When writing this editorial, I like to bring
items to the reader's attention that I think are especially pertinent to the
subject of retrogaming, but I am extremely careful not to appear too much like a
sales man. Having said that, I wanted to take a moment to extol the
virtues of the GP2X. Before I start, I want to point out that raising the
subject of the GP2X tends to spark very heated debates which compare the GP2X to
the Sony PSP, and even the Nintendo DS. I'm not going to even touch upon
those comparisons here, as that is not my intention. There are plenty of message
boards where that subject has been, and continues to be, tackled.
My
enjoyment of the GP2X stems from my enjoyment of emulation. So if you are
the type of retrogamer who only enjoys gaming on original hardware, the GP2X
will not be for you. But consider the GP2X's specs: a 200MHz ARM CPU
(which can be overclocked to around 266, and even 280), a 200MHz ARM
coprocessor, an 8 directional joypad, 11 button inputs, a beautiful crisp LCD
screen, AA battery power supply, Linux based OS, SD Card interface, USB port,
and one of my favorite features: TV output. All that in a system roughly the
size of a Game Boy Advance, and what you get is an open-source handheld
programmer's dream.
To date, all of the most popular home systems have
seen decent-to-fantastic emulators released for the system, as well as an
outstanding version of MAME. A search for GP2X on youtube results in
videos showing the system's ability to emulate Neo Geo games at full speed, or
even the ability to play Playstation 1 games at a pretty good clip. But
naturally, the thing that draws me to it is it's near perfect emulation of Atari
2600, NES, and Genesis games. With the ability to play it anywhere on the
go, or to hook it up to a friend's television set, you've basically got a
portable retro gaming repository that weighs less than a pound, once you get
everything loaded on to a SD card.
While I'm primarily focusing on it's
ability to play games, it's capable of a number of other things such as MP3 and
AVI playback, and a number of homebrew programs that provide other gameplay
experiences, or playbacks of alternate audio formats. Playing an AVI while
using the TV output on a regular (non-highdef) TV set provides as good a quality
of picture as any generic DVD player. The only two serious drawbacks are
the battery life, and the choice of joystick. The GP2X eats regular
Alkaline batteries for breakfast, draining them in roughly two hours, depending
on how you use it. You're far better off buying 2500 mAh rechargeable
camera batteries, for both their lifetime, and the cost to replace batteries in
the long run. The joystick is a topic of much debate among the GP2X
community. It's an 8 directional joystick (that is, the diagonals are
distinct inputs, not the result of a combination of two others), with it's own
button input (you push the entire stick down to press it). Therefore, the
standard familiar (and in some cases, more desirable) four direction "D-pad" was
not selected. The GP2X has undergone a couple of revisions, and the latest
version goes a little way to address the complaints by reorienting the joystick
to give it a more favorable bias against diagonals, and an improved joystick
cap.
If I've piqued your interest or curiosity in the device, I can
recommend no better resource for information than the official GP2X Wiki itself,
http://wiki.gp2x.org/ where you can find more information, and recommendations
on where to buy one. Make sure that whoever you buy one from is selling
you the latest version (MK2 as of the writing of this article.) If you
have one, or proceed to buy one, share some of your experiences using it with
us.
Next Month: Retrogaming Times (Monthly) - 10
year Anniversary
by Alan
Hewston
Next month marks the completion of the
10th year since Tom Zjaba, in conjunction with his storefront and web
site named Tomorrow's Heroes, began this online monthly fanzine for
classic era, retro video game fans. We owe Tom quite a lot and hopefully
we'll have a nice interview, or at least part one of an interview with
him and what he did to get the RT started and his website since.
Direct reader feedback - we'll post what you tell us, or tell us your
favorite issue or articles, interviews or coverage of systems or
specific games.
What you'd like to see us do or not do in the future?
What systems would you like to see covered more?
How has the RT & RTM helped kept you involved in this past time / hobby?
Ideas for articles or things to do?
Anything else you'd like to ask or to tell us.
Let us know right away and if you'd like yours to be anonymous, or to
have your name accompanying your question, feedback or idea, then please
let us know.
I'm hoping to find the time to update our site's directory of past
articles and links. We're also hoping to get all of the current staff to
contribute and maybe do a little bit extra. I'll contact as many of the
former writers as possible to get them to submit something, or just say
hello.
If we do not put together a superb issue with lots of extras, hundreds
of pages in content, oodles of game reviews, dozens of interviews and
numerous writers . . . then we're only human, and on a limited -
nonexistent budget. We do our best to find time in our daily lives to
devote to RTM for your enjoyment. Hopefully we'll give you a little bit
more than normal next month. Please keep coming back, and feel free to
join our staff and contribute.
Alan Hewston, senior staff writer for the Retrogaming Times Monthly can
be reached at
hewston95@spamalot@stratos.net During the day Alan is an engineer,
aka rocket scientist at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland
Ohio. We've begun fabrication of hardware for the first test flight
vehicle that will ultimately take us back to the Moon, to Mars and to
infinity and beyond - or at least to space station. After hours, Alan is
a husband to a very understanding (of my crazy videogame hobby) wife
Kathy and father to Samantha and Timmy, who love to play video games,
and appreciate the classics that Daddy still plays.
The Many Faces of... Xevious
by Alan
Hewston
We continue to review titles
released in 1982, and honor them on their 25th anniversary. This month we size up the Many
Faces of Xevious, one of the earliest vertical scrolling shooters, and one that
clearly helped to shape that genre. At the arcade, the enemies and the
scrolling background were so highly detailed and colorful, that some gamers may
have even been distracted by them, especially compared with other games (or
shooters) of the era. Xevious was a sign of where games were going, with
much more emphasis on both gameplay elements and graphical attention to the
details & realism. The Xevians want to survive and so they attack,
defend and retreat in much more realistic formations than say the enemies in
Space Invaders, Galaxians and the like. Japanese programmer Masanobu Endoh
even added some Artificial Intelligence to the code so that if you were easily
defeating an enemy type, then a different or more aggressive enemy type will
arrive to contest you. Another nice element in Xevious was that of 2
attack weapons, one fire button for shooting airborne enemies, the other for
firing bombs to hit ground targets. The Solvalou fighter’s crosshairs had
to be lined up to drop bombs onto specific ground targets.
