Stage Level Start - Battletoads (NES) - Stage 3 - Speeder Level

To get in the right frame of mind for this post, I've provided this convenient animated gif.  Then please refer to the MIDI Week Singles post for the accompanying music. 

The speeder level is everybody's (least) favorite, or at the very least, most memorable Battletoads level.  That's just how it is.  For one thing - it's really, really hard.  But for another:  it's really, really fun.  It's that rare combination of impossibly, frustratingly, hair-pulling-ly difficult and yet a ton of fun and I just want to do it again.

I beat it a couple times.  I used Nintendo Power, I followed the maps to see what was ahead of me.   I even figured out that you can jump a full-sized wall, if you time it just right.

But... oh man, the first time I got to that final run, when the speed doubles;   It's like the naked at school dream.  Suddenly, the bottom drops out.  Wha?  They actually expect me to do this?  This has to be some sort of joke.

But it's not a joke.  And you can do it.  I did do it.  More than once.  All that careful timing from before boils down to rhythm.  Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up down.  Keep it consistent, if you are a fraction of a second late, you will die.  It's a rush!

Battletoads was a product of its time.  Apart from being a blatant TMNT ripoff, it suffered from some classically-shitty NES design features.  For example, at the beginning of stage 3, before you get to the speeders, you can just sort of fall to your doom executing a very simple jump.  It is maddening, because you need to save your lives for the nigh-impossible feat ahead of you.  But no, some sort of weird collision detection issue will send you into the bouncing balls of death. 

Despite these sorts of design flaws, it was a lot of fun, and very ambitious.  Who doesn't like the idea of racing an anthropomorphic frog through some sort of brain/intestine tunnel at breakneck speeds?

Emulator Hour: Mega Man 3 (NES/3DS)

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I am finishing up today's post from the Aéroport de Bürbànk and sitting less than a foot away from a bin de trash.  But onto more important matters.

I recall first playing Mega Man 3 (III) way back in or around 1991 or '92 (seeing as how I was rarely one to play the newest video games, let alone games in the Mega Man series of which I was never able to beat until June of last year).

But I did it, I beat Mega Man 3 and I think I've come to, at least for now, a bit of realization that I like this game as a whole more than the frequently touted Mega Man 2 as the best in the series {{Citation Needed}}.  Thinking about the first three games in the series up to the year of our lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety, I found that I enjoyed the level design of Mega Man 3 the most whereas I like the music from Mega Man 2 just a smidgen more than MM3.  Plus there's the additions of the newly created slide ability and the robot pet dog Rush with his various, if somewhat limited use abilities (Marine Rush!?).

First off, everything that I loved about MM2 was refined for this installment.  The level design gave me enough of an idea to the robot boss type and I didn't notice too much of the level art being reused for subsequent levels.  But it's the level design is what makes me enjoy this game just a little bit more than MM2.  After defeating the first eight bosses, you have to go through four of the levels again, but they are in a ravaged state.  chunks of the world are now missing, as if the absence of the boss or the havoc brought on by Mega Man has left portions of the world/level in a state of disrepair.  In Gemini Man's stage part two, there are Jamacys that fall through cracks and holes in the blocks that create the borders to the stage.  In every stage that you run into Proto Man, his escape routes are still there.  Then when you get to the boss area, you now have to fight one of the bosses from Mega Man 2, which is a nice throwback until you realize that your weapons are all different than the ones used in that game so your weapon choices have to be decided upon rather quickly (or you can use the aforementioned chart like I did).

Similar to how I played Mega Man 2, I used a chart to figure out which bosses I should play and it what order.  And how I defended my decision as I previously did, I don't find this to be cheating.  I find it no different than talking to Dr. Potts or Delaños about the order they used and which weapon they found to be more effective against which boss.  Again, I still had to go through the level and defeat the bosses on my own in the end, I just did it with an additional bit of information.

But here is the order that I took the bosses in:

1) Snake Man

2) Gemini Man

3) Magnet Man

4) Top Man

5) Shadow Man

6) Hard Man

7) Needle Man

8) Spark Man

I decided to start with Snake Man, because that's what I remember from playing 23 years ago.  Also, Snake Man's theme is pretty damn catchy and there isn't much more to get me interested and stay playing a game that hearing awesome music while being destroyed by a giant undulating robotic snake hellbent on destroying a modified service and homemaking robot.  

Now, I know that based on the aforementioned chart, that this list doesn't take into account "the best" way to go through the game and choosing the bosses based on their weaknesses.  Sometimes, as in the case with taking on Magnet Man before Shadow Man, that I needed to take a break from constantly dying in Shadow Man's stage and I found I was able to get through Magnet Man's stage and take him out.

Going back to the music, I find it interesting that Capcom brought on newcomers to the Mega Man franchise, introducing Yasuaki Fujita (credited as "Bun Bun" during the credits) who wrote all but two of the songs (Gemini Man and Needle Man) and Harumi Fujita. What I find interesting though, is that the music from this game blends fairly seamlessly with that from Mega Man 2, while still sounding different enough to not be repetitive as to be disinteresting to long time players of the series.

In the end, Mega Man 3 took me 6h21m to complete with an average play time of 25 minutes.  In MM3, I found that the regular stages were a lot more difficult than MM2, but that the Dr. Wily stages were a lot easier to traverse.

