Some of you may be wondering why all of the games mentioned in this post's headline are decidedly retro" Well, that would be because the only current game I've played in the last few weeks is Pokémon Picross.
OK, so I've also put some time--and money--into Nintendo Badge Arcade during that same period, although I don't know if I'd call the latter a "game." (It's more of an app, if you ask me.)
What about The Legend of Legacy and Undertale? I haven't played either of them in about a month, sadly. And I haven't even started Yo-Kai Watch, despite the fact that a copy of that 3DS title has been in my hands since I got it as a birthday present right after Thanksgiving.
Given all of the above, it may seem strange that I decided to spend a good part of this past weekend playing the following bunch of golden oldies. The only response I can come up with to that charge is "I needed it." And don't we all sometimes?
Alien Syndrome (Game Gear)--Considering my nearly lifelong love of the first two Alien films, you’d think I would have at least tried this similarly themed game ages ago. Actually, I have plunked a bit of time into various versions of this Sega-made title (which originated in the arcades) over the years, but for whatever reason the aesthetics and gameplay never sat well with me. Something changed in that regard this weekend, though, as I raced through three of the Game Gear port’s stages on Saturday morning and only gave up after seeing a satisfactory portion of its fourth.
If this is the first you’ve heard of Alien Syndrome, by the way, the gist of it is it’s a run-and-gun action game that’s clearly inspired by the original Alien flick. You run around each level--most or all of which take place on some sort of spaceship--and rescue stranded crewmates while avoiding (or blowing away) a whole host of nightmarish baddies. Oh, and a clock is ticking away all the while, which adds a certain sense of urgency to both of those tasks.
As is the case with most of the games I booted up over the last few days, some (maybe many) modern gamers are sure to find the Game Gear version of Alien Syndrome painfully dated, especially in the graphics department. Still, if you’re a fan of tense gaming experiences and extraterrestrial settings, you’d do well to overlook this title’s superficial stumbling points and give it a bit of love.
City Connection (Famicom)--Looking back on it now, it seems strange that as a kid I had access to an arcade containing a City Connection cabinet. After all, I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin—not exactly a hotbed of obscure Japanese games of any sort.
At any rate, I'm glad my local arcade (bowling alley, really) was home to this Axes Art Amuse-made and Jaleco-published oddity--for a while, at least. I played it every chance I got. Who could blame me? It's a platformer--of sorts--that shoves players behind the wheel of an adorable red sports car and then forces them to race and leap around a handful of stages, all of which are set in real-life cities. The point: why, to cover their roadways in paint, of course. (You do this do you can prove you've fully experienced each locale.)
I wish I could tell you how accurate the Famicom port of City Connection is to the arcade original, but I can't. I can say the former is a lot of fun, though. It's colorful, it controls well enough, it's challenging (but not overly cheap, as is the case for too many games from this era) and it has a soundtrack that's better than it has any right to be.
Mickey Mousecapade (NES)--Here's another game from my childhood. For some weird reason, this is one of the 20 or so NES games I owned as a kid. I say it's weird because I've never really been a big Disney fan. As such, I'm not sure what prompted me to buy (or, more likely, ask for it as a birthday or Christmas gift) Mickey Mousecapade.
Regardless, I remember liking this classic platformer--which curiously puts players in control of both Mickey and Minnie at the same time--well enough. I also remember finding it more than a smidge frustrating beyond its first stage. Which is kind of hilarious, as I got all the way to the game's third stage on my second try this past weekend, and without a whole lot of fuss. Sadly, that's as far as I was able to get.
Oh, well, I'm glad I finally revisited Mickey Mousecapade after all these years. It's far from a great game, and it's downright ugly in spots (I'm looking at you, annoying forest level), but the background music is nice and the overall experience is enjoyable enough that I'll probably return to it again ... in a couple of years or so.
Parodius Da! (PC Engine)--Would you believe this was one of the first Japanese games I ever imported? Detana!! TwinBee was another, along with Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Tengai Makyou II. Oh, and Pop'n TwinBee, too.
At any rate, this was my favorite of the bunch. (OK, so I was pretty fond of the two Final Fantasy games as well.) Which makes sense, as it's hard to play this wackadoodle shmup, which parodies Konami's genre-defining Gradius series (hence the name), without a huge grin plastered across your face all the while.
I spend most of my time with the PC Engine port of Parodius Da! playing its "Special" mode, by the way. It's a single-level, high-score romp that's perfect for short bursts of play--which means it's perfect for my ever-diminishing attention span.
Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)--Do you have a favorite Famicom or NES cart? Well, this is one of mine. To me, this bastard child of Nintendo's decades-old Mario series is the gaming equivalent of chicken noodle soup. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy in a way that not too many titles from any era can match.
Anyway, I was prompted to return to this pastel-shellacked platformer by the recently released Nintendo Badge Arcade. For the last few days, that 3DS app has offered up a slew of Super Mario Bros. 2 pins--every single one of which caused my mouth to froth in nostalgia-flavored glee. (OK, so maybe that's overstating things a tad.)
Although I somehow stopped myself from dropping $5 more into the Nintendo Badge Arcade, I wasn't able to keep myself from spending a similar amount to buy Super Mario Bros. 2 via the eShop. Which is just as well, because every 3DS needs to have a copy of this game stuck to its main menu and at the ready at all times, don't you think?
Have you played any retro games in recent days or weeks? If so, which ones--and what pushed you to spend some quality time with them?
Showing posts with label Super Mario Bros. 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Super Mario Bros. 2. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wart and Birdo, sittin' in a tree ...
While scouring the Interwebs for the Mr. Saturn illustration that anchored yesterday's EarthBound-focused post, I came across the curiously titled (in a good way) Sketchamagowza! tumblr.
Although said tumblr is filled with awesome pieces of art (here are a few yummy examples), most of which are inspired by or related to video games and nearly all of which are produced by someone who calls him or herself Shmorky, my current favorite is the Super Mario Bros. 2-inspired you see below (and here).
Nintendo seriously needs to bring back Wart, don't you think? And all of the other guys and gals who were featured in Super Mario Bros. 2 (aka Super Mario USA or Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic), too.
Silly aside: if you're any kind of RPG fan, be sure check out Shmorky's hilarious "Secret of the Dungeon" comic.
Although said tumblr is filled with awesome pieces of art (here are a few yummy examples), most of which are inspired by or related to video games and nearly all of which are produced by someone who calls him or herself Shmorky, my current favorite is the Super Mario Bros. 2-inspired you see below (and here).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSwUl-hhgXoRqkiifwdyuUmCRQkQmDiPeeWHTnOvQ41yt5VS8w5FL_epesLUp7FwoNJXE60T-tg9vXPHQFwMRCzz-FjQDCo35bZ-P_fDmAB7oocZKY49QL-fPIzrHao-L7Ratp/s400/Birdo+Wart_Shmorky.png)
Nintendo seriously needs to bring back Wart, don't you think? And all of the other guys and gals who were featured in Super Mario Bros. 2 (aka Super Mario USA or Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic), too.
Silly aside: if you're any kind of RPG fan, be sure check out Shmorky's hilarious "Secret of the Dungeon" comic.
Labels:
adorable,
art,
Birdo,
Doki Doki Panic,
drawings,
illustrations,
nintendo,
Shmorky,
Sketchamagowza,
Super Mario Bros. 2,
Super Mario USA,
Tumblr,
Wart
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Sexy Shy Guy
I'm not entirely sure why, but awesome, Atlanta-based artist, Drew Green, recently decided to draw a "sexy Shy Guy."
I found it completely adorable when I came across it on Facebook, so of course I had to share it here.
To see more of Drew's work, be sure to check out his deviantart gallery and his Tumblr at your convenience.
Oh, and check out his wonderful comic, Ross Boston, too, if you're into that sort of thing.
I found it completely adorable when I came across it on Facebook, so of course I had to share it here.
To see more of Drew's work, be sure to check out his deviantart gallery and his Tumblr at your convenience.
Oh, and check out his wonderful comic, Ross Boston, too, if you're into that sort of thing.
Labels:
adorable,
cute,
deviantart,
drawings,
Drew Green,
illustrations,
mario,
NES,
nintendo,
retro,
sexy,
Shy Guy,
Super Mario Bros. 2,
Tumblr
Friday, August 24, 2012
RIP Nintendo Power
I know I'm a little LTTP when it comes to this RIP, but the truth is I wasn't planning to write about this rather sad occasion (Nintendo Power's December 2012 issue will be its last), mainly because I haven't flipped through a copy of the magazine in ages.
Then I came across a photo I took a few years back of Nintendo Power's first issue (below and here), and it brought to mind all sorts of amazingly fond memories.
One of them: If memory serves, the issue above was sent to me and my brother shortly after we acquired our NES. Although we were quite content with the pack-in title (Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt), those first images of Super Mario Bros. 2 blew our young minds.
