That was our first console my parents bought us (more so for my older brothers. I seldom got turns.) The controls were awful, but it still very fun. I haven’t thought of that thing in a while.
2 Likes
The joystick it on it was too short, the head too large, it was very stiff and bulky.
The key pad, with inserts, at least worked better than that on the Intellivision.
(I’m a console collector …)
3 Likes
Ahhh, you probably have an original Famicon. Nintendo are my favorite console manufacturer/developer. Something about the experience, be it characters, implementation, or game play.
Good stuff.
2 Likes
Ways to know the virus-induced “lock-down” is prompting far too much productivity …
In between extensive listening to the HSA-1a/SR1a combination, I also found the time in the last week or so to do a ground-up implementation of a dead programming language (ICL’s CESIL), and build all the resources around it for what amounts to a complete “preservation project”.
Now I just need to decide how to host it, and get permission to share some of the copyrighted elements (original texts, coding sheets … which I’ve done complete re-builds of in Omni, etc.) … but I already have a suitable domain …
1 Like
More than one … various versions … both native to Japan and various other versions.
I even have a complete collection of Nintendo’s “Game & Watch” units, all working, and a second set in boxes (in various conditions), and various other stand-alone electronics games.
They’re not even in this country, however … that was all before I left the UK.
3 Likes
I still remember getting our first console Atari 2600, the first cartridge with it was Combat. Latter my dad had us play Star Trek on in TRS 80 Model 1 Level 2 computer. Still remember the first pong game my friend had it.
Now a stand-up game from that era I love to play again is Zaxon. That game inspired me to make a wooden handle to match the flight stick on Zaxon to put on the 2600 controller. I even modified the placement of the trigger, to an index finger trigger. I remember looking F15 flight stick as a model to sculpt the wood.
3 Likes
Combat was a classic.
As long as you had two players, I’m not sure it was possible to have more fun on the VCS (2600). Even if the Space Invaders cartridge was completely addictive.
Zaxxon was fun. Isometric 3D-ish. The Atari 800 version was excellent (best of the non-arcade versions, and easily beating Coleco’s version). I drooled over the magazine articles on that one and jumped through major hoops to get a copy imported from the US when it first released.
“Kangaroo” and “Jungle Hunt” were a couple of other arcade favorites that worked well on the Atari 800 platform, even if the graphical fidelity was not there.
4 Likes
I recently found a box with some consoles in it in my CovidClearout.
An original NES with Zelda. The gold cartridge one. Good times.
Some dude came and picked it up for $200, for the sake of not having to list it or have it sit around, happy with that.
As for Atari. That is very early gaming memories for me. Soccer, that one with the vines and the crocodiles.
3 Likes
Yes, Combat was a blast to play with two people, I remember even my grandpa loved playing with me he would just chucle. Also, I loved playing Space Invaders for hours on a 2600.
I think it was these early moments that gave me the bug to also program, did any of you wait for Compute Magazine monthly to get the next game to peek and poke into your C64. it was a great training ground and fueled my love of computers and programing.
Did you guys also play Atari Tempest and Willams Defender in the stand-up machine?
2 Likes
Pitfall! It was called Pitfall.
3 Likes
I had Tempest 2K on the Atari Jaguar. It was pretty trippy and might have benefitted from weed had I been into that sort of thing. I hear that Jeff Minter was…
4 Likes
I haven’t thought about that game in maybe 20 years…
2 Likes
Oh YES!
Tempest was an instant classic, and part of what inspired me to build my own arcade controller to play it via MAME on the PC (years ago).
As for Defender … the arcade version as least … you know you have that one licked, when you have so many lives collected that you can sod off to the bathroom and know that you’ll earn several more through your unattended deaths (due to the score awarded for every life you have in reserve when you die), and various bugs on just before 1,000,000 points …
5 Likes
Also, if you’ve not played them … the various Jeff Minter (Llamasoft) Tempest derivations are WELL worth playing.
“Space Giraffe” on the Xbox 360 was particularly brutal (I still have one achievement there I’ve not unlocked …).
3 Likes
For whatever reason, I miss my Turbografx 16 the most. I just fired up Retro pi last weekend for my son started on Bonk’s Adventure.
That generation of consoles (including the SNES and Genesis) hit the sweet spot for me in terms of still having mostly simple game mechanics and unique game concepts, but with better quality graphics and sound than the 8 bit consoles. Later stuff was too focused on realism for my taste.
5 Likes
There was a definite transition between raw gameplay and graphical prowess for me.
Once we got past the Pac Man, Space Invaders, Mr. Do!, Defender and maybe Pole Position level stuff, my interest fell off rapidly.
SNES and Genesis were the sweet-spot for me, too, home-console wise.
I really liked the portable Turbografx 16/PC Engine stuff.
Had a brief dalliance with the NeoGeo home-console (both versions, and still have both, and their ridiculous “cartridges”).
Arcade wise, anything up to Sinistar, Crystal Castles and “Dragon’s Lair” (which I can still finish, blindfold, as long as its on the original arcade timings …) has a place in my heart (“Coin’s Detected in Pocket”, Bezerk … Stern) …
5 Likes
And a new thread was born. “Tell us something incredible that you can do, that you’re not sure you’re proud of”
5 Likes
I still play on occasion Contra with my childhood friend. That’s probably my favorite ‘classic’ two-player game.
5 Likes
Some other favorites, in their arcade incarnations at least …
Amidar, Burger Time, Crazy Climber (another inspiration for my self-built controller) … Missile Command, Asteroids (11 hours on one 10P [quarter to you American types] … and I’d have kept going if they’d not kicked me off the ship) …
5 Likes
Yes I agree lot of game ended up no longer focusing on gameplay, they were overly-focused on the 2.5D-3D worlds with poor virtual cameras controllers. I was at SGI/MIPS when Nintendo64 was finishing development. There were few good exceptions on N64.
5 Likes