| Game | System | Ranking |
| Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom | Atari 5200 |  |
| Burger Drop | Atari 5200 | |
| BurgerTime | Arcade | |
| BurgerTime | Atari 2600 | |
| BurgerTime Deluxe | GameBoy | |
| Darkwing Duck | GameBoy | |
| Eggomania | Atari 2600 | |
| E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial | Atari 2600 | |
| Gremlins | Atari 5200 | |
| Lady Bug | Atari 2600 | |
| Mario Bros. | Atari 5200 | |
| Midnight Magic | Atari 2600 | |
| Missle Command | Atari 5200 | |
| Moon Patrol | Atari 5200 | |
| Pole Position | Atari 5200 | |
| Qix | Atari 5200 | |
| River Raid | Atari 5200 | |
| River Raid | Atari 2600 | |
| Skiing | Atari 2600 | |
| Yar's Revenge | Atari 2600 | |
| Zaxxon | Atari 5200 | |
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Retro Game Reviews
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Retro Game Review -- Gremlins (Atari 5200)
Game: Gremlins
System: Atari 5200
Publisher: Atari
Year: 1986
Ranking: Two Quarters
Three simple rules:
- Never expose the Mogwai to bright light,
- Never get the Mogwai wet, and
- Never, ever feed the Mogwai after midnight.
What could possibly go wrong?
The Gremlins video game was the last official release for the short-lived Atari 5200 SuperSystem. The game was originally programmed in 1984 and was intended to coincide with the movie's release. Unfortunately, the floor had fallen out from underneath the video game market the year before, and Atari decided to double down on their computer business. This shift in focus lead to the delay and abandonment of many popular and high-profile titles. This included the unfortunately timed Gremlins tie-in. At one point in the long period of time after programming and before official release, Steven Spielberg, executive producer of the Gremlins movie, offered to pay Atari to release the game. His offer was rejected. Fortunately, Gremlins for the Atari 5200 was eventually saved. The reason for it's eventual release in 1986, long after the movie's premiere and the "heyday" of the 5200, remain a mystery.
Unlike many movie inspired console games of the era (i.e, Superman, ET, etc.), Gremlins is remarkably true to the movie. The story opens on Night One. You play the boy of the film, Billy Peltzer, and have just stumbled into a room to find your adorable Gizmo has multiplied and some of his buds have been munching after midnight. The room is littered with leftovers, and, even more concerning, puddles of water. Your goal is to round up the cuddly Mogwai and kill the vicious Gremlins. Thankfully, you have walked into the room with a backpack to carry the Mogwai and an ancient samurai sword to kill the Gremlins. Once everyone is taken care of or the sun come up, whichever comes first, the game moves on to the next night.
Gremlins is a pretty straightforward game. Save Mogwai, and kill Gremlins. Difficulty increases slowly, but grows with novel additions. For example, one night a popcorn machine appears and the Gremlins start popping popcorn, making just about every fuzzy friend turn into a foul fiend. Another night a refrigerator appears and starts spewing ice cubes that melt into puddles of water. These novel features add to the depth of the game, but fail to increase the challenge. With its cartoon graphics and campy music, Gremlins struck me more as a children's game. The primary challenge comes from not accidentally walking into a Gremlin. This mistake is an all too common occurrence given the rather short sword and mushy joystick. The upside? You are rewarded with an epic death. You instantly turn into a skeleton and collapse into dust on the floor.
Gremlins is a fun game. I wonder what would have happened if this, and other games like this, were released earlier for the 5200. Would Atari have been better positioned to retain some of the home market after Nintendo entered the scene, or would Atari have always been hampered by its early success?
Unlike many movie inspired console games of the era (i.e, Superman, ET, etc.), Gremlins is remarkably true to the movie. The story opens on Night One. You play the boy of the film, Billy Peltzer, and have just stumbled into a room to find your adorable Gizmo has multiplied and some of his buds have been munching after midnight. The room is littered with leftovers, and, even more concerning, puddles of water. Your goal is to round up the cuddly Mogwai and kill the vicious Gremlins. Thankfully, you have walked into the room with a backpack to carry the Mogwai and an ancient samurai sword to kill the Gremlins. Once everyone is taken care of or the sun come up, whichever comes first, the game moves on to the next night.
