What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2013 (Season 6)

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!-198 minutes

 

 

 

High score of the week: 92,462

 

[carlsson]

This week I played zero minutes of retro games. Actually if I don't count a few lazy rounds of Freecell in Windows, I played zero minutes of games at all.

[zylon]

A8-

 

Aquatron- 20min

Juno First- 25min

Space hawks of Avabanana 4- 40min

 

5200-

 

Moon Patrol- 15min

[WispFollower]

Colecovision

Girl's Garden - 20 minutes

Magical Tree - 45 minutes

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

Genesis:

Doom Troopers - 523 min.

Jewel Master - 39 min.

King's Bounty - 2 min.

Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing - 11 min.

RBI Baseball 4 - 164 min.

Toxic Crusaders - 2 min.

PlayStation:

Blaster Master: Blasting Again - 165 min.

TI-99/4A:

Alpiner - 33 min.

Super Demon Attack - 5 min.

Tombstone City -16 min.

Video Games 1 - 8 min.

I triumphed over the aggravating, cheapo-heavy Doom Troopers, an action-platformer/run-'n'-gun that starts out ugly, gets even uglier, and is downright hideous on higher difficulties. I beat all three difficulty levels in succession, and also figured out how to access the secret extra level. The highest difficulty, Brutal, is unapologetically unfair in places, and beating the game requires a mix of memorization, trickery, and luck.

Also on the Genesis I played a few more games of RBI Baseball 4, made a failed attempt to beat Jewel Master (I can't remember the trick to the Level 4 boss), and was reminded of why I hate most Pole Position-style racing games, courtesy of Nigel Mansell.

Also spent some time with Blaster Master: Blasting Again for PlayStation. It's plagued with loading times, but otherwise seemed like a fairly playable 3D platformer; however, I've reached a point where I have no clue what to do, and I've discovered that the game apparently doesn't retain the automap between save/loads. If that's correct, it's inexcusable -- Super Metroid retained it, so why can't a game that's one console generation and five years later?!

Finally, I tried out a few new acquisitions for the TI-99/4A, and managed to clear Everest for the first time in Alpiner. Fortunately I'd already read that the game had two more loops, but I was surprised at how much harder it gets in the second loop, and I was only able to clear one mountain. I was even more shocked when I put in a cheat code to go straight to Everest on the third loop -- the game becomes literally unplayable, as you're constantly getting nailed by falling objects that seek you out and travel much too fast to avoid! Am I missing something, or is it just impossible to clear?

[AtariBrian]

Atari 2600

Toyshop Trouble - 140 minutes

Evil magician 2 - 30 minutes

 

Colecovision

Sidetrak - 30 minutes

 

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for the past week (Sept. 23rd through 29th)...

 

Online (non-eligible):

Go Karts - 46 min.

On the run The Escape - 10 min.

 

Sorry, no classic games this week. I got out of the hospital on Tuesday, and then I tried hard to catch up and to prepare for another gig I have next Saturday, as well as our company's Christmas party where I'll be playing with the "BRZ Singers", and we'll have our first rehearsal in a few days.

 

Both games I played are 3D racing games... Go Karts is a Go Kart racing game with a few extras, while On The Run The Escape is a car chase game, but it seems to be somewhat broken as the car pulls to the left sharply.

 

Lastly, I want to apologize for straying too far off topic last week.

[+thegoldenband]

Lastly, I want to apologize for straying too far off topic last week.

 

No need for apologies whatsoever, everything you posted was welcome! Heck, everything you post is welcome; your thoughtful reflections and digressions are a big part of what make these threads lively. As long as you don't post a 1000-word essay comparing the artistic oeuvres of Britney Spears and David Hasselhoff*, I think we're good.

 

*(you can just send me that one via PM, of course)

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 39, running from September 23 - 29. We logged 1790 minutes of eligible play, playing 43 games on a total of 9 systems.

Top 10:

1. Doom Troopers: The Mutant Chronicles (Genesis) - 523

2. Toyshop Trouble (Atari 2600) - 222

3. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 198

4. Blaster Master: Blasting Again (PlayStation) - 165

5. RBI Baseball 4 (Genesis) - 164

6. Magical Tree (ColecoVision) - 45

7. Space Hawks of Avabanana 4 (Atari 8-bit) - 40

8. Jewel Master (Genesis) - 39

9. Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy) - 33

9. Alpiner (TI-99) - 33

Pre-NES top 10:

1. Toyshop Trouble (Atari 2600) - 222

2. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 198

3. Magical Tree (ColecoVision) - 45

4. Space Hawks of Avabanana 4 (Atari 8-bit) - 40

5. Alpiner (TI-99) - 33

6. Evil Magician Returns (Atari 2600) - 30

6. Sidetrak (ColecoVision) - 30

8. Juno First (Atari 8-bit) - 25

9. Aquatron (Atari 8-bit) - 20

9. Girl's Garden (ColecoVision) - 20

Top 10 systems:

Not enough entries for a top 10. (The Genesis would be #1, with 766 minutes.)

