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Forgotten Games.
Retro games are games that time forgot. The word itself means backward or back, so technically, it is correct when referring to old games. They’re games that stood the test of time, games that were as good then as they are now. These games are retro games, the benchmark for new gaming ideas nowadays, as developers look back in search of inspiration, to bring back past ideas into the present.
So why am I talking about retro games in the first place, eh? Well, it seems there’s a debate going around our happy forums ‘ere. It’s a debate over what’s more enjoyable - when we were playing our old side-scrolling platformers on the SNES, or roaming about 3D worlds on our now dead N64s. It’s because of this debate that I have come up with the idea to take you back through time, and remind you of some ‘forgotten’ games. Although, no doubt some of you will remember them, especially if you’re Ninty...
But before I go on, you will notice that they all had something to do with Nintendo. That’ll be because they are the only games I can remember, the ones that stood out the in my mind the most, and the games I distinctly remember enjoying.
So here we go, as I take you all for a stroll down memory lane, where you’ll find old games from an era with only TWO dimensions. Enjoy...
DONKEY KONG JR
Arcade, 1982
This game is famous for being the only game in history where Mario is the bad guy, DK Jr was what Shigsy did next after the staggering success of the ladder-climbing original. Thankfully, Shigsy didn’t choose to make a slight variation on Donkey Kong and hope that the money would simply roll in again, instead, he totally recreated the game. You’d find big ol’ Donkey Kong locked up in a cage by the EVIL Mario, and you played the big ape’s baby son. Basically, your mission was to collect the keys that would free your daddy. Unlike its predecessor, there were no ladders or girdles for you to climb – only jungle vines to shimmy up. Although the four separate screen clearly demonstrated Nintendo’s level designing skills, the character expressions (namely DK Jr’s) was something not to be missed, because it looked as if sweet little DK was on the verge of tears every time evil Mario whisked away his dad to the next level. But of course, this game had its flaws, it did indeed. It was extremely frustrating most of the time, what with the irritating multicoloured killer birds and the equally annoying clockwork teeth that were always making repeated appearances, scattering across the screen in an attempt to, well...kill you. Either you have the toughest patience ever seen, and can control your temper to the most extreme points, you’ll find yourself picking up the nearest object and throwing it across the room in anger and frustration. However, you won’t find many people on this old thing anymore, instead you’re likely to find people playing DK 64, or the next game that will feature the Kong family – Donkey Kong Racing for the Gamecube.
BUBBLE BOBBLE
Arcade, 1985
To be honest, I still play this little beauty now :-S. It’s a fantastically simple platform game combined with colourful, platform-jumping designed levels and annoying little enemies once again born with the natural instinct to make your gaming life a living hell. To my knowledge, backed up with a spot of research, there are over 20 different versions of Bubble Bobble! All featuring your two favourite little dinosaur characters, Bub and Bob. Simple little creatures thought they were, firing bubbles from their cute mouths , trapping and killing the clockwork meanies that scuttled about the level – they had a lot more to do than that. The developers, Taito, crammed in tons of great little touches that made the game that little bit more hectic. Such as the co-operative battles for high-scoring fruit, scrambling to a part of the level that had recently spawned a rare level-skipping umbrella, and the manic dashes for wanted extra life letters. All were superb touches added by Taito that made the game that little bit better, and also one of the reasons as to why I still have a mad urge to play it once in a while. It’s simply a fine game, all the way down to the music – an addictive tune that will leave you humming it for the rest of your life; I still remember it now, in fact :D. Its flaw? It was nigh on impossible to complete; the nearest I got to completion was something like level 85.
