Do you remember the first time you played TRON, or Discs of Tron? Did you get to play them in the arcade? Share your stories here. For me it was in the mid-80's - late 80's I played both, at Disneyland's 2-story Starcade 😎
And I did get to play both Tron games in arcades ,but honestly, I was so little, I wasn't sure quite how to play either game anywhere near competently. Thanks for listening
Can't recall for certain the first time I played the Arcade cab. At the County Fair perhaps? But I did get to play it a lot when it showed up at a small "corner store" type place where I regularly bought my comics from.
Kind of a correction around 11:20 mark. You mention homebrew versions of Tron and show a PC version of the light cycles game. However, there was a coin op game from 1976 called Blockade which used the exact same premise as the light cycles. This was also "converted" to the Atari 2600 as Surround in 1977. The movie didn't come out until 1982, so it was really Tron that was borrowing this specific mini-game from existing properties rather than others emulating Tron. Although it might be fair to say that the movie probably boosted interest in what we now call "snake" style games.
I thought it was great, but I remember being befuddled as why adults were saying it wasn't all that great. Still, I wasn't inspired to see it multiple times, like I was for another science fiction movie 5 years earlier.
My favorite arcade of all time was Gorf in 1981. When I first discovered Tron in 1982 I thought it was a new version of Gorf. Didn’t know it was a movie until later and was blown away after seeing it. It made the game even more enjoyable having a backstory to the game. I was 11-12 in 1981 and being dropped off at the mall on a Friday night was an amazing time. Free range kids with access to food Arcades and movies. 5 bucks would cover it all in the day! ❤
Love hearing stories like this, thanks for sharing. I was little the first time I played it, at Disneyland's Starcade. But i'd seen the film - my father is a total Scifi Geek - so I absolutely loved the game, mainly light cycles :))
@@goofyfoot390 Gorf doesn't get the attention it deserves. It's really one of the top 5 best classic arcade games, and it's just as fun now as it was then. I was at a retro arcade convention last month, and spent more time playing Gorf than anything else (got up to Space Warrior rank). If you play it in emulation, it's critical that you use an analog joystick to get the full effect. It *can* be played with WASD, but that really limits you and you won't get the full experience.
A couple of things, to help elaborate on the Atari 2600 Tron games: Tron: Deadly Discs is likely inspired by the scene in the movie where Tron is fighting other programs in the MCP's prison arena. It's not trying to replicate the duel with Sark or the Discs of Tron arcade game, though I guess it is kind of easy to get those things confused. I didn't notice the inspiration until I rewatched the movie recently. Adventures of Tron is a game that is pretty much unrelated to the arcade games at all. It's sort of going for a Donkey Kong style game. You go up the screen on elevators surrounding the I/O Tower beam, collecting Bits (those adorable little "Yes/No" dudes) and avoiding Grid Bugs, Recognizers and tanks on your way up. Once you collect all the Bits, the beam turns blue, you jump into it, and you're transported to the next level. There's also a Solar Sailor on one of the higher floors you can jump onto to carry yourself to the other side of that floor and over the enemies, if the timing is right. It's pretty fun once you get the flow down. Being able to drop down to a previous level helps you take that floor's elevator to get behind the line of enemies on the floor above you. Basically, it's kind of like an arcade style stealth platformer. Weird mix, but it kinda works. Though, the hit detection between Tron and the Bits could have used a little more fine tuning, to be fair. If you want to get a full Tron-like experience on the Atari 2600, you can, but you'll need multiple games to do it. Both Tron: Deadly Discs and Adventures of Tron are there, obviously, but I also use games like Battlezone or Robot Tank for tank combat (the tank game on the Combat cartridge also works well for this, if you have someone else to play against). I also use Berzerk for extra "disc" combat. Then there's Surround for Light Cycle battles, and either Breakout or Super Breakout for the duel against the MCP. Using the Catch mode on original Breakout helps reposition your shots and feels more like throwing the disc. Heck, Beamrider could be reflavored as a combat-equipped Solar Sailor game, if you want. That's the most fun thing about these early games. The graphics are so abstract that you could give any game just about any story you want, if you let your imagination take over.
I loved 'Tron Deadly Discs' for the Intellivision. It was a great game to play for high scores. Can't remember if it was multi player or not. My only gripe is you couldn't tell what your damage was. You would slowly recover from hits, but there was no visual indicator of how much "hp" you had left.
@Offramp-z7p I've unfortunately never played the Intellivision version, but the Atari 2600 port has the character sprite change colors every time you get hit. You start blue, and it changes to a different color each time you get hit. Once you're sort of a tan color, that's your last hit. You also recover your hits one at a time at the start of each wave, so if you're really good at the game and only let yourself get hit once each wave, you'll start blue on each new one.
