Memories of where and when you first played/saw this game

[DaveD]

One more:

ASTRO FIGHTER (1980 DECO/Gremlin/SEGA)

 

I remember playing this one in the very early '80s. It was a cocktail machine in the lobby of Narvey's Restaurant in Dodgeville, WI. Game and restaurant both long gone now. I remember liking it. There was something about the graphics that I found appealing. They were simple with chunky pixels. The screen may have had a unique resolution or something that gave it a unique look. I feel it made lining up your shots easier. The addition of the fuel meter kept it from being just another Galaxian clone.

[retrorussell]

I played the cocktail version too. I think the cocktail version was usually the DECO one. Interesting how the attract mode showed the Japanese katakana for "Astro Fighter", just before your ship shoots the words down.

[retrorussell]

Newest one:

MAYDAY (1981 Hoei)

Defender ripoff with identical graphics, gameplay and COMPLETELY ripped off sounds. Not as bad as it could have been but forgettable just the same. I am trying to record it in MAME and it doesn't work. I got my first video recorded and the screen was split. Then I ran it through Format Factory as a AVI and it was all black.

[7800Lover]

Anyone remember this one? TRACK & FIELD from Konami, 1983 - outside of the USA, this was called "Hyper Olympics".

 

 

 

Exactly what it says on the tin - you competed against the computer or a live opponent in a number of events.

 

There were six events in all: 100 meter dash, long jump, javelin, 110 meter hurdles, hammer throw, and the high jump. You had to qualify for each event (read: win each event) before moving onto the next one. Early versions of the game had run buttons and an action button for jumping/throwing. Later versions of the game replaced the run buttons with a trackball.

 

I remember this one for sure. I actually ran across the early version (minus the trackball) at a bar in Italy. The later one with trackball I played at an arcade in Eden, North Carolina at a local mall arcade. Anyone else play this?

[Mxyzptlk]

Anyone remember this one? TRACK & FIELD from Konami, 1983 - outside of the USA, this was called "Hyper Olympics".

 

 

 

Exactly what it says on the tin - you competed against the computer or a live opponent in a number of events.

 

There were six events in all: 100 meter dash, long jump, javelin, 110 meter hurdles, hammer throw, and the high jump. You had to qualify for each event (read: win each event) before moving onto the next one. Early versions of the game had run buttons and an action button for jumping/throwing. Later versions of the game replaced the run buttons with a trackball.

 

I remember this one for sure. I actually ran across the early version (minus the trackball) at a bar in Italy. The later one with trackball I played at an arcade in Eden, North Carolina at a local mall arcade. Anyone else play this?

I own this one, great game and it never gets old, and if it does just switch the pcb with Hyper Sports.

[retrorussell]

Track & Field was very popular; perhaps the first successful button-mashing game. I used to hear the voice samples over just about everything else in a small arcade. "On your mark. Get set. (BANG) (Or for the Long Jump: Jumping noise: BWOOOOOEEEEEWWWP) The distance.. 8 point 23 meters. And of course, the Chariots of Fire music played over the high score table/end of a round of the events.

[retrorussell]

I probably first saw T&F at Rico's Red Lion Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor in Portland off of Capitol Hwy and Barbur Blvd. The Rico's have mostly been replaced with Round Table.

[Cap5750]

I think the first time I saw Track & Field, it was while camping. Yep, that's right...CAMPING!

 

As it turns out, the campground owners had a little clubhouse where you could go in and play a few games...maybe pool too, I forget.

 

The games I remember them having...Track & Field, Pac-Man Cocktail and Berzerk.

 

It was good that this was available because the fishing was horrible!

[retrorussell]

It is rare but I have also seen little clubhouses with video games at camping sites/RV parks. Looping and maybe Sky Kid.

 

Another one to throw out there:

MR. DO! (1982, Universal)

I believe I first saw this puppy at a small arcade in Raleigh Hills in the Valley Plaza (the arcade didn't stick around too long; gone by the mid-80s). Wonderful game. I just wish there were hidden secrets to get the diamond to appear, instead of it being completely random.

[7800Lover]

Of course I played Mr. Do! I played it at that same flea market in Eden, North Carolina that I played Mappy and Loco-Motion. I also played it at an arcade elsewhere in the state - it was a beachfront resort's game room.

 

Mr. Do reminded me a lot of Dig Dug (minus the pumping of course).

[ClassicGMR]

Strangely enough the first time I saw a Mr. Do arcade machine was at my timeshare resort. I've been staying at Cold Spring in New Hampshire since I was 5 (1977) and with Funspot down the road you'd think THAT would be the place to see the new games.

 

CSP had just put 2 arcade games in the pool area and this was one of them. The other was Galaga. I spent quite a bit of time out of the unit that year.

Edited September 30, 2012 by ClassicGMR

[Crazy Climber]

Anyone remember this one? TRACK & FIELD from Konami, 1983 - outside of the USA, this was called "Hyper Olympics".

