Best games of all time
David Merrill
What games do you consider to be "classic," ie, they were games that you
loved when they first came out and you find yourself saying, "Gee, it'd
be really cool if I could find this game somewhere." Alternately, if
you have your very own copy, you still play it years after you first
tried it.
(If you were stranded on a desert island ...)
My picks:
Asteroids
Robotron
Spy Hunter
Star Castle
Tempest
Ninja Warriors (I don't like such games in general, but this one was
such a cool game that I had to include it. Best of
genre, I suppose)
Pac-Man (I never did like the game, but it did cause quite a craze)
Gravitar (What a great game! I only saw an operational one once, though.
I think there was a big problem with the CRT's burning out
or something because you could always see etching in the
phosphor)
Battle Zone
Herzog Zwei (Genesis) -- one of the few original Genesis games I've seen
Tetris -- It seems that everyone has written a port of this game at
least once.
Honorable mention to Space Invaders, which was fun for a long, long time.
dave merrill
dmer...@hpspcoi.hp.com
Synth F. Oberheim
>What games do you consider to be "classic," ie, they were games that you
>loved when they first came out and you find yourself saying, "Gee, it'd
>be really cool if I could find this game somewhere." Alternately, if
>you have your very own copy, you still play it years after you first
>tried it.
My picks:
1. Joust (of course!)
2. Space Ace (great characters & soundtrack)
3. Tempest
4. Tail Gunner
5. Battlezone
6. Super Sprint
Honorable mention goes to _Star Tours_ at Disneyland. (Honorable mention
because distribution for that game is really terrible ... otherwise it would
top the list! :-) )
.:::::. sy...@yenta.alb.nm.us
Michael Portuesi
> Ok folks, how about this:
> What games do you consider to be "classic," ie, they were games that you
> loved when they first came out and you find yourself saying, "Gee, it'd
> be really cool if I could find this game somewhere." Alternately, if
> you have your very own copy, you still play it years after you first
> tried it.
Star Raiders
(in fact, I just picked up a new copy of this game yesterday
for the Atari 400 I bought this past weekend)
M.U.L.E.
Archon
Doubtless there are others, but I have to leave work now.
--M
--
__
\/ Michael Portuesi Silicon Graphics, Inc. port...@sgi.com
"product plus promotion equals profit" -- consolidated
Kevin Quinlan
> Ok folks, how about this:
>
> What games do you consider to be "classic," ie, they were games that you
> loved when they first came out and you find yourself saying, "Gee, it'd
> be really cool if I could find this game somewhere." Alternately, if
> you have your very own copy, you still play it years after you first
> tried it.
>
> (If you were stranded on a desert island ...)
> dave merrill
> dmer...@hpspcoi.hp.com
Here are my top 10 classic video games (in no particular order):
1. Tempest (could've bought ten of 'em figuring this one out!)
2. Gravitar (have one at home and still play often)
3. Asteroids (my first video addiction)
4. Star Wars (repetitious yet still challenging)
5. Star Rider (amazing 3-D laser disc animation)
6. Battlezone (just love those vector graphics machines!!)
7. Hard Drivin (Relatively new game destined to be a classic)
8. Zaxxon (another quarter burner (for me, anyways))
9. Pole Position (won a contest on this machine back in high school)
10. Stun Runner (played this for the first time last week... Wow!!)
Hope my desert island has a power generator on it !! :^)
KQ
--
Kevin Quinlan
Research Engineer
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
INTERNET: qui...@spsd4330a.erim.org
Steve Baumgarten
> Here are my top 10 classic video games (in no particular order):
>
> * 2. Gravitar (have one at home and still play often)
> * 3. Asteroids (my first video addiction)
> * 4. Star Wars (repetitious yet still challenging)
> 5. Star Rider (amazing 3-D laser disc animation)
> 7. Hard Drivin (Relatively new game destined to be a classic)
> 8. Zaxxon (another quarter burner (for me, anyways))
> 9. Pole Position (won a contest on this machine back in high school)
> 10. Stun Runner (played this for the first time last week... Wow!!)
Let's make part of this easy and nominate every vector graphics arcade
game ever made. Really! I wouldn't disagree with the 5 mentioned in
the above top 10, but why leave out such classics as Rip Off and Major
Havoc?
Besides, it'll give the folks from Atari Games a kick, since they were
responsible for about 90% of them.
Hell, I'd even vote for Black Widow, even though it was responsible
for converting all those Gravitar machines into oblivion... :-(
(P.S. Why on Earth hasn't anyone mentioned Missile Command?)
--
Steve Baumgarten | "New York... when civilization falls apart,
Davis Polk & Wardwell | remember, we were way ahead of you."
baum...@esquire.dpw.com |
cmcl2!esquire!baumgart | - David Letterman
Matthew S. Walsh
-Star Fire (Exidy) shoot tie fighters. Way ahead of its time
-Turbo(Sega)
-Frogger(Sega)
-Galaga(Namco)
-Gyruss(Centuri) Great music
-Space Invaders (taito) Still enjoy this game
-Robotron (Williams) fast and furious
-Road Blasters (Atari) is there an end to this game!
-Hard Drivin' (Atari) if only there was SPY HUNTER Drivin'!
-Arch Rivals (Midway)
-Speed Freak (Cinematronics) rare and truly great vector game
-Cabal (fabtek) too bad it never caught on
-Mad Planets (Gottlieb)
-Pack Rat (Atari) Wish I could find another one - they're all gone!
-Dodge 'Em (atari 2600)
-A Boy and His Blob (Absoulte Entertainment)\
-Lolo (Hal)
-Dropzone( atari 400/800)
-Gorf (Midway) nice graphics and fast paced
-Vanguard (Centuri) most influential video game in history
-Sinistar (Williams)
Matthew Walsh::217-398-8593:205 E. Clark suite 204:Champaign Il 61820
wal...@clutx.clarkson.edu::Dynamic Entertaining Mechanical Systems, inc
And if they catch you in the back seat trying to pick her locks,
They're gonna send you back to mother in a cardboard box!
Larry DeMar
>>>>>> On 21 Sep 90 01:06:38 GMT, dmer...@hpspcoi.HP.COM (David Merrill) said:
>
>
>
>Doubtless there are others, but I have to leave work now.
>
> --M
M.U.L.E......What a great old game! I remember many long hours
playing this one. A group of people where I worked blew the
dust off the old disk, and had a Mule party last month.
This game is long over-due for conversion to popular computers
of today (who knows how long that old 800 is going to keep
running).
-Led
Robert allen Jung
1. Tournament Cyberball -- I _love_ multiplayer head-to-heads,
and the sci-fi concepts give this game a terrific twist.
2. Asteroids -- Short, simple, sweet, and oh-so-challenging.
3. Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man/Junior Pac-Man -- Any one of these,
really, but if I had to pick one, it'd be Junior. I like
a few twists throw in a game.
