SERIES: How I Became A Gamer - Part 1: Pitfall, Dizzy, and Ghostbusters

This is where I prove how old I am by talking about 8-bit games.

Introduction

I've been a gamer all my life. I was lucky enough to be born just as home computers were literally zooming into our living rooms. I've seen companies rise and fall and in some cases rise again. I've seen the best and the worst and the guys who were just in the middle. This series is about the games I played and the ones I didn't, the consoles, the cartridges, the CD's and the DVD's, the handhelds, mobiles and tablets. This is how I became a gamer.

My First Computers

When I was about four Santa brought me a toy that was destined to shape the rest of my life. It was my first computer - my Speak & Spell. For those of you with no clue at all what I'm on about, see that giant red calculator looking thing in the picture above? That's a Speak & Spell. I think mine was yellow though but I could be wrong. It was a simple thing, battery operated, with a LED screen and a keyboard of raised bumps for buttons. It had a few different "games" on it. One where it would say a word and you had to try and spell it (things had obvious names in the 80's), another that was hangman without the hanging man. It was basic, but it was brilliant and it infected me with a love of interactive media. If you want to experience the brilliance that the Speak & Spell was, you can try it here here

My other early memory of computery things is Pitfall.

The Pitfalls Of Owning Pitfall

My Uncle had an original Atari. I only ever saw it once. We'd gone to stay with my Aunt and Uncle for Christmas, the whole family were coming from all over the country (my Dad had lots of siblings who all had lots of kids). My cousins and I wanted to play on my Uncle's IBM PC, it had paint on it, that would do. After much pestering he told us to go wait in the den. Ten minutes later he returned with a cardboard box that had a ton of wires hanging out of it. He said "Have fun kids" put the box in front of us and left the room.

This is the only sensible way to store your Atari nowadays...

My eldest cousin (and the only other girl in our crew) Susan cried "It's the Atari". The younger contingent looked puzzled - "What's an Atari?" we asked. In answer, Susan (who was ten) plugged it all in, sat down with other eldest cousin and began to play Pong.

I was amazed. I'd never seen such a thing outside of an arcade. My cousin was controlling the paddle on the tv that just that morning I'd watched a movie on. It was a revelation. I didn't get to play with it that day. Being the youngest I was always at the back of the queue but I was mesmerised by it. I resolved to get up early and have a play all on my own.

The next morning I got up extra early. I snuck down to the den and discovered to my surprise my Uncle, sitting in his chair (bald head glinting in the light from the lamp) playing a game I hadn't seen my cousins playing. My Uncle wasn't only controlling a paddle, he was controlling a little man. He was making the man run side to side and jump. "Whatcha doing Uncle Roge?" He almost jumped out of his skin. "I got up to play on the 'tari cos I didn't get to yesterday". My Uncle Roge it seemed had had the same idea.

This was the first time I played a computer game. Sat about a foot from the 14" TV I took the joystick and immediately ran my man into the pit. It reloaded, I did it again, my four year old reflexes not yet trained in the art of joystick control. Finally, I worked out that to jump, I had to press the red button. I got to play for about an hour and I think I got about 8 screens in. I remember jumping to catch swinging ropes and over crocodiles. 

My Actual First Computer - Getting Dizzy with the Ghostbusters

Santa, being the knower of all that he is, knew that I was fated to be a "Computerer" and so a few years later gifted me with a ZX Spectrum, a couple of Spectrum programming books and a box full of cassettes. This was really the beginning. I had tons of games and pocket money which if saved weekly could buy one new game a month[1]. I had Scrabble, Caves of Doom, Bubble Bobble and Outrun but none of them compared to the two I'm gonna talk about below.

The Fantasy Worlds of Dizzy

I'd imagine you've heard of Dizzy? Dizzy was one of the games I saved up for and bought which is probably why I remember it so clearly. It was so hard. In the game you played an egg with feet who tumbled when he jumped. He could pick up items and use them in the world around him. I don't think I ever completed it before my Spectrum was broken by a jealous friend, but I did play it a hell of a lot. It was amazement again. It was almost like a cartoon. The other games I had didn't have half as good graphics. Check out the gif!

I watched a playthrough of Dizzy a while ago and I was struck by just how perfect my memory of it was. The colour's (8-bit, baby), the music, the sound effects. Even the different screen names - "The Castle's Dungeon" and "The Snap Happy Gator". I even found a online version (you can play it  here). You might think that as I picked Dizzy first that it means it's my favourite Spectrum game ever. It's not as you're about to find out.

Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters

In 1984 the franchise we all know and love was born. The original Ghostbusters film, a product of  Dan Aykroyd[2] and Harold Ramis, didn't only spawn some of the most popular toys of the 80's and a major cartoon series that ran for seven seasons (140 episodes). It gave us my actual favourite Spectrum game ever[3].

It was made up of four or five screens three of which were connected by game mechanics. There was a city map which was a grid with buildings on which would flash when being attacked by ghosts. Once you chosen which building to save you would be taken to the driving portion of the game.

Here you got to drive ECTO-1 along a straight road, literally vacuuming ghosts up as you go, for a short amount of time, before your arrival at the main aim of the game. Trapping yourself a ghost and earning some money.

First you get a guy who you move to where you want to place a trap. Then you get a second guy who you setup on the opposite side of the screen and now you are ready to shoot your streams and capture the ghost.

Eventually ZUUL manifests itself on one of the buildings on your map. Once you've arrived after another short drive you are confronted by the Stay-Puff man jumping up and down in front of a door which, it's clear you have to get through. On other platforms this part is different and nigh on impossible (as you can see in AVGN's video on the game) but on the Spectrum, this is it. You get four little dudes into the building, the screen scrolls up the building and then you get the message "THE PORTAL TO THE SPIRIT WORLD HAS CLOSED. YOU EARN A $5000 REWARD FROM THE CITY". Then it informs you that because you're so great the bank will give you more money next time you play. And then you get to start all over again.

It is fun, simple and replayable which on a computer that could take up to five minutes to load a game was perfect.

Thanks for reading the first part of this series. In the next part, it's the 1990's and I'm going to get a Megadrive. What's your first memory of gaming? Comment below or better still write your own post on it! Laters.

[1] At seven, a pound a week could buy me a week's worth of sweet's and a book of my choosing.

[2] I just found out he  was born with syndactyly, or webbed toes and had to write it here for future trivia nights. You're welcome.

[3] You can play this one https://archive.org/details/zx_Ghostbusters_1984_Activision_a here.