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• Kid Icarus on Game Boy: Did Anyone Get To Play This?

  Earlier, ScrewAttack reminisced about Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters for the Game Boy. Behold! Did any of you good people out there own this game, or acquire it in a lopsided game trade on the schoolyard? After watching this, I'm kind of sorry I missed it. I never liked the original Kid Icarus. This might have something to do with the fact that I wasn't very patient about the original Metroid, either. Both involved a vertical climb, but at least Samus could collect herself and try again if she fell down the shaft of Brinstar like the proverbial frog scaling the well wall. If Pit dropped off the edge of a platform, he wasn't shy about letting us know that he was doomed to splatter on the basement level of Hades, possibly after bouncing off the jagged edge of another platform or three. ("I'm finished!") Read More... Posted Nov 17 2008, 10:58 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, game boy, retro, nadia oxford, kid icarus, of myths and monsters

• Super Street Fighter HD Turbo HD Remix C-C-Combo Makers

  Super Street Fighter II holds a place near and dear to my heart. Somewhere near the left ventricle, I'd wager. I'm very fond of Street Fighter in general. I spent two summers honing my Hadokens. The first summer, I'd had surgery and spent a lot of time bumming around indoors. The second summer, I worked in an amusement park with several arcades and let's just say those big shady boxes of joyful noise were a great place to hide during the hottest part of the day. I'm kind of skeptical about how well Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix will work out for the average Street Fighter fan--by the way, this is a good time to stop and assure you that I'm a competent player but I still get annihilated in the arcades and would burn to a cinder if I went within twenty feet of a tournament--but I'm really looking forward to it. The endings, at least, should be fun. Let's all watch Guile crawl back to his wife from his failed gay military relationship in glorious HD. Here's a video of insane combos performed in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (I'm getting tired of typing all that, God have mercy on the reviewers). The video also offers some glimpses of the redone backgrounds. I always dug the dragons in Fei Long's stage, and now I can see the whites of their reptilian eyes. Eeeek. Read More... Posted Nov 07 2008, 10:09 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: snes, super street fighter II turbo hd remix, retro, arcade, nadia oxford, super street fighter ii

• WTFriday: Mega Man A Cappella

  Note to readers: WTFriday is a weekly feature where I find something stupid about video games and get you to laugh until it goes away. Please try to forget this is what I normally do every day of the week. Every Friday, I spent literally tens of minutes--and sometimes dozens of minutes--searching for something stupid and hopefully video game-related to share with my beloved readers. But some Fridays, links to substantially goofy content fall right into my lap--like today! 61FPS Reader Nathan Avilla was so kind as to forward me a Mega Man 3 game play video with all of the music/sound effects replaced by human wailing; it's shrill and taunting, yet somehow enchanting. I'd have preferred that the composer applied this idea to Magnet Man's stage, as science has proven that he has the best music in all of Mega Man 3--but still, I'm impressed: Mega Man 3 'Vocal BGM' clip And unlike most wacky online videos, this is definitely something you can do at home; all you need is a microphone, and to be castrated. But make sure you ask your parents' permission before buying an expensive microphone. Related Links: WTFriday: The Mario Paint Music Showcase WTFriday: The Chrono Trigger Anime WTFriday: Goldman's Drama Academy Read More... Posted Oct 31 2008, 03:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: nes, retro, mega man 3, video, bob mackey, wtfriday

• Watcha Listening To: Retronauts Episode 55: Snatcher Edition

  This podcast is dedicated to all those cyberpunks who fight against injustice and corruption every day of their lives. That wasn't how the latest episode of Retronauts began--but it should have, damn it! Sorry, I got all worked up there. But there's a good reason to get excited: Hideo Kojima's Snatcher is an awesome game, and people are talking about it. On the Internet, no less!  In the latest episode, Retronauts ringmaster Jeremy Parish leads an Interesting discussion of a game made at a time when Hideo Kojima wasn't the Bono of his respective industry. And as a bonus, the podcast also includes a brief chat with localization producer Jeremy Blaustein, who worked on the ahead-of-its-time English language version of Snatcher.  If you can't believe the awesomeness, check check out the game's intro: All of this Snatcher chatter got me thinking of the Policenauts (AKA Lethal Weapon in space) translation, which was announced as "complete" 20 months ago, but has not yet been released to the public.  Since it's a game made by Kojima very much in the style of Snatcher, I'm dying to play it.  Maybe we need to helicopter over some of those Mother 3 translation guys to whip them into shape. Read More... Posted Oct 30 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: jeremy parish, hideo kojima, retro, bob mackey, watcha listening to, podcasts, snatcher

• Time For Terranigma! Right?

