Another year come and gone yet only 34 games pounded into submission. That's only two more than last year! And "last year" was only five months long in regards to Beat All Games! Good grief.... I'd hope for more come 2012, but I already tried that last year and you can see the results. Perhaps I should just ring in 2012 as a hopeful year of gaming disasters. Huzzah!!
Well, with another year gone, it's time to reflect on the past 365 days of games beaten and see which of those stayed on my good side. Honestly, despite such a small list, or perhaps a result thereof, I had a tough time coming up with this year's list of solid performances. I found it unfortunate that I couldn't manage to squeeze a few more titles in there that were definitely deserving of top honors. With the amount of fantastic games I played over the past year, what do you expect? Again, this is a list showcasing those titles that really grabbed me and/or I'd go back and play in a heartbeat due to their unbelievable fun factor and replayability. Previously marked ratings really have no bearing here.
11. Sunset Riders
-While it's by no means a great game, it's one of those rare games that's just a hell of a lot of fun to play and has that classic Konami feel to it.
10. StarTropics
-Sure, it could be touted as the lesser known cousin of the original Legend of Zelda, but there's always been something indefinably enjoyable about this game, despite it's various shortcomings in comparison to the former.
9. Final Fantasy
-Merely for the fact that this game made my opinion of RPG's perform a complete 180°, and that's including my sour predisposition towards turn-based battle systems thanks to Final Fantasy IV (or FFII for those who are still stuck in the foolhardy US interpretation of the FF series), this game easily garnishes a win.
8. Disney's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
-Yes, it's an incredibly easy and simple game, but it's also a whole lot of fun, and along with DuckTales, Chip n' Dale showcases the topnotch gameplay produced by the marriage of Capcom and Disney during the late '80s/early '90s.
7. ToeJam & Earl
-Anytime a game offers randomized level design is a win in my book, and while I'm not the biggest fan of multiplayer in video gaming, this game nails the concept so perfectly that it always makes me wish I had a compatriot around whenever I fire it up.
6. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
-To me, this game is very much an anomaly in the Zelda franchise, which can be both a good and bad thing, but it's distinct LttP style and somewhat questionable approach to common Zelda devices quickly made it one of my favorites among the various Zelda titles.
5. Mega Man 2
-It's not my all-time favorite Mega Man title - just barely squeaked out by Mega Man 3 - but it's by far the most approachable title in the series, clearly defining the groundwork for the Mega Man franchise.
4. Blazing Lazers
-For someone who's never been the biggest fan of STG's, I've been finding some real gems on the TurboGrafx that have made me rethink the genre as a whole and just like Magical Chase, this game was just pure fun all the way to the end.
3. Do-Re-Mi Fantasy: Milon no DokiDoki Daibouken
-I don't know if it's the clever usage of incredibly simplistic, yet thoroughly enjoyable level design, or the fact that it's so aesthetically unique compared to typical stateside platformers of the day, but this game managed to grab me unlike any other SNES platformer has.
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
-The Zelda franchise as a whole is a terrific gift to games, but there's something wholly special about A Link to the Past - perhaps because, in my opinion, it's the most creatively designed of the series, or perhaps it's because it's sort of the "Last of the V8's," if you will, before the 3D revolution took over (disregarding the handheld titles).
1. VVVVVV
-There's not a whole lot I can say other than this is hands down one of the best games I've ever played, well...ever.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
NES - Super Mario Bros. 2
gone are the Koopas,
Goombas, more - herewith justice
by vegetables thrown
Additional Comments:
Crazy Nintendo, we want kids to embrace vegetables, not throw them at warty toads. Ah well...
I've always been torn over this game, and I imagine that's how most people feel - or so I'd like to imagine. I know there's a lot of general disgust over this game, but at the same time I know there are people who enjoy its quirky departure from traditionalist Mario. When you think about it, it's a tad humorous to discredit the game over Mario purism since there was really only one Mario Bros. title before this one (discounting Mario Bros. itself), so the idea of a traditional format sort of falls on deaf ears. It's eerily similar to the constant downplay of Zelda II because of how different that game is from the first. So what? You can't lay down the law of tradition after a single title anyway. That's just absurd. (Or can you? After all, it seems I've found myself locked in a tradition of posting Mario titles on Christmas Day.)
