Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 308 Location: New York City
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:30 pm Post subject: Classic Video Gaming Explosion: the Philly Classic
Yesterday was day two of the Philly Classic, a convention dedicated entirely to video games, with an emphasis on classing gaming. I took a trip out to Philadelphia, and here's what I saw (please excuse the crappy photos, but I had to use my camera phone)....
The event itself was fairly big and a decent sized crowd was on-hand. It was about the size of your average small press con, such as SPX, and had a very similar vibe from both the exhibitors and attendees.
The major draw of the show was a chance to check out games and systems from way back. Many of these games were never originally released (or in a few cases, never finished) and some were totally original titles created by diehard video game enthusiasts. Known in the circle as "homebrew" games, most of them were actuallyfor sale. They're usually for the 2600 since old carts for the system are so plentiful, and its fairly easy to replace the circuit and labels, but there were games for other consoles as well.
Pictured on the right is Adventure 2 for the 5200. You might remember the first Adventure for the 2600: you were a yellow dot and went from one grey room to another, picking up keys to unlock even more grey doors and encountering dragons that looked more like half ducks/half sea-horses. Well the just discovered sequel features fully detailed and multicolored environments, yet you're still a yellow dot, and the dragons are still orange duck/sea-horses.
Out of all of these, my favorite was easily Blaster, which is actually a sequel to the arcade classic Robotron. It has you destroying robots on the ground and vampires in outer space (and also rescuing stranded astronauts). The perspective has psudeo-3D and the graphics were simply phenomenal. This was my first taste of the 5200 and I was very impressed. I didn't even mind the much hated 5200 controller, though after playing the N64 for so long, I guess I'm just used to crappy analog sticks. There was even an arcade version made, but only 500 or so machines were ever produced, but it even was available at the con's free arcade, and it too was awesome.
In a corner of the space was a bunch of old arcade machines that you could play for free. They had all my personal favorites, like Ms. Pac Man, Star Wars, Tempest, and Xevious, and I was even filmed playing Joust by G4TV (the video game channel). Pictured is a girl who was playing Robotron right next to me and she was really good (and really cute!) so it was no surprise that G4 filmed her as well. Also present was Howard Scott Warshaw, the man who created the classic Yar's Revenge and the much maligned E.T. game for the 2600. He was playing Defender, which is widely regarded as one of the hardest arcade games ever, and he totally kicked ass. But I guess he wasn't doing good enough cuz he threw a tantrum after each time he died, hence why I was hesitant to approach him. So I just took a picture instead.
As for the guests of the con, the only one who really caught my eye was a girl who did paintings of old game graphics. She was very nice (in addition to being extremely shy), and her work was ultra cool. She was shocked by how great the response was, and unfortunately her best stuff had been sold on the first day. too bad, cuz I really wanted to buy her painting of the Smurfs as depicted from their Colecovision game.
In addition to old games, there were old systems as well. On the left is a first generation Genesis, with a second generation Sega CD, and a 32X all attached. Knuckles Chaotix was playing, perhaps the worst Sonic the Hedgehog game ever. To the right is the prototype for an Atari Jaguar/Jaguar CD combo (the Jaguar Duo) that was never made due to the Jaguar being such an abysmal failure. Sadly, the Sega Neptune (a Genesis/32X combo) was not present, even though the prototype was recently discovered and has been seen at various cons.
Speaking of failed systems, I finally got to play a game on a NUON machine. NUON was a gaming platform that was supposed to ship on DVD players but went absolutely nowhere. It was sorta ahead of its time (such as the notion of delivering content via broadband) but the games were totally lame, and there were only just five in total. But the best one, Tempest 3000, was one I've always wanted to play, and I finally did. Just imagine the original Tempest but with psychedelic colors and trippy music. It was enjoyable, even without the aid of ecstasy.
There was a small section for quirky Japanese music games as well. I finally got a chance to play Beatmania, which is even bigger than Dance dance Revolution in their home country. The controller is a turntable and mixing board and the game is hard as hell! And the music was totally insane J-Pop/trip house, so run out and get the CD now (if you can find it).
