Game Shame

[pixelmischief]

This is the game shame.  In this thread, we will identify three (3) things:

 

1. The game you are ashamed you never played.

2. The game you are ashamed you love.

3. The game you think everyone else should be ashamed they love.

 

Me first.

 

1. Star Raiders.  Yeah, I know.  I have to play it.  Somehow I never get around to it.

2. Artworx Strip Poker.  I just...yeah.  In a world of horrifyingly explicit 4K porn, it's the low-res, late-night, forbidden fruit of my childhood indiscretion that still thrills.

3. Rescue on Fractalus.  It's a one trick pony.  That first jump scare is kinda cool.  Otherwise, it's a tech demo for the procedurally generated terrain renderer.  Not sure why it is as celebrated as it is.

[OmaOhneBH]

1. The game you are ashamed you never played.

2. The game you are ashamed you love.

3. The game you think everyone else should be ashamed they love.

 

 

 

1. Koronis Rift

2. Jewel Eater - the first type-in listing BASIC game I typed in in the summer of 1985 - still playing it from time to time

3. M.U.L.E. - back in the days I played with a friend, it was boring - a few months ago I thought about it due to the fact it's loved by that many people, I thought maybe it's up on me, maybe I misconceived the game all the time, so I tried again, aaaaand... no, nothing, I don't feel anything playing this game

 

[Rybags]

1. On Atari I can't really name one.  But I bypassed a lot of strategy, adventure and dungeon crawlers though aside from the AR games which I played almost endlessly, we didn't really get many good games like that.

 

2. A few obscure ones like Java Jim, Drelbs, and others which don't come to mind.

 

3. Koronis Rift.  I disagree re RoF, and think the gameplay is good and has repeat value though more complexity would have been nice. 

Koronis Rift, IMO an exercise in frustration with clunky combat controls and the trading/upgrade system is just a pain to endure and learn.  Tech merit I'd give it 9/10 vs contemporaries, probably 7.5/10 if it was released today.  As an ongoing game concern I'd grudgingly grant it a 7.

[Wrathchild]

1) Universe - I have the physical folder & discs but not sat down and tried it yet ?
2) One Man and His Droid - at one point in my life I think I understood what was going on

3) Ace of Aces - even when moving from the tape to the cart version it still didn't do much for me  

[baktra]

1. Starquake. Never got the courage to play it.

2. Alchemia. Boring, but I love the overall look and feel of the game.

3. Shamus. Playing that is total madness.

[+CharlieChaplin]

1. M.U.L.E. tried playing it alone, but never understood what I have to do (most-likely a case of rtfm). Okay, it is a multiplayer game, but I almost always play alone on the A8, so most-likely no game for me...  (Another good candidate seems to be GACCRR, seems like I always do something wrong here, because after a few seconds I am out of fuel and driving with walking-speed and do not know what to do then, maybe another case of rtfm...)

 

2. Star Raiders II, really like that game, while everyone else seems not to (I also like TLS). Finished levels 1 and 2 successfully, but not level 3 (not sure if it can be won) and wished it had more levels.

 

3) Koronis Rift, I love RoF but don't have much love for this one. The brown RoF fractals now became green and you have to loot hulks (steal whatever you can), use the found items in your ship (for better weapons, shields, etc.) to loot even more hulks. My simple strategy was to sell everything I found, of course I never got very far then...

 

[Good candidates for me to be on the list for number 3) are also Eidolon, Archon II, Henry's House, Cavernia, Black Lamp, Thunderfox/Mirax Force/Last Guardian, Ace of Aces, Master of the Lamps and some others.]

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by CharlieChaplin

[baktra]

9 minutes ago, CharlieChaplin said:

1. (Another good candidate seems to be GACCRR, seems like I always do something wrong here, because after a few seconds I am out of fuel and driving with walking-speed and do not know what to do then, maybe another case of rtfm...)

 

The key is to shift gears as described here.

