PixlBit

This is going to have to be done in three parts. Sorry for the length, but it's impossible when you're playing retro arcade games. You can rip through so many of them so quickly. They were designed to be played in less than five minutes at a time. What are modern games average play time, ten, maybe fifteen hours (not counting phone games of course)?

Part One: Phantasy Star

Yesterday I played some Phantasy Star on the Phantasy Star Collection for GBA. I played it on my DS: I toolled around the town you start in; checked out all the buildings; had a person give me a decorative pot (for what use I'm not sure); jumped into a very short dungeon with no badies and one chest with some cash in it; and got told by the guards, that if I left town, I was sure to die. Well, I had no choice after a while. I found three more towns in the immediate area. One I could get to, so I went there and explored it a bit. They had more stuff in the stores and some villagers gave me directions to other towns, but that was all. The third town had to be accessed by a road which the guards wouldn't let me access without a pass. I didn't find one. Finally I left the towns area and headed out to the wooded badlands. I met a scorpion. We fought. I died. End of game. That was Saturday night. 

Part Two: 1987

Sunday was the big day for gaming. First I set up my new TV. Going from 1080i to 1080p turns out to be a big deal. It gave me a much better picture. Then, in keeping with the 1987 theme, Mark and I watched the Star Trek Next Generation episode, Skin of Evil, on Netflix through Xbox 360. This is a great episode where the crew come across a entity of pure evil. There's an important event that happens in this episode too, but I won't spoil it. 

Then I opened Capcom's Arcade Cabinet on Xbox Live and played the '87 games there: Avengers, 1943, and Black Tiger. Avengers is a vertically scrolling beat 'em up. 1943 I remember Mark and I playing two-player co-op in the arcades (yes, we've been gamin' that long). Black Tiger is a side scrolling fantasy beat 'em up with branching paths and some climbing. All were fun. 

Then I put in Namco Museum Virtual Arcade and played the '87 games there: Dragon Spirit, Galaga '88, and Pac-Mania. Dragon Spirit is basically Xevious with dragons and looks amazing, but it's hard. Galaga '88 is an update to Galaga but plays the same. I like the alien ships that explode in fireworks. Pac-Mania is just Pac-Man from an isometric point-of-view with an ability to jump. I was never much into maze games, but it plays fine. 

Then I wanted to play Phantasy Star on the big screen via Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, but it is an extra and you have to unlock it by playing Sonic 2 with two players past the first boss. This is same-screen only and I didn't have a second controller (may remedy that this coming week), so I played it solo, beat Dr. Willy in his drill-tank, and got almost to the second boss before I hit this water area and couldn't get out of the water every time I fell in - which was every time. Sonic 2 is full of creatively designed levels and it was fun to play it. 

Then Mark showed me his Sega Game Gear with the attachment to play Sega Master System games and a copy of Phantasy Star, but it wouldn't turn on. Then he showed me the adapter to play Sega Master System games on a Genesis. I considered borrowing his Genesis to play it, but I would've had to hook it all up, and I'd had enough of hooking things up already today. I also could've plugged in my Wii and bought it on Virtual Console, but I didn't want to fool with that either. 

Then I looked in the extras section of SUGC for anything copyrighted 1987. I found Shinobi, arcade version, and Alien Syndrome. I'd already unlocked Shinobi so I played that first. This is a side-scrolling ninja game. You shoot throwing stars, kick and sword slice your way through gun weilding badies to save hostages. It was fine, but I didn't stick with it very long.

To play Alien Syndrome, I had to play Alien Storm through the third level without losing a life. I chose the robot character and, after several plays, unlocked it. Alien Storm was pretty fun. It's a side-scrolling brawler with first person and side-scrolling shooting segments. You fight aliens to save the people. I enjoyed it. 

Alien Syndrome is a top down view action shooter. You are in a collection of rooms and corridors full of slimy alien blobs kind of like an updated Berzerk. You have to find and save a certain number of people to clear the level. You can get a map of the level at certain spots and shoot openings in the walls to get new weapons. The flame thrower was pretty cool and made for easier shooting. With only four, or maybe eight, angles of shooting, things like a laser or projectice gun make for ify targeting. 

Part 3: Culdcept and Minecraft

And that was it for '87 stuff. There was still more time so Mark and I played Culdcept Saga for a while. This is a Japanese strategy game that combines fantasy cards, like in Magic, and a board game like Monopoly. It's like the perfect mix and I always have this game around to play. I wish it was available digitally so I could have it on my system at all times. 

Rounds in Culdcept Saga take a while, so we only played a couple of them. I won the first one, but Mark won the next two. He's beaten the game on single player and so has a sick number of cards. I lost my save in switching consoles and so had to start over with just the basic cards. It was a miracle I even won one round. The most epic battle was between his Aspidochelone (whale) and my Aquahorn (killer whale with a horn). I got crushed. 

Then for the last couple of hours it was Minecraft. I decided building my way in and out of mine with a tower of cobblestone was inefficient and built a long ladder instead. Then I got killed by skeleton archers. Those guys suck. The closer you get to them, the quicker they shoot at you. I'm usually out of arrows most of the time and forced to attack them with my sword. I guess that's the problem.

It was hard to pull away from Minecraft, but there's always tomorrow. Cheers!