THE SITE OF TORMENT AND MORAL DECAY
The MAME Emulator (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) was one of the best things I have found on the internet. Since being a fan of coin operated games in the 1980's I have always enjoyed playing the classic side scrolling arcade games. They're not as complicated or as graphically enhanced as todays games but there is a certain nostalgia about them. I kind of feel sorry for the kids today that didn't really have chance to experience these games in arcades where it only set you back 25 cents per game. Today you have games that set you back as much as a dollar or more. Fortunately the MAME emulator is here. It can emulate all those old classic games and is the only emulator you need. Unless you want to play old nintendo games or sega games. They also have emulators. I have tried quite a few different emulators for arcade games but none compare to MAME. There are a lot of different versions for MAME as it is continuously updated adding more games to the list. This version works good for me. I will put up a link to it later. It is fairly easy to find. Roms are getting a bit harder to find since a lot of the companies are not happy about the MAME emulator. Its still copyrighted. I think they might still want to profit from these games but I'm sure no one is willing to pay for them now.
These are some games that I think are some of the best classic games that were made. A lot of these are very challenging and even with the MAME emulator, unlimited credits, I still can't finish them all. However some games only allow you a limited amount of continues. Such as Contra where you can only continue 3 times and then you have to start the game over. I think that you probably could change the dip switch settings in Contra to give yourself more continues. I'll try it next time I play it.
GHOSTS 'N' GOBLINS (1985 CAPCOM)
This is an extremely difficult game. I have never won the arcade version of this game. Just the Nintendo version. What
makes it challenging is that it only takes 2 hits for your character to get killed. Once you lose your armor it is hard to find replacement armor unless you have all the areas memorized where the armor is, chances are if you aren't near the end of a level you won't make it. Since I use the keyboard to play this game, there is a level on this game where you have to kill a lot of really strong monsters. You have to continuously hit the button on your keyboard and for the number of times you get killed you could be hitting that key thousands of times. However, I like the dark feel towards this game and it has always been a favorite.
GHOULS 'N' GHOSTS (1988 CAPCOM)
This is the sequel game to ghosts 'n' goblins. It is just as challenging as I have not beat this game either. The graphics are much better in this game. What made this a bit different than the original was the introduction of the golden armor that gave you additional power such as lightning power. However, you still only have 2 shots until you die. I have to admit, they wanted a lot of quarters from this game. It is so hard I hope to win someday. So far its been about 14 years.
SPLATTERHOUSE (1988 NAMCO)
This is the truly the first game of gore. I love everything about this game. Its really gruesome for its time and still today. The character looks like Jason Voorhies and he goes around decapitating and impaling monsters using a variety of weapons such as an axe, meat cleaver, staff, wrench, and shotgun.
The game feels much like a horror movie with green blood, corpses and frightening music it is a true video game classic. It did have 2 sequels but only on the Genesis and they couldn't match the original.
BLACK TIGER aka BLACK DRAGON (1987 CAPCOM)
This is probably my favorite of all the coin operated video games I have played. It took me a long time to master this one and when I used to play it in the arcade I used to attract crowds because I could finish the game using one quarter. The game itself is quite fun and the graphics were amazing for its time. It has 8 levels where you have to kill 3 dragons. It also has dungeon sub levels and you can upgrade your character with weapons and armor as you go along. When I first heard of MAME this is the game I searched for first. Its still fun to play today.
CHILLER (1986 EXIDY)
Chiller is a game I never found during my arcade days. If I had though, I would have spend some time with this one. The only problem with this game is that it doesn't have enough levels. It just repeats itself but increases in difficulty. But I do like gruesome games and this one is just that. You basically have to shoot anything on the screen and get your points down to Zero before your time runs out. You get to shoot at bodies and expose the innards with bones and blood showing. And you can activate torture machine such as the head vice. It does get boring after a while but I liked it still.
XAIN'D SLEENA (1986 TECHNOS)
When MAME was introduced and I was searching for old games there was always this one game I wanted but couldn't remember the name of the game. Not surpising since the name of this game was Xain'd Sleena. It took a long time to find, I only remembered what it sounded like and looked like. This game is very hard to win. I still haven't won it. There are 5 different levels on different planets you have to destroy enemies on. When you defeat one level you then go into a space level to get to the next planet. That is the most challenging part since your ship can't be hit once or else it is destroyed. Its quite tense when you know you are almost out of it and then the last thing kills you and then you have to start over.
