Why is Silent Service so common?
It seems like I see this particular game almost as often as mario/duck hunt in the wild, but it seems crazy because I never remember it as a kid, or remember anyone owning it or talking about itback in the day or reading about it in any game magazine or anything. Aside from it being a pretty terrible game, it seems like it wouldn't have sold very many copies as it is such a weird niche kind of genre game (strategy submarine simulation) and is closer to a Koei game than a Konami one. Is there a specific reason this is so plentiful? Did someone find a crapload of them somewhere and sell them to kids for $1 or something?
Comments
http://www.nesplayer.com/captain_n/chapternine.htm
A couple of points I LOVED:
(1) about why the Japanese think "harder" was "better"...because a lot of them failed to design games that were actually replayable or worth replaying if you could beat them. It always irks me when I see comments about them being "better" at games...what a retarded thing to say. It's like characterizing an entire nation of people as smarter. The human race doesn't work that way.
(2) The stuff about Major Dick's flight simulator. I'm in that business, and $2MM for all R&D to build a cockpit of that quality at that time is CHEAP. I have my local church youth group come out and fly our stuff during their spring break, and they LOVE it...but I have to give them all some instruction before they can even remotely handle it. You'd be surprised (or probably not) what playing a lot of video games does for your aptitude at flying an airplane. I was able to solo a real airplane at about 10 hours because of my background. Typically people get to 16-20 hours before they solo. So improving the aptitude for manipulating a man-machine interface by playing TONS of video games is definitely a valid thing.
Really Wiz? REALLY? You actually liked this piece of crap Mike? I can't stand this game. Maybe it's because I can't figure out what the hell to do, but seriously... CRAP!!!!!!!!
I liked it when I was a kid. I didn't own it, but but a friend did. We would spend hours and hours playing that game.
It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible.
Speaking of TMNT, Ultra had previously released THAT game for the NES in June and it was a bestseller, already. I'm sure to them it seemed like kismet, movies sell games and therefore Hunt should sell their submarine game, especially rivalling TMNT's box office dollar-for-dollar. Can't blame them for thinking this way!
Anyway, Hunt won the oscar, and Silent Service won only raspberries. Turns out kids don't want to play games based on adult suspense films starring aging bearded ex-Bonds.
Another possibility is Ultra failed to secure the rights to Hunt (which were tied up and eventually went to Hi-Tech in 1991 and they forced through a generic sub game in anticipation of the movie...which could explain some of the lackluster play issues. Trailers were already well out by that December and anticipation was high, it seemed that sub thrillers could be the next "dimension" for action/suspense films, reminiscent of the wild success of the Top Gun franchise (of course capitalizing on jet combat).
Never manifested
2 million about 25 years ago was a lot of money to spend on R&D for an arcade system.
@arch
2 million about 25 years ago was a lot of money to spend on R&D for an arcade system.
Yes, it's a shit-ton of money to spend on an arcade system.
But it's CHEAP for an anthropomorphically correct cockpit with high res graphics and an accurate flight model.
ETA: I'd be really curious to know what game that was, and why Major Dick was wasting resources doing that as an arcade machine rather than selling it to military customers.
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=31100
(1) about why the Japanese think "harder" was "better"...because a lot of them failed to design games that were actually replayable or worth replaying if you could beat them. It always irks me when I see comments about them being "better" at games...what a retarded thing to say. It's like characterizing an entire nation of people as smarter. The human race doesn't work that way.
Yeah, that's an absurd thought to consider a whole nation "better" at such an international discipline that is video gaming.
Harder Japanese vs US games are frequently quoted to prove this idea. But something we don't heard often is some games are actually much harder US vs Japanese.
Example: Battletoads!!!!
(1) about why the Japanese think "harder" was "better"...because a lot of them failed to design games that were actually replayable or worth replaying if you could beat them. It always irks me when I see comments about them being "better" at games...what a retarded thing to say. It's like characterizing an entire nation of people as smarter. The human race doesn't work that way.
Yeah, that's an absurd thought to consider a whole nation "better" at such an international discipline that is video gaming.
Harder Japanese vs US games are frequently quoted to prove this idea. But something we don't heard often is some games are actually much harder US vs Japanese.
Example: Battletoads!!!!
I dunno man, I never used to buy into those "Asians are smarter / better at computers / video games" stereotypes... until I went and became a Computer Science major.
I mean I considered myself fairly intelligent, #2 guy in my graduating class of 400 behind the Valedictorian (who also went to the same college as me, same major and barely passed with a low C), but some of them Asians made me look like a retard.
