What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2012 (Season 5)

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-1012 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 204,949

[TheGameCollector]

I really haven't been getting any classic gaming done in the past couple weeks. I've just been hammering away at PS2 games, especially RPGs.

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week:

 

Arcade:

Cavelon - 57 min.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom - 32 min.

 

Commodore 64:

Park Patrol - 227 min. in 2 sessions

 

Intellivision:

Mad drivin' (WIP) - 4 min.

 

Total play time: 320 min. (46 min. per day)

 

This week mainly contained replays of some games I played earlier. In "Indiana Jones", I managed to pass the rope bridge, and in "Park Patrol", I passed Level 6, which both were my goals. In "Cavelon" I still didn't make it through to the end.

 

The only new game was "Mad drivin'" on the Intellivision, which actually is only a demo, though a pretty impressive one. It shows a pretty fluid 3D street view reminiscent of games like Pole Position with a horizontally scrolling background. The 3D effect looks impressive, unlike the completed INTV version of Pole Position, but it's only a WIP, so it's not really playable. That's why I only ran it for 4 minutes.

[zylon]

2600:

Missile Command 25min

5200:

Dig Dug 15min

Genesis:

Columns 30min

Edited February 27, 2012 by zylon

[+thegoldenband]

Here are my times for the week:

 

Intellivision:

Carnival - 16 min.

 

Vectrex:

I, Cyborg - 7 min.

 

Sega Master System:

Missile Defense 3-D - 9 min.

 

Game Boy:

Qbillion - 25 min.

 

Genesis:

Dark Castle - 316 min.

Glass Breaker MD - 10 min.

 

Dreamcast:

Choukousenki Kikaioh - 3 min.

 

Beat the infamous Dark Castle! Once I got the hang of it and beat Easy, then Medium and Hard didn't take too long. It's not quite as bad as its reputation, but though I got a fair amount of enjoyment from beating it, it still never should have been ported to the Genesis -- it's much too short and quirky to make a viable 16-bit console title, though it might've worked as an 8-in-1 cartridge with other games.

[twoquickcapri]

TurboGrafx-16:

Ys Book I & II - 125 min.

 

GameBoy:

Tetris - 25 min.

 

Jaguar:

Defender 2000 - 187 min.

[twoquickcapri]

Jaguar:

Defender 2000 - 192 min.

 

Played a few more hours after my last post.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 8, running from February 20-26. We logged 2317 minutes of eligible play, playing 18 games on a total of 12 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 1012

2. Defender 2000 (Atari Jaguar) - 379

3. Dark Castle (Genesis) - 316

4. Park Patrol (C64) - 227

5. Ys Book I & II (Turbografx-16) - 125

6. Cavelon (Arcade) - 57

7. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Arcade) - 32

8. Columns (Genesis) - 30

9. Missile Command (Atari 2600) - 25

9. Qbillion (Game Boy) - 25

9. Tetris (Game Boy) - 25

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

Not enough entries to make a top 10.

 

Top 10 systems:

 

1. Atari 2600 (1037)

2. Atari Jaguar (379)

3. Genesis (356)

4. C64 (227)

5. Turbografx-16 (125)

6. Arcade (89)

7. Game Boy (50)

8. Intellivision (20)

9. Atari 5200 (15)

10. Sega Master System (9)

 

I wonder if anyone's ever attempted to reverse the Kaboom paradigm and write a homebrew called "moobaK"?

[TheGameCollector]

Here's the summary for Week 8, running from February 20-26. We logged 2317 minutes of eligible play, playing 18 games on a total of 12 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 1012

2. Defender 2000 (Atari Jaguar) - 379

3. Dark Castle (Genesis) - 316

4. Park Patrol (C64) - 227

5. Ys Book I & II (Turbografx-16) - 125

6. Cavelon (Arcade) - 57

7. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Arcade) - 32

8. Columns (Genesis) - 30

9. Missile Command (Atari 2600) - 25

9. Qbillion (Game Boy) - 25

9. Tetris (Game Boy) - 25

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

Not enough entries to make a top 10.

