Aswald
05-08-2007, 04:59 PM
Of all the different forms of pop culture, video gaming was unique, and in a pretty bad position in some ways.
Books and comics are what they are. Purchase one, and that's that.
Music? You had records, cassette tapes, CDs, iPods, and the like.
Movies? Television? VCR. Now, DVDs.
In other words, if you liked any of these things, you had the means to bring home a perfectly accurate version.
But video games were rather different. Unless you were very rich and could actually buy an arcade machine (remember that kid lugging one home up a hill?), you had to settle for...THE HOME VERSION!
Unlike the home versions of those other things, you couldn't honestly expect a perfect home translation, because that's what they were- not mere recordings. Since the arcade lifespan of an arcade game was usually limited to some months (with a few exceptions), the time you could actually enjoy the arcade version was very short. Once past that point, you had to 1) hope a home translation existed (esp. for your console or computer), and 2) it was at least decent.
Warrior
Jump Bug
Snap Jack
Killer Comet
Marvin's Maze
Wild Western
Cosmic Alien (hey, I liked it!)
Pulsar
Major Havoc
Numerous Obscure 1970s Games, Such as Frogs and Fire Truck
Granted, not every movie or television program ever made came out on VCR or DVD format, but the percentage of arcade video games that did not make it was much higher.
The problem was that, all too often, the home versions just weren't good enough. It was hard to not like CV Pepper 2 or Lady Bug, or 5200 Berzerk and Qix, not to mention NES Elevator Action and Donkey Kong 3, but since arcade technology was usually well ahead of home consoles, you just couldn't expect an exact copy, or even a complete one.
In recent years emulation may have filled this gap somewhat, but not enough.
Books and comics are what they are. Purchase one, and that's that.
Music? You had records, cassette tapes, CDs, iPods, and the like.
Movies? Television? VCR. Now, DVDs.
In other words, if you liked any of these things, you had the means to bring home a perfectly accurate version.
But video games were rather different. Unless you were very rich and could actually buy an arcade machine (remember that kid lugging one home up a hill?), you had to settle for...THE HOME VERSION!
Unlike the home versions of those other things, you couldn't honestly expect a perfect home translation, because that's what they were- not mere recordings. Since the arcade lifespan of an arcade game was usually limited to some months (with a few exceptions), the time you could actually enjoy the arcade version was very short. Once past that point, you had to 1) hope a home translation existed (esp. for your console or computer), and 2) it was at least decent.
Warrior
Jump Bug
Snap Jack
Killer Comet
Marvin's Maze
Wild Western
Cosmic Alien (hey, I liked it!)
Pulsar
Major Havoc
Numerous Obscure 1970s Games, Such as Frogs and Fire Truck
Granted, not every movie or television program ever made came out on VCR or DVD format, but the percentage of arcade video games that did not make it was much higher.
The problem was that, all too often, the home versions just weren't good enough. It was hard to not like CV Pepper 2 or Lady Bug, or 5200 Berzerk and Qix, not to mention NES Elevator Action and Donkey Kong 3, but since arcade technology was usually well ahead of home consoles, you just couldn't expect an exact copy, or even a complete one.
In recent years emulation may have filled this gap somewhat, but not enough.