I have had to make it through my first month without
my wife. She is in Japan on a study-abroad program until April. So
I've had to get used to playing games again without my special "2P". We
talk on a fairly regular basis, which is a hard thing to do since she's 14 hours
ahead of me. Of course I tell her to keep an eye out for me, for any
particular rare video game trinket that she thinks I would like. The years
have made me somewhat jealous of Japanese gamers and the astounding amount of
video game merchandise that they have the opportunity to buy. There's
one thing that the Japanese do particularly well, and that's
anniversaries.
2003 marked the 20th anniversary of the Famicom. The
amount of merchandise related to that event that appeared was astounding.
Everything from towels, to musical key chains, to t-shirts, books, and
videos and more. If you were a fan of that system, you got the opportunity
to show it by spending money on every conceivable item. 2008 should see
more of the same when the 25th anniversary occurs. And speaking of 25th
anniversaries, Pac-Man had his not so long ago. Namco celebrated with
T-shirts, and a new style of plush characters, as well as mugs, ash trays, and
character bean bags. Taito had something similar going on for Space
Invaders shortly before that.
All this has made me wonder... where is the
western love for video game anniversaries? The anniversaries for the Atari
2600 have come with a commercial whimper, not a bang, as companies have tried to
make new forays in the entertainment market with plug-and-play devices like at
10-in-1 Atari joystick system. But there was no celebration, no
commemoration. Are we western retrogamers forever doomed to
celebrate momentous anniversaries in silence while the Japanese revel in
their celebratory merchandising flood? There is something that makes their
culture so different from the rest of the world, that companies see dollar signs
when it comes to promoting otherwise insignificant milestones. I'm not sure what it is, I only
know that I've been envious of them for a long time. (Ever since it was
first announced that Dragon Warrior V and Final Fantasy V would not be
translated in to English as a matter of fact. That's a long
time!)
So I put it forth to you loyal readers. If there is an
anniversary that you're aware of, and it's not getting the appreciation and
respect that you feel it deserves, write about it and send it to us. Sure,
it's no merchandising market machine like the Japanese have, but it's your
chance to share a special occasion with others, and let everyone know why you
feel that a game or system's anniversary deserves to be celebrated. That
way, we can all keep the retrogaming memories alive.
The Many Faces of Serpentine
by Alan
Hewston
We continue our string of
honoring titles that are now 25 years old - in the Many Faces of
Serpentine. This 1982 home computer game is an easy to learn and addictive
maze game first released on the Apple ][ by Broderbund. Serpentine
can be summed up as "eat or be eaten". My wife likes it because it is
similar to "Snake" that you can play on most any cell phone. All of the
action takes place on a one-screen maze, but every level the maze pattern
changes, for the most part getting more difficult, all the way to level 20, at
which point level 21 repeats the screen for level 1. (On most versions I only
made it to level 12). Each level you must eliminate all the enemy snakes
while trying to protect yourself and your egg (offspring). Your snake is
slightly faster than the others, so you will eventually be able to chase and eat
them from the rear - this is always safe. The law of the wild is that you
must be larger than the enemy snakes to eat them head on, else you lose a
life. There are 3 enemy snakes to begin each level, but each can produce
an offspring (eggs). Initially, all enemy snakes are red and you are
blue. As soon as you are larger than any snake, it will immediately turn
green - meaning it is safe to eat them head-on. Likewise if you become the
same size or smaller, those green snakes will change to red. Eating
anything green is most desirable to be done head-on, because that will add one
segment to your snake, up to a max of 7 segments. Plus, head-on snakes
(segments) are worth twice the points as well. The enemy snakes do not eat
each other, but will pass over each other, making it harder to see where they
are going. All snakes will eventually grow an egg on their final segment
which falls off when laid - decreasing their length by that one
segment. If your snake is only 2 segments long when you lay an egg
then you will die in doing so - as you must be at least 2 segments long.
