Vanguard was super complicated with its four button co controls for 9 year old me! Glad to see it on your show! Edit: 9 year old me would pretend this is the Last Starfighter game. All the shooting reminds me of the Death Blossom. 😂
Loved this game in the arcade in the 80's but now as an XGengrownup @57 yrs old reliving on my Atari 2600+. One of the best games in my collection of 200+ carts.🎉🕹🕹🕹🕹
I dropped so many quarters on the arcade version of Vanguard. But to me the best part was the "borrowed" riff from Queen's "Vultan's Theme (Attack of the Hawkmen)" from the Flash Gordon soundtrack.
Vanguard is one of my favorites I used love playing it at the arcade. “Adventure” is another game that features a continue. When you die and push reset you will always start at the yellow/gold castle everything is where it was when you died.
Vanguard on the 2600 is one of my earliest memories of video games and is still a favourite of mine today. Ya it only keeps me entertained for a full on round or two, but it’s like an old shoe. Great video!
Oh man. This was the first game I ever got when I got my Atari VCS for my 10th birthday in February 1983. It has VERY special memories for me as I am sure you can guess. I enjoyed the arcade version of the game and asked for this to be my game that came with the system (since you can't play Combat alone, I reasoned with my folks) sight unseen as it was brand new at the time and I couldn't have made a much better pick. It blew me away with how good a conversion it was and all my friends with ataris wanted to swap with me for their games for weeks at a time so I got a LOT of gameplay value of it and other games as well with that one cart. What's ironic is that no matter how good i got at it, I never (until right now) realized that I should HOLD BACK fighting the Gond for more points! I always just blew him away instantly, and always thought it was a bit of a let-down for the end-of-game boss, especially compared to the arcade version who laughs at you as he hides behind his defense barrier and locks the door behind you. Now I know why he was so easy to kill on the Atari version, though I still think giving him a barrier would have been much better. Maybe they ran out of room in memory to code it? It's the only reason I can think of. They must have jammed everything tightly into it's 4k ROM. Great video on a legendary game!
agreed you could get your quarter worth playing this one. It starts pretty easy but you really had to learn the patterns to make it through the higher levels. Such good fun.
Theme music composed by Jerry Goldsmith for the 1979 sci-fi film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, later utilized for Star Trek: The Next Generation, is borrowed as Vanguard's introductory theme. Vultan's theme (composed by Queen's Freddie Mercury) from the 1980 film Flash Gordon is used as the sound effect when a power-up is attained.
One of my favorite arcade games and one of my favorite 2600 games. Always loved it. It was always too easy to kill the Gond, so the extra point thing helped a bit. An absolutely fantastic translation
Oh Vanguard, I loved this game, so many time I played and so many coins.. as a 12y kid I was a little champion of my arcade, with a record score of about 100'000 pts. Today I'm really bad. I didn't know the VCS version, but it seems very good. Excellent port, only flaw: the lack of the original music, they were so beautiful and iconic Thanks Jon for these beautiful memories
This could be considerd the genesis of the twin-stick shooter control scheme, had they actually used two sticks. If you really want to rack up points in the Bleak Zone with the Kemlus, shoot them then quickly dock with the debris. You'll get the points for killing them but you'll get the points for docking as well. However you're still limited to 3 docks.
I have this game and when I was a kid, I used to beat it all the time. Strangely enough, "The Gond" is easier to beat than all the other phases of the game. I can still hear that music in my head from when you touch those energy pods with the ship, and then go ramming the aliens out of the sky. I had the timing of when the energy pod was going to wear off perfectly. One strategy I used to use was to stay in contact with that energy pod as long as possible as the screen scrolls, with my ship moving all the way to the left to maximize the number of alien ships on the screen before flying up and ramming them. This game was one of those games that I enjoyed on the Atari 2600 more than I enjoyed it in the arcades. The controls on the Atari version made the ship a lot easier to control than the arcade version's controls did.
Love what you are doing in all your videos. Would love to see one where you give us a better look at all the fun stuff behind you. As for this game, the other firing option is far easier. Also, each enemy only fires once, so once they do, you only have to worry about a collision. Cheers!
