As far as movie trilogies go, Back to the Future will probably always be in my top 5. I mean it’s got a time-traveling DeLorean, it’s always going to be cool. As such, we’re probably always going to see replicas of some of our favorite items from the movies. Be it actual props from the set, or Nike’s Hyperdunks which were nothing like the ones from the movie. Well today I’ve found the weird-looking hat Marty McFly Jr. wears in the second movie.
I think the most prominent feature of this hat is the strangely-colored fabric that it’s made out of. There’s really the most high-tech thing about it, and not really futuristic at all. I’m no fashion expert, but something tells me that kids aren’t going to be wearing these in 2015, unless they’re reenacting scenes from the movie. This cheesy one-size-fits-all replica will only set you back about $25 when it ships on July 15th.
This video might not mean much to you if you’ve never played Myst. But if like me you were one of the early adopters of the CD-ROM drive, this footage probably brings back a heady mix of nostalgia and frustration. Myst is now available in re-rendered (but still old school) glory for the iPhone and iPod Touch, packaged in a 700 mb download that requires a massive 1.5 gigs of free space to install. It’s been long enough since the original that I’ve reliably forgotten how to solve most of the puzzles, meaning that this is an opportunity to pay $6 for the privilege of wasting countless more hours trying to figure out how to activate the damn rocket ship.
This week marks the 20th anniversary of what I consider to be one of the greatest gaming consoles of all time, Nintendo’s Game Boy. Besides the fact that it was the only console you could stash in your school bag and play almost anywhere, the limitations of the Game Boy’s Z80 processor and dot matrix LCD display meant that developers really couldn’t rely on fancy graphics, cut scenes or other gimmicks to sell titles. They basically had to focus on gameplay. And arguably the poster child for simple but addictive gameplay on the Game Boy was the title that Nintendo decided to include at launch, Alexey Pajitnov’s Tetris.
Like Windows’ Solitaire, Tetris is the kind of game that you can enjoy for 5 minutes or 5 hours, which made it the perfect title to include with the Game Boy which could be used for killing 5 minutes in the dentist’s waiting room, or a 5-hour car ride. In addition, the basic gameplay mechanics and easy-to-learn controls meant that everyone could play Tetris, so suddenly those ‘new-fangled’ video games weren’t just for kids anymore.
And I won’t even get into Tetris’s ridiculously repetitive but surprisingly catchy soundtrack, lest I get it stuck in my head again… Damn!… Too late.
Ok, I’m going to get this out of the way. I actually liked Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, and anyone who disagrees with me can kiss my stinging, watery, burning, bloodshot eyes! Now I’ll be the first to admit that the VB wasn’t the pinnacle of gaming devices. It awkwardly fell somewhere between a console and a portable game, but its size meant you always had to play it while sitting at a desk, which got uncomfortable real quick. However, for $20 on clearance, with a stack of games for $2 each, I happily overlooked the downsides.
And of the 10 or so Virtual Boy games I’ve ever tried, Mario’s Tennis was, and still is, the most entertaining of the lot for me. You got to choose from seven different characters like Mario, Luigi and other staples in Nintendo’s roster to compete in a singles/doubles match/tournament, but other than that, Mario’s Tennis was pretty basic. Thankfully it had solid tennis gameplay (given the era) and of course a novel, but convincing, 3D effect. I know a lot of people complain about the VB’s infamous red on black display, but I never had a problem with it, and due to a broken set of ‘legs’ I actually discovered that wearing the VB like a mask while laying on your back facilitated hours of gameplay without the discomfort.
P.S. If anyone has a set of Virtual Boy legs in good working condition they’d like to part with, I’ll gladly take them off your hands.
As if it wasn’t awesome enough that E3 was returning to its former glory this year, according to Kotaku, Steve Wiebe will be making an official attempt to reclaim the Donkey Kong world record, currently help held by The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters antagonist, Billy Mitchell. The attempt will go down on June 2, and officials from Twin Galaxies and other gaming notables will be on hand, in addition to probably any one who’s seen the documentary and wants to see Steve reclaim the record. So if you’re heading to E3 this year, make sure to get your Donkey Kong Kill Screen tee and cheer Steve on in style.
