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Wii Fit on Yellow Cabs in NYC
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 2, 2008 in Videogames
It looks like Nintendo is ramping up to do a major push for the Wii Fit here in NYC. Shown above is a shot of an ad campaign that will be on top of cabs throughout the city. My gut feeling is that this product will continue to further push open the video game market, and my thinking is that in this case that’s a very healthy thing for both my waistline and the industry. MAMEmania: Ultra Toukon Densetsu
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 22, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Ultra Toukon Densetsu – 1993 – Branpresto Ultra Toukon Densetsu is an SD version of the long running and wildly popular, not to mention highly influential, Ultraman series. The main gimmick of the game is that all the characters are super deformed, shrunk down to childlike proportions with stubby limbs and large heads.
There are three ultra fighters to choose from, Ultraman, Ultra Seven and XXXXXX. All three have slightly different powers and attack methods, but they all boil down to essentially the same thing. One would think that each ultra person would be more individualized to appease the rabid fans, but there is very little uniqueness to any character.
MAMEmania: The Amazing Adventures of Mr. F. Lea
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 21, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. The Amazing Adventures of Mr. F. Lea – Pacific Novelty – 1982 In the rather verbosely titled game The Amazing Adventures of Mr. F. Lea, you take on the humble role of the titular flea. The game itself in incredibly simple and straightforward. Perhaps this is because of the fact that it’s based largely on other games.
The opening selection screen is a bit like that in Tron. You are faced with four possible paths, each one a different game. First, there’s the Frogger clone. In this one you have to get Mr. F. Lea across a lawn filled with “Lawnmower Man” like self-propelled mowers. After that, there is a walkway full of various dogs, some very long, some short, some fast and some slow. All of this plays out exactly like Frogger, and the point is to fill the four houses at the top with Fleas. As you will see in the other stages, this is all very easy, mostly because all of the more lethal elements have been removed. The dogs never disappear, the traffic at the bottom is very regular and there are no crocs to gobble you up. MAMEmania: Tengai
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 18, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Tengai – 1996 – Psikyo Side-scrolling shooters are certainly the bread and butter of arcade games. They are fast, simple, and eat quarters like Kirstie Alley on a Twinkie high. The only really thing separating one for another is the window dressing. The graphics and whatever plot they can loosely hang onto them.
Tengai is certainly just another shallow shooter, but damned if it doesn’t look pretty. Plus, it’s not often that you get to use the phrase “mid-evil Japanese steam punk,” but that’s exactly what Tengai is going for. Iron Man Game: New York Comic Con Trailer
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 17, 2008 in Videogames
This trailer was made especially for the New York Comic Con by Sega. MAMEmania: Street Fighter: The Movie
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 17, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Street Fighter: The Movie – 1995 – Capcom For many a geeky gamer, the 1990’s were the ear of the fighter. You were either a Mortal Kombat fan or a Street Fighter supporter. There could be only one.
Both games spawned equally heinous films, but fanboy being fanboys, they have both gone on to find their respective cult followings. In 1995, Capcom released their game based on the film based on the game, appropriately titled Street Fighter: The Movie. The game replaced the usual cartoony character models with the real-world actors from the film. Such luminaries as Ming-Na, Kylis Minogue, Raul Julia and star Jean-Claude Van Damme were digitized and placed into the roles of fan favorites. MAMEmania: D&D: Tower of Doom
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 16, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom – 1993 – Capcom While the table-top pen and paper world of Dungeons & Dragons has certainly seen a successful adaptation in the world of computer gaming, it’s had a much tougher time making it into the arcades. It should be obvious but the slow moving, story drivin gaming system just can’t keep up with the quarter swallowing demands of the arcade. That doesn’t mean people haven’t tried.
MAMEmania: Dangun Feveron
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 15, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Dangun Feveron – 1998 – Cave I sometimes find it interesting to see what lengths a developer will go to in order to get a gamer to play the same old games over and over again. Usually it’s just something like tacking a 2 or III at the end of a popular name and sprucing up the old graphics. Sometime it’s adding a new character or plot line. It’s not often that it’s disco: The Third Relay Space Station: Tokio
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 15, 2008 in Videogames
The Third Relay Space Station: Tokio is a new Japanese point-and-click game created by Bianco-Bianco, who is also created Dreamland and Ranch Escape. The game is set in the space station Tokio where you play the chef of the Casablanca Restaurant. When you wake up, you realize that you are locked in your room and have to escape by solving a series of puzzles. Found via zaeega.com and escapegames24.com. MAMEmania: Chiller
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 14, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Chiller – 1986 – Exidy Inc. Brought to us by the team that did similar light-gun shooters like “Crossbow” and “Crackshot”, “Chiller” takes a major right-turn down the path to hell. Set in the bowels of some sort of castle/mansion/yermom’sbasement environment, “Chiller” runs through four stages featuring various degrees of torture and man’s inhumanity to man…and woman.
