641 replies to this topic

[davidcalgary29]

Dr. Mario (A8) - 190 minutes
Fat Bobby (Lynx) -- an excruciating 30 minutes

[d-tec]

Super Smash Bros 64---- 210min in 3player mode

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600
Kaboom!-509 minutes


High score of the week: 247,577

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (July 30th through August 5th)...

I didn't play any classic games this week, only two online games which are uneligible for the Top 10:

Worm heroes - 6 min.
Headfolk Cupid - 16 min.

Both are pretty simple games. In "Worm heroes" you basically launch worms from the bottom which get deflected by obstacles and are supposed to pick up as many apples at possible on their way to the sea without touching moving objects. In "Headfolk Cupid" there are 4 races with male and female creatures each, and you have to click on a creature and then lead the mouse pointer to its partner without touching any other creatures.

thegoldenband, on Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:59 PM, said:

That is brilliant!  Do you plan on taking it out into the field?  I've used lead-acid batteries before to power a mobile sound system for a parade, but I didn't set that one up -- I need to learn how to do that stuff.  BTW is the 2600 modded at all?  IIRC, you can get more battery life out of the VCS if you remove one or more components from the power supply path.

No, sorry, I don't plan taking it out in the field. There were actually only 2 "field trips" like this back in the 80's. In one, we powered a bigger 14" TV from a 12V car battery via a self-built inverter, and the Atari 2600 ran on a 7.2V racing pack battery. At the second one, we took out the Commodore 64 with datasette (because the disk drive proved too sensitive for voltage changes) and powered it with the inverter, and the display was a similar CRT to the one displayed here which belonged to a classmate. We ran that CRT directly off the 12V battery which also powered the inverter.

The actual CRT displayed here has been used out in the field (powered by rechargeable "D" cells), but only for watching TV and some movies we filmed on our camcorder.

But nowadays, I think I'd rather play on my laptop than putting up such a complicated rig. That one was only put up for show. The laptop gives a much bigger picture, and it's not complicated to set up at all. Which doesn't mean you can't do more complicated setups with it... just some days ago, I hooked it up to a boombox using a car audio cassette adapter which is normally meant to connect media players to old car stereos with cassette player. That way, we watched a Muppet Show episode from a DVD on the laptop while enjoying pretty good sound which the laptop wouldn't be able to provide. And it was still all powered by batteries (out at the pool).

And the Atari 2600 power supply has regularly been used to recharge a set of 6 "D" batteries in lack of a commercial charger that would take that many cells at once. In fact, I've recharged them this way since 1988 (including those that once powered the CRT TV shown above - back then I had 2 sets ot 6), and that power supply must have fed much more power into batteries than into the console it was designed for. And it's still being used this way, although I'm now on my 5th set of rechargeable "D" batteries, and I try not to overcharge or deep-discharge them. :-)

And no, the 2600 isn't modded... I don't think it would be worth it since it actually only gets used rarely nowadays, and there are no field trips with it. All the other appliances (and batteries) you see in the picture aren't modded either... only wired together in creative ways which were probably not planned by the designers. :-)

Edited by Kurt_Woloch, Sun Aug 5, 2012 3:38 PM.

[thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

Atari 2600:
Cosmic Swarm - 3 min.
Nightmare - 7 min.

ColecoVision:
Cosmic Avenger - 4 min.

NES:
Robowarrior - 12 min.

Genesis:
Gain Ground - 138 min.
Goofy's Hysterical History Tour - 530 min.
Soldiers of Fortune - 24 min.
Wimbledon Championship Tennis - 24 min.

Game Boy:
Chase HQ - 42 min.
Romstar World Bowling - 6 min.
Urban Strike - 2 min.

3DO:
BattleSport - 25 min.
Kingdom: The Far Reaches - 22 min.

This week I beat Chase H.Q., which is one of the worst Game Boy games I've ever played, and the thoroughly laborious Goofy's Hysterical History Tour.  Thoughts on those starting here.

Otherwise I did a fair bit of two-player gaming with my girlfriend, including multiple attempts to beat Gain Ground on Easy (quote-unquote!).  On our first try we made it to the final boss, but got immediately annihilated because our remaining army was too small and we'd lost our best fighters. On our next two attempts, we got a ways into the game and were doing well, but then had some sort of disaster (mostly clock-related) that wiped us out, so we gave up.  We've packed it in for now, but I suspect we'll take this one down eventually.

