ice4277 is on the clock.

Was hoping someone would take him. Easily my all time favorite arcade game: Ghost's n Goblins. I think I'd have been a millionaire if I'd saved my quarters instead of plunking them into that machine. There was a machine right next to the GnG machine that I wish someone would pick a character (any character!) from. I won't say what it is because I know some don't like that, but I want to so badly :)

Mann.. I missed the Bad Dudes pick? I was wondering when they'd be picked. Like someone said, I used to play hours and hours of this game at the arcade, except my older brother and I beat it together. We're BAD DUDES.

IMO, awesome picks :)

I was thinking the same for the excitebike guy. Awesome pick. lol For this late, yeah..

Among people who've played that game, he gets consistently picked as their favorite gaming character of all time. Maybe a stretch at round 4, but there's been plenty stuff going that to me isn't very high in value. All a matter of taste I suppose. :p

Im assuming you are talking about Ryu. I am a huge SF fan, and I always chose Ryu - I just waited too long to pick him in this draft :)

Hadoken !!!
Tatsu Maki Sempukiaki !!!

I think he meant Ryu from Ninja Gaiden.

Dola-

Either way it doesn't matter. I have both of them :D

Heh my bad!

Hayabusa!

Actually I was talking about SI undeservedly lambasting my Dante pick. I just hope the voting public shows a little more respect. ;)

Ice's three hours are up.

If the next drafters in line wanted to jump in, be my guest.

TP, you're up.

Desnudo, I think your pick was solid actually.

Thank you. Vote Desnudo in 04'.

I'll take...

Ness, Earthbound

This hero is form one of the most classic arcade hits. This game was the first ever to allow the user to create their own paths, thus this game one of most influential of all time as well. There has also been two sequals giving the character even more longevity.

I am proud to select

Dig Dug

*nods approvingly*

It's about time. That's a third or fourth round talent, great value this late.

With my next pick I had a tough choice to make, I knew it had to be one of two people, both of whom starred in my favorite NES evah! The baddest of the bad, the guys who mixed old school side scroller fighting games with a splash of RPG..I will select...


Alex

River City Ransom

It was tough, but in the end I chose Alex over Ryan for no particular reason at all aside from the fact he's usually the one I ended up as when one of my friends and I played this game, which happened often..hell, it still does. This game still rocks even today.

I believe they are doing a remake for the GBA as well, so keep on the lookout for that.

My turn.



George (the Ape from Rampage)

Dude, Ryan is SO better than Alex...it's his girlfriend they're fighting for, for crying out loud.

Great pick though...Ryan was my #3 choice sent to Maple Leafs.

We seem to have ourselves an arcade run...

Menudo is on the clock.

Yeah, yeah..I probably should've went with Ryan..but c'mon, Alex was one bad mofo. He just seemed to be the ass kicker of the group. It was a tough call.

Man I loved that game.

George from Rampage is a great pick.

A few people sent in lists that included him as a backup pick. Here's a question: why did everyone pick George, instead of Ralph or Lizzie.

Dear god, why do I know their names?

What's funny is that in my mind, there is a clear hierarchy:

1.) George
2.) Lizzie
3.) Ralph

I have no idea why this is, but it is.

Also--I got one of the Rampage guys in a late round! Whoo--hoo!

I have a pick ready for Desnudo, but I think I'll wait to see if he shows up. Last time he went with someone other than the guy he'd sent me, so I see no reason to rush things with the weekend here.

No time limits over the weekend, but please PM a pick or two if you know you won't be checking in so that we don't stall on one guy for three days.

Wasn't George the default character when starting a game of Rampage? I think he was also the one spotlighted on the box.

This got me thinking. A friend and I were talking about the hardest (within reason) games to beat. We both agreed the original TMNT (they started as a comic so I figured it was safe to bring them up) game for the NES was insane. Another that comes to mind is Zelda 2 as the last level is nuts. Then again, this is really nebulous because we both kept coming up with awful games but decided that most were not "within reason" since there were a lot of really crappy games made back in those days where the devs weren't even trying.


My favorite of the "ancient" games is Centipede. I can think of about 5 games I spent a decent chunk of change on ($10 is a decent chunk of change when you're 8- but that was spread across lots of visits to arcades, laundromats, etc) and that was the oldest. A couple of others are Road Blasters, TMNT: Arcade, and Area 51 :)

SI

I'm here, give me a sec please.

