#minuy's must haves

[minuy600]

The Arcade Games of 1980 #4: Pac-Man

Oh sh*t we're already here. The yellow circle with a mouth has arrived. Toru Iwatani & crew have been cookin' even before Cutie Q arrived, and what came out of it is merely a game that's still loved and recognised 43 years later. Can't say I disagree, i've been playing this one non stop for a couple weeks just so I would be good enough to write this review.

That doesn't mean I don't have my few little issues with it, but we'll get to that when we get to that. First up, let me begin by saying the characters in this game are genious. Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde and of course Pac-Man himself are entirely original and have been created specifically for this title. Unless i'm mistaken, this is the first time video game actors were given distinct names. Pretty cool!

The ghosts all behave differently too. We got the fast Blinky, both Inky and Pinky try to place themselves in front of the gobbling pizza, and then there's Clyde who just kinda fucks around. I hate him, somehow he manages to kill me the most. All given hues of red, blue, pink and orange, and those look particularly nice. Namco sure knew how color worked.

Now, your aim is to empty out a maze of all it's dots, eating fruit and power pellets and yadda yadda you know this already. One of the game's biggest strengths and detractors is the slow but steady buildup in difficulty. No longer is there about 4 stages of increased speed before it peaks (Moon Cresta notwithstanding). This is a GRIND. 21 unique stages, some of them being breathers, most of them requiring increased skill to get to.

As for me? I got to stage 12 once, and saw the third and final cutscene that happens after stage 9 like what, 3 times? Oh yes. The cutscenes. Another thing majorly improved over Taito's games. Those were charming, these were little STORIES. The Pacster being chased by Blinky, before becoming comically huge and reversing the process. Then Blinky breaks himself open after moving past... a needle, maybe? Lastly, he patches himself up partially but then gets demoted to what looks like a predecessor to the worm design from Worms.

Back on track, yeah if you were planning on getting through this one, better get used to the patterns you can find online. The AI code can be deciphered and exploited so you'll always win. Unless you're me, cuz it didn't work on my end. Annoying when you're a completionist and wanna see everything. Which leads me to the biggest grievances of the game.

I love the gameplay loop and all, but the first few stages are slooooow. Having to tackle the first two stages repeatedly when you are a dedicated player is a no go nowadays. It thankfully speeds up after the first cutscene, the intensity by then feels good. The ghosts stop relenting and crawling back to their corners after a certain point, too. Would've preferred to get right into that phase, honestly.

What irks me even more is that you can still get totally messed up in those super early stages. If you don't know your patterns, hoh, you better say your prayers before starting another high score chase. And then there's the controls on top of that. Seems like it isn't well optimised for home play, there's too many goddamn times I lost lives thanks to a misread input or the game deciding I would be better off not taking a corner. It's a disappointment for sure, and now you understand why I can't give it a perfect score despite nailing everything else.

Still though, are you kidding me with this game? You're taking a genre that only had minor success via the 'greats' of Heiankyo Alien and Head On, and not only add to it, make it so replayable and expertly crafted that everyone with a flick of interest in video games knows exactly who this Puckman dude is and is always up for a round or 2 of it? Games will run it close in the distant future, but the high bar has been set. For this game is with only a single subjective flaw.

Peak.

The Verdict

Graphics (10): Perfect simplicity. The ghosts are distinct via their sharp coloring, Pac-Man is very recognisable himself obviously despite his simple design. Then there's more subtle things I enjoy. The thing I wanted to mention most are the details on the fruits. We've absolutely not seen real-life objects look this good before, and yes, I will forgive the melon not looking too much like it's real counterpart. Heck, even the flagship from Galaxian makes a cameo! Love the cutscenes, enjoy the attract screen, it's two big thumbs up all the way.

Sound (9): If you're reading this, chances are you're hearing the noises in your head as we speak. They never get old. ...Okay maybe the ghost chasing noise does when you're almost done with a stage and you've been playing for hours straight. Nothing about this game sounds like it came from a 43 year old board, rather, there's this overarching jolly vibe that Iwatani-san wanted on purpose to appeal to a wider demographic (women) who weren't in the mood for the giant list of shooting and sports. Wacka wacka wacka! Yadda yadda yadda! Humor! Humor! Humor! Etc.

