Gargoyle's Quest II - Finished the Game

Time: Monday 2:43am
Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100, Gargoyles Quest II
Drinks Consumed: 2 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 3 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster, 1 Guayaki Yerba Mate Nonsweetened Mate, 1 Nantucket Nectars Lemonade, 1 Lo-Carb Monster Energy



The next level is some sort of Egyption-themed dungeon. You can't tell from the picture, but all that sand is moving which looks pretty impressive. Also, I realized that I hadn't taken a picture of any of the bosses yet. So I decided to take a picture of the next one and this boss is probably the most boring one there is. The rest are much more interesting, I promise!


The game has kind of a fun mechanic where vials you collect throughout the levels can be used as currency to buy extra lives. Because there are points in the overworld where you can fight a few enemies for vials, you can always grind them until you have a ton of lives and power through every level. Sort of a way to circumvent the difficulty. Oh, extra lives are called "The Power of the Maelstrom"


I like how "The Password" is sort of a mystical power in this land that can revive the fallen. Clever, Capcom.


This is a more interesting boss, but he's incredibly frustrating because once he moves near you, it's nearly impossible to avoid his projectiles. In general, that was my problem with this game. The level designs were, for the most part really well done and presented fun platforming challenges. And then you reach bosses that are tedious and frustrating because you have very little margin for error.


The big guy above is "Rushifell" who was probably meant to be Lucifer, but thanks to a rather awesome mistranslation of Japanese ended up with the r and l switched. I mean, he even looks like him. ("Rushifell" also appeared in the first Gargoyle's Quest).

Tragically, I lost many of the pictures I took, due to them coming out as blurry messes. But after an incredibly frustrating final boss fight (not only do you have to move in perfect precision, but there are instant death spikes below you and the moving platform in the final bosses room often throws you down toward them due to poor programming), I beat the game.


Yeah, I totally am. The other minion in the throne room here says, "You did very well." Just very well? I save the freakin' world!


The credits sequence is pretty cool as it shows you each of the bosses again and names them and then deisplays credits while the bosses do their thing. A nice touch.


"Capcom Presents: Thank you for playing"
This is almost as good as Ninja Gaiden's ending: "See you next Tecmo"

Overall, Gargoyle's Quest II was disappointing as it felt like a mediocre experience. I really think Capcom hastily slapped this together. The world design shows flashes of brilliance, but overall comes off as empty. The original game wasn't long, but everything felt tight and cohesive while in this game, it feels like there's something missing. Heck, there's a section where it talks about a guy named Dagon in the desert and getting his claw (supposed to be 'Dragon', perhaps?). I looked for him, but never found him and went I went on to the next section, I couldn't even return to look for them again. I think the level designer did a pretty good job, although I seem to remember that in the original, much better use was made of the special attacks you got that could also affect the environment (breaking walls, creating hold on spikes, etc.) So, this was mildly fun, but not as good as it could have been. Now I just want to play the original game again.

Gargoyle's Quest II - Obtained Candle of Darkness

Time: Sunday 11:32pm
Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100, Gargoyles Quest II
Drinks Consumed: 2 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine, 1 Sugar Free Red Bull, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Empower Mint, 2 Guayakí Yerba Mate Pure Endurance, 1 Odwalla B Monster, 1 Guayaki Yerba Mate Nonsweetened Mate, 1 Nantucket Nectars Lemonade, 1 Lo-Carb Monster Energy

So the original Gargoyles Quest is one of my favorite games for the original Black and White Game Boy. It was the first game to really show the system was capable of full, engrossing games on its own and not just puzzle games and ports of NES games.

Upon starting the game, I am immediately struck by the difference in music between the Game Boy game and its NES sequel. While similar, and probably meant to be the same theme, the difference in sound chips of the two systems clearly changes the exactly quality of sound both can do. So far, I think I prefer the Game Boy versions of the songs.

I still can't get over the fact that this is in color! Whoo!

Ah, the days of 16 digit (or more!) passwords. At least this game uses all numbers so you're not stuck wondering whether something is an O or a 0 or a 1 or l or any other the other countless mistakes I made as a kid until I learned to quadruple check my passwords (and then I still would something not be able to tell if I wrote a 1 or an l...

There are a lot of empty houses and otherwise empty areas in the game. It really feels like they were originally going to fill the world with lots of things, but ran out of time and so there are a lot of structures (and outside map areas) with absolutely nothing in them. Weird.

Such scintillating dialog! Actually, the localization in this game is pretty bad. The translation is almost completely literal making the story a bit hard to follow and I've noticed some spelling and grammar mistake. I wonder if Lucifer is once again mistranslated as Rushifell?

This came out way more blurry than I had intended because I was originally going to comment on how beautiful this level was. Definitely has the graphical fidelity of a late-era NES game. This level is also the first time the game gets hard. Took me three tries to make it through.

