Reviewing *ALL 58* Atari 7800 Games!!!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- The Atari 7800 was an awesome game system with a library of classic and unique games! It was the world's first backwards compatible game console with the ability to play nearly all of the Atari 2600 library! Sure the sound was not great and the controllers were... iffy. But that's what makes it unique! (Homebrews and hacks in a different video!)
Games Featured: Ace of Aces, Alien Brigade, Asteroids, Ballblazer, Barnyard Blaster, Basketbrawl, Centipede, Choplifter, Commando, Crack'ed, Crossbow, Dark Chambers, Desert Falcon, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Double Dragon, F-14 Tomcat, F-18 Hornet, Fatal Run, Fight Night, Food Fight, Galaga, Hat Trick, Ikari Warriors, Impossible Mission, Jinks, Joust, Karateka, Klax, Kung Fu Master, Mario Bros., Mat Mania Challenge, Mean 18 Ultimate Golf, Meltdown, Midnite Mutants, Motor Psycho, Ms. Pac-Man, Ninja Golf, One-On-One, Pete Rose Baseball, Planet Smashers, Pole Position II, Rampage, RealSports Baseball, Robotron 2084, Scrapyard Dog, Sentinel, Summer Games, Super Huey, Super Skateboardin', Tank Command, Title Match Pro Wrestling, Touchdown Football, Tower Toppler, Water Ski, Winter Games, Xenophobe, & Xevious.
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I hope you enjoyed the video. Please check out the following links:
/ @gregsvlog
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www.ataritimes.com
#videogames #retrogaming #retrogames #classicgaming #classicgames #classicvideogames #vintagegaming #vintagegames #arcadegames #atari #atari2600 #atari5200 #atari7800 #atarilynx #atarijaguar #nintendo #nintendones #nes #nintendosnes #supernintendo #nintendowii #sega #segagenesis #megadrive #segasaturn #segadreamcast #turbografx #pcengine #colecovision #intellivision #arcade1up #arcadegames #playstation #sony #xbox #microsoft
Thank you for taking the time to watch this! Check out my Instagram: instagram.com/gregsgameroom/
Nintendo NES vs. Atari 7800: th-cam.com/video/OtB1vwTntcs/w-d-xo.html
Every Konami NES Game: th-cam.com/video/AO1qrfzyDtI/w-d-xo.html
10 Things You Don't Know About Atari: th-cam.com/video/IPP-OBCxWMU/w-d-xo.html
How come you don’t have any friends?
@@daleb4148he wasn't meaning him he meant in general
One major mistake Atari made -- they used the same sound chip in the 7800 as they did in the 2600 !!! How dumb. !!!!
Atari was being cheap.
Yep. The original design would have had a Pokey chip, but they then decided to make it optional for individual games. You guessed it, developers generally wouldn't use it because it cost too much. Commando and Ballblazer definitely show what could have been...
The 7800 has the ultimate version of Commando. It could be called Commando Plus. The super-cool secret rooms and power-ups really elevate it over the other versions
It’s really great
The atari 7800 actually did offer a trackball unit. Purchased separately. A must for centipede. When that came out, I made sure to get it.
Actually the 2600 trackball works fine with the 7800 !
I can't say anything about the 7800 that hasn't already been said... except for one thing, I regret not getting in on the O'Shea 7800 liquidation titles many years back when they were offering them at $5 a pop. Long before collector's prices became out of control. Still a great system nonetheless. I'm looking forward to that 5200 video that you mentioned a few comments down. Great stuff as always, my friend! 👍
THAT'S where I got them from! I had forgotten! Yeah, that was one heck of a deal!
Greg, I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about video games. But it was fun watching and listening to the games. Thank you for sharing this, you explained it well.
