Game 78: Spy Hunter

Here it is, Spy Hunter, the incredibly successful 1983 arcade game from Midway. Excellent gameplay and perhaps the most popular game theme music ever are largely responsible for its success. This is a direct port from the Nintendo game, the closest to the original arcade version.

I stumbled across a copy of the original manual online, so here's the official mission statement!;

Pilot your vehicle through the track. Seek and destroy enemy agents

who will use every means to wipe you out. You must avoid the road

hazards and protect the friendly pedestrian vehicles. There's terror

at every trun - tire slashers, torpedoes, bomb dropping helicopters -

standing in your way of the most diabolical collection of enemy

agents ever to hit a video screen. You have your skill and reflexes

along with Smoke screens, Oil slicks, and Heat seeking missiles to

outmaneuver your opponents. One mistake and it's all over. So strap

yourself in; no need to check your ammo. You've got more than enough;

and take the challenge. Be: SPY HUNTER (tm)

CONTROLS:

Steer: Arrow Keys Activate Weapons: X

Turbo: UP Arrow Start Mission/Call Weapons Van: ENTER

Brake: DOWN Arrow Weapon Select: CTRL

Machine Guns: Z

Game 73: Frogger

In the year 1981, young people would while away the tedium of living in 1981 by daring each other to run out in front of heavy traffic. It was a global phenomenon. Hundreds of bored feral kids were mown down by articulated lorries and racing cars during the infamous motorway massacres of late '81.

At the same time in a bizarre coincidence, Japanese company Konami created a video game called Frogger. Its basic principle similarly based on roadkill, but this time a frog was dodging the vehicles instead of a small child.

Your goal is to safely guide five frogs across the road and river so that they each in turn reach their lily pad homes. There are many obstacles along the way: if you're not too careful you could be flattened by a car, drowned in the river or eaten by a crocodile. So take it easy on the little froggies.

Game 45: Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong was first released into the arcades in 1981, and was an instant hit. It also spawned what would later become two of Nintendo's most popular characters; Mario and DK.

Here we have an incomplete flash version of the original Donkey Kong, for you to play and get a flavour for the original game. Unfortunately, we are only able to play the first board, and will have unlimited lives. Also, there is no mallet in this version. But if you're as big a fan of retro arcade as I am, this won't matter much to you, and you'll enjoy this excellent remake in the spirit it was intended.

Controls are simple:

Arrows to move

Spacebar to jump