Slashdot Mirror

Co-incidentally, just today I was commenting to my wife about games from the 80's - when I was a school boy - today.

I was just investigating some old computer magazines for the most popular gaming platforms back then.

These mags make good reading. The reviews praise games which took only a few weeks or months for a one/two person development team to write.

Games then had what I call "playability" - more substance than style. Graphics capabilities were not good, memory was very tight (32K on some machines) and typical processors were clocked at less than 1Mhz.

In these days of fast processors, graphics GPUs, realms of memory etc, it seems (IMHO) that all that games are all about style with little substance.

I wasn't positive about this either, but according to this site, "While they are an independent company, HAL Laboratory can still be considered a Nintendo second-party developer due to their [close] relationship."

Sure, for playing Gorilla.

... does it support ogg vorbis and linux? I'm sticking with my classic handheld until it does! ;)

Link to portable Atari 2600

http://www.classicgaming.com/vcsp/VCSpStory1.htm ;)

Of course, the gameboy advance looks like a supercomputer in comparison...

... 7.1 channel Audio

Why?

It's a HANDHELD!!!

I can just imagine the proprietary headphone now... it's a wrap around band for your whole head, with a subwoofer on top.

Oh and the name... PSP?

I hate to say that this guy is already using the name....

Oh and in case I haven't karma whored enough?

Here's pics of the presentation

(random brag-about-how-my-system's-better fact)the SEGA Game Gear has had a TV tuner for ages. It works well, and consider this: compared to a portable TV, the GBA's screen resolution is awesome. Unfortunately, the GBA only displays 512 colors/line, so that could be a problem. The GameGear had built-in circuitry for the TV tuner, so the tuner could get around the GameGear's 32colors/line limitation.

The new Mozilla marketing push reminds me of the TurboGrafx-16 and Nintendo 64 days. "We've got the better browser. And that's what really matters," says a member of the Mozilla Foundation team challenging Internet Explorer's overwhelming dominance in the browser market. Well, the TurboGrafx 16 was technically superior to the Sega Genesis, as was the Nintendo 64 to the Sony Playstation. Guess which game systems won the market share race? The inferior ones. (Beta vs. VHS, anyone?) Guess which systems I bought? The superior ones. Guess how many of my friends I could share games with? Zero, because they had Sega and Sony.

Jeff Howden at evolt.org has a realistic view of what's likely to happen to Mozilla:

"Mozilla won't win with the general public by having a superior feature set. It won't win by rendering faster or being more standards-compliant. Heck, IE didn't do any of those things to get where it is today. It's on top because it's on every desktop."

Too true. It's on mine too, but I use Mozilla. Unfortunately, me plus 1.2 percent of Web users does not a viable market make.

Dune II: Battle for Arrakis - Released 1992

Herzog Zwei - Released 1990

I believe Herzog is the oldest RTS game out there. I could be wrong, though...

tom & jerry, processors in the atari jaguar... ;P

What are they on, Super Mario Bros 104 including all the GBA versions?

Huh?

The main series includes

Super Mario Bros (NES)
Super Mario Bros 2 (NES)
Doki Doki Panic (released as SMB* 2 in the USA) (NES)
Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)

The GBA games are just ports of the earlier games. Yes, the names are confusing.

Yes, there are many other games featuring Mario and co., but that's mostly franchise leveraging.

* SMB in this context stands for Super Mario Bros, not Server Message Block or Super Monkey Ball.

According to this interview with a previous high-scorer (879,200 in Aug of 2000), the trick is to use up all your lives before you reach the kill level, effectively trading them in for points. But, that's assuming you have lives left to spare at that point...

If any of you are interested in following suit, the tools one needs to write any AGI/SCI game can be found here:

http://www.classicgaming.com/agisci/

The tools will also open up the resource files and code for existing Sierra games and let you tweak them. Have fun!

