In the early 80’s many of us had the pleasure of playing the adventure platformer ‘Montezuma’s Revenge’ on the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Apple II, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Sega Master System and even the ZX Spectrum (as Panama Joe). It combined treasure hunting, lots of rooms, puzzle solving and deadly traps and enemies that needed to be avoided almost as if you were playing as Indiana Jones himself. But now once again we look towards a new game in that style, as Collectorvision Games has announced Sydney Hunter & The Yucatan Jungle will be coming to the ColecoVision as the most advanced ColecoVision game ever made (for the stock system)!

Although many of us had the opportunity to play Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of Death on the SNES and Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe on the C64 which received a multicolor enhancement. Rest assured if this game is like any of the other Sydney’s we’ve already played throughout the years and the team announcing it as the most advanced ColecoVision game ever made, it’s sure to be a big hit with the retro community full of new enemies, levels and much much more yet to be announced. (LINK) (Website)

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The word retro has become a regular part of video gaming vernacular in recent years but it really wasn’t until Nintendo’s NES Classic Edition came on the scene November 11, 2016 that we witnessed a viable means for a modern video game hardware manufacturer to capitalize on the feeling of nostalgia driving the retro movement.

Those of us who have been active in the retro gaming environment have typically had two means of acquiring the tools necessary to get our old school fix; neither of which did much financially for the companies responsible for the games in question. Arguably the more popular of the two means, emulation has been around for many years. While typically more affordable and easier to come by, the emulation road is often laced with hardware-destroying viruses at best and is illegal with criminal consequences at worst.

The alternative, though perfectly legal, is usually much more difficult to acquire, is generally costly and time consuming and often encounters hardware incompatibility with modern displays: Original media collecting.

While it’s the latter of the two methods often considered the lifeblood of the retro video game community, the sad reality is that neither method compensates the manufacturer, publisher or programmer of the games being played. All those sweet carts and discs with inflated prices to target collectors on eBay have been bought and paid for many, many years ago.

The secondary market is, of course, a living breathing entity unto itself; a sort of miniature Dow Jones Industrial Average where only the private parties involved agree to the pricing set by supply and demand (sometimes real, often times perceived).

This all brings us back to my original paragraph. Nintendo, one of few OEMs still around from the days of when much of what we consider retro was new, operated on the hunch that despite the public’s ability to easily and cheaply emulate, that despite the public’s ability to pick up an NES and some used carts off eBay, that the power of nostalgia (wrapped in a neat little package) would justify creating the NES Classic Edition.

The gamble, as is always so clearly seen in hindsight, paid dividends. Nintendo produced and sold roughly 2.3 million NES Classic Editions from November 2016 through April 2017, with retailers unable to keep up with demand.

Now of course why Nintendo would foolishly discontinue the product when demand so thoroughly overwhelmed supply is truly anybody’s guess but these questionable business tactics aren’t the point of this column’s discussion and could likely fill several lengthy tomes by themselves.

The point here is that Nintendo validated the theory that a retro-based market is yet alive and well amidst this, the 4K Ultra High-Definition, virtual reality, haptic feedback, constantly connected video game generation. If Nintendo’s ability to move out 2.3 million Classics in five months doesn’t impress you, consider this – the original NES managed to sell only 50,000 consoles in that same time-frame back in 1985.

Ironically, the Classic Edition itself operates on a system of emulation. Legal, fully licensed of course but emulation nevertheless. This is a process that has shown promise in recent years as far back as when home consoles were able to patch into the internet. Nintendo itself has enjoyed success on their Wii Virtual Console, which emulated a staggering 397 titles ranging in system from console to home computing to arcade.

Perhaps the biggest difference, though, between Virtual Consoles and the NES Classic Edition was that the former could never be fully attributed as a hardware seller so much as a side attraction in addition to the console’s disc-based primary library. The NES Classic (and subsequent Super NES Classic) came without the ability to add additional software titles. Hardware sales were based on the ability to play retro titles alone (30 on the NES and 21 on the SNES).

So Nintendo was the first to capitalize on this untapped market segment then? Not exactly. The truth of the matter is that retro games have been used to sell plug ‘n play controllers and stand alone retro systems for years. Perhaps the most popular of these coming in the form of the Sega Genesis Flashbacks; by which Sega licensed both software as well as hardware to ATGames; resulting in a console that not only contains an internal library of games but can also accept and play the original Sega Genesis cartridge media as well.

ATGames also holds the licenses to many other Flashback branded retro video game systems including Atari, Colecovision and Intellivision. These systems, however, are unable to run the original respective cartridges and simply emulate game ROMs from their internal memory.

