Video games used to be hard. Like, really hard and uncompromising. While modern consoles do have some games that require a high twitch level (Geometry Wars comes to mind), not many can compare to the challenge of say, Defender or Robotron 2084 back in the day. Not that I’m complaining – I actually like that there’s more diversity in today’s video games, with both “casual” and “hard core” games finding success this generation. And with delivery systems like XBOX’s Game Room or the Wii’s Virtual Console, it’s easier than ever to relive some of that arcade nostalgia, but it’s just not the same as playing on those old coin-op machines.
Now let’s hope that cel understands where jefbot was coming from in getting rid of those kids that dared to disrespect one of the classics!
First! Maybe?
most definitely, Shay! the Shades of Firstness are yours: 😎
This could go either one of two ways…
Either Jefbot is now doomed to be bruised in uncomfortable places, or else Cel will do something to show her appreciation.
And sorry about the “First!” thing… I’m never first on here…. ’cause I’m normally sleeping. ^_^
let’s hope jefbot doesn’t get “bruised in uncomfortable places,” Shay. heheh.
and never apologize for “Firsting” – those Shades of Firstness are hard to achieve and quite valuable. yep.
Second! HAHAHA…I was too busy messing around on FB LOL
*head shake* and there goes bot’s brownie points *bloobloobloobblooo*
dang Facebook! 😉
and although jefbot may have lost some brownie points, he still has a couple cookies left, ESQ. or maybe just crumbs…
This is the highest I’ve ever been.
Bribery is never the answer. Only with a shovel can you properly deal with such a person.
ha! until i gave it a few more moments of consideration, i completely mistook your statement, “This is the highest I’ve ever been” for something other than the proximity of your comment to the top of the comment pile, CheddarMan. i didn’t get much sleep last night.
and you’re right: maybe jefbot can still borrow a blunt instrument from cel before the kids make it to the exit.
It was the talk about “brownies” that did it. :p
My wit cleaves deep and my goal realized. If a laugh was had then satisfaction is mine.
wahaha. cel is either goin to kiss jb for being such a nerd or hit him for ruining business. either way is good but i hope for the latter. hehe.
hasn’t cel put jefbot through enough pain by throwing paint on him and bailing on him at the beach (not to mention kicking a door into his face), and now you want her to hit him, jf#300!?
i like your style. 😉
i’m still a GALAGA nut!! if i had had one upright game..GALAGA!
i’m with ya, t_d! Galaga is one of the all-time greats! they actually have the coin-op at a greasy burger stand (at Santa Monica and Robertson) a few blocks from my apartment, and i play it every time i eat there. 😀
Oh, boy is he in trouble… Still those kids were ignorant brats.
I dont like how everything is simplified these days. When you take a quest in game to find something you have usualy na arrow marker on your compas and mark on your map. I mean WTH? In other game you needed to resque a villager from other village and one guy slaughtered all inhabitants just because nobody told him he can negotiate… I could go on.
heheh. yeah, hopefully cel will have seen the entire exchange and sympathized with bot’s reaction to those brats.
and your second example of “oversimplification” rings true beyond video games; in a semi-regular D&D game i play with friends, this new, younger player always wants to beat the crap out of characters to get info instead of negotiating, bargaining, investigation or bribing. violence is always his solution. we meet a new character that may know something about our quest? beat him until he tells us, then kill him afterward. so lame. and even worse: boring.
We had a character like that once (not D&D but similar RPG) – the Orc put her in a sack and my Winged Elf guarded the sack (I decided that, as I had little fighting strenght but was a great scout & had awesome dexterity/charisma, I’d be the Orcs “bitch” and he’d look out for me – it worked).
We also bound the Minotaur to a cart.
I agree with his motivation but Bot deserves a smack on the back of the head for not using his own twenty.
What was he thinking, giving away quarters? In an arcade with a busted change machine ? Sheesh.
yep, jefbot was clearly influenced by his rage and not thinking logically, Sarah W. cel should set him straight. 🙂
*rolls up a news paper and gentle taps JB on the nose* NO! Bad Dog!
*le sigh* Oh Jeff, Jeff my dear sweet lil Pad Wan Pirate Learner….We never surrender the treasure. We show them to something else that will make them spend MORE. I have so much to teach you.
Oh, it’s a good thing you are so dern purdy!
