Page 14 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #5

Far be it from me to go with what the crowd's doing. I'm going to discuss a few games I like that
Far be it from me to go with what the crowd's doing. I'm going to discuss a few games I like that
few people seem to know ever existed. These are like the X-Files of the arcade - most people,
few people seem to know ever existed. These are like the X-Files of the arcade - most people,
and even a few coin-op manufacturers, deny all knowledge of these games. But I remember
and even a few coin-op manufacturers, deny all knowledge of these games. But I remember
them. I remember playing them. I know they existed. I have solid evidence. The truth is out
them. I remember playing them. I know they existed. I have solid evidence. The truth is out
there, and it took plenty of my quarters.
there, and it took plenty of my quarters.

Just trust me on this one.
Just trust me on this one.

o! Run Run
D Do! Run Run

This almost sickeningly cute entry in the little-known four-game Mr. Do! franchise
took some of the game play of the original Mr. Do! and put it in a vaguely 3-D per-
spective. The result? An intensely fun and addictive little game set to new-wave
cartoon music that would make the former members of Devo goggle in admira-
tion. (Well, actually, they wore goggles on many occasions, so I suppose that
wouldn't be terribly surprising.) As well-armed clown Mr. Do, your job is to rid
the open playing field of any and all evil critters (though they're cute evil critters)
before they rid the playing field of well-armed clowns (namely you). You can zap
'em (leaving you momentarily defenseless) or crush them under rolling logs (of
which there are only two per screen). Your options for disposing of these vile
creatures make Mr. Do! the most homicidal clown since John Wayne Gacy, but
thankfully this one’s considerably more adorable. The game play grows increasingly frenetic as you advance, but it al-
ways brought me back for more. I love it. It's a mainstay in my MAME directory now. In its arcade form, Do! Run Run
was most frequently encountered as a conversion kit, which would turn an old Mr. Do! or Mr. Do's Castle cabinet into a
new game…so you may have played this and thought it was actually the original, depending on the cabinet decora-
tions.

antasy
F Fantasy

My all-time favorite arcade game! I'm not kidding about this either. I think
I'm one of only three people who have ever seen this one. Jukebox manu-
facturer Rock-Ola licensed a handful of video games from various entities
in the early eighties, just to see how many other ways they could get kids to fork over their change. They licensed Warp Warp
from Namco, and licensed this jewel of a multi-level quest game from SNK (long, long before the Neo Geo days). Fantasy is the
story of a cute little character whose girlfriend, Cheri, is abducted by a bunch of no-good pixellated pirates. As the hero of the
story, you must brave all obstacles to rescue Cheri. Slicing up nasty natives with your sword, dodging airborne coconuts lobbed
at you by a loony gorilla, avoiding tigers in the woods, evading helicopters, and climbing your way through a level which resem-
bles nothing so much as Atari's Kangaroo…this game had it all. And the real killer came in the form of four words that followed
"game over": "INSERT COIN TO CONTINUE." I'd have ten seconds to scramble through my pockets looking for two bits to
pump into the thing, because I had to know how it ended. The only Fantasy machine I ever encountered was in the game room
at Gaston's Fishing Resort on the White River in northern Arkansas. I wasn't too interested
in fishing, and apparently neither was my mother. After hearing me rave about this game,
Mom tagged along with me to the game room and dutifully kept feeding fivers to the change
machine as she, too, became intrigued with what the ending could be. Is Fantasy the great-
est game in the world? Hell no. Even on MAME, I have to "insert coin to continue" about
five or six times to reach the end of the game. But it is one of my most cherished video
game memories. When I started collecting marquees, I told my wife (though we weren't
married yet) that if I could ever find a Fantasy marquee, I'd stop blowing money on these
silly slabs of plexiglas. An amusement company in Washington state finally provided me
with my holy grail. I got brave and inquired as to how difficult it would be to track down a
real live dedicated Fantasy upright cabinet…and was disheartened when the salesman told
me that Fantasy was considered a coin-op dud, and most of the Fantasy cabinets had been
converted into other games. I was lucky to track down even so much as a marquee as evi-
dence that Fantasy ever existed. How sad. Even though it's missing the awful speech syn-
thesis, I heartily recommend you grab the Fantasy ROM for MAME and try it out for yourself.
.
Classic Gamer Magazine December 2000 14