What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2014 (Season 7)

[oyamafamily]

Only 1 game played this week - September 15th-21st!

 

Atari 2600 - Mountain King - 207 minutes

 

This week, I focused on Mountain King because it was my game played for the First Round of Silver Medal Tournament on 2600 NEW HSC Season 3. With my score of 221,180 points (Game 1-BB), I passed to the Second Round. Next week, my game will be Strat-O-Gems Deluxe (Game 1-BB). To clear the First Round, my minimum score needed in Mountain King is 34,000 points.

 

Check out my Mountain King Gameplay Video (with audio recorded just because SOUND is the most critical element).

Edited September 21, 2014 by oyamafamily

[Iwantgames:)]

Not too much gaming this week but I did finish Pirate Adventure, and beat my Barrage high score

 

TI-99 -

 

Barrage - 65min (558,130 points)

 

Pirates Adventure - 110min

[carlsson]

Late Sunday night addition to my previously posted times:

 

Amiga:

Super Tetris - 2 min.

 

Not the kind of Tetris game I was looking for this time, so I'll skip buying a boxed copy off eBay.

 

SNES:

Tetris - 4 min.

 

Much closer to what I need, and although it probably only uses a fraction of the hardware, looks like I game I will play more eventually.

Edited September 21, 2014 by carlsson

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (SEPTEMBER 15th through 21st)...

 

Arcade:

Snow Bros - 131 min. in 3 sessions

 

Commodore 64:

Flip & Flop - 75 minutes

 

Snow Bros is a game which is a bit similar to "Diner" on the C-64 and "Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory" in the arcade in that you have to roll things (here: snowballs) in order to eliminate enemies. The difference is that you first have to turn the enemies into snowballs before you can roll them, and then you can roll them only once each. In that respect it's actually similar to other platform games with generally fixed screens where you can't eliminate enemies directly, but first have to do other things to them. I think Mario Bros. was the game introducing this kind of game mechanics, with the next famous successor being Bubble Bobble. I think I haven't ever played this game myself before, I only watched it in the arcade back in the day.

 

Flip & Flop is an isometric game with 4-way scrolling which works a bit like Pac-Man, although it's not too close. You could also compare it to Q*Bert or Slinky in that you only go in diagonals. Actually, the first about 20 minutes I played it as an online game, but this version still seems to actually be a C-64 emulation of some sort, only the sound doesn't sound very faithfully, the "noise" sound is much louder than the other types of waves, and the "triangle" actually is played as a square wave. Some of the sounds are even missing completely. But all in all, I still think it's either an emulation or a direct translation of the original code, so I counted it as being C-64 as well.

[BillyHW]

Here are my times for this past week (SEPTEMBER 15th through 21st)...

 

Arcade:

Snow Bros - 131 min. in 3 sessions

 

Commodore 64:

Flip & Flop - 75 minutes

 

Snow Bros is a game which is a bit similar to "Diner" on the C-64 and "Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory" in the arcade in that you have to roll things (here: snowballs) in order to eliminate enemies. The difference is that you first have to turn the enemies into snowballs before you can roll them, and then you can roll them only once each. In that respect it's actually similar to other platform games with generally fixed screens where you can't eliminate enemies directly, but first have to do other things to them. I think Mario Bros. was the game introducing this kind of game mechanics, with the next famous successor being Bubble Bobble. I think I haven't ever played this game myself before, I only watched it in the arcade back in the day.

 

Flip & Flop is an isometric game with 4-way scrolling which works a bit like Pac-Man, although it's not too close. You could also compare it to Q*Bert or Slinky in that you only go in diagonals. Actually, the first about 20 minutes I played it as an online game, but this version still seems to actually be a C-64 emulation of some sort, only the sound doesn't sound very faithfully, the "noise" sound is much louder than the other types of waves, and the "triangle" actually is played as a square wave. Some of the sounds are even missing completely. But all in all, I still think it's either an emulation or a direct translation of the original code, so I counted it as being C-64 as well.

 

Snow Bros. is an awesome game. One of my favourites.

Edited September 22, 2014 by BillyHW

[zylon]

5200-

 

Berzerk- 20min

[+cvga]

Baseball Stars (NES) - 21 minutes

 

It's been a slow time for gaming recently.

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

NES:

Loopz - 1 min.

Thundercade - 10 min.

Game Boy:

Ring Rage - 3 min.

Stop That Roach - 84 min.

True Lies - 37 min.

PlayStation:

Croc! - 341 min.

Tennis [A1 Games] - 75 min.

V-Tennis - 96 min.