4. Star Wars -- Why did we ever stop making color vector games?
And if I can break the "arcade video games" thread, I'd like to add
5. High Speed (Williams pinball) -- My first major pinball
fix. I still love it, though BLACK KNIGHT 2000 comes
real close.
6. Blue Lightning (Lynx) -- Afterburner, but much more
playable. I just wish there were even more levels
(or a sequel, even).
--R.J.
B-)
P.S. So where's the rec.games.pinball vote already???
//////////////////////////////////////|\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Send whatevers to rj...@nunki.usc.edu | If it has pixels, I'm for it.
--------------------------------------+----------------------------Lynx me up!
"You weren't chosen because you're the best pilot in the Air Force. You were
chosen because you're the class clown and frankly, you're expendable."
Howard Chu
> 4. Star Wars -- Why did we ever stop making color vector games?
Probably because raster-based systems were finally getting better resolutions,
and vector-style hardware is a little less reliable... Back when games like
Star Wars were new, vector graphics was also the hot thing in CAD and other
such fields, just because of the greater resolutions that could be achieved.
But as things progressed, folks got tired of looking at wire-frame drawings,
and one thing led to another... I'd be quite shocked to see any new vector
games being introduced. (But you must admit, it was head and shoulders above
raster technology way back when. Compare SpaceWars to Space Invaders, for
example....)
--
-- Howard Chu @ University of Michigan
one million data bits stored on a chip, one million bits per chip
if one of those data bits happens to flip,
one million data bits stored on the chip...
Pete Ashdown
>Ok folks, how about this:
>What games do you consider to be "classic," ie, they were games that you
>loved when they first came out and you find yourself saying, "Gee, it'd
>be really cool if I could find this game somewhere." Alternately, if
>you have your very own copy, you still play it years after you first
>tried it.
>(If you were stranded on a desert island ...)
Arcade:
1. I Robot : The cult classic from Atari. I've seen two machines in
my entire life. This was mainly because the Color Computer from Tandy used
the same processor and Tandy hogged the market (correct me if I am wrong).
BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL 3-D solid graphics. Just blew me away when I first saw
it (1984). I saw it again in 1988 and was still in love. Great game play
too. If ANYONE knows where I can purchase one of these babies, I will be
in your debt forever.
2. Sinistar : "I HUNGER!!" Wonderful fun. I plunked a ton of money
in this and never got past the third level. I found one for sale for $300
recently, soon it will be all mine.
Home:
1. Bilestoad : An Apple II game. Still as much fun as it originally
was. Even though the graphics are cruddy in comparison to today's games,
nobody has had the 'guts' to make anything near as bloody. Someday...
Someday... I'll write my sequel for the Amiga.
2. Speedball : Fantastic two player game. The best game I have bought
or played on my Amiga.
3. Populous : I'll really miss this when I get my 3000. Lets hope
someone either fixes it or the sequel will be compatible.
--
/ (Rotate head 90 degrees for full effect)
| BUNGEEEEEEEE!
|---------------------------------------------------------------------->=<o
\ Pete Ashdown pashdown@esunix ...utah-cs!esunix!pashdown
Jeff Kochosky
1) Tempest - truly the ultimate vector graphics game ever made, and one of the
best of any kind (Still looking for someone to put one up for
sale... hint, hint)
2) Crazy Climber - the most original game I've seen... 'nuff said.
3) Star Castle - (notice the proliferation of vector graphics games in this
thread?) A challenge every time you play it.
4) Mappy - love to see that mouse in the policeman's suit, and the soundwave
doors...
5) Race Drivin' - Move over, Hard Drivin'; the Super Stunt Track has the
original by a mile... so many new, and more exciting, ways to
fall down and go BOOM! (I liked the suggestion of combining
H/R D and Spy Hunter... I could stand to put twin .050's on
the hood of that sporster...)
6) Double Dragon - Where else can you get away with throwing knives, swinging
baseball bats, and chucking dynamite, other than New Jersey?
The best part is finishing the game with 2 people... 'But,
I thought we were working on this together, Fred... *WHOMP*'
7) Power Drift - Only under the condition that it's the sit-down version of the
game. Although it's always the same, half of the fun is having
your character flip off other cars when you pass them...
8) Discs of Tron - Well, it is a list of *MY* favorite games, isn't it? I never
could quite get the hang of the up/down throwing, though.
9) Miner 2049'er - The only non-arcade game on my list, for a reason... The
game is simple, the graphics are simple, the sound is
simple, but watching your man squish when he falls too far
is just too damn funny...
10) Marble Madness - Another original game, and an excellent one at that...
I'd love to see someone make a sequel that uses a first
person perspective (Oh yeah... Marble Madness meets Hard
Drivin'... where do I place my order? I'll take 50...)
Ed Rotberg
Gee, what a fascinating topic. I guess I have to list my favorites...
1) Space Invaders - The first game that "hooked me"
2) Space War - A true "classic" in every sense of the word.
3) Asteroids - The ultimate pulse pounder...
4) Atari Football - First game to make me work up a sweat!
5) Joust - Great concept, inovative as hell, great execution.
6) Cyberball (Tournament) - my current addiction. I pray to it daily.
7) Missle Command - The stuff nightmares are made of.
8) Rip-Off - Another truly inovative game.
9) Tetris - The best "puzzle" game to date.
10) Warlords - Don't know how many of you ever saw this one, but it was really
only good in a four player game. However, as a four player game it had
EVERYTHING going for it.
Of course my opinions are somewhat slanted from the point of view of an
arcade game designer. No offense intended here to Gene Jarvis who is, IMHO
still one of the top 5 game designers of all times. I just never could
play any of his games very well...
I also left off any games that I worked on, just because...
But thanks to all of you who mentioned Battle Zone, and especially to Kevin
Quinlan who list both Battle Zone and S.T.U.N. Runner, and is at my alma
mater besides. GO BLUE!!
- Ed Rotberg -
- Atari Games -
Kevin Quinlan
> I also left off any games that I worked on, just because...
>
> But thanks to all of you who mentioned Battle Zone, and especially to Kevin
> Quinlan who list both Battle Zone and S.T.U.N. Runner, and is at my alma
> mater besides. GO BLUE!!
>
> - Ed Rotberg -
> - Atari Games -
You're welcome...
Am I correct in assuming you had something to do with the design of
Battlezone and/or S.T.U.N. Runner? I'm extremely interested to know
what its like to work at Atari games, since I've always dreamed of
doing so ever since I became a video junkie many moons ago. I used to
work at a software company that designed computer games, so I'm
familiar with the level of intensity it takes to put out such a product.
Meechigan - 1990 Big Ten Champs (early prediction)
See ya!!
KQ
Martin Mahan
How come I haven't seen very many people list Cyberball or Cyberball II as
their most favorite games? These two are the best head to head games ever
created. The thrill of competition, the simulated pain of a grueling
outside linebacker hit on a wide receiver. The determination, the
clashing of metal, the chance to 'face' your opponent and talk 'macho'
about their mother. Come on guys, is there really a better game?
