I mean post Intellivision and Atari. In my opinion the system that launched a universe. My Dad arrived from Jacksonville to visit last evening. As he is getting up there (85) he's starting to get rid of stuff. He has amassed a LOT of stuff. (A year ago he brought me up "an old guitar" one of his wives left when they split up...1968 Gibson B25...another story). This time he said he brought something for Clara (she's 7) He said he got it a long time ago and never could put it together so he put it away. Here are pics:
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3256/3529138455_2f64cc2039_o.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2016/3529951584_f505b60731_o.jpg)
Yup. It's 1990 at my house now. I can't go to Wonderfest but I can play BOMBERMAN!!!!
That is HUUUUUUUUUUUGE! I love Nintendo!! All the Konami games were sick! Contra, Castle Vania, Gradius, Rush-N-Attack...man they were great, ...I actually still have my Nintendo in very playable shape and every once in awhile hit up the Tecmo Bowl or Blades Of Steel...
I also have a GREAT Atari 2600 that I got on ebay with Asteroids, Pac-Man, Phoenix, Yar's Revenge, Pitfall, Berzerk...which is one of the greatest games ever in my opinon. Actually from Nintendo on, Im pretty sure I have every system in my attic.
Now, Im a Madden nut on 360 and I still have the Midway and NAMCO museum discs with all the great games...which are practice. Because if anyone wants to meet at an arcade for a "friendly" game of Galaga....just say the word :)
Wow ! I had that Nintendo set ! Those photos bring back great memories.
I could never beat Dracula in Castlevania,though.
Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely! I was a gaming nut before I was even tall enough to reach the controls on an arcade: We had a Pac-Man arcade game at the grocery store, and I would stand on a milk crate to play it. I loved my NES and had a ton of games for it back in the day. Some of my favorites were Super Mario Bros. 3, Zelda, Kirby, Altered Beast, Castlevania, Ghosts 'n Goblins, and I was madly addicted to Destiny of an Emperor. I also really liked Zombies Ate My Neighbors, but that was on my Sega Genesis. Oh, those were the days.
That looks just like mine. Bought it and never hooked it up. Still in the box unused. I must be getting old. David
my mom actually owns an original 'galaga' game. i had it in my store for about a year and a half, but the screen started acting up and i just needed the room. she still has it.
ah, the NES. wasted many, many hours on that sucker, lol. i don't even remember what i played on it. i had practically every game system, so they kinda blur together after so long.
let's see: i've got a couple atari 2600s around here somewhere in various states. if i remember correctly, the last time i counted i had 132 cartridges, most of them working, about 30 of those are duplicates. i keep a couple old televisions around in the basement just so there's something to play them on if i ever got in the mood. (yes, i was spoiled, but not *that* spoiled. i used to sell used toys, that's how i got so many games.) one game is copyrighted 1977 (for the sears system) that's, get this, *in black and white*, lol. if i could transfer all those hours i spent playing atari into something useful, i could have a phd in something by now. the BEST atari games were made by a company called supercharger. the supercharger itself was an oversized cartridge with a cord coming out of it that you plugged into a cassette player. the games themselves were loaded into the cartridge and came on cassettes. i can't tell you how much money i had wrapped up in crazy joysticks, from the ball-on-the-stick thing to contraptions with suction cups on the base.
i had an odyssey 2, a very underrated system and the first one with (very limited) voice capabilities.
the graphics (remember that term?) weren't exactly spectacular, but they made very playable games. the voice system was this monstrous add-on which, if you listened close enough, made human-ish words like you'd expect from an early 80's hunk of plastic. the voice modulator (making that name up, but it sounds good) was expensive, so i never had one. the most immediate thing you noticed about the O2 was it had a full keyboard. what this was really good for is beyond me, but supposedly you could programme your own games with a programming cartridge.
i never bothered with an intellivision. my friend had one and i hated it, though to be fair the aspect of it that just turned me off more than anything else was the joystick. correction, joy*pad*, sorry. what a random piece of.... some company made a little attachment to fit over the pad that had a short stick to it, but, yeah, it sucked maybe even more as more often than not you had to apply pressure to the pad to make the stick not fall off, thereby creating chaos with whatever you were playing.
post-atari and there's no competition, it was coleco's colecovision. unfortunately, while the games looked great, they didn't tend to have much replay value, and the funky controller with a built-in keypad and stubby joystick didn't help.
then the NES. 'nuff said. for some reason, i loathed the sega genesis i bought used.
