Donkey Kong / DK Jr. / Mario Bros. / Centipede retrospective: Ape escape | NES Works Gaiden #40

As we head into the final quarter of 1988, we have three classic Nintendo games appearing on what is decidedly NOT a classic Nintendo console. Atari published ports of three vintage Nintendo creations (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, and Mario Bros.) on a variety of platforms in late 1988, including the 2600, their various 8-bit platforms, and as seen here the 7800. While the 7800 releases can't quite punch with the actual Nintendo-programmed NES versions, the fact that these three carts exist at all turns out to be more than enough to fill an episode with speculation and musings.
I'm pretty sure I accidentally mixed up the names Atari Inc. and Atari Corp. here once again, so apologies for that, sticklers.
Also this episode, a little touch of errata: I somehow overlooked the fact that Centipede appeared at the 7800's launch in May 1986, so that also gets some air time this week. Unlike the Nintendo conversions, this take on Centipede is top-notch, with some surprisingly cool additions courtesy of General Computing Corp.
Production notes:
Video Works is funded via Patreon ( / gamespite ) - support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its KZbin debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more!
Atari 7800 and NES footage captured from ‪@analogueinc‬ Nt Mini Noir. Arcade footage captured from MiSTer when possible (courtesy of ‪@MiSTerAddons‬ ). Video upscaled to 720 with ‪@retrotink339‬ 5X.

[@feitclub]

everytime I see footage of Atari's Nintendo ports I am reminded of how many hours I spent playing them and how deeply those sound effects are buried in my memory.

[@BB-te8tc]

It didn't help growing up in the late 80's and early 90's and knowing that nearly every time a cartoon/movie/tv show/commercial wanted to depict a video game being played on screen, they'd use either those sound effects or Atari 2600's Pac Man.

[@swarth8632]

I still replay the intro song from "California Games" in my mind to cheer myself up.

[@Sixfortyfive]

One thing I appreciate about this channel and the mostly chronological examination of each individual game is that it really gives proper context for so much of the fallout from the Atari crash, such as how the delayed and limited NES release compressed over two years of rapid Famicom progress into a single launch lineup, and here, how Atari's mid-80s woes and restructuring lead to the 7800 feeling basically like a product out of place and time. The timeline of the American console market in the 1980s otherwise doesn't make any sense from just looking at the products at a surface level. For a long time, I felt that a lot of the popular discourse about "the great 1983 video game crash" was obnoxious and overblown for a few reasons. For one, it always struck me as a bit too America-centric and console-centric, ignoring other markets and the arcade/PC biz altogether. For another, there was always this obnoxious and borderline fanboyish undercurrent about how Nintendo "saved videogames," as if someone else wouldn't have eventually come along to fill in the market void in their own way, and as if it wasn't more of a case of Nintendo just having the perfect product for the perfect moment. But I think this series does a pretty good job at breaking down the ripple effects of this history in a fairly straightforward way, and it's gotten me to reconsider the significance of a lot of it. All those later-years NES ports of early-years Famicom games that were running on what was essentially outdated tech at that point make more sense in context. As do those news clips of parents upset that the newfangled Super Nintendo doesn't play Regular Nintendo games. Heck, feverishly following the game release lineup as products are launched wasn't part of the culture yet either, so to a lot of those parents just buying toys for their kids, the NES may as well have released in 1990. For what it's worth, my mom was a big Pac-Man addict, but I don't think I've ever seen her play Centipede.

[@billkendrick1]

My mom loved 2600 Space Invaders. That was all I remember her bothering to play

[@vectorbeam]

I lived through this time period as a young teenager in the USA and the context Jeremy provides both confirms and fills in the gaps in my personal experience. The NES and the 7800 launched here nearly simultaneously. My older brother bought the pricier "Nintendo" and I bought the budget-friendly 7800. We were Atari loyalists and enjoyed the quality arcade ports of Robotron, Xevious and others that 7800 was providing. Even some of the late release 2600 stuff (playable on the 7800) was still entertaining - Solaris, Track and Field, Jr. Pac-Man, were actually pretty good compared to the 1977 era stuff. But nothing could beat the energetic high of obsessing over the shiny new Super Mario Bros with its amazing, fluid gameplay, all its hidden secrets and arcade level graphics, Duck Hunt with its Zapper and Gyromite with its R.O.B. toy - not to mention, the bouncy upbeat soundtracks that most NES games seemed to have and don't always get mentioned as one of the innovations of that generation. The 7800, with it's backwards compatibility for the mountain of 2600 games we had, quickly became the nostalgia machine, not entirely ignored, but unable to provide the next gen thrills of the NES.