Hurray for winning big in Vegas!
let’s hope cel thinks like you and gives jefbot a swat on the nose instead of banishing him to the dog house, Pix! and maybe, just maybe, she’ll give him a tip like you just did…
yay for vegas loot! 😀
Silly Jefbot. This is a business, not a museum. Of course there will be idiots who don’t appreciate the finer things, there always are. Sadly, we cannot execute – oops, I mean – get rid of them all. We simply must accept their lack of taste and revel in our superiority… while taking the little buggers for all we can get!
yeah, i think that’s the problem: jefbot thinks of this more as a museum than a place of business. hopefully he can reconcile that before cel loses any more money, AdM! accepting their lack of taste and reveling in his superiority sounds like a good start. 🙂
You (and, therefore, Jefbot) are aweome – superiority over the little (must not swear!) toerags is both obvious and natural.
Remember: “The first step (to not choking the little… blighters) is acceptance.”
I will defend Galaga and Centipede to the ends of the Earth. I love those games are the awesome. And DigDug but I’m not Sure if that counts.
Note to self: don’t type comments while taking notes in lecture at the same time…>>
I rocked on Centipede.
Which more or less tells you how long it was since I rocked . . .XD
heh. did “Centipede” or “Galaga” make it into your notes, DJ?
and i was probably rockin’ on Centipede at the same time you were, Sarah W. 😛
Dig Dug totally counts. I loved that game! And Burger TIME! OMG I rocked on Burger Time!
i was awesome at Burger Time, too, Pixie! better at the Intellivision version than the arcade version, tho. i could play that one almost indefinitely. grrr… still hate those evil eggs!
pepper PEPPER Awww &*%$@!*& GD Hotdog!
I had the Intellivision version as well and OMG i was hooked!
i’ll defend Galaga and Centipede right there with ya, DJ! i totally rock on Galaga but less so on the ‘Pede. i was actually better at Millipede for some reason. and as Pixie mentioned: Dig Dug totally counts! love that game. 😀
IF I was Cel, the only way I would be understanding is IF IT WAS YOUR OWN MONEY THAT YOU GAVE TO THE ANNOYING BRATS!!!
Obviously the second panel shows that’s NOT the case so… you’re so dead.
*diabolical laugh of doom*
Ack!! Cel’s eyes aren’t as smokey as they should, jef! The shame on you!
*ploting to bring you lots and lots of pain induced nightmares*
it’s true: jefbot totally should’ve used his own money, Sonitan. turns out that still might be the case if cel ends up paying him and the Cornfather for their service, tho…
and since i don’t want you projecting any (more?) diabolical nightmares into my head, i’ll try and make cel’s eyes extra smoky to meet with your approval in the next strip. deal?
I was never really into arcade games–besides having no coordination and being terrible at them on the rare occasions I tried. I missed out on that entire subset of gaming culture. I was kind of a PC nerd from the first–King’s Quest 1-4, Police Quest, Monkey Island, Doom… So while I would like to tut at the younger generation and how they don’t understand what REAL games are, I’m not really sure I have the necessary moral high ground on this one.
playing the King’s Quest, Police Quest and Monkey Island games automatically gives you the moral high ground methinks, Sharra! and if you were good at Doom, you probably had more coordination for arcade games than you thought.
tut away! 😀
Oh, DEFENDER!!! Good players of that game were the successor to the “Pinball Wizard” — these were the coolest cats around at the ice rink!
most definitely, Stan! i used to envy those (generally a bit older) guys that rocked Defender. been jonesing to play it recently, and i’m sure i’d be a lot better at it now. i just gotta find a real coin-op machine with the funky 2-way joystick and crazy buttons – not on an emulator or console with the simplified controls. 🙂
I was older, but still not very good at that game. I’d be even worse now with my age deteriorating my eye-hand coordination.
Kids! “What’s the matter with kids today?” I’m glad you paid them off Jefbot! Who needs ’em! Plus, it got you closer to Cel… I love the third frame! And my favorite line in this strip: “This is like the opposite of fun.” Amazing!
thanks, Funnyshaffer! glad you liked the dialogue. and yeah, them kids need to learn respect or get off my lawn! *ahem*
Now you need a cat, a rocking chair for your porch and a shotgun.
