Game Review - Ninja Gaiden 2 (NES)

If you enjoy ninjas as much as I do you are going to be stocked for this review. It's the follow up to the original Ninja Gaiden on the NES, its Ninja Gaiden 2: The Sword of Chaos.  Does this game live up to the high standards set by the first game?  Check out my review and find out for yourself!

Keeping with the tradition of the first game you are treated to some awesome in game cinematics when you first turn it on.  We get to see what has been happening to Ryu since we last encountered him at the end of the first game. A new villain named Ashtar the self-claimed Emperor of Darkness makes his entrance here.  We are introduced to the samurai looking villain and his ultimate weapon, a sword called the Sword of Chaos.  This is no normal sword, it happens to be the antithesis of the Dragon Sword that they Hayabusa family has passed on generation to generation. As with any good classic Nintendo game there is a damsel in distress, Irene Lew from the first game is back and has been captured by this mysterious Ashtar.  So it's up to Ryu to find her and bring her back safely as Ashtar tries to destroy our hero Ryu.

GRAPHICS 9.75/10 Once again the graphics in the game are excellent, some of the best on the NES.  I feel that the ones here are even better than the ones that were in the original Ninja Gaiden 1.  They seem cleaner and not so gritty plus there is a greater variety of environments. Plus you have to love all the creepy skulls and faces they put into the level to add to the dark atmosphere! 

In this game we are treated to more cinematic scenes, even more impressive than the first game. Instead of having just one scene as impressive as Ryu standing on the cliff looking at the Temple of Darkness, we get to see two awesome ones.

SOUND 9/10 Once again the soundtrack in this game is simply awesome. I'm not sure which soundtrack I enjoyed more but both were excellent.  So if you have a chance put this on your mp3 player to enjoy!  You definitely won’t be disappointed! I really like the "Lord of Night" boss theme, it's really awesome and works so great for the intense boss battles!  Sound effect wise it's pretty much identical to Ninja Gaiden 1, not any noticeable differences, at least that I noticed!  

GAMEPLAY 8/10 Ryu controlls exactly the same as he did in the first game, so if you played the first game you know exactly what to do.  But I'm so happy to report a couple things have been changed, and for the better. 

In Ninja Gaiden 2 when Ryu jumps up on a wall he can now climb up it, even if it's not a ladder, so now you don't have to try to do that crazy jump off and grab on again technique.  It so nice to be able just to climb up easily!

The other thing I really enjoyed was the new clone technique/item you can get.  If you grab and item that looks like an orange Ryu a duplicate/clone of Ryu will appear and follow you doing exactly what you are doing.  It sounds a little confusing but if you do it right you can inflict twice the damage and even set it up so the clone is slightly above you attacking enemies there while you attack the others.  If you continue collecting this item you can have up to 3 clones that will follow you around attacking until you die.  This definitely makes some parts a lot easier!

Unfortunately they didn't change how if Ryu gets hit by an enemy he flies backwards, but luckily with the other few improvements and additions it still makes for a little less frustrating experience. I also found the first few levels to be a bit easier before they toss you into the really tricky parts.

REPLAY 8/10 This addition to the Ninja Gaiden series is just as addicting as the first. Though with the first few levels being a bit easier it kind of give you incentive to keep coming back to play. I keep playing so I can memorize the levels and hopefully pass them all. Once again the Famicom version of the game is easier so if you have access to it and want a little less challenge check it out, though the dialogue will all be in Japanese so check out the English cut scenes online. I haven't beaten this game yet so I will definitely be playing it a lot so I can be sure to beat it!

......BOTTOM LINE 8.75/10

This game is an excellent addition to the Ninja Gaiden series.  With a few little additions and approvements I find it slightly better than the first game, though I highly recommend playing both games!  Once again this is a hard game so if you don't like very challenging games this may not be the game for you.  But if you like being able to challenge yourself and your hand eye coordination there is a lot here for you to enjoy. Even if you don't have an original NES console make sure to check out these games on the Wii Virtual Console as the whole series is on there to download and see if you can take down Ashtar and his Sword of Chaos.  Check out my gameplay video of the first few levels of the game so you can see what it’s like for yourself!

Game Review - Rescue Rangers

I’m sure most people are familiar with the awesome Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers cartoon by Disney that was on TV in the late 80’s early 90’s.  It followed two detective chipmunks, Chip and Dale (who made appearances in some Mickey Mouse cartoons also) and their adventures with their friends Monteray Jack, Gadget and Zipper to solve mysteries.  So it really only made sense to make a game based on the show.  Luckily for everyone this fell into the very capable hands of Capcom, creators of great games like Mega Man series, so they knew what they were doing with platforming games.

We start off the game watching the Rescue Rangers on a mission to save Mandy’s kitten which is missing.  Gadget goes on ahead to check out the area and to leave helpful items behind.  Meanwhile Monteray Jack (the chubby mouse with the cheese addiction) and Zipper the fly investigate all the recent sightings of strange mechanical dogs in the area.  Chip and Dale are heading down the street into a laboratory where they are attacked by a robot that is crazy.

Right after this we see a familiar character if you know the show at all, Fat Cat shows up and proclaims that the kidnapping of Mandy’s kitten was just a distraction, and while everyone was busy looking for the kitten he kidnapped Gadget and forces her to work for him.

