By Andrew Liszewski
Long before Mortal Kombat hit the scene and got everyone riled up about video game violence, there was a game called Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior which I played on the C64. (Though I only ever knew it as Barbarian.) It was your standard 2D fighting game, but instead of fancy martial arts or magical fireballs you had to rely on your sword and basic fighting moves like kicks, rolls and even head butts. Come to think of it the game was probably pretty accurate in that regard, since it supposedly took place during the dark ages. Two opponents of slightly varying color schemes would square off in a handful of medieval venues, and eventually you’d get to challenge a wizard who was the game’s final boss. For some reason though, my copy of the game was stuck in an endless loop, so no matter how many opponents I defeated (sometimes close to 50 before I gave up) I never actually made it to the final wizard stage.
But I still thoroughly enjoyed the game, mostly because of one special move where your character would do an impressive 360 degree spin with his sword, taking your opponent’s head clean off in the process. In fact I found this move worked right from the start of the match, but only with every other opponent. The ones in-between apparently had some level of improved AI that allowed them to block the attack. But for those who weren’t so lucky, once beheaded they would slump to the ground and a bizarre green troll-like creature would stroll across the screen, kick the head out of frame and then drag the body away. (After stopping to make some weird sound effect.) And again, by today’s standards the game looks pretty lame, but in 1987 that pixelated blood was more than enough to send the squeamish running from the room. But if you have any doubt about the awesomeness of Barbarian, I’ve included a YouTube video showing the game in action, after the jump. (Note: The squeamish still might want to look away.)
[ Lemon64.com - Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior ]
Read the rest of this entry »
By Andrew Liszewski
Not to be outdone by the handheld NES in an NES cartridge that popped up a few weeks ago, another modder on the BenHeck.com forums with the alias of ‘G-force’ has crammed a famiclone (a Super Joy III) into an NES controller. While the famiclone already came with about 70 built-in pirated games, this NES controller NES goes one step further with an actual cartridge slot on the bottom allowing you to play any old NES title you can get your hands on. Here’s some more info on the mod:
-Came with built-in pirate games, including the 2 player version of tetris, and a level select hacked Contra, among 70 or so more games. Nearly endless supply of old-school-nes there. I didn’t even get to play every one before I gave it away, lol.
-Ca(r)tridge connector on back for playing those NES games that aren’t built in. Just switch the power switch over to the left and it disables built in games, and the ca(r)tridge is playing. I wasn’t going to add this at first, but thought about how she had a weird pirate game with a guy who threw rocks, and it wouldn’t work on her blinking NES. I really wanted to play it, so thats why I added it. A bit selfish maybe, but I don’t think anyone will complain.
-Nintendo logo is backlit! Looks insanely cool in real life. I’m going to do this to all my NES controllers when I can get around to it! It’s that cool. Only thing that bugs me is that one LED is too close to the logo and unblablances the light. Something only a perfectionist would notice.
Something tells me if G-force found a way to produce a limited run of these Mini NES’s, he’d make himself a small fortune.
[ BenHeck.com Forums - NES mini (entire NES system in controller!) ] VIA [ ALBOTAS ]
By Andrew Liszewski
I think it’s safe to say, without a shadow of a doubt, that the original Test Drive was the greatest ‘driving around a mountain’ simulator ever developed for any gaming console. At least that’s what I assumed the game was about, since there was always a towering brown wall to the right of your vehicle you had to avoid, in addition to the occasional traffic coming from the opposite direction. And even though I had no idea where they could set up a speed trap on a mountain road, the game also required you to watch your speed, otherwise you’d find the police chasing you in your rear-view mirror. Thankfully your car was also equipped with a radar detector (the device in the upper left corner of the screen) so you knew when to keep your speed down and when you could jam your joystick all the way forward.
But I think what really attracted most kids and even automotive enthusiasts to the game was that Test Drive featured actual licensed cars, and as far as I know it was the first driving simulator to have that. You had your choice of 5 different performance vehicles including the Chevrolet Corvette, the Lamborghini Countach, the Porsche 911 Turbo, the Ferrari Testarossa and the Lotus Esprit Turbo. As you scrolled through the choices you also got a brief spec sheet for each ride so you could see how they performed in terms of acceleration or 0-60 times. (Not that any of those numbers actually translated that well when it came to the in-game driving.) As a kid I can remember being absolutely blown away at the ‘high-resolution’ graphics of each car on the selection screen, and while I shake my head looking at them today, back then it made me wonder how things could ever improve. Thankfully though, the original Test Drive was far from the pinnacle of video game graphics.