In fact, I'm pretty sure the timing of Super Mario Bros. 2's announcement and release is solely responsible for Mario's first sequel (in the US) becoming my favorite of all his two-dimensional adventures.
Nintendo Power's second issue (above and here) was only slightly less amazing than its first thanks to features that focused on Bionic Commando and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. (Oh, and more Super Mario Bros. 2, of course.)
And then, in the magazine's fourth issue (below and here), we got both a (somewhat disturbing due to its use of mannequins) cover image devoted to and a review of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, another game that--at the time, at least--completely rocked my world.
(To see an early Nintendo Power cover that I'm much more fond of, check out this photo of the July/August 1989 issue. Claymation Mega Man FTW!)
Will any of you be sad to see Nintendo Power go the way of the Dodo? If so, what are some of your most cherished memories of this nearly 25-year-old publication?
Then I came across a photo I took a few years back of Nintendo Power's first issue (below and here), and it brought to mind all sorts of amazingly fond memories.
One of them: If memory serves, the issue above was sent to me and my brother shortly after we acquired our NES. Although we were quite content with the pack-in title (Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt), those first images of Super Mario Bros. 2 blew our young minds.
In fact, I'm pretty sure the timing of Super Mario Bros. 2's announcement and release is solely responsible for Mario's first sequel (in the US) becoming my favorite of all his two-dimensional adventures.
Nintendo Power's second issue (above and here) was only slightly less amazing than its first thanks to features that focused on Bionic Commando and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. (Oh, and more Super Mario Bros. 2, of course.)
And then, in the magazine's fourth issue (below and here), we got both a (somewhat disturbing due to its use of mannequins) cover image devoted to and a review of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, another game that--at the time, at least--completely rocked my world.
(To see an early Nintendo Power cover that I'm much more fond of, check out this photo of the July/August 1989 issue. Claymation Mega Man FTW!)
Will any of you be sad to see Nintendo Power go the way of the Dodo? If so, what are some of your most cherished memories of this nearly 25-year-old publication?
Labels:
Castlevania II,
Clay,
covers,
magazines,
NES,
nintendo,
Nintendo Power,
photos,
RIP,
Super Mario Bros. 2,
The Adventures of Link,
Zelda II
Monday, June 18, 2012
If only Nintendo's Takashi Tezuka had such fond memories of Super Mario Bros. 2
I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but in case I haven't: Super Mario Bros. 2 is my favorite of the two-dimensional Super Mario Bros. games. (Note: I don't consider Yoshi's Island to be a "mainline" Mario game.)
I'm not alone, apparently. Although he doesn't say so in the description he penned for the work-in-progress painting (below and here) that he posted on deviantart.com earlier this year, I have to imagine WayForward's Austin Ivansmith has similarly fond memories of the game that's known in Japan as Super Mario USA.
(By the way, I have to admit that I very much like Ivansmith's painting as is. I love that I knew, the second I saw it, which characters, and which game, it was supposed to bring to mind--despite the fact that it's made up of just outlines, noses and eyes. OK, and a pair of pixelated mustaches.)
Another person who seemingly prefers Super Mario Bros. 2 to the rest of the classic series' releases: Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto. At least, that's what "the man who made Mario" says in this recent ign.com article.
Sadly, it seems unlikely Miyamoto's colleague, Takashi Tezuka, feels the same way. In the aforemented article, for instance, Miyamoto says, "The Mario games of that type are really in the hands of Mr. Tezuka at this point. Because he didn't work on [Super Mario USA] ... he doesn't have memories of developing it that he would draw on to re-create concepts in the New Super Mario Bros. series now."
Are any of you as crushed as I am to hear that it's unlikely Nintendo will be making another Mario game that's akin to Super Mario USA/Super Mario Bros. 2 anytime soon?
I'm not alone, apparently. Although he doesn't say so in the description he penned for the work-in-progress painting (below and here) that he posted on deviantart.com earlier this year, I have to imagine WayForward's Austin Ivansmith has similarly fond memories of the game that's known in Japan as Super Mario USA.
(By the way, I have to admit that I very much like Ivansmith's painting as is. I love that I knew, the second I saw it, which characters, and which game, it was supposed to bring to mind--despite the fact that it's made up of just outlines, noses and eyes. OK, and a pair of pixelated mustaches.)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5toMms67ZBS8_aN0r7CcehF8Kzyi8Lfb9mFhA5VPy4NwP3G5fq1Vku2Li4mXYQBJGLej4p_n9IcE78ievxJtdne11Gu9-lGLvgtdgNSP5xTqOm31sAQLMQumNH7CFqQXayWxy/s400/wip___super_mario_bros_2_pixel_art_painting_by_ivandashsmith-d4lid7z.jpg)
Another person who seemingly prefers Super Mario Bros. 2 to the rest of the classic series' releases: Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto. At least, that's what "the man who made Mario" says in this recent ign.com article.
