Release Date: 1984
Platforms: Pretty much all of them
Developer: First Star Software

Boulder Dash is a classic arcade game in the vein of Lode Runner. Going around collecting diamonds, you must dig up rocks while running away before they fall on top of you, hoping they fall on enemies. When that happens--diamonds!!  The levels get progressively more difficult as you go along. Thankfully, you usually don't have to get all available diamonds on each level, so you can pick and choose strategy. There are other obstacles that will pull your hair out (expanding walls!), but if I remember correctly, some versions of the game had unlimited lives so you could experiment until you passed each level.

It's not that great of a game, but it brings back a wave of nostalgia for me, sitting in front of the IBM XT with a huge joystick and endless patience, mastering a game I can't bother with for more than fifteen minutes today.

Whatcha playing?

Over at DbT, we're now entering the top 10 for the best adventure games of all time.  Today's offering stars everyone's favorite whip-wielding, snake-fearing, fortune and glory seeker.

Release Date: 1993
Platform: Sega Genesis
Developer: Mutant Productions

I never owned any Sega system and I'm sure I've missed out on many great games. However, I did rent a Genesis a few times and Mutant League Football was one of the games we frequented.  It's a silly little game, where one can often win the game by killing or dismembering so many of your opponents they can no longer field a team. You can bribe officials, plant mines, and various other evil things that have little to do with football. In other words, a good idea!

I honestly don't know if I can recommend it because it's been years, but if you do boot it up, you'll hopefully laugh a few times.  What I want to know is what other Sega games, for the Master System or the Genesis, did I miss and should feel bad about?  My best friend talks up the Phantasy Star series of RPGs.  I hear the sports games tend to be better than their SNES counterparts.  And yes, I've played Sonic.  What else should I look at?

And, of course, whatcha playin' these days?

My last column before my life changes forever, I won't be reviewing an actual game today.  My blog is still churning out reviews.  If you have an interest in adventures games, check out the current countdown, where I have already detailed a game where you play characters in Edgar Allen Poe stories, another where you play a transgendered character, and not to mention the always lovable bunny and canine detectives.

While I suspect I'll have much less time to play games than I used to, I imagine over the course of the next fifteen years the ones I do play I'll enjoy more.  I also imagine I'll be way more efficient with my free time than I am now.  My goal to get a PS3 is now shot, but I may make more use of my DS.

For those in the nation that are fathers and still find time for games, how do you fit them in?  Do you enjoy playing more than you used to?  Do you involve the family more?  What did you give up?

Whatcha' playing?

The Top 100 NES Countdown will be over before the next PPM column.  Today's game at #22 is R.C. Pro-Am.

Release Date: September, 1987
Platform: NES
Developer: TRY

I think my parents fell for the marketing ploy that the power pad would give us a reason to exercise while playing the Nintendo.  We got one game for the terribly expensive pad, and that was World Class Track Meet.  It's not a terribly good game, and it did not make my list of best one-hundred NES games.  But we played it quite a bit, especially when we wanted to get our "exercise" in without going outside.

The game has several track events which start off fairly easy and get increasingly difficult as you face tougher opponents.  The idea is that you basically run on the pad, and jump if the game calls for it (e.g. with the long jump or triple jump).  It didn't take us very long that there were ways to easily cheat the game.  One could jump off the pad, then jump back on after insanely long jumps.  And getting on your knees and hitting the pad with your hands could speed things up.  Of course, if the game were awesome in its own right, finding ways to cheat it wouldn't have been at the forefront.  But the game is so limited, as are the uses for the power pad, that there's little reason to use it for exercise or any other reason.

I still haven't played any new games of note recently.  What's keeping you busy this past month or so?

Today begins the Top 50 of my NES countdown.  Today's featured game is Dragon Warrior.

Release Date: 1988
Platform: LCD Handheld
Developer: Tiger

Yeah, the entire Tiger system is painfully outdated, with it's blippity bloop sounds and constantly flashing graphics.  But I spent way too much time playing it.  How about you?  There's really no need to review the game, but here's a picture to refresh your memory.

This month's questions is as follows: What were your favorite Tiger handheld games?

For anyone who missed it, the Top 100 NES games countdown has commenced over at Death By Troggles.  Today's game, Cobra Triangle, is #74 on the list.

Release Date: 2004
Platform: Windows
Developer: Oberon

Murder Mystery and Minesweeper.  It took this long for someone to combine the two?  Your guess is as good as mine.

BeTrapped! is the brainchild of Jane Jensen, designer of the Gabriel Knight series.  You play as Mr. Parker, solving a mystery in a manor filled with hundreds of booby traps.  Each time you enter a new room, you must play minesweeper, determining which spots on the floor have traps and deactivating them.  Once you’ve cleared a room, you can talk to houseguests to unravel the case of the murdered estate lord.