Gremlins is a pretty straightforward game. Save Mogwai, and kill Gremlins. Difficulty increases slowly, but grows with novel additions. For example, one night a popcorn machine appears and the Gremlins start popping popcorn, making just about every fuzzy friend turn into a foul fiend. Another night a refrigerator appears and starts spewing ice cubes that melt into puddles of water. These novel features add to the depth of the game, but fail to increase the challenge. With its cartoon graphics and campy music, Gremlins struck me more as a children's game. The primary challenge comes from not accidentally walking into a Gremlin. This mistake is an all too common occurrence given the rather short sword and mushy joystick. The upside? You are rewarded with an epic death. You instantly turn into a skeleton and collapse into dust on the floor.
Gremlins is a fun game. I wonder what would have happened if this, and other games like this, were released earlier for the 5200. Would Atari have been better positioned to retain some of the home market after Nintendo entered the scene, or would Atari have always been hampered by its early success?
 |
| Title screen for the Atari 5200 version of Gremlins. |
 |
| Gremlins for the Atari 5200. Picture was taken using Jum52, an Atari 5200 emulator for MacOS. I'm not sure why the main character is blue in this image. In the original equipment version of the game he doesn't look like a giant smurf in brown overalls. |
Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Retro Game Review -- Zaxxon (Atari 5200)
Game: Zaxxon
System: Atari 5200
Publisher: Sega
Year: 1984
Ranking: Two Quarters
Sega's arcade classic Zaxxon (1982) is often attributed as the first major video game to use isometric graphics. Rather than view a player's character from directly above or to the side, the player's ship in Zaxxon was viewed at an oblique angle above the ship. This created a unique three-dimensional perspective that pulled players deeper into the action than they had ever been before. Isometric projections are a subset of axonometric projections. Zaxxon claims it's name from AXXON, a bastardized abbreviation of axonometric projection. I'm pretty sure the "Z" was added because Z's make everything sound more exciting. Motivated early arcade scholars can go check out the Wikipedia articles on isometric and axonometric projections before continuing on to the rest of the review below.
Zaxxon's first of its kind perspective, challenging game play, and bright graphics made it popular game. Home consoles at the time clamored to create Zaxxon clones. Unfortunately, the memory and computational requirements were beyond the reach of many home systems, and some truly horrid ports were made. Check out the Let's Compare (Zaxxon) video at Gaming History Source for a look at some of the more appalling versions. The Atari 2600 version is particularly noteworthy since it does not even attempt to reproduce the isometric perspective, opting instead for a computationally simpler 3rd person, behind the person perspective. Zaxxon for the Atari 2600 is Zaxxon in name only.
The Atari 5200 version, like many of its contemporaries, falls short of the arcade version on a few fronts. First, the 5200 version lacks the added danger of vertical and heat seeking missiles. Second, the playing field seems a little empty compared to the arcade version, like there is too much room and not enough enemies. Finally, the fighter plane level is simplified to a 2D level rather than the more complex 3D level seen in the arcade. Despite these shortcomings, I think that the Atari 5200 version is as close to the arcade version as any home console version of the era. The 5200 version captures the essence of the arcade. You control the ship in three dimensions through the Death Star like channel. You blast fuel tanks to refuel. You weave around brick walls and electric force fields to navigate to your ultimate goal, the evil, rocket-slinging, death-robot Zaxxon.
Sadly, I just don't think that Zaxxon for the Atari 5200 is a great game. First, the soundtrack is white noise. When the game starts, you'll be wondering if your speakers have blown out. I'd like to think the white noise was a design decision. Rather than having space be silent, a la Battlestar Galactica, the designers opted for a musical interpretation of the cosmic background radiation. Only when your fighter beings to dip and dive do you realize that the white noise is suppose to be the roar of your rockets. Second, after a few rounds of Zaxxon with the 5200 stock controller, you'll need to book an appointment with your friendly ergonomist to start treatment on your developing carpal tunnel. You constantly need to mash the soft, unresponsive fire button in order to maintain enough firepower to survive each level. Chronic injury is not worth it for any video game. Finally, and most importantly, the 3D graphics subtract from the gameplay. I will admit it; the perspective is a refreshing touch. Unfortunately, I hardly ever have any idea where I am. The height bar is useless and thanks to the constraints of the isometric perspective your ship never changes size. Thankfully, Sega updated the spaceship level in the 5200 version to be 2D; otherwise, I would have never hit any of the enemy fighters.
Zaxxon is a seminal game, and I'm glad to have it in my Atari 5200 collection. However, if I'm looking for an isometric perspective, I'd rather hop on over to Q*bert!
Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.
