Nintendo NES vs Atari 7800! 28 Games Compared!

There are at least 28 games that appeared on both the Atari 7800 and the NES/Famicom platforms. Which ones do I prefer? Let's do this...
Games Featured: 1942, Arkanoid, Ballblazer, Beef Drop, Burgertime, BonQ, Castelian, Choplifter!, Commando, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Froggie, Galaga, Ikari Warriors, Jordan vs. Bird One on One, Joust, Karateka, KLAX, Kung Fu, Kung Fu Master, Mario Bros, Ms. Pac-Man, One-on-One, Pac-Man, Pac-Man Collection, Popeye, Q*Bert, Rampage, Tower Toppler, Ultimate Frogger Championship, Winter Games, Xenophobe, Xevious.
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I hope you enjoyed the video. Please check out the following links:
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www.ataritimes.com
#videogames #retrogaming #retrogames #classicgaming #classicgames #classicvideogames #vintagegaming #vintagegames #arcadegames #atari #atari2600 #atari5200 #atari7800 #atarilynx #atarijaguar #nintendo #nintendones #nes #nintendosnes #supernintendo #nintendowii #sega #segagenesis #megadrive #segasaturn #segadreamcast #turbografx #pcengine #colecovision #intellivision #arcade1up #arcadegames #playstation #sony #xbox #microsoft

[@GregsGameRoom]

So I apparently messed up the scoring... Not to give it away, but the final score should be 11-15. Not really worth re-uploading just for that... 5 Minute History - Nintendo NES: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZDSf52chLt1Zqc 5 Minute History: The Atari 2600 kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmnZkouFgK-rgbM 10 Things You Don't Know About Atari: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4GzXoJ4eN2Kg7c

[@dinorocker8647]

Actually pal Dig Dug did come out for the NES, not just the Famicom, as did the less than impressive sequel for it.

[@ulisesgomezd.3405]

What is interesting to see and to note, is what, the flickering on the NES. In some games is notorious the laziness of the programmers for the ATARI 7800, but also, the 7800 is clearly superior managing sprites without flickering. In fact, there are some games like karateka which are better on the ATARI XE, comparing with the 7800 version, but the 7800 is more powerful than the XE, sometimes, the developmet for the 7800 was not optimized.

[@mechamania]

@@ulisesgomezd.3405​​⁠Absolutely. There are a LOT of games that were better on the 1979 Atari 8-bit computers and the 1982 Atari 5200 (which have the same ANTIC-controlled chipset as the entire 8-bit line (an 800’s CTIA GPU could be switched out for the newer GTIA that appeared in later 8-bit Atari computers, still several years before the NES or 7800). The 8-bit Ataris debuted in 1979 and included _the first graphic and audio coprocessors ever_ used in a retail computer, and that chipset was installed in the 5200. Despite that the 7800 is a bigger number than the 800 or 5200, developers had worked with what were essentially 1979 Atari 400 computers actively for three years before the 5200 was even released, and so they knew well how to program it, as opposed to the NES and 7800, which (although the 7800 again used the near decade-old POKEY sound chip) both required learning the machines, from the ground up - and why the sound is usually the best part of the 7800’s games. Not only that, but a large number of 5200 games had already been made, years earlier, and they were re-worked from the Atari 8-bit computer game cartridges to 5200 carts that _sometimes_ saw a slight upgrade or parts of the screen moved around (where the score was, etc.) but were generally re-made to take into account that the “Select,” “Option,” and “Start” buttons were on the 5200 controller, not the machine, itself - from _Pac-Man_ to _Ms. Pac-Man_ (which were awesome on the 5200 (especially as compared to the 2600 (ugh... )), to all four screens of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. (which didn’t all make it onto the NES until its remake, around 1990, _Joust_ (especially considering the control mechanics that made your bird take awhile to screech to a halt, before turning the other way, as in the arcade) which is a flat-out better game on the 5200 than on BOTH the 7800 and NES - as is _Donkey Kong_ by Ocean,_ perhaps ironically. Mario Bros. is pretty much a draw, between the 5200 and the NES, with the 7800 being the worst of the three versions. Overall, in terms of the consoles, themselves, the 7800 is the most powerful (as can be seen in the recent homebrew of _Popeye,_ - which isn’t a fair comparison, because of the time the 7800 was out, before the homebrew were made. However, the OG 8-bit/5200 _Popeye_ from three years earlier has as good of graphics and better sound than the NES game. _Popeye_ is another Nintendo game on Atari, BTW),is the most powerful, and the 5200 is more on-par with the NES. The 7800 programmers just sucked, as you mentioned - but who’s gonna put a lotta time into games for a system that sold 150,000 units, like the 7800? There’s a good reason Atari went _back to_ the 8-bit computer line for their next console, the XEGS, which was an Atari 65XE computer split into component parts - the computer machine/console, and the keyboard that allowed it to work like a 65XE, which was a better machine than the NES, from the start - and it already had over 1,000 games, when the XEGS hit shelves. When it comes to computing power, Nintendo could never compete with Atari, which put out the 520ST computer the same time the NES was released (and was among the most advanced and coveted MIDI machines, becoming the first DAW, with Cubase, until nearly the 2000s), and which put out the 16-bit color Lynx that was in every way a better machine than the Game Boy, only months after the Game Boy-and SIX YEARS earlier than the 16-bit SEGA Nomad, based on their 1989 16-bit SEGA Genesis-and with _California Games_ that looked and played better than *any* version other than the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga computers. However, when it comes to creative ways to play games, 1980s/1990s Ataris couldn’t hold a candle to the NES - which Nintendo made up for, by releasing R.OB., the biggest P.O.S. ever to be connected to a console (even if only physically, in the controller holder).

