tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16055843372444386372024-03-05T12:36:32.918-06:00Game Boy GuruI will attempt to collect, play, and review every North American Game Boy game release. Yes, I'll be doing this until I'm dead.GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-52643410494303296852021-07-25T18:30:00.014-05:002021-07-25T19:50:27.763-05:00Mercenary Force (1990)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf6Tt1G9GDdUqd9rKkHtdUYMgB4UVxoscyIxwY2czXcobtnO587rYIYa_8Hb-DU-vaJJZfadwKzfSW59rTs-p4hjBc80RBdIFArxgPn1Q9AmN2LCYwL7DM5a1YvRACnFYTpMfDwzjMvVA/s640/gb_mercenary_force_p_vy85t3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf6Tt1G9GDdUqd9rKkHtdUYMgB4UVxoscyIxwY2czXcobtnO587rYIYa_8Hb-DU-vaJJZfadwKzfSW59rTs-p4hjBc80RBdIFArxgPn1Q9AmN2LCYwL7DM5a1YvRACnFYTpMfDwzjMvVA/s320/gb_mercenary_force_p_vy85t3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">For some reason, Meldac decided the mercenaries needed to look like firefighters.</span></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">In the early 80's, as Atari VCS/2600 units were flying off store shelves, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">a lot of companies jumped on the video game publishing bandwagon. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">The glut of terrible software in 1982 and early 1983 created a situation where too much supply met waning demand, and the North American video game market bubble burst. In reviving the market during the mid-late 80's, Nintendo was careful to try and exercise better control over publishers, to ensure that the software met at least some bare minimum standard before it could be licensed for the console. While the rest of the world had no such "crash" regarding video game sales and their viability as a vertical market, a lot of Japanese companies tried their hand at video game publishing, to expand their portfolio. Some flirted with the idea briefly, others went all in, and managed to create another business line for themselves.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Meldac was sort of an example of the former, entering the video game market in 1990, and exiting promptly by 1994. The company was also a music publishing outfit, and when they decided to get out of the business of video games, they stuck to music publishing, and have since worked with a number of notable artists. They published a small handful of video games via their North American division. Of those titles, one is a more mainstream title, that being <i>US Championship V'Ball</i> in 1989 on the NES. Their other notable NES game is the rather odd shooter <i>Zombie Nation</i>, which is getting a revival shortly, thanks to Japanese publisher City Connection. They also published a pair of Game Boy titles, one of them being the very unique <i>Mercenary Force</i>, which was developed by Lenar and Live Planning.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBHcXLRxcNzQq-xyYCt1Xwtwc16ZQCWezLizvE1RQpZ9xQDWNzBG5U9ixKlftCTvFPK-KXHIq6OkJPKxp0HxB5z19w2vmtIs2UBydKUztXZXBbJgTCI8QF-UTlwVcsbB2QIl-9Sk4k8w/s160/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_01.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBHcXLRxcNzQq-xyYCt1Xwtwc16ZQCWezLizvE1RQpZ9xQDWNzBG5U9ixKlftCTvFPK-KXHIq6OkJPKxp0HxB5z19w2vmtIs2UBydKUztXZXBbJgTCI8QF-UTlwVcsbB2QIl-9Sk4k8w/w320-h288/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_01.png" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">This is how you do a title screen! Show me ninjas, samurai, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">and monsters, and I'll press Start on that screen quickly.</span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The game has the usual setup, with a twist: instead of a </span><span style="font-family: arial;">ragtag </span><span style="font-family: arial;">group of mercenaries going off to fight aliens or military, your Shogun-era fighters must confront the myriad foes controlled by the "Dark Lord" to fend off their advance upon the Japanese countryside. Apparently, famine, plagues, and pestilence are not good things. Shogun Tokugawa has a vision of mighty warriors rising up against the evil, which is where you come in. You'll select from a batch of 5 mercenaries to team up and take on the minions of darkness, and rid the land of their foul presence. You can select up to 4 of these fighters to join your squad.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">At its core, this is a side scrolling shoot-em-up, but with people walking along the ground, instead of flying, or piloting some kind of craft. Each mercenary has its own attack style, whether that's forward firing, in a diagonal fashion, or vertical fire. Depending on how you approach a level, and where you feel you need coverage, will determine which mercs you choose, and in what order. Do you opt for a lot of forward firing team members, to create a powerful frontal assault? Or do you mix and match, so you can have a wide ranging attack? In this game, the choice is yours, and it's a big part of what sets this game apart from other shooters.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_sI4sIyL25HKZd6mSjMOVRI0ih5xbX6s1kCB8mT9hCce7qOk2lFMAUfy4We3mKcHA3Ly7S5LiKgYC3qycFzb13mviuQbZrZoSGe0NgU6yBDGAcXm9M22p97as681aw1-_aodM6i1jHA/s160/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_02.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_sI4sIyL25HKZd6mSjMOVRI0ih5xbX6s1kCB8mT9hCce7qOk2lFMAUfy4We3mKcHA3Ly7S5LiKgYC3qycFzb13mviuQbZrZoSGe0NgU6yBDGAcXm9M22p97as681aw1-_aodM6i1jHA/w320-h288/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_02.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: center;">Choose your team members wisely - you have 5 choices,</div><div style="text-align: center;">but only 4 openings, and a limited amount of Yen to spend.</div></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the interesting mechanics in the game is the ability to set up your team into 1 of 4 different formations. There's the Formation of the Wind, which is a loose cluster of people that will make up a diamond shape when you have a full team. Formation of the Forest is similar, but a tighter formation, with more of a square shape, and your mercs closer together. Formation of the Fire creates a bit of a straight line on the horizontal, with the 2 members in the back stacked together, so your formation resembles a flame. Formation of the Mountain puts your team into a vertical line, so you all walk along in a straight line and attack uniformly, but have a lot of exposure to enemy fire. Which formation you use most frequently will depend on your play style somewhat, but generally speaking, you'll want to find a way to balance exposure to enemy attacks, while maximizing your attack power, so a combo of formation choice, along with fighters chosen and their order will help you determine that.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As you fight enemies, they'll drop 10 Yen coins you can collect. These don't stay on screen very long, so you need to be quick about grabbing them. This is a risk/reward scenario of course, because enemy waves often come together in groups, so as soon as you take out a small batch of foes, there's likely to be another just behind it. Merely touching an enemy means the team member who gets hit will take damage, and lose a "strength" point for each contact. Likewise, getting hit by enemy projectiles will cause you to lose a point for each hit sustained. Obviously, care must be taken to balance how aggressive you are with collecting coins, and how many hits you take, so you're not damaging yourself more than you can mitigate later.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGT5laeHszxN2pEBwS916CL6FQHUTsmu8yJr0rm3dI6RxZOlGRK1enm01gtFes8Z6MIrUnab9a4NsFZW_VfE4eeYO8aF5PWdFUi_4yqT78KQ2a70AEsgLcS0_ePt5p4lKp86CsCS7dKk/s160/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_04.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGT5laeHszxN2pEBwS916CL6FQHUTsmu8yJr0rm3dI6RxZOlGRK1enm01gtFes8Z6MIrUnab9a4NsFZW_VfE4eeYO8aF5PWdFUi_4yqT78KQ2a70AEsgLcS0_ePt5p4lKp86CsCS7dKk/w320-h288/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_04.png" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Formation of the Wind gives you a balance of power and</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">size, but it does spread you out enough to make you more</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">susceptible to enemy attacks than tighter formations.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Along the way, you'll encounter shops in each town where you can power up a bit. You can buy Sushi, which restores a single strength point for each team member, Medicine, which restores 3 strength points for your leader, or Tea, which restores 3 strength points for all members. In a couple of the shops, you'll also have the opportunity to buy Scripture, which has a chance to upgrade your lead party member to a higher class. You'll also encounter a gambling game in stage 2, where you can take a chance and win a potential prize, to be revealed later in the game. There are a couple spots where you can enter a shrine, and be granted extra strength points for your team members to aid you on your journey. And once in the game, you'll encounter the Daibutsu, who you can pay to win a chance to resurrect a fallen warrior. The more you spend, the better your chance, though it's still a crapshoot, since you have to choose a tile after paying. If you have the Mystic in your party, your odds will improve.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Control in the game is basic, but adequate. The B button changes the formation of your party, and A is your attack button. A is also confirms your selection in the shops, and B will cancel out of a shop. As you move around the screen with the d-pad, your lead character will move fastest, and other characters will lag behind a bit, so be aware of that control quirk. Start pauses the game, and starts the next round, after you decide whether or not you want to add another party member to your team. If you press A+B together, you'll activate a transformation, where your lead party member will sacrifice themselves and become a "spirit warrior" version of themselves, which provides temporary invincibility, as well as other benefits, which vary by character, though the Servant has no such ability.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsUFLEISSsXvco8yerqR2nQfizheiIaxMbNIPta49_W8TaWZb7m9sd-U_V-LejinbKe-Zg4JXVvFrki0aJtUPxjxh_HJSXGjCKcpniWq72kzqMrybSlSmyJrWQ2T6-Y3-_UIMT0HjPeDA/s160/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_05.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsUFLEISSsXvco8yerqR2nQfizheiIaxMbNIPta49_W8TaWZb7m9sd-U_V-LejinbKe-Zg4JXVvFrki0aJtUPxjxh_HJSXGjCKcpniWq72kzqMrybSlSmyJrWQ2T6-Y3-_UIMT0HjPeDA/w320-h288/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_05.png" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Tea is a great way to quickly boost your team's strength</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">points up to a high level, so you can take a lot of hits.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Graphically speaking, this is a fairly impressive game for its vintage. Your mercs are easy to identify, and enemy sprites are all fairly distinctive. Character designs on the selection screen are nice, and in game, scenery is generally well rendered. There are a couple places where it's not obvious what you're looking at, but overall, everything looks nice. The shops aren't something I would have expected to be a shop, and I sort of stumbled across them by accident, just by walking into one in the scenery. The shrines are more obvious, as is the Daibutsu. Occasionally, you'll get "stuck" on the scenery a bit, or one of your team members might, and their sprite might jitter a bit until clear of that obstacle, which is a funny consequence of the design. In general, this game looks pretty good throughout, even if the boss designs aren't quite as impressive as the drawings you see in the manual.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Audio is a place where the game falters, somewhat. Sound effects are fine, and get the job done. The music is also solid, with a neat opening tune, and a decent boss fight theme. The stage music is also good, but the problem is, there's not enough of it! There's one, and only one stage song that plays during the whole game. Why the development team felt they could get by with that one theme is beyond me, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a pretty big oversight. The music is good, and has that ancient Japanese kind of feel you want, to help with the atmosphere of the game. But it sure would have been nice if they had given us more music, even if it was just 2 or 3 tracks that would alternate between the game's 6 stages. It would have gone a long way to making the experience less irritating by game's end.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenvNXZMn-KDTslxJEPcmcII6tvwtGpLUY1gmcnLWc6OHEPm3pNtXTLCUI2R0wdI3aM5xvV1e_1JC7GCfuVdLR8yRcfjg25JBfiTrVaK2LbPiSSvlGgI_PWG43Nq_6FKz3z8830EdwbHM/s160/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_09.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenvNXZMn-KDTslxJEPcmcII6tvwtGpLUY1gmcnLWc6OHEPm3pNtXTLCUI2R0wdI3aM5xvV1e_1JC7GCfuVdLR8yRcfjg25JBfiTrVaK2LbPiSSvlGgI_PWG43Nq_6FKz3z8830EdwbHM/w320-h288/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_09.png" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">I'm not entirely sure what a Razor Rat is, but this is apparently it.</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />One of the things that I found while exploring this game, and while we collectively played it for the <a href="http://rfgeneration.com" target="_blank">RF Generation</a> Shmup Club (shameless plug), is that the methodology the game is going for isn't necessarily the best approach. You have 4 slots to hire mercenaries, and the game expects you to do so, given its design, but you're not require to. Rather, several of us found the most effective way to approach the game is a more minimalist take, where we hire a single Ninja, or perhaps a Ninja and a Monk, so that you have a smaller footprint, and thus, a smaller overall "hit box" for the enemies to exploit. It means you'll probably collect less money, because you'll have to be far more aggressive in taking out enemies in some spots, and way more conservative in others. As you go along, you may hire additional mercs to help, but until you get toward the end of the game, you really can do most, if not all, of the game with a single character. It makes the game feel a bit more like a traditional shmup, but of course, it takes away from the core mechanic that's at work here. Ultimately, the game can be taken on with a team and completed that way, but you'll have a fair bit of trial and error along the way, as you learn which party members serve you best, and which formation(s) will be your best options.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I do have a few minor gripes. First, the game's scoring seems fairly broken. You can have 2 runs where you do roughly the same things, and your scores between the 2 won't really line up. In conjunction with that, the only time you see your score is while you're playing, or briefly when you die. You get no score report at end game. Also, coins don't count toward your score, so if you're playing in a more aggressive manner, your only real reward for collecting Yen is having more at your disposal for hiring mercs or healing. Second, there are no end credits. You get a fun ending screen with animation, but nothing further. And you have to turn off your Game Boy and back on, if you want to play again. Third, there are a few tight areas where you're almost guaranteed to take damage. I realize the game is designed around having hit points, but it's not a welcome mechanic in the shmup world, generally speaking, and it can be a sign that some spots were not as well designed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UA3K5C7ocoHw_qldbE63xt5cG96hdXssxJHePU4if6tSccP9fCVNAtiudY4iwb7RPeDIQo41hJhw9e7hGS3w_KJKH4TcPs_ejCe7ASNXweNgt3mBhk4-r8Ms9EGTu3gWXHgz_aPmCRk/s160/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_11.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UA3K5C7ocoHw_qldbE63xt5cG96hdXssxJHePU4if6tSccP9fCVNAtiudY4iwb7RPeDIQo41hJhw9e7hGS3w_KJKH4TcPs_ejCe7ASNXweNgt3mBhk4-r8Ms9EGTu3gWXHgz_aPmCRk/w320-h288/Mercenary+Force+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_11.png" width="320" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">It can be easy to get a party member or two caught on</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">something in the stage, which makes it harder to avoid</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">enemy projectiles, particularly in the later stages.</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />One interesting thing of note is that the game has multiple endings. If you beat the game with one or more party members, you'll get the "standard" ending, congratulating you for vanquishing the evil from the land. If you use the level select cheat that you can activate, and beat the game, you will see a variation of that ending with goofy looking monsters and animals in place of the humans in the end screen. And if you can complete the final boss fight with a Mystic in your party, you'll get the best ending, which sees you and your mercenary friends walking off into the sunset to revel in your victory. It's a nice detail, and just enough of a differentiator to give the game a little extra replay value.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">All in all, despite my qualms with a few design choices, this is a solid title. It's probably not going to be your favorite shooter, nor do I expect it would even be your favorite shmup on the Game Boy. But it's good enough to be well worth a look. It has enough unique stuff going on, and enough that sets it apart from other games to stand on its own. I definitely had fun with this game, and could see myself fire it up again from time to time, for a quick play session. It works well enough on the hardware, and especially if you have a Game Boy Pocket, the ghosting isn't too bad, because of the relatively slow pace and slow scrolling through each level. This isn't terribly expensive right now either, so it's worth the asking price as of this writing. Recommended.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As an aside, I recently covered this game on my podcast as well, in case you haven't seen or heard. It's called <a href="https://linktr.ee/shootthecorecast" target="_blank">Shoot the Core-cast</a>, and we cover a different shmup each month. If you like shooting games, come check us out, and let us know what you think of the podcast. We'd really appreciate any feedback you could provide. Oh, and if you enjoy playing shooters, join up at <a href="http://rfgeneration.com" target="_blank">RF Generation</a>, and come jump into a play-through with us! We try to host a variety of shooters, so hopefully we'll find one you like, and you can participate with us. Thanks!</span></p><p></p>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-21293594124757482112020-07-07T13:36:00.000-05:002020-07-07T13:36:40.657-05:00Stargate (1994)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGI0FB9FSZDjHGvKgFg8zYpBZVOVHbN0eFWjw9TJoyNi-d-P78_MCPMfwLeU_tz5cP3U2MqgHti5OAZzZdPghV3F-9ZRan4wC0KDlocLxBe2ccoTJD7xp_Gl8MBrbNrpVKv0HQ4201ou0/s1600/Stargate+GB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGI0FB9FSZDjHGvKgFg8zYpBZVOVHbN0eFWjw9TJoyNi-d-P78_MCPMfwLeU_tz5cP3U2MqgHti5OAZzZdPghV3F-9ZRan4wC0KDlocLxBe2ccoTJD7xp_Gl8MBrbNrpVKv0HQ4201ou0/s320/Stargate+GB.png" width="318" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image shamelessly stolen from <a href="https://www.retroplace.com/" target="_blank">Retroplace</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Someone hadn't quite figured out Photoshop yet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm pretty sure I've made it clear in my writings and videos that I'm a big fan of science fiction. I grew up loving the <i>Star Wars</i> movies, watched the debut episode of <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> with my parents, and watched that series through to completion, and followed that up with both <i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i>, and caught up on other series when I had the opportunity. My family saw <i>Independence Day</i> on opening weekend, and I managed to purchase the final VHS release of the original <i>Star Wars</i> trilogy, which I still have to this day. One franchise that happened to pass me by early on was <i>Stargate</i>, however. I don't remember going to see it in the theater, which is odd, because I was dating at that point, and would have wanted to go see it. But I somehow didn't see it upon release.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fast forward a couple years, and I rented it, and immediately enjoyed it. I thought the premise was interesting, the characters were good, and the setting was unique. And when I got the chance to see the follow-up series, <i>Stargate SG-1</i>, I liked that, as well. Several years later, when the TV series exited the premium Showtime network, and finished its 10-year run on the Sci-Fi Network, as well as being in perpetual re-runs on the channel, I became a real fan. My DVD and BluRay copies of the film, DVD of the "Director's Cut" of the TV series pilot episode, all 10 seasons on DVD, and copies of the 2 follow-up films with the SG-1 casts will attest to my fandom. I didn't latch onto <i>Stargate Atalantis</i> in the same way, though I did eventually develop an appreciation for it. I still feel like <i>Stargate Universe</i> was too self-serious, and didn't have the kind of character development necessary to make it a good follow-up, so I wasn't surprised when it was cancelled. Needless to say, I'm a fan.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWeO3uJaoAxqUHY_5k-DH53WtlUPsKvfeOaWNGBGHuyGL__H-FdvtTEn_muWItNTEoGriIlK-UXQ_o_nDKRnvNavAKEOAB1YKGU8lI2oIggI4tiJkQ_udTmfJmzfi2Yv7zNM9dUoVMCo/s1600/Stargate+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="895" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWeO3uJaoAxqUHY_5k-DH53WtlUPsKvfeOaWNGBGHuyGL__H-FdvtTEn_muWItNTEoGriIlK-UXQ_o_nDKRnvNavAKEOAB1YKGU8lI2oIggI4tiJkQ_udTmfJmzfi2Yv7zNM9dUoVMCo/s320/Stargate+01.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A simple title screen, but it gets the job done. That font at the bottom, though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As with most any science fiction franchise, a video game adaptation is inevitable. Several, typically speaking. In the case of <i>Stargate</i>, there was a pair of action platforming games released on the 16-bit consoles. And then there's this oddity: a puzzle game for the Game Boy (and also Sega's Game Gear), based around the idea of the hieroglyphics used as addresses for the Stargate itself. It's an interesting idea, and one that has potential, particularly for a low-power system like the Game Boy. This kind of puzzle game approach is a perfect fit for the hardware, at least on paper. In execution, however, it's a bit of a mixed bag.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The idea is simple: you're presented with a pseudo-3D, wire frame top-down view of a round chamber, and you can control where along the wall of that chamber to move slowly falling shapes that bear the hieroglyphic symbols that make up the addresses used throughout the various Stargates across the universe. The idea is to match up 3 of the same symbol, in a vertical stack, and that will eliminate those pieces from the chamber. If the group of pieces you eliminate matches one of the 7 symbols at the top of the screen, representing a Stargate address destination, that symbol at the top shows as completed. Completing stacks of 3 for symbols not in the address will merely yield points, and the stack will disappear, leaving you more room to create other matches. You can flip the pieces over, to reveal a 2nd symbol on the other side, giving you another matching option. Occasionally, a blank piece will appear. This acts as a wildcard, effectively allowing you to make a match with it, and only 2 of the same symbol, or if you're lucky enough, 1 symbol piece, and 2 successive blank pieces.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXT_uj_BRe6HOWNAGVbFaUK4a80N6DiFyFf3lkotsGT06jnHvBD_aQHdtif7K5MgUA-I517klqNtl5jpPybmhh5UASbneCd0TEUFMek1X1zhQIWucRiMhzY0qO-GpyAQt-LX398BTzIhs/s1600/Stargate+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="890" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXT_uj_BRe6HOWNAGVbFaUK4a80N6DiFyFf3lkotsGT06jnHvBD_aQHdtif7K5MgUA-I517klqNtl5jpPybmhh5UASbneCd0TEUFMek1X1zhQIWucRiMhzY0qO-GpyAQt-LX398BTzIhs/s320/Stargate+03.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The cutscenes in the game's intro, and between levels in the Battle Mode</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">are quite good, and have really good art in them for the Game Boy hardware.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's also a special piece that has 2 separate functions. On one side is a harpoon symbol. Drop that piece on the top of any stack, and it will eliminate the entire stack of pieces. Flip that piece over, and it is a pyramid symbol. When you drop that on the board, whichever symbol it lands on, every piece in the chamber bearing that symbol will be eliminated. Obviously these 2 options are very handy, particularly if you have a tall stack of misplaced pieces, or just a full board, so you can make more room. Fail to strategically employ these items when they appear, and the chamber may fill up. If a stack reaches the top of the chamber, it's game over.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This leads to the game's 2 main modes: Skill Mode, and Battle Mode. Skill Mode is a single-player experience, giving you the chamber, a gate address at the top, and just lets you have a go at matching the symbol pieces together. If you manage to get a full address, you're presented with another, and the game just keeps going, until you fill the chamber to the top with a single stack. Once you game over, you're presented with a screen that calculates all the bonuses you received, based on how many matches you made, the number of bonus tiles you successfully utilized, and the number of completed Stargate addresses you had, at varying levels of difficulty. It functions quite similar to the endless modes in the various games in the <i>Columns</i> series, and serves somewhat as a practice mode for the real game.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-jeSah4AIobq5ct-e7ZT8qTxs3IG42r7N3Hhc6i4thQP3AXdmlLmqXy7CHgYIToPChEfDI00bTjteSCUpqL6yibOrOLw-KJTzyrZToWTTAneypv-S8QBWe70Bh2KWzrjH3004lhSibg/s1600/Stargate+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="886" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-jeSah4AIobq5ct-e7ZT8qTxs3IG42r7N3Hhc6i4thQP3AXdmlLmqXy7CHgYIToPChEfDI00bTjteSCUpqL6yibOrOLw-KJTzyrZToWTTAneypv-S8QBWe70Bh2KWzrjH3004lhSibg/s320/Stargate+04.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is the initial screen you'll see when you start Battle Mode. The spaces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">that are unavailable are always randomized, as is where Ra starts off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Battle Mode pits you against one of Ra's minions, and you're both attempting to gain control of a particular Stargate. As you make matches, much like <i>Puyo Puyo</i> or <i>Columns</i>, you create additional pieces in your opponent's chamber. As the CPU makes matches, likewise, your chamber will receive extra pieces, usually in a stack. If the pieces they drop match what you already have on the board, they will sometimes eliminate, depending on the order dropped, but usually, they just create a taller stack, and put you that much closer to losing. Your goal in Battle Mode is less clear, as you don't always have the opportunity to complete a full gate address during a match, and even when you do, that doesn't always trigger a win condition in a particular battle. If you manage to win a gate, you'll see the letter "D" pop up on a grid screen, indicating you won that round. Ra's minion always gets to choose the first gate, and if he wins, he will choose subsequent games, until you win a match, Likewise, if you win a particular gate, you'll get to choose which area to battle for next. If you win a match next to a gate marked with an "R" that Ra controls, it will flip the adjacent gates to your control, similar to pieces on an Othello board. If you can manage to flip enough of Ra's pieces to your control, or simply win enough matches to gain the majority of the board, so that Ra can't flip enough of your pieces to have a majority, you'll win Battle Mode, and then your score will tally in similar fashion to what you see in Skill Mode.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Control is simple. Press right on the D-pad to move your pieces clockwise, or left on the D-pad to move your pieces counter-clockwise. Press A on the controller to flip your piece over, to see the alternate symbol, and if you press and hold the B button, the current piece will fall quickly toward the chamber floor. Pressing down on the D-pad will advance the tile 1 space further down the chamber. And of course, the Start button pauses the game. There's nothing else to it, other than remembering that you can continue to press right or left to rotate the currently falling piece around the chamber as much as you want. It might sound un-intuitive at first, but it works, and you should adapt quickly.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZn_QVOHPktMTpimNZzvqYIlMZAYu3WmxSlJoOMZOEvV0GuaUGwQP6yALV6hFb-P-rxYsEZ7Vq8p6cBmzrzX4LrOfzBfhEM8LxtnnSo_t26kDz8OdsIE8cu_sDTw5qKXJIDx8wltq8cL4/s1600/Stargate+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="887" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZn_QVOHPktMTpimNZzvqYIlMZAYu3WmxSlJoOMZOEvV0GuaUGwQP6yALV6hFb-P-rxYsEZ7Vq8p6cBmzrzX4LrOfzBfhEM8LxtnnSo_t26kDz8OdsIE8cu_sDTw5qKXJIDx8wltq8cL4/s320/Stargate+05.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is the view you'll be looking at the most. The wire frame is very helpful,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and a good design choice, to ensure players can successfully place tiles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Graphically, the game is an interesting contrast. The bulk of the game has very simplistic graphics, though they get the job done, despite the low resolution. As mentioned before, sometimes the patterns can be hard to make out once a piece falls a couple levels down, but you'll learn to identify each one over time. However, because the Battle Mode serves as the story mode of the game, you'll get brief cutscenes with dialogue that have relatively nice renditions of Daniel Jackson and Colonel Jack O'Neil, as well as Ra and a couple of his minions. The map screen that displays between levels in Battle Mode is nicely rendered, and the starfield effect on the title screen is understated, but works for what it does. So while the game's visuals won't win any awards, they're serviceable enough for the most part, and even well done in spots. At least the tile flip animation is convincing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sound department is where the game doesn't fare quite as well. The game only has a small handful of tunes to play during matches, and while they change up between Battle Mode segments, in Skill Mode, you're locked into just the one song. Thankfully, you can turn the music off, if it gets to be annoying. Even so, the tunes themselves aren't bad, and have that vaguely chiptune take on a sort of Egyptian themed atmosphere. You probably won't be humming them for hours after you turn offf your Game Boy, but they do provide that necessary accompaniment to the action on screen. Sound effects barely register, on the other hand. There's very little in the way of other sound, and you probably won't notice it much, other than the little "shuffle" noise the tile makes when it's being flipped. In total, the sound is a bit forgettable, but not awful.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC5aJnUgJWYFeV8dEgrT0Iy9CNVmYJU1cbKghsbBUHoxGqEXii9KbdBYmXwrjRQ13FmG89R7VoqefnL6fyKDI6-26WiFnF7NXoYYwHmOosMWudwXSIsU0bmVwboj4r8VnDYsp4s1oP9Oo/s1600/Stargate+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="884" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC5aJnUgJWYFeV8dEgrT0Iy9CNVmYJU1cbKghsbBUHoxGqEXii9KbdBYmXwrjRQ13FmG89R7VoqefnL6fyKDI6-26WiFnF7NXoYYwHmOosMWudwXSIsU0bmVwboj4r8VnDYsp4s1oP9Oo/s320/Stargate+06.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Make sure to watch for the "harpoon" piece - especially if you have a tall</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">stack of tiles you need to clear out, because this will accomplish it for you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This all sounds interesting in theory, but the execution is where things get dicey. The top-down view makes it difficult to see the symbols very clearly, once they fall down more than one or two levels, which adds to the challenge, but not in a very appealing way. Because the pieces generate randomly, there will be times when you're given every piece but the one you need to make a match, and you end up either having to cover up the spot you've been saving for matches, or hope for a harpoon to clear out a stack. The game doesn't move that quickly, but if you have a stack that's one piece away from being at the top, you will have barely any time to react to either drop a matching piece, harpoon, or blank piece on the top of that stack. That also means you have to rotate your piece the other way around the chamber, which can make it harder to get the piece where you want to go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My other big frustration is with the Battle Mode, and is twofold. Firstly, the win conditions aren't that clear from battle to battle, other than making enough matches to fill up the opponent's chamber. Some matches appear to be incredibly short, so either the CPU gives Ra's minion all matching pieces, and your chamber fills up to the top very quickly, or a match can drag on, seemingly forever, while you and your opponent keep dropping pieces into one another's chambers, neither quite able to clinch the win. There were a couple instances, while I played, that I was able to complete a full gate address, and be presented with another, during Battle Mode. I would have assumed that to be a win condition, but it's not. Because you can't see the opposing chamber, you have no way of knowing how well your opponent is doing, so it's just a matter of doing the best you can, and hoping for the best, or that the AI will make a mistake, and fill up a column.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6zUUxHPCsFkI86IJAe-qu4m26Zr_po8yIOl7ss6axfwaU0Y4TRFSgHpa7cchPjFM3RNii-F3D2V27r0hpW1CoVr5mYkFXtw1flX8zaAX1LEGct8MiDRX3-0jZ4IujmHEUN7_f1UpjeM/s1600/Stargate+07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="719" data-original-width="887" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6zUUxHPCsFkI86IJAe-qu4m26Zr_po8yIOl7ss6axfwaU0Y4TRFSgHpa7cchPjFM3RNii-F3D2V27r0hpW1CoVr5mYkFXtw1flX8zaAX1LEGct8MiDRX3-0jZ4IujmHEUN7_f1UpjeM/s320/Stargate+07.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As you complete matches of the hieroglyphics at the top of the screen,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">you can see them grayed out. Once you complete a full 7-character</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">gate address, you'll be given a new one for which to make matches.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My second big gripe is also with Battle Mode. The <i>Othello</i> concept is kinda neat, but it's not clear to me, as of this writing, what determines which pieces adjacent to yours will turn over, or how many. I thought perhaps it was like <i>Othello</i> directly, where a line in both directions would flip, but it's not. It appears to be adjacent pieces, but sometimes it seems like it flips over more than that. I may have been misreading the board, but it appeared inconsistent. Is it based on how many open gates there still are? If so, and you can win back more enemy-controlled gates that way, it feels like an odd way to do it. Either way, it was an odd system to use, even though it sort of mirrors how the gates all connect to one another within the <i>Stargate</i> lore.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the day, what do we make of <i>Stargate</i> on the Game Boy? I'm not sure how to even quantify that. What you have here is an odd combination of <i>Block-Out</i> and <i>Columns</i>, with some <i>Othello</i> thrown in for good measure. I assume that Battle Mode is more fun in a 2-player setting, though naturally, I wasn't able to test that. On its own, the Skill Mode is fun enough for a little while, and is good practice to get a feel for the flow. The real meat of the game is Battle Mode, but unless you really get a kick out of falling block games and match 3 puzzles, I don't know how heartily I can recommend this. I had some fun with it, and I can kind of see the appeal, but I think it's limited. If you see it dirt cheap, it might be worth checking out. As of this writing, a loose cart is hovering just below $7. I can't advise anyone pay more than that, because I think the game ends up being a bit less than the sum of its parts. That's a shame, because there's a good game buried in here somewhere; it just doesn't do enough to elevate itself beyond the mediocrity that many of the handheld's puzzle games often do. For puzzle game die-hard fans, and <i>Stargate</i> aficionado's primarily, if not only.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-49246425997956107322020-07-02T16:55:00.000-05:002020-07-02T16:55:14.009-05:00Update - This Blog Isn't Dead!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, the Game Boy Guru blog is back! Or, at least, I'm hoping it's back. Things have been busy the last couple years. I started up the <a href="http://rfgeneration.com/" target="_blank">RF Generation</a> Shmup Club, where we play a different shooting game each month, and that's been going on since June of 2018. In January 2019, I started streaming over on Twitch, quite often playing through the Shmup Club game of the month, among other things. I haven't streamed a ton of Game Boy stuff, though I did do a full play-through of Metroid II last year, among other things. <a href="https://twitch.tv/gurugameboy" target="_blank">Give me a follow over there</a>, if you're so inclined. And my podcast, <a href="http://rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/" target="_blank">Shoot the Core-cast</a>, has been taking up a lot of my time. Again, that covers the Shmup Club game of the month, and we've played a lot of great shooters, and had some great discussion, as well as some fun special guests on some episodes. Oh, and last July, I moved, so I've been a busy guy, not to mention the global pandemic that caused most of the world to shut down for a little while. Needless to say, I've kept myself occupied.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I shifted my focus to streaming, even doing less on my <a href="https://youtube.com/c/GameBoyGuru/" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>, because it's easy to start up a stream after I get off work and get things settled at home. Writing game reviews requires more than just playing for an hour or so a night. I have to capture clean footage that's not streamed, so I can then also get clean screenshots, compile my thoughts, sit down to write it all out, and edit it when I'm done. Ideally, I can use the captured footage as the basis for turning that into a Dramatic Readings video on my YouTube channel as well. As you can imagine, game reviews are not a short process, even in the best of circumstances.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, looking at the date of my previous post, I realize it's been nearly 2 years since I put up my last review. I apologize for neglecting this blog, but honestly, I didn't think it ever got much traffic, and it had kind of become a launching pad for what I would eventually turn into a video review, anyway, because more people are watching YouTube game reviews than actually reading them these days, even for retro stuff. That said, it's still important for me to keep working on this blog, both as a way to document my progress with the Game Boy library, but also because it keeps me actively working on the games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that said, I'm preparing to write my first Game Boy review in 2 years. It's of the licensed puzzle game <i>Stargate</i>, based on the film of the same name. I'm hoping to have it ready to go in a few days. Once that's up, I plan on trying to squeeze in some time with other Game Boy titles, and begin to get a rhythm going. I'm not going to set a schedule, or hold to anything specific, but I do hope to at least make a concerted effort over the next few weeks to get some content going again. I'll then be getting back to doing videos of the games as well, since I should begin to have some time back after this month is over. Thank you to everyone who has read the reviews, and watched my videos. Hopefully, I'll be able to have more content for you before long.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-50415917980231971952018-07-22T12:43:00.001-05:002018-07-22T12:59:17.652-05:00R-Type (1991)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5RFZRoFVssQ_SX7Eh3KdpgeifnfWfcPlyHvQK3yR0eWt-3hal5U6UPXkPKjzid_K3LP3yFOJ9dcAyTYGt2Ty8N2OvuzQiNR82wIq7Kox2RI_Pzf7WQm-ZBLFgPOvMhDMEKbw8RmeSKA/s1600/r_type_11_box_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw5RFZRoFVssQ_SX7Eh3KdpgeifnfWfcPlyHvQK3yR0eWt-3hal5U6UPXkPKjzid_K3LP3yFOJ9dcAyTYGt2Ty8N2OvuzQiNR82wIq7Kox2RI_Pzf7WQm-ZBLFgPOvMhDMEKbw8RmeSKA/s320/r_type_11_box_front.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://gbdb.org/" target="_blank">The Game Boy Database</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Even when it's rendered in a slightly less menacing art style,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the Dobkeratops boss is nearly always awesome and scary looking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If I haven't made it abundantly clear on this blog, or on my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx2OxuuP9FirL9DVac09Q4g" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>, I love shmups. You know, shoot-em-ups. Shooters. STG's. Scrolling shooters. Space shooters. Pick your term, whichever you like - I could care less. What I do care about? Shooter games. And no, not those first-person games, where you run around, toting a gun, shooting anything that moves. I'm talking about the kind of shooter where you fly a plane, spaceship, or similar craft, and blast everything that moves with an assortment of fantastical weaponry. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good FPS game now and again, but my heart is with the classic scrolling shooter.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3aF68KpWiGOJCN5hj3qC6be9iPpkvHKxe3ZFayuyiy0vmAB3v3turcF0J3CT_X6Bh15nPnhENbU-R5hkaXTexBsw9Ajui3mmNOxg-hJ4JSn1wZk2BsLKK7G2eTxocvP-qJv4rra1eoc/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_017.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3aF68KpWiGOJCN5hj3qC6be9iPpkvHKxe3ZFayuyiy0vmAB3v3turcF0J3CT_X6Bh15nPnhENbU-R5hkaXTexBsw9Ajui3mmNOxg-hJ4JSn1wZk2BsLKK7G2eTxocvP-qJv4rra1eoc/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_017.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The alternate logo, used in a lot of arcade posters, and some ports,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">looks awesome here, atop a rendering of the Dobkeratops.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't wish to belabor the point, but for the uninitiated, a brief treatise on the genre's origins: <i>Space Invaders</i> is where the shoot-em-up was born, followed by <i>Galaxian</i>, <i>Gorf</i>, <i>Galaga</i>, and many other "G" games, but it was potentially Konami's <i>Scramble</i> that defined the shooting game as it would come to be known, in that, it wasn't just a ship that could move along a single axis, firing at incoming enemies, but one that could move along both axes, while the screen scrolled to reveal more enemies and changing terrain. This innovation was quickly followed up by multiple developers, namely Sega with <i>Zaxxon</i> and Namco with <i>Xevious</i>, and the modern shoot-em-up was born. These early examples brought different innovations with them, and helped solidify some genre conventions, but the still rudimentary graphics meant that some of the elements didn't quite have the same kind of effect. In 1985, Konami followed their initial scrolling shooter game with a spiritual successor, the legendary <i>Gradius</i>. Not only did this game give birth to the modern shooter, but it also brought additional innovations and improvements to the genre. Irem brought their own shmup innovation to arcades just 2 years later, with <i>R-Type</i>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4mMVIW5l1SMHk7xSpzN4epOZPBhZhvNzDv-cktZ8dtvtr8hqjMDwplDmLHF1DCkF_2B4akNk_JQbMHijTrAP3RLSh-fafUC_R93nLeVcXHooVas-Z4AAQpw1IyJaEmlM7YanMQYCnrsg/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4mMVIW5l1SMHk7xSpzN4epOZPBhZhvNzDv-cktZ8dtvtr8hqjMDwplDmLHF1DCkF_2B4akNk_JQbMHijTrAP3RLSh-fafUC_R93nLeVcXHooVas-Z4AAQpw1IyJaEmlM7YanMQYCnrsg/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_001.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Yep. Still awesome and scary looking, even on the tiny Game Boy screen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's not a stretch to say that <i>R-Type</i> was a unique beast, back when it was released. Up to that point, most shooter craft had little in the way of protection, other than the player's own skill and dexterity in dodging oncoming fire. <i>Gradius</i> introduced a front-facing shield power-up, that allowed the Vic Viper to withstand a handful of shots directly to the nose, which offered a much needed respite to the hail of bullets that often occurred. With <i>R-Type</i>, however, the R-9 was equipped with the Force Bit, a new innovation made possible by harnessing the flesh of one of the Bydo's own bio-mechanical menaces, that would not only provide shielding from enemy fire, but also absorb that fire indefinitely. The Force Bit could also be upgraded with one of 3 different weapons, up to two levels, and even thrown at enemies and used as a destructive weapon itself. Plus, the Force Bit could be coupled to the ship either in front, or in the rear. Needless to say, this innovation was quite forward thinking, and proved to be the unique element that catapulted the game to success.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVH7odKcGc2Hafk2u6Ew6kAPF98DX54gchI7P6CSpkU1i9ou7axybLeOYu7glE6C5JNNJKyQ_LNBkzc9lRLIHTd44gEFEw9uNl9F16Wh7kKfCUcy8tMvy4kDaPcdwKU_sxP_x2P9w9RM4/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVH7odKcGc2Hafk2u6Ew6kAPF98DX54gchI7P6CSpkU1i9ou7axybLeOYu7glE6C5JNNJKyQ_LNBkzc9lRLIHTd44gEFEw9uNl9F16Wh7kKfCUcy8tMvy4kDaPcdwKU_sxP_x2P9w9RM4/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_002.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Stage 2's alien graveyard and "intestines in giant test tubes" motif</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">just might be the most impressive thing, graphically speaking, in the game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Naturally, when an arcade game became a hit in the 80's, it was almost inevitable that it had to be ported to some kind of home computer or game console. In the case of <i>R-Type</i>, it went everywhere. From the woefully under powered ZX Spectrum, to the fledgling TurboGrafx 16, many gaming platforms received a port of the game. Irem's little shooting game wonder didn't see release until mid-1991 on Nintendo's monochromatic handheld wonder. The port was handled by BITS Studio, who did a number of Game Boy conversions during that period, and is an admirable attempt at trying to bring the arcade experience to the platform, despite its limitations.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHWiAbRUYsdxZtj6HHq6fH-eAI47KZahQHjp6HXcm26mkM5f0HXlz2QpvtV-X_KUBu90sCgtBwgHaE1ZEO879lMXMdeAFnddM1rfYLM4siVVkVdFyE85B5qyXGH4cfaqjAkUcZRFS4g-0/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHWiAbRUYsdxZtj6HHq6fH-eAI47KZahQHjp6HXcm26mkM5f0HXlz2QpvtV-X_KUBu90sCgtBwgHaE1ZEO879lMXMdeAFnddM1rfYLM4siVVkVdFyE85B5qyXGH4cfaqjAkUcZRFS4g-0/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_004.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Unless you're a shoot-em-up wunderkind, expect to see this screen</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">quite a bit, like I did. It's okay, though; you have unlimited continues.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The general story is, the bio-mechanical Bydo creatures, and their conquering empire, have attacked humanity, and it's up to you, and your trusty R-9 ship, to repel the attack. As previously mentioned, you stand a better chance in a "one ship versus the whole armada" scenario than you might otherwise, because you have the Force Bit, an interesting invention that combines technology with some actual fleshy material from a Bydo creature. This gives the R-9 additional firepower, shielding from some enemy fire, and additional offensive capabilities, since the Force Bit can be hurtled from the ship's front or rear, directly into enemies. Using the R-9, the Force Bit, and some combination of the 3 weapons available in the game, it falls to you to defeat the Bydo menace. What's a space pilot to do, other than the task set before them?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm116Asnj9An-z0zXLA9tXzIAgYDPI1b5qf5eCWo0bz92DmH1BDAb_rwI37vQ6Dh9Ih_1uQjCnRhABLcxf15gg06jabWib8xzJMeeyL1DJd1YM0dY1S3WZH91HMeL-_08djzbnOVKYXnc/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm116Asnj9An-z0zXLA9tXzIAgYDPI1b5qf5eCWo0bz92DmH1BDAb_rwI37vQ6Dh9Ih_1uQjCnRhABLcxf15gg06jabWib8xzJMeeyL1DJd1YM0dY1S3WZH91HMeL-_08djzbnOVKYXnc/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_005.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Stage 2's snake enemy has far fewer segments, which is to be</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">expected, given the small screen size and sprite limitations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The game scrolls horizontally, and you'll notice from the outset that the R-9 is a rather sluggish craft. You'll need to watch out for "S" power-ups, which will increase your speed. As for weapon power-ups, there are 3 types: the helix laser, the reflect laser, and the crawling ground laser. In the arcade original, these were represented with red, blue, and yellow power-up icons. Here, of course, that had to change to accommodate the Game Boy's lack of a color palette. The icon with a "1" in the center is the angled laser, that with a "2" is the helix laser, and the "3" is the wall crawling flame. When collecting an initial power-up, the R-9 is granted the Force Bit, and subsequent power-up icons either grant level 1 of a power-up, or level 2, if your ship is already powered up. Also available is the Round Bit, which auto-equips to float above your ship upon initial pickup, and acts as a shield against enemy fire and collision. Much like the Force Bit, this can also be used to damage enemies. If a second Round Bit is collected, it will equip to a similar position below the R-9. Round Bits will also fire single shots of the R-9's main cannon. Conspicuously missing from this port is the Missile power-up, which auto-fires missiles from the R-9 in the arcade port.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitc-TPUNNZPWlWNygFc3DNveiQhKUMIjMK0ZDmG9BTe9gnBJR9SeocPY2OCgw5gAUVA1f7yCUQSNV2pmIdHRIyOIfPJRDrDGv-xsx6mErpnXu0BC2fD39rQuGqZ-GkKl_x7j54Fta1yWU/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_006.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitc-TPUNNZPWlWNygFc3DNveiQhKUMIjMK0ZDmG9BTe9gnBJR9SeocPY2OCgw5gAUVA1f7yCUQSNV2pmIdHRIyOIfPJRDrDGv-xsx6mErpnXu0BC2fD39rQuGqZ-GkKl_x7j54Fta1yWU/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_006.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Shot through the heart, and you're to blame,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">You give aliens a bad name!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The R-9 has full 8-way movement via the D-pad, as one would expect. Pressing the "B" button will fire a shot from the main cannon, and rapid pressing will yield a fast succession of bullets. Press and hold the "B" button to charge up the cannon, indicated by the gauge at the bottom of the screen, and when you release it, will let loose a powerful blast that does far more damage than any normal shot, or even any of the lasers. The "A" button acts as your Force Bit control. If the Force Bit is docked with your ship, press "A" to release it, which will send it shooting out in whichever direction corresponds with which side of the ship it's docked. If the Force Bit is undocked, pressing "A" will call it back to the ship. The Start button pauses, naturally. Select is only used at the title screen, to bring up a handful of options, including a difficulty selection, between "Easy" and "Hard" modes.