I'll select my favorite character from Mortal Combat, Scorpion. By far the best move with that spike on a rope yank.

That's a good pick. Him and Sub Zero are my favorites from the game.

As ML knows, Scorpion was the next to go off my list. Amazing value in this round considering people were mentioning his name in round 2.

Because I wasn't able to this morning...

Joe Musashi, Shinobi
One of the mainstays of Sega, Joe starred in a plethora of games (at least twelve, spanning Sega, Game Gear, Game Boy Advance, and now the newest game, which is going to be on the 'next-gen' platforms), and was always a bad-ass. Wielding a sword that thirsted for blood, the sword would not be satisfied if there was no one around, so Joe himself would be hurt.

The Guy on the Bike in Excitebike -
By far the greatest motorcycle game ever, in my mind, and this guy was hoss. You could do anything, and he'd scramble back over to the bike, hop on, and continue as if nothing ever happened. Land on his head after clearing a full screen-and-a-half's worth of track? No worries, he just falls a little further from the bike. And any time one of those retarded computer drones was pissing you off, just nail their front tire with your back tire, and he's a memory. Great game, and I'm glad to have this guy on my squad :)

He was on my short list for my next pick as well although he wasn't at the top.

My two picks...

For my first pick, I'll briefly interrupt the arcade run to take a platform guy. He's not a legend, but he's vaguely recognizable by non-video game fans and had a decent run as a franchise player, with a few sequels. I believe he also had a TV show.

My seventh pick is Earthworm Jim.

Now let's go back to the arcades. This pick my be a bit of a reach, but in the late rounds he's worth a pickup. No personality to speak of, since he didn't talk (or even move, come to think of it). But he was a great boss from one of the best, most under-rated arcade games of all time. A giant, floating head who could spit some sort of weird acid out of his mouth and took freaking forever to beat. He had a few sequels, too. Not a bad career.

My eighth round pick us DOH, from Arkanoid

Man I loved Excitebike, one of my favorite NES games. I used to waste many summer afternoons playing that.

I select The Warrior, Diablo

Now I'm torn between two . . .

I'm picking this guy because I think I need someone on my squad who can deal with anything. And this guy certainly is no stranger to bizzare situations. Besides, with him on board, I'll have the best training table of all the teams.

Chef (from Burger Time).

Nice pick albion...I actually thought of him a while back and had him tucked away as a potential sleeper, strangely enough :)

Alright...this was another tough pick as there were really two guys I was debating over picking. It came down to a battle of Console vs. PC, and in the end I've decided to go with the console pick....


Pit

Kid Icarus

This was one of the best NES games around imo. I'd rank it right up there with Mario Brothers and Metroid, and was along the same lines. It even added in a few RPG elements with the ability go gain extra life ala Zelda, and other goodies. Plus is was just such a great mixture of different genres, you scrolled up..you scrolled to the side..you played a shooter...you got turned into an eggplant. What more could you want?

Anyway, tons of fond memories from this game..not too mention the frustration it caused. One of the all time classics, and a game Nintendo REALLY needs to make a sequel to.

I have no choice, but to finally pull the trigger. The pick kept falling, falling and falling, but will fall no more. I do believe more people have panicked over getting this guy than any other in any video game in history. Ladies and Gentlemen. I select the


Straight Bar from Tetris

Which brings up an interesting question. 10 seconds left . . . down by 2 . . . crowd on its feet . . . dribbling up the court . . .who do you want taking the final shot? Straight Bar from Tetris or Dig Dug?

How about an alley oop from dig dug to the straight bar.

You gotta go to the playmaker...the straight bar drops a Tetris on you...can't beat that.

After my questionable 2nd round choice, my picks of Kirby, Bomberman, Sephiroth, Alucard, Dig Dug and the Straight Bar rank as good as anyone in the draft IMO. You guys probably agree, right :)

I cant believe my next two picks were just taken - Earthworm Jim and Pit - I never would have thought somebody would have picked Earthworm Jim and Pit was the man

Great picks guys.

Damn! I was just thought of Pit. I came here to look and he was just taken... :(

I completely forgot about that guy. I loved that game.

For my next pick I'll take...

Rygar

I don't really like the straight bar pick. I mean that's not a character in any way. But hey, that's just me.