[@danielespeziari5545]

I agree with you. Games with music (and on NES it's often awesome music) and games without music are entirely different experiences. Maybe this is one of the reasons why many people, including myself, are not drawn to pre-NES games

[@childofcascadia]

The weird thing is, I grew up in the mid-late 80s. Young enough that I dont really remember the heydey of Atari and the video game crash old enough that I do remember the launch of the 7800 and NES. Maybe its cuz Im a PC gamer at the core, grew up with an Apple IIe and didnt get an NES till the year SNES came out, but I always hated home ports of score attack arcade games (now, even in my 40s, its the same tbh). My cousins were atari fans and had a 2600. I found it boring compared to what was available on PC. I remember them proudly showing off their new 7800. I distinctly remember being extremely underwhelmed at it, especially compared to the NES my other cousin had. It was like something that should have come out in 1983 suddenly appearing 4-5 years later.

[@jeremiahthomas8140]

As a 7800 and NES owner from 1988, I do not recall ever knowing that the 7800 versions were ports of the NES ports and not the arcade games. Funnily enough I had Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. on 7800 and 2600 Mario Bros. at the time, but none of them on the NES.

[@demonpugo]

My mother also liked centipede, however she was a dr Mario mom at heart. I’ve grown up to feel for those of you whose parents never played games.

[@Yungbeck]

Hehe dad loved Dr Mario. Still does, I got him the NES mini a few years back so he could relive some of the gems

[@LorenHelgeson]

My dad tried playing Rush n' Attack once. He killed the first couple guys and then ran right into the first yellow guy - the ones that give you a bonus weapon - and he felt satisfied leaving it at that. Never picked up games again. My mother was a beast at Asteroids in the arcade, but the NES and beyond was too complex. She still enjoyed watching gameplay from time to time as I went through NES, Genesis and Saturn - she was amazed at the world setup in Panzer Dragoon. But beyond that, not much else from either one.

[@feralstorm]

I lean toward the hypothesis that Atari had the Nintendo licenses and decided to use them before they ran out (seemingly acquiring console rights from Coleco as well, as they re-released several Coleco 2600 titles under their own banner post-crash.) It's pretty apparent the 7800 Nintendo games are ports/adaptations of the NES/Famicom versions, as they carry over many of the visual oddities of the NES games in addition to the shortcomings, then adding shortcomings of their own. At least the homebrew community brought us "Donkey Kong XM/PK" for the 7800, which is far far nicer, and puts back all the excised stuff.

[@nickfifteen]

I legit wonder if whatever counts for "Atari" today still has rights to Nintendo's 1980's arcade hits due to some technicality, like their initial rights being held in perpetuity under the assumption that Atari would remain in the home video game market forever.

[@Toad64]

I really love the 7800 version of Centipede. It plays really well and the two player simultaneous mode is a ton of fun with a friend. I think they also added a two player simultaneous mode to the 7800 version of Asteroids, which really enhanced that game too.

[@lmeeken]

As someone who got a 7800 in '89, and didn't wind up getting an NES until close to (or after?) the SNES's debut, I vividly remember the cautious optimism I felt when opening up the "Mario Bros" cartridge on a Christmas morning. Part of me hoped this was the same (Super) Mario Bros I'd played at friends' houses. As it turned out, it was just "that mini-game from SMB 3" rendered as a whole game. Still, on some level I recognized how weird it was that DK Jr. and Mario Bros were on Atari despite having the Nintendo logo, and I also recognized that they were among the stronger games in my collection on the system.

[@picc9000]

Glad they made at least one kid happy.

[@antontehgamer3436]

Very interesting how the Atari Nintendo trio are specifically ports of the NES ports and not the arcade originals. You can easily tell by their title screens (especially in Jr's case) and the fact that they have all the same compromises as those ports despite coming out 5 years later.

[@picc9000]

Nintendo: Is this legal? Atari: We will make it legal!