Sega's arcade classic Zaxxon (1982) is often attributed as the first major video game to use isometric graphics. Rather than view a player's character from directly above or to the side, the player's ship in Zaxxon was viewed at an oblique angle above the ship. This created a unique three-dimensional perspective that pulled players deeper into the action than they had ever been before. Isometric projections are a subset of axonometric projections. Zaxxon claims it's name from AXXON, a bastardized abbreviation of axonometric projection. I'm pretty sure the "Z" was added because Z's make everything sound more exciting. Motivated early arcade scholars can go check out the Wikipedia articles on isometric and axonometric projections before continuing on to the rest of the review below.
Zaxxon's first of its kind perspective, challenging game play, and bright graphics made it popular game. Home consoles at the time clamored to create Zaxxon clones. Unfortunately, the memory and computational requirements were beyond the reach of many home systems, and some truly horrid ports were made. Check out the Let's Compare (Zaxxon) video at Gaming History Source for a look at some of the more appalling versions. The Atari 2600 version is particularly noteworthy since it does not even attempt to reproduce the isometric perspective, opting instead for a computationally simpler 3rd person, behind the person perspective. Zaxxon for the Atari 2600 is Zaxxon in name only.
The Atari 5200 version, like many of its contemporaries, falls short of the arcade version on a few fronts. First, the 5200 version lacks the added danger of vertical and heat seeking missiles. Second, the playing field seems a little empty compared to the arcade version, like there is too much room and not enough enemies. Finally, the fighter plane level is simplified to a 2D level rather than the more complex 3D level seen in the arcade. Despite these shortcomings, I think that the Atari 5200 version is as close to the arcade version as any home console version of the era. The 5200 version captures the essence of the arcade. You control the ship in three dimensions through the Death Star like channel. You blast fuel tanks to refuel. You weave around brick walls and electric force fields to navigate to your ultimate goal, the evil, rocket-slinging, death-robot Zaxxon.
Sadly, I just don't think that Zaxxon for the Atari 5200 is a great game. First, the soundtrack is white noise. When the game starts, you'll be wondering if your speakers have blown out. I'd like to think the white noise was a design decision. Rather than having space be silent, a la Battlestar Galactica, the designers opted for a musical interpretation of the cosmic background radiation. Only when your fighter beings to dip and dive do you realize that the white noise is suppose to be the roar of your rockets. Second, after a few rounds of Zaxxon with the 5200 stock controller, you'll need to book an appointment with your friendly ergonomist to start treatment on your developing carpal tunnel. You constantly need to mash the soft, unresponsive fire button in order to maintain enough firepower to survive each level. Chronic injury is not worth it for any video game. Finally, and most importantly, the 3D graphics subtract from the gameplay. I will admit it; the perspective is a refreshing touch. Unfortunately, I hardly ever have any idea where I am. The height bar is useless and thanks to the constraints of the isometric perspective your ship never changes size. Thankfully, Sega updated the spaceship level in the 5200 version to be 2D; otherwise, I would have never hit any of the enemy fighters.
Zaxxon is a seminal game, and I'm glad to have it in my Atari 5200 collection. However, if I'm looking for an isometric perspective, I'd rather hop on over to Q*bert!
+ScreenShot.png "Zaxxon: Arcade Version") |
| Zaxxon: Arcade Version |
+ScreenShot.png "Zaxxon: Atari 5200 Version") |
| Zaxxon: Atari 5200 Version |
Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Retro Game Review -- River Raid
Game: River Raid
System: Atari 2600
Publisher: Activision
Year: 1982
Ranking: Four Quarters
River Raid is one of my all-time favorite Atari games. I'm happy to report that after a little over thirty years, it holds up quite nicely. River Raid is still fun to play after all these years because it works on several different levels.
First, there is the shooting aspect of the game: blow-up anything and everything on the screen. You blow-up lumbering battleships, darting helicopters and volatile fuel depots. You complete a "level" by blasting through a formidable bridge at the end of each river segment. The top-down, top-to-bottom scrolling action provides an exciting, varied view as you shoot your way up the River of No Return.
Shooting games are fun, but what separates River Raid from many of its contemporaries is the added complexity of resource management. As you progress deeper into the suburban jungles, precious jet fuel is used up. Conveniently located fuel depots provide you the opportunity to fill-up, but they are also worth massive amounts of points. A successful River Raider needs to balance the desire to blow up the fuel depot with the necessity of acquiring more fuel for the plane. Luckily, astute pilots can do both: filling-up during the initial approach and then blasting away as departing for further annihilation.
