F-Zero (SNES)

F-Zero is one of those Nintendo franchises that never got the attention it deserved.  Sure, there were games on Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, and Gameboy Advance, but it never got as big as Zelda, Metroid, or even Kirby.  From Super Smash Bros, everyone knows who Captain Falcon is, but for a major Nintendo franchise character, his games are relatively obscure.

I had heard of F-Zero, but I had never played it until I picked up the original at a flea market.  I had never even heard of F-Zero X, and I had only seen F-Zero GX in stores a couple times.  Maybe I was just looking in all the wrong places at all the wrong times, but F-Zero doesn't get a lot of hype or attention, it seems.  Considering what an outstanding game F-Zero is, I don't understand why.

F-Zero for Super Nintendo is an outstanding little racing game and very well developed given that it was a launch title.  Granted, there are still a few things that I would have fixed, but it's a good game.  The gameplay isn't deep, and there's no real story you have to learn before it makes sense; there are 4 racers with different stats and three different "leagues" from which to choose.  Pick a car, pick a league, and win races.  The gameplay is simple, straightforward, and most of all, fun.

I do have a few complaints, though.  First, I think Nintendo probably could have fit a couple more cars on the cartridge.  4 seems a bit...limited.  Also, it would be nice to have a "random race" type of feature to race one race on a track of your choosing instead of a circuit on pre-determined tracks.  My biggest complaint, though, is no multi-player.  I don't even care about having other computer in there; I would have LOVED it if F-Zero had an option to let me race one of my friends, though I can understand how that might have been asking a bit much of a launch title for the 16-bit Super Nintendo.

Presentation: 4 - Yeah, F-Zero falls really short here.  There's no start up sequence; it just goes straight to the title screen where my options are "Grand Prix," "Practice," and "Records."  The game's great, but it builds no suspense.

Graphics: 8.5 - For a launch title on a 16-bit system, I'm actually pretty impressed with the graphics.  They're nice and crisp.  They're not as good as later Super Nintendo titles, but as I said; it was a launch title.  It gets my stamp of approval.

Sound: 7 - The title screen music is just awful.  It's so bland and unexciting.  However...the in-game music is rocking.  I mean, for a 1991 release, it's some hardcore stuff.  If there were ever music fitting of an extreme race at 300 MPH, it's on F-Zero.

Gameplay: 7 - There's no multiplayer; that's a major let down.  The single player is LOTS of fun, but it's limited; just 3 circuits.  This game is great, but it could have been so much better with gameplay a bit freer.

Lasting Appeal: 8 - There's a reason F-Zero's Captain Falcon is a Nintendo icon; his game is great despite not getting the attention it deserves.  I find myself plugging F-Zero in for just 10 minutes when I get bored and have the urge to race at speeds 2 or 3 times the capabilities of my car.  lmao

Overall Score - 7

Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 (N64)

Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes 2 is one of the games I remember most fondly on my Nintendo 64. As I said with Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes, there were several things that could stand to be fixed. The movement was too fast and jerky, the manual aiming was too slow, the graphics made it difficult to see what was what at times, and the sounds got annoying after a while.


Well, 3DO stepped up to the plate and did a good job of fixing these problems to make a truly outstanding sequel. The movement was still a bit faster than I would like, but only a hair; not even worth mentioning, honestly. The manual aiming was adjusted to an almost perfect speed, making sniping and precision M-16 firing MUCH easier. The graphics are good enough to tell what’s what with minimal confusion; for the Nintendo 64’s capabilities, they’re not bad.

I can’t explain what it is that makes the gameplay on Sarge’s Heroes 2 so much better than on Sarge’s Heroes, but for some reason, Sarge’s Heroes 2 has AWLAYS been more fun to me and holds MUCH more replay value with me. Sarge’s Heroes 2 was the last great Army Men game. After Heroes 2, we got games like Sarge’s War and Green Rogue; games that were okay (I guess), but that honestly should either have spent a lot more time in development or just not been released in the first place. Sarge’s Heroes 2 marked the end of an age; the age of living out our boyhood (keep in mind that I write this from a male perspective) fantasies of having massive battles between hoards of plastic soldiers. It honestly depresses me to play the newer Army Men games because I think of how great the franchise was and how great a company 3DO was, and I find myself asking “What happened?”
Maybe that’s why Sarge’s Heroes 2 holds such value with me; it was the last great struggle against the Tan Army. It represents the culmination of what made being a gamer great when I was 10 and what made 3DO a game company that won’t be forgotten for decades to come.