We'd get 2 to 3 week long programming projects that would be TOUGH, and I'd barely finish a couple of days ahead of the deadline. Some of those Asian kids would talk amongst themselves in class the very next day about "how easy it was" and how they finished. On exam day, half of them would finish the entire exam before I had even gotten to several of the problems.
Though, ironically enough almost all of my computer science professors were white, mostly male but two females I can remember.
I never believed in the stereotypes but firsthand experiences changed my mind. I still graduated with a 3.5, but I felt as if I was busting my ass the entire way to get there. I swear the Asians would breeze through the classes without breaking a sweat and they were really on a level of their own.
@arch
2 million about 25 years ago was a lot of money to spend on R&D for an arcade system.
Yes, it's a shit-ton of money to spend on an arcade system.
But it's CHEAP for an anthropomorphically correct cockpit with high res graphics and an accurate flight model.
ETA: I'd be really curious to know what game that was, and why Major Dick was wasting resources doing that as an arcade machine rather than selling it to military customers.
You get the word of the day award for using a "big" word.
(1) about why the Japanese think "harder" was "better"...because a lot of them failed to design games that were actually replayable or worth replaying if you could beat them. It always irks me when I see comments about them being "better" at games...what a retarded thing to say. It's like characterizing an entire nation of people as smarter. The human race doesn't work that way.
Yeah, that's an absurd thought to consider a whole nation "better" at such an international discipline that is video gaming.
Harder Japanese vs US games are frequently quoted to prove this idea. But something we don't heard often is some games are actually much harder US vs Japanese.
Example: Battletoads!!!!
I dunno man, I never used to buy into those "Asians are smarter / better at computers / video games" stereotypes... until I went and became a Computer Science major.
I mean I considered myself fairly intelligent, #2 guy in my graduating class of 400 behind the Valedictorian (who also went to the same college as me, same major and barely passed with a low C), but some of them Asians made me look like a retard.
We'd get 2 to 3 week long programming projects that would be TOUGH, and I'd barely finish a couple of days ahead of the deadline. Some of those Asian kids would talk amongst themselves in class the very next day about "how easy it was" and how they finished. On exam day, half of them would finish the entire exam before I had even gotten to several of the problems.
Though, ironically enough almost all of my computer science professors were white, mostly male but two females I can remember.
I never believed in the stereotypes but firsthand experiences changed my mind. I still graduated with a 3.5, but I felt as if I was busting my ass the entire way to get there. I swear the Asians would breeze through the classes without breaking a sweat and they were really on a level of their own.
You're overlooking the HUGE amount of selection bias present in that kind of situation. Of course the Asians we're exposed to in the USA tend to be exceptional...because they'd be exceptional in Asia, as well, but they're here for greater opportunities.
They don't even remotely represent the "average" Asian student.
my neighbours Dad bought this for his kids when it came out, they couldn't figure out how to play so they called me over to try.
I played the game for 2 minutes and then gave the controller back and said no thanks.
@arch
2 million about 25 years ago was a lot of money to spend on R&D for an arcade system.
Yes, it's a shit-ton of money to spend on an arcade system.
But it's CHEAP for an anthropomorphically correct cockpit with high res graphics and an accurate flight model.
ETA: I'd be really curious to know what game that was, and why Major Dick was wasting resources doing that as an arcade machine rather than selling it to military customers.
You get the word of the day award for using a "big" word.
Hey man...in my line of work that word adds a few extra zeroes before the decimal on the check...
(1) about why the Japanese think "harder" was "better"...because a lot of them failed to design games that were actually replayable or worth replaying if you could beat them. It always irks me when I see comments about them being "better" at games...what a retarded thing to say. It's like characterizing an entire nation of people as smarter. The human race doesn't work that way.
Yeah, that's an absurd thought to consider a whole nation "better" at such an international discipline that is video gaming.
Harder Japanese vs US games are frequently quoted to prove this idea. But something we don't heard often is some games are actually much harder US vs Japanese.
Example: Battletoads!!!!
I dunno man, I never used to buy into those "Asians are smarter / better at computers / video games" stereotypes... until I went and became a Computer Science major.
I mean I considered myself fairly intelligent, #2 guy in my graduating class of 400 behind the Valedictorian (who also went to the same college as me, same major and barely passed with a low C), but some of them Asians made me look like a retard.
