Siiiiiigh.
Anyway. Today Chris and I are recording a new episode of The MoeGamer Podcast, and we're going to be talking about arcade racers. This should be an interesting discussion, as it's a genre that I've had a lot of time for over the years, and which Chris has always enjoyed but doesn't know a ton about. We're not aiming for a super-comprehensive discussion or anything, rather to celebrate some of our favourites from over the years — and, where applicable, why they are noteworthy in some way.
I love me a good arcade racer. I have done ever since Pole Position on the Atari 8-bit, which I think was probably my first ever encounter with them. We had (well, I still have!) an original cartridge copy of Pole Position for the 8-bit, which apparently was extremely expensive and difficult to track down for my parents, even back in the '80s but my brother really wanted it. Here it is:
The cardboard boxes of these old Atari games get a bit weathered over time — even if they've been taken care of, as these have — but it's still cool to have them. They're an interesting relic of a different time; you'll notice that the cartridge and the manual are both considerably smaller than the box, but they are all that is contained in that massive package! Moreover, there's an insert in the box clearly designed to hold a cassette rather than a cartridge, so I'm not sure exactly what Atari was smoking when they designed these.
Mind you, if you have any familiarity with '80s Atari, you'll know that 1) they probably were smoking something and 2) they were not good at the more practical side of things like, you know, marketing their home computers.
I'm looking forward to our discussion later. All being well, it should be live on Monday as it usually is after a podcast recording session. We hope you enjoy the show when it releases!
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