Atari Poop

Atari Poop – Venture

Before I start, I need to thank @thedancinpanda for suggesting Soylent Green. You’ll get what I’m talking about by the end. Anyway, on with the poop!

Apparently, the “official” story for this game is that the dude with the sword is named “Winky” and he’s the only person who’s potentially “clever enough” for the job of getting the world’s most priceless treasures. Many treasure hunters have disappeared in this dungeon. Only one person has managed to escape with his life. Apparently, one should be ready with his bow and arrow. Authorities cannot explain the disappearances.

Canonical Case Study: Castlevania and Contra

The sharp crack of a leathery whip echoes through mausoleum halls, the booming gunshots of an automatic rifle thunder across an alien landscape – these are the signature sights and sounds from two of gaming’s most storied franchises, Castlevania and Contra respectively, both now over 25 years old as first developed and published by Konami.

These hallowed series made their initial mainstream console appearances as cartridges for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), with Castlevania being released in North America in 1987 and Contra in early 1988. The two properties are still going strong, persisting across several different platforms and spanning four different decades so far. Such lasting brand strength offers gamers a unique case study into how a canon successfully strikes a chord with players, even throughout many sequels.

Map Quest

Map Quest: Final Fantasy VII

Outside of Final Fantasy VI, I’d be hard pressed to think of a better example of a solid world map than Final Fantasy VII. Nearly everything was identifiable, and there was a secret in just about every nook and cranny of the world.

While pretty much every Final Fantasy game up until that point had a rich and interesting world, it wasn’t until VII that I truly became lost in it. I wanted to explore every facet of that game, no matter how insignificant: whether it was on, above, or below ground. That’s the power of a solid RPG world map. Read More

Corncob 3D

Corncob 3D, where do I start? In an alternate dimension, Hitler died in childhood and thus World War II never happened. Instead, aliens invaded the Earth. Linger on that now, will you?

As one of the earliest shareware flight simulators available, it’s time we look back at a game that is both ambitious and somewhat perplexing. Read on after the break for the history, and my thoughts on a game that drove me mad as a child.

Insert Currency

Insert Currency: Skyrim – Oh the Places You’ll Go

Skyrim is the bukkake love-child of a myriad different games. Expansive open world, hand-crafted dungeon crawls, a classless class system, strong RPG character and story elements, and moral decision making, join in a glorious choir of M-rated harmony. In this figurative DNA-test we will look at the parentage of Skyrim’s open-world frontier. The transition from Elite, Legend of Zelda, Super Mario 64, and into The Elder Scrolls series is like witnessing a cocoon mature and give birth to a beautiful nordic mountain range.

The Fair Shake

The King of Dragons: SNES

Greetings Readers! Carl has ditched the mechanized vehicles typically covered in The Fair Shake this week, in favor of some role playing hacking and slashing. Are you a Fighter? Elf? Wizard? Cleric? Dwarf? Choose your class. Leave your gaming dice at home. We’ll be defending the Malus kingdom, and defeating the red dragon, Gildiss. Will you take your place as the King of Dragons (not to be confused with “The Dragon King”)?

The Retro Critic

TOTAL RECALL

Yup, I went there.

Probably one of the least liked, most negatively reviewed NES games around, Total Recall is one of those games that actually does try to stay close to the source material but in the process forgets to be good. A shame because a Total Recall game could (read: should) have been classic.

I mean, it’s not like the movie lacked material: Mars, triple-breasted whores…

But instead what we got from the NES wasn’t worth Dick. Philip K. Dick, that is.

What will ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ mean for the games of yesterday?

I was pleased to learn of the upcoming film Wreck-It Ralph when I first learned of it in June. Finally, a family friendly movie that I can take my kids to and still want to see myself.