The Wii might be the current champion when it comes to having an overload of accessories and peripherals, but let’s not forget that Nintendo has been dabbling in fancy add-ons all the way back to the original NES with the Zapper. So when it was time to release a successor to the NES known as the ‘Super’ Nintendo, the company obviously had to come out with a ’super’ version of the original Zapper. And that’s how I assume the Super Scope came to be.
Unlike the Zapper, which could be easily held in one hand, the Super Scope was like a miniature bazooka designed to be rested on your shoulder while you targeted the screen via a non-magnified scope on top. I wouldn’t say it was the most comfortable thing to hold for prolonged periods, but it was satisfying. Now unfortunately the library of Super Scope-compatible games never grew to be extensive, but thankfully the scope came with its own game called Super Scope 6. The ‘6′ of course led you to believe you were actually getting 6 original games, but that wasn’t the case. It actually came with 2 different titles called Blastris and LazerBlazer, which each had 3 different modes. So I guess if you add all those up you do technically get 6. (Lame.)
I definitely enjoyed the Super Scope for a while since it was part of a Super Nintendo Christmas package, but unfortunately the novelty did wear off rather quickly. Partly due to the limited selection of games, and partly due to the fact that the scope gobbled up 6 x AA batteries. I mean what kid likes to waste their hard-earned cash on batteries?
Radar Rat Race might have been the first C64 game I ever played, but it didn’t take long for our household to amass a healthy collection of Commodore game cartridges. Another title that became a regular in our 64’s cart slot was a game called Sea Wolf, which was really nothing more than a shooting gallery/Space Invaders homage wrapped in a naval combat theme, but it had 2 things going for it that made it particularly enjoyable.
1) It was the first game we had that supported real multiplayer. Not that player 1 goes first followed by player 2 crap. No, Sea Wolf allowed you to go head-to-head with another player at the same time, on the same screen, trying to sink as many battleships, destroyers or PT boats as you could before your opponent did. There’s nothing like a little competition to make things more interesting.
2) It was the first game we had that required the Commodore 64’s paddle controller, which I’ve already discussed in my Lemans post, and still dearly miss to this day. Now I’m hopeful that titles like Sea Wolf might eventually make their way to the Wii’s virtual console, but it just wouldn’t be the same without those paddles.
While I’m familiar with the concept of vibrating football games, I have to admit they’re nothing more than a pop-culture footnote to me. I understand football (not soccer) the game, but I have no idea how the randomly moving and spinning figurines on the game board correlate to running plays or any kind of strategy at all. In fact I’m pretty sure there’s an old vibrating football game kicking around my parent’s home, but it was easily trumped by the C64 when I was a kid.
But with Father’s Day coming up, I’m sure this would make for a nice nostalgia trip for most dads past the age of 40. And who knows, those updated graphics and official NFL branding might just convince me to give it a second chance. If I could find it for a bit cheaper than $79.50 that is.
My appreciation for Star Fox on the Super Nintendo has grown over the years, and I think it’s because the game’s a perfect example of a developer doing more with less. There’s no denying the Super Nintendo was not a 3D gaming system, in fact, Star Fox probably wouldn’t have existed had Nintendo not agreed to the development of the much hyped Super FX 3D accelerator chip. But even with that extra bit of hardware inside the game cart, the graphics and effects seen in Star Fox were pretty crude. The ship design was basic, enemies at times consisted of nothing more than 3D un-textured trapezoids, but nevertheless everything worked, and came together to become a memorable title.
As I recall, Star Fox was technically a rail shooter, which meant that you weren’t flying around a completely open world. But since you had control over your ship’s speed with braking and boosts, you never really felt restricted while navigating your pre-planned course. And while the game was really nothing more than a mindless shooter, the novelty of the 3D combined with great gameplay made it stand out from the crowd. But to be honest, while I have very fond memories of Star Fox, the Fox McCloud puppet on the game box still kind of creeps me out, and even though he was on my side, I would have loved to been able to shoot down that annoying Slippy Toad character.
Related Tags: 
Permalink
