johnny_boy

In development for iPhone and iPod Touch. ETA 2010 holiday season release. Interesting aesthetics; the world "upgrades" its look based the game console tech from days past. I think the structure itself may also change in minor ways, if I understand the developer's narration correctly. Blog entry describing a current work-in-progress game for the iPhone and iPod touch, Mimeo and the Kleptopus King Mimeo MakeWork Progress Report A short, unrehearsed video describing the concept of my current work-in-progress, Mimeo and the Kleptopus King, a game for the iPhone and iPod touch Various Demo Videos This topic was created in the Classic Gaming section because it pertains to a new product that derives its aesthetics and gameplay from 8-bit era (NES) platformers.

It would have to stand off with the C64 version of the game, a fine port indeed. I'm sure though with the current talent in Colecovision programming, it would turn out fine. I love fixed shooters, and this one too, but DAMN, isn't it hard. Sadistically hard. I especially cringe when I get caught from behind. Reminds me of Bandits - Tough but good.

Or the 2600 conversion of Avalanche .

Jesus... I'm francophone and I didn't even know what a "bagnard" is. Checked quickly in my dictionary app, says it's french for "convict". Aussi un synonyme pour forçat. convict noun |ˈkänˌvikt| |ˈkɑnˈvɪkt| |ˈkɒnvɪkt| a person found guilty of a criminal offense and serving a sentence of imprisonment.ORIGIN Middle English : from Latin convict- ‘demonstrated, refuted, convicted,’ from the verbconvincere (see convince ). The noun is from obsolete convict [convicted.]

I like your choices Pixelboy. I officially name you Director of Marketing at my young but promising ACME Gaming Co.

I dig newcoleco's minigame collection idea. Activision's library almost fits into related themes. I decided to try my hand at categorizing some of them, with decidedly mixed results: Action Wall Crackpots, Kaboom, Oink! Shooter Plaque Attack, Spider Fighter, Megamania Sea Dolphin, Seaquest, Fishing Derby Space Laser Blast, Cosmic Commuter, Starmaster Profession Pressure Cooker, Frostbite, Private Eye Sport Boxing, Hockey, Tennis, Skiing Racing Grand Prix, Dragster, Enduro Activities Stampede, Freeway, [Fishing Derby] Flying Barnstorming, Sky Jinks, Imagic's Sky Patrol (yes, I'm cheating)

I'm not crazy about it, but Speed Up (& Gold Edition) exist.

Here are the Activision titles, among the ones listed above, which to my knowledge have never received a second port (alt platform release): Chopper Command, Crackpots, Frostbite, Oink!, Plaque Attack, Pressure Cooker, Private Eye, Robot Tank, Seaquest, Spider Fighter, StarMaster As I mentioned above, I consider TGACCRR to be the same as Enduro. Chopper Command is basically an earthbound Defender; Robot Tank is a variation on Battlezone - a game which has been released far and wide; StarMaster is a variation on Star Raiders. The most unique titles might then be seen as: Crackpots, Frostbite, Oink!, Plaque Attack, Pressure Cooker, Private Eye, Seaquest, Spider Fighter Is Spider Fighter sufficiently different to be perceived as "unique". Eh, maybe... Those are just my two cents. I'm just some guy, and my opinions probably shine hard through all this.

Fun poll! I voted Enduro, which could also be interpreted as The Great American Cross-Country Road Race (its remake/sequel for 8-bit machines) because the platform could use a good racing game besides Turbo and Spy Hunter. Frostbite was my second contender, because its brand of gameplay is also under-represented, plus it's a very original and loved title. It's also never been ported elsewhere.

Another one to add to my Scramble list: Super Cobra A Parker Bros port of the Konami arcade game, which ran on the same engine and board as Scramble, played the same, and came out the same year as its brother. Also on the 2600, in a technically challenged, yet essentially playable, port. Edit: Oh, hey. Just remembered Universal's Cosmic Avenger, while reading on Wikipedia. They call it a Defender clone, but it seems to be mostly fixed scrolling, and uses play mechanics like Scramble. Colecovision home port exclusive.

Another vote for Dawn Raider, the interesting Scramble clone (one of many.) There were quite a few of those, weren't there? Airstrike I & II come to mind. Tail of Beta Lyrae could be considered a sort-of improvement on the formula. I'm trying to remember if there are others, but nothing comes to mind right now. Of course, pushing this line of thinking, any horizontal fixed scrolling shooter could qualify, but I'm talking about games that reproduced the gameplay mechanics, especially the forward dropping bomb. They are definitely still fun to play, but the claustrophobic corridors and instant-death walls make it a short-lived experience for me.

I was afraid the d-pad on my 360 controller wouldn't cut it, but after first trying it and then obtaining one, I can say it personally works fine for my casual needs. I play a lot of classic and bi-dimensional games, but still wanted the analog sticks for the times I rip out on a contemporary title, or for certain classics that feel better on the analog. Still haven't found a decent computerized version of Robotron that works seamlessly with both my sticks, though. The fact I run on a Mac certainly doesn't help. If I played any more than now, I would certainly go for one of those tasty Saturn USB pads. PS1 pads work fine, but the adapter I have is PC-only. I have a strong dislike for the PS2 gamepads - they keep breaking down when you sneeze on them. Anyone who has ever have taken one apart will know how utterly cheap the plastic and membrane is in those things. Wii and 360 controllers feel relatively sturdy, dunno if Sony made any correction in theirs.

