There's game titles in there I forgot I ever knew. I was a fan of the Ultima series when I played at a friend's house. I'm not sure if I ever played Temple of Apshai, but the name is so familiar, although my favorite product from Epyx was the joystick they came out with in the later years of the Atari 800XL. The stick was smaller than your standard joystick, and I believe your base hand worked a trigger button from underneath, which I thought was a great gameplay improvement. You've got your work cut out for you in this series of articles. I look forward to the next.
Oh yeah...nice to hear Strat-o-Matic mentioned. I loved that game.
The Epyx 500xj was my favorite Atari-style joystick. I logged countless hours on my set on my C-64 and Amiga. I loved the ergonomics and the "clicky" microswitches in the joystick and button mechanisms. There was even a version of the joystick for the NES, with the addition of a second button. They're actually fairly collectible today, going for as high as $20 each. My two original 500xj's are definitely in the "overused" category, sometimes getting stuck in the diagonal. At some point I really do need to track down a replacement set, though frankly I've acquired dozens of Atari-style joysticks over the years, so there's no rush (and dozens more SMS and Genesis-style controllers, which are generally fully compatible).
As for Strat-o-Matic and its like, Avalon Hill and SSI created several versions of football, baseball and boxing games for early and mid-80's computers that were more than a little inspired by the concept. Today, a small company or two still publishes Strat-o-Matic licensed and inspired baseball and boxing titles. I love the hardcore nature of the early games though...
By the way, I want to congratulate Matt on tackling such a fascinating subject and executing so well. The RPG genre was one of my favorites on classic computers and in my opinion, a return to that early form of the genre would be most welcome today.
======================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
======================================
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
There's game titles in there I forgot I ever knew. I was a fan of the Ultima series when I played at a friend's house. I'm not sure if I ever played Temple of Apshai, but the name is so familiar, although my favorite product from Epyx was the joystick they came out with in the later years of the Atari 800XL. The stick was smaller than your standard joystick, and I believe your base hand worked a trigger button from underneath, which I thought was a great gameplay improvement. You've got your work cut out for you in this series of articles. I look forward to the next.
Oh yeah...nice to hear Strat-o-Matic mentioned. I loved that game.
The Epyx 500xj was my favorite Atari-style joystick. I logged countless hours on my set on my C-64 and Amiga. I loved the ergonomics and the "clicky" microswitches in the joystick and button mechanisms. There was even a version of the joystick for the NES, with the addition of a second button. They're actually fairly collectible today, going for as high as $20 each. My two original 500xj's are definitely in the "overused" category, sometimes getting stuck in the diagonal. At some point I really do need to track down a replacement set, though frankly I've acquired dozens of Atari-style joysticks over the years, so there's no rush (and dozens more SMS and Genesis-style controllers, which are generally fully compatible).
As for Strat-o-Matic and its like, Avalon Hill and SSI created several versions of football, baseball and boxing games for early and mid-80's computers that were more than a little inspired by the concept. Today, a small company or two still publishes Strat-o-Matic licensed and inspired baseball and boxing titles. I love the hardcore nature of the early games though...
By the way, I want to congratulate Matt on tackling such a fascinating subject and executing so well. The RPG genre was one of my favorites on classic computers and in my opinion, a return to that early form of the genre would be most welcome today.
======================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
======================================
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.