Presentation: 9 – At this point, Army Men had always been a popular series, and Sarge’s Heroes was a popular game that left players begging for more; Sarge’s Heroes 2 didn’t need any advertisement with all of the hype it had.

Graphics: 6 – The graphics are still below what we would expect for Nintendo 64 by the turn of the century, but they’re not awful; just not good.

Sound: 7.5 – The sound is less annoying than in Sarge’s Heroes, but Sgt. Hawk still does more than his share of grunting and groaning.

Gameplay: 8 – There’s something about this game that keeps one playing. The multiplayer still sucks, but the single player is nothing less than addicting.

Lasting Appeal: 9 – Even when I stopped playing games for a few years, I had one strong, vivid memory of my Nintendo 64; Sarge’s Heroes 2. So many people remember so few things about gaming as a child, but there’s always one memory; Sarge’s Heroes 2.

Overall Score: 8.2

Army Men: Sarge's Heroes (N64)

When one mentions "Army Men," the game of which most think first is Sarge's Heroes 2; most of us were children when this N64 classic hit shelves, but for there to be a sequel, there had to have been an original, right? Why don't we remember Sarge's Heroes until we've been thinking about it for a while? For a lot, it's probably the same reason that I don't remember it; I try not to. Sarge's Heroes isn't a bad game, but it's just depressing when placed next to its outstanding sequel.

he first and worst (hey, that rhymed) part of this game is the controls. The movement seems fast and jerky if you don't have the joystick tiled just far enough. You get used to it by the end of the first level, but it's nothing less than a pain. The manual aiming is just as bad but the opposite problem; it's WAY too slow. When you hold R to aim manually, the crosshairs drag across the screen. My grandmother is 90, and she could probably aim an M-16 faster than that. Thank God there's an auto aim. That's one redeeming quality about it; the auto aim is actually quite good. If you point in the general direction of an enemy (which can sometimes be a feat in and of itself with the fast, jerky movement) and start shooting, you'll hit him. Now, let me clarify here; the movement isn't like a plague, and the manual aiming isn't like trying to race a Pinto against Nissan Skyline. The movement is just faster than I'd like, and the manual aiming isn't bad if the Tan soldiers don't know you're there and aren't sending a barrage of hot plastic at you.

The second big drawback is the graphics. Now, I, of all people, place minimal importance on graphics, and the Nintendo 64 was one of the first plunges that gaming took into the 3rd dimension, so there were some technical limitations, but the graphics on Sarge's Heroes are just...rough. It's not so bad that it's hard to tell what's a Tan soldier and what's a tree, but it's just generally confusing sometimes. It's not terrible, 3D0 just could have done a bit better.

The last part is just a minor pet peeve of mine and something that all Army Men games seem to have; crappy dialog and bad puns. About halfway through the first level, for example, when you save Colonel Grimm, Sergeant Hawk says something like "Colonel, you're wounded," and Grimm says "It's just a 'plastic' wound." (yes, they actually put "plastic" in quotation marks in the game; even they knew it was lame) Yeah, just little things like that. One last closing thing; why do all of the guys have green skin, hair, and clothes, but the girls have white skin with green hair and clothes? O.o

Presentation: 8 - Army Men has been a big name since the early 90's, taking what most all little boys love and personifying it into characters and a storyline across a series of games. To have a hero who's name is more than just "Sarge" but "Sergeant Hawk" with more than a non-descript face was a great change to see; definitely a selling point.

Graphics: 5 - The graphics aren't bad really, by the end of 1999, we had come to expect more from the Nintendo 64. Granted, 3D was still unperfected, but 3D0 could have done better with the graphics.

Sound: 7 - The music is decent, and while Sergent Hawk's repetitive grunts and groans from injuries get annoying, there's something satisfying about the "p-shoo, p-shoo" from his M-16....

Gameplay: 7 - The controls are what kept this from an 8 or a 9. The gameplay would be amazing if you could adjust the joystick sensitivity, but since you can't, I give it a 7. The game's fun overall.

Lasting Appeal: 6 - Like I said in the beginning, few people if any think of Sarge's Heroes before they think of a sequel. It's a good game, but if you have Sarge's Heroes 2, don't bother playing this more than once.