There was another game called Para Para Paradise which has you waving your hands to the beat of the music over motion sensors. Think of Samba Di Amigo, but without maracas. There was one girl (on the left) who was a total music game fanatic that was blushing the entire time she played; you do look pretty silly waving your arms about vigorously. But the guy after her (to the right) on the other hand had no shame and scored tons of points as he thrashed his arms about and totally going to town. Sadly, Donkey Konga, the Donkey Kong-themed bongo game, was there but the guy running the table wouldn't set it up. He said the noise from the convention floor would interfere with the game. Bummer.
What con is complete with cool and useless junk to buy? In addition to some buttons with that features old Atari characters and the Genesis logo, I picked up a few Nintendo Game Pak trading cards. These are actually something I only saw once in a store as a kid and my dad refused to buy them for me cuz I he had just gotten a whole box of Garbage Pail Kids.
I also got a homebrew game: Joust Pong. As you might have guessed, its a combination of Joust and Pong; instead of moving the paddle up and down, you hit the buttons to "flap the wings" and make it go up. Pretty ingenious, and the guy who made it was super friendly; he's all into minimalist controls (like I am), so I had to pick it up (despite not having a 2600 myself).
There were tons of other stuff too, but alas, no old Nintendo Game and Watches; I had hoped to pick up Crab Game for my friend Raina Lee. I wanted to get the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure Atari Lynx game as a gag gift, but totally forgot about it until it was too late (sorry Dave).
And that was it. All in all, a great show, and I hope it's success gets more gaming cons here on the east coast. Next stop, I-Con!
Last edited by FortNinety on Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:24 am; edited 3 times in total
How much was that Adventure painting thats in the photo?
I SO want it! Unless its like $200 than I'll just paint it myself
And Adventure 2? Great idea and I'm glad they kept the character designs but I don't knew about the textured Zelda-type backgrounds. They shoulda "Kept it REAL".
Also I really liked the Knuckles Chaotix game on 32X.
Or at least the idea/ gameplay concept. But if I recall it WAS a bitch to play...so I guess I see why people wouldn't like it. But is it really as bad as the Sonic 3/4 perspective game on Sega Saturn. _________________
wow. this seemed totally awesome. I so would have went if I knew about it.
I had a 32X. I thought it would save me from having to buy a new system, so I made sure I got one for Christmas 1994. Unfortunatly, as we all know, the 32X did jack shit for the Genesis. I remember having to install some sort of volatage plate so the Genesis didn't over load, and that took hours for me to get it into the right position. It surely wasn't plug and play like the commercial showed. Once I got it in, I realized that the 32X was designed for the new model Genesis, and not the old style version I had. It required a new model coaxial cable adapter, which of course I couldnt get until Dec 27 or so. So finally, I got it up and running and played the 2 games I got with it: Doom and Star Wars Arcade. I eventually rented that Knuckles game from Blockbuster, who surprisingly stocked 32X games. I don't remember much, I don't remember much, although I do remember I went to Blockbuster to rent Die Hard, and was upset that Blockbuster didnt have either Die Hards in their library. I rented the Knuckles game to end my unhappiness.
I'm still upset. Stupid Blockbuster.
When I sold my video game library to Funcoland in Oct of 1995, they refuse to take my 32X or any 32X games. And they even bought my Powerglove! Luckily, some guy my mom worked with bought my 32X and both games for $75.
Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 308 Location: New York City
Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 4:01 pm Post subject:
dave roman wrote:
How much was that Adventure painting thats in the photo?
I SO want it! Unless its like $200 than I'll just paint it myself
Actually, the prices for all of the paintings were very reasonable. That one was around $40 if I'm not mistaken, which is a steal, and perhaps the reason why most of them were sold so quickly. I myself really wanted the Berzerk painting and one of ET.
But if you really want that Adventure one, you can always have a new one commissioned. Check out her site; she does requests (and tell that Matt told you about her!).
Given the response that she received, I predict big things for her. So I would then imagine that prices will probably go up.
dave roman wrote:
Also I really liked the Knuckles Chaotix game on 32X.
Or at least the idea/ gameplay concept. But if I recall it WAS a bitch to play...so I guess I see why people wouldn't like it. But is it really as bad as the Sonic 3/4 perspective game on Sega Saturn.
Here's why I don't like Knuckles Chaotix:
- The very nature of the game goes against the philosophy of a Sonic the Hedgehog game, which admittedly has been pretty much watered down with the advent of the Adventure series. Basically it used to be all about speed. The old Genesis titles were just as much racing games as they were platformers. The whole tethered buddy system simply did not allow for long bursts of speed, and is quite simply "un-Sonic" like, hence why Sonic Team removed him from the game and replaced him with Knuckles in the first place. You can still track down the original ROM on the net (or get a copy from me); it was originally called Sonic Crackers.