 

Top 10 systems:

 

1. Atari 2600 (1037)

2. Atari Jaguar (379)

3. Genesis (356)

4. C64 (227)

5. Turbografx-16 (125)

6. Arcade (89)

7. Game Boy (50)

8. Intellivision (20)

9. Atari 5200 (15)

10. Sega Master System (9)

 

I wonder if anyone's ever attempted to reverse the Kaboom paradigm and write a homebrew called "moobaK"?

 

That would be funny. You would be shooting bombs up from the things that normally catch them and trying to hit the burglar as he moves around the screen all crazy-like.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-820 minutes

 

 

 

High score of the week: 158,957

 

It wasn't a good week. I had to switch to player 2 because my first player paddle got jumpy. So a couple days were wasted trying to play on first player.

 

I haven't gotten around to cleaning paddle 1.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Atarian7

[Kurt_Woloch]

These are my times for this past week (February 27th through March 4th)...

 

Arcade:

Cavelon - 50 min. in 2 sessions

Sheriff - 243 min. in 2 sessions

Swimmer - 42 min.

 

Atari 2600:

Lunokhod 1 (WIP) - 2 min.

 

Commodore 64:

Park Patrol - 320 min. in 4 sessions

 

Total gaming time: 657 min. (94 min. per day)

 

I've spent some more time with "Park Patrol" on the C-64... my goal which I finally reached was to get to the point where no more extra lives get added because I already have 9 spare lives.

 

I also played the arcade game "Sheriff" by Nintendo extensively. My goal was to roll it, that is, exceed 10,000 points. Turned out that at that point, they simply add 2 digits to display a 6-digit score instead of rolling it. This, in fact, is the first game by Nintendo that I've got to know back in 1979 or 1980. By what's written on the marquee, I thought the name of the game was "Sheriff Nintendo" and "Nintendo" was the sheriff's name. Well, I knew better when the Game & Watch games came out...

 

Then I replayed "Cavelon", but it didn't capture my attention for too long. Another arcade game I got to know this week by the HSC is "Swimmer". While it has very good graphics for a 1982 game, I ask myself how these graphics have been done, because there's serious slowdown. The enemies and also the player slow down as the number of enemies increase. And the animation of those objects is pretty choppy anyway. This, however, doesn't affect the objects that just scroll by, like logs and fruits. The level end boss seems to be the same in every level!

 

Finally, I also tried the Atari 2600 homebrew WIP "Lunokhod 1", but it didn't capture my attention for long because only one level has been programmed so far, and I couldn't really figure out what to do in the game. Yes, you should shoot everything you can, but what do you have to do to prevent losing or to maximize your score?

Edited March 4, 2012 by Kurt_Woloch

[zylon]

5200:

Dig Dug 25min

2600:

Missile Command 30min(testing)

Kaboom! 10min(testing)

[BillyHW]

Arcade (emulation):

 

Donkey Kong - 2 hours.

 

Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns - 3.5 hours. (Does this homebrew arcade game count?)

 

Ms. Pac-Man - 30 min.

 

SNES:

 

Starfox - 60 min.

[twoquickcapri]

TurboGrafx-16:

Ys Book I & II - 375 min.

Space Harrier - 10 min.

Super Star Soldier - 35 min.

Talespin - 15 min.

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

Intellivision:

AD&D: Cloudy Mountain - 6 min.

Astrosmash - 15 min.

B-17 Bomber - 5 min.

Beauty and the Beast - 4 min.

Boxing - 4 min.

Commando - 151 min.

Dreadnaught Factor - 4 min.

Loco-Motion - 2 min.

Masters of the Universe: He-Man - 4 min.

Night Stalker - 3 min.

Star Strike - 3 min.

Tron: Deadly Discs - 3 min.

Venture - 2 min.

 

Sega Master System:

Cyborg Hunter - 3 min.

Maze Hunter 3D - 5 min.

Wanted - 6 min.

Zaxxon 3D - 3 min.

 

Genesis:

Evander Holyfield's "Real Deal" Boxing - 205 min.

Jeopardy: Sports Edition - 3 min.

Legend of Wukong - 180 min.

Mortal Kombat II - 5 min.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 5 min.

