8-Bit Memoirs

November Updates

2009-11-07T13:44:00.004-06:00

Damn, is it November already? Well folks, I wanted to take a minute to announce a couple of different things in regards to our Youtube channel as well as this blog. First, lets dive into the Youtube announcements.

In the last three weeks we have jumped from 12 subscribers all the way up to 37! In our opinion, for a relatively new channel that is pretty damn good and we are very happy to have so many quality folks subbed to us as well as "friended".
Charles and I have begun a campaign to search for additional friends and subbers in an effort to expand our viewer base. Basically, we are running searches for channels that are not only related to ours, but who have similar interests and the like. Chances are many of you have received a message from us over the last month or so... anyway, that is what it is and we're glad you checked us out!
We are in the process of uploading Super Mario World on the SNES and have new commentary and gameplay recorded for TMNT Hyperstone Heist, Darius Twin, Streets of Rage 2 and Rescue Rangers. Originally the aforementioned videos had no commentary and were not representative of the channel so we decided to polish them up a tad. The other playthroughs (without commentary) will likely be taken down as to limit confusion during searches and the like.
We have a playthrough that will be uploading after the SMW videos that will feature our first guest commentator! Definitely stay tuned for that playthrough, it will be great!

Alright, now for the blog news! As you may have noticed (focused toward this blogs main followers from the BlogExplosion days) this blog has been dormant for a while. Well, now we are going to shift this blog away from old school reviews and more toward promotion of the YouTube channel. Currently we have a lot of folks clicking over to this blog from the channel, so I thought it would be pertinent to have something relevant over here. Needless to say, the focus will remain on old school games and gameplay.

Okay folks, that is pretty much it for the November Update, I expect to post a couple of more times this month on this blog. We also ought to have an upload daily up until early January when Kris and I take vacation to the Caribbean, at which point we wont post for a couple of weeks (more info to come soon). Thanks for tuning in everyone!

Super Mario Kart 50cc and Sonic 1

2009-10-08T21:52:00.003-05:00

It is that time again; mass uploads! That's right, we have uploaded nearly all of the Super Mario Kart 50cc videos and are about to begin the Sonic 1 playthrough over at the youtube channel. Honestly, if you haven't checked out the channel and subbed, you are missing out on some pretty cool stuff! I have to say our Earthworm Jim, Mario Kart and Sonic videos are definitely our most entertaining in terms of gameplay as well as commentary.

In other news, we are still working out the kinks with our guest commentators, so expect to hear some new.. faces/voices in the near future. I guess that is really it for now, like I said earlier, visit and sub!

Thanks again everyone!

Earthworm Jim Playthrough is Uploading!

2009-10-03T11:31:00.005-05:00

This message may be coming a bit late, but the playthrough for Earthworm Jim began uploading over on our youtube channel this week and is nigh complete. I've always wanted to use the word "nigh" in some form, so there it is. Anyway, the playthrough was a lot of fun and features not only some pretty smooth gameplay, but also commentary by both Charles and myself.

In addition to uploading the Earthworm Jim playthrough, we have a lot of great games coming up in the future as well as more commentary. In fact, we have a couple of other commentors lined up from all around the fricken world! That's right, 8-Bit Memoirs is going global... too a degree.

To recap, Earthworm jim is uploaded (all but 1 video which goes up Monday), Sonic 1 and 2 are complete awaiting commentary by Charles and our friend over at the HumanHighways youtube channel and we have some Mario Kart and most likely some original Final Fantasy on the way, so stay tuned!

Chip'N'Dale Rescue Rangers Playthrough

2009-09-21T12:37:00.004-05:00

It's that time again! Well, I'm not too sure what I was thinking there, but nonetheless it is uploading time for Kris' playthrough of C&D Rescue Rangers on the NES! I've been trying to get Kris involved in the classic playthrough business over at the youtube channel and I've finally found success... well kind of. So yeah, Kris played through the game although she had no idea I was recording on the DVR.

Honestly, she is pretty good at this game and managed to romp her way through it in a little less than half an hour. I have to confess, for those of you who might have never played this one, this game is easy. Granted, the game is a Disney title created for children, so there it is. Rescue Rangers for the NES is really fun though despite its easiness. If you have never played this one you really ought to check it out. Infact, I am pretty sure there is a sequel. Now although I've never tried it, I am sure that it is just as enjoyable as this one. Anyway, check out the playthrough as well as some of the other great playthroughs on the 8-Bit Memoirs youtube channel!

