Summer Games Challenge 2023 - STARTS NOW!

[Ack]

1. Out of This World (GEN)
2. Journeyman Project: Turbo! (PC)
3. Theme Park (GEN)
4. Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)
5. NHL Hockey '95 (GEN)
6. Lethal Enforcers (GEN)
7. Prince of Persia (Apple II)

Today I started up The Journeyman Project: Turbo! and I am SO. EXCITED.

I brought out my old 2011 laptop for this. I already have a Windows 95 virtual machine installed there, and I also wanted the option of playing in the living room and tossing the game up on the TV for my partner Nathaniel to watch. I have a desktop these days, so using that would mean casting from the office. So, nah. Running an HDMI cable from couch to TV it is!

I used my own CD to install the game, which sadly is not my original. The disc that came packed-in with my family's first Windows computer was a casualty of our 2019 cross-country move. I actually remember tossing that disc into a garbage bag of miscellaneous non-recyclables and staring at it sitting in there, thinking to myself, "I think I'm making a mistake." I'd held onto that thing for decades, a frightening enigma I'd always wanted to revisit and understand -- this is like, Ecco the Dolphin-levels of fixated KeyGlyph obsession we're talking about here. But we didn't know how much space we were going to have when we moved, so I was determined to be ruthless as we scaled down our belongings.

Looking back on it, what difference was one CD going to make? But I was afraid to get sucked into that mindset of exceptions. It all worked out though. It only took me a year or two before I reclaimed a new copy, and now we're finally doing it. Today I sat down with some pizza and a soda and dove in.

If you're not familiar with it, this is a first-person point-and-click-ish game that's heavy on FMV clips and realistic rendered backgrounds. It's so of its time (1994) that you can sense how awed it anticipated you'd be of its unskippable cinematic sequences. It's happened a few times already that I've tried clicking interface buttons before realizing I was actually supposed to be chilling out with a transitional cutscene. It's so great. A totally different rhythm of play with its old-school expectations frozen in its amber.

To sum this up as briefly as possible, you are a temporal intelligence agent of the future tasked by the American government with guarding the world's first and only time machine, preventing its use and/or setting the timeline to rights in the event of spacetime catastrophe. On the same day that a now unified Earth is set to welcome the return of an alien civilization offering peaceful intergalactic alliance, changes are made in the past that drastically alter Earth's political priorities and stability. You avoid the temporal rip cascading through the timeline, suss out the major past events that were altered, and set off to restore them.

Maybe this sounds cheesy, but to baby Key it was THE COOLEST STUFF EVER, and the tone of the game is sufficiently foreboding and jarring to make it thrilling. I still think this, especially now that I'm a grown adult paying actual attention to things like inventory descriptions and foreshadowing. I am compelled.

As a kid I never solved any of the temporal changes. Tonight I already resolved one of them. I kind of lost my mind with excitement. It led to my discovering huge bits of plot I'd never known about, and I am just SO READY to see where this thing goes.

I also learned from reading the manual (which I don't believe I had back in the day, but I'm not totally sure) that there is more than one way to solve any given scenario. So, replay value?? Extra puzzles to work out?? I couldn't be happier. This is going to a very special Summer Games Challenge for me.

All of this is fantastic, and exactly why I enjoy the Summer Games Challenge. I am so glad you are sharing this experience with us.

[bmoc]

All of this is fantastic, and exactly why I enjoy the Summer Games Challenge. I am so glad you are sharing this experience with us.

Agreed.

My progress has slowed due to Diablo IV and a family vacation but I'm still reading the replies.

[alienjesus]

1. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
2. Terranigma (SNES)
3. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (GC)
4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (GC)
5. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1)
6. Jumping Flash! (PS1)
7. Dark Cloud (PS2)
8. Sly Raccoon (PS2)
9. Sakura Wars (Saturn)
10. Samba De Amigo (DC)

Last night I started up Jumping Flash, and wow, this sure is a PS1 game. It really feels emblematic of the era to me with it's bouncy soundtrack, colourful rainbow visuals and basic CG cutscenes with bad voice acting. It reminds me that Sony once felt like a company who was having fun with their new tech, rather than a big faceless corporate machine (even though I'm sure they still were at the time).