Dragon Warrior - Why it was a pivotal moment for me

Finally had some time to write another gamespite article. The theme of this issue was pivotal moments, so I talk about how Dragon Warrior was my first step on the road to playing RPGs.

Dragon Warrior

Punch-Out!! - Why is it so gol-dang great?

I have never linked the gamespite article that I am most proud of writing. This needs to be rectified:

Punch-Out!!

The game is so good and stands up so well. Why is this? Read my article to find out.

Assorted Gamespite Articles

As a new article of mine is soon to be published, I realized that I've neglected to post here letting any regular readers here (do I actually have any?) know about them. So here goes.

I wrote a series of articles on the MacVenture games that were ported to the NES. These were a series of point and click adventures created for the Mac that, thanks to not needing a keyboard, could now be played on home video consoles. Shadowgate, Déjà Vu, and Uninvited were the three titles that made it to the NES (in that order), and I think Déjà Vu is the only one that really holds up well.

Also, I wrote a virtual console review of Kid Icarus, exploring why nostalgia is so key for this game - it was really innovative when it came out but very much doesn't stand up well today.

As mentioned, I have another article that will be published on gamespite in the next few weeks and I'm pretty proud of it. I think it's the best writing I've done in awhile.

Adventures of Lolo - Finished the Game

My only complaint about Adventures of Lolo is that it was too short. It really had a great take on the moving on different tiles and pushing block puzzles on many other different games and even the few bits that rely on action and reflex are handled quite well. The ending to the game is truly epic with the best boss fight ever.

The other thing about this game that sets it apart from others is that you can take half-steps. That is, you can be half between one tile and another. This means that the solutions to many puzzles are different from other similar games and that you have to wrap your mind around new ways to do things. I must admit that it felt a little wrong every time I solved a puzzle using half-steps though I only had to do it about four times so maybe I just never got used to it.

Anyway, I'm quite surprised by how good this game is. Definitely recomended for logic puzzle fans.

Adventures of Lolo - Floor 9

This was one of those series that always looked intriguing to me back when it came out on the NES, but that I never got into. I'm kind of glad I didn't, because at age nine, I don't think I would have appreciated it.

Adventures of Lolo is a puzzle game where on each level, the screen is divided into a grid. Your character, Lolo, starts on one square of the grid and the other squares are populated by environmental objects like trees, water, and desert, enemies of various sorts, and items like emerald framers, heart framers, and the treasure chest. On each level, you have to figure out how to collect all of the heart framers and the jewel from the chest without being killed by enemies or trapped by either enemies or the environmental objects. Since enemies always behave the same, the game requires logical thinking of how to block them in/avoid them so as to get everywhere you need to go. A lot of the game is block-pushing puzzles (like Sokoban), but the addition of the enemies adds a new and more interesting element.

I'm generally a huge fan of logic puzzles and this game is very fulfilling in that regard. The ramp up in difficulty is very nice. Each floor has five rooms and, once learning the pattern of how enemies work, I didn't really have much trouble until floor 6 or so. After several hours of play, I've managed to get up to floor 9 where I couldn't immediately solve a room and took a break.

In all, I'm really surprised at how awesome this game is. I guess it holds up well since the game is mostly puzzles, but this will definitely make it into my Top 50 NES games list whenever I decide to make a new iteration of that.

Ice Hockey - Virtual Console Review

Yet another Virtual Console review of mine has been posted at gamespite. This one is about the NES classic Ice Hockey that is still an incredibly fun two player experience today.

Ice Hockey

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Virtual Console Review

So another of my articles has been published over at gamespite, this one being a review of the NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the virtual console. The virtual console reviews are like regular reviews except that they take into account the modern status of the game - how it has held up today, how the save state capability of the virtual console affects it, and how it compares to other versions of the game that have been released (e.g., in compilations). Here's a spoiler for my review: not recommended.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Ninja Gaiden - Review

The origins of this game are muddled. Most believe it was loosely based on the concept of the arcade game with the same name. The arcade Ninja Gaiden was a Beat 'em up brawler whose only real innovation was a button on the joystick that let you grab onto poles and bars. This game is a platformer, drastically different from the arcade game and seemed destined to be lumped in the category of "console games different from and superior to their arcade versions" like Bionic Commando and Contra. That's all well on good, but it is unclear whether the arcade game actually came out before the NES version. Even if it did, there wasn't much time, so the two games were likely developed concurrently. There are also those who postulate that the NES Ninja Gaiden ripped-off Castlevania. While it certainly borrowed the player/enemy life and power-ups in candles, those people are otherwise crazy.

Regardless of its origins, Ninja Gaiden stands as a classic NES game. People remember it to this day and have very fond memories of it. Generally, people remember four things about it: The story, the tight play control, the difficulty, and the music.

