Review: DuckTales Remastered

(First off, no, I haven't forgotten about the PS1 tournament, I still have plans of continuing it.)


So, DuckTales: Remastered.

I’m not even going to lie, despite how excited I was for a remake of one of my favorite games of all time, I was a little concerned. Would it be just as good as the original game? Or would it end up being a poorly designed mess of a game that would end up brutally murdering everyone’s childhood memories? It doesn’t help that this was coming right off of a very underwhelming Disney game that preyed on players' nostalgia of a certain other beloved licensed title. Well, after playing and beating it on all difficulties except Extreme Mode a few times, I think I can safely say that the latter didn’t happen. With that said, there are definitely some weird design decisions that kind of annoy me and keep this from being in the upper echelon of video game remakes (i.e. Bionic Commando ReArmed, REMake, etc.), but overall, it’s a decent enough remake that ended up being far from the disaster many (including myself) thought it could end up being.

The presentation for the game is lovely. Right off the bat, the first thing you hear is the classic 8-16 Bit Capcom logo chime, complete with a pixelated Capcom logo phasing in. It’s pretty neat. One complaint I (and many others) had with the game after it’s initial reveal is that the game was 2.5D. The character sprites are all hand drawn and animate beautifully… but they’re placed upon polygonal 3D backdrops which really doesn’t mesh all that well more often than not. Was it a cost cutting measure? Probably. Did it sour my enjoyment of the game? Surprisingly… it didn’t. In fact, the polygonal environments actually kind of work in some cases (The Amazon, African Mines and the Himalayas being the biggest examples). It helps that the backgrounds weren’t just slapped together: They were actually initially done by an animator who actually worked on the original cartoon and had kept around the assets he had worked on. And for the most part, it’s great! It’s kind of jarring in Transylvania and the game’s new opening level, the McDuck Money Vault. I would have preferred the entire game be hand drawn, but I understand that it would have probably put them over budget, and what they did do for the final product ended up being better than I expected. So decent job there, I guess.

But that leads to one of the biggest draws of this remake: the fact that the game now has a story framing, with voice actors from the original cartoon reprising their roles (with sound-alikes for those that have passed on) to voice act these new scenes. As someone who loved the original game, and doesn’t mind some context every now and again, I was excited. Even moreso, since I’m a massive fan of the cartoon, as well. The voice acting for the most part is pretty great, although you can definitely tell that Alan Young and June Foray are getting a bit up there in age, as their portrayals of Scrooge and Magica DeSpell lack the oomph they once had. That’s not to say their performances sound phoned in, mind you: They definitely sound like they should, and that their respective VAs enjoyed reprising their roles. Hearing Scrooge’s sarcastic banter with Launchpad in the Amazon level put a grin on my face that didn’t leave for a good long while. With all of this fanservice comes a pretty big question: Was this all necessary? In all honesty, it wasn’t. Am I glad it’s there? Most definitely. But I can understand the perspective of someone that maybe only wants to just have a quick runthrough of the remake without having to watch a cutscene every few minutes. Granted, there is a scene skip option available, but if you fall into the aforementioned category, you’ll likely be pausing the game every few minutes just to skip a monologue of Scrooge finding one of eight coins in the Amazon level or something. This wouldn’t have bothered me at all if WayForward had included a “Classic Mode” option of sorts that completely disable cutscenes and let you play the game uninterrupted like in the NES original. It’s only a minor quibble of mine, but it’s definitely one to the detriment of the game as a whole overall.

In addition to the plot and character related additions, Remastered also features two new levels: Scrooge’s Money Vault, which serves as the tutorial level, and Mount Vesuvius, a new final level unlocked after beating the main five levels. You face Dracula Duck here, instead of backtracking to Transylvania to do so like in the original. The Money Vault is a decent enough tutorial level. It communicates most of the game’s basic mechanics  to the player here: Pogo Jumping, Cane Swinging, all of that good stuff. It’s broken up by all of the cutscenes, but I’ve already said my piece on those. Mount Vesuvius is the game’s final level, and while it’s not a bad level… it’s a tad disappointing. One of the best things about DuckTales’ level design was that the levels weren’t structured to be linear. They were a lot more open ended than your usual platforming games at the time, and encouraged exploration and experimentation, something that also translates to the main five levels in the remake as well. Mt. Vesuvius… kind of throws away that design philosophy altogether, opting for a linear point A to point B experience with some frustrating level design thrown in the mix for the sake of having a difficult final level. It’s not bad enough to sour my experience of the game, but it definitely stands as one of the lower points of the game. And that’s not even touching on the game’s chase sequence after the final boss, which sends you back to the beginning of the level if you happen to lose all of your lives. I’m all for adhering to the “learn the game or die” design philosophy of ye olde 8-16 Bit platformers, but they couldn’t have been arsed to throw in a checkpoint after that final boss? Really? Even the NES original had a (very) small handful of checkpoints.

The controls for the game work about as well as they should. Thankfully, WF had the good sense to give you two versions of the Pogo jump: The original version featured in the NES version of the first game which required you to hold Down before activating the pogo, and the tweaked version which only required you to hold down the pogo button, which was first featured in the Game Boy version of DuckTales and retained in every other subsequent version of the game. It’s a nice option, and it goes a long way in ensuring that you can make your experience of Remastered as close to the NES version as possible in terms of difficulty. Not that the NES version was very difficult, mind you. But how good you were at the game almost entirely depended on your mastery of the Pogo Jump. You get three difficulties right off of the bat: Easy, Medium and Hard. Easy and Medium are pretty lax, as there are an abundance of Health Power Ups on both difficulties, meaning that you can be a lot less careful with how you play the game, as Scrooge will likely have enough health to tank even the mightiest of enemies. Hard Mode gives you an experience a little closer to the NES game, as the number of Health Boosts are lowered to two, with the secret treasures from the NES game replacing the remaining ones. Unfortunately, the focus on money collecting has shifted from affecting what ending you get to instead serving as currency to buy gallery items, as well as filling up Scrooge’s personal money vault. (Which can even be dived into! A nice touch, I’ve gotta admit.) I do love me some concept art, but collecting as much money as I could to get the best ending was one of the reasons I played the original so much. Hell, until recently, I didn’t even know there was an elusive bad ending for the game for anyone that managed to complete it with absolutely no money available.