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLHu__VpYXMQfACdtWbM8bun73-08-jEoZmXW1Jp4y95YCcDTiyA0nw2WUY5VZhlX-6tSVqmVU_Q3xSFZSwYt5T1yehKgAgvOyPZQ7bvUTABqWCmpaRB8xOjVMsou48O16p32wkgrGEq4/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLHu__VpYXMQfACdtWbM8bun73-08-jEoZmXW1Jp4y95YCcDTiyA0nw2WUY5VZhlX-6tSVqmVU_Q3xSFZSwYt5T1yehKgAgvOyPZQ7bvUTABqWCmpaRB8xOjVMsou48O16p32wkgrGEq4/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_010.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The battleship of Stage 3 can seem a bit tricky at first, but if you can see</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">how I have my ship positioned, versus where the Force Bit is sitting,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">you can see that this version of the game gives you a way to complete</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">cheese the central core, allowing you to defeat it with zero risk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With most shoot-em-ups, you need fast reflexes, good hand/eye coordination, and a knack for interpreting on-screen events, so you can adjust what you're doing, in order to best power up and survive. These are all useful things in R-Type, but the key to success in this game, and indeed, its successors, comes down to memorization. If you know the layout of a level, which enemy waves are coming and where, which power-ups are where, and which weapons work best in a given area, you will stand a much better chance of success. Developing a pathway through each level, so you can position the ship where it makes the most sense, in terms of being reasonably safe from enemy fire or obstacles, and also allowing you to maximize enemy destruction, is essential for survival. This made R-Type somewhat unique for its time, because most other games in the genre allowed you to get by mostly on twitch reflexes and good power-up management. Irem had other plans for this game, however, because you can't just fudge your way through; you need to know where you're going, what you're doing, and which weapon you need at various junctions, because otherwise, you're not going to get very far.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vWjECijWp3cRRJid3SkiO05biIsW7CdfKQBP0XSw_twv53FLqaOvqHLXlwFt6q0u_mkhPu4Jvzq1TYDsTvHnkIj_MQ2I1T3sEfVyhIoqN8VtBWl3qjjPbhRcyiNz9DKMvLUrtLvIKFE/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_012.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vWjECijWp3cRRJid3SkiO05biIsW7CdfKQBP0XSw_twv53FLqaOvqHLXlwFt6q0u_mkhPu4Jvzq1TYDsTvHnkIj_MQ2I1T3sEfVyhIoqN8VtBWl3qjjPbhRcyiNz9DKMvLUrtLvIKFE/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_012.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Unfortunately, your high score in this version of the game is kind of a</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">moot point; at no point does the high score table ever display again,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and you can't even see your final score when you opt not to continue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Visually, this port looks pretty good. The R-9 is recognizable, the switch to a numbered power-up system works, and most of the enemy sprites and level designs match their arcade counterparts pretty well. Most of the levels have very little in the background, but what's there works well to accent the foreground graphics, so it's not overdone. Animation is sparse, but it works well enough, despite a fairly high degree of sprite flicker, due to the number of sprites on screen sometimes, or the way the weapon power-ups are rendered. The BITS team should be commended for capturing, as well as could be expected, the look and feel of the arcade game.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIp17pBGbSw-FserLp3whd3zHAKvhylg5EgVW7I1KM8JD8k8_HlJW7DLkaBwvcFYHMjla1sl4MQ3qNC_La5SPjkQtPtzN1pzZMBUMGGMAMjp1ZAh8hGjt8f49LawxUpBUakn7LuiAC-yA/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIp17pBGbSw-FserLp3whd3zHAKvhylg5EgVW7I1KM8JD8k8_HlJW7DLkaBwvcFYHMjla1sl4MQ3qNC_La5SPjkQtPtzN1pzZMBUMGGMAMjp1ZAh8hGjt8f49LawxUpBUakn7LuiAC-yA/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_013.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">In the absence of the original Stage 4 from the arcade, what was</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Stage 6 becomes the de facto difficult level in the Game Boy port.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The audio department takes a bit of a hit, unfortunately. I'm not sure if it was a ROM size limitation, or what the reason was, but there are only 2 primary stage music tracks in the game that just repeat every other stage. Stages 1, 3, and 5 use the music from Stage 1, and Stages 2, 4, and 6, use that of Stage 2. The boss encounter music remains the same, and there's a separate ending theme, but the music selection in the game is quite sparse. Thankfully, what's here is at least translated reasonably well to the Game Boy's sound hardware. Sound effects are roughly what one would expect. They work for the port, and aren't annoying or offensive, but nothing stood out to me as being either particularly noteworthy, or specifically bad. They're merely utilitarian in that respect. The one exception is the sound effect that plays at the end of a stage, as your bonus score is being tallied. For a game that doesn't show your score when you die, it's a rather grating sound effect to count down that point bonus.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVA0DmkckKnMn9EtfQU0l77f3EGOFeHrGIixjRjT-Nh_HfL6qwmsm5s-5d9Rtj8uwowi0CkgRNrzGyF18Xw8Xd0qK3Yf2GwBZU7KmPs7LQR7MuLkyF75WeI9L2DwXuUFgY5bflngvsCUA/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_014.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVA0DmkckKnMn9EtfQU0l77f3EGOFeHrGIixjRjT-Nh_HfL6qwmsm5s-5d9Rtj8uwowi0CkgRNrzGyF18Xw8Xd0qK3Yf2GwBZU7KmPs7LQR7MuLkyF75WeI9L2DwXuUFgY5bflngvsCUA/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_014.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This spot tripped me up many times, having to try and navigate between 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">descending, basically indestructible enemies, and it's easy to crash into one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As you might expect, concessions had to be made to fit this arcade game onto the Game Boy. I previously mentioned that the missiles were omitted from the weapon set. This isn't a big loss, since the strategic advantage they gave you in the original is mostly gone, given the more compressed level layouts and smaller enemy count. Rather than the original arcade game's 8 levels, the Game Boy port is comprised of only 6, cutting out stages 4 and 5. This was necessary due to the nature of those 2 areas. Stage 4 had enemies flying onto the screen that left obstacle trails you had to shoot through, and the sheer number of sprites and on-screen objects would have been overwhelming for the handheld. The same goes for Stage 5, which saw you pitted against giant robot snakes that split off into multiple sections when the head is destroyed. The Stage 5 boss would be too sprite-heavy as well. These necessary omissions make the game quite a bit easier as a result, especially since Stage 4 is generally considered the hardest area in the game.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaffzplPdp5u-Qw5nG4IKYX0EEaYZtCGJ_-WzkHhGMjsk05mSthGc0i1e_yfo__iVdIXXdHLu5HjyyXDt8M_goJvuLd1qEjFjkEpvwBI3V8qtLvCfvKm_ySIAozNp0QsS51zKZdnBY8Q/s1600/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_016.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaffzplPdp5u-Qw5nG4IKYX0EEaYZtCGJ_-WzkHhGMjsk05mSthGc0i1e_yfo__iVdIXXdHLu5HjyyXDt8M_goJvuLd1qEjFjkEpvwBI3V8qtLvCfvKm_ySIAozNp0QsS51zKZdnBY8Q/s320/R-Type+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_016.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Thankfully, the checkpoint in Stage 4 isn't too far from the boss, and you</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">at least get an opportunity to power up with a Force Bit & weapon beforehand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">R-Type has always been challenging, but while this version is no pushover, it is considerably easier than its original arcade incarnation. As previously mentioned, 2 levels are missing, so that cuts out a fourth of the game you need to memorize and learn. Also, there's a strategy you can use to more easily beat some bosses, whereby you throw the Force Bit at a boss, then move your ship out of reach enough that when you press "A" to call the device back to your ship, it instead will find the weak spot. Case in point: the Stage 2 boss can be easily defeated by throwing the Force Bit toward the right side of the screen, then moving the R-9 to the lower-left, and calling the bit back. Instead of traveling over top of the boss, it will go right to the center of the top of the boss, which is its vulnerable area. A similar strategy can be employed in Stage 3 at the end of the battleship. Needless to say, while you likely won't beat this game on a single credit your first time through, it shouldn't provide too much trouble, even in the game's second loop.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNhDH6ZX55UoIQXqJAavWWzGvdkTxZwad_zcxcUTpZnvvZNdgGf8lmK7xXIGLaKkjqHptVnrk-l1fvKC27bpuPc0gotXYx5b4EV69XLiH89hYhK3GNcJVCRvpbAds2eF2Uxwn6cax2EWY/s1600/R-Type+DX+%2528U%2529+%255BC%255D%255B%2521%255D_000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNhDH6ZX55UoIQXqJAavWWzGvdkTxZwad_zcxcUTpZnvvZNdgGf8lmK7xXIGLaKkjqHptVnrk-l1fvKC27bpuPc0gotXYx5b4EV69XLiH89hYhK3GNcJVCRvpbAds2eF2Uxwn6cax2EWY/s320/R-Type+DX+%2528U%2529+%255BC%255D%255B%2521%255D_000.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Just for the sake of contrast, you can see how much better <i>R-Type DX</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">looks from this one screenshot. Imagine how much better the rest of the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">game looks. It also sounds much better, with enhanced music & effects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Though this is a reasonably solid conversion of the arcade hit, it's difficult to recommend it. Not because it's not a good game, but because it has been supplanted by <i>R-Type DX</i> on the Game Boy Color. It collects both this game, and the Game Boy port of <i>R-Type II</i>, which we didn't get in the US, and offers both the original black & white versions, as well as colorized versions that are enhanced on the Game Boy Color and Advance systems. In addition, the "DX" mode is a mix of levels from both games, which changes the experience enough to add additional replay value. As of the time of this writing, the original <i>R-Type</i> on Game Boy is going for around $10, which is probably close to what I paid for it. <i>R-Type DX</i>, on the other hand, is only going for around $12 loose, which is a much better deal, considering all the extra content. I consider myself lucky to have held onto my copy of the DX version which I bought as a new release, so my only interest in picking up the original port is as a Game Boy collector and reviewer, and ultimately, to see if there were any differences between the 2 versions that would make for an interesting discussion. There aren't any notable changes, to speak of, so unless, like me, you're a hardcore collector or shmup fan, and have to have them all, this is one I'd consider passing up, in favor of its Game Boy Color iteration. Either way, this is an easy game to recommend checking out, if you're a fan of the original, or the genre.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">PS - As an aside, <i>R-Type</i> was the first game I chose for a new shoot-em-up club I've started at <a href="http://www.rfgeneration.com/" target="_blank">RF Generation</a>, where I'm a monthly contributor, and staff member. The RF Generation Shmup Club looks at one shmup every month, and we all pick the version/port we want to play, try for good high scores, and see how far we can get in the game. For each monthly game, there's a discussion thread, where we talk about the game, share scores, strategies, and just discuss the game in general. If you like classic shooters, or even modern shoot-em-up games, consider checking it out. Head over to RF Generation, go to the forums, and you'll find the threads in the <a href="http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?board=39.0" target="_blank">Community Playthrough</a> section. New members are always welcome, so if you're reading this, I hope to see you there as well!</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-21374108074333234122017-10-21T11:06:00.001-05:002019-09-06T16:38:21.218-05:00Metroid II: Return Of Samus (1991)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJu0OVnLhw0R4eBMGzZFVrj2Wr3nmVjBUz18dHRF8Y_PV5JfjpyF_AY1awCYhXqxAOxI5iN6rGNIwQK2iUj16Z1EeuEGTmFo6IPvyE1l1FzFvLBGyXu79llPUNGUl8qy5JoQ4ChK3UIrg/s1600/Metroid+2+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="634" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJu0OVnLhw0R4eBMGzZFVrj2Wr3nmVjBUz18dHRF8Y_PV5JfjpyF_AY1awCYhXqxAOxI5iN6rGNIwQK2iUj16Z1EeuEGTmFo6IPvyE1l1FzFvLBGyXu79llPUNGUl8qy5JoQ4ChK3UIrg/s320/Metroid+2+box.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.giantbomb.com/" target="_blank">GiantBomb</a>. There's an old saying that</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I will paraphrase here: "The suit makes the man." What about the woman?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the annals of video game history, some games don't quite get their due. For every <i>Super Mario Bros.</i> that gets duly recognized for its greatness, there's bound to be a couple games that, while perhaps not as ubiquitous, or universally appealing, are nearly as well-designed and realized. While commercial fortunes may elude said games, sometimes their critical acclaim transcends the almighty dollar, and a game's fortunes can be won more organically, through the slow burn that comes from word of mouth. When this kind of grassroots movement starts to take hold, it's only a matter of time before someone takes notice.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlnvPerrPwx1G2UGoQbzTYkaHKHur9IIoJHJjjBmPAIsEU36exswhtEam4Gg6iCITA1poh8TUrdYAZY-zWqq7q13CrFYYiIj8_hPIFIjIK0rt-Jt2XU8WxmeZxW2p4Jeu0hzV43c5Yxk/s1600/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_17-18-23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlnvPerrPwx1G2UGoQbzTYkaHKHur9IIoJHJjjBmPAIsEU36exswhtEam4Gg6iCITA1poh8TUrdYAZY-zWqq7q13CrFYYiIj8_hPIFIjIK0rt-Jt2XU8WxmeZxW2p4Jeu0hzV43c5Yxk/s320/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_17-18-23.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Nintendo needed to do little more than put the logo on the screen with</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"II" behind it to elicit screams of geek joy all around the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Such is the case with the original <i>Metroid</i>, which was of particular interest to the youth in North America. Much like it's adventure game forbear, <i>The Legend of Zelda</i>, which released a mere month prior in the US, <i>Metroid</i> became the talk of school playgrounds across the country. Kids were talking about the exploration, the cool main character, and how hard the game was, because there was nothing telling you where to go, or what to do. There was an air of mystery surrounding the character of Samus, and a sense of loneliness that comes from a game with no humanoid enemies, and only a scant few alien foes to dispatch here and there, with no clear indication of why you should do so, if only because they will hurt you otherwise. It was as if the Wild West had been recreated on an alien planet, and Samus was the lone homesteader, trying to get lay of the land.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8eB1qhh7XXgQ28ybZJmOVPCfWNcyU0W4cj-blC2Y77xN8hjGgw5KXT5mny0Q7BEJo6UwkjZz1qdtjP-OJprVByNQkL3vyGUr5VKhm2l4b2sGsamgTo0ValgnLtlyzJIHiPi26sErIN60/s1600/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_17-18-57.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8eB1qhh7XXgQ28ybZJmOVPCfWNcyU0W4cj-blC2Y77xN8hjGgw5KXT5mny0Q7BEJo6UwkjZz1qdtjP-OJprVByNQkL3vyGUr5VKhm2l4b2sGsamgTo0ValgnLtlyzJIHiPi26sErIN60/s320/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_17-18-57.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Samus has a very cool looking spaceship. It reminds me of the cool ship</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">from the "Flight of the Navigator" movie, only with windows. And cannons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Metroid</i> was a revelation in console game design. While <i>The Legend of Zelda</i> had a sprawling map and immediate sense of adventure, with its jaunty overworld theme and colorful graphics, <i>Metroid</i> immediately set out on a different path, with a darker overall feel, and elements heavily inspired by artist H.R. Giger and the <i>Alien</i> film by Ridley Scott. Samus, the game's protagonist, was alone on an alien world, with a limited arsenal of weaponry to defend herself from a myriad of threats. The stark, black background and unfamiliar terrain helped to define the game's atmosphere, which gave the original <i>Metroid</i> a sense of identity. This identity paved the way for a series of games that, while having achieved notoriety, hasn't quite received the accolades it deserves.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjVplzFaDMPX8RjHgXJbDDPkwJColeBRCUK7TKjklV0Tx2jTcCClz7ACikJ2QVBBmtUi4gOo2dRzPuYwrQvj0n9gPFVTQNanpeikN_7Gurn497fWQ8D12Ms1q19tFiK34CnjPp6_oieZs/s1600/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_17-19-24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjVplzFaDMPX8RjHgXJbDDPkwJColeBRCUK7TKjklV0Tx2jTcCClz7ACikJ2QVBBmtUi4gOo2dRzPuYwrQvj0n9gPFVTQNanpeikN_7Gurn497fWQ8D12Ms1q19tFiK34CnjPp6_oieZs/s320/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_17-19-24.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm not sure what that thing over my head is, but it kind of looks like a</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">sort of flying chainsaw drill thing. The stuff of nightmares. Thanks, Nintendo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After the modest success of the original game, Nintendo followed it up with a sequel in an unlikely place, on their handheld Game Boy system. After the very open, exploratory nature of <i>Metroid</i> graced the Famicom and NES, Gunpei Yokoi and a small development team were given the opportunity to create a follow-up. What we got in the sequel was a bit more straightforward than its predecessor, with less backtracking, more combat, and a few elements that have since become staples of the franchise. How this sequel stacks up against its predecessor, and the games that followed, is up for debate.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDCEUnkDnXyV0eyNrXiFVir9m7btjJzsVmbLr9KtYWqdF3ZRST6UBpS8JNaB29-bTC_M2F167GA9kiFHglLU1tfwTH-ckKgWd61S1rkZP2RWSXP2SC30jBxu0IEicDWEgUyP9usc5B9Q/s1600/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_17-20-40.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyDCEUnkDnXyV0eyNrXiFVir9m7btjJzsVmbLr9KtYWqdF3ZRST6UBpS8JNaB29-bTC_M2F167GA9kiFHglLU1tfwTH-ckKgWd61S1rkZP2RWSXP2SC30jBxu0IEicDWEgUyP9usc5B9Q/s320/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_17-20-40.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">These save stands will quickly become your friend on this lonely world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Actually, they're your only friend here on Planet SR388. Forever alone...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The short version of the story synopsis is, after defeating the Mother Brain in the first game, the Galactic Federation sends Samus on a mission to the Metroid life form's home world, designated SR388, to wipe out the species. After landing on the planet, Samus must set out to find, and destroy, all remaining Metroids. Along the way, she discovers that this life form has various states of evolution, and some of the more evolved forms are particularly nasty, and difficult to dispatch. Once she has successfully expunged all the Metroids from SR388, she must then face off with the Metroid Queen. Assuming she can take out the mother of all Metroids, Samus can consider it a day's work, and return home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">When you see one of these busted egg pod things, you know a Metroid</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">is close by, so make sure to watch for one, so you're not caught off guard!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a number of changes to the <i>Metroid</i> formula that are obvious here, such as the move from console to handheld, the necessary change to 4-monochrome shades instead of color, and the zoomed in perspective, complete with large Samus sprite, because of the small screen size and lower resolution of the Game Boy. Some changes are only obvious once you begin to play the game. This is a more linear affair than the original game. Sure, you can backtrack as far as you want or need, but unless you miss a path, don't follow a path completely, or want to go back to save your game or replenish health or missiles, it's not nearly as essential to revisit the areas you've explored before. Also, unlike the original, this time Samus starts out with some abilities already enabled, such as the Morph Ball. She also starts out with a stock of missiles, which are necessary to kill the Metroids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">You'll find a few of these spots in the game, where you can fully refill your</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">health with the glowing ball, & your missiles with the, you know, missile tank.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As you make your way through the game, you quickly find the Spider Ball power-up, which allows you to make the Morph Ball form adhere to any surface, as if by using some kind of sticky substance. This is essential for traversing various areas, and for reaching the locations of some power-ups, and Metroids. In addition, you'll locate missile upgrades, each increasing the maximum number of missiles you can carry by 5. You'll find the familiar Ice Beam and Wave Beam part of the way through, but you'll also discover the new Spazer Beam and Plasma Beam, both of which return later in <i>Super Metroid</i>. As with the original game, you can find the Varia Suit to cut the damage Samus takes in half, as well as obtain the Screw Attack, which allows Samus to cause damage to enemies when jumping into them in a spinning motion. New to this outing are the High Jump Boots, which allow Samus to jump far higher than normal, as well as the Space Jump, which allows Samus to essentially spin jump infinitely, assuming subsequent jumps are executed properly (more on that later). There's also a Spring Ball power-up, obtained by conquering a creature known as an Arachnus, that allows Samus to jump while in Morph Ball form.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The blue stuff that looks like water? Yeah, that's acid, and if you touch it,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">you lose health. Also, I'm not sure why fish have mo-hawks on SR388.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Items that are essential to the completion of the game are the Spider Ball, the Ice Beam, and the Space Jump. To make life easier, the Screw Attack is really helpful, and of course, locating as many Energy Tanks (to increase Samus' total health points) and Missile Tanks as possible, so you have enough ammo to take out the more highly evolved Metroids. You also probably won't get too far if you don't upgrade to a more powerful gun, such as the Plasma Beam, at some point during the adventure. Because this is a more linear affair, chances are, you'll likely discover most of the upgrades with minimal exploration and effort, as nothing in the game is too far off the beaten path. It's just a matter of looking at the fairly obvious tells for where to bomb or shoot to break a path through a wall or floor, and you'll find what you're looking for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Like the first game, there's knockback, as well as no grace period after</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">taking damage before you will take more, so watch your energy closely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Graphically, this game is really on point. The Samus sprite is large and detailed, and despite limited frames of animation, looks great while running and performing various movements. All the areas are nicely drawn, with interesting use of different patterns and motifs that tie together fairly well, without being too repetitive. Enemies all look good, though most aren't really animated. It's a bit odd, as most enemy sprites just move on screen, but don't have separate frames of animation. One particular enemy that does has a weird effect that accompanies the animation. I don't know if this was a conscious decision, to help minimize screen blurring, or to keep the focus on Samus' animation, but it's an interesting side note.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">They're not as prevalent here as on Zebes, but there are a handful of doors</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">that require the requisite 5 missiles to open the first time you encounter them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of particular interest is the colorization option available, when playing the game on newer hardware. Starting with the Super Game Boy, and going all the way up through the Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Player, each official way to play the <i>Metroid II</i> cartridge was programmed with a specific color palette for the game that gave Samus her iconic red and yellow suit, and colorizes backgrounds and foreground elements in various ways. I know there's some hardware trickery that can be used to sort of get around the 4-shade limitation with this special palette, though I'm not entirely sure how Nintendo pulled it off. I think the palette was tweaked after the Super Game Boy for the Game Boy Color, and for the Game Boy Advance and Super Game Boy. Playing on 2 CRT TV's, the SGB palette looks brighter and more limited, in terms of colors used, whereas playing on the Game Boy Player (which I did for my full play-through), it seems there's a wider array of color choices used, suggesting that Nintendo purposely used some additional GBC/GBA magic to accomplish that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">You know you've hit pay-dirt when you've found a room with a large statue,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Take the bombs, Samus, for you are the Chozo-en one."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the audio department, the game is pretty much what you would expect, and that's mostly a good thing. The music in game is a mixture of slightly bouncy, hopeful sci-fi adventure music, ambient sounds, and a couple tunes that are less hopeful, and more foreboding, though nothing quite as atmospheric as the follow-up game would have, save, perhaps, for the title screen theme, with its contrasting harsh, high-pitched tones and somber melody. The iconic jingle that plays when you find an upgrade is here, complete with a couple nice percussive flourishes, for effect. The theme that plays during the final face-off with the Metroid Queen is sufficiently dark and unique as well. Sound effects are mostly good, with cool explosion effects, good weapon noises, and a scant few enemy sounds. The one area of sound that I take issue with is the annoying alarm that plays constantly when you get low on health. It's kind of cool that it changes a little bit, depending on how close you are to death, or to restoring your health, but it's still annoying. It's not quite as grating as that of most of the <i>Legend of Zelda</i> series games, and yet, remains a nuisance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Lots of fun places like this to sneak through walls and find hidden areas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Going into this game expecting an experience like the original game is a mistake, so if, perchance, you haven't played this game yet, understand that it takes a different approach. The goal here is to kill all 39 Metroid creatures on SR388, and then take out the queen. As I mentioned earlier, this is a far more linear affair. When you pause the game, you see a number in the lower-right corner, which indicates the number of Metroids you have to kill within the general area. Once that counter reaches zero, you experience a mild earthquake, and the acid that blocks your path to lower areas of the planet gets reduced, which then allows you to go deeper into SR388 to find and destroy more Metroids. After this acid reduction takes place and you move to the next area, you can pause the game, and again, see how many Metroids are in the area that you need to dispatch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Finding all the Energy Tanks in the game is essential, so make sure to</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">seek them all out. You'll need that extra health to face the queen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unlike the original game, which saw you exploring large areas with no major threats, save for a few pesky enemies here and there, this game has what boils down to a succession of mini-boss fights, with many of the lower-tiered Metroids. This approach quickly become full-on boss fights, as you face off with some of the more evolved forms that take more of a pelting to down, and are trickier to defeat. A quick search of the web will reveal the strategy for fighting the queen, but if you go in blind, like I did, you may be a little stumped as to how to take her down, even with full health and missiles. After defeating the queen, instead of having to quickly escape, you can sort of leisurely stroll out of her chamber, and jump your way up and through the catacombs to reach the surface again, so you can get back to your ship. As you do so, you'll encounter an egg, which hatches, and reveals a baby Metroid that follows you. As you're escaping, this baby Metroid will clear a path for you through certain obstacles that Samus cannot shoot through, either with a laser weapon, or with missiles. This, of course, sets the stage for the iconic <i>Super Metroid</i> intro, with it's famous line, "The last Metroid is in captivity; the galaxy is at peace." So unlike the <i>Legend of Zelda</i> franchise, which has rarely received a direct sequel from one game to another, the stories of the first 3 games in this series are all interconnected, and flow relatively well from the first through the third.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Spider Ball is a pretty fun power-up to use, because Samus can literally</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">stick to any surface or wall that doesn't cause her or her suit any damage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I write this review, in the fall of 2017, it's interesting that there are now more options than ever to experience the story and game play of <i>Metroid II: Return of Samus</i>. Not only can you purchase an original cart, and play on some form of Game Boy hardware, but you can also purchase the game on the 3DS e-Shop. The game never received a Wii, or Wii U Virtual Console release, however. In August 2016, a fan-made remake was released, known on the web as "AM2R" which stands for "Another Metroid 2 Remake" which was released as a free download for PC. Within days, Nintendo rightfully filed DMCA take-down requests, to protect the <i>Metroid</i> series as their intellectual property, and the game was subsequently taken down. This happened after the developer, using the name DoctorM64, had poured years of development time into the project. Of course, as with anything on the internet these days, once it's out in the wild, and a few people have downloaded it, it's still generally available, though not officially from the AM2R web blog. Subsequently, DoctorM64 has parlayed his notoriety into a job offer from Moon Studios, who developed <i>Ori and the Blind Forest</i>, so at least the good Doctor landed on two feet after this went down. In addition, Nintendo has just release an official remake, titled <i>Metroid: Samus Returns</i>. This remake adds new elements, such as a melee parry ability, which gives you the ability to stun incoming enemies so you can then target them with a new laser sight, and blast away. I haven't purchased a copy yet, but after playing through the original, it's on my short list to buy and play through soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Without getting too far down into the weeds, AM2R is a worthy remake, and definitely worth checking out. It fixes many of the typically mentioned problems with the original game: it's in full color, the perspective is zoomed out, the control is tighter, the game moves faster, and there's a greater sense of exploration, because some of the new abilities you have to find first, such as the Spider Ball. I haven't played it through to completion, but I can say that it definitely feels more like <i>Super Metroid</i>, and that's a good thing. The interpretations of the <i>Metroid II</i> music are all really well done, and worth downloading on their own, as they tend toward the <i>Super Metroid</i> style and overall feel. Graphically, AM2R is gorgeous, with that Super Nintendo look and feel, and the game is impressive overall. Yes, you'll need to look a little harder to find a download for it, but it will be worth your time, because it's a stunning game that takes the source material and lovingly updates it to give it more polish. I can't really recommend it enough, given the fact that it's free.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrY3V8oyGHDv04f8i52vmA935Ojz_4OHpGgwQjeIXC1LNUBefJrRdcS08J01CjjsbrKg6De0igCiAJyex_T44QE-upx7CcfxGqrLylGXDFpoYV3rnruUnQWyrwMN5BDcJS6pqV2r4e1M0/s1600/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_18-07-52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrY3V8oyGHDv04f8i52vmA935Ojz_4OHpGgwQjeIXC1LNUBefJrRdcS08J01CjjsbrKg6De0igCiAJyex_T44QE-upx7CcfxGqrLylGXDFpoYV3rnruUnQWyrwMN5BDcJS6pqV2r4e1M0/s320/gambatte_qt_win32-r571_2017-10-07_18-07-52.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Spider Samus, Spider Samus, does whatever a Spider can...mus."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now that I've sung the praises of a fan remake, how does the original game fare? Pretty well, all things considered. The game looks and sounds great. <i>Metroid II</i> retains some of the lonely feeling of the first game, but without too jarring an effect when you find a Metroid to take out. Each area where a Metroid is located, you'll see a shattered egg/pod, indicating that there's one close by, so you'll be on heightened alert. Each time you clear an area of Metroids, it's a very satisfying feeling, knowing you've opened up a whole new area to explore. The new weapons and items are cool, and you'll definitely have fun with the Spider Ball power-up, scaling walls and going all sorts of places, looking for energy tanks and missile upgrades. The Metroid encounters, especially the more evolved forms, can get fairly intense, and will raise your heart rate significantly as you rush to pelt them with missiles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This game isn't without its flaws, however. The obvious issue of the zoomed in perspective, due to the Game Boy's low resolution, is present here. It doesn't affect game play too much, but it does hamper the Metroid encounters somewhat, because there's so little room to maneuver, it can feel claustrophobic for some of them. The Game Boy's processor speed is a factor, because it means the game moves a bit more slowly than its predecessor. That's not entirely a bad thing, because it makes some of the Metroid encounters a touch easier, but on the flipside, that means the game isn't overly difficult. As with the first game in the series, <i>Metroid II</i> has no map feature, so you'll either need to draw your own, or in this age of internet, just search for one. I found one that I liked and used that as my guide throughout the game. Even though this is a more linear adventure than the original, I still recommend using or creating a map.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Oh, what a feelin' - I see Samus on the ceiling."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also rather dislike when games have zero recovery time when you take damage. Yes, I know that with the energy tanks, it's more forgiving than a game where you get 3 to 5 hits and you're dead, but you can quickly run out of life in some situations. Add to this, the fact that this game has knockback, and there are a couple spots where you can be juggled to death by a pair of adjacent enemies, with no way to escape. You can get knocked off a ledge by a Metroid, only to fall into an acid pit or other hazard, and quickly drain all your health. Metroids can be difficult to kill, because they're only vulnerable in certain spots, and some of the more evolved forms are hard to evade as you're attacking, so you will inevitably take damage, and often be forced to backtrack to find a health refill station before you will feel brave enough to venture to the next Metroid chamber, lest you find a save point before then. The Metroids toward the end of the game can only be killed by using the Ice Beam to freeze them, and then quickly pelt them with 5 missiles before they thaw out. If you don't know this, you'll die repeatedly until you figure it out. And even then, you'll find that, once they get to you and get on to of you, you'll drain of health really fast, and have to flail around frantically to shake them off. I understand that increases the sense of urgency in dealing with them and taking them out, but when you're so close to the end, it can be very frustrating to be downed so easily by what looks like a flying jellyfish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And finally, the Space Jump. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I have a hard time pulling it off in successive jumps. I don't know if I'm waiting too long, or what my problem is, but in some areas where it's easier and faster to use the Space Jump, or in locations where you have to, because there are hazards that prevent you from using the Spider Ball, I found myself easily frustrated because I couldn't pull it off easily. I would get it to work 2 or 3 times, only to stop spinning and fall to the ground below. Or, I would start using it, and try to time it so that I could dodge enemies, and enemy fire, only to plow right into a hazard, and plummet back down below. It wasn't enough to make me want to rage-quit, but it certainly raised my blood pressure, and put a damper on the overall experience. I know there are folks who can Space Jump like nobody's business, and kudos to them. I obviously haven't quite reached the level of Space Jump Zen Master.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Ice, ice beaming."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When it's all said and done, I believe that <i>Metroid II: Return of Samus</i> is still well worth playing, more than 25 years after its release. It's still a solid game that holds up well, and won't take an exorbitant amount of time to get through. The mechanics, graphics, music, sound, and game play all hold up well enough to make it worth going back to. I will say that, if you are curious about AM2R or <i>Metroid: Samus Returns</i>, I would encourage you to go back and play the original first, even if just briefly through emulation, so that you'll have a greater appreciation for the remake and re-imagining of the game, and also to see that, despite the improvements introduced with these newer iterations, the core game play is essentially the same, and it's still strong all these years later. <i>Metroid II: Return of Samus</i> remains one of the shining examples of how to take a beloved console game franchise, and shrink it down to a mobile platform, and still make it work in a way that is fun, engaging, and worthwhile. Despite its flaws, I still had a lot of fun with the game, and would definitely revisit it in its original form, even with the availability of remakes. Highly recommended, if not downright essential for Game Boy enthusiasts and <i>Metroid</i> fans alike.</span></div>
GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-15687271256397016842017-09-24T16:14:00.000-05:002017-09-24T16:14:40.555-05:00Dramatic Readings! My Video Review Series<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As much as I enjoy writing Game Boy game reviews, I understand that not everyone likes to read long-form reviews as much as I do. I also really like the convenience of video platforms like YouTube, and have reached a point where I consume far more YouTube than I do traditional TV these days. I've had a YouTube presence for a number of years, with a personal channel where I've done music reviews and vinyl album collection videos, but only got started with a Game Boy and gaming themed channel a couple years back. Most of what I have up are game collection and pickups videos, but I've started a series I've dumbed "Dramatic Readings!" where I read through my written reviews, atop Game Boy game footage of the game in question.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've just uploaded the 4th video in the series, so I thought I'd highlight that here on the blog, so that, for the handful of folks who have read my reviews, but may not know about my YouTube channel, you can quickly discover this avenue as well. I'm going in order of my reviews, from the very first game I reviewed, forward through the blog, so the video reviews will always lag behind the written reviews. I'm hoping to get enough videos made to eventually catch up to the blog, so that, whenever I release a new written review, I record my video review of the previously reviewed game. This way, there's time for folks to read the written review first, and then if they miss that, or prefer the YouTube content, they can still see that video review within a reasonable amount of time after the written review is posted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have a lot of reviews to get moved over to video, so that will take some time to accomplish. In the meantime, I'll still be playing games and writing reviews, so there will still be fresh content for the blog, as I have time to do so. As I've mentioned before, this is all a labor of love, and because I'm not funding this through Patreon or any other means, but simply buying games with my own money, playing them in my spare time, and writing reviews as I can, I go at my own rather glacial pace. I'm planning on trying to accomplish as many of these Dramatic Readings! videos as quickly as possible, so I can get into that rhythm of writing a review and then uploading the previous review video, which I would try to have prepared and ready to go so I can release them around the same time. This way, I can have new content ready to go for both the blog, and the YouTube channel, as time allows.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All this to say, if you haven't checked out my YouTube channel yet, please do so, as I also post game hunting and pickups videos, and have some other stuff in the works as well. Here are the first 4 episodes of Dramatic Readings!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dramatic Readings! Episode 001 - Donkey Kong 94</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dramatic Readings! Episode 002 - TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dramatic Readings! Episode 003 - Tetris</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dramatic Readings! Episode 004 - Super Mario Land</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thank you for reading, and continuing to check out this blog. I would very much appreciate it if you would also go subscribe to my YouTube channel, and if you haven't <a href="http://www.twitter.com/GameBoyGuru" target="_blank">followed me on Twitter</a> yet, please do so there as well. As I said, I'm not doing this for money, but getting nice comments on reviews and videos does help keep me motivated, as it does for anyone, so please let me know what you think, and give me some honest feedback. Thanks again for your support!</span></div>
GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-37698814920984054772017-09-02T12:06:00.000-05:002017-09-02T12:06:11.024-05:00Championship Pool (1993)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQS</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm not sure what the Billiard Congress of America is, exactly, but it seems</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I know very little about the sport of Billiards, known to mere mortals simply as "Pool" - a sport that is less agility, dexterity, and athleticism, and more a game of mathematics. Simply put, pool is all about geometry, knowing how hard or soft to hit the ball, and understanding the playing field, with all the various configurations and iterations thereof. It's a game with a strict set of rules to adhere to, and near-infinite complexity. There are a large number of different styles of play, each with its own set of specific rules, quirks, and strategies. Also, it's a game I'm pretty terrible at.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Nothing screams "Excitement!" quite like this title screen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My wife's late grandmother had a pool table in her basement that the grandkids would always play during family get-togethers, while waiting for the meal, or after the meal, when the adults were upstairs chatting. Outside of that, and a handful of experiences with it at various arcades or bowling alleys, and at the local youth center, I have almost no experience playing pool in real life. I understand geometry from an on-paper, mathematical level, but the practical application of it as pool strategy always eluded me. I could line up my shot, but unless I was gunning for the pocket nearly dead-on, I always had a tendency to over or undershoot, bouncing off the pocket's angled edges, and sending the cue ball rolling off in a random direction. Needless to say, I've never developed a love for the game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">an awful lot of game here, despite most pool variations being similar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That being said, pool video games are a common sight on most every platform. They're not quite as common in North America as, say, Mahjong games are in Japan, but one genre that was always present on any console during the 8 and 16-bit eras was that of video billiards. I think the <i>Side Pocket</i> series showed up on nearly everything during that time, and while it gained a certain degree of name recognition, I can't speak to the game's playability or quality as of yet, because I haven't played any of the games, save, perhaps, for a few minutes of the NES version as a kid. This isn't a genre I would normally dabble in, but given my desire to play every single Game Boy game, it was bound to happen at some point. Enter <i>Championship Pool</i> by Mindscape.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsM-R6L47K0JXIgCAfEbMKSD5knpM0gi7Et0sR7BOD9qWY3Hxu49RBUMNNXw7TgDKlWPRbPhGNsdGeG6b5869CrYXhSTJHibHkVKACRIdtWamG1n7YMr7wR8QjMbQBzI0sIoCL3_LgqkI/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsM-R6L47K0JXIgCAfEbMKSD5knpM0gi7Et0sR7BOD9qWY3Hxu49RBUMNNXw7TgDKlWPRbPhGNsdGeG6b5869CrYXhSTJHibHkVKACRIdtWamG1n7YMr7wR8QjMbQBzI0sIoCL3_LgqkI/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_03.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Not to be cliche, but Party mode is where the party's at. Quite literally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I initially chose this game from my ever-growing pile of Game Boy cartridges, I assumed it would be another throw-away sports title, as is usually the case with most of these games on a handheld system. Sure, loads of people STILL play <i>Tecmo Super Bowl</i> on the NES, and even mod it each year to add current teams, stats, etc., but a pool game? I had no hesitation in thinking this would likely be little more than a reasonably pleasant time-waster. I had no expectations going in, other than this preconception. What I found was a surprisingly deep experience that, while still imperfect, offers a lot of content for enthusiasts of the sport, and plenty to do for those of us still figuring out how to chalk up our cue.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijovvYSvr69ui6Uixljd_1RVZ6j5BZY_j6G-nc7K3QNxaou7K9zcfBh8TaAC0vkgEzc-JvCbCGYjP9hm4sC3xc8EYH5IY3r06nVhp74ylkbAiXJFzULvysRuMOd45iv-z8CiE-JXKvvz0/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijovvYSvr69ui6Uixljd_1RVZ6j5BZY_j6G-nc7K3QNxaou7K9zcfBh8TaAC0vkgEzc-JvCbCGYjP9hm4sC3xc8EYH5IY3r06nVhp74ylkbAiXJFzULvysRuMOd45iv-z8CiE-JXKvvz0/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_04.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Well the game never ends when your whole world depends,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">on the flip of a friendly coin."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The intricacies of billiards are best explained elsewhere, but here's the 10,000-foot version: you have a table where you put together a large grouping of balls, and you use a long wooden stick to hit an equally-sized ball into that grouping of balls to split them up, then systematically use that methodology to hit successive numbered balls into various "pockets" around the table. There's 1 pocket at each of the 4 corners, and 1 on each long side, for a total of 6. If you hit the wrong ball into a pocket, that's bad. If you hit the right ball into the wrong pocket, that's bad. If you hit the cue ball, used to hit the numbered balls, into a pocket, that's also bad. And in most sets of rules, unless you're playing what's referred to as "scratch pool" in common parlance, you cannot hit the 8-ball into any pocket until all other balls designated to you have been sunk into other pockets.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFlvEm931QWgGU-lHfb7GVaIXjX-_EosQeyY64QBvc-NuquST4I86AAYGmz1iIaTdjhKDM_Ns59Oq8MjNg3pMAgEjNmQgtmj9pzSA8Y8XkFcLBvLX2qWCaM-FFB_N-RNF2HlxdmCNuzx0/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFlvEm931QWgGU-lHfb7GVaIXjX-_EosQeyY64QBvc-NuquST4I86AAYGmz1iIaTdjhKDM_Ns59Oq8MjNg3pMAgEjNmQgtmj9pzSA8Y8XkFcLBvLX2qWCaM-FFB_N-RNF2HlxdmCNuzx0/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_05.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This is one of the few rules in pool I distinctly remember learning as a</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">kid, and when playing with others, actually following.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Keeping all this in mind, the essential elements to success in pool are understanding the basics of geometry, so you can hit the cue ball with your cue (the aforementioned long, wooden stick), so it can strike the numbered balls and send them careening into the pocket. If the ball you want or need to hit is halfway down the table, and there's another ball in the way, you can hit the cue ball toward a wall to bank it off that surface, and back toward the destination ball, in hopes that you'll hit it with enough force, at the proper angle, so as to direct it to the pocket in question. It sounds simple enough, but there are a lot of elements at work. How hard do you hit the ball? Do you hit it straight on, high up on the ball to create "topspin" or down low to create "backspin" instead, to slow it down? Do you hit toward the right or left side of the ball to give it a bit of curvature in a given direction? Can you bank more than once, if the other balls are in the way, or clustered too far together? All of these elements at work make pool a far more complex sport than one would imagine.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgR-li9MDTfaoF1D6GtYbIFWpvAujUdQF31c7KDi_R7KFAtNiESnZpdIWLw1ygL4XQj4wipOHJGWCf7T3AIdB0qAczkriJEObGqOO6wekuDtJPEM1prgVMT9CjnT-QkcY5HtBa_W51YM/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKgR-li9MDTfaoF1D6GtYbIFWpvAujUdQF31c7KDi_R7KFAtNiESnZpdIWLw1ygL4XQj4wipOHJGWCf7T3AIdB0qAczkriJEObGqOO6wekuDtJPEM1prgVMT9CjnT-QkcY5HtBa_W51YM/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_06.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Pool's just like football, right? "Ready...break!