Launch Line-Ups

[TL]

Let's look at the launch line-up for the Atari 7800 Pro-System:

Ms. Pac-Man
Pole Position II
Centipede
Asteroids
Joust
Dig Dug
Desert Falcon
Robotron: 2084
Galaga
Xevious
Food Fight
Ballblazer

IMO this is actually a very good line-up, it would have been even better if the machine had got a full release in 1984 as intended and not 1986. All but 2 of those games are arcade conversions and bonafide classics too. I think I would give this a 9/10.

[TrekMD]

The 7800 launch titles were indeed a good set of arcade ports and even included the original Desert Falcon.  Asteroids was a nice update to the original game that showed what the system could do.  Ballblazer was also a great launch title and demonstrated what a game with POKEY could do.  I always lamented that Atari never released a Pac-Man port for the system.  It would have been another nice launch title.

[TL]

The 7800 launch titles were indeed a good set of arcade ports and even included the original Desert Falcon.  Asteroids was a nice update to the original game that showed what the system could do.  Ballblazer was also a great launch title and demonstrated what a game with POKEY could do.  I always lamented that Atari never released a Pac-Man port for the system.  It would have been another nice launch title.

You had Ms. Pacman though, which I personally think is the better game.

[TrekMD]

The 7800 launch titles were indeed a good set of arcade ports and even included the original Desert Falcon.  Asteroids was a nice update to the original game that showed what the system could do.  Ballblazer was also a great launch title and demonstrated what a game with POKEY could do.  I always lamented that Atari never released a Pac-Man port for the system.  It would have been another nice launch title.

You had Ms. Pacman though, which I personally think is the better game.

True, which is most likely what they also thought.  But I knew they could do a better job that even on the 5200 on the 7800.  We got the game eventually, though, in Pac-Man Collection. 

[TL]

Speaking of the 5200, this was that machines launch line-up:

Centipede 
Defender 
Galaxian 
Missile Command 
Pac-Man 
Qix 
Realsports Baseball 
Realsports Football 
Realsports Soccer 
Space Invaders
Star Raiders
Super Breakout

[TrekMD]

That's another good list of games and RealSports Baseball is probably the best version of the game on any Atari console.

[TL]

It's not a bad list but the problem I have with it is that most of those games were also on the 2600.

They should have had more exclusives lined up for it.

[TrekMD]

It's not a bad list but the problem I have with it is that most of those games were also on the 2600.

They should have had more exclusives lined up for it.

I think they believed showing off what the system could do by launching with titles that already existed on the 2600 would entice folks to buy the 5200.  Of course, that logic doesn't always work as was the case here. 

[TL]

The Sega Mega Drive launch line-ups:

Japan: Space Harrier II, Altered Beast, Super Thunder Blade.

North America: Space Harrier II, Altered Beast, Super Thunder Blade, Alex Kidd & The Enchanted Castle, Last Battle, Thunder Force II, Tommy Lasorda Baseball.

Europe: Space Harrier II, Altered Beast, Super Thunder Blade, Alex Kidd & The Enchanted Castle, Last Battle, Thunder Force II, Columns.

The Japan launch is very sad, only getting 3 games. But the line-ups for Europe and North America were pretty decent and offered plenty of variation. This line-up gets a 7/10 from me.

[onthinice]

Tommy Lasorda Baseball was a very good sports title for the time. I think most of the early Sega sports games were really fun and easy to play.

[TL]

And the line-up for the Mega Drive's older brother, the Sega Master System:

Japan: Hang-On, Teddy Boy

North America: Hang-On, Teddy Boy, Safari Hunt, Snail Maze (built-in)

Europe: Hang-On, Teddy Boy, Safari Hunt, Transbot, World Grand Prix, Fantasy Zone, Choplifter, Black Belt, Action Fighter, Snail Maze (built-in)

Japan launch was in October '85, followed by North America in June '86 and Europe a couple of months later.

The Japanese launch really sucked with just 2 games but seen as they had the SC3000/MK3 instead that was also a computer they probably had more software that was not on cart/card.

The NA launch line-up is very poor too but Europe got a respectable 10 games with a few real classics in there. So that one gets a solid 8/10 from me while North America and Japan are a 3/10.

[onthinice]

We got Snail Maze  :21: