Atari Adventure Square

I love this. Reminds me of an era that brought industrial music into my life (and a whole lotta cool people along the way). Bands like Einstuerzende Neubauten, Bauhaus, Front 242 and, eventually, Nine Inch Nails (which seemed to bring it all back to this side of the Atlantic), all of whom matched my steam engine trudging forward attitude - at the time. The music, like the people, faded away into memories as pathways are wont to do. It's good to get that sense of retro energy back with Welle Erdball. Yeah, those SID sounds reverberate the electronic youth we all once had as a living experience - and still hold today within our same beating hearts (even if the engine now trudges at a more 'deliberate' pace). yup love it

This is great! So good to see pac gags after all these years.

Good stuff, Scott! I did know that about the analog grandaddy. Although it goes to underline how the initial games made for arcades and home markets were at times 'homages' of each other to nearly litigious extent. Makes me think that maybe the programmers weren't too upset about keeping their names out of it, before the more creative years at Atari came about. That dark background for night against bright poles for both road and speed was a simply brilliant concept for those early days of bringing kinetic energy to this medium. Breakout's zippy paddle is another interesting contrast between slow ball (at first) and quick reflex action, which brought the system to life to any skeptic fiddling with the controls to either scoff or approve their first contact with the blessed 2600. Yeah, Night Driver is tops in my book, for first round initiations on the Atari. I'm glad Michon went ahead with a digital 'homage' for us.

Only briefly played KC Munchkin on a rented Odyssey 2. I remember the controller action was weird (did those sticks have centering mechanisms or were they loose?) and, although I forgot about it, what Rick said about single-life play would account for my short time playing it. Had rented the console and an assortment of games for the week. None of the games or the computer-console hybrid impressed as an essential to have at that price. But as I previously mentioned a while back, this is one console that was kinda legendary for me in its look, possible use (keyboard AND gaming action? Wow) and overall sleek 70s sci-fi stylishness. KC Munchkin was controversial for its lawsuit articles and subsequent rarity value, but this is ultimately the only extant memory I have from this KC moment in time (besides the sequel). But I give props to the little guy for his staying power and charm.

Love seeing this homage to our grand-daddy console! Makes sense to call back to the early years of driving sims with a visual reminder of where it all started. Although the true originator of Atari driving was Night Driver, and its ingenious use of basic graphics and the natural feel of the paddle controller for steering made it a Four-Star game in that first landing of the VCS and its carts in the household. Anybody could pick it up and start driving in an instant (and instantly start crashing with the sensitive steering) and it made for addictive gameplay. Night Driver was the best example of why one should own an Atari VCS, next to Space Invaders. Few people recognized the brillance of Adventure or Superman (their loss! my turn!). But it makes sense to pay respect to Pole Position in this case. Makes the evolution point more clearly by skipping the primal step (and its arcade originator and name are staples of gaming history, in general). Also, I find it cool this pic involuntarily(?) pays homage to that familiar cathode ray tube apparatus which became part of our family, as well.