I would have ripped that kid a new one, then pay him to get out and not come back. While I immensely enjoy many of the new games and systems, nothing beats a good old school button mashing stand up. Wish Cel would open an arcade my way. 🙁
if cel ever needs a bouncer for the arcade, i’ll give you a call, TCG.
and you’re right about nothing beating a “good old school button mashing stand up.” when i have my mansion in the hills, at least one room will be dedicated to those types of machines. 🙂
Fun is having the Konami code forever ingrained in my mental roledex. Thats what games need more of today. Oh…and more bloom lighting!!
yeah, all games should do something when you input that code, Charles! and re: bloom lighting – i’ve been playing a ton of Mass Effect 2 recently, so i’ve almost had my fill. 😉
Typical kids! They don’t know the evil of battle toads and double dragon… I don’t know ANYONE who’s beaten that game… Raiden trad? Don’t get me started…. Those old games were friggin impossible…
oh man, Battletoads was brutal, Steve! i don’t think i ever finished that one. but i finished Double Dragon many times – the trick is to keep using that back elbow move – works almost every time and is practically unavoidable for the enemies. and those scrolling, shooter games like Raiden were super hard. i used to love Xevious, but it was an exercise in frustration finishing that one.
Good choice, Jefbot! Hopefully Cel thinks so too.
Where did CF sneak off to?
we’ll find out what the Cornfather’s up to in the next strip, as well as whether cel approves of jefbot’s actions or not, Rinthia.
I’m amazed you didn’t go “Bushido” fail on him.
he should have, Anime fan! jefbot really needs to carry around a katana…
or for “legal” effect, a training saber. no not a light saber, a high-impact plastic Daito. My brother and I have a pair, they’re mean SOBs
Just burned through the entire archive, and I’ve got say the comic is amazing,
Keep up the good work:)
thanks for taking the time to read through the whole archive, Lord_Bryon! especially glad you liked it and hope you keep reading jefbot’s further adventures! 🙂
Games are not the same now, as opposed to before gaming became main stream.
Bring back the 8-bit era, where games had to be fun and challenging to be good. These days if you pixel is out of place, it gets a 0 on the game rating sites.
Back with NES games if you could see what you were doing, the graphics were good enough, and there was no need to improve them.
Now its; “Screw the engaging plots, character depth, original villains and unconventional game play. We’ll render each hair on a single character’s head individually, give them ten minutes screen time, throw in a long string of mini-games, make the action mostly cinematic and ridiculously unbalanced with plenty of kill-all weapons. That should do it.”
What happened to Kefka, Kain, Melzas, Magnus, Liquid Snake, Gannon, Andross, and all those other villains?
And the original heroes? Cecil, Terra, Raziel, Kain (again), Alundra, Samus, Sonic, Crash, Garret, and all the faceless, nameless RPG heroes?
Ever since gaming became trendy, hardcore gamers have suffered. I’ll end the rant here by say; don’t settle for the flashy “cool” games, get the good ones and show the gaming industry we won’t buy anything they produce, only the good stuff.
agreed: games definitely aren’t the same now, likeacupcake. part of me thinks that it’s just that we’ve “grown up” that we don’t see the “magic” in current games like we used to. i mean, don’t get me wrong: i’ve been loving a lot of the current generation (playing Mass Effect 2 at the moment and loving it) but yeah, there was just something really special about those old school shooters, platformers, adventures and rpgs that we just aren’t seeing today. even in some of the current “retro” titles like Mega Man 9 and Bionic Commando: Rearmed (which was still pretty awesome), they just don’t capture that sense of awesomeness that i felt when i was a kid.
*with an aura of sweetness & innocence*
I like puzzle games, something that challenges my mind ^_^
*dark smile* But I used to kick arse at Tekken!
See? I told you we were related in some weird way!
I adore puzzlers. Toss in some action, and you’ve sold me. Just finished Mortal Kombat uhhh…What was the name of it? (I can’t remember but it was the one where Lu Kang came back as a Zombie.) a few months back. LOVED having to figure out how to kill certain bosses and such. And the fact that Hubby didn’t have the patience to figure it out so I smoked past him was pretty thrilling too!
I likve the older PC puzzlers too. Pandora’s Box by MS still stumps me at a certain point.
Annihilation!!!! That’s what it was called! I knew the minute I posted, it would come back to me.
Yeah Like I said, Not really up on the newer games. And I’m OK with that!
i don’t think i’ve played any Mortal Kombat games since MKII on my SNES, Pixie! if i see Annihilation in a discount bin i’ll be sure to pick it up, though. 🙂
If you still have a PS2 (again, not up on newer games) you can get the 3 pack at Target for like $20 if i remember correctly.