I have this one on my Flashback 9 Gold. I have no past related to this game but you make me want to plug it in. Thanks for the lesson! Great vid tonight, Jon. ✌😉
So you can get vanguard on flashback 9 Gold?? I think I'm going to get that.. that's if I don't have it already I have two Newer plug and Play consoles but neither one of them have vanguard on it. I tried using a game card to add vanguard to it and it would not take it for some reason.
@@tamc9550 I don't think it comes ON the Flashback 9 Gold out of the box. I loaded Vanguard onto an SD card. Sorry for the confusion. BUT, if you have a Flashback with an SD slot, Jon here at GXG, has a video somewhere in his list of vids that demonstrates how to load your SD card successfully. If memory serves me correctly, there is some file name editing involved to make certain games work. It's not difficult, just time consuming once you get the hang of it.
Great Review! I feel like I had this maybe as I was fond of anything that resembled Defender … I know that back then I was not fond of the “sunset” color scheme where every line was a progression of color … would have much preferred solid colors for a whole element… these days I am much more forgiving on the coloring. But that does remind me that I am far more impressed by some color schemes than others and that does affect my enjoyment of the game regardless of the game play. Strange how different things affect us differently. Hope you have a great weekend Jon and GxGang 👊🏻😎🕹️
Great game and one of the earlier arcade games to feature synthesized speech. You can still play the OG arcade game on modern platforms on the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection. Keep up the awesome work Jon :-)
Thank you so much for covering such a great game. This is truly a game that they should bring back. It had so much excitement and replay ability. I would buy it as a remaster for sure!!
One of my favorites back in the day, despite not having even seen the arcade version until adulthood. The arcade version is on the SNK 40th anniversary collection. (Centuri was the US distributor.)
I had played the 2600 version when it came out and didn't know it was an arcade game until we went to a pizzeria that had it, and I only used a couple quarters.
I got Vanguard one year for Christmas. One of my faves of all time. It took some balls of steel to wait till the very end to shoot Gond. My 9 year old self did it a few times, with the energy beams almost touching the plane.
I used to play this game when i was a kid. I never made it to the Gond. It's a really impressive game when you see what the original arcade game looked like.
I loved this game on the 2600. I also have it for the 5200, where the graphics are closer to the arcade, but sometimes it doesn't seem to register the button presses. Or maybe it's related to the joystick being analog, but often I'd try to shoot something side of my ship, or behind it, it wouldn't fire, and I'd get killed. My controller buttons worked fine on everything else, so I don't think it wast he fault of the buttons. I've also tried the arcade version emulated, and I die VERY quickly. I find having to press four separate buttons to be extremely awkward compared with just moving the stick in the direction I want to shoot. For the record, I always used control method 2, button by itself shoots forward, button and a direction shoots in that direction.
I remember getting this for Christmas and playing the hell out of it. If I recall, I think I've always used "Method 2 L-A, R-B" firing control (the one where it fires forward by just pressing the button, but move the joystick for the other directions). I loved this game in the arcade, and getting to play it on my 2600 was so awesome at the time.
@@GenXGrownUp This may have very well been one of, if not THE first, home console games that let you select which control method you wanted to do. Seems these days, we take being able to map controls for granted, but that was real innovative at the time. Also to add, just seen this video today as I just got back from celebrating birthday ("verjaardag" in Dutch) number 55 in the Netherlands! Yup, definitely a "GenXGrownUp" 😀
Boutique electronic store in 1980's? Could it be Babbage's? Edit: Never mind, I didn't realize there was an electronic boutique store called "Electronic Boutique". Both became GameStop anyway.
There was a grocery store on my way home from high school that had the arcade Vanguard for awhile, and I dropped a lot of quarters in it. When Atari released Vanguard for the 2600 I had to get it. A few years ago I found an empty Centuri arcade cabinet for $50. I bought a Vanguard marquee and control panel from ebay and a Bitkit fpga pcb from Mike's Arcade, I think? I have an original pcb but I don't have the skills to repair it, unfortunately. However the Bitkit runs Vanguard almost perfect. The Rainbow Zone music gets out of sync, but that's the only issue I've had.
