Oldies but Goodies – Jezzball/Qix

Genre: Puzzle
Platform: PC (Windows 3.1)/Arcade

Jezzball was a wonderful time waster which came bundled with Windows 3.1. As a kid, I spent a lot of time playing this one late into the night. Your goal was to section off as much of the screen as you could by avoiding the balls on the screen. You drew a line that went out in opposite directions from the place you clicked on. If one of the balls hit your line, you lost a life. It sounds simple, and it was, but it required precise timing.

Jezzball was actually inspired by the game Qix for the arcades and later NES and Gameboy color. It was the same premise. There weren’t a lot of frills about either game, but they were both very entertaining to my math-inclined mind. I don’t really have a lot else to say about these, but if you never had the pleasure, I’m sure you can find Jezzball for free online somewhere.

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Oldies but Goodies – 3D World Runner

Genre: Arcade
Platform: NES

We had this game when I was a kid. It was a really quirky game which had you running. That was the premise, as far as I knew. You were running through a world. Toward what, I don’t know and never did find out. Here’s what Wikipedia says:

“In the game, the player assumes the role of Jack the WorldRunner, a wild “space cowboy” on a mission to save various planets overrun by serpent-like beasts. The game takes place in Solar System #517, which is being overrun by a race of aliens known as Serpentbeasts, who are led by the evil Grax.As WorldRunner, the player must battle through eight planets to destroy Grax.”

Yeah, the game never mentions a word of this when you’re playing. As far as I know, you were just a kid late for school or something. You don’t control when the runner runs – he does that automatically. You do control his direction. There are barriers you need to run through and mobs to avoid. There are power ups to collect and you can jump as well. You can jump pretty high. In fact, there are parts of the levels that require careful timing of your jumps to pass.

This was a commonly played game in our house. As soon as I heard the music in the video below, I smiled and immediately started humming along. It’s pretty catchy. We would never really get farther than maybe the fifth level, but we sure tried. Check it out if you get the chance.

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Oldies but Goodies – Astrosmash

Genre: Arcade
Platform: Intellivision

As previously mentioned, we had an Intellivision growing up. I loved it. This was one of the games that we had, and I remember it fondly, although I am not sure I ever reached the second level. Games back then were so hard because they had to be – you had to keep players coming back to play, and a good way to do that was the high score. These days, games rarely even have scores. But it was an effective way to keep people playing and talking about your game.

This was also one of my mom’s favorites and she could get all the way up to at least level three. The sky background changed for each level, and you could drop levels as your score was constantly changing as asteroids were either destroyed or hit the ground. There were also satellites to shoot, an occasional UFO or other space-inspired pixelated blob. When you shot the larger asteroids, they would break into smaller ones, which you also had to shoot. It made for chaotic fun, and I have pulled it out from time to time on my GCW Zero. I can only play it for about two minutes before I’m ready to throw it across the room, but I still at least remember it as being a positive experience.

This happens when you live near the Space Center in Houston.

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Oldies but Goodies – Jetpack

Genre: Arcade
Platform: PC

Oh my gosh I loved this game. It was freeware, so I grabbed it up early. This is another DOS-game, so I guess I’m really showing my age in this blog. No matter. All of you youngin’s today missed out on a great generation of games! You can get it here: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/jetpack/. To play the old DOS games now, though, you will likely need the program DOSBox. You can get that here: https://www.dosbox.com/. It’s a little bit complicated, but the site has some good resources to help.

Anyway, back to Jetpack. This game had a ton of levels, and you could create your own or get them from other players. Your goal was to get all of the orbs from platforms throughout the level and go through the door. As the name suggests, you got a jet pack to help. However, your fuel is limited. More fuel packs may pop up on the screen as well as money. There are also bad guys that are trying to keep you from the goal.

This was a challenging, but fun, game. My 6th-grade self enjoyed it a lot on our Windows 3.1 computer. I never beat the game, but that wasn’t my goal. I was just having fun.

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Chey’s Top 25 – #20 – Peggle

Genre: Puzzle/Arcade
Platform: Pretty much all; I have it for PC, Nintendo DS, XBox 360 and XBone (Peggle 2). It’s on iOS (Apple phones) and Android as well.

Peggle was another one of those games that I instantly said “YES MORE PLEASE” and played for hours until I realized that a lack of sleep will, in fact, make you insane. This is a highly addictive game. It’s also a fairly simple one. Simply clear all of the orange pegs from the board by bouncing a metal ball off of them. It’s not too difficult, but it is if you take into account some of the additional challenges for each level.

There are different “masters” to unlock as you play. Each has a special ability to help you complete the levels in new and fun ways. For example, there’s one that gives you a multiball and another that gives you pinball-like flippers at the bottom. Each character has their own personality and the game can be funny at times.

There is no learning curve at all with this game, either. You will instantly know how to play it, so there’s no excuse for not picking it up (I’m looking at you, Mom!). There was an expansion for Peggle – Peggle Nights – which is more of the same, but there is a slightly different twist on the story. Totally worth it.

One of the things that I like most about this game is how it makes a big deal if you succeed. You’ll be treated to fireworks on the screen, loud “Hallelujah” music and flashy text. You’re awesome, and it lets you know it! The other sounds effects are playful and fun as well.

There’s also Peggle 2, which I’m going to bundle right in here as well. It has different masters, except two. My favorite is the homage to The Big Lebowski. The game play is the same basic concept. Aim ball, shoot at pegs, get high score.

Everyone should play this game. It’s fun, funny and will keep you entertained for hours!