All you're giving us is your sentimental picks. Lets quit talking
turkey and start talking true bad-ass technology.
Lets look at some other of YOUR favorites:
My view:
Hard Drivin' : okay, but trash.
Smash TV : cool, but expensive.
Tempest : your first decent pick.
Mappy : total time wasting trash.
Double Dragon : as much excitement as a root canal.
Star Castle : 8-bit trash.
Discs of Tron : should have quit at the movie.
Marble Madness : decent.
Battle Zone : stick drawings, but decent.
Stun Runner : might as well throw the quarter on the floor.
Asteroids : please.
Space invaders : left, shoot, right, shoot, drop, dead.
Star Wars : repetitive.
Pac-Man saga : connect the dots.
High Speed (pb): cool.
Frooger : hard up for something to do?
Galaga : (check space invaders info.)
Robotron : good beginning for Smash TV.
Vanguard : eh.
Arch Rivals : amazing how they can make 16-bit look like 8-bit.
Gravitar : wow.
Zaxxon : bad chip specifics on many locations.
Pole Position : Go fast... crash. Go fast... game over.
Kangaroo : you've got to be kidding.
Kaboom : exactly.
Vanguard 2 : you can't polish a turd.
Crazy Climber : decent, only because of original concept.
There are many others that have been listed, but you people forget what
we are talking about. Best games, not Best sentimental games. Lets see
some more votes for the true champion please.....: Cyberball!!!!!!!
Ian Farquhar
Agreed, and about the only arcade game of the time that was not cloned
to death. The interesting thing is that I can't figure out why this
copying of such a brilliant game never happenned.,,
>Of course my opinions are somewhat slanted from the point of view of an
>arcade game designer. No offense intended here to Gene Jarvis who is, IMHO
>still one of the top 5 game designers of all times. I just never could
>play any of his games very well...
Who are the others? There has been an interesting thread running in
alt.folklore.computers about easter eggs in programs, particularly those
from the "other" Atari (easter eggs, for those who don't know, are
hidden and undocumented features usually used to hide a programmer's
name in the program when the company won't allow them to take the
credit. The best one at the moment, IMUHO, is in Word for Windows
v1.0 ).
Anyway, I notice that there are few programmer or engineering credits in
arcade games. Has this lead to many hidden traps, cheats or eggs in
games. I can't say that I've ever come across any.
>But thanks to all of you who mentioned Battle Zone, and especially to Kevin
>Quinlan who list both Battle Zone and S.T.U.N. Runner, and is at my alma
>mater besides. GO BLUE!!
Ah, Battle Zone. One of the absolute classic arcade machines. I'm
still trying to get a second hand one, but they are snapped up very fast
no matter what their condition.
Has Atari ever considered BZ II? I know of the controversy surrounding
Army Battlezone (which was reported in IEEE Spectrum, if my memory
serves correctly). With the current hardware that Atari is using in
Hard Driving (multiple 34010's etc), BZ II could be awesome. Certainly,
it would be more powerful than the old 6502 and the AMD bit slice chip!
--
Ian Farquhar Phone : 61 2 805-9403
Office of Computing Services Fax : 61 2 805-7433
Macquarie University NSW 2109 Also : 61 2 805-7205
Australia EMail : ifar...@suna.mqcc.mq.oz.au
Ken Kubey
>
[Comments about Cyberball the greatest game of all time deleted]
>Lets look at some other of YOUR favorites:
>My view:
[trashing of a bunch of people favorites deleted]
> Asteroids : please.
This is my personal favorite. The control of the ship is perfect,
the game play is intense, but not overwhelming. And I can still play
this poor old decrepid, low-tech, 11 year old game and have friends
comment on a perfectly aimed wrar-around shot or game-saving hyperspace.
> Space invaders : left, shoot, right, shoot, drop, dead.
Another great game. Remeber being on the count? 23, 15, 15...
Remeber that great feeling the fist time you made it to the second rack?
This is also the game that led the video game invasion of pinball arcades.
> Pac-Man saga : connect the dots.
Not one of my favorites, but it got women into video games, led to a
TV cartoon show and a breakfast cereal (the first video game to do so).
It was (and is still) a very popular game.
> Robotron : good beginning for Smash TV.
Another all time great.
[more trashing of a bunch of people favorites deleted]
[More comments about Cyberball the greatest game of all time deleted]
Just because you don't like a game (or aren't good at a game) doesn't
mean it can't be the best of all time.
Ken Kubey ke...@mips.com
Steve Baumgarten
>Anyway, I notice that there are few programmer or engineering credits in
>arcade games. Has this lead to many hidden traps, cheats or eggs in
>games. I can't say that I've ever come across any.
Williams gives their designers credit these days. Play all the way to
the end of Smash TV and you get a 30 second scrolling list of everyone
on the Smash TV design team.
It used to be that companies would fear that their programmers would
be lured away by other companies if their names were revealed, but I
guess that's not such a problem any more. Remember when all we knew
about the brilliant minds behind Defender, Stargate, Robotron, etc.,
was that they called themselves "Vid Kidz"? Now Eugene Jarvis gets
his name in the Smash TV list right along with another dozen or so
programmers and game designers.
Pinball, on the other hand, has been giving designers credit for a
long time now (look near the flippers or side drains for the names).
Ed Rotberg
>
> Am I correct in assuming you had something to do with the design of
> Battlezone and/or S.T.U.N. Runner? I'm extremely interested to know
> what its like to work at Atari games, since I've always dreamed of
> doing so ever since I became a video junkie many moons ago.
Ya, I programmed/designed BattleZone, and was the Project Leader/Game Designer/
and lead programmer for S.T.U.N. Runner.
As to working here -- well, I've been at it a while now so what I say might
seem a bit jaded. After all, its not just playing games. You have to be
creative and not just be a pair of hands for someone else. You have to
think about how to have fun, and then try to capture that. You really have
to know your technical stuff becuase we are usually trying to squeeze the
most out of every resource that our hardware has to offer. You work with
a whole bunch of talented people who are even more creative than you are, and
then there are the endless hours of playing games...
It's a tough job, but I guess somebody has got to do it.
- Ed ;-)
Clown on fire
>How come I haven't seen very many people list Cyberball or Cyberball II as
>their most favorite games? These two are the best head to head games ever
>All you're giving us is your sentimental picks. Lets quit talking
>turkey and start talking true bad-ass technology.
>
>Lets look at some other of YOUR favorites:
>There are many others that have been listed, but you people forget what
>we are talking about. Best games, not Best sentimental games. Lets see
>some more votes for the true champion please.....: Cyberball!!!!!!!
Now normally I am a calm and collected person (anyone who plays Paranoia with
me shut up...as in you Video-G 8-), but this breaks me out of my stupor.
