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Find Video Game Stores In Your Local Area.
So I was watching a youtube video and in the description it had a link. This link will completely change the way the hunt is. I would of loved to know about this when I was in Nebraska.
So with the link to this site you can type in your Zipcode and it will pop up all the places and addresses within your local area that you can find games. I typed in my old Zipcode in Nebraska and it showed up all the Goodwills, Gamestops, Fleamarkets and everything. If only I would of known about this then. Hopefully this can come of use to my fellow Rfgeners.
http://www.dinkydana.com/...me-stores?location=68123#
Alright so this past month my wife and I moved into our first home. As you might guess this means that March was super-busy, and I really didn't have much time (or disposable income) for collecting. But I did manage to pick up some stuff actually. Let's take a look...
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/hxB7diNl.jpg[/img]
First up was a couple of found surprises. The Sonic comic my wife found while packing. I guess she got it free a few years ago when we went to a video game store on Comic Book day. The Game Gear was mine from childhood and my parents happened to find it in their basement. It works and even has Sonic 2 inside it, though the speaker no longer works. Oh well.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/5CPG2khl.jpg[/img]
I finally decided to use some Barnes & Noble gift cards I received for Christmas. These are two of the items I purchased. The PSO guide was huge for me as I've been so absorbed in that game lately. Sadly the poster wasn't included in it. The Sega Dreamcast Official Games Guide is a cool book that has tips and tricks for various games.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/udR2flFl.jpg[/img]
I also used up some eStarland credit I had been sitting on since before the move. Capcom Vs. SNK has been one of my go-to games this month, and I'm so excited to finally have Grandia II.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/DAwmwsTl.jpg[/img]
Also from eStarland credit was these two complete Neo Geo Pocket Color games. I know NGPC isn't technically Sega, but I consider it the Dreamcast's little sister seeing as how it had connectivity with the console.
[img width=640 height=480]http://i.imgur.com/3gVeAvcl.jpg[/img]
While moving I also boxed up a lot of random video game junk I didn't need and finally brought it to my local shop to trade in for credit. So I scored some common Dreamcast games along with Virtua-On which I've actually never seen in the wild before.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/eYjH2ypl.jpg[/img]
...and also got this CIB Make My Video: Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch.
[img width=480 height=640]http://i.imgur.com/n75iGGvl.jpg[/img]
...plus an awesome Blue Mary figurine!
So yeah, all in all a pretty good month and not a dollar of my own money spent on any of it. And really the best addition to my collection this month was that I finally have my own dedicated game room!
[img width=700 height=525]http://www.pinballrebel.com/game/pins/bram_stokers_dracula/bsdbg.jpg[/img]
Coming in at #3 on the countdown is Williams' Bram Stoker's Dracula ("BSD"). BSD is an odd license in that the film really wasn't a blockbuster in the U.S. in 1992, although it had great success worldwide and won 3 Oscars for Make-up, Effects, and Costume Design, and 5 Saturn awards, including Best Film and Actor (Gary Oldman). I've heard several friends complain about how bad the film is, and though it's an odd take on the Dracula mythology, it's not a horrible film. In pinball community, license can mean everything. This is as true today (if not more true) as it was over 20 years ago. With Sterns most recent release "The Avengers," and their newest announcement "Metallica," to Jersey Jack's new "Wizard of Oz" and recent announcement of "The Hobbit" license for their second pin, new pins tend to sell out via pre-order before any work has been done!
Continue reading Banana's Pinball Top 10 - #3 Bram Stoker's Dracula
[img width=610 height=550]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-071/bf/U-071-S-01560-A.jpg[/img]
Hi. My name's noise. And I'm a PSO addict.
I'll be completely honest here: I never thought I'd see the allure of Phantasy Star Online. In the past I'd heard fellow gamers refer to the game as "video game crack," in which every session left you wanting just a tiny taste more. But to me it just sounded pretty unappealing. For one thing I'm not a fan of extremely long games. So something like PSO with its online world which makes it something of a never-ending game was a turn-off. I'm also not all that interested in hack-n-slash battle systems within RPG settings. Nor have I ever found myself drawn to games that focus on hoarding loot. So while I was certainly a fan of the Phantasy Star brand, I just couldn't see myself interested in an MMO.
But one night several months ago while browsing the Dreamcast-Talk forums I thought it might be fun to get my console online and test it out with PSO. After spending some time Googling for free dial-up ISP's in my area, I was able to configure my conole's modem and get connected to the Sylverant private server. Of course I had never played Phantasy Star Online before, so once connected I hadn't the foggiest clue what I was supposed to be doing. So I just sort of walked around and marveled at the excellent graphics and music.
[img width=571 height=472]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/pso/phantasystaronline_0130_screen029.jpg[/img]
And then soon enough I noticed two characters just standing and talking to each other. Right away I realized that I was seeing actual players since everything they were saying was being typed into word-bubbles above their heads. I admit that for a moment I was severely intimidated. But i approached, introduced myself and warned them that I was a total n00b. "Wait... right now is your first time playing PSO? You mean, like ever?" And these guys were nice enough to then spend the next hour or so giving me a crash-course in the basics. They had my back with monomates to heal me and watched me hit level 2 while playing the game online.
