80's Arcade

Bonk bonk bonk bonk bonk GULP wee-oo wee-oo wee-oo wee-ooo. Yes children of the 80's, those are the sounds of the Atari™ version of the arcade classic, Pac-Man. So close, yet so far away. Sigh, I LOVED the video games of the 80's. I have fond memories of asking my parents for a quarter every time we went out to eat pizza... or go to the convenience store... or the gas station... Well, you get the picture. It was like living in Vegas, but the only prize was a higher score and maybe a case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. And later, "Nintendo™ Thumb." It seems like every 80's fad some consequences. Ah, the good ol' days. Back when parents and their kids weren't total politically-correct pussies.

I know you're on the edge of your seat asking yourself "Is he gonna tell us what his favorite video game was?!" Well yes, yes I am. I was just getting to that. One fond memory I have is spending the occasional Friday night at the local Diamond Shamrock gas station (I had such a crush on the guy who worked there... turned out he was gay, too. Dammit!), playing Ladybug (*shown in the second panel of the top image, between Ms. Pac-Man and Kangaroo), a video game which no one seems to remember. It was a lot like Pac-Man, in the sense that the premise of the game revolved around various mazes. However, instead of ghost enemies, Ladybug had various insect enemies that changed with each level: Praying Mantis, Beetles, Wasps, etc. And for bonus points, you could eat color-changing daisies and/or fruit/vegetables. It was so colorful and fun. And basic. Those are the three things I look for in a video game. I'm one of those losers who can't handle these new games that involve multiple buttons, actions, characters and skill levels. Me 'tarded. I like to keep it simple, old-school-style! Frogger, Ms. Pac-Man, Tron, Kangaroo, Pengo, Tetris, Leprechaun (LOVED Leprechaun!), Space Invaders, Centipede/Millipede, Moon Patrol, BurgerTime, Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr., Dig Dug/Dig Dug II, Q-Bert, Popeye, etc.

When the Atari 2600™ hit the shelves in the late 70's, I was SO excited! Being an only child, I knew it was only a matter of time before I wore my parents down. And 'lo and behold, Christmas of '81? '82? I forget for sure, but I got one! I was ecstatic! Initially I had only the games that came with: Battle Tank, Pong, etc. But over time I moved up to Pitfall, Donkey Kong, Frostbite (one of my all-time favorites, though not very popular), Pac-Man and BurgerTime. It wasn't until years later that I discovered Atari™ game emulators online and it was like I was reliving my childhood all over again! I finally got to experience all those games I'd either never got to buy or heard about, but never got to play. It was awesome! Being the horror movie fan that I am, I was excited to finally get to experience The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween Atari™ games! I also downloaded the Coleco™ game emulator and got to play my all-time favorite: Ladybug, for the first time since the late 80's. Good times, indeed!

Eventually in the early 90's, I moved on to the Nintendo™ game system. It's here that I learned to love a whole new generation of games: Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands (AKA Bubble Bobble 2), Lolo, Hatris (like Tetris, but with hats), Friday The 13th, Super Mario 3, Goonies II, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Chack'n Pop, Castlevania and tons more. Rainbow Islands is my all-time favorite Nintendo™ game, though. I can't get enough of it! My damn Nintendo™ system is not in working order, but I still have all my games. It's hard to find a used Nintendo™ game system these days. They occasionally have them here at places like Game Stop™ but they want $50+ dollars for them, here. I think not. Maybe I'll find one on eBay. BUT the cool thing about Game Stop™ is that they sell their old Nintendo games for next to nothing, so I always pick a few up when I find copies of games I loved or that are hard to find.

I recently dug out my old handheld BurgerTime game (shown) and I STILL love playing it. The mini joystick was brilliant at the time. I still think it is. I also remember envying those people who were fortunate enough to own the coveted mini arcade versions of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Frogger, etc. You remember those? They looked like smaller versions of the actual arcade games. God! I remember wanting the Ms. Pac-Man one SOOO bad. I still do! I had to settle for a Merlin™. I also remember really wanting a Simon™, which I still do, but the OLD Simon™ design. I hate the look of the new Simons™. Really ugly. The original Simon design was very uncomplicated, yet futuristically simple. You can't improve on good design or beat the appeal of the classics.