Video Games and Me The Early Years

 

I was born at the perfect time to experience that late 70s thru early 80s video game boom. Got vivid memories of being a kid of maybe 4. Standing on a chair so I could play Space Invaders. My older cousin standing there pumping quarters into the machine. 

And I was hooked. Every place had  a few video game machines. Grocery stores,corner stores,gas stations and I would ask for quarters. Go out to have pizza at Godfather's Pizza for dinner, that means I get a chance to play Tempest and Centipede. Dad wants to goto a nearby lounge to shoot pool, I want to go cause the place has Dig Dug and Zaxxon.

Then not long before I turned 5 and started Kindergarten two older cousins each got an Atari 2600. So visits to see them meant I got to play video games at home and didn't need quarters. I wanted a 2600 bad. Factoring in inflation that 2600 would be 250 or so in modern money. Which was way more than my parents would spend on me for Xmas or my birthday. Then thanks to the already mentioned Godfather's Pizza I found me a way to get one.

Godfathers had a contest. Was a picture of the mascot in the newspaper. Cut it out color it and there was 3 prizes. 1st place was trip for 4 to Disney World,which I had been too already. 2nd place was a Atari 2600 system. 3rd place I don't remember. I colored that picture. Got mom to drop it off. Then weeks later we get the call I have won second place. 

The ride to town and then back home felt like it was 5 hours long, when it was at most 30 minutes round trip. Get home dad hooks it up and we start playing Combat. Which was the only game I had. It is 2 player only. It was Friday when I won it. That night after I goto bed it starts raining. Lots of the county floods. School gets canceled for 3 days. So I am stuck at home with a new Atari. Only got a 2 player game and Mom don't play it. That Monday after dad got home from work   Mom went "grocery shopping" and said I couldn't come. Which was odd. Normally I would go with her and read comics while waiting. She gets home hours later and has me a new game Pac Man. Yep it is hated  now but I played the living fuck out of it back then.

From then and IIRC this was September 1980 until summer of 84 I would get like 2 or 3 games for Xmas and 2 for my birthday. Would trade games with my cousins and friends that lived nearby. And I had a decent collection built up. Even had the track ball controller. 

Then the crash of 84 hit. Now I had no clue what happened. Just that it went from being 25 to 40 for an Atari game to games being 10 bucks or less. Now I could buy them myself. Xmas and Birthdays went from gettiing 3 games at each to getting 20 games. By 86 my 2600 collection was over 100 games. Mom carried a list of what I had in her purse and at places like TG&Y and Woolco finding games for a buck.

1986 we get back from Xmas break. Buddy telling us he got a new video game system. The NES, with a pile of games. Seems his dad had to order it from some store up north.

Now those games looked ,to us back then,just like the arcade versions. No more "Oh this is so close to the arcade." Nope we had legit arcade games in the home. So again begged parents for a NES. Got told nope already got the 2600 and piles of games.

Too young to get a job. My allowance  ain't much. But I had a huge Hot Wheels,Star Wars figure and comic book collection. And all those Hot Wheels got sold. Buck for each car. There was 50 or so bucks. Sold the Star Wars figures for 2 bucks each,they had all their guns. Now I got right at 90 bucks. NES I want is 130. My birthday is soon. Will get cash so I will have that NES soon.

Day of my birthday I am opening gifts. Keeping a total in my head of how much cash I got. Between aunts and grandparents got right at 170 total now in cash. Sweet can get a NES and maybe a game too.
Then mom brings out a huge package. I open it and there is the NES. 

So next day I head to the nearest KB toys and got as many games as 170 bucks could get me.

The rest of that summer break was spent playing my huge stack of games. Being not only one of the few kids in the neighborhood with a NES but also having close to 15 games meant by 10am there was always a few kids over playing the NES.

