Video Game Collecting

Danger Zone the Arcade Game… sounds pretty lame for a name of a game does it not?  Well this is what Missle Command should have been.  That’s not to say Missle Command is a bad game – its not.  However a track ball just doesn’t cut it when you try to defend cities from annihilation.

This is where the perfection of Danger Zone comes in to play… you don’t control the game with a track ball.  You actually control it with a mock-anti-aircraft gun.  You would hold two controllers in your hand and you would shift the entire top of the arcade machine around.  Swing it to the left and the game screen scrolled towards the right.  Move it up and the screen scrolled down.  You basically would move the machine to target the missles, jets and other aircrafts.

This made Danger Zone a great game… unless you were a short kid like me, then you kinda got screwed.  You could never get the gun to face down far enough without being able to view the screen.  BOO!  This is what true motion controll in a videogame looks like!

The Japanese love Mad Max, and The Speed Rumbler is their answer to the movie.  Taking place in a post apocalyptic future residents from your peace loving town are kidnapped by thugs.  Using your souped up car you need to rescuse them.

The Speed Rumbler has alot going for it.  There are plenty of enemies, powerups, and fantastic music.  The tiny sprites of the men are well animated despite being nothing more than a clump of pixels.  The action is non-stop and the later levels get tough fast.

So what makes The Speed Rumbler perfect?  Let’s start with the difficulty… many gamers will never get passed the first stage, much less the second or third.  The controls of the vehicle are a little awkward at first, but if you invest proper time into it you quickly realize its very intuitive.  Most people try pressing in the direction you want to go when in reality you need to ‘curve the joystick’ in order to get a smooth transition.  Then, and only then, do physics take control of your car and you suddenly can spin around like a crazed mad man.  Also there are a bunch of tiny details in the game that are really cool.  For example, if you press in the opposite direction that your vehicle is facing your breaklights turn on… that might seem insignificant to many people, but it shows the attention to detail that Capcom took with this title.  Also the thugs are smart… real smart.  If you stop your car they will get out of theirs.  They might not chase you but they will definately shoot at you.  Hop back into your car and they’ll do the same.  Drive off and they’ll run to their cars!  Capcom could have taken plenty of short cuts with The Speed Rumbler, and for that and it’s difficulty this game is perfect!

Moon Patrol.  I cannot think of another videogame home or arcade that has the simplistic depth that this game has.  Let’s start with the graphics.  It has one of the weirdest color pallettes..  Black Sky?  Check.  Distant Bluih-Grey mountains? Um ok.  Green neon hills? Ok sure.  Orange moon dirt?  Works for me.  Despite the weird colors resembling no moon that I know of, Moon Patrol’s colors and graphics have an out of this world feel to them.  The parallax scrolling makes for great visuals and how the buggy’s tires hug the terrain is a cool effect.  Even when it jumps over a rock in slow motion you can “feel” the gravity.

A simple color swap could have made this game located in the southwest:

Utah “Canyon Lands”:

But “Grand Canyon Patrol” doesn’t sound fun at all.  But Moon Patrol does, so kudos to Irem for making the right call on this.

So what makes Moon Patrol perfect?  Well for starters you have to avoid and shoot down alien space craft, while avoiding craters, small rocks, large rocks, and more craters that the aliens will blow up infront of you.  You also have check points that you’re competing against in time.  Also, the Atari 2600 port is reasonable and has some of the best box art ever:

One other cool thing to note… the Moon Patrol, made by Irem has similiar music to Kung-Fu Master – Also by Irem.

Atari 2600 Version Of Moon Patrol:

Arcade Version of Moon Patrol:

The RoboCop franchise is perfect for making a plot to a video game.  And the arcade version has everything!  The plot follows the movie but there are extra enemies and ‘bosses’.  Plus you fight Ed209, so what could be better?

The RoboCop arcade game is one of the few rare examples of a movie making a great videogame.  We all know most suck and many of the home ports of RoboCop (particularlly RoboCop 2 on NES) are garbage.  But not this one.  Even with the HotDog’s that the ED209 shoots (see the picture aove)  it’s still perfect!

Commando is great on so many levels.  It’s fast.  It’s violent (not really), and it’s non-descriptive enemy leads you to believe you’re fighting against what ever enemy you want… the Nazi’s, the Viet-cong, or even an HOA.  (Yes I know that you are dropped off in a helicopter so the likelihood of fighting Nazi’s is slim).  The controls are simple: Kill and Kill faster:  bullet, grenade.  There is also this urgency, perhaps its the music, that forces you to keep charging forward.