Beat the A1 Games budget release Tennis on Hard mode. (Thoughts on that here, along with New Chessmaster and Pipe Dream from last week.) I played on hard courts as "Assica" -- the game's fictionalized version of Andre Agassi -- and my matches in the five-round championship went as follows:

1R: Tom 7-5; 2R: Sanpyon 6-0; 3R: Umetani 6-2; SF: Ivanov 6-0; F: Hunter 7-6 (2)

It feels a bit like Super Tennis for SNES -- some of the patterns for serving aces are similar -- but the CPU in this game is more inclined to play dumb, i.e. let balls go by for no apparent reason.

After that I picked Croc! back up again and made it through the first two worlds, unlocking and completing all the hidden bonus levels. Strange game, since it looks and sounds like a kid-oriented game but often gets obscure or frustrating, largely thanks to the questionable camera and controls.

In parallel with that I started working on another PlayStation tennis game, V-Tennis, in which I also played as the game's fake Agassi -- in this case a character named Falls, who does backflips when he wins. At first I struggled, but once I realized that the triangle key is a strong topspin shot that (unlike the slice and flat shots) almost always stays in, I started demolishing the CPU, winning almost every set 6-0. In one match I only lost three points in two sets!

After winning three "preliminary" one-set matches and a 4-player round-robin with three-set matches, I'm now in the final eight-player knockout tournament, with (I assume) three matches left to go. If it doesn't abruptly get tougher, I should be done with this in a day or two.

Finally, I started working on Stop That Roach, a puzzle game for Game Boy. I still don't fully understand how it works, but I managed to clear the first 21 levels, so I guess I'm doing something right.

[doomwaves]

Slow week for retro. Spent most of my time with my 3ds, but I managed a bit of nes yesterday.

 

Nes:

 

Tetris 2 - 90 minutes

[+thegoldenband]

With apologies for the lateness, here's the summary for Week 38, running from September 15 - 21. We logged 1954 minutes of eligible play, playing 24 games on a total of 12 systems.

Top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 515

2. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (PlayStation) - 341

3. Mountain King (Atari 2600) - 207

4. Snow Bros. (Arcade) - 131

5. Pirates Adventure (TI-99) - 110

6. V-Tennis (PlayStation) - 96

7. Tetris 2 (NES/Famicom) - 90

8. Stop That Roach (Game Boy) - 84

9. Flip & Flop (C64) - 75

9. Tennis [A1 Games] (PlayStation) - 75

Pre-NES top 10:

Not enough entries for a top 10. (Kaboom would be #1.)

Top 10 systems:

1. Atari 2600 (770)

2. PlayStation (512)

3. TI-99 (175)

4. Game Boy (132)

5. Arcade (131)

6. NES/Famicom (122)

7. C64 (75)

8. Atari 5200 (20)

9. SNES (9)

10. Sega Master System (4)

A quiet week, but one in which normalcy returns, as Kaboom takes the triple crown. The only unusual news is that Snow Bros. is within 20 minutes of joining the 1000-minute club.

[karokoenig]

Atari 2600

Phoenix: 73 min

 

High Score Club, Silver Medal Challenge, Semi-Final. If my score holds, I will most likely be up against Oyama in the final round - who is gonna mop the floor with me :-).

 

SNES

Actraiser 2: 8 min

Kid Klown in Crazy Chase: 3 min

Pacman 2: 10 min

Super Turrican: 7 min

Turbo Toons: 2 min

Warlock: 10 min

 

Picked those up cheap from a guy in the neighborhood. Carts were mostly in really bad SNES shape. I.e. piss-yellow and faded labels. Games work fine, though, and that's what counts.

 

Mega Drive

Generations Lost: 5 min

 

Played for a quick test of a SCART hub I picked up. Nothing to see here. Move along.

[Starf]

NES:

 

Rush 'n' Attack : 30 mins

Megaman 4: 180 mins

Megaman 3: 90 mins

Megaman 6: 45 mins

 

SNES:

 

Megaman X: 60 mins

Mario Paint: 30 mins

Super Metroid: 60 mins

Super Mario World: 150 mins

F- Zero: 20 mins

Edited September 27, 2014 by Starf

[oyamafamily]

MY WEEK - SEPTEMBER 22nd-28th:

 

Atari 2600:

Only Strat-O-Gems Deluxe - 246 minutes in several sessions

 

Strat-O-Gems Deluxe was my main focus, valid for Round 2 (Semi-Final) of Silver Medal Tournament. My highest score obtained in this game is 67,330 points - if my score holds, I and Karokoenig will be the potential finalists - looks like it will be Brazil x Germany on Atari 2600 NEW HSC Season 3.

