I lost touch with Mike Singleton after Midwinter which seemed painfully over-complicated and probably needed a nice keyboard overlay.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:03 (sixteen years ago) link
#87: Double Dragon II - The Revenge (1988) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/DD2_Flyer.jpg http://www.gooddealgames.com/articles/Double%20Dragon/Double%20Dragon%202.gif Developer:Technos Japan Corp Publisher:Technos Japan Corp Original format:Arcade Highest position:#13, Euler
― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:06 (sixteen years ago) link
lol for shit games I sure spent plenty of arcade money on the Double Dragons. There's no actual skill at all involved in playing these, is there?
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Euler is gonna be one of the CAMRA dudes on this thread, isn't he.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh man, I don't think I ever played this one. They had the first Double Dragon at Godfathers Pizza in my town, which for a while was the only pizza place we had. All I remember: "Oh shit two Abobos!"
― RabiesAngentleman, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:19 (sixteen years ago) link
#86: Master of Magic (1993) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Master_of_Magic_boxcover.jpg http://www.ibiblio.org/GameBytes/issue21/greviews/momrev02.gif Developer:Simtex Publisher:Microprose Original format:PC DOS Highest position:#2, Euler
― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:26 (sixteen years ago) link
Don't think I've ever even heard of that. Looks like it lives up my alley.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:28 (sixteen years ago) link
That Double Dragon II cover has it ALL! Whipping gutterpunk women in the face, ball and chain, exposed asscheek, full moon, angry subhuman swinging a club, helicoptor!
― Z S, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:28 (sixteen years ago) link
oh fucking AAAA I love Master of Magic; I too do not care about pixies and dragons but I still play this bastard and love it...it's worth emulating DOS or windows for.
― Euler, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:30 (sixteen years ago) link
Master of Magic is like Civ but with spells and pixies and shit...you get to build cities but each race has special buildings and offensive units they can build; and you create heroes who can level individually and eventually beat entire armies by themselves...and like Archon you get to play the combat, not just sim it like in Civ.
― Euler, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Diablo 2 = another one I haven't played. Got the first one, liked it in short doses, but the gameplay is essentially "click left mouse button as quick as you can". Hope they varied that up a bit for the sequel.
They didn't. But it was still fun.
― Z S, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:32 (sixteen years ago) link
whoa what is CAMRA? google pops up Campaign for Real Ale which I know about from other sources but I don't get the reference? B/c I do like real ale but mostly I like kicking the shit out of bad guys in video games. And Double Dragon has that in spades. I don't think skill's required, no, but sheer visceral bloodlust is. And back in the day this was as realistic as it got, which was cool: baseball bats rule (is that the CAMRA part?).
― Euler, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Euler did you ever play Fantasy General? Another example of the fantasy gubbins having nothing to do with the awesomeness of the game itself.
(The CAMRA thing was a joke about you repping for Old School, Trad fun. It's pure love tho, honest.)
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Man, I tried to play Lords Of Midnight just now, I had no idea what was going on. I gotta sleep and then work, but I'll have something to kill a bit of time when I get home.
― RabiesAngentleman, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:40 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah I love the old school and the new school and I feel the love, no prob
I don't know Fantasy General, no, sorry, but it sounds nice---although it sounds hex-y, and the closest I got to playing through a hex-type game was Europa Universalis, which wasn't really that hex-y.
― Euler, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:40 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah Fantasy General is Panzer General with a different tile set, really, so it's a turn-based wargame but I think that series just blends the playability versus deep strategy mix just right - easy to pick up, hard to master, as some old board game used to say.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link
actually it's funny, a lot of the games on the list are old school but are a different old school than I was into, because I didn't have a PC or commodore or TI or whatever, just an Atari and then a Colecovision and then NES. Once I got a PC in 1988 I was all about Chuck Yeager Flight Sim and Earl Weaver Baseball for many years, but I doubt they crossed over the pond much (well, that and Bard's Tale, which I suspect will come up later in voting).
