Yeh, it's been quite a couple of days since I last posted a blog entry, but I have been a little busy and couldn't find the time. But today I have a little bit of time so I thought I'd cram one in. Lately, I have been observing video games for the Nintendo Entertainment Console, and discovered that a majority of them defy the term "video game". Sure, NES had it's share of crappy, tasteless titles, but had a lot of games that we still love and hold dare to this day. So here are some of my all time favorites and maybe some of yours as well. After reading this, maybe you would like to leave a comment or blog post discussing your favorites, and it's always fun to discuss these things with fellow viewers!
The Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link
This game is very hard and challenging, but overall, a fun, grandiose title in the NES game library. This is one of the first video games I ever saw and I remember my brother playing the game when he was younger back in the 90s (I also remember him getting frustrated and mad over the final boss of the game, Shadow Link). A lot of people dislike this game because it was a side-scrolling game, unlike the first game and the other Zelda games which were overview. But when this games was first released, it was one of the most badass titles for the NES console. This game also features elements that would go on to become the most iconic and well-noticed elements in the Legend of Zelda universe, like the Thunderbird and the many enemies you fight along your journey. Overall, Zelda 2 is not as good as the first, but still a very good and challenging game that is still one of my favorites to this day. It's also odd that Link goes around collecting miniature versions of himself!
Metroid
The protagonist of the game is a female! Does it get anymore brilliant than that. Metroid is one of the first video games ever to have this element, and is also one of the first NES sci-fi games. And it's a very good one for that matter. Metroid supplies us with a lot of exemplary moves to overcome enemies, as well as very good jumping skills to help use get to one platf0rm to another. It's also good to note that you become stronger and stronger after defeating each boss, which helps in the defeat of the final boss, Mother Brain at the very end. But the overall control is crisp and oriented, and the story makes sense and feels like something strait out of a sci-fi film and action serial. You'd be crazy to think that I wasn't going to include this masterpiece on my list, it surely is fun for all ages.
Castlevania
If you like horror and action, Castlevania is the game for you. While rich and exciting music and decent control, the game has a plot fit for a defying horror film. The character of Simon Belmont is a clash between the superhero we all know and love and the medieval knights of King Arthur's time. The villains are also memorable and hard. From floating Medusa heads to skeletons to Frankenstein's monster, the game packs a lot of nostalgia and mystery and a lot of hard core challenge. And Simon Belmont is one of the very few video game protagonist that uses a whip. Gee, Catwoman would be jealous! Overall, the game is fun and hard at the same time, and would spawn a lot of great sequels to follow in it's footsteps.
Kid Icarus
I am very disappointed. There are only two sequels to this game (well, the third game is in the making), but this game is still pretty fun to play. The little angel character you play as, Pitt, is a archer of death, shooting bows at all enemies in his path. He also has very fluent jumping skills, for he can jump to each platform without any trouble. And though there are only 3 game with the title Kid Icarus, Pitt has appeared in many other Nintendo games such as Super Smash Brothers. But the game has a unique game style and plot unlike any other NES title. It's a great mixture of mythology and folk and legends told for many years. It's also fun to look at the nice simplicity of the characters and what they represent. Kid Icarus is fun for the young and the old, and has a lot of things we don't see in today's games.
Mega Man
One of Capcom's most iconic games, Mega Man features a lot of shooting and fluent jumping to last you a lifetime. While most of the enemies are flying or scattering along the ground, Mega Man is easily able to jump from one area to the next without any trouble. It is also quite easy to shoot enemies in the game as well as replenish health and use what I call "super attack". The bosses are also fun and difficult but can easily be defeated if you work hard enough. I also like the sequels that would follow, but Mega Man stands out for me the most, not only because it's the first one, but it established a lot of the groundwork that later Megaman games would follow.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game
Being the hard core Ninja Turtles fan I am, I couldn't leave this one out. Based off the hit arcade game released a year earlier, TMNT 2 had a lot better controls and gameplay than the first game and had a lot more elements from the 1987 TV show, which still to this day is one of my all time favorite TV shows. Not only are you able to play as each one of the four Ninja Turtles, but you are also put up against classic enemies from the show, such as Bebop and Rocksteady and Baxter Stockman. Overall, this game is pretty fun to play, and if you are a hard-core Ninja turtles fan like myself, give it a go, because it's a lot better than some of the other TMNT games out there.
Super Mario Bros 2
Yeh, I know that it originally didn't start off as a Mario game, but Super Mario Bros 2 is quite superior than it's original incarnation, which is now known as The Lost Levels and is hard as all hell. It's unique and fun, and had a legacy of it's own. It's the only Mario game where you can pick up enemies and through them at other enemies, and makes use of the POW block, which was first introduced in 1983's Mario Bros. It is also one of the few Mario games not to have King Koopa Bowser as the main enemy, the game's antagonist instead being a giant frog named Wart. But other than that, Mario 2 is fun and pretty self explanatory,and one of the few Mario games where Princess Peach is not the damsel in distress (thank god, I bet Mario was getting tick off for rescuing her useless self so many times). But in the end, it was all a dream, a figment in Mario's mind, which is quite ashame too because wouldn't it have been fun if Luigi could jump like he did in this game?
Super Mario Bros
Is there anything more I can say about this game that has not already been said. This game is a masterpiece, a fun, challenging and overall amazing boom in video game history. It has just about everything you could want in a video game. Catchy music, great game control, fire flowers, and Italian plumbers going around and stomping on turtles. Super Mario Bros would have many sequels to follow it's iconic style and still to this day is an addicting piece of video game history. It is also one of the highest grossing video games of all time. Shigeru Miyamoto can go to the grave knowing that he created one of the most challenging well known games of all time. But the best is yet to come. I still love this game, even if the graphics are crap compared to today's graphics, but the game will always have a place in my heart as well as many other peoples' hearts.
Super Mario Bros 3
Now this game took what made the first game iconic and MAGNIFIED it. Not only is this game better than all the other Mario games, it is also the most difficult and conservative of the series. I mean, what other Mario games can you use frog suits? This game is strenuous yes, but when you have played it as many times as I have, it all comes natural. Super Mario Bros 3 will have a hype for eternity, and will always be everyone's favorite of the Mario trilogy. Many games like Tiny Tunes Adventures would try and copy it's overall gameplay, but would fail dismally in trying to make a game on par with this one. The controls are wonderful and may even be better than the controls in the first game, and the diversity in each world and enemy is also something to rave about. There's suns and goombas in boots, giant cheap-cheaps and even nuclear waffles, as the Angry Video Game Ned puts it. This game is fantastic, as all Mario games are, but none of them will ever surpass this one.
The Legend of Zelda
This game is the best video game of all time. Period. Did you really think I wasn't going to talk about this game, and how life-changing it was. The Legend of Zelda had all that video games are made of. It was also one of the first strategy games, filled with a groundbreaking story, game control, and different things you have to collect in order to move from one level to the next, such as swords and rupies. It was also the first game to have a saving system. But the game had it's own unique style that would never be matched. Though the names of the villains were random and one of the temples is in the shape of Nazi simple, it was a game that required all your skill and wisdom. Yes, it's hard because it's meant to be hard, and requires a lot of thinking and discovery. That's why I have decided that this game should be at the top of my list. How odd is it that I start the list with a Zelda game and end it with a Zelda game.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my talk of some of my video game favorites because they certainly are great games and worthy of recognition. A lot of people already know and love these games, but I thought it would be fun to talk about it myself because I just love to talk about video games with fellow players and fans.
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