Slashdot Mirror

All kidding aside, the cover art on some of these games is worthy of framing in its own right.

Try reading sites like Hardcore Gaming 101, The Video Game Critic, and Racketboy. The article is right, in print gaming journalism is long dead, but there's still quality stuff on the internet.

Smithereens! predated 9/11 by 20 years, and had twin towers.

A few years ago, a /. user posted a link to a site with a hardcore, unbiased user that independently reviews games and slashes them if they deserve so.
I noticed I agreed on most of his opinions so I use him as a reference anytime I'm looking for new games

Here's the link:
http://www.videogamecritic.net/

Wii Reviews sorted by grades:

http://www.videogamecritic.net/wii_g.htm

From that list, I personally recommend RE4, No More Heroes, Bloom Box, and Bully:SE (if you enjoyed GTA).

A few years ago, a /. user posted a link to a site with a hardcore, unbiased user that independently reviews games and slashes them if they deserve so.
I noticed I agreed on most of his opinions so I use him as a reference anytime I'm looking for new games

Here's the link:
http://www.videogamecritic.net/

Wii Reviews sorted by grades:

http://www.videogamecritic.net/wii_g.htm

From that list, I personally recommend RE4, No More Heroes, Bloom Box, and Bully:SE (if you enjoyed GTA).

Also, in light of the recent controversy at Gamespot, this is a good site for truly independent reviews (although it can take a while for new games to show up). You can see what one game publisher did after he gave a bad review.

Also, in light of the recent controversy at Gamespot, this is a good site for truly independent reviews (although it can take a while for new games to show up). You can see what one game publisher did after he gave a bad review.

I just checked out screenshots, and ... uck. I mean, seriously.

The graphics of 1996/1997 looked like this and this. The graphics of 2003-present look like this and this.

Which does Second life (this and this) look more like to you? :P Yes, user-created content adds additional optimization challenges. But this is just rather pathetic. All issues of models aside, their lighting and shading models are just crummy.

How is it that Linden Labs, raking in millions per year, can be outdone by open-source MMORPGs with a few hundred players on at a time, like Eternal Lands, in terms of graphics quality? And there's probably better examples than that, as EL doesn't even have normal maps yet, needs to lower their ambient levels, and ought to subdivide some polys that are closed to fixed light sources.

I'm not really interested in it. I don't think a controller should have that much influence on the enjoyment of games.

The controller has everything to do with the enjoyment of games, because that's how you interact with them. If this statement was really true, we'd all be using controllers like the Colecocision and other such monstrocities from the early 1980s. Look, it has nine buttons AND A KNOB! What more could you possibly ask for? And it's a sturdy, small design, so it can easily be stored.

Can you make enjoyable games with the current controllers? Hell yeah. But the Revolution contoller is about immersion as much as it is about enjoyment. Instead of sending an instruction to your character to swing the sword (passive second person) you actually move your arm to swing the sword (active first person), which will make people much more interested if they actually play the game instead of watch it.

Let's say you like playing sports. Which would you rather do? Be the coach who sits in the box and tells the batter when to swing, or be the batter and decide when you want to swing?

Games will be made on the PS3, 360, and Revolution that are enjoyable. But games will only be made for the Revolution that are immersable, which just compounds the enjoyment.

Truth, I never really played ET (as far as I remember, I was quite young when my father bought atari), from the ones you said, I remember MIssile Command and Defender, they rocked, but I also remember Seaquest (the submarine, did you palyed it?) and Warlords (played with the paddle controllers). I also remember one terribly shitty game of porky's which was totally frustrating (so yes, there were bad games at those times) and one of my favorites was .

Thinking a bit about it, I guess Tetris could have been created for atari dont you think? for the 2600 I mean, which was the one I had =o).

Oh, those where the days, although I shall tell that as I was born in 1981, the Atari was not *really* of my generation, I played it a lot because my father bought it (he always have liked computers although he is a Biologist, that may explain seaquest hehe) for me, it is the NES and SNES the ones that got my best memories.

One thing I remember is a joystick for the NES which was similar to an Airplane controller, I looked a bit on google but could not find anything about it. The controller was really cool because it was just the stick with the A and B buttons on the top and front (as far as I remember), the way you controlled the movement (D-pad) was by tilting the controller to the front, back or to the sides.