You play as Robbit, a robot rabbit who is on a quest to save entire worlds from the even mad scientist Baron Aloha, who is just a dude in a Hawaiian shirt and a monocle. You can shoot lasers and jump very high in the air up to 3 times before landing. The game is in first person which sounds like a nightmare for platforming but it has some smart design choices where upon performing your second or third jumps the camera pans directly downwards and you can shift your character around to adjust your landing, using a very clear shadow to determine where you'll land. Level designs are fairly basic but I still had fun. I also enjoyed the pair of levels that mixed things up with indoor environments focusing on blasting enemies, making the game feel more like a dungeon crawler.

I actually thought I was going to be posting another game ticked off the list today, as the game proved to be quite short and I finished it's 6 worlds in one sitting, but it was not be. I was informed that I wasn't done yet, and a new 'extra' mode unlocked which is a harder remix of the same levels. After a quick google search, it turns out I need to beat Extra mode for the actual ending and credits. That's right - I got Ghost and Goblined.

I'll give extra mode a go this evening - it has items moved around levels and you get less health. I don't think it should be too bad outside of the games later bosses, a few of which got my health down low on my first run. Maybe my next post will be the halfway point?

[Key-Glyph]

Wow, Jumping Flash sounds fun. One of my biggest classic gaming blindspots is the PS1 era -- and really PlayStation in general. 99% of the time if you name a random game that was either on PS1 or PS2, I can't correctly identify the console iteration it was made for. I've taken to just calling everything "a PlayStation game" or saying a game was "for PlayStation" in the hopes of lumping all of the consoles under a safe conversational umbrella, but I've still gotten called out for saying something is "on PlayStation" when it's for PS2 or later. <sweats>

Anyway, that was a long rambly way to say that I didn't know anything about Jumping Flash before your posts AJ, and from your description it seems like exactly the sort of title I should pick up if I ever want to give myself a historical tour of the PS1 era.

1. Out of This World (GEN)
2. Journeyman Project: Turbo! (PC)
3. Theme Park (GEN)
4. Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)
5. NHL Hockey '95 (GEN)
6. Lethal Enforcers (GEN)
7. Prince of Persia (Apple II)

I don't even know how to start this post. It's surreal to have finally seen The Journeyman Project Turbo! through to the end.

I want to tell you some random things about this experience, and I want to start with my biggest discovery. I know now why baby Key couldn't figure out what to do in this game. It's because baby Key PANICKED.

Each encounter that I can vividly remember being stuck at and not knowing what to do for was actually very solvable. The problem was that they were all so soaked with tension that I clearly froze in my chair, unable to look at or think about anything but my impending doom. I know this because in one instance, all you need is a quick glance around the screen to pick up some very obvious clues about what might be clickable for interaction. I'd never noticed them before now. In another instance -- which is probably the most iconic single scene in the game -- a seven-foot-tall mech strides up to you and growls, "OUT OF MY WAY, HUMAN… OR DIE," and -- get this -- you can then... get out of the way. WHO KNEW, right? I was so terrified at ten or so years old that I couldn't get my wits enough about me to try moving over a space!

I will say too, though, that what I understood of video game logic at that age may have been part of what failed me. In tense moments, Journeyman clearly dallies for a short time, giving you a chance to think about what to do and/or try some things out. This ominous mech, for instance, will stand there for a bit, patiently waiting for you to decide whether you're going to afford it the respect of scooching over to the side or forfeit your life through indecision. I can remember the feeling of understanding I was supposed to do something in those moments, but I clearly had a very narrow idea of what I thought the game was looking for. It never occurred to me that I could use movement in this particular scenario; I just felt like the jig was up, that I either had whatever inventory item the game wanted me to use or I didn't, and that my only option was to warp away to save my hide. Which I did. Many times.