I had this one. This was one of a few 2600 games I considered superior to the arcade original, probably because I didn't like having to manage all the fire buttons at a time when one or two buttons were all we usually had to deal with.
Vanguard was one of my favorite arcade games when I was around 10. I actually wrote to Atari asking if they would make Vanguard for the 2600. They responded with a letter basically telling me they would need the rights to do so... so fast forward 2 years or so later when it came out, I was thrilled and twelve year old me thought it was because I wrote them asking for it! Really wish I kept response letter from Atari. Of course I bought the game right away and absolutely loved it! They did an incredible job converting this game.
That's great. And don't undersell yourself. I'm sure your voice was a contributor to them seeking the license. If enough people make a noise, companies listen!
When they talk about the best games for the Atari 2600, you rarely see Vanguard mentioned. This is a superb home version of the game. I had it and played it a lot. The variety of levels was unheard of on the console. The Atari 5200 version is even better graphically and soundwise but suffers from the awful controller. Hopefully you've done a video about the 20 games announced for next week's Atari 50 DLC. Very interesting game list.
I love that Digital Eclipse recreated the famous (to Gen X) commercial for VCS “Vanguard” when it came time to market the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection.
I got this game around the time it came out. It says December 1982, but I might have spent Christmas money on it in January 1982. Sadly that phase 11:41 with the vertical bars, shooting barrier and rotating block is just too fast in the third round for me to pass it, since my ship can't move that quickly left and right. That phase where you get captured 12:52, you can shoot a guy and then get captured by its blown-up form for extra points. The Gond phase 13:40 is the weakest boss battle. You're supposed to wait and shoot later for more points. You can actually slightly go into the top barrier without dying, so when the bottom barrier comes up, you will survive and it will disappear. I think that then gives you maximum points when you shoot. I wasn't that impressed with a lot of third-party games. They didn't seem to have the quality of Atari's, and didn't have the game variations the older games were known for. Someone at Activision said they hated programming variations. If this had been a third party game, they would only have been all-vertical or all-horizontal-shooting levels, like the first two stages plus the Styx on one cart, and those balloon things and the falling bombs on another cart.
i remembet playing the arcade version in 81..great days....i think they changed the 'styx'zone name because of the rock group styx...great 2600 version..the 5200 had it too!
Loved this in the arcade back in the day. The pre-Neo Geo SNK catalog in general, and Vanguard in particular is sadly under appreciated. I never played the 2600 version, but was giddy when it came out for the PS3, as the PS3 controller could duplicate the arcade controls.
47,170! You play Vanguard well! This was one of a bunch of games that Atari released for the 2600 during 1982 or '83 which featured enhanced graphics. I had Centipede, Battlezone, Dig Dug, Kangaroo, Moon Patrol and Realsports Football....and still do. Hey GXGU. I just wanted to give you an update on my Atari GSP. I have managed to successfully download the ROM files for some of my all-time favourite arcade games, but for some reason, there is no sound whenever I play the two Stern-brand games, 'Berzerk' and 'Frenzy'. I do not encounter any issues with the sound features of any of the other games I have downloaded. Do you have any idea what could be causing this with just these two games and how I can correct it?
Thanks for the review. This is a forgotten classic and the 2600 version of the game is an excellent arcade port. You know your headed into 1982/1983 when you see rainbow color graphics on 2600
This game probably has the easiest final boss in history 😂 Of course unless you want more points and don't shoot him right away. Great game anyway, very advanced for the 2600
Oh, super easy! It's a risk/reward, though. If you'll wait it out, you can octuple your bonus for destroying the Gond, but it gets more and more dangerous the longer you wait.
You can actually wait it out until the bottom barrier disappears, by moving your ship slightly into the top barrier, but not enough to destroy your ship. I think that gives you maximum points, though you can fool around as long as you want, once it's gone. Still, it looks like they didn't know how to do a proper boss battle. They should have had you shoot something, like that breakout-style barrier in Tron the arcade game, or the boss ships in Phoenix and Gorf.
