It’s all he has time for
9 Likes
I’ve never even played the Speccy version of Rebelstar but I played that GBA version. I guess without it you wouldn’t have X-COM.
3 Likes
I want to remember Dark Castle, too. I have been playing it in bed, with my legs elevated. My back is messed up today, you see. I have not beaten the game. I don’t know if I can. I can say that I have made it from Trouble 3 to Trouble 1, key in hand.
The inclusion of Trouble and how it works is brilliant. There are four doors you can enter at the beginning. Door 4 leads to Shield. If you fall into a pit in Shield, you fall into Trouble. Door 3 leads to Black Knight. If you fall into a pit in Black Knight, you fall into Trouble. Door 1 and 2 are a coin flip. You have a chance to either enter Fireball or, you guessed it, Trouble.
Trouble is different from all the other rooms because you can’t just walk out once you get in. The door is locked behind you. You have to make your way to Trouble 3, grab a key, and return to Trouble 1 to use it. You can always fall back into Trouble. You do not keep the key…
I’m amazed that this game has the same control scheme as an FPS. You move with WASD. Q and E are Use and Crouch. You aim and shoot with the mouse. I’m really happy I’ve given this game a chance. It’s an incredible work.
6 Likes
I’ll add it to the list if you ever feel like playing the Speccy version! It looks like the GBA one is pretty different. I’m curious to know how much of X-COM is present in this early game. Julian Gallop seems like a sharp designer, but I’ve never given any of his games a fair shake.
2 Likes
I nominate BATMAN for ZX SPECTRUM and it better be accepted because I might die if one of my Bat-submissions is rejected once again.
And yes I have played it recently. The game has been binned to my Windows taskbar for over 3 years now. This game is important to me and should be important to humanity as well because it is beautiful.
Cropped map of the game’s Batcave. Mapping credit goes to “Sherwin”. Thank you for your service, Sherwin.
This is what one of the rooms looks like, close up, on screen. Lots of spikes and eyeballs and platforms and the most chibis, lovable of all Batmen. He is very weak, he dies if he so much as stubs his toe, he moves very slowly and his jump height is maybe 1/10th of Mario’s He is the ideal video game protagonist. Also I think he is an alcoholic. The goal of the game is to find the 7 missing pieces of the Batmobile. Batman woke up in the Batcave, and all the pieces were missing. There’s no note, no archvillain claiming responsibility for this crime. Shit’s just missing and this weak ass dude with more surveillance tech than God doesn’t know what happened. Methinks Brucie has a problem.
Drunks make great game protagonists. Kinda odd there aren’t more of them.
I once streamed the fan-made remake of this game for over 24 hours straight. I set the speedrun world record for it. It was not acknowledged by the fatcats on speedrun.com. They fear power such as mine. I do not have footage of me playing the original. I am not even sure this is a video of the remake because youtube doesn’t work for me anymore. It’s just named “I’m Batman” and it’s in my bookmarks. I really hope it’s not something lewd. I’ll record a video of the original if I have to but I trust you will accept that I am an expert and that this game is canon. I have to go to the doctor now otherwise I would write more words. Thank you for your time.
14 Likes
When my friend’s dad was finishing up his degree, he used to take us to the university computer labs, and Dark Castle was installed on all the shiny new 68k Macs. It wasn’t as approachable as Shuffle Puck Cafe nor as classy as trying to get three player NetTrek working, but it was so moody. And if you didn’t have that sound muted, you’d have some pissed engineering student on you. I don’t know if any of us made it past the second screen.
6 Likes
I am ready to say it. I want to remember Spindizzy.
The base game is a race against the clock. I control the Geographic ExploRAtion Landing Device (GERALD). GERALD is an ice-slick spinning top. I can boost it with the push of a button. I can also stop it on a flat surface, but that burns time. I get more time by collecting crystals. When the time runs out, the game gives me my score. I have collected 2% of the crystals. I have explored 2% of the map. I have completed 2% of the game. There are over 350 screens.
Where Spindizzy sings is in its world design. It’s even beautiful as a whole. From the starting area, I can go down four separate paths. One path leads to a beginner area with few threats. Another leads to mazes. Yet another goes to a series of jumps. Then there’s a section with switches, elevators, shifting platforms.
I messed around with this time-limited version of the game for some time. Then I got frustrated with it. I wanted to experiment and explore, but the time limit expects you to be expert at controlling the GERALD. I found a cracked version that stops the clock and lets me save. I have now explored 30% of the game. It’s satisfying to hit a ramp right, bounce on several trampolines, and land where I wanted. It feels great to glide around a maze and avoid gaps at lightning speed. I am making my way towards puzzling sections of the map, filled with switches and pyramids. I’m excited to see what they’ll make me do next.