All in all the experience was fun, but I knew I'd need to spend some time offline with the game to really grasp how things worked and try to get myself to at least a respectable level before attempting to seriously play online. So basically the game sat untouched on my shelf for the next several months. Sure I had a good time messing around with it online that night, but it would be a serious committment to play a game so demanding. Hell, you can't even pause PSO!
A few months later we got hit with a pretty impressive snow storm, and I found myself with one of those lazy snow days that gives you an excuse to dive into a game you normally wouldn't have the time for. Immediately I thought of PSO and popped in my copy. The version of I've been playing by the way is Ver. 2, which is (as I understand it) the same exact game as the original Dreamcast release, but with some bug-fixes and some additional quests.
And so I spent that afternoon going back and forth between shoveling and and exploring Ragol. At first my progress seemed slow and I'd find myself consulting the manual often to try to figure out what all the buttons did and what my objectives were to begin with. But once the ball started rolling I was making my way through quests and getting myself familiar with the Forest and genuinely having a great time to my own surprise. In fact I was having so much fun with the game that as my wife and I packed up all of our belongings to prepare to move into our new house, I spent most of February with Phantasy Star Online being one of only two games I left accessible (the other being Sega Smash Pack).
[img width=568 height=468]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/screenshots/dc/pso/pso_0103_screen020.jpg[/img]
Which reminds me, I should take a moment to point out that over the months I've spent with PSO, it became a big enough part of my gaming habits to actually justify some further purchases. Perhaps the most obvious is the official Versus Books strategy guide. This book is definitely very handy to have around for reference on such confusing matters such as what to feed your Mag, and of course maps are excellent to have around if you don't want to tie up a big chunk of your screen with the in-game map. PSO also make my decision to obtain a large lot consisting of both the Dreamcast VGA box and Broadband Adapter a much easier one to make. Let me just say that this game looks stunning in VGA mode (though in fairness, so don't most Dreamcast games that take advantage). And although I haven't had the time to hook up the pricey BBA yet, it's certainly nice to have the option to do so.
At any rate, I'm currently making my way through The Mines. I'm now at level 19, and have put about just as many hours into the game. And yet my addiction shows no signs of slowing down. Perhaps the absolute sickest part of it is that I keep thinking that once I get through Offline Mode, I can actually start to play Online. And hey, perhaps I can start a second character when I pick up a copy of Ver. 1...
Episode 13 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...rum/index.php?topic=11616
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Think you know your composite input from your component input? How about your SCART from your VGA? What the heck does the 7.1 mean in your audio setup?
This time around we will explore various video and audio setups that span the length of gaming. We discuss the different setups most commonly available to us gamers, explain a bit of the tech behind them, and offer up our favorite ways to get the most out of your consoles.
So whether you are the type who has been trying to perfect a set of Quadraphonic headphones, or don't even know what Quadraphonic means, it might be time to optimize your audio and video options in order to get maximum pleasure when using your collection.
Show notes
Links mentioned in the show:
Rock Band setup tutorial: http://youtu.be/-GZdZX9f_-U
Music: Jackal (NES)
9:28 Small Scores
2:02:18 AV
5:05:47 Outro
Mark Morgan is one of the more recent composers, he's been around for awhile now but most of the Japanese legends were already going strong by the late 80's or early 90's. Mark Morgan did not get his first video game project until 1995.
Dark Seed II was the first game released that had Morgan's signature dark musical tones. His style is known for creating an immersive, chilling, and crushing atmosphere within unique worlds. The Dark Seed games did have art design by H.R. Giger after all, seems like the perfect fit! This is quite his strong suit, but he is quite capable of more lighthearted and upbeat scores.
Zork: Nemesis was the next game that released with him at the helm of the music and was a major departure of the series' roots, but he got to stay around and do the music for the more lighthearted follow up Zork: Grand Inquisitor.
In between the two Zork games Mark began the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship with Interplay, a well loved and respected developer and publisher that has long since lost its magic. But, Morgan entered when the company entered a new Golden Age, sadly one that could not save the company from itself.
BioWare's very first video game, Shattered Steel was the first project between Zorks, the game is basically a MechWarrior rip off. Depending on your experience with the games that is either awesome or kinda blah.
The second project between Zorks was the sequel to one of the best first person shooters of the mid 90's, Descent II. For those like me that have played Descent you know much the music rocks, and Descent II is no exception!
1997 was a busy year for Mark Morgan and included one of his biggest successes, and a game that completely failed. On top of Zork: Grand Inquisitor he did the music for NetStorm: Islands at War. NetStorm sold badly as it was completely overshadowed by Ensemble's classic RTS Age of Empires, and Activision's marketing budget was effectively zilch.
Now for the big success, that partnership with Interplay was about to pay off with one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Mark Morgan and Interplay released Fallout onto the world in 1997, and RPGs were never the same afterwards!
I will use any excuse ever to pull this video out.
