57 replies to this topic

[sdamon]

Frostbite:
Another great Activision game by Steve Cartwright, who also wrote Barnstorming, Megamania, Seaquest, and Plaque Attack. In this one, the player controls "Frostbite Bailey" who hops back and forth across across an Arctic river, changing the color of the ice blocks from white to blue. Each time he does so, a block is added to his igloo. While the gameplay borrows somewhat from both Frogger and Q*bert, it still has it's own flavor and is a tremendous amount of fun. Players who scored above 40,000 could send away for the "Arctic Architects" patch.

Ghostbusters:
While numerous Activision games were ported from the 2600 to computers, this game is actually a port of the Commodore 64 game by David Crane. Like in the 1984 hit movie, the game stars the Ghostbusters who patrol the city trapping rampaging ghosts, taking them back to their headquarters, and finally facing the Stay-Puft marshmallow man. Dan Kitchen's port incorportates nearly all of the computer game's complex gameplay, although the graphics had to be stripped down a great deal.

Private Eye:
This very unique title by Bob Whitehead is a challenging multi-screen adventure game. To succeed, you must learn the fastest way to negotiate the city to collect all the necessary items and return them to specific locations. You cruise around a city in a Model A auto, which can jump over obstacles. There are five different scenarios available in which the map and items are changed to make the game increasingly complex. The graphics are up to Activision's high standard, and for gamers with the patience to learn the maps, it can be a great deal of fun. Players who could beat the third scenario were able to send away for the "Super Sleuth" patch.

Edited by sdamon, Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:04 PM.

[LarcenTyler]

Rampage
Rampage is a port of the arcade game by Midway with the same title. This version was programmed by Bob Polaro, who also worked on games such as Road Runner and Defender. The premise is simple: You have been turned into a gigantic mutant creature, either a giant ape, a giant lizard, or a giant wolf, and are now bent on wreaking havoc across the entire United States. You must wreck buildings and eat anyone that stands in your way. Naturally, the army will be trying to stop you using their guns, bombs, and whatever else they can use. The menu screens are actually very well done in terms of graphics, and the portraits of the monsters look very nice. Unfortunately, the actual in-game graphics are very crude at best. The buildings all look the same, and there isn't much detail to the monsters or the humans. It's a good effort at porting it to the Atari 2600, even if the graphics suffered a bit.

[LarcenTyler]

Kabobber
Kabobber was originally a prototype game that was programmed by Rex Bradford, known for his work on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Jedi Arena. It was discovered in 2000 and improved upon a little before being released to the public in ROM format. Kabobbers are strange (but cute) little creatures who just love wreaking havoc. Your objective is to send in your Buvskies to krush the Kabobbers before they krush you. You can have up to nine Buvskies onscreen at one time, but you have reserves waiting offscreen should one get krushed. You move your Bruvskies across the grid, jumping on enemy Kabobbers in order to defeat them and earn additional reserve Bruvskies. The baby Bruvskies become big ones when they defeat an enemy. The enemies get tougher and tougher, meaning very good timing is required in the later stages. Above all, you must reach Princess Buvsky before she reaches the rainbow energy at the other end of the level and devours it. A very unique game, but also somewhat fun.


And to finish things off...

Sky Jinks
Sky Jinks was programmed by Bob Whitehead, best known for programming games such as Chopper Command, Private Eye, and Stampede. You are in a pylon race in your P41 plane, trying to complete the course in the shortest time possible, so you can earn the coveted Thompson Trophy. You must pass red pylons on the right and blue ones on the left, with a 3 second penalty given for each missed pylon. There are five game variations, each one getting more and advanced, with the fifth one generating a new course every time one plays. Players who completed Game 1 in 37 seconds or less without missing any pylons were eligible to receive an 'Activision Sky Stars' patch by sending a photograph of their achievement to Activision.

Edited by LarcenTyler, Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:49 AM.

[A.J. Franzman]

Error Re Dragster & Checkers:

The Dragster page has the Checkers description.
http://www.atariage....wareLabelID=156
(feel free to delete this post after fixing)

[Mot]

In the current discription of Barnstorming:

Quote

The game is notable as being the first Activision game with a sunset in the horizon

You could add a link to the Venetian Blinds Demo
because of

Quote

The sunset was later used in the background of Barnstorming.

Just my 2 cents.

[Albert]

Mot, on Fri Aug 26, 2005 1:09 PM, said:

In the current discription of Barnstorming:

Quote

The game is notable as being the first Activision game with a sunset in the horizon

You could add a link to the Venetian Blinds Demo
because of

Quote

The sunset was later used in the background of Barnstorming.

Just my 2 cents.

Done, good suggestion, thanks.

..Al

[Albert]

A.J. Franzman, on Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:20 PM, said:

Error Re Dragster & Checkers:

The Dragster page has the Checkers description.
http://www.atariage....wareLabelID=156
(feel free to delete this post after fixing)

Fixed.

..Al

[Albert]

I just added the last five Activision descriptions and Activision is now complete! Thanks to everyone who contributed descriptions!

..Al