Nostalgic

I didn't intend for it to be a review... I just ended up with a few comments to share before I asked about everyone's opinions. I guess I got a little verbose.

Has anyone else picked up Ultimate Card Games for the GBA? I, of course, had to. It was a difficult search, too. The stores I checked in Michigan didn't seem to even know what it was, much less carry it. I ended up finding it at a mall in Mentor, OH, a suburb of Cleveland. (No, I didn't drive down there just for the game. I was visiting a friend near Cleveland and stumbled upon the game.) The big surprise for me was the graphics and interface. Both try to simulate play on a computer rather than a video game console. The D-pad controls a mouse cursor (though it thankfully jumps from option to option or card to card, making for fast movement). There's a drop-down menu at the top. The computer players even have names and faces. There's about an hour's worth of background music. As for the card games, there are a lot of them, especially in the solitaire group. I've yet to play every game since there are so many. A nice feature is the ability to tweak the rules of many of the regular card games. It's good to finally play Hearts without all the "be nice to each other" rules - you can set it up to allow playing hearts before they are broken, play points on the first trick, and not lead with the two of clubs. However, I do miss the ability to bid blind in Spades (this one only allows blind nil bids) and to add the jokers as the Big Spade and Little Spade. Also odd is that in Euchre, 10 points is not one of the options for end score, nor is there a "stick the dealer" option. (I found that the computer players have not yet passed around the table. When I passed on the second round, just to see if I could, there was a pause of several seconds.) You cannot count your own points in Cribbage, but since the computer does it for you, it does make for a fast game. The computer players do seem to be pretty sharp in some cases; I've generally been solidly beat at Gin Rummy (which I admittedly don't play much) and Hearts. However, I've also backed into shooting the moon in Hearts; the computer doesn't seem to try to spread the points around to prevent this. The worst playing I've seen so far comes in Euchre (though it's no surprise that I would notice this ). If a computer player goes alone, it may lead low trump or an off-suit rather than coming out blazing, draining all the opponent's trump. I also ordered the right bower into a computer player's hand (I had five trump in mine) and I never saw that player use it - apparently, he discarded it! If you have picked up this game, how do you like it, and have you noticed any other peculiar behavior?

You're only the second person I know of who does that. The first one was a girl in my class at college. I saw her play Galaga at the Keller (the student union at the time) with her hands crossed, using the right to move the ship and the left to fire. It worked pretty well, but I could not believe that it would even after seeing it. I still don't. What made you try it?

I'm also left-handed, and tend to take a left-handed approach to things in which there is an option - brushing my teeth, using a fork or spoon, bowling, playing pool, etc. I wear my watch on my right wrist; I don't think I've ever seen anyone else do it. The right-handedness of a joystick never bothered me. Even though I have a Tac-2, which has two buttons, I still play as if it's a right-handed-only stick. When I go to the arcade, where many sticks are on the left, I don't have a problem switching to it. D-pads don't bother me in terms of handedness. I guess I just get accustomed to whatever control scheme is available. I don't know if how I play cards is considered left-handed... I hold the cards with my right hand and sort them with low on the left, high on the right...

It is a pretty tough game. I think it's because there are so many more possibilites to make four in a row than we are used to looking for in regular tic-tac-toe. If you're setting up a defense, you have to be very careful. If you're going on the offensive, it can be difficult to create a situation in which you cannot be blocked. I find that my success in playing against humans is that they end up seeing fewer possibilities than I do - that's it! Most of the time they'll miss the ones that go across all four levels, especially if I do something like start in the closest row on the top level and go toward the back row on the bottom level, or from right to left. Since all the Atari is doing is methodically running through all possible wins, it won't miss those that a normally two-dimensional thinker will miss.

Today's Detroit Free Press has an article "Pistons at Play" here. It describes what some of the Detroit Pistons (the pro basketball team local to the area) do in their off-time. One of the Pistons that is profiled - Elden Campbell - is a big video gamer and enjoys several older consoles, including the 2600!

