What was the first game that drove you insane? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Evans]

The only thing I never liked about Pirates was that heinous land combat system. Ye gods it was awful. Although I admit that I tended to get miffed just because it was nigh impossible to bust open Panama.
Great planning let me plunder the Silver Train and the Treasure Fleet in one swoop once, and I lost so many men that my crew was super-de-duper rich

 

[Andrew s wells]

JoelH... Demon attack eh? I remember playing the game, and after a certian level the game would just go to a blank screen. Wanst the game.. i called imagic, and also tried other peoples carts on their machines. Strange huh?

 

[Jason Ly]

K.C. Munchkin for my Odessey2, I kept playing that game until I maxed out the score at 999. I think I sent in a picture of the screen for newsletter, but I could be wrong. 20+ years will do that to your memory.

 

[Dan B]

Hey, I remember K.C. Munchkin. It was no Pick Axe Pete, but...ahh the Odyssey 2.

 

[JoelH]

Andrew,

If I remember correctly, Demon Attack would get progressively more difficult, including invisible enemies at one point. After the 98th level (?) or so, the game would just end -- probably the black screen you were talking about -- and that was that. I remember finally getting to the 98th level and losing my last ship. I was about ten, hadn't quite learned the fine art of anger management, and ripped the cartridge from the deck, throwing it against the far wall and watching it shatter into a thousand pieces.

I didn't play the game much after that.

Joel

 

[Dave Poehlman]

OMG these titles are taking me back! I could say Adventure on the old Atari 2600. But I think Beach Head on the C64 was the first game my friend and I pulled an all nighter on. Ultima was another... my brothers and I spent a lot of time mapping out that whole game and figuring out the moongate schedule.. I think we were more fascinated with its complexity than the game itself.

Then there was some space game I can't remember the title of.. but it was pretty elaborite. It was one of the later games for the C64. You would go to different planets and communicate with alien ships. Anyone know this one? They had it on the Amiga as well.

But then came DOOM and I became a first person shooter for life.

 

[Mark Evans]

Oh, and Temple of Apshai was always a colossal pain. You'd get so far and then get clobbered beyond belief by something you had no prayer against...

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Sort of on-topic, but does anybody have any clue how to beat the father in Ninja Gaiden? :b

 

[Kris Coffin]

2 games here

Blaster Master for the NES, spend countless rentals trying to beat this one.

Final Fantasy 7 - 97.5 hrs spent in one week to complete this fully. Every character lv 99, and all mana maxed out. UGH!

 

[Marshall W. Carter]

Hmmm... For difficulty it would have to be the original Castlevania on the NES. I must have played that game a thousand times and the Grim Reaper would almost always do me in (unless I was able to get to him on my first man with triple shot axes). The few times that I remembered getting to Dracula when I was younger were quickly forgotten...which is no surprise considering how short a time it took for him to do me in. All that came to an end my junior year in college. I remember waking up and for some reason the cart on the shelf that I had owned for well over a decade seemed to be calling me. Dracula fell that morning
I guess the first that drove me insane was Battlezone on the 2600 though, but that was my Dad's fault. He had played it almost as much as I had, and told me that while he was playing it one night, he had actually taken the tank over the mountains in the background, and once over there was an army of stickmen that you could run over. I must have played that game for the next couple of years trying to get over those mountains...

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

I may be showing my age (and computer history) here, but the first game that really just sucked me in until I couldn't stop playing was DUNGEONS OF DAGGORATH for the Radio Shack/Tandy TRS-80. It was a combination text adventure and vector graphic dungeon quest that came on a cartridge. Good stuff!

Honorable mention goes to:
C-64 -- The Last Ninja
NES -- Rygar, Metal Gear

 

[Parker]

I used to play M.U.L.E. on the Atari 800 obsessively and would mark all over the screen with erasable markers.
If you're talking in terms of sheer difficulty, most Infocom text adventures made me toss my hands up in anger. Gee why didn't i think to type in "smell the creature"?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Arggh! Phantasy Star Collection is out?
Errgh, I need to pick up a GBA now :frowning:
Where's PS4 on it?

 

[Adam Nixon]

I remember the sense of triumph I received when I beat the original Zelda. As far as insanity goes, X-Com UFO Defense chewed a major hole in my free time on the PC. I started playing around 9 PM one night, and looked at the clock a little later to see it was 6 AM. I can't remember any other game that caused such a gap in my memory.

 

[DeanWalsh]

Then there was some space game I can't remember the title of.. but it was pretty elaborite. It was one of the later games for the C64. You would go to different planets and communicate with alien ships. Anyone know this one? They had it on the Amiga as well.

That Sounds like 'Elite'.

I just thought of another game I was addicted to: Turrican on the C64. This had absolutely AMAZING graphics considering the hardware it was running on, and the levels were huge! It was also one of the only games on the system that managed to have huge bosses without slowing down the system. I just wish Factor 5 would get that 'Thornado' game underway already!

 

[Joe Szott]

For all you C64 junkies, did you know that they are remaking The Last Ninja for the PC/Xbox? I saw some screens a while ago (on ign.com maybe?) and it looked really true to the original vibe and a lot of fun. Is now an FPS stealthy type game, really sharp graphics.

Just an FYI...

 

[Eric Stuckey]

Bounty Hunter ( Gamecube )

Spy Hunter ( PS2 )

TESB ( Atari 2600 )

Rouge Leader ( N64 )

 

[Josh Lowe]

Kid Icarus. The blood pressure raiser.

 

[AaronJB]

The old "Star Wars" arcade game. I used to love that.

 

[paul h]

Ahhh The Last Ninja, one of my all time fave games!! I saw those screenshots months and months ago from the supposed remake but havent heard anything at all about it. In fact just looked here http://lastninja.c64.org/ and they say it's coming out next June
As for C64 games that drove me nuts i remember one called Nodes of Yesod that i couldnt beat then there was Last V8, Saboteur, Cauldron2 and countless others that did me over.
As for Factor 5, anyone remember that great R-Type rip off them did called Katakis? superb.