What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2012 (Season 5)

[+thegoldenband]

Phil Collins/Genesis, isn't it? "Land of Confusion"?

 

In any event, Kurt, I hope you either regain your Spielvergnügen soon, or find even greater joy in life's other pleasures, e.g. friendship and sport. And thanks again for the yesteryear tips on Shamus GBC; there was really nothing else out there about the game!

[+thegoldenband]

My times for Friday - Sunday:

 

Odyssey^2:

Bowling/Basketball - 18 min.

 

NES:

Ninja Kid - 21 min.

Terra Cresta - 130 min.

 

Genesis:

Blades of Vengeance - 5 min.

DJ Boy - 2 min.

 

Sega CD:

After Burner III - 184 min.

Fahrenheit - 28 min.

 

Dreamcast:

Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm - 6 min.

MDK 2 - 7 min.

Virtua Fighter 3tb - 2 min.

Wacky Races - 8 min.

Xtreme Sports - 18 min.

 

Beat After Burner III on all difficulty levels over the weekend, and also "beat" Terra Cresta. Thoughts in the usual spot. I also messed around a bit with Fahrenheit, which I might try playing through at some point, but which has a seriously confusing navigation system.

 

Otherwise I tried out some new acquisitions, including Bowling!/Basketball! which my very tolerant fiancée was kind enough to play with me. Actually, the Bowling side of things wasn't too bad at all, but Basketball was pretty sad (though still more playable than Hockey!/Soccer!).

 

Among the Dreamcast games, a pleasant surprise was Xtreme Sports, which was unexpectedly visually beautiful and aurally appealing (except for the overly loud tune at the start of each race). MDK 2 also seemed pretty promising. I also tried to make further progress in Wacky Races but lost interest fairly quickly.

 

Besides Terra Cresta on the NES, I also took a crack at Ninja Kid. I've always had a soft spot for that game, though I don't 100% understand what's going on and am disappointed that there's no ending. AdamL sets a standard for beating 256 levels before calling the game beaten, but fortunately the folks at NA are happy with just eight, so I might try to reach that mark.

[twoquickcapri]

Atari 5200:

Donkey Kong Junior - 15 min.

 

Atari Jaguar:

Mad Bodies - 75 min.

 

Atari ST:

Vroom - 15 min.

 

PC-DOS:

Wolfenstein 3d - 30 min.

 

Sega Genesis:

Lotus Turbo Challenge II - 100 min.

[zylon]

through Sunday night:

 

5200:

Millipede- 25min

Beamrider- 20min

Gyruss- 35min

 

Lynx:

Kung Food- 35min

 

SMS:

Galaxy Force- 20min

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 33, running from August 13 - 20. We logged 1731 minutes of eligible play, playing 33 games on a total of 13 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 402

2. Shamus (Game Boy Color) - 379

3. After Burner III (Sega CD) - 184

4. Terra Cresta (NES/Famicom) - 130

5. Lotus II: R.E.C.S. (Genesis) - 100

6. Mad Bodies (Atari Jaguar) - 75

7. Two Crude Dudes (Genesis) - 44

8. Gyruss (Atari 5200) - 35

8. Kung Food (Atari Lynx) - 35

10. Wolfenstein 3D (PC (DOS)) - 30

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

Not enough entries for a top 10.

 

Top 10 systems:

 

1. Atari 2600 (422)

2. Game Boy Color (379)

3. Sega CD (261)

4. Genesis (151)

4. NES/Famicom (151)

6. Atari 5200 (95)

7. Atari Jaguar (75)

8. Sega Master System (58)

9. Dreamcast (41)

10. Atari Lynx (35)

 

A thin week, but a diverse Top 10, with only one system (the Genesis) appearing twice.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-465 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 232,954

[Kurt_Woloch]

Phil Collins/Genesis, isn't it? "Land of Confusion"?

Yes, that's it. Got it! Now I only have to find the time to record it...

In any event, Kurt, I hope you either regain your Spielvergnügen soon, or find even greater joy in life's other pleasures, e.g. friendship and sport. And thanks again for the yesteryear tips on Shamus GBC; there was really nothing else out there about the game!

Spielvergnügen? Where did you get the ü from? Does your keyboard have that? :-) Well anyway... äh... Spielvergnügen? Ich weiß nicht, ob ich das jemals wiedererlangen werde...

