Something from the 80's: Elevator Action and other Famicom Games

No, not that kind of elevator action, silly.

We're talking Elevator Action, the 80's Family Computer arcade game involving, well, elevators. 

1.  Yes, there was a time when video game graphics looked crude, the storyline basic, the sound tinny, and everything else was hopelessly 2D.  
 


2. Apparently, you're not a burglar breaking in a building in Elevator Action, as I had previously thought.  Instead, you are a spy out to steal top-secret documents from inside the red doors.

Retro Famicom bag

3. Our Family Computer was sent to us by Uncle El who was working in Japan.  We still have the Famicom, now abandoned and yellowing in a drawer.  The game titles he sent along included the classic Super Mario Bros., Dragon Buster (one of the first games to feature a life bar), Labyrinth (based on the Jim Henson film), Gradius, a racing game called Final Lap, Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family, and an inscrutably hard-to-play game called Hydlide Special.

4.  The 80's was considered the Golden Age of Arcade Games, and man, me and my sis, and my cousins had a blast taking turns with the controllers.  (Or rather, it was more of hogging the controller.)  Back then, the controllers were ruthlessly rectangle, not ergonomic at all, but that didn't stop us from developing hand and eye coordination.

5. Those were single-title game cartridges.  Later on, the 100 in 1 or 300 in 1 game cartridges came to being, which made more sense.  I remember swapping cartridges with classmates.  They loaned me Ice Climber, Balloon Fight, Goonies, Mickey Mouse, and a really scary Friday the 13th.  Of course, my all-time favorite was Street Fighter, and Super Mario 3 (sent again by Uncle El).


6.  Thirty years later and China-made DVD players throw in a free CD with as many as 300 games included--all the beloved titles I've come to love as a kid.  Seems like no one's suing regarding copyright issues.  Titles like Battle City, Contra, Rockman, Pacman, Legend of Kage, Popeye, Yie Ar Kungfu, Dig Dug, Ice Climber, and yes, Elevator Action too--now made available in CD form, although there still is something to be said for the bulky cartridges of the 80's.

7. That spy in Elevator Action has a name, or rather a codename: Otto, and the black-clad guys chasing him with guns apparently aren't  police officers but enemy agents.  Sure, burglars look cool, riding up and down elevators, evading bullet.  But come to think of it, spies are cooler.

8.  Elevator Action is one of the few video games in its era with an enjoyable soundtrack,composed by Yoshino Imamura.  Other arcade games had loud, annoying, intolerable soundtracks, it makes you wonder if they had intially tested it with bats.  

9. Of course, in my opinion, the game with the best and most memorable soundtrack is Super Mario 3, composed by Koji Kondo.  

10. I've never been comfortable riding an elevator.