RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.




Posted on Sep 11th 2021 at 12:00:00 PM by (MetalFRO)
Posted under Shinobi Legions, Shin Shinobi Den, Shinobi X, SEGA, Saturn, retro gaming, classic gaming, ninja


In the 80's and early 90's, ninjas were a big deal. They were everywhere in media, from cartoons like G.I. Joe to movies like the American Ninja series, those of the adolescent mutant amphibious variety, and of course, video games. For those who played on Nintendo consoles, we had a number of options, but the most obvious of those was the Ninja Gaiden series, at least through the 8-bit days. On the Sega side of the fence, there was Shinobi, which received a Master System reinterpretation of the arcade game. The series branched into 3 paths, 1 being the more straight-forward Shadow Dancer which followed the original arcade game (and had a different, but similar outing on the Genesis), and then the 2 Super Shinobi games for the Mega Drive, which we know in the West as The Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi III, respectively. The 3rd path is the 2 GG Shinobi games on the Game Gear, but whether or not those are canon in the series I cannot say. The final 2D entry, prior to the series' soft reboot on PS2, is often ignored, or worse, frequently either forgotten or maligned. With the RF Generation Community Playthrough group focusing on the series' 16-bit entries this month, I thought it was timely to look at the final original 2D game from the venerable series.


Continue reading Shinobi Legions: The Forgotten Shinobi Game



Posted on Nov 22nd 2019 at 05:00:00 AM by (Spoon)
Posted under Collecting, classic gaming

Hello game collectors.  Spoon here with a few tips for those of you who have begun the monumental quest for the rarest of the rare.  Yea I know, its a wild goose chase, but the fun is in the search right.  Besides, its better than being at home listening to the wife complain!  For me, walking into a retail video game store is like pulling teeth. Plus finding something that is actually rare is next to impossible at these places.  Most game stores wont even buy back anything more than a few years old anyways.  However, there are other places to commence your never-ending search.  If youre like me, youre not paying retail for anything!  Heres a list of a few places to keep in mind.

#1 Pawn Shops:  I get great pleasure scouring pawn shops.  Most of the time games are priced the same no matter their value.  Good for us, bad for them.  If they only knew what I would of paid for that NES Top Loader!  I even occasionally pull my nerd card out and call the pawn shops to see if they got any new video games in!  Laugh all you want, but you gotta be proactive at this.  No matter how big a nerd you are there is always someone out there that trumps you.

#2 Flea Markets:   Always beware the overly priced game stands at flea markets.  The better bet is finding someone who has acquired a stack of games and just needs a few dollars.  Also keep a look out for the little guys.  I have a regular that I visit every week.  I may only get a couple games per week from him, but guaranteed I got them for rock bottom prices.

#3 Antique Shops:  I hate hate hate antique shops, but I have scored some really good finds.  Always keep your eyes open or your game collecting ass of a friend will snipe a Vader 2600 right out from under you!  Also, be sure to ask the shop owners if they can contact you when they get something in. Ive got several shops that email me when they get video games in.

#4 Crackheads!:  For me this kind of ties in with antique shops since theyre in the same neighborhood.  Crackheads can be your best friends.  Im sorry but I could care less about theyre drug habit if Im getting a PS3 for $20.00. Besides, they can use the cash for food.   Its not my fault they would rather get high!  My best dealings with crackheads will be discussed in #7.

#5 Home town game shops: These can be the best or worst thing thats ever happened to you.  If you get in good with the owner, you can usually score some pretty good deals. Always be sure you know the value of what your buying!  For me I keep my iPhone at the ready.  There is a decent app called "VGT Price Guide" that shows the current eBay prices for a ton of different games.

#6 Ebay:  Im not gonna give away my secrets here.  Just keep in mind there are a lot of people out there that dont know what theyre stuff is worth.  If youre a quick draw you never know what youll score at 3:00AM.

#7 Online classifieds: There are a few of these on the internet.  (Craigslist, Kijiji, etc.) There is a major one I use with great success.   Search through the for sale ads often then be proactive.  Bring the goods to you, post a want ad.  Also be prepared to meet up with the #4s.  Late night runs are a bit risky but yield the best rewards.  When in doubt bring a gat!  Also dont forget the online forums.  You will pay more most of the time, but every once and a while you can pick up a great deal (especially if you buy in bulk).

.. ..

Well there you go gamers.  There are just a few tips for your pleasure!

Good Gaming!

Spoon




Posted on Oct 13th 2011 at 08:44:42 AM by (GamerNick)
Posted under Collecting, Classic Gaming

So I was drinking a Pepsi Throwback and eating some Cheetos, then I thought I should make a blog different from my others.  So here it is Games with Food or Beverage Companies.  I am only going to name a few as there are about 50 or so games out there.  The first couple that come to mind well back to Pepsi and Cheetos. 

Coca-Cola - Pepsi Invaders & Coca-Cola Kid

Back in the 1980's there was a classic Atari 2600 game that is hard to find Pepsi Invaders also known as "Coke Wins!, Pepsi and Coke"!! This game is pretty cool! Unfortunately all I have is the ROM.  The cart doesn't come with any labeling but a white strip that was type written and only given to Coke employees as a promotional gig.  Hmmm maybe my friend who works for Coke can get me one! That would be pretty sweet huh!!! Coke has another game that was released on the Game Gear only in Japan called Coca-Cola kid the game pretty cool, easy to get your hands on it if you purchase from eBay. 

Pepsi - Pepsiman

Pepsiman is a Japanese game for the PlayStation released in 1999, featuring the Japanese mascot for Pepsi, Pepsiman. The gameplay itself is entirely on rails, consisting of Pepsiman running from one end of the level to the other, picking up Pepsi cans and using Pepsi-branded vending machines on the side. This game is really rare.

Cheetos
Chester the Cheetah had two games released on Sega and Super Nintendo. These games were just basic platform games.

McDonald - M.C. Kids

I know McDonald's has had quite a few games released some on PC and what not. But M.C. Kids on the NES is a pretty awesome platform game that kind or reminds me of Super Mario Bros. 2 and Rescue Rangers on NES.   

