Nitro Packing Up and Moving On

As I’m wrapping up playing and working through all of the Nitro parts of the site, I’m left with some mixed and nostalgia-influenced thoughts.

If Interstate ’76 is the movie, then Nitro’s the weekly TV series that inspired the movie. Nitro comes with both the good and the bad of having a new episode every week.

Overall, I’ve got mixed feelings on the I ’76 Nitro Pack. While later-sequel I ’82 would be different game and a different feel, it’s great to have another round of classic-I ’76-style auto-combat here. It’s also good to revisit the original characters and story, even if the tone seems to have shifted slightly out of dramatic and to comedy.

We hear more about Jade, Skeeter, and of course — the star of the show — Taurus. Though sometimes the mission plots seems a little reliant on the wacky character trope, it’s good to get the story lines with the crew together, hearing them interact, banter, and bicker with each other. Poor Natty Dread, though, doesn’t hardly get any character development before his missions become available. He’s just kind of there after finishing everyone else’s, leaving you wondering “Isn’t this just another creeper taken out by Skeeter? What’s the big deal?”

Patriot doesn’t stand a chance against Jade.

I don’t know for sure, but Nitro feels like it was was scaled back. I know the idea has always been to be an add-on/mission pack, so clearly it was made with a specific budget and specific development timeline. But, the lack of continuity in the missions and the lack of cutscenes means it lacks some of the original I ’76’s charm. That being said, the community callouts and ’70s references are great. I’m not sure how they decided who’d be in the game (I’d guess they picked cool names that didn’t infringe on any IP…), but I’m glad they made it. Not sure how many people get them nowadays, but it’s a fun reminder of how involved the I ’76 community was. Unfortunately, a lot of that seems to drop after the Taurus and Jade missions.

A CEO and his entourage lurk outside an airfield in the Nitro Pack mission Assassination.

Though a common complaint, I missed I ’76’s longer missions. A lot of Nitro missions seem to fall into “Drive down the road, hang a right/left, then kill everyone.” It makes for a tighter game and is probably better for casual players, but there’s a certain charm in cruising down the road for a few minutes with funk playing and just enjoying the ride until the fighting begins. To me, this a driving game as much as an auto-combat one. But, like the weekly TV show, you’ve only got a half hour to wrap up the story before you start a similar in another 7 days.

More cars, (a few) more weapons, more maps, more game modes, proper races… Nitro was designed for “us.” I feel like the new weapons were made to work around online I ’76 issues. Flamers always had issues in net games (beside the frame rate thing), so the “Ball-O-Flame” gave us a projectile-style flamer that would hold up online. Dr. Radars don’t work if someone has their engine off — now a 4Get-U-Not will. Mortars had become very popular, so here’s an even-more-lethal mortar type. Landmines and bloxdroppers aggravated lag issues, so here are caltrops; they flow like oil and fire, but will tear the shit out of tires.

This Manta has no chance against Master Taurus in the Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack.

Personally, my multiplayer Nitro experience was not great. Shots didn’t seem to register. Issues with lag and hit-detection persisted; a bug made it so you could no longer destroy cars by ramming them (rendering “demo derby” style matches impossible). Though promised, there was never an official patch (even if a few beta patches managed to leak). It’s a moot point nowadays, but it was a huge deal at the time. And, Nitro Pack’s online play seemed to further divide a dwindling player base. For being a stand-alone “add-on pack,” you couldn’t play with non-Nitro players, splitting the community. The bugs and the lack of players really killed the I ’76 magic for me.

I guess what Nitro reminds me of is the beginning of the end. I ’82 sucked. That was the death nail, for sure. But, you could see the start with Nitro. Not that it’s a bad game, but the bugs and timing killed its momentum. The single-payer side is great: new missions, weapons, stories, etc. are gladly appreciated.

Jade welcomes Hell Toupee back to the warehouse.

Unfortunately, these new features didn’t reignite the I ’76 online community. I’m glad we got the pack, though. I’d hate to not have had the extra missions in the classic I ’76 gameplay and with the old-school cast. Looking back nearly 30 years later, “Interstate ’77” it was not. But as a single-player add-on, Nitro is probably all it needed to be: A series of episodes that pumped you up enough to want to watch the next full-length movie.

