Top 150 Arcade Games Results Thread

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

39. Hydro Thunder

Hydro Thunder is a powerboat racing game, originally an arcade game and later released for the Sega Dreamcast in November 1999. It was also released for PlayStation and Nintendo 64 in early 2000. This game is part of Midway's 'Thunder' series of racing games, which includes Offroad Thunder, 4 Wheel Thunder, and Arctic Thunder.

The gameplay of Hydro Thunder consists of racing high-tech speedboats through treacherous environments, from the cold seas of the Arctic Circle, to a post-apocalyptic, flooded version of New York.

Scattered across the tracks are blue and red boost icons. When touched these icons allow the player who touched them to boost. Red boost icons are more scarce than blue boost icons due to the fact red boost icons give more boost fuel. When a player has boost fuel they may use the boost button to boost, which allows a player's boat to reach speeds much higher than what would normally be possible. Also by boosting a player can knock other boats into the air, a feature described by the game as the Mighty Hull. Another aspect of boosting is the Hydro Jump which is performed by braking and using the boost button. When the Hydro Jump is performed the player's boat is propelled into the air. When combined with the many ramps on the tracks, players can reach short cuts and boost icons that would normally not be accesable otherwise.

The arcade version of Hydro Thunder utilizes the same basic cabinet as Cruis'n USA and Offroad Challenge, minus the standard foot pedals and adding a variable position throttle with forward, neutral and reverse directions. The game also has an unusual volume adjustment, where the regular play volume is usually set lower than the feedback volume for the subwoofer in the seat. This places the player "in the game" and makes the person feel like he or she is actually piloting a powerful, high-tech speedboat. Its is also noted this cabinet can also be seen in the Baxter Building in the movie Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer.

The boats in Hydro Thunder are divided into 4 categories: easy, medium, hard and bonus. The easy boats tend to be easy to control but they do not have the speed of other classes. Medium boats are in the middle, and Hard boats are usually very difficult to control but are very fast. Bonus boats are accessible by entering a combination to access the boat. They are also very hard to control. When using hard or bonus boats it is hard to control boats in the arcade version because the steering wheel will rumble and turn itself making it harder for the player to keep control of the boat. In the console versions hard to control boats only serve from side to side if left unchecked.

Easy boats include Damn the Torpedoes, a pink and purple boat, Midway, a white and orange boat named after the developer and Miss Behave, a green boat with a fan instead of a propeller.

Medium boats include Banshee, a green and black boat that looks very similar to the real F1 powerboats. Tidal Blade, a dragster-like boat with flames on its sides and Thresher, a Blue and black boat with shark-like fins. Tidal Blade was the cover boat for the Dreamcast version of Hydro Thunder.

Hard boats include Cutthroat, a purple and yellow boat with a skull on its bow and a jet-like shape; Rad Hazard, a gray UFO-like boat; and Razor Back, a red boat that was depicted on the cover of the Playstation and Nintendo 64 versions of Hydro Thunder.

The bonus boats in Hydro Thunder were offbeat when compared to the other boats in the game. The Tinytanic boat was literally a smaller version of the tragic luxury vessel the R.M.S. Titanic (hence the name). The Blowfish boat was a purple and black hovercraft which used two fans instead of propellers. Chumdinger was a grey fishing boat with a dog that would bark at other racers, while Armed Response was a police boat with mounted guns

The tracks in Hydro Thunder like the boats are divided into 4 classes: easy, medium, hard and bonus. The easy tracks are usually short and easy with the bonus tracks being the longest and hardest. The arcade version of the game had only two bonus tracks: New York Disaster" and "Nile Adventure", with the console versions adding two more: "Catacomb" and "Castle Von Dandy", making four in all (except for the MAT3 version, which do not include the CATACOMB track, making three).

Thunder Park was a three lap race around a waterlogged theme park. (Thunder Park, Hydro Speedway, Catacombs and Castle Von Dandy were the only tracks to have more than one lap) Lost Island was a race through a tropical Island. The Arctic Circle track featured a trip around the Arctic Circle, complete with large oil tankers and polar bears.

The Greek Isles track took players through parts of Greece, while the Lake Powell track had players race through a lake in the middle of a desert in Utah. Finally The Far East was a track that had players race through China.

The Ship Graveyard course was a race through a sea of sunken ships, the Venice Canals course was a winding track that went through the city of Venice, finally the New York Disaster track was a race through a flooded New York.

The Castle Von Dandy track was a race through a Cathedral like castle. The Nile Adventure track was the longest Track in the game and has many sharp turns that the player must overcome as he or she races through the Nile River. The Catacombs track was a race through an underground cavern. And the Hydro Speedway was a race through a park, similar to Thunder Park.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

38. Tekken 3

Tekken 3 is the third installment in the Tekken fighting game series. It was the first game released on Namco's System 12 hardware (an improvement to the original two Tekken games, which used System 11). It was the last installment of Tekken for the PlayStation. It was released for the PlayStation in 1998, and in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 as part of Tekken 5's Arcade History mode. The PlayStation version became a critical and commercial success, and is still widely regarded as one of the greatest games ever released.

Tekken 3 maintains the same core fighting system and concept as its predecessors, but brings many improvements, such as significantly more detailed graphics and animations, 15 new characters added to the game's roster, more modern music and faster and more fluid gameplay.


Perhaps the most noticeable change from Tekken 2 fight system is movement reform - whereas the element of depth had been largely insignificant in previous Tekken games (aside from some characters having unique sidesteps and dodging manuvers), Tekken 3 added emphasis on the third axis, alowing all characters to sidestep in or out of the background by lightly pressing the arcade stick (or tapping the controller button in the console version) towards the corresponding direction. Another big change in movement was that jumping was toned down, no longer allowing fighters to jump to extreme heights (as was present in previous games), but keeping leaps to reasonable, realistic heights. It made air combat more controllable, and put more use to sidestep dodges, as jumping no longer became a universal dodge move that was flying above all of the ground moves. Other than that, the improved engine allowed for quick recoveries from knock-downs, more escapes from tackles and stuns, better juggling (as many old moves had changed parameters, allowing them to connect in combo-situations, where they wouldn't connect in previous games) and extra newly-created combo throws.


Tekken 3 was the first Tekken to feature a beat 'em up minigame called Tekken Force. Tekken Force pitted the player in various stages against enemies in a side-scrolling fashion. If the player succeeds in beating the minigame four times, Dr. Bosconovitch would be a playable character (granted that you defeat him first). This was continued in Tekken 4 and succeeded by the Devil Within minigame in Tekken 5 - but Boskonovitch was dropped as a playable character after Tekken 3. There is also a minigame called Tekken Ball, similar to beach volleyball, where one has to either "charge" a ball (hit the ball with a powerful attack - note, that the attacks powerful enought to charge a ball were not always more damaging in a regular fight than the non-charging ones) to hurt the opponent, or just send it behind the second player's middle-line.

Fifteen years after the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, Jun has been living a quiet life in Yakushima, with her young son, Jin, who was concieved by Kazuya Mishima.

Heihachi Mishima, meanwhile, has established the Tekken Force, a force dedicated to the protection of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Using the company's influence, Heihachi is responsible for many events that have ultimately led to world peace. However, one day, while on an excavation in Mexico, a squadron of Heihachi's Tekken Forces is attacked and vanquished by a mysterious force. The only surving soldier manages to relay a brief message to Heihachi, describing the perpetrator as an "Ogre" or a "Fighting God". Heihachi and a team of soldiers investigate, and Heihachi manages to catch a glimpse of the culprit. Indeed, it looks very much like an Ogre, and Heihachi's long dormant dream of world domination is reawakened. He seeks to capture Ogre, and use him for this goal.

Soon after, various martial arts masters begin disappearing from all over the world, and Heihachi is convinced that this is Ogre's doing. In Yakushima, Jun starts to feel the presence of Ogre approaching them. Knowing that she has become a target, Jun tells Jin about this, and instructs him to go straight to Heihachi should anything happen. Sometime after Jin's fifteenth birthday, Ogre does indeed attack. Against Jun's wishes, Jin valiantly tries to fight Ogre off, but Ogre brushes him aside and knocks him unconscious. When Jin reawakens, he finds that the house has been burned to the ground, and that Jun is missing and most likely dead.

