Seems either just on this site, or in general the CV version gets all positive feedback,
and the soild work of the 5200 Galaxian is overlooked.
This can't be a D game, it can't.... I don't even have the trackball controller.
Firstly, in the review it complains about friend says its broken, detection probs, tin cans? etc, and I don't get it. It's early 1980's, I could make fun of many games strange sound effect noises...Most Coleco made games if there's a song, the sound restarts everytime you shoot... sounds like hell, but it doesn't make it worse, as long as it's fun. As far as controls, I didn't get stuck going left right left right,... just hold fire, when begining. I DID move auto-right when I first hit start, but it stopped when I started playing the game.
I LIKE the forgiving collision detect, it gives you a chance to swirve away in harder difficulty or at higher waves.
The slow down is kinda weak, but doesn't post much problem, it only helps if anything, and doesn't happen enough times to be a real burden.
I think this game is fun, much better then I expected baised on the review.
This thing must be awesome with a track-ball.
I'd give it B-/C or so.
5200 Galaxian underrated!
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TedE.Bear
5200 Galaxian underrated!
You've gotta be kidding Jake!!! The VGC nailed this one perfectly regarding thinking the controller was broken. Moving your shooter on this version is like playing the 2600 Indy 500 option of racing on ice. Simply no precision.....
Pac Man, Dig Dug and other early 5200 games play fairly well with the delightful non-centering controller. This one falls squarely on the programmer (not to mention the Quality Assurance department at Atari back in the 1980's.....who was working there then, Creed from "The Office"?)
I do not have an Atari 5200 trackball, but Galaxian just stinks here.
In respectful disagreement,
T-Bear
Pac Man, Dig Dug and other early 5200 games play fairly well with the delightful non-centering controller. This one falls squarely on the programmer (not to mention the Quality Assurance department at Atari back in the 1980's.....who was working there then, Creed from "The Office"?)
I do not have an Atari 5200 trackball, but Galaxian just stinks here.
In respectful disagreement,
T-Bear
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Jake
5200 Galaxian underrated!
[QUOTE=TedE.Bear]You've gotta be kidding Jake!!! The VGC nailed this one perfectly regarding thinking the controller was broken. Moving your shooter on this version is like playing the 2600 Indy 500 option of racing on ice. Simply no precision.....
[/QUOTE]
Also, it doesn't slide on auto-matic, you have to keep holding either left or right. If you don't stop sliding, then your controller is busted.
... I played it on emulation, and I miss the gliding... it works for me.
I just played this 5200 Galaxian in a contest online, we all had fun with it, noone even mentioned the controls being an issue. Only 1 person used a track-ball too.
It may not be the best overall effort on Galaxian, but it's no Gorf!
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Jake
5200 Galaxian underrated!
Doesn't anyone notice that the sliding can also be found on most of the 5200 track-ball compatible games, put two and two together...
Centipede slides left and right too, unless you hold down the fire button, JUST LIKE GALAXIAN...
the controls aren't broken...
Centipede slides left and right too, unless you hold down the fire button, JUST LIKE GALAXIAN...
the controls aren't broken...
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richarddat1
- Posts: 2
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
5200 Galaxian underrated!
[QUOTE=TedE.Bear]You've gotta be kidding Jake!!! The VGC nailed this one perfectly regarding thinking the controller was broken. Moving your shooter on this version is like playing the 2600 Indy 500 option of racing on ice. Simply no precision.....
Pac Man, Dig Dug and other early 5200 games play fairly well with the delightful non-centering controller. This one falls squarely on the programmer (not to mention the Quality Assurance department at Atari back in the 1980's.....who was working there then, Creed from "The Office"?)
I do not have an Atari 5200 trackball, but Galaxian just stinks here.
In respectful disagreement,
T-Bear
[/QUOTE]
I also have no idea what you guys are talking about. I owned (and still have in storage) 5200 Galaxian. No complaints about the controls, from me, or any of my friends. Of course, we never had any complaints about the controls back in the day, other than we would have definitely preferred a self-centering joystick. Nonetheless, as pretty advanced gamers, we all were able to play well with the 5200 joystick, which does work better with a light touch.
I didn't think much of Galaxian because it was an older game, but the 5200 version was fine, (and actually nice looking, so colorful,) other than the lackluster sound effects.
Jake, I do find that the videogamecritics 5200 reviews are, in my opinion, way off base. It's subjective, so there's no point in arguing about it, but bringing up the joystick over and over....well...as I said, back in the day, all of my friends were able to adapt, and we didn't mind much....and there's no point in holding it against every game!
Conversely, I find his Colecovision reviews incredibly overrated. I love the CV and had one of those as well, but to me, the Coleco was often superficial....the graphics looked better on paper, when you played the game, the gameplay was often lacking....a little slow, a little jerky. I actually despised the Coleco controller (and the Intellivision disc as well), and often used a 2600 joystick.
In any case, I feel the critic is strongly biased against the 5200, and pro-Colecovision, but again, it is subjective, and he is certainly entitled to his opinion!
Pac Man, Dig Dug and other early 5200 games play fairly well with the delightful non-centering controller. This one falls squarely on the programmer (not to mention the Quality Assurance department at Atari back in the 1980's.....who was working there then, Creed from "The Office"?)