Fun Factor (8): Apologies everyone, i've failed you. If the game didn't sometimes seemingly decide that this bunny being dead was hilarious, it would have been an easy 9. This game knows how to excite, entice and keep you coming back for more. Eating ghosts and, in later stages, fruit, is a dopamine hit like nothing else. Managing to outsmart a ghost is beyond satisfying. The relief of beating a stage beats that of anything that came before it since there's more obvious rewards from it, in a subtle fashion perhaps. Gah. It stinks I can't enjoy it to the fullest like so, so many people have done before. I can appreciate the hell out of it at least!

Longevity (10): This was a long debate in my head, but considering the level of repetition that almost all games (depending on opinion) had in this period, it's gonna get full marks from me still. 21 levels cannot be beat. 256 especially so, as some want to go the extra mile and see the one and only Pac-Man kill screen. I can only envy them and their arduous study of the patterns required to get there and remembering them for *hours* straight. Me? I'm happy with my couple weeks of hard labor, with the addiction factor so high that I refused to quit untill I broke another record on occasion. You CAN decide when to quit the hustle as there's obvious hard limits, too. Ideal for the healthy under us!

In Conclusion

#retro gaming #minuy600 #review #sona #arcade #1980 #namco #pac man #minuy's must haves

[tinymixtapes]

