#9 Drag Race
Entry posted by Guest
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Drag Race!
I liked this, but it took my son a little time to get the hang of it. In fact, he never did, and he can kick my butt in Super Smash Bros. Melee back to the 21st century.
The unique Fairchild VES joystick becomes your gear shift. Up and left is gear 1, down and left gear 2, up and right gear 3, down and right gear 4. You twist it to rev the engine. There's a representation of a tachometer on the screen, on the screenshots it's a blue or red line between the green dots. You rev the engine, put it in gear and shift when the tachometer gets close to over-reving. Try to do it quickly and without blowing the engine. Your Motorized Capital "I" travels as quickly across the screen as it can, warping back to the left side as it leaves the right. The manual says the record time to beat is 7.7 seconds.
Yes, the graphics suck. "Two sideways capital I's crawling across the screen" as I recall someone once saying. Yes, the sound is annoying, too. But as a dragster simulation and for a Fairchild VES game, it really isn't so bad.
Here are some screenshots.
The little rainbow in the center is the starting lights. They disappear from right to left and when the last green square is gone you GO!
The word "blown", in this context, is being used to indicate something you don't want to happen. This means you've over-rev'd your engine, now it's broken. All the other dragster drivers laugh at you. You spend the next weekend rebuilding your engine, drinking Grape soda and listenin' to country music on a cheap, AM-only radio. I'd wager this is actually more enjoyable than it sounds.
I was using the emulator for these shots, so my racing results are a little laid back. I did better on the real hardware, honest.
The game offers four levels of skill, and gives them appropriate names: 1 for a family sedan. 2 for a modified sedan. 3 for a funny car. 4 for a dragster.
Family Sedan is for practice. Nobody really talks about their "Sedan" scores, you know? If you're going to talk about your drag times then you'd better be talkin' Funny Car or, preferably, Dragster times. I'm just sayin'.
Bottom line: Compared to all the other games we've played up until now, this is definitely the most recent. It won't stand the test of time, but for right now, in 1977, it will do.
Next Entry -- Videocart #10: Maze / Cat & Mouse.
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