Hi Neon, I love this episode and of course I love Tron, 🎉 much wonderful memories. And I really appreciate hearing you explain to all the wee ones out in viewer land, about it not being just what we saw, but what we Felt. Loved it , subscribed.
I too played Surround on the Atari, and maybe on some kind of computer before that. I even programed Surround on a computer at school. While I really liked TRON, I knew that the Light Cycles were just a version of Surround, so it wasn't a big jump playing Light Cycles in the arcade.
Thank you for reviewing this game! Someday I would like to play Tron in the arcades. I've only played the port on GBA that came with Tron 2.0 Killer App. It had the original arcade game and Discs of Tron.
The 1982 TRON film actually did turn a good profit. D$ was just pissed because it didn't make nearly as much as E.T. Of course, no movie at the time made the kind of money E.T. did. Both arcade games were great, as was TRON Deadly Discs. Trivia: You can still dodge Recognizers if you make it far enough in the 1982 TRON arcade game.
Jeff Lebowski is a video game developer who gets sliced up by a laser and beamed into the world inside the computers at his company and has to lead the programs inside to rebel against their evil AI overlord.
Flynn, a former employee of Encom, is an arcade owner. He is distraught at seeing some of the games he made at Encom in his arcade without much profit. After hours he goes to hack into Encom trying to gain evidence that the games are his. All of his attempts at hacking are caught by the Master Control Program. His friends Alan and Lora work at Encom. Alan is a programmer and Lora works in research. One night they sneak in with Flynn. Flynn goes up to the computer terminal in front of the experimental laser. The MCP or Master Control Program catches him hacking at Encom. Then beams him inside the computer. There Flynn is introduced to a world where computer programs are avatars of their creators. There are the ones who fight for the users (blue) and those who uphold the law of the MCP (red, yellow, etc.) He meets Tron a watchdog program made by Alan. Flynn and Tron work together to bring down the MCP. First, they need to escape and they have to play in the games to the death including a light cycle chase, disc battle, and Jai Lai.
I really loved this game. I am curious what the 6th game was supposed to be. We all wanted to play light cycle game and fighting with the discs (though that didn't make it into the original game. The inclusion of two of the games in the arcade game was a bit odd, as it did feature the Grid Bugs what wasn't an action scene in the move and entering the MPC code, which played out very differently from the movie. I really wanted to play the Intelevsion version of the game, as it looked much more high tech than the games on the Atari, though I never had TRON for the Atari and I don't think I was aware that it was released on that platform. One thing that doesn't get mentioned enough is Wendy Carlos' soundtrack, which got burned into my brain, from playing the game repeatedly, as I only saw the movie once.
I have the tron arcade1up. It worked fine until they put out a firmware update, which caused the spinner's functionality to stop working. I have to use a keyboard connected to the usb port inside the machine if I want tron's arm to spin. x and b move his arm left and right, I think. Just wishing there was a way to remap the controls using a keyboard.
both tron and disc I first played at a bally's alladins castle (tokens) pretty much around the time they came out, 82/83. Off topic but I first played dragons lair right in the same month in came out in 1983, while on vacation in disneyland. not at the star cade but at a miniature golf/arcade that was across the street from a hotel and disneyland while on vacation
in the UK the best TRON game was the TOMY/Grandstand VFD tabletop - I played the shit out of it, and now as a 53yo man harbour resentment towards my mother who threw it away :)
As a kid of the 80's, i can say i didnt care much for the movie or the game. I remember thinking the original arcade game was a waste of my tokens. Everyone has an opinion i guess. Interestingly i dont even remember "the discs of tron."
I never saw either arcade game back then. There was only one arcade in the area and I rarely got to go there. I played the two Atari games though. They weren't great, but I liked both of them as simple time wasters. I later got Maze-a-Tron, and didn't like it.
Do you remember the first time you played TRON, or Discs of Tron? Did you get to play them in the arcade? Share your stories here. For me it was in the mid-80's - late 80's I played both, at Disneyland's 2-story Starcade 😎
I didn't get to play Tron in the arcade. I got to play a port of it on the Tron Killer App game on Gameboy Advance.
And I did get to play both Tron games in arcades ,but honestly, I was so little, I wasn't sure quite how to play either game anywhere near competently. Thanks for listening
Can't recall for certain the first time I played the Arcade cab. At the County Fair perhaps? But I did get to play it a lot when it showed up at a small "corner store" type place where I regularly bought my comics from.
