Atari Emulator ---> Air Support

Garble-dee-goo, I'm wearing a shoe. Man, these images take forever. Well, I should've left about an hour ago, but there's so little to do and so much time. Take Synapse Software's classic battle simulation game, Air Support. You know, I believe our military's still using it to simulate battle conditions in Afghanistan! Believe me, they could do worse. Of course, there's so many different variations of gameplay, that I felt compelled to count them. Way WAY more than the Atari 2600 Space Invaders, I tell you what! We got a choice between Arcade and Strategy game play, so that's two. We got 7 Game Numbers. We got 16 different selections of enemy to blast (250,300,350,400,450... up to 999). We got three speeds, three thicknesses, choices of airlift, bomb, airlift AND bombs, or none, so that's four. Finally, we get nine different choices of blue robots, whether we want as little as 16 or as many as 144. So, altogether, that's 72,576 different variations of gameplay! Why, if you played one a day for the rest of your life... well, let's put it this way. Social Security would DEFINITELY be broken in that world. Probably. As for me, I usually stick with Arcade play, 999 enemies to kill (even though it consistently takes me 15+ minutes to play), and slow slow slow. I tried the fast, but it's just very VERY tough with the enemy guns constantly blowing you out of the sky and all. Seems like your crashing helicopter should take out a couple bad guys just for good measure, but no, they're tougher than that. I gotta go.

Atari Emulator ---> Androton

I grow weary of these grid-based games. Or... not weary enough! Usually with maze games like this, where the maze is a series of dead ends, the problem is there's no leg room for big arcade action. Androton addresses some of these faults by pitting you against slow-witted... I'm assuming they're called Androtons. They almost deliberately pick corners of the maze that you're not in. I have yet to be killed deliberately by one of these things. Stranger yet, the round ends if the Androtons are covering up some of the "dots" you have to collect! A flaw in programming, or deliberate? I'm thinking deliberate, because they do reappear after an Androton steps over them. Basically, this is a glorified Pac-Man clone minus the fun. But it disguises its intentions pretty well. I'm assuming Mushca thought it had some merit, as they show the game screen... well, the menu screen looks like the game screen, but they did play the game a little bit... about one second into the game, but still!

Atari Emulator ---> Abracadabra!

I like this one! Good game play, but arguably the moving walls can be aggravating to varying degrees. Still more playable than that damn Labyrinth with similar stochastic walls. Love those giant skulls! Reminds me of that Simpsons episode with some of The Rolling Stones.

Atari Emulator ---> Picnic Paranoia

Now, I don't care just what you do, if you wanta have a picnic, that's up t' you. But don't tell me about it, I don't wanta hear it, 'cause, see, I just lost all m' picnic spirit... sorry, listening to too much Dylan again. Wow! Real humility lesson courtesy of Tetris Battle tonight. I obviously didn't deserve to be at Rank 35, as I made it all the way back down to 30, but I'm just now starting to claw my way back. So I thought I'd take a break and revisit Picnic Paranoia. I shoulda figured it was a Russ Segal... the use of random notes when the ants move the food... I guess that's the only hint. Maybe the use of multi-color player/missiles for the giant bee 'n man. Of course, the Atari computer didn't cause striping like the emulator does! Reminds us of the vertical stripe days not so long ago. I figured right about one thing: I flipped the score by round 14, but only because I cheated a little bit.

Atari Emulator ---> Whomper Stomper

Boy, ants have got it tough. And the majority of video games aren't helping, either. Take Whomper Stomper, for example. I never had a copy of it for Atari proper, but I heard things. Any game featuring actual human voices would usually come highly recommended, even Castle Wolfenstein to an extent. Still, I can't help but disappointing that aardvark quite a bit. The ants keep stealing his pick-a-nick basket! Reminds me of those old Ant and Aardvark cartoons................... never mind.  The following hyperlink to YouTube no longer works due to a copyright claim by MGM.  And seeing as how they're now a defunct movie studio, that's kind of surprising to me.  Doesn't Warner Bros. own all those cartoons now?  And Columbia's making all the new James Bond pictures... sorry, mixing blogs again.

