All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'classic' on The Great Games Experiment All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'classic' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'classic' on The Great Games Experiment en-us The Curse of Monkey Island The third game in the Monkey Island saga. After giving Elaine a cursed engagement ring, Guybrush must find a way to break the curse that turned her into solid gold. Hilarious antics ensue.
]]> 26 Nov 2006 12:46:57 X-COM: Ufo Defense Turn-based strategy game that seamlessly combines two different elements- tactical squad battles and resource management.
]]> 22 Nov 2006 04:38:58 Elite Elite is a seminal space trading computer game, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers. The game's title derives from one of the player's goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of 'Elite'. It was written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, who had met while they were both undergraduates at Jesus College, Cambridge. Non-Acorn versions of the game were published by Firebird.

Elite was one of the first home computer games to utilise wireframe 3D graphics. Another novelty was the inclusion of The Dark Wheel, a novella by Robert Holdstock which influenced new players with insight into the moral and legal codes which they might aspire to. It elevated the technically complicated software beyond the pigeon-hole of "game".

Elite's open ended game model, advanced game engine and revolutionary 3D graphics ensured that it was ported to virtually every contemporary home computer system, and earned it a place as a classic and a genre maker in gaming history. Even now, over 20 years after it was published, Elite is frequently used as a yardstick by which any new space trading game is measured. It has often been said that "Elite has been imitated but never bettered". While this is perhaps somewhat hyperbolic, it is certainly true to say that Elite was a hugely influential game, serving as a model for more recent games such as EVE Online, Wing Commander: Privateer and the X series of space trading games.

The Elite universe contains eight galaxies, each galaxy containing 256 planets to explore. Due to the limited capabilities of 8-bit computers, these worlds are procedurally generated: A single seed number run through a fixed algorithm the appropriate number of times and creates a sequence of numbers determining each planet's complete composition (position in the galaxy, prices of commodities, and even name and local details — text strings are chosen numerically from a lookup table and assembled to produce unique descriptions for each planet). This means that no extra memory is needed to store the characteristics of each planet, yet each is unique and has fixed properties. Each galaxy is also procedurally generated from the first.

The player, initially Commander Jameson, starts at Lave Station with 100 Credits and a lightly armed trading ship, a Cobra Mark III. Most of the ships that the player encounters are similarly named after snakes, or other reptiles. Credits can be accumulated through a number of means. These include piracy, trade, military missions, bounty hunting and the mining of asteroids. The money generated by these enterprises allows the player to upgrade their ship with such enhancements as better weapons, shields, increased cargo capacity, an automated docking system, and more.

Travel between planets is constrained to those within range of the ship's limited fuel capacity (7 light years); fuel can be replenished after docking with a space-station in orbit around a planet - a challenging task without a docking computer, as it requires matching the ship's rotation to that of the station. Players can upgrade their equipment with a fuel scoop, which allows raw fuel to be skimmed from the surface of stars - a dangerous and difficult activity - as well as collecting free-floating cargo canisters and escape capsules liberated after the destruction of other ships.
]]> 03 Mar 2007 12:00:49 Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros is a classic game of Nintendo. It revolves around rescuing a kidnapped Princess by an evil creature named Koopa. Mario and Luigi must help each other to succeed in their mission and save the Toadstool Kingdom.
]]> 30 Dec 2006 07:27:55 Ultima IV - Quest of the Avatar From the Moby Games entry:

The fourth game in the now well-established Ultima series featured an improved game engine, with color graphics and better character interaction (you could now have actual conversations with NPCs). But what really makes Ultima IV shine is its radical departure from any other RPG made before or since in terms of the story and goal.

Instead of building up your character by any means possible in order to face the Ultimate Evil in a big bang up showdown, in Ultima IV you were trying to become the Avatar, a role model of sorts for the people of the land. This meant upholding the "eight virtues" and basically trying to become a better person. In most RPGs you chose to be a just/nice hero because the people you'd help would usually provide you with some nice equipment for your services, but in Ultima IV you helped people not for a reward or to advance the plot but simply because it was the "right thing to do". The game actually frowns on behavior that was typical of most other RPGs, such as backstabbing fleeing monsters or picking up everything that wasn't nailed down even if it didn't belong to you. The game keeps track of all your actions, so if you went about killing and looting like in most RPGs, you'd never finish the game.

This VERY different approach to the game's ultimate goal is what makes Ultima IV famous so many years later, and became the sort of design philosophy that made all the following Ultimas so unique in their genre.

Of course, the game still has plenty of traditional RPG elements such as dungeons to explore and hostile monsters to kill, as well as a typical final "Holy Grail" type quest where you had to find the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom to complete your transformation into Avatarhood.

In 1996 Computer Gaming World named Ultima IV as #2 on its Best Games of All Time list on the PC.

The game was released for free to the public. The original MS-DOS version is available on many sites, and a game engine recreation is now available for for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux.
]]> 05 Dec 2006 01:59:25 Hamster Jam HamsterJam is a Windows remake of a Commodore Vic20 game called Rockman, originally created by a company called Mastertronic in 1985.