You can eat the enemy eggs but not your own. Likewise, they can only eat
your egg and not each other's. Once laid, enemy eggs do not take too long
to hatch - into two-segment long snakes. Your egg will not hatch until the
level is completed, AND you have returned home. You'll want to protect
your egg because if it survives the level and hatches, it will count as an extra
life in your nest. Be warned that the frog can show up and/or will
continue to move after the snakes are gone, so hopefully you are not too far
from home, and/or your snake does not take too long to wander home. That
frog will be hunting your egg, homing in on it, and if eaten at that time, then
you are out of luck. Fortunately, if your egg is eaten before the level is
completed, you will be able to grow and lay yet another egg. Good news is
that you can only have 1 egg at a time. In later levels, you should give
up on that first (or second) egg and work get the level completed just after you
lay your next egg. Finally, the Frog. The frog begins just outside
the maze, and may wander around inside or out, but always hops one or two blocks
at a time. If you are near the frog it will attempt to hop away from you
or get off the maze and even got to the other side. In later levels the
frog will be even smarter and hide inside a box inside the maze. All
snakes can eat the (green) frog and grow, the frog returns the favor by seeking
out snake eggs, especially yours. When you lose a life, all
snakes, the frog and any enemy eggs are cleared from the maze. Only your egg, if
present, will remain. Bad news is that you will likely be shorter when you
come back out, but at least 3 segments. Good news is that any snakes eaten
will remain eaten, and all remaining snakes retain their exact lengths at the
time you died. So you never have to repeat an entire level.
Scoring: Frog (500); Egg (150 times level); tail segment (100 per segment,
increasing +100 every other level thereafter); head-on segment (200 per
segment, increasing +200 every other level thereafter) This is yet another game that
aspiring programmers should make a homebrew version on the 2600, CV or
Intellivision - hint, hint. Too bad the original games did not sell
that well, or came out to late for them to consider a sequel. My ideas for
a sequel would include 2 to 4 simultaneous players, options with or without
computer snakes, play competitive (cut throat), teams, or collaborative.
Multi-players could get a slight speed burst for 5 to 10 seconds by pressing
their fire button, then have to wait 20 more seconds to recharge. Other
enhancements would include additional harder mazes, mazes with changing doorways
or walls, or a locked door & key, moving hazards or power-ups, teleports,
wrap around tunnels, or one way halls or tunnels & more. The metallic Broderbund cartridges
really shine out! Arcade: none. First
on the Apple ][ - by Broderbund Apple ][ 1982 by David Snider -
Broderbund Atari 8 bit computers 1982 by
David Snider - Broderbund Commodore 64 1982 by Mac Senour
- Broderbund Vic 20 1982 by unknown -
Creative Software Not covered here - IBM 1982 by
Harold Hedelman - Broderbund Several Serpentine screenshots
and their captions can be found at. mobygames.com/game/serpentine/screenshots Home Version Similarities -
except those in < > all home versions have: a pause; a silent demo mode
<Vic (attract mode only, but with music); maze sized 13 x 11 <Vic (10x10);
same scoring system (noted earlier); eggs are easy to see growing & about to
be laid <Vic>; extra life when egg survives a level; additional bonus life
earned around 20k & 50k; your lives remaining, score and level number are
displayed on-screen; each level the screen changes to a new maze; there is a
sequence of 20 <Atari 8 bit (only 5)> mazes which then repeats; most of
the later mazes are more difficult; snakes can grow to 7 segments <Vic
(6)>; the movement of all snakes is fluid & at a constant speed
<Vic>; regardless of the number of snakes & lengths, the action is
never slowed <AP ][ & Vic>; your snake is always a bit faster than the
enemy <Vic>; the Frog can move around outside the maze <Vic>; after
a death enemy snakes maintain their length & number <Vic (restart the
level entirely)>; save a high score via a 3 letter initial <Vic &
Atari>. No version has any options for the number of players, skill or
difficulty setting, or for choosing the starting level or maze. There is
not much music in any version but the Vic, and although the sound effects are
not dramatic, there are many effects including: starting the level; you eat
their tail; they eat your tail; your death; game over; you eat a frog; they eat
a frog; you lay an egg <Vic & AP2>; they lay an egg <Vic, AP2 &
Atari>; you eat an egg; they eat your egg; frog eats an egg; your egg
hatches; frog moving inside maze (most of the time). Several of these
audio effects are similar or maybe the same, but I did not go to that detail or
penalize.
