Friday, April 22nd, 2005
Like most kids who grew up in the 80’s, I broke my fair share of Atari joysticks before moving over to the original Nintendo and spending hours with my buddy Mario. I never bought a Nintendo beyond the Super version (SNES), but I still have both systems in a big Rubbermaid container in the closet. I also keep my old Atari up there, so if you’re interested in stopping by for a few games of Maze Craze…
There are plenty of good reasons to bring the Nintendo out of the closet, but it usually involves a need for world domination that only Genghis Khan can satisfy. It can take 30 minutes of blowing on the cartridge and slamming the system around to get the game to work, but the old school graphics and basic commands are a joy to behold. Planning to take over the world was never so much fun. I know that later games became more sophisticated, but like Madden ’99, the original Genghis Khan is a classic, and I’m not looking to upgrade.
There are probably studies out there (that I’m too lazy to look for) that explain how our game choices are a reflection of…something. For example, there has to be a good reason why I’ve never been any good at fighting games. I couldn’t win a game of Street Fighter II to save my life. My brother once invited me to play a James Bond game with him, and then kept sneaking around the corner and shooting me in the face before I could move three feet. Fun! I enjoy playing more recent games like Max Payne, but truth be told, I often play in God mode, because, see…I suck. But give me a good strategy game, and world domination is sure to follow.
I think part of the appeal is that I love stats. Don’t get confused, I hate math. HATE. But stats are fantastic. I used to have a horrible addiction to Tecmo Super Bowl, a football game on the original Nintendo. I’d sit in my room and document page after page of stats that the game didn’t keep track of. I still have a giant folder of stats from those days, in case I want to find out who holds the all time record for most rush attempts in a single (non power outage) season.
It’s a good thing.
Have you played Civilization III? Alpha Centauri? Tropico? Rise of Nations? Railroad Tycoon II or III? Europa Universalis II? If you haven’t played EU II, then you should pick it up. If you go in a game store these days, there’s a 6-pack of games that’s $19.99 that contains EUII and some others based on the same game engine. Also, Hearts of Iron II just came out.
No, I’ve never played any of those games. I’ve only heard of two of them. For that price, I think I could take a look. It would be great to have a decent strategy game for the PC. I didn’t have much luck finding a ROM for the original Genghis.
A Ghengis Khan fan! Greg, you’re the man! I LOVED that game. It is an all-time classic. This game, and this game only, prolonged my eventual jump to the Sega - back 1992 or so. I didn’t start playing it until I was a freshman in college (1991), and I almost went on Academic Probation in part due to my Ghengis addiction.
I wish I could fire that up right now. Is there a Ghengis sim out there? I’ve got to take a look around…
I second Clay’s suggestion. Try the Civilization games for a modern-day Ghengis-like gaming. (with better graphics, of course)
Well, this may be appropriate since you just had a birthday - Happy Birthday by the way!. But, Greg, you must be getting old ;)
I like JediKnight II (JK2) but when I go onto a server, I get my behind kicked royally by these “kids” that are doing these moves where they give a deathblow in one move. I materialize and get killed immediately. So, after awhile, I just start running through the maze like a crazy man just trying to wreak ANY havoc that I can possible create.
Give me the old Pong. Now that I have a shot at. Though, my eye - hand coordination are not what they were back then ;)
Great post.. brought back a lot of memories!
Yeah, Civ III is a great one for you to try. If you want a copy of Europa Universalis II, then send me your address in an email and I’ll send you mine.
Duh. There’s an opensource version of Civilization, called FreeCiv. You can grab it here.
I was never really into fighting or strategy games. My favorite game from the Nintendo era was Captain Skyhawk. Nobody I talk to has ever heard of it but it was really fun. You had to go on missions air dropping supplies to targets and destroying enemy bases. Blowing things up is very satisfying!
i recently bought a usb nintendo controller just so i could play tecmo super bowl on my laptop. i have an edited rom which now contains the names of all my friends on a hellified version of the new orleans saints. it’s simply awesome. i will send it to you if you want but you have to leave me at qb.
If you’re tired of beating the NEC around, go on e-bay and do a search for a replacement. I got one for about $20 called, “Family Boy”. I don’t care for the adapter, but I only play one or two different games out of a dozen or so.
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