 

Game Boy:

Qbillion - 50 min.

 

Other than testing Intellivision and Sega games (some of which were new acquisitions), my main gameplay this week involved three old foes and a new rival -- that last one being Evander Holyfield's "Real Deal" Boxing, a Genesis title which I've had for a while. I decided to check it out on a whim, and ended up playing through the career mode until my boxer was forced to retire.

 

The gameplay dynamic is interesting, and it's sort of like the Wizardry of boxing games in that it plays for keeps -- everything you do gets saved, and you can't quit in the middle of a match without losing it. The matches were quite easy at first, but abruptly got brutally difficult once my boxer's stats exceeded a certain limit, and I wasn't able to make it past #10 in the world or so. Since you start out at #30, and your boxer starts to lose his skills after around 25 matches, I'm not sure how you're supposed to reach Holyfield even if you're more-or-less perfect all the way up.

 

I also finished Chapter 2 (of 6) in Legend of Wukong, spent some time on Commando for the HSC (though I never did pass Mission 3!), and finally solved a puzzle in Qbillion, #45, that's been frustrating me for weeks now. I didn't technically need to beat it to progress, since Qbillion gives you the password to the next set of 10 levels just by solving the last puzzle in each set -- so you really only need to play one-tenth of the game's puzzles! -- but I wanted to solve it. Unfortunately, the first puzzle of the next set, #51, is basically a nastier version of #45...

 

Oh, and I'm glad that my first two SMS 3D games were Missile Defense 3D and Space Harrier 3D. The two I acquired this week, Maze Hunter 3D and Zaxxon 3D, aren't nearly as impressive; the 3D effect in Zaxxon is particularly poor, with serious double vision in the foreground. Maze Hunter 3D is better, but it's still taxing to the eyes.

[+thegoldenband]

Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns - 3.5 hours. (Does this homebrew arcade game count?)

 

Absolutely! It runs on the DK hardware, and is 100% fair game.

 

It wasn't a good week. I had to switch to player 2 because my first player paddle got jumpy. So a couple days were wasted trying to play on first player.

 

If we had a "dislike" button I'd push it in sympathy.

[Atarian7]

Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns - 3.5 hours. (Does this homebrew arcade game count?)

 

Absolutely! It runs on the DK hardware, and is 100% fair game.

 

It wasn't a good week. I had to switch to player 2 because my first player paddle got jumpy. So a couple days were wasted trying to play on first player.

 

If we had a "dislike" button I'd push it in sympathy.

 

 

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 9, running from February 27 - March 4. We logged 3068 minutes of eligible play, playing 39 games on a total of 10 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 830

2. Ys Book I & II (Turbografx-16) - 375

3. Park Patrol (C64) - 320

4. Sheriff (Arcade) - 243

5. Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns (Arcade) - 210

6. Evander Holyfield's “Real Deal” Boxing (Genesis) - 205

7. Legend of Wukong (Genesis) - 180

8. Commando (Intellivision) - 151

9. Donkey Kong (Arcade) - 120

10. Starfox (SNES) - 60

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 830

2. Park Patrol (C64) - 320

3. Sheriff (Arcade) - 243

4. Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns (Arcade) - 210

5. Commando (Intellivision) - 151

6. Donkey Kong (Arcade) - 120

7. Cavelon (Arcade) - 50

8. Swimmer (Arcade) - 42

9. Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade) - 30

9. Missile Command (Atari 2600) - 30

 

Top 10 systems:

 

1. Atari 2600 (862)

2. Arcade (695)

3. Turbografx-16 (435)

4. Genesis (398)

5. C64 (320)

6. Intellivision (206)

7. SNES (60)

8. Game Boy (50)

9. Atari 5200 (25)

10. Sega Master System (17)

 

Kaboom and the VCS stay at the top, while a burst of arcade activity brings that "platform" to #2 on the system charts.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-908 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 244,021

[GKC]

I just recently purchased a PS3 so my classic gaming has taken a dive. This is for the week:

 

PS3:

 

Resistance - 9 hours

Uncharted - 2 hours

 

Vita:

 

MotorStorm RC - 2 hours

Rayman - 30 min

Edited March 11, 2012 by GKC

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (March 5th through 11th)...