The bosses have also gotten quite the upgrade, as well. They have all new patterns, and generally pose much more of a threat now, instead of being something of a joke, like in the original version. The encounter against Magica DeSpell almost seems to play out like a Castlevania boss fight in some respects. The boss fight against the King of the Terra-Firmians in the African Mines is a favorite of mine, especially since the boss itself is voice acted, and the entire level as a whole is a pretty big love letter to “EarthQuack”, one of my favorite episodes of the cartoon. Overall, the boss fights are definitely one aspect of this remake that ends up being undoubtedly handled better than it’s NES counterpart.

And then, we come to the soundtrack. The soundtrack is handled by none other that Jake “Virt” Kafuman, who has titles such as Shantae, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge, Contra 4, Mighty Switch Force, and Double Dragon Neon under his belt, just to name a few. I can’t even imagine how nerve wracking it must have been to work on arranging one of the most beloved VG soundtracks of all time (which includes what might be one of the most beloved gaming tracks in general in The Moon theme), and to be honest, I expected a soundtrack that would end up pretty good, with maybe a few iffy arrangements here and there. However, what I got was a soundtrack that completely blew away my expectations. Every arrangement breathes completely new life into each and every track, and it’s really something that has to be be heard to believed. Of course, The Moon theme received an arrangement fitting of it’s prestige, and the new arrangement for Transylvania is a pretty damned great piece as well. However, my favorite track has got to be the new arrangement for the African Mines. What was an enjoyable little ditty in the NES version turns into a fantastic track with some catchy guitar licks framing the melody backed up by some great percussion. The end result is a track that is funky as all hell. The more I heard the soundtrack, the more I realized no one but Virt could have done this legendary soundtrack the justice it so rightly deserved.

If you’re an 8-Bit purist and don’t have time for all of that newfangled arrangement nonsense, you can also unlock an 8-Bit version of the soundtrack, which allows you to play through the game with the original NES soundtrack. In a move reminiscent of the GB Player in Pokemon HeartGold & Soul Silver, the new tracks composed just for the remake are also done in this style, making it a pretty awesome treat all around. I really appreciate when people go the extra mile to include these kinds of things. Not only does it give the game more character, but it really shows how much the developers behind the game care.

So, what’s my final verdict on the game? It gets a lot right. More than I expected it to, even. But there are quite a few design decisions the game really could have done without (or in some cases, with) from both a level design and presentation perspective so that the remake could reach that middle ground between nostalgia for the cartoon and nostalgia for the NES game that WayForward was so obviously shooting for. It missed the mark, but not by much. At the end of the day, it’s an enjoyable remake that I still find myself replaying because of how enjoyable the core game is. I think it’s a solid 7 out of 10. Hopefully the game does well enough to warrant more Disney/Capcom/WayForward remakes, because I’d love to see Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers get similar treatment.

Hopefully Castle of Illusion HD ends up being a similar pleasant surprise.

The Great PS1 Tournament of Champions: Round 3

Bracket as of Round 2:

http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/30d3bc4ef0c15

It came down to the wire last round, but Spyro 2 managed to squeak by after an intense battle with Silent Hill. On to round 3!

Round 3: Final Fantasy IX Vs. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back!

Final Fantasy IX is the third game in the PS1 Final Fantasy mainline trilogy, and something of a swan song for Role Playing Games on the console, coming out around the same time as Breath of Fire IV, Parasite Eve II, and Chrono Cross, rounding out the last big RPG releases for the system.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back! Is the sequel to the PS1 killer app, Crash Bandicoot. The levels are bigger, Cortex is badder, and the game is an overall improvement in pretty much every conceivable way over it’s predecessor.

Graphics:

Let’s be honest here, the only part of the FF trilogy’s graphics that hold up extremely well are the pre-rendered backgrounds. Everything else goes strictly into “Your Mileage may vary” territory. Whereas Final Fantasy VII’s character models sought to recapture the sprite style of the SNES Final Fantasy game using 3D models, and Final Fantasy VIII went for full on realistic (at the time, anyway) models, Final Fantasy IX strikes a middle ground between the somewhat cartoonish style of VII, and the realistic proportions of VIII. That said… the character models are really, really, jaggy. Almost moreso than VII’s somewhat crude character models. Unless you have the smoothing option enabled when playing this on PS2/PS3/PSP/Vita/, it’s almost kind of distracting. However, it’s a game that pushes the PS1 to it’s limits moreso than any other FF game before it, a task that is admirable in it’s own right.

Crash Bandicoot 2, on the other hand, has a pretty simplistic art style in comparison to FFIX. It’s clean, cartoonish, and doesn’t attempt to get any more complicated than that. It’s that simplicity perhaps, that makes Crash 2’s visuals hold up as well as they do. PS1/N64/Saturn 3D visuals tend not to hold up well at all.  The 3D games from that era with defined art styles tend to be the ones  with visuals that age more gracefully, and Crash 2 falls squarely into that category. Crash 2 takes the visuals category.

Gameplay/Controls:

Final Fantasy IX controls about the same as any turn based RPG on the system. You walk around towns, talk to NPCs, navigate menus to equip weapons, armor, or items, and you navigate a menu during battle to attack and defend. Basic stuff, really. Nothing in it that necessarily revolutionizes the genre. The abilty to learn skills from equipped weaponry/armor is quite novel, though. The synthesis system seen in so many Square Enix games (Most notably Kingdom Hearts) has it's root in this game.

Crash 2 has somewhat simplistic controls to, at least at first. Crash can run, jump, spin and slide using the face buttons on the PS1 controller. After that, though… there’s a few other actions like the high jump, crawling, and of course, the body slam. In an era where 3D platformers lived and died by their controls and how well they controlled (*couge*sonicadventure*cough*), Naught Dog nailed the controls. Crash never feels like he’s too slippery or too stiff.nBoth games do exactly as they set out to do here gameplay-wise. I’ll call it a tie.