I guess I should in closing say that if you haven't played any of the games in the Mega Man series, that Mega Man 3 wouldn't be a bad place to start as it is a great continuation of a great series that, so far anyway, is a bit easier than the previous two games but is still a challenging experience that should not be missed out on if you are at all into older NES games from a great era of gaming.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
If It Ain't Broke. . .

Emulator Hour: Snake Rattle n Roll (NES)

You know,  I generally consider my favorite video game console to be the Super Nintendo. But lately I'm noticing more and more that a lot of my very favorite video game memories and nostalgia come from the NES.  I think this can be very simply explained by the fact that I was younger when I was playing NES, the memories are fuzzier, and somehow warmer.  My sense of wonder was strongest at that time of my life, and perhaps my sense of security as well.  

Snake Rattle n Roll is a strange and silly game.  It is also a good example of an NES game that was special to me.  I saw this game in Nintendo Power and I was mesmerized.  I really don't know why, but  I had.to.have.it.  I think it was the isometric view, with the checkerboard patterns on the ground--  It just looked like fun!  Before I got a hold of it (took a while), I used to pore over the pictures in Nintendo Power and imagine what it was going to play like.

It ended up being a pretty fun game.  And strange.  You eat colorful balls called 'Nibblie Pibblies" and your enemies included moving toilet seats and a big disembodied foot.  And one more thing:  You destroy your enemies by licking them.  A toilet seat and a foot.  By licking them.  This is just the sort of potty humor that kids love.  (of course the pun was intended)

There was something about the level design that, to me,  indicated secrets.  I always thought: how can I get up to that platform?  What's up there?  Is there a secret area?  Isometric platforming can take a bit of getting used to, but there were some cool jumps and heights  I could manage.  And some limitations as well; you could fall to your doom without actually falling, if you tried to jump to a lower platform, and fell a certain distance before reaching it.   Occasionally I did get to a hard to reach platform, and was rewarded only with my own satisfaction at having accomplished my goal.  Which is still pretty cool. Like climbing a fence or getting onto the roof of my house.  Just glad to have done it.

I got a similar sensation when I first played Mario 64.  Especially outside the castle, I just wanted to climb and go and discover what was hiding behind the mountains, around the castle.  It was Yoshi.  And you needed a canon to get there, and then you didn't even get to ride Yoshi.  Not so much fun.

I've seen modern versions of this exploration for exploration's sake, like ulillillia getting really high in Bubsy 3d levels.  Also people scaling mountains in Skyrim.  It occurs to me that that is somethign I want in a game like Proteus:  climbing.  There really isn't that in Proteus.

Discovery, where is that sense of discovery in games?

That will have to be a topic I return to at a future date.  I was talking about Snake Rattle and Roll.  A co-op game, I remember playing a lot with my younger sister.  I got pretty good at the game, but it was TOUGH.  I don't think I ever beat it.  I may have gotten to the final level once or twice, but I'm not sure if I cheated to do so.  I do know that the levels got progressively harder, and the last couple levels were skin-of-your teeth, hanging by your fingernails- TOUGH.  Like a good NES game should be.

-D

P.S. Plumbing the internet for happy nostalgia is usually a productive enterprise.  It's led me to cool stuff like a monster map of the original Dragon Warrior.  With Snake Rattle n Roll a particularly awesome bit of fan art came up:  A sewing together of the different level maps (see below) and a speed run overlaid on said map!  I really couldn't ask for a better tribute.  Bravo!

And then it turns out that the game was actually designed as a giant mountain which you scale until you get to the top and then launch to the moon and fight an ice-foot.  Of course!  Check out the image below.

http://lurkmore.to/Snake_Rattle_'n'_Roll

here is the source page for the above image

Emulator Hour: Dragon Warrior 2

Honestly, I think the Box Art says it all. This cover art represents everything I thought totally awesome when I was ten.  Look at the heroes' sweet horns!  You know those capes are imbued with properties of magical awesomeness causing them to always look cool and never get in the way.  Let's go fight some monsters in an exciting and triumphant fashion like it's what we were born to do!

As I previously said: As a sequel, Dragon Warrior 2 delivered .  Not only is it a true sequel, continuing the story of the previous game, but it has an expanded world and game mechanics.  This is the kind of growth I had always wished for in games and DW2 heavily informed my expectations.  The age at which I played Dragon Warrior 2 does a lot to color my memories.  The game was so BIG.  I remember dedicating hours and hours on weekend rentals getting my first party member, the prince of Middenhal.  That obnoxious prince of Middenhal who always seemed close to death. I remember upgrading my weapon to the iron sickle, feeling pretty badass.  I also remember having some coaching during this game as my other family members were still participating in video game time.  

It's not that I needed the coaching (my pride would not allow it) but it is always nice to have someone along with you for the adventure.  I think it qualifies as a Family Fun Time game, because I remember EMZ helping with and also commenting on the different creature designs.  Gotta love the smiles on the slimes and on the drakees.  There's something funny about that goofy smile on a creature whose only desire is to kill you.

I only ever rented Dragon Warrior 2.  I didn't beat it then, though I tried and tried.  I loved having a party to build, I loved raising levels and I loved that each character was different.  I could usually pick up the sorceress by the end of one rental (at Placer TV Video).   But then I'd have to return it, hoping and praying the save file would still be there next weekend when I aimed to rent it again.

