In what looks to be one of the coolest things at Phillyclassic, Alan Hewston has created something to literally put you into a classic game. For the low price of free (much like this newsletter), you can go over to Alan's booth at the Phillyclassic and put your head into a video game mural. He has created one for Pacman that will allow you to put your head in and take a picture as the ghosts come after you or Pacman gets ready to chomp down on you! The real ingenious part is that the mural has removable pieces, so you can set Pacman and the ghosts where you want, making each picture unique. He showed me an early look at it and I came away very impressed. So you may want to bring a camera to Phillyclassic as this will be a Kodak moment and a nice souvenir of the show. Click below to see an early preview of the Pacman mural. With any luck, he will have the Dig Dug one done in time for the show! Now if we can get him to do a Crazy Climber (my personal favorite arcade game) for next year's show, then I can have a photo of myself climbing a building and getting bopped on the head by a flower pot. http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/PC4PacManFever.html
It was Twenty Years ago today . . .
1983 was a very good year for newly
Well I have been waiting….and waiting….and waiting….and still I wait. For what you may ask? Well, and stick with me here, I have been waiting for a decent “home computer”. Now I can hear the gasps of disbelief and horror, and feel the shaking heads. But before you write me off as a complete nutter, let me just raise a few points. Way back when I were a lad (Yes, its going to be one of those articles), There was a humble and exciting machine called the Commodore 64. And what a marvel it was. Able to play some outstanding games, capable of a fair whack of business type functions, all in one, no upgrades, simple and classic. No screwdrivers, no new motherboards every five seconds, no wanky graphic cards, no extra RAM every week, (64k was it). One seemed to be in every second house. There were Commodore’s in library’s, homes, schools and seemingly everywhere. Of course having a limited amount of RAM was neither a good nor a bad thing, it simply WAS. This of course caused programmers of the day (Hey to you all…and thank you for some of the best memories of my childhood) to do their absolute best to push the limits of this little machine. Simply check out a game from early in the Commodore’s lifetime, such as Bounty Bob Strikes back from 1985 (great game), to Impossible Mission from 1988 (one of the best produced on the 64) to Mayhem in Monsterland from 1993, late in the life of this machine. Notice the improvement in graphics and in sound. This was the SAME MACHINE!!. No new CPU, no more RAM, no more nothing. This improvement was simply caused by very clever programmers experimenting, trying and learning new and better ways to program for the C64. And a very good job they did to. Now compare two PC type games, such as Castle Wolfenstein and Medal of Honour , from the late 80’s and 2002 respectively. Ok yes, I grant you the graphics have improved amazingly between the two games. But check the minimum requirements on these games. They have gone from a fairly simple 386 & VGA graphics card to the super systems required today. 700MHz P3 CPU’s, 32MB Graphics cards, Open GL Direct X 8.0, Stereo Sound Cards etc etc etc. and that is MINIMUM Recommended equipment. I simply can not believe that this explosion in hardware requirements is necessary. I am POSITIVE that some one, somewhere could have programmed MOH to run on a much slower machine, but the whole mentality of the PC game world seems to be “write it sloppy, and if its too slow, simply raise the hardware requirements and let the consumer worry about it”. I know personally over the last few years, it became necessary to “upgrade” my PC every six months or so to simply be able to continue to play games. NONE of these upgrades were necessary for any other function of my PC. It was still able to word process, surf the web, play music etc etc etc, this was all about games. I finally had enough of this mindless march and called a time out. But what about the games consoles I hear you ask? PS1, PS2, Dreamcast, X BOX, Gamecube etc? Well they are simply the “ATARI 2600’s” of the modern era. When I was younger, We had the ATARI, the ColecoVision, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and fine machines they all were. But they are not “Home Computers” and should not be thought of as such. We had our Atari’s…But we also had our Commodore 64’s. There is also the social aspect to consider. I can remember large amounts of people getting together to write demos, work on games, create music, and yes it must be said, engaging in a bit of software piracy, all on the Commodore 64, and later on the Amiga & Atari ST. These were fairly large gatherings in my little hometown of Perth, Western Australia, so there must have been much bigger ones in the large cities of the world. There was clubs, groups, both official and friendly. There was BBS’, home newsletters, friends, foes, music, pictures, games and CREATIVITY. And now it is all gone. Simply put, I believe it is time for a revival. It is time for another true “Home Computer”. One that is capable of approximately PS1 type graphics & sound for games. One that is capable of the most common home requirements i.e. word processing, web surfing etc etc. One that is relatively simple to program, so that people can again LEARN how to do so. One that is relatively cheap (I would imagine in the 500-900 dollar range), uses the current peripherals (Mouse, printer etc etc) and most importantly is an ALL IN ONE UNIT just like the Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST and the like. I want a machine that I can be proud of. I want a machine that I can buy and not have it turn into a doorstop or a boat anchor overnight. I want a machine that is supported and programmed for and tweaked and learnt, and yes, god damn it, even loved for a long, long time. I want a machine that I can again be proud of, not a beige box in the corner that I kick every so often. That is what I am waiting for…. (Words & thoughts by Mark Scott, a 33yo gamer with far, far too many Commodore 64's, Amiga's, Atari 2600’s and time. Written whilst I played Syndicate on my Amiga 1200, in Perth, Western Australia. During the day I was a mild mannered Telecommunications Technician, but at night, I collect and enjoy C64, Amiga, Atari 2600, ST, NES, SNES, Coleco, basically just about anything involved with old style gaming. I can be reached at gene.simmons@optusnet.com.au (yes THAT Gene Simmons) Atari Video
