Video Games - 4/6 - Retroland

Pole Position

Since the advent of arcade games, those that offered a chance at testing your racing skills have always remained a popular attraction. In the early days, the graphics left much to be desired, as you guided your dot through a track of dots without a fellow racer to be found. This all changed in 1983, with the introduction of Namco's Pole Position. Offering state-of-the-art graphics and realistic controls, the game offered a much more realistic racing experience - and aspiring drivers lined up in droves.

Kung Fu Master

Leave a Comment

You would thing that after all these years, villains would finally realize that kidnapping the girl never leads to anything but a truckload of trouble. But luckily for gamers, these sinister scoundrels have proven to be slow-learners, and a seemingly endless supply of damsel in distress games has continuously dotted the arcade landscape. Borrowing on a premise from the Bruce Lee film, Game of Death, Kung Fu Master placed our hero in a multi-leveled palace, with each floor upping the adversarial ante.

Dig Dug

1 Comment

Pac-Man's creators toiled long and hard to repeat the success of their yellow pride and joy but didn't have much luck until somebody thought that going around a maze might be more fun if you actually got to create the maze yourself. Dig Dug, released by Namco in 1982, had plenty of monsters lurking around corners and one plucky digger determined to vanquish them all. Let's take a look back.

Defender

Leave a Comment

Williams Electronics made their living with pinball machines but when the time came to break into the blossoming field of video games, they gave the task to Eugene Jarvis, designer and programmer of many groundbreaking and popular game platforms. He came up with Defender in 1980, a horizontal scrolling shooting game that was harder than it looked.

Odyssey

Leave a Comment

It's strange to fathom those dark ages prior to the advent of the home video game, but civilization waited until 1972, when we were forever changed by the release of the Odyssey. We owe our thanks to a man named Ralph Baer (who would later introduce us to a beloved electronic memory game called Simon). He was the mastermind that teamed with Magnavox to change the world forever and make home gaming the preferred recreational activity of children and adults alike.

Galaga

2 Comments

All the way back in 1978, millions of arcade aficionados got their first taste of civil defense experience by protecting the planet from those pesky Space Invaders. And like all good arcade games, competition would soon follow. The next year, Namco introduced Galaxian, a similar game with a few extra bells and whistles. Then, in 1981, they followed up with a sequel, one that would go on to become a certified hit in the video game world. Thy name was Galaga.

Whac-A-Mole

2 Comments

Tough day at school? Siblings giving you a hard time? What you need is little cathartic activity to make things seem all better. All can be cured with a trip down to the local Chuck E. Cheese (or Showtime Pizza, if you prefer) where a plastic mallet and a field of unsuspecting rodents await your assault. The game is called Whac-A-Mole, and it's been delighting kids for decades.

Paperboy

2 Comments

Space hero, cowboy, mythic warrior...all pale in comparison to Paperboy, the arcade game that allowed the player to work his own virtual paper route. It's a game that might very well have been boring if it wasn't for the fact that the main character wielded newspapers like lethal weapons, just perfect for launching through a [...]

Sega

1 Comment

Remember those old Charles Atlas comic book ads about the 98-lb. weakling who got sand kicked in his face by a bully, went home, bulked himself up, and came back a bully-kicking hero? Maybe it's a bit of a stretch, but Sega's home console story wouldn't be too out of place in Charles Atlas Land. And what's more, the former 98-lb. weakling is still enjoying the happy ending after more than 15 years in the home console business. Take that, beach bullies.

BurgerTime

4 Comments

To create a successful video game, one must provide both a unique premise and a certain level of frenzied excitement. Combine the two successfully and people will part ways with every quarter in their pocket. One such game was the quirky and fast-paced BurgerTime, which pitted the player against a variety of fast food objects and edible enemies while they raced against time to build the perfect burger.