Music Review: Yves Tumor - Experiencing the Deposit of Faith

Yves Tumor Experiencing the Deposit of Faith [Self-Released; 2017] Rating: 4.5/5 “Essence of faith: It is impossible really to desire the good and not obtain it.” – Simone Weil, “The Things of the World” “Baptism is only the desire for new birth. When an infant is baptized, those who love it express their desire that one day it shall be born from on high. When an adult is baptized, he himself expresses this desire.” – Simone Weil — Last Notebook “God created me as a non-being which has the appearance of existing, in order that through love I should renounce this apparent existence / in order that through love I should renounce what I think is my existence / and be annihilated by the plenitude of being / and so emerge from non-being.” – Simone Weil, “The Father’s Silence” What is the deposit of faith? Renunciation perhaps, though a peculiar rendering of renunciation. To renounce one’s life is to accept it as a death, a nothingness. To renounce one’s life is therefore to desire to be reborn. Though if one is nothing, how is there self enough to renounce, let alone desire? If one is nothing, how can one experience one’s nothingness, let alone one’s renunciation? So, we humbly ask, what is the experience of this deposit1, this laying down, this letting go of the soul? What does one experience while immersed in the waters of baptism, between the death one lived and renounced and the longed-for but impossible rebirth? What is Experiencing the Deposit of Faith? --- So, we continue the ontology of Yves Tumor / by Sean Bowie. Looking again at the field of cultural signifiers that include NON, PAN, and perhaps Warp’s new direction, Yves Tumor’s Sean Bowie is — among the disciples and the defeatists — John the Baptist, the witness par excellence2, the witness as the untimely contemporary, the surveyor of one’s century, who, forsaken from one’s time and one’s self, can so see each its particular darkness and perhaps heal, perhaps atone. Even though he is not present on the album cover as the one who baptizes — by withdrawing self, he raises other — his absence is thoroughly imbued in the act of looking, the act of pointing away from himself: the one who renounces oneself can’t experience the renunciation, the one who experiences it can’t be the one who is renounced. It was said of John that he was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light3. Experiencing the Deposit of Faith is the testimony — part monument, part prophecy — of the one who, renouncing one’s life, recanting the light, can be purified and can purify — self to pseudonym, auteur to zeitgeist, messiah to the world — self withdrawn to other raised. (As a name, a title) Experiencing the Deposit of Faith connotes the act of renunciation that’s so consuming there is not distance enough to witness it, and despite it all, (as a proper name, an album) it intimates that self remains after self-destruction to witness one’s destruction as a purification. In other words, the deposit of faith is the descent into the waters of baptism. And experiencing the deposit? Faith itself? The impossible, the absurd, ascent from self-abandoned into self-awaits. Faith is the paradox of faith’s deposit — the experience of the deposit — that, leaving behind one’s self, one finds that one was always already what one wanted to be: a self. --- As we have noted before, Bowie denies the self its longed-for coherence, preferring fraught, fleeting gestures that do not attempt to circumscribe a self that would vanish beneath its own grasp, but rather intimate the margins blurring mask into void. Slathered in sleek veils and sheets — the mask enshrouding the void — Bowie’s music sounds neither from the self de-subjectified and silenced nor from the self re-subjectified and insincerely spoken; it instead resounds from the peripheral precipice between them, their blurring each into the other. On “Synecdoche,” for instance, as a droplet in the sea dissolves, we plunge into a state of immersion in which we will be suspended throughout. Yet, even though the edges between form and fluidity have dimmed, as from a marble shard a temple can be resurrected, the drowned human intimates the ultimate absurdity: breath. Usually meaning the representation of the whole with a part, Synecdoche here, where whole is a fabulous myth and parts are torn apart and ravaged, resurrects the absence of the whole, intimates beyond fulfillment’s infinite postponement. The remainder of the album is a gathering up of these shards of, a re-sounding of “Synecdoche’s” fragmentation. (Like as The Brothers Karamazov, the 13th book is missing.) We hear re-sound its chimes and peals on “Ayxita, Wake Up” with the opening appoggiaturas of Ravel’s “Prelude” to Le tombeau de Couperin4 looping sprightly like a river glimpsed from an urban puddle. Or else the ethereal murmuring, the prelude to the tomb that is a monument, a fading memory, and, whispering those gentle words, “Talitha cumi,” an awakening from sleep. In “E. Eternal,” we hear re-sound string-like ambient flourishes become Latin chants, writhing above the otherworldly longing of a guitar loop plucked from Woo’s “It’s Love,” while crass applause in the background displaces the listener from yearning to satiety without realizing either. Or else, the thoroughly inundated beats of “AfricaAshes” and “Groan.” Or else, the submerged strings in “Dry Guillotine” and “Prosperity Awareness.” Or else, the utter fragility of “Love Is The Law,” slowly rupturing into silence. Whereas the wraith-like Serpent Music was a portraiture of disparate moods, Experiencing the Deposit of Faith clarifies amid the blurring of sound and noise the place from which they resound: the liminal subject of baptism, the one who cries in the wilderness, between life and death. But we already knew all of this listening to “Limerence.” The cry of unrequited love is the voice silenced from the dialogue, striving to sing but enclosed in an ever-recurring loop. Renunciation is re-annunciation: repetition as erasure: the self silencing itself:     s     ilenc      e   :     s     i     ng   s. And rebirth? ascendance? We will have to wait. 1. Perhaps we can’t escape the legal and monetary connotations of words like deposit, depose, deposition, witness, testimony. But in any case, punning on Pascal’s pecuniary wager, this deposit is neither a game for thought nor for stakes. It is, as the title says, experienced. 2. On the Isenheim Altarpiece, beside the crucifixion, John the Baptist, pointing away from himself, withdraws into darkness, accompanied by the words: fillum oportet crescere me autem minui, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John, 3:30). 3. John, 1:8. 4. With this piece, Ravel memorializes the death of French music rendered obsolete through the real deaths of WWI. Though, there is no horror here; corpses having become objects once more, a battlefield is seen at the moment birds begin to sing again, as the water continues to murmur, though stained with blood, it flows. He raises a hollow tomb in which the past is abolished at the moment the present is constituted. Bowie’s impressionism is profoundly similar in project. http://j.mp/2xUfDlr

[minuy600]

Atari 2600 Chronicles 1980 #2 - Space Invaders

The other big March 1980 release was also one of the first ever arcade ports not by the console manufacturer. Well, it's made by Atari, but the OG is definitely a Taito property. And it so happens that this, to me, is even more of an evergreen game than the arcade cabinet.

Not audiovisually, of course. I think this is one of the better looking 2600 titles so far, a remarkable step forward for the system- yet it's a very obvious downgrade with ugly bars in many places and weird, big aliens. Sound-wise, it gets the point across too, but faithful it isn't.

No, where this game absolutely hits it out of the park is how the game feels. It feels GREAT. Using my laser is really snappy, with the responsiveness of the traditionally stiff CX40+ joystick allowing me to react on time to most things that are happening on the screen. Makes it all the more enjoyable to someone like me, since i'm not the best at responding quickly normally speaking.

Another thing that helps me out is the lower difficulty of the default mode. Some may scoff at the somewhat slow enemy fire and the fact that you max out the toughness at the 5th wave, but you can still try to overflow the score afterwards if you need to get that gamer sweat:tm: going. ...And then do it 15 more times.

