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NES turns 25 today! Come reminisce here!
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I don't know what the current hive mind opinion on the AVGN is, but I still love his stuff. I have a bit of a man crush on James Rolfe. I also like his other videos, like his movie stuff. He just seems like a really cool dude.
One of my favorites is the Dick Tracy one, even though I liked that game and disagreed with a lot of his points. It's still pretty hilarious.
So I just watched this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um-GMygsRg4
How could I have forgotten how awesome Excitebike and Micro Machines were?
Fun Fact: I bought some of Instant Remedy's music because of these series of videos.
Fun Fact: Neither the above or this fact are really all that fun.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
However, very entertaining! I laughed out loud when he landed the Top Gun plane with the PowerGlove.
The second video where he fights Bugs sucks ass, though.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
Yeah, I'm the same way. Though the Mr. Bucket one was pretty hilarious.
I've got a bad case of lovin' you.
I didn't really like the Mr. Bucket review. I mean, it was just a victim of the TV spot, which abused the word "balls". It's not like it wasn't a fun game to play.
I was more referring to when Mr Bucket comes alive and tries to eat their balls.
The AVGN/TGWTG cross-overs are probably some of the greatest things ever.
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Yup, this.
NC is an awesome reviewer and very entertaining. I loved the crossover stuff.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
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Yes, I was referring to that as well. I didn't like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMDTkkXZbdc&feature=related
One of the finest (and hard as balls) games ever released for the nes. I spend countless hours trying to beat it. Writing the password for every match in a notebook.
Ha, that's awesome, and yeah it was a neat game. But it was also infuriating because every time you triggered anything happening, something else in the world could change, and you'd have to try every object on every other object again. Crazy stuff like, overhear a guy talking to another guy about that cute carrot girl, and then you will be able to find your lost keys under a bench, even though they weren't there before.
The other trio of adventure games were a bit more logical, even though you could die instantly a whole lot. (Deja Vu, Uninvited, and Shadowgate)
One of the first adventure games I played was King's Quest 5 on the NES. You want to talk about down-ports, holy crap, you have to see it to believe it when you compare the PC and NES versions. But all the story and all of the puzzles are there. The King's Quest games are full of stupid deaths and things that make the game unwinnable, but I played that thing for hours.
One really cool adventure game for the NES (and Genesis) was Linus Spacehead (also known as Cosmic Spacehead). It had the traditional look/pick up/talk system, combined with platforming stages between each "adventure mode" area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYTKHQd4Q_w
The story is that Linus crash landed on Earth and eventually made his way back to his home planet, but nobody believed that he'd actually been to Earth. So now with nothing to his name, he has to get a camera and a flight back to Earth so he can prove he's been there. I highly recommend playing it, though it is way better on the Genesis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuGGo3KD-uQ
Clash At Demonhead
Crystalis
Faxanadu
RESCUE: Embassy Mission
Magic of scheherazade
Xexyz
I really wish Mother 1 had been released.
My current collection consists of:
Clash At Demonhead
Crystalis
Faxanadu
RESCUE: Embassy Mission
Magic of scheherazade
Xexyz
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Zelda
Zelda 2
Metroid
Kabuki Quantum Fighter
Star Tropics
Star Tropics 2
Monster Party
Shadow Gate
Final Fantasy
Dragon Warrior
Rampart
Megaman
Megaman 2
and a bunch of others I am forgetting
Currently looking for: Mr. Gimmick
Yeah, it wasn't a particularly good adventure game as those go, but I just enjoyed the experience. It was wacky and cute and endearing. And holy crap that music, I'm not kidding. Better than Megaman 2, even. It was kinda slow to play, though. The mazes weren't too fun, either, but pretty easy to map out.
Yeah, I really liked the trio, mainly Shadowgate, which I owned, but I rented the others fairly often. I had Shadowgate memorized completely. It also has good music.
I also rented KQ5 once, though I don't remember much about it. When I got a PC later, that was one of the first games I got, so it's the one all of my memories are from.
I got up to the last area, and could never quite finish that level....I couldn't ever figure out what doodad went with was whatstit.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
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Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIgKaTvJFTE
and yea clash at demonhead rules. Just wide open nonlinear platformer with entire sections that are completely optional. Entire hidden side quests.
Weird personality all it's own. This game has such amazingly distinct personality to it.
Also, the happy video game nerd always looks like Isaac Brock to me.
