Emehr

It's first generation. First Generation: dominated by arcade ports and arcade-style game mechanics Second Generation: dominated by 2D platformers Third Generation: dominated by 3D environments Generations should be defined by gameplay, not when hardware comes out, IMO. Especially when consoles come out at different times in different regions. Otherwise we might as well lump the NES with the Atari 5200 "generation" since it came out in 1983 in Japan. It's just silly and pointless nitpicking.

E.T. is a better game so you might as well play that.

Anybody who gets pissed off because they played a video game for hours should probably find a more enjoyable hobby.

That's nice but tags aren't a place to list your favorite things. It's gotta have something to do with the topic. Jesus isn't relevant. Religious discussion isn't allowed here anyway. Your second tag, Atari, is a no brainer. Seeing as this is the "Atari 2600" sub-forum, it goes without saying that your topic is going to be about Atari. Also, you don't need the hashtag ('#') in your tags. That's a Twitter and Facebook requirement.

There's a difference between a bad game, a game you don't like, and a game you don't like because someone on the internet told you it was a game you're not supposed to like. Bad Game: a game that is poorly designed, poorly programmed, lacks any originality, and is mostly unplayable. E.T. is none of these. There's a gotcha when approaching and leaving pits but anybody with any basic form of deductive reasoning will figure it out pretty quickly. I was 8 years old when E.T. came out. Our family promptly lost the manual and guess what? We still figured the game out and didn't whine about falling in pits "all the time". A Game You Don't Like: It could be Street Fighter II, Pac-Man, E. T., Super Mario 64, or Legend of Zelda. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad game. Just because you suck at it doesn't mean it's a bad game. A Game You Don't Like Because Someone On The Internet Told You It Was A Game You're Not Supposed To Like: So far the only answer here is E.T. because people won't shut the hell up about how it's the worst game ever and stating it as a fact because seanbaby said it 15 years ago or whenever. And whats with the hashtags on the tags for this topic? Isn't that redundantly redundant? Also, what's with the choice of terms for the tags?

The Wii was my last modern console. After sitting through half a dozen company logos, an animated menu screen, lengthy cinematic introductions, pointless banter between your character and the NPC getting you started, and an unwanted tutorial of unreasonable length and pandering, I've completely lost interest in playing the game. I'll play an hour or so of it, get distracted by grown-up stuff, come back to it a month later, and not feel like putting the disc into the machine because I forgot everything that was going on or forgot all of the controller functions. I watched my nephew play a WWII fighter game on his PS4 this past weekend and thought to myself "There's nothing happening here that couldn't have been done on the PS2." Seriously. Gameplay-wise it was extremely primitive.

Is it possible to update thread titles to reflect when new videos are posted? I like the idea but it would work better, I think, if the title of the thread could include the latest episode title, number, or whatever.

Yes. Yes very much indeed.

I'm envisioning a multi-cart-equipped tabletop Lynx with a 13" monitor and arcade controls. A bit larger than the Coleco tabletops (Donkey Kong et al) but a lot more portable than a full sized cabinet. Mmm, arcade-style Lynx...<drool>

Yep. I think we've learned from past debate that this topic cannot be distilled into a simple list. There's too much overlap. Even if we were to somehow pin down consoles by some arbitrary "generation", it gets blown completely out of the water when you consider a different geographic region. That's why I throw out the chronological basis and stick with my own personal definition which goes by dominant gameplay type/presentation for that era: Gen 1: Arcade (typically ports of early arcade games: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, et al) Gen 2: Platform (Super Mario, Contra, Donkey Kong Country era) Gen 3: 3D (Super Mario 64, Metal Gear Solid, Metroid Prime, Shadow of the Colossus) Gen 4: 3D (Same as Gen 3 + online + DLC + DRM + spyware)

Heh, back when I was dabbling in 2600 programming I put the ole HMOVE lines on the appropriate pages of my website. A T-shirt would be neat.

Dark Castle for Genesis. Bought it new from Babbages and promptly exchanged it for Starflight, which rocks. Dark Castle was designed for a mouse. I actually liked Super Hydlide enough to play it to the end boss. I appreciated how they tried to switch up the game play so it didn't rely on ambush encounters. I also liked how they tried to make the tile-based graphics more organic. The game was a good effort but it could have used some polish, for sure.

They're saving the name for their next console, which will implement all of the bullshit they wanted to implement but back-pedaled on.

I vote for Sky Diver. Everything happens on one screen and I think it would be really cool if it spanned a taller vertical playfield so the goal is off the screen at first. An arrow can point you in the direction of the goal and, of course, wind direction. The guy would be able to rotate as he free-falls so he can take advantage of drag and gain horizontal speed as appropriate for the rotational angle. Each jump would last a bit longer than the original game and it would be more suspenseful since you don't see the goal right away. As usual, the later you wait to pull the cord, the higher the score. Also, Q*Bert.

During the label contest I gotta say I was very tempted to put that on the label.

Pitfall. I had only played it at a friends house (and loved it). I bought it in the early 90s from a guy in high school for $5. I didn't get Adventure until years after that, in 2000, I believe. I always had the manual to drool over but no game.

U Wiink, oh wait...

So they interview Mr. Bushnell at a developer event, he speaks about his new venture and a little bit about Nintendo, but instead of using a headline about his 'Brainrush' company they decide nobody would click the link so they use his quotes on Nintendo for click bait. What is this about irrelevance again?

Cool site! I just read your Midnight Magic review and you mentioned not being able to operate the flippers independently (that it's one or the other or both at once). If I remember correctly, you can plug in the paddle controllers and, using one in each hand, use the fire buttons to operate the flippers. Although, programmatically, I'm not sure if the code allows for independent operation. Worth a shot though! The only reason I know this is the box shows the hands holding paddles and I'd thought I'd try it out back in the day.

I put it on par with the boss music from Zelda - A Link to the Past.

You have already demonstrated that you are not interested in an adult discussion. *plonk*

This is really beside the point but if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart

Sorry, I don't debate with crazy. Enjoy your cheap shit.

So, you are the reason manufacturing has moved overseas and into sweatshops staffed by 8-year-olds. You are the reason Wal-Mart is the force that it is and why their workforce is underpaid. When you go cheap, businesses will do what they can to recoup costs, which usually means taking their production elsewhere or punishing their workers. I, for one, will reward quality. If that means paying more, so be it. Signed, A Fool

Q*Bert turned out pretty well.