Top 25 Video Games Lists! v. CableX's "Worse Than My Top25 VG Music" (pg. 62)

[jingle.boy]

23. Centipede / Arcade




Not a lot to say here.  Kill the centipede, try not to split it up to much, keep the bottom area free of mushrooms, and watch out for those fucking fleas and spiders.  Every level gets progressively harder – everything moves a little faster, and the frequency of the fleas and spiders increases.  Eventually, it always got to a state of absolute pandemonium.

[Prog Snob]

 Sorry, I'm late.  I love the first three so far, especially the Mattel Football game!  Piss off, haters.   

[jingle.boy]

Sorry, I'm late.  I love the first three so far, especially the Mattel Football game!  Piss off, haters.   

[Prog Snob]

Sorry, I'm late.  I love the first three so far, especially the Mattel Football game!  Piss off, haters.   

[ariich]

Good lord, is this now the "nostalgia is heroin for old people" thread?!

[black_biff_stadler]

And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say - that the Rich's small prostate grew three sizes that day.

[jingle.boy]

We wouldn't know. As Blob said... We're older than nostalgia.

And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say - that the Rich's small prostate grew three sizes that day.

 

[ariich]

And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say - that the Rich's small prostate grew three sizes that day.

[Sacul]

I think I should rename this as the Archaeology thread 

[Cable]

Jingle.boy is 44- I feel most of our fond VG memories are from when we are growing up. Makes sense. Much like how my list will be NES centric- i'm 33.

[ReaperKK]

I'm almost 30 now and a lot of my best memories were of games while growing up. Don't get me wrong I love video games but it's so hard to find the uninterrupted time to play them anymore.

[Kwyjibo]

This is the equivalent of discussing the Beatles, Stones, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson etc. in a music thread. This is were it's started and where all the ones that came after draw inspiration from.

[Prog Snob]

I'm almost 30 now and a lot of my best memories were of games while growing up. Don't get me wrong I love video games but it's so hard to find the uninterrupted time to play them anymore.

Which definitely has an effect on which era of games we cherish. Me and Jingle will probably have somewhat of a similar list if I were to do one.

[King Postwhore]

I played Centipede a lot but it wasn't one of the Arcade games I excelled at.

[cramx3]

Centipede is one of those games that was still around and popular when I was a kid, but I never really liked it.  I always just got annoyed playing and losing so easily.  Actually, a lot of those old school games were like that for me as a child.  It was really Tetris that got me to enjoy some of those simpler games (probably because I was better at Tetris).

[Prog Snob]

I love Centipede!  I've been meaning to get an emulator so I can play that and Space Invaders.

[Podaar]

I, of course, gave Centipede a few handfuls of quarters, but the game never grabbed me the way some of the others did. All of the early arcade video games steadily ratcheted up the difficulty, obviously. Centipede's chaos seemed to build up faster...or something. It just never seemed like a good entertainment investment. Or, I just sucked at it. 

And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say - that the Rich's small prostate grew three sizes that day.

That's pretty insensitive BF...posting that where you know I would see it. Prostate cancer nearly killed me!




Just kidding, buddy. That was funny as hell!!

[Kwyjibo]

The old games were definitely harder, you couldn't save your progress, you couldn't respawn, you had a limited number of lifes and then it was "Game Over".

[jingle.boy]

... and $0.25 per game.

[Randaran]

The old games were definitely harder, you couldn't save your progress, you couldn't respawn, you had a limited number of lifes and then it was "Game Over".

How do any of those things make games harder? Sure, you are less likely to finish titles that implement them, but all of those aspects only artificially increase the difficulty of the game, and are IMO elements of bad game design.

[black_biff_stadler]

I, of course, gave Centipede a few handfuls of quarters, but the game never grabbed me the way some of the others did. All of the early arcade video games steadily ratcheted up the difficulty, obviously. Centipede's chaos seemed to build up faster...or something. It just never seemed like a good entertainment investment. Or, I just sucked at it. 

And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say - that the Rich's small prostate grew three sizes that day.

That's pretty insensitive BF...posting that where you know I would see it. Prostate cancer nearly killed me!




Just kidding, buddy. That was funny as hell!!

<3

[Crow]

anyone who says the old game were "harder" has never played modern games in the vein of i wanna be the boshy or super meat boy

those aren't even necessarily good games, but 

he's right that life systems and game overs and all don't make games harder, it's just more tedious.

the only way you could say old games were "harder" is when it comes to stuff like stupid puzzle design that you'd never be able to solve on your own because of how insanely obtuse the puzzles are but that's definitely "bad"

[ariich]

the only way you could say old games were "harder" is when it comes to stuff like stupid puzzle design that you'd never be able to solve on your own because of how insanely obtuse the puzzles are but that's definitely "bad"

You still get that sometimes these days, but it's so easy to look things up online if you get stuck that it's at least not so frustrating as it was in the past.