Just like with the 2600 I would get a few games for my birthday and Xmas. Usually 2 at each. But by now I was working part time on my father's shrimp boat. So I had money. Maybe a year after this the 2600 stopped working. Knowing what I know now I am betting it was a faulty power supply, a super easy fix. But back then I just assumed I needed a new system. And yea the 2600 jr was 50 bucks. Still 50 bucks was 1 or 2 NES games. The 2600 got boxed up and put in the closet. That huge box of over 200 now 2600 games was given to the lil brother of a girl I was dating.

1990 is when it all changed. New system, rediscovered the 2600 and learned the joys of retro games.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 30 Dracula Unleashed DVD game

Title-Dracula Unleashed
Source-Interactive DVD Game

Somehow this FMV game passed me by until about a week ago.I owned a Sega CD back in the day,but had never heard of this game until someone supplied me with a rip of the DVD release.

Using FMV and onscreen choices this game tells the story of Alexander Morris. As he comes to London to investigate the death,that happened 10 years ago,of his brother Quincy. By choosing the right things at the right time you can manage to defeat Dracula and win the game.

The acting is pretty decent compared to other FMV games of the era. The interface is well done. And overall the game isn't bad. I doubt I play it more than once a year. But it is a nice way to kill time.

Dracula Unleashed DVD game gets a B-.

At Games Handheld Genesis system

Over the past decade I have seen the return in modified form of all the home consoles I loved as a kid. Starting with the Atari Flashback,which is up to the fifth version now.

A few weeks back I had to run to Walgreens, While waiting on someone I started looking around. And found an end cap full of these retro systems. Saw an Intellivision one,the Atari Flashback 5,At Games home console Genesis with wireless controllers and 80 built in games. But there was one I had never seen before. It was a portable Genesis with 80 games total. I was tempted but they wanted $50 a system. Way more than I wanted to pay.

Skip ahead a few weeks. I had been trying to think of what to get my cousin's two boys for X-mas. They both love video games and last time I visited them we spent a bunch of time playing a Genesis collection on the X-box 360. I was looking at the sale ads in the Sunday paper. Saw that Walgreens had all those systems marked down to 35 bucks. Which is a bit more than I spend on each kid. But what the hell it is X-mas. Ran to the store and grabbed the portable Genesis and the home console version.

I have no idea what makes this a collector's edition. But I do like the packaging. Smart move putting Sonic and whoever that is from Virtua Fighter on the front. They are the only two that modern kids will know. Also notice how it says 80 built in games. There is 80 games,40 of them are Genesis games. The rest are homebrews.

Damn that is a lot of empty space in the box. Now I didn't think the system would be huge. But it is a bit smaller than I thought. As you can see you get the system,instructions and a charger cable. The system comes with a rechargable battery in it. And you recharge it by hooking it into a usb port. Not a bad idea. It looks to be a standard USB cord so if you lose this one it shouldn't be hard to replace it.

I love how in the instruction book they not only tell you a bit about each game. But explain the controls. It is small touches like that ,that make a good product stand out from a bad one.

I threw the nearest DVD into the pic to give yall an idea of the size of the system. I would say it is slightly wider than a DS lite. But about as tall. And not as thick. On the left you got your d-pad. Which from about an hour of play feels good. Right above it is the menu button. Which you can push at anytime to go back to the menu. On the right is the 6 buttons. The smaller row is x ,y and z. The bigger row is a,b and c. They feel almost like the ones on the old Genesis 6 button controller.The red light below them is the battery level indicator. And right above them is the start button. It is the only button I don't like the placement of. It just feels odd reaching up for it.Oh forgot the speaker is on the left below the d-pad. And the sound is pretty good. No idea if the sounds are 100% matching the sounds on a real Genesis,mostly because I haven't played a real Genesis in years. But they sound right to me. The screen is much better than I expected. No ghosting or such with fast movement. And it is nice and bright.

