Compilation Disc: Retro Acquired
There was a lot of content on the old site. Certainly not all is up to our current quality, but we feel there is enough information to make it a shame to have them disappear forever. This is why we are releasing "Compilation Discs" of our old columns. Each page will be an old column, starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.
This time, I have chosen Retro Aqcuired where we would take a look at an old game or series. We had a handful of these articles written and its always fun to read about old games.
Rayman
by Kyle "lwelyk" LaCroix
I love a good 2D platformer, and it's a shame that those seem to be going by the wayside for, what I see as, their inferior 3D counterparts. 2D platformers do come back occasionally, and the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii looks amazing; but if I want my fix I generally have to turn to older titles. One I recently returned to was Rayman. I owned the PC version of Rayman and played it like crazy as a kid, but hadn't really thought of it in years until I saw it on the PlayStation Store. I quickly downloaded it and remembered why I loved the game so much.
Rayman is a very good-looking game; the sprites and backgrounds are beautiful, the enemies and areas are diverse, and the music is brilliant. The presentation was so well done, especially the level diversity as seen here:
Just look at how different and good looking all the worlds are. The art world is my personal favorite, using pencils as platforms, erasers are trampolines, and ink as water. I don't like the more realistic worlds as much as the fantastical ones--they're missing a bit of the charm--, but they still look great and have very uniform designs within themselves. You're not going to see the music enemies in the cave area or the candy enemies in the jungle. There are some recurring enemies that have vaguer designs, but there are a lot of very pretty, world-specific enemies. Even the checkpoints are fun, featuring a photographer and one of those cardboard things you stick your head through.The music does a great job of conveying the various areas as well, the music world fittingly has some of the best music in the game. Thankfully most disc-based versions of the game allow you to rip the music so you can listen to it whenever you want to.
The game wasn't just pretty, it was well-built too. Playing it again, I realize that it has a lot of Metroidvania elements. You gradually gain your abilities over time and when you have a new one you can go back to old areas to reach new parts of the level. There is only one actual collectible in the game: the electoon cages. You break these cages and free the electoons inside, and while some of them are pretty tricky, it's not as irritating as some of the major platformers today where you have to collect 20 different kinds of things.
Rayman's powers are interesting and introduced at a good pace. You start out with being able to jump and that's about it. It soon gives you the ability to throw your fist for attacks and the ability to hang on the edge of platforms. You then slowly get the abilities to swing from certain objects, slow your fall with helicopter-hair, and run to give a bit more length to your jumps. You also have several level-specific things like the eternal helicopter hair that lets you fly about. The nice thing about how the powers are dispensed is that it lets you get used to your current powers before going on to the next one, making sure you can use everything effectively.
And you do need to use everything effectively, because after about five levels the difficulty has a huge spike and it again spikes later. Rayman is not easy at all, requiring some very precise jumps and movements. Even reaching some of the later worlds without cheating for more lives is an accomplishment. It's worth the trouble though, as it remains very fun and some of the later levels are gorgeous.
While the Rayman series has been taken over by screaming rabbits at the moment, I hope Ubisoft returns the series to its roots. Rayman and Rayman 2: The Great Escape are some of my favorite games ever and Rayman 2 is one of the few 3D platformers that I really enjoy. That's for another time though, but for now go get Rayman. It's only $6 on PlayStation Network and it's been ported to enough other systems that you should be able to find it no matter what you have. It's definitely worth it.
Banjo Kazooie
by Devin "Mace" Nelson
It seems fitting that my first piece for Retro Acquired should be about the game that ignited my lifelong passion for video games: Nintendo and Rare’s Banjo-Kazooie for the Nintendo 64.
- Yay cardboard!
Perhaps that seems odd. Most gamers my age, if asked, probably wouldn't call Banjo-Kazooie their first gaming experience that felt like more than just a game. They'd likely cite Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metroid, or Sonic the Hedgehog, or some other highly regarded game.
Banjo-Kazooie wasn't the first game I enjoyed, mind you. Prior to the N64 era, there had been other games that had sparked my interest. I remember playing NES games like Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt with my dad when I was little, and I remember playing SNES games like Yoshi’s Island and Donkey Kong Country on my own when I was a little older. They had been a fun way to pass the time, and I remember always being fascinated by them.
But the moment I saw a Banjo-Kazooie demo at Best Buy, I was downright entranced.
Whatever limited experience I had with N64 games before that, I can’t remember, but when I played Banjo-Kazooie, I knew I had to have it.
