Chris' Functional Guide For Making of Spectacular Unlicensed Gaming - Major Unending Success!

While I'm sure many of you have a fair amount of games on your shelf already, I have no doubt that a few of you are just starting to assemble your game collection. So with that in mind, have you ever been out game shopping and you see a cart that looks radically different from the others? A blue nintendo game? A gameboy game with all of the pins showing? A game with an otherwise wacky size, shape or color? You more than likely have stumbled across an unlicensed game. Before you start shelling out your life savings trying to track down everything with an off-color case, perhaps you should ask yourself what you look for in a game and whether or not you need every unlicensed game out there. They range from Christian-themed games to pirated bootleg multicarts, to reproductions and more. So let us dive into the murky pond that is the unlicensed game world and see if we come up with a winner!

NOTE: I'm primarily focusing on the NES for this tutorial. There are certainly a fair share of wacky bootlegs and strange carts for other systems, but the Nintendo has the most notorious set of games and perhaps one of the largest collections.

Publisher: Tengen
Modus Operandi: Released (surprisingly faithful) arcade ports in black carts that slope down to a point on the top label side: resembling a paper airplane from the side.
Popular titles: Gauntlet, Tetris (Tengen,) Toobin, and Skull and Crossbones

Shinobi is pure ninja awesomeness!

Tengen was a branch of Atari and they released several wonderful arcade ports and a few original titles. Tengen is unique in that they started as a licensed third-party company; putting out games such as Pacman, Gauntlet, and RBI Baseball under the Nintendo umbrella. As a result of Nintendo's strict release policies, coupled with a spat over the Tengen release of Tetris: The Soviet Mind Game; Tengen started to release its games in their now familiar, unlicensed, black carts. Most of the games are ports of arcade classics such as Pacman, Toobin', Skull and Crossbones, and Fantasy Zone and a majority of the games were developed by Namco, Sega, or Sunsoft. Most Tengen carts will run you less than 10-15 bucks except for Tetris which has its own unique history of being pulled from the shelves due to a legal spat between Nintendo and Tengen over copyright. This game fetches a hefty penny for this reason - and also because it is considered a better version of Tetris with its 2-player mode intact.

It's available RIGHT NOW (as of this writing)

Publisher: Camerica
Modus Operandi: Released (moderately decent) original games and peripherals for the NES. The carts are typically gold or silver with a NTSC/PAL switch on the back. They also produced the Aladdin Deck Enhancer and the carts for it are squatty, black, and roughly shaped like an Atari 5200 cart.
Popular Games: Bee 52, Big Nose Freaks Out, and the Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy

I'm sure there's a joke about a wall, a big fall, and scrambled eggs here somewhere.

Camerica was a company that released a handful of peripherals and games developed by Codemasters. Along with Tengen, these carts seemed to be widely available in rental chains (in spite of Nintendo's strict policies condemning unlicensed games alongside their own) and the quality is nearly up there with the output of Tengen. Games such as Big Nose the Caveman, Bee 52, and The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy are fun time-killers and while none of these games could be considered gems, they all have a quirky, fun, cheerful quality to them. Possibly one of the best Camerica releases (in my humble opinion) is Micro Machines. The Aladdin Deck Enhancer was a device made late in the NES' lifespan that was made to cut down on production/game costs by eliminating the necessity of a special chip in each cart to bypass the NES' lockout chip. Most of the games released for it are available in non-Aladdin form and there's not really too many reasons to recommend it aside for "collector's sake." What I would recommend picking up are the Quattro series that Camerica released. They are multicarts that feature 4 games of a given genre: Sports, Adventure, and Arcade. They give you a broad sampling of what Camerica has to offer and are really affordable.

It's...err...rare?!

Publishers: Color Dreams/Bunch Games/Wisdom Tree
Modus Operandi: Released (notoriously mediocre) original games and clones - as well as cannibalizing from their own library as the company later branched off from Color Dreams to Wisdom Tree to Bunch Games. Carts are usually either blue or black. Also known for releasing Bible-themed games under the heading Wisdom Tree.
Popular Titles: Spiritual Warfare, Bible Adventures, Tagin Dragon, Challenge of the Dragon, and Baby Boomer

Available in Black and Blue varieties! Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Ah, Color Dreams. Better and wiser game reviewers than I (Seanbaby, The Angry Video Game Nerd, and many more,) have decimated the Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree/Bunch Games collections for their shoddy controls, mediocre graphics, absurd storylines, and grating music. That being said - I know at least a handful of people (as well as myself) who have a strange, morbid nostalgia for this quirky little footnote in video game history. Many of their games are either clones of popular titles (Super Mario Bros 2, Legend of Zelda, Solomon's Key) or actually clones of their own games (Sunday Funday is Menace Beach with 30% more Jesus, Exodus is really just Crystal Mines gone all Old Testament, etc.) Some of my friends and I would actually file these games into the so-bad-they're-hilariously-great category. They come in baby blue and black varieties and many places online will tell you that one variety is rarer than the other. If that's true, I honestly don't understand nor care to understand the distinction. As far as I can tell the colors are interchangeable based on how much stock they have of one type or the other and just about every copy of Captain Comic I see has an "inverted Jenny" style label so just because your label is upside down doesn't make you a lottery winner. Besides, that game is so bad-it's-awful. So we all lose. Their rarer/ more valuable games are Baby Boomer, Tagin Dragon, Operation Secret Storm (a game based on the first gulf war!) and Challenge of the Dragon. Whether or not they are worth the price is based entirely on how hardcore of a collector you are. Lukie Games frequently has most of these games available on a fairly regular basis so if you need to fill out your unlicensed game collection, I can't think of a better place to do it!

