Nostalgia… old 1980s Atari games!

I can’t help but post this.

Way back when, in Michigan, my Dad bought us an Atari. I can remember playing Asteroids, PacMan, Ms PacMan, Pole Position, Space Invaders and other games on that system. We even got (or borrowed) Frogger at one point. One of my favorite games, that I had to borrow from the neighbors to play, was Pitfall. Man, I had fun with that one.

I even remember when a couple of the game cartridges broke and I tried to “fix” them by opening them up and getting the insides to stop wiggling around all the time.

Well, in our new Super Target (you see… it’s really bad that we have this store so close!) they have the old games build into hand held joysticks! They original PacMan, Ms PacMan, Galaga (Ron’s favorite), Pole Position and others! So, of course, we bought one. It plugs into the TV and plays direct from the joystick — no extra box or anything.

I remember that our Atari was about as big as our current VCR. And today, 5 games fit easily into this little hand held thing.

They are so “old” looking – 2D. Wow! But man, are they fun! Joseph plays them (as do Ron and I). I’m hooked on Ms PacMan again. Always did love that game. Ron’s trying to top his high score from the beach (way back when he was a kid on a family vacation) on Galaga.

What memories it brings back! And how funny that the old stuff is just as much fun as the new … and for me, more so because it’s just so much simpler! In Zelda and Super Mario, you have to use the joystick and numerous buttons. Yeah, I’ll admit they are fun too, but with the old stuff it’s up, down, left and right only! 🙂 And an occasion button for firing or shifting.

Good times…