[ Lemon64.com - Test Drive ]
By Andrew Liszewski
It seems that if you want to guarantee your sports title has some level of success these days, you need to make sure it features a professional athlete in some capacity. But believe it or not there was a time when game developers didn’t shell out millions of dollars to license actual players. In fact the first game to feature sports celebrities didn’t come out until 1983 when a then small company known as Electronic Arts released Julius Erving & Larry Bird: One-On-One for the Commodore 64. While the in-game characters looked nothing like their real-life counterparts, the box featured a photo of both NBA stars on the front which pretty much guaranteed the game would appeal to even the most passive of basketball fans.
As you can see the graphics were particularly bland, even for a Commodore 64 title, but the background music was quite addictive and the gameplay was pretty decent. One thing I never really liked though was that the players got tired as you approached the end of each quarter. As a result they would start to move as slow as molasses, so we’d usually just put down our joysticks and let the clock run out until they were back to full speed at the start of the next quarter. I’m sure the feature seemed like a clever idea on paper, but it became quite tedious when you were actually trying to play the game.
And to be honest, the sports celebrity angle was never the reason my friends and I played the game. In fact as grade school kids we barely knew who Dr. J or Larry Bird even were. But we loved their game for the simple fact that you could shatter the backboard with a slam dunk. You never knew when it was going to happen, but when it did the backboard would turn into a pixelated mess as it fell to the floor, and a disgruntled janitor would have to come out and sweep it up before the game could continue. It was actually a very small part of the game, but as far as my friends and I were concerned, shattering the backboard after a dunk was probably the greatest accomplishment any NBA player could pull off in their career. And it was just as satisfying for us to do it sitting in front of our C64s.
[ 1UP.com - Erving Vs. Bird: One-On-One ] & [ Lemon64.com - One on One: Julius Erving and Larry Bird ]
By Andrew Liszewski
[Welcome to 'The Games We Played', a new weekly feature (I hope) that will feature my memories and experiences with a classic video game from the past 25+ years that I've had the opportunity, or misfortune, of playing.]
I’m starting ‘The Games We Played’ with a great title from the Commodore 64 called Law Of The West. It wasn’t necessarily my favorite C64 game, nor was it the greatest, but it does have an interesting back story for me. You see, like a lot of C64 owners, building my game collection involved buying a box of 50 diskettes and giving it to a friend of a friend who returned it a month later filled with countless games, but not a single instruction manual. In Law Of The West you played the local sheriff who was just trying to get through the day by keeping his tongue in check while he interacted with various townspeople. Of course some of the locals weren’t exactly the friendly type, and you had to choose your words wisely, lest you be gunned down in the street. And as far as I knew (without having a manual) the game was nothing more than a text-based adventure.
But one day while playing Law Of The West I accidentally knocked my joystick to the floor, which to my amazement, caused the sheriff to draw his pistol. Needless to say from that day forward the local sheriff went from being a kind hearted keeper of the peace, to a ruthless killing machine. Sometimes I’d let the locals speak a line or two before they’d feel the searing kiss of hot lead, and other times I’d lay them out as soon as they walked on screen. Of course my reckless ways meant I never successfully finished the game according to their rules, but I think my gun lust made the town a safer place in the end.
[ Lemon64.com - Law Of The West ]
By Andrew Liszewski
The first time I had any reason to pay attention to Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome was when they started selling a line of watches that included small amounts of steel and coal recovered from the Titanic. And even though I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea, it seems I was in the minority since the watches sold very well. So to follow up on that success, Romain Jerome is now introducing a line of fountain pens to their Titanic DNA collection.
The pens (or writing instruments) are made from a variety of materials including palladium, brass, PVD, stainless steel and gold, and even feature a ring of oxidized steel “which is a fusion between actual material from the sunken vessel, and steel obtained from the Harland & Wolff shipyards, where the RMS Titanic was built.” The pen’s design also incorporates various elements taken from the constructive features of the ship including a spinning propeller that draws ink into the pen tip that can be seen through a sapphire glass porthole. The fountain pens were made by Jean-Pierre and Benjamin Lepine in collaboration with Romain Jerome CEO Yvan Arpa, and each variation will be limited to just 88 pieces.
