NES #45: Wizard and Warriors (1987)

Wizards & Warriors is one of the truly classic NES games. It's such a classic that I'm baffled by its lack of post 8-bit sequels. There are three games on NES and an oddly titled one on the Game Boy and that's it. It's hard to think of another series that had three NES games and none on any later systems. Well I guess there's also Adventures of Lolo. Oh yeah and Ikari Warriors. Maybe it's not that uncommon. Anyway, my point is that Rare has been doing this for the last thirty years. They have never been a company to drive a franchise into the ground even when it's probably a good idea to do so. Didn't the world always want another Banjo-Kazooie or Conker game? So instead of making sequel after sequel they stopped after Wizards and Warriors III. Because of this the series will forever be associated with the NES. It probably gives thirty year olds just as many warm feelings as Mario and Zelda without the recognition of seeing the characters in more games through the years. This makes it one of the more quintessential games even among the more famous ones that came out around the same time. Mario may be a Nintendo franchise, but Wizards and Warriors is an NES franchise.

(Who wouldn't want to play this forever?)

The game came out right at the tail end of Nintendo's breakout year of 1987. This is the year that saw Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus all get released. It's probably the most important year any Nintendo system ever had. At first glance a weird sword and sorcery platform game doesn't sound like it has much of a chance to stand out, but it doesn't take long to figure out that this game is special. It's a very hard game to put into one category. You play as a knight so the first thing you would probably think is action rpg, but it only has a few rpg elements. There are keys to find and items to accumulate, but that is about it. It's not a traditional platform game either because the levels don't just move from one side to another. They require some extensive exploration. The main object of the game is to find the right items to be able to progress past obstacles and then fight some truly zany bosses. They love floating heads, skeletons, and large things that burst into tiny versions of the same thing. But who doesn't, right? Sometimes a game that doesn't fall into one specific genre can end up being a mess, but in this case it's what makes the game so playable. You never quite know what's around the next corner so it never gets boring. It shows that by this time third party developers were thinking bigger and bolder.  

I talk about how much of a classic this game is, but honestly I only played it for the first time a couple years ago. Even though it's the type of game that is right up my alley I somehow missed it. I never even played it as a rental when I was a kid. I was finally able to play it thanks to my wife owning a copy. It's another great endurance test for the NES. It plays differently than games like 1942 though because it is always changing. The play mechanics stay mostly the same, but environments change vastly from level to level. This caused me to frequently rethink my strategy. What works in a cave doesn't work in a cloud. Sometimes the game requires long jumps and sometimes there is lava to keep you more careful. The continues are infinite, so it encourages the exploration of every nook and cranny. Why not get that extra treasure chest? It's not like battling through monsters to get it is going to cause permanent death. The game actually gets more fun as you get closer to death because the low energy music is so entertaining. It's not an annoying beep like Zelda. It is a cheerful tune that seems to be encouraging you to venture further. This game is one of the most inviting on the whole system.

(This bat drove me crazy. I will admit that)

This game took me right around an hour and a half which is starting to seem like the average for NES endurance games. It was made a bit easier by my wife's advice of skipping the treasure chest which contained the practically useless Boots of Force near the end of the game. It was a fun, very old school feeling afternoon. I usually sneak these games in on the weekend and start playing much later than I should. I had a day off when I played this, so I was able to finish it at a reasonable hour without getting too frustrated. I have talked about Rare before as being one of the great game developers of the era. This was the first in a long string of classics for Nintendo systems right up to their infamous buyout by Microsoft in 2002. In the future they would develop Battletoads, Goldeneye, and Donkey Kong Country just to name a few. Wizards and Warriors was the first indication that they were going to be something special. They were able to live up to the hype and more over the next twenty years.

NES #38 - Rygar

Wait I actually beat Rygar!? Well that's it, I can do anything now. It's time to go back and beat every other game that has been bugging me for the last 20 years. I'm looking at you Fester's Quest! Okay, so maybe that's pushing it a little bit, but finally finishing Rygar did make me feel a little cocky. The part that makes no sense to me now is that it wasn't even that hard. It only took about two hours, and none of the bosses were particularly difficult. So why did it take me so long to beat this one?

I guess the easy answer is that this is one of those infamous NES action RPGs with no save feature. It's similar to Sunsoft games like Blaster Master and the aforementioned Fester's Quest in that it takes a good amount of time and must be done all at once. Actually, this is probably the most talked about feature of Rygar. It's often referred to as "that game with the super yo-yo and no password." However, when I finally played it for real the game only took about two hours. Sure it's not Contra length, but it's certainly an acceptable length especially for a kid. Now that I have been through it I think there were a couple other reasons why I never finished this one, and they both have to do with the limitations and strengths of the NES.

Rygar is an early NES game, and its limitations made this one difficult for me as a kid. This game can get confusing easily. The backgrounds all look similar, and most doors take you to the same giant old guy giving you cryptic clues. I hate cryptic NES clues! It's easy to get lost, especially early on without all the items. The controls are another issue. Was anyone able to figure out how to use the wind pulley without looking it up? I watched internet videos of it and it still confused me. You have to walk up to a rope just the right way and wait for the click. If you do it wrong you're going right into the water and back to the beginning of the level. This certainly held me back as a kid. Also, it's one of those games where after you die your life only replenishes part way. This wouldn't be a problem if live was easier to come by, but you really have to kill a lot of enemies to get hearts back. These are all the classic problems of early NES games, but it's still not the whole story. I think the reason I had so much trouble beating this game is related to the reason why I still spend so much time playing these old games today.

When I was a kid I found this game far too captivating to finish. It was like Metroid in that it transported me to a different world. I got caught up in the music and atmosphere. When I rented it, which I did frequently, I didn't even want to finish it. That would almost ruin the experience for me. I just wanted to wander around that alien world with my strange weapon and fight spinning lizards and spiny turtles all day. It wasn't until I was much older that beating this game even registered as a possibility in my mind, and by that time I was too busy to sit down for what I thought would be an entire day and finish it. Luckily my schedule allows me long weekends occasionally, so I can go back and play games like this.

So yeah I beat Rygar, and it didn't diminish the magic very much. I still felt a little like I did 20 years ago when I first started playing NES. I could talk about how easy the last boss was or how there wasn't that much of an ending, but that's all beside the point. This is one of the truly great games on the greatest gaming system of all time. You can play this game to beat it, you can play it to see how high you can get your experience, or you can just play it for that great music and nostalgia for your earlier days. The NES is a world all its own, and you are free to explore it in any way you see fit.

