#0152 Sid Meier's Pirates!

So I finally, FINALLY played Sid Meier's Pirates! A 1987 game by Microprose Software.

The game is a pirate simulator where you take the role of a pirate from a country of your choosing and then are just dumped into a big-ol sandbox to do as thou wilt! You can help the English fight the Spanish in their war they got going on. You can plunder towns and other ships, you can sword fight with other captains on their burning ship.

This game really reminded me of something and I just couldn't put my finger on it until I went to a town to buy from a merchant. That's when it hit me. This reminds me of some of the Oregon Trail games I've played. Not the 1971 Oregon Trail, the first game I played on the list, no the early 90s Oregon Trail games from Mecc where you have to balance your crew's well being along with supplies for the long trips you'll be taking. You have to balance how much supplies you'll have vs the weight of your ship. Except rather than just going down a pre-set path, you can go wherever you want! 

But here is where we start to see a bit of the seams coming undone. See, they tried to make this a realistic simulator. So things are really REALLY far apart. Towns, ships, ports, everything will be spread out along the Caribbean. You will sail for DAYS before you see anything of value. 

I also wish the fencing wasn't so clunky. The controls are really unresponsive and delayed. I didn't feel like I was accurately fencing, but rather just moving my joystick in random directions hoping to land something. 

However, those things aside, it's actually a pretty solid simulator. I had a good time! The menus are easy to navigate, the towns are fun to explore, fighting enemy ships and storming towns ended up being more exciting than I had originally thought. Overall i had a good time and I really could recommend it to those looking for a good pirate simulator. Just make sure to hit up the Amiga version for its beautiful visuals.

Next up: We finish up 1987 with Wizball.

#0151 Xybots

Today I played Xybots, a -get this- 1987 third person shooter from Atari! The first 3rd person shooter I've seen on the list and from what I gather, one of the first PERIOD.

you play as a dude named Major Rock Hardy or Captain Ace Gunn (depending on if you're playing first or second player) Your job is to kill robots roaming through narrow corridors. 

This game is YEARS ahead of its time. Implementing two factor movement for the first time in a shooter like this. The normal joystick moves your character left right forward and back, but rather than turning and facing the direction that you press on the joystick, your character strafes left and right. The joystick was built so that it can also rotate left and right to turn your character. This makes movement and shooting a million times more fluid than we've seen in other top down run and guns. This control scheme also meant that I actually had to map the game to a game pad in order to play, which is always fun.

So enough gushing over the innovation and the controls, how's the game? Well, honestly, amazing! I was SO skeptical when I first looked into a corridor third person shooter. We've seen similar corridor style games in Ulima and Dungeon Master, both of which were very clunky and often hard to navigate. While this is still clunky as fluid 3D environments were still their infancy, the fact that you actually move within each "square" rather than pressing a single button to move to the next one feels much better than previous games.

Another great thing about this game is its upgrade system. Basically, you can collect money throughout the level and use that money after you beat the level to buy upgrades for your character. This is the first time I've seen something like this and it's something that's still used to this day in lots of games across many genres, it adds another layer of strategy and decision making.

If I did have a gripe it would be that I'm not a huge fan of the constantly draining energy in a maze game. Your life continuously drains unless you either finish the level, or find more energy in the form of a powerup scattered throughout the maze. the powerups are too few and far between. I often had trouble finishing even the second level due to my life draining and being unable to find the exit or more energy. This causes me to not want to explore the level and just race straight to the exit, despite all the goodies and munchies that might be laying around.

Overall though, it's a solid game, if you're a fan of third person shooters, or shooters in general and are in the mood for something a little retro, this will absolutely scratch that itch.

Next up: Sid Meier's Pirates!

#0150 Shinobi

Game number 150! Woo-hoo! I'm Officially 3/20ths of the way through the entire book!

For my sesquicentennial game I played Shinobi, a 1987 arcade Beat-em-up by those guys from Sega.

The game is a clone of Rolling Thunder, which in turn was a clone of Green Beret. You play as probably the whitest ninja you'll ever see. (It's actually kinda funny how pasty this guy looks). Your goal is to rescue hostages from the bad ninjas. And that's about it. You shoot throw shuriken at them to kill them, and do sick karate moves when they get too close.

The game is fine. Mostly. Remember my Rolling Thunder game from 1986? Yeah it's pretty much that. Mostly.

the controls are fluid, killing things is easy and satisfying, i enjoyed the boss fights a lot.I also will say they really tuned the difficulty here. It's still punishing, but not so much so that I couldn't get past the first level, moving to the right once you know the layout of the level is a lot of fun actually as you know where to shoot, where enemies are going to be, it's really easy to memorize. That made for a better overall game.

Shame my 150th game had to be something so underwhelming. Oh well, I'm sure there's an audience for it, it just didn't really grab me personally.

Next up: Xybots

#0149 Rainbow Islands

So today I played Rainbow Islands, a 1987 Platformer by Taito.