GRADIUS
NES, 1987
Every side-scrolling shooter you have come across, whether it’d be on the Gameboy Colour or your old SNES, it’s likely enough that they all owed their existence to an old classic Konami blaster, more commonly known over ‘ere as Nemesis, me thinks. Anyway, Konami set the standards for such games with their innovative gamepley that rocked the world with their next even more innovative title: Gradius. It was this game that advanced from the old Nemesis game, where when playing it you either had the option to pick up the power ups or not. Konami then took this idea and instead listed the various power-ups at the bottom of the screen, such as: 2x fire, shield, floating orb and the curious ‘?’. And so destroyed enemies dropped cash which then allowed you to buy power-ups at any time. This is then when some decision making comes in. You either saved your money for the more meatier, destructive weapons, or spend away on the less able weapons. Gradius featured a rather spiffing ‘option’ system, too – where you had the tactical choice of having kind of wing-men along side you while flying and blasting. The decision to have or not have these buddies was not to be taken lightly, as it usually makes the difference between success and failure. The real strong point about Gradius is its one of the most addictive games I have ever played. It’s so enjoyable dodging the swarms of flittering alien ships and bashing the trigger repeatedly. The one really memorable moment of this game is awesome screen-filling appearance of the end-of-level baddies; it’s where tight control of your ship was as important as a fast trigger finger.
I really, really wouldn’t mind playing this game RIGHT NOW! Aargh, dammit – if I had to get a game with a NES: this would be it.
So, after reminding you of these three classic retro games, does it also help you remember what the good old days were like? After being reminded of these 2D classics, do you think you have more fun now than you did back then? I remember being truly addicted to a game on the Commodor 64. It was called Flimbo’s Quest. I could of reviewed that, too – but I can barely remember it! :D
I was going to write about Super Castlevania and Super Turrican, but again, I could barely remember what they were like, so I kept it at three
Of course, if anyone can remember these two, please go ahead and write about them – if you can be bothered ;)
So, just to interest you, one argument could be that the retro games were new at the time, and so we enjoyed them more, and that nowadays, we take the more realistic games a little more seriously?
Bah – anything, anything at all- what do you lot think, eh?
SHOCKY
Retro games are games that time forgot. The word itself means backward or back, so technically, it is correct when referring to old games. They’re games that stood the test of time, games that were as good then as they are now. These games are retro games, the benchmark for new gaming ideas nowadays, as developers look back in search of inspiration, to bring back past ideas into the present.
So why am I talking about retro games in the first place, eh? Well, it seems there’s a debate going around our happy forums ‘ere. It’s a debate over what’s more enjoyable - when we were playing our old side-scrolling platformers on the SNES, or roaming about 3D worlds on our now dead N64s. It’s because of this debate that I have come up with the idea to take you back through time, and remind you of some ‘forgotten’ games. Although, no doubt some of you will remember them, especially if you’re Ninty...
But before I go on, you will notice that they all had something to do with Nintendo. That’ll be because they are the only games I can remember, the ones that stood out the in my mind the most, and the games I distinctly remember enjoying.
So here we go, as I take you all for a stroll down memory lane, where you’ll find old games from an era with only TWO dimensions. Enjoy...
DONKEY KONG JR
Arcade, 1982
This game is famous for being the only game in history where Mario is the bad guy, DK Jr was what Shigsy did next after the staggering success of the ladder-climbing original. Thankfully, Shigsy didn’t choose to make a slight variation on Donkey Kong and hope that the money would simply roll in again, instead, he totally recreated the game. You’d find big ol’ Donkey Kong locked up in a cage by the EVIL Mario, and you played the big ape’s baby son. Basically, your mission was to collect the keys that would free your daddy. Unlike its predecessor, there were no ladders or girdles for you to climb – only jungle vines to shimmy up. Although the four separate screen clearly demonstrated Nintendo’s level designing skills, the character expressions (namely DK Jr’s) was something not to be missed, because it looked as if sweet little DK was on the verge of tears every time evil Mario whisked away his dad to the next level. But of course, this game had its flaws, it did indeed. It was extremely frustrating most of the time, what with the irritating multicoloured killer birds and the equally annoying clockwork teeth that were always making repeated appearances, scattering across the screen in an attempt to, well...kill you. Either you have the toughest patience ever seen, and can control your temper to the most extreme points, you’ll find yourself picking up the nearest object and throwing it across the room in anger and frustration. However, you won’t find many people on this old thing anymore, instead you’re likely to find people playing DK 64, or the next game that will feature the Kong family – Donkey Kong Racing for the Gamecube.