Xevious marquee courtesy
of KLOV.com
To keep gamers coming back for
more, the world of Xevious was big, with 16 different zones to conquer and if
that was not enough there were secrets to be discovered – enemy citadels and
flags hidden in the game. The game was very successful in Japan, but
despite being licensed and released by Atari, it was not quite as popular in the
US. Atari was so gung ho, they even released what may have been the first
ever TV commercial for an arcade game, saying: “Xevious - the Atari game
you cannot play at home."
Xevious arcade map
courtesy of KLOV.com
Below are summaries of the
Xevious enemies - first set are the airborne. Toroid Fleet Ships - most common
air enemy, slow Torkan Scout Ships - similar to
the above but quicker Zoshi Death Squads - quick and
deadly moving in erratic patterns Terazzi Deflector - quick with
rapid shots Giddo Spario (Energy Blast) -
fast, hard to see, white balls of energy Zakato Energy Launcher (Black
Ball) – or 8-Balls, appear out of nowhere & open fire Black Balls also herald the
arrival of the Andor Genesis Mirrors (Bacura Shields) –
annoying, indestructible, rotating, come in waves Andor Genesis - the Mother Air
Ship. 4 laser cannons, center weak spot
Unlike most game bosses, this Mother ship does not have an ego or a “kill or be
killed” attitude. Good thing too, so if you stay defensive and avoid its
firepower long enough, it will move on and your game will continue safely.
Ground targets – some are
optional since most pose far less danger than air targets. Use the
targeting computer (projected in front of the ship), to hit these. Domogram Rovers – the slow
moving octagon shaped tanks that stay on the roads. Grobda Tank – sit motionless
until you drop a bomb, which they then avoid. Logram Sphere Station - common
defensive structure fires a quick and accurate bullet. Boza Logram Dome Network - 4
stations surrounding a highly explosive core. Derota Defense Station -
stations that fire a continuous stream of bullets. Garu Derota Mega Station -
supercharged stations that shoot twice as fast. Barra Energy Station – harmless,
pyramid shaped energy storage stations. Zolbak Detector Dome – harmless,
round shaped structures resemble exhaust ports. Sol Citadels – hidden, detected
by targeting computer, bomb twice for large points. For the detailed version of the
above lists, see the 5200 port at www.Atariprotos.com There is a good bit of
storyline for the game of Xevious and you in your Solvalou fighter. In a
nutshell, the enemies are the GAMP (General Artificial Matrix Producer).
They seem to be from the planet Xevious, but are actually returning to their
former home world, the Earth, where they have unearthed many supplies and
fortresses that they buried before their departure - to avoid the onset of
Earth’s last ice age. The hidden artifacts that have now come out of the
ground are at the Xevians bidding, to provide them much needed supplies and
weapons. Arcade: 1982 by Masanobu
Endoh by Namco, distributed in US by Atari
Sinclair Spectrum
screenshot courtesy of
WorldofSpectrum.org
Home versions Atari 2600 - 1983 by Tod Frye
Atari - unreleased prototype Atari 7800 - 1984 by unknown?
for Atari Apple ][ - 1984 by Dan Hewitt
for Mindscape Atari 5200 - 1984 by Jim Huether
& Alan Murphy (Graphics) for Atari Commodore 64 - 1986 by unknown?
for US Gold / Mindscape Atari 8 bit computer -1986
conversion from 5200 code - unreleased Not covered here – only because
I do not have these games or systems. MSX - 1988 by unknown? for
Namco Sinclair Spectrum – 1987 by
unknown? for Probe Software for US Gold Note there is
extensive info & pics at the www.WorldofSpectrum.org Arcade Sequels (by Namco): 1984
Super Xevious, 1991 Solvalou, 1996 Xevious 3D/G To see more screenshots, visit
Moby Games at: http://www.mobygames.com/game/
Screenshot of the Apple 2
courtesy of Moby Games
Disqualified: Apple ][
(N/A) My first reaction was how hard
this is to find an original disk, and I’ve still not even found a bootleg copy
to play on disc. Maybe we can look forward to a Lost Faces of Xevious
review in the next 10 years. Here’s an Apple ][ fans online summary.
“Recreating Xevious on the Apple II was a tall order, but the developers
actually pulled it off. True, the game is a little slow, weak on color and
sparse on sound, but surprisingly the graphics (colors aside) are almost dead
ringers for their arcade counterparts, and the gameplay, while not quite as fast
paced, is smooth and solid, with plenty to shoot at, and get shot by. Kudos are
in order.”
Screenshot of the 2600
courtesy of AtariAge
Disqualified: Atari 2600
(N/A) My first reaction was how
impressive this 2600 game-in-work looks – only to find Atari pulled the plug on
it. Atari decided to only go with the 7800 release and drop both the 5200
and 2600 conversions – even though both were looking to be among the elite games
ever produced on those 2 systems. Dooh!! Although the game is
playable, it wouldn’t be fair to score it as is. Good news is that it has
all the basic elements and you can tell that it is Xevious - so give it a try
via emulation or Cuttle Cart. You can enjoy a nice article about this 2600
prototype game and more at: http://www.atariprotos.com/
Disqualified: Atari 8 bit
computer version (N/A) My first reaction or
understanding is that Atari fans (or former programmers) converted the
unreleased 5200 code (circa 1986) to play Xevious on the home computers.