[mimo]

1. M.U.L.E  , looks dull to me 

2. Dog Daze, yeah, it's lame but spent many fun hours playing this with family. Even got my mum and dad to play it

3. Ballblazer 

[+skr]

1. The game you are ashamed you never played.

Archon. Everybody seems to like it, but I never tried. Should give it a go soon.

 

2. The game you are ashamed you love.

I can´t feel shame for something, when I love it. Otherwise it wouldn´t be real love.

 

3. The game you think everyone else should be ashamed they love.

Same as for 2

[MARIO130XE]

9 hours ago, pixelmischief said:

This is the game shame.  In this thread, we will identify three (3) things:

 

1. The game you are ashamed you never played.

2. The game you are ashamed you love.

3. The game you think everyone else should be ashamed they love.

 

 

1. MULE.... I never understood the gameplay and I think it's a f*cking ugly and boring game but it seems everybody likes it.

2. Schreckenstein. It's one of the greatest but most underrated games. It's a technical milestone and the 1st level  is so beautiful and atmospheric. I have played it billion of times. But ... it's also a very hard to play game and I never finished it. 

3. Gr.8/0 using speccy converions. I think Atari should be colour. Atari is Gr.15/12. Atari palette is 256. 

[+therealbountybob]

Nice thread. There's a lot odf MULE mentioned here so I'll just say get 2-4 players who are up to speed with the game and then you'll see the appeal (especially if that person is your partner!). We just played a "Month of MULE" tournament in the HSC and even in single player it was still fun enough with some scores to beat

[ivop]

I never got MULE either, but that was probably a combination of being too young and having no manual. Same for RoF. Didn't know what keys to press

[+orpheuswaking]

Hey lets not shame out games, they have enough issues as it is

[Flojomojo]

19 hours ago, pixelmischief said:

This is the game shame.  In this thread, we will identify three (3) things:

 

1. The game you are ashamed you never played.

2. The game you are ashamed you love.

3. The game you think everyone else should be ashamed they love.

Good topic. I agree about not shaming gamers because they have enough as it is, but it's still a good topic. 

 

1. Final Fantasy VII. I never found the dozens of hours to play this, not even the phone version which allows me to max my levels and skip random encounters. I feel like I'm missing out but it's more likely I was born too early to arrive at this as an impressionable teenager.

1a. Metroid, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime, Return of Samus. I've started Super Metroid a few times. Why can't I finish it? I should bring my 3DS on a long plane trip and bang it out. 

1b. Castlevania Symphony of the Night. Seems like a tedious cheesefest. 

1c. Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters. This should be my kind of game, Asteroids mixed with story-based role playing. It seems hard to get into, but it's free and runs on everything. I suck.

1d. The Elder Scrolls (any game). This should also be my kind of game, at least on paper. It's possible that in reality, it's kind of a bore?

 

2. Star Trek Timelines. This dumb clicker game has rekindled my interest in the franchise, and is the only thing I've been consistently playing for the past 3 years, probably because of the low level of effort/attention required. I'm not telling you how much money I've spent on it. 

 

3. Final Fantasy VII. The gameplay is padded with repetitive grind, the dialogue is poorly written, and the art style is super goofy. And yet ... (see #1)

 

edit: derp, I see this topic is for Atari 8bit games. Please laugh and ignore. 

 

I second the star star raiders and fractalus comments above. 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Flojomojo
derp

[zzip]

2 hours ago, MARIO130XE said:

1. MULE.... I never understood the gameplay and I think it's a f*cking ugly and boring game but it seems everybody likes it.

MULE was ugly BITD too,  but once the gameplay clicks, it is one of the best games on the A8.   Used to play it with friends all the time

 

12 hours ago, pixelmischief said:

3. Rescue on Fractalus.  It's a one trick pony.  That first jump scare is kinda cool.  Otherwise, it's a tech demo for the procedurally generated terrain renderer.  Not sure why it is as celebrated as it is.