Atari Emulator ---> Ghostbusters

Time for another great quest to begin. (I forgot to add a line about waiting for Bill Murray to sign on to the third installment which is apparently filming soon...) What's nice about the Atari emulator is that you can have the perfect game. So often in Ghost Busters the big green trap door DOESN'T catch the ghosts like it should... but not now! And so much time is wasted trying to find and driving to the flashing pink building, waiting for it to turn red... but not now! However... I do forget how we face the final Marshmallow Man obstacle... I think you need to have enough points. Time to find out!!! I'm about halfway there
5:45pm - Okay, I still can't get my new account number to work. I've found a few websites out there that post name/account cheat codes, but they don't work for the Atari emulator. PHOOOOOOEY!
6:02pm-Never mind, got it to work. I thought my name was "Spengler,Igon" when it was actually "Spengler, Igon". Duh!! And now that I reflect upon it... I'm NOT giving you my account#! Nyaah, nyaah....................................................................
12:38pm - Just beat it twice, got more money, got a longer account number, but really, what's the point at this point? I guess this is why I'll never be rich, but wow! What an econ lesson. I guess the lesson is: better stuff. Gotta get more, better stuff. I've got the fastest car, the portable containment system (that STILL needs to be emptied out every so often) Alas, the game's limited in that regard. No subfranchising for you: you gotta do all the doity woik. There's the law of diminishing marginal utility in there somewhere, I know it.

Atari Emulator ---> Astro Chase

A sad day indeed when I found that Astro Chase has finite limits... today, in fact! Like they say, it's never too late. I'm assuming I've seen all the cartoons. At some point I had to abandon the idea of not losing any spaceships, as the onslaught became too great. The ships that go the same speed as you, that go through the plantes, and shoot, and there's THREE of 'em! Yellow, green and magenta. And I thought it would last forever. Somehow I don't feel the need to flip the score on this one.

Atari Emulator ---> Dandy

In his wisdom, Palevich left part of Level E inaccessible. It's like that movie with Bruce Lee and Kareen Abdul Jabaar... I mean, WHAT'S ON THE NEXT FLOOR OF THAT HOUSE?!!!! We'll never know. How it nags at the brain. But ultimately, I think it's just another area of hearts and monsters, with some food. Unfortunately, the dungeon editor eludes us now, but apparently he's a bigshot programmer at Microsoft, and there's a version of Dandy in C++ or F# or whatever the hot young language is these days... Python? FudgePun? Us mere mortals need the dungeon editors, because the levels that come with the game are a little thin, especially the second half. Lots of levels of cursive handwriting of all those phrases that meant something to Palevich and Palevich alone... and really, isn't that what all video games are about? Trying to get your old girlfriend back by impressing her with your video game writing abilities?

Level K: P. Down
Level N: NHII17 '83 / JG MT HA ETC. / IHTFP!!! (Google this one)
Level O: there's probably a hidden message in the maze... you look for it
Level P: Hackerjack? Palevich
Level Q: question marks
Level S: (aquarium theme!)
Level U: (switchback theme)
Level V: half tribute to Imagic game Cosmic Ark...
Level W: Moco, Nova, DC, PG
Level Y: The End!!
Level Z: Heaven

Atari Emulator ---> Pitfall II: Lost Caverns

Nobody seems to have an online map of Pitfall 1... of course, I've only been looking about five minutes. Who's got time to look for anything anymore? But I DID stumble bass-ackwards onto this map of Pitfall 2! Awesome. I could've used it ten years ago... of course, where's the thrill of accomplishment?

10/13/'14 - So much more fun than homework.  I surprised even myself!  I jumped over those little grey bastards better than I thought. (2nd part)  It took me til about 1:30 in the morning but I managed to complete the game.  Of course, all that time I thought I was getting screen captures, but my program limits it to 1000 or some small amount.  Didn't get any of the 2nd half of the game.  Smart thinking, The Video Game Fanatic!  In my haste, I forgot to look online for maps of Pitfall 2.  Instead, I had to rely on my maze-solving ability alone.  I totally missed a few gold bars in the process!  Der!

