Atari 7800 games worth picking up

[dsheinem]

I thought I'd get a thread going to see if any other folks here are Atari 7800 players...hopefully we can use this thread to create a good repository of suggestions for 7800 games since the main RB website has nothing on the system.

I'll start with two suggestions:

Food Fight



Food Fight is an arcade game by Atari that was only ported to the 7800 and the XEGS, and so until it ended up in the XBOX 360 "Game Room" a few years ago, the 7800 port was the most common way to play the game at home outside of emulation.



Each level involves you trying to reach a goal (an ice cream cone) while using food that is laying around to take out enemy chefs and the food they are throwing at you. It is really a very novel game that plays surprisingly well with even the 7800's horrible US controller.



This game is almost Robotron-esque in the level of shit flying around the screen on some of the later levels, and it continues to hold up as one of the best games for the system.


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Desert Falcon



A much better version game than the 2600 version, Desert Falcon is probably the best shmup released for the 7800 during its short lifetime. The isometric view is reminiscent of Zaxxon and takes some getting use to, but the controls feel spot on and fluid (especially with a Euro-style gamepad).



The scoring is pretty basic but there's a wide variety of items to shoot and powerups/power-downs to collect which create some interesting situations throughout the game. I think that the game is a very novel approach to the shmup genre in terms of setting and perspective.



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So what other games do people enjoy for the system? I have a ton more I can talk about, but I am curious what the rest of you think!

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Xevious has a pretty great port on the 7800, very colourful, no slowdown as I remember it.

[dsheinem]

Xevious has a pretty great port on the 7800, very colourful, no slowdown as I remember it.

Yeah, it is my favorite console pre-90s console port and another one that actually works pretty well with that awkward controller. Plus I think it looks nicer in some ways than the NES version:

NES:



7800:

[Hobie-wan]

Food Fight and Desert Falcon were the games I played the most on my friend's 7800 back in the day and I made sure to pick up when I got one too. So you already took the 2 suggestions I was going to make. Most of the other games that come to mind there are better ports elsewhere.

[ExedExes]

Desert Falcon looks really good on the 7800. I have Xevious too and I think it's a *great* port.

I'll add Xenophobe to the list & a story to go with it: I subscribed to the short lived 3-issue only "Atarian" magazine that Atari put out in 1989 and since they discontinued publishing it we had to get our subscription money back. It took them a while to get the money back, but since I was so patient in waiting they sent me Xenophobe as sort of a free bonus. Not bad, right? Plus, it was one of the newest 7800 releases at the time. Take a look and dare I say this one is also better than the crappy NES port?





Tower Toppler is another one. Based off a popular European computer title, it used the 7800 graphics and sound very effectively.





Finally, I also have (and enjoyed) Choplifter





From what I've seen, the 7800 ports of Centipede and Asteroids also look and play better than the 2600.

[Nemoide]

There's only one must-own game I know of... NINJA GOLF.

[Golgo 14]

I never thought that much of Xenophobe and Tower Toppler, but at least they're new.

As mentioned earlier, Food Fight is a very good near exclusive. The 7800 also has an excellent version of Ballblazer.

The original 7800 catalog is filled with ports of games you can play on a lot of other systems, but some of the 7800 versions have features that set them apart. 2-player simultaneous play on Centipede and Asteroids make the system a must own, imo. Joust is also great, though not that different from other ports.

If you're willing to pay 30 bucks or so for an Atari game, there are some fantastic homebrew programmers that are breathing new life into the old 7800. Go to http://www.atariage.com and check out the work of PacManPlus. I haven't been able to play any of his games yet, but they look amazing. Titles include an update of Circus Atari, Moon Cresta, Scramble, Space Duel and more!

[dsheinem]

Titles include an update of Circus Atari, Moon Cresta, Scramble, Space Duel and more!

I wish there was a way to play these and a bunch of other cool hombbrew games on original hardware without having to track down no-longer-in-production limited run carts. AFAIK there's no flash cart for the 7800, right?

[Czernobog]

Funnily enough, I just got the 7800 carts for Super Huey, Galaga, and Asteroids at a garage sale a few hours ago. Haven't popped any in yet though.

I have Ms. Pac-man, Karateka, Pole Position II, and Dig Dug, and Xevious as well.

Xevious is great, I can't remember if the Ms. Pac-man port was particularly good, Pole Position II I quite like, and I don't care for the port of Karateka because the controls are wonky and unintuitive (only played with the NA stick though). Dig Dug has some pretty severe sound issues, but i could just be my cartridge.

I've really been keeping my eyes peeled for the Mario Bros. port, Food Fight, and Midnight Mutants as I think all of those look like fun ones.

[dsheinem]

Funnily enough, I just got the 7800 carts for Super Huey, Galaga, and Asteroids at a garage sale a few hours ago. Haven't popped any in yet though.

I have Ms. Pac-man, Karateka, Pole Position II, and Dig Dug, and Xevious as well.

Xevious is great, I can't remember if the Ms. Pac-man port was particularly good, Pole Position II I quite like, and I don't care for the port of Karateka because the controls are wonky and unintuitive (only played with the NA stick though). Dig Dug has some pretty severe sound issues, but i could just be my cartridge.

I've really been keeping my eyes peeled for the Mario Bros. port, Food Fight, and Midnight Mutants as I think all of those look like fun ones.

Mario Bros. is great. Midnight Mutants is en route to me, so I should be able to post thoughts on that soon. There are a surprising number of exclusives for the system (about a dozen), and about 15-20 games that only appeared on the 7800, Lynx, or a computer-based system like an ST or C64. Not bad for a library of less than 60 retail games.