Ah, now that I see the picture, I recognize it as that strange edu-console my dad bought for my brothers and I a long time ago. Its french name was "Saitout" (Knows All.) It was initially intriguing, in a morbid what-were-they-thinking sort of way. I remember the screen redraw to be especially slow, and its bleeping speaker shouting horrible noise passing as kid-friendly jingles. I understand that V-tech had to work with a very limited board, but their solution lacked anything remarkable. Hardware looked nice, though. Lousy keyboard.

Yeah, sorry about that. I believe my confusion came from the fact the original "Sacred" was PC-only. It's a good thing for the series to branch out to consoles, it will introduce more folks to it.

Champions of Norrath + Return to Arms, the sequel, both for PS2. Great dungeon roaming fun. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance apparently shares the same engine (same devs perhaps.) RtA should be played with a second player; it can sometimes be a very punishing game. To me, this series best exemplifies the Diablo school of gaming. I haven't heard much about Sacred 2. Graphics look mighty fine. Couldn't get into the first one for some reason, but a gaming friend of mine eats it right up. This series is PC-only, as far as I know.

I personally would have switched "SCAT - Special Cybernetic Attack Team" for "Section Z".

Homebrews! Grab 'em, love 'em. Toyshop Trouble, Ladybug, Juno First, Ms. Hack/Pesco, Wolfenstein and a whole bunch more....

Love the Rolling Thunder school of gameplay. Also to check out are Rolling Thunder 3 and Shadow Dancer; both for Genny. Too bad we didn't get Elevator Action Returns (Saturn) over here. It's really good.

Some personal favorites: Weird Worlds - Return to Infinite Space http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Digital_Eel/WW/WW_page.html Oasis http://www.oasisgame.com/ Starscape http://www.moonpod.com/English/about_ss.php Haven't tried Gridrunner Revolution yet, but there seems to be some positive buzz around it. http://www.llamasoft.co.uk/grintro2.php

I'm in a similar situation regarding my PC gaming habits, depending on a lovable but limited Intel Mac Mini. I don't even want to bother with dual booting, so that limits me even more severely - starting up VirtualBox when I'm desperate to play certain windows-only games. If you're not too fussy, you should easily be able to find a bunch of titles that suit your tastes, as long as you discard any recent graphics-heavy title. Even WoW is supposed to run decently under Intel's GMA. The Half-Life 2 engine scales decently, but is windows-only. Indie titles are great for this - the devs are usually fairly sensitive to low-grade graphic chips, also since their investment is limited, which sometimes ends up as clean graphics with specifics details. It's hard to recommend anything specific without a hint of your individual tastes. Obviously, there's a plethora of classic gaming options, through emulation. A few link suggestions: Linux Game Tome - for cross-platform gaming http://www.happypenguin.org/ Game Tunnel - Indie game news and reviews http://www.gametunnel.com/ Indie Game Database http://db.tigsource.com/ If you don't mind dealing with Windows, there's a lot of good stuff on Steam http://store.steampowered.com/ Hope this helps.

I think there's a threshold to the amount of tolerable flicker for each game. I personally believe a programmer should strive to push as much visual candy as possible, right up to the edge of what's bearable. Opinions might vary on exactly how much it is, but common sense goes a long way towards finding the proper balance. Same goes for scrolling, chunky or smooth. Simply figure out how important the scrolling is to the overall experience, and adapt in consequence. It would be interesting to see how a contemporary Colecovision version of Galaga would look compared to Namco's MSX port. Gotta be careful with Moon Patrol's scrolling. I think it could still stand up with a bit of tile scrolling, but not much. I believe smooth zero skip scrolling often asks too much of the Coleco hardware. Multi-colored sprites is a MUST!

Rally-X is another popular title that often pops up in these topics. There were two developers each working on their interpretation, but not much has been released, except a batari Basic demo. I imagine the scrolling and the radar would be hard to do adequately. Personally, I would substitute the full radar for small visual indicators at the edge of the screen. Maybe those small pixels could blink progressively more quickly as the opponents get closer.

An adequate point you raised there. There are very few games where the control system truly benefits from fancy touch maneuvers. Too often it feels tacked on, and tarnishes my long-term enjoyment of the product, which is really all that matters. I do believe though there are a few games that do depend exclusivement on the touch screen, and would be far different otherwise. This also very much applies to the Wii, and its damn motion gimmickry.

I gotta say, most of the games mentioned here leave me cold. I'm very hard to please when it comes to contemporary releases, but I still found a few good titles for the DS. Soul Bubbles Guide and bend bubbles across a maze-like world. Grab a copy before they disappear, it's already getting difficult to find them. An easygoing, likeable game. Mystery Dungeon Rogue-like, deep and somewhat complex, with a pleasing 16-bit look. Didn't sell too well unfortunately. America wont get the DS sequel, what a tragedy! Ninja Five-O (GBA) Delicious old school Shinobi/Bionic Commando amalgam. Impossible to find. I do enjoy "New SMB" - simple, unpretentious, nostalgic fun. Space Invaders Extreme ain't too shabby either, but I do miss me some Galaga.

I've also come to like that feature. Would sure be nice to have it eventually with the new forum. We will anxiously be waiting for it. Thanks Al!