It was on the Atari home computer master cart list to be produced, but most
likely to be converted from the 5200 code directly – as was done by the
fans. Whoever it was, they did a fine job of converting the game to
diskette versions and ultimately to emulation files so that we can enjoy them
today. Unfortunately, I’m going to draw the line here and not count both
unreleased versions in the medal hunt. We’ll only count the 5200 as it was
the one originally planned and coded to be an official release and was fairly
close to completion when Atari pulled the plug. The computer port has the
exact code as the 5200, save for the obvious change to work the 2600 style
(non-analog) controllers. I know that this DQ disappoints our Atari fans,
so go ahead and score along at home. First, let’s start by giving this
“non-analog” version a (10) for Controls, and then give it all the same scores
as the 5200 below. OK, you cannot wait until then, so the final score
would be (41), which then could have grown as high as (45) . . . had the
game been completed to the full capabilities of the machine. Available
only via copies on disk or emulation files. Home Version Similarities -
except those in < > all home versions have: a demo; a pause; a choice of 3
or 4 starting difficulties <5200 – (not really)>; good vertical scrolling
action; 16 different areas to complete; a large variety (at least 20) different
enemies, targets, or hazards to avoid; unlimited supply of ammo; fire up to 3
laser blasters at a time, for taking out air targets; release up to one photon
bomber at a time for hitting ground targets; hidden enemy citadels (and flags)
can be unearthed and destroyed for loads of points (flown over for an extra life
respectfully); your blaster target sight glows when over an enemy, or a hidden
citadel or flag; the Andor Genesis Mother Ship, one of the very first video game
bosses, was located in areas 4, 9 & 14 at the arcade; a direct hit on the
Mothership’s central reactor will deactivate it; or survive long enough and the
mother ship moves on avoiding you; at the arcade, the extra life flags were
hidden in areas 1, 3, 5 & 7; any time you lose a life you start that area
over again; and if you complete all 16 sections, you begin the next mission at
area 7 – but at the next higher skill level; bonus lives also earned at
different scores (such as 20K & 60K); the enemies can fire off 6 or more
shots at a time; with some homing in on you; there are moving hazards and
stationary targets; some targets are completely harmless, but all will earn you
more points; the enemies seem to change from game to game and there is good
randomness <5200 – lacking some>; most enemies are very evasive and fly in
varying and effective formations; there seems to be some artificial
intelligence, such that if you play well, more difficult enemies arrive sooner;
the progression of difficulty begins easy <5200> and gradually increases;
the enemies can change speeds, direction, and hover, and even bolt away quickly;
some enemy shots may come from behind you and some will even change directions
and home in on you; nearly all enemies and objects <5200> are
multi-colored; and finally, like the arcade there are two fire buttons <C64
& 7800>. The three versions covered in
detail here each seem to have most (if not all) of the enemies and hazards, but
each version seems (to me) to have at least one unique enemy, or one that is
behaving uniquely. It would take quite an effort to actually catalog and
verify all home version enemies and compare to the arcade. We’ll leave
that up to a Xevious aficionado to reply or post those details. The
7800 manual helps a lot, but without any pictures. See Atariprotos.com to
see all the 5200 enemies. I do not have (nor found any online)
documentation for the C64. Finally, I am not much of a Xevious player, and
as yet, have not made it to the third Mothership on any version. Feel free
to email me to fill in any gaps, or let me know if I made another mistake.
I’ve also skipped this month’s game collage, since I only have 1 cart and one
manual – total. So much for revealing the ”Many” faces.
5200 screenshot courtesy
of AtariAge.
Bronze Medal: Atari 5200
(40) My first reaction was that I’ve
only played the multi-cart version, which may not be the most complete, or best
version out there. Keep that in mind, and also don’t forget that this
version went unreleased and could have been made even better. So the
scores are a bit lower, but without the 5200 (and since I’m still missing the
Apple 2 port) we’d not have had enough players to review the many faces of
Xevious. So we thank the 5200 for stepping up to bat, and allowing us to
score this not quite finished product. So my first reaction (assuming
we had a finished product) would be “darn those analog sticks” which are a
constant struggle. Fight to keep your fighter from drifting off, and gotta
work even harder to keep your ship still – like when passing between the
mirrors. Alas, the Masterplay Interface
is not fully compatible, so you have no choice but to play with the drifting
analog behavior of the controls. This is truly a frustrating and tiring
experience, so I am generous to score the controls a (9). Gameplay is of
sufficient quality (8) to play like the arcade. Nearly all the enemies are
there and execute their attack orders, but for the most part
their forces lack in numbers, variety and combinations of attack and
formations. Addictiveness is somewhat enjoyable (8) with a pause
<Pause>, and lots of exciting action. But, the beginning level,
beginning of the game action starts off too aggressively and does not have room
to increase much more. At the hardest setting the game is much easier than
the other ports. Furthermore, a change in the difficulty setting does
nothing for actual gameplay – there are the same quantities, frequency,
intelligence, speed, variety of enemies and their number and frequency of
weapons fired. The only thing noticeable is the obvious decrease in the
number of starting lives from 5 to 3. There’s a possibly that your
number of flags is reduced and that bonus lives take longer to earn, but I doubt
it. This is clearly an area that could have and would have been improved
by play testing and improving the difficulty settings for a final release.
A final, fatal blow, which I once again am generously only giving a slap on the
wrist is that I have been killed right away and/or the system crashes all 15+
times I’ve made it to the first Mothership. This frustration (along with
the poor joysticks) have resulted in me playing this version the least. I
really want to play more, but my hands hurt and then you are so worn out and
despite playing and scoring better, I get no further than the last game.