Ok, the loss of what we came to embrace in the first game was tough. Everything that was carried over from SMB1 could probably be counted on one hand - maybe two. Let's see: Mario, Luigi, Peach (er, Princess), Toad, and then you've got your Mushroom, Star and a shoddy facsimile of a Koopa shell, (It doesn't ricochet? Bullshit!!). Anything else? Maybe, but nothing I can readily think of off the top of my head. But you know, I think that's where the game made missteps. It's one thing to break "tradition," but to wipe the slate clean? That's where you run into trouble. Heck, even Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. have more in common with each other than this followup to Nintendo's smash hit of '86, and those two games are worlds apart.
Let's disregard the fact that what we're actually dealing with here is a slipshod reskin of a widely unknown Famicon title called Yume Koujou Doki Doki Panic - although once it was leaked that the States got shafted when it came to SMB2, Doki Doki Panic became a household name among gamers. From a purely "Mario" point of view, we're not just presented with a whole new game, but we're stripped of nearly anything and everything that's even remotely Mario related. While the case can easily be argued that it's not that big of a deal, removing any sense of familiarity can skew an opinion quickly. Sure, it has Mario, but am I really playing Mario? I don't know.
To embellish on a few of the nuances that make this game so incredibly different, let's see what we're dealing with. First, we have a whole new roster of enemies. New enemies are nothing to complain about, in fact most anyone will relish new foes to battle, but to completely sack the original lineup is ridiculous. I know that wasn't with purposeful intent on the programmers' part, but again, I'm disregarding that we're actually dealing with a reskin here. The wrath of the Koopas are nothing more than a distant memory. Instead, Mario must contend with strange, masked creatures, really pissed-off sets of floating masks that are way too overprotective of their keys, some cute little porcupines, a bomb-throwing mouse and an egg-spitting...uh...what is Birdo supposed to be anyway? And presiding over them all is a huge toad that has a nasty derision towards vegetables, yet for some reason has decided to build a machine that manufactures vegetables right inside his lair. Not sure what that's all about.
Next up, we are given a choice of four characters to use for each level. Four? But there's only Mario and Luigi? Yea, somehow Peach and Toad joined in on the action too. And so started the abominable idea of Toad as a playable character - all thanks to a game that's not even a Mario game to begin with. Ugh. So not only do we have four characters to choose from, each one of them has their own unique physics - hint, they all suck. Ok, Peach's float ability is pretty cool, but honestly, every time I've played this game, I've only ever used Mario. But there's more. Not only are we given new jump physics, but we have an overall revised moveset which sort of ties in with my next subject of change: powerups.
Gone is the ability to torch our foes with an onslaught of fireballs. Instead, Mario's decided to fight dirty, throwing anything he can get his hands on, which unfortunately seems to be a vast field of leeks and pumpkins. Sigh. Nothing says danger like a handful of vegetables. SMB2's remaining stock of powerups isn't all that more tantalizing. Save our old friend, the invincibility star, there's a timer and a mushroom that serves little to no purpose - yea, it increases health which is important, but the whole small/big thing is lost in translation. Seriously, is there even an advantage to small Mario's 16x16 hitbox? Is it even 16x16, because it sure as hell doesn't seem to be? I just kept getting creamed by Birdo's egg no matter what - ducks for nothing!!!
I could go on and on listing differences, but I think I made my point. For me, there's too much of a departure from the first game. Going back to Zelda II, while the prominent action-based scenes dumped the top-down view - which threw everyone up in arms - the world and denizens of Hyrule followed suit with those of the previous title. Enemies like Octorok, Leever, Stalfos, and Armos still gave Link the runaround as he tried to navigate the fantastical countryside and maze-like dungeons. Heck, even Keese and Gel make reappearances, though under new names: Ache and Bit respectively. Other comparative features include items such as the Candle, Raft or Whistle, or even Link's hunt for additional Heart Containers. The point is, despite the radical change in format, everything was still very familiar between the two titles and like the title or not, Zelda II was still very much a Zelda game. Could I say the same for SMB2? Honestly, no, but with a but.
