August 2019 Together Retro Poll

[Gunstar Green]

"Grab your joystick" Sci-Fi Simulators

From space fighters to giant robots to high-tech tanks and more. Any game that simulates the operation of a sci-fi machine is welcome here.

Fly an X-Wing against the Empire or a TIE Fighter against some rebel scum. Stomp across the battlefield in a BattleMech to kick those clanners off your planet or perhaps a Mobile Suit in the conflict against Zeon in games like Side Story 0079. Protect Earth from the Kilrathi menace in Wing Commander or just survive and make a buck on the frontier in games like Privateer and Elite.

Joystick is not required obviously, but it wouldn't hurt!

"Sharing is Caring" Shareware Games

The shareware model began as a way for software developers to distribute their programs for free and giving people the option of whether or not they wanted to donate to register their product and give some support for their hard work. This evolved when Apogee began giving away chunks of their games, providing the rest to anyone willing to pay for the registered version. The age of shareware was born and dominated DOS gaming through much of the 90's.

Any game that was marketed through shareware is good here, play either the still free to acquire shareware versions of these games or the registered versions if you like! It might be interesting in seeing how much content of various games were given away for free.

"Greed is Good" Construction and Management Sims

When Will Wright wanted to release the original Sim City, he visualized it more as an interactive toy rather than a game. Publishers of the time hard a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept of a game that didn't necessarily have an end state and believed you needed either a guaranteed loss or a victory condition to make a video game.

In hindsight they were very wrong and a new genre was born. From city building to theme park management to hospitals, transport infrastructure and more, become the cut throat capitalist you always knew you could be and build your tycoon empire.

"HUTHUTHUTHUT" Retro Sports Games

Retro game communities are already a small niche of the gaming public and retro sports gaming feels like just a sliver of that already miniscule pie. I've always felt like this is kind of a shame. From the arcadey 8-bit sports titles to the early mix of arcade style gameplay and simulation aspects of the 16-bit era to the first steps into 3D technology and all the good and bad it would bring, the evolution of sports titles is fascinating. Back in the day the yearly updates weren't just yearly roster changes, but actual new games that tried to innovate and differentiate themselves from the pack.

Go back to a time when EA and Sega traded blows in a war to rule sports games. Dig into that box of $1 Genesis carts that everyone ignores at the flea market and find some gold. Whether you want to see the evolution of the genre from simpler times to serious simulation or just want to crush some skulls in the Mutant League games, let's play some sports ball!

"That's one Doomed Space Marine" 90's First Person Shooters

While the genre in its loosest sense technically predates Wolfenstein 3D and even Catacomb 3D, the 90's was when it really took form. Games like Doom changed the way people thought about the PC as a game machine and the early FPS games had a specific action-oriented feel to them with level design that leaned towards exploration, elements that have been coming back into style in recent years with games like DUSK and Ion Maiden.

Load up your shotgun of choice and blast through waves of baddies in these pre-2000 power fantasies.

[MrPopo]

This is a strong month indeed.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Retro sports games is probably a lost cause, but I voted for it anyway!

[Ack]

I'm an American, so I'm supporting CAPITALISM and GUNS!

[noiseredux]

Retro sports games is probably a lost cause, but I voted for it anyway!

me too.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Sports.

[MrPopo]

Sports is the category for everyone who doesn't enjoy the pile of awesomeness that is the rest, and as a result it will win because the rest will split the vote too much.

[Ack]

But but but but

GUNS!

[Gunstar Green]

I just realized I only had it set to one vote, so I changed it to two and enabled re-voting. Please try not to abuse the re-voting like some of the old polls.

[prfsnl_gmr]

If sports wins, I’m going to have a busy August play schedule. For years, I’ve been meaning to get through:

1080
Baseball Simulator 1.000
Baseball Stars
Double Dribble
Excitebike 64
Hot Shots Golf 2
Indy 500
Intellivision Football
Karate Champ
SSX
Tecmo Bowl
Tony Hawk Pro Skater
Wave Race 64

I should also play Super Baseball 2020, but it’s probably better to save that one for next year.