K.C.’s CRAZY NIGHTMARE, a game for the Atari 2600 Video Computer system, has been programmed by John Reder. John also programmed STRIP OFF and SHIELD SHIFTER. Tim Duarte is handling production of cartridges, manuals, labels, and order fulfillment. It's game play seemed rather diverse, but the control felt pretty bad. I'll admit I was playing this via the Stella emulator, but I found the control for jumping and for transferring from one rope to another awful. The upside to this title (like all Panda 2600 games) is it's rarity. They made few games and most were copies of existing game ideas. Released on September 11, 1977, the Atari 2600 is a classic. It’s the classic in some ways. The original US video game console took its aesthetic cues from the early personal computers of the. Thanks to Paulo Peccin's emulator at javatari.org, you can play Atari games online, free! S Crazy Nightmare! For Atari 2600 - By John A. Reder Reder's K.C.' S Crazy Nightmare!
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Nightmare, at it’s core, is a haphazardly put together, unfair attempt at making a fast paced platforming game. The goal of each level is not always understood. Unfair enemy placement can cause unavoidable deaths. Timers for each level are unfair as they vary greatly and the player must guess what needs to be done. On death, a player must listen to 10 second ditty and then respawn. All of these elements wrapped up into one game does not make for a fun or even tolerable experience.
Atari 2600 Parts
I could honestly only get myself to pour 30 minutes into this game and coming from someone who appreciates bad games and can generally find something positive amongst the mess, this is a big deal. In this short time I made it through three of the games levels. Each having a different goal that is not obvious after the previous stage’s antics. A player should be able to learn how a game is played and their goals as they go along, but when new concepts are thrown the players way without a second to think about it or even a hint; a player is bound to get frustrated and lose interest.
Let me break it down for you. Level 1 starts off easy enough. You begin on the ground, there is a snake tracing back and forth across this same area, several “ropes” moving side to side that lead to a helicopter at the top of the screen, and many flying enemies that look to make progression upwards challenging. Okay, no big deal. You can jump over the snake, jump up and climb the ropes, dodge the flying enemies and finally reach the helicopter. Simple enough and for the most part this level works. What issues there are are quite glaring though. If you don’t get on that first rope as it passes by you are screwed and the reason is the enemy placement and movement. If you miss the rope the first time around the player is forced to jump over the snake or risk death. That’s fine, but when waiting for the rope to come to the other side the snake will turnaround, but this time it has a flying enemy right next to it which you can’t jump over. The problem is that they are so close together that you can’t avoid both and this means certain death. No escape……a gamer’s nightmare. So let’s say you make it to the rope and begin your ascent. You have to jump between ropes while dodging enemies, which wouldn’t be so bad if you could control precisely where you want to jump, but no matter how long you hold in the direction you want your character to go it’s kind of a crapshoot that your dreams will come true. If you mess up your character will fall to the bottom floor and have to start again. That’s fine if you don’t get caught in the unavoidable snake trap or realize that you only have about 30 seconds to reach the helicopter so you are probably going to loose a life. A game should never require a player to play perfectly to complete a level.
The second level begins and, as any player would, figure you need to climb the ropes and reach the helicopter. So I dart straight for it with no issues, but the level does not end. Turns out that your character has been swapped with a pick axe wielding one who needs to defeat, or should I say turn all the floating enemies into birds by attacking them and then get to the helicopter. Okay that’s fine I’ll play by the rules. When you finally get to the third level you are then switched back to your previous character, thus I assume I need to get to the helicopter. Nope. You need to collect all of the balloons in the level before getting to the helicopter. Did I mention you only have 30 seconds to do this? well that sucks because I was on my last life and had to restart the game. Unfortunately this was the point that I was done with the game.
Atari 2600 Nightmare Games
Nightmare was never, at any point, fun for me to play. The controls are frustrating, time limits are unfair, and the games progression is just completely nonsensical. I can’t think of anything really positive to say about the game besides the music after completing a level. It’s an odd rendition of Camptown Races. I’m impressed by the sound effects if nothing else and seem like the only thing the designers actually put any time or thought into. I can’t suggest this game to anyone unless they are dead set on experiencing a true nightmare.
Atari 2600 A Nightmare On Elm Street
Score:10/100
Atari 2600 Article
Publisher: Sancho
Platform: Atari 2600
Release: 1983
Players: 1