Luckily for Chip and Dale Gadget is able to build a wireless phone and sends a map of the area to them by a carrier pigeon.  This helps lead them to Fat Cat’s casino where he is hiding and she is being held.  So it’s up to our little fuzzy heroes Chip and Dale to rescue Gadget and defeat Fat Cat.

GRAPHICS 9/10
Once again Capcom delivers in the graphics area.  The characters look just like the ones in the cartoon and the colors are bright and vivid.  They really capture the feeling of the cartoon, which is really appreciated by Chip ‘n Dale fans like myself it made you feel as though you were playing an episode of the cartoon which is great!  It really makes you feel like a small chipmunk in a large world.

SOUND 8/10
The music in the game is very fitting for the show.  You start off listening to the catchy Rescue Rangers theme song, which makes me just want to sit there and keep listening to it instead of starting the game cause it’s so contagious!  Once you get past the theme song the music is upbeat and works well for the levels, though I wouldn’t say it’s the most memorable game music I’ve ever heard but it’s still pretty good.  The sound effects are done quite well, especially when you hit a mechanical dog, it makes an appropriate metal type sound effect, not just your usual thud.

GAMEPLAY 9/10
The controls of this game are great and really remind me of Super Mario Brothers 2 on the NES, but instead of picking up turnips you are picking up apples and blocks to throw at the enemies.  You can throw as fast as you can hit the buttons there is no lag, so it’s totally up to you how fast you throw.  If you are carrying something like a box you will move at normal speed but if you are carrying a heavy apple your character will move a little slower.  Ducking and jumping is easy and precise, so you feel like you can land on a small ledge if it’s required.  I love the option to play the game 2 player.  Not only do you get to play at the same time but you can also throw each other around the level making if a lot more fun.  If you have a chance to play with someone else I highly recommend it!

REPLAY 9/10
When I was a kid I played this game a lot!  Especially with my brother, though our coop play wasn’t always the best teamwork we tended to spend a lot of time throwing each other around.  I tried to beat it a few times when I was younger and I was never able to, but I know my dad got through it.  It’s a fun game with great controls so it will definitely have you coming back for more, just talking about it makes me wanna pop it into the NES and play!

…BOTTOM LINE 8.75/10
This is an awesome game with great controls and a great difficulty range.  It’s not crazy hard but it’s also not crazy easy either.  If you are a pro at side scrolling platformers you might find it a little easy but for the average person this game will challenge you a bit, but not make you want to break the controller.  You have to play it if you were a fan of the show or even if you love platforming games or any of the other Capcom titles.  This is another one of those television to game adaptations that worked great on the NES and shouldn’t be missed!

Game Review - Gun*Nac (NES/Fami)

GUN*NAC

I always get excited to try new (well new to me) shoot 'em up games.  It's definitely one of my favorite genres along with side scrolling platforming games!  I instantly knew what game I wanted to talk about, I don't think it's very well known so it's the perfect game to give attention to, it's Gun Nac for the Nintendo Entertainment System (or Famicom in my case).

If you look at the manual included in the game this is our story.  In the very very distant future (I'm so glad they didn't give an exact date like 1999 or something like that cause it's kind of awkward once it has passed...), the humans have used up all of the Earth's resources so many of earth's inhabitants have decided to move to the new artificial solar system known as IOTA Synthetica. This new "fake" solar system has been created by the "Galactic Federation", and of course if a very modern and hip place to be.  Well that is until a mysterious wave of radiation blasts through the new solar system.  From seeing cartoons and reading comic books we all know what happens when things are exposed to radiation, it causes inanimate objects to come to life and causes once gentle animals, like rabbits to become violent and attack the humans residing there.  So it is now up to Commander Gun-Nac (kind of odd name but whatever) to save the IOTA Synthetica solar system from its new attackers.

You know this game is going to be awesome when the instruction manual outlines your objectives as

 - INFILTRATE all eight planetary areas.

 - ELIMINATE dangerous objects and life-forms.

 - DESTROY all Boss Monsters.

 - Take NO prisoners!

 - Show NO mercy!

GRAPHICS 9/10

The graphics in Gun Nac are very good and very unique.  You can see a lot of attention has been put into all the details.  I absolutely love how there is a huge variety of enemies you aren't used to seeing in a shoot em up game, like flying toasters and angry robotic like rabbits who shoot carrot missiles at you, the enemies are very quirky and remind me of a crazy Japanese anime.  You definitely won't only see other alien ships coming at you.  The colors of the characters and the backgrounds are vibrant giving it the look that you are on an alien planet.  The backgrounds kind of remind me of stuff you would see in The Guardian Legend, but I feel they are better in Gun Nac than Guardian Legend.

SOUND 8/10

Unfortunately the sound is kind of meh when compared to the unique graphics you see in the game.  It's definitely not bad just not nearly as unique as I would have expected given the crazy enemies you see in the game and all the other creative touches they had added.

GAMEPLAY 9.5/10

When you start the game you have two options, Game Start and Config.Sys.  It's cool how they didn't just call it Options but made it unique!  In the Config menu you can select 5 different difficulty settings, so no matter if you are just a noob at playing shooters, or an expert you should find a difficulty that meets your needs.  You can even set the sprite engine to prioritize speed (less slowdown, but more flickering) or graphics (more slowdown, less flickering).  I don't remember ever seeing something like this in another game!  So it's pretty awesome. The nice thing is that there is little or no slowdown no matter how many sprites are on the screen at a time which can be over 20.  It doesn't matter which sprite mode you select this is the case which with shooters you don't come across very often, there is usually some kind of slowdown.

