Dick and Jane (above, on the box cover) still can't bring themselves to touch this infernal contraption.
They continue to sit there, unmoving, staring in disbelief at the atrocities that were committed in the name of Consumer Electronics.
This is no worse a game of Blackjack then that found on the Fairchild VES, except for the part where the black and white graphics make you appreciate the fact that the real world is polychromatic.
An interesting thing about this Blackjack, in the conte
"Grandpa, why does your leg phase in and out of existence when you walk?"
"What? Oh, well, that's just my Blinky Leg."
Basketball, Atari VCS (1978)
The solution to the problem of animating a human figure has many approaches. (I'm not an animator so forgive me while I just talk off the top of my ass.) You could do it the Hard Way, which would be filming a person moving around and redrawing every frame exactly as it appears OR the Easy Way, which would be to just draw something that va
I've Got Your Number! (Odyssey^2, 1979)
6870
This is an educational title pretending to be a game.
Each player controls a human shaped figure that starts on either side of the screen. An equation shows up at the bottom middle of the screen. A question mark denotes the unknown element of the equation. In the main playing field is a sea of about a dozen or so shapes, symbols and numbers in two groups each rotating around a center symbol. The object of the g
Shooting Gallery turns out to be the coolest game from the group of Shooting Gallery games. It uses a different cart (#10), which makes the playfield very different from the other three games (which use cart #9). This configuration gives you two paddles between which you deflect your target. The target, in this case, is a relatively HUGE square. I didn't know the Odyssey could produce such a large, er, "sprite"! (of course, they don't call them sprites yet.)
This large square Target Spot goe
Videocart #18, Hangman, FCF 1978
Parental Caution: This related experience refers to a repeated scene of a hanging. Be advised.
Everyone likes to try the Classics in a new medium and Hangman is no exception. In 1978 it appeared on the Atari and the Channel F, so beloved was this traditional word game. The Channel F boldly preserves the tradition of the designers' original vision by allowing the players to hang an identifiably human figure. I don't actually ha
Okay, one last "gone before" entry.
1977 was when things started rolling, with the introduction of the Atari VCS, but 1978 was when things started rocking. Five programmable videogame consoles available that year.
Atari VCS
Fairchild Channel F (formerly VES)
Bally Professional Arcade
The Magnavox Odyssey^2
APF MP1000
Atari VCS 1978
Basketball
Braingames
Breakout
Codebreaker
Flag Capture
Hangman
Home
Hunt & Score aka Memory Match aka A Game of Concentration
I think there should be a limited and defined set of "real world" games that are appropriate for translation into the art form of videogames. The following is my hastily composed list of criteria.
1: Any real world game for which it may not always be easy to find a human opponent.
2: Any real world game that normally involves two or more teams, physical exertion or a lot of expensive equipment.
3: Any
Well, my homebrew Bally Astrocade controller didn't work as well as I had hoped.
Each component works well enough, but it's hard to steady the box while trying to press the button, use the paddle-knob and use the joystick at the same time. For such a situation, nothing beats the original controller. Fortunately, I was able to get one repaired by cleaning its potentiometer and trying the WD-40 trick. So, I let my son use the "official" and I use the Frankenstien'd one.
The
Tornado Baseball, Hockey, Handball, Tennis - Bally Pro Arcade, 1978
These must be popular sports. Let me just point something out here.
Magnavox Odyssey 1972
Baseball
Hockey
Handball
Tennis
Fairchild Channel F 1976
Tennis (built in)
Hockey (built in)
Baseball (1977)
RCA Studio II 1977
Baseball
Tennis / Squash (Handball by another name)
Atari VCS 1978
Home Run (Baseball)
Video Olympi
Okay, we've been here before.
Last time we were in 1978 was back in October of 2005 or so and I'd finished doing all the APF carts I had. I ended with Brickdown/Shooting Gallery. At the time my copy didn't work. Now it does.
Brickdown/Shooting Gallery (APF M1000, 1978)
Brickdown is a sideways version of Breakout. If I recall correctly, it's similar to the version The Woz did for the Apple II in terms of sideways.
The game
Tennis (Intellivsion, 1980)
I know I said we were going to do Space Battle but with this being "Wimbledon Weekend" I figured this would be the best chance I'd have of getting my wife to play Intellivision's Tennis with me. She actually consented to join me for about 10 minutes! However, I think that because of the fact that she'd just seen one of the greatest, and longest tennis matches of all-time (Federer vs. Nadal) she just couldn't feel the thrill of our little pixel-fest.
First off,
Flag Capture, Atari VCS 1978 aka Capture
I dreaded replaying this game. I don't remember having a bad time with it as a kid, I just didn't thrill to the prospect of playing it again.
Two players on a 7 by 9 grid of squares. Hidden in one of the squares is a flag. Hidden in the 62 other squares are clues to help you find the flag or bombs to blow you back to where you started. So, if you don't blow yourself up and you don't find the flag, you're going to find an arrow clue
Home Run aka Baseball
The game of Baseball is, so far as I know, the only title (other than Pong-a-likes) to appear on the Odyssey, Fairchild Channel F, The RCA Studio II and the Atari VCS. I have reason to believe this will keep happening in the future (from 1978). I base this belief on the assumption that a) there are many people who watch televised Baseball games. b) these people are already used to sitting on their asses in front of the TV. c) Baseball season doesn't last forever. And, f
Okay, it's another "clip show" entry. See, part of the goal was to play everything in a long unbroken chain so the gradual evolution of these things could be observed. However, it ain't unbroken, so I'm refreshing my memory.
