“Your Game Boy is about to become a man.”

While I’ve been a fan of Duke Nukem since his initial shareware debut in 1991, I’ve never played this 2D platformer for the Game Boy Color. It arrived relatively fresh on the heels of the mega-success that was Duke Nukem 3D in 1996, along with a handful of other spin-off titles for various game consoles.

The true sequel to Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem Forever, is supposedly coming soon (after 14 years in development hell), and I look forward to playing that when it arrives.

By the way — if you like Duke Nukem, you may enjoy reading this interview of 3D Realms founder and president Scott Miller that I did last year.

Discussion Topic of the Week: Which is the better game: Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, or Quake? (Not just technologically speaking, but based on the overall experience.)

Every once and a while, I receive emails from people looking for a certain game, electronic toy, or computer from their distant past. I then pass it on to intrepid VC&G readers to crack the case.

The Clues

Pete writes:

Hi…

I was thinking about a game I played as a kid, probably came out around 1982-1986 or so. I think it was called Space Shuttle, but I could be wrong. I’ve searched for it online, but all I see are flight simulator type games, and the one I’m looking for was very different.

There was a roster of astronauts with different skills and personality types, and depending who you picked for your crew, they could either get along well or go crazy onboard! One of the astronauts was Fred Pfister, I think, don’t know why I remember that. There was a way to go EVA, and each shuttle mission required you to land and take off. If I recall correctly, you even had to watch how much money you had in the budget – you could make money by carrying satellites and every mission launched had a cost to it.

I think this would have been a Texas Instruments TI 99 4A game, but it could have been a Commodore 64 game too. Any help?

Thanks,
Pete

The Search Begins

It’s up to you to find the object of Pete’s fuzzy memory. Post any thoughts or suggestions in the comments section below. Pete will be monitoring the comments, so if you need to clarify something with him, ask away. Good luck!

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Have a memory of a computer, video game, computer software, or electronic toy you need help identifying? Send me an email describing your memories in detail. Hopefully, the collective genius of the VC&G readership can help solve your mystery.

“…thus we are very skinny.”

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite first-person RPG of all time?

“System Requirements: 48k Atari, 1 disk drive, modem”

You’re looking at an ad for what may have been the world’s first multiplayer graphical online gaming service, Games Computers Play (1985). It may also have been the world’s first graphical multi-user environment, as it predated the Lucasfilm Habitat beta test for the C64 (1986) by six months or more.

I don’t know else much about this Atari 8-bit-only service beside what can be gleaned from the advertisement above, a 1985 article in Antic magazine, and this thread over at AtariAge.

One of the posters in the forum thread linked above mentioned that he/she found the creators of the service, whom I’d love to talk to myself. I’m trying to get in touch with that poster, but if anyone knows anything about this service (including info about who created it) or has stories to share, please email me here.

[Update – I did get in touch with one of the creators of this service. More info to follow. ]

Discussion Topic of the Week: What was the first game you played with another human (or humans) over a modem?

Halloween is only four days away, and if you haven’t chosen your costume already, you’re screwed. Luckily, VC&G is here to help (once again) with 13 fresh last-minute costume ideas.

Through this article, things you will see. Other places. The future…the past. Old friends long gone.* Regardless of the vintage, each of these costumes is guaranteed to get you candy or your money back. Did I mention this is the fifth entry of this longstanding VC&G tradition? Most excellent.**

* Modified Yoda quote.
** Unmodified Bill & Ted quote.

[ Continue reading VC&G’s Halloween Video Game Costume Ideas (2010) » ]

“The spell is cast this Halloween!” *GASP!!!*

That spooky, spooky holiday is just around the corner, so I figured you guys might enjoy something in theme. I think I’ve played Witchaven once or once before — even if only because it used the Build engine — but I don’t remember it well. What did you guys think of it?

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s your favorite scary/creepy computer or video game? Any platform, any era.

If you’ve checked out this week’s Retro Scan and maybe even my NES teardown, you already know that Nintendo released the NES in the United States 25 years ago today (that would be 1985 — I’ll spare you the math).

In honor of the anniversary, I gathered up 13 examples of NES-related weirdness and conveniently packaged them in a slideshow format for Technologizer. The result is “Nintendo Entertainment System Oddities,” a gallery in the same vein as my Super Mario Oddities and Game Boy Oddities pieces for Technologizer. I hope you enjoy it.

Maybe all this NES lovin’ will inspire you to dust off your old console and revisit some NES classics. It certainly did me.

One of the most successful consoles of all time.

Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System 25 years ago today in the US. Here’s a scan of that famous console itself.

I first played a NES in 1986 or 1987, likely with Super Mario Bros. as my first game (as described here). What an amazing experience it was. To say that the NES defined video gaming for my generation is almost an understatement. From 1986-1990, the term “video game” was synonymous with “Nintendo” for kids in the US. From their perspective, there was no other.

Unlike many kids my age, I was aware of what had come before (Atari), and that made the NES all the more amazing. Happy 25th birthday, NES. My generation worships you.

Discussion Topic of the Week: How did you feel when you played a NES game for the first time? Tell us when/where it happened and describe the episode.

In October 1985, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the United States. 25 years later, I took one apart for the wood-grained glory that is my “workbench series” of tech autopsies (this is my 11th entry). It’s up now on PC World.com.

Back in 2008, I dismantled the NES’s Japanese counterpart, the Nintendo Famicom (the NES’s Japanese counterpart), if you’re curious to see that. There’s a full list of my workbench teardowns below.

I hope you enjoy it. When you’re done, feel free to share your fondest NES memories in the comments below.

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Here are my previous workbench teardowns: Atari 1040STf, Atari 800, Commodore Amiga 1000, Commodore 64, Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo Famicom, Apple IIc, IBM Model M Keyboard, TRS-80 Model 100, and Macintosh Portable.

“Play slots anywhere you go without the expense!”

I believe I bought this Radio Shack LCD Mini Slot Machine unit at a hamfest back in the 1990s. The game broke not too long afterward, but I apparently kept the box and the manual.

Fast forward 15 years later. I recently discovered the box in a pile of my old stuff at my parents’ house. After flattening the box, I scanned the whole thing so you can create your own tiny three dimensional reproductions of it at home (if you’re into that Radio Shack diehard papercraft thing). Heck, fill a whole room with them and dive in!

Discussion Topic of the Week: Did you (or do you) ever own any Radio Shack electronic games? Which ones?