Sumer

So, I think I know what I am doing for my Labor Day weekend... I had fallen off of VGS a bit this summer (lots of things, good and bad, going on), so I totally missed this WATA dust up until I saw a video from Pat the NES Punk this morning...which then brought me here to this thread because I knew it existed and, holy cow, lots of stuff to suss through from the last week+. I am only on page 102 of this thread, so super glad we have a long weekend coming up! I do see, however, that Cincinnati-style Chili made an appearance thanks to @Bearcat-Doug!

He's been there for 2 or 3 years now, right? After Reggie left?

Just started playing through the revamped Wolfenstein series on XBox Gamepass (awesome service, by the way). I just finished The Old Blood and I am now playing The New Order. Liking them thus far. I am looking forward to playing Young Blood, as it is a 2-player COOP campaign, and I already informed my wife I need her help destroying more Nazi scum!

D'oh! Yes, Dragon's Lair should have been my first guess. Pole Position...I don't think I ever made it far enough to realize it had an intentional ending! And now that you mention Dragon's Lair, I am sure all of the "Me Too" Laser Disc games that came out immediately after Dragon's Lair also predate Marble Madness as well.

Probably the first Zelda, with my uncle, making our own custom maps of the dungeons. Graph paper and all. Yeah, actually beat this before SMB1 because we got the NES and both games for the Xmas of '87 and Zelda just sucked us in until we beat the first quest.

Yeah, did the whole arcade thing too before I got a Coleco Gemini in the home. I am trying to think...what was the first arcade game that had an actual ending? Marble Madness? That is the famous story, isn't it, regarding Marble Madness? The first six weeks it hit the arcades, it earned quarters like hot cakes. But then when everyone got to the end of the game, it plummeted from the earnings report for Atari since the game had a definite ending and was a pretty short game once you mastered it.

Probably some Atari 2600 game on a loop, like Tulpa just mentioned. Here's one: I finished ET on the 2600 by throwing it in the closet at the tender age of 6. The game gave me my first, actual headache in life...seriously. I was finished with it at that point.

Being called a coward by Sinistar really cut deep:

That is interesting hearing different perspectives from that time and what others experienced during the console war (or lack of console war for you). The war was definitely on at Pleasant View Elementary in Bettendorf, Iowa on the playground. I vehemently defended the NES to a rich friend of mine who had the Genesis basically right when it came out (I think he got it for Xmas of 1989?). That kid just went around to all the Nintendo fanboys doing the whole "Genesis does what Nintendon't." Oh man...good, childish times on the playground during the Console War. I got the SNES the Xmas it was out (1991, right?). I felt like I then had the upper hand over the rich kid...who, by the way, had moved on from Genesis to a freakin' Neo Geo AES that Christmas. I was losing yet again...but the Neo Geo was so above the war, it didn't matter after the first few months of 1992. I made peace with the kid and wormed my way to be invited over multiple times to play the AES. I DID, however, convert over to Genesis when my brother and I pooled our money to get a Genesis due to the blood in Mortal Kombat!

Oh yes, definitely. The original WC Claw Marks was great! For the life of me, I can't remember what kind of manual WC2 had back then. I suppose it was not as memorable as WC1 or Privateer's manual.

Always loved this one as a teen:

I ordered the Genesis version (non-premium) of Zombies in the green translucent shell, and then Ghoul Patrol for SNES (non-premium) in the standard gray shell.

Holy cow...I almost missed Genesis and SNES carts of Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol! Just ordered today on the last day. I think I must have missed the announcement last month when I was on vacation. Glad they sent out a "reminder" email.

I voted YES, but the conversion actually happened during the ACTUAL console war. I was a Nintendo kid and jumped ship to Sega. Does that count?

Probably the Sega Genesis just eeks past the SNES as #2. NES is #1, of course!

I chose the last option, as I seriously don't remember the puzzles in the game. I probably have not played Monkey Island 2 since 1996 or so. I have MI 1 many times since then, but I have not played 2 in a LONG while. I seem to remember using walkthroughs though...but that is not unusual, as I probably used the walkthrough on 1 as well.

Maybe Atari (but PC gaming would have been even bigger). Remember, at that time, Atari was being run by the Tramiels...and they were some ornery cusses! Especially Jack, the patriarch. BUT, because of Jack Tramiel and the vengeance he wanted to take on Commodore for ousting him, his attentions were divided by the home PC market and video game market, with the PC market probably taking precedence since Jack had that experience from Commodore. So yeah, interesting "what if..." Because of that history between Atari and Commodore, we may have to throw Commodore in there as well as being a strong influencer on Jack's ego/thinking/marketing strategy. All I know, an Atari ST computer is still on my list to obtain somewhere down the line!

