7800 games to own

[8bitdude]

Im thinking about looking into this system, since I have never played one (i think it was a 2600, I was playing), but anyway what are its best games to look for?

[ubersaurus]

There's a lot of good games for the machine. Here's a link to the old "top 20" thread: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1681

My personal suggestions:
Robotron 2084
Xevious
Scrapyard Dog
Ninja Golf
Commando
Asteroids
Galaga
Mario Bros.
Choplifter
Ballblazer
Food Fight
Pole Position 2
Xenophobe
Tower Toppler
Hat Trick, if you have a second player
Ace of Aces

[7th lutz]

My personal suggestions:
Food Fight
Desert Falcon
Midnight Mutants
Galaga
Centipede
Ballblazer
Mario Bros.
Xevious
Dig Dug
Tower Toppler
Joust
Asteroids
Pac-man Collection- you can buy it by using this link: http://www.atariage.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23_90_96&products_id=849

Beef drop- too bad it is nolonger in stock, Atariage ran out of copies of the game on sunday. Beef Drop was the homebrew version of the arcade game Burger Time.
It was the last batch for carts for the game due to killing ballblazer carts for the sound chip inside the cart. You may want to search ebay for it once in a while.

[8bitdude]

Thanks

Is it hard to play these games with the joystick or do I need to find the contollers they made overseas?

[ubersaurus]

Thanks

Is it hard to play these games with the joystick or do I need to find the contollers they made overseas?

Most people complain about how the sticks feel in their hands. I've never had an issue with them, but it's something to think about. 2600 compatible controllers work fine with games that only use one button.

That said, the pads do feel better than the sticks...although I wouldn't recommend using the thumbsticks in em. They seem to make them more inaccurate. I think Best Electronics has em for 15 bucks?

[PSXferrari]

Most people complain about how the sticks feel in their hands. I've never had an issue with them, but it's something to think about. 2600 compatible controllers work fine with games that only use one button.

That said, the pads do feel better than the sticks...although I wouldn't recommend using the thumbsticks in em. They seem to make them more inaccurate. I think Best Electronics has em for 15 bucks?


I'm also interested in adding to my 7800 collection. However, a lot of the games on those lists can be found on multiple other systems, and are sometimes better on those systems. Are there any must-have 7800-exclusive titles, or titles where the 7800 version is so much better than the rest that it's almost the mandatory version to buy?

[7th lutz]

I'm also interested in adding to my 7800 collection. However, a lot of the games on those lists can be found on multiple other systems, and are sometimes better on those systems. Are there any must-have 7800-exclusive titles, or titles where the 7800 version is so much better than the rest that it's almost the mandatory version to buy?

Food Fight is a must have based on what I played on the system. I haven't ninja Golf, so I can't say that game for sure. There might be some exclusive hacks to the 7800 like Asteroids deluxe, a 1980 arcade sequel to asteroids coming soon to the system.

[ubersaurus]

I'm also interested in adding to my 7800 collection. However, a lot of the games on those lists can be found on multiple other systems, and are sometimes better on those systems. Are there any must-have 7800-exclusive titles, or titles where the 7800 version is so much better than the rest that it's almost the mandatory version to buy?

Food Fight is an exclusive. Scrapyard Dog, Ninja Golf, Alien Brigade, Midnight Mutants, are all exclusives.

Ballblazer, Asteroids, Commando, Ikari Warriors, Robotron, and Tower Toppler all spring to mind as being fantastic translations compared to other consoles.

[Steve W]

Good games that are fairly unique to the Atari 7800:

Ninja Golf - It's a bizarre side-scrolling beat-em'-up with a golf theme holding it together. You've got a small map at the top of the screen where you aim your swing, hit the ball to a point on the grounds, and then fight your way over to where your ball fell. Every section of the golf course has it's own enemies to contend with, along with the usual ninjas to fight. Sand traps have cobras, the woods have birds, water traps have sharks, the roughs have mutant gophers, etc. When you get to the green, you'll have to fight a giant flying dragon for the right to play through.

Midnight Mutants - This one's easily my favorite. Take the maze navigating and key-finding of Adventure for the Atari 2600, throw in an isometric angle and some good graphics, and have a really large and extensive map. Then add in Grampa Munster for good measure. Toss in plenty of zombies, weird looking creatures, and full-screen bosses, and you've got a winner in anyone's book. Total freakin' classic.

Scrapyard Dog - A 'Super Mario Bros.' type game, a side-scrolling platformer with a nice level layout, and a nice musical mini-game hidden in some areas. My only problem with the game was that the end boss was not a boss, but one of those sliding tile puzzle games that you had to solve in a certain amount of time before your dog got sawed in half by the bad guy. I've always hated those sliding puzzle games, so I haven't ever saved the dog.