Domino's Pizza
Yo! Noid was a classic Saturday Morning cartoon commercial character and when a game for the NES came out I was there at Phar-Mor (now owned by some conglomerate, the store was kind of like a giant Walgreen's with a huge video store attached to it).  The game is a pretty sweet platform game in which you control Noid. He had other games that came out on other systems, but he is one the most classic 80's food icons. Today I hate Domino's and there's no Noid as their spokes person.

California Rasins
Who doesn't remember the jazz and music playing grapes?!?! I remember them well singing such songs as Heard it Through The Grapevine and so on. They had a game released as a Prototype for the NES.  You can download the Rom the game is pretty cool.

7-Up
Spot! Yes that crazy character had many games that were released, such as Spot! The Video game For NES which plays like checkers in my opinion and Spot! Goes to Hollywood which was released on several systems. Spot! Goes to Hollywood is a great game for a platform game unlike his NES counterpart which can be quite boring.  But a little background about Spot is he was another commercial character in the 80's who was great at promoting his product 7-Up he's still around but as a silent red dot on the bottle that 7-Up still has but as most commercials have become they all loose their characters that attract kids, and he was the first to go.

The last one I would like to talk about is Kool-Aid
Kool-Aid Man on the Atari 2600 and Intellivision is a pretty cool game unfortunately he didn't have any other releases.  He does occasionally show up in say an episode of Family Guy.  But his commercials were awesome! He is still around today getting kids to drink their Kool-Aid so how about another game! It would have to be way better than the company I will only mention once the games for Xbox mentioned by the other burger joint oh yeah Burger King, those games are CRAPPY!!!!! Sorry for those who like them. 

So I hope you all enjoyed this blog if any of you want to add more information just post a comment and we can talk from there, also if you have any other game that you want to talk or add on to this list leave a comment.

Thanks.



Posted on May 29th 2011 at 01:00:00 AM by (singlebanana)
Posted under Vectrex, Pole Position, Classic Gaming, Retro Gaming


Specs:
Game:  Pole Position
Year:  1983
Publisher:  General Consumer Electric (a Milton Bradley company)
Developer:  Namco, Ltd.
Designer(s)/Programmer(s): 
Rarity (according to RarityGuide.com):  rare - 80% out of 100%   
Controls: Vectrex Control Panel
Number of Players:  1
Average Cost:  around $100+ CIB
Also Available On:  Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-Bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, DOS, Intellivision, TI 99/4A, VIC-20, ZX Spectrum, arcade cabinet, and various Namco gaming compilations.

Tagline:  Do you possess the skill, dexterity and courage to pull out from the crowd for qualification in one of the exclusive starting positions or will you end up as an also-ran?



Continue reading Pole Position - Vectrex



Posted on Mar 17th 2011 at 09:00:00 AM by (GamerNick)
Posted under Game Hunt, Treasure Hunt, Collections, Classic Gaming

Hey there everyone!  My brother and I went to Gamers here in Omaha last week and bought a bunch of Intellivision Games! Yeah I know not a huge library of games & it was in not even comparable to Atari 2600 or ColecoVision at it's time of arrival.   We own a bunch of games out of their boxes but yet this tops the cake, a bunch of games in their boxes.  Some of these games we bought are quite rare like USCF Chess, Scooby-Doo's Maze and Q*Bert (yes its kind of rare according to digitpress.  We also bought the IntelliVoice for only $6.95 its not pictured but we bought it along with quite a few games in their boxes all at $0.95 a piece!!!!
Well hope you all enjoy the pictures if you have any questions or want to chat about video game collections hit me up!

Picture 1:


Picture 2:


Picture 3:


Picture 4:


Picture 5:


Picture 6:




Posted on Feb 15th 2011 at 10:00:00 AM by (singlebanana)
Posted under Atari, Vanguard, Retro Gaming, 2600, Classic Gaming

VANGUARD



SPECS:

Game:  Vanguard
Year:  1982
Publisher:  Atari, Inc.
Developer:  SNK Corporation
Designer(s)/Programmer: David W. Payne
Rarity (according to AtariAge): 2 = common+
Controls: Joystick
Number of Players: 1 - 2 (turn based)
Average Cost:  $.50 - $2 loose, under $10 CIB
Also Available On:  Atari 5200, originally an arcade coin-op (Vanguard II later released, arcade only).

Tagline/Description:  "Join the Vanguard expedition on a thrilling space odyssey.  Through perilous tunnels you will fight your way to the fabulous City of Mystery and the great Gond."

Vanguard is a vertical and side-scrolling cave shooter for the Atari 2600. Your goal is to pilot your spaceship to the City of Mystery, which is located at the end of a heavily guarded tunnel, to battle the creature Gond. Your spaceship is equipped with lasers that can fire in four different directions, however your speed is decreased when firing. You will also need to keep an eye on your fuel gauge, a solid bar, located at the bottom of your screen.  Your fuel depletes at a rapid rate, and your ship will crash if it runs out; fuel is replenished by destroying enemies.  The tunnel is broken up into several different zones, called the mountain zone, rainbow zone, stick zone, stripe zone, bleak zone, and City of Mystery. Each zone features a variety of enemy spaceships to dispatch and earn points.  In the mountain and stripe zones, you will come across energy pods marked with an 'E'.  When you pilot through these pods, your ship temporarily becomes invincible to the deadly cave walls and enemies which are trying to stop you.  When you finally make it through all the various zones of the tunnel and defeat Gond, the game will repeat at a more difficult skill level.

Early 80's Atari commercial for Vanguard.  Every good video gaming home needs a Luther.


What makes Vanguard such a great game for the 2600 is it's concept.  As many of you already know, the majority of games produced for the Atari system (besides sports titles) have no real ending and were primarily points based.  Vanguard not only allowed the player to accumulate points, but also had one of the earliest defined endings in a video game, which also incorporated a boss.  Though Gond, the overlord of the City of Mystery, is a one-shot pushover, the ultimate goal and challenge of Vanguard is to successfully navigate the tunnel and make it to the boss.  Modern day gamers might be disappointed at such a lackluster boss battle.  However, and I speak as someone who grew up on the 2600, because I grew up with no preconceived expectations of what a "boss battle" was, this ending was quite epic.   