BUBBLE BOBBLE
Arcade, 1985
To be honest, I still play this little beauty now :-S. It’s a fantastically simple platform game combined with colourful, platform-jumping designed levels and annoying little enemies once again born with the natural instinct to make your gaming life a living hell. To my knowledge, backed up with a spot of research, there are over 20 different versions of Bubble Bobble! All featuring your two favourite little dinosaur characters, Bub and Bob. Simple little creatures thought they were, firing bubbles from their cute mouths , trapping and killing the clockwork meanies that scuttled about the level – they had a lot more to do than that. The developers, Taito, crammed in tons of great little touches that made the game that little bit more hectic. Such as the co-operative battles for high-scoring fruit, scrambling to a part of the level that had recently spawned a rare level-skipping umbrella, and the manic dashes for wanted extra life letters. All were superb touches added by Taito that made the game that little bit better, and also one of the reasons as to why I still have a mad urge to play it once in a while. It’s simply a fine game, all the way down to the music – an addictive tune that will leave you humming it for the rest of your life; I still remember it now, in fact :D. Its flaw? It was nigh on impossible to complete; the nearest I got to completion was something like level 85.
GRADIUS
NES, 1987
Every side-scrolling shooter you have come across, whether it’d be on the Gameboy Colour or your old SNES, it’s likely enough that they all owed their existence to an old classic Konami blaster, more commonly known over ‘ere as Nemesis, me thinks. Anyway, Konami set the standards for such games with their innovative gamepley that rocked the world with their next even more innovative title: Gradius. It was this game that advanced from the old Nemesis game, where when playing it you either had the option to pick up the power ups or not. Konami then took this idea and instead listed the various power-ups at the bottom of the screen, such as: 2x fire, shield, floating orb and the curious ‘?’. And so destroyed enemies dropped cash which then allowed you to buy power-ups at any time. This is then when some decision making comes in. You either saved your money for the more meatier, destructive weapons, or spend away on the less able weapons. Gradius featured a rather spiffing ‘option’ system, too – where you had the tactical choice of having kind of wing-men along side you while flying and blasting. The decision to have or not have these buddies was not to be taken lightly, as it usually makes the difference between success and failure. The real strong point about Gradius is its one of the most addictive games I have ever played. It’s so enjoyable dodging the swarms of flittering alien ships and bashing the trigger repeatedly. The one really memorable moment of this game is awesome screen-filling appearance of the end-of-level baddies; it’s where tight control of your ship was as important as a fast trigger finger.
I really, really wouldn’t mind playing this game RIGHT NOW! Aargh, dammit – if I had to get a game with a NES: this would be it.
So, after reminding you of these three classic retro games, does it also help you remember what the good old days were like? After being reminded of these 2D classics, do you think you have more fun now than you did back then? I remember being truly addicted to a game on the Commodor 64. It was called Flimbo’s Quest. I could of reviewed that, too – but I can barely remember it! :D
I was going to write about Super Castlevania and Super Turrican, but again, I could barely remember what they were like, so I kept it at three
Of course, if anyone can remember these two, please go ahead and write about them – if you can be bothered ;)
So, just to interest you, one argument could be that the retro games were new at the time, and so we enjoyed them more, and that nowadays, we take the more realistic games a little more seriously?
Bah – anything, anything at all- what do you lot think, eh?
SHOCKY
Page:
Good Post. You finally finished it then Shocky? :oP
Shame that I don't remember any of them except the DK one. I loved that one the Snes. Amazing game.
I remember castlevania but you decided not to do it :-D
I also remember Gauntlet. Gauntlet XI or somink. Jesus that game was so addictive. Very.