While there were certainly previous NES games that had a story and told you what was going on, Ninja Gaiden was one of the first to do it in movie style. Indeed, the game's main stages were labeled "Acts". Ninja Gaiden was a pioneer of the cut scene, or as it dubbed them, "cinema scenes". At the beginning, you are treated to a beautiful prologue, featuring two characters dueling in a field. One falls and you learn that this was the father of Ryu Hayabusa, a ninja of the Shinobi clan. Ryu finds his father dead and finds a letter left by his father saying that if he dies, Ryu should take the family's dragon sword and go to America seeking his father's archaeologist friend. All of this is told in beautfiul graphics accompanied by text and stirring music. As the story progresses, Ryu discovers his father's link to an ancient Amazonian temple, a madman intent on awakening a demon that has slept for 700 years, and the involvement of the CIA. While the story won't be winning any awards, it is written well, clever enough, and appropriate for an action game (as it would be in an action movie). Moreover, it is of appropriate length, whetting the player's appetite just enough between levels and serving as a reward for completing them, not a distraction from the actual game itself.

That is good, because the actual game is a delight to play. During the simple first level, you learn pretty much all of the platforming tricks. Ryu can jump a good height and has limited control of himself while in the air. Using his ninja training, he can grab onto any vertical surface and then jump off it in the opposite direction. This simple change to standard platforming really opens up a lot in terms of level design and is used very well throughout the game. By the end of the game, you will have mastered jumping onto a wall and then off it again to reach the desired platform. There is even one infamous series of jumps in level 5-2 that requires understanding of just how it works.

Beyond the platforming, Ryu generally uses his sword to attack the foes he comes across. His sword slashes out horizontally and he can do it in mid-air, so perhaps the similarities to Castlevania shouldn't be overlooked. Ryu adds to his arsenal by acquiring ninja arts which are located in the candles, birds, hummingbirds, spiders or various other small objects dotted throughout the stages. These ninja arts consist of basic throwing stars that shoot out horizontally, great flames that leap out diagonally, or slashing in 360 degrees in the air making you all but invincible. Each use of a ninja art depletes your ninja spirit level which is filled by finding power ups in the same object that ninja arts are found in.

All of these attacking techniques are used for the game's variety of enemies. Each enemy has a certain behavior it follows that must be taken into account. Basic warriors with swords or bats just move back and forth on one platform. More advanced boxers or crouching men lunge or jump at you when you come near. Other foes shoot or throw projectiles at you, some always facing you. And then there are the birds that home in on you. Those birds still give me nightmares. This variety and intelligence in enemy behaviors make getting through parts of stages almost a puzzle, requiring swift thinking to maneuver yourself into the right position and quick reflexes to slash your sword just when the enemy is in range. At the end of each act, you face a boss. Though big, colorful, and artistically designed, these bosses are generally not very difficult. They don't have interesting patterns that must be discovered and exploited, but rather simple ones that usually just require figuring when the right spot to repeated slash at them is. It isn't until the very end of the game that you face any truly interesting (in terms of challenge) boss fights.

Though the gameplay generally exudes polish, when you look close enough, chinks show in the armor. It is often possible to fall through platforms at the screen's edge. Worse, these platforms are often ones with ladders leading to the next area and so you may have to retry your jump several times before hitting it right (or worse, die in the attempt). The game also gets into trouble with too many sprites on the screen at a time, leading to flicker and difficulty in telling where you or the enemies are. Finally, and most frustratingly, the game sets certain points in a level for where enemies spawn. If you pass this point and then come back to it, the enemy will usually respawn - even if the first incarnation is still on the screen.

This is part of what makes the game so tough. If you are running away from an enemy to regroup and turn around to attack it, you will often now have a second one to deal with. Or if you finally figure out how to defeat an enemy on a precarious platform you need to jump to, you may find you've backed up too far and it will appear there again. The game gives you a health bar with sixteen slots in it, though certain enemies will do more than one unit of damage in a hit. When an enemy hits you, you are invincible for a temporary period, but you also are forced back and can't move for part of that which can lead to being knocked into a group of enemies and taking more hits, or worse being knocked into a pit. The pits are instant death and if you are in the air and are hit by an enemy of projectile, you have no control while you begin plummetting to your doom and have to hope you regain control of your character with enough time to maneuver onto a ledge or wall. But you probably won't.

Despite this challenge, people come back to this game because it feels tough, but fair. Much like the GnG series, when you die, it rarely feels cheap. It doesn't feel like you had no way to avoid the death, but rather if you were a little more careful or had reacted a little more quickly you could have been fine. Yes, the birds torment you with their dive-bombing, but once you learn how they react, you can dodge and attack and get them back. While memorizing levels helps and is probably the only way you will beat the game, unlike difficult games such as Battletoads, it is not required. If you move cautiously enough and react quickly enough, you can get through any situation. It is just very tough to do so.

