Ah yes. Double dribble… and the slam dunk shown in black and white in maybe 4 frames.

I hated that slow slam dunk series of frames: they took forever and just slowed down the game.

They had a “Snafu” like game for graphic calculators. It’s how I got through high school math. Personally, I liked tetris. I’d play it on my gameboy for HOURS. I mean, I’m good.

Another good one is Frogger, but the best thing about Frogger is you get to play it every day in real life… especially on Shabbas trying [not] to hit the Jews walking to shul.

I’d hate to start a Tetris war that doesn’t involve me — wait, yes, I would — but The Princess could beat the pants off you in Gameboy Tetris.

You left off combat…quite possibly the best atari game of all time. I mean, goddamn, I’m 10 years younger than you and I love the game. Shame on you for leaving it out.

Actually, if I were to add one more game it would have been Metroid. You were probably too young for that one, too.

A friend of my just made a trip to his hometown and found his old nintendo and all the games and brought them back. Needless to say I’ve been dominating Dr. Mario and Super Tecmobowl a lot lately.

You should host Flashback Video Game Night and we could play all these games. I’m pretty sure I used to suck at Tecmo Bowl, though.

What about Blades of Steel?

Bergle and I not only have a Playstation 2 AND a Sega Dreamcast with all the Super-Nintendo games… but we ALSO have an original 64-bit Nintendo that ACTUALLY works.

Favorite game of all time: The Legend of Zelda. The Original.

No Atari though.

I remember all my friends being into Zelda but I found it boring.

The Princess and I are the only people to have hated the movie Crash and the book The Kite Runner. Sometimes I wonder if I’m in that Twilight Zone episode where I’m normal and everyone else is strange or if it’s the other way around.

I was never a big video game guy, prefering foosball and pinball to digital entertainment. However, not only was I alive when Intellivision went under, but I remember my next door neighbors had the Colecovision…and that thing just ruled.

I can’t remember anyone said — or wrote — the word Colecovision. I never played it but, like 8-track tapes, I know it used to exist.

I had an intelevision. I LOVED Frogger (b/c Average Jane and I needed one more link between us), and I used to play some battleship type game, and then a game called Shark! Loved it.

So are you saying there’s no interest in the Guitar Hero tournament?!

After getting schooled two weeks ago in LA by my cousin’s eight-year-old daughter in Guitar Hero, I think I’ll pass.

All I can recall about childhood and video games (I was a pinball girl mostly) was the fact that my dad would never give up the joystick to Pole Position even when my sister and I were waiting for a turn and my mother was yelling at him to ‘let the kids play one game!’

I’m so old I’ve played Blip. Yes, Blip.

When I was reading your comment I mentally read “pinball girl” as “pinup girl”. I blame you.

I’m going to be that dad when I have kids.

Rad Racer. 3-D glasses that never worked. Intense thumb pain from overplay.

Never heard of it…sounds painful, though.

My husband has the old school Tecmo Bowl all set up if you want to come over and play!

I had an Atari as a kid, even though by the mid 80s it was totally out of date.

I think we should definitely have a game night and we could all play old school games and watch me win at everything.

I loved NHL ‘94! That was before they decided to make the game too realistic. You could do almost whatever you wanted on the ice in that game (well within the possibilities of Sega’s graphics), it was fun. I also like playing Contra on Nintendo emulators (or the real thing when I have the occasion to use it) now. I was a big fan of NBA Jam.

And about Tetris. Everyone thinks they’re good at Tetris, it’s like Ping Pong, but I’m actually good at it. (Love the 2-player versions.)

Very good observation, but I readily admit I’m not good at Tetris; but I kick ass at ping pong.

Um, College Grad, Sir, I actually AM good at ping pong, ask Arjewtino. And everyone else I beat that night at HH. (Yes, INPY, that is the same night I brought brisket to the bar). And, I am AMAZING at Tetris.

Arjewtino just wants to see me and The Princess in a tetris grudge match. I’d have a hard time kicking the ass of someone I love so much, though.

Anyone else want in on this Tetris grudge match?

There was one way to ensure that even the worst novice Tecmo Super Bowl players could win, be the Raiders, use Bo Jackson… he was un-tackleable.

But I still long for the days of the movie The Wizard, with Fred Savage. I remember how insanely pumped I was to see the debut of Super Mario 3 at VIDEO ARMAGEDDON!!!

I need to find that movie on DVD…

I remember how unstoppable Bo Jackson was, in real life and in Tecmo Bowl; it almost wasn’t fair.

