NES #33 - Bionic Commando

Okay so I could've wrote about this game a week ago, but I've sick. Whenever I get sick my writing starts to get really dark. Yesterday I was planning out a blog post about how you never get back what you had as a kid, but you will spend your whole life trying. I was going to talk about how that's the reason I play so many old video games. So you can see how my mind goes when I'm not feeling well. For the record I'm not that interested in reliving my childhood, and I'm actually quite happy these days. I'm probably still a little too ill to be blogging, but I get really bored when I miss work. At least this gives me something do to.

So earlier I was talking about how I'm not trying to recapture my childhood by playing old games, but if I was I couldn't think of many better games to do that with than Bionic Commando. For years I said it was my favorite game ever made. While I no longer know if that's true I still think it's just as fun as when I played it all those years ago. The only thing that has changed is my appreciation for other games.

In many ways I think Bionic Commando is the perfect action platform games on NES. I think the only rivals are Mega Man 2 and Mario 3. It has so many things going for it. I mean, look at what it has going for it. First of all there's the unique gameplay. You can't jump, but you got this long arm that you have to swing around with. All the precision swinging makes this a game like no other. Then there's the compelling storyline. This was right after game developers started to see the potential for expanded stories in games, and they use it to great effect here. This game also has the most bloody and adult ending that I had seen in a game up to that point. It also has some RPG elements which greatly enhances the experience. How good can a game be with no towns to visit and no levels to gain? I don't even want to think about it. It's even got a world map which always knocks a game up a couple of places on my list.

Am I gushing a little bit? Well I really love this game. I've beat it many times over the years. Although I have an interesting story, or at least a not completely boring story, about this time through. This was actually going to be one of the first games I played when I started this blog. I knew that I could get through it easily. It was always my plan b in case another game was taking longer than expected. Well I tried playing through this one during just about every RPG I've covered on this list and never could beat it. I discovered that somehow I sucked at Bionic Commando. But this was my game! I couldn't possibly be so bad! I was missing every jump, getting hit by every soldier, and running out of lives fast. What was going on? I had remembered this game having very fluid motion. You were able to swing around like Tarzan. How did it get so sluggish? I thought that maybe it was a Tetris scenario where I had played so many newer versions that the old NES one seemed rough by comparison. The problem with that theory is that I've never really played any of the other versions of Bionic Commando. It was about that time that I realized that my controller was broken.

So all this time I've been playing these games with a broken controller. Or at the very least an unresponsive one that needs a good cleaning. I don't really know that much about the technical side of gaming. Anyway, I got out one of my other controllers and beat this game easily. I finally learned how to get continues and realized that there's still a lot I don't know about this game. I didn't know that you could use your energy recovery pills over and over again. I thought that was a one shot deal. Also, I still don't know how to get the machine gun. Not that I need it much when I've got a rocket launcher. Still, I'd like to know. I think it's great that I've spent more time playing this game than just about any other platformer and I still don't know everything about it. Some games just have staying power.

So did I mention how much I love this game? I guess there's not much more for me to say. I can't say that it's the greatest game of all time anymore, but it certainly is one of the best sequels anyway. The developers took the game Commando and expanded it beyond anyone's wildest dreams. I would like to close by saying that I hope people are impressed out there that I had been playing through all these NES games with a broken controller. But since I'm a guy who spends his free time playing twenty year old games and writing about them ten years after all the other bloggers out there I doubt you will be. Well there I go getting dark again. That's why I get for blogging when I'm sick.

NES #31 - Super Mario Bros. 3

Well it's a new year and I finally have a new computer, so I can actually get back to writing about games again. I was going to do a year end recap at the beginning of January, but then I remembered that I started this blog in June. I will wait till then so that I can record a whole year of actual gaming.

I can think of very few ways to start out the new year better than talking about Super Mario Bros. 3. This game is very special to me. In fact, I would say that the two things that define my childhood the most are They Might Be Giants and SMB 3. Yeah I know, I was a cool kid.

I'll never forget the first time I played this game. My cousin had got it right when it first came out. I was five years old at the time and can't remember if I knew it was coming or not. I was pretty little though, and we didn't get Nintendo Power so video game news traveled slowly. I doubt anything could've prepared me for it. I thought that it was the most amazing thing I had ever gotten my hands on. I was instantly hooked by the great graphics and wonderful gameplay. It was like the first SMB, but everything was improved by about a million times. I just figured that playing that game was all I was ever going to do. I found my true purpose in life. For about the next year or so I was right. Then the Super Nintendo came out and that's a whole other story.

I even had my parents put it on lay away for me at Wal-Mart the next time I saw it in a store. We didn't have very much money back then, and this was the first game I ever got that wasn't for a holiday or birthday. I'll never forget when they picked me up from school the day they finally paid it off. The world sure was awesome twenty years ago.

