Shenmue II (Xbox/Dreamcast)

1999 was a pretty awesome year as far as Christmas was concerned. I was 14 at the time which means I had been gaming for a good solid 9 years. By that time a simple rule had been established in my household: if you want a new video game system, you have to sell off enough of your old ones to afford it. It made good fiscal sense for my folks - they still would chip in whatever the remainder of the cost was, but the bulk of it laid on my shoulders (which not only taught me a lot about responsibility but also how dumb I was for selling off a game collection that would be worth hundreds today just to buy a Sega Saturn back then.) Anyway, this year my folks broke their own rule and bought me a new system that I didn't even really ask for: The Sega frickin' Dreamcast. 12 years later this thing still impresses me and it still manages to be one of my favorite systems of all time. There's a handful of all-time great games for it and the thing has so many other uses and functions that it's ridiculous.

After all this time, I still consider the Dreamcast a wonder machine! However, this isn't a review of the Dreamcast - this is a review for what I think is not only the best game series on the machine but one of the best game series of all time; Shenmue. While it would make sense to review the original game (which I will cover briefly,) my focus is typically underdogs and underrated classics. Sure, the original Shenmue should have had even more attention and notoriety - but it's the sequel that takes the cake for "underrated classic of the Dreamcast." Also, my focus here will primarily be on the Dreamcast version of Shenmue II and not the Xbox one (although the differences are fairly minute.) When necessary, I'll mention or compare/contrast the Xbox version as well; however, the Dreamcast version is the copy that I consider "the definitive version."

Welcome to Hong Kong Ryo. Everyone here's out to get you.

The original Shenmue was a groundbreaking game that went way too underappreciated. That's not to say it didn't sell well; it's just that the Dreamcast itself never reached the audience it deserved. Shenmue's development legacy is well documented elsewhere, so I won't labor on it too much. It's important to note that Shenmue was one of the most expensive games created at the time and the very fact that the system undersold hurt the series quite a bit. Sega AM2 planned to release Shenmue as a trilogy. Sadly, due to the failure of the Dreamcast the sequel was only released overseas.

*Note* Lukie Games sells a copy of Shenmue II for the Dreamcast. My instincts tell me it's the same copy I have that is a PAL format one. I recommend waiting until you get the copy and find out for certain if it's PAL or NTSC (I think an aftermarket NTSC version exists somewhere.) However, if it is indeed PAL you will need a boot disc for your Dreamcast to play import games. They will probably run you roughly 20 bucks or less at certain retailers. I personally recommend the Innovation Super Game Converter. If you order the Xbox version - disregard. That one is NTSC with English dubbing.

Shenmue and Shenmue II are very story driven. With that being said, I'm going to assume you have played the first game but will try and be relatively vague to avoid spoilers. While it's not impossible to enjoy Shenmue II without having played the original - I highly recommend picking up a copy of the original from Lukie Games as soon as they have one in stock.

You can arm-wrestle this cat for money. But do you really want to?

Shenmue II picks up right where the first one left off - your character Ryo Hazuki arriving in Hong Kong on a boat from Japan in order to track down your father's killer Lan Di. You must first locate Master Lishao Tao (and of course a whole slew of other main characters, protagonists, antagonists, and supporting characters) in order to find out more information on the whereabouts of Lan Di. Also important to Ryo's quest is the Pheonix Mirror he is carrying around; a valuable artifact that plays a crucial role in the conclusion of the game (and of course would serve as the cliffhanger to the currently abandoned third game in the series.) One of the biggest assets of the Shenmue series is the amazing and engrossing storyline. It is one part RPG, one part adventure game, and two-parts action-revenge film.

Folks who don't like their games cutscene heavy need not apply. This game is rich in story and plays a lot like an interactive movie. That's not to say there aren't many instances where your control of Ryo is integral to your success, but there's a reason the Dreamcast version took up 4 discs! Even now, the graphics, textures, animations, etc are all breathtaking. That's a real feat that 10 years after its release Shenmue II still amazes me with the attention to detail that is in EVERY aspect of Ryo's journey through Hong Kong. Clothing, fabric, and hair move with the breeze. Leaves fall and float through air realistically. Characters have facial expressions that are so lifelike you can really buy their emotions. As solid as the graphics were in the original, they seem to be even smoother here. Every angle and seam has a real polished look and the Xbox version accelerates the graphics even further. Though some may question which version looks better at the end of the day - I think the minor graphical tweaks made in the Xbox release are a welcome improvement to an already near-flawless graphical representation. The music is outstanding and really captures the feeling that you're right there in China (just as the first game transported us Americans to Japan.) The score is heavy on the orchestra and it's easy to see between this breathtaking soundtrack and the revolutionary graphics where all of that money went into making this game.

This foxy motorcycle mama is Joy. She'll help you occasionally.

The main critique I have with the Xbox version versus the imported Dreamcast version is with the voice acting. Both versions have a wealth of voice acting and everyone you meet on the streets will have something to say to you. However, the American voice acting in the Xbox version (outside of Ryo) is very stiff - at times downright comical or bad. Where as the Japanese language track in the import version feels much more natural. Again, this all boils down to preference and how you like to take in your foreign films as well. Some like it dubbed, some like it subbed. It's hard to convince people in one camp that the other has something to offer them that they otherwise wouldn't be able to live without. I'm not a hardcore Japanophile, at all fluent in Japanese or even a subtitle snob - I just tend to prefer voice acting be done in the language that the film/game was intended. For those used to subtitles, they are never distracting from the action and they leave you plenty of time to read and follow the story.

