Topics

[Lemmings]

Lemmings is a puzzle video game originally developed by DMA Design in Dundee, Scotland and published by Psygnosis for the Amiga in 1991 and later ported for numerous other platforms. The game was programmed by Russell Kay, Mike Dailly and David Jones, and was inspired by a simple animation that Dailly created while experimenting with Deluxe Paint.

The objective of the game is to guide a group of anthropomorphised lemmings through a number of obstacles to a designated exit. To save the required number of lemmings to win, one must determine how to assign a limited number of eight different skills to specific lemmings that allow the selected lemming to alter the landscape, to affect the behaviour of other lemmings, or to clear obstacles to create a safe passage for the rest of the lemmings.

Lemmings was one of the best-received video games of the early 1990s. It was the second-highest-rated game in the history of Amstrad Action, and was considered the eighth-greatest game of all time by Next Generation in 1996. Lemmings is also one of the most widely ported and best-selling video games, and is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies between its various ports. The popularity of the game also led to the creation of sequels, remakes and spin-offs, and has also inspired similar games. Many retrospective reviews say it is one of the greatest games of all time.

Source:  Wikipedia

I just saw this really cool AR/3D demo of Donkey Kong made in Unity3D.  Not only is it cool to watch but there is an Atari 2600 right next to it!  Check it out...

The Playdate is a very unique handheld being released at the end of the year(pre orders begin Thursday July 29th).   John talks about the system on this video.  The official page is here:  https://play.date/

Gamers of a certain age (cough) now have a way to relive the countless hours spent playing The Simpsons at your local arcade. Arcade1Up has introduced a retro cabinet that faithfully recreates The Simpsons Arcade Game (plus The Simpsons Bowling) as you played it 30 years ago, just without the gigantic pile of quarters needed to emerge victorious. In some ways, it's better â€" a remote play option lets other cabinet owners jump into the beat 'em up without leaving home.

Arcade1Up promises authentic artwork and relatively easy assembly.

Pre-orders start on August 16th. Arcade1Up hasn't mentioned a price, although the period-appropriate Turtles in Time cabinet costs $650 if you need a reference point. You're paying a lot to satisfy your nostalgic urges. Still, this might be worthwhile if you're looking for a conversation piece in your den or game room that ventures beyond the usual air hockey and pool tables.

Source:  Endgadget

[1943 Kai: Midway Kaisen]

1943 Kai: Midway Kaisen is a enhanced remake of 1943: The Battle of Midway released in 1987 for Arcades exclusively in Japan. It was later ported to the PC Engine in 1991 by Naxat Soft and was also included in the Capcom Generations Vol. 1 (notably the first time this game saw release outside of Japan) and Capcom Classics Collection compilations.

Gameplay

The game is set in the Pacific theater of World War II, off the coast of the Midway Atoll. The goal is to attack the Japanese air fleet that bombed the American aircraft carrier, pursue all Japanese air and sea forces, fly through the 16 stages of play, and make their way to the Japanese battleship Yamato and destroy her. 11 of these stages consist of an air-to-sea battle (with a huge battleship or an aircraft carrier as the stage boss), while 5 stages consist of an all-aerial battle against a squadron of Japanese bombers with a mother bomber at the end.

As in 1942, players pilot a P-38 Lightning. Controls are also similar: button 1 fires main weapons, and button 2 performs two special actions: a loop maneuver like in 1942, or one of three special lightning attacks in exchange for some of the player's fuel. Indeed, players now have only one life, in the form of a large "fuel" meter; constantly depleting, but refillable by collecting various powerups (chiefly "Pow" icons). In 2-player mode, when both players overlap their planes on screen, the energy bar can be transferred from the player with more fuel to the player with less. Destroying a complete formation of red enemy planes will result in a power-up, such as a health boost or a new main weapon.

There are cheat codes, different for every stage, ranging from holding down a fire button or pointing the joystick in a certain direction; player(s) are rewarded with fully upgraded weapons.

Source:  1943 Fandom

I just watched this.  This is one ridiculous sale!  $870,000 for a sealed Legend of Zelda! 

Super Mario 64 for $1.56 Million!

"Retrogame Roadshow" from the 2012 Portland Retro Gaming Expo (PRGE), Sat September 29th 2012. With John Hancock, Chris Kohler, Steve Lin and special guest Howard Phillips (Nintendo). Ever heard of the Antiques Roadshow program? Well, this panel is just like that, except it's for videogames and videogame related collectibles, enjoy!

[1943: The Battle of Midway]

1943: The Battle of Midway is a 1987 shoot 'em up arcade game developed and published by Capcom. It was the first follow-up to Capcom's earlier 1942. The game's name is a reference to the Battle of Midway, which in actuality happened in June 1942.

Gameplay

The game is set in the Pacific theater of World War II, off the coast of the Midway Atoll. The goal is to attack the Japanese air fleet that bombed the American aircraft carrier, pursue all Japanese air and sea forces, fly through the 16 stages of play, and make their way to the Japanese battleship Yamato and destroy her. 11 of these stages consist of an air-to-sea battle (with a huge battleship or an aircraft carrier as the stage boss), while 5 stages consist of an all-aerial battle against a squadron of Japanese bombers with a mother bomber at the end.

