On the subject of day/night cycles, Terror-Daktil 4D came out on the Spectrum in 1983 and had this:
Night
Day
You had to survive for 7 days until rescued.
Good work!
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Absolute firsts in video games
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
Good work!
Nice! I'm familiar with the game and still forgot about that.
I would still consider the chicken to be a proto-example, though, as it's just a black line separating pieces of the chicken, rather than different colors for life left and life depleted.
Antics:birds and the bees II.
Same year but had a stamina bar that was the same as a life bar.
Very good! Updating OP.
On the topic of orchestral soundtracks, all of the music in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (N64, 1996) was recorded live, almost uniquely among N64 games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx9CjhfUQLw
But it's heavily compressed to fit on the cartridge.
So, there's at least one game earlier than Intelligent Qube. Wouldn't surprise me at all if there was something earlier though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx9CjhfUQLw
But it's heavily compressed to fit on the cartridge.
So, there's at least one game earlier than Intelligent Qube. Wouldn't surprise me at all if there was something earlier though.
SeventhSon
Member
And it was "official" Star Wars music, though some of it was unused from The Empire Strikes Back.
Interesting note about open world games. It appears that a mainframe game called Space Travel was the first, in 1969!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Travel_(video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Travel_(video_game)
The life bar category is in need of another update, I think. There are a few games on the Atari 2600 with fuel bars that are functionally identical to life bars--Seaquest, River Raid, Laser Gates (all from 1982), and possibly more. I'm going to look into this some more.
Okay, it looks like Scramble (arcade, 1981) is the first game with a constantly-draining fuel/stamina/life bar. Atic Atac (ZX Spectrum, 1983) has a bar separating pieces of chicken to represent remaining health, which diminishes only on contact with enemies, but the relative pieces of the chicken are not different colors. Dragon Buster (arcade, 1985), indeed, appears to be the first where you have a life bar that does not continually diminish and has separate colors for life depleted and life left.
Okay, it looks like Scramble (arcade, 1981) is the first game with a constantly-draining fuel/stamina/life bar. Atic Atac (ZX Spectrum, 1983) has a bar separating pieces of chicken to represent remaining health, which diminishes only on contact with enemies, but the relative pieces of the chicken are not different colors. Dragon Buster (arcade, 1985), indeed, appears to be the first where you have a life bar that does not continually diminish and has separate colors for life depleted and life left.
ichtyander
Member
Doom might he the first FPS to have explosive barrels but I can at least think of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game (1989) having them.
The first LGBT character occurence according to wikipedia is in Moonmist (1986), a text adventure.
As for the changes in equipment, there are probably some older RPGs that have an inventory view showing the character and his changes in gear, even if the ingame character stays the same but I'm not sure if that counts.
Thanks for making me aware of the Wiki article on LGBT characters. Really should have looked for that first.
On another note, the charge shot category may need to be revised. Early sports games like Miniature Golf for the 2600 (1978) and Computer Golf for the Odyssey 2 (1978) also used a hold-button-for-stronger-shot mechanic, as does the billiards game Trick Shot (Atari 2600, 1982), and probably others too.
On another note, the charge shot category may need to be revised. Early sports games like Miniature Golf for the 2600 (1978) and Computer Golf for the Odyssey 2 (1978) also used a hold-button-for-stronger-shot mechanic, as does the billiards game Trick Shot (Atari 2600, 1982), and probably others too.
Bionic Commando would be my guess, at least it's a starting point to find if another game did it first.
Crazy Climber (arcade, 1980) has it beat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJAEmOtLZHg
Also, Spider-Man (Atari 2600, 1982) uses what s effectively a grappling hook mechanic, though it's web: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZzGaFiyezY
MrCunningham
Member
Raiders of the Lost Ark for the Atari 2600 released in 1982 had a grappling hook too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eNsC_HIgkOs#t=199
Actually, quite a few Star Wars games from the early to mid 90's did have orchestral soundtracks, like these ones for example:
Rebel Assault which was released in 1993 for the Sega CD, DOS and 3DO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqVXCjBdw7I
Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire from 1995 for DOS, PlayStation, Mac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1601BZRJqM
Jedi Knight Dark forces 2 from 1997 for PC : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pv7W6Naixw
However... I am pretty sure that the first Rebel Assault did not have an original soundtrack, meaning it was ripped directly from the original film movie scores. Rebel Assault II and Dark forces 2 might have soundtracks that were edited from the John Williams scores, so I am not really sure if they conducted anything new for those games.
Also, I was just reminded that Sega Classics Arcade Collection for the Sega CD, originally released in 1992 has a classical piece of music that would play in the opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhWiVeMvrgY
This is orchestrated, though yet again It was not created for the game. I do recognize this piece of classical music, but I don;t remember what it was called at the moment.
