When the Earth is destroyed you get guilt.

Star Strike was one of the first Intellivision games that really showcased its awesome 16-bit power! I mean, sure, you could float in the blackness of space in Asteroids and blast some floating cosmic debris but that could not really compare to flying down the trench of a large battle cruiser, having only a limited amount of time before the Earth came out from behind the Moon and was within range of the missile that would ignite its atmosphere and cause it to explode before your very eyes!

The popularity of this game probably had something to do with its connection to the ending of Star Wars...in fact it could have been designed as a home game version of Star Wars for Intellivision had been working on a title for Battlestar Galactica but the producers ended up not going for it, with a product already in hand they named the game Space Battle but the ships are clearly Cylon fighters.

The object of Star Strike was to bombs vents that appeared below your ship at key times, enough vents hit would overload the battle crusier and cause it to explode. You also had to beware of other starcraft trying to blast you out of the trench as well as crashing into the surface of the crusier.

I've included one of the Plimpton commercials comparing Asteroids and Star Strike, the second one was an Intellivision ad played in movie theaters and Drive-In movies. I saw it and an Atari Dig Dug commercial when I went to see the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas at the local Drive-In. Yeah...the second feature was Cat People.

What does the H stand for?

I first learned of Burgertime on the television show Starcade back in the day on TBS. It was intriguing to me because at the time I could not wrap my little brain around the idea of a game where you made hamburgers and fended off sentient food products with a pepper shaker.

I did not get to actually play the arcade game until many years later at an Jim's Razorback Pizza in Fayetteville. I quite enjoyed the experience. However I had been playing Burgertime long before that, thanks to the Intellivision port of the arcade game.

I've often wondered why there was an H on Peter's hat and my research online has...not come up with anything I am afraid. Though I did learn there were quite a few games that continued Peter's adventures. Two arcade versions, Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory was a spin-off while Super Burger Time was an official sequel though both of these apparenty were not widely released which explains why I never knew about them. Super Burger Time's hero is Peter Pepper Jr. and this game allowed you to go with two players and had superior graphics. Another sequel was in the works, Pizza Time, but the game market crashed and it went with it.

I'd like to point out that the Burgertime arcade cabinet is being flanked by Gauntlet on the right and Satan's Hollow on the left.

Another thing I remember fondly about Burgertime is the television commercial which I've added below. That young man on a date is Scotty's nephew from Wrath of Khan by the way.

Scrumptious Saturday Supercade!

Man, I just had Superman birthday cake.

Saturday Morning Supercade break.

When its time for me to shuffle off this mortal coil, a few months perhaps for ever do I now sense the Grim one behind my shoulder, I must make a demand of my circle of friends. That they find a way for this video to be played at my wake.

Superficial Saturday Morning Supercade.

Ah...the fun one could have in the 80's for about two bucks.

Still Saturday Supercade.

I would so climb up and have my picture taken.

Saturday Supercade

There was a point in time when a little girl could be seen wearing this...and it was awesome. Of course if you were a little boy and wearing this...

Pac-Land.

No...it's not another Pac-Man day that was earlier this year and you've already missed it! But I couldn't help but share these pictures from Six Flags back in the day where you could not only see him and his wife but you could also get your pictures taken with the Shirt Tales!

We at this blog have nothing but disdain for the Get Along Gang.

I would love to get my hands on that Bogey Orangutan suit...that would be the best! Boy, those Pac-Man suits are kind of nightmarish.

You win this...loser.

In 1989 I entered and won a local Arcade competition for a video rental chain. It was a two-week competition, three different age groups were competing, and the first week's selection for my category was Double Dragon II, luckily I owned this game and was well prepared with a couple of hours 'training'. We only had five minutes to score as much as we possibly could.

I found out the game by calling, something they caught on to by the second week, and when it was time to compete I came prepared...with my trench coat, fedora, and Walkman. No ordinary music would hold me steady and firm as I stood shoulder to shoulder with my peers...it had to be something with a beat, something that would drown out all of the movement around me as other gamers played. Something like the Chipmunks Adventure soundtrack. Laugh now but I more than tripled the other players score with the hard rockin' beats of The Girls and Boys of Rock and Roll blasting in my ears. What can I say...we all have strange muses.

The second week they would not give me the info on the game to be played and I had to...bend... the rules a little. I saw we were playing Codename: Viper, a game incredibly similar to Rolling Thunder. I had not really played this game much though...so I had to feign an illness. My father talked the manager of the store into letting me come back in a couple of hours so we then immediately headed to Movie Magic to rent it. A couple of hours later and I was set to 'bring the thunder' to Codename: Viper.

When all was said and done I cleaned the competition and received a trophy for my 'skill' and was invited to the state competition in Little Rock. This was a pretty big thing for me and I was walking on Cloud Nine. The next Saturday, my father and Grandmother, drove me to the big competition and it was kind of impressive. Probably about fifty kids of varying ages were there to bag the big prizes. I had my eyes set on the $500 Kay*Bee gift certificate as well as the new television, it was a rear projection model.

