Precious gaming memories...

[Robert Frazer]

(EDIT: I've removed the challenge that was originally in this first paragraph as it was detracting from the actual point of the thread)

Anyway, with both Pennywise and Ed indulging in their own extensive threads recounting to us their personal experience of gaming in an epic and detailed fashion, I thought that I would attempt to burnish my own credentials by indulging in yet another gaming list!

In this thread, I shall be giving a potted history of the most memorable titles throughout my life, ones that I have either been blessed with by divine munificence or else encumbered and belaboured with by reprehensible devilish scheming.

These games are not necessarily my favourite titles, nor are they arranged in any order of preference (I can be woefully indecisive and prevaricating when confronted by situations like that, so I've decided to ignore it altogether rather than create a system I despise.). Rather, it is a chronological series relating the games which, for good or ill, have been particularly impressed upon my memory. Perhaps the titles related may pique the curiosity of some people, or we can indulge in the eternally-satisfying contentment of nostalgic reflection if I dredge up from the murky and mud-suffocated depths of the early 1990s something you chanced across yourself.

Either way, I hope you find it interesting!

Without further ado, then, I give you the first in the series and one of my (literally) very first games:
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TITLE: F-19 Stealth Fighter
DEVELOPER: Microprose
SYSTEM: Amiga 500+

Tell me... how many games can be especially remembered for their instruction manual[/i][/u]? Such is the case with this sophisticated example of monoshaded polygonal confetti. Containing detailed and comprehensive diagrams detailing the manoeuveres that you must deftly execute to guide a laser-guided bomb to its target, evade detection by a Doppler radar, perform an Immelmann Turn, and the trajectory with which to streak onto an aircraft carrier so as to engage the arrestor cables, and with quoted specifications of no less than twenty-seven aeroplanes and an equal number of varying ordnance payloads, a survey of its contents encouraged me to pretentiously stylise myself as the chief engineer at Lockheed! The manual even warned you that if you were obliged to ditch, make certain that it was done over sea to prevent the Soviets from claiming components of the most sophisticated military technology devised by man!

A remarkably complex and detailed title, considering the punitive and constrictive limitations of the humble three-and-a-half-inch disk (so much so that it included an outlay to place over the keyboard so that you could reference the dozens of control keys employed in manoeuvering your stealth fighter!), in this game you would assume the role of a fabulously skilled (at least, that was the prognosis - more often than not I was guiltily activating the 'No Crash' option so I could trundle across the Persian Gulf en route to a N.A.T.O. airstrip ) U.S.A.F. pilot engaging in a variety of missions ranging from pummeling Libya into submission for Gadaffi's terrorist tendencies, delicately subverting the course of fortunes between Iran and Iraq during their notorious 1980s 'quarrel', and finally the desperate intensity of clandestine Cold War operations within the frigid Siberian heart of the Evil Empire itself.

Despite a woefully primitive graphical system (mountains literally consisted of grey pyramids), then at my young age F-19 Stealth Fighter was a truly immersive and thoroughly engrossing experience that could devour hours as I repeatedly howled into the sky to demolish arms bazaars and photograph tank factories, before whiling away a few hours idly strafing oil tankers and terrorising hapless villages with any leftover Mavericks before jetting back to Sigonella Air Base for tea and medals. Especially fondly-remembered amongst the myriad of cinematic viewpoints you could use is the 'missile camera', which enabled you to ride your bomb, Dr. Strangelove-style, all the way to oblivion. Geronimo! ;D

More entires shall be incorporated soon...

[Mango]

NiGHTS said:

I'm not gonna reply, because I can't be bothered to read that.

Then why reply at all? That'd class itself as SPAM. Just posting to up your post count. If you ain't reading it, don't click the "post reply" button.

To veer back on topic, a lot of my most precious video gaming moments came from my Amiga. Such as Parasol Stars, Rainbow Islands and the New Zealand Story *_*

[JJ]

Y'know, when I first started my own little list, I had no idea of the massive trend it would spawn. It's always interesting to hear other people's gaming experiences.

[Samface]

Jamie said:

It's always interesting to hear other people's gaming experiences.

I gots a list coming up when I can be bothered to write it.

