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The most dramatic “future” I ever lived in, was 1987. There was no public accessible internet. Click to view infographic No WiFi. Laptops were suitcases. If you had a computer, you were one of the few. And that few used computers to load the totaly awesome original...

Dark Cavern, for the Atari 2600, was released in 1982. I recently picked this up from a local retrogaming shop here in Houston. I find it tons of fun to pick up many titles for about 3 bucks – what do you have to lose? And you get to build your collection relatively...

 Posted by Justin Anzelone on Sep 8, 2013 in RetroGaming | 1 comment After a posting I made on facebook, I felt the sudden drive to make a blog review about Activision’s real-life rewards for their Atari, Coleco and Intellivision games. Adam and I have gushed about...

Journey Escape, for the Atari 2600, was released in 1982. Andy why not? Journey’s popularity was peaking with the video game revolution, it was sure to have an audience. I can find no evidence on the actual sales, but a used cartridge seems easily available today, I...

What is HippoBytes? Posted by Adam Brower HippoBytes is a RetroTech journal. This basically means its a “do you remember” site for geeks and gamers. But thats a lot of fun for me.  It’s meant to capture the memories of the technology revolution with an...

Like previously stated by my colleague, Adam, Activision was one of the first quality developers to make video games for a popular home console. Side note: A lot of the original programers for Activision had their start at Atari, but left to form their own company...

It was 1992. I was enrolled in the Computer Science program at UTA (The University of Texas Arlington). I lived in a dorm with my best friend from high school. And my college grades suffered due to video games. Throughout high school, my friend and I  lived on...

Adventure for the Atari 2600 was an epic 8-bit game. It came out Christmas of 1979 and went on to sell 1 million copies making it one of the Atari’s best selling games. Not only was it the dawn of the RPG, it contained video games first easter egg – the legendary gray...

Stand-up arcade games were an icon of the early 80’s. You could not go anywhere without a few meeting you at the entrance of any establishment. Grocery stores would have several lined up at the front, fast food restaurants offered them to all dining patrons, and gas...

Kids today! Why they never knew they had it so good! *pumps fist in the air Now I am not going to be one of those old timers that preach about, “when I was a kid, i had to walk uphill in the…” No i’m not, simply because I am not old. Kinda. I’m talking about the App...

Venture Atari 2600 cartridge From 1982 blah blah. I want to like this game. I want to like it really bad. It had everything to make a great game, but it was always plagued by being balls difficult. I hate this game. Since I was just a young lad, I remember trying to...

Lock ‘N’ Chase, released in 1982, is obviously a Pac-Man rip off. You are a robber moving around a maze collecting  gold bars (or dots in Pac-Man). You even have opportunities for more points by other objects appearing, in lieu of Pac-Man’s fruit. Instead of four...

Though I like Castlevania, I haven’t played many games in the series; this would be the third I’ve finished. Like many other Game Boy games this was made to be pretty straight forward, it isn’t difficult to figure out the objective or the controls for that matter, its...

So this is a very interesting stroll down the Atari memory lane. The Atari 5200 was left out of this unfortunately, and I think this could definitely be built upon. Still a fun chart regardless. I also forgot that Steve Jobs was actually a big part of Atari history....

Mickey Mouse and the Castle of Illusion. I worked at Software, Etc. in 1990 when this game first came out. I recently traded in my NES for a new 16-bit Sega Genesis. I skipped getting the Turbo Grafx 16 because I knew it was only two 8-bit processors and not a true...

Journey Escape, for the Atari 2600, was released in 1982. Andy why not? Journey’s popularity was peaking with the video game revolution, it was sure to have an audience. I can find no evidence on the actual sales, but a used cartridge seems easily available today, I...

You are standing on a trail. The grass has almost hidden what is left from lack of use. Tall trees block the sun on your left and to the right you see a green hill that leads down to a running brook. A limb hangs by a sign that reads, “Townstead North”. You see a...

Not a typical HippoBytes retro-article, I wanted to do this because I find it fascinating the difference between two generations of gamers, me and my 14 year old son, Drew. Drew got me caught up on today’s gaming terminology. Where I called, “Next game!” in my day, he...

