Star Wars: Jedi Arena

I don't remember who had this one, but after word got around nobody else bothered to pick it up.  No one could muster the amount of imagination required to make this game seem ok.  This one makes the Raiders game seem like a shining example of Blizzard polish and design perfection.  The paddle controller moved your lightsaber...ok....bad start there.  A training drone fired lasers at your shields...apparently your jedi shields or....something...I'm not too sure, strike two. Two strikes is plenty and this game is out.  Star Wars gaming at it's worst.

The Jimdex = (Jim's Love + Jim's Desire to Play this Game Today/ 2) = (1 + 1)/2 = 1

Star Raiders

On the road to Elite and Privateer was a classic called Star Raiders.  I played the version for the 2600, but apparently that was a port of a superior version for Atari computers.  This was still really fun and scratched the Trek itch instead of the Wars itch.  This also foretold the gameplay that would waste a billion hours in minesweeper, this game include lots of scanning.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Nothing says Star Wars more than three purple bars in a bad Defender clone, except for three purple bars and a gray dog in a bad Defender Clone.  The imagination is a powerful thing and all of the brilliance that we incorrectly imagined rested in the mind of George Lucas we also imagined rested in this cartridge.  I'm hoping for better things from The Old Republic.  I'm an eternal optimist and/or I am experiencing battered nerd syndrome.

Pac-Man

An epic disappointment on the 2600, this wrote the book on how not to adapt an arcade classic. Sad really.  I was never a huge fan of Puck Man in the arcade but this adaptation really sealed the deal.

 

VS

Adventure

I could literally play this game with my eyes closed. By sound alone I was able to complete each objective. I know that most often people say literally when they actually mean to say figuratively, but I mean literally. Up for the sword, down and to the right past the first quacking duck dragon and on to victory! If Adventure had been an mmorpg, I would have had 5 level 80's and been supplementing my comic money selling gold. Adventure also contained the first Easter egg that I knew about. By ingenious use of the bridge and the magnet a secret room could be entered. Inside this room was a text message from the developer and the first truly epic item! I of course refer to the Trans-molecular Speck. A tiny black pixel with almost limitless power. I don't clearly remember what it did but I'm pretty sure it was awesome. Did it allow clipping through all walls? I dunno but I loved it.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

The E.T. game always gets blamed for the crash, and I suppose this game is better but licensed games were not off to a great start all these years ago.  This game did recreate some cool moments from the film and it did have some insane puzzles and riveting parachute and grenade action.  The graphics in this could only be kindly described with the term abstract, and that would clearly be a stretch.  I loved Raiders and I wanted to love this game, but this is more Irina Spalko than Marion Ravenwood.

Pitfall

I saw Pitfall the first time in an appliance store just off the square.  It was a beautiful game for the console hardware of the time with good animation, tight control, and enough challenge to keep it interesting.  I was wild for Indiana Jones and I was wild for Pitfall.  I gathered the Treasures of Enarc (Pitfall was developed by David Crane, get it Enarc cranE) while running to the right, jumping on crocs, swinging on vines, and spelunking through caves for hours.

Slot Racers

Slot Racers was incredibly fun.  Part Combat, part Pac man, part Bomberman, All awesome.  I'm sure we couldn't go back but it was great at the time.  The varied speed and behavior of the missiles is where the fun really came in.  This would have probably been pretty lame as a single player game, but it was two player only and that insured that the enemy AI was reasonably good.  I think the Landon boys were pretty fierce at this one.

 Which ones are the cars and which ones are the missiles?
And in the words of the immortal Harold W "God wants you to PRAY.....before sports".

Combat

The purest PvP experience in the history of video games.  At some point Grant got a 2600 and everyone would crowd into his room and later his basement for the most local of all local area networks.  Tanks, Jets, and Biplanes were locked in perpetual war.  Pure competition, pure aggression, pure combat.