Depthcharge is the first game I would seek out at any arcade. Looking at it now, I can see how slow-moving it is. It’s rather uncomfortably slow in the same way Lunar Lander was. When I was between the ages of 8 and 10 I thought Depthcharge was amazing. I’m delighted to see that the Internet Archive has Depthcharge available to play online. I’ve had dreams about playing this game many times over the years.
It was 1978 when I first encountered it. It was in an arcade in the Philippines. I wish I could remember the other games in that arcade.
When I think about other games that have lingered in my psyche there’s only a few.
- 1981: Centipede I played at the 7-11 on Carol Sue Avenue in Gretna, Louisiana over and over.
- 1983: Tempest I played in a different arcade, also in Gretna. I remember the arcade was dark. I bought the single Pac-Man Fever at this same time. It was a heyday of videogames.
- 1995: Cybersled I played in Fullerton, California at the Brea Mall. That was when I moved back from Virginia to California. I used it to blow off steam when I was looking for work and finding my first place in Koreatown in Los Angeles.
- 1996: Virtual World Red Planet I played in Pasadena. And I also played a few times at the Virtual World in Las Vegas as well.
- 2000: Tekken 3 was a machine at Jamison/Gold in Marina Del Rey. The company had built websites for NAMCO and everyone at J/G could play at will. What an amazing time that was for me.
Thanks for reading.