Replayability:

Final Fantasy IX is a pretty big game. It spans 4 discs, and every single one of those discs are packed with content. There’s mini-games to play, side quests to discover (True Story: A *very* late game sidequest was just only recently discovered in the game, 13 years after its release!) and optional bosses to fight. As far as Final Fantasy games go, this is one of the more content packed entries.

There’s no shortage of things to do.  Crash 2 is pretty much the same as Crash 1, as far as game structure goes. You play through linear levels, sometimes with hidden paths or secrets to discover, and go from point A to point B. It’s simple, and straight to the point. By discovering everything and getting 100% you can get a secret ending, but that’s about it, as far as replay value goes. Overall, there’s just so much more actual game to FFIX that I have to give the nod to IX.

Verdict:

Er… wow. Another tie. Looks like a coin flip is in order, then. Same deal as before, best two out of three.

FFIX is heads, Crash 2 is tails.

Flip 1: Tails

Flip 2: Heads

Flip 3: Tails

Looks like Crash 2: Cortex Strikes Back wins. Can’t say I was expecting that!

The Great PS1 Tournament of Champions: Round 2

Updated Bracket:

http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/87106724dca15

So far, Resident Evil 2 handily defeated Tomb Raider in Round 1. So without further ado, on to Round 2!

Round 2: Silent Hill Vs. Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage

Oh, this should be good.

Silent Hill is the inaugural title in Konami's psychological horror series. You play as Harry Mason, who finds himself in the fictional town of Silent Hill, USA as he searches for his missing daughter. Calling the game something of a mindfuck would be a massive understatement.

Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage is the second game in the PS1 Spyro trilogy, and sees him face off against the eponymous Ripto, a sorcerer wreaking havoc across the land of Avalar.

Graphics:

Spyro 2's definitely a fantastic looking PS1 game. Considering PS1 3D is hit and miss a lot of the time, 3D games with distinct art styles tend to be the ones that hold up better. (Crash Bandicoot and Megaman Legends are examples of such games) The game is colorful, runs smoothly, and the characters animate pretty well, too. If I had to come up with a list of some of the best looking games on the system, I think Spyro 2 would definitely be up there.

Then there's Silent Hill. Everything's dark, grungy and very foggy. The textures are kind of crappy. The character models leave a lot to be desired. But, this is one case where these aspects arguably work in the game's favor, rather than against it. It actively adds to the dreary, unsettling and flat out surreal atmosphere of Silent Hill. You never know what's around the corner because you can barely even see what's around the corner. That being said... from an objective standpoint, Spyro 2's still the more visually impressive game here, and to be honest, as atmospheric as Silent Hill's visuals are, they haven't aged well at all.

Gameplay/Controls:

In Spyro 2, Spyro controls about as well as you'd expect him to. The analog stick moves him around, he can jump, glide, spew fire, and charge into enemies. It's simple, but it works.

Silent Hill, like Resident Evil, employs tank controls. While tank style controls may turn of a lot of people, they work pretty well in games where it's pretty obviously designed around said controls. Silent Hill is such a game. However, it's arguably harder to transition back to in this day in age than Spyro 2's controls are. Spyro 2, on the other hand, has something of a weird camera. It's not as bad as say, some of the early 3D Sonic titles on the Dreamcast/Gamecube, but it can be disorienting.

On the gameplay side of things, Spyro 2 is your standard 3D 32-Bit platformer. It's a lot more open than the previous game. There's no shortage of tasks to perform, gems to collect, or bosses to fight. Unlike the first game, where a lot of the collectables were really only there for the sake of... well, collecting, nearly all of the collectables in 2 have a purpose, be it accessing new levels or new attacks.

Silent Hill is a lot like Resident Evil. You're thrown into a strange place with a very small amount of weapons, limited ammo, and puzzles to solve. Of course, this is all strung together by the game's plot, and the relative insanity of it sort of serves as a nice motivation to go through the game. You never know what'll get thrown at you next. As far as gameplay goes... I'd call it a tie.

Replayability:

Both games actually have a decent amount of replay value. In Spyro 2, it's tackling those sidequests to unlock new abilities, and in Silent Hill (again, like Resident Evil; Noticing a pattern here) It's completeing the game under certain conditions to unlock new endings and bonus weapons to use in a New game. Overall, I'd give the nod to Silent Hill here, if only for it's extra content being more plentiful. Once you 100% Spyro 2, you're pretty much done with it, and getting 100% in the game takes nowhere near as long as doing everything there is to do in Silent Hill.

Hmm... so with Spyro 2 taking visuals, both being tied in the gameplay department, and Silent Hill winning out in replayability, these titles seem evenly matched.. I guess there's only one way to settle this fairly: A (best two out of three) coin toss. Spyro 2 is heads, Silent Hill is tails. Alright, I've got my quarter, so let's do this.

Round 1: Heads.

Round 2: Tails

Round 3: Heads.

Verdict:

And Spyro 2 wins by way of coin toss and moves on in the tournament. It really says a lot about the quality of these games and how unprepared I was to find how evenly matched the games were that it had to come down to a coin toss, of all things.

The Great PS1 Tournament of Champions

We can all agree that the original Playstation is one of the best video game consoles of all time, right? Good.

I happened to be having a conversation with a friend about the console in question, and inevitably, we started talking about our favorite games for it. Amusingly, while we both had a list of favorite games for the console, we couldn't narrow down our favorite overall game on the console. A day later, I still found it curious that I still couldn't come to a conclusion for myself. That's when I got the idea for this.

Basically, I take my 16 favorite PS1 games, set them up in a bracket, tournament style, and take an objective look at each game, and have them face off. The one that ends up winning advances, until a winner is decided. Who doesn't love a good tournament, anyway?

So here's the Tournament Bracket.

http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/bbe64cfcbca15

And without further ado, let's get started with the first match!

