I'm so jealous

Hands up who would like to own an arcade machine?  As I thought, most of you, but in reality it's incredibly impractical.  None the less, if I had the money and floor space for a cabinet, I would buy an SNK NeoGeo MVS.  Aside from the fact SNK made lots of great games during the late 80s and 90s, it's one of the most powerful sprite-based machines ever made and it is one of the few that took multiple cartridges.  With a NeoGeo MVS you would not be restricted to one game, you could have several in the machine at once and swap them around with relative ease.

So why am I so jealous?  Because my 23 year-old nephew has one gone and done it.  Furthermore, he got his MVS and a Fatal Fury cart for just £40--the jammy ********.

MTW

Were old games bad?

It was the DICE Interactive Arts and Sciences Awards last night and Kotaku's Stephen Totilo was there to see the show and meet the legends--past and present--of the video games industry.  Now, I like Kotaku, they cover an incredibly broad range of video game-related news and they are one of the few sites that dares to review games without attaching a meaningless score to the bottom.  However, I did not realise that Totilo was a retro game-hater and such an attitude makes me a little bit sad.  Anyway, Totilo was on the red carpet at the event and asked various video game luminaries, "Were old video games actually good?" and "Weren't they just milking me of my quarters?"  Among those who answered were industry legends Ed Logg (designer of Asteroids) Rich Adam (designer of Gravitar) and Ed Rotburg (designer of Battlezonem, a game I plan to cover in a future CotM).  You can watch the interview on Kotaku.com or by clicking the link below:

http://kotaku.com/5885859/we-asked-the-red-carpet-were-old-video-games-actually-bad

Here's my (perhaps predictable) two-penneth worth:

In any generation of video games there are good games and bad games.  Even today, for every Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim or Portal 2 there's a Duke Nukem Forever or Postal III.  If you were unlucky enough to live near an arcade that only had bad games in it, then sure, you may feel old games were a waste of time, but are you really going to call out Pac-Man, Space Invades, Street Fighter or Tekken as bad games, especially when they are all still relevant today?  No, I didn't think so.

And yes, old arcade games were deliberately hard to make you put more money in, but you could argue modern console games, with their 8 - 12 hour campaigns, are designed to be completed so that you buy the next release as soon as possible.  And yes, I would include Skyrim in that, because even Bethesda admit the main quest can be completed in under 3 hours.

Oh alright, I admit it, I've spent nearly 60 hours on Skyrim and I'm only ²/_3rds through the main quest, but my point still stands--I think.

MTW

Boss Fight - Tree Stump (Fantasy Zone, 1986)

I started my new Boss Fight feature with the first game to introduce the concept of boss fights to arcade games; this month, I wanted to talk about the game that introduced me to the concept of boss fights. I would love to tell you that boss encounter was some classic end of level guardian, such as Dobkeratops from R-Type or Sagat from Street Fighter, but it was actually the Tree Stump from the first level of Sega's cute 'em up, Fantasy Zone. I first saw this on my friend's Master System console and the idea of one really tough enemy that you fought for several minutes floored me.

Like all shoot 'em up bosses, the Tree Stump had a weak spot: when it opened the hatch in the front, you had a few seconds to fire off a few shots before it sprayed bullets at you. It was a simple routine to master, but since the Tree Stump was invulnerable everywhere else, it was one you had to learn to succeed.

Arcade ambience

One of the things I love about Microsoft's forlorn Game Room service is the background sounds of other games being played.  It effectively recreates the buzzing, beeping ambience of an arcade that was such an evocative part of the experience - even if you didn't notice it at the time.

During this week's Giant Bomb podcast, the guys mentioned a website containing downloadable MP3s of arcade ambience.  Rather than just going for a generic mash up of games, the creator Andy Hofle, has chosen four years and used the sounds of classic games from those eras.  Each recording is about an hour long and was done using MAME.  The games you'll hear are as follows:

1981

Asteroids, Astroblaster, Berzerk, Centipede, Crazy Climber, Crushroller, Defender, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Galaga, Galaxian, Gorf, Missile Command, Moon Cresta, Mousetrap, Ms Pacman, Omegarace, Pacman, Phoenix, Qix, Rally X, Scramble, Space Invaders, Spectar, Tempest, Venture, Wizard Of War.

1983

Bagman, Bump n Jump, Burgertime, Congo Bongo, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong 3, Donkey Kong Jr, Elevator Action, Food Fight, Galaga, Gyruss, Joust, Jungle Hunt, Kangaroo, Mappy, Mario Bros, Millipede, Moon Patrol, Mr Do, Ms Pacman, Pengo, Pleiads, Pole Position, QBert, Robotron, Sinistar, Stargate, Star Trek, Tapper, Time Pilot, Track & Field, Tron, Xevious, Zaxxon, Zoo Keeper

1986

Arkanoid, Bank Panic, Bubble Bobble, Commando, Excite Bike, Flicky, Galaga 3 (Gaplus), Galaga, Gauntlet, Ghosts N Goblins, Gunsmoke, Hat Trick, Hogan's Alley, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Jail Break, Kid Niki, Mag Max, Marble Madness, Ms Pacman, Pacland, Paperboy, Punch Out, Rampage, Road Fighter, Russian Attack, Sky Kid, Spelunker, Super Sprint, Star Wars, Tiger Heli, Time Pilot 84, Two Tigers.

1992

Altered Beast, Arkanoid, Cyberball 2072, Galaga, Golden Axe, Klax, Neo Geo (Magician Lord, Baseball Stars Professional, Nam 1975), Mortal Kombat, Ms. Pacman, Raiden, Roadblasters, Street Fighter 2, Smash TV, Tetris, TMNT, Toobin, Xybots. Pins: Black Knight 2000, Elvira, Fun House, Whirlwind.

I have to say, I think he nailed them all and chose some great years for coin-op games.  Even if you don't like all of the games used, there's no denying you have probably heard them playing in an arcade at some point during your childhood. Sadly, the website hasn't been updated for nearly 3 years and some of the mirrors no longer work, so if you want to have a listen, I suggest you do so pronto.

http://arcade.hofle.com/

MTW