Armchair Arcade Issue #4 - August 2004
Welcome to Armchair Arcade's fourth issue!
Welcome to the latest issue of Armchair Arcade. This month's cover is by industry mover Seb Brassard, inspired by Matt Barton's in-depth article on classic game audio. We're very proud to feature Seb's work and look forward to his future covers. Also new to this issue is Armchair Arcade's first video article, which is a roughly 10 minute feature on five Atari 2600 shooting games—brought to you by Bill Loguidice. We're also happy to release the System Ranking Matrix, a comprehensive guide featuring technical statistics, ratings and comparitive rankings for 75 U.S. game capable computer and videogame systems. The System Ranking Matrix will be an ongoing feature from this issue forward; as new information flows in (from our own research and reader feedback), we'll expand and improve the matrix. You can do your part now by viewing your favorite systems and making comments.
And we're not stopping there! In the future look for technical articles, how-to's and more creative uses of the Web's amazing potential (hint: video and Flash are just the beginning) that makes us a publication unlike any other. Of course there will be more of everything that you already love about Armchair Arcade...
Our thanks to everyone who has supported us and we look forward to a continued bright future with both old and new friends. As always, we love to get your feedback, both with the articles and on our forums. If you haven't already, register and start participating in our forum community. We love interacting with our readers and would be thrilled to have you! See you there!
Issue 4's articles:
The editors speak in this Issue's Hot Topic editorial: Games for Grownups
The Rise and Fall of Game Audio
by Matt Barton
What can you do with a computer that you can't do with an orchestra, and why aren't more people doing it? To answer that question, Matt takes us on a journey through the history of game audio and shows how big business and lack of artistic integrity led to the fall of true innovation in the field. The article is informed by Matt's personal interviews with greats like Rob Hubbard, Jon Appleton, Jan Harries, and George Sanger (The Fat Man).
System Ranking Matrix - Technical Statistics and Ratings for 75 U.S. Game Capable Systems
by Bill Loguidice
How does the Commodore Vic-20 compare to the PalmOS platform? How does a modern PC compare to the RCA Studio II? How do all four of those units compare to each other and dozens of other systems? These questions and more are answered in two ways for 75 different US game capable systems, with a factual, objective ranking, and a real world observation-based rating that is subjective. Don't agree? Have information to contribute or correct? Do so via each system's handy comment box. This will be an ongoing Armchair Arcade feature.
Violence in Videogames: The Second Person Perspective
by Buck Feris
This is part one of a two part series where Buck examines the effects of videogame violence. Where do you stand?
Scorched Parabolas: A History of the Artillery Game
by Matt Barton
Remember Scorched Earth? Worms? How about Artillery Duel? In this article, Matt presents an illustrated history of the artillery game, starting with obscure 70s BASIC titles and ending with the incredible new Scorched 3D and Worms 3D.
Atari 2600 Mega Mini Reviews: Part I [An Armchair Arcade Video Article]
by Bill Loguidice
Bill brings us our first video article, which features a lively look at five shooting games for the Atari 2600: Chopper Command, Defender, Fantastic Voyage, Space Cavern, and Space Jockey.
In Defense of Retro Gaming: A Discussion of Abstraction
by Buck Feris
Part one of Buck's multi-part editorial takes issue with those who believe a game's visuals are a deciding factor in whether it's good or not, thus eliminating a large portion of classic games with tremendous gameplay.
Head-to-Head with Popeye the Sailor
by Mark R. Wiesner Jr.
Mark brings us a look at the legendary Popeye and provides a comparison of the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, ColecoVision and NES translations of the arcade game. Which version will come out on top?
Sequential Access: Essay Nybbles
by Bill Loguidice
Through a series of five short essays in this first of a regular column, Bill gives us a highly opinionated look at some interesting topics as they relate to classic and modern computers and videogames: ESSAY 01 - Exploring Emotions and Sophisticated Themes in Videogames, ESSAY 02 - Defining Videogame Eras, ESSAY 03 - Perceived Value in Gaming, ESSAY 04 - Defining Past and Present Game Genres, and ESSAY 05 - Classic Games, Music and Movies. Don't agree with the conclusions? Take it to the forums!
A Reader’s Guide to the System Ranking Matrix -Technical Statistics and Ratings for U.S. Game Capable Systems
Author: Bill Loguidice
Application Development: Matt Barton
Data Entry: Elizabeth Katselis, Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice
Additional Fact Checking: Elizabeth Katselis
Article Editing: Matt Barton
Article Layout: Bill Loguidice
Special Thanks: Matt Barton and Buck Feris
Introduction
The System Ranking Matrix is designed to be an at-a-glance guide to the various capabilities and demonstrated marketability of the major videogame and games-capable computer systems released in the United States.
Summary
System Information lists the standard technical specifications of each system. However, rather than list what each system was theoretically capable of, I have listed the standards set by the majority of its game library. For instance, if a system supported up to 128 on-screen colors, but the majority of games utilized only 32, then 32 will be the number given. I have also rounded certain values for consistency.
The matrix not only provides objective technical details for each system, but also thoughtful Armchair Arcade Ratings, which are subjective and generally in relative comparison to each other and specifically to other systems of their generation. While one system may have better technical specifications on paper than another, in real world observations that consider multiple factors such as game availability and quality, the technically weaker system may outscore it. Scores higher than 10 are allowed only where necessary, like Visuals and Audio, as are scores lower than 1. Only whole (such as 3.0) or half points (such as 7.5) are allowed.
An asterisk (*) indicates a dominant game system in popularity for its era and class.
NOTE: We have tried our best to provide accurate information and careful evaluations of each system. However, you are encouraged to use the “Add your comment†section to provide corrections, feedback and anecdotes.
Explanation
Why a matrix? There is no easy way, without lots of research and hands-on experience, for the average user to visualize where a particular system fits in the context of history and technical capabilities, among other areas. We can spew strictly technical specifications, but the reality is most want to know what a system’s demonstrated or real-world abilities were.
There are so many factors to consider other than simple technical specifications. For instance, the Atari Jaguar may have been a 64-bit system, but did it ever show its full potential? Because the Jaguar was 64-bit, did that automatically make it better than Sega’s later 32-bit Saturn? How do the legendary Atari 2600 Video Computer System (VCS) or Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) stack-up to Sony’s PlayStation 2 (PS2) or Microsoft’s Xbox in key categories? These are questions that can only be answered through direct observation. That’s the purpose behind this matrix—to sift through the hype as objectively as possible so we’ll have our answers.
Why only focus on the U.S.? One reason is to keep the number of systems to a more manageable number. Another reason is that this is where the author’s expertise lies. It is open to see if other authors will take up the cause for other territories that they’re intimately familiar with, such as Japan or Europe. In any case, if you feel there is a system we omitted or would like to comment on other territories, please write in our discussion forums or use the “Add your comment†section provided for each system within the matrix itself.
Setup
The Armchair Arcade Ratings has eight categories leading up to a ninth, which is the overall score.
Let’s face it. For many, the Atari 2600 and NES are the penultimate game machines of their eras or even all-time, but the reality is technology has moved on, and, while the games are certainly no less fun than they used to be, areas like control have arguably improved, and audio-visual technology has definitely leapt forward. Therefore, while the Atari 2600 and NES can potentially achieve perfect 10’s in several categories, it will be impossible to give them scores anywhere near 10 in some of the more technically-skewed categories. This gives relatively new systems like the Nintendo GameCube – which has a high ranking in visual and audio categories, but a lower ranking in software depth – a fairer basis of comparison. Alternately, the older the system, the more potentially mature the offerings, such as in software diversity, which should help to offset many of the newer system’s technical advantages.
Category Explanation
Let’s examine each of the nine categories, in order.
Visuals
This category takes into account such features as a system’s resolution, colors and animation—basically everything that ends up on a screen. Some systems such as Tiger’s Game.com and Nintendo’s original GameBoy can display relatively high resolution black and white graphics, but blur on moving objects detracts from the overall experience. In fact, difficulty in actually seeing the action on the screen of the original GameBoy further hurts its score in this category since a good light source is required. Other systems like Sony’s PlayStation 1 have high resolution modes that were rarely used, so that factors little as a benefit in its final scoring. In fact, most systems have theoretical polygon or sprite output values that are quite high on paper, but in real world applications like games, they were rarely, if ever, realistic targets. Our final example to show how visuals were judged – the original Commodore Amiga – had a 4,096 color mode which was a bit odd and difficult to properly utilize, so most games only used 32 colors, so this is what that system was rated on.
Audio
This category judges a system’s inherent sound abilities, except where otherwise specified. For example, if a significant number of games utilized an add-on and the add-on was and still is quite common – like with the Magnavox Odyssey2’s and Mattel Intellivision’s voice modules – then those may be counted in the rating. For a system like the Apple IIgs – which in theory had incredible inherent stereo sound capabilities for its era – it was nonetheless crippled by the fact that without a relatively obscure add-on, it was only able to output a mono signal. In more modern examples, the Nintendo GameCube is “only†able to output Dolby Pro Logic II sound (analog cables), while the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox can output the superior Dolby Digital (digital cables), but only the Xbox utilizes the ability in the majority of its games. Nuances like these affect each system’s ratings.
Controller Options and Quality
In order to achieve a high ranking in this category, portable and handheld systems must offer an especially well-built control panel, and other types of systems must feature a wide-range of easy-to-find and well supported options. Criteria includes whether the system offers digital or analog control (or both, as applicable), gamepads, joysticks, light guns, dance or foot pads (or other specialty options), steering wheels, keyboards, vibration/force feedback, proper accommodations for more than one player, and so on. The more one system has and supports, the better the scoring.
Add-Ons, Peripherals, Expandability, Features
Items like disk drives, memory cards, display options, headphone support, touch screen capabilities, RAM add-ons, printer support and other types of upgrades and modules are the criteria used to evaluate this category. At the top is a system like the modern PC, which is the ultimate type of generalist system, with a seemingly endless array of useful and useless add-ons (sometimes at the expense of ease-of-use), while near the bottom is a system like the Emerson Arcadia 2001 where the system you got is the exact system you were always stuck with, hard-wired controllers and all. Having a lower score in this category does not necessarily indicate a poor system, but it’s almost always preferable to have more options and flexibility to tweak your entertainment experience rather than less.