 

Colecovision:

Antartic Adventure - 42 min.

Steamroller - 194 min. in 5 sessions

 

Total gaming time: 236 min. (34 min. per day)

 

As you can see, I only played two different games on a single system this week. I've now been playing video and computer games for at least one hour a day in average since 2006, whereas before that I played much less. And I realize I'm getting better at it... no matter which game I play. This week I tried "Antarctic Adventure", setting out to beat the first round (of 10 stages), which I've never done before, and I made that goal.

 

On "Steamroller" my goal is 35000 points, the usual Activision patch score, although I don't know what the real patch score for this game was, if there was any. I didn't achieve that goal yet, only went up to about 25000 points.

 

Lately I've been playing less because there aren't many new game that come to mind that I haven't played yet. I just keep replaying the old ones I liked, but since I already mastered most of them, I go through them much more quickly.

[Kurt_Woloch]

Oh, and I'm glad that my first two SMS 3D games were Missile Defense 3D and Space Harrier 3D. The two I acquired this week, Maze Hunter 3D and Zaxxon 3D, aren't nearly as impressive; the 3D effect in Zaxxon is particularly poor, with serious double vision in the foreground. Maze Hunter 3D is better, but it's still taxing to the eyes.

 

I think Zaxxon 3D is interesting in that Sega changed the perspective to a similar one as Coleco used in their Atari 2600 and Intellivision versions of Zaxxon. I wonder what it would look like if the actual arcade graphics and objects layout was converted to this perspective, which I think should easily be possible as a PC remake with today's graphics cards, but it doesn't seem like anyone has done that yet.

[BillyHW]

Commodore 64:

 

1. Pac-Man - 30 min. (5/10)

2. Ms. Pac-Man - 2.5 hours. (8/10)

 

The original Pac-Man was disappointing. Lame graphics, no intermissions. Ms. Pac-Man on the other hand is a superb conversion from the arcade. Great graphics (imagine square pellets instead of rectangles!), all the intermissions are here with great sound, and it has all the maps. Both games were released in 1983 by Atarisoft. It kind of boggles the mind that they would have been released separately, when they could have packaged them together and reused the superior graphics engine of Ms. Pac-Man.

 

3. Donkey Kong (Atarisoft, 1983) - 30 min. (5/10)

4. Donkey Kong (Ocean, 1986) - 30 min. (5/10)

 

Why were there two versions of Donkey Kong on the C64? Both are quite disappointing. Coleco, NES and 7800 versions are much better. Someone should homebrew Donkey Kong Arcade and Donkey Kong II: Jumpman Returns for the C64. That would be awesome. The C64 is capable of so much more.

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

Intellivision:

PBA Bowling - 50 min.

 

Vectrex:

I, Cyborg - 26 min.

 

Game Boy:

Qbillion - 150 min.

 

Genesis:

Combat Cars - 22 min.

Legend of Wukong - 139 min.

Trampoline Terror - 258 min.

 

Beat Trampoline Terror over the weekend, which was fun. Comments here.

 

Otherwise I played some very difficult games that kicked my behind (Combat Cars and I, Cyborg), did some bowling for the Intellivision HSC, and chipped away at a couple long-term projects, namely Wukong and Qbillion. Those last two are roughly at the halfway point in each game, but I'm a little dismayed on both counts. I was hoping Qbillion ended at 60 levels, despite the manual stating it has 120, since a couple sources suggested it might just be 60 (specifically, the list of passwords only went up to 51-60). But, the manual was right, and when I beat puzzle #60 I promptly got a password for the next set of 10 levels. Sigh.

 

Meanwhile Wukong has introduced my least favorite RPG plot device -- temporarily abducting/imprisoning one of your characters. Actually it did it twice: the first time it was a false alarm, but the second time's clearly for real. It's a pity since I'd been getting a little momentum in this game, but this sort of thing isn't good for morale!

[zylon]

5200:

Pengo 30min

2600:

Kaboom! 10min (testing)

Missile Command 20min (testing)

A8:

Pengo 10min

Galaxian 45min