Driven by revenge, Jin goes to Heihachi and tells him everything. Jin begs Heihachi to train him to become strong enough to face Ogre again and avenge Jun, and Heihachi accepts.

Four years later, Jin has grown into an impressive fighter and master of Mishima Style Karate. On Jin's nineteenth birthday, the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 is announced, and Jin prepares for his upcoming battle against Ogre, unaware that Heihachi is merely using him and the rest of the competitors as bait to lure Ogre out in order to capture him.

Eventually, the tournament leads to the final confrontation between Jin and Ogre in Ogre's temple, the latter in his final and true form. The battle rages for hours, until Jin finally emerges the victor and Ogre completely dissolves. Moments later, Jin is gunned down by a squadron of Tekken Forces, led by Heihachi, who, no longer needing Jin, finishes the job personally by firing a final shot into his grandson's head.

However, Jin, revived by the Devil Gene within him (which he inherited from Kazuya), reawakens and makes quick work of the soldiers, turning his attention to Heihachi and literally smashing him through the wall of the temple. Heihachi survives the long fall, but Jin, in mid-air, suddenly sprouts black, feathery wings and strikes Heihachi one last time. He then flies off into the night, leaving his bewildered grandfather staring after him.

Returning characters are:
* Paul Phoenix
* Paul Phoenix
* Nina Williams
* Yoshimitsu
* Lei Wulong
* Anna Williams (unlockable)
* Heihachi Mishima (unlockable)

New characters are:
* King II
* Jin Kazama
* Ling Xiaoyu
* Hwoarang
* Eddy Gordo
* Forrest Law
* Kuma Jr. (unlockable)
* Panda (unlockable)
* Julia Chang (unlockable)
* Bryan Fury (unlockable)
* Gun Jack (unlockable)
* Mokujin (unlockable)
* Ogre (unlockable)
* True Ogre (unlockable)
* Tiger (unlockable, Eddy Gordo's alter ego)

The Arcade version of Tekken 3 features Anna Williams as an easter egg for Nina. She shares the same moves, stance and voice. Her character portrait is similar to that of Tekken 2, but with slight 3D touches.

The Arcade version focused on Yoshimitsu's new 'space armor' style. For any attack involving infliction of weapon damage, a laser-like sound replaced that of a sword chop in order to fit his space theme (he is equipped with a light saber, rather than a sword). The "sword chop" fx returned to the console version, however.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

37. Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct is a fighting game developed by Rare, Midway and Nintendo. Initially released in arcades in 1994, and rumored to use an "Ultra 64" hardware engine, in reality the proprietary arcade hardware was co-developed by Rare and Midway. The game received a high profile launch on the Super Nintendo, as well as on the Game Boy. It led to a sequel, Killer Instinct 2.

Ultratech is a very powerful mega-corporation (entities which, in this future setting, replaced all governments) which organizes a tournament called Killer Instinct. Along with regular participants, experimental creatures created by Ultratech also fight in the tournament. Ultratech also discovers a technology to make bridges between dimensions, and to also release from this dimensional prison a two-headed monster called Eyedol, an ancient warrior that was locked away along with his rival.

Characters are:
* Fulgore
Fulgore is a cyborg, part of a cybernetic project developed by Ultratech, the masterminds behind the Killer Instinct fighting tournament. Fulgore was entered into the tournament to test its fighting capabilities. If successful, the Fulgore unit would be placed in mass production. During the first Killer Instinct tournament, Fulgore met its end at the hands of Jago. A newer version of Fulgore was produced for the second fighting tournament. Fulgore has two No Mercy moves, one in which it removes its head, revealing a large turret-like gun which shoots the enemy repeatedly. The other uses a laser beam from its eyes to reduce the opponent to ashes.
(1 year old, 6'5", 560 lbs)


* Cinder
A criminal who was promised early release by Ultratech in exchange for participating in chemical weapons research. As a result of an accident during testing, his body is composed entirely of flame. He is promised a return to his original form if he is able to defeat Glacius in the tournament. In the early development stages of the game his name was Meltdown, but this was soon afterwards changed to Cinder. Cinder has two No Mercy moves, the first creates a pool of magma under the opponent, who melts into it. The second shoots them with flames to reduce them to ashes.
(31 years old, 6'2", 195 lbs)


* Glacius
An alien who was captured by Ultratech and promised freedom if he wins the tournament. He gets his nickname from his body's icy liquid composition and ability to shape-shift. He is one of the few characters that maintained his original name throughout early development. He uses three different No Mercy moves, one where he becomes a gel-like mass and absorbs the opponent (similar to the Blob), one in which he uses his finger as a syringe to inject the enemy with a substance that turns them to ice, and the last of which he turns into a pool of boiling water that the enemy drowns in.
(unknown age, 6'3", 300 lbs)


* Jago
A Tibetan monk following the Tiger Spirit, which later turns out to be Gargos in the second Killer Instinct, is on the path of enlightenment to defeat the evil within him. He believes it is his destiny to destroy Ultratech. He has many of the same moves as Street Fighter's Ryu and Ken characters, including the fireball and spinning uppercut. His No Mercy moves consist of stabbing the enemy with his sword, and meditating, which causes a car to fall on the opponent.
(21 years old, 5'6", 190 lbs)


* Riptor
A genetically engineered velociraptor-human hybrid created as a prototype by Ultratech. The tournament serves to test its abilities as a killing machine. It has three No Mercy moves. One in which it spits acid on the enemy, one in which it stabs the foe with its tail, and one in which it runs at the enemy and eats them.
(4 years old, 7'0", 700 lbs)


* Sabrewulf
Count Von Sabrewulf is stricken by lycanthropy, and is promised a cure by Ultratech if he wins the tournament. This is a semi-cameo appearance of Sabreman, known from Rare's 1984 game Sabre Wulf. Sabrewulf fights in his inherited castle as his home level, with biting and claw attacks, and the ability to howl and use his Flaming Bat, though sometimes they will not be flaming. He has two No Mercy moves, one where he slams the foe into the screen, and one in which he stabs the enemy with an elongated claw.
(45 years old, 5'11", 400 lbs)


* Spinal
A marvel of modern biotechnology, he is a product of cell regeneration, made a living skeleton from the remains of an ancient warrior. While he seems to fight for sheer enjoyment, it is more likely he is battling simply because he lost his memory after death, since his brain couldn't regenerate. He carries a sword and shield, and has the ability to teleport and physically morph himself into a grayscale version of his opponents during combos. He has an odd quirk in that, in order to perform certain moves, he must gather energy (represented by tokens shaped like skull under his life bar in the SNES version, and by skulls floating around his person in the arcade and gold versions) by either absorbing opponents projectile energy attacks (with his shield in absorbing position), or performing combo breakers. Despite requiring these tokens, his special moves are not particularly stronger than normal special attacks. He can "store" up to 5 skull tokens, to the point of *overloading* if he absorbs any more energy. He uses two No Mercy moves, one where he repeatedly stabs the enemy with a spike on his shield, and the other where he summons skeletons to drag the opponent underground, presumably to Hell. (note: in the SNES version, the second No Mercy is replaced with Spinal summoning a bolt of lightning)
(2650 years old, 5'5", 110 lbs)


* TJ Combo
A former heavyweight boxing champion for 5 years. He was stripped of his title and kicked out of the circuit when it was discovered that his arms had cybernetic implants which greatly helped his boxing ability. Ultratech promises him to return his title if he wins the tournament. Combo has two No Mercy moves, one where he snaps the opponent's neck, and the other he punches the opponent into the screen.
* (25 years old, 6'1", 220 lbs)


* Chief Thunder
A Native American Chief, armed with twin tomahawks, who enters the tournament to find out what happened to his missing brother Eagle in the previous year's tournament. He has two No Mercy moves, one where he calls down a bolt of lightning to strike the enemy, and the other in which he knocks the opponent into the air, leaving various objects behind, depending on the character.
(42 years old, 6'2", 280 lbs)


* B.Orchid
Hired by Ultratech as a secretary, she is actually a spy working for an unknown party and, along with Jago, appears to be the heroine of the game franchise. Her full name is Black Orchid. She has two No Mercy moves, the first in which she gives her opponent a heart attack by unzipping her uniform and flashing her breasts at them, and the other in which she turns the opponent into a frog, then (at the player's option) stomps on them.
(23 years old, 5'6", 125 lbs)


* Eyedol
The final boss, Eyedol, is a two-headed, ancient mystical warlord who was trapped in a dimensional prison in the distant past. Ultratech released him to be the final combatant in the tournament. It is shown in Killer Instinct 2 that the person Eyedol was trapped in combat with was Gargos, the final boss of that game. For some reason, the game designers did not give him any No Mercy moves, ultra combos, or humiliations. Eyedol is the only character that does not have an icon in the character select screen, however in both the arcade and Super Nintendo versions he is a secret playable character that can be played as by pressing a combination of buttons before a round begins.