You said it yourself: "Best games, not Best sentimental games". A game does
not have to be new to be "best". As a matter of fact, I'd tend to say the
opposite is more true. An overwhelming percentage of the games coming out
today are flash graphics and no playability. Even your deity Cyberball is
just the old X's and O's football game with a couple of extra features. Same
game, more expensive, my opinion. I can't say I'm the expert on what makes a
Best Game, but I base my favorites on the staying power of the entertainment.
I'm not defending any particular game here, and I'm not saying that flashy
graphics are detrimental. I'm saying that we've got bunches of people giving
their opinions about a topic that there are different interpretations about.
So you can have the opinion that Cyberball is the end-all of games. You're
entitled. But don't declare that the people who disagree with you are a bunch
of mindless jerks (HHGTG).
Oh, and my two cents on the fav games (in no particular order):
Space Wars Battlezone Tempest
Discs of Tron Marble Madness Hard Drivin' (haven't seen Race yet)
I, Robot Food Fight Reactor
Honorable mention:
Star Rider Dragon's Lair Crazy Climber
Block-Out Bosconian
--Ian Novack (Stupendous Man)------------...@lerch.jpl.nasa.gov------
| "Big Brother is on vacation...watch yourself Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| for a while!" -- Ziggy, 08/30/90 Pasadena, CA |
-------Disclaimer: Reality is an opinion, not a fact.--------------------------
Eric Hsiao
be so great.
Bosconian - You're a little fighter ship that goes around and shoots at
enemy space stations. You need to try and fire right in the
center to destroy it. The space stations launch ships at you.
Atari Force - (I think that was the name) Like Missile Command in that you
use a trackball to maneuver a cursor around the screen and
destroy incoming missiles aimed at your ships located on the
4 corners of the screen. You destroy glowing rectangles which
represent bases on the planet.
Astro Blaster - Standard shoot em up
Astro Fighter - (Not sure about this name) You shoot at ships, but you have
a warp button that slows down all the enemies movements. At
the after the meteor shower, you dock with your mother ship.
Eagle - You're a 3 part ship. You little part launches..it that gets destroyed
your second part goes into action (which has 2 lasers)..if you survive
you can dock your second part with your third and get a 4 laser firing
ship.
Crossbow - aim the crossbow to protect your human friends from the attacks by
the ghosts and monsters in the town, the wildlife in the desert and
jungle, and you'll eventually end up at the castle where archers
shoot at you.
Satan's Hollow - Try and build a bridge across the moat and destroy the mother
beast for big points. Other features include: a 15 second
regenerable shield, a "Tron" type joystick, and good graphics
and animation.
Bomb Jack - Collect the bombs, while avoid meanies. Variety of backgrounds
change as you go up in level. Good music.
Turtle - Some maze game where you have to go over question marks to find your
baby turtle.
Well, that's all I remember for now. Keep bringing in those old memories
of video games. They really bring back the good old days...
(When Video Games had ORIGINAL themes - none of this Double Dragon clone crap
that pervades the arcades today)
Eric
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Jack L Forester,,2933607,6526712
1 - 10 Tempest
We bought one from an arcade about four years ago for $200 (that is not a
typo) It got plenty of play for about 6 months before something went
wrong with the video. My dad put it in his restaurant and it used to piss
him off something awful when I'd leave all those free games on it because of
the bug in the program. I had my own key to the coin box, too.
Now I can play my favorite game again since the arcade at the new mall has
one. I wonder if they are interested in selling...
--
Jack Forester, Jr. * Disclaimer: My opinions are mine and mine *
j...@a.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu * alone! I don't share my opinions *
West Virginia University * with anyone! :-) *
Dept. of Computer Science * *
jeffrey scott miller
type of hardware (and possible languages) are used in the development
of games like STUN RUNNER, BattleZone, et al?
Im sure this would be of interest to all of us.
Thanks
Jeff
Mark Phaedrus
>
>How come I haven't seen very many people list Cyberball or Cyberball II as
>their most favorite games? These two are the best head to head games ever
>created. The thrill of competition, the simulated pain of a grueling
>outside linebacker hit on a wide receiver. The determination, the
>clashing of metal, the chance to 'face' your opponent and talk 'macho'
>about their mother. Come on guys, is there really a better game?
>All you're giving us is your sentimental picks. Lets quit talking
>turkey and start talking true bad-ass technology.
Methinks you may have missed the title. We're talking about the best
games of *all time* here, not the best games of 1990. The technology in the
Cyberball unit was just not available when Marble Madness and Asteroids and
all those other greats were put together. (Can you imagine how good those
games would have been if it *was* available? An actual new concept in a
state-of-the-art 1990 box? The mind boggles...)
I will admit that Cyberball's a very good game, but it's not the #1 game
of all time; I wouldn't even call it the #1 game of 1989 (or Tournament
Cyberball the #1 game of '90), for one simple reason: it's a quarter-sucker
extraordinaire. No matter how good the players, I've yet to see anyone make a
Cyberball period last more than three real-time minutes... for four people
playing, that works out to *$20 per hour*. Stun Runner, which you mentioned
as a "might-as-well-throw-the-quarter-on-the-floor" type of game, isn't nearly
as bad; I've never cracked the high score board on SR, but I can still make a
quarter last till halftime of the local Cyberball jocks' games. (Tournament CB
is even worse; if everyone takes it up on the "special offers", they're forking
out $33 per hour!)
As a matter of personal preference, I also dislike the play-selection
scheme. For one thing, new players use up half their game time on the
selection screen. For another, the machine brags about the three gazillion
plays available on offense, but you only get to choose from four of them (three
if it's harassing you about a smoking player). About the fourth time I got
stuck in a critical-ball situation with four plays that I *knew* would never
work against my opponent, when I knew exactly the play I wanted to call but
couldn't because it wasn't on the d*** list, I gave up and went back to
Whirlwind. If I'm going to spend $5 per hour on a football game, I expect to
choose my own plays, thank you very much...
>
>Lets look at some other of YOUR favorites:
It's time for Siskel & Ebert At the Arcade... :)
>My view:
> Hard Drivin' : okay, but trash.
Worth a mention for the great tactile effects alone. Cyberball doesn't
kick your hands off the controls when you get tackled... Race Drivin' has
a lot more interesting course, though.
> Smash TV : cool, but expensive.
Agreed... even worse than Cyberball, unless you're really good at it.
> Tempest : your first decent pick.
We all agree on something. Alert the press. :)
> Mappy : total time wasting trash.
Maybe so... but it's been at least three years since I last saw one, and
I can still hum every musical score and sound effect to myself. Interesting
play action too.
> Double Dragon : as much excitement as a root canal.
Double Dragon was okay when it came out. It's the three zillion martial
arts games that followed it that have made the whole genre (including Double
Dragon) ho-hum.
> Star Castle : 8-bit trash.
Quite good for its time. (There weren't 16-bit games at its time, you
know.) Not excellent, though.
> Discs of Tron : should have quit at the movie.