All of this brings us back to Nintendo: Just like with the original NES rising like the proverbial Phoenix out of the ashes that was the Great Video Game Crash, Nintendo once again proves the timelessness of their early creations yet evokes a response within the world’s collective psyche’ powerful enough to get consumers to take action with their wallets.

The reality of retro video gaming is that it has endured long before the coining of its own name; before the receiving of its label within the hierarchy of video gamedom. For many of us, the desire to evolve with contemporary trends simply wasn’t powerful enough to lure us away from appeal of what we had already. In cliche’ terminology; no need to fix that which wasn’t broken. For others, retro games may well be something experienced for the very first time; an opportunity to experience video gaming from a simpler time technologically.

I appreciate Nintendo’s commitment to keeping their own retro efforts in the limelight because of these reasons. And while I was one of the fortunate ones who managed to secure an NES Classic Edition thanks to my brother-in-law’s work connection, I shudder to think of how many times Nintendo’s gotten me to purchase Super Mario 3 since 1989.

The post RETROSPECTIVE: When it Comes to Retro, Nintendo’s Still Got It appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Consoles and Computers:
By early 1984, Nintendo’s Famicom system was a unbridled success over in Japan and Nintendo was making an attempt to break into the North American market with the Advanced Video System. Initially presented at the January 1984 Consumer Electronic Show held in Las Vegas, NV, the AVS looked like yet another console/computer hybrid that had been the rage at the time but was falling out of favor with retailers and consumers thanks to poor sales & reviews (see Intellivision’s computer add-on and the Coleco Adam add-on for the Colecovision). Retailers wanted nothing to do with a new, potentially expensive video game console and who could blame them? So what was being released in the first half of 1984 if video gaming as a viable entertainment medium was quickly slipping into the realm of “fad” status faster than you could say “Pet Rock”?

Atari was still making moves in an attempt to stay on top of the video game world, as precarious a spot as that might have seemed to them at the time. They introduced the Atarisoft brand name which was created as a way to port some of their previous exclusive Atari titles to other home consoles and computers such as the Colecovision, Commodore 64 and Apple II computers, just to name a few. This led to releases such as Centipede, Defender, Dig Dug, Galaxian, Moon Patrol and Ms. Pac Man among many others, to find their way onto these other machines in early 1984 after a couple years of being Atari console and computer exclusives. Atari’s iron grip on arcade ports had finally loosened and owners of Colecovision and Intellivision consoles as well as non-Atari computers were the benefiters.

Yet another arcade port was released in early 1984 to every major console and computer of the day to less than stellar reviews. Congo Bongo was an isometric title from Sega released in arcades in 1983 to little fanfare. In Congo Bongo you play as a safari hunter chasing after a big ape named Bongo all because he played a prank on you while you were sleeping (hmm, ok!). The playfields have a tilted isometric view and in the first level you must avoid Bongo’s coconuts while climbing up platforms to reach him….sound familiar? I remember playing Congo Bongo a few times in the arcade as I was a big fan of Donkey Kong, the game looked similar and the term “derivative” wasn’t yet in my vocabulary. I never really thought much about Congo Bongo during and after playing it indicating it was fairly forgettable. There are home console versions available for the Atari 2600, the Atari 5200, the Intellivision and the Colecovision as well as versions available for every major computer at the time. The Colecovision version is one of the nicest looking (oh my god, the Atari 2600 version looks horrendous) home console ports out there but it only includes 3 of the arcade’s 4 levels. None of the ports were considered all that great but considering that the source material wasn’t one of Sega’s best, indicates that 1984 might have been a transition year for home consoles and computers. Not much to see here but it’s an ok game overall.

Arcades:
While the home console market was shrinking rapidly, arcades were also not pulling in the same amount of money as their peak a few years earlier. With that said, there was still new games being developed and released for arcades a decent clip in early 1984. One of these games, Space Ace, was created by Don Bluth Studios, Cinematronics and Advanced Microcomputer Systems, the makers of 1983’s smash hit, Dragon’s Lair. Like Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace is a laser disc based game that requires the player to watch the cartoon action on the screen and quickly moving the joystick or pressing a button to prompt the character on the screen to perform an action. Perform the wrong action or perform the action too late, and you are treated to an elaborate death animations. Space Ace added some minor improvements over Dragon’s Lair such as difficulty level choices and alternate paths. Your character, Ace, can also revert back to his child form as Dexter, for an alternate gameplay option. I have only played Space Ace a few times as laser disc games intimidated me as a child when I would see them in arcades. Part of the reason was the cost, as they tended to be a bit more expensive (50 cents per play) than your average 25 cent arcade game. The style of quick time event gameplay also wasn’t something I was inherently adept at so my games would inevitably be extremely short and unfulfilling. Nevertheless, Space Ace and Dragon’s Lair seemed like the future of video games at the time and were innovative and appealing to many.