There is a reason why Chiptunes lives on to this day...
I remember owning Deadly Towers and renting Kemco's Superman.
God the suck.
I owned Deadly Towers too. Fucking christ was it an awful game, I even hated it as a child.
And yes, chiptunes are awesome, I'm always looking for new artists.
The summer after it came out, we had a garage sale and I sold EVEYTHING I owned to be able to buy a NES. And I did. And it was good.
Then, since whenever the Legend of Zelda commercial came on I pretty much just came, I worked like a fucking dog all summer to save up money to buy it. We was po', folks. Dirt po'. Every time I got any money, I gave it to my mom to take down to the Pamida to drop onto my layway Zelda cartridge. Come September, I finally, FINALLY got the last chunk of cash and gave it to her.
She comes back that night saying the game wasn't there and there was no record of my layaway, too bad so sad go get mama some cigarettes.
I was devestated.
Turns out she got the game and then saved it to give to me OVER A MONTH LATER on my birthday so the lazy sow didn't have to get me something herself.
I'm 40 years old now and very little has changed.
Ya know what? Fuck you guys. I can't believe all the stupid Deadly Towers hate on the web. That game was fucking AMAZING. Brutally difficult, ZERO hand holding, tons of secrets and mysteries and the best music evar.
I loves it I does.
over and over and over and over and over and
Once. It took me forever. And it was worth it.
That game was all sorts of terrible.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
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Except it wasn't. It just gets reviewed by a bunch of whiners who couldn't take the difficulty.
THERE I SAID IT
the 2nd half of the game is even weirder than the beginning
For the record, I'm 24 and starting playing when I was 2. I have a picture of myself playing Mario in a high chair as proof and will post it, along with my collection and gaming setup, once I get home. The NES probably still sees more action than any of my other consoles despite the fact that I have almost every major system between the NES and now except for an XBOX/360.
Now, some games I'd like to talk about or just show some appreciation for.
Shatterhand: I actually didn't play this until sometime this year, and I was so happy (as I always am) to find another amazing NES game that I'd never heard of before. Punching bullets and robot helpers were the highlights, though it also had a rare mechanic that allowed you to grab onto various things (usually chain fences) in the background and jump from them. This is one of those games that went through a lot of changes when it came to the states, and I'm glad it did. I'm pretty sure you played as a robot in the original version, but that green coat looks so much more awesome, especially when he's standing there all badass at the stage select screen. This explains why you turn into a better robot with certain items though.
Kabuki Quantum Fighter, Batman, Shadow of the Ninja, Ninja Crusaders: These are some of my favorite Ninja Gaiden-like games, and the latter two are multiplayer. I'm not even going to get started on these, just go play them if you like that sort of thing.
Kickle Cubicle: This was my first serious puzzle game, and still one of my favorites. I have fond memories of playing this with my dad. He had the brainpower required to figure out the puzzles, and I had the reflexes to actually do it once I knew how.
Snake Rattle and Roll: This is another game I had early on, and my mom and I made some valiant efforts to beat it that ended in nothing but tears. I only managed to complete it a few months ago, and that last hill before the final door (you know what I'm talking about if you've seen it) is one of the hardest single sections of platforming in gaming history that is strictly a skill challenge and doesn't require memorization.
Dragon Spirit: My first scrolling shooter. It's one of the easier ones, but it had some real effort put into it. The game starts with a quick and easy boss fight, and losing to it continues the game in easy mode. I thought it was a nice touch that the difficulty modes are actually factored into the story, as you play as someone else if you let the hero die in the tutorial stage.
Dragon Fighter: A side scrolling platformer in which you play as a generic warrior in tight clothing who fights random monsters with a sword. A bar fills up as you kill things, and once it gets at least halfway full you get to transform into one of three dragons depending on the weapon you have. In dragon form, the screen scrolls automatically and you play it like a shooter. I have yet to see another game that does this. The Guardian Legend and a few other games have both SHMUP sections and platforming/adventure sections, but this is the only one I know of in which you can switch between both styles at will.
Nightshade: An interesting point-and-click merged with a sloppy fighting system. I don't even know what to say about this except that it's very charming despite its flaws. I was really surprised to see it mentioned here.