I do not have an Atari 5200 trackball, but Galaxian just stinks here.
In respectful disagreement,
T-Bear
[/QUOTE]
I also have no idea what you guys are talking about. I owned (and still have in storage) 5200 Galaxian. No complaints about the controls, from me, or any of my friends. Of course, we never had any complaints about the controls back in the day, other than we would have definitely preferred a self-centering joystick. Nonetheless, as pretty advanced gamers, we all were able to play well with the 5200 joystick, which does work better with a light touch.
I didn't think much of Galaxian because it was an older game, but the 5200 version was fine, (and actually nice looking, so colorful,) other than the lackluster sound effects.
Jake, I do find that the videogamecritics 5200 reviews are, in my opinion, way off base. It's subjective, so there's no point in arguing about it, but bringing up the joystick over and over....well...as I said, back in the day, all of my friends were able to adapt, and we didn't mind much....and there's no point in holding it against every game!
Conversely, I find his Colecovision reviews incredibly overrated. I love the CV and had one of those as well, but to me, the Coleco was often superficial....the graphics looked better on paper, when you played the game, the gameplay was often lacking....a little slow, a little jerky. I actually despised the Coleco controller (and the Intellivision disc as well), and often used a 2600 joystick.
In any case, I feel the critic is strongly biased against the 5200, and pro-Colecovision, but again, it is subjective, and he is certainly entitled to his opinion!
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Teddybear1
- Posts: 130
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
5200 Galaxian underrated!
As a gamer who hadn't owned either system until the past 3 years I believe the VGC has called it pretty accurately in his reviews. I still haven't been able to truly embrace the Colecovision yet loathe the controller of the 5200. It is a dilemma, let me tell you. The standard 5200 joystick just blows. There is nothing subjective about this. The alternatives are rare and far & few in between. But I prefer the 5200.
If I didn't have a Command Pro joystick I would have kept my 5200 in the closet for the most part. You just can't play the vast majority of the quality 5200 games with that useless non-centering piece of dung. The few exceptions......Real Sports Baseball, Qix....there ain't much else.
After playing Space Dungeon and Robotron dozens of times lately I am starting to feel the need for self-centering.
Play Galaxian with stock controller then play it with a Command Pro......anyone who says it is OK with the standard joystick is fooling themselves.
Like all opinions everything is subjective. But I believe there is no bias in the VGC's reviews. The 5200 controller is worse than you remember!
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richarddat1
- Posts: 2
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
5200 Galaxian underrated!
When you say things like the controller "blows" and "there's [i]subjective]/i] about that!". You basically shoot yourself in the foot!
All opinions are biased, mine, your's VCG. I don't even know why VGC would want to hide that...it's his opinion, that's what the reviews are all about!
You can say only 2 games were playable (though you later contradict yourself when you admit to playing Robotron and Space Dungeon dozens of tmes lately), you can call the controllers names....that's your opinion, and that's fair. The hubris in telling me what I can and can't remember is rather galling though. I can tell you that indeed, my friends and I played the games, and played them well. We played: Galaxian, Football, Dig Dug, Joust, Buck Rogers, Defender, Centipede, and others.
As I said, I don't think they were ideal, as I recall, I had trouble executing tunnel patterns on Centipede reliably b/c of the controllers....most of the time we simply adapted, though I think in almost every game, any sudden, emergency move, was more difficult, so again, not ideal.
I think it's harder for new people today, because their are so many alternatives. Why bother putting sincere effort into learning to use the controllers well? I wouldn't. I'd certainly have a negative attitude towards them, and that doesn't help the process. Ironically I feel the same way about the console controls of today, I simply don't bother to put time in on them, and want to throw them out a window if I try a game on them. However, in 82/83, we played the games easily, and with only a small decrease in efficacy. I am sure we were not alone. I think you'd be surprised what serious gamers can adapt to, and use very well, if they are open-minded, and perhaps more importantly, have no choice! LOL
All opinions are biased, mine, your's VCG. I don't even know why VGC would want to hide that...it's his opinion, that's what the reviews are all about!
You can say only 2 games were playable (though you later contradict yourself when you admit to playing Robotron and Space Dungeon dozens of tmes lately), you can call the controllers names....that's your opinion, and that's fair. The hubris in telling me what I can and can't remember is rather galling though. I can tell you that indeed, my friends and I played the games, and played them well. We played: Galaxian, Football, Dig Dug, Joust, Buck Rogers, Defender, Centipede, and others.
As I said, I don't think they were ideal, as I recall, I had trouble executing tunnel patterns on Centipede reliably b/c of the controllers....most of the time we simply adapted, though I think in almost every game, any sudden, emergency move, was more difficult, so again, not ideal.
I think it's harder for new people today, because their are so many alternatives. Why bother putting sincere effort into learning to use the controllers well? I wouldn't. I'd certainly have a negative attitude towards them, and that doesn't help the process. Ironically I feel the same way about the console controls of today, I simply don't bother to put time in on them, and want to throw them out a window if I try a game on them. However, in 82/83, we played the games easily, and with only a small decrease in efficacy. I am sure we were not alone. I think you'd be surprised what serious gamers can adapt to, and use very well, if they are open-minded, and perhaps more importantly, have no choice! LOL