The fierce and all-powerful GOND!!!! (insert sarcasm here)


Vanguard is not the easiest game to finish and since the game repeats at a much quicker and more difficult skill level, one could argue that there is no strictly defined ending.  Before battling Gond, you must navigate through seven (7) zones (the rainbow zone is repeated a few times).  There are always a plethora of enemies on the screen: ones that shoot back at you, as well as those that attempt to ram your spaceship.  The developers of Vanguard made sure that players are never comfortable for long within the tunnel; in some zones, you travel from left to right, while at other times the game becomes a vertical shooter in which you must navigate from down to up, or up to down.  Since the game is a 4-way, multi-directional shooter, players must make full use of the joystick and fire button, since enemies approach from all directions.  Areas within the cavern can get very tight on occasion and my only complaint with the controls is that your ship may move slightly when trying to direct your fire with the joystick.  Since Atari controls are typically very stiff anyway, attempting to fire in a specific direction can cause you to lose control of your ship and plow into an enemy.       

Though the handling can be a little frustrating at times, Vanguard is an excellent port for the Atari 2600.  The graphics are superb under such limitations and the exceedingly vibrant use of color creates an other worldly atmosphere.  Though Vanguard lacks a soundtrack, it's omission is masked by the constant zinging of lasers and exploding enemy starcrafts.  The lone piece of music in the game occurs upon collecting an energy pod.  Fans of 1980's "Flash Gordon" and/or Queen may recognize a familiar tune entitled  "Vultan's Theme: Attack of the Hawkman" (http://www.the-top-tens.c...s-theme-attack-197148.asp).  Some dispute their similarities, but it's quite hard to brush it off as coincidence. 

Vanguard is one of a handful of tight scrolling shooters for the 2600, similar to Fantastic Voyage and Super Cobra (a Scrabble clone).  If you are a fan of early shmups, this title can easily be picked up at a great price either individually or in a large lot of 2600 commons.



**video courtesy of googoo11672

RATINGS (on a scale of 1-4: 4 being the highest):

Controls: 3
Graphics: 4
Sound Effects/Music: 3
Concept: 4
Replay Value: 3
Cart/Box Art:  2
Overall Score: 3.17




Posted on Feb 6th 2011 at 07:02:32 PM by (dsheinem)
Posted under Street Fighter The Movie, Launch Games, Playstation, Street Fighter, Classic Gaming

Here we have a perfect postmodern product, the kind of thing that made Baudrillard's head spin and which will make future generations look back on our culture with painful embarrassment.  This is a game based on a movie that is based on a game that is a sequel.  The inspiration for this game, Street Fighter II, was a beautiful and innovative arcade giant. The film, on the other hand, was a widely panned and campy take on everything that made the game interesting.  Where would the game stand?  Would it improve on the lowly film, or would it drag the Street Fighter name further down?


It would be easy to understand if early adopters for game consoles were leery of the Street Fighter name, as the previous launch title in the series largely failed to deliver the goods.   Nonetheless, on the day the PS1 launched in September 1995, early adopters who were interested in bringing home a fighting game (at a time when fighting games were still all the rage in the arcade) were presented with a choice of two titles: the new IP Battle Arena Toshinden providing a 3D graphics engine or the newest release in the wildly successful Street Fighter series: Street Fighter: The Movie.  Neither had seen an arcade release (although a different SF:TM game was released in arcades a few months earlier), so the new buyer had to rely on word of mouth, what they could learn from their past experiences, and what they discern from the boxes themselves.

So, if you were standing at a Babbage's or EB on that fateful day in September of 1995 with the two fighting games in front of you, what did you see?  For one, you saw Van Damme's giant fucking head:

Giant.

On Street Fighter: The Movie you also saw a few additional important pieces of information on the cover.  You saw the boast of "DIGITIZED GRAPHICS FROM THE HIT MOVIE!"  You saw two names that were giants in the arcade industry in Capcom and Akklaim.  Turning the box over, you saw that the back cover was filled with content:  five in game screen shots, 14 pictures of the digitized fighters ("including Jean Claude Van Damme!"), and no less than 15 exclamation marks.  The whole thing appears to be a beautiful and/or unholy marriage of Mortal Kombat graphics, Street Fighter mechanics, and celebrity worship.  By contrast, on the Battle Arena Toshinden cover you see some awkwardly drawn, generic looking Japanese fighting characters, a handful of less than flattering screenshots of the game, and a description that does its best to make the launch title sound like the most generic fighting game of the era (and only seven exclamation marks).  So, if you had to go on the box art in front of you on launch day, you probably made a decision that you would come to regret: you probably took home Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game.


As a launch title, Street Fighter: The Movie is notable for several reasons:

It offered plenty of FMV.  It is important to remember that the PlayStation launched only a short time after FMV was the newest innovation in gaming, and if there's one thing Street Fighter: The Movie had going for it, it was copious amounts of FMV, both from the film and original to the game itself. This is especially prominent in the main story mode of the game in which you must play as Guile (Van Damme) and beat opponents on your way to M. Bison and the most obscenely gut-punching end game music video you've seen today:


Interesting trivia? This is actually the second music video affiliated with Street Fighter: The Movie.  The other? A video starring Street Fighter: The Movie actors, MC Hammer, and Deion Fucking Sanders .  Really. (CAUTION: the gut punch is even stronger from this video, as it manages to distill almost everything horrible about pop culture in 1994 into its purest form.)

"Hey! Kylie Minogue is in my PlayStation!"

It looked good when paused. Ok, this is debatable, but the game does feature passable digital capture work for the main characters, close approximations of the movie settings as backgrounds, and  reasonable effects for at least some of the various special moves.  If you were used to playing stuff like the Genesis port of Primal Rage or the SNES version of Mortal Kombat 3, then the look of the game (while paused) was quite impressive and showed off some of the potential of the PlayStation as a system.  When you unpaused, however...

