Thursday, September 22, 2011



Developed by:  SunSoft
Distributed by: Sunsoft
Released: November 1988
Blaster Master is an often-overlooked NES classic from 1988 that incorporates excellent gameplay, colorful graphics, a vast array of enemies & unique bosses to take its place as one of Nintendo's best action games.  It holds up THAT well.
The game has two distinct play modes. The first is a Metroid-esque set of levels, with your character riding around in a tank blasting everything in sight.  Some levels can get tricky, but power-ups and health replenishment are all over the place, so do your job and shoot [Image]the enemies!  With a little patience, you'll really enjoy exploring your way through these levels, as you can backtrack and figure out exactly where you have to go.  The second mode, when you hop out of the tank and enter dungeon-type areas (think "Zelda"), has you running around with a top-down view, shooting at everything that gets in your way to get to the bosses.  The bosses get progressively more difficult but each has a "pattern" to work with in order to beat them.

The graphics are flat-out awesome, with the top-down levels being bright (almost a "cartoony" feel...until you reach those bosses) and the side-scrolling levels having detailed backgrounds and tons of enemies all over the place.  While the basic enemies weren't the most colorful (I never considered this a setback), the settings for each level blew away most NES games at the time.  The bosses, and really, all the enemies in the top-down mode, all look great and the levels make it actually FUN to hunt them down.
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The music for Blaster Master is catchy and a true perfect fit.  It sounds great!  The levels have lots of cool beats and from the very first second you start driving the tank, you'll know they spent time on this one.  Sound effects are pretty good, as well.

Play control is excellent.  Your tank has a moving turret, the controlled with the D-Pad when firing can shoot in different directions (up, left/right, diagonal) and it looks and plays like a moving vehicle.  You'll be flying across the screen shooting lots of enemies and experience none of the annoying "NES slow-motion" whatsoever with this game.  The tank bounces a bit when it lands, can slightly nudge forward to time a tough jump, and a lot of the usual annoying downsides to platformers will NOT be found here.  When controlling your character in top-down mode, you'll find the movements fluid and navigating the character is never a problem.

Have patience piloting the tank and get started in this game.  It's easy to catch a lot of damage but also easy to avoid rushing into a hornet's nest.  If you get the hang of Blaster Master (realistically, it takes all of 5-10 minutes) you'll love this game.  A great effort from Sunsoft.

Must-own title.

Rating:  A
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

NES RATING #19 - Defenders of Dynatron City

...Defenders of Dynatron City...
Developed by:  LucasFilm Games
Distributed by
: JVC Musical Industries
Released
: July 1992
 

Defenders of Dynatron City was developed by the usual spot-on LucasFilm Games (now LucasArts), but don't get too excited.  The game, intended to spawn a new TMNT-esque franchise, is a major disappointment.  Sadly, a number of glaring errors weighs down what could have been a hot property from the media giant who brought you the Star Wars franchise.


The game is mostly side-scrolling, and play as characters from a new, original superhero team.  Your goal is to guide them through 4 stages in order to save the town.  It's a simple enough storyline here. Unfortunately, "simple" describes the graphics and play control, as well.

As you walk around the streets attempting to clear each screen of evil robots, you'll immediately notice a ridiculously poor hit detection system.  I must have had the radioactive dog (one of the heroes) bite the robot 10 times before it explodes.  The next robot?  2 bites.  The characters move awkwardly and the game is quite repetitive.  A game being boring is one thing, but when it's not even designed well, that's a recipe for disaster.  At least there's a time limit, so the game will actually end while you're dozing off.




A major bust from a company that consistently delivered so much more.

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Rating:  D-
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Friday, September 16, 2011

NES RATING #18 - John Elway's Quarterback

... John Elway's Quarterback ...

Developed by:  Leland Corporation
Distributed by
: Tradewest
Released
: March 1989
 

John Elway's Quarterback is a football game (alledgedly) that gives you a top-down perspective of the field and a sad perspective on life.  What was a perfectly playable arcade game turned out to be a bottom-of-the-barrel as NES football games could get.


