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Welcome To Markies’ Together Retro Poll For September!

So, I feel real bad about only participating on the Together Retro’s for only one day. Apparently, my style of gaming doesn’t do well for something of this structure. I have wanted to, but I was busy playing other games for most of the year and there have been months that I could not participate.

For my month, I decided to take a page out of AlienJesus’ book by having you people decide what game I will be playing. Each category, I will put what game I will be playing and that will make sure that I will play that game this month. At least now, I can’t make an excuse as I will have a game to play for whichever category wins.

I would prefer for people to play retro games for these categories. For some, you pretty much have to. For others, there are modern iterations that fit into the category, so if that is all you can play, then please go ahead. I would prefer Retro, but I would just like to see participation for my month.

Finally, I have noticed some of the talkings about the format, so I made a few changes. For one, my categories are a bit more specific. So, no entire genres here. Also, and more importantly, there will be NO CHANGES regarding your poll voting. Once you make your decision, it is final. I hope for people to choose what they want and not for them to sway the poll in favor.

With that in mind, Welcome To My Together Retro Poll.

-Markies

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8-Bit Sports Games

Requirement: Must be a Sports Game and on the Sega SG-1000, NES, Nintendo Famicom, Sega Master System or Atari 7800.

What I’ll Be Playing: Bad News Baseball

So, Sports Games get a bad rap around most gaming forums. They are too complex or they basically cut and paste the same game or they are played by jocks and frat boys. Not in the 8-Bit Era. Sports games in this time are easy and accessible. They have arcade action and some still have the depth of modern sports games. They are the best sports games and very easy to get into. If you want to try a Sports Game, play one in the 8 Bit Generation.

This is a very straightforward category. It must be on the 8-Bit system and it must be consider a sports games. Traditional sports along with other sports as well. As long as it is considered a sport, then it would fit here.

Suggestions: Tecmo Super Bowl, Blades of Steel, Rocky, RBI Baseball, Double Dribble, Crash N The Boys Street Challenge and NES Open Tournament Golf

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Mario Vs. Sonic

Requirement: Must be a game where you can play as either Mario or Sonic.

What I’ll Be Playing: Sonic & Knuckles

Let us revisit one of the most intense video game wars. Nintendo Vs. Sega. Looking back, it looks really hilarious and silly with all of the commercials. However, now that the war is over, we can reap the benefits. We, as Retro Gamers, can play both Sega and Nintendo games. And let us play games from those companies’ mascots.

This is my most wide open of categories. You can play anything from the main games to the kart racing games to puzzles to even Super Smash Brothers. As long as you can play as either Mario or Sonic, then it is acceptable. That is the only requirement.

Suggestions: Super Mario Brothers 3, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Super Mario World, Sonic Mania, Mario Kart 64, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Super Smash Brothers Brawl

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Games Made By Treasure

Requirement: Must play a game made by Treasure.

What I’ll Be Playing: Mischief Makers

I think a hallmark of retro games is games made by the company Treasure. They were not very appreciated when they were released and they seem to have aged very well. Most of the games flew under the radar and they have that ageless quality of being very enjoyable to play. So, let us enjoy a much heard about and stalwart of the retro gaming community.

This is my most confined category. It cannot be done by the Treasure people while they were still with Konami. It must be a game made by Treasure as an independent company. If you consult this list on Wikipedia, you should be able to find something. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_(company)

Suggestions: Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Silhouette Mirage, Sin & Punishment

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Street Fighter

Requirement: Must play a Street Fighter Fighting Game.

What I’ll Be Playing: Street Fighter Collection

With Sports games not winning a Together Retro Month yet, let us do another genre without a victory. Fighting games have always been an important part of my life as they are great games to play with a friend. I think we should play the longest and the best fighting game franchise, so let us play some Street Fighter games. It’s a series that anybody can get into. If you have never played a fighting game, Street Fighter is the easiest to pick up and play.

Now, this is another rather large category. Of course, any of the mainline Street Fighter games are acceptable. Anything from Street Fighter all the way to Street Fighter V and anything in between are great choices for this category. Also, I am willing to accept any Fighting Games with Street Fighter Characters. So, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Capcom Vs. SNK, Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom are all acceptable as well.

Suggestions: Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III, Marvel Vs. Capcom II, Pocket Fighter.

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Pinball Games

Requirement: Must play a Video Pinball Game.

What I’ll Be Playing: Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection

So, here is a fact about me: Every two weeks, I go with a friend of mine to play Pinball. About an hour away is about 80 Pinball machines and several MAME arcade machines. We have been going there for a few years now and I have really gotten into the silver ball. With the announcement of Williams backing out of the The Pinball Arcade, let us enjoy some Pinball games.

