EA Strategy Battle 1983

[NeoZeedeater]

This year battle goes back to 1983, the year Electronic Arts entered the market. Two of the games they published in their early days also happened to be two of the best and most innovative strategy games of all time. Both were originally developed for Atari 8-bit and soon ported to various other computers. Years later they were both ported to the NES; the M.U.L.E. port stuck close to the original's look and design while Archon had remade graphics but suffered by being slower than before. It's best to judge the games by the original versions.







While both were strategic games best enjoyed in multiplayer mode, their designs were quite different. M.U.L.E (developed by Ozark Software) was a turn-based game with a strong focus on economic simulation while Archon (developed by Freefall Associates) was a mix of turn-based board game and arcade action duels.

My pick is Archon which I'm sure I have mentioned being my favourite two-player game before. I don't have anything bad to say about M.U.L.E.; I just prefer Archon's blending of genres I guess.

Which do you like more?

[Brisco Bold]

I can't really say which I prefer more since I've only played Archon [NES], which I enjoyed immensely.

[Josh]

I can't really say which I prefer more since I've only played Archon [NES], which I enjoyed immensely.

This. I loved that game. The bird/dragon/whatever was the jam.

[Frogacuda]

I haven't played either of these games as much as I ought to.

[bVork]

I love M.U.L.E.'s take on strategy. You'd never think that an economic game based around imperfect competition would make an amazing party game, but it's still a ton of fun to play with a bunch of people.

I just don't think Archon holds up as well. The blend of strategy and action is interesting, but I can think of lots of subsequent games that have bettered it. Dark Legions is a good example. M.U.L.E. is still peerless.

[StriderKyo]

M.U.L.E., imo. I have such fond memories of that game. I haven't even thought about it in a decade, but the second I saw the name of this thread the music started playing in my head.

[Dyne]

Haha! "*" ,8,1

God that brings back memories.

[Cheebs]

I never had an Atari 8 bit but I played the crap outta' the C64 games.

,8,1 indeed.

Archon wins for the added arcade twitch element. Plus I always felt like the man when one of my little club dudes would kill a wounded "queen".

[K3V]

I've heard great things about M.U.L.E. but I never played it much. I had Archon on a PC back in the late 80's and loved it, though.

[NeoZeedeater]

I just don't think Archon holds up as well. The blend of strategy and action is interesting, but I can think of lots of subsequent games that have bettered it. Dark Legions is a good example.

It's the opposite for me. Every time a new Archon-like comes out, I hope it will be as addictive but it never is. A lot of games have deeper strategy than Archon but usually the action sucks by either being clunky or trying to be more complex. The simplicity and fast pace of Archon battles work. The game hasn't aged a day for me.

I never had an Atari 8 bit but I played the crap outta' the C64 games.

I had the C64 versions back then, too. I didn't get Atari computer stuff until much later. In some parts I prefer the graphics in the Atari versions, in some parts the C64 ones but they're pretty close. Archon did get re-released on XE cartridge which is cool to play without load times.