The reason I'm so iffy on SMB2's case is that at the time, and I distinctly remember when this game came out, the game was so wildly different that there was a real inherent risk in purchasing it. Who wants a Mario game that is obviously not a Mario game? I never acquired the game as a kid - I didn't want it. I recall playing it once at a friend's house and clearly disliking it. However, as the years have passed, Nintendo desperately tried to mask their mistake by slowly integrating SMB2 content into later titles. Pokey, Bob-omb, and even Shy Guy eventually found their way into other Mario titles. Birdo's in nearly every non-platforming Mario title, most notably the Mario Kart series. And I really think that helped save the sinking ship that was SMB2. Nintendo found a way to make SMB2 feel at home among the Mario-verse, and I'm glad they did. Yea, I didn't like the game as a kid, but over the years it has grown on me. It still isn't one of the better Mario titles in my opinion, but it has its merits and is a lot of fun to sit down with every now and then. What's more, I'd rather play this SMB2 than the Japanese SMB2 any day of the week. I think the best way to put it is as a Mario game, it's mediocre at best, but as a generic platformer, it's fantastic. It's got everything you need for a great platformer, but nothing you want for a good Mario platformer, even after all the sneaky integration over the years.
There is one thing this game did nail as a Mario game though, despite its roots residing elsewhere. The music was catchy and memorable, just like any good Mario music of yore. The NES Mario trifecta pulled this off without fault. The songs in each of these titles are clearly unmistakable, and just like SMB1 and SMB3, I can likely hum some of SMB2's melodies at the drop of a hat, especially Character Select, Overworld, and perhaps even Underworld if you catch me on a good day.
So, in the end, while Yume Koujou Doki Doki Panic selflessly lent itself as a model for what was at the time a terrible Mario game, there was a lot of good that managed to come out of it as well. Who would have thought that some obscure Famicon title would manage to push and develop the Mario franchise, especially when there was no real intent of continuity behind the title - that it was nothing more than a rush job to capitalize on a lot of game-hungry children who were already head-over-heels over the first SMB title and rake in the dough. Funny, isn't it?
Rating: 3.5 rocket ships out of 5
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Flash - Don't Shit Your Pants
a practical slant
on one of life's dilemmas -
pray, don't shit your pants
Additional Comments:
While 99.9% of all Flash games out there just don't deserve the time of day - at least in long-winded, commentary prone to dissect every aspect of the game, there are those rare gems and oddities that make you crook an eyebrow and say to yourself, "Hold on. What's this?" Flash games for the most part are juvenile time-killers that may potentially pack in a whole lot of fun in a neat (well, maybe neat's not the best adjective) little package or even a barrel of laughs if you're lucky. For me, Don't Shit Your Pants has fun, laughs, and the ability to move eyebrows. I remember Sven told me about the game over the phone and I was already laughing just listening to his own take-away. Shortly thereafter, I headed on over to Kongregate and checked it out myself.
Ok, the game is absolute stupidity all the way through to its very core, but it's also fabulous in its presentation and execution. From the incredibly poor Microsoft Paint graphics to the fact that your trying to hammer in commands while the timer counts down to impending doom, you can't help but not laugh and enjoy the experience. It's so easy to hate and love at the same time. Everything about it barks "I'm a shitty game," yet it teeters on that fine line that screams "Play me," despite its obvious crudeness, ugly presentation, and total lack of gameplay, even for a text-based adventure game.