Perhaps you mean Custers Revenge

Scorched Earth was my favorite DOS game

Scorched Earth Site

Classic Gaming Site

A bunch of Arcade Linux Games including a Scorched Earth-esque game (about 8 from the top)

Scorched Earth was my favorite DOS game

Scorched Earth Site

Classic Gaming Site

A bunch of Arcade Linux Games including a Scorched Earth-esque game (about 8 from the top)

Try here

I'm now firmly in the trenches of middle age, and so have begun to succumb to that tendancy that we all get as we grow older to gaze back upon my life and to tell the kids of today how great they have it now. This usually begins with the phrase Back when I was a kid...

Back when I was a kid, microcomputers were just beginning to be something that my super rich friends could get. Computers like an Apple II, which I had no chance of affording.

Then the Atari came out. Not only was it cheaper, but it had really kick/ass graphics like Star Raiders. So I worked for nearly a year, earned $400 and bought my first computer. I had already learned BASIC on other machines, so I saved a bit longer and got a BASIC cartridge. A few months more, and I had a cassette deck to store my programs on.

About that time I started to learn about how the graphics architecture of the machine worked. I bought a copy of De Re Atari. I got their assembler/editor cartridge and started to write some programs of my own. I read the ROM listings. I remember writing my first truly useful program: a program for copying copy protected cassette tapes so I could backup my copy of Jawbreaker.

I goofed around with that silly computer for years. By the time I was finished, there was really very little about the system that I did not understand. And that's probably the last computer that I truly did understand.

It's simply not possible to understand all the inner workings of a computer like that any more. Or, maybe it is possible, but it simply isn't worth your time. You (or your kid) probably have other things to do with computers, like make web pages, edit photos, or make videos. Computers have become a doorway to doing other things, and like most doorways, people don't give them much thought anymore. I sometimes find that a bit sad, but then I think of all the cool things kids can do. My nineteen year old swears that he didn't want to learn to program, but he has a webpage with all sorts of javascript madness on it. He's made videos. He's photoshopped photos of his friends. In short, he's doing what he likes to do: taking the computer for what it is, and using it to do what he wants. I can't say that I see much wrong with that.

I guess I should give some recommendations for those people whose kids really think they do want to learn how to program. They could do a lot worse than to use Python. It's a fairly reasonable language that is interactive and enables you to do fun stuff nearly immediately. If the kid is interested in making games, they can use Pygame, which I've found to be very pleasant to play with, and is available on many platforms. Download some example games, and then help them figure out how they work. Change some of the graphics to use graphics of their own. Encourage them to share their work with others, perhaps using the web. Answer questions. Be enthused. Help get a club or group started at their school. Be a parent. :-)

The reason that we have all these unoriginal games is becuase we don't buy the ones are truly original.

Many of use are fanboys (including myself, I refuse to buy an Xbox), which gets in the way of buying that game that is truly original. My co-worker really likes Wario Ware Inc. but will not buy it becasue it is what he calles a "Kiddie Game".

It the hype maches too, I EB employee almost talked me into buying Matrix Reloaded: Enter the Matrix , but fortunately I went home and read a review!

phew!

Speaking of which the largest ET for the Atari 2600 like games is the Playstation 1-2. You are taking a serious risk buying a game for the PS with out renting it first. I have boughten some real stinkers for the PS, based on reviews.

There are a few companies I trust when it comes to games, and here is my short list:

• Capcom
• Sega
• Nintendo
• SNK
• Natsume
• Retro Studios
• Factor Five
• Konami

These are companies I know I can trust, but there are others that make good games.

Or the sequel to Custer's Revenge... CR2: Little Big Horny.

Not according to this.

Point of fact, though -- I do distinctly remember doing it with B A B A instead of just B A. Maybe either one worked? But I'm sure it was B before A at any rate.

this guy's work from a little while ago? I thought this was mighty cool when I saw it.

Remember the Portable PlayStation
On Classic Gaming? This guy ripped apart a Playstation One and a mini-TV and built his own back in September of 1991. It was cool because the CD for it spun freely on the back of it without an enclosure. The builder of it even called it the PSP. Hmm... wonder if Sony "stole" the name for theirs from his sight? =)

It seems that these guys have already made a handheld playstation, even calling it the PSp. If my memory serves me correctly, they were even selling them until Sony made them stop. I'm glad major corporations are fully capable of having orignial ideas.

