What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2023 (Season 16)

[carlsson]

Atari 8-bit:
Axis Assassin - 5 min.
Hard Hat Mack - 9 min.
Worms? - 7 min.

 

It was my suggestion to make a special of the 40th anniversary of Electronic Arts' first batch of games. Those were shipped on Friday May 20, 1983 and appear to have arrived in stores by Monday, May 23. The first batch contained Archon, M.U.L.E. and the three games above. Clearly Archon and M.U.L.E. lived on to be famous 40 years later, perhaps Archon was the bestseller among those five. HHM is a decent platformer, but it did have its share of competition. Axis is quite similar to Tempest though with bits of its own gameplay. Worms? is some kind of automated Surround/Snake strategy game which I understood nothing of as a child, but I get the premise now as an adult after reading the rules.

 

This round runs until May 31 so plenty of time to play those EA games.

 

[Prosystemsearch]

Here are my times:

 

Atari 2600:

Pole position- 2 minutes

Spiderman- 2 1/2 minutes

Q*bert- 9 minutes

Defender- 3 minutes

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back- 12 minutes

Amidar- 5 minutes

 

NES:

Abadox- 7 minutes

Baby Boomer (Unlicensed)- 11 minutes

Alien Syndrome (Unlicensed)- 3 minutes

Bubble Bath Babes (Unlicensed)- 7 minutes

 

Sega Master System/Mark III

Cool Spot- 8 minutes

Dynamite Duke- 4 minutes

Aladdin- 6 minutes

 

[+neogeo1982]

Please add an additional time for tonight as I tried to beat Dark Falz on Very Hard again. Still not strong enough though. 

Dreamcast

Phantasy Star Online v2 - 480min

 

[Atarian7]

Atari 2600

Defender - 10 minutes

Gyruss - 130 minutes

Kaboom! - 69 minutes

Solar Fox - 109 minutes

 

 

[Keir]

Week of 5/8/23 - 5/14/23

 

Atari 2600

Defender - 15

Gyruss - 15

 

PC DOS

F. Godmom - 20

 

Total time = 50 minutes

 

Not much time for video games this week! Also, all my time on F. Godmom this week (and some of last week too) was spent trying to beat a single level (which I did, I just hope the next 11 levels aren't as challenging).

[+wongojack]

Dreamcast 

Metropolis Street Racer 156 

Tokyo Highway Challenge 96

 

I was inspired to try some Dreamcast racing games this week.  I've been playing a lot of Forza Horizon 5 in the modern tracker, and it made me realize that I've just totally ignored the street racing genre completely for my entire life.  A switch flipped that made me want to get the DC out and give these two a try.  I thought I would just boot these up, play a race and quit, but instead, I played both of these more than I expected.  Everyone says MSR is good, and they are right.  It was a little tough to go back graphically (had to adjust my TV set), but the core gameplay of 3d street racing is right there.  Maybe a weird opinion, but I really liked the way it guided the player through training to unlock more cars and make some real progress instead of just dumping like 30 cars on you right at the beginning.

 

[Hwlngmad]

Today's (05/15/2023) totals:

 

Game Boy

1) Momotarou Dengeki - 35 minutes

2) Monster Truck - 5 minutes

[+neogeo1982]

20 hours ago, wongojack said:

It was a little tough to go back graphically

This Dreamcast game was actually the first Project Gotham racing game. If you need more of a graphic kick PGR 3&4 are backwards 360 compatible with newer XBox.

[+jgkspsx]

 

Arcade:

Twin Hawk/Daisenpū - 45 minutes

 

 

LCD/Handheld:

Tiger Stix Meeba - 18 minutes

 

 

NES:

Bee 52 - 96 minutes

Shi Kin Joh/Forbidden City - 25 minutes
 

Supervision:

Crystball - 22 minutes

[+wongojack]

2 hours ago, neogeo1982 said:

This Dreamcast game was actually the first Project Gotham racing game. If you need more of a graphic kick PGR 3&4 are backwards 360 compatible with newer XBox.

I did not know that!  Unless the game is about toy or RC cars, I've pretty much ignored the entire racing genre since like 1998.  I'm interested in catching up, but it will probably take some time.  I've got games from Burnout, Forza, Gran Turismo, Grid, Midnight Club, Need for Speed, and Test Drive queued up.  Might as well add Project Gotham too.

[Skippy B. Coyote]

No classic gaming at all for me this week! I got in some modern gaming early in the week, but then my dog got really sick with some kind of stomach bug so I ended up spending the entire rest of the week just working and caring for the dog in all my free time. I was so distracted I even forgot to play the games for the Atari 2600 High Score Club! That's how life goes sometimes though I suppose.

