After an hour, the repetitive music from only served to emphasize Kit's frustration with her failure to clear the final level of the game. Most Atari games didn't even have "save" points, but one saving grace to Pitfall II was that there was a crossing about midway that meant a death would only take you back that far, instead of to the beginning. The first half was already so difficult that Kit refused to give up, which would mean turning off the game and losing her spot. Instead, she cranked the volume knob on the Zenith console far left and played instead to the sound of the black, single button joystick creaking left, right, up, down, and occasional "whoosh" of the boiler.
First line inspiration from "Sea Oak" by George Saunders: "At six, Mr. Frendt comes on the P.A. and shouts, 'Welcome to Joysticks!'"
This story was my absolute favorite from the Feeling Very Strange slipstream anthology. I would love to see it turned into a short film.
No comments:
Post a Comment