Surprisingly Good Atari 2600 Arcade Ports #3
In this 3rd story in this series, I briefly look at 6 Arcade ports to the Atari 2600 that I feel turned out pretty well, given the limitations of the hardware. I have enjoyed looking back at these very early days of Arcade ports brought to play at home.
Vanguard: I remember playing this game as a young child in the arcade, and marveling at the four directional controls. However; I never got very far because the game was challenging. Vanguard for the Atari 2600 was much more forgiving. It was very colorful. I especially liked the inclusion of the music for picking up the invincibility powerup. It reminded me of the music from the 80s movie Flash Gordon. It controlled very well. I liked the simulated scrolling effect of the backgrounds. I believe this may very well be the most colorful game that I have played on the Atari 2600.
Track and Field: I did not know that this game was released for the Atari 2600 until fairly recently. All of the events were present and recognizable from the arcade version. The sound effects and music were very close to the arcade. I especially liked the animation of the running, which was very well done.
Dig Dug: I liked the use of color in this game. It captured the colors of the desert. I appreciated that it had music throughout the game. All of the gameplay of the arcade was here. It was as good of a port as can be expected for the Atari 2600.
Bump ’N’ Jump. This game played similarly to Spy Hunter in that you can bump the cars off of the road. The difference is you have no weapons. Instead, you can jump your vehicle high in the air at the touch of a button. This is necessary, as you often encounter sections where the bridge is out. You then have to jump the bridge’s gap to the next road. This game is nothing special graphically, but it is still fun to play.
Jr. Pac-Man: This is a game that pushed the old 2600 hard. It retained the playability of the arcade version, despite having a vertically scrolling screen instead of a horizontally scrolling one like the arcade. Little details like having the bouncing items increase the size and points of the pellets as it bounced over them are retained here. This port moved at a much faster pace than any previous Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man. Once again, the intermissions are omitted, but just about everything else seems to be intact, including a variety of mazes to conquer. The sound effects and beginning stage music were well done.
Mario Bros.: The game that introduced Luigi to the world. Mario Bros. really captured the feel of the arcade. The graphics were serviceable. Mario is reasonably detailed, including his signature mustache. The most impressive thing about this game is that it retained its two-player capabilities. This came out a few years before we would see the near-perfect port arrive for the NES.
