Evercade (and Atari 2600 era question)

[phattslagg]

So I bought an Evercade today, largely due to the fact that it’s got a couple of Lynx packages coming out in Nov, and I’m an absolute sucker for the Lynx.

I went with the 3 cartridge bundle, of which one is the Atari Collection 1.

Now - is it me, or is this era of Atari absolute shit that can only be appreciated if you used to own one of these things back when they were state-of-the-art? The graphics are so poor as to be almost impenetrable, and some so-called classics like Yar’s Return are unfathomable with regards to gameplay.

The 2600 version of Tempest is fucking terrible, too.

[Misfit]

Now - is it me, or is this era of Atari absolute shit that can only be appreciated if you used to own one of these things back when they were state-of-the-art? The graphics are so poor as to be almost impenetrable, and some so-called classics like Yar’s Return are unfathomable with regards to gameplay.

The 2600 version of Tempest is fucking terrible, too.

It's not you. The 2600/VCS era is, in general, best left to nostalgia.

[merman]

There was a lot of garbage, but there are some very playable titles.
I really enjoyed trying out Steeplechase on Evercade, for example.

And I really hope they get some of the more recent homebrew/arcade conversions the 2600 has seen because those are brilliant. E.G. Man Goes Down, which this forum introduced me to, and stuff like the forthcoming Gold Rush (Dan Kitchen's long-lost follow-up to Keystone Kops, which is being finished soon).

[Deckard]

Always loved and still love Adventure, HERO and Asteroids on the VCS.

[Jonesey]

Perhaps if you're lucky there'll be an Activision collection?

[Misfit]

Perhaps if you're lucky there'll be an Activision collection?

Ah yes, what nearly every buyable collection is missing (although I do think some of the recent mini VCS consoles do have some of these AND Space Invaders). I'm scared to go back to the likes of River Raid, Kaboom and Pitfall as I'm sure the memory is far far better...

[phattslagg]

Ok, there are a few fairly decent 2600 games on the Atari cartridge.

Aquaventure is a simple but surprisingly addictive little game, Centipede is fairly good, and Gravitar has a lot of potential, I think.

[Foozwah]

Always loved and still love Adventure, HERO and Asteroids on the VCS.

Same. Would also add Raiders of the Lost Ark for an 'Adventure+' vibe (which in the pre-internet era and with no other guides available took my mates and I at least six months solve/finish), plus Pitfall 1 and 2 and Starmaster (which I somehow preferred to Star Raiders - an opinion Yak would likely regard as sacrilege! ).

Good times!

[Yak]

I just got one of these too, also mainly because of the Lynx games as I loved my Lynx dearly and owned every game from Lynx cart 2 apart from Chequered Flag. Worth the admission fee just for those, for me. I only bought the basic model as I already have a massive collection of Atari games on the Switch.

The VCS is like a lot of old systems in that looking back there was an awful lot of smeg around and not much that survived the test of time that well - a trawl through any emulator collection will prove that. But it's also true that the ones that have aged well are still fun to play to this day. Looks like Atari cart 1 does have some decent stuff - Centipede, Adventure, Asteroids, Missile Command, Gravitar and Aquaventure are all solid titles worth a bit of your time. There's some stuff that's questionable in every collection - why the 2600 version of Desert Falcon instead of the vastly superior 7800 version, for example, and I don't know why they even bother including that prawn-on-a-pair-of-underpants "Tempest" in their collections since it was never finished, isn't even remotely playable, and is nothing like Tempest. They ought to put in the unreleased 5200 version which is actually pretty nice.

anyway I want my Lynx games. Word on their site is that their release has been pushed back to the end of November now.

[phattslagg]

I’ve ordered a BennVenn screen and a microSD rom cart for my Lynx, and I still had to buy the Evercade for the Lynx carts

I bought Zaku for the Lynx a couple of weeks ago, btw - a really great indie-release shooter I can highly recommend.

[phattslagg]

I can highly recommend the Piko Collection cart for the Evercade, too - more than enough on there to keep you busy until the Lynx carts arrive.

[ThetaReactor]

Activision Anthology in a GBA is my favorite toilet entertainment, but beyond that VCS games are really hard to go back to.

[phattslagg]

@Jeff and Giles - with the announcement of the Indie Collection 1 cart, are you guys tempted to consider a Llamasoft Collection for Evercade?

[Misfit]

@Jeff and Giles - with the announcement of the Indie Collection 1 cart, are you guys tempted to consider a Llamasoft Collection for Evercade?

I'd probably by an Evercade if that happened.

[phattslagg]

Get one anyway - they’re bloody great.