That missile camera sounds like the Best Thing Ever. Why have I never heard of this game?

[Robert Frazer]

Thank you for the comments - I hope that I am able to sustain the trend of interest!

And Samface - if you want to know more about F-19 Stealth Fighter, Googling "F-19 Stealth Fighter Amiga Micropose" gave me a pair of sites should help you:

hol.abime.net/?id=478 (a large number of screenshots)
www.angusm.demon.co.uk/AGDB/DBA1/F192.html (text-only review - which, unfortunately, does not demonstrate as nearly as much enthusiasm for the Atomic Cowboy Mode as I do. )


Anyway, to return to the subject matter, I provide you with the second instalment in this series of Precious Gaming Memories...
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TITLE: Wolfenstein 3D
DEVELOPER: id Software
SYSTEM: A 386 P.C. with Windows 3.11

This is an exceedingly embarrasing and humiliating admission to relate, but at the tender, unblighted, uncorrupted and innocent ages of four and five I was terrified by computers, and contemplating their use caused me to veritably quake in anxiety, dread and accumulating terror - in fact, I recall being afflicted with a thoroughly surreal nightmare where my post-toddler person was attempting to climb a flight of stairs in my house, only for my path to be barred by a computer monitor with a telescopic stand lurking on the landing, which would paralyse me by screaming a horrific torrent of incomprehensible gibberish - the only way I could subdue the monster was to croak the letter 'C' at it, which would freeze the daemonic travesty at the DOS Prompt for a few seconds so I could attempt to scramble past to safety.

Don't laugh!

Anyway... I was frightened of computers for a diverse variety of reasons - these included the ominous, daunting prospect of not being aware of how to operate them (I also remember being trapped playing a game of Double Dragon because I didn't know how to switch it off... wanting to stop was quite understandable, considering how agonising and tormentful the game is itself. ), the ominous spectre of the possibility of breaking them (one example of this is pressing the 'green filter' button on the monitor of my Amiga 500+ out of curioisty, and then running screaming out of the room because I thought I had wrecked it... ), and also the awesome terror of the games themselves... one of which was that awful section in Wolfenstein 3D when you emerged into a T-junction and a Nazi shot you in your side - I'd switch off the game rather than confront such a 'challenge' .

Although I was only ever able to play the first of six episodes on the 'shareware' method of gaming the id championed, Wolfenstein 3D remained alternately an entertaining (I would be pacing in the school playground mimicing the unintentionally hilarious death screams of the upright Aryan supermen, and the bib- and pacifier-wearing U.S. paratrooper that accompanied the easiest difficulty setting 'Can I Play Daddy?', always brought a smile to my young, fresh, unpolluted face), thrilling (the booming rumble that announced your retrieval of the ultimate armament, the Gatling Gun, was always a cherished moment in your meanderings throughout the castle catacombs), and challenging (I don't care to count the amount of times I cursed in fury as my character was veritably liquefied by unerringly accurate Gestapo pistoliers and the vision of freedom smothered by a scarlet haze... and then I would be deposited again before that iconic prison cell, the butchered guard splayed before the tantalising door, and grasping in my clammy pixellated grip that pistol with the eight, impossibly precious bullets clutched possessively in the magazine...) game. Witnessing your character's portrait degenerate from immaculate perfection to a bruised and bloodied ruin as your health declined also interested me with a morbid fascination...

Wolfenstein 3D was at, my inexperienced age, a difficlut game, and so it became one of the first that I threw myself into wholeheartedly, and one which ignited within my breast a relentless determination to not be bowed, not be broken and not be beaten.

When, finally, Level Nine and the final battle beckoned, I believed myself to be on Cloud Nine. Once the final, glisteringly golden key was reclaimed, and the final cumbersome steel portal unlocked, and I witnessed, after hours of drab stone walls and portraits of the Furher, fields and daylight... when the camera panned about, and your saw your battered, bloodied and bedraggled character suddenly march out, leap up in jubilation, and cry out that sublime bellow of victory, "Yeah!", I leapt with him.

I proceeded to go downstairs to my father and demand that he buy the full game for me, as I'd completed the one-episode demonstration. His response? "Complete it on the highest difficulty first" - entitled I am Death incarnate.

