first? big deal....

TOYS TOYS TOYS!!!!

Dark tower online... Crap there goes my Friday. I still have this in my closet at my parents house.

Ahh, but the map doesn't match the actual game board...

No kidding! I thought the same thing about it. Though I chucked it up to being too young for it at the time. I was like 4 or 5 at the time. My brother and I played a horse rasing game on it. I played on the Pink horse. *ouch* My brain is like going nuts on such an early recalled memory. I was being babysat by some neighbors who had the game. My bro and I wanted our parents to get the new atari so we could play the popular Pac-man.

Wow!! I remember watching my older brothers play the games. They kicked butt at Vanguard!!
Hey! How many Satuday morning cartoons did these games turn into? I can remeber 2 if I try real hard.
Have a good one!!!

vanguard ruled!

Hey Wil, remember the Odyssey, I use to have one of those, that was before the Atari. I wish I still had it.

I was totally flummoxed by the Intellivision controller. It made me doubt the opposability of my thumbs.

Glad to see it wasn't just me!

I still have a scar on my hand from those Intellivision paddles. But I have to tell you, the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game for the Intellivision used to make me jump outta my skin. Thought I was over all that until I played it again when I got the Intellivision I have now...WRONG! Still makes me jump...LOL.

A friend of mine has a bunch of Atari game clones for linux at http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/ (including Circus Linux :) if you're interested.

As cool as Retrocrush's list is (I owned, or at least lusted after, many of the items on his list), my all-time favorite toy has still got to be Jetfire/Skyfire (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/1125/SKYFIRE.GIF) transformer.

Yes, yes, I know he was really a Valkyrie (http://www.transfandom.net/matrix/tf/41b.htm) but my impressionable young mind associated him with the mighty Autobots first. :)

It's been at the top of my "must eBay one of these somday" list for ages, but I just can't justify the expense to get a really nice, MIB one just yet.

Oh, and art: Yes, I remember the Odyssey (actually, probably the Odyssey 2). I was probably 3 years old or something, and it was the first system I got hooked on in my grandparent's basement. KC Munchkin, Miner 2049er, the list goes on... It became a lifelong addiction.... and a headache for my parents. :)

Don
http://onethumb.smugmug.com/

Err, sorry, I meant Jason, not art for that last post re: Odyssey. That's what I get for quietly crawling out of Lurkerville and into Postertown. Ooops. :)

Don
http://onethumb.smugmug.com/

Mmmm, Intellivision. And Colecovision. I get the two of them mixed up. One had the little controller sheets that you slid into the controller face so that you could control any game that you needed to. Go, technology!

Back when I was in high school, I never owned a console or a computer... but we had TRS-80s at school. We used to write games for extra credit (and for fun). I'm so much of a geek, that I now have a TRS-80 emulator, and I've loaded all my old games onto my new PC to play. Nothing beats the thrill of winning "Space Scumbags!!" Yes, you read that right... and I got an A for it too, neener!

I still have some commercial games for it too: Starclash, Robot Attack and Missile Command (those last two with neato digitized sound effects).

I had various friends with consoles... I played lots of Atari (Asteroids, Combat, River Raid) at Kevin's, and Frank had an Intellivision (fave game: Utopia). Never got to try a Colecovision...

However, I did have a bunch of the hand-held electronic games. My favorites were Merlin and Split Second - both of which I still have, and which still work perfectly!

Anyone remember the original "Adventure" text RPG? Or even better, the ancient Star Trek game that was written way back in the mainframe days? I actually have a port of that Trek game which runs on my PalmOS handheld. It only works for 2 players though... But, lots of really ancient computer games now available as PalmOS ports.

He he he... a nice trip thru the wayback machine!

My parents were too poor to buy us anything other than Pong. But when the did my it, I played the hell out of it.

Okay, I've set up the Dark Tower page, complete with hastily-compiled Rules!

http://thewurx.com/darktower

The only thing I have left to add is the score at the end... but I've yet to meet anyone who knew what the hell that number was based on, so it may remain at V0.95 for quite some time.

I'm thinking of tackling Merlin next...

MB will probably never re-release Dark Tower, as they lost a court case proving that MB stole the idea for the game from two game inventors who submitted the idea to them in 1980:

http://www.lgu.com/publications/tradesecrets/2.shtml

It's also the reason I don't really expect a cease-and-desist from Hasbro (but I'm not ruling it out, either, so get it while you can...)

At first I was highly intimidated by the obscure and complicated-at-first-glamce controllers for Intellivision, but it didn't take long before I was hacking my way through the Nordic wastelands and the herds of deer in Ice Trek, dodging arrows from a rather unforgiving Wilderness Goddess. I loathed the sound of the guy on B-17 Bomber when he would warn you of anti-aircraft bursts. "FLAK"

Okay, now did you ever play THIS one? http://old-arcade.com/mastertronic/ibm_pc/0-Z/conflict/conflict.htm. When I worked on air-launched nukes in the Air Farce, ew used to play this on midnight shift all the time...on an old 8088. Ah, thems was the days.

Kevin

The AD&D games for Intellivision were the stuff. There are actually two that I remember: a first-person game set in a castle, and a third-person set in a series of caves.

Pitfall was another classic. I could play that for hours.

I never had a real problem with the paddles themselves, but trying to dock them back in their little slots on the console was always quite a chore, as I recall.

