Video Games & Computer Entertainment: Spooky Software

For Halloween this year I've scanned an article from the pages of the November 1989 issue of Video Games & Computer Entertainment. While the first page of the article simply calls it Spooky Software, the table of contents refer to it as Spooky Software: Monsters, Mystery and Mayhem in Electronic Gaming. Although the cover of the issue states that these are games that will give you nightmares, the subtitle makes more sense as the article spends a fair amount of time on games featuring monsters, like Rampage and SimCity which obviously are not scary. It's the adventure games that still stand out since they rely on a well-written story to spook players rather than the simplistic graphics of the time period.

Year 4: October Update

It's almost Halloween which was usually a good time when I was a kid but I've not really done anything on the holiday since then other than trying to tie a blog post into it. At this time I've got nothing but maybe I can quickly find a game article to scan this week. Over the past few years I have posted the 1984 McDonald's sign a few times between here, Twitter, and Facebook I think, and since I probably haven't posted it enough yet here it is again.

This month I did get some G.I. Joe toy coverage up and played the new video game a bit. I've only had time to play three full levels and while I won't say it's bad, it's not great either. I like the graphics fine, the characters are from the best cartoon and toy line of the '80s so of course they're great, and the story is good enough. However, the action is repetitive and the early level design, notably missions two and three, are on the bland side. One could argue most games are repetitive and it is a shooter so it's not surprising that players will spend most of the time shooting waves of enemies. The levels are disappointing early on which I expect is a combination of the budget, short development cycle, and employees likely having to work from home. Regardless, it's nice to have a new G.I. Joe game and hopefully it leads to more games based on the license.

The next Xbox and PlayStation consoles are now just two weeks away. Unfortunately, the launch titles that aren't also releasing on current generation systems don't appear to be must plays. Console launches do tend to have average games at launch though. That said, I was hoping to be able to get my hands on the new consoles through work for my Video Games 2020 YouTube channel but we have limited options for making company purchases and we've been told from one distributor that we may have to wait until quarter two of 2021. On the positive side, a new Family Feud game is releasing on November 12th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch! I do enjoy the game shows as you may have noticed during the Commodore 64 game show week I did earlier this year on the blog's YouTube channel.

Two months ago Warner Bros. held DC Fandome which I did mention in the August update since it had some video game unveilings. There were also panels for a variety of things and a sweepstakes to enter. I'd guess there must have been a lot of entries but I was fortunate enough to be one the runner-up winners. I didn't know I won anything until the prize arrived in my mailbox last week which was a nice surprise. As you can see in the photo to the right, it's a LEGO mini-figure of Supergirl. 

That's all I've got for this month's update. Thanks for visiting the blog and have a happy and safe Halloween!

-Jonathan

Gaming Ads: Miscellaneous Hardware

This ads post is for a bunch of random game accessories, such as controllers, chairs, audio devices, organizers, etc. When I moved ads from Flickr to Facebook I decided that I'd only create a new album for game publishers that have a minimum of two ads and for hardware companies that have a minimum of three ads. There are already a lot of albums and if I created a new one for every company with a single ad it would become much more difficult to manage. The following is what was left over for hardware after a couple years of scanning.

Miscellaneous Hardware albums: Facebook - Google Photos

[YouTube] G.I. Joe 1980's Mail-In Offers

Part One

This is primarily a look at some of the G.I. Joe items only available by mail order directly from Hasbro during the 1980s. The offers for many items appeared numerous times in different catalogs or on their own inserts through one or more years. I'm including as many as I have and I'll also leave a link to YoJoe.com's collectibles archive here as that site is a great reference. YoJoe.com does have a mail-in offer tab on that linked page that includes a few other things but that section is mostly paperwork and it places what I'm showing here into other categories. 

Part Two

I've scanned a lot catalogs so you can also see the variety of retail items that were made available by mail. Hasbro made it quite easy to acquire the early vehicles and some of the action figures this way, however, vehicles never included the driver when ordering by mail. The retail boxed vehicles or carded action figures were not in their original packaging when acquiring them via mail either. Instead, plain boxes and plastic bags were used but a nice bonus was that the action figure file cards were cleanly cut rectangles so kids didn't need to take a pair of scissors and butcher them as they did when clipping them from retail packages.