The controls are familiar to anyone who played the original and should be relatively easy to grasp for anyone who hasn't. There are different ways in which to control Ryo (dependant on what is going on in the scene.) First, and most common, is that you'll be walking around with your left stick while frequently speaking to folks/ performing tasks with action button. In both versions of the game your controls are mapped out on the bottom right hand side of the screen. Sometimes icons such as your journal icon will pop into the colored orbs to signify that something new has been added to your journal, etc. Ryo controls with relative ease and it's fun to just walk around zoom in on people to watch their routines, follow random strangers around town, go into arcades, markets, or gambling shacks. You have a great deal of freedom and a really big world to explore in Shenmue II. Just remember that you have revenge to plan and time's a-wastin'.

Another way in which to control Ryo is during cutscenes rather than the free world. This control scheme is known as QTE - and you'll likely be quite a bit more frustrated by this than just roaming around. The best way I can describe it is that it's the Dragon's Lair equivalent to controls. You'll get an indicator of what button/direction to push and Ryo will either dodge, jump over, walk around whatever obstacle is in his way or he'll fall flat on his face - serving to slow you down or make you lose and possibly have to start over. I can't tell you how many times I fell off of the 2x4 beams during a QTE on disc 3. Let's just say it's maddening. Thankfully these are few and far between, but unlike the first one there are more of these than freestyle fights. You'll still have times where you'll have to enact the third style of control (Fighting mode) but not near as often as it felt like you did in the first game. In fighting mode you have a health gauge and you have several different moves at your disposal - many of which you train and learn throughout the game. I don't know why, but it was really fun letting out my inner Daniel-san beating up the lotus tree during the first chapter of Shenmue II.

This kid's a little brat. Get your fingers ready and catch this thief!

The controls are more or less identical between the Xbox and Dreamcast versions. I'm more used to playing Shenmue on the Dreamcast controller but that's nitpicky personal preference. You wont notice much/any difference between the two, and you can pick your poison.

The game is in no way a difficult one - it's just really long. The xbox version comes on one dvd (not counting the bonus movie packed in to brand new copies) but the original Dreamcast version is packed on a whopping 4 discs. Granted that's also a lot of cutscenes, cinematic music scores, and voice acting for days but if you're willing to explore the game top to bottom, perform jobs to earn money to buy ridiculous toys, and bet on arm wrestling or other shady stuff - you will be able to play this game for days on end. The replay value depends on how well you like the story - if you really dig it, then it's just like watching your favorite movie over and over again. Otherwise, you might be done with it as soon as you reach the compelling cliffhanger. That much is up to you.

I really hope I convinced you to give this game a shot. The Xbox version is available right now and though I have some minor nitpicks against it, it is still a true classic and is a whole lot of fun to play. If you're willing to wait (or wanna put yourself on the waiting list) and don't mind paying more for the Dreamcast version, I recommend it. Whichever version you pick, I can almost guarantee you'll enjoy it. Not a legally-binding, money-back guarantee mind you... just a friendly "I-really-think-you'll-dig-this-game" guarantee. Head over to the main Lukie Games site and getchoo a copy!

Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing, the lovable simulator of blinding debt, and the fulfiller of simple dreams of owning your own home in a town filled with talking animals. To this day Animal Crossing has garnered a rather large popularity with as of the post two sequels and a third poised to be released in the near future; but did you know that Animal Crossing is a sequel in itself? Animal Crossing is the sequel to the game Doubutsu no Mori (Animal Forest). Now Doubutsu no Mori believe it or not was a game for the Nintendo 64, and surprisingly enough had similar graphics to that of the GameCube sequel. Graphics aside that’s where the games start to get different, Doubutsu no Mori was more or less caked in Japanese culture and as such wasn’t viewed as being fit for American audiences, as such the sequel was heavily localized with many things being changed to suit American audiences. The localizing however by no means made the game unwieldy or awkward to play, the game was reinvented for western audiences with items and holidays being changed to be more familiar for the public.

The game has no plot, it’s a game which in theory never ends; you play the game as either a boy or girl and buy a house, from there you go about paying off your house loan and actively striving to get all the furniture and fish/bugs/fossils. The game runs on actual time working off the internal clock of the GameCube and the clock saved onto the memory card with your town. This adds a great deal depth to the game as during different times of the day you can encounter different bugs/fish and the people of your town will over the course of the day perform their own rudimentary day to day tasks. Over the course of the week certain special people will visit your town and by interacting with them you can usually obtain rare pieces of furniture, or items.

Oh and a singing dog pops up every Saturday evening.

Animal Crossing has much to offer in the ways of things to do, you can catch bugs or fish, dig for fossils, or run errands for the people in your town. Though the more interesting option would probably be to collect all the furniture and upgrade your house. There are over hundreds of different furniture items in the game ranging from modern furniture to show pieces with little features like the Master Sword that plays the item finding theme and even to full NES games which you can play at any point in time. You can also find clothing ranging in over hundreds of designs with which you can customize your character aside from just buying clothing, you can also design your own patterns and you can wear them or use them to make umbrellas, wallpapers, or signs.

There's a lot of stuff in this game.

Now if just collecting furniture isn’t your thing there are other things to do, like work on expanding your towns museum,You can go about doing this by donating bugs, fish, paintings, and fossils you find. This doesn’t just give you a great museum it also helps to attract more people to your town increasing its population over time. Another thing you can do in the game is plant/cut down tree’s and flowers, you literally can completely change the landscaping to your will, by doing this you attract more people and if you can get the town to be perfect for a few days you will be awarded with the coveted Golden Shovel.

Which you can use to do the exact same thing you were previously with.

