VC 1007, Name This Game, & VC 1009, Towering Inferno!

Hello World! Today I check out Name This Game and Towering Inferno by U.S. Games. I also was very fortunate to speak with Ron Dubren, the designer of Name This Game. Big thank you to Ron for taking some time out of his day for me, and you can check him out on the interwebs at the links below.

I forgot to mention in the show that you can still donate to Wade or Rick for the Extra Life charity, up until the end of the year. So if you think you might have missed it, you didn't! Links to donate are below.

So. The next show will NOT be about Glib and Music Machine as I had originally planned. I am going to spend a little more time on the Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man episode, which will be out on December 16th. A Christmas show probably will not happen, but I haven't totally ruled it out. If you have feedback for Centipede or Ms. Pac-Man, or if you have an Atari related Christmas memory, please send them to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net no later than end of day on December 13th. Thanks very much for your understanding, and thank you all for listening!

Pertinent Links

Ron Dubren interview by Phil Wiswell
Ron Dubren's Toys and Games blog page
Ron Dubren's Art blog page
Ron Dubren's Vimeo page
Ron Dubren's Centipede book on Digital Press
Atari Protos: Name This Game
Atari Protos: Amiga Power Play Arcade
Paul Allen Newell interview by Scott Stilphen
Todd Marshall interview by Scott Stilphen
Towering Inferno on Random Terrain's site
Donate to Wade for Extra Life
Donate to Rick for Extra Life
No Swear Gamer 214 - Name This Game!
No Swear Gamer 216 - Towering Inferno!
Haunted House Pinball mod
Lock Is Lit podcast
For Amusement Only DAILY Pinball podcast!
Silver Ball Museum in Asbury Park
The SNES Podcast
Wall Collisions in Adventure thread on AA
Louis Gorenfeld's Youtube reviews

11007, Turmoil, & 11008, Fantastic Voyage!

Welcome to episode 111, where we discuss the very good 20th Century Fox games Turmoil and Fantastic Voyage. Make sure you save this episode, 111 will only come around once this century! Next episode will be on Name This Game and Towering Inferno (ironically a 20th Century Fox property) by US games. Please send your feedback for these games to 2600gamebgame@comcast.net. Thank you so much for listening!

Pertinent Links

Interview with 20th Century Fox' Frank O'Connell by Beau Urell
Mark Turmell Interview by Dan Gutman
David Lubar interview by Scott Stilphen
The No Swear Gamer Episode 212 - Turmoil
Digital Press 99 Classics
Donate to Wade for Extra Life
Donate to Rick for Extra Life
Lock Is Lit podcast 
This Guy's Retro Games Roundup blog 
Zlad. 

Check out Jose's awesome spreadsheet for the list of games I've already done, with links to the episodes! Thank you Jose!
Proud member of the Throwback Network!
Proud member of the Retro Junkies Network!
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Google + page
My YouTube channel, for whatever reason
Blog page
Listen to the show on Stitcher!
Subscribe to the show on iTunes, and leave a review! Reviews are nice!
Can't get enough Ferg in your ears? Check out the Intarivisions podcast...
...and Please Stand By!

#669, Haunted House by Gottlieb!

Happy Halloween! This is your TREAT from me, get it? Just a short one, I'm not good at talking about pinball, even my favorite table of all time! One thing I discovered after I recorded was that the Alfred Hitchcock Presents theme is actually a piece by Gounod called Funeral March of a Marionette, which makes sense. It will make sense to you when you listen, and I thank you for doing that. Have a great day!

SCAAARY Links

System 80 explanation at PinWiki
Haunted House at Internet Pinball Database
Haunted House at KLOV
Haunted House at Pinside
Bally's Elektra on IPDB
Chicago Vending Company's Three Point ad
Bally's Xenon at IPDB
John Osborne at 2004 Pinball Expo
John Osborne interview on Topcast podcast

CX 2674, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial!