My Grandmother and I noticed something odd real quick during the first couple of players competing. In the three age categories after one of the players had finished, and this time you played until you lost, they would insert a new game cartridge. So no one played the same game...which kind of defeats the points scored being the deciding factor for the competition.

I wasn't sweating it too much though because I felt comfortable enough with the various NES games to be confident in my abilities. Assuming they didn't try to get me to play Tetris. We were there about three hours when I noticed two other teenage boys around my age and after chatting a bit I realized we were the third category and none of us had played yet.

Finally all three of our last names were called and as we sat down at the podiums I looked at the screen before me and then stood up and shook my head as I looked at my father and Grandmother. Tetris. Of all the games that would doom my chances at that television and gift certificate...

So I played as best I could which wasn't very well, I don't think I even made it three minutes, as I was leaving the podium I took a moment to glance over at my fellow players. They were playing Sky Kid and Bubble Bobble.

At the end of the day since there were only three in our division we at least all received a prize. I got a handshake and the Konami Laserstorm headset pictured above...which I was excited about at first because...well...look at it. That was some serious future of gameplaying right there. You told it to do something and your NES game character would do it! Of course it only worked on certain games...like only one...Laser Invasion. It didn't matter if you said 'Fire!' or 'Poopsmith!' it would still fire at whatever you had aimed up with the scope.

It's real use would come in later when I started making 'movies'.

Return of the Glove! Documented!

Gaze with envy upon this photo. A rare appearance of the mighty Power Glove, I am told he was attempting to beat Ninja Gaiden, and with the presence of the fabled Glove we can only assume that this was accomplished before the Power Glove vanished and appeared upon another willing gamer's hand.

It must be Thursday.

What more can you say?

Box art Wednesday!

Instead of the 2600 this week we shall look at its very true rival the Intellivison Master System.

Click to make bigger than shoulder pads in the 80's!

Sidesteppers will get you every time.

Don't let the 'realistic' paintings of Luigi and Mario up above fool you. This all about the last picture, Mario Bros. Long before they became Super the two brothers were in New York city trying to clean up the sewers.

With a list of villains named, Sidesteppers, Shellcreeper, and Fighter Fly you can bet this was an 80's game. Of course there was also Freezie which would melt and encase the floors with ice so that you went slipping and sliding everywhere but that surely isn't a villain....but an elemental.

Though Mario had last been seen chasing after Donkey Kong, Shigeru Miyamoto, its creator decided that with the pipes in the game and Mario already wearing overalls he should have a new profession. A plumber. Miyamoto has gone on record as saying the level designs were inspired by another arcade game, Joust.

I had a chance to play this game yesterday at an area arcade...and I've lost my knack. I'll have to brush up on some of those old skills before I head to 1984.

Enjoy the Atari commercial for Mario Bros.

Say What?

1.) Ghosts 'N Goblins

2.) Metal Gear

3.) Rambo

4.) Final Fantasy

When translations go horribly wrong. Or in the case of Rambo...just a weird choice.

Saturday Supercade Salute!

From over at Joystiq I found this article concerning the young man in the above picture:

"Colorado reports that 18-year-old gamer Elijah Taylor has opened a new game shop called Game On in Denver (located at Alameda and Zuni). While that in itself might seem ordinary, it's the circumstances that prompted him to do so that are extraordinary. Taylor grew up with a single mother who was only 18 when Elijah was born. The two of them would often use video games as an escape from the everyday problems they faced, with Elijah saying he was "raised ... on the games she was playing at the time."

Taylor opened his store in honor of his mother, Dani Jo Perko, who died at the very young age of 35, when he was only 17. "You know, I can either just grieve and wallow for a while and just feel sorry for myself," said Taylor. "Or I can do what my mom would've done and do something with my life." He noted that many of the games at Game On were part of he and his mother's personal collection, saying, "I can look through here and be like, 'Oh, I remember playing that with my mom when I was just a kid."

Taylor said he hoped his mother would have been proud of him."

I certainly am Taylor and I give you a Saturday Supercade Salute!

Saturday Supercade

I only thought I was a Hellboy fan.
How about a custom X-box 360 console to declare your love for it?

Beware the Melody of the Mountain King!

Their was a neighborhood boy who owned the Atari 5200 and I would sometimes find myself invited into his house to play some games. One of the games he owned was Mountain King along with Pac-Man which I've said before just put the 2600 version to shame, but Mountain King was a pretty good title to be sure. Plus you had that nice looking artwork on the cover, as always click the pics to make 5200 size!

You are an explorer who's goal is to reclaim the golden crown from the Temple Chamber then carry it to the Perpetual Flame that resides on the mountain's highest peak. To do so you must gather up enough diamonds and treasure chests to obtain a score of over 1,000 points, this will allow you access to the Flame Spirit...which is kind of a key. It's kind of cool because once you hit the 1,000 point mark the sound would fade and be replaced with a melody one that became increasingly louder the nearer you came to the Flame Spirit.

Of course you only had a flashlight...which would drive away the bats as well as reveal treasure chests but didn't really do anything to the giant spider in its lair...which sucked because that lair really help a boatload of treasure and made getting the necessary points much, much quicker. So if you could avoid the giant spider you had it made.