then the nintendo64, another underrated system, imo. in one version, a pretty phenomenal 'star wars' game came with it. holy crap, you mean systems actually used to come with a free game?! yes, virginia, and sometimes even two! then apparently some beancounter figured out that you'd actually buy a game along with the system, so no more freebies. bastards.
my nephews had a dreamcast, and it looked pretty cool, but i passed on it. the dreamcast is, for some inexplicable reason, making a kind of comeback according to my yahoo! home page from a few daze ago. no new games, of course....
then followed the playstation (unmodified), xbox, PS2 and gamecube. all but the PS2 collect dust at the moment. last x-mas we weren't quite sure whether or not to get a PS3 or 360, but given past performance problems with the x-box and microsoft's runaround (and the fact that microsoft has umpteen gajillion class-action lawsuits against them for the 360), and it wasn't a hard decision, so we got the mid-level PS3 on sale.
i'd say i've definitely had my fair share of game systems. then again, i grew up playing 'pong,' which wouldn't surprise me if my dad still had. it probably still works, lol. i don't think i'm forgetting any i've owned. of the major systems i can think of off the top of my head, dreamcast and intellivision are the only two i didn't have. i don't count the commodore 64 as a game system, though their 'galaxian' version was pretty sweet, nor is the texas instruments (a code word for radio shack crap) TRS (?) a game system.
as a sidenote, my best friend's dad bought an apple II in the late 70's/early 80's (don't remember when), and we'd sit there for hours playing 'zork' and 'ultima.' man, *those* were the daze!
I'm sorry, I see 'old school' and I think of the first video games WE had: Pong, TV Arcade, with the screen layovers for shooting galleries... then Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision, etc.
And back then, 'gamer' meant you brought graph paper and a bag of many-sided dice.
Mike C.
I had the pong, Atari, Nintendo, and Super Nintendo. I was fine until The Legend of Zelda. Then I got hooked. I had a hard time getting off the Zelda. It is the only game that I ever got obsessive about.
Fast forward to earlier this week, and my brother gave me his SNES, nice and in the box...with Zelda. Man, I love that game. I had a hard time going to sleep last night...I have a problem. ;)
Quote from: mike c on May 15, 2009, 03:51:38 AM
I'm sorry, I see 'old school' and I think of the first video games WE had: Pong, TV Arcade, with the screen layovers for shooting galleries... then Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision, etc.
And back then, 'gamer' meant you brought graph paper and a bag of many-sided dice.
Mike C.
I hear you Mike C., Our first games were from Atari: Combat, Adventure, Pac Man, Donkey Kong ect. Played a little bit but never got past those.
When I hear "Gamer" I think of someone who played/still plays (myself included) Avalon Hill/SPI wargames such as: The Russian Campaign, Panzer Leader, Panzer Armee Afrika, Onslaught, 1776, Third Reich, Panzer Blitz, ect.
The classic games were more addictive than most of the stuff I find on the shelves today. The only thing that comes close for me nowadays is Halo 2. My friends know to run when I get the rocket launcher. ;)
Hey preyer, you forgot TurboGrafix and the Atari Jaguar. :P
Quote from: Nicole on May 15, 2009, 08:07:22 AM
The classic games were more addictive than most of the stuff I find on the shelves today.
I agree with that! Nothing comes close to Galaga and Robotron 2024...also nothing comes close to the anxiety attacks I get due to Galaga, a game that right around Challenging Stage 20 starts to giggle at me a bit...also a game that I talk back to. You know its a good night for me when theres a beer next to me, Im slightly slouched, intensely watching the screen and you hear me say.."keep dropping down, Im just getting angrier..you little b!!hes!".....Hello my name is Jess and Im addicted to Galaga.
i did forget the SNES. *everyone* had one of those. in fact, in some box somewhere, i'm sure i still have one. and the controller in another box and the power cord in yet in another. at my mom's storage building. fortunately it's still within the same state.
anyone ever do this? put a bunch of like items in a box, such as power cords, from a dozen different sources and say to yourself, 'when i need one, i'll remember which one i need.' like in three years when you next see this junk you'll somehow just *know* which is the right adapter....
ah, the turbographix and jaguar. i guess you have to technically call them 'major systems,' but i've never known anyone who actually owned one. i forgot all about those puppies.
back in the day, you'd go to the dayton mall to the red baron arcade. you could play that football game with the big roller, skeeball, combatzone, air hockey, whole rows of pinball, and your choice of shoot-at-the-screen-with-a-big-light-emitting-gun style games. of course, space invaders. yeah, i'd say that if you played space invaders back when it was still new, you could be old school, lol.
today, i'm pretty much out of the loop arcade game-wise. i just don't have the time (and usually the money) to visit dave and busters much these daze.