Stay tuned for next week’s thrilling episode: The original Interstate ’76.

Nitro Rides

Check out the Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack Cars page. You’ll find screenshots of every car and paintjob in the pack, their weapon mounts, and their real-life counterparts.

Oh, and while I was at it, I figured I’d take some high-resolution (and better-textured) screenshots of all of the standard I ’76 cars, too.

One the one hand, it doesn’t seem like much. On the other hand, this was a lot of work, especially tracking down and verifying the real-life counterparts of these things.

I still want to work through a bit more on Nitro Pack before I revisit I ’76. The plan at the moment:

• Try to make some sense of the Nitro Pack story: The dates, mission numbers, and plot points don’t seem to align.
• Get some real-world locations together. Like I ’76, all the roads are real.
• Work on the Nitro character list. There’s a ton of name drops in the Nitro Missions.
• A super maybe: Try to get the opponent car list for each mission and add it to the walkthrough.

Afterwards, it’s time to get into the classic itself: Interstate ’76. Goal number one will be to update the walkthrough with images and video.

Updates:
Interstate ’76 Cars – Higher resolution images added; small updates
Interstate ’76 Trivia – Vigilante 8 connections and images
Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack Cars – All Nitro cars added
Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack Codes – Images added
Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack Downloads – Hack 98 added
Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack Story – Videos added

Nitro Pack Walkthrough Complete

The Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack walkthrough is complete! It’s the first one I’ve done with any video. If you’re sick of reading and would rather watch, just click the image with the play button on it and you’ll see the Youtube video play. I wish I could say I recorded my best playthroughs of each level, but… I think I was getting back in shape, to put it nicely.

While I’m in Nitro mode, I’d like to work on some other pages and tick of some things that have been on the to-do list forever, like finally getting the Nitro weapons and car pages up.

After that, back to the original I ’76. I’d like to replay it and record some video for its walkthrough, too. While I’m in that zone, I’ll probably update and tweak a few I ’76 pages as well.

New/Updates Pagse
Interstate ’76 – Nitro Pack – Walkthrough – Complete!
Interstate ’76 – Nitro Pack – Cars – Started
Interstate ’76 – Pre-release – Nitro pack info added
Interstate ’76 – Links – Updated
Interstate ’76 – Install Guide & FAQ – Updated, work-in-progress
Interstate ’76 – Downloads – Higher resolution keycard scans, manual covers, updated links to demo and patch downloads
Mechwarrior 2: The Clans – Updated with gameplay video

Local Ditch Gaming is on YouTube

Add this to the list of things I probably should’ve done 15 years ago: Local Ditch Gaming finally has a YouTube presence. I wanted to wait to announce it until I at least had something of consequence on there. The first project: a walkthrough for the Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack with video. At this point, I’m about halfway through writing it up, but you can check out the new page here or view the videos here.

For the most part, the plan is to complete the Nitro walkthrough, then try to get some of the other media items (music, video, etc.) on the site uploaded to YouTube.

I think that’ll be better than the “Click here to download an AVI” approach that you’ll currently find scattered around Local Ditch Gaming.

I’d like to revisit some of the other walkthroughs and make some videos with them, too. My temporary plan (all subject to change based on whatever interests me at the moment):

• I ’76 next. I’d like to get the whole enchilada, movies, videos, install, and get it into a huge playlist.
• Heavy Gear 2 – In some sense, I wish I’d taken some video when I did the walkthrough last year. But, I’ll try to get a few levels up. I’m not sure I want to go through Gomorrah ever again, though.
• Mechwarrior 2 – I know I just kind of stopped working on that walkthrough one day. I’d like to get some videos as I finish it. Weird thought, but I want to do the Jade Falcon missions in software, then maybe the Wolf missions in 3dfx mode.
• The Rest: Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries – Although I’d like to revisit it, I’m not sure if I have it in me. I’ve damn-near written an encyclopedia on playing that game. I think I’d probably run through Ghost Bear again before that. Heavy Gear 1 could be of interest; we’ll see if I get the urge. Battlezone… similiar, it would be cool to revisit the game, but not sure if it excites me right now.