The graphics are the game are absolutely miserable, with generic red & blue teams playing each other, numeric-integers posing as solid objects on the scoreboard, and just a dull, ugly look to the entire game.  Your team is always blue, no matter who you pick.  Your opponents?  The red team!  There are no names for the players and no reason for you to think you're being "your" team, even if your team is lucky enough to be included.

There is no music in the game.  Brilliant.

The sound effects are loud screeching noises and the annoying "CHARGE!" song (which is a baseball/hockey staple, not so much football!) coming every 45 seconds or so.

Play control is equally abysmal.  There's no simple "select a receiver and throw" method with the flick of a button, but rather you hold down B and line up an arrow to throw to your receiver.  Just lazy and aggravating.  Running is nearly impossible, as is returning kicks due to the slow movement of the runners.

A long-time ago, a young QB named John Elway put his name on an abomination of a football video game.  Pop this in to see how bad it is, then throw it in the fireplace minutes later.
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Rating:  F

NES RATING #17 - Fun House

....Fun House...

Developed by:  Realtime Assoc. / Ironwind Software
Distributed by
: JHi Tech Expressions

Released
: January 1991

Fun House is a seemingly G-rated game named for the game show of the same name which ran from 1988-91.  You play as a rollerblading child who must skate around and throws red balls at a number of targets, hitting them all before time expires.  Along the way, there will be several obstacles to slow you down.  Things get increasingly difficult as you progress throughout the game.

There are 72 total levels, with the earlier levels (Floor 1 & 2) playing extremely easy.  The biggest raise for concern is controlling the player, done by holding the B button to move (weird) and changing your direction with the D-Pad.  It takes a few levels to really get used to and making yourself go in a perfectly straight line can be a real chored.  You'll likely just bounce all over the place, shooting targets and advancing level-by-level.  It gets pretty old REALLY quickly but then around Floor 3 or so, the challenge ups itself.
 
The graphics for this game and are fairly basic, even below average.  Really, though, this is an action puzzle game, so besides your own character, you won't notice the graphics all that much.  Your character never "dies" but will lose a chance if time expires.  Collecting 25 coins can restore an extra chance.  The music is extremely weak, as wel

Again, the play control takes some getting used to, so use the ultra-easy opening levels to get accustomed to skating around.  Later on, the globs of slime and conveyor belts will make it much harder to hit every target.

In all, Fun House is a fairly average puzzle game with plenty of levels, but suffers from below-average performance in every area except the challenge and fun factor.  But that's what matters most, right?  Give it a try, but be willing to invest 20-25 minutes to get into some of the harder levels before giving up on it.
Rating:  D+
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NES RATING #16 - WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge

...WWF WrestleMania:...
...Steel Cage Challenge...
Developed by:  Sculptured Software
Distributed by: LJN Ltd.
Released: September 1992

WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge was the third of four WWF games released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and a noticeable step down in quality from the second game, WWF WrestleMania Challenge.


Shouldn't games progressively evolve into better experiences for the player?  This attempt
sure didn't.  How hard was it to update the roster from 1990  to 1992 and make some slight tweaks to play control and graphics?  Apparently very difficult, as this game was a major disappointment in every way imaginable.

That play control of Steel Cage Challenge is incredibly boring, with the same repetitive punch/kick and run moves being done by all of the various WWF wrestlers in the game.  This is a considerable downgrade from the 1990 release of WrestleMania Challenge, which featured unique speeds, sizes, move sets, and more fluid control of the selected wrestler.  Your goal here is to throw punches, kicks, maybe run off the ropes, and go for a pin.  No special moves and no unique moves, whatsoever.  All the wrestlers (if you can tell them apart) have the same endurance and you're basically having matches between sprites with different splotches of paint.  What an uncreative mess.