Here's the top of the system. First off we have an AV port. Yes you can buy a cable and hook this up to your TV. Next to is the USB port. Then in the middle is the SD card slot. I will talk more about that in a bit. On the right is the volume control. I like that you can connect this to a TV.I got a cable that came with my portable DVD player that works on this. In the instruction book it includes directions on how to hook this up to a HD tv and what to set your contrast,brightness ,etc levels to when doing this. I hooked it up to the tv in the living room and it looked good. As good as when I hook my Dreamcast up and use the Genesis emulator. I love the placement of the volume control. It is easy to reach up and change it while playing a game.

Now onto the bottom. On the left we got an earphone port. With most portable systems I have found that the built in speakers are shit.So I normally use earphones while playing them. The speakers on this system are good. On the right we got the power switch. I like it's placement. I doubt I will bump it when playing a game. Plus with it being a switch not a button it is much harder to accidentally turn the system off.

Yeah the flash makes it hard to see ,but this is the menu screen. They have divided the games up. First batch is the Genesis games. The second batch is the homebrew ones. You get 10 games per screen. In alphabetical order. And when you highlight the games name a screenshot appears on the right.

There it is easier to see the menu screens now.

As you can hopefully see the screen looks great. Bright colors,sharp details. I  wanted to see if it might blur some during the faster moments in Sonic 1. It doesn't.

Now onto the previously mentioned SD cart slot. In the instruction book it tells you how to play games off an SD card. So I got curious and wondered if maybe you could load up Genesis roms onto a SD card and play them on the system. Did some research and it seems like you can't. So I wondered what games you could play. I looked through out the book and there was no mention of this or where to go to get the games. I looked all over the box and finally saw on on side a website listed. Went to the site and right now they got 3 games you can get for free. And then mention that at a later date they will be doing memberships. The games you can get now are similar to the homebrews that are already on the system. I hope they work out a way to offer old Genesis games. If that doesn't happen maybe someone will figure out how to hack the system. Cause sure the system has 40 Genesis games,with a bunch of good ones in that selection.But there is some Genesis games I want to play on here.