We'd get 2 to 3 week long programming projects that would be TOUGH, and I'd barely finish a couple of days ahead of the deadline. Some of those Asian kids would talk amongst themselves in class the very next day about "how easy it was" and how they finished. On exam day, half of them would finish the entire exam before I had even gotten to several of the problems.
Though, ironically enough almost all of my computer science professors were white, mostly male but two females I can remember.
I never believed in the stereotypes but firsthand experiences changed my mind. I still graduated with a 3.5, but I felt as if I was busting my ass the entire way to get there. I swear the Asians would breeze through the classes without breaking a sweat and they were really on a level of their own.
You're overlooking the HUGE amount of selection bias present in that kind of situation. Of course the Asians we're exposed to in the USA tend to be exceptional...because they'd be exceptional in Asia, as well, but they're here for greater opportunities.
They don't even remotely represent the "average" Asian student.
For sure, these Asian guys were probably the "cream" of their respective country in computer programming and such things (I'm a total dumb in computer programming so I can't argue much about this).
We also need to consider the background cultural education they received in their original countries.
Education in Japan is a very competitive area, and the best students get to advance faster with superior class structure and such. We, in North America, tends to leveled by the low mass...
A bunch of Asian countries are leader in certain technology domain, giving a priority to this kind of economical area. Education must give the possibilities for students to concentrate their education in technological domain. I'm not an expert on the subject, by I bet it reflects their cultural reality.
This said, we can still claim that computer programming and playing video games are two completely different things
I have just over 400 NES games and have come across many doubles over the years. I have yet to SEE a silent service cart. Bizarre.
Dude, if you like I can bury you with them. Those and Hydlide are like locusts around here!
(I also don't have such insane commons as SMB or Anticipation haha)
Best part of Bone's post- "#2 guy in my graduating class of 400 behind the Valedictorian".
It didn't really jump out at me until you quoted it...but that is pretty priceless.
I dunno man, I never used to buy into those "Asians are smarter / better at computers / video games" stereotypes... until I went and became a Computer Science major.
I mean I considered myself fairly intelligent, #2 guy in my graduating class of 400 behind the Valedictorian (who also went to the same college as me, same major and barely passed with a low C), but some of them Asians made me look like a retard.
We'd get 2 to 3 week long programming projects that would be TOUGH, and I'd barely finish a couple of days ahead of the deadline. Some of those Asian kids would talk amongst themselves in class the very next day about "how easy it was" and how they finished. On exam day, half of them would finish the entire exam before I had even gotten to several of the problems.
Though, ironically enough almost all of my computer science professors were white, mostly male but two females I can remember.
I never believed in the stereotypes but firsthand experiences changed my mind. I still graduated with a 3.5, but I felt as if I was busting my ass the entire way to get there. I swear the Asians would breeze through the classes without breaking a sweat and they were really on a level of their own.
You're overlooking the HUGE amount of selection bias present in that kind of situation. Of course the Asians we're exposed to in the USA tend to be exceptional...because they'd be exceptional in Asia, as well, but they're here for greater opportunities.
They don't even remotely represent the "average" Asian student.
I was at the top of my class in my Computer Science major. The foreign students, were typically bottum rung. One actually managed to destroy the program control tables on the mainframe with their nifty assember messups. Major problems. I was the only one out of 60 or so who finished with a perfect GPA, despite having so-called kid-geniouses in my class, they weren't so much. Only 4 of us actually finished the program who started with me. Ironically I did the opposite Jone I was a C or D average kid in high school ridiculed as the "all time jock". But i only try when I know that it counts, White guys are smart too, see Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. You can't base race supremecy off such a small sampling.
Best part of Bone's post- "#2 guy in my graduating class of 400 behind the Valedictorian".
It didn't really jump out at me until you quoted it...but that is pretty priceless.
From here thither, the Bone shall forever be remembered as NUMBER TWO
Best part of Bone's post- "#2 guy in my graduating class of 400 behind the Valedictorian".
It didn't really jump out at me until you quoted it...but that is pretty priceless.
From here thither, the Bone shall forever be remembered as NUMBER TWO
Just an inch behind that valedictorian geek-jerk,
Haha, I have also yet to see a Hydlide. It's just coincidental, how collecting goes sometimes. I think Wiz is nearing the end of his collection and he is still missing a Castlevania cart! Oh yea, I also don't have Fester's Quest.
Not for long. I'm at 63 games to go, less 3 that are in transit. Pretty soon I'll be knocking Castlevania, Donkey Kong Classics and Mighty Bomb Jack off the list