The idea of the game is to collect all the rings from each room while avoiding monsters, skulls and the deadly boulders. Upon completing a room you can leave by any exits available to you to move on to the next.

Sniffles the HamsterYou play Sniffles in the HamsterJam remake, and the monsters are mice intent on stopping you from getting to their precious treasure. The original maps and rooms are still there, along with the unique boulder gameplay, but now with bright, colourful cartoon graphics to bring it into the modern age.
]]> 10 Feb 2007 11:16:56 International Superstar Soccer Deluxe International Superstar Soccer Deluxe is the sequel to International Superstar Soccer, Konami's saga of soccer games. This Deluxe version was published first to the SNES, then the Mega Drive and Playstation.

ISS Deluxe has realistic animations and player sprites. You can compete with 36 national teams with recognizable celebrity players (like Valderrama, Baggio, Ravanelli, Petkov...), but their names are fictitious. You can choose too from 16 formations and 8 strategies to win.

The competitions available are: International Cup, World Series (League), Scenario Mode and customizable mini-cups/leagues.
]]> 07 Mar 2007 07:11:04 NecroSPACE 2
]]> 26 Jul 2007 12:15:44 Ultima VII Part II: Serpent Isle After being prevented from taking over Britannia by the Avatar, the Guardian has a new plan. Sending his chief servent, Batlin, to a new world through a portal common to both, the Guardian begins his new plan for domination of the universe.

As the Avatar, you chase him into this new world to thwart his evil designs.

Ultima VII Part 2 was the only true "sequel" in the Ultima series to share the same number and engine as a predecessor. It takes place literally days after the events of Ultima VII part I (The Black Gate), sending you to a completely new world.

Ultima VII is still playable on modern systems through a great open-source engine called "Exult."
]]> 08 Dec 2006 10:30:39 Worms: Armageddon Team warfare on a worm scale

Description:
Worms: Armageddon is a turn based strategy game in a 2d environment. There is a single player campaign, and training missions to complete; but the main attraction is playing against other people locally or over the internet. Games can be played with 2 or more people. The graphics and sound are very cartoonish, and entertaining.

Gameplay:
Each player starts with a number of worms on their team. Each worm has a fixed amount of health. If a worm runs out of health, it will die. Once you run out of worms, you lose the match. The game is turn based, so each team gets control of one worm during their turn. You have a limited amount of time to select one of many weapons and inflict damage on another teams worm. There are also other more subtle tools to choose from for more strategic play, such as terrain digging tools, girder construction, and ropes and other means to get around the map. Weapons vary from the ordinary guns and explosives, to odd things like exploding sheep, mad cows, and homing pigeons.

There are several other popular gameplay types, with specific rules for play.

Finding online games is easy when you log onto WormNet. It's an irc-like chat interface where you can host or join games.
]]> 21 Jan 2007 02:14:34 Breath Of Fire II Breath of Fire II is the second role-playing game in the Breath of Fire series. It was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1994 by Capcom, and was later brought to North America in 1995 by Capcom, before Laguna released it in Europe in 1996. It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan under the name Breath of Fire II: Shimei no Ko, which translates to Breath of Fire II: The Fated Child. It was re-released in North America and Europe in 2002 under the original title.
]]> 07 Mar 2007 06:17:16 Frontier: Elite II Frontier: Elite 2 is a computer game written by David Braben and published by Gametek in 1993. It is the first sequel to Ian Bell and David Braben's earlier game Elite, and is available for Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC computers.

Frontier (or FE2 as it is commonly referred to) retains the same principle component of Elite—namely completely open-ended gameplay—and adds to this realistic physics and an accurately modelled galaxy. There is no plot within Frontier, nor are there pre-scripted missions (as there are in its sequel, First Encounters); instead players explore space while trading legally or illegally, carrying out missions for the military, ferrying passengers from system to system, engaging in piracy or any combination of the above. As a consequence, Frontier cannot be completed or "won"—instead, players themselves decide what to aspire to and set out to achieve it.

The game has since been released as shareware and is available as a free download, although being a DOS game, users of Windows 2000 and Windows XP may initially have difficulty getting it to run. Using emulation such as DosBox will get the official shareware version of the game to run on modern operating systems including Windows XP, Mac OS X and Linux.

In Frontier, the player assumes the role of one of Commander Jameson's grandchildren, having inherited from Commander Jameson one hundred credits and an Eagle Long Range Fighter. By the game’s standards, this is incredibly modest, and is used as a spur to encourage players to earn money by whatever means they feel is appropriate.

