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pocketmego

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Posts posted by pocketmego

  1. Posted · Edited by pocketmego

    I started this to finally settle this once and for all. My choice is easy. Crane made a system incapable of much, do things its creators never dreamed were possible. He created the first true Video Game character and the first multi-screened side scroller.

     

    Myamato created the first platformer game. Then he took Pitfall, made it easier and added defensive weapons to it and called it Super Mario Brothers.

     

    Then he took Adventure added characters and ideas from the Tom Cruise movie legend and created Zelda.

     

    Obviously the most important creator between these two can only be David Crane.

     

    Incidently, was Myamato a programmer or did he just design game ideas and get other people to program them? I always here he designed games and drew for them, but I never hear of him as a programmer.

     

    -Ray

     

     

     

    Hmmm, I seem to have posted this twice and didn't do the poll right. Can one of the moderators help me please.

     

    Thanks

     

    -Ray

  3. Posted

    Maybe.... With the new "Download to play" thing going on, it's just as likely for the market of games to simply dissappear outside of the collectors relm.
    That's another reason I'm especially appreciative of cartridges these days ... the modern transition to non-tangible means of distributing content (games, music, movies, etc). With the heavy emphasis on DRM, I can't imagine that publishers will allow you to use what you buy for as long as you want or to use it any way you want. How will people in the future collect games when they all expire after a certain point or can only be played on certain consoles?

     

    Yeah, i'm with you on this one brother. I am none to thrilled with the whole trend of non-gtangible media. Its the reason i won't own a TIVO.

     

    -Ray

  5. Posted

    2600 space invaders is a perfect example of what I loved about the 2600, that it gave you the original arcade game's gameplay and then gave you lots more, easier modes, harder modes, weird stuff like two ships on screen, color changing ships, etc.

     

    Does anyone know who programmed the 2600's Space Invaders?

     

    -Ray

  7. Posted

    I do believe the Pac-Man cartoon predated Saturday Supercade.

     

    The thing I found funny about the Saturday Supercade shows (and most video-game-based toons in general) was the tendency to throw in a quick sequence that mirrored the play of the game itself - like Q*bert jumps around on trash cans or something with Coily (who had ARMS!) after him, and the tops changed color for no apparent reason.

     

    The best of that kind of thing would have to be Dragon's Lair, which gave the viewer a choice for what Dirk should do before the commercial break, and showing the consequences after. Most cartoons at that time had a heavy aversion to characters dying, but Dirk got to die two or three times a show! :)

     

    Because when Dirk died it was ALWAYS funny.

     

    :D

     

    I think you are right too, either Pac-man predated Supercade or came on the same year. I don't know why I was thinking it came on after. Both were made by ruby Spears, so I think maybe they both aired the same year.

     

    -Ray

  9. Posted

    I always had an ability to tune out the Lord British part of the Ultima series, because otherwise, they were really pioneering and the first to bring home such a complete D&D type world to home PCs. III was definately his peak. By IV the game had gone a certain direction... where you could BE good or bad... but by choosing to be BAD the game became basically unplayable and unenjoyable.

     

    One thing I never realized this thread would reveal to me is that a LOT of major talent is unrecognized in this industry. Everything from people who made machines do what no one thought they could do, to designers so utterly brilliant they actually confused the people that played their games.

     

    But, it has mostly shown me that the Pre-Crash era of this hobbies history is looked upon by the general public and the masses as some kind of pariaha and not at all worth anyhting but a snicker or a cheap joke in a Grand Theft Auto game. That is SO sad. Because, no other industry downs its origins like that. Comic Book companies never make fujn of the comics of the 30's and 40's for having classic art styles and poor printing technologies. Yet, its perfectly acceptable to laugh at the early technology of this industry.

     

    That is truly sad and Video Games will never get the respect that we keep screaming for if the industry doesn't first learn some proper diligence and some SELF RESPECT.

