There’s a thread over at Faster than the World that is asking what people’s favorite old arcade video game was. Naturally I said “Robotron 2084.”
Robotron 2084 was one of the simplest, but most engaging games ever. Two joysticks: left one was for moving, right one was for shooting. Then they just filled the screen with various robots, and you started running and shooting. The frantic pace of the game meant that you’d be cranking on those joysticks so hard that you could get tennis elbow if you played for too long. And of course you’d work up a righteous sweat.
I consider it part of my parental duty to educate my kids on the classics. Part of a sacred trust. So here’s my daughter several years ago: she wasn’t allowed to go outside and play until she put in her time.
Old school, baby, old school.
January 15, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Dude, that’s awesome. Iused to think one of the virtues of adulthood would be getting a standup video game right in my house. Alas, twas not to be.
um, can I come over to your house and play?
January 15, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Heh. I got a Flash pinball machine as well.
Life, she is good.
January 15, 2007 at 10:48 pm
geoff, where did you set up your machines in your new place? Down in the den?
January 15, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Haven’t gotten to that yet. Basement or sun room, I’d guess.
January 16, 2007 at 10:51 am
I’m putting five bucks on ‘basement.’
January 16, 2007 at 1:17 pm
There’s that word again.
“basement”
January 16, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Hey, hey, hey. In*mY* house, when I say I want to put my Robotron machine somewhere, I get to put it wherever she says I can. And that’s final.
January 16, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Robotron was in my top 4 back in the day. The rest were Phoenix, Dig Dug and Galaga.
My 360 takes up a lot less room.
January 16, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Lucky!
January 18, 2007 at 10:25 pm
*Intruder Alert!*
I got Mrs. Geezer a game for her Nintendo DS Lite; it has Dig Dug, Mrs. Pac Man, Galaga, Galaxian and Pole Position on it.
I got Gears of War from Flyin’ Brian for my 360. Haven’t tried it yet.
March 7, 2007 at 2:06 am
Awesome Zombie Shooting Game
For those of us who don’t have a Robotron 2084 machine in our basements, there’s the oddly titled Boxhead: More Rooms. Think Smash TV with zombies and more strategery. You’ll want to block out at least an hour before you…
March 12, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Best game ever. When I was 12, we could pop a quarter into that thing and go for about an hour — or we could crash and burn in 5 minutes if we got in a bad screen. Another great thing was the “bad call” factor — at least twice a game, because of the sheer volume of fire, you’d swear a shot went right through a ‘bot, or you’d swear you missed the thing but it blew up anyway. Robotron for PS2 (from the Midway Classics disk, IIRC) was almost as good if you configured the sticks correctly.