Get N, or get Out!

One of the biggest mistakes I've ever made in recent times was selling my Nintendo 64.  I didn't have a massive collection of games for it, but the ones I did have were some of my favourite games from all the consoles I had at the time.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that I have recently corrected that mistake and have acquired a new Nintendo 64 (thanks Ebay), complete with two of the best games I've played on the system - Goldeneye 007 and Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire.

I remember buying the N64 on release day, way back on Saturday 1st March 1997.  Like most people, I bought it with Super Mario 64, and additionally I bought Star Wars Shadow of the Empire at the same time.  I also remember it not being cheap - Both games came to just under £100 alone, and the console was £250 - ahhhhh, those were the days when I had money to spend!

Thanks to emulation though, I found myself playing N64 games on my PC using a great emulator called Project 64.  This led me to selling my Nintendo 64 four years ago.  The problem with this emulator was that even though Super Mario 64 could be emulated 100% perfectly, both Goldeneye and Star Wars would not play properly at all, with numerous graphical glitches.

I really missed those games...

Will I ever replace the games I had before?  I doubt it to be honest, but for the price I paid for this N64, it's so nice to play these great games again.  What's difficult to believe is how the console is now considered 'retro', afterall it did come out over 15 years ago.  Another reminder of how old I am getting.

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 2 : Mercenary (Commodore 64)

Mercenary was another game introduced to me by my friend Steven Ready way back in 1985 on his Atari 800XL.  Of course, far better and larger games have been released since, but Mercenary was probably the only game ever to completely blow me away simply because it was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  It literally was an entire, explorable planet in a computer, AND in 3D!  What more could an 8 year old boy in 1985 ask for!

The game begins with a short introductory animation, with you flying towards Gamma Five, when suddenly there is a malfunction with the guidance system which results in you and your ship the Prestinium to crash land in the centre of Central City, on the planet Targ.

The game is viewed in first-person perspective, and the world is presented to you in extremely fast wire-frame vector graphics.  You have complete freedom to travel across Central City by means of aircraft, hovercraft, or foot.  One of the great things I remember about playing this game for the first time is wanting to explore the architecture of the planet, and seeing all of the various sites.  It's very easy to get lost if you do not have a vehicle to travel in, and walking from one place to another can take a very long time.

There isn't just the surface of Targ to explore...  Beneath the surface is a vast underground complex waiting to be mapped, and way up in low orbit is the Colony Craft which has many rooms to explore, although you need a ship powerful enough to reach it.

The aim of the game is quite simple - to find a way off the planet.  This can be achieved in several ways, which makes playing this game extra special since it can be finished with multiple endings. You begin the game having crash landed conveniently at Centrepoint Airport with Benson the robot as your only companian.  You start with 9000 credits and immediately after crashing you have the option of purchasing a ship at the airport for 5000 credits, or alternatively you can steal it, resulting in a dogfight with an enemy ship. You see, the planet Targ is in a state of war between the indiginent Palyars and the invading Mechanoids, and one way of completing the game is to play them off one another, trading items in order to raise enough money to escape.  All of the buildings on the surface belong to either one of these races, and each species want you as a 'hired gun' to destroy their enemy buildings.

One of the highlights of playing this game back in the 80s was mapping the vast game world - It's big, and numerous keys are needed to unlock all of the doors in the underground complex.  Items can be collected in various rooms, and most of these can be traded with both races within their respective installations/complexes for extra cash.

I have this game on pretty much every platform it was made available on, and although in my opinion the Commodore Amiga version was, and still is graphically the best (thanks to the faster processor which enabled faster rendering), the C64 version is my favourite.  It was quite an achievement for the programmer Paul Woakes to develop such an advanced 3D game on what was a primitive 8-bit computer - these computers were never meant to display fast moving complex 3D graphics, but the speed of Mercenary's graphics were VERY impressive for the time, and really made you feel as though you were actually on Targ.

