Video Game Mania 5: The Games

Video Game Mania 5 consists of two types of events: Multi-player and single-player. Multi-player games are chosen at random and played in single-elimination tournaments. Single-player games are selected and set up beforehand, available for all to play as many times as they want. Most of the games were suggested by the players in the days leading up to VGM5. At exactly 4:30, single-player game winners are awarded points for each first place (3 points) and second place finish (1 point). The players with the eight highest point totals were seeded for the all-important playoff round.

The Single-player Games

Centipede (Arcade 1980)
As they did at VGX1 (July 04), Mike and George finished first and second in Centipede. Like most of the arcade games, there wasn't much competition.
1st place: Mike F 38,550

2nd place: George 31,062

Tapper (Arcade 1983)
Note that this game is an original Budweiser version of Tapper, not one of those lame Root Beer conversions. Due to his considerable expertise in this game, Steve N was "banned" from playing it.
1st place: Mike B 19,025 2nd place: David B 16,550

Crystal Castles (Arcade 1983)
Mike employed a few old tricks to win Crystal Castles, mainly in the form of secret "warp" points. It's safe to say that his astronomical score scared a lot of people away. Because no good deed goes unpunished, Mike will likely be banned from this game at VGM6.
1st place: Mike B 198,654 2nd place: Steve N 89,466

Virtua Cop (Saturn 2003)
I had a few requests for light gun games, so I figured it would be a good replacement for the fishing game I usually set up. As a bonus, it allowed me to break out the Saturn, a system previously underrepresented at Video Game Mania. Virtua Cop was set up on normal difficulty, no continues, and no gun crosshair.
1st place: Mike F 211,600 2nd place: George 152,800

Kaboom (Atari 2600 1982)
Easy to play and quick, I always thought it was a perfect single-player game for VGM. The last time it was included was at the first Video Game Mania way back in 1999. This was the closest game of the tournamemt, with George edging out Steve N by a mere 34 points!
1st place: George 3,098 2nd place: Steve N 3,064

Ridge Racer (Playstation 1995)
I always loved this old arcade racer. Some would say it started the whole Playstation revolution. In this event, the goal was to complete two laps in the shortest time.
1st place: Brad 2'05"592 2nd place: Mike F 2'06"387

Jungle Hunt (Atari XEGS 1987)
This game elicited a lot of remarks like "hey, this game looks really familiar!" Jungle Hunt features four unique stages: Vine jumping, river swimming with crocodiles (stab 'em!), boulder jump, and rescuing the girl from the natives.
1st place: David B 4,200 2nd place: Steve N 3,700

Donkey Kong (Colecovision 1982)
I know several players were happy to see this familiar game from their childhood, but Shawn P destroyed the competition.
1st place: Shawn P 38,400 2nd place: Mike B 18,300

Lock N Chase (Intellivision 1982)
This challenging maze game marked the first time an Intellivison was represented at a Video Game Mania, much to the delight of Keith .
1st place: Keith 45,215 2nd place: Steve N 14,940

Protector (Atari Jaguar 2002)
One of the very best games for the Jaguar, this Defender clone combines familiar gameplay with rich, vibrant visuals.
1st place: Shawn P 81,000 2nd place: Mike F 39,000

Gravitrex (Vectrex 2002)
This was, by far, the most difficult game at VGM5. Much like the old arcade game Gravitar, the player must rescue stranded people on a rocky planet surface while dealing with a strong gravitational field.
1st place: Mike F 4,300 2nd place: Dan 2,700

Frogger (Coleco 1982)
This miniature arcade game is the best of the Coleco hand-held series. It's only draw-back is its loud, obnoxious sound effects which could not be muffled.
1st place: George 2,114 2nd place: Steve N 1,320

The Head-to-Head Games

1080 Degree Avalanche (Gamecube 2002)
With snow on the ground outside, what better way to get the party started than this terrific one-on-one snowboard racer? The rules were simple - first to the bottom wins.

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Steve N Eric R	Eric R	Eric R	* Eric R *
Greg X Mike B	Mike B	Eric R
Brad M Don F	Don F	Mike F
David B Mike F	Mike F	Mike F

Halo 2 (Xbox 2004)
Everybody loves this excellent first person shooter. In this case, the "slayer mode" was played on split screens.

First Round Finals Winner

Greg X
Eric S
Shawn P
Keith M Eric S
* Eric R *

Steve N
Eric R
Mike F
Mike B Eric R

Street Hoop (Neo Geo CD 1994)
An "extreme" sports game in the tradition of NBA Jam, this arcade-style basketball game is quick, easy to play, and fun.

