The original touch-screen game system.

Pop quiz: which video game console first featured a touch screen? (Hint: It’s not the Nintendo DS.) How about this one: Which handheld console first supported Internet connectivity?

Believe it or not, Tiger Electronics — a toy company famed for its cheap electronic games — came in first on both counts with the Game.com in 1997. (Sega Saturn was the first home console to support Internet in 1996).

I was a Game.com early adopter, having bought one close to its release. The wonder of its primitive touch screen alone seemed to make up for its deficiencies at the time, so I was pleased at first. The unit shipped with a built-in version of Klondike Solitaire and a Lights Out game cartridge, both of which showed off the system’s touch capabilities well. But my infatuation with the Game.com turned out to be brief.

[ Continue reading [ Retro Scan of the Week ] Tiger Game.com » ]

He soon landed with an embarrassing splash.

This Double Dragon scratch-off game card came from a pack of Topps “Nintendo Game Pack” cards that I bought, likely in a drugstore, circa 1989. Of all the cards in the pack, this one remains unscratched for whatever reason. Perhaps I wanted to preserve the mystery and potential of a single unscratched scratch-off card. After all, the cards become worthless and ugly after you impart jaggy scratch lines all over those silver little pads.

The reason Nintendo and the scratch-off concept share the same milieu is that each card presents the owner with a game of sorts. Once you scratch a pad, you reveal a graphical symbol that determines your fate depending on the directions printed on the back of the card. In this case, you need “1 arrow and 2 kicks or 3 elbows or 4 punches” to win. I’m not sure how many variations of the symbols Topps printed under those silver pads, but I hope there was more than one. Otherwise, if you had multiple copies of the same card, the “game” might have unfolded in exactly the same way if you scratched the same pads.

Nintendo Game Packs cards featured Super Mario Bros., Punch-Out!!, and The Legend of Zelda as well, although those were too irresistible for me to not scratch off, so none survive in tact in my collection.

A number of websites examine these cards in more detail. This one has scans of all the cards in the series. Another one features photos of the stickers that came with each pack of cards — I remember plastering those all over my walls as a kid. I may have a couple of the uglier stickers left un-peeled somewhere. If I ever find them, I’ll probably just burn them as an offering to Hgnagg, the God of Nostalgia.

Discussion Topic of the Week: Did you collect trading cards as a kid? What kind(s)?

Every once and a while, I receive emails from people looking for a certain game, electronic toy, or computer from their distant past. I then pass it on to intrepid VC&G readers to crack the case.

Our latest Fuzzy Memory seems similar to our last one in some respects (a top-down D&D like game with RPG elements), but hails from an earlier time. Can you help Aaron figure out what it is?

[ Continue reading [ Fuzzy Memory ] Thy Character is Too Powerful » ]

A few days ago, PC World published my latest slideshow, The Evolution of Video Game Media. Many people probably missed it due to Memorial Day weekend, but I’m here to remind you that it exists. It’s the third in my “Evolution” series of slideshows after “Evolution of the Cell Phone” and “The Evolution of Removable Storage.”

For this slideshow, I scanned every type of video game storage media I have — about 66 different cartridges, optical discs, and magnetic disks in all. I visually presented all of these formats to scale with each other between slides so you can get a sense of the size of each. While I included media from a majority of the video game systems ever released, I didn’t include every single one.

A large portion of the text was cut in edits for this slideshow (it’s hard to squeeze a lot of info into a small caption space), so I plan to publish the full text along with the images at a higher quality on VC&G at some point in the future. I hope you enjoy it.

Every once and a while, I receive emails from people looking for a certain game, electronic toy, or computer from their distant past. I then pass it on to intrepid VC&G readers to crack the case.

The Clues

Tammo writes:

Hi, i am looking for a game i played about 10 years ago and i cant remember the title of. It is an rpg/adventure game out of “250 Best Arcade Games” in 1998. It’s a top-down game where all monsters/npcs/items are represented by tile icons. It’s a d&d’esque game allowing the player to build a party of characters at the beginning and then level them up in their chosen class. Race is chosen also and one of the races is ‘nephilim’. It was a very expansive game world even in just the trial version. Sorry but i can’t remember any more details. I am looking for a place to download this game, if it exists anywhere.

