Popeye by Kimberly Keyes Stark
Last week; while I was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland; I was walking along the Boardwalk when I saw a sign pointing in the direction of a store called Pop's Joke Shop. This store was located just a half a block off the Boardwalk and the name sounded intriguing (I had just finished reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and there were several references to a pair of identical twins named Fred and George Weasley who decided to abruptly quit school so they could realize their dreams of starting their own joke shop) so I decided to check it out. The first thing I found was the images of Popeye, his friends, and his enemies (i.e., Wimpy, Bluto, Olive Oyl, etc.) were painted all over the front of the store. There were even Popeye images painted on the porch floor. I thought that this was some kind of store that was as solely dedicated to all things Popeye as the Disney Store is to Mickey Mouse.
W hen I entered the store, I found out that this store sold all kinds of things that most other stores on the Boardwalk didn't even carry. There was a Mickey Mouse phone for sale. There were a wide assortment of cheap plastic toys and cheap rock memorabilia. There were tacky ceramic statues of fat men with their pants pulled down and their bare asses sticking out that made farting sounds when you walked past them. There were all kind of practical joke items ranging from phony dog poop to gum that tasted yucky when chewed.
Then I saw something that was located near the front door that was a blast from the past. There was an old Popeye arcade game that I remembered playing when I was an undergraduate journalism student at the University of Maryland in the early 1980's. What's more, that arcade game still cost 25 cents to play (in contrast to the newer games in the Boardwalk arcades which cost anywhere between 75 cents to $1 to play). I was quite rusty the first time I played the game (it has got to be at least 15 years since I last played it) but I quickly remembered how to play it and I found myself enjoying it just as much as I did in the early 80's.
While Popeye wasn't the first arcade game that's based on a movie character (by all accounts, that honor belongs to Tron), one could argue that it was the first arcade game that was based on a cartoon character whose movie shorts were based on a popular comic strip of the early 1900's.
When I was in college, the Popeye arcade game was carried in at least two local fast food places that were located in College Park. The rules were simple. Popeye's biggest enemy, Bluto, has kidnapped his girlfriend, Olive Oyl. Olive sends out red hearts that float down the screen and Popeye has to catch a number of them in order to reach the next level. If any of the red hearts reaches the bottom of the screen, Popeye has about 10 seconds to quickly retrieve it or else he loses a life.
In the meantime, Bluto is out to stop Popeye in his efforts to catch those hearts. Popeye has to frequently dodge Bluto as that big bully tries to throw beer bottles, throw punches, reach his arms up to a higher ledge if Popeye happens to be directly above him, and even got down on his knees to reach his arms below if Popeye happened to be standing directly below him. From time to time a can of spinach makes an appearance and if Popeye eats it, he gains bigger muscles and he has enough power to be able to punch Bluto. However, the effect is temporary and, after a few seconds, Popeye reverts to his skinny self again.
If all that wasn't enough, a couple of witches would periodically appear on screen throwing bottles at Popeye and he has to punch the bottles while trying to avoid/dodge Bluto at the same time.
Many video game enthusiasts will notice that the layout of Popeye screens bears a slight resemblance to the ones in Donkey Kong. That's because both games were developed and manufactured by the same company, Nintendo.
I found that game so addicting that I spent many quarters trying to save Olive Oyl and defeating Bluto. The big irony is that, as a child, I was never into Popeye very much. The local television station used to broadcast the old Popeye shorts alongside the Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry ones. I viewed the Popeye cartoons as someth ing to just kill time with until the next cartoon starring Bugs Bunny would appear. I guess it's because I got bored with seeing Popeye always being bullied by Bluto and trying to devise a way to get some spinach so he can defeat the same bully over and over again while Bugs Bunny made more wisecracks and had a whole variety of sparring partners like Yosemite Sam, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and many others.
But the Popeye arcade game was in another class entirely. That game held my interest far more than the cartoons ever did. Seeing Popeye constantly defeating Bluto was far more compelling when you directly controlled the Sailor Man rather than just sitting passively watching Popeye and Bluto from the sidelines.
Sadly the videogame version of Popeye has pretty much disappeared from most arcades after the 1980's. Until my recent trip to Ocean City, I haven't seen that game anywhere. What's more, Popeye has not been released on any gaming platform since the 1980's, when it came out on the Atari 2 600, Atari 5200, and NES platforms.
My advice is that if you happen to see Popeye in any arcade, do yourself a favor and play it. You'll be glad you did.
DISCLAIMER: This blog is based on one person's biased opinions of which videogames should be considered to be classics and why. It is not meant to provide a complete history of the videogame industry, the latest videogame news, technical support, or hints on how to play a certain videogame. None of the videogame manufacturers or programmers mentioned here have endorsed or supported this blog in any way, shape, or form.
NOTE: If there are any errors or updates to what I have written about Pope ye, please s end an e-mail to [link=mailto:kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com]kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com[/link] (remember to remove the capital letters from my mailing address before sending or else it will get rejected) and I'll edit this piece when time permits.
POPEYE LINKS
The Internet Movie Database's Information on Popeye the Video Game
The Killer List of Videogames' Popeye Exhibit
I-Mockery.com's Review of the Atari 2600 Version of Popeye--Also includes a link to the game's ROM file that you can download for free.
Atari HQ.com's Review of the Atari 5200 Version of Popeye
Game FAQ's Review of the NES Version of Popeye
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