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: Single-Player
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The King of Grabs 