It’s been about six months since the last update. We’ve mostly been camping, playing outside and generally enjoying the summer - although we have also squeezed in some gaming, here and there.
Favourite Games So Far
We spent almost all of our game time playing Legend of Zelda. It’s a towering achievement – a truly great game. I’m amazed that this thing is from 1986 – it doesn’t feel like it.
It’s also a great example of a different kind of co-op game. One where you play together by collaborating: discussing what to do & where to go next, how to tackle things, etc… We also took turns with the controller, with me often doing the “hard bits”.
We got pretty stuck for a few weeks trying to get past the blue Darknuts in the 5th level dungeon. I almost caved and was considering editing the save game file, rather than having the kid lose interest – but it didn’t come to that.
We eventually completed it in the traditional, time-honoured way – sitting on the sofa in our pyjamas on Saturday morning, banging our heads against the level, until we eventually cracked it.
There was less reading in Zelda than I was hoping - but what little there was, the kid did, which was good practice. I did most of the cartography, but the kid did do some.
It was great fun and also, I think, the kid learnt something about being persistent and working towards longer term objectives.
Updates & Changes to the System
2021-09-04
I thought it was about time we started on some adventure games – partly to help with reading practice, partly because they’re great.
ScummVM
- Maniac Mansion (1987)
2021-09-18
We tentatively started having play-dates again - two so far. In preparation for this, I added some more co-op games. All of these games are 2 to 4 player co-op games, except for Gods & Populous, which I just wanted to play.
These are a little but of a leap in time from where we were, but I think we need to speed up anyway, so…
NES
- Bomberman II (1991)
- Life Force (1987)
- Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers (1990)
Amiga [1]
- Gods (1991)
- Golden Axe (1989)
- Chaos Engine (1993)
- Populous (1989)
- The Fidelity Chessmaster 2100 (1988)
I’ll report back later…
We’ve started on Maniac Mansion and that went OK, considering that it’s a new type of game that the kid hasn’t tried before - and I’m making him do all the reading 😉.
We’ve also played a few games of Bomberman, which is as ever, loads of fun. I’ll report back later on how we get on.
Footnotes & References
- The motherload of amiga games, in WHDL format. ↩