Thanks for stopping in!

Super Mario 3 Playthrough

2009-09-08T09:03:00.003-05:00

The newest playthrough has begun uploading this week, that's right, Super Mario 3 on the NES! Needless to say, SM3 was one of my favorite NES titles growing up and can still throw its weight around with some of the big-boys in terms of entertainment value. Granted, you're more likely to find me playing Resident Evil or Halo or something similar, but when it is time to go old school, you know where I'll be.

Anyway, the SM3 upload is going to be a little different... this time Charles and I added in a bit of commentary. Granted, things are a little rough the first couple of videos, but then we seem to find a groove and have a good time with it. You have to give us a break, we just play games, we don't usually comment on them. Having said that, if there are no real objections... hell even if there are, we will likely begin doing commentary on many of the playthroughs.

Alright, so SM3 is uploading, Earthworm Jim is in editing (probably no commentary on that one) and Final Fantasy on the NES is in recording right now, so there is quite a bit coming down the pipe at the moment. In fact, we are set to have our 100th video uploaded this week!!! Granted, the 72 Final Fantasy 2 videos helped a bit, but still... One last thing about the FF playthrough on the NES, this playthrough will be MUCH shorter as there will be some edits (fights, towns, traveling) as I really want to focus on the tasks and "story".

Anyway, feel free to drop by the channel and comment, rate and subscribe!

Darius Twin Playthrough and Commentary on Super Mario 3

2009-09-05T21:06:00.004-05:00

As you may have gathered, the playthrough of Final Fantasy 2 on the SNES has finally wrapped up and we have begun uploading Darius Twin for the SNES. The Darius Twin upload is quite short and will likely be complete this coming Monday, but that isn't the "big story". The "big story" is that we will finally have a bit of commentary on the playthroughs now that Charles finally has cleared his insanely hectic schedule...

Alright, maybe his schedule isn't insanely busy, but nonetheless he is back and pitching in with some commentary on the Super Mario Bros. 3 playthrough that will begin on Tuesday or Wednesday over on the 8-Bit Memoirs youtube channel.

With all that said, I wanted to post the Darius Twin playthrough here in the margin of this blog, so if you are interested in checking it out, feel free to visit the left margin or the actual channel and watch. I pretty much dominate the game (it is on easy) until the final couple of levels where I get my ass handed to me. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I hope you folks check it out!

Gauntlet

2009-08-23T23:08:00.004-05:00

Having repressed the memories of mazes of monsters, hidden walls, keys and a steady health meter ticking toward oblivion, I seek to review Gauntlet for the NES. Recently, while surfing Amazon.com for some old school NES games, my wife mentioned the Tengen cartridge for Gauntlet. Having successfully repressed the aforementioned memories, I didn't think much of tossing the game into my cart. Well, about a week later the game arrived and so did the nightmares.

If you have ever played Gauntlet for the NES, you are aware that not only is this game difficult, it is downright unfair. Now that I have that out of my system, let me drop a quick review of the first few levels (as far as I got then and now).

The game begins innocently enough with a quick story scene and a character select screen. You get to choose between four characters with differing stats and skill-sets. In typical fashion, Kris chose the female warrior and I chose the wizard. As you may have gathered, we pretty much got our asses handed to us. It is funny, when you look at the game on YouTube, it doesn't look too hard. In fact, it looks quite easy. Well, this game is anything but easy. The control is extremely rigid. You oftentimes wind up bumping into enemies when you are trying to angle a blast to kill them. Oftentimes you will stop either too far away to attack effectively or you will stop way to close and simply run over the enemy and lose a s@#tload of health (both of which are utter bulls@#t).

Arggh, I just want to blast this f@#ker not run into him!

Let's see, controls are bulls@#t, what about the rest? The sound and music is what you would expect from an old school NES game so there really aren't any surprises there. As for the gameplay... well you basically need to find your way to an exit while collecting health, treasure and power-ups. Honestly, it isn't too tricky, it is just the fact that the control is rigid and the health ticks away like a timer.

