Let's Go Retro! SMB Challenge

So I decided now that things have settled down a bit, I wanted to get back to making videos with some kind of regularity. While I still have a scripted, longer form Let's Go Retro! episode half-done sitting on my computer, I wanted to try something a bit different and immediate. I tried this once before and the results weren't very good, and in fact I left the remains of the result to sit on my hard drive for all eternity. This time, however, I thought the results were much better. I think in part it's because it's Super Mario Brothers, the fun is immediate and there, especially with the added challenge of playing with an upside-down controller. My first attempt to do a non-scripted video like this was with an N64 import title, Neon Genesis Evangelion. I think there was a point where I didn't say anything for almost 8 minutes, at which point I knew this was not going to work...

But this one did! So enjoy!

Some new videos

I've been trying to make regular updates to my YouTube channel lately, so if you're not subscribed to my channel, do so! In the meantime, here's two of the latest video additions. My loose goal will be adding one a week. I've recorded gameplay footage for a new Let's Go Retro video, now I just have to find the time to get it made!

New games from PAX East 2012:

A tour of my game console collection:

New (Old) games!

Hey all! Just a small addition to my retro gaming collection this week, but some pretty good ones in my opinion!

First off we have yet another X-Men game! I’ve been picking them up left and right lately. But this is one that I did own back in the day, and I remember it being pretty great; X-Men Mutant Apocalypse. This particular X-Men title is made from Capcom, and as you’d expect from them it’s got great graphics, great sound and controls well. AT $30 it was a little pricey, but it is complete and in great condition.

Next to that we have a game that is on the newer and of retro, it’s Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee for the GameCube. Over the years I’ve heard really good things about this particular game, so I’m glad to finally add it to my collection I look forward to playing it soon. This one was only $4 from GameStop.

Lastly we have Gargoyle’s Quest for Gameboy, another Capcom game. In this game you play as Firebrand, also known as Red Arremer. That’s…about all I know of this one so far, but I’ve been on the lookout for this game and it’s SNES sequel for some time, so I’m eager to play this one!

As a side note, both Gargoyle’s Quest and X-Men were acquired from a retro game store called Level Up, located in the Hamilton Mall in New Jersey. I’d never been there before and was looking forward to the trip. Overall, their selection of retro games was smaller than I’d expected, but they did have some worthwhile games and even some old action figures, including the firehouse playset from The Real Ghostbusters, which as a kid I desired so much. If you’re in the area, stop by the store! 

Also, I'm working on a new Let's Go Retro and hope to have it up within a week. Please look forward to it.

More New (Old) Games!

Well, even if I haven't been *writing* about playing old games, I've certainly been *playing* them! And acquiring even more, apparently! So let's look through my latest old games purchases!

First up is a couple of Super Famicom games! Now that I've modded my SNES to play Super Famicom, I'm all about the SuFami games! On the left is Mickey's Adventures in Tokyo Disneyland. The screenshots of this game looked really nicely detailed, and I'm a big fan of the other Mickey games on Super Nintendo, the Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse games, so I had high hopes for this one. It's not made by Capcom like the Magical Quest games though, it's by Tomy, and it does not play quite as well. The problem is the controls, Mickey is hard to move around, difficult to time jumps, and really difficult to attack accurately. Overall the game is kind of fun though, as Mickey goes through various locales in Tokyo Disneyland such as Pirates of the Caribbean!

The game on the right is Gegege no Kitaro: Fukkatsu! Tenmadaiou. I’ve been a big fan of Shigeru Mizuki’s Gegege no Kitaro manga and anime for a while now, and was excited to find there’s a number of games based off the series. This one for the Super Famicom looks and sounds absolutely amazing, the graphics really capture the anime series well. The controls are also solid. If this game has a shortcoming, it’s the insanely high difficulty. Almost every level is about 4 enemies then a boss fight. You have a single life that if lost, spells game over. There’s unlimited continues, but no save or password function. I’d like to play this one through to the end at some point, but with no passwords, it’s a matter of having a huge chunk of time to dedicate to it.

Next we have some Sega Genesis love. I’m pretty sure I played this X-Men game a long time ago when it was new, as I knew someone that had a Genesis and I got to play some of the games I didn’t have access to on my SNES, like Jurassic Park. But I don’t remember much about it. More X-Men games, though! Woo! And next to that is an import title, Forgotten Worlds, that I’m pretty sure came out in America anyways, so I’m not sure why I snatched this import up. I’ve never played the game before, but it looks to be Contra-like.

Finally we have Seifuku Densetsu Pretty Fighter for the Super Famicom. I picked this game up simply because it was not much money, and it had an anime girl on the cartridge. After playing it a little bit, it’s pretty much a standard Street Fighter 2 rip-off, but each character is based on an anime girl archetype. You can play as the schoolgirl, the nurse or the waitress, each with their own special move set. It’s not a bad game, but just not that great either, and I don’t know of any reason to continue going back to it.

So there you have my latest retro and import gaming haul. Has anyone else had any good finds while game hunting?

Speaking of Disney PC games...

One thing I didn't mention in my post that may be of interest to some people out there is that these games are all available to download for free online! Al Lowe, who many of you know as the guy who made the Leisure Suit Larry games for Sierra back in the day, was also the designer of the three games I spoke of in my post, with the exception of the Winnie-the-Pooh game, where Roberta Williams was the designer and he was the sound designer. Al Lowe has made all of these games, and a few more of the older ones he helped make, available for free on his website! So what are you waiting for, click here to get to the games, then go grab yourself a copy of DOSBox (or D-Fend Reloaded, which I prefer) and get playing!