60 replies to this topic

[kisrael]

desiv said:

WHAT??  I wasn't sure a 64k program was possible for a Windows APP :-), but this one is textured and sampled and incredible!!  No WAY!!!

Actually, impressive Windows apps can be quite small, since Windows is so big...I think it doesn't take much code to call heavy activex/directx stuff. Actually, basic windows app w/o a lot of resources (graphics and what not) and not made in a hog like VB can be very tiny indeed.

Now what really impressed me, both from technical and artistic standpoints, is the AMAZING stuff Second Reality/Future Crew would do with my lowly 386SX/16mhz...the music and video effects were so well done.

[TheRedEye]

tyranthraxus said:

BTW Did Nintendo release new Famicom games in the last 10 years? Any reach the states?

In the last ten years? About sixteen by my count, from November 1993 to June 1994.

The Famicom's launch was on July 15, 1983. The last game released (Adventure Island IV) was on June 24, 1994. It was actually about 25 days shy of surviving twenty-ONE years!

EDIT: As far as those "within the last ten years" games reaching the states, sure. Chip 'N Dale 2 and Wario's Woods.

[MegaManFan]

It's odd that I've been through two copies of Wario's Woods now, yet I've never once come across Chip'n'Dale Rescue Rangers 2. I even have Duck Tales 2 and that only cost me $10.

[Kenshi]

Adrian M said:

Yep, I remember the Sega Hologram arcade games.  Time Traveller was fun at first, but keep in mind that it was a LaserDisc game, and just like Dragon's Lair, once you memorized the game (didn't take long, it was very short), there wasn't much in the way of replay value.  LaserDisc games are essentially scripted movies with very very few random elements.  
The Hologram arcade system was expensive for operators to purchase, and because it utilized a LD format, the reliability wasn't always great.

But wasn't the hologram part cool? I mean if every arcade fan just played it through once, it still should've been popular. I don't imagine it would be hard to make a more interactive and complex game either. I don't think you could get much of a holographic background, at least back then. I'm picturing more of a Joust display, but obviously with much better graphics, and a scrolling screen, perhaps a platformer. Or a fighting game would be awesome as well. Again, I think the holographic screen was highly underrated. Not every game would be fit on it, but a lot would. I may never understand it.

[bergbros2]

The Lynx pulled off some things that I couldn't believe could be done on a portable, even today. S.T.U.N. Runner was an amazing achevement considering it was apolygon based arcade game. The Klax sound effects and music especially on the headphones. Blue Lightening with the greatest scaling effects anywhere on a portable.

[Avid Fan]

My picks would have to be

NES: Star Wars. I remember never having played the game and asked for it for xmas one year. I popped it in, and the music and the opening animation blew me away.

Arcade: I remember back when I was in 4th grade my parents dragged me to Remo with them. It sucked except for the 2 hours or arcade time I got. It was the first time I ever saw Dragons Lair. I couldnt even get passed the first obstacle, but I thought it looked cool. They also had some hologram cowboy game

Computer: The 7th Guest. We had never had a computer with a color monitor until dec. 93. The 7th Guest was the first game I got and I still love it. I wish I could still play it. Damn you microsoft, damn you

[RCmodeler]

TheRedEye said:

The Famicom's launch was on July 15, 1983. The last game released (Adventure Island IV) was on June 24, 1994. It was actually about 25 days shy of surviving twenty-ONE years!

Since when does 1994-1983 = 21?!?!? This must be that "new math" I hear everyone talking about. I prefer the old math myself. It doesn't come up with dumb-ass answers.

Anyway, at 1992-1977=15 years, the Atari 2600 still wins as longest-lasting console.

[desiv]

Update: Just tried it.
The Win95 version installed and ran on my XP machine. Interestingly, it ran better in Windowed mode than Full Screen. Weird. And I didn't check for any patches or updates, just off the disc..

The graphics that were so incredible when the game was released (even when the Win95 version was released..)..

