And the winner is...

Time: Sunday 7:32pm
Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100
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

While a bit disappointed in the turnout, there was a clear winner in this vote. Out of the eight votes cast, five of them went to Gargoyles Quest II. That makes some sense because it is probably the best game on the list (Take that, Sonic fans!). Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin did get two votes. I wonder if it had gotten more if I'd have mentioned just how horrific the animations are before and after the levels and how cheesy the early 90s rock song composed for the game was. Super Punch-Out!! got 3 votes, but there is some dispute as to how many of those votes were cast by canines.

Sorry Snake's Revenge, no one else likes you.

I will be delayed in playing this due to being a bit more social this evening than I thought. But fear not, I shall get through it!

Audience Participation - What should my last game be?

Time: Sunday 4:15pm
Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa, Fathom, Persona 3, Textropolis, 1 vs 100
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

Okay, so I've gone through all the planned games for this weekend (apart from some Rock Band later) and need to pick out one last game to play to end tonight. I will present to you, dear readers, a list of games I am considering (and why) and you tell which you think I should play.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis) - Can I finally make it all the way through the game without getting bored?

The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Sega CD) - This game took the linear Genesis Spider-Man game and attempted to make it more of an open world game. It failed pretty spectacularly, but it's still does a decent job of capturing Spider-Man's web slinging.

Super Punch-Out (SNES) - I have never managed to beat the first of the Bruiser brothers. I'd probably just start all over to help myself get back into it.

Snake's Revenge (NES) - The non-canonical sequel to the NES Metal Gear, this one isn't that bad as long as you're not in one of the awful side-scrolling sections. Otherwise, it gets the overhead sneaking parts pretty well done.

Gargoyle's Quest II (NES) - Recent Game Boy retrospectives have reminded me just how awesome the original Game Boy game of Gargoyle's Quest was. I've never managed to get very far in the NES sequel which seems to be largely the same (awesome) game but with color!

Socialization Break #1

Time: Friday 9:34pm
Games Played: Quordy, Klonoa
Drinks consumed: 1 Sugar Free Rockstar, 2 Glasses of White Wine

Man cannot live by video games alone. And besides these friends missed my recent 30th birthday festivities and were taking me out for drinks, so how could I say no? It was really great catching up with them as I hadn't talked to them in probably about six months. And it got me looking even more forward to playing some games.

On my way back to my place, I stopped by my local supermarket and two bodegas. I completely struck out in finding any of the recommended energy drinks. The supermarket was all out of anything Rockstar, and the bodegas seemed to only carry Red Bull of energy as energy drinks. Since the local MLS team is the Red Bulls and I had just been talking about them with my friends, I grabbed one of them so that I wouldn't have to break into the Yerba Mates too early.

The weekend begins!

As of now (well, technically 4:09) my weekend on pure video games has begun. I plan to devote as much time this weekend to playing games as possible. I'll break for food, bathroom, dog walking, and maybe a little socializing. We'll see. But here, dear reader, I plan to document everything that has gone on.

To keep me fueled for this weekend, I planned to pick up several energy drinks. My friend Paul is an expert on those and so I consulted him are what are the best varieties. According to him, Sobe Energy Drink (low carb) and Rockstar Energy Drink (low carb) are the two best with Rockstar providing more of a jolt. Of course, in the three drug stores/corner markets I visited between last night and now, I could find none of them. I grabbed a sugar-free Rockstar to get me started, but I'll have to make a stop at the nearby supermarket tonight.

Anyway, I plan to periodically blog about my experiences this weekend. Here goes!

Retro Game Master - A Review

Retro Game Master is the English title of Game Master CX, a Japanese reality show featuring a man who challenges himself to play and finish old video games. On June 28 and 29, the New York Asian Film Festival screened two episodes of the localized version of the show. You can read the festival's description here.

Retro Game Master stars Shinya Arino as "the Kacho". The first show I watched implied that Kacho meant salaryman, but further research reveals that "middle manager" is probably a more accurate translation. The idea is that Arino is not an amazing video game player, but a guy like you or me with nostalgia for the video games of his youth. Each episode centers around one video game. The two that played at the film festival were Mystery of Atlantis (a game never released in the United States) and Ghosts 'n Goblins. The episodes chronicled the hours-long process of Arino receiving the game, beginning to play it, getting stuck somewhere, consulting the instruction booklet for help, trying again and not progressing much further, getting some help from his assistant, and then, finally, making it to the end.