Saw it on opening weekend in IMAX 3D and, as the series now takes off in the hands of adoring fans who happen to be creative movie people, I too sense a new hope (ahem) in the Star Wars galaxy for the upcoming years. As a gritty war-toned movie, Rogue One delivers on action and hardcore storytelling. As a Star Wars-based film, with all the baggage that comes with the inception, it more than rises to the challenge by giving somethinig new fans can sink their teeth in, and old fans can proudly say "See? I told you this series was awesome, at least back in the 80s!". Force Awakens also stepped up with renewed energy, but the claims of it re-telling the original story was not far from the truth. More of a reboot in that sense, even though awesome new characters sprung to life within it. Loved that movie and still do, but there was a dreaded sense of 'downhill from here' if the franchise took that 'gee-whiz' spirit without taking chances with the story (I trust the follow-up will be top-notch, in any case). Now that this new SW movie nudged itself comfortably between Lucas' big-bang trilogy conception and that very first opening crawl, it's clear the DIsney folks are not going to let this fly by as just another cash-machine. The very fact that they purposely allowed the natural 'no-survivors' thread to survive by reshooting the initial template offering is a sign they want this done right. And it made my heart rise and swell as it went down, right into Star Wars (yeah, that's that movie's Real Name, none of this 'Episode' crap). Loved Tarkin. He was essential to this and they just went with it. And as you say, Row, the tech is getting better (although they should've worked around that last Leia shot, since it was lesser and had the unfortunate fact of being the last thing on screen). All the nods to the original are favorably chosen, the characters are okay and work well in the movie. Some critics are calling them under-developped, but I think this comes from being spoiled with long-form TV shows nowadays, which have well-rounded concepts on all parts (although still under-written storywise, as good established characters in 6-8 hours still need compelling stories 12 hours later). Walking out of it, the movie had just worked so well for me, I could barely words... Also gotta see it again then rush right back here to re-watch Star Wars (the unedited version) to get the scope of what just transpired. And yeah, no silly comic relief characters. The most fun one is a sassy robot who gets down and dirty as much as the protagonists. And a heroic movie with anti-heroes! Yeah, lots to talk about on this. The return of bad-ass Vader. The most glaring flaw in the first movie gets ret-conned in the bestest way possible. X-Wings! Old footage! Red Five origins! The Rebels as a three-dimensional, flawed group yet with the best interest of the galaxy at heart! Bail Organa has an old jedi friend! Yeah, we know! WOOT! The Tantive V flies away! What's gonna happen next? Tune in to 1977 to find out! Yeah, lots and lots of talk.

Welcome aboard, Cousin Mike yeah, this is a great, rather unique spot for chats and ponders about retro gaming of all kinds. It figures that a site built with care for its communal, like-minded existence comes from a person who puts their self into it in more than just with code, but hearing about Justin's initilal days on this makes sense and is good to hear. (Good job, Justin!) Looking forward to hearing from you on all topics retro and new.

Good stuff, dauber Love seeing those colorful old-gen boxes stacked together. Brings back that first sense of discovery of what the upcoming gaming console arrivals would have to offer. It was kinda like having a UFO drop in the middle of town and its occupants pop out and tell us "Of course you can fly anywhere, use this". Having the primal colors splayed out in the initial TV and EG ads - then later in our living rooms - felt natural. As if by learning a new way to have fun interacting with our TVS we were dropping our pens and learning to write again using a rainbow of Crayolas, with the same toddler glee. That's why the initial 2600 simple color scheme and artwork design felt so right (so right INTV cribbed it in its attempted Toyland occupation). Aaaand that's what I would be telling you after you told me I'd been standing there in your lounge for a good thirty minutes, gazing dreamily at the shelved goodness. Although I sense we'd both agree and keep gazing in sync.

The original Doom was the first game that prompted rejiggered memory handling and stacks on my 386's MS-DOS. Once that framerate went up, it was like discovering new land and it indeed colonized my mind space, increasingly, throughout the years afterwards. As for sound, the ID masterpiece and its follow-up brought us new appreciation for good pc speakers, and the Doom 2 soundtrack is on a loop in the Metal cellar of my brain. Ultimately, though, after wading through WADs and playing this game for years on end after it became old news (was still on a Doom binge when Halo came out) I took to listening to weekly shows on a side-eye while re-playing maps and exploring dungeons and enjoying loud weaponized killstreaks while Law and Order adjourned in the background. This is how I know remember my Doom days, as this thread re-ammoed my brain. Also, this is one game franchise I ended up purchasing on every platform I ever had. Proudly bought it last year on Steam, to cycle back to PC ground. I'd be curious to see if map-making tools have improved for it.

It's an interesting (and inevitable) invention. Hopefully it can service the ROMs correctly and offer proper emulation of each system (look and feel). Yeah, 50-60$ is a proper price range for this.

