Six enduring questions regarding “Save Mary” for the Atari 2600

Yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time with Garrett figuring out the intricate nature of Save Mary for the Atari. While it was an adventure in itself trying to figure out what was going on, after a bit of time we seemed to get the hang of it.

Wikipedia thoughtfully wrote out the storyline for this odd game in just a few sentences:

Save Mary is an Atari 2600 action game that revolves around creating platforms to save Mary, the damsel in distress. The character is a humble construction worker who must pick up crates to use as platforms to get Mary to climb up, eventually leading to the top of the valley. The villain of the story is a mustachioed fiend who keeps Mary at the bottom of the valley for his own perverse pleasure.

Lovely…

Just one small problem: there was no villain.

Atari games are made to really draw on your imagination. Without it, we make very little sense of what is going on. But in the case of this game, the exact opposite happens: we know exactly where we are and what is taking place before our eyes… Which allows us to ask some questions about our environment, and what really is happening on the screen.

(Keep reading after the break)

Ode to an International Thief

Since “retro” is, in part, a product of nostalgia, I decided a good place to start when writing for a blog about retro gaming would be one of the earliest gaming experiences I can remember.  After all, like so many things, the first game you play can set the stage for future expectations and provides your early basis for what works and doesn’t work in a game.  For me, the choice was obvious about which game I should write.  And so, dear readers, what you are about to read is the story of the first game that caught my attention way back when.  It is the story of a hard-nosed detective hot on the trail of a supernaturally-gifted looter of world treasures.  Armed only with a bottomless frequent flier account and a trusty almanac, this bold investigator must track the aforementioned felon and her many henchmen across the globe in order to bring her to justice and prevent the world’s cultural heritage from disappearing forever.

That’s right.  What in the world could I be talking about besides Carmen Sandiego?

Hidden Gems: Trouble in Terrorist Town

Alright, I know I just did Metal Gear Solid like last week but I recently came across this gem and had to share it.

Trouble in Terrorist Town is a mod of a mod. It’s a mod for Garry’s Mod, which is a mod of Half-life 2.

That’s a lot of mods.

Anyway, what you need to play is Garry’s mod and Counter-Strike Source, the hard part is finding a Garry’s Mod server that’s running the Trouble in Terrorist Town mod.

Stand Out Game Introductions

Well today I was playing an online Video Game Music quiz and I happened upon the opening theme of Cannon Fodder. I’ll just say that I had no idea what was coming there, it starts out with ska chords and goes into “♫ War, never been so much fun…♫” So for the focus of this article I will talk about some attention grabbing intros.  Not all of them need take the Cannon Fodder approach but all of them have some quality that makes them unforgettable.

Breaking Up the Monotony with some Snood

Well I was moseying around my old computer and I noticed an image on the desktop. An image that I knew immediately and any fan would too:

It is non other than Jake the snood. Back when this game was getting popular and I discovered it, I was surfing AOL 7.0 on my Windows 98 PC -  those were the days.

But anyway, today I bring you a revisit of Snood, a game that had its start way back in 1996 (at this point that does not sound right to say) by creator David M. Dobson.