Topic: Activision Thoughtbox Thread

I only recently discovered that there was an arcade version of Pitfall II, which took some elements from both games and kind of, i don't know, made it "arcade-ish" in gameplay. Also very fun, but a bit different.

Oh, yeah. I remembered when I noticed an arcade version of Pitfall II on the KLOV website years ago. Wonder how it is?

The Activision Decathalon rocked. I broke many a controller and blistered my hand frequently playing that game going for high scores. I even for a while used a "gaming glove" (just a thin wool winter glove) like Mark Alpiger in King of Kong to limit the palm-blistering.

And Pitfall II Arcade plays decently (recently grabbed it for MAME to check it out), with some cool additions (volcano eruptions on the surface, showering down debris) and blend of the enemies from both games. Jump-physics work well, although the rope/vine swings (another element adopted from the first game) seem a little touchy. Worth checking out if you have the inclination.

Stampede.
In 1981, Bob Whitehead (famous for making Boxing a year earlier) developed a game called Stampede for Activision. You take control of a deputy galloping on a horse, and the object of the game is to rope as many of the loose animals as possible. You automatically go right (while on the leftmost side of the screen). The controls are simple, and the game is very fun. There are several animals that'll try to run away from you, and there are a variety of them. Depending on the color, they'll either run slowly, at a normal pace, or very fast. There are also black animals, which only stay where they are (until you rope 'em or you pass 'em by). What's cool about the game, is that there are many cattle running on the screen at the same time, gradually getting to the left. I like how at some points, the game can get challenging. If you gallop past three animals, it's game over. I think the graphics are good. The horse's galloping animation is sweet, and I like how the lasso extends. The sound of the galloping horse sounds good. I like how in this game, the darker the animal, the more points you score.
I like Stampede, it's a cool game.
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Peace!

Yeah, Stampede is definitely another gem of a game. That first generation of Activision games was quite inspired and they kept on going until the bitter end.

Don't know why, but, Stampede reminds me a bit of those few times I saw riders rope down the cattle at the rodeo.

Finally just got a copy of Activision Anthology for GBA (through eBay). While i have almost all the games on their original carts already (or in the case of Pitfall! and Laser Blast, multiple copies of the cart for some odd reason), it's awesome to have it for a portable.

Yeah Activision Anthology is amazing. The PC version has Imagic games on it as well. I'd love it if Activision put out a version with all the Imagic games on it for the DS, but they don't seem terribly interested in leveraging their old IP for some reason.

I'm getting the review copy of the Japanese DSi LL from the video on the site and was hoping to sell off all my GBA games and the Gameboy Micro, but this is the only thing holding me back (I'll still sell off the other GBA carts though).

Anyone been to the Atari Protos website? It's quite an interesting site.
It's cool to find out that some great 2600 games (that I played on Activision Anthology, or ones that were never released) have prototypes. For example; in Pitfall!, Pitfall Harry initially wore an aqua-green shirt.

This thread makes me want to go out to the garage and dig through to find my old Activision patches. I have a leather jacket that would look great with those on it.