donproject
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
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
1991
They're really aren't enough medieval times button smashing, side-scrolling, fighter games, are there?
Yeah, this is just a Double Dragon-style side-scroller brawler game where you smash that sword button millions of times, but it stuck with me over the years. Perhaps the key location at my local 7-Eleven or the limited play time due to the cost of quarters or maybe just because I read Once and Future King at some point around when this game came out? The graphics are fine, the game play is fine, and the music is fine. The digitized fighting sounds are a bit over the top, but not ridiculous. The translations are sometimes bad, but that doesn't make the game less fun. Not amazing, mind you, but just empty-headed slashing fun.
Sword sword sword sword sword sword sword...
Review from thedonproject.com
Yeah, this is just a Double Dragon-style side-scroller brawler game where you smash that sword button millions of times, but it stuck with me over the years. Perhaps the key location at my local 7-Eleven or the limited play time due to the cost of quarters or maybe just because I read Once and Future King at some point around when this game came out? The graphics are fine, the game play is fine, and the music is fine. The digitized fighting sounds are a bit over the top, but not ridiculous. The translations are sometimes bad, but that doesn't make the game less fun. Not amazing, mind you, but just empty-headed slashing fun.
Sword sword sword sword sword sword sword...
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
Coooooooooooool.
Actual steering wheels and pedals! This is what arcade games are all about: weird controllers!! However, the game itself is not super great, I'm afraid. It's a bit R.C. ProAm in the graphics and control and gameplay departments. I remember the wheel controller actually making it pretty tough to play, which is unfortunate, as it's a fine racer for the time, I suppose. Maybe that was just all the janky Chuck 'E' Cheese cabinets I played this game on. I do recall finding the game at a pizza place later on in life and still being bad at the game, though. It is unfortunate that if you don't finish first, you have to pay to continue, but that's capitalism, I guess.
Truuuuucks.
Review from thedonproject.com
Actual steering wheels and pedals! This is what arcade games are all about: weird controllers!! However, the game itself is not super great, I'm afraid. It's a bit R.C. ProAm in the graphics and control and gameplay departments. I remember the wheel controller actually making it pretty tough to play, which is unfortunate, as it's a fine racer for the time, I suppose. Maybe that was just all the janky Chuck 'E' Cheese cabinets I played this game on. I do recall finding the game at a pizza place later on in life and still being bad at the game, though. It is unfortunate that if you don't finish first, you have to pay to continue, but that's capitalism, I guess.
Truuuuucks.
Review from thedonproject.com
1981
Forget Space Invaders, Galaga is the best spaceship shooter!
Galaga is probably in my top "oh, is that game at this place? I'll put several quarters in there." games. Fast action, awesome soundtrack, solid graphics and just enough interesting gameplay features to keep you coming back for a few rounds. I never bought a port of this game, because the arcade version is precisely how I want to remember this game forever and slapping that button to shoot is the perfect way to experience eventually getting blown up because you forget the patterns.
More spaceships!!
Review from thedonproject.com
Galaga is probably in my top "oh, is that game at this place? I'll put several quarters in there." games. Fast action, awesome soundtrack, solid graphics and just enough interesting gameplay features to keep you coming back for a few rounds. I never bought a port of this game, because the arcade version is precisely how I want to remember this game forever and slapping that button to shoot is the perfect way to experience eventually getting blown up because you forget the patterns.
More spaceships!!
Review from thedonproject.com
1981
I'm just trying to get my frog friend home, calm down, world!
My local community pool had this classic as a cocktail cabinet and I would always enjoy throwing some quarters at it after my swim lesson or whatever. The music is instantly recognizable, probably because one of the songs is Yankee Doodle, which is weird, but whatever. Jumping between and around things while just trying to get home is pretty hectic as the speed increases on higher levels and the variation in obstacles makes things even more action-packed. Maybe I just get too greedy for points and always go for the flies and the lady frogs, but I'm not that stellar at this game, but it's still a good time.
Until I die of a heart attack from Frogger-related stress, that is!
Review from thedonproject.com
My local community pool had this classic as a cocktail cabinet and I would always enjoy throwing some quarters at it after my swim lesson or whatever. The music is instantly recognizable, probably because one of the songs is Yankee Doodle, which is weird, but whatever. Jumping between and around things while just trying to get home is pretty hectic as the speed increases on higher levels and the variation in obstacles makes things even more action-packed. Maybe I just get too greedy for points and always go for the flies and the lady frogs, but I'm not that stellar at this game, but it's still a good time.
