PixlBit

I played all 50 games in this collection. Then I focused on the ones with achievements attached. Some of those I didn’t think much of first time around, but once I was tasked with an achievement, I found the fun. I’ll begin with just the arcade games I have something to say about. There are 14, total.

Avalanche: This is the arcade origin of Kaboom! for 2600. It’s basically the same gameplay except that you are trying to stop an avalanche of rocks in Avalanche and catching bombs from a character in Kaboom!. It was fine, but I didn’t like the default controls. The catcher moved way too fast. I slowed it down until it was ok, but not great. I think the original cabinet used a spinner (2600 used the paddles) which gives you much more precise control.

Canyon Bomber: Very simple game. Just drop bombs from a balloon and plane into a canyon filled with destructible rocks, or whatever they’re supposed to be. The achievement asks you to clear all the rocks. You get three misses before game over. I tried some strategies, but it’s darn hard to get the last dozen or so targets. I got to about 93% clear.

Fire Truck: This is a game I played once at a Chuck-E-Cheese. You drive a long ladder truck. Two players can play, one on either end. You can play single player though. The achievement asks me to play two-player and get to some point total, I think. I didn’t do it because I don’t have a second player, yet. I got Mark’s copy of the game today. Maybe I can get him to play it.

Maze Invaders: Surprisingly fun game. You are some sort of blob that reminds me of the character in Venture. You can shoot things, but your main objective is to collect fruit scattered around the screen. Each level gives you a different arrangement of barriers to navigate. I’d say “maze” but it’s less like a maze and more like a random set of walls, some of which move, or can be moved. You feel like you are free roaming and not in a maze, like Pac-Man, which I like. Then you have enemies that either just move in patterns or actively try and shoot you. Some you can destroy, and others just freeze for a few seconds. You collect all the fruit and then doors open on all four sides of the room (it’s like an escape room, now I think of it) and you can escape. You enter another room with a different arrangement of walls. I played this a good while and will play it some more. It’s a good one.

Monte Carlo: At first, I didn’t like the controls but once I had to go for an achievement, I figured it out and started liking it. This is a top down view racer with scrolling screens. The original cabinet had a steering wheel so using an analog stick is a bit tricky. I realized eventually that you have to hold the stick in a north pointing position and then move left and right to steer. If you try and move like you would normally from the center point, you’ll just spin around a lot. After I got that and got used to the gear shift being on RB (you can change it though, I just realized) right above your accelerator on RT, things got interesting. I had to get a time extension on a medium difficulty track. I’m still not sure how it scores. Maybe it’s by lap but maybe it’s also by cars that you run off the road. Competing AI cars will run into you and make you lose control, but you can do the same to them. I learned to hit them first. I got the achievement and a new respect for the gameplay.