[@tschak909]

Really, the choice that Nintendo made to make the display resolution compatible to many arcade games (256 pixels across), and the ability to have sprites (and BG tiles) with 4 colors (while still being 8x8 tiles), across four active palettes, made for excellent arcade conversions. The 7800 has a lot more flexibility in display resolutions (both 160 and 320 pixel modes, and a few variations of each, with their own distinct constraints), and the flexible display list method of outputting objects can surpass the 64 object limit in the OAM on the NES in certain cases, because you have a lot more control over what you can output. The 7800 also has a much larger color palette. :)

[@stmboat]

Lil' kid.. I dunno the !@#$ you just said. But your're special. You reached out and you grabbed me by the heart.

[@alexc836]

Quick note on Xevious for the 7800: It’s the difficulty switch on the console that determines whether one button shoots both projectiles or a single shot. Maybe mess with the difficulty switch setting on your emulator, if that is supported.

[@MoviemaniaNick]

I used to have both systems. It was still fun to play.

[@GregsGameRoom]

They both are…

[@anonamatron]

You didn't have these homebrews that must have come years later. Since we're mostly talking about arcade ports and we're judging based on arcade accuracy..... Why bother with any of these when you have MAME?

[@SumDumGy_formerly_Tim_Walden]

I had/have both. Got my 7800 before my NES and still continued to play 7800 regardless.

[@SumDumGy_formerly_Tim_Walden]

@@anonamatronWhat’s MAME?

[@anonamatron]

@@SumDumGy_formerly_Tim_Walden If that's a serious reply I would google that ASAP.

[@crookedmouth1971]

Another great comparison video. Joust is my favorite arcade game ever and the NES version, especially with 2 player, creates such a different experience. Some friends and I got crazy good at the bounce "physics" and at the high levels it became insanity. I was really surprised by the 7800 versions of Ballblazer and 1942. Looks amazing. Thanks Greg!

[@GregsGameRoom]

NES Joust isn’t terrible, but it does feel a lot different than the 7800 version!

[@feralstorm]

Have you seen the Donkey Kong PK/XM 7800 homebrew? That one has tweaked graphics, Pokey chip sound, and all four screens.

[@GregsGameRoom]

No, I’ve only seen the 2600 homebrew.

[@askthenickman]

This is the definitive version of Donkey Kong released for any home console. Definitely check it out!

[@NoAffinity]

Great content. Thank you for this! Very entertaining.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Great job as always, Greg. I think we agree on almost all of them. So many great 7800 games and homebrews make this closer than it used to be!

[@GregsGameRoom]

Thanks. So many of them could have gone either way. There probably should have been more “draws!”

[@Ti-JAC]

Thanks for the segment, enjoyed it.

[@someguyfromindiana1777]

Great vid - thanks for all the time and effort you put into this! And hey - a comment from one of my fav podcasts - into the vertical blank! (Just check your score tally from Karatika into Klax. It… changes.)

[@Metal_Maxine]

Tower Toppler was known as Nebulous in the UK and was released on a lot of the micro computers. I've never heard of it being called Castellan.

[@honoredshadow1975]

Same. Never heard of Castellan. Nebulous was a great game on the Amiga.

[@kalybnielsen4183]

Tower Toppler is the greatest, I let my nephews who are die hard gamers try it, they get a little upset, tell them they have to move before they need to move from the slight lag from controller to the monitor

[@Lightblue2222]

For 7800 it uses something called "Artifact Color" .. as long as the system is un modded with original RF out, those lines in the walls completely dissapear and instead has nice color shading.

[@ZeroPageHomebrew]

Great comparison video, it was awesome to see a bunch of homebrews in there. You'll have to include the recently revealed Bubble Bobble for Atari 7800 in your part 2! ;-)

[@GregsGameRoom]

Sounds good, maybe for an individual game comparison?

[@andre-le-bone-aparte]

Just found your channel. Excellent Content. Another Sub For You Sir!

[@defdc]

Great video! I really enjoyed this! I didn't get to play a 7800 back in the day. It's nice to see how it would/could perform!

