Guess The Game

[pseudocoder]

Clue: This arcade game machine made its debut in the mid 80s, it had a bit of a police theme, and to my knowledge, was ported, albeit poorly, to at least one console of that era.




Cool... other than Tekken, the only other fighting game that I had a vague memory of was Tobal 1. I miss the days of OPM with all the demo discs.

<snip>

[DOS Wolf]

APB

Do not even get me started (too late... ) on OPM and their free (The magazine cost $8 though compared to other similar magazines without demos... Tips and Tricks and PSM were awesome! TnT with their different consoles, including arcades with all their tips and tricks in the back and PSM with their own reviews, but their wonderfully drawn cover art was what really got my attention... not to mention their swim suit specials... Hahaha! ) demo disc. I tried to get one every time they were out although I missed a few. I would read it cover to cover multiple times. I always found their reviews pretty accurate. I even use their 5 disk rating system with + and - when I do my own reviews.

And their demo disks... besides a few that kind of sucked, hence more unplayable videos than actual playable content, I was totally in love with those things. I can not remember how many times I had played the original Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, Alundra (Although that may of just been the video for it.), Ghost in the Shell, Final Fantasy VIII, L.A.P.D., The Granstream Saga (Simply for the mostly nude female shower scene...), Fighting Force, etc. I was surprised I had not worn those demos out. Granted some games were real stinkers, but most were rather enjoyable. I also enjoyed their intros into the disks themselves. My favorite being the one with the rather large blow fish that acted like Godzilla and everyone was trying to attack it.

So many warm and happy memories with that magazine and their demos. It made me choose my games wisely as a child and in the end saved me money. Although I think it would have been better to buy the magazine and it's demo yearly and save at least 50% if not %75, I always forked out the $8, forgoing other things like snacks or even games just to get them. I wish I could find the old magazines still and their demos and buy them. I believe they have them archived online, but simply not the same and you can not play the demos anyway.

[pseudocoder]

I remember seeing OPM in my local Electronics Boutique (gamestop now?) store; I think I purchased four issues at the store before getting a 2 yr sub back in the late 90s, so the per issue cost wasn't that bad. At first, the demos were awesome even with genres that I didn't normally play. I got a kick out of Odd World - Abe's Oddysee, Tiny Tank, Medievil, Rally Cross (loved playing that demo before going to work along with Twisted Metal 3), ODT (or die trying), Colony Wars, and a number of others.

Those demos saved me a lot of time and money too; I remember a graphics glitch during the Wedge / Biggs scenario in the FF VIII demo. As combat began and that swirl was in motion, sometimes the colors became inverted and the game froze though the music continued to play. Because of that, I skipped buying FF VIII for the longest time. I eventually picked up a GH version at Best Buy for $9.99. Thankfully, without that glitch.

The mag itself was probably the best in terms of dedicated content on a platform that I owned. The reviews were pretty good and lengthy, as I recall; however, at the time, I didn't find the tricks / tips section all that useful since, in my view, they were mostly for genres that I wasn't really interested in. It's too bad that they don't make stuff like that anymore. They sure helped to avoid making a $40 - $60 mistake.

I still have a few of the mags boxed somewhere as well as a number of the demo discs though they were heavily scratched and no longer worked with either my PS or PS2. There was also a handful of EGM / 2s that survived the ages... just where that box is now, I couldn't say.

My apologies on the rules; I forgot but will fix it in the above post.

[Rwolf]

My guess is 'Mappy' - a game about a police mouse vs. some criminal cats.

[DOS Wolf]

I can assure you, the demo of Tiny Tank is much better than the actual game... Rally Cross or one of those types of games I remember being on the Interactive Demo Disk of what came in with the PS1. I enjoyed how bouncy it was and the graphics for it's time was doable. Medievil was a decent demo and had decent scores for the main game. Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain... gosh I can not remember how many times I had played that demo. And I loved ODT, but most people do not know about that game and for good reason. I will be honest and say it was crap, but the ideas and story behind it were decent and the intro with the steam punk aspect was pretty cool too. And how can you beat a title like that- “Or Die Trying!?”

I loved Colony Wars so much I had bought all three at one time or another. I loved the first one where the narrator sounded like James Earl Jones, but the save system was atrocious! And I remember playing the hell out of the Deception game demos. The one where you were a witch and had to keep intruders out of your castle by setting up traps. Kind of like Home Alone, except R rated. Croc, Spyro the Dragon, Devil Dice, Jade Cacoon, Nightmare Creatures, No One Can Stop Mr Domino demos... I do not think I could even hope to name all of them...

What is a GH version? And although I do not remember a glitch for FFVIII on the demo, there was none on the actual game, not that I have seen. I just never liked the way you had to collect magic. And the card game is not really too my liking either, but ehhh... Some day I shall beat it though.

I have a bunch of old mags as well some where, a shame a handful of them, some of my favorite had received water damage... Still readable though. And my disks are some where as well. I still like to go back to games I do not have or no longer have and try them out and remember old times...

However what was it that you thought you had to delete? And I only replied a second time (I try to keep this thread as neat as possible... we should really make our own thread for that old magazine and all it's wonderful demos... ) because you did not inform me if I was correct in my guess or not.

[pseudocoder]

Clue 2: though in an arcade, this game was played in real time allowing the player to somewhat affect the outcome

My guess is 'Mappy' - a game about a police mouse vs. some criminal cats.

Nope

APB

Nope

[DOS Wolf]

I had to research the name and while I was on the wiki found out the game I am thinking of was made in the early 90's, but since it was my actual guess I shall still use it.

Lethal Enforcers

[pseudocoder]

Since it's been a while, let me regroup the clues.

