{"id":194,"date":"2021-04-21T14:16:21","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T18:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjj4.com\/?p=194"},"modified":"2021-04-21T17:44:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T21:44:34","slug":"the-final-three-games-of-the-original-17-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjj4.com\/?p=194","title":{"rendered":"THE FINAL THREE GAMES (of the original 17 games)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

OK\u2026I\u2019m back. It\u2019s only been 3 weeks to research, play and review 3 games. Should be easy, right? Well, here in the 16th<\/sup> month of 2020, nothing is easy. It\u2019s cool. I\u2019ll watch Top Gear highlights on Youtube, and we\u2019ll get it done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days later\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK. We\u2019ll try to do this while watching the Cards play the Fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spends 15 minutes researching what a balk is exactly and how to see one, and the difference between a fastball and a changeup. (a balk is any attempt to deceive the runner, which is a strange way of saying no faking. Which, in itself, is a strange rule. All faking all the time, in my mind. Bring out another fake ball. Use an ambidextrous pitcher with a crazy double glove and make the batter decide if he\u2019s gonna get a righty fastball or a lefty curve as soon as the wind up starts. Hell, pitch behind the back, pickoff a runner with a headstand. Let\u2019s keep this interesting.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Really, really hard to get my mind in this game lately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depression sucks. I hate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, MJ. Buckle down, and let\u2019s get through this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(authors note: He did not, in fact, buckle down and get through this. Pinball was finished 6 days after talking about buckling down.  The author, instead, fought with his arcade cabinet (he did get the trackball working for Golden Tee) and also fought with the never-ending table project\u2026which still isn\u2019t finished). Excitebike was finshed another week later. This post is going up 5 weeks after the last one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up, Clu Clu Land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clu Clu Land<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, Clu Clu Land is reverse Pac Man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Really, I know that\u2019s about as simple of a description as I can get, but that\u2019s what it comes down to. I mean, there\u2019s a lot more to this game that simply being a Pac Man clone. Instead of a set, repeating level with the enemies getting faster as you advance, the levels ALL change. They\u2019re not even the same every run through; while the framework for the first level is always the same, the pattern to be discovered shuffles between a number of options. Additionally, the character can \u201cshoot\u201d at the enemies, and there are black holes and rubber traps for the character to avoid. Finally, instead of following the paths on a level like Pac Man, the main character swings from peg to peg, constantly shifting direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for all of that, instead of a chomping yellow dot eating pellets laid out at the beginning of the level, the player swings through the level and finds the hidden \u201cgold bars\u201d and figures out the pattern they are hidden in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s really that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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