Morgan and Black Isle Studios went together like corn meal and milk as the two came back for Fallout 2, a sequel which may just be better than the original!
Black Isle and Morgan continued their string of home runs with the incredibly unique, critically lauded, and the absolute definition of a cult classic, Planescape: Torment. This classic RPG came out in 1999 and completely failed on the sales charts.
The same year, 1999 saw Morgan and other longtime partner Activision part ways, as the last Activision published game he worked on, Civilization: Call to Power released. This was much more successful on the sales charts and was not instantly relegated to the bargain bin. He did not work on the sequel however.
The following year saw Morgan's last work for the ailing Interplay, the entire company would be mostly dead in less than 3 years after this. 2000's Giants: Citizen Kabuto would be Morgan's last work in the entire video game industry for almost a decade as he completely switched over to score television shows. For Giants Morgan got the chance to work alongside the current Elder Scrolls superstar Jeremy Soule, in a meeting that the Greek Titans couldn't replicate if they tried.
His list of TV credits during this period is quite short, One Tree Hill, Hawaii, Kojak, Killer Instinct, and Shark. Morgan worked on other shows throughout his composing career, and that shows how talented of a musician he really is!
In 2009 Morgan returned to the world of gaming, this time working for Electronic Arts to produce the original music for Need for Speed: Shift, his first racing game!
After a long time separated Morgan was finally reunited with long time employer Brian Fargo as he was brought on board as part of his famous Kickstarter campaigns, part of the stretch goals rather.
Upcoming games that will include Morgan's music include Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and possible vaporware Prey 2.
Well, preparing to graduate stinks! Research projects stink! Geothermal wells REALLY stink!...
Know what doesn't stink....indie bundles!
Ever since my last blog, I have been super busy with school and work...and building a new computer! I was going to buy one, but decided building one was way cheaper for what I had wanted. I'm quite happy with the decision, and only regret not splurging on a higher power graphics card (even though my NVidia 610 GT is really fine and it is just an insecurity issue...I mean everyone else has better ones, why shouldn't I?!).
With the recent aquisiton of a desktop, as opposed to my crappy laptop, I've been sucked into the world of Steam sales, Free to Play, and Indie Bundles (indie gala Collossus and Humble bundle Android 5). And since my consoles have been left to collect dust this past few weeks, I figured these games deserved a bit of blog attention.
Team Fortress 2
[img width=700 height=393]http://th05.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/263/d/9/__right_behind_you___team_fortress_2_wallpaper_edit_by_datryancross-d5fdza7.png[/img]
First off is everyone's favorite hat simulator. Not much to really say here, except that I have an uncontrollable urge to get more items. Interestingly enough, the economy outside the game is almost more of a draw than the game itself. Then again...it could just be that I'm going through withdraw from my days as an item merchant on Maplestory....
Beat Hazard Ultra
[img width=700 height=393]http://www.brashgames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Beat-Hazard-Ultra-Screenshot-PS3-2.jpg[/img]
If there is a surefire way to get me into a game...add music dependence. Not sure why, but I am addicted to rhythm games. Beat hazard uses your music to create a crazy seizurefest....er i mean twin stick shooter. So far, the power rangers theme has been the most intense level i've been able to generate. As of right now...it's 3.50 for the complete pack on steam. Go buy it....I'll wait.
Dungeon Defenders
[img width=640 height=360]http://www.gametrailers.com/side-mission/files/2012/01/Dungeon-Defenders.jpg[/img]
I haven't gotten nearly enough time to play this (mainly because my girlfriend doesn't have it...but she has TF2, so see above). It's a quirky tower defense / shooter/ thingy. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it once I get far enough in, but so far it has a steep "you need to max your level or play with people to stand a chance" curve....which sucks, cause I generally dont play with random people. Other than that, I'm having fun.
Super Hexagon
[img width=480 height=320]http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma5q4tXIY51qbg80vo1_500.jpg[/img]
This runs on a flash drive, so it has gotten played far more than any other game on this list. It's an "impossible game" type of maze game, where the only goal is to dodge walls along a hexagon. I'm terrible, but the music is awesome so I don't mind.
Uplink
If I could get one game to run on my flash drive, this would be what I would wish for. This hacking simulator has been a blast so far. You have to preplan your hacks, everything from buying new computer parts and security programs to bouncing your connection through multiple computers. The simplicity really lends well to its mood, as it really makes you feel like you are breaking an old school computer network. Totally recommend. Also, if anyone has a portable version lemmie know!
There are a bunch more games to talk about, but I really haven't gotten to play too much of them, so i'll leave them for another blog post.
As a side note, I picked up a few console games from a sale at best buy, so I'll prob have a post up soonish about Red faction: Armageddon and Farcry 3 (or as I've been calling it, "cabelas dangerous hunt").
Till next time, Smell ya later!
~Neo
Collection (not counting cpu games...gotta do them later): 741
Backlog count: 274
% complete: 63%
Looking to get into digital PC gaming? You are? Well well well then, let me tell you: Steam's a great place to start. Valve's digital distribution giant has an easy-to-use client that houses all your games, a huge selection of titles to buy, and the famous Steam sales where you can pick up new games for criminally low prices of as little as one or two bucks. A lot of my favorite games on there are indie titles, made by individuals or really small teams. Indie devs typically have no tyrannical management to worry about, and they also tend to have a true passion for what they make. As a result, it's very common for fresh ideas and unbridled creativity to shine through their work!