If you like skeletons that vomit toxic sludge and can only be harmed by their own bones, then our top game this week is right up your alley, as the Genesis run-'n'-gun Doom Troopers takes the #1 spot. Meanwhile, the far more family-friendly (and dinner-friendly) title Toyshop Trouble edges out Kaboom on the pre-NES charts.

In other news, RBI Baseball 4 becomes the newest member of the 1000-minute club this week. I believe it's the 108th game to cross that milestone, but I'd have to double-check. And speaking of which, Kaboom is creeping up on a milestone of its own...

[karokoenig]

Quick question, thegoldenband, or to anyone who can help:

 

Recently, I picked up two classic arcade game compilations for PC; Taito Legends and Namco Museum. Do the games qualify as emulated arcade games, and are thus eligible for our little statistical endeavour? I know too few of the original machines to determine how well the games are emulated. Pac Man and Phoenix look pretty close to the original, though...

[+thegoldenband]

Yep, they should count. Unless they've clearly been rewritten or otherwise changed, emulated compilations of classic titles are fair game. I've never played the PC version of the Namco series, but I've played titles on the PlayStation and GameCube, and counted them in here.

[+cvga]

Back to the Intellivision...

 

Major League Baseball - 32 minutes

 

4-4 tie heading into the 9th inning where I unfortunately hit back-to-back homeruns. I usually lose by 'accident' while making my son work on his fielding. It's amazing how many bases I over run. Sometimes I forget to run altogether or at least give him a head start to the ball.

[karokoenig]

Atari 2600

Midnight Magic: 255 min

Outlaw: 8 min

Video Pinball: 71 min

 

VC20

Mole Attack: 5 min

 

Arcade

Battle Shark: 4 min

Jungle Hunt: 7 min

Phoenix: 5 min

Rastan: 6 min

Space Invaders: 5 min

Super Quix: 7 min

(Taito Legends Compilation for PC, 2005)

 

Game Boy Color

Rayman: 6 min

 

 

Another wild mix this week. Pinball week in the HSC.

 

And you will never guess where I played Outlaw... In the museum for which I work. We have a special exhibition right now, called "Erzähl mir was vom Tod" ("Let's talk about death"). Part of the exhibition is a real Atari 2600 console! Outlaw is plugged in and can be played by the visitors. It's installed there as an example of death in early video games. I challenged one of our young interns for a match .

 

The other good news this week: the VC20 I picked up complete with datasette and wiring works like a champ, now that I bought a SCART cable. The game Mole Attack is quite a stinker, though. Still I don't regret buying it. Never ever used a game cartridge in a Commodore computer before. Back in the days, we hardly knew what that cart slot in the back of the C64 was supposed to do... I'm expecting a few cassette tapes with programs soonish, so stay tuned for more VC20 gameplay time.

 

(Edited. reason: another few attempts at video pinball)

Edited October 5, 2013 by karokoenig

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Kaboom!- 403 minutes

 

 

High score of the week: 263,653

 

 

It was a pretty good week. I started getting some higher scores.

 

[carlsson]

Yay! I got to play some games this week, a whopping 41 minutes!

 

Arcade:
Ghosts 'n Goblins - 7 min

 

Colecovision:
Mouse Trap - 2 min

 

Famicom:
Super Mario Bros 3 - 10 min

 

MSX:
Bomberman Special - 2 min
Malaika Prehistoric Quest - 3 min
Nemesis 2 - 2 min
The Godzilla vs 3 Major Monsters - 2 min

 

MSX2:
Metal Gear 1 - 2 min

 

Odyssey^2 / Philips Videopac G7000:
K.C. Munchkin! - 2 min

 

Sega SG-1000:
Orguss - 4 min
Safari Race - 5 min

 

All happened during retro gaming event, when I took breaks from my crew duty to "test" some of the system we had put up so they still worked. I couldn't play long stretches, so it was a short game here, a short game there.

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this week (Sept. 30th through Oct. 6th)...

 

Commodore 64:

Frantic Freddie - 36 min.

 

Sorry, that's the only game I played this week. I played it after making an MP3 file with all songs of the game stringed together in a fairly meaningful way. Then I went to see how many of the levels I actually could make. There are 16 levels in total, followed by a kill screen, and there's 11 tunes... one title tune (Crazy little thing called love), one level-end tune, one intermission tune (Don't bring me down) and eight level tunes. So after making Level 8, the tunes would repeat for the second 8 levels, but I didn't get that far... I think I only made Level 4 or 5.

 

Other than that, there wasn't much time for gaming since I had a gig yesterday where I played together with some of my relatives for the first time, and I took several hours to prepare for it this week. My cousin played the violin, her son played the clarinet and the piano, and the daughter of another cousin was singing songs by Adele and others while I played the keyboard and provided backing vocals on some songs.

[zylon]

5200-

 

Centipede- 25min

[+thegoldenband]

My times for the week:

 

Genesis:

Hit the Ice - 19 min.

The Incredible Crash Dummies - 165 min.

Jewel Master - 133 min.

RBI Baseball 4 - 247 min.

Warrior of Rome - 366 min.