[@Scottengelwalker]

with each 7800 video, we draw closer and closer to the coveted Ninja Golf video

[@ginormousaurus8394]

I'm curious about Atari 7800 exclusives such as Ninja Golf, Midnight Mutants, and Alien Brigade. The Atari 7800 needed more games that weren't available elsewhere instead of ports of old arcade games. The Sega Master System had a smaller library than the NES, but it had some great exclusives that made the console worth owning.

[@WalrusFPGA]

It's really cool you included mention/footage of co-op centipede on the 7800. I had a lot of fun playing that with a buddy last year. Some surprising games on that system!

[@Larry]

Ocean Software managed to get the rights to both Donkey Kong and Mario Bros for British 8 bit computers back in 1987, always curious how they managed to pull that off. Though The NES itself wasn't released until 1987 in Europe, so it could be a throwback to when they were undecided, as Mattel distributed the NES here.

[@lightspeedmurphy7546]

Shut up you disgusting KF user who supports stalking and doxxing

[@clauscombat418]

Shut up, Larry 😒

[@childofcascadia]

Mattel? Never seen a NES from over there, was the branding any different?

[@lightspeedmurphy7546]

@@childofcascadia please do not give this forum user support

[@childofcascadia]

@Lightspeed Murphy Ok, Ill bite. Why?

[@Kidsmoker]

For other Nintendo games on non-Nintendo devices, you also have the GameCube and Wii games that were ported to the Chinese Nvidia Shield.

[@brutalboy1000]

My mom is also a big fan of Centipede. I remember seeing those Atari versions of Nintendo games on the shelf when I was a kid and being very confused.

[@doctorwolfman5221]

It’s purely anecdotal but my Mom liked Centipede as well. She was otherwise confounded on how video games were played. I’d hazard the track ball was a big part as it’s less “abstract” than a joystick.

[@49erfanaticfromnm30]

It's so funny that he mentioned that. My mom and I played co-op centipede all the time when I was a kid.

[@chriskoschik391]

For me, it was Dr. Mario. I actually had to fight her for the NES. In the end, we agreed that she could play it after 8PM, when I needed to start winding down for my 9PM bedtime lol. The only exception was the night of the week that Star Trek the Next Generation was on! Good memories! Moms are amazing!

[@thejackal007]

0:09 Highway to Heaven? In MY NES Works Gaiden?

[@OrriBirgisson]

Centipede was, indeed, the only video game my mother ever enjoyed.

[@JMFabiano]

I remember these days! When these games came out, my dad was not ready yet to spend more money on me to get a NES, and abandon the Atari 2600 collection we had. So in the interim we got a 7800. And I was happy because I was still getting Mario games.

[@darktetsuya]

Shame that the only mostly arcade perfect DK on the NES was locked to that rare red wii that came out way back in the day! at least europe got a similar thing for Mario. Bros. with the mid 90s 'Mario Bros. Classic' re-release that more closely resembles the arcade game!

[@ce7.0]

it was also on the 3DS as a limited promotional download

[@JVeg199X]

Atari had so many opportunities literally to 1-up Nintendo at their own game. Not just by adding the Pie Factory and cutscenes, but also the more nuanced enemy behaviors, the ability to occasionally control barrels, fixing the ladder bug, etc… but instead they just chose to create an inferior port of Nintendo’s inferior NES version of DK.

[@JMFabiano]

Luckily homebrewers did just what you said.

[@DavidRomigJr]

I recall hearing the president of Coleco said he was going to Nintendo and wasn’t coming back until he had Donkey Kong all cocky-like, but the president of Nintendo already had a deal ready and was like this is the deal, take it or leave it. He was forced to take the deal. The deal allowed Coleco to make Donkey Kong on any console but not computers. When Coleco turned their Coleco Vision into the Adam Computer and demonstrated Donkey Kong running on it, it caused an uproar with Nintendo, as that violated the agreement. I read it from an old history of Coleco article years ago.

[@RogerPyoko]

5:40 - Oh hey it's the exact thing I was saying back in NES Works #90 about how I just had trouble perceiving score attack games as NES games because the tone things like Super Mario Bros 2 and Zelda had instilled me. Wasn't expecting to see you make that exact point in regards to SMB2!

[@jamesmoss3424]

The Atari 7800 version of Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, and Mario bothers looks excellent. 😀👍🎮

[@reillywalker195]

I'd love to see Nintendo add the Atari 7800 to the Switch Online or for Atari SA to bring back 7800 games in a compilation. 2-player co-op _Centipede_ sounds like a great time.