Fortunately, while you are tearing your hair out over the game's difficulty, you will be listening to one of the best soundtracks on the NES. I'm sure the music is another reason people keep coming back to this game. Mega Man 2 has a great soundtrack too, but its lack of story means that its songs don't carry the same emotional impact. The music that plays during the prologue at the beginning is just what would play during the same sort of prologue in a movie. The music for Act 3, which is all about chasing someone feels fast and frenetic like a chase should. After being captured, mugged for the statue to reawaken the demon, and having your girl dragged off to be sacrificed, the music in level 5-1 carries the sense of desperation that Ryu Hayabusa would feel and in 5-3 the desperation twinged with hope that he might just get there in time.

The rest of the game is merely fine. The graphics for the levels and sprites are good, but not generally amazing. While there is some great background art for the level (which should be expected given the quality of art in the cinema scenes), it sometimes doesn't seem to have been checked with the sprites, so they can not be as visible as they should. The sprites themselves work, but aren't very special. They work, but don't stick out because of their detail or color. The same could be said of the sound effects. They are only used when they have to be - slashing your sword, an enemy dying, picking up and item, etc. The slicing/explosion sound when an enemy dies is the only memorable one, the rest are either beepy and bloopy or worse a bit muffled which is a problem when it is the one used to denote that you've hit a boss.

Whether this game is a great example of a game changing in the move from arcade to home console or a shamless crib of ideas from Castlevania, it stands up today. It is still incredibly fun to play despite the fact that better platformers have been made or other games have done stories better. I personally love this game, but I know that nostalgia clouds some of that. I like this game better than its sequel despite that fact that I think the sequel has more refined gameplay, more appropriate challenge, better music, and a better story. No matter how fun this game is to play, and just about everyone agrees on that, I have to concede that its relentless difficulty probably prevents it from being seen as great. I also have to remind myself that my rating system is supposed be both objective, and on a bell curve, so few games will rate at the extremes. Subjectively, this is one of the my top three favorite games for the NES. Objectively, it is a very good game that some flaws which are thrown more in the spotlight by how the sequel fixed many of them.

Rating: 8 / 10

Ninja Gaiden - One Life Challenge, beat the game

So the official "One credit challenge" over at the (new, improved!) talking time forums is gone, but one member issued a challenge that I took personally. He managed to beat a game, not just on one credit, but on one life. It wasn't just any game - it was Ninja Gaiden.

This game has such amazing memories for me. I got it for my 10th birthday and loved it almost immediately. It just jumped out at me. This platformer featuring a ninja (during the late 80s/early 90s, ninjas were automatically awesome) totally did it for me. It played wonderfully, despite there being some glitches that showed through at the corners. The sticking to walls gave it its own unique feel. And the scenes in between levels (cinema scenes, the instruction booklet called them), gave the game a story as good as my ten year old mind would have hoped for. They made me identify so much more with the main character, Ryu Hayabusa. I used to play through the game, speaking all the dialogue in the cinema scenes, giving each character a different voice (Ryu's voice was my natural voice, of course).

To sum up, I love this game (and its sequels). I love it so much that used to play through it yearly (lately that has changed to bi- or tri-yearly). I love it so much that I use its seminal cinema scene as my avatar in any video game related forum I post to (see the picture in the upper left corner of the title of this blog).

When I heard someone else had done something that I had never done with this game - with my game! - I knew I could not let that stand. So I girded myself and played the game for the first time since 2004.

And I was rusty - It took me two tries to even beat it on one credit.

Finally having done that again, I knew there was one obstacle I would have to overcome in order to beat it on one life: beating Jacquio with no ninja art. You see, at the end of the game is a boss rush of sorts. After you get through stage 6-3, you face the Masked Devil, the Jacquio, and then the demon Jashin one right after another. Your health is restored after each battle, but after the first one, you lose your ninja art and all ninja magic power. So basically, if you want to beat the game on one life, you need to be able to beat the Jacquio and the demon with just your sword. I had beaten the demon with only a sword before, but never the Jacquio.

I tried several times on my own to come up with a strategy to beat him. I was getting a little further, but the best I was able to do was knock him down to half his health. Feeling slightly defeated, I decided to look up some FAQs to see if they could help. Getting a strategy from one of them, I attempted to put that to use. I failed, but I saw how it could be implemented to win. After two or three more tries, I had finally defeated Jacquio with just the dragon sword.