Although I share your wariness of modern reboots of old faves, LD, I was pretty much jazzed from the get-go with this one, since the premise is less dependent on its characters (like BSG, or the Apes series, for example) and more on a modern approach to the concept of a robot amusement park (of sorts). Given this lends itself to both an adaptation of new tech ideas and the philosophical ponderings on the values of social etiquette when all bets are off and violence is condoned, the whole prject was intriguing enough to give it a free pass into my schedule. And I was not disappointed! Although I must say giving a weekly series a view then debating the theories about it lessen the results, cuz either fan theories are wildly wrong but offer more rewarding prospects, never-to-be-seen, or they're right and spoil the 'unboxing' of a limited run series by being ahead of the story and having the show catch up with known reveals. Westworld is not the most surprising show, on that end, but ended up being one of the most satisfying I've seen, maybe for my love of the original movie. I saw Westworld in theaters as a kid and its grand ideals presented in limited-scope format (multiple fantasy RPG worlds viewed through old Americana lifestyle) stuck with me to this day. Also quite enjoyed Futureworld since it was a sequel to this great concept - although a poor sequel at the time. The audience laughed at the silly attempt to jam an previous star into the new movie (and that dance scene is pretty ridiculous), but I was just glad to return to that place. Have both on Blu-Ray and they are feel-good watches for me nowadays. The whole sentient robot thing was big in the 70s, with WW, the SIx Million Dollar Man and Jaimie Summers facing off against such foes (the fembots were glorious!). So, the idea of reviving this Crichton novel into a tv show was as exciting as having old buds reliving the glory days of our 70s childhood, in my mind. Yeah, as a separate construct from my drippy nostalgia, the show lives or dies on one's appreciation of the concept more than the execution (which is fine). As with the Spielberg/post-Kubrick film AI, I found it near impossible to give much weight to the simulated emotion of bots. But the journey is still fascinating. I would tentatively recommend an attempt at viewing the series for curiousity's sake, at least. A pal of mine had to stick with the first half of the run to get to any story weight to keep watching. Maybe that would be a common experience for most newcomers and even older fans of the original.

Happy Birthday Justin! Many happy returns to the Arcade!

Yeah, watched the Nibbler doc last week and it was great fun! Feels tailor-made for us. And so does that cabinet. Amazing work on it.

Oh man, dig that castle design! Reminds me of this mall toy store called Toy World which, in the late 60s, very early 70s, was the closest thing to child Nirvana I ever experienced, on every visit. Nothing new to the kid inside every one of us, but I'm sure those visits there sparked my life-long love of malls. I've been scouring old newspapers, ads, local libraries, just to find pics of the inside of that store, back then. If I ever seek a monk on a mountaintop, it will surely be to phase out the planet and access those memories, that existence, those Letrasets and Big Jim displays.

Space what!? As for homebrews, I can understand low-amount production is costly, so can't complain. But also over my price range (although to be fair, I'm not in the market much at all for anything these days). One big selling point is the cart art and boxes, though. Those look great! And lastly, about that first title... Space WHAT?!

Looks terrific, Justin! I like that the dino putting on glasses end up giving out an "ATARI I/O is cool. Deal with it!" vibe.

I love this movie so much! It re-ignited modern-day chats about the arcade days, for sure. Yeah, on first viewing that Billy Mitchell was quite the antagonist. Then, on rewatch, it's more obvious Weibe the contender is actually more offensive in the shown* disregard to anyone in his surrounding as he focuses on that score. (*it's obvious doc edits manipulate actual real-life, but even in the un-snipped bits, Weibe seems more self-centered than Mitchell, by the end of it) Also, Billy Mitchell shows up in other arcade docs and proves himself a fan and proponent of 80s arcade-life appreciation. And about the country ban: I'm in Canada here and this message also pops up on my tubes!

