Ancient arcade shooter babblings

November 28, 2003, 4:05 PM CST by JohnnyM

Ah, the great days of the arcade shooter! Space Invaders, Galaxians, Defender, Gorf, Phoenix, Robotron 2084, Xevious and Galaga. The greats IMHO! Or perhaps I'm just an old(ish), rose-tinted spectacle wearing fool? No, they're all great games, with excellent playability and terrific sound effects (Check out Gorf's speech!). I am a relic from a bygone age, and proud of it.....

November 28, 2003, 6:17 PM CST by maaneeack

Zaxxon

November 29, 2003, 5:13 AM CST by JohnnyM to maaneeack

No! Zaxxon has those new fangled 3D graphics. They'll never catch on, I tell you! I think Robotron 2084 is the best arcade game ever produced, but as far as using a keyboard for control goes, I would rate Gorf as the King of shooters.

November 29, 2003, 5:18 AM CST by mika2 to JohnnyM

These games were psycho for their day not our day. I do aggree that these games can be fun and can get very addictive but then they get boring not long afterwards.

November 29, 2003, 5:57 AM CST by JohnnyM to mika2

Ah, but you had to be there when they were in their prime, young mika2! Arcades are a pale shadow of their former glory IMO. Besides, I disagree with your "boring" statement. I will continue my assault on Robotron 2084 so long as I can wield the necessary controls.

November 29, 2003, 6:01 AM CST by mika2 to JohnnyM

Yes I am fairly young and I wasn't there for their prime days but I have played a couple of those games and some games from the early years. I know those games would have been really good but do they as good as todays games?

EDIT: I know those games would have just been like the new games we get now but back then. But today are those games better than our games we have today? I would say they are not.

November 29, 2003, 6:38 AM CST by JohnnyM to mika2

I understand what you are saying. Of course they aren't technically impressive by todays' standards (although when you look at the hardware they were working with back then, it's a miracle that any games were produced!). They are brutal, loud (some of those sounds really are great) and 100% playable. No cut scenes here (IMO a real blessing!), no game saves.... You live or die depending on your skill/reactions/timing. Also, I don't like pastiches, it has to be the original for me.

November 29, 2003, 6:48 AM CST by mika2 to JohnnyM

I also understand where you are comming from. As you know I wasn't there when space invaders came out and it was the biggest thing to hit the world but my dad has told me all about it. He reckons him and his friends were like "what the hell is this?" They only knew pinball machines. He said they put, what's that see through stuff called? You know that see through coloured plastic stuff, anyway, the game arcades would put that stuff over the screen for colour. Man, have we come along!

November 30, 2003, 12:40 AM CST by Hawk4x4

I was a Galaga addict for a long, long time. They had a cocktail-style one at this bar. I wasted too much money.

I've never played Gorf or Robotron 2084. I think I will find them and play them.

November 30, 2003, 1:19 AM CST by JoeBlow

Gameplay can be timeless if addictive enough - technology is important for that feel of freshness and innovation we all like, but Tetris, Lemmings and Arkanoid were hardly the high-tech, whiz bang super deluxe examples of modern game engines when they came on to the scene.

My vote goes towards Robotron 2084 as the most addictive action game of all time. Everything about it is perfect - as long as you're playing with two joysticks (or PS2's dual analog sticks).

November 30, 2003, 1:27 AM CST by JoeBlow

BTW, that 20 minute droid battle scene in Matrix: Revolutions had me thinking it's been awhile since I played Namco's classic shooter. Next time you see that underwhelming flick, try to spot as many waves of Galaga flight patterns as you can.

November 30, 2003, 3:06 AM CST by JohnnyM to JoeBlow

Yes, I do prefer playing Robotron on my PS2, but I don't use the analog sticks (I didn't know it actually worked with them). Defender is good with the PS2 (or the original PS1 pad, this compilation was actually a PS1 release, after all) controller as well. BTW, I also still find Frogger quite addictive.

December 1, 2003, 7:00 PM CST by maaneeack

Gameplay wise, I think some of the old games totally crush some of these newer games. It seems like everything now has to look good and sound good and gameplay be damned! I can't tell you how many games were ruined because they put waay to much time in the look and not enoungh time in the feel. Oh, and btw, I'm only 22, and I use to play zaxxon daily for a while when I was a kid heh. And as for arcades, wtf happened to all of them? You say arcade to some of the young kids today and they don't know what you're talking about. Like around here, there use to be 3, and now theres 1 really lame one with old games that aren't worth playing, nor were they any good when they were new heh.

December 2, 2003, 1:21 PM CST by JohnnyM to maaneeack

Jeez, I must sound like a patronising old git! That's because I am!

Anyway, yes the handful of arcades I've visited in the last dozen or so years have been very poor. They're full of various gambling machines, and the ubiquitous SEGA Rally multi-player cabinets. Now if they could put in a multi-player FPS, and NOT charge ridiculously high prices, I might actually be tempted to give it a go.

Is it possible that online home gaming has killed off the arcade as a viable gaming environment?

RE. Zaxxon. I can't play that game to save my life!