Share your hidden gems and insider tips

[VictimRLSH]

Oil Tycoon (VICE, C64 and VIC20) - This was one of those games you actually had to type in from the magazine, but was very high quality and amazingly addictive. The goal is to pump all the oil out of the oil fields on the screen by lowering your drilling pipe down into them. If you hit hard rock, it would damage your pipe and you would lose a section. You can drop explosives down the pipe to blow up obstructions, but in most cases that would also cause you to lose a section of pipe. Higher levels have invisible rocks, gas accumulations in empty areas, and even demons that get very cranky when you expose them. It could be very difficult to actually complete a screen, especially at higher levels.

Here is a youtube clip of the vic20 version, which was actually a bit easier because the screen was smaller and there were fewer oil fields to collect to clear it. The person playing in this clip actually isn't very good at the game, you need to try and get the deeper oil fields first in case you lose pipe later. It is also risky to drill down through empty areas you have already pumped out due to the danger of gas explosions. At the 5:00 mark it finally dawns on them that they have broken too much pipe to reach the bottom of the screen...

[Clyde]

@victimrlsh said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

Oil Tycoon (VICE, C64 and VIC20) - This was one of those games you actually had to type in from the magazine

OMG yes, I remember those times, too. Hours of tedious typing to play a game you didn't know if it was worth it until you were finished. 😮 Sometimes, my mother would read the lines of numbers to me while I was typing them in. One magazine had a typing tool (that you also had to type in first, of course) with checksums so you could spot typing errors right after each line, and not by equally tedious searching when a game wouldn't work.

Yeah, these were the good old times … *sigh* 😉

[VictimRLSH]

I remember some game that was similar to ladybug where you were being chased around a maze by giant boomerangs. For a magazine game the sound effects were awesome. Can't remember the name though. :(

[thelostsoul]

New Games

Hello guys, how are you? I don't remember the text I wanted do for the preface here. So, then let's jump right into it!

Arcade / Mame2003:

lr-mame2003 (v0.78)

• Evil Stone
  evilston.zip
  This is a strange one, part brawler, part top down platform jump & run, part shoot'em up. Definitely an unique game with good presentation.

Arcade / Mame2010:

lr-mame2010 (v0.139)

• Dragon World 2
  drgw2.zip (needs bios pgm)
  A similar puzzle game to Mahjong principle (actually not really sure here). Taking a stone will free others near to it. Get 3 of same type and they will be destroyed.

Arcade / FBA set:

lr-fbalpha (v0.2.97.43)

• FixEight
  fixeight.zip
  Top down walk and run shoot'em up by Toaplan. This is similar to Commando and is a sequel to Out Zone.

[Brigane]

@thelostsoul Great stuff, I'll be sure to check these out tomorrow. I might even have to add them to my own hidden gems list :)

[VictimRLSH]

Microwave (Apple ][) - Similar to Pac-Man in that you have to navigate a maze, but this time you are collecting assorted electronic equipment and tools. The grenades explode randomly, so watch out for those. You can save up microwave dishes and use them when you want by pushing fire or space. The dish points away from you and broadcasts a deadly microwave beam. YOU have a radiation resistant suit and can remain in the beams a SHORT time before eventually dying from radiation exposure.

[thelostsoul]

@VictimRLSH One of the music of it reminds me the Cantina music from Star Wars^(starting at 0:27s). :D The game itself have 4 screens (only), but that was common back then. Is the glitch on level 2 normal? Unfortunately I don't have Apple 2 emulator setup here, can't test it out myself.

@Brigane The story behind the new findings is strange. I just found out that Battletoads on arcade is a completely different game and added it and the NES version also got recommended a lot. And after some changes, I do backup. The number of changes/additions was not enough to make a backup, so I started stumbling around and picking randomly game titles from lists. To my surprise, they were interesting.

[Clyde]

@victimrlsh Nice variation of the Pac Man gameplay, although I couldn't stand the sound for more than a few minutes until my ears would bleed. ;)

@thelostsoul It certainly is the Mos Eisley Cantina music. I wonder if they actually licensed it or just flew under Lucasfilm's legal radar. :D Or maybe that's why the music shifts between different tunes every couple of seconds – so it falls under some copyright law that allows short samples of protected content?

[VictimRLSH]

@clyde That was my wife's complaint when I used to play it constantly when I actually had an Apple (unfortunately, it decayed into uselessness. ).

@thelostsoul Linapple autoconfigures analog sticks so all you need is a Playstation or Xbox controller with analog sticks, so it won't be hard to set up.

[Brigane]

@victimrlsh said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

Linapple autoconfigures analog sticks so all you need is a Playstation or Xbox controller with analog sticks, so it won't be hard to set up.

Would you say it's possible to set up if I have an arcade stick and six buttons? If it's possible I may add it to my Bartop arcade game collection.

[thelostsoul]

I just discovered an NES game. It is known for its good soundtrack (although not many tracks). The composer was Tim Follin, you probably know him from Rock n' Roll Racing or Plok.

NES:

lr-nestopia

• Pictionary
  A board game with different small action games involved. You play a small game and then you have to type and guess a picture.

Look at it (yeah, I know), how awesome it sounds by the NES standards:

[mitu]

@thelostsoul Yes, Pictionary is renowned for its soundtrack, just like Journey to Silius, another great soundtrack.

[thelostsoul]

@mitu Like many soundtracks from Sunsoft at that time. They had great titles. Journey to Silius is on my to do list to play. I already heard a lot of good things about its soundtrack, but because I plan to play it, I just don't want listen to the soundtrack before I start the game. ;-) The Pologue and Stage 1 sounds so great!

[Clyde]

@mitu @thelostsoul Do you know how good Journey to Silius is gameplay-wise?

Besides, a great soundtrack can improve an otherwise mediocre game a lot. One Man and his Droid for the C64 is such an example. You just herd robot sheep to an exit in a particular order, but I could play it for hours only because of its one, repeating track from Rob Hubbard.

[mitu]

@clyde I haven't played it yet, just watched the intro and some part of the first level.

[thelostsoul]

@clyde I just tried it for 10 minutes or so, to ensure the rom is working correctly in my collection - and it felt good. Controls feel good, the overall gameplay and style feels good. Reading about the game in the wild, Journey to Silius is described as a little hard game later, but thats ok for my part and everyone agrees on the good (at least better than average) quality of this game in gameplay wise. That's all I can tell for now.

The One Man and his Droid game doesn't look that bad. It reminds me some sort of Lemmings, but very simplified. If you ever wanted to be an dog, then try this game. :D Yeah and our good ol' Rob. :-)

[VictimRLSH]

I remember playing Solstice on the NES, awesome soundtrack.

The first comment is hilarious:

CobaltBW
2 years ago
0:00 "eh whatever, this is just another sh...y nes soundtrack"
0:09 "WOAH WHAT THE F..., MY MIND"

[thelostsoul]

@victimrlsh I hear its soundtrack for the first time, sounds really good. Looking up in Wikipedia I see its ... off course, Tim Follin. ;-) I am currently at playtime 4:30 or so and love the track. Btw, there is an Solstice 2 on the SNES with a different title "Equinox" (same composer).

[thelostsoul]

New Games

The title of this posting is misleading - 6 "new" finds for you, not new releases. ;-) You may have heard from some of these entries, like Do-Re-Mi Fantasy, as it got a lot of recommendations. Have fun.

NES (1 Game):

lr-nestopia

• Nuts & Milk
  The first third party game for the NES, by Hudson Soft. This is a little old arcade styled single screen jump and run, like Donkey Kong. There is a different version of the game for MSX. That one is from top down, this NES version is a side view.

SNES (5 Games):

lr-snes9x

• Do-Re-Mi Fantasy - Milon no Dokidoki Daibouken
  Japan only side scrolling jump & run. Its very cute and and easy to play, the graphics and sound design is wonderful. Nobody knows why this game from Hudson Soft never left Japan. There is a good English patch for this.

• Ganbare Daiku no Gensan / Hammerin Harry
  A not very known entry in the Hammerin Harry series, because it never left Japan. It is a side scrolling anime styled platformer. The main protagonist have a big hammer and thats the main feature.

• Pieces / Jigsaw Party
  This is an interesting take on the puzzle genre. It is a versus match block like styled game, but you have to solve jigsaw puzzle faster than you opponent.

• Rendering Ranger R2
  A Turrican and Contra like side scrolling Jump and Shooter, by no one else than Manfred Trenz, the Turrican god himself. Graphics are pre rendered and have an unique look. It got only a Japanese release, but its perfectly playable to us too.

• Whirlo / Xandra’s Big Adventure
  A cute side scrolling platformer by Namco. It''s one of those titles which got a EU release, but not a US. The graphics style and art is actually nice to look.

[Clyde]

@mitu @thelostsoul Thanks for your replies about Journey to Silius, and @thelostsoul for the additional information about it.