When it was announced, V seemed an exciting prospect as yet-another TV event (which were a cool thing back in the pre-VCR. fixed time-slot viewing days). After part one aired, it more than lived up to its hype, it fully delivered a serious sci-fi concept, seemingly un-filtered for network broadcast, with cool characters, dark storylines, sex-appeal, nerd-appeal, nifty effects and a catchy theme tune. Part two had to be open-ended, but while this was not entirely satisfying, it also delivered the goods by staying on-point. Everytime I rewatch the original series, my appreciation for it increases. The Final Battle was a no-brainer, production-wise. It had to happen. And if I remember correctly, the hype was even higher for this return. Again, it lived up to expectations. Ironside kills it as a hero/scoundrel you root for (always wanted to see him be a good guy after his killer turn as an antagonist in Scanners). As a retro experience, the production values belie their network origin and live up to any sci-fi cinematic outing of the era. It's so cool you watched this series with your daughter, ataribc! I'd be proud to show the entire run to any younger folks wondering what the older days of television had to offer to the masses (outside poignant real-life drama in movies-of-the-week). (Well, I'd also point to the fine 70s TV horror that I'm pleased to say scarred me for life). The follow-up V TV series was pretty cool, but serialized up to a point. The requirement to stretch stories to a full season goes against the nature of a disaster-based invasion story like this one. If I remember correctly, it actually had some sort of ending, but the whole thing was a bit exhausted at that point. Still enjoyed the rewatch of it, a few years ago, when the DVD set came out. The remake...eh...watched the first two eps, it didn't grab me, felt a bit sacri-religious, in some odd way. Alien invasion is a cool, oft-told story. Mebbe the V experience is why I enjoy ID4 as much, well beyond criticism I hear of it. But any serialized show nowadays has less than half-a-chance of telling a full story before it's cancelled. And I've been burned too often to care about anything before it's out on disc and an end is planned or has happened. The actors in the remake are good and, given less of an investment on my part over any story resolution, I'd give in to watching whatever is out there. (although the cancellation on a cliff-hanger mentioned above is a deal-breaker on this one) Yeah, all-in-all...V: The Original series and The Final Battle are some of the best hours of television I ever had the pleasure to watch when it aired!

Thanks LD Yeah, I'm never quite sure how to approach negative opinions on my part, although that is indeed part of the Ying/Yang of any topic. As long as good or bad opinions are fleshed out, they are a forward offering to any discussion. Yeah, I really want to finish the new BSG at some point, given how much development went into it (with post-series movies and...a separate prequel show was it?). Those writers strikes, yeah. I'm all for fairness and ensured pay equity goes above any sad feels for lost show opportunities, but...still makes me sad as a viewer. You'd think they'd pause production while resolving differences (though I get why they don't). TV shows today are touch-and-go in terms of completion. So you get serialized narratives that are truly compelling but go nowhere, more often than not, because of production or ratings kerfluffles. That's why full season drops on Netflix or these other streaming services are more reliable. Lemme know if that show I wanna watch holds up, someone! Then I'll switch on. All this to say - BSG is still an unfinished book in my mind, an itch to scratch. I appreciate hearing positive appreciation of it so it can enliven a full rewatch.

Gorgeous design on that hylian beauty. The only downside is the required standing or stool-sitting for those extended (and extensive) hours of gameplay on the titles. I can only remember feeling sad at having to go to bed after a minimum of 3-4 hours of evening gameplay on the original. Never felt "Whew, that was fun. Oh well, better get some sleep now" Always more like "Curse this human body!"

We were starved for sci-fi universes in the immediate post-Star Wars period, so BSG was a welcome addition to that headspace. Saw the pilot movie on the big screen, during its theatrical release. This was both a good and bad thing. Good to see a TV pilot on the biggest screen possible, as it promised to bring home this new story with a sense of epic proportions. Bad in that it was a TV pilot shot with network budget, and unlikely to shine a fraction as much as Lucas' brightest star in this new realm of cinematic display. So, my feelings for the original is marshalled by that sense of disappointment in the comparative nature of the movie outing (to be fair, we did have a good time and did not mock the flick) and the let-down by the lack of zesty writing in the full series, as well as its repetitive storytelling (how many times can a star pilot get lost on a planet? Apparently lots and lots). But all in all, having recently rewatched the '78 BSG blu-ray collection this summer and surfed on that nostalgia wave, the memories warmed up on it. The actors are charming, the stories are Saturday-morning family fare, the effects are still nifty and shiny (very much so on those cylon armors). Still, I can't bring myself to cross into Galactica 80. As for the reboot - when it came out, those first few eps blew our collective minds (me and some movie pals). As you mention Rick, everything about it is top-notch: silent space flght and realistic zoom cam, smart writing and intensely good actors. Some things made less sense (like the doc and his imaginary girlfriend), but we figured it would pan out as the series went on. I'm sad to say, though, it lost us shortly after. Maybe it was the feeling it had to go metaphysical when the gritty materialistic aspects of post-war survival was more attractive as prospective storylines. Maybe the sense it had to shock and twist to live out the duration of its run got to be a bit much (although, this is almost essential for lots of TV shows, so can't fault it for that). Maybe after pausing for a while and reading how outlandish it seemed to have become did not make coming back to it a necessity. I dunno, I feel I could try it out again, but I recall watching it a second time from the start on dvd and feeling wary and drifting away during mid-second season (I think). or maybe it was the third. It's definitely the kind of show I wanna like. And I hate the idea of bringing negative vibes to an appreciation of it. But since the question was posed here, thought I'd give good praise and affection to the inoffensive original series, and a general thumb-up-but-not-for-me to the reboot. Someday I'd like to finish it, though.

