Atari 7800 Reviews S-Z

For those of you too young to remember, Scramble was a pretty kick-ass arcade game back in 1981. I remember it from the local bowling alley. This side-scrolling space shooter takes you through harrowing caverns lined with missiles that launch unpredictably. In addition to avoiding airborne hazards you'll need to bomb fuel depots to replenish your own fuel gauge. Okay, that part doesn't make much sense, but work with me here! There are two fire buttons - one for missiles and one for bombs. Both are unlimited but you can only drop two bombs at a time so you'll want to focus on your timing. Your guns can fire rapidly, and it feels great to blast through a row of ground installations and fly right through the ensuing explosions. Scramble has constantly changing scenery so it never feels boring or repetitive. In one area you encounter dancing UFOs and in another area you must dodge meteors. In advanced stages you'll navigate some very tight corridors that will put your skills to the test. The tension mounts as fuel tanks become more and more sparse. This Atari 7800 version is a very close translation of the arcade game, although some of the colors are muted. The scrolling creates a "choppy" effect on each side of the screen, but you won't notice it once the action is underway. I would not recommend using the stock 7800 "pain-line" controller with this, as the constant button tapping will destroy your hands. If you are lucky enough to own the European-style 7800 control pad, it's a more comfortable option. Scramble is a slick adaptation of a sweet arcade shooter. If you own a control pad, bump up the grade by a letter. This game is available at AtariAge.com. © Copyright 2013 The Video Game Critic.

Like Plutos, Sirius is an old prototype that was recently unearthed and completed by some of the nicest people in the world. And thank goodness! Sirius is the kind of fast-paced, side-scrolling shooter that the 7800 really could have used in its heyday. It has terrific graphics that effectively use the system's color palette to convey texture and depth. The fact that you often have a "satellite" shooting by your side gives the game a certain R-Type flavor. Unfortunately, since this device is roughly the same size and shape as your ship, it can be easy to confuse the two. Holding down the fire button lets you shoot continuously, and frequent power-ups let you amass a level of firepower rarely seen on the 7800 console. When fully loaded, blasting through each stage is a thrill. Enemies tend to be large, rotating shapes, yet even with your substantial firepower they can be tough to hit. Why? Well, the collision detection is erratic for one thing. Also, certain enemies can absorb an inordinate number of shots. But the most irritating aspect of the game is those little rocks you can crash into, which aren't much bigger than the stars in the background. They tend to be positioned in some of the worst possible spots! Despite the high difficulty, when you rank into the top 10 score screen it's hard to resist hitting reset. As with Plutos, the lack of music gives the game a slightly unfinished quality. Still, Sirius is one of the more addicting titles in the Atari 7800 library. It may be 20 years too late, but we'll take it anyway! Sirius can be obtained at Good Deal Games. © Copyright 2009 The Video Game Critic.

Here I am surrounded by all of the latest video game technology, yet my friends just want to play Space Duel on the Atari 7800. Over and over again. Space Duel was originally released in 1982 as an Asteroids spin-off with wire-frame, vector graphics (in color no less). I always loved this game as a kid. Instead of rocks, you aim at rotating geometric shapes, and the action is non-stop. While fun to play solo, Space Duel's cooperative mode really steals the show, allowing two players to blast away at the same time while sharing the same cache of ships and a combined score. The number of objects of the screen is crazy at times, yet slowdown never seems to be a problem. Each wave has several tiny stars that that require multiple shots to destroy, and it seems like those little bastards are always breathing down your neck. You can fire rapidly, and pulling back on the joystick activates your shield. I can't emphasize enough how critical that shield is! Unlike the one in the Atari 2600 version of Asteroids, this shield causes objects to bounce off of you. Sometimes these objects linger dangerously close, and that's when it pays to have a buddy around to bail you out. Your shield gradually fades away, but be sure to get your use out of it. I like how the high score is displayed at the top of the screen - taunting you to play just one more game! One element missing from this Atari 7800 translation is the mode that lets both players be "tethered" together, but I can overlook that. I do wish the programmer used brighter colors, because some of the darker ones (like purple on black) are hard to make out. Even so, Space Duel is an easy "A" thanks to its amazing fun factor. If you have an arcade-style joystick, get it out and start tapping away like it's 1982. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

