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In the first panel, we are introduced to our main protagonists. Two completely different individuals, yet still living in harmony. Both people are the polar opposites of each other. We have what appears to be a middle-aged man on the right side. He's obviously working hard to get where he is today for years and years. His head is starting to bald, his forehead is wrinkled, and he's wearing thick glasses. His mouth is held opened; he's obviously surprised at something he sees. If we were to follow his eyes over to the left side of the panel, we would see the second character. He appears to be a mere child, maybe eleven or twelve. He's got long, scraggly hair poking out from under his large, blue baseball cap. He is resting his palm on his forehead with a concerned look on his face. If we were to look at his face, our eyes would immediately be drawn to his eye patch. With this information, one could infer that the child has some form of injury to his eye. Was this child in some horrific accident? What was his past like? Perhaps the answer lies in his family. Perhaps he has an abusive father. Above the two individuals is a text bubble. If we were to follow said bubble back to its origins, we would conclude that it is in fact the small child who is speaking. The child says to the middle-aged man, "Doc, please help me." A cry for help. This child needs something of the man. With this line of dialogue, we can also assume that "Doc" in the sentence is an abbreviation for "doctor". Of course, how could we not realize this! If we were to look to the left of said medical professional, we would notice a tall white cabinet with what appears to be medical equipment of some kind on it. The child continues on: "I can't remember a thing!" This matches our hypothesis from earlier that the child is suffering from some sort of head injury. Perhaps it not only effected his eye, but his brain and memory capacity as well. We move on to the second panel. In this shot, we get a better look at the doctor's office and attire. We see a poster on the wall behind him. The doctor's clothing is reminiscent of medical clothing from the 1950's. Oh, of course! It all makes sense now. The child, with baseball cap and all, is almost a stereotypical interpretation of a young boy from that era! The only outlier is his eye patch. This further reinforces the theory that the child was either abused or was in an accident of some kind. Safety and child abuse laws were much less strict in that era. He could have easily obtained such an injury at the time being how he's likely unsupervised most of the time. So far in this comic strip, we don't see his parents. Could they be dead? Out of frame? I feel the most likely possibility is that they simply don't care about their boy. This time, it's the doctor's turn to speak. The boy looks the doctor right in the eye with a slight frown forming on his face. The doctor, not thinking hard enough about the situation at hand, asks the first thing he's been trained to ask in a situation similar to this: "How long have you had this condition, Joe?" From this single sentence, we learn so much. The doctor refers to a Joe, whom we can only assume is the name of the young boy. He also knows the name of the child already, signifying that he's visited the doctor many times before. Perhaps this same doctor treated him when Joe lost his eye. Perhaps this is only a short while after that horrible incident. Perhaps the memory loss is a side-effect and sign of brain damage. But the doctor instinctively asked Joe about how long he has had this condition. The doctor obviously wasn't thinking when he said that. If Joe had severe short-term memory loss, how would he know when he got the condition? This expands on the character of the doctor. He's obviously a very intelligent and educated man, but he lacks common sense. We see a resolution to the story and the consequences of the doctor's mistake in the third and final panel of this cartoon. Joe, the child, puts his arms out and shrugs his shoulders. He has a smug grin on his face as he asks the poor doctor, "What condition?". This grin could mean anything. It could mean that the child forgot of his brain condition for a brief moment and was blissfully unaware of his crippling mental illness. But, this may show the child is starting to crack. Perhaps he never had a brain condition at all and was just pulling a prank on the doctor. Oh, how funny would that be! However, I don't think that is the case. If we were to look at a simple diagram of the human brain, we would see that the prefrontal cortex plays an important part in memory. The frontal lobe of the brain is located behind the forehead. Perhaps this eye injury of Joe's somehow effected his frontal lobe. If something were to enter his eye socket at just the right angle, that would do the trick. We know that something is up with his eye, and we also know that the doctor is aware of this. We can see in the corner of the panel that the doctor is understandably confused. How is he supposed to work with this? If the child can't remember his condition, how can he be helped? I assume that after this strip ended, the doctor and child had some hilarious shenanigans occur during the visit. Was the child helped? Was his condition legitimate? What happened? That, the author leads up for the reader to decide. One could imagine anything in the world happening during this appointment! How humorous is that? And that, my dear friends, is comedy at its finest.