Kind of a correction around 11:20 mark. You mention homebrew versions of Tron and show a PC version of the light cycles game. However, there was a coin op game from 1976 called Blockade which used the exact same premise as the light cycles. This was also "converted" to the Atari 2600 as Surround in 1977. The movie didn't come out until 1982, so it was really Tron that was borrowing this specific mini-game from existing properties rather than others emulating Tron. Although it might be fair to say that the movie probably boosted interest in what we now call "snake" style games.
I never looked into how well Tron did in the theaters. But I was in the 5th grade when it came out and it was a big deal to the kids. We loved it.
I thought it was great, but I remember being befuddled as why adults were saying it wasn't all that great. Still, I wasn't inspired to see it multiple times, like I was for another science fiction movie 5 years earlier.
My favorite arcade of all time was Gorf in 1981. When I first discovered Tron in 1982 I thought it was a new version of Gorf. Didn’t know it was a movie until later and was blown away after seeing it. It made the game even more enjoyable having a backstory to the game. I was 11-12 in 1981 and being dropped off at the mall on a Friday night was an amazing time. Free range kids with access to food Arcades and movies. 5 bucks would cover it all in the day! ❤
Love hearing stories like this, thanks for sharing. I was little the first time I played it, at Disneyland's Starcade. But i'd seen the film - my father is a total Scifi Geek - so I absolutely loved the game, mainly light cycles :))
@@goofyfoot390 Gorf doesn't get the attention it deserves. It's really one of the top 5 best classic arcade games, and it's just as fun now as it was then. I was at a retro arcade convention last month, and spent more time playing Gorf than anything else (got up to Space Warrior rank).
If you play it in emulation, it's critical that you use an analog joystick to get the full effect. It *can* be played with WASD, but that really limits you and you won't get the full experience.
A couple of things, to help elaborate on the Atari 2600 Tron games:
Tron: Deadly Discs is likely inspired by the scene in the movie where Tron is fighting other programs in the MCP's prison arena. It's not trying to replicate the duel with Sark or the Discs of Tron arcade game, though I guess it is kind of easy to get those things confused. I didn't notice the inspiration until I rewatched the movie recently.
Adventures of Tron is a game that is pretty much unrelated to the arcade games at all. It's sort of going for a Donkey Kong style game. You go up the screen on elevators surrounding the I/O Tower beam, collecting Bits (those adorable little "Yes/No" dudes) and avoiding Grid Bugs, Recognizers and tanks on your way up. Once you collect all the Bits, the beam turns blue, you jump into it, and you're transported to the next level.
There's also a Solar Sailor on one of the higher floors you can jump onto to carry yourself to the other side of that floor and over the enemies, if the timing is right. It's pretty fun once you get the flow down. Being able to drop down to a previous level helps you take that floor's elevator to get behind the line of enemies on the floor above you. Basically, it's kind of like an arcade style stealth platformer. Weird mix, but it kinda works. Though, the hit detection between Tron and the Bits could have used a little more fine tuning, to be fair.
If you want to get a full Tron-like experience on the Atari 2600, you can, but you'll need multiple games to do it. Both Tron: Deadly Discs and Adventures of Tron are there, obviously, but I also use games like Battlezone or Robot Tank for tank combat (the tank game on the Combat cartridge also works well for this, if you have someone else to play against). I also use Berzerk for extra "disc" combat. Then there's Surround for Light Cycle battles, and either Breakout or Super Breakout for the duel against the MCP. Using the Catch mode on original Breakout helps reposition your shots and feels more like throwing the disc.
Heck, Beamrider could be reflavored as a combat-equipped Solar Sailor game, if you want. That's the most fun thing about these early games. The graphics are so abstract that you could give any game just about any story you want, if you let your imagination take over.
I loved 'Tron Deadly Discs' for the Intellivision. It was a great game to play for high scores. Can't remember if it was multi player or not.
My only gripe is you couldn't tell what your damage was. You would slowly recover from hits, but there was no visual indicator of how much "hp" you had left.
@Offramp-z7p I've unfortunately never played the Intellivision version, but the Atari 2600 port has the character sprite change colors every time you get hit. You start blue, and it changes to a different color each time you get hit. Once you're sort of a tan color, that's your last hit. You also recover your hits one at a time at the start of each wave, so if you're really good at the game and only let yourself get hit once each wave, you'll start blue on each new one.
Loved the lighting scheme of the Tron cabinet.
Great video! Very well made. Your love retro games and such things is palpable.
Hi Neon, I love this episode and of course I love Tron, 🎉 much wonderful memories. And I really appreciate hearing you explain to all the wee ones out in viewer land, about it not being just what we saw, but what we Felt. Loved it , subscribed.
I played Surround on Atari before I ever saw Tron, so when I saw it finally I was like, "Hey we have that game!"
