My Vintage Packard Bells!

I had been PC gaming since the early 90s when my family got a Packard Bell computer. It was a very interesting experience using a computer with Windows 95 and 1.2 GB hard drive, with 32mb of ram! The computer was also 77mhz Pentium 1 which was amazing back then in 1995. Overall, I had lots of memories with it including using the internet for the first time with AOL 3.0! Dial up was amazing! I don't know if you can do anything with it nowadays but back then, it was something else. I ended up buying a similar model a couple of years ago (Hence the photo) and went back to the nostalgia of using it. This one came with Windows 98 which is odd. I intend to downgrade it to its factory settings which is Windows 3.11 believe it or not. I am still going to thinker with it so I can get the full experience! I want Windows 3.11 damn it! 
I enjoy nostalgia like this and best of all if I can find them and relive them over and over. The computer is now in my office and I turn it on once in a while to try out some nostalgia games and applications. It's just not the same if you emulate them. I guess I'm a purist !

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Famicom Blues Part III: Cabinas de Juegos

Lets take a look at the popularity of the "Cabinas de Juegos" which translates to Game Cabinets or in other words, a game lan party. This is before the internet but unfortunately, I can't seem to find a photo that will reference to it. It was just very epic and limited to be able to game in one of these places. It was also quite interesting as many homes would offer this as opening a business like this was very common. I wish my family would have done something like this, but I probably would have played video games to death and I was already gaming like a maniac as is. An addict without a cure...

The gaming scene back in the early 90s was quite astonishing. We didn't have the internet and could only find information through magazines and friends. This was the case when it came to the gaming cabins as I'll refer to them. I remember one of the biggest rumors was the Street Fighter 2 Chun Li stage in which you were told you could pick up a rock and throw it at your opponent. It was ridiculous but quite popular. The other one was Sheng Long as a rival in the same game if you did certain things. Here is a photo of the same magazine article which I read about years later of hearing the rumor when I moved to the USA.

Now, that was some good photoshop skills! What was Photoshop, on version 1.0? Something like that. Nevertheless, it was the rumors that kept us gaming even more. What if it were true? What if we were the next to discover something amazing. I didn't have many SNES games when I was a kid (I have around 300 now YIKES!) But that was the reason I would go to the Gaming Cabins in order to experience games I didn't have the funds to afford. Hmm.. I should've gotten a job back then...my collection would've been crazy huge! Anyways, I remember the first time I played Super Mario World for the SNES and was just in awed playing the game and trying to get through the entire game only to run out of time. Finally, after around a month of going to have my hourly game time, I beat the game! It took me so many tries but I was so happy to accomplish it! It was a milestone for me, It was just an awesome game to finish! 
The first NES Game So, I've been jumping a little ahead to the SNES era, but you gotta know that everything for me started in the NES. Yes, the NES I believe I got around 1989 but I'm not quite sure to be honest, it could've been before that too. I still remember the first day I got it. My parents got me the set with the gun and the power pad. The sheer excitement that I had while opening the box was indescribable. I still remember the scent of the NES like it was yesterday, engraved into my mind as if it just happened. As a matter of fact, around 8 years ago I found a NES which had the same scent, some things just never change. So yes, the NES was epic and I didn't even needed help from my parents to put it together, I figured it out and then we started gaming. My siblings gathered as we started an epic adventure game called Super Mario Bros. You know, now that I think about it, I have no recollection of asking for a NES or talking about the NES before I got one. I probably asked my parents to get me one on their many trips to the States. I just don't remember!  The NES I'm talking about is this one by the way...

 It looked something like this. Regardless, the introduction to video gaming through the NES will never ever be forgotten! I know it's what got me a blog that I've been running for over a decade which involves everything about video games. I think I'll start going over the seven games I had for the NES. Yes, only seven for the longest time!
To be continue...

