May 27, 2011

GAME REVIEW: Mega Man 2



This is one of those games that we loved when we were kids... because we hated it. It drove us nuts and made us reconsider going outside for fresh air... all of this on the normal difficulty setting. The Mega Man series was spawned out of the Japanese version known as the Rockman series... games available for play on the Famicom system.  Since then it has grown into one of the most iconic titles in video games, spanning multiple consoles.  There were 6 Mega Man games made for the NES, this one was, and is, my favorite.

It was released in North America in 1989.  You play Mega Man, who is trying to stop Dr. Wily from taking over the world with his robots... typical weak story that is fairly underdeveloped. However you don't find yourself looking for more story or wanting to know more about the characters. This is a game that is gameplay driven and while it is weak from a plot perspective, it is impressive on nearly every other level.

I played this game when I was young more than any other platform game out there. It is, for many reasons, my favorite platform game of all time. Some would argue that it is not a platform, but after jumping into spikes, falling into giant lasers, getting trampled by robot rabbits and crushed from above by falling blades, there is no better description for this game. Immensely hard but immensely fun...about the only problem with this game is that when you finally know the ins and outs of it, it actually becomes almost easy... but there is always the higher difficulty setting to move on to.   

The graphics are strong for an old NES game.  The games is crisp and clean.  The framerate almost never suffers, although there is a distinctive 'slow down' when there are a lot of enemies on the screen.  The colour palettes are vibrant without becoming a strain on the eye.  Thus for a NES game, this is a strong showing in the graphics department.

The music, composed by Takashi Tateishi, is fantastic for a game of this era... it keeps you moving and playing for hours. The sound effects are not astonishing for an 8 bit title but they are integrated very well into gameplay and are not overdone or annoying.

A reason to love this game is the exceptionally low amount of time it takes to get into playing it. We have all sat through those games that show us the five companies that made it, then the storyline comes up, then character development, etc, etc. You can read a little plot development about Mega Man being created in the year 20XX to stop Dr. Wily's evil desires BUT you can press start and actually START the game. This game should be used as a guideline for platform/action games for how quickly the player is allowed to play the actual game.


  Gameplay is fairly straight forward.  Like with Mario games, you are required to jump, climb, drop down and shoot your way through 8 standard levels, before moving onto the Dr. Wily levels culminating in a 'final?' battle with Dr. Wily.  Mega Man has an arm cannon that fires energy bullets fairly quickly.  Upon completing each level, Mega Man is awarded with an additional weapon depending on the level completed (Bubble Man=Bubble Lead, Metal Man=Metal Blade and so on).  There is no set order to completing the levels, players can pick from one of the eight levels at the start of the game.  Upon playing it for awhile however, you quickly learn that playing certain levels first makes the other levels much easier to complete, due to getting weapons that work well on a particular level, or power ups that make them easier to navigate.  Mega Man has a fairly large health meter but most of the time you are trying to keep it as high as you can for the boss battles at the end of each level.  He also has 'energy meters' for any of the special weapons he has picked up, so if you overuse a weapon without powering it up with pick ups (which there are plenty of), then it is unusable until recharged.



There are not a lot of negatives with this game.  The only thing that comes to mind is when Mega Man gets hit by an enemy.  When this happens Mega Man goes all blurry and gets knocked back slightly.  While the blurryness actually makes you invincible for a moment, the knockback is what can be problematic.  Too many times have I been hit by an enemy to be knocked back over the edge of a precipice.  Beyond this minor detail, the game is an incredibly immersive experience keeping the player on edge for a solid amount of game length with an array of interesting and strange enemies.

Mega Man 2 will likely always be in my top twenty games of all time. It is fun, engaging and totally addictive... three elements that are hard to find, particularly in games made today.

May 26, 2011

NES games I still need! Sell them to me!

The games below are what I still need to complete my collection.  Caveat: I would be considered to have a complete, licensed and unlicensed, NTSC (North America) collection with perhaps two thirds of the games listed below.  BUT I am also planning on collecting the PAL (european, australian, japanese, etc) versions of NTSC games as well as independent PAL variants.  If I am to collect the PAL versions and variants, this list is going to get VERY long...so this is the list for now.