  Friends, join me in a round of "Let's Push Our Effin' Luck." The Virtual Console has done such a good job at not sucking for the past few weeks that it's only natural for me to raise my hopes and watch them get sheared. So, Nintendo. Square-Enix. Everyone. Time to stop starting and stopping like a nervous thoroughbred. It's time for commitment. It's time for Terranigma. When you were young, you probably played Soulblazer and/or Illusion of Gaia on the Super Nintendo. Both games provided Zelda-flavoured adventures that were nevertheless unique. Illusion of Gaia in particular still stands out in my mind for its mild hero, Will, a boy with telepathic powers who must jump-start Earth's stagnant evolution. Terranigma actually preceds Will's journey and Soulblazer story-wise, casting the player as Ark. Ark is cast out of his Eden-like villiage and tasked with beginning the very evolution that Will is later called upon to re-direct. Terranigma plays similarly to Illusion of Gaia, but it might seem unfamiliar because it never made it to North America. It did, however, see a release in Europe. So there's the beauty part: Terranigma already has an English translation waiting patiently for us. Read More... Posted Oct 14 2008, 06:54 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: square-enix, retro, super nintendo, 16-bit, nadia oxford, virtual console, terranigma, illusion of gaia, soulblazer

• Chiptune Friday: Dangerous Disney Ducks!

  As previously reported, Capcom is all about the retro revivals these days, what with Bionic Commando Rearmed, Mega Man 9 and the upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Unfortunately, some of their best retro games are likely to never be revisited due to complex liscensing issue.Yes, once upon a time there were fantastic platformers staring unlikely heroes like Mickey Mouse and Little Nemo, action puzzlers staring Goofy, and more! Of course, their most remembered liscensed property is Ducktales, which has gotten some 61FPS love in the past. Ducktales for the NES even got a sequel and its action spinoff Darkwing Duck got its own sweet NES action-adventure. So now, chiptune lovers, the NES renditions of both duck-cartoon theme songs. Feel free to sing along after the break. Read More... Posted Oct 10 2008, 12:01 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: derrick sanskrit, capcom, nes, chiptune friday, disney, retro, ducktales, darkwing duck

• Screw Attack Remembers The Lion King; I Remember a 16-Bit Jungle Hell

  Screw Attack's Video Game Vault peeks back at the games we enjoyed as cubs. Most of the commentary on their video game recollections doesn't go beyond "This game was AWESOME!" or "This game sucked!" It's hard to fault them for it, since we all have a tendency to do the very same. Their latest retrospective, which looks at the Lion King game for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, is another "omg this game was rad in ever-y way!!" moment. Maybe they're thinking of another game in a parallel dimension or something because I remember a gamethat was exceptionally well done in some areas and finger-breakingly frustrating in others. For starters, I have a shaky history with The Lion King. I know chunks of the movie are lifted from Osamu Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion (The Simpsons acknowledges the very same in the episode "'Round Springfield," with the famous ghost-delivered line, "You must avenge my death, Kimba--dah, I mean, Simba.") and that Disney's subsequent denial of Osamu Tezuka's existance is the worst thing the company has ever done outside of Walt gassing Jewish children in Space Mountain (disclaimer: Walt probably never gassed children). Read More... Posted Oct 07 2008, 05:35 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: screw attack, disney, retro, 16-bit, nadia oxford, movie games, the lion king