Fatal Run - I know there aren't a lot of people who would back me on this, but I enjoyed this game. I've always loved vehicular combat games, so I really got into it. You're charged with the task of driving from town to town, dropping off medical supplies before too many townsfolk die. You've got to get past all the psychos in cars and on motorcycles who are gunning to stop you en route. Once you stop at a town, you can purchase repairs, gasoline, ammo, and assorted parts upgrades. There's a save feature that'll keep you from starting from the beginning every time. It's a fun game for those who like the car combat genre.

Ballblazer - It's sorta like being at eye level with the hockey puck on an air hockey table, but much more than that. You pilot a craft and have to scoop up a 'plasma orb' into your vehicle's force field and get it down to the far end of the field to shoot it into the goal. But your opponent can knock it out of your force field and steal it. And if you make it down to the end of the field, the goal might not be there. The goal posts can sometimes move back and forth along the end of the field. You play on a checkerboard field, and it moves pretty dang fast. Crank up the difficulty level and fight the A.I. for every goal!

Dark Chambers - Yes, it looks like Gauntlet, but it isn't. The original Gauntlet arcade game was inspired by an Atari computer game called Dandy Dungeons, and the designer of Dandy later took the idea himself and created Dark Chambers. If you drop your preconceived notions about Gauntlet (and "how dare this not be Gauntlet!"), you can have fun with it. Gauntlet was designed to throw a thousand enemies at you to eat away at your health and make you pump more quarters into the machine, but Dark Chambers is a little more relaxed and is meant to be played for longer.

Alien Brigade - It's a game taken from the 'Operation Wolf' genre, where you shoot up an area infested with aliens that have invaded Earth and infiltrated the military. You shoot enemy soldiers and aliens, avoid hitting prisoners, and battle your way across a bunch of different levels to get to the main boss. The game isn't all that long when it comes down to it, but it's a lot of fun getting to the end. It works with either the joystick or an Atari XE lightgun. The lightgun worked pretty well, but since mine stopped working, I use the joystick, which does just as well, in my opinion.

Crossbow - The classic arcade game where you have to blast all the obstacles out of the way of your band of warriors as they cross dangerous landscapes. You don't control the on-screen characters, you have to defend them with your crossbow from the blizzard of crap that flies at them. Another game that can be played with either the lightgun or joystick. In this case, it's better to play it with the lightgun, since it's more accurate, and the reaction time is faster.

Basketbrawl - A game that nobody else is going to back me up on. I've always liked it. It's a two-on-two basketball game played in various street courts, and it's got a beat-em'-up element thrown in. You can pick up power-ups to get the upper hand on the opposing team, or you can do what I do, which is beat up the opposing team and knock them out cold for a couple minutes while I shoot hoops, scoring unhindered while they're unconscious. It's more of a beat-em'-up than a sports game, so if you're expecting a solid game of b-ball, forget it. But taken on it's own merits, it's a fun enough game.

[8bitdude]

Thanks Steve W

is Dark Chambers a rare, or easy to find?

And how much should I pay for a 7800 cart?

[PSXferrari]

Basketbrawl - A game that nobody else is going to back me up on. I've always liked it. It's a two-on-two basketball game played in various street courts, and it's got a beat-em'-up element thrown in. You can pick up power-ups to get the upper hand on the opposing team, or you can do what I do, which is beat up the opposing team and knock them out cold for a couple minutes while I shoot hoops, scoring unhindered while they're unconscious. It's more of a beat-em'-up than a sports game, so if you're expecting a solid game of b-ball, forget it. But taken on it's own merits, it's a fun enough game.

I'll back you up on that one Steve. For an 8-bit basketball game I think it's done quite well. I spend the first half of the game beating up one guy til he's knocked out, and then spent the rest playing 2-on-1. It's especially fun multiplayer. It's no NBA Jam, but great game at the 8-bit level. It's the only game of your recommendations that I already own. But Ninja Golf sounds especially cool-- I may have to look into that.

And one of the few other 7800 games I own is Food Fight, so I have to join in with everyone else in giving that game a huge thumbs-up. Probably my favorite of the 7800 games I have played.

[bangtango]

And how much should I pay for a 7800 cart?

Depends on the game. There are a lot of Atari 2600 games, most of which are compatible with the 7800, that you can find for under $2-3. Don't forget about those. A ton of good stuff and not all of them were rereleased on the 7800 which was the case with games like Dig Dug, Asteroids, Ms. Pac Man, etc. :)

[Steve W]

is Dark Chambers a rare, or easy to find?

And how much should I pay for a 7800 cart?
Dark Chambers is going to be a little harder to find in the wild than some of the other 7800 commons, but it's nowhere near being the hardest to locate. I've come across a few in the past, and have found them to be on the lower end of 'rare'. And for a loose cart in the wild, I'd pay no more than $5. Most places around here that have any game carts usually have them for a maximum of $4.95. As far as boxed goes, I don't really know, since it's next to impossible for me to find any Atari games in the box in these here parts.

[RJ]

Food Fight was also available as a cart on the 8bit Atari computer system, but pales in comparison to the 7800 vers (I have both.)