Killer Instinct plays like many other fighting games, in which the player controls a character in order to beat an opponent in a one-on-one encounter. The game borrows the attack set of Street Fighter and is also inspired by the finishing moves from Mortal Kombat. There are also several features that distinguish it from other franchises:
* A double energy bar: instead of winning two rounds, each player has two bars of energy. If a character finishes with his or her opponent's first life bar, the fight stops and resumes like a round, but the winning character still keeps whatever amount of energy he or she had at that moment. The player who depletes his or her opponent's second life bar wins the bout.
* Automatic combos: rather than press the necessary buttons in order to deliver the individual attacks that form a combo, in Killer Instinct the combos are automated and can be enabled by inputting a determined button or special move (which led to the character to deliver a string of hits).
* Finishing moves: Bearing resemblance to Mortal Kombat's Fatalities, each character has at least two moves known as No Mercy (Danger Move in later revisions) in order to finish the opponent in a violent manner. One of these No Mercy moves can be executed at the end of a combo (which is labeled as an Ultimate combo), when the opponents life bar flashes red (when his or her second bar is going to be depleted), although it uses a different combination movements. Another finisher is the Humiliation, that forces the opponent to dance (the dance style depends on the character), but this can only be used if the player has his or her first life bar.
* Ultra Combo: Another finisher, it operates like an Ultimate combo, though this one allows the character to deliver a long string of hits as the combo finisher instead, usually surpassing 20 hits, and can sometimes reach upwards of 80+ hits.
* Combo Breaker: The player who is being caught in a combo may break out of it by performing a combo breaker move. The combo breaker is a designated special move of the player's character. A combo can be broken at either the auto-double or linker stage. To successfully break an auto-double, the player must use the breaker move at a strength lower than the auto-double itself (i.e. for a player to break a Medium auto-double s/he must use a Quick breaker.) The combo can also be broken at the linker stage. At this stage the player can use any strength of breaker, making long combos a risky affair. Also, after performing a combo breaker, a white starburst will appear at the tip of the breaker's health bar, enabling advanced versions of some special moves that require a different command, i.e. Jago, instead of a regular green fireball, can shoot a red fireball.

The Hardware used in the arcade version of the game is worthy of note, as it differed from other games of the time.
* Killer Instinct has the honor of being the first arcade game in history to use an internal hard disk drive in addition to the games ROMs. This allowed it to store massive amounts of data thereby giving it the ability to have higher detailed graphics then other games of this genre.
* The entire game was pre-rendered using SGI computers (Silicon Graphics Incorporated) and the backgrounds themselves were pre-rendered as a 'movie', which simply adjusted frames based on your current location. All this data was stored on the above mentioned hard drive.
* Also, Killer Instinct's Risc R4600 processor ran at 100 MHz. Much faster than then it's competitors. For comparison Mortal Kombat 3's TMS34010 CPU ran at 6.25 MHz.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

36. Smash TV

Smash TV is a 1990 arcade game created by Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell for Williams. Home versions were developed for various platforms and most were published by Acclaim Entertainment.

The game format was very similar to that of Eugene Jarvis' earlier Robotron: 2084, with dual-joystick controls and series of single screen areas. The theme of the game involved players competing in a violent gameshow, set in the then-future of 1999.

The game featured verbal interjections from the gameshow host including:
* "Let's Go!"
* "Bingo!"
* "Good Luck...you'll need it!"
* "I'd buy that for a dollar!"
* "Big Money! Big Prizes! I love it!"
* "Dude!"
* "No Way!"
* "Total Carnage! I love it!"

The last quote gave itself to the title of the 1991 follow-up, Total Carnage, which, while not a direct sequel, featured similar gameplay.

The announcer in the game was voiced by sound designer Paul Heitsch. The script was created by the game's sole composer and sound designer Jon Hey. The voice of General Ahkboob in the sequel Total Carnage was that of Ed Boon, coding creator of Mortal Kombat. In the SMASH TV flyer image

the hands at the console are Ed Boon's (left) and Jon Hey's (right).

This game is known for its graphic nature and for its later versions, where players could enter the Pleasure Dome if they collected 10 keys.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

Countdown Update:

150. Arch Rivals
149. Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
148. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
147. Super Off Road
146. Primal Rage
145. Moon Patrol
144. Mortal Kombat 4
143. Submarine
142. Big Buck Hunter
141. Toki
140. Vs. Baseball
139. San Francisco Rush
138. Sunset Riders
137. NBA Jam
136. Golden Tee Golf
135. WWF Wrestlemania
134. Hogan's Alley
133. CarnEvil
132. Kung Fu Master
131. Berzerk
130. Tekken 5
129. Puzzle Bobble aka Bust A Move
128. Time Traveler
127. 3 Count Bout
126. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
125. Mr. Do!
124. Crisis Zone
123. Captain America and The Avengers
122. Joust
121. Track & Field
120. P.O.W.: Prisoners Of War
119. Area 51
118. Virtua Cop 3
117. Dig Dug
116. Gauntlet
115. King of the Monsters
114. ESP Ra.De.
113. 1942
112. Mercs
111. Street Fighter III: The New Generation
110. Out Run
109. Mappy
108. The Real Ghostbusters
107. Street Fighter Alpha 3
106. Saturday Night Slam Masters
105. Virtua Fighter
104. Elevator Action
103. Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000
102. World Heroes
101. 10-Yard Fight
100. Cruis'n Exotica
99. Tetris
98. Frogger
97. Mat Mania
96. Cruis'n World
95. Defender
94. Arm Champs II
93. Centipede
92. Yie Ar Kung Fu
91. Burgertime
90. Cabal
89. Hang-On
88. Ninja Gaiden
87. Crazy Climber
86. The House Of The Dead III
85. Arkanoid
84. Race Drivin
83. Tron
82. Revolution X
81. Mortal Kombat 3
80. Golden Axe
79. Dungeons And Dragons: Shadows Over Mystara
78. Marvel Super Hereos
77. Samurai Shodown
76. Time Pilot
75. WWF Superstars
74. Paperboy
73. Star Wars
72. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
71. 1941: Counter Attack
70. Virtua Tennis
69. Die Hard Arcade
68. NBA Maximum Hangtime
67. Silk Worm
66. Dead or Alive
65. Asteroids
64. Gauntlet Legends
63. Mario Kart Arcade GP
62. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
61. Time Killers
60. Alien vs. Predator
59. Time Crisis 3
58. Space Invaders
57. Silent Scope
56. Cruis'n USA
55. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
54. A.P.B.
53. Virtua Fighter 3
52. Crazy Taxi
51. Atari Football
50. Pole Position
49. Virtua Fighter 4
48. Contra
47. Space Fury
46. Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja
45. Harley Davidson & LA Riders
44. T-Mek
43. Ms. Pac-Man
42. Sinistar
41. Magic Sword
40. Rampage
39. Hydro Thunder
38. Tekken 3
37. Killer Instinct
36. Smash TV

Here are the clues to the next five games

* Defeat Apocalypse

* Defeat The Kingpin

* Execute Moves Using Two Joysticks

* Enter The Abandoned Goldman Building

* Watch Out For Coily, Ugg, & Wrong Way While Dealing With Slick & Sam

[Big DSR Energy]

* Defeat Apocalypse

* Defeat The Kingpin

The second one is The Punisher, and I'm pretty sure the first one is Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

35. Q*Bert

Q*bert is a 1982[1] arcade game published by Gottlieb, created by Warren Davis and Jeff Lee.

In Q*bert, the player maneuvers the eponymous character around an isometric pyramid-like structure of tri-colored cubes. Q*bert's purpose is to hop around the tops of these cubes, changing every square to a specific color (e.g., from blue to yellow).

