Talk:Megamania

Mayan Eschatology?

Am I the only person who sees the similarity of the game's plot with certain elements of Mayan Eschatology. Specifically that household items and domestic animals become destroyers of civilization?

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Megamania/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Andrzejbanas (talk · contribs) 19:44, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: PresN (talk · contribs) 22:35, 4 September 2024 (UTC)

Reviewing this; I do reviews by noting down comments as I read through the article.

Lede

• "A pilot of an intergalactic space cruiser..." - abrupt shift, consider starting with "In the game, a pilot of an..."

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "the team at Activision felt it should be taken on a different form to separate itself from various space shooter games" -> "the team at Activision felt it needed a different form to separate itself from various space shooter games"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "The game would receive the" - tense shift; "The game received the"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "while Video and Computer Gaming Illustrated declared" - not actually simultaneous, and it was declared in 1984 while the 2600 was produced for years after, so "and in 1984 Video and Computer Gaming Illustrated declared"

Correct you are! Updated. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

Gameplay

• "At home after falling asleep, the player finds themselves in a nightmare" - confuses the player and the pilot, implying that the player falls asleep. Swap to "the pilot finds themselves"

Right you are! Changed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "by firing their missile launcher at them" -> "by firing the ship's missile launcher at them", "their" is ambiguous

True, changed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• Are they "mobile blasters" or "space cruisers"? You call them both.

Ah yes, I recall this issue. The back cover of the box (which is the only place the brief narrative/set is given), the narrative states you are a "pilot of an intergalatic space cruiser" while the manual only refers to them as "mobile blasters". Not sure what to do in this situation. Thoughts? Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• Are waves the same as levels? Assuming so, which level number is "Space Dice"?

From my own experience, yes, the manual only refers to them as "waves" though. I've re-phrased it to be waves per the manual's terminogloy.

• "In guided missiles, the missiles can be steered" -> "Guided missiles can be steered"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

Development/Release

• "After being hired by Activision, Cartwright had to develop a game." - that's the usual order, yes- drop this sentence, and make the next one "Megamania was his second game for Activision following Barnstorming (1982)."

Ahhh yes. How embarrassing of me. You can tell this was a real writing as I was learning stuff article. Changing. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "He recalled the influence to create the game was after he had seen Astro Blaster at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant." -> "He was inspired to create the game after seeing Astro Blaster at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant."

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "On designing the ship, he realized how simple the graphics had to be for the system with eight bits and one color for the ship." -> "Designing the ship showed him how simple the graphics had to be for the system, as he could only use eight bits and one color for the ship."

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "Developing for the Atari 2600 was difficult, with Cartwright stating that the code to define how the objects displayed was very complicated, noting it required multiple objects moving horizontally, passing each other vertically, missiles passing vertically through rows of objects, which Cartwright explained as "might seem like a trivial task using today's technology actually took months of late-night coding to figure out."" - this sentence is a lot! Try "Cartwright found developing the game for the Atari 2600 to be difficult, especially for the code to define how objects were displayed. It required handling multiple objects moving horizontally, passing each other vertically, and missiles passing vertically through rows of objects, which Cartwright explained as that what "might seem like a trivial task using today's technology actually took months of late-night coding to figure out.""

Slightly altered, but basically updated with your phrasing. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "Megamania was coded to fit a 4 kilobyte ROM for its graphics, code and sound. It took over nine months to code." - overuse of code; try "Megamania was designed to fit a 4 kilobyte ROM for its graphics, code and sound. It took over nine months to develop."

Done with slight edit, I think I emphasized code as its mostly Cartwright giving/doing the background on this game. Game development is more than just the coding or graphics, so I'll specifically mention that this was Cartwright's work. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "After completing code for gameplay" -> "After completing development of the gameplay"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "over loaded with outerspace-themed" -> "overloaded with space-themed"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "but were confident in the gameplay" -> "but was confident in the gameplay"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "Some ideas were to title the game Space Game" - you only list one and have game twice in a row, so "Ideas included titling it Space Game"

Oops. And correct. Updated. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• " Jim Levy did not include Megamania as being among Activision's game that had sold over one-million" -> "Sales figures are not known, but Jim Levy did not include Megamania in a list of Activision's games that had sold over one million copies"

Slight phrasing as it wasn't really a list, he was just naming the sellers that went over a million in an interview. But otherwise updated.Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "consoles like the ColecoVision, Atari 5200 and computers such as the Commodore 64 and MSX" -> "consoles like the ColecoVision and Atari 5200 and computers such as the Commodore 64 and MSX"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• If ports were announced for the ColecoVision, C64, and MSX, but never came out, you should probably add to the end of that sentence ", but were only released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers.

Done, with some sources to follow-that up. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

Reception/Legacy

• "an anonymous reviewer called "one of" -> "an anonymous reviewer called it "one of". Same sentence: "and that" -> "and said that"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "complicated patterns that enemies approach you in Megamania" -> "complicated patterns that enemies use to approach the player in Megamania"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "at the 4th annual Arkie Awards" -> "at the 4th annual Arkie Awards in 1983", since it's not clear what year we're talking about here

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "specifically highlighting the games various enemy designs" -> "specifically highlighting the game's various enemy designs"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "only being beaten by Centipede" -> "only beaten by Centipede"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "stating the gameplay was slick and fast Megamania remained a" -> "stating the gameplay was slick and fast, and Megamania remained a"

Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• "Cartwright would continue work at Activision" -> "Cartwright continued to work at Activision". Actually, everywhere you use "would" in the next few sentences, change it to past tense - "Frostbite had roots", "Cartwright re-used the code", "He later worked on other series". The article is written in past tense "this is what happened", not documentary style "we're in the past looking into the future that happened after that"

Done, and man sometimes I think I write "okay" then yeesh. Thank you! Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

• Nice ending quote there!

Danke. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

That's all I've got; it's essentially all grammar issues to tweak. There aren't any major structural issues that I can see and the sources checked out. --PresN 22:35, 4 September 2024 (UTC)

Thanks @PresN:. I think I had two questions I wanted to clarify earlier, but otherwise, I've made all your requested changes. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:04, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

Alright, made one tweak for the mobile blasters/space cruisers thing, feel free to revert or change of course. Passing for GA! --PresN 13:17, 5 September 2024 (UTC)