Nostalgia a go go

[jough]

Everything that I'd want to play at the Underdogs costs money.  I haven't found a freebie from my youth yet.

Of course, when I was a kid the killer game console was the Atari 2600, followed by the ColecoVision (just found an emulator and some of my old games, though - which rocks hard) and then years later the original NES - the Nintendo Entertainment System.

And they all used cartridges rather than discs.  And the animation was all crappy.  And we LIKED it.

[AugustWest]

Oh man... I lusted for an Atari 2600... Never did get one.

Which leads me to my time warp moment.  This past weekend the family and I took one of our rare excursions to the mall (dun.dun.dun).

Anyway, second daughter and I check out the video game store, as is our wont on these rare occasions.  On my way out, something catches my eye.  

It looks like an Atari 2600 joystick.

Well, jeepers, it is an Atari 2600 joystick.  Only if I plug it into the front of my TV, it'll play about 30 of the original Atari 2600 games.

Yar's Revenge.

The Circus thing.

I still don't know why I didn't pop for the $19.95 and rescue it from the clearance bin.  I must have some kind of deep seated psychological block that prevents me from ever owning any semblance of an Atari 2600.

[AlohaDawg]

Everything that I'd want to play at the Underdogs costs money. I haven't found a freebie from my youth yet.

Here is a potential Freebie from your youth - now emulated in Java for your playing and reminiscing pleasure:

Remember Dark Tower?

[jough]

Oh my god.  Dark Tower.

It's amazing how many cool things I've completely forgotten about until seeing them again on the Internet.

[jough]

That $20 Atari 2600 joystick thing just came out - it's featured in this month's "Stuff" magazine.

It looks like it's about ten times thicker than the old joystick - but what the heck - for $20 to get that old timey game play it looks wonderful.

Does it have Super Break Out on it?

[jay-ell]

I bought one for my nephew to play when he visits my Mom.  

He's 3.  Sure, he's a little young for it, but he'll grow.  

These things are definitely neat, but some of my favorite games are so obscure, and some of their choices baffle me.  What, no Pitfall?

[CortJstr]

Oh my god.  Dark Tower.

It's amazing how many cool things I've completely forgotten about until seeing them again on the Internet.

Ha! AlohaDawg got that link from today's Bleat and you liked it! Jough found something from Lileks to be not lame!

Also, I would love to find Arkanoid II which I used to play for hours on my Commodore 128/64. That game owned.

I also miss River Raid on my Atari 2600

[V-Adore]

If River Raid is the game I'm thinking of -- the one where you're piloting a plane, and you have to shoot stuff and refuel (yes, I'm aware that this is the vaguest game description ever) -- it was a fixture of my childhood that I now desperately want back. I'm lucky, though -- the Atari 2600 and all of the cartridges are still rattling around my parents' house, so it should be easy to reconnect again.

Also, Super Breakout: a lovely childhood diversion, but oh, the heartbreak once I finally cleared the first wall and found... another, identical wall.

[jough]

Hey, even a blind dog gets a bone once in a while.

Just because Lileks mentions something that is not lame (and the Dark Tower board game actually IS pretty lame) does not elevate him from lame-o status.

In fact, when a very lame person gets his lame-on about something that is indeed quite rad, it only makes him/her lamer in the process.

"OMG!  HARRY POTTER IS SOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOL!"

[jough]

Please forgive me I did not mean to suggest that Harry Potter is rad.

[CortJstr]

Hey, even a blind dog gets a bone once in a while.

Just because Lileks mentions something that is not lame (and the Dark Tower board game actually IS pretty lame) does not elevate him from lame-o status.

In fact, when a very lame person gets his lame-on about something that is indeed quite rad, it only makes him/her lamer in the process.

"OMG!  HARRY POTTER IS SOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOL!"

Actually, he agrees about the lameness, I was just latching on to any even transitively positive thoughts you had about Lileks.

[CortJstr]

If River Raid is the game I'm thinking of -- the one where you're piloting a plane, and you have to shoot stuff and refuel (yes, I'm aware that this is the vaguest game description ever) -- it was a fixture of my childhood that I now desperately want back. I'm lucky, though -- the Atari 2600 and all of the cartridges are still rattling around my parents' house, so it should be easy to reconnect again.

Also, Super Breakout: a lovely childhood diversion, but oh, the heartbreak once I finally cleared the first wall and found... another, identical wall.

Yeah, we used to fight over who was player 2 in RR because they got the stealthy black jet.* And apparently you were flying centimeters off the ground because you had to shoot bridge to keep from crashing into them and you had to stay over the water. Maybe they should've made the thing look like a boat, that would make more sense.

This is why Arkanoid II rocked, because the wall of bricks were all different. Not to mention the aliens and power ups. I hear there was some bad guy at the end, but we could only get to like level 4


*Actually my Atari was on a b/w TV so for all I know the black was actually red or purple or something.

[Asherdan]

This thread has inspired me to unbox the ol' Atari 800XL.  I've got the machine, controllers, several game ROM's and the diskette drive with about 40 games on disk, both Atari and Activision releases.  I can't resist the call of River Raid and Miner 2049'r any longer...

[jay-ell]

Miner 2049'r

Another cool thing I had forgotten about until the Internet reminded me.  I have this one for my emulator.  It's such an...odd...little game.  I first played it on my C64 in 1985.

[AugustWest]

Hey, even a blind dog gets a bone once in a while.

Just because Lileks mentions something that is not lame (and the Dark Tower board game actually IS pretty lame) does not elevate him from lame-o status.

In fact, when a very lame person gets his lame-on about something that is indeed quite rad, it only makes him/her lamer in the process.

"OMG!  HARRY POTTER IS SOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOL!"

Actually, he agrees about the lameness, I was just latching on to any even transitively positive thoughts you had about Lileks.

I'm confused now.  Does this mean that Lileks is lame for recognizing Harry Potter's lameness or that Jough is lame becuase he likes Dark Tower or that CourtJstr isn't lame because he likes the Atari or that I am lame because I saw fit to comment on all this?