As with Elite, much of Frontier is concerned with trading: players can buy and sell much—from food and computer parts to guns and slaves—with the intent of making the most profit from each trading run. Thus, learning to compare prices in various systems is essential for profitability, and calculating overheads for each trip (such as fuel, missiles, and hull repair) are essential skills. It often becomes apparent that a particular trading route is profitable, such as the Barnard’s Star-Sol route. It is worth noting that some items (particularly narcotics, nerve gas, weaponry and slaves) are illegal in most systems and attempting to trade these in a system in which they are illegal will result in being fined by the police, which can often escalate into violence. It is often worth the risk, however, as illegal goods generally have a very high price on the black market.

Frontier substitutes Elite’s arcade flying style for one based rigidly on Newtonian physics: momentum must first be neutralised to bring the player's craft to a stop, and turning 180° has no effect on the direction of travel until previous momentum has been counteracted. The craft’s control is largely left to the player, but often day-to-day tasks—such as navigating from a hyperspace exit-point to a desired planet or space-station and docking—can be handed over to a ship's autopilot.
]]> 03 Mar 2007 12:22:46 You Don't Know Jack

You Don't Know Jack: the show where high culture and pop culture collide!


You Don't Know Jack is a series of quiz show-inspired computer games which combine trivia and comedy. The games are known for their humor and challenge, as well as simple presentation. The games rarely use graphics, relying heavily on voice acting and text.

The games have recently been revived at the YDKJ official website, where new episodes are released every weekday. These are developed in Flash and are available to play for free within your web browser.

Category: Quiz

Release Date: Varied

Developer: Jellyvision
]]> 26 Mar 2007 11:13:20 The Bard's Tale Developed by Interplay Productions and distributed by Electronic Arts, The Bard's Tale is considered by many to be one of the pillar classics of computer fantasy role playing games.

The Bard's Tale allows players to create characters, form parties and adventure through Skara Brae. Combat is turn based and players can choos ethe actions of every member of the party.

From the box text:

"Long ago, when magic still prevailed, the evil wizard Mangar the Dark threatened a small but harmonious country town called Skara Brae. Evil creatures oozed into Skara Brae and joined his shadow domain. Mangar froze the surrounding lands with a spell of Eternal Winter, totally isolating Skara Brae from any possible help. Then, one night the town militiamen all disappeared. The future of Skara Brae hung in the balance. And who was left to resist? Only a handful of unproven young Warriors, junior Magic Users, a couple of Bards barely old enough to drink, and some out of work Rogues. You are there. You are the leader of this ragtag group of freedom fighters. Luckily you have a Bard with you to sing your glories, if you survive. For this is the stuff of legends. And so the story begins..."
]]> 10 May 2007 02:08:39 King's Quest Collection Celebrate the golden age of adventure games all over again with the return of King's Quest.

The bravest knight in all of Daventry, Sir Graham, is appointed by the dying king to embark on a Quest for the Crown. By retrieving the three treasures of Daventry, he will not only save the land but become its king.

Now the ruler of Daventry, King Graham sees a vision of a beautiful woman trapped in a tower. Romancing the Throne won't be easy with mermen and vampires separating him from his imprisoned bride.

A young apprentice to an evil wizard must escape his captor or be faced with certain death. Upon the discovery that he is the long-lost son of the royal family, young prince Alexander learns that To Heir is Human.

King Graham lies on the brink of death and only a magical fruit from a far off land can heal him. The Perils of Rosella pit evil fairies and fearsome foes against the brave princess as she fights to save her father.

Returning home one day to find the castle missing, King Graham must don his famous adventurer's cap once more to find his family. Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder and Graham must learn a little magic of his own to rescue his loved ones from an evil spell.

Haunted by the memory of the kidnapped princess who helped his family escape the malevolent wizard Mordack, Alexander learns of a plot to force the beautiful Cassima to marry an evil Vizier. Sworn to protect the woman who saved his life, Alexander takes to the Green Isles in Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow.

Rebellious Rosella is content to be The Princeless Bride, but her adventurous spirit may lead to a marriage to the King of the Trolls. With the help of her mother, Queen Valanice, Rosella must end a plot to destroy the land of Eldritch and find her own happy ending.

from http://classics.sierra.com/us/kingsquest/
]]> 03 Jun 2007 01:07:42 Hyperspeed There's no room for error when traveling at the speed of light, racing through star systems in a desperate search for a new world to house Mankind. But There are plenty of opportunities for mistakes. Alien races of every conceivable size, shape, temperament and sophistication seek to aid, use, corrupt or destroy you - and you don't know which.

Sure, your starship is 15,000 feet long and armed with remote-controlled fightercraft, kamikaze fighters, a devastating plasma gun and high-tech probes, but will all that firepower be enough against The Stentor, ruthless time-traveling space pirates, or the colossal energy beings known as The ZOR?

Alien Combat and Role-Playing Adventure Imaginative graphics and sounds remind you constantly of the wonders; mysteries, dangers and rewards of the strange, sometimes hostile, solar systems you travel among.

Perhaps diplomacy is the answer. The Cicisbeo are vain and arrogant - perhaps that ego can be worked to your advantage. The Broodmasters are sinister, manipulative and seek universal domination, but are they a little too eager?