[cramx3]

Kind of hard to compare difficulty in a game as simple as Centipede (or many of the other older games) vs the games of today. 

I've always thought the basics of the older games were much more difficult than the newer games.

[jingle.boy]

I guess it depends on how you define "harder".  Challenging, frustrating, ability to complete, ability to stay alive.  Take a role-playing game that is coming up later in the list.  You could get to the final boss, and if you died on your last life, it was start all over again.  For other games, if you ran out of quarters and couldn't "continue" (or didn't want to spend more money on it), you were shit out of luck, and had to start from scratch next time.

I think that is what Kwiji is talking about as it relates to 'harder'... harder to complete.

It's just the evolution of gaming, and something that today's younins probably don't have an appreciation for.

[cramx3]

Yea, agreed.  Just not easy to say "harder" without taking into account many things. 

[Kwyjibo]

What jingle said. And I don't say that it was better or worse or bad game design. It was just what it was.

[Podaar]

I think the best arcade games had a good balance of "challenge" and "ease of play". It makes sense from a money making stand point. When you're trying to entice quarters out of kids, you don't want them rage quitting before you've emptied their pockets. If they're too easy, there's no bragging rights either. Twas a real art form.

Of course, once video games made it into the living room, the goals changed along with the game design elements.

[Randaran]

The way I see it, you can increase difficulty through one of two ways: through clever level design and game mechanics, and by "bullshit" such as limited attempts, no respawns, and so on.

I've actually already touched on this topic during my own ranking. I'll repost part of my entry for Rayman here, as I feel it applies.

Through trial and error, you will slowly learn the layout of an area and how to reliably navigate it. Very few deaths are cheap. Instead, most of them stem from mistakes. There is a way to reliably get through almost every part of the game. Repeating sections is rarely an issue, as checkpoints are generously laid out… most of the time. The game feels challenging at nearly all times, but rarely gives an impression of insurmountable difficulty.

...

The bosses of are particular note. Each follows an attack pattern which provides an opening to deal damage. Through trial and error, you figure out how to dodge his attacks while chipping away at his health. These bosses exemplify the trial and error design philosophy on display in Rayman.

The only element that goes against this idea is the limited lives and continues.

Rayman displays both approaches, and I considered the presence of "type b" game design to be its most significant flaw. As Podaar said, the latter design philosophy made sense in the arcade days, but has no place in today's gaming world.

[Big Hath]

nothing better in centipede than getting the centipede caught between mushrooms and/or the side of the screen and just blasting it away as it came straight down at you.

[jingle.boy]

nothing better in centipede than getting the centipede caught between mushrooms and/or the side of the screen and just blasting it away as it came straight down at you.

Damn straight.  'Running-the-field' (as it were) in that manner - especially on later levels because it rarely happened - was very gratifying.

[jingle.boy]

In the interest of keeping things going....

22. Madden 93 / Sega Genesis


So I said that I was introduced to console gaming (for the most part) at University in ‘92/’93, and this was one of the staple games.  Get a couple guys together in the lounge, and it was either this, or another game (to be named later) that was invariably being played.  This was fundamentally the same as ’92, with some subtle enhancements like no-huddle (thanks Buffalo), instant replay reviews, taunting, one-handed catches and some other minor cosmetic things.  Gameplay started by selecting from different modes, weather conditions, teams; play against another player, or co-op against the computer.  One of the nice things was to play as some all-time great teams, and a couple of All-Madden teams – my fave being the ’84 Niners.  I never did keep up with the franchise after this, so I have no point of comparison against other football games (other than the previously mentioned Mattell Classic)

[black_biff_stadler]

Respect! My brother and I rented this in early summer '92 and it blew my mind. I never knew video games could actually deliver a fun experience even remotely resembling football and this was just such a phenomenal treat. It's crazy to think 3 proper Madden games came out while CBS still had the NFC broadcasting package (4 if you count that obscure, 7-on-7 PC game from like '87 that looked more like Football on the 2600...I personally don't.)

[ariich]

Not just an old game, but an old girl game.

I don't think this list is for me.

[jingle.boy]

Not just an old game, but an old girl game.

I don't think this list is for me.

For the most part.  There will likely be a few gems in here for you to appreciate though.

Now you know how I've felt during most of these lists.