Spy Hunter is the very first video game I remember ever witnessing/playing. We had a Commodore 64 that my father used as a home computer but that mostly served as a video game console. I have an absolutely vivid memory of my oldest brother (ten years older than me) plugging this cartridge into the keyboard console and entering the line of code necessary to boot up the game. The music triggers my memories hard. Like all games of the era it's simplistic in its mechanics, but had pretty varied and complex graphics for its time. I'd argue this was one of the good games of its era. It was released in arcades in 1983 and I think came to C64 in 84 or 85. Mannn looking at the arcade graphics they look so much better.
I think I‘d argue that any user can make the unilateral decision to do an order swap - if anyone thinks it’s time to turn us back around, give it a ride.
Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, taking no rest from inventing the scrolling shooter, turn around and invent the twin stick shooter just one year later. And the dual joystick control scheme. Poor Williams used to be on top of the world. Just in 1982 they released this, Joust, and gave Irem their first international publishing deal for Moon Patrol, the first parallax game. It's weird to think about them now, as a complete non entity for two decades, after being the biggest name in American gaming for two decades.
My personal favorite Game and Watch game is all about risk/reward. While earlier games like Ball, Fire, and Manhole are all about timing and movement, Octopus goes one step further. It's about calculating your limits. Greed is your worst enemy. The asynchronous movement of each tentacle provides some challenge and the design of the octopus itself is pretty iconic and gives the game so much more personality than most early games like this.
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One of the very first games I ever played.
I always used Car #5, which was the fast blue one. I hardly ever did the proper races, instead I would work out how to drive off in the grass between the trees and discover new map/course segments way out of bounds. I assume this was some weird memory map shenanigans going on, but at the time it just seemed cool.
I like a lot of things about this game that aren't the game itself.
I like how the game's mascot is a bee but there isn't a bee in the actual game.
I like the amazing graphic design and the font of the promotional poster.
I like how the color palette looks pretty bisexual.
I like the name _Gee Bee_ a lot.
The game is just alright, it is sort of what if breakout but also pinball. An interesting thing about it is that it was the first video game Toru Iwatani directed and the first video game made internally by Namco.
I first learned about this game because I used to play an ios clone a lot back in 2013.
https://youtu.be/qp-PWIqcbRo
_**[Puts the PUNCH in your street locations!](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/GeeBee_arcadeflyer.png)**_
I think sometime last year I had the thought to play one of its variations, but found out no emulators have apparently ever been made. It is of course the first home console Nintendo ever put out and that is way more interesting than the six versions of Pong it was initially programmed with.
It sure looks pretty!! Spice orange is the og Nintendo hardware colour, confirmed.
That's right: we're going with perhaps the first controversial video game in existence.
Now that I think about it, it almost certainly says something that *this* is the first controversial video game in existence and not the countless military sims that preceded it in the two decades prior. You can kill as many people as you want as long as it's in support of the state, but everybody's in a panic the minute you encroach on their biopower.
@“fridgeboy”#p84017 Yes! I've got 1978 covered (I also especially enjoy playing weird pre-1980 arcade games and am always up for suggesting a game for these years— and great job @“Video_Game_King”#136 for the Death Race mention)!
Fire Truck is a pretty interesting co-op black and white game by Atari:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS31DYFygoA
The cabinet is also pretty interesting, since it supports two players, who have to control both ends of the truck! https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Fire_Truck_Poster.png
It seems obscure, but the Portland Retro Gaming convention often has a cab to play!
Funny to think about the direct line from the previous year's Space Invaders to Galaga just three years later in 1981. Genres sure moved fast in those days! The Shmup legacy is long and storied, and while Galaxian doesn't hold much of a candle to even where the genre went a few years later it's still a fine little game. It has colors! Gee whiz!
Even has its own lovingly crafted digital musuem entry in the PS1's *Namco Museum Volume 3*
@“RubySunrise”#p84056 Yeah I completely agree! I mean don‘t get me wrong, there are plenty of arcade stinkers pre-1980, but also a bunch that are phenomenal, and this one’s one of those.
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@“TheFragranceOfDarkCoffee”#p84038 1979: Galaxian
I find Galaxian to be really beautiful! It's no mistake that some of its sprite work has been so referenced in later Namco stuff!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Fire_Truck_Poster.png