New Scaratings

Marble Madness was an arcade game put out by Atari circa 1985. It's basic control was just a track ball and as hard as this game was with a track ball, I think it would be impossible on any other device. Of course they also did one of my favorite track ball-controlled games of all time called Crystal Castles.

On the subject of emulators and roms, yes the roms themselves are copyrighted whereas the emulators are usually public domain but I don't think the feds care about you playing a game that's 30+ years old. I would think they'd have bigger fish to fry. Plus there's still sites out there where you can freely download these roms.

Cheers,
--Tony

Cloudy. Got your list. I have (as of now) very little going on this weekend, so I will grab an 30-pack on the way home Friday and work on it this weekend.

I agree that Marble Madness was an arcade game, but I think they may have released it, as well as many other popular arcade games, as a comercially boxed PC based game. One way to find out..........

TIAMAT, you are right about "Marble Madness" originally being an arcade game. However, it was also put out as a game for the PC, and I think for some other operatating systems also. The game is sitting on the bookcase behind me, in its box, as I type.

Please tell us more about "Crystal Castles".



Here's a little video of what the "Crystal Castles" arcade game looked like. Damn it looks pretty easy to me. How did I ever miss it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f01M2l9oGJI

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"The game is afoot."

Just a 30 pack...? I usually get two 24 packs.

..........

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"The game is afoot."

Tonight I was going to have more than just four compter games that I would like to have you do the emulator thing on, but things changed.

Here are the four that I was working on before I got the bad news:

1- "Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective" (Volumes I, II, and III - there may be more...)



2- "Wishbringer" an early Infocom DOS text based game.



3- "Amber, Journeys Beyond"



4- "The 7th Guest" (A DANTE recomendation, that I am dying to play, but it dies on my computer.)


There are many, many more, but I don't feel like trying to remember them tonight.

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"The game is afoot."

Well, if you get an iPhone or iPad, it's kinda sort on there now, too.

Crystal Castles -- great game!!

Cloudy, it was a game where you would control "Bentley Bear" with the trackball, moving him around a platform with gems scattered on it. You (Bentley) would try to get all the gems possible, and if possible, the last gem.

There were bad things too, that would kill you if you touched them. "Gem-eaters" would eat up the games they reached, but you could eliminate them by moving over them exactly when they were eating a gem. Other things that would pursue you would be "black balls" (I'm sure there was a better word!) and trees. At the last stage of each level was a witch that if you moved over it while wearing a magic hat, you would score 3000 points.

There were 10 levels to the game, and four boards per level, except only one board "The End" on level 10. (After completing level 10, the game ended.) The higher the level, the faster everything moved, and this seemed to be the main way that the game got harder.

There were three and sometimes four places where you could warp to a higher level. (The fourth was on the very first board of the game, and appeared as easily accessible door when someone had recently played the game; using it would enable you to warp to the level you ended on in the last game, but no higher than level 8.) The three other levels never changed; one went from 1.1 to 3.1, the second from 3.1 to 5.1, and the third from 5.3 to 7.1.

If you knew where the warps were and had a basic knowledge of the game, you could score in the 400Ks pretty easily; scores of around 600K could be achieved by decent players. My personal best is 758K, and the world record is around 902K (if I recall correctly.)

-- RWM

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"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

..........

"Crystal Castles" sounds pretty good to me. I'm guessing it was an arcade game. Never played it, and now I guess it's too late, that is unless there is a PC version of it, or if YODA can somehow "emulatormodulategizmothingabob" the game to run on Windows 7.

p.s. YODA, add "Crystal Castles" to the list.

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"The game is afoot."

Manual delete. (I am no longer getting a delete option to erase posts that I want to get rid of.)

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"The game is afoot."

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"The game is afoot."

Cloudy, at some point, I will get you together something that will run 7th Guest. Probably won't be in the next 6 months, but next time I'm cleaning, I believe I still have an old 486sx somewhere, and it runs it for sure, and I believe is already installed.

