Oldie but goodie

Oldies but Goodies – Paperboy

Genre:  Arcade
Platform:  NES

It is Labor Day here in the US, which is a day honoring workers.  What a better game to review today than a job that many people started out with – a paper route.  This game was released on multiple platforms, but I had primarily played it on the NES.  It started as an arcade game.

In this game, you are a paperboy simply trying to deliver all of his papers accurately and on time.  However, this is a neighborhood from hell for a paperboy.  There are obstacles at every single house on your route.  If it’s not a kid on a big-wheeler trying to run you over, it’s a cat getting in your way.  You can take your revenge, however.  Using well-timed throws, you can break windows and vandalize other items.  This was where most of the fun was for me.

Your goal is to deliver all of your papers to the correct houses as accurately as you can.  It’s a near-miracle if you can actually throw one in the paperbox.  It will count if you get your paper somewhere on their property.  You can ride either on the sidewalk or on the street.  Both have their perils.  The sidewalk gives you little time to react to the obstacles, but you’re likely to be run over by a car on the street and it’s harder to make your throws.  At the end of your route, you have to go through an obstacle course for some reason.

This game is HARD.  I think I got to the fourth level once.  I could cruise past the first level, but after that, it was tough.  I still played it repeatedly, however.  It’s a fun game and it kept me playing for hours.  I played it recently and found that I just didn’t have the patience for this anymore.  It’s a good game, though, and I recommend it!

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Oldies but Goodies – Ms. Pac-Man (SNES)

Genre:  Arcade
Platform:  SNES

Ms. Pac-Man is still a great game, 30 years later.  It’s hard to improve upon the original formula.  Her game was superior to Pac-Man in just about every way.  In this Super Nintendo version of the game, however, they did manage to improve on that arcade classic.

The SNES version of the game lets you select what kind of maps and difficulty you want.  There are tiny, regular, large and strange maps.  I loved the strange maps as they were significantly more difficult than the regular.  For example, here’s one that is missing the side guides in the map:

Ms Pacman Strange map

It might not seem like much, but when you have Blinky breathing down your back, it is really tough.  There were also some really weird items that you could collect such as a pizza or ice cream cone.  One of the best features of this game was the “pac-boost”, which allows awesome speed relative to the ghosts.  It allowed you to feel like an awesome player!  All of these changes made the game more fun and made the replay-ability greater.

If you’ve never played this version of it, check it out!

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Oldies but Goodies – Ducktales

Genre:  Platformer
Platform:  NES

I was a big fan of the Ducktales cartoon as a kid.  In fact, I have the entire series on DVD and it is still a great cartoon today.  I was excited to see that they turned it into a video game back in the NES games.  I played through this one quite a bit as a kid.  You played as scrooge.  Someone came in and stole your money and it was up to you to get it back.  As was the case with the cartoons, you traveled around the world in search of your treasure.

The game featured a neat control room which let you select the levels you wanted to play.  It was a map of the world.  You could visit the Amazon, arctic, Transylania (my favorite level), the moon and more.  You had the assistance of your crew – Launchpad, Gyro, Huey, Dewey and Louie and more!  Each level was fairly large and had its fair of challenges and secret areas.  You were armed with your cane, which doubled as a pogo stick so you could stomp the baddies.

The graphics were pretty good for an 8-bit game and the soundtrack was catchy.  I loved everything about this game.

This game has since been remastered for the XBox and the graphics received a much improved facelift.  The story is pretty close to the original game, with a few additions that add to it.  See the difference in graphics below:

Ducktales remastered

If you liked the original, you’ll like this one as well.  However, I will still likely play the original from time to time just for a bit of nostalgia.  There was also a Ducktales 2, but I don’t think I ever played that one.

 

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Oldies but Goodies – Simpsons Road Rage

Genre:  Arcade
Platform:  XBox Original

I was a long-time fan of the Simpsons, although I haven’t really watched much of it the last 10 years or so.  So when Road Rage came out, I picked it up and really enjoyed it.  If you’ve ever played Crazy Taxi, it’s basically that with the Simpsons crew.  You select one of the cast to play and drive around Springfield acting as a taxi.  The faster you get people to their destination, the more money you get and the more time you have to play.