Once you reached the summit and placed the crown in the Temple Chamber you were rewarded with flashing lights and a victory tune...then you started all over.

Now for the commercial...

Sticks to Snakes? Nah...

...Seals to Whales! That is a D and D mage spell to be proud of. What? This isn't a D and D mage spell? Oh, then this must be one of those games you would find at a gas station for five bucks. Make sure to click the second pic to make 2600 size because you really need to read the description of the game.

It must be Thursday.

Normally I would say 'What more can you say?' but this post...man...that is a Japanese crane game where the prizes are breasts. I thought the lobster crane game was the highest level of weird you could get...

Nope...nothing about a video game.

Trick 'r Treat - Trailer
Uploaded by dreadcentral. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

This is one of those times like I mentioned under the blog's name where I'm talking about something not video game related. I'm thrilled and angered to report that after two years, Trick r' Treat, is finally going to see the light of day.

I've heard nothing but rave reviews on this movie and I bought the coffee table book that dealt with making of it. Which fills me with nothing but high hopes for the movie. It seems that Warner Brothers just doesn't have an interest in releasing it even though like I just mentioned, everyone is saying this might be the best Halloween horror movie ever.

Now I've heard that the Alamo Drafthouse will be showing this before the DVD/Blu Ray release...the question is...does anyone want to see it with me?

Box art!

Because you demanded it! More Atari 2600 box art. Click the pics to make 2600 size!

Man, that is one serious looking wizard there...he wants to play a game called Touch Me...he might have been listening to the Who.

Umm. Cave Wars?

Only a select group of people will get that Title comment.
Click the pic to make Cave Wars size!

"Hey Spengler! The kid found a secret passage."

The wait for the midnight release was well worth it. I've had a childish glee as I played this game for a couple of hours before work, mainly because hearing Ray Stantz telling me how great a job I'm doing is almost...dream like. Ha, ha.

So far I've been fortunate enough to use the heck out of my PKE meter as well as the spectral imaging goggles supplied to me. I've fought the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man as pictured above the text, being held by the cable attached to my ghost trap, thanks to Ray. Luckily this manifestation of Gozer isn't as powerful as his last visit five years ago. I forgot to mention the game takes place in 1991.

I've found Vigo's painting in the firehouse and just before I had to come to work I and the rest of the team were called to the New York Public Library because a female librarian apparition had been seen. Which got Ray and Egon incredibly excited as they hadn't had the chance to catch her the first time they met.

I also found out why she is 'stuck' there...a man tried to swindle her in a marriage scheme back in the early 1900's and when she found out about it she called off the wedding...and he killed her and buried her in the boiler room. He was eventually caught but never revealed the location of her corpse or the others he claimed to have murdered. I can only assume I will encounter the killer as well before I am done with the Library.

This will probably be the last I speak of the Ghostbuster game, I thank you readers for putting up with this and my frequent information and reminiscing on the Castlevania series.

"It's a sign!"

At Midnight tonight I will finally be picking up the longed for Ghostbusters game for the X-box 360. So it only makes sense to talk about the greatest Ghostbusters game to come out for any console or P.C. to date....Ghostbusters for the C-64.

This game has a slight RP element to it as you are the proprietor of a new Ghostbusters franchise and your first act is to use your rather limited resources to purchase a vehicle and equipment for that vehicle. Like the ghost vacum, or additional traps to hold more ghosts before having to rush back to your HQ to deposit them in the containment unit, and you just can't survive those mean streets without a good supply of ghost bait...because you want to stop them spooks and spirits from converging over that building or it just might become 'spook central'.

The game was split up into three mini-games, driving around the city with the overhead map trying to combat ghosts that would pass over Ghostbusters symbol, it would then switch to a top down view of your vehicle, you had to avoid obstacles and hitting your joystick button every time a ghost passed over you. The city would pay you for each ghost collected naturally.

When too many ghosts converged on a particular spot you would jump out of your car and by controlling two Ghostbusters, which took a bit to get used to as the controls were opposite...so if you wanted to move your man forward you pressed backwards, positioning your proton stream to capture it while a third Ghostbusters employee would throw out a ghost trap and with a quick tap of the button you would have the ghost in one of your traps and hopefully you had used your money to buy more than one. I will admit when I first played the game I kept buying the sports car because it was faster and would allow me to reach 'hot spots' quicker...but with only one trap it was kind of annoying to keep going back to the HQ.

Finally the PK energy of the city builds to a catastrophic level and Zuul makes an appearance. You have to rush to the building and try to slip under a jumping Stay Puft marshmallow man...and then was where you generally lost the game because you had to time it perfectly, which could be hard to do when using the joystick. If you send in three of your employees the game is over and you are given a code, one that will allow you to keep all the money you've earned and equipment, so that you buy better stuff on the new game.

I stumbled onto an interview from 1985 with David Crane who programmed the game...and it also has David Lebling from Infocom talking about games in general. I hope you enjoy.

Still Saturday Supercade.

This guy has a nice collection. Flipbooks, lunchbox, and board games.