Video Game Mania III: The Games
It wasn't easy to select 11 games from my enormous collection for this event, but I used three criteria: Ease of play, short duration, and challenge. There were two types of games. Multiplayer games were played in single-elimination tournaments. Single player games were played for high score, and were unscheduled and could be played over and over again. Players scored three points for each first place finish, and one for each second place finish. The top eight players were seeded for the playoffs. Note: Two games, Mario Kart (SNES) and Combat (Atari 2600) were cancelled due to time constraints.
The Multi-player Games
Smithereens (Odyssey 2 - 1981)
We had some very close contests in this game.
1st place: Dave Dodge
2nd place: Shawn Peterson
Super Monkey Ball (Gamecube - 2001)
The biggest problem people had with this one was figuring out which monkey they were controlling.
1st place: Bob Santos
2nd place: Dave Dodge
Mortal Kombat II (Genesis - 1994)
Knowing a secret move or two gave you a real advantage in this game. Using Scorpion, Steve destroyed the competition.
1st place: Steve Newcomb
2nd place: Mike Wagner
Virtua Athlete (Dreamcast - 1999)
Probably the most popular and hilarious game at VGM3.
1st place: Rob Zell
2nd place: Jacob Meushaw
NBA Jam (SNES - 1993)
It's fun and easy to play, but this one ran way over in terms of time.
1st place: Brad Marks
2nd place: George Coutros
Warlords (Atari 2600 - 1981)
This game is a always a crowd pleaser. The formation of alliances keep any one player from getting the upper hand.
1st place: Steve Newcomb
2nd place: None (3 tied)
The Single-player Games
Centipede (Atari 5200 - 1982)
I had the track ball hooked up for this one.
1st place: Mike Fleming 21,103
2nd place: Chris Gallert 18,430
Ms. Pac-Man (Playstation - 1996)
Controlled with an arcade-style joystick
1st place: Mike Fleming 39,970
2nd place: Don Fuller 26,770
Minestorm (Vectrex - 1982)
People are always impressed by vector graphics. Bob lost his high score in the last few minutes of regulation.
1st place: Dave Dodge 43,425
2nd place: Bob Santos 43,305
NAM 1975 (Neo Geo - 1990)
Tough game but great graphics. George sat on his high score all day, but Dan Higdon came within a hair of beating it.
1st place: George Coutros 60,400
2nd place: Dan Higdon 59,900
Galaxian (PC/MAME - arcade 1981)
People liked the X-Arcade joystick I had set up with this.
1st place: Steve Newcomb 8,940
2nd place: Brian 5,390
The Playoffs and Finals
Pong (Video Olympics) (Atari 2600 - 1977)
This was a perfect game for the playoffs - nobody had an advantage. The "whammy" variation was played which let players apply "english" to the ball. It proved to be too much for some to handle.
| Quarter |
Semi |
Final |
Semi |
Quarter |
| 1. Steve Newcomb | 1. Steve Newcomb | 1. Steve Newcomb | 3. Mike Fleming | 2. Dave Dodge | 2. Dave Dodge |
8. Mike Wagner | 7. Brad Marks |
4. Bob Santos | 4. Bob Santos | 3. Mike Fleming | 3. Mike Fleming |
| 5. George Coutros | 6. Rob Zell |
VIDEO GAME MANIA III CHAMPION: STEVE NEWCOMB
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