Coursework to me, is like the poison of teenagers lives. We could all do without the Damned Dirty Coursework :o)
Shame that I don't remember any of them except the DK one. I loved that one the Snes. Amazing game.
I remember castlevania but you decided not to do it :-D
I also remember Gauntlet. Gauntlet XI or somink. Jesus that game was so addictive. Very.
Coursework to me, is like the poison of teenagers lives. We could all do without the Damned Dirty Coursework :o)
Gangsta Hamsta wrote:
Good post Shocky - ain't seen you around on here
> for a while. Maybe i ain't been looking hard enough!
Lol.
You see, it's a LITTLE thing called coursework :-( Right important, mandatory b****r, and it's draining me of my free time and social activities :D
Oh yeah...:(
Anywho, it's a real b@$tard...warning to you all...
SHOCKY
Err, Gangster Hamster, are you someone in disguise? :)
Good post Shocky - ain't seen you around on here
> for a while. Maybe i ain't been looking hard enough!
Lol.
You see, it's a LITTLE thing called coursework :-( Right important, mandatory b****r, and it's draining me of my free time and social activities :D
Oh yeah...:(
Anywho, it's a real b@$tard...warning to you all...
SHOCKY
Err, Gangster Hamster, are you someone in disguise? :)
Dr Duck wrote:
>I got to level 98, with a code, of course...
Heh, I got up to ther last boss! With a code, of course :D
And it is virtually impossible. I have yet to meet anyone who has completed the games - either using cheats or not!
If I could be bothered, I'd play this old beaut' again...fantastic little addictive game it is! :)
SHOCKY
>I got to level 98, with a code, of course...
Heh, I got up to ther last boss! With a code, of course :D
And it is virtually impossible. I have yet to meet anyone who has completed the games - either using cheats or not!
If I could be bothered, I'd play this old beaut' again...fantastic little addictive game it is! :)
SHOCKY
I still play my old games of Megadrive and SNES fames. But I will admit, I have so many PS2 titles to play at the moment, as well as two more on there way, finding time to play them is difficult.
At the moment thoght, the retro games that I mostly play on Flashback and Streets of Rage 3 on the Megadrive and Final Fight 3 on the SNES. I still love these games.
But if I was to choose an arcade title that I most loved playing, it would be Ghouls and Ghosts. Brilliant game. Hey, that's a good point, I still play the Megadrive version, but the arcade was the best if you ask me. It was such a long time ago though.
At the moment thoght, the retro games that I mostly play on Flashback and Streets of Rage 3 on the Megadrive and Final Fight 3 on the SNES. I still love these games.
But if I was to choose an arcade title that I most loved playing, it would be Ghouls and Ghosts. Brilliant game. Hey, that's a good point, I still play the Megadrive version, but the arcade was the best if you ask me. It was such a long time ago though.
Ah, Bubble Bobble!
Got to level 98 (using the passwords of course), but i remember hearing noise about waiting for the 'hurry up' message on certain levels, then a gateway to get special items was supposed to appear. I know there were supposed to be mirrors and something for the later levels where you couldn't see the platforms - coals or something.
Also, that level with loads of diamonds, and a rectangle filled with symbols in the password format and all 26 symbols arranged in order like it was a code. I think that was how it was. Tried to decode it once, and enter it as a password, but without any joy.
Got to level 98 (using the passwords of course), but i remember hearing noise about waiting for the 'hurry up' message on certain levels, then a gateway to get special items was supposed to appear. I know there were supposed to be mirrors and something for the later levels where you couldn't see the platforms - coals or something.
Also, that level with loads of diamonds, and a rectangle filled with symbols in the password format and all 26 symbols arranged in order like it was a code. I think that was how it was. Tried to decode it once, and enter it as a password, but without any joy.
I love playing retro game. My SNES is always plugged in next to my PS and N64. Mario Kart never looses its appeal. I think though that if you tried to show today's youngster the games we all played on the C64/spectrum/SNES etc they would loose interest. I personally like them because i remember how much i enjoyed playing them when they came out. Not much compared to a new PS2 for today's youngsters though.
