Lets Talk Old School!! {Video Games}

The Original Oregon Trails

reply to post by thewholepicture


Man I always died of Cholera.

Threads like this make me want to sneak down my room of doom (AKA the room off my garage) and fire up one of the old dust collectors hooked up to the old 34" RCA.


Pick Axe Pete... The first video game I actually remember playing. I would have been about 6 when we got it.

Skipping ahead a few years because of all the money I spent in therapy to help me forget the Atari years we hit Christmas morning and a young boy who was promised a Nintendo Entertainment System and 3 games if he could only do what had never been done before, get straight A's for a semester. He did so (barely) and thus the following were burned into his brain for a lifetime:


OK, it's the commercial for SMB3... Funny thing, I still remember the commercial as much as I remember the game. I totally remember, 20 years after the fact, watching wrestling every Saturday afternoon around that time and seeing 3 commercials (2 game related) let's see here. The other game commercial was:

and the non-game commercial was one of the Roos shoe commercials with NWA wrestlers (shoes for your feet, pockets for your stuff) which for some inexplicable reason isn't anywhere on youtube

My favorite old games are

PC Interstate 76 hehe its 15 years now and i can't still not finish this game




2nd one is on sega genesis Golden Axe



And the last one Duke Nukem

My first game....



yes, really!

I cannot tell you how many hours...



I can't tell you how many hours.. but I actually got to the last stage and won! Well, ok, it just starts over, but..


lawl. Loved this damn game


The game I loved to hate, won this too!


What can I say?


Had all the Leisure Suit Larry games, many others mentioned in the thread, then moved to online gaming with Everquest 1. Still have EQ1, EQ2, Lord of the Rings ONline, and WoW that I play.

And last but not least:


Been a LONG time gamer!

Nothing like the classics. Man i feel old calling them classics HAHA. I still remember being addicted to toe jam and earl, and earthworm Jim. (I also recall the constant freezing, and glitches at the worst possible time that caused many...MANY broken sega controllers.)

reply to post by youdidntseeme


HAHA that makes two of us.

Anyone remember maniac mansion? Or a haunting starring polterguy? classics

Originally posted by NoRegretsEver
Oh and who didn't get completely frustrated with this one??

The Legend of Kage -

Well, the second time I played it, I accidentally completed it. But of course it's easy when you have 'unlimited coins' nowadays.. still, didn't get completely or partially frustrated - there was no frustration whatsoever.

A good game! And I love the C64 version music and charm (it had 'blocky' graphics but there was something interesting about it that captivated me).. Fred Gray is a genius.

Originally posted by TechVampyre
Anyone remember maniac mansion?

Please do it justice by using capital letters. It's Maniac Mansion, not "maniac mansion". Or do "vampyres" not use capitals (sorry, can't resist a jab if someone has a silly nick)?

In any case, Maniac Mansion is the best game I am aware of. The sheer atmosphere is just so lovely you could hug it. The immense excitement and curiosity when you find another door to open, and enter it, not knowing what wonders await you there.. the beauty of it's graphics, the rooms are just orgastic to the eye in their simplistic and yet artistical formation of lores pixels, smoothed by a good, bright TV.

The crickets chirping outside, the short, but impressively atmospheric and magnificent intro, the funky title music that sent chills to my spine (I still can't reproduce the unique sound effect that's supposed to be like a 'dj scratching' or something, but it sounds way different - right after the 'flute' sound, taking turns with the flute).

Play this game in a darkened room, with bright, old, CRT-television with the real Commodore 64 and a joystick in autumn when the moon is full and you may realize how magical this game is.

The graphics of this game are not only eye-pleasing, but in some, mystical way, they are also immensely soul-pleasing. I could watch the furniture and plants of this game for hours without getting bored. And every room has a 'personality' of it's own - unique, and exciting - sometimes even uplifting.

The story is as wacky as can be, and although a cliché in B-movies, completely original in games at the time. You can be in contact to outer space, and even send a flying space car in there, you can experience a nuclear detonation, you can use microwave oven with radioactive water, talk to a meteor, play the piano (I love the tune), use a powerful telescope, find hidden doors, experience non-obvious, but good humor and watch interesting cut-scenes (unlike the boring, politically-correct mass-produced soulless, endless crap they have filled modern games with), and you even get to see officials from another planet enter the mansion and take steps!

Even the sound effects are so spot-on with everything else - they are almost realistic, and yet unique enough that you recognize them being of the fantasy world of computer games - the marvellous place that used to be great, but was since turned into pure hell by big corporations.

This game is completely violent-less, unique (though a lot of 'adventure' games were made, none of them quite reached the level of wonder this game offers) and exciting. I have played thousands upon thousands of computer and video games in my time, and I have over 90 emulators, and almost as many systems emulated*, and there are not that many systems that I have not used in an emulated form or real, and played games on. And yet I have never encountered anything as wonderously atmospheric as Maniac Mansion.



Alas, not many people will 'feel' it, see it, or realize it. They just see 'blocky' 8-bit graphics, and think: "What the heck is that mess supposed to be?" and move on.

