Memories of where and when you first played/saw this game

[Crazy Climber]

Never played a Looping, still to this day.

[DE2600]

I never played loopine. Looks good though.

[schuwalker]

I played a Looping at my local arcade bitd. Cool game but that control scheme always pissed me off! I never managed to get past level 2, and in fact, rarely got past the "pool balls" on the first level!

[heberts811]

I remember trying Looping once but didn't play it again due to the unforgiving controls.

 

I remember reading that Bally/Midway had a choice of 2 games to license and took Mappy over POLE POSITION!

My local arcade had Mappy when it first came out and sent it back because no one played it.

[7800Lover]

Funny that Mr. Do's Castle should be mentioned - that flea market in Eden, NC that had Mappy and Pac-Land also had Mr. Do!

 

Here's another one - Loco-Motion! Anyone find one in the wild? Again, I spotted this title at that same flea market!

[retrorussell]

I've read about Loco-Motion but never saw it in an arcade. Seen some YouTube videos of it. Doesn't look like I would have liked it but that's just me.

[retrorussell]

Next game: MS. PAC-MAN

Released in 1981, this was such an imaginative departure from Pac-Man in that the mazes were different and the bonuses would MOVE. Someone might have told the programmers, "What are you smoking? MOVING FRUITS??!!" But it was really a stroke of genius as not only did you have to often venture into harm's way to get the bonus (as in Pac-Man) but you had to CHASE the dang thing, as it sometimes seemed to be avoiding you! And the cutscenes this time told a bit of backstory to the protagonist.

 

I first saw this puppy, I believe, in a cafe at the store (Fred Meyer) where my dad was a grocery manager back in the day. The cafe was called "Eve's Buffet" and it was kind of bleh. I'd meet him sometimes on his lunch break there and I passed by a cocktail of Ms. Pac-Man. If that wasn't the first time I saw it I do have recollections of seeing it at my dad's bowling alley on league nights in Milwaukie, OR back in the early '80s.

[Fuseball]

Ms. Pac-Man is one of those games that I never saw much of in the UK. Pretty certain I played one in a seaside arcade on England's South Coast. Brighton probably. Never saw one in a dedicated cab. Strange that it was only a minor success in the UK but when I visited NC a few years ago it was the one classic I kept finding, along with Galaga, in almost every arcade I saw.

 

I played Mr Do's Castle in the Electrocoin arcade off Tottenham Court Road, London. Electrocoin was a game distributor, and they would license many games from the smaller manufacturers, usually putting the PCBs in their own "Goliath" cabs. These cabs were *everywhere* in the UK. They had a lot of the Universal games in their showcase arcade, all along a back wall. I played the Mr Do! series a few times but only really clicked with the first one and Do! Run Run. The same arcade had Starforce, Tac/Scan and Star Trek, so I naturally gravitated towards those instead. It was also the only place I ever saw a Libble Rabble. Now, that was a game I really loved...

 

Similar story to the above with Pac-land. Pretty common in the UK albeit in a generic cab. Personally, I couldn't stand the game.

 

I have played a Warrior, but only relatively recently. A friend of mine who is a big collector/restorer had one. Beautiful game. Would have loved it back in the day.

 

The quirks of UK game licensing and distribution meant that a lot of games simply never made it to these shores, or in such small numbers that we never saw them. That was the case with Looping, Mappy, Bagman and Venture, although I played the home versions of Venture (I had the Intellivision port).

 

Our local fleapit/seedy pool hall arcade had Guttang-Guttong (a re-titled Loco-motion). Stayed there a while but not many of us played it. Damn frustrating game.

Edited April 14, 2011 by Fuseball

[DaveD]

Cool thread. I look forward to reading about the new games.

 

I think the first time I saw Ms. Pac-Man was at Flipper's arcade in Milwaukee. I remember liking Pac-Man and being rather disappointed at Pac Plus and Super Pac-Man. But Ms. Pac-Man seemed to hit all the right buttons keeping the simplicity of control and gameplay while adding just the right number of bonuses to keep things interesting. I remember thinking this was a game created by game players. People that genuinely enjoyed games and knew what would make a good game.

 

I also distinctly remember the first maze in Ms. Pac-Man was blue. When I eventually saw other machines and later on other systems I thought the pink maze looked out of place. Many years later I was playing it in MAME and I saw the blue maze again! I looked carefully at the ROM and noticed I was actually playing the bootleg version! I always thought that Flippers was kind of a shady spot.

[retrorussell]

Yeah, I remember the first maze being pink when I played it in arcades. Then when I played it on MAME the maze was blue. Then I learned how many games have a billion different bootlegs or hacks and I knew I'd remembered it correctly.

