177 replies to this topic

[DaveD]

Pengo. I remember it showing up at the local Go Bananas arcade sometime in the fall/winter. I liked the game and once again I think it was the music that really attracted me to it. I associate that game with Mr. Do, Circus Charlie and Donkey Kong Jr. as all those titles were clustered next to each other if my memory serves.

Edited by DaveD, Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:34 AM.

[retrorussell]

Don't think I've been to that one (Cream 'n Machine) during my time in the state of Washington.. I only went to arcades in Vancouver and Federal Way/Auburn areas. My mom lived in Vancouver for about 3 years or so and I visited her off and on, going to Aladdin's Castle at the mall and Space Gang Pizza's arcade off of Mill Plain, and I moved to Federal Way for 3 years, where I'd usually play at the Gold Mine in the Sea-Tac mall and at various bowling alleys and skating rinks.

Edited by retrorussell, Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:56 PM.

[retrorussell]

DaveD, on Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:33 AM, said:

Pengo. I remember it showing up at the local Go Bananas arcade sometime in the fall/winter. I liked the game and once again I think it was the music that really attracted me to it. I associate that game with Mr. Do, Circus Charlie and Donkey Kong Jr. as all those titles were clustered next to each other if my memory serves.

Am I the only one that never saw a cabinet with the "Popcorn" music? The first time I played it on MAME I got the rom with the "Popcorn" music, and I thought, WTF?

[retrorussell]

OK, next one:

PAC-LAND, 1984 Namco/Bally-Midway

Once in a while, a franchise will get thrown in an entirely different direction with a really different game concept than its predecessors. Often it doesn't seem to work, as we witnessed the abominations Baby Pac-Man and Professor Pac-Man. This time, Pac-Man gets an adventure game without a linear maze, based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. And it works rather well. You still face the ghosts, but in more life-like settings, such as neighborhoods, forests, deserts, etc. And the ghosts drive cars, fly planes, jump on pogo sticks, etc. Pac-Man gets some upgrades too, picking up protective helmets and super-jump boots and there's all sorts of cool secrets to uncover. And at the end of each neighborhood setting Ms. Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man and your pets are waiting for you as you arrive home. Really cute game!

I'm pretty sure I first saw this in Vancouver, WA at Aladdin's Castle at the Vancouver Mall.. what a huge mall! And what a great arcade.. not SUPER huge but IIRC you got 6 tokens for a buck!

[Madaracs]

The Pizza Factory in Farmington, MN (now long gone.) My dad gave me two quarters. One for the jukebox and one for Donkey Kong. I picked, "I Love a Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbit. I died on the first board in DK.

That's my first real memory of playing a video game. Though I'm sure I played Asteroids or Space Invaders prior to that.

[DaveD]

I don't think I ever encountered a Pac-Land in the wild. MAME was probably my first time I realized it existed.

[theloon]

I'm pretty sure I was at a Chuck E Cheese as a kid when I saw Pac-Land. The owners must have collected Pac related games as I also remember seeing Pac Man Plus and Baby Pac Man (The Mini Pinball/Arcade Game Thing)

Didn't actually play the game until much later in life. Sadly, in my opinion, no big loss there.

[Raiu]

In order...

I believe I saw Mappy at the Chuck E. Cheese in Northeast Philadelphia PA (which I believe is still there - the Chuck E. Cheese, not the game), but I never played it "in the wild".

Like some others here, I first played "Bagitman" on the Commodore 64, and I've still never seen it as an actual arcade machine.

I first saw an arcade Venture cabinet at a bowling alley that I can't remember the name of (and, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen it anywhere else), but I'd played the Colecovision version at my friend's house long before that. (I never actually played the arcade machine, thanks to my mom not giving me money for the arcade).

MakeTrax... I think I first saw this at the second PhillyClassic. (I miss that show, but I haven't lived in Philly since 2004)

I'd never even heard of Warrior until this thread.

For Pengo, see Bag(it)man above. Exact same situation. I liked Pengo a lot better than Bagitman, though.

Finally, I first saw Pac-Land at Champions arcade in the Roosevelt Mall. (It later changed its name to Challenges and replaced a lot of machines with skeeball, then moved next door to its previous location, then went out of business) I don't think I played it there.

I've played just about all of these games on MAME since.

-DS-

[Crazy Climber]

Pac Land was at Chuck e Cheese, played it once, didn't like it.

[Madaracs]

Venture: Troy Hattlestad's ColecoVision in Lakeville, MN. Incidentally, they had the only ColecoVision in the neighborhood. Don't think I've ever played the Atari version.

Never saw a pac-land.

Edited by Madaracs, Thu Aug 5, 2010 9:52 AM.

[hhwolfman]

Mappy was at Malibu Grand Prix, Early 80's, San Anotnio
Pengo The Castle Early 80s San Antonio

The other two can't remember. HHW

[roadrunner]

I didn't know about Bagitman for the C64. I'm gonna have to try that one out.

