Classic Game Room HD - SPACE CAVERN for Atari 2600 review

[SuperNESFreak]

5:31 Bullshit! With the more powerful consoles like the PS3 very different games can be made - the Atari 2600 had a lot of games that were very similar to Pac Man or Space Invaders because of its limitations, this being no exception. The diversity of games is only growing.

[RattyRandnums]

@SuperNESFreak Yeah but he's talking about a decreasing variety in concepts presented in A-list games. How many FPSs set in the middle east come out every month? Big games are so expensive to make that their premises (& gameplay) are increasingly "safe" and standardized like Hollywood. Indie games are now to mainstream big-budget games what Indie movies have been to Hollywood for decades. A field where low-budget auteurs can be experimental because money men in the mainstream don't like risks.

[wishcraft4u2]

Whats that hardrock ish tune before the guy starts speaking?

[pardyhardly]

Why do they call it nuclear warfare? Nuclear war isn't fair.

[y2k4ever1]

The music starting at 0:38 should be in this game, it totally fits!!!

[wandererlain]

This looks kind of tedious but is a curiousity from the obscure games world.

[Jellogel]

this is a nice game, but the sound is awful, I can't play it for more than two minutes because of it

[spacexploder]

what is the metal song?

[thundreturtle]

Great music at the beginning after the intro! Which song is it?

[deadlygroove1]

@thundreturtle the name of the song is "Flock of Cowboys". I don't know who the artist is.

[thundreturtle]

@deadlygroove1 Man, I forgot that i asked the question :), thanx for the reply but I meant after that, ''Flock of Cowboys'' is the intro of CGR, I meant just after ''SPACE CAVERN'' flashes on the screen the rocking song

[deadlygroove1]

@thundreturtle Oh man yeah I see what you're talking about. I've heard it a couple times on other CGR reviews but I don't know what that is. Sorry bro, I wish I knew.

[sglider]

This game stinks, hated it with a passion as a kid. Same three enemies over and over, lame sound, and nondescript graphics for the enemies.

[nviso209]

Nice graphics and that cart art is AWESOME! Atari Age.com says it is a 3 or SCARCE.

[nviso209]

Mark's CGR bumper music is the best!!! Esp the pimpin' robo hip-hop tune! Hope I hear him on an episode of AGG Podcast soon...

[jaymorpheus1]

Only problem I got with classic game room... the intro is 40 seconds long. Otherwise I enjoy it.

[ethinethin]

Not to be confused with Space Dungeon

[ComparativeAnatomy1]

Ugh, you need to play more Atari and get some more games if you think this is good. It's okay, but the play is lifeless and presents little challenge at all, even at higher levels it's a total joke. Way too easy. Cool label art, though, can't disagree there.

[vintagestarwars]

Space Cavern The Movie, why not!!!!!

[johnwx777]

Decent game,but needed a bit more variety.It gets a bit boring after a while.

[richardhutnik]

Is there any connection between marsupods and marzipan?

Even money this may end up in XBox's Game Room.

[Gabumon54321]

Interesting, a space cavern on a planet? Huh?

[Xegethra]

@Gabumon54321 well earth is in space to and that has caverns....

[Guernicaman]

This game might end up coming out for XBox Live's GameRoom at some point, since it emulates a bunch of Atari 2600 games.

[mexawhite]

your computers on fire!

[jupreindeer]

This is one title that I have never heard of, before.

And, I do quite agree. With today's low priced download titles, this one truly has potential for a modernized approach. Imagine, a Contra-like second stage approach in 3-D. The space man running down endless cavern environment. Shooting at endless space enemies. Occasional super monster/boss-types. It does have a $9.99 ideals, written all over it.

Alas, so obscure a title that nobody will probably ever see it.

Really great story!

[Bittergamer1886]

Space Cavern for the Wii ! Rated M for mature!

[kingjestertku]

loved this game as a kid,bought it a grocery store when it was new...

[dougd1015]

Not only an incredibly cool game with an incredibly cool cover art, but an awesome instruction booklet!

[AgaMbadi]

The cover sticker on this cartridge sold me as well. Such a cool sticker. I loved how the dragon was vaporizing the space dude.