In all honesty, I hate this f@#king game. I actually wish I had that $2.93 back.

Playthroughs in the margin!

2009-08-23T23:01:00.004-05:00

Over the last few weeks I've begun posting numerous playthroughs of classic video games over on YouTube. Needless to say, I've been spending quite a bit of time playing, editing and posting these videos which has caused me to slow down the reviewing aspect of this blog. Well, sometimes things change and we just got to roll with it. I'm hoping to get back to posting a review or two a week on this blog as well as keeping my playthroughs over in the margin where you can watch them or play them as you read different reviews.

Anyway, I've got quite a few things in the works right now as far as game uploads as well as reviews. I don't expect the two to cross paths very often as I tend to be uploading videos bout two to three weeks after playing them. I plan on keeping my game reviews along the lines of being written shortly after having been played to keep the feel more "organic".

With that said, I'll be pushing this blog back onto some of the traffic generators to build up some traffic and hopefully some new attention to the YouTube channel as well as this and other projects. Thanks for sticking with me through this "adventure".

Final Fantasy Upload Presses On

2009-08-18T11:17:00.004-05:00

Well, the Final Fantasy 2 upload is continuing as planned however it has managed to significantly bog down my iMac as well as iMovie. Honestly, I can't even edit other projects until I finish uploading this one (it is that epic)! I finished my playthrough of Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES last night and was going to upload and edit the playthrough but couldn't even get iMovie to respond. Needless to say, I need to finish the FF upload and then clean up some space to continue on.

Anyway, I've got a handful of SNES games I am looking forward to uploading in the near future, so stay tuned here is some pretty cool retro stuff on the way.

In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying the Final Fantasy 2 playthrough as much as I did playing it. I had forgotten just how much I really enjoyed that game and also how the story is damn near paper thin. But hey, I'm not here to harp on one of the best SNES titles; I just post the playthrough.

Thanks for dropping in!

Caribbean Cruise this January!

2009-08-18T11:04:00.002-05:00

Having spent the last year and a half in the Texas heat, Kris and I have finally decided to book a cruise this coming January. Honestly, playing retro games and uploading video is tiring work. Well, maybe not, but we figured we deserve a break. Having said that, there were a variety of contenders for our vacation plans. Originally we thought about visiting relatives back up in New Hampshire, taking a road trip through New Mexico and Arizona and a host of Caribbean vacations. Well, we ended up choosing the Caribbean vacation and we leave on the 4th.

With that said, there was an insane amount of options on the table now that we had an idea where we wanted to travel. My wife is a giant fan of the all inclusive vacation, whereas I like to explore a bit and run a little more "freelance". Don't get me wrong, an all inclusive vacation package is an attractive thing, it just isn't what I necessarily had envisioned. I mean, yeah you can still leave the resort and travel about, but some of the locations are somewhat desolate once you leave the resort.

Anyway, Kris and I decided on an Eastern Caribbean vacation where we hope to explore the Mayan ruins of Tulum and Chichen Itza. In addition to exploring the ruins we will likely spend a great deal of time on white sand beaches as well as tipping back some little umbrella drinks. As I said, the trip is booked for the 4th of January through the 10th and should be a lot of fun. Needless to say, the Youtube videos and blogging will likely cease for that week due to our absence. As always, thanks for stopping by and letting me talk your ear off.

Final Fantasy 2 Playthrough going up this week!

2009-08-11T09:51:00.004-05:00

As I've mentioned over the last couple of weeks here and over at the 8-Bit Memoirs Youtube channel, the Final Fantasy 2 playthrough will begin posting this coming weekend. Honestly, I am pretty excited to be posting a playthrough of one of my favorite RPG's of all-time. I did want to deliver a couple of notes along with the trailer video posted below. First, the playthrough has been shortened in order to maintain a focus on the story as well as major areas and events. What this means is that all leveling-up outside of major game events has been edited out as well as travel between dungeons and towns and the like. I have also edited out the copious amounts of buying, selling and equipping items in shops. Let's face it, I want to show you the games storyline, not some guy in Texas fumbling through equip screens and buying Cure2 potions.