[yuppicide]

Oh! I definitely remember that music. There were a few places I saw Pengo (can't remember where), but one was super speed. Both had that crazy music.

retrorussell, on Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:55 PM, said:

DaveD, on Mon Jul 26, 2010 9:33 AM, said:

Pengo. I remember it showing up at the local Go Bananas arcade sometime in the fall/winter. I liked the game and once again I think it was the music that really attracted me to it. I associate that game with Mr. Do, Circus Charlie and Donkey Kong Jr. as all those titles were clustered next to each other if my memory serves.

Am I the only one that never saw a cabinet with the "Popcorn" music? The first time I played it on MAME I got the rom with the "Popcorn" music, and I thought, WTF?

[Saldo]

Getting in a bit late on this.....

Warrior - I remember this one from the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ
Pengo - I would say the Dream Machine in the South Hills Mall in Poughkeepsie, NY

The others I don't recall ever seeing:

Mappy
Bagman
Make Trax
Venture - Have it for the 2600 got it back in the day
Pac-Land - Seen it in MAME. 1984 I was a freshman in college and was probably the start of the end of my days of hanging out in the arcades. I needed money for more important things like beer and
hanging out in bars!

[Saldo]

retrorussell, on Sat Jul 17, 2010 1:35 PM, said:

I suppose I should probably post a pic with each game from here on out.
WARRIOR

Rus - pics are a good idea. When you first posted Warrior I had no clue what game it was until you threw up the pic. I suppose looking the game up in Mame would work, but it is nice to have the pic right there on the post.

- Sal

[7800Lover]

Pengo is a game I ran across in Italy. Played it a few times...nothing special.

I remember Pac-Land. A local arcade in Eden, NC had it.

[retrorussell]

Next game: Mr. Do!'s Castle

I first saw this one at my local 7-11 in Portland's Garden Home district. I used to collect cans at home and bring them for cash and get candy, soda and of course, quarters. I think Donkey Kong 3 was the other game there at the time. I was never very good at Mr. Do's Castle and greatly prefer the first one and Do! Run Run.

[Chuck D. Head]

Mr. Do's Castle replaced Mr. Do at the Jantzen Beach Mall arcade (Portland) and I was sorely disappointed with the trade. This was when the arcade was just on the south side of the merry-go-round. This was a pretty solid arcade back in the day and we would ride our bikes from Ridgefield to go there, probably 18 miles. Looking back, I suppose Mr. Do's Castle was probably a conversion kit for a Mr Do cabinet, eh? Morgan

[DaveD]

Mr. Do's Castle made an appearance at Go Bananas arcade, a local favorite where I discovered many a game back in the day. I recall seeing it for the first time and only being moderately interested in it, the same as my reaction toward all Mr Do games. After all, Mr Do was a clown and clowns are just weird and creepy. No amount of Dig Dug rip-off (even a good rip-off) would change my mind about a creepy clown. I remember it being a new game and there was no line to play it so naturally I gave it a shot. Meh. At that time there were so many different kinds of games a game like Mr Do's Castle just wasn't good enough in my book to warrant spending my heard-earned allowance on. That would have been right around the same time Blaster, Major Havoc, and Q*Bert would have been competing for my quarters. Mr. Do had no chance.

[dafivehole]

retrorussell, on Mon Jun 21, 2010 2:54 AM, said:

Next game:
MAKE TRAX, 1981 Williams/Kural Samno

At first appearance this game seemed like a cheap knock-off of Pac-Man, but the enemy (2 goldfish!) was smart enough to make things challenging. One of the better Pac-Man knockoffs (though I liked Lock 'N Chase better). I first saw this, I think, at either Electric Castle's Wunderland in NE Portland or Chuck E. Cheese in either Beaverton or Vancouver.

This game was also called Crush Roller (usually licensed to Exidy) and as Magic Brush.

Kind of late on this post but I first saw (and played) MAKE TRAX at the arcade in Canada's Wonderland (just north of Toronto)... to this day, I remember that as the best arcade ever (to me anyway)

Roger

[RJ]

Saw Mr Do's Castle 2 yrs back at a Halloween pumpkin farm off Mn Hwy 36, was marked out of order. It wasnt there this year.

[Armonigann]

Today's not Monday.. and I only wish I saw Mappy in the arcades. . Fun as hell on the NES multicarts and the Jakks though

[retrorussell]

Next game:

LOOPING, Venture Line 1982

This might actually get more recognition for its Colecovision port. I remember the maze of pipes and the THE END area being a complete bitch. I could never turn tight enough to avoid crashing.

I saw this back at Wunderland I believe, in NE Portland. I saw a number of obscure titles there.
[img]http://http://www.ggdb.com/img/ggdb/vol1/1572_3_th_sc.jpg[/img]

[DE2600]

Out of all the games listed I have only played Venture. Great game, I played it at a local pizza joint.

[jboypacman]

This is a great topic to do every week!