Have Nots: Vic 20
(37)
Vic 20 screenshot courtesy
of Boris's Vic 20 homepage
My first reaction was
disappointment that there were not any gameplay options, which unfortunately is
the case for all versions. So a better 1st reaction is the Vic has the
best music. Gameplay is pretty good (7) with all versions having
significant depth, good action and creative mazes, but no options.
Gameplay is the worst here because some elements are not quite right. The
speed of the snakes is inconsistent, and varies with direction, or when turning
a corner & maybe for the length of the snake. Likewise, the frog does
not move as consistently as on the other versions. The waiting time before you
start growing an egg is much longer than the other snakes and is
frustrating. The frog can only be seen when on the maze, taking away some
of the strategy and adding to the dumb luck factor of where and when it will
show up. The max snake size is 6 segments - a minor deduction. A big
hit is the maze size is 30% smaller - impacting strategy and
variety. Finally, if you die laying an egg, it hatches and you get
it right back. Addictiveness is enjoyable (8) but not as good as it could
be. For any game, the <fire button> as the pause should be the
best button/key to immediately toggle the action. And it would be here,
but . . . it is programmed poorly, so that you can accidentally toggle it twice,
and thus your game is NOT paused. There is no game reset, and as already
mentioned it is frustrating if the speed is inconsistent or the enemy can catch
you. The action is also slowed when there is too much on-screen
action. The later levels get more difficult but not quite as challenging
as the original, where the frog can hide inside the maze and there is less space
to roam. Finally, the most frustrating thing is that every time you die,
the level completely resets. So you cannot even get partially through the
level if you had eliminated 1 or 2 snakes before you died. Graphics are
good (6) but the worst - being blocky, with less detail and too large leading to
the 30% smaller maze size. Everything is multi-colored and there are good
scores & displays, good color variety and graphical variety. The egg
is much harder to see growing and when about to lay. Sound is cool (7) and
is the best of all versions. There is nice music during the attract mode,
when the game is over, when you make it home safely, and then if your egg
hatches, you hear even more music for earning that extra life. The other
standard sound effects are all there except for when an egg is laid.
Controls are tricky (9) with the poor fire button programming & you really
have to fight with the controls to make turns, especially around all those 180
degree turns - which are all-too-numerous in this version. The cart is a
bit hard to find.
Silver Medal: Atari 8 (38) &
Apple ][ (38)
Atari 800
screenshot
My first reaction is
these are similar but both have some setbacks. If you are not that good a
Serpentine player, then the Atari will seem better as you have perfect
control. But if you are up to the challenge (which includes fighting with
the analog controller) to make it to all 20 levels - then the Apple is
preferred. Atari 8 bit (38) Gameplay is (8) good quality
with all elements in place. The Addictiveness is very good (7), but the
worst of all versions. There is a pause <Break>, but with only 5
distinct levels (mazes) you will get bored quickly. The difficulty of the
snake's AI still ramps up - such as them working together to defeat you, but you
miss out completely on the harder mazes. Finally, you will constantly run
over a frog, yet miss it due to poor collision detection - not a feature of any
other version. Graphics are effective (7) with good displays, good color
variety, use of multi-color, and good details. Sound is decent (6) with
nearly all the effects save for the enemy laying an egg. Controls are
perfect (10). Found on cart (a bit hard to find) and possibly on disk
& cassette as well.
