RickR

According to what I've read, it was Ray Kassar who suggested the Space Invaders license/port. If so, he deserves a lot of credit. He made a lot of horrible decisions and probably wasn't the right guy to run Atari...but that one was a home run.

Combat was a great game, that's for sure. But I don't think it was a killer app. If they'd have included "Air Sea Battle" as the pack in game, it would have been just as ubiquitous as Combat. Would people have bought "Combat" separately? "Indy 500" was another one that would have been a mind-blowing pack-in. Space Invaders was the true killer app. Personally speaking, I wanted a video game system prior to Space Invaders...but once Space Invaders came out, I begged mom and dad for an Atari.

I picked up some movies this past weekend.

Welcome! That's a really nice setup.

The doubting Thomas needs a wing-tip up the wazoo.

104,100 - I beat 100k! So happy.

Great news https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/remarkably-nasa-has-completed-deployment-of-the-webb-space-telescope/

This is true -- the further you get, the scores seem to ramp up. I mean to say higher bonuses and such as you get further along.

The 8-bit version of Donkey Kong is outstanding. The first screen is missing one row, but that's really the only flaw. It's fast and fun. The same is true for the 8-bit DKjr. Really good. Once I had that one, I never gave 2600 DKjr a try (until I was middle aged :) ) The 7800 versions are also really good EXCEPT for the super-grating sound. Honestly, turn off the sound or the games are almost unplayable. Yikes!

Domino's seems like one of those fast-food places that can be hit and miss based on the particular location. For example, the Domino's in my area is pretty bleah. Flavorless and always a little overcooked. But drive a little farther, and the next location is excellent. Taco Bell is the same way. Some locations are excellent and others terrible.

Donkey Kong in the arcade was a revolutionary game. If I see a machine now, I play it no question. And it still delivers. The thing that really stands out to me about the arcade version is the sound. It's got a deep bass to it. I probably said this earlier, but I remember getting Donkey Kong on VCS from Toys R Us and being super excited on the way home to try it. I LOVED it at first. But after a while, I stopped playing. Why? It never changes! Doesn't get faster or harder. Oops! DKjr -- I never really gave much of a chance to on VCS because by then, I had moved on to the Atari computers.

This is for that last guy....

Looks good! I have those same tiny Amiga sticks. They are a nice improvement over the stock TI sticks.

Our children don't like Papa Murphy's, probably due to having it so often as kids (yep, we got the family size). So we haven't had it since son #2 came home.

Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder about Papa Murphy. My wife and I do that one all the time. The Tuesday special ($12 for any large) is too good to be true.

Pizza Hut is the closest pizza place to our home. We still order from them if the weather is bad and I don't want to drive too far. But it's important to order "double toppings" as they are pretty chintzy otherwise. Yes, it costs more, but it's worth it. Portland has a ton of really good and varied pizza places. My favorite is NY Style. But it's a pretty long drive for something like that from our suburb.

River City Ransom (NES)

Monkeyshines! (Odyssey 2)

True story: I have never been to Little Ceasar's. However, my wife worked there in high school.

SMB3 takes everything from SMB and adds more. I think it's more fun. On the downside, the levels are big and it's harder to play quick rounds. SMB2 is too difficult IMO. SMWorld is excellent too, but doesn't really add much to the SMB formula.