The shows were preceded by a trailer that explained its premise and popularity in Japan. It had the vibe of a late night product commercial that prompts you to call its 1-800 number "in the next ten minutes!". Still, for those unfamiliar with the show it provided a good sense of context. The best part of the trailer was the end where you get to know who Shinya Arino is. He explains that he does this for all the video game loving children and all the middle-aged people who remember playing these games.

Following the trailer was an introduction by Arino himself. It was one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen. Arino speaks in a very heavily accented English, obviously reading the words phonetically off of cue cards. He boisterously and enthusiastically proclaims that he is the Retro Game Master and that everyone in Japan loves him. Although it could have come off as making fun of Arino, it was obvious that he was totally into the act and just hamming it up for the crowd and that made it even better.

The shows themselves succeed in triggering any latent nostalgia you have for old video games. If you remember going over to a friend's house when they got a new Nintendo game and taking turns playing it to see how far you could get, then the show will strike a chord with you. During the Mystery of Atlantis episode, I was specifically reminded of when I got Ninja Gaiden for my birthday and my friends and I took turns playing level 3, trying to get past the birds. The shows are also successful in their humor. Arino plays out his frustrations and bewilderment perfectly. He always has an appropriate quip about whatever ridiculously obtuse or aggravating situation the game has put him in. This also serves to endear him to the viewer. You really feel for him and want him to succeed. In both screenings, the audience held their breath as he faced a difficult encounter and barely escaped by the skin of his teeth. In the Mystery of Atlantis screening, people actually clapped when he finished the game.

Of the two episodes I saw, Mystery of Atlantis was the superior one. I think this is because Mystery of Atlantis has more variety as a game and is also incredibly inscrutable. Mystery of Atlantis features 99 levels, power-ups with unexplained properties, warps to different levels, warps hidden in bizarre ways like deaths or bottomless pits, and utterly ridiculous puzzles. This melange of characteristics provided significant humor and could maintain the viewer's interest. The Ghosts 'n Goblins episode was significantly different because Ghosts 'n Goblins is merely an incredibly difficult game. The episode showed Arino progressing a little bit, getting stuck for hours at one enemy, and then finally getting past it. This process repeated for the entire episode. With little surprises or variety, the episode had to focus on it just being a really hard game and that wasn't as successful in keeping my attention for thirty minutes. The drama was further lessened because people who hadn't following the show wouldn't realize what a landmark it was that this was the first game that it took two sessions to complete. I still enjoyed it and, despite knowing what was coming, shared in Arino's bewilderment and disappointment when he found out what happens at the end of Ghosts 'n Goblins.

My previous exposure to the show was watching it on youtube. I greatly enjoyed those clips despite them being wholly in Japanese because Arino's trials and frustrations were obvious and relatable no matter what language they were in. Still, the show is even better when you know what is going on. Everyone who appears live on the show is subtitled in these episodes and the significant amount of titles and voice overs are all redone in English. Understanding what is going on means that, in addition to empathizing with Arino as he struggles through a game, you also get his jokes and can comprehend the new strategies he employs to get through the games.

While the translation is appreciated, some of the localization choices seem a bit odd. Arino is always called "The Kacho" in the show. While this may be typical for Japanese tv shows, it was weird for me to get used to the constant use of his title. Similarly, his assistants are never called by their names, but rather the title "Assistant" and the first letter of their last name (so I saw Assistant T and Assistant S). The general style of the show seemed like it couldn't decide between being a more staid American reality show and a more out there Japanese reality show. This was in full evidence with the performance of the voice over announcer. The voice over, provided by Patrick Harlan, an American-born comedian in Japan, sometimes follows the American style and delivers a tension-building narrative before a commercial break and a quick recap of what is going on after one. But the announcer sometimes becomes very excited, sounding like the fate of the world depends on what the Kacho does or that the events in the video game are actually happening. It seems like he may have been trying to ape the Iron Chef style, but given the different content of this show didn't pull it off very well. For all I know, he was trying to be as true as possible to the original Japanese announcer, but to my ears it was a little off-putting.

