Sunday November 20, 2011
Black Friday is just five days away which mean's it's time to put holiday gift shopping into full gear. If you're struggling with what to get that retro gamer on your gift list, fear not! All week I'll be posting holiday gift guides for classic video games.
Today we are kick starting the first of two Nintendo Wii Retro Video Games Holiday Gift Guides.
Part 1 will take you though everything you'll need to get the old-school gamer started with Nintendo's Next-Gen console - the Wii.
Check back every day for more Classic Video Game Holiday Gift Guides
Monday October 31, 2011
It's Halloween! Time for the spooks and spirits to crawl out of the grave for some tricks and treats, and what better way to celebrate the most ghostly night of the year with a retro gaming tribute to haunted houses, featuring games about Haunted Houses!
- Haunted House for the Atari 2600 - The most famous retro horror game, often credited with being the first in the survival horror genre has you scouring the creepy mansion of Victor Graves as you search for pieces of a long lost urn while trying to avoid vampire bats, tarantulas and the ghost of Graves himself!
- Haunted House for the Magnavox Odyssey - The very first horror game came packaged with the very first video game console. With player one as a detective investigating a spooky mansion and player two as the ghost haunting it, this is the only horror game that combines a video game game with a plastic TV screen overlay and playing cards.
- Sweet Home for Famicom (aka Nintendo Entertainment System) - The gore filled supernatural RPG based on the J-horror flick by the same name was the inspiration for Resident Evil.
- Mystery House for the Apple II - The first graphical adventure may not have ghosts, but it sure has a spooky mansion as players try to track down a murderer offing all of their houseguests.
Monday October 31, 2011
With All Hallows' Eve just around the corner I've been spouting off a lot about those wonderfully weird horror based games Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the Atari 2600, but what about the company who made them.
If b-movie mogul Charles Band, maker of oddball horror flicks like Puppet Master, Demonic Toys, Evil Bong and Gingerdead Man, had never thought to spin off his '80s home video company Wizard Video into the gaming realm with Wizard Video Games, we would never know the oddities that are the first controversial gore-filled games for the Atari 2600.
Friday October 28, 2011
Horror movies and video games seem to go together like Freddy Kruger and nightmares as they both follow pop culture cut followings; so why not leverage the already famous Hollywood movie monsters for video games?
Sometimes their great, most times there not, and nothing scares a gamer worse than a horrible movie licensed game...of course even the bad ones can be good for some cheesy laughs.
- Nightmare on Elm Street - 1, 2, Freddy may be coming for you, but he sure ain't taking time to play this weird video game based on one of the most famous horror film franchises of all time. It's not a surprise Freddy Kruger never returned to our video game nightmares.
- The Toxic Crusaders Video Games - The hideously deformed creature of super human size and strength, the Toxic Avenger, star of the sex and gore-infused horror-comedy flicks from Troma Studios was toned down to create an animated spin-off for kiddies, a toy line and of course three classic video games.
- Killer Shark - Okay, this old-school arcade game isn't based on a movie, but it actually guest starred in a horror movie, mainly the big daddy killer shark flick of them all, JAWS!
Tuesday October 25, 2011
When it comes to the best video game enemy fodder nothing beats Zombies! They make the perfect villains - emotionless hordes of creatures that will eat you alive and can even mutate into even bigger monstrosities for boss battles.
- Zombie, Zombie - The very first zombie video game has you entering a city crawling with the undead as you try to clear out the monstrous menace and reclaim your home. One of the early games that allowed you to pick between playing a male or female hero, 12 years before Capcom took the same gender choice approach in Resident Evil.
Speaking of which...
- Resident Evil - The PlayStation One game that launched Survival Horror success introduced us to Raccoon City (well, at least a mansion adjacent to it,) plus STARS team members Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, and the first truly scary flesh eating video game baddies.
- Resident Evil Archives - The first Resident Evil was so good, they simply had to remake it for the GameCube, then re-release the remake on the Wii.
- Resident Evil Gaiden - Even the Game Boy Color isn't safe from the zombie madness of the Resident Evil franchise, and neither is the player in one of the worst games in the franchise's history
- Pinball of the Dead - They say the best way to kill a zombie is to shoot them in the head, but this Game Boy Advance House of the Dead spin-off proves a zombies true weakness is a pinball
Monday October 24, 2011
We're just a week away from your guide to classic video games favorite holiday, Halloween! Being a big horror fan, I love taking a look back at the spooky retro games that set the groundwork for the survival horror genre.
Every day this week we'll be visiting with the spookiest, weirdest and downright freakiest classic horror video games of all time!
To kick things off is none other than the most infamous horror game of them all, Halloween for the Atari 2600!
Based on the original slasher flick by the legendary John Carpenter, Halloween was one of the first controversial home video games due to its violent and gory content. While Carpenter had nothing to do with the game, Halloween the video game was the brainchild of a completely different b-movie legend.
To find out who go to Halloween for the Atari 2600 - Babysitter Vs. Michael Meyers, if you dare!
Atari 2600 Weirdness:
Tuesday October 11, 2011
Halloween is just a few weeks away, so it's time to start getting your costume ideas together, and what better costume for an old-school gamer to trick-or-treat in than as a retro video game character.
Everything from Pac-Man and the Ghost Monsters to Yoshi, Street Fighter, Prince of Persia, and Tomb Raider, you're sure to find the perfect outfit to fulfill your cosplay delights.
Thursday October 6, 2011
Today the video game and computer industry lost a legendary trendsetter when it was announced that Steve Jobs passed away after a long battle with cancer.
Best known as co-founder of Apple Inc. Jobs actually started out in the technology industry at Atari where he was a key in the development of one their best-selling video arcade and Atari 2600 console titles, Breakout.
In memory of Jobs we've put together a piece profiling his history with classic console and computer games.
Steve Jobs, you will be missed.
P.S.: This blog post was written on a MacBook Pro
Friday September 30, 2011
I've been thinking, you never see the rare Atari 2600 classics Saboteur and The A-Team in the same room at the same time. It's almost like Saboteur is the secret identity to the ultra weird video game, The A-Team. It is as though they were the exact same game just in different outfits.
Sure both of the titles were developed in the same year by the man behind Yars' Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and sure both titles ended up getting canceled due to the video game industry crash of 1983, and it sure is convenient that they were both unearthed due to leaked prototype carriages.
So I decided to investigate my suspicions, seek out these two games and confront them on their double lives. What I discovered will blow your mind with Atari 2600 Weirdess.
Image: Saboteur (c) Atari; A-Team (c) Universal Television
Wednesday September 21, 2011
Not many folks realize that Nintendo has been around for over 120 years, but author Florent Gorges sure does, and is documenting it all starting with this first book in a multi-part series taking us though the origins of the home console giant.
The book was written in collaboration with Isao Yamazaki and documents the first 91 years of Nintendo with 240 pages featuring over 2,000 exclusive images. "With over 500 card games, tabletop games, toys, electronic and arcade games all compiled into one superbly crafted book."
The History of Nintendo Vol. 1: 1889-1980 From Playing-Cards to Game & Watch is available though its publisher's website, Pix 'n Love Publishing. While they may be located in France, they offer worldwide shipping.
No comments:
Post a Comment