Sound The Red Alarm

Despite it's limitations, I was a pretty big fan of the Virtual Boy. It was the first time I bought a system at launch. Often rushing home after school to get some game time in before flipping burgers at McDonald's. I accepted the systems limitations going in, so they didn't bother me at all. It's something of a skill I've always possessed. You never see me complaining that the coffee is hot. It wasn't a virtual reality experience at all, but I really loved the 3D game worlds. 

Red Alarm was a space shooter game that was clearly inspired by Star Fox, but with wire frame graphics similar to Atari Star Wars. Once you got used to it, it could be quite immersive. With the Virtual Boy's unique controller and ability to generate 3D worlds inside that visor, setting the automatic break was a good idea. I could loose myself for hours flying around and shooting bad guys. That red on black display was pretty hard on the eyes, so definitely needed to look away every so often. I wonder if that's why the kid in the commercial gets beheaded?

Magmax Beyond Thunderdome

Magmax looked awesome on a video rental shelf. That cool robot fighting what looked to be Mecha King Ghidorah in space was hard to deny. It was rented and brought home for a weekend of space robot adventure fueled by Ecto Cooler and some pizza. The game I brought home was not the game I had thought I rented. Thanks to the pictures on the back of the box, I had assumed you played the robot the entire time. Not so much. 

Instead you start out as a small space ship flying and shooting your way through a horizontal playing field. As you go, parts of the robot are collected slowly building the full robot. Of course every hit looses a piece of that robot. The game never ended, just went on a continues loop until running out of lives. Occasionally you'd face the big bad boss Babylon, the Mecha King Ghidorah look alike I mentioned earlier.

Magmax wasn't what I expected going in, but still was a lot of fun. I'm mostly familiar with the NES version though it's on a variety of other systems. Originally starting it's life in the arcades, which explains the endless nature of the game. Just keep shooting until you run out of quarters. The game isn't completely forgotten by time, but doesn't come up a lot either. I do see occasional fan art which is nice. I'm not saying it deserves a much better legacy, but it would be nice if more people knew what I was talking about more often. Which is at least a quarter of this site's content.

A Soldier Of The Stars

I love to play Star Soldier even though I'm terrible at it. Flying around in space ship Caesar and taking down Starbrains (dying a lot in the process). It's a particularly old school space shooter that's still fun. It's on a few different systems, but I grew up playing it on my NES. Like other shooter games, repetition is the key to really getting good and working your way through the levels. 

These day's I regularly pay it on the Switch Online service. Of course there's a big difference between starting over and over during summer break in middle school and being an adult. So admittedly after dying a few times I tend to give up. Still I love to play it on occasion. It's got a bunch of sequels and I'm bad at those too. At least I'm consistent.

G.I. JOE Crusader

A few years after the Defiant play set was released, the space shuttle from it were released separately as the Crusader. Not a bad trade off for us who didn't get a Defiant for Christmas (that's another story for a few months away) those few years earlier. The Crusader was technically a vehicle, but was practically a play set all on it's own. With the mini-shuttle 'The Avenger' ready to fly from it's cargo bay and a cool space walk, you could have all sorts of fun. Probably one of my favorite GI JOE vehicles ever. Though in hind sight, I have no clue how Tunnel Rat stayed alive up there in space.

Star Bird

The Star Bird is another one of my older brothers toys that left an impression on me. Sure by the commercial it just looks like a spaceship that could blend in with your Star Wars toys. That's obviously the intent, make a space ship that would grab the eye of all those kids wanting Star Wars stuff. Something about it's design always stuck with me over the years. It's just classic space opera. If you'd take the time to look into the line, you'll find there was two other similar ships and a base available. Pretty cool for what could have been a one and done toy. I used to fly my brothers Star Bird around, shooting down imaginary bad guys and deploying the front section in times that the pilots would need to double their numbers. If it's one line that I'd love to make a  return, even if unofficially, it'd be Star Bird.