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JAKKS Licenses Midway Classics For TV Game

Posted by simoniker on from the marble-madness-and-paperboy-oh-my dept.

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting a press release revealing JAKKS Pacific has signed a deal with Midway to produce a standalone 'TV game' based on classic Midway titles. We've recently covered other newly announced titles in the JAKKS TV Games series, including Namco, Activision, and Atari models, and this title "...will feature top-selling Midway games, including Mortal Kombat, Spy Hunter, Rampage, Joust, Defender I & II, Robotron:2084, Marble Madness, Smash TV, Super Sprint and Paperboy", although it's unclear how exactly faithful the conversions will be.

6 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. What's the controller? by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You've got games in there that use 2-way, 4-way, and 8-way sticks, a couple using two simultaneously, steering wheels, a trackball, and even handlebars, plus lots of buttons.

    Are all these going to be in one controller, or will there be compromises made?

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    1. Re:What's the controller? by mopslik · · Score: 5, Funny

      Are all these going to be in one controller, or will there be compromises made?

      For simplicity, the controller will be a single button. Commands can be executed using a series of taps, similar to morse code. For example, to make your Rampage character leap onto a building and punch the roof, use the following:

      tap-tap tap tap-tap-tap tap tap tap-tap-tap

      Oddly enough, this is not that different from playing Mortal Kombat to begin with.

  2. If they're as crappy as the others... by Jerf · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If they're as crappy as the others, I'm totally uninterested.

    An emulator lives and dies, at least as far as I am concerned, by its accuracy with regard to three things: Video, audio, and emulation speed. While my experience with the Atari and Intellivision consoles was admittedly brief, I can verify that both of them completely fail the audio and speed criteria. The Intellivision was way too fast, and the Atari sound emulation about made me cry, and neither of them did well in the other department.

    (I don't recall any video glitches but I couldn't bear to play long enough, nor do I perfectly recall the graphics originally.)

    I'll concede the Intellivision was never going to match the original experience with a new controller; for this my thumbs are grateful; you think Nintendo thumb is bad, try Intellivision-disc-thumb! But the degree to which the emulation is too fast is truly amazing; they didn't even try .

    Do not hold your breath for this release; they do not respect these games at all.

    1. Re:If they're as crappy as the others... by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 4, Informative

      Uh. You need to play longer.

      I have the Atari stick in my house, and I agree the emulation isn't perfect, but the sound and speed of it are pretty exact to the Atari's. (And yes, I also have an Atari 2600 sitting right next to it. I can put the same game in both and compare.)

      The problem is that some of the programs were edited before they were inserted into the emulator. The most mutilated is Adventure, which suffered numerous color changes (one of the dragons is a different color from the original), and the famous 'first easter-egg ever' is completely wrong. (The 'invisible' pixel is quite visible on the screen, and the message has been changed to the word 'text'... as if they forgot to type it in!)

      Then again, I can cart this over to a friends house and play in no time at all. The original Atari, *if* they even have an antenna connector, is a pain in the butt to haul around. And it won't plug into my TV without a quality-reducing adaptor because of the antenna connector issue.

      --
      Comment of the year
  3. why not... by BTWR · · Score: 3, Insightful

    just get Midway Arcade Treasures for any of the current-gen consoles - $20 and you get all the games mentioned here...

  4. The previous ones.... by ReyTFox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...were emulated fairly imperfectly and had features cut out from the original games(mainly the two player options though I believe difficulty modes might've also been cut).

    I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.