Video Game Diary:
Over the past couple of days I have had the luxury of guests Brian Tate and Reagan Tate. We had hot dogs and hamburgers again and played lots of games, but before that, we went on a quest to get two 9 volt batteries for a rather interesting device I attained in a trade at last year's ECGX...
This is "Zodiac the Astrology Computer" by Coleco. It was released in 1979, but don't worry, it's still not as old as I am. Designed to tell your fortune in one of three ways, it can give your horoscope, a "daily preview" or answer your questions in Advice Mode. These require the user to input her date, time and area of birth. One thing that I found intriguing was how much the user must do himself to find his future-due to the limitations of the electronics. Players write feedback from the display on a zodiac chart. Once the chart is filled out, one must use the instruction booklet to search codes and their meaning.
I have to say that our readings were pretty accurate with the exception of Brian, but we had guessed on his, and my, time of birth, so there could still possibly be a supernatural force guiding us through the universe. The instruction manual is a necessity in enjoying this little jewel and features celebrity birthdates and an introduction by "noted astrologer" Sydney Omarr. One thing that may be a deterrent in your hunting down this beauty is the fact that the included birthdate codes only go up to 1990 so if you were born after that, you're done for! The creators didn't anticipate nerds born after 1990 would even know what the heck this thing was... understandable. It is currently valued at around $30.
After that, and some required Wii Sports Bowling and Tennis, we followed up with a bit of PS2! The first game I popped in was Shadow of the Colossus-to show these guys one of the greatest adventure games ever made! Then we delved into some classic goodness via Sega Genesis Collection. This game is fantastic and includes over 30 games including Altered Beast, Shinobi III (my favorite side-scroller of all time), all the Phantasy Stars (for the Genesis) and even hidden easter eggs like Zaxxon! I love it so much because the emulation is 99% accurate, and I am a real stickler!
Brian and I couldn't find a second controller for Golden Axe - a travesty! Instead I played Flicky!
Flicky was a fantastic 1984 arcade game ported to the Genesis. As Flicky the bird, you must collect canaries and lead them to the exit while avoiding cats and jumping from platform to platform. Collecting all birds before touching the exit results in a large score and boards are cleared by saving all canaries. The bonus levels are fun too, wherein Flicky must catch canaries launched in the air by catapults. Sega Genesis Collection is currently available in stores for $14.99 to $19.99 and is absolutely one of the best values out there for classic game fanatics.
Sony made the demo disc a standard for consoles back when its original Playstation arrived in 1995 and most gamers have a few lying around. I picked up a PS2 demo disc a month or so back because "Portal Runner 2" was listed on the disc and I thought I had found a demo of an unreleased sequel of a beloved game. Turns out it was a misprint, however these events led to the imminent trying of said disc when Bri and Rea came about-which was good.
Before I get into what we played I want to mention that there was an demo for Ico which was different than the final game, exciting for an obsessed fan (see previous Shadow of the Colossus comment).
On the disc, Reagan was excited to see Portal Runner, a game I introduced to her years ago. It was released in spring of 2001 by 3DO as a side story of their Army Men franchise (but you are not green -ed.) and has garnered 6.5s and lower from most game sites and mags. What those guy don't tell you is that it takes all the concepts of early 3D games and produces them in a way that works -and the funny thing is, gamers who want simple adventures like side-scrollers of the 16 and 8-bit era do not have many choices. Portal Runner delivers a simple but fun action adventure game in an unpredictable fantasy setting including prehistoric times, ye olde knights in shining armor, etc. with platforming, strafe firing, collecting, exploration, stealth and sniping. You have full control over the camera and a pet Lion! One requirement is that you must be man enough to play a game that does not involve Master Chief (for example, I own and enjoy Britney's Dance Beat I'm not.. that.. innocent).
I also made Reagan play the MTV Music Generator 2 demo and watch me play Cool Boarder 2001. My house, my rules.
The last game of the night, Super Bust-A-Move 2 was played into the wee hours. I love games that allow you to be creative, the gang played through nine levels of my own creation then played the normal game (not as good as my levels). Later, well after our guests had left, Kris was angered, after staying up until 4:30 a.m. she was rewarded only with credits for completing the adventure mode. Alas, the cutscenes revealing the storylines of each of the strange characters is found by completing the single player mode. Ouch!
- Blake Leftwich, gamebot