The game was jerky, stuttered frequently, and controlled horribly.  A good fighting game must be fluid, and Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game's biggest flaw is that it is not a fun fighter.  It is randomly fast or slow, it isn't especially good at recognizing inputs for special moves, and the action of pressing a button isn't quite 1:1 with the movement on the screen, as it must be.  Even if you really liked Street Fighter: The Movie or really liked Capcom games, this title managed to kick you in the balls either way.  Built on the SSF2T engine, control shouldn't have been a problem (in theory).  I guess when you introduce motion-captured graphics into a 2D engine, problems result.

This picture of pissy Bison is courtesy of the excellent write up on the film and games @ RetroJunk!!!

The game didn't end the PlayStation's life immediately.  Bad launch games can hurt a system's pedigree from the start, and by the time the PlayStation came along the Saturn had already built an impressive roster of 2D and 3D fighting games (including its own launch title: Virtua Fighter).   The fact that a rushed, buggy, misguided game like Street Fighter: The Movie didn't kill the system's chances with fighting game fans is probably due to the fact that it had already been released on the Saturn and, presumably, been as widely panned as the film itself.  Maybe good-hearted Babbage's employees guided new PlayStation owners towards the superior Battle Arena Toshinden, maybe they urged them to wait for the upcoming Street Fighter Alpha (released about three months later), or perhaps they suggested that proof of the PS1's arcade chops could be found in games like Ridge Racer instead.

Street Fighter: The Movie must be regarded as one of the worst launch games for any system ever, and certainly the worst fighting game available for any launch.  As Van Damme's Guile asked Raul Julia's Bison in the film based on the game: "What happened to the purity of unarmed combat?!!!!"




Posted on Feb 2nd 2011 at 10:00:00 AM by (singlebanana)
Posted under Atari, Tapper, 2600, Game Review, Classic Gaming

TAPPER



Specs:

Game:  Tapper
Year:  1984
Publisher:  Sega
Developer: Bally-Midway Manufacturing Co., Inc.
Designer(s): Marvin Glass
Rarity (according to AtariAge): 6 = rare+
Controls: Joystick
Number of Players: 1 - 2 (turn based)
Average Cost: currently, usually $10 - $30 loose, depending on condition
Also Available On: Arcade cabinet, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, PC, Mobile phone, Xbox 360 (XBLA); also released in the compilation "Midway Arcade Treasures" for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and the PC.

Tagline/Description:
"Side-splitting, soda-flinging laughs and spills!
The Official Home Version of Bally/Midway's Arcade Sensation. 
Five belly-busting screens of Soda Fountain Fun, including:
-- Four mad-capped barrooms of soda-starved, clamoring cowboys, sports fans, punks, and space creatures.
-- Plus a head-spinning Soda Bandit Bonus Round
Awesome color-packed action graphics.
Just try to keep your cool as hot-headed, crazy customers blitz your bar for another cold one."

In Tapper, you control a beer tapper (bartender) and have to serve beer to demanding customers. Customers shuffle up the four bars toward your beer taps and you must slide them drinks in order to keep them satisfied and make them go away.  You start out with 5 lives and these lives are lost as follows:  (1) if a bar patron reaches the end of the bar without receiving their beer, (2) if you slide an extra beer when there is no customer and accidentally spill beer needlessly, and (3) if a patron throws you back an empty mug and you fail to catch it.  You can score additional points by competing in a bonus round between every few stages.  In these bonus rounds, a masked bandit creeps into the bar and shakes up all but one, of six available cans.  The cans then flip around in a shell-game fashion and you must keep your eye on the one that was not shaken.  You then select the can you deem undisturbed and the bartender opens it; if you are correct, you are awarded bonus points, if you are wrong, the tapper receives a heady bath.

Tapper was originally a coin-op machine marketed in conjunction with Budweiser and intended to be sold only to bars; many of the cabinets were designed to look like bars with a brass rail footrest and drink holders. The controller was designed to look like the tap handles on a real keg (see photos below).  It's also rumored that digitized belches were also recorded, but never used.  In order to broaden their target market (and to not lure the kiddies toward the "sauce"), Bally/Midway created coin-op cabinets and tabletops known as Root Beer Tapper.  The Atari 2600 version is simply called Tapper, which apparently leaves it up to the consumer, or pre-video game advisory warning parents, to determine which frothy beverage bar patrons are actually chugging in game.  However, in between clearing a few stages there is a bonus stage, brought to you courtesy of your good friends at Mountain Dew.  It's not clear whether or not Tapper on the 2600 was trying to "C.I.A." by employing the soda company's logo, but by doing so, the ad's presence resulted in one of the earliest examples of marketing within a video game.



Tapper is a great game and probably one of the best ports to the Atari 2600.  Not only is the concept original and the gameplay simple and attractive, but the sound effects and music (yes, actual music on a 2600 game) are wild west saloon-like and second to none.  The graphics are as good as they can be due to the limitations of the system and all characters and settings are well defined and recognizable.  My only real knock on this game is the controls.  You use the joystick to move the tapper up and down, while using the orange button to fire off brewskies.  Like many other 2600 games, Tapper is hampered by the rough and often rigorous directional tapping of the joystick.  Because the action is so fast paced, and gets even quicker as you progress through multiple stages, the 2600 joystick cannot keep up and it often results in a few misfired mugs.  One would do well in achieving higher scores by obtaining a European CX78 controller and popping this game into the ole 7800. 

Even though the controls can be a bit sticky, Tapper is still one of the best games for the 2600.  Though the rarity and price point make it a harder game to come by, you can easily snag a loose copy at a good deal with a last minute, no reserve auction bid.  No matter what price you pay due to condition or completeness, Tapper will be one of those games that you will be proud to own.



**video courtesy of Hairman9252

RATINGS (on a scale of 1-4: 4 being the highest):

Controls: 2
Graphics: 4
Sound Effects/Music: 4
Concept: 4
Replay Value: 3
Cart/Box Art:  4
Overall Score: 3.50




Posted on Feb 1st 2011 at 09:35:54 PM by (singlebanana)
Posted under Vectrex, homebrews, classic gaming, vector graphics

As many of you know, I typically blog about 2600 games, but my other passion is collecting for the Vectrex.  For those of you who are also enthusiasts, I just wanted to send out some updates regarding the Vectrex community for anyone who might be interested.

