The iPhone may be the newest gaming rig on the field, but it\’s starting to host its fair share of yesteryear. Some of the biggest names in retro gaming have popped on the touch screen, such as Namco\’s Pac-Man and Atari\’s Missile Command. And in just the last few weeks, the App Store has placed wayback classics like Space War and Adventure within reach of iPhone gamers. But one of the most intriguing trips down memory lane comes courtesy of Sid Player, a to-go jukebox that links you directly to a huge library of classic Commodore 64 music.\r\n\r\nThere is something special about the music of the C64. The Commodore 64 was a wildly successful platform that snuck into many homes as a productivity machine, but was primarily used as a game player. The C64 was built with audio in mind (among other things) and the SID chip was capable of producing some incredible game music. While technically limited when compared to the audio equipment of today, the SID chip, in the right hands, could sing. Some of the greats of the era, such as Rob Hubbard and Paul Norman, coaxed some fantastic music — not game music, but just music — out of the SID. Play The Last V8, Human Race, Aztec Challenge, and Forbidden Forest, and just try to disagree.

\r\n\r\nEven though I don\’t own an iPhone (yeah, it sucks) and didn\’t own a Commodore 64, I could imagine how strange it would feel playing classic or retro video games on a 3.5-inch widescreen at 480 by 320 pixel resolution. Playing these retro games isn\’t about how it looks or sounds, but how it feels, and how it feels right in the hands of a passionate classic or retro gamer.\r\n\r\nIf I owned an iPhone, however, I\’d probably go for retro or classic video games that I had played when I was young … er. Space Invaders and Asteroids, which I originally played on the Atari 2600, are probably two of the games I\’d get for my iPhone.\r\n\r\nScouring the Internet, but staying away from the Apple iPhone App Store, I\’ve found a retro game pack for the gadget at Apptism. The retro game pack has four games—Bricks, Alien Hunter, Tank Wars and Pong—and is downloadable, for a fee, of course, from Apptism.\r\n\r\nBefore you go downloading new retro (boy that sounds so contradictory!) video games to your iPhone, consider viewing this video entitled The Good, Bad & Ugly side of the Apple iPhone App Store from TekieTV:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOh, and if you\’re looking for a good blog to get news about Apple and the iPhone, check out The After Mac and Cellphone9.

Post from: EveryJoe

Even the iPhone is going retro

\r\n\r\nSo who hasn\’t heard of The Three Stooges? You know, Larry, Curly and Moe? No? Doesn\’t ring a bell? Well, if you have no inkling who the three are, then you probably don\’t belong to the generation that watched the original black and white series or their voluminous re-runs.\r\n\r\nI watched a few seasons on the boobtube when I was younger, even the ones with Shemp in it. Yep, before Curly, Shemp was the one taking the beating from Moe, and sometimes Larry. Hmmm, before I go on to the gist of the story, let\’s take a closer look at The Three Stooges. Who were they and what did they have to do with television and video games?\r\n\r\n

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid-20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. They were commonly known by their first names: \”Larry, Moe, and Curly,\” and \”Moe, Larry, and Shemp,\” among other lineups.\r\n\r\nThe act originally featured Moe Howard (played by Harry Moses Horwitz), brother Shemp Howard (played by Samuel Horwitz), and longtime friend Larry Fine (played by Louis Feinberg). Shemp was later replaced by brother Curly Howard (Jerome Lester Horwitz) in 1933. When Curly suffered a stroke in 1946, Shemp rejoined the act.\r\n\r\nThe Stooges\’ hallmark was physical slapstick comedy (yes, the ones where you see guys hitting one another) punctuated by quickly delivered one liners within outrageous storylines.

\r\n\r\nSo you see, they were more than ripe for the picking for video game developers wanting a shot at bagging part of the legacy left by The Three Stooges.\r\n\r\nCinemaware and Activision won the rights and released in 1987 a video game entitled, well, The Three Stooges, for the Amiga. Later, the game was ported to different systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Gameboy Advance. I played the game on the PC, a version released much later.\r\n\r\nThe game involves Moe, Larry and Curly playing mini arcade games derived from classic Stooges films. The goal is to raise enough money, $5,000 to be exact, to save an old widow\’s orphanage. The Three Stooges, according to many industry experts, was quite advanced for its time, featuring sampled speech (yes, the characters talk using the voices of the actors), and multiple endings.\r\n\r\nTo raise the dough, The Three Stooges need to play through several mini-games such as throwing pies at rich restaurant customers, competing in a cracker-eating competition, and pitting Curly against a giant of a man in a boxing match.\r\n\r\nI tried playing the game in a licensed online version … and found out that I suck at the mini-games I used to ace. Sad.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Three Stooges: Crazy retro gaming

Wait! Before you start stoning me, you might want to take a gander at this:

Like I said, unimaginative and boring.

Fortunately for Boulder Dash fans out there, the game has been remade into Boulder Dash: Rocks!, which is, thanks to digital and technological evolution, way better than the original. And thanks to a friend who owns both a Nintendo DS and a copy of Boulder Dash: Rocks!, I found the time to enjoy the classic without the irritating sounds produced by the original Boulder Dash.

Aside from graphics and sound upgrades, there’s also a big change in the background story. Instead of simply being Rockford the Prospector, the hero of Boulder Dash gets a real heroic goal in the guise of Crystal, the girl of his dreams that craves shiny large rocks. Bling! Bling!

