July 30, 2008
To all the Games I’ve loved before…
John wrote this at 7:13 am:
I was looking over my games shelf the other day and picked out a couple thinking ‘wow it’s a long time since I played that,, it was really good!’
This set me to thinking back to the games I used to play and play and play and play… on systems past.
My first obsession was Defender on the BBC Micro. My dad was (is) a software engineer and wrote a couple of languages for the BBC Micro so there was a ready supply of this pretty decent machine, along with the pinnacle of viewing experience at the time the Microvitec monitor! Anyway.. the games!
So my memory throws back to me:
Elite – of course! How could this not be on anyone’s list!
Chuckie Egg
Battletech – The Crescent Hawks Revenge
Civilisation
Tomb Raider
Arkanoid 2 - Revenge of Doh!
F16
Running on, variously, BBC Micro, Atari ST, Amiga 500/2000, PC.
I know that if I saw these today they would seem beyond primative in my world of high-def, ultra-real physics and graphics engines. But I did love them then and they still hold a place in my heart, I may even check out eBay.. there’s got to be some working systems still out there?
But maybe that’s a bad idea. Maybe the fondness they hold is of it’s day and that time has gone. I know that re-visiting the places I used to play as a kid simply doesn’t mean now what it did back then. Perhaps, like old loves, we should look back with a wistful smile and happy thoughts and not try to re-capture those salad days.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Now admittedly it was about 5 years ago but me and my sister went back and played Tomb Raider and after getting over the sensation of running through custard it was actually excellent.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I know it doesn’t count, but I’m currently hip-deep in TR: Anniversary and loving it. Maybe the old can meet the new; there’s a re-imagined Prince of Persia on XBLive which I loved; and I’ve spent more time playing things like Joust, Defender, Smash TV and Gauntlet on XBLive than I have playing Devil May Cry and Twilight Princess!
July 30th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I’ve played a version of Arkanoid (though I think it was under a different name) and it was quite good. I also quite liked, erm, Snoopy Magic Show on the GameBoy… OK, so it’s not a classic but I was quite young when I played it!
July 30th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Actually I should take a fresh look through the XBLA stuff, but do I really want to pay for the retrospection?
July 30th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
God I adored Elite!
July 30th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Yes, you do really want to pay for the retrospection. What is is? £2.60 or something for 400 MS points. Or just try all the demos for free! And God, I adored Elite too. :-)
July 30th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Chuckie Egg - best of gear! I had it on my ZX Spectrum though, still ace.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I’d forgotten about Arkanoid 2.
Do you think while the author was writing the name he stubbed his toe really badly on his desk?
“Arkanoid 2… Hmmm, what to call it? How about; Arkanoid, Revenge of… D’oh!”
July 31st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Ok.. here’s a question for everyone…
has there been a game in the last 2-3 years which has changed the genre as much as Elite did back then?
July 31st, 2008 at 5:06 pm
What genre was Elite? Not everyone played it, you know.
July 31st, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Elite was flight sim meets space trader meets shoot em up.
August 1st, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I’ve heard people make a case for GTA being a spiritual successor to Elite. And there’s no doubting the impact those games have on the scene.