In this way, Dragon Warrior 2 has always been a special title for me.  I owned and beat the first game more than once, but the second was elusive and expanded.  I never knew what the limits of that game were, and it leaves a nice feeling of possibility.

-D

P.S.

Here's the wikipedia article for some background.

Also, a gamasutra article about the history of dragon quest.  For further reading.

As previously mentioned, I will be calling this game and series 'Dragon Warrior' rather than 'dragon quest' to keep with my own experience.  It wasn't until many years later that I learned of the name difference, and that the US games began being called dragon quest.  For me it was always dragon warrior.

Emulator Hour: Xenogears (PS1)

Seems like a sufficiently villainous goal

You know, in my endless pursuit of nostalgia, I've come to the conclusion that the Playstation 1 actually had a lot of really great games.  Back in the great CD Burn-off of '01, I acquired quite a few excellent RPGs from Square.  In fact, I think the rate of US release for Square really increased around that time.  'Only in Japan' was no longer a phrase to frustrate the RPGphile.

Xenogears - it's been twelve years since I played through the first disc, but I still remember it like yesterday.  Would I do it again?  Maybe.  I think I'll just read a plot summary instead.   This is a very good plot summary, full of love and criticism.   You know, I played this game yesterday for barely an hour, and I've had its image in the back of my mind all day today.  I think this may be due to the sheer number of hours I put into it twelve years ago.  This  game is long-  50 hours on one disc!  (of two)

Playing Xenogears is like watching 300 episodes of some Shonen Anime.  You know - the kind whose story just keeps getting bigger and bigger, new twists, bigger bad guys, greater powers.  Xenogears is epic, sweeping, daring and strange.  The music is good, the environments have character, the battle system is fun.  All in all, a great jRPG from 1998.  

 But, there's no getting around it:   Xenogears starts to drag after while.  Then it proceeds to drag on for a very long time.  After a point, it's hard to say what is dragging the most, the story or the gameplay.  You start to notice the encounter rate is maybe a bit too high.  Or that the story simply takes too long to reveal things that it has been hinting at for a long time.  On the one hand, I like that the game takes its time with the story.  On the other hand, when two things are dragging at once, it really takes its toll.  This game is in dire need of an editor.

And yet... I would still consider playing it through again.  Or at least trying.  Boy it would be nice if I shorten some of the gameplay though.  It feels weird to say so, like some kind of betrayal of my young self, who loved long games.  But it's true, and I don't think it's just me being old. I think that Zeboyd games were onto something when they made monster encounters manual.  Or Chrono Trigger with the encounters being featured on the screen, sometimes avoidable, sometimes predictable, but not hyper-persistent and random.   There are so many times when I'd like to explore a little-- hell, even hear some more of the music play out, but I know I'm going to hit a random encounter every five seconds.  In an already long game, this is just too much. 

So, ultimately I'd say Xenogears:  play at your own risk.  If you like jRPGs, particularly 90s era RPGs, Xenogears is a great game.  Compelling, unique and mysterious.  But it takes like 50 hours to get through the first disc, and it can really drag.

It's really tough to encapsulate Xenogears in just a pic or two.  But here's a cast shot.

 
P.S.  I decided to read through the Let's Play Xenogears article rather than play through the second disc.  It was enjoyable and entertaining, with music links for each scene, and a pretty funny sense of humor.  I can only recommend it as a cop-out for those of us unwilling to dump another 20 hours into this game.  

P.P.S.  Xenogears gets a lot of criticism - the same criticism I also levied against it.  So here's an article from Joystiq coming to its defense.  It really is a great game!   Mostly.

Emulator Hour: 3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure (NES/3DS)

I have a confession to make.

With the exception of playing the the first couple of levels in Stage 1 of Kirby's Dream Land and the demo for Kirby's Epic Yarn back at PAX2010, I have never played through any of the games in the Kirby franchise.  Until recently that is, which is why today I am bringing to you:

Kirby's Adventure was first released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1993, near the end of the NES' life, which was two years into the SNES' release into North America.  All of that backstory aside, Kirby's Adventure is a lot of fun!

Now that I think about it, I cannot remember m/any of my friends either playing any of the Kirby games or recommending Kirby.  Actually, that is not entirely true and I did play, as previously mentioned, Kirby's Dream Land on the Gameboy that belonged to my cousin, probably back in 1993/94.  I have known about Kirby, but just never got around to playing any of the games in the series.  I probably just convinced myself that I was too old for that kind of a game.

I know that a lot of you already know this and that I am just late to the proverbial party, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy playing the game.  It is a very simple platformer when you want to run and other times you can intake a body-full of air and simply fly around.  You can swallow almost every enemy and about half of those you can gain a special ability (spit fire, shoot lasers, emit sparks, wield a Donkey-Kong-esque hammer, et cetera).  Even when falling, Kirby takes a diving pose whereby he causes damage to enemies in his way.  However, the game is not a pushover as I do die on occasion and there have been a couple of bosses that have given me a run for my um, something-or-other. There is challenge to this game, but it is a fun and entertaining challenge.  Maybe if there was not a save feature then this game would fall from what it is to the difficulty level of games such as Super Mario Bros. 3.

