[ From Electronic Games Magazine, December 1983 ]
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Just a few hours ago, I completed an epic journey that I began over ten years before.
I finally finished the game EarthBound for the Super Nintendo.
I know, I know. Usually, completing a game is no big deal, and most people probably finish EarthBound in the span of a week. But in this particular case, the accomplishment meant something much more to me. I began playing the game in 1996 when I first acquired my copy of EarthBound used from a local Blockbuster store (a video rental chain in the US). I have slowly played through the same saved game a little bit at a time, usually about once every year. There might have been a period or two over the last decade where I didn’t play it for a few years straight, which would partially explain why it has taken so long. Picking up the game again every year was always a challenge because I’d have to spend hours just reacquainting myself with what was going on in the game’s storyline at the point of my last save, and I’d also have to figure out what to do next. Sometimes, I’d get too overwhelmed and just give up figuring it out…and promptly put off the task until the next time I picked up the cart.
Well, just this month, I felt my yearly EarthBound cravings coming on again (they usually hit sometime during the first two months of the year), so I pulled out the ‘ole SNES and fired it up. This time would be different, though: I dedicated myself to finally seeing the game through — all the way to the bitter end! 2007, I figure, is a good enough year to finish a game that came out in 1995. I’m usually a traditionalist about these things, but my original SNES wasn’t feeling quite right on my fancy new TV, so I figured I’d put a little modern technology on my side to aid me in my quest.
I’ve recently been playing a number of SNES games on an old iMac that I have more or less turned into a dedicated SNES emulator machine. I thought it would be nice, for a change of pace, to play EarthBound on there. Using my Super WildCard DX2, I transferred my EarthBound cart’s SRAM data to a file (which contains all the game’s save information) and 
loaded it up on my emulator. I played through the rest of the same game I started in 1996 on the emulator with an authentic SNES pad (via a Super SmartJoy USB adapter, which I’ve been meaning to review for a year or so now). I’m not going to lie to you; save states are the Emulator God’s gift to gaming, and without them, I probably would have completed a few bosses as usual and put off finishing the game until next year. The save states made playing through the game an absolute joy over the past few days, removing all sorts of time-wasting save-related hassles and just generally smoothing out the experience. Screw the purists — it was incredible fun, not a logistical pain in the neck, like playing a game should be.
Now that the journey is over, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. In one way, I’m ecstatically happy to have finally accomplished something by playing my way through such a masterful game, and in another way, I’m heartbroken that it’s over, as EarthBound is probably one of my favorites of all time. But if it’s one of my favorite games ever, why did it take me ten years to complete?
Maybe I’m just weird like that. Or maybe I didn’t want it to end.
Welcome back! This week’s pixel challenge involves flying bullets. The theme is, appropriately, “Shooter Games.” That means all three of these pixel blocks came from video games considered to fit in the “shooter” genre. That should help you pin them down. The first block is to the right, the other two are below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!
The answers to the last challenge are after the break.
This week’s pixel challenge is our first to have a theme. This week’s theme is “Sega Systems,” which means that all three of these pixel blocks came from video game systems produced by Sega. That should help you pin them down. The first block is to the right, the other two are below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!
The answers to last week’s challenge are after the break.
Welcome to our first Name Those Pixels Challenge of 2007. I think I’ll be making this column bi-weekly from now on so as not to overload your ultra-sensitive pixel receptors. Also, if you like this column and want it to continue, please show your support in the comments.
Now, on to the pixels. This week we’ve got three games again, and two of them are from the same system. The first is to the right, the other two are below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!
The answers to last week’s challenge are after the break.
Can’t get enough pixels, can ya? Merry Christmas, my pixel-loving friends! This week I have a great challenge with a lot of diversity for you to chew on. Here’s a hint: The pixel blocks are from three different game machines — one of which is actually a computer. And yes, that is indeed pixelated cleavage. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!
The answers to last week’s challenge are after the break.
Hey there, folks. Welcome back to Name Those Pixels! Unfortunately, mgroves has gone AWOL on me this week, so it’s RedWolf here filling in.
Are you ready for the next challenge? Last week was pretty easy, so I decided to make this week a tad bit tougher. As a tiny hint, two of the pixel blocks are from the NES, and one is from a SNES game. The first one is on the right, and the other two are down below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the pictures of last week’s answers, since mgroves was the one who captured them and he hasn’t sent the full shots or the answers to me. But I do know at least two out of three of the answers. Item #1 was Barnstorming (Atari 2600), Item #2 was a Mega Man game (not sure which one, because I don’t have the original shot), and Item #3 was Earthbound (SNES).
Welcome back to Name Those Pixels. As with every Friday, it’s time for the next challenge. This time, I’ve selected three different samples from three different systems for you to guess. These ones will be a littler easier, but also a little different. See how many you can name. The first one is on the right, and the other two are down below. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry, and don’t be bashful. Good luck!
Hint: At least one of them is a U.S. NES title.
Time’s up for last week’s Name Those Pixels (Challenge #2). This one was really hard, so no one got the answer. But I have a feeling that most of you have played this game for one system or another, and you’ll probably be kicking yourself once you see what it is. Here is the full screen shot:
Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition (Genesis)
Time’s up for the first Name Those Pixels challenge! Sorry I’m so late with my second entry, but between Thanksgiving and my new Wii, I was a bit distracted last week. Speaking of which, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed your new PS3/Wii or your console of choice last weekend.
This week, I’m going to mix it up a little bit. We move from the 8-bit era of Roger Rabbit and Magic Johnson into the 16-bit era. The zoomed in view doesn’t really look very helpful when it’s 16-bit, but I gave it to you anyway. And here’s your hint: it is a U.S. Sega Genesis release. You can see Challenge #2 in the image above. As always, post your guesses in the comments section of this entry. Good luck!
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Here’s the answer to last week’s challenge. Those of you who noticed that it was the Tradewest logo are very astute. Actually, when I was cropping the picture, it didn’t really occur to me that it was their logo. Hopefully the color scheme was unique enough to differentiate from other Tradewest games. Here is the full screen of the game:
Magic Johnson’s Fast Break (NES)
Congratulations to Lone_Wolph (who got it first) and extrarice, you got the correct answer of Magic Johnson’s Fast Break.
Hello, Matt Groves here from mgroves.com. RedWolf thought that the recent Name Those Pixels contest I ran on my blog would make a great weekly feature here at Vintage Computing and Gaming.
So welcome to the first Name Those Pixels contest, VC&G edition. The object of the challenge is to guess which video game the pixels (shown in the image to the right) come from. If necessary, I will provide clues in the comments if no one is coming close, but based on the guesses I got the first time I did this, there are a lot of clever people out there who will get this right away.
To play, write your guess in this post’s comments section. The answer to this week’s challenge won’t be revealed until next week. I only ask that if you know the answer for sure, please don’t spoil it for everyone else by linking to a full screen shot of the game.
To start you off, here is your very first hint: this is a U.S. NES release.
Enjoy! –mgroves