I’m sure that a later release, and of course a completed release would have
corrected any glitches, like this kind of system crash. Graphics (8) are
also sharp, but lacking some of the polish of the others. The detail and
backgrounds are pretty good, but the use of multi-color and good color
combinations and variety is a bit lacking. The scrolling is excellent, the
animation is adequate and the on-screen action is pretty good. The
displays could be sharper, and if anything else, remove one of the lines of the
text displays (1/3 of) and add it back to the vertical playfield. The
playfield is the shortest on this version. Then, repeating earlier
comments, on the hardest setting, there are the fewest and least frequent number
of hazards, enemies and their bullets on screen. No doubt if they
correcting the difficulty setting, it would yield more numerous and more
frequently appearing enemies. Finally, there is a typical element seen in
games that are not yet completed, here we see a flat bar (line) that represents
your airborne weapons fire. Easily corrected later by the graphics artist,
or the main programmer once the game is ready to be completed. Sound is
effective (7), with the basic start up music to begin the game but then the
really short sequence of background noises during gameplay is quite
annoying. A wise choice was made to allow the player to toggle this noise
off. There are obvious cut outs in the audio as some simultaneous audio
effects occur and only one is heard. The sound effects are all very
repetitive, which is the case for the arcade and all conversions actually
attempt to match that mediocrity. A few effects, like the mirrors being
hit and Motheship are really well done on all releases. I am not sure how
much more could be done, but it may be possible to correct and improve the sound
somewhat. As I keep saying, the cart was not released, but you can find
the ROM for emulation or play it via a multi-cart. Bottom line is that this port
had a little ways to go to be ready, and quite possibly, given time and budget,
they could have turned out a high quality product and gained some ground on the
above medal winners. We’ll never know, but we’re very happy to have this
port to enjoy.
C64 screenshot courtesy of
lemon64.com
Silver Medal: Commodore 64
(44) My first reaction was surprise
to know that Atarisoft passed this on to US Gold and/or Mindcape. But then
again, they bailed out on the 5200, 2600 and maybe more releases as well.
The Gameplay is outstanding (9) with pretty much all the action from the
arcade. I cannot see any element that is grossly wrong or missing, but
Xevious experts can probably find several. If there is much lacking, it
more than makes up for it in quantity and frequency of on-screen action.
You’ll easily see the most bizarre combinations and variations in attacks
here. The action really gets going and its white knuckle driving (flying)
time. The Addictiveness is (8) very fun with a pause <R/S> a gradual
increase in difficulty as you progress and lots of great action and variety to
bring you back time and again. But there are two problems which drops this
one down to second place. Namely, the bullets all look the same and are
hard to see. You must assume everything that you see is an enemy and take
evasion action more often than is actually required. Second, the collision
detection is a bit off here, which adds salt to the wound as your ship is
actually a bigger target than what is shown on screen. Finally, I was also
unable to see any signs of hidden items, or the target scanner change
colors. It is possible that they are in the game (can anyone verify
this?). This affects both the gameplay and addictiveness, but either way,
it is not enough to change the raw scores in these categories. Regardless,
the 7800 is the best in nearly every category, and is probably more like 2
points better than the C64 overall. As is the case on all medal winning
versions, you can still earn a bonus life via points scored and hear that audio
confirmation. Graphics (9) are fantastic, with great scrolling, loads of
actions, more items on screen than you can count in real-time. The use of
multi-color, color variety & graphics variety are nice. Animation is
limited but good. The details and backgrounds are adequate. All
weapons fire is hard to see and makes for some confusion (or added
difficulty). Sound is pleasant (8), with some music, all the effects and
the usual boring background noise. The special audio effects are not quite
as good here (Extra life, Mothership & Mirror) but the sound drop outs (from
multiple items sharing the same sound channel) are the least here, not as
noticeable as the 7800. I think most gamers would agree the C64 has the
best overall sound – thanks to Atari being too cheap to include the Pokey sound
chip on the 7800 motherboard. Controls are excellent (10), but there is
one catch. Your ONE fire button performs the task of firing both of your
weapons. The first press always fires your laser blaster for taking out
air targets, holding down the fire button, or rapidly firing it a second time
then releases a photon bomb at ground targets. The photon bomb must move
along the screen (descend) then hit and explode, before the next bomb can be
dropped. So, like the arcade, you cannot drop more than one bomb at a
time, and there is the delay between bombs. Xevious fans will prefer the
preservation of the two fire-button scheme, but since you have an almost
unlimited supply (and up to 3) of the airborne shots at once, and it does not
harm you in any way to rapidly fire, then the resultant strategy and use of both
weapons is maintained, by maneuvering to where you need to be on that second
shot fired – just not quite as effective as with 2 buttons. On a finer
scoring system, I’d say that the C64 (and the 7800 which does the same thing),
would lose some points and the 5200 would not – as it has two separate fire
buttons. A non-Xevious fanatic, like myself sees no big deal to scoring
them the same. The C64 disk is somewhat hard to find, and I have yet
to see one anywhere.
7800 screenshot courtesy
of Atariage.com
Gold Medal: Atari 7800
(45) My first reaction was this one
will win the gold medal and it did, barely. Score-wise it wins by one, but
on a finer scoring scale it may have won by a bit larger margin maybe 4%.
Gameplay is all there (9) with nothing lacking. Still, there are elements
or variety of things seen on the other ports that are not here.
