Revisiting The NES Classic

In my last blog, I talked about how I got a Sega Astro City Mini Arcade and how I failed to secure a gamepad for it. Well, I decided to see if I could find a replacement controller on Amazon. I came across a Bluetooth adapter that lets you use modern controllers with pretty much every mini console. The item description also lists the Sega Astro City Mini Arcade, but I can't find that listed anywhere in the instructions, so we'll see. 

Anyway, the adapter arrived today and I thought I'd test it out on the NES Classic while I wait for the Sega City Astro Mini. I know I wrote blogs on Sega Genesis Mini and TurboGrafx Mini, but I never did for the NES, SNES and PlayStation Classic. So, since I'm now using a Switch Pro Controller to play with this adapter, I thought I'd write up a few blogs on them. I'll only be playing the games a few minutes at a time, because I honestly don't have enough time to play through 70 or so games in the next couple of weeks. So the first blog will be about the NES Classic. 

Balloon Fight

This game's one of those classic NES games that exists in about 10 different variations. In fact, I remember finding an NES and Balloon Fight in the original Animal Crossing on the GameCube. I love, though, how everyone tries to say that Nintendo is so innovative, yet one of their most well known games is a modified version of Joust. If you never heard of Joust, I'm far older than you apparently. Anyway, gameplay is really simple. You're tethered to a balloon and you press a button to flap your wings and ascend in an attempt to get above your enemies and pop their balloons and knock them off the screen. Each level gets a bit harder, and I've actually never been good enough to make it past 10 or so levels. There's also a mode called Balloon Trip, which is the earliest example I can think of of permadeath. You only have one life to get through as much of this obstacle course as you can. Never had the nerve for it. 

Bubble Bobble

What a weird time 8-bit games were. This must have been a game conceived by someone who was on acid to be played by gamers on acid. A simple little action platform puzzler, you play as a dragon - I think? - who spits bubbles at monsters and while they're bubbled up, you kick them around and they... turn to fruit? You collect the fruit for the extra points and then you slip into the next lower level of madness. The thing about this game is that I don't think it's really aged very well, at least not this version. It's clunky, and its monotonous music could be used for psychological warfare. 

Castlevania

Wanna guess where I gave up when I started playing this again? Yep, World 2 and those stupid medusa heads! What better way to kill someone than barely touching them and yeeting them off the platform? Anyway, what more needs to be said about this classic game? It's the original Castlevania that started one of the the longest running action adventure franchises of all time, one of several franchises that made Konami a household name. Known for its insane difficulty, it's far more cheap than it really is challenging, and I've never been one for the original for that reason alone. Super Castlevania IV has made so many improvements while also being such a great throwback to the original that it makes the original simply unplayable for me. Some day, I'll make use of the Classic's save state feature and actually finish it. 

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

This is a love/hate game. I remember I rented this game back when I was still renting NESs and I definitely did not love it. I remember getting very lost by the game. Breaking the convention of a level-based structure, Simon's Quest could be considered open-world. Yet, it was also pretty aimless telling you where these Dracula's Riddle answers are without actually telling you where to go to get them. I also think this game looks worse than the first; it's really not very pretty at all. I will say, though, that the game did do some cool things back in the day like having a night/day cycle where everything is worse at night. "What a horrible night for a curse" indeed. I don't know... some day if I'm ever REALLY bored enough, I'll come back to this. It's a crying shame that Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse was not included in this collection because THAT would be the Castlevania that I would play all the way through again. 

Donkey Kong

Hey guess what? The first Donkey Kong game was published in 1981, so that makes Mario 40 years old! While Nintendo's celebrating Super Mario's 35th birthday ... by no longer selling Mario games in just a couple of days, Mario is really 40 years old! Donkey Kong on the NES is a game that unfortunately is just too old for me. After failing a few times, I really didn't have much desire to keep at it. What kills me is that if you don't jump off a platform, even if it's JUST a foot off the ground, you fall to your death. It'll always have historical value, but it's been 1 Up'd so many times that I really don't see any reason to play this again. Makes me want to play the amazing Donkey Kong on the Game Boy again, though. 

Donkey Kong Jr.

Another classic for obvious reasons, yet just like his father, it's just too old for me to enjoy. Swapping out Mario with Donkey Kong's son as the main character, Donkey Kong Jr. has to climb up and down vines to get to the top in order to free his father from the Mario's cage. It's a nice twist on the hero/villain trope. I tried a few times to get past the second level, but it's just too janky for me to enjoy. I really hate the fact that these games kill you by just falling a couple of feet. I wish I had the arcade versions to play, because I remember them being far superior. 