Publisher: American Video Entertainment
Modus Operandi: Released (mostly forgettable) puzzle games, clones, and a handful of original titles here and there.
Popular Titles: F-15 City War, Deathbots, Wally Bear and the NO! Gang, Venice Beach Volleyball

Brought to you in Booty-vision!

AVE put out quite a few games in their time as an unlicensed game publisher - many of which are fair-to-middling games that would not be out of place among the game packs you get when you get a stock Microsoft PC with games such as Solitaire, Mahjong, Blackjack, a sliding puzzle game, and a Tetris style game as well. Probably the best game from AVE is F-15 City War which feels the most like a professional action shooter game. For the hardest of core game collectors - you should start with this game first, and then pick up oddities like Wally Bear and the NO! Gang,  Deathbots, and Mermaids of Atlantis. For someone looking for a lot of these games (as well as many other unlicensed games) should pick up the Maxivision 15, better known as the Maxi-15. It combines a few games from AVE, American Game Cartridges, and Color Dreams. The cart includes many of these AVE games as well as rare titles Menace Beach and Chiller which make the multicart worth the price of admission alone if you're a collector that needs every NES game but not necessarily every NES cart.

Let's not get it twisted - they aren't ALL individually awesome games...

Publisher: Panesian
Modus Operandi: Released (less than stimulating) adult games for the NES that were themselves clones/hacks of other unlicensed games with nudity shoe-horned in. Games were released in black carts not unlike a backwards AVE cart and housed in Clamshell VHS style boxes.
Popular Titles: Hot Slots, Bubble Bath Babes, and Peek-a-Boo Poker.

Earn yourself a cool 1000 Lukie Points in one sweep!

While this publisher only released three games here in the states - not much to justify bringing it into this list; it's a unique company in that they released the only set of Adult NES games here in the US (barring Sachen's Honey Peach and a few other Hacker International games that would wind up on strange multicart bootlegs.) There's really nothing special about the games themselves, 8-bit nudity aside - and they are all just naughty versions of other releases. That being said, they are interesting to collectors because they are very scarce (being available strictly through phone order) and very few made it into the market.

So that is a brief sampling of what is out there in the vast universe known as unlicensed games. There's certainly games that didn't make my list here. There's "Action 52"...but you don't really want that. And there's a slew of white, grey, translucent, and black carts that have multiple games, homebrew games, or unreleased games on them. If they are cheap and you're willing to take the gamble, pick one up! Most of the previously mentioned games are available at Lukie Games on a regular basis so get yourself a copy or put yourself on the waiting list!

Just say "meh?!"

Wendy Every Witch Way (GBC)

Wendy Every Witch Way is a slightly obscure gem by Wayforward Technology which along with another slightly less obscure game called Xtreme Sports both pushed the limits of the Gameboy Color with vibrant visuals and for the most part decent soundtracks. These two games took the regular conventions of a typical Gameboy Game (a basic sports game, or shooter) and polished those themes till they no longer looked anything like their predecessors. Now here is a link to some gameplay footage, you may be thinking, “Well that looks like any other skating game for the handheld!” You would be right in saying that instance made the game look like it was just a run of the mill Tony Hawk impersonator, but let me tell you this friend. Xtreme Sports had story. Yes dear reader you read that correctly the game had a viable story complete with cutscenes and an over world that could be explored.

I’d compare Xtreme Sports to Mario Tennis, only more anime styled.

Whereas Extreme Sports was a unique sports game, Wendy Every Witch Way is part Space Shooter and part Plaformer. The game stars Wendy the Good Witch a character from a comic series of the same name owned by Harvey Comics. Contemporary Gamers may know her better from her guest appearance in the second Casper movie, Casper Meets Wendy. It is worth noting that both intellectual properties belong to Harvey Entertainment. Wendy Every Witch Way is essentially about Wendy finding an odd chest in her home, and being of the curious sorts she opens it releasing many large green orbs (which are moonstones if the manual is to be believed) which cause a Castle floating above her home to collapse due to these gems reversing gravity. Wendy possesses a standard attack from her wand which can be upgraded by collecting the numerous stars strewn about each level, she also has the capacity to reverse gravity as she pleases moving from the floor to the ceiling with ease. Gravity can be a cruel mistress as changing gravity will also have an impact on the environment as certain enemies and hazards will move with the change of gravity.

They are jealous of your mad Fred Astaire skills!

The game itself is broken up into 4 levels with 3 stages each, there are also 3 bonus space shooter mini-levels in between where you shoot enemies and collect stars. If you happen to beat the game with enough stars you are able to play through an additional series of stages through a rather crazy space stage. Each level of the game introduces a new concept you will have to overcome, the first level has you learning how to jump from the ceiling to the floor by altering gravity, the second has you dealing with stage hazards, and the third has you dealing with hazards and enemies that switch from the ceiling and floor, etc. You are eased into these over the course of the three stages so difficulty is never much of a problem even if you choose to be extra ballsy and selected hard mode at the start screen.

I’m not enough of a badass to even consider doing hard mode.

Control-wise Wendy Every Witch Way is a pinnacle for what any platformer should be as everything is responsive, the gravity altering is incredibly responsive as if you are quick enough you can continuously alter gravity in mid-air over and over keeping Wendy perpetually in one spot. The Attack is quick and can be upgraded by grabbing stars (Stars are also representative of your life as when you have stars you lose one of them instead of dying if hit). The space shooter mini-stages are interesting and control just like Gradius where you can move all over the screen and shoot forward. Just like in the regular stages grabbing stars upgrade your attack and you can’t alter gravity but you can flip Wendy over which makes moving up or down slightly faster depending on whether you are right-side up or upside down.

And she’s so damn happy about it!

