The first Star Wars movie (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope as it's now refered to) came out in May ’77 and the Atari Video Computer System in October ’77. What a year! My Dad probably got the AVCS (or Atari 2600) that Christmas or the next one, and I played Air-Sea Battle, Combat, Basketball, Baseball, Breakout, Bowling, and Night Driver. I think Breakout is still fun today, as is Bowling, which I bought in XBLA’s Game Room recently. I would’ve got Breakout as well but it’s critical to use the paddle controller for it. The same is true of Night Driver which I still think of when I’m in the car at night.
Inevitably I came across the arcades at the local mall and every department store around and played: Space Invaders, Lunar Lander, Galaxian, and Asteroids. My favorite was Lunar Lander which I bought in XBLA’s Game Room the second I saw it. I love the power you feel as you fire the thrusters and the tension you get as you watch your fuel levels drop while the ground approaches fast when it goes into close-up view.
’77-’79 were also the years Mattel came out with its handhelds Mattel Electronics Football, Mattel Electronics Baseball, and Mattel Electronics Basketball. I had Baseball, and I used to go over to a neighbor’s house to play Football and a different neighbor’s house to play Basketball. I played Baseball to the point of mastery and my neighbor and the rest of us wore the keys right off Football. There were tournaments, bragging rights, and fights over who got to play it next. I wish I had a picture of that Football handheld because it was like that Game Boy that came back from Iraq, all burnt and almost unrecognizable, but that still played. It was a testament to how much all us kids in the neighborhood loved that handheld.
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