NES #37 - Tiny Toon Adventures

Okay so I'm getting myself all confused. Right now I'm about seven games behind, and I can't exactly explain why. It's not like I'm too busy or disillusioned with my blog. My posts are still fairly popular. I somehow just got behind and ended up with a half dozen or so games to write about. What's worse is that I remembered that I beat Tiny Toon Adventures and didn't have it on my list. Sadly, this is about all I remember. I guess I should go back and play some of it again, but I'll see how well I can do without actually remembering the game.

This is a standard platform game as you might expect. It has a world map, but that is purely for show. There are no branching paths or secret spaces. You can't even move your character on it. So you play as Buster in this one, but if you get a special item you can switch between Dizzy, Furball, or Plucky. The difference between them is that Buster has no special skills. He was always the vanilla of the Tiny Toons world, and it's no different here. Plucky can fly, Dizzy can spin, and Furball can climb. All of these things are better than being able to simply walk around. Well, Dizzy's probably worse, but not by much.

This is one of those games with unlimited continues and a few difficult levels. This means that while this game is short, you will probably have to play it a while to actually beat it. This is always a little difficult for me. I know that I spend about 90 percent of my personal time playing video games, but it's hard for me to play a game longer than an hour without getting frustrated. I have never have been able to focus on one thing for more than a half hour or so. Maybe that's why I'm getting so far behind. Anyway, after about 90 minutes I started to get real angry at this game. Every time I died I wanted to stop playing and hide this game in the bottom of my closet where it could no longer hurt me. However, if I stopped than all that time would be wasted. Luckily I didn't let this game defeat me, and I was still able to have a nice weekend after I was finished. I remember fighting Montana Max, but I don't remember what happens after that. I'm sure it was disappointing.

I will say to this game's credit it's about 100 times better than its sequel. This game is actually set up like a real game. It even has a Wackyland level that actually kind of looks like Wackyland. Why was it so hard to get it right in the second game? Of course I can't play through a game series in reverse and say they fixed all the problems. However if you are going to play through both of them I highly recommend playing through this one second. At least it won't make you hate yourself. Is that a compliment? I guess it's close enough.

NES #35: Adventures of Lolo

Adventures of Lolo was the last game I beat before I started this blog. I could've written about it back then, but since I'm a stickler for my own arbitrary and meaningless rules I decided to save it. I'm glad I did it, because I've been on a massive dry spell lately. I keep wandering from game to game without being able to focus on one long enough to finish. I get in moods like this, so it's nice to still have some NES games to fall back on. Hopefully this will help me build up momentum as my blog moves forward.

Lolo is a very good game, and it's one of the genres that I miss most from the 8-bit era. There used to be many of these one screen action/puzzle games. I used to love these for several reasons. First of all, they made me use my brain. Even as a little kid I was sort of a stuck up nerd. Secondly, I loved how many levels they had. This was back during a time when levels were everything, and in my opinion the more there were the better the game would be. I also loved how short the passwords in these games were. The whole concept of passwords made no since to me as a kid. I thought that people picked out any ol' random word they wanted for. I couldn't understand why some of them were so long. Now I understand that they were actually pieces of code, and it makes perfect since why a one screen puzzle game would have a shorter password than an epic rpg. Still, 4 letter passwords are certainly a plus.

Lolo has a fairly simple concept. You collect hearts and then open up a treasure chest before something kills you. You will also occasionally be able to turn some monsters into eggs. It's sort of like Bubble Bobble without all the jumping. Some of the puzzles are quite fiendish while others just require walking very fast or not being an idiot. I'm proud of myself for being able to get through this whole game without looking up any of the puzzles. At least that's what I did the first time through. The second time I was in a big hurry so I looked a couple of things up. I don't figure it's really cheating if I've done it all before.

This is a very good game, but there are a couple of things that really annoy me. The main complaint I have about this game is how exact it requires you to be. Now I understand that action/puzzle games are very much about the planning and need to be exact, but the problems in Lolo appear to be more control issues than design flaws. Imagine that you have just spend several minutes plotting out a level and have executed everything personally. Now it is time to go move the final block. But wait a second, the block was moved an inch closer to the wall, and now it is impossible to move. You can imagine my frustration as this happens over and over. This isn't from the design either. It's from the controls allowing Lolo to push things to quickly. I know that the game would be incredibly slow without the fast block moving action, but there has to be a happy medium somewhere. If you push your block even a hair in the wrong direction it will become impossible to move and that only leads to suicide. Poor Lolo had to commit suicide dozens of times while I was playing, and it's a game that was still fairly fresh on my mind. Would it have killed the gameplay if Lolo was able to pull as well as push? I suppose it would change that way the levels were designed, but I'm sure there would be a lot less broken controllers in the world from angry gamers.

So anyway I did have fun with Lolo. It's not so long and difficult that it becomes impossible. The levels aren't numbered so I don't know exactly how many there are, but I think it's around 60. As I said before, I miss these old one screen action/puzzle games. I can only think of a handful coming out after the NES went under. It's to the point now that if one did come out, it would only be a novelty and not proof that the genre still existed. And while this game isn't the strongest in the genre, it's still a lot of fun. It's also not as expensive as Bubble Bobble or Kickle Cubicle which knocks it up a couple of points on my list.

NES #34 - Dragon Warrior 3

Oh Dragon Warrior 3, where do I even begin? This is one of the biggest and most amazing games that I’ve ever put inside my NES. I can’t believe that they were able to make a game so massive and detailed on such and old system. This is back in the days when RPGs usually lasted around 10 hours and only had one or two characters. I would estimate that this game took me at least 30 hours to complete, but it was probably even longer. This game also drove me absolutely crazy more times than I can count. There were times when I wanted to retire from gaming altogether and start writing a novel. The only problem was that I could only think about dragons and medieval knights. No, I had to get through it if I was ever going to regain my dignity.

First of all, I love these old RPGs where your characters start out so weak that you can hardly take two steps out of town. I love to play a game for at least an hour before I stop walking in a circle around the first village. Dragon Warrior 3 not only does that, but allows a person to do that as many times as they want to. Other than the main character all the party members are created by the player. That means endless possibilites as long as you don’t mind only having a few character classes to choose from. I of course love this because it allows me to bypass the prototypical wizard. I really hate black wizards in these old games. They are always so stingy with the MP that wizards are only useful when fighting bosses. I hate to waste MP on any of the regular monsters because I’ll need enough for the boss. Why can’t they have MP restoring items anyway? Instead I went with a soldier, pilgrim, and merchant until I’m able to turn the merchant into a sage.

