Activision Anthogoly (GBA) Question

[RetroYoungen]

What are your favorite games to play on Activision Anthology for the GBA? I've been playing it so often lately, and after trying out every game on it, of course I have my favorites, with so many good games how could I not?

I've been playing the HELL out of Beamrider, Spider Fighter, Laser Blast, and Bloody Human Freeway. So what have you guys been addicted to so far on this kick-ass compilation?

[ManekiNeko]

It's Megamania all the way for me. I also like Cosmic Commuter... I remember buying that over ten years ago, back when Digital Press got me interested in collecting classic video games. It's a great game, but largely ignored because it was released just before the crash of 1984.

JR

[Querjek]

Private Eye, H.E.R.O, and Venetian Blinds (j/k on the last one). But I haven't played this in a while because the new Harvest Moon has consumed me.

[oesiii]

I've played most of the games you can get patches on and I think I have all the patches except for Space Shuttle but I haven't been in the mood to study all that yet :D

I've mostly played the homebrews, Oystron, Vault Assault, and Space Treat along with Dragster.

[PongHit]

Chopper Command is another one that seems to be well-suited to playing on the GBA...

My girl earned the patch right away -- & she'd never even played it before!

-PongHit

[oesiii]

Chopper Command is another one that seems to be well-suited to playing on the GBA...

My girl earned the patch right away -- & she'd never even played it before!

-PongHit

Yeah a couple of these Activision games were way too easy. And I bet the slight slow down on the GBA makes them even easier. I haven't played Spider Fighter or Plaque Attack in years but I got the patch on both of them on this Anthology after only playing them once.

[PongHit]

Yeah a couple of these Activision games were way too easy. And I bet the slight slow down on the GBA makes them even easier. ...

I thought the slow-down was only on a few titles? And I didn't think Chopper Command, Spider Fighter, & Plaque Attack, were among them...??

-PongHit

[NE146]

Yeah, not all titles experience slowdown.

[RetroYoungen]

I couldn't tell that ANY of them had any slowdown, but I am a bit of a n00b... but I do know that Spider Fighter didn't have any slowdown, I know that for sure. Plaque Attack was a little slower, but I thought it was just designed that way, you know for the kids and all.

[larrysilv]

Barnstorming! Addictive enough to spend a 3 hour flight playing a 30 second game over and over again until I won the patch.

[GameGuru]

Are you guys forgetting Keystone Kapers? That game is the bizomb!

[ozyr]

been playing the hell out of Barnstorming, Beamrider, and HERO. As for slow-down, I really havent' noticed it on any game - if it's there, it's not that noticable.

[oesiii]

I've noticed the slowdown in every single game I've played on the GBA Anthology. I think it's because I've been playing the heck out of the Activision games on the real thing lately so I'm a little sensitive :)

But on most of the games it's no big deal at all and I'm still enjoying the games. The only game I really can't get into because of this is Ice Hockey, the slowdown just makes the controls sucky.

[PongHit]

I've noticed the slowdown in every single game I've played on the GBA Anthology. ...

Wow, so you're saying the guy who developed the release who posts at AtariAge.com is a lier?

-PongHit

[oesiii]

I've noticed the slowdown in every single game I've played on the GBA Anthology. ...

Wow, so you're saying the guy who developed the release who posts at AtariAge.com is a lier?

-PongHit


not at all, you're a little mudraker aren't you ;)

I just think as with any emulation there's something missing, and with every game I've played I've noticed a slowdown, maybe it's only a 2% or 5% slowdown but I think it's there. Might be my own perception but it can be tested by timing the same actions on the real thing and on the GBA. For example, someone on the newsgroups tested Pitfall and each minute on the GBA timer took something like 12 seconds longer than it did on the real deal.

So, since no one's going to take the time and scientifically measure all the games, let's just leave it at IMHO for now.

[oesiii]

Wow, so you're saying the guy who developed the release who posts at AtariAge.com is a lier?

-PongHit


and what the heck are you talking about? Where did B. Mott who developed the emulation for this release claim the games were working at 100%? The other guy works for Asypr and his job is to hype up the game so next time EA tells me that Madden 2k4 is the best football game ever with 100% real-life accuracy I'll take that as fact too.

[PongHit]

... For example, someone on the newsgroups tested Pitfall and each minute on the GBA timer took something like 12 seconds longer than it did on the real deal. ...

Yeah, I think we all knew that about Pitfall, & a FEW other games...

But I'm wondering if you are asserting that ALL the games are slow...

-PongHit

[PongHit]

and what the heck are you talking about? Where did B. Mott who developed the emulation for this release claim the games were working at 100%?

I don't know what the guy's name is, but someone who worked on the GBA Anthology, who posts at AtariAge, said MOST of the games are at 100% -- & only a few titles had a slight slowdown.

And I'm wondering if this is true or not.

So, that's what the heck I'm talking about.

-PongHit

[Lady Jaye]

I got my new pearl pink GBA SP yesterday and I've been playing Activision Anthology ever since then. My fave titles are Keystoner Kaper, Seaquest and Barnstormer (finally got the patch on that one on difficulty level 2).

I find that in the case of Kaboom I have difficulty seeing the bombs properly (I suppose that this is better with the other 2 versions of Activision Anthology, since the TV or computer screen is by definition bigger than the GBA screen).

I find Megamania frustrating by moments. I guess it's the "one shot at a time" thing that gets to me (the same reason why I don't really like Galaxian when I'm totally nuts for Galaga).

[ubersaurus]

Beamrider
Oystron
Vault Assault
Boxing
Bloody Human Freeway
River Raid
Seaquest

When I was younger I played the hell out of freeway, river raid, and seaquest. And those other games are just good quick fun.

[Lady Jaye]

BTW, why the heck was the copyright changed for the Absolute games? Instead of saying, "1988 Absolute", it has a 2003 copyright with (I suppose) the name of the converting team! Okay, so Activision bought back Absolute's (short) back catalog, but why change the copyright notice?

At least, in the case of the Baseball game, the title change is justified (i doubt that Activision would accept to pay Pete Rose to continue being associated to Absolute's 1988 baseball game), in the same way that Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! was reverted back to its original Punch-Out! title.

What is it with this history revisionism? Midway does it too (reading their website, one gets the impression that Midway, not Atari Games nor Williams Electronics, released classics like Defender and Paperboy).