 | Civilization series - All Sid Meier branded versions. These are brilliant, all encompassing strategy games, with tremendous depth and many surprises. Every game is unique. |
| SimCity series (mostly Classic) - PC and other. You would think that these wouldn't be fun, but they certainly are. |
| Tetris (duh!) - Any format and many clones. |
| Raid on Bungeling Bay - Commodore 64 version only! Boy, do I wish they would update this for real on a newer system or at least emulate it properly. I hate to drag out the old 64 and the NES version just doesn't cut it. This game had it all. I particularly enjoyed when I got good enough to actually allow the Bungeling empire to build the battleship and then engage it in combat. Those heat seeking missiles were tough! Many people don't know that this one in a long line of Bungeling games, of which Lode Runner was the first. |
| Lode Runner - Almost all versions, including the update. A cool concept that never got frustrating, like say, Jumpman by Epyx. |
| Monkey Island Series - All versions. I laughed and laughed.... I actually solved the first one on the Sega CD. |
| Survivor - An OK single player Commodore 64 game, but if you let one person steer and one shoot, mondo fun! |
| Mario Bros. - Acceptable single player, great fun multi-player. This was good on almost versions... |
| Pac Man series - All formats. Especially Ms. Pac Man and Pac Mania. |
| Galaga - Most formats, including the updates. I liked how this tracked stats. |
| Gorf - Most formats. I liked the multiple playfields. |
| Satan's Hollow - Most formats. This kicked butt on the Commodore 64. Unfortunately the score rolled over to zero when you scored beyond the program's limit and this wasn't noted in the high score table. Oh well. |
| Phantasie series - Commodore 64 versions mostly. These were the closest that I've experienced to true D&D style role playing, short of the SSI AD&D games. |
| SSI AD&D games - Most formats. I finished most of Pool of Radiance on the Amiga, but first played it on the Commodore 64. I later finished the whole thing on the PC. I can't wait to dig into the others (I've dabbled in Curse of the Azure Bonds). |
| Colonial Conquest - Most formats. My Commodore 64 version of this awesome single or multi-player SSI strategy game was burgled. Long story, but I had the box with complete contents and everything. |
| Super Mario Kart - For the SNES. NOT the semi-yucky (but alas, still fun) N64 version, with cheating AI! |
| Street Racer - For the SNES. Other versions are missing the cool soccer game and a few other features, all done with the carts. The racing part is mediocre, but it does support four players at once... |
| Championship Pro-Am - Tons o' fun on the Genesis for one player. Quick, intense isometric racing. |
| Bubble Bobble - Great fun on all versions, but I remember two player on the NES the fondest. You really had to work together to win at this one. |
| Pooyan - I loved the Commodore 64 version and the MSX version is pretty good too. However, through the magic of MAME, I can play the delightful arcade version on the comfort of my PC. Cool! This is one of the first videogames to feature a heroine. Not exactly in the vein of Lara Croft, but seeing as she's a pig mom, an admirable character nonetheless. One of my top, top favorite shooters (!). |
| Auto Duel - Based on the Steve Jackson paper game, I played the Commodore 64 version of this classic role-playing game from Origin. It was a little hard to get into initially because this was one of those "perfect" Apple // conversions, which from a graphic and sound effect standpoint was one of the worst things imaginable (particularly for a game such as this with "arcade" elements - games such as Conan also suffered this same fate). However, game play and concept won out, as surviving combat arenas and going from town-to-
town, mission-to-mission was undeniably fun. |
| Bruce Lee - This action game for the Commodore 64 was one of the first Super Mario Bros. type games (minus the scrolling) before anyone knew what that was. Lots of fun and imagination, despite somewhat limited control and average graphics. Two player mode was interesting, as one person played Bruce Lee and the other this Green Buddha type guy, who only appeared in each screen to hinder Lee's progress. If you didn't want to hinder your buddy's progress, you could always help him out by beating up on the wimpy Ninja guy. |
| Rampart - I played this the most on Lynx, but this is good in just about every version. This was fun action/strategy, particularly trying to figure out just the right way to build up your castle in the limited time given. The only drawback was that it got a little too hard too quick, but that's the nature of arcade-origin games sometimes. |
| Tapper - Most versions of this game are excellent with great graphics, though the home version controlled a little better than the arcade (personal preference). Lots of hectic fast-action fun, with dancing girls and a fun, if easy intermission game. There are beer and soda versions of this one. |
| Mancopter - Very, very original side-scrolling racing on the Commodore 64 with solid graphics and sound. The man-powered flying bikes controlled like the characters in Joust. It got a little tiring pressing the button so much after a while, but as long as you could handle it, you were enjoying yourself. Lots of technique and cool little touches abound. Try this one if at all possible. |
| Dallas Quest - An easy to win and very playable text and graphic adventure for the Commodore 64 (I think it was also available for the CoCo 2), loosely (very) based on the Dallas TV show. Kooky idea, but it pretty much worked. |
| Critical Mission - A easy to play and somewhat innovative (there were some real-time sequences) very early text and graphic adventure for the Apple // and Commodore 64. |
