Arcadia - Look At Those Spaceships Go
But , Julie, I hear you ask, this is an arcade game, why did you father buy you this along with the computer. It was supposed to be for education? Well, all work and no play makes Julie and her father rather dull folks. I'm still not entirely sure why Arcadia was chosen , but this was our first proper game. I still do have the cassette for this , as you can see above. The game consists of flying a spaceship and shooting down aliens and then continuing to do this. By today's standards this sounds fairly tame and pedestrian.
But for me, living in a small town in Somerset this was something brand new, I had no access to arcade machines ( we had a small fair once a year that had fruit machines in the back of a truck in a muddy field ) , I had never seen space invaders, let alone played it. But it has to be said, I think my father got far more enjoyment out of this game than I did. I soon discovered that the hand eye coordination needed for this was sorely lacking ( especially as this was before we had a joystick), however my father was soon blasting away like a pro.
But in his eyes something was lacking, it was an increased amount of sound. The game's sound out put was limited to some wheezing and popping noises but with a glint in his eye, my father knew how to improve this. With the aid of the below and it's giant wooden speakers.
But in his eyes something was lacking, it was an increased amount of sound. The game's sound out put was limited to some wheezing and popping noises but with a glint in his eye, my father knew how to improve this. With the aid of the below and it's giant wooden speakers.
He connected up the Spectrum to the output of the Ferguson Radiogram and the game went from wheezing and popping to the realms of galactic flatulence . ( Please remember I was only 10!) Game play was soon forgotten as we laughed our way through the first level, I'm not sure what the next door neighbours thought , or what my ever patient , very understanding mother thought. I'm pretty sure Imagine who produced the game had not intended for it to provide amusement in this manner. But the ZX Spectrum had brought father and daughter together , in merriment .
Most of the alien spaceships were left undefeated, perhaps they realised the error of their ways and reformed and went on to better things. We returned to the game rarely , but, to this day it's the laughter I remember and that can only be a good thing.....To Be Continued
Most of the alien spaceships were left undefeated, perhaps they realised the error of their ways and reformed and went on to better things. We returned to the game rarely , but, to this day it's the laughter I remember and that can only be a good thing.....To Be Continued