Attract Mode by Scott Jacobi

The Many Faces of Bandits by Alan Hewston

Home Version Similarities - except those in < > all home versions have:  the title and credits are lifted by a rocket <Vic>; an information page showing each of the enemies <Vic>; and the demo mode is full, but silent; you have an unlimited supply of ammo to fire upwards; but only 3 (or 4) shots may be in action at once; a chance to pause the game any time; a quick reset button to start a new game <Atari 8 bit not so quick>; the game gradually introduces more enemies and difficulty; the action is non-stop <Atari 8 bit noticeable loading between every round> with only a brief break between rounds, with the tallying of bonus points & sometimes the restocking of the enemy Phalanx; the more stores you protect, the larger your end of round bonus; the bonus points per store saved starts at 100 and increases to a max of 500; unprotected, your stores will be captured and taken into the mothership by either the Phalanx or Torrents; if you shoot an enemy carrying a store, it is instantly returned to your stash; the enemies physically enter the mothership <C64> with the stores and then return to action; if you lose all of your lives or the mothership gets all the stores then the game is over; you earn an extra ship at 10k and every 5k thereafter; subsequent rounds increase in difficulty by adding all enemy types and then combinations of enemies, hazards and attacks; the behavior and attack formations of the Bandits are very random; up to 18 Phalanx (the main enemies) will populate each round; a single formation of 1 to 6 Phalanx will maneuver all about the screen as well as release up to 4 bombs or shots in your direction; these are both slow & fast moving bombs, plus a very fast low angled shot from near the bottom corners; after the stores bonus reaches 500, the Phalanx can send out a second formation while the current  formation is raiding your stores, thus the second formation acts as a shield to protect what they stole (only verified on C64); the "Menace" is an independent invader that cries out when it arrives and again with every new dive run; there can only be 1 Menace at a time, but it releases up to 3 bombs and can only be hit while it makes its weaving attack (dive) from the top of the screen; the Menace is semi invulnerable (cheats) as it can move discontinuously from one spot to another dodging shots, or shots go right through it; it is always invulnerable & tiny during its ascent; as long there is one other bandit remaining, the Menace, as it's name implies, can return again and again; the "Carriers" appear as 4 balls on the ends of 2 rods aligned 90 degrees to each other & drop off "Nuisants" or deadly balls that bounces towards you; hitting a Carrier will split it into the 4 balls, which also fall and bounce toward you; Nuisants and balls (assumed to be the same) will bounce at least 4 times (up to 6 on some versions) before they disappear below the ground;  bonus points are shown on-screen for each Nuisant; the final enemies are "Torrents" which come as 10 to 12 segments joined like the arcade game Centipede;  Torrents weave across the screen, & downward, where at the bottom right they will grab your stores and follow the same escape route as the Phalanx - upward, then left to the mother ship's opening; each Torrent segment has a bomb that it will drop, which upon impact, forms a limited duration, sizzling acid bath that spreads out a bit, then dries up and vanishes; as is always the case, touching anything, such as a hazard blocking your path, means death; unlike Centipede, when you destroy the Torrents segments, they are gone, and the remaining segments continue in the predetermined path as if still joined; around the 18

Screenshot from apple2games.com

My first reaction was disappointment that my version only permits keyboard control.  I'm unsure if a joystick option exists, so for a keyboard I scored the Controls an (8) as they are hard to use & imprecise.  The space bar works good for firing, but the "S" key is not a good choice to activate shields - it is not easy to be instantaneous - and you need to be, especially during rapid fire.  The cursor keys are great for moving L & R, but the movements are programmed as discrete chunks, not continuous digital movement - really limiting your precision.  Not to mention a buffer is used to store multiple movement commands, which when occurring during a graphics slow down, pretty much takes away any remaining control.  The Gameplay is well-done and despite minor differences on every version, there is nothing significant missing from any versions so all versions scored a (9).  The original is the most different - well OK, only in 2 or 3 ways.  First, the shields operate only in 5 second chunks which will take some getting use to.  5 sec is not enough time to make a run from one side of the screen to other, or to break up all the bouncing balls in one pass.  So, you'll be fighting to find and press the darn "S" button even more often here, whereas it is second nature to press upwards on a joystick.  I suppose this is more of a controls and addictiveness setback anyhow.  Second is that here (& the Atari) you can fire too rapidly, which makes preventing the Bandits from carrying off your stores too easy - reducing the skill/strategy element here.  It appears that the max on-screen objects is around 30, but I did not find time to videotape & count.  The Addictiveness is superb (9) and the pause is the <ESC>.  There are some collision detection problems (the Menace is awful) & despite no reset button, it's easy to quickly lose your remaining lives to restart a new game.  Despite disk access every round, it is always very brief & does not detract.  Graphics are sharp (8) with good details, title screen, full demo, color variety, graphics variety, multi-colored ship, enemies, fruits, star field & backgrounds. There is some animation and OK displays, but there is also the action slow down.  Even so, not many games have 30+ objects in motion simultaneously.   Sound is good (6) and most of the effects are in place as noted above in the similarities section.  The AP2 & Atari also provide an audio effect when you try to use, but have depleted your shields.  I did deduct some for the similar sounding and limited internal speakers.  This game is found only on disk & originals are hard to find & unfortunately, there may not be a working ROM image online for emulation.