Software Lineup Diversity and Complexity
First, this category determines whether a system has a good range of game genres with sufficient diversity. Second, this category determines if any of the games for the system in question have depth, or whether they are predominantly shallow diversions (a mix is best, but all depth over all shallow would rate a bit higher). For instance, the Atari 2600’s software library includes arcade, puzzle, racing, role-playing, adventure, fighting, card and text games, and offers options for those seeking quick or longer-term play, so it scores high. The Mattel Aquarius, on the other hand, misses many key genres, so its rating is quite low.
Software Density and Raw Number of Mainstream Titles
This category puts a great deal of emphasis on the total number of titles in a system’s library. Some systems, like the Nintendo Virtual Boy have a handful, while others, like the Sega Dreamcast have hundreds, while others still, like the modern PC, have countless thousands, so each system is scored accordingly. The primary focus of this category is on commercial titles, but certain systems either due to age or popular use of public domain software, blur the commercial designation, hence the use of “mainstream†as a qualifier. So any well distributed, readily available game of acceptable quality counts towards the system’s library and thus rating.
Ease to Set Up Optimal Game Playing System
DOS-based PC systems could be very powerful and quite flexible – thus rating highly in other categories – but were often quite unpleasant to try and set up to actually get a game running (can you free enough memory?), then working optimally (is there enough memory to have sound?), so these will score lower than a typical console, like the Atari Jaguar, which is basically plug-and-play. Some systems score lower in this category because of uncomfortable ergonomics or needlessly complex setups, physical or otherwise.
Initial Popularity
This category examines a system’s popularity with the general buying public, with a heavy bias towards when first released. Some systems achieved greater fame after they were pulled from the market, such as GCE’s Vectrex, and some systems are still popular with certain communities today, like Atari’s 2600, but those types of scenarios are not heavily factored into the score because of all the variables involved (for instance, newly published software is available for the Atari 5200, but some of the original software is difficult to find).
Overall Score
The grand culmination where we arrive at our system’s final ranking. What is your favorite system’s total score?
Category Breakdown Example
Finally, in order to illustrate the thinking that went into each rating, read the following breakdown of the Initial Popularity category.
Ranking of 0.5: Entex Adventurevision, Fairchild Channel F, RCA Studio II, and Spectravideo SV-series
The systems that achieved a 0.5 as a ranking essentially were released into the marketplace and available for purchase for at least a limited time, but few made purchases and even today the most hardcore gamers have a hard time identifying the systems.
Ranking of 1: Commodore 16 and Plus/4, CP/M Compatible Systems (Kaypro, Osborne, etc.), Emerson Arcadia 2001, Mattel Aquarius with Mini Expander and 16K Memory Cartridge, Milton Bradley Microvision, NUON DVD Platform, Tapwave Zodiac, Tiger R-Zone, and Timex Sinclair 1000 with 16K Memory Expansion
The systems that achieved a 1 as a ranking may have been released to some fanfare or expectations, but never took off in the marketplace, particularly in reference to gaming. The two Commodore systems suffered from a lack of software compatibility with the best selling Commodore 64 and were too underpowered at the time of release to establish their own niche. The Tapwave Zodiac is too new to properly analyze its impact on the marketplace, but as it stands now it is a non-factor.
Ranking of 1.5: Commodore PET Series, IBM PCjr with Second Generation Keyboard, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer 3 (CoCo3) - 128K Unit, Tandy TRS-80 Model I – IV, and Tiger Game.com
The systems that achieved a 1.5 as a ranking were popular or long lasting enough to have a devoted or somewhat mainstream following, but never in significant enough numbers to be competitive with other contemporary systems. The Commodore PET series of computers and the Tandy TRS-80 Model I – IV systems as examples, did not have the audio-visual horsepower of other systems of the day to bring their gaming abilities to the next level, likely limiting their ultimate potential for market growth.
Ranking of 2: Bally Astrocade, Magnavox Odyssey2 with Voice Module, Nokia N-Gage/QD, Sega 32X, and SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color
The systems that achieved a 2 as a ranking made enough impact on the marketplace to have reasonable sales and a memorable existence for most gamers. The Bally Astrocade actually had several re-releases, which helped its score, while SNK’s Neo Geo Pocket Color was always facing a losing battle going against Nintendo’s GameBoy juggernaut, but was around long enough to garner a loyal following.
Ranking of 2.5: Cell Phone Platform (BREW or J2ME-enabled late model phones), and Commodore Vic-20
The Commodore Vic-20 was a best-selling computer, but ultimately had a shortened lifespan once its more powerful sibling, the 64, was released. BREW or J2ME cell phones are in a lot of consumer’s hands with lots of gaming options available, but it’s still a growing category in the US.
Ranking of 3: 3DO Multiplayer, Apple IIgs, Atari 5200 SuperSystem, Atari 7800 ProSystem, Atari Jaguar and Jaguar CD, Coleco Adam, GCE Vectrex, IBM and Compatible PC’s up to 286's with CGA graphics and PC speaker sound (DOS), NEC Turbo-Grafx 16 CD/Super CD, Philips CD-I with Digital Video (DV) add-on, Pocket PC Platform (late model), Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer 2 (CoCo2) - Up to 64K Unit, Sega CD, and SNK Neo Geo and Neo Geo CD
The systems that achieved a 3 as a ranking had acceptable lifespans and a good amount of support. However, all of these systems lacked something to take their popularity to the next level, most typically never being able to overcome more popular contemporary competition. The Atari 5200 SuperSystem had poor controllers and was released too close to the videogame crash of 1984 to have more of an impact. The Pocket PC platform, while currently still active, has always taken a back seat to the Palm platform in terms of raw numbers. Systems like the Radio Shack TRS-80 CoCo2 was always a fourth or fifth choice in the U.S. to systems like the Apple II series, Atari 8-bit computers and Commodore 64, among others. Apple’s IIgs was limited by Apple themselves since it was in direct competition against their own Macintosh line, which Apple deemed the future of the company.
Ranking of 4: Coleco ColecoVision
Coleco’s system was only hampered by being somewhat in the shadow of Atari’s wildly popular 2600 and the videogame crash of 1984. The console had a brief life in mail order outlets after the crash.
Ranking of 4.5: Atari ST Series, Commodore Amiga Series - AGA Chipset and Amiga CD32, and Texas Instruments TI-994/A with Voice Module
The Atari ST series of computers never caught on like their contemporary PC, Macintosh, and Commodore Amiga (ECS) competitors, but still had a market impact. Commodore’s AGA chipset systems like the Amiga 1200, never reached the same popularity levels of their own prior ECS-based models and were soon overrun by the popularity of Windows PC’s. The Texas Instruments TI-994/A was popular, particularly after drastic price cuts, but never cracked into the top three systems of the day, which were the Apple II series, the Commodore 64, and the Atari 8-bit computer line.
Ranking of 5: Apple Macintosh pre-iMac PowerPC-based - Full Color, Apple Macintosh up to 16 color 680x0-based, Apple Macintosh up to G4 or better with Current Generation 3D graphics, Atari Lynx, Mattel Intellivision with Voice Module, and PalmOS Platform (late model)
The systems that achieved a 5 as a ranking represent the median of popularity. In the case of Apple’s Macintosh, it was always a popular system, but never approached the top in any of its iterations. Today, the Macintosh line has been marginalized by the popularity of Windows PC’s, but counts among its many millions of owners a rabidly devoted core of fans. Mattel’s Intellivision is one of the more interesting stories. While never reaching the top of the videogame world, Mattel’s system saw several revisions of compatible hardware and can count among its contemporary competitors both the Atari 2600 and NES, having a long and eventful lifespan.
Ranking of 6.5: NEC Turbo-Grafx 16 - Turbo Express, and Sega Saturn
Both of these systems were usually in third place in their respective generations, but still had devoted followings with good support and a continuously loyal fan base. The biggest problem with each of these systems was that they were up against systems that would become legendarily popular, which in the Saturn’s case was Sony’s PlayStation and in NEC’s case, the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo consoles.
Ranking of 7: Sega Game Gear, and Sega Master System (SMS)
Both of these systems from Sega were distant seconds to Nintendo machines, but were popular choices for those that wanted an alternative to the choice of the masses. Relatively speaking, both of these systems did extremely well.
Ranking of 8: Commodore Amiga Series - ECS Chipset, Amiga CDTV; Microsoft Xbox; Nintendo 64; Sega Dreamcast; and Nintendo GameCube
None of these systems ever reached the top spot in their respective generations, but still moved a tremendous number of units and received a wealth of support. Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s GameCube are still going strong, creating an unprecedented long term three console race with Sony’s unstoppable PlayStation 2 (PS2).
Ranking of 9: Atari 8-bit Computers/XEGS* - 48K - 64K, and IBM and Compatible PC’s up to 386's with EGA graphics and Ad Lib sound (DOS)
Atari’s 8-bit computer line was active in the mainstream from approximately the late 1970’s to the very early 1990’s. While Atari was never able to overcome Apple’s II series or Commodore with the all-time best selling computer, the C-64, the devoted following and vast amount of support made these systems a good choice for the savvy or “accidental†consumer. The IBM EGA and Ad Lib standard began the PC’s dominance of computer gaming, finally reaching a point where the PC specification was becoming technologically competitive with other formats.
Ranking of 10: Apple II Series* - 48K - 128K units, Atari 2600 VCS - Standard Unit*, Commodore 64/128* - 64K Software, IBM and Compatible PC’s up to Pentium II's with First Generation 3D (Monster 3D equivalent) graphics and Soundblaster Pro sound (DOS/Windows)*, IBM and Compatible PC’s up to Pentium IV's with Current Generation 3D graphics and Soundblaster Audigy-level sound (Windows)*, IBM and Compatible PC’s up to Pentium's with VGA/SVGA graphics and Soundblaster sound (DOS)*, Nintendo Enterntainment System (NES)*, Nintendo GameBoy Advance/SP*, Nintendo GameBoy Color*, Nintendo GameBoy*, Nintendo Super Nintendo*, Sega Genesis*, Sony PlayStation 1 (PSX/PS1/PSOne)*, and Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2)*
These systems were without question the best selling and most popular computers, consoles, and handhelds of their day, garnering huge followings and tremendous support, often to the detriment of other contemporary systems. For whatever reason, these were or are the systems that resonated with the buying public and set the mark that all other competitors strive to reach.