Finally, as enjoyable as the shows were, there was also a noticeable lack of polish. I got the feeling these localized episodes were put together as concept trailers to use to sell the show to an American distributor. Talking to a representative from Stylejam (the company that distributes the DVDs in Japan) confirmed they were in talks with American studios to try and get Retro Game Master released in the US. In addition to these screenings lacking opening or closing sequences for the shows, there were also some misspellings in the titles. In the Mystery of Atlantis episode, one of the titles talked about the "climatic" moment of the game which was especially noticeable because Arino and his assistant had just been talking about the game's climax.

Game Center CX is an amazing show. Almost everyone who sees it, whether there is a language barrier or not, can identify with Arino and his struggle to finish a video game. I knew this going into the screenings. What I didn't expect is that the show could become so much better once I understood it. Despite some questions about the announcer they used and the localization style, I loved the show. After each episode, I wanted to watch another one. I hope Stylejam succeeds in finding a US distributor for the show so I can do just that.

Zelda vs Metroid vs Contra

A friend of mine asked me very politely to do a post on my blog. His first two topics were things that I'm just not inspired to write about and similarly am not really inspired to play their games (except maybe a brief rant on how can New York suck so much in Double Dribble). But the third is definitely deserving of a topic:

What is your favorite between Metroid, Zelda and Contra? And why.

This is a great question. Especially because the answer changes depending on exactly how you look at the question.

All three of the original games are great and all made my list of Top 50 NES games when I made it way back when. That list would change now. Contra might move ahead of Zelda or it might not. You see, if the question were which of these games (NES originals) has the best memories for me, the answer is hands down, Zelda. I received Zelda with my NES for Hanukah of 1987 and that game was my world for many months and filled me with such joy and excitement. I played Contra at a friend's house and enjoyed it, but didn't actually own it for myself and play it through until 1997. Metroid I played a few times at friends houses, but didn't actually own that cartridge until 2002. So of the three original games, Zelda has my favorite memories.

If, though, the question is which of the original games is my favorite to play, then the answer is easily Contra (I'm talking about the NES games here as the Contra arcade game wasn't as good). Contra is the game of the three that has aged the best and is still a lot of fun to play today.

Metroid and Zelda were both revolutionary when they were released. Indeed, they both pioneered open-ended exploration and tantalizing glimpses of areas inaccessible without possession of the proper equipment. But they both have what, by today's standards, would be considered horrible design flaws. Metroid has a huge, open world that is easy to get lost in. Games back then did have automaps so this is somewhat forgivable. But unlike Zelda which also didn't automap the overworld (and did automap the dungeons and come with a mostly complete map in the box), the rooms and corridors weren't on an exact grid so mapping the game with graph paper or the like was and is extremely tedious. Of course, today you can just get a map off the internet, but that takes away from the exploration aspect of the game. Another flaw both the original Metroid and Zelda share is that they have no easy way to end the game and save your progress without dying (Zelda did have an undocumented way to do this, but it was roughly equivalent to dying except it didn't increase your death count). Unfortunately, when you died in Metroid you started back at the beginning with very low health and low missiles. Since there was no easy way to recharge these, you had to waste a lot of time not only backtracking, but also getting your health and items back to their correct status. In Zelda, this problem was mitigated by only having to restart at the beginning of dungeons when you died and by having less total health and enemies more generously dropping it. Zelda did suffer more from one problem than Metroid did: having to bomb random areas. Bombs were a limited resource in Zelda and many vital resources were located behind rocks that needed bombing. There were no clues as to where these bombable areas were so a player would have to randomly bomb places and then restock their bombs and then try again. Burnable areas were almost as bad if all a player had was the blue candle.

Contra, being in some regards a simpler game than either of the above, doesn't possess such flaws. It wasn't really revolutionary. There were certainly other platformers were you ran, jumped, and shot at things. But none were quite as polished as Contra (including its sequel). It is difficult, but features few cheap deaths and can be beaten without memorization. It is amazing that few run and guns even through to today have matched its balance. The fact that two players can play simultaneously makes it even better.

Okay, so question answered right? Well, the wording is kind of vague so maybe he means which is my favorite series of Zelda, Metroid, or Contra?