There's a certain something about this game, much like Super Press Space To Win Adventure RPG 2009, that makes it stand out above other banal Flash excursions into gaming. I could say it's the concept of "simplify, simplify," but there's more to it than that. I think it's the fact that it plays on the absurdity of what a simple game is or could be, even in a text-based format which is about as basic as you can get. In a time when game designers continually push to make the most complex, convoluted gaming worlds that they can possibly think up, here we are presented with a simple screenshot of a man, a door, and a very real problem. He's crowning and there's only one solution. Actually, there's ten, but they all pretty much result in the same steamy achievement.
Nano-Win:
Any game where you can lose, er...win before you even start is a-ok in my book.
Rating: 4 pairs of soiled pants out of 5
Friday, December 23, 2011
NES - Final Fantasy
forth Light Warriors!
on an epic, Final quest -
er, "Final"...not so
Additional Comments:
Where do I even begin with Final Fantasy. Hmm, having a mixed relationship over the years of turn-based RPG's, or hell, RPG's in general, it's hard to say. As I've stated ad nauseum, RPG's were never my thing as a kid. For me, it was all about side-scrolling, platforming action; crude road and track arcade-style racers and brain-busting puzzlers. I distinctly recall my first encounter with a turn-based RPG: Final Fantasy IV, or as those of us in the States have always known it: Final Fantasy II. A friend of mine and I had swapped systems for a week - he took on my SNES while I got to bask in the glory of the Genesis. I remember he rented FFIV...er, FFII during that time and he wanted to show the game off to me. While I guess I could say it was mildly intriguing, I was grossly turned off by the battle system. Now, outside of early text-based computer adventure games - the likes of Zork - I was damn near oblivious to RPG's at the time and unfortunately Final Fantasy IV...er, II left a sour taste in my mouth. Unfortunate being a key word here because the game didn't only disparage my view of the "great" Final Fantasy franchise, but of RPG's as a whole and I don't remember picking up any kind of RPG again until the late 90s/early 2000s when I began to mull over a number of recommended SNES titles. Otherwise, it was back to text-based MUDs like Medievia or the then-new MMORPG world of Ultima Online. I also recall watching footage of what I believe was Final Fantasy VIII at a friend's house. I was genuinely curious to see what had become of the franchise since my last encounter so many years before. Bleaggh!!! Final Fantasy, let it be known that you and I just don't get along.
And again, like so many other games, that was then and this is now. Truth be known, during a period in the early 2000s when I started collecting a number of NES cartridges, I picked up a copy of Final Fantasy, more so out of respect for those titles that could be tipped as classics of the 8-bit era. And while I had little to no desire to play the game, I popped it into my NES and lo and behold, I was hooked. After sitting on hot coals for so many years, a fury burning over turned-based fighting, I was loving this game, so much so that I couldn't stop playing - even with the amount of mind-numbing grinding that I had to put in. I remember long nights going on for a few weeks hacking away at nothing but Trolls, Giants and Pedes, desperately trying to achieve a comfortable enough level to once and for all tackle the ills of Gurgu Volcano. Ugh, the pains of point-based RPG's. For as long as VG-based RPG's have existed, I can only assume it's a natural side effect that everyone has just come to accept no matter how many complaints the system registers. Even I, for as much as I've cursed the incredibly ridiculous concept, I've accepted that it is what it is. Besides, there's something gratifying about watching your characters' numbers slowly climb as you whack the same enemies to pieces hour after hour, day after day. Sad when you think about it, isn't it? Meh... And that's how it works - we shrug our shoulders and carry on, hoping that today is the day that we'll finally make it through the necessary dungeon, kill the boss, and retrieve the required treasure, or in this case, restore the Orbs. And if it isn't our day, back to the killing fields to slaughter some mindless spawn so that our level can increase by a solitary point. Wait, why exactly is this game fun again?
