The heroism and bravery were replete in Season 1, and this season
of Stranger Things is no different.
We open Season 2 finding our heroes, amassing quarters for their impending
usage at the local joystick and button parlor whereby local, acne-ridden youth
imbibe in games of chance.
Dustin finds his booty in the living room couch. Lucas brings his hard-earned, lawn mowing
money to the kitty, and Mike takes to his sister’s dresser and raids her piggy
bank.
Will meets the rest of the gang at the arcade (thanks to a ride
from Mom and her Ford Pinto) and is under no obligation to bring money. After all, why bug him for quarters? He has enough on his plate with going in and
out of the Upside-down world.
Inside the Palace Arcade, the gang surrounds Dustin who is at the
helm of a video game. The editors at
Nitflix saw the name on the side and immediately had a flashback.
It brought about of our own days spent riding bikes to Michael’s Red Hots in Highland Park, scarfing down dogs and fries in a matter of seconds
before commandeering Dragon’s Lair, the first-ever fully-animated arcade
game.
We said to ourselves, “We know this game, its characters and the
lost time and money that resulted due to our feeble pursuit of a cartoon
character.”
We fell of our couches in nostalgic ecstasy.
The object of the game was to successfully complete a set of
challenges before attempting to save the smoking-hot Princess Daphne. A thumb’s move of the joystick in the wrong
direction and Dirk the Daring (the hero of Dragon’s Lair) loses a life. After three lost lives, the game is over and
Dirk turns into a skeleton.
The allure to Dragon’s Lair was the challenge of making the
correct move, based on a pre-programmed set of ‘correct’ movements of the
joystick and/or ‘Sword’ button. Unlike
Pac-Man, you couldn’t simply navigate your way out of a corner and elude the
ghost chasing you. Every movement (right,
left, up or down) had to be correct.
Perhaps more importantly, it was also the first arcade game to
cost fifty cents and it took a stockpile of coins to save the Princess. Dustin gives the spot-on comment of the game
being ‘overpriced bullshit’, kicking it while bemoaning its bias towards the human
race, reminding us that our pubescent aspirations of being a ‘Knight in Shining
Armor’, were just aspirations and nothing more.
Cue Max (Sadie Sink), a Princess Daphne in her own right, who
comes to town in the form of red-headed, skateboard-savvy, California girl.
Oh, and she blasted away Dustin’s high score on Dig Dug. Now that’s hot.
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