Soldiers of Fortune and Wimbledon Championship Tennis also flattened us (the latter in doubles), so we flattened each other in BattleSport for 3DO instead.  Actually, I did all the flattening, winning all our head-to-head matches: not very chivalrous, I suppose.

Finally, I nibbled away at various new-to-me games, and briefly flirted with taking on Robowarrior for the NintendoAge challenge.  I'd played that game as a kid, and despite its ferocious difficulty and length, I have fond memories of it.  One misplaced bomb, though, and the protagonist is at death's door...

[zylon]

INTV-
Buzz Bombers- 25min

SMS-
Alien Storm 10min

5200-
Space Invaders 1.75 hrs
Millipede 1hr 10min
Beamrider 20min
Gyruss 35 min

[thegoldenband]

Kurt_Woloch, on Sun Aug 5, 2012 3:30 PM, said:

The laptop gives a much bigger picture, and it's not complicated to set up at all. Which doesn't mean you can't do more complicated setups with it... just some days ago, I hooked it up to a boombox using a car audio cassette adapter which is normally meant to connect media players to old car stereos with cassette player. That way, we watched a Muppet Show episode from a DVD on the laptop while enjoying pretty good sound which the laptop wouldn't be able to provide. And it was still all powered by batteries (out at the pool).

I used to use an old boombox & car cassette adapter with my laptop all the time!    When I lived in Philadelphia in the early 2000s, I had a music system in my kitchen with an old PowerBook 1400 and that boombox, and I'd use it to play CDs and MP3 CDs all the time.  Then about 3-4 years ago, my girlfriend (now fiancée) and I would regularly watch movies together on one of our laptops, and we'd use the boombox for sound.  As you say, it sounds far better than the laptop speakers.  I've toyed with the idea of wiring it for a direct input (bypassing the cassette), perhaps by replacing the mic input, but I don't have those skills yet.

The best part is that I salvaged the boombox from a dumpster (with the blessing of its former owner, oddly enough), so it was absolutely free.    I have very fond memories of that rig, including having breakfast with one of my favorite musicians, and listening to a great album together on that boombox while he sang along, here and there.

[twoquickcapri]

Atari 2600:
Ms. Pac-Man - 15 min.
Stargate (Defender II) - 15 min.

Atari Jaguar:
Iron Soldier 2 - 315 min.

Atari ST:
Another World (Out of This World) - 20 min.
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception - 60 min.
Eliminator - 15 min.
Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge - 35 min.
Parasol Stars - 15 min.

Edited by twoquickcapri, Mon Aug 6, 2012 1:35 AM.

[thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 31, running from July 30 - August 5. We logged 2533 minutes of eligible play, playing 31 games on a total of 14 systems.

Top 10:

1. Goofy's Hysterical History Tour (Genesis) - 530
2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 509
3. Iron Soldier 2 (Atari Jaguar) - 315
4. Super Smash Bros. (N64) - 210
5. Dr. Mario (Atari 8-bit) - 190
6. Gain Ground (Genesis) - 138
7. Space Invaders (Atari 5200) - 105
8. Millipede (Atari 5200) - 70
9. BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (Atari ST) - 60
10. Chase HQ (Game Boy) - 42

Pre-NES top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 509
2. Dr. Mario (Atari 8-bit) - 190
3. Space Invaders (Atari 5200) - 105
4. Millipede (Atari 5200) - 70
5. BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception (Atari ST) - 60
6. Gyruss (Atari 5200) - 35
6. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Atari ST) - 35
8. Buzz Bombers (Intellivision) - 25
9. Beamrider (Atari 5200) - 20
9. Another World (Out of This World) (Atari ST) - 20

Top 10 systems:

1. Genesis (716)
2. Atari 2600 (549)
3. Atari Jaguar (315)
4. Atari 5200 (230)
5. N64 (210)
6. Atari 8-bit (190)
7. Atari ST (145)
8. Game Boy (50)
9. 3DO (47)
10. Atari Lynx (30)

Goofy unexpectedly shambles and guffaws his way to the top of the charts, bringing the Genesis with him and continuing to bemuse the cast of "Stand By Me", who still haven't figured out exactly what he is.  And nor have the rest of us.