[@JasonPeterPresents]

Brah you got some beer goggles on for those Pac-Man games 😂. Fun video thanks

[@ElGamerCosplayer]

Nice comparison. Thanks for this video.

[@D-Fens_1632]

I don’t even think I knew the 7200 existed until the KZbin era. I never knew a single person who had one. Everyone I knew went directly from the 5200 to the NES. I personally had Colecovision with the Atari adapter, it still amazes me that even existed. Once we saw an NES, getting anything made by Atari was out of the question.

[@feenix219]

I have never known anyone in my life that owned a 5200. I jumped from Coleco/2600 to 7800 to NES, personally, but that was a choice - I could have had the Nintendo but was expecting a lot more out of the 7800 that it provided. I had no idea that it was a shelved, older system at the time. If 7800 had come out when it was supposed to, it would have been much more of a competition here. The Bentley Bear homebrew Crystal Quest shows that it could handle a Mario style platformer.

[@johnparker007]

28 mins in (up to Ms Pacman), have stuff to do now - but agreed on every single game so far! :) Subbed

[@GregsGameRoom]

LOL, you’re probably the only one!

[@tschak909]

Also worth noting that Nintendo originally looked at the ColecoVision, and used its 9918 chip as a baseline for what they wanted in the PPU, basically doubling everything, number of sprites per line, number of total sprites, number of bits per tile, number of tiles that can be actively addressed, etc. Nintendo management explicitly wanted to be able to do pixel perfect conversions of their current arcade hits (Donkey Kong, DK Jr, Popeye) onto the Famicom, so it's no surprise that their first three releases were pixel perfect renditions (with some gradient of perfect) of their arcade games.

[@legendsflashback]

Great video

[@AlienFrequency]

Fun video. Thanks for sharing. I only ever played Popeye on the 2600, and that version is also very fun.

[@Jolt7800]

I have this video on my watch list..looking forward to viewing this!

[@GregsGameRoom]

Thanks, hopefully not too many surprises…

[@DrJ3RK8]

Nice comparisons! Interesting that the 1942 Homebrew uses FM sound. I know that they put the Pokey chip into the cartridge itself on the games that used it, so maybe they did the same with a YM or OPL chip. I just wasn't aware that this was done. Pretty cool! They should do the same using the SID chip. ;)

[@verficationaccount]

I only knew one other name of tower toppler - that was nebulus (on C64). It seems to have had quite a few different names!

[@randomrickreviewsrrr4662]

This was a cool post to watch. It was nice to see the 7800 hold up so well.

[@SS18042]

Good video overall and I agree with most of the choices. However, I am really dropping into this comment section to say props on still using your CUTTLE CART II! That is true dedication! My own CCII has moved into a safe retirement since the advent of the Concerto and Dragonfly but it saw many, many years of trustworthy and dedicated service up until that point. 😀

[@nebulapig]

7800 had the power to compete, but it would have been interesting to see what those homebrews would have looked like if they were officially made games when the system came out. I am pretty sure they would not have been as good due to programmers not understanding how to get the most of out the system. All in all I agree with your list, great job! I would have personally gone with the NES Pacman.

[@SinistarPro_Mike]

I'm really enjoying these .VS videos, and I think it's great comparing the overall graphics vs gameplay aspect that often gets overlooked. Like the Intellivision video, sometimes the controller makes all the difference in the world, and here with the 7800, I'm not all that fond of the ProLines or the UK gamepad. To me, the issue is breaking a perfectly good game simply because the controller begins to hurt after a few minutes of playing, i.e ColecoVision, Intellivision, and sadly the 7800. Of course, with modern day controller hacks that's not really a deal-breaker anymore. Truth be told, I still love both of these systems. This was a good one my friend! Real good!

[@GregsGameRoom]

They're both great systems and fulfill different niches!

[@jackofallgamesTV]

Does the 7800 version of Arkanoid let you use the paddles? If you can't find an NES Vaus controller, maybe the 7800 would be an easier a way to get arcade accurate controller.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Not sure. It probably does. These homebrew programmers are pretty through.

[@mdoerty13]

Any idea where to get the 7800 versions of 1942 or Arkanoid? I have not seen them on cart (yet).

[@enutz666]

Great video, how about a NES vs Master System video

[@GregsGameRoom]

That’s a good idea. Haven’t played a ton of SMS games.

[@jonpirovsky]

Maybe do a comparison between the Atari 7800, NES and Master System? I mean, Choplifter on the NES and Atari 7800 are quite decent, but the MS version is simply waayyy better. Double Dragon would have been interesting as well...

[@bildo1977]

Commando on the NES looks like that on original hardware. Plus the Famicom version of Choplifter is based on the arcade port released by Sega.

[@RobsRetroGaming]

Great comparison!!! The 7800 and the 5200 were underappreciated systems.

