For the 2600: Arcade Ports vs. Imitations

[kirin jensen]

Maybe I should explain: When it came to the 2600, imitations (say, Chopper Command) usually were more playable (at least in my opinion) than the the actual arcade ports (in this case, Defender).

So decide however you want:

Which did you play?
Which do you play?
Which do you prefer?
Which did you prefer?

[Tan]

i agree, some seem to have something the arcade versions just can't give me, i'm a bigger fan of the home version of missile command than the arcade one, it's got that "tetris like" pick up and play feel to it.

[vintagegamecrazy]

most of the time imitations improved on Atari's ideas and were better games all around.

I like Lock N' Chase more than Pac-Man
Breakout and Space Invaders were cool though.

[chrisbid]

one of the best examples i can think of is on the INTV. Beauty and the Beast is miles ahead of Donkey Kong on the INTV and the VCS.

[marshmannes]

Any imitation of Pac-man for VCS is better than that lousy port. Why does Pac-man eat a square instead of fruit. Tod Frye must have had issues back then (There is a rumor that Tod was under the influence of drugs when he made his games because we all know how bad Swordquest: Fireworld is).

[chrisbid]

for an early vcs game, pac man isnt that bad... the problem is that it isnt very faithful to the arcade version. its the same mentality with vcs space invaders. the gameplay is the same, but the liberties taken with the original in terms of graphics and what not are quite substantial. with space invaders few people complain, as it was THE GAME that put the vcs on the map, with Pac Man, peoples expectations were higher, and atari did learn their lesson with on Ms PacMan.

third party arcade games, however were all over the place. Frogger is pretty faithful, but qbert is terrible.