Archive for the ‘Videos’ Category
Version: Mortal Kombat
In this new video series we dissect the home versions of the arcade classic Mortal Kombat. Check out the roughly 10 minute video for a quick retrospective on the title and the craze that resulted in September 1993 as many kids brought this violent title home.
Retro Game Challenge: Ghosts’N Goblins (NES)
Fred tackles one of the hardest NES titles of all time: Ghosts’N Goblins.
WARNING: Due to the difficulty and nature of this challenge, there is explicit language, viewer discretion is advised.
Podcast: Blue Stinger Game Club
This week Rob “Trees” (@treeslounge00) joins us to celebrate the launch Dreamcast title Blue Stinger. Our game club covers the complete campaign with gameplay elements, plot, encounters, and level design. Enjoy a fun and hilarious show that might arguably be better than playing the game itself.
Retro Game Night: Sonic Xtreme and Sonic Blast
This week we play the two 3D Sonic titles most of you have never touched. First up is the unreleased demo of Chris Coffin’s late in the development cycle version of Sonic Xtreme as discussed on this week’s podcast:
And next is the Brazilian Master System port of the Game Gear’s final Sonic title, Sonic Blast, which utilized much of the same technology as Donkey Kong Country:
Retro Game Night: Fatal Labyrinth and Call of Cthulhu Dark Descent
In what is easily the two hardest game titles to spell, we are going dark for this week’s Retro Game Night.
First up is user @NeoJakeMcC requesting one of the first ever rogue-likes from the Genesis/Mega Drive: Fatal Labyrinth.
Next up is the relatively rare hybrid between survival horror, first-person shooter, and adventure: Call of Cthulhu Dark Descent.
Retro Game Night: Sonic the Hedgehog, 8-bit Edition
This week in honor of our Sonic podcast, I’m playing the 8-bit (Master System/Game Gear) outings of Sega’s mascot. If you’ve never seen them before, they are drastically different than the 16-bit versions.
First up is the original Sonic the Hedgehog:
Next is, obviously Sonic 2:
And finally, Sonic Chaos (Sonic & Tails in Japan), which was to be the 8-bit companion to Sonic 3 had it not been delayed:
Retro Game Night: Adventures of Lolo and Joe & Mac
This week’s retro game night had two requested classics:
First up is the puzzle platformer from Kirby developer HAL Laboratories (also where Nintendo CEO Iwata got his start) entitled Adventures of Lolo. This title predates Kirby’s Adventure by a few years, but the basic concept of his design are very apparent (Lolo and girlfriend Lala are also enemies in a Kirby title). Requested way back when in our forums by IzzleMoxle, here’s an NES classic:
Immediately following is our second title, the action platformer Joe & Mac (sometimes with the subtitle Caveman Ninjas) on the SNES. As a near launch title, this is one of many arcade ports that showed off Nintendo’s 16-bit console’s big impressive sprites while somewhat showing off its impressive Sony sound chip. I remember dumping hours into what is a moderately difficult, but wonderfully addictive game:
If you would like to see a classic game played for retro game night or beaten for our occasional retro game challenges, just hit me up in the contact section.
Retro Game Night: Beetle Adventure Racing and Sweet Home
Starting yesterday I am now doing a weekly show where I play retro titles that either I’ve always wanted to play, my readers request, or anything I just think is cool. It records every Friday night, gets uploaded to the YouTube channel late, and then I create a subsequent post here on Saturday. For the first week I decided to try a game I originally was recommended on a recent Video Game Outsiders appearance: Beetle Adventure Racing on the N64.
The next comes from one of our Japanese readers/listeners Fenian (@F3nian), Sweet Home. This was released only in Japan on the Famicom (NES) by Capcom and features RPG and puzzle elements as five people try to survive and escape a haunted mansion. Although based off of a Japanese horror film of the same name, many say this was the precursor to Resident Evil, complete with the opening door cinematic. It was only released in Japanese, but thanks to a fan translation and flash cart I present to you the game in all its English glory running on an actual NES.
Hope you enjoyed these episodes. Tune in next week where I will be featuring initial gameplay of Expendable on the Dreamcast and an attempt to complete the fighter Street Fighter The Movie: The Game on the Sega Saturn!
Review: Revolution X
Console: Arcade
Released: 1994
Developer: Midway / Rage Software (console)
Publisher: Midway / Acclaim (console)
Ports: Genesis, SNES, Playstation, Saturn, PC/DOS
Digital Release? No (probably due to license issues)
There are some games you can’t help but adore, even if they are completely without merit. Revolution X is definitely one of those games. When the title released to arcades in 1994, Aerosmith’s Get A Grip album was just around a year old and with solid hits like Living on the Edge and a slew of videos featuring Alicia Silverstone (who was discovered by the band and started her career in these initial videos). What originally started as a Jurassic Park game much in the same vein as previous title Terminator 2, Revolution X had to be retooled when Sega outbid Midway for the rights to Universal’s film. The result is a game with more off-the-wall and undeveloped ideas than a season of Lost that involves helping children around the world, saving the band, and stopping the New World Order and its leader Helga – a nazi-esque goth queen.
Revolution X has a hell of an intro, but as we often see in games like this it’s only a matter of time until it all falls apart. Aerosmith is performing in some drab downtown Los Angeles club (Club X) and the New World Order shows up to kidnap the band. You start off shooting the endless supply of henchmen with CDs as your grenades and large blood spatters as you take out enemies. After all, this is the team that gave us Mortal Kombat. Before even entering the club you will face literally hundreds of enemies, large security bosses with shields and bulletproof armor, and a massive tank. Once inside you will blast away at (literally again) hundreds of NWO henchmen while destroying the intro lounge, complete with Kerri Hoskins (Sonya in MK3) as thonged dancers in cages, and eventually entire the massive main area where Aerosmith is jamming away to the song Eat the Rich.
Review: The Punisher (NES)
Console: NES
Released: 1990
Developer: Beam Software
Publisher: LJN
Difficulty: Moderate
Instruction Manual: Not Necessary – Link
Played as a child? Yes
Price: $5.88 (used) $27.47 (complete) $130.00 (new) pricecharting.com
Famicom Version? No, this was Nintendo only
Ports: Gameboy (differences, see below)
Digital Release? No
In probably one of the most doomed to fail ideas, I have to admit that in my childhood The Punisher was my first taste of what would later establish a love for light gun and first-person shooters alike. Ironically, this title is neither. It takes the crosshair light gun motif we first saw in Operation Wolf and adapts it into a third-person shooter (without light gun) that integrated upgrades and even brawler elements to an otherwise rote shooter title. Released in 1990, and despite the common license and title that holds no similarity to other games, The Punisher was a licensed LJN game that proved you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. In short, I loved this flawed, aggressive shooter.
Your task is to take down some of the biggest criminals the city has to offer, including longtime Punisher nemesis Jigsaw, in a series of levels. Interestingly enough, you aren’t forced into linear progression; the game allows you to choose any of the three initial targets to go after. As you take out each one, the remaining two targets become available levels until your final option, Kingpin, becomes the only level and boss. With each target you are given two levels to conquer, each containing power-ups, ammo, and grenades to help build up your arsenal, and a final encounter with the target themself. Unfortunately the power of choice, at least for me, is tarnished by the fact that doing the levels in their obvious order (from left to right) seems to be the only viable way to complete the game. Along the way you will take out a massive army of the game’s three or four enemy types and eventually make your way to a boss. The biggest hurdle is that if you run out of lives, it’s game over. No continues, no second chances. This isn’t really a deal breaker, it just establishes long bouts between attempts to finish the game.
Gaming History 101 