The sound in the sit-down version was pretty good. Not excellent, though.
> Marble Madness : decent.
Again, the background music made the game. I'm still waiting for a decent
computer version of this. (I've always liked trackball games too... gives you
much more of a feeling of control. Besides, you can play and exercise at the
same time. :)
> Battle Zone : stick drawings, but decent.
I'm usually fond of vector graphics games, but I never really liked this
one much. Not sure why.
> Stun Runner : might as well throw the quarter on the floor.
The graphics and sound are great, the feel of the controls is top-notch
(once you get used to the "reverse" control scheme)
> Asteroids : please.
Thank you. One of the first games to really give you the feel of an
actual world inside the box; the inertia of your ship, the way the rocks
fragmented differently when you hit them at different angles, and so on.
Besides, any game that lets you play forever can't be all bad.
> Space invaders : left, shoot, right, shoot, drop, dead.
Obviously, the Japanese agreed with you. They were so bored they shoved
every coin in the nation into the slots to relieve the monotony. :) You can't
argue with the game that started the whole bloody thing.
> Pac-Man saga : connect the dots.
Again, by today's standards it wouldn't make it, but at its time it was
a cultural phenomenon. A mediocre game doesn't get that many sequels (which
were still being put out until not much more than a year ago; do you honestly
think that Cyberball sequels will be coming out eight or ten years from now?)
> High Speed (pb): cool.
Ah, pinball... now we're onto something! I've yet to see a Williams pin
that wasn't at least likable; Space Station, High Speed, Elvira, Taxi, and
Whirlwind have all been particularly good (and I've yet to see the new ones
out since Whirlwind).
> Frooger : hard up for something to do?
Again, good for its time, but probably not the best.
> Galaga : (check space invaders info.)
Galaga probably deserves to make the list, if for no other reason than
being one of the first games to use bonus stages and combination ships.
Graphics and sound were pretty good too. Galaga '90 is a kick.
> Robotron : good beginning for Smash TV.
A technological tour de force for its time; I've still yet to see a game
that handled that many independently-moving objects as well or as convincingly
(Smash TV is good, but the color choices tend to smear together; Robotronhas
more visual clarity. Besides, a mortal can actually play Robotron for more
than two minutes on a quarter. :) )
> Vanguard : eh.
Haven't played this one.
> Arch Rivals : amazing how they can make 16-bit look like 8-bit.
The combination of cutesy play and violence doesn't work too well for me.
> Gravitar : wow.
This is one of those games that I still can't look at objectively because
I was never any good at it. :) Based on the number of people scrounging around
the country for Gravitar boards, though, it must have had something going for
it.
> Zaxxon : bad chip specifics on many locations.
The diagonal perspective didn't work well for me. I'd love to see
something like this in a convincing first-person 3D.
> Pole Position : Go fast... crash. Go fast... game over.
Tell me, are there any driving games that you actually *like*? Pole
Position started the driving
> Kangaroo : you've got to be kidding.
Cute and fun to play. Not great, but cute and fun to play.
> Kaboom : exactly.
As a game, it falls somewhere between good and excellent. But to make
a good-to-excellent game come out of an Atari 2600 is awe-inspiring. (Like
most Activision games, though, it's closed-ended; it stopped being fun once I
could get to 999999 points all the time.)
> Vanguard 2 : you can't polish a turd.
Haven't played it.
> Crazy Climber : decent, only because of original concept.
Original concepts are what it's all about, man... Not only is this an
original concept, it's an original concept that, to the best of my knowledge,
has never been duplicated. (Quick... someone call Namco! :)
>
>There are many others that have been listed, but you people forget what
>we are talking about. Best games, not Best sentimental games. Lets see
>some more votes for the true champion please.....: Cyberball!!!!!!!
When everyone but you "forgets what we are talking about," you're the
one who's off-topic...
--
Internet: phae...@u.washington.edu (University of Washington, Seattle)
The views expressed here are not those of this station or its management.
"If you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs,
consider an exciting career as a guillotine operator!"
Michael Kingdom
Ditto.
>>But thanks to all of you who mentioned Battle Zone, and especially to Kevin
>>Quinlan who list both Battle Zone and S.T.U.N. Runner, and is at my alma
>>mater besides. GO BLUE!!
>
>Ah, Battle Zone. One of the absolute classic arcade machines. I'm
>still trying to get a second hand one, but they are snapped up very fast
>no matter what their condition.
Exactly why I have a version for my un*x workstation! :-)
>Has Atari ever considered BZ II? I know of the controversy surrounding
>Army Battlezone (which was reported in IEEE Spectrum, if my memory
>serves correctly). With the current hardware that Atari is using in
>Hard Driving (multiple 34010's etc), BZ II could be awesome. Certainly,
>it would be more powerful than the old 6502 and the AMD bit slice chip!
I'd love to see this too.
For classics, how about games like
Bosconian
Donkey Kong
-- Mike
Ed Rotberg
> Assuming it's not proprietary information, could you describe what
> type of hardware (and possible languages) are used in the development
> of games like STUN RUNNER, BattleZone, et al?
BattleZone circa 1980
3 Processor System:
6502 - Main game logic processor and overall controlling processor.
4-2901 Bit Slice processore - Matrix/prespective math processor.
Custom Vector Generator processor - Video display.
The 6502 was programmed entirely in assembly language. The 2901 entirely in
micor-code, and the Vector Generator programmed on the fly in its native
code.
S.T.U.N. Runner circa 1989
4 Processor System:
68010 - Main game logic processor and overall controlling processor.
AMD 2100 - DSP -3D Math proc. (matrix, perspective & poly sorting)
TI 34010 - GSP - Graphics proc (poly fills, blits, & fonts...)
6502 - Audio processor - also controls OKI & Yamaha sound chips.
All the processors (except the 6502) were programmed in a comination of C
and native (assembler) code. THe 6502 was programmed entirely in asm.
Ed Rotberg
> 1. I Robot : The cult classic from Atari. I've seen two machines in
> my entire life. This was mainly because the Color Computer from Tandy used
> the same processor and Tandy hogged the market (correct me if I am wrong).
Ok Pete, consider yourself corrected - You're VERY wrong!
John Kochmar
Fist the disclaimer: these are *my* favorite games of all time, and I tend to
like sappy games that aren't of the ninja/street-punk kill-as-many-bad-dudes-
as-you-can-before-you-die variety. I also like games that require thought
without stupid-tricks-that-you-could-never-figure-out-on-you-own-without-a-
stupid-magazine-from-the-developers! (Can you say, most Nintendo games? I
knew you could! :^)
Pengo: My all-time favorite -- I especially liked the perguin
kick-lines at intermission! And how many games featured
classical music in the background...
Venture: My after-exam vent-agression game.
Make Trax: I wish this one was still around!