Apple 2 Serpentine
screenshot courtesy of Apple ][
remakes
Apple ][ (38) Serpentine can only
load/play on Apple ][s that have un-enhanced ROMS. So if Serpentine,
or other titles do not load - that could be the reason. Gameplay is all
there (8). Addictiveness is superb (9) with all versions having good
variety and randomness, and no double-deaths. The pause button is
<Esc> and there is a good progression of snake AI (difficulty) and maze
difficulty. The Graphics are very good (7) with good displays, detail,
clarity & acceptable color variety. Everything is multi-colored, the
characters, background, and enemies. There is not a lot of high speed
action on any version, but the movements of all snakes are consistent and fluid,
especially turning corners. The action is probably the slowest here and
gets slowed with more on-screen action - i.e. when the frog is present and all
snakes are 7 segments long. This is the only version having animated
mouths, but then the frog sometimes disappears (or is about 5% visible), but it
is still there and can eat and be eaten [maybe this is a glitch in my
system]. Sound is good (6) despite not much music, and internal speaker
sound, all of the effects are in place except for the laying of eggs. This
is the only version with an audio cue when you earn an extra life via points
scored. Controls are (8) imperfect as the analog controllers can have a
mind of their own, so you have to constantly hold that stick the direction you
want to go, not only when you change directions. The game is found only on
diskette. Some Apple ][ specific cheats to help you see level 20: Extra
serpent when you: Press [Esc] & then press and hold [Shift] and while
holding it, press [1] and then [4] to gain lives. There is an Apple ][
following that creates new games called "Apple ][
Remakes"
www.omninet.net.au/~irhumph/apple2.htm In the Serpentine remake, they
have included the shortest path algorithm - for when the serpent needs to head
home at the end of each level. They also include the original mode with
the non-optimal path returning home.
C64 screenshot courtesy of
Lemon 64
Gold Medal: Commodore 64
(40) My first reaction was
this has the least shortfalls and wins the gold. Gameplay is complete (8)
and has all the levels found on the Apple ][ original . The frog will
spend time hiding and faking you out, off the maze, and because the Frog
actually runs away more it can and will hide inside the maze, inside boxes that
you cannot enter - found only on the Apple & C64. The Addictiveness is
outstanding (9) with the pause <R/S> and good progression of difficulty
and (I think it has) all those levels. Graphics are pretty good (7), a
little better than the Atari, but not quite as good as the Apple with its
animation. There are good displays, everything is multi-colored, with good
detail, good clarity and adequate color variety. Sound is decent (6) with
all of the sound effects in place. Controls are perfect (10). Found
on cart (uncommon) and probably on disk & cassette as well.
Acknowledgements, Updates and
Errata since last month. Many thanks to Sir Thomas
McLaren who helped me to not only learn bout Apple ][ un-enhanced ROMs (and that
this game and others may only load/play on systems having them), but also in
securing me such an Apple ][ system to play them on. Visit Tom's site at:
http://www.digitaldinos.com/ Come back next month:
where we cover the Many Faces of "David's Midnight Magic" on the AP2, C64, 2600
& Atari 8 bit computer. Contact Alan at:
Hewston95@NOSPAMstratos.net or visit the Many Faces of site:
http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/RT/ManyFacesHome.htm
Many of those who have played video games
throughout the generations feel that the era when fighting games really began to
shine at home, was when the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo were released.
It's undeniable that the early 1990's were critical in the advancement and
popularity of one on one fighting games. However titles like Street
Fighter and Mortal Kombat were nothing new when one looked to the past.
Arguably the entire genre began back in 1984 with the game Karate Champ,
published by Data East and developed by Technos Japan.
Karate Champ was innovative for a number of
reasons, the first being the controls. The only buttons on the control
panel are for starting the game. A pair of joysticks is used to move each
player's character. By using a combination of directions between the two
joysticks, a large and diverse number of special moves can be utilized.