Thanks you very much and i look forward to your response.

The Search Begins

It’s up to you to find the object of Tammo’s fuzzy memory. Post any thoughts or suggestions in the comments section below. Good luck!

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Have a memory of a computer, video game, computer software, or electronic toy you need help identifying? Send me an email describing your memories in detail. Hopefully, the collective genius of the VC&G readership can help solve your mystery.

More mediocrity than my attention can hold.

I was so excited when I first saw Werewolf: The Last Warrior in my local Blockbuster, circa 1991. I excitedly rented the game and took it home, only to have my hopes dashed against the rocks of expectation upon inserting it into my NES and playing.

The game was terrible. Well… to be generous, it was an intensely derivative action-platformer, à la Ninja Gaiden — one of hundreds on the NES platform.

While Werewolf may not be remembered for original gameplay, it will forever be immortalized as one of VC&G’s 2009 Halloween Costume Ideas. And that’s the way it should be.

Discussion Topic of the Week: What’s the weirdest video game main character of all time?

In honor of Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary, Google has created its most amazing Google Doodle yet: a playable browser-based version of Pac-Man in the usual Google logo space. They did an excellent job, complete with authentic graphics, sounds, and scoring.

When you first go to Google, you’ll see a static image. Wait a few seconds and the page will reload with a hybrid JavaScript/Flash application (it uses Flash for sound) that brings the Google logo to life. Excellent work, Google!

P.S. If anyone figures out how to save a playable version of the game, let me know. I haven’t had to time to dig into it yet.

Every once and a while, I receive emails from people looking for a certain game, electronic toy, or computer from their distant past. I then pass it on to intrepid VC&G readers to crack the case.

The Clues

Brandon writes:

I am wondering if anyone has info on this game I was playing on a TRS-80 back in middle school in 1985. We had this game where you had a submarine that you piloted around the ocean and in caves. It was a side-scroller that you had to miss mines and not run out of air. I remember having to program it on a disk but I am not 100% sure of that memory. Ideas? I know thats not much to go on.

Thanks
Brandon

The Search Begins

It’s up to you to find the object of Brandon’s fuzzy memory. Post any thoughts or suggestions in the comments section below. Good luck!

—

Have a memory of a computer, video game, computer software, or electronic toy you need help identifying? Send me an email describing your memories in detail. Hopefully, the collective genius of the VC&G readership can help solve your mystery.

One eyeball, two pupils, eight fingers, ten teeth. Just like momma.

Remember when ads like this haunted the back of every video game magazine? As a kid, the thought of getting money for games you’d already played through (and thus theoretically had no more use for) was an exciting one. But the truth about used game buyers always ended up disappointing — any business that hoped to make a profit by selling used video games could only afford to offer you a few bucks per title. That’s why I never sold any of them.

Discussion Topic of the Week: Have you ever regretted selling any of your video games? If so, tell us the story.

Every once and a while, I receive emails from people looking for a certain game, electronic toy, or computer from their distant past. I then pass it on to intrepid VC&G readers to crack the case.

The Clues

Corrado writes:

Hello there. I’d like to take advantage of VC&G’s collective genius to identify this game I used to play (or try to) a lot back when my bulky, monochromatic 286 laptop was the greatest computer I ever owned. This should place us in the mid-nineties.

Anyway, it was a dos game, a space fighter simulator with wire frame graphics. One of the toughest enemies looked for all the world like a ROTJ walker- yes, walking about in space. Your ship had a laser and three “boosters”-activating them would make a second hud slide in the game window and make you zoom around, to absolutely no use.

One pretty remarkable thing about this game, and my favorite feature really- you could fly into a wedge-shaped mothership, connect to its computer and get a slideshow of all the enemies. I remember getting pretty psyched when I found out that. Of all my old games this is the one that always eluded me, so I’d be grateful for your help.

Thanks,
Corrado

The Search Begins

It’s up to you now to find the object of Corrado’s fuzzy memory. Post any thoughts or suggestions in the comments section below. Good luck!

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Have a memory of a computer, video game, computer software, or electronic toy you need help identifying? Send me an email describing your memories in detail. Hopefully, the collective genius of the VC&G readership can help solve your mystery.