• Low-Rent RPGs: A Good Idea

  Tales of Symphonia was how I spent the summer of 2004, and, along with Dragon Warrior VII and Persona 3: FES, is one of the very few games I've spent more than 100 hours playing. I've known for a long time that a sequel to Symphonia would eventually be hitting the Wii--but I must've not been paying attention, because Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World comes out next friggin' month. While I figure out how to take a leave of absence from graduate school, wet your whistle (or any woodwind instruments you have lying around the house) with the official English trailer: I'll say right now that the Tales games have a pretty low batting average; on the whole, about a third of them are worth playing--and out of that third, only a few are truly excellent. I've actually been a bit disappointed with the series since Symphonia; Legendia--despite having what may be the world's greatest RPG soundtrack--was a major step down, and Abyss was fun until my experience was throttled by constant, inescapable load times. I'm still not certain if DotNW will suck on toast, but at least one thing is clear: I dig Namco's approach. Read More... Posted Oct 07 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: wii, retro, namco bandai, jrpg, bob mackey, tales of, tales of symponia: dawn of the new world

• Greed Looks Good on Samus

  Yeah, uh, so I write fanfics. Shut up. The reason I'm revealing this and plunging my approval rating into the negatives (rather, further into the negatives) is because last week I made fun of the Valiant Nintendo Comics of olde...but I shouldn't. At least not all the time. It's really not easy to create a story where there is none. Not to say that every creative endeavour should automatically get an A for Effort. The Worlds of Power books based on games like Mega Man 2 could have been a lot less stupid. On the other hand, when your cover art is defaulted to a game's box art (in other words, a flamer in blue spandex), I guess you may as well pound a few and see what you can come up with. Valiant's Nintendo comics had moments that made my eyes ache, but at the same time it did a couple of things really well. For instance, Samus. Samus has always been a girl of few words, except in Metroid Fusion when she caught a case of the chatties and wouldn't shut up about her ship, her mechanical love interest and her pet dog, Sparky. She's mostly been silent since, with Nintendo/Retro Studios preferring to leak bits of her past through subtle, adorable means. But at the beginning of time, Valiant had their own take on the female bounty hunter: brash, violent, cocky and greedy. And it was pretty cool. Read More... Posted Oct 06 2008, 06:50 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: metroid, retro, comics, nadia oxford, merchandise, bounty hunting, samus, captain n

• WTFriday: Play it Loud

  Note to readers: WTFriday is a weekly feature where I find something stupid about video games and get you to laugh until it goes away. Please try to forget this is what I normally do every day of the week. Once upon a time, video games weren't cool; sure, everybody played them, but from the Nintendo era until the mid-90s, they were regarded as toys for children, manchildren, and the unemployable. But with the debut of the Playstation, Sony changed all that; suddenly, video games were remade as this hip, new product that fit in well with all of the flannel and alterna-rock that dotted the landscape of our country like so many Taco Bell wrappers.  It was around this time that Nintendo began to look significantly less cool--and some would say they never regained their cred until the recent wave of Wii-mania.  So how would Nintendo try to shape its own image to fit in with whatever those damn kids were into?  Why, the "Play It Loud" campaign, of course. I'm not sure how much good this campaign did for Nintendo, because it certainly ruined the credibility of at least a few games; magazine readers of 1995 may remember the scratch and sniff Earthbound advertisements that did nothing but piss people off--and let's not forget the slogan "this game stinks," built completely around one of Earthbound's minor bosses. Ideas like these had to be fueled by cocaine or at least some mild hallucinogens. Thankfully, everything that was ever aired on TV is now on YouTube, so I can show you Nintendo's tragic mistakes through the power of streaming video. Ain't life grand? Read More... Posted Oct 03 2008, 09:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, advertising, retro, bob mackey, wtfriday, 1990s, play it loud

• A Long-Scorned Sonic Fanfic Writer Seeks Redemption

  When my husband and I got married, his dowry was a box full of video game fanfiction he'd printed out in the olden days (1994 or so). It's far more valuable than you think. For one thing, it'll start some toasty fires when the oil situation inevitably leaves us freezing in the dark. More importantly, this box is a link to the past (sword stabs logo, screen flashes). It's a link to David Gonterman. See, fanfiction is not a new hobby that was nourished by the rise of Inuyasha. It's at least as ancient as the Bible and tales of King Arthur and Robin Hood. As long as people are pompous enough to say, "Holy crap, watch me do one better on the Word of God," fanfiction will thrive. In the mid-'90s, the Interwebs was little more than a collection of two-meg mud huts bordering a dark forest full of gibbering goblin .gifs, but even then we had our storytellers. In an age when Sonic the Hedgehog was still worth bowing to and not a stumbling franchise living solely on the love of its furry fanbase, we had fanfic writers dedicated to the hedgehog. And the most infamous one was David Gonterman, aka "Daveykins Foxfire." Read More... Posted Oct 01 2008, 08:48 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: sonic the hedgehog, retro, fandom, nadia oxford, community, fanfic, david gonterman