When I went off to college in the early '90s, neither my 2600 nor 130XE went with me. My interest in both had faded somewhat, particularly after getting a shiny new (at the time) 386 PC and discovering freeware, shareware, and FTP sites. I filled my gaming time with clones of Arkanoid and Tetris, plus a liberal dose of Scorched Earth. After I graduated I went off for one semester of graduate school before bailing. One of the things that kept me sane was a little Atari-inspired game called Indenture. For those unfamiliar with it, it's a DOS-based PC game that is a remake of Adventure with about 10 times as many rooms. I really enjoyed that, playing for hours. (No, it's not why I bailed out of grad school.) It did spark an interest in my old game days. When I returned home, I pulled out my old 2600 (which my parents thankfully never got rid of) and some games, and recaptured the fun. I learned it was still possible to get some games through Radio Shack's mail order service and through Atari directly; when my birthday rolled around I asked for some new games. While I never did much more with the 130XE short of finding a copy of and beating Ultima I, my 2600 stayed connected, and it and my collection of games have followed me through all my moves since then.

It was definitely nice to see quite a few people come down for the event. It's unfortunate that I was only able to be there for a short time, having to leave before 5:00 to make it to Animania. (It's a monthly tradition with some of my local friends that has been going on for over two years now.) However, I was glad to meet several of the people from AA and DP, and have faces to connect with names (which I will surely forget, as I am bad with them). One thing I'll definitely remember is being humbled. I consider myself a fairly decent gamer, but I know there are those who can blow me out of the water without much effort. For example, my best performance at Q*bert is getting to Level 9 Round 1, but when I was at PC3 I saw somebody playing at that level with a string of extra lives left. While at Pinball Pete's, I learned some new strategies for playing Mr. Do - don't concentrate on getting the 500 points for a string of cherries; there are bigger prizes to focus on - and witnessed Jess command Marvel vs. Capcom while holding an in-depth conversation about import and fighting games for the Sega Saturn with Tempest. Yikes. Considering my only skill at fighting games is getting beaten handily, I was very impressed by this, and was reminded that I am but a casual gamer in a sea of experts. If this happens again next year, hopefully I'll be able to stick around. For now, it's just nice to see the Michigan gaming enthusiasts all come together for a little while.

Huzzah!

Mine hasn't given me that kind of problem. However, for as long as I can remember (and I got this cart when I was very young), there are garbage pixels that move along with one of the players. They aren't part of the collision detection, so it doesn't affect game play.

I'll second praise for the TAC-2. I replaced my original sticks with them years ago and they continue to be very good sticks. The throw is small, the fit is comfortable... I only wish I could use one with modern systems! The only problem I have is the buttons are a bit unresponsive, but I attribute that to age. Do you think cleaning it would help, and if so, with what? (I've got some WD-40 somewhere...)

I don't know how many of you who are going are regulars in downtown Ann Arbor. For those who are not, here are my recommendations for parking... If you're arriving before 6:00 PM, go to the Liberty Square parking garage. The entrance is on Washington just a bit west of State. There's a few metered spots on the second floor, but above that, you pay just $2 for unlimited time if it's Saturday or Sunday or after 3:00 PM on a weekday. (There's a gate; to raise the bar, put $2 into the machine. It takes quarters, dollar coins (!), and $1, $5, and $10 bills.) Compare that to 95 cents per hour at the lot next to Borders. You'll have to cross the Diag to get over to S. University and Pinball Pete's, but it's not a long walk at all. If you're arriving after 6:00 PM, go to the U-M lot on Church Street, just north of S. University. It's free past 6:00 PM and a stone's throw away from Pinball Pete's. (Walk down to S. University, cross S. Univ., turn left, and you're there before the next light.) There is a parking garage behind Pinball Pete's, but I think that one's got an hourly rate.

