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Best Attract Mode?


Rick Thornquist

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Having finally set up my vintage computer collection (an Apple IIGS, Atari 65XE, Commodore 64, Tandy Color Computer 3, and TI-99/4A), I'm looking for a way to impress first time visitors. I was thinking that running some games on attract mode would be cool. Now I'm looking for games with the best attract mode for each machine.

 

My question: Which game on the TI has the best attract mode? Marks will be awarded for not only for coolness, but also how familiar the game is to vintage computer people.

 

- Rick

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Dragon's Lair.  No contest, for me.  Will run on original hardware, but it does require a Dragon's Lair cart.  Looks even better on a CRT.  A pixel-for-pixel capture doesn't really do it justice. 

 

For games that will run on a TI-99 with original VDP and using a commonplace modern flashcart rather than original cart, Flying Shark or Pinball 99.  But keep in mind, these are modern games which exceed the achievements of original era software. 

 

For a demo for the sake of a demo (which is consequently, very technically impressive), Don't Mess With Texas - the TI-99 Megademo.

 

Now, having beat around the bush a bit, original era games featuring attract modes with simulation or scripting of gameplay are very rare. Games with title screens containing music are much more common. 

 

However, Cerberus has a very good attract mode, where the player takes over the ship immediately from within the attract mode, and jumps into gameplay.

 

Championship Baseball has a nice one, but requires an MBX. 

 

For original era software which will be very familiar to anyone who has ever touched a TI-99, your best option is doubtless Parsec.  It isn't strictly speaking a simulation of gameplay.  It's just an endless scroll.  But it's as iconic as anything gets, on the TI-99.

 

image.thumb.png.2562fa63f72daaa039345e7471408558.png

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Absolutely love Imagic's manual art, yeah.  It's phenomenal.  For that brief moment in time, they really took video game marketing to new heights. 

 

Love the Fathom manual, as well:

 

image.thumb.png.3842620e14569578d1a80c54226ab9dd.png

 

And the Wing War art too (found only on the Colecovision manual, since all other versions were either cancelled or released as cheaply as possible with nearly no materials). 

 

I liked that enough that I had to make a TI-99 manual for it, and for its quite distinct TI version, which despite not being released, is complete and playable. 

 

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Imagic's box art is really interesting. I read an interview with a guy from Imagic and he confirmed that they basically had people build plastic models, take photos of them, and send those pictures to a third party contractor to put in special effects such as lasers or explosions.  It's a neat effect and something quite different when compared to the 100% painted graphics many other companies used.

Edited by sirlynxalot
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OTTOMH, classic games with working (self-playing) attract or demonstration modes: Blasto, ZeroZap, The Attack, Munch Man, TI Invaders, Car Wars, and Munchmobile.  There are probably more from the era.  Some modern releases with self-playing attract modes include Flying Shark*, Road Hunter*, TI Scramble*, and, of course, Dragon's Lair.  I like to use these games to lure people to my VCF exhibit.

 

* 32k required

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3 hours ago, pixelpedant said:

For software requiring no upgrades or special carts, I suppose Bigfoot is another option. 

 

Not terribly iconic, nor is it technically impressive, but a good game which is well liked, with a full-fledged attract mode.

 

image.thumb.png.4a087f9448af6f9f7c8085ff2be6baa0.png

One of the better TI games, I reckon.

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