Yet another Reef Store Dream (of sorts), with a twist!

rockman_x_2002 · May 18, 2015

Once again, last night I was visited by the now-infamous Reef Store Dream, or at least something similar.

Typically, these dreams begin and end in the store itself. They typically follow a set pattern: I'm in a flea market, thrift shop, or other such venue, where I stumble across a box of retro gaming equipment (not always Atari but more often than not, it is). Typically there are a few items that I've never seen before, such as rare games that have never been seen before, or interesting bootlegged carts that are hacks of known games but interesting nontheless, usually with funky labels on them.

Well, last night's was different in that the dream opened up with me at home, and I had just bought a few items from such a store. Among them were a few 2600 carts, all commons it seemed, and I began my usual (real) ritual of testing them out to see if they worked. I started with the first game on top, which I saw was a blue-label Infiltrate, according to the end label. There were two of these in the box, sitting next to one another. I popped in the game, turned the 2600 on, but what came up on the screen was very clearly NOT Inflitrate, but instead some other game entirely that I had never seen before. Also strange was the fact that the game on the screen had a "Copyright 1984 APOLLO" message where the score display was, which I found strange knowing that Apollo closed shop in 1983. And then I looked at the front label on the cart and saw that this game was, in fact, not Infiltrate, but a prototype of Inflitrate 2!

And that's where the twist comes in. Never before in the history of these Reef Store Dreams have I ever actually had the opportunity to play a game like this. In this one, I did.

The game started out with a blue screen and a black bar across the top for the score, displaying the copyright message in red. Hitting reset put three lives up, and a score of "000000" in digits that looked like a segmented LED display. Then a very crude airplane flew across the screen and your guy, who looked like the player sprite from Commando dressed in a black wetsuit, jumped into the water. You then had to make your way down the screen toward the bottom as it scrolled, avoiding or shooting at the other enemy divers in the water, and the occasional submarine. Once you reached the bottom of this level, you would see the bank of the river you crossed. Your guy would jump out of the water and his wetsuit would change into something more like a spy outfit (think James Bond). Then the screen would turn green and you would would work your way through a level on land. The land level had obstacles and buildings arranged in it, so you had to kinda maneuver your way around those, which added a little more difficulty than the earlier water level (which was mostly open). You would then cross this grassy area (again going down the screen toward the bottom), shooting enemy soldiers and tanks along the way, until you reached a grey bunker base (I assume concrete).

Entering the base changed the game into something more akin to Berzerk, with a maze-like layout. You went from room to room, killing the enemy soldiers until you reached a room with a hot-air balloon, being guarded by a guy with a machine gun. Kill him, and then you were able to jump in and take the balloon, which would float up to the top of the screen.

As the scene switched again, you were now above the base and the grassy area where you were before, except this time in the balloon. The balloon was outfitted with a machine gun, and you were fighting your way through a squadron of small fighter planes, and the occasional larger plane with more heavy firepower. As you made your way back up the screen, toward the river you crossed to get to the base, you also had to fly the balloon next to prison towers, where you would rescue hostages. After you crossed the river, the balloon would go to the middle of the screen to "land" and let the hostages out, where you would get a certain amount of points for each one you rescued. The game then reset, and you did all of that over again, except the layout of the level was slightly different, and the enemies were a little bit quicker as well.

I was able to play through the game a couple of times before I woke up and realized it was all just a dream. But it was so strange in that I was able to actually visualize this game so clearly. It was a strange mix of Commando and Berzerk, with a small bit of Sky Jinks thrown in, and yet somehow, it seemed to flow very well. It was also fitting with the Infiltrate name in that you were actually infiltrating an enemy base. It's not only the first time I've played a game like that in a Reef Store Dream, but the first time I've practically "designed" a non-existent game in my sleep.

At any rate, I thought I would share it with you all and entertain you a bit with it.