Arcade Memories Game Of The Week - Road Runner

[Bods]

Well let's have 2 this week

Atari Road Runner 1986

Used to enjoy the Road Runner cartoons and local arcade had original machine, the colourful cartoon graphics and classic music draws you in but with limited money to spend I didn't play it, used to watch it loads. I bought the Commodore 64 Arcade Force Four compilation with Road Runner so I could play it at home, C64 version was very good really but still wanted to play the original Arcade

One day I decided to have a go on it, what seemed around 30 secs I lasted, probably more a minute and half before game was over as you need to get used to controls so I never had another go as didn't have enough money to have a minutes play, I couldn't remember joystick wasn't standard type but when you play original it works great with hall effect stick being able to control Road Runners speed and all direction, seemed easier than I remember



Only had probably 15 odd cabs at front of this arcade but Road Runner was on the left wall, not sure what was next to it if anything, might have been Rampage, rest of arcade was Fruit machines, good selection of cabs in there, No idea which cabs were original but Atari System 1 must have been

Atari made some really fun games with great humour

What stories you have on this one?

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

No idea what to do on this game 🤣
Did it go right to left just to mess my head?
Had it on Amstrad

 

[John Bennett]

Before my time, I played it at NERG a couple of years back and it was alright. Nice graphics for 1985, like all System 1 & 2 stuff.

Atari considered a laserdisk version originally:

 

[Bods]

@CMYKhazi-Dan That's a good point, how many other games go left, most fighting games right, although Kung Fu Master is both starting left

Return Of the Jedi was going Left, I'd never even thought about the direction before

It's eat seed and avoid Wile coyte basically

 

[Vamino]

Road Runner was in Virgin Megastore in Birmingham for a brief spell back in the day, that's probably the first time I played it, or maybe it was the C64 version? Dunno to be sure.

The C64 version was pretty decent, I played that a lot.
Never knew about the Laserdisc version, interesting to see that.

 

[Bods]

Love the added cut scenes in the Laserdisc version.

Another good compilation that was, with Indy and Gauntlet

It's playing them on the C64 and Not having money to really play the arcades that drove me to buy them now

 

[Mr20to5]

Ah, Roadrunner… As a kid, I was a massive fan of this cartoon. Probably one of my favourites from back in the day, along with Captain Caveman. I never owned the game for the home computers but remember playing on my mates Spectrum a fair bit.

Anyhow, fast forward to the year 2017 and I find myself and a few mates, up at Play Glasgow, where I stumble across the arcade cabinet, with the game playing, along with the all-important correct control panel and stick. My memory not being what it is, found me struggling to remember what to do, but between us, we started to figure it out and the score competition began.

As Day1 of the event progressed, we were graced with the presence of the legendary games developer Jim Bagley, who was at the event for other stuff, but had also programmed the Spectrum version of the game back in the day. Jim happily handed out a wealth of tips and tricks, and joined in the high score comp. It wasn't long before we'd looped the game and the scores were starting to really pick up.

At the end of Day1 JB had the lead, but Day2 saw the lead bounce around between us all. I thought I had it in the bag with 427k, until JB found some inspired skill and eked a very impressive 450k.

But it mattered not, as the scores were almost ancillary to the friendships made, the banter throughout the event and a return glimpse of how it used to be, in the arcades, trading the top spot and the bragging rights that went with the status.

Here's a photo of JB strutting his stuff and if you want to read a bit more about the battle I wrote it up on my blog, which you can find here - https://neilsarcadediary.wordpress.com/2017/06/23/play-expo-glasgow-2017/

 

[Bods]

@Mr20to5 Sounds like an awesome day that ​

 

[Phils Arcade]

I've got the Atari RoadRunner PCBs and spent ages looking for the right Hall effect joysticks to get the CP working right.
When I finally got them, about 2 weeks later the system 1 board packed in.
Still haven't been able to fix it. The Hall effect joysticks make a big difference due to the ability to control the speed of Roadrunner.

Would love to see the Laserdisc version running.

 

[Body pop]

It was one of them games I wanted to love .i was with a scheme in USA and they took us to an arcade .this was just out .id a hand full of quarters .had one go .got destroyed,it didn’t seem fair so walked away
Still really admired the cab ,graphics and sounds as i was also a big fan of the cartoon
I gave it another chance or two in Blackpool ,but same result
I’ve sussed how to play it on mame now ,but would like the kit some day if one comes up
I think i played it on spectrum and collision detection was bad and hard to see graphics at parts
I would imagine it was a complete flop in the arcades ,due to difficulty.but would be ideal for a home arcade as a good challenge .
That era of Atari cabs are stunning ,amd roadrunner is another of those games you need to own for the unique controls

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

Here's a photo of JB strutting his stuff

That is some beautiful locks going on there 😍🤣🤘

 

[Mr20to5]

@CMYKhazi-Dan That's a good point, how many other games go left?

Sky Kid is always one that pops to mind. Great little game, too!

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

Is being left handed an advantage with these games!? 😆

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

@CMYKhazi-Dan That's a good point, how many other games go left, most fighting games right, although Kung Fu Master is both starting left

Return Of the Jedi was going Left, I'd never even thought about the direction before

It's eat seed and avoid Wile coyte basically

Do many go down? (Fnar, snigger 🤣) Toobin', any others? Probably lose any credibility if I had any to start with by not knowing!