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Translating that to a video game could prove challenging, especially on a tiny handheld system with a direction pad, 2 action buttons, and 2 optional buttons, but Bitmasters pulled it off here. Controls are deceptively simple at first: use the D-pad to move your targeting reticle around to point to where you're going to shoot the cue ball. Press A to confirm targeting, and you see animations that help indicate the approximate proposed trajectory of the intended target ball. Assuming you're targeting the right ball (more on that later), and can aim it toward a pocket, you can then press A again to shoot the cue ball and hope you not only hit the intended ball, but that it then reaches its intended pocket. It's not quite that simple, however.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvXUrCYskRvmYNG7edZ6FOb3eLPi79-hXr9EzYDAJSoqR0KfovxmPOEYdZDS_J9RZqrAwq6yYB8ubwX1KUbs1vk0UF88xXe1QH3dr9KQKJKL7mDXOzd7uZXPe21Sc3Fr7xPKae51W5a4/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfvXUrCYskRvmYNG7edZ6FOb3eLPi79-hXr9EzYDAJSoqR0KfovxmPOEYdZDS_J9RZqrAwq6yYB8ubwX1KUbs1vk0UF88xXe1QH3dr9KQKJKL7mDXOzd7uZXPe21Sc3Fr7xPKae51W5a4/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_07.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I feel like there's a joke here somewhere, but I can't quite find it...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As you're moving your target circle around, you can use the Select button to zoom in on the pool table, to get a much closer view of the action. In either zoomed in/out view, you can hold down the B-button, then press a direction on the D-pad, to move the targeting circle far more slowly and precisely, to finely tune your shot. In contrast, you can also hold a direction down on the D-pad, then press and hold the B button to move the cursor quickly, which is useful for faster navigation around the table. Pressing the B button once will bring up the power meter, and then you can hold down left or right on the D-pad to increase or decrease the strength of your shot. Press the Start button while lining up your shot, and you're treated with additional options: under the Game Control menu, choose the Set Spin option to get a "behind the cue" view of your ball, and move the stick around to determine where on the ball you plan to it it. It's a surprisingly deep control scheme for a portable pool title, and was likely carried over from the NES version of the game's design.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufESfWkuypYBKcyERjDo-jhhihCPNwKuvQdtixVmRPjSHuKcBiuI97XUKnUN-Kk4HoCVbMnpTTY14k3KwdoyWTQcIXZlsvGind-5IRQt00gnZhQmVcaYpQZq9xaNzpXsYiZ5eeFOlAYc/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_08.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiufESfWkuypYBKcyERjDo-jhhihCPNwKuvQdtixVmRPjSHuKcBiuI97XUKnUN-Kk4HoCVbMnpTTY14k3KwdoyWTQcIXZlsvGind-5IRQt00gnZhQmVcaYpQZq9xaNzpXsYiZ5eeFOlAYc/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_08.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm a master scratch player. The trouble is, that skill is only useful</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">when you're a DJ, not when you're trying to will at billiards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are other options as well, accessed via the Start button. You can quickly switch between displaying the ball numbers or not, move the cue ball (if the rules dictate you can, via a break shot, or opponent scratch), choose your zoom (instead of just pressing Select), or access the "Jukebox" (to toggle music on or off). In the Actions menu, you can choose a Special Action, such as calling a safety (where there's no clear shot), or viewing the scoreboard. You can check out a replay of the last shot, deciding to Insta-Win, if you can't handle the pressure, or choose to end the party, if you're playing one of the party modes within the game.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcLfGr1kWpvCRT9D-aittTHYGM5SsrQq_ASNuptfapX48GNnWzYFzTEMh8zJR4quqAfh5M9vGMCue9mjMD_QyM3NJJpaBHd6cLWAK1d2S730qGTNsPMeYf60TgKwaTVw16s2uch-13BK0/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcLfGr1kWpvCRT9D-aittTHYGM5SsrQq_ASNuptfapX48GNnWzYFzTEMh8zJR4quqAfh5M9vGMCue9mjMD_QyM3NJJpaBHd6cLWAK1d2S730qGTNsPMeYf60TgKwaTVw16s2uch-13BK0/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_09.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">When your opponent scratches, by sinking the cue ball, you get an</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">opportunity to place the cue ball anywhere on the table, which is a</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">huge help if you want a clean shot at your next numbered ball.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Speaking of modes, <i>Championship Pool</i> offers a large variety of game modes. At the main screen that comes up, you can choose between 4 different modes: Tournament, Challenge, Party, and Freestyle. In Tournament mode, you can select whether to auto-break the balls as they're racked on the table, or do that manually. You can also choose between a standard 8-ball or 9-ball game setup. It's a single-elimination tournament bracket, so you only get one shot to fail. In Challenge mode, you can choose from one of six different billiards challenges: 14.1 Challenge (like "straight pool" but each shot must be properly called and achieved), Eight Ball, Nine Ball, Equal Offense (a series of 8 15-ball racks in a scoring contest), Three Ball (sink 3 balls in as few shots as possible), and Speed Pool (sink the balls as quickly as possible). Freestyle allows you to essentially practice on a standard 15-ball rack, taking shots and being less concerned with the full rules, but getting a feel for the geometry, game mechanics, controls, and approach of the game.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbmSfaBFD2WSuHTkShA0ysi2jAgogJC-i431H2uYchsVNV1B6EF7d7Wc5tdQK6568pSrfacr2k38Ns12TkgdqNOqwtshsXEWYFQf6A_LV3F9_OJCstYXdPNsisyyXpDA0F46wdjcKgPY/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbmSfaBFD2WSuHTkShA0ysi2jAgogJC-i431H2uYchsVNV1B6EF7d7Wc5tdQK6568pSrfacr2k38Ns12TkgdqNOqwtshsXEWYFQf6A_LV3F9_OJCstYXdPNsisyyXpDA0F46wdjcKgPY/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_10.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The zoomed view is really helpful for precision in lining up a shot,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">especially combined with the slow cursor method to near-pinpoint accuracy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The most robust mode is the Party mode. In this game mode, there are 11 different options: Eight Ball, Nine Ball, 14.1 Continuous, Ten Ball, Rotation (similar to straight pool, but balls must be sunk in numeric sequence), Straight Pool, Equal Offense, Fifteen Ball (similar to rotation, except balls can be sunk in any sequence, and scoring is based on the ball number), One Pocket (each player has a designated pocket that they must shoot any balls into, in order to score), Three Ball, and Speed Pool. Each of these modes allows either 2 or 5 players, depending on the mode. The handy part is, each player can use the same Game Boy handheld, and players just pass it back and forth, or in a round table fashion. With so many options, one can conceivably get a lot of value out of this mode, either playing with other people, or playing every round oneself, as a means of getting more practice at each different set of game rules.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLnbthe7_GL-wILL-D6mBO7OAHhtI2xHqDTpQ8Cs0CEt6mx_xL5fiBjp8XB2ZFtjFqzFnKWbttJutnSCL5GLWuu9hFs-Yso7juyDrrHELB1yQH_ZFo3DbS7-PnWWKhXGPYcfgXD4STgvA/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLnbthe7_GL-wILL-D6mBO7OAHhtI2xHqDTpQ8Cs0CEt6mx_xL5fiBjp8XB2ZFtjFqzFnKWbttJutnSCL5GLWuu9hFs-Yso7juyDrrHELB1yQH_ZFo3DbS7-PnWWKhXGPYcfgXD4STgvA/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_12.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"11-ball, corner pocket!" It's my signature move.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tournament mode, because it's single-elimination, is quite difficult, because you really have to have a good handle on the game mechanics in order to avoid getting "snookered" by your opponent. You also have to abide by the strict rules of either game, so that means hitting the numbered balls in sequence, and making sure to correctly pocket each one. Foul too many times, or lose because your opponent just out-shoots you, and you'll see an avatar of your opponent on screen with a greasy smile, letting you know that you're not up to the task. The real challenge comes in the form of the so-named Challenge mode, where a single mistake means game over - no scratch, no retries, you're just done. You'll need to rack up some serious time in Freestyle or Party modes, and get incredibly good at the game before you have much hope to complete a challenge in this mode. I found myself, with my limited skill and knowledge, only being able to get about 2 or 3 shots in on any of the challenges, often breaking the rack, and then not even remotely being able to reach the target ball for the rule set, and immediately failing the challenge. Enter at your own risk.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqk4FZF86ceHani0I8L6gbFnbeZJy0u3t47pYu9y9xZStSKhaJPO3WcTDcHjOYZ20pslahOj3aku4qdtzNw53wN3e2Z6fTfigUuZ631TPgYYoQ6y4tJHBSvd0NVSITyiI4rOyBXntHXCM/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqk4FZF86ceHani0I8L6gbFnbeZJy0u3t47pYu9y9xZStSKhaJPO3WcTDcHjOYZ20pslahOj3aku4qdtzNw53wN3e2Z6fTfigUuZ631TPgYYoQ6y4tJHBSvd0NVSITyiI4rOyBXntHXCM/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_13.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sometimes, these shots from across the table, even when the target</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">ball is close to the pocket, can be difficult to sink properly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Graphically, the game doesn't do much, but it's hard to expect that from a simple billiards game. What's here is competent, however. The simple overhead view of the table is good, with a nice representation of the wood grain of the outer table, and an angled design on the carpet below, as well as the pockets, pool balls, cue, etc. The initial menu has a nice graphical effect where, when you press up or down on the D-pad to move the arrow to select your game mode, a set of pipes above and below the arrow will blow out a puff of smoke, as if to move the arrow up or down. It's an unnecessary flourish, but a nice touch, nonetheless. The text on screen during the initial menus is a little harder to read, because it resembles a manual scoreboard, but that's a nice touch. In-game menus are much easier to read, and the game's overall presentation is clean.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBX_sj14SnaU_v09SVYBqs5GzUVz8hmdNDSqEd1Q2aIWyMsnrEAX5UqwFGXm_jlxcW9VrCaFkCRNx9oouzB95F9f-5djxs1-ObMMuenrrqEpJ4J2x2-FS6RnuwZa29GysmLXYDuh0IX4U/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBX_sj14SnaU_v09SVYBqs5GzUVz8hmdNDSqEd1Q2aIWyMsnrEAX5UqwFGXm_jlxcW9VrCaFkCRNx9oouzB95F9f-5djxs1-ObMMuenrrqEpJ4J2x2-FS6RnuwZa29GysmLXYDuh0IX4U/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_14.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">One step away from victory, as the 7 ball will be an easy one to pocket.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the audio department, the game is pretty weak. The game only has two or three music tracks in total. One plays at the title screen, and during the game itself, and there's at least one more track that plays when you lose. There's another short tune when you win. I haven't got far enough into the Tournament mode to know whether or not there's additional music if you win the whole contest. Sound effects are utilitarian, so they get the job done without being exciting. The sound when you smack the rack of balls and break them is fine, as is the rest of the sound for hitting balls, bumping the pool table wall, or sinking a ball in the pocket. Nothing here smacks of outstanding sound design, but it fits the bill.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghv2e4-3E1XSoXquK09F8UGWab2yjCmIk_lInh4yYfABB55TXdmX0jtpklaXW-WzoNjVMdsZihTxt9cp6dsbxNBUL39-pjlo-cTHceesInla5YAiwm5ezW49MZNkfCn4HjcrljrWPPLhA/s1600/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_15.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghv2e4-3E1XSoXquK09F8UGWab2yjCmIk_lInh4yYfABB55TXdmX0jtpklaXW-WzoNjVMdsZihTxt9cp6dsbxNBUL39-pjlo-cTHceesInla5YAiwm5ezW49MZNkfCn4HjcrljrWPPLhA/s320/Championship+Pool+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_15.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Of all the rotten luck! Oh well, maybe next time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The real meat of this game is in the depth of the control scheme, coupled with the staggering number of game modes, but even then, it still boils down to hitting the cue ball to break a rack of numbered balls, and shoot them into various pockets. A player's mileage is going to vary wildly, depending on how much effort one wants to put into learning the nuance of the controls, and digging into each of the game's modes. True mastery of digital billiards will elude all but the most patient players, and based on how granular the controls can be, I suspect that the Challenge mode games will take a significant amount of practice before they'll be won. If I'm going to play a game that's more on the slow side, such as this, my preference is either a turn-based RPG, or a puzzle game of some sort. This kind of game, lining up shots, taking forever to determine how and where you're going to shoot, how much power to use, spin, backspin, topspin, etc. is not really for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I started playing this game for review, I tweeted out a statement about this game being boring. While I stand by my original assessment for how little I had played it, and how I was equally uninformed about the game's mechanics, I must amend that statement by saying that it's boring - at first. Once you begin to get a feel for it, learn the nuance and complexity of the control scheme, and begin to see some real victory for your efforts, it becomes more rewarding. Whether that's enough to justify a purchase will depend on your love, or lack thereof, for billiards, as well as whether or not this kind of slow, methodical gameplay is for you. I don't see myself coming back to this game anytime soon, but I have a much greater appreciation for it now, after spending more time with it, than I did when I reluctantly inserted the cartridge into my Game Boy. I would consider that high praise, because a game I fully expected to dislike, and ultimately lambaste in print, has become something that I found to be oddly thoughtful, well-designed, and a worthwhile experience. It's certainly worth the $5 I paid for it, and if you're a pool enthusiast, I dare say, this might be the kind of experience you've been looking for in a video game. I'll give this a casual recommendation to the enthusiast or sports fan looking for an old-school handheld fix.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-84966551798489296892017-08-01T18:00:00.000-05:002018-10-19T17:54:07.590-05:00Nemesis (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFUkhYLXEp1g6jDzg1cV2k7-ghjhFfplLvtogUIVq-chOQAN9vJEuGQzaytkedpftxAT-AsvhjFPlodXSpiPzmnt0zgXajnMzrpK-UBljsniDOmcaDOMRofW8BLIidqYF8BjMAx-q2F8Y/s1600/Nemesis+box+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="640" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFUkhYLXEp1g6jDzg1cV2k7-ghjhFfplLvtogUIVq-chOQAN9vJEuGQzaytkedpftxAT-AsvhjFPlodXSpiPzmnt0zgXajnMzrpK-UBljsniDOmcaDOMRofW8BLIidqYF8BjMAx-q2F8Y/s320/Nemesis+box+art.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQS</a></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Shoot-em-up box art was always pretty "metal" during the 1980's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and early 90's, but even this cool art pales in comparison to the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Japanese box, which parallels the original Gradius arcade flyers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Scrolling shoot-em-up games are one of my favorite classic game genres. I already established this, in my review of <i><a href="https://gameboyguru.blogspot.com/2015/06/solarstriker-1989.html" target="_blank">Solar Striker</a></i>, but because it's been a while since I posted that review, I wanted to make it abundantly clear. I'm not always very good at them, but I have fun trying. Though I occasionally go into fits of gamer rage because I die at the exact same spot 12 times in a row, it's the idea of inching your way through a furious gauntlet of incoming enemy waves, laser fire, and shrapnel, that fascinates me to this day. One of the shmups that defined the genre was Konami's arcade classic, <i>Gradius</i>, referred to as <i>Nemesis</i>, outside of Japan.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcGICBWmuLk4Agb9i899YrW3GXD-q5Nh4amfP242V7H3eXtjfvVnZXxr9wdKP12wwrgYtoz6ICYKgzY7XRgLdWqeQP3LFlJTXCAkNi3o8Jezql4drC2ROJaNWGqNaswAvK2WCqZ6h78I/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcGICBWmuLk4Agb9i899YrW3GXD-q5Nh4amfP242V7H3eXtjfvVnZXxr9wdKP12wwrgYtoz6ICYKgzY7XRgLdWqeQP3LFlJTXCAkNi3o8Jezql4drC2ROJaNWGqNaswAvK2WCqZ6h78I/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_01.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm not entirely sure what's happening here. Is the Moia head looking at</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the dinosaur bones, satisfied from a meal, or wishing they still had meat</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">on them, so it could partake? Either way, it looks quite menacing in pixels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Gradius</i> was a break-through in a number of ways. It took the basic, side-scrolling shooter formula that Konami had previously pioneered with Scramble, and instead of the constant struggle for fuel, replaced that with an intricate upgrade system. If also made things far more detailed and interesting, with markedly improved graphics, catchy and memorable music, and an interesting concept of "shoot the core" with the bosses. This helped solidify the idea of end bosses having weak points, so that you couldn't just shoot them anywhere to deal damage. All of these elements were instrumental to the genre as it developed, and became mainstays, not only in the later <i>Gradius</i> games, but in shooter games on the whole.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUL_4YWc1pZVR94YK2Ypa4cnhKUiFBMHAslumP4pIZCAugr0j6VLLPeShyxpJ7VIWX1oobIYky1L6xKowIpZoZgRRG9grLBlmp_BeAVTMGiIMAi3MDwnSFWdbC85xCGPnZyvcK36V24ro/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUL_4YWc1pZVR94YK2Ypa4cnhKUiFBMHAslumP4pIZCAugr0j6VLLPeShyxpJ7VIWX1oobIYky1L6xKowIpZoZgRRG9grLBlmp_BeAVTMGiIMAi3MDwnSFWdbC85xCGPnZyvcK36V24ro/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_02.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The ACTUAL title screen looks far less menacing. But it still has the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">awesome </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">logo design, which remains a staple throughout the series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Nemesis</i>, Konami's first shmup entry into the Game Boy library, by way of their Ultra Games imprint, is a fine shooter that, while borrowing its namesake from the worldwide arcade and Japanese MSX releases, doesn't quite match the arcade game in terms of design. <i>Nemesis</i> on the Game Boy takes elements of the original arcade game's design, and implements them here, but there's original content as well, making for a bit of a mashup, of sorts. Rather than a straight arcade conversion, you get something that feels familiar, but with enough original material added so it also feels fresh and new. And compared to the previously mentioned Game Boy shmup outing, <i>Nemesis</i> is the Cadillac to <i>Solar Striker</i>'s family station wagon.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs423PLrlKU-hC2RJhDtmjmuwSvgttGPC2ikW38WReWhU1izpnaglaTmeuqtLMqv3XiWnHG1j04L8yEbGE1rHx4bDb_8PNr1-W4zBFXHuQgzsUEHHTqybO21UdPO3ntoB8A_te1vH9y1c/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs423PLrlKU-hC2RJhDtmjmuwSvgttGPC2ikW38WReWhU1izpnaglaTmeuqtLMqv3XiWnHG1j04L8yEbGE1rHx4bDb_8PNr1-W4zBFXHuQgzsUEHHTqybO21UdPO3ntoB8A_te1vH9y1c/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_03.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Like Konami's other early Game Boy entries, they wisely choose to</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">include a level select, as well as giving players the option to change</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the button config, toggle auto-fire, choose the difficulty level, and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">grant themselves extra lives. This makes the game much more</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">suited for quick sessions on the handheld Game Boy hardware.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the uninitiated, the major draw of the series is the power-up system. As you shoot down enemies, some of them will drop special icons that you pick up. The first one you obtain will light up the first entry on a small bar at the bottom of the screen, allowing you to increase the speed of your ship. If you elect to wait until you've collected more icons, each subsequent pickup will shift the selection on the bar over by 1 space, until you've reached the end, then it wraps back around. In slot 2, you can add missiles to your ship's arsenal. Slot 3 yields the "Double Shot", which upgrades your ship to not only shoot forward, but also a 2nd shot will fire upwards at a 45 degree angle. Slot 4 gives you a power laser shot that fires directly ahead. In slot 5, there's what's called an "Option" - this creates a small entity that follows your ship around and doubles your firepower. In most Gradius games, you can add up to 3 or 4 of them. Due to the obvious limitations of the Game Boy hardware, you can only add 2 in this game. In the 6th and final slot, you can add a force field to the front of your ship, which is capable of absorbing some damage so your craft doesn't explode from contact with a single volley. You can power up your speed multiple times, and your missiles twice, and in any order you like, so it's obvious to see that the way you approach the game can be entirely your own, and you can really experiment with the weapon load-out.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphU8i7BPVGBlG6FyuJqq_3fnKdkz745NkCAV-zqYBd01u9H7MpJNLVzm9YTFiVnNq72l6u3mAkkDFVoXuDVBWlzqNQLa1fC9FEvep-W6-fg5TkCH_aerrV9rDmS2QoUM-rN8EenBUi_8/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphU8i7BPVGBlG6FyuJqq_3fnKdkz745NkCAV-zqYBd01u9H7MpJNLVzm9YTFiVnNq72l6u3mAkkDFVoXuDVBWlzqNQLa1fC9FEvep-W6-fg5TkCH_aerrV9rDmS2QoUM-rN8EenBUi_8/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_04.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">If you can get good enough to survive the initial onslaught of enemies,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">it's pretty easy to get fully powered up during the first level of the game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All this weaponry, and all these options (pun intended) available to you, don't necessarily mean you're going to walk through this game, however. <i>Nemesis</i> is quite the challenge, for a handheld title, and if you're going to beat the 5 main stages, you'll need to hone your skills, sharpen your reflexes, and memorize some enemy patterns, placements, and attack vectors, in order to survive. You'll also need to make sure you power up your ship as quickly as possible, as the waves of enemies are generally more than your tiny craft can handle with its default pea shooter and slow speed. Thankfully, in addition to the power-up icons, you'll occasionally be granted a smart bomb icon instead, which will destroy all low-level enemies on screen at once, along with any bullets. Be careful not to run into any scenery, however; the ground and other obstacles aren't just backgrounds - some of them are in the foreground with your ship and will destroy you in a single hit, even when you're equipped with the shield.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wqoxRMnOgqSkQ22Q_37UowwWpMcHXjM0rdSjPOj8ZFKl6RkwJ3sv5NUtwl_YMO0O1gr3kUJEIzgxZx6OBU6c8e91a_PjFcCUXdLuDcW7siYLj3zRu8t9QUmXOV7NHP9AgOP5IHrFY2Y/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wqoxRMnOgqSkQ22Q_37UowwWpMcHXjM0rdSjPOj8ZFKl6RkwJ3sv5NUtwl_YMO0O1gr3kUJEIzgxZx6OBU6c8e91a_PjFcCUXdLuDcW7siYLj3zRu8t9QUmXOV7NHP9AgOP5IHrFY2Y/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_06.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Like me, you'll probably be seeing this screen a lot at first.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A common strategy that I like to use for powering up goes as follows. First, increase the speed of your ship by 1, so you can more easily dodge enemies and incoming fire, as well as more quickly grab additional power-up icons. Second, activate your missiles, so you have additional fire to help ward off enemies. Third, get yourself an Option, so you can double that firepower. Fourth, grab the second option available to you. Fifth is a toss-up between powering up your forward fire with the laser, activating the double shot, or adding the force field. I usually opt for the laser or double shot, to more easily mow down enemies, then go for the shield later. Lastly, once you're fully powered up, keep collecting power-up icons for points, but keep track of where your power-up bar is at. If you can stop collecting after cycling through them once or twice, and leave it on the sixth entry, you can easily activate the force field again if you take too many hits and are left defenseless.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpia52MUeZazPs1_ORcezR3lPJI3R56AutT70MbnWe5hYuSVQOLRT5er8z0YENDhch0u-IbotFfKUja8qkpQM9J1cHKTbYAtvxnE3_zJtEWEIzPlm36MwRma1eoUCnqU5WeeTjypmIE5w/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpia52MUeZazPs1_ORcezR3lPJI3R56AutT70MbnWe5hYuSVQOLRT5er8z0YENDhch0u-IbotFfKUja8qkpQM9J1cHKTbYAtvxnE3_zJtEWEIzPlm36MwRma1eoUCnqU5WeeTjypmIE5w/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_07.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This is one of the more formidable enemies. It takes a lot of damage,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and the 3 pods it shoots out are impervious, so you have to dodge them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Graphically, <i>Nemesis</i> is an impressive game. Konami had excellent command of the Game Boy hardware early on, and after several years of programming for Nintendo's Famicom and NES hardware, were naturally adept at bringing this kind of 8-bit action to the small screen. Some developers had a hard time adjusting for the scale of the small screen, but Konami's early efforts always seemed to strike that nice balance between good graphics, and proper scale and playability. Your ship is large enough to see some detail, and look nice, but small enough so that it doesn't feel claustrophobic amongst the enemies, incoming fire, and stage layout and obstacles. The enemies are mostly recognizable from other <i>Gradius</i> games, outside of a handful of original creations for this title, and are all well rendered. Backgrounds are minimal, which works well, because it cuts down on the motion blur on the hardware. Instead, most of the areas are given excellent graphics to show off the terrain and obstacles, and they all look really nice. Animation is limited, but there are a couple spots that have what appears to be parallax scrolling, which was quite a feat on the system.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkehGHD5C6zA_eGYsCuEokwjO__Qx3k6r06D1K8ZabSIzC3lCrYCkIsHvPQ8xtkZPs1AhD66yLoUnj2D6scA-HqH8X2r-5w3KYvhSe_HZuuVx4QwotQ9Elv13uRIkuZoQQN1DJClVgWkE/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkehGHD5C6zA_eGYsCuEokwjO__Qx3k6r06D1K8ZabSIzC3lCrYCkIsHvPQ8xtkZPs1AhD66yLoUnj2D6scA-HqH8X2r-5w3KYvhSe_HZuuVx4QwotQ9Elv13uRIkuZoQQN1DJClVgWkE/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_09.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">When you destroy a boss, it disappears in this really cool, satisfying "warp"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">effect, where the sprite splits off into different lines, and the images diverge</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">in different directions. It's hard to explain, but it looks great on the hardware.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the audio department, <i>Nemesis </i>is the usual Konami par excellence. Konami really knew how to get the most from 4 channels of sound, and they do a great job here, not only providing music that sounds good, and is fitting to the game, but is also catchy and interesting. The first stage music recalls the original <i>Gradius</i> theme, and you also get some music later that is lifted from this game's forbear, but the other tunes on offer here are original compositions from 4 different composers: Shinya Sakamoto, Yuji Takenouchi, Tomoya Tomita, and the incomparable Michiru Yamane, who is much more well known for her work on the <i>Castlevania</i> series of games, most notably, the excellent soundtrack for <i>Castlevania: Symphony of the Night</i>. Sound effects are also generally good, with some interesting use of the Game Boy's noise channel for certain effects, which also utilizing one of the dedicated sound channels for a lot of the weapon and enemy explosion noises, without interrupting the music from the other 2 channels. Overall, this is prime sound design, and a soundtrack that stands as one of the best on the system.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9D-_ZpeCnbmb-ve0FXvtlSexlfK_OuaZPhNd7Rh7eH5oQTbKX4706h_vxgdyeR_nLfLa6o8Cze5FTIU7MXVXYift9Y4cx8wN6FcOwCPGxbbporXPc-yPg3toKYa2vbi20f8GqUucRrM/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9D-_ZpeCnbmb-ve0FXvtlSexlfK_OuaZPhNd7Rh7eH5oQTbKX4706h_vxgdyeR_nLfLa6o8Cze5FTIU7MXVXYift9Y4cx8wN6FcOwCPGxbbporXPc-yPg3toKYa2vbi20f8GqUucRrM/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_11.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This bad boy starts off as 4 smaller balls, then merges into a single giant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">ball of destruction, then splits off again into 4 smaller balls. If you're fast</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">enough, you can destroy all 4 smaller balls before it has a chance to</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">reform into the larger ball a second time, saving yourself some headache.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Nemesis</i>, like its arcade forefather, also doesn't stop after the 5 levels you see in the initial configuration screen. Instead, while completing those 5 levels will get you a credit roll and congratulatory screen, that's not technically the end of the game. As soon as the credits are done, you're thrust back to the first stage again, with all your current arsenal intact, to face off with the enemy again, but this time, the stages are harder, enemies are faster and shoot more bullets at you, and the whole thing is more frantic. Stages 1-5 are now labeled as 6-10, and as is the<i> Gradius</i> tradition, in order to say you've truly beaten the game, you need to complete it on the second loop. However, after the second time through, the game doesn't end, you just get another credit roll, and then it's back to Stage 1 again to keep going. For savvy players and score chasers, this will be a welcome feature, though one has to wonder if Konami considered this as necessary, given the pick-up-and-play nature of the Game Boy, which lent itself to shorter play sessions.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG6nPcMQ1suhs0IpcFqbyFRtKCzbx97-KYCzC6fPaBckDlKTh09AQ55US-UAL1BBpEqJAMuLGuP8I2YpAPSbPlrhQqsa1W4kwaeFbpZ1yWlnL5XSCI4YPulM_XouPt3BkAQbJ-cnb9vLU/s1600/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG6nPcMQ1suhs0IpcFqbyFRtKCzbx97-KYCzC6fPaBckDlKTh09AQ55US-UAL1BBpEqJAMuLGuP8I2YpAPSbPlrhQqsa1W4kwaeFbpZ1yWlnL5XSCI4YPulM_XouPt3BkAQbJ-cnb9vLU/s320/Nemesis+%2528UE%2529+%25281990%2529+%255B%2521%255D_16.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The stage 4 boss has a simple pattern, but don't let that fool you. It can</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">dish out a large number of bullets, and it's easy to get caught in the crossfire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With all the good here, is there anything that brings this game down? Not much. As with many Game Boy titles, motion blur is a factor, but that's a hardware limitation. Konami does their best to mitigate this with limited animation in the sprites, and it helps keep the flicker to a minimum, but it's still there in spots. One of the later stages uses an awful lot of the darker shade for its foreground obstacle graphics, and while it looks nice and detailed, it could have used a touch more variety in the shading. Occasionally the sound effects get to be slightly cacophonous, due to the sheer amount of enemies you'll be taking out, and while it doesn't drown out the music, it detracts from the overall presentation, if only slightly. These gripes, however noticeable, are all relatively minor.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQxiO8Df2GRKUuZQD12xRAyg2iuUy6Q8CtrGXzguZf12lPr41zA_ouDxrRf5TiezK_LjWVP-olH6_pQvrBkEW4itM_8hu-SYYflINJOPV0HiM7nHvmwE3mRtlTBevLsnIQzBL_D9T4Uk/s1600/Nemesis+%2528J%2529_04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="144" data-original-width="160" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQxiO8Df2GRKUuZQD12xRAyg2iuUy6Q8CtrGXzguZf12lPr41zA_ouDxrRf5TiezK_LjWVP-olH6_pQvrBkEW4itM_8hu-SYYflINJOPV0HiM7nHvmwE3mRtlTBevLsnIQzBL_D9T4Uk/s320/Nemesis+%2528J%2529_04.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Congratulations! An end sequence with no Engrish!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the end of the day, this is one of the finest examples of the horizontal scrolling shoot-em-up to be released for a handheld game system. Only this game's sequel, <i>Gradius: Interstellar Assault</i>, the Japan-only <i>Sagaia</i> entry in the <i>Darius</i> series, and perhaps the colorful <i>Gates of Zendocon</i> on the Atari Lynx can possibly rival this title's sheer excellence and presentation. It has the looks, it has the sound, and it has the tight gameplay that fans had come to expect from Konami by this point, and they delivered the goods. It may seem inexplicable that such an action-oriented, twitch shoot-em-up could be released on Nintendo's monochrome handheld, but Konami did it, and this game stands as one of the best examples of the genre from 1990, and quite possibly, one of the best on the console itself. Thankfully, because the game sold well, it's also very common, and inexpensive to pick up. You should be able to score a copy for $6 - $8 or less. It's worth every penny, especially if you're a fan of the genre. Highly recommended.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-7208602977762433522017-02-24T20:14:00.001-06:002017-02-24T20:14:44.018-06:00Jordan vs Bird One On One (1992)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNrbDLqMBrNrpnAy-j5oiazShfCIqwG1tlKSYYghOiwicLET4ht418Ei_1rQxRyP2ozzs2RlxTxS_Wdc3Vf7K8rpdPk3QkRtgemDsEWqJt7tQlh_IdNHmoOro-SG0C-10fNMNORnh-Rac/s1600/Jordan+vs+Bird+One+On+One+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNrbDLqMBrNrpnAy-j5oiazShfCIqwG1tlKSYYghOiwicLET4ht418Ei_1rQxRyP2ozzs2RlxTxS_Wdc3Vf7K8rpdPk3QkRtgemDsEWqJt7tQlh_IdNHmoOro-SG0C-10fNMNORnh-Rac/s320/Jordan+vs+Bird+One+On+One+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art scan shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQS</a>.<br />Larry and Michael better watch out, lest they fall into the red abyss below!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've mentioned before in other reviews, but I'm not really a sports fan. I don't hate sports, but I'm just not invested in them. I fancied myself more of a sports nut when I was a kid, and even had a few favorite athletes, including one basketball legend, Larry Bird. I suspect it was because he was a less than movie star looks average dude who just brought skill to the table, and I'm sure my dad had a bit of influence in terms of probably commenting to me here or there that he was a talented player. I never geeked out about stats or anything, just enjoyed the game as it was being played. My fascination with basketball was relatively short-lived, unlike my enjoyment of baseball, and my still-burning love of college football (Go Huskers!).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiaGU9Y9OvDdT0eiVxFhXqI9R5fEySND4NwkIRmdScX3T4MxhKvO80EmDZFTrtCnR6BHDRhZD7d0COgZCflUfKAQVh0-XvLsb8QpvadcRgpTek1i0uO4Tbc5c4Gp5Ogn1FZ06KrPCqYPY/s1600/Dr+J+vs+Larry+Bird+One+on+One+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiaGU9Y9OvDdT0eiVxFhXqI9R5fEySND4NwkIRmdScX3T4MxhKvO80EmDZFTrtCnR6BHDRhZD7d0COgZCflUfKAQVh0-XvLsb8QpvadcRgpTek1i0uO4Tbc5c4Gp5Ogn1FZ06KrPCqYPY/s320/Dr+J+vs+Larry+Bird+One+on+One+box.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.mobygames.com/" target="_blank">MobyGames</a>.<br />This was the edition my parents bought me. I still have the 5 1/4"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">floppy disk, though sadly, the packaging and manual are long gone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, I did enjoy a basketball game as a kid, on our trusty IBM PCjr. That game was <i>One on One: Dr J vs Larry Bird</i>. It was a simple, arcade-style, half-court basketball game. It was simple, no-frills, and I loved it. Sure, the PCjr joysticks left a bit to be desired in terms of precise control, but the simple, two-button scheme worked for me, and I had a lot of fun with it. I can't say I put nearly as many hours into it as, say, <i>Paperboy</i>, <i>King's Quest</i>, or even the helicopter shooter/rescue game <i>Striker</i>, but as the saying goes, beggars can't be choosers. Despite my meager interest in the sport, it felt like I was playing the same type of basketball I would play with kids in the neighborhood around one person's driveway hoop, and that was enough to keep me occupied.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">As much as I appreciate that EA tried to replicate the box art on the<br />title screen, it's hard to make low-res pixel art look like these superstars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't shot hoops in years, and until I drop a few pounds, I probably won't be very eager to do so any time soon. But the appeal of this kind of game is obvious, since the rules are less stringent than your typical full-blown basketball game. It's far more casual, you can shoot a few hoops, and just have some fun. Thus, the appeal of a simple one-on-one contest is there to draw in both dedicated basketball fans, as well as those looking for a lighter experience. This is the kind of game that would have appealed somewhat to me as a kid, back when I first had my Game Boy, because of the quick, pick up and play nature of it.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFwkzrg1LmaAb06R_ofsLybjKFWG9LYjuYOLpIe9YR2SHYiUGjAf3Ei550yyqaPa6sMnesmmZYlvkduQDUgEFlaPA5DECLInS8VLiJYwv5onhrPOI0vkZwMPE7GF49vOd6yGRKHA0U19o/s1600/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFwkzrg1LmaAb06R_ofsLybjKFWG9LYjuYOLpIe9YR2SHYiUGjAf3Ei550yyqaPa6sMnesmmZYlvkduQDUgEFlaPA5DECLInS8VLiJYwv5onhrPOI0vkZwMPE7GF49vOd6yGRKHA0U19o/s320/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_19.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Seems like a fair bit of content. "Seems" being the operative word...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Jordan vs Bird One On One</i> is a relatively simple game. There are 3 main game modes to choose from: One On One, Slam Dunk Contest, and 3-Point Contest. For the One On One mode, you can play a full, 4-period game, a short match to either 11 or 15 points, or play a warm-up game. For the Slam Dunk Contest, you have the main contest mode itself, a Slam Dunk Warmup mode, and then Follow The Leader, which involves watching Michael Jordan dunk the ball, and trying to mimic the same pattern. Finally, with the 3-Point Contest, you have the actual contest mode itself, and like the other modes, a warm-up mode to go alongside that.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLDY6Hr9JAWIlzybmo9c1DiPoIQ13-IRdxmMSaHVIlEh_sfxGaL7LhLaWWx8kZd3BF3XKxpxM0_mf8K4bdTunbHNc0D99Jrzaiaus2Zzx5Klhg6xXmmYPIV1l8_22E80mcrVjNwAMnQcM/s1600/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLDY6Hr9JAWIlzybmo9c1DiPoIQ13-IRdxmMSaHVIlEh_sfxGaL7LhLaWWx8kZd3BF3XKxpxM0_mf8K4bdTunbHNc0D99Jrzaiaus2Zzx5Klhg6xXmmYPIV1l8_22E80mcrVjNwAMnQcM/s320/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_20.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Winner's Outs" is something I wouldn't enable unless I</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">became an absolute wizard grand-master of this game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the main One On One mode, there are a number of options. You can choose to play as either Larry Bird or Michael Jordan, of course, and you can also choose the computer's skill-level. Level 4 is the default, and is the lowest skill level, with level 1 being the highest. You can choose whether or not to enable "Winner's Outs" ("No" means you alternate turns after each basket, "Yes" means the winner of the last basket gets the ball again.), and whether or not you want to enable fouls. You can also choose the length of the periods, from 2, 5, 8, or up to 12 minutes. With that, you can knock out a very fast game, or play for an extended period of time, and potentially have a very high score game going. The "15 Or 11" mode is just what it sounds like - you play against the CPU until one of you reaches either 15, or 11 points, whichever you choose from the options screen. Oddly, the One On One Warmup mode allows you to set all the options, but the only one that makes a difference is which player you choose to practice with. It's simply your character on screen, allowing you to practice the game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Larry struggles to catch Michael, on the next<br />episode of "Keeping Up With The Jordans".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Slam Dunk Contest is a relatively simple affair, with you pitted against the CPU for a 2-round contest where you can choose from a list of 10 different signature dunks. The CPU plays first, and you watch it pick, then perform, a dunk of choice. At the end, you see the dunk rated on a scale from 1-10 from 5 virtual judges. After that, you get to choose your dunk, and then execute it, and are judged/scored in similar fashion. Repeat that process again, and if you can dunk flawlessly, you'll beat the CPU. If not, it's back to the locker room with your sorry, sweaty self. Also, because dunking is Michael Jordan's thing, both you and the CPU play as Jordan for this contest.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLcxV0IPVk52cOgtZrYg7fxGZlRGiIKjotdnR8bkwe_QzoID3crEpAVAQWIY4RHXzmgav_lAKXDh2LvSP5a4wlOoKO1n42r-KX1-wn53h1QoXAymHK7zzzFlgVIi0dWpyOLy94GytiOE/s1600/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLcxV0IPVk52cOgtZrYg7fxGZlRGiIKjotdnR8bkwe_QzoID3crEpAVAQWIY4RHXzmgav_lAKXDh2LvSP5a4wlOoKO1n42r-KX1-wn53h1QoXAymHK7zzzFlgVIi0dWpyOLy94GytiOE/s320/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_04.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">At least I'm not dragging Walton and Lanier<br />up and down the court for 48 minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the 3-Point Contest, you play as Larry Bird, since 3-point shots are kind of his signature. You're pitted against the CPU in up to 4 rounds of 3-point shooting, from 5 different spots on the court, with 25 total balls available to you to shoot, 5 in each spot. Each possible round is only 60 seconds long, so you really have to hustle to get to each grouping of basketballs, and fire them off pretty quickly. I said "up to 4 rounds" before, because, if you don't keep up with the CPU and don't match them ball for ball, you automatically lose. So if the CPU has a perfect round, you have to be able to match that level of skill before you can advance, and try to take them all the way through 4 rounds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Watch in amazement, as Larry stands helpless against the<br />incredible dunking onslaught of Michael Jordan!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Controls are simple. You use the D-Pad to run around the court, which you see in a sort of 1/3-overhead perspective. When you have the ball, the A button jumps, and the B button shoots. When you're on defense, A still jumps to block the ball, and the B button can be used to steal the ball. In 3-Point Contest mode, you'll need to use B to pick up the ball from the basket, A to jump, and B again to shoot. As usual, the start button pauses the game. In the initial menu screen, you press the D-pad up and down to select which mode you want to play, and in the modes where you can set options, you use the B button to change the option itself, and press up and down on the D-pad to move between the different options. The Start button then begins the selected contest mode.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOHBnrnk32qZcw0iWlH2__T8GELltTBf9hdCnc3j89xxO1qVrSWNiZkKJmMObJib9xOXDCP8277eXjozInY0d5IRlXBNu9vHC4I9k-ELUjEFXbc0yfq40fG2Z4toViTiRYZ9KVXFmoPWY/s1600/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOHBnrnk32qZcw0iWlH2__T8GELltTBf9hdCnc3j89xxO1qVrSWNiZkKJmMObJib9xOXDCP8277eXjozInY0d5IRlXBNu9vHC4I9k-ELUjEFXbc0yfq40fG2Z4toViTiRYZ9KVXFmoPWY/s320/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_14.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Hey, guys! This is me, Larry Bird, jumping helplessly toward the<br />screen, because I forgot to stop before pressing the A button!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Graphics are reasonably good for the handheld, and though a touch sparse, make good use of the handheld's monochromatic shades. There's a nice crowd in the background with tiny animation, and both main character sprites move and animate reasonably well. The scoreboard is clean, and easy to read, if you're on either side of the court, and the shot clock ticks down clearly in the bottom-right corner. There's also the nice touch of the old-school EA logo shown along the stands. The game's graphics won't blow you away, and are fairly utilitarian, but for this game, they work, and are clean and pleasant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I feel like there's a donut pun waiting for me here. I can't think of it<br />right now. That's okay, I'll circle back to it later on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sound, on the other hand, is incredibly minimalist in nature. The title screen has a peppy tune that plays, and tries to get you pumped for the game, but it's rather repetitious, so you probably won't dwell there long. The only other music on offer here is the short ditty that plays when he round or game is done, and you either win or lose. Sadly, I never got to hear the winner's jingle, but the loser's jingle makes it pretty obvious as to what the outcome was. Otherwise, it's basic sound effects for dribbling, shooting, the ball hitting the backboard or rim, the ball going into the next, bouncing on the floor post-basket, and so on. The most annoying sound is in the beginning, when you hit the Start button to bypass the title screen, and again when you hit Start to choose your game mode. I suppose it's meant to mimic a coach's whistle, but it's quite loud, high-pitched, and unpleasant. Otherwise, the audio design is inoffensive, but ultimately nothing special.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9nYs1N1KRfgKL6qaalgqnkRO-bFp7kKy3-ET0_IFittdtx4Z7q0_w23UTxs4JmIzmty_UYdd60m0JLhZ6H5MUvW3Fofj7OzH7voSvqNQ6ZgFyeCQ7jWq9szSJ1dy92UaKaVF7_HLdj4/s1600/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_09.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG9nYs1N1KRfgKL6qaalgqnkRO-bFp7kKy3-ET0_IFittdtx4Z7q0_w23UTxs4JmIzmty_UYdd60m0JLhZ6H5MUvW3Fofj7OzH7voSvqNQ6ZgFyeCQ7jWq9szSJ1dy92UaKaVF7_HLdj4/s320/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_09.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I managed to get around Mike long enough to jump for a shot.<br />Notice the anatomically accurate shadow on the floor beneath.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found a couple basic strategies worked well enough. First, when you jump to shoot, you want to press the B button at either the top of the jump, or either just prior to that, or just after that, in order to have the best chance of the ball going through the hoop. Also, rather obviously, if you can get around your opponent and start your jump before they catch up, chances are good you can score every time, if you master that first technique. Also, though I wasn't overly successful with it, using B to steal the ball from your opponent can work if you get in close enough, and if they're facing you or you're coming at them from a 90 degree position from them. Also, when I first started playing, I continually got a "Clear Ball Violation" penalty, when I would grab a rebound from my opponent's unsuccessful shot, and immediately try to score with that ball. I wasn't able to find any official rules for half-court basketball that laid it out, but I did determine that if you grab a rebound, and run the ball down court past the free throw line, then you're golden to run back up and take a shot.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1FP03WhadwBRS0Onv0eMBSx2_NnhF0-eNsnWUjWVn0UfhtMSrDt2fpnbwT8ylDcKO9dLYvPbCMlStv5fmb28Eet-UnovrJXHjqHQOiVCT31DEzUFJ-AWolo7QCH3_vkeM55uySFzz2Q/s1600/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1FP03WhadwBRS0Onv0eMBSx2_NnhF0-eNsnWUjWVn0UfhtMSrDt2fpnbwT8ylDcKO9dLYvPbCMlStv5fmb28Eet-UnovrJXHjqHQOiVCT31DEzUFJ-AWolo7QCH3_vkeM55uySFzz2Q/s320/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_13.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Good, one less point Michael Jordan will be spanking me by!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another thing I learned quickly is that, when you're covering the other player, you have to be careful not to steal or jump too early. Stealing stops you dead in your tracks, and if you're unsuccessful, the other guy can stop and shoot, often before you have a chance to recover. Stealing is definitely a risk/reward strategy that I recommend using somewhat sparingly. As for jumping to block, you have to make absolutely sure that your character has come to a complete stop when you hit the A button to jump. If you don't, you'll be jumping in the last direction you were headed, and have enough hang time to ensure that your opponent will have no problem getting around you and taking their sweet time to score a basket. The biggest obstacle to this is the relatively random patterns the CPU throws at you, in terms of how and where the character moves before they make an attempt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">As you can see, my dunk attempt was not rated very well. There<br />seems to be a disparity between the judges. One rated my dunk<br />at an 8, and two at a 5. I'm not sure who thought I did well...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While it seems like there are a number of game modes here, the amount of content is actually pretty light. The full One On One game has the most potential, especially if you set 12-minute periods, because then you're getting a longer, more full-featured experience. Of course, some of the other modes, and shorter periods in the full game, give you that nice bite-sized play style great for pick up and play sessions that you can burn out in a few minutes, and then put away when done. Despite the slim amount of things to do in the game, that works in its favor, because it can become one of those titles that you just pick up for a few minutes, play, then put away and come back to when you only have a few minutes to spare. Every other game mode outside the full mode is either a very short experience, or in the case of the 2 warmup modes or the slam dunk "follow the leader" mode, can be as long as you need or want them to be, since the practice modes are pretty much open-ended. That said, unless you really enjoy moving a character around the screen shooting baskets with no competition or goal, those modes can become monotonous pretty quickly. One thing I did note that is a bit of a downer is that both characters play essentially the same. There are no real discernible differences I was able to determine between the two, which is disappointing, considering that they were both living legends around the time of this game's release.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeq9X-d11V0YLpxvS_szRVGEJoIYIEPsZFrUYfSMXNFeE_j2qnxc1N_vMI4FCNrVrGoTSNbAC5DXxplJmp73OLqh0Q0UdYzxzVZ3g4vtUxX9XtDLXyyNR7E9HQAf1-EDK-BDY_KuJF4s/s1600/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_18.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeq9X-d11V0YLpxvS_szRVGEJoIYIEPsZFrUYfSMXNFeE_j2qnxc1N_vMI4FCNrVrGoTSNbAC5DXxplJmp73OLqh0Q0UdYzxzVZ3g4vtUxX9XtDLXyyNR7E9HQAf1-EDK-BDY_KuJF4s/s320/Jordan+vs+Bird+-+One-on-One+%2528U%2529_18.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Here's my scoreboard for a full contest with the CPU playing as<br />Michael Jordan. I stuck with the defaults, so only 2-minute<br />periods, and otherwise default settings. I won't share what<br />the CPU's scores were. Suffice to say, I need more practice!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ultimately, your mileage in the game will vary. If you're a big basketball fan, or you enjoy retro sports video games, this might be the thing for you. For me, I had some fun with it, but it didn't do much for me, since there's just not all that much to do in the game. In terms of skill required, the game does take practice, because the CPU automatically sets itself at the lowest difficulty for each contest, and playing on the highest difficulty showed me how much I would have to play and practice the game to really reach that level. In that sense, there's some value to be had, as long as you don't get bored with the limited number of game modes, options, and things to do. I don't remember how much I paid for this game, though I think it was around $7 or $8. That's reasonable, though these days it seems to be going for over $10 loose. I'm not sure I'd spend that much, unless you're a die-hard fan of either player, or just can't get enough 8-bit b-ball action. Having not played any other basketball games on the handheld yet, I'll reserve even a casual recommendation and just say that if you can "try before you buy" this game, spend a few minutes with it and see if it gels with you. My initial reaction was kind of lukewarm, but after about an hour with it, I began to see how it could be a fun game for a fan. If it can bring me around in that time, who knows? Maybe it will score for you as well.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-34144906875240821962017-02-03T21:12:00.001-06:002017-02-03T21:12:40.449-06:00The Legend of Zelda - Link's Awakening (1993)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqsZrkrMLHpZAF1alWvnJUreVoYp5zaIyO6vt0J4_6qDkk0Db7WTkBnp0pPMdukrLEpG4YFzSXZs7QP9cmyHDnQFHv8I45dPNcbXIE93J3G9LrRbJh0EPd4P6HKK3KeVHgB9Z4HgPQwxQ/s1600/Links+Awakening+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqsZrkrMLHpZAF1alWvnJUreVoYp5zaIyO6vt0J4_6qDkk0Db7WTkBnp0pPMdukrLEpG4YFzSXZs7QP9cmyHDnQFHv8I45dPNcbXIE93J3G9LrRbJh0EPd4P6HKK3KeVHgB9Z4HgPQwxQ/s320/Links+Awakening+box.jpg" width="319" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.mobygames.com/" target="_blank">MobyGames</a>.<br />It doesn't get much more iconic than seeing <i>The Legend of Zelda</i><br />in that stylized font, with the Triforce shield and Master Sword.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was never a "Zelda kid" at all. I played a lot of NES games, because most of my friends had a NES console in their house, and as an introverted, geeky, chubby guy in the early 90's, gaming was the common escape I could share with my friends after school and on weekends. But since we played games together, we usually opted for games that either included 2-player cooperative modes, 2-player competitive modes, or some form of 2-player mode where you would take turns, such as <i>Double Dragon</i> or <i>Super Mario Bros. 3.</i> I occasionally dabbled in other genres when my friends fell asleep at 2 AM during a sleepover, but I usually just stuck with platformers, shooters, and action or puzzle games, because they were the kind of "pick up and play" games that I gravitated toward. For me, the very idea of <i>The Legend of Zelda</i> seemed foreign to me, because my idea of an adventure game was <i>King's Quest</i>, which I played obsessively on my family's home computer.</span><br />
