Nintendo NES and Gameboy mini-reviews (LONG)
John Leo
to include comments about the games in the ratings themselves.
Therefore I encourage people to post comments and reviews of games to
the net, as of course a single number doesn't say very much. Here are
my comments and ratings for some Nintendo and Gameboy games. I'll
also include some indirect comments from Kyoko Watanabe, who played
most of these game with me, although she didn't submit any ratings
herself. I've included the name of the company after the game; (A/B)
means that the game is under A's name but B made it (to the best of my
knowledge). The guidelines I've used for my ratings are:
8-10 worth buying at full price
6-7 worth buying at a discount, or if you're particularly interested
in this kind of game
3-5 only worth renting
2 only worth playing for free, and only for a few minutes
1 worthless
In any case I'd always recommend renting a game before you buy it if
you can.
NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM
Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) 10
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo/Fuji TV) 10
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo) 10
When I was younger I played a lot of the now-classic video games such
as Pac Man, Asteroids, Defender, and so forth, some of which I liked
and some which I didn't. But the first game that I found truly
awesome was SMB, a game I'd barely heard of when I bought the NES last
summer. I chose the Nintendo because there were plenty of games
available and I could rent them, but due to SMB and others I became a
real fan. It's hard to describe why SMB is so fabulous...it has a
sort of sense of fantasy and wonder that no game I'd played before,
and surprisingly none since (save the SMB and Zelda series, and
probably MOTHER, another Miyamoto creation) has captured. Aside from
that it has excellent graphics (I prefer the simple, clean, colorful
graphics to detailed graphics which are becomming more popular),
music, and most importantly an excellent feel that makes it so much
fun to play. This is a game I'll still play again and again (and it's
hard enough that I still haven't won yet), and it's fun to see even
friends who normally don't like video games have a great time with
this one (the only game which I've seen beginners like more is
Tetris). Truly an incredible game.
Nintendo decided not to bring the original SMB2 to this country but
instead adapted Fuji-TV's "Dream Factory dokidoki Panic," and somehow
that game fits right in with the series, although the game play is
different (and the feel not quite as good). The originality is
perhaps even greater than SMB, and Kyoko and I would emit screams of
delight every time we discovered something new (which was often). I
finally won it a while ago, and I don't think it's as easy as people
have said, although getting lots of extra lives helps a lot. Still
worth playing again and again.
I wondered if Nintendo could even top SMB2, and they did with SMB3.
This is easily the best videogame I've ever played. The imagination
and variety in just the first two worlds is incredible, and I can't
wait to play more. Once more instead of making just a sequel,
Nintendo has created an entirely new game. With the movie Spinal Tap
in mind, I'd give this game an "11."
Legend Of Zelda, The (Nintendo) 10
Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link (Nintendo) 10
Two more beautiful games from the Miyamoto team, these blend together
action and adventure (as in role-playing games) better than any other
games I've seen. And Zelda II is completely different from Zelda I.
Both are extremely challenging. I like Link a little better, and the
"pre-ending" (the last scene before the ending) is remarkable. Zelda
is probably Kyoko's favorite game.
Dragon Warrior (Nintendo/Enix) 9
Ultima (FCI/Richard Garriot) 4
I honestly can't say why I like Dragon Warrior (DragonQuest in Japan)
so much, but the game manages to be perfectly addictive. I played
during all my spare time for a week until I solved it (and Kyoko later
did about the same). I can't wait to play DragonQuest II, III and IV!
A couple people described Ultima as being even better, but so far I
really don't like Ultima. There is so much tedium (I guess it was
meant to make the game "realistic") that I haven't enjoyed playing at
all. Instead I went back and played Link all the way through again,
and then Dragon Warrior again (still really fun as I'd forgotten
almost everything). I'll write up a longer review of these two when I
get further into Ultima.
Donkey Kong Classics (Nintendo) 6
Mario Bros. (Nintendo) 8
Pinball (Nintendo) 5
Early fun games by Nintendo. Mario Bros. is especially fun with two
people since you can play cooperatively or competitively (for some
reason we've been only able to do the latter). Unfortunately it's out
of print now. Pinball is a lot of fun, but gets repetitive after a
while, so I only recommend renting it.