Conclusion
Let us know what you think of the rankings. If you feel a system should be higher or lower in a category, let us know. While you may feel passionately about a system, facts are always appreciated to backup your opinions. Remember, this matrix was not created to show favoritism to any one system or systems, but to provide as objective a ranking as possible in several key categories. Since this is a “living†document, it is safe to assume that there will be future revisions based on feedback and new system releases. Finally, while great care was taken to make sure the System Information data was researched as carefully as possible, common conclusions may be wrong (for instance, about the system’s most popular resolution) or other data may be incorrect. Since accuracy is our highest goal, please provide your corrections as you uncover possible errors. Keep in mind, the “Add your comment†section will be everyone’s best friend in order to make the matrix as indispensable a reference and discussion tool as possible, so make use of it!
Atari 2600 Mega Mini Reviews: Part I
Author and Production Credit: Bill Loguidice
Musical Theme to Armchair Arcade: Matt Barton
Online Layout: Bill Loguidice
Special Thanks: Albert Yarusso and AtariAge for providing access to additional information and scans required for the article
Chopper Command (by Bob Whitehead, ©1982 Activision)
Defender (by Bob Polaro with Alan Murphy, ©1981 Atari, Inc.)
Fantastic Voyage (by David Lubar, ©1982 Sirius Software, Inc. and Fox Video Games, Inc.)
Space Cavern (by Dan Oliver, ©1981 Games by Apollo, Inc.)
Space Jockey (by Garry Kitchen, ©1982 Vidtec and U.S. Games)
Do a “Save Target As…†or similar to download the .WMV video file above to your local system
File size: 17.5MB
Running Time: 10:56 minutes
Chopper Command
Advantages – Great presentation and control.
Disadvantages – High difficulty level. Not a great deal of variety.
Overall – Excellent (4 out of 5 stars) 
Defender
Advantages – Fun play mechanic, especially when rescuing humanoids.
Disadvantages – Poor presentation, mediocre control and some unusual play conversion decisions from the original arcade version.
Overall – Fair (2 1/2 out of 5 stars) 
Fantastic Voyage
Advantages – Simple, solid graphics and sound. Interesting setting and gameplay.
Disadvantages – Perhaps a little too simple in both presentation and play variety.
Overall – Good (3 out of 5 stars) 
Space Cavern
Advantages – Simple to play.
Disadvantages – Boring, repetitive, too easy, and a poor presentation with sound effects that seem lifted from other, better games.
Overall – Poor (1 1/2 out of 5 stars) 
Space Jockey
Advantages – Great graphics and customizable play variations.
Disadvantages – Repetitive, overlapping sound effects. Only single player.
Overall – Good (3 out of 5 stars)
Guide to Game Rankings:
Head-to-Head with Popeye the Sailor
Author: Mark R. Wiesner Jr.
Editing: Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton
Online Layout: Matt Barton and Bill Loguidice
Special Thanks: The Video Game Museum (www.vgmuseum.com) for use of the screen captures
Popeye Cartridge label
Popeye the Sailor is an internationally renowned superstar, and it’s no surprise that he earned a video game in his honor. The 1982 arcade game was very popular and was ported to numerous consoles and home computers. In this article, we will examine four particular ports out of the many: the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, and Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
Popeye, of course, has a long history that predates video games. The character first appeared in newspaper comics, animation, and live-action film before making the transition to video games. Popeye was created in 1929 by cartoonist E.C. Segar. It is said that Segar based Popeye on an actual man he knew, a local tough man named Frank “Rocky†Fiegel, whose ability to fight amazed everyone.1 Originally appearing only as a temporary character in Segar’s comic strip, Thimble Theatre, Popeye was an instant hit with the public and soon overtook the comic itself. His popularity spawned cartoons, merchandise, and even a live action film in 1980 with Robin Williams in the title role. With the Golden Age of video games in the early 1980s, the people at Nintendo finally decided to bring Popeye to this new but popular medium.
Before we can compare the four ports of Popeye, it would be only fair to examine the original arcade game first. Nintendo's Popeye (1982) is an action game with a plot resembling something straight out of the cartoons. As usual, Popeye and his arch nemesis Bluto (alternately referred to as Brutus) compete for the romantic attention of Olive Oyl.
In each of the three levels, Olive Oyl throws out items that represent her “love†for Popeye and the sailor must catch them all in order to advance to the next level. But Bluto will have none of this, and is gunning for Popeye. Popeye’s abilities are the ability to walk, climb ladders and staircases, and punch.
The first level consists of four floors connected by staircases and one ladder in the middle of the screen. The top floor is where Popeye starts play and is the only floor that he can move through one end of the screen to get to the other. Bluto wanders around the last three levels. Popeye must avoid Bluto while catching the hearts that Olive Oyl drops. Bluto, however, is one persistent customer and follows Popeye around the screen. He can’t come up to the top floor, but he has a reach that rivals any professional basketball player. If he gets directly above or below Popeye, Bluto can reach Popeye with a powerful punch. If Bluto hits Popeye, a life is lost.
What’s a sailor to do to stop the big lug? On the first level, there’s a punching bag on the top floor next to a bucket. With proper timing, Popeye can punch the bag so it knocks the bucket onto Bluto’s head, temporarily immobilizing the big schnook. There’s also another way of stopping Bluto, and anyone who’s seen a Popeye cartoon ought to know what it is. (Hint: It’s a green leafy vegetable that the sailor made famous.) You guessed it: Spinach! Once on each level, a can of spinach will appear. If Popeye can grab it, he will be temporarily invincible for as long as the Popeye theme plays. He can deliver a knockout blow that will send Bluto into lower earth orbit, briefly removing him from the game. All point values are doubled while under the influence of spinach.
Bluto, however, is the least of your worries. In addition to Bluto, Popeye also has to deal with the Sea Hag on each level. She’ll briefly appear and throw bottles at him, which must be punched or dodged. The items that Olive throws can be an enemy too. If they hit the bottom level, Popeye has 10 seconds to grab them or die.
The second level is set in a nighttime neighborhood. Olive Oyl throws down music notes for the sailor to catch. There are four floors, including a top floor similar to the one from the first level that Bluto can’t get to (but can still reach you from with punches). Two more Popeye characters put in an appearance too. Swee’Pea, the baby, hovers on a platform and the hamburger loving Wimpy operates a springboard that Popeye can use to vault up to the higher levels with. If Popeye catches onto Swee’Pea’s platform while jumping from the springboard, points are gained. As before, Bluto aggressively chases Popeye and can reach up or down if he passes directly under or over him. He can use the springboard, too.
The third and final level is the trickiest of all. Olive is trapped up on top of a tall ship and tosses down the letters “H-E-L-P†for you to catch. Popeye cannot take shortcuts on any tier as he did in the earlier levels. The only items that can help him here are the spinach and a small sliding platform on the upper floor. Besides the Sea Hag and Bluto (who can now jump up or down two levels), there’s also Bernard the Vulture to deal with. When the level is beaten, the Popeye theme plays briefly. The game then starts over again, albeit with faster, smarter enemies and white skulls to deal with.
The arcade game was a hit and is very enjoyable even today. It’s not hard to see why this game was ported to a number of home systems, to the NES by Nintendo and the 2600, 5200, and ColecoVision by Parker Brothers. But how do these four ports stack up against each other?
The Atari 2600 Popeye is arguably the weakest of the four systems. While the game itself is playable and has pretty good sound (especially considering the fact that it’s the least advanced of the systems), there are many flaws. The graphics are drab with Olive Oyl, Popeye, and Bluto being displayed in only one color and not very well detailed. The stages are also very drab in color. The bottles and the spinach are represented as flickering blocks, which further detract from the graphics. Popeye’s punches are hard to time because his fist does not extend outward when he punches like it does in the other games. The Sea Hag doesn’t appear (though her bottles do) and neither does Swee’Pea, Wimpy, the bucket on the first level, or Bernard the vulture on the third level.
The ColecoVision version is the first home version of Popeye that I played and is much better than the 2600 counterpart. The music is excellent. Just about everything from the arcade version is present, and boasts the full cast of characters (including Wimpy and the others) that the 2600 game lacked. The only real flaw in the game is the color. Some of the characters and backgrounds look monochromatic. The character design is slightly flawed too. While Bluto looks good, Wimpy, Popeye, Swee’Pea, and Olive could look better.
The Atari 5200 version of Popeye features good music too, and its graphics stand up well against the ColecoVision port. Its color even surpasses the ColecoVision game because it looks brighter and more colorful to the naked eye. This is apparent when you compare the screens of the ColecoVision Popeye with the Atari 5200 equivalent. The 5200 Popeye’s only real flaw is its collision detection. When Popeye punches a bottle or other item, it doesn’t always register and is counted as a hit on Popeye, costing a life.
The NES version was the last of the four made and showed up on the NES with the console’s release in Japan and the USA. Hands down, it beats out the other three in technical terms. The outstanding graphics, color, and the superb sound effects and music outshine the other three versions. It’s probably the one that plays most like the arcade version. “Most†is the key word, for it is not a perfect translation. The Sea Hag throws skulls instead of bottles and Wimpy is missing from the second level. The biggest flaw, though, is actually the size of the characters. Popeye, Bluto, and Olive look very small.
