OK, what's this classic game's name?
Timothy Alan Anderson
It had one big track ball as the only control. Various blobs with connecting
lines would move about on the screen. The cursor would move around and leave
a 'tail' that would disappear after a certain length or time. The object of
the game was to move the cursor around and circle the blobs, causing them
to explode. At various times the connecting lines would blink and then become
red. At this time you could not pass over the connecting lines. You also had
to avoid hitting the blobs, and other stuff that would be floating around...
I beleive this game was an Atari game called 'Quantum'. I've only seen it
in one arcade about 10 years ago. I was thinking of writing a PC version
using the mouse, but I don't remember all of the intricicies of the game
and it would not be a particularly accurate rework...
Other mighty cool games: On 'The Kids In The Hall' last night I saw a
BOSCONIAN game in one of the skits. Neato!
I was pretty seriously into STARGATE at one time also... My favorite
trick was to get a ton of stuff on the screen and then blast some pods.
It seems that there was an upper limit on how many things can actually
be in one screen at one time. All of the pod things would disappear if
it was overloaded...
jesse fuchs
> It was a small sized machine, about the same size as a 'Major Havoc' machine.
> It had one big track ball as the only control. Various blobs with connecting
> lines would move about on the screen. The cursor would move around and leave
> a 'tail' that would disappear after a certain length or time. The object of
> the game was to move the cursor around and circle the blobs, causing them
> to explode. At various times the connecting lines would blink and then become
> red. At this time you could not pass over the connecting lines. You also had
> to avoid hitting the blobs, and other stuff that would be floating around...
>
> I beleive this game was an Atari game called 'Quantum'. I've only seen it
> in one arcade about 10 years ago. I was thinking of writing a PC version
> using the mouse, but I don't remember all of the intricicies of the game
> and it would not be a particularly accurate rework...
that let you play the demo screen...a very good idea, which I can't understand
others picking up on.
>
> Other mighty cool games: On 'The Kids In The Hall' last night I saw a
> BOSCONIAN game in one of the skits. Neato!
>
> I was pretty seriously into STARGATE at one time also... My favorite
> trick was to get a ton of stuff on the screen and then blast some pods.
> It seems that there was an upper limit on how many things can actually
> be in one screen at one time. All of the pod things would disappear if
> it was overloaded...
>
> ti...@sequent.com
>
>
--
"Where imagination is sucked out of children by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse that would create a cripple
On television, the drug of a nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation."
-Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
tjg...@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Keep on flying, and bomb a screenful of aliens at a time?
One of my friend's machine probably have a low bonus levels, but it works
forever.
Fred Sloniker
> (info on Quantum game by other poster deleted)
> This game was 'Quantum,' and it rocked butt. Only game I've ever seen
>that let you play the demo screen...a very good idea, which I can't understand
>others picking up on.
Actually, I have run into one other game that will let you play the demo: The
Legend of Kage. You can 'play' the first and third screens, though the machine
will be trying to control the character simultaneously. (:3 Funfun. Dunno
why you can't control during the second screen...
---Fred M. Sloniker, Major Havok fan
L. Lazuli R'kamos, FurryMUCKer
laz...@u.washington.edu
Casey Barton
> [...]
> Other mighty cool games: On 'The Kids In The Hall' last night I saw a
> BOSCONIAN game in one of the skits. Neato!
I often find myself calling out "Look! There's a XXXXX machine in the
background!" while watching T.V. with friends. They look at me like I'm nuts.
About the only things I liked about "Silver Spoons" were the Dragon's Lair
and Two Tigers games on the set.
Can anyone recall what movie it was that had a clip from the Star Wars
videogame in it? I can only remember that whoever was playing was quite
good -- they were nailing all of the turrets in the trench in quick
succession...
--
Casey Barton (a guy) ceba...@descartes.waterloo.edu (519)725-6861
Gerald Jerry KUCH
>It was a small sized machine, about the same size as a 'Major Havoc' machine.
>It had one big track ball as the only control. Various blobs with connecting
>lines would move about on the screen. The cursor would move around and leave
>a 'tail' that would disappear after a certain length or time. The object of
>the game was to move the cursor around and circle the blobs, causing them
>to explode. At various times the connecting lines would blink and then become
>red. At this time you could not pass over the connecting lines. You also had
>to avoid hitting the blobs, and other stuff that would be floating around...
>
>I beleive this game was an Atari game called 'Quantum'. I've only seen it
>in one arcade about 10 years ago. I was thinking of writing a PC version
>using the mouse, but I don't remember all of the intricicies of the game
>and it would not be a particularly accurate rework...
You're right... Quantum by Atari.
>Other mighty cool games: On 'The Kids In The Hall' last night I saw a
>BOSCONIAN game in one of the skits. Neato!
Bosconian was cool... reminds one a lot of Survivor from Synapse Software,
which was made available for the Atari 8-bits and the C64. Wasted a lot of
time playing Bosconian on a coin-op in our high school cafeteria.
--
Jerry Kuch (je...@cs.mcgill.ca) | NEED A NEW QUOTE
"I was wrong to play God. Life is precious, not a thing to be toyed with.