Double Dragon II: The Revenge

I remember this game was one of those games I played with friends during sleepovers because we stayed up way past midnight trying to beat this game. It was so much better than the first game in every way because of all the combat and level enhancements and variations. I think the game's a lot easier than the first because I got to stage five without losing any lives, but then... lost them all in that mission. There are a couple really cheap deaths due to some positions where you fight certain mid bosses. Still, for a "Classic" console, the first game should have been included as well, because even though DDII is far superior, the first is still very much a classic. Also, I remember having lots of pizza nights with that game. 

Dr. Mario

If you've owned an NES for any considerable amount of time and enjoy puzzle games, you'll most likely have played Dr. Mario and Tetris, the latter being surprisingly absent in this collection. I've spent God knows how many hours playing this game, killing thousands of viruses by matching them up with their respective colored pills. Dr. Mario's such a classic that it's still widely represented today with a Super Smash Bros. character and a mobile game. I tried the mobile game once, and not surprisingly, it wasn't very good. I actually had to force myself to stop playing this so I could write about it, because I felt myself getting addicted to it again. This one's truly a classic.

Excitebike

Once again, another classic NES game. Many sleepovers with many pizza-stained controllers. I was never good at the final tracks, but I loved trying. The gameplay was simple yet thrilling trying to balance your bike's pitch so that you launched off ramps and didn't crash on the way down. I also remember this was one of those rare games that appeared on a Game Boy Advance eCard reader, which I think I still have. I do remember I got Excitetruck for the Wii, but that wasn't really as good as it could have been, Also, Excitebike's such a classic that it got its own track in Mario Kart 8. That's a testament to the game's classic status. 

Final Fantasy

Sadly, I've never been able to get into this one. I know full well of its significance, because without Final Fantasy, I wouldn't currently be playing Final Fantasy XIV. I also know the meaning behind the term Final Fantasy as it was going to be Square Soft's final game. Obviously, it turned out to be successful enough. I always seemed to never get off to a good start, and just after a few battles, I already lost my warrior. I've no weapons, no items and no magic. Some day, I'll do some research on this game and learn how to properly play it, but if I ever do, it's not going to be this version. It's going to be the enhanced PlayStation version. 

Galaga

Space Invaders is perhaps the most iconic game when it comes to arcade-style space shooters, but Galaga takes it to another level. The goal is the same: kill all enemies in a level to move to the next. Instead of alien invasions pretty much remaining static like in Space Invaders, the enemy ships take off in all directions after their formation. They swoop in and out in all different patterns. This version's ok, but I was reminded of a friend I had back when I was kid who had his very own Galaga arcade unit, and that was so much more fun. Also, I'm not sure if there's a way to get an extra ship to fight by your side in this one, because twin ships made the game that much more fun. 

Ghosts'N Goblins

If you think I had much patience to play this game for even 10 minutes, you don't know me very well. Some people consider G'NG to be the grandfather of the Souls games, because the difficulty is BRUTAL. It's cheap, all of it. You can be a master of reflexes and pattern recognition, but you need luck and persistence to make it through this game. I've got a save state on the Genesis Mini, and if I ever go back to beat one of these games, it's going to be that one. For one, I hate how the NES and SNES don't have a way to do a save state that doesn't involve you getting up and hitting the reset button. I know there's a remake of this game out now, but I'm going nowhere near it. 

Gradius

One of the most well-known side-scrolling space shooters around, Gradius is a true classic and tough as nails. The issue is, I have better versions of this game on other mini consoles. Again, the issue is that I have to get up and hit the reset button every time I want to save it. It's just more convenient for me to play on other systems. Gradius is a shooter that is dependent on you building up your power ups and not getting killed, because if you do, you have to start building them up all over again, usually putting you at a huge disadvantage latter in the level. When it comes to games like these, I really do abuse the save states because I just hate starting over again. 

Ice Climber

I know people have a lot of memories with this game, but my only memory is "WHY YOU DO KEEP MISSING THE JUMPS!" Seriously, I'm glad this game's so forgiving, but the amount of times where my character should have made the jump but didn't would be extremely infuriating if I kept dying all the time. I got to Mountain 5 when I felt I finally had enough. I also want to say that I owned this game either in the original Animal Crossing or as an eReader game on the Game Boy Advance. Not sure if I'll ever go back to finish it, though. 