So at the beginning of Christmas break I sat down to play through it yet again. Honestly I would've played through this one a long time ago if it wasn't for the game's lone flaw. This game takes a long time to play through, and since there are no saves or passwords you have to play through it in one sitting. Now I know that there are those flutes that race you right through the game, but every level is so much fun and lovingly designed that it's a shame to skip over them. I'm not saying that warp zones are only for losers or anything like that, but who wants to skip all those cool desert levels, or the ones where you skip between being tiny and regular sized, or all those ice levels with the frozen coins that you shoot with a fire flower? It makes me a little tingly just talking about it.

As much as I love it though, it really starts to wear me out after a couple of hours. I don't remember having that same trouble as a kid. I guess I'm getting old. The worst part is that I always start out flawlessly. I think I made it to world 3 without even dying once. However, just as my eyes are starting to gloss over and my back starts to get sore from sitting in the same spot for too long the game gets very hard. Pipe World drives me absolutely crazy. As if Sky World and Ice World aren't hard enough this one's full of puzzles. By then I've usually got about 50 lives and still don't know my way around very well. There are multiple levels in that world where the time will run out on me. After I've been playing a game for three hours that last thing I want to do is die from lack of time. Luckily I saved all my clouds so I was able to skip a couple of the harder levels.

In fact I remember the last time I attempted to go through this game it was with my friend Dustin in college. He was the same person who used to play SMB every day so we were well in tune with the series at that point. We got to pipe world and got so wore out that we had to quit playing. Sometimes you get to a point where you can't go on anymore. I was playing with a purpose this time though so I was able to press on.

Finally I got past it and raced through world 8. I know that Bowser is really easy in this game, but that's probably just to even things out a little bit. Getting to him is so difficult that nobody could stand a tough boss fight. I would say that I got through the game in about 3 and a half hours. That's not too bad without using warp zones and having not played it in about two years.

So that's my SMB 3 story for today. It wore me out, but I still had fun with it. My goal was to beat one of the Koopalings using my hammer brother suit. I remember doing this as a kid and I thought it was really cool how the king said something different. I was about an inch away from victory, but I misjudged my jump and got hit. So I failed that one, but I still had a great time. I was still amazed by the great level design and seemingly endless secrets. I still love Pipe World after all is said and done. Everything is right with the world.

TurboGrafx-CD #1: Y's Book I and II

I'm sure that it would be a safe bet to say that if not for the Wii Virtual Console than this would be the most obscure game I have ever written about on here. Not only is it for the extremely unpopular TurboGrafx system, but it's for the even harder to find CD add-on. It seems like everybody was trying to make one of those in the early 90s, and at least in America they were all dismal failures. Remember how unsuccessful the Sega Cd was? Well that was the most successful of any of the CD add-ons. Nintendo still gets criticized for splitting Sony in the early 90s, but given the history of CD-Rom gaming up to that point who could blame them? The Turbo CD came out in 1990 at a price of 399.99 which was pretty steep back then. That's one of the many reasons that the system never caught on and is only really sought after by obsessive collectors like me. I'm not sure if the retail price was ever truly justified, but there are some impressive games.

I can't even imagine how awesome Ys must've seemed way back in 1990. I mean, this was a time when there were still a few stray Atari and Intellivision games coming out. Here was a game with large anime type characters during cutscenes, CD quality sound, and real voice acting. Who wouldn't want to hear some of Debi Derryberry's early work? Of course there are a couple of problems with the new technology. There are times where the music will cut out which I suspect is due to the music track ending and not being able to loop. You have to leave the room to get it to start back up again. There are also some load times, especially when someone is about to talk. It's not as bad as Playstation or some of the other more advanced systems, but it can get a little annoying sometimes. It also has a picture frame around it making the action screen smaller. It didn't bother me much, but I have a big TV.


Thankfully behind all this flash there is a very good RPG with one of the most unique fighting systems of all time. When you see a monster in you sight you just run right into him. Then you keep doing that until he is dead. You don't even have to swing your sword. This takes a little getting used to, but I enjoy it because it takes up much less time than standard action RPG fighting. Another unique thing about this game is just how much of it is spent in dungeons. There's an opening grassland and mountain in the first half of the game, and that's really about it. The rest of the game will be spent in long, confusing dungeons. Luckily you are able to save anywhere, and in the second half of the game you have a magic spell that that teleport you back to the nearest town.

Another important feature about this game is its boss fights. I've honestly never really been that in to boss fights in RPGs. They always take too long. These, however, are some of the funnest and most difficult bosses I can remember fighting in a long time. Having to make contact to hurt them makes for some interesting strategies, and no two bosses are fought the same way. This was my second time playing through this game, and I had the same reaction as I did when playing back through Star Tropics. I couldn't believe that I had killed all those bosses twice.



