Entries Tagged 'Video Game' ↓

Singapore has decided to ban Microsoft’s XBOX game Mass Effect because of a scene containing lesbian intimacy. There is a spot in the game where a couple women are kissing and caressing each other.

Here’s the strange part. One of the women is human and the other is alien. Does that even fall under the classification of lesbian activity? I always assumed that lesbians were females of the same species. When the two people involved are different species, I think gender would not really be that important in deciding whether it is okay or not.

I’m not sure what you call it when one person is a human and the other is an alien but maybe the Singapore officials should look it up and ban the game for that instead.

For a long time now I’ve been into the Classic Gaming trend, with my ultimate goal to have an arcade machine of my own. I have wanted this since I first saw Ricky Schroeder in the T.V. show Silver Spoons with an arcade in his house. My dream cabinet would probably be the vector classic Star Wars, made by Atari, which was my favorite arcade game of all time. I would settle for almost anything, though.

I thought I was getting close, too, when I discovered the multi-arcade machine emulator called MAME, and was able to play a bunch of my favorite arcade games on my P.C. That was fun, but not quite the same. I still wanted to be able to insert a coin and feel the authentic joystick in my hands and I destroyed some Tie-Fighters, while Ben Kenobi told me to “Let go”.

Right before my daughter was born I discovered the wonderful web site called ArcadeControls.com, which is the site you go to when you want to built your own arcade machine. These guys have all done it, and they can show you how. The icing on the cake was when I found ArcadeDepot.com, a site where you can order a build your own arcade kit. Pretty cool stuff. Unfortunately, this all costs money.

Just before my daughter was born, all those retro controllers that plug into the T.V. and play games were released. Figuring I could afford the $20 investment, I bought the Ms. Pac-Man one from Jakks, which also included Mappy (a pretty excellent, yet underrated game), Galaga, Pole Position, and Xevious. A little idea in the back of my mind was that I could take the controller, modify it a little, and stick it in a custom cabinet which would be like the arcade. Unfortunately, the controller wasn’t as responsive as I would’ve liked,especially for Ms.Pac Man, so it pretty much has been gathering dust.

That is until this past week, when my 14 month old daughter discovered the controller. We don’t let her watch a lot of television, and unfortunately I don’t get to play many video games lately, so I wasn’t sure how my little one would react to twenty year old games. Let’s just say she’s a fan already, and I couldn’t be prouder.

Her favorite by far is Pole Position. She loves the sounds the cars make as they race around the track. If you can imagine, my 14 month old will walk over to the T.V., make a little “Vroom Vroom” sound, grab the controller, turn on the television, and look at us like, “So, are you gonna play, or what?” I give her a month before she finds the on/off switch, the TV/Video button, and I am obsolete.

Do you know how they have those Baby Einstein videos, which are like crack to these kids? Well, I propose they come out with Baby Bushnell games, to get the kids hooked on the classics at a young age. That would at least give us dads an excuse to play all our old games. Then maybe I can finally get my arcade machine.

Time for a top 5 list. Yay! What better topic for a Friday than a list of the toughest opponents in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, one of the greatest video games ever made? Punch-Out also happens to be one of the top five games of all time featuring the character Mario (he is the mumbling referee in this game). What are the other games on that list? That’s a list for another day.

Five Toughest Opponents in Mike Tyson’t Punch-Out
(listed in descending order from easiest to toughest)

5. Great Tiger

The question that should first be asked here is who wears a turban to a boxing match? The Great Tiger does, fool! Anyhow, I chucked the NES controller across the room many times while falling prey to Tiger’s “Tiger Punch”. Whatever you do, don’t let this guy beat you. If you do, the terrorists have already won.

4. Super Macho Man:

This guy was pretty tough to beat until you were able to figure out how to dodge the ‘Super Spin Punch’, which at times seemed to last forever. You could dodge the stupid thing five times, only to get hit on the sixth. Very frustrating. He makes this list because of the “Super Spin Punch”, but also because of that disturbing pecs bounce he used to do. Bad times.

3. Bald Bull (World Circuit Version of course)

Bald Bull narrowly beats out Super Macho Man for #3 on this list. The key to beating this guy was timing. Bald Bull’s signature move was the Bull Charge, and if you didn’t time it perfectly you were doomed. The trick was to count to three as he was charging and hit him in the gut at the perfect moment. I was pretty good a this when I was a kid, but I have played the game recently and this guy owns me. That’s why he beats out Super Macho Man. My reflexes to dodge rotund video game boxers must be waning in my old age.

2. Mike Tyson

007-373-5963. Everyone of course remembers that is the code in the game that will take you directly to Mike Tyson. It is ingrained in my skull. I may forget my own cell phone number or my anniversary, but I’ll never forget this code.

The key to beating Mike was to survive Round 1, in which one punch would send Little Mac to the canvas. Survive this and you have a chance.

If you go through all the trouble of beating the game what is your reward? A listing of all the guys you beat. Yay!

For some reason, Tyson was obsessed with finger speed in this game, with quotes such as: “Great fighting !! You were tough, Mac! I never seen such finger speed before.” and “You think the speed of your fingers can match the strength of my fists?”

1. Mr. Sandman

The reason I list Mr. Sandman as the most difficult to beat is I beat both Super Macho Man and Mike Tyson himself before I beat Mr. Sandman, thanks to the code that would take me directly to Macho Man and the code that took me to Mike Tyson himself. There was no real reason for me to beat the Sandman, except pride.

According to wikipedia, Mr. Sandman “possesses a vast array of jabs, hooks, and uppercuts, and his unique timing can easily confuse players”. Yeah, I remember having trouble with his quick jab. I eventually did beat Sandman, but not before he beat me a few too many times.

Honorable Mention: Don Flamenco.

Don Flamenco isn’t a boxer you think of when you think of tough opponents in Punch-Out. However, the guy was creepy, which should count for something. The magical rose that would spontaneously appear in his mouth always a pretty strange thing for an 80’s video game. He wasn’t a very difficult opponent (it is common knowledge that Flamenco can be defeated in 14 seconds) but I was never sure if he wanted to fight me or dance with me. Pretty confusing stuff for an eleven year old to handle.

So, who did you have trouble with in Mike Tyson’s Punchout?