retro access memories: the arcade game in my dreams

I played a lot of video games as a child. Whether it was in the lobby of our local theatre or in the arcade at Pizza Hut, I took every opportunity to play. As a result, video games were an extremely important part of my childhood–in fact, one of my earliest…er…“adult dreams” involved Chun-Li from Street Fighter II (1992). Say what you will, but young me saw a goddess in those pixels.

Not all of my video game dreams were X-rated in nature, though. Usually, they involved me in levels from various games I enjoyed–I might be Dr. Alan Grant hunting dinosaurs on Ilsa Nublar, Diddy Kong racing through a hazard-filled mine, or even Yoshi carrying Baby Mario to rendezvous with his twin brother on the other side of the island. 

As I grew up, I played video games less and less–the responsibilities of adulthood tend to lead to that. But even as I explored other hobbies and interests, I had a recurring dream about an arcade game from my youth–an arcade game that impacted me greatly and influenced me as a designer. Unfortunately, I had absolutely no idea what it was.

I began my quest by Googling everything I could remember about the game: It was a “2D sidescrolling platformer in a warehouse or hotel with an upper and lower level out of which with enemies wearing purple hoods emerge”. Not surprisingly, that search yielded no results. 

So I consulted with my friends. “You’re thinking of TMNT (1989)” one said. So I looked it up–and he was sort of right: the Foot Soldiers do wear purple hoods and the first level takes place in an office building that sort of looks like a hotel–but there isn’t a balcony that you can jump up to. Another of my friends guessed Double Dragon (1987), but there aren’t enemies in hoods–the enemies do come out of doors, but like TMNT there isn’t a balcony. One of them suggested the Simpsons Arcade Game (1991), but since I played that game literally hundreds of times at the skating rink when I was a kid, I was certain that wasn’t it. 

Next, I turned to YouTube. I was fairly certain the level I was thinking of was the first level–if not the only level–and was therefore likely to be featured in the cabinet’s attract mode. I Googled a list of the top-rated beat-em-ups of the 80’s and 90’s and started working my way through them. Unfortunately, my research yielded no results, although I did get to relive some other childhood memories as well as learn about a few games–like Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1993). 

At this point, I started questioning my own memory. Did this game even exist? Was I mashing up elements of different games? Did I dream it up completely? I was almost certain that my local movie theatre had a copy, so I asked my cousin who worked there when I was in elementary school, but he could only remember the original Donkey Kong (1981), the Terminator Arcade Game (1991), and Street Fighter II (1991). 

Eventually, I gave up hope of ever finding it–if it even existed in the first place. Then, in an amazing stroke of luck, I received Arcade 1Up’s Pac-Man Couch-cade for Christmas 2022. While I was making my way through all the built-in games, I loaded up the second to last one…and my jaw almost hit the floor. The game, Rolling Thunder (1986), was the game I had been seeking for over a decade. And, best of all, it was almost exactly like I remembered it: A warehouse with lower and upper sections, enemies in purple hoods emerging from doors in both parts, the player jumping up to the balcony and entering special doors to refill their ammo. 

Finally, after years of searching and, eventually, beginning to question my own memory, I was able to not only confirm that the game does in fact exist, but actually got to play it again. 

…I just wish it wasn’t so damn hard.