TwinBee (Famicom/NES) Review

With a recent release on 3DS as a 3D remake, I thought I'd dig out my old copy and play it. Now this was released only in Japan as far as the NES version goes. So don't expect to find it on the flea market or yard sales.

It's a fairly simple shooter, similar to that of Galaga and such. It seems like they were targeting a bit of a younger audience since it's far more colorful, it's easier than most in it's genre, and the game moves at a slower pace. 

It throws some decent ideas like boss fights and such, but it's really too old of an shooter for me to recommend. For those somewhat interested in buying the 3DS 3D remake, I'd advise against it. 

Score: 4 out of 10

Things I Hate: Marble Madness (NES)

I've heard great things over the years, but I got the chance to play it recently and I think it's pretty overrated. 

On a technical issue, it was an amazing feat for it's day. One of the only NES games to show any real amount of realistic physics. 

However the controls are pretty awful which means that you'll never reach your goal because of a stiff D-pad on the harder levels. 

Things I Hate: Lunar Pool

Despite the awful looking cover, it isn't that bad of a game, just a bit aged. I loved it as a kid, but now I find it a bit boring.

Don't be fooled though, this game is not pool. It's mini-golf with a pool hat on. 

Each one of the levels is really just a different shaped pool board. Neat idea, maybe someone should make a more modern version of it on the downloadable services. 

10-Yard Fight (NES) Review

10-Yard Fight is yet another sports game in Nintendo's mini-series of NES games. Most of them are bad except Ice Hockey. 

This one plays pretty decent, and I prefer the top down view verses the horizontal view of something like Tecmo Bowl. Except it's more like a Tiger handheld sort of game than a legitimate football title. For some reason you only play offense, if your pass is intercepted you go 20 yards back, and once you score it starts over again.

They had some good ideas, but they kinda flopped in the long-term. It's aged quite a bit, but at least we can look back and say "well at least Madden took some lessons from it" or something. 

Score: 4 out of 10

Mach Rider Review

I guess I'm in the mood for NES games. I usually stay away from NES racers since they usually stink pretty bad, but I heard it was made by Nintendo itself, so I decided to give it a chance. 

It's not really a racing game on the surface. They threw some kind of alien story in there, and you must ride your motorcycle to defeat them. You basically ride around the same dirt track avoiding traps, and whatnot. However even though you have a rear view mirror on the tab bar, it's quite hard to notice the alien bikers. 

Basically before you know it they crash right into you, which stalls your speed run. Then you are forced to stop because you didn't make it to the goal in time. I'm sure the game had it's fans back in the day, however I think there's a reason why nobody talks about racers on NES like they do almost every other system.

Score: 2 out of 10

Donkey Kong 3 (NES) Review

Playing Donkey Kong Jr. got me a little intrigued to try the 3rd game. 

So what's Donkey Kong been doing after he was freed from Mario's cage by his son? Well apparently making trouble with bugs. Stanley The Bug Man must save his greenhouse from the ape menace. How you ask? By spraying the large gorilla with bug poison where the sun don't shine. Makes sense. 

Joking aside, that's all there really is to Donkey Kong 3. You spray Donkey Kong enough to make him hit his head on something to proceed to the next level. The only thing in your way are bugs coming their way to kill you. If the controls weren't so clunky, this might have been an easier task. Doesn't really matter though since the game is so short and repetitive and such a radical departure from the first two games. I have my criticism for the original Donkey Kong games, but they were decent time-killers. This is just an embarrassing title in one of Nintendo's most famous series. 

Score: 2 out of 10

Things I Hate: Donkey Kong Jr. Math

Man this was a bad idea from the start. I actually played this as an easter egg inside Animal Crossing. Why they included the awful math game instead of the original (unless I didn't find it) I'll never know. 

I know they wanted to teach kids math problems and such, but even these basic problems are a struggle. Not because the math is hard, but it takes a long and boring adventure just to gather what you need to solve a problem. 

Donkey Kong Jr. (NES) Review

I remember playing Donkey Kong 64 many moons ago, and I'm pretty sure they included the first game in there as an easter egg for fans to find and enjoy. I found it, and thought it was pretty sweet. I also played the version they included in the Gamecube version of Animal Crossing. 

