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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: scofthe7seas on April 26, 2011, 01:20:20 pm

Title: Name that game!
Post by: scofthe7seas on April 26, 2011, 01:20:20 pm
So, it's my turn for the typical "what game is this?" thread. I wanted to post one yesterday, but someone else posted one about another game.

So, as a youngin' I recall a game that had a trackball. You were some kind of an alien, and you had to float around matching pairs of... something. Animals? Other aliens? I don't recall. I don't remember it being an amazing game, and I'm not tooo interested in playing it much, but I have to know the name!
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: Vigo on April 26, 2011, 02:56:14 pm
Are you thinking of Ataxx?

(http://maws.mameworld.info/img/ps/snap/ataxx.png)

Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: scofthe7seas on April 26, 2011, 03:03:02 pm
Nope, it's not a puzzle game. It's more like an action game, you float around, I think some things can kill you if you hit them - that sort of game.
It might not be a trackball game, but it is in my mind. There is also a small percent chance that this game is imaginary. But I don't think it is!
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: RandyT on April 26, 2011, 03:18:06 pm
Nope, it's not a puzzle game. It's more like an action game, you float around, I think some things can kill you if you hit them - that sort of game.
It might not be a trackball game, but it is in my mind. There is also a small percent chance that this game is imaginary. But I don't think it is!

Hmmmm...Reactor?

Reactor, 1982 Gottlieb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKzx1mBV2PU#)
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: alfonzotan on April 26, 2011, 03:27:37 pm
So, it's my turn for the typical "what game is this?" thread. I wanted to post one yesterday, but someone else posted one about another game.

So, as a youngin' I recall a game that had a trackball. You were some kind of an alien, and you had to float around matching pairs of... something. Animals? Other aliens? I don't recall. I don't remember it being an amazing game, and I'm not tooo interested in playing it much, but I have to know the name!


That's most likely Wacko.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10390 (http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10390)
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: DNA Dan on April 26, 2011, 03:48:39 pm

That's most likely Wacko.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10390 (http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10390)

I thought you were making fun of the OP because he said it might be an imaginary game! I've never seen that game in an arcade.
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: Vigo on April 26, 2011, 04:29:11 pm
Jeez, I don't think I have seen a Wacko cabinet before. That's crazy!
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: alfonzotan on April 26, 2011, 06:19:36 pm
Jeez, I don't think I have seen a Wacko cabinet before. That's crazy!

I played it in the arcades way back when... last time I checked, Dave Countryman had a Wacko cabinet in his warehouse (Atlanta).  Don't know whether it still works or not (or if Dave still has it).
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: mgb on April 26, 2011, 07:00:22 pm
I was also thinking Wacko but I never saw the game until Mame
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: yotsuya on April 26, 2011, 07:04:25 pm
Wondering if we'll ever see- "Hi, I'm building a Wacko from scratch- Does anyone know the dimensions of the cabinet? Can someone measure the left and right sides for me???"
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: crashwg on April 26, 2011, 07:42:45 pm
Wondering if we'll ever see- "Hi, I'm building a Wacko from scratch- Does anyone know the dimensions of the cabinet? Can someone measure the left and right sides for me???"

Someday when I have room for 10+ cabs, Wacko is on my list of original cabs that I would like to have...  Hopefully I won't have to build it. :D
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: RandyT on April 26, 2011, 08:01:08 pm
Someday when I have room for 10+ cabs, Wacko is on my list of original cabs that I would like to have...  Hopefully I won't have to build it. :D

For the game or just the quirky nature of the cabinet design?

I think I played the game once and never went back, but I may not have given it an appropriate chance.
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: scofthe7seas on April 27, 2011, 02:23:39 am

Wacko. Yes, that is it.

I think I played the game once and never went back, but I may not have given it an appropriate chance.