In fact, I think I may have been fixated on the concept of "inventory items are always the answer” for Journeyman, which is interesting. I'm not sure if I'd played any LucasArts games in any depth before this. I wish I could know for sure. Actually, wait. That's very possible. I bet I played Journeyman for a day before getting spooked, then went back to it a year or two later. I probably can’t distinguish these memories now. If that's true, then I would definitely have played Day of the Tentacle in between those times, and would have tried to apply all the understanding I'd gotten from that to Journeyman. Not exactly compatible.

One last thing to note for now: This is one of those games that gives you a Sierra-style point score for various actions, and you get a final breakdown at the end. This breakdown confirms the manual's claim that there is more than one way to solve each scenario. So I'm going to go back and try some different things! I'm glad my experience with this game isn't over, since it went by much faster than I'd anticipated. I had like, meals planned for upcoming game sessions. I'm ridiculous.

Oh wait, one last last thing. If you're wondering what it's called Journeyman Project "Turbo!", it's because I'm playing the re-release that drastically improved the game's performance. The back of the jewel case claims this 1994 edition runs 300% faster than the 1993 original. Knowing that my version is much snappier makes certain things suddenly make sense, like why very short hallways have their own, very long bits of groovy Soundblaster BGM. In the original you probably got through the whole loop before making it from your apartment door to the elevator.

[Key-Glyph]

1. Out of This World (GEN)
2. Journeyman Project: Turbo! (PC)
3. Theme Park (GEN)
4. Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)
5. NHL Hockey '95 (GEN)
6. Lethal Enforcers (GEN)
7. Prince of Persia (NES)

Double post because this year's challenge has started a fire in me.

Real quick side note here, but I want to acknowledge something. Back when the pandemic hit, my gaming habits changed dramatically. Seemingly overnight I became incapable of gaming alone and/or pursuing games with involved plots. There was no room to spare in my brain for stuff that required deep, consistent solo thinking. Unless I was in exactly the right mood on a given day, activities that usually brought me so much joy in a playthrough -- mapping areas, taking notes, even the simple necessity of passively memorizing levels -- could feel unbearable, like trying to look at a blinding light. And unless it was something like Animal Crossing or No Man's Sky, I needed company.

Although things did get better over time, this year's Summer Games Challenge has really brought home just how much I've recovered. I've not been this sustainably excited to immerse in games on my own in a long time. And when I am immersed, I'm not like... consciously doing it to block out broader anxieties or force myself to find fun, know what I mean? That was the headspace I was in before. Now I'm just playing games again. It's so great. Thanks for being a part of this summer with me!

And so, Prince of Persia.

I took prfsnl_gmr's advice and jumped into the NES port instead of copying my own floppy of the original, since setting up the Apple IIe in my office would be a whole involved thing right now. Jordan Mechner's first game Karateka came with my family's second-hand Apple IIe in the 90s and left a huge impression on me as a kid -- it was the first game I felt so emotionally invested in that I got sick to my stomach from my feelings of responsibility and turmoil -- but we never had Prince of Persia, so I've been meaning to dive into it for a long time. Like others here have been through with games of their own, I think this one has been on my Summer Challenge list for several years in a row.

My first impression was to wonder if PoP was the starting inspiration for the now hugely popular concept of speedrunning games. Yes, there have always been people trying to race through everything with best times, but hear me out on how specific this parallel is. You have twelve levels to get through and 60 minutes total to do it in. At the beginning of each stage you are told how many minutes remain, which is the equivalent of a speedrunner's "splits" and enforces the concept of staying on pace. And, also like speedrunning, if you die during a level, you're not sent back to a checkpoint with refunded time. Whether success takes you two minutes or twenty, that playtime is deducted from the 60 total forever, which the game never fails to remind you. It's not about how long it takes the character to succeed, it's how long it takes you to succeed, with unlimited attempts as a player. So not only is getting those "perfect runs" essential to progressing to the end, it becomes the unstated overall goal of the entire experience: combine all your learning and skill into one incredible start-to-finish cinematic rush.