Atari Jaguar:

Kasumi Ninja - 25 min.

Trevor McFur - 41 min.

PlayStation:

Sorcerer's Maze - 60 min.

"Re-beat" Jewel Master (on Normal) and Warrior of Rome, and then I beat Incredible Crash Dummies for the first time.

I also got a Jaguar with a couple games, which I played a bit over the weekend. Kasumi Ninja seems pretty dire, but Trevor McFur is kinda fun.

Otherwise I played yet more games in RBI Baseball 4; lost two 2-1 games to the CPU in Hit the Ice; and discovered Sorcerer's Maze for PlayStation, a nifty little budget title in the Arkanoid/Breakout vein. It's a great choice for 2P co-op gaming, and is just as viable with an inexperienced gamer as with a pro.

[twoquickcapri]

Atari XL/XE:

Pac-Man - 15 min.

 

Neo Geo AES/MVS:

Neo Drift Out - 15 min.

 

 

I finally figure out what was wrong with my 130xe (Bad Ram), and have the new parts on order. So next week I hope to full up the list with the old 8-bitter's games.

[+thegoldenband]

Here's the summary for Week 40, running from September 30 - October 6. We logged 2002 minutes of eligible play, playing 36 games on a total of 18 systems.

Top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 403

2. Warrior of Rome (Genesis) - 366

3. Midnight Magic (Atari 2600) - 255

4. RBI Baseball 4 (Genesis) - 247

5. Incredible Crash Dummies (Genesis) - 165

6. Jewel Master (Genesis) - 133

7. Video Pinball (Atari 2600) - 71

8. Sorcerer's Maze (PlayStation) - 60

9. Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy (Atari Jaguar) - 41

10. Frantic Freddie (C64) - 36

Pre-NES top 10:

1. Kaboom (Atari 2600) - 403

2. Midnight Magic (Atari 2600) - 255

3. Video Pinball (Atari 2600) - 71

4. Frantic Freddie (C64) - 36

5. Major League Baseball (Intellivision) - 32

6. Centipede (Atari 5200) - 25

7. Pac-Man (Atari 8-bit) - 15

8. Outlaw (Atari 2600) - 8

9. Jungle Hunt (Arcade) - 7

9. Super Qix (Arcade) - 7

Top 10 systems:

1. Genesis (930)

2. Atari 2600 (737)

3. Atari Jaguar (66)

4. PlayStation (60)

5. Arcade (41)

6. C64 (36)

7. Intellivision (32)

8. Atari 5200 (25)

9. Atari 8-bit (15)

9. Neo Geo AES/MVS (15)

DB-9 connectors rule the roost, as the Genesis and Atari 2600 absolutely dominate across the board! Kaboom regains the crown on the individual charts, but the Genesis edges out the Atari on the system charts.

The Genesis's chief contributor -- and our #2 game on the Top 10 -- is the mediocre (at best) RTS game Warrior of Rome, which is also the newest member of the 1000-minute club.

[Atarian7]

You said last week that Kaboom! is creeping up on a milestone. What would that be?

[carlsson]

As far as I can tell, Kaboom! now has 98,204 minutes of play, an increase by 3,630 minutes since the all-time stats were posted on July 22. With an average of 330 minutes per week, the 100,000 minute milestone may be reached in six weeks, or at least well before Christmas.

 

I should get me a pair of paddles and play The Sky is Falling on the VIC-20, which as far as I understand has the same concept as Kaboom! (or perhaps even more alike Avalanche)

Edited October 8, 2013 by carlsson

[+thegoldenband]

^Yep, carlsson has it exactly. Of course, what would be absolutely perfect is if the play session that crosses the 100,000 minute mark also brings you to 999,999!

[zylon]

As far as I can tell, Kaboom! now has 98,204 minutes of play, an increase by 3,630 minutes since the all-time stats were posted on July 22. With an average of 330 minutes per week, the 100,000 minute milestone may be reached in six weeks, or at least well before Christmas.

 

I should get me a pair of paddles and play The Sky is Falling on the VIC-20, which as far as I understand has the same concept as Kaboom! (or perhaps even more alike Avalanche)

Sky is Falling is a great game on its own. The type-in game Diamond Drop is also quite good.

[karokoenig]

Atari 2600

Beamrider: 150 min

 

High Score Club. Great game, I suck at it. End of story

 

Arcade

Dig Dug: 3 min

Galaga: 6 min

Galaxian: 4 min

Ms Pac Man: 3 min

Pole Position: 4 min

 

(Played on "Namco Museum" for Game Boy Advance. Does that count? Dig Dug, Pole Position and Galaga looked really authentic - albeit rather small - to me. I know those machines from back in the days)

 

Game Boy Classic

Gargoyle's Quest: 63 min

Nemesis - The Return of the Hero: 11 min

 

Gargoyle's Quest is awesome. And hard as nails. The Nemesis game is a sequel I picked up at a flea market today. I have the original Nemesis for Game Boy as well. Both are insanely difficult horizontal space shooters. If you're into such stuff and beat R-Type one-handed, go for those.