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Nerdarchy > Games  > Video Games (Page 2)

Blast from the Past: Mattel Electronics Handheld Games

Blast from the Past: Mattel Electronics Handheld Games
mattel
You see a kid walking down the street. His eyes are glued to the game in his hands, so he barely notices when he strolls across a busy street, and he doesn’t hear tires squeal and horns blare. Could he be playing Pokemon Go? Or is he doing something else on his smart phone?

Of course not. The year is 1976, after all.

How can that be? Believe it or not, way back in the dinosaur ages we actually had electronic handheld games, and they were quite popular. Sports games were probably the most common, but plenty of others were available. Companies like Coleco and Sears (yes, that Sears) had plenty of games available, and it seemed more came out every year, especially at Christmas.

But of all the companies which sold such devices, by far the most popular had to be Mattel Electronics. 14081202_10211248513267847_944445570_nThis company kicked everything off with the very first all-digital electronic game, Auto Race, which came out in stores in 1976.

By today’s standards, Auto Race was a simple game with red LED (light-emitting diode) lights. The player controlled a bright red line one the bottom of the tiny screen. The goal was to steer your race car (that red line) from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen four times before a time of 99 seconds ran out. If the player made it, then the player won the game. The hard part was avoiding all the other race cars (more red blips) which came at you at high speeds, and if one hit you, then your car was forced back to the bottom of the screen. The main control moved your car from left to right, but you could also change gears to speed up or slow down play.

Blast from the Past: Spaceward Ho!

ho screenshot

This screen shot of a game of Spaceward Ho! looks rather busy, but don’t let that fool you. This is a relatively simple game.

Imagine you are in charge of an alien race that must expand across the galaxy. You send out spaceships to find new planets, then you have to rework those planets so they can support your species. Along the way you strive to increase population levels and to raise funds to keep expansion rolling. Then the worst happens and you run smack into another alien race doing the same as you. It’s war! And intergalactic war at that. All with ships that look like flying sharks, planets that wear cowboy hats, and special events that happen on holidays.

I’m talking about Spaceward Ho!, a computer video game that was first released in 1990 by Delta Tao Software. Originally created for Macintosh computers, this strategy game has earned its fair share of praise and a number of awards, and it was inducted into the MacWorld Game Hall of Fame. The game proved so popular it was reviewed not once, but twice in Dragon magazine, in issues 196 and 202. Even Wil Wheaton back in 2013 tweeted about his excitement when Spaceward Ho! became available for Android through GooglePlay.

Spaceward Ho! alive and kicking

1982: Year of the first ADV Dungeons & Dragons video game

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain

Box cover for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When it comes to Dungeons & Dragons products, the tabletop games might be first to come to mind, but the brand has had more than its share of success with video games. Everyone has their favorites, from “Baldur’s Gate” this and “Neverwinter Nights” that, but those new to the franchise might not be familiar with some of the earlier digital efforts for D&D.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Video Games

Though not the first Dungeons & Dragons video game (that honor goes to “dnd,” created by Ray Wood and Gary Whisenhunt in 1974), the first such game to have the word “advanced” in the title would be 1982’s “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” for the Intellivision home console.