Years of silence, and suddenly a second new series? Is Christmas here early?!

You betcha!

Since I dove into game dev, I’ve been accmulating the random odds and ends that give games delight. I’m hopeful to use them to inspire, energize, and give direction to my own game dev journey.

Today, we’re kicking off some of them, five at a time. I’m not sure why I’m sticking with five for these new series, but, it’s happening, just roll with it.

I want to keep things lean and do more show than tell - I tend to overwrite, and I just don’t have time for that these days. (Picture me, typing on my laptop at the table, baby in the basinette next to me, doing that whining voice for my attention while I throw three quick blog posts together on a Saturday)

And so, we begin:

Sticking with the ‘Olde’ theme to start - definitely inspired by digging through all the old games downstairs.

This one is not actually from my youth, but is a bit of borrowed nostalgia. A friend loves this audio clip from Altered Beast, and the haunting nature of yelling this at the player at the Beginning of each life. It is quintessetial 90s Sega and is something that gets me out of bed when i recall it in the morning.

TODO PULL IN CLIPS!

This is a good example of something that isn’t that hard to include (audio when a player comes back to life/starts the game), but adds lots of joy and FUN to the game. A reminder of the part of me that things game dev should be hard - instead, just enjoy it and add more fun things!

TODO pull in links to tje, sor2, and that vgm classics web app thing

I love VGM, but the Sega soundtracks in particular, especially Toe Jam & Earl and Streets of Rage 2, are some all time faves. Those first few notes of SOR2, and the bleeps and blips on the main + select character menus…. I dream to create something as tightly woven into my nostalgia brain.

TODO Screenshots of losing at SNES Mario Kart.

Losing at the old games made winning way more meaningful! I recently got crushed at SNES Mario Kart - I didn’t start Mario Kart until N64, and yep the game sure was different at it’s inception.

I love Streets of Rage THREE but have to admit I’ve never beat it, even when making concerted efforts as an adult.

I never beat Sonic The Hedgehog. (Well, kind of. more later.)

These games were hard!!

Mostly pulling from the Beat Em Ups here - I love the dynamic of protecting eachother, or working together - these games were way more about role playing and having fun than perfect execution.

The boss battles is where it all comes together. Bosses are where the usual rules don’t apply - the boss has moments of invincibility, impossible range, and unpredictable (or very predictable) patterns.

I still remember the first few times we knocked shredder from the roof, after the longest elevator ever. Mr X and Shiva were the same. You’ve come so far, after all the build up…

These are the true magic moments, and a thing I want to recreate and share with folks. Love that I’m finally making this list!

I’m unlocking old memories with this one: me, at the grocery store, reading the gaming magazines, and begging my mom to buy it so I can remember ‘JOINTVENTURE’ is the code for 2 player adventure mode in Diddy Kong Racing.

Keyword entry is one thing, but blindly executing a konami-code-alike according to obscure timing… I can’t tell you how many times I turned Sonic The Hedgehog on and off again (“upsy, downsy, leftsy, rightsy, A, Start”). That level select eventually worked, I’d pick the last level, and my mind would be blown. There are still some late levels in Sonic i’ve never seen - maybe I ought to work up to a playthrough…. these old games are hard.

A similar, but easier input unlocked more options for Streets of Rage 2 - very easy and mania mode, and bumping to 9 lives by default… accessibility options as easter eggs for 5-year-old me.

And then, after hours of doubt, some bizarre combination of inputs on the Train in GoldenEye64… and suddenly you’ve unlocked it all - the whole of the cheat options. Not just paintball mode! I’m talking invincibility, invisibility, infinite ammo, everything. What a joy, that I’m sure some maniacs earned.

Having bought and read cover to cover several players guides for games, I’m always blown away those guides don’t contain some of this awesome debug content… and things that were quite available at places like cheat-code-central (once I was old enough to navigate that kind of thing).

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There’s the first five! I want to keep elaborating on these, and obvi get some actual screenshots/videos in place. Eventually building up to a youtube video? My time is zapped these days… but maybe?

More to come!

PS. A bonus that we’ll dig into soon: Elevator Levels.