Serious letdown CV Games! Or For Any Console...

[Aswald]

I mean the ones that make you want to hunt down and smack the yahoos responsible. The ones that made you say "what THE HELL were they smoking!?"


For me, some of them are:

CV:
Subroc. Granted, this would have been tough for the SMS. But there was no excuse for this pale shadow of the arcade version. Collision detection is awful too much of the time!

Time Pilot. O.k., o.k., it's not as bad as one might think. But the lousy colors and so-so collision detection, along with the rushed-out look, ruined it.

Victory. The Quarks are never released, because it's DEFECTIVE. Crummy graphics. Need I say more?

Mr. Do!. Well, not the worst, but it looks like it was a draft rushed out before the final one. Why does it not look nearly as good as Ladybug, a game programmed a year before?

Space Fury. After seeing the arcade version on YouTube, I see I was wrong with my review. I should not have given it as high a rating. Crummy graphics and the incomplete aliens DO NOT CHASE YOU. With a game that simple, any such flaw is fatal. Sort of like Breakout without the bricks.

Star Wars- Too much missing, and too easy. None of the magic of the arcade game.


5200:
Congo Bongo. One of the worst EVER. Did the programmer actually know anything about a 5200?

Super Breakout. Unless you have a paddle controller, this game suffers- and why did Atari include this with the 5200- it was 1982!

Space Invaders. By itself, not bad. But it has none of the essence of the arcade version. The idea behind a better system is...better arcade-to-home translations.

[AB Positive]

Wow... I thought I had gone back in time 5 years for a sec. Gotta stop snortin' that Ajax...

One game that instantly springs to mind is... Legends of Wrestling. I remember seeing it and thinking I'd get a kick out of a 'retro' wrestling game... as soon as I saw Jimmy Hart come out in a superman costume and doing Shooting Star Presses I knew I was in trouble. Uuuuugh.


Blitz: The League (PSP) - this is actually supposed to be a sequel of sorts but... I didn't make it past 5 min. of this awful-loading port. I loved the XBOX version... but you really do need a proper analog stick to play it. Man it hurt my heads, hands and most of all... my heart.

... I gotta stop posting after just waking from a nap.

[SnowKitty]

marvel vs capcom 2... i wanna find who's responsible for that god awful soundtrack and smack them upside the head with a dreamcast a few times

[newcoleco]

Hello Aswald,

I don't know why but you seems more critic than before. Is there something that happend to you reccently?

I understand you may want to modify your reviews about some games, but why I have this very negative feeling around this?

No game port is perfect, specially if the console has only 1K of ram and 15 colors with limitation on the sprites support and no hardware scrolling screen. Based on the time, I think these ports are fine, and there is no need to bash them... of course they are not extraordinary, but the fun I had with these games is real and still there.

Take care Aswald,

Daniel Bienvenu

[skaar]

I have to say that I loved the hell out of the Coleco version of Space Fury when I was a kid. It's actually the one Coleco game I still have from my childhood - my console died years ago, I have no idea where the other games went, but my Space Fury? STILL GOING.

I never played the arcade one either, so take that as you will.

[Haoie]

E.T for the Atari 2600.

Uh, and that's pretty much the worst game ever made, huh?

[The Old School Gamer]

Anyone play Donkey Kong for the Intellivision? Holy smokes is it bad, I mean it looks like crap and plays even worse. It may be the worst major arcade port ever, yes I think its worse then 2600 Pac-Man.

[CelticJobber]

One game that instantly springs to mind is... Legends of Wrestling. I remember seeing it and thinking I'd get a kick out of a 'retro' wrestling game... as soon as I saw Jimmy Hart come out in a superman costume and doing Shooting Star Presses I knew I was in trouble. Uuuuugh.




I think Jimmy Hart actually might have worn a Superman costume when he had a wrestling match in Memphis back before he got famous in the WWF. Now, the Shooting Star Press was just creative license gone wrong...

