Got it! So 1987 on the 15th, and then 1986 again on the 1st, and then 1987 again on the 15th!
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Namco, Sega and Capcom alone all bring some heavy hitters pre 1986. If Out Run is our choice for game of '86 - I’m curious to see where Hang-On would land for '85.
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Or we could do Fibonacci sequence: 1986, 1987, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2007, 2020, 2035…
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Let’s start back at 1980 so I can learn about the cool and good games through my own research and others picks.
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I’m mostly interested in how far back we could get before people go “uh, Breakout I guess, who cares?”
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For my own purposes I’ve identified this as 1978. I’m pretty passionate about the actual quality of Space Invaders even beyond any historical value. If it never existed except for as a freeware indie game released yesterday on itch I’d still like it just as much (which is a lot). Before Space Invaders I have no particular feelings.
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oooo this list kicks ass thank you
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I live to serve (serve = make lists)
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this also reminds me of a time in middle school when a friend and i were trying to make our own language on the playground. another kid overheard us and made a snide comment. my friend and i were like “oh yeah?? when have you ever made a language?” the kid calmly said “i already have” and pulled out a sheet of paper that had his own invented alphabet on it.
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I’ve made my own list like that (which I keep private) and the year for me is 1985. Maybe I’m a swine, but most pre-Famicom stuff does very little for me (with the exception of maybe Missile Command).
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But Xevious… Tower of Druaga… Pac-Man and Libble Rabble… I could make a diverse and honest GOTY spread pre-1985 just using Namco titles alone!! There’s omega hot stuff back there
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sorry for spam replying @Funbil - when did you make this list?
i ask because it’s helpful to know if we make our choices in the warmth and zeal of immediacy or in the cold glaze of time
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I know I already said I’m a swine, but I’m going to reinforce that by saying that listening to Xevious’ sounds gives me literal motion sickness.
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I’m guessing between 1978 and 1983
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It was some time back in 2022, likely around the time Pocky & Rocky Reshrined came out for the sake of making a statement lol. But I’ve been updating it with some regularity since then. For example you can find Dark Savior in the 1996 runners up even though I had only just played it last week
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I didn’t realize how stacked this year was til I started googling and now I can’t settle on one. I’m thinkin it’s between Alter Ego, Takeshi’s Challenge, Trinity, Fantasy Zone, and Out Run.
Fantasy Zone is the one I’ve played the most and am most likely to “put on,” but Alter Ego and Takeshi’s Challenge are the most special to me.
I guess I’ll go with Takeshi’s Challenge to get it on the list lol. I don’t have a smart reason for liking it, I just think it’s hilarious. Not even because it’s a kusogē - the choices/actions required to complete the game are genuinely funny. You play as such a weird scumbag lmao.
Choice selections from a walkthrough:
- Take a seat at the bar, choose any of the top three options (liquor, scotch, or brandy), but not the bottom option (water).
- Each time you drink, you will be asked, in various ways, if you would like another. Keep selecting the top option to agree until you black out.
- Divorce your wife.
- When you wake up, you will be at home. Be careful because both your wife and kids will attack you.
- Approach to the right and a dialog will begin. Choose the last option (りこん してくれ, have a divorce). Then choose the top option (いしゃりょうを はらう, pay her consolidation money), and you will be divorced. Leave the house.
- Talk to your boss and collect your $200,000 salary. Leave the room and return. This time choose the 1st option (じひょうを だす, give him a letter of resignation), and collect the $500,000 severance.
- Finally, squat down by the potted plant in the main office to collect a $100,000 nest egg that you had been hiding. You should now have $800,000.
- Sit down at one of the pachinko machines. Choose the least amount of balls, 100 balls for $500 and a pachinko game will start. Tap
to flick the balls onto the playfield so that they yield no extra balls. You actually want to run out of balls.
- Just as you approach your last ball, start shouting into the mic, or press
- After you sing for a second and third time, they will ask you to sing another song at random. You are given two options. Choose the bottom option (けんかする, quarrel), and a fight will break out in the bar. Yakuza members will show up. You have to eliminate any hostess that is standing in the bar as that will prevent you from earning the treasure map.
- After all of the women have been beaten up, lay low (literally squat down), and beat up one of the Yakuza members after a while so that an old man shows up. The old man will offer you a piece of paper.
- If you choose the fifth option, to expose [the map] to sunlight, you must allow the game to sit for an hour without touching the controller. Once an hour passes, the map will appear. If touch the controller before the hour is up, you will lose the map and you will have to leave the bar and repeat the karaoke sequence.
- Once the map appears, you will be back in the bar. You must beat up the old man who gave you the map (or presumably, he will beat you to obtaining the treasure). This step is required.
And I love how the game’s difficulty, the way everything and everyone tries to kill you (including your wife and kids), underpins how pathetic this guy’s life is. Crashing into the ocean and dying in the infamously difficult paragliding level is actually such a fitting end lol
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Oh good pull! I’ve always wanted to play this
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Did Shigesato Itoi play games with mechanics like this to give him the Earthbound idea of sitting for three minutes pressing nothing to get into the secret base?
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Great list! Followed on Backloggd
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How good is Fantasy Zone?
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