Whether you're unfamiliar with this side of gaming or you just want something new to play, Steam happens to be running a huge sale at the moment: The Indie Spring Sale, going through March 29th. Countless indie games on Steam (if not all of them) are discounted, many at 75%+ off. It is absolute madness - thankfully, a wonderful kind. And hey, maybe you need a little guidance? A recommendation or two? Well, here are a few of my personal favorites that you can pick up on the cheap.
Note: Steam features a decent offline mode that works if you've signed in on your current computer before. But if you want to know which games are DRM-free, so that you can back them up wherever you want and play without an Internet connection, check out this handy list.
Gravitron 2
You pilot a space lander with thrust controls, similar to Gravitar or Oids. Gorgeous neon vector (!) graphics, combined with great flight & shooting controls make it an instant arcade-style classic. Every time you finish your mission exploring the underground depths of an alien planet, a countdown begins and intense music plays as you must escape to the atmosphere before the planet itself blows up. Exhilarating.
Thomas Was Alone
Excellent puzzle platformer: Graphics are slick but minimalist, and the story is told through an awesome narration. Gets pretty emotional. Even though you play as squares and rectangles!
Swarm Arena
VERY fresh, unique fast-paced action game with hints of strategy. As a glowing ball, you move around the arena to pick up little blips of light called drones that will swarm around you. Taking out your opponent - human or AI, offline or online - requires building up your army and swinging them using momentum to break through the other army, to strike the other colored ball. Tons of fun and something that's never quite been done before, to the best of my knowledge. You can get a better idea of the gameplay by watching a trailer.
Super Hexagon
An action game in the purest sense, Super Hexagon is an example of a simple design executed to perfection. You are a tiny triangle rotating around the middle of the screen to dodge incoming walls. That's it. And it's really difficult. But with practice you get a better feel for movement and you learn the patterns of the incoming walls, and it's really satisfying once you can survive for longer than five seconds. Also: The chiptune music is absolutely jammin, and the whole game pulses to the beat. Man, it's great.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Take a stroll through the most beautiful pixel-forest ever imagined, use the ancient magical powers of sworcery, battle horrible beasts, gaze at the moon. A modern adventure game, and it also has a bizarre-but-excellent sense of humor.
Ben There, Dan That! / Time Gentlemen, Please!
Two hilarious point & click adventures, bundled together. Almost any item combination you can think of will yield funny dialogue! And a lot of the humor actually comes from poking fun at quirks of the genre, so if you're a fan of these kinds of games, the Dan & Ben collection is a must.
The Polynomial
Explore the space of the music. Pop in your own tunes or listen to what's already there, and fly around incredible visual feasts as the lights pulse to the beat. There are enemies to shoot if you really want something to do, but you can turn them off. There are a LOT of settings you can play with - it's a gigantic visual music sandbox.
Super Laser Racer
A top-down racer with neon vector graphics, not quite as slick as Gravitron 2. But the racing can be a lot of fun, and the soundtrack is killer.
Data Jammers: FastForward
An action game that has you zooming down digital highways, racking up as many points as possible. All the different ways to squeeze points out of the level really make it interesting - there are collectibles, but then there are enemies. You can slam into enemies for more points, but that takes away some of your life, which regenerates over time. So it becomes a game of balancing your life bar while weaving in and out of the different lanes, exploiting every little opportunity for a higher score.
And Yet It Moves
A unique papery visual style combined with a strange ambient soundtrack and the ability to rotate the entire world make this a very interesting platformer indeed.
The Path
A dark, creepy, stunningly beautiful adventure inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. It blurs the line between videogame and notgame, and some traditional gamers are turned off because it's too "artsy". But if you're okay with a change of pace, and you can enjoy something that breaks the mold, I wholeheartedly recommend The Path. (just remember, it is seriously creepy)
I-Fluid
You are a drop of water, and there's a whole house out there to explore. Slick graphics, and some really cool 3D platforming. Just watch out for paper, stove tops, etc.!
Criminy, and it just goes on and on. There are many more I could mention. I could continue heaping praise onto the games I love forever and ever, on and on until the end of time. Or close to it. And then there are the bunches of indie games I haven't played and look great. But I'll cut it off here so this post isn't too too long. In summary: There is an enumerable amount of quality titles out there, and if you feel like giving a few a go, now's a good time to do just that!
[img width=291 height=500]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/2/9/2/979292_147462_front.jpg[/img]
Hey, you! There's this really tough student that's driving us all nuts! Your gonna go beat him up, right?! Right! Now get to it!
Here we go again! Kenka Bancho 4 is the sequel to Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble for the PSP. This beat'em up is about Yuuta, who transfers to a new school full of tough kids, because he wants to beat up the strongest student there. When he arrives, he learns that he needs to get the student's attention to be able to meet and fight him. To do that, he needs to beat up all 300 students at his new school!