Now take out that brain and flush it down the toilet."
--- M. Burns "Treehouse of Horror II"
Christopher Jon Petit
> Can anyone recall what movie it was that had a clip from the Star Wars
>videogame in it? I can only remember that whoever was playing was quite
>good -- they were nailing all of the turrets in the trench in quick
>succession...
It was Gremlins (the original). I loved that game.
--
Your Lucky Number is 3.1415926 but must be played between 3 and 3:15 PM on
January 11, 1993.
"The greatest beauty in the world is beauty that is private."
"Protect endangered species! Contribute to the Exxon Supporter's Fund!"
Michael Kahler
> [...]
> Other mighty cool games: On 'The Kids In The Hall' last night I saw a
> BOSCONIAN game in one of the skits. Neato!
> [...]
I recall a ABC (mabye NBC) movie, starring gary coleman (the little
kid from diffr'nt strokes) had a set in a college cafeteria centered
around a DEFENDER game. Coleman was like a doogie howser, about 12
and in college. His big plus was how good he was at defender; the
whole cafeteria would stop to watch him play. 'Wow! he's going to get
a million points' i seem to remember them saying but in actuality when they
closed-up to the screen they never showed anything past wave 1 and
probably a score under 10K. Even funnier, several shots of the screen
while he was playing showed him getting demolished (in that original
exploding defender fashion) but the onlookers were amazed just as
well.
Another TV/video game question: Why are the games always from about 5/10
years back? A few months ago on 'home improvement' they had a bowling
alley set with about 5 games. ZAXXON played a major part in the story
line (again including on-lookers saying 'wow, he's going to get the
high score!' even though nothing spectacular happened).
There were atleast 5 other classic games in their set. anyone else
see them? Mabye the production places have several of these older
games around and just continue to use them.
Mike Kahler
kah...@seattleu.edu
Tim Smith
> I often find myself calling out "Look! There's a XXXXX machine in the
>background!" while watching T.V. with friends. They look at me like I'm nuts.
>
> About the only things I liked about "Silver Spoons" were the Dragon's Lair
>and Two Tigers games on the set.
>
> Can anyone recall what movie it was that had a clip from the Star Wars
>videogame in it? I can only remember that whoever was playing was quite
>good -- they were nailing all of the turrets in the trench in quick
>succession...
In Terminator 2, John Connor plays a game of Missile Command. I saw T2 with
a friend who was not as good as I at Missile Command (my games ended when the
arcade shut the power off, whereas he never managed much above 400k). When
John Connor lost and "The End" came up on the screen, I turned to my friend
and in a tone of voice that was worthy of an Oscar, said "What's that!?"
He was NOT amused...
--Tim Smith
Ken Arromdee
I remember a Phoenix game showing up on the TV show "Phoenix". Pretty funny,
if you got the joke. (It wasn't named, of course.)
--
"On the first day after Christmas my truelove served to me... Leftover Turkey!
On the second day after Christmas my truelove served to me... Turkey Casserole
that she made from Leftover Turkey.
[days 3-4 deleted] ... Flaming Turkey Wings! ...
-- Pizza Hut commercial (and M*tlu/A*gic bait)
Ken Arromdee (arro...@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu, arro...@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu)
Grover Thomas
>
>In Terminator 2, John Connor plays a game of Missile Command. I saw T2 with
>a friend who was not as good as I at Missile Command (my games ended when the
>arcade shut the power off, whereas he never managed much above 400k). When
>John Connor lost and "The End" came up on the screen, I turned to my friend
>and in a tone of voice that was worthy of an Oscar, said "What's that!?"
Speaking of Missile Command, is there a file or source code lurking
around anywhere? Just something with the game routines would be
great. I could probably try to figure them out on my own, but I am
looking for something at least halfway similar to the original,
for my own programming experiments.
--
__ __
(__) Grover Thomas InterNet: gro...@emunix.emich.edu (__©
(__) "I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the" (__)
(__) "surprise in your cereal box." -Darkwing Duck (__)
Grover Thomas
>I remember a Phoenix game showing up on the TV show "Phoenix". Pretty funny,
>if you got the joke. (It wasn't named, of course.)
I remember that, too! It stuck in my mind because they showed the
scoring (into the millions) from a shot of a digital LED pinball
scoring mechanism, instead of the "real" score which was 'con-
veniently' left off camera. I figured that his real score must've
really only been around a few thousand.
--
__ __
(__) Grover Thomas InterNet: gro...@emunix.emich.edu (__Š
(__) "I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the" (__)
(__) "jailor that throws away the key." -Darkwing Duck (__)
Tad Perry
>> I often find myself calling out "Look! There's a XXXXX machine in the
>>background!" while watching T.V. with friends. They look at me like I'm nuts.
>>
>> About the only things I liked about "Silver Spoons" were the Dragon's Lair
>>and Two Tigers games on the set.
>>
>> Can anyone recall what movie it was that had a clip from the Star Wars
>>videogame in it? I can only remember that whoever was playing was quite
>>good -- they were nailing all of the turrets in the trench in quick
>>succession...