Cloudy,

Regarding your last Crystal Castles post, yes it was an arcade game that was out in the mid '80s. I know of one place that still has it, but it is in New Hampshire. (That place is Funspot in Laconia.) I'm sure there are other places that still have that game, although it would be a rarity for sure.

Since you need a trackball to play it, I suspect it may be difficult (or at least tedious) to implement it well on a PC.

-- RWM

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"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

ZOG,

Maybe there is some kind of trackball plug-in device that you can use on a PC. I know that there used to be joystick plug-ins in the past.

p.s. Was "Marble Madness" at the arcade played with a trackball? I played the PC version of the game on the keyboard, and didn't do all that badly.

p.p.s. I am amazed that you know that the "Crystal Castles" arcade game can still be played in New Hampshire. How do you know this stuff...?

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"The game is afoot."

I have trackballs that have PS2 connections to PCs. None with USB connections, although I'm sure they exist. (I think they are actually more convenient then mice as you don't need to move them all over your desk and you don't need a mousepad.)

Marble Madness was also played with a trackball (actually, I think it had two.)

As for the place in New Hampshire, I've been there, most recently in '07.

-- RWM

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"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

This isn't a "Computer" game per se, but since a PS3 really is just a computer, I thought I'd put it up.

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are being re-released on the PS3 (with upgraded graphics) this week. SOTC is one of the more important video games to ever be released, IMO, considering both how different it was compared to what was out, and how much it did to bring the discussion of video games being art to the forefront. It also leads the player to some rather interesting moral and ethical thoughts, after completion, once you realize what the game was having you do. If you happen to have a PS3, it's well worth getting it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ico

...............

DANTE, I went to the links you gave us. Both "Ico" and "Shadow of the Colossus" sound like good games. I have never heard of them before, but seeing that I have neither PS2 nor PS3 platforms, I guess I will have to wait until someone creates versions that will play on Windows 7.

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"The game is afoot."

I haven't looked for them, but somebody ought to be selling USB adapter connecters for older external plug-ins, so you can still use them on PC's that no longer have parallel or serial ports.

Damn, with all of the empty space still available on the back of the newer PC's, why the heck don't they still offer parallel or serial ports. (I'm guessing the answer is that it would cost them a few dollars. Big deal, I think they owe those, who have spent big bucks buying their old computers a little consideration. I guess they don't care, because their planned obsolence business allows them to rake in more money.)

Many years ago I heard that computer and software makers already had developed newer stuff, waiting on the shelf, but they held it back, and sold us computers and software that they already knew were going to soon become obsolete after they sold it to us.

p.s. I have found USB adapter connections for mice and printers.

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"The game is afoot."

YODA, here are a few more emulator projects for you:

.......... ..........

1- "Silent Hill" (1 - 2 - and 3)



2- "Lighthouse" (One of my favorite games of all time.)



3- "Commander Keen" (All six of them.) (They are a little goofy, but damn fun to play.)

..........

4- "Shivers" and "Shivers II, Harvest of Souls"

(There is no box shot for "Bolo Adventures")

5- "Bolo Adventures" (This is a very old DOS game that will not run on recent versions of Windows. It really challenges your problem solving abilites. It was created by Soleau Software, and they have many more that I have never played, that I would like to. Get them all, if you can.)

(No box shot on this one either.)

6- "Janitor Joe" also known as "Jump Joe" - a very, very old DOS game, but it's a good one. (Good luck trying to find it.)

(No box shot on this one either)

7- "Bruce Lee" - another very eary DOS game. (This is probably one of the very best early DOS games.}



8- "Paperboy" (A mindless game, but a fun game nevertherless.)



9- "Puzzle of the Flesh" (Proably not for kids.)

...............

10- "Runaway: A Road Adventure" and "Runaway 2: The Deam of the Turtle" (Two good games. Game play reminds me of the "Monkey Island" games.)