[@PaulSoth]

Around that time, Atari was also selling repackaged versions of the Coleco 2600 port of Donkey Kong under their own label, along with other old Coleco ports. Atari also had the CX22 and CX80 trak-balls for the 2600 which could be used on the 7800, but I think it would function only as a single button controller since it was made to work as a joystick replacement.

[@anthonyspecf]

I still have my Atari 7800 and copy of Mario Bros. Mario Bros was a good port, fun port.

[@XanthinZarda]

Going to be honest, this has some real, "Dollar Store Version" energy. Atari Corp's goose was cooked, all that was done was for them to admit it.

[@Sixfortyfive]

"We have Donkey Kong at home."

[@HPRshredder]

0:32 - For real. Nintendo actually gave me a C&D just the other day for some MSPaint drawings I had done at work. Guess I shouldn't have printed them and pinned them up. You live and you learn.

[@philmason9653]

Wow, the DK/DK jr repackaging as a potential riposte to Atari is an interesting two dots to connect. Also, I'd never heard of the Sharp Zaurus before. I wonder if any good stuff was left in that world of 90s Japanese PDAs, and how much of it is still accessible. But either way, I now know there was a Linux version of Clu Clu Land.

[@2dskillz]

Every time you touch on the 7800 I wish I could have experienced it more.

[@TheFancifulNorwegian]

Regarding the CD-i games, Alexander Smith (of the book "They Create Worlds" and the associated podcast) believes they were unrelated to all the SNES-CD drama and were part of a settlement between Philips and Nintendo over the Ralph Baer "master patents" dating back to the Magnavox Odyssey. Philips spent much of the '80s threatening just about every major console gaming company for violating their patents and Nintendo for once opted to settle-likely prompted by the near-bankruptcy that resulted when Activision chose to go to trial and got its clock cleaned. Smith asked Howard Lincoln about this, and while Lincoln wasn't too clear on it all those years later, he did say the situation as described jibed with his recollection. This makes more sense to me than the usual explanation about the SNES-CD's cancelation, since Nintendo had the upper hand in that situation and it seems much more likely the deal between the two companies would've allowed Nintendo to pull out in exchange for a penalty fee, rather than handing over two of their most valuable franchises. But it's still all pretty hazy.

[@duckofalltrades]

Ladies and Gentlemen, make eat for the MAN, Me. Parish! Best on KZbin.

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

While the Atari conspiracy theory is fun, it merits noting that they were separate Ataris: Tengen was the home division of Atari Games, so named because the deal after the split was that they couldn't use the name Atari for any home games. Though Nintendo did end up embroiled in lawsuits with both Ataris.

[@JeremyParish]

The home computer side of Atari, Atari Corp., published these, along with MANY other games for new and legacy platforms alike into the ’90s. So, Atari Games and Tengen don't factor into this discussion at all. As far as I'm aware, Atari's legacy arcade properties (like Centipede) ended up with Atari Corp. rather than Atari Games.

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

@@JeremyParish Right, right. I just meant your comments at 4:47 about Atari sticking it to Nintendo because Tengen was trying to circumvent the 10NES chip around this time.

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

So it's... Same Name, Different Game Company

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

@@bfish89ryuhayabusa Accurate.

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

Those Nintendo ports must have been a real treat for the people who accidentally bought a 7800 instead of an NES. (True story: I was almost one of them.)

[@absolutezeronow7928]

Nice to see Atari 7800 is back with three not-quite-right Nintendo games (and that belated look at Centipede, which is a rather good arcade port.) The 2600 had a paddle controller and some games really made good use of them, but they're a little tricky to emulate. Nice to see things that make it possible to use a trackball controller on 7800 though.

[@luismoura477]

Awesome. Kind regards for your work 🙏

[@Fluoride_Jones]

I still have my Atari 7800 copies of "Donkey Kong" and "Marios Bros," CIB. I'm really looking forward to purchasing your books this summer, and picking up the reprints of the books I missed, due to not discovering your channel until after the fact.

[@d.b.gaston665]

There's a new "Recharged" version of Centipede on Steam and Switch worth checking out for fans of the original.