Yeeeeah, there's 112 modes in this game. Actually, make that 224- you can also double your shooter's size and make it even more tough for yourself and a friend. If you're alone though, only 16 (or 32 if you count for the aforementioned) are available. Still! That's crazy! I could only max out the difficulty on the first 3 of those, i'm determined to get the grasp of the other major ones at some point too. Astounding replayability, the best of any 2600 game so far by a long shot.

This is a must-own for any self respecting owner of the system. It's a revolution that holds it's own alongside it's big bro. It was the first home video game to crack a million sales and quadrupled(!) those of the 2600 as a whole. Beat that, Pac-Man! (Oh, it did...)

The Verdict

Graphics (7): A fairly close approximation of the arcade version. The sprites were more bulky at the time, so they could only fit 36 invaders on the screen. That's well and good, as are the new designs for them, they have their charm. Shame the enviorments are kinda messy. They had to pin down the borders of where you could move your ship, those are of differing colors too. The attract screen has lines on the side, those affect the scoring at the top as well. None of this is a deal breaker, but the lack of polish does shine through in that specific area.

Sound (7): Hits a bit better, though it still lacks some of the charm. The best attempted recreation is that the stepping nois (*not* the 4 note tune like before) speeds up dramatically over time and becomes a wonky, enjoyably silly drill when you're nearly finished. It does sucessfully up the intensity, though it is a bit loud and can get annoying in extended play sessions. The other sound effects are much the same, nice and raw but can get headache-inducing over time.

Fun Factor (9): Ohoho, what a delight this game is. I already explained most of why I really love to play it, so i'll keep it brief. If you are a Space Invaders beginner, this game is nice cuz the default mode is a bit more tame. If you're experienced, flip the switch and badabing, a new challenge awaits. All with perfect controls. It's even got a cheat for the default mode; turn the console on with the reset button pressed and you got two shots to fire at once rather than the single one like the original. That's my one complaint, I wish that would've worked with the other modes so I could feasibly see the 5th stage of the 5 individual gimmicks. Otherwise, this is early arcade perfection.

Longevity (10): Yep. 16/32 modes is MORE than enough to keep you occupied for weeks, if not months. And this is without talking about the ridiculous amount of multiplayer options. Annoying I can't try those, but the singleplayer offerings more than make up for it. I 'beat' the default mode, the one with moving shields and wiggly lasers seperately- the invisible Invaders and especially the fast lasers have me stumped with a smile on my face. Combining them only makes it worse. Try seeing the peak of mode 16 if you dare!

In Conclusion

#retro gaming #minuy600 #review #sona #atari 2600 #1980 #taito #atari #space invaders #minuy's must haves

[minuy600]

The Arcade Games of 1980 #5: Missile Command

If you thought Pac-Man was a fluke and we weren't in the golden age of arcade games yet, hoo boy, think again. Atari may not have impressed me a lot in recent times, but they clap back in some STYLE here.

Don't let the black background fool you, this game is not quite set in space. It did confuse me at first since it looks like you're defending Mars colonies rather than the Earth, but no, the cities you protect were actually supposed to be ones located in California. Which does add a bit of intensity when you think about it.

That's how I would describe the game best: Intense. The game doesn't sugarcoat, being *very* in your face about losing if you don't nab a high score. As soon as you hit the 2x multiplier, missiles come flying at you from all angles and depending on your skill level, your game can be over in the span of 90 seconds. Doesn't mean it's unfair, just that it's faster paced that you may be used to at this point in time.

Which is good! The speed of rounds makes the game incredibly replayable and you don't have to stick around to the slow stages for nearly as long. Blowing stuff up is always a hoot, especially with the large explosions this game hands you. You can make things easier for yourself too, flipping a DIP Switch gives you a city in reserve. The further you get, the higher the multiplier and the more ridiculous your score becomes if you hang on for a bit longer.

I don't have a ton of fluff to ramble on about this time. This is an excellent time and well worth your quarters/purchase of an Atari compilation. Even if it's yet another shooter game- damn I can't escape them can I?

The Verdict

Graphics (8): 8-bit decency that looks perfect for the early Famicom/NES days. It gets especially cool when there's a lot going on, with all those explosion vortexes and whatnot. The game over screen knows how to spook an unassuming player- big letters that yell 'THE END' at ya while the background flashes red. May have given small children nightmares, fits with the cold war theming.

