yeah we can make it into an article that's fine.  I got to head into work unexpectedly again but I'll shoot you a message later. 

[7800 Pro Gamer]

Day 4. Games beaten 7

It was a really productive weekend for the challenge, and my plan was to get through the easier stuff early. I've beaten some of these games before and fairly recently, and some are gonna be easy just by there nature. So let's start with Saturdays progress.

Super Skateboarding is done. One run, a little less than 9 minutes. I wish there was more to say, but the challenge here is really only in trying to improve your time and lower the wattage used.  Next.

Hat Trick is another given. This picture is from my first game where I beat the CPU 4 to 3. I ended up playing a few more games for fun and honestly Hat Trick has grown on me. Good stuff, but after a half hour or forty five minutes that was the end of progress on Saturday.

Sunday morning I popped in Fight Night and got beat up until work called. What the hell, since when was this game so hard?  I came back and after a few more tries I was able to defeat British bulldog and Bronx bomber. The less said the better, let's just move on.

Ninja Gold is a game I've conquered on every difficulty but man is it fun. I enjoy it every time. A great game to wash the taste of Fight Night out of my mouth with.  But I wasn't done...

I finally found every secret in Knight Guy.  This is a fantastic homebrew and a game I can see myself playing over and over again. 

And that's it. I beat 5 more games to bring the total up to 7 in four days. I want to move quickly with the games I know how to finish because I'm gonna need time for some of these others to get good at them.  Have you guys beat any 7800 games this weekend?  Play some Knight Guy or Ninja Golf!  Their worth it!

[CrossBow]

I've beaten Knight Guy more than a few times hehe. I think my best time I had left was about 35:2x back when I was really beta testing it quite a bit. I did complete it once last week with just over 35min left. 

Also, your colors are wrong on that 7800 and need adjustment or your TV does. The border on that screen should be more blue then green. Actually it is blue on a cold system and then goes bluish teal once warmed up but never full on green like that.

 

[7800 Pro Gamer]

14 hours ago, CrossBow said:

I've beaten Knight Guy more than a few times hehe. I think my best time I had left was about 35:2x back when I was really beta testing it quite a bit. I did complete it once last week with just over 35min left. 

Also, your colors are wrong on that 7800 and need adjustment or your TV does. The border on that screen should be more blue then green. Actually it is blue on a cold system and then goes bluish teal once warmed up but never full on green like that.

 

Yeah I've noticed my color is different than others I see but Im okay with it for now.  It plays the games well and boots up every time so it's one of those things for now. Oh yeah and with that...

Day 6.  Games Beaten 9

I didn't have much time to dedicate to the challenge so I ran through a full loop (actually many loops) of a couple arcade games. 

I started by playing about four full loops of Donkey Kong. As a kid I always preferred DK Jr but I have to admit, Donkey has grown on me. But again I was short on time, so I moved on after about 20 minutes to...

2 full loops of Donkey Kong Junior. I didn't have much time left so I had to shut it off after beating the second loop, but junior saved his Papa. I plan on knocking out a few more that I've beaten before and then I plan on starting one of the dreaded challenges of this run.  Water Ski...

That's it for now!

[7800 Pro Gamer]

It's been a long time. But....

Day 10.  Games Beaten 10.

Water Ski is a frustrating and hard game. I can make it to the second level routinely, but screw that game. I will beat it eventually, but I've wasted four days on it and I need to move on. So instead I beat...

Ikari Warriors is finished!  I only beat this game once before so I was shocked that I got it first try here. It's such a good version of Ikari Warriors and is something all 7800 owners should have and be proud of. 

So this father's day weekend I want to progress as much as I can. Work has been eating up more time than usual so I need to do what I can while I'm off. I'm thinking Title Match Pro Wrestling, Mat Mania Challenge, One on One Basketball, and I'll also try Kung Fu Master and Bentley Bear. 

The games I want to be able to spend a lot of time on is Tower Toppler, a game I love but I've never made it past the fourth tower.  Impossible Mission is a game I've never sunk much time into, Water Ski is underrated in my opinion but trying to complete it is frustrating, and Karateka is one idk if I can beat or not. Those are the games that I think may stop me from accomplishing this goal.

Oh and Realsports Baseball. God I always hated this version of Realsports Baseball and I don't think I've ever beaten the CPU...

Ok, update either tomorrow night or Monday. Thanks guys!

[RickR]

Excellent progress!  I'm loving the screen shots. 

[7800 Pro Gamer]

Thank you @RickRI appreciate the kind words. It was a great father's day.  I spent time with my family, went and visited my dad for a few hours and got to play some games for a while. I failed to complete Water Ski some more but moved on to a couple others that I knew I could beat. So...

Day 11.  Games beaten 14

I started with Mat Mania Challenge. I thought to win you had to get best of 3 falls but it turns out that was a different wrestling game. So after winning about 5 falls I decided enough was enough. The sad thing is this game could've been great with a few different grapplers, improved controls and a tournament mode. I honestly think it could've been better than NES WrestleMania. Oh well moving on...

One on One Basketball is one of the best sports games on the 7800.  I've always loved it and I still do. I always play as Larry Bird and spanked Dr J 104 to 70.  I'm ashamed to say I didn't break the glass once, but Dr J was able to a few times. Good fun, and I got a ton of fouls too which never happens. 

Title Match Pro Wrestling is the game that's best 2 of 3 falls. This game is terrible, truly. I like the big detailed grapplers but after a few minutes you'll learn how to get pinfalls in less than a minute. The hardest part was getting the picture while winner flashed before the screen reset.

Commando isn't as good as Ikari Warriors in my opinion but I love the screens after each mission.

So good!  The gameplay feels a lot looser than Ikari Warriors and I think that's why I like Commando less. But it sounds great and it's still fun!

That's it for now. I might as well get through the rest of the easy ones before I struggle through the rest. Pretty soon updates will slow to a crawl.  I hope father's day was good to everybody and I'll have an update soon probably. 

[RickR]

4 minutes ago, Silver Back said:

One on One Basketball is one of the best sports games on the 7800.  I've always loved it and I still do. I always play as Larry Bird and spanked Dr J 104 to 70.  I'm ashamed to say I didn't break the glass once, but Dr J was able to a few times. Good fun, and I got a ton of fouls too which never happens. 

I always play as Dr. J, pro level, shortest quarter length. 

[7800 Pro Gamer]

10 hours ago, RickR said:

I always play as Dr. J, pro level, shortest quarter length. 

I keep the quarters long and it doesnt really bother me, especially with 2 players. I just feel that One on One was done really well, especially when you consider that it's a one button game essentially.  I rarely get bored of it unless I've already played a couple games in a row