 

OK... I have to admit that it's extremely drab now in summer. There was hot weather from Monday through Friday, so I went swimming on all those 5 days. Only yesterday I managed to sneak in some gaming, so these are the times for this week (August 20th until 26th)...

 

Arcade:

Blasteroids - 94 min.

 

The only game I played this week was "Blasteroids" which I've played long ago in its Amiga version. This is actually a timed game in that you constantly lose energy which you have to replenish via crystals emerging from red asteroids. The problem is, in some stages there is only one red asteroid and some refill by clearing the stage, so you only have about 20 seconds to clear the stage without losing out even if you don't collide with any enemy. I didn't manage to last long on one credit in this game... I think the maximum time I made was about 2 minutes 50 seconds. Actually, I planned to play "Vidicators", another later Atari game, after that, but somehow it didn't quite work out.

[+thegoldenband]

Spielvergnügen? Where did you get the ü from? Does your keyboard have that? :-) Well anyway... äh... Spielvergnügen? Ich weiß nicht, ob ich das jemals wiedererlangen werde...

 

Auf einem Macintosh ist es einfach, option-U! Mit "Spielvergnügen" ich wollte eine Kombination von "gaming" und "enjoyment" ausdrücken. Wie viele Amerikaner glaube ich daß man immer in Deutsch ein nötiges Wort finden kann, durch zwei kurzer Wörter zusammenzwingen!

[zylon]

Lynx-

Kung Food 25min

 

5200-

Gyruss 20min

Beamrider 15min

 

SMS-

Galaxy Force 35min

 

GBA-

Namco Museum (Ms Pacman) 10 min

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

Atari 2600:

Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em - 4 min.

 

Arcade (via Namco collection on GameCube):

Galaga - 7 min.

Galaga Arrangement - 3 min.

Pole Position - 4 min.

 

Game Boy:

Alleyway - 90 min.

Dead Heat Scramble - 45 min.

George Foreman's KO Boxing - 2 min.

 

Genesis:

Altered Beast - 142 min.

Animaniacs - 29 min.

ATP Tour Championship Tennis - 35 min.

Columns III - 19 min.

Herzog Zwei - 53 min.

Junction - 12 min.

MERCS - 33 min.

Two Crude Dudes - 42 min.

Warrior of Rome - 273 min.

 

This week I beat Alleyway, a tedious Breakout clone for Game Boy, and Altered Beast. Thoughts starting here. Actually, the more I've played Altered Beast, the more I've come to appreciate it -- somehow it manages to be fun despite its shortcomings. (Indeed, some of its shortcomings probably make the game more fun.)

 

I also got about halfway through the Genesis strategy game Warrior of Rome, beating the first two stages, and the Game Boy racer Dead Heat Scramble, beating 5 of 10 races. Both are firmly in the category of "mediocre at best", though the latter was a reasonable way to pass the time while waiting for my laundry at the laundromat. Warrior of Rome is terribly shallow, and has a downright misleading instruction manual, but I'll admit to getting some satisfaction from getting through those stages.

 

Further on the Genesis tip, i played some co-op games with my fiancée. We beat the easiest settings on Two Crude Dudes, got smoked thrice by the computer in ATP Tennis doubles, were underwhelmed by our first taste of Herzog Zwei, and split two games of Columns III. I also sampled Animaniacs and Junction, neither of which grabbed me (though Junction is certainly challenging), and went back to MERCS only to be reminded of why I'd abandoned the game in the first place.

 

Finally, I tried a smattering of arcade games poorly ported, and a very distinctive Atari 2600 title that I used for my "What cart am I?" entry earlier this week. I'd love to talk to the programmer someday and find out what on earth he was thinking...

[twoquickcapri]

Atari Jaguar:

Zoop! - 60 min.

 

Atari ST:

Eliminator - 10 min.

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 3 - 30 min.

Parasol Stars - 10 min.

Simcity - 60 min.

Vroom - 20 min.

 

Nintendo SNES:

Un Squadron - 60 min.