The catalogs might be tough to read since I kept them as one long page in most cases. That results in some pages being upside down since most of them aren't traditional booklets as they unfold in a few directions and are double-sided. I'm dividing them below by offer and for the items I don't own I'm grouping all the paperwork together, and that group has scans with multiple offers of the items I own as well. For example, the 1982 and 1983 catalogs only have fan club offers so those are grouped under Mobile Strike Force. At the very bottom I've included a bonus from the '90s that appears in the second video. 

Mobile Strike Force (Fan Club)

The fan club was offered on an annual basis and the included items did change over time though the early years often had the same things. I subscribed in 1984 and received a membership card, belt, poster, iron-on, newsletter, and dog tags. Unfortunately, the dog tags are not labeled G.I. Joe anywhere, it's simple my name and address that I provided when subscribing. 

Parachute Pack
The Parachute Pack includes a plastic parachute that can be folded (or crumpled) up and placed (or forced) into a green backpack that attaches to an action figure. It also has a helmet and oxygen mask. Although this was never sold in stores on its own, there was a Target store exclusive that bundled the pack with the action figure Hit & Run in 1988. Grunt is modeling the pack in the photos and he actually did lose his hand in a parachuting accident but I think it may have been with a Fisher-Price parachute rather than this one.

MANTA
MANTA is an acronym that means Marine Assault Nautical Transport; Air Driven. It's basically a sailboard with a rocket. It can be disassembled and placed into a backpack allowing an action figure to carry it across land. In the photos I didn't pack up the sail as I didn't want to take it apart. I'm either missing the gun or have the correct gun with the remote extension and clips broken off (see instruction sheet).

Hooded Cobra Commander

This is probably the best known and most popular G.I. Joe action figure mail-in offer. It's of Cobra Commander wearing a dark blue uniform and a hood rather than his usual helmet. He comes with the same gun as the light blue counterpart and it can be attached to his back as well. 

Starduster
This character is an amalgamation of other action figure's parts repainted and the parts vary based on when he was ordered. You either get Recondo or Duke's torso and Recondo or Iceberg's waist with Flint's arms and Roadblock's legs. The copyright on the legs can either read 1984 or 1988. My Starduster has Duke's Torso and Iceberg's waist with the 1984 copyright on a leg. His accessories are always a silver version of Gung-Ho's grenade launcher, a helmet with star on it, and a black visor, and sometimes a jetpack was included. Starduster could also be ordered in a bundle with the Pocket Patrol Pack (carrying case that clips to a belt). As you can see I'm missing the black visor.

Sgt. Slaughter

The real-life wrestler turned action figure was first offered as a mail-in offer in 1985. This is the most detailed version with "USA" across his chest and a G.I. Joe logo on his right leg.  In 1986 a different version was sold in stores with Triple-T Tank vehicle and in 1988 yet another version was packaged with the Warthog A.T.F.V. A baton accessory is included with the first two versions but I could not locate either one for the pictures. File cards varied between the version and I'm including some comparisons to the Triple-T Tank version.

The Fridge

This action figure is based on the the NFL football player that won a super bowl with the Chicago Bear. William "The Refrigerator" Perry features his uniform number (72) on his chest and is equipped with a steel football attached to a chain. There are some color variations on the figure's belt and wrist bands.

Steel Brigade

Steel Brigade is a unique action figure that fans named and created their own file card for that is a sheet of paper rather than cardboard. A patch and weapon accessory are included too. You can see on the order form what selections were available and then Hasbro generated a couple paragraphs to describe the character. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking with my choices but I'd most definitely make some different selections if I were able to order one today. The name I chose is Countach after the sports car from Lamborghini. This was 1987 and I'm sure I had a hard time coming up with a name. It's not terrible but doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. Countach is from the Piedmontese dialect and there isn't a direct translation for it in English. Sources indicate its's a vulgarity though often used to express astonishment too. 

Catalogs and Other Scans

Joseph Colton

In 1994 Hasbro celebrated the 30th anniversary of G.I. Joe with  3 3/4" and 12" action figures modeled after classic toys. It also offered a mail-in exclusive for the character Joseph B. Colton who was created as the basis for G.I. Joe's backstory. I ordered one of each and fortunately received them. Apparently, the offer was so popular that Hasbro ran out and did not produce any extras to meet demand. However, it ran out of accessories for the 12" version before running out of the doll so some people received him in arctic gear rather than army fatigues. The 12" one also has four hair color variations: brown, black, blond, and red. I don't have the actual order form so the scan only has the top portion of the paper that was on display at retail stores.