Being the sequel to Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble, the core gameplay remains the same, but with a few differences. You are no longer required to do stuff by a time limit now, for example. You can still customize your character and his fighting moves, so that's cool. Another neat little feature is that you can rename all the students at your school. Odd, but still neat.
Another thing about this game is fighting with honor. For example, you should never just walk up to a student and hit them. To initiate a fight, you should use the Menchi Beam instead. The Menchi Beam is a laser eye beam that signals another student to fight you. Upon using it, you will trade insults via a mini-game where you press a button at the right time. If you win, you get the first strike. If they win, they hit you first. As I mentioned before, you must fight with honor to remain a cool badass. As such, you shouldn't use weapons, just your bodily techniques to fight.
Overall, this is one hell of a game, and a great improvement over Badass Rumble. This is one of those rare cases where the sequel is better than the prequel.
When it comes to the world of video games some of the biggest and most influential names all come from the male gender. You got your Nolan Bushnells, Yu Suzukis, Shigeru Miyamoto, Nobuo Uematsu, Yuzo Koshiro, Warren Spector, the list goes on and on and seems nearly endless. So, I wanted to start putting the spotlight on video game music, something that most of us love and can quite easily make or break an interactive experience.
To start this series off I wanted to avoid the overdone artists, it does not take much time to find any information on Nobuo Uematsu or Koji Kondo for example, and what better way to start than with the rare female composer who has worked on many popular titles but still exists largely in the shadows?
Without further ado, the Compendium opens and begins reading an entry on Yoko Shimomura.
Yoko Shimomura graduated from Osaka College of Music in 1988 and quite quickly found herself working at Capcom during its Golden Years in the arcade. It would take her a year before she ended up working on music for an arcade game though. That game? Final Fight. She only did one song and was uncredited for the work however.
She went back to the Famicom World where she created the soundtrack for Adventures in the Magic Kingdom, and it turns out that she has quite the affinity for Disney! The next game that she did most of the songs on that the Western World saw was the NES game Code Name: Viper.
She would soon find herself back in the arcade realm where she composed the music for the beat'em up The King of Dragons and finally moving onto a little unheard of game called Street Fighter II. You have probably never heard any song in this strange, quirky, and stereotype ridden fighting game, but least of all this one.
Go home and be a family man!
For the rest of her years at Capcom she was mostly just a member of a large composing team for such games as Mega Man 5 and Breath of Fire before she left Capcom in 1994 and began working at a totally non-influential fringe developer Squaresoft.
When she first started at Square all of her work (like the entire company) was limited to the Super Famicom with the games Live A Live, Front Mission, and a game that no gamer could possibly dislike, least of all its music, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
That's right, in less than 10 years Yoko Shimomura found her music gracing arcade fighting tournaments worldwide and also the most beloved Mario games not made by Nintendo. Quite a resume is building up so far.
She would continue working at Squaresoft through the rest of the 1990s. Her list of games continue to build and her credentials grow higher and higher with games like Parasite Eve, which shows a more suspensful part of her writing range. She ended the decade composing the mixed PS1 release of the Mana series Legend of Mana.
And that foreshadowing I blatantly threw in your face back at the beginning of this text comes back to finally pay off! Yoko returned to the world of Disney to compose the soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts, every game in the series.
After the release of Kingdom Hearts she broke away from Squaresoft to work as a freelancer and was hardly alone at this time since the mighty RPG giant merged with Enix and bled talent for a few years. But, Square-Enix kept her on the staff for the Kingdom Hearts series where she enjoys success to this day.
Kingdom Hearts is not the only series that has been built up by her music. She returned to the Mushroom Kingdom to work on one of the spiritual successors to Super Mario RPG, the Mario & Luigi series. She has done the music on all of them so far, but no word that I can find if she returned to work on the upcoming Dream Team.
She also returned to the Mana series with Heroes of Mana, but we all forgot about that game.
In recent years she has worked to build musical scores for another new series, composing the music for the Wii classic Xenoblade Chronicles alongside her fellow Square alum Yasunori Mitsuda and returned to the world of Aya Brea in The 3rd Birthday alongside one piece of the talent that Square did not bleed, Tsuyoshi Sekito.
Gamers will also be treated to her music in her first foray in the Final Fantasy series with the soundtrack for Versus XIII whenever that decides to come out, until then we will probably play some more games that she had her hand in, hopefully a few more of us will be able to find out if Yoko Shimomura put her stamp on it.
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After pondering the merits of the various paddle titles out there for the Atari 2600, I started thinking about other games that I would recommend for the system. When it comes to Atari 2600 games, value (monetary and fun) or "bang for your buck" is an important factor for beginning collectors and others who primarily collect for other or multiple systems (i.e. without a specific Atari 2600 focus). I tried to narrow the cost down to games that I typically find in the wild for $10 or less, so it will not include those loose $20 copies of Star Raiders that you see on Craigslist.....sorry to disappoint some of you.