Addictiveness is the best (9) superb, with the pause <Pause> and good
randomness and a gradual increase in difficulty. There are good
combinations of enemies to confront, everything is easy to see with no
deductions anywhere. You easily play this one the most. Graphics are
great (9) with the best details, displays, animation and clarity. At a
glance, the 7800 looks the best, but C64 has more on screen enemies, bullets and
overall action – which is impressive. So, you could see both systems
claiming that they are the best here. Scrolling, multi-color and variety
are very good. Sound is pleasant (8) with lots of great effects and
some music. The lack of a Pokey chips and the resultant cut outs on sound
(one sound replacing another on the channel) is very noticeable and takes away
from the otherwise excellent sound effects. There is high degree of
repetition, as most effects are repeated, but that unfortunately appears to be
done to match the arcade. Controls are perfect (10), but see below there
is only one fire button. Despite similar scores to the C64, the 7800 is
probably just a wee bit better in every category but sound, and so I’m sure
overall, most fans would prefer the 7800. The cart is really easy to find as
well. For a very detailed 7800 review
see Joey Kay’s review by the Atari Times at: http://www.ataritimes.com/article.php?showarticle=175 Joey has played both the arcade
and 7800 version quite a bit and noticed only 3 things are different / missing
on the 7800: 1) the obvious screen size (proportion), 2) shorter distance
from your Solvalou fighter to the target sight (again, due to the shortened
screen), and 3) the title screen doesn’t “sparkle” the name Xevious [and we know
it can]. But wait there’s more . . . I
read online somewhere that each 7800 fire button works a separate weapon - but
the manual says otherwise and the game follows the manual. Thus the 7800
fire buttons are equivalent and work just like having one fire button as done
for the C64. Pressing either button will work both weapons. The
first press always fires your laser blaster for taking out air targets, and then
holding down the fire button, or rapidly firing a second time then releases a
photon bomber for ground targets. Acknowledgements, Updates and
Errata since last month. Update from last month’s review
of Pooyan – and a score change for the Atari 8 bit version. Are the Atari
computer wolves pink, red or brown? My Atari 8 bit Datasoft copy of Pooyan
played on an 800 XL has the dreaded pink wolves. Other online screenshots
confirm pink that as well. Aside from the obvious: a poor
monitor/TV, computer, or bad setup is making them look pink. This was not
the case for me, so I sought more help. I know that there is at least one
other possible version, a later release by MCC, but probably that is the same
code as the Datasoft original. There’s no way they would have changed the
wolves to make them pink. Fortunately one of my pseudo-experts, Stephen
Knox, can be thanked as he replied “the XL series were missing a 'chroma line'
or something like that such that the video output was very 'washed' out”.
[Also note that] “emulators often lean towards the PAL side” – [possibly a
different color as well]. So we can probably assume the color is red, and
washed out in some systems to appear “pink”. I’m sure that we all prefer
the Apple’s brown wolves, trees and earth. The real kicker to the scoring
is that the animation on the Atari was well done, and I’m not sure how I missed
that and said otherwise. My apologies, and so counting for those two
adjustments, the Graphics score does warrant an increase +1 to (9) and earns
Atari sole possession of the Silver medal (45) and drops the Apple ][ to only
the Bronze at (44). Thanks readers for double checking and challenging my
scores. I’ll update these numbers on the Many Faces Spreadsheet. Come back next month for another
1982 review (probably) the Many Faces of Astrochase, released for the Atari
2600, 8 bit, 5200, & C64. Contact Alan at:
Hewston95@NOSPAMstratos.net
or visit the Many Faces of site: http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/RT/ManyFacesHome.htm
As Scott Jacobi has been documenting in his
Nintendo Realm column, Nintendo themselves were the primary software developer
for the Famicom in the early days of the platform. When the Famicom first
launched in Japan, Nintendo created home counterparts of many of their simple,
easy to port, yet very popular arcade games. Since many of these titles
make up a good chunk of the arcade to NES catalog in the mind of the average
retrogamer, I've decided to take a closer look at them. As usual, I'm
going to kick things off with the most obscure of these games - Popeye.
We'll get to that Mario character in RTM issues ahead.
While not in the mainstream spotlight for
some time now, pretty much everyone knows who Popeye is. For the
uninitiated, Popeye is a sailor who gains incredible strength by eating canned
spinach. His arch nemesis is Bluto, a gargantuan man who lives only to
terrorize Popeye so that he may steal away the affection of Popeye's girlfriend
Olive Oyl. If this cycle of events seems never-ending, that's because it
is, and things are no different in the game. Popeye offers three different
screens of action that all repackage the same basic game play. Olive Oyl
stands atop the screen and drops items for Popeye to collect. These are
hearts on the first screen, notes from a harp as she attempts to lull Popeye's
son Swee'Pea to sleep on the second screen, and finally the letters H-E-L-P on
the third screen. Once all items are collected the next stage
begins. Bluto is constantly on patrol to stop Popeye dead in his tracks
and pummel him off the platforms with either his bare hands or an endless supply
of beer bottles which he throws. While Popeye has the ability to punch, he
can only use this ability for defense. Punches are primarily used to break
incoming bottles but are also used to set off traps and of course to pick up the
all powerful can of spinach. Once Popeye consumes his favorite leafy
green, Bluto will turn tail and attempt to run away. If Popeye makes
contact with Bluto in the short amount of time granted after eating spinach,
Bluto will be knocked off the platforms temporarily before climbing back
up. In addition to Bluto, Popeye must also cope with the projectile
tossing Sea Hag and her difficult to avoid vulture. After all three
screens are cleared they begin again at a higher difficulty.
The concept for this game is pretty simple
but the action gets quite frenzied very quickly. An NES version seems like
it would be a piece of cake but there are some limiting factors that dampen the
fun at home just a little. To begin, the arcade version is absolutely
beautiful. Every sprite is detailed and represents the original hand drawn
characters perfectly. When the game is in motion it almost looks like a
digital cartoon. This is the biggest sacrifice on the NES as while the
graphics are nicely detailed, especially considering this is one of the very
first games for the system, those high resolution visuals from the arcade are
greatly missed. While not as graphically detailed as the original, nearly
all the sprite animation and character mannerisms make it onto the NES which is
a nice touch. Each of the three screens are created almost exactly with
only the most minor differences that neither hinder nor add to game play.
Sound design is charming and nicely accurate with the Popeye theme at the title
screen and solid sound effects throughout. Control is also quick and
smooth which we all know is the most important part of a platforming
game.