The game’s graphics are very nice and the stages all have a great deal of detail, especially for a Gameboy Color game. If you have a minute (as I’m sure you do if you are reading this) then give this video a look. Did you watch it? Did you notice the detail put into the moving background, how about the little explosions when enemies are destroyed, or just Wendy’s movement? Don’t just take that little gameplay video as an example…

That’s a Screen from the transition screen before the first stage, just like Extreme Sports Wendy Every Witch Way pushes the limits of the Gameboy Color with it’s colorful and vibrant visuals. The sound for the game is also very nice with moderately catchy level tunes and even a simplistic voice for Wendy limited mostly to yelps from being hit and what not. Wendy Every Witch Way is a great game for the Gameboy Color and is a simplistic platformer that is insanely fun and has a good deal of replay value I highly recommend this game or any game by Wayforward Technology.

What console should I get? Pro's & Con's (Gen VII Edition)

Quite often people ask “Should I buy a new video game console? Which one is best for me? Are any of the consoles superior to the other?” Well I can answer all of those questions with one word answers, however that would make for a poor how-to guide (Yes, True, and No) so instead I will discuss at length each console and it’s positives and negatives and hopefully by the end of this you will have a better grasp as to which of these beauties you want to invest your hard earned money into. IN GLORIOUS LIST FORMART!

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#1 The Nintendo Wii 

TL;DR: The Wii is cheap, it has good games buried under mounds of shit, it has the most intuitive motion controls out of all the current generation consoles.

Over these past six or so years no gaming console flew off the shelves faster then the Nintendo Wii, with it’s intuitive motion controls and large number of quality first and second party titles it cornered the market for the seventh generation and is historically one of the most bought consoles next to the Playstation 2. For the first year of the Wii’s lifespan it was the most sought after console and for many it was next to impossible to obtain as the demand for it grew increasingly higher even after the holiday shopping season had ended. Unfortunately though despite a powerful line-up of decent launch titles the console was flooded with massive amounts of third party shovel-ware making many of the consoles gems go unnoticed and unappreciated. Nintendo’s campaign of making a family friendly console went off without a hitch and many homes already have a Wii, though how much they are used is mostly determined by the reasons it was purchased.

Pro’s and Con’s

Pro’s:

High Quality First and Second Party Titles: if you are a fan of the “Legend of Zelda”, “Mario Brothers”, “Metroid”, “Resident Evil”, “Castlevannia”, or “Sonic the Hedgehog” series the console has many high quality titles, to supplement them there are a host of new titles like the “No More Heroes” series or “Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom”. Through the Virtual Console you can purchase and download older games that may or may not be hard to find which you can then play on your Wii using either a WiiMote, Gamecube Controller, or Classic Controller.

Backwards Compatibility: The Wii is fully backwards compatible with the Wii and many of its peripherals barring the Gameboy Player attachment, which means if your GameCube is on the fritz you can upgrade to a Wii and still enjoy your older games.

Intuitive Motion Controls: The WiiMote is, as of this post, the most effective and intuitive motion control video game peripheral, the WiiMote is responsive and with the new “Plus” version can now track full movement allowing for realistic sword or gunplay.

Well-Balanced amount of game genre’s: The Wii has games for everyone covering every single genre. You want strategy games? Bam! They have those. You want RPG’s? BAM! They have a bunch of those as well. Etc.

Inexpensive: The Wii is a generally inexpensive console and the games and peripherals are also fairly cheap to get as well.

Practically Non-Existent hardware Issues: Known hardware issues with the Wii are almost nonexistent and the system is known to run at top performance regardless of setup.

Many motion based games: A vast majority of games for the Wii are motion based which may seem gimmicky to some but the actual experience is something that needs to be felt to be believed.

Con’s:

Overabundance of Shovelware: For every good game released on the Wii console 20 Imagine Fashion Designer and Cooking Mama’s are released. The curse of being a desirable console caused third party developers to come out of the woodwork to put out as many games as they could for the console.

Non-HD console: For those who demand that everything they view be in 1080p ultra-mega-super-deluxe-chocolate coated super quality prepare to be disappointed as the Wii only has conventional AV output meaning nothing higher then 480p.

Unable to Play Non-game DVD’s + CD’s: Currently the Wii is incapable of playing conventional DVD movies unless you are willing to go through the hassle of modding your system.

Graphics: Many games on the console have only subpar graphics when compared to the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Shoddy Wi-Fi: The Wii has very poor Wi-Fi reception and commonly when trying to play games online one will experience lag unless they get an ethernet adapter or have very high quality Wi-Fi.

Notable Games:

• Legend of Zelda (series)
• Metroid (series)
• Super Mario Bros. (series)
• No More Heroes (series)
• Castlevannia
• Madworld
• House of the Dead (series)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom

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#2 Playstation 3

Tl;DR: The PS3 is very Pricey, but for what you are paying you get a quality console despite it’s inability to play last gen games. If you are looking for an HD console and are focused more on traditional gaming this fits the bill very nicely.

Despite the Playstation 2’s immense worldwide success Sony’s latest brainchild the Playstation 3 was less well received by consumers worldwide. The Playstation 3 suffered slow sales from the get-go and was hard pressed to to push the console which at the time was priced at around $500-$600, even Sony chairman and CEO Sir Howard Stringer had a hard time keeping investors in the PS3 after such a terrible start. Over time however the sales of the PS3 have been steadily growing thanks to price cuts and a plethora of quality games for the console. The PS3 recently received the peripheral the Playstation Move which according to Sony has shipper 8.8 million units since it’s release in 2010, the move was well received averaging 8/10’s from most reviewing sites.

Pro’s and Con’s

Pro’s:

Quality First Party and Third Party Titles: Sony being the big corporation that it is has many groups under it’s belt pumping out games, many of which are subpar, though there is a massive enough amount of games that overall the good games make up for it.

Partial Backwards Compatibility (For the Original Fat 20gb PS3): The PS3 upon its release had partial backwards compatibility, notably only certain PS2 games would work on the PS3, however all PSX games work on it.

