All posts by Mallo

Writer and screenshot enthusiast. Ex-PC Zoner.

Pressure Cooker, Atari 2600

Pressure Cooker, by Garry Kitchen, was first published for the Atari 2600 in 1983, by Activision. It is a food-preparation game where you play as a burger chef (called “Short-Order Sam“) trying to package items with the right ingredients for your customers.

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Pac-Man, Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 version of Namco‘s classic Pac-Man is notorious for being terrible… And it is truly rubbish… The animation of Pac-Man himself is awful, the ghosts flicker horribly*, the transition from a vertical maze to a horizontal one has not been well-handled, and the general all-round authenticity of the game is highly questionable…

*= Which is why I’ve chosen to alter some of these grabs, to give a better representation of the game, as seen on-screen.

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Gorf, Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 version of the classic arcade shooter, Gorf, was programmed by Alex Leavens and first released in 1982 by CBS Video Games. It is a cut-down version of the arcade original*, with graphics and scenes that barely recreate it.

* = Yes, it doesn’t have the fifth ‘Galaxian‘ stage, which most commercial ports of the game are missing due to rights issues. Enhanced homebrew ports of the game have since re-instated it.

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China Syndrome, Atari 2600

Loosely-based on the 1979 film, The China Syndrome , China Syndrome by Spectravision – first released in 1982 – is a “simulation” of a fission nuclear reactor going wrong. The aim is to capture neutrons, using a roaming cursor, to prevent a runaway nuclear reaction and eventual reactor meltdown.

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Barnstorming, Atari 2600

Barnstorming was designed by Steve Cartwright and first published by Activision in 1982. Like most people who play it for the first time, I had to check if I was playing the game as intended, because there’s so little to it.

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Carrion, PC

Carrion is a ‘reverse’ horror game, meaning that it puts you in the position of creating the horror, as a ‘monster’, killing humans. The humans, though, don’t seem like they’re up to much good, so MUST DIE AT YOUR HANDS… Or: your tentacles…

Carrion was developed by Phobia Game Studio and published by Devolver Digital, first releasing in July of 2020.

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International Tennis (1992), Commodore 64

As if one International Tennis wasn’t good enough for the Commodore 64, Zeppelin Games decided to release a second one in 1992. And it’s actually really good. Definitely much better than Commodore‘s previous 1985 version.

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International Tennis (1985), Commodore 64

Commodore‘s go at tennis, as part of its series of C64 sports games, is a pretty poor game overall. It’s got a side-on view and the feel and presentation of the game are lacking.

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