Retro Rumble: Round 18

[samanosuke]

I’m going with:

Tempest - easy pick as it is from the Golden Era which produced an obscene number of groundbreaking for the time games that remain timeless classics today. Tempest was the original Rez, it’s beautiful colour vector display and hypnotic gameplay make it one I seek out every time I go to Arcade Club.

Donkey Kong - another timeless classic from the same era. Set the blueprint for all platform games forever more and became immortalised by the King of Kong documentary. As a kid I’d only ever played the computer and console versions on Speccy, Atari 2600, BBC etc but loved it all the same.

Track ‘n’ Field - this one really stands the test of time and when I have the fortune to go to Arcade Club there will be at some point me and my mates crowding round the machine trying (and failing miserably) to set new records. Actually, getting us all through to the next event is enough of a challenge! But what great laughs we have almost 30 years after the game was first released.

Close but no cigar:

Gradius - for me the second and third games in the series completely trump it, and even at the time of release I much preferred R-Type.

Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins - first played this on the Speccy and wondered if I was doing something wrong as the third level was ridiculously difficult to the point of being broken. When I got to play the arcade version during a day trip to Clacton in the 80s, I was amazed by the music. That jingle when you start!! Der-der-dun der-der der-der-der der-dun-dun! Seemed a lot better balanced than the Speccy version but still tough as nails. And yes, I’ve given this a whirl up at Arcade Club and it stands the rest of time well.

[Gradius]

Gradius is an easy first pick. Not the best of the series, but by no means the worst either. I'd probably rank it fourth behind 2, 5 and Gaiden. It was the first to do so many things that became a staple of the genre.

Yes! Gradius II is my favourite too. I’d maybe put Gaiden ahead of V though. Gradius III arcade version is just too hard to be enjoyable.

[samanosuke]

Gradius III arcade version is just too hard to be enjoyable.

The PS2 port of it had an option at the beginning which, if selected, allowed the player to keep some of the power ups when losing a life. This made the game much more balanced IMO as the biggest killer in the normal arcade version is losing all your power ups *and* speed. Slowing your ship down to the starting speed renders it unplayable as it is nigh on impossible to even dodge your way to the next power up.

[hudson]

Gradius - Konami working their old skool magic.

Track n Field - Konami working their old skool magic. I also remember seeing this on something like Going Live when I was a kid and the sampled speech would blow my mind

Donkey Kong - It was close, as I wanted GnG too, but this was pure Nintendo magic fun roots type sheez.

[Leon Retro]

Tempest - easy pick as it is from the Golden Era which produced an obscene number of groundbreaking for the time games that remain timeless classics today.

Yeah, the early years of arcade gaming delivered so many classics. Not only do many play solidly, but they also have tight design that gives them a one-more-go quality.

Gradius - for me the second and third games in the series completely trump it, and even at the time of release I much preferred R-Type.

It's interesting how Gradius took shoot 'em ups to another level in 1985 -- then R-Type did the same a couple of years later in 1987. Both were very important, groundbreaking games.

And yes, I’ve given this a whirl up at Arcade Club and it stands the rest of time well.

Yeah, it's just as good as any modern 2D Indie game. It's still a tough cookie though.

Track n Field - Konami working their old skool magic. I also remember seeing this on something like Going Live when I was a kid and the sampled speech would blow my mind

Yeah, hearing speech in a game made you feel... Track 'n Field is such an iconic game.