Club/Jaguar Community United (AVC/JCU) is honored to be hosting While most people think that Pacman lives on energizers alone and Donkey Kong is always chucking barrels at Mario, this is not the case. Video game characters have real lives outside the monitor. And like most people, they like snacks when they are watching videos or hanging out with friends. So we decided to ask some of the classic game characters what type of munchies they like to eat. Here are their responses: Pacman -"I am quite fond of round items, so I tend to gravitate toward cheese balls." Donkey Kong -"<translated from Gorilla>I like dried fruit, especially bananas and pineapples. Donkey Kong like healthy food." Q*Bert -"Not having hands, it makes it tough for me to grab handfuls of snacks, so I need something easy to get ahold of. I like to chow down on a big watermelon. Then I spit the seeds at Coiley. Makes him so mad." Sinistar -"When I am not devouring puny ships, I like something with a serious crunch. With my highly developed jaws, I crave a strong snack. Peanut brittle is my choice. Beware brittle, I hunger!" Frogger -"Bet you thought it would be flies, right? Even a frog cannot live on bugs alone. I love jelly beans, especially all the wild flavors they make now. Think they will ever come up with fly flavored jelly beans?" Pitfall Harry -"A real man needs a real snack. Something that will give me energy, but not bog me down while I am swinging over crocodiles and dodging snakes. I like a good hunk of jerky to chew on as I face my countless obstacles."
Anyone who's checked out my site knows that I only review console games. Trying to collect and review games for classic and new consoles keeps me busy enough, so I try to avoid the worlds of computer and portable games at all costs. However, I've always have a soft spot for the Atari 8-bit computers. See, an Atari 1200XL was the first computer I ever owned, and it was my first step towards a career as a software engineer. I got so much use out of that thing. I would be up all night programming games on it. I did my homework on it, ran a BBS on it, and of course, played countless excellent video games on it. I really didn't think I'd ever get to relive those old days, until a friend pointed out a console system that was MISSING from my collection: The Atari XE Game System. Yes, I know, the Atari XEGS is really nothing more than a repackaged 8-bit computer, but technically it was still a game console (you can rationalize anything). Now that I have an Atari XEGS, I'm reliving those golden days of the early/mid 80s. The XEGS was ill-fated, but being able to run any of the those old Atari 8-bit games gives it an unbeatable library of titles. It's amazing how well most of these have held up. Here are a few reviews from my site:
Centipede (Atari 1982) C
Want to read more? I have over 1700 reviews on my site! Check it out www.videogamecritic.net
Bring me your questions, your comments, your insight and I will do my best to answer them. Time once again to dig into the mailbag and read a few letters. Enjoy. I really like horror games like Resident Evil, but are there any cool horror games on the old systems? If the classic systems are considered old, then I must be old since I was around when they were first introduced. Sigh...what a terrible way to find out that you are old. Anyway, there are a handful of horror games on classic systems, but none even come close to today's games. A game like Haunted House for the Atari 2600 or Dracula for the Intellivision would seem pretty tame compared to today's games. About the only games with any real horror would be "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Halloween" for the Atari 2600 and even these are very tame next to Resident Evil or Silent Hill. The only other classic game would be the classic for the Commodore 64, "Forbidden Forest". With the gory deaths (like the spider chewing on your head and the blood draining down) and dramatic music, it may give you some excitement. There seems to be alot of interest in retrogaming now, but how long do you think it will last? Is it a fad like Beanie Babies or what? Depends on how you want to look at it. If you are looking from an investment standpoint, then I think video games, at least the classic ones (meaning before Nintendo) have pretty much peaked. The prices have leveled off and some have even come down. With the exception of the ultra rare games, most the rest have leveled. But the interest from a fan's perspective is just really taking off. Look at the increased attendance at the two big shows (CGE and Phillyclassic). Look at the amount of people doing homebrew games. There is a big demand for classic games and I think that will remain for quite some time. But there will come a day when the interest does wane, especially as systems and carts become next to impossible to find. But classic games are not a fad. They are a vital part of the history and the lore of the video game industry as a whole and preserving them is a good way for future generations to see the roots of the industry.