| Infocom Text and Graphic Adventures - Okay, technically this is not a game, but rather a series of games, leading right up to Return to Zork (I haven't played any beyond that). There were a few duds, but overall, and yes, even the ones with graphics, are top-notch (except for Shogun), and there's little to truly differentiate the games (save for Return to Zork), except story and theme. |
| The Epyx Games Series - Summer Games, Winter Games, World Games, etc. These set new standards for character animation and look on the Commodore 64, but were solid for most systems. These were the most fun when played against several people. |
| Dig Dug - Most systems. Despite sometimes sticky control, this original arcade game was great fun. If you ever get blocked in by two enemies, try a partial pump of one, then the other, until you can burst both. Cool techniques! |
| Missile Command - Most systems, most versions, with or without trackball or mouse (though preferred). This oft-copied game is very hectic and doesn't need splashy graphics to be fun. |
| Asteroids - Most systems, as well as the variations. Control is important in this one, so I prefer versions I can play with a joystick. |
| Arkanoid - Arcade and most systems. This is annoying with a keyboard, barely playable with a joystick or joypad, a little better with a mouse (say Amiga), but primo with a paddle controller (say Arcade, Commodore 64 (I beat it on this one) and NES). Breakout was cool too, of which this was just a more complex update. |
| Pensate - I first played the Penguin version of this classic board game for the Commodore 64, but it's hard to not like all versions, if done even reasonably well. |
| Archon - Most versions. This is a mix of pure action and a little bit of chess-style board game strategy. Brilliant and super playable with awesome control, particularly on the Commodore 64. Archon II and the updates never really recaptured the magic of the original, which unfortunately had artificial intelligence that was beatable after a time with only a couple of strong pieces, or within a handful of moves (via intelligent spell casting). There also were one or two pieces that were difficult to properly utilize, but maybe that was just me. |
| Beach Head and Beach Head II - These were essentially similarly themed, separate screen, linked arcade games from Access for the Commodore 64 that featured speech synthesis and easy to get into gameplay. |
| Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein - These were good on the Apple //, but despite minimal improvements, the Commodore 64 versions are my favorites (like many games). The speech was cool, the graphics sparse but effective and the tension high. A little annoying on the transitions to each screen, but otherwise a fine effort based on minimal flash. Even Wolfenstein 3D, which was spiritually based on these two games, was a classic. |
| Wolfenstein 3D - Almost all versions (SNES?). One of the first pure action first person shooters, and, despite many contrary opinions, similar enough to the later Doom to warrant inclusion versus that game. If Doom is Quake simplified to its purest elements, then Wolfenstein 3D is Doom simplified to its purest elements. An easy to get into and very playable game. Blake Stone and its sequel are the only worthy clones off of this engine. |
| Raid over Moscow - Another early Access Commodore 64 classic following their tactic of making separate, yet thematically linked mini-games. Lots of fun with nice graphics. |
| Leaderboard Golf - An early Access golf game, the precursor to the famous Links. Like most of Access' efforts on the Commodore 64, this featured nice graphics and gameplay that was easy to get into. It was fun to watch the program redraw the course after each shot. |
| Goldeneye 007 - This was the evolutionary step in gameplay that the first person genre needed, brought to you by the Nintendo 64 and its nifty controller and rumble pack. This game didn't sell well because of the license, cool marketing or whatever ever gimmick other games use, this one sold on word-of-mouth about the gameplay, missions and accuracy of the Bondian experience. Targeting specific bodyparts with realist reactions is the coolest. Be the Bond! |
| Space Taxi - A very difficult "platformer" with a cool twist and speech. Try not to squish the potential passengers when you land, nor land too roughly when you drop them off (your fare will drop). Cool. |
| Star League Baseball (Championship Baseball) - This was the next great baseball game after the Mattel Intellivision effort, which I first played on the Commodore 64. It's a graphically pleasing, fairly accurate portrayal of the game, with a graphically improved update a few years later (essentially adding a standard batters view split screen type deal and moving it to more powerful platforms, i.e., Amiga). The isometric perspective would influence baseball games for several years. |
| Hardball! - The original was tons of fun to play, with super sharp graphics (especially for the Commodore 64) that became Accolade's early trademark. The updates lost some of the magic, but were sporadically fun. |
| MicroLeague Baseball - One of the early graphical simulation only baseball games. Very fun, if never done really right since the early 8-bit computer versions. I tried to get one of the worst teams ever, the Washington Senators up to a winning record, but it was too hard. Still, it was fun tweaking line-ups and taking chances and what not. |
| Commando - Fun overhead, top-down scrolling shooting action. There really were no bad versions of this game, though it helps to play a version with two button controller support. |
| Dr. J and Larry Bird: One on One - The first ever licensed sports game tried to accurately model both players in a one-on-one matchup. For the most part it did a great job and was a lot of fun, with neat little touches like a breakable backboard and an angry janitor (replays too!). This found its way to nearly every early computer system, as well as the ColecoVision. |