Sadly, it seems unlikely Miyamoto's colleague, Takashi Tezuka, feels the same way. In the aforemented article, for instance, Miyamoto says, "The Mario games of that type are really in the hands of Mr. Tezuka at this point. Because he didn't work on [Super Mario USA] ... he doesn't have memories of developing it that he would draw on to re-create concepts in the New Super Mario Bros. series now."
Are any of you as crushed as I am to hear that it's unlikely Nintendo will be making another Mario game that's akin to Super Mario USA/Super Mario Bros. 2 anytime soon?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Super Mario Bros. 2 is my favorite of the 8-bit Marios. There, I said it...
Most old-school gamers, if asked, name Super Mario Bros. 3 as their favorite of the mustachioed plumber's 8-bit outings. Not me.
Don't get me wrong, I think Super Mario Bros. 3 is a swell game--more than swell, actually--but if I was forced at gunpoint--hey, it could happen--to choose between it and the game that we in the Western world know as Super Mario Bros. 2 (in Japan they call it Super Mario Bros. USA, in case you haven't heard), I would, with just a smidge of hesitation, go with the latter.
Why? Well, I love its graphical style, for starters. Everything just looks, I don't know, softer in this game than it does in its predecessor and successor.
Other things I love about this rather awesome (in my opinion, of course) Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic re-imagining:
* For the first and only time in a mainline Mario game, you can choose to play as Peach and Toad as well as Mario and Luigi. (I almost always go with Peach, by the way. What a shocker, right?)
* Any and all of the aforementioned characters can pluck stuff--turnips and other veggies, mainly--from the ground and throw it at the game's many enemies.
* It introduced a number of inventive and imaginative characters--including Birdo, Bob-omb, Shy Guy and Snifit--into the Mario canon.
There are many additional reasons to love this, er, dreamy platformer, of course, but those mentioned above are the ones that keep me coming back to it time and time again (often at the expense of its predecessor and successor).
Don't get me wrong, I think Super Mario Bros. 3 is a swell game--more than swell, actually--but if I was forced at gunpoint--hey, it could happen--to choose between it and the game that we in the Western world know as Super Mario Bros. 2 (in Japan they call it Super Mario Bros. USA, in case you haven't heard), I would, with just a smidge of hesitation, go with the latter.
Why? Well, I love its graphical style, for starters. Everything just looks, I don't know, softer in this game than it does in its predecessor and successor.
Other things I love about this rather awesome (in my opinion, of course) Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic re-imagining:
* For the first and only time in a mainline Mario game, you can choose to play as Peach and Toad as well as Mario and Luigi. (I almost always go with Peach, by the way. What a shocker, right?)
* Any and all of the aforementioned characters can pluck stuff--turnips and other veggies, mainly--from the ground and throw it at the game's many enemies.
* It introduced a number of inventive and imaginative characters--including Birdo, Bob-omb, Shy Guy and Snifit--into the Mario canon.
There are many additional reasons to love this, er, dreamy platformer, of course, but those mentioned above are the ones that keep me coming back to it time and time again (often at the expense of its predecessor and successor).
Labels:
Doki Doki Panic,
famicom,
NES,
nintendo,
Super Mario Bros. 2
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
A Peach of a pinup
If I were forced at gunpoint--hey, it could happen--to pick my favorite 8-bit Super Mario Bros. game, I'd probably go with Super Mario Bros. 2.
And if the gunman--or gunwoman--made me choose a favorite character from said game? I'd point to Princess Peach (aka Princess Toadstool).
As such, it shouldn't be much of a shock to hear me say (see me write?) that I'm a big fan of the following piece of art, produced by deviantartist pluckylump.
See also: 'Catch the Squirrel' and '10048'
And if the gunman--or gunwoman--made me choose a favorite character from said game? I'd point to Princess Peach (aka Princess Toadstool).
As such, it shouldn't be much of a shock to hear me say (see me write?) that I'm a big fan of the following piece of art, produced by deviantartist pluckylump.
See also: 'Catch the Squirrel' and '10048'
Labels:
art,
deviantart,
NES,
pluckylump,
princess,
Princess Peach,
Princess Toadstool,
Super Mario Bros. 2
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