When this came out, it was mind-blowing.  We had never seen much like it.   Has it aged poorly?   Absolutely!  

[zzip]

Had to look at the popular games list on Atarimania to decide

 

1.  IDK, maybe Bruce Lee?   I've played most of the other games

2.  I'm over 40 now,  I'm not really ashamed of my guilty pleasures anymore.   Plus unlike other platforms, the 8-bit didn't have a whole lot of "embarassing" games from what I remember.   I guess I'll go with "Slinky" a Q*bert type game from Cosmi

3. Seven Cities of Gold - I love MULE,  this is from the MULE guys, and everybody raves about it so it should be great, right?   Yet it never held my attention for long.  So I don't know if I'd call it shameful,  but overrated for sure.

[Irgendwer]

1. Lords of Conquest - heard many good things about this game and rating on AtariMania is high. Think it makes only sense with a second player (?), but didn't find anyone interested yet.

 

2. Frogs and Flies - the funny animation and the two player mode lead to a quite a lot of rounds - esp. while my children liked this game too

 

3. James Bond - the graphical diversity doesn't help to improve the boring game play. Back then, I was quite disappointed what was offered under the promising "007"-label. Still wonder about the high "7.9"-rating on AtariMania.

 

(The picture insertion function of the new forum is great! Should be more used here... ...esp. for not so famous titles...)

 

[toddtmw]

1. All the text adventures, I used to pretend that I liked when we talked about games.

2. Strip poker. It really was a pretty good poker game. The potential pixelated "nudity" was just a bonus...

3. Star Raiders. Just was never a fan.

[pixelmischief]

11 hours ago, skr said:

1. The game you are ashamed you never played.

Archon. Everybody seems to like it, but I never tried. Should give it a go soon.

Two player Archon is simply blissful.  You are in for a treat.

[pixelmischief]

12 hours ago, mimo said:

3. Ballblazer 

Stop everything, find a friend, and play BallBlazer immediately.  It is simply awesome fun.

[pixelmischief]

Interesting information about M.U.L.E.  I fall on the side of those who surveyed it briefly from afar and simply had no interest.  The other camp seems to really love it!  I think I'll give it a whirl.

[pixelmischief]

8 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

1d. The Elder Scrolls (any game). This should also be my kind of game, at least on paper. It's possible that in reality, it's kind of a bore?

Morrowind, while as tragically busted and exploitable as everything Bethesda does, is a spectacular game.  The quest story is second ONLY to Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.  With the modern patches, it holds up very well.  If you like an epic RPG with accessible crafting, rich guild culture, and engrossing story, look no further.  Elder Scrolls: Morrowind can be life-changing.

[ACML]

1. The game you are ashamed you never played.

2. The game you are ashamed you love.

3. The game you think everyone else should be ashamed they love.

 

1. Have to join the M.U.L.E camp.  BITD it was an obscure game to me and as many have said, I typically played games solo so I guess I was missing an essential element to really experience it.

 

2. Any of the cheesy Hockey games.  I've been a hockey fan since I was 7.  Not sure how a kid who grew up in So Cal and South Florida became such a fan, but I spent some time playing hockey whenever I could find an opponent.  None were very good, but it didn't matter.

 

3. Caverns or Mars or any other game similar (i.e. River Raid, Blue Max).  Just seemed dull, repetitive.  I would fire it up and usually quit early.

[Rybags]

Half the fun of MULE is the skullduggery.  Make others suffer but yourself the winner and help the colony overall.

It's one of the rare games where the gameplay and technical merit are present and the polish is worthy of any modern day commercial title.

[Heaven/TQA]

I really wonder about MULE.... one of the best game plays ever esp in multyplayer. Esp for that game I bought from skr an 800 with 4 joystick ports...

 

ivonic music, time limited so games can not last forever... iconic AT-AT at start screen... Planet Irata is ace Name etc... Danny Bunten in hall of fame for games. Even Wright et al call her as influence.