I guess my one major complaint with this game is the ending. I was expecting some really spectacular visuals, but it was mostly text moving slowly across the screen with about 30 seconds of voices. The final cutscene was actually quite short. I guess they spent all the money on the cool intro which is very easy to miss. You have to let the game load up without pushing any of the buttons. I only knew about because I read it in EGM. They sould've put something like that at the end of the game so everybody would see it. Oh well, I guess nobody's perfect.

This is one of those games that falls into the lost classic category. I hope some of you have gotten to play it now that it is on the virtual console. I wish I could've taken my time and really enjoyed playing through it again, but I didn't have any other games going so I wanted to get it finished for the blog. I actually got pretty mad at it sometimes. I guess I should apologize. Sorry Ys. It's not you, it's me.

NES #28: Star Tropics

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been all distracted with the holidays. You would think that I would've finished some games with the extended time off, but I've been too scattered lately and have been playing every game I own for 10 minutes. I haven't gotten very much done like that. Thankfully I finished Star Tropics before this happened and saved it just in case something like this happened. Just keep in mind that I did not beat this game yesterday. It's been a few weeks.

So what can I say about Star Tropics? It's sort of a lost classic. It's a whole lot of fun, but also insanely difficult. The difficulty of this game is both intentional and accidental. This is another game released by Nintendo in the early 90s when they realized there wasn't going to be another NES Zelda game, but they still wanted to draw in the RPG/adventure crowd. Thankfully they didn't rip themselves off too much with this one. Aside from the similar looking hearts and that familiar overworld perspective it is a vastly different game. It was also made exclusively for North America, so for once the Japanese missed out on the cool new game. That didn't happen very often after about 1983.

This game has a lot of memorable moments in it. It certainly oozes personality. I can't think of that many NES games that have dialogue in them that is actually meant to be funny. Most funny NES lines are due to poor translations. The island hopping aspect is enjoyable, and it really makes the game feel like it takes place in our world. Even though you're fighting giant monsters and aliens the game feels like it takes place on Earth. I always thought that was unique in RPGs. However, with all the memorable scenes in this game, the thing that it will always be remembered for is its difficulty.

This game really is punishingly difficult. Most RPGs are just a matter of time an leveling up, but this one requires some real skills. I honestly can't believe that I've beat it twice. So what makes this game so hard? There are many reasons for this. Mikey, the main character, moves very stiffly, so just about every enemy is faster. It's especially bad if you're trying to change directions quickly. It makes it feel like every level is the ice level. The stiff motion is deliberate though, because this game is all about green blocks. Every dungeon has about 1000 green blocks in it, and you'll have to jump on each one if you want to find the treasure. And trust me, you really do want to find it. So you've got to jump on all these green blocks while all kinds of monster are flying around trying to kill you, and even when you're not on green blocks you still feel like you are. This is not a game that lets you relax.

There is also the fiendish level design. You never really know what you're going to find in the next room, and it is often something that can kill you. In the very first dungeon there is a room with two sets of green blocks that go in different directions. The one leads you to safety, but do you know where the other one leads you? Straight to your death! You'll automatically jump into the next room only to find that there is no ground beneath you. And this is the very first dungeon! There are also disappearing blocks that don't make themselves known until you are already on them. You'll have a split second to react before it's too late. It's insane.

I also still don't understand the heart system. It seems completely random how many hearts you start back with after you die. Some dungeons will only give you three, but there will be a hidden room off to the side where you can find some more. Why not just start you back with enough hearts to survive with in the first place? There are other times where you will inexplicably have more hearts as well. It still doesn't make any sense, and I've been playing this game for 15 years.

All this ranting makes it sound like I had a miserable time playing this game. In truth though, I kinda love it. It's probably the game that I've had the most fun going back through. The high difficulty makes every step forward feel like an accomplishment, and the dungeons never get so frustrating that they are no longer fun. It really does have good dialogue too. I wasn't kidding about that one. You even get to fight evil aliens which is always a plus.

The final boss is insane. So most older games have predictable bosses. There are the ones that are fixed at the top of the screen and shoot things at you, the ones that are on the ground and either stay at the edge or move back and fourth, or the ones that move around in a big rectangle that is either the ground or a fixed amount of sky. Well Zoda moves in a completely different way than any of these. He's in a large room that actually scrolls, and he moves wherever the hell he wants. It's impossible to get any kind of a pattern down because there isn't one. He just moves everywhere and shoots at you. You just gotta try to hit him in the side before he turns around. I've really never seen another one like it.

Star Tropics is a game that I have really fond memories of. I got it in a box of games my grandma got me out of the newspaper that had almost every great NES game in it. I would devour just about any RPG I could get my hands on back then, so of course I loved it. It took me a long time to beat because I would always get stuck. I've gone through it a couple of times now, and I"m happy to say that it has stood the test of time wonderfully. It's only a shame that this never really caught on as a franchise. There's only this game and a sequel that was one of the last NES game ever released. It's a shame cause I'm sure the SNES version would've been great. But we'll always have this one, and I guess that's not so bad.