Anyway, I am finishing up the ripping and editing process this week and expect to have around 75-80-6-10 minute videos. Having said that, I am not going to drag out the release of these videos as one per day or eve two per day I expect to release them in event order. By event order I am referring to all videos that deal with a certain dungeon or event. For instance, when Cecil must battle through the Watery Pass and the Antlions Cave. All those videos will be released on the same day so that viewers can enjoy the whole event as opposed to 7 or 8 minutes of it a day for two or three months.

With that said, I hope you all are enjoying the videos, because I am really having a great time putting them together!

TMT Playthrough uploading this week!

2009-08-09T09:50:00.002-05:00

The TMNT Hyperstone Heist playthrough is finally uploaded! I'll be posting video for TMNT all this week followed most likely by some Megaman 1-3, Final Fantasy 2 or maybe even Super Mario 3. As for the TMNT playthrough, Kris and I teamed up and had a good time taking down Shredder and the Foot. I have to say that we made a good choice playing through the game on Normal as opposed to the harder difficulty levels. I have never been terribly good at this game, even with the predictable patterns of the bosses. For some reason I just always get my life worn away.

Anyway, The game was quite a bit of fun and Kris and I are hoping to team up in future TMNT releases over on the 8-Bit Memoirs youtube channel. Here is the first clip from the aforementioned playthrough. I am playing as Don and Kris as Mikey.

TMNT Hyperstone Heist Video

2009-08-04T20:26:00.006-05:00

I've been spending a bit of time thinking about which videos to record for the Youtube playthroughs and thought it would be cool to do TMNT Hyperstone Heist on the Genesis. This time, there is a bit of a twist. I will be playing coop with my wife Kris. We've played this game in the past on the easiest setting, which is not very challenging at all, so we upped the ante (as it were) and will be taking on the game on... normal. Yeah, not an impressive feet, but still fun nonetheless.

Having said that, I expect to finish posting the Streets of Rage 2 playthrough on Saturday or Sunday and then launching into TMNT on Monday. After that, I am thinking about putting a Final Fantasy 2 playthrough on the channel or possibly Mario 3, but I'm not too sure which as of the moment.

Other than that, I've been putting together trailers for all of the games that will only be available on this website. Think of them as a kind of "teaser" for the youtube channel. In time maybe I will edit them a bit (copyright issues) and then post them there, but in the meantime you can find them here. In fact, here is the TMNT Hyperstone Heist trailer.

YouTube Updates!

2009-08-02T13:32:00.003-05:00

I finally completed the ripping and editing of Streets of Rage 2 for the 8-Bit Memoirs Youtube channel. The first two stages are up now! This has been quite the process, and it is fun to see the final product. I am currently playing TMNT Hyperstone Heist on the Genesis with Kris and should have those videos edited and uploaded as soon as the playthrough for Streets of Rage 2 is completed. The first couple of videos I had to split in half due to upload issues, but the rest should be of 10 minute or so length, so bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of their system.

This is an exciting time for me because now I am able to share my passion for old school gaming with everyone in a video format as opposed to basic comments and reviews on these blogs. I have a lot of great videos in the works, so definitely check back with the aforementioned youtube channel and subscribe. This is going to be a lot of fun! Thanks again as always for visiting the site and watching the videos!

Streets of Rage 2 Playthrough on YouTube

2009-08-01T06:45:00.000-05:00

Be sure to stop by the 8-Bit Memoirs youtube channel to watch me get my ass handed to me on the "Streets of Rage". We'll be uploading several videos a week on this channel of classic playthroughs as well as other media! Thanks for stopping by!

Missile Command

2009-07-26T23:36:00.006-05:00

I recently purchased one of those retro flashback style systems that feature 50 classic Atari games and, low and behold, Missile Command was amongst the games offered. Needless to say, after spending the last handful of years playing the classics as well as a host of newer console games, I felt as though my skills were considerably honed and that I wold romp this classic... nope.

Upon selecting the game and witnessing the construction of six cities on the bottom of the screen it didn't take too much time for the mass annihilation of said cities to begin. You might think that my skills and reflexes which have been meticulously honed over the last twenty or so years would be enough to stave off the 2-bit nuclear doomsday that was about to occur... nope.