John Dondzila is still going strong and creating some great games for the Vectrex at:
http://www.classicgamecreations.com/

Fury Unlimited is still putting out a few good homebrews:
http://www.furyunlimited.com/_sgg/f10000.htm

Vectrexians (a Galaxian clone) is now available for order and a few other homebrews are currently in development.  Vectrexians comes with a box and an overlay:
http://www.kristofsnewvectrexgames.comli.com/



It appears that the RecycledGamer is putting together some more homebrew lightpens for sale (see post dated 1/26/2011).  AtariAge members were picking them up earlier for only $35!!!!  A considerable discount considering the original pens sell for a few hundred.  A buddy and I are currently working on creating some light pens just for fun, but they will be no where near the quality of these.  Stay tuned:  http://www.atariage.com/f...d05dea8716720b5e30303702f





Posted on Jan 24th 2011 at 06:55:32 PM by (singlebanana)
Posted under Atari, Entombed, 2600, game review, Classic Gaming



Specs:

Game:  Entombed
Year:  1982
Publisher:  U.S. Games
Developer: Western Technologies
Designer(s): Jeff Corsiglia & Tom Sloper
Rarity (according to AtariAge): 4 = scarce+
Controls: Joystick
Number of Players: 1 - 2
Average Cost: approx $3 - $8 loose
Also Available On: 2600 only

Tagline/Description: "You and your team of archeologists have fallen into the "catacombs of the zombies."  There's no time to look around; these guys are after you, and they mean business!  Your only salvation is that you have discovered the secret to the "make-break."  Grab them, and you can break through walls when you get stuck, or create a wall  behind you - if you are being chased.  The longer you survive, the faster you have to move.  Explore alone, or two archeologists can work together or compete in a frenzied trek through the catacombs."

There was probably no more diverse or stranger catalog of games than the fourteen (14) titles released by U.S. Games, a subsidiary of Quaker Oats (uhhhh....yeah), for the Atari 2600.  Like several other companies (i.e. Purina, Johnson & Johnson, etc.), but with a larger volume than most, the Quaker Oats Company tried to cash in on the video gaming craze of the early 80's.  Titles released by U.S. Games include:

Entombed;
Sneak n' Peek (a game of hide and seek);
Space Jockey (a horizontal, UFO shooter);
Word Zapper (a spelling shooter);
Commando Raid (a parachuting android shooter);
Eggomania (a Kaboom clone where you can fire back);
Piece o' Cake (a cake decorating game);
Picnic (a fly shooter);
Raft Rider (a river rafting game);
Gopher (a vegetable protecting game, similar to Activision's Oink!);
Squeeze Box (a prisoner trying to escape a constantly closing Tron MCP Cone);
Towering Inferno (a firefighting/rescue game);
M.A.D. (an improved version of Atlantis); and
Name This Game (an octopus shooter).



While some believe that a few of these games are among the worst titles for the 2600, I'd have to say that the overall catalog is pretty creative and solid (and fairly cheap).  Where else can you fend off an octopus and fill your diving tank with air from a guy with long, flowing hair in a speed boat?

Entombed is another of these strange games in which you control an archeologist trying to escape a zombie-filled catacomb.  While navigating a random, vertically scrolling maze, your only defense from zombies and dead end walls is an item referred to as a "make-break."  A make-break allows you to knock down a square section of wall or place a similar section of wall in an open area to fend off zombies (similar to Lock n' Chase).  However, make-breaks are not abundant and are collected 3 at-a-time in the form of side-to-side moving rectangles, throughout the maze.  Scoring in Entombed, for the 1-player game, is determined by how deep into the maze your archeologist goes.  You are awarded one point for making it through an undefined section of the maze; there are no treasures to collect or points for killing zombies.  As you might have noticed, scoring is not one of the stronger features of this game.

Another poor feature of the game is it's graphics.  Zombies, which should be very cool, instead look like arachnids, your archeologist is merely a semi-mobile stick figure, and the make-breaks are, well, just blocks (a hammer, or some sort of device would have been cooler).  There is no music and the only sound effects are a series of extremely monotone beeps (only when zombies are near) and an electronic gurgle when you pick up a make-break.

With all of its faults, Entombed is a pretty good game (yeah, stick with me here).  I remember loving this game as a kid and playing it every time I went to my neighbor's house.  When I saw it in a pawn shop several months ago I grabbed it up quickly, even though it had a bit of label damage.  So what is it that I liked so much about this game?  Well for one, I enjoyed the pace of the game (how it continues to get faster as you complete every level) and the frantic dodging/escaping from zombies while collecting make-breaks to ensure mobility; you lose lives by either running into a zombie or by being forced into the top of the scrolling screen when you are out of make-breaks and are unable to escape a dead end.  The controls are adequate for a 2600 game, since your only movements through the maze are vertical and horizontal; however, setting make-breaks correctly in open areas to avoid zombies can sometimes present a challenge.

While the originality of the game is great, the best feature of Entombed has to be its 2-player option.  In two player mode, both participants play at the same time, instead of the Atari turn-based style that is typical with most 2600 games.  Two player mode can be played in two different ways (as determined by the participants): (1) you can battle against each other to see who can make it deeper into the maze (whoever dies first loses), or (2) you can work with each other, hoarding and best using make-breaks, to see how far you both can go.  Being somewhat of an a%$, and torturer of my wife and friends, I tend to prefer the former.

Though there is nothing particularly exceptional in terms of graphics and sound in Entombed, the gameplay is fairly solid and the cost of the game is typically low.  For a few bucks, Entombed should be worth heavy consideration if found in the wild.