Speaking of games here is all the games on the system. With a few quick words about the ones I know.
Alex Kid in the Enchanted Castle-One of the early Genesis games, Alex was their attempt  at a mascot. Not a bad game. But I think the placement of the start button will hurt some in this game.Since you use that button fairly often.
Alien Storm-Really fun side scrolling beat um up.
Altered Beast-The original Genesis pack in game.Still fun after all these years. Even if it was never that deep of a game.
Arrow Flash-Looks to be a shooter. I never played this back in the day. But look forward to playing it now.
Bonanza Bros-Another I have never played. Have heard it called an under rated Genesis game.Looks to be a platformer.
Chakan:The Forever Man-Rented this when it first came out. Liked it but back then the game was way too hard for me. It is a platformer. Neat thing is 2 years ago I got to meet the man who created the character of Chakan. Found out he has made a series of graphic novels,yes real graphic novels not trades or hardcovers or whatever people that don't know better call graphic novels.Now that I am older and have played many more games I am gonna try to finally beat this game.
Columns & Columns 3-Columns was the Genesis Tetris ripoff. Still it is a fun game.Now I am wondering if there was a Columns 2 and if so why it isn't on the system. I have always said puzzle games are perfect for handheld consoles.
Comix Zone-Great side scrolling Beat um up game. Great sound and graphics,but warning this game is extremely hard. I have only beaten it once and that was while using the Game Genie.
Crack Down-Never heard of this one. You run around a building defusing bombs.
Decap Attack-Really fun and wacky side scrolling platformer.
Ecco,Ecco Jr,Ecco II The tides of time-Pretty sure this is every Ecco game for the Genesis.You play as a dolphin that has to save his pod. I only played the first game in the series. It was decent. But a bit harder than I expected it to be. The background music is really good. And the graphics and character animation is well done. I plan on trying to beat at least the first one.
ESWAT City under siege-I love this game. You are a cop that has a mecha suit. This is a game where it isn't super hard,but also not easy.
Eternal Champions-During the early 90s trend of 2d fighting games this was Sega's entry.From what I remember it was well done. The hard part now is going to be relearning all the fighters special moves again.
Fatal Labyrinth-Seems to be a RPG strategy game.Not a big fan of that type of game.But it is nice to see some variety in the game selection.
Flicky-This is a  simple but really fun game. You play a momma bird that has to rescue all her chicks.It is a game that is simple to play but hard to master.
Gain Ground-Looks like another strategy game. Might give it a shot one day.
Golden Axe 1,2 and 3-It was good ports of arcade games like Golden Axe that had all us kids wanting a Genesis back in the day.Golden Axe 1 is a game I still go back and play. Hell it was the one my little cousins and I had the most fun playing on that previously mentioned X-box 360 Sega collection. Part 2 improves the graphics and stuff.3 I have never played. I seem to remember it didn't get a release in the USA. I think it might have been available on the Sega Channel.
Jewel Master-No clue what this game is. From the screen shots I think it might be a puzzle game.
Kid Chameleon-Another platformer. Rented it once Decades ago,remember it being fun. But also fairly hard.
Mean Bean Machine-A great puzzle game. For years my mother had a Genesis emulator on her computer just for this game.
Ristar-After Sonic was a huge hit lots of companies tried to make their own mascot. Ristar was part of that cycle of games. From the little I have played it,it is fun. With a cute look to all of the graphics.
Shadow Dancer-Part of the Shinobi series of games. You are a ninja that goes from the left to the right killing bad guys with various ninja weapons. This game has really good music.
Shinobi III return of the ninja master-IIRC Shadow Dancer was Shinobi 2. So this is the sequel. Never played it.But if it is like the other Shinobi games on the Genesis it is worth playing.
Sonic and Knuckles-Sort of Sonic 4. This was the first time that you got to play as Knuckles. One drawback is on a Genesis you could plug Sonic 2 or 3 into the top of Sonic and Knuckles and play as Knuckles in each game. I haven't checked but I doubt you can do that on here.Still it is a really good Sonic game.
Sonic Spinball-Sonic becomes the pinball in a fun video pinball game.Fun but sometimes frustrating game.
Sonic 1 & Sonic 2-Sonic is the game that got lots of people to get a Genesis.And it is still very fun today. Sonic 2 I never owned.I am looking forward to playing it soon.
Sonic 3d Blast-The other Sonic game on the Genesis I never played. It has an isometric view that normally I hate in games.
Streets of Rage 1,2 and 3-Streets 1 is my favorite non-RPG Genesis game ever. This series was basically Sega's version of the arcade hit Final Fight. But with much better music. The music in these games is the only video game music I will listen to outside of the game. I just played and beat part 2 a week ago.Each game improves on the previous one. And all three are worth playing.
The Ooze-Never heard of this game and so far haven't played it yet.
Vectorman 1 and 2-These came out late in the Genesis's life. They are fun platformers. With great graphics.
Virtua Fighter 2-Kind of wondering why part 2 is on here instead of part 1.Never been a fan of Virtua Figher. But this port isn't bad.

And as far as the homebrew games. Well all of them look like flash games I would have played back in the early 2000s. I would have rather they dropped all the homebrews and threw in 10 more Genesis games.

Now is this a good deal? In most stores I see it costing between 40 and 50 bucks. Checked Amazon and they wanted 55 for it. At those prices I would say no.But I got this for $35. Which is much better. Went in expecting the controls to feel mushy.The screen to be shit and the speakers to be bad. I was wrong.One thing I would like to know is how long the battery last on a charge.All through out this review I mention how I am going to enjoy playing various games. And this is after I said I bought this for my cousin's kids. Well that is true. I grabbed it for them. But after testing it out I am now going to get myself one.Saw an ad from Dollar General where on Thanksgiving they are going to have these for $25. And it is worth that much. Hell if you find it for $35 and under it is worth is. The system seems to be well made. The screen is much much better than I expected. And there is a good mixture of the Genesis games. At Games Handheld Genesis System gets a B.