I have not seen anything similar in a long time, if any slashdotter has more references to that controller (or remember something else) I would be really glad to read it. Anyway I think the NES accessories were really cool, were I lived (somewhere in Mexico) there was a game rental company which had several of those accessories for rent, it was really cool because you could use them just to try them. I remember that the person that was in charge also told you which games were cool to play with each controller.

Compared to the Nintendo version of this classic fighter, this edition is pathetic. It's not surprising that this was made by Activision, who also inflicted so much pain with the Atari 2600 version. The background graphics are dull. The simple, looping music will drive you mad. The fighters look blocky, but at least they don't flicker. There are about six moves, but the controls are not responsive at all, and only the flying kicks are particularly effective. The backgrounds, which were somewhat interactive in the NES version, are plain and static. There aren't even any barrels to pick up and throw. Sure you'll find a few weapons, but the knife looks more like a big cucumber. In the late 80's, when side-scrolling fighters were the rage, the Atari 7800 faithful missed out in a big way.

Pick up a 7800 and pop in *BallBlazer* and tell me the NES could do it.

Pick up *Galaxy 5000* and tell me that the 7800 could do it. Both consoles had strengths and weaknesses, but the 7800 was severely suffering in the graphics and sound departments. Sure, it could pump a hundred sprites or so, but that didn't help when it was compared to the quality of the graphics on the Nintendo.

Debatable. The ROB sure didn't sell.

The ROB sold just fine given that it was part of the base Nintendo System. Nintendo made the decision to remove it from the packaging and sell the console at a cheaper price, thus the death of ROB. (It was always a gimmick anyway.) The Zapper stayed with the console for quite a long time, doing far better than the Atari lightguns ever did. As for the actual games, the Nintendo had such popular new games as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Excite Bike, Megaman, Punch Out, 1942, Castlevania, Contra, Gradius, and Hogan's Alley. And that was just the early batch! As the NES gained popularity, we also got Super Mario Bros. 3, Ninja Gaiden, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, Duck Tales, Paperboy, Rad Racer, Final Fantasy, TMNT II & III, five more Mega Mans, Smash TV, Tetris, After Burner, Galaxy 5000, and many more! Suffice it to say, we were kept well in good games for more than long enough for the (even better!) SuperNES to be released.

In comparison, the 7800 didn't have anywhere near as extensive of a library of great games and relied heavily on its 2600 compatibility.

The NES's success in large part had to do with the fact that Nintendo monopolized the industry by restricting its third party licensees from porting and/or licensing their titles to non-NES systems

That certainly didn't help Atari any, but it was far from the primary reason. Had the 7800 been a console that people wanted, the game companies would have told Nintendo to shove it. Of course, the fact that most of the good games were produced by Japanese companies (who were more likely to target the Sega Master System than they were the Atari) didn't help Atari either.

Such behavior prevented the NEC TurboGrafx-16 from going anywhere here in the States whereas in Japan (under the name of "PC Engine") it was the dominant console because every company ported their games to it.

Honestly? I think the Tu

I collect games, so console and computer compilations tend not to interest me - I'd much rather have the original version (or, in the case of arcade games, a port from the timeframe of the original game) than a re-release.

My favourite compilations tend to be portable versions. I like being able to take several different games along with me without having to carry multiple cartridges.

By far, the best portable compilation I've ever seen is Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced for GBA. It contains six arcade games that aren't emulated, but reprogrammed specifically for GBA. You'd be hard-pressed to find the difference. Also, each game is of a different genre (unlike compilations such as Pac-Man Museum). And finally, you can use the 'Konami Code' to unlock hidden features and updated graphics in each game.

Another fine compilation for GBA is Atari Anniversary Advance. It contains, like the Konami one, six arcade games. Unlike the Konami compilation, the games are emulated. There are some problems like slowdown and sound issues, but it really feels like you're playing MAME on the go. Another issue is that nearly all of the games used nonstandard controls (like a spinner for Tempest, trackball for Missile Command, dual sticks for Battlezone, etc) so that the GBA controls don't quite match the arcade ones. Still, it is an excellent compilation with several true classics.

Bridging the gap between handhelds and consoles, the recent trend of dedicated direct-to-tv devices is interesting, and has resulted in several that definitely count as compilations.