Thanks Alma! You can put this on as a sleep aid, I don't mind. ;-)
I remember back when I had my original Atari 2600. Heck we had a Pong machine. I remember taking the🚏🚍City🚏Bus🚍🚏to Toys R Us by myself, well with a buddy of mine to pick up the Donkey Kong 2600 game. Ugh looking back now, it was now perfect...lol. Yet those games made us so happy! Then the rumors came. Back then we'd get bits and bits of information from the old Electronic Gaming Magazines. Once a month or bi-monthly, or even every 4 months. Nothing like now where there's more leaks than a 90 year old water pipe system. Where information is one fingertip away, instantaneously. But then the Mattel Intellivision was revealed, a ColecoVision system, and I'm not exactly sure of the dates or times, but the Atari 5200 system. Again I'm not sure which came first, I think the Mattel Intellivision was the first out of the gate. Either way back then if you had an Atari you probably weren't getting a new system. Unless your Dad or Mom, or BOTH were Doctors, Lawyers, or just rich. I do know that when the Atari 5200 came out I begged my parents for one. And on 🎄Christmas🎄 on year there was 🎁present🎁, an Atari 5200 wrapped up and I went nuts. I've always been a huge sports gamer. Real-Sports ⚾️🧢Baseball🧢⚾️, 🏈🏉Football🏉🏈, ⚽️⚽️Soccer⚽️⚽️, etc were all amazing. Galaxian, Galaga, Centipede, and other arcade ports also blew my mind. One of the🕹🕹Atari🕹Arcade🕹Games🕹🕹🕹 I LOVED was Tempest. That was my favorite arcade game for a long time. Qix was another great game. Kind of an odd premise, but it was addicting, fun, exciting, but sometimes oh so frustrating! Joust was another good one, Defender, Dig Dug, and the Original Yellow Disc himself and herself. The one and the only 👏👏👏👏
Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man 😶▪︎▪︎🍒▪︎ ●▪︎▪︎▪︎🍓▪︎▪︎👻▪︎▪︎▪︎🍏▪︎▪︎👻▪︎▪︎🍍▪︎▪︎▪︎👻▪︎▪︎●▪︎▪︎🍐▪︎▪︎👻▪︎▪︎🥨▪︎▪︎▪︎● ▪︎▪︎▪︎🔑▪︎▪︎● ▪︎🗝 ▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎ Which when I saw them on the Atari 5200 I was going nuts. After getting Pac-Man on the 2600, the one that ate -- -- --wafers‐‐ -- -- & 🔲squares🔲, not dots. Ms. Pac-Man was much better however. But still comparing the 2600 to the 5200 was like 🍎Apples🍎 & 🍊Oranges🍊 or 🌜🌚night🌚🌛 and 🌝🌕day🌕🌝. It was a bulky system to say the least. The A/C adaptor & TV/Antenna hook-up was massive and it had an uncanny way it would occasionally spark when you'd hook it up. We NEVER had any electrical issues or problems so? The controllers were not horrible but also not the best either, especially if you needed to use the numerical keypad. The smaller 🕹🕹joystick🕹controller🕹🕹again wasn't bad, but how they designed it? The fire buttons were awkwardly placed in a odd place, or maybe uncomfortable is better? Either way it wasn't easy to use especially for a game like Centipede, Millipede, or Missile Command. But then the ⚪Trackball⚪ was released! THAT thing was HUGE, MASSIVE, BULKY, MONSTEROUS, or GIGANTIC. But it was a cool accessory. Oh it also wasn't cheap if I remember correctly. Overall obviously comparing the Atari 5200 to anything nowadays? Younger kids especially would laugh at it's simplicity or it's ancient graphics. But for us, back then? It was State of the Art. It was literally like having a mini 🕹arcade🕹game🕹 in your home. And THAT was awesome! I loved my Atari systems. My Dad for some odd reason after we had eaten breakfast and played our game of Mini-Golf, we stopped off at a Toys R Us and again for some odd reason unbeknownst to me he bought an Atari 7800?? Maybe because my parents were separated he thought I'd come over more if he had it? That too wasn't a bad system either. Atari was the kings of gaming. Sad end to a great company! Overall after having all three Atari systems I can honestly say that EVERY single one of them entertained me, brought me hours and hours of fun. Of all of them though the 7800 was the one I played the least amount of time. Maybe the 5200 & the 7800 were about the same? Either way I did like them all.
I have 36 out of the 58 carts that was in a lot sale w the console, controllers etc from ebay for only $100 in 1999. I remember sending a cashiers check to pay for it!