[@mopspear]

Thanks for including the part about the trackball. I never knew. I'd probably like the game a lot more (I don't like it) if I could play it with a trackball.

[@alanelkins2408]

Those TIA sound effects are nightmare fuel. It always baffles me that Atari didn't put a POKEY chip in the base 7800 console...

[@KrunchyTheClown78]

GCC went over budget developing the 7800, and so had to leave it out, and make the cartridge option.

[@alanelkins2408]

Ah-that makes perfect sense.

[@shane1489]

I feel like this is a channel only for the most cultured 80s and 90s kids.

[@johnsimon8457]

7:35 holy moley, I’ve never seen 2600 Donkey Kong JR - that shit is DIRE, and I’m saying this as someone who owned and enjoyed 2600 Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. 9:03 I love that centipede cover. Goofy looking mechanical centipede coming down from above to wreck your day. you’re an elf waggling a puny little wand. The only other “Nintendo game on non-Nintendo hardware” I can think of are the cellphone games. They definitely had a lot more say in how those turned out than any 8 bit PC ports

[@tjcondon3954]

Sometime around 1990 my mother took advantage of my bathtime (I was 6) to beat Bomberman. I still can't do that.

[@crithon]

I had no idea it was 1988, wow, that blows my mind. That or I had a big memory missing from the 7800 release?

[@Nay089]

I freakin love Centipede in all it’s forms

[@JeremyParish]

It freakin' rules.

[@MJFallout]

@JeremyParish Thanks so much for recommending the port of Joust that came out for the 7800 (in a recent video.) It really does play much better than the NES version. And now I have the answer if - once in a million years or so - someone were to walk up to me and ask, 'Quickly! What game is best on Atari 7800?' - 'It's Joust,' I'd say, 'hands down, just Joust, and I'll fight you over it!'

[@JeremyParish]

But what about Food Fight?

[@MJFallout]

@@JeremyParish Bro, you wanna go? *swivels fists around in front of face* No, but honestly, Food Fight can be a very close, well deserved second place. (Also might depend how much one likes ostriches.) Lastly, I don't understand Desert Falcon, like, what...? Must see if a handbook is available and if it yields any insights.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@MJFallout Joust is no Rkki and Vikki.

[@MJFallout]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 Haven't tried that yet. I had presumed my hypothetical curious stranger only asking about official, 20th century releases.

[@Kafei2006]

Hey, my mom was very much into centipiede, I watched her play it on Commodore 64 a lot when I was little. So idk what truth there is into "Centipede was popular with women" or what the reason for it could have been, but my mom wasn't into a lot of video games, but she certainly was into this one.

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

I guess ultimately, if due to some arcane agreement made years ago you had the ability to release Mario games on your console in 1988... you'd do it. Quality be damned, you'd just get those ports out the door in order to cash in on the hottest thing in gaming. I can imagine a few Mario-crazy kids opening a 7800 and a copy of Mario Bros. under the Christmas tree that year, looking horrified at their parents and being told "It's Mario isn't it? What more do you want?"

[@billkendrick1]

The I first time saw an SNES and Super Mario World was in some electronics store, and they also had Atari XEGS games. So I ironically came home with Mario Bros. I'd love some XEGS stories. (Sure it's just a home computer, but was definitely marketed FIRST as a console, and up against NES specifically)

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

My experience with XEGS was seeing a weird thing behind glass in KB toys, and not knowing what it was. Then, years later, after discovering it had less power than the 7800, wondering what they were thinking? This question would remain unresolved until I discovered the 400/800 library, and Jack's desperation to get rid of old stock. None of which explains the new ports made of old 400/800 Nintendo games. But it does deepen the mystery.

[@221b]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 The 400/800 was certainly older tech than the 7800, but it was still ahead in a few ways, such as being able to do smooth background scrolling and having better out-of-the-box sound than the 7800 (the 7800 supported enhancement chips in its cartridges that would allow for better sound, but very few games used them and it's built-in sound was basically the same as what the 2600 had.)

[@tolindaniel]

I know I don't shut up about it, but an Atari ST name drop always touches my heart 💕 Also if you care at all, I absolutely loved a Millipede ripoff in the Atari ST called "Bugs" and it is one of my favourite versions of the game in general. Definitely responsible for my love of Centipede and Millipede.