  1.  Addams Family
  2. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Hillsfar                                               
  3. Adventures of Lolo 2
  4. Alfred Chicken
  5. Alien 3
  6. Amagon
  7. Asterix
  8. Banana Prince                                                                                              
  9. Bases Loaded 4
  10. Battle City (The page mentions it as a Famicom game, but numerous sources also list it as NES)
  11. Best of the Best: Championship Karate
  12. Big Nose Freaks Out
  13. Big Nose Freaks Out: Aladdin Release
  14. Big Nose the Caveman: Aladdin Release
  15. Blue Shadow (I need this, the European version (PAL), and the Shadow of the Ninja NTSC version below)
  16. Bomberman 2
  17. Bonk's Adventure
  18. Bram Stoker's Dracula
  19. Break Time: The National Pool Tour
  20. Bubble Bobble Part 2
  21. Bucky O'Hare
  22. Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout                                                               
  23. California Raisins
  24. Castle of Deceit                                                                                               
  25. Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers 2
  26. Cliffhanger
  27. Conan
  28. Conflict
  29. Corvette ZR-1 Challenge (this is an A.K.A., known as 'Race America')
  30. Cowboy Kid
  31. Crackout (PAL)
  32. Crash 'n the Boys Ice Challenge (never released but I think there is a prototype out there??)
  33. Crystal Mines
  34. Cyberball
  35. Day Dreamin' Davey                                                                                           
  36. Devil World
  37. Digger T. Rock: The Legend of the Lost City                                                                                           
  38. Disney's Beauty & the Beast
  39. Dizzy the Adventurer
  40. Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo (Dragon Power in the U.S., a.k.a. Dragon Ball: Le secret du Dragon -France, a.k.a. Dragon Ball-Europe.  Dragon Ball: Shenron may be only a Famicom game, but the Either the French or the European version would be NES)
  41. Dragon Fighter
  42. Dream Team: 3-on-3 Challenge (prototype)
  43. Dropzone
  44. Duck Maze
  45. Dudes with Attitude
  46. Dynablaster
  47. Eliminator: Boat Duel
  48. Elite
  49. Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge
  50. Fisher Price: Fire House Rescue
  51. Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak                                       
  52. Formula 1 Sensation
  53. Formula One: Built to Win
  54. George Foreman's KO Boxing
  55. Gilligan's Island
  56. Gradius
  57. Great Waldo Search (NOT where's waldo)
  58. Gun-Nac
  59. Hammerin' Harry
  60. Heavy Barrel
  61. Honey Peach  One of many many pirate carts produced by Thin Chen Ent. a.k.a. Sachen, see link for details.
  62. Hot Slots  The link for Hot Slots has been removed, but this links to Bubble Bath Babes which another one of the infamous 'pornographic' games for the NES.
  63. Indy Heat
  64. International Cricket
  65. Jurassic Park
  66. Kick Off
  67. Kid Klown in Crazy Chase
  68. Kid Klown in Night Mayor World
  69. Konami Hyper Soccer
  70. Krion Conquest
  71. Last Action Hero
  72. Last Ninja
  73. Lemmings
  74. Lethal Weapon                                                                              
  75. Linus Spacehead
  76. Lion King
  77. Little Red Hood
  78. Mickey's Adventures in Numberland
  79. Micro Machines
  80. Might & Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum
  81. Mighty Final Fight
  82. Mission Cobra
  83. Monster Truck Rally
  84. Motor City Patrol
  85.  Mr. Gimmick  Also interested in the Japanese version known as Gimmick!
  86. Ms. Pac-Man (Namco)
  87. Myriad 6-in-1  On the same wiki page as Caltron 6-in-1 which I own.
  88. Nekketsu Kouko Kunio Kun (famicom game)
  89. New Ghostbusters 2
  90. Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing
  91. Nintendo World Championship Cartridge (Grey & Gold)  The rarest of the rare, these and the 'Campus Challenge cart below.
  92. Nintendo Campus Challenge
  93. Noah's Ark
  94. Nobunaga's Ambition 2
  95. Over Horizon  Never released in North America, there is a European and Japanese version.
  96. Panic Restaurant
  97. Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III
  98. Parodius
  99. Peek-A-Boo Poker
  100. Phantom Fighter
  101. Power Blade 2
  102. Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
  103. Pro Sport Hockey
  104. Probotector
  105. Pyramids of Ra
  106. R.B.I. Baseball 2
  107. Race America
  108. Rackets & Rivals
  109. Rad Racket
  110. Rad Racket Deluxe Tennis 2
  111. Rally Bike
  112. Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$
  113. Road Fighter
  114. Road Runner
  115. Robocop 3
  116. RoboDemons
  117. Rodland  Only released in Italy, Spain and Japan.
  118. Rollerblade Racer
  119. Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
  120. S.C.A.T.
  121. Secret Scout                                                                                      
  122. Shadow of the Ninja
  123. Smart Boy carts
  124. The Smurfs
  125. Snow Brothers
  126. Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six
  127. Sqoon
  128. Stadium Events
  129. Stanley: The Search for Dr. Livingston
  130. Street Gangs
  131. Sunday Funday
  132. Super Mario Bros./Tetris/Nintendo World Cup
  133. Super Turrican (European)
  134. Sword Master
  135. Tagin' Dragon
  136. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
  137. Thunder & Lightning
  138. Totally Rad
  139. Trolls in Crazyland
  140. Ufouria
  141. Ultimate Air Combat
  142. Ultimate Basketball
  143. Ultimate League Soccer
  144. Wayne's World
  145. WCW: World Championship Wrestling
  146. Western Kid
  147. Wheel of Fortune
  148. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
  149. Widget
  150. Win, Lose, or Draw
  151. World Champ
  152. WWF King of the Ring
  153. Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
  154. Zen: Intergalactic Ninja

