Your Top 10 Arcade/Home Video Games

skorch · **Joined:** Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:21 am **Posts:** 352

Col. Manning · **Posted:** Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:39 pm

I'll have to think about this one. Like you Skorch, I dont really play video games anymore. Don't currently have one of the awesome systems that are now available and don't play any computer games either. I used to love going to arcades as a kid, and I remember that one of my all-time favorite Christmas presents was when my parents bought the brand new ColecoVision for us. We got the adapter that let you play Atari 2600 games, and I did play the 2600 at various friends' houses too. One friend even had the Atari 5200, but I only got to play that once or twice. My nephew also had Intellivision. Beyond these (and Pong of course) my only real quality time with more advanced game systems would probably be in the early 90s with the original Nintendo Entertainment System console. Super Mario Brothers was probably my favorite on Nintendo. Donkey Kong on ColecoVision.

Some of my favorite arcade games would be: Defender, Missile Command, Ms. Pac Man, Q-Bert, Donkey kong Jr., and Frogger (George Costanza's fave). Does anyone remember another early arcade game wher you would shoot at meteors and spaceships that were very crudely animated? It was pretty much just a blank screen with (possibly) stars in the backround and various spaceships (at least one that bore a striking resemblence to the Enterprise) and meteors would cross the screen to be shot at. The graphics were not much more than white outlines on the dark screen, no colors. What was this one called?

Beastball · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2008 5:27 pm

The game you describe, Col. Manning, sounds to me like Asteroids. It had a little arrowhead ship that shot at asteroids, making little ones out of big ones. Every now and then, an alien spaceship would fly by shooting at you. Then this cluster of (ships?) stuck together would appear. You shoot it to beak it apart, then the parts start chasing you until they kill you or you destroy all of them.

Whenever I went to the Arcades circa 1982, I loved playing Galaxian and later Galaga when it came out.

Col. Manning · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:24 am

Oh yeah, Asteroids should definitely be on my list of favorites. It's not the one that I'm thinking about though. The one I'm talking about didn't show your spaceship like Asteroids does. It was more of a point-of-view thing where the spaceships and "asteroids" would cross the screen from left to right (or right to left). And I can't actually even say for sure that there even were asteroids in it, could be imagining that part. Now this is beginning to be a real mystery for me.

Col. Manning · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:46 am

I think I may have found the video game I am thinking about. I know that it was an older one, with a B&W CRT screen rather than a color one like most of the games had by the early 80s. This one is called Starship 1, and was apparently released in 1976(!). If you look at the photos of the screen, the third one has the Enterprise-looking ship I was thinking of (it basically looks like the Enterprise without nacelles). The site where I found this looks to be a pretty extensive database for arcade games. A good resource for finding something like this. It's klov.com (Killer List of Video Games).

Starship 1:
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9782

I'm sure that by the early 80s, when I would have started plaging video games, this one was probably already somewhat outdated and hard-to-find. I remember playing it in at least two places though and really enjoying it, despite its primitiveness. One place that had it was the Whitin Community Center in Whitinsville, MA. Not being an arcade, this was the ONLY video game they had, so I suppose I was sort of a captive audience :lol:

. Maybe I wouldn't have liked it so much if I had other choices.

And, here's the main page for klov.com for anyone interested:
http://www.klov.com/index.php

skorch · **Joined:** Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:21 am **Posts:** 352

klov is a great resource for arcade machines, I was there all the time when I was planning a MAME cabinet a few years ago.

Col. Manning · **Posted:** Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:50 pm

Sorry to be ignorant of the terminology, but I have to admit that I had no idea what MAME was. Now that I've looked it up on Google and Wikipedia I have to ask you Skorch--what became of your MAME project?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAME

skorch · **Joined:** Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:21 am **Posts:** 352

Unfortunately, time, space and money have kept this project in the realm of dreams for the past few years. I did purchase an awesome book that shows how to build a cabinet step-by-step http://www.amazon.com/Project-Arcade-Build-Your-Machine/dp/0764556169/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231912146&sr=1-4
I have to remodel the basement so I'll have the room for arcade machines. Someday I'd like to build my own arcade in the basement then buy old arcade and pinball machines and refurbish them.
It's another fond wish along with the backyard drive-in.

Someday....

Col. Manning · **Posted:** Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:38 am

Sorry to hear that reality interferred with your project skorch--I know the feeling. At least it sounds like you have a direction you want to go in once it becomes more feasible. When we were on our cruise last month I took a peek at the arcade onboard the ship. It was small and (naturally) had mostly newer games. What I liked most though was the nostalgia units (probably mostly for the "older" folks like me). They looked just like a regular video game cabinet, but they each had a choice of four or so classic games that you could choose from (stuff like Ms. Pac Man, Defender...). I never got a chance to play any of the games, but it's nice to see that there's a place for the old classics--and that new technology allows for a number of titles to be presented in a single unit to save space while maximizing the number of titles available. Guess this is sort of the point of MAME, huh?

I hope your project becomes a reality someday. I also have a dream--of refinishing my basement and turning it into a home theater. The likelyhood of that happening in the near future isn't too great at the moment, but one can always dream right? In the meantime, that backyard drive-in idea just keeps sounding better and better--especially as a less exensive alternative to a big, pricey home theater system. If I could figure out how to get a cheap used projector system I could probably make the rest of it happen pretty easily (and cheaply)! I'll have to check out that site about backyard drive-ins again to see their suggestions. Spring will be here before we know it!

south shore girl · **Posted:** Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:43 pm

I always thought the original NES system was the best. That being said, my favorite old school Nintendo NES games are as follows:
Mario Bros. 3
Mario Bros. 1
Solstice
Loopz
Pyramid
Friday the 13th

My favorite Nintendo 64 Games:
Diddy Kong Racing
Pool
Monopoly

My favorite computer Games:
The Sims
The Sims 2

Beastball · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 6:45 pm

I'll agree that the NES was the best too. I certainly played more games on that system than any other one. I still remember my introduction to the NES...it was November in 1986 and my friend brings over this gaming system with a weird/funny name. I really hadn't played that much of home systems up to then and didn't think they were that good compared to the Arcades.
But when Steve plugged the NES in and turned on Super Mario Bros., I was blown away and instantly hooked! Arcade quality graphics in a home system! WOW! I HAD to get one of my own! I bought many games, but rented so many more for the NES. I still have it in storage, in perfect working condition and most of the games, too.

Sure, after that, I got the SNES, Playstation, and a Saturn...but with each new system I seemed to play less and less. I guess my interest in gaming waned and now I only play what few games I have, on my computer...and not too often either.

skorch · **Joined:** Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:21 am **Posts:** 352

I think the NES was the first system to show people that arcade quality graphics could be done on a home game console because before that they were always a couple of steps behind.
The nice thing about technological advancement is most if not all of these old games can be played on your computer using an emulator and game ROMs.

Beastball · **Posted:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:32 pm

Yeah, I have the arcade, NES, SNES, and SEGA emulators for the computer too...and it was a kick to revisit those games at first, but it didn't have any lasting appeal for me. It's something I may do once in a great while. The only game I now play with any sense of regularity is the Microsoft Flight Simulator (FS9)...and it might be once a week.

Your Top 10 Arcade/Home Video Games

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