This Was Supposed to Be About Xevious

I'm admittedly on a bit of an Atari 7800 bender lately. You'll have to excuse me. I like the system and tend to ride it out wild hairs.

Xevious has actually been on my mind quite a bit over the past few months. I've been really enjoying Shadow Labyrinth (which reminds me... I need to get back to playing it), and since that game not only features Namco characters but actually takes place in the Xevious universe, it's gotten me thinking about it again.

While I've probably spent more time with the NES version than any other release, it's impossible to ignore the Atari 7800 port. It was one of the system's big launch titles, thanks once again to Atari's close relationship with Namco. Atari even published the arcade version here in the United States.

For years, I honestly assumed Namco had programmed the 7800 version themselves.

Much like last week's Ikari Warriors post, I decided to do a little digging.

Nope.

It was actually developed by General Computer Corporation—the same folks responsible for Ms. Pac-Man.

For some reason, I'd always assumed the 7800 version was adapted from a home computer release. Thinking about it, that's a feeling I get from a lot of Atari 7800 games. They're obviously console games, but they have this unmistakable home computer vibe to them.

I know that probably sounds a little ridiculous.

But consider Atari during the 1980s. They weren't just a console company—they were heavily invested in home computers. The Atari XEGS was essentially a repackaged computer, and the 5200 itself evolved from Atari's 8-bit computer architecture.

Really, a lot of the line between home computers and game consoles was blurrier than people remember.

The ColecoVision and Sega SG-1000 were close enough in hardware that software often jumped between them with relatively little effort. Some consoles even had optional computer expansion kits.

Honestly, I think that idea deserved a bigger push.

If manufacturers had done more to market consoles as an affordable stepping stone into home computing, I think a lot more working-class families would have adopted computers much earlier.

Of course...

That probably would've upset the same gatekeepers who spent the '90s telling everyone they were idiots for using AOL because it made getting online too easy.

Oh yeah, Xevious is pretty good.

Home Base

Normally, this is where I'd post a Weekly Update and talk about what I did over the weekend and what fun stuff I picked up.

Well, I moved.

I moved from my home of the past six years to a new place just a few miles away. It's an upgrade, sure, but it's also a lot of work. I'm writing this a few days ahead of time, already knowing I'm going to be dead-ass tired by the time you read it.

Normal posting will continue this week, but today... I'm sleeping in.

Thank you all for reading Zone Base. Please share the site with your friends and be excellent to each other.

Xexious Promotional Video

Xevious is one of those games I wish I was good at. I can generally get a few minutes in before giving up. Sure, if I practiced more, I would probably get better and when I was younger did just that. I'd play these games over and over until I got somewhat decent and could get pretty far. Unfortunately a game like Xevious is like a martial art, you've got to keep at it or the skills will fade away. The game was originally released by Namco in Japan before Atari released it here in the states. Atari and Namco had a working relationship back then which lead to kids like myself not knowing they were different companies initially. I recently discovered this little video produced by Atari when they were introducing the game to arcades. It's a fun little look into Xevious's backstory and game play from back in the day. It's hard not to appreciate these older promotional videos these days.