On early levels, the player's task is as simple as a single hop on each cube. Later rounds become more challenging: cubes have to be touched twice, cubes change back to the wrong color if they get hopped on again, etc. If Q*bert hops off the edge of the pyramid of cubes he falls to his demise. When this occurred, the original arcade machine cabinet would issue a mechanical sound produced by a pinball machine knocker.

The level layout was inspired by another programmer, Kan Yabumoto, who had filled a screen with an Escher-like cubes pattern.

When I looked at it, it occurred to me you could sculpt a pyramid out of it such that if a ball fell onto the top, it would have two choices of which way to bounce, so with one random byte I could create a path for a falling ball.
—Warren Davis

The "changing the cube colours" idea came quite late in game development. Davis and Lee had implemented the pyramid level and enemies, but were unsure of what the Q*berts goal would be. It was Ron Waxman, vice-president of engineering at Gottlieb, who suggested having the cubes change colour when the player landed on them.

Q*bert is harassed by an assortment of enemies. "Coily" the snake appears at the top of the pyramid inside a purple ball, bouncing toward the bottom of the screen. Once he hits the bottom row of cubes, the snake springs out from inside, hopping around in pursuit of the little orange protagonist. Red balls also appear at the top of the pyramid, bringing bouncing death if they collide with Q*bert on the way down.

Other threats come from "Ugg" and "Wrong-Way," a purple pig and gremlin team who bounce along the side of the cubes. Additionally, Q*bert has to deal with "Slick" and "Sam," two green creatures who turn cubes back to their original color when they hop on them. Q*bert can eliminate Slick or Sam by jumping onto them.

Aside from some strategic hopping, Q*bert's only defenses are the spinning discs at the side of the pyramid and the green balls that bounce across the squares. The discs provide a quick escape, floating Q*bert back to the top of the pyramid as Coily jumps to his death in pursuit. The green balls freeze the enemies, giving Q*bert a free run of the pyramid for a limited time.

The protagonist of the game, Q*bert, is a squat, orange character with a tubular nose and expressive eyes. Whenever he is caught by the enemy, a comical "swearing" bubble appears with "@!#?@!" (note that the "@" signs were originally simple "spiral" marks in the game). This is an early example of a video game character showing emotion, allowing players to identify with it[2]. It is this human connection that initiated various items of merchandising, such as a Q*bert doll and a Saturday morning cartoon.

The character was designed by Jeff Lee, who had been drawing goofy characters since he was young, inspired by comics, cartoons and Mad magazine. Q*bert's distinctive tubular nose was originally intended for him to shoot projectiles from (and the game would have been called "Snots and Boogers"), an idea supported by everyone at Gottlieb apart from Warren Davis. Since Davis was the only programmer on the project, this idea never made it into the game.

The video game crash of 1983 brought an end to Q*bert's reign. The market's collapse delivered a death blow to Q*bert's arcade sequel, Q*bert's Qubes. While retaining the iconic pyramid field of play, Q*bert's Qubes added further challenges to gameplay by scattering the cubes into separate space. Now, when Q*bert hopped off, the cubes actually rotated to a new side, shifting in the direction of Q*bert's jump.

These new touches failed to generate much interest in a depressed market. Few Q*bert's Qubes machines even made it to the public, and the character's arcade career was over. A third arcade game was also under development in 1983, but never made it out of the prototype stage. In-house, it was called "Faster Harder More Challenging Q*bert (FHMC Q*bert)". The only existing stand-up arcade version of FHMC Q*bert resides in creator Warren Davis's personal collection[5].

In 1983, Gottlieb created a Q*bert themed four-flipper pinball table called Q*bert's Quest. The table was unusual in that the bottom two flippers were inverted in an upside-down 'V' fashion. The game reused sounds taken from in the Q*bert arcade game, as well as a spoken sample from Q*bert itself: a squeaky "Bye Bye" when the game concluded[citation needed].

Q*bert was also featured in the cartoon Saturday Supercade (every other Saturday in the first season and every Saturday in the second), though it has only tangential similarities to the game's premise. The characters are depicted as a 50's society of multiple "Q*berts" (the main Q*bert character was identifiable by his orange color and jacket with sneakers). Enemies such as Coily (now with arms), his new girlfriend Viper, Wrong Way and Ugg serve as the neighborhood bullies. Slick and Sam also appeared in the show as Q*Bert's friends. His other friends included his girlfriend Q*Tee, Q*Ball, Q*Val and Q*Mongus. Even the Earth itself is shaped like a cube.[citation needed].

Q*bert remained available in home system conversions and in the Super NES's Q*bert 3. Games inspired by Q*bert include Pogo Joe for the Commodore 64, Pharaoh's Pyramid for the Atari 800 and Bert: The Rise and Fall of a Swedish Politician for the Macintosh Classic. Another related game was the 1998 pseudo-sequel for the PC entitled "Q*Bob," although this featured a more humanoid character[citation needed].

Sproingies, a popular plugin for the XScreenSaver program, is a three-dimensional animation in the style of Q*bert. It consists of an infinite staircase of Q*bert cubic blocks, down which several spring-like characters race in a manner similar to a Slinky descending a staircase. When two characters collide, both explode, and two replacement characters join the race, each arising from the top surface of one of the blocks.

The original Q*bert game was released for Game Boy Color and PlayStation. The PS version featured new graphics.

In 2007, a remake of Q*bert called Spongebob's Pyramid Peril was posted on the official website of Spongebob Squarepants.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

34. The House of the Dead 4

The House of the Dead 4 is a light gun arcade game with a horror theme and the fourth installment of the House of the Dead series of video games, developed by Sega.

The House of the Dead 4 continues the story of the first two games and fills in the gap in the storyline between The House of the Dead 2 and The House of the Dead III, whilst introducing several new gameplay concepts. Players can control either James Taylor, from The House of the Dead 2, or Kate Green, a new character to the series.

The arcade cabinet for The House of the Dead 4 is available as a 29" 4:3 ratio upright cabinet, 52" 4:3 ratio deluxe cabinet, or 62" 16:9 widescreen deluxe cabinet. It is also the first light gun game to be available in a 16:9 screen format.

In The House of the Dead 4, players use a Mini Uzi submachine gun which allows fully automatic fire. The gun also has a motion sensor that can detect when the player shakes the gun. The player can reload the gun by shaking it. The game also features grenades that the player can throw to destroy large numbers of enemies. Additional grenades can be earned by completing certain tasks or by shooting crates. At some points in the game, players are required to shake the gun vigorously in order to escape certain situations.

The game features a wide variety of branching paths. Most of the paths lead to the same point in the game's story. As with The House of the Dead III, there is an end-of-stage bonus where players can receive lives depending on critical shots, accuracy, and score. Another returning factor is the presence of the "Cancel" bar.

The most common enemies have three attacks. A "normal attack", a "grab," and a "push". The foremost inflicts one point of damage, while the second forces a shaking sequence that, if successful, pushes back attackers for easier disposal, but if unsuccessful, will result in the player being bitten or the player's character being knocked down and vulnerable. Multiple zombies may also pile on top of both players in an attempt to stomp on them.

In the year 2003, three years after the events of The House of the Dead 2, AMS agents James Taylor and newcomer Kate Green are gathering intelligence at the fifth basement floor of the AMS European branch office. The former of the two still has the events of the 2000 "Goldman Case" on his mind, and believes that the ordeal had not yet ended. A sudden earthquake rocks the room while they talk, collapsing the basement walls and leaving the agents trapped.

Several days later, James and Kate await a rescue team. James' PDA goes off, and a group of undead are seen on the security cameras. Realizing that they are in danger, James has Kate gather all the weaponry they can find in preparation for the arrival of their foes. Soon after, the two travel through the sewers to an information room where they uncover a plot to fire nuclear missiles worldwide within twenty-four hours time, facing the four-armed Justice (Type 0053) and a pair of mutant tarantulas known as The Lovers (Type 6805) along the way. Taking the subway into zombie-infested streets from an underground shopping district, the agents narrowly avoid attacks by The Empress (Type 1210), a double-ended chainsaw-wielding assassin, and the obese, nearly impervious Temperance (Type 0483).