Well, Metroid is the series that has my favorite game to play of all the games in those three series: Super Metroid. Despite coming out on the SNES in 1993, the game holds up today as being nearly perfect. And that's not hyperbole as I only played it for the first time last year. Super Metroid gets free form exploration with new areas begging to be explored when you acquire a new item absolutely correct. It takes place in a world that seems natural and organic. It gives you a map and save points, but doesn't hold you by the hand instead gently nudging you in the right direction with level design. It's an amazing game and I would recommend it to everyone.

The other series have had great games. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is my favorite in the series and there is a lot to recommend in Link to the Past as well. And I haven't even played any of the 3D Zeldas and I know many hold up Ocarina of Time to be one of the best games ever (of course they also tend to be at least five years younger than me). I'll get around to trying Ocarina at some point, but I highly doubt it can usurp Super Metroid. As to the Contra series, the first three games were all very good, but the original is probably still the best (granted, I haven't tried the recently released Contra 4) and I know it doesn't reach Super Metroid's level.

Finally, the question could be asking which series overall is my favorite?

There my answer once again goes to Zelda. With the exception of the CD-i games, every Zelda game has been good - at least at the time of its release. The first two Zeldas may not hold up, but every 2D Zelda since then has and Zelda made the transition to 3D very well. The series has always oozed quality and has what is probably the most quality and the most average quality of any series.

Metroid comes close to the Zelda series as all of its games are good except Metroid II which I think is only above average (though some think much less of it). Super Metroid is probably one of the best games of all time, but the original Metroid doesn't hold up, Metroid II barely does, and Fusion is fun, but flawed. Zero Mission is a great remake of the original game that is worth playing, but is also "merely" good. I have no experience with the 3D Metroids. All of them are supposed to be good, but not amazing and so while the Zelda series probably averages out to very good, the Metroid series only averages out to good.

The Contra series had three good to very good games and then unfortunately the PlayStation Contras came along which were awful. The PS2 Contras were good, though Shattered Soldier was ridiculously difficult and Neo Contra didn't feel like a Contra game. Contra 4 is by all accounts very good, but that still puts Contra at a notch below the other series.

So there you go, a very long-winded explanation of which among Zelda, Contra, and Metroid is my favorite and why.

Bitstream of Consciousness is back (hopefully)

So moving across the country, starting a new job, dealing with New York hours - all of these things have conspired to prevent me from chronicling the video games that I'm playing. And I certainly have been playing games, including Planet Puzzle League, Final Fantasy Legend, Wii Sports, Excite Truck, Final Fantasy III, X-Com, and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.

Also, shortly before leaving Utah, I had an amazing party at my place: A night of old-school sports games. The ground rules were simple: 2-player games, winner stays, new challenger picks the game. We stuck to NES, and Genesis as our systems and it was awesome. For several hours we played games like Tecmo Super Bowl, Blades of Steel, NHL '94, Madden '96, NBA Jam, Double Dribble, and Super Dodge Ball. It was truly awesome. I hope to amass a good number of friends here in New York to repeat the performance.

Anyway, I hereby pledge more regular updates - at least when I'm playing games.

Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade - A Review

On Friday, I went to a screening at the Sundance film festival of the movie Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade. You can read a description of it here.

The movie is a documentary focuses on Twin Galaxies, an arcade located in the small town of Ottumwa Iowa, and the video game champions that came there in 1982. The men and boys that arrived were the best of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Berzerk, and many other classic arcade games. The movie follows their lives from the Life Magazine feature on them in 1982 to the present.

The movie mixes the historical and the personal. It briefly touches on how video games became popular and then focuses on the bigger games of the early 80s. It has interviews with the players that had high scores in those games and why they played them and what their strategies were. It also follows the huge events of the time, including Buckner and Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever", the 1982 Video Game world championship filmed by ABC's "That's Incredible", to the attempt to create a league of professional video game players, to the mass closing of arcades just a few years later.

The movie then focuses on several of the video game champions who were at Twin Galaxies in 1982. These people are asked what happened to them, how did being great at video games affect their lives, and what lessons did they learn. These characters are extremely colorful, such as Billy Mitchell, Rob Mruczek, and Roy Shildt. Perhaps most interesting is Walter Day, founder of Twin Galaxies. He definitely comes from the 1960s Berkeley culture, has had a variety of interests in hobbies in his life, and most impressively, after establishing Twin Galaxies as the authority in video game high scores has a keen insight into the importance of video game history and how it should be preserved.