After months of begging my parents, I finally received what remains to this day one of my most memorable birthday presents: a Nintendo 64, and a copy of Banjo-Kazooie.
As soon as I could, I rushed to my room, got the system hooked up to my TV, popped the cartridge in, and found myself immersed in another world.
What was it about Banjo-Kazooie that so captivated my 11-year-old self?
After all, on the surface, Banjo-Kazooie looks like your standard mascot-era 3D platformer; riding into town on the Super Mario 64 bandwagon. Well, that’s more or less what it is.
It is about what you'd expect- a 3D platformer heavily inspired by Super Mario 64, and it has a lot in common with Super Mario 64 and other platformers, especially those developed by Rare and Nintendo.
The game tells the story of Banjo--a bear who made his first appearance in Diddy Kong Racing-- and his best friend Kazooie--a red “breegull” who lives in Banjo’s backpack. Banjo’s unfortunately named sister Tooty has been kidnapped by Gruntilda, an ugly witch jealous of Tooty’s good looks. Apparently, Grunty just so happens to have a machine that can transform her into a babe by harnessing the cuteness of a bear cub. In order to save his sister, Banjo and Kazooie must venture into the witch's castle and collect puzzle pieces hidden within the worlds magically accessible from Grunty’s Lair.
You traverse familiar territory-- forest world, desert world, island world, water world, snow world, haunted world-- and collect items in order to open new worlds and gain new abilities.
It feels less original now than it did in 1998, but it really is a great game. The humor is signature Rare, and the characters and setting are fun and memorable; I don’t think I’ll ever forget meeting Grunty or Mumbo Jumbo, or exploring Treasure Trove Cove or Freezeezy Peak. The game features a dynamic soundtrack that changes on the fly depending on where you're at and what you're doing, plus the songs are catchy and have stuck with me for years. Most importantly, the gameplay satisfies; the puzzles are clever, Banjo and Kazooie’s abilities and transformations are fun to use, and most of the time the game is challenging without becoming frustrating.
The IntroThis game left an impact on me.
I played the heck out of it, too- my save file has almost 64 hours logged in, and I will always look back on those hours fondly.
- The Final Battle
For nostalgia’s sake, this week I pulled the game out of the drawer where it resides, carefully removed the cartridge from its well-worn box, and popped it into my N64 for the first time in years. I couldn’t help but smile as the intro began to play, taking me back to an era long since passed. It felt so warmly familiar, running around the 64-bit playgrounds of my youth, hearing the sounds and songs again, like returning to a childhood home.
Perhaps if I hadn’t played Banjo-Kazooie until later, if Super Mario 64 or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time had been my first N64 game, it might not have had the same impact on me.
Games like Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong Country, Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Pokemon, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Metroid Prime are indeed classics and each will always hold a place in my heart as a beloved childhood experience, as well as a spot on my “favorite games of all time” list.
But for me, Banjo-Kazooie will always hold the distinction of that first truly magical game, and for that, I will treasure it always.
- Chillaxin'
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
by Kyle "lwelyk" LaCroix
In part two of our Oracle series retrospective, we're going to take a look at Oracle of Seasons. Seasons is the story of Link going to the world of Holodrum and his quest to rescue Din, the Oracle of Seasons from the evil Onox. The game is the more action-oriented of the pair and featues some really good dungeons and bosses, but is a bit light on the puzzles.
Seasons didn't really change from its original concepts; changing the seasons was always the primary element. It is interesting to note that a few parts seem to be borrowed from one of the canceled projects: the remake of The Legend of Zelda. Mostly the first dungeon, which uses Aquamentus, the first boss in The Legend of Zelda. Not too many similarities besides that, but I found it rather interesting.
The titular season mechanic worked very well in the game. All you would have to do is stand on a stump and swing the Rod of Seasons to change them. You start off only being able to change to winter, but over the course of the game you gained access to all four seasons. The seasons really are different, as you not only have aesthetic changes, but environmental ones.
Seasons change and so do I....In the winter, snow would pile up to create pathways; in the fall, leaves would cover holes and mushrooms would be pick-able so you could clear paths; spring gave you flowers that could shoot you up ledges; and summer brought vines to climb certain cliffs. This led to some really cool puzzles in one of the later areas of the game as you had to keep switching between seasons to access different parts of a level.
The dungeons in Seasons don't use the mechanic, but it would be hard to implement that. I'd like to see the Zelda series as a whole make the dungeons more integrated with the main game and story, but that's for another time because they didn't do that here at all. Not complaining though, the dungeons are really fun in Seasons, lighter on the puzzles, but they have some really good bosses. DigDogger was one of my favorites, making you manipulate an object in the environment to hurt him rather than just using your sword and it was a nice way of using the dungeon item: magnetic gloves.