There's a huge range of weapons you can acquire for your ship, 36! Which is insane, I don't remember the other games having that many different weapons you can use. The weapons are numbered from 1 to 6 and range from our basic bullets to homing bombs to flamethrowers.  Every time you grab a weapon chip that is different from the one that you currently have equipped you will switch weapons.  If you grab one that is the same as the present weapon you are using your weapon will power up another level. Besides all this you can get ship add-ons, pretty much new wings that will be tacked onto your ship so you will be able to take more hits. If you have a wing and get hit the wing will disappear but if you get hit and don't have one equipped it will be fatal. 

REPLAY 9/10

Gun Nac is so unique and different it will definitely have you coming back for more.  In my opinion it is about as good as Life Force but not so insanely difficult. I love how you have 5 different difficulty levels so if you master one you can always try the more difficult one to test yourself. With the huge variety of enemies and weapons you can spend a lot of time experimenting which weapons work best on each enemy and what you need to do to get through each stage.

...BOTTOM LINE 9/10

This is a must play game!  Make sure if you don't have it you track it down now!  It's teeming with personality and it isn't your usual shooter, there is so much more going on under the surface that makes this one of the best shoot ‘em ups you can get for your Nintendo Entertainment System!  I feel it's very underrated and I'm sad I didn't know it existed until just recently, I could have been enjoying it since 1990!  It is definitely one of my favorite games on the NES.  You must play it if you love shooters at all! If the music was just a little bit more unique this would be an almost perfect game!

Game Article - Little Samson/Lickle

THE LITTLE SAMSON THAT COULD
 

When I say the name Little Samson what's the first thing you think of?  Chances are you think of the story of Samson and his superhero strength from his hair in the bible.  Well unfortunately for the NES game Little Samson I think this is what most people thought of.  Unfortunately they didn`t think to keep the name given to the game in Japan, Lickle Legend of the Holy Bell, sure it`s a little odd but it might not have made people think of games like Bible Adventures.  Because of this for the most part people avoided this game like the plague, which is really a shame because it is one of the best looking and just best games available on the Nintendo Entertainment System and not based on Samson from the story of Samson and Delilah or anything religious at all. 

Little Samson is reminiscent of other awesome games like Mega Man, which makes sense as it was created by two employees who left Capcom to make their own company Takera. For this game they teamed up with the artist from Cocoran and Ghosts `n Ghouls and Taito which most people know from Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble to put out this game. Luckily for us we got an awesome game, even if not many people realized it at the time.

When you first start up the game you watch cutscenes showing us The Dark Prince (wearing green) escaping from captivity.  He threatens to take over the land and takes out all the king's soldiers.  The King quickly summons help from four unlikely heroes to defeat the evil Dark Prince and save the kingdom.  The really cool thing about the story is it is told without any dialogue or text just a few cutscenes. Which is awesome because you can still play the Japanese version and feel like you aren't missing out on anything because of the language barrier.

You play as four different characters while on your quest.  Little Samson the one human character who can climb on walls and the ceiling and throw bells as projectiles, Kikira the Dragon who can breathe fire and float for short periods of time, Gamm the Golum who moves slow but has excellent health, can walk over spikes and has powerful attacks and K.O. the little mouse who has a smaller health bar but makes up for it with his speed, his ability to climb walls like Samson and drop powerful bombs. The game gives you the option to switch characters at any point in the game, so if you jump and are going to fall on spikes, no problem just switch to Gamm. You could beat the game with just one character but it would be a lot harder and it's a lot more fun to switch depending on the situation.  

This game offers an "Easy" and "Normal" difficulty to choose from, so it shouldn`t be too stressful to get through. At times it does give you a good challenge especially towards the final levels, but it won`t be so hard you want to destroy your controller. It also helps that the controls are tight and precise so you won`t ever feel like you died because of bad controls which is so important especially in a platforming game. Plus it has a nice short 4 character password system so you can continue where you left off!

This game features over 20 different stages ranging from jungles, rivers, caves, to castles and each level looks incredible.  That's the nice thing about it being released so late in the console cycle, they really knew how to push the limits on the graphics so you get an amazing looking game that tries to rival the new 16 bit games that were just released on the SNES.  One of the most impressive visuals is when you fight in a boss battle.  The bosses are huge, dark and scary compared to the bright and colorful graphics of the main characters. They almost look like they walked out of a Castlevania or Metroid game to hunt you down. 

There is so much more I could say about this game, but do yourself a favor and make sure you check it out!  Due to the timing of it`s release, lack of advertising save a small 5 page feature in Issue 40 of Nintendo Power and unfortunate name change this has become one of the harder games to find for the NES.  If you are lucky enough to find it, don`t be surprised to see it upwards of $200!  If this is too expensive for you, which it would be for most people, just do what I did and grab a version of Lickle for the Famicom.  If you don`t have a Famicom to play it on, then just get yourself a Famicom to NES converter then you are set.  Trust me, you don`t want to miss out on this game, it`s definitely one of the best to be released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Game Article - Kirby's Anniversary

THE SUPER TOUGH PINK PUFF CELEBRATES HIS 20TH BIRTHDAY

This article is from a couple years ago but is still relevant as Kirby Star Allies came out on March 16 of this year for the Nintendo Switch.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the super cute pink puffball Kirby.  I like many people have spent most of my life playing his games starting with Kirby’s Dreamland on the Game Boy.  I instantly fell in love with Kirby he was so cute, the music in the game was really catchy and the game play at the time (remember I would have been 8 at the time) was easy yet challenging enough to keep me engaged.  Ever since then I’ve owned all the other Kirby games.  Even though a lot of the games are quite easy there is always something in them that makes me smile and puts you in a good mood, the game play was rarely frustrating and with a lead character as cute as Kirby you can’t go wrong.  Plus the game appeals to a huge age range of game fans, not only can younger players enjoy it but older players can too.  The nice thing about the Kirby franchise is there are a huge variety of games out there, if you like puzzles they have Kirby's Avalanche, sports type games they have Kirby's Dream Course, they have pinball with Kirby's Pinball Land and even racing with Kirby's Air Ride.  Doesn't matter what you like there is a Kirby game for you!