The two player game was not cooperative but instead put players face to face in
an all out martial arts battle. A referee would award points, either a
half point or full point, based upon single blow strikes. First player to
earn two points wins the round, two out of three rounds wins the fight.
There were two versions of Karate Champ released in the arcade - the standard
machine and the Player Vs Player version. While the basic gameplay is the
same, the standard machine has some different graphics and modes, while the
Player Vs Player version is straight up head to head fighting. The NES
version is based off the Player Vs Player version for the most part, which makes
sense, since two player competition was the reason the game was fun.
Graphically things are nice, maybe even a
little more detailed in some respects on the NES. Neither version is
really superior, they're just different. Obviously control is going to be
the big hurdle with the home version, given the limitations of the NES control
pad. The directional pad takes the place of one of the joysticks while
combinations of the A and B buttons substitute for the other stick. It's
not the same but with a little bit of practice most of the moves from the arcade
version can be replicated and gameplay becomes fluid and technical. In
that respect the NES version is very much like its arcade counterpart - you have
to practice to get anywhere with this title. Audio was far from
spectacular in the original but it's replicated well enough on the NES,
including speech.
While Karate Champ is well done for the NES
platform, a major part of the game just isn't the same at home. That is,
of course, the human social factor. This would be a problem with fighting
games at home to this day. In the arcade you're always playing against
different human opponents, the challenge is always different and that's how one
becomes a better player. When these games come home they're usually always
played between the same few people. While there's a lot of fun to be had,
in my opinion this prevents these types of games from becoming as enjoyable as
they should be. Still, if you liked Karate Champ in the arcade and wanted
a solid one on one fighter at home, there really wasn't much else to choose
from. The game is ported well but removing the game from the arcade
removes a large part of what made it fun. If you don't mind that or only
want to play the single player game against the CPU opponent then Karate Champ
is a solid arcade conversion for the NES.
Welcome to the February 2007 edition of the Apple II Incider. As I write this, it is in early January and we've just passed the holiday season. Hope everyone had a great new year and lots of fun with family, friends and significant others. Instead of talking of about my Apple II gaming memories this month, I'll talk about how Retrogaming can be a great gift.
The origin of this column dates to sometime around late November 2006 after Scott Jacobi took over as Retrogaming Times Monthly (RTM) editor. I had decided to do some writing for RTM and was talking to a female friend of mine about the column and my love of Retrogaming.
It turned out my friend had also played video games during her teenage years as well. Interestingly enough her family also had an Apple IIe as well. She expressed that Robotron for the Apple II was one of favorites during that time. However, she wasn't really into the Retrogaming scene and not aware of the various emulators that were out there.
I don't know about the rest of you, but Christmas gift giving and shopping can be a challenge sometimes. However, with my female friend, I thought I had the perfect gift giving opportunity.
Initially, I had thought about giving her one of the many arcade
compilations that existed as my friend had a Playstation 2. Alas, that idea didn't seem to be too appealing so I passed. As I wasn't going to see my friend until after Christmas, I knew I had some time to find the appropriate gift.
It didn't take long for me to come up with an idea. After I had decided to contribute to RTM, I also had started playing Apple II games via the AppleWin emulator on my PC. While the games were fun, I was missing a key component to game playing: A game controller. I picked up a USB Logictech Dual Action controller at a local Best Buy and I was back to enjoying some games from the 80's.
As I picked up a controller, I thought to myself: "Why not give one to my friend as well?" Instantly, my gift giving dilemma was solved.
Of course, just giving my friend the game controller wouldn't do her a lot of good. So I introduced her to the AppleWin emulator and some games including Robotron and MasterType. Though Robotron was my friend's favorite as a youth, MasterType was the favorite now. It was funny how a game could still bring some smiles and enjoyment to people even though it is 25 years old.