My biggest critique about the game is that the color palette seems to be muted when compared to other platformers like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mega Man 4, which is probably why at first I thought I was playing a Super Game Boy version of Kirby's Dream Land and not the NES release, which Dr. Potts kindly pointed out.  This is not true though for all levels/stages, but it was the "first impression" that I got when first playing.  Maybe if the fire that Kirby spat was red or if the ice he emitted had been blue instead of the yellow/orange tint that all of his abilities seem to have I would "feel better"?  And yes, I realize that I am making requests of an NES game that can now legally drink alcohol.

One of my favorite aspects of the game is that there does not seem to be one power that overpowers all the others.  Sure one power might be better than another in a specific situation, but I have yet to come across an ability, even one absorbed from a boss that singularly outweighs any other ability.  Sure, the laser is a fast long range attack, but it does not seem to do as much damage as other attacks, especially against those pesky bosses.  That is one of the best things about Kirby's  Adventure is figuring out what power would work best against a certain enemy or boss or how a given power is beneficial in a particular circumstance.

The 3D effect is pretty subtle as it pulls the background back in a single layer keeping Kirby, the platforms and enemies in the foreground.  I have noticed that most of the time I have the 3D effect either turned down low or off completely, but that is simply me wanting to conserve battery life.  The effects are nothing to write home to dear old Ma about, but considering that it is a 3D port of an NES game, I feel like whomever did the conversion did a good job without sacrificing gameplay or the now often mentioned "frame rate"; as in there is no lag between 2D and 3D modes.

After having played the game for just over three hours, I am 53% of the way through, which is nice to know that there is still plenty of game for me to come back to when I need a break from Donkey Kong Country Returns and all the annoyances that come with dying 38+ times in a single level.  I think that is one of the things that remains endearing (but not disarming) about Kirby's Adventure, is that I can pick up a 21 year old platformer and have a lot of fun.  I would not be surprised if I decide to go back through levels just to see what it is like with a different array of weapons choices or without powers at all.  

Big thank you to HAL Laboratory for their fun creation.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

A World Full of Secrets and Magic

Emulator Hour: Excitebike (NES)

What I love about old NES games, especially the really good ones, is the simplicity.  I've talked about this before with another classic game:  The Legend of Zelda.   

Excitebike did nearly everything right.  Graphics, sound, play control. (level editor).  The design sensibilities are highly utilitarian, with very little flourish.  The graphics are nothing to write home about, but they are well designed and everything is clear.  The objects in the game consist of a series of simple shapes, all of which serve as obstacles for your racers.  There is something immediately appealing about those simple shapes, akin to building blocks.  And Nintendo gives you the gift of actually being able to sequence these shapes in any way you like, using the level editor.

The sounds are few, yet effective.  The starting beeps, the rev of the motor, the sound of a tumbling crash.  The motor, in particular, informs the player of the rate at which they will be overheating, allowing the player to use the sense of hearing and timing as well as sight, to control your speed.  And if you do overheat, on top of losing the ability to move for several precious seconds, you are tortured with a horrible beeping sound. 

A fun little 3d pixel art tribute to Excitebike, found at
http://nes--still-the-best.deviantart.com/art/Excitebike-3D-200550477

The controls are simple.  You have two speeds, the ability to wheelie by pressing left (but don't go too far back or you're in for a tumble!) and you can use left or right to change your trajectory while in the air.  The physics of the game are consistent, and players will have an idea of the virtual weight of their bikes within the game.  I'd also like to mention the cool aggressive move whereby you can cause an opponent to crash by touching their front tire with your back tire.

Of course, this move helped only for a moment, because one thing Excitebike doesn't have is good enemy AI.  That is to say, the enemies aren't stupid, they just aren't really racing opponents, proper.  They never fall far behind, no matter how well you race or how many times you knock them down.  They are able to artificially speed up and slow down as suits them to plague the human racer.  And since the only acceptable rank in Excitebike is first, the opponents all conspire together to keep the player from winning.  Truly, Exitebike is not a racing game,  but more like a timed obstacle course with moving obstacles in the form of other racers.

And finally, another thing Excitebike doesn't do is that it doesn't allow for more than one player.  Perhaps this is for the very same design reason of the game being more of an obstacle course.  Perhaps it's because split-screen game design hadn't been invented yet.  But one thing I do know is that Nintendo did not fix these things in a sequel for another fifteen years, when the Nintendo 64 version was released.   Which is an entirely different game.  

I don't know why they didn't release a sequel on the NES with a few improvements.  The core design of Excitebike was solid enough that a sequel should have been well received with basic improvements throughout.  Multiplayer, actual racing, expanded track designs and editor.  Bam.  Sequel.  To the Time Machine!

-D





P.S.

https://kaminazo.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/

for a better article about Excitebike Nostalgia, follow the above link!

First Impressions: Zelda Classic

Picture lifted from 'It's Dangerous to Go Alone' kickstarter - look it up!

Zelda Classic is a game editor for the Legend of Zelda.  Yes, just like I always wanted.  I had heard of it, and unsuccessfully tried to make it work, wrote it off as bunk.  I just revisited it, this time with success, and I am thrilled to report that this is for real.  Just like I always wanted.

I had occasion to return to this game when a stumbled onto a posting at The Indie Game Source extolling the virtues of Zelda Classic.  This post pretty well expresses much of the enthusiasm I feel at the prospect of fan-made Zelda games in the NES and SNES style.  The links in the above article are all broken, but you can find them again by searching the Zelda Classic archives.  

