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digitalpress
06-20-2003, 09:41 AM
At long last, the DP Random Subterranean Generator of Games (tm) has produced an Odyssey2 title! And I only had to submit a request 43 times this morning to get one!

One of the most popular games on the O2 system was this original title. We talk enough about it in the entry itself - but what do YOU think of Pickaxe Pete? Write your own mini-review here!

DP Guide sez:

Pick Axe Pete! (Odyssey2, by NAP) $7/R3 +
a.k.a. Didi na Mina Encantada!, Peter tete depioche
Designed by Ed Averett. Originally titled "Hammerin' Hank" but renamed and literally retooled (from a hammer to a pick-axe) in the wake of the K.C. Munchkin lawsuit in order to avoid similar flak from the Donkey Kong camp, even though the only real similarity between the two games is the presence of ladders. Extremely fun cart with lots of action and superb Odyssey2 character animation. Whenever you have a key, JUMP toward the doors. Even if you get hit by a boulder, you'll almost always roll right on out the door and be able to continue playing. You can also often avoid getting hit by boulders (they will pass right through Pete) by standing just outside a door. In its heyday, Odyssey sponsored the Pick Axe Pete Pick-Off, a competition that crowned the best Pick Axe Pete player and awarded him one pound of gold, worth over $6000. More than 10,000 Odyssey2 gamers entered the contest by submitting TV screen photos of their highest scores. Judged by Electronic Games editors Katz, Kunkel and Worley, (and written up in their February 1983 issue) the Pick Off brought its five finalists, all of whom scored over 9000 points to qualify, to the World's Fair in Knoxville Tennessee. The competition helped boost Fair attendance to a single day record of 110,000 people. In the end, ten year old Tony Scardigno of New Jersey went home with the gold. Tony won the hearts of Digital Press readers everywhere when he said that he wanted to put "about an ounce" of the gold toward the purchase of more videogames. The Knoxville World Fair is featured in the Simpsons episode 3F17, (seventh season, 1996) "Bart on the Road" and includes plenty of shots of the infamous Sun Sphere! Sadly, Bart, Milhouse, Nelson and Martin were about fourteen years too late to enter the Pick-Off, but on the plus side, Nelson did knock over the Sun Sphere. Ha-ha! Released in 1982. EASTER EGGS: Whenever you have the key, always jump towards the doors. Even if a boulder hits you, most often you will roll out the door and continue the game. c1982 Ed Averett. #AC9437.

http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/odyssey2/pickaxepete.gifhttp://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/odyssey2/pickaxepete1.gif

Phosphor Dot Fossils
06-20-2003, 10:15 AM
Ahhhh...Pete. My old friend.

This is still, in my opinion, the best Odyssey2 game ever. The replay value of it is damn near incalculable, and the thrill isn't far behind - ever play the 9th "maze" where you can take these death-defying slo-mo leaps off the sides of the structure, praying you hit bottom in one piece so you can pick up a spare axe? And in the meantime, ANYTHING can happen. Absolutely anything at all.

The O2 controllers are perfect for this game, too. If you've got O2 sticks in good working order, you can experience a connection between how you work the stick and what happens on screen that's almost unprecedented. It's very smooth, and whether you're walking, ducking, climbing or jumping...Pete does pretty much exactly what you tell him to do.

As I've been known to brag, I can play one round of this out for hours. And not get bored. That's how much I love it.

Heck, I may go fire it up right now.

Another note tacked on after re-reading Joe's original post - I wanted to enter the Pick-Off soooooo bad, I knew could kick butt at that game. But, perhaps having read a few things about the dismal Knoxville World's Fair, my mom was not in the mood for anything that would send me there (and force her to go along too).

AB Positive
06-20-2003, 10:38 AM
I can't write a review for it yet, but it's coming with system and other games. I am waiting on baited breath and this isn't helping my usual lack of patience :-D


...damn you PDF, it's all your fault LOL

-AG

Keir
06-20-2003, 01:46 PM
The Odyssey 2 is one of those systems that some people just don't "get". Pick Axe Pete was the game that made me understand the O2.

NE146
06-20-2003, 01:58 PM
Aahhh.. "Pick Ass" Pete.. the supposedly good O2 game that I'd always hear about but could never play! (Didn't have an O2 back in the day). But I do remember the name 8-)