Quality Peripheral: The Playstation Move is the equal of the WiiMote in most ways, and has amazing motion tracking ability.

Adequate Wi-Fi capability: The PS3 has good Wi-Fi capability though once in a while the PS3 experiences lag though it isn’t very hindering. If possible it is recommended that PS3 owners who want to do things online use an ethernet connection for fastest speeds.

Heavy RPG focus: A Majority of the games for the console are RPG’s, many of which are console exclusive.

Rechargeable Controllers: The controllers have internal batteries which means that you do not have to spend money on batteries and what not.

Rare Hardware Issues: The PS3 has had hardware issues reported, though they are all rare and due to poor maintenance of the console. The most notable is the Yellow Light of Death which means either a hard drive failure or overheating.

HD Console: For the purist, the PS3 is capable of 1080p with use of a HDMI cable.

Plays DVD’s, CD’s, and Blurays: The PS3 can play conventional CD’s, DVD’s, and Blu-Rays. It cannot however play HD-DVD’s.

Con’s:

Limited Backwards Compatibility: The 40gb, 160gb, 320gb, and Slim models are incapable of playing any PS2 games. They can however play PSX games.

Lack of Support for Peripheral: The PS3 Move has only a handful of games released exclusively for use with it. However a decent amount of games that are released are compatible with the Playstation Move (Most are FPS’s though).

Expensive: The PS3 is very pricey regardless of where you look, it generally averages $200 for an older 20gb model, the newer versions and the slim go for even more.

Bulky: For the space conscious the PS3 is rather bulky compared to the other current gen consoles.

Notable Games:

• Little Big Planet (series)
• Infamous (series)
• Uncharted (series)
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Jak and Daxter (series)
• Ratchet and Clank (series)
• 3D Dot Game Heroes
• Valkyria Chronicles
• Disgaea (series)
• Atelier Rorona

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#3 Xbox 360

TL;DR: The Xbox 360 is the middle child of the consoles price-wise as older models go for about $120-$160 and newer models go for around $200-$250. A majority of the games for the console are FPS’s with a small amount of RPG’s and Puzzles to dilute them. Older models are notorious for hardware issues but newer models like the Elite and S model are known to work fairly well. The system has many FPS’s and a healthy online user-base.

Microsofts notorious console, the Xbox 360 was a highly anticipated console by fans of First-Person Shooters all across the U.S. both prior and upon it’s release but was plagued by hardware problems which detracted many newer potential buyers. Despite the original problems of the console Microsoft has improved and fixed them over time with several new version of the console with the latest being the Model S. The Model S is boasted as being free of defects and as of this post no notable instances of the RROD have been announced. The Xbox 360 is renowned for it’s highly competitive, if not fickle, user base that generally jumps ship on the older games in favor of the latest. With the latest peripheral addition the "Kinect” Microsoft hoped to cash in on the casual market while boosting sales of their console, they report an increase in units shipped by several million.

Pro’s and Con’s

Pro’s:

Quality First and Third Party Titles: Notably the Halo, Crackdown, and Gears of War series.

Backwards Compatible: The Xbox 360 is able to play all Xbox games, however online functions on original Xbox games is nonexistent due to the servers having been taken down years ago. The game’s also save onto the systems hard drive, however they cannot be installed to reduce wear to the disc drive.

Plays CD’s, DVD’s, and HD-DVD’s: The Xbox 360 can play all conventional Music CD’s, Video DVD’s, and with the HD-DVD accessory it can play HD-DVD’s.

Heavy First Person Shooter focus: A vast majority of games on the console are FPS’s, many of which are exclusive to the console and Windows PC’s.

HD Console: The Xbox 360 is HD capable with use of an HDMI cable for 1080p picture quality.

High Quality Wi-Fi (in S model or with Wi-Fi Accessory): The Wi-Fi on the Xbox 360 is practically lag free and is incredibly fast compared to the other current gen consoles. The console also takes wired Ethernet connection for ultra fast connection.

Incredibly Competitive User-base: The entire 360 community is highly competitive so for most games it is incredibly easy to find opponents to fight or lobbies to join.

Voice Recognition and Input: The Kinect allows you to bark orders at it and for the most part it will do as you say. Occasionally it will do the exact opposite or something you didn’t say at all, but being the only thing of its kind it is a unique addition.

Con’s:

Wonky Motion Controls: The Kinect motion controls are sub-par and ultimately are reminiscent of the failed Eyetoy. If you move to fast it doesn’t read your motions and sometimes it doesn’t read them when you move to slow, overall the motion controls come off as gimmicky and not worth the $100+ it costs.

Pay-to-play online: The Xbox is the only console in which you have to pay a fee in order to play online. You are presented with the option of buying in increments of 3 months or a monthly basis.

Poor support for older games: As users jump to the next big hit, older games are played less and as a result many older games no longer have available servers for playing.

Hardware Issues: Older versions of the Xbox 360 are plagued with hardware problems, specifically the Red Ring of Death.

Peripherals are Expensive: All the Official Microsoft brand Peripherals are incredibly expensive, a wireless controller without any sort of recharging battery is $50 and a wired one is around $40, the play and charge kit goes for about $25, etc.

Notable Games:

• Halo (series)
• Left 4 Dead (series)
• Gears of War (series)
• Crackdown (series)
• Perfect Dark Zero
• Ninety Nine Nights
• Dead Rising (series)
• Blue Dragon

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Verdict

So what console should you get? Well to be blunt none of these consoles is superior to the other, each specialize in an area and the area you (the customer) find most appealing is the console most suited for your needs. If upon reading this article you feel the need to repeat the question “But which console should I get?” then the obvious answer from there is that you do not need a console. If you cannot deign which you want from the information provided then you do not truly want nor need a console. Above amongst the pro’s and con’s of each console I included a list of notable games exclusive to that console if those games interest you then that is the system you should purchase.