Sound (8): Oooh, punchy, I like it! A lot of the bleeps and detonation noises aren't new, but they were updated to sound less sharp on the ears in the former's case, and more realistic in the latter's. Once again, fits with the scenario you've found yourself in. Can't deny I adore the randomly generated glitchy jingle when you get an extra city, too. A controlled cacophony that I can't get enough of.

Fun Factor (9): Brilliantly chaotic and replayable. Rounds are snappy, the controls are accurate *enough* that I don't find myself too upset when I miss, and there's also the twinge of strategy involved as well- what enemy do you focus on and what sacrifices need to be made? One of the least flawed feeling games yet. 'Polished af', as my informal self would say.

Longevity (9): Cuz rounds are so short, you can argue that reaching the final new aspects (6x multiplier at the 11th screen, no more background color changes some time later) won't take as long as it would with Pac-Man, however you'd be surprised. If you don't get a bit lucky with how the missiles fly towards your cities in the middle stages and don't have super fast access to multitasking, you could be stuck on this one for a very very long time. And you still would wanna play it afterwards, as with the other classics of the era.

My own max was the 7th screen for reference, past the point of new mechanics but well short of truly expert play.

In Conclusion

#retro gaming #minuy600 #review #sona #atari #arcade #1980 #missile command #minuy's must haves

[minuy600]

The 70s Wrap Up #16: Cutie Q (Arcade)

Namco banger alert!!! They barely arrived on the scene and they already made some classics. However, this one is different. Almost nobody fuckin' played it.

See, this is actually part of a retroactive trilogy- starting with Gee Bee, followed up by Bomb Bee and now Cutie Q. The name was based on an old song, Susie Q, which Toru Iwatani really liked a cover of. Ah. The times where games could mess with titles like that.

The game was only offered in Japan as a conversion package for the predecessors, which makes sense, we're in Galaxian territory now. Still, it sucks that not many got to see it in action, heck, nobody outside of Japan knew what the hell this was untill Namco Museum Remix came out. The ONE way to play it now, and the whole reason I got it- untill I realised it also has the rarely rereleased Gaplus *and* controls really well.

Leads me into my next point. You know me and Breakout have a rocky history. Usually due to having to use stinky Switch controls that obviously don't feel the same as holding a paddler in your hands. Oh my god though. Oh my god. Oh my f*ck. This Breakout-like is actually good?

And I don't mean just good, I mean reeeeally good. That's cuz this is *also* a pinball game. There's this weird period in time where developers couldn't really figure out how to emulate the flippers of one, so they plopped the brick breaking type deal into it instead. And they succeeded hard here. Slightly annoyed that I can't play Gee Bee or Bomb Bee to see how it developed to this point.

What helps is that Toru Iwatani is a living (and surprisingly young) legend and his next game would be a certain game involving a yellow circle who likes to eat. You will pick up straight away that the characters on the board look like prototypes for what was to come the next year. This was his style.

The game has a big addiction factor as there's a variety of things that can happen when you hit specific criteria, which includes getting extra points for making the 5 frowns in the middle all be smiley again via smart play, as well as a yellow gromlin called a Walkman showing up after clearing out all bricks that you can bop for much the same effect.

The controls, while not PERFECT on the Wii Classic Controller, are the most I felt in control playing a game of this genre thus far. I'm thankful for that, it meant I could keep getting compelled to try again and not get too frustrated.

Bodes really well for the future, this one. This was either THE most fun i've had playing a game for this series thus far, or a very, very strong number 2 behind a game it wouldn't stand a chance against anyway. It was a brief time with Cutie Q, yet an excellent reminder that obscure titles can be pleasant all the same.

Why couldn't this be the final game of the 70s? Darn Lunar Rescue throwing a wrench into the 'final hurrah' idea.

The Verdict

Graphics (8): Since this was based on the Gee Bee cabinet, there's not a ton of color and every sprite is a single color. I actually find this very comparable to a game on the ColecoVision or SG-1000, the visual style gives me the same exact vibe. However! The presentation is quirky and fun. The Minimon (ghosts) and the Walkman are neat characters. The colors are still very vibrant and it is not an overlay. I can't complain at all- okay Galaxian still looks better, but is that even a serious battle?