Their loss..

To answer the original question - yes, I'd say I remember it. And not only 'remember' it, it's not a past memory for me, but a timeless piece of art, like Mona Lisa.

I could start another rant here about why people categorize computer games differently than other forms of art, using insulting words like "dated" or "aged" - when in fact, computer games can't date or age - it's people who date or age, so if a game has 'aged', in their opinion, it's really THEY who have 'aged', and that game was probably nothing good in the first place. A good game is _ALWAYS_ a good game, it can't change in time (games don't change like people do, they stay exactly the same over the years). A bad game that seemed good at the time, was always a bad game - it was only YOU who didn't see it ("you" meaning whoever thinks a game has 'aged').

But I better not start such a rant, it could take a few messages with this annoying character limit abovetopsecret has.

Maniac Mansion.. in my opinion, more atmospheric, enjoyable and timeless than Mona Lisa.


*(and I have to take an exception to someone saying that 'emulation is cheating' - how exactly is emulation cheating? Cheating how? Cheating who? If you can play the same exact game, pretty much exactly the same way that you could with a real machine, how is it CHEATING? Sure, you can cheat easier IN a game using an emulator (but you don't have to), and of course the "it's not quite the same"-factor always rears it's ugly head and I would agree that a real thing is always a real thing, though it depends on the system, too - but how is it CHEATING? It isn't, and it can't be, because using a computer is not about winning - it's about experiencing. And you can't cheat in experience - either you HAVE an experience or you DON'T)

Charlimit hit me.

It's of course impossible to imagine playing this game in the 80's, because that decade ended such a long time ago. But it was pure magic. Probably can't be reproduced today at all.. but if everyone here could just feel how wonderful it was to play Maniac Mansion in the autumn of 1987 (or was it 1988, not sure).. they would immediately know what I am talking about.

But my praise of this game only concerns the original, the best - the Commodore 64 version. I had an old disk drive that made a nice, atmospheric 'howl' every time I played this - a soft, pleasant, but mystical-sounding loading sound that no other game seemed to create with such perfection.

The nintendo version is pure rape. Don't touch it. I can't fathom how or why anyone would even like it - it's ugly, it's very repetitive and square-ish (like all nintendo graphics - nintendo's small memory size forced it to be this way), everything looks wrong, there's annoying MUSIC assigned to every character, there is no upper and lowercase letters, the sounds are awful, the atmosphere is completely gone, and it is CENSORED! Yes, nintendo didn't mind hints of 'blood' or 'floating eyeballs', but the word 'suck' was something they couldn't tolerate. And so on. It's ridiculous. Avoid like the plague.

All the other versions are way inferior, including the similar-looking DOS-version (beeper is no SID, just to mention one thing wrong with that one). With those ultrablocky EGA graphics, the C64 version looks really much more beautiful, even though it's technically almost the same graphics (with slightly different palettes).

But the Amiga/ST/VGA 'remake' versions - they are maybe even worse than the Nintendo version! It's like the graphician had suffered a burnout, or wanted to avenge something.. all the color palettes are vomit-inducing, nothing looks mystical and beautiful, but mutated and wrong instead. It's like they took the original graphics, and did their best to "uglify" them. And they sure succeeded. I don't think the most nihilistic and hate-filled atheist-denier-feminist could create something so repulsive even if she tried (not that those people ever really create anything anyway).

So, all that I said applies only to the magnificent Commodore 64 version - where they got EVERYTHING right - and not any other version.

This is one of the very few adventure games, by the way, which happen in a mansion. I don't know, I have a sort of a mansion-fetish (well, not really fetish) - I can't get enough of beautiful mansions. Somehow this game showed me an idealized mansion, like the perfect place that I would like to visit. Why don't more games happen in a mansion, where you can always logically move from one room to next, from upstairs or the cellar, where everything is consistently easy to remember how to get to, etc.?

Instead they try to create this 'sense of grandeur' by changing locations, having different "acts" or whatnot, and generally just never again having this wonderful "a great, big house" concept, where you could adventure to your heart's ocntent. It's always like an island (Monkey Island series), or other outdoor things (Zak McKracken) - even other planets (The Dig, Zak McKracken) - but never again did we get to adventure this way in a mansion.

Oh, there were of course things like Colonel's Bequest - and although I do like that game's charm as well, there's something a bit off about the camera angles and graphics (all that forced dithering, why?), and it was too much of a 'murder mystery' to be an exciting Mansion-exploring game (and it happens also outside a lot). Then there were games like Alone in the Dark, which do happen mostly in a mansion, but is hardly a similar game - the background graphics are not as interesting (though some rooms are pretty nicely drawn), and the main character is a mess of polygons. And there are other differences as well.

And yes, I am aware of the so-called "sequel", "Day of the Tentacle" - I am VERY aware of that game. I actually love completing it, because you can do it in one sitting, and it's very easy (takes about three hours from beginning to end). But it's just not the same - it throws you to three different versions of the same Mansion, and this has only downsides. First, it gets boring, because it's the same place all the time (although different versions). Second, it brings confusion and disorientation instead of the coherence of ONE mansion with lots of different rooms. Now we have THREE mansions with lots of SAME rooms. The exact opposite. It's graphical style is that of a cartoon - everything is bent and exaggarated, it has musics all the time - and although really great musics they are, get a bit repetitive. It's like playing a cartoon with it's silly endless (mostly visual) gags and sound effects. It has it's moments, but it's just not the same.

