The most impressive part of Eco Zoo is its wonderful environment. Using full 3D effects and cardboard-cutout creatures, it has a playfully fun feel similar to that of the old Paper Mario. It’s something different for Flash and has been used more and more recently for many applications.

Nostalgia ain’t cheap. You’ll easily pay $5-10 for a classic game on the Wii or Xbox 360, and an old NES will still run you around the same price on eBay. Luckily, Flash game coders have stepped in with their own clones of popular favorites from the arcade, and best of all they’re FREE. I’ve tried my best to make sure these all link to the original creators’ websites, rather than the mooch arcade websites. If I’ve made a mistake on them, leave me a comment.

Frogger is my absolute favorite old arcade game. I would have this sucker on my graphic calculator in high school algebra class. That explains the C-. Regardless, Paul Neave, one of my favorite Brits, put together this clone (and many others) and put it on his website. It’s since become a big hit on mooch websites and forum arcades.

Super Mario Bros. was an instant classic. The Infinite Mario Bros java game builds on the hit by offering you a completely random game. Every time you play, the levels are different, and you can essentially play forever and have a different game every time, hence the title Infinite Mario Bros.

Asteroids is such a sweet and simple game that somehow gets by without needing fancy graphics and explosions. The Xbox Live Arcade version is stunning looking, but this one is free. This is another Neave creation.

Ms. Pac-Man has always been my preference of the two, but maybe it’s just the color pink that influences me. Regardless, this version was apparantly made by a website called “Blobology,” but the entire Blobology website seems to consist entirely of some ads and the game itself.

Donkey Kong is Mario’s first hit. The then-carpenter simply avoid barrels to save the princess. Unfortunately this Flash version isn’t complete and simply repeats the first level. There seems to be a more complete Java version available at 1980-Games.

Solomon’s Key is regarded as one of the most difficult games to appear on the original Nintendo, starring a character that looks oddly similar to Link from the Zelda Series. Now you can re-live that frustration in this Flash clone by Bitshifter. Granted, it’s not a complete remake. It only features the first few levels, but it should still kill a lot of time if you’re new to the game.

Excitebike is a classic from the NES. This port by Psy-City doesn’t have the level editor that I loved in the original, but it’s still a fun time-killer.

Enjoy these. I’ll try to have more in the future.

]]> http://illogicalmind.com/archives/426/7-free-old-games/feed/ 0 http://illogicalmind.com/archives/516/on-your-marks-lets-start/ http://illogicalmind.com/archives/516/on-your-marks-lets-start/#comments Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:47:24 +0000 Jake P. http://illogicalmind.com/?p=516 I grew up watching Louie Anderson host Family Feud. I have to admit, I was swayed to like Louis because I was a constant viewer of his Saturday-morning cartoon show, but he did a good job hosting the Feud. It’s a shame he got hit by scandal in 2000. God, I love Wikipedia. Anyway, the current version is hosted by possibly the best cast member from Seinfeld ever, John O’Hurley.

To me, anyway, Family Feud has the worst identity crisis of any game show today. The show has gone through five hosts: Richard Dawson, Ray Combs, Louie, Al from “Home Improvement,” and now O’Hurley. You can make it six if you count Al Roker on the atrocious Celebrity Family Feud. The theme music has been mixed, re-mixed, party-mixed, Chex-mixed, and then eventually just replaced altogether with the original music. The set changes more often than I do. Don’t even get me started on the logo. Yet, it’s still a (semi-)successful game show, and a fun one to shout at the TV to.

Alex Davis at Buzzerblog paid big money and did some unmentionable things to get on to the Family Feud set, and like a trooper he returned with a full report. Details include chatting with announcer Burton Richardson, the size of the set, and how tall the giant screen actually is. Either way, it sounds impressive. Check it out, pics included.

Digging in to Flickr, I found some other interesting tidbits. A family upload a series of pictures from their own Family Feud adventure. Apparantly O’Hurley isn’t afraid to pose for pics during commercial break. I’ve always wondered why the hell people in the audience had so many posters to hold in front of the camera, but apparantly the familys make them themselves, and they’re distributed to the audience.

What can I say? I’m a huge game show junkie. This stuff excites me.

They’ve been on the web since 1994, and are aging well. Today, Kim’s works are still some of the funniest geek cartoons on the web.

Over a hundred of Kim’s best works have been put on one page at the Nearing Zero website.

Watching The Heavens Fall is a serene image with very vibrant colors. Designed by Javier Ocasio, it’s become one of the most popular wallpapers available on DeviantArt.
Available in: 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1920×1200, dual-monitor

The Magic Tree is not magic. It’s not making rabbits appear out of hats. Yet the effects added to the image really enhance it to make it a very interesting composition.
Available in: 1600×1200, 1280×1024, 1024×768, widescreen

Daylight is a very simple landscape with the effect of planets in the sky. Who wouldn’t want a skyline that looks like that?
Available in: 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960, 1280×1024, 1600×1200, 1920×1200

Highway reminds me of my various trips through Indiana. Those exits sneak up on you. No giant rocks in the background, though.
Available in: 1600×1200

For more wallpapers, check out Illogical’s own Sanford Lane and the Harbury Series.