Star Castle: I thought this asteriods variant was pretty good, and I
loved the explosion at the end
Q'Bert: better when the cabinet had the side-knockers (that made it
sound like the little guy was actually hitting the side of the
machine when he fell ;^)
Battlezone:
Zaxxon:
Missle Command: Games I just enjoyed playing a lot
Robby Roto: Mr. Roto Rooter meets Mr. Troll. Big time fun (some
strategy was actually involved to get the big score)
Mr. Do: I especially liked the ball action (I never much liked the
sequel, though.)
<Vector-graphics duel-knight game>: Sorry, I don't remember the name,
but 2 knights battled around a bottomless pit. Me and a friend
became real good, and would quite often run out the battle
clock without killing each other -- intense battles.
Qix: another game that required some amount of planning and strategy.
Berzerk: my favorite carnage game.
Robotron: my second favorite carnage game
Operation Wolf: My only modern carnage game -- I like the action of the
gun a lot (it is easily controlable and predictable)
<Drive-a-hook-and-ladder-through-town>: Just a good-time game --
especially when two people were playing, and they couldn't
decide what direction to go at an intersection ;^)
Frogger: Okay, maybe I'm just weird!
I really wish someone would put out some of these games for *any* of the home
systems (a pengo machine is about $500.00, and I haven't bought one only
because
I don't have room in my apartment for it. -- I'd buy any system that catered to
some of the older games for those of us *old timers*, but then, I guess I'm
weird ;^)
John
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| John Kochmar |
| SEI Computing Facilities |
| koc...@sei.cmu.edu "You are a pain, Dirk." |
| "I am a cat, High Lord." |
Matthew E Cross
What about Hard Drivin? This is a really cool game - how is the steering
feedback handled? I saw the 'setup' screen for this once (which showed
the raw numbers for each input - steering / steeering feedback / brake
pressure / etc.) Any info you can give us enquiring minds?
--
+----------------------------------------------------+------------------------+
| "The letter U has a lot of uses ... | prof...@wpi.wpi.edu |
| I like to play it like a guitar!" | - REALLY - |
| -Sesame Street | Matt Cross |
Jeff Turner
> Star Castle : 8-bit trash.
Actually, Star Castle, as with all the Cinematronics games I have seen, doesn't
even have a CPU (*Central* Processing Unit :-). The processor is made up of
TTL parts and a couple of PROMs containing micro-code/sequencing information.
I don't have schematics with me, but I seem to remember some 12-bit items (like
vector addresses perhaps). So, at least part of the machine is 12-bit.
If for no other reason than effort, most Cinematronics games (Space War!,
Ripoff, etc.) are on my "Best of" list, and in my basement. :-)
> Gravitar : wow.
I agree! Assuming of course, you meant "WOW!" and not "wow." In fact,
early this morning I finished converting my Gravitar CPU board to work
in my Spade Dual box (I cut and moved traces to make it compatible with
the existing wiring harness). I had forgotten how much fun it was!
I have found that games I like are not necessarily the games I played a lot.
As a friend of mine said (as we played into the night/morning), "these games
(like StarTrek) are a lot more fun when they are free!"
Personally, I like the older and more innovative games. I own one
raster box (that runs Joust, Defender, StarGate, Robotron, and whatever else
I down load into it), and have a number of vector games, including two color
vector units. It is the older innovative and creative games that really
pushed technology (both software and hardware) that have a special appeal.
Hard Driving
This is the first original game I have seen in a long time (my friends and
I had nearly given up going to arcades). Not only is it original, it pushes
technology (both video game HW and SW)and is a heck of a lot of fun to play.
Now if only it didn't cost so much (about 10-12k for the sit down version).
There is my 2 cents worth.
-Jeff
--
---
Jeff Turner Minnesota Supercomputer Center, Inc.
(612) 626-0544 1200 Washington Avenue South
je...@uh.msc.umn.edu Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415
---
Jeff Turner Minnesota Supercomputer Center, Inc.
(612) 626-0544 1200 Washington Avenue South
je...@uh.msc.umn.edu Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415
Martin Mahan
I can't believe I stirred up so much controversy over a small little
listing of games with my opinions next to them. I must say that some
of the responses to my thoughts on these games were truly funny. You
guys do have a sense of humor after all -- but a touchy sense.
Some remarks to MY remarks...
Ian Novack (Stupendous Man) writes...
> So you can have the opinion that Cyberball is the end-all of games. You're
> entitled. But don't declare that the people who disagree with you are
a bunch
> of mindless jerks (HHGTG).
^^^^^ <-- should I know what this is?
Funny, I didn't pick anyone out personally and DECLARE them mindless. Lets
not twist my words now Ian.
> Now normally I am a calm and collected person (anyone who plays Paranoia with
> me shut up...as in you Video-G 8-), but this breaks me out of my stupor.
Wooouuu, take it easy Ian, you're scaring us.
--------------------
Ken Kubey writes...
> Just because you don't like a game (or aren't good at a game) doesn't
> mean it can't be the best of all time.
True. I'm sorry that you didn't agree with my outlook on those games Ken.
Atleast we agree on one thing: we're all entitled to our opinions.
--------------------
Mark Phaedrus writes....
> Cyberball sucks. (more or less, that's what he said.)
Well, uh...mmmmm....well, uh....yeah Mark.
> When everyone but you "forgets what we are talking about," you're the
> one who's off-topic...
Well stated Mark. But incorrect. Take a seat.
I must say Mark, you felt very strongly about some of these games. Could
it be I struck a nerve. Sorry, my comments were meant to amuse, not to
take any sleep away.
Out of the responses I read, yours was the most amusing though. You did
state some points that I didn't mention. But that doesn't matter because I
didn't agree with any of them.
--------------------
Now that we have all that out of the way, let me finish my list. I was
interrupted before and had to cut it short. So here goes.
More of your favorites:
Defender : no, I don't really think so.
Dragon's Lair : talk about predictable; stop and go.
Toobin' : eh, average.
Buster Brothers : sub average.
Pinbot (pb) : decent.
Galaxian : cough, cough.
Phoenix : pull the plug.
Missile Command : good arcade, sucky atari.
Double Dragon 2 : trying to polish another turd.
Klax : truly boring.
Red Baron : a good game (shocked?).
Tailgunner : cheap copy.
Space War : you've got to be joking.
Gorf : should have named it BARF.
Targ : trashy time waster.
Elevator Action : I'd be embarassed to mention it.
Venture : I thought we were discussing good games.
Joust : a yoke of a game.
Food Fight : classic trash. Surprised anyone remembers it.
Assault : good action.
Rambo : worse than his last movie.
SimCity : Truly an AWESOME day blower. Go Godzilla.
Golden Axe : garbage.
Centipede : (I've gone totally blank).
Millipede : better than it's predecessor -- barely.
Omega Race : average.
Star Trek : boring.
Choplifter : glitch anyone?
Time Pilot : hold the fire down and go. yeah.
Block Out : Can you say, 30 minutes on a quarter?