Animal Crossing also contains a secret which you can only access if you have a Gameboy Advance and a Gameboy to GameCube link cable. If you hook the cable to your Gameboy and talk to Kapn’ by the dock, he will offer to ferry you to Animal Island. Animal Island is a small island you can access from your Gameboy where you can get items of varying rarity, exotic fruits, and you can even have the islander(s) potentially move into your town. The best part is that when you unhook your Gameboy you can still access your Island as it is available for you to mess around with until you shut your Gameboy off in which the island is saved onto the Gameboys ram. You can go back and forth as much as you want as many times as you want (it’s an easy way to get coconuts).

Many fun times are to be had.

When I got this game back in the early 2000’s I recall spending my afternoons blissfully catching fish and shaking tree’s for fruit to pay off my house. The day I got my first NES game in it (it was Excite Bike) I nearly exploded with giddiness, and fervently checked Tom Nooks store every day hoping to find a NES game there, unfortunately only Crazy Redd ever seemed to get them once in a blue moon… naturally I bought them.

I firmly believe that I can trust his face.

Animal Crossing is a game is a game that can be played either casually for about a half hour or an hour. or you could spend your entire day playing it. It is the kind of game with no end, so you can play it without stop. Since the game operates according to real time even when you aren’t playing it the people in your town will still go about their day to day lives; also since the game moves according to real time if you don’t play for a while your town will inevitably suffer (Weeds EVERYWHERE!!11!1!111!?!/1). The game has an infinite amount of replay value (so long as you are into reality simulating games) and as such holds up well to its sequels seeing as only in the first game can you find full NES games built into furniture, travel into a special island town which can be saved to your Game boy, or partake in holidays that are exclusive to the original Animal Crossing game.

Tote’s bro.

Zero Tolerance (Genesis)

When I was in elementary school there were exactly two games that mattered for the computer: Wolfenstein 3d and Doom. There were always a handful of kids who broke the "no outside software" rule and installed one or both of those little .exe files right onto one of the PCs in the computer lab. While I couldn't dream of actually being caught breaking the "no outside software" rule, I loved playing Doom and Wolfenstein over at my friends' house. It was great having friends whose families adopted computers early! Running around blowing up imps with rocket launchers and icing mutant warriors with my trusty shotgun. It was good, clean, all-American gaming that helped an otherwise docile kid vent his frustration with bullies, homework, and having to empty the dishwasher.

By the time high school rolled around I was more into games like Leisure Suit Larry and Monkey Island than any FPS's, but there will always be a small place in my heart for blowing up aliens and totin' around a BFG or a chaingun. However, early first-person shooters had a pretty lousy track record on home consoles. Doom and Wolfenstein 3d had such popularity on the PC, that they were ported (rather poorly) to the Super NES as well as a handful of other home consoles. FPS's on home consoles didn't really get it right until at least the 64 bit era rolled around when games such as Hexen on the Sega Saturn and N64 or Duke Nukem 3d hit consoles. While the Super NES could handle representing these games in at least a relatively close port - it was pretty hard to buy that the Genesis could pull off anything close to an accurate FPS experience (without resorting to that abomination known as the 32x.) That is - until one day in high school I randomly came across the game "Zero Tolerance" at my local game store.

Zero Tolerance is a first-person shooter developed by Technopop and released in 1994. It's unique because to the best of knowledge it is one of - if not the only FPS for the Genesis. You control a squad of soldiers known as codename "zero tolerance" sent to an orbital space station known as Europe-1 with the mission of destroying some alien baddies before Europe-1 blows up. That's already at least a smidgeon more plot than any of the first two Doom games have and just a little less than Wolfenstein 3d. While it's nice to have a good, rich plot driving you through a FPS (ala Half Life 1 & 2) sometimes killin' stuff is just enough, thank you very much.

So bloody...so pixelly!

In your journey through 40 stages (separated into 3 different sections) you have a 5-person team to destroy these extraterrestrial enemies. In other words, you have 5 lives - if all of your crew members die, it's lights out for codename zero tolerance and you have to start over. Each of your team members has their own unique talents ranging from a communications/marksman expert, surveillance specialist, expert in hand-to-hand combat and evasive techniques, a medic who rocks with a pistol, and demolition expert. As you can tell, each team member has a little something extra to the table so it's helpful to have the right person for the job (though ultimately what you'll be doing most is shooting blocky brown aliens in the melon.)

I think that alien is wearing Uggs. Just sayin'.

While I would characterize the controls for most home ports of FPS's like Doom to be stiff; the controls for Zero Tolerance are surprisingly good considering the limitations of playing with a controller. Levels are laid out with a lot of open area to walk around so it's not often that you'll get stuck on a wall or some stray pixel that will lock you up unlike other console shooters. The only real annoyance with the controls seems to be an intentional design choice which is what happens whenever your character gets shot. Getting hit by a bullet in this game is the equivalent of having Mortal Kombat's Goro grab you by the neck and toss you 400 yards. For whatever reason, you fly back (sometimes through doors or across rooms) and fall to the ground, slowing your reaction time tremendously every time you get a good solid hit. While this might add a pinch of realism to getting sprayed by shotgun shells, it certainly can be annoying for anyone who's used to walking through a hail of gunfire with nothing but bare fists and a bloodied smile. Turning around to face an enemy behind you can also be a pain as well; however, the enemies seem to move at a relatively medium clip so it doesn't feel like you're being cheated by slow camera movement.

Blocky still looks better than those smudgey, venetian blind wide shots.