MAMEmania: Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 13, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs – Capcom – 1992 Even before you know anything about the game, the title Cadillacs and Dinosaurs makes an impact. It screams B-movie hokeyness, two extremes that should never be combined. MAMEmania: Blocken
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 12, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Blocken – 1994 – Kid/Visco Sometimes simply mashing two good ideas together is enough to bring the fun back to otherwise tired modes of play. Take the block breaking action of “Breakout,” add the vertical down-scroll of “Tetris,” some head-to-head action and sprinkle it with lots of pink and blue glitter and a stereotypical anime school-girl, and you have “Blocken.” MAMEmania: Akkanvader
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 11, 2008 in Videogames
In this series retro game expert Zac Bentz picks his top ten MAME games. If you’re a casual gaming fanboy MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and is a software emulator that allows you to play ancient arcade games on modern hardware. Akkanvader – 1995 – Taito It’s no surprise that there are exactly 1,035,648,399 different clones of the original Space Invaders. Today, I’m taking a look at one of them, Taito’s Akkanvader from 1995. It’s colorful, cute, and best of all, fun! Cyberpunk 1985 Commercial for Nintendo
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 9, 2008 in Videogames
Now you’re playing with power! This 1985 commercial for Nintendo seems to be inspired by films like Blade Runner and Alien. What’s funny about the commercial is that the set design has a very bleak cyberpunk look, yet when the game displays pop up you get the sharp visual contrast of kid friendly candy colored 8 bit graphics. Retro Nintendo Heaven
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 3, 2008 in Videogames
Shown above are screen shots from RoboCop 2, F-1 Race, Hello Kitty no Ohanabatake and James Bond Jr. which I found at Nintendo8.com an entertaining website which allows you to play dozens of classic 8-bit games online. Click on the image to view at full size… Pac-Man Maze Hoodie
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 28, 2008 in Videogames
I’m so burned out when it comes to seeing yet another cool gamer themed t-shirt which is why the Pac-Man Maze Hoodie above caught my eye. ‘Cause I’ve got Pac-Man fever… Found via likecool.com. Retro Sci-Fi Games: Gammarauders
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 19, 2008 in Videogames
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past: Gammarauders Released by TSR in 1987, Gammarauders is a crazy hodgepodge of post-apocalypticism, table-top role-playing and sci-fi comedy. From the game’s World Book: “It was a time of peace and plenty. Men flew in multicolored suits. Women worked magic by wiggling their noses. Vehicles talked. Blond genies lived in bottles. Hillbillies invaded a land called Beverly…” And it goes on like that. For twenty pages. The game is played with large cardboard hexagonal areas á la Settlers of Catan, much smaller cardboard token pieces representing troops, various action cards and, the main attraction, sheets featuring the Bioborgs. Bioborgs are huge mutated animals ranging from a t-rex to a kangaroo to a penguin and more, all massive and outfitted with lethal weaponry. The players assume the role of one of the various wacky groups and gangs ranging from hippies to gangsters to samurai. The whole thing has a very over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek tone, but in fact little of the back story has much effect on the actual game play. The main appeal is the ever changing battlefield and the crazy visuals. For example, the weapon cards all feature unique designs and crazy names like the Helio-Conic Slugger, Neonuclear Flamer and Omni-Ionized Gas Emissions. Retro Sci-Fi Games: Solarquest
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 18, 2008 in Videogames
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past: Solarquest It is a rare thing to find a game that is not only a ton of fun, but also quietly educational. Built on Monopoly’s core mechanics, Solarquest adds a bit of depth as well as a lot of polish and eye candy to the otherwise dry franchise. The basic idea is that you’re zooming around the solar system buying up every major rock (mostly moons) you can find. Instead of moving in a fixed path, players may choose to orbit around the home planets for as long as they wish, building up fuel and cash. Once a player has bought up a planet’s surrounding moons they essentially have a monopoly and gain more money for rent and fuel when another player lands there. There are also special rules to allow cutthroat laser battles that are sure to end friendships and destroy marriages. Retro Sci-Fi Games: The Hitchhiker’s Guide
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 17, 2008 in Videogames
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Text Adventure First off, no, I never got the Babel Fish. At least not on my own. The text-adventure version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of the most evil games ever created. It’s also, as most inherently evil things tend to be, a huge amount of fun. Not surprising since the source material is brilliant and the game was adapted by author Douglas Adams himself. The game follows the plot of the book just about as much as the books themselves follow any sort of plot. Much like the book, the player is simply called to react to the events transpiring around him. From the bulldozing of the house to the trip to space and the travels of the Heart of Gold, everything just sort of happens. Naturally there are a lot of new bits and a lot of missing bits, but collectively all of the bits make for a great experience. Retro Sci-Fi Games: Mighty Men & Monster Maker