Little Samson: I want this game so badly. It's one of the rarer NES games and probably costs somewhere around $150 or more now. Unlike most of the rare games, this one is actually worth it. You play as four adorable characters with distinct abilities, each of which has their own introductory stage. The whole thing looks and feels kinda like a Kirby game in both difficulty and art style until you beat the first four stages. Then, you team up and enter Dracula's castle or hell or some other crazy dimension with giant bosses that look like they came straight out of Castlevania. Seriously, this game is not screwing around and will kick your ass mecilessly. The cuteness of your characters somehow makes the huge, detailed boss monsters even more terrifying.
Solar Jetman: I love the idea behind this. It's a Metroid-like exploration game in which you play as a ship with controls similar to Asteroids. Each stage is a different planet that you have to get treasures and fuel from to reach the next one. Each planet has it's own gravity, so you'll be fighting that along with the various enemies. You have to drag treasures back to the mothership via some sort of tether or tractor beam, and the items will swing around while you do so and screw with your controls. It's nice to see a good exploration game that isn't a platformer, not that I'd mind more of those either.
Dragon Warrior series: My patience for grinding has all but vanished as I've aged, and Dragon Warrior is the prime example of a game that I'm never going to touch again. Back in the day though, this and Swords and Serpents were my only examples of the RPG genre, and I played the crap out of them. Even then I had some vague understanding that an entire game of "press a to kill monster" with nothing else to dress it up was silly (I love Final Fantasy 6, so it's not like I hate all RPGs), but I was determined to beat it anyway. This forced me to come up with creative ways to do so without driving myself crazy. I distinctly remember grinding wyverns with my feet while eating chips or reading or doing anything more fun just so I could finish this damn thing. My DW sessions grew shorter and further apart each time, until eventually I dusted it off every 6 months or so and played for less than 15 minutes, just out of pure stubbornness. 10 years later, on the same save file, I finally beat it. There was much rejoicing.
A year or two ago, I happened to find Dragon Warrior 2, 3, and 4 at a Half-Price Books for $5 apiece. Knowing that each of those was actually worth about $30-$50, I quickly snatched them up, thinking that this was one of my luckiest finds in a long time. I had no intention of actually selling them though, and my wife certainly wouldn't let me even if I wanted to, so now I have $15 dollars worth of expensive games that are sitting on the shelf unplayed. I know this is going to bother me until I do so, but I dread the day I put myself through all that again.
Journey to Silius: This is another game that I didn't find out about until recently. There's really nothing special about the game at all, but the music is some of the best I've heard on the system and I'll often leave the game on while my wife and I are doing stuff in the kitchen just to listen to that amazing opening.
Deadly Towers: I only picked this up a few days ago, and it really isn't THAT bad. I've developed a very fast finger thanks to all those days playing Megaman and trying to fire off all three shots into my target, so the absurd enemy health didn't bother me all that much. I kinda like games that just dump you somewhere and expect you to explore the world and find everything on your own as long as it doesn't devolve into burning every bush and bombing every wall. The only thing that really kills the game for me is the lack of a map. I would have loved it when I was younger and liked to make my own maps on graph paper. The web is a wonderful place, and once I've drawn myself a nice, colorful map with the help of GameFAQs and MS Paint (assuming there isn't a good one out there already) I might make a serious effort to beat it.
Most of the complaints against it are legit though. While I was trying it out I managed to walk into a room with an enemy standing in the doorway, bouncing me back through another doorway into another monster, etc. I got comboed to death across 4 rooms. This game hates you and will remind you of that at every opportunity.
Cybernoid: I've been trying to beat every action game I own just to say that I have. Far too many of these games beat my ass as a kid and I won't be satisfied until I've returned the favor. I'm weird like that. This doesn't extend to RPGs or games that rely heavily on knowledge or trial-and-error, such as Milon's Secret Castle, but any game that's pure action or at least relies mostly on skill to finish is included.
Of all the action games I consider to be part of my original collection (that is, everything I owned and played in grade school before I discovered emulation), this is the only one I've been unable to beat even now. It's a terrible space shooterish game, and the only thing different about it is that you move room to room instead of the screen scrolling. I can't even get to the fourth level of this and I have no idea how long it is. Fuck whoever made this. I also found out that those same people made at least two other games called Exolon and Stormlord. Those two and this are notorious for their difficulty and I've heard them referred to as the Impossible Trilogy, so naturally I'm going to have to hunt them down and beat them as well because that's how much I hate this game. Like I said, I'm a weird person.