Fun fact about the Atari 2600 version of this game. If you "fry" the game (shorting out the game by moving the power switch into a sweet spot between off and on), you play the game as a black ship and you are invulnerable for the whole game (as far as I know). I also think you shoot faster....hard to recall it all after not playing it for 30 years or so.
@@GenXGrownUp Good luck with it! To be fair, it's possible it may have just been my cartridge...my copy was salvaged from a house that was completely destroyed by fire, so it was pretty scorched to start with.
I still have this game. I loved Vanguard. So many sweaty joystick and cramped hands.
This and Defender were games I could play for hours on end. So much fun and it was amazing to see what they were able to accomplish on the VCS/2600.
I played this title on the 2600 big time! I still remember the tv commercial. It was and is a fantastic conversion.
Vanguard was super complicated with its four button co controls for 9 year old me! Glad to see it on your show!
Edit: 9 year old me would pretend this is the Last Starfighter game. All the shooting reminds me of the Death Blossom. 😂
Loved this game in the arcade in the 80's but now as an XGengrownup @57 yrs old reliving on my Atari 2600+. One of the best games in my collection of 200+ carts.🎉🕹🕹🕹🕹
I dropped so many quarters on the arcade version of Vanguard. But to me the best part was the "borrowed" riff from Queen's "Vultan's Theme (Attack of the Hawkmen)" from the Flash Gordon soundtrack.
Vanguard is one of my favorites I used love playing it at the arcade. “Adventure” is another game that features a continue. When you die and push reset you will always start at the yellow/gold castle everything is where it was when you died.
That's true. This might be the first "arcade" style with continue, though. Either way, not very common on the Atari.
Yes and I loved Venture too
Vanguard has always been a must-have title, any time I've ever owned an Atari
Vanguard on the 2600 is one of my earliest memories of video games and is still a favourite of mine today. Ya it only keeps me entertained for a full on round or two, but it’s like an old shoe. Great video!
I really enjoyed this game when I was growing up. I never played in the arcade just on the atari 2600.
Vanguard is such a iconic arcade classic shooter thanks again buddy
👍😎👍💯
One of the few 2600 games I remember that was as good as the arcade.
Oh man. This was the first game I ever got when I got my Atari VCS for my 10th birthday in February 1983. It has VERY special memories for me as I am sure you can guess. I enjoyed the arcade version of the game and asked for this to be my game that came with the system (since you can't play Combat alone, I reasoned with my folks) sight unseen as it was brand new at the time and I couldn't have made a much better pick. It blew me away with how good a conversion it was and all my friends with ataris wanted to swap with me for their games for weeks at a time so I got a LOT of gameplay value of it and other games as well with that one cart.
What's ironic is that no matter how good i got at it, I never (until right now) realized that I should HOLD BACK fighting the Gond for more points! I always just blew him away instantly, and always thought it was a bit of a let-down for the end-of-game boss, especially compared to the arcade version who laughs at you as he hides behind his defense barrier and locks the door behind you. Now I know why he was so easy to kill on the Atari version, though I still think giving him a barrier would have been much better. Maybe they ran out of room in memory to code it? It's the only reason I can think of. They must have jammed everything tightly into it's 4k ROM. Great video on a legendary game!
This is one of those rare games that I actually liked the 2600 port better than the stand up arcade! Loved playing this game.
Awesome game. One of my favorites growing up. Thanks!
agreed you could get your quarter worth playing this one. It starts pretty easy but you really had to learn the patterns to make it through the higher levels. Such good fun.
One of my absolute favorites. Thanks for doing this one...
I was eight, when I explored the arcade machine.
Those memories! Thank you!
Luther destroys the Gond! That commercial still lives in my head rent free.
LOL you're not the only one. 😆
huhuhuahuhUAUHahahaa
Damn it! It just moved back in.
