What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2011 (Season 4)

[StanJr]

Karate Kid (NES) 25 mins.

Gumshoe (NES) 10 mins. (great game, controls are just too shoddy to be much fun)

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-455 minutes

 

 

 

High score of the week: 140,937

[littleman jack]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-455 minutes

 

 

 

High score of the week: 140,937

 

That's a really high score!

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (March 14th through 20th):

 

I'm sorry, but all of my gaming this week is non-eligible:

 

City Driver (Online) 12 minutes

Cityville (Facebook) 144 minutes in 15 sessions

Sim Taxi 2 (Online) 470 minutes in 3 sessions

Sim Taxi New York (Online) 10 minutes

Sim Taxi Berlin (Online) 10 minutes

Sim Taxi Lotopolis (Online) 10 minutes

The settlers (Facebook) 26 minutes in 8 sessions

 

Total gaming time: 682 minutes (97 minutes per day)

 

I actually had planned to play some classic games this week, but instead fell into "Sim Taxi 2" and its variants. Sim Taxi 2 is the successor to Sim Taxi, which is basically a simplified 2D version of "Crazy Taxi". You have to play 7 shifts in each of 5 cities, and in each shift, you have to meet a goal of earnings. Sadly, the game has some bugs... there are some inaccessible areas containing destination points, and if one of your passengers wants to go there, you're screwed since you can't eject a passenger and the passengers also don't ever leave the taxi unless they arrive at their destination. Also, saving games doesn't work, and playing through all the 35 missions in one setting would take an estimated 7-8 hours minimum since the missions tend to get longer and longer. I ended up writing a mail to the author informing him of the bugs.

 

"Sim Taxi New York", "Sim Taxi Berlin", "Sim Taxi Lotopolis" and "City Driver" are four more variants of Sim Taxi 2, and they add some additional features. In New York and Berlin, you get chased by the police if you drive too fast, and in New York, there are also big buildings which obstruct the street (and your taxi) below them. Also, in some of the cities you have a map showing your surroundings (which isn't there in Sim Taxi 2). And of course, each of the games has a different map. City Driver seems to be the most advanced of the pack with a huge city map (estimated at 256x256, compared to Sim Taxi 2's 32x32 maps) and a deeper storyline... you start out on a bicycle and have to ride to the taxi company to get a job there. With enough experience, you may also be hired by a hospital as an ambulance driver.

 

Apart from all of the Sim Taxi games which I spend a long time on this week, there were the usual short sessions of "Cityville" and "The settlers". In "Cityville", they added a big bunch of new quests and features. Unfortunately, for all of the new quests, you need to have some free land to put some new buildings on, and this is where I have the most difficulties since I need 20 zoning permits sent by friends for each additional 12x12 piece of land.

 

In "The settles", they also added two new quests some weeks ago, but all in all, the game is pretty monotonous.

[JayWI]

Intellivision

 

AD&D Cloudy Mountain - 50 minutes

Lock 'n' Chase - 30 minutes

Pitfall - 15 minutes

 

 

Arcade

 

Elevator Action - 20 minutes

Ironman Stewart's Super Off Road - 15 minutes

Q-bert - 110 minutes

Tapper - 10 minutes

 

 

Did the whole keeping track during the week and then doing one big post.

 

Played a lot of AD&D this week. I started at the lowest level and worked my way up. On the last difficulty I got to cloudy mountain but the winged dragon ate me. Tried this difficulty several times and just couldn't beat it. I always made some stupid mistake that cost me a life or two.

 

On the second to last difficulty I had the easiest map I have ever seen. Went through a grey mountain to get some arrows. Then through a purple mountain to get the key. Went through a gate. Quickly looked for the exit in another purple mountain. Walked right up to cloudy mountain but decided I'd go in one last grey mountain to stock up and finished. I think the whole game was somewhere around 8 minutes.

 

As you can see in the arcade realm I got addicted to Q-bert. I got the overall #1 score a while back of around 14000 and figured I could beat that easily. Well with each new score I tried to beat that. I finished the week with 29300. Well below the Twin Galaxies records but still an accomplishment for me.

 

With MGC next weekend I hope to have a few new games to try out. I had hoped I'd have a new game room to fill up with a pinball machine or arcade cabinet but not this year.

[+thegoldenband]

My times for Thursday - Sunday:

 

Arcade:

Kozmik Krooz'r - 5 min.

NARC - 45 min.

 

Intellivision:

Championship Tennis - 53 min.

 

Atari 8-bit:

Bruce Lee - 28 min.

Caverns of Khafka - 18 min.

Mr. Do's Castle - 28 min.

Way Out - 12 min.

 

NES:

Predator - 70 min.

 

Game Gear:

George Foreman's KO Boxing - 3 min.

 

Genesis:

Fatal Labyrinth - 50 min.

Mortal Kombat - 133 min.

Zoom - 88 min.

 

Dreamcast:

Speed Devils - 37 min.

Worms World Party - 53 min.