Screenshot from atari.fandal.cz

My first reaction was how cool to see the intro, where the Apple, when eaten, reveals the Atari logo inside.  The Gameplay is superb (9) and all the action is here.  Like the AP2,

Screenshot from Lemon64.com

My first reaction was neat to see the words GAME OVER spelled out in cursive.  The Gameplay is superb (9) and all the action is here.  The Addictiveness is fantastic (9) where <R/S> toggles the pause and <Restore> to restart.  There are some collision detection problems here too.  Graphics are outstanding (9) just a bit better than the Atari, with a title screen, attract mode, demo mode, plus loads of on-screen action (40+ objects simultaneously).  There are very good details, and good color variety, graphics variety, multi-colored ship, enemies, fruits, star field & backgrounds. There is some animation & displays are OK.  The Sound is very good (7) with most of the effects in place as noted above in the similarities section.  Controls are perfect (10).  Only available on disk.

NEScade -- Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat by David Lundin, Jr.

The NES version of Indy Heat was released around the same time as Nintendo's NES Four Score and NES Satellite four player adapters.  Both these devices allowed up to four NES control pads to be connected to the control deck at the same time for simultaneous four player game play.  To take maximum advantage of this, the NES version of Indy Heat supports four players over the arcade original's three.  Non player cars are still cycled in as drones and Danny Sullivan is still at the wheel of the yellow car.  Steering controls are remapped to left and right on the directional pad and control is silky smooth.  The A Button controls acceleration, lifting off of it applies the brakes.  The B Button is used to give your car a turbo boost granted that you have turbos remaining.  Although the NES version features player registration just like in the arcade, this information is not retained once the power is turned off or the NES is reset.

Without a doubt the largest obstacle a port of this game has to overcome is graphic detail.  The arcade version of Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat as the most lavishly detailed and colorful non laserdisc game that Leland ever manufactured.  While their layouts may have been slightly different, the circuits really did suit their real-life counterparts properly in terms of location theming.  One can tell a lot of care went into the graphic design of each venue to attempt to capture as much of the grand prix atmosphere as possible.  There is no possible way this level of detail could have been translated onto the NES hardware, so it shouldn't be expected.  What can be expected, and is delivered, is a recreation of the same over all circuit layout.  Sure it's not as detailed but most of the key visual elements of each circuit and the surrounding areas are present in the NES version.  It looks a little bare bones but all the important stuff is there.  Most of the circuits from the arcade make the transfer over to the NES but the ones that do are renamed.  For instance Vancouver is now Western Canada and Long Beach is now Southern California.  In all, there are eight different circuits in the NES version, six less than the arcade original, but the ones included offer a good balance of fun and challenge.

Prize money is accumulated in the same way as it was in the arcade and is spent on the same upgrades: Turbos (more turbo boost), Brakes (faster stopping when off the accelerator), Tires (quicker turning speed and less sliding), Crew (faster pit stops), MPG (improves fuel consumption for longer runs between pit stops), Engine (improved acceleration), and Danny's Choice (Danny Sullivan purchases the most even assortment of upgrades you can afford).  Sound effects are the same as they were in the arcade however the sparse speech that the arcade game featured is not present.  Music is about the same as well with lazy little audio tracks playing in the background throughout the game.

While it may not seem like a stellar conversion it does bring the core of the game into the home.  For this title to truly shine it needs to be played with four players.  Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat and Nintendo World Cup are the reasons I use my NES Four Score and NES Satellite.  It's very easy to spend more than a few hours with friends playing this game and I honestly enjoy it more than the arcade original for one simple reason.  In the arcade you could keep feeding the machine quarters to build a bankroll to purchase all the upgrades right from the start.  This is something that can't be done on the NES, so there's a lot more challenge in building up your stats properly and it adds a lot of strategy to the game.  Any fan of Super Sprint or Super Off Road would love this natural progression of this type of racing game, in the arcade or at home on the NES.
 

