Did you like Gorf?

[leapinlew]

My local arcade had a Gorf, and I played it fairly often. As a kid with limited resources, it had what I wanted - fun controls, several different level types, and I really liked the boss battle.

I reached Space Avenger once!

For some reason, I've never owned a Gorf game or the proper controls to play Gorf. I don't know if I would play it often enough to justify owning a game, but I've been jones'n for a game lately. Anyone else love Gorf? Anyone know if it was considered a popular game or a flop? I assume it was popular, since I've seen it remade in other formats.

[wp34]

I loved Gorf back in the day and still play it when I see one in the wild. It is an awesome cabinet too.

[JDFan]

Same - the bowling alley I used to go to had one for a long time and used to play it a lot - only problem was the controls always seemed to have problems after awhile from people beating on them - but was a lot of fun when working properly. 

[gdonovan]

My local bowling ally had one too and I have it installed in my mame cabinet.

It was one of the cooler cabinets back in the day

[ark_ader]

Every arcade I went to in So. Cal had a Gorf.  The joystick was a real problem, but that was a fun game.  Well you got your money's worth.  Star castle was another game that played well and you got some time in.  Later on it was quartermania, but those early games, especially in the Sega centers and timeouts, with the free tokens you could last a few hours on a dollar.  Great times, remembered.  Thanks.

[Hawkeye71]

Does the mame one not have the  attract ' long live Gorf' and 'insert goin' sound bites?

[CHRIS-F]

I loved gorf too, I think one of the main reasons was the sounds, there was just something about being a child in the arcades and hearing the music and sounds of games, my 3 fav games were wonder boy, Outrun and Gorf, I can still hear it now "INSERT COIN" I used to have those samples on my windows 98 pc for startup/shutdown lol.

[gdonovan]

Does the mame one not have the  attract ' long live Gorf' and 'insert goin' sound bites?

I think so, I dug around to find and install the voice files in the sample directory.

[ahofle]

If you are ever in the Colorado Springs area, the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade has an original Gorf...just played it last week.  Only made it to Space Colonel though.

[wp34]

If you are ever in the Colorado Springs area, the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade has an original Gorf...just played it last week.  Only made it to Space Colonel though.

That is a fun arcade.  Been there a couple of times myself. It is cool that some of the games are outdoors.

[pbj]

Saw it in the wild exactly one time, at a Sega Gameworks arcade in Las Vegas on March 16, 2002.  In one of their weird shrunken stained wood cabinets.  Between the three of us in my group, we killed 12 games from static shocks.  At one point, as I was sitting down, a spark arched about four inches off ---my bottom--- onto a Wave Runner seat and crashed the entire line up.

[yotsuya]

Loved it BITD. Had a chance to get one early as a collector, passed because I didn't have the room. Kicking myself ever since.

[mimic]

Never liked Gorf when I was kid. At the time when you could consider Arcade games still being in it's infancy, a game that (to me) was pretty much a compilation of other games, was simply blah! I was looking for new and ORIGINAL not a rehash of existing games. To this day I don't have love for this game.

[wemr97dl]

I used to like gorf a lot, it was a mashup of a few games but your quarters lasted longer

[gildahl]

I played this one to death on my Colecovision.  The first GORF arcade machine I played was a condensation covered one inside the indoor pool room at a hotel.  I recall wondering if the "wiggly" scrolling text was a defect.  Well these days it remains one of the more frequently played games on my arcade cab (complete with wiggly text).  Oh yeah, and I'm still no good at it.

[Nephasth]

Gorf was the first functioning machine I acquired after entering the hobby. Scored it semi-local off eBay for $170. Love it still!

[RandyT]

As a "poor" kid, without many quarters to squander, I played a lot of GORF.  In fact, I enjoyed many a "multi-scene" game for the same reasons.  If you were any good, you got to play several "different" games on the same quarter.  I think this concept was probably responsible for adding to the success of a number of iconic titles, to include TRON.

GORF, however, really isn't that great of a game.  None of the stages really played as well as the full fledged games they were loosely based upon.  It's really one of those titles which was right for its time, but doesn't hold up that well today.  I've played a few rounds for nostalgia's sake, but it doesn't do much for me anymore.  I probably wouldn't devote a cabinet to the title, but that's just me.

[paigeoliver]

Gorf and Tron have aged very poorly in my opinion.

Gorf came out in 1981 and was basically a mash up of the previous few year's space games, but the individual screens were not that good.

Tron suffered from the same problem, lukearm implementations of games/gameplay style that had already been done better a few years previously.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I first played Gorf on the Colecovision home console.  Loved it.

