Video Game Collecting

This evening I got to spend more time with Double Dragon for Atari 7800.  I had anxiously waited for this game and thus far I’ve been pretty impressed.

Tonight I got more experience with the controls – they are unique from all other versions of Double Dragon sans the Atari 2600 which has a similar control scheme.  In the arcade version you have your standard punch, kick, and jump button and pressing certain buttons together creates additional moves.  Since the 7800 has only two buttons the additional moves are performed by holding the controller in a particular direction then pressing a button.  For example a head butt is performed by pressing down and towards an enemy and pressing punch.  The spinning kick is performed by pressing down and away and pressing the kick button.  The whole system is kinda clunky but I blame the controller and not so much the game.  The 7800 joystick controller is not very forgiving and this game, being as action packed and quick as it is can be brutal.  To my dismay and out of desperation I did find a cheap way to advance in the game… Simply keep doing spin kicks, especially on the lower left hand side of the screen.  The enemies will crowd there and you can beat them quickly.

Yeaterday I posted that I was impressed this version could have three enemies on the screen at once, but early in stage 3 you can have four enemies on the screen!

Using my cheap trick I made it to the third stage.  The layout of the second and third stage is near exact to the arcade – something the NES version could never claim to have.  You can climb the chain link fence and jump over the broken bridge.  The second stage didn’t have the industrial theme however – instead it was the forest theme from the third stage and the third stage had the music from the first stage.  But mentioning the music reminded me that the game has the boss theme music from the arcade – again something the NES version didn’t have.

I also got to experience weapons, the knife, the whip and bat to be exact.  They were functional but didn’t help me kill the enemies any quicker.  I did not encounter any barrels or dynamite.

I fought Lindas tonight and the green boss at the end of the second stage – again taken from the arcade version.  There is very little difference between the bodies of the Lindas and the other characters except they show more skin.  Abobo looks great but boss Abobo looks even better.

Since I got to see more of the game I have concluded that the backgrounds in this game are above par.  The programmers made good use of contrasting colors in the sky scrapers and tree lines to really give you an illusion of depth and distance.

I will need to play Double Dragon for Atari 7800 more to make a final conclusion about it but outside of the clunky controls it has been a skull crushing adventure!

As promised, Double Dragon for the Atari 7800 has finally arrived.  Here are some quick impressions: 1.  The controls are awkward – not saying they are bad but when you’re used to NES controls you have a specific expectation.  2. The game has spirit of the arcade game – you can feel the programmers put an honest effort into it.  3. More enemies than the NES version… This has three at the same time, the NES had only two.  4. The music is limited and repetitive but its Double Dragon no doubt.   More details soon…

It’s almost that day of the year again: Super Bowl Sunday.  While most Americans are feverishly getting ready for the big game I am getting ready for my 2nd annual Super Bowl Sunday Swapmeet Retro Game Hunt.

Last year I got some good stuff, namely a bunch of SEGA Master System games.  I hope this year will yeild treasures as well.  Perhaps some TurboGrafx-16 games or a rare(r) Atari 7800 title.

I finally obtained a copy of Double Dragon for Atari 7800.  I have never played it and have only seen a few seconds of video from it.  I am looking forward to the experience but for now I am loving the box art.

Crafted by Activision, this box art is scary in a good way.  It has a comic book feel to it – it is really dark and drips of danger.  I can’t tell if these guys are truly thugs or washed up members of a metal band.  Either way they look as though they just finished off several Heinekens and bags of Corn-nuts.

Marian is going to need more than the morning after pill once these thugs are done working her over.  She doesn’t appear to be fighting very hard against her captors and her club-wear was asking for trouble.  And I suspect that this is exactly what the defense attorney for the Shadow Warriors (or in this case the Black Warriors)  will say.

Peace Vatos!  We shall meet for the first time in few days!

I’ve uploaded a PS Vita price guide over at video game price guides, you can check it out here: PS Vita Price Guide.

Please take notice of the ad for Ikari Warriors – the arcade game. Notice that it says Greatest Two Player Game Ever! But guess what? SNK Playmore finally ported the game to the PSN but it’s crap. You know why? Its one player only. But I suppose I shouldn’t feel too bad right? They screwed up the XBOX version as well: http://digitalchumps.com/video-game-reviews/35-ps3/7908-ikari-warriors-ps-mini.html

If you haven’t checked it out yet, and you’re interested in a Neo Geo Price Guide, go visit Video Game Price Guides because I just uploaded one. They are some amazingly expensive games, but probably worth every penny.

I decided to try and repair some of the damage that occurred to a Nintendo Game Boy box. Below I present to you Double Dragon. I received this beat up gem complete from eBay about 5 or 6 years ago. I had some theories to try and restore some of the more obvious damage. I tried them but I’m not 100% convinced by the results. Decide for yourself. I’ve highlighted in red areas I thought were of particular interest.

Unless it was published by Tengen, I have never been very keen on collecting unlicensed 3rd party games for any system.  Granted, I have a copy of Firehawk for NES which is a very good helicopter game, but for anyone who has actually played unlicensed games knows that they are mostly hit or miss (mostly miss!).  But today I obtained a copy of Spiritual Warfare for SEGA Genesis.  While NES unlicensed games can be found pretty easily, I have never seen an unlicensed SEGA Genesis game out in the wild.

So anyways I obtained this copy of Spiritual Warfare for SEGA Genesis for free!  “Free?” You ask?  YES.  FREE.  The details of how I obtained it will have to remain secret for now, but I assure you I did not pay a dime for it, and neither did anyone else.

Last year we celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda and the year before that Super Mario Bros.  But this year belongs to California Games for Atari 2600 and several other platforms.

California Games on the 2600 is significant for several reasons.  This game pushed the 2600 to the limit.  It is basically four minigames: hackysack, halfpipe, BMX, and surfing.  Each game could have been a blockbuster for the Atari had it been released several years earlier because each game had wonderful colors, fantastic animations, intuitive controls, and a huge replay factor.

Although your character is a bit stiff, the hackysack event really dances on the screen.  Several tricks and unpredictable elements make you believe the event can be mastered but I have yet to see someone play the entire event and not make a single mistake.  Small details like the drifting clouds and pinetrees are an excellent touch though palmtrees would have made more sense.

The half pipe has several tricks as well but they are the most difficult in the game to pull off.  There is also an element of speed to the skateboard which if you’re not careful you’ll smash your skull into the sky and come falling down to your presumed death.

BMX is my favorite because its the fastest of the four events.  Basically you roll down hill doing tricks and dodging rocks, stumps, cattle skulls, and mud.  Flags are check points and gives you more time to complete an event.  Although the track never changes, it’s long and difficult to master.

Surfing is very similar to the half pipe except the timing is a bit more liberal.  There are several tricks in this event as well.

Again, California Games for the Atari 2600 is an amazing piece of work and 25 years later still impresses the hell out of me.