Round 1: Tomb Raider Vs. Resident Evil 2

Tomb Raider is the game that introduced the world to Lara Croft, an adventurous (and somewhat well endowed) treasure hunter. It's considered to have set the standard for 3D action adventure games to come after it, and it's influence can be seen in gaming today, most notably in the Uncharted series by Naughty Dog. It's also influential in that it was one of the first mainstream games to feature a female protagonist, something revolutionary at the time.

Resident Evil 2 is the sequel to Capcom's 1996 hit, Resident Evil. Credited with creating the "Survival Horror" sub genre, Resident Evil sees protagonists faced with a zombie outbreak, usually caused by the mysterious and powerful pharmaceutical company known as Umbrella Corporation. Resident Evil 2 would go on to become one of the most popular entries in the series, being ported to multiple platforms and having it's story adapted in multiple forms of media.

Let's take a look at them, shall we?

Graphics:

It's almost kind of unfair to compare the two in this category. Resident Evil 2 came out a full two years after Tomb Raider, and by that point, most developers had a handle on the hardware, while in '96, developers were only just starting to get their footing. 3D console development was still in it's infancy at that point. That isn't to say Tomb Raider is a particularly awful looking game, but it's visuals haven't aged well at all. Resident Evil 2, on the other hand looks decent these days, and a big part of that is it's use of pre-rendered backgrounds in lieu of polygonal based backgrounds. It still kind of dates the game's visuals a bit, but much less so than Tomb Raider. The character models, while not stellar, and a good bit more detailed than in Tomb Raider as well. Though again, it's almost unfair to compare the two given the amount of time between each other. Resident Evil 2 quite obviously wins here.

Gameplay/Controls

This is where both games kind of get weird, at least as far as controls are concerned. Both Tomb Raider and Resident Evil 2 employ "tank controls", a control method that as the name implies, gives your character the amount of gracefulness comparable to a tank. By that, I mean that the character's movement capabilities are rather limited. No matter what direction you're facing in, Up will always move you forward. Down will always move you backward, etc, etc. It works in both games, as they're obviously designed around their respective controls. I don't think either game's controls are really all that better than one other, to be honest. Lara may be a little stiffer to control, but again, it's intentional, and the game is designed around said stiffness, and quite well, I'd say. I'd call it a tie here.

The gameplay side of things is where things start to differ. Tomb Raider is a game focused on making huge jumps and solving puzzles with some gun play sprinkled in, whereas Resident Evil 2 is focused on puzzle solving, and avoiding and/or engaging zombies and other monsters with various firearms. Again, while I can't make any sort of objective decision over which has the better gameplay, I'd give the slight edge to Resident Evil 2, if only for the slightly deeper mechanics that come with it's gameplay (Limb damage, headshots, etc.)

Replayability

Resident Evil 2 wins hand down here. Once you beat Tomb Raider, you're pretty much done with the game. You have the option to play through the game with infinite ammo afterwards, but that's about it. Resident Evil 2 on the other hand, has loads of extra content. For one, it's a two disc game. Each disc contains a character scenario, and you can tackle them in any order you like. After that, you can unlock a third scenario for the game, and after that, a fourth one, as well as a score attack mini-game as well. A lot of these bonuses come from clearing the game under certain conditions, so you'll be spending a lot of time perfecting your runs through the game to get it's unlockable content. Resident Evil 2 takes this category.

Verdict:

Resident Evil 2 takes it over Tomb Raider. While it's not a bad game, it's still very much a product of it's time, and frankly, Resident Evil 2 just holds up a lot better these days. RE2 advances in the bracket.

Check out the blog later today for round 2!

The Struggle of Rebuilding a Game Collection

Rebuilding a game collection is hard.

I used to have quite a decent SNES collection. I think saying it was mine would be a bit of a misnomer; Some of the games belonged to my uncle, some to my older sister, but I'd say the vast majority of games we had for the console belonged to me. Back in 2004 or so, when PS2 and Xbox was all the rage and SNES and Genesis were all but a distant memory, my family decided to put stuff that was taking up space in storage. One of those things put in storage was the huge box of Super Nintendo and Genesis games we kept. It seemed like a good idea at the time: We keep the stuff someplace safe where it won't clutter up the house since no one is using it. Not a bad deal at all, right? Well, it wasn't at all, at least not at first.

Then, someone lost the key to the storage unit.

So somewhere in New York City, there's a storage unit that hasn't been touched for a while, filled with SNES greats like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III, Mega Man X and lots more, just waiting for someone to claim them. I won't get into the specifics, but as of now, there's no feasible way to get in to the storage unit without paying serious cash. So with a good chunk of my SNES games gone when I started this retro gaming kick of mine this time last year, I decided I'd just start a new collection. It couldn't be too hard to track down some old SNES classics for cheap, right?

Boy, was I wrong!

Prices for SNES games are rising. More people have disposable income and want to relive their childhoods. This in return, is causing collectors to panic, and they end up buying what they can before the supply inevitably runs dry, not even knowing that they're contributing to the drought as well. Finding SNES games for a reasonable price has been something of an experience for me. I've found great deals, I've gotten bad deals, and I've even had unbelievable luck in a few cases. So why not detail the journey so far?

Pictured above is what I've managed to collect in a years time. Despite the EarthBound cartridge being in the picture, I haven't payed more than $20 for any cartridge in that picture. So, let's begin, shall we?

Donkey Kong Country (Rare, 1994)

Bought for: $15
Cartridge Condition: Good

If you've been following this blog from the beginning, you know that my very first blog post on this site was detailing my first experience with the game. I found this at a local Mom 'n Pop video game store for about $15. I had never played the console entries in the DKC series before, so I figured now would be a great time to start. The game itself is... okay. I don't like to use the word much, because it's generally used as an excuse to say "I hate this game but everyone loves it and they're wrong", but I find it to be a tad overrated. It's not a bad platformer by any means, but the game is kind of on the cheap side, as far as level design goes. There's a lot of trial and error involved, much more so than the Mario games. It has some great music, and decent (for it's time) graphics, but it always confuses me when I hear people put this onto the same pedestal as Super Mario World when it's nowhere near as well put together of a game as a lot of other platformers from that era, SNES or otherwise. Don't regret the purchase one bit, though.