There is only one true Maniac Mansion: The Original C64 version.

Dudes!!! how can you NOT mention these:

Dragons Lair


Space Ace


and Gauntlet



how can i forget ZORK!!!!

I have to type quick, lol. I put this whole response together while playing BF3 with another ATS member and while taking cover from heavy artillery fire in the process..... Never mind, I am dead..... And dead again.

Any who, there are some great selections of classic games so far and I think I have three greats to add to the list. I've been studying a lot of classic games lately for school ( game design and programming ) and these are actually three games I did a short oral report on in class.

First we have what is IMO, the first true physics based game, ever: Marble Madness. Not only is it a puzzle game but it's a constant, stressful time trial as well as being mathematically correct in nearly all of its physics regarding kinetic motion of a rolling sphere. It truly was a break through game.



Ah, heck I died again.

The next is another Nintendo title called Captain Skyhawk. While it was a gamer favorite in the days of the original NES it's gone largely forgotten by the gaming community today, which is a shame.



My final addition is probably my favorite game for old pc computers. Many of you will undoubtedly recognize it, maybe from the past, maybe from the present: Prince of Persia. Absolute classic.



I could go into to detail about my favorite classics from each system.... But that would be a long response.

Still one of the most intelligently composed work of art to date.

If you want to play a game that extensively explores...
- The beginning AND the end of the world
- Concepts involving intermediate level psychology
- the conspiracy of organized religion and government
- The rise and fall of civilizations
- The influences and of social experiments in the long term
...all in a way that is 'on the edge of your seat' exciting and manages to make it moderately easy to understand

Then you can't beat Xenogears

Earliest games I played are:
Prince of persia
Monkey Islands 1+2 (never played Maniac Mansion but the guy who created it is making "The Cave" which will be along the lines of the classic adventure games of this sort)
Police Quest +sequals
Space Quest +sequals
Kings Quest
Leisure Suit Larry +sequals
These are still some of my favorite games ever.

Other PC games like Grand Prix and Rally (the ones were your behind the windscreen like that Test Drive posted earlier)

Many console games like Toejam and Earl, Bevis and Butthead, Earthworm Jim, Mario's and Sonics, James Pond, Ecco the Dolphin and way too many more to remember.

I remember when I was really young me and my sister spent hours and hours trying to beat 'revenge of shinobi' gah that game was frustrating, but we eventually did it!

Those were the days.

Oh man pretty much all the old school games I used to play are already posted on this thread.

Battle toads and Earthworm jim were two games that I played the sh*tz out of, earthworm Jim made me throw my controler on the ground a few times. Another game that I do not think has been posted on the thread from around that time is boogerman.

A very cool game besides the tittle you play a super hero who has powers such as throwing your boogers and farts at bad guys or really nasty green belches. Ya it was a pretty interesting game if not the calliber of games like earthworm jim it was still pretty fun.



Oh man there are many more old school games out there. I cant think of them right now, but there are some that have not been posted yet, I will have to get back to this thread when I have more time.

Greatest game ever Super Tecmo Bowl
I can almost remember hearing this music late in the season and just going nuts.
Try going into the playoffs and beating the Niners or Giants without Neal Anderson.

Controller thrown,broken,kid grounded.
Epic music in this game though

reply to post by GambitVII

Xenogears ruined all rpgs for me man, every dam game I play now I compare it to Xenogears on some level. And they all fall short, still wish they would make a remake. One of these days I am going to be spamming square-enix with junk mail constantly till they make a remake.

Omega one! they are attacking.


Another other old game that comes to my mind is Beyond Oasis, while people were playing the Zelda games and getting all droopy eyed over it, I was playing this game. And in my opinion it was way better then the Zelda games that were out at the time and were enjoying all the popularity. It was an action rpg, it pretty much had everything you can think of in it, you could even summon spirits to fight along side you. And in fact it was part of the game and some places you could only reach if you had the right summon along with you.



And probably the best old school action RPG that was awesome, Is Alundra. I spent day awake just playing this game, in its time it was one of the best if not the best action RPG out there. And it was one of the game out there that had both an interesting story line, and a great play experience, and it was one of the few games were the puzzles you had to solve were actually fun to do, and not just a constant repeated annoyance, some of them you really had to think, if you wanted to solve them.


Another game that was addictive from back then was Shining Force, one of the original strategy turn based RPGs. Not that many people really got into it as it was nowhere near an easy game. And the battles in the game could last hours from what I remembered, and not only that but fighting them for an hour you could get killed which happened a lot, were by you would have to start that particular battle all over. And not many people had the patience to do that. But once you got into it and progressed farther then the game really became much more interesting and funner. It was one of those games were you had to spend some time into it to really get what it was all about it.