― Euler, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link
#85: WipEout 2097 (1996) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/WipEout2097Cover.jpg http://www.vpltd.com/images/wopic_02.jpg Developer:Psygnosis Publisher:Psygnosis Original format:PlayStation Highest position:#3, Ledge
― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah one of my friends is a trainspotter type for the Panzer General company, he researches old German tanks and updates their stats for them. At least he makes a little coin from that kind of aspie nonsense.
― Euler, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:45 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh man I remember the time I played the first Wipeout, it was on a Sega Saturn. That first time I hit the first big jump in the first level = GAAASSSSSP!!
― RabiesAngentleman, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:52 (sixteen years ago) link
I only played the original Wipeout, never 2097, but all I remember from it is how dramatically the walls would slow you down. You'd glance at the corner at the screen and find out you were going 928 km/hr and life would be good, and then one nick on the wall, and it was all over.
― Z S, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Wipeout is awesome when you're fucking stoned and you lean back and forth on a gnarly futon
― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Saturday, 3 May 2008 15:56 (sixteen years ago) link
lol was about to say I have only ever played Wipeout over at stoners' houses.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:00 (sixteen years ago) link
#84: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Oblivion_Cover.JPG http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/697/697211/the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-20060320080708445-000.jpg Developer:Bethesda Game Studios Publisher:2K Games Original format:XBox 360 Highest position:#7, bnw
― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:04 (sixteen years ago) link
If I'd been able to play this, I would've placed it first, but I'll save the majority of my spiel for when Morrowind turns up. My eldest son has been playing Oblivion since Christmas and tormenting me with stories about just how detailed and perfect a world those Bethesda guys have made. This is the first placing that I will hand on heart say is at LEAST 70 places too low, you horrible people.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Master of Magic was AWESOME. It was a Civ clone at the top level - cities on a tile map, you build various improvements to them, etc...but the combat switched over to an isometric turn-based thing, moving your little expendable hordes around on a map. There was also a really great hero system to build up specific underlings with cool +3 HP type gear. AND you could make your own widgets and give them names (if I remember correctly) - like, for a certain amount of magic points you could infuse a ring to make it have flame power. It was a LOT of fun. Probably the last game I was really into, for a long spell anyway.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:16 (sixteen years ago) link
oh i guess euler already said most of that stuff, xpost.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Anyway basically it was Civ + Warcraft III, with the graphics of the former (although a bit brighter and friendlier - Civ is a bit dingy outside of the city views!).
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:18 (sixteen years ago) link
#83: A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985) http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/apple-ii-games/7-1.jpg http://www.abandonia.com/files/games/388/A%20Mind%20Forever%20Voyaging_3.png Developer:Infocom Publisher:Infocom Original format:Commodore Amiga Highest position:#1, Mordechai Shinefield
― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:22 (sixteen years ago) link
SMB2 I played the hell out of at the time, but can't seem to recall with too much fondness now. Noodle Vague is right about the satisfaction of smacking Birdo with a well-lobbed egg, but too much of this game is just kind of tedious and forgettable. The desert stage is just terrible, and I wish I could have back all the hours of my life collectively robbed by ducking down into rooms/pipes/jars and finding nothing down there... I mean, if E.T. has to get docked for pointless exploration of empty holes, Mario should have to suffer it as well.
I can only assume that if this had been published in the US under its original name, it would be a somewhat warmly regarded footnote, cult classic at best, but by no means a contender for top 100. Great music though!
My friend Indy and I were talking recently though about this - when exactly did the material from SMB2 become imported into the Mario canon? Like, the Shyguys, Bob-ombs, the floating Princess, Toad as major playable character, etc... I think these things are a considerable asset to the Mario universe, this game has a really charming feel in general - but this is stuff that would have been either invented by the US Mario office, or in Doki Doki Panic... when and how did it become part of Mario for Nintendo of Japan? (I'm thinking Yoshi's Island but I have no idea.)
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:24 (sixteen years ago) link
I like how screenshots of text adventures are basically all the same. If I'd known this was an Infocom title I would have given it my vote on behalf of Zork II...