But actually, I didn't particularly care for the two games I tried from the above article.  One thing I've noticed about some of these quest designs is that they tend to come big and kind of overblown.  In making my own quests, I want to start small, concentrate on making a fun game, and not an epic journey.  

There is a thriving community of Zelda Classic fans, players and designers over at purezc.net.  I've just signed up for the forums, and so far have been well received in the community.  I was looking for a Classic style game (I'm not really interested in the 16-bit style right now) and I was pointed to a forum contributer who goes by Moosh.  I tried out his game "Tale of St. Christoph" and so far I really like it! 

There's so much potential in Zelda Classic, I'm very excited.  The way I see it is that The Legend Of Zelda was such a great game, that it can be remixed time and again, and still be fun.  I'm so glad there is a tool available for the common person to do this.  

So far, I've made a small map, which was fun and simple to do and easy to get carried away with.  Now I'm working on dungeons, and getting the caves to go to the dungeons- and I got stuck there.  I'm following a guide, but it's still tough.  But when I've learned a few basic tricks, I'll turn out a couple quests.  

Essential Links:  (hehe, links)  

Zelda Classic

The official website.  Download the programs here - The editor is called ZQuest and the player is called Zelda-w  (this is important, because if you make the same mistake I did, you'll try to play the games with the editor.  No.  It's for editing)

Zelda Classic User Guide

Zelda Classic isn't particularly intuitive; a guide is definitely necessary.

PureZC.net

Search the Quest Database at PureZC.net to find a quest to play.  I recommend choosing 'mini quests' using the genre menu on the right side.  
This... could...be... awesome!

-D

Emulator Hour preview: Resident Evil 2

Okay, so, I decided I had to play Resident Evil 2 again.  I guess it was when I was midway through watching 'night of the creeps' that I came to this conclusion.  Well, my playstation is only a memory now, drifting somewhere out in the world, so I decided to turn to the world of emulation.  With a bit of work, I've gotten it working, and I'm going to play Resident Evil 2.

But I haven't actually started yet.  I think I'm going to play as Claire, since the other time I played RE 2 I played as Leon.  I got to the end of the game, too, but I had six handgun bullets and a knife.  Suffice it to say, I didn't win.

The game is super-sweet though.  RE 2 was the first game in the series I played.  I missed RE 1, but I did play the game cube revision.  Because it was the first, I'll always have special affection for RE 2.  Something about a zombie infested police station that is a nice spin on the zombie infested theme.  Sort of like how Dawn of the Dead takes place in a shopping mall.  Actually, come to think of it, Dawn of the Dead might be my favorite Zombie movie.  Either one, take your pick.

In terms of it being a sequel, I'm not sure that RE2 really upgrades the game play in any significant way.  But in this case I don't really mind, again, because it was the first one I played.  Also, the gameplay of Resident Evil was so unprecedented, I was thrilled to have more than one.  It wasn't until RE3 that i started to think things were waning a bit.  Really those first three games are like clones of one another.  Awesome, terrifying clones.

I'll spare everyone and not talk about RE4 and beyond.  Even if it was the triumphant return of Leon.  Alright, well, this is sort of a non-post, but I'm excited to play Resident Evil 2!  Woot!

-D

This is just some examples of the dramatic camera angles from this game.  10 to 1 some fucking crows appeared on the way out of this room, and scared the bejeezus out of me even though I knew they were coming

To Zelda too.

1980s Link is frustrated that his Franchise has become stale

I started this post on a day I called in sick-- paid sick days were a perk to my previous place of employment.  And, wouldn't you know it, after a crashing into a nap, post sick-call, I woke up with the earnest desire to play Zelda II:  The Adventure of Link.  Then it occurred to me: there is a very good chance that I stayed home sick from school at some point in my childhood and played Zelda II.  That's neither here, nor there, but I have been thinking about the game since getting up.  

Zelda II is often seen as an aberration in the series, the experimentation with side scrolling and RPG elements being too much for some people.  But I loved this game.  It was a family game and I've played it a bunch of times throughout the years, but I've only beaten it a couple of times.  I made similar claims of favoritism regarding Zelda I and those claims are true; but Zelda II occupies a different and very special place in my memory.

I think it's important to note that the clay had not hardened on this game series when Zelda II came out. Hell, it was only the second game in a series that by now spans over a dozen.  There was no reason to think that each sequel would be the same as the last.  As a matter of fact, it occurs to me that Mario 2 (Mario USA) was also radically different from Mario 1.  However, unlike Mario, we had to wait until a new console system came out to get a third installment of the Zelda theme.  

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in Zelda III choosing to be another top-down game.  Even though that game is probably my favorite game ever. And in retrospect, it was certainly an impactful decision for the whole franchise, as the next in the series, Link's Awakening, was also top down, and every subsequent Zelda game for a portable system has been a top-down design.  

But back when Zelda II was still relatively new, it was a great game.  I loved the side scrolling, I loved that you got to use Magic and I loved the RPG elements.  Raising levels and an overworld map, two important RPG innovations.  Basically, Zelda II is a completely different game than Zelda I was, and there is no need to compare them.  I think this variation between sequels is great, I wish more game series were like this.  Zelda II was also a true sequel  - the story picks up chronologically after the events of the first game, and Ganon is dead.  

