Atari 2600 #5: Cosmic Commuter

Atari 2600 #5: Cosmic Commuter

Developer: Activision

Publisher: Activision

Release Date: October 1985?

This is some wild cover art that doesn't really look like an Activision game

The Atari 2600’s interesting and somewhat redemptive third act began in the second half of 1985 when Activision released a couple of games that were the first to be widely released for the console in almost a year. I guess Activision heard about Nintendo’s new console in the works and correctly thought that people would start buying console games again. One of the games was Ghostbusters which makes prefect sense as a release. It was still a very popular movie in 1985 and the computer game hadn’t made its way to consoles yet. Cosmic Commuter, however, is a total oddball whose mere existence is somewhat baffling. The 1984 copyright date on it makes me think that was a game that they started on and then delayed when the crash was in full swing. It was a game that didn’t fit with their mostly excellent 1984 releases, but with a new audience on the horizon and a goofy game already in the can they were willing to take the chance.

In Cosmic Commuter you play as an astrobus driver racing across the screen to pick up your space passengers. The hardest part comes at the very beginning where you are controlling the rocket module and have to get it to land softly by controlling its speed. I wouldn’t be too surprised if collectors out there have bought this game, crashed the module three times without knowing what to do, and then never played it again. After successfully landing you then fly your astrobus across the screen and pick up passengers. Unlike on Earth where busses stop and pick up multiple people at once in this game they are spread out one at a time. Luckily all you have to do to pick them up is fly directly over them on the bottom of the screen. Their locations are both shown on a map and by a siren when they get close. This is the gaming equivalent of wearing suspenders and a belt. You only have a limited time before the passengers get impatient and leave. I like this concept because what are the angry passengers going to do, hop on their space bikes and start peddling? Have you ever been waiting to go to work and then just wandered home dejected because the bus was late? I am pretty sure behavior like that would get you fired. I guess they needed to add a little tension in the game which it definitely needs. It’s just a silly way to describe it. After you collect all the passengers you head back to the rocket and take off. The only dangerous part about this is making sure you don’t crash while docking. Luckily taking off is easier than landing.

Don't crash!

So the game has a fun setup and it looks nice, but sadly it still ends up being flawed. The main problem is that it’s just too simple. The obstacles along the route are just distractions. They are only worth one point and are better off ignored unless directly in the way. That means that the player only needs to be on the very bottom where the passengers are and very top where fuel appears after shooting three obstacles. The rest of the game is mostly wasted space. They should’ve given the player more incentive to actually fly around. Maybe have enemy ships or bonus point out there. It’s no wonder they made landing so difficult because that’s just about the only challenge in the game. Just zigzag between the bottom and the top and you will do fine. It’s disappointing because with a little more refinement this could’ve been a real winner.

So one of the oddest comeback games of all time unfortunately falls a bit flat. It’s a game that is good for getting a high score, but it gets tedious too fast. Activision wouldn’t release too many more high quality 2600 games after 1985, but luckily starting in 1986 Atari would start making games again and put out some quality products. It’s just too bad that 1985 was such a lost year. For not I am putting it just above Wild Gunman making it the top game of my bottom 10. There will be some quality Atari games in the near future, but for now it’s not looking so good.

Atari 2600 quality percentage: 1/5 = 20%

1. Super Mario Odyssey

2. Galaga

3. Donkey Kong

4. Exodus: Ultima III

5. Pac-Mania

6. Wrecking Crew

7. Super Pac-Man

8. Pac-Man

9. Excitebike

10. Arc the Lad

11. Clu Clu Land

12. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

13. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

14. Metro-Cross

15. Ice Climber

16. Gaplus

17. Dragon Spirit

18. Pinball (NES)

19. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)

20. Red Sea Crossing

21. Baraduke

22. Tennis

23. Hogan’s Alley

24. Gamma-Attack

25. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

26. Galaxian

27. Evoland

28. Cosmic Commuter

29. Wild Gunman

30. Defunct

31. Gyruss (2600)

32. Looney Tunes Racing

33. Squidlit

34. Baseball

35. Birthday Mania

36. Bad Street Brawler

37. Burly Men at Sea

38. My Name is Mayo

NES #10: Tennis

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: 10-18-85

This one wouldn't make a very good t-shirt!

It’s hard to get too excited about a game with such a generic title. It seems like every early console had a whole bunch of boring sports games that had equally boring titles. Nintendo had just about every sport represented in the black box era and before I played Tennis I was dreading having to play them all. Baseball certainly didn’t give me much confidence in the whole line. Luckily, Tennis does give me the slightest glimmer of hope.

The presentation is surprisingly simple for a Nintendo game. It’s a bit of a shock for people who are used to their modern sports titles featuring almost endless possibilities. Tennis only has one grass court and the choice of singles or doubles. In singles you play against the computer alone and in doubles you play with a friend against the computer. You can’t play a two player game versus another human. The only thing that gives it Nintendo flair is the presence of Mario as the judge. I forgot he was in this one so that makes it at least four games he was in on launch day. That focus on character would be what set Nintendo apart from the competition.