Until I die of a heart attack from Frogger-related stress, that is!
Review from thedonproject.com
1981
Might it have the best soundtrack of the early 80's games? Yes, indeed!
I definitely played both the arcade and the ColecoVision version of this, maybe the ColecoVision version more, but since that was only at our babysitter's house, I'm going to keep this as the arcade version. The arcade version is superior to basically all the other ports anyways. Particularly those iconic sounds. The squeaky shoes on Mario as he walks on the beams, the objectively excellent walking soundtrack as you climb the tower, and the stupendous level beginning and ending jingles. A lot of the sounds and complexity of this game would launch Nintendo into the superstardom of the era and you can hear and see that style, for sure.
I only gave it a 3 because iIm not that good at Donkey Kong.
Review from thedonproject.com
I definitely played both the arcade and the ColecoVision version of this, maybe the ColecoVision version more, but since that was only at our babysitter's house, I'm going to keep this as the arcade version. The arcade version is superior to basically all the other ports anyways. Particularly those iconic sounds. The squeaky shoes on Mario as he walks on the beams, the objectively excellent walking soundtrack as you climb the tower, and the stupendous level beginning and ending jingles. A lot of the sounds and complexity of this game would launch Nintendo into the superstardom of the era and you can hear and see that style, for sure.
I only gave it a 3 because iIm not that good at Donkey Kong.
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
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
1979
The neighbor across the street from me had an Asteroids cocktail arcade cabinet, I'm pretty sure. I think he also had a mustache.
Asteroids is definitely a game that has been copied a million times. Playing the arcade version on those vector graphics is an experience that is vastly different than the copies though. It just looks cooler and feels more correct.
The game is pretty simple: Don't die. Asteroids are headed for your ship from every direction and you've just got a little pea-shooter to blast those things into smaller bits which then head out randomly as well. Good reactions and timely trigger finger will let you live until you don't anymore. Apparently the current record holder played for 60 hours, which is... wow. I mean, the game is pretty fun for maybe 20 minutes, so I guess I'll never be setting a record.
1979, man. Crazy times.
Review from thedonproject.com
Asteroids is definitely a game that has been copied a million times. Playing the arcade version on those vector graphics is an experience that is vastly different than the copies though. It just looks cooler and feels more correct.
The game is pretty simple: Don't die. Asteroids are headed for your ship from every direction and you've just got a little pea-shooter to blast those things into smaller bits which then head out randomly as well. Good reactions and timely trigger finger will let you live until you don't anymore. Apparently the current record holder played for 60 hours, which is... wow. I mean, the game is pretty fun for maybe 20 minutes, so I guess I'll never be setting a record.
1979, man. Crazy times.
Review from thedonproject.com
1982
If there's a hierarchy of Pac Man games, I'm nearly 100% sure that this version is at the bottom.
Of course, I did play it for literally hours. So much so that the terrible sounds are embedded in my brain, from the wild siren that starts the level, and the "bok choi" sound of eating a ghost, to the weird "donk" sound when you eat a pellet (well, dash, really).
While the sounds are pretty bad compared the arcade, the tragedy does not end there. The map is different (the wraparound is at the top?), the colors are despicable, everything is square, there are only two ghosts, and THERE ARE ONLY TWO GHOSTS. Look, everybody agrees this version is vastly inferior to the arcade version and probably even the google doodle version. This isn't a hot take. However, I'm not going to give it 1 star because if I had an Atari hanging around and this cart appeared...
I'd probably still play it again.
Review from thedonproject.com
Of course, I did play it for literally hours. So much so that the terrible sounds are embedded in my brain, from the wild siren that starts the level, and the "bok choi" sound of eating a ghost, to the weird "donk" sound when you eat a pellet (well, dash, really).
While the sounds are pretty bad compared the arcade, the tragedy does not end there. The map is different (the wraparound is at the top?), the colors are despicable, everything is square, there are only two ghosts, and THERE ARE ONLY TWO GHOSTS. Look, everybody agrees this version is vastly inferior to the arcade version and probably even the google doodle version. This isn't a hot take. However, I'm not going to give it 1 star because if I had an Atari hanging around and this cart appeared...
I'd probably still play it again.
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
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