Greetings, gamers and welcome to a
special edition of the Vault. Last issue Tom reviewed Activison
Anthology for the PlayStation 2. Let me add that is is a must-have disc
for all retrogamers. One of the neat things is that you can unlock old
Activision television ads. This month I'm presenting three of those ads,
as well as how to discover them.
“Why I in my day, we had Combat. That was all the tank fightin’ we need by gum! And we liked it ! Silly young-uns…” The old man’s voice trailed off as he faded back to sleep. Grandpa must have caught a glimpse of one of the newest tank games. In the beginning, there was Combat. Target shooting against a moving opponent. They could have just as easily used space ships or gunslingers. (Wait a second ! They did !) But really, it didn’t matter what it was. It was 2 things trying to shoot each other. Space Wars, Artillery Duel, et al had the 2 dimensional aspect to the game. You were moving up and down, left and right or lofting things vertically, but never all at the same time. First person shooters began to offer us a world where we could move in 3D. Not at first mind you, but the games eventually opened up the “up and down” aspect of the game to go with left/right and forward/backward. But even then, there was something missing. We were running around in tanks or with rifles and we were still using a control pad or keyboard or mouse. Action just wasn’t natural. Just as you couldn’t really operate a tank with a joystick and a single button (ala Combat), you couldn’t do it with a PS2 pad either. Racing games have their steering wheels. Gun games have their guns. Even some baseball games can use a bat controller. There are even train controllers modeled after real passenger train controllers for driving trains. Why hasn’t there ever been a controller for driving a tank ? There wasn’t. Until this came along…
The Steel Battalion Controller. Steel Battalion is an XBox game where you drive a tank. What is referred to in the game as a “Vertical Tank” (or VT). Two joysticks, a speed lever, a dial, 40 buttons and 3 foot pedals. This is a controller that would closely model a real Mech controller, if such a thing existed. I do not intend to review the game here. Suffice it to say it is pretty good. Ahh, but the controller. When you activate the game, and make your selection, you start in a hanger. There is a button to close your hatch, another to link in fuel, some switches to start the fuel and other necessities flowing. And a “Start” button. Not the start the game, but to start your tank. As you do, the on-screen, heads up display goes through a boot-up routine. All the lights on the controller flash as your tank gets ready to go. That’s right. The buttons flash. Usually when you need to use them. There are buttons for communication as well as a dial to change the frequency. There is a button for activating the windshield wipers. How cool is that ! And, what may be the most important button of all, the “Eject” button. Placed under a cover so you do not accidentally activate it in the upper right hand position of the controller, the eject button is critical to your game. If your VT is severely damaged and you do not eject and your character dies, it is game over. Your save file to that point is cleared and you must start over from the beginning if the game. Yikes. Sure. Some of the buttons are not that important. But it is still cool to have them. What will make this even better is a rumored on-line version of the game coming out next. Imagine the concept of 10 VTs per side marching their way through an urban landscape. You’re teammates maybe be from around the world, but they are communicating with you just as they would in the tank right next to you. No wonder grandpa was complaining. He’s jealous. Fred has been playing games for over 25 years and actively collecting them for almost 15. The 2500 + (he thinks) games that he has takes up most of his home office and living room. He lives in Denver, PA with his understanding wife Jennie, his 7 year-old, Smash Brothers Melee-playing son, Max and his 3 year-old, 4th player. If anyone has some extra time for sale, he’s interested. He can be contacted at fcw3@mail.ptd.net
As a tribute to the crews and the families of both the STS-107, Columbia mission, and STS 51-L, Challenger mission, we bring you Steve Kitchen’s Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space, by Activision. Several months ago I made plans to review this game early in 2003 as a 20th anniversary tribute for this 1983 game. As a member of the NASA team for 16 years, there was no way that I was going to skip over or postpone this title. I am proud to work for the US space program, despite many failures and some tragedy and hope that my personal perspective will make this review a little better. I’ve worked with and met several astronauts over the years and hope that this review will both give you a good reason to try (again) this most excellent simulation, and help you