Rip-off : great two player game for its time.
Tetris : headache making time waster.
Now the moment you've all been waiting for!!!
My Sentimental favorites:
1. Intellivision Boxing
2. SimCity
3. Cyberball
4. Cyberball II (never would've guessed huh?)
5. Ivan Stewart's Offroad II (the only good racing game.)
I only have 5 because these are the only interesting ones out there.
Well, there you have it. Flame away (again).
-////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-\ Marty "What red light?" Mahan /////////////////////////////////////
--\ VWs RULE -- '65 stocker, '58 ragtop, '54 ragtop w/semi's /////////
---\ "Cruising down the road in my BA -- Volkswagen?" //////////////
Mark Phaedrus
>Mark Phaedrus writes....
>> Cyberball sucks. (more or less, that's what he said.)
Not even close. If you would look at that posting again (use a dictionary
for the big words), you'll find that I simply said that it just might not be
the One and Only Great Game of All Time and History. (Sacrilege!) I raised
two very specific points to support this belief, and instead of saying the
slightest thing about them, you trot out your trusty atomic flamethrower.
You know, for a while there, I thought that instead of being the semi-
literate jerk you made yourself out to be, you were a reasonably intelligent
person who was just a bit too overstated in his opinions. Thanks for clearing
up the confusion.
What a shame. The most interesting thread to come along in months, and
I've gotta toss it in the killfile because of one moron. Bummer.
david r watters
is being reminded of the games that absorbed me for so long!
It is sad though how we as net users can drum up a flame war over ANY topic!
I feel the best video game is a game that can bring out enormous amounts of
emotion. Be it frustration, joy, fear, ect.
My personal favorites (not in order) of the games I can remember:
Hard Drivin' : Simply the best Video simulator ever!!! They didn't miss a beat
with this one and if I had $11,000 I would have bought one the
first day I saw it! ( The Amiga version SUUUUUUUCKSSSSSSS!!!!!!)
As a racing enthusiast, it just doesn't get closer to the real
thing!
Cyberball : If there is one thing I love it is Video football and this game
simplified it and expanded on it! Unsurpased multiplayer game.
Nothing like you and a friend taking on 2 people you don't know and
going for blood!
Red Baron
Battle Zone: Total nerve wreckers! Nothing quite as tense as that moment when
waiting to see where the next tank would pop up, or how many
planes would be ahead.
SuperSprint: Total frustration at it's best! " Don't win yet, I'll catch him!,
Don't win yet... Sh;t, I told you not to win!
10 yard fight : I think I pinched a nerve in my hand 1000 times play this crude
but addictive game. This game made it on one simple fact, being
able to shake off tacklers.
Mario Brothers: Great two player game. Perfect feel. Why this isn't on every
home console or computer I will never know. Why Nintendo's
arcade graphics got worse AFTER this game I will never know!
Donkey Kong jr. : Beautiful colors, nice sound f/x, and a ton of fun to master!
Great feel!
Tempest: The Speed! It was so fast, but not impossible fast, and the controls
were perfect.
R-Type: Only saw this game in one arcade, but it played perfectly. It is the
standard the most shooters today are compared to.
Thanks for listening.
Steve Baumgarten
[ mentions Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pac Man, and Robotron ]
Another reason why all these games are classics: Simply amazing and
unique sound effects. Think about the heartbeat in Asteroids, the
marching and shooting sounds in Space Invaders, the dot-eating and
dying sounds in Pac Man and the standard Williams sound set (used in
all their early video games and pins). All were unique enough so that
just by listening you knew what game was being played, and all added
substantially to how much people enjoyed playing the games.
I think very little effort is put into sound design on many of the new
games. It's too easy to get away with pretty graphics, some beeps and
boops and lots of digitized voices these days.
It may be that just as vector graphics constrained designers and
forced them to concentrate on game play rather than scrolling
backgrounds, so too did the lack of megabytes of memory for extensive
digitized soundtracks.
(For the record, I think Williams still puts this kind of effort into
the design of most of their new pinball machines -- certainly Black
Knight 2000 is an example of a game with truly excellent sound. But
even Williams tends to rely more on lots of digitized voices than they
used to -- in the old days, voices were used to complement game play,
not become the foundation for a game's sound design.)
Steve Baumgarten
> Pengo: My all-time favorite -- I especially liked the perguin
> kick-lines at intermission! And how many games featured
> classical music in the background...
>
From the "Coin-Ops-A-Poppin'" list (formerly the "Killer List of Video
Games"):
Gyruss [Centuri, 3D]
Uses rock version of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" as
soundtrack. Circular motion variation on Galaxian.
An average game that was greatly helped by bits soundtrack.
Kenneth Arromdee
>I really wish someone would put out some of these games for *any* of the home
The Atari 400/600/800 etc....did have at least Pengo, Zaxxon, Missile
Command, Qix, Robotron, and Frogger, and probably at least one or two others....
--
"The cold war is over! And we won!"
--"Doonesbury", sarcastically, _before_ Eastern Europe fell in 1989....
Kenneth Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!arromdee; BITNET: arromdee@jhuvm;
INTERNET: arro...@cs.jhu.edu)
Darweesh
WWF Superstars
Great controls.
Good realism.
Nice Color.
Good variety (if you select different teams).
Moderate 2-player action (too much "speed of pounding on buttons"
though).
I can solve it almost always on one credit, but I enjoy the game every time
I play.
-Mike Darweesh
we...@crd.ge.com
The Unknown User
In article <5...@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz> ifar...@sunc.mqcc.mq.oz.au (Ian Farquhar) writes:
.In article <81...@milton.u.washington.edu> phae...@milton.u.washington.edu (Mark Phaedrus) writes:
.>> Marble Madness : decent.
.> Again, the background music made the game. I'm still waiting for a decent
.>computer version of this. (I've always liked trackball games too... gives you
.>much more of a feeling of control. Besides, you can play and exercise at the
.>same time. :)
.
.Well, play the Amiga version from Electronic Arts. It's superb. Forget
.playing it on any other platform, excepting, of course, the arcade
.version.
.
.The amiga version can be used with mouse, trackball or joystick.
As I mailed to the Mark Phaedrus, the Apple IIGS version of Marble
Madness is -GREAT-! (And it was before any other good or great GS games
had come out.. Was even under ProDOS 8 I think)
If anyone knows how to get to the secret level in Marble Madness
GS (if it happens to vary from version to version), please mail me.
--
/pqbdpqbdpqbd Apple II(GS) Forever! unk...@ucscb.ucsc.edu dbqpdbqpdbqp\
\"If cartoons were meant for adults, they'd be on in prime time."-Lisa Simpson/
Dan Bornstein
>
> If anyone knows how to get to the secret level in Marble Madness
>GS (if it happens to vary from version to version), please mail me.
I don't know about other systems, but a friend and I went through some of the
GS code to discover how. It's been a while, so please excuse my vagueness.