Chasing Ghosts decides to take a very light approach to the subject matter. It plays up the fun, funny, and wacky side of video games and video gamers. It really takes you back to your childhood when you felt anything was possible and you could be an astronaut, or president, or a world famous video game player. This approach really works, because even though there are serious storylines touched on, the people in this film were doing it for their love of the game and that comes through. At one point in the movie, I was worried that the movie was focus too much on the bizarreness and social awkwardness of the characters, just playing on the easy stereotype that video game players are hopeless nerds. This feeling was soon allayed by showing that these people, despite any quirks, still have families that they love, friends that they cherish, and ideals they pursue.

The film was very well done and very well put together. The film mixed interviews, news footage, old photos, and computer-created rendering of the old video games to always have something on screen to catch your eye. The documentary created its stories well, did a good job of showing the impact of video games on these people and the world, and left you a little sad at the death of arcades.

While I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the history of video games, I was born in 1979 and so I missed quite a lot of the arcade culture, only hitting the tail end of the classic arcade culture in my childhood before the tournament fighting games took over. Thus, I learned a lot about what arcades were like during the early 80s and gained a better appreciations for the video games I already loved like Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. I saw seven different movies at the Sundance Film Festival this year and, unlike most years, I enjoyed all of them. This one, though, is probably my favorite. No other movie kept me as rapt or as entertained as Chasing Ghosts and I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5. Anyone who appreciates a good historical and personal documentary will enjoy this film and for anyone who is interested in the history of video games it is a must see.

What made the experience even better is that the producer, director, editor, cinematographer, and Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day were there at the screening and stayed around afterwards to answer questions about the film. The people who made the film, while not hardcore gamers, really showed that they were eager to make this film. Mr. Day was a mini-celebrity and fielded many questions and handled them all well.

One month in

So I'm approximately one month from the time that I started this journal. I guess now is the time to reflect on that time.

Really, my only thought is that it has succeeded in its goal: getting me to stick with games. I have, so far, finished four games that I was on the crux of beating. I was currently playing Soul Blazer, so it isn't like it inspired me to play that more, but it did make sure I go back to Cybernator, Fear Effect 2, and Astro Boy: Omega Factor. I also got back to Metal Gear Solid 3 which was a game I had been totally stuck on a little over six months ago and I hadn't gone back to since.

In this time, I also got a hankerin' to play my beloved NES and so I played and beat a fairly easy, but enjoyable game in Vice: Project Doom.

Anyway, I'm really pumped that I've been inspired to get by game backlog out of the way. Once I'm done with Metal Gear Solid 3, I think that puts my backlog down to three games: Phantasy Star II, Lost in Blue, and Super Punch Out.

That probably means Lost in Blue should be my next focus after Metal Gear Solid 3 because I don't like having multiple outstanding games for one system. After that, I should probably finish up Contact or Fire Emblem. Then, finally I will feel more managable.

On rating games

I was a bit troubled when I wrote up my Soul Blazer and Cybernator reviews by the scores I gave them at the end. Not that I necessarily thought the scores were wrong, but that I gave them both a 7, but couldn't really think of games that I would give an 8 to. This made me consider the numerical system I used to rate games.

There are basically two philosophies to how to rate games (and other things). One is to do a kind of checklist - does the game do this? Does it do this? Then, you tally those up and give the game a score. This is the method most major sites use for their reviews and it leads to relatively high scores. Since just about any game that gets published has a certain amount of QA that it goes through, games will rarely get a score below a 5 (on a 10 point scale) and 7 is probably average. Okay, I'm probably being generous by saying that this is the reason IGN rarely gives a score of less than 7.2, but this is what places like this say about their rating systems, anyway. It may just be rating inflation to ensure exclusives from publishes, but I won't go there.

The other philosophy is that the center of the scale should be average. On a 10 point scale, 5 means that a game is about par for what you will find on that system, with some spectacular gems and some stinkers. 1up and its paper counterpart Electronic Gaming Monthly have made a concerted effort to use this sort of rating system and many other gaming review sources are making an effort to move toward it, probably in an attempt to defray criticisms of ratings inflations.