The truth is, it doesn't matter just how good you think you are. This game doesn't care if you beat twenty levels in a row, because it is just going to try harder on level 21. Playing this game is similar to those battles in an RPG where your character and their party are forced into combat that cannot be won. You just know that you have to take the beating to further the plot so you do. You know that later on you will be on an equal footing where you actually can win. Well, Missile Command empties its bowels on that premise. Sure you can take the first few levels easily enough, but then the warm-up is over and the real s@#t begins to fly.

There was a point in the fifth or sixth stage where not only missiles are flying about, but bombs are dropping and your gun cannot fire fast enough to take out even half of the s@#t on the screen. That is when you can selective target your way to victory. What I usually do at this point is sacrifice a few cities and try to protect one side of the screen. To hell with L.A., Phoenix and Dallas! I have to protect Chicago, NYC and Boston! And yeah, you can protect them for a few stages then you have to choose which one you will let get nuked because there is just way too much s@#t raining down on you.

It's like the 2-Bit version of the ending of Terminator 3

If you can survive long enough you might "win" a city back on points, but that city is almost 100% guaranteed to be on the opposite side of the screen from the one or two cities you were protecting. Honestly, this far into the game you cannot even move your curser to that side of the screen to even attempt to protect that city. Once you give up on that s@#t, it is only a matter of time before your city or gun get taken down. As far as I can tell there is no winning in this game. In fact, you can't even survive because the missiles never stop coming.

I honestly thought that this game would get easier over time, but it didn't. In fact, I think that this one actually got more difficult. So before you come all up in here and talk about how difficult Gears of War or Fallout 3 is, strap Missile Command on your sorry ass.

Crystalis

2009-07-22T10:55:00.006-05:00

One of my favorite classic games on the NES was Crystalis. Crystalis was one of the first games on the NES that combined action/adventure with the feel of an RPG. I like to refer to this game as a "Where the hell am I and what the f@#k is going on" title, due to the hero's status and quest. The premise of this game is quite simple and delivered in a movie sequence at the beginning of the game. Basically, your ass gets thawed out and it is up to you to fulfill a prophecy restoring balance to the world. Not terribly original huh? Well, back in the day it was and it was good (still is).

Anyway, the game offers players hours of entertainment and an engrossing story involving cave exploration, learning new skills and powers as well as interacting with a number of cool characters and obstacles. Honestly, the first time I played this game I was hooked. In fact, I am seriously considering saving this article as a draft and playing the game through again. I do plan on recording a playthrough in the future of Crystalis for the YouTube channel once I get a functioning DVR.

Having said that, lets take a quick look at Crystalis. The game offers a compelling story backed up with cool graphics and "hum-along" good music. I don't find myself creating lyrics, but the tunes are catchy and capture the mood of the game. I don't have too many complaints, but I have to say that the control can be sluggish at times. One of my biggest peaves is when the character is knocked back from taking damage. This is really only annoying when you wind up in a pit due to the effect, and there are a lot of instances where this will force you to deplete items in some of the more difficult dungeons later in the game.

In regards to the gameplay, I don't have any real complaints. I wish the game was a bit longer. I feel like there could have been a few more of the typical RPG cliches thrown in for effect. I did like the all woman village cliche, for some reason that never gets old. With that said, you really need to play this game to appreciate its subtleties. I did find the ending to be somewhat anti-climactic and way too easy. I thought that some of the area bosses were more difficult than the end boss.

Anyway, Crystalis is a really solid title that any fan of the aforementioned genre's will appreciate. You can find this game online at the usual websites as well as at most classic gaming stores. I believe I picked up my copy at a yard sale some years back. Seriously though, check this one out I think you'll dig it.

The Mafat Conspiracy

2009-07-10T00:11:00.005-05:00

I've played a lot of old school games and this one might technically be "retro", but it is the epitome of s@#t. Granted, the game was actually a "throw-in" when I purchased my new Yobo (2 in one SNES and NES Chinese console) so I didn't have to pay anything for it, but that still doesn't make up for the fact that this game is s@#t. In addition to the aforementioned, I had never even heard of this game let alone ever dreamt that I would be reviewing it on this site. I don't know about you, but I thought that I had played damn near everything for the NES. You should have seen the look of surprise when this grey turd fell out of the UPS box last Tuesday.