As stated, the graphics are horrendous here, as some of the wrestlers are basically indistinguishable (Mountie and Bret Hart) and the overall look of the game is just BLAND.  The graphics are Game Boy-esque with their lack of clarity and simplicity.  The steel cage itself is tiny, with one game ending in roughly 10 seconds after my character was slammed, never got up, and the opposition climbed to the top of the cage in 5 seconds.  Just awful.

What more can I say?  The music is atrocious (when there is any), the graphics look awful, the game play is as basic as can be, and overall, WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge feels like a total rush-job with no replay value, whatsoever.

Rating:
  F


NES RATING #15 - Ghostbusters II

....Ghostbusters II....
Developed by:  ActiVision
Distributed by: ActiVision
Released: April 1990

Let's travel back to 1989.  At the time, Ghostbusters 2 held the record for the largest three-day box office opening in history.

You'll find many familiar scenes from the movie in Ghostbusters 2 (as well as some attempts at music, but no Bobby Brown) which is really the strength the game, it's attempt to provide you with a fun movie atmosphere.  Scenes include the Underground River of Slime, Subway, Statue of Liberty, and Courtroom, as well as the Museum of History.  Unfortunately, even with these levels, the game is repetitive and difficult, serving more as a "memory game" to avoid obstacles rather than the true interactive shoot 'em that most Ghostbusters fans crave. 

The music is okay.  I didn't find it annoying and thought it actually worked pretty well in some cases.  It doesn't sound great but it also isn't distracting.

Play control can be a bit awkward for a game where split-second timing is everything.  You have to aim the "slime gun" (sadly, no proton packs here) with the D-Pad which can be quite annoying and makes the game even harder.  Especially with ghosts flying around from various angles at the same time.  Play control loses major points here.  Otherwise, you're basically ducking, running, and dodging everything in sight.  The scenes where you're driving the Ecto-1 rely on your ability to steer the fast-moving car through barricade openings, jump the car over pits, and shoot ghosts.  This nothing terribly exciting.

There is no pause button.  The game require non-stop shooting and dodging.  NO PAUSE BUTTON.  Let that sink in.  How do you forget that?

Overall, this is a challenging and not very exciting game that improved on the first release but still needed a lot of work.  Give it a try, but unless you love the Ghostbusters 2 film you'll likely be bored after 10-15 minutes.

Rating:  D+

Thursday, September 15, 2011

NES RATING #14 - Alien Syndrome

...Alien Syndrome...

Developed by:  SEGA
Distributed by: Tengen (U.S.) / Sunsoft (Japan)
Released: 1988

Alien Syndrome
was a 1987 arcade game that was brought to the NES in 1988 as an unlicensed U.S. release by Tengen.
  The goal is to run through each of 6 levels, rescuing 12 friends (or “comrades”) before defeating a boss.  You’re racing against the clock here, and it can get close, so there’s no time to waste.  You’ll likely find the clock the biggest challenge when attempting to find the weak points of boss aliens, which can be problematic the first time you face them.

Much of the appeal of the arcade classic is gone, as the mazes aren’t so much mazes but rather wide open areas to run around in.  The 12 comrades are easily found, and enemies are incredibly weak.  You’ll no doubt find the initial stages extremely boring, as every alien is killed with one hit from any gun.  So whether you’re wielding the powerful laser or the weaker gun you start off with, what’s the difference?  A far cry from the challenging panic that arcade game could cause.  While the boss characters are quite tricky and require your character to keep dodging and moving, the build-up to the bosses is just repetitive.  


The graphics are a major step down from the arcade’s colorful look, and very flat to the eye.  Particularly noticeable are the look of your character, your “comrades” and basically the entire level you’re running around in.  The lackluster music is also a major problem and fails to set any mood for this supposed “scary aliens on a ship” game.  The sound effects are your standard NES shooter noises.