The second philosophy is what I like. If you have a 10 point scale, you should be willing to use all 10 points on it. That means that games that work fine, but just aren't that special should be in the middle and everything else should go around them.

Knowing this, I sat down and thought about what each of the numbers on the 10 point scale I use (really 11 because 0 is an option) means to me and what games I have played would fall under those numbers. Here it is:

10. Outstanding
A game that scores a 10 is not perfect, but is a shining example of what games on the system can do. It should transcend the time and place of its conception and be as great to play today as it was when it came out. These games are gems. As examples, Dragon Warrior IV on the NES is about as good as a Japan-style RPG on the NES can be and indeed is still a great example of one of the best. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is an amazing strategy game that allows a multitude of tactics and never gets tiring.

9. Great
These games (along with the 10s) are ones I feel that everyone who owns the system should own. They are very well done, and examples of how to make games. They are prevented by being 10s by having some part or feature that works, but doesn't work great, such as a tedious portion or slightly off controls. This is the score I will give to Astro Boy: Omega Factor as that game just works so well and is such a delight to play, even though it does have some portions that aren't as great as others. The NES version of Bionic Commando would also fall in this category as it is a great, unique game that I will always replay, despite the fact that the adventure portion of the game could be a bit more polished.

8. Very Good
A game that gets an 8 is a game that I would recommend to anyone who has the system. The game isn't a 9 or 10, because I don't think it is so good that almost anyone would love it, but it has enough good stuff going for it that it probably belongs in your library. Kid Icarus is a NES game that I beleive falls in this category. It's got some really unique and fun play elements and puts them together pretty well. The original Castllevania would also get an 8 as while it has outstanding music and an awesome concept, the play control and challenge are just a bit off.

7. Good
Notice that we're at 7 and games here are still considered good. They still do most things well, but perhaps not well enough to distinguish themselves from the pack. Games that get a 7 are solid and worth playing, but not the first things you should check out. A game that I give an 8 or above to is a game I would recommend to anyone while at 7 I would probably only recommend the game if the person likes other games of that type. Aside from the games I have already reviewed with this score, I think Ice Hockey for the NES deserves this score as it is a solid, arcade-style hockey game with enough strategy to entertain two players, but you would never want to play it alone. Metroid II: Return of Samus for Game Boy is another example. It is a nice platform shooter with interesting weapons and skills, but the level design could be better.

6. Above Average
A game that scores a 6 has something that distinguishes it from other games, but only enough to make it interesting. Games with this score are fine to play and work, but you feel they could be better. Or maybe they have one great thing going for them and several mediocre or poor things too. Star Trek 25th Anniversay (the NES game, not the one for PC and Mac) would fall into this category as it's a decen action/adventure game that relies a lot on the license for the pull. The puzzles are pretty good, the action is okay, and the story is also pretty good. I'll also probably incur the wrath of a thousand fanboys by giving Chrono Cross this rating because, while the game had some of the best graphics and music the playstation could offer, the story was incomprehensible, the world was tiny and incoherent, and the battles and character customization were only okay.

5. Average
A game with this score is about what you'd expect for most games on the system. Either because it does just about everything okay, or because it does some things really well and some things really poorly. Besides Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix which I have already written a review of, the NES games Elevator Action and Mega Man 6 would get this score. The former is a competent arcade port of a game that can be fun but doesn't have too much to it such that you want to come back again and again while the latter is yet another rehashing of the Mega Man formula that still plays fine, but doesn't add anything.

4. Below Average
Here we come to games that do not live up to standards expected for games of the system. Many times these games haven't aged well, or just generally had something that didn't work quite right. The NES game Kung Fu falls into this category as, I suspect, would many launch titles that were playable when they were all you had, but don't stand up when better games come out. Another examples is Justice League: Injustice for All for Game Boy Advance. It has nice graphics (though strangely 3D-rendered), and fine play control, but the unique character abilities are rarely, if ever used and the game is short and easy.

