retrorussell

I covered that one a while back; I have never seen it in the wild. It was changed in Japan to include a statue of Captain Harlock from the anime ARCADIA OF MY YOUTH!

One I don't think I did yet: FOOD FIGHT (1983 General Computing Corp./Atari) I think the title screen says 1982 but really it was released in arcades in 1983. This was one of 2 games created by GCC as part of a lawsuit settlement with Atari (for ripping off Missile Command with Super Missile Attack); the other was QUANTUM. I like this one much better. Steer the rambunctious kid with the very large head "Charley Chuck" around the screen, picking up piles of food to throw at the 4 chefs that try to catch or similarly splat Charley. Holes that open up in the floor must also be avoided. The goal is to reach the ice cream cone on the other side of the screen. You can select a higher stage to start on, and if you encounter a very close call when collecting the cone you may be treated to an Instant Replay of that stage with cool music! Neat game with a special joystick that allows for movement in ALL directions. Losing a life (apart from falling in a hole) gets poor Charley splattered with all the remaining food. Great sound effects. Interesting cabinet with a bigger side panel to accommodate Charley's pie in his hand. I first saw this right after its release at a very small arcade in a strip mall in my old suburb of Garden Home around Portland OR. It was called "Pac-Pals". It didn't last long.

It was set 2 i think. At first i thought i was losing my mind but i am pretty sure the placement of enemies/colors/etc. was wrong. I wouldn't think I'd just forget my patterns like that. Mame does tend to screw things up from one version to the next. I have a youtube video of gameplay; sometime I'll compare with what I've played recently. But I'm pretty sure there were differences.

Woah-- I just now noticed that different romsets of Dig Dug in MAME can have different layouts on certain rounds, maybe different enemies (Pooka instead of a Fygar, & vice versa) or color patterns than what you're used to. Totally threw me for a loop. My gaming really suffered for it.

Next: ASTRO INVADER (1980, Leijac (later Konami)/Stern) Also known as KAMIKAZE or ZYGON in Japan, in which it was released in late 1979. Fairly cool unique game in which you steer a ship left and right at the bottom of the screen and blast falling invaders that drop from several columns, when the columns are full of invaders and can't hold any more (a mother ship releases more). An invader that splats on the ground releases a wide blast radius that can take out your ship from afar. On occasion another ship will descend slowly from the far left, far right or the middle. You CANNOT let it land or you die, so shoot it. Original idea that made you try to keep at least some of the columns from filling up too much within your general vicinity so a blast radius can't reach you, and it even has a "count your shots" scheme for higher scoring similar to Space Invaders. I first saw this actually in 1981, I think. It was at the Joy Theater lobby in Tigard OR. I saw the stupid movie SUPER FUZZ with my friends for a 10th birthday party for one of them.

Butasan Sar: search and rescue Asterix All arcade

Another SNK game, that I guess is the last before they switched over to the NEO GEO for MVS hardware games: SAR: Search And Rescue (1989, SNK) This was also the last SNK game to have the old dual rotational joysticks control scheme. You control a space soldier making his way (and possibly alongside player 2) through an alien ship, going from room to room and mowing down gooey aliens with 3 different weapons: machine gun (though it's not rapid fire), fireballs and missiles. Holding down the fire button will release a special charged shot: a large ring of fire, a shield with limited life (regardless, it is very useful especially against boss enemies), and a black hole that sucks weak enemies in (more cool to see than functional). A dodge button allows you to dive and also fire at the same time-- very John Woo-esque! Otherwise very little that we haven't seen as those top-down scrolling run and gun games were not remotely new by this point.

Glad you enjoyed! #1 will probably be sometime later next week; got some other stuff to do first.

CARNIVAL BURGERTIME PEPPER II all Colecovision

Here's a weird one to ponder over: NINJA BASEBALL BAT MAN (1993, Irem) If you ever dreamed of a beat-em-up (like Final Fight) with all baseball-related items, characters, etc., then this is your dream come true! TOTALLY weird, out-of-left field (perhaps literally) game. I only saw this once but certainly not back in the day. This was at a retro arcade in SE Portland called "QuarterWorld". My brother and I beat this. Weird and hilarious! I love when after you beat the final boss he pleads "Please forgive me!" and you smack his butt into the stratosphere with your bat anyway!

What is the best way to emulate the controls for Slither on ColEm? I believe I have the latest, 4.8. I would prefer to control with either the arrow keys or the mouse. Flip or fire buttons I can figure out easier than controlling the weapon. The default setup doesn't seem to really work.

VENTURE FRENZY LOOPING all Colecovision

I guess I didn't do this one yet: FANTASY (1981 SNK/Rock-Ola) Weird multi-stage game where you control a guy in either a hot air balloon or on foot trying to save his girlfriend from natives/pirates/birds/etc. Certainly playable. Has weird/annoying voice samples and some questionable hit detection (that works in your favor on occasion). Created by SNK and licensed to Rock-Ola in the US. Has samples of the hit song "Funkytown"! I believe I first saw this at Malibu Gran Prix. The sample of "Heeeeeeelp!"/"Help Meeeeee!" was annoying and mocked by me and my friends (and was basically re-created decades later by Ashley in Resident Evil 4).

DONKEY KONG JR. MR. DO! DONKEY KONG all Colecovision

I'm gonna throw out a couple more real quick: The immortal DONKEY KONG! (1981 Nintendo Of America) I am stymied as to where I first saw this game.. usually I have a picture-perfect memory of this sort of thing. It was probably at Malibu Gran Prix or something where I first saw it.. maybe at an Oregon coast arcade.. just drawing a blank! The cabinet was a re-used RADARSCOPE cabinet, a game that really bombed in the US. This cabinet would be re-used for most Nintendo arcade games in the 80s. Also: DAZZLER (1982, Century Electronics/CVS) Odd hybrid of DONKEY KONG and TURTLES (an old Konami game). You control a guy simply known as "O.H." or "Our Hero", trying to rescue his gorilla friend while avoiding vultures. The game consisted of 2 scenarios: the odd-numbered ones featured a maze with multiple doors at the top and bottom. Entering a door would either equip you with a banana to feed the gorilla (which simultaneously appeared in another door) or in a couple instances, would release an extra vulture into the playfield. You can drop snakes to occupy the vultures for a while. Bonus items can be collected before feeding the gorilla. The even-numbered scenarios featured a Donkey Kong-like structure where the gorilla awaits your rescue at the top-right, while you jump over daunting gaps and watch out for falling vulture eggs being dropped (they look like cupcakes.. is it supposed to be vulture sh*t?). Controls for the Century Electronics games were typically bad and this is no exception, and the music/sfx seems seriously broken at times. Despite this, the game is otherwise kind of fun and inventive. Or at least I find it to be so. I first saw this at an old IGA grocery store a few miles from where I currently live. I'd seen it at multiple other places BITD. Has a Tuni Electronics logo on the cabinet.