[Chuplayer]

One game that instantly springs to mind is... Legends of Wrestling. I remember seeing it and thinking I'd get a kick out of a 'retro' wrestling game... as soon as I saw Jimmy Hart come out in a superman costume and doing Shooting Star Presses I knew I was in trouble. Uuuuugh.

But it had Rob Van Dam!

My biggest letdown classic game is Legacy of the Wizard. I played it back in the very early 90s at my cousin's house when I was 4 or 5 years old, never went there again after 1991 or 1992, waited more than 10 years while fondly remembering it until I found out its name thanks to getting the intarwebs and asking around on message boards, buying the cart at Funcoland, and finally having an AVGN moment once I started playing. It was baaaaaaaaaaad.

[Aswald]

Hello Aswald,

I don't know why but you seems more critic than before. Is there something that happend to you reccently?

I understand you may want to modify your reviews about some games, but why I have this very negative feeling around this?

No game port is perfect, specially if the console has only 1K of ram and 15 colors with limitation on the sprites support and no hardware scrolling screen. Based on the time, I think these ports are fine, and there is no need to bash them... of course they are not extraordinary, but the fun I had with these games is real and still there.

Take care Aswald,

Daniel Bienvenu



Because this is the sort of thing that did contribute to the Crash of 1984.

While most of it was caused by marketers who had no idea what the gamers actually wanted, you have to keep in mind that producing poor games, and inferior translations, starts a vicious cycle.

1) Bad games are produced.

2) People are less eager to buy from companies, based on that. Reviews and letters to video game magazines and such reflect this. In those days, stores that sold games had a generous return policy, which many people did- esp. in the case of 2600 Pac-Man.

3) Companies, seeing this, are convinced that "video gaming is dying," and put less effort and resources into games. They failed to realize the difference between not wanting ANY games, and not wanting BAD games.

4) Return to 1).


I understand- we all did, back in 1982, even- that arcade technology was and remains ahead of home systems. Aside from the fact that a puny home console and cartridge are trying to match a several hundred pound dedicated arcade machine, arcade games were advancing in leaps and bounds.

Therefore, we knew that, except in rare cases (5200 Berzerk and Qix, CV Frenzy, Carnival and Mousetrap), perfect or near-perfect home versions weren't going to happen.

But there is a huge difference between simply being unable to produce a good home version (in which case it should not be attempted), and producing an inferior version for any other reason, short of prohibitive cost.

If you read my reviews for most games, including a few that were not yet put under Reviews, you'll see that I do not criticize games for not being perfect. CV Tapper is a good example, as is CV Spy Hunter. And your own Bejeweled and Amazing Snake get good reviews, too. And Sky Jaguar?

But games like Space Fury get bashed because there was absolutely no reason for them turning out the way they did. There was no reason for the ships and Alien Commander not to look more or less "vector," rather than like a pile of bricks, with orange, green and white. I understand that trying to display Red, Blue, White, Green, and Yellow all at once in a game like that is a problem, but the ones displayed certainly could have been different, as could the shapes. No voice? Well, of course not.

And the fact was, there were two basic elements in the game: Complete aliens launch fireballs; incomplete aliens chase you, getting faster and faster. CV Space Fury completely left out what amounted to 50% of the gameplay!

The problem is that too many games were rushed out. CV Victory was actually defective. It wasn't a matter of being unable, but not even really trying. A system's abilities should be used.

If a company takes more time and effort to produce good games, then its fan base will endure. That can only be good for the future of the company. If not, you end up with the situation Atari put itself into; by the time it came out with the Jaguar, nobody trusted them. No faith.

This is what I like about homebrews: I have yet to play a bad one. But imagine where homebrewers would be now if most games were glitch-plagued and inferior. But since the vast majority are good, even superb, gamers want homebrewers to keep at it.

And that's what it's about, really.

[dao2]

Because this is the sort of thing that did contribute to the Crash of 1984.

While most of it was caused by marketers who had no idea what the gamers actually wanted, you have to keep in mind that producing poor games, and inferior translations, starts a vicious cycle.