[@orpheus2626]

Isn't the next nintendo games on non nintendo platform those weird mario themed education games on pc like mario is missing ? Also taking a look at how a lot of atarisoft ports of nintendo games were on microcomputers at these times, we can at least be happy that these ports weren't a total trainwreck...

[@Elucidus]

Yup, there were also one or two Mario Teaches Typing games, as well as some Mario card game collection.

[@serpykologicl5871]

haven’t seen one of yr videos in months 3,:

[@rodrigomarcondes5857]

0:15 Look, it's Cliff Basinski

[@chamchamtrigger]

1:47 to 1:54 really has me on the floor unintentionally.

[@JeremyParish]

Oh, that wasn’t unintentional

[@chamchamtrigger]

@@JeremyParish I should have figured you'd be the one to improve on Donkey Kong Jr.

[@vectorbeam]

I don't recall if you said this in the video, but the Atari 2600 Trak Ball controller works fine on the 7800 Centipede. Classic Game Room has a video about it.

[@JeremyParish]

Nope, I did not realize that. Everything I read about it made it sound like the trackball wasn’t supported.

[@nautiluslounge]

Not sure where the Atari 400 cart of Donkey Kong fits into this, or if it would shed any light on the licensing or development; but I do recall spending many happy hours with it. All four levels, too.

[@JeremyParish]

Nintendo games showed up on multiple Atari platforms around this time. I plan to touch briefly on 2600/5200 games and do a proper look at the XEGS, which is basically a consolized Atari 400/800, so I'll be getting to that one eventually!

[@nautiluslounge]

@@JeremyParish Great... I forgot just how much Atari lost the plot, with different formats and modelsNot just consoles, but 400, 800, 65XE (and possibly more) all the same OS but different specs... Had to be one of the nails in their coffin 😑

[@thepthepthep]

The audio pitch on your 7800 captures is still off, it sounds much lower than the real thing

[@randomwrestlingarchive3937]

What months were DK Jr. and Mario released in '88?

[@BrianKapellusch]

i *loved* AutoDuel

[@kyugull]

Are you accusing the developers of AM2R of being "grey market merchants"? That was a weird juxtaposition between text and image, because to my knowledge, AM2R was always given away for free (before it got swiftly taken down).

[@matthuck378]

I find it odd Nintendo goes after people for liking them and wanting their products, yet they refuse to just start releasing games on PC, for example. I mean, they could be making money instead of occasionally (and half-assedly) going after the ROMhack scene.

[@dumpnchase]

What movie is that with Connery and Snipes? I can’t remember. But I know I’ve seen it 20 times.

[@MrEd20901]

Rising Sun is only thing Google comes up with. 🙃

[@eelobrian6727]

Hey Jeremy, Do you know why the pie level omitted on the NES?

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah, there simply wasn't enough ROM space for the graphics in the 16KB carts available at Famicom launch, and Nintendo never bothered to add it in when they revisited it for later reissues. I highly recommend you read Nathan Altice's book "I Am Error" for an awesome deep dive into the tech logistics behind DK for NES.

[@schaffiourketaris2691]

@@JeremyParish Although they did finally add it in for the 3ds (possibly also WiiU) virtual console release.

[@ginormousaurus8394]

@@schaffiourketaris2691 Donkey Kong: Original Edition - a port of the NES version that added the cement factory level - was never released for the Wii U. In PAL region Donkey Kong: Original Edition was pre-installed on some Wii consoles and available for purchase in the 3DS eShop. In Japan and North America it was only available for the 3DS as a limited time offer if you bought certain 3DS games.

[@dopestar1975]

Look in to the collapse of coleco apparently Atari bought the rights

[@DanJackson1977]

The CDi games didnt exist to spite Sony... the Playstation existed to spite Nintendo for going with Phillip's. When nintendo saw how poorly Sega CD was doing they scrapped that deal too but let Phillip's publish those previously licensed Zelda games as a consolation prize

[@jasonblalock4429]

4:22 Largely irrelevant, but it's funny seeing "Lord British" on a non-Ultima game.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

See also: The Gradius series.

[@JeremyParish]

I think you mean RoadBritish

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

Wait, was this NES Works? It seemed a heck of a lot more of a 7800 Works episode.

[@JeremyParish]

It’s a gaiden episode. I’ve done like 7 of these on the 7800 now, man.

[@bryanjensen2614]

Atari 7800...great graphics...CRAP sound.