 

Atari 7800:

Mario Bros. - 41 minutes

 

Game Boy Classic:

Centipede - 23 minutes

Q*Bert - 6 minutes

Super Mario Land - 5 minutes

 

CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS:

 

1) 2600 Strat-O-Gems Deluxe - 67,330 points

 

2) 7800 Mario Bros. Advanced - 570,770 points (with audio recorded)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLSgyMSyogo

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!- 514 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 35,326

 

 

Almost the same exact amount of time as last week by pure coincidence.

 

I got my lowest score in a long time.

 

 

[+thegoldenband]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!- 514 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 35,326

 

 

Almost the same exact amount of time as last week by pure coincidence.

Whoa, that time is a weird coincidence in another way, as I'll reveal soon...

 

I got my lowest score in a long time.

 

Also, starf, welcome aboard!

[carlsson]

Amiga:

Pinball Fantasies: Billion Dollar Gameshow - 38 min.

Creativision:

Chopper Rescue - 18 min.

Planet Defender - 5 min.

Stone Age - 3 min.

Famicom:

Tengen Tetris - 53 min.

Volguard II - 8 min.

MSX:

Butamaru Pants - 14 min.

Knightmare - 12 min.

SNES:

Tetris - 3 min.

VIC-20:

Clowns - 10 min.

Sword of Fargoal - 16 min.

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (September 22nd through 28th)...

 

Arcade:

Snow Bros. - 221 min. in 2 sessions

Tumble Pop - 255 min. in 2 sessions

 

Online (non-eligible):

Yolo Train - 55 min. in 2 sessions

 

I continued to play Snow Bros. In the second session I set it to Easy, 4 lives, and completed the game using Continues. This is still tricky because as you run out of lives, you normally get set back to the start of the level. I still managed to beat each level except for the last boss where I employed a special trick... if you start a game for the other player before your lives run out, you are allowed to start with fresh lives without being set back to the start of the level. That's how I managed to beat the last boss. I think this should push Snow Bros. into the 1000-minute club, although I didn't do it on purpose... all the minutes were played before Goldenband announced there are only so many minutes left until the 1000-minute club.

 

Tumble Pop is the "logical" follow-up to Snow Bros. although it's actually by a different company. It came to mind when I reached the later levels of Snow Bros. and realized it wasn't the game I'd been watching for so long at the arcade back in the early 90's. The games are very similar to each other, but Tumble Pop has more rounds and more levels with the last level repeating all the bosses of the previous levels, but with less hit points this time so you can beat them more quickly the second time around. In contrast to that, Snow Bros. has 5 levels with 10 rounds each, and the last round is a boss. In the 2nd session, I complete Tumble Pop as well with the use of Continues, but this time the 2-player trick wasn't needed because Tumble Pop always allows you to continue without setting you back to the start of the level.

 

Yolo Train is an online game in cooporation with our national train service, the ÖBB, where you have to guide a boy walking on a vertically scrolling background, trying to collect as many points as possible without being hit by a train. In order to do that, you have to keep away from the tracks even if there are more points to collect lying on the tracks. Sadly, the game suffers from some form of memory leak which makes it first slow down and then crash the browser after about 24-25 minutes of playing time, both on Chrome and Firefox.

[+Ripdubski]

I reused the monitor I had for another purpose and have missed my retro gaiming time for the past couple of months. I need to resolve the monitor issue!

[doomwaves]

Nes:

Tetris - 30 minutes

Wizards & Warriors - 150 minutes

[zylon]

5200-

 

Mario Bros.- 28min

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

Arcade:

Bubble Bobble - 8 min.

Cheyenne - 2 min.

Double Dragon - 21 min.

Marble Madness - 4 min.

Robotron - 7 min.

Stun Runner - 3 min.

Timber - 10 min.

Zookeeper - 4 min.

Odyssey^2:

Conquest of the World - 120 min.

Genesis:

Golden Axe III - 54 min.

The Humans - 88 min.

The Smurfs 2 - 53 min.

Game Boy:

Stop That Roach - 12 min.

PlayStation:

Crash Team Racing - 86 min.

Croc - 515 min.

Skydiving Extreme - 20 min.

V-Tennis - 86 min.

I spent the first part of the week playing PlayStation, and managed to finish off Croc with 100% completion.

I thought I'd also be done with V-Tennis, but after I won the final tournament and the credits rolled, the game unexpectedly offered to let me save...because there's one more hurdle left: a best-of-five sets exhibition match on a volcanic island, against a near-invincible foe named Mattox. He has a 250kph serve -- oddly enough, that's almost exactly the official world record for service speed, set in 2011 -- and is very fast indeed. (Sigh.)