Fuck this, I just looked it up and found out they made a sequel. Fuck.
Ironsword: The sequel to the popular Wizards and Warriors, this game is like a platformer with a little adventure thrown into the mix. At least that's what I always thought it was. But you know what? It isn't. It's a fucking RPG in disguise. I spent a lot of time playing this as a kid, and I always attributed the seemingly random hits and misses to a very shoddy hit detection system. My mind was blown when I recently discovered that those hits actually ARE random, and your armor determines how often attacks from various directions will hit you. or something like that. I still don't understand this game at all really but I had a blast playing it. The commercial is wonderful too.
I'll stop with the games for now before I write an entire novel, but there's one other thing I want to say here. One of the reasons I love this system is that it feels like it distills all the fun I need from a game into a 1-4 hour experience. The reason I don't play modern games as much is that they all feel like such a chore. I can't just sit down and play a new game anymore. I have to sit through a 20 minute opening cutscene, let the game spend an hour or two teaching me how to do things I could figure out on my own in five minutes, watch the characters talk to each other about every little thing, play through a few hours of the actual game to unlock my full moveset, and maybe someday actually get to run around and fight things at some point without getting interrupted by PLOT every few steps.
I'm a gamer from the days when we simply got dumped on the ground with nothing but a point in the right direction and a slap on the butt to start us off. All I really want or need from a game is a line of enemies and pits with some bosses here are there, and some fancy moves to kill them with. One of the most common complaints I have about any newer action game I play is the lack of a decent survival mode or something similar, because at the end of the day all I want the game to do is throw everything it has at me until I die.
I lament the fact that Dynasty Warriors has yet to have a decent mode in which you, and you alone, declare war on the entire rest of the cast and their armies on one battlefield. I yearn for the days when ninjas were only stealthy because they stabbed anyone who saw them, and wore bright colors as an excuse to kill more. Saint's Row 2, if it was made in the 90's, would have given me a shotgun, a cigarette, and a number at the top of the screen representing the city's population. A credits screen would appear when the number hits 1 or everyone else is wearing purple. I want these games. I MISS these games.
It's been fun typing all this. I know it looks like I sat here and typed non-stop for hours, but really I've been at work and have added to this throughout the day whenever I had to wait for some task to finish or needed to clear my head for a few moments. It's been nice thinking about these all day, so hopefully I'll trigger some good memories in some of you guys. I'll post some pics of my gaming setup and collection when I get home since many of you have been doing the same.
Just for clarification, Saint's Row 2 is a fine game as it is one of the few whose cutscenes I actually enjoy watching. I still want a "kill everything" mode, but the cheats let me simulate it fairly well.
EDIT: If you're wondering why I said I'd post some favorite games and avoided listing most of the best ones, it's only because the best games on the system don't really need to be talked about. I love Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Megaman, Mario, Zelda, Blaster Master, and all the other classics too, but I'm sure you all have those on your lists of favorites too, so there's no reason for me to tell you about them. Maybe I'll post a list of my actual favorites a bit later, but choosing favorites among so much awesome could take weeks.
The the guilt set in. I realized that my Dad was likely going to snag one for Christmas. I didn't like anyone spending a lot of money on me, because even though we were comfortable at that point, things had been tight enough in the past that I didn't like feeling I was getting too much of the family's cash in the form of gifts. The Atari was cheaper.
Next time I saw dad, I was paging through the wish book and said, you know what, I think I'd rather have the Atari. Dad started acting really, really pissed. As my step mother drove me back to my mom's for the week, she asked if I said that just because the Atari was cheaper. I said yes. She asked which had better games. I said Nintendo.
Luckily, I got the Nintendo. Turns out Dad had fought some pretty horrendous odds and crowds to get one in our Podunk part of Upstate NY. He was pissed imagining having to return it and hunt for the other machine.
My step mother became addicted to it after Zelda came out, (and ended up getting her own after she and my Dad divorced). I would basically bring the machine over on the weekends and kiss it goodbye, and go hunting or hiking in the woods. Ditto when Tetris came out. I swear she bought me a gameboy to "take to college" just so she could borrow it.
Loved the NES, renting games to play with friends, especially during winter, and fucking beating Battletoads and TMNT. Fucking fuck those games.
EDIT: As for a game I absolutely loved? Golgo 13 and the sequel. Awesome!