>
>In Terminator 2, John Connor plays a game of Missile Command. I saw T2 with
>a friend who was not as good as I at Missile Command (my games ended when the
>arcade shut the power off, whereas he never managed much above 400k). When
>John Connor lost and "The End" came up on the screen, I turned to my friend
>and in a tone of voice that was worthy of an Oscar, said "What's that!?"
>
>He was NOT amused...
Poor guy. The skill level required to get into 400,000's is about the
same as that needed to play indefinitely. It's more of a confidence
or psychological problem if you can't get past this barrier. I mean,
you're almost there! Dump a dollar a day into the damn thing and have
it beaten in about one more week kind of thing. If he was like my friends
at the time, he was only sneaking an occasional game when you weren't
around and tried to act like it didn't bug him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tad Perry Internet: t...@gibdo.engr.washington.edu
CompuServe: 70402,3020
NIFTY-Serve: GBG01266
Michael `SLAM' Glicksman
video games and try to get the highest score. I think that in the final round,
they had some sort of round where the kid was put INTO the game to try and
score points.
The Conformist Contrabass Clarinetist
They still do! It's called "Nick Arcade", can't remember when it's on...
--Andrea, Bb contrabass clarinetist extraordinaire???
Tad Perry
Starcade!! But I thought it was on the Superstation (TBS).
Dennis Gale Brown
year ago anmd feature the Neo Geo, SNES, Genesis, and NES systems) and
is still going.
BTW, all graphics for the show are done on an Amiga!
Marc Sira
In a previous article, arro...@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee) says:
>In article <1j7ijo...@sumax.seattleu.edu> kah...@sumax.seattleu.edu (Michael Kahler) writes:
>I remember a Phoenix game showing up on the TV show "Phoenix". Pretty funny,
>if you got the joke. (It wasn't named, of course.)
Are you sure it wasn't named? I recall that as well, but I thought they went
ahead and named it.
I also recall that the alien protaganist (who was naturally "in tune" with
the game) somehow managed to get 99 free credits (which he sportingly donated
to the kid watching with dropped jaw). A feature I wasn't aware of in video
games B-).
--
Marc Sira |
t...@micor.ocunix.on.ca | "Your god drinks...p-p-peach nectar!"
aa...@freenet.carleton.ca '
Tad Perry
>
>In a previous article, arro...@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee) says:
>
>>In article <1j7ijo...@sumax.seattleu.edu> kah...@sumax.seattleu.edu (Michael Kahler) writes:
>>I remember a Phoenix game showing up on the TV show "Phoenix". Pretty funny,
>>if you got the joke. (It wasn't named, of course.)
>
>Are you sure it wasn't named? I recall that as well, but I thought they went
>ahead and named it.
>I also recall that the alien protaganist (who was naturally "in tune" with
>the game) somehow managed to get 99 free credits (which he sportingly donated
>to the kid watching with dropped jaw). A feature I wasn't aware of in video
>games B-).
Then obviously you've never hacked a Tempest machine. (But slamming
the coin boxes of Midway games was the most challenging. Would anyone
notice you doing it? And don't forget penny flipping.)
Simon Oke
| This game was 'Quantum,' and it rocked butt. Only game I've ever seen
|that let you play the demo screen...a very good idea, which I can't understand
|others picking up on.
If you mean why don't more arcade machines have playable demo screens, then
it's simple. No kid is going to put money into a machine to play it when
he doesn't have to.
--
Simon Oke, 3rd year Computer Science
undergraduate at the University of Essex, UK.
Casey Barton
(Michael `SLAM' Glicksman) writes:
>> I remember that Nickelodeon once had a game show where kids would play
>>video games and try to get the highest score. I think that in the final round,
>>they had some sort of round where the kid was put INTO the game to try and
>>score points.
>
>Starcade!! But I thought it was on the Superstation (TBS).
I think Starcade was the original show, though the Nickelodeon version is
apparently still on the air.
I used to watch Starcade whenever I had the chance. It was painful, though.
Those kids were awful. The one image that sticks in my mind is that of a kid
vainly trying to destroy a starbase in Star Trek. Uhg.
tjg...@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
tjg...@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
time ago but lost the file a while back.
jesse fuchs
> In article <C0w2z...@unix.amherst.edu> jmf...@unix.amherst.edu (jesse fuchs) writes:
> | This game was 'Quantum,' and it rocked butt. Only game I've ever seen
> |that let you play the demo screen...a very good idea, which I can't understand
> |others picking up on.
>
> If you mean why don't more arcade machines have playable demo screens, then
> it's simple. No kid is going to put money into a machine to play it when
> he doesn't have to.
play the actual game - the demo screen was just sort of an interactive
tutorial. But, I think I would be more likely to play a game if I got to try
it out for ten or twenty seconds, and it looked interesting.
>
> --
> Simon Oke, 3rd year Computer Science
> undergraduate at the University of Essex, UK.
--
Colette Marine
The show "That's Incredible" had a segment on Dragon's Lair, several years
ago. They described the game fairly well, showing on split-screen the results
of correct and incorrect moves. They had a kid play it to the end, and the
final graphic of the show segment said "Incredible Game!" Sheesh.
Jared D. Brame