Perhaps something can be gained from shrewd trading. But that will be tough against the. ever-seeking, ever-hungry Collectors, keepers of the Museum of Time; not to mention the supra-intelligent Jot, who control the minds of everyone nearby.

Whatever choices you make, make them quickly. You're moving at Hyperspeed - second thoughts could be fatal. Intricate role-playing opportunities with dozens of bizarre aliens, each responding according to their customs, hidden agendas and intergalactic relationships.

Four star clusters to explore, each with different alien races and unique challenges, each more difficult than the last.

---

Hyperspeed is a kind of an upgraded sequel to Lightspeed.
Released in 1991. Adding two new star clusters.


  • Source: Hyperspeed Base
    • ]]>     08 Apr 2007 10:09:56     Breath Of Fire III Breath of Fire III is the third RPG in the Breath of Fire series. It was originally released for the PlayStation in Japan in 1997 by Capcom, and was later brought to North America and Europe in 1998. It was ported to the PSP and was released in Japan in August 2005 and in Europe in February 2006.

    The game follows the adventures of Ryu (the protagonist) who is the sole survivor of the Dragon Clan, as he struggles to discover why his clan was wiped out. The adventure takes him to many places, on journeys thought impossible, and in the end he will discover power in the ability to choose his own future.

    As the last survivor of the Dragon Clan, Ryu must continue his struggle against the evil goddess Myria, who has taken over the world and now controls it.
    ]]>     07 Mar 2007 06:23:52     Frontier: First Encounters First Encounters is the sequel to Frontier (1993), which itself was a sequel to the seminal 1984 game Elite. The game was created by David Braben’s company, Frontier Developments. Many fans of the game refer to it by the shortened title of FFE.

    Like Frontier, First Encounters features realistic Newtonian physics and the ability to land on planets. It has graphics that are an improvement over Frontier (the main difference being Gouraud shading) and, as well as employing the same open-ended gameplay of its predecessors, it also features a storyline concerning an alien race called the Thargoids.

    Like the other two Elite games, it has been re-released as shareware and can be freely downloaded from the Elite Club site.

    Being a DOS game, First Encounters has difficulty running with Windows XP or Windows 2000 machines, although the official site does offer solutions to get the game running. A recreated game engine called JJFFE allows playing the game on Linux, Windows and DOS.

    First Encounters plays much like its immediate predecessor Frontier: the game is a combination of trading, fighting and a variety of other activitiesâ€â€
    ]]>     03 Mar 2007 01:23:22     Breath Of Fire Breath of Fire is the first role-playing game in the Breath of Fire series. It was originally released for the Super NES in Japan in 1993 by Capcom, and was later brought to North America in 1994 by Squaresoft (now Square Enix). It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance worldwide, this time by Capcom themselves.
    ]]>     07 Mar 2007 06:08:53     Quake Rage through 32 single player levels and 6 deathmatch levels of sheer terror and fully immersive sound and lighting. Arm yourself against the cannibalistic Ogre, fiendish Vore and indestructible Schambler using letal nails, fierce Thunderbolts and abominable Rocket and Grenade Launchers.
    ]]>     26 Nov 2006 04:48:39     Mutant Storm Inspired by RoboTron, Smash TV and Llamatron. Mutant Storm is a classic arcade game with a new age twist. One hand controls the firing the other controls the movement. Simple controls and addictive gameplay with decent graphics set Mutant Storm apart.
    ]]>     17 Jan 2007 01:27:17     Hotel Solitaire Welcome to Hotel Solitaire where you have a reservation for endless solitaire fun! Step into the elevator and get ready for a variety of card challenges as each floor presents a new twist on classic fun. As you make your way through the hotel, you'll unlock even more excitement in the hotel's Casino, Recreation Room, and Terrace. Whether you're looking for a relaxing game of cards or a frantic race against the clock, Hotel Solitaire has accommodations for all. Check in to this suite solitaire game!
    ]]>     05 Feb 2007 04:14:27     Blades of Steel Blades of Steel is an ice hockey video game released by Konami for the arcade in 1987, and ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1988. All teams are fictional but based out of real Canadian and American cities. The game is known for its fast paced hockey action and especially for the fighting. It is a one or two player game. When playing against the computer, there are three difficulty levels to choose from: Junior, College, and Pro (with pro being the most difficult and Junior being the easiest). Each team consists of three forwards, two defencemen, and a goaltender.

    The Teams

    There are a total of eight teams, four from Canada and four from the United States. The four Canadian cities are Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton. The four American teams are from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minnesota. Each team sports a different coloured sweater, but some team colours are very similar making it difficult to distinguish between them. Presumably this is because of the limited capability of computer graphics in 1988.

    The game

    At the beginning of the game, the gamers can select either "Exhibition" or "Tournament" matches. An exhibition match is just one game played against either the computer or another player. Tournament matches are similar to the NHL playoffs. It starts out as one team of the player's choice going against other teams in a playoff style tournament. The team that is successful in beating all of the opposing teams is awarded the Konami Cup.