All in all Popeye on
the NES is a nice solid port, until you go back and forth between the NES
version and the arcade original and realize one critical difference between them
- the NES version is far easier. This is something that would occur with
nearly all of the Nintendo ported NES arcade titles. While accurate
representations of the originals, for one reason or another they almost all play
much easier than in the arcade. In the case of Popeye the action never
gets anywhere near as frenzied as it did in the arcade. Sure you have to
keep on your toes to stay one step ahead of Bluto and make sure you grab the
items Olive Oyl is sending down but in the arcade you barely had time to breathe
after the first couple screens. While challenging and entertaining,
there's a note of intensity that is missing from the NES version. It's
this missing intensity that ultimately makes the game an inferior port.
Granted if you haven't played the arcade version in a long time you won't notice
this. The NES release is still a fun game but it's not as fun as the
original, which is painful since it comes so close to being a perfect
conversion. I suppose one has to approach these discrepancies with the
notion that Popeye was one of the first Famicom games ever. Taking that
into consideration the game is well done and it really demonstrated that the
Famicom / NES was going to be the first home platform that could produce near
arcade quality graphics. If this was a launch title and was already this
close to arcade perfection, then the world was in for some great arcade to NES
ports in the future - and we sure were.
This month, I'll conclude my discussion of
the Apple IIGS computer which was the last major upgrade to the Apple II
line.
As noted in the past couple of months, the Apple IIGS was
introduced in response to the launch of the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga
computers (and to a lesser extent, Apple's own Macintosh computers). The
IIGS had advanced capabilities that were comparable to it's ST and Amiga
counterparts. The IIGS also was backwards compatible as it allowed older
Apple II software to run on the system. An upgrade was also made
available to existing Apple IIe users as well.
With an
established market of millions of Apple II users, the Apple IIGS was
primed to be a major hit among current Apple II users who had been
clammoring for a more modern machine. With the brand recognition of
Apple, the IIGS could have even snagged buyers who had been considering
the ST or Amiga. However, this did not occur. Why did this happen?
As noted last month, from a technical perspective, the Apple IIGS's
capabilities were slightly inferior to it's Amiga and ST counterparts.
The IIGS's processor clocked at a measly 2.8 Mhz while both the Amiga
and ST were over 7 Mhz. The IIGS's graphics capabilities were a
significant upgrade over the 8-bit Apple II computers. However, these
capabilities did not quite match up to the ST and Amiga's graphic
capabilities and dedicated video processor chips. One thing the IIGS
might have been equal (or even superior) to it's competition was it's
Ensoniq sound chip. The sound chip was a major upgrade over the old
Apple II speaker. However, the sound chip was under-utilized throughout
much of the IIGS's life. Many developers focused their efforts on
developing good looking software without fully exploiting the sound
capabilities of the IIGS.
The other factor was the cost of the
IIGS. At it's introduction, the IIGS CPU was priced at $999 without a
monitor or disk drive. When you put up the cost of a complete IIGS
system versus the ST and Amiga, the IIGS was significantly more
expensive. While IIe users could upgrade, many chose not to.
The
biggest factor for the lack of success with the IIGS was Apple Computer
itself. The IIGS was the computer from Apple that had both color
graphics and a graphical user interface. The IIGS could have become the
bridge that combined the best of the both the Apple II and Macintosh
worlds. Instead, it would be in 1987 before Apple Computer would
introduce the first color Macintosh (the Macintosh II). It would be
several years later (in 1990) before Apple introduce the Macintosh LC
with an optional Apple II card. The LC finally bridged the gap that had
existed between the Apple II and Macintosh.
Because Apple
Computer felt that that Macintosh was the future of the company and
never signficantly promoted the Apple IIGS besides advertisements in
Apple II related publications. The Apple IIGS was a relative unknown to
those outside the Apple II community.
Also, The IIGS was never
significantly beyond it's initial introduction in 1986. There were many
operating system and hardware upgrades (larger ROM chips, more RAM
installed on the motherbobard). However, other features such as the
graphics and processor remain unchanged. Despite the lack of attention
by Apple Computer, the IIGS still managed to sell an estimated one
million units before finally being discontinued in 1992.
Despite
the relatively short life-span, there was a lot of hardware and software
that was introduced for the IIGS. In fact, even today, over 20 years
after it's introduction, there are still a small group of hobbyists
still creating software and hardware.
That's it for my overview
of the Apple IIGS. In the future, I will review some Apple IIGS games in
my column. Thanks to the power of emulation, many IIGS games are now
available to enjoy on the Internet.
This month's collection of games
has a few very recognizable titles, and a few that are less recognizable.
The fact is, they're all pretty good in this month's selection. What
can't be played in English can either be translated or researched on the
internet, so try to give them all a try.
Volleyballreleased by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System on July 21st, 1986.
Released in America on March 1987. Thanks to the increase in
popularity of summer beach volleyball (and as a good excuse to render women in
skimpy bathing suits), it's not uncommon to find two or three
good volleyball games on a modern day system. Back in 1986, it was
virtually unheard of. Though not the first to publish a volleyball
game for their own system (Atari, Mattel, and even Magnavox all made a
passing attempt at it), Nintendo certainly made the biggest leap by
presenting a full six member team playing in an indoor court. The controls allow
for a majority of conceivable strategies, such as setting the
ball up for another player to spike it over the net. Unfortunately,
what happens as a result of the way the game is presented, is that you
find yourself playing more to the shadow of the ball, than the ball
itself. The shadow is the only indication that you have of where the ball
is going to end up, so you focus more on the ground at your players' feet
than anything else. And learning the timing for a good spike takes a
good deal of practice. By no means the best Volleyball video game out
there, but an ambitious start.
Ganbare Goemonreleased by Konami on June 30th,
1986. Many American players were only
formerly introduced to the wacky ninja Goemon on the Super Nintendo. But Konami
started this series way before the SNES arrived. And interestingly, most of the gameplay that could be found in the newer generation of games is just as present
and fun in the original game. The Goemon series is one that pokes a little fun
at early life in Japan, casting you as a bit of a rogue in Japanese society who
must safely make it from one section of Japan to another. In each stage, you
must navigate through a maze of towns, portrayed in an isometric format (where
you can move up and down as well as left and right) while fending off guards
that attempt to capture you, and questioning towns people for information, some
of whom are pleasant, some of whom are irritable, and most of whom are a little
wacky. Each stage contains an underground maze that is present in first-person
perspective, that you must navigate in order to find the item that you need to
escape to the next stage. Although this version was never released in America, a
ROM translating group known as Dragoon-X did a wonderful job translating all of
the text into English. So if you're a fan of this series, definitely check it
out.