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:25 (sixteen years ago) link
A Mind Forever Voyaging is good and all, but it's absolutely punishing to get into.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:27 (sixteen years ago) link
Non-linearity gone mad in fact.
I have never played that game, but I will sum up the gameplay:
>look you see a bat, and a key inside a glass container. >use bat on container i don't understand. >attack container i don't understand >use bat you don't have a bat >pick up bat i don't understand >get bat you got a bat >attack container with what? >attack container with bat the glass container shatters!! >get key you got the key >use key on door i don't understand >use key with door ...nothing happens >look at door it is brown. it appears to be locked. >attack door with bat ...nothing happens >use key in keyhole the door opens. you have no girlfriend in real life
― Z S, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:28 (sixteen years ago) link
lol as that is, you're actually rong Z S. AMFV is a whole different ballgame of nerd intensity. It's like comparing Philip Dick to, um, somebody who wrote run of the mill space operas.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:29 (sixteen years ago) link
did anyone else vote for that
― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:29 (sixteen years ago) link
I couldn't in good conscience place it top 30, it's too dry for me and I've never got deep enough into it to become engrossed.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mind_Forever_Voyaging
^ wau!!!
― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Four people voted for AMFV. If they want to demask themselves, they're free to do so.
― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:32 (sixteen years ago) link
Strong Bad: "And you're like, GET YE FLASK, and the game's like, YOU CAN'T GET YE FLASK. And you just have to sit there and IMAGINE why on earth you can't get Ye Flask, because the game's certainly not going to tell you."
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:32 (sixteen years ago) link
If G-Kit voted then I reckon he'll be one.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:33 (sixteen years ago) link
"Dr. Abraham Perelman, PRISM's "father", informs Perry of his true nature and gently brings him from simulation mode into reality. Perelman explains that he has awakened PRISM so a vital mission can be performed: running a simulation of a revitalization plan (dubbed the Plan for Renewed National Purpose), sponsored by Senator Richard Ryder."
Wait, PRISM is awakened from simulation mode into reality so that it can...run a simulation?
WHOA, AND THE SENATOR'S NAME IS DICK RYDER! AHHAHAHA
― Z S, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:37 (sixteen years ago) link
Actually, though the description of the plot on wikipedia, as you said Noodle Vague, does sound leagues beyond normal games of this ilk. Apt Philip K Dick comparison, too.
― Z S, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:38 (sixteen years ago) link
I don't think there's any verb-guessing, more importantly. It tells you all the words you need to use.
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:40 (sixteen years ago) link
#82: Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/Halobox.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/First_official_halo_screenshot.jpg Developer:Bungie Studios Publisher:Microsoft Game Studious Original format:XBox Highest position:#6, stet
― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:43 (sixteen years ago) link
This didn't make my list, but it is a robust, fun game, obviously MADE for hanging out with buddies and blowing stuff up together. The multiplayer, from what I observed, seemed a bit frantic and pointless, but the single player was totally a blast. I feel incapable of judging the game since I hadn't really played another FPS since Unreal Tournament, and before that, Duke 3D - I just don't know the state of the art for this generation of work.
(Whereas with, say, Goldeneye, I felt very comfortable saying it was a godawful embarassment to the genre, since it was so evidently behind what was going on with PC FPSes at the time.)
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:47 (sixteen years ago) link
BOOOOM !!! with the challop
― Noodle Vague, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:50 (sixteen years ago) link
The AI in GoldenEye was pretty good.
― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:53 (sixteen years ago) link
You mean like when you have to lead/protect the girl informant (or whatever) and she keeps getting stuck wandering into tree trunks and shit while you're getting shot to pieces?
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 16:55 (sixteen years ago) link
I put AMFV very high, maybe number 2 in my list. It's incredibly well-written, and the non-linearity thing worked - the game-world is immersive, and the option of wandering around trying stupid things is perfectly balanced with a clear purpose. Also, no fucking goblins.
― emil.y, Saturday, 3 May 2008 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link