Even though the graphics and sound are nothing to write home about nowadays, Zero Tolerance is actually a pretty well presented game as far as Genesis games are concerned - especially considering what an undertaking it must have been to develop a FPS for the console. The graphical capabilities of the Sega Genesis are limited when compared to the Super NES, so there aren't a huge amount of games that tried to experiment with 3d pixels and polygons ala Starfox & Pilotwings or games that pushed limits like Donkey Kong Country and Stunt Race FX. Heck, look at the Sega Cd and the 32x - two add on consoles developed just to compete with the power and appeal of the Super NES (a system that had the same amount of bits but a lot more power and potential.) That being said, this game is the equivalent of those boundary-pushing SNES games for the Genesis. It was relatively revolutionary for the time and it's pretty amazing today to consider the lack of attention this game has gotten over the years, remaining more or less a cult classic.

Let there be no mistake, though; the graphics are crude. You have a vague idea what the enemies are supposed to look like - but they are mostly just a blurry flurry of pixels. The levels are well designed and have a lot of detail when you get up close to things like walls, signs, doors, etc - it just looks like you're peering through a grimy window with sideways Venetian blinds from far away. The music is fairly stock, but tolerable (excuse the pun.) It sounds like your typical sparse instrumentation mixed with military music run through a midi processor. Nothing that would have been out of place in Wolf 3d or Doom, but nothing that will start a gaming revolution. The sound effects are good for Genesis standards but not as varied as they could be. There aren't enough grunts, howls, and other monster noises to make the game as creepy as it could be. Gunfire sound effects, however; sound pretty crisp and realistic - better than even a lot of Super NES games I have encountered.

The actual difficulty of the game is relatively low, except when accounting for the flaws in control and the sheer amount of enemies that get tossed your way in nearly every room. I mean it - there are usually 5 or more baddies in each room, so the best technique is to take on the Wolfenstein 3d approach; shoot first, walk out of the room, and then wait for the enemies to come to you and spray 'em at the door. At 40 levels this is an impressively long game and that adds to the difficulty a bit. Also, the fact that you cannot get your level passwords without clearing the level completely also adds a unique twist to the difficulty: meaning you have to either beat the game in one sitting, or go back in there and kill more baddies until the level is cleared!

I had a boo-boo.

Zero Tolerance is not a perfect game, but given the Genesis' limitations and the scarcity of home console FPS' (especially original ones designed for the console rather than ported) it's a unique experience. It's also typically available for a pretty cheap price and Lukie Games has it right now! If you're on the lookout for good and unique Genesis titles I recommend tossing a copy of Zero Tolerance in your cart as well. It's money well spent and a really fun time if you dig blowing away aliens!

A Nightmare on Elm Street (NES)

As mentioned in the Ducktales review - tv and movie license games usually suck. There are a few exceptions, but more often than not they don't cut the muster. At the same time, the game company LJN has a reputation for relatively substandard games as well (nearly half or better of which are also movie licenses.) Ever played Karate Kid? Jaws? Back to the Future? Or, get this...Pictionary on the Nes?! They made games that would serve as perfect fodder for internet reviewers like Spoony or the Angry Video Game Nerd to rip apart 20+ years later. So it seems that the formula of LJN + Tv/Movie license = disaster, right?

Well, not entirely. While a great many of those LJN license games feel like they were never playtested (let alone developed by an actual human being,) a few semi decent ones emerged from the cesspool of awfulness. Alien 3? Great game, especially the Genesis version. Friday the 13th? Rough around the edges, a little less than stellar, but still playable and fun on some level. So what is it that separates these games from all of the rest? Why is Alien 3 a better game than Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Is it our own personal sense of nostalgia? After all, the Friday the 13th game still has a pretty nasty reputation. Possibly. I think the most likely scenario is the "broken clock is right twice a day" adage.

That's where 1990's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" comes in. As the game opens up, we're greeted by a slightly deformed but mostly accurate representation of Freddy Krueger. Let's go ahead and get the graphics out of the way. The attention to detail in sprites and level design are actually quite impressive (especially with LJN's track record.) Your character looks a little blocky and with multiple players there's no variation besides the color of your wardrobe/gender if you have 3 or more - but the graphics are definitely passable. The various Freddy related enemies are pretty well done (Freddy snake ala Nightmare 3, Freddy spiders, the Freddy that pops up when your character slips into nightmare zone and the iconic "1, 2 Freddy's coming for you" music chimes, etc.) Speaking of enemies, I know other reviewers have tread this ground before, but it bares repeating; the non-Freddy related enemies are stock, lazy, and have nothing at all to do with the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Bats, spiders and rats I can deal with because you need a handful of stock enemies for padding - but there are centaur like monster dudes that make little sense in a game about Nightmare on Elm Street. Still, the enemies and game sprites are less cheesy than the bullies featured in the fake game in Freddy's Dead. "Great Graphics!"

Centaur man? Really?

The music on the other hand is actually well-selected and executed. There are instances where the trademark Freddy music pops up and sounds great in all of its 8-bit glory. The normal in-game music is relatively catchy and I've found myself humming a tune or two on the odd occasion. Perhaps the Freddy Krueger battle scenes have the best music. It's eerie and leaves you with that sort of uneasy feeling that's perfect for a video game. It's a great game for a dark night with the lights off. The atmosphere that the music and sound effects provide is creeptastic and perfect!

With presentation out of the way, let's dig into the heart of the game and one of the central hiccups which is the controls. The controls take a lot of patience to get used to. For starters, you start out armed with only your fist and for some enemies it's effective, but most of the time you'll find yourself getting hit more often than you damage the enemies. It's best to keep jumping and moving - avoiding enemies like the plague. You've got 4 hits per life and you need to keep a firm grip on those hitpoints. Also keep in mind that whenever your hitpoints go down, so does your Zzz's meter (which ticks down on its own, but at a slower rate if you're not taking damage.) When your Z meter reaches 0, you enter nightmare world and while the enemies look cooler and you can sport nifty skills (if you have acquired the groovy power blocks) - the enemies are much harder to kill. Your character's jump would actually work quite well if the pits and gaps weren't so large and the platforms weren't so tiny. You will aim yourself for a moving platform only to find your way straight into the pit Castlevania style. Heck, you may curse the screen - swearing that your pixelly feet hit the platform but you still slid off or missed by a mystery pixel anyway. Jumping is rendered slightly less awkward if you're rocking one of the powerups like the gymnast one (where you can run faster and jump higher - just like Game Genie always promised you.)