I never got past the second room.

[Oz]

I'm just gonna say that a precious gaming memory for me was when I finaly became Super Sonic on 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2'

[Robert Frazer]

I am departing on a jaunt to Portsmouth to complete my Coastal Skipper examination this afternoon, so regrettably I shall be unable to update this thread over the forthcoming week - however, I'll leave one short update to tide you over until I return.

------------------------
TITLE: Back to the Future - Part III
DEVELOPER: Unknown
SYSTEM: Amiga 500+

Yes, I recognise that this is a somewhat obscure example of the much-maligned and -derided genre of the licensed game. Yet despite the seemingly inevitable 'watermark of incompetence' that licensed games apparently require to demonstrate by legal obligation, this computerised version of Back to the Future - Part III defied that trend of enforced mediocrity and presented quite a decent challenge and sound presentation, which awards it great rarity value in my appreciation, and encourages me to include it in my Precious Gaming Memories.

Back to the Future - Part III essentially exhorted you to complete three scenarios from the game, with three separate play modes - a vertical shooting game, followed by a duck shoot at a travelling show stall, and then finally a platform level where you had to travel over the roof of a train, collecting fuel phials so as to ensure that your time-travelling car that was being pushed on the train's plough had sufficient speed to warp back to the 1980s.

What do I remember it for? That first remarkable level - Stop the buckboard from going over the cliff! As you chased after the errant cart and the hapless damsel in distress that was its unfortunate passenger at a mad gallop, the perspective would, in a quite unique twist I haven't seen other games include - change between horizontal and vertical sections - in the former you would have to leap over obstacles strewn across the Wild West desert to prevent your horse from hurling you over them, and in the latter you would be cantering through a pitched battlefield, desperately seeking to avoid being liquefied by the lethal crossfire of federal cavalrymen and red indians who were exchanging fusilades of bullets and arrows with each other on either side of the screen. And once that section was completed, you were obliged to repeat it as you stampeded into a town being overwhelmed by bandits!

This game is particularly ingrained upon my memory because it was another agonisingly difficult game of my youth - indeed, I only ever completed this first level, and even that required literally dozens upon dozens of attempts to surmount - and it was especially infuriating when the woman who were supposed to be rescuing commenced sighing "I wish I was Mary Poppins" and sarcastically sneering "One thousand, two thousand, three thousand, PULL!" as she careened off the cliff for the umpteenth time. Another game which drove me to distraction...

[Oz]

A great game moment and also a great movie moment I might add.

[Shadic?]

Hehehe, back to the future 1 on nes is the worst game ever ;D

[Robert Frazer]

Whoops... well, my ambition to install a regular serialisation of my ascent through gaming maturity has been quite comprehensively quashed, crushed, pestled, ground, pulped and otherwise thwarted.

Oh well, better late than never, I suppose...

If anyone is complaining about the extreme attention given to Amiga games, don't fret - there are only two or three more to go before I promote myself to the Megadrive!
-----------------------------------
TITLE: Hooray for Henrietta!
DEVELOPER: Scetlander.
SYSTEM: Amiga 500+.

We all know the tired dirge from our tragically misspent youth... our shrill, discordant, unbroken, reedy juvenile voices pleading with infuriatingly sceptical parents. "No, computers shan't make me a bad person, Mum... they're - ed-yoo-cay-shun-al. They'll help me with school."

What genuinely astounds, perplexes and confounds me is that so many of our parents actually believed us!

My parents were determined, however, to ensure that my humble late-generation Commodore did contribute to the germination and realisation of their offspring's academic potential - there was no Jet Set Willy or Asteroids for me until I could Freddy the Frog's typing exercise in Fun School 4. The bizzare and esoteric arithmetic-tutoring game, Hooray for Henrietta!, was one such title.

Almost all of us now are steeped in the intricacies of trigonometry, quartic equations and a vague comprehension of coffee-table level General Relativity. Yet it's quite a sobering and humbling thought, whenever I see the dust-smothered box of this title lying forlornly and miserably on a shelf in the attic, that there was a bad and merifully-distant time, far back in our toddler years, when all of us were confounded by those fiendish and insane satanspawned Kafkaesque mathematical prisons that were addition sums. It's a stark reminder of your mortality.