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So it begins..<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://t.co/avahQJoYX7">pic.twitter.com/avahQJoYX7</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/820756284039262208">January 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The couple times I did get to play the classic action/adventure title, it didn't click with me. I didn't really have enough time to sink my teeth into it, really understand the exploration aspects of it, or have the wherewithal to draw maps of the areas in the game I explored, because I knew I was only just messing around with it, and not playing seriously. But for some reason, I just didn't "get" the game. I recognized, at some basic level, what it was, and was trying to accomplish, I didn't think it was for me. Despite that, it was universally praised as a great game. Years later, when I picked up a Game Boy Color, one of the first titles I got was <i>The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX</i>, because I was hoping that my broadened gaming horizons would mean that I would finally understand the appeal of the series. Sadly, it was not to be. I put a few hours into the game, had no idea what I was doing, got frustrated quickly, and put it away, relegating it to the "pile of shame" of games that I just never finished.</span><br />
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Even the mighty Nintendo isn't immune to the plague of translation issues!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/RI7X1zQR1q">pic.twitter.com/RI7X1zQR1q</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/820766155258228736">January 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fast-forward 3 years, and I got a chance to play <i>The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time</i> on my brother-in-law's N64. I still didn't quite have the love for the series yet, but I was beginning to understand the appeal, and I quite liked the game, though I didn't put much time into it. I acquired <i>Marjora's Mask</i> a few years later when I bought a used N64, but again, I played it a little and didn't know what I was doing, so I quickly abandoned it for games I could more easily pick up and play. It seemed that the series would never grab me. In February 2015, the fine folks at RFGeneration.com were hosting a play-through of <i>A Link To The Past</i>, and I decided it was high time for me to get on the bandwagon, so I dutifully bought it on the Wii U Virtual Console, and spent a fair bit of time on the game, mostly enjoying my experience, but never truly getting sucked in. It seemed as thought the "Zelda bug" would never bite me.</span><br />
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There goes Nintendo again, cross-pollinating franchises!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/v3jhj1n6IF">pic.twitter.com/v3jhj1n6IF</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/820784810222202880">January 16, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In August of 2016, however, I would finally get the bug, when the RFGeneration.com site again hosted a play-through, this time of the original NES classic. I joined the play-through, and as I began to play the game and explore the original layout of Hyrule, something struck me. I was taken aback by how simple the game was, and yet, how deep it was at the same time. As an adventure game, you explore screens and seek out items and things so you can get further and further in the game, but unlike role-playing games, there's no experience to gain, no weapon and armor stats to fuss with, and no managing of magic points. You could get a more powerful sword, and a couple other useful weapons, as well as an upgraded shield, and more heart containers so Link can take more damage before expiring, but otherwise, it was a fairly barebones experience, and the player's imagination was engaged, as much of the design was fairly limited, with only a few varied types of landscape were available, and the dungeons, while having differing layouts, were relatively simple affairs. For the first time, I felt like I "got" the appeal behind the original opus, and was finally on board as a fan. I live-tweeted much of my experience playing it, and really enjoyed myself.</span><br />
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Matching these cards is legitimately harder than the first boss.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/Go9XwhbKk5">pic.twitter.com/Go9XwhbKk5</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/820789537215422464">January 16, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With all of the average, uninspired, and downright lousy games I played and reviewed in 2016 (with a couple exceptions), I wanted to start 2017 off with a bang, and decided that I should return to <i>Link's Awakening</i>, because in my heart, I knew it was a great game that I had just unfairly abandoned some 15+ years ago. I knew that I had unfinished business with the game, and that I would have to play through it at some point for this review project. I decided to play through the original Game Boy release, as opposed to the later DX version, because I wanted to make sure I was experiencing the game in its original form, so I could see what I had missed out on in 1993, when I was happily playing <i>Strider </i>and <i>Sonic the Hedgehog</i> instead of my Game Boy.</span><br />
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BowWow is a STUD, eating up enemies as we go along!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/ogyOHtvZXJ">pic.twitter.com/ogyOHtvZXJ</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/820821490278875136">January 16, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Upon starting the game up, I remembered a few key things about the first portion of the game, so I went in already having some vague idea of what I needed to do. I remember going to the beach to find the sword, struggling to figure out where to go, and generally killing enemies, but kind of wandering around aimlessly without much idea as to what I was doing. I started this play-through in similar fashion, but with the idea that I wasn't going to let myself go without using a walkthrough, if I got stuck. That was a wise decision; while I appreciate the exploration, adventure, and experimentation that the development team baked into the game, I just don't have the kind of time to dedicate to this sort of game that I did as a child. Still, that didn't dull my enjoyment of the game, or the experience.</span><br />
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I like how Nintendo built in the need to use new items & power-ups as you acquire them.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://t.co/GVhQGJxY8S">pic.twitter.com/GVhQGJxY8S</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/820857061999116289">January 16, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm sure there have been volumes written on this game over the nearly 25 years since its release, so there's little I can probably add to the conversation. Having said that, it needs to be reiterated that this is an amazing game, and quite a feat that Nintendo crammed as much content into this game as they did, with a world as large as it is (the map of Koholint Island feels nearly as large as the original game's world of Hyrule). It's also impressive that Nintendo took the ideas of the first game and upped the ante with more items, more weapons, more enemies, and a much more varied landscape, all within the 4 shades of pea green offered by the venerable handheld. Despite being vastly inferior to the Super NES, the Game Boy held its own, in terms of the experience it got in <i>Link's Awakening</i>, and how favorably it compares to its predecessor, <i>A Link To The Past</i>. Some consider the Game Boy outing to be their favorite of the series, and hold it above its SNES counterpart as the better title between the two. There's an argument to be made in favor of that viewpoint, though as I'm still somewhat of a newbie to the series, I wouldn't be qualified to make that determination. That said, this game is excellent in most every respect.</span><br />
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I'm not sure how a stick transforms into a honeycomb, but yeah, let's go with that.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/nnrnKJMOGD">pic.twitter.com/nnrnKJMOGD</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/821914725294415872">January 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In terms of story, I won't go into incredible detail, but here's the gist: Link awakens on an island, in a strange house, and a strange bed, and has been watched over by Marin and Tarin, two inhabitants of Koholint Island. Link's first mission is to go find his sword, as he's told it washed up on the beach, and then from there, figure out what he's supposed to do. So, aside from the new locale and the nudge in the right direction to find a weapon, versus just the obvious door on the first screen of the original, things are pretty much business as usual for Link. Once you get your sword, you encounter an owl that can talk to you. He informs you that the only way off the island is to awaken the Wind Fish. The only way to do that, however, is to locate the 8 musical instruments you have to play in order to accomplish that. Thus, Link must set out to find each of those instruments, handily located in 8 different dungeons spread throughout the island.</span><br />
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WARNING!!<br />
A huge battleship<br />
ANGLER FISH<br />
Is approaching fast<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/HAZnVHAptZ">pic.twitter.com/HAZnVHAptZ</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/822849583860613120">January 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Graphically, Nintendo was really getting the most out of the Game Boy at this juncture. 4 years into the lifespan of the hardware, and Nintendo had mastery of the system's graphical capabilities. It's a far cry to compare early titles like <i>Alleyway </i>or <i>Super Mario Land</i> with <i>Link's Awakening</i>, because the graphics are night and day. where the early titles stressed clarity and minimalist design in favor of playability and making it easy for the player to see what's going on, this game proves that you can use the limited, 4-shade monochrome palette of the Game Boy to create lush landscapes with interesting design that are pleasing to look at. Animation is often subtle, but used to great effect, such as the water along the shores of the island, the way bushes fly apart when Link slashes them with his sword, the way some enemies flail about when they're hit with a weapon, and more. The more detailed sprite art style from <i>A Link To The Past</i> carries over nicely on the Game Boy as well, albeit smaller, and devoid of color. Overall, the graphics are an excellent showcase for what can be done with limited hardware in the right hands.</span><br />
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Link trades a hibiscus flower for a letter, in this episode of Barter Wars!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/L03e6Gnaka">pic.twitter.com/L03e6Gnaka</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/822942159179546625">January 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the audio department, the game is a delight. I enjoyed the original NES game's limited soundtrack, with the foreboding dungeon music, and triumphant and iconic overworld theme, but <i>Link's Awakening</i> really takes things to the next level, by having not only a new arrangement of the original overworld music, but also several new themes for different areas of the map of Koholint Island. One thing that I noticed and appreciated right away, is that a number of the other area songs start out sounding like they're going to be variations on the original overworld theme, but then take a completely different direction, using a couple bars of the original as a touchstone, but going way beyond making simple changes to the instrumentation or arrangement. The music is well composed, and because music plays such a key role in the game, what with Link needing to collect and play 8 musical instruments to awaken the Wind Fish, it's a good thing that all the music here is first rate. I especially like the "Ballad of the Wind Fish" song that Link learns from Marin. For such a short chiptune composition, it's haunting, moving, and beautiful. Were I 12 years old when playing this game, I probably would have been whistling that at school. Sound effects are also generally excellent, with fun touches like a sound that echoes old cartoons when Link falls in a hole, or different metallic "clang" sounds when your sword hits different object types. In fact, that is a device used within the game you can use to help determine where some walls can be bombed, much like knocking on a wall to determine where the wooden studs are. The annoying sound that plays constantly when you're down to almost no life is still present, though thankfully less intrusive than in the NES original.</span><br />
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"In my dreams,<br />
It's still the same,<br />
The Nightmare keys,<br />
They still remain..."<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/xvpPzzxsGk">pic.twitter.com/xvpPzzxsGk</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/824834439293308929">January 27, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Game play is tight and well designed. The thing that I really like about <i>Link's Awakening</i> and its controls scheme, is that you can designate ANY item to either the A or B button. If you like swinging a sword with the B button, you can! If you'd prefer to do so with the A button, you can! Simply press the Start button to bring up the item screen, move the box to the item you need to use, and press either A or B to assign that item to that button. It's simple, elegant, and allows players to customize the control to their liking. Very few games allow for this kind of thing, but Nintendo really thought this through, and made an already good game better by giving players this option. The Select button brings up the map screen, showing the areas of the island you've explored, and allowing you to move over an area and press the A or B button to identify that area, or sometimes identify a specific building or location. When the sword is equipped, press the button once to swing the sword, hold the button down and move in that direction to slice through bushes or foes, or hold the button down and stand in place for a couple seconds, and you'll charge the sword up to do a 360 degree slash attack that can take out multiple enemies within range, as well as bushes or grass. You'll spend a fair bit of time swapping between different items to get through different obstacles or areas, ranging from the shield to Roc's Feather, which allows Link to jump, or the Power Bracelet, which allows you to lift and throw certain objects, to the usual bombs, and the Pegasus Boots, for running fast. At times, you'll even need to equip two of these items at once in order to overcome an obstacle.</span><br />
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Yeah, I've come to wake the rooster, aw yeah!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/gb2SpX44B1">pic.twitter.com/gb2SpX44B1</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/825193695842549761">January 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As with <i>A Link To The Past</i>, Rupees and hearts can often be found by slashing through bushes, so it's wise to do so frequently. Unlike the original adventure, however, many shrines must be unlocked with a key, so there are additional objectives you often need to complete to find the key to unlock each one. For those that don't require a key, sometimes you have to obtain a certain item that will allow you to access a previously unexplored part of the map, which then allows you to reach that shrine. Each shrine contains at least one main boss, and depending on the size of the dungeon, sometimes multiple mini-boss encounters. Once you beat the end boss of a shrine, you receive a heart container, as well as the requisite musical instrument you need to bring the Wind Fish out of its deep slumber.</span><br />
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I want to fly like an eagle,<br />
'Till I'm free.<br />
Fly like an eagle,<br />
Let my spirit carry me.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://t.co/rwS9xhLlUN">pic.twitter.com/rwS9xhLlUN</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/825410846855663617">January 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As strong as this game is, it's not without a few minor flaws. As mentioned before, when you're down to almost no health, a grating sound plays that gets old pretty fast. Each shrine contains small areas that change from the top-down perspective to a side-scrolling section, a la <i>The Legend of Zelda II: Adventure of Link</i> - however, the control here isn't as tight as it should be, the jumps feel a bit "floaty", and despite the cool motifs they employ (such as the abundance of Super Mario-themed enemies), they almost feel like a bit of an afterthought, because they're all painfully easy to traverse until the end of the game. Some of the puzzles are a bit obtuse. Granted, it's nothing resembling <i>Castlevania II: Simon's Quest</i> or anything, but obviously this was designed for people that have nothing but time on their hands, because some of the puzzles, were I not using a walk-through, would have taken me a while to figure out. Also, up to the end, most of the main shrine bosses are super easy, and provide almost no challenge, despite their variety.</span><br />
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Turtle Rock - is that like "Coming Out Of Their Shells"? If so, I'm in!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/mEt2N3d65L">pic.twitter.com/mEt2N3d65L</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/825444109716430848">January 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite these few paltry quibbles, <i>The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening</i> is a superb piece of video game art, and one of the finest examples of how you take a console experience and translate it to the handheld format. Nintendo were masters of this kind of thing, and this game is a shining beacon of light proving why. No one else could take an experience like the original series game, or its Super NES successor, and shrink it down to this monochrome format with such aplomb. The development team behind this game should be congratulated, and likely have for the last 20+ years, for such a commendable job in taking the kind of lengthy, meaningful, fun experience and cramming it into the tiny plastic Game Boy cartridge. If you even remotely like action adventure games, or have even a passing interest in the Legend of Zelda franchise, you absolutely need to play this game. Downright essential, and I can't recommend it enough.</span>
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Disco inferno! Burn that mother down!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LinksAwakening?src=hash">#LinksAwakening</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LegendOfZelda?src=hash">#LegendOfZelda</a> <a href="https://t.co/KDtri2L2OE">pic.twitter.com/KDtri2L2OE</a></div>
— GameBoyGuru (@GameBoyGuru) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyGuru/status/825465680057217024">January 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-14243087857295712712016-11-22T21:38:00.000-06:002016-11-22T21:39:31.276-06:00Gargoyle's Quest (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJXDiawx06XRN2scLyOkEdybMf640sQZxEeZI5gY-HYlolraVg6CN3MfABMm9OfyXtJbwpMWQO1dtznvNGM5eD2nA6ggCmpeLMmpny49-Kf_A4C0Q8qPhX75w9tKX0JPv4PV1riVGUwQ/s1600/Gargoyles+Quest+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJXDiawx06XRN2scLyOkEdybMf640sQZxEeZI5gY-HYlolraVg6CN3MfABMm9OfyXtJbwpMWQO1dtznvNGM5eD2nA6ggCmpeLMmpny49-Kf_A4C0Q8qPhX75w9tKX0JPv4PV1riVGUwQ/s320/Gargoyles+Quest+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art scan shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQs</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Someone at Capcom USA should have been sacked for turning</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Firebrand into a green gargoyle instead of his signature crimson.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From time to time, video game companies see fit to tinker with their intellectual properties. This may be due to creative surges within the development teams, wanting to try something new. Sometimes a dev team knows the formula within a given series has become stale or rote, and they feel the need to mix things up. There are examples where changing the formula has had resounding success, such as Konami's <i>Castlevania: Symphony of the Night</i>, as well as instances where this approach completely flopped, as was the case with Accolade's <i>Bubsy 3D</i>. Whatever the reason, creative minds generally need to branch out to do different things on occasion, to keep things fresh and flex the creative muscle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Even though the box doesn't specify the <i>Ghosts 'n Goblins</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">subtitle, the title screen makes sure you know what's up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Such is the case with <i>Gargoyle's Quest</i> from Capcom. It's sort of an off-shoot of the <i>Makai-Mura</i> series, better known as <i>Ghosts 'n Goblins</i>, or <i>Ghouls 'n Ghosts</i>. In Japan, the game is known as <i>Reddo Arima: Makai-Mura Gaiden</i>, which can be roughly translated as </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red Arremer: Demon World Village Side-Story</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. Rather than starring the main protagonist of the <i>Ghosts/Ghouls</i> series, Arthur, it actually stars the "red arremer" enemy from the original game, known as Firebrand. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Based on the game's plot, it could be seen as a prequel to the original game, which you find out at the end of the game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Nothing like initial story exposition from a series of ghouls dying</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">right in front of the main character. And this was a children's game?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Gargoyle's Quest</i> is a side-scrolling action title, like its source material, but where the previous games were content just being ultra difficult, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">quarter munching </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">arcade action games, Capcom changes up the formula. Alongside the action sequences, you also have an overhead world, much like a classic JRPG, including towns where you can converse with other ghouls from the ghoul realm, and perform other tasks. Each town has someone who will exchange the game's currency (vials) for talismans that act as additional lives. There's also someone who will give you a resurrection spell (aka, a password), that you can use to continue your game if you need to power off your Game Boy, or you lose all your lives and want to continue your progress near where you left off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">For a game within the first year of the Game Boy's life, this title is</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">absolutely gorgeous. The flames in the windows flicker and burn,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">and the rest of the backdrop is lush and detailed. Also, fish bones.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The game begins with the requisite story told via scrolling text, then a short bit of exposition via a few conversations seen in the overhead view. Once that sequence is done, you're thrust into the first action level, culminating in a boss fight at the end. Once that first level is done, you're taken to the overhead view, and get a chance to walk around the world to find the next town, where you'll discover your next objective. In the overworld sections, you can encounter random battles; unlike a traditional RPG, however, you're placed back into a side-scrolling action sequence again, with between 1 and 4 enemies you must dispatch, to complete that action sequence and go back to the overworld. After each of these random encounters, you'll earn "vials", which you can use later to purchase extra lives. When in the overhead view, you can press the A button to access a menu, and you can choose to TALK to a person, USE and item, check your LVL or level, to see what your stats are, what weapons, items and magic are at your disposal, and so forth, and finally, you can CHK to check, or examine an item you see laying on the ground, or look for a secret.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Whatcha doin', Firebrand?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Just hangin' out, dude!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The basic flow of the game is thus: explore the overhead world, fight random battles, earn vials, find the town, talk to the town's ghouls, buy extra lives, get your password, then talk to the town's ruler, who will usually task you with a quest (hence the name) to retrieve a magical item or beat a baddie who they can't defeat. Prior to taking on that task, this ruler usually bestows some power or item upon you that will upgrade your attack, or your life/defense, to aid you in completing your mission. Once you complete that mission, you return to that ruler to either get directions as to where to travel to next, or sometimes get upgraded further before venturing on. Some areas of the map have bridges you have to cross, which are often devoid of enemies, but are still side-scrolling action sequences, though more focused on avoiding traps, pitfalls, and environmental hazards, rather than combat. Each major action stage includes a boss, and as you power up Firebrand, you will often need to use different attacks to take on those bosses, as well as to help traverse the stages themselves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Now that is one ugly flying fish. Turn him into sushi, Firebrand!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Firebrand has a number of abilities. He can jump in the air with the A button, and because he has wings, by pressing the A button again when he's in the air, he can hover or fly for a brief moment, until the "W" meter at the bottom of the screen is empty. If you jump or fly up to a wall of most any kind, Firebrand will cling to it with his claws. This particular ability is a key component of the game, because it's required to traverse each action sequence. It's also key because, each time you touch the ground or cling to a wall, the "W" or "Wings" meter refills, giving you another brief moment or two to fly or hover. When you're clinging to walls, you can fire in the direction opposite of the wall you're on. You can also cling to a wall, jump, and then cling to the same wall higher up, allowing you to climb to the top and access more of the stage. If you press the Start button while in an action sequence, not only does that pause the game, but you can then select between any of the weapons you have. Also, if you have collected the "Essence of the Soulstream" item, it gives you a one-time use ability to refill Firebrand's health during an action sequence. This ability will recharge for subsequent action stages.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">This is one of the random battle encounters you face. Unlike a</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">regular RPG, you get a small action sequence where you have</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">to kill all the enemies to get back to the world map.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are 4 attack types you have access to throughout the game. The first is a basic flame attack, which you have at the start. The second is a sort of spinning, boomerang-like weapon that can also double as a means of breaking certain blocks, to clear a path. The third is known as "Claw", and is a large ball that, when spit out against a wall of spikes, creates a temporary place for Firebrand to cling to, useful for scaling large walls of spiky terror. The fourth and final weapon, obtained just prior to the final boss battle, is known as Darkfire, and is a large flame. This weapon shoots slowly, and can only be fired one at a time, but it's required to take on the final boss, the King of Destruction. As you progress through the game, using the most recently acquired weapon is good for most situations, though toward the end you'll find yourself switching between the boomerang and the claw from time to time, depending on the circumstances.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Something tells me this guy's not happy to see me...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Gargoyle's Quest</i> is a gorgeous early Game Boy game, really flexing the graphical muscle of the handheld. Sprites are large and detailed, and generally speaking, animations are fluid and well done. Terrain and locales are all rendered interestingly, with nice touches, such as the spooky looking tree trunks in the opening stage, to the floors of flame or blowing grass in some of the later stages. Backgrounds are sometimes a bit sparse, but paired with the excellent foreground graphics, it becomes a total package that really shines on the handheld, and shows just what it was capable of so early on. The overhead areas are also detailed and interesting, though Firebrand's 2-frame walking animation seems pretty basic. All in all, the game wastes no time impressing visually. I also wanted to make special mention of the "explosions" in the game, or the interesting visual effect when some enemies die. It's a neat effect where the enemy sprite sort of simultaneously explodes and implodes, but with a bit of a sideways motion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Who would create such an idyllic little town in the middle of a scary</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">forest? Looks like the real estate agents in the ghoul realm forgot</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the 3 cardinal rules or property: location, location, location!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the audio department, <i>Gargoyle's Quest</i> also shines brightly. A couple of the game's themes recall the original <i>Ghosts 'n Goblins</i> or <i>Ghouls 'n Ghosts</i> main themes, though in a more subtle fashion. The rest of the original music in the game is excellent, with a varied mix of energetic tracks played during action stages, along with more somber, contemplative material for the overworld map and town sections. The short ditty that plays when you activate a random battle in the overhead view is foreboding, and the jingles that play when you defeat enemies and earn vials will get stuck in your head. As for sound effects, they're well done also. Capcom used more than one sound set for creating the "voices" that you hear when townspeople are speaking to you, and the various other sound effects all fit the game's mood, aesthetic, and overall presentation. Kudos to composers Harumi Fujita and Yoko Shimomura (better known for her work on <i>Final Fight</i>, <i>Street Fighter II</i>, and later <i>Parasite Eve</i>) for such an expressive, emotive set of music to accompany this game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This little sandpit can be tricky to get to. If you don't approach it</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">just right, you'll get flung back, as if you were in a windstorm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The game has a few interesting design quirks. First and foremost, while the overhead sections serve to function a bit like a proto-RPG, the random battles that ensue are treated as individual entities. By this, I mean that, when you enter a random encounter, you have full health. After each random battle on the map, your health refills. This is by design, I'm sure, since you start with only 2 hits, and the game would require even more patience and persistence to clear, were it not for this small mercy. The password system, while only 8 characters long, is full featured. Each password takes into account the town you're in, the items and powers you've collected, the number of talismans (lives) you have, and the number of vials you have collected. Because the game is reasonably linear, there are probably a relatively finite number of passwords, but it's still relatively robust for what it is. Also, despite the fact that, in the overhead view, you have 4 menu choices, you only use the "USE" command a couple of times in the game, rendering that feature relatively pointless otherwise. Oh, and you'll want to stock up on extra talismans early in the game. Toward the end, each extra life costs 32 vials from the local merchant - ouch!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoGAcp48nTZWOdtygA6EgZ3ad80q-w48DpFwNre7C8gtpfK_qf-7WS9KD-b0fYoBeRJHiTqGaoTH8yKpQULSOUwMxjPF7JRrivGNDi1g0nBv58OUs6AzxZpgVrGDpoEqL5nSV6tspgw60/s1600/Gargoyle%2527s+Quest+-+Ghosts%2527n+Goblins+%2528UE%2529+%255Ba1%255D_23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoGAcp48nTZWOdtygA6EgZ3ad80q-w48DpFwNre7C8gtpfK_qf-7WS9KD-b0fYoBeRJHiTqGaoTH8yKpQULSOUwMxjPF7JRrivGNDi1g0nBv58OUs6AzxZpgVrGDpoEqL5nSV6tspgw60/s320/Gargoyle%2527s+Quest+-+Ghosts%2527n+Goblins+%2528UE%2529+%255Ba1%255D_23.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Capcom really used the potential of the Game Boy's hardware</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">when making the graphics for the game. Even today, they're</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">stunning, with intricate designs, and lots of fine detail.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Gargoyle's Quest</i> is a difficult game, and at times, can be pretty punishing. The ability to purchase extra lives helps, though I found myself forced to "grind" through dozens of random battles toward the end, to earn enough vials to purchase extra lives, so as much as I was making mistakes in the later action stages, I could foul up and still be able to muddle my way through. This game moves at a bit of a slow pace, though it's still action packed, and because Firebrand sort of moseys through each level, sometimes the enemy or hazard placement can feel cheap, though, like with most any action platformer, level memorization helps alleviate some of that. In general, slow and steady wins the race.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITL-ndksw02asZsQtD49vGyCu0u4abgcf4D38nTF64_DnrPpCWrE6TJEYMJvWF6qNCInWDkbTDrFEcvihUyxufr2REgplRg12kacQi3jtGbYhsscMgH51_7XzbGZXdyFW0OposForbRc/s1600/Gargoyle%2527s+Quest+-+Ghosts%2527n+Goblins+%2528UE%2529+%255Ba1%255D_26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITL-ndksw02asZsQtD49vGyCu0u4abgcf4D38nTF64_DnrPpCWrE6TJEYMJvWF6qNCInWDkbTDrFEcvihUyxufr2REgplRg12kacQi3jtGbYhsscMgH51_7XzbGZXdyFW0OposForbRc/s320/Gargoyle%2527s+Quest+-+Ghosts%2527n+Goblins+%2528UE%2529+%255Ba1%255D_26.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The pause menu has a handy-dandy heads-up display, showing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">you the number of lives, how many vials you've collected,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">which weapon you have selected, and more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Incidentally, I played through most of the game on the original Game Boy DMG model, and switched over to playing on the Super Game Boy toward the end, just before the second to last boss encounter, when the difficulty started to ramp up. Despite the motion blur on the DMG, the game's excellent graphical design and generally slower pace made for a pleasant experience on the monochrome handheld, even after all these years. For a game to still be fun to play, and still play well, on the monochrome Game Boy, it has to be a good game. It's easy to have fun with most any game from this era, played on a Super Game Boy, Game Boy Player, or later iterations of Game Boy hardware; but for a game to still excel and not feel like a chore to play on the original hardware, when there are so many better alternatives? That's a sign of good game design, and Capcom delivers that in spades with this title. Despite the fact that this game is very common, it has gone up in price in recent years, to around or above the $15 mark. With most Game Boy games, I would recommend looking for something less expensive, or waiting for a good deal, <i>Gargoyle's Quest</i> is worth every penny, and is an essential cart for the discerning Game Boy fan or collector looking to get the best titles for the library. If you haven't played this game, and you even remotely enjoy action platformer games, or action adventure games with light RPG elements, you owe it to yourself to check this game out. Highly recommended, if not downright essential.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-62938892228147783722016-11-07T19:15:00.000-06:002016-11-07T19:15:56.609-06:00Disney's Hercules (1997)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Cqx1Q3u1dCLn3apGF5yt0V_ERcsbg8QNkJS8bXqertK3ex2_8KKrTtgWrm1eIH85b_Xru_ZdyQaxhENcuOlqrF17MEMPue_phN7bK8E4zV9vujlzmWp4UMzZcdjOLp9zXmxpVRurl-0/s1600/Disneys+Hercules+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Cqx1Q3u1dCLn3apGF5yt0V_ERcsbg8QNkJS8bXqertK3ex2_8KKrTtgWrm1eIH85b_Xru_ZdyQaxhENcuOlqrF17MEMPue_phN7bK8E4zV9vujlzmWp4UMzZcdjOLp9zXmxpVRurl-0/s320/Disneys+Hercules+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQs</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Though I haven't yet seen the film, I recognize the art style, and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">while this isn't totally representative of the contents therein, at</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">least the branding is consistent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the 8 and 16-bit eras, it's no secret that licensed games were a mixed bag. That is, a mixed bag of mostly garbage, and the occasional diamond in the rough. For every Sunsoft <i>Batman</i>, there were a dozen LJN <i>X-men</i> games, or titles of that ilk. The one major bright spot among all the detritus was Capcom. Their handling of a number of Disney properties was excellent, and many of the resulting games, such as <i>Duck Tales</i> or <i>Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers</i> on the NES were hailed as shining examples of action platform games, and are often still lauded as some of the best games on the system. Not all their efforts were perfect, but certainly they stood head and shoulders above the competition in nearly all respects.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3kElUUszp92WBQMejxiZUfFukQs1ZEf-aomQvyQhaIEctsZVr75Hrvyc4nLSX2vdGbZEYee04vx8CSqtIxd4eXTSLGS2yNLWe9Xu-HnxpSU6nmw5tGKLdkHmeuDsgDhrKli5f8EFEAY/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3kElUUszp92WBQMejxiZUfFukQs1ZEf-aomQvyQhaIEctsZVr75Hrvyc4nLSX2vdGbZEYee04vx8CSqtIxd4eXTSLGS2yNLWe9Xu-HnxpSU6nmw5tGKLdkHmeuDsgDhrKli5f8EFEAY/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_01.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">From what I understand, this is supposed to be representative of Hercules' home in</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the film. Not sure why Tiertex thought that might make a captivating title screen...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To paraphrase another, now Disney-owned, property: "That was before the dark times; before Virgin Interactive." At some point, Capcom lost the Disney license, and most of those properties were then handled by Virgin Interactive. Not all, but a large share of them, were handled by VI, and resulted in a series of mostly mediocre games. <i>The Lion King</i> may have been an excellent movie, but it didn't result in outstanding games. Over time, Disney has had a number of game development houses involved in making games from their properties. In 1997, developer Tiertex Design Studios got their shot at a new property, the fresh take on an old Greek mythology classic, <i>Disney's Hercules</i>. Does this game deserve to be thrown out with the refuse of most licensed titles, or is it the diamond in the rough, made possible by Hercules himself squeezing a lump of coal until it becomes a precious gem? Read on, dear soul.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5cQ9cukH_GbhpCMZ4kPvbTfyF25KfkEsDUU71B8YfTbssFt4FoFZKxif3BPOwolL3pXu1QAe8TKHUwJCSTQocCpX33Xj6y-1ltxsDepGudZjzVC69LYEvlijkYuF9eohRPKuLFen8y8/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5cQ9cukH_GbhpCMZ4kPvbTfyF25KfkEsDUU71B8YfTbssFt4FoFZKxif3BPOwolL3pXu1QAe8TKHUwJCSTQocCpX33Xj6y-1ltxsDepGudZjzVC69LYEvlijkYuF9eohRPKuLFen8y8/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_02.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Not sure if "Phil" is annoying in the movie, but given that he's voiced by Danny</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">DeVito, it's a good probability. He's annoying in the game, popping up and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">offering advice in the midst of action, breaking up the game's flow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From what I understand, this game is marginally based on the movie of the same name, an animated adaptation (I'll use that term loosely) of the Greek mythology stories of the character of Hercules. Disney, of course, has to inject their own spin on things, so it's all very light and fluffy, but wrapped up nicely with a bow of some "moral of the story" by the end. Basically, Hercules has discovered that he's the son of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, and must set out on an adventure to prove himself so he can take his place among the pantheon. For some reason, Hades sees Hercules as a threat, so he tries to foil Herc's plans, by convincing a young maiden to try and distract Hercules from reaching his goal. Hilarity ensues, and you have a reason to wander around with the titular character, fighting all manner of creatures and completing challenges to prove your strength and worth. Well, sort of.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUvBIt99sjBGUf_dp0np8Ja-UyyUrCcFmmq58CWN_mkfcR0kTH5cQyfOA3lW2wd_8u5y0UQhA5DBrwJAQN44icIgi0vNFnRAcHNaFHQV7X0JsDNTuJajNm0TrY3T_Fwlqkd0pba34H8k/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUvBIt99sjBGUf_dp0np8Ja-UyyUrCcFmmq58CWN_mkfcR0kTH5cQyfOA3lW2wd_8u5y0UQhA5DBrwJAQN44icIgi0vNFnRAcHNaFHQV7X0JsDNTuJajNm0TrY3T_Fwlqkd0pba34H8k/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_03.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">See that giant dragonfly-like creature above Herc's head? Learn to kill those </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">bad boys</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">quickly, or they'll drain your life bar faster than you can say, "By the gods!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rather than having Hercules go and take on a number of challenges as he does in the original mythos, this game sees him wandering through a number of relatively nondescript locations, fighting non-human characters, and collecting what look like milkshakes to stay healthy. Sounds riveting, right? Herc's only weapon is a sword, which seems odd, since he's supposed to be super strong, and may well elect to only use his fists. You also have a "shoulder smash" move, where you can make Hercules run, and then ram his shoulder into the enemy, or a block wall to break it, but you only use that a small handful of times in the game. There's a really awkward looking jump kick maneuver that's included in the game, but I didn't find anywhere it was actually useful, other than performing the move to watch how awkward it looks.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinun46hGlQyk0HXG_wliJBl_XaQftRgXKoPhKCscnBrxGnbYVx3yMDi20tlRxmUYgWPb84l4J6uJqEeg8EFDyAfs9lMo3jgDl32LyRSfRD4svgyDDgzchOPRQv18v-8prM1WdXil8eykk/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinun46hGlQyk0HXG_wliJBl_XaQftRgXKoPhKCscnBrxGnbYVx3yMDi20tlRxmUYgWPb84l4J6uJqEeg8EFDyAfs9lMo3jgDl32LyRSfRD4svgyDDgzchOPRQv18v-8prM1WdXil8eykk/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_04.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Hercules, mastering the most awkward one-handed rope climb ever, sword in the other hand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Graphically, the game is a mixed bag. They aren't overly interesting, but they're not entirely boring, either. Some spots have decent graphics, such as scenery like large stone blocks, and some trees, but otherwise, things are a bit ho-hum. Nothing reeks of poor design, and there's not an abundance of scenery that you can't tell isn't scenery, but nothing stands out very much. It's just kind of blase. That's not atypical for a Game Boy game, though at this point, just a year and a half from the launch of the Game Boy Color, many developers had learned how to really squeeze a lot out of the little handheld. Tiertex wasn't necessarily one of them. Animation is okay, trying to mimic that somewhat fluid Virgin Interactive style, but not quite hitting the mark. However, because this title is compatible with the Super Game Boy, when used in that context, at least there are splashes of color, and differing motifs that change things up and keep them interesting throughout.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNeXp4_xDJdokQOQFj5_-3Y21GiAtXQa2qpR71loDOfuIAteE7o1vqy7bWLzNrhFtQKiJCaYAe6SngbsadpirDhC5xWKcZjAMqBi4k5EE8XghTrK1ddVPD7_B7tLvWPGPubSBM7RW8Kh0/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNeXp4_xDJdokQOQFj5_-3Y21GiAtXQa2qpR71loDOfuIAteE7o1vqy7bWLzNrhFtQKiJCaYAe6SngbsadpirDhC5xWKcZjAMqBi4k5EE8XghTrK1ddVPD7_B7tLvWPGPubSBM7RW8Kh0/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_05.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I don't remember which level this password is for, probably the 3rd of 4th. You're welcome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In terms of music, you get the main theme from the game, which plays during the title screen and attract mode, and from what I've read elsewhere, the rest of the music is original to the game. Unfortunately, despite there being 9 stages, there are only a couple of tunes that alternate between different levels, so you're limited to just that music. On the upside, they're not grating or bad songs, and are a bit catchy. If you play long enough, like I did, you may find yourself humming them. That goes double if you play via the Super Game Boy, as the music gets an upgrade in that configuration. Unlike a lot of games, which just add borders, and occasionally colored still images between levels, not only do the graphics get a boost here, but the music does as well. The songs in-game are upgraded to sound more like what you'd get on the SNES, and it helps make the music more memorable. Sound effects, on the other hand, are passable, standard fare, and little more.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMMX01dVDvS9YctckeHwWFsPAz8g2L3LNB1C95U7-N6Qh9OLgLrGrKGrl-odTUnUiY19qD6gwgGRzjhGSBeffBlj-83zyO0P8TTz5CpYEvf-G9EdGAfwwvT5b6osWrYjTM_w5YTW9RiE/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMMX01dVDvS9YctckeHwWFsPAz8g2L3LNB1C95U7-N6Qh9OLgLrGrKGrl-odTUnUiY19qD6gwgGRzjhGSBeffBlj-83zyO0P8TTz5CpYEvf-G9EdGAfwwvT5b6osWrYjTM_w5YTW9RiE/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_06.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The 2 levels where you ride atop the mighty Pegasus are made slightly easier by</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">grabbing the flaming sword toward the beginning of the level. That's not saying</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">much, however, because both levels are painfully easy to begin with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In terms of gameplay, this game takes its cues from <i>Prince of Persia</i> more than any of its licensed Disney game forbears. Your character moves along at a slow pace, and if you want to run, you press the direction you want to go twice rapidly, then hold that direction down. There's one button for jump, and one for attack. If you hit the attack button while running, you go into the running stance for the "shoulder smash" I mentioned earlier. If you walk up to a platform that you would normally jump onto in most games, instead you press up on the D-pad to make Hercules climb up. Otherwise, Hercules' jump is pretty short and pathetic. This is a key factor to the game, which I'll touch on more later. If you jump toward a vine or rope, you can grab hold, and then press up or down on the D-pad to climb. When climbing up a rope or vine, if you hold left or right and press the jump button, Hercules will jump at a near 45-degree angle downward from that point. You can also press down on the D-pad to duck, which you'll need to do to attack some enemies. In the 2 stages where you fly on Pegasus' back, you have free range of motion, and just a simple punch or sword swing attack. In Stage 7, which is the labyrinth with the Minotaur, you also use up and down on the D-pad to enter doors to different sections of the maze. It's simple and easy to pick up, though some of the timing can be a bit tricky. There's a delay between hitting the attack button and Hercules actually swinging or jabbing his sword, so that's a factor. In fact, nearly all movement commands have a bit of a delay, which players will want to keep in mind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The majority of foes in the game are animals of one type or another, like this</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">scorpion. PETA should have had a field day with this game in 1997.