30 Years, 30 Games: Day 30!

[o2william]

On May 26, 2005 -- 30 days from now counting today -- I turn 30 years old. Me. Thirty. Not old by any stretch, but not young anymore, not really. It's the kind of age that makes you realize that your early youth is a little further away than you think it is, which in turn makes you all the more nostalgic for it. For me, memories of youth are inextricably linked to memories of games, so I thought it might be a fun project -- and a bit of a challenge -- to list 30 games that have had some kind of a special impact on my life and share them with the forum one day at a time, culminating on my 30th birthday. These aren't necessarily my favorite games, but each one of them has affected me in one way or another.

This isn't exactly a countdown, although the "most important" games will appear near the end, rather it's an excuse for me to reminisce about some games that have meant something to me and share some (I hope) interesting stories about them. Keep your eye on this thread for a new game and a new tale every day for the next 30 days. And just so you don't get the impression I'm misusing the board for my own evil nostalgic ends (or just to earn extra Meseta), I wanted to note that this thread was okayed by Joe and the DP powers from on high. I hope you don't think it's too self-indulgent, but hey, you only turn 30 once.

If anything you read here rings true with your own experiences, feel free to chime in with stories of your own. One thing I've learned over my 30 years is that most games are more fun with multiple players.

[o2william]

Day 1: Defender



I wanted to kick off this list with a game everybody would recognize, and what game could be more recognizable than Defender? I'm sure everybody on this board has played it at least once. For me, Defender represents a rite of passage -- a childhood terror that, once faced, proves your successful entrance into adulthood. It is, after all, a game that separates the men from the boys.

I was introduced to Defender in a laundromat down the street from my earliest childhood home. Like many gamers seeing Defender for the first time, I was intimidated. The control panel contained approximately 6,000 buttons and the screen was crowded with too much information for my 6-year-old brain to fully process. Nevertheless, I played the game anyway -- and was crushed. I didn't know what I was doing, I couldn't get the ship to fly right (I didn't understand the use of the Thrust and Reverse buttons), and my score was laughably close to 0. I wasted a few quarters on the machine before finally deciding it was a game for grown-ups and giving up on it. Still, the image of that yellow, red and black cabinet always stuck with me and to this day, whenever I hear the words "video games," the first thing I picture in my head is the Defender marquee.

In subsequent years, I began playing a fairly faithful PC port of the game and finally began to get the hang of the controls. Soon I wasn't scared of the game anymore, although I still hadn't logged much time in on an actual machine. That changed during my year-long stint at a company that had an actual working Defender machine in the lobby. On breaks and after work I'd practice playing it, and finally got to the point where I could break 100,000 every game, 200,000 when I played well. By no means had I become a Defender expert, but I was at least competent at the game -- something beyond the wildest fantasies of my six-year-old self. Yeah, it's corny, but in a way, I felt like I'd finally grown up.

If you've got any Defender or videogame-growth stories, I'd love to hear 'em!

[Hep038]

I am 31 and can say my experience was similar to yours. There was a local arcade that I would go to every other weekend. And they had a Defender game there. I was never any good at the game but it was so loud you could not help but hear it through the whole arcade. Well to a young kid this was irresistible. Every week it would get at least 1$ of my quarters. If I saw that machine today it would probley annoy the hell out of me.

[Nature Boy]

I have a Defender story for ya - but it's a VCS Defender story

It was released for the VCS back in 81 so I was 10ish. We had a VCS in the first place because my dad enjoyed video games. What he didn't enjoy, though, was losing to his 10 year old kid all the time.

That Christmas I had asked Santa for Defender. What dad did was this: went out and bought the game in October/November, opened it, and practiced. And practiced. And practiced. When a snot nosed 10 year old opened it up on Xmas and started playing, well, needless to say he was stunned that his dad was just amazing.

I didn't find any of this out 'till years later. And yes, I plan on pulling the same prank on my own son some say

One other item: as someone in his mid 30s let me put your mind at ease: 40 is gonna make us feel like we were young in our 30s - at least that's what the 40 year olds keep telling me

[Zombiezilla]

I loved Defender, but never became any better at it than I was when I first played it. I think it was the sounds that I mostly fell in love with, and how smooth it all moved.

When I found out about MAME, it was among the first that I searched out. I still can't play it worth a damn, but I still love it just the same.