Also, I’ve been toying with the idea of posting a bit on other social media. I’m not sure if 30-year-old games quite fit TickTock or if I even care to make short-form videos for it. Twitter seems like it might be the right fit (I’m thinking images, gifs, and a little text), but I’ve had a personal account there for years and I figured this would be an excuse to try something else, so maybe it’s Blusky’s turn. Instagram could be interesting, but I’m not really sure how Mechwarrior 2-based videogames fit with that vibe.

Last thought: It’s so much easier to record a video of me playing than to write up a walkthrough. Not sure how I feel about that, as I do think having things written down counts for something.

Decluttering

As expected, there’s been a few parts of the site that broke with the new look, most notably every page that linked to the home page. Nothing spells fun like breaking links on hundreds and hundreds of pages. Good news: that should be fixed.

More good news: the Q&A has been updated. I know, I know… sending a message to me is like a game of roulette: there’s no guarantee what’ll happen. Will your question be answered in the next few days? Months? Years? If you sent a message recently, it’s answered. If you sent one back in February, I apologize for the horrible response time, but it’s answered, too.

Activision’s I ’76 Wallpaper has been added to the site, thanks to a generous visitor.

The Deus Ex page has been updated with a new look and more info. Really, more than anything else, it’s just a ramble about my experiences with the game, plus all of the old info.

The “Features” section is going to be very similar to this – more of a review/retrospective on a particular game rather than a ton of stats, files, cheats, etc.

Lastly, the search box is up and working well. Prior to this, it was working (mostly) from the news page, but not too well anywhere else.

Updates:
Q&A – More questions, more answers
Interstate ’76 Downloads– Wallpaper available
Deus Ex – Better looking with actual content

Good ‘Ol Gaming

Good news for all the Interstate ’76 fans that are still out there: GOG.com has released the Interstate ’76 Arsenal for download. If you’ve not come across GOG (Good Old Games) before, they offer older titles for download at a limited price with no DRM. Basically, if you’re looking for another avenue to get a legal copy of the game, it’s the place to go.

In other news, more questions/comments have been answered.

Updates
Q & A – Answered
Interstate ’76 FAQ – Updated

What’s the motto?

I think this place needs a motto. How about, “Where all of your favorite dead games are buried: The Local Ditch.” Sounds good to me. It’s been a while since the last update and in the mean time, I’ve been working my way through the FreeSpace series and System Shock.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t things to add to the site. I’ve finally got the links fixed for some of the Battlezone II Wallpapers and there’s a another set of overhead maps from Kalle, this time for the Interstate ’76 Nitro Pack.

Updates:
Battlezone II Downloads – Wallpapers fixed
Nitro Pack Downloads – Maps images added

Daylight Savings

A few days ago, I received an e-mail asking if I wanted to put some maps to the I ’76 levels on the site. After checking them out, the answer was a definite, “Yes,” so those are up on the site in the I ’76 Downloads and through the I ’76 walkthrough.

I went and cleaned up some the of I ’76 links last week and it seemed like I should do the same for the other sections of the site. So, the Battlezone and BZII sections have had all of the broken external links removed.

There are a few small changes to some pages on the SEGA section, but I can’t even recall what they are.

As usual, there’s some behind-the-scenes stuff as well, most of which isn’t noticeable.

Updates:
Battlezone Links – Old links removed
Battlezone II Links – Old links removed
Interstate ’76 Downloads – I ’76 Maps added
Interstate ’76 Walkthrough – New maps for maze levels

It’s No Accident

This is a much larger update than I had originally anticipated it being. There’s new questions to be answered, new downloads, some behind-the-scenes tweaks, and best of all, that goddamn Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Walkthrough is finally completed.

I feel like I’ve written a small novel about the game at this point. There’s a guide to get through every single scripted mission in the game. Hell, not even the official strategy guide (and especially not the guides on GameFAQs) do this. It’s a big relief to finally have it done, and in celebration, I’m going to sit back and just enjoy just playing through a few games.

Next on my list? Descent: FreeSpace, Tron 2.0, and Yakuza 2.

Updates:
Interstate ’76 Links – Most (kind of) work now
News Archives – Old news archived
Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries Downloads – Game manuals added
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries Walkthrough – Complete
Q&A – I ’76 Question answered, old pages archived

Fresh Paint

As usual, I’m back to updating things bit by bit. So we’ll start with the biggest news first: the Mechwarrior pages have been redesigned. As with the rest of the site, it’s gotten a fresh coat of paint that is strictly html 4.0 compliant and tweaked up a little bit. The navigation scheme should make it easier to find whatever your looking for as well. The content is mostly the same at this point, but you can bet that in the near future, there will be more up there.