[@virtuactual4087]

The Famicom/NES version of Arkanoid natively support a unique dedicated 'Vaus' paddle controller made by Taito that differs per region (Famicom version used 15-pin expansion port, NES standard controller port, supports just one other game Taito Chase HQ) and is practically required as later levels of both Arkanoid 1 and 2 are pretty much unplayable using standard d-pad. The 7800 homebrew I think now supports the paddle controller that's available via 2600 backwards compatibility, but a control comparison between them is really needed for a decision on authenticity/playability of each to the arcade original that used a spinner.

[@MarcKloos]

Why the 7800 version in 16:9 stretched video vs 4:3 of the NES?

[@GregsGameRoom]

Just the ProSystem emulator default.

[@danandtab7463]

am curious when the homebrews were made, and what a comparison would look like if there were no homebrews included. I almost got a 7800 off marketplac earlier, and if I do eventually get one, wouldn't mind a few homebrews for it either.

[@stephenshelton4267]

Wasn't Tengen's Mrs. Pac-Man an unauthorized version somehow? I seem to remember it not hzving the Nintendo Seal of Approval and I think it had some crazy levels too.

[@charlessentenat1250]

I don't know I grew up with both of these systems. I enjoyed my first Nintendo but the first thing I noticed was slowdowns and incredible flickering. Are these comparisons on emulators or done on actual hardware?

[@GeoNeilUK]

I think the reason why the NES versions of Mario Bros, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr are arcade perfect is because the NES was, I think at least, the arcade hardware for those games!

[@GregsGameRoom]

No, different hardware but maybe the same programmer.

[@jescis0]

​@@GregsGameRoom I'd be agreeable to that, being that the Famicom/NES was at best composite output while the arcade cabinets are RGB! The color palette of the NES is somewhat different from the Famicom as well because of the difference between NTSC and NTSC-J! Because NTSC-J uses some pal features where NTSC is strictly NTSC! Also the programming team would've had the source code for the Arcade Game, while anyone else would NOT 🤔🤔

[@jcaseyjones2829]

I feel like you broke a lot of hearts with your Commando comments! That's a title 7800 fans (at least on atariage) really like to hold over NES fans' heads.

[@pacbilly]

The NES version of Commando was notorious for being incomplete. The 7800 version is the clear winner there. Also it has more of the in-between cutscenes and it also has the secret areas.

[@misterlexx2721]

Sega Master System's Rambo was better than NES version too. Both Commando and Rambo were popular Schwarzenegger and Stallone shoot em ups .

[@brianhenson4128]

I had the 7800 as a kid. The reason we got it was because we lived in a very small city and you could order everything from the sears catalog. Plus it played alm the 2600 games. Then i went directly to the super nintendo. I took my 7800 to college with me.

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

5:10 I didn't know the NES had Rocket League!

[@GregsGameRoom]

I thought that about it too.

[@djglxxii]

I think the NES was intentionally designed to look like a VCR.

[@segaboy9894]

This is an interesting comparison video. I think your criticism about the size of the horizontal viewport vs. the vertical viewport is unavoidable because of the 7800's resolution. It's just so much lower... Also, your capture of the NES footage is in a 1:1 aspect ratio which makes the vertical space look that much more extreme. Additionally, your 7800 capture is at 16:10 (for some of them)! It might be better to compare both at 4:3.

[@GregsGameRoom]

It’s just the emulator (ProSystem)’s default.

[@waynecuff3140]

I have both systems, no doubt the 7800 could of done better if the system had been pushed more. But when you have games like Contra C, Gradius 2, Crisis force, Castlevania. All pushing mapper chip enhancements in the carts the Nes is the clear winner. Those games are amazing.

[@ObiWanBillKenobi]

I’d like to see ColecoVision versus something. 🕹

[@Agent505]

Good comparisons, but I'd accept it more if you did more 1-1 comparisons; so many of the games compared are modern homebrews and not standard released games which downplays the authenticity of the comparisons.

[@PatricKerr]

Great video. I am still amazed how good 7800 looks. Come to realize the Nes has terrible color pallet. I am thinking your emulator was stretching your games I just play on my orginal hardware using rf to my crt and they were not stretch vs nes.

[@PatricKerr]

Unfortunately I don't have everdrive cart like for my nes so I only have ms pac man and dig dug to compare and they were not that stretch on my crt

[@jadams7433]

U got any love for the master system?

[@AdamMontgomery1]

Great video, but have you ever actually played the arcade versions of Pac Man or Ms. Pac Man? I'm not saying the game play on the 7800 isn't great and perhaps better enough to give the edge to that system, but the graphics are certainly not "dead on" when compared to the arcade. The NES graphics look a lot more similar to the arcade.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Did you see my caption on 7800 Ms. Pac-Man?

[@hirschlord341]

Can i see a super mario bros 1 2 3 and megaman 1 2 3 comparison on both systems ? And ducktales, chip n chap, probotector , turtles 2 , punchout , darkwing duck , super worldcup, little nemo, metroid ……..