Now came the hard part of beating it in one life. You see, while I pretty much know the game inside and out, things can change slightly depending on what pixel you are on when you jump. And nobody is perfect. So I made many mistakes, dying in levels before the end. When I finally got to the end bosses, I had trouble with the demon and died there twice. Also, I decided if I were to attempt such a monumental task, I wanted to document it. I had my digital camera out and was snapping photographs to document my progress along the way. The need to do this interrupted my flow every so often and caused some death. Finally, though, I did it.

I beat Ninja Gaiden on one life.

I put together a pictorial essay to document it.

All is right in the world.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - Review

The movie Rocky is a timeless American classic. It is the story of a little guy - a nobody - who has nothing but a big heart and the desire to succeed. Against all odds, he trains, gets fit, gets a fight with the champ, and goes the full fifteen rounds with him. I want to say that Punch-Out was based on that story as the scrawny Little Mac faces boxer after boxer on his way to the dream fight. I won't say it, because it might be incorrect.

Nintendo released an arcade game named Punch-Out!! (no, I don't know why they used two excalamation points either) in the arcade in 1984, and followed it up with a sequel the next year called Super Punch-Out!! In both games, you played the role of a green boxer whose body was wireframe so you could see through him to the boxer you were fighting. These were among Nintendo's last dedicated arcade machines and were fairly popular so it naturally fell that a conversation for their new Nintendo Entertainment System was in order. The problem was the Nintendo didn't have the hardware to make a wireframe character or do any sort of transparency. Heck, they had to include a new chip in the game just to animate the large sprites of the opponents. So what to do? Shrink the main character and call him Little Mac. Now that he was a midget half the size of most opponents, his opponents could be easily seen. He may have had to jump to hit any of his opponent's in the face, but his small stature added to the game's charm.

Indeed, the game has a ton of charm. It distills boxing down to its essence. There is no maneuvering for position, just jabs, body blows, blocking, ducking, and dodging. No need to have the character move around the ring when the fun is in the punches. Indeed, the game was almost rhythmic in its fighting. Your opponent would wind up or show some other tell and that would be your cue to dodge and counter-punch (or even hit them before they got their combo off). This was the age when everyone liked sports games because they had more of an arcade feel and really concentrated on the meat of the gameplay. Tecmo Bowl is fondly remembered and even still popular among people despite, or perhaps because it doesn't have all the realism of the latest Madden.

The characters are also part of the charm for this game. Each is well-developed both in graphics and in character. Each is also an incredible ethnic stereotype: Glass Joe is an effete cowardly Frenchman, Great Tiger is a mystic Indian, Super Macho Man is a narcissistic well-tanned body-building Californian, and Soda Popinski the Russian? Let's just say in the arcade he was known as Vodka Drunkenski. In between rounds, they taunt you or complain about you. Piston Honda's panders to the camera ("Where's the NHK TV camera? Hello, Tokyo!"), Mr. Sandman makes puns on his name ("I think you're gonna have a nightmare tonight!") and Soda Popinski references his original alcoholism ("I drink to prepare for a fight. Tonight I am very prepared!") The characters are huge and cartoony, with many different facial expressions and moves that make them all feel unique. As mentioned before, Nintendo R&D3 team that developed this game created a special memory chip just to be able to animate the large boxers. It was only used in this game, but it paid off by making each of the boxers so memorable.

Finally, even though not explicitly spelled out, the underdog story in this game endears it with people and seems like an obvious nod to Rocky. Little Mac is literally a little guy - his opponent's gloves are twice or even three times as big as his head. Despite this, he manages to overcome odds and be a good boxer - one of the greatest depending on the player's skill. Through it all, his trainer, Doc Louis helps him out by keeping Little Mac jogging in a pink sweatsuit, and offering helpful advice like "Listen Mac! Dodge his punch then counter punch!" and "Join the Nintendo Fun Club today!"

The gameplay itself is largely all about reflexes and pattern memorization. When you see an opponent's tell that he is about to punch, you need to dodge and then punch back. Later opponents have special attacks that must be appropriately countered and responded to like Bald Bull's bull charge and Great Tiger's tiger punch. Some opponents can only be taken down by doing certain things like Bald Bull's second fight, King Hippo, and Mr. Sandman. The opponents get progressively harder as you move up the ranks, so the game has a really good learning curve. The final fight with Mike Tyson (or Mr. Dream is you have the version put out after Tyson's contract with Nintendo was up) is an order of magnitude more difficult than any of the other fights taking him down is a true test of gamer skill.

There really is little bad to say about Punch-Out!! It maybe could use a few more opponents, and there is really no challenge once you know how a boxer operates, but those are minor quibbles. The gameplay is fun, entertaining, and a definite test of skill. But my recurring theme through writing this is charm. This game exudes charm in its characters, gameplay, and stories. The fact that the original version stars a guy who went on to become an ear-biting rapist even adds to the charm. This game is a must for any NES collection.