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"The game is afoot."

Guys and Gals, if I am right, it looks like our "Computer Games New and Old" thread is in second place to ICEMAN's "Ban the Person Above You" thread. Our thread has 469 posts and "Ban the Person Above you has 624 posts. We are at a disadvantage here, because our posts are often long, deal with reality, and take some thought, while the "Ban the Person Above You" thread is totally ficticious, requires little thought, and many of the posts to it are but one sentence long. However, we have a gazzilion more video and compter games to talk about, so let's get some more up here.

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"The game is afoot."

There is a new Nancy Drew game...!



It is "Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse", and is the 24th in the series. All of the previous 23 games are really good, and I have no doubt that this one will be a lot of fun, and somewhat challenging to play also. I just got it, and haven't tried to play the game beyond starting it yet, but one thing I noticed is that after I intstalled the game, it does not seem to require you to have the CD in the drive to play it, as I believe those that came before it did.

For those of you, who might scoff at Nancy Drew games, because you think they are for sissies, stop scoffing, and give one a try. I will always be a United States Marine, and I've played all of the Nancy Drew computer games. Though I didn't have my D.I. kicking me in the shins, while I played them, these games were pretty tough.

.........



"Maggot, you can't beat a Nancy Drew game...? Get out of my Marine Corps...!

(Belated edit. I checked out some of the earlier "Nancy Drew" games, and some of them do not require a CD in the drive to play them, after you have installed them.)

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"The game is afoot."

An open letter to BrandyB...

I've have watched the computer games that you have posted up here, and say you have played and liked. Based on that, I think this is a good recommendation for you. If you have not already played any of them, I think you would enjoy all of the "Nancy Drew" games. Give one a try, and let me know what you think.

p.s. There are currently 24 of them, and if they float your boat, you have a lot of challenging fun to look forward to.

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"The game is afoot."

I thought Nancy Drew played right field for the Red Sox.

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"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

YODA, here are some very old 5 1/4 inch floppy disc DOS games to try to find to emulate. (I think they will be almost impossible to find. Good luck. I think they all are either shareware or abandonware games today.)

(Can't find any box or screen shots for "Sink the Bizmark".)

1- "Sink the Bizmark (Possibly called "Computer Battleship") (It's a Keypunch Software game.) (Yep, they spelled it as B I Z M A R K.)



2- "Dr. Doom's Revenge" (It's a Paragon Software game.)

Here is some video of "Dr. Doom's Revenge":

http://www.gameanyone.com/video/343389



3- "Super Fly"

(Here's a link to how "Super Fly" looked way back then.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1xUq-Nq4Ic

(I don't think they are really house flies. I think they are actually pantry moths.)



4- "Sleuth" (A text based game with some graphics.)

Here is a link to what the old "Sleuth" DOS game looked like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dx5atnX710



5- "Secret Agent"

I believe this is a link to a video of the "Secret Agent" DOS game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDznjc7iWpE



6- "Crystal Caves"

Here's a link to some video of the old DOS game "Crystal Caves":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvjWcPF3ing



7- "Sailing"



8- "Jill of the Jungle"

Here is some video of "Jill of the Jungle":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CaRXFOZW1Q



9- "Astrotit" (Even though only Adults are likely to see the sexual implications, it's probably best not to let kids play the game.)



10- "Hugo's House of Horrors"

Here's some video of "Hugo's House of Horrors":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8CT6UL3F3w

p.s. I think there might have been a "Hugo's House of Horrors II", if so get that one too.

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"The game is afoot."

Very funny...

Besides the fact that your post only adds insult to injury, I think it would better belong on "The Baseball Thread".

p.s. I'm waiting for the next Nancy Drew game to come out. "Nancy Drew and the Mystery of Fenway Park" should be a good game.

(Let's not go off on a baseball tangent here any farther than we have already gone.)

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"The game is afoot."