Surprisingly enough I hadn’t played the NES version until a couple years ago, and I was surprised that Kirby could now steal abilities from the enemies that he would swallow, well I guess not steal “copy”.  Instead of just spitting them out now, he would copy specialized powers from each different enemy like ice attack, fire attack and even crazy ones like the needle attack that makes Kirby a walking pin cushion.  The game came out at the end of the NES consoles life, so like other games that came out around then it looks awesome.  Not only did the environments look great but all the baddies were unique, the main level bosses were cool and there was a huge selection of different themed levels.  They had even incorporated awesome mini games for the player to complete so Kirby would gain extra lives.  It was little details like this that really made the game, so be sure to pick up this game for your NES if you don’t already have it!

Kirby wasn’t always the cute pink blobby ball that we know him as now.  Apparently Kirby was originally named Popopo and his current “blob” design was created as a placeholder sprite as they were making the first Kirby game.  After a little time had passed Kirby’s creator Masahiro Sakurai grew to love the blob and decided to use the placeholders design instead of the original idea they had for him.  So why did Popopo become Kirby?  Well no one really remembers apparently lol.  Some people thought it was to honor Nintendo’s legal counsel who helped them through some copyright infringement problems they had with Donkey Kong or the other theory being because of Kirby vacuum cleaners.  I like this theory more, it makes sense considering how Kirby inhales everything in sight, can expand like a vacuum cleaner bag and can shrink down again when he spits it back out.

Besides a name change he also underwent another makeover.  Back on the Gameboy Kirby was shown as being White on the box art, this made sense at the time since the game was monochrome so he seemed white.  But Sakurai wanted Kirby to be pink, but Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario creator) pictured him as being yellow.  So because of this when the game was brought over to the west they just left Kirby white, whereas the Japanese box art has Kirby being a light red color.

So just in case you aren’t familiar with the Kirby games, I would be pretty shocked if someone wasn’t but you never know I’ll fill you in on the story.  In Kirby’s Dream Land, King Dedede (apparently a self made ruler) decided to steal everyone’s food and to be even more mean he stole the Sparkling Stars that they need to get more food.  Of course it’s up to Kirby the cheerful little puffball (a symbol of the light world) to get the food back along with the stars and teach King Dedede (dark world) a lesson.  For a lot of the games the story is similar, like in Kirby Squeak Squad, mice steal Kirby’s desserts and this makes Kirby mad, he loves his snacks and won’t stand for this.  This also explains his food related attack in Super Smash Brothers too.  It’s pretty goofy, but the Kirby franchise isn’t exactly known for its deep story arc :p  I would argue it’s more for the bright color scheme, cute graphics and catchy music.

Besides just video games Kirby has also had his own anime.  It used to air on Fox on Saturdays, but you can find episodes on Youtube now if you wanna check it out.  Kirby’s creator Sakurai was deeply involved so the way Kirby is portrayed in the way he envisioned Kirby’s character.  He preferred Kirby would not speak, so Kirby has a very limited vocabulary basically consisting of the word puyo!  The anime is a lot darker than any of the games Kirby starred in.  I can think of one episode off the top of my head that was really sad and dealt with death, there is also violence, war and some blood.  At times it’s a little cheesy but totally worth checking out just to see Kirby’s character.  He’s so cute it’s hard not to watch.  Plus it gives Kirby a fleshed out background so even just that part is worth watching as a supplement to the games.

So give it up to Kirby the super tough pink power puff and the awesome 20 year run he’s had so far, I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for him.  If you haven’t checked out some of the games and you have a 3DS check out the 3D remake of Kirby’s Adventure and Kirby’s Dreamland in the Game Boy section.   The really exciting news is that there has been a Kirby Collection for the Wii (which you can still play on the Wii U) that has some of the most popular games in the franchise on it and a soundtrack which is awesome if you can find it to pick up!

Game Review - Total Recall (NES)

Total Recall. A masterfully ruined idea for a video game from Acclaim, which is hard to believe they made Mortal Kombat. In this waste of electricity, you're supposed to follow the plot of the movie, but I don't really remember in the movie where Arnold is yanked into an alley to do battle with midgets in pink jumpsuits. But to be honest, all I ever remember is the alien chick with three boobs and his wife trying to kill him.

Your character has an incredible number of moves at his disposal: both a jump, and a little thing he does that resembles a punch. These will both come in handy when you're trying to stay away from the six year olds that pop out of garbage cans to shoot at you. Also, look out for cars that drive by and throw baseballs at you. It's that kind of neighborhood.

I looked at this game a few years back for Review a Bad Game Day.  I still agree that this game is horrible, I seriously can't think of another game offhand that I felt was this bad.  So this isn't as much as a review as it is a rant...