Sound (8): Ooh I do enjoy me a weird sound engine. The bleeps are somewhat high pitched without being shrill as well as there being this silly dumb 'tring' if you hit a brick. The remainder of the noises are hard to describe, though they remind me of Pinball on the NES. That means it must be good!

Gameplay (9): Namco did it. They made Breakout into something that is above 'playable' without a paddle controller. A well rounded board that has a good set of events depending on how you play. I was constantly interested to see what would happen if I did specific things. Better yet, I hardly got frustrated and there was no moment where I thought improvement was impossible. I had fun!

Longevity (8): Second verse, same as the first. Since this is simply a single pinball board, at some point, you're out of surprises. For me, that took about 3 hours of playing. Being addicted to it and trying to go above and beyond with your high score is very much possible anyway. I know it is cuz you're looking at the guy who would willingly play it again right here.

In Conclusion

#retro gaming #minuy600 #review #sona #arcade #1979 #namco #cutie q #minuy's must haves

[minuy600]

The 70s Wrap-Up #10: Space Invaders Part II (Arcade)

The first game with '2' in the title and for them to actually mean it. Sprint 2 does NOT count, else we'd already have 7 sequels to Sprint.

What does it entail? Are we gonna see new levels, new bosses, new graphics, new attitude, new enemies? Kinda.

Essentially, this is the original Space Invaders with some extra spunk baked into it. I have seen most of the changes, though one of them is very difficult to pull off for a not-exactly-pro-gamer like me.

For one, there's a little cutscene that plays between rounds and at the start of one. They're not anything special, just an alien abducting a spaceship and the aliens climbing down into formation. However, I believe this is the first time i've actually SEEN these little intermissions. Another step in gaming riiiight here.

Another kinda cool thing are the extra methods of scoring points. This is based around the version of Space Invaders that allowed for 99990 points, which obviously helps it's consistent appeal. You got flickering UFOs, which hands out 500 points, and the fireworks, which are extremely uncommon as it requires you to shoot down an alien on the bottom row last. I have managed to get the middle row aliens to be the final men standing, but the bottom row was a bridge too far.

And yes, we DO have new enemies, actually. Two to be exact. Stage 3 has the regular UFO start becoming less passive, with it filling the blanks of the top row once you shoot those down. Stage 4 has the only new alien of the bunch, a tiny duo that appears once you shoot the wide bois. Both fine additions, it at least means the game varies up a bit once you get deep into it.

Lastly, gotta love the addition of adding your name once you get a score over 5000. That would become a standard shortly after this release, and I really do enjoy it as a measurement of skill against, you know, myself. Don't really have arcade machines around the block anymore.

It's understandable this 'bonus pack' gets looked over frequently. None of these changes are particularly crazy, though they do the job and allow the game to last a bit longer without getting boring in my book. It's still Space Invaders, which was the king of gaming at the time. One of the few games of the 70s I feel excited to play now.

The Verdict

Graphics (7): The game looks the same as it's always looked. Is it still top of the line? I'm not sure. I'd say it still is for NOW, as Atari Basketball's lack of color did dimish the excellent total package. Soon, it will get absolutely mauled by Namco's arrival on the scene.

Sound (9): Still as classic as it can be. Not much news under the radar. The new additions come down to a pitch shiting UFO sound during the inbetween-cutscene (very funny:tm:), aaaand the same four-note tune of old being sped up into oblivion as the aliens crawl down in preparation of the next stage. Clever use of existing sound effects, understandable if it's not doing it for ya however.

Consider the fact that I have played the remainder of 1979 and some of 1980, and it'll take a bit before this gets surpassed when compared to the graphics. Taito had a great sound engine for their early releases.

Gameplay (9): I don't need to explain this, do I? It's Space Invaders, but BETTER. If that game's your jam and don't care much for it's 16-bit sequels, this will, briefly, floor you. After that, it's the same excellent song and dance as before.

Longevity (9): With the additional variety and the high points limit, you could spend hours at the arcade grinding this one hard. Even if you're not a perfectionist, there's still more of a reason to keep going, as the game adds new elements right up to stage 4. The original only increased difficulty as you went along.

I wonder if those Space Invader cafes from Japan had these cabinets, too. I would assume that answer's a resounding 'yes'.