I am beginning with a list of my top 25 "bang for your buck" 1-player games and following that up my favorite 10 multi-player games for the system. Multi-player games were the best when I was growing up; back then, we didn't have the internet and I have fond memories of going over to friends' and relatives' houses to play. But,........I digress.
I am also including a list of few other harder-to-find, or more expensive games (yet most of them are still around $20) that I really enjoy playing should you be so inclined to shell out more cash or sweet tradez. None of these recommendations are in any particular order of my preference, I simply compiled this list while going through our database and looking over my collection.
Continue reading Banana's Best Bang For Ya Buck 2600 Games
With nearly all my family out of town this week I really capitalized on my newly obtained free time and played a TON of NES games. So ignore my past whining about being nervous about not having enough time to complete my challenge. Barring some unexpected event I'm feeling pretty confident now. I was able to cross a whopping 12 games off since last blog 
After having sooooooo much fun with Vegas Dream I thought I'd spend some more time gambling my pretend cash away. I played Caesar's Palace to scratch that itch. In order to get the best ending you need to leave with at least $140,000 after beginning with $1000. After some simple math and asking someone who had previously finished it off it seemed the best method for getting rich quick was going to be getting $3500 and then betting it all on the 40:1 odds of the Wheel of Fortune. After several hours of playing I was finally lucky enough to get a 40:1 payout and then promptly sped off in my new Ferrari-ish thing........probably never to return 
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/CaesarsPalace-Ending_zps019d4e22.jpeg[/img]
Not getting enough of that sweet sweet gambling action I was also plugging away at Casino Kid during the same time. The goal in Casino Kid is to beat 10 Black Jack dealers and 10 Poker Players which will eventually score you $1,000,000 which can be used to buy into a poker game with the final opponent. Things were going pretty good at first and then I hit a big bump when I had to win $50,000 playing Black Jack with the max bet being a measly $1,000. After many many failed attempts, when I was almost ready to give up, I accidently stumbled upon some extra options by pressing select during the match. Apparently after a certain number of hands you can actually force the guy to bid everything all at once. This made things go a lot smoother from that point on. Now that I know that I'm actually looking forward to tracking down a copy of Casino Kid II to try out.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/CasinoKid-Ending_zps72b392bf.jpeg[/img]
Sticking with the slow paced games I plugged in Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. I had pretty high hopes for this game as it seemed quirky and I usually like that kind of thing. It turned out to be a bit disappointing though. With the odd setting and characters I was really hoping for a very comedic game. I have no idea why they went with the vegetable theme though as the story of the game was quite serious about kidnapping, an underground resistance and a little bit of pain and suffering. Really not what I was in the mood for with a game called Princess Tomato.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/PrincessTomato-Ending_zpsbf8f96a1.jpeg[/img]
Videomation, like Taboo, is not really a game but more like really awful video creation software you can run on your NES. So I made a video of a baby crawling down the middle of a road. Enjoy!!
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/Videomation-Ending_zps595e19e3.jpeg[/img]
Wasn't really sure what to expect from Bram Stoker's Dracula, but I was hopefully for something enjoyable. It wasn't the worst action game I've played, but it wasn't overly memorable either. Each stage has a short time limit in which you need to make it to the end of. A lot of the bad guys can easily be avoided instead of confronted and there are a TON of secret areas and items scattered throughout the game. I don't have a problem with any of those parts really. The parts I found annoying where the boss fights/mid-boss fights and a few particular areas in which it seemed the only way to progress was to jump into spikes and take the damage. Granted there were a lot of secrets in the game so its possible I just missed a couple secret entrances in order to not have to use the damaging spikes to progress, but it was pretty lame regardless. And literally all the boss fights just suck. But at least if you duck in the correct spot after killing a boss it looks like your character is farting up a storm 
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/BramStokersDracula-Ending_zpsb518c9f6.jpeg[/img]
Konami has quite a few decent titles on the NES, but I think Bucky O'Hare might be my absolute favorite of the bunch. I used to watch the show as a kid and have a few of the toys, but I was completely unaware that there was a game for the franchise until well over a decade later. Its got 5 different characters that can be recruited and swapped to on the fly. For an action game its actually quite long, but it doesn't get stale as the types of levels are incredibly varied. Really awesome game that you should definitely check out should you have the chance.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/BuckyOHare-Ending_zps7f417857.jpeg[/img]
Since I seem to like LJN games a bit better than many others I'm never scared to pop in a new LJN game to try. That was the case with The Incredible Crash Dummies and I didn't regret it. The boss fights were pretty sad, but otherwise I thought it was a decent game. You go back and forth between playing one level at a time as a guy with a unicycle for legs and a guy who can walk normally. Each level is designed specifically with those characters in mind and it works out well. It was fun to navigate through each slightly maze like level with these two different types of characters. The pacing felt pretty good by changing the play style after each area. Not a great game, but a good game.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/TheIncredibleCrashDummies-Ending_zpsecdfb417.jpeg[/img]