Kid Icarus

For someone who has his own character in Super Smash Bros., Kid Icarus isn't a very prolific series with just three entries in the franchise. I've played the first Kid Icarus before and didn't really take to it, and upon playing it again, I still have the same feeling. I hate that the arrows have such a short range. I entered some room and got completely assaulted by so many flying enemies and because of how ancient these games' controls are, I didn't fare very well. Also, there's some kind of graphics glitch that's messed up the life bar. You only see part of it at first and when you start taking damage, you see a new part of the life bar show up and empty to the RIGHT of what's there. Not sure if that's how it's always been or just a bug in the emulation. 

Kirby's Adventure

For some reason, I thought Kirby was a bit older than this, but this game released in 1993, a year after Kirby's Dreamland introduced everyone to the pink puffball on the Game Boy. Of course, everyone knows Kirby, who has about 30 titles of his own, including a mini golf game on the SNES because of course. The visuals, though, haven't aged very well at all, hardly any better than the Game Boy's, ESPECIALLY since this was a '93 game and NES game graphics kept getting better. I only played a couple of levels and yeah, it's exactly what I remember. Sucking up enemies and taking their powers and cussing when you get hit and your power goes flying off as a star in the other direction, which you have to chase down. Not sure if I ever beat it, though, so maybe I'll go back some time and do it. 

Mario Bros. 

Believe it or not, most people still believe that Mario started his platforming adventures after Donkey Kong with Super Mario Bros., but there was one other game before that: Mario Bros. It's a simple one panel game where you hit the ground underneath turtles and crabs to flip them over and then hop up and kick them off the screen. I actually own this game on the Atari 5200, and based on memory, I do believe the Atari version is better. I played a few rounds and lost interest in it rather quickly. It was far more enjoyable when this was all you had because you didn't have an NES yet.

Mega Man 2

Ah, the Blue Bomber. I still own this game and have beat it multiple times so I don't really need to play it again to talk about it. I tried, though, and unfortunately I'm actually detecting some input lag on the wireless controller adapter. If you know Mega Man games, you know the platforming requires split second reflexes and lag simply cannot be tolerated. Anyway, I love Mega Man 2, so much so that I still argue that it's a better game than Mega Man 3. This reminds me, I still have a Mega Man game collection on the GameCube that I need to go back to and finish. Shame about this input lag, though, because I really was in the mood to play it again.

Metroid

Another classic that started a long running franchise, Metroid introduced us to the interstellar bounty huntress Samus Aran. I've beaten a lot of Metroid games but never the first. The first is unfortunately just too old for me. I tried playing it for a while, but once I became aware of the input lag in Mega Man 2, all of a sudden that was all I could notice. If you remember the early stages of Metroid, you'll remember the vertical stages with lots of platform jumping. Very frustrating with input lag. I do at some point need to return to this game and beat it just so I can say I've beaten all the Metroids I've played. It's just, the series has evolved gameplay-wise so much that it's really hard to go back to the basics, especially since there's no map!

Ninja Gaiden

Like Ghosts'N Goblins, this one can stay in the recesses of my mind. Hard for hard's sake and I've found it almost unplayable today. I hate that you get stuck on walls and can't simply drop down. Too easy to get set up for cheap one-hit deaths when  you get bumped off a platform. Back in the day, this game was awesome, but again, I just can't find this version enjoyable anymore. I have the superior version on the TurboGrafx Mini, but I have no desire to go back to that one anymore either. I also just remembered I used to have a Ninja Gaiden Tiger Electronics handheld game. Oh man, those were... terrible.

Pacman

What can I say? It's Pacman, probably the only video game icon more recognizable than Mario. This version is just basic Pacman, nothing special. I wanted to play more of it, but again, it's the damn input lag from the wireless controller that's screwing things up. I really need quicker controls to make some of these turns. If I want to play this again, it's going to have to be with the wired controller. 

Punch-Out!!

Maybe I'm getting tired.. maybe it's just the controller... I cannot freaking beat Glass Joe. I think it's the stupid stamina system they put in that's screwing me up. The far superior Super Punch-Out!! makes me never want to return to this one again, regardless of its classic status. Also, if you boot this version of the game up, you'll see two copyright dates, one in 1987 and one in 1990.  If you know, you know... I won't put any controversy in this blog post. Some day when I'm feeling in the mood, I'll return to it because I would like to see if I can at least get past Glass Joe. 