Oh my god, I *longed* for a "Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow" when I was a kid. I begged and pleaded with my mother to get me one, but she said that I would get bored too quickly or it would break. I had to wait until I joined the agriculture club in Junior High and raised goats to get my chance to milk. I thought I was the only one who remembered Milky. Even now I would pay good money for a working Milky and some of those little tablets that turned the water white.

I was waiting for someone to mention pong! I loved pong. There's a bar in downtown Seattle, Shorty's (http://www.10things.com/10things/arcade/seattle.html) that has all those old video games from the 80's like Tempest, Pac Man, Asteroids, pinball etc. Ah ... memories of skipping school and trekking on up to Mickey's to smoke pot and play video games.

Remember the Vectrex. There's one sitting on the main MIDI computer desk in my studio.

Viva Intellivision. I cut my gaming teeth on one of those. I was lucky enough to liberate one from a chuch basement along with about 40 cartridges and controller inserts. Does that make me a bad person?

Yes, I remember the Vetrex. In fact, I had one not too long ago (few years ago). I was a big retro game collector. I had most of the old systems. I had three or for games for the Vetrex.It had to be one of the weirdest systems in my collection, and I loved it. Sadly, I had to give my collection away. *sniff*

Am I the only one who the the Fairchild video game system? What a POS. People would come out and wonder what the F it was. No decent games, bizarre controller and when it got hot(all the time in Miami) you got random pixel chunks on the screen.

I was also intimidated by the controller, not to mention all I was shown were sports titles. I was more of an Atari girl and later a Commodore enthusiast (best Dig Dug ever). Something about the Intellivision just didn't jibe with me.

Tank

I still own an Intellivision, a Colecovision, and an Atari 2600. The sad thing is... I've gotten some of the games as .roms, and I bore of them quickly... I've been spoiled.

There's an Intellivision sitting not five feet from me. Working, even. Can't say the same for all the games, but after playing The Sims Online or Diablo II or Starcraft for awhile, always fun to kick back with a game of Space Spartans.

RENPITI I THINK I LOVE YOU!!!!!

I have to check to make sure that this is the game I remember but if so I've been looking for this for AGES AND AGES AND AGES!!!! I think. It looks the same, at least. *happiness* Wil Wheaton does it again!

I didn't have an Intellivision, just your straight up Atari. Then the 8 bit Nintendo in 1987. We did have that Timex computer that ran on cassette tapes though, that was fun. Heh.

Love those retrogames. But...does anyone remember the game that virtually started the console revolution?

hehehe

Oh the big wheel. I still have awesome memories of that today. I lived in a cul da sac when I had my first big wheel. I road that thing till the wheel became a square and then I still road it. I remember how sad I was the day my Mom said it was time to get a new bike. I got a red two wheeler with training wheels. It just was never the same after that. I still get a gleam in my eye when I see one. Damn, what ever happened to those days when life was so simple and the things that made us the most happy were simple pleasures. I wish I was six again!

We had an Intellivision...we actually had two units (an original and an Intellivision II) and a bunch of cartridges. I never found the disc a big problem myself, but we did a retrofit on one of the consoles to put joysticks on it.

You might check out http://www.intellivisionlives.com/ ; the original developers are keeping the platform's history alive. More technical and insider information on the platform than you can shake a stick at!

I kicked that monster's ass at the end of the original home Mario on Nintendo.

Damn I was good.

Wow. I can't believe someone mentioned Merlin! I wish I knew what happened to mine! That was such an amazing toy! I can't remember which games I used to play, but I had 2 or 3 favorites!

And the Intellivision. I had some neighbors that had one of those, and it was just a little too much for me to handle. I had a friend with the Atari 2600, and I used to hang out so we could play. The Smurf game ruled!!

Poor atari. Did anyone ever see their follow ups? The 5200? ANd I think there was one more ill fated attempt. They had their day.

I could be wrong, but I think Dark Tower has been re-released on one of the Namco Museum discs for the PlayStation. Check around.

Thank god! I thought I was the only person to ever actually taste that weird goo inside the Stretch Armstrong figure.

Intellivision was cool. I used to kick ass at the Tron game. I also remember some weird tank game.

My first favorite was Galaxian on C-64:)!But I liked Sleepwalker too...and there was a Star Trek game with the old crew, with the young Kirk and Dr McCoy alwas said (if we choose in to the away team):"Walk throught it!"...and when they met somebody...:)

I love my Vectrex.
I even have a spiffy Vectrex t-shirt!
it's 4 button controller was ahead of it's time.
though not very ergonomic.

Hmm...all this 80s nostalgia...

http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/humor.html

I still have my Atari Pong game that you hooked up to the TV with some gizmo (an RF modulator?). I think it takes 6 D batteries. I'll have to see if the chips have all been fried.

Just picked up my old Vectrex from my parents house two weekends ago. Ah, sweet memories of a wasted youth spent playing Hyperchase, Armour Attack and Mine Sweeper.
I remember playing into the wee hours of morning, especially in the dark. Whenever the v-graphics would move acroos the screen they left nifty tracer trails. It was like being on drugs without the drugs.
I've been spoiled by ps2, I kept wanting to save my games.

I think this applies just a bit to the topic....
The Commodore 64 (an extremely efficient computer...hell, it takes a 100MhZ processor to emulate it's .99MhZ)....is nearly the exclusive instrument for music made by the band Welle:Erdball...
http://www.welle-e.de/
there's even a section of their webpage devoted to the wondrous 80s toy