So this blog entry is a little special. Today, I will be covering a video game that I got through the I/O on the I/O! I bought this game and a few others from the one and only @chas10e a few weeks back. He's a great guy to deal with. When you think of classic arcade titles from the golden age, several come to mind before others. In my mind, there are divided into several tiers based off of popularity. Allow me to go off on a little bit of a tangent, but I feel that I need to list them. This is the top tier of popular classic arcade games. Not necessarily my absolute favorites, but I feel they still remain popular all these years later. Some examples from this category are Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Galaga, and Dig Dug. Even non-gamers have heard of or even played these games before. This tier is slightly less popular than the first, though many modern and/or casual gamers have heard of them. Some examples are Galaxian, Xevious, Centipede, Q*Bert, Defender, and Asteroids. In this tier, we have games that were popular in their time, but not so much with the more modern crowd. Berzerk, Phoenix, Vanguard, Venture, Crystal Castles, and Moon Patrol all fall under this category in my eyes. These games are less popular than the third tier. Many gamers at the time when these were new haven't played or heard of these before. These games tend to be pretty obscure in the modern age. Many are hidden gems. The arcade version of the game we're talking about today, Food Fight, falls under this category, as well as Super Pac-Man, Pac & Pal, Bosconian, and GORF. Not that these games are bad, but they just weren't as popular as the others (though not flops on the market). These are the really obscure games, including flops on the market. Many games from the early 1970's fall under this category. Many of these are really obscure, and even serious retro gamers may not have heard of several of them. Examples include Stratovox, Anti-Aircraft, Star Ship One, and Taito's Japan-only Western Gun. I know some of you here have probably heard of most of these. So anyways, let's start talking about Food Fight already! The arcade version was released in 1983. Though the game was published by Atari, it was actually developed by General Computer Corporation. I won't get into their history now (I'll be saving that should I do a blog on Missile Command or Ms. Pac-Man), but do keep in mind that they were also behind the 7800 system itself. The arcade game used an analog joystick for aiming food in more than eight directions. The goal of the game is to make your way over to an ice cream cone on the opposite side of the screen before it melts. On your way, you must avoid the chefs and the food they throw at you. If you walk over a pile of food, you'll be able to pick up a piece of it. Once you throw it, you'll have to pick up another before you can shoot again. Food Fight didn't get a lot of home ports; only two to my knowledge. First, there was the 7800 port, which may have launched during the 7800's test launch in 1984, but saw a nationwide release in 1986. Second, there was the XE version which I believe has a 1987 copyright. The XE port is a sad excuse for a game. It is incredibly choppy, and makes 7800 Hat Trick look smooth. It's a shame, too. Sadly, after these two ports we never saw another release of Food Fight in compilations. In order to play it, you'll have to track down a cartridge for the 7800 or XE or just emulate it. It's a real hidden gem worth trying out. Well, we did see one rerelease. In fact, it was a completely different port altogether. This version of Food Fight was programmed for the NES for use on the original Atari Flashback in the early 2000's. That version of the Flashback was the only one to use a 7800 design and it even included some of the system's games, Food Fight included. Cool, right? The 7800 needs more love. No, not cool. This is some of the worst "emulation" I have ever seen in my life. The Atari 2600 joystick plug and play from Jakks Pacific a few years earlier also used a similar NES-on-a-chip design, and though it wasn't perfect, it was much better than this. This version of Food Fight was based on the 7800 version rather than the arcade. Kind of reminds me of when the Nintendo arcade games were ported to the 7800 in 1988. Those were based off of their NES counterparts rather than the arcade originals. This version of Food Fight is the worst of all. They did almost nothing right. Don't even bother. It's somehow worse than the XE version. The 7800 version of Food Fight does what it does really well. It handles a lot of sprites on screen at once and runs much smoother than the XE version. The graphics are a step down from the arcade; Charley Chuck has dots for eyes and the color palette and pixel resolution are drastically reduced. The sound chip is also inferior. But somehow, Food Fight manages to be one of the best games on the system. The gameplay is still there, the instant replays are still there, the music and sound effects are very good for the TIA chip, and you can even choose your difficulty and starting level. The controls are also really good, which is a bit surprising given how the ProLine controller can only let you aim in eight directions. If you don't have a 7800, buy it just for this game. It's amazing, and something you won't find in many other places. This is the best version of the game that you can play at home without using emulation. An easy 10/10 game for the system it's on. By far my favorite game on the 7800 so far. Thanks again, @chas10e.

