Tempest Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Jump Bug - Never saw the arcade game, but I have the ultra rare port for the Arcadia 2001. It's not a bad game really, but it's brutally hard (at least on the Arcadia). MagMax - I didn't even know this WAS an arcade game. I've only played the NES version which I thought sucked even back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Never saw Jump Bug... I did see a Magmax for sale on Craigslist here about 5 or 6 years ago, otherwise same as Tempest, didn't know it exsisted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 I think I first saw MagMax at a nickel arcade in Beaverton called "Wunderland". Good game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Here's another one and this may be obscure. It's Samurai Nipponichi (also called Samurai Magic) by Taito from 1984. This game had you as a samurai complete with sword and the obligatory topknot in your hair. You went left and right, battling hordes of enemy swordsmen, tigers, and birds who flung knives at you(!). You had two buttons - ones to slash your sword downward and the other to slash upwards. At the end of each stage, you dueled with a boss. I played this at a few arcades in Italy. It was quite challenging...plus the death scene is hilarious! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 Oh yeah! I played Samurai Nihon-Ichi at another Wunderland, in Milwaukie, OR. That arcade had some other obscure games there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 NEXT UP: ARABIAN (1983, Sun Electronics/Atari) Not-bad platformer where you control a Saudi hero on a quest to save the princess on 4 levels of platform-jumping, basket-collecting, monster-kicking, carpet-scaling and genie-dodging. I think I first saw this game either at Hydrotubes (now a Wells Fargo Bank/parking lot space at Washington Square mall) or at the Rose Festival in Portland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted August 17, 2012 Author Share Posted August 17, 2012 One other note: It seems the original Sun Electronics version may have been easier (or maybe it's just a MAME bug): You don't die from falling, and the genie doesn't throw coconuts at you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 I played that at the Classic Gaming Expo 2001 over ten years ago. That was quite a fun game from what I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schuwalker Posted August 18, 2012 Share Posted August 18, 2012 Loved Arabian! Has some of the coolest sideart ever conceived! I first encountered one at Foxfield Theater (RIP) in '82 or '83 - can't remember. I used to love the intermissions w/ the page turning idea. I don't know which version I played bitd. I thought it was the Atari version? Anyways, the difficulty ramps up real quick the second go-around. That damn flying carpet level will be the death of me! Interesting factoid: Sun is AKA Sunsoft.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Interesting factoid: Sun is AKA Sunsoft.... Yup. Also: Tehkan became Tecmo! I had never played the "easy" version (Sun) until Mame so I'm assuming all the boards in the arcades were Atari (at least in the US). Those mutant monsters that flew really fast at you could be a serious pain in the ass.. especially while you're anticipating the genie tossing a coconut at you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Never saw Samurai Nipponichi before, looks interesting. I played Arabian in some dingy arcade back in the early 90's. It's a cute game, but gets kind of hard when you get to that jumping on clouds level. The next time I saw it was at CGE. Fun Fact: A 5200 port of Arabian was planned, but likely never started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 So Tehkan eventually became Tecmo. Wow, who would have thought that the makers of Bomb Jack went on to do Tecmo Bowl for the NES? And speaking of Tehkan... Who here remembers Bomb Jack, the 1984 release by Tehkan? You were a superhero named Bomb Jack (as previous implied) and you had to collect bombs that were placed at major tourist spots (doncha just hate when that happens?) such as Egypt, Greece, a German castle, and two cityscapes. While you could collect the bombs in any order, if you collected the lit bombs in a sequence, you can eventually earn a bonus. Bomb Jack can run and jump high but has only one real defense against the enemies onscreen - turning them into coins! Collecting bombs boosts the bonus meter at the top of the screen (collecting lit bombs increases it more). When the meter is completely filled up, a circular bouncing "P" appears, and when collected, it will turn all the enemies into bonus coins for a short period during which Jack can grab them. I played this game in Italy (again) and spotted it at least once at arcades here in the USA. Some of you may know this game more for its sequel, Mighty Bomb Jack and to a lesser extent, its later sequel Bomb Jack Twin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 I only remember Mighty Bomb Jack on the NES. I didn't know there was an arcade game until years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 I only remember Mighty Bomb Jack on the NES. I didn't know there was an arcade game until years later. Same here. A few games I did know from Tehkan before they became Tecmo were Phoenix, Pleiads and Guzzler (all licensed to Centuri). