donproject
1982
This is the best Pac-Man.
No joke, if I were to buy an arcade cabinet for my house, like a big man-child, it would probably be Ms. Pac-Man. If there's a cabinet at whatever dive bar I'm at, I will always put a quarter or five in. It's the perfect balance of action and aesthetics. It is a rare sequel that is better than the original. It is no wonder that it is one of the most popular games of all time.
There are a number of features that make this game awesome. The changing mazes is the easiest to spot. The addition of the moving fruit gives another target to aim for and increases the feeling of chaos of the game. The wrap-around side tunnels gave the maps a literal extra dimension. However, the best feature for me is the cutscenes. A little bit of story added to the hectic chasing gives you a little treat every couple levels. A jaunty tune and a clever, comedic respite from trying to survive. The Ms. Pac-Man scenes are just a step better than the original. I particularly like the second cutscene and can get there pretty reliably. So good.
The chase!
Review from thedonproject.com
No joke, if I were to buy an arcade cabinet for my house, like a big man-child, it would probably be Ms. Pac-Man. If there's a cabinet at whatever dive bar I'm at, I will always put a quarter or five in. It's the perfect balance of action and aesthetics. It is a rare sequel that is better than the original. It is no wonder that it is one of the most popular games of all time.
There are a number of features that make this game awesome. The changing mazes is the easiest to spot. The addition of the moving fruit gives another target to aim for and increases the feeling of chaos of the game. The wrap-around side tunnels gave the maps a literal extra dimension. However, the best feature for me is the cutscenes. A little bit of story added to the hectic chasing gives you a little treat every couple levels. A jaunty tune and a clever, comedic respite from trying to survive. The Ms. Pac-Man scenes are just a step better than the original. I particularly like the second cutscene and can get there pretty reliably. So good.
The chase!
Review from thedonproject.com
1982
I was lucky enough to get to spend a week at a lake "resort" for early summer vacation as a youth. They had a little arcade that no one ever went to that was just a concrete box with a couple games in it and maybe even a laundry. Choplifter was one of the cabinets there.
Now, you'd think that a rowdy youth would be obsessed with a helicopter that can blow up jets and tanks, but for some reason this game didn't take up as much of my time as the other cabinet in that concrete box: Pac Man. Probably because we found a way to cram our grimy mitts into that machine and activate the coin counter...
At any rate, I recall the controls on Choplifter were also a bit tricky to master. I mean, helicopters are a crazy thing to fly around and people crash them all the time. Plus, rockets on helicopters that can shoot down jets? Bananas.
Now maybe if we'd figured out how to play for free...
Review from thedonproject.com
Now, you'd think that a rowdy youth would be obsessed with a helicopter that can blow up jets and tanks, but for some reason this game didn't take up as much of my time as the other cabinet in that concrete box: Pac Man. Probably because we found a way to cram our grimy mitts into that machine and activate the coin counter...
At any rate, I recall the controls on Choplifter were also a bit tricky to master. I mean, helicopters are a crazy thing to fly around and people crash them all the time. Plus, rockets on helicopters that can shoot down jets? Bananas.
Now maybe if we'd figured out how to play for free...
Review from thedonproject.com
1990
Basic arithmetic and monsters, what could be better?
To be honest, though, there's a debate I've always had as an educator: Do educational games actually teach you anything that translates to real life or does the math learning just make the game less fun? That is, does the education wreck the game or does the game wreck the education?
I would posit that not a single person reading this mastered factoring or multiplication because of Number Munchers. The game itself could be played without math at all and it would be just fine (I mean, they made other "munchers" games...), so clearly the math part of this is not beneficial to the game. The converse statement is the one that is debatable: is the game beneficial to the math? My theory is that most of the time when you hit space bar on the wrong number it is because you made a mistake, not because you don't know the math. Since the game punishes you for your mistake, you're probably more likely to give up on the game and go play Oregon Trail instead of finding out why 9 is not a multiple of 2 or whatever. So, it's not really an educational game, it is an assessment game.