Overall Score: 6.5

War of the Monsters (PS2)

I first played War of the Monsters not long after its release; probably 2004; with my friend Sam. That became our routine; I'd spend a weekend at his house, and the entire time, we would do nothing but drink soda, listen to Linkin Park, and play War of the Monsters. When I finally caught up with humanity and got a PS2, I searched tirelessly through every GameStop from Boone (far west North Carolina) to Washington (far east North Carolina) to find this game because of the wonderful memories I had of it. When I finally found it, I couldn't wait to play it. I saw the two locked characters that I needed to earn battle tokens in the single player to unlock, and I was like "Oh, no biggie!" And so I started the single player..... ....and quickly realized why Sam and I never played it; it's just awful. The controls in general are just awkward, but the multiplayer is amazing (I'll elaborate more later), so you get used to it and don't notice after a few minutes. The single player is alright on the first few stages, but once you get to bosses, you're like "Wow...." The first boss, for example, throws bombs at you; you need to pick them up, jump (while dodging more bombs) and hit him DIRECTLY about ten times before he'll fight you hand to hand. If you land the bombs on his platform RIGHT behind him, the explosion does nothing to him. I realize that I'm being way too nitpicky; the single player isn't terrible, I just hate it. I could get over the substandard controls with I'm playing with friends, but when it's just I, they bug me. The hidden characters are each 200,000 battle tokens, and you get like maybe 5,000 per stage. The only thing that is actually complaint-worthy about the single player aside from the controls is that the "adventure" mode is the same for every character. Now, the multiplayer...It lacks 4 player support, but this game is out-freaking-standing with its multiplayer. I don't know what it is that makes the multiplayer so amazing, but it's SO easy to play for hours if you have a friend over. You can pick up just about anything to throw at your opponents. It's all the same, but boy, is it fun.

Presentation: 6 - There isn't a whole lot that screams "EPIC" about this game, but there's nothing that really screams "LAME" either.

Graphics: 7.5 - The graphics aren't bad. They aren't astounding, but for 2003, the're not terrible.

Sound: 7 - Blah. Not blech, but just blah. The sound isn't anything remarkable, but it's not bad.

Gameplay: 8 - Kind of like with The Conduit, this is an average; I'd give the multiplayer a 9 and the single player a 7.

Lasting Appeal: 8 - As with many things, the good parts about this game will stick out in your memory while the bad parts vanish into obscurity.

Overall Score: 8

The Conduit (Wii)

As far as Wii games go, The Conduit is probably it's most high anticipated so far because for the first time, a company seemed to be putting real effort into a game. At E3 2008, people mistook it for a developing Xbox 360 game. High Voltage and Sega were putting time and effort into the games control, sound, graphics, gameplay, and online connectivity, even making use of the Wii's WiiSpeak. Now let's look at it....

The campaign is way too short, but VERY well done. With the exception of the original Halo, it's probably my favorite FPS single player. It has the one thing that people nowadays seem to CRAVE in FPS games; useless achievements that don't unlock anything and mean absolutely nothing. It's also got some useful things, too; you can unlock single player cheats by completing certain goals.

The use of WiiSpeak for the wifi battles is...a stretch. Oh, it has WiiSpeak support...if you have the other person's friend code. Yeah. Why the hell do I need someone's friend code just to talk to them? I mean, granted, I don't have whiny 9 year olds plaguing my games like one sees on Xbox Live, but still, a voice chat option would be nice (I've had the game for four months and NEVER used WiiSpeak). It's just embarrassing and disappointing.

The online play is....well, it's barely playable. It takes way longer than most games just to connect to the NWC, and when you finally do connect to the internet and try to find a game, it takes an EON to find a game, another eon to connect to the game, and when you do connect to a game, it's not at all uncommon for the game to glitch out and not let you do anything until you reset Wii, though this seems to happen more if you search for a "Worldwide" game as opposed to a "Regional" game.

Another problem is hacking. Now, I hate kids who "cry hacks," but if I look at you, throw two frag grenades at you, stick you with two radiation grenades, and unload a couple hundred MP5 bullets to your head and you don't lose ANY health at all, you're obviously hacking; when you finish a game with a score of 108-0 when the next highest score is 47-28, there's something wrong. I'm not going to whine about the hit detection system like a lot of whiny n00bs do, but there's just something about playing online that feels....off. I don't know if I'm used to Call of Duty's "cliking" everytime I hit someone, but it just feels...off. "Off" really is the best way I think of to describe it.

So yeah, don't get me wrong; The Conduit's a really good game, but it's not at all what I was expecting for this Wii-exclusive FPS that High Voltage spent so long designing.

Presentation: 9.5 - The Conduit had a LOT of hype prior to its release, and the box art is amazing. The start up is cool, and the backstory is really interesting, though a bit cliché.

