RETRO Gaming

[Mookieghana]

I organized my collection of NES games yesterday ( http://bit.ly/14bKp4J ) so I could sell a couple. I also decided to do a quick rank of quality vs year released:

 

 

(The blue line is because someone else asked me about NES Console sales by year which took awhile to find but eventually appeared).

 

Personally my favorite games (outside of the common stuff like Tecmo Super Bowl, Super Mario 3, Zeldas) are stuff like Bomberman II (great three-player mode), Dragon Warrior IV (probably the pinnacle of the NES), Destiny of an Emperor (helps that I was a big "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" fan; also this game makes every other RPG look like it's crawling!), Crystalis ( great action RPG), Palamedes (bizarre little Hot-B title that is a fun challenge involving dice), Maniac Mansion (here's a l speedrun on a real NES) and Micro Machines ("Eliminator Boat Duel" is a similarly fun two-player romp).

[Jingus]

I was a massive NES fanboy back in the day, and still am.  Hell, one of my favorite ways to kill half an hour is simply to say "well, I guess I could beat Defender of the Crown for the quadrillionth time".  Aside from the easy gimmes like the Castlevanias and Super Mario Brotherses that everyone loves, some of my more obscure favorites were Pirates!, Ghosts and Goblins, River City Ransom, Bionic Commando, Strider, Rocket Ranger, Silent Service, Kung Fu, Rolling Thunder, Metal Gear, Shadowgate, Rygar, Faxanadu, North & South, TMNT 2: The Arcade Game, Guerilla War (which is basically Ikari Warriors: This Time It Doesn't Suck!), the original Pro Wrestling (STILL my favorite wrestling game, and Roderick Strong King Slender is my man) and yes indeed Maniac Mansion.  (Side note: anyone remember the bizarre Family Channel TV-show adaptation of that game?  What the HELL was the deal with that bullshit?)  

 

 

Maniac Mansion (here's a l speedrun on a real NES) 

...WHOA.  Like, a Keanu Reeves level of whoa.  If I were wearing a hat, I would literally tip the brim in your honor right now.  I had no idea that was even possible to finish that game anywhere NEAR that quickly.  How long did you have to practice in order to do that?  And I laughed when you immediately picked Bernard, he's so useful for SO many different things that it practically doesn't matter who else you pick, just having Bernard makes the whole thing way easier.  

[Cliff Hanger]

Guerrilla War: the only major release to star Castro and Guevara as playable characters!

[Death From Above]

My favourite NES games that aren't the really obvious shit are the port of Sid Meier's Pirates! (though you HAVE to go get the map of the Caribbean off of gamefaq's pretty much, since... yeah, you don't have a paper one), the Capcom Barcelona olympics game called Gold Medal Challenge that was the best track and field style game ever made, and a little known action racing game called Galaxy 5000.

 

I also got Silent Service onto the 8-bit poll on the last forum, which I'm happy about. Someone needs to remake that exact game with modern day powers. It could be seriously amazing.

 

 

 

TMNT 2: The Arcade Game

 

This was a great game, and in an unusual twist, actually had *added* content the arcade game didn't.

[Reggie20x6]

'Legend' for SNES is a game that I never see, whenever I'm back in a St. Louis mall, while looking through the retro gaming stores they have.

 

My friend and I rented it, when we were 9-10, thinking it was something else. The local Blockbuster was about 7-8 blocks over, and we'd make a whole-morning bike ride of it whenever we did it - stopping at the used tape/cd store; the Burger King and then finally Blockbuster. At first we were disappointed that we got the wrong game, but then we ended up playing it that entire weekend. It's 20 years later and I still remember that game.

 

Nostalgia is the best sometimes.

[odessasteps]

The game i never finished as a kid was Battle of Olympus. Love to try to do it now.

[Nick]

When I was a kid my dad would take over my Nintendo for days playing Silent Service. He wasn't really much of a gamer (I remember playing Bowling on the 2600 with him and that's about it), but he LOVED that damn submarine game. I bought it for myself a few years ago basically out of nostalgia for those times.We got a 2600 long before we got an NES (actually even got a SNES before too), so I was always more loyal toward Atari than Nintendo, but my favorite NES games was stuff like the Castlevanias (especially the second one), Ninja Gaiden, Arch Rivals, Tecmo Bowl, Skate or Die, Legacy of the Wizard, Blades of Steel, and Tecmo World Wrestling. Of course the Mario games also, but surprisingly I never really got into Zelda. And I really loved M.C. Kids, a vastly underrated game. Probably forgetting one or two big ones, but that's about it.

