I recently started collecting these kinds of games after watching some of VectrexRoli’s videos on youtube. I’m only about 3 weeks in, and I already have 5 of them. I plan to collect a bunch of these, as they are really fun to play and are a true blast from the past.

Oddly, I’ve never heard of or played a lot of these games growing up, but they still gave me this strong nostalgic euphoria…

I’m going to collect these only if they are in excellent condition with the manuals and boxes, wich means I’m going to have to buy some more shelves to display them all (my wife is pissed and wants a word with VectrexRoli’s wife :D).

Here, I’ll post some of my favorite ones, along with the box art and manuals and a game-play image. Starting with…

Epoch’s Invader From Space. This game is very well-designed and the actual game-play is on point. Very simple, but plays what it’s supposed to play, and does a really good job.

Love this one!!

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And here, I had already lost all hope…

Gotta make my way to Wal-Mart soon! 🙂

I don’t think you can find Spy Hunter or Defender on the WalMart site using ANY keywords, including the exact title they use on their site – “Games Spy Hunter Mini Arcade Game” and “Games Defender Mini Arcade Game”. But if you use the UPC to search, they come up:
Spy Hunter: 885561096408
Defender: 885561096026

Continuing their line of edutainment video games, Basic Fun releases Carmen Sandiego.

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I’ve got that Spy Hunter, despite the questionable choice of only having one weapon at a time (meaning loss of gun for…) it’s an oddly fun game and a bit more challenging due to that choice. The audio and visuals are amazing, right in there with the arcade too, so it’s a nice variant of the original but if you’re a purist it may piss you off.

Carmen I found this about a week ago at an overstock/return stock shop, got lucky they had one sealed up for $10 so I grabbed it. I’m shocked how good it is, far better and more reasonable than Oregon Trail with all its overkill use of death to make a point. The whole setup from the old DOS era game is there with the clues, filling in for the warrant, travel and questioning, all of it down to the win/loss of the hunt — and it saves progress too. I can’t recommend that one any higher of the two.

VmprHntrD wrote:

Carmen…I can’t recommend that one any higher of the two.

I enjoy this one very much, they really did a great job on it.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

I’m actually in the process of designing a little arcade room for all of my Basic Fun mini arcade cabinets…

If this is something you’re still doing, check these out: A mini Skee Ball and Whac A Mole made by Basic Fun. They fit in well with their Arcade Classics line. Skee Ball has a date of 2018 on the back of it and was ordered online. Whac A Mole I purchased a couple of weeks ago at Target. Both are neat fun little games 🙂

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Yes, I have already had the Skee Ball in my collection for a while but I have not seen the Whac A Mole before. I’ll keep my eyes open for one!

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
…I have not seen the Whac A Mole before. I’ll keep my eyes open for one!

Be on the lookout for this as well, I found out about it shortly after my last post here. It’s a mini version of the ol’ school arcade Basketball game Pop A Shot.

This is part of the Midway Classics series like the Whac A Mole is.

Also, a completely unrelated PM has been sent to ya 😀

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Very nice! I wonder how many more Midway Classics there will be?

Good question… I’m not sure though.

What exactly is Basic Fun going for with these, ticket redemption games? If so, I can think of a few more that I’d like to see.

Is Skee Ball even part of the Midway Classics? It seems to be in a league of its own with no mention of its series anywhere on the box (unless I’m overlooking it).

I did find this Tetris at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago though…

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Number 19 is another Pac-Man 😔

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Speaking of “yet another Pacman,” I got to go to Pinball PA last week, which claims to have the largest collection of classic arcade games in the USA (and they may very well be right). For the first time ever, I got to play “Baby Pacman,” which I previously never knew existed. It was a hybrid game, where part of the time you play Pacman on a screen, and the other part of the time you play a real pinball game that is located beneath the screen, which earns you bonus items in the screen portion of the game. It was actually one of my most favorite versions of Pacman I’ve ever played.

That sounds pretty cool actually. I like the idea of interplay between pinball and arcade game

Hello ancient thread. There is an amazing port of Baby Pac-Man to the Atari 7800 with nice pinball physics. Try it if you can.