Did you know it's hard to find good screenshots of this game?The equipment in Seasons was rather good as well, with an upgradeable jumping item, boomerang, and slingshot. The games larger emphasis on combat is shown in the items as dodging and attacking is easier to do in Seasons. Most of the equipment is implemented well outside of the dungeon you acquire it in as well, something some of the more recent Zelda games could take a cue from.
An interesting thing Seasons has is the world of Subrosia, which is where you visit when in need of a new season. The Subrosians are strange creatures draped in cloaks who are rather put-off that a giant temple has fallen into their world, and its fun to interact with them when there. There's a Subrosian girl who you go on a date with in order to access another area, a guy who's crazy about signs and will recount to you how many you've destroyed, and many others. It was a little under-utilized, but still a fun little area.
Everything is peaceful and happy... FOR NOW.One rather disappointing element of the game is the plot; nothing really happens until the very end of the game. Onox, the villain, is just there and has no personality. I wouldn't mind this as much, I mean it is a portable Zelda game, except Ages did it so much better. You regularly see the villain doing things in that game and the plot actually happens beyond "Go get the 8 things, we'll get back to the story when you're done."
That doesn't change the fact that Oracle of Seasons is a brilliant game though, with well-designed dungeons and overworld, fun mechanics, and interesting characters. I wouldn't say it was as good as Ages, but I'll go over that more next week. Definitely a fun game that is worth your time.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
by Kyle "lwelyk" LaCroix
Before being dissolved, Capcom's Flagship Studios made some very good games using Nintendo properties. The most famous of which would be The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages. They ran on the same basic engine, but each game had its own gimmick. Seasons allowed you to manipulate the seasons and Ages used time travel. I'm going to do something different with Retro Acquired for the next couple of weeks, a series of articles about the Oracle games. We're going to start with a brief overview of the games, their history, and how they relate to each other.
The Oracle games started out as three games: a remake of The Legend of Zelda, a remake of Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, and an original title. After some issues in development, they decided to make an inter-connected trilogy called The Legend of Zelda: The Acorn of the Mystery Tree: Tale of Power, Tale of Wisdom, and Tale of Courage. Some of the ideas they had for these games were actually pretty interesting. Tale of Power was basically Oracle of Seasons, but the other two had some different ideas. Tale of Wisdom was going to focus on puzzles more; many of them to be color-based. Tale of Courage was going to use the time of day as an element, which is what really interests me, but it was canceled due to the complexities of connecting three games. The remaining two games became the Oracle games we know today.
The seasons changed more than just the color palette.Since both games used the same engine, their basic mechanics were the exact same, but they managed to distinguish themselves despite this. Seasons takes a much more action-based approach as compared to the puzzle-heavy Ages, this difference in focus keeps the games distinct despite the many items, characters, and mechanics they share. Much of the equipment is present in both games, but has extra powers in one over the other. Roc's Feather, which allows you to jump, eventually gets a replacement towards the end of Seasons called the Roc's Cape, which allows you to jump and then do a small glide. Both games have an item to shoot seeds, but the one in Ages allows you to shoot at angles and ricochet, reflecting the greater emphasis on puzzles.
The more obvious difference is the games' respective gimmicks of seasonal change and time travel. The presence of these makes the games very distinct despite their many similarities, and shows just how creative the team was. The changing of seasons meant that puzzles would not only involve your equipment, but the environment; and time traveling in Ages had you finding connections between the times and figuring out how to exploit them. It's just amazing how they came up with these ideas and managed to do so much with them, more of which I'll go into in the coming weeks.
Note the darker tone in the past screen.This wasn't the only way they differentiated themselves though, there was a marked difference in tone and setting. Ages had a darker tone, as you saw the villian's influence more directly, unlike in Seasons whose villain was rarely seen outside of the beginning and end of the game. The darker tone in Ages is reflected in the color palette, the present isn't in very bad shape, so it uses brighter colors, but when you go into the past, everything becomes darker and redder. This isn't to say Seasons was a bad game, but Ages had a much more unique tone to it.
I'll go into more detail as we cover Seasons next week and what it managed to achieve. This was just a quick introduction to the series and hopefully you'll enjoy this more in-depth look at the series in the coming weeks.