So that’s what you can think about before you even start playing. The gameplay is that familiar old Dragon Quest style. If you’ve played any of the newer games in the series than this one wont’ be too surprising. Actually it almost feels like the first game in a whole new series because most of the innovations in it later became series standards. Basically you go from town to town slowly getting stronger and slowly going through elaborate dungeons with plenty of tricks and secrets. Did you notice that I said slowly twice in there? There is a reason for that.

This game is slow! It’s one of the slowest paced games that I’ve ever played. You walk slow. That boat is damn slow. The phoenix is even slower. It takes a ridiculously long time to save up enough money to buy equipment for everybody. Not to mention the high level you have to obtain to fight that final boss. If this was any other game than I would call this a deal breaker, but for a Dragon Warrior game it’s all part of the experience. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was better because it moved so slow. This allows you to be fully immersed in the world. Because it goes by so slow you are able to appreciate everything the developers spent so much time putting in there. This might be why I’ve played through this game but never made it through Phantasy Star 4. That game just flies by to where I hardly even feel like I’m playing it. Of course my girlfriend will probably chuckle at this paragraph a little bit because she had to spend two months listening to me complaining about the game’s slow pace from the other room. I guess you appreciate things more when they’re over.

This game did take me about two months to complete. I would play it for an hour or two after work almost every day. I can’t imagine how long it would take without the internet to help me. Although the game came with detailed guides in the box so I guess they knew this one was gonna be trouble. This game is also one of the earliest I can think of that had a genuine fake ending. I seriously thought that I was fighting the final boss only to find out that I had another dozen hours or so of gameplay left. If you like random encounters than you’ll love the underworld. You’ll get into a fight almost every third step. Also, it looks a little familiar down there. Where have I seen that overworld layout before?

So I better stop this one before it runs on too long. Dragon Warrior 3 truly is a remarkable game. I got it at a time when I thought I had played through all the great NES games. It completely took over my life for a couple of months there, and I wasn’t really sure that video games could do that to me anymore. It was truly a worthwhile experience, and I’ll never forget how I felt when I finally beat it. I guess now I need to play through Dragon Warrior 2, but I might put that one on hold for a while. I just can’t take those trees that have that instant death magic. I guess that’s another story for another entry. Maybe I’ll go easy on myself and my next game will be a simple action side scroller. (Don’t worry, it’s not.)

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 #32 - Super Mario Bros. 2

And now by special request, here's Super Mario Bros. 2! I honestly wasn't sure if I wanted to play through this one yet, but I'm glad I did. This is one of those popular games that will ensure me many page views. I like to spread those out, but I'm doing this one right after Super Mario Bros. 3. The two most popular NES games right in a row. What was I thinking? I bet I get twice as many for this one as I'm going to get when I play through something like Widget or Wurm. At least I've still got Super Nintendo.

And now for the disclaimer. I know that this games was originally Doki Doki Panic and not SMB2. It was converted for the US after the Japanese SMB2 was deemed too difficult and too much like the first game. It was later released as the lost levels on Mario All-Stars and several other carts. I don't want to dwell on this too much though. As a kid playing this game it was nothing but the next Mario game. I think it deserves to be treated that way too. It's certainly earned it.

I love the early days of the NES. The developers really seemed fearless, and everything was new. I mean, they turned Legend of Zelda into a pseudo side-scroller, and they weren't afraid to do the same for their most important character. Japan can keep their sequel, we want a game that is completely different.

Actually the game couldn't be much more different than the first one without completely switching genres. It has none of the same enemies, radically different levels, and completely different play mechanics. It's a little shocking when you think about it. The first game was all about what was above you. All the items were hidden in blocks over you heads. To kill enemies you had to jump on them. In the second game, it's all about what's under you. You don't break up blocks but pull up plants and mushrooms. Jumping on enemies does no good unless there's something hidden above their heads. Probably the most famous difference, however, is the ability to change characters from level to level. Each one has their own pros and cons. I'm a Luigi man, but when I play through this game I use everyone but Mario. This has got to be the only Mario game where you can play through it without even seeing him. You have to admit, that is pretty shocking.

All of these changes could've made the game playing public angry, but all I remember from the time is love. This game had something that the first one didn't have. It had much better advertising. When I was real little Mario was everywhere. He had that great cover picture that got pasted on just about everything. I wish I still had my Mario belt and lunch box, but they've been lost. The first game came out and Mario was the game to play, but by the time the second one came along Mario was already becoming a legend.

I have many memories of this game. It was the first game we ever rented back in that glorious time when you could rent Nintendo games cheap. At our local place the trick was to rent the games on Saturday because the store was closed on Sunday, and you could keep it an extra day. This started a tradition of me and my brother renting a game every week for years. Right up to the Dreamcast era actually. That's a long time when you think about it. This was also a game I got on my 7th birthday. I know this because I've seen the pictures. This would make it 1991, so I must've played it for a while before I ever owned it. I think I already had Mario 3 by then, but there is no picture of me getting that one.

What I'll always remember about this game is its difficulty. If the real SMB2 was too hard for Americans, it must've been by only a couple of spiny eggs. I spent more time playing this game than just about any other, but I never beat it till I was in college. College! I'm not sure what my hang up was as a kid. I remember getting past world 4 with no trouble, but after that my mind gets a little fuzzy. Fry Guy was pretty tough, and those mushroom power-ups get much more difficult to find, but I don't remember a specific level that hung me up.

Anyway, I had a much easier time of it here in 2011. I had plenty of lives and actually got through it quite quickly. I of course skipped all the warp zones, but they're there if you need them. I would say my favorite world in this one is world 4 with the ice and those whales that shoot the streams of water, but the worlds aren't connected in this one like they are in the other games. They are much more random.

I remember in college I used to hear people complain about the ending to this one, but I gotta tell you something. Even going into this game you know how it's going to end. I knew it when I was seven, and I didn't even know how to tie my shoes. If you read the prologue then it shouldn't be a surprise for you. So if you want to complain about this one, find something real to complain about. I actually don't have many negative comments about this one. Go figure.