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I started playing the game, I nearly rage quit out of frustration after my first couple attempts, thinking Disney had decided to punish fans by letting Tiertex design this game. After learning the controls, and coming to grips with some of the game's quirkier design choices and pitfalls (quite literally), I started to understand the flow, and subsequently, began to have a little fun with it. If you go in expecting an action platformer, you'll be sorely disappointed. Instead, think of it as a platform adventure game with light action elements, and your perception may be more favorable. Once I had the mindset that it was pretty far removed from the Capcom Disney games of yore, and had much more in common with the later VI-developed titles, I had a better frame of reference as to what the game wanted to accomplish. As an adventure game, you also have a basic 4-character password system, so you can play a few levels and then go back to it later. This is also handy, because you're only granted 1 life, and there are no continues. If you die partway through the game, your only recourse is to enter the password for the last level you were playing and just try again.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJYm_M8kUyQ7avtL0yPkLqyH0lDGri1UnTg_Da5UITmwtrq464X9v0SY_oCYz1CqLCCSaAq8q116Ik-jyPh9XNOG4KMtUaQz6Rrf9bjv2Oq-9lTMTerO2LCwX1ayZP0lZNIJ4QIBZPVY/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_16.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJYm_M8kUyQ7avtL0yPkLqyH0lDGri1UnTg_Da5UITmwtrq464X9v0SY_oCYz1CqLCCSaAq8q116Ik-jyPh9XNOG4KMtUaQz6Rrf9bjv2Oq-9lTMTerO2LCwX1ayZP0lZNIJ4QIBZPVY/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_16.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The ONLY time the "shoulder smash" move is remotely useful is against these big</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">rock monster guys. It levels them to rubble in one hit. Otherwise, good luck</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">carving them down with a sword; that ain't happening.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mentioned that I had some fun with this game, but that's not without caveats. I'm not a big fan of the original <i>Prince of Persia</i> formula, but I understand the appeal. I have had fun with similar games like <i>Flashback</i> or <i>Out Of This World</i>, so it works for what it is. However, the pacing is horribly slow, the limited music selection is disappointing, the combat is rote and uninteresting, and the boss fights are all laughably easy, and not in a good way. The only time I was challenged with the game at all, once I figured out what I was doing, was in the labyrinth level, because the map screen you're provided doesn't really help that much, and in Stage 8, which I sadly didn't complete, because there's a spot I couldn't figure out how to get past due to a "false floor" situation where you fall through a platform. I know it can be done, but I couldn't be bothered to spend any more time trying to work out how to get past that spot, as many times as I tried crawling, running, and jumping to pass it, especially with as long as that stage is leading up to that point. Suffice to say, though I had some measure of fun with the game, it just wasn't fun enough to warrant putting the time into it to finish.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNOzsctgVoNqhJ9e3HEYu-wL16DhwgXPvl8Rk4KDfF2jZTsWS9-KVR3eowlg8m-FYw-NLPVfLZTWdNHx6o0eJSnZ8w9tTxa7ZIt4wc3dI2iKql5YBiQFH1Zx3PNTdVUB9Xc8dQy19lbdI/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNOzsctgVoNqhJ9e3HEYu-wL16DhwgXPvl8Rk4KDfF2jZTsWS9-KVR3eowlg8m-FYw-NLPVfLZTWdNHx6o0eJSnZ8w9tTxa7ZIt4wc3dI2iKql5YBiQFH1Zx3PNTdVUB9Xc8dQy19lbdI/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_19.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This boss is extremely easy. You move in close enough to strike, swing your sword,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">then back away a step to avoid getting kicked. Rinse and repeat until enemy is dead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The supporting character of Philoctetes, aka "Phil", is only present in still screens where he tries to give you advice, but those screens pop in at inconvenient times, and completely break up the flow of the action. By way of example, when you jump from a vine in the first stage and are about to hit the ground, Phil reminds you to watch for enemies. The instant you hit a button to make that screen go away, you hit the ground, and are immediately accosted by a scorpion, which you have to duck to attack. Unless you know it's there, you will likely take damage. There are also spots where Phil interrupts as you're about to do something, and you will likely take damage as well, such as when he warns you about incoming fireballs. There are spots where you will take damage no matter what, because of some poor design choices, and despite Herc's awful jumping skills ("Greek Demi-gods Can't Jump"?), the first stage has several spots where, if you don't jump to the side to grab the vine and climb up, you'll instantly fall if you try to walk up to the vine and grab it. The scenery distinction isn't entirely obvious, and unless you're paying close attention, you may miss it and fall to your death like I did 2 or 3 times before realizing what you have to do. These annoyances don't ruin the game experience, but they certainly keep it from being a top-tier Game Boy title, this late in the handheld's life cycle.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWQFDZV6O4KCZcC9mlhQ8dCZe49y_OYAB63iEJ0kTudArCnS-uVH4373g0ztpBZIrrTh7IpFunjIgQSxwBqsnwYHNosMob-VNd4F3b0UmGafvauAtIpiUewzggXZqT7pr-_AsMywylsU/s1600/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWQFDZV6O4KCZcC9mlhQ8dCZe49y_OYAB63iEJ0kTudArCnS-uVH4373g0ztpBZIrrTh7IpFunjIgQSxwBqsnwYHNosMob-VNd4F3b0UmGafvauAtIpiUewzggXZqT7pr-_AsMywylsU/s400/Hercules+%2528U%2529+%255BS%255D_20.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">You know what, Phil? Why don't you shut your stupid mouth! Come down here</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and let's see if you can fare any better with these janky controls!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the day, <i>Disney's Hercules</i> is an okay distraction, but not something I would want to put much more time into. It doesn't do anything particularly well enough, save for the Super Game Boy music, to write home about, and the awkward animation, stilted level design, and somewhat clumsy combat bring down an otherwise reasonably solid experience. As I said, if you go in expecting an action game, you will come away disappointed. Instead, think of it as a slow-paced adventure with platforming elements, and it fares a bit better. Still, this isn't a game I can heartily recommend, and I certainly wouldn't pay much for it. I paid $4 for my copy, and I'd say that's plenty. Had I been able to do so during the time of the game's release, it would have been a weekend rental, and that $4 would have been spent to determine that it's just not a good enough game to warrant paying retail price for. Even in today's aftermarket, I can't recommend paying much more than what I spent, even for hardcore collectors. If you're looking for a fun game, you can do much worse, but you can also do much better. Recommended only for devotees of the animated movie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P.S. As a side, note, there's a really <a href="http://starboy91.blogspot.com/2013/01/hercules-gb-review.html" target="_blank">excellent write-up</a> about <i>Disney's Hercules</i> for Game Boy that I would also encourage you to read, courtesy of a site called "<a href="http://starboy91.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">StarBlog</a>". Starboy91 writes incredibly detailed and thorough reviews of games, far more in-depth than I care to get most of the time. I consider myself to be quite verbose, but his reviews border on novellas. Still, worth reading if you really want that exhaustive level of content.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-8896786817167064282016-10-17T21:30:00.000-05:002016-10-17T22:15:33.086-05:00Pit Fighter (1992)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjarATllb3q65dVBD5sQjgjqct6SRgRqdOHnGGBhk_ouI1F9cl41YCW6yOLBPX_hAXTeOnkmixCbe3Mq21ggtE3Msdl5wSTcbP1khBF5_Xx6jXFKKWpMyr1Dlb2tm6V6hsPh_95eWVs8fo/s1600/Pit-Fighter+cover+GamesDBase.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjarATllb3q65dVBD5sQjgjqct6SRgRqdOHnGGBhk_ouI1F9cl41YCW6yOLBPX_hAXTeOnkmixCbe3Mq21ggtE3Msdl5wSTcbP1khBF5_Xx6jXFKKWpMyr1Dlb2tm6V6hsPh_95eWVs8fo/s320/Pit-Fighter+cover+GamesDBase.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://gamesdbase.com/" target="_blank">GamesDBase</a>.<br />3 buff dudes and a lady in dominatrix gear. Nothing can</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">go </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">wrong with this scenario, right? Nothing at all...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Since the inception of the modern fighting game with <i>Street Fighter II: The World Warrior</i> in 1991, scores of video game developers have attempted to jump on the head-to-head fighting game bandwagon at least once. SNK had <i>Fatal Fury</i>, Midway had <i>Mortal Kombat</i>, Data East had <i>Fighter's History</i>, and even Capcom rivals Konami had the little known <i>Martial Champion</i>. Prior to the fighting game craze, however, companies were still trying to figure out a way to make a fighting game that wasn't just walking left to right, mindlessly punching enemies in the face, but focused more on actual human interaction. Atari threw their hat in the ring (sorry, pun intended) with 1990's <i>Pit-Fighter</i>, originally released in the arcade. The game was received well enough to receive a whole cadre of home conversions, including a port for Nintendo's own Game Boy.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGV7cbUUT5uHKqMYWMHNnzgrRTfwInjuKzYa5lw7w0fiA1tfXFHykAGsBl2HB_9aahTQefmEh9QvwJytm2LzH0uutzNioFMcbMfLGQOYgVaPszlQcxZNM20A3CbwOuWNfYqV3R0ePcOmU/s1600/bgb00105.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGV7cbUUT5uHKqMYWMHNnzgrRTfwInjuKzYa5lw7w0fiA1tfXFHykAGsBl2HB_9aahTQefmEh9QvwJytm2LzH0uutzNioFMcbMfLGQOYgVaPszlQcxZNM20A3CbwOuWNfYqV3R0ePcOmU/s320/bgb00105.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Unlike some games, at least the logo is the same here</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">as it is on the box. That's about all that's good about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It makes a weird kind of sense that someone would port a game like <i>Pit-Fighter</i> to the Game Boy, and yet it makes no sense whatsoever. It makes financial sense, because if you liked the arcade game, you might want a home console or portable version, right? So why not port the game to anything and everything with enough power to give some facsimile of the game? Where that logic ends, however, is with the realization that the Game Boy just didn't have the power to approximate a game like <i>Pit-Fighter</i> with enough technical success to make it anything more than a curiosity. Rather, it's more of an abomination.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKJ0Iz_9LfBj95WlC6ZIVMBbXAs7x2rcla0IM7JmgSL81ePSI9mwvL-W7-NdODgBfQH4ZqmQT2_0helCxLzvfnHPmj8zr6qUgvNNFaRPijpSiCmflAHvx_IttJTK9eK7_4Ck9wp-yl5uc/s1600/bgb00106.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKJ0Iz_9LfBj95WlC6ZIVMBbXAs7x2rcla0IM7JmgSL81ePSI9mwvL-W7-NdODgBfQH4ZqmQT2_0helCxLzvfnHPmj8zr6qUgvNNFaRPijpSiCmflAHvx_IttJTK9eK7_4Ck9wp-yl5uc/s320/bgb00106.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Buzz is one of the 3 fighters you can choose from. Not</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">much </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">to look at, he's your standard beefcake wrestler.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Forget the fact that several development teams, including some of Nintendo's own, had been able to make the Game Boy do some pretty amazing things by 1992. Logically, you don't take a 3-player, open arena based head-to-head fighting game with beat-em-up mechanics and environment interactivity onto a handheld system that is barely as powerful as its home console hardware predecessor. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at that meeting at the Atari Games/Tengen offices when they decided to port the game to the Nintendo Game Boy. That must have been an interesting discussion.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddP78luK_YmpXffGy6LWVZnqoL4b0rjFZpBleeW_mUTssM7WWqul2Pm5jHgZxyoHvcDBFqiWHkOSTw06ziX296Yi6ArKUscpSkGlEQm85wwzgBeJH7Q1GPhjg9aDrZXs6qZ3nPYG4Kc0/s1600/Pit-Fighter+Board+Meeting+Meme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjddP78luK_YmpXffGy6LWVZnqoL4b0rjFZpBleeW_mUTssM7WWqul2Pm5jHgZxyoHvcDBFqiWHkOSTw06ziX296Yi6ArKUscpSkGlEQm85wwzgBeJH7Q1GPhjg9aDrZXs6qZ3nPYG4Kc0/s640/Pit-Fighter+Board+Meeting+Meme.jpg" width="491" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I could totally see this happening at the Atari Games/Tengen offices, given how much focus<br />there was on pure profit during those times, especially with arcade ports to consoles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Nevertheless, like any game company wanting to eek every cent of possible profit from their intellectual properties, Atari Games decided to port <i>Pit-Fighter</i> to every possible console they could to maximize the game's earning potential. They probably knew that console ports of <i>Street Fighter II</i> were going to dwarf any earning potential they had soon, so it had to release fast and on as many platforms as they could muster in order to capitalize on the arcade original's marginal popularity. Indeed, the SNES port of <i>Street Fighter II</i>, followed later by the Sega Genesis release of <i>Street Fighter II: Championship Edition</i> took the console world by storm, and most other fighting game franchises were left in the dust. No one can fault Atari for wanting to bleed the proverbial turnip dry, given the fervor fans had for one on one fighting games by 1992, and wanting to get in on a piece of that action, monetarily speaking. Sadly, the Game Boy conversion </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(that term used very loosely) </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">of </span><i style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Pit-Fighter</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">, leaves a LOT to be desired.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzy1i8SU-gjx3izkJGjRMgPYMa1jfa6G1ddohSO4nIK3sF_kWgh3AVQGp5mumrCq2kSbA5f8h-Ye2ZLW5Nk8JxbyqUEIGLGGbwGRpwsuCy4f3oDOx0eDZyy5W1TgYbhH7bogvKargFS3A/s1600/bgb00107.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzy1i8SU-gjx3izkJGjRMgPYMa1jfa6G1ddohSO4nIK3sF_kWgh3AVQGp5mumrCq2kSbA5f8h-Ye2ZLW5Nk8JxbyqUEIGLGGbwGRpwsuCy4f3oDOx0eDZyy5W1TgYbhH7bogvKargFS3A/s320/bgb00107.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Don't talk to me like that, you meanie!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here's the basic setup, for the uninitiated. <i>Pit-Fighter</i> is a head-to-head fighting game that, at least in the arcade original, would "pit" (pun intended) up to 3 fighters against one another in mortal combat (I can't help myself). Each area is an arena in a sort of 2.5D view, and you can move up, down, left and right, and all over the place. You have the ability to punch, kick, and jump (with both buttons simultaneously), and depending on your proximity to another fighter, and the combination of your movements and button presses, you can do other things like throws, or slamming/kicking your opponent when they're on the ground to deal extra damage. After you win a round, you're granted temporary use of a special attack, which you can execute by sort of "swiping" over the two attack buttons in rapid succession, executing the attack. It's a tad clumsy, but it works well enough, and that usually deals more damage than anything else, so it's important to use that as frequently as possible. Each fighter's health is represented by a counter that slowly whittles away as you or your opponent take damage. Once the counter reaches zero, it's game over. No continues, no second chances, just death.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Looks like Buzz won himself a match! I hope that $1850 is </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">enough</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">to pay his medical bills after the next subsequent beat down!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the original arcade game, you had nice extras like the 3 player melee, weapons you could pick up off the ground, Double Dragon-style, and crowd interaction. If you got to close to the crowd, the audience could attack you or push you back into the fight, and you take damage. This was a strategy you could use to your advantage, by backing your opponent into a literal corner, then a combination of allowing the onlookers to pummel them, and unleashing your own fatal fury upon them (sorry, I can't stop). In the Game Boy version, the 3-player mode is removed, for obvious reasons, and sadly, there are no weapons available to assist you. You have to rely solely on your own art of fighting (it's getting bad) to see you through each match. Unfortunately, there's no health regeneration between levels, and no health pickups or bonuses, so the best and only strategy you can hope for is to get through each level with little or no health lost, so you can make it to the final fight (that was low hanging fruit) with as much energy as you can.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1MV9V3MYyJn_UEgzRMMNdiw3AFzzBdwtmwWrESb1Aa9S543Cz1Ylon9xnY36mUQNd0DGNnuZM1BOtRmPVE7m_GLfU01lSSx-ixBs1Qb3tV-_6RJZafyIUhxYfxe7Z10bs9CBHI_6D0z8/s1600/bgb00111.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1MV9V3MYyJn_UEgzRMMNdiw3AFzzBdwtmwWrESb1Aa9S543Cz1Ylon9xnY36mUQNd0DGNnuZM1BOtRmPVE7m_GLfU01lSSx-ixBs1Qb3tV-_6RJZafyIUhxYfxe7Z10bs9CBHI_6D0z8/s320/bgb00111.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">$11K for a single low-level fight? I picked the wrong profession...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Graphically, the game does as good a job as you could expect the monochrome handheld to do. The arcade game was a touch herky jerky, and Nintendo's venerable handheld doesn't handle the scrolling very well so it jerks and stutters a fair amount. The crowds have exactly 2 frames of animation which go back and forth at varying intervals, so it gives the illusion that there's more going on than there really is, but as you'll be focusing on your opponent, you may not even notice. The character animations are copied from the original, though obviously scaled down for this format, and are equally as awkward as the source material. The strange thing is, on the original DMG hardware, the game looks fine. With different palettes, however, the graphics have a weird effect where your character sprite, or other elements, may disappear into the background because of the blending. This is evident with the Super Game Boy and Game Boy Player, as well as with the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In terms of audio, it's a mixed bag. The game has relatively impressive voice samples, taken straight from the arcade game, that are present here. However, for anyone who played the original, they would notice the rather limited number of samples available here. Speech samples are a small handful of grunts, a laugh, and a couple yells. It's reduced to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/3 of the original voice samples, and despite being somewhat impressive coming out of the Game Boy hardware, are still far less than what the original game allowed for. There are also punch and kick noises, which sound like you might expect them to, sort of a "whiff" sound. Unfortunately, only one music track from the arcade game is converted, and because the original wasn't exactly a bastion of great melody, since that's all that's left available from the 4 sound channels on the hardware, it grates quickly because it's just not that well composed.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgiSG-tti5r9jSmN7jc7t-2wRfPETc2_BhyphenhyphenoixK6NWla3ZFTPDML8aYaHQ4tfBikcbrne2kYb0eguLgC_bRuVovJWooGKCdaZXl8cSLMLXWNLxbgwKOlC8jDWf1e9IdYhTj6WMNQeRpU/s1600/bgb00112.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgiSG-tti5r9jSmN7jc7t-2wRfPETc2_BhyphenhyphenoixK6NWla3ZFTPDML8aYaHQ4tfBikcbrne2kYb0eguLgC_bRuVovJWooGKCdaZXl8cSLMLXWNLxbgwKOlC8jDWf1e9IdYhTj6WMNQeRpU/s320/bgb00112.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"You're the best around,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">nothing's gonna ever keep ya down!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The other curious thing about the audio is what happens when you play <i>Pit-Fighter</i> on a Game Boy Advance, GBA SP, or Game Boy Player add-on. You get this curious effect where, interspersed with the sound and music, you hear this high-pitched whistle or ringing effect. It rings somewhat intermittently as the game is played, but the occurrence of it is near-constant. As if the game's sound didn't already border on annoying, this happens, and puts the whole experience over the top. It's an interesting phenomenon, and while I don't yet know the reason for this anomaly, I recorded a video documenting it, along with the odd video problem I mentioned earlier, regarding character sprites blending into the background:</span><br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lj9mLK9giAE/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lj9mLK9giAE?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Episode 001 in my new Game Boy Oddities series.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At the end of the day, <i>Pit-Fighter</i> remains only marginally playable. The original game wasn't known for tight control, and the Game Boy port fares no better. The game's "moves" aren't easy to pull off, and some of the maneuvers, like the rolling that Buzz can do when he gets up from being knocked down, I was never able to accomplish. The graphics are problematic because of the choice to merely copy the arcade, rather than retool for the hardware, and the impressive speech samples aren't enough to save the game's audio from being anything more than mediocre at best. The game offers no continues, unlike the arcade original, and because there are no power-ups (like the "power pill" which offered temporary invincibility in the original), health restores, or breathing room, the randomness of the enemy characters just adds to the punishing difficulty. With some practice, I was able to kind of make it to the 3rd fight on most every attempt, but the game also lacks the "Grudge Match" option, where you fight a clone of yourself to try and score 3 knockdowns. With all that's missing from this port, all that the development team failed to tighten, and the obvious fact that this just wasn't a stellar game to begin with, and you're left with a Game Boy title that made neither Tengen, nor TH-Q, into world heroes (please, someone stop me!). I paid exactly $4 for this, and that's probably the most I would encourage anyone to pay. Not that I'm encouraging anyone to pay for this game. No, I would tell you to stay away, because it's just not a good game, it's not a fun game, and it's not worth your time. Pass this one up unless you're a <i>Pit-Fighter</i> die-hard (should such a creature exist), or an avid collector like me, who masochistically has to have every title, no matter how wretched.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-19108659870257563742016-09-14T18:30:00.000-05:002016-10-04T20:43:55.658-05:00Cosmo Tank (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEpYMPI23YaYYSNhYH2A1WQcWIbtoEZzII-2JO4Bm-j9_4OljcCMCJDpfNqCLtXshKJC42q8NqLC9hje39OdNxmaGtp06QUO8LqXnUV42jv6TiKLJ_c8HG9vWZ1bUzpDJNMxbpeam7gc/s1600/Cosmo+Tank+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEpYMPI23YaYYSNhYH2A1WQcWIbtoEZzII-2JO4Bm-j9_4OljcCMCJDpfNqCLtXshKJC42q8NqLC9hje39OdNxmaGtp06QUO8LqXnUV42jv6TiKLJ_c8HG9vWZ1bUzpDJNMxbpeam7gc/s320/Cosmo+Tank+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQs</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Similar to <i>Solar Striker</i>, the logo image for <i>Cosmo Tank</i> is so metal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the year of our Lord, 2016, Atlus is known for 2 things. First, for being currently the foremost developer keeping the Japanese RPG, or JRPG, alive in the west. Second, for having been purchased by Sega, and having been, thus far, largely left alone to do what they do so well. Prior to becoming a go-to RPG powerhouse, however, Atlus dabbled in a number of different genres. They've published puzzle games, platformers, beat-em-ups, and a number of other games. Keep in mind, some of these games were developed in-house by Atlus, and some were not. One such example of an early game that may have had some bearing (or not) on the RPG direction Atlus would eventually settle into is <i>Cosmo Tank</i>, developed by Asuka Technologies. Curiously, <i>Cosmo Tank</i> is the only game attributed to the studio, and it's a shame, because while <i>Cosmo Tank</i> is flawed, it hints at what could have been, and shows that, in the right hands, the Game Boy can do impressive things.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjssbEBq-6AD8RtRyjBJ6YOJK_AozOzoZyHeHgRAH2PURwk7OwrNTt4PxpP0o6SwZEMjIJxc0mphQHAKFg1lXdzzM9kIzRq5JDzpitppww-PJA3i2T3cwK-9fzLuYYnCtUS2ZKlFUzZHiA/s1600/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjssbEBq-6AD8RtRyjBJ6YOJK_AozOzoZyHeHgRAH2PURwk7OwrNTt4PxpP0o6SwZEMjIJxc0mphQHAKFg1lXdzzM9kIzRq5JDzpitppww-PJA3i2T3cwK-9fzLuYYnCtUS2ZKlFUzZHiA/s320/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_01.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Unlike <i>Solar Striker</i>, this game has consistency between the box art</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and the logo on the title screen. Way to go, Asuka Technologies!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Occasionally, developers fall into the trap of trying to bite off more than they can chew. Sometimes they take on a license that is too big and venerable for them to do anything meaningful with it, or perhaps they try to take on a genre </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">with which </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">they have no experience, only to fail because they didn't study the source material. In this instance, it's because Asuka Technologies tried to tackle too many genres at once. Truly good developers can design games to cross genre boundaries and be successful. Asuka Technologies shows that they have the chops, but they don't quite get the job done.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHda9qdCGGRycG33WJ4RAo-jxXh1YL4Lmt7erDtwJK5lUEf_m65-dnL6FW_fwVJj27XAkhqx_M_W4UZzEkEo9s94VAZkkyapP-q_nt4u4jYzuwZJjiDWfQV9rtNUgpzebqiRVC6Jjx0Q/s1600/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHda9qdCGGRycG33WJ4RAo-jxXh1YL4Lmt7erDtwJK5lUEf_m65-dnL6FW_fwVJj27XAkhqx_M_W4UZzEkEo9s94VAZkkyapP-q_nt4u4jYzuwZJjiDWfQV9rtNUgpzebqiRVC6Jjx0Q/s320/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_02.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Wait, what's this - no "Vision Quest" mode?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The basic premise of <i>Comso Tank</i> is thus: you are the lone operator of a superior battle machine, the "cosmo tank", as it were, and your mission is to go after Gregor, a typical mad scientist type who has seen his genius outclass everyone else, and has decided that it's better for him to rule the universe, rather than allow the plebes to have freedom. Something like that, anyway. It's not made entirely clear at the start of the game why you're doing what you're doing. You're literally thrown onto a planet with your tank and told to "Destroy the life cores of each planet." Kind of a raw deal, given that you aren't given much information, or much to work with.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyA3lu97gANxyP8ohrS18VRXZEOfXRWTKquCdUT2HkAIWYJYJu0ZEFvpzTq7ZRGXlGYUMOAclyo6WHdPr4xTEmIV27kiQDTR431_ZX3xDcy_wUucE_N7bzIKczGhqdMlFxWlGNFHeOhpQ/s1600/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyA3lu97gANxyP8ohrS18VRXZEOfXRWTKquCdUT2HkAIWYJYJu0ZEFvpzTq7ZRGXlGYUMOAclyo6WHdPr4xTEmIV27kiQDTR431_ZX3xDcy_wUucE_N7bzIKczGhqdMlFxWlGNFHeOhpQ/s320/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_04.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Private - "What's a life core, sir, and why do I want to destroy it?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">General - "Are you questioning my orders?"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Private - Sir, no sir!"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The 3 modes of gameplay are "QUEST-MODE", the main story mode of the game, "TRAINING-MODE" where you can practice one of the gameplay types across multiple levels, so you can learn enemy patterns, and "VS-MODE" for 2 players. This, of course, requires a 2nd copy of <i>Cosmo Tank</i>, another player with a Game Boy, and a Link Cable. Sadly, I don't have any of these prerequisites, so this review will focus almost exclusively on the meat and potatoes of the cart, which is the QUEST-MODE. Suffice to say, TRAINING-MODE is fun for a few minutes, but as I'll explain through this review, it gets old quickly. Rather, most of your time will likely be spent in the main story campaign.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSVCb-xuBHmfa26hj_nrtuba5F5ZJ_lIL0N6jlVUWLLA9dJEXV75ZR6jmaWnrKCz2iessebtzaXHla7jkRDUmUJgxIzQretQYVfkCW1qdGTWuh7mdDqt4fbXRCh2QyaoKVndj2hF3EoTs/s1600/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSVCb-xuBHmfa26hj_nrtuba5F5ZJ_lIL0N6jlVUWLLA9dJEXV75ZR6jmaWnrKCz2iessebtzaXHla7jkRDUmUJgxIzQretQYVfkCW1qdGTWuh7mdDqt4fbXRCh2QyaoKVndj2hF3EoTs/s320/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_05.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">These enemies seem a little crabby to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first type of gameplay you'll take on is an overhead, free-range shooting section. You'll control the tank and go in any of the 8 directions on the map, with a basic laser cannon and a couple smart bombs at your disposal. Enemies will seemingly assault you from every side, with alarming frequency, so you had best be on your toes. You start with a relatively small life/armor bar, so take more than 2 or 3 hits, and you're done for. As you destroy enemies, some will reveal a multitude of power-ups you can collect. Small capsules are smart bombs, which will destroy all small enemies on screen, and damage larger ones. You can stock up to 10 of those. "P" capsules are for powering up your tank. However, in order to gain a power level, you have to collect 10 of them. Doing so upgrades your laser to a double-shot laser. Doing so a 2nd time upgrades to a sort of energy ball that waves back and forth. Small "L" chips refill a single bar of tank armor, and the larger "L" capsule refills a much larger portion of your tank's armor. For each enemy you destroy, you receive experience points. Small enemies grant 1 point, larger enemies usually grant 2 or 3. For each 100 points you earn, you level up, and your tank's armor bar becomes larger. The tank can be leveled up to 6 levels, effectively doubling the amount of hits you can take from like enemies.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLTWu_jc6Knvvgg9dBMLk9CImM1FkZk5-iQeZn_QjQA7XX_xXW_7qP4sGbPNi8KRcoxaI-0sM7d86srrqVJP1ZDK_ez_X9GA5_DJVcUJqKw_DPD5bWnDThFFzerYc3Aqkfy3s21by-M0A/s1600/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLTWu_jc6Knvvgg9dBMLk9CImM1FkZk5-iQeZn_QjQA7XX_xXW_7qP4sGbPNi8KRcoxaI-0sM7d86srrqVJP1ZDK_ez_X9GA5_DJVcUJqKw_DPD5bWnDThFFzerYc3Aqkfy3s21by-M0A/s320/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_06.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This tank is all about that base.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the overhead sections, you drive around the map, blasting enemies, looking for what to do. There are small bases on each map that serve different purposes. Some bases will give you information about your objective, some refill your life, and some provide upgrades to your tank. Each of the main planets past the first one has a different upgrade, and though you can select the levels to traverse to past the initial planet, some planets aren't really passable until you have a certain upgrade. As you travel around the overhead maps, your goal should be to destroy enemies and level up your tank as much as possible. In additional to the bases, you will also discover caverns and tunnels that you'll need to enter.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz5Ut5T5pia51ufJUwvTRiQDJBPYiZFSh_u9RG9QHt3VtIK7LgUH010UM2M-Sbg9RJGwAfuw1LRARNf0zW_QIBW00wHe5AH33Cb2_sCsfRSR1eBoVp1AxUAZ7nEDwQrizHKf14BL4Fttk/s1600/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz5Ut5T5pia51ufJUwvTRiQDJBPYiZFSh_u9RG9QHt3VtIK7LgUH010UM2M-Sbg9RJGwAfuw1LRARNf0zW_QIBW00wHe5AH33Cb2_sCsfRSR1eBoVp1AxUAZ7nEDwQrizHKf14BL4Fttk/s320/Cosmo+Tank+%2528U%2529_07.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">When paused, you can see what level you're at, how much</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">experience you've gained, and what your laser power is.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Inside the caverns and tunnels is the 2nd type of gameplay introduced here. Rather than the overhead free-roaming shooter style, the game switches instead to a first-person dungeon crawler type of game. Your only moves are to either move forward, or to turn left or right. As you explore each cavern, you may find yourself suddenly in an enemy encounter, with the enemy shooting at you, and moving either left or right, around your tank. The radar shows you that the enemy can move around you, and you can swivel your tank's cannon around to fight the enemy. In this battle style, enemy projectiles only hurt you if they collide with your ship in a relatively head-on manner. So if an enemy is off to one side or another, and they're firing straight ahead, but the shot isn't hitting your tank in roughly the middle third of the view, you won't take damage. This becomes a critical strategic element throughout the game. Once the enemy is destroyed, your tank cannon swivels back to its previous cardinal position, and you continue to wander through the cavern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">In these first-person enemy encounters, you can move the targeting</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">reticle up and down to track the enemy's movement as you fire.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the tunnels, your goal will be to take out the "Life Core" of each base, which is a fancy way of saying you fight a boss. In addition to these life core boss encounters, you also have to take out a Control Tower, and often smaller life core units which are stationary and just fire away at you. Once you destroy the Life Core, you'll get access to a map of the cavern (basically after your need for it has expired), and you'll get a brief sense of where you may need to go to find the exit. Also, destroying a Life Core means your health will be refilled, which is always a plus. Upon finding the exit, you'll be thrust once more into the top-down perspective so you can find the next objective, which is usually either another tunnel to explore, or if you've rooted them all out, finding the base where you can get off the rock you're on and travel to another planet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A lot of the enemies in this game seem to have a crustacean theme.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Perhaps someone on the Asuka Technologies roster was a <i>Darius</i> fan?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This brings about gameplay type 3: the vertical scrolling shoot-em-up. As a fan of shmups, the prospect of a shooter inside an existing game intrigues and usually excites me. Here, however, it's just your tank transforming into a spaceship, <i>Guardian Legend</i>-style, and flying from the planet you just conquered to the next one you choose on the selection screen. The shooter levels are pretty basic and nondescript, with the same weapon you had in the overhead stages available at your disposal to take out enemies, as well as the same stock of smart bombs. Enemy waves and patterns are pretty boring, though they do come quickly, so be on your guard. There's not much to these levels, however, and they lack variety.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">You always start on Planet Desa, but after you defeat that planet's</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Life Core, you can choose which planet to travel to next.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As I mentioned earlier, the game isn't entirely linear, because you can choose which planet to go to after you complete the objectives on Planet Desa. This is a tad misleading, however, because some items are required to progress very far. For instance, you can't progress across spots in the overhead sections where the ground is mostly water without the "Hover Unit" which you'll acquire from Planet Monoa, and you need the "Shield Unit", obtained from Planet Gadam in order to drive over places where the ground looks "broken". So while there's some freedom to go and grind for experience and "P" capsules to power up your ship, assuming you did so on Planet Desa already, chances are, you'll already be at full power and such an act will be redundant. I will say, you'll stand little chance of success if you try to go after Planet DN-1 without the other upgrades, however, especially the "Pulse Unit" from Planet Aquel, which allows you to charge up your main shot to a powerful energy ball. This becomes essential for boss encounters later on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Gotta love the "warp tunnel" effect in the shooter stages.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a couple additional mechanics thrown in for good measure. One is on Planet Aquel, with a secondary boss fight. Taking the form of the overhead tank sections, you fight a large lobster-like creature that throws duel boomerangs at you. Assuming your main laser is fully powered up, you can make quick work of him, though his pattern does take a bit to discover. It's similar to the other overhead tank sections, except that you're confined to a single screen, there's no background, and it's literally just a dark screen with you and the boss. It's the most "normal" action game boss encounter in the game. In addition, once you've completed all 5 planets, a 6th planet, Gidoro, opens up, and at the end of the shoot-em-up sequence, you get to fight the Planet Gidoro itself, which is sort of a giant scarab beetle thing that shoots at you as you attempt to shoot at it while dodging its onslaught.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Here's that lobster boss I mentioned before from Planet Aquel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Send him back to the dinner table where he belongs!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Graphically, the game is quite good, especially for such an early title. Having been released not much more than a year after the Game Boy's release, the sprite design is quite good, with a cool tank design, a nice heads-up display for the first person sections, nicely done terrain graphics that make excellent use of the Game Boy's limited 4-shades of green, and overall, the enemy designs are detailed and nice to look at. The tank has a satisfying "shudder" effect signifying its size and tank-like movement, as well as when it takes damage, and there's a cool explosion effect when you destroy the falling meteors on Gadam or in the shooter portions. The larger Life Core bosses are all interesting, and the graphics convey, as much as is possible on the platform, that sense of depth you need in the first person areas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">A couple planets have these annoying barriers you can only clear</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">by using smart bombs. Conserve them well, or you'll have to grind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the audio department, the game is also strong. The music is generally fitting in the game, with a nice upbeat tune playing during the overhead sections, complete with a nice little bridge riff that makes you think the song is going to completely rock out for a bit, then settling back into the groove. Music in the caverns is more atmospheric, with different themes, depending on whether you're tackling a primary cave with the full Life Core, or just a smaller cavern with a Control Tower, and the shooter sections have their own theme as well. There are short little tunes that play when you go into a base, and when certain objectives are met. Sound effects are generally good as well, with better overall sound design than the usual fare you might expect from an early Game Boy title.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The primary strategy for first-person boss encounters is to stay off to</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the side until an opportunity presents itself to fire, then move in so</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">you can line up your targeting reticle to hit the boss. Just be careful</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">not to stare head-on for too long, lest you get blasted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By this point in the review, some of you reading may be wondering, with all that I've described, how can this not be the greatest Game Boy game of 1990? I can answer that with a single word: execution. The scope of this game's design is impressive. With everything Asuka Technologies attempted to do, it's easy to take this game's size and scope and see it as a win. However, none of the elements in the game are fully realized, and end up being a bit half-baked. The overhead sections play fine, but the limited enemy patterns and endless waves coming at you is a cheap mechanic that substitutes for better designed enemy encounters. Some of the enemy wave patterns are cheap, and will inevitably result in taking damage. Yes, you can get "L" chips and "L" capsules to refill, and there are bases where you can refill life, but practically forcing you to take damage due to a combination of endless enemies and sluggish, awkward tank movement is hardly good design. The first person sections are better, with the kind of atmospheric, sparse design you want, fewer enemy encounters and all, but the mazes are a bit pedestrian, and the non-boss Life Cores and Control Towers are completely devoid of any challenge due to the "middle 1/3" hitbox I mentioned earlier. Shoot and dodge, shoot and dodge, ad infinitum, until the core is destroyed. It seems more like an empty sub-boss fight than if it was just a stationary object for you to destroy. The shooter portions are also pretty sparse and underwhelming. They don't have interesting enemy patterns, and aside from the cool meteor explosion effects I mentioned, are hardly noteworthy, especially since there's only 1 of them, just prior to Planet Gidoro, that culminates in a boss battle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Life Cores on Planet Gidoro are all the previous Life Cores you</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">have faced, effectively culminating in a sort of boss rush before</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the final encounter with the mad scientist and his ultimate weapon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In addition to the stunning mediocrity of each gameplay type's implementation, there are also additional flaws that weigh the experience down. If you die in either the overhead or first person sections, you lose all your weapon and health upgrades. Despite the fact that you have to grind to achieve these upgrades, one death and it's back to square one, much like a shoot-em-up game from the same era. Because of the possibility of taking damage during a Life Core encounter, your best bet is to go grinding in the overhead area to get back to full health and laser upgrades, because otherwise, even the smaller life core and control tower fights will take a long time, because you'll be pelting those units with the weakest cannon in the game. Another oddity - your laser maxes out at Level 3, but you can still collect up to 9 "P" capsules above that, though it has no additional effect to your weapon's power. It's unfortunately that the development team didn't see fit to make weapon and/or health upgrades stay with you after a couple planets, so you're not back to a beginner power level when you die.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Even if you're fully powered up, the final boss takes a LOT of damage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are enough objectives to complete in this game that the lack of a save or password system hurts it quite a bit. If you sat down to play through this game, you could probably do the whole thing in a little under an hour, assuming you know all the tricks, but as a portable game, especially one that has you grinding for power-ups, with as much as there is to do to complete each planet, it would have been nice to have a password system, at a bare minimum, so you could play through a planet, complete its objectives, and then have that password to go back to. If this were a NES game, it would be less an issue, but as a portable experience, that should have been part of the design concept. If that wasn't enough, there's no way to pause the game during boss encounters, either in first-person, or during the "lobster" sequence, or during the first-person enemy encounters. Once you're engaged in those battles, it's all or nothing. This is a relatively fatal flaw in my estimation, because you're talking about a game designed for a portable system that may need to be paused at any time, due to the times when one might be playing a game like this. It's a rather egregious omission that just puts the sour cherry on top of the bitter sundae.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Planet Gidoro goes up in smoke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite the game's flaws, it has its fans. I read through a couple reviews that highly praised the game for its use of multiple styles, excellent graphics, and sound design. I can't fault those sentiments, because I echo them. But when you cross genres like this, and none of the elements you present are fleshed out enough to feel fully realized, it lowers the excitement and hampers the overall experience. Add the additional design flaws/omissions, and the entire package comes out half-baked. Had Asuka developed this for the NES, and added the other elements and refined it somewhat, I think it could have been a game that is as fondly remembered as something like <i>Blaster Master</i>. There's so much potential here, but it's unfortunately squandered by the game's inherent shortcomings. Having said all that, there's fun to be had here, and if you can pick it up for $5 or less like I did, you might still get a kick out of it. Don't get suckered into paying much for it, however, because the final product probably isn't worth laying out much cash in order to experience.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-76363008553215649602016-08-27T16:44:00.000-05:002016-08-27T16:45:52.378-05:00Castlevania: The Adventure (1989)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio50CqpBSDxcPr5jn5bxHYBPcbcnX0pVZSR323e9B7sFJV5OzMb-wDQMsXhkRDT14ro2I4R_PA6wh8N8KQ_Z-MuH8CJ-CkVwtZ9WTuMjOWmYKCaM_S414WlpNjCS5KEuQmoOP_heVmmMM/s1600/Castlevania+Adventure+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio50CqpBSDxcPr5jn5bxHYBPcbcnX0pVZSR323e9B7sFJV5OzMb-wDQMsXhkRDT14ro2I4R_PA6wh8N8KQ_Z-MuH8CJ-CkVwtZ9WTuMjOWmYKCaM_S414WlpNjCS5KEuQmoOP_heVmmMM/s320/Castlevania+Adventure+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly stolen from the <a href="http://castlevania.wikia.com/" target="_blank">Castlevania Wikia</a> page.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">When I was a kid, this was the baddest looking box art in all the land</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">when it came to Game Boy games. And by bad, I mean AWESOME.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nostalgia can be a very powerful force. It can make adults look back fondly on all sorts of things that, viewed objectively, probably aren't as great as we remember them. For a child of the 80's, that can be almost anything. From VCRs and teased hair to classic cartoons and our favorite movies and video games, there are times when it's hard to take a step back and look at those old favorites with a more critical eye. Sure, that one Poison album might be one of your favorites of all time, but musically, does it still hold up? What about your favorite childhood cartoon...could you watch it today without cringing or thinking it's nothing but pure cheese?</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgga5Axlywi9RpdE7jfpnhwvXtSkiL1POVRBVI0hQ0WW0YmfM6cghyphenhyphen-UV-dLHenEK86463vYSDB1lNnMygnP0kUwSltvSSleNHrjUcB7346eUKva3so7x8Bv2Vl9Z0YD0QuiOwWXriUc3o/s1600/Castlevania+Adventure%252C+The+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgga5Axlywi9RpdE7jfpnhwvXtSkiL1POVRBVI0hQ0WW0YmfM6cghyphenhyphen-UV-dLHenEK86463vYSDB1lNnMygnP0kUwSltvSSleNHrjUcB7346eUKva3so7x8Bv2Vl9Z0YD0QuiOwWXriUc3o/s320/Castlevania+Adventure%252C+The+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_01.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Seeing that <i>Castlevania</i> logo on the little screen was a sight to behold.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now think about your favorite video games as a child. Sure, some of them probably stand the test of time. But for every <i>Super Mario Bros</i> or <i>Contra</i>, there's always a handful of games that we may still hold in high regard and still have much affection for. If we could set aside our own memories and youthful experiences, would we still hold those works in the same esteem? For me, one of those games is Konami's <i>Castlevania: </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adventure</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> on the Game Boy.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtIvSiHjoiYL8PUNie7B7v4khge5wdnSMFr6oLxqA_BkiMn_ycLQqQG6tmxmV5l_hbuHcN99JvYIRiUyPcdCw3_uRqR8gK1aFCKVB1jTPb3osJ5x_3fGEbPPPqqLqPJP2cu29Z77Y8GrM/s1600/Castlevania+Adventure%252C+The+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtIvSiHjoiYL8PUNie7B7v4khge5wdnSMFr6oLxqA_BkiMn_ycLQqQG6tmxmV5l_hbuHcN99JvYIRiUyPcdCw3_uRqR8gK1aFCKVB1jTPb3osJ5x_3fGEbPPPqqLqPJP2cu29Z77Y8GrM/s320/Castlevania+Adventure%252C+The+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_02.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notice the flaming end of the whip - that little fireball is destined for</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">the "mud man" enemy, otherwise known in the manual as "Madman".