 

*This Article is subject to revision at a future date due to new console versions being released and/or due to new accessories or revisions to consoles that cause a notable change.

Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle (NES)

The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle (Grammar fail?) is a palette swap of a game based on the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit created by Kemco. The exact reasoning for this game and it’s subsequent sequels existence is purely due to a rights dispute in which Kemco lost the rights to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and had to find a way of sending a game overseas somehow. Just as all seemed bleak for them they attained the rights to the Looney Tunes and swapped all of the characters from the movie with lookalike characters from the Looney Tunes, they would keep this trend going into this games many sequels and more or less every subsequent game they would ever make. The first of this series of games I ever played was the second one and not the first so imagine my surprise to realize that the sequel was much better then the original, though this is more likely due to them both being palette swaps of different games, though that’s a story for another day.

Who Framed Bugs Bunny?

The premise of the game is that you are Bugs Bunny and you are attempting to traverse the Crazy Castle and reach you’re girlfriend Honey Bunny.

Why is it that we don't remember her?

I digress though, you go through many seemingly identical levels in the game while being inessentially pursued by other iconic characters from the Looney Tunes like Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam, all of which may be partially retarded as at certain points they kind of spaz out and instead of flat out murdering the hell out of you they just decide to walk away instead allowing you to complete the level. On any given level there may be multiple’s of these characters and very often they will each be a different color which I assume is due to the game wanting you to have a better grasp of the location of where each of these guys who are trying to kill you are located. The objective of any given level is to collect all of the carrots which are placed all over the levels seemingly at random, and once you have grabbed all of the carrots you win the level and Bugs does a really weird dance involving waving his arms.

The controls are basic, you have the ability to ascend stairs and ramps, and if you pick up a fist get the ability to use that to kill one of the enemies who are trying to murder you, there are other less common items like the ink bottle which makes you invincible for a brief period of time but the fist will be the weapon you will see the most often. The only other way of killing any enemy is to drop one of the many objects strewn throughout the stage, to actually drop the objects you have to push it off a ledge onto an enemy below you. The actual task of knocking an object on the enemy can be difficult or hard depending on how fast you are moving and the item in which you are trying to drop, I’ve noticed that when you run at an item and hit it the item will usually move 2-3 spaces instead of 1, I’ve also noticed that some lighter objects like the bucket will usually move 2 spaces instead of 1. One thing I must mention is the players ability to ascend and descend from stairs is kinda bad, it’s reminiscent of the stair climbing problems the first Castlevannia had in which once you were on those stairs you were dedicated to going up or down.

I can’t say much for the graphics/animations of the game but for a relatively simplistic platformer with no real story or true premise aside from being something quickly slapped together by Kemco in order to get a game Stateside. The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle is an alright game, it by no means is perfect. Honestly though I would not really recommend this game unless you truly are a collector or you want to experience a game with no content. This game may be fairly solid mechanics-wise but it isn’t something the average gamer would really want to play unless they are into collecting or really want to play a Bugs Bunny game. I bought this game a long time ago and I go back to play it once in a while… yet I never really feel fulfilled playing it; I attribute all it’s problems to the fact that the game is obviously a rushed job of a poorly palette swapped game.

TL;DR : Buy this only if you are a collector or like Bugs Bunny.

Pokémon Gold and Silver (GBC)

How do you measure its worth?

If there has ever been any constant over the course of this life of mine its my love of Pokémon. I recall many fond memories playing the Gen I games, thwarting Team Rockets plans, defeating the Elite Four, and catching Mewtwo those were good times and being the nostalgic person that I am the first generation of Pokémon will always be regarded as perfect in my memory. Two years after devoting every fiber of my being towards the goal of being a Pokémon master Pokémon Gold and Silver were released, naturally I snagged both copies of the games and was completely taken in by the games. The rest of the year 2000 would be spent beating the games and trying once again to become the greatest Pokémon master there ever was.

Pokémon Gold and Silver released on October 15, 2000 to North American audiences is commonly regarded as being the superior to Red, Blue, and Yellow as many improvements were made to the game in regards to graphics, sound, and battle mechanic. The many concepts and facets introduced in this game would set a precedent for all subsequent games to improve upon.

In Pokémon Gold and Silver just as in the Red and Blue your ultimate objective remains the same, and that is to become the Pokémon Master. To go about doing this you need to catch all of the Pokémon and defeat all of the Gym Leaders of both the Johto and Kanto regions and the Elite Four. There are an additional 100 Pokémon along with the 151 from the previous generation of games, however to catch them all you will need to trade Pokémon in order to catch them all as in Gold and Silver there are certain Pokémon with whom you need to trade between games as they are exclusives. In order to get any of the legendaries from the first generation you will need to trade for them, this includes Mewtwo, Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos, some minor Pokémon you may need to get from previous games as well though for the most part it is only the legendaries from the first generation that you truly need to trade for. Below is a chart showing the version exclusive Pokémon between Gold and Silver compliments of Bulbapedia.

I shall now discuss the improvements Gold and Silver made to the series as a whole, the first of which is the ability for Pokémon to hold items. The item holding mechanic adds further depth to the battle system as the items have the capacity to either heal of increase/decrease offensive or defensive strength of the Pokémon according to whatever item you are holding. I shall give only several item examples as there are many and accounting for them all would only make this unnecessarily long.

Held Item Examples:

• Quick Claw: When held by a Pokémon it gives it a 20% of going first
• Leftovers: Restores 1/16 of a Pokémon's Maximum HP at the end of every turn while held
• Berserk Gene: Confuses the user and Raises Attack. One time use.

By using held items it revolutionized the entire battle system by making it so that you need to account for the effects of an item prior to choosing an attack or switching a Pokémon. For an in depth look at the core battle mechanic see my previous review of Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow.