Perhaps the biggest appeal of this game are the simple controls, with one button to shoot (you can fire in 8 directions) and movement via the D-Pad (no jumping) the entire time.  There’s really nothing to learn except "run and shoot," and even the most inexperienced gamers could instantaneously get the hang of this one.

In conclusion, Alien Syndrome is an easier, duller version of the arcade game that you'll likely grow tired of after 20-30 minutes or so.  Give it a play or two and see if you can get into it.

Rating:  C-
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

NES RATING #13 - Balloon Fight

... Balloon Fight....
Developed by
:  Nintendo Research & Development 1

Distributed by: Nintendo
Released: June 1986

Balloon Fight
was a 1984-released Nintendo arcade game that made its way to the NES in June 1986.  This is one of Nintendo's underrated first-year titles, a fun 1 or 2-player game with plenty of replay value.  


Your character, the Balloon Fighter, has two balloons attached to his back and can subsequently take two "hits" to the balloons from rival balloon fighters that you're trying to eliminate and clear each level.  Hurry up and take them out, because they'll use parachutes and inflate new balloons if you don't!

This is also another mode of play called Balloon Trip where you attempt to avoid sparks and collect balloons to earn a high score.

Play control is basic, where tapping A & B causes your character to rise in the air, and he's then guided with the D-pad.  Losing a balloon makes it harder to fly.  Simple enough, right?  It may take a little while to master the art of balloon gliding, but once you do, you'll have fun flying around the board and trying new attacks.  Dive bombing enemies, teasing the giant fish in the water, and collecting balloons on bonus stages are among the fun that awaits. 


The graphics are poor, with no real background and I can't exactly tell what everything is on the screen, but they're not troublesome.here are different types of music throughout the game to keep things from getting annoying.  All in all, Balloon Fight is a game that is basic but effective.



Worth playing a few times, and an underrated trip back to the first year of the NES.


Rating:  B-

NES RATING #12 - Orb-3D

....Orb-3D....
Developed by:  Hi Tech Expressions
Distributed by: Hi Tech Expressions
Released: October 1990

Orb-3D
is an updated version of the classic Pong game, where you bounce a spaceship in between two side bumpers, sending it to the forground and background of the screen (hence the "3D" title) for 30 levels or so.  You'll have to avoid enemies and play a bunch of mini-games to constantly refuel your ship, as well.  Goals vary from popping bubbles (boring) to playing versions of intergalactic sports games.


If you miss hitting your orb with the paddle, your fuel depletes.  Once your fuel runs out, the game is over.  The mini-games (found instantly by pressing B) give you a chance to refuel, but even there your fuel is depleting, so don't screw around!  You aim must be true to send the orb through a hole and get fuel.  You should plan on refueling before it gets too low because the mini-games can take a little while in some cases.

So it's basically a time-wasting series of mini games with a common theme (save the universe, pretty weak) with a terrible looping soundtrack (same song for EVERY level) and very pedestrian graphics.  The play control is very simple, altho piloting the orb into the refueling areas can be a problem at times.  Play control overall is okay.

If you don't get bored with it, you'll find that Orb-3D is a pretty decent challenge, with refueling becoming a tricky task to learn at first.  It can actually become quite addictive, despite its basic design and flaws.  Overall, it's okay, but nothing too special.

Grade:  C-

NES RATING #11 - 720°

....720°....
Developed by:  Mindscape Inc.
Distributed by: Mindscape Inc.
Released: November 1989

720° was a popular 1986 arcade game in which you skateboarded around town to various parks and competed in events, all while dodging a swarm of angry bees when the dreaded "SKATE OR DIE!!!" message flashed on the screen.

So how's the NES version from late 1989?  Ugly, boring, and a major disappointment.
The graphics are poor and as generic as it gets, the looped music is awful (a far cry from the arcade game and an absolute crime for a "hip" skateboarding game), and the play control is pretty weak, as well.  Even the  "Skate Or Die!" sound byte from the arcade game is missing!  The dull and repetitive music can't be understated at all.  It's not just bad, it makes you want to turn the game off.  Skateboarding games have sure come a long way since this failure.

