Berzerk and Frenzy are two of the best video games ever made, but unfortunately Stern went bunk and these classic have not appeared in subsequent anthologies because of licensing issues. Stern launched an agressive marketing campaign to demonstrate how arcade gameplay could exist in the home on the 2600.
This sort of marked the beginning of the end, as home consoles began to make more financial sense to most gamers and children. Nowdays, arcade are relics and littered with ticket games--if they even exist at all.
The only upside is that you can own Berzerk in your home for Atari. The only problem is that this version fails to capture the perfection and depth of the original. It still constitutes a great game in its own right, and it features more options and gameplays than the arcade DIP switches. My personal favorite option is turning evil Otto off, which makes the game much easier and allows for truly epic marathon games.
The original Berzerk featured 64,000 possible mazes, the main drawback of the Atari version is that only a handful of maps exists. Still, you get to lead a lone hero through a nightmarish electric mall avoiding robots and fighting for great justice.
You can score this cart for peanuts, so it's a must for any Atari collection. I just wish this game made it on to some of the anthologies. Considering it hasn't, it might just be the best reason to own an actual 2600.
I'll never get tired of zapping killbots.
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