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Super Mario All Stars (Nintendo, 1993)

Bought for: Owned from childhood
Condition: No save battery

Super Mario All Stars is a game I've had since I was a kid. It originally belonged to my sister, but when she turned over the SNES to me, I got this game with it, and I've had it ever since. It's hard to believe this cartridge is just two years younger than me (I'm 21 going on 22). Super Mario All Stars is a compilation of remakes of the Super Mario NES trilogy. It's claim to fame was that it had remakes of both versions of Super Mario Bros 2: the reskinned version of Doki Doki Panic which would end up being the US version of Mario Bros 2, and the Japanese Famicom Disc System release of the game, which would be referred to as Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels from then on. They're not exact replicas of their respective games (Both SMB and Lost Levels have noticeably different physics) but they're definitely quality remakes through and through. One of my earliest gaming memories is of me and my younger sister taking turns with my older sister in Super Mario Bros. 2. There's just so much personal history tied to this cartridge, and I can't help but smile every time I look at it. Unfortunately, I tried to replace the battery in the cartridge, and accidentally ripped out the battery tabs that were soldered in, meaning that the only way to get a new battery in would be to solder it in. Nonetheless, thanks for the memories, Mario.

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Breath of Fire (Capcom/Squaresoft, 1994)

Bought for: $20
Cartridge Condition: Better than when I bought it

Breath of Fire is one of the games I actually owned before putting it in the aforementioned storage location. Thankfully, it's not a hard game to track down at all, and I'm glad I was able to find it. The cartridge was pretty crappy when I first bought it, though. The game wouldn't boot up, and it was apparent why: Someone had spilled some sort of liquid on the contacts inside the cartridge, and as a result, they got a bit corroded. Some contact cleaner and some Q-Tips later, they were good as new. Recently, the save battery had died on me, so I opened up the cart and put a new one in today, which should last for the next decade or so, though I'll now have to start from the beginning again. It's an enjoyable game nonetheless, and I'm glad I got it for the price I did. A shame the superior sequel's a bit more expensive.

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Super Mario Kart (Nintendo, 1992)

Bought for: $15
Catridge Condition: Excellent

I bought this at another local store, along with three other games for a total of $25. SMK alone was $15. Super Mario Kart was another game that I used to own. Unfortunately, I sold it off a while back because I wanted to buy a new PS2 game and needed the cash. The game I ended up buying (Mega Man X7) turned out to be awful, so I regretted the decision even more. Super Mario Kart's the first game in the Mario Kart series. In spite of being over 20 years old, the game looks and controls remarkably well, even today. It does look a bit flat, considering the Mode 7 tech being used, but other than that, it's really not that much of a far cry from it's contemporary entries, mechanically speaking. Unlike the newer entries that have become more reliant on item usage over actual racing, Super Mario Kart is all about skill. If you take a turn wrong and hit a wall, you'll be punished. The game is actually pretty hard; the hardest in the series, I'd say. Despite that, I never feel like the game is unfair in any way. When I screw up, I know it's my fault, and not the fault of some unblockable Blue Shell that barrels in my direction because I'm in first place. It's definitely a solid game, and the multiplayer mode remains fun to this day.

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EarthBound (Nintendo, 1995)

Bought For: 65 cents
Cartridge Condition: Label's seen better days, but otherwise good.

Ah, yes. One of the holy grails of Super Nintendo collecting, EarthBound. EarthBound is a game that's been hard to obtain for a reasonable price for a while now. I've actually owned three copies of this game in my life: One that I've had since I was a kid (I sold it in high school to fund a date that I otherwise had no money for, long story), a complete copy of the game, box, strategy guide and all that I got from Gamestop when they were clearing out SNES stock in early 2002 or so, and this copy, which I stumbled upon at Goodwill for 65 cents. I was actually dropping off some old clothes at this particular Goodwill, and wasn't expecting to buy anything. But as I was leaving the store, a SNES cartridge caught my eye on a rack filled with PS2 shovelware and direct to DVD Disney movie sequels. It was EarthBound. It took every bit of fiber in me to not freak out in the store, or else the cashier would catch on to the fact that it's worth something and charge me more. In fact, the cashier asked me if the game was worth anything when she rung it up, and if I recall correctly, I replied with something along the lines of: "Nah, you can get this game just about anywhere these days."

EarthBound's a pretty unique RPG. It mixes absolutely brilliant writing with modern day setting and a Draqon Quest-esque battle system. A Virtual Console release of the game is scheduled to finally show up on Wii U sometime, so that might be a way to experience it if you have a Wii U. Otherwise, you'll be paying $150+ for the cartridge.

I also bought a Universal Game Case to store the game in. Universal Game Cases are plastic cases you can buy online to store SNES, Genesis, Super Famicom, Famicom and Nintendo 64 games in. They have plastic cover slips that allow you to print out box art to adorn your cases with as well. I did so with EarthBound, and the result was this:

It's not the same as a SNES box, but that's arguably a good thing, especially considering how flimsy the cardboard in SNES boxes can be. I'm currently planning to buy a few more cases so that I can house all of my loose games.

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Star Fox (Nintendo, 1993)

Bought for: $10
Cartridge Condition: Excellent

Star Fox is again, a game that I previously owned, but sold for some reason. It's not really that hard of a game to track down online, and to be honest, $10 is a pretty reasonable price. Star Fox is of course, the inaugural entry in the Star Fox series, and was among the first home console games to use 3D polygons thanks to the Super FX chip Nintendo developed for it. It's a pretty fun game to play through in an afternoon, though it's very janky these days.

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Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (Rare, 1995)

Bought for: Free
Cartridge Condition: Excellent

I already mentioned that the first game didn't leave much of an impression on me. So how would the critically lauded sequel fare?

