Videogame Review, Jr. Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 (w/ 7800 Joystick)

Videogame Review, Jr. Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 (w/ 7800 Joystick)

Close, but no cigar.  The 7800 joystick is better equipped for Jr. Pac-Man than the Atari 2600 joystick.  Only problem is that I’m holding the 7800 joystick against my chest and still fail at making the turns, since Jr. Pac-Man likes to pull a prank on you by giving way too many tunnels.  But critics who have approved of the 2600 joystick and dismissed the 7800 joystick, as it’s apparent here, should reconsider their positions.  Certainly the 7800 joystick doesn’t move very far and that’s because something happens more immediately; 2600 joysticks have rough turns and, because it’s very difficult to move diagonally with the 2600 joystick, Jr. Pac-Man becomes an impossibility for that device.  My 7800 joystick is more at ease: it tilts lightly, tilts effectively, and tilts dramatically without as much effort put in for lots of 2600 games.  Of course there’s still gameplay in Jr. Pac-Man which suggests to me that the programmers wanted all Atari controllers to do something impossible for any handheld device.  The Switch would most totally fail at Jr. Pac-Man of this magnitude due to its controller’s tough direction buttons; that’s because, through and through, the game calls for excessive movement, since that’s the Jr. Pac-Man joke- Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man not being as good as their son.  And not everybody has such a big body like I have to hold the 7800 controller to their chest, let alone the needed human weight; I have to think about other people’s skills in addition to mine.  But whereas the 2600 joystick ruined my hand, the 7800 joystick was comfortable to deal with, if I was to ignore the noticeable, missed turns.  Colecovision joysticks don’t have the 7800 Joystick’s reversed hook built inside their roofs to provide Colecovision players with enough ability to play Jr. Pac-Man.  So Jr. Pac-Man basically only belongs to the arcade.  We can’t use Wii or Wii U motion control for the game!  People would get dizzy from all the twirling, spinning, and dancing.  Let’s not get away from the ideas we have for what’s available to Atari and other companies of retro gaming stuff.  A lot of years have passed; Metal Slug is now as old as Atari 2600 consoles were 15 to 20 years ago.  History is at foot- it’s pleasing, it’s daring, and the old man is snoring.

https://youtu.be/ZbZM_ZlQBY4