Joc & Mac is a game that I'd played a few times in the Arcade as a child. Never had the chance to try the NES one until more recently though. The backgrounds were gorgeous, but otherwise the game was pretty forgettable. Its short, its easy. Not much else to say.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/JoeampMac-Ending_zpse31dc11e.jpeg[/img]
Totally Rad most likely holds the record as the game I rented the most as a kid. I loved that you could use any of your magic spells right from the start of the game, particularly the transformation spells. I was never able to beat the game as a kid, but I did beat it once as an adult about 5-6 years ago. After playing a lot of other action games recently and recalling some tactics from my last successful at the game it wasn't too hard to finish this time either. Its not prefect, but I'm very nostalgic for this game so I hold it in high regard.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/TotallyRad-Ending_zpsde907761.jpeg[/img]
I've heard that Lifeforce is like the beginners version of Gradius. That may be what frustrated me the most about it. I felt it was much harder than Gradius. I really hated a lot of the level design such as the areas that you need to shoot to pass through (and many of them regenerate if you're not moving quickly), or all of stage 3 (those arcs of fire are savage!!!). The final escape wasn't very much fun if you were at the slowest speed either. Definitely not my favorite shooter.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/Lifeforce-Ending_zpsfbd6d7fa.jpeg[/img]
After being disappointed with my last Konami game I thought I'd pop in another LJN game, Wolverine. At least if I was disappointed with this game it wouldn't be much of a surprise. Much to my delight I really liked it though. Don't get me wrong though, Wolverine's name shouldn't have been anywhere near this game. Its extremely un-Wolverine, but its still pretty fun. You don't really have to kill to many enemies and mostly just run and explore each maze-like area until you find the correct door to leave. The gameplay mechanics are really smooth so they make running and dodging pretty enjoyable. You get two consecutive boss battles at the very end of the game, but they are both pretty anti-climactic. The rest of the game up to that point was very fun though.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/Wolverine-Ending_zpsd133c3bf.jpeg[/img]
And lastly I played an NES "classic" that I had been neglecting, Maniac Mansion. I had a lot of trouble the first few times I played, but once I figured some things out it was a lot more enjoyable. Some of the humor was pretty good, but like a lot of other point and click style games of the era many of the puzzles seemed a bit to obscure for my tastes. Overall I had a good time though even though I had to call the "space police" like 4 times because I couldn't figure out how to get them to bust in and save the day.
[img width=641 height=480]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/ManiacMansion-Ending_zps5de26ff4.jpeg[/img]
If my math is correct I've got 5 more games to beat until I hit that magical 100 game mark and I've got about 20 days left to do so
2013 NES List
Sesame Street Countdown
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters
Shooting Range
Space Shuttle Project
Double Dare
Win, Lose or Draw
Othello
Whomp Em
Dragon Fighter
Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle
Family Feud
Tale Spin
Platoon
Gotcha!
Gun Smoke
Kiwi Kraze
10 Yard Fight
Tom & Jerry
Wrecking Crew
Hatris
Time Lord
Orb 3D
Wheel of Fortune Jr
Wheel of Fortune Family Edition
Captain America and the Avengers
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune Featuring Vanna White
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle
Bo Jackson Baseball
Jeopardy! Jr
Jeopardy!
Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary
Cowboy Kid
Crash n The Boys: Street Challenge
Galaga
Color A Dinosaur
Millipede
Popeye
Sesame Street 123
Sesame Street ABC
Sesame Street Hide & Speak
Soccer
Classic Concentration
Fisher Price I Can Remember
Fisher Price Perfect Fit
Mickey's Safari in Letterland
Mickey's Adventure in Numberland
NES Open Golf
Pictionary
Chessmaster
Anticipation
DK Jr Math
Donkey Kong 3
Urban Champion
Balloon Fight
Pinball
Qix
Hollywood Squares
Twin Cobra
Flintstones Rescue of Dino & Hoppy
Tiger-Heli
Winter Games
NES World Cup Soccer
Defender II
M.U.S.C.L.E.
MTV's Remote Control
Spot The Video Game
Spy vs Spy
Taboo The Sixth Sense
Gemfire
Monopoly
Legend of the Ghost Lion
Jackal
Rad Racer
Rad Racer II
Arch Rivals
Deja Vu
Nightshade
Mickey Mousecapade
King's Quest V
Vegas Dreams
Magic Johnson's Fast Break
Touchdown Fever
Caesar's Palace
Casino Kid
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
Videomation
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bucky O'Hare
The Incredible Crash Dummies
Joe & Mac
Totally Rad
Lifeforce
Wolverine
Maniac Mansion
Future Plans - I've been working away on Track & Field II again. I'm currently stalled out on the final 3 events. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it off very soon. Also been working on POW, but I'm having some trouble on like the 4th stage. Hopefully I'll be able to break through the barrier on each of those games before too much longer.
As most of you know, I recently sold a large lot of Atari 2600 games to help raise a little funding for the site. Our own Razor Knuckles was the proud recipient of this lot and I am happy to say that it greatly bolstered his 2600 collection and has sparked what I have seen as a genuine interest in the system. As an Atari 2600 collector, it makes me smile knowing that others (especially those much younger than me) are still enjoying this system, even though is greatly.....er......"graphically challenged" when compared to more modern systems.