After some practice I was able to hold serve some of the time against Mattox, and when I can get the ball in play on his serve I'm in the point, but I'm lucky to return half of his serves. It'll take a lot of work to get past this one. Oddly enough Super Tennis for SNES does the exact same thing, right down to the last adversary being a dark-skinned man whom you play on a volcanic island! That's gotta make V-Tennis an homage or a spiritual sequel -- maybe the developers were the same.

Also on the PlayStation, my wife and I also won a few Cup races on different difficulties in Crash Team Racing, and experimented with Skydiving Extreme, a goofy pattern/rhythm game that I thought had a modest charm, but she didn't like at all.

And speaking of games my wife didn't like, last night we devoted a couple hours to trying out Conquest of the World, a board game/video game hybrid for Odyssey^2. The pieces and packaging are very fancy, but underneath all the pretentious geopolitical jargon, the board game itself is very simplistic, if not downright one-dimensional. The video game component is integrated to some extent, but could've been handled far better, and the battle mechanics are totally unbalanced -- in particular, the submarine is almost invincible. Perhaps Conquest of the World could come alive with more players, but the whole thing seemed very contrived, though tweaking the rules might help.

On a happier note, we went to Barcade in Brooklyn, NY, and played a bunch of games there, including beating Double Dragon together. (Well, I guess technically I beat it, since I won our grudge match at the end.) I also got the high score of the day, and #2 all-time, on their Robotron: 2084 machine. Another highlight was figuring out Timber, a Tapper descendant that grew on us after initial confusion.

Finally, some Genesis: I beat a couple more levels in the dull puzzler The Humans; my wife and I made it to the end boss in Golden Axe III, before getting that marvelous bit of Engrish, "AND YOU DEAD"; and for the first time I made sense of the subpar and confusing Smurfs 2, and completed a couple levels -- only to have the game crash twice in Level 3...which, naturally, is too soon to get a password. (Once again, sigh.)

[BillyHW]

Atari 2600

 

E.T. (1 hour). Managed to phone home but could not find the landing zone and I think there was a human on the screen anyways when it was time for the ship to land.

[Iwantgames:)]

Not much gaming at all this week

 

TI-99 -

 

Centipede - 5min

 

Moon Patrol - 10min

 

Road Hunter - 10min

 

Tunnels of Doom - 5min

[oyamafamily]

OYAMAFAMILY NEWS:

 

At 2600 NEW High Score Club, I'm on the Silver Medal Bracket Finals, and my opponent is Karokoenig.

For the next 2 weeks, I will focus at least on 2 games: Grand Prix and Lock N Chase.

To clear the Second Round of Silver Medal Bracket, my minimum score needed in Strat O Gems Deluxe was 38,000 points.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 39, running from September 22 - 28. We logged 3665 minutes of eligible play, playing 61 games on a total of 15 systems.

Top 10:

1. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (PlayStation) - 515

2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 514

3. Tumble Pop (Arcade) - 255

4. Strat-O-Gems Deluxe (Atari 2600) - 246

5. Snow Bros. (Arcade) - 221

6. Mega Man 4 (NES/Famicom) - 180

7. Wizards and Warriors (NES/Famicom) - 150

7. Super Mario World (SNES) - 150

9. Conquest of the World (Odyssey^2) - 120

10. Mega Man 3 (NES/Famicom) - 90

Pre-NES top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 514

2. Strat-O-Gems Deluxe (Atari 2600) - 246

3. Conquest of the World (Odyssey^2) - 120

4. Phoenix (Atari 2600) - 73

5. E.T. (Atari 2600) - 60

6. Mario Bros. (Atari 7800) - 41

7. Mario Bros. (Atari 5200) - 28

8. Chopper Rescue (Creativision) - 18

9. Sword of Fargoal (VIC-20) - 16

10. Butamaru Pants (MSX) - 14

Top 10 systems:

1. Atari 2600 (893)

2. PlayStation (707)

3. NES/Famicom (586)

4. Arcade (535)

5. SNES (363)

6. Genesis (200)

7. Odyssey^2 (120)

8. Game Boy (46)

9. Atari 7800 (41)

10. Amiga (38)

3D platformer Croc takes the crown over perennial performer Kaboom -- by a margin of one minute! Weirder yet, Kaboom notched 515 minutes just last week, so we nearly had a tie for #1 in two different senses. That said, Kaboom and the Atari take the top spot on the other two charts.

In other news, two games have now become the 136th and 137th members of the 1000-minute club. The arcade game Snow Bros. has 1202 minutes to date, and Super Mario World for SNES with 1035 minutes.