Cod philosophy aside, Hooray for Henrietta was genuinely a peculiar title, presented as some lunatic medley of a Lower Infant maths. book and a Heath Robinson cartoon. You played as the Bride... no, not one equipped with a katana (Bereavement education! ), but rather the prim and proper Henrietta, prepared to be married to her love Henry tomorrow. However, Henry's such a passionate bookworm that he's forgotten all about getting ready for tying the knot, and has left his bridgegroom's outfit dispersed all over the town whilst he meanders about, absorbed by his latest volume. You, as Henrietta, must retireve all the garments of your absent-minded fiancé, making progress by solving simple arithmetic operations.

However, there's a complication - a malicious and malevolent parrot, for no particular reason, wants to wreck your wedding. He's devised a variety of ingenious contraptions designed to smother the hapless Henry in liberal amounts of cold custard (Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho?), so the wedding will have to be called off whilst he cleans himself up! It's a race against time before the impudent parrot's machines complete their processes to soil the husband-to-be - for instance, one level involves Henrietta vaulting along a hurdles course whilst the parrot plays billiards - eventually one flicks a switch that inverts a custard tin over Henry.

I find Hooray for Henrietta! remarkable because it was the first game that literally drove me to tears, as I ran across the room sobbing "I'm a failure! I'm a failure!" when Henrietta was just too late to prevent the candle from burning through that rope.

Oh, those were the days... until we realise they weren't.

[Retro]

*is dead on the ground through sheer nostalgia overload*

Nice going Robert, as always good detailed, humourous and well written posts!

[Robert Frazer]

*The pressure of nostalgia is so great that Retrogamer's body is crushed into a singularity, saving a fortune on the funeral*

Anyway, it is with immense and great pleasure that I may relate that this update can be released whilst the thread remains on the first page!

---------------------------------
TITLE: Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge
DEVELOPER: Gremlin.
SYSTEM: Amiga 500+

Being as I am the devoted and determined proponent of the marvellous, mighty, magnificent and majestic (Oh, I do so adore alliteration ;D ) Sega, the great True Way of Gaming, I am a firm and conscientious exponent of the perceptive and insightful Leadbetter Axiom - "Graphics maketh not a game".

However, I can't deny that graphics certainly help.

More recently, this quality was exhibited with Shenmue - I loathe admitting it, but would F.R.E.E. be so enthrallingly immersive if its world was not so scrupulously well-rendered? - but the significance of the caveat was rammed home to me around a decade ago with Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge, which may have been my first racing game.

In its manner of gameplay, Lotus III was decidedly mediocre, playing something akin to a bargain-bucket Outrun (even to the 'tiled' roads), although it did introduce some intriguing concepts such as pace-retarding puddles, potent gusts of wind sending you careening off-course, and even laser cannons in the levels that were futuristically-themed. It did also include a course-creation program, but rather peculiarly I was never able to compel it to accept any set of racetrack parameters in all save one occasion.

But the front end...

...oh, the front END[/u]!

Can you imagine what it was like being a prepubescent boy, nonchalantly slotting that innocuous disk into his keyboard, having it click and whirr in its grating access-rasp... and then having your parents Scrape your pulped body off twenty square feet of the opposite wall when that vast, awesome, titanic, pulverising LOTUS III crushed the screen, and that low howl followed by a thunderous .MIDI fanfare, concussing from the speakers, blew me off my chair?

indeed!

Again, I stress that in terms of gameplay Lotus III was rather uninspiring and typical, but the presentation, like the Lotus cars themselves, was so stunningly arresting that it was difficult to care! Whether it was the delightful theme-jingles that played on the loading screens for each level, the score counter that hurtled upwards at a gleefully blistering pace on the Arcade mode, or the music-selection screen that was stylised as your car's dashboard, the game veritably exuded a mesmerising musk of graphical beauty from the disk drive.

Such a manner of game impressed itself upon my mind so much that it inspired a brief obsession with all manner of things Lotus Cars, and I even made Colin Chapman the subject of a First-Form C.D.T. project at school!

