Atari Emulator -> Tutti Frutti

Since I'm running out of Atari games to geek out about, why not pick this one?  I may have seen the ads in one of the old Atari magazines, either Compute or Antic, as those were the ones I was very familiar with.  Can't even remember how; must've been that Atari guy our family hooked up with oh so many moons ago.  But again, like Kid Grid, note the disparity.

So, this is an original Ross painting... that's Scott Ross, not the zen figure of Bob Ross, everyone's favorite dead painter.  You got the big happy face, the promise of ice cream, a birthday cake, and even though this painting's got more colors than the Atari could actually handle, there's the promise of a fun time at the home arcade, right?

Now, take a look at the actual game.  It's... I SAID, LOOK UPON IT!!!!!  I mean, what is that?  Okay, maybe I'm being a little harsh.  And I do like the fact that diagonal movement is allowed.  Also, don't get greedy when the thing chasing you is too close.  I like the inherent lesson there.  I mean, it'd be like if you're in a Baskin Robbins, and a policeman's there to take you away, but you go ahead and reach into one of the buckets for one last handful of ice cream before they throw you in the paddy wagon.  Idiotic move, right?  ON THE OTHER HAND, there's that whole pesky Basic (TM) angle as well.  See, grandchildren, apparently this was a game written in Basic, yet sold for $39.95, which means you have to have the Basic (TM) cartridge in the computer.  See, cartridges were... ah, skip it.  It's like a thumb drive, but you can't save any files onto it.  But I do like the fact that the edible Perimeter Walkers are a little smart; if you wait for it at its starting location to eat more, it moves!  Very mean.  I confess: I'm looking for some kind of shortcut.  I don't have any answers, any secret shortcuts to the Big Office at the end of the Crystal Staircase.  Meantime, why not have a little fun diversion to take my mind off the Eternal Struggle for a few minutes?

Tutti Frutti's official home at Atarimania... I'm assuming that Adventure International was the original publisher

NOT in the Mushca collection yet!!!

Atari Emulator ---> Final Legacy

 "Miscellaneous" is a good way to put it.  I can't believe I haven't geeked out about this one yet!  Another important part of my ill-spent childhood.  Note to self: take better notes during childhood.  Sure, the game seems silly and obnoxious now, but it was the Cold War, my friends.  Games like "Final Legacy" were the only thing standing between peace and a permanent nuclear winter.  But Carl Sagan got the ball rolling, and Sting's 1985 song "Russians" also helped.  Looking back, this game reminds me of Atari's very superior "The Last Starfighter."  It's so good, it's almost like it's not an Atari game at all!  Where's the clunky scrolling?  The overuse of player/missiles?  Different stories, but the game play is similar: a series of mini-games, and you have to go after the enemy bases.  You also get to blow up ships at sea.  Thank goodness you get a really nimble ship!  Either that, or the enemy torpedoes are just really, really slow.  And of course, a detail that only true Atari-heads will appreciate: when the big map goes from thin to thick, or Graphics 15 to Graphics 7.  I believe it was called a "display list interrupt."  They can be used for just about anything vertically-based, from rainbow colors to multiple player/missiles.  In this case, going from thin to thicker graphics.  This is the only (Atari) game I can think of that uses this technique.  I still can't wrap my head around C'est La Vie and, by extension, Star Maze, which seems to have two horizontal areas, unless the one on the right is all player-missiles?  Yeah, that must be it.

Final Legacy - Disk 141, Mushca

Atarimania home of Final Legacy... and here as well.  Also exists as a preliminary version (en)titled The Legacy.  For some reason, my version had no title sequence, and a different set of bells and whistles.

Atari Emulator ---> Vanguard

It's been a while since I geeked out about an Atari video game, and I don't want to fall completely out of practice!  So, despite the lack of genre description at Atarimania.com, it's Defender-ISH... I think I played this once on MAME, but didn't finish.  On the Atari, on the other hand, I played it a lot; probably too much.  There seems to be three speeds: fast, faster and way too fast.  Two levels, five or so zones... probably got the best music of any of these games!  Okay, best musical variety.  Almost every genre is represented here: patriotic, whimsical, boogie, New Age throb.  As for the ending with ... ugh... the "Big Boss," as we call them now.  I think we just called it the Last Level, and that was fine.  Was the game awesome or not?  That's all we talked about!  Can't talk; playing.  But now that we're a Smartphone-addicted, managerial-dependent species, it's "Big Boss" from now on.  And Vanguard's "Big Boss" is probably one of the most well-defended of the bosses.  I mean, think about it!  You got the top wall with teeny holes in it... two walls, and you really gotta be quick.  You got the side bullets, you got the bottom walls that trap you in.  I mean, if you don't get this guy within the first five seconds, you're basically screwed.  I never tried the "Single Shot" mode when I would play this game on an actual Atari computer, and it's probably why I'm where I am today.  Make the tough choices now, kids.

Vanguard at Atarimania

Mushca Disk 47 - Vanguard, amongst others... Dimension X is basically Vanguard, but in 3D... Attack of the Mutant Camels is also a Defender-ish side-scroller... and who doesn't like a little Candi now and again?  Wait a sec...