Third, River Raid has impressive graphics. Activision made it's name on vibrant, colorful graphics, and River Raid does not disappoint However, while the colors were outstanding, what truly sets River Raid apart from other games of its time is the varied and detailed river maps. Atari 2600 ROMs are, in general, limited to 4K of RAM. That's less memory than this blog entry. Storing all the map permutations on a single ROM would have been impossible. Carol Shaw, the first female video game designer, used a procedural algorithm to draw the morphologically complex river deterministically. Rather than have a single game screen, as seen in Pac-Man or Q*bert, the game board in River Raid is ever changing. This adds significantly to the level of excitement.
Finally, because there is both a point and embryonic level system, players can choose how they want to play the game. Players can opt to shoot for a high score, or they can try to see how deep they can make it into enemy territory. I generally played for distance because I just had to know what was beyond the next river bend.
The Atari 5200 version of the game, like many of Activision's ports to this system, is essentially the same as the 2600 version. There are some enhancement to the graphics, but they are mostly superficial. Activision did add hot air balloons, tanks, and additional helicopters to the enemy forces. In fact, the additional tanks and helicopters also have the ability to fire at the player to enhance the challenge. The reason the 5200 version succeeds so well is because it was based so closely on the fantastic 2600 version.
The one question that has always nagged me about River Raid is why can't the jet just fly over the pastoral, enemy-free fields lining the river? Is the pilot petrified of flying over land? Are the river banks infinitely tall? Has Evil Otto or one of the other evil Atari villains erected a force field around the river? Did Pitfall Harry retire to one of the houses along the rivers and does he forbid fly-overs? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
First, there is the shooting aspect of the game: blow-up anything and everything on the screen. You blow-up lumbering battleships, darting helicopters and volatile fuel depots. You complete a "level" by blasting through a formidable bridge at the end of each river segment. The top-down, top-to-bottom scrolling action provides an exciting, varied view as you shoot your way up the River of No Return.
Shooting games are fun, but what separates River Raid from many of its contemporaries is the added complexity of resource management. As you progress deeper into the suburban jungles, precious jet fuel is used up. Conveniently located fuel depots provide you the opportunity to fill-up, but they are also worth massive amounts of points. A successful River Raider needs to balance the desire to blow up the fuel depot with the necessity of acquiring more fuel for the plane. Luckily, astute pilots can do both: filling-up during the initial approach and then blasting away as departing for further annihilation.
Third, River Raid has impressive graphics. Activision made it's name on vibrant, colorful graphics, and River Raid does not disappoint However, while the colors were outstanding, what truly sets River Raid apart from other games of its time is the varied and detailed river maps. Atari 2600 ROMs are, in general, limited to 4K of RAM. That's less memory than this blog entry. Storing all the map permutations on a single ROM would have been impossible. Carol Shaw, the first female video game designer, used a procedural algorithm to draw the morphologically complex river deterministically. Rather than have a single game screen, as seen in Pac-Man or Q*bert, the game board in River Raid is ever changing. This adds significantly to the level of excitement.
Finally, because there is both a point and embryonic level system, players can choose how they want to play the game. Players can opt to shoot for a high score, or they can try to see how deep they can make it into enemy territory. I generally played for distance because I just had to know what was beyond the next river bend.
The Atari 5200 version of the game, like many of Activision's ports to this system, is essentially the same as the 2600 version. There are some enhancement to the graphics, but they are mostly superficial. Activision did add hot air balloons, tanks, and additional helicopters to the enemy forces. In fact, the additional tanks and helicopters also have the ability to fire at the player to enhance the challenge. The reason the 5200 version succeeds so well is because it was based so closely on the fantastic 2600 version.
The one question that has always nagged me about River Raid is why can't the jet just fly over the pastoral, enemy-free fields lining the river? Is the pilot petrified of flying over land? Are the river banks infinitely tall? Has Evil Otto or one of the other evil Atari villains erected a force field around the river? Did Pitfall Harry retire to one of the houses along the rivers and does he forbid fly-overs? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
 |
| River Raid -- Atari 2600 |
 |
| River Raid -- Atari 5200 |
Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that the true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Retro Game Review -- Qix
Game: Qix
System: Atari 5200
Publisher: Atari
Year: 1982
Ranking: Three Quarters
To split the Qix, or not to split the Qix? That is the question.
