It was understandable that Congo Bongo was a disaster on the Atari 2600. After all, with no little memory, it's hard to program a graphics oriented game without sacrificing some of the visual element and play mechanic.


But Congo Bongo doesn't fare much better on cartridge for the Atari computers. Like the 2600 edition, the coin-op's four screens have been cut to a mere two and the cute opening sequence is gone as well. The visuals bear little resemblance to the coin-op game's lush jungle graphics and the sound effects are decent but still inaccurate.


Compared to several other versions of this game, the play action suffers only a little. In the first screen, the gamer has to climb to the top of a jungle plateau, avoiding nuts thrown by the giant ape Bongo, and keep out of the clutches of his chimpanzee cohorts. The second screen requires the jungle explorer to get across a river by jumping onto the backs of various water creatures, taking care not to land in their mouths.


Congo Bongo fans will find this a disappointing home edition and those who never played the arcade game won't find much here to sustain their interest.