So what makes this a perfect game?  It’s a simple war game.  There is only one war game I can think of that is simpler (which I’ll cover later).  But Commando definitely inspired future games including a few titles from Capcom’s rival SNK.

Most people would remember the Nintendo Version of Gradius, or even the VS. Gradius game more than the true blue arcade game.  Both are essentially the same with the ‘arcade’ version having a better color pallette and better music.

Gradius is perfect because of the powerup system.  Instead of being forced to take on what ever powerup is floating around you can choose the powerup that you want.  That doesn’t seem like a big deal now but back then it was pretty unique.  Also, the Gradius theme is one of the most highly recognized themes so even that is an accomplishment of perfection!

I’ve already said a bunch about the Popeye videogame and you can read everything I’ve written including my abandonded attempt to get the world record by clicking the Popeye link of this site.

What makes Popeye perfect?  It’s one of the first licensed franchises that had any reasonable success.  It’s also a clone of Pac-man in spirit, but its so radically different yet all together the same.  It also features gratuitous violence, yet you can play it infront of your grandparents and not be embarrassed!  Movies and television shows being converted to games usually suck, but Popeye proves it can be done!

Rush ‘N Attack is a perfect example of what a video game should be!  Back in the 1980′s destroying the Soviet Union was big business in the movies and on television so it makes sense that it was only a matter of time until a game company took advantage of this!

Known everywhere else as Green Beret, Rush ‘N Attack was an obvious play on words.  In the politically correct world we live in now NO game company could get away with using a title like this in a game.  Can you imagine the fallout (no pun intended) if Call Of Duty was called Iraq Attack?  Anyways let’s get back to the 1980′s.

Stabbing Pinko’s for 25 cents then grabbing their bazooka and vaporizing them is in the Constitution.  Well… at least in the constitution of the drug store arcade where I used to play it.

So what makes Rush ‘N Attack a perfect game?  Well political slant aside the stabbing action felt unique at the time.  Raping the skulls of the enemies with a sharp blade in their motherland didn’t just provoke aggression it the tender young minds of the kids who played the game but it also sub-consciously reminded them that the U.S.S.R was evil.  In Rush ‘N Attack ‘Game Over’ meant the Russians were 25 cents richer!

When my mother was still alive she would go to a hair dresser three or four times a year.  The actual salon changed locations frequently but eventually it was located by a 7-Eleven that had three games: Bubble Bobble, RoboCop, and Assault.

Sitting next to those two games Assault looked like something from the future.  It was a simple tank game with two controllers.  Push both controllers forward and you moved forward, pull both back and you went backwards.  One up and one down would rotate left or right.  Since the ground rotated under you, your tank would always face forward.  Push both sticks to the left or the right and your tank would barrel roll.  Push both controllers together and the tank would angle back on its back treads allowing you to shoot a little further but remain vulnerable for attack.  But when you pushed both sticks apart your tank would FLY UP – the ground would zoom away from you giving you the illusion of altitude… Then you start blasting away and then… DROP NUKES!

So what makes Assault a perfect game?  Intuitive controls – sure they have been used in other tank games but they were always implemented in ‘serious’ tank games like… Battle Tank.  To have it in this space themed run and gun and to be able to do acrobatics with it brought Assault to a new dimension.  Also the rotation and scaling of the environment worked very well.  It would be a few years before we saw this effect in games all the time (SNES) but to see it in the arcade was awesome!

Do not play Assault without Nachos and a Big Gulp.

Remember Turbo?  Probably not.  Unless you lived during the golden age of arcades you’ve never seen this game before, and you probably never will.

Turbo is cool.  It pre-dates Pole Position.  It wasn’t so much as a racing game as it was a racing experience.  Pedals, shifter, steering wheel, but also an LED display of speed and other gauges on the cabinet.  Welcome to the future of racing!

Sadly, all those extras increased the mortality rate of Turbo.  The machine was often broken.  The guts of the machine have been described as a rat’s nest of wires and components.  So even if you were lucky enough to encounter the game, to have it up and running would be a crap-shoot.  I only remember seeing it at the arcade of the Paddle Wheel Casino here in Las Vegas about 27 years ago.

So what makes Turbo perfect?  For starters this game had a driving obstacle I have rarely seen in any game since… during the course of the race an ambulance would creep up behind you and speed by, lights and siren blaring!  Also, there was a tunnel obstacle.  Visibility would get limited, and the headlights of your car would snap on!  These extra details intersecting the age of this game made it a masterpiece.

During the Classic Gaming Expo in 2010 in Las Vegas, the prototype version of Turbo was made available for play.  Full details on this interesting port can be viewed here: http://atariprotos.com/2600/software/turbo/turbo.htm