Anyway, The Mafat Conspiracy stars the main character from another game you probably have never heard of called "Golgo 13" or some s@#t like that. Basically, you are some sort of disenchanted sniper who goes around Europe killing random people in the streets and wandering into storefronts and the like to murder more people. Honestly, this game is just utter nonsense. Let me take it from the top.

Once you power up the console you are greeted by an insanely long intro that basically repeats the same six lines of text over and over again. Eventually you will find yourself on the first level where you have no weapons except for a kick, sweep and jumpkick. Honestly, the graphics were quite good which was very unexpected, but that is all I can say is good about this game. Your character is wearing a white suit and strolls casually with his hand in his pocket. Honestly, it is more of a strut (think the Parker Bros. Monopoly guy). Anyway, you strut to the right of the screen kicking the living s@#t out of everything. Once you reach the end, some weird guy hands you a Colt Python handgun and instructs you to walk further to the right. Well, he doesn't say that, but you get the point.

Stage 2: Walk further to the right...

In the next stage you walk to the right and shoot everyone. The only difference is that the enemies now have guns and their bullets move faster than yours and fire in bursts. Not to mention, the enemies are practically running at you firing so it is really easy to die. It was during this stage that I managed to walk up into a doorway only to find myself in some type of first person purgatory. All I can say about this POV is that it makes Friday The 13th look like f@#king Halo 3. Imagine nothing but 3D grey walls and a compass.

Now all we need is a f@#king compass...

I turned the game off at this point. So to sum this game up in three words... piece of s@#t. Sorry for wasting your f@#king time with this one. I just had to get this written down somewhere.

Image Needs a Caption

2009-07-02T15:11:00.002-05:00

Taking it to the streets Pt. 1; Street Fighter 2 vs Mortal Kombat 1 and 2

2009-06-25T23:40:00.015-05:00

Having spent a great deal of time during my youth crouched in front of a television pummeling any takers at a game of any Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat, I thought it might be fun to compare and contrast the 16 bit era of the franchises to see (in my mind) which comes out on top. In this first installment of "Taking it to the streets", I'm going to discuss the basics of character selection and general gameplay.

If you are like me, you love to play a fighting game and win with every character while utilizing all of their special moves and combos and both of these franchises offer many different characters that utilize all kinds of crazy s@#t which is where we'll begin.

In terms of unique characters, I would have to say that Street Fight 2 takes the cake. In fact, it takes the whole f@#king bakery. Looking at the character select screen in any of the SF2 titles you will see an interesting array of characters from all over the world. Each character is not only uniquely detailed, but are of varying shapes and sizes. Not only can you be a huge badass sumo wrestler or an electrical current wielding beast, but you can actually play as the leader of the game. How cool is that s@#t. You don't even have to know a crazy ass code to do it. That is just flat out cool.

Don't get me wrong, MK 1 and 2 have their fair share of unique characters, but some of these guys just lack creativity. I mean, did they rush this game out the door or something. Who was the genius who said, "lets just cut and paste a bunch of ninjas and then change their colors." Pretty f@#king original Sega, I'm surprised you didn't color it blue and make it run really f@#king fast too. In addition to the cutting and pasting, MK 1 and 2 had a bad habit of blurry and poorly designed backgrounds, but we'll get to that later.

Control "C" + Control "V" = More Playable Characters

Anyway, in regards to overall character uniqueness the edge clearly has to go to the SF2 titles. Personally, I always enjoyed playing as Vega or Fei Long (who I think looks a tad bit like Noel Gallagher). As for MK 1 and 2, I always enjoyed Kano and Liu Kang, but all the players were essentially the same just different colors.

"I feel love in the shock of the lightning..."

Moving on to my general gameplay thoughts between these two franchises. On of my biggest complaints of fighting titles of the 16 bit era was the total lack of diversity between characters. I mean, yeah they all look a tad different (or just a different color...), but they all move and control exactly the same. Think about it. In MK 1 and 2 all the characters had the same moves and same motions while attacking. The only real difference might be the color of the s@#t that they fire from their fingertips or the one or two specialty moves character specific. Looking at SF2, the character all had unique moves that not only were visually different, but controlled differently. For instance, Balrog might wind up to punch whereas Ken strikes quickly. I mean, you actually feel like there are different characters for different fighting styles. In regards to MK, didn't it feel like all the characters where exactly the same. The game just felt rushed to me, it could/should have been so much more.