Also, I’ve added preview movies of Interstate ’76, Nitro Pack, and Heavy Gear in their respective sections. All were pulled from other Activision game disks.

Updates:
Heavy Gear Downloads – New preview movie
Interstate ’76 Downloads – New preview movie
Nitro Pack Downloads – New preview movie
Mechwarrior – Entire site redesign

Tweaking

For the most part, there are just a few tweaks to the site here and there, but there are a couple of big updates.

Updates:
Interstate ’76 Tips – Lots of good info on car design has been added
Nitro Pack Downloads – The XP fix for the Nitro Pack can be downloaded here.

Walked Through

Last night, I finished the TRIP in I ’76 and when it was over, I couldn’t help but feel a little disheartened. Part of that may be because the journey was rather short this time around. When I first played the game back in ’97, I had to figure everything out – what worked, what didn’t, how to get through a level, etc. There was a lot of fun to be had just experimenting and playing with each weapon, wondering what the next one would do. That also led to a lot of trial and error, but at the same time, my skill was slowly increasing.

This time around, it’s like jumping back on the bicycle: just hop on and go. I can still remember most of the secrets and tricks to each level, and even the words to most of the cutscenes. Without having to figure it all out again, the game flew by. While it probably took me a good 20+ hours the first time I played it, if I hadn’t been writing a walkthrough (and dealing with persistent crashing), I probably could have made it through the game in a mere two.

But what’s really missing is online play. After finishing up the TRIP, it was time to take I ’76 online. Even though the game didn’t get the sales that Activision expected, there was still a loyal following and plenty of people on I76net and mercnet. Online, it was a different beast. Instead of being limited to just one car or just what weapons were salvaged, you could get a hold of almost whatever you wanted. And, of course, being a competitive game, people did what was effective (read: cheese) to get the most kills. At the same time though, this definitely elevated my level of playing and car design.

Now, I wouldn’t expect there to be a bustling I ’76 community ten years after it was released, but unfortunately, there’s not been a game that’s’ really filled the auto-combat hole. Activision attempted to console-ize I ’76 and spin it off into Vigilante 8, but it wasn’t nearly the same game. I ’82 was a real let down, and final nail in the series’ coffin. But even today, several games have had I ’76 mods made for them, showing that people still yearn for a good auto-combat sim.

If nothing else, it was fun while it lasted.

Pardon my rambling, and on to the point: More updates:

Updates:
Heavy Gear Downloads – The 1.2 beta patch is up
Interstate ’76 Characters – All TRIP characters included
Interstate ’76 Downloads – SMK Player to view movies added
Interstate ’76 Walkthrough – Finished
Nitro Pack Downloads – Nitro beta patches added

Promises

I know there were a lot of keyboard players back in the day, but I couldn’t get into I ’76 without a joystick. I had already broken in my trusty Sidewinder 3D Pro in Mechwarrior 2 and Multiplayer Battletech: Solaris, and Interstate ’76 used a very similar control setup, so it seemed like a perfect match.

For me, it was.

So, I tried to find the closest thing to that Sidewinder that I could – the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. It’s even close in name. Despite some mixed reviews on Amazon, I have nothing but good things to say about the controller. I didn’t bother installing any of its software, instead just plugging it in and watching it go. Works fine for I ’76. I’ll probably test it out in Mechwarrior 2 soon enough.

But, on to the point, I promised that I’d begin working on the I ’76 TRIP walkthrough as soon as I picked up the joystick. I’m keeping my promise. Along with a slew of random updates on the site, the I ’76 walkthrough is up through Scene 11. I plan to have the rest of it done fairly soon. So y’all come back, ya here?

Updates:
Club Sega – Fighting Vipers Review
Interstate ’76 – Index
Interstate ’76 – Characters
Interstate ’76 – Trivia
Interstate ’76 – Walkthrough

Legends Never Die

Lately, I’ve been on an I ’76 kick. Nostalgia-fueled as it is, the game is still awesome after all of these years. The style, the attitude – no other game really comes quite close to it.