And the whole "Sonic game not feeling like a Sonic game" was the reason why I hated the isometric Sonic game on the Saturn as well. Though both games have one common high point: they both had awesome soundtracks. Sonic 3D Blast (what an insulting title!) has the talent Richard Jacques and Chaotix has Sonic Team making the Genesis sound chip humming like only they could.
- The controls were abysmal and way too complicated. The whole original point of the Sonic games was to have as few buttons to use as possible. And then this comes along. I literally had to stop and think everytime I want to do anything.
- The level designs were really subpar. You'd get some momentum, but then your partner would get stuck behind some wall or an upper level. Instead of taking advantage of the whole tag team buddy aspect, the levels hindered it, and making even basic movement madea real chore.
- The game was also very buggy. I can't even begin to count how many times I was going "too fast" and the game would just crash. Though to be honest, that has more to do with the hardware than anything else.
- I know I'm really stretching here, but the character designs left a lot to be desired. Though it's still not the worst that Sonic Team has ever creates; that honor goes to Rouge, the "sexy bat" from Sonic Adventure 2.
- The whole negative rings concept. Nuff said.
But once again, it had an amazing soundtrack, up there with Sonic 3 and Gunstar Heroes as far as Genesis soundtracks are concerned.
SteveFlack wrote:
I had a 32X. I thought it would save me from having to buy a new system, so I made sure I got one for Christmas 1994. Unfortunatly, as we all know, the 32X did jack shit for the Genesis. I remember having to install some sort of volatage plate so the Genesis didn't over load, and that took hours for me to get it into the right position. It surely wasn't plug and play like the commercial showed. Once I got it in, I realized that the 32X was designed for the new model Genesis, and not the old style version I had. It required a new model coaxial cable adapter, which of course I couldnt get until Dec 27 or so... When I sold my video game library to Funcoland in Oct of 1995, they refuse to take my 32X or any 32X games. And they even bought my Powerglove! Luckily, some guy my mom worked with bought my 32X and both games for $75.
Sucker.
It's sad that so many people have had the same exact experiences. It's painfully obvious now that the 32X was ultimately the seed that led to Sega's downfall many years down the road. It was a great ideas in concept, but Sega ignored some very basic truths at the time. In addition to ignoring then-current market conditions (which would have guaranteed the system failiure, even if it was a powerful kick ass system with tons of great games), it was also backed by Sega at a time when they were at their most arrogant, with one of the most asinine marketing strategies off all time. How Sega could possibly think the video game market was exactly like the automobile market is beyond anyone. Instead of building up interest with the Saturn, which at the time was trouncing PlayStation in Japan, they release a sub-par gaming rig that would piss off anyone who bought into the false promises and guarantee a PlayStation purchase down the road. If not for all those angry 32X victims, the Sony would not have gotten the strong lead that they did, which of course paved the way to where they are right now. Without the 32X, I firmly believe Sega would be readying the Dreamcast 3 at this very moment, and the funny thing is, even key member of Sega have said the same exact sentiment.
But forget all the politics and moneymen: the system was just a technical mess, and the games reflected this. The fact that there's three processors at work, and yet the games were still of Genesis quality, is pretty sad. I luckily passed up on the 32X to wait for the Saturn (which to this day is one my favorite systems of all time) and ended up picking one up on eBay years later on a whim (and to fulfill a long held Sega-fanboy wish). I ended up having to buy two because the first one died after a day's worth of play, and even the second unit was a nightmare to set up, but after all that trouble, I finally got to play all the "best" games that I had also purchased. And after about the seventh time it crashed in the middle of playing Chaotix I simply said, "What the f*ck was I thinking, buying all this stuff?!?!"
At the very least, I did get to experience Tempo, an awesome side scroller starring a musical grasshopper (which should have been released on the Genesis as it was originally planned; it would have enjoyed a much wider audience... thankfully I they made a sequel in Japan for the Saturn), and Kolibri, the greatest humming bird shooter ever made. Even though I no longer have a 32X. I still having the game as proof that such a thing even existed.
Last edited by FortNinety on Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:18 pm; edited 1 time in total
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