[zylon]

Lots of welding this year, so flashy things haven't been high on the menu, but I've had a few days off to rest a knee.

 

SNES- via RetroDuo 2 (finally got decent controls)

Aero Fighters- 2hrs 10min almost beat it with Japan plane. Was 2/3 the way through destroying the space rocket.

Star Force (caravan shooting collection) 20min

 

NES via original Retron and RD2 

Smash TV- 10min

Mario Bros 80min

1942- 3hrs

1943- 75min

Twin Cobra- 3hrs 20min finally made it to 3rd stage

Samurai Pizza Cats- 15min

Castlevania III- 5min

Super mario Bros- 25min

Parodius Jp- 40min

Star Force- 20min

[Creamhoven]

Ugh! by egosoft

 

[carlsson]

Here's the summary for Week 19, running from May 8-14. We logged 4906 minutes of eligible play, playing 63 games on a total of 14 systems.

 

Top 10:

 

1. Phantasy Star Online (ver 1 & 2) (Dreamcast) - 2620 min. (#1)
2. Twin Cobra (NES/Famicom) - 200 min.
3. 1942 (NES/Famicom) - 180 min.
4. Gyruss (Atari 2600) - 176 min.
5. Metropolis Street Racer (Dreamcast) - 156 min.
6. Solar Fox (Atari 2600) - 150 min.
7. Aero Fighters (SNES) - 130 min.
8. Bee 52 (NES/Famicom) - 96 min.
8. Tokyo Highway Challenge (Dreamcast) - 96 min.
10. Evolution 2 Far off Promise (Dreamcast) - 90 min.

 

Pre-NES top 10:

 

1. Gyruss (Atari 2600) - 176 min.
2. Solar Fox (Atari 2600) - 150 min. (PN#9)
3. Kaboom! (Atari 2600) - 69 min. (PN#7)
4. Defender (Atari 2600) - 56 min.
5. Pooyan (Arcade) - 29 min. (PN#6)
6. Pooyan (Atari 8-bit) - 21 min.
7. King's Valley (MSX) - 15 min.
7. King's Valley II (MSX) - 15 min.
9. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Atari 2600) - 12 min.
10. Ali Baba and 40 Thieves (MSX) - 10 min.

10. Pooyan (Atari 2600) - 10 min.
10. Turtles (Arcade) - 10 min.

 

Top 10 systems:

 

1. Dreamcast (5 games) - 2982 min. (#1)
2. NES/Famicom (17 games) - 835 min. (#9)
3. Atari 2600 (10 games) - 491 min. (#3)
4. Arcade (12 games) - 208 min. (#2)
5. SNES (2 games) - 150 min.
6. Atari 8-bit (4 games) - 42 min.
7. MSX (3 games) - 40 min.
7. Game Boy (2 games) - 40 min. (#10)
9. TG-16/PC Engine (1 game) - 30 min.
10. Watara SuperVision (1 game) - 22 min.

 

The newly merged Phantasy Star Online is stronger than ever and has a total gameplay 10 times the next game in the list. The others are closer packed, with Gyruss just ahead of Solar Fox on the pre-NES list. Systems wise, obviously the Dreamcast wins this week with a collection of 17 different NES games in second place.

 

Two new additions to the 1000 Minute Club:

#532 Gyruss (Atari 2600) - 1162 min

#533 Mario Bros. (NES/Famicom) - 1022 min.

 

At the same time, Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast) breaks the 10K barrier and moves to all-time #11 with a total of 10947 minutes, just below Missile Command on the Atari 2600. It means the 10000 Minutes Club now has 13 members, +3 from the beginning of this year. In principle, at least two more games are knocking on the door to be admitted, and of course some game further down the list could have one monster week that brings it up.

Edited May 16, 2023 by carlsson

[Creamhoven]

28 minutes ago, carlsson said:

8. Tokyo Highway Challenge (Dreamcast) - 96 min.

Great game... the 2nd one is even better, and my overall favorite of the series.

[Steven Pendleton]

15 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

Twin Hawk/Daisenpū

Twin Hawk and Daisenpuu are very, very different games. It's more or less similar to how Kyuukyoku Tiger and Twin Cobra are very different games, and in the same manner, but the difficulty change is backwards, with Twin Hawk being significantly more difficult than Daisenpuu. It's the only Toaplan STG where the overseas version is harder than the Japanese version.

