2019/1/6: Atari 2600: Missile Command, Walker (Europe)

[VideoGameCritic]

I re-reviewed Missile Command, raising it from an A- to A. Walker is a new review.

Also feel free to comment on my latest special:
https://videogamecritic.com/extras/fun/ ... ommand.htm

[scotland]

Now that is a great story about finding that secret!

[goldenband]

Walker!! What a bizarre mess of a game it is. BTW the colors are wackier than intended, because PAL Ataris used a different color chip and encoding scheme. Here's what the prairie is supposed to look like, for example:



Unfortunately it doesn't look like the person who did the NTSC conversion did anything to remedy the color weirdness.

And yes, great story about Missile Command!

[Retro STrife]

First of all, great story about Missile Command for sure! I know the feeling must suck to have thrown away that letter. Hard to believe that you became that disinterested in games at one point, only to circle back this far in the other direction.

As for Walker... how do you play European games for the Atari 2600? Does it just work if you pop it in, or did you need some workaround? I have one European game (the one with "E.T. Go Home" on the cover art) and I want to try it out eventually.

[SpiceWare]

how do you play European games for the Atari 2600? Does it just work if you pop it in, or did you need some workaround?

Yep, no region lockout on the 2600 so just pop them in. Colors will be wrong, and whether or not you get a stable image depends entirely upon your TV (adjusting vertical hold may help if your set rolls the screen). Reason for this is the game's code controls the number of scanlines being sent to the TV (on other consoles the video chip controls this). Per spec you want 262 for NTSC and 312 for PAL, but analog displays tend to be flexible in what they'll accept as seen by the variation in scanline counts seen with games produced back in the day. I use a modded 2600 w/S-Video output connected to a C=1084S. Sometimes parts of the screen, like the score, might not be visible so sometimes I need to adjust the Vertical Size on the back of the monitor for PAL games. I reverse the adjustment for NTSC games else they'll look squished.

Modern digital displays on the other hand tend to less forgiving with out-of-spec signals.

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[mediamike]

Thanks for more great reviews and a feature to boot! One thing that might interest you is that there is new hope for that Atari trak ball after all. Atari Age recently released a slew of old 2600 favorites in its trak ball series. Missile Command is one of the titles (naturally.) The control is just great and the impact on my game was similar to the Colecovision effect.

I also recommend checking out some of the other trak ball titles. Trak ball support has made Star Wars MUCH more fun to play.

[GTS]

I also grew up with a copy of Missile Command in the house. The game never gets old; I even pop it in a couple of times a year. Yes, having to use the Joystick in that game can wreck havoc on your hands, but it's worth it. I'll have to give the Coleco controller a try.

Great story about the letter from Atari. I also wrote them one time, telling them how much I enjoyed the Atari 2600 junior. It was part of an elementary school assignment where we had to write a letter to a company. Atari responded with a letter of their own, but I also remember them sticking something else in the envelope, like a magazine. Sadly I no longer have any of it.

[C64_Critic]

IMG_0750.jpg

I <3 that monitor!

[SpiceWare]

IMG_0750.jpg

I <3 that monitor!

It came with my Amiga 2000HD back in '91. I have the 2600 and Amiga CD32 hooked up to it via an S-Video switch box. I still have the Amiga, but haven't used it in ages due to hard drive failure. The Amiga's in its box in the bottom of the guest room closet, but its mouse and keyboard are plugged into the CD32 - it's an NTSC CD32 while most of the games are for PAL, so I use the mouse to access the hidden boot menu to select PAL mode.

In the other room I have a C=1084 (the non-stereo model) hooked to a ColecoVision, VIC-20, C=128, and Sega Genesis vi a composite switch box. The 128 is also connected via RGB-I for its 80 column display.