The side-scrolling, overworld map and RPG elements were abandoned after Zelda II, and frankly, I think to the detriment of the series as a whole.  I wish Nintendo had been more willing to branch out and experiment with this series.  I don't mean to sound bitter, but in my humble opinion, the Zelda franchise has grown stale and over-marketed.  I think this can be shown by the release schedule of Zelda games.  In the 1980s, two games were released.  The decade of the 90s saw four games. The 2000s saw seven Zelda games released.  I believe it was during the decade of 2000-2010 when Nintendo missed its opportunity to branch the series in a new direction. But, you know, maybe it's never too late.   

----------------------

Zelda RPG anyone?

Esuna and Kamil - How about Zelda and Link?

And since I'm in love with my own ideas, I want to talk about my old idea for a Zelda RPG.  This was inspired by playing 'The 7th Saga' by Enix on SNES,  something I did a lot of as a teenager.  This was sometime after Zelda III came out, but long before Ocarina of Time.  While playing as Esuna, whom I always played as, I had a moment when I imagined Princess Zelda casting the ice spell.  When playing as Kamil,It wasn't too hard to imagine Link there, sword and shield in hand,  and suddenly I want a Zelda RPG with battle style identical to 7th Saga.  

Now take these two characters above and re-imagine them as Zelda and Link.  Not hard to do eh? Just put a green hat on Kamil and pretty much leave Esuna the same.  At least it wasn't hard for me to imagine in 1996. I thought it would be so cool to play as Zelda and Link fighting side by side.  Mario RPG came out at around this time, and I thought it was a fantastic and innovative game.  In that game, I enjoyed being able to play as Princess Toadstool or Bowser, and I longed for a chance for the Zelda Universe to expand in a similarly clever way. 

It's too bad that we've made it this far without a proper Zelda RPG.  I really think Nintendo dropped the ball on that one.  By Zelda III, the world was lush and full, ripe for development in an RPG style.  The series featured two top-down games and a side scroller with RPG elements.  Further expansion of the series into a multi-genre franchise seemed possible then.  By now, I worry that it may be too late.  Or, is it never too late?  How about it, Nintendo?  

-D

Zelda-- I mean Esuna casting an ice spell.  

Many thanks to:

http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=38230

for exactly the image I was looking for.

Emulator Hour: Real Ultima NES challenge!

After bouncing around between some 8-bit RPGs, I've settled on Ultima: Exodus (III).  This game has its hooks in me, and I find myself thinking about it when I'm not playing.  At any given time, when I've been gaming, I have these sort of nebulous game ideas floating around the borders of my consciousness.  These are usually influenced by what I've been playing lately, and there is definitely a distinctly Exodus flavor these days.  I probably spend more time daydreaming about this game than I do playing it. 

But I am determined to play it and to make substantial progress in this very difficult NES game.  After playing through a bunch of Final Fantasy, Ultima:Exodus is refreshing in its non-linearity, party customization and challenge.  And boy, is it challenging.  It really takes time to get some momentum in this game, and it makes Final Fantasy games appear to be positively coddling to the player.  For example: Inns.  There is one Inn in Exodus, and it serves only to save the game.  No free life points.  For that you have to shell out 200 gold to a doctor who will, in exchange, heal *one* of your party members.  This is a stiff contrast to Final Fantasy where Inns are in every town and cost pocket change to heal your entire party.  Oh, and did I mention nearly every treasure chest is booby trapped?  So even if the enemies are easy, you can be killed claiming your reward.   

Much of the early part of Exodus I have spent slogging around the overworld map, grinding, exploring and trying not to die. I routinely check each town to see if there's something I missed, some useful piece of the puzzle.  But as far as I can tell, my only mission at present is to rack up gold and xp and buy armor, so that I will be ready for the new slew of super-tough enemies when I level up. 

In this game the only way to level up is by cashing-in experience points with Lord British. 

At which point, I will need to find a new lead on gold, because killing enemies just doesn't do it.  I think what I need to do is hit the dungeons which are scattered around the map, and see if there isn't some loot in there.  Of course,  when I've paid these dungeons a visit, I haven't made it out alive.  I'm hoping that the boost to HP I will get when I raise my levels up will give me what I need to survive. 

I realize that I am accustomed to a JRPG pace, which is extremely steady.  Go out, grind a while, come back stay at the inn. Grind some more, buy weapons and armor, when your strong enough, move to the next area.  Repeat.  That is the basic JRPG progression, and as far as I can tell, it's been universal since the original Final Fantasy.  (I would say Dragon Warrior, but there was actually a bit less linearity to that game).  Ultima is much different.  The game guides you very little, and much of it is discovered through exploration.  And patience.  oh, so much patience.  

But I am resolute.  The very challenge of the game is what keeps me slowly moving forward.  I don't know how long I can last, but there are milestones that I'd like to achieve.  I'd like to get in and out of a dungeon and live.  I'm thrilled to say I just reached Ambrosia.  Next I need to collect some flowers and raise some of my stats.  Then start collecting marks, which means deeper dungeon success.  After that, I'm not sure what I need, but I'll most likely be consulting strategy guides along the way.  One step at a time, there's no getting ahead of yourself in this game.  If you get ahead of yourself, you will die.  Simple as that.  

Maybe I will play it until the end.  Maybe I won't.  But for the time being, this is the game that has occupied my attention.  I don't know what I'll be playing next, but I'm thinking about Planescape: Torment,  another Western RPG that gets lots of love. 

