Party of One: The Jeff Gerstmann Home Game: IK+, Ghostbusters, Forbidden Forest, and More

Damn, I always miss seeing these live.

The animation on Epyx's "Games" series was so damn good for their time.

I was shocked at the time to read in "Electronic Games" that David Crane programmed the entirety of "Ghostbusters" himself. (Not sure if he handled the opening title screen with the rendition of the theme and the voice synthesis.)

For those who aren't in the know, Jeff streams games on his personal YouTube channel pretty frequently, and they're always excellent!

Forbidden Forest is actually fucking terrifying.

This may be a controversial opinion, but I think the game Winter Games is the best game in the "Games" series of games, unless you count the game Caveman Games, a better game than Winter Games but technically not part of the "Games" series of games.

Sure, California Games is the game from the "Games" series that everyone remembers, if they remember the "Games" games at all. But the games in California Games aren't as fun as the games in Winter Games.

Games.

our video game boy here for the inernet

Beyond The Forbidden Forest might be the most ear-bleedingly awful sounding game I've ever been exposed to.

I loved it. Of course, I was playing it on a 9" monochrome Mac and it was one of only two games I had at the time.

The Melbourne House!?! You what? Jeff better be baiting me into a reaction with that one because, argh, it hurts my heart! Melbourne House!!!???!! Why I never...

Jeff’s hair cannot be contained

Playing them looks like a drag, but everything else about those Forbidden Forest games really speaks to me. They're amazingly atmospheric for C64 games and the music rules.

Good to see Winter Games getting some props - I used to love Hotdog, Ski Jump and Biathlon. I played the ZX Spectrum version which had some really nice quality background art by David Thorpe, who was responsible for the dopest loading screen art of the time.

Other than that I remember Summer Games II being really good - Javelin and Kayaking especially. The events were simple enough to pick up easily but mastering them all took some practice, and made for some excellent rivalry with my family :-)

Considering the limitations of the systems of that era, achieving such an effective presentation is fucking outstanding. Paul Norman is a bad motherfucker.

IK+ is the first and only fighting game I ever really liked. Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat/Tekken all took a wrong turn when it came to fighting gameplay, for me.

Would love to see another IK style fighter that improves upon its core ideas, or a Pacman Championship Edition type version with many one hit enemies.

Maybe UFO 50 has a IK style fighting game in it :)

Forbidden Forest will haunt me forever.

@jeff International Karate had two different stage packs depending on which side of the C64 cassette you loaded. Side A had Sydney -> New York -> China -> Mount Fuji, whereas Side B had Pyramids -> Rio De Janeiro -> London -> Greek Temple.

international Karate and IK+ are the only two releases. There was Karate Champ that Data East put out, and there was a lawsuit between System3 (IK) and Data East that was quite messy, which System3 I think won.

Jeff's reactions to the ridiculously violent deaths in Beyond The Forbidden Forest... holy hell, the reaction GIF potential.

(also, those games look tense as all hell. I'm into 'em)

Edit: BUSTIN' BUSTIN' BUSTIN', etc.

I hope they continue to get posted here as well - I always forget to check Jeff's channel, and it's nice to have everything GB-related (e.g. this, and the Bakalar videos) in one place.

Edit: If you want long load times, try loading World Games from tape on original hardware. You had to scrub to the right place on the tape using the counter on the tape deck, and then it took a good twenty minutes to load IIRC.

I remember going to a friend's house and us playing 7 cities of gold and iridium etc.

I had a spectrum so no multi colored sprites for me...

@shagge: I remember requesting Jeff play BTFF quite awhile ago. He dismissed the idea then, but I figured that he'd appreciate the "playable horror movie" vibe this game had going for it. Considering the game's age, it was ahead of its time in many ways.

DONT CALL NORM(AN)

BUT DO GO TO HIS WEBSITE IT'S GREAT

http://www.digittarius.com/

That Forbidden Forest needs some better signage or... something. Seems unsafe.

Oh man. I played an unhealthy amount of IK+ on my Amiga... that version of the game is so good and the soundtrack is amazing.

Damn Jeff! Why all the YouTubering! You nearly burst my eardrums with the random yelling.

Thanks for the video though.

The Game is Lost

In Ghostbusters, I always preferred the “V” method of placing the streams, instead of the upside down V Jeff used...you can usually move your right guy inward and catch the ghost everytime. #protip

Also the “ghost bait” is placed by hitting the “B” key when you see the yellow ghosts starting to head to the same building to form the Marshmallow Man.

HOWEVER, I NEVER knew you could simply run through the Stay Puft’s legs at the end! ? I always stepped to the side, then tried to sneak past him after he jumps...it’s harrowing! I'll have to try Jeff’s way, looks damn easier.

Anyway, I love that game.