As in 1942, players pilot a P-38 Lightning. Controls are also similar: button 1 fires main weapons, and button 2 performs two special actions: a loop maneuver like in 1942, or one of three special lightning attacks in exchange for some of the player's fuel. Indeed, players now have only one life, in the form of a large "fuel" meter; constantly depleting, but refillable by collecting various powerups (chiefly "Pow" icons). In 2-player mode, when both players overlap their planes on screen, the energy bar can be transferred from the player with more fuel to the player with less. Destroying a complete formation of red enemy planes will result in a power-up, such as a health boost or a new main weapon.

There are cheat codes, different for every stage, ranging from holding down a fire button or pointing the joystick in a certain direction; player(s) are rewarded with fully upgraded weapons.

Source:  Wikipedia

Dr Floyd from France is working on a new game for the Atari ST line of computers called Cosmos Chronicles. 

Official Page: Cosmic Chronicles

Compatible with: ATARI STF, ATARI STE, ATARI MEGA ST, ATARI MEGA STE 8-16Mhz, ATARI TT, FALCON 030

Minimum memory: 1MB

Expected release December 2021 (2022 in box)

The whole universe in your ATARI ST, 200 billion galaxies, hundreds of billions of stars and planets in each galaxy (approximately 40,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars), the ability to visit every corner of the grass or rock from all planets, houses, caves, the total and ultimate open world.

Variable Geo, also known as V.G., is a Japanese 2D fighting game / eroge series developed and published by TGL under their Giga brand. Their Giga brand was used for their home computer games while their TGL brand was used for their console games. The game series focuses on an all-female martial arts competition where participants are required to promote various family restaurants by acting as waitresses when not fighting. Takahiro Kimura was responsible for designing the characters in V.G. and V.G. II.

Source:  Wikipedia

[Announcement Thread]

Game Title: Flob
Game Type: Arcade Adventure platformer.
Size: ~400KB
Media: cartridge
Controls: Joystick / keyboard
Requirements: Atari XL/XE (64KB), stereo as an option, works both on PAL and NTSC machines
Written in Mad-Pascal/Mad Assembler.
Idea/code/graphics/sfx: bocianu
Music: LiSU, Miker, AceMan, PG, Zoltar X
Hardware design and production: Mq

Announcement Thread

[Terra Cresta]

Terra Cresta is a 1985 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Nichibutsu. The player assumes control of a starship named the "Wing Galibur" that must destroy the Mandler army before they destroy all of humanity. Gameplay involves shooting enemies and collecting different ship parts that each provide their own unique weapon, such as a wave gun or a double shot. It is the sequel to Moon Cresta (1980), Nichibutsu's first big hit in arcades.

Gameplay

The player takes control of the "Wing Galibur" fighter craft, and must shoot down the incoming enemy craft in the air and on the ground. Small capsules can appear on the ground, and once the player has shot all of them down, will award the player with a piece to attach onto the Wing Galibur. These pieces can give the Wing Galibur extra firepower and wider shots, with four individual pieces to acquire; should the player have all pieces to the ship and press the "transform" button, the Wing Galibur will transform into an enormous, flaming phoenix that is invulnerable to anything for a brief period of time. Additionally, the player can press the transform button without all pieces, and cause the pieces to split from the Wing Galibur and move into a triangular shape around the player. During this, the pieces are invulnerable to all enemy fire, while the player is not; should he or she be hit with the pieces, the Wing Galibur will revert to a singular craft, and if the Wing Galibur is hit, the player will lose a life, and the game will be immediately over should the player lose all of their lives.

Source:  Wikipedia

Has anyone seen this?

Newsmakers Games released a new video looking at the history of the Atari 7800...

It's the Atari 7800! A system born from the fires of corporate shakeups and a quickly evolving video game industry. After the failure of the Atari 5200 Atari hoped the brand new Atari 7800 pro system would become the next big thing.... but it didn't actually release until 1986 and by then the writing was on the wall for Atari's spot as the biggest video game console company.

I just finished watching this nice interview done by the guys from Retro Game Living Room with David Crane.  It's close to 90 minutes long but well worth it. He even reveals something about the C64 Transformers game that most people don't know about.  Check it out...

In 1989, Sunsoft came to SEGA with a proposal: What if people could play Mega Drive games together online? Wanting to make a splash in the market, the two companies teamed up and created the Mega Modem. The device brought online gameplay, downloadable games, news, contests, and even financial transactions to the SEGA Mega Drive!

[Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf]

Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf is a shoot 'em up video game released by Electronic Arts (EA) in March 1992[1] for the Sega Genesis. The game was released on several other formats such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, including a much upgraded version for the Amiga home computer. The game was inspired by the Gulf War and depicts a conflict between an insane Middle Eastern dictator, General Kilbaba, and the United States. The player controls an Apache helicopter (depicted with the tail assembly of a Comanche) and attempts to destroy enemy weapons and installations, rescue hostages and capture enemy personnel, while managing supplies of fuel and ammunition.

