TUM plays through NES games with videos

-I have decided to take a shot at my first real user project.

-Board 8ers will be nominating NES games they would like me to play.

-I will then record myself playing through each and every game and post the videos on youtube.

My youtube page - http://www.youtube.com/user/TheUtilityMan

My current Board 8 topic - http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=8&topic=48905053

-

Rankings so far
--- (Line between games I liked and didn't like)
 * 1) River City Ransom
 * 2) Super Mario Bros. 3
 * 3) Contra
 * 4) The Legend of Zelda
 * 5) Mega Man 5
 * 6) Clash at Demonhead
 * 7) Little Nemo - The Dream Master
 * 8) Gun.Smoke
 * 9) RC Pro AM 2
 * 10) Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
 * 11) Crystalis
 * 12) Castlevania
 * 13) Super Mario Bros.
 * 14) Willow
 * 15) Blaster Master
 * 16) Bad Dudes
 * 17) Burai Fighter
 * 18) Kid Icarus
 * 19) The Little Mermaid
 * 20) Marble Madness
 * 21) Faxanadu
 * 22) Amagon
 * 23) Captain Skyhawk
 * 24) Yo! Noid
 * 25) Spelunker 2
 * 26) Friday the 13th
 * 1) Battletoads
 * 2) Spelunker
 * 3) Snake Rattle n Roll
 * 4) Who Framed Roger Rabbit
 * 5) Silver Surfer
 * 6) Metal Mech
 * 7) Uninvited
 * 8) Ironsword Wizards & Warriors 2

Amagon
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaLG19tmCxw&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_SQDEStYoc&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS6LO82F7pw&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izcp1Ji7IeE&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F9YzZv4dlE&fmt=18

I was originally going to place this game lower because I hated it at first, but the last few levels redeemed it a bit which I will explain in a little bit.

The first thing I'd like to point out about this game is the awkward jumping. You can jump short, medium, high, or anywhere in between depending on how long you hold the A button, but the moment you let go of that A button it's as if gravity kicks back in bringing him down to the ground quickly. As for the shooting, it seems to be pretty much accurate. the bullets don't go full screen but it responds quite well and feels like pretty much any other sidescrolling shooter in that aspect. Now when you become Megagon, things change a bit. Your jump is pretty much the same except now you can jump higher which definitely helps getting over pits and things. Also, now your gunfire is replaced by punching which is both good and bad really. The punch is A LOT stronger but very short range. Also, you can shoot a wide spread projectile with him but at the cost of some life.

Other than the controls, the only real notable thing about this game is the difficulty. The game starts off quite difficult. As you may have noticed, the only way to keep from dying so much is to be absolutely paranoid because enemies are jumping out at you all the time and can 1 hit kill you. Not only that, there are enemies that require so many hits, I think I counted 20 hits for 1 of them. Also, the jumping in the game can get you killed simply because of how awkward it is. Now again, once you get Megagon things change a bit. The game actually becomes unfair but in the sense that now you're overpowered. You can 1 or 2 hit kill everything but bosses, and you can take them down pretty easy too. Now how much life you have is based on your score, so there is a limit, but later on in the game you should have a pretty nice score and the game gives you Megagon powerups at the beginning of the stages. This is what I was referring to earlier about this game redeeming itself, by giving you Megagon's at the start of a stage and then the game actually feels kinda fun. The problem with the difficulty thogh, is that it's another game where it's either too hard or too easy based on if you're Megagon or not. If the game had had a mixture of the 2, say...shooting guy with a small life bar then this game would have been a lot better.

Some other minor things I'd like to address is the music, life stock, and the lack of something it needed.

Music Now me personally, I didn't enjoy the first 2 stage themes in the game, nor the boss stage, but I did enjoy the dino stage theme and I really like the Megagon theme. Overall, this game is pretty average for music, I don't notice anything that really stands out as great, but it's ok.