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 The only Tehkan game I know of other than Bomb Jack was Phoenix. I never did play Pleiads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 The only Tehkan game I know of other than Bomb Jack was Phoenix. I never did play Pleiads. It was supposed to be named "PLEAIDES" (and was on some cabinets/main screens, but I think there were some lazy translations or something), named after a cluster of stars I believe. Kind of a spin-off of Phoenix, which I liked a lot better. Pleaids/Pleiades was popular in arcades though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I got one: Up'N Down from Sega. Up'N Down was a racing game from Sega made in 1983. Using a somewhat isometric perspective, you drove a purple VW Beetle around a bunch of roads. Your mission to was collect all these colored flags. You also had the ability to jump as well. This could be done to avoid enemy cars or to land on top of them, thus destroying them. If you crashed into an enemy car or if you jumped off the road, you lost a life. I played this in Italy and at least once saw this in an American arcade. Some versions of this were ported to the home consoles like the Atari 2600. Again, that console is not a good choice for duplicating a 3D/isometric view. Anyone else play this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 Yeah I played this one.. never very good at it. I saw this at either Aladdin's Castle in Vancouver WA or Sea-Tac Mall's The Gold Mine. Sucked having to backtrack to get flags or when cars would steal the flags you were looking for.. cool though, that Pengo makes an appearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schuwalker Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 (edited) I remember seeing a Up n Down and the Aladdin's Castle I used to frequent, but I never played it. I did play the other games in that series. Up n Down was part of the Bally 'six pack' series, meaning one cab - interchanging kits. Games included: Flicky (favorite of most people), SWAT (my favorite), Mr. Viking, Up n Down, Bull Fight and Water Match. Edited September 1, 2012 by schuwalker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 I liked how Bally/MIDWAY was on the marquees of these games even though the program was all Sega (and maybe Coreland). Trying to confuse players as to who was the true game manufacturer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 One more: ASTRO FIGHTER (1980 DECO/Gremlin/SEGA) Old Space Invaders-type game with color. One of the first for the DECO Cassette system. Okay for its time I guess. I played this first at I think an ice cream parlor in the Garden Home suburb of Portland, OR. It was called French Vanilla and is now defunct by almost 30 years. Notable for enemies that can shoot diagonally, weird comets that are only there to get in your way, and enemies that all respawn if you let even one get below you. Also, one of the earliest to have a "boss" enemy. The boss on the Gremlin/SEGA version has "GS" on its body! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+frankodragon Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 New one for this week: Bagman, 1982 Valadon Automation/Stern I'm pretty sure I first saw this at the Avalaon Theater in SE Portland.. I had just got done seeing an incredibly boring film called "Timerider". I needed to get some sort of positive out of the day by playing a lot of Bagman and Rally-X. This was either in 1982 or 1983, making me 11 or 12. I remember playing this at a local bar and grill when I was young. No I was too young to drink. Baby Pac-Man. I can't remember where I played this-either at a Chuck E Cheese or Showbiz Pizza but that was confusing to play. I had no idea if I was playing the pinball or the maze part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mxyzptlk Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 New one for this week: Bagman, 1982 Valadon Automation/Stern I'm pretty sure I first saw this at the Avalaon Theater in SE Portland.. I had just got done seeing an incredibly boring film called "Timerider". I needed to get some sort of positive out of the day by playing a lot of Bagman and Rally-X. This was either in 1982 or 1983, making me 11 or 12. I remember playing this at a local bar and grill when I was young. No I was too young to drink. Baby Pac-Man. I can't remember where I played this-either at a Chuck E Cheese or Showbiz Pizza but that was confusing to play. I had no idea if I was playing the pinball or the maze part. You can see the one I completely restored @ Ground Kontrol in downtown Portland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 Baby Pac-Man, eh? I saw that at Malibu Gran Prix right when it came out. Never warmed up to it; most people didn't. At least it's not as bad as Professor Pac-Man. I'll look for BPM next time I'm at Ground Kontrol. I'm curious to see if Ms. Pac-Man still has my high score on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 I know of Baby Pacman but never spotted it in the wild. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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