Recently, Razor Knuckles picked up a few more games and some paddle controllers, which he proudly displayed in the "small scores" thread. I asked him to PM me if he wanted some paddle recommendations, but after thinking about it for a bit, I decided that since it had been so long since I posted an Atari review (and to get Zagnorch off my back ....see I did the wink thing, so it's cool), I would give some opinions on paddle games for the 2600.
Continue reading Up Crap Game Creek With A 2600 Paddle
Hey everyone!
So a friend of mine asked the question "Do you still use strategy guides?". Now by strategy guides he meant an actual physical copy, not an FAQ or walkthrough on the internet. I made a video response over on my YT channel. Here's the link: . For me it is mainly about convenience but I also find that official strategy guides are just way too expensive, sometimes they can be more than the game! It is not the games fault, its the maker of the guides(Prima comes to mind). The companies make these "Collectors Edition? strategy guides and everyone that picks up a copy of the games feel almost obligated to get the guide to go along with it. I cannot tell you the amount of people that were picking up the guide when I went to the release of Halo 4 back in November. All in all I just think that everything that I need I can find online and avoid the unnecessary shelling out of money that I could be using to get another game.
SSG Out!
(I started this one a while ago, but I only came back to revise it after reading about Crab's "Unloved" series. You gotta bring that back, man.
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[img width=510 height=447]http://imageshack.us/a/img685/7343/csqtitle.jpg[/img]
Every game series seems to have a black sheep; a game that while may not be all together bad, is generally looked down upon compared to the rest of the series. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (CSQ) is not one of those games. Being an example of early non-linear game design on the NES, CSQ is packed with features that are commonplace in modern gaming, such as a day/night cycle, towns with conversant NPCs (who retreat indoors during the night), and a fair-sized world fully realized in 2D with no overworld movement. While the game certainly wasn't alone in the non-linear arena during it's day, it was certainly one of the more unique ones, featuring a story that is, well, dark and bleak.
[img width=510 height=447]http://imageshack.us/a/img580/6585/csqcurse.jpg[/img]
The game finds Simon Belmont, protagonist of the first Castlevania game, broken and wounded from his battle with Count Dracula. Seven years have passed, and the land has become a cursed place, full of roaming monsters and zombies. Transylvania's only hope is for Simon to take up his whip again, gather the scattered parts of Dracula, resurrect and destroy him once and for all.
What actually follows this is several parts unconventional game design and several parts bad translation (which in my opinion is the games worst "feature"). While the game has some typical "Engrish" statements that were common during the early days of the NES, CSQ's translation made the game quite difficult to beat, as the hints provided by certain townsfolk often made no sense, though in an interview on G Wie Gorilla one of the series creators, Koji Igarashi, revealed that the townspeople were "liars", deliberately dolling out bad information to an unsuspecting Simon (and CSQ players as well). Still, despite this the game remains very playable even to this day, possessing an atmosphere of doom that has never really been duplicated again in the series.
As far as game design is concerned, CSQ took many of the arcade-style aesthetics of the first Castlevania and "Nintendo-fied" them. Remember whipping candles to get weapons? In CSQ weapons have to be bought or found, with a few are in hidden locations. The points system is also gone (which served nothing more than providing extra lives anyways) and since the game world is linked together in a non-linear fashion, there are no traditional level bosses, opting instead for a design similar to Metroid, but with less verticality.
[img width=508 height=447]http://imageshack.us/a/img18/2741/csqengrish.jpg[/img]
Over the years CSQ has taken quite a critical pounding, and in some respects the critics are right. There are many flaws CSQs design that, in retrospect, may have been bad choices. The lack of direction, for example, can leave the player wandering the environments in confusion. One clue, the notorious "Deborah's Cliff" clue, requires the player to do... Well, no spoilers, I guess. Pundits have blamed the translation, though re-translation of the original Japanese game has revealed most clues add nothing helpful. Another common theme amongst haters is the difficulty, or lack thereof. In fact, once one figures out the vague clues provided by NPCs and found all the relevant hidden items, the game is ridiculously easy (though it will still take you a couple of hours to beat), with much of the remaining difficulty in either enemies taking advantage of Simon's "knock-back" flaw (that could drop you in the drink multiple times in a screen) or the strangely large amount of false blocks throughout the games' mansions. Also, things can be a bit grindy. In order to progress you will have to "farm" hearts (currency, remember) from enemies, which can take a while. In the first town alone you will need 200 hearts to purchase the required items (you start with 50). Granted, after the first mansion you'll have plenty of hearts, but if you have to continue you'll loose all of them (even though you respawn wright where you died). Yet even with that, in my opinion, CSQ manages to hold up better over time than the original Castlevania (and in some respects, better than Castlevania III) due to its original design.
So I beg of you, especially if you carry either an old grudge from childhood or one based on some no-talent dink from Youtube (*cough* angrynintendonerd *cough*) take another look. Approach it with an open mind old school-style (maybe even get paper and a pencil and make maps with notes) and if you do so, I think you'll find that CSQ is worth more than a short look by even the most jaded gamer.
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