Good post Shocky - ain't seen you around on here for a while. Maybe i ain't been looking hard enough!
Good post Shocky - ain't seen you around on here for a while. Maybe i ain't been looking hard enough!
Forgotten Games.
Retro games are games that time forgot. The word itself means backward or back, so technically, it is correct when referring to old games. They’re games that stood the test of time, games that were as good then as they are now. These games are retro games, the benchmark for new gaming ideas nowadays, as developers look back in search of inspiration, to bring back past ideas into the present.
So why am I talking about retro games in the first place, eh? Well, it seems there’s a debate going around our happy forums ‘ere. It’s a debate over what’s more enjoyable - when we were playing our old side-scrolling platformers on the SNES, or roaming about 3D worlds on our now dead N64s. It’s because of this debate that I have come up with the idea to take you back through time, and remind you of some ‘forgotten’ games. Although, no doubt some of you will remember them, especially if you’re Ninty...
But before I go on, you will notice that they all had something to do with Nintendo. That’ll be because they are the only games I can remember, the ones that stood out the in my mind the most, and the games I distinctly remember enjoying.
So here we go, as I take you all for a stroll down memory lane, where you’ll find old games from an era with only TWO dimensions. Enjoy...
DONKEY KONG JR
Arcade, 1982
This game is famous for being the only game in history where Mario is the bad guy, DK Jr was what Shigsy did next after the staggering success of the ladder-climbing original. Thankfully, Shigsy didn’t choose to make a slight variation on Donkey Kong and hope that the money would simply roll in again, instead, he totally recreated the game. You’d find big ol’ Donkey Kong locked up in a cage by the EVIL Mario, and you played the big ape’s baby son. Basically, your mission was to collect the keys that would free your daddy. Unlike its predecessor, there were no ladders or girdles for you to climb – only jungle vines to shimmy up. Although the four separate screen clearly demonstrated Nintendo’s level designing skills, the character expressions (namely DK Jr’s) was something not to be missed, because it looked as if sweet little DK was on the verge of tears every time evil Mario whisked away his dad to the next level. But of course, this game had its flaws, it did indeed. It was extremely frustrating most of the time, what with the irritating multicoloured killer birds and the equally annoying clockwork teeth that were always making repeated appearances, scattering across the screen in an attempt to, well...kill you. Either you have the toughest patience ever seen, and can control your temper to the most extreme points, you’ll find yourself picking up the nearest object and throwing it across the room in anger and frustration. However, you won’t find many people on this old thing anymore, instead you’re likely to find people playing DK 64, or the next game that will feature the Kong family – Donkey Kong Racing for the Gamecube.
BUBBLE BOBBLE
Arcade, 1985
To be honest, I still play this little beauty now :-S. It’s a fantastically simple platform game combined with colourful, platform-jumping designed levels and annoying little enemies once again born with the natural instinct to make your gaming life a living hell. To my knowledge, backed up with a spot of research, there are over 20 different versions of Bubble Bobble! All featuring your two favourite little dinosaur characters, Bub and Bob. Simple little creatures thought they were, firing bubbles from their cute mouths , trapping and killing the clockwork meanies that scuttled about the level – they had a lot more to do than that. The developers, Taito, crammed in tons of great little touches that made the game that little bit more hectic. Such as the co-operative battles for high-scoring fruit, scrambling to a part of the level that had recently spawned a rare level-skipping umbrella, and the manic dashes for wanted extra life letters. All were superb touches added by Taito that made the game that little bit better, and also one of the reasons as to why I still have a mad urge to play it once in a while. It’s simply a fine game, all the way down to the music – an addictive tune that will leave you humming it for the rest of your life; I still remember it now, in fact :D. Its flaw? It was nigh on impossible to complete; the nearest I got to completion was something like level 85.
