Living the High Life

Video Game Diary:

Yes! I just played a little Atari and SNES tonight while talking to my friend Steve Smith. We were talking about challenging each other's scores and it reminded me of a great video game staple... Twin Galaxies!

Twin galaxies is the official high score database and has been so since the golden age of the arcades. In this report, I will include the high scores on the titles I played when possible.

Whoa! Look at this big beautiful screenshot! Brings a tear to the eye, I bet. This is Donkey Kong Junior for the Atari 2600. It was a port of the popular arcade sequel to Donkey Kong wherein you controlled a monkey on a quest to save your father from the evil Mario! The player must jump and climb through three screens all while dodging enemies called trapjaws. Boards are cleared by getting to Mario alive. This version's gameplay is a little stiff and didn't port as well as Donkey Kong. There is no high score registered for this game. You can be the first!

And now, another arcade port on the Atari... Solar Fox for Atari 2600 looks sharp and has great sound effects. The goal is to collect all the dots on the screen while dodging bullets from passing spacecraft. If you do it before the SKIP-A-RACK timer expires you can skip ahead a stage and get a big bonus. The current high score on this version is held by Robert T Mruczek. It's 1,678,000, wow! This is the king of cartridge that you will keep in your system and play over and over. Taking turns with a friend in a high score contest could result in hours of fun. Find this game if you could enjoy an addictive game requiring quick reflexes and a good joystick-one of my must have titles.

This is another game that every 2600 owner should have. The graphics do not hold a candle to its arcade equivalent, but the feel is divine! The car has a heavyness that feels authentic when gearing down for tight turns and narrowly avoiding other cars. There is only one variation and one track, but mastering the track and beating your last high score is a pleasure. The high score for this the Atari version using the actual hardware(not an emulator) is 60,910, shared by several players. Could this be the highest score possible?

It's time for a little Super Nintendo Action! The arcade version of World Heroes is a game I got so hooked on I could beat it with one quarter. It had a unique control scheme for a fighter in that tapping the button resulted in a quick attack while holding it longer dealt a powerful blow. This was different and, best of all, simpler than Street Fighter but still produced some great combos and strategy. The sequels dropped this control pattern in favor of something closer to SF. Another notable feature is it's deadly booby traps like the spikey wall and electrified wrestling ring ropes. The SNES port is a bit slower and missing some animation, but still a great game for one, and especially, two players. There is nothing like comboing your buddy onto a wall of spikes, I suggest you try it.

- Blake Leftwich, gamebot

Living the High Life

Video Game Diary:

Like always, I've been playing some new stuff and old stuff!

The new stuff:

Big Brain Acadamy for the Wii is awesome I own Brain Age but never played the DS version of this game so it was a new experience for me. The games test your skill in different areas like memory and visualizing and tracks your mental progress. You can play with up to eight players, compare results with everyone else in your home and even send your student report to your Wii friends via Wii Connect 24 so they can try to best your scores. It's a great game that I am going to buy for sure.

Indigo Prophecy is now on the plate and I am completing it with Evan and company. Indigo is an interactive story and the action is played out through simon-like, follow-me dual analog stick patterns. These sequences are there simply to move the story forward which is by far the highlight of the game. The conversation system and cinematography is amazing and even emotional or tense at times.

I also played through some of the Disaster Report scenarios that I skipped the first time through and finally ordered the sequel Raw Danger.

In the midst of the adventuring however there was a strange energy that compelled me to move into the classic console room and play the Genesis, which I had neglected for quite some time.
Lets move on to the good stuff, the old stuff:

First I played Trampoline Terror created in 1990 by Toy Soldiers Inc. In this game the player traverses a giant grid filled with enemies, trampolines and detonators. The goal is to trigger all detonators by walking over them. Bonuses are scored for destroying colored detonators in order. The enemies can be blow-up in the explosions or killed by throwing a device across the trampolines like a skipping stone. Hopping on the trampolines can allow you to jump to hard to reach areas but jumping on one too many times makes it pop. The grid is miles high so falling through a trampoline or falling off an edge kills you.

