On like Donkey Kong

I'm a huge fan of Donkey Kong.  We've got an multi-arcade game at the office, so I can play it properly (i.e. standing up) pretty much every day, plus I play it on an emulator at home.  I'm pretty ok at it, but nothing like the "pro" players you hear about from "King of Kong" and such.  How good am I?  Well, the famous Donkey Kong kill screen occurs on level 22.  I can regularly reach level 4, but have never made it to level 5.  My high score is in the 70k range, pros can get millions.

Donkey Kong is hard. Really hard.  Now that I play it regularly, I've classified how I die in to a number of categories.

• My Own Damn Stupid Fault -  A simple lack of reflexes or a lapse in judgement results in my demise.  This happens less and less as I play more and more.  Still, about a 3rd of my deaths are MODSF.  These are the deaths where I throw my hands in the air and let out a special word or two.  Like "darn!", but with feeling. Typical MODSF errors include failing to jump properly to get a Hammer and landing on a flame guy or not making the leap from the right-elevator to the upper platform on the Elevator level.
• Tricky Situation Fail - There are many situations in DK that are simply hard to survive, though not impossible.  Barrels spaced too far apart to jump both, but close enough that double jumping each is very hard (I'm getting better at this, however.) Also, the Spring on the Elevator level is always tricky.  While it's my fault when I die as a result of TSF, I don't beat myself up about it, because those situations are legitimately difficult. I've never made it past the Spring on Level 4, though I've read about how to do it.  Very tricky. 
• Impossible Situations - There are situations in DK that I don't think it's possible to survive.  Getting cornered by flames on the Rivets or Factory level, barrels falling in just the wrong way on the barrels level.  Great players know how to avoid the situations. I'm not great, so I just die.

I've read comments following DK competition record articles where gamers honestly don't think DK is fun.  While everyone's entitle to their opinion, there's no getting around how fun I find it.  I'm going to reach level 5. I'm going to break that 100k score mark.  When? No idea.

-Adam!!!

Stubborn as a M.U.L.E.

My favorite game of all time. Suck it, Mario.

The original M.U.L.E. game, on the Commodore 64, is probably my favorite game ever. Yes, I'm old. While I've been able to play it on C64 emulators for years, controls and life in this modern age have prevented me from playing it as it was intended, with two to four real live human opponents. That has just changed.

The new version has got 'it' and 'it' is a big pile of tasty smithore. YUM!

Planet M.U.L.E.

After years of rumor, M.U.L.E. is once again available FOR FREE on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It's brand new, buggy as hell, failed to run on two of the three computers we've tried installing it on, but on MY computer it works like a charm. The game is about 95% the same as the original, and most of the differences are bugs to be addressed in future updates or very minor improvements. The devs say on their forum they want to duplicate the original game as faithfully as possible before adding options that deviate (too far) from the classic's perfection.

While it runs on my PC, it seems like this game really needs to be on Facebook and on mobile phones. It seems perfectly suited to those platforms.

-Adam!!!

I am Dirk the Daring. Dragon's Lair!

There is no question that the original Casey's arcade left a permanent and powerful mark on my childhood. Even now, the smell of freshly popped corn brings me back to the hot, crowded, neon-purple-lit techno cave that consumed so much of my middle school years and so many, many, multi-colored tokens.

Casey's was the Everett Washington home of Dragon's Lair. For 25 cents (all the other games at Casey's cost a nickle, offset by a cover charge.) we could enjoy a visual gaming experience unlike any other. It was magical.

20 years later, Dirk the Daring still has running, jumping, grunting, and slaying to do.

Now that magic is captured on the tiny, tiny iPhone screen, and you know what? I can still smell the popcorn when I play it.

-Adam!!!

Making Fun Obsolete

You are old and slow, Pac Man

I've just read a glowing review of Street Fighter IV (SFIV), recently released on (I think) XBox360 and Playstation3. It struck me that a 2d fighting game can get a 9+ out of 10 rating in a landscape dominated by 3d games. I'm sure at least some of the execs and designers behind SFIV would have preferred they abandon their 2d roots and make a 3d fighting game like all the other top fighters in the 21st century. That would've, of course, been a horrible mistake. The Street Fighter franchise now stands alone as the last great 2d fighting franchise, and a seemingly profitable one at that. Well done, Capcom.

Will there be a Street Fighter V? Will it be 2d as well? My guess is yes and yes. It may be that Street Fighter carries the torch of A-List 2d Fighters to the end of the genre's line. My money's on it, actually. Will anyone try to duplicate their success? Probably, but now that Street Figher is *the* 2d fighter, I doubt the public has any need for another. I also doubt there is the will among developers to try and create a "Street Fighter" killer-type game, designed to knock it off it's 2d fighter throne. There's just easier targets to hit.

Is the 2d fighter, in the form of the Street Fighter franchise, the oldest viable gaming genre? Older game archtypes like the maze game (PacMan), shooters (194x, Galaga, Tempest), seem to have run their course. All that can be done within the framework of those games has been done, it seems. Unlike 2d fighters, driving games, and platform games, some old games didn't have a way to grow as computers became more powerful. I think 3d games, both exploration and shooters replace those older game-types rather than enhance them. The old games were fun, but new games are more fun. The "new and improved" treatment either failed (most new Sonic games), or transformed the game so completely that it no longer resembles the original (Metroid).

If you love the old games, as I do, they are still there. That's all that really matters.

-Adam!!!

Less is More (4k Games)

Java4k.com is cool. 60+ games, all under 4k. Sure, they wouldn't play on my Commodore Vic-20, circa 1984, but don't hold that against them.

4bsolution. Collect the glowy things. One of the prettier games, hence the photo.

Programming with such strict restraints is a fascinating, and entertaining, exercise. Each designer needs to focus on what is essential to the game's appeal, disregarding all else. Simple can be extraordinarily fun, as anyone who's played with a ball can attest.

Well Done!

Twenty Six Hundred

Play classic Atari 2600 games online. A whole bunch of them, all in your browser, all for free.

Adventure was always my favorite, and it's still great fun to play. The first game (that I know of) to feature an "Easter Egg". I love the fact that I still know my way around the mazes after 20+ years. Why can't I remember where my keys are from half an hour ago?

Atari 2600 - Adventure

-Adam!!!