You didn’t mention that Centipede has two player alternating, co-op, and competitive modes like Asteroids on the 7800! 😮
Enjoyable seeing the whole set briefly reviewed. A GCC guy said in his seminar that the Maria board was originally supposed to handle (superior) sound, but the design ended up not working (too big?) so they had to scramble and just used TIA , with certain carts getting the POKEY. Oh, well.
I can't imagine GCC being happy about having to use the TIA...
It would be awesome if you did the 5200 as well.
That’s the plan!
Great stuff! There are some good games in there, I think many love the 7800 Pole Position in particular over the 2600 release. Cheers,
I've played PPII on the 7800 way more myself.
How'd they release this system with Atari 2600 sound?
They saved a few bucks on engineering and buying POKEYs.
Also they needed the 2600 chip for backwards compatibility but the design team ran out of space on the motherboard (allegedly).
The solution, a bad one, was to encourage developers to put a POKEY chip in the carts.
This is Atari we're talking about here. They always had to shoot themselves in the foot to save a couple of bucks :-)
Excellent. Such a great review with insight into all the titles.
Wow, those asteroids have "real" bumps in them. Wow, this is attention to detail.
It was originally called “3D Asteroids.”
@GregsGameRoom Very cool graphics indeed :)
Yes!!! The 7800 was so good.
Some definite stinkers, but a lot of gems too. More than I thought.
Great review, thanks!
Food Fight, Dig Dug, Joust and Asteroids were awesome!
Commando is supreme. The NES version flickered way too much.
Ikari Warriors was so good with graphics and yet they dropped the bomb on the rest.
Everyone loved Karateka and i never understood why as the controls were dismal.
Klax does a lot with the 7800 sound chip, amazingly.
I wish the DK/Jr/Mario games had Pokey, sigh...
Fatal Run, MotorPycho, and Ninja Golf are underrated. But i wish they had a sound effects-only option so one could play a cassette of actual music.
Sentinel should have been in NTSC too
People rightly go on about the 7800 should have had a built in Pokey, but did you know that Atari had dual and quad core Pokey chips. Imagine the 7800 being $20 or $30 more expensive, but having 16 x 8 bit, or 8 x 16 bit audio channels. 🙂
That 7800 version of Karateka was the first one I ever played, and it was so awful that I was baffled by how well-regarded the game was in general. I never had an Apple II or a C64, so I didn't get to play the versions people actually liked! I'm tempted to get that new Digital Eclipse release with the making-of documentary and those versions to see if I enjoy it any more.
I think it was just too slow. The Famicom version is actually fun.
As someone who'd played Ace of Aces all the way through back in the day, it's certainly not everyone's cup of tea. It's quite simple for a flight sim, but too complex for an arcade shooter. It was one of first games I had for the system, so it didn't have much competition for my attention.
Fight Night is an OK game once you master the combos. Unfortunately, some aren't documented properly in the manual. The biggest problem with the game is that the combos are hard to pull off on a standard 7800 joystick. It's another that I managed to play all the way through, but it was more of frustrating mastery of twitch memorization on the crap controller than an enjoyable experience. At least it's not Karateka bad...
Great video! Also, I had a book published about the people disappearing, and then a zombie apocalypse happens haha. It's called, God of the Undead. Keep those videos going :D
Woof.
I actually owned a 7800. Somehow I got my mom to buy me one, even though I already had a 2600 (and we were not rich). TBH I'm not sure why I wanted one... did I think the backwards compatibility would somehow make my 2600 games better? Did I have some kind of weird brand loyalty? The best 7800 games were equivalent to mediocre NES games, and as much as I wanted the 7800 to be awesome, neither the hardware or the software measured up.
Damned if the Dark Chambers title screen music doesn't have a tiny rent-controlled apartment in my head, though.
Ikari warriors. Fav game. I completed it on NES
If you have a 2600 trackball it works fine with centipede!
lol Mario Bros games on a non-nintendo console can never get old.
After seeing Atari 7800 +
(Fatal run is one of the best titles on the console in my opinion)
It still makes no sense the sound hardware of the 7800, you can put a POKEY in the game cartridges but you can't put one in the console and just handle that audio matter altogether.🤔😕
Never had much luck collecting 7800 carts in my region as I have 3 loose carts, had more luck with the 5200, so I went the flash cart route. At least I won't go broke buying titles like Midnight Mutants.😵
I'd love to get a light gun for that genre since I still use CRTs but kind of rare & pricey these days to splurge on, keep hoping the DIY 3D printer scene will make some retro light gun replacements like many of the new controllers being made today Eg. Intellivision Long Play Disc Controller.