[@mypanasonic6862]

my parents bought me the 7800 for my birthday present it was in the bargain bin and had every game cellotaped to the front of the box !!! it cost 99.99 and the NES demo unit was near by but was 129.99 with 4 games. I think this was xmas 1990. I really wanted the NES !! funny thing was most the games didn't work and when I checked them they had no PCB's they was empty carts !!! Asteroids was built in to the console but also had a Asteroids cart! I got annoyed as well as I never knew when i was younger that the 7800 was backwards compatible with the other Atari consoles other wise i'd of had a lot more games.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Asteroids built-in sounds pretty rare…

[@mypanasonic6862]

@@GregsGameRoom was standard in pal region i think mate. like the master system having alex the kid built in too

[@HiNRGboy]

The 7800 system itself looks fantastic and has some really nice exclusives you can't find on anything else. I never played one back in the day, wish I had!

[@Springfeel_]

I remember seeing the 7800 at retail locations and really being interested. We owned a 5200/2600 prior so i was sort of loyal to the brand. Anyway, thankfully we were poor so we had to wait until we figured out that NES was way superior (at least as far as the game library.) Great video tho and that home brew of 1942 really showed the unlocked potential of the 7800.

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

Xevious in 7800 supports both two button 7800 controllers and one button 2600 controllers. The physical difficulty A switch on the 7800 itself is what determines if the game will be in single button mode. Your emulator must have been set for that. It really should have been an option o the title screen but they went with using the switch on the console like how the 2600 did it.

[@MagicRoosterBluesBand]

What was Atari thinking, using the 2600 2 channel sound chip in the mid-late eighties??😣

[@SupremeNerd]

Also there were 2 versions of Ms PAC Man for NES. The Tengen version scrolls up and down while the other version doesnt

[@10MARC]

Good stuff. It is a tough call to compare the new unofficial "ports" being put up against a 40 year old game. I think the emulator you are using for the 7800 makes the graphics look much blockier. Ms. Pacman, Commando, etc... Just don't look like that on my real 7800. They are substantially better.

[@Unregistered.HyperCam.2]

Even when I was using an 7800 emulator, some of the games didn't look like they did in this video. I know there are a couple 7800 emulators out there; maybe he was using a different one than I've used, or didn't have it configured properly.

[@sspotter1978]

00:52 Entex developed the first non- connected d-pad for its Select-A-Game. Nintendo's looks suspiciously similar.

[@danieldavis2055]

You're absolutely right. What Nintendo invented (and patented) was not the DPad itself, but a cross connected version of the pad with a fulcrum in the center, under the pad. This fulcrum let you "roll" the pad without being able to mush all the directions at once, creating the ability to move smoothly between directions.

[@sspotter1978]

@@danieldavis2055 I love knowledge!!

[@10p6]

I like your comparison, even though your results are wrong lol.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Naturally.

[@MCastleberry1980]

I got an Atari 7800 for Christmas in '89. I had fun with it, but talk about being a let down when you see a big box at fhe height of Nintendo mania and you see the new Atari when you unwrap it lol

[@GregsGameRoom]

Yeah I bet! The one you see in the video is the original one I bought in 1988-ish. The NES I bought the next year.

[@MCastleberry1980]

​@GregsGameRoom it certainly didn't help that I only ever had 3 games for it: Pole Position II, Ms Pac-Man and Mario Bros. All great games, but when my friends all have Punch Out, Zelda, Ninja Gaiden, etc, and I'm over here like "Wanna play Ms Pac-Man!?" it's a hard sell.

[@pokemaniacalex8031]

Man, I gotta get an Atari 7800. If you told me Ball Blazer was a Super Nintendo launch title meant to show off the pseudo 3D mode 7 style, I'd believe you for a second there.

[@mattm7798]

Interesting that the NES is 1983 tech while the 7800 is 1984 tech so in theory, the 7800 could have been more powerful. But by that point Atari was probably not home to the best of the best hardware designers

[@jescis0]

Technically NES was 1985, Famicom was released 1983, Famicom is RF only, NES is RF and composite output!

[@mattm7798]

@@jescis0 True, IIRC composite is a better picture but the hardware was the same. What I didn't know is fairly early on, game cartridges would include chips to enhance the base NES' ability. I'm glad the NES was so successful as it really did save the America home video game market but it really was amazing that even in 88 and 89, it was running on half a decade's old hardware.

[@pokemaniacalex8031]

I'm sorry, but I can't see or hear about Ikari Warriors without thinking "Where did their hair go? Ooooo! Where did their hair go?"

[@rom15556]

The biggest problem that Atari had back then was Jack Tramiel, when he took charge of the company, all the plans that Atari had for the 7800 were put on hold, and it was not until he saw the success of the NES when he tried to do something, but he did everything in the most clumsy way and saving money as much as possible. If the Atari 7800 had come out in 1984 as Atari had planned (including the pokey chip in every cartridge) the story would have been very different.