Atari 2600 Popeye (Parker Brothers, 1983)
Advantages: Good music, good playability
Disadvantages: Punches hard to time, weak graphics, many things missing from arcade game
Rating: Good (3 out of 5 stars)
Atari 5200 Popeye (Parker Brothers, 1984)
Advantages: Excellent color, good music, plays like the arcade game
Disadvantages: Collision detection is off
Rating: Good (3 out of 5 stars)
ColecoVision Popeye (Parker Brothers, 1983)
Advantages: Good graphics, good sound, plays like the arcade version
Disadvantages: Monochromatic color, a few characters lack detail
Rating: Good (3 out of 5 stars)
NES Popeye (Nintendo, 1986)
Advantages: Excellent graphics and sound, most resembles the arcade game
Disadvantages: Characters are small
Rating: Excellent (4 out of 5 stars)
The Final Verdict
When it comes to the best version of the four, the NES takes the checkered flag as having the best playability, graphics, color, sound effects, and music. The other versions stand up well though. They are definitely worth playing if you enjoyed the Popeye arcade game or if you’re a diehard Popeye fan. Versions were released too on other systems like the Intellivision, the Texas Instruments 99/4A computer, and the Commodore 64 computer, but that goes beyond the scope of this article.
So what are you waiting for? Grab your spinach and go help Popeye take down that big schnook, Bluto!
Guide to Game Rankings:
1The Absolute Popeye Page - http://www.everwonder.com/david/popeye/based.html
Hot Topic: Games for Grownups
Each Issue's Hot Topic features brief commentary from the Armchair Arcade editors on an issue currently in the news...
This issue's Hot Topic is "Games for Grownups"
Though we at Armchair Arcade typically enjoy talking about classic games, we're certainly not oblivious to some of the issues plaguing the modern game industry. One key difference between vintage and contemporary videogames is the possibilities provided by the hardware for graphic realism. We've come a long way from the blocky boobs of yesterday, as this site dedicated to preserving the "Sexy Side of the Commodore 64" attests. However, with this "advancement" comes all the problems associated with pornography and its slow creep onto videogame shelves—the concern of most parents, of course, is whether they'll be able to prevent their children from playing these games and whether they should be legal in the first place.
With the recent or upcoming release of games such as Singles: Flirt Up Your Life (Uncensored version), Playboy: The Mansion, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, and The Guy Game, adult gaming finally hits its stride on the PC and consoles. But is it a good thing for the industry?
Fun for a boy or a girl?
Buck Feris, Editor: Not really bad or good. Although one of my article's this month discusses violent videogames, many of the rules apply for sexual content as well. People want sexual content in their games. As long as the demand is there, game makers are going to supply this product. Our culture is inundated with sexually explicit movies, music, theater, poetry, prose, and yes—videogames. Complain, lobby, and pass all the laws you want. Sexually explicit content is here to stay. The last line of defense is in your own home. Parents, do you know where your kids are?
Matt Barton, Editor: Should we strive to keep young people ignorant about the two most basic aspects of human life—namely, sex and death? Anyone who has ever been 12 years old knows that the more a subject is held as forbidden or taboo, the more kids want to learn more about it. Hell, if my parents had decided that geometry was of the devil and that it was a mortal sin to line up angles with a compass and protractor, I'd likely be a math professor right now. Why do so many young people smoke and drink? Because it was forbidden to them as children, and now they want to demonstrate their maturity (and adult status) by doing "grown up things." These are some pretty hasty generalizations, of course, but they’re not a bit hastier than those launched by groups dedicated to censoring and distorting the truth to young people.
Sex and death are certainly not forbidden topics for young people in every country, particularly in so-called "Third World" countries that haven't become infected by the Western paranoia about such things. It also wasn't so forbidden in America's history—some of my great-great grandmothers were married and having children at the age of 13, and let's face it—mothers and fathers haven't always had the luxury of a private bedroom. These people lived, raised big families, and died without the benefit of knowing that they were immature and socially underdeveloped.
The idea that young people need to be shielded from the facts is distinctly Western and distinctly modern, and that's mostly because we have the economy to support a large population of young people who are legally and socially ineligible to be anything but freeloaders. In countries that lack advanced technology, fast food, and Wal-Marts, it’s practically impossible to support such a large leisure group. For late capitalism, it makes sense to have a large a group of pure consumers as possible, which means (a) early retirement and (b) ever-prolonged childhoods. They don’t waste their time doing anything but spending money, and considering how many products are available at your local shopping mall, it’s important that at least some people have the time to think up reasons to buy them.
Our beloved videogames are in many ways a result of this widening bracket of childhood consumers. A large, highly-developed toy market would never be possible in a country where people were worried about where their next meal was coming from. A starving kid will take a box of Pac-Man cereal over a Pac-Man Atari 2600 cart any day of the week. Come to think of it, almost any kid would.
Once you start to understand that the whole idea of "innocent children" arises purely from a late-modern capitalist ideology, the easier it is to realize why so many people have a problem with sex in cartoons and videogames. Let's face it; the two are lumped together in most people's minds like T&A. For the love of God in His Painfully Prolonged Chastity, we can’t keep a husband and wife married for more than a year, but if we can do something to stop Junior from sneaking off to watch Porky’s, I guess we’ve upheld our moral obligations this time around the sun.
Now, we all know that the good folks who made Porky’s and even Debbie Does Disney World aren’t responsible for keeping it out of Junior’s hands. That’s clearly the fault of the clerk who sells it to him or the parents who don’t keep their DVD collection in a safe deposit box. Good parents know the whereabouts of their children as surely as a man sight-seeing at a sausage slicing factory knows the whereabouts of his danglies. It’s those bad parents who let their chilluns run wild, do drugs, get pregnant, commit violent atrocities, and watch cartoons that cuss.
Magnum Cum Laude
Matt: I know I sure enjoyed playing LSL as a kid.
Fortunately, even the most neurotic parents, bless their souls, have trouble keeping their wee-ones under constant visual and aural surveillance. The best they can do is threaten them with slow bodily dismemberment if they go near that Tree of Knowledge.
And what’s the result of stringing up an electrified barbwire fence around that unwholesome tree? Curious, sex-obsessed children engage in constant sexual experimentation without the benefit of reliable information. Is keeping children in the dark about sex and death really worth the whole of society lying to them about it? Listen, every kid has the equipment, and for God’s sake, at a certain age there’s even hair growing on it. There’s no harm and probably a lot of good in providing kids with manuals for these puzzling and potentially devastating devices. Games like Leisure Suit Larry can provide kids with a safe sexual playground to try new things and gain insight into this mysterious matter of being a human.
Consider: What's more likely to keep a kid from smoking pot? (a) "Marijuana doesn’t exist." (b) "You're not old enough to know what marijuana is." (c) "Here’s some pot, and here's what it does, and here's some videos of people who are now dying of a fatal marijuana overdose." You don't have to be a psychologist to figure out which is the more effective preventative measure, though you may need one if you think those videos are going to be easy to find. Kids aren't nearly as stupid as we'd like to think they are. They also don't like being lied to anymore than we do, and no, smoking pot won’t make you go blind or grow hair on your palms, though it’d be a lot easier on the cops if it did.
Yeah, well, it could happen!
So, back to the original question. Sex and death can be presented to young people in a way that is neither dishonest nor harmful, but it requires plenty of foresight and consideration on the part of the presenter. I’m not talking about exposing kids to the same things we ought not be exposing to any sane individual, young or old. It's a worse sin in the eyes of Plato to let kids play a videogame that has them smashing-in the heads of innocent goombas than it is to let them play games in which husbands and wives engage in honest sexual activity. It's better to show young people what the world is and how it should be like, so they can learn about its problems and the best ways to cope with them.
You can be honest without being obscene, just as you can discuss the most sensitive topics without resorting to profanity (or the word “therapy,†a thoroughly obscene term that ought to make the hardest felon blush redder than my checking account). I'd say what's needed in the videogame market is a sensible approach to incorporating "adult" elements in a manner that is both instructive and morally encouraging; the kind of “personal activities†that we wish everyone would engage in. This means expecting a little more from our young people than being brainless “buy me that!†machines that require zombifier pills to keep them civilized. For God’s sake, if we want our children to behave like responsible citizens, we’d better find it in our advanced capitalist brains to treat them as such. If Joe Camel, Jack Daniels, and Ron Jeremy are poisons for our bodies and souls, then maybe we ought to pass some laws to protect ourselves as well as our children. My bet is we need it more than those sons of upstanding young mothers anyway.
Oh, and, folks, that “mature humor†they talk about in movie and videogame guides; it’s anything butt. Yeah, I said "butt."
Bill Loguidice, Editor: Bad thing. While I welcome the influx of any new game types, these particular games will be attaching a dangerous image to the industry if they're not tempered with other types of games. I talk about this in one of my articles this issue, and I think it's especially applicable here: we need games that make us think, care and feel—in other words experience real emotion. Sure, keep on expanding what we can play, even if it's silly games that objectify women and show naked boobs like the games listed above. But if we do so, developers and especially publishers better start pushing gaming in the OTHER direction as well, more towards the high brow artistic side to balance it all out. Our industry has been given a bad enough name over the years as it is.
Does this game come in a plain brown wrapper?
David Torre, Assistant Editor: I think this is good for the industry because erotica is truely one of the last frontiers (content wise) in gaming. Virtually every other art form has its form of erotica. A film for mature audiences can have violence and softcore erotica and still recieve an R rating. A relationship simulation game like Singles: Flirt Up Your Life features similar softcore erotica but instead of this game receiving a "Mature" rating, the game receives an "Adults Only" rating. Even with this unfair, but clear distinction, I expect a major campaign from "family values" groups similar to what we faced with games like Mortal Kombat and Night Trap. It will stop once people realize that these games are played by average, normal adults.
Even though Singles: Flirt Up Your Life has been toned down for a US audience (only breasts are shown), I think even the European (uncensored version) of this game has been tastefully done, as it only shows erotica as a result from building a strong "virtual relationship". I've been playing this game, and although it's clearly a ripoff of one of the Sims romance expansion packs, I prefer it to Sims because I feel a game that simulates relationships should include experiences that happen in real relationships.
Your Life
: Should your kids even beseeing the box?
Whatever the case, it is a parent's responsibility to watch their kids. Some parents do not realize that they have incredible control over their children. Already the law makes it very difficult for children to come across this content. Furthermore, a parent's discussion about healthy sexuality with their child at a young age will have a significantly greater impact than the potentially negative outside influences that their child may come in contact with, whether it be a foul-mouthed classmate on the playground, or an erotic magazine they find in a field.