Nice to see the Atari ST get some chart placement, which has never really happened before!  I'm counting it as a pre-NES system since it was released before the NES in the US, though obviously it's a very fuzzy area since it's a 16-bit system with advanced capabilities.  If the ST weren't on the pre-NES chart, then spots #5 - 10 would look like this:

5. Gyruss (Atari 5200) - 35
6. Buzz Bombers (Intellivision) - 25
7. Beamrider (Atari 5200) - 20
8. Defender II / Stargate (Atari 2600) - 15
8. Ms. Pac-Man (Atari 2600) - 15
10. Nightmare (Atari 2600) - 7

[d-tec]

SNES Super Ghouls'n Ghosts --------------- 72mins

[twoquickcapri]

Atari ST:
Captain Dynamo - 15 min.
Exolon - 15 min.
Flying Shark - 15 min.
Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge - 15 min.
Vindicators - 15 min.
Vroom - 15 min.
Un Squadron - 10 min.

[davidcalgary29]

Jaguar: Tempest 2000 -- 120 minutes
Soccer Kid -- 25 minutes
Atari Karts -- 20 minutes

Lynx: Lode Runner -- 30 minutes

[d-tec]

new super mario bros 60min
bomberman world 30min

[cvga]

Baseball Stars -NES 400 minutes

I hooked up our NES. My 6 year old loves playing this game. We created our own team and to my surprise the battery still works! Great game!

[twoquickcapri]

Atari Jaguar:
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy - 375 min.

Atari ST:
Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge - 30 min.
Vroom - 35 min.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600
Kaboom!-736 minutes


High score of the week: 289,701

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (August 6th through 12th)...


Online (non-eligible):
Hotel Dash - Suite Success - 29 min.

TI-99:
Ambulance - 5 min.
Munch Man II - 15 min.

The TI-99 games were played at the TI-99 meeting on Wednesday.

I've played Ambulance before... it's a game where you control an ambulance in top-down view and have to rescue people from blinking houses and bring them to the hospital. There are two screens after which the game starts over.

Munch Man II is a game I didn't know before. It's a Pac-Man variant where you have two mazes side by side. The tunnels of the left side of the left maze and the right side of the right maze are closed, but the other tunnels are open and lead to the other maze. While in the original Munch Man, the mazes don't bear any similarity to other Pac-man games, here both mazes are actually copied from Ms. Pac-Man. To complete a level, you have to clear both mazes, the left and the right one. There are no fruits, but a "T" is floating around the maze, and if you touch it, you get instantly transported to the other maze, but at the same time, any active power pill runs out, and the enemies (who change shape in every maze like they did in part 1) quickly follow you through the tunnels. Unlike Ms. Pac-Man, however, the two mazes stay the same throughout the game.

thegoldenband, on Sun Aug 5, 2012 11:30 PM, said:

I used to use an old boombox & car cassette adapter with my laptop all the time!    When I lived in Philadelphia in the early 2000s, I had a music system in my kitchen with an old PowerBook 1400 and that boombox, and I'd use it to play CDs and MP3 CDs all the time.  Then about 3-4 years ago, my girlfriend (now fiancée) and I would regularly watch movies together on one of our laptops, and we'd use the boombox for sound.  As you say, it sounds far better than the laptop speakers.  I've toyed with the idea of wiring it for a direct input (bypassing the cassette), perhaps by replacing the mic input, but I don't have those skills yet.

The best part is that I salvaged the boombox from a dumpster (with the blessing of its former owner, oddly enough), so it was absolutely free.    I have very fond memories of that rig, including having breakfast with one of my favorite musicians, and listening to a great album together on that boombox while he sang along, here and there.

I see. Well, nowadays, the new boomboxes usually support CD's and even MP3 CD's, but some of them lack a tape deck, having a USB connector instead. Anyway, actually I got that boombox just two weeks ago at a local flea market. It only cost me 10 EUR, and it has a double tape deck, a digital tuner and a CD player (no MP3 or USB however) and sounds pretty good with its bass reflex construction, while not being too heavy. And it takes the same 6 "D" cells the old one took which gradually broke down over the last years (the old boombox, not the batteries), but it draws more power from them than the old one (120 mA vs. 50 mA for radio and 180 mA vs. 100 mA for cassette playback).

Edited by Kurt_Woloch, Sun Aug 12, 2012 2:24 PM.