In my "defense" though, there aren't many games I can play "worth a damn", and pretty much suck at them all.

[Ed Oscuro]

My experience is pretty much the reverse of everybody else here - I got into classic gaming through my family's first Windows 95 PC. I picked up a CD-ROM called "Game Empire." Oh, the BACK advertised it had DOOM, but instead it had lots of shareware games.

I can think of two ports or "revs" of Defender on the disc. The first was the Spectrum-like, three-color game Jumpjet, which was a good bit of fun by itself - Defender with missile/bombs, big enemy planes to take out, and a rapid-fire gun on the front (just hold fire).

Yet that was still pretty far off. Also on the disc is a *real* Defender clone - same black background and neon colors, but so many more of them. I should look this one up again sometime - it works very well compared to the original.

Of course, these are just two Defender clones, and I'm sure there's dozens of carbon copies closer than Jumpjet ever was; the gameplay mechanics and asthetics are immediately recognizable. I'd say Defender was one first really good looking titles around.

[Sothy]

I remember thinking that warping in defender actually took me to the next level ehehe. Thinking i was at like level 90 and stuff. ehh I was dumb as a kid.

[boatofcar]

To me, Defender represents the first "hard" video game. Most of the early arcade games had a pretty gracious learning curve--who couldn't make it past the first maze of Pac-Man or the first wave of Space Invaders? Defender just threw you into the fire as far as difficulty went. Most of my games were (and still are) measured in minutes surviving, not by score.

[NoahsMyBro]

What a game to lead off with! I think this will be a tough one to top over the next month.

I was probably 12 the first time I saw Defender. It looked and sounded so unbelievably cool I had to try it. I then saw the control panel, and decided "there's no way anybody could possibly play that". Hell, I probably said it out loud.

I then saw someone, probably in his latge teens or early 20's, play the game, and do well. I decided if he could do it, I could do it, and tried the game out. I sucked, but was pretty quickly hooked. I eventually got pretty good at the game, and it became one of my all-time favorites.

There was a Defender in the 7-11 near my house, and for a while I would bike there every chance I could and sink whatever quarters I could scrounge up into that machine.

After I'd gotten good at the game, I remember going to a Mexican all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant with my younger brother, Mom, and stepDad one evening. (For the few of you in the New Orleans/Metairie area, it was Pancho's.) At any rate, this restaurant usually had a handful of arcade machines in the front of the restaurant - video games, love testers, etc... Well, this one particular night they had a Defender - I was very excited and had a difficult time sitting still at the table and eating dinner with the family. After eating (probably very quickly), I somehow managed to get my Mom to let my brother & I leave the table and go hang out by the videogames until she and my Stepdad had finished eating.

Now, I'm guessing at this point I was probably 13 or 14. I was pretty good at the game, but not great. And I only had maybe $1 on me.

What added to the cool factor was a quirk I found in the machine. I don't understand how this could happen, and I don't recall how I discovered it, but this particular machine had some freak defect, such that if I socked the coin mechanism door in exactly the right place, during a specific screen of the demo, a bunch of credits would be added to the game. So I got the game up to maybe 20 credits or so, and then began playing a marathon game.

Well, to the little kids all around me as I played the game, I was a true sensation. A small crowd of awe-struck younger kids formed around me.

At some point I had to leave, and left my game-in-progress, with several spare ships, to one of the kids watching me play. It was a great, and obviously memorable, night.

[lurpak]

Defender would have been one of my memories too, there was a old pie shop in the late seventies, early eighties that I remember (though I beleive it was around since the 40s) called the Rainbow cafe, in warrington and it was owned by two old dears, as you walked in there was a defender machine on your immeadiate left. 10p for 2 credits, so us kids who were sometimes kicked out of the "american pool center" arcade across the road would go in there to feed our gaming adiction and our bellies. we always ordered a meat & potato pie, and sat on a tall circular stool to play defender.

Anyways, a couple of years pass and one of the old dears dies, and I got older (old enough not to get kicked out of the arcades), but one day when coming home from town I decide to pop in for a pie, and its only then I realise that the old guy serving has a really wrinky kneck just below a matted mop of brylcreme flattened hair, so wrinkly that flakes of skin dropped before my eyes onto the counter...

I never ate there again. about a year after that the place closed, I suspect he died too.

[o2william]

Day 2: Private Eye



(Readers of Retrogaming Times may recognize this story from Issue 24. I apologize for repeating myself.)

