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So I decided to play through my homebrew library over the past couple of days (32 games total) and as I was doing so I realized that there wasn't a dog in the lot. Every homebrew I own is a winner and some are amongst the best VCS games ever. Since I feel that homebrews still do not get the big love they really deserve, I thought I'd give a shout out to some of the games that have really stood out during my tour:
Backfire
This game is sick amounts of fun. Sick. It is simple to play, but the difficulty ramps perfectly to provide a superior challenge. I can (and have) play this game all night and not get bored. I'm not sure how many people own this one, but it belongs in every collection.
Crazy Balloon
Now this bad boy does cause me to get a little heated, but only because it demands perfection. Again, simple to play, but difficult to master. A carefully crafted puzzle-action game that gets a lot of replay because you are always sure you can get to the next level.
Go Fish!
I bought this game originally because I had followed it from the idea stage to the finished product and felt a kinship with it, but it was only recently that I fully appreciated its greatness. This is THE game to play when you are having a frustrating day and finesse games are only going to lead to broken controllers. There is no hurry in this game, it is all about sitting back, gobbling some fish, and getting bigger. And if you need a break, no problem, you can rest in the weeds at the bottom. A very relaxing game that is now my go-to after a hard day at work.
Lady Bug
My god, I don't think I have to really explain this one. This is probably the best maze-dot game for the VCS (nostalgia is the only thing keeping Ms. Pac-man at that spot in my list). One hell of a conversion and so addicting I have played it for hours non-stop.
Seawolf
Again, no explanation needed. This is another game that belongs in every collection. A very demanding shooter that rewards strategy over button mashing. Sheer genius.
And of course, I have previously picked up Dungeon and Chunkout 2600, both are exceptional new releases that prove things are only getting better in the homebrew world.
(and yes, Al, I am about to mosey over to the store and do some reviewing, just for you!)
So let's hear some big love for your favorite homebrew, and if you haven't yet, get thee to the AA store and snag some of the best times you are going to have on the old 2600!!
Big Love for Homebrews!
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littleman jack 
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Posted Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:48 PM
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Agreed!
Seawolf is really awesome, and Backfire is quite good too. It's hard to stop playing either of those once you get going. Also, I just received Incoming. It's really quite good, especially with two players. I've always loved Smithereens! on the O2, and Incoming is like Smithereens on steroids. Many optons and variations to the playing field and scores needed to win. |
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Lord Helmet
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Posted Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:51 AM
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The quality of 95% of the homebrew 2600 games are head and shoulders above most commercially released games from back in the day. Some of these programmers would have been rock stars. Of course, they have a lot more to work with now, but still...talented guys.
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save2600
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Posted Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:08 PM
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The quality of 95% of the homebrew 2600 games are head and shoulders above most commercially released games from back in the day. Some of these programmers would have been rock stars. Of course, they have a lot more to work with now, but still...talented guys. Agree 110%. Very talented and quality stuff coming out for sure. Re: Go Fish! I just wish the pace of the game was ramped up a little more. You can sit there "forever" until you get most fish to eat so you can grow. The INTV equivalent is much better because of that. |
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save2600
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Posted Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:21 PM
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Thanks Stan for adding reviews for so many homebrews. Would love to see others do the same!  ..Al I own both Sea Wolf for the 2600 (blue case - yay!) and the original arcade game. Without going into a very long diatribe here, I can honestly say the 2600 version throws a little more into the mix strategy wise than the arcade. Absolutely no comparison on the whole though between the two... the arcade is fundamentally an entirely different and superior experience - but kudos to random boat algorithm in the homebrew! |
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tremoloman2006
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:00 PM
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I'm not exaggerating when I say I own 30+ homebrews for Atari systems. Homebrews are what brought me to Atari Age initially and has rekindled my move and passion for everything Atari since 2006. I own a huge debt of gratitude to Al and everyone in the Atari community in general.
Homebrews rule! Support the programmers and buy 'em up! 
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Mirage
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:54 PM
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Yeah, agreed Stan... the talent in creating homebrews for this little old system is truly astounding. I haven't seen a dud in the AtariAge lineup yet. We're so lucky some people have such a passion for the machine.
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Galactus
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:32 PM
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Yeah, agreed Stan... the talent in creating homebrews for this little old system is truly astounding. I haven't seen a dud in the AtariAge lineup yet. We're so lucky some people have such a passion for the machine. It'll be nice when the store comes back. You guys have me pretty excited about some of these games. It's always so hard to decide which ones to pick up. |
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littleman jack
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:44 PM
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The store is back.
There's a ton of really good games available.
This post has been edited by littleman jack: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:45 PM |
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BrianC
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Posted Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:31 PM
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The store is back. There's a ton of really good games available.The store was back, but it's down again. The link to the store is gone and http://www.atariage.com/store currently shows a blank page. This post has been edited by BrianC: Mon Nov 16, 2009 11:11 PM |
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keilbaca
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Posted Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:30 AM
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Once I start to get into the comfortable stage with my savings and all (just recovered from a very bad situation), I plan on buying up some homebrews.
Keep it up guys! |
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GOJO
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Posted Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:58 PM
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The store is back. There's a ton of really good games available.The store was back, but it's down again. The link to the store is gone and http://www.atariage.com/store currently shows a blank page. Wow I just saw some vids on youtube of some homebrew games..I'd love to get my hands on some..does anyone have info on when the store will be back up or an alternative place to buy? Thanks |
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SpiceWare
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Posted Thu Nov 19, 2009 9:44 PM
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Good Deal Games has a bunch - don't think they have the just released ones though.
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GOJO
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Posted Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:56 PM
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Good Deal Games has a bunch - don't think they have the just released ones though. Thanks for the info
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littleman jack
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Posted Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:48 PM
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I didn't realize the store was down.