Interesting timing. Just yesterday, I put in a bid on Ebay for a working (supposedly) Nintendo Entertainment System with Super Mario Brothers and Zelda included. Main reason: for all those beautiful summer days I wasted inside playing the Legend of Zelda as a kid, I never beat it. Horribly sad, I know. I never got a hold of the complete Triforce and I never saw the princess. Having lost my NES in a family move nearly two decades ago, I have yet to truly let it go. Sometimes you’ve got to finish what you’ve started, regardless of how much time has passed or how inconsequential the accomplishment.

That is a beautifully written and poignant comment, Chad. Almost doesn’t belong on my blog.

I’m actually much better at Dr. Mario on my Gameboy (which I got about 3 years ago). I have a hard time beating level 20, but I’ve done it. Still, my most favoritest games are Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3. Two was pretty crap.

For the record, also: You liked the Wii. Buy me one!

This is how I know you’re not The Princess: you didn’t brag about your Burger Time prowess.

oops, I really am the princess

I really have to go with Pitfall as one of the best Atari games.

Also, am I the only one that remembers/owned the Karate Kid game for Nintendo.

I loved Pitfall, which you can still play at Velvet on U St.

I played that Karate Kid game; it sucked.

I played Atari in the mid-80s and I vaguely remember 1 game. It was a racing game and the sky would change colors depending on the race. It was awesome. Maybe it was the original Rad Racer? Or am I confusing that with Nintendo?

Thanks for the nostalgic trip back. Kids these days have it easy with their video games. I remember how you occasionally had to blow air in the old Nintendo cartridges to get them to work. I can remember getting red in the face just trying to get Mario Bros working. Just try to explain that to a kid now.

There was definitely a science to blowing into the Nintendo cartridges, you had to do it just right. There was also a way to lower the cartridge into the system by bouncing it up and down a few times.

I want in on Tetris grudge matches! Although are we playing on a PC or like Nintendo? The switch might be interesting. I’m so used to my arrow keys or WASD controls.

Jo, I played a racing game called Endurance for Atari 2600, and you raced at night, on the ice, and during the day. I think it was an Activision game, so you got a free t-shirt if you got a certain score. I spent hours at that game, and when I finally beat the threshhold and had mom take the picture of the screen, the lighting was too dark to see my score when we got the pictures back from photo-mat. Be sure to drink your ovaltine.

Adventure for Atari was my game of choice. You search a castle for keys that unlock doors, navigate through catacombs (sometimes while in the dark), slay dragons, and look for the urn which must be taken back through the castle gate. Primitive graphics and a simple joystick with one red button, I couldn’t get enough of it!

Geez, I think I played every game mentioned in here so far, on every system (Donkey Kong Jr on the Colecovision was awesome), and then some. But we had what I think is the best gaming machine ever made: the Commodore 64. We had a working one, with like 100 games, right up until I graduated college. Then my parents moved and they got rid of it. That was depressing.

The cartridge-blowing trick was originally an Atari thing.

Arj, if you watch Episode II, in the scene in the beginning where they’re the cantina, the screens in the background show what is basically an updated version of Cyberball being played, ESPN-Zone style. I remember it specifically because it reminded me of the arcade game.

I hate to correct you and I may be wrong, but I think the “secret” Contra code was up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-select-start. Yes, I was (and still am) a dork.

I was also a huge fan of Contra and Sega’s NHL ‘94. Nintendo’s Blades of Steel was also pretty good, but it couldn’t compare to Sega’s game.

I thought it was up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-A-B-A-select-start

Damnit. I need to research before I type.

Glad to see I’m not the only one who misses old games. I spent loads of time playing with my cousins’ Atari (I didn’t own one, sniff). I loved Frogger and the one with the planes that shot down asteroids…. What was that called?

Oh, and I still miss one game that came in my very first computer. It was called “Digger”. Know what I’m talking about?

There was this tank game on Intellivision ….loved it.

Thanks for the memories. (not to mention Contra STILL being bad ass

I rocked at Metroid and Mario. The best game for Nintendo had to be this little known gem called ‘Noah’s Ark’.
Words can’t describe its awesomeness. Basically, you were Noah and you had to run around and get 2 of every animal and put them on the ark. It was tricky!

Many a fight broke out between me and my brother over ‘Double Dribble’ - especially since I was convinced his controller was “rigged” (for some reason the team going right-to-left made every single three pointer).

I loved the slo-mo dunk, as it gave you time to taunt your opponent and rest your cramped fingers.

Remember the good old days before Lil’ John, when “skeet” was just something you shot on Duck Hunt? Shit, I miss being wholesome.

OH!
As soon as I read the title I said “OH! Contra!”
You cheater - That’s how you got infinite lives!
I loved loved loved that game. So good at it too.

Just saw this magazine in a store last week.

You can engage in all kinds of retarded debates about Intellivision vs. Atari 5600 here

http://www.retrogamer.net/