[@feenix219]

the 2600 Frogger remake for the Starpath Supercharger was almost as good as the 7800 one.

[@themidcentrist]

It warms my heart to see that the 7800 being shown to at least being capable of holding it's own in the hands of a good programmer. Yes, the NES game's library is far superior. Nintendo's MMC chips and better optimized hardware meant the NES was usually more powerful in practice. We never saw anything on the 7800 like Mega Man 2, Mario 3, Contra, etc. (Although I'm pretty sure Food Fight, Robotron 2084, and Asteroids would have choked the NES to death since pushing a lot of sprites at the same time on a single screen was the 7800's biggest strength.) Where the 7800 really kicks NES ass is hardware reliability. The 7800 shell is made of cheap plastic but the hardware underneath can stand the test of time if cared for. The front loading NES will stop working early and often thanks to it's shitty cartridge connector and 10NES crap.

[@Tasla1]

Klax ..... wasn't that game created for the lynx handheld? ... I am probably wrong. But it is a cool puzzle game.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Yeah it was on Lynx and it’s one of the best versions.

[@EdsterIII]

I remember back when I was a kid, and for Christmas one year my one BIG 🎁present🎁 was the Atari 2600. Then a while after I got the Atari 5200 for a 🎁🎁present🎁🎁. I loved the Real Sports Series. ⚾️🧢Baseball🧢⚾️ and 🏈🏉Football🏉🏈 were my favorites. Then another Christmas a few years later my Mom and Dad had gotten a divorce, but they actually remarried. Anyways they got me the Nintendo NES for a 🎄Christmas🎄🎁present🎁. I remember playing Mario and losing my mind! Then I popped in Duck Hunt and for the next few hours my Dad showed my his skills as a duck hunter and we had a blast! We had so much fun that night. Again a little while after that, my Dad and I had stopped at Toys R Us. I wanted to pick up a game. My Dad ended up buying the Atari 7800 for himself, which he rarely played unless I was there. It was a way for my Dad "ask" me to spend more time with him. We had a few issues earlier in our lives. Alcoholism was the main issue, but he was my Dad. I ended up taking care of him, once after he went in for the last rehab stint, he ended up in a coma for over 2½ weeks. I helped him to regain his walking abilities. The other was the last one. He was diagnosed with inoperable and terminal lung cancer. I had long since forgiven him and those months we spent after he got his walking ability back, we spent the summer playing Mini-Golf. The last 18 months we spent watching Baseball, and every minute was special! Games were a huge part of my life growing up. My Mom learned how to play Tetris on the Nintendo Gameboy and she ended up beating my High Score. She actually got extremely good at it. Games, both Arcade and Home consoles were again a major part of my life, but my FAMILY was the most important part of my life. Thankfully the two overlapped a few times and it gave me some epic memories!

[@atarileaf]

I didn't know there was a homebrew arkanoid on the 7800.

[@robbiereisman8954]

Great video and theme. I definitely prefer the 7800 version of Commando. The power-ups and much cooler secret areas give it the edge for me

[@GregsGameRoom]

I could have gone either way. The 7800 version is probably better overall, I just picked the NES because the graphics looked more like the arcade.

[@jcaseyjones2829]

See what I'm saying?😊

[@stevethefishdotnet]

Commando on the 7800 also had dungeons to explore and rescue prisoners.

[@johneygd]

I disagree about xevious being better on the nes but i do agree about the rest of your opinion about those other games,now about those nintendo games on the 7800, i found it really wild that they did appear on the 7800 anyway regardless it’s primitive sound,i just somehow like it,now i can only hope to see a homebrew port of kirby’s adventure,pac land,paperboy among others on the 7800 because they will suffer less from slowdown then on the nes,and since both systems uses the same architecture cpu,it shouldn’t be a big problem to port over those games to it.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Not necessarily “better” just the one I’d prefer to play. And it changes based on the time of day…

[@jayblack7495]

Xenophobe on the Atari 7800 still represents the best "gaming" Christmas of my childhood... Nostalgia is truly a powerful lens to peer through.

[@loveandrockets4life]

NES vs. SMS would be good too!

[@xenxander]

KlaX was on one of the gameboy systems too.. the Advance I believe. I own it.

[@robintst]

The NES version of 1942 is awful because Capcom outsourced it's development to Micronics who were notorious for their subpar work in the 80s and 90s. SNK made the same mistake when they contracted them to do the NES port of Ikari Warriors.

[@BURRITO44]

Best version of Klax was on the Turbo Grafx 16

[@sandmanxo]

Not a surprising result. Having to use the low res mode on the 7800 to get a decent color palette and the 2600 sound chip put it way behind out of the gate. Even if it had been released on time I think it still would have lost to the NES due to the crash and 5200 disaster.