 

Finished Mortal Kombat and Zoom this week, though I may need to play through Zoom a second consecutive time to have truly beaten the game. I'd beaten Mortal Kombat before on lower difficulty settings, but this time I beat it on Very Hard/6 Continues, of which I only used two. Since the game offers a minimum of three continues, I'd say I've finished it off. Scorpion (whom I used) and Liu Kang certainly seem like the characters of choice in this Genesis port.

 

In addition, I beat the arcade version of NARC via Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for GameCube. Can't say I'm too impressed, but that final boss is a hassle and a half. Total quarter-eater.

 

I also had ambitions of trying to beat Championship Tennis, but got slaughtered on Championship mode, winning only one game in three matches (one on each surface). That'll take some doing.

 

Later on, I played a handful of Atari 8-bit games via emulation on the Dreamcast, including old favorite Mr. Do's Castle which I had on the 5200 as a kid. The 8-bit version seems identical except for the game over music, and I had a nice run, getting to Level 10 with 78,440 points and picking up a few EXTRAs along the way.

 

I hadn't played Bruce Lee, Caverns of Khafka, or Way Out before. Bruce Lee is good fun, though I haven't made it past the third underground scene yet. Khafka is intriguing, but seems unbelievably glitchy -- walking through walls, etc. -- maybe that's just the emulator, but the Video Game Critic described similar things. Way Out is interesting and technically impressive, but I'm not sure that there's enough payoff for repeated play.

 

Finally, I also used the Dreamcast to emulate Predator for NES. I seem to remember that I played this game for a few minutes years ago (maybe on real hardware?), and gave up very quickly in frustration. This time I got to Level 6 or so before losing interest. Apparently no matter how far you get in the game's twenty-odd stages, you always continue from Level 5 (actually the preceding "Big Mode"), which is fairly disheartening for a game with such slippery controls.

Edited March 21, 2011 by thegoldenband

[TheGameCollector]

Here is my time for the week:

 

Playstation:

Suikoden - 1392 minutes

 

I have fully completed the game with the best possible ending and all 108 characters alive. It's all I played all week. This game is an excellent early Playstation RPG.

[pinball22]

 

I hadn't played Bruce Lee, Caverns of Khafka, or Way Out before. Bruce Lee is good fun, though I haven't made it past the third underground scene yet.

 

I love Bruce Lee (played the C64 version, not the A8 one). I've actually managed to play all the way through it twice. Hint (assuming the versions work the same): when you get to the place with the extra life, it repops if you go back to the screen, and will do that five times. It means for you to get them once each time through for five times, but it's easier if you just get them all up front.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 12, running from March 14-20. We logged 3102 minutes of eligible play, playing 42 games on a total of 11 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Suikoden (PlayStation) - 1392

2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 455

3. Mortal Kombat (Genesis) - 133

4. Q*bert (Arcade) - 110

5. Gex (Sega Saturn) - 90

6. Zoom! (Genesis) - 88

7. Predator (NES/Famicom) - 70

8. Mass Destruction (Sega Saturn) - 55

9. Championship Tennis (Intellivision) - 53

9. Worms World Party (Dreamcast) - 53

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 455

2. Q*bert (Arcade) - 110

3. Championship Tennis (Intellivision) - 53

4. AD&D: Cloudy Mountain (Intellivision) - 50

5. Lock 'n' Chase (Intellivision) - 30

6. Bruce Lee (Atari 8-bit) - 28

6. Mr. Do's Castle (Atari 8-bit) - 28

8. Elevator Action (Arcade) - 20

8. Venture 2: The Abysmal Abyss (Atari 2600) - 20

10. Caverns of Khafka (Atari 8-bit) - 18

10. Kozmik Krooz'r (Arcade) - 18

 

Top 10 systems:

 

1. PlayStation (1392)

2. Atari 2600 (493)

3. Genesis (271)

4. Arcade (254)

5. Sega Saturn (190)

6. Intellivision (153)

7. NES/Famicom (140)

8. Atari 8-bit (111)

9. Dreamcast (90)

10. Linux (5)

 

The PlayStation stays at the top of the heap, with the RPG Suikoden vaulting into the 1000-minute club, while Kaboom is king of the pre-crash hill.

 

Weird and wacky week, with a big drop in all numbers and a relatively small number of systems played. Maybe it's the nice weather? Lots of arcade titles, though.

 

Also I just noticed that last week, VCS Kaboom crossed into the 30000-minute club!

[+thegoldenband]

Some side notes:

 

Linux

Maelstrom-5 minutes

Nikwi-3 minutes

From what I can tell, Maelstrom came out in 1998 and is eligible, and Nikwi is from the 2000s and isn't. I hope I got that right.

 

I love Bruce Lee (played the C64 version, not the A8 one). I've actually managed to play all the way through it twice. Hint (assuming the versions work the same): when you get to the place with the extra life, it repops if you go back to the screen, and will do that five times. It means for you to get them once each time through for five times, but it's easier if you just get them all up front.

Hey, nice tip! I'm not sure if I've gotten that far yet (assuming the versions are the same) but I'll keep my eyes peeled.

[zylon]

Should've got this in earlier, but...