</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I probably mentioned this in <a href="http://gameboyguru.blogspot.com/2015/03/introduction-to-game-boy-guru.html" target="_blank">my first article</a>, but I'll recap for context. My parents wouldn't let me own a games console, because they said (rightly so) that I would monopolize the TV, as the family had just one. Thus, if I wanted to play something other than simple early PC games, I needed to save my money and buy a Game Boy. I dutifully saved my allowance, and upon my 13th birthday, my parents took the money I saved and bought me the Game Boy, and then bought <i>Castlevania: </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adventure</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> as my birthday present that year. 1990 became a seminal year for me as a gamer, and cemented the love for the hobby as I poured all my free time into playing on that little grey brick. Much of that time was spent on </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tetris</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, to be sure, but </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Castlevania: </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adventure</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> got a lot of play that first year, and for good reason. Having played a couple of the NES </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Castlevania</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> games, it was a marvel to me that they could take that experience, and downsize it for the Game Boy screen, albeit somewhat reduced in terms of game mechanics. Even so, it was a wondrous thing to 13-year old me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The design team liked to use this tactic a lot - put a candle out of</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">reach </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">to all but those who would keep the fireball power-up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Looking back at those times, I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents at their house, taking the Game Boy with me, and sitting between my grandfather's rocking chair and the bookcase against the wall, huddled in the corner underneath his reading lamp, playing <i>Castlevania: </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The </i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Adventure</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> while listening to my grandparents and my parents talk. I would occasionally steal away to the kitchen for a jelly bean, or gladly turn it off for a bowl of homemade ice cream, but I whiled away many a Friday evening in just that way. I remember the feeling of victory every time I would make it past Stage 2, and the even greater sense of accomplishment when I had bested Stage 3. I also fondly remember beating Dracula at my grandparents' house, and gleefully showing my parents that I had finally beat the game, after months of chipping away at it. Not that they cared, but as a young gamer, it was a triumphant moment.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY55gHDT8BytxmYtdSkQ6jttePareDmqPOUzfeo9BE_Z0wyWf4wuiJ5e5WYtOu1gL1eRXLB81sLPOc3g1e1pIe8upMesb9PP56BXQjrb6TAheUq7bLQQ_7UfRZUtmnjf-1hWo2r9VMnHI/s1600/Castlevania+Adventure%252C+The+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY55gHDT8BytxmYtdSkQ6jttePareDmqPOUzfeo9BE_Z0wyWf4wuiJ5e5WYtOu1gL1eRXLB81sLPOc3g1e1pIe8upMesb9PP56BXQjrb6TAheUq7bLQQ_7UfRZUtmnjf-1hWo2r9VMnHI/s320/Castlevania+Adventure%252C+The+%2528U%2529+%255B%2521%255D_04.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">At first, the Stage 02 "Under Mole" boss is a huge pain. Once you</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">know where to stand and when to whip, it becomes no sweat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the surface, the game looks excellent. The development team that handled this game certainly got a lot out of the Game Boy during its formative first few months, with good graphics that included nice layered backgrounds, a good use of the Game Boy's 4-shades of green in terms of shading, background elements, and enemy/item recognition, and an overall atmospheric aesthetic that recalled earlier games in the series, but having its own unique flavor. The sprite for Simon Belmont's predecessor, Christopher Belmont, is recognizable in its basic form, and animates well enough, in similar fashion to the NES classics it is loosely based upon. The familiar candles flicker in a simple, but effective 2-frame animation, and when you whip enemies, they die in a satisfying little burst of flame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A descending ceiling of spikes is not my idea of a good time!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The soundtrack is one of the highlights of the game. Hats off to composers </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shigeru Fukutake, Norio Hanzawa, and Hidehiro Funauchi for their work on the game, because the music here, particularly that of the first 2 stages, is impeccable. The melodies are memorable and stay with you, long after you power off your Game Boy. The sound effects are also well done, with a nice whip sound, and a satisfying little "crunch" sound when you destroy a candle or vanquish a foe. The coin pickup and power-up sounds are all familiar, and hearken back to the halcyon days of 8-bits and game design teams using basic hardware to make excellent sound. This game is truly one of the highlights of early Game Boy titles when it comes to sound design.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>Castlevania: The Adventure</i> State 01 music. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Stick this in your ear</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">holes </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">tell me it doesn't get stuck in your head. I dare you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Game play is basic, with you controlling Christopher Belmont, running (or sauntering, more on that later) right to left, or sometimes left to right, whipping floating candlesticks for power-ups, and enemies in your path. Unlike the first NES <i>Castlevania</i> game, there's no sub-weapon here, so rather than hearts giving you ammo for a secondary attack method, they restore life, like you would normally see in other games. Coins are strictly for points, and littered around the game, you'll stumble upon the occasional 1up, as well as strategically placed whip upgrades, in the form of a dark sphere. Your basic whip is a thin, stringy thing, and often takes 2 or more uses to kill anything. Upgrade once, and it's a thick, braided powerhouse with a ball at the end. Upgrade a second time, and your whip can suddenly throw fireballs. It's an interesting twist to the 2-upgrade system introduced in the first game, and it gives the player options in terms of eliminating obstacles, as well as reaching some candlesticks. Each time you get hit, you lose one level of whip upgrade, so two hits and you're back to the thin whip. Get hit enough to drain your lifebar, and it's a trip to the woodshed for Mr. Belmont. Thankfully, you get 3 lives to start with, and you can earn an additional life at 10,000 points, and more after each successive 20,000 point total. You also get a small handful of continues, in case you die. Let's face it: unless you're a <i>Castlevania</i> wunderkind, you'll die - a lot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Not all bosses in the game are very true to the <i>Castlevania</i> aesthetic,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">but this rib cage-bearing bat creature certainly is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The chief complaint leveled against this game is its speed, or rather, the lack thereof. As I mentioned previously, Christopher Belmont saunters along at a snail's pace, and everything in the game seems to follow suit. Granted, for the game's difficulty, that helps a little, but it certainly counts as a negative. I don't happen to think it's quite as sluggish as some would say, but I will concede that it hampers the game somewhat. Secondly, the game's difficulty is quite high. This is offset somewhat by there only being 4 stages, but there are moments where you're almost guaranteed to get hit by an enemy projectile (like those wretched bouncing balls spit out by the Punaguchi). Some spots require near pixel-perfect jumps, and to expect that on the DMG's tiny screen is pretty harsh. It can be done, but it sours the experience. In addition, the aforementioned Punaguchi's make things very difficult in Stage 2 and 3, and if you don't have the timing down of when they spit out the large attack balls, or know where to stand so you can whip them, you'll almost certainly take at least one, if not two hits, as there's no way to avoid taking damage otherwise. Worse yet, if you take a hit or two, and are relegated back to the weakest whip, it takes 4 whips to kill them. These vile creatures rank up there with the bats in the original NES <i>Ninja Gaiden</i> as some of the most annoying, hard to avoid enemies out there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Stage 03 starts out with background armor suddenly springing forth</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">to take out Christopher Belmont, so stay on your toes. Also, the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">music in this stage makes great use of stereo separation and panning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Playing this game again, I start to see my love and nostalgia for it slowly erode as I'm batted around by bouncing balls (yes, the game has knockback like its predecessors), expected to make pixel-perfect jumps, and in a constant state of frustration due to the game's less than stellar design. I still contend that it's not quite as horrible as some make it out to be, but I'm beginning to see that this adventure isn't quite the paragon of early Game Boy action platforming that I originally thought it was. Konami eclipsed this later with the sequel, as well as the <i>Contra</i> game <i>Operation C</i>, as well as other later Game Boy releases. The game becomes a blurry mess on the original Game Boy screen, and it makes me wonder how I ever endured playing it with all that blur. I tried to play it again on the DMG recently, and was shocked at just how blurry it was. Perhaps I've been spoiled with the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">all the years</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I'v</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e owned them, but the system this game was designed for certainly shows its age when you play a game like this that requires a sharp eye and great timing and reflexes. It makes for a very difficult experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">I lost many a life here at this spot as a child. Sadly, it's still the spot</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">that claims my stock of extra lives, mostly because I suck at the</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">timing of these spiked beams.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ideally, if one is to play this game today, it's via the Super Game Boy or Game Boy Player, or perhaps even on the 3DS via the Virtual Console. Not that I'm recommending that course of action. Sadly, I can't even give this a casual recommendation, even as much as I played and enjoyed it as a kid. It's fraught with too many design and execution flaws that the game's good graphics and excellent soundtrack can't rise above. Loose carts aren't expensive, by any means, and you could pick this one up for under $10, but unless you're nostalgic for when games kicked your butt 10 ways from Sunday, or are a complete masochist looking for a short challenge, I'd skip this one. Definitely a "try before you buy" game in today's context. Sadly, I must own up to having seen this game through "nostalgia goggles" for the last couple decades, and admit that it's just not that good.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-75682690377330836522016-05-13T21:33:00.002-05:002018-04-03T16:12:56.581-05:00Flipull (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDNZ5GQJkbnmyuHs8yWeeii-sK4tZj2qSNof80TLKLyFXTDh6OCi88-5pSdMOtv54V81zjjgdX6vOLpBOF2cRAjO5c0ZAAibWTHvunTDarcF4y3PjhsvSZLksTa0uDDznUlnBuTstS-Ew/s1600/Flipull+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDNZ5GQJkbnmyuHs8yWeeii-sK4tZj2qSNof80TLKLyFXTDh6OCi88-5pSdMOtv54V81zjjgdX6vOLpBOF2cRAjO5c0ZAAibWTHvunTDarcF4y3PjhsvSZLksTa0uDDznUlnBuTstS-Ew/s320/Flipull+box.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQs</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Nothing says 1990 like ransom note style text, bright colors, and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">a pun on the word "tubular". Michaelangelo, the Teenage Mutant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Ninja Turtle, would be so proud, and would totally play this game,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">if he had small enough "fingers" to hold a Game Boy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While I have tried to, thus far in the Game Boy Guru project, show a balanced set of games, with carts spanning multiple genres, for those unaware, something needs to be put on the table right now. The Game Boy has a LOT of puzzle games. We got quite a few in the US, though there are even more in Japan. Jeremy Parish, who does the excellent <a href="http://www.gameboyworld.com/" target="_blank">Game Boy World</a> series, has lamented the glut of puzzle games on the Game Boy throughout several of his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrIttXi0WgLXHI1poCk0D6g" target="_blank">YouTube videos</a>, because you can only have so many puzzle games to play before the novelty wears off. The overwhelming barrage of puzzlers makes sense, however, given the original hardware's limitations, what with its decidedly underpowered CPU, its small dot-matrix screen, and tendency to blur horribly when playing anything with fast action. The real trick for developers was to come up with a unique way of implementing puzzle solving that was just different enough to warrant folks spending their hard-earned cash to buy yet another game in the genre. Thankfully, <i>Flipull</i> has two advantages: being early enough in the system's life to beat the glut, and setting itself apart enough to matter, even after the flood of "me too" puzzle games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm still not clear what "AN EXCITING CUBE GAME" means, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Taito.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Flipull</i> is not an original Game Boy title, but rather, a conversion of an arcade game by the moniker <i>Plotting</i>. It saw a Famicom and Game Boy release in Japan, though curiously, only hit the Game Boy in the US. I confirmed with noted UK Game Boy expert <a href="https://twitter.com/GameBoyle" target="_blank">Matt</a>, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOIH-vSY5dondxnPMT7QdDA" target="_blank">Game Boyle</a>, that <i>Flipull</i> did not, insofar as he's aware, receive a European release. The rather exhaustive game database at <a href="http://www.rfgeneration.com/" target="_blank">RF Generation</a> also shows in a cursory search for <i>Flipull</i> that only 3 versions of the game exist by that name, the Japanese and US Game Boy versions, and the Japanese Famicom version. Though the game was released in the arcade as <i>Plotting</i>, and apparently ported to a number of European micro-computers during the 1980's, most notably the ZX Spectrum and Commodore Amiga, curiously none of those versions appear to exist in the database.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">So I'm a tiny blob throwing blocks at other blocks, and then after I bit</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">a block, another block comes flying back at me. It's all fun and games</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">until someone loses an eye.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've been unable to find a scan of the game's manual online anywhere, and despite the fact that the US <i>Flipull</i> cart is quite common, I've not stumbled across the manual in the wild as of yet. As such, the only documentation I was able to find on the Game Boy version was a relatively small <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/gameboy/585716-flipull/faqs/20270" target="_blank">FAQ over at GameFAQs</a>, and that barely covers how to play the game. I also found a <a href="http://gamesdbase.com/Media/SYSTEM/Arcade//Manual/formated/Flipull_-_1989_-_Taito.pdf" target="_blank">PDF scan</a> of the US arcade version manual, which gives a brief overview of how to play the game, as well as noting that there are (in the arcade original, anyway), 60 stages. I have been unable to confirm that in the Game Boy version thus far, because it's a difficult game, and I've not been able to complete it. Even so, it's a hard enough game that I suspect even the most skilled puzzle gamers may find some real challenge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">How is it that the incoming block only lands on top of you when you</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">have no moves left? Or is it just beside you, and you, as the blob,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">are just beside yourself with shame in knowing you failed your task?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The basic premise is as follows: you are a blob creature, and you are given a block with the letter "S" on it. When you throw that block at any other block, you clear it (and any blocks just like it directly connected to the target block in the same trajectory), and whatever block it hits next, gets "flipped" back to you, and that becomes the next block you throw. There are 4 basic block types: a block with an "X" in the middle, a block with a smaller square in the center, a dark block with a white diamond, and a block with an upside down "T" that looks a bit like the t-shaped tetrad from <i>Tetris</i>. If my first statement about clearing blocks didn't make sense, let me set the stage. If you have an "X" block that you're throwing at another "X" block, and there's an upside down "T" block behind it, you'll clear one "X" block, replace the upside down "T" block with the "X" block you threw, and the "T" block will be thrown back at you. If there are more than 1 of the "X" block in line (vertically or horizontally) with the "X" block you're aiming at, and they line up with the direction you've thrown the "X" block, all those blocks will clear, save for the one you just threw, and whatever the next non "X" block is, that's what will be thrown back to you. If the block you just received has a corresponding block you can throw at, the process repeats. If not, you "MISS" and lose a life, denoted by the "S" block at the bottom right of the screen. Your blob can only move up or down on the playing field, so in order to throw blocks to places you could only target vertically, you have to throw against part of the stationary wall blocks, and a handy-dandy arrow will show you which column you're aiming for. Clear as mud?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Ooh, a swing and a miss for the rookie! Tough break, kid!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In practice, it's actually more intuitive than my overly verbose description might make you think, and once you start playing, it's something you pick up on rather quickly. Toward the top-right corner of the screen, you see "CLEAR" and a number below it - that number is the maximum number of blocks that need to be left on the screen to clear a level. "TIME" is, of course, the amount of time you have left to play a stage, and "BLOCK" shows how many blocks are actually left in a level. Once you reach the max number of blocks in a level, the stage doesn't automatically end, however. If there are still available moves and time, you can continue playing until you're out of moves. This is advantageous, as you score additional bonus points for clearing more blocks than what you need to reach the "CLEAR" total. As you advance a few levels, you begin to have obstacle "pipe" blocks in the stage that you can throw against to catch blocks 1 column closer to you, or if you throw against stationary wall blocks, you can often pass through the pipe block to reach whatever is below it. As the game goes on, each stage will have more and more blocks, more obstacles, and less time to reach your goal, so you have to manage your time very effectively in order to complete a level.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">That little blob jumps pretty high when clearing a level. I suppose</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">if I were just a blob, such things would excite me like that as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A couple other considerations: first, if you're targeting blocks vertically, and you clear the last one from the column you just threw the block at, rather than disappearing, the last block will be flipped back to you, so you have to be careful to not pull such a maneuver too early in the level, lest you waste "S" blocks. Second, for each block you clear on a level beyond the "CLEAR" count, you earn 1,000 bonus points. If the "CLEAR" count is 9, and you have 9 left on screen when there are no more moves, you get 1,000 bonus points, but for each block you eliminate below that total, you get an additional 1,000 points. So if the "CLEAR" count is 9, but you finish the level with just 7 blocks left, that's 3,000 bonus points. In addition, for every second left when you finish the level, you earn an extra 10 points, so between that and the block count, you can really rack up the score if you can think on your feet and act quickly, decisively, and most of all, correctly during each stage. The other major consideration is that each level is randomly generated, which means no two experiences will be the same, at least not unless you play the game a lot. So each time you go into <i>Flipull</i>, you have to be cognizant about the moves you're making and think critically.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">As mentioned, you can rack up a lot of points simply by playing<br />each </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">stage carefully to eliminate as many blocks as possible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't have any information about how well this game sold, but I do remember seeing quite a few ads for it as a kid, and I remember it getting generally positive reviews. I also remember being intrigued by it, but never remember seeing it in stores when I went to buy the occasional Game Boy game. Either that, or I was already set on which game I wanted to buy, and had tunnel vision when I got to the store. Despite that, it seems to be quite common, which is good, because it's a good game that, for puzzle enthusiasts, is worth a look. I haven't played enough of them yet to know whether this would be considered a top-tier Game Boy puzzler, but I certainly had fun with it, and it has an addictive quality that makes me want to keep trying, even though it brings a relatively stiff challenge. I paid $7 for my copy, which is close to the current (as of this writing) average price of a loose cart on eBay. If you can score it for less, go for it. If not, it's still a good game, and has enough content to keep you coming back, assuming you enjoy puzzles. If so, give <i>Flipull</i> a try. Hopefully, you'll be entertained as I was. Casually recommended.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-51243535491396280282016-05-05T20:29:00.001-05:002016-05-05T20:29:19.096-05:00The Cultural Impact Of The Game Boy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2voRmAjefnfUIRULTY6tH8olBhxryclSXcyEZvqsNyTPDDpxaRVm81uxYGBl_Be4JOYT5hBOiCK_aOyJvY7T1uDVaLvOAWlO-WSR2Plcu3Asa-yuTeuQJaernXLNitSVUsUeQ9_608LY/s1600/Game+Boy+advertisement+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2voRmAjefnfUIRULTY6tH8olBhxryclSXcyEZvqsNyTPDDpxaRVm81uxYGBl_Be4JOYT5hBOiCK_aOyJvY7T1uDVaLvOAWlO-WSR2Plcu3Asa-yuTeuQJaernXLNitSVUsUeQ9_608LY/s400/Game+Boy+advertisement+01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.usgamer.net/" target="_blank">USGamer</a>. This ad really shows the diversity of the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Game Boy game library. Represented here, we have 2 puzzle games, 2 racing games,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">an action/platformer adventure title, an action puzzler, a beat-em-up, a shoot-em-up,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">a sports game, a light-hearted action title, and a puzzle/adventure game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I work in healthcare. More specifically, I'm an "IT guy", one of those overly geeky "computer nerds" who takes care of all things technology. I work for a hospital, and we work, in turn, with a local nursing home. I was visiting that location a few weeks ago, when I was struck by a conversation I overheard. There was some apparent shuffling that needed to take place of some people within the organization, and the woman who was doing most of the talking stated that they need to effectively "play <i>Tetris</i>" with some people and some rooms. This woman is probably a few years younger than I am, and she was speaking to another person who is several years older. Both parties knew what the other was talking about, and the <i>Tetris</i> comment was clearly understood. This isn't the only gaming-related phrasing or metaphor I've heard from people I wouldn't consider to be "gamers" in the traditional sense, but as I've begun to collect a large number of Game Boy carts, and consumed a lot of related content on the internet, it got me thinking about the long-term cultural impact of the Game Boy, and the legacy it has created.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The ubiquity of <i>Tetris</i> is due, in no small part, to Nintendo wisely choosing to include it with the original Game Boy upon its launch in North America. Sure, everyone knows now what a great game <i>Tetris</i> is, but looking back 30 years ago, who would have thought that an obscure, Russian-designed computer puzzle game would have had such widespread appeal and acclaim? Who would have guessed that the game would be referenced in casual conversation like my example above, talking about having to rearrange things, much like you do in the game? I seriously doubt many would have had the foresight to predict such a thing. Nintendo themselves knew they had a hit on their hand, when they licensed it for the home console market, but I don't think anyone at Nintendo could have foreseen the runaway success their little handheld would bring them.</span><br />
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<a href="http://cdn62.geekinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Alexey-Pajitnov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn62.geekinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Alexey-Pajitnov.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://www.alchetron.com/" target="_blank">Alchetron</a>.<br />The fact that Alexey Pajitnov isn't a multi-millionaire because of <i>Tetris</i><br />is a sad result of the USSR, as well as the perils of software licensing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you look at handheld gaming from the mid-1970's until 1989 when the Game Boy was introduced, you'll find that while Nintendo wasn't the first to offer a portable gaming system with interchangeable cartridges, they were the first to do so successfully. Most famously, the first handheld game console with individual cartridges was Milton Bradley's Microvision in 1979, though its relatively modest success was short-lived, and the line was discontinued in 1981. A few other companies put products into the market between 1981 and the Game Boy's North American debut in 1989, but none of them were met with much success, and often had a lot of shortcomings due to utilizing relatively old technology. Nintendo's entry into the handheld gaming console market (not just single-game portable machines) was a landmark that would forever alter the course of gaming.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The interesting thing was, as the technology to make a powerful, handheld gaming system came into being, Nintendo wasn't the only company to be developing such a concept. Epyx, a software company fresh off a handful of successful titles, began developing their own handheld gaming device in 1986, nearly a year before Game Boy designer Gunpei Yokoi began work on his handheld system. Epyx didn't have the financial capabilities to mass produce their "Portable Computer Entertainment System", however, so Atari Corp. stepped in to help them make it a reality. If only the Atari Lynx had debuted 6 months ahead of the Nintendo Game Boy, instead of the other way around, the gaming landscape might be somewhat different than it is today. Would the Lynx have sold enough at its initial $179.99 price point to keep Nintendo from totally dominating the handheld gaming market? Probably not, but the Game Boy might have been a bit less ubiquitous, and the poor Lynx might have become more than just the forgotten competitor from the worn out Atari.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The initial model of the Atari Lynx was quite large, and not nearly as portable as Nintendo's<br />Game Boy system, despite the latter still being a large, white plastic brick on its own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While <i>Tetris</i> was a large part of the success of the Game Boy, due to its near-universal appeal, the fact that Nintendo marketed the Game Boy so well is another factor that contributed to its runaway success. Unlike the Nintendo of the last decade or so, Nintendo in the late 1980's was dominating the market, but that didn't stop them from advertising their new product to anyone and everyone. It was marketed as a fun system with a lot of games for kids. It was marketed as "edgy" and "cool" to the teenage set. It was also marketed toward adults, as a diversion from the doldrums of daily life. Nintendo reaped the reward for all their efforts, as history has shown us, because the Game Boy line sold in the tens of millions within its first few years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Nintendo successfully fused then-modern music and fast image cuts<br />with game footage to produce this kid-centric commercial.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Look at this hip 1989 teenage boy with his cool denim jacket, his, "I'm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">ready for 1990" haircut, and his hot sneakers! Nerds like me, when I<br />was in school, would have looked up to him and his Game Boy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'd never seen this particular Game Boy TV spot before, but it truly<br />demonstrates the scope of Nintendo's advertising plan for the Game<br />Boy handheld. Serious, hard-working adults were just as much a<br />target as children, and many bought into the hype.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This is the adult-focused Game Boy commercial I remember seeing<br />as a kid, often watching prime time TV with my parents. Of course,<br />they weren't interested in such things, but many adults caught the fever.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nintendo continues to dominate the dedicated handheld gaming market today, though the ubiquitous nature of smart phones has begun to eat into the overall market share. Still, the fact that we're even playing games on our phones is itself a tribute to what Nintendo accomplished by putting real video games into our hands, not just LCD screens with static images and little interactivity. The Game Boy was the first system to market that gave the consumer a true video game experience on the go, and it was affordable to do so. They also wisely chose to include the ability to connect two Game Boy systems together via the Link Cable accessory, which came with the initial hardware, and worked with the system's pack-in game, as well as 2 of the other 5 US launch titles. I spent many hours as a kid linking up with friends for head-to-head <i>Tetris</i> and <i>Dr. Mario</i> sessions, and after buying <i>F-1 Race</i>, I even got to play that against a friend or two. It was the first time handheld gaming could be truly competitive as well, a feature that may well have been part of the inspiration for much of the online gaming boon many years later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another interesting thing about the Game Boy is that, despite the handheld lasting for nearly 10 years on the market (from its debut in April 1989 to the debut of the Game Boy Color in November 1998), there are only just over 500 original titles for the system. Several games received "Million Seller" re-issues, and some games were later reissued by other publishers (such as Sunsoft re-issuing the <i>Final Fantasy Legend</i> games), but the total number of original, licensed games released in North America was just a shade over 500. It seems odd that the Game Boy had so few games compared to the NES, which had somewhere in the 700+ range. Having said that, the Game Boy did have basically twice the size of library as its closest competitor, Sega's Game Gear, and it dwarfed the library of the Atari Lynx, which topped out around 50 titles. Despite all this, there are a number of Game Boy games that went on to spawn game series that have had lasting effects over the years. From the sleeper hit <i>Gargoyle's Quest</i> (that produced 2 console sequels) to <i>Kirby's Dream Land</i>, which continues today in new and interesting iterations, and of course, the pervasive <i>Pokémon</i> series, which sold nearly 10 million copies in the United States alone, and as history has shown, became a worldwide phenomenon, right at the end of the Game Boy's life, all thanks to some innovative gameplay mechanics and the monster collection theme. For a system 1 month away from the end of its life to have a game that became one of the system's best selling stand-alone titles is no easy feat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This iconic clip is from the 1990's TV series, <i>Picket Fences</i>. I wasn't</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">themes of the show were a bit more mature in nature, but the sheer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">mainstream saturation of the Game Boy was present in this show,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">which was targeted more at adults and teens than kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's easy to look back 25+ years and say that the Game Boy was a resounding success. By contrast, I understand why some say that Nintendo is floundering with the Wii U, and to a lesser extent, their 3DS line-up of handheld systems, despite that continuing to be a money maker. Even so, the market is a much different place now than it was during the time of the Game Boy, and there's far more competition for the same gaming space these days. Smartphones have taken over where Nintendo's white brick once ruled, and even the 3DS (and Sony's poor Vita) struggles to continue to find an audience, amid free-to-play tower defense and puzzle games. Still, all the hipsters, millennials, and soccer moms crushing candy and slashing fruit like a ninja owe the lion's share of that ubiquity to Nintendo, and their little handheld game system that could. Without the Game Boy to begin that portable gaming revolution, you probably wouldn't be reading this article, because the lasting legacy of the Game Boy would have been far less important than it actually is. For that, we all owe Nintendo a debt of gratitude. I know my life would be less interesting without having spent a lot of time with my Game Boy as a kid, and even in more recent years as I've rekindled a love for the hobby.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-70835710540678730902016-04-09T21:32:00.001-05:002016-04-09T21:32:16.845-05:004-in-1 FunPak (1992)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6xMbfMRUWBDnSFMadqyUS-v76g7UTx82XCOFcGMBUA5EYIlqRuy9opajVRrGUNoHGo5gnZr5rlgQ9wZ72QOhztBMk11zzIIrgBng-ZyER0d9YKOfRMpr0xEaGqCaR8sd7YgnN8PRqvmM/s1600/4-in-1+fun+pak+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6xMbfMRUWBDnSFMadqyUS-v76g7UTx82XCOFcGMBUA5EYIlqRuy9opajVRrGUNoHGo5gnZr5rlgQ9wZ72QOhztBMk11zzIIrgBng-ZyER0d9YKOfRMpr0xEaGqCaR8sd7YgnN8PRqvmM/s320/4-in-1+fun+pak+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Box art shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQs</a>. I don't think this box</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If it's not obvious by now, I love games. Not just video games, but board games and card games as well. I grew up playing a lot of card and board games with my family, so even though I don't get to play them as much today, I still enjoy them. Certain games stick with you, even if it has been years since you've played them. I can sit down and play certain games any time, and it doesn't take long to get back into the groove. However, some of the board games I grew up with are much harder to go back to, because I was never very good at them. Such is the case with much of this collection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">If the front cover art wasn't convincing enough, the title screen tells</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be fair, I never much played Chess, Checkers, or Reversi competitively. As for Backgammon, I never played it as a kid. I was always kind of fascinated with the idea of Backgammon, but it looked too complicated. I also don't recall any of my friends who played it. My parents had a game table that had a game called Carrom, and it had space for Backgammon, checkers, and other games, but we never played it. Regardless, I haven't played the other 3 games in years, and it shows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I really like this feature of this cart, that you can play 2 players without</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">needing a 2nd Game Boy. It was very nice of Beam Software to do so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <i>4-in-1 Fun Pak</i> consists of portable video game versions of Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, and Reversi. There are 1-player versions of each game, and 2 modes for 2 different players. The first mode allows 2 players to use the same Game Boy, and just pass it back and forth. The second is for players who have 2 Game Boys, and 2 copies of the game, like most "Game Link" supported carts. Even without having played the game yet, I was pleasantly surprised with the inclusion of the first 2-player mode, as it's not often that a game maker can, or is willing, to include such a thing. Kudos to Beam Software and Interplay for including this feature, as I'm sure it helped keep the peace amidst a few long car rides back in its day.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0W11-dZ_HgJzkBKp28nuVOon_-TYvGwlUZRzTWpvaA36U3oMvFNsRFJxIIu4Wq37PD4U8u-AdGMkIWUicA4r4KyaKbtBnstPKmSNchD8jnp0eHKAt71TbFs1ms41fVKeV6CK4iaCuqg/s1600/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_25.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0W11-dZ_HgJzkBKp28nuVOon_-TYvGwlUZRzTWpvaA36U3oMvFNsRFJxIIu4Wq37PD4U8u-AdGMkIWUicA4r4KyaKbtBnstPKmSNchD8jnp0eHKAt71TbFs1ms41fVKeV6CK4iaCuqg/s320/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_25.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This screen makes Checkers look A LOT more exciting than it really is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not going to go into the rules of each game, as they're all pretty common games that most anyone who has ever played a board game should at least be familiar with in name, if not having played at least one of them. Checkers is pretty widely known, and though Reversi may not be as common, but it's also known as "Go" (with slightly different rules, I believe), and was marketed in the US as <i>Othello</i> by Mattel. Backgammon is pretty much the same game all over, though depending on the layout of the board, can play slightly different, from what I understand. And of course there's the age old game of Chess, here using one of the oldest chess software engines out there, known as "Sargon". It was written as early as 1977/1978, and was apparently used in a handful of famous chess matches against other chess engines, and against real chess champions to test the engine's algorithms.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglQMnmnpjJh2otJGr9jYwnKsLs0Da1UmZAFHurFkQ2xNyrIuxAOrGeGOwKfc5ZFR4JGwhLyZTlc1j4xEuMTtm0bSqv1_eF29IHTZzcI8gy4shkp9mH-hxwKfYeD9UsyNNgYDg_G4teLMk/s1600/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglQMnmnpjJh2otJGr9jYwnKsLs0Da1UmZAFHurFkQ2xNyrIuxAOrGeGOwKfc5ZFR4JGwhLyZTlc1j4xEuMTtm0bSqv1_eF29IHTZzcI8gy4shkp9mH-hxwKfYeD9UsyNNgYDg_G4teLMk/s320/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_19.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">One assumes the name "Sargon" is a reference to the Akkadian king.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With games of this type, it's almost guaranteed that the graphics are going to be extremely basic, and totally utilitarian. If you were thinking that would be the case, you would be right. The checkerboard for Checkers and Chess looks like you would expect - black and white alternating spaces (or light green and dark green, if you're playing on the original DMG model), and the game pieces look as good (or not) as you would expect them to. The pieces in Reversi and Backgammon are as basic as they come, but they serve their function just fine. There's very little animation going on, so for playing on the original hardware, this is actually a prime game to play without having to worry about screen blur. Aside from that, there's very little here to attract you to the game, but then, if you're playing board games on a tiny 160x144 pixel screen, you're hopefully not going to expect anything too fancy.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuINcF1QnVMZwjwavqqpbyMimFgAWxM3Q_bwu76krS30oS-so-6R6pBW4X1bZmjzE8H2v6_-jwQ8rvvVjbZdAslCJ_zjMmaKwrbkrVqiRlFMEbB56iFFH7zjP-_jbc00jC36PLvW0-6Fs/s1600/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuINcF1QnVMZwjwavqqpbyMimFgAWxM3Q_bwu76krS30oS-so-6R6pBW4X1bZmjzE8H2v6_-jwQ8rvvVjbZdAslCJ_zjMmaKwrbkrVqiRlFMEbB56iFFH7zjP-_jbc00jC36PLvW0-6Fs/s320/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_24.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I was playing randomly here just to grab screenshots. One more move</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and I suffered a checkmate. That happened within 5 moves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sound is a mixed bag. The sounds that play when you select and move pieces are pretty basic beeps, which aren't too obtrusive and sound fine. The sound that plays when you make a mistake is super annoying - it's that kind of minor chord, mid-tone sound that you'd expect from the Atari 2600 or similar early 8-bit console. What's worse, it plays constantly until you either press the A or B button, or press a direction on the D-pad. If you've selected music to play, it plays over top of that as well, creating a terrible cacophony until you press a button to stop the grating sound from playing. Speaking of music, there are 2 themes you can choose from by pressing the Select button during play, choosing the "MUSIC" option, and choosing which of the 2 themes you want to listen to. Both are perfectly pleasant, and while they may get annoying after 15 or 20 minutes, they're nice little tunes that fit the slow, methodical pace of these board games.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86lhnaCk08a-jVibsHSA6urO_cTtl1BfgvOE4oUdZ9RvBRJx1Q5dF-U08Dkyq4WADJ69likKG-SN7dNvfBrQmtneycIeE_i-CPgDfGZOmtCOh7JG2mijmoVN9wPVM5F7rnyrsIcY8v_Q/s1600/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_31.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86lhnaCk08a-jVibsHSA6urO_cTtl1BfgvOE4oUdZ9RvBRJx1Q5dF-U08Dkyq4WADJ69likKG-SN7dNvfBrQmtneycIeE_i-CPgDfGZOmtCOh7JG2mijmoVN9wPVM5F7rnyrsIcY8v_Q/s320/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_31.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Did I mention that the "Invalid Move" sound is really annoying?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In terms of options, each game seems to have a number of them. Checkers, Reversi, and Backgammon each have 3 difficulties. Chess, on the other hand, has 6 in total. In Checkers and Reversi, there's a "Take Back" feature, which is sort of like an "undo" option. You can roll back moves as many times as you like, in order to get a better sense of the progression of the game, and fix your mistakes. This might seem like cheating, and in all reality it is, but used sparingly, it can give you a bit of cause and effect to help you learn the game strategies more effectively. The "Reset" option allows you to exit the game you're playing and go back to choose another, which is a nice touch. Backgammon includes the "Double" option (part of the rules of the game), as well as an "Auto Roll" feature, presumably to speed up the progress. All games include a "Swap Sides" feature as well, and this is definitely something that could be exploited to cheat and "win" the game without having to put forth the effort. I'm not sure what the purpose of that is, and since I don't have the manual, nor can I find a scan online, I honestly don't know what Beam Software was thinking by including that.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6ov1m4Nf0EqVnyeDYPMxgLYjSB2mQy3dm6LzWbRmM1LIjkvMmFrfAI7GnekxEzgOc5Sc76YuWq4Oo2Kwvu9O7deYYRFYv-swYo5Nv8qvZ375QI06zEgGO7LLTHD1D6dmzP63QFggaDI/s1600/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_37.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6ov1m4Nf0EqVnyeDYPMxgLYjSB2mQy3dm6LzWbRmM1LIjkvMmFrfAI7GnekxEzgOc5Sc76YuWq4Oo2Kwvu9O7deYYRFYv-swYo5Nv8qvZ375QI06zEgGO7LLTHD1D6dmzP63QFggaDI/s320/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_37.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">When your piece gets knocked back to the starting quadrant in</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Backgammon when your opponent is near to having all their</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">pieces at their "home quadrant", you're almost assured to have</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">a quick defeat. I wasn't far from that scenario here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mentioned it before, but it bears repeating - I really appreciate the inclusion of a "single Game Boy" feature. If you were a "typical American family" during the late 1980's or early 1990's, you probably went on a number of road trips to see family, see the sites, or just get out and drive. In order to keep the peace, before the advent of such niceties as built-in DVD players, and to prevent you from having to play the same children's song cassette 30 times, you might have bought your kids a Game Boy. If you were wealthy, you might have bought more than one, but the average middle-income family probably only owned one, unless one of the kids saved up a bunch of allowance or lawn mowing money to earn one. With potentially only one Game Boy game in the car for a multi-hour jaunt across country, this is the type of game that would have made the trip more fun, and because of the slow pace, and the fact that each of these games can be drawn out, depending on the amount of time each player takes to move, a couple kids could easily burn 20 or 30 minutes on a single game of Checkers, and more on a game of Chess. Similarly, a rousing Reversi match might be a good 15 minutes, and Backgammon would vary, though you could easily get anywhere from 10-30 minutes from a match. The original Game Boy's blur-prone screen would have had no issues with this, and as long as you were driving in good sunlight, I can see how this would have been a good choice for kids who appreciated these kinds of games off-screen.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76vL_OrkwzWCcptDxMMOwrLSzry-h5H1I7ZhMIAVKdBJeVnqJyLe-ZzCFzRNSdtE6Yk6U-WlruWp24BfzR3t7JzgdVEVoO2MLA6HPAbukth0fvfjCg3Wa0cK9h1QVp58neTWogdth3x4/s1600/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_41.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76vL_OrkwzWCcptDxMMOwrLSzry-h5H1I7ZhMIAVKdBJeVnqJyLe-ZzCFzRNSdtE6Yk6U-WlruWp24BfzR3t7JzgdVEVoO2MLA6HPAbukth0fvfjCg3Wa0cK9h1QVp58neTWogdth3x4/s320/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_41.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm getting absolutely walloped here. As you can see, the game's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">AI has doubled my score, and is well on its way to trouncing me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Incidentally, because I had never played Backgammon before, and didn't know the rules, I tried several times to play before I broke down and looked it up. I tried to read through a rules website, but quickly became bored with the dry explanation. I then went to YouTube and searched "How to play Backgammon for beginners", and was greeted by an entire series of short videos by a heavy-accent bearing man from what I can only assume is the UK. I spent over half an hour watching these intro videos, and though I still fumbled with the game after that, I was actually beginning to figure things out. I downloaded a Backgammon app on my iPhone after that, and having played a few matches on that, I went back and finally got the swing of this version, after figuring out which direction I was supposed to go with my pieces. I had missed that salient point early on, and it was throwing me off. For the Backgammon beginner, I would recommend looking up tutorials, because it took me a long time to figure out how to actually play. Once I did, I began to actually employ some strategy, and have even been able to win once or twice. Given the chance now, I think I could play Backgammon in real life and enjoy myself, so I owe it to this cart for formally introducing me to it, despite the challenges in getting it figured out.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPx4CNd19v-H8JKAYhTKsAd-3KYmaEiOTApfg4a3ldJ946UBt3metMywuo6xfC_j0Npo6CktsG8lYyVPy4me_RsHSlV9DBxXL6bE2NEVq0nwlDfDC36-HoPJmeNkwH_cQm6-jnNHTwR_w/s1600/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_46.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPx4CNd19v-H8JKAYhTKsAd-3KYmaEiOTApfg4a3ldJ946UBt3metMywuo6xfC_j0Npo6CktsG8lYyVPy4me_RsHSlV9DBxXL6bE2NEVq0nwlDfDC36-HoPJmeNkwH_cQm6-jnNHTwR_w/s320/4-in-1+Funpak+%2528UE%2529+%255B%2521%255D_46.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Chess game has a neat board editor where you can, presumably,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">build out your own board. Unfortunately, you can't use more than the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">normal requisite number of pieces on each side so you don't break</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the Sargon engine's ability to calculate moves. Bummer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what's the verdict here? That will depend largely on your affinity for these board games. I'm terrible at Checkers currently, because I haven't played in years. My dad tried, and failed, to teach me to be strategic in Chess, and my childhood best friend didn't fare much better, so I never really learned to play it well. I've always been pretty bad at Reversi, having been regularly stomped on in school when playing it as <i>Othello</i>. Backgammon, however, is intriguing to me because I never played it as a kid, and it seems like the combination of strategy and luck makes it stand out more for me than the other games. I can't say I would spend much time with it, but had I owned this as a kid, my younger brother and I would likely have spent a fair bit of time with it in the car, seeing as how I owned the Game Boy, and he was often left to just watch me and sulk because he didn't. There are fancier versions of each of these games available for modern smartphones these days, so unless you're looking to conserve your phone battery so your kid doesn't run it down playing these games, it's a good, relatively inexpensive alternative. Still, it's hard to recommend nearly 25 years after its release, if only because most anything you can get today, for free even, would look, sound, and play vastly superior to this iteration. Still, for a few bucks, it's a decent enough time waster. I'll give it a casual recommendation, if you can find it cheap. I probably paid more than it was worth, at either $7 or $8, as I wouldn't pay much more than half that, unless you're a masochistic collector like I am.</span></div>
GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-27541777490058874632016-02-25T20:49:00.001-06:002016-02-25T20:49:32.295-06:00Asteroids (1991)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPYtfTCRJgXlfvFMUtSgwEWKHcyk5dnkDDwG6xDWuhywJwoICSek8awnI_iKCgqVVwjv-kmEWx9qOF1f3uVl6Ld290kLdIaRYalajGMK5Bd707Ex80ahyWhxQohBAvWYspUekb041DpA/s1600/Asteroids+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPYtfTCRJgXlfvFMUtSgwEWKHcyk5dnkDDwG6xDWuhywJwoICSek8awnI_iKCgqVVwjv-kmEWx9qOF1f3uVl6Ld290kLdIaRYalajGMK5Bd707Ex80ahyWhxQohBAvWYspUekb041DpA/s320/Asteroids+box.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly stolen from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFaqs</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">As with many Atari 2600 games during the console's heyday, sadly,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">this Asteroids artwork looks way cooler than the actual gameplay. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Also,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">is it just me, or does that ship look suspiciously like a Hoth snowspeeder?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The name Atari doesn't have a lot of currency today, but between 1977, after the launch of Atari's Video Computer System (aka the Atari 2600), and it's downfall in 1983, the Atari name had a lot of clout and recognition in the entertainment industry. This is due, in part, to Atari's home video game console and its dominance of the home video game market, but a large part of their fame was the popularity, and ubiquity, of Atari's arcade games. By now, most everyone knows that Atari's <i>Pong</i> was a sensation in 1972, and in the years that followed, they scored several hits with other titles like <i>Night Driver</i>, <i>Breakout</i>, <i>Lunar Lander</i>, <i>Tempest</i>, <i>Centipede</i>, and of course, <i>Asteroids</i>. Were it not for the glut of bad console games and consumer burnout in late 1982 and early 1983, Atari would likely have been held in much higher regard than they have been in recent years. Alas, twas not to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I wish I would have had an opportunity to play the Team Play and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Competition Play modes, because that would certainly extend the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">life of an aging arcade game like this, far more than single player.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But for a short time, Atari were a dominant force in the arcade scene, as well as the home console market, and many of their early games are venerable classics. <i>Asteroids</i>, released in 1979, was a vector graphics-based game, which means that, instead of what we normally think of with 2-dimensional video game graphics, with flat images full of color from border to border (raster graphics), these graphics were often simple, single-color affairs that consisted of wire-frame images that were merely outlines. This made them look quite simple, but the reduced aesthetic allowed for the hardware to focus more on the speed and animation of the simple wire-frame images, so as to provide faster action, as well as smooth scrolling and motion. Later Atari vector graphics titles, like <i>Tempest</i> and <i>Space Duel</i>, incorporated more color, and more sophisticated gameplay, but at the time of its release, <i>Asteroids</i> was a revolutionary experience, and resulted in it becoming Atari's best selling arcade game of all time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Why your spaceship is thrown into the middle of a random asteroid</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">field is never explained. I demand answers! I demand justice!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The gameplay of <i>Asteroids</i> is deceptively simple. You control a small space craft in the middle of an asteroid field, and your job is to destroy the asteroids and stay alive. This is easier said than done, of course. Each time you successfully fire upon one of the large space rocks, it breaks down into 2 smaller boulders, each of which will break down again into their own set of 2 smaller hunks of rock. The game takes place on a single screen, so when the asteroids go off screen, they simply loop back to the opposite side, in a position relative to the one they exited, and continue to travel in the same direction. Add to that, the alien ships that sometimes brave the asteroid field to try and take out your craft, and you have multiple objects on screen hurtling toward you to cause your imminent doom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your options are to turn your ship left or right, fire your cannon, use your thrusters to move forward in the direction your craft is facing. Unlike the full vacuum of space, however, there is some gravity, which means using the thrusters doesn't mean you'll continue to move in that direction perpetually. Learning how to manipulate the thrust feature becomes an essential strategy for dodging oncoming debris, as well as maneuvering your ship to better snipe the UFOs and take out the space rocks. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, you have a "warp" button you can use to jump to a random spot on the play field. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The warp feature is handy as well, though it's best to use that as a last resort, as you can just as easily warp away from one certain death scenario right into another, as the warp feature is unpredictable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Every time you score 10,000 points, you get an extra ship. To</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">paraphrase Han Solo: "You're gonna need 'em."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the Game Boy version of <i>Asteroids</i>, the graphics are given the raster treatment, rather than trying to emulate the vector look of the original. This was a wise move by Accolade, who ported the game, as the original Game Boy hardware might have had a difficult time replicating the smooth scrolling of the arcade hit. Instead, we get a small, but well rendered ship, nice looking round asteroids with craters and a sense of depth, and a rather obvious flying saucer-style enemy vessel, that gives the game a classic science fiction feel, and is a nod to the source material. It's all very utilitarian and sparse, but for what it is, it works. For this kind of game, it's better to keep things simple and uncluttered, and that's just what took place. The twinkling stars in the background are a nice touch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sound design in the game is also very minimalist in nature. There's a bit of an intro song that plays when the title screen appears, and a little ditty that plays when you lose your last life and get a Game Over screen, but otherwise, it's just basic sounds. Your ship's fire, the sound of asteroids breaking up, your own ship exploding, and the annoying, high-pitched sounds made when an enemy vessel is flying across the screen are just about the only sound effects in the game, outside of the original game's iconic "heartbeat" thumping that gets progressively faster throughout the level as you take out more asteroids and enemy ships. It doesn't tax the Game Boy hardware, but it sounds good enough, and does its best to try and replicate the sound design found in the original arcade cabinet. It gets the job done, and nothing more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Enemy ships are not immune to the asteroids, as luck would have it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">This UFO is about to meet my friend, "Rocky".</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Control is easy, as there are very few options. You can point the ship by pressing Left or Right on the D-pad, and press Up on the D-pad to use the thrusters to move forward in the direction you're facing. Hold Up on the D-pad, and your ship progressively gets faster up to a point, so be careful not to hold Up too long, or you'll go careening into one of the many space rocks. The B button fires your cannon, which is your one and only weapon against the asteroids and enemy spacecraft, and the A button is a "warp" feature, which will send your ship to a random spot in the screen. There's a definite risk/reward factor to the warp, because you can use it to get out of a sticky situation, but because there's no telling where you'll end up, you could be warping directly to your death. The Start button pauses the game, and the Select button, as one might expect, does nothing at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because there's no real end to <i>Asteroids</i>, and the game continues to go level after level and just get faster and more frenetic, the whole point of the game is two-fold: survival, and score. The longer you can stay alive and continue to shoot down the titular asteroids, as well as enemy vessels, the more points you'll score. For each 10,000 points you amass in this version, you receive an extra life. The scoring is the same in this version as it is in the arcade original, as near as I can tell. That means that large asteroids give you 20 points, medium sized rocks are 50 points, and the little pebbles net you 100 points. The flying saucer enemies give you 200 points, and the tiny ships give you a generous 1,000 points.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Under the right conditions, you'll start seeing smaller, faster enemies</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">that shoot more accurately and relentlessly at you. What did I ever</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">do to them to deserve this kind of maltreatment?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously, shooting down the enemies is where you can earn the most points, but since they don't show up as frequently as the asteroids are plentiful, there's a balance to scoring big points. One classic strategy is to destroy all but one tiny asteroid, and let it fly around on the screen while you easily dodge it, and pick off enemy ships as they continue to come on screen periodically. For example, you can score approximately 2,000 points in the first stage by destroying all the asteroids, shooting down a pair of ships, and then maybe picking off a third before you destroy the last rock. At 200 points per larger flying saucer, if you're patient enough, and skilled enough to avoid both the last asteroid as well as the enemy fire, you can quickly rack up a pretty good score. Another notable strategy, or perhaps design choice, is that when you fire your cannons, the bullets only reach so far, so you can't just fire away and destroy everything within a few seconds. However, if you're close to one edge of the screen or another, firing your cannons means those bullets will loop around to the opposite side of the screen, so you can use that to your advantage to destroy rocks as they fly onto the screen from that side. As you progress, the asteroids begin to fly faster, and there are more of them, so each level gets progressively more difficult and frenetic. If you want to master <i>Asteroids</i>, the name of the game (literally and figuratively) is practice, and lots of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the fact that <i>Asteroids</i> was released in the arcades in 1979, and this conversion was released 12 years later, the ability to truly capture the arcade experience at home hadn't truly been realized yet, and that's especially true of the Game Boy. This port gives a pretty good approximation of the arcade game, though using raster graphics instead of the original vector approach, despite a few notable differences. The arcade game can relatively fast paced and frenetic, and because of the vector graphics and low hardware requirements, the movement of your ship and other objects on screen is fast and fluid, and you can pull off some really tricky maneuvers with your craft. This fluidity doesn't exactly translate to the Game Boy, because the speed of the game can't compare with the original, and with the original DMG model's blurriness happening with any kind of quick motion, it would make the game nigh impossible to truly enjoy if it tried to replicate the speed of the arcade original. As such, the game feels like the laid back big brother of the original. He's a bit more stylish, with his 4-shades of green and raster graphics, and slightly more fleshed out aesthetic, but moves slower and isn't in as big a hurry to get somewhere as little brother in the arcade. On the plus side, the game replicates the "heartbeat" effect, that sort of <i>Jaws</i>-esque harbinger that grows faster and more menacing as more Asteroids are destroyed and more particles fly around on screen, so it really gets that unique element right. Also, I found the collision detection to be nearly pixel-perfect, so if you get hit by an asteroid flying at you, don't get mad - it was probably your fault. One odd quirk I found is that, when entering your name on the high score screen, sometimes trying to change the letter using up and down, or choosing a letter with A, or erasing one with B, is less than responsive. I suspect that may be because of the way the letters are flashing on the screen, and the fact that, perhaps the Game Boy is being taxed a bit, and the commands you're inputting don't always register. It's a minor issue, but noticeable enough to mention.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">If you're a little too happy with the bullets, you'll find yourself totally</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">overwhelmed by asteroids from all sides. Prepare to die.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the day, it's somewhat difficult to recommend this port of the game. Not because it's not functionally a good game, because it is. It's hard to recommend because, just 4 short years after this cart's release, the game came out again as <i>Arcade Classic No. 1</i>, and that cart contained this conversion of <i>Asteroids</i>, as well as a conversion of the classic <i>Missile Command</i>. That cart has Super Game Boy compatibility, but also gives a couple notable upgrades to this port of the game: that is, it includes an option to change the button configuration, if you find the default control scheme not to your liking, but more importantly, you can choose to play in the original vector style, though still with the twinkling raster-based stars in the background. The advantage of this version is both of the 2-player options, so if that's the experience you're looking for, then obviously this 1991 version will be the one to seek out. For anyone just looking for the single-player experience, the latter release with another game on the cart, including the option for the original vector graphics, would seem to be the no-brainer option. Either way, you're getting a reasonable facsimile of the original game, but without the ability to have the really fast action that makes the original still attractive to play. That said, you can do a lot worse for $4 or $5 on the Game Boy, so I'd say if you have any interest in classic arcade games on the go, or <i>Asteroids</i> in general, this might be one to add to your collection. Tentatively recommended.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-19878157074026188292016-01-18T18:00:00.000-06:002016-02-24T21:39:52.901-06:00Star Wars (1992)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFaqs</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">It's <i>Star Wars</i>, and it's a "Million Seller" - how bad can it be?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I am a fan of <i>Star Wars</i>. I'm a big fan of the original trilogy of movies, I don't completely hate the prequel films, and even got some level of enjoyment (as a kid, anyway) out of the 2 "Ewok Adventure" films, and the short-lived <i>Droids</i> cartoon. Though I didn't get to go see it right away, I did go see <i>Star Wars: The Force Awakens</i> and enjoyed it very much. I plan to go see it again, if I have the opportunity before it's out of theaters, and will be purchasing the BluRay once it's available. I own at least 3 <i>Star Wars</i>-themed t-shirts and a zipper hoodie, and as of this writing, I own 2-dozen video games set within the <i>Star Wars</i> universe. I have the final VHS release of the original trilogy (before George Lucas began changing subsequent releases with his revisionist history), I own the "special" edition DVD set, and at some point, I hope to own the original trilogy on LaserDisc. I'm holding out for a BluRay release, hoping that, at some point, Disney will decide it's worth putting out something equivalent to the original theatrical release (or at least the final VHS/LaserDisc version), though that could be a sticky Wicket (see what I did there?), if Lucas made that a stipulation of his $4 billion sale of Lucasfilm to the Disney corporation. After all, those of us "in the know" won't settle for a cut of the original film where Han Solo didn't shoot Greedo first, right? Needless to say, I'm a big fan of the <i>Star Wars</i> universe, characters, and mythos.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span id="goog_349230690"></span><span id="goog_349230691"></span>At least they got this part mostly right...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shifting gears to the topic at hand, it's no secret that video games based on the <i>Star Wars</i> property have had a rough history. The original <i>Star Wars</i> arcade title, and it's subsequent sequel, <i>Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back</i>, were well received and good games, as was the Atari VCS/2600 game based on the 2nd film, but the arcade take on <i>Star Wars: Return of the Jedi</i> was kind of a goofy isometric game that hasn't aged well, and the other Atari games have shared its fate. As home consoles became more powerful, the promise of a good <i>Star Wars</i> game started to become more of a reality, but during the 8 and 16-bit eras, unfortunately, that promise was left largely unfulfilled. The Game Boy port of the NES game leaves much to be desired, and when I popped this into my Game Boy to check out, my mind recalled that all-too-famous quote from the original trilogy: "I have a bad feeling about this."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">To the developer's credit, they do include dialog from the film in the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As with most movie-licensed games, some license is taken (pun intended) with the story, and while the game pulls bits from the movie plot, nearly verbatim, the actual scenarios play out totally unlike the film. For example, Luke's landspeeder is in the film a few times, but this game starts out with a whole section of speeding around the Jundland Wastes, trying to avoid randomly placed blaster cannons, laser-firing probe droids, and some sort of large animals, perhaps Krayt Dragons. However, within the first 2 seconds, you immediately get thrust into a cave where you jump around, as Luke Skywalker, from platform to platform, for some unknown reason. You're equipped with a blaster, but it's a pea-shooter, and takes multiple shots to down most enemies. After you get through the first cave, you find that you can travel around a section of Tatooine in the landspeeder to find R2-D2, as well as, inexplicably, find shielding upgrades for the Millennium Falcon, which you haven't encountered as of yet, throughout the various caves. Once you reach the Jawa sand crawler, you can go inside and find R2, and then you can find the "exit" point on the map that will take you to the wretched hive of scum and villainy, erm, Mos Eisley.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The graphics here are pretty decent, conveying the desolate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">landscape </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">of Tatooine fairly well for the hardware limitations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once you've reached Mos Eisley, you have to locate Han Solo, and can search for additional shield upgrades. You'll find the Cantina to be a treacherous place indeed, as you'll find Greedo (or several aliens like him) roaming around, as well as an alien that shoots a very powerful, short-range laser out of its blaster. With your blaster being so weak, it's best to just jump over most enemies, though if you located Luke's light saber beforehand, you'll be able to slice through enemies like a Tauntaun. You'll have to navigate through a number of areas to reach none other than docking bay 94, where the Millennium Falcon is located. Once you're out in the spaceport, you'll be facing primarily Stormtroopers. If you're not careful, you'll find they have better aim than those in the movie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I don't recall any "Space Prawns" in the film, unless they were edited out...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once you reach the Falcon and take off, the view switches to a first person, and you navigate an asteroid field for several minutes. If you picked up the shield upgrades, you probably won't have much trouble, though if not, I suspect it may be a bit harder to wade through. Then you go into the Death Star, and run around looking for the tractor beam station to blow it up. Again, it's not Obi Wan doing it this time, but either Luke or Han, depending on which character you chose to do that. It makes sense from a gameplay perspective, but it feels a little off. This is handled in the same side-scrolling platform style as the cave levels, Cantina, and Mos Eisley locations on Tatooine. You then locate Princess Leia, and once you've liberated the Falcon, you're treated to another 1st person view mission, this time to ward off the Tie Fighters. I seem to recall only 3 in the film, but it seems like well over a dozen you fight here. Then it's off to Yavin IV to scramble the X-Wings and do a top down, shoot-em-up style level for the Death Star trench approach. Oddly, the thermal exhaust port is MUCH larger in the game than in the movie. It's more like Luke is going to bullseye a Bantha, versus a Womp Rat. But then, they had to make the final task in the game easy enough so that you don't have to fly the trench 12 times to get it done, right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">If this is the famed "Womp Rat" I've waited all these years to finally</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">behold, I must say, I'm sorely disappointed. However, I can see</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">where Luke *could* bullseye them with his T-16. Back home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Graphically, the game is comparable to its NES counterpart, sans color. However, everything is zoomed in, as is often the case with NES to Game Boy ports, and as a result, everything looks somewhat larger and closer than it ought to be. But the main character sprites are decently drawn, and reasonably well animated, given the layout. Some of the backgrounds are also fairly detailed, and the set pieces generally resemble the film locations as much as one might expect on the platform. Stormtroopers look like Stormtroopers, and though some elements look a bit different (blaster shots are super wide, for example), anyone familiar with the film will see the similarities where they exist. The animation is also fairly smooth, which is good, because the game moves at a decent clip. Graphically, there's not much to complain about, because it all looks relatively good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I don't recall Luke going into the Jawa sand crawler at any point</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">during the movie. Is it just me, or does his sprite look like the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">generic protagonist sprite from the NES Journey to Silius game?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the sound department, it's not half bad. There's a decent rendition of the main theme, and a bouncy rendition of the original "Cantina Band" music, along with what you might call some "re imaginings" of some of John Williams' other pieces throughout the movie. They had good source material, and it sounds okay here, but it's a little basic. Given the iconic nature of the music, it probably would have been wise for the sound design team to do just a bit more with it. Sound effects are okay - explosions sound like they should, blaster fire is good, though, oddly, the sound they use when you drop proton charges in the X-Wing is exactly the same as the blaster sound. I guess they couldn't be bothered to come up with anything new. Overall, the sound is fine, but nothing overly memorable, aside from the familiar themes. Thankfully, none of the sound effects made me want to pull a Wookie's hair out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">You mean, I have a screen that tells me how much of this detritus</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I must still endure to reach the end? Fantastic. I'll just </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">go poke</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">my eyes out with a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">fully</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">armed, and operational light saber.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When it comes to the gameplay, here's where things really start to take a swan dive down the proverbial Sarlac Pit. I mentioned before that the graphics were "zoomed in" as compared to the NES game. They are, and that presents the first big problem during the platforming sections: blind jumps. Because everything is larger on screen, you can't fit as much, so when there's more room between platforms than is visible on screen, or the next platform over is actually below where you can see, you just have to take a literal leap of faith (Use the Force!) and go for it. The problem is, you don't know if you'll fall 3 levels and take damage, or fall directly onto a floor of spikes and die within 2 seconds. Problem number 2 presents as related to that: because you can't see far in front of you, you'll likely run into enemies when you first encounter them, and because Luke apparently has paper-thin skin, you take big damage and die very quickly. That's like 2 problems in one, isn't it? Next up, the overhead sections with the landspeeder suffer from the same issue, so be careful not to fly too fast, or you'll go careening directly into a blaster or probe droid. Oh, and because the game employs a knock-back feature, but no temporary invincibility after the fact, prepare to get bumped/kicked by enemies once or twice until you die. Or in a couple spots, you can get stuck in between 2 enemies and get juggled back and forth between them until you die. Neat! There's also the expectation that you make insane jumps from conveyor belts, and these weird "lift" deals, so that you can practically catapult yourself, martial arts movie style, into the air and hope you land on the right platform or floor. While playing this game, you better hope the Force is with you, otherwise, you're going to die a lot, and you're not always going to know why or when it's your fault.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Luke is about to get juggled to death. What a way to go. At least he</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">has Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes to serenade him into oblivion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If only one or two of the above flaws were present, they might be a bit more forgivable, and something one can overlook. But all of the flaws combined make this game a hard sell, even to the most loyal <i>Star Wars</i> fan out there. The game controls well enough, though the jumping can get a little floaty, but the good graphics, decent sound, and decent control can't save it from being a mediocre title, at best. At worst, it's a lackluster "action/adventure" game that had ambitions and source material far greater than it could hope to live up to. With all the exploration you'll be doing to find the right path in each of the platform levels, you'll find yourself getting stuck and having to backtrack a number of times to find the right platform to jump on, the right blind jump to take, or the right "lift" to get you to an upper level that might have a door, elevator, or jump you need to reach. It can get frustrating quickly, especially when you practically have to memorize each enemy location exactly so you can either time a jump over them, or use your light saber (or later, Han's blaster) to dispatch them. I realize that a lot of action games use this kind of strategy, but when touching an enemy twice can result in near instantaneous death due to the combination of knock-back and zero recovery time, you can lose a life before you literally knew what hit you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm glad the Cantina is so obviously labeled, although the saloon-style</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">doors are a pretty dead giveaway that I'm about to step into the fray.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Curiously, I did a little checking into the developer, NMS Software LTD, and was astonished to find out some of the other games they designed. That same year, they released <i>Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Off Road</i> for the NES, a rather solid and playable port of the arcade hit. Just 2 years later, they developed 2 heavy hitters for the Sega Genesis: <i>Cool Spot</i>, and the major hit <i>Disney's Aladdin</i>. They went on to do a small handful of PC games, a SNES <i>Pinocchio</i>, and a Sega Saturn game called <i>Mass Destruction</i>, that looks like a 32-bit tank combat game, like an updated version of the venerable Atari 2600 game, <i>Combat</i>. It's interesting how many quality titles they have on their small resume, and yet this licensed game ended up being likely the worst of their output.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So what's the bottom line? Does this game deserve your attention, or should it be banished to the spice mines on Kessel? If you're a true <i>Star Wars</i> devotee like myself, it's easy to be drawn in by the game, but don't let that fool you. It's not the worst action game you'll play on the Game Boy, but the force is not with this one. I think I paid $8 for it, and that was too much. If you spend more than $5, consider yourself swindled by a Watto-like creature, but don't come crying to me. I can't, in good conscience, recommend this to anyone but die hard fans, collectors like myself, or those who have play every other good game out there, and now want to start tackling the bottom tier stuff. In that case, you can rest assured that this slimy piece of worm-ridden filth will fulfill that quota. Not recommended.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-30229846544937348222015-11-27T16:37:00.000-06:002015-11-27T16:37:22.529-06:00Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQS</a>. I'm not seeing much that</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">screams "castle" here, save for the faux family </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">crest with </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">carrots </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">on </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">it. And never once does Yosemite Sam fire a gun </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">in the game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Not once. False advertising, or just paying homage to a </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">lovable,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">idiosyncratic cartoon character from a bygone era? You decide.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Licensed properties can be a tricky beast. If you pay for licensing rights to a property, chances are, you're not going to have exclusive rights to that property, or your rights won't cross all borders. Your licensing rights will expire at some point, and you'll have to weigh the pros and cons of paying to continue those rights, or let them lapse. Sometimes, the window of opportunity for a licensed property is relatively small, and you are forced to come up with a product based upon that property, in a rather short time frame. Sometimes, the results can be less than stellar. Such is the case with <i>Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle<b>.</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">What happened to the 'Crazy Castle' part of the name on the box?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let me clarify - I'm not saying Kemco-Seika had a limited amount of time to develop the game because their rights to the Bugs Bunny license were under the gun. No, I'm saying, due to the resurgence of the popularity of the Looney Tunes franchise during the mid-late 80's, there wasn't a lot of time to waste in maximizing that potential before the 'tude explosion of the 90's came about. Not that Kemco could have seen that coming, but a sense of urgency should be a factor in developing a game with any licensed property, because you really never know whether something is going to be popular next year or not. The prevailing thought is, strike while the iron is hot. In Kemco's favor, they did. On the downside, they should have taken more time with this game's development.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S1ivdJMp9S0I7tBIPHLvBJjA-6q1NWDa2sdQw-C_b-mljIeJyP7AsRgdXIJHkrfXGsPMCz7ykTQE4DEWhoZgt_NvuU0IKjv_cO_QbuKQMqCiEMTBsVe1_bxf9GWCmAC-_WTRoevzOOc/s1600/Bugs+Bunny+Crazy+Castle+02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1S1ivdJMp9S0I7tBIPHLvBJjA-6q1NWDa2sdQw-C_b-mljIeJyP7AsRgdXIJHkrfXGsPMCz7ykTQE4DEWhoZgt_NvuU0IKjv_cO_QbuKQMqCiEMTBsVe1_bxf9GWCmAC-_WTRoevzOOc/s1600/Bugs+Bunny+Crazy+Castle+02.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Before each stage, you get a quick check on where you're at,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and it tells you which stage, how many lives you have, and your score.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">By now, most people who are more than casually familiar with retro gaming should be familiar with the Angry Video Game Nerd, and his feud with Bugs Bunny. Many have seen the video where he incredulously plays 5 games in the <i>Crazy Castle</i> series, to some disgust and frustration, followed by several sequences of the Nerd, and Bugs Bunny, duking it out in the most awkwardly hilarious choreographed fight sequence this side of 90's late night TV. What some might not know, however, is that the <i>Crazy Castle</i> games are an interesting case of licensed property usage, and how that translates across different regions. The original Famicom game was called <i>Roger Rabbit</i>, and starred the titular character from the movie. However, Capcom had the rights to all the Disney franchises in North America, so it came to the US as <i>Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle</i>. When the game was ported to the Game Boy, Kemco of Japan had already lost the licensing rights to Roger, but they still had Disney rights in Japan, so the game came to the Game Boy as <i>Mickey Mouse</i>. However, in the US, Kemco still had the rights to the character, so the North American Game Boy release was also titled <i>Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle</i>. Funny how that stuff works, right? In any event, the Game Boy game was pretty much a straight port of the NES game, with a graphical downgrade, but retaining the same level design and music.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Oh my stars, look at all the carrots! Ripe for the picking!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle</i> is a puzzle platformer. You walk up and down staircases, crawl through pipes, and go up and down stairs through various doors, to reach multiple levels within each stage so you can collect carrots. Along the way, you have to avoid one of several "enemies" within the game: Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, and for some reason, multiple Sylvester the Cat instances. One touch, and it's curtains for Rocky, erm, I mean Bugs. You do have a limited ability to attack, either by picking up a single-use boxing glove you can throw at a foe, or by pushing one of several stationary objects into an enemy. These include wooden boxes, buckets, a 10-ton weight, and of course, ACME safes. Each object has different weights, meaning when you kick them, they'll move different distances, based on their weight. In other words, kicking the bucket makes it go very far, the wooden box less far, and the 10-ton weight the shortest distance. Some levels also have a bottle of "invisible ink", but instead of just making you invisible, it also makes you invincible for a short time, so any enemy you touch in the limited time it's active, will instantly die and go "poof!" Once you obtain all the carrots within a level, you receive a 1-up and advance to the next level. After each level, you're given a 4-character password so you can continue where you left off. That password is strictly to reach that stage, however - it will not record your score, or the number of lives you have.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Nyeaaaaah, I better hurry before that stupid cat catches me!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In terms of the game's visual aesthetics, they're okay. Bugs, as well as his foils, all look recognizable, and they animate decently as well. The death animation for Bugs is amusing, and seeing each of his nemeses fall on their back as they're defeated is satisfying. The game does mix up locations a bit, sometimes incorporating stairs, sometimes incorporating pipes, an occasionally both, but the design is quite minimal, which is reminiscent of <i>Super Mario Land</i>, and other early platformers on the Game Boy. The backgrounds are totally devoid of any level of detail, so the focus is on the platforms, pipes, objects, and enemies on display. It's nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. Everything is rendered well enough so as to be recognizable. Unfortunately, there's a fair bit of sprite flicker going on. Sometimes Bugs will flicker, sometimes the enemies, and sometimes the objects you can kick, or the carrots will flash. What's really odd is that, if you're standing in just the right spot, those objects will flicker perpetually until you move again.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1wYMid1StD4IV7_1a7jZgEwwF3AYq9Q9J16u2tD2aw-kH6E2REZXrSbCAiHxGIfsNWadjEzj4l0yYAkXZZUv8CG9jAJKY7dxm7kxqnio3R05Ja5953TqGorsbyR4KY6BNyE-TPWxrBU/s1600/Bugs+Bunny+Crazy+Castle+05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq1wYMid1StD4IV7_1a7jZgEwwF3AYq9Q9J16u2tD2aw-kH6E2REZXrSbCAiHxGIfsNWadjEzj4l0yYAkXZZUv8CG9jAJKY7dxm7kxqnio3R05Ja5953TqGorsbyR4KY6BNyE-TPWxrBU/s1600/Bugs+Bunny+Crazy+Castle+05.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I think Bugs is just a LITTLE too excited about collecting all the carrots.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the audio department, the game takes a pretty minimalist approach. There are a small handful of music tracks in the game, that rotate between levels. I do like that they didn't stick with a single track for a large batch of levels (<i>Nail 'n Scale</i>, I'm looking at you), but it would have been nice to have a few more tracks to help break up the monotony a bit. Still, the music itself is bouncy and fun, and is fitting for the game. Speaking of monotony, the sound effects available here are pretty sparse as well. There's no sound when Bugs goes through a pipe, and only basic sounds when you use the boxing glove, knock an object on the floor, pick up a carrot, or kick something into an enemy. Whomever at Kemco did the sound design for this game, kind of phoned it in.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-80bbivVeOBxUa03uBTou4M1mowHoCbGQLl5YXoSF6LfRX8htTx4gTpR4KGV9MkPBZx5dKrAcIM56rMURmvWO1S9EEF0ocJjerFX5Oc1bIZd-1m6S4tQp23oyQaOREtigQZ6_aJrUxQ/s1600/Bugs+Bunny+Crazy+Castle+06.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy-80bbivVeOBxUa03uBTou4M1mowHoCbGQLl5YXoSF6LfRX8htTx4gTpR4KGV9MkPBZx5dKrAcIM56rMURmvWO1S9EEF0ocJjerFX5Oc1bIZd-1m6S4tQp23oyQaOREtigQZ6_aJrUxQ/s1600/Bugs+Bunny+Crazy+Castle+06.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">You can escape a situation like this by going down the pipe, but</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">watch out - the Sylvester cats can, and often will, follow you through.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As for the gameplay, this is where things start to get dicey. Controlling Bugs takes some getting used to. The chief complaint leveled against this game is that you're controlling Bugs Bunny, but you can't jump. For those who bought the game new in 1990, and didn't know it was a port of a Mickey Mouse game (which meant 99% of buyers), the prevailing though would have been that a game starring a rabbit who couldn't jump was just broken. Once you get past that notion, other problems begin to emerge. The enemy AI is highly unpredictable at times, so sometimes you'll get through a level with very little danger, and other times, you'll be bombarded from all sides, and may seem to beat a level purely through dumb luck. Some things are consistent, such as Sylvester being the only enemy that will go through pipes, Daffy Duck using stairs, and both Yosemite Sam and Wile E. Coyote being stuck to the level/layer they're on, but otherwise, the enemy patterns aren't very obvious. You can find yourself cornered very quickly, with no recourse except to die and start the level over.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">One really nice feature of this game is the password system. The game's</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">4-character passwords may be the shortest in video game history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the larger levels, with long staircases or pipes that span a greater distance than the size of the screen, taking those paths becomes a crap-shoot each time. It makes perfect sense that once you enter a pipe, you continue through it until you reach the other side, but not so much with stairs. Once you get started up or down a flight of stairs, you're committed to that action, and if you run into an enemy, tough luck. You have to watch the enemies closely, and time your pipe and stair traversal specifically, hoping beyond hope that the enemy doesn't suddenly turn around and greet you at your destination for instant death. The other frustration with the controls is, when you have a flight of stairs going down, and another flight going up, both within a few pixels of one another, the only way to ensure you're going up is to stop pressing the direction on the D-pad you want to go (i.e. left or right), and start holding Up on the D-pad to guarantee you'll go up the stairs. The <i>Castlevania</i> games work the same way, but it's implemented a bit more cleanly there. Here, it feels clumsy and half-baked, when coupled with the flaw that you can't stop on the stairs and turn around. Had they tightened that up, it would have made the game less frustrating.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">All I have to do is wait for Yosemite Sam to pass by, and I can sneak</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">down and get that carrot. What a maroon! What an imbecile!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not that the frustration means much, aside from the obvious fact that, when playing through this game, Bugs Bunny is going to die. In fact, Bugs is going to die A LOT. If you're playing strictly to play through and win each level, it's not a lengthy experience. Sure, there are 80 levels to play, but with a password for each level, combined with unlimited continues, you can keep hammering away at a level until you figure it out, or are lucky enough with the enemy AI that you can sneak past them to get that last, hard to reach carrot. The real problem is, since design elements in this game hearken back to design concepts from classic, single-screen puzzle platform arcade games, playing for score is next to impossible because the enemy patterns are hard to pin down. Some levels I blew through in a single try, but a few of the levels took me 10 or more tries, and a fair number of those were levels with a lot of opportunities for cheap deaths. Combine cheap deaths, less than stellar control, and other issues, and you have a game that isn't doing itself any favors in the fun department.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Where did Bugs go? Oh wait, it's that horrible sprite flicker you see</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">when you grab the bottle of invisible ink, that's all that's going on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite all of its flaws, <i>Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle</i> can be a fun game, as long as you take its flaws into account, and understand that playing strictly for score is a losing proposition. I had fun throughout the 5-6 total hours of gameplay I had to dedicate to completing the game, and if you're a fan of puzzle platformers, or old school single-screen arcade games, you might get a kick out of this as well. I wouldn't recommend it if you're trying to find the "cream of the crop" of Game Boy titles, but it's good for a few laughs. I picked my loose cart up for $4.95, which, for the limited amount of gameplay available, might be slightly on the high side. Still, you can spend $4 or more on much worse titles in the Game Boy library. Ultimately, I would say if you have a friend or relative with a copy of this, try before you buy.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-69169708071960695242015-11-25T21:11:00.000-06:002015-11-25T21:11:05.926-06:00Play Action Football (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://adventureamigos.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/play_action_football_11_box_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://adventureamigos.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/play_action_football_11_box_front.jpg" height="318" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://adventureamigos.net/" target="_blank">Adventure Amigos</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"I choose" the realistic offensive strategies, but the defensive strategies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">are tough - does that mean they're not realistic? Or are they both<br />tough </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">AND realistic? Can the game possibly live up to this box art?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I must begin this review with a bit of history, nostalgia, and a confession. As I write this, I'm reeling from the news that the Kansas City Royals, long the proverbial butt of many a baseball joke, have won the World Series against the New York Mets. Though I don't consider myself a sports fan, I got a little bit of whiplash with that announcement, and had to check my calendar to make sure it wasn't 1985 again. I was a fan of baseball for many years, as a kid, until the player strike brought the ugly realization that athletes can often be petty, whining oafs that are just money hungry. Granted, they're not all like that, but the strike certainly gave me a new perspective on things. So while my love for baseball lasted a number of years, my interest in professional football was relatively short-lived. In 1985 and 1986, I fancied myself a pro football fan, if only to impress my classmates and the neighbor kids, who all thought I was a giant dork (spoiler alert: I was). I told people I was into the Dolphins and the Bengals, and that Dan Marino was pretty much the best quarterback on the planet. Of course, I never really watched any football games, because we had 1 TV in the house, my parents weren't into pro football, and none of my friends invited me over to watch with them. Subsequently, my neighborhood kids (and kids at school) saw through my petty charade. Yes, I was destined to be a nerd.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Compared to the title screens for <i>Baseball</i> and <i>Tennis, both Nintendo</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>launch titles, this is just lazy. There's not even a football to look at!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm not totally devoid of football knowledge, however. I watched college football with my parents; specifically, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Yes, the Huskers are (in 2015) having what is possibly the worst season in the history of the football program, but in the mid-late 80's and early 90's, the Huskers were a staple of Saturday college football games, and I watched intently with my parents, despite not having a deep understanding of the game, the plays, or the rules. I don't catch every game now, though I still try to do so when I can, and root for the Huskers when I do get to watch or listen to a game. I even casually live-Tweet during games. Having said that, my knowledge of the game of football is still very limited, and I'm saying that to help set up this review, and perhaps give some perspective as to my feelings on this game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Play selection is relatively easy, though a touch clunky. I occasionally</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">found myself kicking a field goal on 2nd down because my instinct</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">was to push down on the D-pad to change pages, instead of the A</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">button, as is the default. I had a few failed 70-yard "attempts".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The other thing I'll say is that, as most gamers of my generation know, while <i>Tecmo Bowl</i> for the Nintendo Entertainment System was a pretty good football game for its time, the ball didn't really get rolling (pun intended) with video football games until the 16-bit era, when you had <i>Joe Montana Football</i>, and of course, the kingpin itself, <i>John Madden Football</i>. That didn't stop every game console from receiving some sort of football title, and the Game Boy certainly saw a handful of pigskin games. By my count, there are 11 total football titles on the venerable handheld, though 2 of those are combination baseball/football titles. Part of me is dreading having to review those carts. Cramming 2 fully realized sports games into a single Game Boy cartridge (in the early 1990's) would have been a feat unto itself, but also require real thought and design. I guess I just don't have much faith in licensed titles from that era, which can be attributed to the low number of them that actually turned out to be good games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Team Captain: "Stay in formation....stay in formation!"<br />Player: "Loosen up!"</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Play Action Football</i>, the first pigskin game for the venerable handheld, is a pretty simple affair. There are 8 teams in the game, all from major cities across the US, though, conspicuously, devoid of actual NFL names, due to the game's lack of NFL license. The manual makes no mention of differences between the teams, and I was not able to really gauge any kind of discernible difference in team or player stats and abilities (more on that later). There are 4 modes to play: a 1-player against the CPU mode, which is a single game, a 1-player against the CPU "championship" mode, where you play 7 games against the other teams (with a password system for saving progress), a 2-player mode where you play against one another in a single game, and a 2-player against the CPU mode (also a single game, from what I gleaned from the game's menu). There are 4 difficulty levels to play against the CPU, and, like the 2 Nintendo sports launch games, they range from moderately difficult to insanely hard. I will readily admit, as a sports video game beginner, I stayed at the "Level 1" difficulty the whole time, as my experience with that proved to be challenging enough for my rather weak skills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Pat is good? Okay, that's good to know, thanks for filling me in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Play calling is relatively simple. At the play screen, you press one of 4 directions on the D-pad to select a play, depending on which directional arrow you see next to the play you want to run. If you press the A button, you can move to a 2nd, or sometimes even a 3rd screen of available plays. If you want to call a Timeout, press Select at the play selection screen. Once you're on the field, you'll "hut" until you press A to hike the ball. Then, depending on your play, you can either run the ball, or press the B button in conjunction with a direction (left or right), to throw the ball. One thing to keep in mind is, as soon as you throw the ball, the player selection switches immediately to the receiver, so don't forget to move them into position based on the arrows that display on screen, indicating where the pass is being thrown. Also, you can press A several times per play to either break a tackle, or get a speed boost. While running the ball, you can press B to dive, and usually pick up another 2-3 yards on a play. On defense, you also have the speed boost available for each player, and you can press the Select button to switch to whichever teammate is closest to the ball. Again, you can dive to try and tackle the runner, by pressing the B button. When you're kicking the ball, you have an arrow that moves left and right, and that determines the direction of the ball when you press A. Then a 2nd meter will go up and down, and when you press A again, that determines how hard you kick, and thus, the distance the ball travels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The stats screen that shows at halftime and at the end of the game</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">is easy to read, and shows a lot of good, relevant info, especially if</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">you're into that kind of statistical stuff, you football nerd, you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The game doesn't have a lot of visual appeal, and is somewhat simplistic. The overhead view works well for basic play execution, though sometimes, when you or your opponent are running the ball, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle, and have no idea where the ball is. There's not much detail on the field, but that's a blessing, given the business of the two teams clashing, especially during running plays. When performing a long pass, or a kickoff, the screen will switch to an even less detailed overhead view that shows more of the field, and players represented by little dots, and then will zoom in again to the standard view, once the ball is close to the receiver. If you score a touchdown, or make a successful P.A.T. or Field Goal, you're treated to a 2 or 3 frame animation, and you get a basic, 2-frame animation of a referee signaling when you've achieved a first down, scored a touchdown, and either made, or missed, a kick attempt. You also see an easy to read stat and score breakdown at halftime, and after each game, complete with each team's "logo". Oh, and one nice touch is when you get close to a first down, the referees will come out with the poles and chain, to "measure" the distance, and you can see the animation of the chain going by the ball to show if you made the first down or not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This screen looks just a shade or two more advance that the old</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Mattel Electronic Football handheld games that were popular in</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the late 1970's and early 80's. This is what you see during a</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">kickoff, or a similar view when you throw a long pass.