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Parker Brothers Q*bert -Atari 5200
Retro Gaming Review
 |
| Title: | Q*bert |
| Manufacturer: | Parker Brothers |
| Platform: | Atari 5200 |
| Release Date: | 1983 |
| Part #: | 9500 |
| Rating: | 4 out of 5 |
| ESRB Rating: | N/A |
Rating: 
Parker Brothers Q*bert Screenshot:
Q*bert was one of those arcade games that seemed to be gender-neutral. Everyone liked him! His appeal certainly couldn't be denied by his arcade success alone, but Q*bert was also released on many home consoles as well. The ColecoVision home version is considered the most accurate port. As a puzzle game (of sorts) Q*bert brought a unique gaming experience to arcades of the mid-80s where shooters and space battles ruled the roost.
Q*bert on the Atari 2600 maintained good game play, but many of the graphics suffered to accommodate this. The 5200 version gives a much better representation of the arcade classic. Of course we can't review an Atari 5200 game without mentioning how it's awful controller minimizes a player's enjoyment.
If you read our Q*bert for the Atari 2600 game review and suffered through the lengthy discussion about rotating the joystick 45°, so the fire button is awkwardly askew from the normal way of holding the damn thing, lets discuss the suck-ass nature of the 5200 stick. You can hold the 5200 joystick any way you'd like and don't have to worry about how the motions were programmed, but you do have to press the fire button to initiate a hop and set the direction with the joystick. This 2-stroke maneuver seems counter-intuitive to how a joystick should work, but we've come to learn that "quirky" and the 5200 go together like bums & bologna sandwiches.
Holy shit! Check this out...
Q*bert became one of the most merchandised arcade games next to Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. In 1983, Q*bert became part of CBS's Saturday Supercade cartoon show. he game has been referenced on TV in episodes of Family Guy, Futurama, and The Simpsons. Despite its success, Q*bert's creators did not receive royalties as Gottlieb didn't have a royalty program.
Q*bert became one of the most merchandised arcade games next to Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. In 1983, Q*bert became part of CBS's Saturday Supercade cartoon show. he game has been referenced on TV in episodes of Family Guy, Futurama, and The Simpsons. Despite its success, Q*bert's creators did not receive royalties as Gottlieb didn't have a royalty program.
Q*bert Game Play
Offering both 1 and 2-player game options, Q*bert also let you choose how many lives to start with. The six game options are divided between singe and 2-player and then you can choose to start with 3,4 or 5 lives. With these scant options, there was not controller overlay for Q*bert. Next your off to hop from cube-to-cube changing colors from initial to destination color (shown at the side of the screen) while avoiding enemies. The seeming simplicity is complicated by Q*bert's enemies and the nature of making the colors change. ONce you've changed every cube to the destination color you advance to a new pyramid.
At the start, Q*bert is at the top of the pyramid and each hop changes the color, but as you advance in levels you'll discover that a single hop won't cut it. You'll soon have to follow combinations to change colors and then run the risk of reseting a destination color back to the starting color. Crap!
We describe the enemies below, but the Green Ball resembles enemies (Red & Purple Balls) but does no damage. However, if Q*bert catches a Green Ball, all the enemies freeze for a second letting him escape or rack up more points. When times get desperate, Q*bert can hop onto one of the flying discs at the sides of he screen and be whisked away to the safety of the pyramid's top cube.
Q*bert Arcade Controls
The arcade version of Q*bert, from Gottlieb, didn't have a fire button. The mechanics of the 5200 joystick seem to necessitate the button and stick combo to get the fluffy guy to hop. If you refer to Q*bert's arcade controls, he simply had a joystick that made his diagonal leaps with that singular control. Would've been nice...
Q*bert Enemies
Some descending objects are benign or helpful while others are out to hunt you down or squash you!
- Red Balls will smoosh Q*bert. Your next Q*bert appears on the cube where the last one was crushed.
- Purple Ball has the same evil intent as the Red Ball, but when a Purple Ball reaches the bottom of the pyramid, it hatches a Coily the snake who will hunt you!
- Coily the snake will launch his perilous pounce and try to crush Q*bert. Your escape comes from hopping onto a flying disc that will take you back to the top of the pyramid. If you time it right, Coily will jump off the side of the pyramid as you jettison away. Otherwise he'll continue to pursue you.
- Ugg & Wrong Way appear at the lower part of the pyramid and try to attack Q*bert.
- Sam is an asshole. He goes around changing colors back to the starting color. That little bitch needs to be mowed down - which is actually the way to remove him.
Rounds end once all the colors have been changed. As you get deeper into the game, everyone speeds up. Q*bert is as much fun on the home consoles as he was in arcades, but the arcades of the 1980s were just grand!
Final Judgement:
This is a great game to have since it's unlike most games of it's era and everyone remembers their Q*bert-crush and how much fun that game was. And it still is :)
Parker Brothers Q*bert
offers a nice rendition of the arcade quality graphics and the game play is good. The 2-step maneuver to jump detracts from it, but you get used to it fairly quickly.This is a great game to have since it's unlike most games of it's era and everyone remembers their Q*bert-crush and how much fun that game was. And it still is :)
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