Rating: 10 / 10

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - One Credit Challenge, 1:55 Round 2

As a kid, I was convinced that I had read or heard from somewhere authoritative that it was impossible to knock out Mike Tyson in this game. You couldn't KO or TKO him, because hey, it was his game and why would he let you do that? He was supposed to be the ultimate boxer, so you couldn't take him down and the only way you could beat him was to win by decision after three rounds. About five years ago, I discovered I was wrong. Today I proved it.

Yesterday, I went through all of the boxers on my way to the top. I think for the Minor and Major circuits, I managed to finish all fights in the first round, or at least without being knocked down. Once in the world circuit, I was finally knocked down once or twice, but made it to Super Macho Man. He was finally able to defeat me, but after being ranked down to number three and then fighting up again, I beat him the next time. Mike Tyson then proceeded to wipe the floor with me. He did so several more times. He is just that much harder than all the other wrestlers (and Mr. Sandman and Super Macho Man are no pushovers).

Today, I just inputted the code to go straight to Tyson. After about a half dozen fights, I finally lasted through the third round and won by decision. After a half dozen more, I finally lived the dream of TKOing Mike Tyson. In Round 2 at 1:55.

I love this game. The cartoony characters are great. Great Tiger, King Hippo and Bald Bull were always my favorites, and Mr. Sandman just because he's from Philly. I'll definitely whip up a review of this in the next few days.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! - One Credit Challenge

This week's one credit challenge is one of my favorite NES games. Top 10 for sure.

It's such an ingenious concept. Fight against boxers with ridiculous tells that represent various ethnic stereotypes. You don't really move around the ring, but always face your opponent to dodge, dock, or block and then counter-punch. With the dodging and such in response to the opposing boxer's movements, it is almost a rhythm game. The game works because of the cartoony caricatures of opponents that all have their unique moves. It is just fun, the way that most old-school more arcadey sports games were.

Anyway, the challenge for this week is to knock out Mike Tyson (or Mr. Dream in the version of the game without the ear-biting rapist) in as little time as possible. Now, I did defeat him once in my younger years, but the only way I was able to do it was by decision (go all three rounds and then have 5000 points when it is over). I was never able to KO or TKO iron mike, so this will be difficult.

Trying it last night, I am definitely a bit out of practice. His super uppercuts that knock you down in one hit were destroying me and I never even managed to go three rounds. Oh well, I will persevere because this game is awesome.

Elevator Action - One Credit Challenge, Fourth building

Elevator Action is a good arcade game. Elevator action is not a good NES game.

I don't mean that the graphics suffered horribly in the transition (I actually think they improved a bit) or that the play control is off or even that the game is fundamentally different in any way. From what I can tell, it is a very accurate port.

What I mean is that the game works much better as one that you walk up to in the arcade, put a quarter into, and play until your three lives are gone. Maybe later you come back and try to beat your high score. Perhaps you get really good at it and show off to your friends your skills. The game does a good job of showing that you are a spy, sneaking into a building and stealing documents while avoiding opposition by shooting them or jump-kicking them. As you clear each building, the difficulty gets greater and greater and eventually it is so hard that you just die. This is a well done arcade game.

By the time the NES came along, people wanted something more.

They wanted games that they could progress in. They wanted games that had a beginning, middle, and end. Super Mario Bros. was the definitive NES game because as you played it and got better at it, you progressed further and got to new levels. At the end, you finally rescued the real princess. This was the type of game that gamers expected of the NES.

So, even though Elevator Action's move from arcade to NES was near-seamless, it lost something just for being on a different platform. It went from being a good arcade game to a mediocre NES game. So, I still enjoy it and find it fun to play, but there are many more game I wish my parents had spent their $50 on.

In the 1988 holiday season, I received three games from my parents for my NES (none of which I asked for): Pinball, Hogan's Alley, and Elevator Action. I could have gotten Castlevania, I could have gotten Mega Man, or I could have gotten Metroid. Instead I got those three games. I realize that Pinball and Hogan's Alley were probably discounted, but Elevator Action had just come out. It is probably the best game of the three (though Hogan's Alley is a competent light gun game), but none of them are games that you can just keep playing. After awhile, you just have to put them down. Maybe my parents knew this and this was their plan to make sure I still went outside. But probably not. The memory of those three games still haunts me to this day.

Castlevania III - Review

Castlevania II attempted to expand the original Castlevania into a free-roaming non-linear game with RPG elements. It failed.

Not because the ideas themselves were bad, but because they were so poorly implemented. Regardless, after seeing the suck of the previous game, the Castlevania designers went back to the beginning and added tweaks there. Castlevania III is the first Castlevania with multiple characters, multiple possible paths through the game, and bigger and better levels and enemies.