3. Poor
Starting here, games tend to be flawed in some way. At this level, they are still playabale and you may even play them through, but they are missing something noticable. The Rescue of Princess Blobette for Game Boy is one such game, that while retaining the same basic gameplay of the NES original, lacks a plot or motivation to do much in the game. Pinball for NES is a slightly different example as it was a passable video pinball simulation that has just aged horribly as the physics are so poor.

2. Bad
While games that receive a 3 may still have something that warrants playing them through, once games receive a 2, you don't play them beyond initially checking them out. Or maybe they start out playable, but reach a point where it isn't worth your effort to continue. Gyromite for the NES is interesting as an oddity and one of two games that used R.O.B., but otherwise isn't worth playing. Having tried, playing with R.O.B. doesn't really work and while you can play with just controllers, it loses its challenge or fun. Another NES game, Star Trek: The Next Generation, couldn't overcome its flaws. The combat was poor and annoying, the mini-games to transport things or re-route power weren't that fun, and once you got to the mission where you fought the Borg ship, it just became frustrating to complete.

1. Awful
These games just aren't worth playing. Their play control is poor, or they aren't interesting. I can't think of any commercially released product that would actually get this rating, though I'm sure I've played some shareware games that fall under this or nowadays some flash games.

0. Unplayable
A game that gets a 0 is impossible to play - figuratively, if not literally. Generally games that get a 0 rating have some bug (or several bugs) that prevent any sort of meaningful play. Bionic Commando: Elite Forces for GBA had a crippling bug in many versions that would freeze the game upon encountering a truck (my copy did). The new version of Bubble Bobble for the DS also had a bug after a certain level that stopped the game and had to be reissued.

On classifying games

When you hear about a game for the first time, you want to know what it's like. When you have a bunch of games, you want to categorize them in some way. My idea when I first started this journal is that entries would only be tagged with the name of the game and the system it is for. Then I got to thinking that just in case the readership of this expands beyond, say, half a dozen, I might want to have another way to group all the games I've talked about. This is so that if someone reads about a game and is interested in it, they can click on the category label of that game and see all the games of that type.

I decided to call this genre and even started a link list for them on the right side of the page. I'm not sure genre is the right word (dictionary.com is down at the moment, so I can't analyze its meaning) but that's what a ton of the professional game sites call it, so I'll leave it at that. At first, I wanted to have very simple options for genre, something along the lines of Action, Adventure, Role-Playing, and Strategy. That immediately began to feel off when I put both Soul Blazer and Fear Effect 2 in the same genre. I didn't quite want to put Soul Blazer in the Role-Playing genre because I pictured Role-Playing as being games that didn't focus on reflexes. I didn't want to put Fear Effect 2 in the action category because the game involves quite a bit of non-action-oriented puzzles.

Remembering that gametz had quite a few genres in which to list a game, I checked out their list and culled what I think will be a pretty comprehensive list of what I use. It isn't perfect - I still don't have a great idea of where Grand Theft Auto 3 falls, but I think they'll do for now. Here they are with comments for what falls into them:

• Action - This will be a catch-all category for any game that relies on reflexes and doesn't fall into another category. Examples: classic arcade games like Joust or Donkey Kong, Ninja Gaiden (the NES one, anyway), Katamari Damacy


• Action/Adventure - A game relying on reflexes but that involves a significant amount of puzzle-solving and/or item manipulation. Examples: Zelda, Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time


• Action/RPG - A game relying on reflexes where your character has statistics such as strength, magic, hit points, etc. These should increase after killing a certain number of foes and after wielding better weapons or wearing better armor. Examples: Secret of Mana, X-Men Legends


• Adventure - A game involving puzzle solving and item manipulation that doesn't rely on fast reflexes. Examples: Space Quest, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst


• Beat'emup - Since I don't want the Action genre to be too huge, I chose a few (mainly 8 and 16 bit) sub-genres to break it down into. A beat 'em up is a game where your character has various moves such as punches and kicks and takes on bad guys that come at him. These games are generally on a 2D plane and the bad guys generally take more than one hit. This category will also often include hack 'n slash games (though those will sometimes be in the Action-RPG category) where you have weapons and the view can be overhead or side-scrolling. Examples: Double Dragon, Final Fight, The Warriors


• Board/Trivia - Any game that resembles a more traditional board game or a trivia game, even if some video game action is required. Examples: Monopoly, Mario Party, Wheel of Fortune