Volleyball
Ganbare
Goemon
Solomon's
Keyreleased by Irem on June 30th, 1986. Released in American in
1987. Solomon's Key is a conversion of
an arcade game that has always dazzled me a little bit. Every time I look at it,
I think about how much fun it is to play, and every time I sit down with it, I
get board after only a few levels. I don't think this is a fault of the game's,
I think it has something to do with the way that I'm playing it. Solomon's Key,
for those who never tried it, is a game where you play through a series
single-screen rooms, starting out somewhere on the screen, trying to collect the
key that unlocks the door, and then safely escaping the room. The game revolves
around your ability to create and destroy brick platforms that allow you a
nearly unlimited ability to go anywhere in the room. Of course, enemies of
various types are out to stop you and prevent you from achieving your objective.
What I get too hung up on are all the little secrets in the game. Objects like
power-ups and bonus items can be hidden inside bricks. In some cases, you can
even place a brick in some empty space in the room, and remove it, only to
reveal a hidden item. There are also the zodiac signs that can be collected.
Eventually, I exhaust myself trying to reveal every conceivable secret that I
wear myself out on the game instead of just playing and enjoying it. The bottom
line is that Solomon's Key is a classic game (and an interesting choice as one
of the first available NES games during the Wii's Virtual Console launch) and
should be tried out whenever you have the chance. Soukoban
Special released by ASCII Entertainment on June
30th, 1986. Soukoban has had many different
names in America. I believe the most common one is Boxxle, as made famous by one
of the initial Game Boy titles. In Soukoban, a box boy has to move boxes from
their original starting point to destinations that are indicated on screen. The
box boy can only push the boxes, and he needs one full box space between the box
and anything else in order to push it. This simple concept is turned into 100
fiendishly difficult stages that will test not only your wits, but your patience
as well. One wrong move can doom an entire solution, forcing you to start over
again. Soukoban was originally developed in 1980, and has been of interest to
several researchers of the subject of computational complexity. Ultimately, this
game is best suited for fans of slower puzzle games that don't rely so much on
dexterity, and more on strategic planning.
Solomon's
Key
Soukoban
Special
Legend
of the Valkyrie (Valkyrie
no Bouken) released by Namco on August 1st,
1986. The
blonde Valkyrie has been something of a secondary mascot for Namco, having
cameos and references in games such as Namco X Capcom, and Soul Calibur II. So
it's interesting to note that her original debut on any system portrays her as a
brunette. The Legend of Valkyrie casts the player in the warrior's shoes (or
sandals) in a four-direction scrolling world where monster spontaneously appear
in groups of four to attack her. Fighting leads to increased strength and money
which can in turn be used to buy items which increase offensive and defensive
power. All in all, your standard action oriented RPG. Since the entire game is
in Japanese, it can be difficult for a non-Japanese speaker to understand what's
going on or where to go next, and indeed, many of the steps you must take are
non-intuitive. However, beneath the complexity, and the primitive graphics
employed, even by NES standards, you might find an intriguing game worthy
exploration. Patience is advised, and if you're really stuck, run the page:
http://www1.odn.ne.jp/~shimizu/legacy/namco/through a translation website
for some clues.
Metroid released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk
System on August 6th, 1986. Released in America on August
1987 If
there is one game in this month's collection of titles that needs no
introduction, it's Metroid. Far and away the most popular game in the list, Metroid has spawned a following that continues to this day, with many players
anxiously awaiting the release of the third Metroid Prime title, which takes
this classic side-scrolling adventure and recasts it, rather successfully, as a
first-person shooter. So unique is this series, in fact, that while many 2D sidescrollers have been thrust into the realm of 3D with varying degrees of
success, none other have succeeded with this fundamental shift from third person
to first person. So what makes Metroid so exceptional? For some it is the unique
fantasy approach to the portrayal of alien life forms from the future. For
others, it is the graceful control that you are given over the lead female
character, Samus Aran. For many, it is the diversity of powerups that you are
allowed to collect and wield, and therein lies one of the most compelling
aspects of the game. While each Metroid contains a huge world, players only gain
access to it in bits and pieces, allowing a player to feel truly rewarded when
being granted access to a new area to explore. Metroid was originally released
on the Famicom Disk System where it contained a save game system very similar to
the Legend of Zelda's. When brought to the states which did not have the FDS, the save system was replaced with the now famous password system.
While the first Metroid is obviously the most primitive, it is still just
as fun and just as suspenseful as its successors, and absolutely worthy of a try
if you are one of the few who haven't experienced it
yet.
Legend of the Valkyrie
Metroid
Old Wine in New Bottles: Retrogaming on Modern Hardware
by Jonathan H. Davidson
Before getting into the review of
the Namco Museum series, I want to respond to a question from a reader, who
asked: “Why are games relating to films, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark,
nowhere to be found, as well as those from other distributors, such as Parker
Brothers and Vidtec.”
I've briefly touched upon the issue of
un-releasable games before, but I want to say a few words about them here.
Basically, where the rights to games partially are owned by another company
(e.g. with movie-based games), they cannot easily be re-released. With the
Raiders of the Lost Ark game, for example, Infrogames owns the game code itself,
but the intellectual property (the title, the Indy-like character, etc.) is
still all owned by Lucas Films. If someone wished to re-release the game, it
would be necessary to get permission from both companies. The very same argument
applies to Star Wars, Ghostbusters, the Disney games, etc. We will probably
never see commercial re-releases of those games.