Theme music composed by Jerry Goldsmith for the 1979 sci-fi film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, later utilized for Star Trek: The Next Generation, is borrowed as Vanguard's introductory theme. Vultan's theme (composed by Queen's Freddie Mercury) from the 1980 film Flash Gordon is used as the sound effect when a power-up is attained.
In the arcade game only. No Trek theme here.
I had this game! I forgot all about it but it instantly came back to me when you started playing. It was one of my favorite on the 2600!
One of my favorite arcade games and one of my favorite 2600 games. Always loved it. It was always too easy to kill the Gond, so the extra point thing helped a bit. An absolutely fantastic translation
Oh Vanguard, I loved this game, so many time I played and so many coins.. as a 12y kid I was a little champion of my arcade, with a record score of about 100'000 pts.
Today I'm really bad.
I didn't know the VCS version, but it seems very good. Excellent port, only flaw: the lack of the original music, they were so beautiful and iconic
Thanks Jon for these beautiful memories
That music when you hit the energy blocks is Vultan’s Theme by Queen for the 1980 Flash Gordon movie.
I played this so much as a kid.
On the 2600. Great game.
Never played the arcade version.
This could be considerd the genesis of the twin-stick shooter control scheme, had they actually used two sticks.
If you really want to rack up points in the Bleak Zone with the Kemlus, shoot them then quickly dock with the debris. You'll get the points for killing them but you'll get the points for docking as well. However you're still limited to 3 docks.
That's a great tip that actually documented right in the manual, if I'm remembering correctly. 😀
@@GenXGrownUp I forget if I saw it in the manual or in Electronic Gaming magazine before the neighbor kid got the game.
I have this game and when I was a kid, I used to beat it all the time. Strangely enough, "The Gond" is easier to beat than all the other phases of the game. I can still hear that music in my head from when you touch those energy pods with the ship, and then go ramming the aliens out of the sky. I had the timing of when the energy pod was going to wear off perfectly. One strategy I used to use was to stay in contact with that energy pod as long as possible as the screen scrolls, with my ship moving all the way to the left to maximize the number of alien ships on the screen before flying up and ramming them. This game was one of those games that I enjoyed on the Atari 2600 more than I enjoyed it in the arcades. The controls on the Atari version made the ship a lot easier to control than the arcade version's controls did.
I guess they didn't know how to do a boss fight. What was the arcade boss like, if there was one?
Great channel Jon, one of my favorites. Nostalgic games and kust Nostalgia are my fav favorites.
Thanks for watching. Nostalgia is definitely a big part of what keeps me going!
Great vid thanks. Add it to the list of games I learned about on your channel.
Oh, really? Cool! 😁
That is a REALLY impressive 2600 game! I need to track one of these down - Thanks!
Love what you are doing in all your videos. Would love to see one where you give us a better look at all the fun stuff behind you. As for this game, the other firing option is far easier. Also, each enemy only fires once, so once they do, you only have to worry about a collision. Cheers!
I have this one on my Flashback 9 Gold. I have no past related to this game but you make me want to plug it in. Thanks for the lesson! Great vid tonight, Jon. ✌😉
So you can get vanguard on flashback 9 Gold?? I think I'm going to get that.. that's if I don't have it already I have two Newer plug and Play consoles but neither one of them have vanguard on it. I tried using a game card to add vanguard to it and it would not take it for some reason.
@@tamc9550 I don't think it comes ON the Flashback 9 Gold out of the box. I loaded Vanguard onto an SD card. Sorry for the confusion. BUT, if you have a Flashback with an SD slot, Jon here at GXG, has a video somewhere in his list of vids that demonstrates how to load your SD card successfully. If memory serves me correctly, there is some file name editing involved to make certain games work. It's not difficult, just time consuming once you get the hang of it.
I enjoyed this video Jon! I had Vanguard for the 2600 many moons ago. I never got close to your score but had fun playing nonetheless.
This port is incredible! Great review! 😊
I think so too! 😀
This was a fairly ambitious 2600 game with all the different screens and the continue option.
I haven't thought of this one in years! Thanks for reminding me 😁
Glad you enjoyed it! 👍
I just grabbed this from the used gameshop. Super excited to get into this one.
