The Video Game Critic

Astrocade in the house!  Let's hear your comments.

[QUOTE=Kim]

Great Reviews! I am still fascinated that such detail could have gone into a game which was developed in 1977. If so, why did people originally buy the Atari 2600 rather than the Astrocade? Was it because of the price?

[/QUOTE]

agreed about the game detail. i was really into gaming in the early 80's, and i had never heard of the system until recently. i kind of assumed that the graphics were maybe O2 or worse. however, after seeing the critic's pics of the games, the graphics of some games seem somewhere between INTV and CV. i'm really impressed with the colors and detail.

[QUOTE=Kim]Great Reviews! I am still fascinated that such detail could have gone into a game which was developed in 1977. If so, why did people originally buy the Atari 2600 rather than the Astrocade? Was it because of the price? [/QUOTE]

I'm not the most knowledgeable video game historian on the site, but I think it had to do with the fact that Atari had all the big name arcade games on their system. I believe when Space Invaders was released for the 2600/VCS, that's when it really took off.

Yes, this system did suffer from Atari's stranglehold on licensed arcade titles.  But as the VGC pointed out in his review of Galactic Invasion (among others), the Astrocade versions are a little bit different and at times better than the Atari 2600 counterpart releases.

Price was an issue initially (retailed at $299), but distribution outlets also caused this console to remain in the background.  At first this was only available as a Montgomery Ward's catalogue purchase (1977).  This changed rather quickly but Bally still could not compete with the retail channels that Atari enjoyed in the day.

This system is definitely worth picking up for those that are on the fence and are looking for quality gameplay, old school style.

Great reviews VGC.  I wasn't a fan of Gunfight, but I will have to give this another look based on your review.

I loved the Astrocade, and Gun Fight!! If you want to play it, there's a super online remake on www.scratchpad-cloud.com/gf.htm

It even has the original graphics!

Bill.