I just picked up a copy of Incoming!, which is great fun, and was hoping to pick up two or three more in the near future. And then I saw this thread had expanded and the store was gone. BrianC, hopefully the store will be back up soon. The homebrews there are very, very good. My favorites are SeaWolf, Oystron, This Planet Sucks, and Wolfenstein VCS:The Next Mission (actually a hack, but so thoroughly hacked that it appears to be a whole new game). All the homebrews I've played have been worth buying. It's exciting to play new games, and to support the programmers and Atari Age. Hopefully they'll be available again soon. I have a feeling they will, since Christmas is creeping upon us.
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BrianC
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Posted Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:12 PM
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I didn't realize the store was down. I just picked up a copy of Incoming!, which is great fun, and was hoping to pick up two or three more in the near future. And then I saw this thread had expanded and the store was gone. BrianC, hopefully the store will be back up soon. The homebrews there are very, very good. My favorites are SeaWolf, Oystron, This Planet Sucks, and Wolfenstein VCS:The Next Mission (actually a hack, but so thoroughly hacked that it appears to be a whole new game). All the homebrews I've played have been worth buying. It's exciting to play new games, and to support the programmers and Atari Age. Hopefully they'll be available again soon. I have a feeling they will, since Christmas is creeping upon us. ok, cool. Yeah, there are lots of great homebrews. Activision Anthology for GBA help introduce me to some of them. So far, for 2600, I have Marble Craze, Star Fire, and Conquest of Mars, all of which are amazing. 7800 is also getting some nice ones. The only one I have right now is Beef Drop VE, but it's good stuff and my favorite Burgertime port (though I did get the CV Burgertime recently, which is also a nice port, but not quite as good as Beef Drop. Burgertime on the VG Pocket Caplet was a bit disappointing since that one is buggy and has slowdown on the more active levels). This post has been edited by BrianC: Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:18 PM |
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davyK
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Posted Sat Nov 21, 2009 3:17 PM
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Received my copy of Medieval Mayhem yesterday. This is the 2nd homebrew I've bought from AtariAge (got Pacman Collection for my 7800 a couple of years ago).
Like Pacman Collection, everything about this is extremely impressive from the packing it came in, to the label & manual quality and finally to the game itself. Technically and gameplaywise it is superb - and as for the options - this game is so polished it is blinding. Worth every single penny. Thinking about getting Thrust next.... .... and thanks to the developers of these games for thinking about us in PAL land! This post has been edited by davyK: Sat Nov 21, 2009 3:18 PM |
iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin
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Posted Sat Nov 21, 2009 4:15 PM
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I want Juno First, Lead and Medievil Mayhem! But where is the store??
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Big Player
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Posted Sat Nov 21, 2009 7:30 PM
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.... and thanks to the developers of these games for thinking about us in PAL land! Of course, many of the 2600 developers live in PAL land. |
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SpiceWare
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Posted Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:57 PM
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Received my copy of Medieval Mayhem yesterday. This is the 2nd homebrew I've bought from AtariAge (got Pacman Collection for my 7800 a couple of years ago). Like Pacman Collection, everything about this is extremely impressive from the packing it came in, to the label & manual quality and finally to the game itself. Technically and gameplaywise it is superb - and as for the options - this game is so polished it is blinding. Worth every single penny. Thinking about getting Thrust next........ and thanks to the developers of these games for thinking about us in PAL land! (  hmm - multiquote discarded the blank lines from your post - I didn't add them back so I can point this out to Al...)Thank you! It took some extra work for the PAL support, but isn't to difficult - I have a page at my site about it, Atari NTSC vs PAL vs SECAM, if you care to check it out. After seeing photos of it in action, like the one below from AC2008, I'd like to do something better for future projects because the black area at the bottom is way bigger than I expected - it's hard to test that w/out PAL equipment. A couple options would be to expand or center the play area. For Medieval Mayhem expanding would cause the gameplay to change, as the player directly above/below you would have more time to react to an attack, so maybe moving the scores down a bit then centering the results would have probably looked better. Another option would be PAL60, PAL colors with an NTSC frame rate, like we did for Stella's Stocking. Once the store's back a review would be greatly appreciated 
Of course, many of the 2600 developers live in PAL land. Very true, but not this one 
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maiki
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Posted Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:33 AM
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Well, many stores don't tell you if the game was programmed on NTSC or PAL system, or if it supports both correctly. I think one never knows. It's probably best to find out which developer uses which format and then buy appropriate cart, assuming you have both PAL and NTSC consoles.
This post has been edited by maiki: Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:34 AM |
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Thomas Jentzsch
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Posted Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:43 AM
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Well, many stores don't tell you if the game was programmed on NTSC or PAL system, or if it supports both correctly. I think one never knows. It's probably best to find out which developer uses which format and then buy appropriate cart, assuming you have both PAL and NTSC consoles. It is more about the TV than the console. But most modern homebrews are at least switchable PAL60 or are available in both formats. And the AA store usually mentions this. |
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maiki
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Posted Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:52 AM
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It is more about the TV than the console. If you put a NTSC cart into PAL console that was not reprogramed for PAL, it should not run correct. Or if you mod your PAL console to output composite and the TV is PAL-60 friendly... will that be OK then? This post has been edited by maiki: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:53 AM |
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davyK
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Posted Sun Nov 22, 2009 11:37 AM
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That screenshot isn't quite like what I'm experiencing.The whole image is moved down a tad (I'm only using RF) so the gap at the bottom while noticable isn't that much bigger than PAL Megamania for example...It's down to the TV I guess.
A review will be forthcoming once the shop is back. |