• Darkwing Duck: Capcom's Secret Mega Man

  Since we've all got Mega Man 9 on the brain--and because XBox 360 owners won't even get to play the game until tomorrow--there's never been a more appropriate time to talk about Capcom's 2D legacy.  Tragically, a good chunk of Capcom's 8-bit output will never be seen or played again outside of illegal methods or flea market acquirements; the rights to various Disney franchises, once held by the company, are now elsewhere, leaving us with quite a few orphaned and homeless games dating from the late 80s to the early 90s.  It doesn't look like Capcom or Disney is interested in bringing these titles back to life--and Disney especially seems to be fond of completely ignoring most of their older television animation--so all we're only left with memories, and the magic of emulation. Surprisingly, playing Mega Man 9 over the past week has caused memories of Capcom's Darkwing Duck to start leaking from my brain, so I went back to the game to find out why. The shocking truth? Darkwing is shamelessly similar to Mega Man--he even makes that same little cricket-y noise when he lands on his feet. But Darkwing (the game) lacks many of the accoutrements that can lower the blood pressure of the frustrated Mega Man player; there're no boss weaknesses, energy tanks, or robotic dogs to help shield you from certain death.  Darkwing does have a few more moves than Mega Man, but being able to shield yourself from projectiles and hang from certain objects only facilitates more scenarios where you will die.  Repeatedly. Read More... Posted Sep 30 2008, 06:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: capcom, nes, disney, mega man 9, retro, bob mackey, darkwing duck

• Continuing the Old-School Conversation

  Boy, we here at 61FPS sure are thinking with a hive mind today--and it's all due to a lovable, fast-talking British fellow who's already popped up a few times on our blog in the past 24 hours. Needless to say, the reactions of our own bloggers have been intriguing, so I thought I'd continue the old-school conversation with my own post. First of all, retro is undoubtedly back in style--if that isn't contradictory enough for you. I was going to begin this post by going through a list of the most recent retro remakes/revivals, but there's just too damn many. Right now, I'm completely stuck in the past with Mega Man 9 and the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV, and I couldn't be happier. As much as I try to resist the crippling powers of nostalgia, it does get to me; and, in some ways, I realize the tragedy of buying my childhood back, one game at a time. It's safe to say that I'm on the same page as John and Nadia when it comes to Bionic Commando: Rearmed--but there are certain retro quirks that irk me when they appear in a modern-day game. Take the concept of "lives," for instance; it's something that I've wanted to write an in-depth article about for a long time (and I just may do that!). I'm completely against punishing a player with tedium (i.e., replaying long stretches of a game) for screwing up; but if Mega Man 9 didn't have a lives system, it would feel very, very wrong. Despite it kicking my ass up and down the block for a week, there are certain old-school ideas that work best in certain contexts. Read More... Posted Sep 25 2008, 07:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: yahtzee, zero punctuation, retro, nostalgia, bionic commando rearmed, difficulty, castle crashers

• Yahtzee Presents A New Angle On Nostalgia (Sort Of)

  While Mr Constantine gets over his case of the vapours, I'd like to offer my own perspective on Yahtzee's scorn towards Mrs Rad Spencer. One bit in particular caught my interest. (::Pipe puff::) Most of North America had the honour of growing up alongside the Nintendo Entertainment System. A great deal of Europe, if my video game lore is up to snuff, did not. I remember my older brother coming home from a visit to Ireland and telling me about how everyone there still played Atari 2600. I was all like, "No waaaaay!" Then the UK's ultra-sweet take on Smarties rebelled against my stomach and I vomited everywhere. In his latest rant against Bionic Commando and all things fun, Yahtzee briefly mentions that his household was a Commodore 64 household--in other words, he didn't grow up with Bionic Commando or a lot of our favourite 8-bit treasures. Read More... Posted Sep 25 2008, 03:05 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: yahtzee, bionic commando, 8-bit, retro, nostalgia, bionic commando rearmed, nadia oxford