    Fighting in the game occurs whenever two players bump into each other three times in a row without hitting another player. The fight screen appears and the gamers take control of their players. The loser is given the penalty and sent to the penalty box. If a fight occurs close to one of the nets, the referee may break up the fight and call a "penalty shot".

    During the second intermission, either a video game will appear for Player One to play or a Konami ad will appear featuring a bear shooting the puck into a net mouthing the words "Nice Shot!" The video game is modelled off an old arcade game, Gradius, in which a little spaceship is trying to destroy a much larger spaceship.

    If the score is tied at the end of the game, a shoot out (similar to a penalty shot) is used to determine the winner. Each team gets five shots. The team with the most goals after five shots is the winner. If, after that, the game is still tied, each team keeps getting one more shot until a winner is determined.
    ]]>     22 Feb 2007 01:47:22     Sonic The Hedgehog In 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog was released on the Master System, Mega Drive and Game Gear. Its fast pace and vivid environments set it apart, and it went on to become a phenomenon, being by far the biggest-selling game on all three platforms. To date, Sonic games have sold in excess of 44 million copies worldwide, placing him ninth in the franchise sales table. (Source: Wikipedia)
    ]]>     06 Feb 2007 05:46:13     Blood Blood is a PC game developed by Monolith Productions and distributed by GT Interactive. Released on 31 May 1997, it utilized the first Build engine from Ken Silverman to feature voxels. The game falls in the first-person shooter category and, with its arsenal of curious weapons, numerous enemies and liberal amounts of gore, truly does justice to its name.

    Blood is set in an unspecified time period that resembles the American Old West, where science-fictional anachronisms coupled with real life technology abound. A sequel to Blood, titled Blood II: The Chosen, was released on 31 October 1998. In terms of copyrights and ownership, Monolith sold the rights for Blood to GT Interactive who published the games; the company was later purchased by Infogrames which has since been renamed to Atari.
    ]]>     31 Jan 2007 07:03:50     The Great Escape (Ocean) The Great Escape is a video game which shares a title and similar plot to the movie The Great Escape. It was programmed by Denton Designs, who went on to produce the similarly acclaimed Where Time Stood Still. It was published by Ocean in 1986 for ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC.

    This game is an isometric-viewed arcade adventure, and even now is still considered a classic, due to innovations such as your morale diminishing (represented by a decending flag on a pole) the more time you spent in solitary after each failed escape attempt, a 'default' mode whereby your character goes into autopilot and follows the routine of the camp when either left alone for a period of time, or the morale level became irreversably low, and like the game M.O.V.I.E, a genuinely interactive isometric environment.
    ]]>     04 Feb 2007 05:09:06     SkyRoads "You could play this game just for the amazing sound tracks, but the gameplay is also very catchy. Simply, you need to steer your space vehicle along the course, jumping and dodging blocks that will wipe you out when you're flying along at light-speed. Balancing acceleration and fuel usage becomes tricky when you've got a time limit to beat with hardly any fuel in the tank. Your reflexes and timing will be the difference between getting home safely and floating aimlessly through space."
    -dosgamesarchive.com

    This is truly an original. Very simple, very addictive.
    ]]>     19 Mar 2007 09:09:34     Marathon Infinity Final installment of the classic sci-fi shooter series. Follows Marathon and Marathon 2: Durandal.

    Bungie went on to create one of the most successful games of all time: Halo: Combat Evolved.

    Developer: Bungie Software
    Released: 1996
    ]]>     03 Dec 2006 09:50:33     Joust Joust's simple controls, and the fact that it was one of the few games two players could play together, helped make this arcade game a hit.

    You play a knight mounted on an ostrich. You must use your lance to joust against wave after wave of enemies. The only controls you have are to flap your wings and to move left and right, making it quite easy to get into the game. You may defeat an opponent by colliding with them with your lance higher than theirs.

    When you beat an enemy, they drop an egg. If you let it hatch by not collecting it, it will spawn a tougher enemy than the one who dropped the egg.

    Other dangers include a lava pit at the bottom of the screen, a lava troll which tries to drag you into the lava pit, and a very tough-to-beat pterodactyl which appears if you take too long on a level.

    Designer: John Newcomer
    Released: 1982
    ]]>     13 May 2007 09:11:30     Wizardry Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

    This maze-style Dungeons and Dragons-like game has you lead your party of six charaters into the dungeon below Trebor's castle to search out Werdna and retrieve a powerful magic amulet.

    This classic RPG led to several sequels and set the stage for future RPGs such as The Bard's Tale and Might and Magic.

    Developers: Andrew C. Greenberg & Robert Woodhead
    Released: 1981
    ]]>     03 Mar 2007 10:23:21     Marathon 2: Durandal Marathon 2: Durandal is the second game in the classic sci-fi shooter trilogy. It continues the story started in Marathon and is followed by Marathon Infinity.