You only start with maybe 5 characters to play with and can purchase the rest as you earn money.  This really adds to the replayability of the game as you’ll enjoy playing the different characters.  Here’s everyone you can play:

Simsons RR characters

I have always been a big Lisa fan, so that’s usually who I played.  I also enjoyed Homer and Mr. Plow a lot, too.  You can destroy just about everything in this game.  Springfield is fairly large, so there is a lot of territory to cover.  There are shortcuts everywhere, so once you find them, the game becomes even more fun.  I just picked this one up again and I’m looking forward to replaying it.  I would recommend it if you’re looking for a fast-paced racing type of game and you are a fan of the Simpsons.

Simpsons

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Oldies but Goodies – Titus the Fox

Genre:  Platformer
Platform:  PC

Titus the Fox was a platformer from way back in 1991.  We had it on our Windows 3.1 computer when I was a kid and I think this was my sisters’ favorite.  At least, I hope so, because when I tried to copy it for a friend and rendered the disk useless due to some copyright code, they almost killed me.  Let’s discuss why.

Titus was a cute game and took place somewhere in the middle east where magic carpets are the norm.  You play as the fox and are trying to get to the end of each level in search of your female counterpart.  But she’s always in another castle somewhere else and you need to keep running through a gauntlet of baddies.  If I recall, your primary mode of attack is picking things up and throwing them – including the bad guys.  If you could approach them from behind, you could throw them.  There was usually some sort of stacking puzzle in the level as well.

It was a fairly standard platformer, but the graphics were pretty good for a 1991 computer game running on 3.1.  The soundtrack was cutesy as well.  I can see why my younger sisters liked the game and I would like to formally apologize for destroying it.  I’m glad you’ve grown up without too much mental scarring as a result of my technical ignorance.

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Oldies but Goodies – Summer Games

Genre:  Sports
Platform:  Commodore 64

It’s that time again!  The Olympics started this weekend and I thought it a good idea to showcase one of my favorite Olympic video games – Summer Games on the Commodore 64.  This was a decent compilation and looks pretty good considering it was released in 1984.  My cousin had a Commodore and we used to play this there.

You have a decent selection of events to play.  There’s pole vault, running relay, running single event, swimming relay, swimming single, diving, skeet shooting, gymnastics and rowing.  My favorite was pole vault and I remember it being quite challenging.

You had maybe 8 countries to choose from.  I always picked Brazil because my 8 year-old self thought they had the coolest flag.  There were opening ceremonies to watch and medal ceremonies.  Each country had its national anthem represented.  For its time, it was a comprehensive game and the graphics were quite good.  If you’re looking for an Olympic game to play, look this one up!

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Oldies but Goodies – Slalom

Genre:  Sports
Platform:  NES

I am heading on vacation for a few days in Colorado, so I thought a fitting last post for a few days to be Slalom for the NES.  I’m not going to be skiing, of course, but it’s the first mountain-themed game I thought of. There are a lot of new things to talk about in the video game world and I’ll discuss them when I get back.

I played this at a friend’s house in middle school and thought it was a lot of fun.  The idea is pretty simple – you are a skiier going down the slopes in the mountains.  You need to fly down the hill and weave your way between poles, trees, other skiiers and sledders. Whoever keeps these tracks should be fired because there are so many things that get in your way.  When you finish, your guy gives a victorious, although somewhat pained-looking celebration.

The thing I remember most about this game is that it was HARD, just like so many old games.  There weren’t any continues, so you just had to start over each time.  The graphics were pretty good but static.  The background never moves, but that’s probably good here because you really need to focus on the course.  There was no story or anything, you are just a dude skiing down a hill.

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Oldies but Goodies – Frog Bog

Genre:  Arcade
Platform:  Intellivision

I know this game is called Frog Bog, but for some reason, it’s called Frogs and Flies in my mind.  We had this game for the Intellivision when I was a kid and I thought it was one of the funniest games I had ever seen.  I remember playing it with my parents and laughing a lot.  The premise is simple – you play against another person and try to catch flies with your frog.  It’s a very easy game – easy enough for my 7 year-old self to master.

There is a mode, however, which allows your frogs a bit more freedom.  This means that they can jump off the screen, change direction mid-air and fall into the water.  This was the mode that entertained me for so many hours.  As you can see in the picture above, the frogs look pretty silly when they jump.  I remember my aunts and I playing the as well when they would babysit and we had so much fun as well.

I do have this one in my collection now, but I haven’t plugged in the Intellivision yet to play it.  I’m sure it won’t be near as much fun, but it will always make me smile to think of it.

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