ATARI BYTES

Question: What's lower than a snake's belly? Answer: Your mood after playing SSSNAKE, 1982, from Data Age. Sorry. Spoilers! It's got a bad reputation, but is SSSNAKE really as bad as we've heard? And, even if it is, can we shove our forked tongue into the meat of the story within the game to shed some literary goodness into your podcast-listening mechanisms? Man, I hope so. Thanks to Kevin McLeod...

In 1982, movie-goers were embracing a new, post-apocalyptic, motorcycle and explosion fueled popcorn movie. What was it? That's right: Road Warrior. But a  few  people misread their ticket stubs and wandered into the 20th Century Fox motorcycle and explosion-fueled popcorn movie MEGA FORCE. Make that a very few people. Well, one, actually. The film's star Barry Bostwick's mother, we think. Few peo...

This week in episode 128 of ATARI BYTES, it's the Three Little Pigs (curly) tale LIKE NEVER BEFORE. We're playing the 1982 Konami/Stern Electronics game POOYAN. That means "pig" in Japanese. See, you learned something. Congratulations, you! Mama Pig is on the rampage. Not  in Rampage, mind you, though the idea of a giant pig smashing buildings is a good one. The wolves have taken her little piglet...

Now that the sun has set on our trip to the gaming past/future during Intellivision month and my Sears Tele-Games is back in it's lonely, dusty corner (to be fair, most corners in my house are dusty), we return to the present in episode 127 with the Activision (squee!) title FREEWAY from 1981. What could be better than getting out on the highway for a little road trip? Well, mowing down some poult...

In episode 126, Intellivision Month comes to an end. *SOB* Does the epic conclusion of this Atari Bytes experiment bowl a strike or land in the gutter? The question is apt, because this week we're playing SUPER VIDEO ARCADE BOWLING from Mattel, 1980. After we enjoy some pin action and virtual chili cheese fries, we enjoy this week's story inspired by the game featuring the first appearance of BOBB...

The grassy outfield. The roar of the crowd. I've got my cap and cup. Put me in, Coach. I'm ready to game! Take me out to the ball game. Take me out to the...game room? Intellivision month continues on Atari Bytes episode 125 with Mattel's Major League Baseball (aka "Super Video Arcade Baseball", aka "Big League Baseball", aka just, you know, "Baseball") It's a dandy 1979 title even my dad would pl...

Intellivision Month continues on episode 124 with ASTROSMASH, which, contrary to what you might think, does NOT include the Hulk in an astronaut suit smashing lunar modules.  The 1981 Mattel game is like a cross between Asteroids and Space Invaders, taking elements from both - especially the laser blasts. Why would they do this? And what is motivating the laser battery commander (aka you) to act?...

Order up! Ever go to a burger joint expecting the familiar, tasty bacon double with crispy onion rings you love, only to find out they've changed the menu to some sort of tofurky burger or something? Then you're all worried, but discover it's pretty tasty too? Episode 123 is kind of like that. This month, our nice Atari 2600, story-based podcast has been overrun by Intelevision bandits. They even...

The star power driving the nuclear fission that is this week's episode, 122, of the podcast is off the (radiation) charts There's me, of course. But we've also got Jane Fonda! Michael Douglas! Jack Lemmon! Oh, and some super naughty Muppets! Okay, technically, none of those people is on the show. They're all in the 1979 movie  China Syndrome . A "China syndrome" is a theory that an exploding nucle...

In space, can anyone hear you fall into a cavern? The 1982 Games by Apollo shooter with the most Five-PM-On-A-Friday-Trying-To-Get-Out-Of-The-Office title ever, SPACE CAVERN is our focus this week in episode 121.  Where is this cavern? Is it just floating in space? Is that even possible? Instead, is it on a planet and, if so, shouldn't the game be called "Planet Cavern" or maybe just "Cavern"? Wha...

What up, moms of the world! What better way to celebrate on the day in which we honor the mothers in the world who do so much for us than by putting on headphones and ignoring them while we listen to podcasts? This week, on episode 120, we're checking out I WANT MY MOMMY from Zimag. It's a game deliberately targeted to the under-eight-year-old set. We assume that's chronological age, not maturity...

On episode 119 of ATARI BYTES, there's magic all around us. *Waits patiently for my Dr. Strange cape to wrap itself around me. Nothing happens. I sigh heavily and move on.* We're playing the 1983 Mythicon game SORCERER. The wizards fight the sorcerer - you - for the treasure Pitfall Harry apparently left behind. We'll take Harry's leftovers. We're not picky. You could wonder why, if you're a sorce...

