13th May 2013, 6:26 PM
Atari 7800 - from ebay, about $6.25 for both including shipping, both cart only
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Asteroids - $1 plus shipping - Good version of this classic. As usual for the 7800, it's another port of a badly dated arcade game... but at least it's a good port. I like the "asteroid-like" graphics, and the two player modes (co-op and versus) are pretty cool. Centipede and Asteroids both have 2-player co-op and versus on 7800. Gives some value to these otherwise rehashed titles.
Desert Falcon - $2.25 plus shipping - It's a Zaxxon knockoff where you play as a falcon. Yeah. The game's pretty basic, as all you do is fly along your isometric 3d path, Zaxxon style, while you shoot at the handful of types of baddies (7800, as always with minimal cartridge sizes...), but it's fun. The game's tough, as you die if you touch anything, but it does have some nice touches, such as that the falcon can land and walk on the ground, but on ground you have to press forward to move, while in the air you'll fly forwards automatically. Also back makes you go up, and forward down. Oh, and in water you have to press forward to move, but it's got a "floating" look, which is nice. :) No bobbing up and down, unlike the walk. At the end of each level, you fight a sphinx. The one unique element, other than the theme, are the powerups; instead of having powerups to collect, you collect Egyptian hieroglyphs, and once you get three, you get the powerup that those three give you put into storage. the right button uses your current power, the left button shoots (you can just hold it down, thankfully). It's easy to die, and there are no continues of course in a score-focused game like this, but it's alright. It's not a great game, and probably isn't as good as Zaxxon (I wish it had more variety, for instance...), but it's alright, and definitely was worth getting; this is one I wanted for 7800 (there aren't many games starring falcons! And also, I like Zaxxon.), and I'm happy to have it.
Atari 2600 (purchased locally)
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Amidar - $3, cart only. This is a Konami game, and it's maybe the first one of those "walk around every side of all paths in the game in order to move on to the next stage" games. Or if it isn't first, it's certainly one of the first. The concept is obviously inspired by Pac-Man, but it's somewhat different in that you must pass over every surface. Amadar has a unique weapon, too -- you can press the button at any time to make the enemies turn into harmless shadows for a few seconds. And yes, you seem to be able to use this as much as you want. However, they can move faster than you, and you can't be using that all of the time (and it's easy to lose track of where they are while it's active!), so it's still tough. There seems to be only one screen layout, unfortunately, but it changes colors and enemy types after you beat a screen, so there's something at least. This is a good game, but overall, I think I like later games that use this same basic concept, such as Amazing Penguin for Game Boy or maybe also Zoom! for Genesis, more. Still, this is a good game and I like it, even if the graphics are pretty bad.
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Asteroids - $1 plus shipping - Good version of this classic. As usual for the 7800, it's another port of a badly dated arcade game... but at least it's a good port. I like the "asteroid-like" graphics, and the two player modes (co-op and versus) are pretty cool. Centipede and Asteroids both have 2-player co-op and versus on 7800. Gives some value to these otherwise rehashed titles.
Desert Falcon - $2.25 plus shipping - It's a Zaxxon knockoff where you play as a falcon. Yeah. The game's pretty basic, as all you do is fly along your isometric 3d path, Zaxxon style, while you shoot at the handful of types of baddies (7800, as always with minimal cartridge sizes...), but it's fun. The game's tough, as you die if you touch anything, but it does have some nice touches, such as that the falcon can land and walk on the ground, but on ground you have to press forward to move, while in the air you'll fly forwards automatically. Also back makes you go up, and forward down. Oh, and in water you have to press forward to move, but it's got a "floating" look, which is nice. :) No bobbing up and down, unlike the walk. At the end of each level, you fight a sphinx. The one unique element, other than the theme, are the powerups; instead of having powerups to collect, you collect Egyptian hieroglyphs, and once you get three, you get the powerup that those three give you put into storage. the right button uses your current power, the left button shoots (you can just hold it down, thankfully). It's easy to die, and there are no continues of course in a score-focused game like this, but it's alright. It's not a great game, and probably isn't as good as Zaxxon (I wish it had more variety, for instance...), but it's alright, and definitely was worth getting; this is one I wanted for 7800 (there aren't many games starring falcons! And also, I like Zaxxon.), and I'm happy to have it.
Atari 2600 (purchased locally)
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Amidar - $3, cart only. This is a Konami game, and it's maybe the first one of those "walk around every side of all paths in the game in order to move on to the next stage" games. Or if it isn't first, it's certainly one of the first. The concept is obviously inspired by Pac-Man, but it's somewhat different in that you must pass over every surface. Amadar has a unique weapon, too -- you can press the button at any time to make the enemies turn into harmless shadows for a few seconds. And yes, you seem to be able to use this as much as you want. However, they can move faster than you, and you can't be using that all of the time (and it's easy to lose track of where they are while it's active!), so it's still tough. There seems to be only one screen layout, unfortunately, but it changes colors and enemy types after you beat a screen, so there's something at least. This is a good game, but overall, I think I like later games that use this same basic concept, such as Amazing Penguin for Game Boy or maybe also Zoom! for Genesis, more. Still, this is a good game and I like it, even if the graphics are pretty bad.
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