Let me just shut up and let a video do the talking:

Post from: EveryJoe

Boulder Dash: Rocks! A rockin’ remake

Here’s a brief background for those standing on the far side of the moon:

Moon Patrol is a classic arcade game by Irem that was first released in 1982. It was licensed to Williams for United States of America distribution.

In the game, the player controls a moon buggy, viewing it from the side, that travels over the moon’s surface. While driving it, obstacles such as craters and mines must be avoided. The buggy is also attacked by UFOs from above and tanks on the ground. Moon Patrol was one of the earliest linear side-scrolling shoot ‘em ups and the first arcade game to feature parallax scrolling.

Anyway, in the game, you take the role of a police officer from the city of Luna, mankind’s first metropolis on the moon. As you may have already surmised, you drive around Sector Nine, home of the “toughest thugs in the galaxy,” with the objective of jumping over craters and getting rid of enemies while you’re at it to earn points.

Needless to say, like my Frogger and Space Invaders run, I sucked at Moon Patrol, failing even to hurdle the first stage. A few more days of playing Moon Patrol might give me a little edge, but I’m not keeping my hopes up.

Aside from the arcade version (and the current Flash animation version), Moon Patrol has been ported to a number of consoles, including the Apple II (on which I played Moon Patrol for hours on end), the Atari 800, 2600 and 5200, the Commodore 64, and the Nintendo Game Boy Color.

Post from: EveryJoe

Moon Patrol: Crater upon crater of hopping fun

Well, here’s my list:

Pong, Space Invaders, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Pac-Man, Frogger, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, Leisure Suite Larry, Afterburner, Double Dragon, Prince of Persia, Tetris, Secret of Monkey Island, Sonic the Hedgehog, Castle Wolfenstein, Super Mario Kart, Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Minesweeper, Myst, Rayman, Command & Conquer, Tekken, Tomb Raider, The Sims, Grand Theft Auto, and Total War.

Darn, I think I have to brush up on my video games history and literature again.

Post from: EveryJoe

The History of Video Games in two minutes

Go check it out and judge for yourself:

Kudos to Norman Caruso for the superb voiceover.

Post from: EveryJoe

The Gaming Historian: Now this is edutainment

This picture comes to mind whenever I think of Double Dribble:

Actually, according to some serious retro gamers I know, my thoughts aren’t too garbled. Hmmm, let’s look for an example. Ahh, here … let me quote Dr. Jeebus, who commented on Double Dribble’s inclusion in Syd Lexia’s Top 100 NES Games Ever.

I found it kinda hard to get into this game (Double Dribble) knowing that I could be playing Arch Rivals and pulling down my opponent’s pants. Funny how they all wore boxers with hearts on them. You just don’t see that anymore …

LOL!

Post from: EveryJoe

Double Dribble? Arch Rivals seems better

Here’s how you do it:

First, jump towards your opponent and hit him with a fierce kick attack. As soon as you land on the pavement, hopefully behind your opponent, hit him (or her, as the case may be) with a follow-up standing fierce punch. While busting your opponent’s face with the fierce, you should also be holding the joystick (or directional cross key) in the direction of the opponent. Note that Ken should not be moving towards the opponent as doing this will result in a throw.

Now comes the critical part, that of buffering a fierce Dragon Punch into that fierce punch you just landed. This is why you should be holding down the directional key in the direction of your opponent. Remember that Ken’s Dragon Punch (and Ryu’s for that matter) is executed by doing the following: forward, down, down-forward + punch. Doing this to end the first combo will give you four hits on the opponent (more if you’re fighting taller opponents like Sagat and Zangief).

What happens next will seem like a blur to your opponent as Ken steps in with a couple of jabs, a fierce punch, and another Dragon Punch.

Confusing? Here, watch this video:

Post from: EveryJoe

Street Fighter II: Ken’s Touch of Death Combo

Actually, there’s not much to talk about as game features go. The only news concerning The Goonies is the fact that it has already celebrated its 20th anniversary and that a remake of the classic game is now available as shareware. More on this later. For now, let me share a bit of video game history.

There are two versions of The Goonies video game, one for the MSX and another for the Nintendo Family Computer. A sequel, The Goonies II (duh!) was released for the Famicom a few years later. It should be pointed out that these versions of the game had little to do with the movie, but it featured the same set of characters. Take the Fratellis, for example. They’re still the bad guys in the video games.

In The Goonies video game, however, the Fratellis have managed to kidnap all of the Goonies (except Mikey, our lead protagonist in the game) and hide them in hidden cages across a map of caverns, mazes and abandoned buildings. Mikey’s goal: to rescue all the Goonies and free a mermaid named Annie. Where Annie is in the movie, I know not.

If you’re more of a movie tie-in buff, then the Datasoft-produced Goonies may be the video game for you. This version of the video game, which features eight screens where a player has to use two members of the Goonies to solve puzzles and reach an exit to advance to the next stage, was released for 8-bit computers like the Commodore 64, the ZX Spectrum, the Amstrad CPC, the Atari, and the Apple II (I played the game on this archaic machine). Unlike its MSX and Famicom counterpart, this version made use of designs from the actual sets and the puzzles seen in the movie.

Sigh. Those were the days. Hey, if you’re looking for a rush, why don’t you try the remake of the video game by Brain Games. The remake was made for the 2006 competition organized by Retro Remakes. Take a gander at these screenshots:

Post from: EveryJoe

The Goonies: 8-bit gaming goodness

The author of this mish-mash, however, missed the entire Apple line of personal computers. I owned an Apple IIc, so I know first-hand that a lot of video games can be played on the machine—that is, if any Apple computer is still intact to this day.

Post from: EveryJoe

Video game consoles, then and now