Playing it all those years ago on the green screen in the computer lab when we were supposed to be... doing something else felt like skipping school, though. Maybe that was the real draw for this game: it convinced parents and educators that learning was happening, but kids didn't care and just wanted to play games!
But it has monsters!
Review from thedonproject.com
To be honest, though, there's a debate I've always had as an educator: Do educational games actually teach you anything that translates to real life or does the math learning just make the game less fun? That is, does the education wreck the game or does the game wreck the education?
I would posit that not a single person reading this mastered factoring or multiplication because of Number Munchers. The game itself could be played without math at all and it would be just fine (I mean, they made other "munchers" games...), so clearly the math part of this is not beneficial to the game. The converse statement is the one that is debatable: is the game beneficial to the math? My theory is that most of the time when you hit space bar on the wrong number it is because you made a mistake, not because you don't know the math. Since the game punishes you for your mistake, you're probably more likely to give up on the game and go play Oregon Trail instead of finding out why 9 is not a multiple of 2 or whatever. So, it's not really an educational game, it is an assessment game.
Playing it all those years ago on the green screen in the computer lab when we were supposed to be... doing something else felt like skipping school, though. Maybe that was the real draw for this game: it convinced parents and educators that learning was happening, but kids didn't care and just wanted to play games!
But it has monsters!
Review from thedonproject.com
1997
Break time!
I used to play this cabinet during my breaks at Nintendo for some reason. Well, when others weren't playing it, that is. It was quite popular with the few bro's there. Actually, even if you hate American football like I do and have no idea what you're doing, it's a solidly fun game.
It's fun because it is ridiculous. There's some announcer dude yelling random things all the time. The players make bonkers plays every time, jump around incessantly, and do more violence than Mortal Kombat. The graphics are pretty great for the time and the only thing that really annoys me about it is the play selection sound (and that I don't know what plays do, really). It's a fast-paced and exciting version of a pretty boring and commercialized sport and you get a solid amount of play for your quarters. I can see why the bro's played it!
"That was uncalled for, but a lot of fun to watch."
Review from thedonproject.com
I used to play this cabinet during my breaks at Nintendo for some reason. Well, when others weren't playing it, that is. It was quite popular with the few bro's there. Actually, even if you hate American football like I do and have no idea what you're doing, it's a solidly fun game.
It's fun because it is ridiculous. There's some announcer dude yelling random things all the time. The players make bonkers plays every time, jump around incessantly, and do more violence than Mortal Kombat. The graphics are pretty great for the time and the only thing that really annoys me about it is the play selection sound (and that I don't know what plays do, really). It's a fast-paced and exciting version of a pretty boring and commercialized sport and you get a solid amount of play for your quarters. I can see why the bro's played it!
"That was uncalled for, but a lot of fun to watch."
Review from thedonproject.com
At this point, the legend might have overshadowed my memory of this game!
Look, everybody knows this is the worst game of all time. I'm pretty sure we had it at our house at one point, but also I've watched so many documentaries and what not that I think memories have been implanted in my brain of having played this as a child. Probably because it was cheap to buy, I'm sure. I seem to recall moving lil' ol' E.T. around and not knowing what the hell was going on.
Which basically describes the game, am I right?
Review from thedonproject.com
Look, everybody knows this is the worst game of all time. I'm pretty sure we had it at our house at one point, but also I've watched so many documentaries and what not that I think memories have been implanted in my brain of having played this as a child. Probably because it was cheap to buy, I'm sure. I seem to recall moving lil' ol' E.T. around and not knowing what the hell was going on.
Which basically describes the game, am I right?
Review from thedonproject.com
1988
Can I get ripped and turn into a frickin' monster just by kicking wolves in the head? POWER UP!
Look, the motions are a bit wonky and everything feels kind of slow in this game. The graphics are fine most of the time and you got it for free with your early-version Genesis, so tons of people have definitely played this (or the arcade version). The transformation cutscenes are great, the digitized voices are somehow both funny and pretty good. I remember it being pretty tough to beat, but I've never been much of an action game expert.
You're definitely going to have to use your best late-80's imagination to fill in the awesomeness of this game, but it does a fair job of entertaining and is definitely worth a shot.
WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM!