Take it to our forums and let us know where you stand!
In Defense of Retro Gaming: A Discussion of Abstraction
Author: Buck Feris
Editing: Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton
Artwork: Buck Feris (All screenshots taken from the DOSBox and WinUAE emulators)
Online Layout: Buck Feris
Leo Laporte of The Screen Savers fame did a small segment on a game called Achaea on their show that aired June 10, 2004. Achaea is one of few MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) that can still boast a strong following. It is not uncommon for as many as five hundred users to be logged in at any one time. (For more information on MUDs, also see last month’s article on the Discworld MUD.) Laporte, possibly the victim of ageism, did not fair well during the G4/TechTV merger. Having been demoted from his role as host on the show, his appearances are now limited to the odd tip segment. He talked favorably about the game, noting that it was text based, but still offered a level of interaction not possible in most if not all of the available graphical MMORPG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games). After his segment, he segued, handing control over to one of the new, younger people who often do small segments and tips. The young man who took control of the camera all but rolled his eyes at Laporte, stating he would rather play games such as *insert innocuous game here--long on graphics, short on gameplay*. Shortly after this there was a collective chuckle throughout the whole studio.
Upon seeing the attack on Laporte, I became incensed. The recent merger of the two cable channels has resulted in the cancellation or inexplicable crippling of many of the shows I enjoyed. When a former host of my favorite show was flippantly dismissed for mentioning retro gaming, I decided to take action by writing this editorial, which I hope will turn into a series designed to defend our beloved pastime.
This is not the first time that retro gaming has been attacked, nor will it be the last. Click here to see another example of naked aggression.
Most of the arguments against retro gaming are not really arguments at all, but really just knee jerk reactions to something misunderstood by younger people. I would imagine that the same people who trash retro gaming are the same sorts of folks who are unable to tolerate watching a black and white movie, or listening to pop music written more than two years ago. Such behavior only limits the enjoyment of a rich art form, and shows a sophomoric and limited understanding of our culture.
The material available for use to defend retro gaming is so vast, that attempting to comprehensively cover the subject in one article is futile. So, today I will attempt to defend our pastime from just one perspective: abstraction.
For those who may not be familiar with abstraction, it refers to the graphical representation of the games we play. In years past, hardware limitations kept graphics at a minimum, forcing us to play with avatars resembling stick figures. This is an example of high abstraction, with the player having to engage in an unspoken contract with the game similar to a suspension of disbelief. Of course, the ultimate example of this is a text adventure, interactive fiction (IF), or even a MUD like Achaea. Having no graphics, the avatars in these games will only be viewed in the player's head, never on the screen. In contrast, modern console and PC games employ graphics that sometimes border on photo realism. Today, gamers do not have to exert their imaginations nearly as much as in days of old. This is known as low abstraction.
At first glance, the ever increasing polygon count of today's games may seem like progress, but is it?
What is the purpose of computer graphics in games? They are supposed to represent the object or idea being simulated in the context of the game. This representation aspect provides an avenue of artistic expression that is exploited less and less as technology reduces the abstraction level. A good example of this would be the graphical representation of a shotgun. In an older game such as a side scrolling platform game with a high abstraction level, the shotgun may only be represented by a straight line of gray pixels. In a modern first person shooter (FPS) the shotgun may be a fully rendered replica of a firearm produced in the real world, complete with reflective chrome. To the untrained observer, a quick assessment would be that the newer graphics are superior.
However, the artist's touch has been all but eliminated. In the early days of the industry when hardware imposed high abstraction, it was the artist's or programmer’s job to creatively make use of what was available. Creativity was what was needed, and creativity was what gamers got. The result was gorgeous hand painted scenes such as those found in Lucas Arts’ adventure games such as Full Throttle and Day of the Tentacle. Just as some older movies were gorgeously shot exploiting the limitations of black and white, many older games just oozed with cleverness as to how objects were represented.
What is maddening about this is that there is absolutely no reason why modern game makers should not employ artists to create fantastic worlds dripping with clever uses of high abstraction. High abstraction doesn't necessarily mean lower polygon counts either. Anyone owning a computer and a copy of Photoshop has the most powerful artistic tool ever created right at her fingertips. Are good painters only recognized by their ability to photographically reproduce a scene? Of course not! If that were the case, we wouldn't need artists. Simply taking photographs would be sufficient. We want artists to put their spin on things. That's where the art comes in. If you placed a tripod on the floor in front of a fruit bowl and took 10 digital pictures with different cameras, you would have 10 pictures of a fruit bowl. The only difference between them would be the resolution and lighting differences brought about by flaws in the image sensor of each camera. If you put 10 artists in front of a fruit bowl, you would get 10 vastly different pictures...10 works of art. The hardware of today makes it possible for us to graphically represent just about anything, and yet we squander this new found ability on photo realism. Artists should be graphically reproducing the wild thoughts in their heads, not volumetric fog. It has been said that the invention of the camera finally freed artists to express themselves abstractly. At what point will this freedom be awarded to game designers?
It is also important to note that all the hardware advancements in this area of game development, and all the time and money spent on photo realism has done absolutely nothing for gameplay. Look at RPGs as an example. Ten years ago, we had titles such as Elder Scrolls: Arena, and the later installments of the Ultima series. These were mostly open ended games with large environments to be explored. Players had to manipulate their control screens to make use of weapons and spells to better engage in combat and improve their abilities. Today we have such games as Elder Scrolls: Morrowind and the Neverwinter Nights series of expansions. These are mostly open ended games with large environments to be explored. Players had to manipulate their control screens...someone remind me again what has changed.
Isometric and 3D RPGs have changed little over the years, save for their polygon counts. However, production time has lengthened, production budgets have skyrocketed, and the amount of staff needed to produce one of these games has multiplied exponentially. Why has this happened? In the final analysis, the flames look better on that Fire Elemental and the finish looks better on that sword, but how has the gamer really benefited? He is still clicking a button to hit a fiery demon with a sword. Why don't we take that big budget and that extra manpower and do something new?
To those who roll their eyes at retro gamers, I say, "What is really so great about the games you are playing?" Is there really that much difference between Soul Calibur II and International Karate? We are still mashing buttons and kicking people in the groin. Why did your game take years to produce?
I can tell you what we have lost. We have lost the slapstick animation of Sam & Max Hit the Road. We have lost the hand painted sunsets of It Came from the Desert. We have lost the lush greenery in the King’s Quest series. We have lost the clever cartoon architecture in the Monkey Island series. We have lost the eerie landscapes in Out of this World.
If necessity is the mother of invention, then high abstraction was a call to all artists to do what they do best. Big budgets and big teams don't make a good game. They don't produce good art either. I won't even go into the benefits of playing text based games and leaving everything to the imagination. I don't think the young people this editorial is aimed at could comprehend that. I have to fight this war one battle at a time.
The usual argument against retro gaming from today’s young people is that today’s graphics are better—hands down. To that I say, “Go back and play some old games, kid.†When I look at a John Ford Western, I am stunned at how gorgeous the cinematography is. The fact that the movie may be in black and white in no way diminishes the achievement. A gorgeous game is a gorgeous game, no matter what time period it was made in. I would much rather see a clever use of color to represent a lush forest in a low 640X480 resolution than see my GeForce 4 video card render every single blade of grass in a field because some foliage generation engine allowed the designers to do it. In the final analysis, it has done nothing for game play.
Go ahead and keep talking, Leo. Some of us are still listening.
Scorched Parabolas: A History of the Artillery Game
Editing: Bill Loguidice
Online Layout: Matt Barton
Special Thanks: Bill Loguidice, Erwin Bierhof, Gavin Camp
All screenshots by the author using various emulators.
The following text (not including illustrations) is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Most PC gamers over the age of 25 will fondly remember a classic DOS shareware game named Scorched Earth. It was truly a landmark game for the PC and demonstrated, once and for all, that the humble IBM clone was a viable platform for fun and addicting videogames. Many are the children who spent recess tucked away in their school's computer lab, engaged in fierce Scorched Earth battles with their eager friends.
Perhaps the reason for the game's popularity was that it lived up to the Golden Rule of Games: It was easy to learn, yet hard to master,”and it helped that it could easily be installed in IBM compatible computer labs at school. Of course, Scorched Earth, released by Wendell Hicken in 1991, was not the first of its kind, though it is arguably the first widely successful title in the genre of "artillery" games. What I've attempted to do in this article is present a history of the evolution of artillery games, starting with obscure BASIC programs and ending with Team 17's Worms 3D (2003).
First, I'll define the genre. The term "Artillery Game"describes a type of shooting game in which players command pieces of artillery, like cannons, tanks, bazookas, or catapults. Players can only destroy their enemy by correctly determining certain firing parameters which affect the trajectory of their projectiles. One parameter is power (or sometimes "powder"), and the other is angle. Since the other players are usually blocked by features of the terrain, players must not aim directly at their targets. Instead, they must fire in a parabolic shape (think of an upside-down U). Artillery game-makers quickly invented new challenges to make the game more difficult, including wind and, more famously, elaborate weaponry. Later artillery games feature hundreds of weapons, many types of shields, variable terrain, and even jetpacks. Team 17's Worms titles are so far the most arcade-suitable artillery games, offering platform-game elements like swinging, jumping, digging, and climbing in addition to superb graphics, sound, and animation.
The origins of artillery games are quite dark, but it's probably a safe bet that the first such game was programmed on a long forgotten mainframe computer in the 60s. The programmers who wrote games for mainframe systems often saw no commercial potential in their games and distributed them freely and anonymously with other mainframe operators, who often took it upon themselves to add features. It is likely that the first artillery games required punch cards and a printer to read the results of each round, though it's anybody's guess who truly programmed the first artillery game. I expect that gameplay consisted of players taking turns entering angles and power parameters, then being told by the computer if they overshot or undershot; it was really more or less a sophisticated version of Milton Bradley's Battleship board game. The reader must keep in mind that these were the days when games like Hunt the Wumpus were considered groundbreaking.