James and Kate then learn that the one-time president of the now-defunct DBR Corporation, Goldman (who committed suicide in 2000), is responsible for the resurgence of undead. After reaching the surface, finding the city about them completely obliterated, James and Kate receive a PDA message sent by Goldman: the nuclear missile launch will occur in 1 hour. After the agents set out for the abandoned "Goldman Building", a levitating humanoid, The Star (Type 0001), prevents their advance in the foyer, but the agents arrive in time to halt Goldman's plans, though it is revealed that his true intention is to revert humankind to its original state to prevent them from harming the planet any further. As such his final legacy, The World (Type â), is released in the opening of "Pandora's Box" to fulfill its role as the successor to his original Emperor project in 2000, having developed underground since his death. As the AMS agents fight it, the World continuously alters its form to meet their threats, each time growing larger and more powerful. Following the World's second defeat, James sets his PDA to self-destruct, telling Kate not to give up hope, sacrificing himself, alongside the World, in the following explosion. James' heroic act bestows hope upon humanity, giving Kate the resolve to move on.

In the game's "standard" ending, the view returns to the computer in Goldman's office, continuing the former president's pre-recorded message. Goldman gives a final statement as he walks away: "Ah yes, there is one thing I forgot. The human race has not been eliminated. Travel north...hope is such a splendid thing." If the player did not do well in the game, the camera focuses on Goldman's face, which suddenly becomes zombie-like. The meaning behind the message is known only to Goldman himself.

In one of the game's alternate endings, a businessman (previously seen in one of House of the Dead 3 's endings) limps on his right leg and sits at a desk in the corner of an office. He claims that Goldman was "soft" and that "wretched humans have no need of hope," stating that the "true end" will soon begin and that there is more than one "Pandora's Box".

In another ending, G (from The House of the Dead 1, 2 and 3) claims that the undead crisis was not over yet and says: "We'll fight this back to the source. It's now time for you to rest now, James." As G walks out of the camera, a zoom is made on Goldman's building. At the end it's written "The story continues in House of the Dead 3".

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

33. X-Men vs. Street Fighter

X-Men vs. Street Fighter (known as XSF to Street Fighter fans) is an arcade game released by Capcom in 1996 and is the first game in the Marvel vs. Capcom series of fighting games. It features characters from the X-Men franchise and characters from the Street Fighter game series.

It was the first game to blend a tag team style of combat with the well-known Street Fighter gameplay, as well as incorporating elements from Capcom's previous fighting games in the Marvel Comics franchise, X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes. It was also ported to the Sega Saturn in 1997 and PlayStation in 1998. However, the tag team system was omitted from the PlayStation version due to memory limitations.

Due to insufficient beta testing, every character in this game has at least one infinite combo; ironically, it is nevertheless praised by some Street Fighter fans as being the most "fun" entry of the four Marvel vs. Capcom games for precisely this reason.

X-Men vs. Street Fighter uses a system similar to the style developed in Marvel Super Heroes, and adds the tag team gameplay feature. Instead of picking one character, a player picks two. The starting character can then tag the waiting one in at any time by hitting the Fierce and Roundhouse buttons, which activates the "Variable Attack"; the incoming player will jump in with an attack and taunt briefly. During their taunt, they are vulnerable to counter attack.

There are other ways to bring your other character in; the "Variable Counter", which replaces the Infinity Counter of Marvel Super Heroes, breaks your block to bring your teammate in with a counter attack at the cost of a level of super meter. Also, the "Variable Combination" is a two-character super attack which costs two levels, and will switch your character as long as neither character gets hit during their super moves.

Unlike some other tag team games such as Tekken Tag Tournament, X-Men vs. Street Fighter requires both characters to be defeated in order to win the match.

The X-Men characters come largely unchanged from X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes, with the exception of Rogue, Gambit and Sabretooth, who were new to the series. The Street Fighter characters used their Street Fighter Alpha forms and their moves were given upgrades to match the larger-than-life atmosphere of the Marvel games (for example, Ryu's Hadouken is much larger than it is in other games).

Characters are:
X-Men
* Cyclops
* Wolverine
* Storm
* Rogue
* Gambit
* Magneto
* Juggernaut
* Sabretooth
* Apocalypse is the final boss of the game. After defeating him, the character that defeated Apocalypse is forced to fight his or her teammate. (The game will not accept new challengers at this time, even in the arcade version). If you can defeat your CPU-controlled teammate, you will get an ending, usually a character-oriented joke.

Street Fighter
* Ryu
* Ken
* Chun-Li
* Charlie
* Dhalsim
* Zangief
* M. Bison
* Cammy
* Akuma

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

32. The Punisher

The Punisher is a 1993 arcade game released by Capcom which stars the Marvel Comics anti-hero, The Punisher. It is a beat 'em up where the player can control The Punisher and/or Nick Fury on their quest to kill the crime lord Kingpin, engaging on various foes and final bosses mostly in a hand-to-hand combat.

The gameplay follows the same side-scrolling beat'em up formula Capcom established in Final Fight. Much in the same way that Capcom's Cadillacs and Dinosaurs did before, there's a distinctive feature of this game which is the frequent use of several firearms (Ingram, M-16, flamethrower), along with the traditional melee and thrown (including baseball bats, hammers, knives, Japanese swords and shuriken), as well as improvised weapons (such as pipes or fire extinguishers). There are also several sections of the game in which the characters automatically draw their handguns in order to shoot their enemies to death.

Unlike in Final Fight and many other side-scrollers of the era, which differentiated characters according to size and speed, Punisher and Nick Fury's size, abilities, and tactics are essentially the same; they both use the same basic punch, throw, and special piledriver and spin attacks.

The game features many types of enemies to be defeated (including street gangs, mafia mobsters, T-800-like cyborgs, and ninja women), and several end-of-level bosses, some of them a well-known Marvel Comics villains (including Bonebreaker, Bushwhacker, Jigsaw, and finally the Kingpin). There are also hostage girls to be rescued and some elements of the background can be destroyed for a bonus reward.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

31. Karate Champ

Karate Champ, released in Japan as Karate Dô, is a 1984 arcade game developed by Technos Japan Corporation for Data East. It is one of the first fighting games. and has been believed to be the first to use today's common side-perspective. However, Heavyweight Champ, released in Japan by Sega, used the same perspective and predates Karate Champ by eight years.

The player assumes the role of a Karate competitor and fights against another player or the computer. Using two joysticks, players can execute a number of moves.

Gameplay consists of a two dimensional fight between Karate characters wearing white and red gi, followed by various bonus rounds for the successful player. This pattern repeats itself in the next, more challenging round set against a new background. Unlike most later fighter-type games, there are no health bar or hit points. A hit successfully landed ends the round and earns the player or his opponent either one point or half point (along with a numeric score for the top ten but this has no effect on winning a match per se). The first to two points is the winner. The game also featured some early speech synthesis, in which the judge would call out such phrases as "Fight!" or "Winner!" It's also spoken in japanese in the Japanese version.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

Countdown Update:

150. Arch Rivals
149. Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
148. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
147. Super Off Road
146. Primal Rage
145. Moon Patrol
144. Mortal Kombat 4
143. Submarine
142. Big Buck Hunter
141. Toki
140. Vs. Baseball
139. San Francisco Rush
138. Sunset Riders
137. NBA Jam
136. Golden Tee Golf
135. WWF Wrestlemania
134. Hogan's Alley
133. CarnEvil
132. Kung Fu Master
131. Berzerk
130. Tekken 5
129. Puzzle Bobble aka Bust A Move
128. Time Traveler
127. 3 Count Bout
126. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
125. Mr. Do!
124. Crisis Zone
123. Captain America and The Avengers
122. Joust
121. Track & Field
120. P.O.W.: Prisoners Of War
119. Area 51
118. Virtua Cop 3
117. Dig Dug
116. Gauntlet
115. King of the Monsters
114. ESP Ra.De.
113. 1942
112. Mercs
111. Street Fighter III: The New Generation
110. Out Run
109. Mappy
108. The Real Ghostbusters
107. Street Fighter Alpha 3
106. Saturday Night Slam Masters
105. Virtua Fighter
104. Elevator Action
103. Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000
102. World Heroes
101. 10-Yard Fight
100. Cruis'n Exotica
99. Tetris
98. Frogger
97. Mat Mania
96. Cruis'n World
95. Defender
94. Arm Champs II
93. Centipede
92. Yie Ar Kung Fu
91. Burgertime
90. Cabal
89. Hang-On
88. Ninja Gaiden
87. Crazy Climber
86. The House Of The Dead III
85. Arkanoid
84. Race Drivin
83. Tron
82. Revolution X
81. Mortal Kombat 3
80. Golden Axe
79. Dungeons And Dragons: Shadows Over Mystara
78. Marvel Super Hereos
77. Samurai Shodown
76. Time Pilot
75. WWF Superstars
74. Paperboy
73. Star Wars
72. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
71. 1941: Counter Attack
70. Virtua Tennis
69. Die Hard Arcade
68. NBA Maximum Hangtime
67. Silk Worm
66. Dead or Alive
65. Asteroids
64. Gauntlet Legends
63. Mario Kart Arcade GP
62. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
61. Time Killers
60. Alien vs. Predator
59. Time Crisis 3
58. Space Invaders
57. Silent Scope
56. Cruis'n USA
55. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
54. A.P.B.
53. Virtua Fighter 3
52. Crazy Taxi
51. Atari Football
50. Pole Position
49. Virtua Fighter 4
48. Contra
47. Space Fury
46. Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja
45. Harley Davidson & LA Riders
44. T-Mek
43. Ms. Pac-Man
42. Sinistar
41. Magic Sword
40. Rampage
39. Hydro Thunder
38. Tekken 3
37. Killer Instinct
36. Smash TV
35. Q*Bert
34. The House of the Dead 4
33. X-Men vs. Street Fighter
32. The Punisher
31. Karate Champ

Here are the clues to the next five games

* Defeat Ernesto Diaz

* Defeat Nightmare

* Introduces A Royal Rumble Mode

* Rise From Your Grave

* Stop The Zeed From Kidnapping Children

[Al Wilson Lives: Thread Killer]

ALTERED BEAST!!

Bad Breath Bears owns!

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

30. Time Crisis II

Time Crisis II is the second installment to Namco's Time Crisis series.

Time Crisis II was released utilizing Namco's System 23 arcade board in 1998, and was ported to PlayStation 2 (with enhanced graphics and polygon textures) in 2001. The game utilizes the foot pedal system (just like Time Crisis, where players can shoot or hide from enemy fire. One modification to the hide and attack system was the "crisis flash" system which alerts the players whether or not the enemy attack would cause a direct hit, a feature not present in its predecessors, Time Crisis and Time Crisis: Project Titan.

When a player presses the pedal, he or she can shoot the enemies. Releasing the pedal places the player in hiding; during this time, players cannot shoot, but are safe from harm. A player must defeat all enemies before moving forward. The player's gun magazine contains 9 bullets (though occasionally a machine gun is available, which contains unlimited ammo for the remainder of the scene). Releasing the pedal also reloads the gun (hiding performed two functions, as players can recall from Time Crisis).

When the player fails to release the pedal after he/she spots a "crisis flash", one life is lost. The crisis flash system fixed much of the unexpected life losses that arisen from Time Crisis. Though seldom, unexpected life loss problems still remain. Each scene has a 40-second time limit, but unlike Time Crisis, in which seconds were added to the clock (and kept on running out even during wait animations), the timer only runs down when the battle is ensuing. The timer is reset and/or freezes when the player(s) are on "wait animation". There will also be points where time will reset back to 40 as well.

The time limit system is much more lenient than Time Crisis, as players only lose one life if time runs out, rather than an instant game over.

This was the first Time Crisis game to introduce two-player cooperation by allowing two people to play simultaneously, allowing each player to cover the other. The same system is utilized once again in Time Crisis 3 and Time Crisis 4.

Neodyne Industries, LTD, has successfully completed a network of 64 satellites called "Starline Network", a communications front which NDI claims it would unite the world. However, the covert agency VSSE has discovered that the Starline Network is actually a network of military satellites with plans to launch a nuclear satellite into space.

Christy Ryan, the agent responsible for uncovering the network's hidden agenda, attempts to escape NDI captivity and reports the hidden agenda to VSSE HQ, but was detained by Jakov Kinisky and his bodyguards. VSSE sends agents Keith Martin and Robert Baxter to shut the Starline Network down and rescue Ryan.

Before Martin and Baxter are able to reach Ryan, Christy has already been taken away and Kinisky and his minions attack the agents inside Ryan's apartment. Having to put up with a gunfight at the streets and through a boat chase within the river, Keith and Robert manage to recapture Christy's laptop, which reveals that the satellite in question belongs to the military. The agents proceed to NDI's train depot, only to have the satellite airlifted out before they can reach it.

Inside NDI headquarters, situated on an island, Ernesto Diaz and Wild Dog begin preparing a rocket for launch on a sea-based launch site when the VSSE agents arrive. The agents encounter fierce resistance, but are able to beat Wild Dog and recapture Christy, who escapes by raft into the sea.

Ernesto used the satellite as an attention-getter for the agents which Robert believed that "it's still there", but Ernesto stated that it's just a prototype and the real one is about to be launched into space. Ernesto, with his prototype satellite, challenges Keith and Robert into a fierce duel, with the agents emerging as the victors as the falling debris from Ernesto's defeat damages the rocket, destroying the rocket through a spectacular explosion before it leaves the platform.

With Keith, Robert, and Christy escaping NDI headquarters by helicopter, the launch has been prevented, and the world has been spared.

[Deadman Luke]

Jun 14, 2008 17:21:24 GMT -5 Seth Drakin of Monster Crap said:

* Rise From Your Grave

No, it was "WISE FWOM YOW GWAVE!"

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

29. WWF WrestleFest

WWF WrestleFest is a professional wrestling arcade game released by Technos in 1991, featuring stars of World Wrestling Federation. The game is the sequel to WWF Superstars. The game was distributed by Technos in Japan and North America and by Tecmo in Europe and Australasia.

WrestleFest's main attraction was its graphics, considered great at the time. Like Superstars before it, the game features many of the trademark moves and taunts of the featured WWF Superstars. The game also allows the player to insert more credits into the machine to buy energy - a feature similar to one used in an earlier Technos release, The Combatribes.

Wrestlefest included a new Royal Rumble mode as well as four-player simultaneous play. There are also voice samples, including commentary and pre-match introductions by WWF ring announcer Mike McGuirk. The voiced cut scenes featuring Gene Okerlund from Superstars returned as well.

Gameplay in WrestleFest is similar to its predecessor - in Saturday Night's Main Event mode, the player must pick two wrestlers to form a tag team and take them through a series of matches, including a title match with the unplayable Legion of Doom. After winning the title match, the player must once again take their team through a series of matches and finally defeat the Legion of Doom a second time to complete the game.

Players can perform numerous double-team moves by tagging their partner with the opponent in the proper position or tagging while holding the opponent in a headlock. Additionally, after a team member has been on the apron for a certain length of time, they will "power up," temporarily giving them the ability to win all grapples and inflict more damage than usual.

In Royal Rumble mode, the player picks one superstar and takes him through a Royal Rumble match. Elimination occurs by pinfall, submission, or being thrown out of the ring. Before a new wrestler enters the match, an insert of the wrestler taunting in front of a camera appears on screen.

The moveset in WrestleFest differs from WWF Superstars in that more than one maneuver is assigned to each control combination, and these vary widely among the characters. For example, Ted DiBiase may respond to the "punch" button during a grapple by performing a backbreaker, a piledriver, a suplex, or his Million Dollar Dream finisher. Which move he performs depends partially on a CPU "variety" sequence and on the energy level of the opponent.

The wrestlers in the game are:

* Hulk Hogan
* Ultimate Warrior
* Mr. Perfect
* Earthquake
* Ted Dibiase
* Jake "The Snake" Roberts
* Big Boss Man
* Sgt. Slaughter
* Smash (Demolition)
* Crush (Demolition)
* Hawk (Legion of Doom)
* Animal (Legion of Doom)

In the original version, Demolition must be selected as a team in Main Event mode, and can not be teamed with any other playable characters. Under emulation, however, cheat codes were created that allows the player to team Smash or Crush with other characters.