I think this game has Mario's first dialogue. Let me know if I'm wrong

Luckily what saves Tennis somewhat is the complex gameplay. It’s a game that actually requires precision and knowledge of tennis. It’s not a tennis game from the Atari area that was more about endurance with the computer handling most of the aiming. In Tennis you have to aim your player and your shot. The game will change depending on where your player is so you can play the more dangerous net game or more conservative long game. I also like that there are five different difficulty levels which give each game a different feel. Level five is probably the single fastest thing from the launch titles. It is certainly something that couldn’t be done on Atari.

So I had a pretty good time with Tennis and it made me a little less nervous about playing the other early sports titles, but it does have a fatal flaw. The games can last a very long time and there’s no way to change them. I have never finished a whole game, but they can last 45 minutes or more. That’s just too long to play one game of tennis. Still, the gameplay is good enough to put it high into the purple section. Not bad for a generic sports title but still nothing to get too excited about.

NES quality percentage 5/10=50%

1. Super Mario Odyssey

2. Galaga

3. Donkey Kong

4. Exodus: Ultima III

5. Pac-Mania

6. Wrecking Crew

7. Super Pac-Man

8. Pac-Man

9. Excitebike

10. Arc the Lad

11. Clu Clu Land

12. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

13. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

14. Metro-Cross

15. Ice Climber

16. Gaplus

17. Dragon Spirit

18. Pinball (NES)

19. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)

20. Red Sea Crossing

21. Baraduke

22. Tennis

23. Hogan’s Alley

24. Gamma-Attack

25. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

26. Galaxian

27. Evoland

28. Wild Gunman

29. Defunct

30. Gyruss (2600)

31. Looney Tunes Racing

32. Squidlit

33. Baseball

34. Birthday Mania

35. Bad Street Brawler

36. Burly Men at Sea

37. My Name is Mayo

NES #9: Hogan's Alley

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: 10-18-85

Another one of those early NES covers that shows the player clearly losing

I guess there was only so much they could do with the light gun in the early days because Hogan’s Alley sure feels like Wild Gunman. It’s hard to see too many people feeling the need to buy both of them back in the day. Of course I have both of them but I am a special case whose example probably shouldn’t be followed. All three of the launch day light games are simple target shooters that have American themes despite being created in Japan. It feels a bit like overkill especially considering the genres that weren’t represented on launch day. I suppose I shouldn’t dock it for being similar to another game though. Does the game stand on its own?

Don't shoot milquetoast professors!

The name Hogan’s Alley first rose to prominence near the end of the 19^th Century as the name of one of the first major newspaper comics. It was popular enough that it was later used as the name of a police training facility. It’s this facility that gives this game its setting. Despite the gangster-themed cover it’s actually a training simulator where you are shooting at cardboard cutouts. The first game has three cutouts lined up and you have to quickly decide which one to shoot. It’s very similar to the first game in Wild Gunman but at least the gangsters show up in different spots. The second game features the titular alley as a setting for some more quick draw. You once again have to quickly pick ou the right targets, but this time they show up in windows and alleys. This mode too is like Wild Gunman but slightly better because it is more challenging and features more backgrounds. The third game is probably my favorite because it has constantly moving targets. In this one you shoot at cans and try to land them in holes on the left side of the screen that have different amounts of points. The game is over when too many of the cans fall off the screen. I like it because it has the most frantic arcade feel to it. There will usually be multiple cans on the screen and keeping them both in the air can be a real challenge. There’s not too many game where the highlight is shooting cans, but leave it to Nintendo to make just about any situation fun. Of course my light gun is not the most responsive device in the world, but this is probably due to its age more than its quality. Does anyone remember if the zappers worked well back in the 80s? I was a little kid back then and just sat real close to the tv to make it work. I’m probably not that much of an authority.

I totally thought that guy on the lower left was shirtless

So that’s another light gun game that doesn’t make for particularly interesting writing. I definitely think it is better than Wild Gunman because of the variety of targets and faster action. It just doesn’t offer enough of a unique experience to stand out. If you bought an NES on day one you were going to get Duck Hunt automatically, and the other two light gun games aren’t that much more of a complete experience. For my ranking I am going old school and thinking about Baraduke again. I was never expecting such and unremarkable game to be on my thoughts so much, but it’s still the best “just okay” game I have played and Hogan’s Alley is going right under it. It wasn’t exciting, but it wasn’t unpleasant either. That’s how I feel about this post as well. On to the next game!

NES quality percentage: 5/9 = 55.55%

1. Super Mario Odyssey

2. Galaga

3. Donkey Kong

4. Exodus: Ultima III

5. Pac-Mania

6. Wrecking Crew

7. Super Pac-Man

8. Pac-Man

9. Excitebike

10. Arc the Lad

11. Clu Clu Land

12. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

13. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

14. Metro-Cross

15. Ice Climber

16. Gaplus

17. Dragon Spirit

18. Pinball (NES)

19. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)

20. Red Sea Crossing

21. Baraduke

22. Hogan’s Alley

23. Gamma-Attack

24. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

25. Galaxian

26. Evoland

27. Wild Gunman

28. Defunct

29. Gyruss (2600)

30. Looney Tunes Racing

31. Squidlit

32. Baseball

33. Birthday Mania

34. Bad Street Brawler

35. Burly Men at Sea

36. My Name is Mayo