Rad Racer (Nintendo/Square) 8
RC Pro Am (Nintendo/Rare) 8
Two really good racing games. Rad Racer is from the perspective of
behind the car, while RC Pro Am is an overview of the track.
Different enough that it's worth getting both if you like racing games.
Faxanadu (Nintendo/Falcom) 9
Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo) 9
Metroid (Nintendo) 8
Kid Icarus (Nintendo) ?
Blaster Master (Sunsoft) 7
Bionic Commando (Capcom) 7
Some really good action games for the NES. Faxanadu actually has
some elements of role-playing games, but it's mostly action. Ninja
Gaiden is a terrific game with a great feel, and the cinematic
intermissions make it even better. Metroid has the usual great
Nintendo feel, and some nice touches (Kyoko especially likes maru
mari--become a ball). Kid Icarus too seems really fun but it's out of
print and we've only been able to play it in a store. Blaster Master
has a great bouncy feel, but with no passwords or continues gets very
frustrating. Bionic Commando has its unique method of movement and a
good feel, although quite hard for us.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Konami) 4
Willow (Capcom) 6
This section is for "obvious Zelda series ripoffs," with Simon's
Quest based on Link, and Willow based on Zelda (some of the
similarities are embarrasingly obvious). Simon's Quest is a pretty
bad and unfun game, but Willow is actually decent and worth trying.
I'll try to write up a longer review soon.
Mega Man II (Capcom) 4
Monster Party (Bandai) 5
Wizards & Warriors (Akklaim/Rare) 6
Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II (Akklaim/Rare) 5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Konami) 4
Contra (Konami) 3
Adventures of Bayou Billy, The (Konami) 2
Unfortunately there are plenty of mediocre games for the NES, and
here are some I've rented. Actually almost everyone seems to love
Mega Man II, so you can ignore my opinion, but I didn't like it (and
Kyoko liked it even less, refusing to play after a short time). The 8
mini-boss stages are all quite easy, and I'd defeated them all in a
couple hours (and that was when I was really bad). But it was only
this easiness that kept me going that long, as I didn't enjoy myself
while playing at all. The graphics and music are both quite good, but
the feel isn't.
Monster Party has worse graphics and sound, but is a little more fun
to play. It's also very easy and it took only a day to win, but I
wouldn't want to play again. You can change into a monster like in
Altered Beast, and the only real strategy is to become this monster
and blast everything. There are some cute bosses (such as being
attacked by various Japanese delicacies) and I give the game an extra
point for the excellent scene in which zombies dance to taiko music.
Wizards & Warriors is actually a pretty decent game which involves
mostly jumping, and has a good feel (once you get good you can hold
down the A button and have fun!) but I'm not sure I'd recommend buying
it since it was easy to win in a day. The sequel Ironsword is harder
but not as much fun, and I actually prefer W&W's primitive graphics
(which were more, say, surreal) to the latter's.
TMNT was fun for a little while and quickly got boring. The feel
isn't very good, typical of Konami. Contra is about the same, and
isn't much better with two people (although we both hate mindless
destruction games in general). Bayou Billy is your basic terrible
kung-fu game, although it does also have shooting and racing games
built in. None are any fun.
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (Nintendo) 10
Tecmo Bowl (Tecmo) 8
Ice Hockey (Nintendo) 8
Double Dribble (Konami) 7
I never ever thought I would like a boxing game (I can't stand the
sport) but Punch-Out is incredible. Nintendo twists boxing around to
make a really fun game. The opponents and their ideosyncracies are
great, and every new one is a challenge. Tecmo too takes liberties
with football to make an excellent and very playable game. Ice Hockey
is also lots of fun, and Double Dribble is decent as well.
Mickey Mousecapade (Capcom/Hudson) 4
Milon's Secret Castle (Hudson) 3
Hudson's Adventure Island (Hudson) ?
