Category: Retro

Disney has a new Tron movie coming out at the end of the year, Tron Legacy. For this, they’ve pulled out all the marketing stops. Viral sites, an ARG campaign, A recreation of Flynns arcade at Comic-Con, and, of course, a tie-in video game.

But that’s not what I want to talk about now. Instead, let’s have a look at the viral site Arcade Aid. Within it is a visual quiz, where they have hidden 56 classic game titles. Check it out.

Personally, I got up to 35 by myself, then I found the rest by collaborating with a couple of friends. How many can you find? Post your scores!

Note: If you are gonna post an answer in the comments, make sure to provide a clear warning first, so nobody gets spoiled.

Billy Mitchell, your barrel-dodging reign has come to a screeching halt. Say hello to the new king of arcade game Donkey Kong, New York City plastic surgeon Hank Chien!

Chien has dominated over Mitchell’s old score by 10,000 points, as verified by Twin Galaxies, the official name in arcade scoring.

The real kicker behind this? Chien has been playing the game less than a year. He says he started playing it just last September. “It’s something to add to my resume,” says the Harvard graduate.

Chien said that he was turned on to the game by watching the 2007 documentary The King of Kong, which depicts how Billy Mitchell defended his title from those who would contest it.

“This film made me realize there was a whole group of people that were playing the classics,” he told the New York Daily News. The overtaking occurred during a February snowstorm when Chien decided to take a day off and attempt a shot at the record on the machine he keeps at home.

“It’s something I can be proud of,” he added. “Donkey Kong requires reflexes, it requires strategy, it requires foresight planning and timing. It requires everything, which is the beauty of the game.”

Easily one of the best part about having friends or coworkers who are also die hard gamers like yourself, is the fact that you can talk to this person about how the developers don’t know what they’re doing, how you would’ve done such and such game better, and ultimately, “back in my day…”

Personally, “back in my day” is the best part of any gaming-related conversation. Mainly for the sake of bringing back fond memories, but also because I always manage to realize something that I never noticed before as a kid, or simply couldn’t figure out.

Case in point: Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Casino Night Zone. I spent years trying to get past that block that you simply couldn’t jump over. If you’ve played Sonic 2, you know what I’m talking about. I ended up giving up on the game completely, and declared it broken and unbeatable. Then, just two years ago, I learned while talking to a friend that you actually have to press down on your D-pad, as the platform you’re standing on is actually an elevator.

Silly realizations like this are one of the many reasons it’s always a good idea to take a trip down memory lane. Today’s trip will take us to the town of DoDonPachi. PEW PEW after the jump.

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Wow. Just…wow. Found this article over at Geekologie about blind gamer Jordan Verner and three very dedicated people who helped him not only play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but actually beat the game using a script of over 100,000 keystrokes describing in detail the entirety of the game move-by-move.

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Happy birthday, PS2! Ten years ago today, Sony launched the PlayStation 2 in Japan. The console launched on October 26 and November 24 respectively in the same year.

Since then the PS2 has become the best-selling console of al time, selling over 140 million units. The best selling PS2 game of all time ended up being Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

So let’s all join together and celebrate the PS2! Good times

According to Joystiq, Steve Wiebe has reclaimed his title as the #1 Donkey Kong, Jr. player in the world.

Wiebe lost his title last fall to Oklahoma man Mark Kiehl, but on Valentine’s Day, he managed to score 1,190,400 points, far surpassing the score of 1,139,800 points he achieved in April of last year.

The lesson here is that if you want high scores in arcade games, spend your Valentine’s Day playing instead of with your wife or girlfriend.

Majesco has released an impressive collection of 15 fan-favorite games by developers Data East. This fantastic bundle will be seeing the Wii for $19.99.

The collection’s titles include: BurgerTime, Peter Pepper’s Ice Cream Factory, Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja, Burnin’ Rubber, Caveman Ninja, Crude Buster, Express Raider, Heavy Barrel, Lock ‘n’ Chase, Magical Drop III, Secret Agent, Side Pocket, Street Hoop, Super Real Darwin and Wizard Fire.

All games feature single and two-player support and now allow players to save, load and pause the action (something you can’t quite do in an arcade). In addition, there are 75 achievable goals in the compilation including unlocking of soundtracks for the games, gallery items, classic arcade marquees and bezels, and the ability to link your high scores with your Mii.

All games will support various controller types including the Wii Remote, Wii Remote with Nunchuck, Classic Controller and GameCube controllers.

A box full of nostalgia for $19.99? I think we know who wins in this deal.