Hi everyone, I am very sorry once again for getting this episode out so late. I knew there was a lot to research on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by Atari, but I just didn't realize how MUCH was out there until I started looking. It is now finished and is very long, and I really hope it was worth the wait! It was a lot of fun to go back through all that happened last year, and you guys sent in some GREAT feedback, thank you so much for that.

Next week I'll be discussing two 20th Century Fox games developed by Sirius Software, Fantastic Voyage and Turmoil. I know I said in the show to get your feedback in by November 1st, but at this point by November 3rd end of day will be great. I apologize to Nils and Bill, they did send E.T. feedback in after I recorded but before I finished the show, but I didn't get time to put it in this show. Next one for sure! You can send that feedback to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you all again very much for your patience, and I will see you next week! Fingers crossed. :)

Pertinent Links

HSW's website
HSW Interview on AV Club
HSW interview by Charles Gray
TONS of HSW videos on Youtube
Fixing E.T. thread on Atari Age
Fixing E.T. writeup by AA user recompile (get the rom here)
Random Terrain's E.T. pages
2600 Connection E.T. easter egg and bug page
Steven Spielberg on E.T. and HSW
James Heller interview by Scott Stilphen
No Swear Gamer 9 - E.T.! 
No Swear Gamer E.T. Easter Eggs!
Atlantic article by the "Punk Archaeologists" 
Punk Archaeologists' April Fools article
E.T. Book Cart on Atari Age
Tularosa Basin Historical Society eBay page (sold items)
How to Beat the Home Video Games - E.T.
American Hot Stuff with HSW
E.T. Book Cart by Charles Gray 
Atari IO forums 
Rick Reynolds' podcasts - GET SOME
Please support Rick and Extra Life!
Action Figure Blues podcast

SA 205, China Syndrome, & SA 206, The Challenge of Nexar!

Hey everyone! Time to check into the hotel room and turn on the... oh, wait a minute. Wrong Spectravision. This episode deals with the other Spectravision's games China Syndrome and The Challenge of Nexar, both of which you'd think would be under the Ch section in a list of Atari 2600 games, but NOOooooooooooo. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the episode. Next time I'll be talking at length I'm sure about the Atari game E.T., by the inimitable Howard Scott Warshaw. Please try to get me your feedback by the end of the day on October 18th, I am really trying hard not to procrastinate. So of course now I'm putting it on you. :D And as always you can send that feedback to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you so much for listening!

Pertinent Links

Early Spectravision catalog - China Syndrome
Scott Stilphen's interview with David Lubar 
Random Terrain's Challenge of Nexar section 
Data Age Mindscape record on Youtube
Throwback Network on Facebook
Short, inconclusive AA thread about China Syndrome
Atari 2800 Challenge of Nexar on Atarimania
Colecovisions podcast!
The SNES Podcast Facebook page - contact Greg if you're interested in being a co-host
Rob O'Hara's podcasts
Holiday Special podcast on Facebook - please go and like the page!
The Classic Gaming Bookcast by Chris Federico

DA 1005, Bugs, & DA 1006, Journey Escape!

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay once again. This week it's Bugs and Journey Escape by Data Age, both are pretty decent games in my opinion. I hope you like them too! Next time I'll be looking at China Syndrome and the Challenge of Nexar by Spectravideo/-vision. I haven't tried these yet so I won't say anything. If you have any thoughts about the games, or any I've already covered (check out Jose's spreadsheet below!), please send them to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. You can always see what's coming up in the future by checking the calendar over on the blog page, which you may be on right now. Thanks very much for your continued patience and for listening!

Pertinent Links

Random Terrain - Bugs
Random Terrain - Journey Escape
Bob Rice interview by Lord Karnage (Part 3 of 4, Rice talks about Journey Escape)
J. Ray Dettling interview in Electronic Fun magazine 
Stanley Mouse Studios website
Journey talks about Journey Escape on MTV
Journey Escape commercial
Journey on KLOV
No Swear Gamer 194 - Bugs!
No Swear Gamer 195 - Journey Escape!
Ken Love's Data Age thread on Atari Age
Atari Lynx Game by Game Podcast, hosted by Christian!