In Conclusion

Oh yes. The awards. They're gone. I think it's plenty to just consider the games with a purple score (33 or higher) to be the must-haves. Which would imply that retroactively, Video Olympics joins that club to be alongside the Space Invader duology. Rightfully so.

#minuy600 #minuy's must haves #retro gaming #review #sona #taito #arcade #1979 #space invaders part ii #space invaders

[minuy600]

Review 78-01: Space Invaders (Arcade)

So this might be the biggest video game release ever after Pong. The first game on my list by a company that isn't Atari, too. Taito joins the fray and quite possibly completely embarrasses all other games that have come before it.

Now the question is, will it be the first game to achieve my Gold Award of a 9/10 or even a 10? Let's see.

Do note, I played both the black and white version and the slightly later color rerelease which added an extra digit to the score, using the Space Invaders Invincible Collection. I'm not sure when the latter released and if it changed anything else, but I honestly doubt it did. I

Graphics (4/5)

So besides the Pong paddle, which you can hardly call one, this is most likely the first ever arcade game to recognisable characters! The Invaders are pretty cute and still used as a symbol for 'video games' 45 years later.

It also introduces a new type of attract screen. Whereas previously, you would just get silent gameplay done by an AI or prerecorded footage (I think?), this time, you get the score table laid out *before* it moves over to that. It's a relatively small addition, though it would become a very very common sight pretty quickly after this game released.

Black and white (with some green if you use an overlay) as it is, it's not the most stunning game to look at, in fact you could consider the small 8-bit sprites a minor downgrade to Atari's 1977 output, which seemed to use larger graphics with less chunky pixels. Still, it took- give or- take half a decade for the visuals to be replicated correctly on SG-1000. I think it did it's job.

The colored version makes it so that you can more easily tell what is a danger and what is not, as well as a red flash across the whole screen when you die. It's obviously the more definitive way to play, though it hardly ends up mattering what version you choose or enounter in the arcade.

Sound (4/5)

This game has ingenious sound design. Pretty minimal, but inventive in the right places. It's the first game to have background music while you play, unlike Star Ship's random noises which were cute but not really composed, so to say.

This one's got spunk by having a 4-note descending loop. That doesn't sound like much, BUT it gradually speeds up as you vanquish more Invaders, increasing the stress factor to the player. It worked on me when I was younger, so that's solid. Even if it's effect became less over time, the idea is something I have always enjoyed (and feared) in video games.

Otherwise, the sound effects are pretty good too. I like the spacey noises of the UFO in particular, they're fun. Overall, a neat package.

Gameplay (4.5/5)

Take the tired old shooting genre and flip it on it's head, bam, it's Space Invaders. Instead of shooting another player or shooting stuff within a specific time limit, you now get all the time in the world to shoot down the 55 titular Invaders in spaaace. At least, untill they hit the bottom of the screen, cuz then you're instantly dead.

You also have those barricades which, by expert players, actually get seen as more of a hindrance than a help. The reason for that is the Nagoya Attack is one the first ever examples of an exploit! Open a gap between multiple columns of aliens, let them go to the row before the instant game over one, and they won't be able to hurt you at all. You still need quick reflexes to get the final ones though, and that I simply don't have.

I could go on all day about this, point is, it's much deeper than anything that came before it and is more than likely the oldest game on my list that younger people actually do still play legitemately, without any nostalgic or curiousity reason attached to it. It's THAT good.

The is one small con to this all, and that is that the Invaders' shots feel a bit too random and could end up screwing over your rounds due to a cheap shot you could not take down in time. However, I call this an opinion and not a fact- there is a solid chance this is due to my own bad gameplay.

Longevity (4.5/5)

The first game to have a strategy guide? Check. The first game that gradually gets more difficult as you complete stages? Check. The first game to cause a huge uproar in Japan because of how everyone wanted to play it? Check check.

The 9990 point limit may SEEM a bit skint now, and the color version improves it to 99990, so sure, it's not endless. Have you ever tried reaching it though? The best I can do is slightly over 4k, and that took me several weeks without save states. Unless you're a gaming god or have huge preseverance, which hey, adds to the replay value, you're not gonna be done exploring strategies for top scores in a hurry.

The difficulty does peak at about 6 or 7 levels in, so much like the other soon-to-be all time classics from the late 70s and early 80s, you do run into repetition eventually. Again, they throw everything at you to ensure you'll never actually make it.

