silverpoodleman

I know this isn't appro until your ride home, but I couldn't resist - Well if you ever plan to motor west, take my way that's the highway that's the best. Get your kicks on Route 66 It winds from Chicago to L.A. - More than 2000 miles all the way. Get your kicks on Route 66 It goes from St. Louie down to Missouri - Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty. You'll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, and San Bernadino Would you get hip to this kindly tip? And go take that California trip - Get your kicks on Route 66

Hmmmm multiple choice. Maybe I should set up a poll? 997419[/snapback] Go with loser

Frogger is better on the Sega Genesis - in fact, it is the exact arcade version. I prefer Centipede over Milipede (although in September it was the other way around - go figure). I never liked Asteroids (I know - that is blasphemous). In truth, Solaris is in my top thirty (#27 to be exact). The reason we all have different lists and the reason seeing others lists is because we all see, view and enjoy the 2600 differently. I am not glued to the "classics" in the 2600 library so I feel no regrets about excluding them from my personal top 25. For me, it is very simple - which games do I enjoy playing the most? When I go to turn on my 2600, which games do I reach for? My top 25 reflects that despite what others may feel is lacking.

Yes - Pong is excellent. Remember, Pong was so successful because of three factors - it is incredibly easy to learn, hard to master, AND, most importantly, women are naturally better at it than men (due to better fine motor skills and hand-eye). Not knowing this, guys would pump quarter after quarter trying to improve just so they could beat their gals. What silly lengths we go to in order to get, um, favors.

48,725 - improved previous best by more than 10,000 - yeah baby! Ummm, these scores aren't being submitted to the U.S. Armed Forces, are they? If so, then, damn, I got a big fat zero...again! Darn these non-working fingers and eyes

I'd be one of them. I've gotten more than $40 worth of value from my Solar Fox.

Ditto on Warlords and INDY 500. Dodge 'em, Bowling, and Tennis are good as well.

Here is my list - no regrets - 1. Solar Fox 2. Kaboom! 3. Pitfall 2 4. Bump 'n' Jump 5. INDY 500 6. Dodge 'em 7. Pitfall 8. River Raid 9. H.E.R.O. 10. Space Invaders 11. Activision Boxing 12. Enduro 13. Megamania 14. Tapper 15. Super Breakout 16. Bowling 17. Centipede 18. JawBreaker 19. Beamrider 20. BMX Air Master 21. Fathom 22. Cross Force 23. Room of Doom 24. Ram It! 25. Miniature Golf and I'm a happy man

OK folks - boy ain't I controversial? I've now spent more time discussing Pac-Man than I ever hoped to - ever - This is my last staement on Pac-Man and then you can say anything you like - call me crazy - call me a loser, a boozer, a cuddle-up-snoozer - whatever. I never said PM doesn't belong on the list - it does, though IMHO not in the top seven - up there, but not at the very top. What I am not is a revisionist. I'm not going to look back upon my expeirences and say that something happened when it did not. Now, that could just have been my small corner of the world, but it wasn't just me and my buds - Manny, Moe and Jack who felt that way. Now, you are certainly welcome to look back with Pac-Man Colored glasses and fondly remember Pac-Man Fever sweeping the nation. I hope that keeps you warm at night. Don't let the truth get in the way, though, b/c you might wake up in the middle of the night an feeling like ripping off another brilliant written oratory. Anyway, that's it for me. I'm Pac-Out!

The fact that it made a lot of money has absolutely NOTHING to do with it. What you said was that the game wasn't addictive. And the fact that Japan had a yen shortage (because everyone stopped spending their money on what they should have, like food) is enough to prove you wrong. 996429[/snapback] Wrong about the addictive part - fine, I'll give you that - but certainly not ground breaking

Pac-man was a charming game but it certainly wasn't groundbreaking, addictive or the most innovative game out there. It was cute, but I got pretty bored with it. Speaking as someone actually old enough to remember these things first-hand... yeah, Pac-Man _was_ big, really big. It definitely should be in the top 5, along with Asteroids and Space Invaders. Still, my money for #1 would be Pong simply because it was the first video game to make a lot of money for its vendor. If there hadn't been a Pong, the video game industry would look very very different today. 996493[/snapback] Interesting - I am old enough as well. And I remember hearing about how big Pac-Man was all over the world. My friends and I looked around at each other with big puzzled looks. In our corner of the world, Pac-Man was a novelty game. Real gamers didn't touch it where I came from. I guess we all didn't grow up in Japan.

I'm at an interesting point in collecting/acquiring games. For the 2600, I have 220 or so titles and to be truthful, there are only 20 or so games I'd like to dump. For the Sega Genesis, I have 450 titles and I'm just about finished acquiring (perhaps 5 more titles I'm going after) and I'm getting ready to start unloading. By the time I am done, I expect to retain about 200 titles, meaning I'll be unloading 250 titles. Back in June of last year, I had no titles on any systems. I never expected that I would soon be spending my child's college fund on these stupid games (just kidding, just kidding). Now that I am firmly implanted in 2006 armed with resolutions (meaning defined purchasing guidelines), I can tell you that there are excellent games on both systems, probably a couple hundred that are essential for the serious gamer on each system. Hope that helps.

34,875 - getting there!

Pac-Man wasn't addictive? Hmm.. I guess it's was the non-addictive gameplay that created a yen shortage in Japan! 995851[/snapback] It may have been addictive in Japan, but in NJ we knew better - we used quarters! What does the whole yen shortage thing say/prove? Not much. It was a run on a game - nothing more - nothing less. You'll note similar runs on all kinds of items in the history of the free market system - green stamps, cabbage patch kids, furbies, etc., Just because an entire nation blew their lunch money on a video game or on a vegetable doll doesn't make that game or doll better or ground breaking. Recordbreaking Sales? Yes. But "Ground breaking" is another thing Ground breaking is the telephone Ground breaking is Benny Goodman, Thelonius Monk, Elvis or The Beatles Jackie Robinson, Wilt Chamberlain, 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team or Babe Ruth Ground breaking is Casablanca, Monty Python, Dr. Strangelove, The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, The Simpsons or This is Spinal Tap Ground breaking is the airplane or a home computer that is smaller than a home Ground breaking is landing on the damn moon If you want to bring that type of defination to arcade and videogames, fine. The first service call to Atari for their first Pong machine was because the machine "broke" after only one day. What was wrong? Quarters could not be inserted into the machine to start a new game. What was the reason? The coin box was stuffed and overflowing because there were too many quarters! My friend, THAT is ground breaking :!: Want to take this further? Groundbreaking is a video game system that allows you to move figures on a TV screen. That is not only groundbreaking but earth shattering as well. That is walking int9o the abyss and finding an escalater. That is taking something that never existed and building an industry of millions of jobs and $$$trillions$$$. That is the type of ground shaking that only happens when genius is born of the earth. It is what makes the future possible...and less boring. If all you are basing your yen/Pac-Man argument on is that it sold well in Japan for awhileand made a whole lot of money, that's a pretty weak argument, my friend. Making money is easy for a person (me), a company (who do you work for?) or even an industry (reference the crap that routinely makes $100,000,000+ in hollywood these days). Being original, having staying power (w/out viagra) and leaving a legacy is ground breaking. I'm sorry, but when I think of Pac-Man, I think of the lousy conversions to the home systems, not the arcade game at my childhood bowling alley. It simply did not stand out among the Space Invaders, Defenders, Missle Commands or Crazy Climbers (I admittedly threw that last one in as I always had to wait to play the damn thing). Last point - where were all the yen when Atari put out it's awful 2600 version of Pac-Man? Hmmm:?:

Too bad they no longer burn books! Pac-man was a charming game but it certainly wasn't groundbreaking, addictive or the most innovative game out there. It was cute, but I got pretty bored with it. It also had one of the worst transfers to a home video game system or are you too young to remember Pac-Man on the 2600 in 1981 (shudder, shudder!!!) Give me Pong anyday!

It certainly has been copied more than any type of game using the best of the other "Great" games - A few examples are: Pac-Attack - Tetris using Pac-Man characters - heck, they even use the Russian music) Dr. Robotnick's Mean Bean Machine - Tetris using Sonic's enemy Columns - Tetris using Gems from, uh, uh - I'm sure there are more, but I've a hangover this fine Saturday morning, so I'll stop there while I still have some dignity

Which makes them all the more enticing to a collector. Many of these games are still great, even if something bigger, faster and better has come along. Add to that fact, if you follow a particular team (say the Philadelphia Eagles), with games that come out every year, you could be that team and be your favorite players at their peak. It is just another facet of collecting. Remember, COLEECTING does not simply refer to monetary value. I collect for the gaming experience, memories, etc., I do not collect for value. If I did, I would not collect video games (which have a terrible time maintaining value even after six months)

Absolutely! Indy 500 is, IMHO, one of the best two-player games on any system. It never gets old and the variety of games (racing, tag, race for the dot, etc.) makes it all the better.

...and a bedpan! 992313[/snapback] Why not just play in the bathroom? 992469[/snapback] Seriously (well, not really, but...), the bathroom doesn't really offer the comfort of leaning back or lying down while playing or going. Also, most bathrooms don't offer the scenery of say, a solarium/sun room, a deck or even the roof. With the bedpan, there is built in flexibility - wherever you can hook up a TV/Atari, you can use a bedpan. Even in the biggest of houses, how many bathrooms are there? 5? 6? I do remember that Homer Simpson invented a reclyning chair that was really a comode so he could avoid the ten steps or so it took to get to the bathroom and increase his TV watching time. Now if a product like that were available....

Centipede. I like them both but when I'm in the mood for that type of game, I ususally spend more time playing centipede.

As the proud owner of more than 450 unique Genesis titles, I find this situation humorous. Probably 80% of the games I've purchased for the Genny have been bought for between $0.50 and $4.00 and were bought since September 2005. So now I'm supposed to spend $46 on a "new" game for this system? Hell, I've bought 450 "new" games and never spent more than $25 on any individual title. The more expensive games ($10 and up were for the high demand titles like Phantasy Star 4, Pirates Gold, Toe Jam and Earl, Herzog Zwei, Gunstar Heroes, etc., So will I spend $46 and preorder this game? No. If it is that good, I'll wait until the market slams it down to a reasonable price, like it did for most of my 450 titles (BTW, did I mention I have 450 titles?)

H.E.R.O., game 5 thanks to the 2600 High Score Club. It resulted in a broken joystick. I've also been playing Solar Fox, Jawbreaker and Room of Doom. Other than 2600, I've been hooked on Pac-Attack for the Genesis.

...and a bedpan! 992313[/snapback] Why not just play in the bathroom? 992469[/snapback] " ..... .... ........Oh yea....Here it comes ... KaBoooooooooooo oooooooooooooom!" .........FLUSSSSSSSSSSSHHHH!!!!! yeah, that's about right!

Every now and then a game sneeks into what we think are the best games ever. Like you, I had never heard of Solar Fox until I started playing it. All it took was two games and two things happened - I was hooked and it rifled it's way into my top one hundred 2600 games (where it now sits atop). I would gamble that most people out there who consider themselves knowledgeable on 2600 games would agree with my assessment. I'll also say this - the 2600 version of solar fox is far better than the arcade version which loses points for having too many bells and whistles. Solar Fox has a great concept, incredible gameplay, is easy to learn, and very easy to get hooked on. It is like the 2600 version of street crack. I hope you obtain and enjoy a copy soon.

I'm think you're not married. How'd I do?