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 16, 2008 in Videogames
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past: Mighty Men & Monster Maker It has been said before, but memory is an odd thing. You can be minding your own business, idly cruising through the nether-regions of the intertoobes, when all-of-a-sudden you see something that instantly sends you through the looking glass. You’re two feet shorter and [redacted] years younger. The light looks oddly diffuse, the walls tower over you at strange angles and you’re laying on your grandmother’s living room floor forming weird creatures and mental dreamscapes with Tomy’s Mighty Men & Monster Maker. Retro Sci-Fi Games: Simon
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 15, 2008 in Videogames
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past: Simon Sure, it would be easy to wonder why this simple little kid’s game of follow-the-leader should make it onto this list. To you, all I have to say is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Simon is obviously a pan-dimensional communications device sent to test the evolutionary progress of civilizations across the universe. To the casual observer it may seem like a simple match game. While most people think that “winning” is simply hitting every candy-colored note at the right time, most fail to realize that the way we lose is just as important. Our behavior is very closely monitored during this “play,” while all of our vital statistics and higher brain functions are sent out at light speed every time our fingers touch the pads. Retro Sci-Fi Games: Metroid
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 14, 2008 in Videogames
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past: Metroid Barren landscapes. Strange alien life-forms. A mysterious civilization. A harsh and minimal soundtrack. Absolutely no dialog. All of these things combined to make Nintendo’s Metroid an immediate sci-fi stand-out on the system. In the game, the player is thrust directly into a foreign land with very little explanation. The seemingly unending caves twist and turn like a maze, going both vertically as well as horizontally. The confusion is pushed even further with the several impenetrable doors and other seemingly impossible to reach areas. This was something new to many gamers. The idea of backtracking and unlocking secret areas all the way back where you started from was still a relatively new one for home-consoles. While these days it has come to be more of an annoyance to some gamers than a special feature, it certainly made for interesting, if not laborious, secret hunting as well as serving to extend the life of the game greatly. Retro Sci-Fi Games: Space Invaders
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 13, 2008 in Videogames
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past: Space Invaders One of the great things about certain types of sci-fi is that they leave a lot up to your own imagination. Sometime the things that are left unexplained are the most intriguing. You can select the things you think are interesting and build them up in any way you see fit. I mean, this is exactly what the fan-fiction industry [community] is built upon. Space Invaders is one of those less-is-more sorts of situations. The basic premise, heck, the only premise, is that the aliens are coming and they want us dead. Where are they from? How far have they traveled? What is it about us that they find so offensive as to throw literally everything they have at us? It’s enough to paralyze even the most iron-clad ego. Fortunately, the game gives you exactly zero chance to ponder the finer points of pan-galactic diplomacy. Before you can even survey the playing field, the electric disintegrator rays are raining from the sky and it’s time to boogie. You can try and hide behind your shields, but eventually those space bugs are going to crush you, so shut up and pull the trigger. Retro Sci-Fi Games: Star Wars (Arcade)
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 12, 2008 in Videogames
It seems almost impossible to fall over in a game store without knocking over a few dozen sci-fi themed games, so we wanted to take a look at the ten best examples of the genre. Our twist? Retro! So here’s one glimpse of the future from the past: Star Wars (Arcade) No list of great sci-fi anything could possibly be complete without the inclusion of something Star Wars related. Video games are no exception. While there have been loads of games bearing the distinctive logo, perhaps the best is also the first. 1983 saw an explosion of Star Wars video games across the board, but few would argue against the original arcade “cockpit” style cabinet being the best. First of all, the second you crawled in and sat down, you became Luke Skywalker. Visually cut off from the outside world, it was suddenly long ago and far away and you are flying around in space. Shot from a first person perspective, you could just see your X-Wing’s blasters pointing in from the edges of the screen. TIE fighters screamed toward you from all angles. The yoke controller was a dream to use and soon disappeared in your hands. And that wasn’t even the best part. |
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