-D

Protips:  

• Cyclo DS Evolution is a great NES Emulator system for the Nintendo DS.  It's how I play all my old favorites.
• Use the 'Open' spell to avoid traps from treasure chests.  
• Also, press 'select' when the menu is open to see a different set of options, including ones that let you share food and gold.  
• And for God's sake, read the instructions!  

Family Fun Time

got this image right off the Nintendo website

Growing up with my Family, I was the undisputed #1 fan of video games.  I'm not sure when this was clear, but I do recall working hard to prove this point, even if no one particularly wanted to compete with me for the title.  I just knew that video games were for me.  When my family bought a new TV, I insisted that the old TG&Y piece of crap TV go into my room.  And even though I had to use a pair of pliers to turn it off and on, I was a rich child- I had what I wanted.  

I moved one game system, and eventually all game systems into my room, whereupon I held dominion over them.  I don't remember asking permission, I simply remember exercising Manifest Destiny over our family's NES and SNES.  After all, hadn't it been *I* who had badgered my parents, non-stop, for what seemed like years-- to buy a Super Nintendo?  And wasn't it me who saved up his own money to buy a Nintendo 64 the day it came out?  I deserved those systems, and that was all there was to it.  My younger sister Samz may have protested. After all, she played the most video games after me, and was a stalwart co-op game ally.  But I was insistent in my role as #1 game player of the household. 

It wasn't always this way.  There was a period when video games were for the whole family.  I can't quite place it, but it was a time before the Super Nintendo, but after the Original Nintendo.  My parents tended to drag their feet about buying me new toys, they didn't seem to understand that Nintendo was the greatest thing there was, and really, the best use of their money, as far as I was concerned.  Our Atari 2600 carried us through the first couple of years after NES was released, and we finally got a Nintendo with the Super Mario/Duck Hunt cart.   I can barely remember when this happened, but I know my age was still in single digits.

Anyhow, during the time before I  took over all matters of video gaming in our house, there was a golden period of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, where we all would play games, sometimes together, as a family.   Except my Mom - my Mom never got into any games at all, and I have a fuzzy memory of her holding a controller with a dumbfounded and annoyed look, like it was something the cat dragged in:  "What am I supposed to do with this thing?"    

My Dad would definitely do the funny move-the-controller-to-make-the-car-turn action that everyone does at some point when they're new to video games.  Action games weren't really his thing.  He and my older sister Emz both showed a preference for RPG and Adventure games.   Dad and Emz didn't play many games but they did play a few pretty seriously.  And when they got involved, then it was on!   

I have to tell you, having my Dad play video games with us was probably the coolest thing in all of gaming.  I had all the enthusiasm for gaming, I wanted to play NES more than anyone, and I dedicated the most time.  But I think fondly of the group effort that resulted whenever my Dad got involved.   I experienced that wonderful balance that many of us know- between playing the game, and watching others play it, and feeling involved all the time.  I miss that.

My Dad brought in other elements of his own.  The one that stands out most in my mind was mapping.  He broke out graph paper and a ruler, and proceeded to map every dungeon in Zelda II,  and also every dungeon in Ultima Exodus.  This allowed those of us who weren't playing to participate in a significant way.  And since I was pretty young at the time, it helped me to work on the new skill of cartography (after a fashion). 


Below, I'm going to say a little bit about the games that stand out to me as Family Games.  
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Emulator Hour: 8-bit rpg round-up

I've been on an 8-bit RPG kick of late.  It started with Final Fantasy, moved on to a translation of Final Fantasy II, then to Ultima: Quest of the Avatar, and most recently, a cell phone game called Gurk - the 8-bit RPG.   Along the way, I've made brief stops at Dragon Warrior II and Ultima: Exodus.  I guess I'm just feeling some powerful nostalgia, as this genre and these games ate up many days and hours of my young life.

At the present moment, I'm thinking of my unwillingness to play completely through these games.  Granted, I never beat Ultima:Exodus, nor did I beat Dragon Warrior II, Ultima: Avatar - and I never even played Final Fantasy II because it wasn't released in the US.  There exists, in the back of my mind, the desire to actually finish these games; perhaps with the aid of guides, save states or other modern supports of gaming.  But for the time being, I'm more content to wade into the Nostalgia pool and swim around.  However, to experience this nostalgia it is not strictly necessary to sit down and play these games. 

Images and Sound are able to carry me a long way down memory lane.  I recently remembered a fantastic website called digitpress, wherein you can find scans of dozens of NES game instruction booklets.  This is really worth a look, I was strongly struck, when reviewing the manuals for Ultima and Zelda.  There are funny elements, like the consistency of formatting between games - the one page plot summaries on the first page are good for a smile.  The cover art - so influential to me when drawing my own characters, armor designs and such. 

We've written a bit about 8-bit music on this site, and it is another great source of Nostalgia.  If you spent time playing Ultima: Exodus, the song below should be triggering for you.  

A funny thing about my memories of Ultima: Exodus vs Quest of the Avatar:  I remember preferring Exodus greatly, though when I go back to revisit these games I see that the graphical improvement between the two was massive.  Exodus looks almost ridiculous in how blocky the images are and how stiff the movement is.  Still, I remember when Avatar came out, being so excited to play a new Ultima game.  And then I was ultimately disappointed, because I felt like it looked too much like 'all those other games.'  And I think that still holds- one example of which was the choice to outline the characters in black.  This was not the style of Exodus, but became the style in Avatar, and is such a common stylistic choice that it is easily overlooked.

