What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2018 (Season 11)

[+thegoldenband]

Just one game for me this week:

 

NES:

Dragon Warrior II - 811 min.

 

Being able to emulate while watching TV -- or tied down by long-winded phone calls -- is a nice thing. And with all the grinding in DW2, it's not as if it requires close attention 100% of the time anyway, so...

[Eltigro]

Just a couple of games for me this week...

 

TurboGrafx-16

Galaga '90 - 35 min (Got farther than I have before. Was using the TurboStick so I had a joystick instead of a d-pad, so I think that helped. A top score of 464,680 so far... will probably play more this week and see if I can top that.)

 

Sega Saturn (emulated)

Albert Odyssey - 387 min (Already farther than I was last year. Got all five team members and had a big battle, saved my sister and thought, "Is this it? Is this the end? Wow, that was short..." Then it started a "Chapter 2" kinda thing... so off on another adventure.)

[zylon]

5200-

Ms pacman- 20min

[Iwantgames:)]

 

This week I got my Emerson Arcadia 2001 in the mail so aside from my modern times I spent a bit playing it. I also got 3 Videopac games in but only had time to try 1.

Emerson Arcadia 2001

 

3D Bowling – 15min

Baseball – 5min

Cat Trax – 35min

Escape – 5min

Jungler – 20min

Space Attack – 25min

Space Raiders – 20min

Tanks A Lot – 5min

Odyssey 2/Videopac

 

Popeye – 10min

[Skippy B. Coyote]

It was a pretty eventful week around here this past week, with the rather rare happening of a new console getting added to the family gaming center and lots of new games to try on it. After doing a trade deal with a local mom and pop game store we now have a Sega CD to complete the Sega trifecta of the Genesis, 32X, and Sega CD.

 

 

 

Ineligible

Metroid Prime (Nintendo GameCube) - 66 minutes

Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil (Nintendo Wii) - 276 minutes

StreetPass Mii Plaza (Nintendo 3DS) - 18 minutes

 

Sega 32X

Doom - 68 minutes

Star Wars Arcade - 57 minutes

 

Sega CD

Mortal Kombat - 37 minutes

Robo Aleste - 42 minutes

Sewer Shark - 26 minutes

Silpheed - 249 minutes

Sonic CD - 630 minutes

 

Sega Genesis

Mortal Kombat - 121 minutes

 

 

Total Play Time This Week

1,590 minutes (26 hours 30 minutes) [1,230 minutes eligible]

 

Individual System Play Times This Week

Sega CD: 984 minutes

Nintendo Wii: 276 minutes

Sega 32X: 125 minutes

Sega Genesis: 121 minutes

Nintendo GameCube: 66 minutes

Nintendo 3DS: 18 minutes

 

 

 

When I first got the Sega CD home and tried out the system it was constantly skipping, crashing, and just plain failing to load the copy of Sewer Shark that came bundled with it much of the time, but fortunately those issues were fairly easy to fix. I gave the laser eye a good cleaning with some isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip then opened up the system, cleaned all the old dried up grease out of the gears that move the laser, then applied fresh white lithium grease to all the gears and a couple drops of 3-in-1 oil to the metal rod the laser moves along. After that Sewer Shark worked perfectly every time with no skipping, crashing, or loading issues; so I decide to set about taking advantage of the Sega CD's lack of copy protection and burned some games for it that I had been wanting to play to CD-R.

 

You can read about my experiences with Sonic CD and Mortal Kombat here in the Games Beaten In 2018 thread, but for the short version of the story I'll just say that both the misses and I absolutely loved Sonic CD and played through the entire game together twice this week. I think I can safely say that it's now my second favorite Sonic game, second only to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Mortal Kombat was a bit of a different story, and in spite of it's improved graphics and sound in comparison to the Genesis version I wouldn't recommend the Sega CD version since it is severely hampered by load times at inopportune moments; like right in the middle of a round. It was still fun to play, but I definitely prefer the Genesis version.

