greenween

I am pretty awesome!

Is this guy awesome or what?  "I have an Atari shirt on right now!" is the best quote I've heard today. 

For those of you who didn't know, before starting The Atari 7800 Game By Game Podcast, I started a retro reviews show on Youtube called the No Swear Gamer. I keep it clean, so it's safe for work and family. I'm over 100 episodes and still going. You can find my channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg
 
Some of my favorites include Reviews of Sewer Shark, The Colecovision and Intellivision Flashbacks (with footage from all 61 games!) and my big Atari 7800 lot unboxing. 
 

 

 

 

I do this everyday!!! I have an Atari shirt on right now!!

I do this everyday!!! I have an Atari shirt on right now!!

I do this everyday!!! I have an Atari shirt on right now!!

I already have my awesome Atari shirt, now I know which day to wear it!. Also, every day I rock my, "I'd rather be playing Atari games" license plate frame on my Prius (commuter car, Cobras don't get 40mpgs).

Guys, it’s time to share our love of Atari with the world.
  On the 26th day of each month, we’re setting aside a day to celebrate Atari, share great games with great friends, and remind the world why Atari's still so awesome.   We're calling it "Atari Day". Here's how it works:             1. Wear Atari stuff on the 26th day of each month Shirts, hats, wristbands, bookbags, whatever. Put Atari stickers on your notebooks, bikes, the rear window of your car, the front door of your favorite bar, anywhere cool really. Let people see your enthusiasm. Take photos and post to your social media accounts with the hashtag #AtariDay. Create memes,  print your own Atari stickers, make something new. If you need a T-shirt, you can usually find Atari stuff at Target, online, or in most any mall in America. Wearing Atari stuff, you’ll usually see a few smiling faces coming up to you and offering positive remarks. Each smiling face is another chance to share the fun of Atari with an old friend, or maybe make a new one!       2. Start a conversation If people come up to you and say they love your shirt, just start talking to them! It's easy to get people excited about Atari. People love video games. And a lot of people still have really fond memories of Atari! They just need to be reminded.       3. Share a game Let's say your friend said something about your shirt, you guys started talking about Atari and now they're truly excited. You should be as awesome to them as you can possibly be. Share a game with them! Offer to lend them your Flashback console for a week. Better yet, invite them over for a game! Get a 4-Player round of Warlords going. Play a few of your favorite Atari games. Snacks, beer, and a retro movie could make a night out of it. Do something fun and memorable. Make it easy for people to want to enjoy Atari. Show them where they can get games and offer recommendations on your favorite titles. Offer them a few of your spare carts to get them started on their collection!           A FEW TIPS:   Don’t be cultish, creepy or intrusive. You’re not recruiting people to a religion, you’re just having fun!
  Have a few suggestions ready for where to go online to learn more about Atari, what games to search for on eBay, what to avoid, how to hook up an Atari, etc.
  Remember, we are all "Ambassadors" of Atari's legacy. The Atari we knew and loved is gone. It's up to all of us to make sure the fun games and awesomeness of Atari isn't forgotten with time.
  Make "Atari Day" an event on social media. On the 26th day of each month we’ll be posting events to Facebook, and sharing photos across social media using the hashtag #AtariDay. We hope you’ll join us in doing the same! We may even hold a contest for the "Best Atari Day Photo" and reward that person with a prize.         WHY DO THIS?    The idea is to share Atari with the world! People who remember Atari will go “Oh yeah! That was so much fun!” and those too young to remember Atari might discover it for the first time. The more people entering the World of Atari, the better! It's always fun to welcome new people into classic gaming, and Atari’s legacy could use a little help.   In some people’s eyes the Atari we know and love doesn’t hold the best reputation. So much of what the rest of the world sees about Atari right now is negative. Documentaries about their failure, Atari garbage dumps in the news, criticism and crappy games. Now is the time to help people rediscover Atari and let them see how much fun we have with this stuff. We’re picking a day, the 26th of each month, to do just that!   Other gaming companies actively build on their legacy. They release new games based on old characters and franchises, and they make it exciting and fun to like their stuff. We wish the same was true with Atari, but unfortunately it’s going to be left up to all of us to make that happen.   Let's do this!

Did you know...I also have a PPII in my arcade collection.  Great game...

i'd like to see the 2 player version of Centipede in action...LOL....i never knew that existed

Did you also know that it was a "port" of "Star Castle", an awesome vector classic by Tim Skelly of Cinematronics?  Well, at least it was the same idea, according to HSW.

Easily one of the greatest, most addictive arcade games of all time.

AWESOME review, RadioPoultry!

Groundhog Day is here, and I can't think of a more appropriate way to observe that revered occasion than to take a look at one of the many games involving hogs on the Atari 2600: "Pigs in Space". By remarkable coincidence, I just happened to win a copy in the trivia contest two weeks ago. Since I do not have a way of capturing quality images from my television, I'll be taking them via emulation.  