On a good day, you'll do well at the events and be able to skate through the park, but completing the game and enjoying the game are two different experience with 720°.  The graphics for the skate parks are disappointing and the poor controls can really hurt your performance when competing.  This is especially true for the skate ramp portion, as I found this to be by far the most difficult.

With very little that made the arcade version so appealing, 720° was a major wipe out for the NES.


Grade:  D-



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Monday, September 12, 2011

NES RATING #10 - Battle Chess


....Battle Chess....
Produced by:  Beam Software
Distributed by: Data East
Released: July 1990

While chess is a great thinking-man's game, Battle Chess on the NES ranges from average to extremely tedious.

Playing the game as intended is a rather slow-paced and frustrating affair.  The animated pieces are slow-moving, there is no option for music, graphics are very poor, and the only saving grace to the game is the challenge of chess itself.  Hit the select button to brings up a drop-down screen that is straight off a DOS computer, as well.  This is indicative of Battle Chess being just a lazy NES port. 

The lackluster graphics (from DOS computers of the day) and sleep-inducing movement of the pieces will have you shaking your head.  You're given the option to play with traditional pieces, as well, but why bother?  This defeats the purpose of a game called Battle Chess.  And as for that particular gimmick of the game?  The pieces actually move, and an animated cut-scene appears each time a piece is taken.  You'll get to see the taken piece being "killed" if you're still awake following the piece's movement.

 

If you lack the friends to play a regular game of chess, then this game likely has some appeal.  Otherwise, avoid at all costs.


Grade:  D-
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NES RATING #9 - Felix The Cat

....Felix The Cat....
Produced by:  Hudson Soft
Distributed by: Hudson Soft
Released:  1992

Felix the Cat is a fun and basic platformer that, while lacking in overall originality and challenge, incorporates a fun power-up system and smooth play control.  This game is vastly underrated due to both the release date of the game (1992, as Nintendo focused on marketing the Super Nintendo) as well as the obscurity of the character.  With many children and older gamers alike not so eager to play a Felix the Cat game, they missed out on a good time.

Your job, as Felix the Cat, is to rescue your main girl Kitty Cat from the evil Professor, who wants Felix's magical Bag of Tricks.  Pretty generic plot there.

I thought the difficulty was well-set to allow for plenty of "cruising" and figuring out the game's controls and objects while at the same time throwing in plenty of surprises to kill of Felix when you least expected it.  After a few continues, you'll be able to avoid these surprise enemies and pitfalls.

"Powering up" is a fun process, as you increase your attacks from the punching glove (which needs to be close-by) to a type of ship (which has a short range firing attack) to a tank (which fires long-range bouncing balls) by collecting power ups.  You have a magic meter that depletes, but not too quickly, and there's a fair amount of power ups to collect to keep the magic going.  Good stuff.  The power-up system is the game's best feature, and as you're hopping through unique levels you'll be after those bottles of milk (heh) to refill the magic meter.

Overall, the game's difficulty could be much more difficult.  If you play it for any great deal of time, you'll find yourself getting through it fairly quickly.  So while replay value isn't high, I find it's a fun, good-looking, and well-controlled platformer that is recommended for a go around.

Check it out.  It's from Hudson Soft, the masters of "cutesy" games that are usually solid and fun times.

Rating:  C+

NES RATING #8 - A Nightmare on Elm Street

....A Nightmare on Elm Street....
Produced by:  LJN
Distributed by: LJN Ltd.
Released:  October 1990

Sometime in the summer of 1990, during the days of Freddy Kruger changing from horror slasher to anti-hero pop culture icon, I saw a preview page in Nintendo Power for A Nightmare on Elm Street on the NES.  My imagination ran wild with what a video game based on my favorite horror series would deliver!  Would that hot nurse from Dream Warriors have a cameo?  How much blood would there be?  Who would the main character be - Nancy, Kristen, or Alice?

