Bringing Past To Present
Posts tagged Top Tens
RetroReview : April Amiga Apocalypse – Part Five
Apr 27th
Dateline 27th April 2012
Apart from establishing that the Amiga was far superior to the Atari ST, if you were still playing 8-bit computer games that the Amiga was the way to go and providing an albeit expensive alternative to the fledgling console market, what else have we learned about the Amiga during the merry month of April ?
Well the variety of titles were there. There were plenty of groundbreakers too – Another World, Flashback, Kick Off, Sensible Soccer and Populous to name but a few. The fact that all of these ended up on consoles goes to show the quality of the games and their enduring appeal which very much catered to all markets. The best thing though is that, unlike the PC at the time, the Amiga was very much at it’s best whether it was used for programming, educational uses or games. The PC simply couldn’t hold a candle at this time if you wanted to play games software.
Love At First Sight
So, with a last hoorah we wave farewell to the Amiga with much sadness in the heart, but look forward to May where the Sega Master System steps into the limelight…..
RetroReview : April Amiga Apocalypse – Part Three
Apr 23rd
Dateline 23rd April 2012
I’ve always been asked what sort of games I prefer. Do I prefer First Person Shooters ? Well I like the original Goldeneye on the N64 and the early Medal Of Honour/Call Of Duty games, but not the modern versions. I love sports games, although playing anything pre Kick Off is now nothing more than a retro chore (with the exception of Emlyn Hughes’ Football). Puzzle games are OK, but give me Tetris and I’ll be happy. I love good arcade conversions and original games but I am not the world’s biggest fan of film and TV tie ins. So this next batch of Amiga games from my youth cover a lot of bases with the usual predictably mixed results…..
Which game genre do you prefer ? Strip poker games not included of course......
RetroReview : April Amiga Apocalypse – Part One
Apr 20th
Dateline 20th April 2012
The Commodore Amiga – a phrase that brings tears of happiness to the eyes of myself. Oh how many happy hours were wiled away in front of my monitor playing on a computer system which had been purchased purely for educational purposes. Yeah right, as if that was going to happen. You know that’s gone out of the window when your Dad starts buying American Civil War games and wants you to come off so he can have a quick pop at E-Motion.
The sort of photo that weeps nostalgia - many happy hours were spent loading this up
RetroReview : Mega Drive March Madness Part 6
Apr 1st
Dateline 31st March 2012
As we say goodbye to the Mega Drive, in closing it is worth saying that this is one of my most favourite machines ever. It looked cool, it played your arcade favourites and brought some arcade quality into the home, producing new gems such as Streets of Rage and Sonic that are iconic masterpieces of video games programming.
We've played some classics and we've had some fun but for Sega Mega Drive March Madness we must move on
Of course there are the downsides too. Each game cost around £40.00, it suffered from some lazy conversions compared to the SNES, the Mega Drive II wasn’t as cool as the original console and at the end of the day it was being flogged to death for every last drop of technological advancement it had (the Mega CD and 32X)
One final thought – when the Mega Drive first launched in Japan it was possible to import Mega Drives into the UK Legally. These were known as “grey imports” which led to much confusion. We all thought the Mega Drive was black and wondered if we did get one, it would be a dodgy grey coloured version. Oh how we had much to learn……..and we all waited for the original UK release. Well my mates did, I had to wait until 1994 to buy a second hand version from a chap at college.
Anyway I digress – here are the final few Mega Drive March Madness games………..
RetroReview : Mega Drive March Madness Part 5
Mar 31st
Dateline 30th March 2012
Sequels and licences, two of my least favourite things. They go together like wood chippings and jam and there are far too many inferior examples of them across all formats of video games. They still produce them to this day, with video game developers chasing that last penny from us all in return for something that stinks worse than last night’s curry.
They don't get much badder than this - and not in a good way
Expect this to be a mix of the sublime and the ridiculous as we enter the next part of Mega Drive March Madness……….
RetroReview : Mega Drive March Madness Part 4
Mar 29th
Dateline 29 March 2012
The great joy with Mega Drive collecting is the fact that there are masses of games to pick up and play. Unlike cassette based games, where tapes may have stretched or warped with time, or disk based games where the disc may be damaged or simply perished due to the age, the only real problem you can find with cartridges is a few dirty connectors. Give them a spruce up and more or less 8 or 9 out of 10 will work without any problems. They are easy to store if out of the original box, and if you aren’t fussy about all the original packaging they can be picked up as cheaply as £1.00, or even less if you get lucky.
Clever that isn't it ?
Anyway here are some more games that may or may not appeal for the Mega Drive as March Madness continues……
RetroComment : Happy Birthday to RetroGamer Magazine !!
Mar 5th
Dateline : 5th March 2012
As birthdays come and go, every now and then one of them is a milestone. Be it 16, 18, 21, the dreaded 40 and the even more dreaded 65 – only one stands above them all. That is the Big One and RetroBear joins in the centenary celebrations of Retro Gamer Magazine…..
Happy 100 Retro Gamer !
RetroComment : February-Free-For-All : 20th February 2012
Feb 27th
Dateline : 20th February 2012
The following reasons are why Mario is better than Sonic, and why Sonic is better than Mario – at least, for arguments sake, that will give you something to mull over until next time :
It's the battle to end all battles, the rage in the cage, the rumble in the jungle - but who comes out on top ?
Commodorathon : Games 37-42
Feb 8th
Dateline 7th February 2012
Game 42 marks the 10%-ish mark of the Commodorathon. To say it’s been an arduous trek so far is to say that elephants are made of sheet metal. Still it doesn’t help that the six games chosen at random tend to be just that – random. Cacky old arcade conversions, lame film-tie ins and the great, great grandson of Championship Manager lay in wait in this next batch……..
The first landmark of the Commodorathon
30 Days of Gaming – Game 19 – Goldeneye (Nintendo 64)
Nov 22nd
Dateline : 19th November 2011
The old foe stands opposite Retrobear – the move tie in. However on this occasion he is more than pleasantly surprised as this one is really rather good. In fact not just rather good but stupendously good. So grab your silencer and your tuxedo as RetroBear goes all Bond on us….
You can tell the quality that went into this game and that is why its a gaming classic