A great many hours of my childhood were spent trying to complete this game. I did achieve it, several times, but fortunately the programmer produced Mercenary : The Second City on most 8-bit computers to keep all Mercenary fans interested in further adventures.  Two further sequels for the 16-bit Atari ST and Commodore Amiga - Damocles, and Mercenary 3 : The Dion Crisis were released.  Techically, these games were far more advanced, featuring solid 3D graphics, and an entire solar system to explore, with planets, islands and different cities, however the original Mercenary was and still is my favourite. 

Playing this game back in 1985 was almost like a glimpse in to the future and what gaming would eventually become some 20 years later.  Games like Grand Theft Auto allow complete freedom within a computer generated world, but just remember this....  Mercenary did it first!

Maps from various sources (here, and here)

And for some further reading, check out the short Novella which came with the Targ Survival Kit.  It's a really good read - Click on the link below to download the PDF file  :-

Click to download

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 1 : Action Biker (Commodore 64)

I thought I should start a new feature on my blog to go alongside my "Songs that remind me of my childhood" posts.

It seems only fair to start with quite possibly one of my all time favourite computer games - Action Biker.

Action Biker was released way back in 1985 by Mastertronic.  I was first introduced to the game by my friend Steven Ready.  At the time, I had a Commodore Plus 4 and he had an Atari 800XL.  I was impressed with many of the games on the Atari, and most of them were not available for my Plus 4 - this being one of them.

The game is very simple and is played from a 3D isometric view.  You play Clumsy Colin, (do you remember the KP Skips adverts from the mid 80's?) and the aim of the game is to ride your motorbike around town, picking up collectables which appear one after another.  Some can be found with little effort and are easily obtainable, whereas others are slightly harder to find.  Skill is required, particularly when riding up and down the Rollercoaster and Construction Site.  Some of the collectables improve the performance of your bike, whereas others are just pointless which have absolutely no use whatsoever (two tone horn, lunchbox!)

You also need to watch your fuel level, filling up occasionally at the petrol station.  One of the collectables is a larger tank which allows you to go longer without having to fill up.

When I got my Commodore 64 in 1987, this game came with the computer (yes, thanks to a 'friend' who had compiled me several game tapes... shhhhh).   At only £1.99, it wasn't long before I bought an original copy, and even to this day I still play it.  It's an ideal game to load up when I have 20 minutes or so to kill

And the music...  Such a simplistic tune, but quite often you can still hear me humming the memorable main theme, originally written by Rob Hubbard.

Anyway, as posted previously, here is my remake of the theme tune, complete with me playing (and finishing) the game in high speed.  (Hey, do a google search for Action Biker and my video is number 4!!!!  Woo hoo.)

The Game Map (Atari Version) by Peter

An amazing game which some people will think has not aged very well.  Personally, I think its simple gameplay is what makes me come back to it again and again, even if I have finished it multiple times.  I would recommend this game to anyone - just don't bother with the Spectrum version.  That one is a completely different game altogether, and not a very good one at that!

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

It's an easy life!

If only my life was so relaxing!

Commodore 64 + 1

Today is a very notable day.  100 years ago on this day, the Titanic sank...  10 years ago, I ditched my essex life in favour of a new life in Evesham with Michelle, and today I have just obtained my 5th working Commodore 64 computer, with much thanks to my Father-in-Law for kindly giving it to us.

It's another Commodore 64C, but what makes this extra special is that it is in immaculate condition (the mainboard and case - although I did have to replace the keyboard with a spare one because it didn't work), and it also comes with a Commodore 1570 disk drive (which will complement my two 1541-II drives quite nicely), and an Evesham Micro's Freeze Frame cartridge - hey, I do live in Evesham - it's a bit of the town's computing history!

My Commodore 64 collection as of 15th April 2012 (not including my hundreds of tapes and disks!)

Now, you may already be aware that I do have a strong affinity with the C64, thanks mainly because it helped me through my childhood and kept me entertained for many of my younger years, but my retro computer collection is not just limited to Commodore computers.   I am very quickly running out of space, and the hope is to one day have my own games room, with each machine set up individually, and dedicated to all of these great computers.  I can dream :)

Until then however, Michelle will just have to put up with my hoarding, and taking over the house!!!!!!!!!

The world is polygonal.

A random topic today - my love for classic polygon games!

