Atari Emulator ---> Timeslip

 Time to post about another game, even though YouTube (TM)(C)(R) continues to make this blog of mine redundant.  This time, it's time to get fanatical about Jon Williams' other game, and it's called Time's Lip... I'm sorry, I meant Timeslip.  Oh, but don't take MY word for it!  Just go to my new favourite YouTube (R)(C)(TM) channel called Crazy 80s Games.  Sure, he might not be the best gamer out there, but he's always willing to find some of the most obscure titles out there and give 'em a go.  Even with a title as great as The Halls of the Leprechaun King, some game makers just aren't able to make it in the video game business.  Alas, they can't all be Sid Meier.  Some would even settle for being John Romero, I'm sure.

...where was I?  Oh right.  The point was that the Crazy 80s Games guy gives Timeslip a try.  Not that I wouldn't love to go back myself, but he kind of makes all my mistakes for me!  The game's definitely unique.  You get three domains to fail in instead of just one: basically, air, land and sea type deals.  It's a shoot 'em up game, for sure.  Not that I'm squeamish, mind you.  I did make it through Dooms 1 and 2 and Quake 1, after all.  It's just one of those many video game guns with the infinity clip that you never have to reload.  And you have to shoot everything, including the 12 clocks you have to get on each level.  I mean, even Smasher has a few things you can't smash!  But like the guy says, it's so easy to die in this.  Like myself, he has trouble with the hardest corner of the Land section.  And of course, what artist worth their weight in salt can't resist referencing their other great work?  In the case of Jon Williams, it's a call back to Jet Boot Jack!

What else?  Well, unlike the Crazy 80s Games guy, I persevered, and shot my way through all three levels, synced up everything and won the game, SPOILER ALERT.  I must've been exhausted after all that, because you'll never guess what your reward is... that's right!  MORE Timeslip, but at a harder level.  Basically, you lose more time every time you f... mess up.  Um, maybe later.

Timeslip - Mushca Disk 53

Timeslip at Atarimania.com

Summer Email Challenge

I never thought I'd say this, but... okay, maybe I did, actually, but it took the following pompatus... impetus to make it (a post) happen. Is emails finished? I mean, I don't have a SmartPhone (TM)(C)(R) yet, but isn't that the main mode of communication now? How many hours do you spend hunched over, staring at your phone? NOT answering email? I know I'm a bad email hoarder; someday I'll get kicked out of my virtual house... then my real life one. And not a moment too soon, probably.

Hero Wars - The Advertising Continues

See something, say something, right? I'm just saying! Now it's borderline harassment... okay, of a giant statue, but STILL!

A Bunch of Netflix (C)(TM)(R) Games

That's right. Not only is Netflix (TM)(R)(C) flooding the movie marketplace with its own movies and TV shows, but now they've moved on to video games! Not a whole lot for now, sure, but... ten years from now? Who knows? Well, I've played a couple of 'em on my dusty old desktop computer. I don't have a SmartPhone (TM)(C)(R) yet, so I don't have a suitable game controller for the TV. Anyway, let's just dive right in to what I've looked at so far.

Underwatermelon - I do appreciate the fact that you can't play it forever. Let's bring finiteness back to the world of video games! You know, like Bejeweled (C)(TM)(R) and Bejeweled Blitz (TM)(C)(R)!

Oxenfree - ...so, which is it? A movie or a game?

Too Hot To Handle 3 - ...which joke should I go with? Should I go with "It's too much like my own life"? Or "I'd feel lost"... you know, because I haven't played Too Hot to Handle 1 or 2

The Almost Gone - ...strange! I was able to skip it. Seriously though, I think it's too mellow for me. I don't have that kind of patience anymore. I mean, if I can't find the thing I'm supposed to find... that's it? Do I lose the game yet?

Centipede Recharged - An almost instant classic. I even like the green grid; reminds me of Gridrunner. The spiders are a lot slower this time, and... SPOILER ALERT... they leave behind special powerups to collect. Every game's got powerups now!

Caverns of Mars Recharged - Another instant classic. I think this is the first game I've played where shooting slows your ship down! If only a little. Clearly I need to learn to take advantage of that, if I ever want to see if the game ever ends.

Rocket - You know... I don't mind a good maze game at all, but somehow I was expecting more from a rocket game. You know, flying through space and what not! Evidently, you spend the entire time stuck on a series of planets. I feel just a little bit cheated.

Infernax - For those of you who miss that old video game font, and the old MS-Dos-style action, this one's for you! It's fun and all that, but I will say that the arsenal of weaponry you get is ... a tad limited. I'm trying to recall a similar game I once played about 34 years ago on a Windows 3.1 computer at a friend's house... nope. Ain't coming back to me.

Reflections on Games Past --> Marvin's Maze

Not to be confused with Falken's Maze.
God bless the Internet! I never thought I'd be able to remember this in a million years, as the expression goes. But even before I became a middle-aged old fart, I seem to be blessed with the occasional memory-related nagging... what was that game that I played at an arcade once? I actually did! Old-timer bonafides... or maybe it was that little mini-arcade next to the gas station. I think I only played it once, and somehow it didn't enchant me at the time. Not like Bubble Bobble or even Ms. Pac-Man. But I did remember the pneumatic tubes that take you from the bottom level to the top level, and vice versa. Kinda hard to get one of the search engines to make that distinction. It is more than a little bit like Pac-Man (TM)(C)(R), but you don't have to eat as many dots. They must've figured out in beta-testing that it was a little too difficult for players to play one of the mazes when it was completely covered in dots. Sadly, poor ol' Marvin didn't spawn a sequel, or even an animated Saturday morning cartoon series, the ultimate level of a video game's impact on the culture.

Marvin's Maze entry at Wikipedia... dang, Wikipedia. No pictures?

Marvin's Maze entry at something called the Killer List of Video Games

Marvin's Maze walkthrough on YouTube (TM)(C)(R)... hmm! Seems to be in Invincible Mode. Niiiiice...