Can someone identify this old 80's arcade game "Herpes"?

JohnnyEnzyme, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

“Well, I certainly hope not!”

But seriously, I seem to recall seeing you post just the one screencap on R, to which I responded by running it through TinEye, with sadly no results, but not responding at the time. (so here’s me actually responding, this time)

Fortunately, you’ve published a bunch more info here, and it seems like the video itself answers your question, in which the host/interviewee says “being a bit of a computer buff, I thought I’d cook up a little game, and here it is–.”

So you’re right-- the guy’s directly saying it’s a bespoke game, and he explains it’s directly to the tune of “herpes,” which he felt was taking off in NYC, IIRC.

Maybe the difference here is that I’ve been hearing English accents for decades, whereas perhaps it’s a bit gibberish for you?

lordfrito, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

Yeah I should clarify what I mean by bespoke, as most production games from that era were entirely bespoke (custom hardware designed specifically for the game). I’m trying to discern between “bespoke design from a corporation”, “bespoke design from a small startup” and “bespoke design by some dude in a garage”.

I suspect there’s an interesting story behind this game.

Trying to figure out any info on the game or person(s) who created it. Starting with:

• was this a real coin-op game or fake one (made for the show or say, some hands on herpes educational exhibit etc)?
• what was the hardware? Was it built (as I suspect) on an A8 machine?
• how many were made? did it ever get into production?
• who was behind this? Just one mad programmer in a garage, or his small company hoping to build a bunch of them and get rich etc.

If I had to guess it’s a lone programmer with an idea he figured would make him rich, used the A8 platform and TV to avoid hardware engineering, built a machine or two in a hand-built cabinet, promoted them any way he could, got nowhere, and faded into obscurity.

So many oddities out there. I love the intersection of retro gaming, forgotten prototypes, and obscure media.

JohnnyEnzyme, 10 months ago

I certainly don't see it as a production game, and the designer himself didn't pitch it that way. Then again, this show isn't a straight documentary, containing plenty of scripted material, so who knows?

And note-- I'm a bit of a MAME fan, and have never run in to this one under the name "Herpes," nor seen it on any list.

Also, speaking as someone well-familiar with C64 and Apple ][ graphics from this era, I'd lean towards the graphics looking like an 8-bit Atari's, as you say. Based on the sophistication of the gameplay, I'd guess he wrote this in AtariBasic, then built a little cabinet around the game unit. I suppose me & my high school buddies could have done the same for some of our old 1983 games, given sufficient motivation.

In any case, discounting this is all scripted, I really do get the sense this is just a little social experiment, maybe partly for his own amusement, maybe partly to talk about for the show. The gameplay and concept certainly don't scream to me that he intended to make it big with this game, and his demeanor and way of talking about it don't seem to suggest that, either.

I've looked at the credits for this ep at various places (including the IMDB), and the actors' list seems to cut off after the Ray Davies - Mari Wilson segment, before this guy's starts. Guess you'll have to dig further to figure that out. The total lack of context for his segment certainly doesn't help, but I guess that was the style of the show at that point.