First Round	Finals	Winner
Greg X Eric S Shawn P Keith M	Eric S	* Eric R *
Steve N Eric R Mike F Mike B	Eric R

First Round Second Round Finals Winner

Eric S
Mike B
Mike B Don F
* Steve N *

Don F
George C Don F

Shawn P
Steve N Steve N Steve N

Brad M
Greg X Brad M

NHL 2000 (Playstation 1999)
Ah, what this could have been. Before postponing VGM5, I planned to make NHL 2000 a four-on-four team event. That would have been awesome, but due to the limited number of players, I had to limit the teams to two players each. This was still a terrific event, with very close games and ample trash talking.

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Eric S Mike B	Mike B	Don F	* Steve N *
Don F George C	Don F
Shawn P Steve N	Steve N	Steve N
Brad M Greg X	Brad M

First Round Finals Winner

Mike B / Eric R
Don F / Brad M
Mike B / Eric R
* Mike B and Eric R *

Eric S / David B
Steve N / Keith M

Maze Craze (Atari 2600 1978)
Someone suggested this game to me, and it turned out to be a great idea. The variation used was 5, which features three wandering blocks that temporarily paralyze the players. The game was played best out of three.

First Round	Finals	Winner
Mike B / Eric R Don F / Brad M	Mike B / Eric R	* Mike B and Eric R *
Eric S / David B Steve N / Keith M

First Round Second Round Finals Winner

Eric S
George C George C George C
* Eric R *

David B
Mike B Mike B

Eric R
Steve N Eric R Eric R

Keith M
Shawn P Shawn P

Track and Field (Konami 1987)
A natural for VGM, a different event was selected for each round: Long Jump, Javelin, and 100-Meter Sprint. During the javelin throw, Eric R and Mike B managed to TIE with distances of 71.44 each! What are the odds of that??

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Eric S George C	George C	George C	* Eric R *
David B Mike B	Mike B
Eric R Steve N	Eric R	Eric R
Keith M Shawn P	Shawn P

First Round Second Round Finals Winner

George C
Greg X
Greg X Steve N
* Steve N *

Shawn P
Steve N Steve N

Don H
Mike B Mike B Mike B

Eric R
Keith M Eric R

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
George C Greg X	Greg X	Steve N	* Steve N *
Shawn P Steve N	Steve N
Don H Mike B	Mike B	Mike B
Eric R Keith M	Eric R

King of Fighters Maximum Impact (SNK 2004)
Since Keith and Brad tied for the last playoff spot, we were forced to decide it with this extra "play-in" game.

Keith M
* Brad *
Brad M

Point Totals

These totals were used to seed the playoff round.

1. Eric R - 12
2. Mike F - 12
3. Steve N - 9
4. Mike B - 9
5. George - 8
6. Shawn P - 6
7. David B - 5
8. Brad - 3
9. Keith - 3
10. Eric S - 2
11. Don - 1
12. Dan - 1
13. Greg X - 0

Note: In case of tie, head-to-head game points take precedence. If still a tie, order of appearance determines rank.

The Playoffs and Finals

Quarter Finals

Crash Team Racing (Playstation 1999)
No video game competition is complete without a "kart" racer, and CTR is one of the greatest of all time. George absolutely dominated this one, and Brad pulled a tremendous upset over #1 seed Eric R.

Semi Finals

Need For Speed Underground 2 (Xbox 2004)
This realistic racing game resulted in some very intense competitions. When Mike F defeated his opponent, he was literally dripping with sweat! George famously lost his race when he was "t-boned" by Brad on the final turn.

Finals

After running so smoothly all afternoon, VGM5 seemed to hit a brick wall in the finals, which seemed to last forever! It was really my fault for not having enough multi-players games prepared. I thought 12 would be enough, but it turned out that certain "team" games were NOT suitable for the one-on-one playoff rounds, and the extra play-in game didn't help matters.

Anyway, the game drawn for the final round was Mortal Kombat (Genesis). Mike F then invoked the little-known and highly controversial "veto" power to force a second draw. The last game remaining in the bag was Kings of the Beach (NES), which I originally intended as a two-on-two contest. Steve and George played it as the consolation game, but it was clear that the computer teammates were screwing up too much. The two finalists agreed to settle the score in Mortal Kombat, but then we had technical problems with one of the Genesis six-button controllers! Unreal! As a last straw, we threw all the games back into the bag and drew again. The game chosen was Halo 2, which was probably the best way to end VGM5 anyway.

Halo 2 (Xbox 2004)
Two players locked in an epic battle to the death. Unfortunately, they spent most of the game running around trying to locate each other! As the final seconds ticked down, Brad furiously searched for Mike, who was on his way to another championship.

Crash Team Racing	Need For Speed Underground 2	Halo 2		Need For Speed Underground 2	Crash Team Racing
1. Eric R	8. Brad	8. Brad	2. Mike F	2. Mike F	2. Mike F
8. Brad	8. Brad			2. Mike F	7. David B
4. Mike B	5. George			3. Steve N	3. Steve N
5. George	5. George			3. Steve N	6. Shawn P

VIDEO GAME MANIA 5 CHAMPION: MIKE FLEMING

Second place: Brad
Third place: Steve N

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