I love playing computer games - I always have, and no doubt I always will.  However, although I enjoy my PS3, I must admit to spending more time playing classic games via emulation, and surprisingly it's not the usual side-way shoot-em-ups (shmups) and platform games which 'do it' for me like many other retro gaming aficionados.  I've always been fascinated with virtual worlds, and vector graphics - the ability to explore computer generated environments from any angle, as if I was actually there.  My first experience of exploring 'another world' within a computer was a classic game called "Mercenary", first on my friend's Atari 800XL, and then on my Commodore 64, way back in 1985.

Mercenary on the Commodore 64

Besides the famous game Elite (which limited the game player to only travelling in space), this was the first time I could actually explore an open world, flying over the surface of the planet Targ, and being able to explore the underground complex in an attempt to find a way to escape the planet.  Remember, this was on an 8 bit computer with 64kb of RAM.  Ok, the graphics were basic, and everything was rendered in wireframe vector graphics, but this added to the atmosphere of the game.  I really felt as though I was actually on another planet - I had never felt this way about a computer game before.

In the late 80's and early 90's, everyone was talking about Virtual Reality.  Movies like The Lawnmower Man helped populize this and allowed a wider number of people to become aware of what computers could potentially do - generate artificial environments.  Solid vector graphics were the next thing, and one software house in particular called "Incentive Software" specialised in developing some fantastic 3D adventure games using their proprietary game engine "Freescape".  Driller, Darkside, Total Eclipse, Total Eclipse 2, Castle Master and Castle Master 2 amazed me, and fellow 8 bit computer owners with solid 3D graphics.  I remember the tagline for Dark Side - "The closest to actually being there".  Of course, vector graphics (whether wireframe or solid) were extremely processor intensive.  For example, the Commodore 64 (with a processor running at 1mhz) could only cope with about 1 frame a second.  The Spectrum was only slightly faster.  It was the 16 bit computers such as the Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST which really showed what could be done with solid 3D graphics.  All of the Incentive Freescape games were available on the 16 bit computers, and the extra processing power enabled much faster game play and more detailed 3D environments to explore.

I had all of these games, and the excitement of getting home from school and attempting to get further in these games is something that I have not experienced in over 20 years.  Most games I play on the PS3 today enable me to explore vast 3D environments, but I just don't get that 'feeling' of excitement when I open a door to a brand new room, or find a key to unlock a new area like I once did.

When Incentive announced the 3D Construction Kit - well....  that was like a dream come true for me.  The ability to actually create my own virtual worlds on my home computer - WOW! 

My love for 3D polygon games is not just limited to adventure games however....

I remember spending a small fortune down at the arcades along Southend Seafront - in particular, a game called Hard Drivin'

Hard Drivin'

This game was amazing - The graphics may look crude today, but unlike other arcade racers of the time (Outrun, Chase HQ etc), this was probably the closest a kid like me could get to actually driving a car.  Of course, I HAD to get this game on my Commodore Amiga (the less said about the Commodore 64 version, the better!).  A sequel was also released on most major computers, simply called Hard Drivin' 2.  It was pretty much the same as the first game, but with one added bonus - a course designer.  I have countless disks stored away with tons of tracks designed by myself.

Stunt Car Racer (C64 and Amiga), Geoff Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix (Amiga), Virtua Racing (Sega Megadrive), Stunt Racer 2000 (Acorn Archimedes) were other similar games which I enjoyed playing, and even to this day I still play them regularly.

I also love the flight simulators available for the Amiga in the late 80's and early 90's.  F/A 18 Interceptor, Falcon, Fighter Bomber to name just a few.

Towards 1994 onwards (thanks to games such as Doom), 3D games moved to the next step - textured polygons.  Software developers were able to 'paste' textures on vectors, making games much more realistic to look at, but to me, the golden age of Virtual Reality was coming to an end.

And there you have it.  Sorry if I've bored you.  I just felt like writing about my love of these great games, and I strongly recommend all of these games to anyone with an open mind and who are even just a tiny bit curious.  Remember, graphics are not the most important thing in a game, and as far as I'm concerned, todays young gamers have missed out on these truely great adventures.