Video game developer Acclaim who put out games like Mortal Kombat, Smash TV and Spiderman Return of the Sinister Six released this licensed game in 1990.  The movie stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Douglas Quaid and Sharon Stone as his wife Lori.  If you haven’t seen the movie it’s a sci-fi movie that involves a lot of crazy things like traveling to Mars, having new memories implanted into the brain and Douglas’ loving wife who starts trying to kill him.  Problem is with the new implanted memories, he doesn’t know which ones are real and which ones are the fake memories so he’s on a quest to find out what is real and what isn’t.  Sounds like a crazy movie that should have a cool game right?? In theory yes, but what Acclaim delivered was just a frustrating piece of junk that adds in a bunch of stupid things that weren’t in the movie. 

You start the game playing as Schwarzenegger’s character Douglas.  The sprite is slightly accurate and it is a big guy who could be based on Arnie, but overall it’s a pretty bad looking game with some serious problems with its animation.  It’s a 2D action platforming game, where you have to get Doug to a certain part in the level while you kill people along the way.  Normally I love games like this but Total Recall has poor controls, tons of enemies and is just frustrating making it very difficult. There is a variety of different stages like city streets, the sewer, subway, concrete factory and sometimes you will have battles in little apartment rooms.  Unfortunately most of my time was spent in the sewer, since every time you walk past an alley you get hit by someone and dragged down there.  Then you need to work your way out and start by the alley again, the one nice thing is the alley seems to have a lot of energy drinks for you to replenish your health a bit.

You can jump and punch (then shoot when you get a gun).  One of the most annoying things is when your enemies are constantly jumping over you making it incredibly hard to hit them while other baddies are attacking at the same time.  Oh and since when were there pink mutant midgets attacking Arnold in the movie?  Maybe I just have a bad memory, but it seems very odd to me.  It’s hard to kill these guys too since they are short and you have to duck to have a chance of hitting them.  It reminds me of playing Goldeneye on the N64 when someone would take Oddjob and it was much harder to kill them when they are shorter than you. Plus you have to fight rats. Ya, I don’t remember Arnie punching rats in the movie…

While you are playing and trying to figure out what exactly is going on you will have a happy bubbly soundtrack to listen to. This game is supposed to be a gritty, and dark at moments but the music definitely doesn’t represent that.  It’s very off putting, it seems like they pulled a music track from some other happy game and just dumped it in here.  The sound effects are also bad with a lot of thud sounds and a weird buzzing type sound.

There are just too many things wrong with this game.  The game feels unfinished with hit detection problems and flickering sprites just to name a few problems.  Ultimately the choices made by the game designers are confusing at best.  Why have a theatre where you can earn a life by watching the Total Recall movie credits then follow it up with a death scene of Arnold saying “I’ll be back!”  Did they not do any research and realize this was from a different movie? I love cheesy Schwarzenegger movies but seriously this is a huge disappointment, and there is nothing about it I can recommend.  Why couldn’t it have been a good movie adaptation like Batman?  It’s not even worth playing to see how bad it is, that is why I consider it one of the worst games on the NES!   

Game Preview - Castlevania (Gameboy)

Castlevania (GB)

Today I am looking at Castlevania on the Gameboy, this isn't a full review as I haven't gotten to play it a ton yet but more just a peek at it.  Since the Gameboy is region free I have the Japanese version of this game.  Since the game is in Japanese and my Japanese knowledge is pretty limited (took a class in University years ago) so story wise I’m not totally sure what’s going on so I did a bit of research.  This game isn't just a port of the version that is on the NES but it has a different story. The game takes place 15 years after the first Castlevania Gameboy game.  Dracula has returned and he has kidnapped Chris Belmont’s son named Soleiyu and turned him into a demon.  Dracula uses Soleiyu’s powers to retake a human form so he can rebuild his castle.  So once again Christopher must face Dracula, but this time to save his son.   

When you first start the game there are four initial levels.  Each level has a unique theme like earth, crystal, plant and air and takes place in a separate castle.  The cool thing is you can complete them in any order you like.  So if you get stuck on one of the large trap rooms you can try out another one. Which kind of remind me of a Mega Man game or something like Bucky O'Hare.
  

If you play the Japanese version you will notice that the axe will be replaced with a cross, instead of making the arching motion the cross moves in a horizontal motion almost like a boomerang when it comes back to you.  Which makes it very useful as it can go through walls to kill enemies, so you can take them out before they even notice you.

My only complaint is I wish Christopher would move a little faster, he seems to be going pretty slow at times especially when you are trying to make a bigger jump or avoid an enemy. Other than that it’s a really fun game!  It looks really good for a Game Boy game even with the limited screen space and the music has been done very well.  I haven’t completed the game yet, but if I discover anything else I will let you know.

I’ll have to try it out on the Super Game Boy tonight and see how it looks on there.  I’m guessing probably pretty good, so even if you don’t have a Game Boy you can always get the Super Gameboy, play it on a Game Boy Advance or the GBA adapter on the Game Cube will play it too :D

So make sure if you get a chance to pick up this game definitely do so!  Especially if you are a huge fan of the Castlevania series on the NES or SNES, especially since it's not just a port of an existing game. Don’t forget that the Japanese version is still playable on North American Gameboy's as they are region free.  I’m so glad Heidi from Retro Gaming Blog told me about this game, now I just have to get the other 2 Gameboy ones in the series J

Game Review- Bucky O'Hare (NES)

Bucky O’Hare

Episode 1 of the cartoon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgpfoobDjQU

When I was a kid I lived on a farm and had peasant vision for TV, so only 2 channels.  So I didn’t really see the cartoon until I went to a friends house and saw an episode.  Since I didn’t really know what it was I never bugged my parents to get the game.  Fast forward like 5 years and I was reminded of Bucky when I played Jazz Jackrabbit for my computer, a green rabbit wasn’t the most common thing to see.  So once I started collecting Nintendo games again I made sure to track this title down.