The post Retro Gaming Archives – Winter/Spring 1984 appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Thankfully, the wily chef has a few options up his apron to stop the pesky food from ending his career (and life). He can either drop ingredients on top of them by walking over them, lure the enemies onto ingredients and then walk over them causing them all to fall, or throw pepper at them to temporarily stun them. You rack up the points for dropping ingredients while enemies are on top or underneath them but no points are given for using the pepper. All of these attacks only temporarily keep chef Pepper safe as all enemies will re-spawn. There is a finite amount of pepper you have on hand so it’s wise to save them for when you’re cornered and really need it. Mercifully, you can earn more pepper by grabbing bonus food items such as coffee, French fries, and ice cream when they appear on screen. The stages get more difficult based on how the ladders and ingredients are situated on the board as well as the food becoming more relentless in their attacks.

BurgerTime is no slouch in the difficulty department, but I generally did well in the arcades when I would play. I found it better to head towards the top of the screen and lure as many food items onto the ingredients as I drop them in order to have them fall multiple levels based on how many enemies were standing on them. I have a harder time performing as well as I did in the arcades when playing the excellent Colecovision or Intellivision ports, mostly due to the controllers. This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who is familiar with the controllers for these consoles. Data East licensed BurgerTime for development on consoles and computers by several companies, most notably Mattel. Mattel developed and released a number of the early ’80s ports of the game onto consoles and computers, including the Intellivision version. The Colecovision’s version of BurgerTime has the better graphics, but I find the controls to be much more responsive on the Intellivision version. I am attributing much of that to the Intellivision’s disc controller vs. Colecovision’s mini joystick knob, which can be difficult to maneuver. I find that rolling your thumb along the disc allows you to move Peter Pepper up and down those ladders with a level of precision and timing that Colecovision’s controller cannot handle. This is especially important when attempting tricky escapes and complex burger component drops.

I am not a fan of how some enemies respawn right in the middle of certain platforms, which can lead to some very cheap and irritating deaths. Through trial and error, you eventually learn to avoid certain platforms if you know an enemy will be respawning soon. Other than that, I really have no complaints about either the Intellivison or the Colecovision ports. Mattel was so proud of their version that they bundled it as the pack-in for the Intellivision II.

Colecovision version

The enemies in BurgerTime are an eclectic bunch for sure. Mr. Pickle, Mr. Hot Dog and Mr. Egg all have equally malevolent dispositions, and none of them appear to be smarter or more difficult than the others. However, there’s something about the way Mr. Pickle spins around as he moves that makes him appear a bit disturbed and deranged. The fact that he doesn’t show up until the third stage makes him the most intriguing enemy for me. Not to mention that pickles are common hamburger toppings, so his motivation for stopping Chef Pepper is more understandable.

No single BurgerTime sequence is more satisfying to me than luring several enemies up to the highest level, waiting for them to step onto the top of a bun, and then dropping them all the way to the very bottom. You get huge points for this move. Plus, it clears a vertical hamburger in an instant. The cherry on top is that by performing this difficult-to-pull-off move you often reach the point total needed for your bonus food item to show up on screen, making it extra special.

Without a doubt the hardest level to clear is level 6. This is the last unique level before the game begins cycling back through, and its design is completely intended to trap Chef Pepper on various ledges. The layout of the stage includes ladders in the middle and 5 finger-like ledges on each side of the screen, with only one way on and one way off. The only way to survive this level is to save up your reserve pepper supply and do your best to lure enemies onto the ledges with you so you can drop them down with the ingredients. Some of the enemies will re-spawn on those same ledges, so you have to be careful to never stay on them too long. Not that you’d want to anyway!

BurgerTime is one of my favorite arcade games and easily one of my top 5 second console generation-era games. While the arcade version is the gold standard, I do prefer the Intellivision port slightly over Colecovision’s due to the controls and the wider screen size which makes the game slightly easier. The Colecovision version seems a little cramped to me, giving you less room to work in order to avoid the food enemies. I can lure enemies to one side of the screen on the Intellivision version if necessary, and I have a much harder time doing that on Colecovision. The Intellivision overlays don’t add much to the gameplay as you only really need the disc for movement and the side buttons to throw peppers at the enemies. The keypad buttons are used to select number of players and to start the game and that’s it. Nevertheless, the overlays are attractive and worth having if you’re a huge BurgerTime fan like myself. In my opinion, this is the definitive home console version of this classic arcade title.

Grade: A

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