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Famicom Blues Part II: Gaming Cabinets

As I was totally blown away by the graphics of such games in the arcades, I was curious as what they would play at home. I didn't have a NES at the time, but heading to arcades was probably the most memorable time of my youth. There was one arcade in particular that I remembered going to which was called "Bam Bam" with the popular Flintstones character next to the name. That place was a magical world of gaming. That's one of the first places I was able to play such games as Xmen, TMNT, and Gijoe. I even remember playing against tourists as they were trying to work as a team. One would tell me to not use the missiles in Gijoe and to save them for the boss, but my finger would slip and I would just use them all up, then die at the boss fight. I probably should've listened to him. Either way, I had so much fun as those were the days that arcades were still outdoing the home console market, of course, that's not the case nowadays. 
The arcade trip would be something that would happen almost every week. But the day finally would come where I would get my own home console.... just not yet. So at school, the conversation would all be about Nintendo, sorry Sega, you didn't exist in my childhood as they weren't popular at all in my country. Speaking of which, they were and are still quite popular in Brazil due to a company called Tectoy which promoted their consoles even to this day, that's a very interesting story. Either way, lunch time was the time to converse and talk about the games and the arcades. My friend Mauricio didn't attended my school so I wouldn't be able to talk to him or even ask him if I could come over. I wanted another round of Double Dragon after all! I did end up making a couple of new friends especially one that I knew since kinder garden, but this was the first grade and things were getting serious. Yes, we did not have any console wars of any kind around here, everything was Nintendo and the rumors about a new console coming out. I was just thinking, "Man, I don't even have the NES and a new one is already rumored? I'm behind!" but those were just rumors. Even the magazines released at the time didn't have any information about it and believe me, that was the only way to get information back in the day. There was no such thing as the internet for the public. 
After speculating and talking and trading tips on certain games, there was nothing more to be said and done. Back home where I would dream of Nintendo and hope I would get a trip the arcade. The faithful day of getting a video game console ought to be coming right? One sure hoped so. In the meantime, I was off to visit my friend once again and play his two games. So while playing, he mentioned something called "cabinas de juegos" which translated to gaming cabinets which is a place where you would play video games for the amount of time you paid. Lets say, there is a NES there with certain games, well, you would pay for an hour of gaming and could pick different games to play. Think of it as renting a spot to game on. This was extremely popular during those days and I believe there are some left back in my home country. So we decided to split the bill and go game! This was definitely going to open my mind into other video games and I just couldn't wait to get there...except...

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Famicom Blues Part I : The reason I game

So let me start by saying that I didn't have much knowledge about the Famicom until years later after I started collecting. If my memory serves right, it must have been around the holiday season of 2004 in which I decided to buy a lot I had my eyes on eBay. I was so curious as I've played Famicom in the past but in another form. A very interesting form it took down in South America, Peru to be exact where the word Famicom wasn't as known, but more reffered to as Family or Max Play. This is where my love for gaming started to grown with fullfilment and curiosity. 
But lets head back to the past, a long time ago in which I was very young, now that's a really long time. My passion for gaming wasn't as astronomical as it is today, but I did had my love for Nintendo ever since my parents introduced me to the console. I don't even remember if I asked for it or was it my parents who got me the console in one of their many ventures into the States. You gotta realize, I was residing in Peru at this time and was around six years old. That's as much as I remember from the early memories of my gaming life. Other than that, I still remember the first time I played the NES. It was an experience and feeling I will never forget. I will get into that in a little bit because we have to go even further ahead, well maybe not that far. Lets go to at least six or seven months back. I had a neighbor who which had the NES and remember very little of it. I do remember he had short hair but somewhat balding if that makes any sense. He was a good friend nonetheless as he would let me play video games as he had a NES and I did not. The funny thing is that I do remember the games! One of them was Double Dragon, I could get absorbed into that game for hours and hours. I remember I was never able to beat it in one of the many runs we had into the game. We would take turns and see how far we could reach, but alas we would always fail. Furthermore, we would end up playing the two player versus mode which by today's standards is laughable but we had so much fun. I would never understand why we had to use the same player in the versus mode. Today though, I understand that it was just lazy programming. Whether you like it or not, they could've done better especially with such a popular game. You can see another example by the lack of a cooperative two player mode which by the way the Sega Master System had. It was more than obvious that Sega had done this better than Nintendo but you gotta realize, I lived in a country where Nintendo was everything, and Sega was unheard of. I really didn't found out about Sega or other consoles years later and that's just impressive because it shows how powerful Nintendo was in our country. 
The other game my good old friend who's name is Mauricio had was P.O.W. for the NES of course. I still remember trying to beat the first level and never getting far. I always loved the first scene where he's escaping and you have to beat up all the guys around you. Get weapons and what not was the game and survival was the goal. That was another game that I had no idea what I was doing. My experience was minimal but enjoyable overall. I also ended up seeing this game again in the arcade and found out years later that it was an arcade game that got ported to the NES. Of course, sacrifices had to be made to make it run on the 8-bit console. Arcades back then were the shit! It was definitely another world back then...
To be continue....

