Pole Position 2-7800

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Pole Position 2-7800

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 24th, 2011, 5:14 pm

This one is being promoted to the review pages, as it offers a good second opinion on the game.

Alienblue

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Alienblue » August 25th, 2011, 12:53 pm

Thank you. The greasy squeak wheels the get!

I was suprised to be nominated since it is the opositte of your review.

Again, this is NOT a great racing game, but we have to be fair, it IS THE BEST 7800 RACING GAME. And better than 2600 and 5200 pole position. Its hard to compare this to OUTRUN 2006 and say its a good racer but it is. It was NOT a good pack-in for the 7800 though. Even MS.PAC MAN would have been a better pack-in game. Who packs in a RACING game!?


Jake

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Jake » August 26th, 2011, 10:31 am

[QUOTE=Alienblue]Thank you. The greasy squeak wheels the get!

I was suprised to be nominated since it is the opositte of your review.

Again, this is NOT a great racing game, but we have to be fair, it IS THE BEST 7800 RACING GAME. And better than 2600 and 5200 pole position. Its hard to compare this to OUTRUN 2006 and say its a good racer but it is. It was NOT a good pack-in for the 7800 though. Even MS.PAC MAN would have been a better pack-in game. Who packs in a RACING game!?

[/QUOTE]

B+ for a racing game that is NOT great? I'm confused here.
It's also one of the ONLY racing games for 7800, I wouldn't get too excited to upgrade this Pole Position II. Although, having more then one track to select from is pretty cool... and a plus.

The things I don't like about Pole Position II is the iffy controls, and...
there's some lousy car set ups on the tougher tracks, which even the most advanced player, will either have to hit the brakes or go way into the grass to avoid. Passing  feels clunky at best, you can't tell how far or near you need to be!
Your own cars tires always seem to smash into the fellow racers without much indication, sometimes you make it, and other times not... yet you're doing the same technique!
VGC's D- is very low but I felt I knew what he was getting at. I'm maybe closer to D- then B+.

Comparisons to 2600/5200 don't make much sense, since this is a sequal not the original PP.
I like the controls much better in Pole Position 2600 or 5200, I think these are better because of this factor. Steering on the road and passing is what the games about! 7800 PP II offers a newer and better challenge, but it's got some issues weighing it down. (collision/controls)

PP II didn't see light of day in 1984, even if it was made way back when,
it doesn't help things if noone was playing it yet! NES Rad Racer was out at the stores at the same time. Which would you wanna play in 1986? ;-)

Final Grade,
I'd give it C

Alienblue

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Alienblue » August 26th, 2011, 12:55 pm

Again, you have to understand.......I'm pretending the 7800 is the only game system in the world, if so then Pole Position 2 is a B+ game. And the ARCADE GAME was released in 1983. Look at it like this......NES GALAGA came out in 1986, five YEARS after the coin-op. It recieved praise for being so close to the original. It doesn't matter that this came out in 1986, it was based on a 1983 coin-op, not a 1986 one.

And I think 7800 PP2 is a good 7800 game.....it doesn't SUCK like say JINKS and HAT TRICK do. Those games are akin to Chinese Water Torture. PP2 is playable.

Plus, be fair, Atari GAVE YOU THIS FOR FREE. Colecovision Donkey Kong had problems too, but GEEZE LOUIZZE, IT WAS FREE FOR CRIPES SAKES! If PP2 was a thirty dollar cartridge, then yeh I'd give it a C-; but for a freebie, it deserves a B+. It was more fun than GYROMITE and DUCK HUNT and on a par with the Sega HANG ON pack in.


Jake

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Jake » August 26th, 2011, 10:57 pm

[QUOTE=Alienblue]Again, you have to understand.......I'm pretending the 7800 is the only game system in the world, if so then Pole Position 2 is a B+ game. And the ARCADE GAME was released in 1983. Look at it like this......NES GALAGA came out in 1986, five YEARS after the coin-op. It recieved praise for being so close to the original. It doesn't matter that this came out in 1986, it was based on a 1983 coin-op, not a 1986 one.

And I think 7800 PP2 is a good 7800 game.....it doesn't SUCK like say JINKS and HAT TRICK do. Those games are akin to Chinese Water Torture. PP2 is playable.

