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.

Reflections on Games Past --> Marvin's Maze

Not to be confused with Falken's Maze.
God bless the Internet! I never thought I'd be able to remember this in a million years, as the expression goes. But even before I became a middle-aged old fart, I seem to be blessed with the occasional memory-related nagging... what was that game that I played at an arcade once? I actually did! Old-timer bonafides... or maybe it was that little mini-arcade next to the gas station. I think I only played it once, and somehow it didn't enchant me at the time. Not like Bubble Bobble or even Ms. Pac-Man. But I did remember the pneumatic tubes that take you from the bottom level to the top level, and vice versa. Kinda hard to get one of the search engines to make that distinction. It is more than a little bit like Pac-Man (TM)(C)(R), but you don't have to eat as many dots. They must've figured out in beta-testing that it was a little too difficult for players to play one of the mazes when it was completely covered in dots. Sadly, poor ol' Marvin didn't spawn a sequel, or even an animated Saturday morning cartoon series, the ultimate level of a video game's impact on the culture.

Marvin's Maze entry at Wikipedia... dang, Wikipedia. No pictures?

Marvin's Maze entry at something called the Killer List of Video Games

Marvin's Maze walkthrough on YouTube (TM)(C)(R)... hmm! Seems to be in Invincible Mode. Niiiiice...

Atari Emulator ---> Pathfinder

Now, THIS is what I've needed! Brainless action! Horizontal and vertical scrolling! A ten-digit score! Thank God and Randy Jongens for the 1982 classic Pathfinder. Some guys only got one game in 'em; they can't all be Sid Meier, right? For a second I thought it might be Pastfinder in disguise, but no such luck. I really shouldn't be going back, anyway.
Maybe I'm getting superstitious in my old age, but one feature I don't like about this game is that your lives are included in the list of bad guys you've got to get. Sympathy for those devils? Hey, if it weren't for me, they'd have nothing to do! I will confess that I did have to consult the manual on this one. As much as I like to go in to these games a blank slate, I still need help every now and again. Must be why I miss the old days with my Atari 1200XL in particular... and my childhood in general. Old age's not so different, really; just more pain pills to take. Also, you have less time for video games, and more time to focus on getting your affairs in order before the big final check out. Must be why I like Level 15, because you get 99 lives. On the other hand, you end up spending all your time and energy fighting fires. Not so fun... oopsie! Spoiler Alert. This game reminded me of that other Gebelli classic, Andromeda. That one seems a little more fun... maybe just more whimsical. Maybe it's just the opening music, who knows. I was also reminded of Citadel Warrior, but less sleek and more forgiving.
(later on) Okay, on Level 15 I was finally able to destroy ... I believe it's called a "nuke." Strange, they seem so timid on the easier levels. It took me 20 lives to destroy one, so... 1,980 more to go!

Pathfinder at Atarimania.com

Gebelli Software in general at Atarimania.com

Pathfinder on Mushca Disk 135

Bolo Again!

The infamous tank game lives on! Play online for free here at the Internet Archive. And of course, learn more about the game here on Wikipedia.

(a few days later) Success!  And yet... where's the followup Dinochrome Brigade game?  (searching on internet)  Should have known!

Okay, so level 1 is down.  But what about levels 2-9?  I hate to say it... okay, I don't hate it that much, but to me it feels like Gridrunner all over again.  I use Gridrunner as the example because I saw an ad about 40 years ago for it that declared something about how it's an unbeatable game.  Well, yeah!... if there's way too many enemies and you have a gun that's just not that powerful... oh!  There's the ad right there at the bottom of the Atarimania (TM)(R)(C) page!  Okay, I'll try level 9 with a maze density of 9... 5.

Mystery Game

Well, I GOTTA post this. This was on my Facebook (C)(TM)(R) feed. I'm thinking... Wizard of Wor (TM)(R)(C)? Of course, it's a game that's not exactly known for its booty... EASY! God's sake... hmm! I don't remember skulls either. Oh, I guess it's not. Never mind.

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.........

Bounty Bob, Level 25 - The Floating Transporter

If you love levels where you only get one shot at doing something right, well... see how there are eight Energy Bars on this level? That's RIGHT! You've got to get all eight of those things right. So, you eat an Energy Bar, back up a little bit, then jump to the far platform. You've got to jump so that you don't land on the slide and slide right down. Piece of cake, right? Oh, and the other gimmick for which this level is named: as you might have guessed, when you teleport to Booth 2, you immediately plummet to the ground, thanks to the Gravity Lift under it! These guys thought of everything, I tells ya. Personally, I would've ended with Level 24, but that kind of decision is way way above my pay grade... I guess that's it.

Mr. Robot, Level 'V'

SPOILER ALERT: Ah, we've finally made it to the last level of Mr. Robot from Datamost (TM)(C)(R). Now, you're probably asking yourselves: Level 'V'? That's the last level, 'V'?!! Well, the last level in Boulder Dash is 'P', right? Well, 'T' if you count the four bonus levels. Plus, the last level in Boulder Dash is a little anti-climactic... even in Boulder Dash II, if memory serves! Which I think is nice, personally. Anyway, remember how I mentioned earlier that in one of the tougher Mr. Robot levels, I had to use two saved states? THREE on this one. If I remember correctly... I must've tried to block this one out... you have to get this absolutely perfectly... otherwise, you can't finish it. Good thing you've got all those extra lives, right? This one should make short work of 'em! Happy gaming! On the bright side, you get to start all the way over on Level 'A'! I think I'm going to grab that musical note next time... again, less adventurous as the years pass.