Atari Emulator ---> Bio-Defense

Ah! Now HERE's one that I played a lot. Now, sure, I could be cynical and call it Pac-Man with moving dots... and that'd be an apt description. But look at the positives! The "talking" sounds! The backstory! This is what I get for not buying it from the software store. What's the thing called? It says "My name is ... ?" Something like E-nek-tove-kam. There's GOTTA be a website on the web devoted to this game. Biological infestation. Must stay alive. How many K was devoted to the actual game? My God! Whoever programmed it must be a genius.

Bio-Defense home at Atarimania.com

Atari Emulator ---> Crazy Scooter

Sorry, not crazy enough. I was born a Dodge 'Em man, I'll die a Dodge 'Em man.

Atari Emulator ---> Super Cobra

Cool! I forgot about those red things.

Atari Emulator ---> Claim Jumper and Killa Cycle

Time for Spiele 20. There's something about that Killa Cycle that I like. Fast game play, relatively smart robot opponents... and I'm guessing it's in one of the GTIA modes. How else to account for six colors? Perhaps a player/missile to make the right wall a little shorter... the eight color GTIA mode, of course. There's the 16 shades of white GTIA, and the 16 color GTIA..CTIA/GTIA, whatever. I still think it is. As for Claim Jumper, well, what else would you expect from Dog Daze uber-programmer Gray Chang? Some of the same sounds, of course. Did he do the music for Under Siege? Not enough games try for symbiosis.

Atari Emulator ---> Zorro

Lousy Atari emulator. Sorry... SPOILER ALERT. Don't look at the image if you don't want the game totally ruined for you. At the official Atarimania home for Datasoft's Zorro, someone posted that they... no, wait, they FINALLY beat the game after 25 years. Yeah, those catacombs were a poser. I was going to reveal the secret, but no point now! Figure it out yourself. Unfortunately, they cut out the part where you have to maneuver a system of levers and pulleys, and another part where you have to get that one dude drunk and you bounce up and down on his stomach... hey, they made the game, not me!

Atari Emulator ---> The Goonies

Oh, I'm just an icon whore. Let's face it. Let's let me face it. But Datasoft's The Goonies is a challenging multi-player game in which you must solve about seven puzzles. It's better with two players but it can be solved by one if necessary. Personally I think it's very insulting to Chunk, who has to be hoisted up to the upper deck of the ship with the sail. But he's not forced to do the "truffle shuffle" for anyone in the game, so that's good. Also, they probably should've tried to get a third song in there, but that's just nitpicking. Probably the most violent one is with the giant skull-carrying bird. I'm assuming it's a vulture. Even though they proudly declare me one of the goonies, I'm ashamed to admit I picked the unlimited lives option. Oh, the bitter fruits of Hacker Kilroy! I was powerless to resist partaking of them.

Atari Emulator ---> Jungle Hunt

As long as I'm stuck on Spiele 6, might as well get Jungle Hunt out of the way. I hate to generalize, but generally multi-stage games like this just aren't fun. Gorf also comes to mind. Now, Kangaroo's pretty good, but for some reason I never got in to Jungle Hunt. First of all, someone complained that the Atari version doesn't have the whole opening song. Frankly, I don't see that as a problem any more. Also, the advanced level's too hard. I keep making the mistake of going after the alligators. Too much stochasticity. I want menial tasks I can depend upon in my video games. For some reason I don't even feel like saving the game state on this one. Maybe I'll get desperate later on. Can't get into Heaven without beating Jesus' Jungle Hunt high score!

Atari Emulator ---> Ghost Chaser

Well, once you play Ollie's Follies, you need a Ghost Chaser chaser, of course! Man, it's been months. Years, even! There's basically two stretches to the game, and I forgot how to get from the first to the second. Genius! And then, of course, the trap room in the second half. Demented genius. Sorry, SPOILER ALERT. And, for more par for the course, what ghost-based game would be complete without the demonic yellow-brown drips from the toilet pipe. More demented genius. Sure, they show up again as haunted brewery drips, but the psychological damage is done. No getting round that.