**video courtesy of Highretrogamelord89**

RATINGS (on a scale of 1-4: 4 being the highest):

Controls: 3
Graphics:  2
Sound Effects/Music: 1
Concept:  3
Replay Value: 2
Cart/Box Art:  3
Overall Score: 2.34





Posted on Jul 29th 2010 at 01:13:07 AM by (fastbilly1)
Posted under Classic Gaming, Analog Gaming

So I am an avid videogamer, retrogamer specifically, but I was first and will always be a boardgamer.  I started playing boardgames with my family at a very young age.  My grandfather taught me how to play cards like he learned in the Navy during WWII and one of my uncles had several titles in the Avalon Hill Bookcase line, including Acquire (think Monopoly for grownups), Civilization, and Kingmaker.  Many days of my childhood were spent slugging through dungeons, building empires, and trying to apply glass cannon tactics to the Patton's Third Army.  This is not to say that I did not play videogames, I did grow up in the 80s, but boardgaming is a hobby of mine that is simply cathartic. 

Some gamers prefer to play Catan on their 360, others prefer to actually roll the dice.  I dont know how to explain it, something about the smell of the paper, seeing your opponents, and actually rolling the dice, makes boardgaming impossible to replicate in a videogame for me.  Luckily in highschool I met some people who thought the same way and they introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons.  Now a whole subset of RPGs kinda took off in my life.  In college this led me to meet other gamers who played a lot of boardgames and RPGs but some never videogames, and this kinda irked me.

Now I am fairly openminded when it comes to hobbies and collections.  I mean I have friends who spin their own yarn, blow glass, and some who are trapeze artists.  But I have never met a more stubborn group of people than gamers.  Some gamers will not branch out from their path at all.  I have dealt with a lot of RPGers who call all videogames kiddy or simple games and I have dealt with videogamers who say worse things about RPGers.  Well since I sit in the middle of all of these, like I am sure some of yall reading this do, and since I can never keep my mouth shut, I started to do something about it. 

I first started with RPGs and couldnt find footing.  So I asked a friend of mine for help.  That friend was Gary Gygax and when I asked him about it and a truncated form of his response was:
The CRPG captures vividly most of the essential features of the true RPGexploration, problem solving, combat, acquisition. What is missing is the inter-personal role-playing and the vast range of possibilities provided by the game master.

Furthermore he suggested that when I brought up CRPGs (Computer RPGs) with RPGers I should present them as interactive movies instead of RPG games.  He also said it probably wouldnt work, which ofcourse he was right.  As I was asked to leave one of the groups I was gaming with after trying to bring it up. 

So I decided to shelve the idea.  Years later one of my friends asked if I knew any games like Final Fantasy Tactics.  I named off a handful I knew off the top of my head that he could get at a Gamestop at the time: Tactics Ogre Knights of Lodis, Zone of the Enders Fist of Mars, Front Mission 3, and Xcom (Since I knew he had a GBA and a PSX).  He surprised me and said that he loved Ogrebattle on the PSX and did not know that there was a sequel.  As I was talking to him I had the idea come back into my head.  I asked him when was the last time he played a boardgame.  He responded with boardgames are for children.  I asked him if he would humor me and try playing a few.  He was hesitant so I bucked the tiger and made a deal with him.  I said that if he would humor me and try two boardgames and if he did not like either I would give him a copy of Tactics Ogre on the GBA (I had two copies from when we use to battle a lot in it at work).  He said fine and he was going to come over that Saturday. 

I had one chance to make this work and decided on the two games to try based on that conversation we had.  Since he liked Ogre Battle I decided on the most Ogre Battle like game I had  Titan.  And since he liked SRPGs we went with the simplest SRPG like game  Heroscape.  I know what some of yall are thinking right now: Heroscape that sounds familiar well it should, it is in every big box store you go to.  From Frys to Walmart, and has been seen at some Riteaids.  Bear with me and youll see where I am going with this.

So Saturday came around and several of my friends came over to play boardgames.  There were four of us total so we started with Heroscape. 

Heroscape is a very simple miniatures wargame created by Hasbro in 2004.  It was targeted at the 8-16 ages and the rules reflect that.  The game comes with two rulesets, simple and advance, and a whole mess of options.  This is important since you can play the game with most anyone and have a pretty fulfilling experience.  The game itself takes characters from all over history and fantasy and drops them into battlefields fighting for dominance for their avatar (the Viking in Valhalla who brought them to the battlefield).  So your team might have part of a Roman legion, an Elf, and a team of Robots and that is normal.  But there are two very big draws to Heroscape:
1. Customizable hexagon terrain
2. Pre painted miniatures
So every time you play the game should be different. 

Gameplay utilizes a fairly simple IGOUGO (I go You go) mechanic.  You have a card that represents each type of figure you have on the battlefield.  So your Elf has an Elf card, your Legionnaires a Legionaries card, etc.  And you are given four little shields that have the numbers 1,2,3 and an X.  You put the shields down on your units cards to signify what round you want to move them, the X is obviously a decoy.  Whoevers turn it is moves and then the person to their right, etcetera until the all three rounds are complete and the turn is over. 

Combat is achieved by rolling fistfuls of specialized dice.  Each unit has an attack number which equates to how many dice you roll.  Each die has Skulls, Shields, and blank spaces.  When you are attacking all that matters is skulls, defending needs shields.  If the attacker rolls more skulls than the defender rolls shields, the unit hit looses wounds.  Once the wounds are gone the character dies.  There are special abilities, combinations, and a variety of other elements that make the game more complicated, but we do not need to go into those here.

Very simple to learn, very elegant in execution, and almost infinitely customizable.  The game has had numerous expansions, some of which go for lots of money, and still draws large crowds at conventions and tournaments. 

I cannot tell you too much about the game we played, I do remember using one of my ghosts to take over one of the other guys Orc riding a Tyrannosaurs and then ran him back into his own men, but other than that I dont remember that much.  I do know that despite my ghosts being on point, I ended up losing the match.  The newbie enjoyed himself but thought it did not have enough meat for him to really buy into it, or care to play it again.  So that is when we switched gears to the behemoth.

Titan is, for lack of a better word, a pain of a boardgame.  It is complicated, takes a long time to play, expensive (fixed with the rerelease but at the time of this playing a copy went for $200+), and is confusing.  The first time I played it I read through the rulebook a dozen times and played with people who had played before and still had no real idea of what I was doing.  But lets see if I can explain it anyway.