Mean Bean Machine vs Kirby's Avalance
by Evan "BakaTanuki" Krell
Puyo Pop (also known as Puyo Puyo), a Japanese puzzle game, was on its way to the shores named after Amerigo Vespucci. But under two peculiar disguises: Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine and Kirby’s Avalanche (In Europe, Kirby's Ghost Trap). Both games are basically Puyo Pop (specifically, Super Puyo Puyo), but delivered to an American audience of the early-90s not quite ready for hyper squealing anime girls.
Puyo Pop is an addictive puzzle game involving odd jelly-like beings and lots of squealing high pitched noises. We Americans are clearly too manly for such a game. To cater to our manly spirits the game was released here under two different versions, a Sonic-themed game and a Kirby-themed one, because pink puffballs make it all better.
Mean Bean Machine and Kirby’s Avalanche also involve the jelly-like beings, but each are themed after their respective game series. This article is not a review of the Puyo Pop gameplay, but a comparison of Mean Bean Machine and Kirby’s Avalanche.
Mean Bean Machine
The production value of Mean Bean Machine is mediocre overall. Music is decent. Graphics are decent. Nothing stands out about it all, besides the actual gameplay taken from Puyo Pop. The plot is the epic tale of little blobs being turned into robot slaves that you must save. I do not understand how piling them on top of each other in a competitive game against Robotnik’s soldiers is “saving them”, but that is how it is. If I have learned anything from children’s anime, it is that competitive gaming solves everything. Even though this game is Sonic related, Sonic doesn’t actually make any appearance. Since Puyo Pop is awesome, so is Mean Bean Machine, but it lacks little of its own merits.
Kirby’s Avalanche
Kirby’s Avalanche, on the other hand, manages to stand out: by having some elements that are “awesome-awful”. Gamers are used to terrible voice acting, but Kirby’s Avalanche has tiny clips that never cease to be awesome every time I hear them. Watch the above video [figure c]. Notice first the disinterested tone when the narrator says “Kirby’s Avalanche”. Now get ready for much worse, as each of Kirby’s foes says their name Pokemon-style and then cuts to an awkward cutscene that at least isn’t voiced [figure d]..
Be sure to watch stage 5, if any, to hear “squishy!”.
That right there makes this game infinitely better than Mean Bean Machine. This way you get the Puyo Pop fun plus the ridiculous voice clips and cutscenes. Another appealing aspect is the music is primarily made up of remixes of tracks from the Kirby’s Adventure soundtrack.
Most of us do not live in the early 90’s and have the real Puyo Pop games readily available, but for those still playing it loud and proudly displaying your Megaman X POGs, I would recommend Kirby’s Avalanche between the two.
King's Quest III: To Heir is Human
by Kyle "lwelyk" LaCroix
Go back to an age when PC games looked like NES games. Back to when you controlled things using text prompts. Back to when you needed rudimentary mind-reading skills to beat the games. That comprised the majority of Sierra Online's glory days. King's Quest III: To Heir is Human was the third game in the beloved King's Quest franchise, and my personal favorite.
Sierra loved their puns...You are Gwydion, a young lad who was kidnapped from the kingdom of Daventry as a child by an evil wizard, Manannan. Gwydion's pretty much Harry Potter in reverse, he's living with a wizard who's making him do all the housework. So he gets the benefits of living in a cupboard without that pesky going off to learn magic and secretly being more powerful thing. Oh and he's beginning to suspect that Manannan is planning on killing him when he turns 18.
The day starts off like any other, you wander around the house cleaning. Then Manannan(accompanied by his dramatic theme music of dramatic drama) appears and tells you to do some meaningless task. He does this a few times and failure results in being zapped or magically sealed in your closet for 2 real minutes. Every couple of minutes, he will randomly teleport into the room(with his theme music of drama) and startes at you, making sure you're working. After 5 real minutes have passed, Manannan says he will be going on a trip leaving you alone. Realizing this is his chance, Gwydion decides now is the time to get rid of Manannan once and for all.
Feeding Manannan's chikens isn't fun.This is where the game gets interesting, you have to find the secret room where Manannan keeps his magic spellbook. When you do find it, inside is a spell for turning people into cats, along with a variety of other spells. So you go off into the world looking for the spell components needed to turn Manannan into a cat. Along the way you solve puzzles, create other spells, die a lot- basic adventuring.
Unfortunately, Manannan's trip isn't everlasting. He comes back after 20 minutes, and if you're not back at home, have the secret passageway relocked, things looking like they did before, and any spell components hidden under your bed by the time he returns- you get zapped. If you do manage to return everything, you then have to do chores until he takes a nap, which gives you some more time to collect your components. If you don't manage to do it in that time, you have one more chance when he goes out on another trip. When he comes back from that one, it's game over.