Apple II Incider by Donald Lee

Welcome to the second installment of the Apple II Incider column here in Retrogaming Times Monthly (RTM). Hope everyone had a safe and sane holiday/Christmas/New Year season.

After submitting my first column to Scott, I thought about how I wanted to proceed with the column. While I am sure my gaming memories would be interesting, it might be awfully boring to see the same thing month after month.

I decied that While I will continue on with some more gaming memories this month, down the line, I hope to talk about other aspects of the Apple II beyond games. Just like other retro systems, the Apple II has a great history that deserves to discussed. I hope this is of interest to readers.

Continuing on with more gaming memories this month, let's look at a subset of games that could be best called edutainment. In the early to mid 80's, Apple pushed the Apple II's (primarily the Apple IIe) into schools around the country. With the huge base of computers throughout the country, it was inevitable that programs to educate and entertain kids would crop up.

The following are some good educational/entertainment games that I enjoyed in my youth.

Mastertype - Lightning Software
This was the first educational/entertainment title I recall playing after my parents bought our Apple IIe. The version I have is the original that was produced by Lightning Software. From the pictures I have seen online, it appears that Mastertype was acquired by Scarborough System later on.

What can you say about this typing tutor program which may have been one for the first ever? I guess I could say that since I fairly young when I played this (maybe 9 or 10 years old), I never thought of this as a typing tutor but more of a standard game. The graphics and sound may be primative now, but I thought they were fairly good for the time.

I don't recally going to the more advanced levels when I originally had Mastertype. I tried some of the higher levels on an Apple II emulator as I wrote this. Even today, with a ton of experience typing, the game is still a challenge and would give some other typists a good run for their money.

Lemonade Stand - Apple
According to stuff I read online, Apple included this game with Apple II computers throughout the 80's. Unfortunately, I guess I wasn't one of those who knew about it so I never played the game when I first got my Apple IIe.

However, fate would intervene as I was introduced to the game when I got to middle school. The game was fun but evoked a lot of giggles from my middle school classmates at the time. Many of them had Commodore 64's at the time and they got a laugh out of the primative graphics and sound that were part of the game. What could you say? The game was produced back around 1979 using the Apple II's low resolution graphics mode and sound has never been an Apple II strength.

Even though everything about the game seems primative these days, the business concepts the game tries to teach is solid. Knowing your customers and knowing your business environment is essential to any business person. Some dot-comers could have probably used that lesson. Having gotten a chance to play the game again via emulator recently, Lemonade Stand brought back good memories of those good old days.

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego - Broderbund
Originally released in 1985, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego was a huge hit that has spawned numerous sequeals and even spinoff TV shows. The premise of the game was to track down a thief who had stolen a valuable artifact or item. The user was dropped into the city where the item was originally located. The user was expected to investigate and gather clues in the city to where the thief's next possible destination might be. Included items (I belive an Atlas or some other information type book) were included in the game package to help your investigation. If you tracked the thief's tracks correctly, you would eventually catch up and arrest them. Otherwise, you would run out time and the thief would get away. There was an ending to the game as you would eventually have to track down Carmen Sandiego herself.

I forget how I was introduced to the game but this was definitely a great game and educational tool at the same time. For an older generation game, the user interface was simple enough that even really young kids could play the game. Like both programs above, I never really thought of this as an educational program. I was so enamored in tracking down Carmen Sandiego's henchman (and later Carmen Sandiego herself) that I never realized I was learning at the same time.

Now, if you asked me now to recite what I learned from the game, I probably couldn't tell you. However, I recalled spending many hours at the game and was happy to finally catch Carmen Sandiego at the end.

Nintendo Realm - January & February 1986
by Scott Jacobi

1986 started off like any other year for the Famicom, but Nintendo was facing a slight problem.  They could not manufacture enough chips for their products.  There was a general shortage of silicon at the time, and it was becoming extremely expensive to produce cartridges for the system, which was cutting in to their profits.  So Nintendo created a plan B and designed the Famicom Disk System.  The FDS sat beneath the Famicom and plugged in to the Famicom's bottom expansion port.  It accepted slightly modified 3.5" diskettes.  Games loaded in to the system's memory from the disk, and players would occasionally be prompted to flip the disk over to the other side.  There was also a small writable space where games could be saved.  There was only one small problem with the FDS; the games were extremely easy to pirate.  And as soon as silicon returned in abundant supply, Nintendo dropped support for the disk format, but that wouldn't take place for roughly three years, making the FDS a mainstay for quite some time.  As part of the FDS's launch, Nintendo released a handful of games that had already been released in cartridge format, but they also release a game that would propel Nintendo's success, The Legend of Zelda.