I certainly don't want to harp on the grinding process since it's such a go-to target, but it's only natural to whine. What's interesting is that while this was my third playthrough, albeit my first to completion, Gurgu Volcano still threw up its same impenetrable defenses. Every time, I'd always hit a wall when it came to character level versus dungeon level at this point in the game. With the exception of my latest playthrough, I'd have to drone on and on around the waters of Crescent Lake before I could dare the fiery inferno. The only reason I didn't suffer quite the same damnable process this time around is that I decided to take a different approach to the game. Instead of grinding all of my characters (by the way, I've always used a Fighter/Red Mage/White Mage/Black Mage setup - the Thief and Ninja, well they're just pointless to me) to a respectable level, I instead opted to kill off all my mages and plunge through as much of the game as I could using only my lone Fighter. My plan: to boost his level, and thus his Attack and Hit Points, at an exponential rate because let's face it, that guy's an unstoppable fortress of power once he starts utilizing 3x/4x attacks. And seriously, there's practically nothing other than a few rare breeds of monsters that can even manage more than a single point of damage against him. After Earth Cave, I brought my mages back on full time and managed to tackle Gurgu Volcano with so much more ease, though it still put up an arduous battle. I suppose in a way I was still grinding, but it didn't feel like grinding this time around which helped increase the overall fun factor this time through.
But what's even more interesting than Gurgu Volcano consistently giving me the bird is that the game got progressively easier thereafter. What? Well sure, after spending time building up my character(
But yea, my point remains. Sea Shrine, Mirage Tower and so forth all felt like a cakewalk compared to the first half of the game. Even while trekking through the final dungeon, other than its incredible length and boss gauntlet, with the items and abilities in hand by this point, there's not much to fear. It's more of an annoyance than anything if you have to leave for any reason (low health?), and that's only because of how many floors you have to consistently revisit. And again, I can thank my items and abilities. Granted, heroes should become powerful entities as an RPG pushes on, but the ease that I could handle the worst of the worst made me question the integrity of the end game. With unlimited heals in the form of a Heal Staff and Heal Helmet, you never have to waste potions or spells, and heck, since nearly everything seems to have certain invulnerability to damn near every spell by the end of the game, I never found spell exhaustion to ever prove problematic. My Red Wizard and Black Wizard were melee fighters for the greater part of the game, and that just makes no sense - even my White Wizard when he wasn't busy using the Heal Staff. Couple the above with Exit and an airship that can literally land you on Coneria's Inn's front lawn for the cheapest lodging rates known and the amount of immediate threat is reduced to mere rubble. None of this is meant to be a complaint by any means, and certainly I embrace the notion of raw power flowing through my heroes as they're continually decked out with the strongest of weapons, magic and armor, but it is slightly discouraging that the difficulty of the game began to give way which has yet to seem the case in any of the other Final Fantasy's that I've attempted.
Of course, I could go on whining about this or that, but I think I've already at least hinted at most of my petty issues with the game. But the thing is, outside of grinding, which as I said, is pretty much inevitable in any RPG, especially turn-based RPG's, the game is fantastic. Ok, so the game is blatantly broken with some of its spells or weapons, but so what - this is the game that finally gave me faith in the RPG genre as a whole and revealed the Final Fantasy franchise as what it really is...or perhaps I should say was. Sure, I came about it a bit late in the running, but still, I'm glad I (eventually) bought this game and put forth a solid effort. I've enjoyed this game every time I've popped it in - so much so that this is easily one of my favorite NES games of all time.
And lest we forget the music? Obviously, music has always been a delight in the Final Fantasy franchise, but it's always a joy to hear how some of those songs originated, namely Prelude or Battle. But the tunes that I've always enjoyed would have to be Overworld and Sailing or perhaps even Matoya's Cave for honorable mention. Unfortunately, as great as the music is in this game, it becomes rather grating after hours of gameplay, especially the battle theme (it's funny how refreshing the overworld theme sounds after the victory march). But then, that's the limitations of the hardware we're dealing with - only so much can fit in a cartridge. Continuous gameplay will certainly sour the tunes, but take a break and come back, and classics like Sailing will never grow old.
Nano-Win, er...wait:
Is it just me or is the White Wizard giving the recently deceased the bird after every victory? What a disrespectful asshole!!
Rating: 4.5 Farmers out of 5
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