• The Kirby Game That Deserved To Die

  Everyone loves Kirby. He's sweet, happy, bouncy and he looks like a big Dramamine pill. His platforming games are consisently fun and nobody wants to run afoul of him in a Smash Bros game. However, when Kirby falls, he falls down hard. It's kind of a funny thing, given that his body is made of nothing but whipped creme and fibre glass insulation, but his few misteps leave the pink guy pretty bruised. 2003's Kirby's Air Ride sold poorly and caused friction between Nintendo, Hal Labs and Kirby's daddy, Masahiro Sakurai. It hurt, but Kirby bounced back. How could he not. But Kirby floated over another potential pitfall in the SNES era. Read More... Posted Sep 24 2008, 04:56 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: snes, super smash bros, retro, kirby, nadia oxford, siliconera, kid kirby, dead games

• The Mega Man Robot Club

  You'll have to forgive me, because I really can't think of anything but Mega Man today; I even had my students play some of Mega Man 3 under the tortured logic that they might learn something. Believe me when I say that this in-class experiment fully integrated the terms from our reading, and wasn't just an excuse to see the game projected on a massive screen. Mega Man was the size of my head. But with today's release of Mega Man 9, it isn't much of a surprise that I've been enveloped in Blue Bomber (please note that no one has ever sincerely called Mega Man that) nostalgia.  Fittingly, this nostalgia brings me back to my childhood, where for a few years my life was based on Mega Man's teachings.  Around the release of Mega Man 3, during recess I regularly met with schoolyard chums who, instead of running around and playing on the dangerous concrete-and-steel Nixon-era playground equipment, would go through page after page of loose-leaf paper coming up with Mega Man robot boss designs.  It was a great creative exercise that went beyond the little boy conceptual borders of Pee Man and Poop Man. Read More... Posted Sep 22 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: mega man, mega man 9, retro, mega man 3, nostalgia, bob mackey

• Mega Man 9: IT'S OUT NOW

  Barring some sort of life-altering world crisis, Mega Man 9 should be available on the Wii's Shopping Channel at this very moment. That's right; a new official Mega Man game now exists in the universe. What did you do to deserve this? Probably nothing; but I'm sure you have 10 bucks, and that certainly makes up for all of the karma. If you don't own a Wii, you're going to have to wait a few excruciating and interminable days before you can download Mega Man 9 on your XBox 360 or PS3.  But if you really think about it, the Wii is the best platform for Mega Man 9--and this has absolutely nothing to do with the typical snide commentary about the comparatively lackluster graphics of Nintendo's console.  Out of the big three home systems, only the Wii has a controller befitting of Mega Man's 2-D legacy. Read More... Posted Sep 22 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 12 comment(s) Filed under: wii, mega man, wiiware, mega man 9, retro, bob mackey

• What I'm Playing This Weekend: No Freakin' Clue, Boyo

  My husband and I downloaded a whack of Virtual Console games a couple of weeks ago, and it looks like we're through our backlog already. Last week I mentioned that we were going through Super Mario Bros 3 and of course, that's long since been done with. We travelled from the breezy plains of Grass Land to the twisted ruined mushroom villages in Dark Land. Also, I used a Hammer Bros music box at the end of Pipe Land and the lullaby music carried over to Dark Land. Tee hee. For someone who writes about games for a cursed living, I rarely get a chance to settle down and play what I want, except on weekends. Oh, cold irony. Looks like I'll have to opt out of gaming this weekend though because apparently some sort of last-minute miniature family reunion is going on involving cousins from Belfast. There will be drinking. Drinking is good, but it's best performed in conjunction with gaming. I guess I won't have that option unless I haul along Guitar Hero or something, but I'm a terribly lazy girl. However, Mega Man 9 is almost on us, so I guess this is as good an opportunity as any to practise my finger-bending exercises. I feel like a parent who's sending her kid out onto the stage. Please don't fall on your face, darling. You'll embarrass me and I'll have to move to the Yukon and pose as a sled dog. Bark bark! Read More... Posted Sep 19 2008, 07:00 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: super mario bros 3, 8-bit, mega man 9, retro, nadia oxford, familiy reunion, what i'm playing this weekend