Better, I'd say. The series still isn't really my cup of tea, but the game is an improvement on the original game in almost every way imaginable. The settings are moodier, the physics and collision detection are a lot less jankier, the soundtrack is fantastic, the game is a lot less dependent on trial and error and more about platforming skill, and the bosses are actually decent. While DKC1 stands as a good, if somewhat overrated title to me, DKC2 stands as a legitimately great game that just isn't my cup of tea, though I can definitely see why the game gets the praise it does, and it really does deserve it. I actually got the game from a generous person looking to get complete boxed copes of the DKC trilogy, and and decided to give away the loose copies he owned of the games, and I was fortunate enough to get DKC2.

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Aladdin (Capcom, 1993)

Bought for: $5
Cartridge Condtion: Eh, it's okay

The SNES version of Aladdin is done by Capcom, and although it's short, it's definitely sweet. Whereas the Genesis version focused more on combat, the SNES version is all about the platforming. The producer of the game was Shinji Mikami, a Capcom employee that would go on to create games such as Goof Troop, Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and GodHand, just to name a few. There's not much to say about the game. It's a short, snappy adaptation of the Disney movie. One interesting thing is that unlike the Genesis version of the game, which features chiptune arrangements of songs from the music, the SNES OST is almost entirely original music. The SNES version does have pretty nice sounding arrangements of Friend Like Me and A Whole New World

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Konami, 1992)

  

Bought for: I dunno, I was like, five
Cartridge Condition: Better than a 20 year old cartridge has any right to be in

I've had this game since I was a kid, and it's really just a joy to play through, especially in Co-Op.

I've already gushed about the game enough here, so you can read that, if you're so inclined.

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F-Zero (Nintendo, 1991)

Bought for: $19
Cartridge Condition: New

F-Zero was a game that I actually never played on Super Nintendo prior to owning a physical copy. My first experience with the game was on a SNES emulator sometime in the mid 2000's or so. I later bought the game on Wii Virtual Console at some point and instantly fell in love with it, having already owned and loved the later titles in the series. F-Zero was a SNES launch title, and as such, many copies were produced. So much so, that buying a new, sealed copy of the game costs no more that $20 online! I ended up jumping on that, because hey, a complete in box SNES game! Don't see that much these days! It's a solid SNES single player racer that can get pretty brutal in later stages, but it's still pretty damn fun to play today.

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Final Fight (Capcom, 1991)

Bought for: $5
Cartridge Condition: Decent

Final Fight is a SNES port of the hit arcade beat em up. Unfortunately, the SNES port is considered to be butchered in a lot of ways. For one it's missing a character (Guy), an entire stage (Industrial Area), featured heavy censoring (No Poison or Roxy), doesn't have as many enemies on screen, and limited continues (Which makes the game harder than the Arcade release) Even with all of those faults, it's still a decent beat em up, and the hard to track down, but still great SNES exclusive sequels build on the foundation of this port.

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Well, that about wraps this up. Tomorrow, I plan on writing up a post analyzing some of the best designed boss fights in gaming. I won't bluntly reveal the subject of tomorrow's post, but I'll leave you with a big clue...

Moderately expensive games that are worth the money for Retro Gamers (Part 1 - Sega Genesis)

So a week or so back, I made a blog post about affordable retro games any gamer should be able to get for a reasonable price. This time around, I'll be focusing on the moderately expensive games that are worth getting. Mind you, when I say "moderately expensive", I'm not talking stuff like Chrono Trigger, EarthBound or Phantasy Star IV, where prices can easily reach $100-150+. I'm talking the $30-60 valued games here. The games that you'd pay the same price as you would for a current gen game. There's a lot of games at these values out there, but are they worth it? Well, that's what I'm here for! Let's take a look at the Sega Genesis today.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Konami, 1992)

 
If you've been following this blog, then you've probably already seen my blog post gushing about the fantastic Super Nintendo port of Turtles in Time. Not wanting to leave Genesis owners in the dust, Konami retooled the game, mixed around stages and bosses (While even adding a few new ones!) changed the game's plot, and the result was Hyperstone Heist. The game looks, plays and controls pretty much identically to Turtles in Time. However, the stages are a lot longer this time around, and the game's actually a bit more difficult as a result, though it's not too huge of a jump in difficulty. Two player Co-Op is still present, and many of Turtles in Time's tunes were arranged using the Genesis sound chip, along with a few new compositions. Personally, I prefer some of the tracks in the Genesis version, if only for sounding closer to their Arcade counterparts than the SNES versions do.

Why prioritize it? You're probably going to get tired of me saying this, but it's a licensed game that'll probably never see a re-release. Even more importantly, this game tends to get overshadowed by Turtles in Time and some of the other TMNT games from that era (like Tournament Fighters, for example), making a re-release even more unlikely.

How much? For the cartridge alone, the going price seems to e somewhere between $30 and $40. If you want a complete copy, expect to pay between $45 and 60.

Sample Gameplay:

 

Castlevania: Bloodlines (Konami, 1994)

 

I'll be honest here: A good chunk of this list is going to be Konami stuff. With that said, Castlevania: Bloodlines has the unique distinction of being the only Castlevania game to appear on a Sega platform outside of Japan. (The only other CV title on a Sega platform was Symphony of the Night/Nocturne in the Moonlight for the Sega Saturn, which was ported shortly after the PS1 release in Japan, only.) It's also the first game in the main series to not star a Belmont. Instead, you play as John Morris, a descendant from a branch family of the Belmonts, and his best friend, spear wielding Eric Lecarde, as they battle across Europe to stop the vampiress Elizabeth Bartley, as she attempts to revive Dracula once again. Compared to Super Castlevania IV on the Super Nintendo, Bloodlines takes more of a back to basics approach, and the game is structured in the same arcade-y fashion that the original NES trilogy was built as, instead of the epic, focused journey of SCIV. (I'm also of the opinion that Bloodlines is a better game, but that's a blog post for another day)

This game is also a fantastic example of what the Genesis can do when pushed to it's limits. Konami gave the Genesis some strong support, and this game is definitely one of the showcases, both graphically and music-wise as well. Speaking of which, this game also marked the debut of (former) Konami mainstay Michiru Yamane, who compsed the score for this game, and would go on to compose for many other Castlevania games, including the absolutely sublime soundtrack for Symphony of the Night. (Which is the best gaming soundtrack ever composed, in this blogger's humble opinion.) In particular, "Calling From Heaven", the theme for the final stage in the game is a favorite of mine; Yamane manages to blend a catchy, yet haunting melody with a great drum beat going on in the background.

