Still in 1981 with the next game on the disc Alpine Ski. We're moving away from the truly archaic into something only slightly archaic. We're able to display a few more colors on screen and we're getting better music and sound effects. The game has you controlling a skier in three potential events. I say potential events because a lot of people may never clear the first event of downhill skiing. The game is tough. You have merely the joystick to move your skier left and right and an action button. In the downhill and slalom events the action button will increase your speed. In the other event of the ski jump the action button will make the actual jump. In the downhill event you're out to make it down the hill while earning as many points as possible while avoiding numerous obstacles such as other skiers and trees and rocks and the like. In the slalom you're trying to ski through gates and hitting one of the gate poles will result in a penalty. In the ski jump you're out for the longest actual jump. The game makes an early attempt at factoring in momentum in the controls and the result can be a little bit frustrating.
We move forward a year to 1982 for Wild Western. The game has you as a sheriff on horseback trying to prevent a train robbery. You have to avoid things like cactus and boulders while maneuvering your horse so you can shoot the bandits off their horses before they reach the train. You'll lose a life if three bandits board the train. The game employs a strange isometric angle that makes things a little more difficult than they need to be. Aiming suffers because of the angle.
Still in 1982 for the game Front Line. You're a lone soldier against an entire army armed with your machine gun and grenades. Your movement is with the left stick while you aim with the right. You'll have one button to fire the machine gun and another for grenades. You'll have to make your way up the battlefield taking out enemy soldiers and avoiding their bullets and grenades and strangely enough rolling boulders. Eventually you'll have the chance to enter your own tank and take on the enemy. Your tank only takes one hit and you'll have to hit the button to escape before it explodes. At the end of each stage you'll reach a boss battle that consists of a heavily armed fortress where you must avoid the fire coming your way and throw a carefully placed grenade to destroy the fortress. We're moving ahead slightly with better graphics and sound. We're fully out of the truly archaic level here.
We're moving to 1983 for Chack'n Pop. In this one you're a little yellow bird thing that needs to recapture a heart that has been put in cage on each stage. You can plant a bomb to your left or your right. There are enemies that spawn in each level that can be taken out by the bombs. A bomb is also needed to get the heart out of the cage. Not only do you have to get the heart out of the cage, you then have to get it out of the stage. Once a heart has been freed from the cage it moves to the exit which you must reach to end the stage. The bombs have a pretty large range. So much so that you need to be out of the way before they go off. Timing a bomb correctly to take out a creature is difficult. You only have a certain amount of time to clear each stage. The game is clearly a predecessor to Bubble Bobble. It's also pretty damn bizarre.
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