Life stock This is one thing about the game that's an absolute pain. You only have a few lifes and then no continues....none, that is unless you reach Area 4-1. If you can make it to that point the game will let you continue, but not at 4-1 but instead at either 2-1 or 3-1. It seems as if once you reach that point you may only continue on levels that are before the one you died on except for Area 1. Now, take this into account with how much harder the game is earlier on and this can be quite frustrating.

Something the game was missing Variety Variety Variety...Look at 2 of the best examples of sidescrolling shooters, Contra and Mega Man. Why do these games work so well? Well not counting the awesome music, gameplay, fun factor, controls, etc etc etc, they have VARIETY. This game either has Megagon or not Megagon, that's it.

Overall, this game isn't awful, but not great. The difficulty variance in this game makes a huge difference in how much enjoyment one could get out of it. At some points the game is just flat out unfair and can end all your lives even if you know what's coming, and at some points it seems like unless you're just terrible you absolutely can't lose.

Bad Dudes
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69b9t70her0&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9RtMj1L_Ro&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os3RKyRjBg0&fmt=18

I'll admit, I'm a little biased here because this is a fighting game and fighting games are my favorite genre....well 2D fighters anyway. Though technically this is a Beat em up and not a 2D fighter but anyway....

Right off the bat, this game starts off with one of the best quotes ever....and from there, well....it's an ok game. I won't call this game great just because I happen to like it, in all honesty it's just a so so game. This was one of the earlier beat em up games and for what it was it's not bad, it's just not great.

Ok well, really not much to say here as this is quite the primitive Beat em up. You walk along a set path, or in some cases the path moves you, you fight regular enemies in this case ninjas, you have weapons/health items and you have bosses.

Now, unlike the Double Dragon games though, the paths are pretty much just straight forward, no real direction changing, no ladders to climb or anything like that. So it's as basic as basic can be in that area.

As for the fighting portion of it, it's actually done pretty well. Your basic punch/kick, crouching attack, jumping attack, even a spin kick and powered up punch. Also, I like the fact that if you're fighting enemies in front of you and one comes up behind you can kick backwards....though I don't seem to be able to do it very easily.

Anyways, there's only 2 things I really want to emphasize with this game. 1. The music on stage 2 and 5 is SO AWESOME!!!! 2. The white ninja's are so annoying. I mean, first off they either throw stars or throw what look like tacks. If they throw the stars you can usually punch it but a lot of times that doesn't work depending on if you have a weapon or if they duck, and if they throw the tacks it's real annoying if you're trying to fight enemies while having to deal with them. 3. When they say "I'M BAD" it sounds AWFUL.....but yet somehow it's still cool. XD

So overall, I like this game more than many people probably would, it's an ok game just don't expect anything amazing from it other than the intro and the stage 2 and 5 music.

Battletoads
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJfxZf2AeiI&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZF-H_dU450&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9PeYbgDULc&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJCn90yqfEg&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L97QkRhs9bg&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1BzS5QT6GU&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkfAOJr8wFE&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVcc9-x7k6U&fmt=18

Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=islsLEJHRuw&fmt=18

Yea....so despite remembering a lot of the game, I was never really a Battletoads fan. It isn't really the fact that it's hard, it's the fact that it's one of those trial and error games. It presents you with a challenge where you're just dead if you don't know what's coming.....that isn't difficulty that is just unfair. Now I know games aren't exactly meant to be fair, but Battletoads takes it too far. I'm ok with a little luck based stuff, but not when half the game is luck based if you don't know EXACTLY what's coming. Take Clash at Demonhead for example, you never know what's coming next on it unless you've played it, but....very rarely does it throw something at you where it's life or death and you only survive if you know exactly what's coming.

Blaster Master
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzaJG3-xJ-k&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlS6UBp2viM&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BqSGJ79EPc&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKEdL9ZrNSs&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6WVrODW7IA&fmt=18

<B>Part 6 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RkR7b1MEPI&fmt=18

<B>Part 7 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR7xNe0WogM&fmt=18

<B>Part 8 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kydc0-eSVQ&fmt=18

<B>Part 9 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfceQYNXQ6w&fmt=18

<B>Part 10 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iU3Bub4BXo&fmt=18

This game is a game I like....but not one I could see myself wanting to play again and again. Since it had been so long since I played through all of this game (probably over 10 years) I was perfectly fine playing it again since I didn't remember some of it. Now that I just beat it though....it will probably be at least another 10 years before I want to play it again. XD

This game kind of puts me in mind of Crystalis. Not because they are simular in gameplay, but because both of them have cool features that are complete double edged swords. Anyways....

This game is by Sunsoft, a company that there are probably more people that know it's games than who made them. Sure we retro vets will be able to tell you, but for just casual people who didn't grow up in that time period it might be a different story. You ask them if they know Blaster Master, or the original Batman NES game, or even Lemmings and they will probably say yes, but if you ask them if they know Sunsoft they'll probably say "who?". That kind of thing is pretty uncanny today. You ask someone if they know Nintendo, or Capcom, or Konami and they'll probably say yes.

Well, anyway, Sunsuft, IMO at least, was a company that made complete hit or miss titles. They were either really good or really bad, so where does Blaster Master rate?

Well...I would say for it's time this is a really good game, it has it's tedious things which can annoy you quickly, but if you've been reading these writeups you'll know that most games do. =p

To start with, the Music in this game is amazing, they did an incredible job with it. I don't necessarily like every song in it, but the ones I do are ones that could easily go on my music playlist and I'd love it every time I heard it.

The Difficulty of this game is also pretty high. Yes I know there are some of you elitists out there thinking I'm not that good at the game cause I had trouble with it, but I don't think anyone can deny it was difficult your first time through, even your 2nd time through if you played it again. You're challenged right away by not knowing where to go or what to do, which is not the kind of challenge I enjoy but some people love to explore. The enemies and bosses also can be quite challenging, and I love how the bosses do seem to get harder as you go. I know many games don't scale difficulty very well but I think this game did a good job. Other than the final boss, which for some reason has been easy in a lot of my games, this game is a great challenge for even people that are skilled at platforming.

The Gameplay in this is what's iffy here, and is why it reminds me of Crystalis. The controls are very smooth, but in some cases too smooth causing you to die. The hover ability is a lot of fun...but runs out way too quick to have much fun with it. The Wall climbing ability is pretty cool...but may take a little getting use to. However...all that pales in comparison to Wall Climb 2. With Wall Climb 2 you climb on celings, but also you auto climb walls as you go over ledges, and this causes all kinds of problems as you saw how much difficulty I had with it. This was a good idea in theory, but it really did a lot more bad than good.

For it's time, this game was awesome, even by today's standards it's a good game to go back and play. Forget that it's 8 bit, forget that it's on an old clunky controller, forget that it won't have the best story with amazing plot twists, and enjoy the sheer thrill of what people who grew up with it was like. Even if the NES was not your first system, this is a game you can pick up and enjoy if you like platforming at all. It may take a little getting use to the controls, but it won't take long....at least until you get Wall2 and kill yourself with it a billion times. =p

<B>Overall</b>, solid fun game but some of it's gameplay brings it down.

Burai Fighter
Part 1''' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvnpZDDABrY&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPd8GTAQVNI&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrXpnuSBchM&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys5V7NcmFzU&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW4I_BrAQHM&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgD_CZ4OzMg&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHoYtJQveqo&fmt=18

I was tempted to put Burai Fighter higher on rankings.....but no, that last boss fight just had to ruin it. Ugh, my hand gets less tired playing fighting games for hours than it did rotating the d-pad over and over and over and over just hoping to hit the stupid dragon one time each rotation till he dies a million hits later.

