Humble Beginnings, the Loot: Part 4 of 4
At long last, the conclusion to my epic 4 piece blast-to-the-past featuring games I created when I was between 7 and 8 years old. It’s fitting that I stumbled on all of these, right before starting work as a designer/programmer for Freeverse. Deciding between staying as a pure indie developer and taking a full time gig was a very difficult decision for me, and seeing these really reminded me of why I do what I do. I sincerely believe this is my artistic purpose… I’ve written and designed games on whatever medium I had available to me, whether that be in C++ code, pencil drawings, action figures, for as long as I can remember. There’s no way I could do anything else.
Anyway, enough ego stroking. On to the games.
Ghost Town II
North American Release Date: October 10, 1989
Ghost Town II, which is predates the entire Survival Horror genre by at least 10 years, introduces the player to the concepts of terror and fright by way of fountains and some red dude humping a building. It also introduced the concept of “Big Ass Portal In The Sky Spewing Darkness and Shit” which would later on be used in games such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. No, really. Under “password” that’s clearly a big ass portal, and it’s totally spewing little orange bits of darkness and shit.
It’s also worth noting that my crystal balls at age 8, compared to how I draw them now at 27, is exactly the same.
Parade of Death
North American Release Date: October 10, 1989
What’s the last thing you think would scare the shit out of you? Everyone expects demons. Or ghosts. Dragons, lions, tigers, big ass portals spewing darkness and shit. But not parades. Parades are happy times full of music and celebration and pride regarding any one of a number of assorted alternative lifestyles. But not the PARADE OF DEATH.
Yes! A parade of pure, unadulterated death weaving its way down your street RIGHT. INTO. YOUR. FACE. See the horror of the parade in the corner there? The single file line of tombstones is enough to instill fear in the manliest of men.
Also, notice how that in addition to simply “start” and “continue” you can also choose to save or enter a password. Why anyone would want to input a password when a continue option is so visible and tempting is beyond me. But what I do know is the value of being able to save anywhere, and that includes at the title screen. It’s all about options. Because having options is the only way to survive when the Parade of Death marches forth! With Death!
Planet X
North American Release Date: November 8, 1989
Another cool sci-fi game of mine. Planet X is all about the dangers of an unexplored planet, but instead of providing quarter for a hostile alien species, the planet just GROWS A HUGE PISSED OFF FACE AND SHOOTS EXPLODING LASER BEAMS AT PEOPLE. I mean, look at him. He’s fuckin’ PISSED. And think about this: what would you do if the sun/moon just decided to spit laser beams on you while you were walking to work? That’s right: NOTHING. You’d stand there and get fuckin’ annihilated. See that explosion down there that looks like Pizza The Hutt? That’s you. Another victim of the Green, Pissed Off Hostile Planet Face.
Switchblade
North American Release Date: August 25, 1989
When I was a kid, I was fascinated with a little switchblade I had. Obviously, not real, as anyone that knows me personally knows that any attempt to actually use a switchblade would result in said switchblade somehow ending up in my eye. No sir, this was not a switchBLADE but a switchCOMB. The problem with that, is that combs are fucking lame. Pshaw! I ripped that shit out, left the little metal part that flipped out, and the blade was replaced with my sick twisted imagination. (Looking back, I’m grateful I never ended up in a mental institution for this shit.)
Anyway, Switchblade II is the sequel to the ever popular Switchblade. In the sequel, the Switchblade grows so absurdly huge that the player can now climb it instead of stab people, and he must scale it all the way up to the floating Burger King crown in the clouds.
The final game is a good one to close out the series, because it really speaks for itself:
Typical Mission II
North American Release Date: November 12, 1989
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