The fan remake - note the improved graphics.This was a great gameplay feature; because when I played it for the first time, I was afraid to leave for too long. Manannan would keep checking in on me while cleaning, so I was afraid he'd do it while I was exploring or making a spell. The game made you fear him during the first five minutes to add more tension. His randomly teleporting into the same room as you, just to check on and stare at you, worked very well. As was the really stupid theme music that accompanied his entrances.
Kings Quest III is a very old game, but if you want to play it, it's available in the King's Quest Collection along with the rest of the series. Fans also made a point-and-click version of it with updated graphics, available here. Keep in mind this is very old school adventure gaming, and you will need to save often as just walking around can kill you. If you're ready to deal with that, go and play it. Even after all these years, the adventure is still fun.
Adventures of Lolo
by Kyle "lwelyk" LaCroix
Action-puzzle games are a bit of a dying breed, sure you see them in flash games, but those are rarely very good. It is really unfortunate that they're gone for the most part, they were really fun and quite challenging. One of the best in the genre is Adventures of Lolo. It's not really that complicated of a game, you don't have tons of abilities, and there aren't that many enemies either. The game did a lot with what it had though, and was able to be very creative with it's puzzle designs.
Gotta love NES boxart.The genius of Lolo was in its very simple gameplay mechanics. Every level is just one room, your goal is to leave it. To do so, you collect all of the heart frames, which opens a treasure chest; grab the jewel from said treasure chest, which erases all enemies still on screen and unlocks the door; and reach the exit. Your sole weapon for most of the game is the ability to temporarily turn enemies into eggs, which are then movable. The eggified enemies can be shot at again, causing them to fly off the screen, only to respawn a few moments later. The number of uses you have of your eggification powers are very limited. You will often start with zero uses, and get two per stage for collecting a certain number of hearts. You'll occassionally have more to work with, and sometimes none at all. There are a few extra powers you'll get on certain stages, such as the ability to destroy one rock or to change the direction of a one-way tile, but mostly it's just the egging.
Some enemies prefer to sit still, some to go only vertically or horizontally, some that like to shoot at you if you go within their line of sight, and some prefer to move around and shoot at you if you go within their line of sight. There aren't too many enemy types, and you encounter all of them within a few worlds of play, but that means they can fully utilize all of them. To get by the enemies, you will use your eggification, nearby blocks, and timing. The mechanics aren't all that complicated, but the puzzles, those are complicated.
Think this is simple? Well you'd be right, this is an intro level.The puzzles really benefited from the fairly simple gameplay. The game spends the first few worlds teaching you how the various enemies and powers work, but once you've got that down, the kid gloves come off. Sometimes you'd collect all of the hearts only to find out you had made access to the treasure chest impossible, sometimes you'd get the jewel, only to find out you had blocked the door, and sometimes you'd trap yourself in a corner, forcing you to press the self-destruct button. You had to watch what you were doing, because if you didn't, you'd end up wasting your eggifiers only to find out later you needed them elsewhere. Some of the later puzzles will have you banging your head in frustration, until you figure out the one thing to do, and you feel really stupid for not having figured it out earlier.
That's the key to any puzzle game's success, simple mechanics which are utilized in increasingly complex ways. In fact, the game seems to encourage "cheating" in a few places. The game doesn't force you onto a grid, but there is one clearly in place. You fill up one tile though, so if something's inbetween two tiles, you can't walk by it on either side. Neither can the enemies though. One puzzle actually requires you to "cheat" and stick a block between tiles to block the enemy. Which is just genius.
If you enjoy puzzle games, you owe it to yourself to play this one. It originally came out on the NES and you can get the cart for about $10 on Ebay. If you don't have a NES or don't want the cart, it's avaliable on the Virtual Console for 500 points or $5. Go pick it up, you won't regret it.
Mario Paint
by Kyle "lwelyk" LaCroix
This week in Retro Acquired you have me again! Not that stupid Baka guy. This week we take a look at Mario Paint, the only game you ever owned that used the SNES Mouse. The mouse was a foreshadowing of what was to come with Nintendo peripherals, but at least the one game it worked with was fun. While it was aimed at kids, and probably won't hold your interest today, Mario Paint did what it did well.