In particular, the Commodore 64 DTV stands above all others. It has 30 C64 games ranging from merely tolerable filler to true classics. But what makes it absolutely incredible is the dedication and love poured into it. It has lots of hidden secrets, and can be hacked to add real C64 hardware like disk drives so that you can play (or code) original games on it!

The Atari Flashback 2.0 is also great for similar reasons. It has a larger and better library than the C64 DTV, but also less hacking potential. You can add a cartridge port from an original Atari 2600, allowing it to play real 2600 games, but it has no major secrets and the homebrew possibilities are limited by the cartridge medium of the original system. It is as much a labour of love as the C64 stick, though, as is made obvious by the newly manufactured 2600 joysticks that have the proper connectors, allowing them to be used on the original system!

The Namco II 5-in-1 joystick is also worth a look. It has less games and no additional potential, but the games themselves are great. The joystick feels a little loose, making the controls a tad difficult on some of the games. This is (almost) made up for by an innovation that results in the best home version of Pole Position ever: the knob on the joystick twists and acts as a steering wheel, which gives the game absolutely FLAWLESS control. This is a must-buy if you love Pole Position, and well worth looking into if you like any of the other games on the stick.

Despite what I said at the beginning, there are some compilations available for PC and consoles that are worth investigating.

On PC, the Ultima Collection

Results 1 - 10 of about 433 for metroid claustrophobic

Results 1 - 10 of about 22,000 for metroid lonely.

Results 1 - 10 of about 80 for metroid lonely claustrophobic

Metroid was dark, you played it underground, most of the time in small caves. The music was haunting, and there were not many enemies. Those that were there were mostly slow and silent. Gameplay was rather slow, too, compared to frantic games like Contra.

You've just described world 1-2 from Super Mario Bros. Was that claustrophobic and lonely?

Basically being underground means you have a black background and gray floor instead of a blue background and green floor.

Compare:
Metroid

SMB

Lonely, Claustrophobic!

Please don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing Metroid and Super Metroid, but if Samus hadn't turned out to be a half-nekkid lady at the end of the first one, I don't think it would be a huge franchise today. Mario launched the NES. Half-nekked man-Samus would have doomed Metroid to this fate.

My opinion only, of course.

Unless of course you looked up where the term frag came from.

http://www.videogamecritic.net/gloss.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=define%3A frag&btnG=Search

Four controller slots built into the system: Featured in all big systems that came afterwards (except Sony for god knows what reason).

Technically Nintendo didn't do that one first.

Back to the Future for the NES gets an honorable mention for worst game. In an era where movie licensed games sucked, LJN was renown for their crappy license games. BttF had a 7 second audio clip that played over and over until you turned the game off. Torturous for the player and anyone else in the room.

But the winner(s) would have to be Link: Faces of Evil and it's sister game Zelda: Wand of Gamelon. The CDi had more than it's share of failures *cough* Alien Gate *cough*, but aquiring the rights to a well known and respected franchise and releasing this upon the world deserves a stupidity award. Gameplay is rudimentory and very choppy, and when your reward for completing objectives is another bouncy cartoon that makes you want to jab pointy things into your eyes, you will understand why this earns the title.

There have been quite a few games that haven't been bad, per se, they've just been disappointing. These games are what really makes me sad. Notable titles include:

Sonic Adventure/Heroes series - You would think that by the third game that problems like the camera being the biggest enemy in the game and players die by being "clipped" through the solid floor would be fixed. Nope.

Kingdom Hearts - Yet another license snafu. It has wonderful graphics, cinemas, music, and humor. Everything that an Epic Disney/Final Fantasy game should have but it falls flat on playability. Gameplay consists of pressing the X button lots of times while battling the evil camera system. Platforming elements are boiled down to a chore. Computer controlled allies try to waste as much magic/items as possible. It's simply not fun, and with so many things going for the game, it's a real shame.

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - Igarashi saying that Castlevania should not be in 3D is fine but why does he have to prove his point by making this forgettable game? Someone should tell all of those developers working on "Devil May Cry" clones that DMC wasn't really that great. C:LoI has players haphazardly fighting recurring monsters in rooms that, while finely detailed, tend to look all the same. To quote from Zork: "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".

These games and more aren't really terrible, they just could be better if more thought/time was put into them. As Shigeru Miyamoto said: "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever".