Video: What $2.99 Buys In 1984
Kotaku guest editor Ian Bogost has spent part of his week pulling gaming memories out of the dark recesses of my mind, culminating in Friday's entry regarding the game, Journey Escape. An Atari 2600 game that I had almost all but forgotten, the object of the game (as I remember) was to get your guy to the space ship before the Kool-Aid man got you. In actuality, you are trying to protect $50,000 of "concert cash" and avoid groupies, photographers and promoters as you return to your Scarab Escape Vehicle.
I strangely have fond memories of this game. I remember finding this game in the bargain bin at KB Toy and Hobby when I was just six years old back in 1984. It was priced $2.99, a price that was lower than any other game I had ever seen. I didn't know what Journey was or why I had to escape from it, but I had a $5 bill and the curiosity to find out. It would still be a few more years before I learned that Journey was actually a band, but that didn't stop a crude, tonal version of "Don't Stop Believing" from embedding itself into my young psyche and haunting me for years to come. Though in retrospect, it seems perfectly clear that the heart-on-two-legs characters where syphilitic groupies, at the time I didn't understand why the hearts were to be avoided. Behold the wonders of STD education!
Journey Escape and Music Games [Kotaku]