This book says it's Warrior (arcade, 1979):
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ckK...st video game with inverse kinematics&f=false
Fun fact, the first home-to-arcade port arguably happened before the first arcade-to-home port! Atari ended up licensing the rights to Pong from Magnavox after they sued in 1974.
They were a bunch of sneaky bastards back then:
After considering his options, Bushnell decided to settle with Magnavox out of court. Bushnell's lawyer felt they could win; however, he estimated legal costs of US$1.5 million, which would have exceeded Atari's funds. Magnavox offered Atari an agreement to become a licensee for US$0.7 million. Other companies producing "Pong clones"Atari's competitorswould have to pay royalties. In addition, Magnavox would obtain the rights to Atari products developed over the next year.[20][22] Magnavox continued to pursue legal action against the other companies, and proceedings began shortly after Atari's settlement in June 1976. The first case took place at the district court in Chicago, with Judge John Grady presiding.[20][22][24] To avoid Magnavox obtaining rights to its products, Atari decided to delay the release of its products for a year, and withheld information from Magnavox's attorneys during visits to Atari facilities.[
Video games might have gone very differently if Magnavox had gotten the rights to the 2600.
They were a bunch of sneaky bastards back then:
After considering his options, Bushnell decided to settle with Magnavox out of court. Bushnell's lawyer felt they could win; however, he estimated legal costs of US$1.5 million, which would have exceeded Atari's funds. Magnavox offered Atari an agreement to become a licensee for US$0.7 million. Other companies producing "Pong clones"Atari's competitorswould have to pay royalties. In addition, Magnavox would obtain the rights to Atari products developed over the next year.[20][22] Magnavox continued to pursue legal action against the other companies, and proceedings began shortly after Atari's settlement in June 1976. The first case took place at the district court in Chicago, with Judge John Grady presiding.[20][22][24] To avoid Magnavox obtaining rights to its products, Atari decided to delay the release of its products for a year, and withheld information from Magnavox's attorneys during visits to Atari facilities.[
Video games might have gone very differently if Magnavox had gotten the rights to the 2600.
ichtyander
Member
Hahah, the withholding of information sounds crazy, what a different time it was.
Btw, regarding changes in appearance, found an article on tvtropes, the reverse of what you asked is Informed Equipment (as in when the appearance doesn't change) but it lilsts the first Dragon Quest (1986) as averting this by adding a sword and a shield to the player sprite when you equip them. Confirmed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmzHrNVelL0&feature=player_detailpage#t=243
It doesn't change the appearance according to the type of weapon or shield you equip (it's always the same sword and shield), so it's a bit primitive.
Lemmings came out around the same time, didn't it?
Yes it did. Good thinking.
On the subject of day/night cycles, Terror-Daktil 4D came out on the Spectrum in 1983 and had this:
Night
Day
You had to survive for 7 days until rescued.
You could argue that the original Missile Command (1980) was an earlier game with a day/night cycle. At least that was how we interpreted things as kids: The game started at night with a black background, and you got to see daybreak if you survived the first eight attack waves. Most players wouldn't, so the feeling of night turning into day was kind of epic. Later stages had additional color shifts in the sky, with the night sky eventually returning to complete the cycle.
I remember a simplistic horse jumping game which existed around the time Asteroids (1979) was new. It was a multi-player game supporting at least 4 players (maybe more) where each player had a jump button for his/her horse. I believe the jumping was the only thing that the player controlled - the horse ran and picked up speed on its own, making it gradually more difficult to time the jumps. It used color, but it was probably faked using colored overlays on a monochrome monitor, giving each horse (and the horizontal track it was running on) a unique color.
I'm pretty sure this game predated Donkey Kong by a number of years, but I don't remember the name and have little luck finding it on the Internet.
The game is Steeplechase (arcade, 1975), and you've just made both jumping categories obsolete!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iunpo88qFw
Nice one.
ichtyander
Member
Found a wonderful playlist of 70s arcade games on youtube, has about 200 games in the list. Just looked at the first 30 or so and made a short list, haven't verified it though:
-Clean Sweep (1974) - proto-Breakout? Has a paddle that deflects a ball like Pong but the screen is filled with other static balls/blocks that you need to clear/destroy, although your ball doesn't bounce off of the destructible blocks.
-Pin Pong (1974) - first pinball video game/computer pinball simulation?
-TV Basketball (1974) - first basketball game? The Guiness Book of World Records cites Basketball (1978) as the first one, although TV Basketball is more of a Pong clone.
-Shark Jaws (1975) - first game with underwater setting?
-Blockade (October 1976) - first snake game
-Death Race (1976) - running people over for the first time?
-Hit Me (1976) - first computer card game/blackjack game?
-Clean Sweep (1974) - proto-Breakout? Has a paddle that deflects a ball like Pong but the screen is filled with other static balls/blocks that you need to clear/destroy, although your ball doesn't bounce off of the destructible blocks.