Mario, master painter.First let's look at the SNES Mouse, it was quite a bit smaller than a “real” mouse, and came with a mouse pad. The big problem with the mouse is it has four little legs on the bottom, which is good for making precise movements, but not so good when you're trying to move it a lot. It served it's function and did it well; it just wasn't used for many other games. The only other one of any note was Lemings 2: The Tribes.
The fiercest battle ever seen in the Mushroom Kingdom.The most obvious activity in Mario Paint is the drawing. You have your standard tools: airbrush, line, paintbrush, pencil, eraser, and a stamp tool. In addition, you have your standard colors, some gradients, some spotted colors, and a few shiny colors. You can also make your own stamps, which brings you to a 16x16 grid for you to do your work on. It's your standard drawing program, so you probably won't have much fun with it today, but as a kid it was awesome. Especially with the built-in Mario stamps, as you could use them to recreate various Mario scenes.
The animation was the most exciting feature as a kid. You could have up to 16 frames of animation, and once you finished, you could make a path for it to run across what you made in the drawing program. You could create a giant robot to crush the pretty cityscape your sister just made, perhaps you could animate Mario and have him run through a stage, or anything you could think of really. Again, you probably won't have much fun with this today, but it was great fun when young.
Once you had your animation going, you could add music to it. There are three built-in tunes, and they were all pretty catchy, but the best part was being able to make your own. The music program used symbols as instruments. You place a Fire Flower on the meter, and it would make the sound of a trumpet, Cars would make the sound of horns, Mario would make the sound of a bell, and there were some silly ones such as dogs and cats. By using the little symbols as instruments and notes, it was a lot more accessible to children, but it's complex enough that even today many people recreate songs using it. In fact, there is an expanded version of it made for the PC/Mac that you can find here.
Another memorable feature was the flyswatter game. Created to get children used to the mouse, the mini-game was really good. You would click on bugs and smash them. At first it would be small bugs like gnats, then some that could shoot out clouds of tiny bugs to attack you, some that can shoot at you, etc. Eventually you would come to a giant armored bug with all the attacks of the previous bugs, and a flamethrower in it's butt. Once you defeated that, you'd move on to the next level. The game lasted quite a while and is still pretty fun today. It was slightly resurrected in Wario Ware: Mega Microgame$, as a microgame and an unlockable minigame, but it didn't control nearly as well with the D-pad.
Only a few features of the game really stay fun when you're older, but Mario Paint was a great game, if you could call it that. The drawing and animation may only be fun for nostalgia's sake, but the flyswatting is still pretty fun, and the music program is still being used regularly to this day. The game is really cheap on Ebay, and people have been wanting this to come to WiiWare as a remake with Wii remote controls, so keep an eye out for that if you don't have a SNES.
"Bless me bagpipes!"
DuckTales
by Evan "BakaTanuki" Krell
When gamers hear of a game adaptation of a show or movie, the impression is rarely positive. The bargain bins are saturated with piles of shovelware based off of popular television series and films. Every once in a while, especially in the earlier days of gaming, an adaptation would come along that would actually end up being a really good game. Duck Tales for the NES fits this description and is an example of solid Capcom platforming.
While the gameplay is built around standard platforming elements, DuckTales has a pretty unique control scheme. Scrooge McDuck can stand next to a block and whack his cane at it to send it flying towards enemies, or he can use his cane as a pogo stick to jump around and stomp foes. This makes playing the game distinct from other platformers. As long as you hold the button down, you will pop continuously, so you can literally bounce your way through most of the levels, though it’s easy to mess up if you aren’t careful. The controls are well done and pretty clever.
The graphics are charming and have a nice smooth look. More importantly, the music is splendid. The opening menu greets you with a chiptune of the show’s famous theme song. Every stage has a solid track that you would expect from Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, the composer of Megaman 1 and 2. Most gamers agree that the Moon Stage music is classic. Since there are only a few stages the OST is small, but it’s still a favourite.
What really stands out in this game is the incredible level design. It’s a pretty short game, but these 5 stages are just so well crafted. In Megaman style, you can play the stages in any order by selecting it from Scrooge McDuck’s giant computer. Unlike MM, there are no power-ups, so you really can start out with the final level without it being any harder than if you had waited. I like that I can easily pick up and play any stage I wish. The design isn’t too linear, with multiple paths in each level. There are tons of hidden treasures and things in each level adding significantly to the replay value. Some levels are fairly straightforward, but The Himalayas is pretty massive and there is lot to do in Translevania as well. From start to finish, this is an exciting and fun platforming adventure. Good at least until the very end, which is an odd race between you and Flintheart Glomgold. After beating Dracula Duck (creative name), you are suddenly are told that you have to climb this rope and reach the treasure before Glomgold or you lose the game. It is really easy to win, but if you hesitate for a moment before realizing what you are supposed to do, you will have to start over. It’s not that big a deal, but does seem a bit poorly designed. It’s pretty anti-climactic too in a way.