You'll see this a lot. Someone just rang a bell - because this Angel's got wings.

One of the main things that LJN got right with this game is just how similar some parts are to the original film it's based on "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors." The dream world aspects of the stages are actually well done. The idea of giant Freddy-head spiders is genuinely frightening to someone who watched all of the Nightmare movies and could actually picture an evil Freddy Spider. There are bosses that borrow from elements of the third movie - particularly the Freddy snake boss that spits tongues at you. Remember when he burst through the wall and started to swallow up Patricia Arquette? Awesome scene. Even the overall plot - collecting Freddy's bones to sacrifice him and send him back to the grave where he belongs is ripped right from the film. Unlike some of the other games where you get the feeling the developers just read the box-cover synopsis from a rental tape of Friday the 13th part 3 - it feels like the game makers were actually fans of the Nightmare series or at the very least were familiar with the source material.

Freddy snake. Well, kind of.

One of the main things dragging this game down are the numerous bugs in the game. No, not the goofy bees and spiders - I'm talking about soul crushing, game wrecking bugs. The most common bug I've run into in this game (and one that I have gotten so many times that I almost believe the game is unbeatable) is that it's often impossible to select the level you need to go to next. I have run up and down through Springwood trying to press UP for every single solitary entrance and could never find a house, church, junkyard, or anything that would actually allow me to enter. Sometimes I get further than others but I don't think I've ever successfully beaten the game. Take that as a challenge, gang! Try to beat this game.

There's two really fun features that make this game stand above some of its otherwise mediocre trappings. First, this game is 4-player compatible. That's right! You and 3 other dream warriors can take your chances against Freddy and try (more than likely in vain) to reach the end of the game. So if you have a Satellite or 4 score (or happen to need one - might I suggest Lukie Games?) then you will be able to enjoy the game much more with a handful of other friends. The second notable feature in A Nightmare on Elm Street are the Dream Warrior powerups. Torn from the plot of pt. 3, you're able to collect bonuses that will allow you to turn into superheroes while in dream world, just like in the movie! Remember the wizard, the gymnast, the ninja...well, ok. No kung fu masters until pt. 4, but you get my drift. Press select when in dream world and set your dream power free!

"Now you're playing with Power!"

I would say that the difficulty level is medium. It's often hard to leap over pits without falling to your doom once or twice before you magically find footing on a moving ledge and there are occasional bugs that will render the game unbeatable. The levels also tend to randomize (is it the first house? nope. Second house? uhn uh) Other than that - you really shouldn't have that much trouble with either the various monster baddies or the minibosses. The semi-random Freddy encounters (Freddy's Coming!) will definitely drain your health and lives, however - just like in most of the LJN games where the movie monster pops out.

So is A Nightmare on Elm Street a perfect, flawless NES title? Heck no. However, it is clearly one of the best games that LJN released (possibly owing in part to them shopping the visuals and programming bits to Rare, a company with a much better track record.) The game is enhanced by the 4-player co-op, a rarity among NES titles and a real treat that makes this game much more enjoyable. So get yourself a Four Score, grab a copy and a trio of other dream warriors and take Freddy out! You know you want it, and Lukie Games has it!

Ducktales (NES)

Capcom is a video game company that is well known for its exceptional games. The Mega Man Series, Bionic Commando, The Street Figher series, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Little Nemo and more. Heck, even their lesser games such as Street Fighter 2010, the so-so shooter Legendary Wings, and the Dominos Pizza tie-in Yo! Noid are still better than at least 80 or 90 of the worst games for the Nintendo. At the same time, movie and television tie-in games have a long and storied history full of rancid garbage-like stinkers. Many gamers are well versed in the history of games like E.T. for the Atari 2600 - complete with rumors of a landfill where truckloads of carts were dropped off and buried due to horrific consumer backlash. How about the Incredible Crash Test Dummies for the NES? Or Superman 64? Cutthroat Island? The list is a mile long and includes consoles from Atari until the current-gen systems. Truth be told, it seems that the newer systems (Wii, 360, and PS3) are plagued by the onslaught of craptastic comic/movie shovelware coming out on a regular basis.

So with all of that being said, what would happen if Capcom signed on to release a handful of games based on Disney tv and movie licenses? As it turns out - a pretty large amount of awesomeness across the board. One of the most popular of this selection of games - and the one that is absolutely essential for your NES collection, is 1989's Ducktales.

Uncle Scrooge has a "Duck Cave?" Awesome!

For those who may or may not be old enough to remember, Ducktales is a game based on the popular Disney animated series that ran from 1987 until 1990. It starred Scrooge McDuck, the greedy, rich uncle of Huey, Dewey, and Louie and uncle of popular Disney icon Donald Duck. He is tasked with raising the three little ducklings when their father - Donald Duck goes into the Navy. The show was clever and the humor was funny enough that it even cracked up my folks when I was younger. Plus, it had one of the best/catchiest theme songs ever outside of maybe David The Gnome. Uncle Scrooge lives up to his name as he is filthy rich and loves to jump into big piles of his own money - often on the lookout for valuable treasures, and on occasion stomping out bad guys. It is these last two tasks that make up the bulk of the plot for the Ducktales video game.