1) Bad games are produced.

2) People are less eager to buy from companies, based on that. Reviews and letters to video game magazines and such reflect this. In those days, stores that sold games had a generous return policy, which many people did- esp. in the case of 2600 Pac-Man.

3) Companies, seeing this, are convinced that "video gaming is dying," and put less effort and resources into games. They failed to realize the difference between not wanting ANY games, and not wanting BAD games.

4) Return to 1).


I understand- we all did, back in 1982, even- that arcade technology was and remains ahead of home systems. Aside from the fact that a puny home console and cartridge are trying to match a several hundred pound dedicated arcade machine, arcade games were advancing in leaps and bounds.

Therefore, we knew that, except in rare cases (5200 Berzerk and Qix, CV Frenzy, Carnival and Mousetrap), perfect or near-perfect home versions weren't going to happen.

But there is a huge difference between simply being unable to produce a good home version (in which case it should not be attempted), and producing an inferior version for any other reason, short of prohibitive cost.

If you read my reviews for most games, including a few that were not yet put under Reviews, you'll see that I do not criticize games for not being perfect. CV Tapper is a good example, as is CV Spy Hunter. And your own Bejeweled and Amazing Snake get good reviews, too. And Sky Jaguar?

But games like Space Fury get bashed because there was absolutely no reason for them turning out the way they did. There was no reason for the ships and Alien Commander not to look more or less "vector," rather than like a pile of bricks, with orange, green and white. I understand that trying to display Red, Blue, White, Green, and Yellow all at once in a game like that is a problem, but the ones displayed certainly could have been different, as could the shapes. No voice? Well, of course not.

And the fact was, there were two basic elements in the game: Complete aliens launch fireballs; incomplete aliens chase you, getting faster and faster. CV Space Fury completely left out what amounted to 50% of the gameplay!

The problem is that too many games were rushed out. CV Victory was actually defective. It wasn't a matter of being unable, but not even really trying. A system's abilities should be used.

If a company takes more time and effort to produce good games, then its fan base will endure. That can only be good for the future of the company. If not, you end up with the situation Atari put itself into; by the time it came out with the Jaguar, nobody trusted them. No faith.

This is what I like about homebrews: I have yet to play a bad one. But imagine where homebrewers would be now if most games were glitch-plagued and inferior. But since the vast majority are good, even superb, gamers want homebrewers to keep at it.

And that's what it's about, really.

yeah arcade machines are definitely not as powerful as the pcs some ppl are packing these days ;p

[ubersaurus]

The disappointment my friends and I have had with SvC Chaos is palpable. I remember the first day it came out at the arcade, we all ran up there to play it. On that very first day, we bore witness to really stupid glitches, like Balrog going right through someone standing a distance away with a super, and some retarded characters, like Geese, and Demitri.

To this day the game hurts, because it did so many things right - the character lineup, the opening dialogue, even the graphics were neat - but clearly little time was spent bugtesting and balancing the characters. As such it's just not that fun to play, especially around a group of guys who actually did learn some stuff in the game.

[Aswald]

Oh, yes: CV Roc `N Rope and Miner 2049'er, too.

[newcoleco]

This is my point of view of the video game crash.

In 1981, Atari did release a prototype Pac-Man for their console, causing some deceptions. The Atari2600 had 4 years old and the speculations started about releasing a new game system.

In 1982, ColecoVision was released and considered as the 3rd wave of video game system. To compete Coleco and stay in the lead, Atari decided to release a special game for the holidays, making the big mistake we know now with the license E.T., and the release of Atari5200 to directly compete ColecoVision without any retro compatibility with the Atari2600 was another mistake.

In 1983, ColecoVision was offering some more arcade games, including Turbo with the steering wheel. This promise of arcade games at home was well accepted and also 3rd party developments was trying to release arcade quality games for this system. But speculations started about home computers price going down, more accessible, more games and posibilities... in other words, why buying a game console if you can play games with a computer and even more.