i miss the old school arcades, dark rooms filled with glowing monitor light and shrill electronic sound. pull up a wobbly stool and waste a couple bucks in 'tron' or 'gorf.' if you wanted the latest and greatest in games, chuck e. cheese's was the place to go. no surprise, that, considering nolan bushnell owned them. yep, that's bushnell of atari fame.
now, if you want *truly* old school video arcade games, this is it, baby:
http://retrocrush.buzznet.com/archive2/computerspace/ (http://retrocrush.buzznet.com/archive2/computerspace/)
best game ever? any shooting gallery or those quick draw games where you have to draw faster than the mannequin gunslinger five feet away. if you get outdrawn, you get to pull out your best oscar-calibre death scene for all to see. i have to admit, i always cheated at those arm wrestling games where your 'opponet' was always a masked mexican wrestler looking dude.
you'd not call it a game, but i distinctly remember one local restaurant (back when life was cool, before streamlining, frivolous lawsuits, political correctness was in full swing and good taste) what had antique nickleodeans that still worked and you had to crank the 'movie' yourself.
now if i could only turn back time, make myself a little younger, return to the 70's minus crippling recession and gas shortage (and while i was at it, have ford make a late 70's mustang convertible with real power (ford made no convertibles from '74-'83, as i recall), i'd be set. hey, i looove disco, and i'd have been the first in line to see ELO in concert! because if you ask me, albums are better than cd's, 76' t-birds are better than priouses, KISS is better than nickleback, platform shoes are better than crocs, beta is better than DVD, payphones are better than cellulars, and star wars is better than, well, star wars.
ah, now i'm feeling nostalgic....
atari rules, xbox drools!
up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,A,B,Select,Start
It's amazing, that I still remember that.
Quote from: Dr.Teufel Geist on May 20, 2009, 11:18:44 PM
up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,A,B,Select,Start
It's amazing, that I still remember that.
Yeah, I still remember some of those too...
Down, Up, Left, Left, A, Right, Down. Extra gore mode in Mortal Kombat. :D
Initially we had a Pong system that we used to play on a small black & white portable TV. Later we "upgraded" to an Atari system. Our favorite game was Adventure. You, the player, were represented by a dot and your sword was an arrow. Beware the dragon, which looked more like a seahorse. I also remember player the early text only games like Zork.
Rob
Quote from: monsterphile on May 20, 2009, 11:59:32 PM
Initially we had a Pong system that we used to play on a small black & white portable TV. Later we "upgraded" to an Atari system. Our favorite game was Adventure. You, the player, were represented by a dot and your sword was an arrow. Beware the dragon, which looked more like a seahorse. I also remember player the early text only games like Zork.
Rob
I loved in Adventure, the chalice that flashed (color-cycling) and yes! the dragon flying around to get you.
Mem-oh-reeeeees!
Mike C.
I vaguely remember in Adventure there was a hidden room that you could get to where you view the credits for the game's creator or something like that.
Rob
I also vaguely remember an Atari game called "Haunted House". All I remember was the cartrige in black and orange lettering, nothing really about the game.
How about the Atari Football game? 3 guys on a side moving slower than electric football! But is was great fun.
And remember, if you are a stereo/audiophile, those first Sony Play Stations are rec. by some for their cd player:
http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/708play/ (http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/708play/)
You're right Bogey. Interesting article, thanks!
If I recall, the Panasonic 3DO System (talk about old school!) was the first (quite some time before PS) to have the same kind of stereo CD feature with beat color/pattern graphics and so on. I still have mine!
This one's for Baron Latos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfRFsEYVyQ&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfRFsEYVyQ&feature=related)
I thought it was a better version of Adventure... not because it played any better, but because it was about a haunted house, of course!
Mike C.
Quote from: mike c on May 21, 2009, 10:44:29 AM
This one's for Baron Latos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfRFsEYVyQ&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsfRFsEYVyQ&feature=related)
I thought it was a better version of Adventure... not because it played any better, but because it was about a haunted house, of course!
Mike C.
Mike C. you're the man! Thanks for the post, the sound effects alone made me smile. You're right: it was Adventure in a Haunted House!
