Dishaster

Last updated
Dishaster
Dishaster box.jpg
Box cover
Developer(s) Zimag
Publisher(s) Zimag
Platform(s) Atari 2600
Release 1983
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s)Single-player

Dishaster is an action game released for the Atari 2600 in 1983 by Zimag. [1] Another version of the game was released by Bit Corporation under the name Dancing Plates which features oriental-themed graphics and adds eight game variations. [2]

Contents

Dishaster was inspired by the circus tradition of keeping spinning plates suspended on poles. [1] The player controls a girl attempting to keep a group of several spinning plates balanced on poles from falling. The game received negative reviews; criticism focused on the game's repetition and monotony.

Gameplay

Four plates are in play Dishaster gameplay.png
Four plates are in play

The girl can stabilize wobbling dishes by pressing the button on the controller. [3] If a plate falls, the player is able to capture it if the girl touches it before it hits the ground, and a new one appears at the top of the pole. The number of poles to spin varies between the selected skill level; there are six on the easiest setting, and ten on the hardest. [1] The player loses if they let four dishes hit the ground. [3]

Reception

The reviewer for TV Gamer magazine wrote, in 1983, "Dishaster may be enjoyed by very young gamers, but it is not sophisticated enough for any battle-hardened arcade gamers." [4]

Non-contemporary reviews were negative. Author Brett Weiss stated that Dishaster was "as bad as its unfunny title implies" and that it was "a hopelessly repetitive game". While Weiss found the graphics "convincing," he remarked that "the plate-spinning action gets old in a hurry". [5] Al Backiel, a reviewer for the newsletter and website Digital Press, wrote:

Dishaster gets to be so monotonous so quickly because if you play in a systematic manner it's too easy: I move sequentially from left to right and repeat. Yep, really tough pattern. I was able to max out the easy version without dropping a plate after several hours. I was hoping something interesting would happen, but the score just resets to zero after passing 999,999. [2]

Another Digital Press writer, Kevin Oleniacz, included the game in his "The Worst of the Atari 2600" list, writing: "The lack of sound effects, details or any background whatsoever while maneuvering around one unchanging screen would surely claim this as a DISASTER". [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Kaboom!</i> (video game) 1981 action game

Kaboom! is an action video game published in 1981 by Activision for the Atari 2600. The gameplay was based on the Atari arcade video game Avalanche (1978), with the game now involving a Mad Bomber who drops bombs instead of falling rocks. Kaboom! was programmed by Larry Kaplan with David Crane coding the graphics for the buckets and Mad Bomber. It was the last game designed by Kaplan for Activision, who left the company shortly after the release of the game. The game was later ported by Paul Wilson for the Atari 5200 system.

<i>Solaris</i> (video game) 1986 video game

Solaris is a space combat video game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari. The game involves a player seeking out the planet Solaris via their starship. To accomplish this, the player must navigate the galactic scanner to explore quadrants of a map. Doing so allows them to explore Federation planets to refuel their ship, and engage in combat with hostile aliens known as the Zylons.

<i>Pitfall!</i> 1982 video game

Pitfall! is a video game developed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who has a time limit of 20 minutes to seek treasure in a jungle. The game world is populated by enemies and hazards that variously cause the player to lose lives or points.

<i>Miner 2049er</i> 1982 video game

Miner 2049er is a platform game developed for Atari 8-bit computers by Bill Hogue and released by his company, Big Five Software, in 1982. The player controls Bounty Bob through multiple levels of a mine, with the goal of traversing all of the platforms while avoiding or defeating enemy mutants. At a time when "climbing games" such as Donkey Kong had four screens, Miner 2049er had ten.

<i>Combat</i> (video game) 1977 video game

Combat is a 1977 video game by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System. In the game, two players controlling either a tank, a biplane, or a jet fire missiles at each other for two minutes and sixteen seconds. Points are scored by hitting the opponent, and the player with the most points when the time runs out wins. Variations on the gameplay introduce elements such as invisible vehicles, missiles that ricochet off of walls, and different playing fields.

<i>Demon Attack</i> 1982 video game

Demon Attack is a fixed shooter video game created by Rob Fulop for the Atari 2600 and published by Imagic in 1982. The game involves the player controlling a laser cannon from the surface of a planet, shooting winged demons that fly down and attack the player in different sets of patterns.

<i>Dragonstomper</i> 1982 video game

Dragonstomper is a video game developed by Stephen Landrum for the Atari Video Computer System and released by Starpath. The game follows the adventures of a dragon hunter who is given a quest by the king to defeat a dragon and reclaim a magical amulet that was stolen. The player makes their way over the countryside, vanquishing various adversaries and gaining gold and experience. After achieving enough strength, the player can enter a shop in an oppressed village where equipment can be purchased, soldiers hired, and special scrolls obtained to defeat the dragon in its lair.