You control Uncle Scrooge as he treks through 5 levels (Amazon, Himalayas, African Mines, Transylvania, and the Moon) on the lookout for hidden treasure and defeating baddies like Magica De Spell and his rival-in-greed, Flintheart Glomgold. You can play these 5 stages in any order you like (ala Rockin' Kats, Mega Man, and some of the other Capcom/Disney collaborations.) Along the way you'll receive help and hints from Huey, Dewey, and Louie, as well as your pilot buddy Launchpad McQuack.

Sometimes you need special items from one stage to advance in another.

One of the things that Capcom is well known for is the playability of their games. The gameplay is very similar to Capcom's big franchise Mega Man. Your main weapon in the game is your cane, which you can pogo-jump with onto enemy heads as well as smack rocks into baddies. The cane is a really effective weapon/tool in this game, as you can pull and push blocks in order to jump onto high platforms and the pogo stick jump can help you reach tight spots. The controls are tight and easy to manage. Holding down while holding B to Pogo-jump can be just a touch tedious but this was simplified by the time the sequel "Ducktales 2" rolled around requiring you only to hold the action button.

Ok. Maybe pogo jump doesn't work EVERYWHERE...

The music and sound presentation are as fantastic here as in many of the best Capcom games. The graphics are exceptional for a game made in 1989. It feels like you're playing an episode of the show - the character sprites are detailed, the colors are vibrant and the stage layouts are great. Background graphics remind me of Capcom's great Little Nemo: Dream Master. Also, comparisons to Capcom's darling Megaman don't stop with controls and stage selection - the game presentation is of a similar caliber - great graphics and catchy 80's-tastic background music. Listen to that funky tune in the Moon stage! It sounds like a Megaman outtake. The tune in the Amazon is very Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle-esque. The show's super catchy theme song is also reproduced with startling accuracy at the beginning of the game. I DARE YOU not to sing/hum along with the theme in all of its 8-bit bleepy-bloopy glory! It's impossible.

Heck, even Roboduck looks a little Megaman-esque

The challenge level is relatively low. As with most NES games - I was a lot better at this thing 15 years ago than I am now. The stages are relatively short, the bosses usually take just a few hits to kill, and the fact that there are only 5 stages means it wont take you all weekend to beat it. The biggest problem you'll have with making it to the end of this game is the kind of problem you'll have with any good platformer - goofy mistakes. I've pulled my hair out several times screaming "I should have KNOWN that the boulder was coming - I've played this game 1,000 times!" That being said, once you get the stage patterns down - you'll blow through it without much challenge.

Ducktales is an absolutely essential NES platformer. Fans of Capcom's most popular titles such as Mega Man and Little Nemo will dig it, and fans of the cartoon will absolutely love it. It's worth it at almost any price - and Lukie Games has it right now for an amazing deal. It's one of the more popular games What are you waiting for? Get your copy today!

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Iron Triangle

 

World domination for ages 10+

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Iron Triangle is the twelfth installment in the Nobunaga’s Ambition series released in America by Koei (There are an innumerable amount of them in Japan though). Its set during the Sengoku Era of Japan where your main objective is the unification of Japan through either diplomacy or war. The game uses a different formula than the Romance of the Three Kingdom games, where instead of operating on a turn based system you alternate between two phases; Planning and Active. The game also focuses heavily on technological development over mere military conquest as having the best technology can easily give you the advantage in battle. The game has many events that come in the form of stills and text, there are quite a few of them (both generic and historical) and they require certain requirements to be met just as in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Character Creation System is similar to that of Romance of the Three Kingdoms so fans of the series won’t find it to hard to jump right into character creation.

Now being that this is a historical simulation game, the plot and story are null. You spend the game playing as a Daimyo of your choosing and you can choose to either cause history to take its course your you can forge your own history. I won’t talk about the history of 16th century Japan (as there is a lot of it), but instead I will point out that the game makes playing as Oda Nobunaga the main point of the game. By playing as the Oda you will view the most story events and will unlock the most things. Don’t think that by not playing the Oda you won’t see story events, every single Diamyo has at least a few events to their respective kingdom that you can view. So viewing them all is a treat in itself and adds quite a bit of replay value.

Now lets start talking about gameplay; the Planning and Active Phases. The game is essentially Real Time as during the active phase everything occurs happen, such as battles, things being built, events, month changes, season changes, weather, etc. You switch between these phases to perform actions. Most of the actions you will select during the planning phase and during the active phase will act out. An example of this is building, you select a plot of land and thing to build and then during the active phase it builds itself.

Seen here is progress!

You switch between these two phases to perform your various actions and they are essentially the core of the entire game.

Technology is a key factor in this game and easily determines who will come out on top. Technology in the game ranges from the invention, use, and evolution of Muskets to additions to your castle and new agricultural practices. Your technological prowess is increased through research by officers who are proficient in that field (i.e. Cavalry, Infantry, Civil, etc.). Certain clans are naturally proficient in certain technologies, some examples are Nobunaga’s affinity for Muskets and Castles, Ieyasu Tokugawa’s affinity for spears, and Shingen Takeda’s affinity for Horses. These clan specialties will eventually gain you special technologies exclusive to them, such as Mikawa Spirit which makes Infantry immune to mislead and rumor tactics, and allows troops to fight with zero morale.

 

Infantry God mode

Technology is very important for both offense and defense as developing your weapons can easily give you an edge in a battle where you might have fewer troops, and developing your castle and its defenses can make what may have once been nothing but a small base into a nearly impregnable fortress. These things usually determine the outcome of a battle. Outside of battle developing your Civil technologies will boost your economy greatly as you can increase production of food and gold, and even make your people immune to plagues.