The game is rather straightforward, and generates excitement, with a great amount of vicarious aggression.--Lyon and West, authors of WAR 3
The first artillery games for personal computers were likely homebrew efforts by BASIC programmers, some of whom published the source code of their games in computer magazines. It was up to the readers to manually type the game into their computer's RAM and then, if one were lucky enough to have such devices, save the file to a cassette tape (otherwise, the entire game would have to be typed in again when the computer was turned off). If this process sounds tedious, just imagine having to debug hundreds of lines of code that varied only by a few digits, and if one digit was wrong, the program wouldn't run. To make matters even worse, the magazines frequently made mistakes that would not be corrected until the next issue. Still, players were not hard to please in the late 70s, and magazines that published new games were highly sought after.
One such magazine was Creative Computing, which published several "gunner"or "battleship"type games which were obviously the prototypes of modern artillery games. A game called "Artillery,"was written by Mike Forman and published in 1976. The game was revised by M.E. Lyon and Brian West and published as War 3 in 1977. Unfortunately, I was not able to review Forman's original game, but was able to find the remake by Lyon and West. Their game is quite simple, which is to be expected from a BASIC program of 143 lines of code. It is completely text-based, and leaves almost everything to the player's imagination. Players first input how much distance they would like between themselves and the other players. Each round, players select which player they are aiming at, their muzzle velocity, and firing angle. At the end of the round, the computer reports how far each player undershot or overshot. Several other games published around the same time build on the theme, like Seawar and Geowar, both published by Creative Computing the same year. All of these games are virtually identical except for a few choice lines of in-game text (such as "depth charge"for "cannon ball"). Gregory Yob, who wrote a critical review of Geowar in 1977 wrote, "I am most annoyed with Geowar. It's another hunt and kill game in an era where mutual co-operation in complex systems is a vital need. Missiles and cartesian [sic] grids are very common in computer games, and in writer's words, 'the theme is a bit overdone.'"Obviously, the theme was not so overdone as Yob might have thought!
The Commodore PET's Artillery (circa 1981), pictured here, was also a game first published in Creative Computing. Though quite minimalist by today's standards, it is still vastly superior to text-based artillery games like Geowar. Though the game is monochrome, graphics definitely make the game easier and more fun to play. Players take turns inputting their cannon's angle and powder, compensating for wind, and then firing their shot. If the shot hits the ground instead of the opponent, it creates a small crater, an important feature known as "destructible terrain." Each game is different because the ground is randomly generated each round; players might find themselves on high peaks or at the bottom of crevices. Artillery contains all of the basic criteria associated with the genre.
The Magnavox Odyssey2 was home to one of the earliest commercial artillery games: Philips' catapult-artillery game called Smithereens! (1982). This game, programmed by Robert L. Cheezem, is a very simple yet compelling game of timing. Players move their joysticks to determine how far rocks from their catapults are slung. Two features make this game special: First, it is not turn-based, but allows players to sling rocks simultaneously. If a player (or a catapult) is hit, that player walks off the side of the screen and returns a moment later (pushing a catapult if it was destroyed as well). With enough practice, a player can time her hits so perfectly that the other player is destroyed before he ever gets the chance to fire. The second feature that really sets this game apart is a phenomenal use of the Magnavox Odyssey2's voice module. The game constantly mocks players, saying things like, "Come on and play, Turkey!"and "Mercy, mercy!"The sound of boulders crashing and whizzing through the air is also digitized and surprisingly realistic. The sarcastic humor of this game is found in later games like Scorched Earth and Worms. You can try a browser-based version of the game here.
The earliest commercially manufactured tank-style artillery game I could find is Jerry Brinson's Artillery Duel, released by Xonox in 1983 for a variety of platforms, including the Commodore Vic-20 and 64, the Atari 2600, the Colecovision, and the Bally Astrocade. The versions I tested for the sake of this article were for the Commodore Vic-20 (Vic-20), ColecoVision, Commodore 64 (C-64), and the Atari 2600.
Atari 2600, and ColecoVision
The differences among these versions are significant. Though Artillery Duel uses color to create a more compelling display, no version takes much advantage of its respective platform's power. They all suffer from horrid interfaces. The C-64 version has several features that are sorely missed in the 2600 version, such as music, a parallax background, and, most importantly, destructible terrain—an unforgivable omission in the 2600 version. The Vic-20 version is quite similar to the C-64's, though it lacks music and the graphics are a bit blockier. The ColecoVision version has music and destructive terrain; I'd say it was just as good as the Vic-20 version. All versions require two players and lack computer opponents. Obviously, Artillery Duel is a humble entry in the artillery genre, yet it contains most of the features that helped establish the genre: Angle, power, and wind. The game is made even more challenging by a time limit of 30 seconds per turn, which, given the clumsiness of the interface, makes for a frustrating experience. The projectile travels rather slowly across the screen, making for long, dull games. Still, even with all of these shortcomings, the game is still playable, and anyone happening by the television during a match will instantly grasp the gameplay.
After personal computers became more widespread, a slew of shareware and commercial clones appeared, some of which improved the genre significantly. Many, like Microsoft's Gorilla (1990), were programmed in BASIC and intended to serve as tutorials for aspiring BASIC programmers. The two most significant titles to emerge in the early 90s were the aforementioned Scorched Earth (1991) for DOS, and Michael Welch's Scorched Tanks (1993) for the Amiga. Both of these excellent games were released as shareware by independent developers.
Scorched Earth is a simple, yet exciting artillery combat game, based on an auspicious history of artillery games. Most of the options are very intuitive, and you can begin playing with only a little bit of information.--Wendell Hicken, creator of Scorched Earth
Simply put, Scorched Earth is to artillery games what Super Mario Bros. is to platform games: It revitalized and set a standard for an entire genre of videogames. The graphics and sound are clearly leaps ahead of predecessors—the game requires and uses all 256 colors of VGA at a time when plenty of IBM compatibles were still equipped with either monochrome or CGA graphics cards. The backgrounds are sharp, the destruction scenes are colorful, and the interface is intuitive. There are at least three important releases of Scorched Earth, the earliest being 1.0 in 1991, followed by 1.2 in 1992 and 1.5 in 1995. 1.2 is mostly a bug fix, but 1.5 brings scanned mountain ranges and new weapons and shields. Most of the critical features of 1.5, however, are already available in 1.0. The version I focus on in this review is 1.5.
What really sets the game apart is the impressive set of playing options that dramatically enhance gameplay. The game packs more features than a year's worth of newspapers. First, the game offers computer opponents with seven difficulty options (ranging from moron to cyborg.) All other conditions, like gravity, wind, air viscosity, effect of walls, and so on, are all customizable by the players. There are even options to determine the economy of each game; that is, how the money won for victories is handled at the end of each round. There is hardly any aspect of Scorched Earth that isn't somehow customizable, and a few tweaks can have such a dramatic effect that it's like playing a new game. Players will likely spend hours just toying with the physics options.
There are also defensive (parachutes and shields), guidance systems, fuel, triggers, and energy-related items (batteries) that affect gameplay. Obviously, all of these items make the game more complex; a player with no batteries, for instance, will not be to able to fire a projectile with sufficient power to reach a distant opponent. Players must carefully weigh the offensive advantage of an expensive weapon versus the defensive advantage of parachutes or shields—the economical aspect of the game is one of the most intriguing for many players. Also, unlike early artillery games like Artillery Duel, Scorched Earth allows players to move their tanks provided they have purchased fuel and have selected a tank icon with treads (some are simple cannons). This introduces yet another element of strategy, since clever players will want to reposition their tanks to take advantage of natural cover provided by the randomly generated terrain. There are five different guidance systems available, ranging from "heat seeking,"which only works if the player is already hitting fairly close to an enemy tank, to "lazy boy,"which guarantees a perfect hit without the player's need to aim at all. The player can also select among six shield types: normal, magnetic, force field, heavy, super magnetic, and auto defense, each of which has its own impact on gameplay. "Auto defense"allows players to access their defense menu and enable a shield before combat begins.
When you first play Scorched Earth it seems so simple, almost not worth bothering with. A few hours pass however and you are still playing and beginning to realize there is more to it that it looks. Damn, I've been hooked. It's the original geeky beer drinking party game.--Gavin Camp, creator of Scorched 3D
There are over 30 weapons available in Scorched Earth, from the humble baby missile to weapons of mass destruction like the nuke, napalm, MIRVs, and Death's Head. Roller weapons, as the name implies, will roll down a hill and strike an enemy lodged in a crevice, and "leapfrogs"bounce a few times before exploding. Sandhogs burrow underground and then curve upwards to strike an enemy from beneath. There are also weapons that do not directly damage the opponent, but nevertheless make his or her life more difficult, such as clods of dirt. Other devices, like diggers and riot charges, are used to extract one's tank from the aforementioned dirt clods. The most destructive weapon, the Death's Head, expands in-flight into nine different warheads—the trick to using the weapon is avoiding accidental suicide, though there is certainly pleasure to be had in launching the weapon that destroys every other player on the screen.
Scorched Earth may not live up to its self-claimed title, "The Mother of all Games,"but it is certainly the mother of modern artillery games. The games that follow it borrow liberally from its features, but also correct some of its flaws, such as its sometimes buggy interface and unpolished feel. Some critics feel that the biggest flaw of Scorched Earth is that all of the action takes place on one screen. Michael Welch fixed this problem in his Amiga game Scorched Tanks. Welch created the game because Scorched Earth "was the first game I'd ever seen for the PC that was better than anything I knew of on my beloved Amiga."Though the Amiga certainly had its share of fun games, it was lacking a competitive artillery game, and Welch was about to solve that problem.
The main reason Scorched Tanks was better than Scorched Earth is that I didn't own a PC at the time. I had no way to go back and compare my work to the original, so I created what I 'thought' was a Scorched Earth look-a-like. But the joke was on me, and Scorched Tanks was a lot better because of it.--Michael Welch, author of Scorched Tanks
The first obvious improvement Scorched Tanks offers is the larger-than-screen playing field. Now, tanks can be positioned far to the left or right, and players often find themselves aiming at targets that aren't visible on the screen. This adds to the difficulty level of the game, but not so much that it diminishes gameplay. Indeed, having a larger battlefield unquestionably makes the game more fun to play; at last artillery fans can fire extremely devastating weapons without inevitably committing suicide. Since the game offers over 70 weapons, it's nice to know players have enough space to make use of them.