Review from thedonproject.com
Look, the motions are a bit wonky and everything feels kind of slow in this game. The graphics are fine most of the time and you got it for free with your early-version Genesis, so tons of people have definitely played this (or the arcade version). The transformation cutscenes are great, the digitized voices are somehow both funny and pretty good. I remember it being pretty tough to beat, but I've never been much of an action game expert.
You're definitely going to have to use your best late-80's imagination to fill in the awesomeness of this game, but it does a fair job of entertaining and is definitely worth a shot.
WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM!
Review from thedonproject.com
1980
I think this was our least used Atari game...
... because it isn't really that fun, I'm afraid. Look, you just go around the track and try not to crash into the other car. I mean, it's basically the NASCAR of racing games but the crashes aren't that fun to watch, the cars just kind of mush up. The two-player version gets a little extra sauce out of the game, but it gets pretty old pretty quick.
I guess they can't all be classics!
Review from thedonproject.com
... because it isn't really that fun, I'm afraid. Look, you just go around the track and try not to crash into the other car. I mean, it's basically the NASCAR of racing games but the crashes aren't that fun to watch, the cars just kind of mush up. The two-player version gets a little extra sauce out of the game, but it gets pretty old pretty quick.
I guess they can't all be classics!
Review from thedonproject.com
1977
The bad ass thing about having siblings is that this game becomes actually playable.
However, the best version of Combat is 100% the plane dogfights. Those two puffy clouds hanging out in the middle of the screen while you cruise around in a shapeshifting biplane or jet trying to blow your little brother's plane from existence the most times... family bliss, am I right?
For a game that came with the console and is as old as I am, it is pretty decent in a number of ways. The tank and plane sounds are pretty solid, the explosions are fine, and the shooting noise is... the same for every vehicle, but at least isn't a laser. The rotating tanks and planes are a little wonky, but the terrain is good and the colors are... classic Atari.
Cheap and fun, it's worth a SHOT. hahahahahahahahaha.
Review from thedonproject.com
However, the best version of Combat is 100% the plane dogfights. Those two puffy clouds hanging out in the middle of the screen while you cruise around in a shapeshifting biplane or jet trying to blow your little brother's plane from existence the most times... family bliss, am I right?
For a game that came with the console and is as old as I am, it is pretty decent in a number of ways. The tank and plane sounds are pretty solid, the explosions are fine, and the shooting noise is... the same for every vehicle, but at least isn't a laser. The rotating tanks and planes are a little wonky, but the terrain is good and the colors are... classic Atari.
Cheap and fun, it's worth a SHOT. hahahahahahahahaha.
Review from thedonproject.com
1999
Cartoon ultra-violence? What a great way to spend your lunch break!
When I worked for EA as a tester, I got to eat lunch in their fancy cafeteria. When I wasn't hanging out with the colleague that was a fruitarian or freegan or whatever it was, I would play Metal Slug X on the NeoGeo arcade machine while everyone else played Tekken. It's a bit of a bullet hell side scroller, but with a silly amount of secrets, vehicles, and weapons. The whole Metal Slug series is like that and I'm sure that the folks who programmed them had a blast coming up with ridiculous things to do as weapons, enemies, sounds, and ways to die. The graphics are a bit cheesy for the year this came out, but you're not playing this for graphics, you're playing because it is ridiculous.
It definitely is ridiculous!
Review from thedonproject.com
When I worked for EA as a tester, I got to eat lunch in their fancy cafeteria. When I wasn't hanging out with the colleague that was a fruitarian or freegan or whatever it was, I would play Metal Slug X on the NeoGeo arcade machine while everyone else played Tekken. It's a bit of a bullet hell side scroller, but with a silly amount of secrets, vehicles, and weapons. The whole Metal Slug series is like that and I'm sure that the folks who programmed them had a blast coming up with ridiculous things to do as weapons, enemies, sounds, and ways to die. The graphics are a bit cheesy for the year this came out, but you're not playing this for graphics, you're playing because it is ridiculous.
It definitely is ridiculous!