Lead designer Mike Posehn had no video game experience prior to developing Desert Strike. Inspired by Choplifter, he aimed to create a nonlinear game with smoothly animated vehicles. Posehn developed a camera system with momentum to mimic realistic helicopter movements. Three-dimensional (3D) modeling was used to generate the vehicle sprites, which were later touched up on the pixel level with color.

Desert Strike was a commercial success: it was a chart-topping best seller and at the time Electronics Arts' highest selling game. The game also received a favourable critical response, with several magazines awarding scores of over 90%. Reviewers praised the game's enjoyability, mix of action and strategy, graphics and sound. There was some controversy regarding the game's subject matter, with commentators criticising it as in poor taste due to the proximity of its release to the recently ended Gulf War.

GAME PLAY

Desert Strike is a shoot 'em up game in which the player pilots an AH-64 Apache helicopter (albeit modified with a Fenestron rotor). The game is less frantic than typical shoot 'em ups, with the addition of greater strategic elements. The action takes place on open, multi-directional scrolling levels viewed from an isometric perspective. The player views the action from outside the helicopter, rather than from within the cockpit. The player is also assisted by their copilot, who they can pick at the start of the mission; each copilot plays differently with different skill levels. The best copilot, Lt. Carlos "Jake" Valdez, is missing in action at the start of the game, and can be found and rescued during one of the missions.

Levels consist of several missions, which are based around the destruction of enemy weapons and installations, as well as rescuing hostages or prisoners of war, or capturing enemy personnel. The Apache is armed with a machine gun, more powerful Hydra rockets and yet more deadly Hellfire missiles. The more powerful the weapon, the fewer can be carried: the player must choose an appropriate weapon for each situation. Enemy weapons range from soldiers with small arms, to anti-aircraft missiles to tanks and armored cars.

The player's craft has a limited amount of armor, which is depleted as the helicopter is hit by enemy fire. Should the armor reach zero, the craft will be destroyed, costing the player a life. The player must outmanoeuvre enemies to avoid damage, but can replenish armor by means of power-ups or by airlifting rescued friendlies or captives to a landing zone. The helicopter has a finite amount of fuel which is steadily depleted over time. Should the fuel run out the Apache will crash, again costing the player a life. The craft can refuel by collecting fuel barrels: the player must therefore plan mission routes carefully in order to maximize efficiency. The helicopter also carries limited ammunition, which must be replenished by means of ammo crates.

Source:  Wikipedia

[Star Cruiser]

Star Cruiser is a role-playing first-person shooter video game developed by Arsys Software and released in Japan for the PC-8801 and X1 home computers in 1988. The game was released for the PC-9801 and X68000 computers in 1989, and then ported by Masaya (NCS) to the Mega Drive in 1990.

The game is an early example of an action role-playing game with fully 3D polygon graphics, combined with first-person shooter gameplay and space flight simulation when exploring the open-ended outer space with six degrees of freedom. All backgrounds, objects, and opponents in the game are rendered in 3D polygons, years before the technique was widely adopted. The game emphasized storytelling, with plot twists and extensive character dialogues, taking place in a futuristic science fiction setting.

Namco licensed the Mega Drive version of Star Cruiser for a North American release entitled Star Quest, which Namco planned to publish for the Sega Genesis in July 1994. However, the North American release of Star Quest was eventually canceled.

Gameplay

The game involves the exploration of four solar systems with over 30 planets and dozens of characters. It is viewed entirely from a first-person perspective, with 3D polygon graphics used to represent outdoor environments, trees, benches, buildings, and other objects, as well as enemies. The gameplay can vary depending on the environment.

In a city, the player character can move around town and enter various buildings to interact with non-player characters, who are represented with an anime-like appearance,[8] or leave the city and go into outer space. When the player goes into outer space, they can fly to other planets, moving around in free flight, but occasionally encountering enemies and engaging in space combat. There is an autopilot feature available, setting the spacecraft to automatically go to a set destination, but the player may still encounter enemies along the way. There is also a warp feature available, allowing the player to warp to different locations, but this requires energy. On various planet surfaces, the player will explore enemy bases and combat enemies on the ground. At enemy bases, the game plays like a first-person shooter, exploring a dungeon while moving, strafing and shooting enemies in a first-person perspective. Enemy bases usually need to be cleared by finding hidden keys, unlocking doors and finding key items and objects.

It does not use a traditional levelling system, but uses various role-playing game elements. The player can acquire different weapons and can customize craft to an extent, while needing to upgrade equipment, the shields that behave like hit points,[8] the space craft's speed of movement in outer space, and the energy needed to move around, shoot, travel and warp between destinations. The player can also go to a mechanic to repair equipment and shields as well as restore energy.

Source:  Wikipedia

Any fans of the movie Gremlins?  Well, the Irate Gamer posted a video where he reviews several different games based on the movies.  He even got Zach Galligan, the actor who played Billy, to also give some feedback on the NES game!  I think I'll stick with the Atari versions of the games...  Enjoy!