Oh... I'm Biting My Tongue

I should know better by now. Really, it's all about what you grew up with. Intellivision (TM)(R)(C), Atari (C)(TM)(R), Colecovision (R)(C)(TM)... that one with games on tape. But I tell you this... if that crippled Bugs Bunny is supposed to be an insult to Atari (TM)(R)(C) gamers, it's not. ANY gamer worth their weight in pixels is eventually going to look more like the maniac Bugs Bunny than his tea-sipping counterpart! I mean, take the farting spaceship of 2600 Space Invaders fame. Is there any Intellivision (C)(TM)(R) game that's half that good? I rest my case. I mean, besides the Activision (TM)(C)(R) games and the Imagic (R)(TM)(C) games. Personally, I think I'd get tired of that Intellivision (TM)(R)(C) number font. You know, the zero with a dot in it. Variety, damn it! That's what the gamer wants!

Zynga Poker 2024

Um... don't they all win?

Atari Emulator - Synapse Software's "Dimension X"

In this era of infinite games, like Zynga Poker (TM)(R)(C) and King's Candy Crush games (C)(R)(TM), sometimes it's nice to wax nostalgic for the games you played in your childhood... okay, my childhood. Sorry, Glennis Yeager, I tried... but we are a nostalgic species. I believe it was Howard Suber who said that memory is a powerful force... something like that. Sorry... mixing blogs again. For whatever reason, I never got into Battlezone, but I know it's got an important place in video game history. This, despite the fact that Assault clearly has way, way more features. My favourite was, of course, where you would leap real high into the air... didn't seem to help me much, though. Vindicators was fun, but I clearly didn't bring enough quarters. #harderthanstickshift Doom and Doom II should've had a vehicle for you to drive around in; alas, you are your own tank in that one. But let's try to get back to Dimension X already. It's a bit like Synapse's other 3D-ish effort, Encounter, but you only get one life in Dimension X. That's... not terribly dimensional! No, you get the added level of a ship in need of nearly constant repairs. Part of the reason why I don't like to play the tougher levels on some of these things. The Last Starfighter's like that too, as is Synapse's flight games Blue Max and Blue Max 2001... might as well include 'em both. Game map-wise, Encounter keeps things simple, as you go linearly from sector to sector. Dimension X is similar to Blasteroids or The E Factor with its two-dimensional game map. The glittering bad guys in Dimension X thankfully don't have as much variety as the baddies of Encounter fame... I still have nightmares about that red one. In between Dimension X's sectors is a game similar to a portion of the Atari (C)(TM)(R) Star Wars (TM)(R)(C) game where you have to dodge barriers at various altitudes. This is of course a serious strain on the 6502's capabilities, but programmer Steve Hales is up to the challenge, and gives all five of the player/missiles a workout. I won't give it a star rating, but it... it was worth a revisit, what the hell. 

Dimension X - Disk 47, Mushca Collection 

Dimension X at Atarimania.com

Atari Emulator --> Spy's Demise and Friends

...oh good! I don't have to try and solve that cryptogram myself! Ah, that takes me back to arcade action ever so briefly available at grade school... during business hours. Then there's that one with the bouncing spider you have to try and shoot (Apple II), but the real experts at that wouldn't give anyone else a chance. What's neat about Penguin Software's "Spy's Demise" is that the action starts out easy, then gets more difficult... then gets really difficult... then gets easier again! On the other hand, the game board shrinks in size ever so slightly when you complete a level. I can't handle that kind of excitement. Naturally, clones had to be spawned, like this one from Analog Computing (1985)... spoiler alert: turns out the pizza chef on the Simpsons is actually a Van Houten! I tend to think of this one called "Highrise" as part of the same family... I forget where it's from. Probably Compute! magazine, maybe Antic.

Spy's Demise - Mushca Disk 27, home at Atarimania.com

Elevator Repairman - Mushca Disk 32, home at Atarimania.com

Highrise - Mushca Disk 141, Atarimania.com home - it WAS Compute! magazine.  Miss that thing.

Donkey Kong's Triumphant Return

Atari Emulator -> Mr. Robot

...should I go through with it?

Bounty Bob, Level 26 - The End

...this isn't actually a level, they've just decided to call the end of the game "Level 26" for some reason. As your reward for beating the game, you get taken to a special screen where you can fiddle with some of the game's variables. The main one, of course, is that you can start the game with five lives instead of four! Also, you can start at any level you choose... I'm not sure how. You need a special code, but I don't know what the codes are. Better to just use saved states, save yourself the trouble. And... that's it! One last toast to the toughest game I've ever played on the Atari... alas, played strictly with a PC emulator, no joystick. What's the second toughest, you ask? Championship Lode Runner a close second; I don't know how I ever figured out those levels. Just tenacious, I guess.  Zeppelin was a tough one too.   Can Pastfinder actually be won?  Apparently it can't.  Seems like a game is either tough or fun to play.  Bounty Bob Strikes Back! starts out fun, then gets tough.  The discussion goes on.........