Why prioritize this? For some reason or another, Castlevania Bloodlines has never seen a re-release on Virtual Console. In fact, a good portion of Konami's 8 and 16 Bit platformers seem to been missing from the service, even the ones that don't have any licensing problems behind them. Considering that this is one of the few Castlevania games to get a direct sequel (Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS), you would think Konami would make the game available for those who want to see where the story of the Morris clan started.

How much? The cartridge alone will run you about $35, while a complete copy will go for anywhere between $45 and 55.

Contra: Hard Corps (Konami, 1994)

 
Okay, last Konami game, I promise.

Contra: Hard Corps might just be the most aptly titled video game of all time. In a series pretty much known for it's brutal difficulty, Hard Corps manages to make every other Contra title before it look like child's play. With branching paths, multiple playable characters and multiple endings, it's arguably the biggest Contra game from that era. The Co-Op play is fantastic, and playing through the game with someone else helps make the game a bit easier. Compared to the likes of Contra III on Super Nintendo (Spoiler Alert: A blog post gushing about that game is probably going to happen soon!), Contra Hard Corps has less of an emphasis on platforming (though it's still definitely a big element in the game's level design) and more of an emphasis on boss fights. Some of the craziest boss fights in the series can be found in this game, including one against a robotic track runner. No, I'm not kidding. Yes, it's every bit as awesome as it sounds.

Why prioritize this? Like with Castlevania Bloodlines, it's a game strangely absent from the Virtual Console. And just like Bloodlines, the game also received a current gen sequel (well, prequel) with Hard Corps: Uprising, on PSN and XBLA.

How much? The loose cartridge goes for about $30 these days. The complete game will probably run you about $50 or so.

Sample Gameplay:

 

Gunstar Heroes (Treasure, 1993)

If you ever wondered where the hell this blog got it's name from, look no further than Gunstar Heroes.

Gunstar Heroes is the first game developed by Treasure, a company formed by former Konami employees that felt like they were getting railroaded by upper Konami management. They would go on to create stellar titles, such as Alien Soldier on the Genesis, Radiant Silvergun on the Sega Saturn, Mischief Makers and Sin and Punishement on the Nintendo 64, the stellar Astro Boy Omega Factor for Game Boy Advance, and even Wario World for the Gamecube. Needless to say, Treasure has one of the most solid resumes in the entire videogame industry. It might just be the only developer I can think of who hasn't ever crafted a bad game.

Gunstar Heroes is a co-op run and gun in the vein of Contra (In fact, several of Contra III's lead staff members developed this!), though the focus in Gunstar is in the crazy, over the top scenarios that consistently aims to top itself, all the way to the end of the game. One very notable part of the game comes on the form of Seven Force, a giant, transforming piece of armor that's fought at a breakneck pace in a mineshaft, that transforms between seven unique forms throughout the boss fight. It's basically seven intense boss fights in one, and I can confidently say it's my favorite boss in all of gaming. (And it's also what the URL of this blog is named after.)

Gunstar Heroes is just an excellently crafted game all around. It does things you wouldn't normally expect to see from the run-and-gun genre, and keeps you on your toes the whole way through. To make a fighting game comparison here, Contra is like Street Fighter: It can be slower, more methodical, and even though there's moments where you have to think on your feet, you can approach it at a steady pace. Gunstar Heroes would be more akin to Marvel Vs. Capcom, where there's lasers and explosions everywhere, and "Fuck it, YOLO" is actually a legit strategy at times.

Why prioritize this? Unlike every other game on this list, Gunstar Heroes has been re-released numerous times. It's available on Wii Virtual Console, has an Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network port with (Admittedly sketchy) online support, and the game was even remade for the Game Boy Advance as Gunstar Super Heroes. so why bother, if you have those avenues to take?

Well, there really isn't any reason, to be completely honest, unless you like having physical copies. The Wii Virtual Console version is definitely serviceable if you have access to a Wii, and the PSN/XBLA ports are... acceptable as well.

How much? You can probably nab a loose copy for about $25 bucks. A complete copy will range anywhere from $30 to $45.

Ristar (Sega, 1995)

Ristar was the first non-Sonic title developed by Sonic Team (in it's original form). The game revloves around a star like creature named Ristar that can stretch his arms out to grab objects and propel himself at enemies. The game's conception actually revisits an unused concept for a rabbit like creature that could stretch it's ears to grab objects. That rabbit like creature would eventually go through many different designs and changes, and later evolved into a game about a certain speedy hedgehog we all know and either love or hate.

Despite not being a Sonic game, there's something distinctly Sonic Team about the game; You can definitely tell the Sonic guys were behind this game when playing it. It's a pretty fun and inventive platformer with some really nice environments, although the game hits a difficulty spike somewhere between the third and fourth worlds, and just gets ungodly difficult by the time you reach the final levels. It's still a trip worth taking, in my opinion, especially if you're a fan of Sega platformers.

Why prioritize this? Ristar has actually seen release on numerous Sega compilations dating back to Sonic Mega Collection on the Gamecube, where it was a surprise unlockable. It's really only worth getting if you want a hard copy of the game.

How much? Loose cartridges go for about $30 to 35. Complete copies go for anywhere between $44 and $60.

Sample gameplay:

 

Well, that marks off Part 1 of this list. Next time, I'll get into the Super Nintendo side of things.

Great Momemnts in Licensed Gaming: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

I'll not give the usual speech about licensed video games and how they can be great when given a proper budget and a good developer. So instead, I'll just go right to the point. TMNT IV: Turtles in Time isn't just a great licensed game. It's a damn fantastic video game in general.

You'd be hard pressed to find a more hardcore game cover than this.