Well I think I've said my peace about this one. It's a really special game to me that I've had longer than just about any of them. 800 games later and it still has a special place in my heart. I miss the days when Nintendo wasn't afraid to be bold and made sequels that weren't just carbon copies of the previous game. Well there it is. I hope you enjoy it. And please come back when I'm out of cool games to play and have to play through Demon Sword or Code Name: Viper. I would really appreciate it.

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.

NES #30: Zoda's Revenge: Star Tropics 2

So last time I was on here I was talking about the somewhat fun but ultimately lazy Rescue Rangers 2. In that post I was talking about how many of the late releases showed what the NES could do both in terms of graphics and gameplay. Well Zoda's revenge is the perfect example of this. Zoda's Revenge came out about a month after RR2, and it's one of the last three games Nintendo released for the NES. It's such a late release that they could've done a lousy job on it and nobody would have even noticed. Luckily they put a lot of time into it so that the NES could go out in style.

I feel slightly weird about the fact that this game came out right around my tenth birthday. The NES has always been such a part of my life that it's hard to believe that by the time I was 10 it was all over. They would start clearing out all the NES stock from stores, and rental places would get rid of them in favor of the 16 bits. This was something that I had a hard time dealing with way back in '94. Every kid has trouble dealing with change, and this is one that I just couldn't tolerate. I felt like my whole world was crumbling away. It caused me to be bitter at the SNES for years to come. That's probably why I have 260 NES games and about 30 SNES ones.

The commercials for this game did give me a little bit of hope however. It was advertised in the same commercial as the top loading NES. By then the price of the NES had dropped to 49.95 which just about any collector would be happy to pay today. If only we had known. The same commercial also advertised Mega Man 6, so I thought that the system was making a comeback. Little did I know that it was more of a last gasp.

Thankfully this was quite a last gasp. Zoda's Revenge is one of the best action RPGs that I've played on the NES. By this point most of the ambiguity and slow pacing that plagued earlier RPGs is gone. This game moves at a very quick, action packed pace. It has an entertaining story where Mikey is time traveling while looking for magic Tetris pieces, and it's able to unfold well while never slowing down the pace. This is something I wish modern games would be able to do. Also, unlike some games that will remain nameless, you get to go to Egypt and fight Sphinxes that shoot lasers out of their eyes.

They also tried to fix the problems from the first game. I appreciate them for trying, but some of the fixes are better than others. You get two weapons at a time in this one, and only one of them has strength based on your heart level. No matter how weak you are you will still have a good weapon to use. There also seem to be more opportunities to save your progress which is helpful in a game full of difficult dungeons. Most notably this game does away with all those green boxes. They are still there, but you can simply walk over them instead of jumping one space at a time. This is a welcome change, but it does make the jumping a little odd in this one. It was far too easy to jump to your death which was usually not a problem in the first game. You still move like you're walking on ice as well. At least they tried to fix the motion problem.

This game still has very difficult dungeons and bosses, but unlike the first game I never got overly frustrated. I'm not going to spend too much time talking about the bosses on this one, but some of them were difficult. A few of them felt like mini bosses, but I didn't really mind that so much because they came after difficult dungeon stages. The final stage is set up Mega Man style where you fight many of the old bosses over again. Zoda isn't as difficult as he was the first time around, but he's got about 8 bosses in front of him so it all balances out.

This game really feels like it was made by a group of people that were going to miss the NES as much as I did. As a result they put much more into this game than was probably required and I do appreciate that. The Nintendo suffered a long, painful death where it had to watch its younger brother rise to power. I'm happy that even in its last moments there were still people out there that cared about it.

NES #29: Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers 2

Most of you who are interested in games enough to read this blog have probably played the first Rescue Rangers game. However, I'm sure hardly any of you have played the sequel. There's a good reason for that. This is a very late, 3rd party release for the NES. By the time it came out everybody had already moved on to SNES and Genesis. If you want to play this one today you've got to hunt down a copy and pay good money for it. I never see it on ebay for less that 50 dollars anymore. Actually, it's one of the most expensive licensed games on the whole system. So good luck on finding that one anywhere. Too bad you missed it the first time around.

Of course you could always get lucky and find it at your local used video game store for 15 bucks. That's what I did anyway. You never know what you're going to find out there. That's why I love this hobby so much. Of course, that's also what makes me put off buying certain things for years and years. I should've bought Action 50 about 80 dollars ago, but I wanted to wait and find one that was ridiculously cheap. But enough about me, let's talk about the game.

Rescue Rangers is a lot like the first game in the series except shorter and possibly even easier. The world map that I loved so much from the first game is gone and replaced by cutscenes that make the game feel like an episode of the show. The gameplay from the first one is still in tact. There's lots of running and throwing boxes. It's actually pretty fun. Also, you collect tokens all throughout the game which add to your health bar. It's sort of a level gaining system that almost makes the game seem deeper.

The bosses are extremely cute in this one. You sorta feel bad killing them, but I guess they attack first. I haven't seen the cartoon show in about 15 years so I have no idea if they are characters from the tv show or not. Was there a bunny that squirted water at you in the show? Maybe they were all made up for the game. Anyway, I have no idea why they turned over to the dark side. I'm sure all those kitties could've found nice homes, so that they wouldn't have to fly around on bat wings or dress up like magicians and throw playing cards at hat wearing chipmunks. That may be the best sentence I've ever typed.

I guess the thing that was really supposed to set this game apart was the dialogue between levels. As I stated earlier, the game plays like an episode of the tv show. It's actually a pretty good idea. The only problem is that the story is quite flimsy. The story goes that Fat Cat escaped from prison and wanted to steal something important from Egypt. You'd think that since I played this game three days ago that I'd remember what it was. I guess that tells you something right there. I figured that this would be a trek across the world leading to a big show down in a pyramid. I was dead wrong though. It's just the same ol' generic levels like in the first game. There's always some excuse why you're in a factory or pier instead of Egypt, but I don't buy it for a minute. Would it really have been so hard to put some sand and pyramids in the background? I wanted to fight some sphinxes with lasers shooting out of their eyes, not just the same old robot dogs!

The worst part is probably the ending. I was expecting something a little more involved since the whole game was set up like a tv show, but you never even get to fight Fat Cat. You just find his factory or evil headquarters on the end of town and fight the robot Fat Cat. No problem with that battle. Then the building collapses and Monterey Jack compliments you on making Fat Cat's life slightly more difficult. That's it? Mild irritation!? That's how the heroes save the day? What about that thing that he was going to take over the world with? What about getting him back into prison? It left me feeling pretty empty inside.

