Parteibuch Aggregator Feed - Items from date 2010-08-02

Together Retro Game Club: NBA Jam

Together Retro Game Club — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:24:27 +0000

Presented by Fastbilly & Racketboy
New To Together Retro? Check out the introduction to the club

I have been trying to think of one word to describe this months Together Retro title and just haven’t had any luck. Bodacious and Badical just cant seem grasp the awesomeness of this title. I mean what other game did Shaquille O’Neill own two copies of the arcade cabinet for: one for home one for travel. No wait, I’ve got it: Boomshakalaka, that’ll work. As you can tell, this month we are playing that exquisite arcade basketball game NBA Jam. So lace up your sneakers, its time to go break a backboard as Bill Clinton.

History

NBA Jam was coded Mark Turmell listen to our podcast interview with Mark , who, if you have been keeping up Together Retro you will recognize as the creator of Smash TV. Despite what many people believe NBA Jam did not create the over the top sports genre. Arch Rivals was released by Midway in 1989 and is considered the prime inspiration for the title. It was, however, the first arcade game to use NBA licensed teams and player likenesses. It’s over the top gameplay style and exaggerated physics are what sold it to the fans though. Also of note, it is one of the very few games on the Midway T-Unit hardware.

According to Turmell, the game was a more serious basketball game until he coded the first dunk. He didn’t mean to do something zany, but with the velocity and height entered, well it just looked cool. So he pushed it to be higher and look even cooler, changing the dynamic of the game from then on. NBA Jam also introduced an unheard of number of Easter eggs for a game at that time. Hidden characters ranging from mascots to political figures to the creators were all available with the right passcodes. I mean who doesn’t want to play the Clinton team: Bill Clinton and George Clinton.

Gameplay

2-on-2 basketball game on an indoor court with very few rules or penalties. The only penalties are goaltending and 24 seconds. Thanks to the exaggerated physics players can jump several times their height, do numerous flips into a goal, and who can forget the signature “he’s on fire” ability to have the ball, well, be on fire. Gameplay is quick and fast, but very easy to learn and is forgiving until you get to the higher levels of competition.

Legacy

NBA Jam has spawned countless imitators and a long running series with ports or sequels on most 16 and 32 bit consoles. However, over time it ran its own name into the ground with mediocrity. Midway did the right thing though, it went under and EA bought the license. And if you do not keep up with modern gaming news let me tell you to buy a Wii since NBA Jam comes back to home consoles in October. Rumors say there are PS3 and 360 ports coming aswell, but Wii is 100% confirmed. And yes, Tim Kitzrow is back to be the voice of the announcer.

Ports

Gameboy – 1993
GameGear – 1993
Genesis – 1994
SNES – 1994
Sega CD – 1994

Controls

Joystick: Move
Three buttons: Shoot, Pass, Turbo

Turbo / “On Fire” Capabilities

The turbo button will make your player move twice as fast and perform special moves such as dunks or extra-high jumps.
You need to recharge it if you hold the button for too long
Score three baskets in a row and you’ll become “on-fire” for as long as the opposition is held scoreless.
The player who is on-fire will have increased abilities and unlimited turbo, no goaltending, and increased shooting ability.

Emulation Help

Racketboy Emulation Forum

Together Retro Discussion

Instead of posting in the comments section of the blog, we will be using the forum for all of our discussion in order to keep things more organized. So play NBA Jam and talk to us about your thoughts and play experiences in the forums. We want to know your favorite route, your highscores, and your failures.
Discuss The Game In The Forum

Today's Mortality Reminder: Super Joe Publishes His Memoirs

Today's Mortality Reminder — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:50:00 +0000

A friend just sent me a link that made me feel profoundly old. August 2, 2010 is a day I've known was coming for a long time, but I've been sort of dreading it and I'd actually let it completely slip my mind... right until that link popped up.

As for the link in question, it wasn't anything spectacular. Just an NES screenshot of solid black with the words "2010.8.2 - Joe" printed on it in white. But I instantly recognized it as the final screen of one of my favorite games ever: The NES version Bionic Commando. Weird how such a simple thing can make a guy feel so mortal.

Here's the deal, though. Bionic Commando was a sort of semi-sequel to the arcade game by the same name in which the coin-op hero, Super Joe, has been captured behind enemy lines. The player controls a new recruit, Rad Spencer, on a mission to rescue the Federation's abducted hero. Eventually Joe is found, and Spencer uses the intel his predecessor gathered to put a stop to a plot for world domination. The day is saved, the enemy base explodes, and everyone goes home.

The ending surrounding the credits roll is presented as a recollection, recounting the mission as if it were something that happened years ago. There's a wistful tone to the text, the heavy musings of an old man looking back at his life. Eventually, you realize that Bionic Commando is meant to have been Super Joe's memoirs, written decades later in his twilight years.

So, yes, this means that the heroes of the NES have officially reached retirement age. And that, in turn, means that I'm really damn old now, too. I remembering seeing this screen back in 1988 and thinking, "Wow, that's so far away." But time makes fools of us all....

Really, though, what this reminder ultimately achieves is making me nostalgic for the concise, powerful endings of the best NES games. Something about the brevity and simplicity of the games and the sparseness of the presentation made these endings feel a lot more profound than the drawn-out cinematic finales you get these days. BioShock used this technique, too! I still don't know exactly what's happening in the ending to Mega Man 2, but it makes me wistful every time.

On a related note, Bob Mackey noted that yesterday was the day that an old episode of The Simpsons slated to be Lisa's wedding date. That makes me sad, too, but not because it's a symbol of mortality or anything. I'm just bummed because it's such a potent reminder of how The Simpsons is so far beyond its sell-by date.

Benj Edwards: A Study of Operating System Games

Benj Edwards — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:08:20 +0000

Many computer operating systems throughout history have shipped with at least one free game — Solitaire and Minesweeper are some of the most famous examples. Knowing this, I thought I’d take a stroll through history and examine other OS pack-in games. I ended up with an amusing collection of over twenty games from 1971 [...]

Benj Edwards: [ Retro Scan of the Week ] ASG Video Jukebox

Benj Edwards — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:35:27 +0000

“ASG: Eating the Rules” It really says that. Rack and stack, Jack! This totally radical ASG Video Jukebox allowed you to play six of the Sega Genesis games you already owned for only $49.99. Imagine finally being able to play those games you bought without having to insert and remove them from the system [...]

oddbob: Loony Ledges

oddbob — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:59:56 +0000

I’ll admit, I’m really looking forward to this dropping. It looks fabulous.

A BBC B styled platform game is right up my street.

Still a work in progress but you can follow that progress on our forums right about here-ish.

Stu*Bert: Batman vs Donkey Kong, and Old Spice

Stu*Bert — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:57:11 +0000

I met up with a friend that I rarely see over the weekend. He’s a graphic designer, lives in London, and is always emailing me interesting stuff he finds on the web.

The reason for us catching up was that it was our friend’s 30^th birthday, and to celebrate he had this genius idea of going to a theme park on Saturday. Suffice to say, with every school in the country closed, it was a little like being at the world’s most screechy music festival.

Queuing for the best part of 8 hours, we found ourselves standing around talking complete rubbish most of the time which is what happens when you’ve been standing for so long gravity has sucked all the blood away from your brain , but some interesting discussion did come from our mostly nonsensical queue babble. The highlight of which was my designer mate masterfully killing almost a whole ten minutes by showing us a couple of cool things on his iPhone.

The first thing was some hilarious new retro-style Old Spice commercials, which are brilliant but have absolutely nuttin to do with retro games but you can watch them here if you’re curious , and the second was a cool mock comic book cover, seen below, by artist deankotz over at deviantART, which depicts a cool comicbook/videogame crossover happening between DC’s Dark Knight and Nintendo’s famous ape.

Being a big Batman and Donkey Kong fan, not only do I now have some snazzy new wallpaper for my desktop, but I also have an impressive pair of powerful armpit mountains thanks to those Old Spice ads causing me to switch deodorant. Cheers queuing!