[ Romain Jerome Titanic-DNA Fountain Pens Complement Exclusive Titanic-DNA Watches ] VIA [ Born Rich ]
By Andrew Liszewski
Remember when I was all excited because someone put one of the Tim Burton era Batmobiles on eBay? Well I’m glad the auction was removed because it allowed me to save my money for this Airwolf replica instead. Unfortunately this Airwolf was never affiliated with the TV series, but was created for a helicopter museum in Tennessee. It is pretty accurate though, since it was built on an existing Bell 222A airframe and the side panels, nose panel and other details were all made from the real Airwolf’s specs and plans. In other words, this is probably as close as you’ll ever get to owning one.
Like the series, the helicopter museum is no more, which is why their collection is now up for auction. At the time of writing the latest bid was $38,900, but the reserve hasn’t been met. And if you plan on making your own bid, just keep in mind this is strictly a replica and can’t actually be flown out of your secret mountain base. Also Ernest Borgnine is not included.
[ Airwolf Helicopter Replica ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]
By Andrew Liszewski
I’m not entirely sure how Wile E. Coyote could afford everything he bought from the ACME company over the years, but I do know there were plenty of gadgets and contraptions I would have loved picking up myself. I mean who can’t find a use for a Do-It Yourself Tornado Kit, Rocket Powered Roller Skates or even the pinnacle of ACME engineering, the Giant Rubber Band.
The Illustrated Catalog Of ACME Products website has pretty much every single ACME product I’ve ever seen in a Looney Tunes cartoon, and plenty I haven’t. It also lists what episode or episodes the product appeared in (I remember the Giant Rubber Band being used again and again) as well as a handful of screenshots for each one. Looking back you think ACME would have opened up a division to sell insurance. Though I guess the claims would have probably bankrupted them in a week.
[ The Original Illustrated Catalog Of ACME Products ] VIA [ OpticalPoptitude ]
By Andrew Liszewski
While the post dates back to October of last year, on the Kodak ‘PluggedIn‘ blog Steve Sasson took a walk down memory lane regarding the company’s first portable electronic still camera. And who better to do so than Steve Sasson who is actually credited with inventing the digital camera and was one of the guys who created the prototype pictured above. The camera is really a Frankenstein of technologies from 1975 built from various components including a Super 8 movie camera lens, a portable digital cassette instrumentation recorder, 16 nickel cadmium batteries, a new type of CCD imaging array and a collection of digital and analog circuits all wired together. All in all, the first prototype doesn’t look half bad.
Instead of memory cards, the camera relied on the aforementioned cassette deck to capture still images which took about 23 seconds to record the digitized image to tape. Viewing the image required you to put the tape in a custom built playback device which featured a frame store that would interpolate the 100 captured lines of data from the CCD to 400 lines so that it could then be viewed on an NTSC TV.
This reminds me of the electronic camera I invented as a child, but my version was actually capable of producing full color images. Unfortunately when I tried to apply for a patent the government informed me that my ‘camera’ was actually a Lite Brite that my parents had bought me for Christmas. But they were impressed with the photos of Bugs Bunny and the Roadrunner I had ‘taken’… Or maybe they were just trying to let me down easy now that I think of it… Those jerks!
[ PluggedIn - We Had No Idea ] VIA [ Retro Thing ]
By Andrew Liszewski
While Doom usually gets most of the credit for being the first great first person shooter, 16 years ago yesterday Id Software released Wolfenstein 3D which deserves just as much credit. It technically wasn’t the first FPS either, but thanks to a shareware version the game spread across PCs like wildfire. I also think it helped to foster the concept of the ‘adult’ or ‘mature’ game since it had you running around shooting Nazis and even attack dogs with all manner of machine gunnery. (It was even banned in Germany because of the Nazi themes.) Of course Wolfenstein 3D paved the way for Id to make Doom and Quake which also helped the PC to become the place for first person shooters. (Until Goldeneye on the N64 showed up.)
So Happy Birthday Wolfenstein 3D. And if you’re in the mood for a little nostalgia while at work, I recommend checking out the WolfenFlash 3D flash game which is a pretty close facsimile of Wolfenstein 3D that can be played right in your browser.
[ May 5, 1992: Wolfenstein 3-D Shoots the First-Person Shooter Into Stardom ] VIA [ Kotaku ]
Related Tags: 
Permalink