 

Of the other three Sega CD games I tried this week I wasn't very fond of Sewer Shark (though it did have some pretty hilarious voice acting) but it did serve it's purpose as an authentic disc to test the system with, which leaves Silpheed and Robo Aleste to discuss. To put it bluntly, Silpheed may very well end up being my 2018 game of the year. I love absolutely everything about it from the astounding graphics to the fantastic music, frenetic gameplay, power-up system, and overall sense of total awesomeness. The only negative thing I could possibly say about Silpheed it that it is infamous for being very, very picky about disc quality and condition and is prone to disc read errors that force you to restart the level you're on when they happen. My Sega CD plays everything else I've thrown at it without any problems at all, but even after burning 3 copies of Silpheed I still haven't gotten one to work reliably. This is one game that you pretty much need an authentic copy with a scratch-free disc to play reliably, and I will be buying one ASAP because this game is just way too cool.

 

As far as Robo Aleste (which is the sequel to M.U.S.H.A. on the Genesis) goes, I actually didn't care for it. Maybe I just don't have very refined tastes in shoot 'em ups but I wasn't terribly impressed by the graphics, music, or gameplay. Not that I got to experience much of it though, since the game is so insanely difficult that even on Easy mode I never made it past the beginning of the second stage. I guess it could be a good game if you're into masochistic shooters, but I don't think this one's for me.

 

That's pretty much it for me this week outside of the hour or so of Metroid Prime that I played before I got my hands on the Sega CD and a bit of time spent testing out a literally brand new official 6 button Genesis controller with Doom for the 32X, and I have to say it was the single greatest digital control pad I've ever used. For the misses' gaming time this past week, other than Sonic CD and the bit of Mortal Kombat on the Genesis and Star Wars Arcade for the 32X that she played with me, she just spent a couple hours here and there finishing up Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil on the Wii. She had a pretty tough time with the last 1/3rd or so of the game due to the extremely limited amount of ammo you get on Hard mode, to the point that she actually had to use the basic handgun against the Tyrant in the final boss battle, but she still managed to see it through to the end and beat it earlier tonight.

 

 

Well, that about wraps it up for this week I think! Looking ahead to next week I should probably get back to my game of Metroid Prime on the GameCube, but the temptation to try some more new games on the Sega CD is pretty strong so we'll see how it goes. I know the spousal unit is planning on giving Ecco the Dolphin for our newly acquired Sega CD a try next week, so maybe we'll both have some more Sega CD time to contribute next week. Until then, best wishes and happy gaming to you and yours.

Edited January 22, 2018 by Jin

[Eltigro]

For some reason I was thinking that Silpheed was far more expensive than it is. Only around $20 on ebay apparently.

 

Also, I haven't really looked into Robo Aleste, so don't remember the music from it, but MUSHA had, in my opinion, some of the best music on the Genesis.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom! - 119 minutes

Hunchy 2 - 142 minutes

Burgertime - 58 minutes

Battlezone - 5 minutes

 

 

Kaboom! : 69,794

 

Hunchy 2 : I'm still on level 14 but progressing.

 

Battlezone : Seems like a fun game. I hope I do better than I did on Burgertime.

 

 

[+wongojack]

Astrocade

Bally Pin 289

Gunfight 3

Atari 2600

Laser Gates 8

Miss It 8

 

 

 

More Astrocade for me and about a quarter of an hour on the AFBP. I also played an ineligible game on Steam called Epistory: Typing Chronicles. You use typing controls to navigate a 3rd person world and fight monsters. Its ok.

[oyamafamily]

I. couldnt get my Burgertime game working for the HSC. I used an air gun and q-tip with alcohol. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Have you ever watched this video by tbonepearson (Travis Gordon)? It shows how to clean and repair a classic NES game.

The same thing can be done with cartridges for Atari, SNES, Master System, Sega Genesis etc.

Edited January 23, 2018 by oyamafamily

[carlsson]

He already tried to blow air, use a q-tip with alcohol and per a personal message, also tried the rubber eraser to no avail. I suppose his BurgerTime cart might be a dud or at least some other/more serious fault than just dirty connector. I suppose tracks may be broken which could be visually inspected and perhaps repaired. (using a conductive pen?)

Edited January 23, 2018 by carlsson

[+wongojack]

I have had a rare case where none of the above mentioned methods were good enough, and I needed to get the DeoxIt out before the game would work. That is usually for games that actually got PLAYED a lot though. 2600 Burgertime kinda sucks, so I doubt anyone was leaving it in the Atari for hours at a time. (unlike Enduro)

[agb]

Thanks for all your suggestions but I think it may be broke. I will keep trying and if I get it working, I will let you know. Thanks.

[+thegoldenband]

Small delay in the stats this week, but I should have them tomorrow (Thursday).

