Atari 2600 #10: Entombed

Developer: Western Technologies

Publisher: U.S. Games

Release Date: March 1983

I know it sounds cheap, but that's more like $12 in todays money. Okay so that's still kind of cheap

 

Last time I talked about the first release by U.S. Games and this time around I am talking about one of the last. Entombed is a game that I happen to like quite a bit even though some reviewers strongly disagree with me. At the very least I think it’s a well executed idea even if it is quite simple and too difficult to make much progress. It’s also known for the mysterious maze-generating code that has baffled many programmers over the years. Supposedly it shouldn’t be able to generate as many mazes as it does and nobody is sure how the programmer was able to do it. It’s a fun bit of Atari lore, and it’s nice that it keeps Entombed in the conversation. I do think the game itself deserves a little better than just being a trivia question though.

Mazes, monsters, and powerups. This has it all

In a way Entombed is a precursor to the endless runner genre popularized on smartphones. It puts your character into a series of randomly generated vertical-scrolling mazes, and you have to survive for as long as you can. It’s interesting that a game consists of several mazes instead of just one long maze. Each one gets faster too so it gets very hard very quick. There are even monsters roaming around to make things more frantic. There are powerups which allow you to break through walls, so much of the early part of the game is spent finding ways to collect them. Each powerup gives you three shots, so building them up is a must. It’s another fun “less is more” game from U.S. Games that takes a very simple concept and makes it fresh and interesting. There were countless maze games released in the wake of Pac-Man, but none of them were as maze focused as Entombed. It takes out the dots and power pellets and makes scoring completely about surviving.  

 

The frantic pace of it, however, is probably the game’s biggest flaw. I always think I am going to get better, but I always end up scoring about thirty points. The record is a little over 300, so I know it is possible to do much better even if I never can. However, it’s one of those games where I always think I am going to do better and never mind trying. It’s not one of those games where I reach my ceiling in five minutes and never want to play again. I always enjoy playing it to see what the next wave is going to be like. Replay value is extremely important for Atari games, and this one has it. I should play it again to try to break 40.

 

So Entombed is a decent forgotten title on the 2600. It belongs in the green section even if the difficulty and simplicity keep it from rising too high on the list. I am putting it one above Red Sea Crossing. Good is still good though so it’s worth checking out if you feel like playing something a little more obscure on your Atari. I have a feeling that U.S. Games might turn out to be more good than bad.

 

Atari 2600 quality percentage: 5/10 or 50%

1.  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

2. Super Mario Odyssey

3. The Legend of Zelda

4. Galaga

5. Donkey Kong

6. Exodus: Ultima III

7. Pac-Mania

8. Wrecking Crew

9. Super Pac-Man

10. Pac-Man

11. Viva Pinata

12. Dragon View

13. Excitebike

14. Drakkhen

15. Todd’s Adventures in Slime World

16. Arc the Lad

17. Clu Clu Land

18. Tails’ Adventures

19. Scrapyard Dog (Lynx)

20. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

21. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

22. Metro-Cross

23. Double Dragon

24. Panic Restaurant

25. Felix the Cat

26. Adventure

27. Ice Climber

28. Gaplus

29. Dragon Spirit

30. Pinball (NES)

31. Ninja Golf

32. Fast Eddie

33. Super Soccer

34. Gopher

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

36. Entombed

37. Red Sea Crossing

38. Baraduke

39. Demon’s Crest

40. Evoland

41. Tennis

42. Renegade

43. Beethoven

44. Hogan’s Alley

45. Gamma-Attack

46. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

47. Galaxian

48. Dragon Crystal

49. Cosmic Commuter

50. Hot Pixel

51. PocketBike Racer

52. Wild Gunman

53. Defunct

54. Gyruss (2600)

55. Looney Tunes Racing

56. Squidlit

57. Gordo 106

58. Baseball

59. Space Jockey

60. Home Alone

61. Birthday Mania

62. Bad Street Brawler

63. Burly Men at Sea

64. Wayne’s World

65. WeakWood Throne

66. X-Men (HyperScan)

67. My Name is Mayo

68. Marvel Heroes

69. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

70. Ben 10

Atari 2600 #9: Space Jockey

Developer: James Wickstead Design Associates

Publisher: U.S. Games

Release Date: January 1982

It never gets that exciting!

