Contributions > Descriptions by Nélio (1976)

Retroball 3000 takes the simple classic Pong mechanics and expands the concept by placing obstacles in the middle of the playfield. These obstacles may be static or move around and/or rotate, and can also exert an attractive or repulsive force on the ball. All this results on an extremely fast-paced gameplay, with goals happening rather frequently.

The game has 30 levels and the player must beat the AI-controlled adversary on each one before unlocking the next. There is also a local multiplayer mode available (both players on the same device), but only the levels unlocked in the single-player mode are available to play with a friend.

The browser version of the game has some limitations, with just 10 levels available and lacking the multiplayer mode.

Zombie Apocalift is a humorous take on the recurring zombie apocalypse theme: an unlikely group of characters fight for their survival inside an elevator.

The gameplay is very simple: hordes of zombies charge into the elevator from the top and both sides, with the three player characters facing each of those directions, attacking when the user taps/clicks on them. Each character has a health bar and the player loses the game if any of them dies.

There's also a global stamina bar that regenerates itself over time and gets depleted whenever the player characters attack, disabling them when it gets empty. This prevents players from spamming the attack controls and adds a tactical layer to the game.

Initially the player has only access to one level, but more can be unlocked as the user progresses in the game. Each level takes place on a different building and has a particular setting, such as a supermax prison, a secret military base, and a sushi tower. Each of these has its own enemy models and there are two boss fights per level, with unique tactics. There's also a special endless level, which randomly goes through floors of all the previously unlocked levels.

Just as with the levels, the player can unlock more characters beyond the initial three. They are very diverse and include Hatanaka-san (a samurai), Hellvis (an Elvis impersonator), Thorminator (a robotic Thor), and Mrs. Jones (an old lady with a walking aid as a weapon). Some characters have more health and attack power than others.

The character's stats and abilities can be temporarily improved by means of power-ups. For instance, medikits will heal a certain amount of their health, and steroids increase their attack power. A couple of upgrades is available for each power-up and there are also special upgrades such as the Stamina Doubler which doubles the stamina bar earlier described.

Bounty Monkey is an endless runner, a genre where the controllable character automatically runs through the level and the player can only avoid obstacles with quick reflexes.

In this game the protagonist is the pet monkey of a Pirate Captain, who flees from his master and crew while collecting as much treasures as possible. The monkey can jump through swinging ropes, run on islands, and fly when mounted on flying creatures or devices. The game automatically switches between these three different play mechanics, taking place on randomized levels, and gets increasingly faster the further the player gets.

In some sections the monkey is chased up-close by the Pirate Captain and his sidekick, the Sea Witch. The player cannot beat them -- only dodge their attacks for the duration of the encounter.

The player can use the collected loot to purchase power-ups that give temporary special abilities to the monkey, such as immunity to hazards and a magnet that attracts nearby treasures. The effects of those power-ups can be improved through upgrades, also acquired in exchange for both in-game currencies (common gold coins and rare black pearls).

Diverse flying mounts are also available for purchase, such as a phoenix, a hot air balloon, and a jet pack. They provide extra bonuses to the player, and some of them are very expensive to get.

The browser version of the game has less features and content as this title is primarily targeted to Android and iOS devices (both phones and tablets).

Computer Space was the first commercially available arcade game, released back in November 1971. It missed the title of first arcade game ever created by just a couple of months, a feat accomplished by Galaxy Game. Another relevant piece of history is that the designers of Computer Space, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, later founded Atari.

On to the game, Computer Space is a top-down shooter set out in space. The player controls a spaceship and is opposed by a pair of flying saucers. The saucers fire at the player, who must evade their shots and fire back to destroy them. There is a 90-second timer, after which the game ends unless the player's score is higher than that of the saucers. If so, gameplay is extended by another 90 seconds - and this pattern repeats until the player loses.

The game is inspired by one of the earliest video games created, Spacewar, not just in terms of theme and graphics, but also of input. The player can only thrust forward and rotate the ship left or right (besides shooting, of course), and the ship's movement in space is physically realistic - and challenging! Given its steep learning curve, the game wasn't very successful with the general public.

A 2-player version of the arcade was later released, pitting both players against each other - resembling Spacewar and Galaxy Game. The machine can be played solo, reverting to the original single-player gameplay.