    Bungie went on to create one of the most successful games of all time: Halo: Combat Evolved.

    Developer: Bungie Software
    Released: 1995 [Mac], 1996 [Windows]
    ]]>     02 Dec 2006 01:38:19     Yoshi's Island 2 As Yoshi, transport the younger versions of classic mario characters across dangerous landscapes to save Baby Luigi and the other babies from evil. Use Yoshi's amazing abilities such as, eating your enemies, throwing eggs, hovering in the air, and stomping the ground.

    You can even use the babies to your advantage! Use Mario to make special blocks visible. Peach to use her umbrella to ride on the winds, Donkey Kong to swing on vines, and more!
    ]]>     25 Jan 2007 03:43:45     Marathon Marathon is a classic sci-fi shooter created for MacOS. It spawned two sequels - Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity.

    Bungie went on to create one of the most successful games of all time: Halo: Combat Evolved.

    Developer: Bungie Software
    Released: 1994
    ]]>     01 Dec 2006 12:15:30     Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat was the first entry in the famous Mortal Kombat fighting game series by Midway, released in arcades in 1992. It was later picked up by Acclaim Games for the home version, then later returned to Midway. It centers on the first Mortal Kombat tournament and the ultimate defeat of the evil Shang Tsung by the monk Liu Kang.

    Versions of the original Mortal Kombat game appeared on several different formats, most notably the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Nintendo's SNES. When the first game in the series was released for the SNES in North America, Nintendo of America had a strict "Family Friendly" policy towards the content of the games released on their systems which required the removal of graphic violence, religious imagery and themes, mentions of death, sexual themes, and other sensitive subjects. Hence, the first Mortal Kombat game on the SNES had the blood recolored gray in an attempt to pass it off as sweat, and the various Fatality moves were graphically changed to be less gruesome. The SNES version was graphically superior to the Mega Drive/Genesis port, but all violence was censored.

    The game was a response by Midway to Capcom's successful Street Fighter II, which spawned a number of fighting games. However, it used a distinctly different fighting system from the Street Fighter formula, which was used in all subsequent sequels until Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. The controls consisted of five buttons arranged in an "X" pattern: a high punch, a high kick, a low punch, a low kick, and a block button, as well as an eight-way joystick. If the two fighters were standing next to each other, hitting any of the attack buttons would result in a modified strike: a low punch turned into a throw, a high punch turned into a heavy elbow, headbutt, or backhand, and either kick turned into a knee strike. Crouching and hitting either punch resulted in an uppercut, which was the most damaging attack of the game. Jump kicking and crouch-kicking were executed in a similar fashion to Street Fighter, although leg sweeps and roundhouse kicks were performed by holding away while pressing the appropriate kick button.

    The blocking in Mortal Kombat I by itself greatly changed the flow of fighting in comparison to contemporary games which used Street Fighter conventions. Characters do not block while retreating or crouching, but only block when the block button is pushed. Even then, characters take (reduced) damage from any hit while blocking. However, successfully blocking moves is simple – a crouching block can successfully defend against all moves, even aerial attacks such as jumpkicks – and blocking characters give very little ground when struck rather than sliding backwards. This style of blocking rewarded dodging to avoid damage but also made counterattacks much easier after a successful block, and the ultimate result was an environment which rewards a more furtive playing style than contemporary games.

    Another of the game's innovations was the Fatality, a special finishing move executed against a beaten opponent to kill them in a gruesome fashion. For example, one character (Sub-Zero) would grasp a defeated opponent by the head, then rip out the head and spine while the body crumpled to the ground in a pool of blood.

    Finally, Mortal Kombat also changed the way special moves were performed. Street Fighter (and many other fighting games) performed most special moves in fractions of circles (usually full, half or one-quarter) on the joystick followed by a button press (such as a quarter-circle forward, plus punch). Mortal Kombat was the first to introduce moves that did not require a button press (such as tap back, tap back, then forward), and only a few of the special moves required circular joystick movement.
    ]]>     02 Mar 2007 07:14:32     Lost Vikings In The Lost Vikings, players must employ the skills of 3 unique Viking characters cooperatively to solve puzzles, conquer enemies, and navigate their treacherous voyage back home. The game provides hours of arcade-style action with over 35 levels, numerous enemies, and hundreds of mind-bending puzzles to solve.

    In order to advance through levels, players must learn to master the abilities of the powerful runner Erik the Swift, burly defender Olaf the Stout, and the unyielding swordsman Baleog the Fierce. As the adventure continues, players will encounter many different worlds to explore including Prehistoria, Egypt, The Great Factory and Wacky World. The Lost Vikings is currently available for Game Boy Advance in retail chains everywhere and from the Blizzard Online Store.
    From Blizzard.
    ]]>     20 Jan 2007 07:19:14     Dig Dug Dig Dug is an arcade game released by Namco in 1982. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also available as a home video game available on many consoles, and had many arcade and home clones. Dig Dug runs on Namco Galaga hardware.

