The Video Game Critic

This thread has been inspired by watching a few Americans and Canadians on YouTube importing ZX Spectrums to try and understand why us Brits love it so.

Now the biggest mistake most make is they are naturally drawn to big name games that they have heard of eg Out Run, After Burner, Street Fighter, Double Dragon etc. Problem is most of these ports were turds.

So my five point advice to my cousins across the pond (or anywhere else) wanting to discover the Speccy:

1). Get the 128k version, this one has a soundchip and games tend to load in bulk rather than multi load. Loads of people say the original rubber key 48k version has more soul, but frankly it sounds like ass with it's beeper and you have to buy a separate joystick adapter, leaving no room for......

2). Getting a modern day SD card solution such as the Divide. Games load instantly making it as accessible as a console. Seriously who wants to wait upto 20 minutes for a game to load right ? And no it doesn't add to the charm.

3). Research the games don't just head to the globally known games as they are more often than not terrible. There are of course exceptions: Green Beret, Chase HQ, Operation Wolf, Renegade. But if you see the US Gold label it's got a 70% chance of being total arse.

4). Like the majority of systems. Games that are designed with the systems limitations and stengths in mind are often the best. Head Over Heels, Lords of Midnight, Death Chase.

5). Explore the British quirkiness. These days Video games more globalised than ever. But some older games are quintessentially British. Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy, Skool Daze, How to be a complete B*stard are very quirky and a lot of fun.

So if you were giving advice on your favourite system to a complete new comer what would your 5 point advice be ?

Here are 5 points to enjoying the Odyssey 2; (Wall of Text approaching!)

1) Stop Comparing it to the Atari 2600! - Remember when everyone "Played Atari Today", and there was the Atari 400 and Atari 5200 and advertisements in the comics about Atari games and Atari magazines and 'How to Beat' Atari games and everybody talked about Atari Pac Man? Remember how the Atari 2600 is the very symbol that entire era of home video games? See the banner up there for Video Game Critic - see the Atari controller? Yeah, that Atari. Congratulations - you didn't buy one. Seriously, I could have made you a great deal on a low mileage 2600, only played by a little old church lady who only played Activision Bridge, but you bought this silver and black thing instead. What you have to do now is do not compare the Odyssey 2 to the Atari 2600. Seriously dude, its like comparing girl friends or something. Just stop. Commandment number 1 is to accept the Odyssey 2 for what it is, not what it isn't.

2) Go Large! - Collecting for the TG-16 or the Saturn. Some titles will set you back. Not with the Odyssey 2. Buy a bunch of games. Loose? Labels are peeling? Dust cover a bit oxidized? No worries. The cheaper the better - the carts will work, and for a decent investment you will have a sizeable collection. Enjoy the bounty. Quantity has a quality all its own. The library is actually small enough where you can possibly collect a large percentage of all the released games.

3) Get Personal! - The library is interesting in about half of all the games were created by one person, Ed Averett. You can almost get to know him by the games, as he reused code. Sometime it seems he was more like a homebrew hobbyist. Try to collect the whole "Averett" collection. Compare his games to the "Overton" collection, which are basically the launch titles.

4) Go Late! - the better games tend to be later games. Whether its the Challenger Series, the Master Strategy (boardgame plus game) Series, Killer Bees, the third party games like Demon Attack, or even modern homebrews like Kill the Attacking Aliens (KTAA). So, check those labels kids, and buy only the freshest.

5) Embrace the Charm! - Yes, the same little block people and block trees keep appearing as if every game were made by Duplo. Yes, many games feel like 'proof of concept', and lack meaningful difficulty or difficulty levels. So what! Check out that box art. Its amazing. Dive into the setting expressed by all those tentacles in War of Nerves. Shoot that android cowboy in Future World. You can be the Hero of Star Command! Be the Monkey and Shine! If you need more challenge, make it up - play with your left hand, play looking at a mirror, or close your eyes, young jedi, and play by just listening to the sound. Whatever it takes, embrace it. This is a crystal ball to yesterday's idea of fun, and the future, and if you go ahead and throw out your filters, you might find its a lot of fun.

I'll play: SNES

1. Snatch up Mario all stars, Mario world, and Yoshis island first thing.

2. Get yourself a some arcade sports games.

3. Get the super game boy player.....there are some GB classics that are way more tolerable this way.

4. Invite some friends over for Mario kart battle mode.

5. Enjoy!!

My advice would be get out of my house that NES belongs to me.

Jk. I would say get some q tips and alcohol ready, and invest in a dogbone controller.

Turbografx 16/Duo:

1. Only take on this endeavor if you are willing to shell out the big bucks. This is one of the hardest and most expensive consoles to collect for.
2. Determine what types of games do you want to play, hu card only, cd, both, imports (highly recommended).
3. Buy the imports of several U'S. games as they are cheaper and basically the same game.
4. If you want to play all the console has to offer buy the Japanese arcade system card, pc engine duo r/rx console, and an American turbografx console. This will allow you to play everything as cheap as possible.
5. Find a place that can repair your cd player when it eventually fails. Although the duo rd is very stable but the other cd models will eventually break.