This is just a refresh of 1977 with (EDIT 2021: without) links to the original articles.
1977
Miscellaneous Dedicated
Stunt Cycle (a.k.a. Motocross)
Video Pinball (a.k.a. Pinball Breakaway)
Ultra PONG Doubles (a.k.a.
Slot Machine a.k.a. Slots (Atari VCS, 1979)
I theorize that in the mid 1970s, the U.S. Department of Defense had conducted experiments on non-violent methods of torture. Back then, apparently, violent methods of torture were frowned upon. I’ve heard that, in some circles, they are still frowned upon, even today, but I digress.
So, the DoD went to Atari and said, "We want you to make a simulation that will suck the very life-energy out of the person interfacing with it. We want it to be
Hangman aka Spelling, Atari VCS, 1978
If you are from a family that can afford an Atari VCS but can't afford a pencil and paper, this game is for you!
Hangman is the time-honored game of guessing a word by suggesting letters and punishing someone else by hanging them if you guess too many letters wrong before guessing the word. This used to be real fun, until someone suggested that it was illegal. At that time, we, as a society, had to resort to merely drawing the poor co
Two games. One cart.
Armored Encounter! Odyssey^2, 1978
I'll include a picture of these tanks when I have one.
Oh, hey, I do. Here's Mr. Blue and his eternal nemesis, Mr. Red.
Okay, this is very much like Atari Combat, the Tank games, with minor changes to the gaming variants and one very notable addition.
Two tanks (red vs blue, again) face off with or without guided missiles, with or without barriers (simple
Hangman/Tic-Tac-Toe/Doodle, APF, 1978
I'm sure you are all aware by now, that I consider an electronically conducted game of Hangman to be one of the most formative highlights of any child's upbringing. To see a child realize that the simple failure to correctly guess a random word could lead to a virtual yet grisly death . . . well, it's just amazing. I love to see their face light up as they begin to abuse their power. They'll start to punch in guesses like "Z" and "Q"
Jeez, just when I thought I had it all working I go and break a controller.
I've been really excited about playing the Bally Professional Arcade because it has a four player option on some of its games and they've got a true joystick/paddle/trigger controller combo thing going on with their interface, PLUS a 24 key-keypad. Bally spent money on their interfaces, at least that's the way it looks to me.
I do have FOUR Bally controllers. Unfortunately, I only have one which
Datsun 280 Zzzap / Dodgem, Bally Professional Aracade, 1978
Okay, these are early don't-hit-something driving games.
For those of you not familiar with Bally's version of Dodgem: The object of the game is to get as far as you can in the time allotted (you choose how many seconds) while avoiding collision with the cars that you are passing. You control the horizontal positioning of a car with the paddle. The view is top down and you are driving towards the top of the scree
Major League Baseball (Intellivision, 1980)
Major League Baseball is the game I saw being played at every Sears I walked into when the Intellivision was being introduced. I'm not a fan of baseball, but to me this game will always represent the tantalizing first glimpse of the Intellivision's exciting potential. In fact, prior to acquiring an Intellivision for chronogaming, Baseball was the only game for the Intellivision I'd ever played on the original hardware. Upon further reflection I fin
Brickdown / Shooting Gallery, APF, 1978 - only NOT
My copy of this cart wouldn't work. Grr. This is a lesson that reminds me I need to test these things as soon as I get them. The seller on ebay had said it worked. I'm thinking he made a mistake, like he did when he said that photocopies of the instructions were included. Grr.
If anyone can lend/rent me theirs, I'll pay shipping both ways, take really good care of it and have it back to you within a day or tw
Sky Diver (Atari VCS, 1979) aka Dare Diver
"If at first you don't succeed, forget sky diving."
One or two players each control a sky diver. Each sky diver starts in a plane going across the top of the screen from opposite directions. Your objective is to get your diver out of the plane and safely landed on a narrow-ish landing pad at the bottom of the screen. There's a wind sock indicating the direction (right or left) and speed (zero, slow, medium or fast) of the wind. Using that inf
Out of this World / Helicopter Rescue (Odyssey^2, 1979)
Out of this World! is a "graviteasing" space race.
A better way to describe it would be a one dimensional Lunar Lander knock-off. You control a lander module by using its retro rockets to regulate its descent to the lunar surface. Your fuel is limited, which promotes an aside subject.
Armstrong and Aldrin had a similar issue when they were landing on our moon: they had a limited amount of fuel and had to
I discovered another Chronogamer! A writer over at Retrogaming Times Monthly is chronogaming the NES, starting in 1983! This is the same guy that wrote the always interesting Syntax Era, so it should be good.
Anyway, here's the link to the issue with the first NES chronogaming. The column is called "Nintendo Realm". (You have to scroll to it.)
http://my.stratos.net/%7Ehewston95/RTM19/RTM19.html
No, he doesn't call himself a "chronogamer," and as far as I know,
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