    The objective of Dig Dug is to eliminate underground-dwelling monsters. This can be done by inflating them until they pop or by dropping rocks on them. There are two kinds of enemies in the game: Pookas are round red monsters who look like tomatoes wearing yellow goggles, and Fygars; green dragons who can breathe fire. The player's character is Dig Dug, dressed in white and blue who can make tunnels. Dig Dug is killed if he is caught by a monster, burned by a Fygar's fire, or crushed by a rock.

    It takes four 'pumps' with the player's action button to inflate a monster to popping. If left partially inflated, the monster will deflate and recover after a few seconds, but half-inflating is a useful way to stun an enemy, especially to make sure it remains in the path of a falling rock.

    The monsters normally crawl through the tunnels in the dirt but they can turn into ghostly-eyes and travel slowly through the dirt.
    ]]>     01 Feb 2007 10:09:36     Digger Digger was released by Windmill Software in 1983, popular in the era of the IBM PC with a CGA graphics card and monitor. Digger was resurrected by Andrew Jenner in 1998, when he reverse engineered it to run using VGA on fast Pentium based computers. The source code of the remastered version was released under the GPL with permission of the original author Rob Sleath.
    ]]>     24 Dec 2006 02:53:39     ColumnsX This is a remake of the classic Genesis game, Columns.
    It's got the same core gameplay, for the most part, but also adds several new bells and whistles, such as a variety of special pieces, Big Gems, an online highscore list, and a brutal AI opponent.

    The characters are all members of the website 64digits.
    (Any member of 64digits may also add awards they've unlocked ingame to their profiles on the site.)

    Controls:
    Menu
    Arrow keys - Move selection
    Enter key - Ok

    Player 1
    Left / Right arrow keys - Move piece
    Up arrow key - Cycle piece
    Down arrow key - Drop piece
    Enter - Start

    Player 2
    A / D - Move piece
    W - Cycle piece
    S - Drop piece
    G - Start

    Developed with Game Maker 6.1
    ]]>     16 Jan 2007 06:31:32     Double Dragon II: The Revenge Double Dragon II: The Revenge is the second game in Technos Japan's Double Dragon series of side-scrolling beat-em-ups. The original arcade version of the game was distributed in North America and Europe in 1988 and in Japan during the following year. The game was made specifically for the Western market, where the original [url="http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/game/doubledragon"]Double Dragon[/url] enjoyed tremendous success.

    Technos Japan developed a home version of the game for the Famicom/NES in 1989, which was drastically different from the arcade version. Other home versions were released for the Mega Drive and PC Engine.

    Plot

    Double Dragon II drops the rescue premise of the original game in favor of a revenge theme (hence the subtitle). Whereas in the original game, Marian was merely kidnapped, in the sequel she is shot to death by Black Warriors' leader Willy right in the very beginning of the game, giving the game a much darker tone than the original.

    [edit] Gameplay

    The arcade version of Double Dragon II was essentially a reworked version of the original Double Dragon, using the same engine and recycling most of the game's graphics. The main change in the game was the replacement of the original game's punch and kick buttons in favor of a two-way attacking system (Left Attack and Right Attack) similar to Renegade. Pressing the attack button of the direction the player is facing will perform the standard left/right punch combo, whereas pressing the opposite attack button will make the character perform a rear kick. Most of the techniques from the previous game are carried over, with the exception of the headbutt. Double Dragon II also marked the debut of the Whirlwind Kick, which would become the series' trademark special technique.

    Virtually all of the characters from the first game were brought back for the sequel. Most of them were given facelifts in order to represent the passing of time between the original game and the sequel, while a few kept their original appearance. The changes are more than superficial though, with some of the enemies being given new techniques to go along with their new looks. Each stage also features a new enemy who serves as the stage boss.

    The overall stage layout of the arcade version is almost exactly identical to the first game, comprised of four missions including the enemy's base at the end of the game. Mainly the scenery was changed, although new traps were added as well.
    ]]>     15 Feb 2007 02:49:58     karateka One of the first martial arts fighting games, Karateka set the standard for graphics and sound in the mid-80s. The developer, Jordan Mechner, went on to develop Prince of Persia and its sequels.

    In Karateka, Princess Mariko has been kidnapped by Akuma. You play the hero, a karate master, who must fight your way into Akuma's fortess and save the princess. Along the way, you'll have to defeat Akuma's henchmen and his eagle...

    High atop a craggy cliff, guarded by an army of fierce warriors, stands the fortress of the evil warlord Akuma. Deep in the darkest dungeon of the castle, Akuma gloats over his lovely captive, the princess Mariko.

    You are one trained in the way of karate: a karateka. Alone and unarmed, you must defeat Akuma and rescue the beautiful Mariko.

    Put fear and self-concern behind you. Focus your will on your objective, accepting death as a possibility. This is the way of the karateka.

