Uncle DT's Random Image Thread

[Kruger]

My friend had Indy 500 with those special controllers that looked identical to the paddles except there wasn't a stopper.  You could spin the thing forever in one direction.  While we accidentally tried using the paddles and realized pretty quickly that those weren't right, I wish we "accidentally" tried the driving controllers on Super Breakout to see what happened...

[Blaze]

I think the driving paddles were digital where I know the tennis controllers used a potentiometer because I remember replacing some after totally wearing out the carbon. Didn't the 5200 or 7800 controller stick rotate...?

[Kruger]

Maybe the 7800?  The 5200 didn't as far as I can remember.  I also remember those 5200 joysticks really sucked.  They had mushy feedback and no distinct eight directions.  But the game graphics were soooo much better it was easier to overlook that one aspect...

[Blaze]

They were also like the ColecoVision controllers. That design was awful as it would just totally fatigue your thumb and cramp your hand. But the worst one I've used were these. I have no idea what the engineers and designers were even thinking...

[Kruger]

Oh I never got to play on an Intellivision, but I figured those controllers were kind of like the D-pad, but just without the tactile feedback...

[Blaze]

That controller was a disc that you would rotate your thumb around. I think it had like 16 direction points. It also acted like one of the buttons where you could push it. It had a higher than normal learning curve too. You also had two buttons on either side of the controller, plus all those number pads. Trying to push those side buttons, find a direction, pushing the buttons and hoping things would just work was frustrating. I mean, it did work well if you were playing baseball or Frog Bog, but it was still a pain...

[Kruger]

That's why the VCS joystick was used across so many platforms, it's classic, easy to use, and requires no instructions.  It just works.  Until you're getting ready to roll over Asteroids and your hand craps at the worst moment...

(After proofreading it I was going to make a correction but I think that word works just as well as the one that I originally intended...)

[Blaze]

The first game I ever rolled over was Missile Command. I think it took almost 8 hours. And I hate it too when my hand craps at the worse possible moment...

[Kruger]

Now I also remember solving Indiana Jones once someone told me a couple of secrets that I was missing...

[Blaze]

I remember grinding Indian Jones until I finished it. I also remember playing E.T. and it totally deserved the amount of hate thrown at it...

[Kruger]

You will get disagreement here on E.T.  While the game has some horrible flaws, it was for the most part a decent game.  If he had more than just a couple of months to develop it, and get those little annoyances worked out, it would have ended up being a classic.  I don't think it deserves the hate that it gets. 

Now one game that was truly horrible was Custer's Revenge.  My neighbor had that and as an adolescent it was fun.  But in reality, nope, the gameplay was worse than E.T.  Of course that neighbor was the one that had his older brother's stash of Playboys, Hustlers, and Penthouse...

[Blaze]

All I remember was constantly falling into those pits. And the developer was given 5 weeks to complete the game, which should have been around 7-8 months. Saying E.T. is a good game only because it was done in such a short time is like saying the chicken cordon bleu you ordered is really good despite it being half raw. It could have been good and I'm only judging based on what I played, not what it could have been. I felt a bit ripped off...

(I had to find that Custer's Revenge - what an absolutely silly game. It's crude in both its design and graphics)

[Kruger]

Naww, it's nothing like how you described.  Other than those damn pits, the gameplay was surprisingly complex.  It's a lot like the Indiana Jones game in that you play the title character and need to find all of the pieces of your phone while avoiding the secret agents that want to kidnap you.  If I'm remembering correctly, Elliot was also around to help out in some places.  But those damned pits were worse than the pits in the Indiana game, but once you realize that you can't exit them to the right, you at least don't endlessly fall into the same pit over and over...

[Blaze]

I fired up the game again to see if maybe I'm remembering it wrong. Nope. In fact, it's even more infuriating than I remember. Oh, I just got captured by the FBI agent and taken to that "jail" screen. Move to the left or up or right and oh look, I fell into a pit. Great. Get out of the pit, run away from the agent moving to a new screen and I'm in a pit. Push the button to flip the screen and move to another screen and back in the pit again. It's a strange game. The only winning move is not to play...

[Kruger]

Maybe it's me that isn't remembering correctly.  I do remember those pits were annoying as all hell.  But I also remember finishing it on more than one occasion and figuring out how to avoid the pits depending on what screen you're on.  Maybe my pre-teen and adolescence childhood had a little masochistic streak.  Anyway, the Indiana game was pretty similar and had a much better pit experience...