Qix, rhymes with kicks, was originally released as an arcade game in 1981 by Taito. In the game, players control a diamond shaped marker. Your goal is to trap the dreaded Qix as he dances erratically around a field of black. To do this you draw a series of polygons into the void. Polygons that are completed using the quick-draw button turn blue, while polygons that are drawn using the slow-draw button are awarded more points and turn orange. You advance to the next board once you block off 65% of the board in the Atari 5200 version.
Working against you are the Qix and his minions. If the Qix touches your line before you complete a polygon, you are electrified and explode like a broadcast tower. A new diamond shaped marker is created where the last marker started drawing. While you travel on the boundary of the board, you are safe from the Qix but not the Sparxs. These insidious characters march inexorably around the outside of the board. One touch from them will kill just as quickly as the Qix itself. Finally, if you pause in the process of drawing a line, the Fuse will begin to crackle up the line towards your diamond shaped marker. If it reaches you, you will ignite like TNT.
To split the Qix, or not to split the Qix? That is the question.
Qix, rhymes with kicks, was originally released as an arcade game in 1981 by Taito. In the game, players control a diamond shaped marker. Your goal is to trap the dreaded Qix as he dances erratically around a field of black. To do this you draw a series of polygons into the void. Polygons that are completed using the quick-draw button turn blue, while polygons that are drawn using the slow-draw button are awarded more points and turn orange. You advance to the next board once you block off 65% of the board in the Atari 5200 version.
Working against you are the Qix and his minions. If the Qix touches your line before you complete a polygon, you are electrified and explode like a broadcast tower. A new diamond shaped marker is created where the last marker started drawing. While you travel on the boundary of the board, you are safe from the Qix but not the Sparxs. These insidious characters march inexorably around the outside of the board. One touch from them will kill just as quickly as the Qix itself. Finally, if you pause in the process of drawing a line, the Fuse will begin to crackle up the line towards your diamond shaped marker. If it reaches you, you will ignite like TNT.
Qix is a lot of fun. It has a good amount of strategy and there is enough going on in the background to keep you on your toes. The Atari 5200 controller sometimes makes it difficult to precisely draw your polygons as intended, but in most cases this doesn't affect the outcome of the game. In later levels, multiple Qix begin to dance around. Splitting the Qix into different portions of the board can yield point mulitplers. Mulitpliers can go up to 8x! I was always uncertain if I should split the Qix for more points later or if I should just try to finish up the level for maximum points now.
Qix was a game I didn't remember hearing about before getting my 5200. I'd like to give a shout out to the journalistic review of Qix I found on the Classic Game Room YouTube channel. It made me go out and find this early strategic gem.
Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of an arcade game was a single quarter when many of these games first came out, I feel that the true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Retro Game Review -- Pole Position
Game: Pole Position
System: Atari 5200
Publisher: Atari
Year: 1983
Ranking: Four Quarters
Pole Position was one of my favorite arcade games growing up. To a 10 year old with a single quarter, Pole Position was a guaranteed 60 seconds of excitement. This was a seemingly eternity greater amount of time than the mere seconds I could hope for from the likes of Pac Man or Space Invaders. If you were smart and opted to race at Monaco Speedway, you could turn that single quarter into two to three minutes of white knuckle racing.
Pole Position was also one of reasons I wanted to go out and get an Atari 5200. I knew that if I bought the 2600 version of this arcade classic my memories would be in as many pieces as a Formula One car that accidentally brushed the side of an explosive lined billboard, which, incidentally, is only type of billboard sanctioned for use at the Monaco Speedway. While the 5200 version isn't up to the quality of the arcade, it is one of the truest incarnations of this game that you can get for an early home console. To fathom the potential depths of disappointment I would have faced with the 2600 version, check out the excellent comparison video at the Gaming History Source Channel on YouTube.
Thankfully, the 5200 version of Pole Position has kept my fond memories largely intact. Yes, the car is blocky. Yes, there is no announcer to start the race. And, yes, the volatile billboards lack any advertisements. On the other hand, the sounds are just as vibrant, the racers are just as numerous, and the challenge is just as great as the arcade. Moreover, the much maligned 5200 controller seems to be well suited for this type of game. There are no issues holding down the fire button for full throttle, nor does the non-self centering joystick work against you. If you utterly loath the joystick, you do have the option to use the 5200 trackball. Unfortunately, I keep getting out bid for this prized item on eBay, so I wasn't able to test this option.