Hawk and Animal are not initially selectable in the arcade version, but cheat codes exist to allow them to be playable (both together and separately) under emulation. A second player can also "buy-in" to the game while the first player battles Legion of Doom in the Main Event mode, allowing them to control Hawk and Animal and continue playing as them if they win the two-player match. Hawk and Animal both have twice as much energy as the other characters. However, if the Doomsday Device is not set up in a precise area of the ring, Hawk will not go to the top rope, and the timer will have to be allowed to run out or the game will need to be reset.

All playable characters can perform their familiar finishing maneuvers when the opponent is weakened enough. The Legion of Doom can perform their team finisher, "The Doomsday Device." The "Demolition Decapitation" finisher does not appear in the game. Instead, Smash and Crush perform a suplex or a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, respectively, as finishers.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

28. Shinobi

Shinobi is an arcade game, developed and published by SEGA. It was originally released in 1987 and ported to numerous systems. The game spawned numerous sequels.

Shinobi is about a ninja named Joe Musashi who has to stop a criminal organization called "Zeed" who are kidnapping the children of the Oboro clan. Through five missions of increasing difficulty, Musashi must make his way to Zeed's headquarters and free all the hostages before confronting Zeed's leaders known as "Ring of Five", which are formidable enemies on their own. "Ring of Five" are the bosses at the end of each level. Below is the list of them.

* Ken Oh - gigantic samurai-like wizard.
* Black Turtle - a leader who, during a boss fight, is piloting or just being aboard of an attack helicopter.
* Mandara - Hinduistic guru who is, in fact, cyborg: probably a brain, residing in a wall-covering machine.
* Lobster - samurai, wielding a sword.
* Masked Ninja - main leader of Zeed and the last boss, he is a powerful ninja with vast magical and physical powers.

The five missions in the game are each three or four stages long. Anywhere from 2-9 hostages are being held in each stage; Joe must rescue all of them before he is allowed to finish the stage. The last stage in each mission has no hostages, but instead features a powerful boss character whom Joe must defeat. After completing each of the first four missions the player is taken to a bonus stage, where he can earn an extra life if he is able to kill all of the ninjas jumping towards him. Completing the fifth mission ends the game. Also, once the fifth mission begins, continues are no longer allowed; the player has to finish the game with however many lives he has left at that point.

Joe's standard weapons are an unlimited supply of throwing stars, along with punches and kicks when attacking at close range. One hostage per stage gives him a power-up. When powered-up, his throwing stars are replaced by a gun that fires large, explosive bullets, and his close-range attack becomes a katana slash. Joe can also perform "ninja magic," which may be used only once per stage and kills (or damages, in the case of bosses) all enemies on the screen.

At the end of each stage, the player receives score bonuses based on performance. Completing the stage without using ninja magic earns the player a 5,000 point bonus (except during mission five), and completing the stage without using any throwing stars or bullets (just punches, kicks, sword slashes, and/or ninja magic) earns the player a 20,000 point bonus. The player has three minutes to complete each stage; remaining time at the end of the stage is also converted to bonus points and added to the player's score. Expert Shinobi players often challenged themselves to see how many stages they could pass with both the "no stars" and "no ninja magic" bonuses. It is possible to beat the game on one quarter in this way with a final score of over 700,000 points; the final score for someone who completes the game on one quarter without trying for those bonuses would be in the neighborhood of 250,000 points. It is also possible for the player to manipulate the points received for rescuing each hostage based on his/her current score.

Since most enemies appear in the same place on each level, it is possible to master the game by memorizing their locations and devising patterns to defeat them.

In 1989, Sega released a follow-up called The Revenge of Shinobi as one of the first titles for their new Sega Mega Drive game console. In Japan this game was called The Super Shinobi.

An arcade sequel called Shadow Dancer was also released in 1989. Shadow Dancer retains the same gameplay as the original, but gives the main character a canine companion.

Other Shinobi sequels also appeared for the Game Gear, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, and, most recently, the PlayStation 2 in a new storyline involving a new character named Hotsuma.

Alex Kidd in Shinobi World is a parody of Shinobi with former Sega mascot Alex Kidd as main character, released for the Sega Master System in 1990.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

27. Soul Caliber

Soulcalibur is the second game in the Soul series of fighting games developed and produced by Namco. Soulcalibur was ported and released for the Sega Dreamcast with improved graphics and new features and became one of the best-selling Dreamcast titles overall. The Sega Dreamcast port is often cited as the greatest fighting game of all time, and even one of the greatest games across all genres; it is ranked as the sixth-best game of all-time by review aggregator site Game Rankings. Following the first game Soul Edge (also a game created for the arcade originally and, subsequently the PlayStation) in 1995, the Soul series received a major makeover and was retitled Soulcalibur in 1999. Hence, Soulcalibur can also refer to the series consisting of Soulcalibur and its subsequent sequels (essentially the Soul series minus Soul Edge).

Soulcalibur is the name of the holy sword, created to battle the evil sword Soul Edge, around which the games' story-lines revolve. According to a timeline released by Namco on their "Soul Archive" site, Soulcalibur takes place around 1587.

Soul Edge/Soul Blade had a strong fanbase, but when SoulCalibur was released in the arcades, it was not as popular at the arcades as Namco would have liked or expected. Luckily for the series, SoulCalibur was picked up for the Sega Dreamcast, and became a smash hit almost overnight. SoulCalibur, the second game in the series, not the first, was set 3 years after the original and introduced a revolutionary feature, the Eight-Way Run. Previous 3D fighters had only limited movement along the third axis, with sidesteps and rolls providing useful but unsustained lateral movement. In SoulCalibur, simply holding down a joystick direction causes the character to run in that direction. This gives the player a sense of freedom and deepens the strategy of the game. SoulCalibur also improved game play with "forgiving buffering." Buffering is executing the input for one move before your character has finished recovering from his previous move. It is important for executing quick strings of moves. Tekken and Virtua Fighter have relatively strict buffering requirements, meaning expert timing is required to pull off many combinations, while SoulCalibur's relatively lenient buffering lets players focus more on the game and less on the controls.

The mystical sword of the legends, the "Soul Edge", ended in the hands of the dread pirate Cervantes of Spain. For the next 25 years he stayed dormant on the remnants of the port town in Valencia, taking the souls of those who reached him during their search of the sword. His reign of terror was soon to start, but the joined efforts of a divine warrior (Sophitia) and an underground ninja (Taki) stopped him, breaking one of the twin Soul Edge blades in the process. As it was about to tear itself apart, a young knight (Siegfried) approached the port town. The moment he took the hilt of the cursed blade, Soul Edge released a bright column of light into the sky. This was known as the "Evil Seed", bound to bring calamity and death across its path.

Three years after those events, Soul Edge uses Siegfried as its host, and now Siegfried is Nightmare, a knight wearing azure armor. Europe plunges into a vortex of slaughters as he and his followers claim souls to strengthen the blade in its weakened state. Unknown to them, a group of young warriors met on their journey to stop Soul Edge, and with them three sacred weapons join once again.

Returning characters are:
Starting Characters
* Mitsurugi - Katana
* Taki - Dual Kodachis
* Sophitia - Sword and Shield
* Voldo - Dual Katar
Unlockable Characters
* Rock - Battle Axe
* Seung Mina - Halberd
* Hwang - Chinese Blade
* Siegfried - Zweihänder

New characters are:
Starting Characters
* Astaroth - Giant Axe
* Ivy - Snake Sword
* Kilik - Bo Staff
* Maxi - Nunchaku
* Nightmare - Soul Edge
* Xianghua - Chinese sword
* Arthur - Katana (Mitsurugi was redesigned exclusively for the world release of the arcade version (SOC14/VER.C), becoming a character named Arthur.)
Unlockable Characters
* Lizardman - Sword and Shield
* Edge Master - Imitative power
* Inferno - Imitative Power (Originally SoulEdge from Soul Edge/Soul Blade)
* Yoshimitsu - Katana and Sashimono

Soulcalibur was originally planned to be a dramatic overhaul, featuring only a few select characters to be carried over from its predecessor, Soul Edge. While the initial plan did not exactly follow through--as nine of the eleven characters from the original roster had carried over by the time the game was ported to the Sega Dreamcast--the game still did manage to nearly double the size of the roster from the previous title. Most of these characters were readily available from the second the player opens the package.