The ending implies that they wanted to make more games in the series, which is odd to me on a few different levels. This game came out in 1993 which was three years after the first game and the original run of the series. It was also at the very end of the system's life when nobody was playing the system anymore except for me, and I wasn't that interested in another Rescue Rangers game. I know that there were still little kids playing the NES, but if you really wanted to continue the series on why put it on a dead system? SNES and Genesis both made excellent side scrollers that plenty of little kids played. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

So in my collecting I've always been interested in the last games for consoles. What goes into making a game for a system on its last legs? Every year after 1991 saw less and less NES games up until its final year in 1994. What surprises me most about the 93s and 94s out there is that they really seem like the people involved were trying to make good games. You can see a lot of time and effort in them. This game is pretty good, but I just don't see the love in it. There isn't one from the era that seems more phoned in that I have played. It was just a game made for kids who were all playing Kirby's Adventure instead. At least its rarity makes it a conversation piece. After all I did spend more time writing this blog entry than I did playing through it.

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.

NES #27: Monster Party

Okay so this is a weird one. I remember playing this one a lot as a kid which doesn't surprise me considering how much I was into weird things. It's also one of the better games published by Bandai, but that really isn't saying too much. Bandai is one of the more infamous licensed NES publishers. They're not quite down there with THQ or LJN, but they're pretty close. They did publish Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde after all. However, that's another entry for another day. I sure can't wait to go back through that one again.

So what's up with Monster Party? I will say that it's not much of a party, but it sure is full of monsters. The name might not be the most appropriate, but I can't think of a better name for it. The main character is a cute little kid with a baseball bat, so you can't really name it after him. Monster Bat Boy just doesn't have the same ring to it, although I wouldn't be too surprised if that's the game's name in Japan. Actually I think it's just called Monster Party over there, but that's not nearly as interesting.

As I was saying, you play as a little kid with a baseball bat taking on some of the weirdest monsters I've ever seen. The picture on the box has a vampire and gill man, but the only movie monster I remember seeing is the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. Ok so if there aren't any famous movie monsters than what is there? Well how about a fried shrimp? Or a couple of zombies that dance themselves to death? Or an empty pair of pants with a life of its own? Or a giant spider that just tells you it's dead? I'm not kidding guys, there is some weird stuff in this game. In fact that's really the whole reason to play. The gameplay itself is fairly dull. Take out all the weird monsters and it's a perfectly dull side scroller.

Well I guess that's not entirely true. There are a few other interesting things about this game. You've only got one life in this game, but you do have a really huge life bar. It starts half full, and one of the main goals in the game is to keep this meter full so that you can take on the boss at the end. I think that's interesting. Also some of the levels scroll in different directions so at least you won't get bored just traveling from left to right.

However, even with this the game is a little dull. The whole game is spent going from door to door in the levels and looking for bosses. Some doors are hard to get too and contain nothing at all. I hate these doors. Once you kill all the bosses you get a key and then go on to the next level. A couple of doors are a little bit hidden, but it's still pretty basic. There's also a password given after ever level so the stakes are pretty low. You don't have to try especially hard when you know you can always just start back at he same level again.

I will say that I had a pretty good time playing it. As I said earlier in this post, I used to play this game all the time when I was a kid. Or at the very least I remember it well. I never did beat it though. I got very close once in college, but I got stuck at the boss and then lost my password. I played through it this time with the knowledge that the final boss was going to be very hard. I was very careful throughout the game. I spent large amounts of time fighting overworld monsters so I could build up my life bar. This epic battle was in the back of my head the whole time. So what happens when I finally get there? It turns out to be real easy. I have no idea what hung me up the first time. I bet I only had about half of my life left when I figured out what I was doing, but he was still no problem. Just jump over stuff and hit him in the mouth. What was my problem anyway?

It was all for the best though, because it gave me a brand new game to beat on my blog. It's nice not only playing through repeats. So how was my Monster Party experience? The gameplay is boring, but this game has character to spare. It's worth it just to see all the bosses and read the stupid things they say. There really is a monster in this game that curls up into a ball and says "My Name's Royce." If that doesn't prove that playing video games is the best way to waste your life than I don't know what will. Sorry stamp collectors, but this is the best hobby ever.

NES #26: Darkwing Duck

Well here's the one you've all been waiting for. After all these months of anticipation, I'm finally writing about your favorite game. You'd better sit tight because this game's got a lot of nuance and mystery attached. What's that you say? This is just a typical side scroller? It's not you're favorite game but in fact one you've never really thought about much? Actually I knew that going into this post, but since it's been almost a month since my last NES game, I thought you would cut me some slack. Well that's very kind of you.

Alright well enough talking to myself. It's time to talk about some Darkwing Duck. It's based on the cartoon series from twenty years ago. If you didn't see it you missed out, especially if you're now an adult. You can watch it if you want, but I doubt it would be the same. You can try, but can never truly recapture the joys of childhood. Am I sill not talking about the game? I'm really trying to avoid this one.

Okay so Darkwing Duck is a typical NES side scroller on the way easy side of things. It may actually be at the base of the Capcom difficulty scale. It's easier than Rescue Rangers and even shorter. If you are an adult who has been playing Nintendo for 20 years or so, and you're just picking it up for the first time than you shouldn't have too much trouble with it. I know this from experience. The only two parts that gave me trouble were Liquidator's level and the final battle with Steelbeak. Although even that turns out to be easy when you've learned the technique.

So what is there to set this game apart from other games? Well like Mega Man and Duck Tales you can select your level. Although unlike those games it make absolutely no difference in the game which order you beat the levels in. DW's got a pretty cool gas gun, but the only special gas weapon that you'll ever need to use is the arrow gas. Actually avoiding the other types of gas made the game a little bit more challenging. I sort of enjoyed it. Oh and I do like the way DW can hang off of ledges and get back on. That's probably the game's best feature. You can go up and down very easily, and I wish more games would've followed its example. So there's a negative, neutral, and positive thing about this game. I think that's pretty good.