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There's very little in the way of music in the game. You have the title screen theme, and music that plays once the ball is in motion, as well as a different music track that will play when your opponent gets into the red zone and is threatening to score. Aside from that, there's a short ditty that plays when you score, and another short theme on the score breakdown screen. Otherwise, it's mostly sound effects. You have basic sound effects for the "hut", hike, and pitch/throw sounds, and the "alley-oop" sort of sound to denote the ball going up in the air, and coming back down. The tackle sound is pretty basic, as are most of the other effects. The game has a bit of rudimentary voice sampling as well, though it's awful scratchy. There's a voice for "first down" and one for "touchdown", but as you can imagine, they sound so much alike that they're almost indistinguishable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Whether you're kicking the ball, or your opponent is kicking, and no</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">matter which team you choose, #7 will be the kicker. Man, that guy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">really gets around. He must be a hot commodity!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Playing through a single game, you can almost immediately see the games flaws take center stage. First and foremost, despite each team having no discernible difference in stats, the CPU team ALWAYS runs the ball faster than you. If they throw a pass and catch it, your best bet is to switch to the closest player and try to tackle or dive to get them. Be careful, however, because if you miss, the CPU team will take that ball all the way to the end zone. Countless times during my experience with this game, I kicked the ball for either a post-TD kickoff, or a punt after a 3-and-out drive, and the opposing team would score a touchdown, simply because I couldn't catch up. This happens regardless of which team you play against. I realize the game is trying to offer a challenge, but I would have hoped that whomever was responsible for play-testing the game would have brought this to the design team's attention. It's terribly unfair when you, as the player, have to waste all your speed boosts to break tackles and fight for 20-25 yards, while the opposing side can score a TD on nearly any kick return if you miss a couple tackles. Call me crazy, but that sounds like poor design. Working in your favor sometimes is the goofy detection for P.A.T. and field goal kicks - sometimes, it looks like you missed the space between the goal posts, but the CPU will say your kick was good, while the CPU team kicks the point after attempt, and it looks like it will be called good, only to see that it's no good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">That's me at my 40-yard line, trying to run the ball downfield. Because</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the CPU team is so much faster, I'll get about 7 or 8 yards until they</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">catch up to me. A couple speed boosts and I can break a tackle or</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">two, but then I'll have to dive if I want to get to, or past, their 45.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The passing also seems weird to me, but maybe I haven't played enough football video games to know any better. It seems as though I can't land a pass more than 40-50 percent of the time, when performing a Play Action Pass. With that, I seemed to have way more accuracy passing to my left than to my right, for some strange reason. I was never once able to land a long pass, and I found short pass plays to be utterly useless, because the opposing team was always able to find a way to get to the receiver before I could gain yardage. Once I reached the red zone, I found both the "Sweep" and "Dive" plays useful, because I could sometimes muscle my way into the end zone, but just as frequently, I ended up throwing a Play Action Pass to seal the deal. Maybe it's just because I figured out how to run that play successfully the most, but I thought it was strange that the play the game is named after seemed to be the best way to move the ball downfield.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Wait, first you tell me Pat is good, now you're saying Pat is no good?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Make up your mind, already! Who are you to say, anyway?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the end of the day, I understand that, because of my limited knowledge of sports, any recommendation (or lack thereof) of a sports game will need to be taken with a rather large grain of salt. Having said that, I think the major flaws in this game speak for themselves, and it's hard to give the game a thumbs up. I think I paid $3 for my copy, and while I got enough enjoyment out of it to warrant that, I can't imagine what poor kids got this as their birthday present, and ended up spending far more time on it than the game's design truly warranted, because mom and dad paid $30, and they were going to like it, if it killed them. I learned enough about how to play the game that I was able to win about 30% of the time, and for a non-sports fan, that's good enough for me. If you're thinking about spending more than $3 or $4 on this game, take a knee, call a time out, and give it some serious thought.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Playing on the Game Boy Player, via my Game Cube, I found it slightly</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">amusing that the game had a bit of a color palette interpretation "oops"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">with the player's arm after a touchdown. Not only is the end of his sleeve</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">a totally different color, but you can see the sprite overlap between the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">arm and the body, and the color difference just makes it more pronounced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As an aside, I wanted to mention that I played through the entire 7-game "championship" mode, and purposefully did so, utilizing every means I have to play Game Boy games. I played game 1 on my Game Boy Advance SP, game 2 on my original Game Boy DMG, game 3 on the Game Boy Pocket, game 4 on the Game Boy Color, game 5 on the Game Boy Player, and Game 6 on the Super Game Boy. I finished up with game 7 via an emulator on my PC, so I could grab screenshots for this review. I found it interesting to go back and forth between the different systems, to see how it played, but also get a feel for how good the D-pad is on each of those systems. Turns out, my Game Boy Color D-pad could use a little TLC, and my SNES controller is in dire need of a cleaning and alcohol bath. Also, it's really awkward to play with a Game Cube controller (in my case, a WaveBird), because the "Y" button acts as the "Select" button, and it doesn't feel natural to hit that while you're running downfield, trying to catch the other team's runner.</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-15838545350054468202015-10-31T21:38:00.002-05:002015-10-31T21:38:45.184-05:00Radar Mission (1991)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img1.game-oldies.com/sites/default/files/packshots/nintendo-game-boy/radar-mission-usa-europe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://img1.game-oldies.com/sites/default/files/packshots/nintendo-game-boy/radar-mission-usa-europe.png" height="320" width="318" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://game-oldies.com/" target="_blank">Game Oldies</a>. Once again, I find myself</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">in awe of late 80's, early 90's box art. The cool fonts, the excellent,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">hand-drawn artwork, and blatant overstatement of the actual product.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Ah, nostalgia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love playing games. I love video games, of course, because, if I didn't, writing this blog would be pretty silly of me, wouldn't it? But I also love other kinds of games. I grew up playing board games and card games with my family. I can rock a game of Klondike Solitaire any time, and I rather enjoy trouncing my family in a rousing game of <i>Scatergories</i>. Yes, I love a good tabletop game. So do a lot of other people, I'd wager, which is why we see so many conversions of popular card, board, and other tabletop games on video game systems. The Game Boy was no exception to this, and received a number of relevant titles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Radar Mission</i>, on paper, is the very definition of taking a board game and turning into a video game with enough added content, feature/functionality, and substance, to make it worth playing over and above the source material it shamelessly copies. In this case, it's the venerable classic <i>Battleship</i><b style="font-style: italic;">.</b> Yes, the game that invented the catch phrase, "You sank my battleship!" that nearly every North American child in my generation could pull out of the air, since during almost any commercial break for after-school programming, or Saturday Morning Cartoons (RIP), a commercial for some iteration of the game was inevitably aired. The difference with <i>Battleship</i>, however, was that many versions of the game came with more than just plastic pegs, plastic ships, and a nice custom game board. Some versions came with lights, sounds, and gripping nautical warfare action! Okay, so maybe I'm channeling the commercials from memory, but the truth is, as a property to translate to the video game medium, <i>Battleship</i> had already transcended its pressed cardboard and plastic game piece brethren, and was therefore going to need more than just pictures on the screen and cutesy music to spruce it up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">And once again, we have a completely different game logo design</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">from the box to the title screen. Another case of the left hand and</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the right hand not being aware of one another, methinks.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I suppose Nintendo was able to produce <i>Radar Mission</i> (or <i>Kaisen Game: Radar Mission</i>, in Japan) without having to pay Milton Bradley bucket-loads of money, because the game originated as a pen-and-paper game, and took on a number of physical board game revisions, before Milton Bradley's more famous <i>Battleship</i> game became a household name sometime during the late 1960's and early 1970's. By the 1980's, of course, it had become a phenomenon, and I think it was almost a prerequisite that any American family had at least one <i>Battleship</i> game board in their house. At least in my experience, I believe all my friends' families had the game, my grandmother had it, and they even had it at school where we could play during certain activity times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game A in </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Radar Mission</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> sets itself apart by offering a number of features that its inspiration never boasted. First and foremost, when you start the game, you get to choose what size of game board you want: 8x8, 10x10, or 12x12. You only get to choose the size of the initial board, however, because, if you happen to defeat the enemy during the first match, you move on to a 2nd level with an 8x8 board, and then on to a 3rd and final level where you're attacking the enemy's base on land. It gives the game a lot more depth than the traditional board game variety. You have the ability to toggle a "Near Miss" feature, which means that, when you or your enemy fire a shot that lands in the water next to a ship, a warning sound will play, letting you know that in one of the spaces directly above, below, or to either side of your ship, there's a target you can hit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Here you can see all the options available in Game A, like the ability</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">to have aircraft launch, near miss, and WHAT ON EARTH, is that</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Hitler commanding your fleet? No wonder I lost so much!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's also the "Lucky Shot" feature, which is triggered in a seemingly random fashion. When you or your opponent miss a shot, you may be granted a lucky shot on your next turn. There are 3 varieties: first a single square shot, which, if successful, will completely destroy a ship in 1 hit. Second, there's a 5-shot blast which fires off 5 shots in the shape of an "X", and finally, a 9-shot volley that mirrors the 5-shot, but just stretches out 1 additional square diagonally from the center-point. If toggled, you will be alerted of near misses with these, though it's still a guessing game as to what side the actual target will be on. Then there's a nifty feature where, mid-way through a match, your aircraft carrier can launch a fighter jet, which will randomly move to different squares surrounding the location of the aircraft carrier (even after it has sunk), during each turn of the game. If your opponent has sunk all your ships, but your jet is still in flight, you still have a chance to take them out, as long as they haven't taken it down. It adds an additional strategic element, because of the need to hit what is, essentially, a moving target. Finally, you can choose between 2 captains to command your fleet, and 3 different opponents to play against, though the actual choice doesn't matter, as each commander plays exactly the same.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">It's a satisfying sight, seeing your enemy's ship go down in flames,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">helpless to defend themselves against your missiles. No, I don't</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">need </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">therapy; all is fair in love </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and war, remember?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game B is where the biggest deviation from the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Battleship</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> formula comes in, as it has nothing to do with the board game, but is instead a submarine-based action shooting section, with a first-person perspective. You control your sub, and can move left and right on the play field. Pressing Down on the D-pad will submerge the craft, and you can move left and right while watching the radar map, then press Up on the D-pad to raise up out of the water, and put you back into first-person view so you can either torpedo enemy ships, or use your machine guns against the enemy sub. Before each of the 3 rounds, you can equip your sub with a turbo propeller for additional speed, a twin-torpedo shot, for easier aiming, and powered sonar, which will reveal whether enemy vessels are moving left or right. Occasionally, you'll see bags of money pop up on screen, which you can shoot to earn more money, which will help you buy those upgrades again for the next round. Both you and your enemy start with the same number of ships each round, and the object is to blow up the last ship of your enemy's fleet before you can, or to blow up your foe's submarine, should you be so lucky. In the first-person view, you may get an indicator arrow pointing left or right, as to which is the best direction to travel to reach the most enemy ships to take out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">As you can see, I've already taken out my opponent's aircraft carrier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The area my targeting cursor is over happened to be the next ship I</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">hit. It won't be long before it's blown to smithereens, sinking to the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">bottom of the sea, forever to be nothing more than a relic of warfare.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the tricky thing about Game A: the AI is all over the place. As one would expect, the game attempts to approximate what a human would do, but sometimes it feels very random. Anyone I've ever played <i>Battleship</i> against, once they've found one of your ships, they continue to fire in that region until they've sunk the vessel. Sometimes, in <i>Radar Mission</i>, your enemy will hit your boat, fire a couple near miss shots which give them license to sink the vessel, and then, inexplicably, they'll begin firing on random spots on the board, seemingly in an attempt to find other ships. It's a strategy I've honestly never seen, and it's a bit baffling. I'm not complaining, however; Game A provides quite a challenge, and I only conquered my opponent after about 15 or 20 attempts, during a game where the CPU used the aforementioned tactic. Apparently, my nautical warfare skills need some tightening up.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK9c05Iqdisccn4UTvWe-CxWLDS3MnHzJ0FFyWvQa7lFjSAVPhIp1PJvT3aG6Mn9WZH-FUUIbNdycIRf5fV9_JUo6HA_y7fLggdmjMMMhRzW_UvYdoLPv2NC7d0UCdwGwD21EyscrTtc8/s1600/Radar+Mission+01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK9c05Iqdisccn4UTvWe-CxWLDS3MnHzJ0FFyWvQa7lFjSAVPhIp1PJvT3aG6Mn9WZH-FUUIbNdycIRf5fV9_JUo6HA_y7fLggdmjMMMhRzW_UvYdoLPv2NC7d0UCdwGwD21EyscrTtc8/s320/Radar+Mission+01.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Finally seeing the smiling face of my fleet admiral and the celebratory</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">dance of my crew was quite a feeling, after being taken down so many</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">times. It felt good to finally win all 3 rounds and defeat the enemy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game B, however, really ups the ante in the area of challenge. The enemy sub seems to have an innate sense of which direction to travel for maximum kill speed, and is relentless in firing machine guns and torpedoes at you when you cross its path. My assumption is, because the other sub can destroy you, that you could also destroy it, but I haven't been able to accomplish this apparently herculean feat. Rather, I have focused on taking out the opposing ships, but I've only ever been able to get past the first round, with a scant, single ship in my group remaining. In the 2nd stage, assuming I earned enough money to buy all 3 power-ups again, I get absolutely creamed by the lousy enemy craft, and haven't seen the 3rd stage, as of yet. Oh, and unless you're a masochist, or an absolute Jedi at games like this, don't even think about trying Game B without buying the upgrades before each round, because you'll probably lose. Needless to say, Game B presents a pretty stiff challenge, though I suppose with enough practice, one could best the 3 stages and achieve victory.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY-WYvVg95jKNM7IfsMGrh0qxv8SBZoYnNhqRKa-EdchPDotSUZcstn1W4yNXbty0kBcFswyuLoSIisr9Y2XKYOx5jI0YyEQTCLaJlEPs8Bdgs84wJ0nxwRz4KYiPwr3tqYGJZtMpqVsc/s1600/Radar+Mission+07.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY-WYvVg95jKNM7IfsMGrh0qxv8SBZoYnNhqRKa-EdchPDotSUZcstn1W4yNXbty0kBcFswyuLoSIisr9Y2XKYOx5jI0YyEQTCLaJlEPs8Bdgs84wJ0nxwRz4KYiPwr3tqYGJZtMpqVsc/s320/Radar+Mission+07.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">These guys are the smart ones, who stayed back at the dock. They're</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">not going to be sunk by an opposing sub. No, they'll happily be sipping</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">beverages in the cantina, laughing at their comrades risking their necks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In terms of the game's visual aesthetics, they're pretty well done. The ships themselves aren't much to look at when you're looking at the game board, but the designs are nice, and the animations accompanying each volley are a nice touch, despite being a bit sparse. Obviously being a slow-paced game, Game A gets by more on substance than flash, but then Game B has some nice touches, like the multi-level scrolling water that looks like a parallax scrolling effect, and a decent depth perception effect when firing torpedoes at far away ships. The little animations in between stages are a bit goofy, but they're light-hearted, and serve their purpose. I also kind of like the explosion effect graphics each time you destroy a ship.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I said it before, and I'll say it again. Get the upgrades, or prepare to be</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">annihilated within short order. Seriously, the enemy sub will cut you</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">down to size without a moment's hesitation, and you'll be crying.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The music in the game is well composed. In Game A, there's a standard tune that plays during the bulk of the stage, and then toward the end of each round, the music will change, depending on you and your opponent's status. If you are down to your last ship, the music becomes serious and ominous, as if to signal that you're in trouble. If the enemy is down their last vessel, you get a more triumphant, victorious kind of theme that plays, signifying that you're in the home stretch with only 1 boat left to bomb. When the opposition gets a lucky shot, another serious, frantic-toned ditty plays while they're targeting and firing, as a means of building tension. The title screen theme is nice as well, with a catchy melody and a nice faux-military sort of feel. Sound effects are also decent, with the usual "alley-oop" kind of high pitched whistle when firing missiles, a good explosion sound, and a serviceable splash-down sound for missed shots. The near miss sound is a bit annoying, though one assumes that's the point. Game B's main theme is a bit less memorable, though once you're down to 3 ships, it changes to the "ominous" theme from Game A, which serves to heighten the action. I like how the music fades out on the option screens when you select your options and start the game, it's a nice effect. Overall, the sound design is pretty solid.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifT0UBVpVAuevQlLBPaPrz6XWAenZQCmIngPP0Pg1uqwlZzY18PTQqyjWT7qmFvnIdzGcgUY9Q6aJ_tRTTzjWuiIJu7oVbpLj72bl0pl59AmScPbwUb-zldLvf0CKiJsQUM914-vdqpFY/s1600/Radar+Mission+10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifT0UBVpVAuevQlLBPaPrz6XWAenZQCmIngPP0Pg1uqwlZzY18PTQqyjWT7qmFvnIdzGcgUY9Q6aJ_tRTTzjWuiIJu7oVbpLj72bl0pl59AmScPbwUb-zldLvf0CKiJsQUM914-vdqpFY/s320/Radar+Mission+10.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">There are moments like this in Game B that are very rewarding - the</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">second before the torpedo hits, you know it's going to find its target,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">and you'll get to watch the glorious explosion of an enemy vessel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's hard to fault <i>Radar Mission</i> for much of anything, because, in 1991, the Game Boy was really hitting its stride, in terms of development teams really learning how to get the most out of the limited hardware. The slow pace of Game A, coupled with the original DMG Game Boy model's blurriness, means that it was probably the perfect choice for car rides, weekends at grandma's house, and late night sleepover game sessions. Game B, with its faster pace and fast scrolling ships, doesn't fare quite as well on the original hardware, but since the animation is relatively flat, it still works pretty well. Nintendo took an established formula and added some nice additional features that really buoy the game (sorry, pun intended), and make it feel more fresh. But instead of just stopping there, they added an entirely different 2nd mode, which gives the game even more replay value, especially since both game types can be played with 2 sea-faring swabbies (no, this isn't a pirate game, but go with me on this one). Sadly, since I only have 1 copy of the game, I didn't get to experience that. My only real complaint is that, for Game A, there's no mode that allows 2 players on the same device. That would have been a fantastic addition to an otherwise well made game. Had I known about <i>Radar Mission</i> back when it released, it might have, erm, "been on my radar" (sorry, I can't help myself), and might have been a game I would have purchased. I know my younger brother would have played with me, and had there been a 2-player/1-device mode, I might even have convinced my dad to as well. Regardless, anyone who owns a Game Boy (or compatible device), has fond memories of playing <i>Battleship</i>, and enjoys this kind of tactical strategy challenge, should be looking this game up and seriously thinking about acquiring a copy. I got mine for $4 (loose cart), and I would think you could probably find a copy in the wild for around that price. It's well worth that and more, and you could easily sink hours (okay, okay, I'll stop!) into it. Highly recommended.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4p3NF4mqSerSq1dWQeQKkvf4-1OZuitnsmePZeD4N6DHWqjHraSSAWqYSP1v89FZcN4l1LiyrU4dqnncK0SXp0vzAcBBmagz2nGtvWBp6f22QE2PIXcMXUHYMnyFLTL1qjv4wj9p1vE/s1600/Radar+Mission+11.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje4p3NF4mqSerSq1dWQeQKkvf4-1OZuitnsmePZeD4N6DHWqjHraSSAWqYSP1v89FZcN4l1LiyrU4dqnncK0SXp0vzAcBBmagz2nGtvWBp6f22QE2PIXcMXUHYMnyFLTL1qjv4wj9p1vE/s320/Radar+Mission+11.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Unless you can master the submerging in Game B, you'll be seeing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">this screen a whole lot like I did. Thankfully, once you do, avoiding</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the other sub becomes a lot easier. You can also submerge to</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">avoid missiles fired at you by enemy planes, which comes in handy.</span></div>
GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-74517854282148406572015-07-23T13:43:00.000-05:002016-06-02T19:19:45.014-05:00The Guru Inside: clarification on the use of "Guru"<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am a bit of a dichotomy, as a gamer. I consider myself to be reasonably knowledgeable with regards to video games, gaming history, and in general, gaming culture. I will fully admit that I'm not up on the latest thing in today's gaming scene, but from a standpoint of "retro" games, I've got a pretty broad base of information. That said, I know that I don't know everything, and there are some definite gaps in my own knowledge. There are consoles I've never seen or played, games I've not heard of, and experiences I lack as a whole, that prevent me from being the "be all, end all" of video game know-how. I'm a student of life, like anyone else, and I'm always learning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Bearing that in mind, why would anyone who admittedly doesn't know everything call themselves a "guru"? Why would I want to subject myself to the level of scrutiny that comes from identifying oneself as a "guru"? What is my motive for elevating myself so much, other than to draw attention to myself? Am I crazy enough to think that I know enough to even refer to myself with such distinction? Do I deserve to even be referring to myself by such a title?</span><br />
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<a href="http://moviehaku.com/img/gallery/large/12-The-Love-Guru.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://moviehaku.com/img/gallery/large/12-The-Love-Guru.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://www.adido-digital.co.uk/" target="_blank">Adido Digital</a>.<br />"Buy more Game Boy games, they will help you on</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">the path to enlightenment. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Mariska Hargitay."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">First, let's look at the definition of the word from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>guru</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> noun gu·ru \ˈgu̇r-(ˌ)ü, ˈgü-(ˌ)rü also gə-ˈrü\</span><br />
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<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">a religious teacher and spiritual guide in Hinduism</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">a teacher or guide that you trust</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">a person who has a lot of experience in or knowledge about a particular subject</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I think we can immediately scratch definition #1 off the list, because I have nothing to do with Hinduism. I am a Christian, though that doesn't necessarily intersect with the game reviews I write, other than my faith informing who I am and what I do. Definition #2 is short and to the point, and I like it. I could be considered a teacher or guide, given that I'm writing about games and sharing my experiences, as well as recommending (or not) games to others. Definition #3 is a bit less subjective, but strictly by that definition, I am probably not a "guru" in the classic sense. I am playing games and learning about them as I go along, but as of this writing, I'm no expert on the Game Boy library of games, or the hardware. My goal is to get to that point.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.imgion.com/images/02/Quote-by-guru-nanak-dev-ji.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.imgion.com/images/02/Quote-by-guru-nanak-dev-ji.jpg" height="286" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://www.imgion.com/" target="_blank">Imgion</a>.<br />Thanks for the tip, bro, but can I get a verdict on this here <i>Tetris Blast</i> game?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I like the way Wikipedia frames it:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Guru (Devanagari गुरु) is a Sanskrit term for "teacher" or "master", particularly in Indian religions. The Hindu guru-shishya tradition is the oral tradition or religious doctrine or experiential wisdom transmitted from teacher to student. In the United States, the word guru is a newer term, most often used to describe a teacher from the Hindu tradition. In the West some derogatory interpretations of the word have been noted, reflecting certain gurus who have allegedly exploited their followers' naiveté, due to the use of the term in certain new religious movements.[1]</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">As a noun the word means the imparter of knowledge (jñāna; also Pali: ñāna). As an adjective, it means 'heavy,' or 'weighty,' in the sense of "heavy with knowledge,"[Note 1] heavy with spiritual wisdom,[3] "heavy with spiritual weight,"[4] "heavy with the good qualities of scriptures and realization,"[5] or "heavy with a wealth of knowledge."[6] The word has its roots in the Sanskrit gri (to invoke, or to praise), and may have a connection to the word gur, meaning 'to raise, lift up, or to make an effort'.[7]</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Again, though I have nothing to do with Hinduism, the idea of "teacher" is present. "Master" perhaps I'm not, but I hope to one day reach that point. If you look at the 2nd paragraph I've quoted here, you'll noticed the phrase they use as "imparter of knowledge". I quite like that idea, and it echoes much of what I hope to accomplish through this journey. The Game Boy library of games is not nearly as well documented or well known as that of the NES or even the Sega Genesis or SNES, so to try and uncover as much about it as possible is part of my goal. I want to impart my knowledge and experiences about the games as much as I can so that others can hopefully make informed decisions about purchasing those games, especially considering that as supply decreases, demand may increase, along with price, so those looking to get into Game Boy collecting will want to know if what they're paying for is worth the money they're considering spending.</span><br />
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Guru_(rapper).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Guru_(rapper).jpg" width="278" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/" target="_blank">Wikepedia</a>.<br />Droppin' Game Boy knowledge like it's hot. Represent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here's another perspective to consider from the Wikipedia article:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">A traditional etymology of the term "guru" is based on the interplay between darkness and light. The guru is seen as the one who "dispels the darkness of ignorance."[Note 2][Note 3][11] In some texts it is described that the syllables gu (गु) and ru (रु) stand for darkness and light, respectively.[Note 4]</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The 2nd sentence highlights what I'm attempting to do: shed light on the subject of Game Boy games, and help separate the good from the bad. I'm here to 'dispel the darkness of ignorance' by playing games and then recommending the good or decent ones, and letting people know when they might want to steer clear of something that has little or no merit, replay value, or fun involved. If a game deserves your time, attention, and hard-earned cash, I'm going to tell you that. If a game is completely terrible, I want to make sure that everyone knows it, so they don't spend their money without at least being informed. My responsibility, as a self-proclaimed "guru" is to make sure that you have all the information you might need to make an informed purchase or play decision.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I firmly believe that no one in a position of teaching others ever stops learning themselves. Just like watching a movie multiple times, and picking </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">up</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">something new each time, or reading a book multiple times, and noticing new elements in the subtext upon each read through, teachers are in a constant state of learning. How else would they improve their ability to convey information, or have a better sense of the context of that information, if they weren't constantly attempting to increase their own knowledge in that area? As a consumer of games and gaming culture, it's important for me to not only be steeped in that culture as I know it today, but to continue to learn about it, so my understanding of that culture can be greater and more full. If I ever feel like I've learned enough about the Game Boy, its games, or the technical information surrounding it, I'm wrong. I need to keep learning.</span><br />
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<a href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/farewell/farewell_yogi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/farewell/farewell_yogi.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Beatles went to this guy for spiritual counsel. You should feel</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">comfortable coming to me for some of your Game Boy education.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In summary, I call myself the <b>Game Boy Guru</b>, partially in jest, since I've nothing to do with any of the religious or spiritual connotations that implies, but also partially because my goal is to reach that stage; that place of Game Boy "enlightenment" if you will. I want to become an authority on the subject, so I'm putting it out there that this is what I'm going to become. Do I expect to ever be as learned as <a href="http://twitter.com/gamespite" target="_blank">Jeremy Parish</a> of <a href="http://gameboyworld.com/" target="_blank">Game Boy World</a>? No, probably not. He's been a games industry writer for a number of years, and is far more "professional" than I ever aspire to be, in terms of his writing and composition. Don't get me wrong, I strive for all the hallmarks of good writing: proper grammar, correct spelling, good use of transitions, proper punctuation, and variety in my use of synonyms. But compared to a professional writer who is being and has in the past been paid to write about video games, I'm just another guy. He's the business casual guy in the room, unassuming but confident, safe in the knowledge that he's at the top of his game. I'm the nerd in the corner wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt, camouflage shorts, and silently blogging about my latest portable game conquest, while tweeting about how much I hate the motion blur on the original Game Boy DMG's screen. So yeah, I wear the mantle of <b>Game Boy Guru</b> with pride, but also with a grain of salt, and tongue planted ever so firmly in cheek. I hope I can live up to the name, and I hope that this helps to clear up any misconceptions people might have about the somewhat presumptuous moniker I've chosen for myself. Game on!</span>GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1605584337244438637.post-927409017002713272015-06-28T21:45:00.002-05:002015-07-08T14:28:40.448-05:00SolarStriker (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/1/4/0/21140_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/1/4/0/21140_front.jpg" height="286" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image shamelessly linked from <a href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/" target="_blank">GameFAQs</a>.<br />I love classic video game box art like this. It symbolizes<br />the imagination many artists put into the artwork. Imagination<br />that unfortunately, rarely ever captured the true look and<br />feel of the game. Still, it gave us hope of the contents within.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the video game genres that I've been a big fan of over the last 20 years or so is shoot-em-ups. No, I'm not talking about "shooters", those fast-paced, first-person games where you brandish a firearm of some sort and snipe guys at 300 feet, reveling in every headshot. No, I'm talking about the scrolling shooter, one of the staples of what we now know as classic, or "retro" gaming. You see, from the early-mid 1980's, until around the mid-late 1990's, the scrolling shooter genre evolved tremendously, from humble beginnings like <i>1942</i>, <i>Vulgus</i>, <i>Star Force</i>, and the like, to highly sophisticated games with deep, complex scoring systems like <i>Battle Garegga</i>, <i>Dodonpachi</i>, <i>Radiant Silvergun</i>, and<i> </i>many more. While I appreciate the complexity and replayability of games like that, give me a simple "shmup" (a term, coined by <i>Zzap!64 Magazine</i>) with twitchy game play, a simple control scheme, and solid action any day. While there's room in my heart for "danmaku" games (aka bullet curtain, or "bullet hell" shooters), I generally prefer classic shoot-em-ups to their more grown-up descendants.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-8psxmKsNtPY2a-HFiSvvBHf3MeSCzbpAuKE2CNKbBTcivYsYrS41Dk_CgsWhC3xj6UUBeBLMk8tBDzzytrN8wKITewnerwCTxv0hBQa1bxrEHWY1UfnuIbIRkR_D-HM6tgUMphWPp3k/s1600/Solar+Striker+01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-8psxmKsNtPY2a-HFiSvvBHf3MeSCzbpAuKE2CNKbBTcivYsYrS41Dk_CgsWhC3xj6UUBeBLMk8tBDzzytrN8wKITewnerwCTxv0hBQa1bxrEHWY1UfnuIbIRkR_D-HM6tgUMphWPp3k/s1600/Solar+Striker+01.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Someone needed to remind companies during the 80's<br />and early 90's that changing the logo design between the<br />box and the title screen caused confusion. Which logo<br />was the "official" one, and which was a design mistake?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leave it to Nintendo to do things differently. While we know in today's modern world that Nintendo prefers to go their own way and do their own thing, in the late 1980's and early 1990's, it was everyone else who was doing their own thing, while Nintendo were the stalwarts of the scene, at least in North America. We didn't know any better until years later, when we found out about the Tengen stuff, companies only being allowed to publish so many games each year for the NES, having to buy cartridges and hardware from Nintendo, etc. During that time, Nintendo was leading the charge, and everyone else was either following, or trying to differentiate themselves somehow to stand out. From the N64 forward, however, we saw a much different Nintendo. So to some fans in 1990, a vertical scrolling shoot-em-up might have seemed like it came out of left field from Nintendo. Be that as it may, they made a solid game.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9JQpH5ecdGvY7JWomCco2ERsmks0bOOfmycJDssWl0OZTVSCrzg2L1VsD3-VHMsFgOgKLdJgfkkTuZiudpHnzItiTiMoXItZZqZKSvDusB-KvGnuUMHk1MkTM1nh0K_JIuLVhN3KXVk/s1600/Solar+Striker+02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9JQpH5ecdGvY7JWomCco2ERsmks0bOOfmycJDssWl0OZTVSCrzg2L1VsD3-VHMsFgOgKLdJgfkkTuZiudpHnzItiTiMoXItZZqZKSvDusB-KvGnuUMHk1MkTM1nh0K_JIuLVhN3KXVk/s1600/Solar+Striker+02.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Space...the final frontier." Also, graphically kind of boring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The setup for <i>SolarStriker</i> reads like any other bog standard shmup from that time period. You're a lone spacecraft either tasked with a suicide mission to save civilization, or a loner bent on revenge and the destruction of an alien planet/race/culture/technology/etc. It doesn't matter much, as there's no story in-game, and the back of the box doesn't exactly give you much of a reason for blasting alien baddies, anyway. What does matter is that you've got 3 lives, an upgrade-able weapons system, and tons of alien craft and weaponry in your way before you reach the end of the game's 6 stages. Throughout your journey, you'll collect power-ups, destroy flying ships, tanks and trucks, alien life forms, and large boss enemies to reach the final showdown.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I'm sure you'll become quite acquainted with this screen<br />as I did in my play through of the game. It gets annoying.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Thankfully, you can press Start to jump right back to the<br />title screen, and Start again to get back to the action.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Graphically, the game isn't too shabby for the Game Boy. Your ship, while devoid of a "tilt" animation when you move left to right, is rendered nicely, and the backgrounds generally strike that balance between interesting and utilitarian, leaning more toward the latter in favor of the player's ability to see what's going on. Enemies move in various patterns, and while some enemies rotate or change as they attack, others just move on the screen and their sprites are static; only their movement fluctuates. Explosions are also decent, given the small screen size, but they don't distract from the action. As a side note, this game was released early enough in the Game Boy's life cycle that it has a special palette programmed into the Super Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Player which reverses the "black and white" contrast, so that space looks like space with black space and white stars, and similar changes. If you want the original experience, you'll need to play it on an original DMG or Game Boy Pocket unit, otherwise, you'll see the game much differently than R&D 1 had in mind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I can only assume since we started in space, and this is<br />Stage 2, we're in the sky above the alien planet, raining<br />down destruction and chaos everywhere. Neat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The audio of the game is an area that I think was relatively strong, given the time of the game's release.There are only a handful of music tracks in the game. The title screen has its own ominous theme, and then there are 3 tracks shared by the subsequent 6 stages, each track playing for 2 consecutive stages before the next theme is used. There's a separate track for boss fights, and then of course, separate music for when you lose your last life, and for the game's ending. All tracks are reasonably well composed, though I'll wager that most people will say the Stage 1/2 music is the best tune in the game, in part because it's super catchy, but also because that's the music they'll likely be hearing the most. Sound effects are also decent, though very minimal, using white noise bits for explosions, sufficient beeping and noises for your craft firing, etc. Most enemies don't make noise when they fire projectiles, so you don't get that extra warning - you'll have to be mindful of their incoming fire by sight only.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Stage 3 goes over some roadways, which look suspiciously<br />like our own on Earth. Wait a minute, am I blowing away<br />aliens on Earth? Why didn't anyone tell me?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Game play is pretty standard. You can move the ship up, down, left, and right on the screen, and have no real restrictions as to where you can go within the game's field of vision. The actual stage width is greater than what you can see on screen, so as you move the space ship left and right, the screen scrolls slightly to display the rest of the area you have to fly in. It feels natural, and didn't distract me when playing like in some games. The difficulty is pretty standard throughout the first 3 stages, increasing relatively gradually, though the bosses for the 1st 3 areas are quite easy. Things get very hairy starting with Stage 4, however, as the difficulty ramps up quite a bit. In particular, the Stage 4 boss rains down a lot of fire on your ship, making it quite tough to get in a few hits here and there. The Stage 5 boss is only slightly less forgiving, having a more predictable pattern. From Stage 4 through 6, there are mini-bosses, and there's a small mini-boss rush at the end of Stage 6 before the final boss. Strangely, though the final boss throws a lot at you, it feels like a less complicated battle than the 2 preceding boss fights, so it comes off as a bit of a relief in comparison.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Stage 4 adds the first mini-boss, this big fella here. You<br />have to destroy the shielded units around him to get to<br />the actual core of the unit itself, not unlike another famous<br />series of shmups where you have to "Shoot the core!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a shooter based on the template laid down by a number of arcade and early console titles that came before it, and in some ways, served as a template for all shoot-em-ups subsequently released for this platform. There's not a 2nd loop for "New Game Plus" mode, and there's not even a high score table. You just fly, maneuver, and shoot through 6 stages, and that's all there is. It's not a particularly long game, though the stages themselves are sufficiently long before the boss encounters. Yes, the game comes off as a pretty no-frills affair, but for a portable title, that's pretty much all you need. It's a solid game with tight game play.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This is the Stage 4 boss, just before it starts shooting a<br />metric ton of bullets at me. This was long before the term<br />"bullet hell" was coined, but that's not far off the mark here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I had to level some complaints against <i>SolarStriker</i>, I would say the game's major difficulty spike after Stage 3 would be one. The game just doesn't feel that hard through the first 3 levels, once you memorize enemy wave patterns. Starting with Stage 4, however, things become much more manic. You start to encounter fast moving enemies that can only be destroyed at the highest level of ship fire, and even then, only if you're at the bottom of the screen firing at them constantly until they're nearly on top of you. The enemy bullet timing and patterns are kind of goofy as well. Sometimes it feels like they're targeting you, while other times, it seems like they're just shooting a bullet, hoping to hit something. In later levels, when half the enemies start shooting directional lasers that always shoot straight down, it becomes less twitch-reflex dodging, and more risk/reward, where you decide whether or not you want to risk potentially being taken out by a laser, versus the points you'll earn for destroying that enemy or group. It's a little unbalanced in that sense, and is a bit too obvious in the game's setup. I also would have liked the other 2 stage tunes to be a bit more memorable, or better yet, have dedicated music for each of the 6 stages.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Oh look, a stage that looks like highly advanced<br />technology and stuff - that's not a trope at all, is it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite these less than perfect design choices, <i>SolarStriker</i> remains a highly playable, and reasonably enjoyable game. It's a solid shmup that benefits from some good graphic design choices to make the game easy to see and play on the original hardware, despite the Game Boy DMG's tendency toward motion blur. The music and sound, despite the sparse nature of it, is fitting to the game, and you'll likely find yourself whistling or humming the Stage 1/2 song at some point. Just don't throw your Game Boy against the wall when you die on the Stage 4 boss the 12th time. I'll give this 2 thumbs up for shooter and arcade game fans, and a casual recommendation to anyone else. It's a very common game, and I picked up a copy for $4. If you can't find it that cheap, it might be worth paying a little more for, but I wouldn't go out of your way to acquire it, because it's so common in the wild.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The final stage looks vaguely like you're inside some giant<br />alien being, not unlike <i>Life Force</i>/<i>Salamander</i> or <i>Abadox</i>. The<br />final boss appears to be the creature's heart that you have<br />to destroy. Why it shoots bullets at you is anyone's guess.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Yeah, we kind of figured that part out with the preceding<br />cut scene, but thanks for telling us anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"Finally, I can dock my ship and go meet up <br />with that cute engineer from Section 3!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This is my <i>SolarStriker</i> cart. It appears that perhaps my<br />cart fought in the conflict with the aliens alongside the<br />space ship you pilot in game...</span></div>
GameBoy Guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028811620971105424noreply@blogger.com0