I am still to this day a bit frustrated that SF2 didn't have any type of "finishing move", but then again the game offered players so much more. Speaking of finishers, that was one thing that MK did really well. We had never seen anything quite like it in a game before and man it didn't disappoint (granted all this is laughable at this point, but it was cool to us back then). I think I would still give the edge in this overall gameplay category to SF2, but I would call it close due to the novelty of the finishing moves. Although MK did get laughable in the second installment with all that other s@#t that they threw in. You know what, f@#k that. SF2 by a mile in this category due to the aforementioned Friendship/Babality crap.

The final thing I want to tackle in this first installment is the difficulty of pulling off a special move or finisher. Personally, I feel that it is easier to find God than to execute some of the Fatalities in the MK series. Don't get me wrong, tearing out some poor bastards heart is pretty cool, but at the risk of having an aneurism to do it, no thanks. All of the other gameplay moves in MK are actually quite simple to pull off. In fact, there are quite a few similarities between both the series in this regard. I do feel like SF2 was somewhat limited in the special move category due to the lack of finishers, but it was still cool to have unique characters with unique moves. I mean, sure they all throw fire balls and s@#t, but in SF2 they have unique punches, kicks and uppercuts etc (and they talk when they do it). So yeah, this category is close with maybe an edge to MK cause I'm feeling generous and don't want to blow out MK on the first day.

Stay tuned for Pt 2 where I'll delve into storyline and replay value of the titles!

That f@#king Paperboy!

2009-06-21T19:26:00.006-05:00

Was there a more difficult game on the NES than Paperboy? Seriously, I've been playing and replaying this god damn atrocity for the last 20 years and without cheating I can only make it to Wednesday. I'm to the point where if I play this game before bed I wind up seeing visions of kids on big wheels and dogs and s@#t. Anyway, I wanted to post a quick review of Paperboy on the NES so you all can rot in retro gamer purgatory with me.

By now we are all familiar with the concept of this game as well as the objective (deliver your papers without getting smashed to bits by everything in the physical universe). Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if you have to dodge meteors and s@#t in the last level. I still think this game is just as difficult as Silver Surfer (although more fun). See, I can't get away from how hard this thing is.

Alright, bearing down, the actual gameplay is really smooth and not terribly difficult to master. My only real complaint (aside from the aforementioned) is perhaps the reason it is so difficult; lack of movement. Let's think about this for a minute. You can only maneuver that bike slightly to either side and cannot stop. You are perpetually moving toward your doom. The gameplay can best be described as inoperable cancer. You know you are going to die it is just a matter of when. Seriously though, if you could move more to the right or perhaps stop and sacrifice time for safety this game might be playable. I swear there is only one path to victory. The game feels like a "try and die" instead of the fun game it was probably intended to be.

Gameplay aside, the graphics and music are about what you would expect from the NES at the time. Personally, I think that the game is better than its N64 counterpart (creatively titled "Paperboy 64" or some s@#t like that.) Believe it or not, I would recommend buying this game. I think that any true NES/retro gamer ought to have a copy of this game in the pile somewhere. I mean, I have a copy and I despise this f@#ker, but I still play it. Honestly, I just want to finish it without cheating before I croak some day.

The Retro Review Attack is Here!

2009-06-18T18:35:00.006-05:00

Big news fellow old school gamers! After harassing the s@#t out of Mike over at Attack This for the last week or so, he has been gracious enough to allow me to become a guest contributor for the site! Personally, I think it freaked him out when I was lurking around outside his window during dinner this past weekend (sorry about those flowers, I'll replace them). So anyway, in addition to my short reviews on this site as well as the more gamer focused blogs on 2.0, I will be posting in depth retro gaming reviews on Attack This.

Needless to say, I am very excited to be working alongside Mike, Faith and The Lam. To read my AT bio click here, and for my intro article click here. Lots of good stuff on the way!

Ninja Gaiden

2009-06-08T13:24:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite games off all time that I never owned had to be Ninja Gaiden on the NES. Fortunately, growing up in a neighborhood of gaming nerds, there was always a bunch of games circulating among us. Anyway, I wanted to give props to one of my favorite titles of that "era" Ninja Gaiden.