        May 25, 2011

        Purchase: NES & SNES Manuals

        So I just had a purchase arrive today and it made me think of this blog.  If I am going to write about collecting, I should show my purchases and give some information about them.  My first arrival since starting this blog is a bubble mailer full of manuals for NES and SNES games.  So let's delve a bit:

          First thing, a bubble mailer is a very nice way to send manuals and/or games.  This is particularly true of manuals, since a lot of people sending them think that it is a needless extra expense.  For a collector, at least a serious collector, protecting the parcel is half the battle.  No collector wants their package to arrive with something torn or damaged in some way.  While bubble mailers are good they are not always the perfect choice.  There is a shop on Ebay that sends me games in bubble mailers all the time, however quite often the envelope is too big for the games being sent.  What this means is, if the shop didn't take extra measures to protect the games (wrapping them individually in bubble wrap, which they didn't), and the envelope is too big, the games are rattling around inside the envelope in transit.  I have a picture of a game before it left the shop arrive on my doorstep in much worse condition.  But for manuals, the current items of discussion, it is an excellent choice.
         Second thing, keep track of your collection.  I had two trades with people in transit to myself at the same time.  Because of this, between the two trades, I have ended up with a couple of the manuals being repeats (i.e. I now have two Castlevania manuals, two Burgertime Manuals and two Tetris manuals.  I do keep track of my collection very closely now to avoid this kind of problem, but I also don't catalog items until they arrive and because of that I still run the risk of collecting more than one of a cheap item like manuals.
         Third thing, the more confidence you can have in what you are buying, and who you are buying from, the better.  I bought these manuals from someone I don't know.  However, I bought them from him based on his exemplary feedback on gametz.  If he had received bad reviews or had very little feedback I would have made sure he sent the items first (something you can't do on Ebay), but since I can trust him (based on other gametz community individual comments), I paid for them first before he sent.
          Needless to say I am very happy with this purchase.  The individual packed the items well, he was accurate with the description of the manuals and he didn't overcharge me for them.
          Some of you less devoted of the devotees might ask "Why on earth do you care about the manuals anyways?  You can't play the manual!"  That may be true, but the manuals & the boxes of the games have their own amazing features to them.  Since we are discussing manuals we'll stick to them for now.
         The transliteration from Japanese to English is incredibly funny in some of these manuals.  Here is an example from the manual for Spy Hunter:
        YOUR MISSION
        Pilot your vehicle through the track.  Seek and destroy enemy agents who will use every means to wipe     you out.  You must avoid the road hazards and protect the friendly pedestrian vehicles.  There's terror at every turn - tire slashers, torpedoes, bomb dropping helicopters - standing in your way of the most diabolical collection of enemy agents ever to hit a video screen.  You have your skill and reflexes along with Smoke screens, Oil slicks, and Heat seeking missiles to outmaneuver your opponents.  One mistake and it's all over.  So strap yourself in, no need to check your ammo.  You've got more than enough; and take the challenge.
        Be: SPY HUNTERtm