I really like the added "Strange" mazes and weird bonuses on the version for Genesis. Even the KLAX hand is a bonus!

[NE146]

Ms. Pacman was one of those games that in my part of the world took a long time to arrive. We had Puckman forever (not Pac-Man), but I remember seeing Ms. Pacman on the TV and wondering "WHY HAVEN'T I SEEN THAT!?!". Eventually it did show up in bootleg form though. So I'm guessing since it was strictly a U.S. creation it took a long while for the japanese arcade companies to bring it over.

[retrorussell]

Here's another Pac-Man variation (read: hack) that was pretty obscure: PIRAHNA (1981, GL). Saw this at a place not far from me at the Beaverton/Tigard border called "Progress Pizza" (the borough was called Progress). I used to go there after 5th grade basketball on occasion. Good potato wedges. Also played Pleiades and (another rarity) Spiders there. If anyone has memories of those, share them as well.

[retrorussell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Bmt-3SM68&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv2k2YPYfL8

[rhindlethereddragon]

My friend Kevin had venture when I played it I was hooked. I sucked first few tries at this game but then I got the hang of it and I got better then my friend . I believe the year was 2000 2001 or 2002 one of those, tho I'm quite sure 2001. For the arcade coin version I was at a roller skating rink my mom normally took me my brother and sister to with a few friends but I wasn't a good roller skater so I my mom gave me some coins and id play that most of the time I highly doubt that arcade machine is still there today since I moved away years ago. Wish I could see that thing one more time.

 

What system did Kevin have venture on?

[rhindlethereddragon]

Ms. Pac-Man is one of those games that I never saw much of in the UK. Pretty certain I played one in a seaside arcade on England's South Coast. Brighton probably. Never saw one in a dedicated cab. Strange that it was only a minor success in the UK but when I visited NC a few years ago it was the one classic I kept finding, along with Galaga, in almost every arcade I saw.

 

I played Mr Do's Castle in the Electrocoin arcade off Tottenham Court Road, London. Electrocoin was a game distributor, and they would license many games from the smaller manufacturers, usually putting the PCBs in their own "Goliath" cabs. These cabs were *everywhere* in the UK. They had a lot of the Universal games in their showcase arcade, all along a back wall. I played the Mr Do! series a few times but only really clicked with the first one and Do! Run Run. The same arcade had Starforce, Tac/Scan and Star Trek, so I naturally gravitated towards those instead. It was also the only place I ever saw a Libble Rabble. Now, that was a game I really loved...

 

Similar story to the above with Pac-land. Pretty common in the UK albeit in a generic cab. Personally, I couldn't stand the game.

 

I have played a Warrior, but only relatively recently. A friend of mine who is a big collector/restorer had one. Beautiful game. Would have loved it back in the day.

 

The quirks of UK game licensing and distribution meant that a lot of games simply never made it to these shores, or in such small numbers that we never saw them. That was the case with Looping, Mappy, Bagman and Venture, although I played the home versions of Venture (I had the Intellivision port).

 

Our local fleapit/seedy pool hall arcade had Guttang-Guttong (a re-titled Loco-motion). Stayed there a while but not many of us played it. Damn frustrating game.

 

VERY interesting. Do you have any photographs of these "generic" cabs?

[Fuseball]

VERY interesting. Do you have any photographs of these "generic" cabs?

Well there are pictures of the Electrocoin Goliath here... http://electrocoin.uk.com/goliath/

 

The other generic cabs I can remember were usually black ash woodgrain sides with no distinguishing features. You got a marquee if you were lucky!

[Tickled_Pink]

I didn't see ANY of the games listed in this thread in the UK. Probably for the reasons mentioned by Fuseball. Games I tended to see and play over the years included Space Invaders, Astroids, Pac-Man, DK, cosmic guerilla, robotron and so forth. Last truly classic games I ever saw were Asteroids(local sports centre) and Space Invaders (local takeaway). Both in late nineties.

[retrorussell]

I didn't see ANY of the games listed in this thread in the UK. Probably for the reasons mentioned by Fuseball. Games I tended to see and play over the years included Space Invaders, Astroids, Pac-Man, DK, cosmic guerilla, robotron and so forth. Last truly classic games I ever saw were Asteroids(local sports centre) and Space Invaders (local takeaway). Both in late nineties.

Well, aren't you lucky you have us around to educate you!

[TheShanMan]

Mappy (1983), Bally/Midway (licensed by Namco)

 

Seeing this thread for the first time leading off with Mappy, I had to chime in! I don't recall Mappy growing up, but my son found it in mame which eventually led to me buying one (and I live pretty close to you, Russell).