I've always had a soft spot for Circus Atari (Atari 2600, 1978) but this sequel surpassed all expectations. Like the original, Super Circus AtariAge is simple in concept. You move a teeter-totter across the bottom of the screen, catapulting a pair of clowns into balloons, popping them for points. Super Circus has the exact same feel, only with richer graphics, music, and a ton of bells and whistles. Fans of the original should brace themselves for the fact that the balloons are - hold onto something - actually round! There are several control options including support for joystick and driving controllers, but nothing comes close to an old-fashioned paddle. There's never been a controller with the same degree of analog precision. Super Circus has a sweet risk/reward dynamic. Landing near the edge of the teeter totter will propel your clown higher, but at the risk of crashing into the ground. The death animation is less graphic than the original game, and there's no blood code that I'm aware of (*sad face*). I love how popped balloons periodically release power-up icons that slowly float to the bottom of the screen. Touching these initiates fun effects like installing a safety net, eliminating friction, or awarding a free clown. So you'd think they would make your life a lot easier, right? Not really! As you might guess, you're tempted to snag these at any cost which tends to throw off your timing. I believe the term is "glory seeking". It's not hard to rack up lives but you'll exhaust them in a hurry. Pleasant circus music loops in the background, and is that the bat from Haunted House (Atari 2600, 1981) flying across the screen? This game is full of surprises. What if I told you it has a two-player simultaneous mode? It's every bit as fun and chaotic as it sounds! In the tradition of Warlords (Atari 2600, 1977) you can continue to distract the other player after your game is over. There's even a classic mode for those who want to kick it old-school. Super Circus Atari Age is legit. Once you start playing this one, it's hard to stop. © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.

Skateboarding was huge in the 80's, in no small part thanks to Michael J. Fox in those Back to the Future flicks. With the word "Super" prominently mentioned in the title, I was expecting big things from Super Skateboardin'. My expectations were tempered however when I first caught sight of the main character. Decked out in polka dot "jam" shorts, black socks, and toting a pink skateboard, this guy is a total loser. Worse yet, instead of grinding rails and doing back flips on half-pipes, this kid spends his time skating through buildings turning off office equipment. What an outlaw! We'll teach those executives not to waste energy!! Once you hop upon your skateboard, you cruise through one room after another, knocking doors open and reversing direction without hesitation. Your goal is to turn off all of the equipment in the entire building, which includes computers, coffee makers, light bulbs, projectors, and manufacturing machines. You can change floors by ducking into ducts that run between them. At first it's a blast because the gameplay is simple and fun. The problem is, the multi-level office building is configured like a huge maze, and all the rooms all look pretty much the same. There's a LOT of gadgets to turn off, and it can be maddeningly hard to locate the last one. It's a good thing the doors remain open when you hit them, because otherwise you'd have no idea if you were going in circles. At least with the doors, you know that you're going in circles! Skateboardin's graphics are clean and colorful, but you'll want to shut off its monotonous, droning soundtrack. I really wanted to like this game, but by the time it was over I was just tired of it. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

This game is bogus! Yeah, I enjoyed the Atari 2600 Tomcat F-14, but that was a simpler, "dumbed down" version. This one was apparently designed for actual experienced fighter pilots because I couldn't shoot down a dang thing! Tomcat F-14 tries to be as realistic as possible, with its instrument-crammed cockpit, authentic take off and landing procedures, and instruction manual filled with technical jargon. To be honest it's all a façade and most of that instrumentation is only for show. All the critical info is displayed on the small computer screen in the center. The select and reset buttons are used to navigate the computer menu, but it's incredibly unintuitive and hardly worth the effort. Taking off is no problem, and once you reach 5000 feet you encounter your first enemy bogey. The manual recommends making all sorts of tedious adjustments to your computer at this time, but once I started fiddling around I was shot down immediately. My luck didn't improve much when I actually tried to engage the bogey. Enemy planes look realistic but move in an erratic, choppy manner. Maneuvering them into your crosshairs is impossibly difficult, as they tend to "stick" to the edge of the screen. When you're jostling the joystick like crazy and the enemy is sitting perfectly still in the corner of the screen, you start to wonder if it's a glitch in the game. Having to use the standard 7800 controller is painful enough without having to wrestle with it! The radar display is fairly worthless and rarely reflects what you're seeing out front. I got off a few decent shots, but none hit. After about eight games I finally said the hell with it. Maybe I missed the boat on this one, but I have better ways to waste my time. Like playing a different game for example. Next! © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

I spent literally years trying to track down a copy of this ultra-rare title. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. I mean, Froggo doesn't have the best track record as a game publisher, and rare games typically aren't very good. But Water Ski proves an exception to the rule with its innovative controls and highly original gameplay. The game opens with some of the worst noise ever produced by an electronic device. That's supposed to be a theme song? Thankfully, once you start playing the audio is limited to the gentle hum of your motorboat. Water Ski's graphics boast a great deal of detail with oversized boats and grassy shorelines. Your water skier is a pale dude in green shorts whose feet appear that to be on fire (oh wait, that's just yellow water splashing up). The river course is strewn with rocks, logs, and ramps. You'll use the joystick to steer the boat and press the two buttons to move your skier left and right. It takes some getting used to doing two things at once, but eventually I grew to like the scheme. Although jumping ramps nets you big points (10K a pop), finding a route through the debris-laden water is difficult enough! Your boat moves continuously up the screen, and while you can increase its speed by pushing up, I have no idea why anyone would want to do such a thing. Water Ski is relentlessly difficult, and just making it to the second stage (out of three) took all the skill I could muster. I lasted all of three seconds in the shark-infested waters of level two. The top score remains posted at the top of the screen at all times, egging you on to give it "one more try". Interesting in concept and hard as nails, Water Ski proved to be well worth the wait. © Copyright 2009 The Video Game Critic.