The animated series only ran from September 1991 – December of 1991, so only 13 episodes were made (I’m sure you can find them all on youTube)

In 1992 Konami made the decision to make a game based on this cartoon.  It’s immediately a good thing when you see Konami’s name attached to it.  They had so many great games for the NES and Famicom you know this is going to be a quality title.

Captain Bucky O'Hare and his loyal crew - Blinky, Deadeye, Jenny and Willy – are battling against the Toad Armada to save the Aniverse. Until one day the transport carrying Bucky's and his crew is attacked and each member taken prisoner. Each of the crew members is taken to a different planet, Blinky the Robot is on the Green Planet, Deadeye the Red Planet, Jenny at the Blue and Willy is on the Yellow Planet.  Now our green bunny is on his own, and must fight the toads on his own to rescue his comrades from the four hostile planets and save the Aniverse.

GRAPHICS 9/10

Super bright colors and nice looking graphics, characters look just like the ones in the cartoon.  Once again Konami keeps its reputation for great looking NES games with this title.  I never had problems with not being able to see enemies, everything is easily visible so if you die it’s not because of it being to dark or hard to see!

SOUND 8/10

The music in this game sounds very good and there is a variety of music so you don’t have to worry about the same track constantly looping which can get annoying very fast!  The sound effects fit well with the music and aren’t too over the top or too cheesy like you might expect from a game based on a cartoon.

GAMEPLAY 8.5/10

The game starts you off at a game select screen, not totally unlike Mega Man.  But that makes sense since Capcom did make this game.  It has all four of the planets your friends are trapped on and you can choose what order you would like to tackle them in.

As you rescue your crew mates the games lets you switch between the rescue teammates at any time during the level to help Bucky get past the tricky obstacles that you will come across during the game as each one has their own special ability.

This game is a side scrolling action platformer, which reminds me of Mega Man.  Bucky is automatically equipped with his blaster gun which can also be charged but unlike Mega Man Bucky can shoot up, and down, he’s not only restricted to left and right.  Luckily this games controls are very good and tight just like the ones in Mega Man so when you die at least you don’t feel like it was due to bad controls!

Despite being based on a cartoon, the gameplay is definitely not only for little kids.  It’s very challenging, so it will definitely give you a fight for your money.  You aren’t going to blow through it in a couple hours.  Luckily it has a password system so you don’t have to start right from the beginning whenever you get a game over.

On the bottom of your screen you see how many lives are remaining, your life/hit point meter and weapon power meter.  So you don’t have to pause the game to see all this information.

REPLAY 9/10

This game looks great, controls great and is a lot of fun.  With your choice of levels it feels like you can go where you want and it’s great being able to switch character whenever you want during the level to get past obstacles.  Plus with the password system you won’t always have to start from the beginning!  The difficulty level is just right, hard but not impossible so it keeps you coming back for more.

......BOTTOM LINE 9/10

If you were a fan of this cartoon, or even a fan of side scrolling platforming games this is a must play.  It may be a little frustrating at parts, but it’s really fun and totally worth any frustration you may have from playing it.  Besides what’s cooler than playing as a green rabbit who is in a war against toads and has a blaster?  Plus the chance to play as the other characters is a nice addition and really adds replay value to this game, you can always try beating the game with just Bucky, or one of the other characters and really switch it up.

From the games I’ve played based on tv shows and movies or really any games on the NES, I would consider this game to be one of the best!

Game Review - Ninja Gaiden (NES)

This week I have decided to challenge myself and review Ninja Gaiden.  This game has made me feel like I've truly proven myself as a gamer.  This game is hard, well not just hard, ridiculously hard.  But for some reason I'm a sucker for punishment and this game definitely deals it out.  The nice thing is you will definitely feel rewarded when you get through parts of the game.

When you first start the game you will be treated to an awesome in game movie/cinematic.  This movie is one of the most amazing things I remember seeing in a NES game.  You see 2 ninjas facing off in a field at night time, the one is defeated and you are introduced to his son Ryu Hayabusa.  Ryu has no idea what his father Ken was doing when he was killed, but he discovers a note his dad left behind telling him to go to America to meet up with Dr. Smith who is an archaelogist.  He learns of two statues that his father and the doctor had hidden as they have the power to end the world as they know it.  So when Jacquio the leader of a cult steals the one statue it's up to Ryu to carry on the Hayabusa name and protect the world.

GRAPHICS 9.5/10 The graphics in the game are some of the best on the NES.  According to G4 (when it was a thing :p ) it is also the first game to have cinematic cutscenes, which really gives it a movie like feel.  The story is suspenseful and leaves you wanting to know more of what happens to Ryu and what his father was up to before.  There is a huge variety of different enemies that will attack you ranging from other ninjas, huge guys, nuns and animals too which unfortunately includes the evil birds.  I think they are easily some of the most evil enemies ever.  Along with a variety of animals, there is a variety of levels too.  You start off in a city, then move to a mountain like stage with platforms and pits, by a lake, in a jungle and even on a building.

