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[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Reactor

January 9th, 2012 by Benj Edwards

Parker Brothers Reactor Atari 2600 Advertisement - 1983Strange proportions courtesy of Blip’s comic book dimensions.

[ From Blip: The Video Games Magazine, February 1983, rear cover ]

Discussion Topic of the Week: Quick! Favorite space shooter of the 1970s or ’80s?



This entry was posted on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Gaming History, Regular Features, Retro Scan of the Week, Retrogaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

12 Responses to “[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Reactor”

  1. Eagles409 Says:
    January 9th, 2012 at 4:18 pm

    Astrosmash for the Intellivision!

  2. Benj Edwards Says:
    January 9th, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    Good choice! I’m partial to that as well. It’s hard to pick a favorite, though. Maybe Asteroids, or I could be cheap and say Galaga. There is probably something I’m not remembering.

  3. technotregrass Says:
    January 9th, 2012 at 7:12 pm

    River Raid for the Atari 2600, and I am very partial to the Nintendo 3DS remake of Xevious on the NES.

  4. BDD Says:
    January 9th, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    I wonder if anyone has ever asked Tim Skelly about what he thought of the 2600 port of his game. I’ve corresponded with him a few times over the years (check out http://atari.vg-network.com/tsinterview.html) and never thought to ask him. I liked the port, for what it’s worth. At the time, it was better than nothing, since the arcade I used to play it at closed soon after the game’s release…

  5. Lawrence Says:
    January 10th, 2012 at 6:00 am

    My favourite is Silpheed: Super Dogfighter (the original PC-compatible game, not the 90s Sega Mega CD one) from 1986.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D9s_5EUGYk

    I first played it when I was 5 on my first ever computer – the IBM PS/2. I first completed it when I was about 10! To this day the toughest game I’ve ever played, mostly due to the lack of an in-mission save feature.

  6. Donn Says:
    January 10th, 2012 at 10:57 am

    Star Raider(s), Atari 800. I have both cart versions, and I love it. Honorable mention goes to Rescue on Fractalus.

  7. Alexander Says:
    January 10th, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    Vanguard on Atari 2600, probably, closely followed by Asteroids.

    I remember the first time I looped the score on Asteroids… it was a glorious day.

  8. Zoyous Says:
    January 10th, 2012 at 11:06 pm

    Lately it’s been Gyruss, with its incredible soundtrack and circular Galaga-inspired enemies.

    I remember that Reactor ad well from when I was a kid. Parker Brothers did some really good games for the 2600.

  9. Xyzzy Says:
    January 11th, 2012 at 5:40 am

    My favorite is/was the amazingly addictive Repton, which was unlike any other space-shooter I’ve ever played. Here’s a good tribute site for it, which says the game’s creator released an iPhone version a while back:
    http://www.jeffbots.com/c64/repton.html

    It was a really nice change of pace after being freaked out by the evil computer in Zaxxon as a little kid…!

  10. synchead Says:
    January 12th, 2012 at 3:55 pm

    I would have to go with Star Raiders for the Atari 800 as well. By today’s standards the graphics are rudimentary, but I’ll never forgot how I would instinctively try to move out of the way of the photons being fired at me. I always loved first person shooters so as a result though it is off topic, I loved the arcade game Battlezone.

  11. Fluppo Says:
    January 14th, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    That artist drew for Mad Magazine. I recognize the style.

  12. Thomas Says:
    January 15th, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    R-type or Gradius. There were a lot of interesting shooters for the Amiga & Atari ST, but I have a hard time remembering them right now. Maybe Swiv…

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