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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 27, 2018 21:08:19 GMT
River City Ransom A-Awesome plain & simply. Always remembered this game from my youth (rental) as a sort of early Grand Theft Auto - beating up ppl for money to use in the game. Fun graphics, tight gameplay, nice payoffs. Side Pocket BAdded because I like video game billiards & this was the NES' best one. Plays more like a puzzle/strategy game than pure pool, points for shooting balls in order, select pockets, etc, + finite number of free shots remaining as the levels increase. Another fun title for short session gameplay; there's enough platforming genre in my catalogue already that I didn't add more (if I want a Mega Man fix, MM2 is more than enough). River City Ransom revisit... still fun, haven't journeyed far into it yet. Fav thing about RCR... money for beating ppl up & using it to keep recharging/upgrading. Side Pocket revisit... relaxing fun. Fav thing about Side Pocket... soothing atmosphere.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 27, 2018 21:10:52 GMT
Star Tropics B-A Zelda type game graphed over by 20th century kid in the tropics - fun idea, alas plain gaming. Worth a go if you have time, it hasn't hooked me yet. Super C AWhile Contra is a masterpiece, SC's level design is more creative & engrossing. Not as fun as the first, more challenging... still very good. 30 life code might've made this too easy. Star Tropics revisit... I like it; not bad, not great. Fav thing about Star Tropics... setting & storyline are fun. Super C revisit... final levels still take a toll, I play it as often as Contra. Fav thing about Super C... I like the overhead levels, which were first introduced to me on GameBoy Operation C.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 27, 2018 21:14:41 GMT
Super Mario Bros. B+Excellent debut game for the era & pretty much rescuing the video game industry as we know it. Key was sound conducive gameplay and exponential difficulty, never completely throwing up dead ends. I beat it last fall, saving as I went; I wouldn't have played much more without that feature. I suppose some more 1up opportunities would make this more accessible & enjoyable, & yet we're talking about the most basic platformer of all time. Super Mario Bros. 2 B+For all its Doki Doki Panic lore, SMB2 really impressed me as a brighter, more accessible sequel. Even as a kid around 1988, that was an instant impression - that we wanted better, not just more of the same. SMB2 Japan would've felt more of the same aged gameplay, with only more difficulty to drive ppl mad. As it is, SMB2's graphics are some of my favs for the NES. I love playing as any/all of the 4 main characters, & really dig no pun the more varied gameplay. One of the easier games to defeat, & some challenges are cheap, keeps it from more for me. SMB revisit... after beating it right outta the box, I've not dabbled. Fav thing about SMB... its simplicity with gameplay & level design are kinda flawless. Not flashy, yet ideal for its age. SMB 2 revisit... I prefer playing both SMB 1 & 2 via SNES All-Stars. I beat this game again after SMB, don't play much. Fav thing about SMB 2... I really love the bosses. Nice big sprites, cool character design, & throwing things to defeat them is icing on the cake. Mouser needs to be in more things.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 27, 2018 21:17:59 GMT
Super Mario Bros. 3 A+My choice for greatest video game of all time & it's not close. SMB3 is a masterpiece, just about perfect in every single way. Fun, challenging, long adventure sessions or quick warping playthroughs, & most importantly the finest tuned gameplay controls ever. Side note: I think SNES SM AllStars softened it up too much, the 8-bit version remains concisely superior for those wanting in. Add to that point, I think Nintendo softened up Mario & co. way too much after this & SMW - Mario had an edge to him & his gaming through SMB3. Ever since he's been giddy Disney style silly man running through games like a sugar cereal mascot. SMB3 was still more of a gauntlet with an edgier personality.Tecmo Bowl B+Fun game, solid challenge to play through (as I did last year) not least each team has subtle weaknesses able to be exploited by at least another - thus winning a SB title isn't spoonfed. Axing the player names for this release takes it down a notch. SMB 3 revisit... still prefer this to SNES All-Stars. I still play with the warp jumps. Fav thing about SMB 3... Racoon suit, my fav gaming upgrade of all time. Looks cool, feels cool, & doesn't cheat the game nearly as much as SMW cape. Tecmo Bowl revisit... I re-play the sequel. Fav thing about Tecmo Bowl... blocking PATs & FGs.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 27, 2018 21:22:39 GMT
Tecmo Super Bowl A+In my top 5 NES games. This thing hasn't dated a nanosecond, probably because it couldn't be duplicated with snazier graphics & added options (SNES versions took the magic away). As a sports fan, playing a full season of TSB is awesome - stats galore & coaching subs balance everything out perfectly. Not even Madden 08 which I still play has as succinct an experience as this - nothing is ever more than 2-3 clicks away. NFL & NFLPA licensing make this perfect. TMNT III: The Manhattan Project A-While I had more nostalgia with TMNT II, including arcade memories, T2's a much more mundane experience with greater repetition & fewer moves i.e. less pure enjoyment. TMNT III is another at the peak of the NES' technical prowess, with SNES around the corner. Konami code enables more options which makes quicker session play available. Very nice graphics, controls, animations, storyline, & being more challenging than TMNT IV, it may be the best of the TMNT lot. Tecmo Super Bowl revisit... Boss of football games. There's nothing I'd change other than some random cold streaks with players who probably didn't deserve them. Fav thing about TSB... while the long bombs are fun, it's so much more rewarding when a short yardage run play breaks for a huge gain. TMNT III revisit... I kinda still prefer its challenge to TMNT IV's upgrades. Just pure 8-bit glory. Fav thing about TMNT III... I feel like its originality (rather than II's impossible task of porting arcade) allowed Konami to get everything just right for NES.