Again, the gameplay was nothing prominent, and it has been surpassed by far more sophisticated titles - Sega Rally, Metropolis Street Racer, et al. - but I'll never forget that title screen as long as I can still tap a joypad.

[RSM]

Tthe most obvious one that comes to mind, was turning into super sonic for the first time on Sonic 2 on the MD.

Short and Sweet ;D

[JayDog]

Going for playing Mario kart street fighter with my big bro Damn that was back in the day about ten years back . No wait we had a game of Mario kart last week.

[Stephen]

My precious gaming memorie was when I finally got past all the disappearing steps just before the starpost and the conveyor belt on wing fortress zone. Ah twas a good time

[Robert Frazer]

Well, after permitting this thread to lapse onto the fourth page, I thought it high time that I revived this rambling account of my computer-gaming history once more. I might actually manage six updates a year at this rate!
----------------------------------

TITLE: Shadow of the Beast II
DEVELOPER: Psygnosis
SYSTEM: Amiga 500+

In my previous update, I admitted that whilst I am and shall always be a devout and vigorous proponent of the Leadbetter Axiom - "Graphics maketh not a game" - I conceded that a polished and buffed graphical flair was of value in enhancing a game.

But the Leadbetter Axiom continues to hold true - astounding graphical capabilities, ludicrously advanced physics engines, &c. &c. are so much chaff and stubble if the game they are affixed to is completely univolving and utterly lifeless. Shadow of the Beast II is a prime illustration of this perennial gaming law.

From Lemmings to The Misadventures of Floyd, Psygnosis (requiescat in pace) was distinguished by inputting a characteristic graphical flair into their titles.

In the famous and iconic classic, Lemmings, this fusion of graphics and gameplay was marvelloulsy realised. Whether it was the delectably cheerful and light-hearted atmosphere of fun and challenge invoked by the digitised Cancana that played on the first level; the idiosyncratic shrill squeals and shrieks of the eponymous pixels with suicidal tendencies; or the deliciously-rendered worlds which ensured that you were engrossed in the gameplay and not abstracted from it ("Yes, those two green squares really are mountains"), this great polish didn't detract from the fact that Lemmings was, throught all of its one hundred levels of massively-concentrated problems and obstancles, an intensely cerebral and furiously demanding puzzle game where progress was an immense and rich reward for genuine accomplishment.

But Shadow of the Beast II... this game was, it must be said, the archetypal example of style over substance.

The game was split over two sleekly white disks, the first one of which was exclusively dedicated to an elaborately-realised, dark and macabre F.M.V. (on a floppy disk!) sequence. This is what awarded the game such massive accolades and plaudits when it was first released.

The second disk, however, was an altogether different tale. How could such a promising opening degenerate into such a vapid, vacuous, limpid, lifeless, enervated, doleful and utterly, unforgivably, irrevocably dull testament to unbridled mediocrity that was the basic platformer on Disk II? It looked pretty, certainly - but it was a hollow, unstructured, random, impenetrable, tragic mess from the very instant your Amiga ceased loading. I can't progress into a thorough analysis of the game's failings because it was a rare occasion indeed that I could endure any more than a few minutes before being compelled to abandon the soul-draining torment that was this title. Good riddance to it, and eager welcome to Lemmings instead.
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And with this post, my account of impressive Amiga games I hereby declare finally complete! Now the promise of the rich and fertile loams of the MegaDrive beckon...

[Robert Frazer]

With the ruthless hatchet-job of my previous post, I thought I'd best just give a more light-hearted addition this time!
--------------------------------------------
TITLE: Duke Nukem 3D
DEVELOPER: 3D Realms.
SYSTEM: PC with Windows '95 / Sega Saturn

"Damn! *cri-crick* Those alien bast*rds are gonna pay for shooting up my ride!"

This, it must be said, is undoubtably one of the most famous and iconic quotes of computer gaming, on par with Sega's classic 1980s arcade epilogues of "See you next game!", Bubble Bobble's gleefully badly-translated exclamations along the lines of "Now, it is the beginning of a fantastic story!!", the virulent expletives that fouled the air in your umpteenth attempt to complete the Babel Fish puzzle in the interactive fiction version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and many others.