On the first level, toward the end, you can jump across the abyss for a "Jump
Bonus" or something like that. Anyway, you should jump to the left (screen-wise),
and then go to the very left (at the edge of the screen); something like:
|XX /
| .. /
| .. /
| .. \
| .. \
| .. /
| /
| \
| \
| /
| /
I hope that's clear. The idea is that you can follow the tiles from one
of the zig-zags at the right up and to the left to the area you should be.
Anyway, hang around that area until the clock hits 13. At that point, the
tiles should descend and you will get the message "Entering the Water Maze"
at the top of the screen. It is important to keep as still as possible, since
moving the joystick (mouse, whatever) will kill you immediately. When the clock
reads 1, the scene will change; you will be pushed up out of the ground in the
"water maze". Good luck. I never made it very far. If you finish you'll get
something like a 500,000 point bonus.
-dan
Martin Mahan
phae...@milton.u.washington.edu (Mark Phaedrus) writes:
|>
|> In article <20...@jimi.cs.unlv.edu> vwra...@mayall.cs.unlv.edu
(Martin Mahan) writes:
|>
|> >Mark Phaedrus writes....
|>
|> >> Cyberball sucks. (more or less, that's what he said.)
|>
|> Not even close. If you would look at that posting again (use a
dictionary
|> for the big words),
|
Stop it Mark, you're killing me... my ribs... I can't take anymore. ______/
|> you'll find that I simply said that it just might not be
|> the One and Only Great Game of All Time and History. (Sacrilege!)
Blasphemy!!!!!!
You started talking about the amount of money that it cost to play the game,
and I can't stand whiners when it comes to coinage. If you can't afford to
play the best, you can't be the best. (Martin Mahan '90)
|> I raised
|> two very specific points to support this belief, and instead of saying the
|> slightest thing about them, you trot out your trusty atomic flamethrower.
I don't own a flamer, I own an opinion. Now get off my ass!
If I wanted to flame you, I would say stupid things like, "get a dictionary."
All I have ever shown is my opinions on some games that I have played. You
make it out to be a big deal just because I don't have the same opinion that
you do. I want you to take out your dictionary and look up ETHNOCENTRISM.
And then I say again, "GET OFF MY ASS", you're getting froggy with the wrong
dude, for the wrong reasons.
|> You know, for a while there, I thought that instead of being the semi-
|> literate jerk you made yourself out to be, you were a reasonably intelligent
|> person who was just a bit too overstated in his opinions. Thanks for
clearing
|> up the confusion.
Reasonably? Is that a shot?
|> What a shame. The most interesting thread to come along in months, and
|> I've gotta toss it in the killfile because of one moron. Bummer.
Now that I'm assuming we have this little controversy out of the way, if you
would ever like to exchange views with a true Cyberball fan, you give me a
ring.
-/ Marty "Juice" Mahan
$anjay [+] $ingh - Indy Studz
1. Robotron: The most intense game of its day. My first love.
2. Astro-Blaster: A fun-game to play. Like the synthesized speech...
"Warp activated 10...1 ; excercise extreme caution..." Psychedelic
graphics too... floating eyes and stuff.
3. Stratovox: Had me going for awhile. Liked the role of protector. Was
one of the first games to compliment you "Thank-you and Very Good."
4. Sinistar: I used to think of it as Williams answer to asteroids. The
asteroids were grey and reminded me of floating brains. The mining of
the crystals was a neat idea. And I got a big kick out of lines like...
"Beware. I live." and "Run, run run ... Rowwwwwwwr ... crunch (getting
caught)"
5. Defender: Before robotron, it was the game that got me into computers
to stay. I used to want to learn to program in TRS-80 BASIC to program
it on the Model 1's of the day with their all of 16K memory. Still
one of the most merciless and challenging games ever. It even seems to
me that its control system is the basis for the joystick/button combo
of NARC. NARC's game play has rough parallels to Defender with the 2-direction
firing, and mass destruction device.
6. Space Harrier. With the exception of the new TMS 34010 / 34020 -based
games of the last year or so, this game had the fastest, smoothest and
most beautiful graphics. No game of today with those powerful graphics
boards has yet matched stage 14 of this game: Astute. The tunnel scene
in the dark. Wow... what memories.
7. Afterburner. It goes without saying that this game has spawned a genre
all it's own. I liked the concept of having to "lock-on" to score a hit.
The heavy-metal type music was great. And the voice of the copilot was
neat too; ie. "Break right! Break right!" to avoid the heat seekers.
8. Road Blasters: The only driving game I ever played for any extended
length of time. Neat idea.
9. NARC: At first I thought the game was too hard. But even now when it
only takes 50 cents to finish it, I still like it. The digitized graphics
make EVERY other fighting man game look like such a joke. This game
elevates videogame development to the status of making a movie, complete
with story line and actors. There are so many ways to look at this game,
and find something interesting to say about it; i) it's level of violence:
is it preaching violence, or is it opening our eyes to the ineffectiveness
of our existing system? ii) Is police violence justified in some circumstances?
iii) Is there something wrong with it's portrayal of women? The only
women in the game are the hookers. On the other hand, it would have been
tacky to make one of the NARCs a female. iv) Why is Mr Big shown as a gigantic
head which spits tongues? Why such overbearing imagery? V) And is blowing the
face away, only to face a skull on a vertebrae which strikes at you like
a snake carrying this a bit far?
with reference to point iii) that scene in Double Dragon where the woman
gets punched in the stomach riled up some womens groups. I'm surprised
no one has said anything about NARC.
In summary, I think that this game will be remembered for many things.
Hats off to Williams for pushing the state of the art forward in terms of
conceptual and visual appeal.
10. Smash TV. destined for greatness.
This was long-winded. Thanks for reading...
--
"No one had the guts... until now..."
|-"psychotic" $anjay [+] $ingh ssingh@watserv1.[u]waterloo.{edu|cdn}/[ca] -|
Tell the world, tell the world what's goin' on, here (@ UW) -Skinny Puppy
watserv1%rn alt.[CENSORED BY JOHNNY WONG, THE MAN WHO PROTECTS ME FROM MYSELF]
Pete Ashdown
Ok Ed, don't leave me hanging! What was the true story behind the minimal
distribution of I Robot? I still have the original flyers from Atari (I
managed to convince them that I was some hefty distributor and got all their
mailings, heh heh) and it seemed like they were going to really push the
game.
> - Ed Rotberg -
> - Atari Games -
--
/ (Rotate head 90 degrees for full effect)
| BUNGEEEEEEEE!
|---------------------------------------------------------------------->=<o
\ Pete Ashdown pashdown@esunix ...utah-cs!esunix!pashdown
Anthony Lapadula
>Exactly why I have a version [of BattleZone] for my un*x workstation! :-)
Oh! I gotta have a copy! Is source publically available?
-- Anthony (uunet!unhd!al, a...@cs.unh.edu) Lapadula
// Wanted: catchy .sig.