I've yet to see a decent game by Hudson for the NES. I've only seen
Adventure Island being played so I can't rate it, but it looks similar
to Secret Castle, which was no fun at all. Mickey Mousecapade is a
little better, but quickly gets boring.
Life Force (Konami) 8
Konami might make terrible action games, but they make great space
games. I'm terrible at space games but really like them; in any case
Life Force (and R-Type in the arcade) is enough for me. It's nice
that two can play at once as well. Haven't tried Gradius yet.
Tetris (Tengen/Alexy Pazhitnov) 8
I hate the arcade version of Tetris--the joystick is very
unresponsive--but no such problem exists with the Tengen version.
Defintely one of the best versions of the game I've played, with a
good feel and plenty of options. Unfortunately no longer on the
market, but you may be able to rent it. Haven't tried the Nintendo
version.
Wheel Of Fortune (Gametek/Rare) 5
A good game if you like Wheel of Fortune, but unfortunately (at least
in the copy we rented) there are numerous programming bugs. And most
annoyingly the random number generator is not very random at all, so
we kept seeing the same puzzles again and again. Worth renting once,
though, and it was amusing that we played this right after Mike
Tyson's Punch-Out, and the first puzzle was "heavyweight champion."
Duck Hunt (Nintendo) 2
Hogan's Alley (Nintendo) ?
To The Earth (Nintendo) 6
Nintendo rather meanly makes you buy at least the light gun if you
want Super Mario Brothers, and includes the boring Duck Hunt with it.
Most of the other light gun games look similar, and although we
enjoyed playing Hogan's Alley in the store I'll bet it gets boring
fast. However To the Earth is pretty decent. The idea is so
straightforward I'm surprised no one did it before: Make a typical
space shooter with levels and bosses and so forth, have the
perspective be from the ship and use the light gun. The result is
quite a fun game, although extremely difficult for those of us with
bad aim (we haven't even seen the first boss yet!). Very tiring on
the eyes, but worth playing again after some rest.
World Class Track Meet (Nintendo) 7
Super Team Games (Nintendo) ?
For an extra $30 or $40 over the action set you can get the power
set, which includes the power pad and World Class Track Meet. For
just this game it's worth it unless you don't want a bulky pad. A
really fun game, definitely intended to play with friends rather than
against the computer. Unfortunately it seemed this type of game was
about all the power pad is good for, and almost all games so far are
basically running games. We rented out Super Team Games, but it
didn't come with instructions and we couldn't figure out the strange
movements you have to make. It wasn't fun at all, but maybe with
instructions (and more people) it could be. Nintendo's new "Short
Order/Eggsplode!" looks promising as a differnent, if silly, kind of
game for the pad.
Friday The 13th (LJN) 1
The worst game for the Nintendo, this one is to be avoided at all
costs. Actually I'd guess the other LJN games, all of which are movie
adaptations, are equally terrible, but I refuse to even try them.
GAMEBOY
Tetris (Nintendo/Alexy Pazhitnov) 9
Perhaps the best version of tetris around. I can't wait to try the
two-player mode.
Super Mario Land (Nintendo) 10
One of the reasons I bought the Gameboy; along with Tetris this game
alone makes it worthwhile. The feel is even better than the original
SMB, and the game seems specifically tailored to the Gameboy. The two
shooting stages play like a really fun space game! Lots to discover,
and worth playing over and over.
Tennis (Nintendo) 9
An excellent sports game, with lots of options. Quite challenging.
Alleyway (Nintendo) 7
I never liked Breakout that much, but Alleyway, using the B button,
has a much better feel. A good mindless relaxing game.
Shumi wa nandesuka, sensei. `/ / | | John Leo
--- Oreka? Benkyou o oshierukoto dayo. | --|-- l...@tds.lcs.mit.edu
Iyanaseikaku desune. \ / --| / . | / /| l...@athena.mit.edu
--- Omae no shumi wa nandayo. -| / | / / |
Benkyou o osowarukoto desu. --| \/ \/ / \| (Kazoku Geemu)