[@classicarcadeamusementpark4242]

The strength of the Atari 7800 was that it was supposed to be released about 3 years before it saw a wide release, and the NES wasn't even out in America at that time. Electronics Games magazine had a great multi-page article with photos of the Atari 7800 and some of the games. At the time, there was no home version of Galaga or Xevious and those were 2 hugely popular games and alone enough of a reason to buy a 7800, and the other games looked interesting too.The 7800 hardware sounded impressive had it come out on time. The 7800 could have saved Atari if it had seen a wide release on time. Home computers and the out dated 2600 were killing Atari and Atari's own computers were too expensive (but great) vs a C-64. By the time of the NES in America, I already had an Amiga 1000 computer which blew away the NES, although way more expensive in 1985 and the Amiga was really in the lineage of the Atari 2600 & 8 bit Atari home computers designed by some of the same people. The NES games as said are often dull in color. Being an older teenager by the time of the NES and a huge fan of visiting the arcades, I found often the kinds of games targeting little kids on the NES unappealing to me and it was my love of home arcade ports why I liked Atari's stuff generally, up until Atari got sold that is. I think the American version of the 7800 controller was way better than the NES controller. That was enough of a reason not to like the NES. D-Pads are terrible.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Oh yeah, that Electronic Game Article on 7800 made us want it so bad and we got it in X-Mas 1986, before we even knew what an NES was =)

[@GregsGameRoom]

The 7800 was a great system with a lot of untapped potential. Atari could never get out of their “arcade game” style mindset though.

[@classicarcadeamusementpark4242]

@@GregsGameRoom I'm glad, because the arcade style mindset was totally what I was into, and 45+ years later, is still what I'm totally into. But the biggest problem with the Atari 7800 was, by the time it got a decent release too many years too late, the real Atari was dead and the new Atari was very unlike the original Atari. Everything was just leftover and would have been great if released on time.

[@nbttl1975]

I've not seen a 7800 in person, but it was quite capable. You think that Atari would have learned from the sound chip alone when going into the Jaguar. It's a shame they did not.

[@janwilt6974]

The Jaguar had a 16 bit processor with Jerry chip (16-bit, two DACs, Wavetable and AM synthesis ! It was the most powerful sound chip of any console and computers!

[@ramgladore]

I'm kinda sad the Atari 7800 didn't do as well. It had potential. I actually have one that was gifted to me by my cousin and I never knew it even existed. I though she meant Atari2600 when she said she had an old Atari. Maybe I'll check out buying the homebrew games.

[@GregsGameRoom]

I wish it had been released instead of the 5200. It would have cut down on a lot of complaints about the 2600’s successor.

[@fuzzywzhe]

@@GregsGameRoom Atari lagged behind literally everybody else after the 2600. They coasted on the success of the 2600 for their entire existence after that. The 7200 wasn't really comparable to the NES, the Atari ST was not as good as the Acorn or the Amiga although you could argue it was better than the MAC. The Lynx was junk the Jaguar wasn't much better.

[@Unregistered.HyperCam.2]

@@fuzzywzhe From the late 70s to today, there's pretty much always a computer (or several) better than what Apple puts out, when you put them side-by-side, especially when you look at the price tags. The problem with those, though, is that seemingly every company putting out computers in the late 70s, the 80s, and the early-mid 90s besides Apple and IBM(which ended up mostly fading into obscurity by the 2000s) had a tendency to mismanage their companies, finances, workers, etc. to the point of going under.

[@fuzzywzhe]

@@Unregistered.HyperCam.2 The government decided on IBM/Windows. No government institutions bought Apple, or Amiga, or Acorn, it was IBM/Windows exclusively. Unix if people had to actually do real work. That's why Windows "won" despite it taking to 1993 to make a workable GUI system and not a stable one at that. Xerox Parc had a GUI in 1973 but it was tremendously expensive. Mac: 1984, Amiga: 1985, Acorn Archimedes : 1987. It's not a free market. Even the Atari ST came out in 1985. It was discontinued in the same year that Windows 3.11 came out. It's not mismanagement, it's government connections. Windows was, BY FAR, was the worst machine available until 1995. Terrible architecture, terrible and unstable OS. Amiga, Atari ST, and Acorn were bankrupt or close to bankrupt by then. Mac limped along, but be grateful that Apple didn't "win" - if they did, the cheapest computer you could buy would be $5K. They are bloodsuckers. They survive on suckers now. "Oh, I have the best machine!" - no you don't, you have a ridiculously overpriced machine because of the economics of exclusivity. I know how this works, and I hate marketing, but I understand it.

[@Unregistered.HyperCam.2]

@@fuzzywzhe Commodore, Atari, "Commodore" that was putting out Amiga, all did end up making pretty bad financial decisions. I really don't want to sit here and type several paragraphs, but the poor choices Atari, Commodore, and the Commodore that existed after Trammiel left and a ton of people formerly from Atari jumped ship is well-documented.