Unlike minesweeper, you are allowed to screw up on occasion and still not die (though there are a few local time limits), and even if you do, you can save your progress.  And unlike most games that pass themselves off as mysteries, you actually do have to take notes and deduce the murderer at the end of the game.  Though reaching the end is incredibly easy, winning requires an acute mind, as the clues are devilishly woven throughout the game.  Sadly, if you’re wrong, the game will tell you who the murderer is anyway.

Overall, this game is quite fun while it lasts, though it’s short and leaves little reason to replay it.  You can create your own rooms of booby traps to practice in (and to best one’s own speed records), but after a while I longed for the original minesweeper that accomplishes the same goal while being less tedious.  But BeTrapped! is a clever idea that was given the execution it deserved by one of the genres most original minds.

Whatcha playing?

Hey ya'll!  Sorry I was absent last month.  Maybe the wedding got in the way.  Either way, I wanted to give everyone a head's up on what's going on over at my website.  I just recently finished the Star Trek countdown, and coming soon will be the Top 100 NES games.

So far this column has talked about great games and my site will follow suit.  So today let's discuss terrible games.  Won't limit it to the NES, but if you have a nomination for worst NES game, let it fly in the comments.

Without counting unlicensed games, like Action 52 and Bible Adventures, there's still plenty to choose from.  Of games that were somewhat well known, I'd have to nominate Bart vs. the Space Mutants.  Awful graphics, shoddy game control, a botched license with little humor, and overall confusion as to the goal pretty much sums it up for me.  Of course, the above description could apply to about 100 games on the NES.  So what do you say?

Also, of course, feel free to discuss any awesome finds you've come across recently.

Release Date: 1982
Platform: Arcade
Developer: Bally Midway

As I mentioned here last month, I found this game at the Pinball Hall of Fame.  I remember playing this a lot when my family was holed up at a Sheraton hotel for a week when I was six.  We had a house fire and the insurance company was putting us up there.  And we got plenty of quarters.  My brother and I played this one probably more than any other (though Hogan's Alley made a run for the top spot).

It's hard to explain this game for those who haven't seen or seen the movie, but I was surprising to find it holds up pretty well today yet.  Scenes from the movie are emulated the best they can, including entering the Input/Output tower, Tron's battle against the MCP, and the light cycles.  The graphics are solid and the sounds are pretty impressive as well.  In fact, one magazine awarded Tron the best coin-op game of 1982.

If you ever find yourself in an arcade that has this game, I highly recommend giving it a quarter or seven.

So whatch'all playing?

Release Date: 1981
Platform: Atari 2600, GameBoy Color
Developer:  Atari

I grew up with Atari, which is to say it was the system we had until I was seven years old and the NES came out.  Then we kind of stopped playing.  And there's not really any games I go back and play anymore.  I loved Pitfall 2, and Moon Patrol, and Missile Command, and especially Keystone Kapers.  But my favorite may have been Yar's Revenge.

It's quite simple really.  You control a fly called a Yar.  You have to destroy a laser base named Qotile (and get REVENGE).  There's shooting and force fields and lasers and missiles and all that.  But for 1981, the game play was very fluid and the sound and graphics were pretty sweet.  As far as games go that repeat seemingly endlessly with little variation between levels, I enjoy this way more than Q*Bert or Pac-Man.

In addition to what you're playing, what was your favorite Atari game and why?

Release Date: 1989
Platforms: NES, Xbox 360, many computer systems
Developer: Konami

I never really cared for the port to the NES.  The graphics were okay, but not great.  You could only use two turtles at a time.  There were new levels and bosses, but it always felt a bit flat to me.  I honestly like the original TMNT game for the NES better, despite its flaws.  Regardless, I'm not here to talk about the NES.  Today we're talking arcade.

When I was a kid, my mom brought me to Circus Circus about three to four times per year, usually around report card time (they gave out extra tokens for good grades).   I pretty much played the same games every time.  Double Dragon (a hundred times better than the NES port), Arch Rivals, the basketball and pitching games, Skee-Ball, and a few pinball games like Joker's Wild.  But the game I put the most quarters into was TMNT.

The cartoon series was an absolute perfect choice for an arcade game, as you had four primary good guys in Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo.  They had different weapons, different moves.  You had colorful bosses in Bee-bop, Rocksteady, Krang, and of course, the Shredder.  The graphics were awesome, the sound was mesmerizing, and the cinematic sequences made my eyes light up.  But my favorite part of this game is how it could make complete strangers become instant friends.  Whenever I saw an opening (hoping it was Donatello so I could use his bo staff), I'd rush to the console and plug in tokens until the game was won.  The satisfaction felt at winning was palpable.

I never cared much for winning tickets.  All they were good for was cheap, plastic prizes you could get cheaper at the dollar store.  Winning TMNT was tangible.  And if I saw it an arcade today, I'd be hard pressed not to plug five bucks into it.

Whatcha playing?