MOVIE MONDAY! - Back to the Future, Part II

Hey hey, kids of the 80s! Today for Movie Monday, I thought we'd take a look at Back to the Future, Part II. Now if you haven't seen this movie (or the triology) then shame on you! This is one of the best in my book, especially because it shows us what life was like back then and how they thought the future would be. Hey, I'm still waiting for my flying DeLoreans and Mattel hoverboards.


Anyhow, this movie connects to videogames because of the Cafe 80s scene. It's kind of like how we view a 50s diner today, except that it's done 80s style with in-your-face Michael Jackson and Ronald Reagan among other crazy way out-of-style things. And of course, what would the 80s be without arcades and videogames! Hey look, there's a Pac Man arcade cabinet in the left corner! Aww, but it looks like it's out of order. Man, that's too bad. I was sure that this time I would be able to get to the kill screen. Yeah right... you know what that is, right? It's when games back then were continuous from level to level and eventually had a screen that automatically ended your game because there just weren't any more levels programmed into memory.


Lo and behold, what do we have in the other corner? Why it's Wild Gunman! And it still works! Now I honestly have never seen an actual Wild Gunman still out in the wild. If ANYONE knows where to find one of these bad boys, please tell me. Back to the movie, the main character Marty McFly tries to impress two future boys by telling them that he's a crackshot at the game and he goes ahead and instantly kills the pixelated desperados on the screen using just one virtual bullet for each with the light gun.


"You have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!" says one of the boys, and they both march off disappointed leaving Marty to look like an idiot. BWAHAHAHA.... pwned! Well back in the real world, it's getting awfully close to 2015 when this took place in the movie, and it looks as if we are STILL using controllers, guitars, maracas, light guns, and other peripherals. We had virtual reality for a little while in the 90s, but that seems to have faded into twilight. Of the inventions in the game industry we've had in the last couple of years, Nintendo's Wii is the closest innovation we have to moving away from controllers. That's it for today, people. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see Jaws 19, hydrate a Pizza Hut pizza, and bet some money on the Florida Gators.

Anthony.