I pigged out on Korean BBQ (yakiniku) with the female spouse unit (the female offspring unit doesn’t eat much) while watching The Last Crusade (she likes Indy Jones movies, but not so much Star Wars, but that’s alright) and then Message from Space. Played some Gyruss and booze doesn’t work so well to enhance reflexes, so I gave up trying to beat my high score tonight. Still, thanks to the weekend challenge on the Retro Palace group on Gab, I finally made it to Saturn for the first time in my life today! As for the Famicom/NES version, I can’t figure out how to get past that ball & chain boss.
As a kid, playing Gyruss for the first time, I think that may have been the first time I ever had played an arcade game with an actual soundtrack. I’m talking besides Atari’s Star Wars… a game with a continuous soundtrack! Space Invaders has that great bass tune, but that only half counts. I’m talking Johann Sebastian BACH! As a kid, I was like, “DUDE, CAPTAIN NEMO MUSIC.” Before I found out he was Nadia’s father… No, I mean the Disney movie I watched over and over again on the Disney Channel whenever it was on because there was nothing else to do, which gave me a passion for sea monsters and stuff. Hearing this in the game, with a sped-up tempo, really blew my mind. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor! Classy.
I’m playing Gyruss, chasing alien starfighters in warp tunnels as they speed towards planet Earth, destroying them before they can approach my homeworld. And when I got that shot powerup for the first time, when it gave a real deeper, bass to the sound to the shots, I really felt like I had serious firepower at my fingertips. Oh man.
How many times have I told you kids to get off my lawn? I’m playing Gyruss.