Overall

It was inevitable. This game does so much so right. This being a big leap forward for the gaming industry has been talked about endlessly, for me to rehash that history lesson is quite unneccessary. Taito really could not have 'landed' any better.

Even NOW, you can probably still find it laying around in Japan and North America. Even now, you can pick it up and have a blast. Even now, you would not realise the game is older than Pac-Man and Donkey Kong at first. It's addictive as heck too! I tend to accidentally play for hours at a time.

Yes, this is 100% a deserved first Gold Award. Long may it continue.

Update: Due to the way my reviews work as of 28 August, the score may seem like a downgrade, but I will consider anything that shows a happy Sona (so an 8.5 or above) to still be a Gold Award. Likewise, Silver Awards and Bronze Awards have their treshold moved half a point down as well.

#retro gaming #minuy600 #taito #review #sona #1978 #space invaders #arcade #minuy's must haves

[minuy600]

Review #0016: Video Olympics (Atari 2600)

Considering I never ever played the entire first generation of video game consoles, I may have missed out on some sort of big Pong fatigue in the 70s. I mean, just how frickin' many of those consoles are there?

Jesus.

So okay, Video Olympics, also known as Pong Sports, wasn't exactly the freshest game on the block as the final launch game for the 2600. Yet to ME, it is the ideal way to play it. It's the most extensive game by far, clocking in at 50 game modes. It'll be tough to find a larger game for a while.

Graphics (3/5)

I gotta be honest and say that it's just Pong again for the most part. The boatload of new modes don't do much other than add a splash of paint and extra blocks to form the playfield. It's what a launch title for the Atari 2600 generally looks like. Expectations were not high yet, so it's reasonable here- though other games absolutely manage to outdo it. Maybe I was too harsh on Blackjack's table...

They get the point across is what i'm sayin'.

Sound (3/5)

More Pong! Except there's pitch shifts depending on the score now, giving it a bit of a quirky personality in my opinion. This doesn't change between modes, so don't get your hopes up for something crazy. It's alright.

Gameplay (5/5)

Okay, so you get regular old Pong, which already controls better than the original game, at least on Switch, as it feels more smooth and responsive to your inputs. It seems like some sorta Pong Deluxe, with the more funky noises, slight graphical improvements and more difficult (yet beatable!) AI, that yes, once again has 4 settings for you to have a crack against, even if this changes the paddle size rather than how it plays.

My lord, if you have a buddy or family member lying around, you cannot get better than this in 1977. I don't think every mode is a winner here, but only Combat manages to rival the crazy variety this package offers.

That's what I find the most impressive out of all of it. There will be games that have more or a similar amount of modes. None of these will actually have 8, 9, 10 games that throw the rules completely upside down. Stellar.

Longevity (4.5/5)

Pong, Pong Doubles, Quadrapong, Foozpong, Soccer, Handball, Ice Hockey, Basketball AND Volleyball?

Yeah as I said earlier, if you're from the 70s and keep the sessions relatively brief, you're never gonna be done with this one. Imagine the tournaments you could hold with this. Grab a piece of paper or a bracket generator, pen down the winners and scores, bam you have a super early example of eSports at home. I am actually getting excited over that idea as we speak.

For the single player though? I'm sorry. Only regular ol' Pong is available there. That's the thing that keeps this game from hitting it's fullest potential. If it had more to do against an AI than just... what pretty much all Pong consoles already offered, this would have been an easy 5/5.

At least they had an excuse, a complete lack of memory. Like, I get it, but it puts a slight damper on the experience as you absolutely NEED someone else to crack open the quality container.

Overall

Don't let this being another 8 fool you, this is probably my favorite game of this series so far. It trumps Pong by having a better version of it included, even for single players, it's the quinessential second launch game to get after Combat runs out of steam. It's better than Air-Sea Battle and Surround as they respectively have a slightly lamer game concept and less variety.

You'll never need to splash the cash on a Coleco Telstar ever again!

Annnnd that's it for launch games. It's exciting to go into these next batches of titles, these are the ones I had never properly researched before this point. Famous last words, I know.

#retro gaming #minuy600 #atari #review #sona #1977 #atari 2600 #video olympics #pong #pong sports #minuy's must haves