I too played Surround on the Atari, and maybe on some kind of computer before that. I even programed Surround on a computer at school. While I really liked TRON, I knew that the Light Cycles were just a version of Surround, so it wasn't a big jump playing Light Cycles in the arcade.
Thank you for reviewing this game! Someday I would like to play Tron in the arcades. I've only played the port on GBA that came with Tron 2.0 Killer App. It had the original arcade game and Discs of Tron.
I own the GBA version too! Thank you 🙏🏼 🙏🏼 🙏🏼
The 1982 TRON film actually did turn a good profit. D$ was just pissed because it didn't make nearly as much as E.T. Of course, no movie at the time made the kind of money E.T. did. Both arcade games were great, as was TRON Deadly Discs. Trivia: You can still dodge Recognizers if you make it far enough in the 1982 TRON arcade game.
To this day, I have no idea what the TRON game/movie is actually about.
Jeff Lebowski is a video game developer who gets sliced up by a laser and beamed into the world inside the computers at his company and has to lead the programs inside to rebel against their evil AI overlord.
@ thanks man :)
Flynn, a former employee of Encom, is an arcade owner. He is distraught at seeing some of the games he made at Encom in his arcade without much profit. After hours he goes to hack into Encom trying to gain evidence that the games are his. All of his attempts at hacking are caught by the Master Control Program. His friends Alan and Lora work at Encom. Alan is a programmer and Lora works in research. One night they sneak in with Flynn. Flynn goes up to the computer terminal in front of the experimental laser. The MCP or Master Control Program catches him hacking at Encom. Then beams him inside the computer. There Flynn is introduced to a world where computer programs are avatars of their creators. There are the ones who fight for the users (blue) and those who uphold the law of the MCP (red, yellow, etc.) He meets Tron a watchdog program made by Alan. Flynn and Tron work together to bring down the MCP. First, they need to escape and they have to play in the games to the death including a light cycle chase, disc battle, and Jai Lai.
I always thought the TRON arcade game was pretty cool! Multiple gameplay styles in the same game was something I'd never seen before.
why was it the reason? in the cut scene@???
YESSSSS! Arcade vs console is back!!
Great Video!!! Tron was always kinda mystifying to me growing up, I knew it was cool but I didn't understand it at all lol
I really loved this game. I am curious what the 6th game was supposed to be. We all wanted to play light cycle game and fighting with the discs (though that didn't make it into the original game. The inclusion of two of the games in the arcade game was a bit odd, as it did feature the Grid Bugs what wasn't an action scene in the move and entering the MPC code, which played out very differently from the movie.
I really wanted to play the Intelevsion version of the game, as it looked much more high tech than the games on the Atari, though I never had TRON for the Atari and I don't think I was aware that it was released on that platform.
One thing that doesn't get mentioned enough is Wendy Carlos' soundtrack, which got burned into my brain, from playing the game repeatedly, as I only saw the movie once.
I haven’t clicked a video so fast lol
Trons my “thing”. I did a cover of the original theme, and I’m building my own tron cab
not sure if the green screen key was off on purpose
I have the tron arcade1up. It worked fine until they put out a firmware update, which caused the spinner's functionality to stop working. I have to use a keyboard connected to the usb port inside the machine if I want tron's arm to spin. x and b move his arm left and right, I think.
Just wishing there was a way to remap the controls using a keyboard.
One of the greatest LORE to date.
Wow, "spaced invader' by Hatiras. You have great taste 😊
both tron and disc I first played at a bally's alladins castle (tokens) pretty much around the time they came out, 82/83. Off topic but I first played dragons lair right in the same month in came out in 1983, while on vacation in disneyland. not at the star cade but at a miniature golf/arcade that was across the street from a hotel and disneyland while on vacation
"It was ok, but it sucked" i feel this summarizes the 80s pretty well
in the UK the best TRON game was the TOMY/Grandstand VFD tabletop - I played the shit out of it, and now as a 53yo man harbour resentment towards my mother who threw it away :)
Had adventures of tron on the 2600 as a kid. Never liked it, never played it much. Cool video mate
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙏🏼
As a kid of the 80's, i can say i didnt care much for the movie or the game.
I remember thinking the original arcade game was a waste of my tokens.
Everyone has an opinion i guess.
Interestingly i dont even remember "the discs of tron."
I never saw either arcade game back then. There was only one arcade in the area and I rarely got to go there. I played the two Atari games though. They weren't great, but I liked both of them as simple time wasters. I later got Maze-a-Tron, and didn't like it.
Can we do a collab
🔥🔥🔥
🕹
Where you born a man?
Rude.