April 25, 2015 Pickup

Picked up some good games yesterday. I haven’t really gotten anything in a while. So just like the Atari Fridays, let’s try and get this going again as well.

Picked up 5 NES games: Rad Racer 2, Videomation, Star Trek 25th Anniversary, Gotcha!, and To The Earth. They all have pretty nice labels. With the return of my old big box tv out of storage, I was all set and psyched up to start grabbing all the light gun games I could find.

I also grabbed Rock N’ Roll Racing for the SNES, with manual, in pretty nice condition. So, I have to get the Retron hooked up again.

Atari 2600 Friday’s #22 – Kaboom!

Am I back? I hope so! In choosing to rescind my normal sleep schedule on the weekends in lieu of actually living a life, I am left with some free time during the day mostly playing games. So, I said, why not get that Atari running again. With most of my consoles hooked up again after a recent move, I decided it was time to hit that randomized list picker again. The first Atari 2600 Friday in months brings you…Kaboom! All games have to be covered eventually no matter the complexity, so thank the fortune cookie for bring us one blast of a welcome back.

The Story: It seems a crazy man is on the loose tossing bombs around. and only you can save the day by catching them in buckets of water to stop them from exploding.

From the Manual: “Prepare yourself for a supreme test of reflexes, coordination, and agility. You’re about to face the world’s most unpredictable and relentless “Mad Bomber.” He hates losing as much as you love winning. So, to keep him frowning, take a minute to read over these instructions. Then, grab your buckets and bomb away!”

From the Box: “Our charming “Mad Bomber” really doesn’t mean any harm. It’s just that he loves nothing better than to drop his bombs and watch them explode. Only you can stop him. As he tosses his bombs, you race to douse their fuses with your buckets of water. The more bombs that splash in your buckets, the more points you score. But the more points you score, the faster the bombs drop. Miss a bomb and you’ll learn how Kaboom! got its name. Here’s a true test of stamina, reflexes and concentration – Kaboom! by Activision. Simply Spellbinding!”

The Gameplay: So, the back of the box really does a great job of describing the game. The “Mad Bomber” Darts back and forth the top of the screen dropping bombs. You have to catch these with your buckets of water. Both you and the bomber only move left and right. The more points you earn, the faster the bombs drop. Miss a bomb and lose a bucket, miss all three and it’s game over.

The Controls: You use the Paddle Controllers for this game. Simple left and right movements. The red button starts each round.

Post Review: Kaboom! starts off at what feels like a snail’s pace in movement and points, but only a round or two later already feels like the Flash running back and forth. I try to limit myself to a few tries for a taste and a quick beginner’s high score, but Kaboom! and it’s simplicity have you constantly going “One more try….”. It’s fast-paced addictive gameplay I’d like to have on any portable device for a time-waster.

The High Score: 545, about 5 rounds in.