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Post by mrellaguru on Mar 27, 2018 21:46:50 GMT
For the first Double Dragon you just have to know to go into certain entrances such as the cave entrance after fighting the two Abobos in mission 3. Otherwise these sections keep looping. I love the original NES Double Dragon and Double Dragon II. As a kid, DD was for us the first great arcade breakout post-crash era. NES version alas was not up to par. First few levels are fun, yet the game all but slams the door shut once you go in the cave. Blind jumping, cave ceiling falling on you, 2 baddies bookending to attack... not a lot of fun that. The platform jumping is the same every time so it's just memorization. The falling stalactites are random so admittedly they're a pain. You have to be careful and take your time with the stalactites. Any enemies are easily dispatched with a few elbows, the most powerful move in the game. It's best to punch enemies in the early going in order to fill up hearts faster. People usually complain about the wall blocks and the machine gun boss in mission 4, but there are consistent strats for getting past them. I recently no-deathed this game for the first time. I think that it's a lot easier than DD2 once you know the tricks. I've also no-deathed DD2 but it was much more difficult.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 28, 2018 22:47:11 GMT
Tennis B+Yet another we had the first Christmas with the NES. Much simpler than even a game like Golf, it still holds fun replay value. Whenever I do play, I have to start on level 4 or 5 because 1-3 are nearly too slow. More tight NES controls, fast paced & responsive. All around very decent game. Tetris A+My #2 all time, I much prefer the Nintendo version to the Tengen (which has noticeably blander graphics, bells, & whistles). I was rom'ing this since forever, so it's never gone away for me personally. I always start on level 9 & try to crank out higher scores; I've hit north of 400,000pts a few years ago, vanished from existence though. Tennis revisit... I play Super Tennis instead. Tennis is fun for quick sessions. Fav thing about Tennis... level 5 is quite fast, offering turbo style. Tetris revisit... the only thing I'd change is if I could update the colour scheme, its black screen backdrop looms quite ominously on large HD tv. Fav thing about Tetris... being rewarded tetris blocks when the going gets out of control.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 28, 2018 22:58:16 GMT
Wario's Woods B-The final official release for the NES, 1994, a solid puzzle game. Again, I was in the mood to add shorter session gaming. Not great, not bad... nice to look at & addictive play make it fun. Wheel of Fortune feat. Vanna White B+The 2nd of two WoF NES games, this looks & sounds a bit more true to the show, + the puzzle variety seems more varied. I'd be lying if I said I didn't add this because of a love for crossword/word puzzles - it's really that simple. Wario's Woods revisit... fun enough game, & yet I can't help think it would be a much finer GameBoy title than Nintendo's final NES release. Fav thing about Wario's Woods... nothing special, just cool playing the last official NES title ever made. Wheel of Fortune revisit... still relaxing, some people & title puzzles are obscure to me, & yet I prefer that to softball gimmes. Fav thing about Wheel... dominating the first round so much it's enough to clinch the bonus round.
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Post by twothousandonemark on Mar 28, 2018 23:02:18 GMT
The Legend of Zelda A-Just about excellent except for repetitive music & mundane overworld adventuring. The dungeons remain awesome, & the core Zelda traits are all here. I guess that sums it up for me. A more colourful sequel prior to the SNES (a la SMB 2 &/or 3) would've been killer. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link CHonestly, it's never done anything for me. I feel like trying to fit round pegs into square holes. I respect its vision & design, I would need fewer gaming options & more patience to appreciate it. I would not have added it to the Classic as Nintendo did. On that note... onwards & upwards... Zelda revisit... I love the dungeon play, the overworld stuff not as much. Without maps & tips, I'd be up the creek. Fav thing about Zelda... boomerang, by far, love that thing. Zelda II revisit... I guess I admire it more now than as a kid, maybe one day I'll commit some to it. Fav thing about Zelda II... nice art design.
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