Then the game came out. 




The dream of an awesome "Freddy game" turned into a true nightmare. 

Your goal is to take some generic nameless character (looks sort of like A.C. Slater) and travel through a number of creepy houses on Elm Street, collect Freddy Kruger's bones, and burn them in a boiler room before fighting Freddy in the final battle.  No Dream Warriors, no Nancy, no Dokken, no Johnny Depp, no nothing. 


A Nightmare on Elm Street is compatible with the NES Four Score, a device that connects up to 4 controllers at once.  I recall playing this game at a friend's way back when (1991?) and actually using the device when it was fairly new, and yes, having four characters on the screen at once on the Nintendo was pretty neat.  This was a fairly boring game, though, so the novelty wore off pretty quickly.  Still, as a kid, having Freddy Kruger trying to slash up you and three friends at the same time, and seeing who would survive was a neat concept

The game isn't all bad, though. Along with the 4-player fun, for it's time, the concept of a "Dream World" (where the game gets harder and "scarier" when a meter expires) worked well.  Finding a radio to wake yourself up was a nice idea, and more in line with what the Elm Street franchise is all about.

The "boss" battles with various incarnations of Freddy are incredibly disappointing and fairly repetitive.  Flying claw, claw-on-a-chain,  yeah...we get it, you're afraid of the claw!  Freddy himself has a limited attack ("slash... jump... slash... jump") in a pattern and is easily defeated.  The game is just terribly uninteresting and never really slows a hint ofwhat could have been.  That was LJN for you.  License it, ship it out, make a quick buck, and move on to the next franchise.

Play control is so-so, with a slight delay in the reaction for your big attack button (punch).  I would hope with such a limited attack design, they could have ar least gotten that right.  The sound is also very dull, with looped music and a few different tunes (during the fight with Freddy, when you collect a stereo to exit the Dream World) but overall it's as plain and repetitive as the game.

If you're a fan of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of films, you've likely already tried this game and been disappointed.  If you haven't, check out the game's title screen and then turn it off.

Nothing to see here.

Rating:  D

Thursday, September 8, 2011

NES RATING #7 - WWF King of the Ring

....WWF King of the Ring....
Produced by:  Eastridge Technology
Distributed by: LJN
Released:  October 1993

WWF King of the Ring was released in the final months of Nintendo and is unfortunately one of the laziest and worst "pro wrestling" games ever made.  It's likely that the game was rushed into production as the console's lifespan ended, as it's a noticeable step down from previous WWF releases.  In general, the poor graphics, lack of gameplay music, missing signature moves, and no real genuine "hook" to draw wrestling fans in make this a dismal cartridge, even for LJN!

The premise of the game is to compete in the "King of the Ring" wrestling tournament with 1 of 11 WWF superstars, battling through three opponents in tournament action to win.  This is nothing new, and basically just a gimmicky way of having opponents #1-3 set up for you, something the other WWF games of year's past already had.  And those games, specifically WWF WrestleMania Challenge, delivered far better results.

The music, or lack thereof, found in this game is another major flaw.  You're given poor renditions of each WWF superstar's entrance theme during the selection screen and absolutely NO music during the actual matches.  This is really reflective of the game in general, rushed and half-assed.  WWF fans deserved a lot better for their money.
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The play control is awkward, mostly punches and kicks and some occasional awkward looking wrestling moves that were much smoother in previous releases.  Mash your buttons and see what happens, basically.  There are no "signature moves" (ex. The Undertaker's Tombstone Piledriver) to be found, just 11 wrestlers all doing the same basic 5-7 moves (punch, kick, run, elbow drop, body slam).  Again, given what came before and was distributed by LJN, the same company involved with this game, it's really unacceptable.  