[BillyHW]

You need to post a good video of Munch Man II that shows the two-maze gameplay.  There is only one video on all the internets and it's only 15 seconds long so it doesn't show hardly anything.

Arcade:

Snow Bros. - 1 hour.

PC (DOS):

Scorched Earth - 30 min.

Not much playtime this week.

[zylon]

5200:
Millipede- 3.3 hrs
Beamrider- 30min
Gyruss- 45min
Space Invaders-1.3 hrs

SMS:
Super Space Invaders- 55min

[thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

Atari 2600:
Boulder Dash - 14 min.
Dragonfire - 11 min.
Entombed - 2 min.
Krull - 6 min.
Missile Command - 12 min.
Spacechase - 2 min.
Star Voyager - 20 min.
Surround - 21 min.

Sharp MZ-700:
Eugea - 4 min.
Vairos - 3 min.

NES:
Jordan vs. Bird: One-On-One - 2 min.
Ninja Kid - 6 min.
Robowarrior - 241 min.
Terra Cresta - 154 min.

Genesis:
Chakan - 35 min.
Gain Ground - 95 min.
Jeopardy! - 38 min.
Super Hydlide - 37 min.

Dreamcast:
Maken X - 48 min.
Wacky Races - 34 min.
Worms World Party - 41 min.

Beat childhood nemesis Robowarrior this week -- for the NintendoAge "beat every NES game in a year" challenge -- as well as Genesis title Jeopardy! which, predictably, is total shovelware.  Thoughts starting here.

In addition, my girlfriend and I finally cleared Easy on Gain Ground, which was very satisfying.  The final boss seems impossibly brutal at first, with seemingly unavoidable heat-seeking missiles -- but, if you make your move at the right time, he's actually quite doable.  Next up is Normal, which will add an additional set of levels we've never played before.

I was less successful, however, in my attempts to beat Terra Cresta (also for the NA challenge).  Actually the game never ends, or so I'm told, but since it loops after the fourth boss, beating him is considered the equivalent of beating the game.  I managed to make it to him once, but was promptly massacred.  This is the kind of shmup where, if you take a hit and lose your power-ups in certain places, you might as well restart the game.  I also fired up two other NES games I considered (and rejected) taking on; I'd actually beaten Jordan vs. Bird by some ridiculous margin in the past (something like 581 to 53), but I suspect that may have been on a low difficulty -- I'm not sure.

I also tried out a couple games for the odd Sharp MZ-700 computer, whose graphics are entirely character-based, via emulation. Despite the severe limitations, the games were actually pretty good-looking, and seemed reasonably fun.

Later I played some Dreamcast, winning one of the Grand Prix events (whatever they're called) in Wacky Races, and slogging a little ways into Maken-X, an OK title that's dragged down by endless exposition through poorly acted cut scenes.  After that I tried out Chakan on the Genesis, whose early stages didn't seem nearly as hard as the game's reputation led me to expect, and pulled out Super Hydlide again for a bit but couldn't remember much, so I just did a couple levels' worth of grinding.

Finally I played a fair bit of VCS, including my first tryout of Boulder Dash which is predictably excellent, and a lengthy Surround duel against my fiancée who vocally disliked the game at first, but warmed to it a bit when the matches grew more competitive.  I also played several games of Star Voyager, partly to test a hardware repair (really more of a parts exchange) I did to a "light sixer" I recently acquired.

[BillyHW]

Sharp MZ-700, fascinating.

[thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 32, running from August 6 - 12. We logged 3319 minutes of eligible play, playing 46 games on a total of 15 systems.

Top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 736
2. Baseball Stars (NES/Famicom) - 400
3. Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy (Atari Jaguar) - 375
4. Robowarrior (NES/Famicom) - 241
5. Millipede (Atari 5200) - 200
6. Terra Cresta (NES/Famicom) - 154
7. Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar) - 120
8. Gain Ground (Genesis) - 95
9. Space Invaders (Atari 5200) - 80
10. Super Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (SNES) - 72

Pre-NES top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 736
2. Millipede (Atari 5200) - 200
3. Space Invaders (Atari 5200) - 80
4. Vroom (Atari ST) - 50
5. Gyruss (Atari 5200) - 45
5. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Atari ST) - 45
7. Beamrider (Atari 5200) - 30
8. Surround (Atari 2600) - 21
9. Star Voyager (Atari 2600) - 20
10. Captain Dynamo (Atari ST) - 15
10. Exolon (Atari ST) - 15
10. Flying Shark (Atari ST) - 15
10. Vindicators (Atari ST) - 15
10. Munch Man II (TI-99) - 15

Top 10 systems:

1. Atari 2600 (824)
2. NES/Famicom (803)
3. Atari Jaguar (540)
4. Atari 5200 (355)
5. Genesis (205)
6. Atari ST (165)
7. Dreamcast (123)
8. SNES (72)
9. Arcade (60)
10. Sega Master System (55)

The VCS just edges out a resurgent NES, while Kaboom regains its #1 crown.