to appreciate the hard work and sacrifice that the astronauts, and cosmonauts too, make for the “Benefit of all Mankind”. I’ve actually been inside of the Space Shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay, while atop pad 39 B, just a few months prior to the Sept.1993 launch of the STS 51 (not 51-L) mission. The primary cargo for STS 51 was the satellite that I worked with then, the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite, which was successfully delivered into a stable parking orbit. The TOS upper stage booster energized ACTS into a much higher, geosynchronous transfer orbit. An apogee kick motor then nearly circularized the 24 hour orbit, where it lasted for the duration of its 3 year experimentation mission, and several years thereafter. I hope that none of our readers are offended by this selection, given the recent tragedy. Now onto the review. If you crave playing shoot ‘em up video games and getting high scores, then this simulation is not for you. Here, you rise above all of that violence and shooting and come to peace with the Earth - in fact you rise above indeed, up into space, above everyone on Earth. As the commander of the Space Transportation System (STS) 101, your mission is to recover an errant Earth-orbiting satellite. Actually, you perform the combined tasks of the pilot and mission commander. There are no mission specialists and no experiments performed as part of the simulation, only those dynamic phases common to all space shuttle missions. But the highlight of the mission is possibly the most exciting and challenging of all shuttle tasks, that of a satellite rendezvous. You take control of the vehicle and several of its controls, but most importantly you wield the most prized of all joysticks - that of the Orbiter. Use your eyes, ears and the computers displays to size up the situation and properly control the vehicle. Counteract and maneuver through all disturbances during Launch (& ascent), Stabilizing Orbit (& orbital rendezvous), Docking, De-orbit Burn, Re-entry, Final Approach (& landing). I dare-say that this highly sophisticated simulation was the ultimate for the Atari 2600 programming and probably marked the peak of the classic, “joystick era”. “Space Shuttle” literally pushed the envelope of how much data and simulation parameters can be crammed into one program and still be challenging and fun at the same time. So throttle that engine to 100 percent and then “press (on) to MECO” and see what this baby can do. Sure, you may become frustrated at first, but you’ll definitely get an appreciation of how complex a machine the Space Shuttle was and still is, not to mention you’ll experience in a small way how demanding the training, reflexes and skills are required for our astronaut heroes. They are truly the cream of the crop and we salute them! Arcade: None, first on Atari 2600 (’83 Steve Kitchen) Home versions: all by Activison Atari 8 bit & 5200 (’84 Bob Henderson & Steve Kitchen), Commodore 64 (‘84) & Apple II (’85 Tim Wilson). Doesn’t count: (‘92, ST/AMI, Virgin) by Ian Martin, with Andy Craven & James Fisher. Home Version Similarities - all versions have: three game options to play out the mission 1) with unlimited fuel & almost no way to abort the mission – much like a demo, 2) unlimited fuel, but any severe deviation from the plan and the mission will abort, and finally, 3) you are in complete control every step of the way and must match the mission profile very closely. Each version came packaged with a quick reference card and an extensive flight manual; the on-screen displays show most parameters, save a few that are combined into one display and must be toggled through; when any thruster or engine is fired, your combined display will immediately show the parameter affected by this activity; the cockpit windows show the Florida clouds prior to launch, flashes of color when engine activity changes, the stars through varying thickness of atmosphere, the edge of the Earth scrolling along and at times, the satellite that you are trying to rendezvous with, the darkness and data dropouts upon re-entry, the mountains of the California desert during the approach, and the runway at Edward’s Air Force base. The flight manual is very detailed and provides stat codes telling what the errant condition is, and solutions to overcoming most problems. Additional home version elements, with those Missing In Action (MIA) <listed here>: the extremely useful pause feature <2600> allows one to get a grasp on the situation, search the manuals for the error code, or plan what to do next; an overlay to place on the keypad and/or console <AP2, 8 bit & C64 not sure if these all had overlays>; all non-joystick commands and toggling the combined display are executed by a distinct keypad or keystroke or display toggle <2600 uses all console switches - some are combined>, finally, a chance to earn one of two Space Shuttle Activision patches <APII & C64 manuals don’t mention this>.
