Arcade Mania

I'm sure you've seen them, but I just bought one of those old school joysticks that you plug directly into your T.V. and has five games you can play. Three of the games are classic (Ms. PacMan, Pole Position, & Galaga). Two of the games I've never heard of in my life (Xevious & Mappy). I bought it to have a little fun with my 4 year old son. Well after three days of nonstop play, here are some observations.

First of all, playing Pole Position really takes me back. I mean, this game is exactly as I remember playing it at that roller rink when I was 10 years old , even down to the same female narrator's voice..."Prepare To Qualify".

And since I brought up the roller rink, four things stand out so vividly about that place.

• One is eating nachos from the snack bar.
• Two is skating the limbo.
• Three is how hard it was to ever get a seat at the snack bar. (It was usually full of older kids and finding a table to sit down at was like finding gold.)
• And four, easily giving up that seat at the snack bar because "The Eye of the Tiger" is playing and baby, it's time to skate."

My second observation is that, although it's really awesome how far we've come by way of graphics in video games, it pales in comparison to the technological advancement of being able to save your progress. It kills me to play by butt off at Ms. PacMan, finally making it to round 9, only to have all my guys die and have to start way back at the beginning. Not cool. Because of this flaw in old school games, there are levels of Ms. PacMan I'll just never know.

P.S. I used to hate this kid.