BTW, between systems and games, our Top Tens this week contain every letter in the Latin alphabet except one.  Can you spot at a glance which one is missing?

[thegoldenband]

My times for Monday - Thursday:

Atari 2600:
Star Voyager - 10 min.

Sega Master System:
Great Golf - 28 min.
Quartet - 10 min.

Genesis:
Two Crude Dudes - 44 min.

Sega CD:
Cobra Command - 19 min.
Ecco the Dolphin - 3 min.
Jaguar XJ220 - 11 min.
Robo Aleste - 5 min.
Sol-Feace - 11 min.

Game Boy Color:
Shamus - 379 min.

Beat Shamus and -- after several progressively improving attempts -- got the best ending.  Thoughts here.

BTW Kurt Woloch's post here in the 2010 tracker was helpful, and it may well be the only other substantive post about Shamus GBC on the Internet.  Kurt, it turns out that the best ending requires 3000 points, and doesn't unlock any extra levels or anything like that -- you just get a congratulatory message.

I wanted to find a fun Master System game to play with my other half, but she hated Quartet, in part because of the bass-ackwards control scheme. So we went to Great Golf, which was reasonably entertaining; we stopped after the first 4 holes, and so she won -- we had been tied through the first 3, but I made a mess of the fourth.

We also tried out Two Crude Dudes on the Genesis, which was a blast!  We made it all the way to the last boss, but didn't quite finish him off.   Nothing like being able to pick up and throw a traffic light or a car, or destroying an enemy airship (which we initially mistook for a boss fight) simply by grabbing it and smashing it into the ground.

Finally, I tested some Sega CD games I got recently, some of which are duplicates.  I'd never made it past Level 2 in Cobra Command, but this time I made it all the way to Level 5, and was reminded that it's an entertaining (if frustrating) little FMV/rail shooter.  The acclaimed Robo Aleste, OTOH, seemed cluttered and overcooked to me, at least on first impression.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600
Kaboom!-402 minutes


High score of the week: 116,965

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (August 13th through 19th)...

sadly, no times again because I didn't play anything. I think after having played over 1000 different games in the last 10 years (counting the same game on different platforms as being different), I can't think of any game I'd like to play or replay. Anyway, that problem somehow inspired me to write some new lyrics to a well-known song. Can you guess the song I've rewritten here?


Through with gaming

I must have played a thousand games, been put up with a millon names,
I’ve been there on Atariage, I’ve gone through every stage.

Now, back in 1984, I always reached to get some more
Of all those fine Atari games, all ports of the arcade’s big names.

There’s too many games, too many levels, and I’ve got too many problems
And real life tends to come around, I think for now I’m really through with gaming.

For this is the world I live in, and these are the states I’m savin‘
I’ll stand up and will start tryin‘, To make it a place worth livin‘ in.

Oh, Mario, where are you now? Survived all the decades somehow,
but me, I think it’s rather pain, replaying all this again.

Now, this is the time, and this is the place, so I look for the future,
and there’s not much playing in it, I think by now I’m really through with gaming.

For this is the world I live in, and these are the games I’m leavin‘,
saying goodbye to all this, because there are new things here to do.

I remember long ago, ooh, when the games where shiny,
I couldn’t get enough of all that stuff,
and the sound of my laughter used to fill the room.

I won’t be coming home tonight, another party is just in sight,
and really that’s more fun for me than sittin‘ at my PC.

There’s too many games I’ve already played, and I can’t think of a new one
I’d really like to check out, so I think I’m really through with gaming.

For this is the time I live in, and these are the hands I’m searchin‘
I’ll start to make an effort to make it a place worth livin‘ in.

For company’s what I long for, and friends that just wait at the door
I have to take care of knowing just where my life is growing to.