volume
1, issue 25
Today
in loonygames:
New!! The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments on the front page!
Livin'
With The Sims:
theAntiELVIS explores the wild and wacky world that is Will Wright's The Sims,
asking the inevitable quesiton, "is The Sims the first step toward a virtual
life where everyone is Swedish?"
Pixel
Obscura: Josh
Vasquez on Omikron: The Nomad Soul.
Real
Life: Check
out our newest comic strip, Real Life! Updated daily!
User
Friendly: Updated
daily!
Related
Links:
Activision's
Game Store: You can still buy The Lurking Horror for
PCs. It's part of the Infocom Masterpieces Collection,
and it's under $10.
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Stylin' loonygames t-shirts from Berda Compugrafix!
Artwork:
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of the original art.
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column...you could end up with a free T-Shirt!
Random
Feature :

Put a Little Love in Your Pocket!: Trying to understand Pokemon? Our loony editor got to the bottom of the GameBoy phenomenon.
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From
the Mouth of Madness:
Underrated
By
Jason "loonyboi"
Bergman
What's new this
week in loonygames? As our loony editor.

elcome back everyone! If
you noticed some strange things happening with the server last Friday,
it was because we finally made the move to our new server, and
there were some minor kinks to work out. We’ve got a couple of bugs
still left to squish, so as I write this, the feedback@ address isn’t
working just yet. Don’t worry, we’ll get it back in time to get this
week’s Mailbag done.
Anyway, let’s have some fun
this week, eh? I’ve been seeing a lot of those "best games ever"
lists popping up, and there are always ten or so games that everyone
leaves out, so in this week’s column, I’ve decided to provide my list
of the ten most underrated games of all time. Now before we begin the
festivities, a few notes: first of all, these are not in any particular
order, so don’t judge them based on that. They’re all great games, and
I’m sure a lot of you out there missed a bunch of ‘em. Which brings
me to my second point: most (if not all of these) are available either
via emulators, or are still available for purchase. I highly recommend
hunting these down if you can! They’re worth it. Every one. So okay…let’s
do this thing. :)
Adventure (Atari 2600)
Ahh…adventure.
The "dot" game. One of the true classics of the 2600 era,
Adventure is often overlooked, because while games like Pac-Man
and Donkey Kong have a sort of universal charm, Adventure
is pretty dated from the first glance. But regardless of how dated it
might look, Adventure was a truly classic game. Basically the
game was about you navigating through a maze, but it meant so much more
to me when I first played it. I have memories of playing adventure and
genuinely thinking I was hunting down a monstrous dragon…and when I
picked up the sword (Adventure fact: you can actually pick it
up backwards) I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Playing
it now, it seems a bit silly to some, but I tell you…this game is immortal.
One last thing: Adventure has a great easter egg…but I won’t
tell you how to find it. It’s worth figuring out on your own.
The Lurking Horror (Various
PC platforms)
There
are so many overlooked Infocom games that I had a tough time choosing
just one…but considering that The Lurking Horror is one
of my favorite games of all time I decided to go with this one.
The Lurking Horror was one of the first horror games ever made,
and it’s still one of the best. For those who aren’t familiar with Infocom
games, they’re text adventures. Yeah, that’s right…no graphics at all.
If that’s a problem…well, stop reading right here. If it’s not…then
prepare yourself for one of the coolest games ever made. The Lurking
Horror was inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, and it takes place in the
dungeons of G.U.E. Tech (get it? If you don’t…you obviously weren’t
a subscriber to the New Zork Times) so already you know you’re in for
a wild ride. The game was written by none other than Infocom mainstay
Dave Lebling, the author of such classics as the original Zork
Trillogy, Enchanter, and Suspect, amongst others. It’s
a fantastic game, and one no text adventure fan should miss. Oh, and
a nice little tidbit: all the locales in the game were modeled after
real places at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I’ve intentionally
never been to MIT for just that reason…I think it’d scare the piss out
of me. ;)
The Smurfs (ColecoVision)
I
swear, every time I publicly state my love for this game, I immediately
get about thirty letters from people who agree with me 100%. So why
is it that no critics ever seem to remember this groundbreaking title?
Reeased for the ColecoVision in 1982 under the title "Smurf
Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle," this game has since become legend,
known simply as, "that ColecoVision Smurfs game." Why? It’s
simple, really. The Smurfs was released in ’82, a full three
years before the NES made its American debut, this game looks almost
as good as Super Mario Bros. The gameplay isn’t as advanced,
but it’s a ton of fun, and a landmark in game design. Oh, and there’s
even a way to have Smurfette remove her clothing at the end. Now that’s
a game!
Phantasy Star (Sega
Master System)
If
I was ordering this in any way, this would probably be the number one
most underrated game of all time. Phantasy Star is one of my
favorite games of all time, and it was also the first real console RPG
I ever played. Unfortunately, Sega’s Master System was pretty much blown
away by the Nintendo Entertainment System, so only those of us who dared
to stray from the flock actually got to enjoy it. Phantasy Star
has gorgeous graphics, a combination of first person and top down perspectives,
and a great storyline that blew away its competition on other consoles.
A genuine classic…don’t miss it.
System Shock (PC)
Oh, man. System Shock
was some goooood stuff. While Doom made an impact with its creepy
environments and "find the key" style levels, System Shock
allowed you to walk backwards through levels (if you dropped an item
you could actually go back and pick it up later!) and it actually managed
to convey the feeling that you were on board a real space station. Not
to mention its incredibly unique inventory and cyberspace system. Throw
in a genuinely integrated plot (almost five years before Half-Life)
and you’ve got a genuine classic. Unfortunately it wasn’t promoted especially
well, and was pretty much snowed over by first Doom and later
Duke 3D and Dark Forces. If you can still find it (and
I’ve been trying to hunt it down for ages now) do yourself a favor and
pick it up.
(Continued
on next page)
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