The eponymous womanising gun-nut's gravelly tones, however, are vastly more pivotal as they indicate a complete shift in the perception of computer games. It is one of the titles synonymous with the period when the computer game finally wrested itself free from the constricting grip of prejudice that was one form of persecution, only to be rugby-tackled and suffocated underneath the oppressive bulk of another. Thanks to Duke Nukem 3D, and similar games like the rather stark Blood (whose features included being able to play football with decapitated zombie heads) Games stopped being the preserve of the acne-ridden and socially-retarded, and instead became the malevolent and satanspawned engines that corrupted youth into deranged psychotics. Hoho.

Duke Nukem 3D has much to reccomend it as a game, particularly if you played the superbly-coded and greatly-embellished Saturn conversion by Lobotomy, who also created Exhumed and ported the Saturn's version of Quake (does anyone know whatever happened to Lobotomy, incidentally? After Quake they vanished without a trace! ). An expansive game with a multiplicity of levels, environments, foes, routes, weaponry, secret rooms and secret levels, along with the excellent Death Tank minigame (something of a real-time version of Worms), Duke Nukem 3D was a worthy contender to id Software's dominance of the F.P.S. genre with Doom and Quake.

But let's be honest, shall we? The only reason we all played this game, hunching over the keyboard late at night and hoping that your parents' ignorance of computers meant that they didn't realise that there was a 'Parental Control' lock on the options screen, was because it was naughty, where Duke swore and you could pay poorly-digitised women to perfrom stripteases.

*Madhair60: Damn right! Slavers.* ;D

[madhair60]

I heartily endorse this event, product and/or promotion.

[Samface]

Wonderful game. More shooters should have shrink-rays.

Robert said:

(does anyone know whatever happened to Lobotmy, incidentally? After Quake they vanished without a trace!

They split, sadly.

[Robert Frazer]

Lord! Three updates in a weekend? Did I hit my head recently?
-------------------------------------

TITLE: Sonic Spinball.
DEVELOPER: Sega!
SYSTEM: Sega MegaDrive.

Now, I must admit that for the most part I shall be refraining from describing the particular attractions of the vast majority of Sonic titles.. Don't lynch me yet! This isn't because I dislike them - indeed, I wouldn't be a member here if Sonic hadn't made a profound and deep impression on my life - but because this is a Sonic site, it's quite obvious that I wouldn't actually be contributing anything as the numerous merits of the games have been described a thousand times over - instead, I'll focus on the various 'secondary' games that are either underrated or overlooked in the general public.

Sonic Spinball is one such game that deserves much more attention than it currently receives. Although the notion of Sonic being rammed, rebounded, bounced and thrust at bone-[censored]tering speeds around the architecture of the Pinball Defence System that guards Robotnik's latest tower of mechanised malevolence seems something of a tall order, then you have to bear in mind that blue anthropomorphised hedgehogs were never particularly bound by the conventions of reality anyway.

Even if you do wish to take issue with the premise, however, the execution of Sonic Spinball is truly impeccable and marvellous. The graphics are rendered with delicious and delightful depth and detail, imparting a unique character to the game that also has entirely justifiable claims to being the most brilliant and lustrous Sonic game available on the Megadrive. From foetid sewers to stifling geothermal power stations and beyond, each level in Robotnik's complex possesses convincing and unstinting attention to detail and its own idiosyncratic flair and flavour - how many games can you note where the background has its own character?

Coupled with this is magnificently intelligent level design that this graphical excellence is built upon - remember the Leadbetter Axiom! . It simultaeneously imposes genuine challenge on the player whilst remaining consistent with the level themes - you have the palpable sense of bounding about a genuine, atmopsheric world, and not just a tarted-up tilt-table in the local pub. The dedicated attention to detail remains consistent throughout all of the Pinball Defence System, be it Sonic's leg poking out of a porthole as it closes in on him, or the 'ball-loss' zones - Sonic doesn't just vanish off the screen, he's swallowed by metal serpents, slipped down greasy chains to roast in lava pits, or ground up by whirling cogs. It sounds sadistic... but looks wonderful.