So, off to the good news: I’m finally writing the rest of the Interstate ’76 walkthrough. And to prove my good faith, I’ve added up the walkthrough for all of the Scenario missions today. They still need some finishing touches, but all of the mian info is there.

Who would’ve thought that almost 5 years later, I’d set out to finish the thing? It’s not done yet, but hopefully, I’ll get to it by the end of the year. I’ve been playing through with just the keyboard, and regardless, without my good ol’ Sidewinder 3D Pro, I’m not so hot. Of course the Sidewinder is long gone (and I was only able to get it to partially function in XP anyway), so I’m off to find a cheap joystick with a hat switch. Once I do that, it’s game on.

Ok, I just realized my link to the old Disco Vigilante’s Message Board no longer works. Instead, it links to to “Mistress Destiny’s Forums,” which means I’ve taken the link down. Bell Bottom Blasters is there instead.

Old news has been archived and as usual, there’s a few miscellaneous updates behind the scenes.

Updates:
I ’76 Downloads – XP fix is available as a download
I ’76 FAQ – More tweaking
I ’76 Message Boards – Changed links
I ’76 – Scenario Walkthrough is up
Sega – Sonic 2 stuff is started

Nitro Ridin’

Like I mentioned in the last update, I’ve been back in the world of I ’76 taking out creepers left and right. That is, at least, the creepers that dwell the instant action mission. I’ve been waiting until I get a new joystick to delve back into the TRIP, so in the meantime, I’ve reinstalled the Nitro Pack, since it’s a collection of instant action missions. Now I can get my quick fixes with no problem.

Hopping into Nitro is like jumping into the past. Playing the first mission as Taurus took me back years as I hear of the Magnificent Bastards causing some trouble. Don’t remember them? They were an anti-hack I ’76 gang the tore up the Southwest. In Taurus’ second mission, there’s talk of “Debacle” on the radio. Yes, that’s right, the same Debacle that created the classic I ’76 map Intercept & Pursuit.

It was really cool for the developers to stay close-knit to the I ’76 community and even work some of its members into the game. Though the names and the gangs may be long gone, it’s fun to remember when you’d bump into these guys online.

Speaking of Nitro, I’ve got the patches for it that were never officially released. Activision was working on the patches and recruited members of the I ’76 community to test them. Nothing really came of it, though – no official patch was ever released. Somehow, years ago, I snagged them off of another Tripod site. I’m pretty sure it’s long gone, but if anyone is interested (i.e. requests them), then I’ll throw them up on the site.

Cornucopia

Another set of updates has been added to the site. With the turkey-fuel provided over the weekend, I’ve been given the energy for a rather large update.

As promised, for Interstate ’76, I’ve added in a scanned version of its quick reference card. If you need it, at least there’s a place out there on the web that has it. While I was at it, I figured I’d add up the key card for Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries as well.

The Battle Zone site gets a quick update. At the bottom of each page is a link to the other pages. In case you find your way here through a search engine, you can still navigate around without the frame on the left hand side.

One of the links in the Mech 2 FAQ was old, so it’s been pointed to the right spot.

Speaking of FAQs, the I ’76 FAQ is updated with some new and refined info. In case you’re tired of setting down the hardware acceleration on your computer just for a game of I ’76, there’s a fix for that.

The Q&A has been brought up to date, so the three e-mails I’ve received in the last two years are up.

On the Sega side, the Rez section has some more info/screenshots about its pre-release versions and I’ve got some pictures up of the real-world Shenmue locations.

Behind the scenes, I’ve installed Google Analytics. The stats about the site are fascinating – where traffic comes from, how long people browse the site, what pages are looked at, which aren’t. In case you’re wondering, this site is most popular in Germany (I have no idea why) and the least visited portions are BZII and Deus Ex. Most popular? You guessed it, Interstate ’76, Battle Zone, and Mechwarrior.

It seems like I’m leaving some things off, so look around.

Updates:
Battle Zone – Navigation all around
I ’76 Downloads – Key Card
Interstate ’76 FAQ – New info
Mechwarrior 2 FAQ – Link is corrected
Mercenaries Downloads – Key Card
Q&A – Three new questions almost answered
Rez – K-Project and Vibes Info
Shenmue – Real-world Locations