This is by far the category with the most potential. As long as it is a video game of Pinball, it is acceptable. Sonic Spinball works, for example. Also, any Pinball emulation works as well. As long as you have flippers and a ball, you are good to go.

Suggestions: Stern Pinball Arcade, Pinball Hall of Fame: Gottlieb or Williams Collection, Pinball FX, Kirby’s Pinball Land, Pokemon Pinball.

Voted 8-bit sports because I actually own a SG-1000 golf game.

Also, pinball. Been meaning to play Pinball Quest.

Cool choices!

I went with Treasure games (there are a ton of good ones that I've never beaten), and Pinball games (Lots of good stuff across many platforms)

Markies wrote:there will be NO CHANGES regarding your poll voting. Once you make your decision, it is final. I hope for people to choose what they want and not for them to sway the poll in favor.

Thank you sir.

-

I voted for Treasure and Pinball. I am most in favor of Pinball winning. That would be unusual, and there's a few retro pinball games I've been meaning to try for ages. This would be a good opportunity. As for Treasure, well, it's Treasure. Hit and miss company, but mostly hits.

Did people not like vote changing? I have no strong opinion one way or another.

There was a large hub-bub a few months back of people changing their votes in the final days of voting. When it came down to two choices, people were moving their votes around to focus on those two.

I have never seen a poll where you can change your vote after you vote. And I wanted to see how this would do if you were locked in for your vote. So, I was willing to be the experiment to see if it would be better going forward.

Since the entire focus of this Month is for me to play games, I voted for 8-Bit Sports Games and Street Fighter. When I was creating the options, I had a suspicion that Pinball might be the favorite, but I thought I had enough variety to make it at least interesting.

Voting ends on Sunday, August 12th at 3:45 PM CST. It will be up for one week and then that will be it. Enjoy voting.

Unfortunately, I do not have access to Racketboy at work. However, I am around several times during the weekend and night time hours. If you have any questions, I will gladly answer them. If you are confused if your game would work, then ask me. I am very lenient for the options, so as long as it is close, then you should be good to go.

I went for 8-bit sports and Treasure. I've played a ton of Street Fighter, so I actually figured I'd played those two a bit less, despite having finished most of Treasure's catalog and my untold hours into Tecmo Super Bowl. Which, seriously, if 8-bit sports wins, y'all have to hit that up. Along with stuff like Super Dodge Ball and Super Spike V'Ball.

This is a tough one with good choices so I need to sleep on it a bit.

What did you mean by no victories for fighting games tho? We have done Street Fighter 3, Soul Calibur, King of Fighters 98, Weaponlord... I may still vote for that one tho haha.

noiseredux wrote:This is a tough one with good choices so I need to sleep on it a bit.

What did you mean by no victories for fighting games tho? We have done Street Fighter 3, Soul Calibur, King of Fighters 98, Weaponlord... I may still vote for that one tho haha.

I meant since we revamped the format.

I noticed that last year we played Street Fighter III. But, there has been no fighting games or even fighting game categories this year. So, that is what I meant.

But, I am glad that I made tough choices. I did not want any obvious choices here.

Oh! Gotcha. My bad - totally misunderstood.

I haven't voted yet, as the no-changing-votes means I want to be REALLY sure before I do so. So let me mull over options 'out loud' here. 8bit Sports games... I've long been one of the voices encouraging sports games for TR, however I'm drawing a blank as to 8bit ones that are available to my via Switch or Xbox One. And either way I'd be way more excited about 16bit sports games - just a personal preference. Mario Vs Sonic is my one definite vote right now. And if this one wins, I'd likely stick to the classic 2D console platformers as it's what I associate most w/ that Sega v Nintendo rivalry. Of course I've played all of those games quite a bit but I'm happy to have a reason to revisit. I've got plenty to choose from but I'd probably go with Sonic 3 since it's the Sonic game that I've played the least (and like the least) of the original series, and I know that some Mario NES games will be included in the Swtich online subscription service launching in September so I'd likely be revisiting one or some of those as well. Treasure is sorta low-ish on my list. I recently played through Guardian Heroes for TR and meh. I suppose I could revisit Gunstar or Ikaruga which I own. I think I have Radiant Silvergun as well. Though none of these are games that I LOVE. I don't know what other Treasure games I have access to via the consoles mentioned above. Street Fighter is likely going to be my second pick. I did recently get that 30th anniversary collection on Switch and the only thing I've played on it so far is Third Strike, so I've got lots to play here. And if anyone else has it on Switch then we can get some online matches going. Pinball is cool. There's plenty of options. Heck, there's even stuff to freely sample as Pinball FX and Pinball Arcade give you free tables, don't they?