There is a password system that locks in whatever remaining time you had at the start of the level when you first arrived, but reentering passwords is a pain; the game clearly wants you to push on, to see if you can make it through a single run even if you stumble. The whole modern speedrunning format is so baked into this that my password list looks like someone going for a world record or PB: "Level 2 - [PASSWORD] - 58 minutes remaining (-2 minutes)."

So far I love it for its vision, and I've certainly gasped a few times as my reflexes caused some dramatic saves. But I'll also say that playing this game does put me in a bit of a bad mood. More than once I've gotten stuck on a level for twenty minutes because I was supposed to deduce a ledge above me or a doorway beside me that was literally not shown on the screen. I also don't understand dueling enough to consistently get through unscathed, and hit points are really precious here. I know this is the point, though. You're supposed to be pushed to take risks and reach for those dramatic triumphs. I was also only working on it for a day, and the basic control scheme itself has a learning curve as it is. This is one of those games that you play to frustration, go to bed, and then wake up dramatically improved at after your brain finishes burning in those new pathways. I'll get there.

It's a little bit of a slog, and certainly my greatest challenge this summer... but once I've got the skills, I can see myself wanting to do a run every so often in the future, just to feel that rush of proficiency.

[MrPopo]

I'm glad to see that you elected to not copy that floppy.

[Ack]

Don't worry, Key. Prince of Persia also puts me on a bad mood when I play. For every awesome moment, there is so much frustration that goes alongside it.

[marurun]

I first encountered Prince of Persia on the Mac in black and white. I think that's actually quite a nice version to play. Doesn't eliminate the frustrating bits, but it does look nice. Also, sword fighting really boils down to trading parries.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Key is dominating this thread, and I really need to get into this challenge more. Still, I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread, and I’m happy to see so much participation this year.

I’ve bounced off PoP a few times, and I my feelings about it mirror Ack’s. Still, I intend to beat it someday, and I can’t deny its influence. It also has a staggering number of ports:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/prince-of-persia/

Apparently, the NES port is really close to the Apple II original, especially graphically. The combat, as Key noted, is more imprecise, which drags it down a bit. Still, I hope Key enjoys it!

My favorite are the Sega CD port and other ports by Japanese developers. The little anime cutscenes are so cute!

[Key-Glyph]

I'm glad to see that you elected to not copy that floppy.

Don't be too proud; I'm using an EverDrive. But seriously, if any of you haven't seen The Apple II Disk Server, it's incredible. Tons of games preserved there that you can transfer to your own blank disks via the Apple II's audio-in jack.

And thanks for the solidarity over the frustration, everyone. I'm super happy to report that I what I wrote turned out to be true: when I went back to the game last night, I was much improved. Made great time on the levels I'd already explored, and along the way experienced some magical shenanigans?? (I kind of knew about this plot element already but had forgotten the details, and a lot of the stuff that's happening is deeply cool and clever.)

I also figured out a reliable technique for swordfighting. The lightbulb moment was, "maybe try being a bit aggressive?" Not the usual Key approach! Case in point, I realized I'd never touched the forward arrow during a duel because I hadn't imagined a benefit. But now, through the science of testing everything through a myriad deaths, I have a sequence of moves that seems pretty solid. It really does surprise me that it's a sequence, though. It's multifaceted and branching. It's not just, "when they do A, do B." It's, "When they do A, do B and also follow up with C and D immediately -- unless E happens, in which case switch back to B for a few beats, then continue on." It feels more improvised and unpredictable than something like Zelda II, where almost every enemy action had an appropriate counteraction. Also, it doesn't always work. Haha.

And again prfsnl_gmr, thanks for the suggestion of trying to NES port. I think I would have punted this game to next summer otherwise, and I'm really happy to be digging into it now.