With smaller companies
like Parker Brothers, Mattel, Vidtec, Data Age, Coleco, etc., things are even
more complicated. Either these companies no longer exist, or they have long
since exited the video game industry. The rights to their games are still owned
by someone, but determining who that is would be a very long, difficult, and
expensive undertaking. Sales of these lesser-known games would never be enough
to recoup the investment required, so again we will probably never see
commercial re-releases of those games.
Fortunately, virtually
all Atari 2600 titles are available for free download form one or another
website. See, for example, http://www.atariage.com/.
The Namco
Museum series of (mostly) classic arcade games was released in five volumes
between 1996 and 1997; volumes 1 and 3 were later re-released as “Greatest Hits”
titles and so they are relatively easy to find, as compared to the others.
Each volume includes about six titles and is anchored with a Pac-Man
title (e.g. Ms. Pan-Man, Super Pan-Man, Pac Land) and includes a mixture of both
well-known and “filler” titles, usually arcade games that were never released
outside of Japan (e.g. Toy Pop, the Heike Clans, and Dragon Spirit).
The
various extras and bonus content include scans of promotional material relating
to the games (especially instruction cards distributed to arcades), the original
marquees, and similar material. Volume 3 includes some material relating to the
history of Namco more generally such as early newsletters. Unfortunately the
quality of the scanned images is much lower than the scans presented with the
Atari Anniversary Edition Redux. In addition, most of the material is in
Japanese, thus making it potentially of less interest to a North American
audience.
In my opinion, the best volume in the series is #3, which
includes the classics Dig Dug, Galaxian, Ms. Pac-Man, and Pole Position II.
Fortunately, this is one of the easiest volumes to find. Hard-core collectors
may want to acquire the whole series, but not people who just wish to play the
games.
Feedback on this column is most welcome; special thanks to
everyone who have their sent comments and question. Please send e-mail to jhd@interbaun.com.
Mastering Sega
by Craig Morris
It was supposed to be an NES.
I was 14 and had saved up barely enough money to purchase a base NES system - 2 control pads and a console. The Atari was showing its age and I was eager to have an 'arcade quality experience'. On the way to make the purchase I happened to pass the electronics kiosk at my local grocery store. Inside sat a stack of Master Systems for the exact same price of my intended NES purchase. Not simply base systems, these included a light gun and 2 pack-in games (Safari Hunt and Hang-on).
Did I mention it was also the coolest looking console ever?
It was just too good to pass up.
Enough nostalgia, let's get cooking.
The SMS was available in North America from 1986 to 1992. In addition to the "basic" unit (console, 2 controllers, and pack-in game) there were several other configurations. Some included a light gun and 2 games ("Master" package), another included a light gun and electronic 3D glasses ("Segascope" package). Over the course of its production there were many variations on the SMS bundle. In 1990 Sega introduced the Master System II, a lower budget system that lacked several features of the original, namely the reset button and the card slot. The omission of the card slot prevented use of the 3D glasses with the Master System II.
Some notable points:
SMS controllers can be used with other consoles of the era (Atari, Commodore) since they use the same 9 pin connecdtor.
The SMS supported a second media type. A card slot was located on the front of the SMS to accept games released in this format. This slot was also used to connect the 3D glasses to the system.
Some early models contained a hidden maze game built into the console.
Most SMS games were relased in a hard plastic (a la VHS) re-usable case.
Unfortunately the SMS wasn't a big hit in North America. While technically superior to the NES it suffered from poor release timing (many months after the NES) and a limited library of games. This was in great part due to Nintendo's licensing agreements with third party developers, effectively banning them from producing games for both the NES and SMS. Due to the overwhelming success of the NES very few wanted to risk the wrath of Nintendo by developing for Sega. Eventually these third-party restrictions were relaxed due to legal pressure but it was much too late for the SMS.
In the coming months I'll be bringing you reviews of some of the gems of the Master System catalog. First up, Kenseiden.
See you in September.
Game Over
We hope you enjoyed the issue. A big
welcome to new writer Craig Morris. And come back next month for our big
Anniversary
special!
To date, all of the most popular home systems have
seen decent-to-fantastic emulators released for the system, as well as an
outstanding version of MAME. A search for GP2X on youtube results in
videos showing the system's ability to emulate Neo Geo games at full speed, or
even the ability to play Playstation 1 games at a pretty good clip. But
naturally, the thing that draws me to it is it's near perfect emulation of Atari
2600, NES, and Genesis games. With the ability to play it anywhere on the
go, or to hook it up to a friend's television set, you've basically got a
portable retro gaming repository that weighs less than a pound, once you get
everything loaded on to a SD card.
It was supposed to be an NES. 
Unfortunately the SMS wasn't a big hit in North America. While technically superior to the NES it suffered from poor release timing (many months after the NES) and a limited library of games. This was in great part due to Nintendo's licensing agreements with third party developers, effectively banning them from producing games for both the NES and SMS. Due to the overwhelming success of the NES very few wanted to risk the wrath of Nintendo by developing for Sega. Eventually these third-party restrictions were relaxed due to legal pressure but it was much too late for the SMS.
Before getting into the review of
the Namco Museum series, I want to respond to a question from a reader, who
asked: “Why are games relating to films, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark,
nowhere to be found, as well as those from other distributors, such as Parker
Brothers and Vidtec.”
Fortunately, virtually
all Atari 2600 titles are available for free download form one or another
website. See, for example, 
The SMS was available in North America from 1986 to 1992. In addition to the "basic" unit (console, 2 controllers, and pack-in game) there were several other configurations. Some included a light gun and 2 games ("Master" package), another included a light gun and electronic 3D glasses ("Segascope" package). Over the course of its production there were many variations on the SMS bundle. In 1990 Sega introduced the Master System II, a lower budget system that lacked several features of the original, namely the reset button and the card slot. The omission of the card slot prevented use of the 3D glasses with the Master System II.