[Tryzon]

I wish I had a jacket made out of Atari cartridges...

Wait a minute...eBay!

[monkeyboy12345678909]

my ferst reacktion to this game OMFG!!!!!

[JonnyAMax]

I was a sucker for the 'depth' planes in Atari games like how they used gradually darkening strips that got darker and darker to imply distance.

[diskomport]

LOL, somehow the narrator sounded like napoleon dynamite !

[ecrab3]

The bad bad mark on Apollo's brand was that terrible racquetball. Sheesh that was such a disappointment as a 8 year old/

[Bittergamer1886]

Yeah. Along with the crappy games from the games division of QUAKER OATES, (Seriously,QUAKER OATS!) U.S. Games.

[armonigann]

I think Commando Raid is a pretty decent game though.

[Bittergamer1886]

Meh. It's okay.

[Tryzon]

Those things on the ground look like KapuKapus from ChuChu Rocket! Sweet.

[BlackXSouleStudios]

damn those marsopods:P

[mequetrefe413]

This game wasn't as rare as many people claim.  This was a common title early to mid 80s, since it was done by a third party company that made games for Atari and Sears Arcade (which run exactly on the same platform).

[mercyf3ll2012]

Death to the Marsopods!!!!

[BydoEmpire73]

I always really liked this game. The side shooting added just enough of a twist to differentiate from the other standard shooters. The graphics (and box art) were nice, too. Apollo did a lot of great stuff.

[Yarkie]

I can still play this game for hours on end. I love it.

[frigginjoe]

It's cool how the Atari pulled off those gradients

[harleykman]

Easy.

The Atari had 8 colors, and each color had 8 luminances (brightnesses), so it was extremely easy to pick a color like blue, and then gradually increase the brightness from dark to light every scanline.

[5tonyvvvv]

atari sucks ..u do the same thing over and over..nes and sega master system is so much better.

[frigginjoe]

Atari does suck in a way. It was underpowered when it was released, and just wasn't meant to run involved games. Sometimes it pulled decent ones off. But when you get back into the "playing for score" mentality, or appreciate playing the roots of today's games, there are a lot of fun games on it.

Piffall 2 and Montezuma's Revenge re fun as hell.

[5tonyvvvv]

its ok..its to old for me..sega, zilloin 2,and nes castlevania,and master blaster were great games

[harleykman]

>>>atari sucks ..u do the same thing over and over..

>>>

Yeah just like darts and bowling, and nobody every plays those games anymore. /end sarcasm. The point of Atari games is to challenge yourself to keep getting a bigger score. Just like darts/bowling.

[5tonyvvvv]

Archery is the best ..try shooting wood bow its cool..

[Broyale26]

@harleykman

I don't know why your comment was thumbed down. Its quite true what you are saying. Gamers are just much more spoiled nowadays.

[amari2001]

I have to look on ebay for one of these now -P forget buying a dreamcast

[D3STRUKT0R99]

Nice graphics

[robotwo]

this game stretches the 2600 graphics quite nicely :3

the 2600 usually only have a BG color , and FG color ... but apparently they've used a raster-bar routine here in order to get that nice piece of gradient :)

[Longuncattr]

"but apparently they've used a raster-bar routine here in order to get that nice piece of gradient :) "

What do you mean? The only thing the VCS is doing is telling the TIA chip to change the background's color between scanlines. The Atari doesn't think in terms of frames, it thinks in terms of individual scanlines.

[robotwo]

oh , maybee I should've checked how the TIA-chip worked before I wrote that ^^;

[gszx1337]

What do you mean games are too similar now a days? Generic First Person Shooter 42 The Next Generation is totally unique. :P

[RLMAudio]

Mark i couldnt agree with you more about the "Games turning into hollywood movies" statement. That's how i felt about Gears of War 2.

[gray3x]

Make a jacket out of spare atari cartriges? another christmas present sorted!

[0ldgamer1]

Nice review....makes me want to buy an atari 2600.

[WhistlersBrother]

This was a cool game, definitely. This was one of my favorites too. I could play this for hours on end back in the day.

[MetalHeart8787]

This game looks Boring, alot of Games had cool covers but the game was lame.

