Remember when everybody begged and pleaded for a reboot of the 1982 Atari classic, Yar’s Revenge? Neither do I, but here we are. Much like the upcoming Kid Icarus: Uprising, the new title looks like it has less to do with the concepts of its predecessor and has more in common with games like Sin & Punishment, Panzer Dragoon, and Star Fox.

It’s this genre change that had my interest piqued. The move to a third person rail shooter, regardless of its franchise branding, seemed right up my alley. After all, games in this genre aren’t particularly common, especially now. But sadly, the only thing waiting for me in the new XBLA Yar’s Revenge was disappointment.

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“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

Looking back on the history of video games, there are key points where any life-long gamer remembers getting sucked in. As a child of the 80′s with three older brothers in the house, my first experiences were on the Atari 2600.

We never bought an Atari new, but my brothers had a knack for finding lots of old games and systems at garage sales. Most games sounded amazing. Play as Spider-Man and stop the Green Goblin? How could that not rule? (Spoilers: It didn’t).

Then there was a little game called Pitfall! that showed me games could live up to the box art.

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The moment I first picked up a controller, I knew games were for me, firstly because of the way that solid black and red joystick fit snugly into my hands, and then the way the console pumped out those crunchy Atari melodies. My first experience with a video game was a sensory one. Enjoying this new experience, I basked in the frame of my TV for hours, transfixed in equal parts of awe and wonder. I was four years old and over 20 years later very little has changed.

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This may come off as grumpy old man complaining that “Back in my day, we only had Combat on Atari, and we liked it!”, but it is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I’m warning you now this is a full on opinion piece.

Do we, as gamers, complain too much? Do we take into consideration everything that goes into making the games we play in the first place? And do we, or should we, care?

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