Brian Riggsbee
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27 Game Boy Haikus

8/28/2020

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Recently I picked up a handful of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, as I was in need of games I could quickly pick up and put down while juggling a newborn. While I had an original Game Boy as a child I had only a couple of games, making this unexplored territory for me. After playing each I commemorated my experience with a haiku. Some snarky, some celebratory, and others simply about the mood and impression the game imprinted on me.
Picture
Tetris
Gravity fulfilled
Ephemeral compartments
Raining infinite


Centipede
Swirling insects bend
Rainbow mushrooms blooming bright
Illuminations


Metal Gear Solid
Cinematic charm
Infiltrate the base with stealth
My rank: terrible


The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Duality blend
Masterful dungeon design
Ultimate puzzle


The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
Flowers blooming bright
Heat brings vines to fallen leaves
Frozen lakes shimmer


​Mario Golf
Crisp fairway stretches
Soothing peace of open space
Pierce the air soaring


Jurassic Park
Welcome to the park
Where dinosaurs drop ammo
Clever bazooka 


Star Wars
Float high in the air
Jawas explode by your hand
Han is not with you


Resident Evil: Gaiden
Horror repeating 
This series is boat obsessed
Save file lost at sea


Resident Evil
Boldly ambitious 
Dining without a table
Failed experiment 


Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
Old names and faces
Takes me back to a fond time
Skateboards roll through dreams


Donkey Kong 
How does it translate?
Broken copy of this game
Never to be played


Wizards & Warriors X: Fortress of Fear
The warrior returns
The cruelty of bad music
​And no continues


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
All turtles the same
Zero unique qualities
Pizza lacking taste
Castlevania: The Adventure
Trudging through the mud
Impossible pitfall shame
Hunter is hunted


Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge 
Reborn in sequel
Demo wholly rectified
Revenge is attained 


Castlevania Legends
Respawns irritate
Ariel motion unnerves
Charmed by Alucard


Mickey’s Ultimate Challenge
String of baby games
Not what I was expecting
That’s on me I guess


Pac-Man
Reminds of pizza days
Binoculars isolate
A limited view


Bionic Commando: Elite Forces
A journey ends short
Item select glitch blocks path
Am I missing much?


Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
Rub against the walls
Far from Resident Evil
Limitations felt


The Final Fantasy Legend
Built on sand and mud
Blind we walk through the dense fog
Forget this square world 


Final Fantasy Legend II
Better than before
Overwhelmed by endless rules
Our destiny lost


Final Fantasy Legend III
Flood of evil spreads
Future warriors embark
Rebuild history


Super Battletanks
Desert empty field
Nothingness meets fake 3D
Spinning endlessly

​
Milan’s Secret Castle
Like the N-E-S
Plus lag and a smaller screen
Never liked this one


Yoshi’s Cookie 
Sweet, sweet alignment
A factory of friendship 
Baking harmony​
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Rapid Reviews Part VIII

8/23/2020

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More quick reviews.

  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (Game Boy Color) - Easily one of the best Zelda titles and arguably the best dungeon design of any Zelda game.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (Game Boy) - Playing this back to back with Ages was so much fun. Compared to Ages, Seasons is a bit more action oriented whereas Ages leans more heavily on puzzles.
  • Firewatch (PS4) - A simplistically delivered heartfelt story.
  • Carrion (Switch) - Repetitive, confusing, boring, and unnecessarily convoluted. One of the worst Metroidvanias ever produced. And to brand this as “horror” is just silly.
  • Panzer Paladin (Switch) - It’s got the retro look, fun weapons, and the cool anime inspired cut scenes. Gameplay and level design is where it falls short.
  • Curse of the Moon 2 (Switch) - The sequel that satisfied the itch left by the original. And yet still I crave more.
  • Mario Land 2 (Game Boy) - It’s intuitive, the power-ups are simple yet fun, you have freedom to chose what order to tackle levels, there’s secret stages, the check points curb any frustration, the water levels don’t suck, and Wario is awesome.
  • Castlevania Adventure (Game Boy) - You move like you are walking through mid, there’s no sub weapons, the hit collision on Belmont is unfairly large, you lose whip upgrades with damage, the gap jumps are ridiculously difficult, and the level design feels disconnected from the reality of the environments they are meant to exist in.
  • Brothers (PS4) - The mechanics are unique and at first a bit of a brain teaser to get accustomed to as it requires you to multitask in the truest sense of the word. It’s how I imagine drummers feel when they first learn how to play.
  • Resident Evil: Gaiden (Game Boy) - Unlike the failed, overly ambitious Game Boy version of the original Resident Evil (an unfinished demo), Gaiden smartly employs a battle mechanic that fits into the simplicity of the hardware. Where it suffers is in the dialogue that seems to have been outsourced to an elementary school student.
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A Few Lovely PS4 Screenshots

7/12/2020

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I usually don't think to capture a screenshot when deeply immersed in a game. From time to time, however, something strikes me enough and I hit that capture button. Here's just a few of my favorites.
  1. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
  2. Final Fantasy VII Remake
  3. Owlboy
  4. Resident Evil 3 Remake
  5. Shadow of the Colossus
  6. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
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Rapid Reviews: Part VII

7/6/2020

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Do you enjoy video game reviews but hate to read? I have you covered with these quick snippets. Enjoy.

  • Rygar (arcade) - While (barely) graphically superior to the NES version, the arcade version is inferior in all other ways. Those that enjoyed the NES iteration will recall its Metroidvania like arrangement, multiple points of view, and RPG elements. As one would expect, the arcade experience is much more straight forward than that, as the act of playing a game in an arcade didn't allow for the time and space to support a design with more open exploration. And to compare is unfair. Slugging beasts with the diskarmor in this version brings some joy, but it's the repetitive level design that holds it back.
  • Haunted Castle (arcade) - Long story short, this is the arcade version of Castlevania, complete with familiar tropes such as the whipping vampire hunter, horror movie monsters, and Bloody Tears (the song).  Each level is a unique experience, and each ends with a boss to battle with. Check it out if you want to dig deeper into the history of Castlevania.
  • Bastion (Switch) - Dull and flavorless.
  • Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) - It's so much more than a remake. There's so much new content here ranging from the completely reinvented battle system to the story elements. It's a must play.
  • Ape Out (Switch) - Simple mechanics and a visual style done right. It's so much fun.

Want more? Check out the previous sets of rapid reviews:
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
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Rapid Reviews: Part VI

4/29/2020

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Rapid reviews is where I write quick snippets on games I've recently played, and use the word "rapid" as an excuse to justify bad writing. Also check out parts 1-5.
​
  • Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom) - I decided that for my second play through I should probably play the Japanese version, and mixed things up this time by doing Grant's path followed by acquiring Alucard. I had convinced myself I’d have a more unique and full experience by accepting Alucard over Grant. This resulted in instant regret, followed later by acceptance, and ended in a minor degree of appreciation. 
  • Dragon Quest XI (Switch) - Do you know that feeling when you spin up a JRPG and you convince yourself, at the start, that you won't do every little thing so that you won't be playing the same game for hundred of hours? That's exactly what I told myself, and the opposite of what ended up happening.
  • The Forest (PS4) - The Forest is like Naked and Afraid but with cannibals. I found that the joy of exploration and building was too frequently interrupted by screaming maniacs. The at first intense, heart-pounding terror manifested into sheer annoyance.
  • Battle Princess Madelyn (PS4) - BPM pays homage to Ghouls n Ghosts and the general look and feel of the Genesis. Yet unlike its predecessor, the muddy graphical quality makes it too challenging to see enemies, leading to frustrating moments. The long levels are painful, as starting over after a long run feels grueling and unfair. 
  • Resident Evil 3 Remake (PS4) - RE is one of my all time favorite series, and the RE2 Remake was so right on so many levels. Sadly the same cannot be said for the RE3 Remake. Simply put, it's far too short and linear. Linear doesn't have to be a bad word, but in the case of RE3R, linear translates to cheap action and instances of moving beyond an area before fully exploring it (when RE over-indexes on action over exploration the games tend to be less successful). Gameplay wise, RE2R laid an amazing framework, yet the dodge mechanic that was added to RE3R feels almost broken. In terms of replay value, it really is nonexistent, as having upgrades to purchase after completing the game is meaningless if the game is so short and straight forward that there is no desire to revisit. When it comes to Nemesis vs. Mr. X, I found running from Nemesis to less of an immersive impact because the situations are simply less scary and it overall feels way more scripted. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.  
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Rapid Reviews: Part V

12/31/2019

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Check out parts I-IV for more rapid reviews.
​
  • Walking Dead: The Final Season (Switch) - I couldn’t help but play this game while thinking about how it was the last for Telltale. It was a bittersweet ending to a unique experience.
  • Mana Spark (Switch) - A simple and fairly bland roguelike. While the town dynamic provides a sense of growth and purpose, it lacks a true sense of a unique hook to make it stand out from a sea of similar games.​
  • Kid Dracula (Castlevania Anniversary Collection on PS4) - Kid Dracula finally comes to the US. Big, colorful sprites pop, the levels have a smooth flow, and your character grows (gaining magic) as you progress. It’s a neatly packaged platformer that holds up well.
  • Ghostbusters (Switch) - There’s a risk in playing a game that’s 10 years old: it’s not recent enough to be cutting edge and it’s not old enough to be retro. And Ghostbusters (the game) is not aging well.
  • Castlevania: Fan Edition (NES) - This is one of the many Castlevania hacks, leveraging sprites, music, and mechanics from the first two Castlevania games. This version attempts to recreate the original via a modified experience. I applaud the restructuring vision, namely how the adventure twists and turns through ruins and abandoned towns (Castlevania II is to thank for these assets). The execution, on the other hand, leaves more to be desired (Why are so few enemies from the originals used? Why is the same Dracula battle the end of two levels? Why not add a scared towns person or text to the signs?), as there is a sloppiness to much of the level layout (Why are there random platforms moving under the town that you can’t reach? Why remove the guarantee of whip upgrades when you aren’t fully powered from those candles?), and some unusual bugs (e.g. items constantly falling through floors) that did not exist in the originals.
  • Cave Story+ (Switch) - A mild and overrated retro platformer. If there is a semblance of depth and substance later I won’t be sticking around to find out.
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Rapid Reviews: Part IV

12/10/2019

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Quick reviews of games. Short and sweet.
  • Link's Awakening (Switch) — This is easily the cutest Zelda game to date. And with some of the best diegetic sound I’ve experienced in a game. It respectfully doesn’t change up much from the original, providing mostly a facelift, which is all it really needed.
  • Castlevania III (NES) — A classic that, until now, I had not played through to the end. The level design is expertly crafted such that a difficult scenario, at first attempt, feels impossible, and through some repetition patterns are unveiled, leaving you washed in the glow of solution discovering excitement. The soundtrack contains some of the absolute best the series has to offer.
  • Undertale (Switch) — Silly, weird, playful, funny, odd, surprising, thoughtful, unique.
  • Untitled Goose Game (Switch) — What a wonderful jerk this goose is.
  • Katana Zero (Switch) — Katana Zero is visually stunning. The tiny characters and environments pack a ton of detail with richly decorated scenes, moody colors, and carefully crafted animations. The gameplay, on the other hand, while occasionally rewarding, requires a bizarre level of precision that frequently results in annoyance. Despite its shortcomings, it’s the mysterious story that kept me coming back for more. After hours of play I got used to the gameplay and mechanics,  and eventually got into a rhythm. There is a richness to this game, in terms of story and mechanics, both of which grew to be increasingly interesting the deeper I progressed.
  • Return of the Obra Dinn (Switch) — It has a retro look not well tapped into yet and a unique twist on the mystery and puzzle genres. It's just not for me as I found the task before me to be daunting and stressful, rather than fun.
  • Cuphead (Switch) — It’s exactly what I expected: looks great and is really hard. At around the 7th or 8th boss I got frustrated and switched to some other games. After taking a multi-week break I returned, and this time, grinded my way to the end. Defeating a boss in this game is incredibly gratifying, and I felt accomplished when I KOed that last baddie. 
  • Odallus: The Dark Call (Switch) — It's rough around the edges. This was not the retro style game I was looking for.
  • Control (PS4) — After a few hours my feelings are mixed. It feels unpolished and clunky at times. The battles are repetitive and lack a sense of thrill. Thematically, in terms of the story, it is something that interests me. I just don’t quite enjoy how it is being executed.
  • Retro City Rampage (Switch) — I was expecting a GTA 1 / GTA 2 clone and was pleasantly surprised to find something much, much deeper than that. It oozes 80s nostalgia, and mashes up classic characters in unusual and surprising ways.
  • Contra 4 (DS) — Contra 4 looks great and is extremely challenging, much like the original (more challenging than the original, in fact). Even with the extra life code I found myself getting destroyed.
  • Little Sampson (NES) — Wonderboy meets Mega Man. A diverse set of playable characters and level design makes for a game that sadly was not experienced by the breadth of audience it deserved.
  • Blaster Master Zero (Switch) — Poorly crafted level design with meaningless dead ends makes this a hard to love game. Bosses exhibit repetitive patterns and are extremely easy to defeat. While it retained my interest enough to see it all the way through, I can’t recommend it. It’s one of those games I played at a friend’s house on the NES originally, so the nostalgic value is what kept me going. The remake is mostly a face lift with a few other minor improvements, and my biggest beef is in the level and boss design, which carries over from the original. The caves you explore as Jason often have useless dead ends, and at times are completely devoid of anything to discover (you literally just find health and weapon refills that you don’t need). And the bosses can be obliterated with extreme ease. The dialogue is also cringe worthy. It was nice to revisit a childhood game. It just doesn’t have good bones.
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Rapid Reviews: Part III

9/14/2019

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Too many games, not enough time. Let’s be brief.

​The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS)

The best of Zelda with a unique, new mechanic, and all within the revamped familiar world of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Pure joy.
8/10


RE 2 DLC (PS4)
The remake to Resident Evil 2 proved how a remake should be done. Everything about it just felt right; It’s a near perfect game. The first DLC, on the other hand, is sloppy and unnecessarily difficult.
3/10


Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS4)
Spells, morphing, gothic music, library cards, and a game after a game. It’s glorious.
9/10


Just Breed (Famicom)
When I discovered that a game like Shining Force had existed in Japan for the Famicom I jumped on the opportunity to play. What has the bones to be a great tactical RPG is ruined by exhausting battles that are drawn out by two primary factors: 1) enemy respawn hubs and 2) a movement limitation on your army to always stay in a nearby cluster.
3/10


Rolling Thunder (Micro Player)
Rolling Thunder has a special, nostalgic place in my heart. While the micro version isn’t quite the arcade experience, both in terms of physical size and graphical quality, it’s close enough to pull me back to that place in time. This mini machine delivers on one of Namco’s best.
7/10


Celeste (PS4)
Beautifully designed, smooth animations, enjoyable story arch, and enthralling music. The extreme difficulty feels right since each section is so short. A died a lot on my way to the top and loved every minute of it.
8/10


Hollow Knight (PS4)
Brutally difficult to the point of massive frustration at times. The pleasure derived from a successfully slain boss mostly stems from knowing that the moment is finally done, rather than a delight one normally feels in a moment of accomplishment from a more moderate level of difficulty.
7/10


Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
A short yet enjoyable addition to the Castlevania series.
7/10


Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
Dawn picks up where Aria left off, adding additional depth to the story, characters, and mechanics.
8/10


Final Fantasy Tactics: Advance (GBA)
There’s so much to dislike about FFTA: a new judgement system that slows the pace of battle and travel with a layer of complexity that never should have made it beyond a brainstorm meeting, a laborious equipment UX, and a “game within a game” story that cheapens the experience.
4/10


Metroid: Fusion (GBA)
It's mostly great. There’s an Alien like atmospheres complete with an enemy to run away from. There’s environments that change over time. And tons of secret areas to discover. The ability to jump as a ball and easily jump upright and grab into a tunnel is a nice touch. Save points feel appropriately spread out, the music and animations are great, and there’s some solid music throughout.

On the negative side, it feels rather linear and you are constantly told what to do. That plus the combination of the DS Lite hardware and the shooting mechanics makes for frustrating boss battles. For example, my giant hands struggled to hold R for missiles + L to aim at an angle + down to aim downward + press B to shoot.
7/10


Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
Metroid: Zero Mission exceeded and blew away my expectations. I came into this anticipating a simple remake with a few minor improvements and was so pleasantly surprised to discover a completely reimagined experience. ZM is drenched in polish, intrigue, and joy.
9/10


The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA)
It fits the typical mold of the games that followed LttP, in a good way, with just enough differences and fresh elements to keep it fun. The only real negative is that my hat friend is rather irritating, playing the part of the tutorial I never needed and never seems to end.

I particularly enjoyed the fusing of stones as a way to get you to return to previously explored areas (both to do more fusing and to collect rewards). Simple yet pleasurable.

I was a little shocked that there wasn’t that moment near the end where you realize Ganon was involved all along. Nope, no Ganon. And that’s perfectly OK.

My favorite “dungeon” was actually Hyrule Town. From the moment you step foot in the town you are teased with hints of secrets at every turn.
8/10


Chrono Trigger (DS)
Back in the mid-90s I had rented Chrono Trigger from a local video store, and never had the chance to complete it. With the DS version finally in my hands I was not only able to complete it a few different ways, I was also able to jump into the new content which added some extra depth.
8/10


Mother 3 (GBA)
I’m really torn on this one. The story is interesting at times, with curious oddities and strange conversations, and then other times the story just seem so predictable, the mood is juvenile, and the gameplay can be so utterly banal. On the gameplay front, there is an annoying, repeating formula: go to a location, grind in boring “dungeon”, listen to a boss ramble, fight, read a wall of text, and hope you grinded just enough so that you don’t have to grind some more. There’s some cute animations and characters, however, overall, I’m simply not a fan of the art style.
5/10


Ninja Cop (GBA)
A ninja that is also a cop...that’s also a ninja. It just works. The only downside is the game ends just as it gets going.
7/10


The Messenger (PS4)
A subpar action-adventure platformer that borders on tiresome. If you want to play a far superior throw-back Ninja Gaiden then check out Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (and as a bonus enjoy its Castlevania goodness).
​6/10
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Rapid Reviews: Part II

2/9/2019

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It's hard to find time these days to play all the great games that are out there. It's equally challenging to find time to write about them. So like in part 1, I'll keep this to the point.

Mega Man 11 - PS4
The first hour was frustrating: I'd die getting close to a boss, yet not quite reaching one, and then would try another level, not sure which was the best one to tackle first, and die some more. At that point I collected enough currency to buy a few essential upgrades, and instantly the difficultly swung in the opposite direction as I conquered level after level with little to no problem. The challenge was still there, it just started to feel more fair.

All in all, it was a top tier Mega Man game, with an aesthetic that really appealed to me, fun weapons, and solid level design.
8/10

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood - PS4
This is classic Castlevania done properly. Levels are challenging but not to the point of frustration. The playable characters are unique. The music is stellar. The secrets are rewarding when discovered. My only critique of this game is that the dialogue and English voice acting in cutscenes are extremely cringe worthy. 

This is a must play for any Castlevania fan.
8/10

Dead Cells - PS4
I've never been a big fan of roguelike games. While I appreciate that there are some elements of persistence in Dead Cells, I personally gravitate to those games that are have more continuous forward motion. I played for a few hours and then moved on. 

Resident Evil 2 Remake - PS4
Capcom is continuing to head in the right direction with the Biohazard franchise, focusing on what made these games popular in the first place. So much attention to detail went into this game, and great improvements were made when compared back to the original. The environments are richer and more expansive. The story is more refined. It's enhanced in every way.

What stands out the most is the impressive pacing. There is a rhythm to the encounters you face v downtime, the feeling of safety v insecurity, the placement of items that you find v being completely devoid of ammunition. You actually have to be careful when firing at a zombie, as they sways in a way that can be challenging to hit and move at you with extreme aggression. You have to be on your toes when you enter a room, and likewise, ready to search a room quickly when an enemy rattles at the wooden door that is between you, keeping it at bay. Fleeing is a tackle option, and is actually essential in some instances. 

The gameplay is utterly satisfying in so many ways. It just feels good to watch as a zombie recoils from a gunshot, followed by the shock of it continuing to push forward quickly after. Zombies lunge at you from around corners, making it so that walking is often not just more immersive but a safer option. You also can never trust a zombie on the ground, keeping you constantly on edge.

I'm currently doing a second play through as Claire, having originally played as Leon (I elected to do the 2nd option that you unlock after the first play through). There are differences between Leon and Claire's runs, though I would say not quite as different as I had hoped. Needless to say I'm obsessed with this game.
9/10

Shovel Knight - PS4
This is classic platforming done to perfection. It's a little on the easy side, although I really didn't mind that. I also highly recommend playing the Spector of Torment campaign, which could have been its own standalone game in my opinion.
9/10


Red Dead Redemption 2 - PS4
What stands out the most to me with RDR2 is the amount of polish that went into it. It's incredibly detailed in terms of the mechanics, missions, and just the general interactions you have with NPCs and the world. The story and voice acting is topnotch, although I'm in the camp that feels that Dutch did get a little repetitive at times. There's also something that is so satisfying about the freedom you have to explore and decide how you want to interact with the people and places you discover. And the landscapes are drop-dead gorgeous.
9/10

Owlboy - PS4
Playing this game made me feel like I was transported back to the days of the SNES. Owlboy succeeds at marrying crisp platforming, beautiful 2D graphics, and a story that perfectly unfolds. 
8/10

Axiom Verge - PS4
Some say it's the best Castlevania game ever. It's definitely one of the best Metroidvania games of all times. And it's insanely impressive what one human was able to create. There are so many secret areas to discover, incredible music, and tons of fun weapons. Although, I actually feel the amount of weapons was a determent to the game, as it was overwhelming and many felt useless simply due to the overabundance. Overall I really enjoyed this game and would love to see a sequel.
9/10


Crystalis - NES
This, as well as the next 3 games, are all classic NES games I never had the opportunity to play during their original days. Crystalis is a solid action-RPG from beginning to end, and I can see why it is regarded so highly. The battle mechanics, namely coming from the unique swords that carry their own special abilities, made for simple yet effective battle strategies, as well as being the means to progressing through locked pathways. 
7/10

Battle of Olympus - NES
You may remember this game as the knockoff to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. It looks, plays, and feels very much like it. The big differences being that it doesn't have the power of the stories and characters from Zelda, and it lacks the overworld element as well. I played this one for a few hours and gave up. 

Metal Gear - NES
As with Crystalis, I played this one end to end. I will admit I did have to look up one part online in order to progress, which was a hidden wall that you had to punch through. Having played some of the more modern Metal Gear games it was fun to go back and discover that so much of the themes were established from the very start.
7/10

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Home, Sweet Home

8/19/2018

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Picture
For me, like most that had the opportunity, my first experience with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was at a young, impressionable age. Sure, we had an Atari before that, and a couple of games. But it was the NES that had the largest and most lasting impact on me. I was probably about 5 years old when my neighbor, Miles, beckoned me into his home, touting that he had a new game system, with promises of a dragon. Inside I was introduced to Super Marios Bros, and, as I recall the memory, I imagine my jaw remained unhinged for the length of my visit. It wouldn’t be long before an NES reached my home, and many years followed where I would journey, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, through a rich expanse of worlds.

Fast-forward to around 2002 or 2003, during my college years, where I decided to unpack (and dust off) my old NES. It felt like it had just been long enough where coming back to it felt meaningful. By this time, multiple systems had already come and gone, and the NES, for most, had been forgotten, often only surfacing in a garage sale put up by a parent cleaning an attic.

This is also when I learned about the unreliable and degradation of the 72 pin connector. A few dollars and a few weeks later, a replacement arrived from a vendor on eBay. I recall opening up the system with a feeling that was akin to an archaeologist unearthing a sacred grave. In some ways, it felt like an invasion, and in another, it felt like exploring a newly discovered planet.

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After getting the NES operational again, I casually played a few games. It wasn’t long until I was back at it with modern games like Grand Theft Auto III: Vice City and Counter-Strike. My NES was quickly forgotten, re-boxed and packed away. Perhaps it was simply too soon.

It’s now 2018, thirty-three years after the North American release of the NES. At work, we have a #retrogames channel in Slack, where we discuss all things related to retro gaming (including the definition of what retro gaming is). It was in this community that the emotions I have deeply ingrained with the NES resurfaced. Quickly I plunged into all things retro gaming. I binged listened to countless episodes of the Retronauts podcast. I grinded through books like I Am Error, Legends of Localization Book 1: The Legend of Zelda, The Anatomy of Castlevania: The NES Trilogy, and NES Works Volume I and II. I played modern takes on 8 and 16 bit style games, such as Axiom Verge and Owlboy. I also found myself back in a place I hadn’t been since the early 2000s: eBay. My collection of original NES carts quickly doubled.

In the last 6 months I learned more about classic gaming than I had ever known. I gained layers of appreciation and understanding that simply didn’t exist prior. While in doing so, some of the charm of my memories may have been tainted, yet overall, my lasting impressions of what retro gaming means to me has been greatly enhanced. It reminded me a bit like my experience in studying film in college, as once I understood what the man behind the curtain was doing I could now love these things deeper, but the man could never be unseen, and thus some of the illusions were forever lost.

As I prepared my original NES for its return performance I came prepared with the knowledge that hooking an NES up to a 4K television was not going to be an ideal experience. However, I couldn’t even get that far, as just like in the previous round through memory lane, my NES failed to load any games. After a deep clean and another new pin connector I was back on track. This time  my goal was to experience games I had never played before, or those that I had only a glimpse of in their infancy. I decided to start with Crystalis.

As feared, the combination of the NES on a modern TV was a mess. The colors were off. Any movement on screen was distorted. And I could see the preloaded artifacts on the right side of the screen, which was an area that would have been obscured on a CRT television. I knew this just wasn’t going to work. Thankfully, there are heroes in this world that have produced gems like the AVS, which plays original NES (and Famicom) carts and outputs to HD. I went ahead and ordered one, and felt back on track.

I’ve since played a number of games, and not all to completion. I dabbled in games like The Battle of the Olympus, drawn to the Zelda II: The Adventure of Link style (or to be blunt, it’s a total rip-off). And played a few levels here and there with Batman: The Video Game, Commando, and The Legend of Kage. With so many games brought into my home all at once I had too much to choose from, a luxury that didn’t exist back in the 80s, which resulted in my fickleness. Thus far, at the time of writing this, the only two I have completed end-to-end are Crystalis and Metal Gear (both great). 
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Playing games as old as these, so many years later, after experiencing games evolve, and having those games be ones I had never played, resulted in a nostalgia-cocktail. It’s an experience that has been rather intoxicating. I often feel transported back in time, as if I just received ones of these games as a gift. Ignoring everything I have learned and experienced since then, however, is sometimes a challenge, and it’s not something that I feel one should even bother to block out. There is enjoyment to be found in comparing these games to those that followed, to feel the evolution and see what inspired the future. Granted, a hidden door in Metal Gear that is part of the critical path made me want to pull my hair out a little, and it was something I ended up looking up online. But this was the NES! Random, hidden doors was a sign of the time, and I can accept that.
Warning: Sweet Home spoilers ahead
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Which brings me to Sweet Home. If you haven’t heard of Sweet Home then you are not alone, as it was only ever officially released in Japan. The version I am playing is a translated reproduction cartridge, meaning it isn’t an original NES game, but you wouldn’t know that by the looks of it. Sweet Home, produced by Capcom, is a precursor to the Resident Evil (Biohazard) series. Similar to Resident Evil, it’s a survival horror themed game that takes place in a creepy mansion filled with creatures and zombies. The mechanics draw similarities as well, as you progress by collecting items, backtracking, and using those items to progress in the form of light puzzles. Notes left behind offer clues to both your advancement and the grander story. Even the ability to toggle between characters is later found in Resident Evil Zero.

Where Sweet Home differs from the Resident Evil lineage the most is two-fold: 1) it’s an RPG, and 2) what makes this game so unique is how you partner with the five playable characters. With regards to the latter, the dynamic of grouping (and ungrouping) with your fellow trapped survivors is what makes the game unique and special. You are restricted to no more than three characters in a party at a time, and each character can only hold two items, in addition to their special item. This forces the player to make strategic decisions. Do I have a good set of items for what I anticipate ahead? If I need items from the group of two I left behind will they be able to safely catch up to the party of three? You’re constantly making trade-offs, and while on occasion it feels somewhat tedious, it mostly feels engaging.

And at times, safety in numbers can backfire. I find myself often toggling between holding a stance that the clues are too literal, and thus, too easy, and wishing the game was more challenging. And then, just minutes later, my entire party of three will fall into a pit, hanging for their lives, and because I wasn’t careful enough my remaining party of two isn’t able to get to them in time to save them. It’s actually moments like these that really up my appreciation for this game as it’s these types of creative surprises that adds flavor.

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While I save often in this game, in fear of permanently losing a character, there was a moment that occurred early in the game where I decided to not reset and, instead, decided to accept and carry on. I had crossed a pit to obtain an essential item, by placing a log to form a bridge. My party of three doubled back after gathering the item, and this is when the character in the center of the line broke the bridge and hung to the edge. I was able to pull the character back up, but this meant that one of my other characters, Asuka, was now stranded on the other side. I ended up leaving Asuka on that lonely island for a huge portion of the game, always knowing, or at least hoping, that I would come back. It was a promise I made both to myself as a player as well as between the characters in the context of the game world. Eventually I found more logs, returned, and saved my friend. It was a sense of relief to finally be reunited. That was also when I realized that Asuka, all along, had a log in her inventory that she could have used to cross that gap. I laughed to myself.

The survival horror theme is bolstered even further by the ways in which characters become separated. If you’re like me, you occasionally take unnecessary risks in games (especially if you just saved your progress) in an effort to push the boundaries of the game. For example, there are spirits that will pull a character away from their group, plopping them in a room many screens away. The wisest decision in this moment would be to take the remaining two characters that are still bound together, and to have them navigate to their lost friend. However, like foolish teenagers in countless horror movies, I will often take my solo character and journey on, acting as if I am confined to the perspective of that person. Ask yourself, if you were taken from your friends by ghosts, would you sit still in a strange room? Probably not. Now, a solo trek like this can be disastrous, as you might break a flimsy plank that stretched across a pit, with no one to pull you up. Or you will face enemies alone, and with a finite number of healing items available in the game, this isn’t wise (assuming you even have an item to heal yourself with). This is actually where another ingenious mechanic comes into play: the ability to call for help. In this mode, another character (or set of characters) has limited time to run towards their comrade and assist them. It’s a heart-pounding moment.

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Further on the topic of encounters, as mentioned before, this is an RPG, albeit a rather atypical one. Battles are randomly triggered, with the exception of the fights that ensue when you come into direct contact with enemies that traverse across some of the screens. The battles are rather simple, made up primarily of attacks and prayer (think magic). Many of the traditional systems found in RPGs, such as collecting coins, purchasing weapons and items, and resting at inns to regain health, do not exist in Sweet Home (nor do they have a place here). Rather, there is no currency, weapons and items are discovered, and hit points and prayer points are replenished only with tonics.

The environments powerfully convey the mood. In this vast mansion you twist and turn down hallways, up and down stairs leading you to great heights and depths, and explore the outer areas surrounding the property. Each section is truly unique, ranging from underground labyrinths to a lakeside forest. The top-down view is contrasted by more detailed scenes of paintings and monuments, and the occasional open door animation.

Most areas, in addition to having their own visual complexity, are accompanied by a variety of music compositions that fit snugly in the horror genre. A rolling low tone base line is accented by squealing highs. There is a deliberant tempo juxtaposition between the moderate beats-per-minute (BPM) of the exploration music and the upbeat, panic inducing songs that quickly loop and build anxiety when you battle enemies and suffer from poison.

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Even with the limitations of the NES, Sweet Home managed to nail the theme of what survival horror should be. You’re scared. You’re often alone. Your resources are limited. Danger lurks behind every corner. The atmosphere is terrifying. A sinister backstory slowly reveals itself, making the world that much more frightening. Death is final.

Not only did Sweet Home bring me back to the joy of experiencing a new NES experience, it also reminded me of the pleasure of solving mysteries through the use of taking notes. Note taking, for many, in and outside the context of gaming, is considered a chore. Growing up in the days of the NES, however, it was not just helpful at times, but often essential. Drawing maps, scribbling down clues, recording passwords...these are all staples of the NES experience.

At this point, from what I can gather from the progression of the story, I’m close to the end. As for what comes next, I will dip into the backlog of titles I still have waiting for me, and keep playing, for as long as it still feels like home. And who knows, maybe in another 10 years I’ll dust off my NES games one more time for another go.

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    Brian Riggsbee lives in San Francisco CA. He enjoys gaming, writing, creating art, practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, chasing adorable dogs, and spending time with his wife and boy.

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