A possible complaint with the game is the easier difficulty. This is the kind of game that can be easily beaten in a single sitting even when you first play it. Yes, there is a hard mode, but it is still not too bad. The final level is also just repeating Transylvania which is kinda lame.
Despite a couple minor complaints, this game is a ton of fun. You can usually find it pretty cheap online or at local classic gaming stores. I play this game over and over- sometimes I’ll beat it and immediately beat it again. It’s a very addictive piece of old school gaming fun. Highly recommended.
For extra fun, here are some quality remixes of the game’s music.
Norg's Moon remix [OCremix] Fun on the Moon [Newgrounds audio] Duck Blur [OCremix] Moon Stage cover video Moondust [OCremix] The Amazon Session [OCremix] And CarboHydroM has plenty of good tracks on his music page. Ctrl+F your way through his list to get 'em.
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
This week is a look at a game you probably have never heard of before, Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures. While the title may suggest a terrible cash-in, Pac-Man 2 is actually a very innovative and different game. It's a strange form of the point-and-click adventure genre with Pac-Man, some good humor, and very interesting concepts.
The goofiest box-art ever created.To begin with, you don't control Pac-Man, in fact, you don't control any visible character. You play as yourself, the person sitting there. You can only guide Pac-Man and help him along, using the few commands you have at your disposal. Your first tool is to tell him to LOOK! LOOK! in a particular direction. This will make him look and then start walking in that direction. It's most commonly used to turn him around, but you can also get him to notice objects in a certain direction with this command as well.
LOOK! LOOK! Your other tool is a slingshot, which can shoot rocks, to interact with the environment and power pellets, which can be used to turn Pac-Man into Super Pac-Man. You can shoot objects, people, Pac-Man, animals, anything. The environment reacts to your attacks by blaming Pac-Man, which is why I've always referred to this game as a Pac-Man torture simulator. Shoot a cat, it'll attack Pac-Man; shoot a man, he'll blame Pac-Man; shoot a flower pot, it'll probably fall on Pac-Man. Half the fun of the game is torturing him by throwing horrible situations at him, and he'll get more and more depressed or more and more angry. Power pellets when shot land on the screen and makes Pac-Man dash to them and eat them, turning him into Super Pac-Man, who looks like a really cheesy superhero. As Super Pac-Man, he can fly and eat ghosts if they're present. When it wears off his mood will be happy, which is an easy way to pacify him.
Pac-Man has a multitude of moods in this game, and they're very important to the gameplay. He has many stages of anger, depression, and happiness, and a few others such as being high. The moods drastically change events, let's use Pac-Man walking up to a balloon vendor as an example. If he's depressed, he looks longingly at the balloons and keeps going. If he's happy, he'll walk up and buy one. If he's angry, he will pop the balloons and laugh. It is amazing how many different responses Pac-Man has to so many different situations. Many of his responses can end in his death. Thankfully, the game keeps all of the death's pretty comical, and when you die it simply plays a silly jingle and resets the screen with a more depressed Pac-Man.
The Pac-Man family, living in sin before it was hip.Now that you hopefully understand the basic gameplay, let's look at what you actually do in the game. It's pretty simple, Ms.Pac-Man tells you to do something, and you go do it, or else. Also, Pac-Man and Ms.Pac-Man are probably the earliest video game characters to be living together with kids pre-maritally. First mission, get milk for Pac-Baby. You begin your dangerous and arduous journey through your neighborhood to search for milk. Thankfully, someone heard the first mission was starting, and was nice enough to post signs all over town pointing out where to find milk. This is only done for the first mission as a tutorial, but it's still pretty silly.
You solve puzzles along the way, such as figuring out how to sneak by a farmer who doesn't like trespassers, and then a puzzle at the end to actually get the milk. The puzzles aren't really that difficult, but they are fun to do. Once you get the milk you head back to Ms.Pac-Man, and after a brief scene get your second mission. There are four missions in all and they get progressively longer and harder, and you begin exploring more areas. It is still a fairly short game though.
OH SNAP! I don't think the farmer appreciated getting hay dropped on his head, and then getting hit by a slingshot.The best part of the game is how Pac-Man feels like a real character, even though the only way he communicates is through his mood and weird noises that sound like the adults in Peanuts talking. You start learning the nuances of his many moods, for instance, if he's angry to a mild degree, shooting him will make him go back to normal mood. If he's angrier than that, it will just make him more mad. If he's depressed he's very indifferent to your commands, and will sometimes not listen until you tell him to LOOK! LOOK! two or more times. It's just so much fun seeing how many different responses he has.
Not only that, but the number of easter eggs is insane. You can get him to go back home after he's on a mission and Ms. Pac-Man will yell at him for not working. Shooting trees will cause beehives, birds, and other objects to come out. If you shoot a pinwheel too many times it will start going faster and faster until it flies off. The number of things you can do in the game is ridiculous, you'll find new things every time you play.
Game-over. Probably shouldn't have ticked off the hot-dog vendor.Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures is definitely unique, and very good. Hopefully this got you interested in trying it, because nothing is more fun than torturing Pac-Man endlessly. Besides, it's very charming, from the slapstick, the bright colors, the way Pac-Man talks like the adults in Peanuts, to even the lame plot. Unfortunately, this game will probably never again see the light of day on the Virtual Console or X-box Live Arcade. It did come out on the Super Nintendo and Genesis, so if you see the carts anywhere, definitely pick them up. It's worth your time just to try out something this original.
[Don't quite get how the gameplay works? Watch this random YouTube video I found.]
Sonic R
by Kyle "lwelyk" LaCroix
Welcome to the very first Retro Acquired, my new column about retro games. Every week, I'll post something about a retro game. A review, a look at a particular aspect, or an older game series; just something retro-related. For the purposes of this column, retro is anything older than last generation. So I won't be writing about Playstation 2, Gamecube, or Xbox until next generation, and probably not even then. The first game featured is an old favorite of mine, Sonic R. Sonic is a very obvious choice for a racing game, he is "The Fastest Thing Alive" after all. Apparently, someone at SEGA realized this, and thus Sonic R was made.
Truth be told, Sonic R isn't the most brilliant game ever. The controls are pretty wonky, the characters are imbalanced, and the music is horribly cheesy. It's enjoyable, but it's hardly a great game. The gameplay is your basic racing game, only you're on foot, not in a car or another vehicle-unless you're Amy(Who drives a car for some insane reason) or Robotnik. You have no incentive to use any character that's not Sonic or Super Sonic, they're the fastest and no unlocks require using specific characters. In fact, you'll probably get first place on your first try every time, even if you're using Amy. There's only five tracks as well, severely shortening the length of the game.
Doesn't sound particularly good does it? The racing works fine, but it's nothing to write home about. The game is very charming though. You have your Sonic characters back before they were a mess of angsty and annoying animals, you have nice-looking stages, an old-school Sonic feeling, and you have the cheesiest music ever written. The soundtrack is one of the things that makes this game-it's so awful, you adore it. Nothing can beat "Can You Feel the Sunshine?" or "Super Sonic Racing"
Thankfully, a charming exterior and cheesy music aren't the only good things about this game. There are many, many alternate paths in this game. All the shortcuts add a lot to the game, and almost guarantee your victory if you just run right through them. There's something else on them though, Sonic Medals and Chaos Emeralds. There are five medals per stage, and if you collect them all and get third place or higher, you challenge a secret character in a race. Collecting all the medals adds time to your racing, making getting first a challenge.
Chaos Emeralds also add to the challenge, as they're typically off to the side behind doors that cost 50 rings to open. To keep them though, you need to get first, this makes collecting them all difficult. Going off for them takes up a lot of time and trouble due to the ring requirements and their inconvenient locations. Collecting all seven across the stages unlocks the most unbalanced character ever created: Super Sonic. He runs ridiculously fast with poor handling as his only downside, but he goes so fast, it doesn't matter.
The later stages get pretty complex, especially the Regal Ruins and Reactive Factory stages. They start adding even more alternate routes, to the point where you can take a different way every lap. That's what really makes this game, the good level design. Having all of those twists, turns, and optional paths add a lot.
Does this game hold up though? It does, but it's flaws are more glaring now. The poor controls seem even worse now, and you can still finish the game in about an hour or so. The game does still have it's charm and it's great levels though, and those keep it fun. You won't be blown away, but it's a good way to kill some time. Besides, you can pick it up in the Sonic Gems Collection for Gamecube along with Sonic CD and some other good games, and there are much worse ways you can spend your time.
Be sure to listen to the full soundtrack here, you won't regret it.
Compilation Disc
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