Atari Emulator -> Gunfight

Now that I'm a decrepit old man, and the brain cells are starting to go, memories of things like this flood back once in a while. Way nicer than the Top 10 Mistakes that my brain seems to keep hashing over. This is why I'll never get anywhere in life!  But I did play a lot of Atari games in my ill-spent youth.  And this one from Epyx (C) called Gunfight was a beloved classic... okay, not really, but it did have slick graphics and smooth movements at 60 jiffies a second, which I always appreciated.  Oh, how that 6502 got strained so easily!  And believe it or not, I actually played this with a SECOND person once!  I know, right?  And we both had joysticks!  Oh, and we also had them for playing the game.  Drumroll, please!

...where was I?  Oh right.  As often happened with the Atari 8-bit computers, this was basically a glorified 2600 game.  Can you believe it?  A handful of people made millions off the Atari 2600!  But the aspect of Gunfight... sorry, Gun Fight, that I was dwelling on is that it's got the most cheerful version of "Taps" you'll ever hear... on the other hand, it's only the first two groups of three notes, and then it goes into the game's theme song.  I was confusing it with Chopin's Funeral March song.  More old man problems!

 Muscha Disk 16 

 ...NOT available at Atarimania.com!  But let's see if this link works anyway.

Epyxgames.com!  Just found out that they insist on living on in Internet form.  But you obviously can't talk about Gun Fight without considering Seawolf II on the same 5.25" floppy disk!

Back to Atarimania.com, and the official home of Seawolf II / Gun Fight... wow.  See, the Atari had a key called the "Option" key, along with "Select" and "Start."  You know... keys that actually told you what they do instead of F1 to F12.

And finally, to give credit where it's clearly due, Epyx (TM)(C)(R) adapted this based on a Midway Games game of the same name from 1975.  Were they that strapped for ideas?  You're telling me no one wanted to make Shootout at the Temple of Apshai?

Computer Space

 The work continues.

YouTube (TM)(R)(C) - Computer Space was in the movie Soylent Green.

Wikipedia (C)(TM)(R) page for Computer Space... and Atari strikes again!  Viva Atari.

IMDb - The official IMDb page of Computer Space.  Looks like they're not doing most of the heavy lifting here.

...Do I Seem Different?

 That's because I just got one of those douche-y new things you might have seen on Amazon (TM)(C)(R) with tens of thousands of games on it.  I was kind of shocked: they got some Atari 8-bit games AND Atari 2600 games!  Alas, no Texas Instruments TI-99 ones, and probably no Vic-20.  Stay tuned to this blog for more!  I will say that it didn't come with a power supply, so I had to buy that.  Also, I need to upgrade my game controller.  It comes with two joysticks, but... they kinda suck.  For some reason, I didn't want to trash them on Amazon (C)(R)(TM).  More later!

Oh, and... Happy New Year, everyone!  My, how time flies like a banana... and fruit flies like an arrow, especially if it's covered in banana.

Atari Emulator ---> Timeslip

 Time to post about another game, even though YouTube (TM)(C)(R) continues to make this blog of mine redundant.  This time, it's time to get fanatical about Jon Williams' other game, and it's called Time's Lip... I'm sorry, I meant Timeslip.  Oh, but don't take MY word for it!  Just go to my new favourite YouTube (R)(C)(TM) channel called Crazy 80s Games.  Sure, he might not be the best gamer out there, but he's always willing to find some of the most obscure titles out there and give 'em a go.  Even with a title as great as The Halls of the Leprechaun King, some game makers just aren't able to make it in the video game business.  Alas, they can't all be Sid Meier.  Some would even settle for being John Romero, I'm sure.

...where was I?  Oh right.  The point was that the Crazy 80s Games guy gives Timeslip a try.  Not that I wouldn't love to go back myself, but he kind of makes all my mistakes for me!  The game's definitely unique.  You get three domains to fail in instead of just one: basically, air, land and sea type deals.  It's a shoot 'em up game, for sure.  Not that I'm squeamish, mind you.  I did make it through Dooms 1 and 2 and Quake 1, after all.  It's just one of those many video game guns with the infinity clip that you never have to reload.  And you have to shoot everything, including the 12 clocks you have to get on each level.  I mean, even Smasher has a few things you can't smash!  But like the guy says, it's so easy to die in this.  Like myself, he has trouble with the hardest corner of the Land section.  And of course, what artist worth their weight in salt can't resist referencing their other great work?  In the case of Jon Williams, it's a call back to Jet Boot Jack!

What else?  Well, unlike the Crazy 80s Games guy, I persevered, and shot my way through all three levels, synced up everything and won the game, SPOILER ALERT.  I must've been exhausted after all that, because you'll never guess what your reward is... that's right!  MORE Timeslip, but at a harder level.  Basically, you lose more time every time you f... mess up.  Um, maybe later.

Timeslip - Mushca Disk 53

Timeslip at Atarimania.com

Summer Email Challenge

I never thought I'd say this, but... okay, maybe I did, actually, but it took the following pompatus... impetus to make it (a post) happen. Is emails finished? I mean, I don't have a SmartPhone (TM)(C)(R) yet, but isn't that the main mode of communication now? How many hours do you spend hunched over, staring at your phone? NOT answering email? I know I'm a bad email hoarder; someday I'll get kicked out of my virtual house... then my real life one. And not a moment too soon, probably.

Hero Wars - The Advertising Continues

See something, say something, right? I'm just saying! Now it's borderline harassment... okay, of a giant statue, but STILL!

A Bunch of Netflix (C)(TM)(R) Games

That's right. Not only is Netflix (TM)(R)(C) flooding the movie marketplace with its own movies and TV shows, but now they've moved on to video games! Not a whole lot for now, sure, but... ten years from now? Who knows? Well, I've played a couple of 'em on my dusty old desktop computer. I don't have a SmartPhone (TM)(C)(R) yet, so I don't have a suitable game controller for the TV. Anyway, let's just dive right in to what I've looked at so far.

Underwatermelon - I do appreciate the fact that you can't play it forever. Let's bring finiteness back to the world of video games! You know, like Bejeweled (C)(TM)(R) and Bejeweled Blitz (TM)(C)(R)!

Oxenfree - ...so, which is it? A movie or a game?

Too Hot To Handle 3 - ...which joke should I go with? Should I go with "It's too much like my own life"? Or "I'd feel lost"... you know, because I haven't played Too Hot to Handle 1 or 2

The Almost Gone - ...strange! I was able to skip it. Seriously though, I think it's too mellow for me. I don't have that kind of patience anymore. I mean, if I can't find the thing I'm supposed to find... that's it? Do I lose the game yet?

Centipede Recharged - An almost instant classic. I even like the green grid; reminds me of Gridrunner. The spiders are a lot slower this time, and... SPOILER ALERT... they leave behind special powerups to collect. Every game's got powerups now!

Caverns of Mars Recharged - Another instant classic. I think this is the first game I've played where shooting slows your ship down! If only a little. Clearly I need to learn to take advantage of that, if I ever want to see if the game ever ends.

Rocket - You know... I don't mind a good maze game at all, but somehow I was expecting more from a rocket game. You know, flying through space and what not! Evidently, you spend the entire time stuck on a series of planets. I feel just a little bit cheated.

Infernax - For those of you who miss that old video game font, and the old MS-Dos-style action, this one's for you! It's fun and all that, but I will say that the arsenal of weaponry you get is ... a tad limited. I'm trying to recall a similar game I once played about 34 years ago on a Windows 3.1 computer at a friend's house... nope. Ain't coming back to me.