Hollywood has unleashed monsters on an unsuspecting country. No, I don't mean predatory Hollywood executives.  We're talking, of course, about the 2018 Duane Johnson blockbuster movie "RAMPAGE", based on the beloved 1986 arcade game. An evil corporation loses it's "gene-editing" sample. A wolf, a crocodile and a gentle, though foul-mouthed (tsk)(via sign language), gorilla named George grow to thi...

I just flew in from Milwaukee and boy are my arms tired.* *I didn't actually fly. I drove.** **My arms are fine. Thanks for asking. I just came back from the 2018 Midwest Gaming Classic where I had a great time at the Atari Bytes table talking to current listeners and lots of potential new listeners. If you are one of those new listeners, welcome to the party! I also picked up some great new games...

A political hot button issue is the state of America's infrastructure. Our bridges, roads and buildings are crumbling before our eyes. It's a national crisis. And, yet, our politicians do nothing. What the liberal media WON'T tell you about, though, is the plague of mutated dinosaurs, werewolves and gorillas that are single-handedly (triple-handedly?) devouring our great cities and pooping the rub...

As you emerge from your chocolate Easter bunny sugar coma, let episode 115 of ATARI BYTES spool soothing wake up game info into your ear holes. Back in 1980-81-ish, we imagine, the folks at Activision had this new space battle game, sort of a top-down Missile Command with alien invaders and ground forces and lots of laser battles. "What should we call it?" someone asked. They came up with lots of...

Here, in episode 114, there be monsters! In Froggo's 1987 treasure-hunting adventure SEA HUNT, it's raining gold doubloons. The pieces of eight are scattered like our dreams on the ocean floor as you, fearless skin diver, harpoon man-eating fish and sea monsters to get to a sunken Spanish galleon. Is the game a treasure chest or a bucket of chum? Whatever the answer, the story within might be the...

Hey, Pinheads! Don't biff the bumpers, just nudge the podcast machine - DON'T TILT! - and check out this week's kick-out hole of an episode before it goes down the drain.  Obviously, this week's episode is all about golf.  Kidding! Don't do a panic flip.  Now, let me do a lazarus ball to get these show notes back on track. This week, on episode 113, we're playing VIDEO PINBALL, Atari's 1980 port o...

Sorry! No show this week. We've gone fishin'... Just kidding! In episode 112, we've gone fishin' AND we're doing a show. How is this possible? Well, obviously we're playing the 1980 Activision (squee!) game FISHING DERBY. So is playing this game like landing a lunker or is it the one that got away? And why, we wonder, are these fish derby-izing? Unlike the typical fish story, we actually check the...

We could have phoned in this week's episode, #111 to be specific. We could have tossed Encounter at L-1 at you. Maybe even L-2 with nary a thought.  Encounters L-3 and 4? Probably good enough. But we here at ATARI BYTES believe that any encounters below L-5 are for chumps, which is why we've got for you: ENCOUNTER AT L-5 from Data Age, 1982. No need to thank me. But what do we find on our Encounte...

Episode 110 of the podcast is silent...but DEADLY. That is to say, we're playing DEADLY DUCK, the 1982 20th Century Fox game. It's sort of like waterfowl nested inside a Space Invaders game and QUACKED everything up. Also, there are brick-wielding crabs and dragonflies armed with bombs. Because why not? What story could I possibly make out of this? Hope I don't lay a (duck) egg on this one. Listen...

Ding-Ding! In the left corner, weighing in at episode 109, it's BOXING by Activision, 1980. In the right corner, weighing in at...well, he's working on it. Gotta get back on that treadmill. It's PODCASTER BILL. Gentlemen...fight! Dirty tricks and junk-punching totally okay. Our salute to the Olympics concludes this week with an Activision game. We do love us some Activision here on the podcast. Do...

Our salute to the Olympics continues this week in episode 108. Like all elite Olympic athletes, I've got a beer and a pocket full of nachos (I hope those are nachos). Why? Because we're going BOWLING! The 1978 Atari version that is.  You might argue bowling is not an actual Olympic sport. I submit to you that, as with doughnuts being a health food, in my reality Olympic bowling darn well is a thin...

As the episode rolls out, the 2018 winter Olympics are underway. The competition! The pageantry! The steroid scandals! To celebrate, we're leaping off the ski jump into the future to play the 1985 game WINTER OLYMPICS from Epyx FOR THE ATARI 7800!!! If the story WITHIN the game we've come up with can be believed (it can't), the drama and intrigue on the ski jump, bobsled, speed skating rink and bi...

This week on the podcast, we're going commando! Aren't you glad this is an audio podcast? Of course, we're actually referring to this week's game COMMANDO RAID, a 1982 game from U.S.Games, a division of Quaker Oats. The odor of heavy artillery fire and oatmeal hangs heavy in the air. In this week's story within the game, we wonder: in the war between the humans and androids, are there any winners?...