I don’t care how old you think I am. I admit it. I was, and still am, a geek.
I was one of the first in Canada to have the Original Atari. Two joysticks, and two “rotary” controls, for the “racing” game. Asteroids. Pitfall. Missile Command. Tanks.
Then my cousin had Intellivision, so we played the Naval game, and Tron, and Pele’s Soccer.
My neigbor bought the Colecovision: Donkey Kong, etc.
Every nite we went to the arcade. Played Dragon’s Lair, the original Laserdisc game. Remember the feeling of the room when that voice would tell you about the game? Creepy.
Plus there was Joust, DigDug, PacMan, Ms. PacMan, Defender, Asteroids, Missile Command, Berzerk, …
I’m having flashbacks. Look out!
I owned and programmed a Vic-20, and a Commodore-64 (I adore, my 64…). It had 64 kb of ram onboard, for those who don’t know what the numbers meant. OMG. Call Bill Gates and ask why Windows needs 8GB just to run DOS.
They said all those games were good training for our future as bright young lads in the military machine. But really, all they were was a vacuum for my dad’s hard-earned money. Still, it kept me away from drugs…
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m online playing Command 'n Conquer “Generals” with someone named “LazyEye98” and “TooTallJones23”.
I had a machine that was a pong knockoff. I think it had like 6 games, including some tennis variations and, get this, shooting games. Came with a gun that you pointed at the screen. No cartriges. Everything was built in. (My younger sister had an Atari, though.)
Fuck. I’m so old that I remember when calculators came out and they only had red LED displays. Does anybody remember those handheld Mattel football games that had the red LEDs that worked their way back and forth across the screen?
Where are all the other people who remember this stuff. Did they die?
And no one’s mentioned Defender yet?!?! C’mon! That was the most serious action game ever. One joystick, one reverse button, a few smart bombs - and all hell would break loose!
I still have the callus on my right middle finger from all the shifting back and forth…
Jungle Hunt ruled. I’ve got to concur with Cressey on that one. It was the first real video game I ever played and I can still remember when using the joystick required full body motion - I was small and couldn’t quite figure out that I’ll I really had to move was my hands.
Jim McD, I had one of those handheld football games. Mine though lost a line of lighting after being dropped once too many times, so it only had like 4 lines from top to bottom instead of 5 and you couldnt see anything when you moved up into that unlit area… Spent many a night falling asleep while playing that game.
Also had a baseball one that was 2 player capable, you could pitch a curve, slider, fastball or changeup. Went through lots of batteries using that one.
Scott - yeah, I believe it. I remember how I thought Pong was so challenging and I’d spend hours at it!
Jim McD - I remember those first calculators, and they cost right about five hundy, yep five hundred dollars, for one!
What the hell was the name of that game where you were the space ship at the bottom of the screen trying to fend off all the incoming spaceships firing at you? Wasn’t that Galactica?
Mike: it could have been either Space Invaders or Galaga.
Chris: Never speak such blasphemy about E.T. again! Obedience is a MUST! BTW I just noticed the 3x post…don’t know what the hell happened there, but consider it emphasis.
To the guy that mentioned Dragon’s Lair on Sega I think it was…that game is my all-time favorite. I remember that was the first game to come to the arcade that cost more than a quarter to play and there was a line of people constantly waiting to get in. I sucked at it at the arcade but later mastered the Sega version. Good times!
What about Breakout??? I don’t think anyone has mentioned it and I totally forgot about that one.
Mike: it could have been either Space Invaders or Galaga.
Chris: Never speak such blasphemy about E.T. again! Obedience is a MUST! BTW I just noticed the 3x post…don’t know what the hell happened there, but consider it emphasis.
To the guy that mentioned Dragon’s Lair on Sega I think it was…that game is my all-time favorite. I remember that was the first game to come to the arcade that cost more than a quarter to play and there was a line of people constantly waiting to get in. I sucked at it at the arcade but later mastered the Sega version. Good times!
What about Breakout??? I don’t think anyone has mentioned it and I totally forgot about that one.
Can’t see all of the responses since I’m at work and anything even remotely interesting has denied access, but I agree with Chris M…E.T. sux!! So did the Empire Strikes Back. Pitfall was awesome too!!!
I’ll never forget Adventure - an absolute classic. You were a square searching for a chalice - had to find keys for castles, a sword, magnet, bridge - all while trying not to get eaten by dragons (or killing them with the sword) Then there was that damn bat which kept stealing things - usually at the worst possible moment: “Die dragon! Woops where’d my sword go?”
I used to hustle Ms. Pac Man. When I was in colleged I worked at a golf course where these guys loved to gamble, and they gambled on anything - cards, golf, and Ms. Pac Man. This one guy would get totally hammered on beer and insist on going “double or nothing.” Took him for $100 one night. Next day, he couldn’t remember where all is money went!