| Dragon's Den - This obscure game from Commodore for the Commodore 64 on cartridge may have been based on an arcade game, but I don't think so. Nevertheless, this is a multi-part arcade style game that was lots of fun, with an odd "just one more time" aura about it. |
| War Games - I haven't played the latest PC version of this game yet, but the original game for the ColecoVision (by Coleco) was incredible. Fast action with super graphics and made excellent use of the clumsy controller (using the numeric keypad). The version Coleco produced for the Commodore 64 (really) on disk actually paled in comparison. |
| Wing Wor - I'll have to double-check the spelling on this game from Imagic for the ColecoVision. You took the role of a dragon type creature and flew around from screen to screen (non-scrolling). If you picked up too much speed you flew through the screens at breakneck pace. Not much in the way of sound, but very interesting conceptually. |
| Quest for Quintana Roo - An early platformer for the ColecoVision with some added strategy. You basically were an Indiana Jones type exploring a pyramid. |
| Frenzy - The ultimate sequel to Bezerk, another classic. Updated complex graphics and the same gripping gameplay. I enjoyed this one on the ColecoVision. |
| Bezerk - I played this first on the Atari 2600, but its fun on most versions (such as for the Vectrex). On the 2600 version, you could let shots go between the space between your head and body. Groovy! |
| Telarium (Trillium) Text and Graphic Adventures - These didn't quite reach the level of Infocom quality, but were still stand-outs in a very crowded early field. I particularly liked Dragonworld and Amazon. The worst was probably Nine Princes in Amber, but then I never read the book. |
| Flight Simulator II - This version from Sublogic for most early systems was incredibly detailed and customizable for such an early product with such technical limitations (early 80s). This even made a solid appearance on cartridge for the Atari XEGS (or any Atari 8-bit computer, though it was a pack-in with the former). I haven't really tried the Microsoft updates, but understand they're quite good. |
| Frogger - I admit it, I didn't like this when I first played it on the 2600, but over time it grew on me. This was good on all systems and has a simple, addictive concept indicative of the best games. I remember buying the Intellivision version for like .50 in Toys 'R Us, in a sea of them. |
| B-17 Bomber - One of the best of the Speech Module games for the Intellivision, with interesting speech and fast action. The only thing that sucked was that the Intellivision acted kooky if you pressed more than one controller button at the same time. I also liked Bomb Squad, though not quite as much as this. |
| Destructor - This one was for the ColecoVision and required the Driving Module. This game was awesome and very ahead of its time. Solid graphics and incredible overhead platform style racing action, with multiple goals and enemies to avoid. This one deserves a play or two, even today. |
| Turbo - This was the pack-in with the ColecoVision Driving Module and, while not the greatest playing racer, the graphics and steering wheel control added up to mondo fun. |
| GBA Championship Basketball 2on2 - This was one of the later Gamestar sports titles and was a very arcadey, very fun basketball title with record keeping and dunking. This wasn't surpassed until TV Sports Basketball made an
appearance. |
| TV Sports Basketball - I played this first on the Amiga. I loved scoring over 100 per game with only one player and going undefeated for the season and championships (not necessarily easy feats initially). Loads of fun trying to pump up those stats. I basically made two great players (like Michael Jordan) and divvied up my remaining stats to blocking and defense ability for my teammates. This allowed me to be a ball hog at guard and dunk repeatedly and go for lots of 3s (which weren't as successful), while my computer drones blocked the hell out of everything. Cool! |
| TV Sports Football - I played this first on the Turbo Graphics 16. A dandy of a football game with a cool passing system. Very classy presentation from Cinemaware. Cinemaware would have kicked ass in the age of multi-media, as they were masters before there was such a thing. Too bad they went belly-up. |
| Ghostbusters - One of the first early good film licenses. You were the Ghostbusters, going around town and doing your thing. Kind of hard after a while, but with the familiar theme song and speech (Commodore 64 version at least), this kept you entertained. |
| Gyruss - Around and around you go, shooting things, to the strains of classical music. Sort of a lot of Tempest with a little bit of Asteroids and other classic shooters. This was great on most systems, particularly Arcade, Commodore 64 and ColecoVision. |
| Indoor Sports - This early one from Mindscape was classic on the Commodore 64 and Amiga. The Amiga had better, if quirky graphics and few visual tricks, but these were basically the same. An excellent bowling event (I got a 300 on the Amiga!), with fun darts, tough air hockey and mediocre ping pong. Overall a very fun and value packed package, with high scores and multi-player (mostly). |
| Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune - Since the days of the Coleco Adam through to the present incarnations, it's hard to get these wrong. These have been on nearly every system since the 8-bit computers and videogame systems (from the NES on), even the portables. The reason I list both of these together is that out of all other game show translations, these have stood the test of time, together. |
| Karateka - There was little difference between the Commodore 64 and Apple // versions of this game (I never tried other versions, such as Atari ST and would have to dig out my Atari 7800 version to decide it that's on par (I forget)). Cinematic and realistic martial arts action. Just punch or kick, high, middle and low. Simple, but effective. Never run at your enemy and don't forget to show the lady respect at the end.
(more coming soon).... |