If you can stand playing the game for longer than 2-3 minutes, you'll find awkward pinfall sequences, with strange movements in between the characters and the "pin" counted with small numbers by the wrestler's name.  More cheap and lazy game-making and just a dull overall experience.

Next, all the wrestlers are the same exact size, so you'll have no problem using the 220 pound Shawn Michaels to throw around the near-600 pound Yokozuna.  Finally, you're given the option to create your own wrestler and customize their Stamina, Strength, and Speed.  Given that all the wrestlers are the same size and do the same moves, don't get too excited about this
 
A major bomb, don't even bother with this one unless you'd like a glimpse at what a 200 pound, jacked Yokozuna looks like.
Grade:  F

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

NES RATING #6 - Contra

....Contra....
Produced by:  Konami
Distributed by: Konami
Released:  1988

Contra, which came to the NES in 1988, was well ahead of its time and features fast-paced shooting action mixed with excellent play control, colorful graphics, and a tremendous selection of music.  The multi-player mode makes the game even more exciting.  Play control surpassed any shooter from that time, and actually made dodging enemy projectiles FUN.  The goal, switching between different guns and blowing away alien bosses is everything fans clamored for.  This late 80’s game, in many ways, was G.I. Joe meets Aliens.
Contra mixes side-scrolling platform action with a somewhat 3D-ish (and very fun!) attack mode when entering enemy bases.  This change of scenery makes each level fresh, and there’s also a vertically climbing platform level to add to the mix.  In 1988, your typical shooter game was slow-paced and lacked the unique weaponry found in Contra, let alone this change in level structure.

The graphics, as stated, are exceptionally clear and colorful, with perhaps only one problem being the tiny white dots resembling bullets fired by the less powerful enemies being hard to see at times.  The music is really good, changing each level to an appropriate sound, be it high-energy sprints or spooky alien worlds.  Really, this is one of the best level-by-level efforts ever on the NES, and combined with the great sound effects, you’re dealing with a product Konami put great effort towards.  And the play control?  B shoots.  A jumps.  You can move your character in mid-jump to direct his landing.  You can fire bullets in an direction, including up, down, and in each diagonal direction, even while jumping.  Power-ups, enemy bullets, and enemy soldiers appear everywhere.  This is war.  And it is glorious.
The weak points of bosses at the end of stages are reflected with “flashing” areas, and I found none of the bosses to be that difficult.  In all, just playing around and trying to collect as many guns as I could, I finished the game dying about 40 times, with total gameplay clocking it at under an hour.
 
40 times, you say?  


Credit for this goes to the legendary 30-life Konami Code, the “up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A” (plus START) password that Nintendo fans can remember better than their own phone numbers.  You can try to get through the game without it, but Contra is incredibly difficult, so good luck.  In many ways, the release of the Konami Code was seemingly on purpose… perhaps to show the value of Nintendo Power back in the day?  It was a necessity for me to get through this game, for sure.

Contra is a true classic shooter which blew everything out of the water back in ’88, and was the ultimate “buddy game” to play with a friend.  It’s length (and the buzzkill you get upon realizing the game is over) may be the only downfall, but you enjoy what you’re given so much that it’s hardly a big deal.

Without question, Konami did the NES proud with Contra.

Rating:  A

NES RATING #5 - Cool World

...Cool World... 
Produced by:  Ocean Software
Distributed by: Ocean Software
Released:  June 1993

"Man is in the bedroom."  

Cool World is based off the 1992 film of the same name, where you control Detective Frank Harris (played by Brad Pitt in the film) and navigate through four levels.  Your task, to collect bombs, coins, & generally unleash hell upon the corrupt denizens of this cartoon world, making your way towards the ultimate showdown with Holli Would, a seductive ditzy doodle with bad intentions for the “real” world.
I find this game has been universally bashed, but has some charm alongside its flaws.  First off, the “attack system” has both advantages and disadvantages.  You defeat enemy doodles by sucking them into your ink pen (up to 14 at a time) and then releasing them into empty jars, which restores your health.  While this is an interesting way to stay alive, it also renders attacking pointless when you’re full, which is quite often.  So basically you’re in “run around and dodge everything” mode, which isn’t playing a video game, it’s just trying to get through it.  Still, having plenty of health to play around with enables the user to actually figure our the hints to solving a level, so I think Cool World deserves some credit for that.