Pokémon Types received additions in this game these were the Dark Type and Steel type which were included in order to help balance the battle system as in the previous games the Psychic type was incredibly over powerful and the fighting type was never really used. Some balancing issues were assessed and type effectiveness was changed for several typing's that were unbalanced at the time.

One of the greater aspects of the game is that it has a built in internal clock and by taking this step into reality it changes how one goes about catching Pokémon. As time changes in the real world it changes according to the set time in the game and the in game world shifts through day, afternoon, and night. The differing times of the day indicate what Pokémon you will catch in certain areas, this also opens up the realm of night and day Pokémon such as Hoothoot and Noctowl who only ever appears at night. Another interesting mechanic that sadly hasn’t been fleshed out since it’s inception is the concept of the time of day deciding evolution, Evee gained two new evolutions Umbreon and Espeon to evolve into the former it would need to be night while the latter would need it to be day time. The time function did not only extend to the Pokémon with whom you encounter it also encompassed what shops would be open in the Goldenrod Underground as on certain day you would have the old woman selling medicine and on others you would have one of the Pokémon groomers who will make your Pokémon like you more by grooming them.

Morning, Day and Night respectively.

Another interesting bit is the Bug catching contest (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) and S.S.Aqua ( both of which have certain days in which you can interact with them. The Bug Catching contest is a contest in which you attempt to catch the largest bug and receive a prize based on your placement. The S.S. Aqua is a boat which will take you from one region to the next which you can only catch at certain ports on certain days, while on it you can battle a plethora of trainers who will always be raring to fight now matter how many times you ride the boat.

I hope he has his swim trunks.

Graphics wise Pokémon Gold and Silver are superior to the previous games in every facet as the game not only is in color but the sprites and battle sprites are greatly detailed in comparison to the previous games. It is safe to say that the game is far more aesthetically pleasing as many of the ingame sprites better resemble what they were intended to be, tree’s resemble trees, grass resembles grass, but voltorb still look like Poke balls. The battle sprites look infinitely better then they did in the previous games and all the attacks now have unique battle animations which all look absolutely great. Remember those ugly back sprites which barely resembled the Pokémon? Well those are gone and now we have back sprites that actually look alright!

Pokémon Gold and Silver for it’s time was incredibly revolutionary for a sequel and improved upon almost every facet of the series while retaining the main purpose of the series. In my opinion Gen II stands as the most important point in the evolution of the series as all of the important additions to Gold and Silver have remained in all of its successors unlike Gen III and Gen IV in which both had many of their unique additions abandoned at the doorstep. Both Pokémon Gold and Silver use time as a game mechanic which increases replay value as only certain Pokémon and certain events can occur at night or during the day which essentially forces any player to have to keep up with their playing if they want to experience every aspect of the game and catch all of the Pokémon. Gold and Silver just like it’s predecessors has some quirky humor as you can examine practically anything and hear some sort of comment on it along with the dialog of the NPC’s which is always good fun. Overall if you liked the previous three games you will most likely fall in love with the second round of games, they are easily worth the $10-$20 that they can be found for and I’d highly recommend getting them.

Bonus:

Early Concept Art for Pokémon Silver and Gold

Japanese Official Site for Pokémon Silver and Gold

North American Official Site for Pokémon Silver and Gold

Adventures in Unlicensed Games: Spiritual Warfare (NES, Gameboy)

Well gang, it's Christmas time! Today we'll be discussing Wisdom Tree's "Spiritual Warfare" for the NES. I had a fun time reviewing it - it's a pretty wacky game with a crazy premise. I know that Bible games have been done to death online, the Angry Video Game Nerd did four excellent episodes on the matter, and they can be a touchy subject for a few - but in this review I'm tackling a game that actually has a few great highlights. While it's not the best game in the world, it has its merits. I poke a little fun but am not out to hurt anyone's feelings so I've reeled the unabashed sarcasm in a bit. Hope you guys & gals enjoy and have a safe and happy holiday!
- Chris

The term "spiritual warfare" evokes many images in the mind. Take for example: The Crusades. A bloody chunk of history where religious wars raged in the late 1000's up until nearly the 1300's. How about the battle that has raged in the Middle East between Palestinians and Jews for as far back as anyone can remember? In truth, people have been killing one another over beliefs shortly after the first two people looked up at the night sky observing the majesty of the cosmos and disagreed vehemently on how and/or why it came into existence. That's perhaps a bit of an oversimplification; often politics, land disputes, economics and the rise and fall of empires have more to do with supposed religious warfare than simply the opponent's deity of choice. It is, however, a motivation when it comes to conflict between nations, sects, tribes, etc.

A quick Google search of the term "spiritual warfare" also brings up a much different meaning - a blanket war against evil. It could be as simple as the spiritual conflicts within one's self - IE: the kind of stuff that Ronnie James Dio would sing about. More often than not it's a term that describes the actions of die-hard, unwavering, radically conservative Christian leaders (the kind that really seemed to spring up in the early 80's with folks like Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert, Jerry Fallwell, and the Bakkers.) The kinda folks who would tell you that your kids can't watch Teletubbies because Tinky-Winky is a symbol for gay pride, or that Harry Potter is a Satanic abomination and an icon for the Occult. Spiritual warfare is about keeping out "evil influences" in order to live a better life. So hide your Quija boards, Marilyn Manson records, skateboards, black clothing, and video games because the fun police just arrived!