Frell! That's the same day as Animania, several hours of free anime on U-M's campus. Actually, it may still work out. I have a friend who has one of the series and I've seen part of another, so perhaps I might be able to escape. We'll see. I guess this makes me a "maybe"...

How about the weekly flea markets, like Gibraltar Trade Center and the one whose name I forget on Dixie Highway up in Pontiac? I've pondered going to these on occasion, but haven't done so yet.

Though not Atari 2600-related, I've had a number of dreams that involve the early Ultima games, which I played on an Atari 8-bit computer. Sometimes I'm playing, sometimes I'm sort of in a crazy variant of the world, and sometimes both. More commonly, I find myself playing a broken Pac-Man - usually the arcade game, though occasionally the cartridge. The maze is usually different, Pac-Man doesn't move as expected, and the ghosts are often absurdly fast or smart. I don't think books on dream symbology have started to include video games yet. A friend of mine who occasionally studies dreams said it's probably an archetype unique to me, or at least a small group of people. Could there be meaning in broken Pac-Man games? Possibly...

Ah, hacks, rather than homebrews... that clears it up. I'd have been really surprised to see games from the last couple of years show up on multicarts. How is Berzerk II different from Berzerk?

Homebrews on a multicart? Which ones?

He was reviewing the PS2 version of "Midway's Arcade Treasures" and the PC version of "Activision Anthology". He doesn't mention the GBA or Mac versions of the latter. The article is now available here.

The Sunday edition of the Detroit Free Press has a weekly video games column called "Game On!". A few games are reviewed and a couple of short artlcles are given. Today (February 1), there were reviews of "Midway's Arcade Treasures" and "Activision Anthology"! There's also a brief snippet about the Jakks Pacific "Namco TV Games" system-in-a-stick. The reviewer liked both collections, and I was happy just to see retrogaming titles get any notice at all. Sadly, he did not mention the fact that "Anthology" carries seven homebrew games. One of the authors is practically in the Free Press' back yard! Oh well - at least "Anthology" got press! P.S. The article is not available online yet. It's only in print. Check http://www.freep.com/gameon periodically to see it a little later. (It should appear either tomorrow or next Sunday; I don't know how quickly the Freep publishes its print articles online.)

I remember catching by accident an episode of "Cribs" on MTV, featuring Fatboy Slim. He said he kept his old Atari ST around because it was so much more accurate for timing than more modern computers. That is, if a memory from a couple of years ago is correct...

Keystone Kapers is the first one that I unlocked on the GBA version. The slight slowdown might help a bit, though it's hard sometimes to make quick moves with that tiny D-pad... (I have an SP, so it really is small.) Give this one a try. Once you get a couple of timings down, you can go far.

Thanks for the kind kudos! It's a real thrill to see Euchre (or Video Euchre, whichever you prefer) on a modern system. It's actually a thrill to see all those old games and the homebrews together and in the hands of today's gamers. I finally got my copies of Activision Anthology three days ago and the GBA version has been a constant companion. Of course I had to show it off to my friends! Many thanks to the folks at Activision, Aspyr, Mumbo Jumbo, Barking Lizards, and MacPlay for putting this package together and promoting classic gaming!

How about the Acey-Deucey variant of Backgammon?

Good point! Both the printed and electronic dictionaries have a lot of loan-words that would be written in katakana, but not proper names, so I'm not surprised "arumana" isn't there. Could someone post a title screen shot, box, manual, or something that shows the title in Japanese itself? Perhaps that would help. (It might be useful not only for knowing which syllabary is used, but to see if there are any long vowels; romanization doesn't always account for them.)

The name "Euchre," from what the folks at Activision told me, is trademarked. (I guess some other company put out a Euchre game at some point and called it "Euchre.") Activision couldn't include the game under that name. I was asked to come up with an alternative name. I suggested "Video Euchre" to go along with the fine Atari tradition of "Video" plus something else, like "Video Checkers" and "Video Chess."