Video Game Collecting

Street Smart for SEGA Genesis bleeds arcade goodness!  Although many people wouldn’t agree with that.  You see Street Smart is actually a pre Neo-Geo SNK arcade game.  It also pre-dates Street Fighter II.  The game plays in the style of Pit-Fighter in that you are not stuck on a horizontal plane constantly facing your enemy.  Instead you can walk around Final Fight style and turn your back to your opponent – which is a stupid way to fight if you ask me!  I will already tell you that I recommend this game.  Its inexpensive, though a little difficult to find.

When you first start the game I recommend just watching the startup screen and demo, and take in the sights and sounds – particularly the music.  It isn’t the greatest musical track ever, but it definately feels like something out of an arcade.  The graphics are typical for an SNK title and you can see similiarities in the characters in the audience between Street Smart and Fatal Fury.  After each map you get a few bars that you can contribute towards your health, your strength, or your defense.  Then you can gamble your winnings away on yourself, or if you’re a coward you can wager your cash on your opponent.

The moves are simple: use the A button to bash your opponents face in with your fist, or the B button to smash his organs.  The C button lets you jump, and a combination of the A, B, or C button will allow you to do special moves.

Street Smart is simple and fun, and you’d be Street Stupid to spend more than $7 complete for it!

Let’s cut to the chase -if you don’t own Double Dragon for SEGA Genesis than you should probably get it.  I highly recommend this game even if you’re not much of a Double Dragon fan.

For those who live in caves Double Dragon shares the story of Billy and Jimmy whose girlfriend Marion has been kidnapped by the Shadow Warriors.  Taking your rage to the streets you fight your way through four stages of mayhem before confronting Willy – a machine gun wielding maniac and then after dispatching him you will fight the leader of the Shadow Warriors -none other than your brother.  Beat the game and you are reunited with your slightly used girlfriend.

Based on the arcade game, this version of Double Dragon is one of the best home conversions.  But that doesnt mean it has no opportunities.  All of the music tracks from the arcade version are featured here although they have a metallic twang to them.  The sound effects are mostly non-existent.  You have an occasional thud but thats about it.  Of all of the SEGA Genesis games out there this game has the most uninspired sound effects.  To clarify: great music but lousy sound effects.  The controls are a little off from the arcade version but I believe its complicated by the fact that the game moves too fast.  When there are only one or two enemies on the screen both you and them sprint all over the screen.  Its annoying until you get four or five enemies onto the screen then he game slows down (like the arcade game) to the point its almost unplayable.  You can control this by attacking and killing only those enemies on the screen then continuing on to fight the rest of the gang.

The graphics mirror the arcade version very well with subtle differences.  Most of the changes are for the better but the palette is a bit too red.

Despite my complaints above, Double Dragon for SEGA Genesis is a solid beat ‘em up.  Expect to pay about $12 or more for a decent copy.  And note that the game was unlicensed and did not come with an original SEGA Genesis box but rather a two piece cardboard box.

My 30 days of Atari 2600 reviews finally comes to an end with Fast Food.  I’m almost sad, but after today the next 30 days of reviews will be for  SEGA Genesis.  Anyways, Fast Food is not a very photogenic game, probably because its so fast.  The just of it is you’re a mouth that’s flapping it’s gums.  You need to catch food (that is moving particularly fast) in the mouth.  But don’t eat the Egg Plant or you will die.  I think it’s an eggplant.  The longer you play the more often you’ll see bodily functions like BURP! displayed on the screen.  This game is normally priced higher than other Atari games of the same caliber, but I suspect its because its slightly more rare.  Recommended only because it can offend some people.  Spend no more than $5.

It seems almost sick to follow up the review of Enduro with Freeway, but oh well.  Freeway for the Atari 2600 has always been one of the more popular games.  The screen shot on the label doesn’t do the game justice.  Some would describe the game as a clone of Frogger but its not really.  First of all you can only move up and down and not side to side, the obstacles are simpler (cars and trucks, but no logs, lilly pads, or gators).  Freeway does feature two player simultaneous play which is cool, but it has a timelimit where as Frogger is play until you die.  Spend up to $5 for Frogger, but no more than a buck for Freeway.  It’s good, but not Frogger good.

Enduro for the Atari 2600 is one of the must have games of the system.  Not only is it probably the best driving game for the system but it also demonstrates little tricks a programmer could do to simulate some really neat effects.  Rather than having a red and white scrolling median like Pole Position has that looks like complete trash on the 2600, Larry Miller used two simple lines with the occasional “bump” or “inlet” to simulate the movement.  It is so subtle that it gives the brain just enough hint that you’re moving forward, and your imagination fills in the rest.  The sound effects are perfect for annoying parents and the odometer which serves as the score is neat also.  And finally, the coolest feature of all is the changing environment!  The original Gran Turismo’s on the PlayStation didn’t even have that.  Not only do I recommend Enduro, I’d suggest spending as mucha s $5 – $7 for it (depending on label condition) – it is just that good!

G.I. Joe Cobra Strike for Atari 2600 is another in a long tradition of lousy merchandising popular franchises into quick buck video games.  Basically you have soldiers running from one building to the other while a snake spits on them.  The controls, which requires the paddles, is impossible.  It makes no sense whatsoever.  If you’re a G.I. Joe Collector and you must have this title spend no more than a buck.

In the original arcade game of Amidar you controlled a chimp being chased by natives.  As you run around you pick up dots where I always assumed were coconuts.  If you pick up all the dots around a square the color would change.  Complete all the squares and you’d progress to the next stage.  It was kinda like Pac-Man meets Qix with a really neat bonus stage in the style of Jacob’s ladder.  Subsequent levels had you as a paint roller, and other objects (if my memory serves me correctly).  But this Atari 2600 monstrosity falls short of the fun of the arcade game.  All of the critters in this version look like a bunch of random scribbles.  It appears to be missing the pigs and missing the fun.  Not recommended at all, but if you must have it, spend no more than $1.

Anyone expecting to experience the movie Tron through a video game with this Disney licensed version for the Atari 2600 is going to be disappointed.  The title screen looks great!  But thats where the great stops, and the mediocre sets in.  Although I’ve seen the movie plenty of times I have a hard time understanding how the gameplay fits in.  Basically you’re trying to climb up those platforms while avoiding enemies.  The animation of the little man you control is neat… maybe.  I don’t know, the game was a big head ache for me.  Don’t spend more than $2 for this title unless you really like Tron and you want to collect it simply because Tron is in the title.  Otherwise save the $2 for a better executed movie game – Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 
Here we have Popeye for the Atari 2600.  In many respects its a reasonable port.  The first stage is closer to the arcade version than the NES version (you can only go down the ladder and not up).  It even has most of the music though the Popeye theme seems to repeat too early into the song.  All of the sprites are a single color (which can’t be faulted too badly since Popeye on the ColecoVision version was only white, while all the other enemies were multicolored).  I have a difficult time recommending this but since it’s all we have for the 2600 I’d suggest getting it, but spend no more han $4 for it.

A decent port of the arcade game, Q*Bert for Atari 2600 meets the requirements of the arcade game.  Visually its close enough.  The pyramid is there, the enemies react the same way, it seems perfect right?  WRONG.  This is the only version of Q*Bert for a console that I know that REQUIRES diagonal presses of the keyboard.  All other versions including the NES version will allow you to press diagonal, or up down left right with a slightly tilted controller.  Because of the requirements to be perfectly diagonal on the 2600 version you’ll frequently find yourself not hopping at all.  If you can get passed this one little thing then I’d highly recommend it, but since I can’t I’d say pass, unless you can get it for $2