Graphics: 8 - The graphics are CERTAINLY not what I had expected based on what I had heard about its E3 2008 preview, but for the Wii, they're still pretty good. Not what I wanted, but pretty good.

Sound: 6 - The sound isn't bad....but it isn't astounding. The sound effects are pretty good, but there's nothing distinctly "Conduit" like Halo's grunt squeals.

Gameplay: 7 - I'd give the single player gameplay a 9 and the wifi gameplay a 5; that averages to 7. The campaign is outstanding, but the wifi is really just pathetic and a joke.

Lasting Appeal: 8 - The wifi play has absolutely no lasting appeal except to give you something to hate. The campaign, however, is amazing, and you'll play through it numerous times.

Overall - 8

Legendary Wings (NES)

When I first played Legendary Wings, I was amazed at how strikingly similar it was to Dragon Spirit: The New Legend.  It's an overhead shooter in which you have an aerial attack and a ground attack, but I noticed one big difference right away; I can actually beat Dragon Spirit.  Legendary Wings has the same basic gameplay as Dragon Spirit, but is exponentially more difficult.  Maybe this will put it into perspective; I can usually get to level 4 or 5 on Dragon Spirit no problem, and I've beaten the whole game a few times, but except for one time when I was apparently having a really good day, I've never even gotten past the first level of Legendary Wings.  The screen is almost always swarming with enemies in the air shooting at you and trying to ram you, and there are also ground based units firing away at you which leave you inundated with fire and death at almost every turn.  You've got to have some serious dodging abilities to be able to weave in and out of all of that fire and make it to the end of the level.  It's not too bad in the beginning of the first level, but after about, oh, 20 seconds, you'll die (if you didn't die during the first 20 seconds).

Presentation: 4 - The title screen is bland, and the box art is mediocre. It's not as bad as "A Boy and His Blob," but it's no Super Mario Bros 3, either.

Graphics: 7 - They're not bad for the NES, but they're not spectacular. They're about the same as Star Soldier or Dragon Spirit.

Sound: 6 - The sound is decent, but it's lacking. There's not a great deal of variety, but it's not too terribly mind numbing.

Gameplay: 8 - The gameplay is good, and it really is a fun game; it's just so difficult. The difficulty is the only real problem with the gameplay; I never got to see much considering that I died every 5 minutes..

Lasting Appeal: 7 - If you want a good overhead shooter and a sadistic challenge, then this will always be a good game to dust off. I still play it occasionally; it's a good alternative to cutting and just as painful.

Overall - 7

Is it or is it not crucial for a game to have online playability in order to be considered outstanding?

"Can a game be considered outstanding without online play?" I've seen this question argued from dawn till dusk and back to dawn without agreement, so let's take some of the greatest games of all time and some of the greatest games of this generation and see what makes them great.

Since I think most of us would agree that IGN is one of the most credible game cites on the Internet, let's look at their 2007 Top 10 list for the greatest video games of all time.

1. Super Mario Bros (NES)

2. Tetris (NES)

3. Civilization II (PC)

4. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

5. Super Mario Bros 64 (N64)

6. Half-Life 2 (PC)

7. Super Metroid (SNES)

8. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

9. Final Fantasy III (SNES)

10. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)

According to IGN, only one of the greatest video games of all time had online play. But let's not go with what one site says; here's what IGN's reader's said in 2008 (this is what the readers said, not IGN).

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

2. Chrono Trigger (SNES)

3. Soul Calibur (Dreamcast)

4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

5. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)

6. Super Metroid (SNES)

7. 007 Goldeneye (N64)

8. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)

9. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)

10. Shemue II (Dreamcast)

According to IGN's readers last year, NONE of the 10 greatest games of all time include online playability. Let's look at Gametrailers's 2006 poll now.

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

2. Tetris (NES)

3. Street Fighter II (SNES)

4 (tie). Super Mario 64 (N64)/Super Mario World (SNES)

5. Tecmo Bowl (NES)

6. Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

7. Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)

8. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)

9. Halo (Xbox)

10. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)

None of Gametrailers's top 10 greatest games of all time had online play, either (Halo came out for the Xbox a year before Xbox Live was introduced, and the version of Halo on this list is the Xbox version considering that it scored an average 1.5 - 2 points out of 10 better than the PC version ). Just to get one last credible source before I give my opinion, though, let's look at VGChartz's 2009 poll.