With closer inspection many have noticed how the 7800 doesn't flicker or slowdown like the NES often did so it has its strengths as a hardware platform too. Much of the short comings in the games often revolve around small storage capacity as the 7800 never got past its "Black Box" era of minimal carts.
Graphically the platform saw a few strong entries despite not getting the chance to develop visually like NES did over many more games. With more cartridge space the 7800 can do from C64 to Amstrad CPC degrees of pixel art excellence.
The 7800 homebrew scene certainly has grown with Attack of the PETSCII Robots getting a port. Nice rundown, I forgot about all the flight sim titles for the 7800.😁
I was shocked that there were only 58 games for the Atari 7800 such is the hoopla around this machine in emulation circles. I contrast this with growing up with my C64, which looked like it had comparable specs, and had several thousand games. Heck, I had around 60 bought games back in the day as a kid (let alone 100s of pirated ones). I can't remember seeing any side-scrolling shooters in this list? I think I would have appreciated being told what the hardware specs and limitations of the machine was so one can compare and contrast machines from the era. I did notice that the 7200 seemed to have plentiful large sprites. Did the controller have a rotating section too? Was the 7200 compatible with the 400 or 800 micros or were they entirely different beasts? I enjoyed the video. Thanks.
Totally different from the 8-bit line. No the joystick doesn’t rotate like a paddle.
@@AussieAmigan there are more great homebrew games for the 7800 than the original games and more coming out all the time. The Atari 8 bit line of computers have over 5000 games and program for it. Actually since tha Atari 8 bit line was out 2 years before they came out with the C 64. Most of the early games were ported from the Atari 8 bit computers.
I wonder what was always so hard about having 4 stages in dk home conversions. They couldnt possibly have taken up that much cart space could they?
Can you imagine if C-Dogs / Cyberdogs was on the 7800? It woulda blown minds
This is a great channel💎💎💎
Great video, loved it! 👏
In ikari warriors , I thought that the grenades looked like a Japanese character....yep, overthinking stuff
XD
The 7800 failed due to the fact people felt burned by the 5200 as people were irate in '82 when they launched the 5200 , it had only been 5 years prior that the 2600 was launched in '77 and now their 2600 were outdated by the same company that made the 2600.
When the 7800 was launched 4 years later in '86 people were howling with anger over the 7800's release who bought into the 5200 and its games, I was working when the 7800 launched and felt relieved we got an Intellivision instead so we didn't feel burnt by Atari.
People are Ok now a days with their phones being outdated every year but back then...
Nothing could have saved the 7800 when it launched except maybe the 5200 having never existed.
I give Winter Haven a F grade just like you did to the game I loved. I live in Florida as well, and I request a duel.
Hey Greg, great video, do you run these on emulators or doing direct capture on real hardware?
My video capture is trash for getting an RF signal, this is emulation just for clarity's sake.
To me Alien Brigade is a spiritual side game to the Area 51 arcade series. One was done bu Arari home dividion & one by Atari arcade division. Yes they were seperate companies by then but similar game play, similar looking aliens, similar time of release... they're cousins lets face it 🤣
If only the pokey chip were in the console...
EDIT: lol, you say it right away.
LOL
The choice to incorporate the 2600's TIA (which can't even be correctly tuned for music) ruined this system for me. An FPGA TIA II, redisgned to at least sing in key, would make a great system. Perhaps Pokey's design could be retro fit into TIA, creating a backward compatible upgrade. No, putting a Pokey on a few game carts wasn't good enough. It's also costly and wasteful, even using an FPGA.
2600 was top notch when it came out and 7800 was bottom drawer when it came out. No wonder this company crashed.
Hello Greg, Karataka given an F? Ok bud… that is when I shut off the video. Good bye
Great video. Agree with most of the ratings but I do find an unusual charm in Jinks, despite it being an oddball. Still fault Atari for not including the pokey in the 7800 and outside of the graphics in both terms of RAM and soundchip, the 7800 was a lesser system than the 5200. In a lot of ways, the failure of the 7800 and Jaguar are similar where it shows Atari cheapening out in the worst areas for a strong machine thus crippling their machines due to limited RAM. Can’t believe they couldn’t manage to get Klax out the door, game looked amazing!