That is, unless your video games are made by developer Wisdom Tree! Wisdom Tree is a small independent game development house that would make Christian themed games that would be sold in Christian bookstores. An interesting fact is that Wisdom Tree is a branch of game developer Color Dreams which also released such wholesome games as "Robodemons" and "Menace Beach" (but I'll save those wonderful games for another time.) Wisdom Tree, Color Dreams, and Bunch Games (another branch of C.D.) have a reputation for putting out sub par games that had to be released unlicensed, presumably because Nintendo had fairly strict content policies and religious references were certainly one of them - as well as policies against games that consistently look like they were made by a third grader. Nevertheless, Wisdom Tree released the game Spiritual Warfare in 1992. This is the kind of game that Stewart from "Beavis and Butthead" or the Flanders kids from "The Simpsons" would have loved!

They don't look too eager to hear
"the good news."

The first thing you'll notice if you've played any of the other Wisdom Tree games is that the graphics aren't all that bad. They are certainly a marked improvement over some of the old Color Dreams games like Robodemons. Also, with most of these Wisdom Tree games you have the joy of guessing which game (Color Dreams or popular licensed game) that this game is trying to emulate. In the case of Bible Adventures, the game plays a lot like Super Mario Bros. 2. Some of the Wisdom Tree games like Sunday Funday are just retooled versions of older Color Dreams games. In the case of Spiritual Warfare, it's an awful lot like Legend of Zelda. Let's face it, there's a lot worse games that you could base your knock-off game on and for the most part Wisdom Tree does a good job. Remember the old man who would give you advice, items, etc? Well, here it's an angel and you trade in doves as currency for different varieties of the "fruit of spirit." The menu screen looks similar, the level design and perspectives are similar, and overall the game has some of the fun elements of Zelda without some of the frustrating difficulty.

Look kids! It's...kinda like...Zelda?

So what is the aim of Spiritual Warfare, you ask? To convert the dirty, wicked heathens in your neighborhood and collect the six pieces of the "Armor of God." These pieces of armor are scattered around the game and collecting them will help you access otherwise inaccessible areas. For an unlicensed game, there are actually quite a few different kinds of enemies - though it's often a mystery why they need saving. Sure, the gang members carrying around switchblades certainly could use a little guidance at the very least. But why is the kid with the basketball committing a sin? The kid playing hide and seek? The boy with the ice cream bar? Construction workers? What sins are these people committing that they are in such need of a spiritual awakening? I suppose that's the blessing and curse (some puns intended) of having so many different enemies is that they don't entirely make sense. I suppose if everyone were a thug, a drunk, and a prostitute this game would feel very lazy. At least half or better of the enemies in the early parts of the game can be saved with one quick toss of a "fruit of Spirit." The further you advance in the game, the more you should upgrade you fruit in order to convert those who need a little "extra convincing." Those who instead spit a demon out of their heads will take an extra piece of fruit or perhaps a vial of God's wrath. That's right. A little boy running around trying to preach the gospel carries around vials of God's wrath that he can toss at strangers like a bomb and turn them into doves. I think this kid is taking "spiritual warfare" a little too literally. This ain't 'Nam, this is suburbia! Overall though, the gameplay is actually kind of fun if you get into it.

Perhaps it's not the most religiously tolerant way of going about things...

Every once in a while an angel will come down from the sky and test your Biblical trivia. For the most part these questions are a cinch even to those fairly unfamiliar with the stories in the Bible. Basically, your best bet is to guess the most "common sense" guess imaginable. Sure, there are a handful of comical answers you can provide but just assume that Satan didn't say that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. The benefit of answering these Sunday school questions is to gain more doves, thus being able to afford more powerful fruit against the infidels you're supposed to be saving.

I said, "What does Pontius Pilate look like?!"

Not unlike the other Wisdom Tree games, there are a handful of frustrating moments in this game. For starters, if you instinctively know which direction you should be heading then the game is rather linear. However, if not - you can find yourself walking around in circles. I played the game three times before I bothered to talk to the boy with the balloon and grab the belt underground instead of walking around aimlessly blowing up gangsters and sugar-high children with God's mighty wrath. It's easier to get lost in the city, especially with the construction workers blocking your path and just how big the city really is. Friendly advice - don't go to the bar. Not even if you want a Pepsi and your intentions are simply to convert the wicked drunks inside. You'll be chastised by an irate angel and he'll steal your gear. Oh, and this can lead to  areas where you can get trapped. I don't really know how I did it, but I believe it was in the suburbs area where I went through a little maze and blocked myself in with falling pillars. I didn't go and recollect my belt of truth before entering the room and couldn't move the pillars, blow them up, or anything else. I had a "pray" option in my menu but it didn't do much good. For a kid who can throw around God's wrath willy-nilly, he sure doesn't have a direct enough line to the big man to help him out of a pickle like that. Another problem which, let's face it, many NES games suffered from is annoying music. The first time you hear that valiant and triumphant hymnal - it pumps you up for some religiously fueled justice. However, by minute 10 you're tired of hearing this song and have to mute the game lest you go insane. Though truth be told, and I know this is heresy (puns intended,) but the original Zelda theme can get grating at times as well. The other sound effects are decent enough - the bomb explosion is actually really impressive for a game that would otherwise be classed by some as a D-list knock-off game.

"So if I chuck this pear at a gang member, he's gonna see the light?"

So how does Spiritual Warfare stack up overall? The premise is insane and more than mildly offensive to non-Christians if you break it down to its core concept, the music is grating at best, but overall it's a game that's hard to put down. Unlike some of the other unlicensed games I have this is one that I keep coming back to! The gameplay is fairly solid (because it's essentially a watered down Zelda) and while it has some level of challenge, it's easy enough to pick up and play for a half hour and kill some time. I would recommend this game (and not even in an entirely ironic way, either.) Folks like me are bound to enjoy it for the absurdity and mildly disturbing premise (and it's the kind of game Moral Orel would be crazy for!) Folks who are more religiously minded might find this a good game for their children. Do I think that blowing up non-believers with the wrath of God is a great message for children? Heck no. However, if you want your children to pick up some bible study questions and stimulate them with a video game in the process, this just might do the trick.

