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  • Krull (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    KRULL (1983)

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/175964747150/ultrakillblast-krull-1983

    Krull for the Atari 2600 is based on the movie of the same name. It was released late in 1983 and video game sales were plummeting at this time so Krull probably didn’t sell as well as it could have. For a game based on a movie, it isn’t as terrible as most.

    Krull the movie is a cult classic and is sort of a fantasy/sci-fi hybrid. While it doesn’t have quite the name recognition of say Tron or Star Wars or probably even Willow, it was a decent movie for those that like that sort of thing. The game follows the plot of the movie pretty closely and consists of four different parts matching up with different parts of the movie. While the game received mixed reviews, it’s above average for a movie license and is worth a try, particularly if you are a fan of the movie.

    There aren’t any sequels, remakes or rereleases of this game that I know of so you will have to play on an original Atari 2600 or use emulation. The only other game based on Krull was an arcade game by Gottlieb but it is unrelated to the Atari 2600 game other than also being based on the movie.





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  • Space Cavern (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Space Cavern, Atari 2600.

     http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/172683415996/vgjunk-space-cavern-atari-2600

    Space Cavern is one of a multitude of ho-hum games for the Atari 2600. Released in 1982 by Apollo, it was released into a glut of similarly average to below average games that were largely responsible for the video game crash of that era. Space Cavern received mostly mixed to negative reviews and doesn’t really stand out from the pack. Like many games released during this time, the box art is arguably better than the game.

    Space Cavern was one of ten games released by Apollo in about a two year time span (1981-1982). Space Cavern was also released as Space Canyon by Panda the following year. This version seems to be pretty rare and I have no idea what the story is behind Panda or why they could also publish this game. Perhaps they gained the rights to the title after Apollo declared bankruptcy?

    Space Cavern is fairly typical of fixed vertical shooters of the era. The one somewhat unique twist was that in addition to enemies coming from above, they could also come after you on the ground from the left or right. Since the Atari 2600 joystick only had one button, you had to press up or down to fire left or right while the fire button fired up. This took a little getting used to.

    As far as I know this game has never had a re-release but you aren’t missing much. The cart can be had pretty cheap if you really want it or you can check it out on an emulator. For better games of this genre check out Space Invaders, Gorf, Galaxian, Galaga, etc.





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  • Frogger (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Allen Banks, Accountant by Day, Frog by Night. 1982 Frogger ad

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/172687109211/gameraboy1-allen-banks-accountant-by-day-frog

    Frogger was one of the first video games I played and probably the first home video game I played. It’s certainly the first one I remember playing. Sometime around Christmas of 1983 I was over at a friends house. He had an Atari 2600. I don’t recall if he had gotten it for Christmas or already had it but I know it was around Christmas time because he had a Christmas tree up. Anyway, the one game I remember playing is Frogger.

    Frogger was originally developed by Konami and released in 1981 as an arcade game. The Atari 2600 port by Parker Brothers came along in 1982 and there are way too many ports, clones, remakes and re-releases to mention. For the early ports, Parker Brothers was responsible for the cartridge based versions and Sierra was responsible for the disk based versions. This meant some platforms (like the Commodore 64) had two versions of the game. The Atari 2600 port was a good one for that system and of the contemporary ports was probably the most played.

    Frogger is kind of a platform game but played from an overhead perspective. Your goal is to guide five frogs from the bottom the screen to the top. You must pass through a number of lanes of traffic without being squashed. Afterwards, you have a brief respite and then you must cross a river by hopping across logs and the backs of turtles that may sink and drown you and alligators that may do the same or eat you if you get to close to their mouth. After successfully navigating five frogs, you will progress to the next level which is much the same, just harder and faster. Frogger was a very unique and popular game for its time and is definitely one of the all time classics.

    There are numerous ways to play Frogger today. If you want to give the Atari 2600 version a try I’m not sure there is an easy way aside from emulation. There is a version of frogger on some of the Atari Flashback consoles but it is a remake, not the original Atari 2600 version. There are of course many better versions out there including those that are arcade perfect.

    The ad and screenshots above are for the Atari 2600 version of Frogger.





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