 

Sega CD:

Jaguar XJ220 - 70 min.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 34, running from August 20 - 26. We logged 1777 minutes of eligible play, playing 31 games on a total of 11 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 465

2. Warrior of Rome (Genesis) - 273

3. Altered Beast (Genesis) - 142

4. Blasteroids (Arcade) - 94

5. Alleyway (Game Boy) - 90

6. Jaguar XJ220 (Sega CD) - 70

7. Zoop! (Atari Jaguar) - 60

7. Sim City (Atari ST) - 60

7. UN Squadron (SNES) - 60

10. Herzog Zwei (Genesis) - 53

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 465

2. Sim City (Atari ST) - 60

3. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 3 (Atari ST) - 30

4. Gyruss (Atari 5200) - 20

4. Vroom (Atari ST) - 20

6. Beamrider (Atari 5200) - 15

7. Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade) - 10

7. Eliminator (Atari ST) - 10

7. Parasol Stars (Atari ST) - 10

10. Galaga (Arcade) - 7

 

Top 10 systems:

 

1. Genesis (638)

2. Atari 2600 (469)

3. Game Boy (137)

4. Atari ST (130)

5. Arcade (118)

6. Sega CD (70)

7. Atari Jaguar (60)

7. SNES (60)

9. Atari 5200 (35)

9. Sega Master System (35)

 

Kirk: Khan... Khan, you've got Genesis, but you don't have me. You were going to kill me, Khan. You're going to have to come down here. You're going to have to come down here!

Khan: I've done far worse than kill you, Admiral. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her; marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet... buried alive! Buried alive...!

Kirk: KABOOOOOOM!

[echo]

Kirk: KABOOOOOOM!

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!- 552 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 329,997

 

So close to extending this game. I just needed one more bomb.

[twoquickcapri]

Atari ST:

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge - 140 min.

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 3 - 70 min.

Simcity - 60 min.

Vroom - 45 min.

[Kurt_Woloch]

Auf einem Macintosh ist es einfach, option-U! Mit "Spielvergnügen" ich wollte eine Kombination von "gaming" und "enjoyment" ausdrücken. Wie viele Amerikaner glaube ich daß man immer in Deutsch ein nötiges Wort finden kann, durch zwei kurzer Wörter zusammenzwingen!

 

Uh... OK. With longer sentences, the errors start creeping in. The actual translation of "Spielvergnügen", however, would be "joy of gaming". Don't know if you meant that.

 

Anyway... here are my times for this week (August 27th through September 2nd)...

 

actually, I only played a single game, but I think for longer than last week... no, actually, I played two, but only one of them is eligible for the Top 10:

 

Arcade:

Blasteroids - 169 min. in 2 sessions

 

Online (non-eligible):

Catch em if you can - 11 min.

 

Catch em if you can is a time management game where you have to feed hens, put their eggs into a basket, clean them and put them in a clean nest. Oh, and they try to escape if you wait too long with any step. Gets boring quickly.

 

I set "Blasteroids" to the easiest difficulty, but it doesn't seem to do much. Stlll, I got farther in it than last week, to the last screen before you attack Mukor. It's really important clearing the screens as fast as you can. It's a good idea to save the red asteroids for last because the crystals will be easier to catch if you don't have to dodge as many other asteroids on the way. Also, the crystals tend to avoid the asteroids, so they wander around on screen the more erratically, the more asteroids there still are. You should also take advantage of all the extras you get by shooting the UFO's. Ripstar gets you faster through a screen, as well as the blaster. It's best to employ Ripstar at the start of a screen, for instance the one following the screen on which you picked it up.

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

Atari 2600:

Shuttle Orbiter - 38 min.

 

NES:

Bard's Tale - 279 min.

 

Genesis:

Superman - 91 min.

Warrior of Rome - 601 min.

 

3DO:

Insector War - 14 min.

Mazer - 180 min.

 

Beat Warrior of Rome (after many hours of labor) and Mazer (on my first playthrough). Thoughts here and here, respectively.

 

Otherwise I worked a bit on the Genesis action title Superman, a title by Sunsoft which plays somewhat like their games for the NES, e.g. Batman, but is not as good. I wasn't able to make it past the final boss of the second level, though I've heard the game improves after that. I also started working on The Bard's Tale for NES, for the "beat every NES game in a year" drive at NintendoAge. It's a pleasant surprise, and is far less clunky than I was expecting.

