|
[img width=370 height=541]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-040/bf/U-040-S-01320-A.jpg[/img]
I know that some of you are probably disappointed that this isn't a glowing review of Crackdown on the XBox 360. I'm sure that's a great game, but having never played it, I'd like to talk about another game of the same name released on the Sega Mega Drive & Genesis by Sage's Creation in 1990 & 1991 respectively. Crack Down is a port of the original 1989 arcade title of the same name that was developed by Sega for their Sega System 24 arcade board. The game was also ported to the Commodore Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum, the Wii Virtual Console (PAL & Japan only), and most recently (2010), the Genesis/Mega Drive version was made available on Steam.
Continue reading Banana's Rotten Reviews: Crack Down
[img width=700 height=537]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/RFGen%20Blog/2240AAC1-0CD7-49F0-B3DF-9685FEC07189_zpsaokoyqbp.jpg[/img]
The hook brings you ba-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.
One of the things I love most about RF Generation is the great diversity of members that I get to converse with on our forums. Our members vary in gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, social beliefs, and especially in their game system/developer preference. Even so, our community has always been the kind where difference of opinion is accepted and embraced, and is even used as a means for looking at video gaming in general in a different light. As an older member of the site, I've always felt right at home reminiscing about classics with the rest of the "geezers" (like Duke, who is much older than me) and having great conversations with younger members regarding their gaming history. Though many of us differ in age, there is one thing that many of us have in common.......kids.
At this point in my life, I have two young kids, ages four (a boy) and seven (a girl). Like some of you, I've always had this dream of sharing my collection with my kids and playing alongside them through the same games I grew up on. Though some of you may not be at this point in your lives yet, but may be considering having kids, you've probably at least had the same thought at some point. I'm by no means the perfect parent, and when it comes to getting my kids involved in gaming, I've had my share of failures and successes. However, my kids have really gotten into gaming recently and are begging me every night to go up to the gameroom. Honestly, it's f@*king awesome! So, in the course of coming up with an article for the front page, I decided that reflecting on what methods in getting my kids interested in gaming worked for me, as well as what I could have done better to peak their interest, might be a good topic. Below are a few observations that may be helpful if you want to get your kids to enjoy gaming:
Continue reading What to Expect, When You're Expecting Your Kids to Be Gamers
[img width=551 height=483]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-061/bf/U-061-S-06980-A.jpg[/img]
Certainly, I can't be the only one on this site who gets a little jealous when they read slakur's articles and hear about his weekly nights of gaming with friends. As I've mentioned before, I don't have a lot of friends who game and even fewer that actually collect games. However, over the last few weeks, a buddy of mine has been coming over to the house on Thursday nights to game. We have a great deal of fun playing some of the new games I've purchased (some of which I'm playing for the first time) and pulling games off the shelf that maybe he or I have never tried out. The best part of the night is that he always has a plastic grocery bag in his hand when I open the front door to my house and I feel like a kid at Christmas eagerly awaiting to see what goodies are in that bag. Our game nights are definitely making my wishlist increase and my bank account lessen.
This past Thursday, we had another great night of gaming and played such awesome titles as: Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis), Soldier Blade (TG16), Air Zonk (TG16), The Combatribes (SNES), and Choplifter III (SNES). As is always the case, we played a few stinkers as well and that night the list included The Tick (Genesis) and Tail of the Sun (PSX). However, out of all of the games we played, none of them surprised us more than Mobile Light Force for the original Playstation.
Continue reading Banana's Rotten Reviews: Mobile Light Force
[img width=400 height=474]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/RFGen%20Blog/tape_zps2cmroajp.jpg[/img]
I'm a fan of the British author, Nick Hornby. His style is very approachable for all readers, it's humorous and has a nice way of making the reader reflect upon his/her own life. If you're not a reader, you may still be familiar with his works through their screenplays. Some of Hornby's more well-known adaptations include About a Boy, Fever Pitch (sadly Americanized to replace soccer with baseball...), and my personal favorite, High Fidelity. High Fidelity tracks the diminishing relationship of record store owner, Rob and his girlfriend Laura. After they separate, he reflects on his past relationships to get a better understanding of "what is wrong with him," even going so far as to meet with his old girlfriends to grill them on his hang-ups. What ensues is quite comical and is really worth a viewing if you haven't already seen it. So what does this have to do with gaming you ask? Well, stick with me here a little while longer if you haven't veered from the page already.
Continue reading Your Video Game Collecting Autobiography
I'm not going to sugar coat it, I'm really pumped about attending Retro World Expo this October. Sure, I'm looking forward to the possibility of snagging a few choice titles that I don't see in my area very often, but what I'm looking forward to the most is finally meeting some of the peeps (that's what the kids are saying these days right?) here at RF Generation. I have no doubt that many of you have already heard about the epic Collectorcast meets Playcast pajama party at Estate de Bil where I'm sure we'll be making the most of our time playing some choice video games and board games together; however, I have also heard inklings of a possible game hunting adventure or two. Sure, I'm beyond jackt (I did it again kids) about hunting games with my buds, but I have to admit, I'm a little unsure about group protocol. You see, I'm the only game collector among my group of friends in the area, I'm a lone wolf without a sense of pack mentality.