• The Nintendo Literary Canon

  Seeing as I spend most of my waking life on the Internet, reading/writing about video games, it's hard to remember a time when I couldn't just hop online and waste countless hours indulging in my hobby.  But this time did exist, and despite not having the Internet, even as a small child I still managed to read more about video games than actually play them.  This is where Jeff Rovin's How to Win at Nintendo Games series of strategy books comes in.  They truly are a product of their time--that clunky, overly-literal title would never fly with the cynical children of today.  But throughout the late-80s and the early 90s, books like Rovin's were all we had; hell, the very idea of a book about Nintendo was so novel, the existence of Rovin's series alone was once cause for excitement. Read More... Posted Sep 19 2008, 12:30 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nes, retro, bob mackey, strategy guides

• Robot Chicken Torments the Excite Bike Guy

  I've always been of two minds about Robot Chicken. It's basically a lot of claymation jokes about our favourite childhood toys and mascots farting and pooping and I am so above that. (*frt*) But sometimes the show comes out with something that makes me laugh in spite of myself. It happened again today, in the middle of a library. :( Robot Chicken: Excitebike follows the innocent little biker from Excite Bike on the NES. He's just tooling around, driving home from a long day at work to see the wife and kids-- Wait, does the Excite Bike dude have a name or a background? What do we know about his life? His motivation? His credit history? Even F-Zero's tight-muscled pilot, Captain Falcon, has gained a certain amount of infamy. We now know he loves to brawl, he writes slash fanfiction about himself and Samurai Goroh and he fathered an illegitimate son somehow. And despite all that, I think I'd rather date the Excite Bike guy. A bit of mystery is sexy. Looks like he'll have to take care of his shattered legs, first. Also, I'm a new admirer of the adjective "anus-shattering." Read More... Posted Sep 18 2008, 06:03 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo, nes, f-zero, 8-bit, retro, television, nadia oxford, captain falcon, excite bike, robot chicken

• Mega Man 2 Vs. Mega Man 3: The Eternal Battle for Everlasting Peace

  Monday's release of Mega Man 2 on the Virtual Console was a long-awaited addition to the service, as well as what many consider the pinnacle of the franchise. BUT NOT ME. I didn't buy the game this week, not because I hate it, but because I already own it on the Mega Man Anniversary Collection--and that five bucks can buy 99% of a vegetarian burrito at the Chipotle up the street. I'm not about to sacrifice a burrito simply for the conventience of not having to turn on my PS2. Tex-Mex delights aside, the recent revival of old-school Mega Man made me think of the classic schoolyard/adult blogger argument of "What's better, Mega Man 2 or 3?"  Really, we should all just shut up and be happy that both games exist and can be played on a variety of systems to this very day; but still, I tend to prefer Mega Man 3 for reasons that may not be quite rational. Read More... Posted Sep 17 2008, 06:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: mega man 2, nes, mega man, retro, mega man 3, bob mackey

• Where I Draw the Line With Retro

  Today's Virtual Console release of Mega Man 2 reminded me of the time I naively planned to play through all of the Mega Man games in order through the then-new Anniversary Collection.  I miraculously made it through most of the first game--which is pretty damn tough--only to be stopped in my tracks by that asshole on the right.  Yes, thanks to the Yellow Devil, I will never know the sweet, sweet joy that comes with finishing our blue hero's inaugural adventure.  Please do not describe the endorphin rush, for it would only make me sad. Read More... Posted Sep 15 2008, 08:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 12 comment(s) Filed under: mega man 2, mega man, retro, difficulty, bob mackey

