But I had Pong. I played it by inserting a cassette into a tape recorder that was attached to a Texas Instruments computer. If it couldn't be purchased at Radio Shack we did not own it. If I wanted to play on an Atari I had to do it at a friend's house.
1. What was your favorite Atari game (if any)?
Mine: Frogger
2. What is your favorite video game (any system) of all time?
Mine: Super Mario 64
I got an Atari 2600 in 1985 (when I was 10) for cheap because, due to the "video game crash" here in the US, stores were practically giving them away by that time. It was $35 at Kmart (or it might have been Zayre), and games for it were in a big bin by the counter for $0.99 each.
"What was your favorite Atari game (if any)?"
Space Invaders I guess, with the double-shot glitch enabled. I've never found an Atari 2600 game that I think is particularly great though. Warlords is probably the most fun, but only if you have 4 players.
"What is your favorite video game (any system) of all time?"
Super Punch-Out (arcade, 1984). I played it just about every day from 1987 to 1989 at a general store downtown, and I've owned an original Super Punch-Out arcade machine since 2005. I have the highest score in the world on that game (as far as anyone knows). Here's a video of my highest scoring game:
https://youtu.be/SYbiqPDNBqU
Not that I expect anyone to watch all of that, considering it's over 2 hours long.
Zach Allard (AKA: Zallard1) has the second highest score on that game, and is probably the best and most well-known all-around Punch-Out player in the world (taking all of the games in the franchise into account). For example, he can beat the home console ones (Mike Tyson's Punch-Out - NES, Super Punch-Out - SNES, and Punch-Out - Wii) blindfolded. Here's one such video of him at Games Done Quick 2019, a semiannual charity event - https://youtu.be/Cj5Dcsr1AkQ
He recently sent me this email:
Hey there Maxim, it's been a while. I was thinking of trying to dip my toes into the possibility of edited videos for YouTube. I have an idea on exploring why the arcade games tend to be forgotten by people (I can't count the number of times where people on YouTube refer to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out as the first game in the series lol).share
I was wondering if it's at all possible if I would be able to use a photo of your cabinet as something in the video (maybe even video if you're willing to film things like the ducking pull). If not, that's totally fine, but I figure I'd ask you since you're one of the few people I know who owns their own Super Punch-Out cabinet.
If you're interested, I'd also be interested in asking you questions about your perspective on the games, since you grew up with them and still see them favorably in the series.
Wow. 😳 That's quite impressive to have the highest score in the world on something.
We'll blame my lack of Atari for my lack of similar achievements.
What Texas Instruments computer did you have? The TI-99/4A was quite popular when I was a kid (my fifth grade teacher had two of them in his classroom) due to its low price and relatively high performance. It had a cartridge slot like an Atari 2600 and other video game consoles and the games for it had much better graphics and sound than Atari 2600 games. The Tandy Color Computer line had a cartridge slot too.
shareI'm not sure. I would have to ask my dad. I don't remember it having a cartridge slot, though. If I wanted to play a video game I had to put a cassette into a tape recorder and I guess it was attached to the computer.
Tandy reminds me of another Radio Shack purchase. I never got to have the Simon game that everyone else had the brand name of. I had a Tandy brand knockoff of the Simon game. "Tandy Electronic Repeat". It was still fun though!
Games/software could be loaded onto most of the old "home computers" in various ways (by "home computer" I'm talking about the ones that had the keyboard and computer hardware together into one housing, as opposed to, e.g., the IBM PC and its clones / near clones) such as from a cassette tape, ROM cartridge, or a floppy disk. A cassette drive (which was just an ordinary tape recorder) and a floppy drive were usually add-ons, and a cartridge slot, if present, was integrated.
Most of the popular ones had a cartridge slot, such as the Commodore 64/128, Commodore VIC-20, Atari 400/800, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, Texas Instruments TRS-80/Tandy Color Computer 1, 2, and 3. The only popular one in the US that I can think of that didn't have a cartridge slot was the Apple II line.
The original TI-99/4A was very distinctive looking due to its bare metal skin and black keyboard, so if you had one of those you'd probably remember it. Here's a picture of mine:
https://i.imgur.com/FOTmTs3.png
Later ones were cheapened though, and were just all beige plastic, like this:
http://www.mainbyte.com/ti99/computers/ti99beige.html
Is there any particular reason why your father was so loyal to Radio Shack?
I honestly can't remember which model it was but for some reason I'm thinking it might have been beige plastic. It's just been too long.