All in all, I had a great time introducing my friend to the joys of Retrogaming and also happy that she found some enjoyment as well.
This month, we're covering March 1986, and
since there were six releases in March 1986, that's what I will limit myself to
this time around. The truth is, we're out of the Famicom's infancy and
headed into it's prime years when developers were really beginning to increase
the size, and play time, of their games. So it takes longer to try these
games out and distill the essense of the game into one paragraph. In fact,
we have the Famicom's first true RPG, and it was actually quite a chore to get
all the way through. Interesting though. So let's see what March of
86 had to offer Famicom owners.
Circus Charlie
released by
Konami on March 4th, 1986. Circus Charlie was a game that I can
remember playing in the arcades. It can legitimately be considered a side
scrolling platform game, although there really aren't any platforms.
Instead, what there are a lot of are obstacles that you must direct Circus
Charlie (a clown) to jump over or on to while proceed from one end of a high
wire or circus ring to another. For example, you start on the back of a
tamed lion. You must proceed to the right, all the while jumping off the
back of the lion through large flaming hoops. But sometimes there are
burning pots of oil on the ground, so you must decide: do you take them safely
one at a time, or can you be quick enough to leap through the ring and over the
pot in one shot? You are rewarded with a point bonus for the speed with
which you reach the goal. The next stage sees you leap frogging over tight
rope walking monkeys while the third stage has you leaping from one inflated
ball to another, which sometimes necessitates that you back up before you
proceed with leaping to the next ball. All in all, Circus Charlie provides
a cute diversion and makes interesting use of the infrequently utilized circus
environment.
Ninja Hattori
Kun released
by Hudson on
March 5th, 1986. While the title may conjure up fun
memories of Jaleco's more simply titled Ninja-Kun, Hudson's Ninja Hattori Kun
is riddled with problems. The first obvious problem is the controls.
Your Ninja character feels very heavy and has a momentum problem.
It's hard to get him moving, and it's even harder to stop him or turn him
around. This is a particular problem because the fruit targets and tree
ledges that you are trying to aim your jumps towards are very small, so the
exaggerated momentum can be very unforgiving.Next is the
invisible life bar.You can take several hits, and different
enemies do different amounts of damage to you, but despite my best efforts, I
could find no indication of my current health, leaving me very confused as to
what moment I was about to die.And the music... well, the less
said about the music, the better, sufficed to say at some point the composer
worked the "Can-Can" into the theme.In short, avoid this
game.
Circus
Charlie
Ninja Hattori
Kun
Gyrodine released by Taito on March 13th,
1986. Gyrodine is an interesting vertical shooter that was rather ambitious for it's
time.In my personal opinion, however, the game's components
didn't come together all that well.The Famicom version is
actually converted from the original arcade game of the same name, in which you
control a helicopter that has a few different offensive
capabilities.It has air-to-air guns, air-to-ground machine
guns, and guided missiles.To fire the air-to-air guns you
press B.To fire the air-to-ground guns you press
A.And to fire a guided missile, you press both buttons
together and use the control pad to guide it laterally.Therefore, you can never truly use your guns in both modes at the same
time.In the home conversion, you can pick up little meshes
of pixels that represent people, a departure from the arcade game.In many ways, it plays a lot like Xevious, but slightly more
sluggishly.Shooter fans will probably enjoy this early look
at the genre, but casual fans are better off looking elsewhere for a good
shooter experience.