        This transliteration is not half bad actually, but I wanted to use an example from the manuals I just received.  Pilot your vehicle through the track? Friendly pedestrian vehicle?  And the capitalization on Smoke, Oil and Heat? I love little details like this.  These are the fun little tidbits in the manuals.
          Beyond that there are some games that having the manual becomes necessary for game play.  I mentioned this issue in my review of Destiny of an Emperor, where the 'magic' you use in that game, without the manual, there is no way to decipher what it does except trial and error.  From the bunch I just received there is an amazing amount of information in the Metroid manual that I would only be able to guess at by playing the game without it.
          Another important reason for collecting the manual, at least from a collector stand point, is that the manual (and/or the box) quite often mentions other items that would be included with the game when it first came out.  This is one method for collectors to determine what items make a game CIB.  CIB means one of two things; it means Cart, Instructions, Box for some, but the second interpretation is more apt for collectors, it means Complete in BoxMost of the time, the game came with more, and sometimes much more, than just the game, the manual and the box.  Thus I say Cart, Instruction, Box doesn't cut it.  I'll give you some examples:
        Both Orb 3D and 3D Worldrunner both came with 3D glasses included in the box.
        Air Fortress, if purchased from the publisher HAL america, came with an Air Fortress T-Shirt.
        Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego came with a small encyclopedia in the original oversized box.
          These are just a few examples of extras that came with NES games back in the day.  While there are databases out there detailing everything that was included in the game, I like to find out through the info on the boxes and manuals the other items hidden for me to find.
          I`ll leave you devotees with that information for now.  Perhaps I have convinced a few collectors who never game the manuals a passing glance before to consider them as an important element to a collection.
           

        May 24, 2011

        Book Review: ANESthetized

          Unfortunately an unfortunate work demonstrating that playing video games does not magically give you the ability to write.
           I am not trying to declare myself as some brilliant writer by any means.  I have trouble with the editing process.  I can see other writer's mistakes fairly easily, such as comma splice and the lot.  But asked to see the same in my own writing and it is like a wall goes up that I can't see past, even though I have the ability to do so.
         I feel like the same thing happened with this book for author Doug McCoy.  The saying 'can't see the forest through the trees' applies to how this book was written.  McCoy spends a fair amount of time discussing the who, when and where of his playing video games, but forgets to discuss the how and why...he forgets, at least for the most part, the feeling of growing up with the NES.  Yes he mentions 'Nintendo thumb' and ripping off the wrapping paper of his first NES console, but that is the problem; McCoy only seems to mention them, he fails to draw the reader into the world of video games, he fails to draw them into his personal story of the NES and thus fails to engage his niche readership.
          This book is deemed an 'autobiography' of McCoy's growing up in the Nintendo era.  It is true that I have not read a lot of autobiographies, but I am sure they are not supposed to read like a technical manual written for preteens.
          There is some good that comes out of this book, but it is very niche specific.  I say that because I am obsessed with the NES, thus I find his reviews, his many many many reviews, which make up the bulk of his book, to be interesting and fun.  Most of them are still not very well written and the only reason I could look past that is that I have played the games he mentions, I collect the games he mentions, and I like to know any details I can find about the games he mentions, even if those details are formatted into a poorly written review.  This being enough of a draw in for me is fine, but for a regular or less devoted to the NES readership, McCoy is going to have a hard time keeping an audience.
         The few times that McCoy's writing gets good, and quite good I might add, the reader can tell that he has forgotten that he is writing a book.  Those times McCoy is speaking from the heart about his experiences with these NES games and how they made him feel and react to the world around him.  These pages were great and are worth the read, unfortunately it is only perhaps 5 pages out of the hundred or so (Kindle Edition so not sure how many pages it actually is).
         The best thing Doug McCoy can do is to write and forget that he is writing.  I spent too much time with this book saying to myself 'McCoy should have done this' or 'That is poorly written' or 'Make your readers want to read dammit!'.  A book should not make me want to stop to make notes or critique it, it should draw me in and keep me engaged, like a video game.
         I think you can see where this is going.  This is not a book I recommend picking up, even if you are hardcore into collecting like I am, as this book only has maybe 10 pages worth your time.  Keep in mind this book is very very cheap and I still don't recommend spending the time with it.  Buy an old Nintendo Power magazine instead...you'll still get the game reviews and it will be written by people who love games (like Doug McCoy), but are able to write well about it (Unlike McCoy).

        May 23, 2011

        A place for those truly, fantastically, over the toply insane NES collectors, part 2.

