Power Bombcast: The Skin Doesn't Quite Fit
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Game Mess Mornings 05/03/24
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Game » consists of 23 releases. Released July 1986
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
Levels that progress forward by themselves at a fixed rate.
Not all bosses can handle the player by themselves. Many use waves of lesser enemies to fight for them while they rest, and some even let these minions do all the work.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
Special codes or button combinations used to gain powers or advantages in a game. Generally hidden.
Cheating is the act of creating an advantage by using methods beyond the normal means of the game.
Cooperative play in games allows humans to play together as a team to accomplish a task. Instead of playing against a human opponent, the team must defeat an AI. Cooperative Play in some games also means 2 human versus 2 human, this occurs in some Billiards games. (Scotch Doubles / Doubles)
A destructible environment means the player has the ability to destroy his/her surroundings. This allows players to use the environment to their advantage.
The concept of purchasing media and having it delivered over the internet. No physical representation of this content is given, and although the content resides on the user's hard drive they are typically granted a license to the product, rather than ownership of it.
A feature in Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS games allowing linked multiplayer with only one cartridge.
Dragons were originally messengers from heaven, according to early Buddhist texts. In games, they can be among the most fearsome of adversaries, but there are some exceptions.
The last boss you face in a game, usually representing the final climax of the game.
In games, fire can be an obstacle, a tool, a weapon, or a solution. Just don't play with it...unless you really want to.
A rather unpleasant experience, where your journey takes you to the insides of a bigger creature, followed by a desperate attempt to make it 'through', alive and undigested.
A situation where the player-controlled character loses their life immediately. The quickness of that demise is often a stark departure from the balance of power, and sometimes the rules, established by the developers during the rest of the game.
Whether it be a close up shotgun blast, far away sniper rifle, explosive, or backstab, the "one hit kill" is a popular kill strategy. Usually hard to master and even harder to avoid, the instant kill is loved and hated by gamers everywhere.
The legendary Konami code, any who knew it were rewarded in many classic Konami games. UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A (SELECT) (START)!
The concept of lives in video games evolved to let the player get a second chance after failing once. The most recognizable symbol is the heart.
An opponent that typically appears around the halfway point in a level. Mini-Bosses are more formidable than the average opponent, though normally not as tough as the end-level Boss.
A method of splitting a game into multiple parts to get around memory constraints, particularly on tape based formats such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.
Some games feature the ability to switch the gameplay camera perspective between first and third person, either as an option or as a gameplay element.
A mode that allows a game to be replayed after a first completion, carrying over items, experience, weapons, and other elements from the first playthrough.
The peashooter is the default weapon used at the start and after dying in many arcade style games.
Mythical/Magical creature that has magic power. When a Phoenix dies it burns up into ashes and another rises in its place.
Pixel art refers to digital images composed of visible pixels, drawn with individual pixel-level intent and precision.
Games that you could control with the Power Glove.
Japanese PC online digital distribution service for emulated retro games, launched on 24 November 2001, years before similar services from Steam, Virtual Console, or XBLA.
A creature which is made up of mostly identical segments and has an elongated shape.
The term is derived from the Gradius series of Shoot-em-Ups (AKA "shmups"), but means any shooter in which the goal is to destroy an integral component of your target in order to win. In many games this core is represented by a glowing orb, which causes the enemy to flash when you shoot it.
Side-scrolling games present the world as viewed perpendicular to the direction the characters are facing on screen. With a heavy focus on lateral movement, objectives are often met by moving from one end of a stage to the other.
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