I guess part of my goal in playing around with these 8-bit RPGs is to study different design choices, in things like character equipment, map design and battle design.  It is my ambition to make an 8-bit style RPG of my own some day.  And actually, I've carried this ambition with me for over 20 years.  This is something I visit and revisit- I'm in no hurry, if I'm not enjoying myself, then its not worth it.  I've looked into some RPG makers, and right now I'm playing with RPG Maker VX Ace Lite - which is the free version of the $70 retail RPG maker series.  There is so much that goes into the design of a game, I have to work hard to budget my time before I'm willing to drop the cash for an RPG maker that may collect more dust than design. So far, the map builder is a blast :)

Alright, I'm heading out now.  I want to make a quick note of Gurk - the 8-bit RPG.  This is a free cell-phone RPG available for Android.  It plays like an even more low-fi version of Ultima:Exodus, if you can believe that.  No music as far as I can tell, but its got equipment, item shops, combat and dungeons.  After getting used to the interface, I think I can get into this game;  Gurk will do the job of nourishing my 8-bit RPG nostalgia while I'm away from home, without requiring me to carry my Nintendo DS along with me. 

-D

P.S.  Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the first post on this blog.  Happy Birthday to us.

Emulator Hour: Final Fantasy (NES)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d8/FF1_USA_boxart.jpg/250px-FF1_USA_boxart.jpg

A lot of the fun of Final Fantasy comes from picking your character classes.  The designers were very clever in creating six classes, but only four characters to a party.  Thus it is impossible to try all of the classes in a single play through, and the possible combinations are enormous.  In addition, each class will receive an upgrade about 3/4 of the way through the game.  This upgrade will change the abilities of that character, to varying degrees of significance.  It is very helpful to be aware of these upgrades when choosing your initial class, so that you don't end up stuck in the mud after dumping 20 hours into a game.  This happened to me recently- a result of making a hasty and uninformed decision when designing my party.

Be warned, you only get to choose your character classes once -  at the beginning of the game.  Similar to the first phase of Settlers of Catan; your choices during this phase will have a strong impact on how your playing experience will roll out.  Also similar to Catan; you will likely be well into the game when hindsight kicks in and you realize which choices you would have made differently.  You may then be confronted with the urge to start over again from the beginning.  On my recent play through of Final Fantasy,  I decided to experiment and go with an unorthodox: Fighter, Black Belt, Red Mage, Red Mage line.  

My party set-up was fine for the first 9/10 of the game or so.  I have very strong physical attacks, which allowed me to blaze through most of the dungeons in the early part of the game.  In addition, being full of physical attackers means I don't have to think very strategically; I don't have to conserve spells, I only have to try and spread my attacks out among the groups of enemies.  (This is because Final Fantasy has the obnoxious programming quirk of allowing players to attack enemies who were destroyed earlier in the round, and thus result in an 'ineffective' wasted attack.)

I first began to wonder if I had made a mistake when designing my party when I began to find my Red Mages simply can't learn certain spells.  I had the idea that I would make one mage lean toward white magic and one mage lean toward black magic.  It worked out pretty well until I found that I didn't know what most of the spells do, and their 4-letter names were not very good descriptors.  In addition, a super-essential Level 5 spell - LIFE was not available to Red Mages.  This was a problem.  The Life spell is the only way in the game to bring a slain party member back while out in the field.  Without that spell, I have to beat a given dungeon and boss without letting anyone die.  This is extremely tough, but I got good at it by grinding out lots of levels and over-powering myself for each dungeon.

The wave of regret hit me much stronger in the later half of the game, when I upgraded my Red Mages to Red Wizards.   As it turns out, Red Wizards can learn the LIFE spell, but by that time, I had maxed out my spell slots for that level for both Wizards!  Fuck fuck, shit fuck fuck fuck.   

But, you can't go back, only forward.  My party hardily bashed its way through the water temple and the air temple, and now I've gotten to the final temple, but I just can't hang.  I'm at level 28, which should be plenty to beat the dungeon, but I always sap my supply of healing spells, and I start to lose party members.  I haven't even made it to the boss.  I'm sure if I boosted my levels up to 32 or so, I could make it through, but I'm just tired of it by now.

So, I probably won't beat Final  Fantasy this play through.  And I'm too disgusted to start over again.  And, really, I don't know what I would do differently.  I liked this party, and I would be interested to try it again, just remembering to consult a walk-through beforehand.  But I'm also tempted to try a new party combination, but I'm not sure what.  If you're still interested, I'm going to walk through each character class and describe their advantages/disadvantages and contributions to the whole.

http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/nes/ff1/ff1classes.gif

Fighter/Knight:
The Fighter is a Final Fantasy Icon.  I also think he looks a little bit like a rooster.  He's got the highest defense, hit points and can equip the strongest gear.  He is the strongest attacker for the first half of the game, but he is eclipsed by the Black Belt/Master in attack power, and finishes up second.  The hardiness and consistency of the Fighter makes him hard to leave out of any party.  However, he's also a bit of a money-sink, since he requires all the top-notch gear.  The upgrade to the Knight doesn't really do much, it adds white magic up to level 3, but by the time you get the upgrade, spells from those levels don't have much effect.


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