Shortly before finishing the seventh grade in 2004, I had purchased a compilation for the Game Boy Advance called Activision Anthology. And in it were up to fifty-five games from the 2600 console (including homebrew games like Climber 5 and Skeleton +). But, today I thought of discussing about a wondrous classic: Keystone Kapers. In this 1983 game by Garry Kitchen published by Activision for the 2600, you (Officer Kelly) are pursuing Hammerin' Harry who's escaped from prison and takes place in a mall. It's your job to stop him, but it won't be easy because there are obstacles that you'll have to evade. You only have fifty seconds to katch that kaper, otherwise you lose a life and have to start the stage over again. I like the graphics from this game, it's very colorful and the animations are nicely done. I also love that trademark Activision sunset at the top of the screen. You start each stage from the rightmost portion of the first floor, but there are two ways to go up a floor: either by elevator or escalator. If a bouncing ball, or a runaway shopping basket, or if you accidently hit the radio, you lose ten seconds off your time. But, if you get hit by a toy biplane, you lose a life. I'm hoping I'm not making the game sound bad, 'cause it's a very great game. The controls are easy to get used to, and nabbing the kaper before time runs out is very fun. I like how the bottom border of the screen shows an accurate map, so you'll always know where you and/or Hammerin' Harry are. Another neat thing about this game is that not only can you jump, but you can duck as well. I'll bet the ability to duck was quite a novel concept in 1983. It's vital to jump when it comes to ground obstacles and duck when it comes to midair obstacles. I love how the more stages you progress, the more challenging the game gets. It's a fun game to play every once in awhile, and it's one of the best games done by Activision for the 2600. [youtube:NhsKOFed91c&feature=related]
[I feel like I've made a bad thoughtbox. ] EDIT: I have changed the title to Activision Thoughtbox Thread, because instead of making a new thread for every Activision game for the 2600, I'll just post my thoughts on the Activision games in one thread, this one.
I got Keystone Kapers the day it was released. They had a promo poster for it in the music store in the mall that sold some Atari games. One of my favorite Activision games for the 2600 and a game that was worth every penny I (i.e. my parents) paid for it. The game gets really tough in later levels, once the elevator becomes a necessity. The Atari 5200 version of the game is pretty cool as well. A little more graphically detailed.
David Crane's Pitfall animation has probably been copied more times than just about any other in the industry. Pitfall was another great game. In fact, the majority of my Atari 2600 collection consists of Activision and Imagic titles. I always found them far more fun than the Atari stuff.
Fishing Derby (which I've also made a thoughtbox for) is also a fun time. Oh, and: Hooray for the fact that you can play the 2600 Pitfall on Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure via a secret room or combination on the title screen!
According to the Atari Protos website, there was a planned sequel for this game that was never released, taking place on a train. I wonder how the sequel would've been?
Activision and Imagic were brilliant developers full-stop. Their output on the Intellivision outstripped that of the Blue Sky Rangers -- bloody fantastic. I was playing games like Cosmic Commuter the other day on Stella -- these games don't get stale with age at all.
Keystone Kapers is a game I remember playing at a friend's house in stinking hot summers in Illinois when I was a wee lad. I cannot tell you how many hours we played that game -- just completely amazing!
You could fill a thread with great Activision titles. Tough to top those guys for classic game design. I wish companies today would do copyright-infringing rip-offs of those classics. In the meantime there's Arcade Zone!
Keystone Kapers rules. Still play it frequently (i've been trying to hit some high scores on Activision Atari 2600 games). My first Keystone Kapers memory -- my friend Tom got it for his birthday (we must have been 8 or 9 yrs old) shortly after it came out, and at his party we all got so caught up playing it that we ended up getting to the movie theatre (the planned bday activity) late -- and we were seeing Return of the Jedi (for like the fourth time by that point, but still)!
I have decided to stick the Activision titles for the 2600 that I feel like thoughtboxing in just this thread. I figure it's better than talking about these different games in seperate threads.