KInda late list of my x-mas haul

Nintendo DS Lite+Ultimate Mortal Kombat+Some cloths-from my parents

Waxwork/Waxwork II dvd+The Thing Special Edition dvd+Shawn Micheals Boyhood Dream DVD-From ym Aunt Kat and Uncle Milton

Heroes of World Class DVD+Deperadoes Del Ring Volume 1 DVD-From Aunt Nett and Uncle Pat

Desperadoes Del ring Volumes 2 and 3-Uncle Louis and Aunt Amy

Cash-Grandpa

Box of assorted candy-Aunt Dean and Uncle Alton


So far I have watched the Heroes of world class dvd. Which was great. And all three Volumes of the Desperadoes Del Ring. Which were also great. Desperadoes seems to be footage of the fed in TJ that Konnan ran for a short while. Lots of early Rey Jr,Pychosis,La Parka,Juventuta Guerrrea and Pierotth matches.

I love cheap DVDs part 1

The last 6 weeks I have managed to acquire a nice stack of cheap ,$5 and under,dvds. First off I found at a local Movie Gallerys closing sale.

Cemetery Man-Anchor Bay-OOP and one that I missed. Had the cashier check and this had been rented only 7 times since they got it. Cost $5

Let the right one in-Magnet-Been wanting to see this. And had many many people recommend it to me. Cost $5

The King of Kong:A fistful of quarters-New Line-Been wanting to get this one. And it has 2 commentaries and a reversible cover. Cost $5

4-film pack featuring,My best friend is a vampire,Repossessed,Slaughter High Uncut edition,Silent Night Deadly Night 3.Already own SNDN 3 on the recently released 3 pack of the final 3 SNDN sequels. But I figured at 1.25 a movie it was worth getting again. Mainly bought this to replace my "Slaughter High" and "Repossessed" pre-records. Cost $5

Then on a trip to Biloxi,I went to the local Big Lots. Got the following for $3 each.

976-evil-Columbia Tristar-I remembering watching this on Showtime years ago. And for 3 bucks,thought it was worth picking up.

Innocent Blood-Warner brothers-Another I remember seeing on Showtime. Haven't seen it in about 15 years,but do remember liking it last time I saw it.

Career Opportunities-Universal-One of the more under-rated John Hughs movies. It seems like back in the mid 90's this was on cable every other day.

Bloody Murder-Artisan-Never saw this ,but saw Bloody Murder 2. Always here about how bad this is,and seems to be OOP.

April Fools Day 2008-Sony-I enjoyed the original. Haven't seen this one either,but it cost me the price of a rental to buy it.


Then finally,ran by a Movie Gallery in Biloxi. Only got one thing and it was still sealed.

Ghost House Underground Double Feature,Jack Ketchum's Offspring and Seventh Moon-Lionsgate-Been wanting to get Offspring for over a year. And the cheapest I have found it was around 14 bucks. But Movie Gallery had this brand new for $9.50. Haven't seen Seventh Moon,but was more than happy to pay 9 and change for Offspring.

Smackdown vs Raw 2010 DS

A few years back I picked up the 2008 DS version of this game. And was one of the worst games I had ever played. For some unknown reason the developers made all the controls based around the stylus. Which made for a very annoying game. But when I saw on the back of the 2010 version that this time it used the basic d-pad and buttons control scheme I figured it would be worth buying. And it so far has been. The Create a wrestler feature is fairly detailed,and so far I have created 3 different CAWs. The storyline feature seems to have some depth and replay value. The graphics look really good for the DS. The roster is pretty large when you consider this is a handheld version. Now I haven't finished the storyline mode,I think I am about halfway through it so far. But so far their has been plenty of humor and just plain strange stuff in the story. The only real negatives to the game are first the annoying mini games you have to play to increase your stats. Most of them are button mashers,that get pretty old pretty quick. The music is mostly shit,well besides the various superstars entrance themes. But overall the game is worth what I paid for it. Smackdown vs Raw 2010 gets a B+.