-Pin Pong (1974) - first pinball video game/computer pinball simulation?
-TV Basketball (1974) - first basketball game? The Guiness Book of World Records cites Basketball (1978) as the first one, although TV Basketball is more of a Pong clone.
-Shark Jaws (1975) - first game with underwater setting?
-Blockade (October 1976) - first snake game
-Death Race (1976) - running people over for the first time?
-Hit Me (1976) - first computer card game/blackjack game?
Nice! I'll look into this stuff later, a bit busy atm.
I do have a question to pose, though: what was the first game with first-person melee combat in real time? Heretic (PC, 1994) would be an early one, but surely there's something older.
Ultima 7: part 2 was the first to do this (paperdolls) to my knowledge but as you mentioned in-game appearance is not affected.
ichtyander
Member
As far as I know, Dungeon Master (1987) introduced realtime combat even though movement was tile-based so it's kind of a gray area, had melee, ranged and magic if I remember correctly. There's The Super Spy (October 8, 1990), a 2D arcade game similar to light gun shooters like Operation Wolf, but with mostly melee attacks instead of firearms (although you have those as well, somewhat rarely). After that, the first 3D fully realtime first person game with melee would probably be Ultima Underworld (March 21, 1992).
Ah, so it's called paperdolls, had no idea, thanks.
I'll look into it.Very nice list! I guess Space Race could count as first bullet hell (although without shooting
Hahah, didn't cross my mind but it does kind of look like bullet hell.
It could also be a proto-Frogger I guess.Forgot about Dungeon Master. Added!
Tomb Raider? Or is that later?
ichtyander
Member
You may be right. Tomb Raider came out in 1996, although the lock-on system is automatic, the player has no control over it. After that there's Armored Core (July 10, 1997) where you have a targeting reticule, lock on to targets shift between them. For reference, Mega Man Legends came out on December 18, 1997.
If we're counting Dungeon Master, you might also consider Crypts of Chaos from 1982 (1:44 for some hot "sword" attacks).
Nice!
Something was bugging me about seeing the Atari 2600 Superman game (1979 release) being mentioned ahead of Adventure for several categories. As a kid, I know Adventure came out first, but now I have proof that Wikipedia's date for the game is wrong. Adventure came out in 1978:
Several weblinks state it's 1978 as well. That changes the list results for the following categories in the first post:
- Exploration of environment spanning more than one screen
- Action-adventure
- Flip-screen scrolling
- Picking up and carrying objects in real time
- Easter egg <change the date>
Lastly, is Adventure the first game to sell over a million copies? Source 1 and Source 2.
Several weblinks state it's 1978 as well. That changes the list results for the following categories in the first post:
- Exploration of environment spanning more than one screen
- Action-adventure
- Flip-screen scrolling
- Picking up and carrying objects in real time
- Easter egg <change the date>
Lastly, is Adventure the first game to sell over a million copies? Source 1 and Source 2.
Something was bugging me about seeing the Atari 2600 Superman game (1979 release) being mentioned ahead of Adventure for several categories. As a kid, I know Adventure came out first, but now I have proof that Wikipedia's date for the game is wrong. Adventure came out in 1978:
Several weblinks state it's 1978 as well. That changes the list results for the following categories in the first post:
- Exploration of environment spanning more than one screen
- Action-adventure
- Flip-screen scrolling
- Picking up and carrying objects in real time
- Easter egg <change the date>
Lastly, is Adventure the first game to sell over a million copies? Source 1 and Source 2.
US Copyright Office lists Adventure's publication as June 1980 and Sears holiday 1980 catalogue lists it as a new release: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wishbook/3114585830/in/set-72157608220146364
Here is Atari's official 1979 catalogue, which lists Superman as a current release, but not Adventure: http://atariage.com/catalog_overview.html?CatalogID=26
Now here's the 1980 Atari catalogue, which lists both, but Adventure is "coming soon": http://atariage.com/catalog_overview.html?CatalogID=27
Read more here: http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net/2012/07/adventure-game-released-in-year-of.html ; this has been meticulously researched, complete with 34-year-old newspaper ads. 99.9% chance this game came out in 1980.
Aside from that, many of the release years on the cartridge labels of Atari 2600 games are not the release year; they're probably just the years in which the titles were registered, and for arcade ports, they're often the year of the original arcade game.. For example, Super Breakout says 1978 on the cartridge but came out in 1982. I believe some Superman cartridges also say 1978.
As far as the "first game to sell over a million copies" is concerned, that would be the Atari/Sears Pong console. First cartridge would be Combat. First non-bundled cartridge, probably Space Invaders 2600 version.
ichtyander
Member
Wow, good stuff indeed. It certainly fits the bill.
Turns out Marathon had voice chat back in late 1994. Haven't found an earlier example yet.
Good work. Updated.