Not since I was a kid have I had so much fun in a video arcade. There’s not much to talk about when it comes to Houston. No mountains, no hills, and the closest beach is… well, not what you see in pictures of paradise. I often struggle with telling visitors what to do...

After a posting I made on facebook, I felt the sudden drive to make a blog review about Activision’s real-life rewards for their Atari, Coleco and Intellivision games. Adam and I have gushed about how Activision was the best third-party developer for Atari back in the...

Nostalgia plays a big part in why gaming is important to me. Those moments as a kid were only highlighted with some of the warm memories attributed with the challenging gameplay, characters, and music associated with the classics on consoles such as the NES and...

One of the most memorable Christmases I had growing up was when I got the original Game Boy. This was the very first portable gaming system I ever owned; probably one of the first handhelds anyone has ever owned! It was the first of its kind; aside from the countless...

Dark Cavern, for the Atari 2600, was released in 1982. I recently picked this up from a local retrogaming shop here in Houston. I find it tons of fun to pick up many titles for about 3 bucks – what do you have to lose? And you get to build your collection relatively...

Indiana Jones made his video game debut in Raiders of the Lost Ark for the Atari 2600,  released in 1982. Wow, what can I say. I played the hell out of this game when I was in 4th grade. And I solved it often. If you asked me 30 years ago, I would have rated this game...

M*A*S*H, for the Atari 2600, was released in 1983. It’s a pretty cool game base off the popular TV show and released by 20th Century Fox. I am not going to go into detail about how you are Hawkeye and everything, this is purely about the game. You are a...

I wrote a note in the rune alphabet to a girl I had a crush on… I was prime age at the dawn of the video game revolution. Stand up arcade games gripped me when I was 7. I got my first Atari 2600 console when I was 8. I remember obsessing over the photo’s in the Sears...

This video was done 100% on my iPhone. The Rock’em Sock’em Robots Legacy (2012) – two boogie bots wanted to do only one thing – Rock’em!  It was only a matter of time until they had to fulfill their destiny.

Back when we had to start the car by hand, walk 4 miles to school uphill…both ways and the milkman was still blamed for kids that didn’t quite look like mom “or” dad, computers sat on a desk. Portability meant fitting in a backpack (first baby Macs) or, in the case of...

Mickey Mouse and the Castle of Illusion. I worked at Software, Etc. in 1990 when this game first came out. I recently traded in my NES for a new 16-bit Sega Genesis. I skipped getting the Turbo Grafx 16 because I knew it was only two 8-bit processors and not a true...

 Currently Browsing: Atari 2600 RetroReviews Journey Escape, for the Atari 2600, was released in 1982. Andy why not? Journey’s popularity was peaking with the video game revolution, it was sure to have an audience. I can find no evidence on the actual sales, but a...

Posted by Adam Brower on Oct 9, 2012 in Video, Why HippoBytes | 0 comments HippoBytes is a RetroTech journal. This basically means its a “do you remember” site for geeks and gamers. But thats a lot of fun for me.  It’s meant to capture the memories of the technology...

The Atari 2600 era – what an exciting time! In that, we learned about role playing, two player strategy, easter eggs, and adventure.  For many of us, we discovered careers, lifestyles, and hobbies that have shaped us into who we are today. My goal is to review...

The Ultima series (created by Richard Garriott) was revolutionary and has permanently impacted the gaming industry. For many of us, it gave us our first opportunity to explore unknown territory and escape from reality for a while. Naturally this site has attracted...

The Press Release Houston Digital Marketing Expert Goes Mobile with i30 Project Interactive strategist limits technology to iPhone and iPad for 30 days 06.01.2010 – Starting June 1, 2010, Adam Brower will be 100% mobile. Brower will solely use an iPhone and an iPad to...

It seems every popular publisher during the late 80’s attempted to jump on the 8-bit bandwagon. Though Atari wasn’t new to the world of 8-bit programming, they did develop a home gaming console in hopes of re-joining the competition; in lieu of the sluggish 2600 and...

Born in 1982 by perhaps the first female video game developer, River Raid offered so much for its time.  Activision was known for its superior graphic, River Raid didn’t disappoint – actually bringing in the next generation of video games.  If you could upgrade...