 

Finally I checked out a couple titles that were new to me: Insector War for 3DO, which is a Japanese exclusive in which cutesy insects duel FPS-style, with a terrible framerate; and the frustrating Shuttle Orbiter for VCS, which has a great concept but very tetchy gameplay. In particular the intended location of the space station pieces is hard to divine, which leads to a lot of inadvertent breakage and muttered expletives.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 35, running from August 27 - Sept. 2. We logged 2239 minutes of eligible play, playing 12 games on a total of 6 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Warrior of Rome (Genesis) - 601

2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 552

3. Bard's Tale (NES/Famicom) - 279

4. Mazer (3DO) - 180

5. Blasteroids (Arcade) - 169

6. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Atari ST) - 140

7. Superman (Genesis) - 91

8. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 3 (Atari ST) - 70

9. Sim City (Atari ST) - 60

10. Vroom (Atari ST) - 45

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

Not enough entries for a top 10.

 

Top 10 systems:

 

Not enough entries for a top 10.

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this week...

 

As in some previous weeks, I played only a single game:

 

Commodore 64:

Alleykat - 37 min.

 

For anyone who doesn't know the game... Alleykat is a vertically scrolling kind of space shooter / racing game where you have to take part in "races" you have to survive in order to get some gold. You need that gold later to participate in further races, and it's game over if you don't have enough gold left to participate in any further races. On the way to your goal, you shoot at various enemies and obstacles and try to dodge the most severe of them. You should take note of the type of event... depending on if it's Slalom, Survival, Demolition or others, you get bonus points for performing different actions. But the most important thing of all is to finish each race because you don't get any gold if you crash before reaching the goal. To help prevent this, you should fly over "E"'s taking away some of the damage that occurs by crashing into obstacles, enemies or hostile fire. The game shines with Andrew Braybook's distinct style of graphics and sound and smooth scrolling and action.

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!- 861 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 393,605

[zylon]

5200:

River Raid 25min

[twoquickcapri]

Atari 7800:

Commando - 30 min.

 

Atari Jaguar:

Tempest 2000 - 75 min.

 

Atari ST:

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge - 45 min.

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 3 - 45 min.

Vroom - 30 min.

 

Nintendo SNES:

Top Gear - 60 min.

[+thegoldenband]

Almost forgot to add my own times!

 

Atari 2600:

Missile Command - 30 min.

RealSports Boxing - 4 min.

Star Wars: Jedi Arena - 5 min.

Super Breakout - 3 min.

 

NES:

Bard's Tale - 289 min.

 

Genesis:

Two Crude Dudes - 46 min.

Wayne's World - 3 min.

 

SNES:

Mortal Kombat II - 40 min.

 

3DO:

Kingdom: The Far Reaches - 125 min.

Off-World Interceptor - 17 min.

 

I did a lot of controller testing using MKII, Missile Command, and Super Breakout. Otherwise I tried a terrible 3DO game (Off-World Interceptor), got thwarted at the final boss of Two Crude Dudes, and made steady progress in Bard's Tale and Kingdom: The Far Reaches.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 36, running from Sept. 3 - 9. We logged 1770 minutes of eligible play, playing 19 games on a total of 10 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 861

2. Bard's Tale (NES/Famicom) - 289

3. Kingdom: The Far Reaches (3DO) - 125

4. Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar) - 75

5. Top Gear (SNES) - 60

6. Two Crude Dudes (Genesis) - 46

7. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Atari ST) - 45

7. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 3 (Atari ST) - 45

9. Mortal Kombat II (SNES) - 40

10. Alleykat (C64) - 37

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 861

2. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge (Atari ST) - 45

2. Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge 3 (Atari ST) - 45

4. Alleykat (C64) - 37

5. Missile Command (Atari 2600) - 30

5. Commando (Atari 7800) - 30

5. Vroom (Atari ST) - 30

8. River Raid (Atari 5200) - 25

9. Star Wars: Jedi Arena (Atari 2600) - 5

10. RealSports Boxing (Atari 2600) - 4

 

Top 10 systems:

 

1. Atari 2600 (903)

2. NES/Famicom (289)

3. 3DO (142)

4. Atari ST (120)

5. SNES (100)

6. Atari Jaguar (75)

7. Genesis (49)

8. C64 (37)

9. Atari 7800 (30)

10. Atari 5200 (25)

 

It's "a supreme test of reflexes, coordination, and agility", and it reigns supreme once again this week!

[+cvga]

Back to Baseball Stars - 270 minutes (NES)

Dragon Warrior - 385 minutes (NES)

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!- 541 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 161,871