StarTropics

"Dr, Jones, no time for love!" Ok, so it's not an Indiana Jones game, but it does involve you saving your uncle - I think? - whose name is Dr. Jones. This is an action adventure game that involves you jumping on a lot of tiles. I stuck with it until the boss of the first dungeon, but I ended up dying and had to start the dungeon all over again. Just not in the mood for an ancient game like this. Also, you'll never convince me that star you're given is nothing more than a yo-yo. I do know that StarTropics is a great game if you just give it a chance, but it's gonna be a while before I give it one.  

Super C

 "The C stands for Contra." I'm sure I've heard that from somewhere. Anyway, the very first thing I tried was the Konami code, but the classic Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start didn't work. The code that did work was a much different version, and it only gave me 10 lives instead of 30. Turns out, only the Japanese version bequeaths 30 lives. Huh... Anyway, Contra is another well-established franchise by Konami that they've done hardly anything with as of late, yet Super C remains to be a solid game. I just really, really suck at it. To my credit, I did manage to beat the far superior Contra III: The Alien Wars, but I've never in my life been able to beat the original games. Some day... 

Super Mario Bros.

Do...do I really need to talk about this? The one NES game that EVERYONE has played in a million different versions? I can't count how many times I own this game, including a Game and Watch that I bought last year. Anyway, I tried to play a few levels, but again, this damn input lag is infuriating me! The game as anyone knows has tight controls, and when you need to do precision platform jumping, you just cannot have any input lag. Anyway, I warped, to 4-1 and that's when it all got worse. Once I ran out of lives, that was enough for me. 

Super Mario Bros. 2

Do I really need to talk about this one too? I'm sure everyone who played the first has played the second. Well, I guess I can say that some people might not know that SMB2 didn't start out as a Super Mario game. Instead, it was originally called Doki Doki Panic in Japan. The original Super Mario Bros. 2 was released later in the states as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. If I remember correctly, the Japanese SMB2 was believed to be too hard for Western gamers, so instead, Nintendo of America repurposed Doki Doki Panic as SMB2, which is why outside of Super Mario Odyssey and Sunshine, it is the most bizarre game in the series. Anyway, I played a couple of levels until once again, I got fed up with the input lag. I know, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Why don't you just plug a wired controller in?" The whole point of me even revisiting these minis is because I'm testing out my wireless adapter, but I digress. I also love that in SMB2, you can also play as Luigi, Toad and Princess Peach, each one of them having their own advantages. Anyone who remembers the desert level knows Toad is ace there. 

Super Mario Bros. 3

Come on... seriously? I need to talk about this one too? Well, if you must know, it stands as my all time favorite SMB game... of uh, all time. It was when the series truly began to evolve in all aspects. It introduced the overworld with stops along the way that had mini games to earn more lives. It had all sorts of gameplay improvements such as power ups and being able to hold shells and still has in my honest opinion the best collection of suits in any Mario game. The Galaxy games came close, but seriously, I need a frog suit again. Come on, Nintendo!  Plus, I feel this entry had the best soundtrack before Nintendo decide to go orchestral. 

Tecmo Bowl

I've never been into football games, so I never played this game when I was a kid. I know all my friends were really into it, though, and props for having the Denver Broncos in it. I tried playing a game and I got fed up when I threw two interceptions. It doesn't really hold any meaning for me, so I didn't bother trying to finish the game. I did think it was pretty cool, though, that there were a few voices in the game, which was big for 8-bit games back then. 

The Legend of Zelda

I'm not going to bother replaying this game, because this was one of those games I did spend some time on when I first got my NES Classic. It's a game that I've never beaten but I've never been compelled to actually go back and do. It's a bit aimless, and the gameplay is obviously stiff being a game of its era. It's just every Zelda after this and Zelda II have just been so much more fun to play. Some day, though, I'll go back to it and actually beat it. 

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Same with Zelda II, I'm not going to spend time revisiting this one just because its still fresh in my mind when I replayed it when I first got the Classic. I do remember this was one game my friends got when it first came out and we spent loads of time trying to finish. It's just stupidly hard for all the wrong reasons, and like Simon's Quest, it was variation from what made the original game so great. Like the first, I never finished but to be honest, I simply have no desire to, not even on my most bored day. 

If you read the whole thing, thank you. You're the real MVP. I'll have the SNES blog out in a few days. I think I need a bit of a break from old games.