I actually came across a gutted Gorf cab with an original CP and joystick years ago.  It sat in my garage for about 2 years untouched, then I foolishly sold it to a guy who wanted to restore it.  (I was making room for my 6 player X-men at the time, ha ha).

I regret selling it, I was a noob back then.

Great game though!

DeL

[gdonovan]

Does the mame one not have the  attract ' long live Gorf' and 'insert goin' sound bites?

I checked this morning, voices only during play.

In demo mode just normal sound effects would play, no voice.

[markc74]

I remember playing gorf back in the day and hating it. Played it recently and my opinion hasn't changed.

Space isn't blue. End of.

[obitus1990]

I was never a fan.  It was too much like other games out at the time.

[pbj]

GORF ON!

(Is Cheese Eating Grill Ronald aka cegron even still in this hobby?)

 

[bismark0610]

Sadly I never got to play Gorf in the wild.  I had it on my Commodore 64 and absolutely loved it.  However, it is missing the Galaxian level.  Plus the warp level was much harder on the C64.  Currently enjoying it on MAME

[popsicle]

There was a Gorf at the IHOP on Bagley Rd in Middleburg Hts, OH. I liked it then, and also the Atari 800 version which I played quite a bit. Speaking of home versions, I ran across video recently and thought it appropriate to add here.

[dgrams2000]

Loved it.  Played the heck out of it at Kmart where they had about 6 machines lined up all the time.
Gorf, DK, PacMan, Asteroids, Galaga and then they rotated one out once and a while...
I didn't mind the tron style stick. (Or should it be called the GORF style stick?)  What is the first game that used that kind of stick with a trigger?

[pumpkinpie]

I liked Gorf quite a bit but i dont think i played IT until i got my Commodore Vic 20 !

And i believe our local Amusement Park had a Gorf tournament one year so i played the heck out of it.

Dont recall how i did in the tournament so it must have been very good !

[Cynicaster]

My introduction to Gorf was probably 6-7 years ago, in MAME.  For me it's an ok B-list title to play once in a long while, but there are so many slide-n-shoot space games to choose from, many of which I just find more enjoyable than Gorf.  For example, I'd play the original Galaxian any day over Gorf, even though Gorf has the multiple screens.

I will say that I came across a real Gorf cabinet at a retro arcade recently and played a quick game.  It still didn't blow my hair back, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the experience despite that big stupid trigger stick.  And the sound effects are pretty cool. 

[Haze]

I remember playing gorf back in the day and hating it. Played it recently and my opinion hasn't changed.

Space isn't blue. End of.

While not a Japanese game it's still interesting that Japan quite liked blue backgrounds on their games, there was a lot of debate in the past over various emulated titles because people didn't remember them having blue backgrounds but that was usually because the PCBs that got imported ended up being hacked to display black instead.  I guess Gorf was influenced by those games with blue backgrounds to an extent tho.

Personally I find Gorf to be an odd one, the whole thing feels like a rush job, quickly try to clone the gameplay of some popular games.  At a time when the majority of titles being cloned maintained a solid 60fps the slowdowns etc. in Gorf seem out of place which doesn't help make it feel especially polished (this is likely due to a combination of the hardware and how it was programmed - it was written in Forth rather than the handcrafed assembly practically everything else used)

That said while it feels very much like a 'me too' entry in the arcades, programmed by people who didn't really have the required ability, it can be a fun game.

[popsicle]

Apropos blue backgrounds - I discovered Astro Fighter recently on my little vertical 4-way cab and always come back to it when I fire it up. It's not the best game, and actually is the most generic 'space game' I can think of, but I think it's very charming and the blue background is somehow soothing and familiar. It reminds me of many atari 8-bit games that had that rich blue background so maybe there is a bit of nostalgia attached.

[pumpkinpie]

well i have been on the lookout for an old cabinet to pick up and turn into a MAME machine and just now found a Gorf cabinet locally for $250 CDN - kinda excited about it !!

it doesnt have the original board in it but at least the controls and monitor/lights still work.  I was going to replace it anyway with a PC.

Hoping to be able to replace the controls with a 2 person set up that would be removable so i could use the controls with my HTPC on my 125" screen.

[Ian]

No... Not a fan. I feel like there is way better space shooters out there that were released around the same time.

[leapinlew]

The Gorf magic worked on me. I played when I was around 10 years old. I felt like I was good at it, but after reading everyones replies - looks like I was as good as most folks.

Gorf made me feel special, but it turns out Gorf was a ---stingray--- and was easy for everyone.

[rackoon]

quarters last a long time

it talked

the ranking system was cool

the stick was different, reminded me of zaxon sticks

whats not to like

I only play it maybe once every two years though, just to show it to a guest.