Skimming through the issue I saw many products I recalled from the period; not just the major consoles and home PCs, but the more obscure second tier of third-party products: games by Imagic, Epyx, or Activision, and peripherals like the deluxe Wico controllers, which cost nearly as much as the Atari 2600s they were marketed for.
It's other products that honestly surprised me: ads and articles for things that I'd forgotten had ever existed:
Spectravideo SV-318. While I could never have remembered the specific maker or model number, the SV-318 is in fact something I recall: an MSX: those Microsoft-standardized 80s clones before there were clones. Popular nearly everywhere but the USA (where they were perpetually almost ready to break out, big) they were often referenced but seldom seen here.
Bally Astrocade. Released between the era of Pong and the 2600, it was powerful enough to become one of the home gaming epoch's true cult items even without memorable game titles available. Sort of the Vectrex before there was a Vectrex. I don't remember ever seeing a review of anything written for it.
Private School ...for girls, a film which shamelessly traded on its use of Fast Times elements, foregrounded by Phoebe Cates in her cherry-pattern leotard. If you're able to look at the rest of the ad, you can find plugs for the soundtrack artists (Rick Springfield! Stray Cats!) and even an also-starring turn from Mr. Hand himself. I saw the film once on HBO, and today I can only recall the Harry Nilsson theme song.*
The Mattel Aquarius computer. All of the major three game consoles wanted to get into Apple // turf, and this was the Intellivision entry. Atari scrapped their 2600 computer before release, but Aquarius lasted a robust four months on the market.
CVC Gameline. This one was a real surprise, and became even more surprising when I learned the scope of its ambition. Streamed games at 1200 BPS. In 1983!
But maybe the cover story about Miner 2049er is the real outlier. Not that I'd forgotten about exactly, but I haven't thought much about it in a very long time. I never owned it on any of its contemporary platforms -- I was a Lode Runner guy -- and while Miner was certainly a big title in its day and survives in the collective memory, EG's coverage of it seems well out of proportion: not only an in-depth piece about its lead programmer, Bill Hogue, but also two different praise-heavy reviews/strategy guides.
What's interesting about the coverage is that this was early in the home gaming lifecycle, before even common terms like 'platformer' were coined. So EG runs through extensive vocabulary to describe a look and feel that, let's face it, was one hell of a lot like seminal platformer Donkey Kong. And maybe that's why Miner seems so far removed from me; it was just another derivative game in an era laden with them.
Until writing this I can't recall the last time I thought about Cannonball Blitz or Jumpman, either.
* From the album that launched his "self-destruction" phase, of course.
Spectravideo SV-318. While I could never have remembered the specific maker or model number, the SV-318 is in fact something I recall: an MSX: those Microsoft-standardized 80s clones before there were clones. Popular nearly everywhere but the USA (where they were perpetually almost ready to break out, big) they were often referenced but seldom seen here.
Bally Astrocade. Released between the era of Pong and the 2600, it was powerful enough to become one of the home gaming epoch's true cult items even without memorable game titles available. Sort of the Vectrex before there was a Vectrex. I don't remember ever seeing a review of anything written for it.
Private School ...for girls, a film which shamelessly traded on its use of Fast Times elements, foregrounded by Phoebe Cates in her cherry-pattern leotard. If you're able to look at the rest of the ad, you can find plugs for the soundtrack artists (Rick Springfield! Stray Cats!) and even an also-starring turn from Mr. Hand himself. I saw the film once on HBO, and today I can only recall the Harry Nilsson theme song.*
The Mattel Aquarius computer. All of the major three game consoles wanted to get into Apple // turf, and this was the Intellivision entry. Atari scrapped their 2600 computer before release, but Aquarius lasted a robust four months on the market.
CVC Gameline. This one was a real surprise, and became even more surprising when I learned the scope of its ambition. Streamed games at 1200 BPS. In 1983!
But maybe the cover story about Miner 2049er is the real outlier. Not that I'd forgotten about exactly, but I haven't thought much about it in a very long time. I never owned it on any of its contemporary platforms -- I was a Lode Runner guy -- and while Miner was certainly a big title in its day and survives in the collective memory, EG's coverage of it seems well out of proportion: not only an in-depth piece about its lead programmer, Bill Hogue, but also two different praise-heavy reviews/strategy guides.
What's interesting about the coverage is that this was early in the home gaming lifecycle, before even common terms like 'platformer' were coined. So EG runs through extensive vocabulary to describe a look and feel that, let's face it, was one hell of a lot like seminal platformer Donkey Kong. And maybe that's why Miner seems so far removed from me; it was just another derivative game in an era laden with them.
Until writing this I can't recall the last time I thought about Cannonball Blitz or Jumpman, either.
* From the album that launched his "self-destruction" phase, of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment