A couple of weeks ago, in an act of sheer vanity, I posted some pictures of my attic games room to Reddit.
As usual I got some lovely responses and exclamations of envy, which, let's be honest, was exactly what I was going for.
People also asked a number of questions, and the one pertinent to this introduction was: "What is your favourite game from all these systems?" and then the author went on to state their love for Missile Command on the 2600 - Fine taste indeed.
However, when I first read the question, without my glasses and before my first cup of tea of the day, I thought it asked "What is your favourite game for each of these systems?" which is a subtle difference in terms of question, but a massive one in terms of the answer.
And it’s that second, imagined, question that I'm using this blog to respond to:
For each of my 26 home consoles and computers, and 10 handhelds, which is my favourite game?
I’ve decided to break this down into 4 sections as, even with just a brief paragraph for each, 36 is a lot of games to read about in one hit.
Those sections will be as follows:
Vintage - Consoles and computers launched in the 70’s and 80’s.
Retro - Hardware released in the 90’s.
Handhelds - Any primarily portable console with its own, built in screen. No age restriction.
Modern - Machines that came out in the 21st century.
I’ll be listing in chronological order of system release, indicated by the date in brackets.
So let’s get started with the golden oldies...
You may think it odd, coming from someone who clearly loves vintage and retro games, to hear that I don't think many VERY old games are even worth playing, let alone making it on to any 'best of' list.
For me the games industry (as it were) didn't start to hit its stride until the early to mid eighties . I'm not saying that there weren't great examples prior to this, especially in the arcades, but on home systems I don't think there's much more than novelty value to most games released before that rough line in the sand.
So I guess it's no surprise that my favourite game on the 1977 released 2600 is from 1984.
H.E.R.O. was ported to many other systems, but the 2600 version is the original and the best. There's a brilliant, simplistic, logic to navigating the game's tunnels on your heli-pack, using dynamite and quick reflexes to rescue trapped explorers.
Even the 2600s limitations make sense in this context; the vast blackness of the screen perfectly representing the cavernous abyss.
Well, this is awkward. 2nd system in and I'm a bit stumped.
My ZX81 was a freebie that didn't come with the RAM expansion that is required to play any of the games. I'm having a crisis of indecision on whether to mod the system with an internal upgrade or stump up for an original RAM Pack, and in the meantime I'm unable to play anything.
3D Monster Maze came bundled with some other games when I got the machine and is the game I most want to play on my ZX81, so I'm listing that here. I'm fully aware that isn't the point of this but it won't happen again. Promise.
Turns out that 1982 was quite the busy year for hardware releases, with the beautiful ZX Spectrum beating others out of the gate by just a few months.
This is the computer that started it all for me, the love and memories I have for this machine are immeasurable. I spent unquantifiable hours playing Way of the Exploding Fist, Starstrike II, Stunt Car Racer, Batman, Robocop, Chase H.Q., Delta Wing, Chaos, Rebelstar II, and many, many more - but the game I love the most, and the one I return to most often, is unquestionably Turbo Esprit.
A technical marvel that includes 4 'living' 3D cities full of traffic, pedestrians, and criminals to be chased down and rammed off the road, Turbo Esprit is a precursor to Chase H.Q., Die Hard Trilogy, Driver, and - most notably of all - GTA.
The stunning level of detail and thrill of throwing the car around the game's ninety degree corners at full speed remain to this day, and the option to play the bad guy - by racking up as many Penalty Points as possible before the other bad guys flee the city - essentially makes this two exceptional games in one.
Although it launched in August ‘82, 4 months after the Spectrum, I came to the C64 after having owned and loved a ZX Spectrum for a number of years.
When I was a youngster I had no real knowledge of the technical pro and cons of these machines, however, I was very aware that the C64s games were more colourful than that of the Spectrum but somehow less detailed, and the music and sound were clearly superior, but I it was also very clear to young me that I just didn't seem to enjoy playing the C64’s games as much as I did those on the Spectrum..
The most memorable exception to this rule was Nebulus - a game which not only looked and sounded much better, but was more fun to play.
The main puzzle-platforming elements were largely unchanged, a little faster, and still hugely enjoyable. But it was the addition of bonus levels, where your little froggish character (I want to say it's name was Pogo?) zipped to the next level in a submarine while catching fish for bonus points, that added a brilliant level of variety to an already great game.
Last machine in the ‘82 trio to release; in America the Vectrex was on shelves just in time for Christmas, launching in November of that year.
Whenever I share images of my games collection online, someone will always point out the Vectrex as the star. Genuinely, every time. No exaggeration.
And that’s lovely, and absolutely not what annoys me. The mildly irritating part is that no-one ever asks or talks about games for the Vectrex.
Obviously it's a fairly rare beast and people are just happy to see one, but games machines are all about the games, and it seems people are far more interested in the Vectrex as a 'thing' than they are in it as a games machine.
But I’m not practising what I preach, so: Web Warp (AKA Web Wars) has a depth of gameplay not that frequently seen on the hardware, at least in the game's original library.
Not only does the game offer an impressive line in pseudo-3D, into the screen, shoot-em-up action, but it adds a layer of strategy as you try and capture various beasts and move them to your ‘trophy room’ at the same time as fending off the baddies.
The game is both a technical marvel and hugely addictive - and you really can't ask for much more than that.
As a kid I knew exactly zero people who owned a games console. At one point, late in it's life, a neighbour had a Master System, but on a wide scale, in my particular corner of the world, everyone had home computers; ZX Spectrums, Amstrads, and the occasional C64. As such, I have no emotional attachment to the NES and my library totals exactly 8 games, the best of which is easily Solar Jetman.
I must pause here and make it clear to you, dear reader, that I don't like Mario games.
Or Donkey Kong.
Or Zelda.
I own every mainstream Nintendo console and handheld and a pretty sizeable collection of games for many of them, but despite a few exceptions, most of the games in these big name franchises just don’t do anything for me. So don’t expect to see them here, or against any other Nintendo console later on.
Anyway, back to Solar Jetman...
Interestingly, I only found out recently that this is the second sequel to JetPac, one of the first games I ever played at any length on my ZX Spectrum. It didn’t start out that way, but when the developer was bought by Rare they made this game, that was well into development, part of that classic series.
Taking a lead from other revered titles like Gravitar and Thrust, Solar Jetman uses the same familiar gravity/inertia gameplay (of which I am a huge fan) with the addition of light multi-direction shooting.
It's ridiculously difficult, a fact that apparently led to the cancelled release of several nearly completed ports, but I have particular love for the characterful graphics, the attention to detail of which puts it a notch above many 8 bit games.
A month after the NES arrived in Japan, the Acorn Electron - more or less a BBC Micro by another name - launched in the UK.
Today it still has a small but passionate fanbase in that territory, but remains virtually unknown elsewhere.
I can't remember if my Grandparents owned their Electron before my brother got a ZX Spectrum, or if it was the other way around, but this is definitely one of the first two systems I played 'at home'.
On the whole the software available was pretty simple, with an abundance of text adventures and rudimentary platformers, but there was also Arcadians, a Galaxians clone built for the BBC Micro and released 2 years later, in 1984, for the Electron.
Considering the vintage and hardware restrictions it was remarkably adept at bringing the arcade experience to a system designed for home banking and teaching kids to fill a screen with rude words. It was colourful, fast, smooth, and I have the sound of swooping enemies etched in my memory to this day.
Ah, the Master System, the runt of so many console collection litters. Overburdened with cut down versions of games designed for it's big brother; the Mega Drive, there weren't really a lot of stand out games for this gorgeous looking 8 bit machine.
The arcade port of Enduro Racer stands out for me mostly because it isn't an arcade port at all. Rather it takes the vague idea of the arcade game and recreates it as an isometric racer. So instead of riding into the screen and hoiking back on a life size bike, the Master System version of Enduro Racer has the player represented by a tiny sprite, riding from the bottom left to the top right corner.
It cemented itself as a favourite for me when I discovered the game features a precursor of Crazy Taxi's Crazy Dash.
That may seem an extreme analogy, but when you're playing it really does have that exact rhythm. You press back as you hit a jump to wheelie then forward as you hit the top to keep the speed.
On top of this, the game is further elevated beyond the basic by the developers decision to embrace the distance from the original and actually turn the game into an endurance event, rather than the checkpoint racer from the arcades.
Add in inter-stage upgrades and you have a very addictive game of genuinely surprising depth.
Quick note: I know a lot of people would have chosen Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap for this machine, and I do own that game, but it is 1 of 544 games in my collection that I just haven’t played it yet - so I have no idea if I agree with the consensus at this point.
Just recently, thanks to a new job, my collection has grown quite quickly with the addition of three consoles.
The beautiful, tiny, Japanese PC Engine has been on my wishlist for a while, so when I saw (an only mildly yellowed) one available for a very good price I snapped it up.
The downside of the machine being so new (to me) is that I don't have a large collection to choose from - but as an arcade kid at heart I think that Vigilante would still be up there anyway.
Taking the form of a 'single lane' brawler, Vigilante on the PC Engine is gloriously close to the arcade original, with only a few small details missing.
It may seem simplistic, but the lack of movement on the y axis brings a very different kind of gameplay and screen management to bear, and a different kind of fun and challenge comes along with it.