Twinbee released by Konami on January 4th, 1986.
Compared to Gradius, Twinbee is a very light hearted shooter.  Twinbee is supposed to represent a sentient air craft with boxing gloves for hands.  With a nod to Xevious, Twinbee flies over vertically scrolling terrain and is capable of firing upwards through the air, or bombing targets on the ground.  Unlike Xevious, the ground crosshairs only appear once a bomb has been launched.  Ground targets can be bombed to reveal items that grant bonus points.  Twinbee needs his arm to throw bombs, and if he is hit by an enemy's bullet, he loses them.  An arm recovery item will appear only once after Twinbee loses his arms and must be picked up to regain bomb throwing power.  Twinbee can power up in several fashions, such as increased speed, and trailing shadow images which increase fire power, but you have to work for it.  As the level scrolls by, clouds appear on the screen.  If you fire in to them, you may dislodge a bell.  Bells are ordinarily yellow in color, and if you pick them up when they're yellow, you will be awarded an increasing number of bonus points if you never miss one.  But if you continue to shoot at the bell, bouncing it back in to the air in the process, it may change color.  Picking the bell up when it's a different color grants you a particular power up.  The enemies are humorous and range from something as benign as vegetables, to something goofy such as toilet seat covers.  The bosses take quite a bit of patience to defeat, and being powered up helps substantially.

Son Son released by Capcom on February 8th, 1986.
Son Son is Capcom's cartoonish representation of the famous Chinese tale known as the "Journey to the West" (which Dragon Ball Z was also slightly based upon.)  Ported to the Famicom from the arcade game, player 1 controls Son Son, the magical staff wielding monkey, while player 2 controls the pitchfork firing pig Ton Ton (2 players play simultaneously.)  Both players simply use their weapons like guns.  The screen scrolls horizontally automatically at a constant speed, stopping occasionally for mid-boss fights.  Son Son (and Ton Ton) can jump up or down to any level of ground, and some of the enemies have the same ability.  Enemies typically appear in waves of groups, and the game grants bonus points for destroying an entire pack of them before they scroll off the screen.  Enemies come at you in every direction, so no one position is safe.  The stages blend in to one another, so there is no break in the action.  The ground is littered with bonus point items, and some will only appear if Son Son walks over the ground where they are buried.  A power item can transform enemies in to point items, so use it when there are a lot of enemies present on the screen.  Mid bosses usually take the form of three floating warriors, whose shields must first be destroyed before they can be dispatched.  This is a particularly fun early Capcom title.

Twinbee	Son Son

Goonies released by Konami on February 21st, 1986.
I have no doubt that many RTM readers will remember Goonies II for the NES, and remember it fondly.  It was a rather well made adventure game, and it left many players wondering, "Why Goonies II?  Where was the first Goonies?"  Until I knew about this game, I always through Konami was trying to write the sequel to the original movie.  Now I know that there actually was a Goonies 1, but it was never released in the U.S.   Playing the original gives you a feel for how several of the concepts in Goonies II originated.  Goonies is more linear than Goonies II, with each kid's rescue taking place on a given stage, and each  stages must be completed in order to advance (although hidden warps exist, allowing players to bypass certain stages).  Enemies such as rats and mobsters are your primary source of weapons, but special items, such as diamonds or power ups, can only be discovered by knowing the trick to make them appear in each stage.  For example, in the first stage, you must kick the air where they should appear.  Collecting eight diamonds refills your life meter.  Doors must be bombed in order to find the one Goonie and three keys necessary to complete each stage within the given time limit.  Goonies one is much simpler, obviously, than the sequel, but it's quite enjoyable trying to discover all of the hidden items that each stage hold

Baseball released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System on February 21st, 1986.
Tennis released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System on February 21st, 1986.
Soccer released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System on February 21st, 1986.
Golf released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System on February 21st, 1986.
At this point, I get to cheat a little and remind you that I already covered these games in previous RTM issues, So I won't be diving in to a detailed review of these games.  Sufficed to say, along with the two games mentioned below, Nintendo saw fit to launch the Famicom Disk System with a plethora of sports titles, in a manner not unlike the very recent launch of the Wii, which contained the Wii Sports title.  All of these games are good in their own right, although they would go on to be outdone in almost every respect by other third party publishers.  But FDS disks were much cheaper than regular Famicom cartridges, so this afforded some players the opportunity to buy particular sports titles that they may have otherwise passed up in cartridge format.

