zwolanerd

Have you seen The Internet Arcade yet? I’ll let it speak for itself:

The Internet Arcade is a web-based library of arcade (coin-operated) video games from the 1970s through to the 1990s, emulated in JSMAME, part of the JSMESS software package. Containing hundreds of games ranging through many different genres and styles, the Arcade provides research, comparison, and entertainment in the realm of the Video Game Arcade.

The game collection ranges from early “bronze-age” videogames, with black and white screens and simple sounds, through to large-scale games containing digitized voices, images and music. Most games are playable in some form, although some are useful more for verification of behavior or programming due to the intensity and requirements of their systems.

Many games have a “boot-up” sequence when first turned on, where the systems run through a check and analysis, making sure all systems are go. In some cases, odd controllers make proper playing of the systems on a keyboard or joypad a pale imitation of the original experience.

My 12-year-old self is freaking out a little.

There are a bunch of games on that page I don’t recognize, some I recognize but haven’t played, and some I played but didn’t like. Then there are the games I played and loved. That’s what this list is about today: my favorites from that page (which probably corresponds to “my favorites from that era,” but that seems more difficult, so I’m going to limit it to what’s on that page). This isn’t based on the controls for the online version, so please don’t hold that against me. This is nostalgia-based, pure and simple.

Honorable Mention: Q*bert’s Qubes – I have wanted to try this for so long but have never been able to find it anywhere. I’m… having trouble figuring it out, but I’m so excited to even have the chance to.

10. Tutankham – The gas station where I played most of my first arcade games had this one the first time I walked in there. I don’t think it’s a great game, necessarily, but this one has a huge nostalgia factor to it. I can’t even figure out how to pronounce it correctly! For years I thought it was “Tutankhamun” but it’s not, so it’s confusing.

9. Burgertime – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve imitated the way the hotdogs in this game run, nor would I want to actually admit to the number. This is a terribly unsanitary way to make burgers, by the way.

8. Pengo – The penguin is cute and I liked how he had to push ice blocks around. Every new innovation was amazing back then, I’m telling you.

7. Gyruss – The enemies come from the center and you canfly in a circle around the whole screen – this was Galaga on steroids, and it had the added coolness of you traveling to the different planets in our very own solar system. I have this one on Xbox Live Arcade, but, man, do I stink at it.

6. Elevator Action – This was the closest you could get to being a super spy when you were 12. You start at the top of a building and work towards the bottom, making sure to steal important documents and shoot opposing spies as you made your way. Bonus: you could shoot out lightbulbs for a few seconds of blackout. So cool.

5. Zaxxon – I could never quite get a handle on the weird perspective this game had, but I still liked playing it. Plus, it’s a Z word that sounds super cool to say out lout. Try it!

4. Street Fighter II – I was hoping they’d have the original Street Fighter, but no such luck. This one’s a better game, to be sure, but I remember playing the first one in an arcade when I’d never heard of it before.

3. DigDug – Perhaps the cruelest early arcade game. You kill your enemies by blowing them up with a bicycle pump (basically). That’s bad enough, but you could also blow them up but not quite explode them to gain a little more digging time, and that must have been really, really painful.

2. Karate Champ – I’ve talked about this one before.

1. Q*bert – Have I mentioned at all how much I like this one?

 

Tags: Q*bert

Written by: Mark