[@sleepwalker29]

Best gaming console from the 80s was the 1982 Commodore 64 with a 480p monitor. NES, SEGA, and ATARI are 240p. Super Nintendo is 480p and Genesis. So Sega and Nintendo owners didn't get 480p games for another 9 years in 1991. Look up Skate or Die on NES and C64 and you can see a difference between 240p and 480p and their both 8bit games just ones higher resolution in 1982. Smash TV was also on C64. Games were on C64 five years before 1987 Nintendo release in America. TVs were 240p in the 80s and the 1982 C64 monitor is 480p. Consoles were made for TVs so they had lower resolution than a PC. 480p TV didn't come out tilll about 1990. So the C64 offered the best gaming experience from 1982-1991.

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

It's a shame the Atari 7800 had such a rocky and delayed launch. If it had it's intended 1984 release then it might have surpassed the Colecovision but it still would have inevitably succumb to the NES and Master System. But it's nice to see it's getting so much homebrew love and proves the potential it truly had. I'm also surprised and impressed with it's 256 color palette. Although it had the same 25 color limit as the NES you can really see the richness in it's coloration during the side-by-sides with the NES.

[@Coolit2683]

Growing up with an NES, I knew of the name Atari but back then, knew nothing about the 7800. it was NES vs Master System and the NES was king. Your videos showed me that the 7800 was very capable hardware if fully utilised and the Master system was even more capable then the NES. In the end it's all on the quality of the dev's and the released software. On the note of homebrew, there is a 32X homebrew Doom game that is way superior to all the other console ports just showing how capable that addon was if Sega and third party dev's took the time to make quality games. I am sure the same can be said about the Jaguar and 3do.

[@bitwize]

The 7800's graphics subsystem was more versatile then the NES PPU, even if it supported lower resolution. Rather than tiles and sprites, it was based on display lists, which told the video chip where in memory to pull image data from and where to display it, to build a scene on the screen. I believe if I'm not mistaken it also supported more colors on screen than the NES, which is why some of these 7800 games look more colorful. But Nintendo had the third-party support and the marketing. And the NES compensated for some of its graphical shortcomings with mapper chips and other on-cart hardware.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Yeah they work on totally different concepts. Which is why Ballblazer is 1,000x better on the 7800. No crazy tiles to deal with.

[@andypancini2130]

Yeah that's what I thought if it had a chance Activision and all the other programmers would compete with Nintendo

[@gustavojoserodriguez7475]

Nintendo got Mario Bros 😅

[@lurkerrekrul]

Donkey Kong - The Atari 7800 has the same sound chip as the 2600, so how did they manage to make the 7800 version sound worse?

[@astra6712]

The 7800 was 4 years old upon release. No high score saves. The 7800 was impressive when compared to the 2600 or 5200. The NES and SMS reigned supreme.

[@MarkoTulio]

Wow!

[@hw5091]

If they make homebrew remakes for the nes, they'll look n played better as well. Hard to compare modern homebrews to original 1980s nes games.

[@pinebarrenpatriot8289]

Rampage on the Sega Master System looks like a 16-bit arcade port. It blows both the Atari and NES version out of the water.

[@joetheman74]

Jordan vs Bird and Dr. J vs Larry Bird are two completely different games. Dr.J is Julius Erving, not Michael Jordan. I had this game on my Apple II computer in 1983. (Yes I am OLD) Jordan VS Bird first releasing in 1988 is a five to six year newer game than Dr. J vs Larry Bird so it is no surprise it has better graphics and features. The game was an attempt by EA to rehash a popular older IP with a more up to date popular player. The original game was coded by one guy for the Apple II and then ported by EA to many platforms and it was very popular. The newer game was made by a different team and for (mostly) different systems.

[@10p6]

You know the glitches in Commando on the NES are the same on a real machine! No way does the NES win due to that alone.

[@johnathanlett4094]

I don't believe it was right to compare a recent Homebrew to a classic release. People nowadays can take better advantage of the hardware that they are using, so if you were going to compare homebrews come they should be a direct comparison of homegroup created at around the same time. Not a 1980s official release compared to a recent Homebrew

[@Elgo2024]

It's too bad the Atari 7800 and Sega Master System were ignored by 3rd party developers in the mid to late 80's because of Nintendo's monopolizing policies. That really hurt competition.

[@moobutt5381]

I am just absolutely floored by this. The other kids on the street had NES, so that’s what I ended up with. I never played or saw graphics from a 7800 before today. It was sooooooo good!!! WTF I had no idea. I had a buddy with a Sega Master System which just didn’t have the titles. I feel like with some better advertising and a control pad instead of the abortion that is the 7800 controller, they would have been contenders and stuck around 🤷‍♂️ I would rather have a 7800 over a Master System.

[@jcaseyjones2829]

Resolution aside (hahaha right, some of these 7800 games look like they were made for a mid 90s handheld ffs), the colors are much more of a difference than i ever realized. Nes games look almost muddy when compared like this. I never saw that before. Legit point to the 7800.

[@FREETOEFEET]

B game on Popeye NES doesn’t have the full ladder. FYI