+therealbountybob Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1. The game you are ashamed you never played - Alternate Reality (!) - I just never got into it mainly as you were killed off to easily, thought I only had a copy and no manuals, compared to Ultima III where despite no manuals I worked everything out form scratch. 2. The game you are ashamed you love - I was going to say River Rat or Journey to the Planets but I'm going for Thank God It's Friday - another one to play when you have a few people round, overly simple but fun! 3. The game you think everyone else should be ashamed they love - again I looked at atarimania's top 100 by rating - Starquake - despite glowing reviews the game is too big and not engaging. Anyone dabbling with MULE be sure to play on Tournament mode. As well as the recent High Score Club "Month of Mule" thread there is a general one with various tips and observations https://atariage.com/forums/topic/207311-mule-post-your-scores-here/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+kheller2 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 9 hours ago, pixelmischief said: Stop everything, find a friend, and play BallBlazer immediately. It is simply awesome fun. Two competitive players are the best way to go. One of the best phrases from youth "Ouch my hand hurts" [from holding and bending that Atari joystick so much, get your mind out of the gutter] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 I think the problem with MULE today is that it takes an hour to play through. The computer AI in most cases isnt too hard to figure out. Back in the 80s I had no prob committing an hour trying to uncover the secrets of MULE, but I can see folks today just getting bored. MULE was a ground breaking game like Seven Cities of Gold IMHO, however you wont find me trying to conquer Seven Cities. The Roklan games like Journey to the Planets are lost gems that also can take hours to figure out how to win. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 13 minutes ago, Goochman said: I think the problem with MULE today is that it takes an hour to play through. The computer AI in most cases isnt too hard to figure out. I play it on an emulator and use the turbo toggle frequently to skip past the time-wasting sections. I can finish a game in about 15-minutes :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) I've thought about this for a day... 1) There are a TON of games I've never played, but I just can't bring myself to be ashamed of that or not playing anyone in particular-I'm still alive and as long as I am I plan on trying more games I've never played. And if a popular game just never interested me and never will (like M.U.L.E for one) I feel no shame in never wanting to give it a chance-it looks boring, I never have others to try it with, and don't want to play a multi-player game by myself against computer opponents. If I'm missing out, oh well, there's plenty of other games out there. 2)Nope. Can't think of any game I'm ashamed to love. Again, I just can't see a reason to be ashamed of playing any game I love, regardless of what the "consensus" about a game I love happens to be. (see quote by Nolan below, I agree 100%, which is why I have it there) 3) I just can't think of any game that is widely liked that I think others should be ashamed to love. Regardless of what I think about it. 4) There should be no shame involved in any of this as far as I am concerned and don't understand why other's might be ashamed of anything. Edited July 17, 2019 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preppie Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 I have no shame but I'll give you 3 games anyway. 1) Game I've never played that's highest on atarimania is Stunt Car Racer, a couple of lines on the screen doesn't look very appealing to me especialy as I'm not much a racer fan anyway. 2) Game I've played the most with the 'worst' graphics would be Buried Bucks. So simple but so addictive, I would play this for hours in the eighties. 3) A game that got praise that I don't particularly like would be Crownland, flickering is simply unacceptable for me. Although I have to give the coder praise for an exceptional, if flawed, piece of work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 https://thesplintering.com/2019/04/01/hd-remake-of-custers-revenge-featuring-fully-digitized-actors-coming-in-2019/ Nobody said the lady wasn't willing.... It could have been true love that inspired the daring dash against death! But if you are going for shame, the remake takes away true love and substitutes plain 'ole... well you know... they would need to use different pairs for each scene to have a different take on things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, _The Doctor__ said: https://thesplintering.com/2019/04/01/hd-remake-of-custers-revenge-featuring-fully-digitized-actors-coming-in-2019/ Nobody said the lady wasn't willing.... It could have been true love that inspired the daring dash against death! But if you are going for shame, the remake takes away true love and substitutes plain 'ole... well you know... they would need to use different pairs for each scene to have a different take on things... Article from April 1st, no need to read any further, but if you do, there is a link at the end which leads to a nice youtube video... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1. Like most people: M.U.L.E.. I only had an Atari 400 with a tape drive back in the day so I had no way to play this. As I got older and finally got access to a disk drive I never bothered to get it as I had no one to play it with. I despise two player only games to this day. Still, it's consistently rated the top Atari 8-bit game in many polls so I feel like I *should* play it. 2. Gateway to Apshai. It's not a good game or a popular game, but I loved this game as a kid. I think it holds up well even though there are a ton of things that it could do better. It's worth trying at least once. I still jump sometimes when I reveal a passage with something fast in it like a Goblin. 3. I'm going to throw out a wildcard and say Karateka. Don't get me wrong, I like the game well enough and play it from time to time on my Apple II still, but it really hasn't aged well. Does it still look good? Yes, but the gameplay is so shallow and repetitive that there's really not much more to see after you've killed the first two or three guys. Yeah they get a smidgen smarter and sport goofier helmets, but nothing really changes (kick, kick, kick. back off. kick, kick, kick. repeat). Still, it's one of the most popular 8-bit games of all times to this day. And what the heck was that bow feature for? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 59 minutes ago, CharlieChaplin said: Article from April 1st, no need to read any further, but if you do, there is a link at the end which leads to a nice youtube video... Now you went and did it! Yes, it's a shameless April 1st article... but they really do need to check out the final link to youtube video Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 57 minutes ago, Tempest said: 1. Like most people: M.U.L.E.. I only had an Atari 400 with a tape drive back in the day so I had no way to play this. As I got older and finally got access to a disk drive I never bothered to get it as I had no one to play it with. I despise two player only games to this day. Still, it's consistently rated the top Atari 8-bit game in many polls so I feel like I *should* play it. 2. Gateway to Apshai. It's not a good game or a popular game, but I loved this game as a kid. I think it holds up well even though there are a ton of things that it could do better. It's worth trying at least once. I still jump sometimes when I reveal a passage with something fast in it like a Goblin. 3. I'm going to throw out a wildcard and say Karateka. Don't get me wrong, I like the game well enough and play it from time to time on my Apple II still, but it really hasn't aged well. Does it still look good? Yes, but the gameplay is so shallow and repetitive that there's really not much more to see after you've killed the first two or three guys. Yeah they get a smidgen smarter and sport goofier helmets, but nothing really changes (kick, kick, kick. back off. kick, kick, kick. repeat). Still, it's one of the most popular 8-bit games of all times to this day. And what the heck was that bow feature for? Respect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivop Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Tempest said: 3. I'm going to throw out a wildcard and say Karateka. Don't get me wrong, I like the game well enough and play it from time to time on my Apple II still, but it really hasn't aged well. Does it still look good? Yes, but the gameplay is so shallow and repetitive that there's really not much more to see after you've killed the first two or three guys. Yeah they get a smidgen smarter and sport goofier helmets, but nothing really changes (kick, kick, kick. back off. kick, kick, kick. repeat). Still, it's one of the most popular 8-bit games of all times to this day. And what the heck was that bow feature for? On the A8 it was pretty slow. But on all platforms, I guess the appeal was the detailed animations. A lot of frames per walk/kick/etc. But if it plays like your uncle's slide show, it's not that much fun to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1 hour ago, ivop said: On the A8 it was pretty slow. But on all platforms, I guess the appeal was the detailed animations. A lot of frames per walk/kick/etc. But if it plays like your uncle's slide show, it's not that much fun to play. It's slow on the Apple too. It is quite the looker, and one of the first games that made me say "WOW" when I saw it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's really really shallow gameplay-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 1. There are several highly-rated classics I've never bothered with, such as MULE, Seven Cities, and Koronis Rift. Modern front - I hate to admit it, but I only checked out the excellent Stunt Car Racer very briefly. 2. It's a little embarrassing to say at age 45, I still enjoy Ducks Ahoy. 3. I don't get the near-universal love of Alternate Reality - the City beyond the intro/ opening credits/ theme song. The graphics are very nice for those who enjoy color gradients, and there are some nice sound effects. But overall I find the game clunky and waaayyy too slow. A bit of an overreach for an 8-bit machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 38 minutes ago, adam242 said: 3. I don't get the near-universal love of Alternate Reality - the City beyond the intro/ opening credits/ theme song. The graphics are very nice for those who enjoy color gradients, and there are some nice sound effects. But overall I find the game clunky and waaayyy too slow. A bit of an overreach for an 8-bit machine. Ditto. It's nice graphically, but it was way too ambitious and given that the other parts of the game were never completed, it's also quite pointless. From what I understand there's no ending in either of the two parts that were released, all you're doing is leveling up your guy for no reason. I think some versions even had different things enabled, like some had guilds and some didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelmischief Posted July 18, 2019 Author Share Posted July 18, 2019 8 hours ago, Tempest said: 3. I'm going to throw out a wildcard and say Karateka. I have always LOVED this game. The font on the story crawl, the rotoscoped characters, the floating doorway graphics, the dramatic and inspiring music - they all still really impress me. Even the lag between keypress and character motion became a kind of enjoyable challenge to me. Truly, I loved it. And that "easter egg". Genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 How fun you find M.U.L.E. is usually related to whom you've played it with. Sure, it's fun solo. It's GREAT with a rowdy group of friends. As for my list: 1. Summer/Winter Games. Just don't like sports. 2. Galahad and the Holy Grail. I mean, it's a giant, weird, glitchy mess. But damn, it's fun. 3. Dig Dug. It's too easy, tedious, and repetitive. Never got why anyone liked this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Lord Thag said: How fun you find M.U.L.E. is usually related to whom you've played it with. Sure, it's fun solo. It's GREAT with a rowdy group of friends. As for my list: 1. Summer/Winter Games. Just don't like sports. 2. Galahad and the Holy Grail. I mean, it's a giant, weird, glitchy mess. But damn, it's fun. 3. Dig Dug. It's too easy, tedious, and repetitive. Never got why anyone liked this one. Hehe... Dig Dug is star of Netflix’ Stranger Things season 2 (where are those lovely arcades...) summer/Winter Games.... man... interesting how many top games ppl don’t like... I guess it’s like with other things in life... there is no black and white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivop Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 (edited) 18 hours ago, Tempest said: Ditto. It's nice graphically, but it was way too ambitious and given that the other parts of the game were never completed, it's also quite pointless. From what I understand there's no ending in either of the two parts that were released, all you're doing is leveling up your guy for no reason. I think some versions even had different things enabled, like some had guilds and some didn't. I played The City a lot and mapped it out myself, until I got it that there was no point to the game, other than levelling up for the next installement (hey, this should change to a smiley face?) Then I started playing The Dungeon. That one actually had a story of some sort. Started mapping it, too, but then I found an article that had all the maps. Still, never finished it till level 4(?) after which you should be able to go to the Arena, which was never released.... Edit: oh, I remember there were other Arena Entrances on other levels. Still, never "finished" it. Edited July 18, 2019 by ivop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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