Oh yeah, spent a LOT of time with this one. I honestly can't remember the very first time I saw it though... I do remember when everyone was using combs or pencils to "cheat" and hit the buttons faster. I guess they switched it to TB after this but I didn't know a trackball version was released until much later. Cool game, even had it in my personal arcade for awhile (although long gone now)

Old pic...

 

 

 

Another one to throw out there:

MR. DO! (1982, Universal)

Now this one I do remember the first time. It was an overnight "lock in" at the YMCA. We did it for the last day of school, was a total blast. They had a Mr Do fired up...but I remember I didn't have ANY quarters and was bummed...of course near the end of the night I figured out it was on FREE PLAY, lol

[retrorussell]

Nice arcade, CC!

 

Another one:

SHOOT OUT, 1985 Data East

Not bad action game on a fixed screen where you simply shoot at targets, both deadly and non-threatening (for points). Some hard-to-hit ones will offer crazy bonus points!

 

I first saw this at a 7-11 in the Garden Home suburb of Portland. Can't really remember if I saw it anywhere else.

[7800Lover]

I remember Shoot Out. I never did play it though. What stuck out most at me was that there was a button labelled "Evade". You don't see those on video games normally.

[Crazy Climber]

Nice arcade, CC!

 

Another one:

SHOOT OUT, 1985 Data East

Not bad action game on a fixed screen where you simply shoot at targets, both deadly and non-threatening (for points). Some hard-to-hit ones will offer crazy bonus points!

 

I first saw this at a 7-11 in the Garden Home suburb of Portland. Can't really remember if I saw it anywhere else.

Thanks!

Never heard of shoot out...it does look similar to a game I played briefly on my babystar 475 in 1 multiboard though so I "may" have played it, I guess that would be the first time I saw it

[Blacklight]

I remember playing "Shootout" all the time at the arcade near where I worked.

[retrorussell]

One more and I'll wait a while before posting another:

 

HUNCHBACK (1983 Century Electronics)

 

Okay Pitfall-like game where you traverse dangers on a fixed screen to advance to the next screen. Getting through 5 screens without dying nets you a big bonus. At the end of the game (I can't remember how many screens there are) you save Esmerelda. I only saw this once, in a small arcade in Beaverton's Valley Plaza. The arcade closed in the mid-80s. Century Electronics (a British company) didn't make many good games; this, Dazzler and Video 8 Ball were about it. Their cabinets in which you could switch out PCBs were known as CVS (Century Video System), as shown on the marquees to their games.

[Crazy Climber]

Never even heard of Hunchback until I played the Atari 2600 homebrew "Hunchy II" which is based on this arcade game...

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=2729

[atarian63]

It is rare but I have also seen little clubhouses with video games at camping sites/RV parks. Looping and maybe Sky Kid.

 

Another one to throw out there:

MR. DO! (1982, Universal)

I believe I first saw this puppy at a small arcade in Raleigh Hills in the Valley Plaza (the arcade didn't stick around too long; gone by the mid-80s). Wonderful game. I just wish there were hidden secrets to get the diamond to appear, instead of it being completely random.

 

Had this one at the office for a few years, even the younger employees liked it.

Edited October 3, 2012 by atarian63

[littleman jack]

Never saw Hunchback in the arcade. Played it for the first time on the 2600 homebrew Mini-Games Cart. Looks pretty similar to the picture you posted.

[7800Lover]

I've heard of Hunchback, but never saw it in person.

[retrorussell]

2 from 1981:

SPACE ODYSSEY

Sucky Scramble-like multi-leveled space shooter by Gremlin/SEGA.

I think I first saw this at a Chuck E. Cheese, after I had read about it in my HOW TO MASTER THE VIDEO GAMES book by Tom Hirschfeld.

Also:

BORDERLINE (Gremlin/SEGA)

Actually fairly good military jeep warfare game. Steer through enemy territory, blasting enemies, forts and nuclear generators (I guess), in multiple missions per round. Very rare game.

I only saw this once, at an arcade on the Oregon coast in Seaside. This was several years after the game was released. I didn't play it (weird, obscure games actually kind of scared me away). The game always makes me think of the Madonna song, and vice versa.

[7800Lover]

These two I've never heard of.

[retrorussell]

These two I've never heard of.

Borderline I believe was for SG-1000, but yeah they're both pretty rare.

Here's another:

SPACE ZAP (1980, Midway)

Reflex game, much like the later Cosmic Ark (Imagic, Atari 2600) and Space Fortress (Bally Astrocade), where you protect your space fort by moving and firing 4 laser turrets. Enemy ships, mines and satellites attack faster and faster as gameplay continues.

[Crazy Climber]

Those Space Zap cabinets are so cool! The marquee flashes/strobes while in attract mode also (unless the one I saw in a video had a mod?) I still have never seen one in person....almost bought a non working cocktail of it for $50 but it was just too far gone for me to tackle...