There is already a portable playstation and its cool as hell. Check it out!
I know its not quite the same but still. And this guy has made other cool units, like portable ataris and snes.

Nope, that's not it. That's a picture or a creation of this guy, who modifies consoles (Atari 2600, SNES, PSX, etc.) such that they can be played portably.

I don't think Sony would ever release something that hideous :)

That's not Sony's own model, but rather a hack job someone did to make a handheld playstation by cutting up a PSX circuit board and fitting the drive on just right and interfacing it with a LCD and a battery power supply. The article in English is here.

That's not the same thing. The one you're looking at was built by a hobbyist. He also built some portable atari 2600s.

except that the PSp had been around for nearly 2 YEARS! A portable playstation powered by rechargable lithium batteries well before Sony got any ideas...

• PolyKarbon tutorials - These are awesome
• How To Draw Manga
• BakaNeko tutorials

• Pixelation BBS
• Pixel Tutorial
• Animation-related tutorials
• Pixel-art bible

Yep, it was called the MindLink. Atari never released it but you can still find prototypes if you are an avid collector. It worked by muscle impulses meaning that you had to squint and contort your face to control the game. You can read about it here www.classicgaming.com

Check out Metroid Speed Runs. Looks like their best time is 1:28 with 100%.

My best time ever was 0:58, but that was with 36% of the items (Lemme tell ya -- I grab *just* enough to beat the 1st part of Mother Brain. She dies on 3rd to last super missile every time. :) ). I've since found a faster path through the game, but I've gotten too rusty to beat my old times with the slower route. :)

--Jeremy

I can submit Scorched Earth myself. I had totally forgotten that my PC had an internal speaker until I ran it.

From http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/nes/

Nintendo released the NES in two different bundles: one at $249 with the R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) unit, two controllers, a lightgun, Gyromite (a R.O.B. game), Duck Hunt, and Super Mario Bros., and the other set at $199 with controllers and Super Mario Bros.

Is it me or does this story make you want to play Scorched Earth?

This reminded me of the Androsynth from Star Control.

In the manual for Star Control II (which fleshes out the history from the first game), some car salesman made himself as a televangelist and fought to declare clones sub-human, call them "Androsynth."

I don't mind the clones making those weird-ass transforming ships - the Chmmr ships kick butt in the melee mode.

> If i remember correctly you didn't learn that Samus was a girl until
> several games later though. But i could be horribly, painfully worng[sic]

My memory alleges that you find out Samus's identity at the very, very end of the original Metroid.

-JC

PS: We're not even "several" games into the series yet! A quick and possibly horribly inaccurate web search suggests to me that there has been only five Metroid games (seven if you count the two Smash Bros. fighters).

How about keeping along the whole things on fire theme:

• Inferno
• Ember
• Pyre - seems very appropiate considering that this name thing is beaten to death
• Wildfire
• Scorched Earth -- err I mean Scorched Web

Wake me up when you get Java running on this !

I love the Sierra strategy games... GameSpy claims in this article "...but now their days as a game developer are pretty much over." Is it really that bad? Am I the only one left that loves their new titles? Empire Earth anyone?

Empire Earth was Created by Stainless Steel Studios

My point was that Sierra primarily publishes other people's games now, like Half-Life. Most of Sierra's Adventure games were developed in-house.

Genres aren't dying, they're just becoming less well-defined. It's getting harder and harder to pigeonhole modern games into exactly one genre, because they aren't sticking to patterns (in basic design, at least). The only "genre" that has really died is text adventure, but that's only an implementation of RPG. Diablo is the same thing with graphics, and that's still going strong.

This is somewhat true. One could argue Grand Theft Auto is just a free-roaming beat 'em up \ racer.

One game I wanted to somehow mention in this article was 1989's David Wolf: Secret Agent, which tried to combine hang-gliding, flight simulation, driving, diving, and bad acting into one poorly digitized adventure-like package. Try categorizing that one.