Continue reading 10 Simple Rules...For Being My Game Hunting Partner
[img width=600 height=816]http://www.atarimania.com/2600/boxes/hi_res/stone_age_cce_illustrated_cart_2.jpg[/img]
As many of you on the site know, I'm an avid collector of Atari 2600 and NES titles. While I'm going for a complete, licensed collection of the later, I am very realistic about my collecting goals for the 2600. For those of you who love and collect for this system like I do, you know that this goal is impossible for the Average Joe. During the days of the 2600, licensing laws were quite more lackadaisical and it seems like anyone and everyone with programming skills tried their hand at developing games for the 2600. Many of these games saw small production numbers, and this has resulted in astronomical prices in today's market due to the high demand of serious Atari collectors. And let's face it, I'm not one of those guys who can justify paying ridiculous amounts just to have a game in my possession. On the other hand, I'm not the kind of guy who wants to play an emulated version of a game on his PC. So what's a guy like me to do?
Continue reading Dr. BrazilLove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Clone
[img width=350 height=492]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-048/bf/U-048-S-01350-A.jpg[/img]
As a kid of the 80's, Hollywood slammed my generation with awesome action films starring arguably the two biggest names in action at the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Of course, the gaming industry understood the popularity of these movies and were quick to cash in by churning out action movie titles based on some of our most beloved films: the Rambo series, Total Recall, Predator, Terminator 2, and Die Hard, etc. (just to name a few). The labels and boxes of these games were seductive and often depicted the movie posters themselves, or very recognizable scenes directly from these films. No doubt about it, any young kid/teenager coming across these games on their local store shelf was immediately filled with excitement knowing that they were about to bring home that same movie experience and blast away baddies as their favorite action stars.............well...........that was the idea, wasn't it?
Unfortunately, for the vast majority of these titles, the surface was far from the reality; often the games were very bad and had little, or nothing to do with the plot of the film itself. So imagine my distrust when a good friend came over to my house a few weeks ago, pointed to my copy of The Terminator for Sega CD and said, "Have you played that yet? Man, you should, because it is f%&king awesome!"
Continue reading Banana's Rotten Reviews: The Terminator
[img width=300 height=395]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-005/gs/U-005-S-02520-A.jpg[/img]
SPECS:
Game: M.A.D.
Genre: Shooter
Year: 1982
Publisher: U.S. Games
Developer: Western Technologies, Inc.
Rarity (according to AtariAge): 4 = Scarce+
Controls: Joystick
Number of Players: 1 player (against computer) & 2 player (head-to-head)
Average Cost: approx. $2 - $5 loose
Also Available On: Only available on the Atari 2600
Tagline/Description: "Defend your future civilization's energy supply against waves of devious attack missiles. Your energy stations stand vulnerable...use your ground based Photon cannon and pit yourself against computer controlled missiles; or, let another player guide the missiles, and do battle head to head. Each wave of missiles becomes more aggressive and intense. Grab your controller and prepare for a furious battle."
Continue reading Banana's Rotten Reviews: M.A.D.
[img width=700 height=719]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/EBF6D9BB-3057-4E5A-8F1A-EE77DE043053_zpshmvlgagz.jpg[/img]
SPECS:
Game: Road Runner
Genre: Action
Year: 1989
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Atari
Designer(s)/Programmer(s): Bob Polaro
Rarity (according to AtariAge): 6 = Rare Plus
Controls: Joystick
Number of Players: 1 - 2 (turn-based)
Average Cost: approx. $10-$20 loose depending on condition
Also Available On: Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, NES, and Atari arcade cabinet.
Tagline/Description: "Imagine yourself as the Road Runner in a Saturday morning cartoon. You are happily whizzing across the desert, racing along that black ribbon of highway. It's glorious! But the cunning Wile E. Coyote is out there somewhere. So watch out! He is planning to smash you to smithereens. He is also scheming to blast you with his ACME cannon in a very sneaky way."
Continue reading Road Runner
[img width=525 height=350]http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1109/1369378538_f06a96be88_o.jpg[/img]
As some of you may know, I was fortunate enough to come across a nice Atari 2600 lot a few months ago with several very rare and scarce games. Among those titles, was a copy of Wizard's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" ("TCM"). The seller was unaware as to whether the cart was authentic, and actually mentioned this in his auction. I decided that since there were several carts in the auction I needed, I would negate the price of the TCM cart and put in a reasonable offer on the lot at the last minute. Sure enough, I won the lot at an agreeable price and waited patiently by the mailbox the next couple days to claim my spoils.