• GOG is Great

  There's no lack of love for retro in the modern gaming world; but certain old games run the risk of being forgotten thanks to their incompatibility with current hardware. PC games especially suffer from this problem; I have an entire binder full of PC CD-ROM games from around 1996-2002 sitting next to my computer desk, and my Vista OS will run about 10% of them.  Services like GameTap have done a great job with prolonging the life of older PC games, but the newest kid on the block, GOG (Good Old Games), is focusing entirely on this platform.  And I am very happy that they're doing this. GOG works a lot like Steam, except they play a little looser with the rules and have a much smaller catalog at the moment.  All their games--chosen mostly from Interplay's catalog from the past 15 years--are under 9.99, compatible with XP and Vista, and are shockingly DRM free.  And if that wasn't enough, each download comes with various bonuses like PDF manuals, soundtracks, wallpapers, and avatars.  If the wave of the future is buying things you've already bought, then sign me up. Read More... Posted Sep 11 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: lucasarts, retro, interplay, bob mackey, pc games, bullfrog

• What'd I Miss? Panzer Dragoon

  Despite appearances, the console wars today just aren't as fierce as the days when we knocked out each other's teeth arguing for the Super Nintendo against the Genesis. The transition to the 64/32-bit era was especially fierce, with Nintendo boasting about the benefits of cartridges over CDs (and convincing idiots like me) while Sega thought it had nothing to fear from a young stallion named the Sony Playstation. In the end, I got a Nintendo 64. When I couldn't resist the pull of Mega Man anime cut scenes any longer, I got a Playstation. By that time, the Sega Saturn was grabbing its chest and gasping for air and we all looked up from our copies of Final Fantasy VII just long enough to laugh at its suffering. Being something of a Nintendo fangirl during the Hedgehog-Plumber wars, I thought, "Ha ha, Sega. I never needed your stinky games anyway." Except for Panzer Dragoon. I needed that one very badly. Read More... Posted Sep 04 2008, 05:54 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: n64, retro, console wars, panzer dragoon, remakes, nadia oxford, hardcore gaming 101, panzer dragoon orta, sega saturn, sony playstation, panzer dragoon saga

• The Impetuousness Of Youth

  When I was writing up my lament about the end of good instruction booklets, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I don't deserve really cool pack-ins. I didn't really appreciate the work that went into designing and translating the old texts. How many of us did? We were naught but children. I remember a few years ago, my mother found our old Super Mario Bros 3 instruction booklet and handed it over to me like the corpse of a pet. Every page was marred with angry slashes of red crayon. I'm not sure if I'm to blame or if was the work of one of my brothers. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone? I never thought beyond my selfish 9-year-old world and even thought that I could someday make a bundle off some desperate retro game collector bulding up an 8-bit legacy for his apathetic children. Are any of your old games and instruction booklets still in good condition? Or at least, aren't covered in words that will offend your grandma? Read More... Posted Sep 03 2008, 05:30 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: super mario bros 3, retro, nadia oxford, pack-in material, swag, instruction booklet, youth, roy koopa, silliness

• The Death Of Awesome Pack-In Material

  When I was bite-sized, Nintendo games were a rare treat that came to me on just a few days out of the year. It was always an experience, though. From one bright cardboard box you'd recieve a game (of course), a full-colour instruction book that usually included an extensive encyclopedia of enemy characters and items, maps, artwork and, of course, an offer to subscribe to Nintendo Power. In these modern times, we get skeletal black-and-white instruction pamphlets contracted out to some godforsaken company without a spell-checker. Instead, we learn about games' hazards and inhabitants through extensive in-game tutorials and the developers' websites. Soon, all that will be packed with game discs will be a voice chip that growls, "Go check GameFAQs and feck off fer Chrissake." In a way, games offer us more frivolous materials than they ever have, but now it's through digital means instead of collectables. I'm not one to get pissy about the march of progress, but sometimes when I open up a new game and see the sparse innards, the '80s brat in me says, "Awwww..." Read More... Posted Sep 03 2008, 02:40 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nintendo power, retro, gamefaqs, environment, nadia oxford, wal-mart, green gaming, pack-in material, instruction booklets

• Rockman Lucky Star

  Ewww, who stunk up the blog with religion and serious crap?...Oh, it was me. Sorry guys. Friday is not for thinking. Friday is for sillies, especially Fridays that herald the looong weekend. I'm gonna drink a beer and get so drunk. And by "a beer" I mean fifty. I don't think I'd want to live in a world without silly anime dances. I don't know how many of you are fans of Lucky Star (I personally haven't seen it yet), but the adorable Mega Man parody of the opening can be appreciated no matter your alignment. There's some impressive sprite work to be had. Bonus footage of Gravity Man flipping Roll and Kalinka upside-down. It's not quite what you think. Sorry. Lord, the whole thing is very innocent. I wish you the best long weekend ever. Read More... Posted Aug 29 2008, 09:41 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: music, mega man, 8-bit, retro, parody, anime, nadia oxford, rockman, lucky star

• Mario Will Not Retire. He Will Outlive Us All.

