GREED in games - examples

[Flare]

This month's rant was so great that I think it deserves it's own thread (a couple of other threads have already been started).

How about discussing the games we remember had a greed factor in them.

I'd like to start by mentioning these examples.

- Flicky: Remember this game? You can be greedy and try to get all of the little chicks to the nest at once. Similar to Dino Eggs I say.
- Peter Packrat: Similar greed factor; collecting the treasures all at once before you take them to your nest
- Bubbles: Of course, try to grab all of the ants instead of flying down the drain when you are big enough. But beware the witch!
- Anteater: I was always risking the "freeze" time after eating the worm to get all of the dots I could before those ants would get to me.
- Frogger: A small greed element is present when you risk it by entering the goal with the bird inside.
- Cheyenne: Remember hitting the can of water, the bull that ran through the door, etc. instead of saving your guy?

[Shane R. Monroe]

Dayom ... EXCELLENT examples.

Peter Packrat ... DAMN that's a great game. I haven't played it forever.

I can't believe I failed to mention Bubbles. Serious greed factor.

BTW ... Frogger ... its an alligator inside ... Bird?

[Flare]

Listening to Shane's Top Gunner example, it made me remember about Choplifter.

Very similar greed concept. Except that here you are at risk both grabbing the hostages and delivering them. When you deliver them to your base you also get exponential points for not moving while they are disembarking.

[Flare]

BTW ... Frogger ... its an alligator inside ... Bird?

There's both. Well actually I looked it up and it really is a fly

Remember that at random both the fly and the gator appear in your home base. If you enter it while the fly is shown, you get an additional 200 points; if you enter it while the gator is there, you die.

[Shane R. Monroe]

I must've misunderstood you. There's no danger jumping into the home with a bird-fly in there ... but there are times when the CROC is in 'waiting' and the fly appears.

So I figured you just thought the croc was a bird ... I was like ... man, the graphics aren't THAT bad!

Speaking of Frogger ... The new Frogger DS game claims to have the "original" arcade game and it doesn't. Its a rebranded feel-like version that uses the old sound effects. Its fun - its a 'graphic upgrade leaving the gameplay alone', but its still misleading.

[Shamus]

Listening to Shane's Top Gunner example, it made me remember about Choplifter.

Very similar greed concept. Except that here you are at risk both grabbing the hostages and delivering them. When you deliver them to your base you also get exponential points for not moving while they are disembarking.

Now if you're talking about the arcade version, then you're probably right. But the original (on the Apple II, then ported to Atari) didn't have that concept at all. All it kept track of was how many hostages needed to be rescued, how many were dead, and how many were rescued (I remember cursing many a time at the Atari's lack of an extra button while playing that one--the half-assed way they managed it was to use long presses of the button versus short presses to distinguish between firing and turning. But I played it anyway ). I think it was probably one of the first games of that type (not point focused), if I remember correctly.

[jakdin]

I played Peter Packrat a few times when I was younger, in the arcade. I remember it being really difficult to get a good pile going before returning to the nest.... man, fond memories. gotta go boot it up and 'remember' it for a bit.

[Lentium]

One example that comes to my mind is that oh-so aptly named Hektik for the Commodore 64. I don't know how popular this game was (I seem to have played all the really obscure C64 games and completely passed up on all the popular ones during my childhood), but basically there are 4 or 5 levels of bricks with ladders between them and monsters running around them. You have to take a shovel and dig holes in the bricks for them to fall down, some die after falling down one level, some need to fall three levels. The more levels you make a monster fall down beyond what's required to kill it, the higher the score you get. But if the monster drops down fewer levels than what would kill it, it gets upgraded to the next stronger one. It is VERY dangerous to try and dig more holes than you needed.

Let me know if anyone else has played this game, I used to love it even though I could never do more than the first few levels.

[ArcadeNut]

Pac Man/Ms Pac Man has the greed factor. Trying to get that last Ghost worth 1600 points before it turns back. That's killed me many many times. Trying to get that fruit and risking life and limb for that 5,000 point Bannana.

[Fract]

I think Ninja Gaiden has also a big greed factor, if it comes to doing some perfect scores. Quote from the Karma Scoring FAQ:
"Ninja Gaiden is very unique in the fact that the karma system is very in depth. It is possibly one of the most advanced point systems developed in any game to date."
Can only agree with that.
At first I hated the game, because the game over screen appeared for every 2 minutes. Finally the first real challenging game. On a side note: The hardest level has only been completed by one of the beta testers ever!