I actually got Vanguard this week from a local seller for 2$ for vcs, great game for the time, was fun!
Nice score! 😎
This was always one of my favorites. Glad to see it get some love.
I feel the same way! 😊
Vanguard This Was a Really Nice Game For the 2600s Limitations
Great Review!
I feel like I had this maybe as I was fond of anything that resembled Defender … I know that back then I was not fond of the “sunset” color scheme where every line was a progression of color … would have much preferred solid colors for a whole element… these days I am much more forgiving on the coloring.
But that does remind me that I am far more impressed by some color schemes than others and that does affect my enjoyment of the game regardless of the game play. Strange how different things affect us differently.
Hope you have a great weekend Jon and GxGang 👊🏻😎🕹️
They did a pretty good job with this port considering the limitations. Great review!
I remember the manual going real hard into it's own lore. And the snakes that hug you!
It's a really involved manual with info that does nothing to inform gameplay, but does build a bunch or backstory!
Great game and one of the earlier arcade games to feature synthesized speech. You can still play the OG arcade game on modern platforms on the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection. Keep up the awesome work Jon :-)
A solid classic. Spent many hours on this back in the day.
Thank you so much for covering such a great game. This is truly a game that they should bring back. It had so much excitement and replay ability. I would buy it as a remaster for sure!!
The "tew, tew, tew" when the energy pod is running out, what other 2600 game was that sound in??
Thanks for sharing. Cheers.
Awesome! What a great game.
Great game in the arcade. Great port on the 2600. Great port on the 5200.
Great variety in a terrific translation, far above average for an arcade translation for the 2600. It's almost timeless in quality and playability!👍
Who needs six games in one I would line up my atari games as if they were all one game, each cassette was the next level.
*cartridge
This was one of the last titles I bought as a kid. I really enjoyed it back then. I recently reacquired it for my collection. It’s still fun.
I can see why you would pick it up again.
I played the crap out of this because of the ships that looked like Vipers from Battlestar Galactica.
One of my favorites back in the day, despite not having even seen the arcade version until adulthood. The arcade version is on the SNK 40th anniversary collection. (Centuri was the US distributor.)
I had played the 2600 version when it came out and didn't know it was an arcade game until we went to a pizzeria that had it, and I only used a couple quarters.
An old favorite! Instead of having different colors for each level, all the levels have all the colors 😂
I got Vanguard one year for Christmas. One of my faves of all time. It took some balls of steel to wait till the very end to shoot Gond. My 9 year old self did it a few times, with the energy beams almost touching the plane.
Bravo to your 9-year-old self! Well done. 😀
@@GenXGrownUp Thank you Jon.
One of the top 5 games on the 2600 imho
Yeah? What else rounds out your hall of fame?
I used to play this game when i was a kid. I never made it to the Gond. It's a really impressive game when you see what the original arcade game looked like.
I loved this game on the 2600. I also have it for the 5200, where the graphics are closer to the arcade, but sometimes it doesn't seem to register the button presses. Or maybe it's related to the joystick being analog, but often I'd try to shoot something side of my ship, or behind it, it wouldn't fire, and I'd get killed. My controller buttons worked fine on everything else, so I don't think it wast he fault of the buttons.
I've also tried the arcade version emulated, and I die VERY quickly. I find having to press four separate buttons to be extremely awkward compared with just moving the stick in the direction I want to shoot.
For the record, I always used control method 2, button by itself shoots forward, button and a direction shoots in that direction.
I remember getting this for Christmas and playing the hell out of it. If I recall, I think I've always used "Method 2 L-A, R-B" firing control (the one where it fires forward by just pressing the button, but move the joystick for the other directions). I loved this game in the arcade, and getting to play it on my 2600 was so awesome at the time.
I think it was damned innovative to provide four different fire methods and let players choose what worked for them!
