Wow -- been over a month since my last entry in here. Guess we've been playing too many Street Fighter games lately...
Anyway, I woke up a bit earlier today and hopped on the 2600 before I head off to work. I've been itching to play the 2600 ports of a couple arcade titles that I've enjoyed this past year. I actually got a chance to play both of them again in cabinet form at the PAX East arcade room -- Bezerk and Moon Patrol.
I was also reminded of the Bezerk 2600 port as I saw somebody playing it in the classic console room at PAX as well right after I played the arcade cabinet and I was happy to see it seemed like a good port on the surface (not that the graphics are stellar to begin with)
Once I booted it up at home, I was happy to find that the controls were quite solid and maybe just a bit more forgiving in a few ways than the arcade machine. The only exception is that I seemed to run into wall more frequently and/or get hit by some enemy shots that I thought would have missed me.
Maybe my memory is bad, but it almost seemed like some of the animation was actually better on the 2600 version. However, the 2600 port seemed more limited in other ways. The AI didn't seem nearly as good. At least in the 6 or 7 rooms that I made it through, the AI didn't get much better. Seemed like some of the later rooms, the enemies just shot faster. I guess that makes sense considering the hardware and software limitations. I also noticed the bouncing smiley faces never appeared either. Those also seemed to get me in the arcade version, so I was a little bummed when that particular challenge wasn't there in the home version.
I still enjoyed the 2600 version as a whole and I'll probably be giving it more time in the future. But I know it's not a replacement for the real thing.
Next, I plugged in Moon Patrol. This one was another excellent arcade port considering the technical limitations. The 2600 version, unsurprisingly, had a bit more of a Space Invaders clone feel to it graphically, but it was still colorful and, overall, had the personality of the arcade original. It seemed like I had a bit harder time getting used to timing some of my jumps, however. And, of course, the standard 2600 joystick isn't quite as responsive as a real arcade joystick.
I think the biggest limitation that stuck out in my mind was that you couldn't seem to accelerate and slow down your moon buggy quite as well as in the arcade version. Of course, this is a rather important element in the game, especially as you get further in the game. I guess, however, it just changes the challenge a bit for the home version. Again, this was an excellent game, once you accept the limitations vs the original.
Stepping back a bit to look at the bigger picture: as I go through my 2600 collection, I'm noticing more and more that the games in the early 80s definitely stick more to the arcade-like quality of dying quickly. Of course, in the arcades, this was to keep the quarters flowing and encourage you to improve your skills show you could get more gameplay for your money. At home, you don't have to worry about your quarters, but it's nice to have the challenge. The only problem is that many of us have been "spoiled" by the newer generation of games that isn't out to kill us, but instead, give us long, drawn-out adventures. I can see it being very easy for modern gamers to pick up the 2600 and put the games down quickly because they die to quickly and give up. I know that even I need to build up more of the determination to keep trying at these classic and get good at them so I can truly enjoy them.
I also wonder if any of the design choices made on these 2600 games we made just because they had the mentality of bringing the arcade experience home or if it was just to make the most of the hardware and software's limitations. I recently bought the book,
Racing the Beam, so maybe I'll find out more in there