Many of my favorite games from Activision are found in Activision Anthology. Now, let's delve into a good game starring the acquatic mammal: Dolphin. I'll bet that the first thing that comes to mind when people bring up dolphins as video game characters is Ecco the Dolphin. I can understand that, seeing as it's a famous character. I even have one favorite game in the series. ... Please forgive me, I digressed. Matthew Hubbard designed this game in 1983 for Activision. You take control of the titular creature, the dolphin (who's green for some reason), who has to escape from the octopus that's chasing him. However, the ocean is large (and endless), and a beautiful shade of blue. Even the surface looks a tad realistic, and I love the clouds that slowly drift to the left. Plus, the trademark sunset from Activision is amazing as ever. Controls are good. Throughout the whole game, you'll see currents (one at a time, shaped like sideways V) either pointing left or right. If you get pushed by the current facing left, then it pushes you back and/or the octopus forward. The right-facing current vice versa. [Sometimes I have a hard time with certain descriptions. ] However, when these currents appear, you'll hear a sound; depending on how the sound goes, the wall of sea horses that appears (with one opening place) will differ. Or, to make it easy, I usually jump over the wall of sea horses up on the surface. The dolphin animates beautifully, even when jumping up to the surface. If you see a seagull flying by, jump to it, and you'll turn the tables against that octopus (and temporarily be a flashing, invincible dolphin). I don't know how that works, but it makes sense. Gotta love video game logic. The game starts out easy with slow going currents, but the more you progress the faster the currents will be. If the octopus catches you, you'll lose a life. So it's vital to always swim away from it. It's a good game, and I love controlling a dolphin for a video game character (outside of Ecco). I'm starting to wonder if I go all over the place when making thoughtboxes. :/ [youtube:-oiKfD34-E4] Peace! I really need to work on summarization sometimes
Dolphin is quite clever, especially use of audio. I notice there's a few games on the Atari that use sound that way, Haunted House is another one. It's interesting that you rarely seem to see games where the sound is key other than for dialogue nowadays.
I like dolphins. They're cool acquatic mammals. This game reminds me of the time I swam with the dolphins months before I turned seven. Only it wasn't in the open ocean, it was in a round-shaped pool. Memories. Other than the handheld Simon Says machine, I can't think of any other games made prior to or around 1983 that had sound act a vital role. In Kirby's Dream Land 3, made in 1997, there was this one moment where (to obtain a Heart Star) discerning different sounds played an important role.
Check out Atari's Haunted House -- it's quite novel. The harder difficulties are quite hard and use audio queues to let you know when doors are opening/closing, when you're going up/down stairs, enemies are near, etc.
Dolphin was awesome. Played that loads back in the day (and of course still have the cart). I remember sometimes i would look away from the screen to see how many gates i could get through on sound alone (of course the presence of the Octopus makes that more difficult).
Seconded on Haunted House too. On the higher levels, if you don't know what each sound cue is you'll likely die easily as a spider or something that just came up the stairs comes in from the next room. I love Haunted House.
David Crane is a gaming genius. He created memorable games such as Fishing Derby, Freeway, Grand Prix, The Activision Decathlon, and A Boy and His Blob. Pitfall! is one such game.
This game has been highly lauded and regarded by many gamers throught the decades, and has become a timeless classic. In this 1982 game by Activision, you take control of Pitfall Harry, who has to traverse through a jungle filled with many obstacles in his path: including barrels, snakes, holes suddenly appearing out of the ground, crocodiles, fire and scorpions. This is a very great game. You can decide whether to take the high road or the low road, though I personally prefer the high road. The graphics look good; as the foliage looks cool, and Pitfall has a nice running, jumping, climbing stairs and swinging animations. Control is responsive. You can jump over tiny holes, rolling barrels, snakes and fire; you can also jump over the crocs' heads (as long as they don't open their mouths). Jumping on the swing is necessary to cross certain places, and I love the Tarzan yell that occurs the moment you grab on to the swing. If you fall down the water, or the hole that grows big and disappears, you lose a life. Falling under a thin hole makes you lose a hundred points. You start the game with three lives and two-thousand points. I find it interesting how you can gain points, and lose some points too. If you get rolled down by a barrel, you lose points, so jump atop the barrels. Throughout the game, you'll find treasures in certain screens, granting you thousands of points. I like this game for many reasons, and I had looked up that this game was famous for having two-hundred-fifty-five screens. If you lose a life, you never can get it restored, so it's best to be careful. This game is timed, and you have to try to get as much done in twenty minutes, or under. This game is tons of fun, and I like how it can be challenging during a few screens. One of David Crane's greatest classics, and one that is very engaging from beginning to end (especially if you want to survive the twenty minutes). Why do I have a feeling I went all over the place? :/ This game became such a huge success, that it got released on many formats and received several sequels. This is secretly available on Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, and it's fun to revisit these classics, always. Peace!
Last night, I had played Pitfall!, and I surprised myself. I had gotten a high score of 77,200 points, survived seventeen minutes and fifty-eight seconds, and I lost count of how many screens I passed by. I wish I had kept count of how many screens I passed. I never got a score that high, survived this long and made it that far in the game before. I survived until I lost my last life, and I was shy of eighteen minutes. But, I'm not complaining. It was just an amazing experience, and I wonder what would've happened if I had survived all those twenty minutes. I like Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns, which David Crane also made. I liked how it had a nonlinear world, smooth vertical scrolling and a neat score to back it up. It's also a good game.
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