I wish I had more to say about this one. I never got to play it as a kid and was actually a little excited when I found it recently at Savers of all places. I wish I had got to play it in 1992 when I was really into the cartoon. I would at least have some good memories about it. Of course if you read my Rescue Rangers article you know that I don't automatically love a game just because I played it as a kid. So perhaps it's just was well. You get a totally honest opinion not biased by nostalgia. I had an alright time playing this game. It's one you don't see in stores too often so if you see it cheap sometime you should probably pick it up. Just don't expect it to be Contra or anything. It's not a classic, but it gets the job done. I'm just glad there's not 400 games just like it on the NES. What's that you say? There actually are? What have I gotten myself into?

NES #25: Deadly Towers

Yeah that's right, Nester beat Deadly Towers. Any of your friends ever do that? This is one of those games that everybody has but nobody ever finishes. There are some good reason for this, but I guess I should talk about the quality first.

It seems that everybody online has made it a hobby of talking about how bad this game is. It's almost a rite of passage for any blogger to think of a bunch of off-color jokes about this one. I will say that some of this is deserved, but I do feel like most people are writing about this game without playing it very much. Most people probably play the game for a couple of minutes, get trapped in a dungeon, and then quickly give up on ever playing it again. I can't say I blame you for this, but that doesn't make for particularly in depth reviews.

So what does everybody hate about this game? Well as I said before, it does have those horrible dungeons in it. The dungeons are completely invisible, so you'll just be walking along and suddenly you're trapped with only one way out. People also hate how hard this game is. I'll give you that one too. You start out very weak, and it's hard to figure out how to power up. You can pick up a bunch of hearts which increase your HP. However, just like in Zelda and Metroid you always start back with a fixed amount after you get killed. Yes I did just say this game has something in common with Zelda and Metriod. If this was the typical online review I would start typing a bunch of curse words about the annoying things and then call it done, but there's actually more to this game than that.

What you find when start playing through it is that there's actually a game hidden in there. For example, did you know that some of the dungeons actually serve a useful purpose? There are shops in a few of the dungeons that have most of the items you'll need to take the sting out of this game. When you get killed you start back at the beginning of the game, but after playing it a little while you realize that the overworld is pretty small so getting killed isn't much of a problem. It never takes longer than 10 minutes or so to get anywhere, and after you have some good armor and weapons the monsters are a lot less menacing. Also, did you know that there are actually towers in this game? I played this game for years and never knew that. I don't think most people get there because they are all the way at the top. You'll need to get to the top of those towers and fight a bunch of bosses. It's actually kind of fun.

So what' my advice to people planning on playing through this one? Like with everything else these days, use the internet. I really don't like using online FAQs much, but there are some games that I make an exception for. This game is confusing and full of secrets. I'm sure back in the 80s this was their version of online play. A group of friends would all get this game, play it separately, and share the secrets they discovered with each other. It would be really hard to take on alone, but together it could probably be conquered. Today we don't really have the luxury of having a bunch of people on the playground to talk to, so we have to turn to the internet. I don't see any shame in that.

So as I was saying, I actually had some fun with this one. It's one of the only games I've ever played that was both too hard and too easy. Once you get all the good equipment it's not too bad and the bosses will go down easy. It's certainly a testament to not giving up. All I've ever heard about this game is snarky internet comments. Seanbaby, whoever that is, even picked this game has the #1 worst game on the system. I played through it and I think it's an interesting old title that does have something to offer to gamers out there. I certainly felt like I accomplished something when it was over. I will remember that forever, and I think that goes a lot farther than making a couple of teenagers chuckle on the internet.

NES #24: Super C

I thought it would be fun to go back through Super C after playing the original so recently. Super C is, of course, the sequel to the classic Contra. It was innovative in its use of the word "Super" in the title. In a year or two the Super Nintendo would come out, and every game would start to have "super" in its title. It also has an abbreviation in its title. This was right before the big abbreviation boom of the 90s. I think it was still pre-KFC. I don't think I've ever spent so much time talking about the title of a game, but I haven't written about Street Fighter 2010 or Super Castlevania IV yet. Don't think that this is the last time.

So Super C is one of the ultimate sequels on the NES. It is also one of the sequels that is the most like its predecessor. If you play the two games far apart from each other its hard to even tell the difference. About the only thing that I noticed the first time through was that the base levels from the first games are gone and replaced by fun vertical scrolling levels. This time I waited about a month between the two games, so I was much better able to notice the subtle differences.

What I noticed right away was that on Super C you walk much slower. This is very strange for a game series. In almost every case the next game in a series is faster. This annoyed me at first, but I got used to it. Another difference is that the weapons are better. The fire and laser were both pretty much useless in the first game, but in this one I don't always try to avoid them. There were even sections of the game where I wanted to get the fire gun. This is highly unusual. Also I noticed that the levels didn't have titles on this one. I don't know why, but I really missed that.

It also seems to me that Super C is easier than the original, although it is almost impossible to to be unbiased about it. If you've played through one of the games than you will already know the game play, and that should give you an advantage in the second game no matter which one it is. I sure had an easier time getting through it this time around though. I would say it took about a half dozen tries. I didn't even mean to beat it when I was playing it. I was just practicing because I had a little extra time and knew that it was going to be the next game I was going to play. My girlfriend left the room and actually didn't believe me ten minutes later when I told her I had beaten it. It was all so sudden.

Of course this is where it goes back to being unbiased. I just played through the original Contra a couple weeks before this one and was able to get back into the game play. As you already know Contra took me about a million tries and almost made me want to retire from gaming. So I breezed through Super C but does that make it an easier game? It's hard to say.

One thing I will say though is that they are both excellent games. If you look at the whole Contra series you've got one excellent Super Nintendo installment (which oddly leaves the word "Super" out of it's title) and then a baffling number of games that people don't care about much on just about every system. At best these games usually play like poor Gunstar Heroes clones. It was in the old days that this once proud franchise truly shines, and we should all feel lucky that there were two games that played so well released so close together which can still be found for around ten bucks. Of course there is another NES installment that just about ruins the whole narrative, but I'm not ready to talk about that one yet.

NES #22: Contra

For as good as I was at Life Force recently I completely embarrassed myself playing Contra. I used to be so good at this game! I remember beating this game without getting killed back in the day. I didn't think it was a big accomplishment or anything at the time. I just didn't want to lose my good gun and felt that the best way to keep it would be by not getting killed. Of course that was quite a few years ago. Recently I picked the game back up because I thought it would be an easy completion for my blog. I am the king of Contra after all.