@@GenXGrownUp This may have very well been one of, if not THE first, home console games that let you select which control method you wanted to do. Seems these days, we take being able to map controls for granted, but that was real innovative at the time. Also to add, just seen this video today as I just got back from celebrating birthday ("verjaardag" in Dutch) number 55 in the Netherlands! Yup, definitely a "GenXGrownUp" 😀
First video game I ever purchased with my own money! Holds a very special place in my seven-year-old heart.
I know that feeling! 😊
Boutique electronic store in 1980's? Could it be Babbage's?
Edit: Never mind, I didn't realize there was an electronic boutique store called "Electronic Boutique". Both became GameStop anyway.
Right. Both got gobbled up, but we had both an Electronics Boutique AND a Babbage's in our "big town" mall. 😁
There was a grocery store on my way home from high school that had the arcade Vanguard for awhile, and I dropped a lot of quarters in it. When Atari released Vanguard for the 2600 I had to get it. A few years ago I found an empty Centuri arcade cabinet for $50. I bought a Vanguard marquee and control panel from ebay and a Bitkit fpga pcb from Mike's Arcade, I think? I have an original pcb but I don't have the skills to repair it, unfortunately. However the Bitkit runs Vanguard almost perfect. The Rainbow Zone music gets out of sync, but that's the only issue I've had.
I had this one. This was one of a few 2600 games I considered superior to the arcade original, probably because I didn't like having to manage all the fire buttons at a time when one or two buttons were all we usually had to deal with.
Oh, good point.
I never heard of this game or the arcade version before. Sounds interesting.
Vanguard was one of my favorite arcade games when I was around 10. I actually wrote to Atari asking if they would make Vanguard for the 2600. They responded with a letter basically telling me they would need the rights to do so... so fast forward 2 years or so later when it came out, I was thrilled and twelve year old me thought it was because I wrote them asking for it! Really wish I kept response letter from Atari. Of course I bought the game right away and absolutely loved it! They did an incredible job converting this game.
That's great. And don't undersell yourself. I'm sure your voice was a contributor to them seeking the license. If enough people make a noise, companies listen!
You cannot ask for a better arcade conversion from the VCS...this game is great !
I sure think so! 😁
I love this game, a lot of good memories of me and my friends beating over over and over.
Jon I played this game so much I wore it out.
I have such fond memories of the game that I actually have a copy in my display case
Nice.
man,,,,,,that brings back some memories 🤗
Vanguard was pretty impressive 2600 port.
It would have been cool it they had done a 2 joystick control option.
When they talk about the best games for the Atari 2600, you rarely see Vanguard mentioned. This is a superb home version of the game. I had it and played it a lot. The variety of levels was unheard of on the console. The Atari 5200 version is even better graphically and soundwise but suffers from the awful controller.
Hopefully you've done a video about the 20 games announced for next week's Atari 50 DLC. Very interesting game list.
I love that Digital Eclipse recreated the famous (to Gen X) commercial for VCS “Vanguard” when it came time to market the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection.
I didn't see that. Do they have a Luther?!
Indeed! th-cam.com/video/atAHyO3AoLE/w-d-xo.html
Love this one
I got this game around the time it came out. It says December 1982, but I might have spent Christmas money on it in January 1982. Sadly that phase 11:41 with the vertical bars, shooting barrier and rotating block is just too fast in the third round for me to pass it, since my ship can't move that quickly left and right.
That phase where you get captured 12:52, you can shoot a guy and then get captured by its blown-up form for extra points.
The Gond phase 13:40 is the weakest boss battle. You're supposed to wait and shoot later for more points. You can actually slightly go into the top barrier without dying, so when the bottom barrier comes up, you will survive and it will disappear. I think that then gives you maximum points when you shoot.
I wasn't that impressed with a lot of third-party games. They didn't seem to have the quality of Atari's, and didn't have the game variations the older games were known for. Someone at Activision said they hated programming variations. If this had been a third party game, they would only have been all-vertical or all-horizontal-shooting levels, like the first two stages plus the Styx on one cart, and those balloon things and the falling bombs on another cart.
I loved this game when I got it. It really felt so close to the arcade version at the time anyway.
