The dudes over at Hardcore Gamer bring us a special retro issue this month! (As of this post, it's not up on their site yet, but I'm sure it will be soon.) Thankfully, the editors eschew the predictable accolades for their "Top" lists, instead asking their contributors to each pick five of their favorite games that don't usually make those "Best Of" issues. Some great examples include Impossible Mission for the C64, The Adventures of Lolo on the NES, and even Night Driver for the Atari 2600! These were just some of my faves, and if you're a classic gamer, probably some of yours, too.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to choose my obscure "Top 5" -- so here they are, in no particular order...
1. Beyond Castle Wolfenstein (Apple IIe) - This game didn't just have an amazing objective (kill Hitler) but incredible gameplay, too. Sneaking into Hitler's base, stealing uniforms and passes, bribing guards...this was sophisticated stuff on an Apple IIe, and made for a tense experience way beyond anything available at the time. Not to mention randomly generated maps and synthesized speech: "Halt! Vassus pass!" (German for, "Stop! Let me see your pass!") And when you shoot the guys at the desks, they fall down dead in such definitive fashion, you feel like a total badass. Sam Fisher could learn a thing or two from this game!
2. Super Dodgeball (NES) - From the same crazy Japanese dudes that brought us River City Ransom, another game that might as well be on this list. But for now, let's look at Super Dodgeball, a game that is still fun to play today and has yet to be duplicated. Sure, they put out an upgraded version for the GBA, but it just didn't capture the magic of running up to the line, jumping high in the air, and pelting your enemies with a ball that moves so fast it turns into a frisbee. And at the end, fight shadow versions of yourselves! What could be better than that?
3. Elevator Action (arcade) - This game ate so many of my quarters. At the time, when most arcade games were simply about "clearing levels" Elevator Action crafted a simple scenario that any young kid could truly get behind: You're a spy. Break into the office. Steal the files. Kill the bad guys. Escape. Agent 17 (Codename: Otto) had very limited animation, but just crouching down and firing your gun felt so cool that you could do it all day long. Marvel as the enemy bullets just graze the top of your skull! Man, it's cool to be a secret agent. I'm so glad the pharmacy next to the shoe store had this game, because I could play it while my little sister looked for new Mary Janes with my mom.
4. Pressure Cooker (Atari 2600) - I try not to miss any opportunity to extol the virtues of this Activision classic. Objective: build the burgers to order. Ingredients are as follows: onions, lettuce, tomotatoes, cheese. Once properly constructed, deliver burger to appropriate conveyer belt. Repeat. The game starts out simple and gets pretty crazy. The music is awesome. And it was designed by Garry KITCHEN! How appropriate is that? I think this gem was overlooked as a Burgertime clone, but it's really so much more than that. Fire up Stella (or GameTap) and give it a go. And check this out: when you get an ingedient you don't want, send it back by bouncing it off your belly!
5. Diddy Kong Racing (N64) - My controversial point of view is that this racer was actually superior to Mario Kart 64, at least as far as single player goes. I poured hours and hours into this title, and never actually defeated the final race. As I recall, it was excrutiatingly difficult...you had to make an impeccable run and make not one mistake. In any event, the game was really well done. Nice graphics, funny characters, awesome music, unlockables, and a feature that was truly a design feat: once beating the tracks with the default vehicle, you could go back and race them with another vehicle, such as a plane or a hovercraft. This opened up new pathways and items. How Rare managed to balance this, and still make it fun, I have no idea. I recently noticed that a DS version of this game is coming out soon, so maybe it will get its overdue props.
Top Five Runners-Up: Wacky Races (Dreamcast), Double Dragon II (NES), Ice Climber (NES), Archon (Apple IIe), Gorf (arcade).
2 comments:
Matt, that is totally crazy. Your top 4 are pretty much my top 4 obscure video games from growing up. Except I remember number 4 as being "Burger Time." Until you wrote about Wolfenstein, I hadn't thought about that game in the LONGEST time. I remember there was this one part where you had to sneak out of a room with guards at the door that was IMPOSSIBLE. And I destroyed people in super dodgeball. Great work! Also, my favorites from that time (and it was probably a "big" title at the time) were the Ultima series. I think I beat I through V and then got bored with it. But they were so cool! Interactive environments, you could talk to people. Cool stuff!
Yes, that last room before you get to Hitler has like 5 guards in it. It was amazing that the Apple processor could handle it. And those Ultima games were awesome...I remember playing IV (Quest of the Avatar) like crazy but never actually finishing it. And Ultima III actually made it into that article in the magazine that I mentioned.
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