• Tag Archives Parker Brothers

  • Mr. Do!’s Castle (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    Mr. Do’s Castle, Atari 2600.

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/189235723579/vgjunk-mr-dos-castle-atari-2600



    Mr. Do! became quite the popular arcade character after the first game featuring him in 1982 simply titled Mr. Do! The game was popular enough that to speed along a sequel, an existing game in development was modified to be a Mr. Do! game by changing the graphics. The game was originally to be titled Knights vs. Unicorns. The Japanese version became Mr. Do! versus Unicorns and the U.S. release was called Mr. Do!’s Castle.

    Mr. Do!’s Castle features Mr. Do! climbing up and down ladders in a castle. The goal is to collect cherries by using a hammer to knock out blocks that contain them. The holes left behind can then be used to trap the Unicorn monsters which can then be smashed with another block.

    Mr. Do!’s Castle was released in 1982 and was ultimately ported to a wide variety of contemporary platforms including the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, the Atari 2600 version just isn’t that good. The Atari 2600 was a limited platform anyway but during the 1982 and 1983 time period in general, many games were rushed to try to take advantage of the video game craze. The graphics were never going to be close to the arcade version but they are hardly even recognizable. The game play is not significantly better. While the arcade version is a fun game I would steer clear of the 2600 version and if you want a home version try one of the 8-bit computer versions such as the Commodore 64 port. Really though, you might as well emulate the original arcade version.

    Screen shots above are from the Atari 2600 version of Mr. Do’s Castle.


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  • Q*Bert (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    vgp_augsep83-03

    Source: Video Games Player – August September 1983 – – Q*Bert (Atari 2600)

    While there can be no doubt that Q*bert is one of the great arcade classics and one of the most recognizable classic arcade characters, I always found it to be incredibly frustrating. Yes, it was a difficult game but it isn’t really the difficulty itself that really bothered me. It was the fact that I was always leaping to my death by accident because I never quite grasped the pseudo 3D viewpoint.

    For those that don’t know, in Q*bert you controlled…well, Q*bert…in his effort to escape various creatures and obstacles by leaping around a pyramid. Game play was fairly simple. You just jumped from square to square up or down the pyramid. The goal was to hop on each square to change its color. Once all squares were changed, you proceeded to the next level. Of course you had to avoid getting trapped by the various on-screen enemies. However, for me the view point always caused me issues. It seemed like I was always leaping to my own death by accident. As the levels progressed, things got harder. You would have to jump on each square multiple times, enemies would move faster and there would be more of them, etc.

    Q*bert was first released to the arcades in 1982. Ports to various systems started appearing the following year. While this add is targeted towards the Atari 2600 version (and mentions the upcoming Intellivison version), there were a wide variety of systems this game was ultimately available for. Because of the limited nature of the Atari 2600, it really isn’t one of the better ports. The graphics were actually ok for that system but the pyramid was smaller and there were fewer enemies. The controls also suffered (and I already hated the controls anyway).

    If you are looking for an original copy of the Atari 2600 version then they are relatively common and can be had for a reasonable price. You can always use emulation too. However, if you really want to play Q*bert you are better off using MAME to emulate the arcade version or checking out the more recent release Q*bert Rebooted which was released for various modern systems in 2015 and includes a port of the original arcade game.

    The ad above is from the August/September 1983 issue of Video Games Player magazine. Screen shots are from the Atari 2600 version of the game.



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  • Reactor (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Parker Brothers Reactor game for the Atari 2600 from 1982

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/182572093446/parker-brothers-reactor-game-for-the-atari-2600

     

    Reactor was originally an arcade game by Gottlieb in 1982. However, is was ported to the Atari 2600 and released on that platform by Parker Brothers the same year. The goal of the game is to prevent a nuclear reactor from melting down.

    The control scheme of Reactor is rather unique. In the center of the screen is the reactor and it is constantly pulling you towards it as if it were a black whole. There are various “enemy” radioactive particles that are trying to kill you. Touching the particles or the barrier around the reactor is a bad things. However, you can only speed up or slow down as you “orbit” the reactor in order to control your trajectory. You don’t control your movement directly. Particles are affected by the reactor’s pull as well but they try to steer towards you. You have traps that you can set that the particles will target instead. Setting them in the right place can lead to them colliding with the reactor and being destroyed or into the control rods and destroying them which is your ultimate goal.

    The relative uniqueness of this game makes it worth trying though it won’t be for everybody. The arcade version has the advantage of using a trackball whereas most Atari 2600 owners were stuck with a joystick. However, a trackball can be used on the Atari 2600 as well. The joystick is not a great substitute and I definitely recommend trying out a trackball even if you play this on an Atari 2600.

    I’m not aware of any re-releases of this game and while an Intellivision port was planned, it was never released. If you want to give this game a try then you will either have to resort to emulation (of the arcade game or the 2600 version), or hunt down an original. The Atari 2600 cartridges are not terribly hard to find.


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