Classic Game Room HD - ZAXXON for Atari 2600 review

[DiabloArcade]

I think of this like 3D River Raid in Space.

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

HD stands for Heavy Duty

[uriituw]

One of the worst ports ever.

[SethGreenMachine2010]

Hes going laps around Halo!

[9esferas1]

next dimension of popping

[SolidSnake684]

*sigh* back when CGR HD was relaxed. Oh my how things have changed. I wonder how Lord Karnage would feel.

[deadlygroove1]

@SolidSnake684 I want the 2008 style of CGR HD back. It was a lot better in my opinion. From the middle of 2009-today, Mark talks just like a commercial reviewer which also makes him sound older. I like it better when he kept it real and sounded like he was talking to you like as if he was one of your friends. Maybe one day we'll have the good old Mark back.

[SolidSnake684]

@deadlygroove1 hell if were going on that route i want 1999 Mark AND Dave back

[deadlygroove1]

@SolidSnake684 Amen brother!!! What would be cool is to have the 1999 Dave and the 2008 Mark back together again. Did you see Mark's interview with Dave? It's a 6 part series. I don't know why part 7 isn't up but still really awesome to watch. Search "Interview with Mark and Dave" on youtube bro. I'm pretty sure that's the title. :)

[SolidSnake684]

@deadlygroove1 yeah i saw it. it was hilarious.i was just glad to see that Dave just had other stuff to do and he didnt get in a big fight with mark or something. did you watch the video called the real classic game room? it was like a parody of celebrity being stuck up. it was so funny. just search real classic game room and you'll find it

[IanBowmanFeelsGood]

I love your reviews dude. Great stuff.

[pmb325]

its all about their shadows

[dkempf1]

Really, we have sit though an ad to watch a videgame. Sometimes Youtube sucks..

[bl4ckw1ngz64]

@dkempf1: That's just how Youtube partnerships works. Let the man earn his money.

[Petman5312]

Mark, you need to review the ColecoVision, which is completely made of win.

[marquis0r]

great perspective

[xxxIronLeexxx]

Zaxxon on Colecovision looks so much better.

[DeltaPhi79]

@xxxIronLeexxx It should. It came out God knows how much later.

[Air4swan]

Wow... the first episode, yet it has way less views than subscribers.

[DavidSebua]

this is not hd, thumbs up if u agree

[orionpax55]

@DavidSebua It's hard not to agree with a fact.

[DavidSebua]

@orionpax55 oh really, thn why does it say "HD" in the title?

[orionpax55]

@DavidSebua I'm not sure I understand you I was saying I DO agree. Didn't you hear him, he has no idea what the HD stands for, and it certainly isn't high definition, it's part of Mark's occasionally bizarre sense of humor, doesn't matter now though, since newer reviews ARE in HD.

[hoadinga]

@DavidSebua it stands for heavy duty

[DavidSebua]

@hoadinga lol

[purplemutantas]

I used to have a 7800. It was cool that you could play the old 2600 games on it. At the time toys R us had 2600 games dirt cheap. I also like how the controllers on it were ambidextrous. To bad Atari waited as long as they did to bring it out.

[SakuraAvalon]

.__________. The first episode! Holy epic!

[TKnightcrawler]

I had Zaxxon on Commodore 64. Fortunately, it was a much better port. :-D

[OverruledDood]

this is a sega game?!?!

mind = blown

[blade004]

Well well well.. i had no idea that Zaxxon was released on the Atari 2600! I had it on the CBS Colecovision at the time and later on after getting an Atari i never came across this version of Zaxxon.

The lack of isometric 3D though does make it look extremely odd but as you said in your video, its a valiant attempt ;)

[Spazmify]

did you have a heavy sixer?

[tomcamp6023]

colecovision had the best looking and playing games but Atari was hours of fun and it was king before the colecovision

[MattTheSaiyan]

There is something very interesting and cool about getting Sega and Nintendo's old arcade games on systems like the 2600 and Intellivision. Even when the conversions of the games aren't very good, they are still ultra-cool collectors items.

[superjuca55]

This was pretty good and a smart decision considering the 2600 capabilities. I liked it at the time.

[falrit]

wow, they fucked this game up for atari

[ColonelHarry]

This looks horrible, while the original Zaxxon with isometric graphics was one of the best in its genre (with the wonderfull Viewpoint for Neo Geo).

[esathegreat]

looks pretty good

[TheHockeyPlayinGamer]

video of the day!

[janmansde3dede]

wow how CGR HD has changed....

Im a Classic game room fan since 2000 (the year)

And am still now, But I never seen this one before....

[djsmith3000]

Wow the first CGR HD :D 

[1983parrothead]

Before Sega became best known for the Sonic the Hedgehog series, they were best known for Zaxxon.

[smokeymctokem]

Whats all this HD stuff then? are you on the pot?

[aapenjong]

@smokeymctokem

HD stands for heavy duty. mark said it himself.

[redsox258]

great to see SOMEONE appreciates these old school games. props to you mark!

