I just recently completed Mega Man 4 for the NES, and I have to say… by far… One of the lower rungs in the series. Don’t get me wrong… I love me some Mega Man, especially on the NES, but most of the stages were one-trick ponies. Unlike the level design in Mega Man 2, or especially 3, the stages in 4 were average… even in difficulty. Capcom isn’t known for making pussy games, which is why I’m disappointed in this one… While not the easiest game, not by far, it isn’t quite up to that “Blue Bomber” status we all know and hate. Each stage has one or two difficult parts, but after that, it’s easy riding.

What makes up for this lack of creativity in the level design is the introduction of a staple Mega Man ability: The Charge Shot. The birth of the charge shot meant the end of blistered thumbs for Mega Man gamers. No longer did you need to jam the B button or grab your NES Advantage, you could just charge the shot, and be ready, next time something crossed your path. 

While Mega Man 4 did some great things for the series, I still feel that 3 was the peak. If one thing is consistent throughout the franchise: It’s the music. Still amazingly enjoyable, even after all these years. Enough of me blabbing… get to playing!

NES – Mega Man 4

Pure Fucking Awesome.

OK I really don’t need to tell you about this game but fuck it that’s what I’m here for. I am a huge fan of the entire series, but hands down this is to me better than one, three and even Sonic and Knuckles (although combining Sonic 2 and Sonic and Knuckles is awesome and I shall discuss that in a bit). Sega took their sweet ass time making this game what it is so first off I will discuss the graphics. God damn….there may not be a prettier game on the Genesis they did everything they could and tested its limits just to put this game to the max and wow they did a great job on it. Every single pixel and character is remarkable its crazy to think how well they were able to pull this off. This game still makes my jaw drop during certain stages because of how pretty it is.

Chemical Plant Zone….Awesome.

Next is the music….holy shit….this music is awesome. There is not one single piece of bad music through out this entire game and if you think there is then you must be a bitch because only a bitch could make a conclusion of that sort. I mean just to name a few but metropolis zone and casino night zone are probably the two best in the entire game. They even have new original bonus stages which if you play as sonic and tails tails can help you gather rings and at the same time lose them if he fucks up and gets hit by a bomb. As far as controls go this game is perfect there is nothing wrong with the controls at all and honestly you can just tell that Sega was not going to push out a shit product they really wanted this game to be the real deal. Now for the final aspect the difficulty. Me being the avid old gamer I am there are very few older games that I have yet to beat but by god this is one of them. This game is hard as hell, and will push you to your limits unless you brought your A game. Mind you this game is not as hard as Battletoads but it is hard if I could compare it to any game id have to compare it to Mario 3 on difficulty but think about it Mario 3 there are a lot more levels, but at times Sonic can be just as difficult.

Another great aspect about this game is the fact that you can choose who you want to play as weather it be Sonic and Tails, or either of them separate and hell if you play as both together someone can use the second controller to control Tails and that can be a great thing. I will say this if your going to use one character by it’s self use tails he can fly and that makes a lot of shit easier to gather when you are really searching for a few extra rings or even if your just searching for another extra life to keep you going for a few more levels. Tails has fallen from grace but there was a point where he was not a 6 year old pussy trapped in a fox’s body. The best part about this game is the fact that in 1994 when Sonic and Knuckles was released you could play Sonic 2 as the baddest motherfucker in the Sonic universe Knuckles. Mind you he cannot fly but when you can glide through half a stage based off the fact that you are amazing then fuck it who cares about flying gliding can be just as good…oh did I also mention the bastard can climb walls? Oh I didn’t? Well he can climb walls like its no problem. His glide can also work as an attack have you ever been flying as Tails and hit Robotnik (Fuck Eggman, that’s not in this country until later) no you haven’t and do you know why? Because Tails is not nearly as cool as Knuckles.

Just look at how badass Knuckles is, Tails does not have shit on him.

This is one of my favorite games of all time, mind you is it my favorite no it isn’t but it is up there because nostalgia, how amazing the graphics are, how amazing the music is, and just how great the overall experience is. I have the sonic mega collection for my ps2 and hell I have all the games for my Genesis and I will still play this one from time to time just to remember the good old days, I just hope soon enough I can take the time to beat it. If you get the opportunity to play this you better or otherwise your missing out on one of the best games ever made.

Sega Genesis – Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Sega Genesis – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – With Knuckles

Before we begin… I know we’ve already got a small review up for Link’s Awakening. But I feel that the post was more Battletunes oriented and presented only a brief overview of the game. Not to discredit that review, but this is a more in depth look at the story and design aspects of the game.

Zelda games have always rang true with me. An overall amazing series, and most of the games are pure gold (most! Phantom Hourglass can suck a dick). It happens to be my favorite series in all of gaming. I’ve spent an ungodly amount of time in each version of Hyrule, battling skultullas and rescuing Zelda for the millionth time, it never truly got old. But the game I’ve put the most amount of time into has to be Link’s Awakening.