Thank you @ellaguro for the recommendation!
8 Likes
Hardcore Gaming 101 claims Zanac was originally released in 1985:
This does not appear to be accurate. As far as is currently understood, the game was originally launched in July 1986 for the MSX.
It was ported to both the MSX2 and the Famicom Disk System later in 1986, and to the west in NES cartridge form in 1987.
I’m nominating the Famicom Disk System version of the game from November 1986.
This is probably my favorite 8-bit shooting game. I love the frenetic pace, the loopy chiptunes, the irreverence (those Compile smiley faces!).
Mustn’t forget this one, methinks. I just spent some time with it on my Vita.
7 Likes
This thread is making me realise just how much the 90s are the formative gaming years are for me.
I feel like Zelda 1 is the only other big one on the list here and I haven’t played it recently to comment.
GameCenter CX live episode of Mighty Bomb Jack is also called to mind but I have not played it recently or really much at all. It’s just that ep epitomises what is great about that game
3 Likes
I love Zanac. I ought to give the MSX version a spin. Compile rules.
I figure this is pretty common around (as well as a Japanese console-leaning foundation). I’m using this as an opportunity to play games that were released on microcomputers.
4 Likes
Zanac rules, yeah. I think the NES version is probably my favorite, but the MSX and MSX2 (Zanac EX) versions are also really good. Both are on EGGConsole if you want them on Switch and don’t feel like fucking with MSX emulation. Two other Zanacs to mention:
- One of the two GMode games to get released in the West for the Switch is the phone version of Zanac, which is still pretty good! No idea why it is on the western eShop though.
- Back on the PS3, Sony put Zanac X Zanac (PS1) on western shops as well, which is a remake of Zanac (it’s weird, but really good) and a port of the original. Definitely worth checking out, and also notable as the last Compile game published for consoles (a portable game was published on the same day).
5 Likes
I’m trying to get into Rebelstar. Thankfully, Retro Attic Mancave has me covered.
6 Likes
I played Rebelstar for an hour more than I planned on. I did it so I could say I won. I won.
I want to add Rebelstar to the list now. It’s a hot and fast tactics game. It turns wargaming into something more personal and immediate. The really beautiful thing about it is how it handles lasers.
Most of the time, you are going to be moving around the map and setting up shots. You can decide between three types of shots: an accurate shot, a snap shot, and an opportunity shot. The opportunity shot is marvelous. If an enemy is behind a cover, you can save your action points and aim where you think they’ll move on their turn. If they do, you fire on their turn before they get a chance to shoot. It’s not very accurate, but when it works it’s incredible.
The game always shows you the course of lasers fired and many will travel as far as they can until they hit something. Unbelievable accidents can happen. Once, I missed a robot and shot the squadmember standing next to me. He died because of my carelessness. Another time, the enemy shot and missed. Their laser traveled across three screens before it hit another robot.
Other details were revealed in that unplanned hour. You can pick up coffee tokens and use them in vending machines. Then you can spend a turn drinking coffee. I don’t know what this does for you. You can go into a shed and pick up a lawnmower. You can then take that lawnmower and cut the grass and weeds in the garden. Why? I don’t know.
What I do know is the ZX Spectrum is the ideal game platform. It’s cheap, gaudy, and barely functional. The only reason you would make something on it is the joy of creation. I can feel that joy in Rebelstar.
14 Likes
It’s amazing to think this concept was so fantastic it stuck in his head for the rest of his life, but the first time anyone else really noticed was when he made XCOM
8 Likes
Wow I’m glad you did this for me!
3 Likes
I just played through Victory Road, which I’ve mentioned before was, and maybe still is, my favorite arcade game.
The PS4 SNK anniversary collection version kindly converted it into a twin-stick shooter and added a rewind function, but it’s still pretty exhausting in the latter half with the requisite cheap kills of a 1980s arcade game.
7 Likes
That centipede thing over the title is amazing.
2 Likes
Okay, here’s one I’ve been sitting on: Relics. It has an EGGCONSOLE release and most of the game’s text is in English*.
The poetry of this opening image is sustained throughout. I hesitate to write more about it because it surprised me more than I thought was possible. Beauty, disgust, anger, and sorrow are all expressed. True to the title, the game feels like an artifact from an alien planet. The symbols and values of its parent culture are yours to decipher. I have gotten one ending with my limited understanding, but there are more for those who can live up to this lost civilization’s virtues.
*Or a cipher that can be decoded into English.
8 Likes
Nice. I will definitely check this out.
It is so cool. It was my first EGG CONSOLE game and I think it set the bar way too high.