8-Bit Face-Off: Winter Games
 | Winter Games |  |
In the first round of the Face Off, we take a look at the sports classic Winter Games. Originally released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II in 1985, Winter Games brought the Winter Olympics to your home with 7 events: Biathlon, Bobsled, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skating, Hot Dog Aerials, Ski Jumping, & Speed Skating. The game sold very well and was soon ported to several home systems. In 1987 Atari brought Winter Games to the 7800, while the NES received a port courtesy of Acclaim. Both ports were less than desirable (you can find the review of the NES port here), but lets see which one stands above the other.
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| NES Screen | 7800 Screen |
1. Presentation
When you boot up either cartridge, you get the trademark opening ceremony, which is still nice to watch. Both the 7800 and NES versions have only four events, two of which are found in both carts: speed skating and bobsled. The NES game has figure skating and hot dog aerials, while the 7800 version has the ski jump and biathlon. So you could say that the remaining events were split between the two platforms. Also the NES version only allows 2 players to play and you can only choose from six countries, while the 7800 lets up to 8 players choose from a bevy of nations (including some country called ATARI). I should mention that in either version, once you play through all four events the games just end; the 7800 has no closing ceremony and neither does the NES.
Advantage: 7800
2. Graphics
Both versions have their pluses and minuses. For the most part the 7800 graphics do resemble the Commodore 64 original and they have larger sprites than the NES. The only exception is the opening ceremony, the NES has a larger man running the torch, while the 7800 has a tiny sprite running up the steps, plus the 7800 is missing the waving flags and mountains found in the NES. Some of the athletes on the 7800 look broken up, especially in the Speed Skating event. The NES sprites have all their holes filled, plus the NES version has some graphics details the 7800 is lacking such as shadows in Speed Skating and a better-looking Bobsled tube. However the animation on the 7800 is pretty smooth and fluid, while the sprites on the NES have stiff movement. It looks like both side offset each other; this round is going to be split between the two ports.
Advantage: Draw
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| NES Screen | 7800 Screen |
3. Sounds & Music
This is where the NES comes back. The 7800 has only one music tune, and that's the opening ceremony theme. You don't get any of the national anthems after each event, or any of the pre-event tunes. The NES version does play the national anthems when you select a country and after each event, and they sound decent. The sound effects in either port are nothing special but they do their job. The NES does lose some points because there's an annoying beeping noise when you move the cursor on the menu screen. Also the music in the figure skating event is VERY painful to listen to. So while the NES does fall back several places it still has the slight edge over the 7800.
Advantage: NES
4. Gameplay
I played the NES version with the standard control pad and the 7800 version with the Atari Joypad. For the most part both pads were responsive in most of the events. However the NES version has some problems. The Bobsled controls fine, the Hot Dog and Speed Skating are a little stiff but still workable, but the Figure Skating is the worst. It's difficult to get the skater to do any of the jumps and turns correctly, which puts a dent in the NES score. The 7800 version has pretty smooth gameplay throughout, but the Biathlon can often take a lot of effort to get your skiier in gear unless you know the correct rhythm. Unfortunately only having 4 events hampers the replay vaule of both titles; the games get over way too soon and without a closing ceremony there's no sense of accomplishment. The 7800 has is a little more fun to play due to its eight-player capability. So overall the 7800 takes this round.
Advantage: 7800
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| NES Screen | 7800 Screen |
Conclusion
At first glance it seems that the 7800 is the winner of this Face Off with a 2-1-1 score, and you'd be correct. However it's hard for me to consider it the winner when both the NES and 7800 ports got short-changed. When you consider that the 7800 got a decent port of Summer Games and the NES is host to a great port of California Games, you can see that both systems were/are capable of much better conversions of the Commodore original. So my reccomendation is if you must play a winter sports title on either system, pop in the 2600 version of Winter Games in the 7800 and enjoy that. Otherwise stick with the C64 original.
Winner: 7800