 
"Pigs in Space" is based on the sci-fi parody sketch that was featured frequently on the Muppet Show. To summarize, three pigs voyage through the stars aboard the spaceship Swinetrek, boldly doing nothing of particular importance. The game itself is somewhat unusual in that it's effectively three very different games in one, and each game had a different programmer.   After switching on the console, the player is greeted with this screen:     To quote the announcer on the show.... "PIGS... IN... SPAAaace!". I would have been delighted if the Atari generated tones mimicking that introduction, but I guess it was not to be. A copyright of 1983 is given, two years after the show had aired its final episode. Like a number of later Atari games, you don't have to lean over and pull the reset switch to start, you can can just press the joystick button. Being lazy, I appreciate this. Setting the left difficulty switch to 'B' gives the player an extra life every 10,000 points, but I personally find this makes the game too easy, so I leave the switch on 'A'.    
On the next screen we are reminded once again that this is PIGS IN SPACE, and are presented with a set of three disembodied pig heads in profile from which to choose. Each represents a different member of the crew and a different mini-game. They may be played in any order, even the same game multiple times in a row, but each becomes more difficult the more it is played (until a maximum difficulty is achieved, that is).    
Selecting the left pig (Captain Link Hogthrob) starts our first game, "Chickenvaders". This game is the most derivative of the three, but nevertheless probably the most fun. It would be easy to say it's Space Invaders with chickens (a variation I can appreciate), but there are a few subtle differences.   According to the manual, which I found on AtariAge, the chickens are dropping eggs at Link, and Link is throwing link sausages at them. (Oh, "Link" Hogthrob, I get the joke now! Only took me, what, 25 years? Also, I'd rather not know why a pig is carrying sausages around.) All the projectiles look like lines. When struck by an egg, Link is transmogrified into a chicken and flaps away off the screen. When one of the chickens is hit, it is sent to the "bird dimension",  a less disturbing fate to be sure.     Leading the chicken armada is Gonzo (or at least his head) on a flying saucer. (Gonzo, in fact, had appeared as an antagonist in Pigs in Space a couple times. Known as "Dearth Nadir", he once commanded chicken storm troopers.) Pelting him with pork products provides points aplenty. Sorry.   Unlike Space Invaders, there are no shields to take cover from enemy fire, the enemy only fires one shot at you at a time, and only the horizontally nearest enemy fires at you. One detail I like is that, true to the show (with a few exceptions), you don't see the captain's legs. As the hostile hens come closer, he becomes more and more submerged, giving the player a little more room to work with, though eventually you'll lose a life if their approach is not stopped.    
Destroying... I mean, banishing all the chickens completes the level and sends you back to the menu. Each time this game is chosen, the chickens move faster (though Gonzo always seems to plod along at the same speed).   Chickenvaders has some of the best character graphics and animation I've seen on the 2600. Gonzo's spinning head (3 colors!) and the transformation into a chicken are particularly well done. It's reasonably fun to play, though Space Invaders is certainly better in that regard, with faster enemies that fire more unpredictably, and the presence of shields to complicate things.   But wait, there's more! Next up: The health concerns of Italian food.

We have Weezer and VU in common.  Those guys (and gal) are great.   

My go-to stuff:  Pearl Jam, U2, Rilo Kiley, Pixies, AC/DC.  Cowboy Junkies.  They Might Be Giants. 

Feels like I'm forgetting something important....

I have 2600, 5200 and 7800. I WILL have a Jaguar one day!

Sadly I have never even seen a Jaguar in real life!

I spent an hour playing Joust 7800 last night! Great game!!

I spent an hour playing Joust 7800 last night! Great game!!

The 7800 version of Joust is easily one of the best out there. Is there anything that GCC couldn't do? It's a shame that this and the other launch titles didn't get to market in '84 when they would've been relevant.

I love this game. I grew up with the 2600 version but my favorite version today is for the 7800. I believe that GCC was responsible for all three Atari console versions.

FANTASTIC news @nosweargamer! Really looking forward to this. Please keep us updated on your progress and we'll certainly help get the news out. Welcome to the forums!  :thumbsup:

Wow, I didn't know this site existed until I started this project! For those of you who don't know, I run a Youtube show that covers a bunch of retro gaming as The No Swear Gamer. You can find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg
 
But I am also working on launching The Atari 7800 Game By Game podcast very soon!
 
It will be similar to Ferg's show (The Atari 2600 GBGP), but not an exact copy, as there is no way I can top what Ferg is doing! But Ferg is great and has been very encouraging as I start this.
 
 
I'm aiming at covering 2 games a week, except for special episodes. For the most part, I will go in part order, sprinkingly in the 3rd party games here and there. I'm also hoping for as many audio and text submissions on the games as possible!
 
 
I'm currently working on episode 1. For the first episode, I wanted to focus on the system itself.  I'm also hoping for lots of stories from anyone who ever owned a 7800.  When did you get it, why did you get, what was your first impresssions of it, that sort of thing,  I will take any text or audio submissions you have. Length doesn't matter, but I do ask that you keep it family friendly.
 
 
You can send either text or mp3 to: atari7800podcast@aol.com
 
 
Thanks guys!!!!
 
I already put in a small Ep 0 that I hope iTunes publishes soon. (PS I hope you don't mind me cut and pasting some of this. Gottta save the hands after years of the proline controller!!!)

Just finished a Joust marathon too!