Well, they're.. hmm.. dated.. :-) But it's still fun. Great puzzles. And enough time has gone by, I don't remember alot of it!!! Hooray for old age!!
_________________________________

Avid Fan said:

My picks would have to be
Computer: The 7th Guest. We had never had a computer with a color monitor until dec. 93. The 7th Guest was the first game I got and I still love it. I wish I could still play it. Damn you microsoft, damn you

You talking about the DOS version? They made a Windows version of 7th Guest. Although I have to admit I haven't tried it on XP.

I don't normally buy different copies of the same game to run on upgraded (and I use the term loosely) OSes, but I knew Graeme Devine, programmer for the game.

Not like we were best buddies. He used to come into the bookstore I was working at in souther Oregon. Trilobyte was headquartered there (Jacksonville, OR at the time). We'd talk briefly about the game industry and Amigas. (He used to program Amiga stuff. Said he worked on "Cool Spot" the 7-up game for the Amiga. )

So, when the Windows version came out, I picked it up. Even tho I'd moved since then.

Haven't tried it in a while. I'll plug it in and see if it works on XP...

desiv

[kisrael]

desiv said:

Update:  Just tried it.
The Win95 version installed and ran on my XP machine.  Interestingly, it ran better in Windowed mode than Full Screen.  Weird.  And I didn't check for any patches or updates, just off the disc..

Errr, just tried what, exactly, 7th guest?

Quote

and Amigas.  (He used to program Amiga stuff.  Said he worked on "Cool Spot" the 7-up game for the Amiga. )

Was that that side scroller, or the version of Attaxx (the game kinda like Othello)

I liked the Attaxx game. Very cute animations.

[desiv]

The Windows Version of 7th Guest actually.

Avid Fan said he liked 7th Guest, but MS wouldn't let him run it anymore (paraphrasing). I said I had the Windows version and I'd try it on XP, since I hadn't loaded it in a long time.

As for the Spot game.. To be honest.. I never got that game. :-) Never played it...

But that sounds right..

Apparently, from an interview, he also worked on "Atari Pole Position", but it didn't mention which system. (I forget what year that was too, so it makes it difficult to track down. :-)

desiv

[sack-c0s]

RCmodeler said:

COMMODORE=64
Mayhem in Monsterland
- Wow!  This is a C=64?  It's got so many colors, such small dot pitch, and amazing music too.  It's hard to believe I'm looking at a C=64.

I have to agree - that was the last C64 game I ever brought.

The main character (Mayhem) is a stack of single colour hires sprites as apposed to a lores 3 colour sprite. enemies used colour flickering to blend new colours, the parallax was down to bitshifting a repeated pattern in a character block.

OH - and the level preview bouncing in is down to a hardware scroll hack.

These are all old tested tricks though - any C64 coder could do them, what made mayhem in monsterland special though was the Rowland brothers knew how to put together a bloody good game

Kenshi said:

Also, it's not a console game, but does anyone remember that (seemingly) holographic game by Sega? I believe it was called Time Traveller. It used mirrors to produce what appeared to be a 3-D hologram. I played the game once in Shreveport, after reading about it in magazines. I spent a buttload of money on it buying time cubes to reverse my deaths. There ended up being a group of people standing around me watching in awe. I figured that game was going to be huge and help revolutionize video games. Then I never heard anything about it again. Does anyone know why this game failed? The gameplay wasn't complex in the least, but with the radical presentation, I fail to see how it bombed.

No matter how you dress it up a laserdisc game is still a laserdisc game. Admittedly timetraveller was a good one and you pretty much did feel like you were playing it.

Holosseum was little better - but there were much better fighting games out there on more traditional displays.

in short: I think players saw through the hologram and into the games and saw they weren't really that special after all.

plus you could be sure some prick would wave their hand through the screen at a crucial moment, ruining your focus and forcing you to make a wrong move.