Atari Star Wars Arcade
One of the few downsides of video game arcades is simply that you can only fit as many game in your location as you can comfortably fit cabinets. And so, sometimes you find that one game that is at an arcade nowhere close to where you life and playing that game ends up becoming a rare treat; like a unaffordable delicacy.
On one, maybe two occasions as a young child I visited Toronto's theme restaurant The Organ Grinder. (Which no longer exists, to my knowledge.) This restaurant which existed as one giant pipe organ was a popular pizza house for kid's birthday parties and thus, contained a half-decent arcade.
My brother discovered it first, this arcade housed one cabinet that stood out above the rest. So much so I recall no other games existing at this venue. This was likely in the mid-to-late 80's and we found what seemed like the best thing we've ever seen. A Star Wars flight simulator, specifically emulating the famous trench run scene from A New Hope.
The visuals looked exactly like something out of Tron. (The 80's flick, obviously.) Which at the time, felt like the future. Red, blue and green outlines forming three-dimensional shapes, allowing for a the feel of truly moving through a virtual space. The cabinet design, closed in like a ship's cockpit really added to the experience and let you block out the world around you. Even if that included a hyper-noisy pipe-organ restaurant.
It's unfortunate that I would have only had the opportunity to play this game a few times at most, and yet it's an experience I haven't forgotten. Even if it has been almost thirty years later. It's one of those games that was not only fantastic at the time, but having played leaves you with a benchmark for which you can appreciate just how far games like this have come over time. From Tron like visuals to well, Tron Legacy visuals. All in a portion of my lifetime. I can only imagine what the future holds.
One of the few downsides of video game arcades is simply that you can only fit as many game in your location as you can comfortably fit cabinets. And so, sometimes you find that one game that is at an arcade nowhere close to where you life and playing that game ends up becoming a rare treat; like a unaffordable delicacy. On one, maybe two occasions as a young child I visited Toronto's theme restaurant The Organ Grinder. (Which no longer exists, to my knowledge.) This restaurant which existed as one giant pipe organ was a popular pizza house for kid's birthday parties and thus, contained a half-decent arcade.
My brother discovered it first, this arcade housed one cabinet that stood out above the rest. So much so I recall no other games existing at this venue. This was likely in the mid-to-late 80's and we found what seemed like the best thing we've ever seen. A Star Wars flight simulator, specifically emulating the famous trench run scene from A New Hope.
The visuals looked exactly like something out of Tron. (The 80's flick, obviously.) Which at the time, felt like the future. Red, blue and green outlines forming three-dimensional shapes, allowing for a the feel of truly moving through a virtual space. The cabinet design, closed in like a ship's cockpit really added to the experience and let you block out the world around you. Even if that included a hyper-noisy pipe-organ restaurant.
It's unfortunate that I would have only had the opportunity to play this game a few times at most, and yet it's an experience I haven't forgotten. Even if it has been almost thirty years later. It's one of those games that was not only fantastic at the time, but having played leaves you with a benchmark for which you can appreciate just how far games like this have come over time. From Tron like visuals to well, Tron Legacy visuals. All in a portion of my lifetime. I can only imagine what the future holds.
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