Captain Skyhawk
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDcPahxfSzE&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSGRZGvKGjU&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dh2MA7YdVM&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFp7et7F8I0&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDdffN-VkUo&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEYBiB9pTpo&fmt=18

WALL OF TEXT WARNING (I have a lot to say about this game =p)

Right off the bat let me just say the enemy fire in this game goes COMPLETELY against your natural human instincts....and I'll explain in a bit, I have to get 2 things off my chest first about this game.

1. What is the point of moving up and down in the main overhead stages? You start off low to the ground and if you stay low you crash into every single hill, so why WOULDN'T you want to move higher off the ground? There is no advantage I see to flying low to the ground, none...maybe I'm missing something but I really don't get it. If flying low is useless, which I find it to be, why do they even make you move up to begin with? Sometimes I forget to move up and end up dying very easy.

2. For as hard as the game was, the loss boss is a complete joke. Yes his form form can be a bit hard but mainly cause the controls aren't that good for it, but when facing the eyeball, as you saw, you literally don't even have to TRY to win.

Ok, with those 2 things out of the way, let's talk about the types of stages on this game.

1. Your main overhead stage, usually destroy an enemy base.

Well right off the bat you're going to notice the elevation thing I mentioned and you'll probably realize it's useless too. After you get that out of the way, you'll come to natural enemies and here is where I mentioned how the game goes against every natural instinct you have. For starters, touching enemies does not kill you, it doesn't even hurt you. So if you're use to how most video games are this thing is going to throw you off very quickly. Secondly, if you're use to any kind of game like contra or the 1940's games, you're going to have another serious problem. Usually, enemies fire at you intending to kill you, right? Well...not so most of the time here. Enemies fire just to the left or right of you usually. Now let me ask you a question....what's your natural instinct when you get shot at? To move right? Well...then you end up moving right into the enemy fire. Happened to me SO OFTEN. Also, while on the subject of enemy fire, a lot of times you won't even notice it because you're busy firing yourself and there's so much going on on the screen. Thirdly, If you study the enemy base as you go through the game, you'll realize as I did later on that it's actually extremely simple unless you're in a hurry. Just weave from left to right doding the fire and shooting as you get the chance. Fourthly, and finally, I'd like to mention the take off on later stages. When you start your take off you move VERY fast and if you're positioning is wrong you WILL die because of the mountains. If you haven't played the game you won't know they are there till it's too late. Not to mention the fact that you're dodging fire at the same time so your attention may be elsewhere.

<B>2. Behind view where planes are the only enemies</b>

This....is annoying. It isn't hard on the first one you come to, but after that they have missiles that easily screw you over. This can easily be avoided by flying at the top of the screen as you will see me do. The missiles never come up there, and you'll never get hit there. As for killing the planes themselves? Good luck, until you get use to the wonky controls it isn't going to be so easy.

<B>3. Docking</b>

This is actually quite simple, all you have to do is line yourself up and hit the button as the space station opening is even with your plane.

<B>4. Supplies Drop</b>

Same as the normal overhead missions except you have to drop supplies in 2 marked areas. Just aim carefully as you go by them.

<B>5. Pick up a Scientist</b>

Also the same thing as the usual main overhead stages except with a different and actually easier boss. The only thing noteworthy here is the mines on the last scientist stage. They are evil....EVIL I TELL YOU. If you do not destroy them, you're probably dead. They blow up and scatter everywhere and also have pretty good range. These things are usually in groups too, and if you come across one in a narrow corridor and don't destroy it first...yea, you're dead.

<B>6 The Final Boss</b>

His first form may be pretty hard depending on how use to the controls you are, because the controls and judging when his attacks are suppose to hit will be the real challenge. All you do is destroy every weapon he has, or part to him and then the eye opens. After that it's the easiest thing in the entire game.