     

    -Ray

  11. Posted

    Yeah Pacland was a huge hit over here in the Uk. I remember it being aired during the Roland Rat - Rat on the Road summer tv show (people in the UK would remember that) and I was one of the many fans who stayed in to watch it every morning. Those were the days ;)

     

     

    Now was it called Pacland there or Pac-Man like it was here. I remember a little about that show. I recall they introduced Super Pac-Man in the second season and he really was a super hero with a mask and cape. Not just a Giant Pac-Man.

     

     

    -Ray

  12. Posted

    James Bond. The pictures in comic books always showed a guy with a gun climbing on a train. Instead we got a weak semi-fun Moon Patrol rip-off.

     

    GI Joe. Although I like the game as is, before I bought it I expected it to be more along the lines of Commando or Frontline. As a kid when I got it and saw that it used a paddle my first thought was, "Uh oh....." I gues I never saw a screenshot before I bought it.

     

     

    Definately GI-JOE for me. I thought as a kid and I am even MORE sure now that GI-JOE started life as a completely different game and the license was simply plugged into it. They made it an Action Man game in the UK to go along with their Action Force comic evolving into what we called GI JOE in the States.

     

    A freakin Combat knock-off would have been better than this piece of turtle crap.

     

    -Ray

  13. Posted · Edited by pocketmego

    Here's an obscure one. Fans of Herschell Gordon Lewis films will get this one...

     

     

    You are the band 'The Big Blast' from the movie 'The BLast-Off Girls'. The object is to get to Col. Sanders for a bucket of fried chicken. Along the way, you'll run into fake cops trying to put a marijuana rap on you, or your favorite manager 'Boojie Baker', who steals all your money when you run into him.

     

    For refrence:

     

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061408/

     

    This is a good bad movie.

     

    I don't know if ANYONE else is going to get this one dude,m but i about fell out of my chair. I am so sending you a PM. :D

     

     

    As for Kiss, I don't think anyone realized the kind of versitility that the 2600 had in it's late 70's years. By the early 80's they had ditched the Make-Up and gone all Hair Metal.

     

    My idea for a game would be Metalica Captures.

     

    It just like Journey Escapes. You avoid 90% of the Fans, groupies, sleezy agents, etc. But, 10 percent of the fans are red, because they have been down loading games from Napster. You have to run up and capture those fans. :D Special bonus if you can shoot the napster logo as it runs across screen.

     

     

    -Ray

  14. Posted

    Unless I'm forgetting something, I never felt like any company that made Atari 2600 games tried to pull a "Mickey Mouse." We kept getting arcade stars that seemed as big as Mickey Mouse such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Ms. Pac-Man, but I don't remember any Atari 2600 specific characters.

     

    Besides being different from most games and having a cool rope to swing on, the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark was the reason why Pitfall! was popular. Pitfall Harry didn't seem to have a personality in Pitfall! or Pitfall II. All he ever had was stolen from Indiana Jones by way of children's imaginations.

     

    The Yar from Yars' Revenge could have been a "Mickey Mouse" if the game could have somehow been created and released a year or two before May of 1982. Besides just being an easter egg in games by HSW, the Yar could have starred in other games. Atari could have put the Yar in all kinds of games.

     

     

    I forgot about Yar and he was used in a mascot capacity at least once. This clip demonstrates that nicely...

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L6a_fmgi7o...i%20Commercials

     

    So they may very well have been positioning him to such ststus, but it was interupted by the Crash. As for Video Game characters having only the personality that people's imagination's give them. Well yeah, that accounts for everyone of them. If you go back and play the ortiginal Super mario Bros. (Not to mention DK, DKjr, and original MB) then you'll note that Mario and Luigi were not filled with personality. That was a product of imagination and numerous marketing promotions in the years that followed.

     

    No character has a personality in the video game, these personalities are applied by way of the players imagination and marketing. Megaman had more expression and graphical nuances than Mario, but he was NEVER pushed like Mario was.

     

    So Pitfall could have had as much personality as Activision and your imagination chose to give him, same as Mario, Sonic, etc...

     

    -Ray

  16. Posted · Edited by pocketmego

    I need to get my hands on that cart!

     

    That's the ticket!!