<These are among the most deserved patches Activision ever offered us>
Have Nots: Atari 2600 (39) I expect that most folks either love or hate the simulation due to its complexity and possibly never give it a second look (not just the 2600, but any version). So having a pause feature to stop and re-read the manual is critical. In fact, you will not get very far unless you study the manual and practice playing. If this doesn’t sound like your type of pastime, then play game 1 once and then put it to rest n your collection. There are several events, controls and displays that require interpretation and familiarity with, in order for you to have any success. A possible suggestion is to play another version first, that has a pause. I’m pretty sure that you will enjoy this version more once you have learned the basics. Graphics are superb (9) with the visual effects of the launch vibration very realistic. Now where is that Atari 2600 rumble controller? Sound is respectable (6), for a simulation, but there is no motivational music and few aesthetically pleasing audio effects. The Controls are great (9) and the joysticks are responsive on all versions. The use of the controllers to perform the simultaneous 3-axis orbit/attitude control, left/right up/down and fire button on/off are brilliant. Of course I started my career as an Attitude Control Engineer, so go figure I’d be impressed. Using the 2600 switches for multiple tasks and switches is a little harder to do on this version. The chance of powering off, or upsetting the system is increased, but then there are fewer switches to worry about as well. The biggest limitation which I did not penalize was that it takes longer to toggle through the all the combined display parameters than on the computer versions. The cart is semi-rare and the manual and overlays even harder to find. Fortunately all of the manuals and pictures of the overlays can be found and re-printed, thanks to sites such as Atariage.com. It will also help significantly for you to look at the screen shots while you are reading (heh heh studying) the manual to become a pilot.
Have Nots: Apple II (39)
Apple II disk and manual.
Bronze Medal: Atari 5200 (41)
Gold
Medal: Atari 8 bit & Commodore 64 (42)
Atari
8 bit:
Commodore 64: Unfortunately, PC4 preparation and projects have cut short my PT (playing time) for this review. I don’t think that I missed anything significant - but usually have become more skillful on all versions of these reviews. Pitfall Harry hopes to see you at PC4 - stop by my table and say hello, and take a picture in the game of “Pac-Man”. Special thanks go to Tom McLaren who let me borrow his original Apple II diskette & manual - check out Tom’s Apple stuff at: http://www.digitaldinos.com/ Also thanks to our editor, Tom who saved and traded me the Space Shuttle 5200 cart, manual and reference card a few years ago. Come back next month for more 20th anniv. tributes of game(s) from 1983 with the Many Faces of “Oil’s Well” (CV, C64, Atari 8 bit & Apple II) & if I can find the time, “Keystone Kapers” (2600, 5200, Atari 8 bit & CV). Alan Hewston is an Aerospace Engineer who works for the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center and when not working for the International Space Station - microgravity control and disturbance predictions can be contacted at: Hewston95@stratos.net or http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/Hewston_vg.html
SD7800 is back after
a one month hiatus. Well thus far we've covered classic arcade games,
modern arcade games, computer ports and sports titles. You're probably
wondering "That's all well and good, but aren't there any ORIGINAL games
on the ProSystem?" Believe it or not there were several titles made
specifically for the 7800. Let's take a look, shall we? We search high, we search low, we look everywhere to find the sites that you want to see. This month offers two more fun sites to enjoy. Stop by and see what they offer and let them know that you saw them in Retrogaming Times.
Atari Commercials http://trident.mcs.kent.edu/~clisowsk/8bit/movies.html
Handheld Games Museum http://users2.ev1.net/~rik1138/index.html What do you know, I actually put an issue out on time! Raise your hands and cheer! Hopefully it will be the start of a new streak or it could be a mirage in the desert. You may notice some ads in the newsletter. Yes, it is my way to raise a bit of money towards legal fees. My prior attempt was not very successful, though I would like to take the time to personally thank the handful of people who did contribute, the money has been used for the ongoing battle (though thankfully it is on hiatus right now as the school system tries to put together a plan). Will this be more successful? Who knows, but a man must try. Back to video games, if you are headed to Phillyclassic, stop by my stand and say hello. I will be selling a ton of stuff. And stay for all three days as I think it will be worth your while. I will end with hope that the war ends quickly and some peace returns to the world.
(This issue done while listening to Oasis, Carly Simon, David Bowie and
Chicago).
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