Avoid missing ball for high score.

(No, really!) (Midway, 2000)

My family used to have a Sears TeleGames IV console. The thing was basically one of Atari's Pong Doubles machines with a different name tag. And I held on to that thing for years! Why? Because - and let's face it, true video game veterans - Pong is fun.

Hasbro did an amazing job of cramming most of the impressive 3-D version of Pong into a Game Boy cartridge. And why not? Even with the fancy graphics, we're still talking about Pong here. But such latter-day additions as the penguins, the jungle level's rollers which can redirect your ball unpredictably (and, speaking as a veteran Pong player, I must say that I hate having my balls redirected unpredictably), and various and sundry power-ups will offer some new challenges.

Though it takes approximately five seconds to make the mental transition from Atari paddles to the Game Boy's joypad, the controls for Pong are smooth and dumbfoundingly simple. Of course, that's thanks to the miracle of modern technology we call Pong - a game with no martial arts chain-starter command sequences (though I'd take one if I could get rid of those damned penguins).

Now you see why a Phosphor Dot Fossil such as myself enjoys this thing so much.

And, of course, there's the Classic Version, which is pure, unadulterated Pong in all of its primitive, black-and-white glory. No attempts at 3-D or stereo. (Why stereo? It's just "Beep! Boop. Beep! Boop.") And the hell of it is, I can sit and play that thing for ages. Just like I did way back when.

Pong's back - don't miss your balls!

Rating:  A whole dollar - trade it in for more quarters, you'll want to play this one again!

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster