retro

Late to the Party: Street Fighter Alpha

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Street Fighter Alpha is a landmark game in my life as a fighting game player. This was the first fighting game that I completely missed in its prime during my 14 year run without fighting games. I didn’t plan on missing out on this game; I actively purchased video game magazines to read Street Fighter Alpha coverage. However, it came out during a time when I wasn’t going to the arcade and I didn’t own a system that could run Alpha at home, so I never played more than 20 minutes of it at someones house years after the fact.

This was the first game I picked up on Playstation Network after buying my Playstation 3. Even though I have other fighting games to attend to, I really wanted to go back and give this one a fair shake to see what I’ve missed out on after all these years.

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The Undisputed Worst Video Game of All-Time – E.T. The Extraterrestrial

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I’ve run this video game website way too long without any mention of E.T. the Extraterrestrial. For all the wrong reasons, this game is legendary. If you don’t already know what makes this game special, there are no shortage of resources you can check out to catch up on the story.

I’m not here to regurgitate that story or tell you how E.T. the Extraterrestrial almost killed the entire home video game market. As a proud owner of this game, I just wanted to share my experiences with it.

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Return of the King of Kong

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A few years ago, my girlfriend and I rented The King of Kong documentary. It totally caught us by surprise. I was expecting a video game documentary and got an entertaining and nerdy equivalent of Rocky. You couldn’t help but love Steve Wiebe as he gained, lost, then regained the Donkey Kong high score world record from the clutches of Billy Mitchell, who comes off as the biggest jerk in the world in this movie.

The title has switched hands a few times since the making of this movie, but the latest move will bring joy to anyone that has ever watched The King of Kong. Steve Wiebe is once again, the Donkey Kong high score world record holder.

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The Legend Begins

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I vaguely remember the first time I ever played the Legend of Zelda. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t old enough to go to school and I couldn’t read at the time. All I remember is getting the sword and running around the world, killing monsters. I was told that I was supposed to save a princess, but I had no idea how. I aimlessly wandered around the world and killed things, which at the time, was probably enough of a gameplay experience to satisfy my tastes.

It would take a few more years before I actually understood how to play a Zelda game, when I first got my hands on A Link to the Past. It would take a few years after that for me to finally “get it”, when Ocarina of Time left an impact on my gaming life that I still feel today.

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How Rambo Ruined My Childhood*

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*The post title may be exaggerating, a bit.

Rambo on the original Nintendo is a game I fondly remember for all the wrong reasons. Back when I was no more than 8 years old, I rented this at my local video store. It was the worst video game I’ve ever rented.

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Some Love for Air Fortress

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To most people, Air Fortress is a game they’ve never heard of. According to the Wikipedia page for the game (so the validity of this fact is questionable), only 385 copies of the game came out in the US. In any case, this is not a game anyone will mention, ever. This is a shame to me, because I think it’s a pretty awesome 8-bit action game. The game also has a strong sentimental value with me, but first, let me explain what the game was about if you’ve never heard of it. I’ve included a video below as well to further explain.

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Looking Back: Berzerk

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Berzerk has a unique and weird place for itself in the pantheon of video games. In the arcade, it was one of the first video games with speech. It’s also believed to be the first (and I think only) video game to actually kill a person.

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Death of the Video Game Instruction Manual

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Earlier this week, Ubisoft announced that it will no longer make instruction manuals for it’s games, beginning as early as this fall. As someone who grew up in the 8-bit era, when instruction manuals were critical part of the experience, it kind of saddens me to know that this is probably the beginning of the end for paper instruction manuals. Back when I was younger, I used to love reading the instruction manuals on my brand new games as I was being driven home from the store. Some games were totally incomprehensible if you try and play them without reading the manual first. Also, as someone who used to trade in games a lot, keeping the original box and manual would always increase the value of your trade-in.

In the grand scheme of things though, the death of video game instruction manuals is probably well overdue.

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The Perfect Dark You’ve Always Dreamed Of*

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I have made it clear that I love the original Perfect Dark and I know I’m not alone in this sentiment. For its time, Perfect Dark had no equal on console, not even Goldeneye (yeah, I said it). Not to say that the experience was perfect, because it definitely wasn’t. Most of the game’s problems came from the fact that it was just a bit ahead of its time. The Nintendo 64 could barely run this game, even with the memory expansion plugged into your console.

For years, I wished that this game would get a fair shake. It never got the love that Goldeneye did, even though Perfect Dark is arguably better. I also wished for a day where the game wasn’t bound by the technical limitations brought forth by the Nintendo 64.

Well, my friends, that day has arrived.

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The Lesson I Learned From The Ninja Turtles

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The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, unlike most intellectual properties that are licensed for games, have had a few bright spots in their video game history. The original Ninja Turtles arcade game as well as Turtles in Time are considered high-points for the franchise, and in my personal opinion, Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighter was alright, too. Those three games were great experiences for me in the late 80s and early 90s.

What I remember most fondly about Ninja Turtles games isn’t what was great about them. Oh no. In fact, the memories I hold near and dear to my heart stem from the original NES Ninja Turtles game.

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