GRADIUS
NES, 1987
Every side-scrolling shooter you have come across, whether it’d be on the Gameboy Colour or your old SNES, it’s likely enough that they all owed their existence to an old classic Konami blaster, more commonly known over ‘ere as Nemesis, me thinks. Anyway, Konami set the standards for such games with their innovative gamepley that rocked the world with their next even more innovative title: Gradius. It was this game that advanced from the old Nemesis game, where when playing it you either had the option to pick up the power ups or not. Konami then took this idea and instead listed the various power-ups at the bottom of the screen, such as: 2x fire, shield, floating orb and the curious ‘?’. And so destroyed enemies dropped cash which then allowed you to buy power-ups at any time. This is then when some decision making comes in. You either saved your money for the more meatier, destructive weapons, or spend away on the less able weapons. Gradius featured a rather spiffing ‘option’ system, too – where you had the tactical choice of having kind of wing-men along side you while flying and blasting. The decision to have or not have these buddies was not to be taken lightly, as it usually makes the difference between success and failure. The real strong point about Gradius is its one of the most addictive games I have ever played. It’s so enjoyable dodging the swarms of flittering alien ships and bashing the trigger repeatedly. The one really memorable moment of this game is awesome screen-filling appearance of the end-of-level baddies; it’s where tight control of your ship was as important as a fast trigger finger.
I really, really wouldn’t mind playing this game RIGHT NOW! Aargh, dammit – if I had to get a game with a NES: this would be it.
So, after reminding you of these three classic retro games, does it also help you remember what the good old days were like? After being reminded of these 2D classics, do you think you have more fun now than you did back then? I remember being truly addicted to a game on the Commodor 64. It was called Flimbo’s Quest. I could of reviewed that, too – but I can barely remember it! :D
I was going to write about Super Castlevania and Super Turrican, but again, I could barely remember what they were like, so I kept it at three
Of course, if anyone can remember these two, please go ahead and write about them – if you can be bothered ;)
So, just to interest you, one argument could be that the retro games were new at the time, and so we enjoyed them more, and that nowadays, we take the more realistic games a little more seriously?
Bah – anything, anything at all- what do you lot think, eh?
SHOCKY
Retro games are games that time forgot. The word itself means backward or back, so technically, it is correct when referring to old games. They’re games that stood the test of time, games that were as good then as they are now. These games are retro games, the benchmark for new gaming ideas nowadays, as developers look back in search of inspiration, to bring back past ideas into the present.
So why am I talking about retro games in the first place, eh? Well, it seems there’s a debate going around our happy forums ‘ere. It’s a debate over what’s more enjoyable - when we were playing our old side-scrolling platformers on the SNES, or roaming about 3D worlds on our now dead N64s. It’s because of this debate that I have come up with the idea to take you back through time, and remind you of some ‘forgotten’ games. Although, no doubt some of you will remember them, especially if you’re Ninty...
But before I go on, you will notice that they all had something to do with Nintendo. That’ll be because they are the only games I can remember, the ones that stood out the in my mind the most, and the games I distinctly remember enjoying.
So here we go, as I take you all for a stroll down memory lane, where you’ll find old games from an era with only TWO dimensions. Enjoy...
DONKEY KONG JR
Arcade, 1982
This game is famous for being the only game in history where Mario is the bad guy, DK Jr was what Shigsy did next after the staggering success of the ladder-climbing original. Thankfully, Shigsy didn’t choose to make a slight variation on Donkey Kong and hope that the money would simply roll in again, instead, he totally recreated the game. You’d find big ol’ Donkey Kong locked up in a cage by the EVIL Mario, and you played the big ape’s baby son. Basically, your mission was to collect the keys that would free your daddy. Unlike its predecessor, there were no ladders or girdles for you to climb – only jungle vines to shimmy up. Although the four separate screen clearly demonstrated Nintendo’s level designing skills, the character expressions (namely DK Jr’s) was something not to be missed, because it looked as if sweet little DK was on the verge of tears every time evil Mario whisked away his dad to the next level. But of course, this game had its flaws, it did indeed. It was extremely frustrating most of the time, what with the irritating multicoloured killer birds and the equally annoying clockwork teeth that were always making repeated appearances, scattering across the screen in an attempt to, well...kill you. Either you have the toughest patience ever seen, and can control your temper to the most extreme points, you’ll find yourself picking up the nearest object and throwing it across the room in anger and frustration. However, you won’t find many people on this old thing anymore, instead you’re likely to find people playing DK 64, or the next game that will feature the Kong family – Donkey Kong Racing for the Gamecube.