The goal of Titan is to defeat the enemies Titans.  To do this you send your armies around the map recruiting other units, upgrading said units, and trying to avoid your enemies.  When your stack of units runs into another stack, they are revealed and ushered to a battle board on the sidetable to duke it out.  These battle boards are small hexagon boards with terrain on them based on what square the battle commenced on the main board.  In battle you move your units, they move theirs, and you roll D6s based on your units statistics.  Your Titans can upgrade and if you play your cards right you might be rolling a whole fistful of dice by endgame (the Serpent unit rolls 18 when it attacks). 

Now Ill be honest, despite playing the game on and off for fifteen years, I am no where near as versed in the rules of Titan as I should be  Blame Advance Squad Leader and TFC.  But that has little to do with the event, more to do with the writeup.  We did play with one house rule: Game is played until one person is eliminated.  Then you figure out who won via various scoring methods.  This way the game does not end up taking up all day  the average game of normal titan can last upwards of eight hours. 

Our newbie was the one who lost, by pure chance to he ran his Titans army into another players just by bad luck and he happened to have a dragon and his Titan in it.  However this was after several battles and about three hours.  His verdict was that it was some of the most fun he has ever had and wanted to buy a copy. 

So in six hours I had taken a diehard videogamer and made him interested in boardgames.  And since that time his collection has grown to dwarf my own.  Slowly I will corrupt all of my friends to other types of games.  As seen in this next story.

With the accomplishment of the first friend I was riding high and thought I could do it again (or that is the story I am going to tell you.  In reality it was about a year later).  So I called up a buddy of mine from middle school who I use to try and play Magic Realm with (a very complicated fantasy boardgame).  I called him because I knew he lived in town, and that he hated videogames.  I knew this was going to be a challenge but figured it was worth a shot.  So we got together with some others to play Twilight Imperium (a 4x boardgame  think if Masters of Orion was a boardgame).  About halfway through the game, the board was destroyed by a cat when we were taking a break so we all just gave up.  After we packed it up were sitting around talking, so I made my move.  I had one of my laptops in the car and they had one of the Gateway 2000 32inch CRT monitors as their tv.  So I hooked up the laptop and fired up Civilization 2. 

We started playing it as a lark and my mark was not enthused so he stood, grabbed his book, and started to leave the room.  I called him out and asked him to atleast stay and talk.  He reluctantly agreed.  We had played for about an hour just taking out barbarians and the Americans and then I heard a suggestion that I never thought I would.  My mark had grabbed the manual and tech tree out of my bag told us exactly what to research because it would be the fastest way to dominate the seas, therefore giving us the world.  He had worked it out on a piece of paper and just handed it to me.  I was just dumbstruck.  Here was the guy who had told me that I was a child for playing videogames, with a breakdown of the weapons in Civilization 2. 

Turns out, later that night he went and bought a copy of Civ2 for himself.  Last I talked to him he had just bought a copy of Alpha Centauri and was about to move to the other side of the country.  I havent talked to him since, but I know I made a videogamer out of him.


What was the point of all this?  Well if you have a friend who is a gamer of some kind, but is stubborn, just try finding a game that fits.  In these examples, both gamers were of above average intelligence and it was easy to convince them to play a complicated game of the other type, this gets shakier with other types of gamers.  You should also try to not be pushy.  Take your time, plan the best time to try, and give it a good shot.  If it works, it works, if not dont worry too much about it.  There are always other potential gamers out there.  But I know how painful it can be to have three friends to play a game with when you really need four.  Patience is key, as always.

Next time lets talk about something lighter.  Like custom arcade sticks, why I own five Gamecubes, or point and click adventures.




Posted on Nov 15th 2009 at 10:36:49 PM by (Ack)
Posted under Martian Gothic, PlayStation, PC, PS1, horror, classic gaming

Martian Gothic: Unification



Originally a PC title, this third person survival horror in the vein of Resident Evil would see a release on the PlayStation nearly a year after the PS2 was available in all markets.  Because of this late launch, as well as graphics and a control scheme generally viewed as poor at the time of its release, it's been largely overlooked by the mainstream.

Here's a rough estimation of the plot:

"In Martian Gothic, the player is able to assume the roles of three characters sent from Earth to a Martian base to examine why it has been silent for 10 months, after a base member broadcasts a final message of "Stay alone, stay alive." Upon arrival the player finds that all the residents are apparently dead and that the base hides a horrible secret."

That's right, you play as three different characters with different abilities.  While they all control the same and use the same weapons, each has skills required to pass the various puzzles or sections of the game.  All three begin the game from different hatches on the base, and are not meant to come into contact with each other.  If they do, that nasty unification bit occurs, and the characters are killed instantly.  As for why that happens, don't worry, it will be explained in this bizarre Lovecraft-esque science fiction story.



Since the characters can never enter the same room together, items must be deposited in a series of vacuum tubes spread throughout the facility.  Only four items can be put in the vacuum tubes at any time, and players can only hold limited items, so various item storage containers must be used.  Unfortunately this means items can get lost and forgotten, though PC terminals will reveal what items are in certain containers around the base if necessary.  You can still lose an item by putting it in the wrong location, so think before you stow something.

Maneuvering between these spots might also be difficult for some folks, as Martian Gothic uses the same "tank" control scheme used in the original Resident Evil, lending credence to the claim that this is just another poor RE clone.  The game also uses pre-set camera angles, so enemies can sometimes be difficult to see(and it doesn't help that your basic enemy is a zombie).  But Martian Gothic also borrows an interesting element from the first Alone in the Dark: you can't kill your enemies.  You can put them down for a little while, but they do get back up eventually.  This makes avoiding fights absolutely key, which can be extremely difficult in the cramped tunnels of the Mars colony.  And even if you could kill some of these things, it's probably better to run from some of the nastier ones anyway.



To progress in the game, you'll have to listen to computer recordings, solve puzzles, and search corpses while making your way through the Mars base and eventually into Olympus Mons and both over and under the Martian surface.  It's interesting to note that the game actually started life as a point-and-click adventure title for Windows, but was drastically rewritten and changed when author Stephen Marley(known for his Chia Black Dragon series) joined the cast as a game designer.  This means there are lots of puzzles.  And they're not easy, either.