Scorched Tanks also takes advantage of the Amiga's power to deliver crisp graphics and realistic sounds. Whereas a game like Scorched Earth is obviously a computer game, Scorched Tanks could hold its own on any of the game consoles of its day. It has a polished, professional feel that is usually lacking in most independent shareware titles, and the theme music is a classic Amiga mod file. Still, as good as Scorched Tanks was for the time, the best was yet to come.
In 1994, a programmer named Andy Davidson1 wrote a game in Blitz Basic called Total Wormage, which he decided to enter in a contest hosted by Amiga Format magazine; the prize was publication by Team 17. Davidson didn't win the contest, but Team 17 was impressed enough with the game to release it anyway. A year later they published Worms on a variety of platforms, including the Super Nintendo. Two years later, Team 17 released its last Amiga title, Worms: Director's Cut, which is by far the best artillery game ever published for the Amiga.
Worms once again demonstrated that the artillery genre had plenty of room left for innovation. The tanks (which truly were getting a bit "overdone") were gone, and in their place were cartoonish, Lemming-size worms that could jump, scoot, and swing across a colorful battlefield. The game oozes arcade charm and a quirky Monty Python-style humor ("This worm is an ex-worm!") that adds personality and character to the usually drab world of artillery games. Indeed, the humor in Worms is one of its greatest appeals. It affects all aspects of gameplay, including the arsenal of weapons. One of the most unusual and creative weapons in Worms is the sheep. The sheep trots and bounces across the screen until the player hits the space bar, which causes the sheep to explode (and hopefully damage an opponent). While the sight of an exploding sheep would undoubtedly be too violent in "serious"contexts, the zany, cartoonish world of Worms keeps us from getting upset over such things. Like its predecessor Smithereens!, Worms uses voice samples to taunt players ("First blood!â€) and add spice to the gameplay. Even the theme music of this game is classic, and remains one of the most often-requested tunes at Internet game audio radio stations.
The worms can do much more than the tanks in Scorched Earth or Scorched Tanks. For one thing, they can sidle up next to their opponents and punch them (if they have the weapon in their arsenal). They can also fire handguns, shotguns and Uzis, though proper use of these weapons requires that the worm target an unobstructed enemy. Of course, expert players will want to demonstrate their utter contempt for their unworthy opponents by disposing of them with a simple push over the edge of a cliff. Since the worms are much more mobile than the tanks in earlier artillery games, players can get quite creative. For example, a worm may use a rope to swing over an enemy, drop a stick of dynamite, then leap away. Such flourishes allow for some stunning player performances.
Team 17 followed Worms with a number of sequels, including Worms 2 in 1997, which added Internet play, Worms Armageddon in 1999, which added many more weapons and utilities, Worms World Party in 2000, and Worms Blast (a puzzle game in the style of Bust-a-Move) in 2001. All of these games feature great graphics, humor, and plenty of surprises. Finally, in 2003, Team 17 made the leap into three-dimensions with Worms 3D.
Of course, Team 17's Worms 3D isn't the only game that takes the artillery game into three-dimensions; other projects, like the openGL Scorched 3D, took the artillery concept into 3D as early as 2001, and Bruce Carver's Beach Head (1983) certainly had some 3D artillery elements. I'll finish up this article with a comparison of Worms 3D and Scorched 3D.
Given that Gavin Camp's Scorched 3D is not a commercial project, I was surprised at its quality and polish. The graphics, animations, and sounds are superb. Much in the spirit of its name's sake, Scorched 3D takes full advantage of advanced PC graphics hardware (using OpenGL), and sports lens flares, detailed models, realistic waves, and highly textured landscapes. It also offers players a wealth of options and configurations, including multiplayer LAN and Internet play, an abundance of player avatars (from traditional artillery pieces to helicopters!), tons of weapons (including adaptations of the Scorched Earth arsenal), and almost unlimited camera freedom (a vital feature in most 3D games, especially this one). The authors of this game ought to feel very proud of what they've accomplished. Watching a chunk of the island explode and fill with water after being hit by a MIRV brings enough pleasure to warrant an immediate download of this title. It's as fun to play Scorched 3D in 2004 as it was to play Scorched Earth in 1991.
However, whereas the basic gameplay of Scorched Earth is easy to learn, Scorched 3D asks for practice and patience. Working the camera is initially a very confusing process, even with all of the auto-zoom options. It's frustrating to line up a shot, then accidentally move the camera and lose the proper viewing angle. Of course, making a good interface for a 3D game is certainly one of the most serious challenges for any developer, particularly makers of artillery games where accuracy is critical. Still, the developers have obviously tried their best to accommodate the player's camera preferences, and can even choose to request that the camera automatically follow their shots. Also like its predecessor, Scorched 3D takes place on a relatively small playing field (an island) that can definitely seem cramped at times, especially when Death Heads are in the air. Let's face it, no sane commander would fire a nuclear warhead at a target on the other side of an island.
It seems that Scorched 3D is more focused on graphics and precise 3D modeling rather than humorous or compelling gameplay. The game is beautifully rendered, but certainly not a story-based game. The game is fun in the way that a classic Doom frag fest is fun—heavy on action, light on everything else.
We wanted to take the feel of the 2d game into 3d without compromise and do all the things we felt were cool in 2d, in 3d. This was a considerable challenge and it's been interesting to see people's reactions when they see the game since most assume it's going to be something of a mess given the heritage of the 2d game.--Martyn Brown of Team 17
Team 17's Worms 3D seems to have found a way to retain the simplicity of the older 2D interface as well as migrate the popular Worms franchise into three dimensions. The graphics and animations are as smooth and lively as what we've come to expect from Team 17, of course, and the worms look and sound better now than ever before. Watching a bomb-strapped sheep bounce across a 3D playing field towards a wide-eyed enemy worm is not an experience to be missed.
Most of the same weapons and abilities of the 2D Worms games have been carried over into the new game. There are still sheep, nukes, Holy Hand Grenades, and jetpacks (though I did not see the grappling hook in the demo version I tested for this article). The camera is controlled by the mouse; it's a simple interface that is readily picked up by even 2D-centric gamers like me. The worm is moved by the familiar WASD-keyboard layout (ENTER jumps), and the weapons are aimed with the cursor keys. As usual, the power of each shot is controlled by the duration the player holds down the space bar. The camera automatically follows projectiles. This is a logical arrangement that works quite well and makes for a fun game to watch as well as play.
When players are ready to fire, they can hold down the Q key to get the "aiming view," which makes aiming weapons like the shotgun much easier. Of course, players will usually need to destroy enemies with artillery pieces like the bazooka or grenade, sometimes lobbing them over the roof of a building. I suppose the geometrically challenged player can avoid the matter by relying on the jetpack to fly the worm to a more strategic location (such as the top of a building), though this will inevitably make them an easier target for other worms. All in all, Team 17's Worms 3D is a brilliant game that demonstrates the continued validity of the artillery game genre in a 3D market.
Artillery games, like the computer platforms required to run them, have certainly come a long away since 1977, but what modern players must keep in mind is how literally "groundbreaking"even an early title like Artillery Duel was for its time. Still, even though the genre has evolved from simple text-based games like Geowar, to the spectacular 3D graphics of Scorched 3D and Worms 3D, the objective remains the same: Adjust angle, adjust power, FIRE!
I guess we still haven't gotten enough of missiles and Cartesian grids. Sorry, Mr. Yob.
Notes
1 Andy Davidson soon ran into conflicts at Team 17 and, after receiving a "significant financial arrangement,"has now entered the "Where are they now?"category of videogame history. See this forum thread for more information.
Sequential Access: Essay Nybbles
Author: Bill Loguidice
Editing: Buck Feris and Matt Barton
Online Layout: Bill Loguidice
Scans: All images come from the author’s private collection
Special Notes: This first series of five short essays has been inspired both by the author’s recurring thoughts and interactions with others on popular newsgroups and forums over the years. In relation to Armchair Arcade, the author would like to thank the other editors and regular forum goers such as Fractalus!, crcasey, majortom, Rowdy Rob, Mark1970, Dragon57, mrCustard, davyK, PoloPlayr, ryuhayabusa, PearlJammer, OldSchoolGamer, joe_jet and classic gamer for making discussions on the Website so interesting and informative. The author encourages everyone looking for a mature and stimulating discussion environment to check out Armchair Arcade’s forum.
ESSAY 01 - Exploring Emotions and Sophisticated Themes in Videogames
In 1983, magazine ads for the newly formed Electronic Arts asked, “Can a Computer Make you Cry?†In 1984, magazine ads for Infocom’s Planetfall, offered, “How to Make Friends on Other Planets.†What do these two early advertisements have in common?
Both ads make the assumption that computer and videogames then and in the future would have the ability to make us think, care and feel. Based on what’s been made available then and now, I’d say for the most part, this assumption was wrong.
Think of this as a call to arms to game designers everywhere. Let’s cast aside for a moment the business or profiteering aspect of the industry, which often dictates what gets made. Let’s assume that even if a developer’s hands are tied – for instance they’re asked to make yet another first person shooter – (wait for it) set in space – where the player kills zombie mutants (I’m giving this idea away for FREE), the designer has enough creativity to make it the best damned first person zombie shooting game set in space ever. How could this be accomplished? One answer lies in Planetfall.
Planetfall was a text adventure (Interactive Fiction or IF) that made you laugh, made you think, and yes, made you cry. I think 20 years after the fact I can give away the surprise. Floyd, your mischievous robot buddy and faithful in-game companion, dies. This made many players cry because the game made you take an interest in that character. He wasn’t just a generic character programmed to spew canned responses. He was programmed to simulate a personality, and it worked within the context of the well-designed game world. While some will argue that being a type of interactive book, such a game has an advantage over graphical adventures. I say nonsense. When was the last time one of your favorite television shows made you cry, made you identify with a character, made you feel for a character? How about a movie? Visuals or lack thereof are obviously no indicator of a creator’s ability to tug at the heartstrings or make you relate to a character’s angst. Even the right type of music can make us feel happy or sad. Since a modern game can incorporate some of the best elements from books, music, movies and television, and mix it all in with compelling gameplay, shouldn’t videogames then logically be at the forefront of thoughtful art in media?