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

2. Final Fantasy VII (PS1)

3. Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)

4. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

5. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

6. Super Mario 64 (N64)

7. Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)

8. Final Fantasy III (SNES)

9. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)

10. Super Mario World (SNES)

According to VGChartz, none of the top 10 games of all time have online play (though it was usually bundled with Metal Gear Solid Online, MGSO is still a separate game; MGS4 does not have its own online play).

So out of those four top 10 lists, only one game had online play. Now I'll give my list of the Top 10 Greatest Video Games of All Time.

1. Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)

2. Legend of Zelda (NES)

3. Super Mario World (SNES)

4. Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

5. Super Mario 64 (N64)

6. 007 Goldeneye (N64)

7. Starcraft (PC)

8. Super Mario Kart (SNES)

9. Halo 2 (Xbox)

10. Starcraft 64 (N64)

I'll give a brief explanation for my choices. Super Mario Bros 3 is, without a doubt, the most outstanding game ever released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the fact that it's still an adventure today with a plethora of secrets and the overwhelming hype it got before its release in 1991 without Internet ads makes it, in my opinion, the greatest game in history. Hell, Super Mario Bros 3 was one of the first videos games EVER to have its own strategy guide. When the Legend of Zelda came out in 1987, it was not only the first game to use an internal battery to save data, but it was the first adventure game with a world as massively sprawling as Hyrule. The fact that Nintendo made the game massive enough to design a way to save proves how epic a quest the Legend of Zelda was. Super Mario World, sometimes called Super Mario Bros 4, took everything that was great about Super Mario Bros 3 and expanded it; power ups you can save and use in-game, the ability to save, WAY longer game play with more secrets, and a bigger map to navigate. Donkey Kong Country is considered by many (myself included) to be THE best multiplayer game on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Super Mario 64 introduced a beautiful 3D Mario world with dozens of different levels and worlds to explore with several pretty awesome power ups (Metal Mario, Flying Mario, Invisible Mario...yeah, you know it was great). 007 Goldeneye redefined the FPS genre. All you fanboys who say Halo was more influential than Goldeneye...yall wouldn't even have no dang Halo if it weren't for Goldeneye. Except for Wolfenstein 3D, Goldeneye is the most influential FPS game of ALL TIME. Starcraft for PC is one of the games that made the RTS genre great. Think about it like this; if it weren't a LEGENDARY game, would you still be able to find it brand new on Walmart's shelves almost 12 years after its release? Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo is on here because of the threshold it broke; using the XBAND service, it was one of the first games to have online play. Halo 2 is on my list because it has, in my opinion, the best multiplayer of any FPS game. The co-op campaign is very well done, and the online play is outstanding. Starcraft 64 is what proved that RTS can work on a console. Was it as good as its PC counterpart? Of course not. Was it still amazing? Heck yes.

So as you can see, only 3 games on my list; Super Mario Kart, Starcraft, and Halo 2; have online play, and people only know usually that two of them had online play; Starcraft and Halo 2, especially since Super Mario Kart's online play disappeared with XBAND shut down. So even I, who say adamantly that online play is minor in terms of what makes a game great or bad, have more games with online playability than any of the 4 lists I cited. Super Mario 3, Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy VII, Super Metroid, and even Halo and Metal Gear Solid 4 were and are AMAZING games without online play, so why does, for example, Super Smash Bros Brawl's less than desirable online play make it any less of an extraordinary game? A game's greatness should not ignore the quality of its online play, but no online play should NOT make a game inferior to one with online play by default. The Conduit for Wii, for example, has only decent online play, but the campaign, although short, is incredibly fun making The Conduit, in my opinion, and pretty good game.

Here are my sources in case anyone wants to fact check me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wi

ki/XBAND

http://www.filibustercarto

ons.com/games.htm

http://www.ign.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wi

ki/Halo:_Combat_Evolved

http://en.wikipedia.org/wi

ki/Metal_Gear_Solid_4

Shaq Fu (Genesis and SNES)

 

While Shaq Fu may not be the worst fighting game ever, it's up there. The atrocity that is Shaq Fu will scar your soul and haunt you for the rest of your life. 

Yeah, so I was exaggurrating, but this game really is just awful. I bet you're thinking "Dude, it's a fighting game with Shaq; that sound hilarious!" Well, you're right; it is hilarious. The hilarity is the only reason I gave it a 4.5 instead of a 1.5. The gameplay is terrible; the fact that you're Shaq is the game's only redeeming quality. 

So the story is that Shaq is in Hong Kong or some crazy Asian place for a charity basketball game, and he's exploring the city before the game starts. He walks into this Chinese antique store, and he must have been high because the shopkeeper asks him to go through a portal to save some other dimension, and Shaq's like "Alrighty then." 