Greatest Heavyweights by SegaSports 1993. Great graphics and sound were present but the gameplay was missing. I tried lots of strategies and buttons (it supported the 6-button controller), but still I ended up as a punching bag. The fighters available are champions from different time periods (which is a cool concept - ed) and you can taunt your opponent. As Jack Dempsey, I yelled "I'm gonna crush your skull." to which Evander Holyfield replied "You can't touch me!".

GODS released in 1992 and developed by Bitmap Bros. is a side-scroller action adventure orginally on Amiga and Atari ST computers. Throw projectile weapons to kill the beasts inside a dungeon with traps and treasure. Each area has hints that tell you how to escape to the next area. In my opinion, the respawning enemies actionized what could have been a good exploration game. That said, it was very 1990's funny.

The final test of skill was Deadly Moves by Kaneko and licensed by Sega for the Genesis in 1992. This 2D brawler, a genre that I sorely miss, had a punch, kick, and jump button and few special moves. It also moved a little too slowly and the characters were unimaginative. The main character, Joe, is best described as a skinny Ryu with black pants and blue wristbands. This game was called Power Athelete in Japan (I like that better!) and Power Moves on the SNES. Many of the these games came out of the woodwork in the early 90s because of the massive popularity of the Street Fighter (and Mortal Kombat) series.

The Atari, NES and Playstation, as some of the most successful consoles in history, sometimes overshadow the Genesis. But this system represents the 16-bit era, Sega's greatest success as a hardware developer and a huge library of great games. It is, unmistakably, a milestone in video game history.

- Blake Leftwich, gamebot

Living the High Life

Video Game Diary:

Along with the classics, I have been playing a lot of PS2 over the past month. This system is unrivalled in adventure gaming. Over the last month I have completed ICO, Shadow of the Colossus Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. These are the second and third times through for these games-they are sooo much fun! Before that I met up with the gang (Matt, Evan and Tillman) to complete Haunting Ground for the second time.

Haunting Ground is a fantastic adventure game which started as part 4 in the Clock Tower series. It has excellent graphics, unique gameplay (running and hiding for survival), a horror film vibe and lots of extra touches and bonuses that shows the developer really cared about the project. The game mags blew if off but it is a great game-highly recommended to Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Clock Tower fans.

The gang and I then promptly played through the english translated rom of Clock Tower for the SNES (excellent!) and we just completed one ending on Clock Tower for playstation. Next on the agenda for us is Clock Tower 2, also for playstation and perhaps, the weakest in the series, Clock Tower 3. One major difference in these games and their PS2 counterparts is the control. Everything before the PS2 versions were point and click, these newer versions have the traditional third person analog stick control. The point and click interface of the early Clock Towers works well for exploring and the perspective follows in the footsteps of Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil 1 except for the SNES Clock Tower, which was a 2D side-scroller.

Back home with my PS2 I started a game back up that I purchased years ago based solely on the premise: Survival during disaster. Disaster Report, the first time I played it, displayed some really impressive ideas in game design. Collect water from reliable water sources in containers and drink to survive. Limited space in your back-pack makes the management aspect a factor. Items can be combined and taken apart and part of the experience is a world collapsing all around you in real time. This second time through, I couldn't stop playing and it seemed to get better as the game progressed, there were even jaw-dropping moments like floors beneath you falling into the sea and building a raft from surrounding debris to traverse a violent river through the city streets. The faults, which I overlooked for the most part includes "charming" dialog and voice acting and abysmal, almost defective sound. If you like the idea of crubling buildings, rushing water,an ever-changing landscape, making due with everyday items to survive, and especially-if you love adventure games, go find this game. Also, Raw Danger, the spiritual sequel just came out and I can't wait to play it!

Kris and I also got down under the sea with the NES recently. She loves the Disney classics so we finally tried out a game I picked up at a local flea market last month, The Little Mermaid! The gameplay has you control Ariel, traversing the ocean, fighting bosses and throwing shells at enemies. The game was fair and not too difficult. Highlights included pushing barrels down steps to smash treasure chests and flopping around on the surface like a fish. Then for more Disney fun, we played Duck Tales 1 and 2 which are excellent and live up to their reputation as some of the best gameplay and level design on the NES. You may have to pay over $20 for Duck Tales 2, but even at that price it's a better value than many games out on current consoles.

- Blake Leftwich, gamebot