It’s no secret that the Atari 2600 port of Defender sucks. Thankfully, though, the 2600 has a saviour in form of Defender II, the much better sequel.
Tag Archives: 8-bit
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.
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.
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.
Missile Command, Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 version of the classic arcade game, Missile Command, was programmed by Rob Fulop and initially released in April 1981 by Atari, Inc.
Atari 2600 Special
We’ve never had an Atari 2600 Special before, so now’s the time to have one!
For the next ten days I’ll be adding only Atari 2600 games to the grabs collection.
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.
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.
Urban Upstart, ZX Spectrum
Pete Cooke‘s graphical text adventure, Urban Upstart, was first published by Richard Shepherd Software in 1983. It’s a first-person game, where you use a text parser to move around and issue commands, and is set in the fictional English town of “Scarthorpe” – a rough place to live, by all accounts. So rough, in fact, that the aim of the game is to escape the place by any means possible.
Beach Head II, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum of Beach Head II was developed by Platinum Productions and published by US Gold in 1985.