Speaking to GameTrailers recently, Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase admit that he’s quite interested in seeing a Final Fantasy VII remake come to fruition.

“I’m really interested to see this more complete form of Final Fantasy VII portrayed more realistically with the voice and animation and all the suttle expressions there.

“I’d be interested to see that and to make that, it would be a great experience. I don’t get tired of people asking that question, so I’ll continue to answer my thoughts as long as people keep asking.”

It’s surprising to hear this, considering that Square Enix has gone on the record numerous times stating that its simply not going to happen. Of course, just because he wants to make it, doesn’t necessarily mean it will actually happen.

Remember the Xbox?

No, not the current one that dies if its out in the sun too long, the old bulky giant that kick-started Microsoft’s entrance into the console market. Remember how it was online enabled and everybody loved playing Halo 2 online as if it was the second coming?

It’s time to say your goodbyes and final farewells, as Major Nelson announced today that Xbox Live and online titles on the original Xbox will finally shut down on April 15th.

“We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features,” Nelson explained in regards to the closing of the service.

Rest in peace, you big hunk of metal you.

Well, Team Teamwork has done it again. The creative mind that brought you The Ocarina of Rhyme has graced our ears with Vinyl Fantasy VII.

If you’re unfamiliar with either creation, what Team Teamwork does is take a game’s soundtrack, toss in some ridiculously fresh beats from famous rap and hip-hop artists and make something that’s, at the very least, fun to listen to.

Familiar names like Jay-Z, Outkast, MF DOOM, and Ghostface Killah grace the lineup of rhyme spitters.

Unfortunately, Team Teamwork’s Bandcamp page received a cease and desist notification for using copyrighted material, but you can still keep updated on current projects via the Team Teamwork Tumblr. You can also listen to other mash-ups on the official MySpace page.

Happy listening!

Are you one of the many gamers who fell in love with the Shenmue series back in the Dreamcast days? Are you still hoping that, even after all these years, the final chapter in the series will released? Well, it might still happen… if one of the console makers funds.

“None of the previous games sold really well for the investment made” according to statement by SEGA on Eurogamer.pt, “and SEGA is in doubt as to if it will resurrect the series. However, SEGA assured the fans that if there is some opportunity to revisit the series, they would love to do it.

“SEGA also mentioned the chance of one of the three hardware makers financing the game’s (Shenmue III) production in exchange for an exclusivity deal.”

Anyone have a few million sitting around? Want to help fund this?

Nobody?

Drat.

It seems to me like we’re living in the age of nostalgia, where many of us are almost constantly looking back to what we remember as a golden age of gaming, when all the games were great and no one was shouting “noob” at us from across an internet connection. The Xbox Live Arcade has slowly built up a library of remakes, reboots and upgrades of old arcade classics like Asteroids, Centipede, Pac-Man and Galaga.

Another such title just released is Qix++, an improved version of the old arcade game from 1981. Originally released by Taito, the point of Qix (pronounced /kɪks/) according to Wikipedia, is to fence off, or “claim” a majority of the level’s playing field. Every level is a large, empty rectangle containing the titular Qix, a computer virus according to the game’s back story.

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Are you a bad enough dude to buy a game without knowing what it is?

Now’s the time to find out with this epic ebay auction for an N64 cartridge that is completely blank – with absolutely no indication of what will flicker to life on the screen after you blow that dust away and slot it into the machine.

The seller of the mysterious cartridge teases that it could be kick ass or it could suck – but promises at least that the labelless game is in mint, working order. It’s clearly caught the attention of some, as the auction has already passed it’s “Buy it Now” price and is now sure to become the attention of intrigued gamers everywhere.

“Paypal Only, No Refunds, No Returns, Final Destination” – I think that might be a clue…

It was the third of December, and it was a Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays – for me it is right in the middle of my work week, and thus a day I couldn’t hate or look forward to. Yet, here I was queuing in the wet on a Thursday, about to break from the norm.

I was in line to see Video Games Live at the Cardiff International Arena. Headed up by veteran composers Jack Wall (Myst, Mass Effect) and Tommy Tallarico (Metroid Prime, Earthworm Jim), the show brings forth the soundtracks of games new and old with an orchestra and choir taken from the chosen locale.

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All of us here at TGV love us some Zero Wing, especially the amazingly humorous Engrish translation. My personal favourite is “someone set up us the bomb”, but most gamers are familiar with “All Your Base are Belong to Us”.

The guys at Too Much Spare Time Animation have made a hilarious mashup of Zero Wing’s opening scene and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. The sheer amounts of awesome contained in this video can’t be described by words alone, so I’ll just let the video do the talking.