I was a huge fan of A Link to the Past when it came out, and this game helped me rekindle all of those warm feelings all over again. Link’s Awakening is a Zelda game through and through, you’ll find familiar puzzles, enemies, tunes, items, and scenarios. But what turns this Zelda game into something special is the story and presentation of the whole thing. Its difficult to make a Game Boy game seem epic… You’ve got 4 shades of grey, a small screen, and very limited sound capability to play around with, but somehow, they did it. Instead of taking place in the Land of Hyrule, Link’s Awakening takes place in Koholint Island, a completely new world, completely separated from Hyrule. This gave the designers enough of a push to make a truly unique story. (Yarr… there be spoilers ahead!!)

Here’s a video with one of my favorite video game tunes of all time: The Ballad of the Wind Fish

Thanks to omdac714 for the video!

Koholint Island doesn’t exist. Its all a dream world. The world exists in the dream of a sleeping creature called The Wind Fish. If the Wind Fish is awoken, Koholint Island, all the creatures, and all of the people contained within will disappear with the dream. This creates an interesting philosophical scenario. Is is morally right to wake the dreamer, escaping the dreamland, only to watch everyone you’ve met so far disappear right before your very eyes? Are the enemies really all that evil, trying to stop you from destroying the only world they’ve ever known? Are you even the hero of this story? Or do you merely server as a means to an end of the world? Though the game never directly brings up these questions, it does make for an amazing catalyst into moral and philosophical discussion. At one point, when you defeat a boss, the dying enemy begs you not to wake the Wind Fish, as his entire world will disappear. Its this writing, this kind of storytelling that separate this Zelda game from all the rest, and more importantly, this Game Boy game from all the rest. Give it a try, one of my favorite games of all time:

Game Boy – The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

Mega Man. The thought of this game series brings so many feelings. Hate, intense hate. An immense feeling of hate. And more hate. But more than hate… love. Mega Man is hard. And not just hard, like damn hard. This is a classic Capcom game, which means only one thing. Blistering difficulty and more action than you can shake a megabuster at.

The game starts you off relatively underpowered to face the tasks ahead, just like any good Mega Man game. This one starts off a bit differently, with you getting very beat up and having to be rescued by Zero. After this, the game takes a slightly different, but nostalgic, Mega Man feel. Tons of enemies, furious action, and this time, upgrades scattered around the various levels. Wall kicks, and (eventually) a plethora of other moves keeps the game fresh and interesting.

The Mega Man series is one of my favorites, and I hope you like this one to. It takes you back to a day when Mega Man wasn’t whored out by Capcom every three months. I’m not saying that the Mega Man: Battle Network games were bad, they were quite enjoyable, but none of them retain the feel of the original NES and SNES offerings.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjOy673Rayc]

Download this video in AVI (45.9 Mb)

Mega Man X – SNES

Well, the votes are in and I have a couple things to say…
Why were you so mean?! The Genesis is a good system! But it only got a couple votes. A COUPLE. That’s it… all of the other responses were for the SNES and one for the N-Gage.. needless to say, we’re going with the N-Gage. Exclusively. No roms for anything else. Just N-Gage. (Satire, folks, enjoy it.)
So yea, SNES and subsequent roms for it will be launched in the next couple days, we just need to work out some of the details, and we’re golden.

But for now, enjoy one of my favorite childhood games, Wrecking Crew. This is a game by Nintendo, intended to be an action/puzzle game. The game starts you off, simple enough, only one enemy, not that many things to break. Oh yea.. that’s the whole point of the game, by the way, break everything. Then the difficulty ramps up. You’ll find yourself replaying stages over and over trying to find the right sequence and timing to complete the task. Its a good thing Nintendo decided to put a level select right at the title screen, you’re gonna need it. Its also nice if you wanted to skip to a later part in the game just to see what it is like. Control? This is a Nintendo game. Its perfect. Sound is catchy, effects are quite fitting. Its a Nintendo game through and through. You can even edit, save, and play your own custom levels. This is the first game I’d ever played that had this kind of functionality back then. I enjoyed this game quite a bit when I was a kid, and I hope you enjoy it now.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ8ylbgkaRc]
Download this video in AVI (9.8MB)

Wrecking Crew – NES

When developers decide to take licensing matters into their own hands, trouble usually ensues, especially in the days of the NES. Codemasters and publisher, Camerica, decided to release Ultimate Stuntman all on their own. And thank god they did.

Ultimate Stuntman embodies every little boy’s dream: To kick ass in as many different Hollywood-style ways as humanly possible. With many varying types of gameplay, the action hardly ever gets old. One scene will have you driving a car in a top down perspective, shooting anything that moves, while another will have you jumping across rooftops on foot in a side scrolling segment, again, while shooting anything that moves. An original gameplay segment has you climbing a very large building and sniping enemies away from the Ultimate Stuntman simultaneously. This action sequence is both memorable and challenging.

The only thing that keeps this game from being one of the greats is the overpowering difficulty. Getting very far in this game is very hard, and there’s not much incentive to keep you coming back. Granted, this is an NES title, and blistering action was all someone needed to warrant twenty hours of gameplay. Regardless of it’s faults, Ultimate Stuntman remains a hidden gem and is a welcome addition to anyone’s NES library.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/NI-tGW45Cf0]

Download this video in AVI format ( 40.7 Mb)

Ultimate Stuntman is a classic example of early 90′s action-based media. Enjoy!!

Ultimate Stuntman – NES