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  • Bucky O’Hare (NES)

    Bucky O’Hare – Konami, NES, 1992

    Bucky O’Hare was a fairly late release by Konami on the NES, debuting in 1992. The game is based on a relatively obscure comic book of the same name. In this game you play the role of Bucky who must rescue several of his crew members on different planets. Each of these crew members have unique abilities and when you rescue one you then gain the ability to switch to using that crew member as needed.

    The game generally got positive reviews with the one common complaint being that it is a very difficult game. Odd since you would think this character would appeal to younger kids. Being such a late release, the graphics and sound are very good overall and the game plays very much like Mega Man. If you are looking for a challenging Mega Man type game then look no further.

     

    Unfortunately, there haven’t been any re-releases or sequels. If you do want to give this one a try then you will have to track down an original cartridge or fire up an emulator. If you won’t get too frustrated by the difficulty, it is a worthwhile addition to your collection though.





  • The Legend of Zelda (NES)

    zelda

    The Legend of Zelda was one of the killer apps for the NES and was largely responsible for creating and popularizing the action RPG genre. Released in 1987, it spawned a franchise that continues today. Zelda has changed a lot over the years but the first game of the series is still one of the best.



    The name of the game always seemed to be the source of some confusion as the name of the protagonist was Link and Zelda was the princess he was attempting to rescue. As Link, you are tasked with finding the Triforce of Wisdom pieces that Princess Zelda hid to protect them from the evil prince that invaded the kingdom and to rescue her from said prince.

    The Legend of Zelda has spawned a large number of sequels (mostly prequels really) over the years. My favorite will probably always be A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo but they are all excellent games. I just prefer the 2D variants to the newer 3D games.

    There were several unique things about the original Legend of Zelda. It was the first NES game with a battery backup, the cartridge was the only one that had that distinctive gold color, and it was the first NES title to sell over a million copies, eventually selling over 6.5 million copies in total. It’s probably harder to find a “best” or “most influential” games of all-time list without Zelda in it than it is to find one with it. It would be hard to overstate the popularity and influence of this game.

    The Legend of Zelda was eventually ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2004 and the GameCube in 2006. It was also released in emulated form for the Wii, Wii U and 3DS virtual consoles. This game is pretty easy to come by in one form or another so there’s no reason to miss out. This is one definitely worth playing for those who have not even if this isn’t your favorite genre and it is probably worth a replay if its been a while.

    The Legend of Zelda (1986)

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/165838795815/atari800-level-1-eagle-the-legend-of-zelda


  • Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road / Iron Tank (NES)

    Ad for SNK games Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road and Iron Tank for the NES.

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/165968609107/videogameads-snk-games-ad-ask-me-anything

    SNK eventually became known for the Neo Geo which was a game console that was basically just SNK’s arcade board of the time adapted for home use. For many years it was the only system that gave you arcade perfect ports at home because they weren’t ports at all, they were the same exact game. The Neo Geo wasn’t supplanted as the Cadillac of home systems until the era of the PlayStation. However, before all that, SNK developed arcade games on slightly more primitive hardware and ported many of those to the NES. Two of those were Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road and Iron Tank, both from around 1988.

    Victory Road was the sequel to the original Ikari Warriors. In the first game your goal was to rescue a general. In the second, you had to defend the land from aliens. Both games were action games played from an overhead perspective. It was very similar to games like Commando. Victory Road introduced the relatively novel ability of being able to fire in a different direction than you were moving. In the arcade version this was accomplished with an 8-way rotary joystick. For the NES version, you moved in the direction you faced until you pressed the fire button then for as long as you held the fire button you would face that direction no matter which direction you moved. In addition to the NES version, several home computer versions were released including for the Commodore 64, Apple II and PC (DOS).

    This was a pretty mediocre game really but I always found this style of game appealing. Despite the frustration, you always wanted to try to make it just a little further. Despite some improvements in this game over its predecessor, the original seems to have just a little more fun factor. Victory Road is worth checking out even if only for an afternoon. There were remakes for the PS3 and PSP but I recommend the NES version or one of the other older ports or even the original arcade version over the remakes.

    The NES version of Iron Tank is based on the SNK arcade game TNK III. Like Victory Road, it is also an overhead action shooting game. However, as you might expect, you are controlling a tank instead of just a guy. The tank has two weapons, a machine gun and the main gun. The turret can be rotated and shot independent of your direction of movement. You might be noticing a theme here. There are various power-ups that can be picked up along the way to improve your weapons, restore health and so on. The unique twist with this game (besides the tank) is the ability to choose various paths throughout the game.

    Iron Tank was only ever released for the NES though there were conversions of TNK III for home computers of the time such as the Commodore 64. The NES version is probably the best but if you want to play it you’ll have to emulate or track down an original cartridge.