A goofy game involving a private dick and his bouncy car, Private Eye is one of the obscurer Activision releases for the Atari 2600 (R4 in the DP Guide). It has the pleasing look and feel of many Activision games, but it isn’t a particularly fun one -- a momentary diversion at best. But it holds a special place in my game collection because of all the times I got rid of it.

My first Private Eye cart turned up in my second-ever purchase as a classic game collector, a monster acquisition that consisted of 100+ 2600 carts, a GameLine 2600 modem, and a shrinkwrapped Odyssey2 Atlantis -- all for $60 (those were the days!). I kept it until I came across somebody online who wanted to trade his unused O2 Quest for the Rings set, which I needed. I rarely trade games if I don’t have a duplicate, but he really wanted Private Eye and I really wanted QFTR, so away Private Eye went.

Much later, I placed an order for some O2 games from a classic gaming vendor. As per his instructions, I gave him a list of alternate titles he could send if the O2 games became unavailable. After weeks of waiting, a package arrived containing my alternates, which included Private Eye.

As it happened, I was bidding in a Usenet auction that was closing the very day the package arrived. I was after yet another O2 Master Strategy set: The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt. Cash bids had been bypassed by this point; people were bidding with tradebait, and I had nothing left. So I offered Private Eye, won the lot, and once again traded away Private Eye for an O2 Master Strategy set. Destiny? You make the call.

It took years before I obtained Private Eye again in an eBay auction. I don’t think it’s going anywhere this time. After all, I now have all the Master Strategy sets. Besides, I feel Private Eye needs to be in my collection now; I think it has earned its place.

So, game collectors: any special games like Private Eye in your collections?

[Neil Koch]

I played that game briefly. I didn't have any instructions, so honestly, I didn't know what the hell was going on. Seemed like a pretty amibitious title for the 2600 though.

[YoshiM]

So, game collectors: any special games like Private Eye in your collections?

Not games, but game systems. I think I've owned a Genesis system and then sold it about four times. The first time was my first personally-purchased system. I needed cash and felt that I wasn't playing the system all that much (along with the model 1 Sega CD I also had). Sold the works for $200 (I think).

Then I saw a CDX unit and I got the urge to play Sewer Shark again. Paid $200 brand new for the unit. I found out the unit is prone to overheating so like a couple years later I sell it for $50 (I know, it's worth something more now). But I soon bought a regular Genesis from Funcoland as a replacement. After amassing another decent sized collection, I sold it off again as it never got played and I was running out of room in my trailer. Had some good titles too. Swore myself off of the Genesis as I hardly played it.

Then one day I ran into a Model 2 with a 32X. For some sick, twisted reason I bought it. Later I then buy an original Model 1 so I can play Populous. Then I buy another Model 1 (with the security chip) so I can get the games bundled with it. So now I have three Genesis systems.

Moral of the story: if you even *think* you'll want to play the system again, don't ever sell it. Or my wife will laugh at you when you buy the system again.

Runners up: TG-16 (3 times) and the Sega CD (3 times-if you count the CDX).

[s1lence]

Zelda - A link to the past for snes is my private eye. I think I sold and have purchased that game a dozen times. Now I have two copies and though it is a common game, I'm not going to part with them.

[o2william]

Day 3: Arkanoid




Arkanoid is a game where a ball bounces up and down, over and over again. How fitting that my relationship with it is also marked by pronounced highs and lows.

We met at Giovanni’s Pizza, a long-gone hometown pizza parlor where I had a lot of my first arcade experiences. Bright, colorful graphics, snazzy spinner control -- it wasn’t hard to hook me. That was a high point. I loved the game, and longed for a home port. Trouble was, I had an Odyssey2 and an Atari 2600, and even then I suspected that neither console could handle the game. I figured a home version would never appear, and once the cabinet was gone from Giovanni’s I’d never play Arkanoid again. Low point.

Years later, I had a NES and a Nintendo Fun Club News subscription. And there’s a Taito ad featuring Arkanoid! High point. I buy the game, which turns out to be a great port that comes with its own super cool paddle control. Double high point! For a while there, Arkanoid was great. My parents even got into it, and we’d spend evenings passing the paddle around, seeing who could reach the highest level. Until the paddle broke, which was a very low point indeed. My mother repaired it, but then it broke again, so she’d repair it again, and then it would break again, and on and on. Its state of operability went up and down like the on-screen ball. Eventually it broke for good.