SOUND 9/10 The soundtrack in this game is simply awesome. I enjoy the soundtrack so much I have it on my MP3 player so I can listen to it whenever I want.  Each stage has it's own music, and all the movie cinematic scenes have the same song tying it all in together to make it all feel interconnected. The sound effects are pretty crisp and it's really cool to be able to hear the ninjas running through the field before their battle in the beginning.

GAMEPLAY 7.5/10 The controls are tight and responsive but there are a few things I really dislike. I hate how if Ryu gets hit by an enemy he flies backwards. This is especially frustrating on a little ledge and you get hit by a bird you will fly backwards and into a hole. I also hate how you kill an enemy and it will continue to respawn until you get past it.  It may be worth your while if you find this game too difficult to pick up the Famicom version if you can as it is easier than the version that was released on the North American NES. There's a huge variety of Ninpo attacks you can collect and use, but you have to be sure to keep collecting the power ups as you will run out fast if you keep using the attacks. It will take a lot of trial and error to figure out what ninpo works best for each situation, but it's cool you have something to supplement your sword attack.  A lot of your success in the game will rely on your ability to memorize what will come next, so this means you will die...a lot.  Once you memorize what exactly what will happen, where the enemies are etc. you will know how to avoid the hazards. I just wish the North American version had a choice of difficulty or at least a password system so you can continue where you left off.

REPLAY 8/10 I found myself constantly coming back to this game just so I could beat it, though once I did since it was such a hard and draining experience I haven't gone back to it.  Though I have played the Famicom version of the game since it was a bit easier, and I can definitely see me going back to that version before I would the NES one, particularily because of the feature in the Japanese version to continue with a password.

......BOTTOM LINE 8.5/10
The way that this story is told it makes you wanting more.  At any point in the game you only know as much as Ryu does as everything is revealed to you as he finds out.  With the beautiful looking cutscenes, you will keep coming back just to see if you can learn a little more of the story. I guarantee you it will be a very frustrating game, but the sense of accomplishment you get when you complete an area you couldn't get through before is huge.  Though make sure you are willing to leave your Nintendo on over a few nights as there is no save or password feature so if you wanna continue where you left off you will have to leave it on. It took many attempts over 2 years to finally complete it, but once I did I finally feel like I've proven my worth as a gamer as it is definitely one of the most difficult and frustrating moments of my life, though frustrating in a good way...
Though I will warn you if you are the type to throw your controllers when you get frustrated this may not be the game for you, but if you want a game that will challenge your skill as a gamer this is definitely for you.  Anyone who can get through this has definitely earned bragging rights!  If you are lucky enough to find this game on the Ninja Gaiden Collection for the SNES they do have a saving feature, or if you can get it onto your SNES Classic you can use the save state feature so you won't have to worry about starting over constantly!

Power Hour Review - Final Fight (Famicom)

Welcome to the first “Power Hour”!  Thanks to my hubby for the name idea J  I have a lot of games so figure if I play them for at least an hour I could give my thoughts and feelings based on that first impression I got.  Plus it’s a lot easier for me to find an open hour in my schedule than a full day to dedicate to playing one game.  I’ll go over the usual things like graphics, sound, story, and controls and I will also talk about if this game within this first hour made me wanna play more or put it back on the shelf to collect dust.

The first entry for Power Hour is Mighty Final Fight on the Famicom.  It was released on both NES and Famicom, but the Fami version was cheaper to pick up so that’s the one I have.

Unfortunately I don’t have much of a personal history with the Final Fight franchise. I never played it as a kid but luckily I saw it featured on one of Nathan’s blog posts on videogamesarerad.com.  Wow I’m so glad I finally picked it up and gave it a try!  In my mind Final Fight is a better version of the original Double Dragon, from the 1 hour I put into it on Saturday.  Looks wise it reminds me of games like River City Ransom with the kind of chibi like deformed characters.  Then the experience point system is reminiscent of the one used in Splatterhouse and a better version of the Double Dragon one. 

The story is nothing really unique.  The mayor Metro City (Haggar’s) daughter Jessica, who apparently is so amazingly beautiful she gives the citizens the power to survive, and a villain (Belger, the leader of the Mad Gear Gang) decides he wants this beacon of light all to himself, how selfish! Apparently he loves her too.  Man when I see her she better be drop dead gorgeous, nothing like setting the bar for my expectations super high!  It’s a 1 player game, which kinda sucks but the game gives you a choice of three different characters, Cody, Guy and Haggar.  All three control very different so it really matters who you choose to play the level with, it’s not just a different looking sprite who is exactly the same.  Cody is a tough street fighter who is good with knives, Guy has great agility as he is descended from ninjas and Haggar is a hot tempered wrestler.

I really appreciate how they show exactly how many more experience points you need to level up, and how it makes a chime sound when you level up. The amount of experience points you earn is all based on what attack you use to finish off the bad guy.  The stronger attacks will earn you more points than using a weak one to finish them off.   Whenever the character gains a level they become more powerful and their vitality is increased. There are 6 levels in total.  When you start the game with Cody or Guy you start at the first level, but if you start with Haggar you are automatically started at  level 3.  As you gain level you will learn a new special attack when you reach Level 4.  Each character has their own unique attack that can be performed by pressing the directional pad left or right rapidly and hitting the attack button at the same time.

