I Remember…ATARI

Day 163

Long before the Wii, X Box, Playstation, and Nintendo 64 there was…ATARI. This will probably date me, but I remember when ATARI was the shizz, the bomb, the ultimate! At the time the technology seemed so advanced and innovative; of course, compared to today’s technology ATARI is archaic and pedestrian.

While I don’t remember when my family got our very own ATARI system, I do remember how much fun it was! I watched more than played, but still had fun with it. Our ATARI system was kept by the TV in the basement, in the family room. Just look at this console! I love the switches, the 8 track player (for the game cartridge); and who could forget the infamous “joystick” - many a person could blame their carpal tunnel issues on the hours spent play with this remote.

One of the first games my family got for the ATARI was PITFALL. My brother Josh was the expert with this game; in fact, he was the expert with pretty much all of the ATARI games. I remember that this game had cool sound effects, such as when the character would swing across the swamp/pond, or when he would slip and fall down into it.

SPIDER-MAN was another cool ATARI game that we had. I remember I did play this one…or rather I attempted to play. I basically sucked at it, but I still had fun. I remember that this game also had very cool sound effects (to make up for the limited visual effects), such as when Spider-Man would shoot his web. When I played this game Spider-Man would usually fall, and he would splat on the ground! Ouch! Sorry dude!

And then there was Q-BERT. I don’t remember why this game was popular. He had no arms and he could only jump around (yawn!) And he could only say things like @!#? - potty mouth!!