The King of [insert game here]

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scotland171
Posts: 816
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby scotland171 » April 20th, 2014, 5:16 pm

What game, old or new, arcade or home, single or multi, have you been The Boss at? Were you a natural, or crafty and persistant? Did you learn 'the move' or 'the secret?' Were you initials on the high score board, a local legend, or an unknown master?

Tell us a story of your prowess at the pixels.

velcrozombie1
Posts: 400
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby velcrozombie1 » April 20th, 2014, 6:27 pm

My cousin Jason was a god at the EA NHL Hockey franchise (or at least the first couple of
games); he had this scoring setup that, if done correctly, would fool the computer-controlled
goalie 100% of the time. It wasn't even fancy; it was just a fast approach to the goalie where
he would quickly move the puck from side-to-side, hold it all the way to the left until the last
possible second, then switch sides at the blink of an eye and dump the puck in the opposite
side of the goal. He would easily rack up over one hundred goals versus either the computer
or another person. He was super cocky about it too, which made the inevitable loss sting all
the more. I don't think I played him in anything past the first game; I wonder if later installments
improved the AI to the point where it wouldn't fall for the same trick?

weallmissedme1
Posts: 397
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby weallmissedme1 » April 20th, 2014, 8:11 pm

Congo Bongo, easily. I've cracked out quite a few good scores with that oldie. In my heyday, I could go a couple hundred thousand. Maybe more. I'd draw a crowd every time. I still love kicking ass at that classic!

scotland171
Posts: 816
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby scotland171 » April 21st, 2014, 9:07 pm

Star Wars Arcade - 1983.  

Picture a darkened den full of the smell of too many boys packed together, the simple sounds and bright lights all from monitors about 5' high, the ching of dollars to tokens, the hum of chatter...y'know, a golden age arcade. Lots of great games  - Ms. Pac Man, Spy Hunter, Donkey Kong Jr, Qbert, Joust, etc. Like many, I watched gamers more than I played, since my couple of buck wouldn't last too long otherwise.  I tried games here and there, but then I found a black cockpit.  Inside, Ben Kenobi would mentor me, with R2 somewhere behind, through the fateful mission to change the destiny of a galaxy by destroying the Death Star....over and over and over. 

If you have not played, its a vector graphics shooter game with a yoke controller, and voice recordings.  The game is basically three stages - fighting TIE fighters, the surface of the Death Star, and the trench.   Once you beat all three, you blow up the Darth Star ("Great shot kid, that was one in a million") to do it all again, but at a harder level.

The TIE fighters is twitch, as the enemy pack spirals about shooting torpedoes that you can shoot...but if you focus on the torpedoes the intensity will likely overwhelm you.  You pick your moment, predict, and quickly dash off a shot at the fragile enemies and back to the stream of incoming.  At the end of the stage, you can take a revenge shot as they retreat to their base and shoot'em in the back...not very Jedi like, but it works.

Stage Two is the weakest, and you can either choose to just survive it (as you seem to orbit over the Death Star several times) or try to clear the stage of enemies for a bonus. 

Stage Three is harder than anything Luke ever did.  Barely visible beams cross the trench at various heights, while small turrets shoot at you.   The turrets can be avoided by sharp flying, and that ("use the force, Luke") will get you a bonus.  At later stages though, you can slam into multiple beams and wonder why they did not just put up a wall.   Then again, why not a simple bend in the exhaust port and save the gazillion credit space station, but let's not overthink Mr. Lucas.

Just a game that seemed to mesh with my skillset, and one I could nurse a single play on for a loooong flight.  Played it again back in January, and the Force is still strong in this one...and I still shot TIE fighters in the back every time.  I would've shot Greedo first too...

