After my slacked-off version of the year-end awards....I'm back with another blog...I'll start with website stuff.

As I type this, the Commodore PET section is shaping up. Most of my focus has been on the Cursor games. For those who don't know a lot about the Commodore PET, which I'm assuming is most folks, the computer had an unofficial newsletter called Cursor. Cursor came with a "cassette magazine" each month. Essentially, each cassette had a few programs on it (usually games) that I believe readers of the newsletter submitted. At first I was just randomly playing these games individually, but then changed my approach and started treating the cassettes as compilations...partially because trying to ramble on and on about some of the simplistic games found in these cassettes was hard...I get the impression that my reviews would have ended up being longer than the code required to create the game.

Aside from the Commodore PET, I made further progress on the list. Essentially finalizing the look for the top 10 and the top 50. I say "essentially" because my brain doesn't stop thinking - there's always a chance inspiration strikes and I make more changes. As I type this, I've surpassed 200 games on the 1980 and earlier list....when this blog is published, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm closer to 250. Considering that I wasn't even sure if I'd have 100 games for this first list, I'm very pleased that I was able to get so many games added. But, now I've also got to make another decision. I had decided earlier that only one of each game would make the list - so, for example, I've reviewed the arcade version of Space Invaders as well as the Atari 2600 version. Only one will be added to the list - the one that averages the highest score (which wound up being the Atari 2600, but not by much). However, there are also a lot of "clones" in the early days of gaming, and I'm not sure how I want to handle those - Head-On is essentially the same game as Dodge 'Em, for example....but that's a bridge I can cross at another time.

In collection news, this was a pretty nice month for me. I had to go to the Illinois/Iowa border for work one week. I decided to look for any game stores in the area while I was there. I found two shops that are a part of a small chain - and despite being a decent distance apart from each other, I learned that they have the same owners. So, I can't verify that all stores from this chain are like this, but the ones with these particular owners are - the store is called Disc Replay. It's a great place to go to fill out the cheaper games in a collection (like sports games, if you're going for a 100% collection for a specific console) because everything in the stores are buy 5, get 1 free. Video games, DVDs, CDs, toys....with the exception of really high-end stuff, everything is buy 5, get 1 free. They had an impressive selection of stuff at the two locations I went to (Davenport, IA and Rockford, IL) and I found myself leaving the stores with a complete-in-box Nintendo 64, a new and sealed Berzerk for the Atari 2600, and a heavily discounted Final Fantasy III in box for the SNES....discounted because it lacked a manual. Luckily for me, I was gifted the manual about ten years ago by a friend, so I nabbed the game and slid that manual in the box when I got home. I also got an assortment of other games , but those were the big three that I was most excited about. Both stores, even without the buy 5 get 1 free gimmick, had almost everything reasonably priced. I'll definitely be back whenever I'm in the area.

I also visited another store in Davenport, IA called Video Games Etc. My very first job was at a local video rental store called Video Etc., so the similar name caught my attention. Unfortunately, while the people working there were nice, a lot of their stock was a bit overpriced - like they looked online for what it was worth, then nudged it up a little more after that. I still found a few deals, though - partially due to them running a temporary buy 3, get 1 free sale on certain games. They had Gargoyle's Quest II in box for the NES that I nabbed, They had some VERY overpriced TurboGrafx-16 games...some being sold for double their value. Legendary Axe was only overpriced by about $10, so I nabbed it, justifying that the savings I got with the "free" game would make up for it. I also picked up Conquest of the World for the Odyssey2. Basically, it's an interactive board game to play with the Odyssey 2. Not only was it in good condition, but it doesn't look like it was ever actually used, when I opened it up and looked inside. Anway, they had a decent selection of games there, but without a sale going on, I'd definitely check the prices of things before you decide to purchase anything from them - you may be greatly overpaying for some items otherwise.

A few weeks later, on a whim, I decided to take a road trip during the weekend...only stopped at two stores, but was able to get ahold of some goodies on that trip, too. The most noteworthy items were a boxed, complete (and in VERY good condition) River City Ransom for the NES, a complete-in-box multiplayer adapter for the NES, a new-in-box Dreamcast VMU, and a few solid Saturn and Dreamcast games. I also picked up Ninja Gaiden II, complete in box, which is one of my personal favorite games. I nabbed Alex Kidd in Shinobi World as well, for the Master System...I almost picked up Alf, as well, but alas...I was out of funds. If it's there in a few months when I go back, maybe I'll pick it up at that time.

Then, my latest trip was to a store that just opened in July of last year...and it wasn't very impressive when it opened. But, going there now, I wound up with a "holy grail" of sorts, a boxed, complete Mega Man X2 for the SNES...and it still had some of the plastic wrapping on it. Other notables from that visit were a complete version of Metal Gear on the NES, and complete versions of Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II for the Game Boy Advance. Needless to say, while I've been on a bit of a roll discovering stuff I'd like to add to my collection, I think next month (and possibly the next few months) I'll be toning it down a bit so I can recover a bit financially. Good thing I like ramen...

Alright, then onto what I had in the title...as I'm getting closer to publishing the list, I wanted to devise a way to easily see which games were from the specific year of the list at a glance. Since the first list is for 1980, all games released in 1980 have a small gradient on the left side that make it pop out that they're "new" to the list. That got me thinking that it might be neat to do a little list of top 10's here...please keep in mind that these are only containing games that I've played. If you feel like something is missing, please let me know and I can try my best to give it a whirl. So, without further ado, here's the top 10 games of each year from 1976 to 1979....and please keep in mind, as I play more oldies, I'm sure the top 10's will change...possibly even before I get the list published, for that matter.

1976

1) Hockey (Fairchild Channel F)

2) Breakout (Arcade)
3) Sea Wolf (Arcade)
4) Tennis (Fairchild Channel F)
5) Tornado Baseball (Arcade)
6) Shooting Gallery (Fairchild Channel F)
7) 280 ZZZAP (Arcade)
8) Night Driver (Arcade)
9) Video Blackjack (Fairchild Channel F)
10) Spitfire (Fairchild Channel F)

1977

1) Combat (Atari 2600)

2) Video Olympics (Atari 2600)
3) Boot Hill (Arcade)
4) Indy 500 (Atari 2600)
5) Circus (Arcade)
6) Surround (Atari 2600)
7) Meadows Lanes (Arcade)
8) Air-Sea Battle (Atari 2600)
9) Car Polo (Arcade)
10) Nim (Fairchild Channel F)

1978

1) Space Invaders (Arcade)

2) Superman (Atari 2600)
3) Escape (Apple II)
4) Super Breakout (Arcade)
5) Oregon (Apple II)
6) Gunfight (Bally Astrocade)
7) Space (Apple II)
8) Bowling (Atari 2600)
9) Atari Football (Arcade)
10) Sky Diver (Arcade)

1979

1) Adventure (Atari 2600)

2) Asteroids (Arcade)
3) Galaxian (Arcade)
4) Cutie Q (Arcade)
5) Sheriff (Arcade)
6) Space II (Apple II)
7) Showdown in 2100 A.D. (Odyssey 2)
8) Head-On 2 (Arcade)
9) Temple of Apshai (Apple II)
10) Bomb Bee (Arcade)

And on that note, I'll wrap it up for this blog...hopefully by the time I post the next blog, I'll have the 1980 list up and published...but we'll see what happens.

Like usual, thanks for reading, thanks for the support, and thanks for not threatening to throw knives at me. I don't know if I could dodge 'em. I'm not as fast as I used to be in my advanced age. Anyway, thank you again, and see you next time. Toodle-oo.