Here are some examples of my then favorite video games from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. I catalogue each by name, approximate year I fell in love with it and the system it ran on.
Combat (1977) Atari 2600
My youthful but weary and sleep-deprived eyes witnessed a new fascination dawning before me literally as the sun was doing the same that Christmas morning so many years ago. My brother and I played this on our new console system sitting cross-legged on the rug in front of the Philco color TV all night long. It was the one gift we'd been allowed to open on Christmas Eve and it was the only one we cared about throughout the next day, virtually neglecting the other boxes stuffed under the tree and ignoring the festivities of the holiday. Fuck baby Jesus, this was our God now!
Space Wars (1979) Arcade Game
I had been regularly taking the bus down to Lincoln Mall virtually every Saturday, plugging quarter after quarter into the exciting new video games at the Dream Machine arcade parlor, watching pinball machine after pinball machine get replaced by another video game console. I preferred vector graphics games like Lunar Lander and Star Castle but Space Wars was my favorite. That is until later that year when they installed...
Tail Gunner (1979) Arcade Game
And though in love with this new game and its stunning use of "3-D" effects, my heart would soon be won over by yet again another "3-D" vector graphics offering...
Battlezone (1980) Arcade Game
I was amazed not only by the gameplay and immersion I experienced with this game I was thrilled that for some reason, at least here at this Lincoln Mall arcade, I never had to wait in line to use one of the two machines they had. Perhaps it was the intimidating looking console with its tank periscope-like viewer or the outrageous special pricing of 50 cents a game but it wasn't as popular as other fare in this twinkling, clinking, chirping, chiming, kid-packed place.
Berserk (1980) Arcade Game
It was the awesome Cylon-like computerized voice effects that hooked me to this otherwise simplistic side-scroll shooter. When the evil robots shot you down, I always thought they said "Got the human in that time period!" and even though I've since learned that it supposedly is "Got the human, got the intruder!" I still hear "in that time period" no matter how many times I listen. You be the judge, listen here:
Yars Revenge (1982) Atari 2600
By now I had my own Atari 2600 and no longer used the shared one from years earlier. And this was one of my favorite games for the console. That sound made when that scary energized ball thing came out and then the cascade of sound and color when I shot it while coming for me: silicon orgasm.
Q*bert (1982) Arcade Game
This cute and colorful game was part reflexes, part puzzle-solving and games like it started to define a branching of the industry from mere twitch-based shoot-em-ups to a thinking-players-game.
Gyruss (1983) Arcade Game
I could go back to CCRI's Flanagan Campus main building today, walk through to the cafeteria and enter what in the early '80s was the Game Room (who knows what it functions as today*) and point exactly to where this console stood. That's how familiar I became with this, my first friend in college. "3-D" graphics, challenging yet rewarding and a sweet disco/rock Bach soundtrack. Can you blame me for falling in love?
*I searched online and found a blueprint of the school from the CCRI website and it's now called a "Club Room." Whatever that is I'm sure it doesn't have video game consoles in it. Poor kids these days.
NOTE: Start all of these videos at the same time and let them run simultaneously. Man, it's like you're in the midst of a golden age arcade parlor! Totally Rad, Dude!!!
Combat (1977) Atari 2600
My youthful but weary and sleep-deprived eyes witnessed a new fascination dawning before me literally as the sun was doing the same that Christmas morning so many years ago. My brother and I played this on our new console system sitting cross-legged on the rug in front of the Philco color TV all night long. It was the one gift we'd been allowed to open on Christmas Eve and it was the only one we cared about throughout the next day, virtually neglecting the other boxes stuffed under the tree and ignoring the festivities of the holiday. Fuck baby Jesus, this was our God now!
Space Wars (1979) Arcade Game
I had been regularly taking the bus down to Lincoln Mall virtually every Saturday, plugging quarter after quarter into the exciting new video games at the Dream Machine arcade parlor, watching pinball machine after pinball machine get replaced by another video game console. I preferred vector graphics games like Lunar Lander and Star Castle but Space Wars was my favorite. That is until later that year when they installed...
Tail Gunner (1979) Arcade Game
Battlezone (1980) Arcade Game
I was amazed not only by the gameplay and immersion I experienced with this game I was thrilled that for some reason, at least here at this Lincoln Mall arcade, I never had to wait in line to use one of the two machines they had. Perhaps it was the intimidating looking console with its tank periscope-like viewer or the outrageous special pricing of 50 cents a game but it wasn't as popular as other fare in this twinkling, clinking, chirping, chiming, kid-packed place.
Berserk (1980) Arcade Game
It was the awesome Cylon-like computerized voice effects that hooked me to this otherwise simplistic side-scroll shooter. When the evil robots shot you down, I always thought they said "Got the human in that time period!" and even though I've since learned that it supposedly is "Got the human, got the intruder!" I still hear "in that time period" no matter how many times I listen. You be the judge, listen here:
Yars Revenge (1982) Atari 2600
By now I had my own Atari 2600 and no longer used the shared one from years earlier. And this was one of my favorite games for the console. That sound made when that scary energized ball thing came out and then the cascade of sound and color when I shot it while coming for me: silicon orgasm.
Q*bert (1982) Arcade Game
This cute and colorful game was part reflexes, part puzzle-solving and games like it started to define a branching of the industry from mere twitch-based shoot-em-ups to a thinking-players-game.
Gyruss (1983) Arcade Game
I could go back to CCRI's Flanagan Campus main building today, walk through to the cafeteria and enter what in the early '80s was the Game Room (who knows what it functions as today*) and point exactly to where this console stood. That's how familiar I became with this, my first friend in college. "3-D" graphics, challenging yet rewarding and a sweet disco/rock Bach soundtrack. Can you blame me for falling in love?
*I searched online and found a blueprint of the school from the CCRI website and it's now called a "Club Room." Whatever that is I'm sure it doesn't have video game consoles in it. Poor kids these days.
NOTE: Start all of these videos at the same time and let them run simultaneously. Man, it's like you're in the midst of a golden age arcade parlor! Totally Rad, Dude!!!