BUBBLE BOBBLE
Arcade, 1985
To be honest, I still play this little beauty now :-S. It’s a fantastically simple platform game combined with colourful, platform-jumping designed levels and annoying little enemies once again born with the natural instinct to make your gaming life a living hell. To my knowledge, backed up with a spot of research, there are over 20 different versions of Bubble Bobble! All featuring your two favourite little dinosaur characters, Bub and Bob. Simple little creatures thought they were, firing bubbles from their cute mouths , trapping and killing the clockwork meanies that scuttled about the level – they had a lot more to do than that. The developers, Taito, crammed in tons of great little touches that made the game that little bit more hectic. Such as the co-operative battles for high-scoring fruit, scrambling to a part of the level that had recently spawned a rare level-skipping umbrella, and the manic dashes for wanted extra life letters. All were superb touches added by Taito that made the game that little bit better, and also one of the reasons as to why I still have a mad urge to play it once in a while. It’s simply a fine game, all the way down to the music – an addictive tune that will leave you humming it for the rest of your life; I still remember it now, in fact :D. Its flaw? It was nigh on impossible to complete; the nearest I got to completion was something like level 85.
GRADIUS
NES, 1987
Every side-scrolling shooter you have come across, whether it’d be on the Gameboy Colour or your old SNES, it’s likely enough that they all owed their existence to an old classic Konami blaster, more commonly known over ‘ere as Nemesis, me thinks. Anyway, Konami set the standards for such games with their innovative gamepley that rocked the world with their next even more innovative title: Gradius. It was this game that advanced from the old Nemesis game, where when playing it you either had the option to pick up the power ups or not. Konami then took this idea and instead listed the various power-ups at the bottom of the screen, such as: 2x fire, shield, floating orb and the curious ‘?’. And so destroyed enemies dropped cash which then allowed you to buy power-ups at any time. This is then when some decision making comes in. You either saved your money for the more meatier, destructive weapons, or spend away on the less able weapons. Gradius featured a rather spiffing ‘option’ system, too – where you had the tactical choice of having kind of wing-men along side you while flying and blasting. The decision to have or not have these buddies was not to be taken lightly, as it usually makes the difference between success and failure. The real strong point about Gradius is its one of the most addictive games I have ever played. It’s so enjoyable dodging the swarms of flittering alien ships and bashing the trigger repeatedly. The one really memorable moment of this game is awesome screen-filling appearance of the end-of-level baddies; it’s where tight control of your ship was as important as a fast trigger finger.
I really, really wouldn’t mind playing this game RIGHT NOW! Aargh, dammit – if I had to get a game with a NES: this would be it.
So, after reminding you of these three classic retro games, does it also help you remember what the good old days were like? After being reminded of these 2D classics, do you think you have more fun now than you did back then? I remember being truly addicted to a game on the Commodor 64. It was called Flimbo’s Quest. I could of reviewed that, too – but I can barely remember it! :D
I was going to write about Super Castlevania and Super Turrican, but again, I could barely remember what they were like, so I kept it at three
Of course, if anyone can remember these two, please go ahead and write about them – if you can be bothered ;)
So, just to interest you, one argument could be that the retro games were new at the time, and so we enjoyed them more, and that nowadays, we take the more realistic games a little more seriously?
Bah – anything, anything at all- what do you lot think, eh?
SHOCKY
Page: