JimmydelaKopin

Actually, the comparison to sports card collecting is the most apt one I've heard in a long time. Just like with baseball cards, the rarer ones and the really good ones have all the value, and the rest...good as coasters and not much else. And they're still being mass-produced today, even though few people even buy them--so much so that they're heavily discounted shortly after hitting the market. Yep, videogames are just like baseball cards...just harder to clothespin the the bike to make that cool motorcycle sound.

Nonono, Bakasama! Not the Guile handcuff, the "boss code" moves! Let me explain... Back in the days of the SNES there was a device called the Game Genie. You'd put a cartridge into it, then put the device into the SNES. Then you'd program codes into the Game Genie to alter features in the game. During the days of easter eggs for fighters, someone (no one knows who; my money's on someone at Capcom) released a code that would let one play as the boss characters on the SNES version of SFII. Thing is, all it did was replace an image of Ken or Ryu with the chosen character. To do that character's specials, you did the Ken specials...and it would have weird effects on the characters. For example, down-to-back for Chun-Li would have her rise into the air and do her lightning kick while advancing toward the opponent, while the same move would turn Sagat into a tiger shot along the ground (to knock down the opponent). Guile's down-to-forward would create a see-through duplicate of himself laying down flying toward the opponent. Thing is, down-to-forward for Sagat would cause a tiger uppercut without jumping--and it would cause the code to crash the game. Still, I like those bizarre special moves. Those are the ones I want incorporated into official moves. Fat chance of that happening...but I think they look cool.

I've had a few too. For electronic games of some sort: Digital Derby Merlin Turn the Terrible Tank Drive Yourself Crazy Mr. Mouth For non-electronic games: Don't Upset Me Oh, What a Mountain! Can't Stop ...actually more than this, but these are the ones I liked to play the most in my younger days. Most of them are either long gone or recently given to Goodwill or (if the game was rotten or had too many parts missing) scavenged for dice and thrown away. --I'm a gamer; I will not throw away dice that are still good!

Like I said, the phony pics were in an issue of EGM. They did alterations and crropping to make them, first to show SL "tossing" Bison (done with Ryu's sacrifice throw and Bison's special kick combined) then SL in a stance facing off, then SL in mid dragon-punch. And you can tell it was Ryu from that picture. SL has long grey hair ending in a pony tail...and the wave of the pony tail in the dragon punch looks exactly like the wave of Ryu's bandanna when he dragon-punches. As for the Guile 'handcuff', that was done by simultaneously pulling down on the joystick and hitting med. punch, then med. kick (as though moving a hand down the middle row of buttons). Do those together, and the other character is frozen. There's also a way to 'unlock' the 'handcuff'; klov.com lists Guile's bug "specials" and how to do them in its SFII entry. Personally, I wish Capcom would make the "boss code" special moves into legit moves for the characters...but that's just me.

Hey, who owns TOMY nowadays? I'm just saying... Someone rereleased the old Coleco electronic handhelds. Someone's making new water-squirt games. (I used to have a lot of those!) Maybe someone can rerelease those handhelds! Retro is "in" after all...

Let the Gamer from the Grave answer this plea for knowledge... In later SF games there was a hidden character--or two--or more, the first being Akuma, if I remember correctly. But what you're talking about is one of the best-known videogame hoaxes that's been around for far too many years. It was the practical joke EGM slipped into its April issue. The previous year the hot game was TMNT, so EGM created a phony hint "revealing" how one could play as April O'Neal in the videogame. Everyone had a laugh, thought it looked cool, and moved on. The next hot videogame was SFII, and EGM returned with its 'hidden character' phony hint. This time they created an impossible burden to meet: perfects until Bison, then 10 draws in a row without either character doing any damage. If one could somehow accomplish that, supposedly Bison would be tossed out of the way by the hidden character and your new final opponent, Sheng Long--who was said to have a flaming dragon punch and could do the specials of all the other characters. They used a lot of Photoshopping (Sheng Long was a modified Ryu) to create the screens with SL on it, added as the city and state of the hint-giver Fuldagin, HA (as in "Fooled again, ha!"), and slipped it into the April issue. And the joke took on a life of its own. Of course, it didn't hurt that other fighting games and even SFII were doing this hidden stuff in other ways: MK's Reptile in the Pit and the "dullard" code, the "CE" code and the infamous "boss code" for the Game Genie for SFII for the SNES (the latter changing Ken into a new version of the old Ryu), and other such gimmicks. But the Sheng Long joke spread all over the world. It was even reprinted as true in the Jademan SF comics in Japan! Other videogame magazines were quick to restate that the Sheng Long character is only a hoax; one company even did their own photoshopped images of SFII screens to show how it could be done, showing Chun Li throwing a bracelet in one screen and Guile blowing out Ken's brains with a pistol in another. Yes, the Sheng Long character is a hoax. It would have remained just a funny hoax, if not for all the easter eggs being crammed into fighting games at that time. But, thanks to all those very real easter eggs, this phony egg lives on. Thanks for bringing a nostalgic smile to this old gamer's face, pal. You really made my day.

How small is too small?! You serious? Back in the 80's we played videogames on our watches! Now that's small!

If you can actually get one of these... Lost Tomb (the poor man's Indy Jones) or a Galaga bootleg (always good to have the "unusual" Galaga) or Time Pilot (easy gameplay, but very challenging) or best of all... a Rainbow SFII (the bootleg versions pwned Capcom!).

I chose Atari Anthology for all the various modes for playing arcade games--and for having so many that I've never seen before. But my next favorites in order are: 2. Taito 3.Midway2 4.Midway1 5.Capcom And don't get me started about the Namco 50th anniversary Collection! That was hastily put together and released so Namco could have a disc out at the same time Capcom released their and SW Battlefront II was released--so they'd have an excuse for poor sales!

Using standard off-the-shelf products in standard ways is irrelevant, you must realize, Artlover. If a person, using ordinary products in ordinary ways, puts them together to form a new product completely unheard-of before, that person can secure a patent for inventing a new product. The Patent Office doesn't require a draconian "you must build from scratch every component from which your new device is made" standard. Most inventions are made by people who look at objects...and get ideas concerning them: new uses, new additions, new ways of using ordinary products put together. If that draconian standard was the case, I doubt if we'd ever really have a patent office, for how many inventions actually qualify under such a standard? No, I was being very fair with Nolan Bushnell...nice even. He's a heck of a creator... ...and one lousy businessman. As I said, so be it set in stone: creators shouldn't run businesses. Because creators aren't businessmen; they're creators.

Okay, so Coleco came out with its own system and 3rd-party adaptations of other people's games at the same time. My point still remains valid. Unlike Parker Bros., which made 3rd-party adaptations of other's people's games as a side business, Coleco invested not only in making cartridges for others, they made their own system--with its own fancy and colorful controllers! Coleco went the extra distance into the videogame market...only to abandon it for some ugly-ass dolls when the market corrected itself. And even then it abandoned the dolls sooner than Mattel abandoned MotU when it switched from videogames to dolls--er, action figures. My point is that every year at the Toy Fair in New York, there are dozens upon dozens of new toys that are supposed to be the next hot item for the kids. Most of them are gone before the year is out; many are DOA at the Toy Fair. Coleco seemed to me at the time to be devoting itself to this philosophy of trying to go with what's hot instead of building a brand image and keep it going as long as you can. As I said, its biggest problem...is one of priorities.

Soooooo..... ...Nolan was smart enough to get people together to come up with this stuff, smart enough to make their efforts work-for-hire product... ...but not smart enough to get legal protection for his stuff? Who was giving him legal advice, John Santangelo? Sheesh. And I though it was bad enough that Toys-R-Us is selling two storebrand knockoffs of the same Hasbro/MB game. Knockoffs are bad enough... ...but not even bothering to legally protect your work except after people have started copying it is downright short-bus stoopid. I guess it's true: never let a creator run a business.

Maybe the real problem here is one of priorities. The ol' Conn. Leather Co. made 3rd-party games...then it came out with its own system...and then, instead of going back and revamping its system for a new generation... ...they came out with Cabbage Patch Kids. Marketing genius at its finest nadir.

So, Artlover......... ...when did the change in patent and/or copyright law happen? You know the one I mean: the one that prevented Atari from banning 3rd-party materials for its systems... ...but did let Nintendo, Sega, Sony, etc., ban such 3rd-party material from being made for their systems. When exactly did that change happen? The U.N.O. Library has reopened. Give me the date; I'll go look up the details myself. Because if there's actual legal precedent for 3rd-party game/peripheral makers to make such materials without the console manufacturer's consent... ...then, given how big the Big 3 are these days and how popular they are... ...why do such people have to continually seek said console manufacturers permission for their products, in effect making them 2nd-party game/peripheral makers? Given how expensive PS2 memory cards alone are ($25 for one card), one would think another maker would have appeared long ago with its own cards undercutting Sony's prices. Now there are non-Sony PS2 cards--but made with Sony's permission and charging Sony prices for them. Help out this ol' free market advocate here. If other manufacturers were free to make stuff for the consoles all along... ...then why haven't they? Ball's in your court, answer-man.

Suddenly those cheap-quality cabinets at Target don't seem so bad...

What this list needs is the option of "Donkey Kong Jr.". Most of them I havn't played. and of the ones I have played, they're visually different (which I don't mind) with some modifications in gameplay. However, DK & DKJr. lack a number of elements found in other conversions, and what is left isn't done all that well. DKJr. is worse than DK because some of the elements of the game are awful. The snapjaws look terrible, and it was always hard to get off a vine at the platform. (I wonder if Mario has paid anyone off to keep his 2600 image secret! If he looked a bit silly before, the 2600 version of him with the huge nose is downright silly!)

My complaint, brushed over by all the Infogrames blah-blah, is which company actually constitutes Atari more: Infogrames or Midway? And why split Atari into two companies anyway? Atari allowed anyone make games for its systems--and controllers and other peripherals. No 'licensing', no despotic reneging of permission if a rival might make a game more fun than those made by Atari, none of that bull. In other words, none of the nonsense that started under Nintendo and continues today mainly--but not solely--done by Sony. but Atari is the one that had to be split in two to make it "more competitive" and "less monopolistic". ...strange: I thought being able to force competitors from making competing products was monopolistic. Then again, my English isn't Aesopian. While I'm making valid commentary, let me arc onto a relatyed subject. Back some years ago, when the third of the "big 3" was Sega and not Microsoft, the videogame press went ga-ga over Sony's letting Battle Arena Toshinden be made for a non-Sony system. Some even declared that such a system jump had never happened before. Maybe my memories of seeing Intellivision games reformatted for the 2600...and my memories of seeing Coleco adapt arcade games for the 2600 and for its own console...are all bizarre false memories implanted by playing E.T. late at night one too many times. Or maybe the videogame press is so parasitic (as opposed to independent back in my youthful days) that it dare not suggest that maybe, just maybe, videogaming didn't start with Nintendo, Sega, and Sony--lest they never get any more cool games to review. Arcing back to my topic, I really have to wonder about the lack of an independent videogame press for modern games and consoles. Most such press is of the house organ variety; the rest is of the "we wish we were a house organ" variety. I understand that the videogame industry is progressive and transient. But I'm the only one asking, "why is it running so fast? Is it running from something?" Why does the industry flee its past so much?

*swing swing swing*...ahh the right baseball bat for the job. Here, dead horsie horsie horsie... Actually, last I read about this, the landfill section with the E.T. games was covered over with concrete...just like they use to contain nuclear waste. Wonder if there's a connection?

I liked Word Zapper for the 2600 (I think that's the name for it). Then again, I learned to read when I was 3--way before consoles were even being thought about, let alone made.

What about that Buster Douglas bopxing game? Wait, that's not rare to find, it's rare to find someone actually admitting to owning one! That's something else entirely.

'Twas the day before Payday, and all through the place all the people were working at a much frenzied pace. All the workers were doing their tasks with great care in hopes that a Big Raise would soon be theirs....'

I knew that about pinball. My father was a pinball hustler in his younger days, God rest his soul. At his local pinball hangout, the owner would buy won credits off the machines if he thought someone has too many free games on a machines. My dad would earn a little money doing this. And yes, I know the original pinball machines are what they call 'pachinko' in Japan. GAMES Magazine article a few years ago; also learned about Crackerjack the same way. However, I didn't know that the videogame industry and the gambling industry were so closely linked in Japan. Then again, they also sell beer in vending machines and sell comics in numbers that American companies can only dream about. In other words, things are different there. No problem. And concerning the Space Invaders on ATMs...back in the 80's one could play Coke-related videogames on certain Coca-cola vending machines. Looks like retro is coming back in yet another form. Or something like that. And I also know that Bally and Midway were formed as pinball machine manufacturers, Midway being named for the place where there machines were usually found, and Bally named for their first machine, titled Ballyhoo! So there. ...hee hee hee...

I would be agitated by this use of videogames to promote gambling... ...if it wasn't for the fact that Midway has ties with the gambling industry. Bally's Casino in Las Vegas had an entire floor filled with Pac-Man machines in the 80's. Bally was a partner of Midway. Coincidence? Williams, owned by Midway, refurbished their own Pin-Bot pinball machines with a new gambling theme--Gam-Bot. That same year gambling interests across America lobied for bills and pushed initiatives to legalize gambling all across America; one of the big players in this push was Bally. Coincidence? The fact that Namco has been dragged into this...I suspect Midway involvement again. What is it with Midway and gambling?

All right, now I'm getting confused here. Which Atari copyrights are owned by Infogrames... ...and which are owned by Midway? ...damn DoJ "antitrust" forced breakup...

Back to the topic of good PlayStation games to get... Jumping Flash 1&2. Nice 1st-person shooters--and they're cute! The Twisted Metal series. Excepting Black and Head-On, all of them are PlayStation games, and they're all fin to play (though the first is still the best in my opinion). Pro-Pinball: Fantastic Journey is one of the best pinball sims out there--and it has a great soundtrack. Other games of course, but, for me, those are the ones that come to mind first.