Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Bring back those fond memories of endless hours spent twiddling with joysticks as a kid. Here's my collection of retro arcade games remade in Flash. Enjoy!



1.PAC-MAN

Use the arrow keys to move

Pause game – P

Quit game – Q

Lower quality – L

Mute sound – M

Here's a fantastic idea for a brand new computer game called Pac-Man. Firstly, there's this yellow, pizza-shaped blob (with a mouth) which has to roam round a maze swallowing little pills. Meanwhile, four ghosts (named Blinky, Pinky, Inkey, and of course, Clyde) are chasing you as you listen to a high-pitched wailing noise.

I'm not insinuating the creators were off their nuts when they came up with the concept, but I wonder if there's some hidden meaning. The more pills you eat, the higher you get (no pun intended) where the ghosts become more meddlesome and the bonus fruit more exotic. It's barmy but I love it.


2.TIC-TAC-TOE

Choose from 1 or 2 players

Use the mouse to select a square to place your O or X

Quit game – Q

Mute sound – M

What can I tell you about Tic-Tac-Toe that you haven't heard before? I used to play Noughts and Crosses on the school bus when the windows were fogged-up with condensation from child-breath. Every day. By myself. I admit it got a little repetitive. I tried it blindfold once, but that only made me realise I needed to kick the habit.

Thankfully this version allows you to play with someone else, if you know such a person. If you're lacking an opponent, the computer will gladly play you instead, just like in that '80s movie WarGames, but without the looming threat of a global thermo-nuclear war. Which I suppose is only a good thing.


3. SNAKE

Use the arrow keys to move

Pause game – space key or P

Mute sound – M


If you've ever owned a Nokia mobile phone (or 'cellphone' if you prefer), you should know this game. It's the classic time-wasting game you play on public transport, annoying fellow passengers with your incessant beeping and casual swearing.

These days, Snake on a more modern phone will have fancy 3D graphics with zooming whooshy animations that, in my view, strip all fun from the game. My Snake is a back-to-the-old-skool version with cheap sound effects and a slight plasticky feel, as was found with those older brick-sized phones.

There are three levels of play: Slug (slow), Worm (medium) and for those with the nimblest fingers, Python (fast).

Your task is to guide the snake so it eats the food. The quicker you eat, the more you score. And just like real food-eating snakes, the more you gobble, the longer you become. Try to steer clear of your own growing tail and avoid the walls... it won't be long before it's game over.


4. SPACE INVADERS

Move left – left arrow key

Move right – right arrow key

Fire laser – space key

Pause game – P

Quit game – Q

Mute sound – M


A very nice Japanese man with a very nice Japanese haircut called Tomohiro Nishikado once had the inspired idea to make a video game about shooting white goo at a rampaging invasion of wobbling blobs. And so, in 1978, Space Invaders was born.

It's a simple game with simple graphics, but it has one of the most vital assets for any computer game: gameplay. Modern games seem to forget this with their fancy "3D graphics" and "millions of dollars". These little white dots are all you need.

The more aliens you shoot, the faster the remaining aliens move. If they get too close, it's game over — so shoot quick. And watch out for that flying saucer...


5. ASTERIODS

Use the arrow keys to move

Fire missile – space key

Hyperspace – ctrl or shift key

Pause game – P

Quit game – Q

Mute sound – M

Let me take you on a journey. It's a short journey, I know you haven't got all day. A journey to a world where lines ruled...

The year was 1979, and computers could only be made to draw two things: one was a line, and the other was also a line. With clever arrangement, both these lines could be transformed into spaceships and big rocks and flying saucers and even more lines. And so, thanks to the line pioneers at Atari, we were blessed with the line-tastic Asteroids.

Your spaceship floats in space and you have to destroy all the asteroids, but the more you shoot the more you create. Watch out for the UFOs which can shoot back, and be careful: you only have one ship for every 10,000 points scored.


6. FROGGER

Use the arrow keys to move

Pause game – space key or P

Quit game – Q

Mute sound – M


In the year 1981, young people called children would while away the tedium of living in 1981 by daring each other to run out in front of heavy traffic. It was a global phenomenon. Hundreds of bored feral kids were mown down by articulated lorries and racing cars during the infamous highway massacres of late '81.

At the same time in a bizarre coincidence, Japanese company Konami created a video game called Frogger, its basic principle similarly based on roadkill, but this time a frog was dodging the vehicles instead of a small child.

Your goal is to safely guide five frogs across the road and river so that they each in turn reach their lily pad homes. There are many obstacles along the way: if you're not too careful you could be flattened by a car, drowned in the river or eaten by a crocodile. So take it easy on the little froggies.


7. HEXXAGON

Use the mouse to move your pieces around the board.

Quit game – Q

Mute sound – M

Hexxagon probably isn't one of the first games you think of when it comes to retro classics, but it was such a great game that I had to remake it in Flash. It's an adaptation of the board game Othello by the now sadly defunct Argo Games in 1992.

You play as the red diamonds and your opponent (either another player or the computer) plays as the blue globules. Your goal is to take over all the spaces on the board, and you do this by leaping into the spaces next to your opponent's pieces.

When you select one of your pieces, highlights of possible moves will be shown. The green highlights show where your piece will duplicate, the yellow highlights show where you will only jump. It's a good idea to duplicate as much as you can early on, and to spread around the board so you're not cornered.

It's not that complicated once you get the hang of it, trust me...


8. SIMON

Use the mouse to select the lights, or the following keys:

Red light – R

Green light – G

Blue light – B

Yellow light – Y

Quit game – Q

Mute sound – M

"Simon's a computer, Simon has a brain, you either do what Simon says or else go down the drain." This was the slogan from the Simon Says toy of the mid 1980s, a classic I'm sure you'll agree. My version is a digital replica of that plastic piece of fun.

The idea of the game is a simple one, as Simon likes to say. Follow the pattern of lights and sounds for as long as you can remember them. The lights show up faster the more sequences you correctly recall.

The obvious cheat is to write down the colour of each light in turn, but where's the fun in that? So don't do it. Or I'll get the fun police onto you...

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