Or pimp out your castle.

The battles take place on a giant Over world map of Japan which is dotted with mountains, rivers, and plains. Your troops move across the plains during the active phase and you can issue commands to them during both phases. Your units are little masses of troops that generally look like whatever type of unit you chose them to be, Cavalry units will look like people on horses, Musket Units will look like people holding guns, etc. In this game there is no superior unit, but early in the game Muskets are quite powerful but very very slow and easy targets for Cavalry. Over the time as technology evolves units become more powerful as they gain bonuses to both attack and defense and sometimes even range depending on if it’s a ranged unit. Each unit has an advantage against another, kind of like a weapon triangle but much larger, a Heptagon if you will. Though for simplicities sake we’ll keep it to attacking units and leave buildings out of the equations.

Infantry<Cavalry<Musket/Bows<Infantry

Bows and Muskets can be used interchangeably for the sake of argument. Thus leaving us with a triangle. A majority of battles in the game will be to either defend, or attack a base(castle/port). Attacking battles give you three options for conquering whatever it is you want to conquer;

1. You can surround a base and wait until the bases Morale drops to zero and they give up.

2. You can attack the base until its walls are destroyed and then fight the soldiers inside.

3. You can attack the soldiers inside through ranged attacks.

Pictured above are several units surrounding the Shimazu’s Castle.

Defending Is the reverse of attacking in this game as you will avoid allowing the computer from doing either of those three things using the tactics Rumor, Mislead, and Raid along with fielding your own units.

Rumor – Lowers units morale and possibly confuses unit

Mislead – Makes unit retreat

Raid – Have a unit ambush an opposing unit confusing it

These three tactics are very important and can easily cripple a large attack force. Remember them.

Pictured above is the legendary scene in which Nobunaga Oda ambushes and Kills Yoshimoto Imagawa.

Through these tactics you can turn around most sieges. You can also build turrets to attack enemy units that enter your territory, they work great when set up down a narrow path.

The game has a diplomacy system similar to that of Romance of the Three Kingdoms where you can make alliances, force enemies to surrender to you, extort from enemies, and annul alliances. Most of these are self explanatory but the alliance system has a few quirks. Unlike most strategy games where when you offer an alliance to someone they either can accept or deny it, however in this game they can demand money, a hostage, or even a daughter to one of your generals. This give and take system is very prevalent and will be something critical to understand when you are playing the game, as very rarely will anyone give anything for free, even your allies. This same system is in place for negotiating technologies with other clans as they can demand money, your daughter, or a technology of your own as payment for theirs.

I don’t think allies should be so reluctant to do something for you. . .

Events as mentioned before are stills which explain something that is occurring, they come in a variety of flavors, from the death of an officer, to Nobunaga’ assassination. You unlock them by fulfilling certain requirements like conquering the country after attaining the rank of Regent, or ambushing Yoshimoto Imigawa.

The character Creation system allows you to make your own officers who can either serve an existing Daimyo or they can be Ronin and be recruited later. Unfortunately you can not make characters Daimyo from the get-go you have to have the previous Daimyo of a territory retire and set your CO(Created Officer) as Daimyo. The character creation is fairly in depth as it lets you select your occupation from anything as low as Peasant to as high as a Noble or even the shadowy Ninja. You can also set their religious preferences from the three major religions at the time Ikko, Buddhism, and Christianity, or you can choose not to affiliate with either of them. Another interesting feature is the capacity to specify the force your character likes the best and the base in which they will pop up in. The stats setting is fairly open where you can set your Leadership, Valor, intelligence, and Political ability anywhere between 1 and 120. Along with stats you get to select your tactics which is similar to that of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In this game you can only set each character to have one Friend and only One Enemy and this will greatly effect how that particular character perceives those two.

Now the games graphics are all beautifully 3D and you can easily tell that a great deal of detail was put into the building of each area. This is obviously different from the cell-shaded look that the ROTK series went for, and in my opinion is the most visually appealing of the two. The musically score is stunning as the soundtrack is Orchestrated entirely using Japanese instruments (just like how the ROTK games had Chinese instruments). The game is incredibly aesthetically appealing.

This is a great game for any strategy or history buff as it stays mostly true to what happened during the Sengoku Era and the rise of the Samurai Class in Japan. It also allows you to play as any clan who existed during the time, and in two fictional scenarios it allows you to play as clans that existed prior to the Sengoku Era. This is a fine game and is worth a look if you enjoy playing strategy games, or if you are a fan of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. In my opinion if you prefer strategy games that involve more micromanagement and less RPG aspects, this game is definitely worth it.

For those who are TL;DR, This is a strategy game with lots of depth, if you are interested in this, buy it.

Japan in the 16th Century! But wait what's that in the lower right corner?

All picture credits go to IGN

Gauntlet II (NES)

Coolest. Manowar album art. Ever.

I recently received Gauntlet II as a gift from a friend of mine. He was going out of town and since he was going to be game hunting anyway, he asked if I had a list of games that he should be on the lookout for. Surprisingly, none of the game stores he went to had any spare copies of Little Samson, Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, or Custer's Revenge anywhere! What a drag. Luckily he was able to pick up a copy of Gauntlet II and all is right with the world.

Before diving into Atari's 1986 classic Gauntlet II, I have had some previous experience with the Gauntlet series but the games never really caught my attention. Gauntlet Legends was entertaining enough on the N64, but I really considered it a "rental only" and not something I absolutely needed to shell 50 bucks out for. As a kid I rented the original Tengen Gauntlet from the local video-store and found myself frustrated and easily distracted. However, this time around I finally get what all the fuss about. Gauntlet II is a terrific game - if you play it the right way. But more on that in a minute.