TMNT IV is the Super Nintendo port of the 1991 arcade hit, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. While the arcade version was the sequel to the original TMNT arcade game released in the late 80's, the Super Nintendo port billed it as TMNT IV, as three TMNT games had already appeared on Nintendo home consoles at that point: The (imfamously) horrible TMNT 1, The okay-ish NES version of the original arcade game (titled TMNT II: The Arcade Game on the NES), and the surprisingly great TMNT III: The Manhattan Project.

Most of the game translated pretty well to Super Nintendo. Some concessions had to be made, however: The game can't have as many enemies on screen as the arcade version, and the 4 player mode was narrowed down to 2 players instead. While the latter is slightly disappointing (Especially considering one of the draws of the arcade game was being able to have 4 different people control every turtle), it doesn't stop the game from being the definitive version. Because of the concessions made to get the SNES port functional, Konami decided to add some new content in the game that wasn't in the arcade version, as well as tweaking some already existing things. The changes ranged from adding in new characters from across the TMNT spectrum, be it the cartoon, or even the movies in a few cases! I'll explain the additions below:

Sewer Surfin'

My toe, My toe!

In the arcade version of the game, Sewer Surfin was a relatively short surfing level. It was simple, really: Fight waves of Foot Soldiers until Shredder inexplicably shows up out of nowhere and transports the turtles into the past, where the time traveling portion of the game begins. In the Super Nintendo version however, the level is mostly unchanged, although it's now considered one of the game's "Bonus Stages". However, the biggest change is when you complete the level: Instead of Shredder coming out of nowhere and getting rid of the turtles, a new boss takes his place: The Rat King!

While the battle isn't too difficult, it's a nice addition to what was otherwise a short, but still enjoyable level.

Technodrome: Let's Kick Shell!

Above, I mentioned that in the arcade version of the game, ol' Shred-head appeared at the end of Sewer Surfin ' and transported the turtles into the past. This isn't the case in the Super Nintendo version. Instead, the turtles take the fight to Shredder in the SNES exclusive Technodrome level. And it's really a quite awesome level.

Tons of Foot soldiers, robot dogs biting your toes... it's pretty hectic. The mid bosses for this level, are Tokka and Rahzar, from the TMNT II movie. In the arcade version, they were the bosses of the Skull and Crossbones stage, but they've been moved to the Technodrome level in the SNES version.

Now before I go into the next addition, I want to highlight one of the features in Turtles in Time: the screen throw. Basically, there's two types of throws in the game: One where the turtles will slam the enemy  back and forth a few times, and one where the turtles toss the enemy right at the screen, hilariously breaking the fourth wall. It's pretty hilarious. The SNES version of the game actually takes this and does something unique with it...

New Boss: Battletank Shredder

Shredder confronts the turtles in a shiny new battletank, with the intention of getting rid of turtles (Or so we think...?) once and for all. But wait... the battle starts, and we actually witness the boss battle from the perspective of Shredder himself! To beat Shredder, you have to grap the foot soldiers and throw them into the screen, which deals damage to shredder. It's one of the most uniquely designed boss battles I've ever seen in a game, and it's definitely pretty damn fun to play. At the end of the level, Shredder decides he's had enough fun for one day, and sends the turtles far back in time so that they'll never bother him again.

New Boss: Slash

Instead of the somewhat boring Cement Man in the Arcade version, the Super Nintendo version replaces him with an awesome (But difficult; In fact, he's generally considered to be the hardest boss in the game) battle against Slash, the mutant turtle created by Bebop and Rocksteady in the cartoons. Speaking of which...

New Bosses: Bebop & Rocksteady

Aww yeah, everyone's favorite duo of idiots get added to the SNES version of the game, in place of Tokka and Rahzar, who were the bosses of this stage, previously. They're even decked out in pirate wear! The best part about this boss fight is when you get both characters down to one bar of health, they'll eventually start bickering with each other and end up killing themselves in the process. Ha!

Neon Night Riders

In the Arcade version of the game, Neon Night Riders was another stage in the vein of Sewer Surfin' but with surfboards subbed out for hoverboards, and the sewers of 1991 New York subbed for the mean highways of 2020. It also has the best level theme in the game. Seriously. Listen to it.

The SNES version completely remakes the stage and turns it into an F-Zero esque stage using the Super Nintendo's Mode 7 technology to give things a 3D feel.

I actually prefer the hectic pace of the Arcade version to the more relaxed SNES counterpart, but it's still a pretty sweet stage overall. Like Sewer Surfin' before it, it's also been made a bonus stage now.

A "Super" surprise lying in wait...

When the turtles finally confront Shredder for the last time in the arcade version, he throws off his cape, draws his lightsaber, and awesomeness ensues. However, Konami pulled one hell of a bait and switch for SNES players. When the level starts, Shredder rises into the air for a bit... and transforms into his Super Shredder form from the TMNT II movie! You know... the form he takes for all of five seconds before unceremoniously getting crushed by debris?

Yeah, that guy!

 As a kid, seeing Super Shredder in the movie for under a minute, only to end up not getting to see him fight felt like a huge rip off. Finally getting to experience a proper fight with him was just the cherry on top of an already awesome game.

The boss fight itself is actually radically different from the original battle with him in the arcade version. Whereas the arcade version mostly had him fencing with his sword with an occasional energy attack, Super Shredder teleports wildly around the arena, using different elemental attacks, including one that turns the turtles into... well, regular turtles. It also instantly takes a life away, no matter how much health the turtle had.

So yeah, if you have any nostalgia for the ninja turtles and want a really well crafted side scrolling beat 'em up, the SNES port of Turtles in Time is your best bet. Unfortunately, it'll likely never see release on Virtual Console, as it's a licensed title. Your best bet to acquire it would be on eBay or Amazon, though prices for it have been rising as of late. Copies start at $35 and only go up from there. But it's definitely worth the money for the definitive version of one of the best beat 'em ups ever made, and one of Konami's finest games.

And this has been "Great Moments in Licensed Gaming". Maybe I'll make this a regular thing.