The Forum Flashback

By Dan Hallberg

Welcome to the Forum Flashback, a monthly look back at whatever it is that interests whoever is writing it!  This month, your distinguished host chooses to take you on a trip back to 1987.  It is the height of the 8-bit video gaming era and Nintendo is dominating the market with its Entertainment System.  However the NES didn’t have a complete domination of the market.  Sega had its Master System, and though its sales were weak in the US, in Europe it dominated the market.  I’m sure at some point I’ll talk about both of these in more detail, however this week I want to focus on something else.

In 1984 Atari decided it was time to give up on the whole gaming thing and focus on computers, even though they had just released a new model console that year because game sales were in the toilet.  That all changed when the NES hit the scene and Atari decided to throw its hat back in the ring with their 1984 console, the 7800.

The Atari 7800 wasn’t as flashy as the NES or Master System, but was cheap and had the advantage of being backwards compatible, giving it a library of hundreds of games built in on day one.  The problem is that very few 7800 games were produced, and those that were couldn’t match the NES or Master System in terms of graphics, game length, or originality.

The one thing the 7800 had going for it was that it had the best home versions of arcade games out there, including classics such as: Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Centipede, Donkey Kong, and my personal favorite, Joust.

For those of you who have never heard of Joust let me explain the basics of the game.  You are a lance-wielding knight riding on a giant ostrich that can fly.  Your job is to defeat the other jousting enemies by running into them with your lance higher than theirs.  This actually proves quite difficult, so for the most part you end up just flying over people and dropping your plush but lethal bird rear on top of them.

It all sounds ridiculous, but let me tell you, it is extremely addicting.  There are several versions of the game on a variety of consoles, but if you want the most authentic experience I recommend getting the Atari 7800 version.  However, if some of you young whippersnappers prefer your X-Box’s, a great version is available for X-Box Live Arcade.

And that does it for your monthly dose of the past.  Hope you enjoyed looking back, and I hope you get a chance to play some games in between studying and sleeping.  And if you don’t have the time, sleeping is over rated; climb onto an ostrich and flap around instead.