         Continued from part 1.
        River City Ransom Rocks!
         Destiny of an Emperor was the first in a long line of NES games to come back to me.  Then I got a few games from my brother-in-law, not sure what they were.  Then I found a box of them at a garage sale, including games like Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular, Dusty Diamond's All Star Softball and River City Ransom.  There were 19 games in that box I know for a fact.  It was also with that box that I started doing some research into the value of the games.  I had already experienced through buying Destiny of an Emperor that these games were not the dollar bin items some expect them to be (and what keeps collectors like me looking at garage sales to this day).  I had to pay $22 U.S. to acquire Destiny of an Emperor, whereas River City Ransom, a game that is worth $15 and up, I maybe paid 50 cents for it. (I paid $25 that day at the garage sale for 19 games, an NES with 2 controllers and a Power Glove).
         After that first garage sale; and yes, it was the first garage sale I went to specifically looking for NES items and happened to find a box of them, I started searching diligently.  By this time the collection was a mere 30ish 'cart only.'  That first summer, after going to perhaps 100+ garage sales I ended up with around 80 games.
          The garage sales led to another discovery.  It wasn't just NES games that people wanted to be rid of, these garage sales were full of games for other systems as well.  From VIC-20 to Xbox 360, these garage sales brimmed over with games nobody wanted anymore, and yet I knew of an internet market in place for all of these games.  That doesn't mean that every video game is worth more than people sell them for at garage sales, not by a long shot.
          Here are some things to keep in mind:
          MOST sports games are worth nothing.  Unless the garage sale is giving them away, or its one of the few rare sports games, like Intellivision's World Series Baseball, don't waste your money.
          Rich neighborhoods have a higher amount of video games for sale BUT they want a higher amount of money.  In my experience it is the unusual rich person's garage sale that actually sells things for garage sale prices.
          Do your research first or have a mobile device with you at all times.  Knowing the values of NES games has informed me quite well on the values of other system games.  That being said my cell phone has also saved me from spending too much on games I assumed to be worth a decent amount of money.
          These are a few examples and I plan on doing an article focusing on this down the road.  But back to this piece.
         Garage sales were the catalyst for finding internet resources such as videogamepricecharts.com, or as it now goes by: http://blog.pricecharting.com.  I used (and still use) this site religiously for getting a basis of the values of these games.  However, while this site is useful, it also has flaws in the valuation of games and should thus only be used in tandem with other pricing sources.  Using this site, plus other sources sure to be mentioned on this blog down the road, I began to amass a giant amount of garage sale games...the intent was to 'flip' them and use the profit to acquire more NES games.
          For the most part I have come out ahead collection wise.  I have made large garage sale purchases that I have flipped for 10 times what I paid for them and quite often make single item purchases that have me come out ahead 20-50 times the price I paid for it.  Those are the good purchases.  I have also made a number of purchases where I lost money due to the game being worth less than what I paid for it, the game not working (disc games should be checked for scratches), or being for a system that there is little interest in anymore (anyone want to buy a TI-99? I have two.).  But as I said, overall I have come out ahead, perhaps doubling or tripling the money I have spent at garage sales over all (and put that money back into the collection).
          The winters are harsh here in Saskatchewan and thus the garage sale season is short, perhaps 5 or 6 months long.  At the beginning of winter 2010 I had a little over 1500 video games in my basement, most of them not for the NES.  This is where the selling on Ebay and the discovery of gametz came into play.  Selling on ebay I don't need to explain (or evilbay as I usually call it now), but gametz is a different can of worms.
          Gametz is an online trading site focused primarily on buying, trading and selling video games.  The site also is known to trade books, music and movies, but the focus is mostly gaming.  The site is entirely feedback based and thus those with low feedback have difficultly continuing to trade on the site, while those with good feedback establish strong reputations in the community.  Gametz is very much a community, full of a huge array of personalities that clash and clash and clash on the forums and chat therein.  For those just needing a place to trade however, gametz is a great site for those looking to offload games.  Some basic rules that will save you from ridicule on gametz: 1. Don't charge Ebay prices, there is no percentage coming off the top here so you can lower your price by 10-20% from Ebay prices and lose nothing.  2. Be honest about everything (particularly the condition of your games), it will help.  3. Avoid confrontations if you can: The forums are full of hostile young men looking for an internet fight, learn to avoid them because becoming one of them hurts your trading.  Check out gametz...and subscribe to it if you like it.
          This process repeated itself since then.  I have been on gametz for a year, using ebay and pricecharting for two years, and constantly researching NES and other systems in that whole time.  I learn something new almost everyday about NES games, whether it is label variants, NTSC vs PAL values, gameplay hints and cheats, video game history...all of this has led to this blog, where I intend to review as many NES games as I can, review game collecting books, discuss rare games, share personal video game related stories, explore NES related sites, etc etc.
        Hope you join me on my quest to get the complete collection...and then on to SNES (lol).