The 2600 was pretty cheap to make too. The 8-bit line is probably the only hardware they spent any real money to develop.
@@RISCGames I have Klax on my Atari Lynx. What they are doing about the 7800, Atari and home brew programers are putting a Pokey or hokey chip in the cartridges. The is basically a cheaper pokey chip. The 7800 has incredible sprites that it can put on the screen without any flicking. The 5200 is basically a 8bit computer in a console.
The 7800 is a pretty decent system. It's a shame that it got such a raw deal. If it only had been released in 84 instead of Jack Tramiel warehousing it for two more years. Not installing the POKEY chip in them was also a huge misstep. I've always been a huge Atari fan, having both the VCS and 5200 back then but I don't recall ever coming across a 7800 back then. Didn't get one until many years later.
I remember reading that they supposedly didn’t have enough room to add a pokey chip inside the 7800 as their reasoning but given how much bill existed in the shell, there’s no way they couldn’t have figured out a solution even if it would have had to been off/board
I’m just glad it did get released. I guess that was inevitable though.
On Fatal Run, the problem I have is all the enemy cars look the same, so in the desert, what you get is orange desert, orange terrain, orange background, and orange cars.
If it was actually RELEASED In 1983 (and included a Pokey) it might of set the standard for the third gen. Like if a 5200 was never in the picture and this ended up being the upgrade to the 2600.
Provided the crash turned out differently for Atari, it might have gotten a better quality of third party release for this than what eventually started turning up 7 years later
(The GCC launch games are all excellent though as are ballblazer and commando)
This was released way to late. A year after the releases of the Amiga and the Atari ST. It also seem inferior to the Commodore 64(released in 1982).
Hat Trick is fun in two player mode, I’ll be your friend 😊
The NES version of Commando is definitely NOT better. It's incomplete! The 7800 version has all the levels and all the secret underground dungeons and all the content, plus it plays great.
I need to find those dungeons…
@@GregsGameRoom FunkmasterV has a video where he visits every POW camp on the 7800 version. th-cam.com/video/1ivwazpLpP8/w-d-xo.html
I know a few people who will prefer this one to mine. Some people didnt understand my ranking concept and wanted reviews. Ill point them this way
Just found yours last night, really fun vid thanks!
@@bpet122 thanks!
Yours was good, I enjoyed your rankings. This type of scoring is just way easier for me. :D
That Mario Bros. looks very good! I loved it in the arcade. Too bad they didn't go the extra money for a pokey chip.
Hat trick = better graffics version of the Channel F built in Pong game
Great review thanks !
i love this
Food fight is one of my favorite atari games, shame you don't see people talking about it that much
I may be slow but did you review Ninja Golf and Midnight Mutants?
Awesome video my friend! I think at 2:39 you meant "frenetic." (?)
I was shocked to learn that in Europe it was still sold until 1995. I grew up in the UK and even when it was first released I only think i ever seen one in display in any kind of store and that was probably in the late 90s. The only reason i can imagine something with such a small library was still being sold in any countries for that long is because it was so cheap even in poorer countries at the time and the 2600 backwards compatibility. It's a shame they cut costs on the sound as im sure if they hadn't it would have attcted more customers and developers similar to what the Master System did.
Hm, no new games between 1991-95 though. Too bad.
Great video!!!
They should do a mini
Excellent.
The NES version of Donkey Kong only had 3 levels too. The arcade version (and maybe the 1994 game boy edition) was the only one I know of to have all the different levels.
The 94 Gameboy game had all 4 levels but it also was a totally different game. Those 4 levels were basically just a prelude to the full game.
Donkey Kong 64 has all four levels
@@TRJ2241987 My brothers had an N64, but I had a PSone. I hated the N64 because of the controller. I hated the toggle stick instead of being able to use the traditional NES/SNES D pad that I was used to. With PS one, I had a choice between using the D pad and the 2 analog sticks.
👍
Amazeballs as usual. Thanks!