I play way to many video games!

Chrono Trigger

Nintendo DS

Yes Chrono Trigger still my favorite RPG of all time. After a very sucky rerelease on the PS1,all fans of Chrono get a rerelease that is most ways is even better than the original SNES release. The basic story is a young man ,and various people he picks up along the way,try to stop the ultimate evil. After an accident they figure out how to travel through time,and visit various time periods. From the far far future to the stone age.Many different things makes this game stand out from the flood of RPGs on the market. One thing is how there really isn't any random encounters,the bane of most RPGs. Another is how once you level up enough you can do double or triple attacks in which you team up with one or two other members of your party and unless a much stronger attack.But the biggest thing that has made this game stand out,and the one that keeps me replaying it even now,is the multiple endings. Things you do in the past of future determine what ending you get. And lastly one feature that I think most RPGs should have now is New Game +. This is were after you beat the game,you can start over at the beginning but with all the levels and most of the equipment you had when you beat the game. This allows you to go through the game faster and is the key thing to allow you to get some of the alternate endings. Now the DS release has added a couple of extras that were not in either of the 2 previous releases. First is a new area you can explore,In this you end up becoming the heroes of a group of lizard/human hybrids. And you get some nice equipment. The other is the battle arena,where you train and fight your monsters against the computer or through wifi other players. A difference I noticed is that some items,and enemies have different names from the SNES release. Thankfully the major flaw of the PS1 release isn't present here. It seems cause of the PS1 release being on a CD the battles sometimes had horrid load times,but since the DS is a cart based system this version doesn't have this problem. Another nice extra is the game comes packed with a nice mini poster that on the other side has a map of the overworld.Chrono Trigger DS is one of the few games I paid full retail price for. And even now over a year since I bought it I still pull it out and play it at least a few days each month. Chrono Trigger DS earns a A+.

ET was a good video game Damn IT!!!!

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Nintendo DS

I was a big fan of both of the X-men Legends and the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance games. Even if all three were not much more than a updated version of arcade classic Gauntlet with Marvel heroes instead of the standards of fantasy gaming. So when I heard about Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 coming out I knew I would have to pick it up. Well turns out the only gaming system I own that it came out for was the DS. I figured no biggie,I play my DS more than any other system I currently own. So off I go to my local Gamestop and after trading in a game that I hated I got this for about $15.First the good things. The graphics and sound is really good for a DS title.All the heroes/villains look like they should.Second the line up consisting of Thor,She Hulk,Iron Man,Sentry,Ms Marvel,Venom,Green Goblin,Hulk,Spider-man,The Thing,Storm,Luke Cage,Captain America,Wolverine and Invisible Woman,is a decent selection of heroes/villains. And there is alot more that you see in the game but can't play as.The storyline which is a mish-mash of the recent Secret war,and Civil War stories from the comics, is not too bad. I also enjoyed that after the first couple of missions you have to choose to be on Iron Man's pro registration side,or Cap's con registration side.The controls are also as good if not better than the previous 3 games in this series. But even with all that is good with this game the negatives far out weigh the positives. First of all there is multiple times were you will walk half way into a wall,or some other thing on the playfield. Second there seems to only be one level of difficulty. And last and the worst is the length of the game,on the first play through I choose Cap's side and it took me about 5 hours total to beat the game. So next play through I choose Iron Man's side and it took about the same amount of time. So to completely play through the game takes around 10 hours tops. Not nearly long enough for a game that retails for around $30.And besides not being able to choose certain heroes/villains there really isn't much difference in the game based on which side you choose. I am currently trying to decide if I should trade this game in,or give it to my cousin's boy who loves the Marvel heroes. So Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for the DS gets a C+.