Video Game Mania 5: The Games

Video Game Mania 5 consists of two types of events: Multi-player and single-player. Multi-player games are chosen at random and played in single-elimination tournaments. Single-player games are selected and set up beforehand, available for all to play as many times as they want. Most of the games were suggested by the players in the days leading up to VGM5. At exactly 4:30, single-player game winners are awarded points for each first place (3 points) and second place finish (1 point). The players with the eight highest point totals were seeded for the all-important playoff round.

The Single-player Games

Centipede (Arcade 1980)
As they did at VGX1 (July 04), Mike and George finished first and second in Centipede. Like most of the arcade games, there wasn't much competition.
1st place: Mike Fleming 38,550

2nd place: George Coutros 31,062

Tapper (Arcade 1983)
Note that this game is an original Budweiser version of Tapper, not one of those lame Root Beer conversions. Due to his considerable expertise in this game, Steve Newcomb was "banned" from playing it.
1st place: Mike Brazinski 19,025 2nd place: David Burdock 16,550

Crystal Castles (Arcade 1983)
Mike employed a few old tricks to win Crystal Castles, mainly in the form of secret "warp" points. It's safe to say that his astronomical score scared a lot of people away. Because no good deed goes unpunished, Mike will likely be banned from this game at VGM6.
1st place: Mike Brazinski 198,654 2nd place: Steve Newcomb 89,466

Virtua Cop (Saturn 2003)
I had a few requests for light gun games, so I figured it would be a good replacement for the fishing game I usually set up. As a bonus, it allowed me to break out the Saturn, a system previously underrepresented at Video Game Mania. Virtua Cop was set up on normal difficulty, no continues, and no gun crosshair.
1st place: Mike Fleming 211,600 2nd place: George Coutros 152,800

Kaboom (Atari 2600 1982)
Easy to play and quick, I always thought it was a perfect single-player game for VGM. The last time it was included was at the first Video Game Mania way back in 1999. This was the closest game of the tournamemt, with George edging out Steve Newcomb by a mere 34 points!
1st place: George Coutros 3,098 2nd place: Steve Newcomb 3,064

Ridge Racer (Playstation 1995)
I always loved this old arcade racer. Some would say it started the whole Playstation revolution. In this event, the goal was to complete two laps in the shortest time.
1st place: Brad Marks 2'05"592 2nd place: Mike Fleming 2'06"387

Jungle Hunt (Atari XEGS 1987)
This game elicited a lot of remarks like "hey, this game looks really familiar!" Jungle Hunt features four unique stages: Vine jumping, river swimming with crocodiles (stab 'em!), boulder jump, and rescuing the girl from the natives.
1st place: David Burdock 4,200 2nd place: Steve Newcomb 3,700

Donkey Kong (Colecovision 1982)
I know several players were happy to see this familiar game from their childhood, but Shawn Peterson destroyed the competition.
1st place: Shawn Peterson 38,400 2nd place: Mike Brazinski 18,300

Lock N Chase (Intellivision 1982)
This challenging maze game marked the first time an Intellivison was represented at a Video Game Mania, much to the delight of Keith McDowell.
1st place: Keith McDowell 45,215 2nd place: Steve Newcomb 14,940

Protector (Atari Jaguar 2002)
One of the very best games for the Jaguar, this Defender clone combines familiar gameplay with rich, vibrant visuals.
1st place: Shawn Peterson 81,000 2nd place: Mike Fleming 39,000

Gravitrex (Vectrex 2002)
This was, by far, the most difficult game at VGM5. Much like the old arcade game Gravitar, the player must rescue stranded people on a rocky planet surface while dealing with a strong gravitational field.
1st place: Mike Fleming 4,300 2nd place: Dan Higdon 2,700

Frogger (Coleco 1982)
This miniature arcade game is the best of the Coleco hand-held series. It's only draw-back is its loud, obnoxious sound effects which could not be muffled.
1st place: George Coutros 2,114 2nd place: Steve Newcomb 1,320

The Head-to-Head Games

1080 Degree Avalanche (Gamecube 2002)
With snow on the ground outside, what better way to get the party started than this terrific one-on-one snowboard racer? The rules were simple - first to the bottom wins.

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Steve N Eric R	Eric R	Eric R	* Eric Robbins *
Greg X Mike B	Mike B	Eric R
Brad M Don F	Don F	Mike F
David B Mike F	Mike F	Mike F

Halo 2 (Xbox 2004)
Everybody loves this excellent first person shooter. In this case, the "slayer mode" was played on split screens.

First Round Finals Winner

Greg X
Eric S
Shawn P
Keith M Eric S
* Eric Robbins *

Steve N
Eric R
Mike F
Mike B Eric R

Street Hoop (Neo Geo CD 1994)
An "extreme" sports game in the tradition of NBA Jam, this arcade-style basketball game is quick, easy to play, and fun.

First Round	Finals	Winner
Greg X Eric S Shawn P Keith M	Eric S	* Eric Robbins *
Steve N Eric R Mike F Mike B	Eric R

First Round Second Round Finals Winner

Eric S
Mike B
Mike B Don F
* Steve Newcomb *

Don F
George C Don F

Shawn P
Steve N Steve N Steve N

Brad M
Greg X Brad M

NHL 2000 (Playstation 1999)
Ah, what this could have been. Before postponing VGM5, I planned to make NHL 2000 a four-on-four team event. That would have been awesome, but due to the limited number of players, I had to limit the teams to two players each. This was still a terrific event, with very close games and ample trash talking.