Hydlide Special released by
Toshiba EMI on March 18th, 1986. Released in the U.S. by FCI on June
1989 as Hydlide. Sad but true, Hydlide Special is
really the first game for the Famicom that could be truly considered an RPG,
having beat Dragon Quest to the market by a little more than two
months.And truthfully, RPGs were a gamble, since developers
had no idea how younger console players would take to the slower, more
methodical play style that was popularized by older computer
players.In fact, Hydlide's origins are back on the MSX home
computer system that was popular in Japan.Hydlide Special is basically a console representation of the original MSX
game.It was clearly inspired by early RPG games such as Ultima and Wizardry, but it opted for a faster paced combat system which
consisted of nothing more than collisions.In order to fight
the enemies, you literally walked in to them.As long as you
did not walk against their current direction, you would harm them and they would
not harm you.But if they switched to face you, you would
begin to take damage.Because there is essentially no
communication in the game, it's difficult to gain hints or clues as to your
purpose or the whereabouts of key items, leaving you to wander for the most part
while you feel out which areas are safe for you to enter, and which areas are
essentially suicide.If you're going to give this one a shot,
I actually recommend having a FAQ handy... and I ordinarily don't enjoy using FAQs for RPGs.
Gyrodine
Hydlide
Special
Baltron released by Toei Animation on March 19th,
1986. We're simply not going to be
spending much time with this one. I gave it a chance. Really I did.
But it's like someone took the worst aspects of Scramble and Defender and
made a twisted combination of the two and ended up with Baltron. You can
choose which direction you fly in by holding down the B button and moving in
that direction. Then your speed is determined by how far across the screen
you wander. When you shoot with the A button, you fire an air shot and a
ground bomb. Enemies zoom in on the screen (some of whom look like paper
airplanes to me), fire at you, and trail off the top or the bottom of the
screen. A scanner above shows you the positions of the immediate closest
enemies. In theory, this should just be an ordinary game, but there's
nothing enjoyable about it, and quite frankly, I wanted to stop as soon as I
started. Steer clear of this one.
Magmax released by Nihon Bussan
on March 19th,
1986. Released in the U.S. on October, 1988. Now this was an awesome arcade game. Not to be
confused with Mad Max, the early Mel GIbson apocolyptic film series, Magmax puts
you in control of what starts out simply as a ship. On the surface of the
planet, you are bound to the land, but by droping down into certain hole, you
can fly throughout the underground. As you proceed through the game, you
will come across oddly abandoned robot parts, such as legs, a head and chest,
and a special gun. By picking up these parts, they join with your ship,
which you discover to be the torso of the robot. As you accumulate each
part, your firepower grows signifigantly. Unfortunately, so does you size,
and you become a much bigger target. But that's half of the fun. The
good news is that when you get hit, you don't die as long as you have one part
connected to you. You may lose a part, but the rest of you gets to
continue in hopes of finding and reuniting with that part again. As far as
the rest of the game goes, it's your standard horizontal shooting fare, but the
ability to change up your environment by rising above or droping below the
ground keeps it interesting. Frankly, for emulation, I have to choose the MAME version over the NES version, but if the NES version is all you have access
to, you could find worse games to try (like Baltron).
Baltron
Magmax
NEWSBYTES
Nothing major to report this
time around. Don't be afraid to contact us with any news that you would
like to share. You don't have to be a regular contributor to RTM to contibute your Newbytes. So...
SEND US YOUR NEWSBYTES!
Game Over
Not the biggest issue we've
ever had, but certainly not the least interesting. Without sounding like a
broken record, we are always looking for new authors. If there's a topic
that you would like to cover in the pages of RTM, please get in touch with us
and let us know that you're interested. See you next
month!
The metallic Broderbund cartridges
really shine out!
Welcome to the February 2007 edition of the Apple II Incider. As I write this, it is in early January and we've just passed the holiday season. Hope everyone had a great new year and lots of fun with family, friends and significant others. Instead of talking of about my Apple II gaming memories this month, I'll talk about how Retrogaming can be a great gift.
Initially, I had thought about giving her one of the many arcade
compilations that existed as my friend had a Playstation 2. Alas, that idea didn't seem to be too appealing so I passed. As I wasn't going to see my friend until after Christmas, I knew I had some time to find the appropriate gift. 
Copyright
© 2007 Alan Hewston & Scott Jacobi. All related copyrights and trademarks
are acknowledged.