So here’s something a bit less random but possibly more interesting: A selection of weird, obscure or otherwise notable games I’ve sought out over the past few months. These are the kind of finds we discussed during a Penny Arcade Expo panel on classic game appraisals last month in Boston.
Weekend Thrifting has gained a bit of notoriety lately: The column was mentioned in an Electronic Gaming Monthly feature on game collecting, and I just spoke with a writer from gamesTM for an upcoming story in the British magazine.
Now, on to the classic games.
Above:
Sky Skipper
I noticed a copy of this Atari 2600 game for sale for about $5 on eBay. I’d never heard of Sky Skipper, but the artwork intrigued me. I looked up the game, and lo and behold, it’s based on a 1981 arcade game made by Nintendo.
The Sky Skipper arcade game was never released in the United States, and no home versions were ever created except for this one by Parker Brothers (which was only released in the United States).
It is no Donkey Kong, I will tell you that. In both versions, you fly an airplane around dropping bombs on gorillas. This causes tiny animals to jump out of their cages; you can then rescue them by flying overhead. The Atari version, as you might imagine, is significantly scaled back from the arcade presentation.
As a Nintendo game that most people don’t know exists, it’s interesting. The only way you’d know of its provenance is to look at the very small text on the back of the instruction manual, which credits the “graphics” (meaning the artwork on the box) to Nintendo and the “rules” to Parker Brothers.
Bonus: In the arcade game at least, the pilot’s name is “Mr. You.”
All photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
See Also:- Weekend Thrifting, From Akihabara to Seattle