Check out Jose's awesome spreadsheet for the list of games I've already done, with links to the episodes! Thank you Jose!
Proud member of the Throwback Network!
Proud member of the Retro Junkies Network!
Facebook page
Twitter page
Google + page
My YouTube channel, for whatever reason
Blog page
Listen to the show on Stitcher!
Subscribe to the show on iTunes, and leave a review! Reviews are nice!
Can't get enough Ferg in your ears? Check out the Intarivisions podcast...
...and Please Stand By!

AX 020, River Raid!

Today I look at one of the most popular Atari 2600 games (and I can say 2600 because it came out after the rebranding), River Raid! Extra special thanks to Carol Shaw and Ralph Merkle for their help with this episode, and to Willie, ArKay, Captain Bob, and Mike at the Atari 5200 Super Podcast for their help as well, even though I screwed that up slightly (more details in the episode). Please go and check out the Atari 5200 Super Podcast if you don't already listen, and please check out their Facebook page at the link above!

Coming up next week is Bugs and Journey Escape by Data Age. Thanks to Wade's (from Inverse Atascii) suggestion, I now have a calendar to your right (unless you're on a mobile phone, then all bets are off). As long as I remember to keep it updated, you can check there for all the upcoming shows and see when they will be published. If you'd like to send your thoughts on Bugs and/or Journey Escape, or any other game I've covered so far, please send it to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you so much for listening!

Links of No Return

Interview with Carol Shaw by Benj Edwards
Interview with Carol Shaw in Electronic Fun Sept. 1983
The No Swear Gamer 192 - River Raid!
River Raid on SNES
Air Fox Lite on iTunes
Scramble on KLOV
Ed Kelly's BETAR web site
Atari Phoenix poster
Billboard Magazine archive

CX 2671, Swordquest Waterworld, and CX 2672, Swordquest Airworld!

OH HEY. Today we conclude the Swordquest series talking about Waterworld and Airworld, and the ill-fated Swordquest contest. Yes, the file says Earthworld. My bad. I thought I would be glad to be done, but it made me sad. But wait, next time I'll be talking about River Raid by carol Shaw, only from Activision! This is a big favorite, so I'm anticipating some feedback. You can send that right over to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. I'll also be doing some other games later on. I am tired. Procrastination only hurts yourself folks.

Goodbye Utterance. :(

Waterlogged Links

Swordquest Revisited site by Scott Stilphen
Waterworld Archive of Adventure
Michael Rideout interview by John Hardie
John Michael Battaglia's Atari page (he wrote the Waterworld manual, which I forgot to mention in the show)
Airworld Parts list memo
Atari Age magazine 9/10-1983
Videogame Illustrated Magazine April 1983 (I read this wrong, the article had June listed as the release for Waterworld, not April like I thought. I'm dumb)
Me and Zerbe on the Youtubes
Retro League Patreon page
Retro League Forums. Sign up! All the cool kids are doing it
SNES Podcast Facebook page. Contact them about the SNES Draft!
Bally Alley (Bally Astrocade site)
Orphaned Games & Computer Systems - contains pages about the Emerson Arcadia, APF MP-1000, and the Video Brain computer.

Check out Jose's awesome spreadsheet for the list of games I've already done, with links to the episodes! Thank you Jose!
Proud member of the Throwback Network!
Proud member of the Retro Junkies Network!
Facebook page
Twitter page
Google + page
My YouTube channel, for whatever reason
Blog page
Listen to the show on Stitcher!
Subscribe to the show on iTunes, and leave a review! Reviews are nice!
Can't get enough Ferg in your ears? Check out the Intarivisions podcast...
...and Please Stand By!

MT 4646, Rocky & Bullwinkle; MT 4648, Kool-Aid Man; and MT 5658, Super Challenge Football!