So the story mode is REALLY short and REALLY easy (it took me less than 45 minutes to beat it and I only had to retry one fight). The two player isn't that special; just your typical fighting game with the crazy characters from the single player. 

The storyline is just stupid, and the dialog is so stupid that it's just embarrassing even to play. The game's funny, and it's not a terrible play, but it's definitely not a good game. 

Overall, it's not terrible, but it's still bad. If you see this game cheap (like AT MOST $5), then pick it up for your Genesis or Super Nintendo because it is kind of funny, but don't pay anything more for it; it's simply not worth it.  I haven't played the Game Gear or Gameboy versions, and to be honest, I'm scared to.

Presentation: 7 - The presentation isn't bad; it's got Shaq in a fighting pose with some cool music, but because it's Shaq, one can't help but to laugh.

Graphics: 6 - For the time, the graphics aren't bad. By no means are they amazing, but they're not bad.

Sound: 4 - The sound is seriously lacking. The sound effects aren't that amazing, and the music is, to be quite honest, stupid and repetitive.

Gameplay: 4.5 - The gameplay isn't special. I've played worse, but I've DEFINITELY played better....a LOT better...The controls are sticky and the gameplay is shallow and repetitive.

Lasting Appeal: 2 - This game has some of the least replay value of any game I've ever played. The only reason I ever play it is because it's got Shaq, not because of the game itself.

Overall - 4.5

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Future's Past (SNES) and Star Trek: The Next Generation - Echoes from the Past (Genesis)

 

Some of you may be thinking "Why are you doing two games in one blog?"  The reason is because "Echoes from the Past" and "Future's Past" are the same game with minor changes.  If you weren't wondering that....well, then poo on you.

Future's Past for SNES was made by Spectrum Holobyte; Echoes from the Past for Genesis was made by Sega.  I'm not sure how Sega got past copyright issues with this, but apparently the few minor differences in the game was enough.

Some major crap is the first person with whom your ship communicates.  In the Super Nintendo version, you talk to a young woman with straight black hair named T'Lirus; in the Genesis version, you talk to an old woman with curly blonde hair named T'Laris.  Apparently Sega was like "Maybe if we change her name and appearance, we won't get sued...."  Apparently they were somehow right with that bet...  Also, the game starts at Codis Nu VI on the Genesis version and Codis Mu VI on the Nintendo version.  Seriously, guys?  Did you have to change a SINGLE letter?

There's not a whole great deal to say about the actual gameplay.  You're either on the bridge giving commands, controlling an away team from an overhead view, or controlling your starship in battle like a flight simulator.  Both the SNES and the Genesis versions have almost identical gameplay, but the Genesis version is considered better overall, an opinion with which I'm inclined to agree.

The biggest difference in actual gameplay is that the SNES version has a mandatory level that is an optional unlock in the Genesis version.  This level is EXTREMELY difficult, and it's EXTREMELY difficult to unlock if you have the game for Genesis.  I still haven't figured out why it's mandatory on one game but optional on the other, but then again, I can't figure out why they made the crap load of minor changes between the two, either, so who cares?

Presentation: 7 - The opening screens aren't bad. The Sega version has a NICE transporter intro and the SNES version has come sweet Trek music. Not bad overall.

Graphics: 8 - For 16-bit machines, the graphics were good. They're not jaw-dropping or anything, but they're good.

Sound: 8 - Another strong point of the game; from warp to transporters to phasers, it kept true to the Star Trek sound effects to make Trek gamers VERY happy.

Gameplay: 6 - The gameplay is decent. It's not amazing, but it's not terrible. Just decent.

Lasting Appeal: 6 - The game's a fun play every now and then, but it's not a game back to which you'll come running.

Overall: 7

Let's See If I Can Win The Holy Grail...

I am, without a doubt, an avid video game collector; I especially love my collection of the old school Nintendo Entertainment System games.

When I read that JJGames was having a sweepstakes to win a copy of Nintendo World Championship, I flipped out; for years, I've literally dreamt of owning a copy of that legendary game.  The holy grail of video game collecting, Nintendo World Championship is most worshipped and sought-after game in existence.  Considering it's immense value and the massive number of people who are bound to enter the sweepstakes, the chances of my winning it are slim; this, however, is an opportunity I cannot afford to miss.  Not to win the copy of Nintendo World Championship would be disappointing; not even to try would be foolish.  If I do win, however, I will be sure to show my gratitude by loyally patronizing JJGames and spreading the word to all of my friends....not that I'm sucking up or anything.  =)

Metroid (NES)

Metroid's release in 1986 marked the birth of one of Nintendo's most successful franchises. In Metroid, you play as the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who is one of the first major female game characters.

