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Post by bonesnapdeez on Feb 26, 2023 23:31:20 GMT -5
Wish I had time to play more these past two months. Home reno crap and a dying PC put a damper on things. Instead of playing a bunch of games I put a lot of time into a select few, which I suppose is a cool thing in its own way.
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Post by Ex on Feb 26, 2023 23:41:38 GMT -5
Wish I had time to play more these past two months. Home reno crap and a dying PC put a damper on things. I 100% understand and sympathize.
My real life obligations/responsibilities/brain-draining day job have been daunting lately, and free time beyond that I try to spend a decent chunk with family/wife. That's why I don't even start gaming until late evening. Then in the late evening sometimes I'm just too tired to play anything, or opt for one of my other solo hobbies instead. So yeah, I get it. All that said, I'm not done with this theme just yet. Even if I have to go into overtime in March, there's a few more 2nd gen games I've got to sample if not finish. And that was after narrowing my bucket of 40 games down to just 8 currently. As I said before, my respect for the second gen has jumped massively since doing a deep dive into these libraries.
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Post by nullPointer on Feb 27, 2023 13:09:20 GMT -5
I enjoyed discussing Transylvania with you, as that whole series was new to me. Something I'd play nowadays if I had endless free time for all my gaming interests. I was grateful for an excuse to revisit a game space I'd always meant to get back to some day! I managed to get some time in with Montezuma's Revenge on the Atari 5600 last night. I played it back to back with Super Mario Bros. on the NES which made for an interesting comparison. I really enjoyed the early take on puzzle-based platforming in Montezuma's Revenge. In terms of the concept this one really feels ahead of it's time. Unfortunately for me, the actual gameplay feels very much of its time. It's pretty twitchy and unforgiving. On one hand I'd rather it feel twitchy than unresponsive, but on the other hand it makes the proceedings feel a bit 'herky-jerky' if that makes any sense. As I mentioned though, I feel like this was fairly common in action games of this era. It's not like they could spare any frames of animation to make movement seem more "fluid". The main area where I struggled was in situations that required precision jumping, because the game necessitates that you are very precise. Coupled with the fact that any momentum will change the distance of your jump considerably, that's where I struggled the most. All told though I really enjoyed this one and will likely return to it to see if I can get any further. What was a bit remarkable to me though was going from this one to Super Mario Bros. on NES which released the following year (Montezuma's Revenge released in 1984, SMB in 1985). In terms of controls and game mechanics, Super Mario Bros. still feels more or less like a modern game. It really drives home what a watershed year 1985 was for console gaming (and why it made competitors seem almost obsolete practically overnight).
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Post by Ex on Feb 27, 2023 13:54:18 GMT -5
Super Mario Bros. still feels more or less like a modern game. Is that because SMB1 was so forward thinking in its design, or is it because so many platformers since aped its design? SMB1 has certainly been a monumental influence in the decades since its release. One has to think playing so many imitators over the years, has led to a default expectation of what a platformer should "feel" like. I wonder if the SMS version of Montezuma's Revenge is less herky jerky. Regardless I'm glad you played through this game. It was very ambitious for its time, and still fun to this day.
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Post by nullPointer on Feb 27, 2023 14:15:27 GMT -5
ExThose graphics are certainly a step up! I might have to give that one a go under the banner of our 3rd gen Club Retro! I love how the box art describes it as a "text adventure-action game" On another note, I'm still wondering how one might grab that left hand sword - seen in my screenshot above and in your second screenshot. Gravity is decidedly not your friend in this game. It's one of those where practically stepping off the curb will kill you.
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Post by Ex on Feb 27, 2023 14:51:45 GMT -5
The energy beam above the sword turns on and off, so you'd have to time your fall through its off state, then grab the sword as you fall down, pushing to the right hoping to just barely miss the fire on the landing. Probably die anyway, not worth it.
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Post by nullPointer on Feb 27, 2023 15:16:12 GMT -5
The energy beam above the sword turns on and off, so you'd have to time your fall through its off state, then grab the sword as you fall down, pushing to the right hoping to just barely miss the fire on the landing. Probably die anyway, not worth it. That's where I'm thinking there might be something that allows you to fall from that distance and survive. Normally even much shorter falls will put an end to your adventures. On the other hand it could certainly just be a death lure. I may eventually just take a look on YouTube to find out.
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Post by Ex on Feb 27, 2023 17:02:10 GMT -5
I forgot about the "if you fall too far you die" aspect. I don't know. I looked at a Let's Play and the guy just avoided that sword altogether. Maybe it is just a trap.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Feb 28, 2023 8:43:10 GMT -5
Well, I got the RetroN 77. Sort of. It's here but I have to wait for my birthday lol. Stoked though.
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Post by Ex on Mar 1, 2023 0:12:41 GMT -5
Played some 2nd gen tonight... Pepper II released on ColecoVision in 1983. This is a maze game that reminded me of a primitive Qix. The goal is simple enough, all you do is zip closed sections of a maze and they become filled with color. Zip in all the sections of the maze and it's complete. However, if you backtrack you might unzip your path, so be careful. Each stage has four mazes you must complete to move on, but you can move from maze to maze by using the exits located at the top, bottom, and sides of the screen. There are monsters trying to touch you while you're doing this. If one touches you, ya die. You can fight back by zipping sections of the maze closed that contain power-ups that will make you invincible for a short time, or clear the screen of all the baddies. The difficulty increases as stage count rises. Even on the easiest difficulty, this one is pretty tough. Especially because of how huge the maze outlay is. You're not solving just one maze, but a series of mazes, that you can move back and forth between. The gameplay is kind of addictive just trying to zip all the paths up and filling the screen. But your character moves so fast it's really easy to run into an enemy. I don't think this is funner than Pac-Man, but the game design is more complex and offers a bit more variety due to the varied stage layouts. Worth a try if you enjoy vintage arcade maze games. But 20 minutes was enough for me. I'll give this a 6/10. - Canyon Bomber released in 1978 for Atari 2600. (Egads it's a game older than me! 👴) This one's realllly simple and to be honest I was drawn in by the cover art. Two aircraft (helicopters or planes) representing two players fly over a canyon filled with layers of colorful blocks. You drop bombs with the fire button of your respective controller, earning points by destroying as many blocks as possible. The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins. The design is extremely simple because you don't control the movement of the planes and helicopters, rather you time your bomb drops to do the most damage. There is another mode called "Sea Bomber" that is a little more interactive. In this mode you deploy bombs towards seafaring ships, but now you can use the paddle controller's knob to determine the depth of the bombs before they explode. We know most Atari 2600 games are simple, but this game really takes it to an extreme. There's just so little interactivity and variety here, that the gameplay becomes boring almost instantly. Even in 1978 I don't see how this would have been much fun. I mean Pong is more interactive and varied than this. Oh well. I like the concept even if the execution is ultra bland. I mean you can't even bomb the other player's aircraft! If you could control the altitude and direction of your craft, and bomb the other player's craft, this would have been far more entertaining. Yeah five minutes was all I could take of this droll antique. Gonna rate it a 2/10 here folks.
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