I don't really know why he liked Radio Shack so much but I got dragged there a whole lot as a child when my mother wasn't dragging me to furniture stores.
I loved going to Radio Shack when I was a kid. My older brother and I would always go there first when we were at the Bangor Mall with our parents. We never bought anything there; we just liked looking at all the awesome stuff they had and playing video games for free on the computers they had set up in there.
It was way better than the fabric stores that Mom always went to. Well, when I was really young (4 or 5 years old), there was a fabric store in town called Sew & Sew that had a playhouse in the back corner with toys, books, a chalk board, a couple of school desks, and I loved going there.
Radio Shack was definitely better than the furniture stores. The kids play area in Ethan Allen became my second home for several years. 😂 I don't remember seeing kids' play areas in stores these days but then again I haven't looked.
shareAtari game: I also loved Frogger! It was my favorite arcade game and I loved playing it on the Atari also. If I had to pick another game, I'd probably choose Berzerk! I spent a lot of time playing that game also.
Favorite video game of all time: Probably Tony Hawk's Pro Skater II on the PlayStation 2. I played that game so much, I'd get physically sick and have to quit playing every now & then.
Another Frogger lover! There was just something so satisfying about getting that little frog across that river.
Your mention of getting physically sick after playing video games so much reminds me of something else. Certain first person video games give me motion sickness and I'm not able to play them.
Yes...it was fun! Also, from an "arcade point of view," it was one of the few games that one could play and get fairly far without having to pump a bunch of quarters in the machine to master it. I stunk at playing most of the "popular" games...but could usually feel like I got my quarter's worth when I played Frogger! 😀
I loved the Wii games like golf, baseball, tennis, bowling, et.al. They were a lot of fun and at least I got some actual exercise when playing those. I think part of my issues with video games is that I have an "addictive personality" in general and playing video games really fed into that. I'd play Pro Skater II for hours at a time, to a point where I wouldn't even eat or drink anything at times. Now that I'm older and fatter, I don't have that problem today! 😀
My first video game system was the Commodore 128. I got it when I was about twelve and loved it. It ran off those big old floppy discs.
Favorite games were Blue Max, Rambo, Avatar and Friday The 13th if I remember correctly.
I remember the days of floppy disks!😁
shareI have mad nostalgia for those days!
Trading floppy disc games and comic books and sports cards, Friday sleepovers and ordering pizza and playing video games all night sometimes augmented by a good round of Dungeons And Dragons or Stratego or Axis And Allies…
Damn, I wanna be twelve again😄
Ok, one has to say this....
As a very little boy, I went crazy for a new video game machine called ODYSSEY.
After about a year - one was losing interest.
Thank God.
Because I spent my teenage years doing what you should be doing, playing ball, going out with friends, chasing girls - always on the move, having a blast.
Beats sitting around playing video games.
I say this with no offense to those that enjoy video games. If this is your thing, great, good for you. So they say, to each their own......
So you were not much for video games as a teenager. What about escalators?
shareHahahahah. Do you mean in the mall?
Actually, yeah - in the mall, back in the day, the one we went to had 2 levels - and yes we used the escalator to get to the upper level.
Yeah, if video games are your thing - hey that's fine. I had the Odyssey, it may even have been called Odyssey 2 - I don't quite remember. For us, it was a big thing, for about a year. Then, instead of graduating to some other video game system - we all simply stopped playing video games.
I really believe, looking back , it was for the best. JMO.
Ok, nice chatting with you today - best wishes.
Yes the ones in the mall, or really anywhere. 😁
Since I didn't have an Atari I didn't play video games that much myself although I did enjoy them when I had the rare opportunity. I spent a lot of time playing outside though and I'm sure my life was enriched because of it. Nice chatting with you too! 😊
The Magnavox Odyssey came out in 1972 and was the first home console. It was actually analog. The Odyssey 2 came out in 1978 and was promoted in a commercial with Leonard Nimoy.
shareplay most systems
https://www.retrogames.cc/
Thanks! I'll take a look.
shareprolly doesnt play on a phone, but here is ARCADE FROGGER
https://www.retrogames.cc/arcade-games/frogger.html
We had an Atari 2600, but I wasn’t really into it. The NES is what really started my love of video games. I still have a lot of love for old school gaming. It’s impossible to pick a favorite game, there are a lot of series that I have loved.
shareArcade: Tempest
VCS/2600: Adventure