  Growing up, we all kind of hated the rich kid. Even if he was the sweetest child in the world who only wanted to share his toys and candy and have us come over and play in his hedge maze (remember that episode of Care Bears? If not, silly me, I just made up another euphemism for sex), we'd lapse into an uncomfortable, cringing silence around him, like dogs in the presence of an alpha. When he wasn't around, we'd seethe and hiss in his direction. There are gamers in this world who are similarly intimidated by the existence of our hairy king, Mario. He benevolently brought many of us into this glorious, mind-gelling hobby. He has walked, run and jumped with us since we were children. Thanks to Mushroom Kingdom logic, we have baffled our teachers with adamant declarations about raccoons flying and fireballs bouncing underwater. Just last year, we soared through space with our magic plumber and visited more fantastic planes than the Little Prince. Mario is grand. And that's why the latest Internet fad, in which bloggers call for his retirement, is impotent and sad. I'm still unsure who first decided to make the ill declaration; likely someone desperate to crown himself King Controversy. This time, freelancer Patrick Goss takes the throne and gives us his reasons why Mario should give it all up and open a spaghetti farm. The article is admittedly well-written and free from the venom that usually shoots from the mouths of message board trolls who feel qualified to look down on Shigeru Miyamoto. Still, I feel obligated to counter. Read More... Posted Aug 26 2008, 10:05 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 16 comment(s) Filed under: mario, super mario 64, 8-bit, retro, 16-bit, controversy, nadia oxford, retirement, super mario 2, gamers, super mario, game culture, super mario 3, patrick goss

• Watcha Listening To? Retronauts Episode 48

  In lieu of actually playing video games this week, I've spent most of my time contacting local landlords to determine if it's actually possible to live in America on the salary of a teacher/freelance writer <SPOILER>It's not</SPOILER>. So outside of wondering which nearby dumpsters offer the most headroom, I've been filling my mindless travel time with god's gift to commuters: podcasts. And I'll be damned if the latest Retronauts isn't the best one I've heard in quite some time. Read More... Posted Aug 22 2008, 06:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: 1up, nes, retro, bob mackey, famicom

• TVTropes' "Woolseyisms"

  It's rare that we give much thought to the good men and women who turn our video game text from "YOU LUCKY ARE WINNER!" to something dignified. But where there are exceptions, there is the potential for small wars. By far one of the most controversial names in game translation and localisation is Mr Ted Woolsey. Ted Woolsey translated many of Square-Enix's best-known 16-bit works, including Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI and Super Mario RPG. To give you an idea of how divided gamers are over this gentlemen, consider that Woolsey hasn't done any substantial translation work since the death of the Super Nintendo but his name alone makes people jump up and down like testosterone-driven baboons. TV Tropes has a long and rambling Wiki entry about Woolsey, his followers and his haters. For the sake of a quick crash course, Woolsey was (in)famous for adding his own voice to his translations. This "voice" gave us something to smile at in the place of Japanese puns we couldn't understand (except for purists who can't understand why we don't think sound-alike sushi name jokes are funny). His voice also added a good deal of depth to what was, for most of us, an epic story. Final Fantasy II US had an okay thing going with illegitimate moon brothers or whatever, but Final Fantasy III US--or Final Fantasy VI, if you prefer--took on themes that were unheard of and still go largely untouched by RPGs today. Woolsey had to convey Terra's identity crisis, suicide, unwanted pregnancy and the friggin' Apocalypse while keeping the game text family friendly. Oh, and he wasn't allowed to make references to anyone dying, even though Kefka remains the only Square villian who killed people like bugs for the sheer joy of it. Read More... Posted Aug 21 2008, 07:20 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: final fantasy vi, retro, 16-bit, translation, fandom, localization, ted woolsey, controversy