And yet, I didn't love it especially more than the first game. The first game was pure and simple. You were in a castle fighting all sorts of horror movie villains. It didn't take itself too seriously, even offerring humorous film reel credits when you beat the game. By the second game, Konami had decided they had a series on their hands and made it all serious and... it kind of lost something. The third Castlevania also has this seriousness and since the gameplay mechanics are fairly similar, it isn't quite as cool.

Castlevania III takes place hundreds of years before the first game. You play as Simon Belmont's ancestor Trevor. Apparently people mistrust and shun the Belmont family because of their great strength. Dracula and his minions have been terrorizing the land and Trevor decides that he will use his powers to take him down. Along the way, he can encounter Grant DaNasty - a pirate whose family was killed by Dracula, Sypha Belnades - a vampire hunter who had been cursed by a mummy and turned to stone, or Alucard - the disaffected son of Dracula.

Trevor plays just like Simon did in the original game. The new characters are what is meant to add life to this game. Grant wields a dagger as his standard weapon. Its range is miniscule, but he can swing it much faster than any of the other characters can use their weapons. It is also equal in power to the leather whip. He can also acquire the dagger or axe as subweapons. His main special ability is the ability to break Castlevania. He jumps slightly higher than the other characters and most amazingly can change his trajectory and direction in mid-jump. He can also grab onto walls and ceiling and crawl along them to reach otherwise inaccessible places. He is weaker than Trevor and takes an additional bar of damage for each enemy that hits him. Sypha is weak as well and also takes additional damage like Grant. She wields a staff which seems about as long as Grant's dagger and does as much damage, but hits in an arc so it can hit more enemies around her. Sypha doesn't acquire traditional subweapons, but instead magic spells that are unique for her. These spells can be really powerful and make some sections of enemies and bosses much easier. Alucard has the weakest regular weapon of any of the characters. He shoots out a ball that moves horizontally forward about the length of the longest whip. Like Simon, his main weapon can be upgraded. The first upgrade adds a ball that shoots out diagonally upward and the second one that shoots out diagonally downward, but all these balls are weak in the strength. Alucard gets no subweapons, but has the ability to turn into a bat and fly around the screen, using hearts while he does so.

These new characters are nice and fun, but... ultimately don't add a lot because the game is designed to be played with Trevor. Most of the time you want to play as him because it is easier to kill enemies and if you get hit you take less damage. The other characters have their uses. Grant is great for platforming sections, especially those where you may need to quickly kill weak enemies (though the fact that he jumps higher than Trevor can get you in trouble). Sypha can be useful against tough gauntlets of enemies and can absolutely annihilate some bosses. Alucard will literally save your life when you turn him into a bat while about to fall to your death. Still, you only do these things occasionally. Having the extra characters is more like giving Trevor more powers rather than actually introducing new ways to play the game.

Oh, the other new level innovation is the ability to choose which levels to do. After completing certain levels, you get a choice of which path the take. The different paths lead to different levels and at the end of certain levels you meet up with the secondary characters. The addition of some non-linearity is nice and gives the game more replay value, but the levels don't feel so different or amazing that it really stands out.

The game is hard. The original Castlevania was also difficult, but this one is difficult in a slightly different way. I can't quite put my finger on what, though. There seems to be a bit more emphasis on platforming in this game. There are things like moving gears and conveyer belts, flipping platforms, moving spikes and all sorts of other new platform elements to worry about. There, in general, is much more reliance on jumping and moving around, but the platforms and such are well placed so you rarely feel cheated because you miss a jump. The enemy design is also significantly upgraded in this game. This game introduced the gargoyles the fly up and down the screen, the ghosts that require multiple hits, the red skeletons, and others that became mainstays in the series. The bosses in general are a mixed bag. Though there are quite a few re-treads from the original game, many do more interesting things. Frankenstein's Monster now throws blocks. The Grim Reaper now has sickles appear around the screen and come toward you. The early bosses aren't really very interesting, but the ones in the later stages of the game are very well done. Some bosses feel very cheap and you feel you only beat them because you got lucky. Others work much better because you feel more in control of whether you get hit or not.

The music, as is normal for the Castlevania, is awesome. It took me awhile to warm up to it, but I am now fully on board. There are some great tunes in this soundtrack and it even starts the tradition of reusing or doing remixes of tracks from earlier Castlevanias. The graphics are about on par with Castlevania II. There is much more use of color than the original game, and many of the levels feel a bit more organic. They are good quality, especially the large bosses.

This game is good, but it took me awhile to come around to that. For whatever reason, this game didn't do it for me in the same way that other games have. It was only when I reached the final level that it all came together and I could appreciate the style of this game. On subsequent replays, I could appreciate the music and gameplay more. I think the difficulty was a big sticking point with me. I don't mind difficult games where it feel like I can get better with practice, but sometimes during my first playthrough I didn't have this feeling. This game is good and features quite a few innovations beyond the original Castlevania, but I can't really say I liked it any better.