Seems that Disney is marketing this thing to be their big holiday season film. That is not something I expected, but nonetheless ads are running constantly across television, including during the Olympics. The folks working at the movie theater the other day were wearing t-shirts for the film as well, tempting me to drag one of them out back to roll them for the shirt. Sadly, nobody there appeared to be wearing my size. Read More

Character RETROspect

Rick Taylor

What would you endure for your significant other? Would you take matters into your own hands and do what you have to do to save your love? This week in Character RETROspect we will be looking at Rick Taylor, the main protagonist from the Splatterhouse series — a man who looked evil in the eye, laughed, and then kicked the crap out of it. Read More

Atari Poop

Atari Poop – Berzerk

In 1982, the Atari 2600 got a port of Berzerk, an arcade game created by two people who travelled back in time to make a game based on a movie they really liked and their mutual hatred of Walmart. They ended up creating a classic game and one of the most terrifying video game characters ever.
Read More

Saturnology

Cases

Whether it’s European, Japanese, double thickness, filled with foam, or just paper, all Sega Saturn games came in a case. David walks us through the various game cases throughout the history of the Saturn. Watch the latest episode of Saturnology past the break!

PC Master

PC Master: Your First (Budget) Gaming PC (Pt. 3)

Welcome to part three of the budget PC series! So far we’ve covered building a cheap gaming computer, and have discussed the types of software needed to make your gaming easier both at the desk and on the couch.
In this part of the series we’ll discuss the various control schemes you can use, and various other odds and ends to make your experience the best it can be. Read on after the break for a list of more PC gaming suggestions!
Read More

Insert Currency

Insert Currency: Assassin’s Creed – Tactical Espionage Action

In part one we talked about the ways in which Assassin’s Creed sprouted legs and learned to leap from the original Prince of Persia. In this second part we will examine how it came to crawl, duck, fall into bales of hay, and other generally suspicious activities. The roots of the stealth genre can be found all the way back in 1987, hiding under a box titled Metal Gear.

The Fair Shake

Flightmare: DOS

Greetings Readers! Once again, Carl dons his flightsuit and beckons you to join him. This time, into the wasteland. The way back machine has been cranked to 8… How high does this knob go anyway? (How high should it go? comment below!) We’ll be exploring a game described as a 3D flying game, but it’s really not. A game that has 4 color graphics but still manages almost 30 years later, to be totally playable and a good time, if you can get past the odd ‘one hand for X Y axis and the other for Z’ controls. Confused? Read on.

The Retro Critic

THE LAWNMOWER MAN

If there’s one movie I never expected to have a good retro game attached to it, it’s The Lawnmower Man.

You remember The Lawnmower Man, right?

Of course you do.

Sure the virtual reality plot device lends itself to obvious possibilities game-wise but really, the best I was hoping for on Sega Genesis was a lame side-scroller at best. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like the movie in all its dated, silly, 90’s glory, but it is one goofy-ass flick and a hard one to take seriously so a game could have been a disaster of Alf-like proportions.

But as patchy as this game is… I kinda like it!

Time to give the doctor the spotlight, dontcha think?

Five years ago this week the world saw the release of a little film called The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It was here that the mainstream first learned that people still did battle over high scores on early 80s arcade games as they learned of Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell’s battle.

Now, much could be written here about the liberties taken with the story, ranging from the fact that Mitchell had actually lost his record in 2000 to a gamer who was left out of the film to the fact that Wiebe had the officially recognized high score when the film began, but I won’t. Frankly, enough has been written and said about this film over the past half-decade.

Character RETROspect

Sparkster

Growing up in the 1990’s was pretty fantastic. Most clothing was neon colored, everyone wore Zubaz pants, and every single thing you could think of was XTREME. Even all of the animal mascots for video games had XTREME attitude.

This week in Character RETROspect, I’ll be talking about Sparkster, the main protagonist/possum from the Rocket Knight series. Who doesn’t love a badass marsupial who wields a sword and dons a jetpack?!

Atari Poop

Atari Poop – Off The Wall

Eric here, subbing in for Atsinganoi this week, rather than let 1MC go without its regular dose of Atari Poop. Because if there is one thing we all need, it is our weekly dose of Atari Poop. This column is saving your life.

PC Master: Your First (Budget) Gaming PC (Pt. 2)

In the last article of this series, we covered the hardware need to make a nice, budget gaming computer. But now that we’ve selected all the parts we need, where do we go from here?

In this article, we’ll go over all the software you’ll need to get that gaming PC up and running. More specifically, we’ll cover DOS emulation, and organizing your retro game collection into a TV-friendly experience.
Read More

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