The game was made by Capcom and based on the catalogue of games they put out on the NES such as Mega Man you know at the very least the controls will be good.  They definitely don’t disappoint.  The controls are very easy to pick up on and it’s very easy to do combinations and pull off the moves each character has.  You can do flips, throws, punches, flying kicks, use weapons and special attacks.

The interactions you have with the bosses.  I have the Famicom version so I’m not totally sure what they are saying so when they asked me a question, but I would always answer hai (which is yes in Japanese).  After looking on YouTube I was apparently agreeing to bow down to them.  Despite this they still wanted to fight, you think they would be happy I was agreeing with them.

I like the variety of bad guys that you have to fight during the levels.  It’s not the same two bad guys you fight for the whole level.  There is a guy in a toque who looks like a bum who throws knives at you, some tough purple haired chicks with high heels, spiky haired guys, guys in capes and the usual huge buff dudes.  The level bosses are pretty cool too with a guy dressed as a samurai, long haired dudes with sunglasses and no shirt,  

In going through the levels you don’t get health energy from the guys you are fighting but from barrels that are being rolled at you.  When you break open the barrels sometimes it will drop food or things like meat that you can pick up and top off your energy, and other times you will earn a bunch of experience points to use towards leveling up.
This game is really good and it's addictive to play so you always come back for more!  I highly recommend picking this one up, you will not regret it!

Game Review - Batman (NES)

Batman is a 1 player game released by Sunsoft in 1989 along with the classic Batman movie staring Michael Keaton that came out at the same time.  Usually games based on movies aren't very good, but luckily for us this game is the exception.  This game is actually quite good.

Graphics: 9/10 The graphics in this game are quite dark adding to the atmosphere of the game.  At the same time it is also very realistic and it works quite well.  It's not like your usual comic book based game where the characters are bright colorful and cartoony.  The character animations are very smooth and there is no choppiness at all. The pleasant surprise is that even with a lot of enemies on the screen at the same time there was no lag and flashing sprites.  Not only do the individual levels look great we are treated to animated cut scenes between the levels. At the very beginning of the game you get to see the Batmobile cruising down the street and it looks awesome.  The only other game I can think of off hand that has cut scenes this good is Ninja Gaiden, which is an accomplishment for an NES game.

Sound: 8/10 The music in this game is quite good and very memorable and says a lot considering a lot of games just have the same music track playing constantly.  Every track in this game is memorable. Even to the point where you might find yourself mindlessly humming along with the music.  The sound effects work quite well with the soundtrack.  They aren't so loud they distract from the music they just compliment it.

Gameplay: 9/10 When you play Batman you aren't going to find anything brand new or amazing.  Batman is your typical platforming game but it does it quite well.  Control wise it reminds me of a mix between a Ninja Gaiden game with the precision of the Mega Man controls.  You have 4 different methods of attack, punching, dirks and your handy batarang. Luckily there are a lot of chances to get more ammunition from killing all the baddies on the screen so chances are you won't run out too fast.

The design on the levels looks really cool. There's a lot of jumping and a lot of vertical levels, so guaranteed you won't be stuck on the ground for the whole level.  This is cool yet can be frustrating if you constantly keep screwing up one of the jumps.  It's definitely a tricky game to get through!  But that is part of the fun, having to constantly challenge yourself.  Batman can luckily do wall jumps similar to Ryu from Ninja Gaiden so that will definitely help to get past some tricky parts.     

Replay: 8/10 Like I said before this game is very challenging.  Though the more you play it the more you will memorize about the levels so it will become easier to complete the more you play it.  The nice thing is when you die it doesn't feel like a cheap death, you can always tell what you could have done differently to avoid that situation which makes it very addictive to play and try to complete it.  Though you may get stuck on the first level for a long time and it may take a while to advance to the next stage, so hopefully you won't get too frustrated.

......BOTTOM LINE: 8.5/10 Batman is easily one of the best movie based games I have played.  Sunsoft did a really good job with the graphics, sound and gameplay and have created a fun, challenging game that any NES game fan, comic fan or Batman fan really should try out.  I never played this game as a kid but right now for me it's the best Batman game ever made, but keep in mind I haven't played Arkham City. So do yourself a favor and check this game out!

Retro Game Birthday

Hmmm apparently my post the other day about my retro game themed birthday party didn't post, so here we go again!

For my bday party I had planned a bunch of challenges to play on my new modded (well hacked) SNES Classic console. Some were silly like complete the Mushroom Cup in Super Mario Kart with the controller upside down, then there were some Super Famicom game challenges like beat the first level of Sailor Moon R or find "scissorman" in Clock Tower the fastest. Ended the event with a Super Bomberman 2 challenge that had a person from each team blindfolded and trying to play while their teammates gave them directions. 

Then for snacks I made 1up and Power Up Mushroom Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes and everyone for a retro video game character treat bag to take home!  Had so much fun can't wait to do it again!

Welcome to my new retro gaming home!

I've been away for way too long! Just got so busy with my boys who were super young at the time when I had my website and work, just found it hard to find time to game let alone write and make videos about it! But now that my boys are older and getting into classic games themselves it feels like the perfect time for a comeback. Plus I realize that I really need to spend more time on myself, doing the things that I love! 

I'll be using this blog for a lot of stuff, sharing videos about games I'm playing, reviews on new and old games, video game themed artwork and more I'm sure! So if you ever have a request for something you want to see, or a game you want me to review, just let me know!