Also, let me address the powerups. GO FOR CANNONS RIGHT AWAY!!!! After that you can pretty much get what you want. =p

In closing, as frustrating as this game was to get use to, it's really not a bad game. It takes some time to get use to but that can be said for a lot of games. It just so happens that this game is one of the more unique shooters of it's kind. As tedious as a lot of it was, you can actually beat it rather simple, avoid everything...don't try to shoot anything on the main stages except the boss, always wait for the planes to use their missiles on the back view stage, learn to line up your shapes on the docking stage. etc etc etc. Naturally, I couldn't do that the entire time for this play through cause that would have been very boring. =p So, this game gets a low placing just naturally due to me not enjoying it so much, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game at all. It's certainly not Silver Surfer hard, or Metal Mech spammy, or even Uninvited boring. I'd say it's a fairly likable game, it's just not for me.

Castlevania
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogtNOmFhebs&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d9kvlD-5fY&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNRR70pRHiU&fmt=18

Ah....this is where the epic Mega Man vs Castlevania music war began. While I can easily say I like playing Mega Man more, saying it's music is easily better is a bit of a stretch.

As for Castlevania itself, well....I would say this was one of the building blocks of challenging platformers. It's a very historical game IMO and would lead to many many great games to come..........not counting Castlevania II mind you. This game paved the way for many games to follow, to a lesser extent than Mario of course, but this game didn't pull it's punches for that "Everyone can play" crowd. No, this game loves to treat you unfairly, and it doesn't ever have to let up.

What item you have makes a huge difference here, and you have a good bit to choose from. At first the Time Stop item looks completely broken, you get it early on and you abuse it all the way until you kill the boss, and at that point you're thinking "I'll just stick with this item and breeze through", but when you get to a boss it won't work on......uh oh!

The powerups to your basic weapon would make a huge difference if they weren't so easy to come by. Even when you die and go back to your level 1 weapon you'll get level 2 and then 3 in no time.

Then there's the platforming aspect of the game. This part can be difficult just itself because there are times where if you forget to hit up or down while climbing stairs you fall to your death. Some of the jumps can be a tad tricky, but not too much. They threw in some moving platforms but they really aren't that hard at all, it could have been a lot more stressful.

The enemies on the other hand, is the big challenge (as they should be). First level you'll most likely breeze through, getting hit by an enemy here or there, but nothing major. But then the 2nd level comes. In the first area of it you may get hit by the bat, but won't see anything too difficult. Upon making it to the 2nd area of this level you encounter what I would consider the most annoying thing in the game........The Medusa Heads! These things can kill you, fast and easy. Most new players will more than likely try to kill them as they go, and believe me that will only get you killed. Just when you think you've gotten their pattern down though, you make it to the next part and they throw them at you while you have to jump over pits and this is where the real problems start. They only have to hit you 1 time, just once, to kill you.

As far as the bosses go... The first 2 are easily dispatched by the time stopper, but after that is when you can't abuse it on them anymore. Boss 3, the mummies, is actually easy if you manage to make it there with full life. Just get on 1 side and try to hit them both. And if you don't have full life there's food right there by the boss to refill some life. Boss 4 is also pretty easy if you manage to get the Holy Water. Just go right in and blitz him at the start from the platform next to him. You should be able to take out a huge amount of his health before his little chimpanzee guy or w/e can attack you. Boss 5 is the dreaded Grim Reaper or just Death since that's what I think he goes by. This guy is hard, very hard. I recommend doing what I did getting the cross and the X3 ability. Time Stop won't work on him, the Dagger is useless, the Axe isn't very helpful, and the Holy Water....yea good luck with that. The Final Boss himself, Dracula, has his 2 forms. The First form is only difficult when he tries to teleport into you, if you can get the timing of his attack down though then the teleport is all you have to worry about. His 2nd form is a bit more challenging unless you have the Holy Water. The Holy Water stops him in place allowing you free hits, but without that it's going to be quite a struggle.

If you don't use those tactics on the bosses though, expect quite a bit of difficulty from some of them, maybe even to the point where you turn the game off. =p

Anyway, this is a solid game, but kinda suffers from the same thing Mario does in that the later games completely overshadow this one. Also, the fact that enemies love to abuse instant death on you can be quite annoying. I can understand if they take all my life away bit by bit and kill me, that's fine, but when the game is given so many chances to just knock you into a pit to kill you, and it does abuse that, it's quite cheap. And for those die hard Castlevania fans, try going through the game with just your basic weapon. Sure it can be done, but if you're looking for a good challenge then this is it.