Meanwhile, Activision was developing Alcazar for the ColecoVision. And some companies tried to make modules and computers to play Atari2600 and ColecoVision games, like pencil60, pencil90, and Laser 2001 computers.

In 1984, Coleco tried to stay in the market by making a computer compatible with their console. Buggy and delayed, the Coleco Adam cause the crash for Coleco, losing money, costumers and 3rd party developments.

In 1985, Activision released Alcazar for Commodore 64 not ColecoVision. Mattel also decided to stop their developments for the ColecoVision, seen the boat sink for Coleco.

Later Telegames got Alcazar and release it under Telegames-Activision label, they also got the software stuff from Coleco.

So, for those who talks about video game crash in 1983, they refer to Atari bad games releases and the 5200 not retrocompatible. For me, the video game crash was in 1984, when Coleco did their major mistake when what they wanted was just staying in the market and fail.

We still experience today the dilema : deadline versus quality. We all know games delayed and games made in time, we got bad and good games in both cases, the main difference is the production cost. Because there are more people making games, and because more people already have home computers, the video game crash will not occur again, except if really all the major video game companies exclusively for making console games do major bad releases almost at the same time.

If your point is telling that these ColecoVision games should be better than they actually are, I agree with you. They probably had the choice between releasing less games to have more time tuning them, or more games with less time tuning them. But, because the ColecoVision was just started, and they wanted to offer more than 3 games before the end of the year, the choice was making more games as possible and I'm happy with this decision. And the home computer market growing, rushing making new games for the next years was the only possibility to keep going.

So, for me, bashing these ColecoVision games which I consider not bad at all IS not pretty.

[megasdkirby]

No. Not even close.

I agree. It's considered to be but there are games that are much, MUCH worse.

Once you know what to do in ET and how to do it, it's a pretty good game. People simply suck at it.

[megasdkirby]

No. Not even close.


It's considered to be the worst by people who are too lazy to either read a manual and understand how to play it, or to think for themselves and would rather echo baseless comments made by others.

Agreed. So ET falls in a pit...it's not hard to lift him back to safety. Hell, you can prevent him from landing if he falls!

I like ET. It was a cool game if given the chance. I haven't played it in some time, but i would not mind giving it another playthrough one more time. I still remember what to do! :)

[newcoleco]

I agree. It's considered to be but there are games that are much, MUCH worse.

Once you know what to do in ET and how to do it, it's a pretty good game. People simply suck at it.
Back in the 80s, I had no problem to play and win E.T. for the Atari2600. I remember staying a moment at the title screen, looking at E.T.'s face, then playing the game based on what my older brother told me based on the instructions. It's really not a game for hardcore gamers. Yes, the development was rushed, but the result is not the worst video game of all time.

[slapdash]

ET has two major problems: getting out of pits is extremely frustrating (even after MUCH practice, it could get me swearing at it), and it is just FULL of bugs. But it is definitely not the worst 2600 game ever, just the best known "flop". If anything thinks it's bad, spend some time with the Mythicon games (not bad so much as insubstantial), or God help me for even suggesting anyone play it, try Sea Hunt/Skin Diver/Scuba Diver. Jesus, that's a horrible f*ck*ng game.

[Sabz5150]

Master of Orion III. Being a MOO fan since the release of the first game on 3.5" and buying both II and III only days after their release, I have to say that MOO3 was a severe letdown for me. Too many cooks spoiled that broth...

Well, there's always MOO and MOO2, a pair of games that will never grow old.

[kps67]

Anyone play Donkey Kong for the Intellivision? Holy smokes is it bad, I mean it looks like crap and plays even worse. It may be the worst major arcade port ever, yes I think its worse then 2600 Pac-Man.


Donkey Kong for Atari pretty much sucked too. I got that thinking it was a ColecoVision game so it'd be awesome. Boy was I wrong...

Looked like Adventure on a construction site...

[OldSchoolGamer]

All I know is I remember playing and finishing both E.T. and Inidan Jones for the 2600..............