1 More Castle - For Dummies

Jonathan Hallée

A Farewell Message from the 1MoreCastle Contributors

Daniel Lamplugh

Retro Power: Goodbye, 1 More Castle

Alex Weiss & Valerie Minnich

Series

The Fair Shake

The Fair Shake

Wheel of Fortune: Commodore 64

Some time ago I picked up a small lot of Commodore 64 items from arguably one of the most interesting C64 guys on the planet. Here on 1MC, I asked what I should do with it. Specifically, I asked What the Eff should I Play? I hadn’t mentioned the system since then, and with good reason. I had nothing to play, or do, aside from making little BASIC programs, until a few weeks ago. A small lot appeared on my local Craigslist consisting of a few C64s, a C128, and a VIC20, along with approximately 100 game disks and five or six game cartridges.

The Fair Shake

“What the EFF should I play?” – TI – 99/4A

When it comes to games, I don’t really ‘collect’ everything I see. I usually stick to 2600 cartridges as my ‘system’ to collect for bypassing rows upon rows of SNES, N64, and Genesis carts at a flea market, but actual systems? Those are a weakness. Same goes for the older 8 bit ~~gaming~~ computer systems. I’m lucky enough to be able to have a game room setup (which sees far less use then you’d think) in the house, along with a fiance’ that enjoys gaming and permits this little fun den. The shelves in the room are stocked with most mainstream US consoles from the Atari 2600 onward. a A few weeks ago I stumbled around one of those flea markets doing ‘the walk’. You know ‘the walk’, right? That slow shuffle as you gaze on tables upon tables of knick knacks, doilies, pots, pans, old DVDs, and stereo systems that were lousy 20 years ago. Once in awhile though, you find a gem buried under something.

The Fair Shake

Tooth Protectors: Atari 2600

Some people are gamers. Some are collectors. I’m more on the ‘gamer’ side of the fence, however I do constantly look out for one thing ‘in the wild’. Atari 2600 stuff. It’s where my heart lies, I suppose, there and the NES. I grew up with the Atari, and actually only stopped playing for a few years in the early to mid 90’s. Sure, a lot of the games are trash but you can overlook those, right? Hours spent playing with my dad, or watching my dad play back before the NES even existed. Whatever the reason, I collect for it.

The Fair Shake

Power Drive: Arcade

I rarely cover arcade games and I’m not really sure why. Lack of access to cabinets, maybe? I changed that recently. A few weeks ago I was at Funspot with my fiance. (Oh yeah, I’m engaged, whoo hoo!) They have all sorts of arcade games there. Shooting, driving, platformers, timed games, and even the button mash games. You know, the games where the ‘skill’ is who can pound a few buttons the hardest, like Track N Field. This one game, Power Drive, has taunted me, hurt my fingers, stressed my wrists, and generally tired me out since I was a child over 25 years ago.. and I keep going back to it. WHY? What is it about?

The Fair Shake

Search & Destroy: DOS

I’m not sure why I’m always drawn to games set during WWII. Perhaps it’s because my grandfather served in the US Army and was part of the D-Day invasion, as well as the liberation of France et al, so in a small way it helps me connect to the past. Maybe it’s because it was arguably the first ‘modern’ era war, where technology rapidly changed from wooden ships and planes into vessels and flying machines made of metal. Maybe it’s both, Regardless, here we are once more. Some time ago I covered the game GATO, a submarine simulation where you hunt down and destroy nameless enemy ships while running silently, deeply. Search and Destroy (S&D), a DOS game, puts you in the role of a depth charge equipped destroyer hunting submarines in WWII, much like the GATO sub you controlled.

The Fair Shake

1942: NES

In 1942 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.. Dammit, I always get that wrong. That’s ‘In 1492’ Columbus sailed the ocean blue. What does that have to do with 1942? Nothing except for transposed numbers. That poor segue just led us to 1942, a shooter by Capcom. Originally an arcade release in 1984, it was released over 40 years after the Battle of Midway. It was later ported to a ton of systems, but in particular for this week it was released for the NES in 1986.

The Fair Shake

Alien Syndrome: SMS

As a kid I always loved reading instruction manuals for games. Some of the back-stories written for games that didn’t really need them to begin with are amazing, like Life Force. *Spoiler alert* Seriously? I’m INSIDE an alien being? Wow. Some are amazingly bad, or if you think about the plot, it falls apart. Alien Syndrome is such a game. It takes place in the far-off-I’ll-be-dead-by-then-year of 2089. A random alien fleet has pulled up to Earth calling themselves, ‘Alien Syndrome’, sounding more like a heavy metal band than an invading empire. With aliens threatening to destroy Earth some ‘Earth Command Troopers’ have boarded the fleet but were captured. Now Earth Command has asked for volunteers to rescue the Troopers from the fleet. Save Earth? No, that’s later. We are saving the first wave guys who got caught.

The Fair Shake

SURROUND

Surround. If you ever had a Nokia cell phone, you automatically had this game in your pocket and most likely played it at least once. If you didn’t have a Nokia, surely you saw one of the Tron movies, right? Hello, light cycles? In the ’90’s, everyone knew this game as ‘Snake’. The first home version of this was on the Atari VCS, called Surround. Unless you had a Sears Video Arcade, then it was called ‘Chase’. It also had some crazy box art that loosely relates to the game. Surround is better than the version on your old Nokia for a few reasons.