[Hwlngmad]

Yesterday's (05/16/2023) totals:

 

Dreamcast

1) Soul Calibur - 15 minutes

2) Demolition Racer: No Exit - 10 minutes

3) Spirit of Speed 1937 - 10 minutes

[Hwlngmad]

Today's (05/17/2023) totals:

 

Game Boy

1) Momotarou Dengeki 2 - 40 minutes

[Hwlngmad]

Today's (05/18/2023) totals:

 

Genesis / Mega Drive

1) Battletech: A Game of Armored Conflict - 25 minutes

2) Osomatsu-kun: Hachamecha Gekijou - 10 minutes

3) Power Drive - 5 minutes

[+neogeo1982]

Moving on slightly as leveling takes hours per level now and new loot is very rare.

Dreamcast

Phantasy Star Online v2 - 840min

Record of Lodoss War - 100min

Dead or Alive 2 - 80min

Centipede - 30min

Soul Caliber - 30min

Ready 2 Rumble boxing - 20min

 

NES

Gauntlet - 20min

Ninja Gaiden - 20min

[Steven Pendleton]

lol Gulf War II is here. Surprisingly, it's actually slightly different from Twin Cobra. I don't know exactly what it is, but it has music that is highly interesting. The stage clear jingle is probably the best one.

 

Arcade
City Connection - 36
Fighting Hawk - 55
Gulf War II (Twin Cobra bootleg ROM hack abomination) - 20
Horror Story (Ver.B) - 26
Image Fight - 20
Kyuukyoku Tiger - 250
Moon Patrol - 15
Ninja Spirit - 14
Sonic the Hedgehog - 21
X Multiply - 12

 

PC Engine CD
Hellfire S - 36
Horror Story - 6

 

G/MD
Tatsujin - 27

 

Dreamcast
Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2 - 12

[Wayler]

As I mentioned in the SNES thread, a lot of SFC cart cleaning happened over the weekend. Cleaned up some NES carts too after I got going. That project also lead to the inevitable testing of said carts. 

 

Platforming on the SNES is so good (although Kirby and Bonk did not work for me). Lolo 2 was also enjoyable for NES. Ended up all the way to floor 8.

 

@carlsson I didn't know if you are categorizing/listing japanese versions of games, so I've alphabetized my SNES games according to western names but added brackets to the ones that have a different name in Japan. Do with them as you wish.

 

NES
Adventures of Lolo 2 - 143 min
Arkanoid - 24 min
Faxanadu - 10 min
Shadowgate - 14 min

 

SNES
Bomberman B-Daman - 12 min
Donkey Kong Country (Super Donkey Kong) - 40 min
The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie (Mickey to Minnie Magical Adventure 2) - 8 min
Kirby Super Star (Kirby Super Deluxe) - 4 min
The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (Mickey no Magical Adventure) - 13 min
Megaman X3 (Rockman X3) - 81 min
Super Bomberman 3 - 18 min
Super Bomberman 4 - 28 min
Super Bomberman 5 - 11 min
Super Bonk 2 (Chou-Genjin 2) - 6 min
Super Ghouls & Ghosts (Chou-Makai-Mura) - 4 min
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Super Mario: Yoshi Island) - 33 min

 

 

[carlsson]

35 minutes ago, Wayler said:

I didn't know if you are categorizing/listing japanese versions of games,

It depends from case to case. Sometimes the Japanese and Western versions are nearly identical except the title, sometimes level designs and difficulty vary a lot which causes people of the tracker to list those separately. Since you included the Japanese titles, I'll check if there already exists entries for those, or otherwise I might group them with Western versions unless you know some game particularly stands out.

[carlsson]

Atari 8-bit:
Axis Assassin - 14 min.
Worms? - 17 min.

 

I dug into the two EA40 games I never had played before. It turns out that Axis has a sub-game which you reach if you press space when the big spider appears at the end of a grid level. This sub-game resembles Omega Race but it is almost impossible to control the player and more likely you'll lose a life than gaining a life if you optionally enter it. The main game is good enough on its own.

 

Worms? more or less is a random number generator playing by itself. You determine a few moves and it starts off until it can't move in that pattern anymore. If you're lucky, two of the opponents will collide early on, meaning only two remain and you can rack up quite a few points. Rather relaxing to play, but nothing I'd spend hours on.

 

[Kurt_Woloch]

Here are my times for this past week (May 15th through 21st) on classic systems:

 

Arcade:

Burger Time - 33 min.

Pooyan - 56 min. in 4 sessions

Turtles - 22 min.

Rally X - 9 min.

 

This week I continued to play Pooyan, but I'm getting tired of it for now, so I tried some other games as well. In Burger Time, I managed to beat a round of all the 6 patterns, after which the enemies speed up considerably and appear in greater numbers.