Auros ([info]auros) wrote,
@ 2009-04-13 22:05:00
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Current mood: nostalgic
Entry tags:games, video games, writer's block

Writer's Block: Gamer's Choice

What is your favorite old-school video game?

Submitted By [info]2hated2care


View 505 Answers



Wait, I'm supposed to choose one? Also, just how old-school? Listing a few out by the platform I originally played them on...

NES: Zelda 2 -- I still say it was better than the original. Rygar. The original Final Fantasy.

PC: Bard's Tale. Star Control -- though mostly because it spawned Star Control 2. Starflight -- though again, the sequel (Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula) was significantly better.

Mac: The Journeyman Project (1-3). Myst (and Riven and Exile).

Apple IIe: Bug Attack. Frogger. Lode Runner. Some early iteration of Carmen Sandiego. Many Infocom games.

Arcade: Gauntlet, Magic Sword.

I could probably keep going.

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[info]xforge
2009-04-14 09:29 am UTC (link)
I think they mean quarter-operated arcade game, in which case, Tempest hands down no contest. Battle Zone a close second, then Omega Race followed closely by Berzerk.

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[info]auros
2009-04-14 04:02 pm UTC (link)
Hm. I'd have to go with Gauntlet or Magic Sword. But honestly, I never found any of the arcade games anywhere near as compelling as the home ones, which allowed for persistence over time (hello, Zelda!) which meant the stories could have considerably more breadth.

I don't think of "video game" as being exclusively arcade cabinets.

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[info]xforge
2009-04-14 04:46 pm UTC (link)
Okay, I'll buy that.

Gauntlet!! Was awesome. I don't remember Magic Sword though, I guess I'll go Google it...

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[info]entomologist
2009-04-15 01:43 pm UTC (link)
I'd love to find a copy of Altered Beast again. Golden Axe was fun, too, but a little short; remember winning it at Flickers on about five bucks worth of tokens split between us? The ending movie was cute; if I think about it for a moment, I can probably hum the the closing theme.

The arcades were the first casualty of the console wars, but when I get a chance to visit one of the few surviving ones (a lot of movie theaters have mini arcades with half a dozen games or so), my favorite games now are the Silent Scope series -- the one gun game that depends more on precision than on just blasting away at everything that moves on the screen.

You mentioned Star Control 2 -- did I tell you I found a free, open source port of the 3DO version of the game that Reiche and Ford released a few years ago? You can download it at http://sc2.sourceforge.net/. Because it was the 3DO version, there's a package you can install to add voiceovers for all the dialogue. It's a mixed bag -- some voices, notably the Commander's, are disappointing, but some are spot-on -- particularly the Yehat (they got someone who does a decent Scottish brogue to record their dialogue), the Dill-Rats, the Druuge, and the Fat Obstreperous Jerks (Eway Aryay Addashthray! Ortsnay!). That link leads to a video of something I don't recall that we ever thought of: going to the Druuge with a command ship whose module spaces are all filled with high-capacity fuel tanks, and only one unit of fuel in them, and trading an artifact for "all the fuel your ship can hold." They don't take it very well....

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[info]auros
2009-04-16 06:01 am UTC (link)
Oh, yeah, I remember Altered Beast... There was a console version of it, but it was considerably inferior...

I'm surprised to see that they even have an OSX version of that SC2 port... Maybe I'll replay it at some point...

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[info]entomologist
2009-04-16 08:04 pm UTC (link)
Don't recall the console version of Altered Beast, but I remember a PC version of Golden Axe; IIRC, it was actually longer than the arcade version. It was a lot of fun playing SC2 again, even knowing the story; I'd never played all the way through doing the fighting myself.

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