Dont get me wrong I grew up on Atari to

alot of Good games

[TheDiabloKnight]

the way you said "i love space cavern!" at 1:37 made me laugh...i love space cavern as well though. really fun game

[mexicoman101]

you R da atari masta!

[RunandGunPictures]

No I am :P

[mexicoman101]

nah man mark is

[ronova]

I completely agree with you regarding games today.

[metabog]

electro-molecular charges :-))

Great games!

[explosionsfrommybutt]

I hate games nowadays. I only play my Intellivision and Genesis, and rarely play my Wii. Games are expensive and too similiar.

[hannable70]

Are you saying that endless supplies of Space Invader variants are not similar? Or two dozen different kinds of side-scrolling games? Or games that you literally beat in 2 minutes before starting over again? Uhm ... ookay.

[Link4587452]

The spaceship shooting games and sidescrollers are definitely better than what we have today.

[wandererlain]

@explosionsfrommybutt So right! It's just all showy graphics and carbon-copy gameplay mostly. Yes, and too expensive, for sure. Damn capitalists!

[neobogard]

what ever hapened to dave?

[robotmaster101]

he quitted *sob*

[hiPlasma]

good review ^_^

[sinistermoon]

That was an awesome video! I made a new review and I gave CGMHD a shout out at the end. That would be really cool if you watched it! I will leave it as a video response.

[sinistermoon]

Ok never mind I do not see an option for that.

[cabarto]

Great commentary on todays games, Mark! Love the new website but I think that Mr. Windy is going to need a little more representation. Maybe a 'Mr. Windy's Corner' in the final build?

[justlikedavid138]

finally someone else who understands the charm of space cavern.

This was the second game I ever played in my life, and I remember playing for hours. However, my friends hated it, and most internet reviewers hate it.

Way to look through the negative hype and talk about this gem of the classic era!

[mutantcommunist]

hell yeah!

a game room website!

and you can ajust the size of the letters too...fun for everyone!

dude, i'm glad.

[InecomCompany]

Let us know what you like and dislike about it, our crack team of ninja panda bears is building the site. They're putting the forum together with the help of the Magic Unicorn Forum Team (M.U.F.T) and are lookin' for feedback. CGRHD

[mutantcommunist]

well so far the work they've done is really worthy of true ninja panda bears. it looks nice and it definetely feels like home.

finally. if there's one thing still open on my wishlist, that"d be fullscreen playback. but i's not that important after all.

[everyonelovesbutters]

would love to see that atari cartridge jacket.. real bad ass

[valeforj]

I personally like the civil war so I watch those just as same game room. But then again I never would have seen them without game room lureing me in. Also Just got the DVD, it is very entertaining. I recomend those who dont have it, GET IT!

[mGoLos]

I second that; The DVD is hilarious!

[Rep2369]

Absolutely. The DVD just plain rocks! If you're a CGR fan it's the best $ you'll ever spend! :)

[uluvitclan]

never played it

[Xevonarin]

Haha awesome!

[highway234]

i had this when i was a kid. i liked it a lot too.

[suicidalparrot]

you know what makes me happy? When Classic Game Room HD pumps out many many reviews in a row. You know what I don't like? When Inecom Company pumps out twice as many PBS rejected civil war documentaries.

[AcousticDave94]

agreed, i dont think anyone watches them

[ioport]

I wish the video game videos and the documentary videos were under seperate accounts. It's a pain browsing through them all trying to find the video game reviews.

[InecomCompany]

Classic Game Room has its own site now with every video from the past 8 years on it at ClassicGameRoom-dot-net. All new reviews will be posted here as well as there! -CGRHD

[Link4587452]

If it weren't for CGR, no one would have heard of Inecom.

[InecomCompany]

The new ClassicGameRoom-dot-net website is finally live! Hooray for Space Cavern and Atari 2600! Long live wood grain! -CGRHD

[suicidalparrot]

Sweet! This hadn't posted yet when I left my other comment.

[Rep2369]

Awesome news! The site is really nice, nice simple layout too. Can't wait til it's all 100% up and running, especially the forums, that'll be a real blast! Awesome job Mark! :)