I have never had a desire to play it, but I saw the list of trackball games in hyperspin and it wasn't in there. I remember it having a weird name, and for some reason I thought it might be Gorf. Mind you, I had never played Gorf, but the name must have been in my subconscious. It absolutely was not Gorf.
Thanks guys!
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: RandyT on April 27, 2011, 08:18:14 am
Mind you, I had never played Gorf...

You must play Gorf.  It's required  ;D
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: alfonzotan on April 27, 2011, 03:33:52 pm
Mind you, I had never played Gorf...

You must play Gorf.  It's required  ;D

I remember sneering at Gorf when I was a kid.  "Bah!  It's just a lame rip-off of Space Invaders and Galaxian!"

Today, of course, you're right:  required...
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: DNA Dan on April 27, 2011, 05:44:33 pm
Isn't that played with a flightstick and not a trackball?
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: scofthe7seas on April 27, 2011, 07:16:10 pm
Gorf? Or Wacko? I distinctly remember Wacko having a trackball. I looked it up and the database said some models had a trackball.
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: HanoiBoi on April 27, 2011, 11:04:11 pm
I was never a big fan of Gorf when it came out.  When I read more recently about Jay Fenton, the game's designer, it became even less appealing somehow.   :-\

Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: Nephasth on April 27, 2011, 11:18:25 pm
 Gorf is awesome! It was the first working arcade machine I ever bought (never played it before I bought it either). I tried it out in MAME a couple months ago and hated it in MAME. It's one of those games best played in a dedicated cab. Everyone should own a Gorf ;D
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: scofthe7seas on April 28, 2011, 12:36:45 am
What's different about it in MAME?
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: bobotech on April 28, 2011, 04:28:35 am
I was never a big fan of Gorf when it came out.  When I read more recently about Jay Fenton, the game's designer, it became even less appealing somehow.   :-\


What was said?  I'm just curious.
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: HanoiBoi on April 28, 2011, 06:28:17 am
I was never a big fan of Gorf when it came out.  When I read more recently about Jay Fenton, the game's designer, it became even less appealing somehow.   :-\


What was said?  I'm just curious.

  Do a search (Google, Yahoo!) on Jay Fenton or Jamie Fenton...
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: Nephasth on April 28, 2011, 08:54:36 am
What's different about it in MAME?

Colors. Also the ranking indicators (Space Cadet, Space Colonel, etc...) take up some of the screen when played in MAME, in the dedicated cabinet this is part of the bezel. That and Gorf has some pretty interesting inner side art and lighting.
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: Vigo on April 28, 2011, 09:40:16 am
I was never a big fan of Gorf when it came out.  When I read more recently about Jay Fenton, the game's designer, it became even less appealing somehow.   :-\


What was said?  I'm just curious.

  Do a search (Google, Yahoo!) on Jay Fenton or Jamie Fenton...

If I remember right, Fenton always loved to prance around in his mommy's dresses, so to speak. Meh, that honestly never swayed me from loving Gorf, been one of my favorites for years. I'm kinda hoping against all odds that someday Ms. Gorf will be released as well. Highly unlikely....

The voices were classic....."You will meet a Gorfian doom, Space Cadet!"
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: CheffoJeffo on April 28, 2011, 09:53:27 am
I was never a big fan of Gorf when it came out.  When I read more recently about Jay Fenton, the game's designer, it became even less appealing somehow.   :-\
What was said?  I'm just curious.
  Do a search (Google, Yahoo!) on Jay Fenton or Jamie Fenton...

Jamie Fenton is transgendered (M2F), but also was one of the first people to put an arcade ROM into the public domain (Robby Roto), which is pretty damned cool.

HanoiBoi is just being a twit.  ::)
Title: Re: Name that game!
Post by: bkenobi on April 30, 2011, 10:17:04 am
Wacko doesn't come up on CL that often, so this might be worth noting for anyone that REALLY wants one.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/vgm/2352562527.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/vgm/2352562527.html)

$550 seems a bit high considering the demand (I'm guessing), but not outrageous at least.