[@XanthinZarda]

I've always referenced the dulcet tones of the Atari XX00 line as something along the lines of a _burning calliope._

[@AChannelFrom2006]

Even Colecovision version of Donkey Kong JR looks better

[@pentelegomenon1175]

It's questionable that the market was male-focused pre-Pac-Man, the Space Invaders audience was probably a little bit male but that was after years of overwhelming dominance by the gender-neutral Pong, and what passed for a hit before then was a game popular with the few people who had occasional access to the only computer on a university campus. And Centipede came only a few months after Defender, the first commercial hit that was unambiguously for the boys.

[@MCastleberry1980]

Christmas of '88 I got an Atari 7800 instead of an NES with the pack in Pole Position II, along with Ms Pac-Man and Kung Fu Master. Kung Fu was defective though and I went go Toys R Us with my dad and exchanged it for Mario Bros. We never owned any other games for the system so I got REALLY good at that game, and because of that every other version of Mario Bros feels off to me because of the controls. I also feel like the 7800 was less "slippery"

[@unoclay]

Mario Bros. was on Atari 5200 before 7800....and the graphics look better on 5200, based on what i'm seeing here from the 7800.

[@Nestalgba92023]

But the Atari 5200's Mario Bros. moves slower than the Atari 7800, 2600 and the XEGS remake.

[@KrunchyTheClown78]

Mario bros was remade on the 7800, and the graphics blow the NES version away

[@mikkelstb]

Then there are the few mobile game’ishes (mario kart & Pokémon go).

[@JeremyParish]

Mario Kart World Tour is published by Nintendo, and Pokémon isn't a fully owned Nintendo property.

[@jbanks979]

I’m sure Nintendo was thinking “ports of games 5-7 years old on a system with worse graphics and sound that was still drawing some nostalgia sales…….sure why not” It’s not even the fatal flaw of the 7800, by forcing developers to add their own sound chips or be stuck with the 2600’s from 1977. It’s the fact that two of the three were launch titles for the famicom in 1983 and those still looked and sounded SIGNIficantly better than what Atari released 5 years later. Super Mario 2 was what Nintendo was offering at this time.

[@JeremyParish]

If Nintendo didn't place any value on these games, they would not have reissued DK Classics around this same time.

[@jbanks979]

@@JeremyParish oh for sure, I just think they didn’t see the 7800 versions as competition they’d actually have to worry about. I’d be shocked in an alt universe, where the 7800 had the capacities of the master system and the third party developer had produced superior versions to the NES versions, that Nintendo would have fully okayed their release

[@JeremyParish]

I didn't get it into it in this episode, but several Nintendo games showed up on a bunch of aging Atari platforms around this time in addition to 7800, including XEGS and Atari 400/800.

[@SoftwareAgentsTV]

Hey Jeremy, I stopped getting notifications for your channel even though I am subscribed and clicked the bell.

[@JeremyParish]

Sorry, but that’s not something I have any control over. Connect with KZbin customer service, maybe?

[@SoftwareAgentsTV]

@@JeremyParish Just thought you should know

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah, I just assume systems like this are busted by default.

[@Judex1963]

Is that movie any good, Rising sun? With Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery?

[@LevitatingCups]

Lord British... hmm... something to do with ultima? Sounds very familiar (autoduel credits in the opening screen).

[@Elucidus]

Autoduel was a game by Origin Systems, designed by Richard Garriott (pseudonym Lord British).

[@jessragan6714]

Better than Millipede? Ha! I scoff at the notion. Scoff, I say!

[@JeremyParish]

Millipede kinda sucks. Too much happening. There’s something to be said for the purity and clarity of the original.

[@jessragan6714]

@@JeremyParish To each his own, I guess. I like that spasm of hyperactivity and sensory overload, plus some of the new play mechanics are fun, like those overwhelming but point laden bonus stages and the inchworms that turn you into Neo from The Matrix.

[@Zeffarian]

​@@jessragan6714 After playing both a ton, I've come to like Millipede more, though I can still appreciate the simplicity of the original. The problem is that Centipede starts to feel boring (in comparison) when you've been playing Millipede for a while. There's more strategic depth with the DDT, inchworms (slow down time), and mosquitos (move all the mushrooms up a level when killed). That said Centipede is more pleasant to look at with a more colorful palette.