Clue: This arcade game machine made its debut in the mid 80s, it had a bit of a police theme, and to my knowledge, was ported, albeit poorly, to at least one console of that era.

Clue 2: though in an arcade, this game was played in real time allowing the player to somewhat affect the outcome

Lethal Enforcers

Nope it's not that one either.

[wardrich]

Spy Hunter?

[Rwolf]

'Galivian: Cosmic Police' - A space police hunting baddies with a robot dragon boss in caves.

Possibly only an arcade game, but nevertheless a guess.

[pseudocoder]

Clue: This arcade game machine made its debut in the mid 80s, it had a bit of a police theme, and to my knowledge, was ported, albeit poorly, to at least one console of that era.

Clue 2: though in an arcade, this game was played in real time allowing the player to somewhat affect the outcome

Clue 3: gravity and inertia are used to dictate pace and position; credits were typically awarded for breaking the current high score, but could also be gained by meeting or exceeding a predefined value, by meeting special conditions, or with a bit of lady luck by matching numbers. Released by Williams Electronics, this game's theme is said to be directly related to the designer's real life encounter with law enforcement.

Spy Hunter?

No; not that one, but it brings back a lot of memories.

'Galivian: Cosmic Police' - A space police hunting baddies with a robot dragon boss in caves.

Possibly only an arcade game, but nevertheless a guess.

No; it isn't that one.

[DOS Wolf]

Clue 3: gravity and inertia are used to dictate pace and position; credits were typically awarded for breaking the current high score, but could also be gained by meeting or exceeding a predefined value, by meeting special conditions, or with a bit of lady luck by matching numbers. Released by Williams Electronics, this game's theme is said to be directly related to the designer's real life encounter with law enforcement.

WTF...

Actually I know what type of game you are referring too, but I have no idea of this particular one. The only law enforcement games I am aware of, hence played, were made by Delta East and they were more or less movie tie ins. But glad to see another lover of the bells, whistles, lights, spinners and ramps.

(And why is my text bigger than everyone else's? I did not change anything that I am aware of.)

[pseudocoder]

Clue 4: a visual clue

WTF...

You guys are too good at this - it had to be something obscure.

[DOS Wolf]

Highspeed!!!

I had to Google the name, but I knew from the moment I saw the lane and flippers what it was. (Actually just the mid right section would of sufficed for me, those arrows are very unique combined with the right flipper.) Funny though... as a child I thought it was just about a red car zooming around town/highway, not the police trying to catch it... But I do remember the speech in game and obviously being much older I under stand now. Hahaha! And wasn't this table purposely raised up higher so the ball would move faster down... or was that just my imagination or perhaps the places I had played them at raised the back legs higher than should be...

But you want pinball clues I have a slew of them!

But which console was it ported too...

[pseudocoder]

Highspeed!!!

We have a winner. DOS Wolf, you're up next.

But which console was it ported too...

The NES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed ... o_game&#41;

FarSight Studios came out with The Williams Collection for the PS2 and other platforms. At that time, HS wasn't among them. I saw a youtube link for a PS3 version of HS, but forgot to follow it. As far as realistic simulations, FarSight hit a home run with the collection as the tables were all well done including the little quirks that were found within the actual games.

As best that I can remember, most of the pinball machines were rigged to play fast with a coat of wax on the play field and the angle a bit more than it should. By the same token (no pun intended), the flipper solenoids were too weak most of the time.

[DOS Wolf]

Long week, my brain is fried, maybe someone else can think of a game to give clues for. If no one else you can or if not by that time I will most likely go.

However I know for a fact that some places leaned the tables too much and worse yet to the side. You could tell automatically as the ball would always lean more left or right and try to always go to the far lane. Even after the initial kick back the ball would bounce around a few times and still try to go back to where it came from with the kick back no longer in service.

And having weak flippers were really a pain or certain parts that did not work at all and would trap the ball and the only thing to fix it was to either wait for the table to run through it's safeties and hope to pop the ball back into play or to try and shake and not tilt it, but usually did regardless. Then you would see all the balls drop back into play without you being able to do anything but watch them fall down the middle. I am not sure how those that did that purposely stayed in business, unless they just kept waiting for the next unaware person.

And both the The Williams and The Gottlieb Collections were good, although Gottlieb had a table or two that would make the ball disappear in a void with no way out and no way to update it fix the problem. Thankfully they were tables I were not too fond of, but still a disappointment.

[MrFlibble]

The NES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_(video_game)
copy paste the whole link as () breaks the url tag for some reason.

I've fixed the link in your post. The forum engine here cannot parse some symbols in URLs, including punctuation marks, for whatever reason. This can be circumvented by using HTML codes for those symbols instead.

[pseudocoder]

<snip> And having weak flippers were really a pain or certain parts that did not work at all and would trap the ball and the only thing to fix it was to either wait for the table to run through it's safeties and hope to pop the ball back into play or to try and shake and not tilt it, but usually did regardless. </snip>

And both the The Williams and The Gottlieb Collections were good, although Gottlieb had a table or two that would make the ball disappear in a void with no way out and no way to update it fix the problem. Thankfully they were tables I were not too fond of, but still a disappointment.

The weak flippers were typical in tables with ramps such as Space Shuttle / Comet / HS. Whether intentional or not, I couldn't say, but they made those games much more of a challenge. Back in the day, I affectionately refered to them as lead ball games.

I never cared for Gottlieb or some of the vendors. The game play, to me, seemed to be more of hit a target here, aim for a spinner there. Haunted House was a good example - it had a theme, but the play seemed so random.

I've fixed the link in your post.

Thank you. I tried the #&40 / 41; pair in the url, which worked on the board, but broke the wiki page.