Random musings on the relative merits of newly released video games for classic consoles

Pac Man 4K: Just got this one yesterday. Graphics are initially amazing for the 2600. Playing it, however, shows much flicker on my 7800 console. I expected better with 4K storage on the cartridge.

Chetiry: Wow, Tetris came to my 2600 and it is great. Different difficulty selections, 4 different music selections, and the ability to choose how many rows of blocks to start off with. Did I mention high score saving and initial entry? GET THIS GAME!

Moon Cresta: I had forgot all about this 80's space shooter at the arcades, but man, does it look sweet. Gameplay is fun, but I wish it allowed for more than one shot on-screen at a time. I guess I forgot that it shoots like Galaxian instead of multi-shots like Galaga.

Space Patrol: Put this into my Intellivision, and the title screen alone is awesome. Moon Patrol comes to the Inty and man is it great. The rover controls nicely with the Intellivision disc directional pad, and the background scenery scrolls nicely. Must own title for all Intellivision mavens.

Some comments on my part:

Pac-Man 4K is excellent if you consider that the original Pac-Man from Atari is the exact same size. I would have expected more had it been an 8K game. This was purposely done in 4K to prove that it could be done within the original limitations of the 2600. It is unquestionably superior to the original Atari port.

Chetiry, definitely a superb homebrew. Quite remarkable when you consider it is a 2600 game!

Moon Cresta, another excellent port from Bob and pretty arcade-accurate. This is a tough game and I remember being no good with it on the arcade. I'm not much better at home either! LOL

Space Patrol, is another excellent game but I have not yet tested it. From what I've read, I'm in for a treat.

Not too negative on Pac Man 4K, it is amazing looking compared to the original VCS release, to say the least. I did notice though that it seemed fast-paced and the ghosts did not stay blue as long as I expected on the cherry (easiest?) level. Maybe they should have included a teddy bear level for amateurs like myself.

Yes, easy it is not. Someone is working on adding even more features but by pushing it to 8K. Of course, you can always try Hangly Man through emulation (or Harmony), which already has the extras on it and it is an excellent clone.

Does Hangly Man have all the original intermission screens between the 'acts' along with the intro screen?

About Pac Man 4K: Would have been nice if the programmer had put A-B difficulty switches into play.

Not sure if there was any room left to change the difficulty with the switches. I haven't tested the cart yet. Can you choose fruit level using the select button?

Hangly Man has the intro theme but not the intermissions (at least the bin I have doesn't) but there may be a newer version that does.

A couple more I have picked up within the last couple months:

Boulder Dash: The 5200 version by Mean Hamster, not the $85 VCS version by Thomas Jentzsch. Oh my, the graphics and overall responsiveness of the on-screen character are impressive. Truth be told, this might be the graphics king among all the 5200 games in my collection of over 50 titles. Not having played a lot of Boulder Dash in my time, I die easily at this game (also have the NES version), but this 5200 version may encourage me to practice a bit more.

Gauntlet: Again, the 5200 version, a recent Mean Hamster release. Initially, I should say the intro screen and music are striking on the good old 5200. They got my heart to racing. But then we go to the game-play. A little choppy, though functional. I played as both the elf and the warrior and found that the ghosts were too quick for my choppy moving avatars. With the warrior, I could barely throw axes in time before the ghosts had me on a regular basis. Nice to fin ally have gauntlet on the much-neglected 5200, but this one will definitely take some more practice.

They both sound like really good games.

I'm a contributor to the indie scene for the Intellivision and have been almost from the get-go, having released one of the first four indie titles (Samegame & Robots). I've always wanted there to be more games for the Intellivision since INTV departed from the scene.