Dot Arcade (Wii U)

DOT_BOXI’m afraid I’m going to age myself here, but back when I was a kid in the late 70’s and early 80’s, if you wanted to play a handheld game, you usually had to settle with a primitive electronic device like Mattel’s Football and Baseball games, or Parker Brother’s Merlin.  I didn’t have those, but I did have one of the mini arcade cabinets made by Coleco (mine was Pac-Man of course).  All of these games just used LED lights to simulate game graphics.  Recently a game designer made his own dot arcade game, and ported it to Wii U.  The story behind all this is pretty interesting; just do a search on YouTube for Dot Arcade and you can watch a video about it.  Anyway, Dot Arcade is now downloadable on Wii U and has three simple lighted games you can play: Mr. Snake, Dodge Club, and Rally Driver.

Mr. Snake

Move your dot around and ‘eat’ green dots to make your snake grow via a trail of dots behind it.  While it may look like your typical snake game, they added moving obstacles that scroll down the screen that you must avoid as well as your own tail.  The more you eat, the higher your score.

Dodge Club

This is the most abstract of the bunch, but probably has the most history behind it from what I can tell by looking at the developer’s web site.  You play as a 2 by 2 square of dots and must avoid another 2 by 2 square as well as a couple of green dots that encircle or bounce around the playfield.  I love how imaginative these old abstract games used to be.  Mirroring those titles, in this game you’re supposed to be a dancer avoiding fireballs and sparks on the most dangerous dance floor ever.  Okay, sure.  The longer you last without getting hit, the higher your score.

Rally Driver

You’ve probably played something like this before, too.  Move two dots left and right on the bottom of the screen that is supposed to represent a race car.  Drive straight forward and pass other dot cars without getting hit.  You earn a point for each car you pass. Kind of like a more simplistic version of classics like Road Fighter, Bump N Jump, or Spy Hunter.

DOT_SCREEN

All the games have primitive yet authentic sound effects and border art that really reflects how games were depicted back then.  The problems I had with this game were very minimal and nitpicky.  It wasn’t readily apparent at first how to exit games (just press and hold start or select for a second or two).  And it would’ve been nice if you could save more than one high score for each title.  Maybe you could’ve entered your own initials after your score or something.  I’m also surprised this isn’t on 3DS as well, as it seems perfect for a handheld.  Plus, I would’ve liked to have seen more than just three games on here.  Maybe a Pong or Breakout clone, Pac-Man style maze game, or a simple platformer.  Maybe they had other games, but these three were the most fun.  At any rate, despite those minor problems, I still really enjoyed Dot Arcade for its interesting charm.  And it’s not a bad deal for only five bucks.  I think all old-schoolers who have a Wii U should download it.

Kid Factor:

Dot Arcade is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Suggestive Themes.  The only thing that descriptor would refer to is some of the border art, but it looks about like the art I saw on games as a kid, and I think I turned out OK.  Really I’d be all right with any kid playing this.  No reading skill is required, and the only bad thing is they might get bored quickly with the simplistic gameplay.  But I think the game would be a good start to discussing and sharing with your kids how games were back when we were young.  Might be a fun and educational way to spend time with your kids!

One Response to “Dot Arcade (Wii U)”

  1. oh man I love those Snake type games!

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