It's on Canadian Netflix. Woot! I'm a big late to the thread, but Thanks Row! Docs like these make my inner arcader feel cozy, like I've some quarters on a cabinet panel, watching a friend play their best. Looking forward to it.

Saw BvS in theaters weeks into its release, with no interest really because of the more descriptive reviews that laid out the inane script. A longtime, hardly-seen friend asked to go see it, and as an outing with an old movie bud it was okay, but mostly comprised of eye-rolling presentation of some beloved staples of the DC universe that covered my floors in comic book format (mostly Detective comics and a few Super Spectacular 100-pagers). It's rough seeing movie studios missing the point of retro franchises these days, although unsurprising given the thoughtless studio heads' need to insert themselves as cooks to an already thick broth. Hey! Just let it make money! Take the Robert Evans approach to hire cowboy directors, let 'em go wild and claim it was all your doing after the fact. Works for me, as a moviegoer. BvS and Suicide Squad both suffered from overstuffed pre and post-production overthink, rather than take a single idea person and backing them along the way. Suicide Squad is not a good comic book movie, does no fan service to its characters (from what I read - never knew this was a thing before the movie) but it's an okay action movie. I like Robie and Will Smith in this (and love them in the 'con game' movie Focus). They make the most of the characters so you can follow along for most of it, a bit less detached than you'd expect. But the ending is a mess, a generic portal-to-doomsday Big Bad which makes little use (and no sense) of the squad's powers and why they should be doing this. For a better taste of the best Batman vs Superman scenario, read (or watch the animated version of) Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns, the stellar 80s comic shock treatment that revived Batsy, gave Tim Burton something to chew on for the dark approach on the big screen, and is the definitive 'retired superhero makes good' story. It's sooo sad this new mediocre Batman movie actually took this storyline and botched it in so many ways by not even bothering adapting it, just slashing it to bits and making a clunky collage out of a few pages. For a better taste of Suicide Squad (if you care at all), watch the DCU Batman: Assault on Arkham animated movie (it's on Canadian Netflix), which is really good, makes tons more sense and is cool to look at (compared to the ugly camera work Rick accurately pointed out). Both cases show how a story with a single mind behind it is enjoyable to get into, even if it doesn't thoroughly satisfy (though in this case, Miller's book and the DC animated movie are top notch). Fan catering with longstanding characters is incredibly difficult, but I do hope the DC crew get it right eventually.

Had to go with Frankenstein as I'm not familiar with it. Ghost Manor rings a bell (no googling cuz it's cheating my memory banks). The others are all good halloweeny choices except Alien could double on a sci-fi review binge. Although its theatrical basis is a haunted house/slasher movie deal. Played oodles of *Ghost!**Busters!!!* (song-yell) on my C64 and it was possibly one of the most fun beloved, over-exposed, known-title games to earn that respect. That's cuz the early Commodore days offered unknown quantities a'plenty, where the box, blurb and artwork were the go-to factors on a buy/rent/pass on baffling game titles. But that was so exciting too! Who knew they could make a game about losing your luggage in an airport?! And you expected it to be bad, natch. And it was! It was terrible! eh...I'm mixing my platforms here, and Lost Luggage were 2600 titles which made ghostbusting on the 64 such a natural next-step. Anyway, looking forward to all these titles reviewed, eventually, NSG.