The music that accompanies this game is also absolutely phenomenal, consisting of the most convincing .MIDIs that I've been fortunate enough to hear, and each also fuses with the environment of each level perfectly. Incidental sound excels again, whether it be the brilliant fanfare that ignites when you strike the right plunger, the guitar riff when you grab an emerald, the harrowing drainpipe sound when Sonic plummets to his doom, or the panicky alarm when the serpent surfaces for a light rodent snack. You find yourself bouncing around in your seat when the messages start scrolling and flashing across the scoreboard - "Tour de force!"; "LOOK OUT!"; "Way to go, Sonic!"; "Emerald POWER!"; "All prisoners freed!"; "Too baaaaaaaadddd...."; "Fancy a ride?".

The game itself, and even the point-racking subgames between each level, also present quite an intensive challenge that demands your constant attention and total engrossment, which this game achieves superbly easily. It's truly involving.

There are those who claim that Sega's reputation for innovation is void because they release so many Sonic sequels. Sonic Spinball is the perfect retort to these ignorant plebians to show what precisely Sega does with those sequels. This is a genuine classic, seamlessly fusing platformer and pinballer, that deserves popular acclaim and a space on everyone's shelf.

[Chosenoneknuckles]

i have loads of great gaming memories, my first game was Sonic 1 believe it or not

i loved the megadrive/snes eras ;D

sonic, mario and donkey kong being my fave gaming characters etc.

[Blizz]

My most precious gaming memory.... Watching Robotnik's battle suit fall to Mobius as Super Sonic retrives the Master Emerald from his villanous clutches in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.... Actually, that only happened a few weeks ago. Either way I'm not going to forget it in a hurry.

[Omnion (yes, he is a man)]

Sonic Adventure.
The first ever video game I could call my own! The hours I spent glued to the screen!
Each time I hear the Emerald Coast music a tear comes into my eyes...
Snort!

[Robert Frazer]

Apologies for jumping forward in time, and I'll return to the MegaDrive with my next update, but I thought I'd note a particularly impressive recent experience...

--------------------------
TITLE: Halo 2
DEVELOPER: Microsoft/Bungie
SYSTEM: X-Box.

Ever since the sad, tragic and traumatic demise of the much-abused and sorely-underrated Dreamcast (requiescat in pace, princeps magnificus), I haven't bought a new computer game (beyond a couple of PC titles) - all of my purchases for three years have been old preowned titles picked from the Retro shelf at the local Gamestation.

However, my sense of dislocation from new Sega games has driven me to invest in an X-Box this Christmas.

Now I can enjoy titles such as Panzer Dragoon Orta and Sonic Heroes. But also I can sample the experience of decidely more dubious merit of having to pay the full £40 for games for the first time in over two years...

However, it also enabled me to sample one of Microsoft's flagship titles, Halo 2... and I certainly can see why such an elaboreate marketing campaign was orchestrated for it. Having booted up a new profile on the Heroic difficulty setting, I can definitely say that this game is absolutely stunning!

From the first moment when you witness the grand city of High Charity splayed out beneath the smouldering shoulder of ash that is the despoiled Halo, you can tell that Halo 2 is going to be a game of some great magnitude. The aesthetics of both of the belligerent empires - humanity and the Covenant - are extremely impressive, and have created one of the most beautiful titles I've seen since Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future. This palpable sense of atmopshere is matched by the excellent music, authentic effects and the emotive voice acting (always a welcome rare flower in any game). The story, as little of it as I have revealed at this early stage of play, also promises to be something more engrossing than the simple Doom-fest of many FPS shooters. The fact that humans evolve into a global monarchy is cherished.

At Heroic, the game provides quite a furious and unrelenting challenge and each stage requires several attempts to accomplish. However, the game is so well-crafted it provides an absolutely compelling "Just one more go!" factor. There's also a certain macabre relish in smashing down the L and R triggers and reorganising a Covenanter's digestive tract with a torrent of dual-wielded plasma rifle action at point-blank range (and then burning off the Master Chief's hands when they overheat). Aspects such as this left me up at half-past-two in the morning on the 26th, still ducking behind crates every other moment and wishing my shield would recharge faster.

Halo 2 is certainly a worthy game - now, if you'd excuse, me, I have an irresistable urge to get diced by the gun drones again, in the hangar bay when you first take control of the Arbiter....