I think it plays better than the arcade game, not as difficult so more fun
loved this game.
i remembet playing the arcade version in 81..great days....i think they changed the 'styx'zone name because of the rock group styx...great 2600 version..the 5200 had it too!
I was more of a Fantastic Voyage guy back in the day, but I did like me some Vanguard.
First time seeing this one. Looks solid.
First time seeing it? Mission accomplished! 😁
Many hours spent playing this game as a kid.
Loved this in the arcade back in the day. The pre-Neo Geo SNK catalog in general, and Vanguard in particular is sadly under appreciated. I never played the 2600 version, but was giddy when it came out for the PS3, as the PS3 controller could duplicate the arcade controls.
47,170! You play Vanguard well! This was one of a bunch of games that Atari released for the 2600 during 1982 or '83 which featured enhanced graphics. I had Centipede, Battlezone, Dig Dug, Kangaroo, Moon Patrol and Realsports Football....and still do.
Hey GXGU. I just wanted to give you an update on my Atari GSP. I have managed to successfully download the ROM files for some of my all-time favourite arcade games, but for some reason, there is no sound whenever I play the two Stern-brand games, 'Berzerk' and 'Frenzy'. I do not encounter any issues with the sound features of any of the other games I have downloaded.
Do you have any idea what could be causing this with just these two games and how I can correct it?
It was called Styx Zone on the 5200 port.
Hmm… 🤔
I always thought the Harley ships looked a lot like Colonial Vipers from Battlestar Galactica.
Which plug and Play retro newer Atari version has vanguard added to it I've been looking for one but cannot find it.
Vanguard is not being distributed in modern Atari devices because they no longer own the license to release it.
@GenXGrownUp oh ok thank you for the info.
Can we add it to a SD card to play in the Atari 9 and the Atari 9 Gold?
@@tamc9550 Most certainly.
I always thought the cover art for this game was much cooler than the game itself.
Thanks for the review. This is a forgotten classic and the 2600 version of the game is an excellent arcade port. You know your headed into 1982/1983 when you see rainbow color graphics on 2600
Vanguard is like a spiritual prequel to Lifeforce on the NES
Lifeforce (initially known as "Salamander"), was a great arcade game before it ever hit the NES.
This game probably has the easiest final boss in history 😂 Of course unless you want more points and don't shoot him right away. Great game anyway, very advanced for the 2600
Oh, super easy! It's a risk/reward, though. If you'll wait it out, you can octuple your bonus for destroying the Gond, but it gets more and more dangerous the longer you wait.
You can actually wait it out until the bottom barrier disappears, by moving your ship slightly into the top barrier, but not enough to destroy your ship. I think that gives you maximum points, though you can fool around as long as you want, once it's gone.
Still, it looks like they didn't know how to do a proper boss battle. They should have had you shoot something, like that breakout-style barrier in Tron the arcade game, or the boss ships in Phoenix and Gorf.
Best part of the video? Elf needs food badly ;)
Luther handles the GOND
Without fail. 😉
Ever played Tunnel Runner ?
Yes.
Wow! 😎👏
Please talk and play the atari 5200 space dungeon and Vanguard on Atari 5200.
Oh, I love Space Dungeon! Played it a ton on my Atari 8-bit. 😀
That was my favorite arcade game. I could actually beat it with one quarter.
Fun fact about the Atari 2600 version of this game. If you "fry" the game (shorting out the game by moving the power switch into a sweet spot between off and on), you play the game as a black ship and you are invulnerable for the whole game (as far as I know). I also think you shoot faster....hard to recall it all after not playing it for 30 years or so.
I tried frying it a bit, and while I could get both the deformed and black ships, I wasn't invulnerable. Might just need more tries. 😁
@@GenXGrownUp Good luck with it! To be fair, it's possible it may have just been my cartridge...my copy was salvaged from a house that was completely destroyed by fire, so it was pretty scorched to start with.
*I wonder if Brian May and the other guys from **_Queen_** got royalties from the sales of these games, both the arcade and/or the 2600 versions?* 🤔
Styx was a popular band in the day, so they may have avoided using "Styx" for possible legal reasons.