I played through this game like someone who had never even played NES before. It probably took me a dozen or so tries before I could even get past the first level. The weakest guys shooting at me from the ground gave me endless trouble. I thought I would still have this game memorized, but I didn't even remember anything after the snow level which I thought was in Super C. I persevered though and eventually got through it. Thankfully the last boss is pretty easy. The victory was actually quite satisfying after all the sweat and toil it took me to get through it again. It's nice when I get that feeling again.

I always hear that this game is one of the hardest out there. I don't really know if I would call it that, but it is a game that you have to play a lot. It's not exactly a trial and error game like Prince of Persia, but you do need to play through it enough to learn what's coming next. After you do that the game becomes much easier. I guess you could use the Konami code to get a bunch of lives, but as we all know the Konami code is for sissies. You really won't need it. This game is really fun and no problem to play levels multiple times.

Hmm, I actually can't think of that much to say about this one. It's always more difficult when it's a good game without many flaws. I really can't think of anything negative to say about this one. Well, the fire gun sucks but it's also pretty easy to avoid. This is just a fun and challenging game that all of you should beat at least once. You might think it's too hard or that you need a code to cheat your way through, but trust me you can do it.

NES #21: Life Force

It doesn't seem like there are that many good flying shooters on the NES. You can tell because people often put Legendary Wings on their list of favorites from the system. The only reason you would put that on the top of your list is because you didn't have any other games to choose from. However, when you dig a little deeper into the NES catalog you start to discover that there are some good ones to be played like Zanac and Dragon Spirit. Although they are fun games very few of them are well known.

Life Force is the exception. It is probably the most famous of the flying shooters on the whole system. It also has quite a reputation. People usually put this game on their best of lists to represent the whole genre. I guess it does have a lot going for it. It's made by Konami, who could do almost no wrong at the time. It has some of the coolest graphics of the era, especially those swooping flames in level three. It also has an interesting weapon systems that requires you to think a little bit. I guess it's easy to see why it represents a whole genre. It does everything so well. Okay, so there is one thing it doesn't do well, but I will get to that in a minute.

I remember playing this game all the time in college. It was one of those games that my nerdy friends thought was too hard, so I wanted to beat it. I remember playing that game over and over again and finally beating it after months of off and on play. It's a tricky game because it has so many things popping up. You scroll both vertically and horizontally, and it is not uncommon for things to be coming at you from three or even four directions. You also never know what to expect as the screen scrolls. Trust me, those curving flames will kill you the first time, and probably up through the 20th time as well. The best strategy in this game is to play through it enough times that you know what's going to happen next. Thankfully it's fun enough that you won't really mind.

Remembering the difficulty level I was surprised by how easy of a time I had beating this one again. It really only took me a few tries. By the time I was good enough to make it to the level I had about eight lives and hadn't even used a continue. And it's not like I had it very well memorized either. I only had a good memory of levels 1 and 3 which are the ones that I died in the most. I really don't have an explanation for it. I think I just got lucky or maybe all this Nintendo playing has got me into some kind of zone. Whatever the reason it was nice finding a game that I was still good at.

So what was the one flaw I was talking about earlier? The end of the game is too easy. It really doesn't have much of a final boss It just has this snake thing flying around in a big circle. All you gotta do is shoot him a few times and he's down. It's really odd for a game that has such big, tough bosses. After that you gotta fly through some really skinny spots which isn't a problem if you have some lives saved up. Then there's not even much of an ending. It's kind of a shame for a game that is otherwise great.

Well I guess that's about it for Life Force. It's another example of a sequel that I'm better at than the first installment. I've never been able to beat Gradius, the first game in the series. I've also never been able to beat the original Mega Man or Castlevania despite getting through all the other ones. There are different reasons for this, but in the case of Life Force it's because it is designed much better. In Gradius you pretty much can never get hit. Once you've lost your power ups you're done for. In Life Force it seems like you can always get by until new power ups arrive. Not enough shooters are like this. I never once felt hopeless. Okay I guess I can end this entry now. I guess this is a pretty good game to represent a genre with. I sure can't think of a better one.

NES #20: Super Mario Bros.

I decided to close out my summer vacation by playing something really iconic. I had originally planned on playing through SMB 3, but that game takes way too long so I will save it for another day. Of course it doesn't get more iconic than the original Super Mario Bros. It's only grown in stature now that all of us that were kids when it came out are adults now. It's the game the most people play to get nostalgic, and it has been kept alive by countless dumb t-shirts and a few cool ones. It's just hard to top those good illustrations from back in the day, and it really doesn't help things when you add a dumb slogan or a joke. Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

I have a lot of memories about this game. When we got our first Nintendo back in 88 or 89 the multi cart with SMB and Duck Hunt was the only game we had. I don't think we got another game until the next Christmas, so for the first year it was all we had to play at our house. I think it took us about 4 months until my dad was able to get all the way to world 4-1. I remember that being a really exciting day at our house. That was also around the time the Mario tv show started. I used to watch that in the mornings during my kindergarten year. I also had a Mario lunchbox that I'm fairly sure still exists somewhere even though my brother hit it with a hammer. To this day I am not sure why he did that, but I don't think he meant any harm by it. So that first year of video games was pretty much dominated by Mario. Of course we only had one tv back then, so we weren't able to play that much and one game lasted a lot longer. However, when I look at my shelf with 250 Nintendo games and about 500 games for other systems it makes me chuckle a little bit when I think about only having one game.

Another significant memory I have of this game is during my freshman year of college. I used to have a friend that would play this game every single day. This went on for almost a whole semester, and possibly even longer than that. He played just about every inch of that game, and did just about every trick and glitch. I saw him go to the minus world about a dozen times. In all that he never got tired of this game. I guess it's how he would unwind after class. This was 2002 so he had plenty of other games to chose from. I guess I'm not the only one who takes comfort of the games from my youth.

I'm actually really glad that I went back through this game again. We got this game so early in my life that I couldn't remember if I had ever beat it legitimately or not. I know I had seen many of my friends and relatives do it, and I'm sure that I finished it sometime in there, but I don't remember for sure. I couldn't guarantee that I hadn't used a cheat code or warp zone back then. This time I decided to do it for real and end the debate once and for all.

What probably surprised me the most about playing through it again was how easy it was for me. I guess it's like riding a bicycle. I was really expecting this one to be hard as I hadn't played it in years and never found it to be all that easy to begin with. However, I never even died until world 7-4, and I don't think I ever had less than 10 lives. It also surprised that my girlfriend had it memorized even better than I did. It sounds like she spent an even longer amount of time with only one game. So I got to the end and defeated Bowser. Hopefully the next time around he doesn't leave that axe so close to the bridge.