Continue reading A True Wizard, or Just Another Presto?: Authenticating Your 2600 Wizard Carts
[img width=600 height=450]http://avoision.com/portnoy/images/2010/october/pinballExpo2010_42.jpg[/img]
After much thought and back-and-forth deliberation, I finally decided to put Williams' Taxi at the top of the list as my favorite pinball machine ever made. Created in 1988 by Mark Ritchie (Diner, Fish Tales, Sorcerer, Indiana Jones), Taxi is a classic 80's pin that is best known for being tight and difficult. In Taxi, you take on the role of a cab driver whose purpose is to take passengers to the airport. The passengers include a strange and nutty cast of characters that most people during the 80's would recognize: Mikel Gorbachev, Dracula, Santa Claus, Pin*bot (a famous character from an earlier Williams title), and Marylin Monroe (later renamed "Lola" due to issues with Ms. Monroe's estate.....). These passengers are "picked up" by shooting specific area of the playfield, by completing a bank of three drop targets, or via the Spinout skill shot at 25k. Once picked up, a timed jackpot is lit and collected upon shooting the right loop and settling the ball in the upper left saucer. If a player does not make the jackpot shot before the timer runs out, the shot can be reset by picking up Marylin/Lola from the center bank of drop targets. However, the difficulty of obtaining the jackpot is further increased, since all pickups are voided at that end of each ball unless you are able to light and collect a difficult "Carry Passengers" bonus.
Continue reading Banana's Pinball Top 10 - #1 Taxi
[img width=700 height=484]http://www.ministryofpinball.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/b/a/backglass_cc.jpg[/img]
Well.....I'm down to choosing my final two machines for this countdown and I have to say, this was the hardest decision I had to make so far. After considering several factors, I ultimately decided to put Cactus Canyon in the #2 spot, though it could have easily been listed at #1. To be honest, it even holds the top spot on my Pinside rankings page, but the criteria Pinside uses doesn't take into consideration the three factors that kept this machine out from the top of the podium for this Top 10: affordability, availability, and nostalgia (these factors will be more clear when I post my #1 machine). Rather than knock Cactus Canyon, it is in the #2 spot, which is equally impressive, I'd prefer to spend my time praising it.
Continue reading Banana's Pinball Top 10 - #2 Cactus Canyon
[img width=700 height=525]http://www.pinballrebel.com/game/pins/bram_stokers_dracula/bsdbg.jpg[/img]
Coming in at #3 on the countdown is Williams' Bram Stoker's Dracula ("BSD"). BSD is an odd license in that the film really wasn't a blockbuster in the U.S. in 1992, although it had great success worldwide and won 3 Oscars for Make-up, Effects, and Costume Design, and 5 Saturn awards, including Best Film and Actor (Gary Oldman). I've heard several friends complain about how bad the film is, and though it's an odd take on the Dracula mythology, it's not a horrible film. In pinball community, license can mean everything. This is as true today (if not more true) as it was over 20 years ago. With Sterns most recent release "The Avengers," and their newest announcement "Metallica," to Jersey Jack's new "Wizard of Oz" and recent announcement of "The Hobbit" license for their second pin, new pins tend to sell out via pre-order before any work has been done!
Continue reading Banana's Pinball Top 10 - #3 Bram Stoker's Dracula
[img width=700 height=385]http://iamfotografie.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/02-banksy-pulp-fiction1.jpg[/img]
After pondering the merits of the various paddle titles out there for the Atari 2600, I started thinking about other games that I would recommend for the system. When it comes to Atari 2600 games, value (monetary and fun) or "bang for your buck" is an important factor for beginning collectors and others who primarily collect for other or multiple systems (i.e. without a specific Atari 2600 focus). I tried to narrow the cost down to games that I typically find in the wild for $10 or less, so it will not include those loose $20 copies of Star Raiders that you see on Craigslist.....sorry to disappoint some of you.
I am beginning with a list of my top 25 "bang for your buck" 1-player games and following that up my favorite 10 multi-player games for the system. Multi-player games were the best when I was growing up; back then, we didn't have the internet and I have fond memories of going over to friends' and relatives' houses to play. But,........I digress.
I am also including a list of few other harder-to-find, or more expensive games (yet most of them are still around $20) that I really enjoy playing should you be so inclined to shell out more cash or sweet tradez. None of these recommendations are in any particular order of my preference, I simply compiled this list while going through our database and looking over my collection.
Continue reading Banana's Best Bang For Ya Buck 2600 Games
As most of you know, I recently sold a large lot of Atari 2600 games to help raise a little funding for the site. Our own Razor Knuckles was the proud recipient of this lot and I am happy to say that it greatly bolstered his 2600 collection and has sparked what I have seen as a genuine interest in the system. As an Atari 2600 collector, it makes me smile knowing that others (especially those much younger than me) are still enjoying this system, even though is greatly.....er......"graphically challenged" when compared to more modern systems.
Recently, Razor Knuckles picked up a few more games and some paddle controllers, which he proudly displayed in the "small scores" thread. I asked him to PM me if he wanted some paddle recommendations, but after thinking about it for a bit, I decided that since it had been so long since I posted an Atari review (and to get Zagnorch off my back  ....see I did the wink thing, so it's cool), I would give some opinions on paddle games for the 2600.
Continue reading Up Crap Game Creek With A 2600 Paddle
|