The Fair Shake

Star Force: NES

So let’s see. You’ve beaten Life Force and you’re tired of R-Type. You even trudged the hard path through all of Blazing Lazers. What next? Proclaim yourself shooter god? If you want to, go ahead, but you should sit back down and try Star Force for the Nintendo Entertainment System. ‘Star what,’ you say? Oh, that game with the cool box art that actually matches what’s going on in the game? The game that has made me feel old recently?

The Fair Shake

Private Eye: Atari 2600

Three related questions to be answered in a bit –

1. What is Paul’s favorite Hall and Oates song?

2. What game did I pick up locally at a pawn shop?

3. What is this week’s Fair Shake about?

The Fair Shake

Dungeon: Atari 2600

Retro games are great. That’s why we’re all here right? Each of us has our favorite game, genre, character, system, controller, and so on. What happens though, when you’ve played ‘everything’ available on your favorite system? You might just turn to the homebrew scene to see if you can find something new. Last week I did just that. AtariAge.com, among several other vendors, offers new Atari games for each Atari system! (Fun Fact: The 2600 has had new games released each year after it’s release,except in 1993 and 1994.)

The Fair Shake

Quartet: Sega Master System

Whoa. I must be writing this from Bizarro World. Two Sega Master System games in a row? Yes! I’m attempting to branch out of my comfort zone for a bit (which means no NES games for a few weeks, sorry Bailey). This week, I present a game called Quartet that’s part Gauntlet, part Contra, and a whole lot of fun. Released in the arcades in 1986, and a year later in ’87 for the C64 and Sega Master System, the game is best described as a platforming shooter. UK friends, you saw the game for the Amstrad CPC and the ZX Spectrum in ’87 as well.

The Fair Shake

Enduro Racer: Sega Master System

So here we are, a little over a year into my weekly column where I have a personal space to present some games I think you should try. If you flip through my previous highlights, you’ll see they are heavily Nintendo-centric. For every ‘other’ system’s release or port I discuss, there’s a piece on a Nintendo or Super Nintendo game. Not intentional, but I guess it follows how I spent my time playing games in my youth. I did dabble in a Sega Master System, but with a few exceptions, it collected dust until I unceremoniously sold it. One game that saw heavy use was Enduro Racer.

The Fair Shake

The Adventures of Lolo

Ever have one of those lazy Sundays? Not a Chronicles of Narina Sunday, but a really lazy ‘I can barely keep my eyes open because I’m so tired and it’s rainy and dark out and blahhhhh’ kind of Sunday? I just did. Like any other Nintendophile would do in this situation, I fired up the NES. I dug out, of all things, THE ADVENTURES OF LOLO. Say wha? I did say it was a lazy Sunday didn’t I?

The Fair Shake

The Untouchables: NES

Last week I was browsing Netflix after my girlfriend went to bed and I came up with the 1987 gem ‘The Untouchables’. Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Robert DeNiro all star in this exaggerated telling of the real life story of how Elliot Ness worked to take down the criminal kingpin Al Capone in 1930’s Chicago. Someone at Ocean thought that this very violent movie (even by today’s standards) would make a great video game on several home gaming and computer systems back then, including the venerable Nintendo Entertainment System .

The Fair Shake

Panic Restaurant

Ever heard of Panic Restaurant for the good ole regular Nintendo? Me neither. I found it by accident a few weeks ago while looking for something to play on my flash-cart*. While highly coveted by the collector peeps, how is it as a game? and why the hell is the restaurant panicking anyway?

The Fair Shake

Lock ‘n’ Chase

I’m not a big fan of Pac-Man. There, I said it. I know I’m supposed to be, judging by the general age of the games I cover here, but, meh. Maybe because I always thought the 2600 release of Pac-Man was normal (it’s not) and was representative of ‘all Pac-Mans’. I really like the Championship versions of Pac Man on modern consoles, but old Pac-Man? Eh. Maybe because I played too many other things that were similar much more often, and in my opinion, better, so when I went to the honest to goodness arcade version of Pac-Man, I’m kind of let down. I much prefer games like Lock ‘n’ Chase.

The Fair Shake

Night Stalker / Dark Cavern

Retro gamers come in all forms. From the guy in his 50’s who considers ‘gaming’ to be hanging off an arcade game joystick with a beer in his hand, to the ‘hipster’ who recently discovered how great Super Mario Kart is on the Super Nintendo. The middle range always surprises me. Like the friend in his mid 30’s who could pull off a convincing Pitbull impression and constantly posts about COD on his Facebook page. Imagine my surprise when a recent conversation went to Intellivison, and one of my favorite games, Night Stalker.

The Fair Shake

Destiny of an Emperor

Looking over my body of work here at 1MC, I’m fairly content with the selection of games I’ve chosen. It is *my* column after all, so of course it’ll skew towards things I like to play. I thoroughly enjoy JRPGs, but I feel so much has been written about the Final Fantasy series that I don’t really feel the need to contribute anything further. Then I realized I haven’t talked about one of my personal favorites, Destiny of an Emperor.

The Fair Shake

Sleuth: DOS

So you have an urge to be a detective, but you don’t want to muck around with that whole licensing thing. Forget watching people for hours on end. Getting shot at? Yeah, I’d skip that too. I invite you then, to discover Sleuth for DOS based computers.

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