tj_
01-03-2011, 04:03 PM
Hi all!
My first post at the forum. I thought maybe this is a place I could ask about a problem that has been bothering me for a long time. Namely at our family we had a gaming system in the late 80's or early 90's that had exactly one game. I have some vague memories playing with it, and it was fun. But what bothers me is that I have no idea what system and game was it. I'd really like to know. So I'm calling for your help, dear readers, by describing the system and the game. Maybe someone can identify the stuff.
Ok let's start with the system. My step-sister's grandfather gave it to us. I can't remember which year it was but most likely between 89 and 91. He was doing business in Asia, Macao I think, and I'm under assumption he brought the system from there. It might be a clone of some western system, I don't know. But I'm sure that was the only machine of its kind in the small country town in Finland where we were living at the time! The Machine was a gaming console, not home computer like ZX Spectrum or C64. It was connected to our living room TV (PAL). I have no clear recollection about the looks of the system but if I try really hard, I think it reminds something like a ZX Spectrum (black, not very tall, "book-like"), but without keyboard of course. The game was provided on a cartridge which is not very unlike of the cartridges C64 uses. It was black and about the same size. The port for mounting was not at the back of the machine like in C64 but it was at the top of the console's surface. Horizontally in the middle and at the back depth-wise. The controller was probably a joystick of some sort. Based on my memories about the game, graphics capabilities of the system were not something you might expect something from a state-of-the-art early-90's machine. More like early 80's. 8-bit for sure.
More about the game. There's a wall of a house taking most of the screen space. There's some open windows, maybe four columns and three rows of them. From the street and the windows spiders spawn at random locations at increasingly quicker rate as the game progresses. The critters are crawling up the wall (both stright up and diagonally) and trying to reach the top. A life is lost if they manage to invade the rooftop. But no worries, there's something the hero can do about it! At the roof there's a dude that the player controls with the joystick. He can move between the columns of windows. Every now an then a flower pot (yes!) appears at the eaves. The player can push the pot down and it'll wipe all the critters along its way. The more spiders you manage to waste the more points you get. Very simple. You could think the game as a sort of creative Space Invaders clone.
That's about it. Nice retrogaming people, does this ring any bells?
Thanks and Best Regards!
My first post at the forum. I thought maybe this is a place I could ask about a problem that has been bothering me for a long time. Namely at our family we had a gaming system in the late 80's or early 90's that had exactly one game. I have some vague memories playing with it, and it was fun. But what bothers me is that I have no idea what system and game was it. I'd really like to know. So I'm calling for your help, dear readers, by describing the system and the game. Maybe someone can identify the stuff.
Ok let's start with the system. My step-sister's grandfather gave it to us. I can't remember which year it was but most likely between 89 and 91. He was doing business in Asia, Macao I think, and I'm under assumption he brought the system from there. It might be a clone of some western system, I don't know. But I'm sure that was the only machine of its kind in the small country town in Finland where we were living at the time! The Machine was a gaming console, not home computer like ZX Spectrum or C64. It was connected to our living room TV (PAL). I have no clear recollection about the looks of the system but if I try really hard, I think it reminds something like a ZX Spectrum (black, not very tall, "book-like"), but without keyboard of course. The game was provided on a cartridge which is not very unlike of the cartridges C64 uses. It was black and about the same size. The port for mounting was not at the back of the machine like in C64 but it was at the top of the console's surface. Horizontally in the middle and at the back depth-wise. The controller was probably a joystick of some sort. Based on my memories about the game, graphics capabilities of the system were not something you might expect something from a state-of-the-art early-90's machine. More like early 80's. 8-bit for sure.
More about the game. There's a wall of a house taking most of the screen space. There's some open windows, maybe four columns and three rows of them. From the street and the windows spiders spawn at random locations at increasingly quicker rate as the game progresses. The critters are crawling up the wall (both stright up and diagonally) and trying to reach the top. A life is lost if they manage to invade the rooftop. But no worries, there's something the hero can do about it! At the roof there's a dude that the player controls with the joystick. He can move between the columns of windows. Every now an then a flower pot (yes!) appears at the eaves. The player can push the pot down and it'll wipe all the critters along its way. The more spiders you manage to waste the more points you get. Very simple. You could think the game as a sort of creative Space Invaders clone.
That's about it. Nice retrogaming people, does this ring any bells?
Thanks and Best Regards!