Sunset Flavors is a time management game where the goal is to serve cold drinks to thirsty customers at a beach bar. As it's typical in this genre, the clients make their orders and the player has a time limit to tend to their requests. Each one requires multiple steps to prepare, such as picking the right glass, serving the chosen drink, and adding ice and/or lemon, among other options. If the player fails to deliver the request within the time limit, a life is lost. The game ends if all 3 lifes are lost.

For the first few levels the game is fairly easy, with just a handful of simple drinks available for the customers to choose from. But as the game progresses throughout its 30 levels, the number of drinks in the menu increases and they become much more complex to prepare. To make matters worse, the clients will be increasingly more impatient and they'll order two drinks at a time more often than not.

Pongball Champions is a single-player futuristic sports game that combines the mechanics of Pong and Pinball. Set in the year 2351, the ultimate sport - Pongball - is played on an arena orbiting the Earth. Contestants pilot spaceships equipped with flippers instead of wings, and they use them to hit a ball towards the opponent's goal. The player's objective is to beat 30 adversaries and become the ultimate Pongball Champion.

Every match presents a different challenge. Not only the opponents are progressively harder to beat, but each level has obstacles in the arena that behave as pinball bumpers, pushing the ball away at high speed. The player must adapt his strategy depending on the layout of the levels.

The game also features 6 buffs and debuffs that spawn in the arena from time to time and can be collected by either opponent. They are:

• Big Flippers: The ship's flippers increase in size.
• Small Flippers: The flippers become smaller.
• Big Ray: Increases the size of the ship's energy ray (area used to absorb buffs/debuffs).
• Small Ray: Reduces the size of the energy ray.
• Flipper Power: The flippers shoot the ball with increased speed, or go back to normal if they are jammed.
• Flipper Jam: Causes the flippers to jam and become unusable, or to go back to normal if they are powered up.

Galaxy Game is a conversion of one of the earliest video games ever produced, Spacewar. Released in September of 1971, it is the first known arcade game - beating yet another Spacewar conversion, Computer Space, by a mere two months. The game was never mass-produced and was only available at the Tresidder Union Coffee House at Stanford University.

With monochrome vector graphics, Galaxy Game is a space shooter where two players try to blow up each other's spaceship. Besides firing, players can rotate their ships left and right, thrust forward, and jump to hyperspace, reappearing at a random (potentially dangerous) location. Both ships have a limited amount of fuel that is consumed over time and as the players use their engines and the hyperspace ability. A ship explodes when it runs out of fuel.

One of the most interesting gameplay elements of the game is the gravitational pull caused by a star in the middle of the screen, which both players must avoid colliding into. However, this feature can be disabled by setting one of the machine's control switches.

The game also features a single-player mode for practice.

The RCA Studio II came with 5 built-in games and programs:

• Doodle: A simple program that allows the user to draw (doodle) on the screen. With the RCA Studio II being monochrome, the player can only draw white pixels on the screen. There is a cursor and the user can move it in 8 different directions, deciding whether it should paint or erase pixels on the screen.

• Patterns: Another drawing program, this time enabling the user to create a doodle that can be infinitely repeated on screen by the system, inverting all the pixels it comes across in the process and generating unexpected patterns. If the user launches the program after drawing with Doodle first, the patterns are drawn on top of the original doodle.

• Bowling: A simplistic top-down rendition of bowling for (exactly) two players. The ball moves automatically up and down the lane and the players just need to choose when to throw it. There are 3 different throws: straight, hook down, and hook up. After 10 frames are played, the final scores are shown and the game ends.

• Freeway: A racing game where the player drives a car in a straight freeway and must steer to avoid collisions with other cars. Accidents will only slow the player down, but this has a great impact on the score as the goal is to make the best mileage within 2 minutes.

• Addition: A math educational game for one or two players. The goal is to simply add 3 digits that show up on the screen simultaneously and press the according button on the keyboard. In a two player game, the player that hits the correct button first wins the round. The game ends after 20 rounds.

Schach (German for "chess") was released for the Saba Videoplay, a Channel F-compatible system that Fairchild licensed for the European market.