The play control, jumping in particular, is the biggest issue here.  Cool World offers a semi-3D environment and the ability to move Frank up and down on the street or wherever you’re walking, but you can’t move diagonally, which can make avoiding enemies difficult, as well as hazardous when setting up a jump.  And you'll jump A LOT.  In the sewer, you have to jump from barrel-to-barrel, with these barrels moving from the front of the screen towards the back, but the lack of diagonal movement prohibits the player from timing these jumps perfectly.  It’s one of the harder parts of the game, for sure.  Also, one of the most glaring graphical problems is that the platforms (especially on street levels) tend to blend in, so a new player will likely be unsure of exactly where to jump.  For such a colorful game, this could have been improved upon.
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There are a few “secret rooms” you can easily find with a little trial and error.  They’re just extra screens to collect some extra items.  While helpful, they don't really add an extra dimension to the game.
I feel this game is actually a bit undervalued as a challenging platformer, especially the cavernous level where you’re dodging falling rocks and locating secret platforms to advance.  But the awkward jumping and lack of diagonal movement really hurt the game.

The graphics are actually pretty decent, but for a 1993-released NES game this is really nothing to brag about.  They’re bright and fairly detailed, but the backgrounds are all repetitive.  Still, everything is clear and well-presented to the player.  The music is looped in segments and can be fairly annoying, especially when you start hearing the same sounds over-and-over again when your character can’t make jumps correctly.
If you were a fan of the film, you won’t find much in this game that’s too familiar (aside from Harris trapping the doodles in the pen and the final level against Holli Would) but if you can familiarize yourself with the jumping, there’s a chance you might enjoy this action platformer.  

Still,
Cool World does leave much to be desired.  Doodles are used to jumping in 2D, so I suppose this just isn't a human-friendly game.
Rating:  D+

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

NES RATING #4 - The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

NES RATING #4
The Adventures of 
Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
Produced by:  Imagineering / Radical Ent. / Absolute Ent.
Distributed by:  THQ
Released:  1992

Before reading this, I hope you looked at the list of producers of this game.  There's three of them.  For THIS game.  The first thing of note is the title screen, which legit looks to be designed by an actual squirrel experimenting with MS Paint.  That is no joke...take a look at this mess:
 
Released in 1992, this title came towards the final years of NES releases, and somehow features some of the worst graphics and play control in NES history.  A sophomore year release from THQ (who would go on to be major players via the WWF/WWE and UFC series of games), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends has some simplistic charm, but it's clearly not be design.  This looks like something out of the Atari era, has a basic looping soundtrack, ugly character graphics, horrendous backgrounds, and makes you question exactly what platforms are even available to jump on.
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The production team consisting of three designers (just...mind-blowing) makes me question when exactly this was intended to be released.  If it was a 1985 release, perhaps there is an excuse for the shoddy backgrounds and poor play control.
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You control either of the titular characters, Rocky or Bullwinkle, which can be changed throughout play by using the Select button.  Rocky can fly, making many of the boards much easier.  Bullwinkle has the ability to walk up and down stairs.  I can hardly write any more on the subject of this game.
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How I feel for those who lacked a Super Nintendo and wasted $39.99 to 49.99 on this.  Just a basic and cheap game in every sense of the word, with THQ beginning to cash in on licenses (their release of Home Alone came a year earlier) and put anything out.  Give it a play if you're a fan of the characters, like I am, but don't be surprised when you turn it off 5-10 minutes later and forget all about it.  You may not believe it's even a legit Nintendo game once you see the title screen.

Rating:  D-