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>Apple’s big advantage in the early days was its color display, but this advantage was shattered with the appearance of the Atari computers, whose graphics far outshone that of the Apple.

I have a recent direct comparison between the two, Prince of Persia. The Atari port is recent:

Apple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZDAPp61aak

Atari: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD2Z5FqZi7I

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That is a lame comparison. From what I saw, it doesn't use any of the Atari's advantages. For example, fine scrolling (with redefinable character set), player/missile graphics, display list interrupts (for 256 colors and "altered-perspective scrolling").

It’s neither the best comparison nor a fair one. The Atari was like a little Amiga but the Apple II version captures the spirit of the era better - an Atari port would have looked more like Karateka. As a side note, when I saw Prince of Persia for the first time, I felt a twinge of pain - why would I want to play a maze puzzle platforms version of Karateka, maybe the slowest paced, most masochistic game of the era, the one we played to see the animations of the next stage? Ugh, I did that once already, I don’t need more…

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