Somehow that didn’t sound right. Anyway, after my embarrassing run with Frogger and Space Invaders this past week, I tried my hand at the Flash version of the classic arcade hit Moon Patrol, which was first released in 1982 in the United States.
Here’s a brief background for those standing on the far side of the moon:
Moon Patrol is a classic arcade game by Irem that was first released in 1982. It was licensed to Williams for United States of America distribution.
In the game, the player controls a moon buggy, viewing it from the side, that travels over the moon’s surface. …read more

Ever wonder how the modern video game console controller came to be? Well, thanks to the ingenious Sock Master, we now have a pretty good idea. Here’s a little tidbit from his “study” entitled “Sock Master’s Game Console Controller Family Tree”:
How did the current home-console controllers come to be? How have they evolved? You may have noticed some similarities between the current generation controllers, or between them and the previous generations of controllers. So, how do they all tie together?
Let’s try to find out. I’ve put together a chart, or controller family tree, that tries to connect all the current …read more

Actually, the word unbearable didn’t exactly come from me. It’s a quote from this British dude who seemed to have spent an entire afternoon trying to make a Smurf jump over white picket fences in the Colecovision game Smurf Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle. It’s funny how the label on the game’s box reads: “The Arcade Quality Video Game.”
In the game, you control a Smurf who is off on an action-packed rescue mission. Gargamel has captured Smurfette (I wonder why the big bald guy with the crooked teeth wants a little blue lady so much), and has taken her to his …read more

I’m currently watching a video on the history of video games by YouTube user applemctom, and my wife, Joyce, keeps asking me why I know majority of the games featured in the video. I guess my video games addiction is finally showing, eh? To test my mettle, I tried to list down in order all the games shown in the two-minute footage. Unfortunately, I didn’t get them all. Before I show my list (rather, before you take a look at it), watch the video and try listing down in order all the games that you see. Let’s compare notes later.

Well, …read more

I’ve found this neat video on the Video Games Crash of 1983 by Normal Caruso, and all I can say after watching it from start to finish is, “Whoa!” Well, if we believe all points that Norman raised in the video, particularly the supposed factors that contributed to the fall of the video games industry in the early 1980s, well, then the video is in itself educational as well as entertaining.
Go check it out and judge for yourself:

Kudos to Norman Caruso for the superb voiceover.

Did you know that there have been at least 63 video game consoles and personal computers in the past 50 years? Well, I didn’t … honestly. So imagine my surprise when I came across this video:

The author of this mish-mash, however, missed the entire Apple line of personal computers. I owned an Apple IIc, so I know first-hand that a lot of video games can be played on the machine—that is, if any Apple computer is still intact to this day.

Here’s another video featuring a television commercial for the Coleco Telstar Arcade, my first video game console. Sigh, wish my Coleco Telstar Arcade’s still in pristine condition. But that’s all it is, a wish, since the cartridges that contain the video games have been lost. So here’s a toast to this personal trip down memory lane:

I suddenly remembered playing some other game on my old Apple IIc aside from Hard Hat Mack and Taipan. The game was called Montezuma’s Revenge, and it was HOT at the time.
C’mon, don’t tell me you haven’t heard of the adventures of Panama Joe in the catacombs built by Montezuma’s minions (read: Aztec warriors). By Montezuma, I’m not talking about the big boss in the arcade game Zuma. Take a look at the cover art of the game’s box and tell me you don’t remember spending countless hours—even days—in front of your console trying to figure out how to finish …read more

Yes, you read that right. I have mighty big shoes to fill, and I better hop to it.
I welcome you to the first post of the new Re:Retro (sounds kinda ironic, doesn’t it?). Since, admittedly, I can never match the writing prowess of the venerable Al Ewing, this space’s former blogger, I’ll focus more on what I know—old video games.
Well, not just old games, but games I played when I was young(er)—from the dot-crazy world of the chomping smiley face known as Pacman to the vertically challenged player movement in Space Invaders to the fast-becoming classic role-playing games from Strategic …read more

Some time ago, I was given a random game cartridge by Jonic called Space Panic in the hope that I’d review it, despite me having no idea of what the game is or even what the console it was made for looks like. I’ve manfully stared at the thing for a couple of weeks now, admiring the font, the black squareness of the cartridge itself, the saucy insouciance of the little circuity board thing poking out from the bottom and the pleasing lightness as I hold it in my hand. But there must come a time when I pull the …read more