Moonwalker and Other Strange Beloved Games

[USS Triumphant]

I find myself inspired this morning to start a thread about strange, beloved arcade games that we used to love to play in the lobbies of Wal-Marts, or pizza parlors, or wherever. Not Ms. Pac-Man, or Galaga, or any of the big names. I'm talking the little-known titles, that little-known or not, we each loved to play.

For me, the one that's on my mind right now is Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, which used to be in a nearby Godfather's Pizza. The music for the game was awesome, of course, and even in demo mode with no one playing it, it kinda "rocked out" the place. And actually playing it was cool in a very surreal way - kicking butt with Michael Jackson's dance moves and trademarked ooohs and shamones.

What were yours? I'll add a couple of more later, but I wanted to start with that one.

 

[MyCylon]

I certainly remember that one as well. I loved the game and played it quite a few times with my younger brother.

I remember being disappointed that the Mega Drive / Genesis port was nothing like it. Though even that game has a weird sort of charm to it, I think.

 

[Twilight]

THE DIG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dig

Superb game.

 

[MyCylon]

^
That's one I always wanted to play but somehow never got around to for one reason or other.

 

[Mistral]

Looping. One of the early side-scrollers. You had to fly a biplane through a destructible environment-your guns hammered the scenery out of the way and you dodged through tunnels and whatnot to get to the finish line. I actually got paid to beta test it back in 82-83. Found it in the local theater soon after-freaked friends out because I was stone cold unstoppable.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Pang.

It was this game where you had to burst a series of bubbles with this harpoon. Great fun.

 

[Holdfast]

I certainly remember that one as well. I loved the game and played it quite a few times with my younger brother.

I remember being disappointed that the Mega Drive / Genesis port was nothing like it. Though even that game has a weird sort of charm to it, I think.

I thought the Mega Drive game was better. Certainly the hat/dance special move sequences were better. Also, I think the Mega Drive game had more songs than the arcade. My memory's pretty hazy on the arcade version though.

 

[MyCylon]

^
My memory's pretty hazy on both on some level . I think one of the things I simply preferred back then was that I felt the arcade game simply looked better and more stylish. I think I also preferred the isometric view which gave it more of a 3D feeling.

I'm not sure about the number of songs or the dances. You might be right there.

On a side note, I was strolling through some arcades recently. And what really struck me was how the graphics gap that used to exist in favor of the arcade machines has completely disappeared. I remember when arcade graphics were impossible to reproduce at home. How the times do change...

 

[TEH BABA]

The Seventh Guest.

 

[USS Triumphant]

The Seventh Guest.

Not an ARCADE game....

...but I'll allow it. That game was awesome.

 

[MyCylon]

^
I didn't realize it had to be arcard games since it's not stated in the thread title. But I see you mentioned in the opening post.

Can I mention "Under a Killing Moon" anyway?

 

[FlyingLemons]

SegaSonic the Hedgehog. It was at the old Segaworld in the Trocadero, but never seemed to gain widespread acceptance. It was quite enjoyable in a weird way, a sort of isometric game rather than the 2D ones featured on home consoles and featured Ray The Squirrel, a one-time only character that never appeared in any other game.

 

[TEH BABA]

Commander Keen.