[+thegoldenband]

Small delay in the stats this week, but I should have them tomorrow (Thursday).

 

Er, I guess it'll be Friday. Sorry folks, it's been a tough week -- my dog died and things got very busy at work -- but the stats'll definitely happen tomorrow.

[Opry99er]

Damn... sorry to hear about your dog... sucks man

[carlsson]

Take care. Stats for this tracker should be among your lowest priorities. In the mean time we'll just keep playing.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

 

Er, I guess it'll be Friday. Sorry folks, it's been a tough week -- my dog died and things got very busy at work -- but the stats'll definitely happen tomorrow.

 

I'm so sorry for your loss goldenband! I lost my dog a couple years ago and it took me weeks to pull myself together, so you have my deepest sympathy. Take all the time you need to grieve and come back when you're feeling up to it, the tracker isn't going anywhere and I don't think anyone would hold it against you if you need some time off.

[Atarian7]

I'm sorry about your dog.

 

Like others said: take all the time you need.

[+thegoldenband]

Thanks, y'all, for your kind words and sympathy.

 

She was a good dog & had been in decline for some months, but we still hoped to find a treatment that might work. Fortunately the end was quick and, as far as we could tell, painless -- and happened the night before we were going to have her put down, sparing us that difficult decision.

 

The vet's best guess is that her liver failure was caused by a bout of leptospirosis she had last year, and with the rodent population on the rise in many areas, I'm guessing we'll see a lot of lepto cases in dogs in the coming years. So if you have a mysteriously sick dog, be sure to order the test if you can afford it; we were quoted $300 at one place but $200 at another, so shopping around may help.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 3, running from January 15 - 21. We logged 5691 minutes of eligible play, playing 72 games on a total of 22 systems.

Top 10:

1. Dragon Warrior II (NES/Famicom) - 811

2. Sonic CD (Sega CD) - 630

3. Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean (Sega Saturn) - 387

4. Bigfoot (TI-99/4A) - 340

5. Bally Pin (Bally Astrocade) - 289

6. Silpheed (Sega CD) - 249

7. Solar Fox (Atari 2600) - 224

8. Tunnels of Doom [Quest of the King] (TI-99/4A) - 210

9. Burgertime (Atari 2600) - 203

10. Hunchy II (Atari 2600) - 142

Pre-NES top 10:

1. Bigfoot (TI-99/4A) - 340

2. Bally Pin (Bally Astrocade) - 289

3. Solar Fox (Atari 2600) - 224

4. Tunnels of Doom [Quest of the King] (TI-99/4A) - 210

5. Burgertime (Atari 2600) - 203

6. Hunchy II (Atari 2600) - 142

7. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 119

8. Aperture (TI-99/4A) - 100

9. Enduro (Atari 2600) - 91

10. Astro Blaster (Atari 7800) - 90

Top 10 systems:

1. Sega CD (984)

2. Atari 2600 (982)

3. NES/Famicom (902)

4. TI-99/4A (858)

5. Sega Saturn (387)

6. Bally Astrocade (292)

7. SNES (180)

8. PC (DOS) (163)

9. BBS Door Games (140)

10. Emerson Arcadia 2001 (130)

The second outing of a venerable RPG takes the top spot this week, as Dragon Warrior II on the NES earns the laurels, while Bigfoot on the TI takes the pre-NES spot. But the big duel is taking place on the system charts, where the Sega CD exceeds the Atari 2600 by a margin of only two minutes: wow!

[Opry99er]

Very cool... thanks for keeping the tracker up!!

 

 

 

Hey goldenband... do you think at some point in the next couple of weeks you could do another All Time systems list?

 

IIRC we did one of those a year or two ago and it was very interesting stuff!!

[Eltigro]

Very cool... thanks for keeping the tracker up!!

 

 

 

Hey goldenband... do you think at some point in the next couple of weeks you could do another All Time systems list?

 

IIRC we did one of those a year or two ago and it was very interesting stuff!!

 

 

He did some all-time lists at the end of last year's tracker. Is this what you were looking for?

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/260625-what-have-you-actually-played-tracker-for-2017-season-10/?p=3925749

[Opry99er]

Yea!! Thats it!

 

Thanks for that. I somehow missed it looking at previous trackers.

[agb]

Goldenband, so sorry to hear about your dog. I know how hard that can be.

[Mister-VCS]

 

ATARI 2600: Battlezone (2 hours)