So, before I get into this game, I realized while playing it, that this game was a HUGE source of inspiration for one of my favorite horror games of all time. Eversion. I mean look at the similarities:

Eversion

Rainbow Islands

Both have adorable character and enemies, both have bright overly happy aesthetics, both have alarmingly similar soundtracks. The difference is Eversion is a horror game and isn't for children and can be downloaded and played for free http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://zarat.us/tra/eversion/ here. (There's also a steam version with updated graphics and I highly recommend it)

Anywho, on to the game itself. You play as this little fat kid who shoots rainbows out of his hands. these rainbows can be used to kill enemies and if you climb on them the'll let you climb to higher places. Your goal is to reach the top of every level.

As a game, It's fine. It's an early platformer, they're all just a little off. This one has some particularly sluggish controls, that don't allow you to maneuver like you would. And the rainbows don't do much in the way of weaponry when most of your enemies are coming from directly above or below you. And the rainbows dissolve a second after you touch them so after you climb one you gotta quickly jump to the next ledge before you fall.

I love the style, it's sickeningly sweet, the music is fun and the whole game feels so happy and creative, it's hard not to feel the same while playing it. If you're in the mood for an early platformer that's not Mario, you could do a whole lot worse than this.

Next up: Shinobi

#0148 Operation Wolf

Alright! Last game in the run!

Ya know what's cheating? Playing a rail shooter with a mouse. Ya know what's even MORE cheating? When the game is so stacked against you that it doesn't matter.

This is Operation Wolf. A 1987 Rail Shooter made by Taito. The first Rail Shooter on the list actually! And while it may share the name as shooter with it's other SHMUP bretheran, this is actually an evolution all to itself. See, games like 1943 were inspired by other SHMUPS like Galaga, which was a sequal to Galaxian, which was inspired by Space Invaders, which was inspired by Breakout, a sequel to Pong. nearly all SHMUPS can have their linage traced back to Pong. Operation Wolf, cannot. It was inspired by the Rambo movies and used a new technology where motion sensors tracked a mounted gun (yeah, not a light gun, a motion censored gun) It also had haptic feedback to give you a real sense of kickback from the rifle.

You play as a buff white dude, and your job is to kill anyone who isn't white (it was the 80's, so it's okay). More specifically, your job is to save all the white people from a south american POW camp. And the game follows a fairly linear story even, something that would be followed in later Rail Shooters.

Honestly, it was a lot of fun! Killing people is satisfying, the sounds are loud and energetic, the graphics may be a bit behind the times, but I have a feeling that's due to the technical constraints of the gun technology. If I did have a complaint, it would be that holy cow is this game hard. Like, seriously, I was playing with a frickin' mouse. And the game STILL won.It was basically a point and click adventure, but bad guys keep popping out from the sides of the screen giving you zero time to react.

If you really like Rail Shooters and want a really early example of what they were like, this is probably fine, otherwise, I'd stick to other shooters until they get the kinks ironed out.

Next up: Rainbow Islands

#0147 1943

Alright! Next up is 1943, another SHMUP, this time by those guys at Capcom.

I've played three SHMUPs in a row now. How does each one seem to get consecutively better? Seriously, despite coming out the same year they seem to be learning from each other's mistakes.

1943 has a different way of handling lives than the others. You actually have a life bar. Something I've been absolutely DYING for in these games. OHKOs are a HUGE pain when you're playing SHMUPs so being able to take a hit or two is a really welcome feature.

Another thing handled very well is the powerup system! We finally FINALLY have powerups that are applied immediately to your primary weapon, and you can pick and choose which powerups you want. they don't stack, they're not single use, but they're incredibly useful and every one is unique and interesting.

Along with an amazing sound track, great visuals (if a tad pixelated compared to what came before) and a continue system that leaves you RIGHT where you left off, this is a recipe for a near perfect shooter. I'm legit impressed.

Next up: Operation Wolf

#0146 Gemini Wing

Alright! Next up is Gemini Wing another SHMUP this time by Tecmo.

I'm honestly amazed at how polished and unique these games are looking. Gemini Wing is a top down shmup in the same style as Xevious, and Galaga before it. But where it differs is in its powerups, and I gotta tell you these are some of the COOLEST powerups I've seen in even modern SHMUPs.

See, rather than just getting a couple powerups you need a couple times per level, you get dozens of one-use powerups that stack behind your ship. Every powerup is a single use, but my goodness some of these are just amazing to behold. Like, one will be a giant wall of flames that sweeps back and forth from your ship, another will be giant blue orbs that expand outward like a shield. Each one has the potential to clear the entire screen. And when you die, you don't necessarily lose all your powerups either. Kinda like Sonic did in the 90s, when you die, rather than losing your powerups, they scatter all over the screen, letting you pick up a couple if you're fast enough.

Besides that the music is fun the graphics and sprites look good even today. and the art style is just ADORABLE! Where R-Type was a gritty, serious-looking sci-fi shooter, this is an adorable game about shooting rainbow colored bugs. It reminded me a lot of Galaga in that they obviously put more effort into making the enemies distinctive looking and original.

If I did have a gripe, it'd probably be the controls. Not that they're unresponsive or anything, they're just backwards of what they usually are. Usually the button furthest from you is the attack button, while the one slightly in is your secondary. Here they're switched. A lot of times I found myself looking to use a powerup but hitting nothing because the secondary weapon was on the other side.

Honestly, again, if you're looking for a good SHMUP, this one holds up even to today's standards and is amazingly fun.

Next up: 1943