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2018/1/7: Atari 2600: Ski Hunt (Europe), Ski Run (Europe)

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 9:02 am
by VideoGameCritic
Here are two obscure ski games you probably never heard of.
Do you think they merit a rare icon?

Re: 2018/1/7: Atari 2600: Ski Hunt (Europe), Ski Run (Europe)

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 12:09 pm
by goldenband
Awesome! I've played these both -- not for hours on end, but for a little while each -- and think your reviews are spot-on. I don't know whether they're rare enough to get the icon; PAL Atari 2600 games are notoriously slippery when it comes to rarity since so many of them were re-released and bootlegged in all kinds of ways.

You're doing a real service by covering the PAL library for the VCS. These are games almost no one talks about -- especially in English -- but they're often very interesting or fascinatingly bizarre, and a couple like Mr. Postman (I think that's the one I'm thinking of) are pretty good.

The weirdest is Clown Down Town aka Walker, which is literally like someone took "Worker and Parasite" from The Simpsons and made it into an Atari 2600 game. It's as though some East German Stasi officer decided to make a video game but had only read about them in magazines. In a funny way it's the most depressing video game I've ever played!

Re: 2018/1/7: Atari 2600: Ski Hunt (Europe), Ski Run (Europe)

Posted: January 7th, 2018, 3:24 pm
by LuckyMan
Nice reviews! I'm also fascinated with these weird and wonderful PAL games which is why I started a thread on AtariAge a few years back to finish converting these games so we could play them on our NTSC TV's. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/146775-pal-ntsc-conversions/

Like many of the conversions, we have Mr. Thomas Jentzsch to thank for these two games. I like to play Ski Run with the difficulty switches set to BA. I think it might slow down the action a bit and make the game more manageable.

Re: 2018/1/7: Atari 2600: Ski Hunt (Europe), Ski Run (Europe)

Posted: January 8th, 2018, 1:56 am
by Retro STrife
Liking these skiing reviews lately! Old school skiing games are great, and they usually hold up really well.

You asked about rarity, so I pulled out my trusty Digital Press guide. Hasn't been updated since 2002, but I still trust the rarity scores. In Europe, Ski Run has a rarity of R4 out of 10, so not worth a rare icon. Ski Hunt has an R8, so it could get the icon if you're inclined.

Since people are mentioning obscure PAL games, my favorite is this oddity with "E.T. Go Come" on the cover. I've never played it (hard to find a copy), but it might be the weirdest cover art I've ever seen, and would make for a great review if you have it available!

Re: 2018/1/7: Atari 2600: Ski Hunt (Europe), Ski Run (Europe)

Posted: January 8th, 2018, 8:06 am
by GameOfThrones
Great reviews of some games that I had never heard of. I mean they look classy games for the time with superb graphics. I might even have convinced myself to buy them if I had seen them. Though could they measure up to the delights of Airlock?

Re: 2018/1/7: Atari 2600: Ski Hunt (Europe), Ski Run (Europe)

Posted: January 8th, 2018, 5:29 pm
by VideoGameCritic
Luckyman,
I tried Ski Run on B/A and you're right - it's much more manageable. The problem is, now it's too easy and I feel like I can play forever. They could use a middle ground variation.
VGC

Re: 2018/1/7: Atari 2600: Ski Hunt (Europe), Ski Run (Europe)

Posted: January 8th, 2018, 5:56 pm
by LuckyMan
VideoGameCritic wrote:Luckyman,
I tried Ski Run on B/A and you're right - it's much more manageable. The problem is, now it's too easy and I feel like I can play forever. They could use a middle ground variation.
VGC

Yeah, I feel that way about a lot of games. They just need one more difficulty level between mind-numbingly easy and insanely difficult.

Re: 2018/1/7: Atari 2600: Ski Hunt (Europe), Ski Run (Europe)

Posted: January 9th, 2018, 4:57 pm
by pacman000
Oh! It's too bad these games are so poor. They look great, and the game play descriptions sound interesting. :(