Let's address the negative aspects of the game first so we can go ahead and move to the positive. At the very beginning of the game, you have the option to go left or right. I don't know if it's just I or if most people do this, but I usually choose to go right. If you go right, you'll be running around for hours trying to figure out why it won't let you proceed. Not until you try going back and going left do you figure out that there's a random orb onto which you have to jump in order to proceed over to the right (the left is a dead end). Another problem is that you don't start off with full health. You start with like 30 hp I think. As for the music, it's pretty epic, but it repeats over and over and over and over again and it drives you INSANE. A lot of the time, you're in some massive collumn that keeps going up for like a gazillion miles. At this point, the levels become somewhat non-linear, which is just confusing as anything. When your health gets below like 20 or so, this god awful beeping starts, and it won't stop until either Death welcomes you into his warm embrace, or you find enough health to shut the freaking thing up.

Anyway, now on to the good aspects of the game. Metroid has a fun, addicting quality that will make the controller hard to drop. One aspect of the game that makes it a bit easier than some games to play is that you can aim up as well as left and right. Unlike some games, the boundaries are well defined and the graphics aren't confusing.

Presentation - 8. For an NES game, the title screen is fairly epic, especially with the epic background music

Graphics - 8. Good ol' 8-bit graphics, but not confusing.

Sound - 5. Here's the game's major drawback; the music is great...for the first 90 seconds. After that, you'll want to break the cartridge.

Gameplay - 9. The gameplay is epic and addicting...Oh yeah, and fun, too.

Lasting Appeal - 9. Oh, you'll keep coming back to this game over and over again, no doubt.  I mean, it's Metroid; it's a legendary franchise for a reason.

Overall Score - 9.5

Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (NES)

When Dragon Spirit was released in 1987, it was originally released as a Namco arcade game, though it was later ported to Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Sharp X68000, TurboGrafix-16, and ZX Spectrum under the same name.  It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System under the name Dragon Spirit - The New Legend.  I have no idea why they tacked "The New Legend" on, since the gameplay seems to be the same, but hey, whatever; it's on Nintendo, and that's all that matters.

As I've said said before now and will continue to say, the story is quaint, but it's a good kind of quaint.  Quaint like reading by candle light, not quaint like sacrificing a pig everytime you do something wrong.  Anyway, the story....After a millennium of captivity, a serpent demon named Zawell escapes imprisonment and kidnaps Alicia, princess to the kingdom of Mitgult. A young, crafty soldier named Amul is selected to rescue the princess and destroy Zawell. In praying to the gods for strength and courage, he points his sword high toward the heavens. Suddenly he is transformed into an all-powerful blue dragon, bestowed with special powers; a gift from the gods to aid him in his quest.

Dragon Spirit is one of those games that you never forget after you play it just once. It's story is rather cliché and the names are strange (Zawell?  What...?), but the game is an unforgetable experience. There are 12 levels to the game if you include the very first part that you don't even have to beat to proceed, though not many people count that, bringing the level total to 11. Anyway, you're a dragon flying around killing stuff. You have two attacks; an aerial attack and a ground bombardment. I think this sort of dimentional distinction is pretty impressive for the 8-bit Nintendo, even if you can't actually change altitudes. After each level, there is a boss at the end, and the levels are all WAY harder than the bosses. Like. WAY harder.

Presentation - 8.5.  From the title screen to the pointless intro level, this game has "EPIC" written all over it, and they make sure you know how epic their game is.

Graphics - 8.  For the NES, they're really not bad. 8-bit was capable of more, as we saw in later games like Mario 3, but by no means did Dragon Spirit have poor graphics for the time and system capabilities.

Sound - 9.  The music on the title screen and text screens isn't bad, and the music in the game itself is pretty chipper and upbeat. Cool music + Good game = One happy old school gamer.

Gameplay - 9.5.  This game is way more fun than one would expect when watching someone else play it, and it's addicting. Being able to continue from the level at which you died makes one want to persist and beat it.

Lasting Appeal - 9.5.  You won't forget this game. If you play it once, you won't forget it. You might forget the story or the names or the order of the levels, but the gameplay itself is so great, you'll always remmber.