Review from thedonproject.com
1982
You ever spend, like, half of your elementary school roller skating party holed up in the corner trying to blast aliens on the moon from a sweet pink 6-wheel moon rover?
I regret barely any of that time. More than likely I sat nursing a graveyard soda feeding the Moon Patrol machine while my peers cruised counter-clockwise around the padded walls and nature murals. I probably had to tune out the 80's hair metal ballads to fully enjoy the sick soundtrack that Moon Patrol brings, but the Nintendo font and the cool side-scrolling effects were in their full glory. Jumping, shooting, and controlling the speed of the rover was enough to keep me entertained until my fistful of grimy quarters was spent.
Excellent 4th grade times.
Review from thedonproject.com
I regret barely any of that time. More than likely I sat nursing a graveyard soda feeding the Moon Patrol machine while my peers cruised counter-clockwise around the padded walls and nature murals. I probably had to tune out the 80's hair metal ballads to fully enjoy the sick soundtrack that Moon Patrol brings, but the Nintendo font and the cool side-scrolling effects were in their full glory. Jumping, shooting, and controlling the speed of the rover was enough to keep me entertained until my fistful of grimy quarters was spent.
Excellent 4th grade times.
Review from thedonproject.com
1981
USE ALL THE COLORS!
I'm not good at Defender. That might be because it is a pretty tough game. I remember it getting incredibly fast and always being very difficult to target enemies. Of course, arcade games are meant to eat your quarters, not be easy, so this makes sense!
The real draw of Defender is the very sweet graphics and colors. I can imagine this game was incredible in 1981. It uses literally all the colors as every font and UI element cycle through them at a pretty quick clip. The ship looks awesome and the lasers look incredible. Explosions use all the colors and do cool 1980's stuff. The alien ships are okay and the people are whatever, but your little defender ship is where the magic happens.
Add in the groundbreaking feature of a mini-map/radar thing and the classic synthesized sounds, and you've got yourself a fun few minutes for $0.25.
And then aggravation after you spend your whole lawn-mowing savings in 20 minutes...
Review from thedonproject.com
I'm not good at Defender. That might be because it is a pretty tough game. I remember it getting incredibly fast and always being very difficult to target enemies. Of course, arcade games are meant to eat your quarters, not be easy, so this makes sense!
The real draw of Defender is the very sweet graphics and colors. I can imagine this game was incredible in 1981. It uses literally all the colors as every font and UI element cycle through them at a pretty quick clip. The ship looks awesome and the lasers look incredible. Explosions use all the colors and do cool 1980's stuff. The alien ships are okay and the people are whatever, but your little defender ship is where the magic happens.
Add in the groundbreaking feature of a mini-map/radar thing and the classic synthesized sounds, and you've got yourself a fun few minutes for $0.25.
And then aggravation after you spend your whole lawn-mowing savings in 20 minutes...
Review from thedonproject.com
1989
AAAAAAAH!
I don't think I ever owned this game, actually, but I might have rented it a few times or played the arcade version. The game could also be getting confused with tons of others that are like it where you have some side-scrolling, then the screen pauses and you fight some things, and then you are told to "GO!" to the next part where you fight some things and then you keep on doing that until you probably die. This one also has magic and a bunch of fighting moves. The sounds, though. Absolutely ridiculous. The music is fine. Every time you are injured or an enemy dies, though, the music pauses and there is an over-the-top static-y scream of pain. Silly.
AAAAAAAAAAH!
Review from thedonproject.com
I don't think I ever owned this game, actually, but I might have rented it a few times or played the arcade version. The game could also be getting confused with tons of others that are like it where you have some side-scrolling, then the screen pauses and you fight some things, and then you are told to "GO!" to the next part where you fight some things and then you keep on doing that until you probably die. This one also has magic and a bunch of fighting moves. The sounds, though. Absolutely ridiculous. The music is fine. Every time you are injured or an enemy dies, though, the music pauses and there is an over-the-top static-y scream of pain. Silly.
AAAAAAAAAAH!
Review from thedonproject.com
1976
Ugh, paddle controller.