I don't often have the opportunity to play pinball in the wild. They aren't to common, and I often don't have any quarters on hand to play them. I do have my tabletop, and that's fun and all, but not close to the real thing. Physical pinball is a blast, but oftentimes I'm only stuck with "video" pinball games. These aren't just different versions of Atari's arcade game, rather pinball games you play on a screen instead of a physical table. You can play these games on a console, a handheld, PC, a digital pinball table, or something like that. I think that there are a lot of good pinball video games. I feel games that simulate real tables are fun and all, but they aren't as fun as the real thing and a bit of a missed opportunity in my opinion. I feel the best pinball video games are ones that take the whole "video game" idea and run with it. It's cool when these games have crazy tables that aren't physically possible to reproduce in real life! So, here are some of my favorites. What are some of yours? I know I am missing a few games that I would like to add, but I want to leave some left for you! Kirby's Pinball Land (Game Boy) Pinball: Revenge of the Gator (Game Boy) Sonic Spinball (Genesis) Pinball (Intellivision)

I finally got around to playing some Robotron last night. Even though my controller holder is really ugly, it sure does work well! I have played Robotron on the N64 before with the D pad and C buttons, but using two sticks is much more fun! I also played some Centipede. Amazing fun, amazing system.

Between the two Commandos (INTV and 2600), which one do you prefer, @nosweargamer? I haven't played the INTV version, but it looks a lot more like the arcade and 7800 ports. I have previously talked about my hatred of the VCS port.

Wow! That's pretty cool! Almost all of the Xonox games were total garbage, but Artillery Duel is really, really fun with another player! I'm not sure if I have any K-Tel albums in my vinyl collection. It looks and sounds familiar though, so I think I might.

Played some video Football today with my dad. I know it isn't Atari Day anymore, but it counts. Not many people know this, but today is actually Wireless Atari VCS Prototype day, as said prototype is often referred to as the 2700. I really wish they released this thing because it's so cool! Depending on where you live, it may also be Japanese Atari Day. Right now, it's just after 11 o'clock over here. I can't wait to celebrate Atari 2800 day tomorrow! Anyways, today we tried out Touchdown Football on the 7800. After about five minutes, we said "screw it", turned it off, and proceeded to play some 10 Yard Fight on the NES. As much as I love the 7800, the football game selection on NES is infinitely better. I mean, over there you have 10 Yard Fight, Play Action Football, and Tecmo Bowl. Your only option on 7800 is Touchdown, and that game is horrible! Far and away my least favorite game on the system so far. It's not even close. Someone please make a 10 Yard Fight homebrew for 7800! That would be awesome! It would also be a nice touch to add an arcade mode (like in the NES version @RickR was playing earlier) and a normal football mode (like in the NES version that I have with normal football score). If someone were to make that, I'd lose it! If the 7800 needs anything at all, it's a better selection of sports games. I'm not a big sports game fan, and I think a lot of the sports titles on the system are okay, but it really needs some more options. Or at least a half-decent football game.

