Mario Bros.

Review Date: January 30, 2021 Release Date: July 20, 1983 Platform: Atari 800 (but really, it’s the 5200) Developer: Nintendo Genre: Linear Platformer Anecdotes: Another game Nintendo released on Atari before Nintendo had its own system, Mario Bros. was the first game named after Nintendo’s mascot and most iconic character, Mario. (I had thought that… Continue reading Mario Bros.

Donkey Kong

Review Date: January 29, 2021 Release Date: 1983 sometime (exact dates have been lost to time) Platform: Atari 800 Developer: Nintendo Genre: Linear Platformer Anecdotes: We were extremely late to the Donkey Kong bandwagon. We didn’t really play it too much, but what we did play was on Nintendo’s release on their own system. How… Continue reading Donkey Kong

Spelunker

Review Date: January 28, 2021 Release Date: Unknown date in 1983 (death count after 38 years: 15,493,275) Platform: Atari 800 Developer: Broderbund Genre: Linear Platformer Anecdotes: Spelunker is the first of a handful of games that I played on the NES. I thought the NES versions were the original, but after doing some research, I… Continue reading Spelunker

Shamus: Case II

Review Date: January 27, 2021 Release Date: Unleashed sometime in 1983 Platform: Atari 800 Developer: Synapse Genre: Completely Revamped Action Platformer (C.R.A.P.) Anecdotes: So, not every game on the list is a game I played at release. Some I barely played at all. Some I have never played. Then there is Shamus Case II, which… Continue reading Shamus: Case II

Pitstop

Review Date: January 25, 2021 Release Date: Who the Heck Knows, 1983 Platform: Atari 800 Developer: Epyx Genre: Racing Anecdotes: Racing games, even in 1983, were a popular format. Pitstop had some competition at the time, mainly coming from Pole Position. Epyx had to make their racing game stand out in some way, so they… Continue reading Pitstop