Overall Score - 9.2

Bomberman (NES)

When Bomberman was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987 (1985 in Japan), it started a series that would include a game on almost every system to come, all the way up to Bomberman Land for the Wii and Ultra Bomberman for the Playstation 3.

Bomberman was first released in Japan for several early computers in 1983.  Within 10 years, Bomberman would be a popular and well known franchise making huge profits from games across the game console board.

The story is that Bomberman is a robot who works in an underground bomb factory and is the best bomb maker in the factory, but he hates his job.  He heard a rumor that any bomberman who makes it out of the factory gets a wish, which he wants to use to turn all bombermen into human bombermen.  Apparently, the ballons, gum drops, and other strange enemies are some manner of security guard set on preventing his escape.  If you somehow manage to beat level 50 (I never got past level 43), you become human.

Bomberman for the Nintendo Entertainment System is definantly one of the more influential titles ever released, given that it spawned a massive series including games on almost, if not every system since 1983 when it was originally released in Japan. In the game, you are a robot who is trying to kill all of the security guards (who look like ballons and rain drops) in the underground bomb factory so you can escape. Once you defeat all of the enemies, you have to blow up random bricks until you find the exit, which gets really boring and stressful when you being to run low on time and still haven't found the exit. It's pretty much the same thing after every level , but it's a fun little game.

Presentation - 6.5.  The box art is pretty cool with some robot guy running out of an explosion, but it's nothing amazing or epic or anything.

Graphics - 7.5.  The graphics aren't anything amazing, but for NES standards, they're not bad either. Pretty average for the 8-bit era.

Sound - 7.  The music is REALLY repetative and REALLY monontonous. It gets stuck in your head and haunts you like Goatse. The sounds are all rather plain and unremarkable but not terrible.

Gameplay - 8.  The gameplay's not bad and pretty fun at first. It just starts to get old pretty quickly. It's pretty much just more bricks and more enemies from level to level.

Lasting Appeal - 8.  Bomberman is not one of those game you'll play over and over again like Mario or Metroid, but it's not one of those games that will haunt you to your grave like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Overall Score - 7.7

Batman (NES)

Batman for the NES was released in 1990 and was developed and produced by Sunsoft.  This game is REALLY tough once you get past the first few stages.

The game starts off being pretty good.  Stage 1-1 is a pretty easy level, about what you would expect from the first level of a game.  Stage 1-2 is a lot harder, but still not too bad.  It's more of the "Oh yeah, this is a good, fun challenge" type of hard, not the "HOLY CRAP OH EM GEE I'M GONNA DIE" type of hard.  Stage 1-3 and you're already fighting a boss, but this boss is really easy; 3 hits with your spinny tri-circle thingy of death (actually called batdisks) and the boss is dead.

Stage 2-1, and you're like "Wow, this is really getting hard...."  After some frustration and a lot of trial and error, though, it's beatable.  Stage 2-2 is really hard, but again, beatable.  Stage 2-3 and you're screaming "OH MY GOD, DOES THE MADDNESS EVER END?!?"  Stage 2-4 is the stage 2 boss, and after you die and get sent back to the beginning of 2-3, you're like "Whatever.  I'm sick of this game."  I rarely get past this boss.

The graphics aren't bad at all for an NES game.  The gameplay is REALLY good; it's just really hard.  The music is nice and dramatic, and the sound effects are good.  The only real problem is that starting with stage 2, the levels are way too hard.

Another thing I don't like is that they managed to reverse the buttons!  I'm not talking about the A button attacking while the B button jumps (it's like a law of nature that B attacks and A jumps).  No, they got that right.  I'm talking about the most obscure button screw up I've ever seen in my life; Select pauses the game while Start cycles through your weapons.  What the heck?  I've never heard of that.

Presentation - 8.  It's got a cool title screen and nifty Batmobile cut scenes.  It even shows Batman shooting his way through a garage door with a machine gun on the Batmobile after Stage 1-3.

Graphics - 8.  For an NES game, the graphics are quite good.  Still not sure why Batman explodes upon death as if he were a robot, but the graphics are good.

Sound - 8.  The music is pretty good and very fitting.  The sound effects aren't too bad, either.

Gameplay - 8.  The gameplay itself is very good and really fun.  Despite the fact that the game is really fun and addicting, however, it's REALLY HARD.

Lasting Appeal - 7.  Ohh, you'll definitely remember this game; you'll remember how incredibly difficult it is.  It is a fun game, though, and worth replaying, even if only for the first two stages of the game.

Overall Score - 8