[ZOMGItsTheLoganShow]

I'm gonna guess this was the first CGR HD video. Pretty epic looking back on all the games you have reviewed over the years

[gherinquad]

I quite liked this game as a kid. The robot guy always scared me when he launched his rocket or whatever it was. Of course I was only four at the time so just about everything frightened me.

[jdigitalseven]

* I think it was actually some type of weather that made him morph, haven't seen the show in about 23 -25 years!!

[jdigitalseven]

I used to have an Air Wolf wallet with the guys ID in it...also am I the only one who remembers Streek Hawk? I was young in the early 80's but still remember shows like that. Also the short lived cartoon Turbo Teen, the kid who turned into a sports car everytime he got wet.

[Bittergamer1886]

Wow, I made the first comment on this page in a year. How come this isn't flooded with comments! This is your first CGRHD, and THIS is how it was treated? No! Unacceptable! You need to bring back the "Over 300 review watch em' all NOW!" thing and that butterfly lady that says something funny at the end relating (Most of the time) to the game.

[axecalibore]

He does sound like Harold Ramis! Funny. The 2600 could only do so much, that's why I got an 800 after I saw the lousy Pacman on the 2600. The 800 (computer) did a very fair Pacman and Missle Command and even Zaxxon was halfway decent. It came on a 5 inch floppy.

[blowaap2]

nice review, what is the song called? and/or where can i get it?

[nibelung34343]

anyone remember super zaxxon in the arcade OH m god that game made a man out of me

screw tribal right of passages

play super zaxxon and get past stage 1

[alphakub]

wow, looks like a bad River Raid knock off

[Hitrat]

Looks different on Atari. I played it on Commodore 64.

[Link4587452]

So this was the first CGRHD episode?

[dutschinator]

zaxxon did a great job on the colecovision tho.

[GisherJohn24]

Some games just should have never made it to the 2600, Zaxxon is one of them. 3D was just too much for the system to handle.

[dreamcastII]

this game looks good for the Atari 2600, this is hardly in the 2600 Donkey Kong league, is it ?

Good shadows for the ships, the characters are scaled. If you forget this is meant to be Zaxxon and just see it as a 3D shooter for a 1977 technology I think this can be re-evaluated positively.

[KlokolmKM]

it was nice to see this again, after those new reviews you have :D nice work man, im a big fan :)

[Bufa491us]

I have this game too

[Bufa491us]

I also have this game for Atari 2600

[NintendoACA]

Why doesn't this vid have more views and comments?

[armonigann]

Im gonna put the logo on the hood of my car!!!!

[marquis0r]

looks really great! best 3D game for 2600?

[rogueJ]

Atari 2600 was know for murdering great arcade games.. i thought they fucked up pac man,but this one take the cake..

[dogcatmouse23]

I liked this version the best. I got so far on this when I was tiny one day got so far.

[TheGamingZora]

wow, must have felt weird to do this show again 7 years later

[dougd1015]

I got this game just the other day for about 2 dollars.

[classof77]

Dude, this adaptation was such ass. ;)

I love ya, 2600, but there were some games that it would have been better never to try to port.

[Chad9976]

yup, it sucked.

[notyoursavior78]

haha wow this sounds like the first ever CGR:HD episode. I've never seen this before. Very cool to finally discover it.

I actually was curious what this game was like because I didn't remember it in the arcades and I got a few months ago for a dollar, but I never tried it out.

Oh how far the CGR:HD has come today :)

[Tryzon]

This game isn't as funny as Desert Falcon on the 7800. And it hasn't got the crazy tune either ^_^

[AmgGamer9408]

wow nobody hasnt commented on this video in 10 months wow

[nooblet911]

I think the graphics are great for the 2600 and have a even more '3d' feel to them

haven't played it, though, so I can't judge the gameplay

[nooblet911]

very impressive

[harleykman]

Coleco made this game bad on purpose, because they wanted us Atari-owners to run-out and buy Colecovision's near-perfect Zaxxon instead.

[boogyman10o1]

i want to know what music that is

[ArchedThunder]

Awesome review as always, wow only 10 comments? well now its 11

[Trodlgrimm]

I have this game on the C64, but there the view is sort of diagonally.

[Herbarius]

I might even like this version better than the original, because the isometric perspective with you flying from left to right always confused the hell out of me. This one looks like it would be more intuitive.

[paulspydar]

as opposed to the "unofficial" Zaxxon,I wonder what that was like? LOL

[stringanime]

I played the 2600 Zaxxon first, so when I saw the Arcade version I said "Where is the Scaling? Where is the 3D?" Then I realized that the Congo Bongo like Art was what made Zaxxon so unique in the Arcades.

[superwatch7]

the first time I played this game was at a hotel and it was displayed on an arcade machiene next to the swimming pool it was fun

[koolkitty8989]

I actually kind of like this version more than the original. (at least in some ways)

I like the foreward scrolling aspect rather than the isometric view . Kind of like After Burner or Star Fox. (or Galaxy Force)

[Ziffel67]

I loved the arcade game and was a little disappointed this cartridge didn't have the left to right view and richer graphics.

Still, I highly enjoyed this version. The game play was good and it included most objects from the arcade game.

At about the fourth round it got extremely fast and hard, and I would soon be a goner. I usually wound up with around 50,000 - 60,000 points.