Well there's not too much left for me to say about this one. I still don't understand the cover of this game. Why did they decide to have Mario jumping against a wall? And can you even shoot a fireball through the bricks? Anyway, I'm getting off topic again. It was nice celebrating the end of my summer vacation by playing our most iconic childhood game. I'll have to go back tomorrow and teach to kids who were born after the Nintendo 64 came out. If that wouldn't make a person feel old than I don't know what would.

NES #19: Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland

I'm not wasting any time. This game is bad! I've only had it for a week or so, and it's already one of my least favorite games. Everybody knows that Gogo Dodo was the best character on Tiny Toon Adventures. He was the wild and absurd one. We had to sit through cartoon after cartoon of Buster acting smug and self righteous just for a few seconds of Gogo, and it was well worth it. So much time was wasted at that school when we could see the entrance of Wackyland on the map. I knew something awesome was happening in there, but Stephen Spielberg and the gang didn't want the world to see it. Finally in 1993 Konami of all people released this game for the NES. We were finally gonna get a glimpse inside. There was only one problem. THIS GAME HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WACKYLAND!!!!!

This game is nothing more than a cheap ripoff of Adventures in the Magic Kingdom. Yeah that's right, it's an amusement park game. We've got a roller coaster, bumper cars, a log ride, a train ride, and finally a fun house. WHY DID THE DEVELOPERS THINK THAT WACKYLAND WAS AN AMUSEMENT PARK?? Is it because it had the word land in it? Wackyland was its own self contained world with all kind of strange creatures in it. Porky flew there in the classic Bob Clampett cartoon, and I don't think there were any bumper cars in it. The amusement park in Tiny Toons was Happy World Land, not Wackyland. What's worse is that Gogo's no a playable character. Actually he's not even really in it. You only see him walk by during the credits. He doesn't even have a supporting role like he does in better games like Buster's Hidden Treasure. What the hell happened here!?

I could probably give this game more of a pass if it was fun, but it is far from it. The object is to get into the fun house and beat Montana Max. You get there by getting 4 golden tickets or 50 regular tickets. Each other attraction costs a certain amount of tickets, but when you can trade in your points for regular tickets at the ticket booth. Here's where the game gets really bad. The bumper cars and train levels are pretty easy and only take 1 or 2 tickets. The roller coaster and log ride are much more difficult and take 3 or 4 tickets. When all you need are 50 tickets there's no point to playing through the harder levels. Honestly the train stage was about the only one I could stomach, so I just played it over and over. I think I played through the level seven times before I saved up enough tickets. Then I went to the final stage.

Yeah that's right, you can get through this game by only playing two levels, one of the regular levels and the fun house. I bed you'd love to spend 50 dollars to buy a game where you only have to play 2 levels. At least the fun house plays more like a regular game. Of course keeping with the theme there's nothing funny inside of it, and you play as Buster. All you get is a confusing maze with some doors on the ceiling and some upside down walking. Then you get to Montana Max and easily beat him. Then you turn off the game and never play it again, but I doubt you'll be able to forget about it so easily.

Well that's about all I want to talk about this one. I know that I only got it a week ago and it's made for little kids, but I'm sure I would've been just as furious then as I am now. Kids aren't dumb, especially when it comes to their favorite shows. Everyone who was a fan of the show would know that it wasn't Wackyland. I doubt there's a kid alive who would fool themselves into thinking that this was anything but a lazy money grab. I guess I can't really blame Gogo for not showing up. I wouldn't want my face in this game either. I'm just thankful that I've got 20 or so better Konami games to play through on my NES. This game isn't exactly Contra.

NES #17: Strider

Well here's yet another Capcom game. It seems like they made half the games I've finished so far. I'm not sure if that's because they are especially easy or that I played them so much as a kid. Either way I appreciate Capcom for making this blog a little bit easier. Many of their games are easy to get through and fun to write about.

So Strider was a game that I absolutely loved as a kid. I always loved non-linear games with deep story lines. This game also reminded me of Bionic Commando which was my absolute favorite game. Looking back on it though the two games don't seem all that similar. Maybe I thought they were alike because of the world map and menu screen. They both just seemed a little more advanced than the average Nintendo game.

Anyway, this game is about a group of Striders. Or are the bad guys the Striders? I have to be completely honest with you. The story in this game makes absolutely no sense to me. The storytelling is a little clunky, so it's hard to tell what's going on. First you're supposed to go kill Kain, then you save Kain, then he goes crazy, and your sister is in there somewhere, then there's a guy named Faceas Clay (get it!), then all your friends die and you appear to be fighting against the Striders. It's all very confusing.

The gameplay is set up in an interesting way. Some of the levels you will pass through more than once. Along the way you will get key cards and special items that help you get further into levels. It's sort of a pre-Symphony of the Night layout. It sounds like it would get a little tedious, but the levels are set up well. The new sections are usually placed in the earlier parts of the levels so you don't have to travel long distances over the same terrain. The only thing I don't like about the levels is that, like a depressingly large amount of NES games, you keep having to fight the same boss over and over. You got this big alien robot computer thing that you fight about a half dozen times. It's easy the first time and never gets any harder. Oh, and there's also a part where you are in Australia then you go through a small tunnel and are in China, but I'm gonna let them slide on that one.

I just have a couple of nitpicks with the game play itself. First of all it is way too hard to do a wall jump. You're going to need to quite a few times in this game, but the jump controls are really stiff. The first time I attempted to beat this game I must've tried wall jumping a hundred times before I ever did it successfully. It's even worse when you have to do two or three of them in a row. The other thing that bugs me is that the special moves you get are almost completely useless. I never remember using any of them except for the plasma shot and the health recovery. There's also nothing on the screen that tells you when you've got them. I guess it's not much of a problem since you'll never use them anyway. It does make for a cool looking menu screen though.

Although I've played Strider a million times, this was the first time I ever beat it. It surprises me some to say that because the game isn't very hard. It's also quite short for a password game. I doubt it took me more than a couple hours to beat it. It's probably about half the length of Super Mario Bros. 3 if you skip the warp zones. This is certainly a good weekend afternoon game for when you can't think of anything to play among your 250 NES games and you're in the mood to play through one you haven't beaten before. I'm sure that kind of thing happens to you all the time.