[Mookieghana]

 

...WHOA.  Like, a Keanu Reeves level of whoa.  If I were wearing a hat, I would literally tip the brim in your honor right now.  I had no idea that was even possible to finish that game anywhere NEAR that quickly.  How long did you have to practice in order to do that?  And I laughed when you immediately picked Bernard, he's so useful for SO many different things that it practically doesn't matter who else you pick, just having Bernard makes the whole thing way easier.  

 

I got inspired when I saw "King of Kong" and decided that I could probably get a decent time on the game for Maniac Mansion once I learned the trick that lets you get past the Purple Tentacle guard in the lab.

 

I was going to try for Shadowgate until I learned about the Glasses trick.  

 

I don't remember how many times I practiced, but probably I would spend 1-2 hours a week over the course of maybe a month?

 

You did inspire me to go and add a few annotations to the video since I never got around to doing that, and I wasn't able to commentate on what I was doing while I was playing game.

 

Bernard is awesome.

[Mookieghana]

And for shameless plug, I'm selling some NES games on eBay right now ...

 

Dragon Warrior III (Game & Box): http://www.ebay.com/itm/281138195471

Chubby Cherub (Game): http://www.ebay.com/itm/281138198010

Duck Tales 2 (Game): http://www.ebay.com/itm/281138200276

Tombs & Treasures (Game): http://www.ebay.com/itm/281138505299

Casino Kid & Casino Kid 2 (Two Games): http://www.ebay.com/itm/281138506712

Mario is Missing! (Game): http://www.ebay.com/itm/281138508657

Wheel of Fortune (Game, Box, Manual): http://www.ebay.com/itm/281138511036

Firehawk/Ultimate Stuntman/Captain Comic (Three Games): http://www.ebay.com/itm/281138515854

I've always been someone who loved collecting NES games so I could play them.  Hopefully whomever buys the games will enjoy them like I did!

The auctions all end in less than 3 days! (7/25/13)

[Death From Above]

The only problem with Legacy of the Wizard (which was otherwise a madman) is it's one of those 8-bit games that suffered from crazy, oversized passwords. I used to fuck them up writing them down as a kid all the time.

 

Speaking of speedruns and a game like Shadowgate, have you ever played The Uninvited? Same basic design but with a big house instead of a castle. Game seemed utterly fascinating when I was like 10 but I haven't revisited it in forever. I wandered around in it for weeks on end which means it can probably be beaten in like 8 minutes or something stupid.

[Jingus]

The Uninvited (along with another one called Deja Vu, which is basically "Shadowgate inside a Raymond Chandler novel") is pretty easy to solve once you know exactly what to do.  Once you know all the secrets and solutions, you can easily blast through it in well under an hour.  It's the journey which is the point, exploring a new world and figuring out what does what and dying a zillion times along the way.  Basically the same thing as stuff like Myst or all of Sierra's various "Quest" games, except with easier puzzles.  

[Death From Above]

Same thing is true with modern games like Portal, more or less.

 

People who play puzzle games with a walkthrough really need to give up gaming altogether.

 

I never played Deja Vu. But I assume if you take Deja Vu, The Uninvited, and Shadowgate, and put them all on a spaceship, the result would be what I imagine the movie Dark City would look like as a video game. Watching the movie and then reading a screenplay, I had the most bizarre urge to see it done as that style of puzzle/investigation game.

 

You wake up in a hotel room bathtub not knowing where you are. There's a DEAD BODY in the room. A FISH is in the bathtub with you. You also have a GUN and find a BUSINESS CARD. Nothing seems familiar. Have fun.

[Tele-Viper]

Barcade here in Brooklyn just put in TMNT & Final Fight. Lots of quarters down the drain on those already!

[Jingus]

Barcade 

...why the HELL aren't there more of those EVERYWHERE?  They would have to ask Vegas how the hell to launder their millions of quarters!  Now that the arcade demographic is grown up and is earning their own income, you'd think that such a retro-nostalgia concept would be a no-brainer.  The only arcades anywhere near here are goddamn Dave & Busters, which is so prohibitively expensive that only the rich people ever go there for more than ten minutes.  

[Andrew POE!]

I beat two notoriously hard and bad NES games today and yesterday: Spelunker and Deadly Towers.

 

For Dark Souls fans, Deadly Towers is the prototype to Dark Souls.

[Justin877]

 

Barcade 

...why the HELL aren't there more of those EVERYWHERE? 