The game begins with a really cool "video" featuring a couple of dueling ninjas and some cool music. After the "video" you get some story and before you know it you are dashing to the right slashing up bad guys and throwing shurikens at anything in your way. One of my favorite features in this game is the ability to wall jump. I mean, is there any more useful technique in any video game? Seriously, how much cooler would most games be if you included a wall jump? Anyway, the game is pretty straightforward and enjoyable like many other titles of the genre.

In regards to the controls, they are quite straightforward and responsive. I can't recall ever having any lag issues or anything with Ninja Gaiden. Let's take a second and talk about the graphics. If there is one thing that I've noticed about Tecmo is that there graphics are strikingly similar in all there games. If you have ever played Tecmo Bowl, you may see some things that will make you do a double-take in this one. Other than that, I would be hard pressed to take issue with anything in this game (and I don't really take issue with that anyway).

I'm not going to throw out that line about if you're a true classic gamer you should own this game, but I am going to let you know that I have this one ordered through Amazon and am hoping to add it to my collection by the end of the week. Anyway, thanks for stopping in today and getting your classic gaming fix here.

Jaws

2009-06-06T18:54:00.005-05:00

Now I've played some real pieces of s@#t in my day, but Jaws ranks among one of the worst. I'm assuming many of you haven't played this one or likely didn't even know it existed, well, it does and it is s@#t. With that said, I have to say that I never owned this "thing", but did play it on a couple of occasions with my old school gaming brother Charles.

The game is actually quite simple and easy to play, but it is monotonous and boring as hell. You basically pilot your boat around an nondescript sea/ocean and wait for an alarm which stops your boat and tosses a diver into the water. Once you are in the water you fight a bunch of pissed off crabs, jellyfish and other assorted hostile sea-life. Eventually, you will get the chance to kill some little sharks and even encounter the infamous Jaws.

As climactic as you might expect an encounter with Jaws to be, this game is a lot like fishing a quarter out of your local malls fountain. I mean, sure you got a quarter, but you look like an asshole for diving in after it. I'm not too sure how that equates with this game, but an encounter with Jaws is lame and damn near pointless. Speaking of other pointless aspects of this game, there are a number of bonus levels/stages that are truly... bizarre. I particularly enjoy the stage where you fly an airplane that drops cannon balls on jellyfish. I mean, I remember that from the movie...

Anyway, I'd rather have a pap-smear than play this one again. If you want to give it a try, I'm sure you can get a copy of this one dirt cheap just about anywhere. I think I've talked about this one enough. I'm not even going to waste bandwidth on video footage from YouTube.

Super C

2009-06-01T09:31:00.005-05:00

After writing a review for Contra on the NES, I thought it would be a good idea to post a quick review of Super C. If you are or have been a fan of the original Contra, you undoubtedly already love Super C. In my opinion the original Contra is "better", but in essence they are the same game. Think of Super C as a handful of extra levels stacked onto the end of the original. Having said that, lets dive into the "nitty-gritty" of this game.

One of the first things you will notice is the amount of enemies, in short, there are a hell of a lot more than the original. Secondly, you will likely notice that there are new weapons as well as new takes on old ones. In addition to the aforementioned differences and similarities, the bosses are now a bit more detailed and "interactive". By this I am referring to the fact that you can actgually leap onto them and over to attack from different areas. In the first Contra, you touch them you die.

Another game play aspect that I enjoyed was the more interactive nature of the levels. I mean, in the original game the stages were kind of cookie-cutter and didn't really move or explode etc. In this game you have sinkholes, emergent pitfalls as well as more elevators and the like. Personally, I think these aspects really add to the overall run and gun Contra experience.

In regards to the Contra series there is one thing I don't understand. Why are more than half of the enemies in the game "joggers"? I mean, most of the time it is like you're running a 10k out there. Why wouldn't the regime/alien war race not equip half of their soldiers with any weapons? Granted their "touch" can "kill", but come on a bullet is so much more efficient.

I'm not going to dive into the controls and other game play aspects because they are exactly the same as the first. I have to say that the music isn't as good, but definitely falls in line with the original. Anyway, if you enjoyed the first game you will enjoy the second (just don't expect anything too new). Definitely a cool game to have in your NES collection.