In this early chess simulation you can only play against the machine, as there is no multiplayer support. The player can choose either the white (actually green on screen) or black (actually red) pieces, and can select from 4 different AI difficulties. The easiest AI plays its turns in a matter of seconds but, as the difficulty increases, each turn can take several minutes. In the highest difficulty, the AI can take up to 50(!) minutes to decide its move. To allow the player to watch something else on the TV while the system is busy, the game cart has a very special feature: an integrated red led lights up while the machine is "thinking".

During the game, the player can ask the computer to help him with his next move. In those situations, the system analyses the board and plays impartially.

Toy Shop is a simulation game in which you take the role of two siblings, Mel and Mark, who have inherited their grandfather's toy shop. You have three years to make it profitable or the shop will be donated to the city.

Mel and Mark are in charge of all aspects of the shop, from building the toys to managing the shop's finances. You can customize your shop by organizing the shelf space or adding seasonal decorations.

The city is available for you to explore it, where you can meet characters who may give you special quests. Through these quests you'll learn how to build new toys which are key for you to expand your toy empire.

Call to Arms is a militaristic turn based strategy game with a gameplay similar to that of board games. You simply control your army by moving your forces from region to region, engaging the enemy units at the destination. The objective is to occupy all the regions of the map.

There are two scenarios (maps) available in the game: Europe 1942 and Scotland 1750. There can be from 2 to 4 factions in a game, each one controlled either by a human player or the CPU. Every faction must fight against all others, to the bitter end.

Boxer Rebellion is a puzzle game with a bit of action. The game is played on a board with several boxes defined by lines. You control a character that can only walk on those lines. The objective is to travel completely around each box.

The problem here - and what brings some action to the game - is that you have opposition. Another character is also moving along the lines and you'll lose if it touches you.

The game features 9 levels. In the first 5 you have to avoid only one enemy. The last 4 are harder, as there are two enemy characters moving around trying to get you.

Besides simply running away from them, there are two other ways to escape, but you'll lose points if you use them. First, you can jump to another place in the board. Second, you can cut temporarily the line behind you, making it impossible for your enemies to catch you from that direction.

Each box has a number inside. Those are the points you win when that box is "captured". You also gain points by completing levels depending on the time you took. The faster you are, the more you win.

You can play Boxer Rebellion with the keyboard or the joystick - one of the first games supporting the latter.

Chess is one of the oldest PC games ever made: it was written in March, 1980 and converted to IBM PC in December, 1981. This is probably the very first chess game running in MS-DOS.

Taking it's age into account, it's no surprise that the game features only text-mode graphics. The chess board and the pieces are drawn using ASCII characters. For the same reason, it's also no surprise that the user input is based just on keyboard commands.

In Chess there is no multiplayer mode - you play only against the computer. As usual, in this kind of game, you can select the A.I.'s skill level.

The game offers 24 difficulty levels.

Apple Panic is a platform game based on the arcade game Space Panic (1980, Universal) and ported to the Apple II by Ben Serki. You control a digger, armed with his shovel, and you must kill your opponents - the evil legged apples.

Your character can only walk left/right and climb up/down the ladders - no jumping - and if the apples touch you, you'll lose.

To kill an apple you must dig a hole on the ground and wait for one of them to get stuck on it. Then you must hit it with your shovel to make it fall to the level below. The apples die if they fall deep enough. Depending on their color, they may require from 1 to 3-level falls, so you may have to dig several aligned holes. Besides, the deeper the fall, the higher you score.

Each level is timed so you must take out all the apples quickly, or you'll lose. If you're successful, the next levels will feature more and more enemies than the previous one.

Jetset is a text mode 747 flight simulator, possibly the very first made for PC. Its code, in BASIC, was published on November 1982's issue of the BYTE magazine.

Except during take off / landing, where the runway is visible, all you can see are the plane's panels and controls, which you can operate using the keyboard. Despite its minimal interface, Jetset is realistic as it relies on a good physics engine.

MYCHESS is a chess game developed by David Kittinger (the man behind the famous Chessmaster games) in 1979, although the DOS version was published in 1984.

The game offers various configuration options to make adjustments for different hardware and doesn't have mouse support, so the standard chess notations have to be written on the keyboard to move the pieces.

In MYCHESS you can only play against the computer and there are 9 levels of difficulty to chose from. Games can't be loaded or saved but you can set up the board at the beginning.

The game also allows you to record the moves on the printer and provides time controls for timed games.