Centipede Atari 7800 Difficulty: Standard High Score: 41,584 August 27, 2020

Home Run is a really good game. One of my favorite Baseball games. I have weird taste in sports games.

Wow. Christmas Carol vs. the Ghost of Christmas Presents. I haven't heard about that in a long, long, time. I think I saw a CGR Review of the homebrew a few years back. I had no idea that there was a picture book about it. Same thing, right? Cool, dude. I'll watch your video and subscribe to your channel.

Read it. That's a pretty positive review. How much bigger of a game is it? It looks really cool. Didn't they also make a 2600 version that is included on several Atari Flashback consoles? I don't know if it is a port of the 5200 version or not, but I'm fairly certain it came out afterwards. Don't quote me on that. The price of the game is very reasonable for AtariAge. $35 isn't bad for an adventure game like that. I feel the price is more justified as it has more gameplay and whatnot than your average 5200 homebrew arcade conversion. The original Adventure sells for about half that at my local game place, which I feel is a little too much for the game. Nowadays, it doesn't go for near as much as it did a couple of years ago. According to PriceCharting.com, Adventure goes from $5 to $11 depending on which label variant you're looking for. The game store sells them for $15, though I did see one for $10 last time I was there. If it's still there in a few months, I might just buy it. Wow, I went off on a tangent there. Nice review, Trek. I think it might be worth checking out when (not if) I get a 5200 someday. When, I don't know.

Here's the weird thing. I first played 10-Yard Fight on my Wii emulator several years ago and remembered the scoring system being there like in the Famicom version. I only played it that one time before I got my cartridge. I didn't remember too much about the ROM I played, but I remember the non-football scoring system. I went back to my Wii and found that there was no scoring system like I remembered (there are lots of duplicates of ROMs on there). Every YouTube video I saw also had the same version that I have on cartridge. I knew for sure that the arcade version had a high-score thing, so I thought I was just remembering the NES version wrong this whole time. Until I saw your screenshot. That's why I was confused.

Let us know how it is. I'm very interested in what the game does differently than the original and what innovations this homebrew brings. I love Adventure quite a bit. In fact, at the present I'm working on a game heavily inspired by it.

I did some research, @RickR. Here's what I found: https://tcrf.net/10-Yard_Fight_(NES) Apparently, they retooled it for the international release. The initial run of Black Box NES games had little Famicom adapters inside. I think that if you opened your cartridge up, you'd find a Famicom board inside. You could recycle that adapter and make your very own homemade Famicom adapter to play Japanese games on your American NES! Neat find there, Rick!

For me, during the gameplay and attract mode it shows the score of each player, but it's actual football score. Does it have a normal football score for you too or just the high score thing? And it's not just my cart, either. It's the same on the ROM I have on my computer. It doesn't show a high score either. My attract mode shows 1:00 on the clock.

Not over here. Is that kickoff? Your time is also way off. For me, it shows 30:00 instead of 10:00. I'm really confused now, @RickR.

Wait, what? I had no idea 10-Yard Fight had a score. I thought only the arcade version had that. I am very confused.

This is a good idea. We should start having Atari Day "events" like this.

Hey, @RickR. This is a pretty good idea! Right now, I'm going to go for a walk, but when I get back I think I might give it a shot. Not RealSports Football though. I'm going to play some 10-Yard Fight on NES. NES on Atari Day? Blasphemy!

Maybe today I'll be able to play my 7800 or something again. Otherwise I might play some Intellivision or some Atari-published Namco games. What will you guys be doing for Atari Day? It's been a good day so far. Only one problem-- I forgot to save my Atari shirt for today and I wore it a few days ago! Whoops! @Atari Creep I'll have to watch that video later.

HAPPY ATARI DAY! Now who wants to play some Intellivision?

That looks much better than the 2600 version! I've recently played Commando on the 7800 for the first time. I freaking love it!

How? How is that even possible? Are we living amongst a shooter god? How is someone physically capable of achieving a score so high? In all seriousness, @socrates63, amazing score. Great job.