However despite all that, I never got to play the sequel Donkey Kong Jr. A notable but forgotten classic. While the first game had you playing Mario trying to save his girlfriend, the roles are reversed this time around. You play as Donkey Kong's son, who must save his father from the obviously unforgiving Mario. 

The game plays remarkable similar to the original, yet with a new twist. Instead of being a short Italian dude with concrete shoes, you're a monkey that can barely jump but can grab hold of vines, ropes, and chains. The game has a few levels to enjoy and can be replayed for high score record keeping if you're into that. 

Though I admit it's pretty short game even though you can have fun playing it multiple times. It's 4 levels of fun, but that don't last too long. Yet I can overlook the fact that it's an Arcade-to-NES game and forgive some it's natural faults. 

Score: 7 out of 10

My Day Yesterday: Doughnuts, Snakes, and Cubicles.

Finished Office Space today, such a good movie. 

I also played Snake's Revenge, not such a good game. 

And before I went to work, my mom brought home some Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. 

My Day Yesterday

Been a very carefree day yesterday. Played some battleship for NES.

And Bubble Bobble Part 2

Work was pretty busy today, and when I went to my car during break there was an ant problem. Sigh..

Dead Rising 2 finally came in the mail, haven't had a chance to play it yet. That's for tomorrow morning. 

Battleship (NES) Review

Battleship is a classic board game, and your view of it probably depends on your level of skill, but I thought I'd give the NES version a spin. 

It pretty much is faithful to the original except maybe a smaller grid to battle on. They also add special attacks per ship that make the game a tad easier or harder depending if you can take out the CPU's fleet first. 

They also do add a little bit of a graphical effect to the game to spice up the boring graphics. 

I guess I can't say it's not much different or worse than the classic board game, but playing against the computer is slow and boring and it doesn't offer much in terms of extra modes. 

Score: 4 out of 10

Bubble Bobble Part 2 (NES) Review

I really liked the NES verson of Bubble Bobble ever since I bought it on Virtual Console. I totally didn't even know they made an NES-only sequel until recently. 

It's a straight-up sequel and not a spin-off like Rainbow Islands. So it pretty much plays like the last game, I think they gave our favorite dinosaurs the ability to float and shoot a triple bubble attack. 

Sadly I didn't dig the sequel as much as I did the first game. The design of the game is rather lackluster, and they put a life-limit on the almost 100 round game. 

It introduced a couple of better ideas like a real boss battle between levels, however they also took a couple steps back. Such a shame, but then again when I heard it was an NES-only sequel I could only expect as much. 

Score: 5 out of 10

My Day Yesterday: Happy Labor Day 2011

Didn't do much today except play games and work. Hatris was crap

So was baseball

And Bad Dudes. 

Work as okay, went much better than expected.

Bad Dudes (NES) Review

I only remembered this game for it's infamous quote line. Yes the president has been kidnapped by ninjas, and I'm a bad enough dude to rescue the president. 

The game itself is kinda Double Dragon meets Ninja Gaiden. You run around with punches and kicks while various kinds of ninjas come out of nowhere to put your head on a silver platter. 

The game itself has graphical problems such a glitching which really effects trying to see what any of them are trying to do to you. I for one have a hard time seeing one pixel ninja stars that are half invisible. Good luck getting to the end of the stage though. 

At the end of a stage you are treated to a boss fight, which aren't that bad. I enjoyed fighting the ninja-claw boss dude quite a bit. It's a shame that the game will reset if you die too much. Seven hard stages of brutalness too, not a fan of that. Ronald Reagan can stay kidnapped, I'm a Democrat anyway. 

Score: 4 out of 10

Hatris (NES) Review

I always look back on Hatris and just wonder what were they thinking when they came up with this. I'm guessing cheap and easy money. 

It's obviously inspired by the amazing puzzle classic, Tetris. However it is not a mere shameless rip-off. 

The game was designed by Alexey Pajitnov, creator of the original Tetris. 

The game is basically Tetris with hats. Except not as fun. Put the right hats on the same hats and hats go bye-bye. That's about as exciting as it gets. 

Let's face it; the game is slow, hats are stupid, and nobody will be making any modern sequel/remake/reboot to Hatris ever. Tetris was and still is King among puzzles, Hatris is more of a jester or  town drunk. 

Score: 4 out of 10