This emotional advancement cannot be accomplished through non-interactive cut-scenes either. Gaming should not be about watching, it should be about doing. Newer games like Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 3, show there is as much doing and flexibility as ever, but do these games also evoke emotions or explore sophisticated themes? Not necessarily. It’s a problem that should be addressed by at least a few mainstream games if we ever want to get more out of our favorite entertainment experience than we have for the past 25 years.
game's cut-scenes, the actual hack and slash
gameplay had no effect.
There are the proponents of Japanese-created role-playing games, like the latest Final Fantasy titles, who will contend that these embody a lot of what I seek. I agree that if you can stomach the Final Fantasy world you will find an exploration of some of the themes I speak of, but titles like these are so stylized that its overall message is often lost on people like me, and key story elements still take place through non-interactive cut-scenes. I can’t help but think there’s a better way.
Finally, I leave you with something perhaps a bit unusual. By my casual count, from 1983 to the end of this month, there will have been at least five different Rocky games produced for systems like the ColecoVision, Sega Master System, GameBoy Advance, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Xbox. All of these games over the past 20 years have only been about boxing. Was the original Rocky movie, the 1976 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, about boxing? Yes, it had wonderfully choreographed boxing in it, but it also had wonderful characters and an interesting story. You cared about the good natured, but deeply flawed boxer, Rocky Balboa. You cared about the cripplingly shy love interest, Adrienne. You disliked but understood Adrienne’s loser brother, Paulie. You were fascinated by but rooted against the arrogant champion, Apollo Creed. The list goes on. By the time the fight takes place at the end of the movie, you have an emotional interest in the event’s finale. It’s telling that in the final scene of the movie, the announcement of the fight’s outcome is downplayed (muted) in order to focus on the embrace and words between the battered Rocky and the hatless Adrienne. So again, was Rocky really just about boxing? Since we’ve had at least five Rocky boxing games, maybe the designers of the next one will try to tap into what the movie was really about.
For our industry to truly advance and be taken seriously, the production of at least a few games that explore sophisticated and emotionally charged themes is the least we should expect. Maybe then, other popular media like movies will start to be compared to games, rather than the other way around.
ESSAY 02 - Defining Videogame Eras
With the System Ranking Matrix, I rate the relative capabilities of the various computer and videogame systems released through the years in the United States. While I feel it does its job well (and will get even better over time with feedback), a lot is made in casual discussion of eras, or time periods when certain systems or types of technology ruled. What is lacking when these discussions take place is an agreed upon definition of what these eras encompass. Here is one attempt. Separate definitions of computer, arcade and handheld eras will be topics for another day as I will now focus solely on defining videogame (console) eras, as follows:
PONG ERA (1972 – 1977, Paddle and Ball Games) – This era began in 1972 with the original Odyssey and lasted right through the introduction of the first programmable (removable cartridge) consoles in the late 1970’s. These pong systems were self-contained devices that played a pre-set number of games. There was little that could be done with bars and moving blocks (“ballsâ€) and most games were of the "deflect and don’t miss" variety.
ATARI/CARTRIDGE ERA (1976 – 1986, Shooting Games) – This era began in 1976 with the release of the first cartridge-based system, the Fairchild Channel F. However, the system that defined the era and videogames in general was Atari’s Video Computer System or VCS, which later came to be known as the 2600. In the beginning, these systems were barely more promising than the Pong systems before them, but by the end of 1984, the potential of these systems was made clear, with many of the game genres we know today first introduced, like shooting, racing, flying, maze, adventure and first person. In fact, technology that never saw the light of day because of the arcade and console industry crash of 1984, like save game battery backup on the ColecoVision or cartridges with eight times the typical capacity for the Atari 2600, only became evident years later. The first arcade-to-home translation, Taito’s Space Invaders (Atari), classified as a shooting game, set the tone for this era and was among the most often released type.
NES ERA (1987 – 1990, Side-scrolling Platform Games) – This era, post-crash, began in late 1985 with the return of console videogames to the US following the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). In the beginning, these systems would feature nothing more than better arcade translations, but ultimately would lead the way for modern consoles. Examples include requiring a license to publish games, releasing console-style role-playing games (RPG’s) that introduced Japanese cultural influence in design, battery backups and large cartridge capacities. With Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros., the influx of 2D scrolling platform games began, and is what ultimately set the tone for this era.
GENESIS ERA (1989 – 1993, 2D Refinement) – This era began in 1989, with the introduction of the Sega Genesis, and to a lesser degree, the NEC Turbo-Grafx 16. This was the era of more—more action buttons, more graphics and sound, and larger cartridge capacities, building heavily on the advancements of the previous era. When Nintendo began releasing its last few games for the Super Nintendo (SNES), such as Rare’s Donkey Kong Country, it is clear in hindsight that this was to be the peak of sprite-based 2D gaming.
CD ERA (1992 – 1995, Vast storage and FMV) – This era began in 1992 with the introduction of CD add-on units for the Genesis and Turbo-Grafx 16, right through to systems like the 3DO Multiplayer, and stopped right around the release of the Sega Saturn. The defining characteristic of this era was, in comparison to cartridges, the virtually limitless storage capacity of the CD media that was often underutilized for actual gameplay. Instead, developers mostly used the extra space for things like CD-quality sound within the same type of games available on cartridge and the ever controversial Full-Motion Video (FMV). Nevertheless, as with the introduction of removable cartridges, the release of a new type of media into gaming would have important repercussions for future eras.
PS1/POLYGON ERA (1994 – 2000, 3D Gaming) – This era began in 1994 with the introduction of the Sega Saturn, but really took off with the introduction of Sony’s PlayStation (PS1) in 1995. As with the NES ERA, rather than simply introduce new technology, this era introduced a new type of gaming: 3D. All the usual genres that were in 2D and used sprites, eventually found their way to 3D polygonal versions. This was still early technology with several problems like low resolution and poor in-game cameras, but it caught on in a major way with the buying public at the expense of 2D.
PS2 ERA (1999 – PRESENT, 3D Refinement) – This era began in 1999 with the introduction of the Sega Dreamcast, but is defined by the success of Sony’s PlayStation 2 (PS2). As the GENESIS ERA brought additional polish and sophistication to what was established by the NES ERA, the PS2 ERA does the same for the PS1/POLYGON ERA.
ESSAY 03 - Perceived Value in Gaming
What do I mean by perceived value in gaming? Value in this case means that you really appreciate the games that you have. For instance, one question that often comes to mind is, “Did games have more value in the past when you had to put a quarter in the machine to play versus now when you can play for free on an emulator any time you wish?†How about when you go to an arcade now and use a swipe card instead of quarters or tokens; you have little concept of what you’re spending with a swipe card so the games seem to mean less. Or how about classic arcade style gameplay that is now really only found in the mainstream in mini-games that are part of larger games; has this marginalization of simple gameplay forever tainted the appreciation and viability of stand-alone (non-Web) quick arcade-style games?
The simple abundance of gaming, the fact that we can emulate nearly every system ever made and have relatively easy access to every game ever produced (legalities aside) has to have an effect on us. As a child in the early 1980’s, I would have killed to have even a few of the thousands of arcade perfect games now available through the MAME emulator. Now that I have them, I rarely play them, due in large part to the fact that they’re always there and it costs nothing to have them (or as Buck Feris pointed out in his review of this editorial, the "saturation effect").
Finally, as a collector of classic and modern computers and videogames in his early 30’s, I have acquired a boat-load of wonderful equipment and software. Every year that passes, the more stuff I get. It’s my hobby and I love it, but I long ago passed the point where I’ll ever really be able to use it all. I’ve reached the point where the act of collecting is the satisfaction, not necessarily the act of using. Again, too much stuff.
In gaming as in life it seems, if something is too easy to come by, be it to play, use or always have, we inevitably appreciate it a little less than if we have to work for it and see the actual “costs†involved.
ESSAY 04 - Defining Past and Present Game Genres
Why past and present? Quite frankly, certain game types, while still alive through the efforts of thousands of active hobby programmers, are no longer available in mainstream retail outlets and thus don’t knowingly exist to large portions of the game playing public. With this in mind, I will do my best to describe, in alphabetical order, what has been and what is still available. Keep in mind, however, that one of the beauties of gaming is that many games don’t fit neatly into one specific category.
Action Adventure – The player goes on a type of quest that not only involves some puzzle solving and exploration, but also plenty of action. This does not involve statistics or significant character building. Includes Adventure, Quest for Quintana Roo, The Legend of Zelda, Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones and The Emperor’s Tomb, and Metroid Prime.
Action RPG – Role Playing (RPG) games that emphasize action over detailed statistics and character choices, but still involve player-character management and advancement, comprise this genre. Includes Gateway to Asphai, Gauntlet, Diablo, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath.
Adventure – Either using a parser, point-and-click or real-time interface, the player usually directs an on-screen character in overcoming puzzles and other challenges as part of a larger story in a graphical environment. Includes King’s Quest, Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Myst, Syberia and Lifeline.
Board/Casino/Game Show – Either based on a real-world or original board or casino-style game or television game show, these embody what we classically think of when we think of this play concept. Arcade elements often push a particular game into the Party/Mini-Game Collections genre. Includes Pensate, Chessmaster, Reversi, Yahtzee, Jeopardy, Omar Shariff Bridge, Twisted, Caesar’s Palace 2000, Wheel of Fortune and Trivial Pursuit: Unhinged.
Educational/Edutainment – These games emphasize learning over all else, but still qualify as compelling games. Includes Oregon Trail, Agent USA and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?.
Fighting – These games feature either scrolling or single screen environments where two or more combatants face off with or without weapons. Includes Jedi Arena, Bilestoad, Joust, Karate Champ, Double Dragon, Street Fighter II, Streets of Rage, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and Soul Calibur.
Full-Motion Video (FMV) – These games allow a player varying degrees of interaction with pre-rendered video footage. This is not the same as overlaying regular