 

 

A little classic called Pooyan.......

 

Love this game too - I came really close to buying one and still hope to one day. They're not too easy to find (at least in the dedicated Stern cabinet).

 

 

Mr. Do's Castle replaced Mr. Do at the Jantzen Beach Mall arcade (Portland) and I was sorely disappointed with the trade. This was when the arcade was just on the south side of the merry-go-round. This was a pretty solid arcade back in the day and we would ride our bikes from Ridgefield to go there, probably 18 miles. Looking back, I suppose Mr. Do's Castle was probably a conversion kit for a Mr Do cabinet, eh?

 

In fact, Mr. Do! itself was almost always a conversion of something else. Not very many dedicated Mr. Do! cabinets were sold in the US. In fact I do believe it was the first kit game ever made. Interesting that I'm reading this quote today though because I just got back from a weekend at the NW Pinball and Gameroom show in Seattle. I had my wife's dedicated near mint Mr. Do! there and Mr. Do's Castle was swapped in for part of the first day so a guy from Texas could break the world record there on my wife's cabinet. How cool is that?

 

 

 

Russell, do you mind if I throw out another game to keep this thread going? I'd like to pick another one from my personal collection that I also do not remember at all from my youth and also was discovered by my son in mame. Since I don't remember it, I'd like to see what memories other people have. The game is... Mouse Trap (Exidy, 1981)!

 

Couldn't find a good youtube video to embed here, but this page has a video and pics on it: http://gamesdbase.com/gamedetail-arcade.mouse_trap.1981.exidy__-44-___inc__-46-__.maze.exidy.aspx

 

And here's a pic at least:

[retrorussell]

This thread is open to any suggestions of games of which to share memories. Mouse Trap is a good choice.

I played that one I think at Malibu Gran Prix to begin with. My sister especially loved it. I'll admit it's a rather good game, probably my favorite Exidy game. On MAME it seems the hawk disappears while coming after you. I was pretty sure it didn't do that in the arcade (the disappearing, not the coming after you). I got fairly decent at this game.

[Bloodreign]

Over the years down here in Louisiana, Ms Pac Man was a common cab to see everywhere you went, restaurants, laundromats, arcades, etc. First time I played it was in an arcade, always ran into the speed hack one after awhile wherever I saw and played it.

 

One I ran into so few, and only at a laundromat was Yie Ar Kung Fu, that little game stuck to me with it's funny sounds that Oolong would emit. Needless to say when I saw it on a couple Konami compilations, I jumped like Oolong at both.

[DaveD]

Mouse Trap was one of those games that I only saw and played once or twice. It was probably at a Chuck E. Cheese, Showbiz Pizza, or similar place that I visited once but never really frequented. Those visits were fun because they had large arcades and usually did introduce me to a few titles I had never seen before. Together with a brief view of it in the arcade and prolonged exposure to it in magazines and Colecovision commercials it was one of those games that was on the radar, just never received a lot of attention. I do recall thinking the multi-colored button arrangement was a little confusing for a game that was pretty much a rip-off of Pac-Man. The success of Pac-Man was partially in the simple controls so why would you needlessly complicate that? After finally figuring out a way to customize the controls in MAME to allow for decent gameplay I realize that Mouse Trap had other issues too. Like that cheating bird that materializes from nowhere.

[TheShanMan]

Well would you have preferred they release Exidy Pacman? They certainly had to put a different twist on the pacman concept. Definitely a more complicated game but frankly I quickly tire of the simplicity of pacman and I like the challenge of mouse trap (not saying pacman is too easy for me because it's not). Certainly geared toward a slightly different audience than pacman. Sounds like you fall in the pacman camp and I fall in the mouse trap camp.

 

Incidentally, I'm getting ready to rearrange my game room and by accident mouse trap ended up next to ms pac in my google sketchup model. I like it!

Edited June 10, 2011 by TheShanMan

[CSaab900]

Just found this forum, and really enjoyed the topic! I thought I'd start one:

 

Xenophobe Bally/Midway 1987.

 

I first discovered this game at our local swimming pool (Miller's Grove). We would spend almost every day there during the summers of the late '80s. This game was very difficult, and the unusual control panel didn't help! This never stopped me from pumping quarter after quarter into it. I'm sure I threw a $100 at it that first summer. We got it a couple years later for the 7800, and my siblings and I would play it for hours on end.

 

Edited July 11, 2011 by CSaab900

[M.A.M.E Offender]

I first played Mappy on the 5 game Mspacman joystick console thing. Interesting game, no doubt.