    Developer: Jordan Mechner
    Released: 1984
    ]]>     03 Mar 2007 11:38:07     Jezzball Jezzball is a simple yet engaging fast-paced game of skill and strategy.This game will indeed make you crazy. It's very quick to pick up, but as you begin to improve, subtle strategies emerge. Then it gets harder and harder to stop, and that's when the madness begins.
    ]]>     01 May 2007 06:58:00     Lightspeed It's finally happened. Man dumped one too many barrels of toxic waste, and now the planet is an ecological wasteland. The population has been forced into space on enormous Conestoga-class interstellar transports while the search goes on for a new planet to call hme.

    That's where you come in, with your simple task: fin humankind a new habitable world. It all happens in "Lightspeed", an interstellar simulation from MicroProse.

    "Lightspeed"'s actio nrevolves around your Trailblazer-class scouting ship. No subcompact, this jewel sports a hull 3400 meters long and 2960 meters wide. You can even tailer its configuration to your needs, rearranging components to enhance your defenses, armament, or drive.

    By:
    MICROPROSE SOFTWARE
    180 Lakefront Dr.
    Hunt Valley, MD 21030
    (800) 879-7529
  • Old address and telephone number.
    • ]]>     08 Apr 2007 09:56:01     Deja Vu: A Nightmare Comes True A point-and-click adventure game released for the Mac in 1985 by MindScape. It was developed by ICOM Simulations, who pioneered the move from text-based interaction to point-and-click adventure games.

    The story is set in the 1940s and you play a private eye who wakes up in a bar's bathroom stall. You find a body in the bar's office and have to track down the murderer to clear your name.

    Developer: ICOM Simulations
    Released: 1985
    ]]>     10 Dec 2006 12:12:33     Balance of Power Balance of Power allows you to take on the role of either the President of the United States or the General Secretary of the Soviet Union with the goal of increasing your nation's prestige without going to war.

    The interface is a simple map of the world showing the current level of influence the USSR and the US has on each nation. Turns are based around crises which much be resolved through diplomacy. This in turn affects the status of nations and the global threat level. If the threat level [DEFCON] gets too high, the game ends.

    Developer: Chris Crawford
    Released: 1985
    ]]>     24 Jan 2007 10:40:56     Dragon Force Dragon Force is a rare and extremely sought-after role-playing strategy game, released for the Sega Saturn. It was created in Japan by Sega and translated into English by Working Designs in 1996. It has since been re-released on the PlayStation 2 as part of the Sega Ages series.

    Category: Strategy role-playing game

    Release Dates: March 29, 1996 (JP), November 30, 1996 (US), September 1997 (EU), August 18, 2005 (JP Sega Ages re-release)

    Developer: Sega
    ]]>     26 Mar 2007 10:16:52     Lost in the Labyrinth "It's a maddening game perfect for the casual genre: it's easy to play but difficult to master." - VH1 Game Break

    Inspired by the classic wooden toy, "Lost in the Labyrinth" has you guide your ball through the 3D maze from start to finish by tilting the playing surface. Sounds simple, right? Think again! Watch where you roll. Dodge holes and bumpers while trying to get to the goal as fast as you can. With over 30 levels to play, race the clock and beat the computer's best time, then beat your best time. When you're ready, challenge a friend to a head-to-head race. Will you get lost in the Labyrinth?
    ]]>     04 May 2007 04:20:06     Sonic The Hedgehog (XBL)
    ]]>     25 Aug 2007 11:26:29     Scarab of RA Released in 1987 by Semicolon Software, this shareware adventure game for the Mac was an instant success.

    You play the role of an archaeology student entering the newly-discovered Great Pyramid of RA the Sun-God. Your objective is to explore the pyramid and devine its secrets.

    The goal of the game is to gain prestige and, of course, to survive the creatures and puzzles the pyramid throws your way.

    The interface is point-and-click, and is reminiscent of the original Wizardry.

    Developer: Rick Holzgrafe
    Released: 1987
    ]]>     26 Jan 2007 11:19:12     Jack in the Dark Jack in the Dark was released by Infogrames in between the first and the second Alone in the Dark games. It is substantially smaller in scale and length, and served as teaser for the upcoming sequel.

    The game stars Grace Saunders, the kidnapped girl in the main story, who gets locked in a toy store on Halloween. The goal of the short game is to solve the mystery of the toy store and escape. Utilising the same engine as the Alone in the Dark games, Jack in the Dark plays pretty much the same, though Grace has only Search and Close as her available actions. The puzzles are interesting and varied, and the creepy story unfolds via various means such as a book that explains the past of a certain ghostly character.
    ]]>     11 Mar 2007 05:44:19     Phase Pong

    This game is currently under development

    Features C++, DirectX 9.0, XACT, AI, and BOIDS

    Phase Pong is a pong clone I am currently developing. It will Eventually have all of the gameplay you would expect from a pong clone, along with some special features that will take this classic game to the next level.
    ]]>     04 Apr 2007 09:18:18