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Eric S Mike B	Mike B	Don F	* Steve Newcomb *
Don F George C	Don F
Shawn P Steve N	Steve N	Steve N
Brad M Greg X	Brad M

First Round Finals Winner

Mike B / Eric R
Don F / Brad M
Mike B / Eric R
* Mike Brazinski and Eric Robbins *

Eric S / David B
Steve N / Keith M

Maze Craze (Atari 2600 1978)
Someone suggested this game to me, and it turned out to be a great idea. The variation used was 5, which features three wandering blocks that temporarily paralyze the players. The game was played best out of three.

First Round	Finals	Winner
Mike B / Eric R Don F / Brad M	Mike B / Eric R	* Mike Brazinski and Eric Robbins *
Eric S / David B Steve N / Keith M

First Round Second Round Finals Winner

Eric S
George C George C George C
* Eric Robbins *

David B
Mike B Mike B

Eric R
Steve N Eric R Eric R

Keith M
Shawn P Shawn P

Track and Field (Konami 1987)
A natural for VGM, a different event was selected for each round: Long Jump, Javelin, and 100-Meter Sprint. During the javelin throw, Eric Robbins and Mike Brazinski managed to TIE with distances of 71.44 each! What are the odds of that??

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
Eric S George C	George C	George C	* Eric Robbins *
David B Mike B	Mike B
Eric R Steve N	Eric R	Eric R
Keith M Shawn P	Shawn P

First Round Second Round Finals Winner

George C
Greg X
Greg X Steve N
* Steve Newcomb *

Shawn P
Steve N Steve N

Don H
Mike B Mike B Mike B

Eric R
Keith M Eric R

First Round	Second Round	Finals	Winner
George C Greg X	Greg X	Steve N	* Steve Newcomb *
Shawn P Steve N	Steve N
Don H Mike B	Mike B	Mike B
Eric R Keith M	Eric R

King of Fighters Maximum Impact (SNK 2004)
Since Keith McDowell and Brad Marks tied for the last playoff spot, we were forced to decide it with this extra "play-in" game.

Keith M
* Brad Marks *
Brad M

Point Totals

These totals were used to seed the playoff round.

1. Eric Robbins - 12
2. Mike Fleming - 12
3. Steve Newcomb - 9
4. Mike Brazinski - 9
5. George Coutros - 8
6. Shawn Peterson - 6
7. David Burdock - 5
8. Brad Marks - 3
9. Keith McDowell - 3
10. Eric Schrott - 2
11. Don Fuller - 1
12. Dan Higdon - 1
13. Greg X - 0

Note: In case of tie, head-to-head game points take precedence. If still a tie, order of appearance determines rank.

The Playoffs and Finals

Quarter Finals

Crash Team Racing (Playstation 1999)
No video game competition is complete without a "kart" racer, and CTR is one of the greatest of all time. George absolutely dominated this one, and Brad Marks pulled a tremendous upset over #1 seed Eric Robbins.

Semi Finals

Need For Speed Underground 2 (Xbox 2004)
This realistic racing game resulted in some very intense competitions. When Mike Fleming defeated his opponent, he was literally dripping with sweat! George famously lost his race when he was "t-boned" by Brad Marks on the final turn.

Finals

After running so smoothly all afternoon, VGM5 seemed to hit a brick wall in the finals, which seemed to last forever! It was really my fault for not having enough multi-players games prepared. I thought 12 would be enough, but it turned out that certain "team" games were NOT suitable for the one-on-one playoff rounds, and the extra play-in game didn't help matters.

Anyway, the game drawn for the final round was Mortal Kombat (Genesis). Mike Fleming then invoked the little-known and highly controversial "veto" power to force a second draw. The last game remaining in the bag was Kings of the Beach (NES), which I originally intended as a two-on-two contest. Steve and George played it as the consolation game, but it was clear that the computer teammates were screwing up too much. The two finalists agreed to settle the score in Mortal Kombat, but then we had technical problems with one of the Genesis six-button controllers! Unreal! As a last straw, we threw all the games back into the bag and drew again. The game chosen was Halo 2, which was probably the best way to end VGM5 anyway.

Halo 2 (Xbox 2004)
Two players locked in an epic battle to the death. Unfortunately, they spent most of the game running around trying to locate each other! As the final seconds ticked down, Brad furiously searched for Mike, who was on his way to another championship.

Crash Team Racing	Need For Speed Underground 2	Halo 2		Need For Speed Underground 2	Crash Team Racing
1. Eric Robbins	8. Brad Marks	8. Brad Marks	2. Mike Fleming	2. Mike Fleming	2. Mike Fleming
8. Brad Marks	8. Brad Marks			2. Mike Fleming	7. David Burdock
4. Mike Brazinski	5. George Coutros			3. Steve Newcomb	3. Steve Newcomb
5. George Coutros	5. George Coutros			3. Steve Newcomb	6. Shawn Peterson

VIDEO GAME MANIA 5 CHAMPION: MIKE FLEMING

Second place: Brad Marks
Third place: Steve Newcomb

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