Kirk Hiner's

"When thinking differently just isn't different enough."

Game On Eileen
or, Mac Gaming One Hit Wonders

By Kirk Hiner

I think it was VH1 I was watching the other day, some show called The Top 100 Most Ridiculous Countdown Lists of All Time, when I realized how much I hate the current state of TV and radio. Why is it that the only shows that truly entertain me are shows that either chronicle the past or are simply repeats of the past? It seems that people's need for nostalgia doesn't stem from a desire to relive their glory days, but from the desire to relive something of worth.

Take radio, for example. Aside from NPR in the mornings, I tend to avoid radio with the same cautious intensity that I avoid tuberculosis...except for on the weekends. Then, there are at least three radio stations within my area that play nothing but 80s music. Two just have a couple of shows dedicated to the 80s, but the other plays 80s music all weekend long...or, at least what they claim to be 80s music. A little known fact is that, musically, the 80s began in 1982 and ended in 1985...maybe a little way in 1986 depending upon the band. An easy way to gauge this is off of ABC's catalog. If they released a good CD that year, 80s. If it was bad, not 80s.

Then, we have all these "One Hit Wonder" shows; or—more appropriately—"One Hit I Remember" shows. A D.J. of one such show in my area recently played "The Safety Dance" from Men Without Hats, despite the fact that "Pop Goes the World" made quite a dent in the charts in '87. Quite often, they'll play songs that weren't even hits. "I Melt With You" from Modern English has become a staple of these type of shows, but guess what? It peaked at 78 on the pop singles chart. Although it's the quintessential 80s song, it was hardly a hit. "Pop Goes the World" faired better at 20.

I also don't understand why the D.J.s generally condescend "one hit wonder" bands, as if having just one massively successful single is a bad thing. Perhaps I'm wrong in my belief that learning to play an instrument, forming a band, writing a really great song, recording it, shopping it to record labels, signing a contract, re-recording it, promoting it, and getting it on the radio, even just once, is a fairly difficult thing to do.

It gets me to thinking, though; why isn't there much conversation about "one hit wonders" outside of the music industry. Certainly, there have been actors who made one popular movie then faded into oblivion. Authors? Game developers?

Ah, yes. Game developers. And here you were, all afraid I wouldn't be able to tie this in with the Macintosh. Well, close your e-mail program, because there's no need to flame me this week. Following is my list of "one hit wonders" for the Macintosh. These were picked not always because of the greatness of the game, but because of the impact the game made before the developers faded off into oblivion (or at least away from the Mac gaming industry). If I'm wrong, and some of these developers did indeed have more than one hit, feel free to let me know, just as I'm likely to let D.J.s know that Wang Chung hit the Top 40 no less than four times.

10. Postal - Running With Scissors, Inc.

Postal was released amidst tremendous controversy in 1997, both for its level of violence and the lawsuit brought against it by the U.S. Postal Service (a lawsuit which Ripcord, the game's publisher, only recently won). The gist of the game is that your character goes "postal" and starts killing pretty much everyone in town. Not only that, but your victims actually scream out in pain after they're shot ("I can't feel my legs!"), rather than following the traditional video game method of just falling over and disappearing. Because the graphics were fairly rudimentary, and because the violence was so over the top, however, it was hard to take the game seriously. And, although the game grew tiresome as it progressed, it was actually pretty fun for a while.

Running With Scissors recently developed the game's sequel, Postal 2, which features a cameo by Gary Coleman. Now, anything "featuring" Gary Coleman would have to work pretty hard to be entertaining, and gauging from the reviews I've read of the PC version, it seems we'll have to hope Running With Scissors remains a one hit wonder on the Macintosh charts.

09. Goofy Golf Deluxe - Squeegee Software

I know, you think I'm insane. A more or less shareware miniature golf game on the Top 10 One Hit Wonder List? Well, truth be known, the only game we at Applelinks get asked about more often is the number one game on this list (which we'll reveal within a couple weeks). In that manner, I suppose Goofy Golf Delxue is not unlike "On the Dark Side" by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band or "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers in that it really didn't become a hit until well after its release.

Goofy Golf Deluxe was a decent little miniature golf game with a good soundtrack, claymation-style graphics, a capable level editor, and wildly inaccurate physics. Considering the lack of other miniature golf titles on the Mac, I thought this one would do better. But Goofy Golf Deluxe and its developers, Squeegee Software, quickly disappeared from the scene...again, just like John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown and The Proclaimers.

08. King of Dragon Pass - A Sharp, LLC.

You know how sometimes songs that are more sophisticated than the charts still hit the charts? Song such as "The Captain of Her Heart" by Double? Such was the case with A Sharp's King of Dragon Pass. Here was a game that didn't appeal to our gaming side, but to our fiction side. To our historian side. To our sophisticated side. Playing King of Dragon Pass was like sitting down to read Tolkien instead of watching the movies; a feast for the brain and the imagination instead of a feast for the eyes.

Although A-Sharp continued to develop and publish software, King of Dragon Pass was their only foray into Macintosh gaming. However, its producer/designer/programmer, David Dunham, has gone on to a join a "new band," GameHouse, who's hits he brings to Mac OS X. GameHouse's games aren't nearly as innovative as was King of Dragon Pass, but they have nice beats and you can dance to them.

07. Food Chain - Cajun Games

Cajun Games seems to have suffered the same fate as many bands before them; win the awards off your first release, then fade away into oblivion. Food Chain was a clever little puzzle game in which, basically, animals ate one another. Four animals, each with unique characteristics, that you had to place on a grid. The point was to have the animals eat one another so the grid wouldn't fill up, but to also not let any of the animals become extinct. Of course, it gets more complicated than that, but that's the fun.

Food Chain became like one of those songs you just couldn't get out of your head. However, it wasn't throw-away pop, either. It was kind of like a good Duran Duran single. On the surface, it just seemed like bouncy fun. Underneath, however, was a solid and complex foundation that indicated a greater understanding than the creators were willing to let on. Unfortunately, Cajun Games didn't equal Duran Duran's longevity. Food Chain has been their only release to date; although a second release, Überhocken, has been in development for many years now, and a Mac OS X version of Food Chain is apaprently also in the works. Maybe these guys are like Boston; they'll just give us something new every seven years or so.

06. Nightfall - Altor Systems

Quite simply, Altor Systems' Nightfall was ahead of its time...to a fault. As far as I know, this is the first game to have brought real-time 3D to an adventure game, much like realMYST did many years later. This means that, instead of navigating your way through static screen (ala HyperCard), you actually have full movement through the environment.

Revolutionary, yes, but fairly inaccessible. Mired by difficult controls, strict 3D requirements, and an uninvolving story, the impressive achievements and ambition of Nightfall...well...fell by the wayside. And although Altor hasn't given us any games since, Nightfall is still available for purchase...provided you speak German.
  

Continue on to the Top 5.

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