The Wall $treet Kid (NES)

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) has a very diverse array of games and I guess it wouldn’t be to far off to understand that there would be games of varying themes and genres, but there comes a point when I must put my foot down and say “No Nintendo, that is NOT a game!” however in order to do that I would need to go back in time twenty odd years or so to tell them that it’s an awful idea to allow it to be published. Though lets get to the meat of the situation, The Wall $treet Kid was created by SOFEL a Japanese company that for a brief period of time in the late 80’s and early 90’s made a bunch of lackluster mediocre games. Wall $treet Kid and Casino Kid are their most notable titles which screams volumes for how great their games were to begin with.

Clearly a household name.

The premise of the game is that you are the character whose name we do not know aside from the fact that his last name is Benedict is heir to a vast fortune left to him by his now deceased uncle, but, he must first prove himself before he is given the money that is his destiny to obtain. Over the course of the game you have to jump through several financial hurdles over a several month period, the first of which is that you need to purchase a mansion, to do this you need to double your starting money by playing the stock market, this all winds down with you purchasing a castle and getting your inheritance.

He’s eerily giddy about all this. :/

Before I go on about the gameplay let me make it known to you that this game has no story to it aside from the beginning and the end, those are your two story elements aside from a brief moment in between that isn’t particularly significant.

Thanks, dick!

Stocks and the stock market are the core of the gameplay and you will focus mostly on them over the course of the game. The stocks in the game constantly fluctuate on a daily basis and for the most part you have to use your gut to decide where to invest your money in order to turn a profit. The newspaper will every day inform you of what business’s are on the up and and up (though it’s usually not a good idea to invest in stocks that have already increased in value by a lot), your other source of information is Connie who will sell you information on what stock will most likely see profits over the next couple of days or lose profits (this is called insider trading and is illegal by the way, not to say that the game will penalize you about it :/ ). You at any point over the course of a day have the option of buying or selling stocks or just looking over your portfolio, you can also talk to Stanley a man who will be the instruction manual for the stock market, you pay him money, he blathers about how it works. Another way of getting money in the game is by taking a loan out at the bank which you can invest in the stock market, though this can only be done once you have your house and even then you have to pay the bank back 105% of the loan by the end of the month.

Not Shown: The clause that says that if you don’t pay on time they break your legs.

The other to facets of the game are your girlfriend and your health. Your girlfriend will require attention which can be given by taking her out to places ever so often, if you do not take her anywhere for a while or purchase her any of the gifts she demands she will ultimately wind up leaving you and you will receive a game over (more on this later). Your girlfriend (named Prisila the Pricy Prima Donna[seriously]) will periodically call you up about buying her things like a dog or a car, buy them. You may be wondering why I advise you to buy these things, well it is because her marrying you is imperative to getting the inheritance (yeah that was a bombshell to me as well) so it is imperative that you keep her happy. Now your health is another important thing though unlike Prisila you only have to go to the gym every so often to accommodate that. If you don’t exercise for a while you will get a game over, yep that’s it.

The game has surprisingly good graphics and character designs even for a later life-span NES title, though this is countered by that fact that there are no moving animations. Music-wise the game’s tunes are kinda droll and while I played through the game they wound up becoming white noise, though while I noticed it I didn’t enjoy it.

The Wall $treet Kid isn’t a great game unless you are interested in the stock market, I personally found it amusing for a little while but overall can’t say I really enjoyed the game aside from the couple of hours I spent contemplating the amount of douchieousity the main character Mr.Benedict must have to look the way he does. The game is lackluster and playing the stock market is tedious and if you make any mistakes you inevitably wind up with a game over which for me at least was very common. If you really want to play the game, then do so only if you are a collector or feel like derping out on a simulator of the real life stock market.

I want to punch him in the face.

Below I am including a very special guide for those who actually want to play the game and don’t understand some of the jargon you will notice them mention things like “Blue Chip” is on the rise or something well this is what each of those terms mean in regards to companies:

Blue Chip
ATNT: A communications company that once nearly had a monopoly, and now must compete for market share due to competition.
Boing: Very strong domestic and export manufacturer of airplanes. Excellent track record.
Xearox: Strong, innovative producer of copying machines that dominated the market for several years. Also performs financial services.
YBM: A dominant player in the home computer market. Now has to compete with Yapple.
Yapple: Has very strong new product lines, and is capable of substantial growth.

Speculative
Bethleham Steel: Despite new management, a recession, and industry uncertainty, BS is showing profit.
Chryer: Received low interest loans to help it back on the road to profitability.
Pan Mam Airlines: Former giant, now has high debt and low assets. Sales are high but so are losses.
Strayhound Buses: Once a major bus line, the division was sold in order to switch over to the manufacture of consumer products.
Teradying: Made recent acquisitions that help its market position, but losses are still shown.

Cyclical
Carnivore Cruise Lines: Growth-oriented transportation and entertainment company that has expanded into hotels and travel.
Centipede Construction: Builds large construction machinery. Building surge has resulted in increased profits but recession may hurt.
Coughman & Broad: Florida's number one home builder, dabbles in foreign contracting as well. Insurance division not profitable.
Marrinot Hotels: Successful family-run hotel chain that is expanding into the restaurant business. Large assets.
Rattel Toys: Sales are high, but seasonal. Demand depends on consumer's disposable income.

Growth
American Depress: Financial services company with high value and strong growth.
Exconrail: A company trying to go straight and get its kids back, it's now a railroad leader and looking to expand to other industries.
Firedman's Fund: Successful insurance firm. Looking to expand into other areas.
Reebucks International: On the way to being the number one footwear manufacturer, but has high debt.
Charles Schlob: Large, discount securities firm that was recently bought back by its founder and is experiencing much success.