But you don’t need a paddle to play NES Arkanoid, so I still played it sometimes. Then, I discovered the continue code which let you keep playing even after losing the game. Now you might think this is a good thing, but it’s not. See, before the code, Arkanoid was a game I’d play for a few pleasant rounds until I lost. Beating it was not even a remote consideration. But with the continue code, it became an obsession. And with 36 rounds of tough play, it’s not easy. Once, after getting to round 30 or so and then failing to input the continue code correctly and losing all my progress, I took the cart out and threw it against the wall (the only time I’ve ever done that). It didn’t break, although I nearly did. It was months before I could play it again.

I did return to the game and beat it eventually, and now we’re back on an even keel. But it’s been a rocky road. How about you? Any love/hate game relationships in your life?

[Jibbajaba]

Well I don't have an overly interesting or extravagant story to go along wwith Arkanoid, but it does hold a special place in my heart. Back in the day when I had an 8088 XT computer, I saved my money and bought an SVGA monitor and accompanying card. Arkanoid (MS-DOS version, obviously) was the first VGA-compatible game that I had on my computer, and I was dazzled my the color graphics that my new monitor could display (I previously had a monochrome (green) monitor). I played this game quite a bit.

Still have it on my DOS box, too.

Chris

[o2william]

Well I don't have an overly interesting or extravagant story to go along wwith Arkanoid

Well, it doesn't have to be about Arkanoid specifically; any story where you have a love/hate relationship with a game would fit my theme.

That's cool that you kept the old copy of Arkanoid for your DOS box. Was it an official port? I remember playing some weird PC clone of the game called "Bananoid" where the power-ups were bananas IIRC... something tells me it wasn't sanctioned by Taito. That was before I got the NES version.

[Sotenga]

I just... I just suck at Arkanoid. There are games that I can always kick ass at, and there are games that I can do alright at. Scarcely are there games that I absolutely balls-out suck at. They do exist. Arkanoid is one such game. Paddle or no paddle, the freaking ball goes too fast for me. Even with all the power-ups, my standard mark of losing is stage 3. Those f@#$ing gold walls... I...

I'll never be good at Arkanoid, not in millions and eons of years. Oh, sure, I like it. I like it a lot. It's just... absolute pain every time I play it.

... but wait, what's this? I was told that the Continue code didn't work past stage 17! Looks like it can be beaten after all. Kudos to William for informing me of a fact that I should have freaking known by now!

Also, kudos to eventually kicking Doh's ass. Your reaction to failing to input the continue code correctly almost sounds like the time I lost my mind when playing Breakdown. The limits of a gamer are tested each and every day.

[Jibbajaba]

Well I don't have an overly interesting or extravagant story to go along wwith Arkanoid

Well, it doesn't have to be about Arkanoid specifically; any story where you have a love/hate relationship with a game would fit my theme.

That's cool that you kept the old copy of Arkanoid for your DOS box. Was it an official port? I remember playing some weird PC clone of the game called "Bananoid" where the power-ups were bananas IIRC... something tells me it wasn't sanctioned by Taito. That was before I got the NES version.

Yeah it was an official release. Taito Arcade Clasics or something like that. Think it was ACTUALLY Revenge of Doh. Same chick, different panties.

Love-Hate? Sonic the Hedgehog. One of my favorite games of all time, and one with the most nostalgic value for me. I love everything about this game, EXCEPT for the damned level where you have to jump up that looooong it at the end while the water level is rising beneath you. I have NEVER been able to beat this part of the game, and thus I have never actually beaten the game. Only used a cheat code to bypass this part entirely and continue on to beat Dr. Robotnik.

Chris

[Ed Oscuro]

Back in the day when I had an 8088 XT computer, I saved my money and bought an SVGA monitor and accompanying card. Arkanoid (MS-DOS version, obviously) was the first VGA-compatible game that I had on my computer, and I was dazzled my the color graphics that my new monitor could display (I previously had a monochrome (green) monitor). I played this game quite a bit.

Aye. Doh it Again was awesome as well - I think it looked quite a bit better. Definitely worth tracking down, that one.

As for me...well, as with my last story, there was a very good remake on that CD. Played the heck outta it for a while. Playing Arkanoid with a mouse is the way to go!