Microsoft's Game Room - The Shopping Guide (Part 1)

It's no secret that the folks here at Gammabit like the Retro. So it's no surprise that when the Xbox 360 Equivalent of the Virtual Console was released, I was all over it. But much like it's Wii counterpart, the Game Room has some good, some meh, and some pretty awful titles. Some are still fantastic today, they're the "aged cheddar" of the Arcade world, others are horrible, broken messes. That's why we're here, we think you should be playing the Game Room, so we're going to be telling you what games to buy and what to avoid. We've played them all, so we're the experts!

Today, we're gonna look at a couple Atari 2600 Classics.

Adventure
Original Platform: Atari 2600
Publisher: Atari

Before there was Zelda, Hydlide or any other game of that caliber, there was Adventure. Though it was released in 1978, so the graphics required some imagination and the dragons resembled Ducks, the game was truly the first real "adventure-game." The game is still fun and relatively easy to play. It's a good look to see where everyone's favorite genre had its start.

BUY

Pitfall

Original Platform: Atari 2600

Publisher: Activision

Possibly the only good version of Pitfall that exists, Pitfall is a challenging title. You play as Pitfall Harry, who probably looks like Nolan North, and you must navigate treacherous pits, crocodile ponds and other horrible jungle things. There's the occasional bug here and there, but Pitfall is genuinely designed to be challenging. Something that the game is renowned for. If you haven't had an opportunity to play this classic, then now is a perfect time.

BUY

Yar's Revenge

Original Platform: Atari 2600

Publisher: Atari

Yars' Revenge is a strange title. A port of an arcade game known as Star Castle, you play as a fly-monster attempting to destroy a fortress-like object. You must first destroy the outer-wall while avoiding a heat-seeking missile and other attacks from the fortress, then you must fly into it and a navigate a bomb into the core. There's a trippy Negative Zone in the middle of the field which negates your ability to shoot. The game handles strange, but it's fun once you get used to it.

MEH

Demons to Diamonds

Original Platform: Atari 2600

Publisher: Atari

Demons to Diamonds is a 1-2 Player game for the Atari. You each play as a tank at the top or bottom of the screen. You must navigate through barrages of bullets fired by Skull and Crossbones, while shooting at demons the same color as your tank. Successfully killing one results in a diamond appearing on the screen, shoot it to receive bonus points. A fun game, but there are similar titles in the Game Room which are a little more interesting.

MEH

Star Raiders

Original Platform: Atari 2600

Publisher: Atari

Star Raiders puts you in the cockpit of a space fighter. You must travel across an intergalactic map, and destroy the Krylon fighters. Unfortunately, this is hard to do. You're lucky if you manage to destroy one before dying. This game is frustrating. Don't bother with it.

AVOID

Oink!

Original Platform: Atari 2600

Publisher: Activision

You play as one of the 3 pigs. The wolf is attempting to blow your house down. As he breaks away at pieces of your home, you must survive as long as you can by replacing the pieces that have been blown away. It's simple and fun and gets pretty frantic in later levels. It's one of those games where you didn't expect to be good.

BUY

Millipede

Original Platform: Atari 2600

Publisher: Atari

Millipede is the 2600 point of the original, which is itself a sequel to the classic, Centipede. Unless you really prefered Millipede over Centipede, there's no reason to own this. The Game Room already has the arcade version of Centipede, which looks and plays better. So spend your $3 on that, or whenever the arcade version of Millipede inevitably comes out.

AVOID

This is merely a taste of the Atari 2600 games the Game Room has to offer, let alone the other platforms. Next time, we'll be looking at the Arcade hits available for the title.

- Kyle K.