 

Despite having some decent releases U.S. Games is fairly notorious in Atari circles. It doesn’t help that their parent company was Quaker Oats, but I think the main reason was that their first few games were all stinkers. It was a case of a new developer working for a new publisher and neither party knowing what they were doing yet. Space Jockey was their first game, and it plays like the work of an amateur. Sadly, because it is more common than their later games it is remembered better than higher quality later efforts like Gopher and Entombed. I suppose it didn’t hurt the company much in the long run, but it is a cautionary tale against leaving your comfort zone and jumping into a completely unknown business. Sometimes you just have to stick with oatmeal. I doubt Ubisoft could make much of an oatmeal with only a couple of months to prepare.

Those ships look like sinks. That's amusing, right?

 Space Jockey is a dull space shooter with enough design flaws to be completely broken in just a few minutes of play. It has a few different types of ship, but they don’t matter all that much. They all behave exactly the same by flying horizontally and shooting at you if you move in front of them. They never move up or down, so the game quickly becomes very easy. The bottom row has trees and houses to shoot, but only the occasional tank that shoots back. Nothing from above ever collides with your ship. So all you have to do is stay on the bottom and you can live almost indefinitely. I like to creep up sometimes just to break up the monotony a bit. It’s sad when a can’t lose strategy becomes so apparent so quick. It’s a shame they didn’t put more care into this one, because it could’ve been at least tolerable with some refinement.

This person doesn't know the strategy!

 The only interesting thing about Space Jockey was that after its release it was hacked and turned into the incredibly rare Air Raid. That game plays a little like a sideways Space Jockey. Air Raid was manufactured and sold at one toy store for a very short time, and the first boxed copy ever found sold for over 30,000 dollars. So at least Space Jockey is related to one of the most interesting Atari stories. Sadly, Space Jockey itself is one of the most boring Atari games of them all. It’s one of the cheapest too so everyone has a copy but nobody plays it. I would rather play NES Baseball because it can at least be fun with two players and it’s harder to break. I would rather play it than Home Alone though because at least it lasts for longer than a minute most of the time. It was clear at this point that U.S. Games had a lot of learning to do.

 

Atari 2600 quality percentage: 4/9 or 44.44%

 

 

1.  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

2. Super Mario Odyssey

3. The Legend of Zelda

4. Galaga

5. Donkey Kong

6. Exodus: Ultima III

7. Pac-Mania

8. Wrecking Crew

9. Super Pac-Man

10. Pac-Man

11. Viva Pinata

12. Dragon View

13. Excitebike

14. Drakkhen

15. Todd’s Adventures in Slime World

16. Arc the Lad

17. Clu Clu Land

18. Tails’ Adventures

19. Scrapyard Dog (Lynx)

20. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

21. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

22. Metro-Cross

23. Double Dragon

24. Panic Restaurant

25. Felix the Cat

26. Adventure

27. Ice Climber

28. Gaplus

29. Dragon Spirit

30. Pinball (NES)

31. Ninja Golf

32. Fast Eddie

33. Super Soccer

34. Gopher

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

36. Red Sea Crossing

37. Baraduke

38. Demon’s Crest

39. Evoland

40. Tennis

41. Renegade

42. Beethoven

43. Hogan’s Alley

44. Gamma-Attack

45. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

46. Galaxian

47. Dragon Crystal

48. Cosmic Commuter

49. Hot Pixel

50. PocketBike Racer

51. Wild Gunman

52. Defunct

53. Gyruss (2600)

54. Looney Tunes Racing

55. Squidlit

56. Gordo 106

57. Baseball

58. Space Jockey

59. Home Alone

60. Birthday Mania

61. Bad Street Brawler

62. Burly Men at Sea

63. Wayne’s World

64. WeakWood Throne

65. X-Men (HyperScan)

66. My Name is Mayo

67. Marvel Heroes

68. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

69. Ben 10

(Images courtesy of mobygames.com)