• Tag Archives Intellivision

  • Frogger (Intellivision)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Frogger (Intellivision)

    Frogger was released as an arcade game by Sega in 1981. This was one of the earliest video gaming classics and the gameplay for the time was unique. This was the era when most of the genres we think of today were created. Being one of the most successful arcade games of all time, of course there were a huge number of ports, sequels and remakes for various home systems over the years.

    The licensing scheme for the home ports was kind of interesting early on. Parker Brothers obtained the rights to release cartridge ports of the game while Sierra obtained the rights for magnetic media (disks, tapes). This led to two different versions being produced for the Commodore 64 – a cartridge version by Parker Brothers and a disk version from Sierra. Everybody has their favorite version but the general consensus seems to be that all else being equal, the Sierra versions were better. As far as non-emulated versions, the Sega Genesis version seems to be thought of as the best but it was a much later port.

    The above ad is from the May 1983 issue of BLiP and is for the Intellivision version (by Parker Brothers of course). I’m not sure how the sales break down per system but as of 2005, 20 million copies of Frogger had been sold worldwide in its various incarnations.





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  • Popeye

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Popeye

    Popeye was an arcade game released by Nintendo and licensed by Atari in certain regions based on the cartoon and comic strip of the same name. Popeye never became a franchise and is not quite as well known as other iconic video game figures but it was a pretty big deal at the time.

    In an interesting twist of fate, Donkey Kong was originally planned to be a Popeye themed game. However, Nintendo did not get a license to use the characters in time for that game so it became Donkey Kong instead and a new Popeye game was developed a little later. Popeye was one of the first three games released for the Famicom in Japan.

    Parker Brothers ported the game to a wide variety of systems including the Atari 5200, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, ColecoVision and others. Oddly, the ad mentions the Atari 2600, Intellivision, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, Atari 400/800, and VIC-20. However, the game was never officially released on the VIC-20 but it did come out on the Commodore 64 and a few other systems that aren’t mentioned. I can only assume changes were made after the ad went to print. However, despite the lack of an official VIC-20 port, a nice homebrew port was made in 2015 proving that development on vintage systems is alive and well.

    The game itself, unsurprisingly given its lineage, shares some similarities with Donkey Kong. The only actions for Popeye are climbing and punching, your goal being to rescue Olive Oil from Brutus. The only other recent port besides the VIC-20 port was an enhanced remake released for mobile phones in 2008.


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  • Donkey Kong Junior (Atari 7800)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Donkey Kong JR. VS. Donkey Kong Junior VS. Donkey Kong Jr. VS. Donkey Kong Junior, 1983/86/87 

    There are several reasons that the Atari 7800 was ultimately a failure in the marketplace. And failure is a relative term I guess as Atari was actively releasing games and supporting the 7800 through 1991 so it was at least around in the U.S. market almost as long as the NES. Anyway, one of the reasons it didn’t do as well as other consoles was because Atari just didn’t put the necessary effort into first party development (or do a good job courting third party developers for that matter). Donkey Kong Jr. serves as an example of what Atari liked to do instead.

    Is Donkey Kong Jr. on the Atari 7800 a bad game? No, it isn’t, at least if you like classic arcade games. But that’s really the problem. Atari relied way too much on releasing the same games over and over again. And they were typically pretty late doing it. Donkey Kong Jr. was a release game for the NES in 1983 in Japan and was released in 1986 in the U.S. On the 7800, it wasn’t released until late 1988. On top of that, it was only one of two game released that month, the other being Donkey Kong. By 1988-1989 Donkey Kong Jr. would have been a nice classic released as maybe part of a collection but not really a “major release” type game for a system. Atari didn’t seem to understand this.

    Donkey Kong Jr. is a conversion of the arcade game of the same name (or Donkey Kong Junior as it was sometimes known). It is a direct sequel to Donkey Kong and is perhaps the only game to feature Mario as a villain. While in the original Donkey Kong, Mario was trying to rescue his girlfriend from Donkey Kong, in Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong’s son is trying to save his father from Mario. Instead of ladders, vines are the main mode of transport to the top of the screen in Donkey Kong Jr. Despite the different mode of transport and different enemies, game play is similar in many ways. Like it’s predecessor, Donkey Kong Jr. also features four stages with unique themes that repeat, getting harder. Donkey Kong Jr. is also a harder game than its predecessor.

    I think Donkey Kong (and its immediate sequels) are the kind of game you either love or hate. Personally, I was never particularly fond of Donkey Kong (and even less so of Donkey Kong Jr.) Having said that, the Atari 7800 port is a pretty solid port, except for perhaps the sound which the Atari 7800 was notoriously week on since it used the same sound chip as the Atari 2600. If you have an Atari 7800, then this game is worth getting…provided you don’t hate Donkey Kong games.

    Sadly for Atari fans though, the NES version is a little better. There’s not a huge difference but the NES version is slightly smoother and the sound is obviously better. It’s not that the Atari 7800 version couldn’t have been as good or even better than the NES version, it’s just that Atari never let developers have the time they needed (or in some cases the cart memory) to make a polished game. There are also numerous other ports, including for the Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Coleco Adam, ColecoVision, and others. Since I love the Commodore 64, my real recommendation would be for the Commodore 64 remake that was done in 2014 and was based off of the Atari 7800 version.


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