The game wasn't exactly well received, getting a Metacritic score of 64.  In other words, it's considered average, not spectacular.  That said, it also tends to go for dirt cheap.  While the Windows version was only released in the United States, the PlayStation version was put out in both the US and Europe.



Here's the intro to the PlayStation version:





Posted on Nov 11th 2009 at 03:49:51 AM by (Ack)
Posted under Echo Night, PlayStation 2, horror, classic gaming

Echo Night: Beyond



Since last week I went with a very well known title in horror gaming, I figured I'd go for something a little bit more obscure, and a bit more mellow.  In fact, this odd futuristic ghost story is more sorrowful than anything else.  That doesn't mean it's without it's freakier moments, but the gameplay in this title doesn't have all the big action sequences of other titles.  It's also the third in the Echo Night series, so if you're familiar with those, you should know what to expect.

In Echo Night: Beyond, you play Richard Osmond, a passenger on a space shuttle heading to a small lunar base.  His fiance, Claudia, lives there, and it's their intention to marry once he arrives.  But things don't go according to plan.  His shuttle crash lands, colliding with the very place you're trying to get.  Richard awakens to find himself alone in the wrecked shuttle.  He decides to grab a spacesuit and enter the base to find Claudia.

Unfortunately for Richard, it appears everyone inside the base is dead, the power is out, and ghosts are wandering the halls.  To progress in the story, you'll have to find various items and appease the wandering spirits so that their souls get released from this mortal coil.  To do this, you'll have to talk to them, which is a bit unsettling as they tend to fade in and out depending on how close you are.  There's also lots of backtracking in the game, which can become annoying, though much of the game takes place around a central junction, so nothing is ever terribly far away.



So, you're wandering in the dark, there are corpses everywhere, and their ghosts are wandering around.  Could it get worse?  Well yes, actually.  You see, there's a bizarre mist that has spread throughout the base, making ghosts that inhabit it hostile, and if they get near you for long enough, your heart rate will spike and you'll go into cardiac arrest.  This means two things: every encounter can be fatal fast, and your only options are to run away.  There's no camera to fight with, no proton packs, no nothing.  Instead, you have to sneak past them and pray one doesn't find you.

Also, the game's first person view really adds to the tension here, because these ghosts just have to be near you.  You don't have to see them, and likely you won't: as your heart rates goes up, your vision blacks out.  It can be a harrowing experience to enter a room with one and suddenly scramble for the door, only to realize you can hardly see where you're going.  And if you do see it, well...some of these things get downright creepy.

Still, ghosts register on film, so you can use the vast network of security cameras to watch their patterns and discover their routes, since most of them follow set paths.  Note I said most: there's one ghost in particular that will stalk you throughout the game, and he knows when you're using a security camera.  Whenever you look at him he's got a nasty habit of looking back at you.



And then there's the atmosphere: you'll spend a good chunk of the game wandering around with just a flashlight, though it's not as bad as when you wander outside in my opinion.  Once outside, there's little gravity so you jump really far, and the lighting gets a bit odd.  The first time outside, I nearly threw myself off a cliff into a crater.  To make matters worse, there are quite a few jumping puzzles while outside, and you do still have to look out for spirits.

The lack of action might bother some players, so this game definitely isn't meant for everyone.  But if you're a fan of the old point-and-click adventure gameplay or enjoyed titles like Penumbra or other first person horror games, such as Juggernaut, D, or Hellnight, this may be right up your alley.  And as an added bonus, it saw release in all three major regions, so getting it shouldn't be too difficult.  Just be aware that in Japan it's known as Nebula: Echo Night.



Here's the intro for you:





Posted on Aug 2nd 2009 at 05:39:08 AM by (NES_Rules)
Posted under Collecting, Classic Gaming, Modern Gaming, Collection

It's been about a month since I started moving my game room, and well, it's done. For the most part anyway. I wanted to have my game room moved within a week, but the carpet store we got the new carpet from had a hard time scheduling the installation, so I had to wait much longer than I wanted to. However, the carpet store didn't tell the carpet installers that they were supposed to do the hallway as well, so they didn't have a piece to do the closet so Room of Doom 3.0 isn't quite ready yet, so no "after"pictures quite yet. Those should be ready next week or so.
But for now, I'll give a final look at Room of Doom 2.5 via a video tour and a sneak peak of what Room of Doom 3.0 will look like.


Continue reading The Adventures of Moving a Game Room Part 2



Posted on Jul 8th 2009 at 09:26:45 AM by (Tondog)
Posted under Classic Gaming, Arcade, Pinball, Michael Jackson

In case you've been living under a rock for the past two weeks, pop music legend, Michael Jackson, has passed away. One thing the Thriller superstar was known for was his giant Neverland Ranch, which was foreclosed and auctioned off last year. As part of the auctions, the arcade in Neverland Ranch was sold. The Orange County Pinball Lab website got a look inside and took several panoramic shots of the arcade. Check it out here: http://www.pinsane.com/pi.../events/MJ_09/index.shtml. Or if you prefer, you can view the arcade's contents in the auction catalogue here: http://www.juliensauction...el-jackson/icatalog4.html

Some of the highlights (for me) include:
  • Giant Lego Darth Vader
  • Darkstalkers arcade machine
  • Super Street Fighter II
  • Sega R360 (That thing looks freaking awesome)
  • NBA Hangtime (LOVED that game as a kid)
  • Galaxy Force (I remember playing that game in the arcade as a kid and how awesome it was that it spun and tilted)
  • Several kiosks including N64, 3DO, PS1, Virtual Boy, Saturn, SNES, Genesis, Dreamcast, 
  • Mocap Boxing (It's like Project Natal!)
  • Guitar Freaks
  • Dig Dug
  • Donkey Kong
  • Neo Geo MVS
  • Marvel Vs Capcom

Quite the collection I must say. I don't know if he was a gamer, but I'm sure a lot of guests were. Creepy, no?


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Blog Navigation
Browse Bloggers | My Blog
We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
Hot Community Entries
Hot RFG Blog Entries
Site content Copyright © rfgeneration.com unless otherwise noted. Oh, and keep it on channel three.