Goonies	Baseball

Tennis	Soccer	Golf

Super Mario Bros. released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System on February 21st, 1986.
In the rare and unlikely event that a Famicom owner in Japan did not own Super Mario Bros., the Famicom Disk System provided owners with another opportunity to purchase the game at a cheaper price.  Although I'm not sure why, it is possible that some people bought both versions, but this seems kind of unpractical since nothing changed in the disk version of the game except for the addition of loading time.  Regardless, Super Mario Bros. was Nintendo's best seller so it was probably a smart move to introduce a new peripheral with a strong title.  But it was the next title released for the FDS that would prove to be even stronger.

The Legend of Zelda released by Nintendo on February 21st, 1986.  Released in the U.S. on August 22nd, 1987.
The Legend of Zelda needs no introduction, with it's award winning on-going series continuing to this day.  As far as launch titles go, it doesn't get much better than this.  Releasing the game on disk format was what really allowed the design of Zelda to permit game saving.  The decision to include battery backed-up memory on the U.S. and European cartridges was a technological hurdle that had to be overcome in order to release the game in territories where the FDS did not exist (other games, like Metroid and Kid Icarus opted for a password system.)  The Legend of Zelda was, in many ways, a representation of Shigeru Miyamoto's cave exploring youth in digital format.  It was his memories of the feelings and sensations of exploring unknown caves and fields that inspired him with the design of this ground breaking game.  For its time, the sheer size of the game seemed quite daunting, but the escalation of Link's power, through the discovery of a large inventory of tools and weapons, empowered players to explore territory with increasing danger.  Even today, this game still holds a special appeal, selling quite well on the Wii's Virtual Console, allowing it to coexist with its most recent retelling of the story, The Twilight Princess.  One significant difference between the Japanese version of the game and the American version, involves the use of the microphone contained in the control pad of the Famicom, which was used to defeat the Pol's Voice monster of the game by blowing or shouting in to the mic.

Super Mario Bros.	Legend of Zelda

How Much Is Your Collection Worth? by Andrew Tonkin

How much is your collection worth? Have you ever wondered about how much your collection or individual pieces are really worth?

I recently sold off my NES collection and discovered that it was worth $2616 (Australian Dollars that is). Well, at least that is what I got by the time I sold off certain rare items privately and put the rest up on a series of ebay auctions. But is that really what my NES collection was worth?

The $2616 is what I received from a heap of interested buyers, but it doesn't take into consideration the hours and hours and hours I have spent over the last 8 years collecting NES games and hardware. It doesn't take into consideration the freezing cold mornings I spent trudging around garage sales and out-door markets. It doesn't take into consideration the vast tanks of fuel that I used up driving around to those garage sales, markets and second hand stores. It certainly doesn't take into consideration the way I have constantly had to bluff and manipulate and generally suck up to my wife every time I arrive home with yet another box full of "old computer game junk".

All of this is just part of the reason why you simply can't put a real price on our video game collections. The price can never accurately take into consideration the time spent accumulating the collection. More importantly, the price can never take into consideration the sentimental value of your most precious items.

Out of my reasonably large collection of classic video games, there are two items that I consider the most "valuable". The first is my Commodore SX64 colour portable in absolute mint condition. In actual dollar terms it is very valuable. It is a very rare item that is highly sought after by collectors. But what makes it even more valuable to me is that I had desired an SX64 for years and years, ever since I first saw one in a computer magazine when I was just a teenager. At the time, the Commodore 64 was the ultimate gaming machine. So when I saw a fully portable Commodore 64, I just about wet my pants. And then when I saw the price, I think I did wet my pants. The price put it right out of my reach, but it remained my dream item for years to come. Fast forward about 20 years and I was finally able to acquire my very own Commodore SX64. My dream had come true and the SX64 takes pride of place in my collection.

But the most valuable item in my collection is a Commodore Vic 20 that doesn't work and has three missing keys. I have 11 Vic 20 consoles that all work perfectly, so what makes this broken one so valuable? It is the very first computer or console that I ever owned. My Dad bought for me in 1983, and it kept me company though all of high school. I even learnt to program my own games on it. I used this Vic 20 a few times a week from 1983 until it finally gave up the ghost in 1999. Even though it no longer works, I just cannot throw it out. It just has too many great memories. To someone else it is worth nothing. To my it is the most valuable item in my whole collection.

So how much is your collection worth? What are the most valuable items in your collection? What makes those items so valuable to you? I guarantee the actual value is far more than you would ever fetch on ebay!