• Fighting - A tournmanet fighting game. Examples: Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur


• First Person Shooter - A game that takes place from the character's perspective and has you attacking things directly in front of you. Note that games that involve a slightly 3rd-person or over-the-shoulder view could also fall into this category. Examples: Doom, Halo


• Flight - Often a first person shooter in the air. Enemies come at you, you move up, down, left, and right and the view is generally from the cockpit, though occasionally from behind the plane. Examples: After Burner, Top Gun, Wing Commander


• Interactive Movie - A game where the action pretty much plays out in front of you, but you can take actions to make the story branch or change it somewhat. Examples: Dragon's Lair, Night Trap


• Platform - An action game where moving around the environment is just as important, if not more so, than defeating enemies. Examples: Super Mario Bros., Bionic Commando, Donkey Kong 64


• Puzzle - A game where you try to fit things together, create combos, or otherwise use your brain to think about where things are on the screen. Examples: Tetris, Puyo Pop, Boxxle


• Racing - A game where you try to be the fastest one to get to a certain goal. Examples: R.C. Pro-Am, Super Mario Kart, Gran Turismo


• Rhythm/Reflex - A game where you have to press buttons in time to the patterns or music on the screen. Examples: Parappa the Rapper, Amplitude, Guitar Hero


• Role-Playing - A game where your character(s) has statistics such as strength, intelligence, hit points, etc. These increase after killing a certain number of foes and after wielding better weapons or wearing better armor. These games do no rely heavily on a player's reflexes. Examples: Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior


• Shmup - An action game on a 2D plane where you are usually in a ship of some sort shooting at enemies that come at you while the screen automatically scrolls. Called "shmup" as an abbreviation for "shoot 'em up". Do proto-shmup games like Galaga and Centipede fall in this category? I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Examples: Gradius, 1942, Ikaruga
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• Simulation - A game meant to simulate some real world process such as business, city management, or farm life. Examples: SimCity, Railroad Tycoon, Harvest Moon


• Sports - A game based on a sporting competition. Examples: Madden NFL 07, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Mutant League Hockey


• Strategy - A game where you manage resources and make decisions, typically in order to win battles or take over the world. Examples: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Advance Wars


• Strategy/RPG - A strategy game, as above, but that also involves characters with statistics that can be upgraded by leveling, and equipping new weapons and armor and also typically involves more story. Examples: Shining Force, Disgaea

You may also have noticed that I am trying to include links with each game I mention. These will typically be broken links, but if, at some time in the future, I write a post about a certain game these old posts will automatically link to it. Whee!

Welcome to Bitstream of Consciousness

This blog will be a journal of my habits in playing video games. Each post title will consists of the name of the game and approximately where I am or what I have done in the game. The contents of the post may be impressions of the game, why I am playing it, or anything else I come up with. Hopefully blogger beta's labels will allow me to make a really good database so, for instance, you can see all SNES games I have written about. There also hopefully won't be many non-game related posts like this one.

Ah, so that's the what. Why a game journal? It all boils down to this: I have Attention Deficit Disorder for games.

When I was young, I would get, at most 5 new games a year. Usually it was closer to 3. This meant that there was a limit to what I could play on my Nintendo Entertainment System. Because of this, I would really focus on each game. There was nothing else for me to do but devote my efforts to beating Ninja Gaiden or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I had help from various game magazines like Nintendo Power or Game Players, but that still meant that my time was devoted to beating these games.

Now that I am older and have more disposable income, I have almost every Nintendo game I ever wanted. Not to mention Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstation, and Gameboy game. So, I seem to start playing one game, lose interest in it, and then move onto another. I rarely end up playing a game to its completion anymore. I have to motivate myself to explore everything about a game and just get through it. Also, most older games had no way to save your progress, so I really have to have several hours to devote to a game if I want to finish it. (Yes, I realize this is an argument for emulators, but those just aren't the same for me.)

This game journal is meant to help in my motivation to fully explore each game I play. By writing down my thoughts that come up when I play a game, I hope to keep my interest alive. As I go through a game, there will be impressions, memories, and probably an eventual review for each game. I don't promise that I won't skip around - in fact I'm sure that I will eventually do that - but this journal will help get me back on track with where I was.