     

    Through our combined powers we shall make the Golf Ninja, the Mario or Sonic mascot of the 7800.

     

    In fact I say, GOLF NINJA FOR PRESIDENT!!

     

    :D

     

    -Ray

  17. Posted · Edited by pocketmego

    "Journey Escape",is that supposed to be "Dont stop believing"man that sounds out of tune!

     

    Yeah, until I heard 2600land's midi, I never realized that was supposed to be "Don't Stop Believing."

     

    -Ray

    Are you saying my MIDI is out of tune? Well, I'm sorry, but I've never heard the actual song before, so I was just going off the 2600 version.

     

    No, as far as I can tell, your midi is great.

     

    I'm saying until i heard your's, I never knew what that song on the title screen of Journey on the 2600 was supposed to be. You actually did a better electronic version.

     

    -Ray

  18. Posted

    This came up as a suggestion on another post and I liked it a LOT. Who deseeves to be in the Video Game Hall of fame? tell me who you would pick and why.

     

    I would definatley include the original core group that started Activision, just for having the guts and vision to become the very first 3rd party company and fight the Atari juggernaut. each of those creators also made some fine and enduring titles, many of which are still unbelievably fun and playable today.

     

    David Crane would get special recognition for being a GREAT game creator and the father of the multi level side-scroller.

     

    -Ray

  19. Posted

    Miyamato, David Crane? Give Me Lord British

    I had no idea that Tom Green was Lord British!

     

     

    LOL.

     

    There is something about Lord British that always bugged me. I am pretty sure it is this cult of personality he tried to make out of himself and his old D and D characters. He is like a geeky gamer that wanted to be king of his people, but in the most self indulgent and irritating way. It is one thing when a company like Activision uses its programmers names as a marketing strategy. basically if people like this game by this guy, they will try other games by this guy. As we discussed, Nintendo is doing the same thing even now. But, LB just wanted to be a Geek Rockstar. Look how smug he looks in that pic.

     

    Maybe the games were Ok, but he would have to do at least any other kind of game, besides just one sequel after another for the same game over and over again to impress me. Even Sid Meier had all those military games prior to doing Civilization for the rest of eternity. In fact, Hellcat Ace was almost worthy of Meier's own pomposity. Almost.

     

    -Ray

  20. Posted

    I know Mario actually appeared in 2600 games, but we all know he didn't become an icon until much later on another system. So for the 2600 was Pitfall Harry the closest thing we had to that BREAKOUT style character. The lead in to system mascotts of later generations such as Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog?

     

    That particular game (and sometimes its sequel) are more often than not mentioned almost in tandem with the 2600. Even the new version of Atari (such as it is) had to acknowledge Harry's place in the history of the system by licensing the games from Activision for recent system revivals.

     

    What do yyou all think?

     

    -Ray

  21. Posted

    So is Pitfall 2 one of the best games ever made?

     

    My major experience with this game was on the C-64. I recall playing it for many hours at a time. I've only gotten a chance to play the 2600 version recently (I never knew it and Hero had ever been made for the 2600 always assuming they both were made later on 8 bit computers).

     

    From what I can see Pitfall 2 on the 2600 is just as fun and engrossing as the c-64 one was (minus the extra set of caverns of course) and it looks just about as good.

     

    So, i think so.

     

    -Ray

  22. Posted

    The crazy thing is that this show lasted 2 years. That is not overly impressive for a Cartoon show, because they usually have only 2 year life cycles. But, what is crazy is that those years were 1983-1985.

     

    This means Saturday Supercade lasted at least 1 entire year following the Crash. I can only assume Space Ace probably helped it to do this, since those Laser Disc games seemed to make MEGA BUCKS despite the crash.

     

    -Ray

  25. Posted

    There are so many cool things about this game, its nice to see others picking up on it - Ninja Golf Signatures for all!

     

    After many long years of ninja training, you are finally ready for the most difficult test of all . . . GOLF!

     

    Amen brother. I think i am beginning to see the start of a very exclusive club here. We should form some sort of Ninja Golf League or something. :D

     

    -Ray

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