But although the game added ten new characters, eight of the newcomers were, for the most part, updated versions of previously-existing fighters. Of the three main protagonists, Kilik's moveset was largely taken from Seung Mi Na, Xianghua's from Hwang; and Maxi was a greatly updated version of what Soul Edge's Li Long would have been if he had returned. And of three of the main antagonists, Nightmare's moveset was largely taken from Siegfried, Astaroth's from Rock; and Lizardman was based primarily on Soul Edge's featured heroine, Sophitia. In the Korean version of the game, Mitsurugi was replaced by a Caucasian swordsman named Arthur because the image of the samurai was not very popular with Koreans. Added to that is the fact that both Edge Master and Inferno switch their styles to match randomly-chosen existing characters' movelists with each individual round of fighting. In fact, Soulcalibur only added two truly original playing styles, shown in Ivy and Yoshimitsu; and even Yoshimitsu had some moves borrowed from established character Mitsurugi. Additionally, Taki has experienced a change of her own now that she wields dual tantôs instead of one. Consequently, Namco has been working hard since Soulcalibur to gradually separate the roster's styles until the series features completely original styles for each of its characters.

Features are:
* Soulcalibur has the basic modes of play presented in most fighting games: "Arcade Mode" (fighting through 8 rounds, the 7th being a pre-defined battle for each character), "VS Mode", "Time Attack", "Team Battle", "Survival" and "Training Mode".
* "Missions Mode" is a mode where the player moves through the various levels in the game, fighting and fulfilling tasks to earn points. The mode has four variations of each of its many missions, each harder than the previous one.
* Points earned in Missions Mode allows the purchase of outfits, specials and various artworks from the game: CG portrait, sketches, character art and fanart are among the wide variety of artwork presented to unlock. Another added feature (unique of the franchise) are the " Exhibition Videos" or "katas". These videos portray the various characters performing a kata with their weapon of choice.
* Unlike Soul Edge, Soulcalibur II, and Soulcalibur III, Soulcalibur lacks the Extra Weapons feature. Each character has his main (default) weapon in both 1P and 2P form, along with the version of the weapon used by Edge Master.
* Out of the 19 characters available, 5 of them were granted a 3rd costume, available to unlock in the Missions Mode: Maxi, Siegfried, Sophitia, Voldo and Xianghua. Moreover, each character counted with a "transparent" version of their costume (Arcade only) or a "liquid metal" version of it (Dreamcast port only). There is also the possibility to use an "Unknown Soul" (blackened character) version as well.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

26. Altered Beast

Altered Beast is a 1988 arcade game developed and manufactured by Sega. After its initial arcade release, it was ported to several home video game consoles and home computers. Makoto Uchida was the primary developer of the game and also was responsible for the creation of Golden Axe.

Altered Beast is a side scrolling, platform, beat 'em up game that puts the player in control of a centurion who had died in battle. The centurion has been raised from the dead to rescue Zeus' daughter, Athena. The player battles undead and demonic hordes, controlling the shapeshifting hero. He must fight through several levels in order to save the kidnapped goddess. Although 'Centurion' was a rank in the Roman Army, the game takes place in a setting resembling Ancient Greece, complete with gods, temples and ruined Ionic columns.

The player must battle armies of fictional and undead creatures to defeat the evil Demon God Neff, who is holding Athena captive. Along the way, the player has to obtain "Spirit Balls" (power-up orbs which increase his strength and size) from defeating blue two-headed wolves (it is hinted that this wolf might be the Cerberus dog of Greek Mythology). These enable the player to turn into a superhuman (stage one: "giant man", stage two: "superman"...). When three are collected, the hero transforms into a beast with exceptional abilities.

The game contains several levels which the player must battle through, which can only be completed if the player acquires the beast form. At the end of each level is a "boss" creature, which is Neff himself in different forms. Before Neff transforms at the end of each level, he says "Welcome to your doom!". The enemies the player encounters differ depending on level as does the beast the hero transforms into. These beasts include a werewolf, a thunder dragon, a tiger man, a bear, and the more powerful golden werewolf (other beasts can be seen in the Japanese Famicom version and the Game Boy Advance version). Each beast has its own special abilities, such as the dragon's ability to fly. Between each level are small animations giving the player glimpses of Athena's peril.

The game was moderately successful, the player's ability to transform into different creatures being a big draw. The game actually does have an ending where the player rescues Athena. At the completion of the game (upon Neff's defeat in the city of Dis), Zeus thanks the player for his help. The credit sequence is rather long and gives the impression that the entire game was actually a film; interspersed in the credits are images of "actors" in various stages of costume for the different characters or monsters in the game. One of the more well-known features of Altered Beast is the quote "Rise from your grave!" said by Zeus. However, the quote has often been humorously interpreted as being "Wise fwom your gwave" or similar variants, due to the inherent distortion/garbling of the digitalized voice stemming from the relatively new hardware of the time.

Altered Beast was produced as a standard upright only with custom artwork on the cabinet. In most versions, the game's controls consist of an eight-way directional and three buttons, one each for "punch", "kick" and "jump". The game has single player and cooperative two-player modes.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

Countdown Update:

150. Arch Rivals
149. Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
148. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
147. Super Off Road
146. Primal Rage
145. Moon Patrol
144. Mortal Kombat 4
143. Submarine
142. Big Buck Hunter
141. Toki
140. Vs. Baseball
139. San Francisco Rush
138. Sunset Riders
137. NBA Jam
136. Golden Tee Golf
135. WWF Wrestlemania
134. Hogan's Alley
133. CarnEvil
132. Kung Fu Master
131. Berzerk
130. Tekken 5
129. Puzzle Bobble aka Bust A Move
128. Time Traveler
127. 3 Count Bout
126. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
125. Mr. Do!
124. Crisis Zone
123. Captain America and The Avengers
122. Joust
121. Track & Field
120. P.O.W.: Prisoners Of War
119. Area 51
118. Virtua Cop 3
117. Dig Dug
116. Gauntlet
115. King of the Monsters
114. ESP Ra.De.
113. 1942
112. Mercs
111. Street Fighter III: The New Generation
110. Out Run
109. Mappy
108. The Real Ghostbusters
107. Street Fighter Alpha 3
106. Saturday Night Slam Masters
105. Virtua Fighter
104. Elevator Action
103. Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000
102. World Heroes
101. 10-Yard Fight
100. Cruis'n Exotica
99. Tetris
98. Frogger
97. Mat Mania
96. Cruis'n World
95. Defender
94. Arm Champs II
93. Centipede
92. Yie Ar Kung Fu
91. Burgertime
90. Cabal
89. Hang-On
88. Ninja Gaiden
87. Crazy Climber
86. The House Of The Dead III
85. Arkanoid
84. Race Drivin
83. Tron
82. Revolution X
81. Mortal Kombat 3
80. Golden Axe
79. Dungeons And Dragons: Shadows Over Mystara
78. Marvel Super Hereos
77. Samurai Shodown
76. Time Pilot
75. WWF Superstars
74. Paperboy
73. Star Wars
72. Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
71. 1941: Counter Attack
70. Virtua Tennis
69. Die Hard Arcade
68. NBA Maximum Hangtime
67. Silk Worm
66. Dead or Alive
65. Asteroids
64. Gauntlet Legends
63. Mario Kart Arcade GP
62. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
61. Time Killers
60. Alien vs. Predator
59. Time Crisis 3
58. Space Invaders
57. Silent Scope
56. Cruis'n USA
55. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
54. A.P.B.
53. Virtua Fighter 3
52. Crazy Taxi
51. Atari Football
50. Pole Position
49. Virtua Fighter 4
48. Contra
47. Space Fury
46. Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja
45. Harley Davidson & LA Riders
44. T-Mek
43. Ms. Pac-Man
42. Sinistar
41. Magic Sword
40. Rampage
39. Hydro Thunder
38. Tekken 3
37. Killer Instinct
36. Smash TV
35. Q*Bert
34. The House of the Dead 4
33. X-Men vs. Street Fighter
32. The Punisher
31. Karate Champ
30. Time Crisis II
29. WWF WrestleFest
28. Shinobi
27. Soul Calibur
26. Altered Beast

That is all for today. Join me tomorrow as I finish this countdown with the Top 25.

Here are the clues to the next five games

* A Spy With An Armed Sportscar

* Defeat Onslaught

* Defeat The Magician

* Rescue Pauline

* Three Seven Speedway, Dinosaur Canyon, & Seaside Street Galaxy