The best feature of the console version is that it maintains the unforgiving character of the arcade. Regardless of if you slam into a competitor or gently bush his wheels, the result will always be a stereophonic, multicolored, massive explosion. Accidentally veer off into an unadorned billboard and you had best be hoping that your life insurance payments are up to date because you are about to be vaporized. There is no such thing at a fender bender in Pole Position. I guess that's why everyone is honking all the time. They don't want your aggressive NASCAR antics sending them from here to kingdom come.
Pole Position is great fun and highly recommended. It is one of the most common games for the 5200, so don't spend more than a few dollars on this early racing gem.
Retro Game Rankings: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of arcade games was a single quarter when many of the games I review came out, I feel that the true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.
Posted with BlogsySunday, February 10, 2013
Retro Game Review -- Eggomania
Game: Eggomania
System: Atari 2600
Publisher: US Games
Year: 1982
Ranking: Two Quarters
I'm starting the Retro Game Review with a paddle game!? Seriously?
Maybe it's because I picked-up the nickname "Egg" in high school after regretfully wearing an Egghead Discount Software t-shirt to gym, but I feel a strange attraction to Eggomania.
The basic plot: you are a desperate, blue bear. A psychotic barnyard bird of uncertain pedigree--is it a chicken, a turkey, or a beefy Cornish hen--has decided to drop a reign of terror/eggs down upon you. The only item you have to protect yourself is a large bowl that you tightly grip above your head as you slide back and forth. Miss an egg and a sea of yolk rises around you. Fail enough times and you drown in the viscous, yellow fluid. At the end of each round you have the opportunity of launching the eggs you have collected back at your tormentor. Succeed, and some of the yolk that has accumulated around you flows away, extending your life.
The game starts out slow, and the first three rounds are quite manageable. As you make your way up through the rounds the number of eggs increases and the bird speeds up. Past round four, things start to get both interesting and frustrating as both speed and precision become important.
One of the most infuriating aspects of the game is hitting the bird with the recovered eggs. Targeting the bird is extremely inconsistent. While I improved at catching the eggs, I only hit the bird about 50% of the time. Hitting the bird does provide a lot of satisfaction, however. Rather than covering the bird in yolk, which would be expected, the eggs strips the poor bird all the way down to his underwear and he flies away dejected. For a 2600 game, the graphics are pretty detailed... Unfortunately for you, the poor bear (which to me looks more like an asphyxiated frog), one of his buddies comes along to continue the fight.
While some of the mechanics were clunky, I found the game fun and challenging. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to expand their paddle game collection.
Retro game rankings range: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of arcade games was a single quarter when many of the games I review came out, I feel that the true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.
System: Atari 2600
Publisher: US Games
Year: 1982
Ranking: Two Quarters
I'm starting the Retro Game Review with a paddle game!? Seriously?
Maybe it's because I picked-up the nickname "Egg" in high school after regretfully wearing an Egghead Discount Software t-shirt to gym, but I feel a strange attraction to Eggomania.
The basic plot: you are a desperate, blue bear. A psychotic barnyard bird of uncertain pedigree--is it a chicken, a turkey, or a beefy Cornish hen--has decided to drop a reign of terror/eggs down upon you. The only item you have to protect yourself is a large bowl that you tightly grip above your head as you slide back and forth. Miss an egg and a sea of yolk rises around you. Fail enough times and you drown in the viscous, yellow fluid. At the end of each round you have the opportunity of launching the eggs you have collected back at your tormentor. Succeed, and some of the yolk that has accumulated around you flows away, extending your life.
The game starts out slow, and the first three rounds are quite manageable. As you make your way up through the rounds the number of eggs increases and the bird speeds up. Past round four, things start to get both interesting and frustrating as both speed and precision become important.
One of the most infuriating aspects of the game is hitting the bird with the recovered eggs. Targeting the bird is extremely inconsistent. While I improved at catching the eggs, I only hit the bird about 50% of the time. Hitting the bird does provide a lot of satisfaction, however. Rather than covering the bird in yolk, which would be expected, the eggs strips the poor bird all the way down to his underwear and he flies away dejected. For a 2600 game, the graphics are pretty detailed... Unfortunately for you, the poor bear (which to me looks more like an asphyxiated frog), one of his buddies comes along to continue the fight.
While some of the mechanics were clunky, I found the game fun and challenging. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to expand their paddle game collection.
Retro game rankings range: No Quarters to Four Quarters. It should be noted, that although the going price of arcade games was a single quarter when many of the games I review came out, I feel that the true retro game fans would be willing to pay a little bit more to capture the glory of playing some of the truly great ones one more time.
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