Plus, be fair, Atari GAVE YOU THIS FOR FREE. Colecovision Donkey Kong had problems too, but GEEZE LOUIZZE, IT WAS FREE FOR CRIPES SAKES! If PP2 was a thirty dollar cartridge, then yeh I'd give it a C-; but for a freebie, it deserves a B+

[/QUOTE]

Free love!
hehe, you and the Critic are on two different sides of the scale!
One side is... lame weak outdated release attempt by Atari / Other side is...
free game, best Pole Position on Atari's library and great conversion of the arcade.

I'm still swaying in the middle, but I understand both opinions.

The Intermediate course took me about 30 tries to finish it. The difficulty to pass other cars really hurt some of the fun for me. There was 4 cars in a row, right in front of me, and I only could crash, damn you Atari! I was better of driving in the grass, as much as possible... but even the grass couldn't save me. I tend to knock myself
in the LOW gear at the attempt to brake... oops! Yes I know the button...

The first two courses have no real challenge and I won 'em easy.
The Intermediate and Expert, well...good luck, the difficulty is "trippled", though this felt more exciting then playing the boring first two courses. If only control wasn't up in the air so much, this would be my favorite Pole Position as well.

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Leo1 » August 26th, 2011, 11:17 pm

I always liked the Pole Position II port. I won't debate it's merits or what score it deserves, but I always had fun with it and thought it captured the spirit of the arcade game. It's one of my "go to" Atari 7800 games and has been for several decades now. I think it's pretty well done, but if I could change anything on it, I'd add the option for paddle control and increase the color count on the cars.

It sure beats Namco's modern efforts at bringing it home that have almost always been unplayable with an analog stick or d-pad (Except the PSOne Namco Museum release with one of those special Namco controllers that you twist).

Pole Position I has recieved similarly poor treatment in modern years (Except with the same PSOne controller on the PSOne Namco Museum release that included the game, or that TVGames Namco release from a few years ago where you twist the knob on the controller for steering).

[QUOTE=Jake]The Intermediate course took me about 30 tries to finish it. The difficulty to pass other cars really hurt some of the fun for me. There was 4 cars in a row, right in front of me, and I only could crash, damn you Atari! [/QUOTE]

Just like the arcade game, sometimes you have to slow down and wait for an opportunity when the road is particularly busy in front of you.

[QUOTE=Jake]The Intermediate and Expert, well...good luck, the difficulty is "trippled", though this felt more exciting then playing the boring first two courses.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure I've ever won at Suzuka and Seaside in this version, but I've always enjoyed racing on both tracks in this port. Seaside in particular is a favorite. I love that backdrop in the horizon on that track.

Adamant1
Posts: 2088
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Adamant1 » August 27th, 2011, 11:55 am

[QUOTE=Leo] (Except the PSOne Namco Museum release with one of those special Namco controllers that you twist). 

[/QUOTE]

For the PSOne?

Or are you just talking about that standalone plug-and-play Namco TV Game?


Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Leo1 » August 27th, 2011, 7:30 pm

Pole Position in Namco Museum Volume 1 and Pole Position II in Namco Museum Volume III support Namco's NeGcon twist controller. Turns both into playable games that control decently.

[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Namco_Negcon_centred.jpg/800px-Namco_Negcon_centred.jpg[/IMG]

I thought it worked with Namco's Jogcon as well, but that appears to only work with Ridge Racer Type IV and V-Rally 2 for the PSOne and Ridge Racer V on the PS2 (I only own a NeGcon).

Adamant1
Posts: 2088
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Adamant1 » August 27th, 2011, 8:52 pm

Nice, gotta get me one of those. I got a playable Pole Position on the Namco TV Games Vol 2 plug-and-play, but Pole Position 2 never got any other straight port that didn't control like crap.

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Pole Position 2-7800

Postby Leo1 » August 28th, 2011, 12:28 am

[QUOTE=Adamant]Nice, gotta get me one of those. I got a playable Pole Position on the Namco TV Games Vol 2 plug-and-play, but Pole Position 2 never got any other straight port that didn't control like crap.[/QUOTE]

Yep, I love that version. I never play anything else on it, but the Pole Position port gets regular use on my TV Games unit (It even saves high scores, as you must know). The only problem is it's hard to brake and shift when you're holding it in your hands. You need a hard surface in front of you to set it down to get the most out of it.

Wish they had released a gamekey with a port of Pole Position II for this thing. Seems ashame to do such a nice job with the twist control for Pole Position and then not take full advantage of it by bringing the expanded sequel out on it.



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