Thursday, October 23, 2008
The 8-bit Era
Most of us probably started off their gaming "career" with the 8 bit era, wether it is the NES, Master System, or other 8 bit consoles around. This era had richness, variety and quality. Let us start by thinking of 2 8 bit games that we have experienced, the best one, and the worst one. Let us back up our opinions by writing two short reviews of those 2 games in our own styles.
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it would be hard to write reviews now, it has been quite some time. most of my 8-bit days were with the NES. Games i had so much fun playing were Super Mario, Ninja Turtles, Ice Climber (lol), Bomb jack, Captain Tsubasa (Majed) you name it. you know, back then the bad game good game concept wasn't there. i think if you had fun playing a game with your friends or family then it was considered good regardless to its qualities otherwise it was just considered boring. that's what matters most, the amount of fun and beautiful memories you share with the ones you love.
ReplyDeleteSounds good MWH. I started my 8 bit expereince in 1988. First game I ever saw in the era was the Master Systems Ghost House http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics3/Ghost%20House%20-%20Ingame.gif. The Master System back then had two memory formats the cartdridge and the card. Here is a picture of the card http://www.vgmuseum.com/scans/scans3/ghosthouse_card.jpg. Sega had the master system called mark III in japan, I wish I can get my hands on one of those http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Sega_MarkIII.jpg. Their card version of the game looked like this http://www.vgmuseum.com/scans/scans5/ghosth.jpg.
ReplyDeleteGhost house was not my favourite game offcourse, but it did water my mouth on what was to come. Since that day after seeing the new technology at my cousins house, I was winging all day to my mom to buy me one, so after 6 months work I got my console in 1989. During that time I was playing games like Double Dragon, Transbot and Hang On. I got Hang on with my console and I was playing that all day and night! Looking back at it now, I was so good when I was younger with how fast I can master a game. I finished Hang on around 10 times :)
Double Dragon was my first purchase. 80 dollars back in 1989! Mom had to put it on lay by to get it for me where we pay a portion of the price when we can for 1 year! Yeah 1 year was the waiting time. We were poor and really had no funds for these, but Mom as super humans that can do things and sacrifice like no other person on Earth. I got it in around months. For me, Double Dragon 1 is the most influential beat'm'up game in the 8 bit days. Yes the real version was an arcade one, but the SMS's version wsa not that far behind. Wonderboy III is the most influential 8 bit game I have ever played. The only game that directly competes with Zelda on the NES. Sega left the Wonderboy series dying in the cold outside and has not worked on that franchise since the 16 bit days. Without mentioning it, allot of great rpgs these days used ideas from that game without giving credit to it, but again, I blaim SEGA for Fucking up. A 3d remake of Wonderboy III would compete with all the new Zeldas with ease.
Anyway, as of worst 8 bit game,for some reason back at that time, I found no game to be bad. My age made everything exciting and awesome. I did not see flaws, I saw potential everywhere, a challenge everywhere and fun in almost all games I ever played on the 8 bit consoles. Wether it is my SMS first or my FAMICOM later (NES in Japan). I will write reviews sometime soon for 3 games in the 8 bit era which I think are the most influnetial
1) Double Dragon (SMS), the mother of all beatmups
2) Wonderboy III (SMS) One of the best action rpgs of all time
3) Ninja Gaiden (NES) I burned my FAMICOM with this one. 13 hours of continous play!
My very first home console was the Atari 2600 back in the 80's in Kuwait. I was too young but i remember my father playing Space Invaders with other family members in weekend evenings. I believe this marked the start of a hobby that reached the obsession level. Later, i got a MSX system with few built-in games stored in its memory (nothing special) and a nice cartridge labeled "Nemesis II" (Gradius fame). Massive levels with only 3 continues, this horizontal shooter sucked my life drain, it was definitely one of the hardest games i've ever played in the genre. Once the game is completed, the system was permanently off due to lack of popularity in Lebanon. But it didn't realy matter because this was when Nintendo and SEGA dominated and rocked the gaming world and i again was one of the lucky ones who had a NES during its prime and Between the consoles and the Arcades, my childhood life was quite busy...
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