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The NewZealand Story: A Forgotten Classic

This is a very interesting and insightful article by a freelance writer that all of you should read. It's based on the game New Zealand Story. Be sure to check it out even if you have never played it!

 By: Lily McCann

The NewZealand Story: A Forgotten Classic

One of the games that people always forget to mention when they talk about classic platform games from the early 1990s is Taito’s The NewZealand Story, which was available for the Amiga 500 and the NES. The plot was nonsensical yet brilliant; you played a small, sneaker-wearing kiwi called Tiki, whose friends had been kidnapped by a large, blue leopard seal called Wally. As the only non-kidnapped kiwi, it was your duty to find your way through scrolling, maze-like levels, rescue your little feathered buddies and secure the release of an attractive female kiwi called Phee Phee, capturing her heart in the process. The goal of every level was to get your character to a cage containing a kiwi, which would then be released and jump up and down flapping its wings with joy.

A Kiwi in a Hot Air Balloon

An entertaining feature of the game was the fact that you could knock the baddies out of the vehicles that they were flying and then commandeer them. This enabled Tiki to fly hot air balloons, ride about the place on a friendly goose and even operate a UFO. There was something particularly satisfying about knocking a large, blue-eared cat that was trying to attack you out of its silver hot air balloon and then using its vehicle to fly about and shoot its friends, especially after you had lost a couple of lives at their hands.

One of the more annoying vehicles to acquire was a flying platform with a spiked chain on the back. It was good for killing enemies but always seemed to end up doing more damage to Tiki than it did to the bad guys because it was very easy to fall off the platform and end up on the pointy end of the spikes. The variety of different vehicles on offer meant that each level could be completed using a range of different techniques and ensured that the game play remained fresh every time a level was attempted. The simplicity of these vehicles was their main strength. They didn’t need any skill to operate; you just got in them and pointed the joystick in the direction that you wanted to travel in. Indeed the simple nature of the NewZealand Story was what made it so endearing. It might not have had the powerful graphics of today’s titles or a multiplayer version that could be played using gaming broadband but still had replay value coming out of its ears.

Having a Whale of a Time

Perhaps the most impressive thing about The NewZealand Story was the inventiveness of the bosses. One of the earlier levels featured Tiki pitting his wits against a large, pink, frozen whale that emitted snowflakes out of its blowhole. In order to kill it, you had to allow it to swallow you, avoid the drips of stomach acid that rained down from the roof of its mouth and shoot at it from the inside until it shattered into pieces, allowing you to emerge from its belly. I don’t know what kind of mind-altering substances the makers of this game were taking but they definitely made for an interesting gaming experience. Another of the bosses was a giant blue octopus that fired bats at you. You really couldn’t make this stuff up.

Level Design

Each stage of the game was vaguely based on an area of NewZealand, with Tiki’s location being shown on a map after the completion of a level. This was another strange detail of the game considering that it was made in Japan but somehow added to its quirky nature. The levels were colourful, well thought out and distinctive, some requiring you to don scuba gear and swim and others seeing you fly about the place on a balloon. The best level was probably the last one, which was filled with posters warning that Wally was nearby, creating the perfect build up to the final boss.

Final Thoughts

The NewZealand Story was one of the most addictive games on the market at the time of its release, partly due to the music, which many gamers will no doubt find themselves still humming today. The level of difficulty was just right, as it was challenging but not impossible, and the surreal plot and zany cast of baddies added immensely to the enjoyment of the game. The fact that you could ride a goose was also totally awesome and tipped the balance between it being a good game and a classic.

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Retro Gaming Articles 003: The Pre-Street Fighters!

Hello there! Here is some very interesting artwork of drawings from the creators of the original Street Fighter 2 characters. It's pretty kewl how these fighters could have ended up at some point. Be sure to check it out!

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Retro Gaming Articles 002: Shogun Warriors Buster

Here is a very nice article on a fighting game called Shogun Warriors Buster. Be sure to read, comment, and enjoy!

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Retro Gaming Articles 001: Star Wars Pinball

Since there is so much information we may or may not already know about the past of our precious video games, I thought it would be a good idea to pick certain articles and showcase them. Lets not forget about our past because it does resemble our present and future. Here as a first entry we have an article on an upcoming Star Wars Pinball Machine. I can just imagine how exciting it must have been to play with this baby. Well, be sure to read and comment. There will be other articles for you to enjoy! Take care!

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