Have to agree with @Webhead123. I am giving this a 6 solely based on the arcade cab. When this came out to our Aladdin's Castle in early 1989, it was the hotness for a good bit until Smash TV and TMNT came out. I have a vivid memory of myself showing this game to my little brother and not knowing how to pronounce "Altered" correctly. I was a bad speller/reader even at the age of 10 (thankfully, that "late bloomer" syndrome was gone by the time I hit my teens). I called it "Alexander Beast." (Yep, stupid, I know!) Going on the Genesis version...maybe a 5, or 4.5. I liked playing it on the Genesis at my friend's house (we got our Genesis when Mortal Kombat came out to consoles, so Altered Beast was way in the review mirror by 1993) and thinking how cool it was to play this when I only had a NES at home. But nowadays, the only half-way decent way to play the game is the Arcade ROM.

Original Mega Man series. I have only ever played the first Mega Man X and, for some reason, it left a bad impression on me compared to the originals. I never went on to play the others in X because, as they say, first impressions are everything. I was so addicted to Mega Man 2 when it came out that we had my dad buy is MM1 post haste before its run on store shelves had stopped. We then got Mega Man 3 and played the hell out of that one too. We pretty much stopped playing Mega Man after 3, and it was not until years later that I very briefly played 4. I don't remember anything from it due to the briefness of the play. So yeah, MM 1-3 will always be my pick.

I still would like to play Hollow Knight sometime. I liked Symphony of the Night quite a bit. I actually like Zero Mission more than Super Metroid. Looking forward to the new Dread game.

The 2600 games of Space Invaders, Combat, and Donkey Kong (and a few others) just showed up one day. I think Dad got a deal from Columbia House or something at the end of the "Crash." Because we also had a Coleco Gemini as opposed to an actual 2600. I believe Columbia House distributed the Gemini. It was either those games, or the Mattel electronic Baseball and Basketball handhelds...but those aren't technically video games, I suppose...those are "electronic games." Looking at you Simon.

@Mega Tankso, I go on vacation starting early next week and I will be gone for two weeks, almost. I won't have access to a computer to log-in to Dominating 12, unfortunately. I don't want to hold up a game or be kicked for inactivity! So, I will hold off for this next batch of games, but please ping me again when you set up another batch (I assume sometime in early July).

I am surprised many of you can remember the "forgettable rentals." They are exactly that for me...forgettable. I have no idea which NES, SNES, or Genesis games I rented that I played for 10 minutes and couldn't wait for my mom to take them back the next or so. I remember "bad" games that I owned, of course, because we would give them more than a 10 minute play-through since we owned the frickin' thing. I guess the closest rental "disappointment" that I remember was Double Dragon for NES. My little brother and I spent a few nights at the local bowling alley one weekend in 1987 or so beating the arcade game and absolutely loved it. Remember, this is two years or so before Final Fight hit the scene...and the original DD was a revelation to us at the arcade. Of course, when we heard the NES version was coming out, we had to rent it right away. Much to our disappointment, the main game was single-player (we were expecting 2-player simil in the main game), and instead, we got some not-so-hot pre-Street Fighter fighting mode for the 2-player mode. Majorly disappointed as a kid. However, my dad got the game for us anyway for Xmas one year since he remembered us liking the arcade version of DD. It was his quarters, after all, that enabled us to beat the arcade game. We never got around to tell him that we didn't care for the NES version, so we were stuck with it. Nowadays, I am fine with the NES version, as I understand there is now more to it than a watered down arcade version. But, at the time, that was probably our biggest rental disappointment.

I gave it a 6, only because I am still kinda discovering its games, but doing so at a snail's pace. I went all-in on the Original Xbox and GameCube that generation, and only got a PS2 Slim right at the tailend...and I have very few games for it. Mostly got it because the PS2 Slim and its associated stand looked really cool vertical. I don't like JRPGs post-16-bit era at all, so maybe another reason I went with the XBox that generation (along with the GameCube), as I had it in my head it was a JRPG machine. I will have to start exploring its library more in the years ahead, as I am sure I missed some good, non-JRPG gems.

Yes, but like I said, I hope to rectify that ignorance this NFL season!