<i>Keystone Kapers</i> 1983 video game

Keystone Kapers is a platform game developed by Garry Kitchen for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. The game involves a Keystone Cops-theme, with the player controlling police officer Kelly, who traverses the many levels of a department store, dodging objects to catch the escaped thief Harry Hooligan.

<i>River Raid</i> 1982 video game

River Raid is a video game developed by Carol Shaw for the Atari Video Computer System and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls a fighter jet over the River of No Return in a raid behind enemy lines. The goal is to navigate the flight by destroying enemy tankers, helicopters, fuel depots and bridges without running out of fuel or crashing.

<i>Pressure Cooker</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Pressure Cooker is a video game for the Atari 2600 designed by Garry Kitchen and released by Activision in 1983. The player is a short-order cook at a hamburger stand who must assemble and package hamburgers to order without letting ingredients or hamburgers fall to the floor.

<i>Skeet Shoot</i> 1981 Atari video game

Skeet Shoot is a skeet shooting video game for the Atari 2600 and the first game released by Games by Apollo in December 1981. Players assume the role of a skeet shooter shooting clay pigeons. There is a two-player mode where the players alternate.

<i>Megamania</i> 1982 video game

Megamania is a fixed shooter video game developed by Steve Cartwright for the Atari 2600. It was published by Activision in 1982. A pilot of an intergalactic space cruiser has a nightmare where his ship is being attacked by food and household objects. Using the missile launcher from their space cruiser, the pilot fends of the attackers. The game was later released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers.

<i>Enduro</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Enduro is a racing video game designed by Larry Miller for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. The object of the game is to complete an endurance race, passing a certain number of cars each day to continue the next day. The visuals change from day to night, and there is occasional inclement weather.

<i>Towering Inferno</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Towering Inferno is an Atari 2600 game designed by Jeff Corsiglia and programmed by Paul Allen Newell and released by US Games in 1982. The player controls a fireman going through a burning skyscraper to save victims and put out the fires. The game was produced under a licence obtained from 20th Century Fox by Quaker Oats, the parent company of US Games, for the video game rights to the movie of the same name.

<i>Lost Luggage</i> (video game) 1982 action game

Lost Luggage is a 1982 action video game developed and published by Games by Apollo for the Atari 2600. The player controls skycaps working at an airport and tries to collect pieces of luggage that fall overhead from a frantic luggage carousel. A two-player mode, in which the second player controls the direction the luggage falls, is also available.

Zimag was the name used by Magnetic Tape International to market consumer products, including video games and blank audio cassettes, VHS tapes, and floppy disks. Magnetic Tape International was a wholly owned subsidiary of Intermagnetic Corporation. The company released games for the Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit computers in 1982 and 1983. The 2600 games are from Bit Corporation ported from PAL to NTSC and with different names. The Atari 8-bit games were developed by Syncro, Inc.

<i>Great Escape</i> (Atari 2600) 1983 video game

Great Escape is a multidirectional shooter published for the Atari 2600 in 1983. It was produced by Bomb, a line of video games from developer Onbase Co. based out of Asia. It received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, with reviewers making comparisons with Defender and Asteroids.

<i>Human Cannonball</i> (video game) 1979 video game

Human Cannonball is a non-military variant of an artillery video game released in 1979 by Atari, Inc. for the Atari VCS. The goal is to launch a performer from a cannon so they land in container of water supported by a tower. The game was in the first wave of Atari VCS games after the original nine launch titles. It was also among the first games for the console to be discontinued by Atari.

<i>RealSports Baseball</i> 1982 baseball game for Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800

RealSports Baseball is a 1982 sports video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. originally for the Atari 2600. It was also launched on the Atari 5200 and 7800 machines. A version for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers was also in development, but it was cancelled.

<i>RealSports Soccer</i> 1983 Football game for Atari 2600

RealSports Soccer is a 1983 sports video game developed and published by Atari for the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 platforms, concentrating on the sport of association football.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Weiss, Brett Alan. "Dishaster". Allgame . Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Dishaster". Digital Press (31): 29–30. Summer 1996. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Dishaster instruction booklet. Zimag. 1983. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2015-02-14. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
  4. "Dishaster". TV Gamer: 22. June 1983. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  5. Weiss, Brett (March 7, 2012). Classic Home Video Games, 19721984: A Complete Reference Guide. McFarland. p. 53. ISBN   9780786487554.
  6. "The Worst of the Atari 2600". Digital Press (1): 5. September–October 1991. Retrieved June 6, 2014.