 

 


Rev1
Posts: 1777
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby Rev1 » April 21st, 2014, 11:23 pm

A few years ago I would have said Smash Bros (64/Brawl) but after playing with the big leagues I realized how much I had to grow on those games. There are three games I can think of that I was significantly better then anyone else around me. One was In the Groove 2/DDR (arcade cabinet) where I was one of the top players in my area for a good year or two before I gave it up (you could check your stats by uploading your top scores from the arcade cabinets onto the site and comparing them to other players in the country). The second, is Cool Boarders 2 (PS1) but I think that has more to do with the fact that I'm pretty sure I'm like the only one who still plays that game. I can consistently get a perfect score on the hard competition mode; the few youtube videos I've seen have made it pretty clear that the few people who do play this game still aren't nearly as good as me at the game (there might be some body living on the streets or something who could probably school me at the game though).

Actually... That's it.

Teddybear1
Posts: 130
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby Teddybear1 » April 22nd, 2014, 7:23 am

I enjoyed your Star Wars tale scotland17 -just WHY didn't Empire put up a wall instead of beams?  The sit-down version of this game was a great gaming experience and always worth many quarters.  Unlike you, I had no Jedi in my bloodlines and was pretty useless to the Rebellion.

The home version of Star Wars Arcade- 2600, 5200, Colecovision and C-64 all look sweet but suffer from the same jittery and imprecise controls that really sap the fun out of the game.  I'd actually rate the Atari 2600 port as the best control-wise.  Oh, to have the real arcade game in my man cave!

scotland171
Posts: 816
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby scotland171 » April 22nd, 2014, 9:10 am

[QUOTE=Teddybear]I enjoyed your Star Wars tale scotland17 -just WHY didn't Empire put up a wall instead of beams?  The sit-down version of this game was a great gaming experience and always worth many quarters.  Unlike you, I had no Jedi in my bloodlines and was pretty useless to the Rebellion.

The home version of Star Wars Arcade- 2600, 5200, Colecovision and C-64 all look sweet but suffer from the same jittery and imprecise controls that really sap the fun out of the game.  I'd actually rate the Atari 2600 port as the best control-wise.  Oh, to have the real arcade game in my man cave![/QUOTE]

I have a Jakks Pacific plug and play motion control yoke Star Wars Clone Wars game that tries to bring back the feel of the arcade game. Its fun, but yeah, not like the arcade controller still.  The arcades will always have the benefit of a large investment in a rugged and precise controller tailored for that particular game.  Plus the surround sound and full immersion of that cockpit.  Talk about your virtual reality.

I grew up with the C-64, and I remember playing it then.  I am still working on putting together a Commodore rig again, either with a 1541 or one of those SD cards.    

I'll have to try the 2600 version again with a slik stick - the controller I am most fond of for the system.  I have the Colecovision version, but I find the Colecovisions's controllers a bit cumbersome to me, at least.  I do have the 32x version. Again, it looks great - but this is one game where neither a regular Genesis controller nor an arcade stick gives you the fun of the yoke.   Sega also has a Star Wars Trilogy arcade machine, which I've only played a few times.  If I recall, it has a single joystick and not the yoke either.  In this case, by trying to have the arcade game do lots of things, including light saber conflict, they had to compromise on the controller.


FinalLapTwinkie1
Posts: 175
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby FinalLapTwinkie1 » April 22nd, 2014, 9:30 am

I am more the court jester of gaming then the King. I have a friend who was amazing at Krull, the arcade not the 2600 version. He also always managed to pull off onside kicks on Joe Montana Football for the Sega Genesis. Thankfully Madden 92 came out shortly after.

I have heard the Game Cube disc Star Wars Rogue Squadron III has the original Star Wars game on it, anyone ever try that version?

weallmissedme1
Posts: 397
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby weallmissedme1 » April 22nd, 2014, 2:32 pm

I can't stand the movies, but I did get a kick out of the Star Wars 32x game. It was pretty cool.

Sut1
Posts: 789
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

The King of [insert game here]

Postby Sut1 » April 22nd, 2014, 3:45 pm

The Atari ST version was great, had most of the digitised speech samples from the arcade and control was via the mouse which made it very accurate.


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