That sums up my thoughts on this matter.

 

I mainly played Tecmo Bowl and all the iterations of it that came out.  For hours on end.

[Tele-Viper]

Well, Barcade has expanded into Jersey and Philly so fingers crossed that you may see one someday. If you ever get to the Northeast, they are worth a visit. I easily blow $20 sometimes on quarters and a pint. Yesterday I went deep into Punch-Out but couldn't get past Glass Joe (the second time around, after you've already won the title from Mr. Sandman).

[Jingus]

I never played Deja Vu. But I assume if you take Deja Vu, The Uninvited, and Shadowgate, and put them all on a spaceship, the result would be what I imagine the movie Dark City would look like as a video game. Watching the movie and then reading a screenplay, I had the most bizarre urge to see it done as that style of puzzle/investigation game.

 

You wake up in a hotel room bathtub not knowing where you are. There's a DEAD BODY in the room. A FISH is in the bathtub with you. You also have a GUN and find a BUSINESS CARD. Nothing seems familiar. Have fun.

 

Dude... that IS Deja Vu.  You literally wake up in a bathroom with a gun, a business card (along with various other items), and no memory.  Isn't it such a neat feeling when you find out that something you've always wanted to exist?  

 

EDIT: Damn, why is it so freaking difficult to embed a URL link now?  

 

 

Well, Barcade has expanded into Jersey and Philly so fingers crossed that you may see one someday. If you ever get to the Northeast, they are worth a visit.

I travel so rarely, it's more likely that they'd expand to Texas before I ever got up there.  It's still a brilliant concept.  I've wondered why there aren't more retro arcades, to counteract Dave & Busters and the other incredibly few game parlors still around that always charge like two bucks per play on everything.  Add in alcohol, and jesus, all I need are some venture capitalists and a good location and I'd open my own franchise and never have to work again.  

[S.K.o.S.]

Well, Barcade has expanded into Jersey and Philly so fingers crossed that you may see one someday. If you ever get to the Northeast, they are worth a visit. I easily blow $20 sometimes on quarters and a pint. Yesterday I went deep into Punch-Out but couldn't get past Glass Joe (the second time around, after you've already won the title from Mr. Sandman).

 

1Up in Denver is the same concept, FWIW.

 

Actually, wait a sec... http://barcadiabars.com/ has locations in Dallas and Fort Worth.  I meant to check out the New Orleans one when I was in the city earlier this year, but never made it.

[Neil Koch]

Insert Coins opened up in Minneapolis a little while ago.  I don't go out much to downtown Minneapolis any more -- too many college d-bags and thug wannabes during the weekend, plus drink prices are outrageous -- but I've been there a couple of times for happy hour and it's pretty cool, a nice selection of oldschool machines and decent drink prices.  It's certainly a lot better than the Gameworks that used to be in downtown, that place was a total ripoff, plus the good machines (the few that they had) never worked.

 

http://insertcoinsmpls.com/

 

I've been to Dave & Busters here once and won't go again.  First off, it's way out in the suburbs and takes forever to get to.  There's very few actual video games, most of the machines are those stupid ticket redemption scam "games".  The drinks are overpriced and the bar/food service was awful.  And I got food poisoning from their chicken wings.

 

There's also an Insert Coins in Vegas that is worth a look if you ever go to the Fremont Street Experience area, though I would put the Pinball Hall of Fame way over it if you like oldschool games.  If you want a drink, you can go to the Crown & Anchor bar next door and get a big pint for a couple of bucks.  The PoF also leases some of its' machines out to the Riviera, which is really the only reason nowadays why I would go in there. 

[JRGoldman]

There is a barcade in Wilmington DE called 1984, if anyone lives by Philly or in Delaware.

[Tele-Viper]

Not trying to rub it in but here is the latest list of available machines at my Barcade:

http://barcadebrooklyn.com/games/

 

Would be curious to know what similar establishments have. Barcade keeps their games in great shape too, though some games can't handle the high-volume of use anymore and only appear infrequently (720 is the one I most wish they'd return to active duty).

[Cliff Hanger]

Where in TX are you, Jingus? In Austin there's a little place called Recess on E 6th that doesn't appear to measure up to the place TV is talking about, but it has a dozen or so good machines and $2 Ziegenbock on draft.

[Jingus]

In a suburb waaaaaay north of Dallas, currently without a car.  So thanks, but can't.  

[Cliff Hanger]

Just thought I'd check, since "Texas" could be anywhere.