Just started and already my health is going FAST!

For those who are possibly too young to remember - the Gauntlet series started out in the arcades. They are 4-player dungeon crawlers where your team fights through mountains of monsters and tries to fight starvation & the clock in order to get as many points as possible. In my local arcade, Gauntlet Legends was insanely popular and there were always groups of people lined up around the machine - spitting quarter after quarter into it, trying to stay alive as long as they could afford to. To me, that was the drag about the arcade version - you could only play for a short while before your character's life bar ran out and you had to dump another 50 cents in.

The basics of Gauntlet II are simple to grasp - you play as one of 4 characters (Thor, Thyra, Questor, and Merlin) as you fight through over 100 stages (Yeah - if you're really, really good) and try not to let your health meter reach 0. I would elaborate on the plot - but like so many of these hack 'n' slash arcade style dungeon crawlers, there isn't much of a plot to speak of. And in reality - do you really need one? You're playing as a warrior, elf, wizard or valkyrie and you're running through mazes killing bad guys. What more do you need to know? If you want to know more about the deep emotional impact these mazes have on Questor's feelings, perhaps this isn't the best game for that.

Like most other dungeon crawlers - you are on the lookout for food, keys, potions, and treasure chests in your quest to reach the end. There are monsters at almost every corner and you will frequently run into spawning squares that need to be destroyed, lest you want a continuous flow of ghosts and demons comin' atcha! One of the most diabolical enemies in the game (outside of the clock) is the death character. If you get hit by one of these reapers it will chew through up to 200 points of your health. Blast 'em with magic or run like heck and let your friends be death-fodder.

Death is one mean mamma jamma!

The controls are simple to grasp and fairly responsive. The view is top-down and your character can move in any direction and can shoot or use magic. There are very few times when you'll get stuck; however, some of those small hallways in the mazes can be tricky to maneuver. Some levels are laid out with a fairly linear path to the exit, others have multiple exits, and still others will give you a bit of freedom to follow your instincts on your quest toward the goal. Hit detection is pretty solid, though sometimes it actually glitches in your favor. There are times where I swear I should have been hit by enemies bumping me or security lasers and breezed right by without a scratch. In a game where your health is constantly ticking down, I don't consider hit detection this forgiving to be a bad thing.

In reality, the best way to play Gauntlet II is with one or more people accompanying you on your quest. Sure - you can make it pretty far on your own if you know what you're doing, but it's not nearly as fun. There's just something exciting about the teamwork aspect of telling your buddy to go down and destroy the enemy generator while you blast ghosts to get the only key in the stage. However, having a buddy or two can also be a detriment. You will invariably always have one cat on your team who thinks that brown twisted pixel smudge is supposed to be a stationary demon rather than the only food available in the level! (Ok, full disclosure: I'm that guy.) It's rare to find games that have more than 2-players and this is the kind of game that almost requires more than one person in order to make it as exciting as it ought to be.

The graphics definitely leave something to be desired. It looks as though they weren't tuned up a bit since its original 1986 release. The sprites are very reminiscent of early pc games during the dawn of graphic adventure games. While it's relatively easy to discern what most things are - sometimes it's a guessing game if that thing you're shooting at is something that will help or hurt you. You can destroy some essential things such as food and that's a real bummer - especially when playing with multiple people, because there's always someone on your team who has had their legs chewed off by death creatures all throughout the maze and are in desperate need of a health boost. Players do have the ability to jump back into the game; however, all points and inventory get lost so it's crucial that your players don't destroy food thinking it's a demon or pass up keys and potions thinking they are ghosts.

The music & sound effects are also fairly dated, though there is something oddly appealing about their old-school charm. For starters, music only exists at the beginning of the game and in between levels. It almost makes the mazes creepier with the complete lack of background music. This might have been a purposeful design choice in order for players to be able to make out what the digitized voices are saying throughout the level. Yes, not unlike the title screens of Skate or Die 2, Ghostbusters, and Blades of Steel - this game has digitized voice work and though grainy - it works surprisingly well. While certainly showing the limitations of the NES, the voice work is actually much clearer than most NES games I have played. The announcer is often shouting "Red Warrior shot the food!" or "Blue Wizard is it!" The sound effects usually sound like a St. Bernard caught in a garbage disposal, but there's even something mildly charming about those squeeky-squaky-burpy sounds too.

The sound those forcefield beams make is worse than a dentist's drill

Make no mistake, this game is hard. Even with buddies at your side, you have over 100 mazes to contend with and to try and last through so you can have the King Kong sized mega score at the end for bragging rights. However, some of the most fun aspects of this game revolve around the challenge level. Quite a few of the stages start with special instructions that indicate a challenge in the room (ie: the exit moves on its own.) There are enemies that will tag one of your characters and make them "it." This means that all of the enemies you guys pass will be gunning for you until the next stage or if you tag one of your buddies. The constant ticking of your health meter is an inspiration to keep moving and challenging you constantly as well as acting as a real irritant.

Yes, but where?!

I've hyped the multiplayer aspect of Gauntlet II, but is it a fun game on your own? Yes! If you dig dungeon crawlers and like a good challenge this game will be a great time no matter if you have a few friends over or if you're just playing by yourself. The levels randomize so it's doubtful you'll wind up playing the exact same game twice, so it has a decent replay value and the high challenge level means you're likely not to beat it in an afternoon. It's a game that takes skill and practice, but those who came to throw down will have an awesome time playing this classic game. At the time of this article, Lukie Games has it for really cheap! If you're looking for a challenge or just want a reason to bust out your Four Score or Satellite (both available as well from Lukie games!) then DO NOT hesitate and buy this game NOW!