2600:

Missile Command 1.5hrs

Mario Bros. 1.45

A8:

Berzerk 20min

GameGear:

Sonic Triple Trouble 15min (that I'd like to have back)

SMS:

Fantasy Zone II 25min

Shinobi 1.5hrs

Desert Speedtrap 10min

C64:

Speedball 10min

Crossfire 20min

Jawbreaker 10min

[psquare75]

SNES

King of Dragons - 2 hrs

[StanJr]

Karate Kid (NES) 15 mins. (I don't see why people hate on this game, it is actually pretty fun)

Rush'n Attack (NES) 10 mins.

[StanJr]

Karate Kid (NES) 20 mins. (FINALLY BEAT IT!)

Rush'n Attack (NES) 15 mins.

Section Z (NES) 15 mins.

[GKC]

Just got back from vacation and had a few games that I had bought waiting for me. I didn't have a lot of time but I wanted to test some out.

 

Saturn

 

Strikers 1945 - 20 min

Galactic Attack - 10 min

Nights into Dreams - 10 min

Need for Speed - 5 min

 

Sega CD

 

Ecco the Dolphin - 5 min

 

Strikers 1945 and Galactic Attack appear to be fantastic shmups. I have always wanted to fly the Messerschmitt in a shooter. It is a Japanese import so I can't follow the story but do stories really matter in shmups? Especially when you're flying and blowing crap up in a Messerschmitt?

[Sonic R]

Strikers 1945 and Galactic Attack appear to be fantastic shmups. I have always wanted to fly the Messerschmitt in a shooter. It is a Japanese import so I can't follow the story but do stories really matter in shmups? Especially when you're flying and blowing crap up in a Messerschmitt?

 

to get the best experience and truly enjoy these shooters, you have to TATE your television

 

my times for this week so far…

 

March 21:

 

Intellevision

Snafu - 15 minutes

Bump & Jump - 20 minutes

Pitfall - 40 minutes

 

NES

Section Z - 30 minutes

Trojan - 45 minutes

 

March 22:

 

Atari 5200

Super Breakout - 30 minutes

 

NES

Arakanoid - 1 hour

Legend of Kage - 30 minutes

 

March 23:

 

Atari 5200

Super Breakout - 25 minutes

 

NES

Arakanoid - 45 minutes

Elevator Action - 20 minutes

Legend of Kage - 30 minutes

 

Lynx

Klax - 30 minutes

[psquare75]

Wednesday

SNES - King of Dragons - 45 minutes (MUST BEAT THIS GAME)

Edited March 24, 2011 by psquare75

[+thegoldenband]

Times for Monday - Wednesday:

 

32X:

Mortal Kombat II - 34 min.

Supreme Warrior - 64 min.

Virtua Racing - 2 min.

 

I've had a sealed copy of Supreme Warrior sitting around for some time, and I finally cracked it open yesterday. After half an hour of floundering, I figured out the basic rhythm of the game and was able to defeat the Fire boss, so it's certainly not as unplayable as some folks like to claim -- at least on Apprentice difficulty.

 

Also beat Mortal Kombat II on Very Easy. Man, I don't know what people see in this port -- to me, it's inferior in almost every way to the SNES version. The graphics may look clean, but the sounds are messed up and the gameplay feels completely off. Maybe I'm biased because I use Jax, and one of his most effective combos doesn't work on the 32X, though it works in the arcade and SNES versions.

[StanJr]

All NES

 

Karate Kid 30 mins.

Rush n' Attack 15 mins.

Robowarrior 25 mins.

Section Z 15 mins.

Thunder and Lightning 10 mins.

[+thegoldenband]

32X:

Corpse Killer - 4 min.

 

Sega CD:

Sol-Feace - 203 min.

 

I can't think of another shooter as full of cheap shots as Sol-Feace. Shooters that require memorization to avoid unforeseeable attacks are a pet peeve of mine, and this game has lots of that. The worst offender of all is the boss of the next-to-last level, who has a heat-seeking quadruple laser attack that's almost impossible to avoid. I used an invincibility cheat and I still couldn't figure out a viable pattern for it.

[StanJr]

All NES

 

Karate Kid 20mins.

Section Z 30 mins.

[littleman jack]

Atari 800

Berzerk 25 minutes, and it's really difficult. Much harder than the 2600 version.

K-Razy Shoot-Out 35 minutes. A lot easier than Berzerk. Funny sound effects. Bleeps and bloops.

[GKC]

Friday:

 

Saturn:

 

Strikers 1945 - 35 min

Virtua Cop 2 - 20 min

 

Jaguar:

 

Zool 2 - 40 min

[+thegoldenband]

Sega CD:

Sol-Feace - 193 min.

 

Finally beat this on Normal difficulty, after numerous attempts. The key seems to be reaching the Level 5 boss with a full complement of missiles, and as he goes into position for the first heatseeking laser attack, hitting him so many times that it triggers the next attack cycle before he fires. After that the rest of the game is pretty easy.

 

Do I bother with Mania difficulty? Not sure...

[StanJr]

NES

 

Karate Kid 35 mins.

Section Z 5 mins.

Robo Warrior 45 mins.

Skull and Crossbones 10 mins.