Strip Poker & Other Sex Games - lol, anyone remember those... More often than not B/W horrible graphics, but you still felt a sense of achievement when having stripped a girl completely. I wonder what would happen today if such a game was released?

That's true, they probably should have been included in this article since they peaked in the 2600 days and Custer's Revenge... well... jeez

how was side scrolling platform games not on this list. haven't seen one of them in a long time.

I didn't include side-scrolling platformers because platformers are still around, they're just 3D.

All of these genres seem like something that a young kid in the 80's grew up to.

Guilty.

Sure, this article has some flaws and I probably should have included pinball, but oh well, life's tough!

I loved that game!

Hmm...might even have to break out my apple //e emulator and see if I still have the binaries, so I can toss it in the collection with Autoduel, Captain Goodnight and Miner 2049er.

[yeah, yeah, I'm off topic...that's why I didn't use my karma bonus... hey, just be thankful I didn't mention Oregon Trail... hmm..that reminds me... I need Choplifter, too.]

I loved that game!

Hmm...might even have to break out my apple //e emulator and see if I still have the binaries, so I can toss it in the collection with Autoduel, Captain Goodnight and Miner 2049er.

[yeah, yeah, I'm off topic...that's why I didn't use my karma bonus... hey, just be thankful I didn't mention Oregon Trail... hmm..that reminds me... I need Choplifter, too.]

I loved that game!

Hmm...might even have to break out my apple //e emulator and see if I still have the binaries, so I can toss it in the collection with Autoduel, Captain Goodnight and Miner 2049er.

[yeah, yeah, I'm off topic...that's why I didn't use my karma bonus... hey, just be thankful I didn't mention Oregon Trail... hmm..that reminds me... I need Choplifter, too.]

As far as texture mapped I'm not sure. Powerdrome for the Amiga was reviewed in 1989. It existed before that on the ST. Powerdrome was a polygonal racer in which you flew aircraft through tunnels at high speeds in varying atmospheres, it had a pretty damn low frame rate on a 68000 @ ~7MHz but it ran okay... It's hard to play games like that with a digital joystick, and it's hard to play games with a crappy frame rate with a mouse. At least, I find it to be difficult :P

Hard Drivin' is the first game I remember eeing which was truly 3D but I think a couple of those Amiga titles might predate it. I remember it got ported to the genesis (for the purposes of doing 3d graphics, a platform similar to our favorite 68000-powered computers) pretty late in the genesis' active lifespan.

Atari had something like that in the ill-fated Jaguar console, it had co-processors named "Tom" and "Jerry"

This method does usually NOT work, because the main problem isn't corrosion but the fact that the connector pins (the ones that get in touch with the cart) bend a bit, over the years. The solution is to use a very tiny screwdriver or a needle to (carefully) bend those pins in the correct position again, as this nice article explains.

But of corse, the best is to buy a new Nintendo-style edge connector, as someone noted above.

And you can still load from the front!

How To Repair Your NES

Real time strategy for Sega Genesis. Launch title (I think). Well over a decade old. Extradinary, ahead of its time; great fun to this day. Fish around and find the ROM.

Click here for more.

Likewise, Super Mario Bros. 2 as released in Japan was very similar to Super Mario Bros. - it used similar sprites, and had almost exactly the same gameplay physics. The game was "too hard" for American audiences, apparently, so it was never released. Instead Doki Doki Panic was altered to become the American Super Mario Bros. 2.

And I still think that SMB3 is the best Super Mario game - ever! Seriously - I never really liked Super Mario World, or any of the other Marios since.

Likewise, Super Mario Bros. 2 as released in Japan was very similar to Super Mario Bros. - it used similar sprites, and had almost exactly the same gameplay physics. The game was "too hard" for American audiences, apparently, so it was never released. Instead Doki Doki Panic was altered to become the American Super Mario Bros. 2.

And I still think that SMB3 is the best Super Mario game - ever! Seriously - I never really liked Super Mario World, or any of the other Marios since.