I mean, my paddle controllers always seemed to be slightly broken and maybe not turn quite right or send the right info to the console? Or maybe I'm just bad at games. It's a simple little jam where you just keep the ball from hitting the ground and it bounces up and hits bricks, getting faster and breaking the bricks... you've seen this before. It's been cloned a million times and usually the clones are better. SORRY.
Fun fact: Wikipedia says some dudes named Wozniak and Jobs worked on this game and then went on to make, you know, Apple computer happen.
Beep boop.
Review from thedonproject.com
I mean, my paddle controllers always seemed to be slightly broken and maybe not turn quite right or send the right info to the console? Or maybe I'm just bad at games. It's a simple little jam where you just keep the ball from hitting the ground and it bounces up and hits bricks, getting faster and breaking the bricks... you've seen this before. It's been cloned a million times and usually the clones are better. SORRY.
Fun fact: Wikipedia says some dudes named Wozniak and Jobs worked on this game and then went on to make, you know, Apple computer happen.
Beep boop.
Review from thedonproject.com
1982
Birdies!
I definitely don't remember the sounds of this one, and frankly, they're kind of annoying. I remember playing this in the dark corner of some pizza place and I think the sound was turned off or just the sound of the Tron game next to it was overwhelming. At any rate, the graphics are sweet, and the gameplay is fine. The concept is incredible, however. You're a person riding a bird and jousting with other people that ride birds and if you kill them, they drop an egg, which you can pick up for points or let hatch into another person that a bird picks up so you can kill again. Also, you're in a volcano?
Awesome.
Review from thedonproject.com
I definitely don't remember the sounds of this one, and frankly, they're kind of annoying. I remember playing this in the dark corner of some pizza place and I think the sound was turned off or just the sound of the Tron game next to it was overwhelming. At any rate, the graphics are sweet, and the gameplay is fine. The concept is incredible, however. You're a person riding a bird and jousting with other people that ride birds and if you kill them, they drop an egg, which you can pick up for points or let hatch into another person that a bird picks up so you can kill again. Also, you're in a volcano?
Awesome.
Review from thedonproject.com
1990
You guys. I've played this game off and on for 26 years as of the writing of this review. I have never beat it. Probably never even made it halfway. I'm just too impatient and unlucky, I guess!
I started playing Angband in college. I was stuck with an x86 PC of some kind I can't remember that a parent got from a work trash can, probably. Having grown up with video games, I wasn't about to quit just because my computer was trash (literally). I found a few games the old beast could play, and Angband became one of my favorites.
No-nonsense, Ascii graphics defined the dungeons and monsters that would repeatedly murder me over the years. Like any fantasy/sci-fi admiring nerd, the Tolkien world provided the motivation to return to the mines of Moria... I mean Angband, many times on many different personal computers. Mostly I've played it on Mac and tend to play with the graphic tiles now, to be honest, but it all started on that old PC.
The gaming is surprisingly complex, with various types of combat and magic, a wide array of items to manage, a horde of monsters and unique monsters, and numerous traps and dangers like starvation or just plain getting lost. It's not an easy game, but it does draw you back in to give it another go. Actually, doing the research for this little review has informed me there's a new version, so I should probably download that and see how fast I die these days...
Review from thedonproject.com
I started playing Angband in college. I was stuck with an x86 PC of some kind I can't remember that a parent got from a work trash can, probably. Having grown up with video games, I wasn't about to quit just because my computer was trash (literally). I found a few games the old beast could play, and Angband became one of my favorites.
No-nonsense, Ascii graphics defined the dungeons and monsters that would repeatedly murder me over the years. Like any fantasy/sci-fi admiring nerd, the Tolkien world provided the motivation to return to the mines of Moria... I mean Angband, many times on many different personal computers. Mostly I've played it on Mac and tend to play with the graphic tiles now, to be honest, but it all started on that old PC.
The gaming is surprisingly complex, with various types of combat and magic, a wide array of items to manage, a horde of monsters and unique monsters, and numerous traps and dangers like starvation or just plain getting lost. It's not an easy game, but it does draw you back in to give it another go. Actually, doing the research for this little review has informed me there's a new version, so I should probably download that and see how fast I die these days...
Review from thedonproject.com