Rating: 8 / 10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Technodrome Level

In honor of this game being released on the Wii's virtual console (which was released in honor of the recent movie), I decided to give it a play again. I still enjoy it.

I am aware that it is not a good game. At least not in the traditional sense. The play control isn't very good. Jumps are hard to control and getting from platform to platform can be a chore. You don't quite move fast enough, especially in the air to avoid enemies. You can switch between the different turtles and they each have their different weapons, but generally you would always want to use Donatello. His weapon may be the slowest, but it is the strongest and has the longest reach. Leonardo is next best and then comes Rafael. You pretty much never want to use Michaelangelo to fight with. The game is also extremely difficult. There are pits and spikes that are hard to avoid (and occasionally instant-kill lava). The enemies can be extremely tough to avoid and they often take multiple hits to kill so it is tough to kill them without taking any damage.

Despite all these negatives, I really like this game. Part of this is nostalgia. I had it when younger and spent a ton of time with it. It also has some things to recommend it. The game's soundtrack is stellar. The game's graphics are good. Exploring the city and airfields are fun. There is also a big sense of satisfaction when you get past certain parts.

That last reason is probably the biggest for me. The game is difficult, but masterable. It doesn't feel "cheap" - that is you generally feel you could have avoided something if you'd done a little better. For whatever reason, I just really dig tough games like these. Hell, the Ninja Gaiden games are pretty much my favorite on the NES because they are the perfect combination of excellent play control and incredible challenge.

I have been thinking about it, but I can't decide what I would do when the review this game. Obviously, I will point out all the flaws and shortcomings. The issue is the ridiculous number at the end. Is it completely based on what I think or what an average person would think? This is a whole issue with reviews in general and how "objective" they are supposed to be. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Right now, I am so out of practice I couldn't even make it to Shredder. The final level is absolute hell with enemies that take four hits from Donatello (meaning like eight from Michaelangelo) to kill. I used to be able to get through it, but not last night.

Castlevania III - Stage 7A with Sypha

Since the game isn't that long, I decided to try it through with each character and see all the different stages. At some point during this stage, though, I decided I'd had enough. Castlevania III is a good game. I've come around on that. But I'm really ready for something else. Maybe I'll come back to it, but probably not. I mean, this is the last unique stage that I hadn't seen and the boss at end is one I've fought before so... I have no great desire to finish the game.

As for characters, Sypha falls right in the middle of Grant and Alucard for usefulness. She has no special platforming skills and swinging her staff does require some wind-up, but it seems to hit enemies in a short arc in front of her, making it better for bats and birds swooping down. Also, her sub-weapon magic is incredibly powerful. The ice attack will take care of any regular enemy. Her other two are very powerful against bosses and can take them down quickly.

Castlevania III - Beat the game with Alucard

Someone once remarked off-handedly (I think it was Jeremy Parish in a retronauts podcast) that playing with Sypha in Castlevania III was like playing in hard mode. Though I have yet to beat the game with Sypha, I have played the first five or so levels taking her path and I must disagree. Hard mode is playing with Alucard.

Easy mode is most certainly Grant. His high-jumping, ability to control jumps in the air, and sticking to walls basically breaks the Castlevania platforming paradign allowing you to do things that weren't ever intended. His dagger is slightly less powerful than the chain whip and doesn't have nearly the reach, but he attacks fast - there is no need to wind up his attack so when you press the attack button, the knife goes out right then.

Alucard does give you the ability to get out of some tight jams with his ability to turn into a bat and fly around, but I only found that useful once. Most of the times, the extra platforms you reach by turning into a bat generally aren't worth the hearts wasted in getting to them. His attack is the weakest of all the characters. While it has good range, there is only a small subset of enemies it kills in one hit. You can upgrade it, so that you get two or three balls of energy, but they are all pretty weak so that often two of them have to hit an enemy to kill it. Also, the only sub-weapon he can use is the stopwatch.

I figure I may as well beat the game with Sypha now so I see all the levels.

Castlevania III - Beat the game with Grant

I think one of the reasons I wasn't so into Castlevania III is that there is a significant lull in the middle levels. The early are work well. They aren't too challenging and get you used to what is coming up ahead. Also, the music is pretty nice. The late levels also work very well and have some of the old school Castlevania challenge that I am used. I had a ball on the final level and in beating Dracula in his various forms. Also, there the music definitely improves (even if some of it is remakes of tunes from earlier games).

Anyway, I adored the final level. It had just the right amount of pattern recognition and staying on your toes that I want in a platform game like this. After having such a good time at the end of the game, I am sorely tempted to go through it again with a different helper. Probably Alucard, since I haven't tried playing with him yet.