HOWDY HOWDY HOWDY. Today I am covering three very good M Network games, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Kool-Aid Man, and Super Challenge Baseball. I had the great privilege of communicating with the developers of the latter two games, Stephen Tatsumi, Jane Terjung, and Ken Smith. My thanks go to them, and also to Paul Nurminen for getting me in touch with Ken Smith. Thank you all!

Next episode I will conclude the Swordquest series with Waterworld and Airworld (which is made of air, HAR HAR). Upcoming games will include River Raid by Activision; Bugs and Journey Escape by Data Age; China Syndrome and Challenge of Nexar by Spectravision; E.T. by Atari; Turmoil and Fantastic Voyage by 20th Century Fox; Name This Game and Towering Inferno by US Games; Music Machine by Sparrow and Glib by Selchow and Wrighter; and Ms. Pac-Man and Centipede by Atari. If you have any thoughts or memories of these games or any I've already covered, please send them along to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you all so much for listening!

Pertinent Links

1983 article mentioning Kool Aid Man
Steve Tatsumi's company Elide Books
Jane Terjung's web site
Buy Jane & Steve's book Baby's First Year
No Swear Gamer 183 - Kool Aid Man!
Play Winterbells online! DO IT!
Download Bell Hopper, 2600 Winterbells demake. Really fun!
Atari 5200 Super Podcast - Defender
Pie Factory Podcast Episode 12 - Home Consoles
Atari Jaguar Game by Game Podcast Episode 1
Check out Jose's awesome spreadsheet for the list of games I've already done, with links to the episodes! Thank you Jose!
Proud member of the Throwback Network!
Proud member of the Retro Junkies Network!
Facebook page
Twitter page
Google + page
My YouTube channel, for whatever reason
Blog page
Listen to the show on Stitcher!
Subscribe to the show on iTunes, and leave a review! Reviews are nice!
Can't get enough Ferg in your ears? Check out the Intarivisions podcast...
...and Please Stand By!

99003, Chuck Norris Superkicks, and 99004, Artillery Duel!

Well hi! I learned a very important lesson this week. I finished the research for the Xonox games Chuck Norris Superkicks and Artillery Duel on Sunday, way before I usually do. So of course, I have problem after problem while recording and editing, so that means procrastination is always worth it! Also, ambigram. Next time I'l be discussing Rocky and Bullwinkle (not released), Kool Aid Man, and Super Challenge Football, all by M Network. For the rest of this year, I'll be covering the following games: Swordquest Waterworld and Swordquest Airworld (vapourware) by Atari;  River Raid by Activision; Bugs and Journey Escape by Data Age; China Syndrome and Challenge of Nexar by Spectravision; E.T. by Atari; Turmoil and Fantastic Voyage by 20th Century Fox; Name This Game and Towering Inferno by US Games; Music Machine by Sparrow and Glib by Selchow and Wrighter; and Ms. Pac-Man and Centipede by Atari. If you have any thoughts or memories of these games or any I've already covered, please send them along to me at 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you all so much for listening!

Pertinent Links

News about Xevious prototype on Atari Age (with rom downloads)
Xonox press kit on Atarimania
Chuck Norris Superkicks bug page at 2600 Connection
AA thread with Chuck Norris/Hercules ad
May 1983 Arcade Express newsletter
Artillery Duel/Super Kung Fu label (different artwork)
Solar Defense on Atarimania
Atari Jaguar GBG Podcast by Shinto!
Shinto's GBG Podcast Information hub
Amigos Podcast, Everything about the Amiga Computer
No Swear Gamer Patreon page
2 Dudes and a NES Patreon page
Toys r Us Report Patreon page
Check out Jose's awesome spreadsheet for the list of games I've already done, with links to the episodes! Thank you Jose!
Proud member of the Throwback Network!
Proud member of the Retro Junkies Network!
Facebook page
Twitter page
Google + page
My YouTube channel, for whatever reason
Blog page
Listen to the show on Stitcher!
Subscribe to the show on iTunes, and leave a review! Reviews are nice!
Can't get enough Ferg in your ears? Check out the Intarivisions podcast...
...and Please Stand By!