[MasterKanaar]

Sega never made a zaxxon for it's home console, except for the 3-D version. It was better then this version, but you needed the 3-D glasses for the Sega Master System. I wished Sega would of made a normal arcade version for it's home console.

[CarlstonSolar]

Well keep in mind, by this time the Volecovision was just coming out.

And at 400 bucks a pop for 80's money...upgrading a system that often wasn't very possible. Remember pc were about 7 grand back then. All the systems had their points. And in that day...yeah a ps3 would give someone a heart attack. But can't say a jet was better in the days you only had prop aircraft eh?

[DevilMaster]

Funny that you mention "3D graphics". Do you remember the old Zaxxon commercial, where the game was depicted as an actual 3D (=polygonal) game, with full freedom of movement, which looked more like an early Saturn game than the pseudo-3D arcade game it actually was? I reworked that commercial as a hypothetical 1995 commercial for a 3D Zaxxon on the Saturn: watch?v=GK88Gk661fI

[theTF2sniper]

i love the intro music at the atari pic

[yaywhewclips242]

I thought this game was hard to find??

[Retrogamer71]

Perhaps "HD" could stand for "How's Dave?".

Like How's Dave your old cohost? I love those

Dreamcast reviews with allure of overt

Beer references which in these politically

correct times should have a mature rating.

But, yes How's Dave? What about a

CGR special biopic of Dave since CGR?

Where is Dave? Come on CGR give us the

inside scoop!!

[AFNYOAQIS]

this is nothing like zaxxon

[ArcadeGames]

"A" for effort? I thought it was "E" for effort...I grew up playing this game on the Sega Master System.

[Grooveraider]

Wow, looks nothing like Zaxxon. Your vehicle looks like a cessna plane more than a spaceship in the coin-op. I liked what Sega did to their follow-up of Zaxxon. They made it in 3-D and had you buy those crystal shutter 3-D glasses. It was actually pretty cool back in the day :)

[kde776]

zaxxon---more like blowszon

[n136ha]

remember being really let down by this one, had seen the collecovision ad and was expecting that. the collecovison was much better

[morgangamer22]

COOL

[plurp7]

dude, awesome review.

true the translation sucked, but twas indeed a valiant effort as a port.

thanks for posting, well worth my time to watch.

[mrbama75]

Great review, though the colecovision (which I still have) was alot better.I still love the old school games.Thanks for the review!

[thanksj]

Colecovision would have been alot better if the controller wasn't horrible And it had some good games.

[harleykman]

Well of course Colecovision was better. It was made the same year as the NES and therefore with better technology.

The Atari was great for its time (1977), and there's no other 70s-era console I would have asked my parents to buy me except Atari.

[slimer145]

I personally like this game.............

[AmstradExin]

I like this game too. Since the reviewer doesnt have any idea of the insides of the machine. It was a good and challenging view of the game and i always hated the isometrical view of the arcade verson, which is even harder to play. Finally, the hardware stretch of the PMG's are good for something. ;-) (1x, 2x, 4x)

[ronpaul2016]

Why does this voiceover guy sound like Harold Ramis?

[RetroGameRoom]

oh, way to give away the secret asshole.

[richiebear1969]

ROFL...high five!!

[mattgouette]

LOL! I was just thinking of commenting on that! Too funny!

[TheCastellan]

He's a genetic clone gone wrong! XD

[kzfive]

I used to have this game for Intellivision.

[stafax]

I'm glad you decided to continue the Classic Game Room with CGR HD. Different feel, but so far it's still enjoyable to watch.

[ScrewAttackEurope]

Out of coursity, did you ever refer to the 2600 as the VCS as a kid at any time?

It's just a name thats stuck in my head for it, mainly as I sort of moved on to the Amstrad CPC when Atari changed the name.

[InecomCompany]

I don't think so. We did refer to Airwolf as awesome though.

[ScrewAttackEurope]

We've just started getting re-runs of Airwolf over here now, people used to complain that ti was Night Rider in a helicopter at the time, but i've no idea where they got that from, it's completly different.

[InecomCompany]

So let me get this straight, we send you Airwolf and Knight Rider you send us Dancing with the Stars!? Gee... thanks.

[ScrewAttackEurope]

I think thats even considering you sent us Friends, Hanna Montana and that frickin' awful new Terminator series.

We keep offering you new Doctor Who, but NoooOOooo, you don't want that!!!

[tomcamp6023]

@ScrewAttackEurope . NEVER

[starsiegeplayer]

@ScrewAttackEurope the 2600 was originally called the VCS (Video Computer System).

[zidaneff]

I'd like to see some Sega Genesis Game Reviews, specially in the X-man episode, you said there were more lined up originally. Genesis was my "Super Nintendo" Alternative, yeah, Wal-Mart had a big sale on SNESs and we missed out, so my parents made up for it by going with a less known system, and good thing, because I still play the crap out that system I got, so long ago, with Eternal Champions and Sega 6-Pack.

[sinistermoon]

That was way cool. The 2600 port lacked in a lot of areas but I felt it still had good game play. You had a heavy-sixer huh? Sweeeeeet.