'adventure' was, believe it or not, quite a breakthrough game. it allowed a (then) unprecedented control of your character and the ability to go from one 'environment' to another. i love how the developers made yet another huge leap by making the 'adventure' character go from a square dot to, gasp!, 'haunted house's two smaller dots. amazing! how did they do it?!
okay, now for my atari 2600 moment (nevermind the 5200 or 7800), and for the record i remember when it was called the atari VCS (video computer *snicker* system before changing to the 2600 moniker).
overall best game publisher: activision. untold hours were spent helming 'battletank' (i think that's what it was called) and ruining my wrists playing 'decathalon.' strangely enough, i never really got into playing 'pitfall.' i believe 'starmaster' was an activision game, and a spectacular one at that ~ it even came with its own special controller pad! as i recall, this may have been the first game to incorporate the atari console switches as game elements.
best atari published games: 'combat.' what a great introductory game, and still one of my all-time favourites on that system. 'warlord' was brilliant in its simplicity and tons of fun, it's just a shame the paddles were of pretty low quality. if i remember correctly, some boxes had either 'combat' or 'warlord' and maybe later had both before 'pac-man' became the standard game included. i'd have to look up my atari history on that, though, but basically who cares? lol.
worst atari games: this is a long list, but what do you expect from a game system with over *900* titles produced for it? could it be the infamous 'custer's revenge,' an x-rated game where you as custer rape a squaw tied to a pole? the lamentable 'e.t.,' where they actually buried unsold copies of the game and for good measure topped it off with concrete (this rumour is true)? my personal worst is the awful 'raiders of the lost ark.' that said, i rarely bought an atari published game once other publishers won the right to make games for the system ~ and made them better than the manufacturer what wanted to keep all game production for themselves! greedy bastards! the problem with atari was they didn't care to honestly expand game capabilities, or so it seemed. if they cared to try, it certainly didn't show in most regards. i know i wasn't the only one who wished activision or even polaris (makers of the awesome 'atlantis') had gotten the rights to 'pac-man.' (to be fair, 'ms. pac-man' was pretty great.) if i remember, the best atari themselves was able to produce was the 'swordquest' series, and those were pretty lame; much improved graphics, but still dull as dishwater.
the problem with the later games was they focused too much on graphics and not enough on gameplay. 'pong' is as simple a game as is conceivable, but it's still playable even today.
given time, money and space, i actually wouldn't mind collecting old game systems and games. the problem would be finding enough old t.v.s that you could play these things on!
No doubt about it, Adventure was revolutionary in gaming; we were mesmerized by it for a LONG time. One of the gaming mags (can't recall at the moment) last summer had an article about early home games, and they likened Adventure to Pong and Super Mario in that "it changed things"; suddenly the playing field (so to speak!) was altered forever.
I remember feeling the same way about Activision's Spider Fighter when it was released some years after Adventure. Suddenly Centipede-like graphics (for 80's tv's at any rate) were available in my house, and the look and play were somehow different than any home game had been before.
All eminently playable, even today, as you rightly point out. Pong, heck yes. Simple, perfect.
Mike C.
correction: atari made 'star raiders' with the keypad, while activision made 'starmaster' using the b/w/colour switch. i had both, but it was no surprise 'starmaster' was easily the superior game. i should have remembered, as i'm pretty sure (in hindsight) that atari planned on the keypad being used for other games as well. maybe it was, i don't know, but i distinctly recall the keypad having a slot or notches for different keypad overlays. i know i have one or two keypads in a box somewhere, and i'm equally as sure that the overlays for 'star raiders' is long gone. :)
atari age has a cool website for old games, listing all there are to find along with prototypes and their rarity factor. several sites have these old games easily downloaded. you could probably fit about 500 of these games, if not all, onto a disk, eh? lol.
we have several of those 'plug n plays,' but haven't found one that's got my wife's favourite, 'kaboom!' funny, isn't it, that for about $35 you can get about ten early 80's arcade quality games that fit into a relatively comfortable joystick. one i've got has 'ms. pac-man,' 'dig dug,' and one of my faves, 'bosconian' (which may be the first video game with voice).
i was never a big 'adventure' player, but you can't deny its importance. ironically, i probably have no fewer than three of those carts somewhere.
as i remember, atari's 'centipede' was the crappiest crapfest that ever crapped its way into a cart, wasn't it?
why i suddenly remember this i don't know, but 'the wizard of wor' rocked!
interesting trivia....
in the early 80's there was a company called gameline. basically you had a PIN, called up, and downloaded a videogame (for a fee) into a special cartridge via your phone line that you plugged into the side of the cart. that's pretty cool in itself, *but* gameline also envisioned receiving stock quotes, weather, even an 'opinion' page, etc.. sound like a familiar 'invention'?
the video game crash of '83 (sometimes referred to as the crash of '84) killed gameline and the potential it had. the investors and founding members of gameline took this technology and started a new company called quantum computer services, steve case being one of them.
in 1991, quantum computer services became AOL.