I’ve completed all my old puzzlers so many times that they’re now memory exercises :/ My mum gave me all the PS1 games but Discworld & Discworld Noir had gone missing which makes kitty sad 🙁 I’m now trying to convince mum that the only way to mend the trauma of having 2 of my favourite games disappear is for her to give me the SNES & the Sega MegaDrive (including all the games for them, obviously) – they’re only gathering dust in the loft anyway…
One of my flatmates bought the Dragonball Z games and we’ve been having house tournaments. I regularly hand their arses to them. But the boys sulk so much, every now & then I have to throw a match otherwise I’ll never hear the end of “you and your goddamn Kaio-Ken! I never get time to charge my Kamehameha attacks!”
Honestly, it’s like playing with kids. (They’re 21 and 36 years old) ¬_¬
i dig the puzzle games too, Angela della Muerta! have you tried the Professor Layton series on the DS? lots of fun and some of the puzzles are pretty tricky. and i used to love Tekken, too. bought the most recent version (came with a 6-button arcade stick!) but haven’t put any time into it. but Street Fighter IV is great and you should definitely give it a try if you haven’t already.
My mum has those for her DS. She loves them. I’d borrow them off her if I could get near them *huffs*
Ooo! I shall indeed! Thank you muchly!
So good. Just so so good. I swear, reading Jefbot increases my IQ tenfold. The only problem is, once I stop reading it, my IQ decreases ten fold.
heh. then you need to get a constant fix of JEFbot, MC – i know you have a Blackberry with a browser, so you should just keep rotating through the archives all day. 😉
I have officially watched too much House in a row.
My first thoughts on this post?:
“He’s losing brain function fast!” “Get him on a Jefbot I.V., stat!”
I can’t tell, is Cel angry or impressed?
purposely ambiguous, Fijiman! if nothing else, she’s trying to figure out how to react to jefbot in that last panel.
Heh reminds me of Ghouls & Ghosts…
now that was a challenging game, Woggy! actually, all those Ghost ‘n Goblins games were pretty hard. finished it on my NES, but the version i downloaded to my iPhone recently is almost impossible, cuz of the crappy controls.
I used to love the old video games… back when I was young enough to get free pizza at Pizza Hut if I read x number of books (yeah, because getting me to read was such a challenge…), I spent a lot of time with games like Pacman. Still love the new games, especially the Zelda ones (*drool*), but there’s something classic about the really old ones.
Jeff: re Drew Barrymore movie: I’m a non-speaking Press Corp member. The name of the movie is ‘Everybody Loves Whales’, and it’ll be coming out in 2012. I’ll be filming for eight days total, though only three of those are consecutive…I foresee a lot of road-tripping in my future. Anchorage is 365 miles south of my hometown, and that’s where they’re filming. O’course. But I’m majorly excited! Thanks for the good wishes, and I’ll keep you posted as I start actually filming…
pizza for reading!? i think i’d have the Power of Chub if they had that program around when i was a kid, Tiana. 😉
yeah, Pac-Man’s totally awesome (have you tried Championship Edition on the consoles? pretty cool.), and i drool over the Zelda games, just like you. actually finished all the console iterations, but am behind on the portable versions. once i finish the latest Pokémon game, i’ll probably give Spirit Tracks a spin, though.
neat! i’ll keep Everybody Loves Whales on my radar and look forward to your updates!
Pffff, not hard? try N+ for the DS!
not saying there aren’t any hard games nowadays, haddyDrow (i have N+ on my PSP!), but i think the ratio of hard vs easy games back then was much higher than now. especially with the Wii, and now XBOX 360 and PS3 going for more of a casual market. but yeah, N+ is extremely challenging!
LoL I’d have probably done the same thing in Bot’s shoes. I get frustrated with old games that are hard, but that’s what made the experience worth it. It was hard, so when you made the next level, you felt like you accomplished something. Too many games nowadays don’t do that for me anymore, and that’s why games are tending to lose their replay value…Unless it’s something like Oblivion…Dear Gods! But you can play that game forever!
Damn kids these days! They don’t know what good gaming is! In order to be fun it has to have awesome graphics and hours and hours of play time! They don’t know what fun is! There is nothing like circles eating dots, frogs dodging cars or anteater doods jumping on colored blocks!!
If you know those 3 games then you are cool 🙂