Clash at Demonhead
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8plFYju3FA&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t9IIyGJKIs&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J32TwQwe5gc&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPO7-h_975I&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6j-ZBldi8k&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaGKlWz-Z6c&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWU65RAUpmg&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSgJ8ujg7aM&fmt=18

Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMz5k2hduxE&fmt=18

Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI6YG2nh_Dw&fmt=18

Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PJZJqgznEw&fmt=18

Part 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAJBbVNDexA&fmt=18

Part 13 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB3G_dh1B3I&fmt=18

Part 14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp0gzHXHxt0&fmt=18

I gotta say, I really did like this game, even though some parts can be really confusing. The pitfalls in this game were by far the worst. I hated having to redo levels over again. Also the lack of knowing where to go can sometimes be a pain. However, this is a very fun game to play through. I actually think now that I know where I'm going, I could probably have more fun playing through this game again, and when a game has really good replay value you can let many of the tedious parts slide.

Contra
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S5eIet_Ee4&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesQS-A2pbY&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89FJVtR2ypk&fmt=18

I went ahead and finished Contra before putting up the vids seeing as it's a short game and I love it so much. =) One of my favorite games as kid, and I believe the version I have belonged to my cousins who let me keep it. I can remember this game almost down to the last detail. I mean sure there are some things I forgot but the majority I remember. I even know how to manipulate random enemy appearances in some places. Anyway....this game is an easy choice for one of the top spots on my list.

Crystalis
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKPBaJR8yB8&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikk0m7szI8k&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU2AnvoZsjg&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARkJS9Ef6sQ&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2alBf1bwAA&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBr8TghvwM4&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD4FnP8laDk&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OveGJIJs74&fmt=18

Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G6HyIwvsB4&fmt=18

Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoMbgprci5M&fmt=18

Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiW_M-9JAlo&fmt=18

Part 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kj8t-YvI5g&fmt=18

Part 13 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEyAok3sgAE&fmt=18

Part 14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjE2Uj7OFwo&fmt=18

Part 15 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzPDtw1NRsY&fmt=18

Part 16 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW0dJmmPh0k&fmt=18

Part 17 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V-HImEavS4&fmt=18

Part 18 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apKrWCDkyDA&fmt=18

Part 19 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ0hb9di_gs&fmt=18

Part 20 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ookcfEq-HQ&fmt=18

Part 21 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeyVli9xLd0&fmt=18

Part 22 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ayT0xgvScI&fmt=18

Part 23 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwRHPxemnis&fmt=18

Part 24 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1bQy0Ac7tA&fmt=18

Part 25 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cLAFqosyQU&fmt=18

Part 26 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPZu_eePYDQ&fmt=18

Part 27 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32RyHNcTVdI&fmt=18

Part 28 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiZ-5RtlEu4&fmt=18

Part 29 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUEaE0kZXWc&fmt=18

Part 30 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ku8FTmLivI&fmt=18

Part 31 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xroxOxGuqV0&fmt=18

Part 32 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMpuZ1iiXww&fmt=18

Part 33 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEU2DeMgTTI&fmt=18

It was a bit hard to rank this game as I did have a lot of fun with it, however...many things that make this game fun can also make it annoying.

You have the leveling system which is your traditional thing. You level up by getting a certain amount of exp, and you get stronger when you do. They decided to take this a bit further in the fact that once you get strong enough weaker enemies can't even hurt you. I thought the idea of that was pretty clever and would make perfect sense, but then you realize the reverse side to that coin. If you are too weak, you can not damage some enemies at all, this includes bosses and that's where the trouble starts. Before you reach a boss you have no idea what level you need to be at to be able to hurt him, you're given no warning at all that you even NEED to be a certain level the first time. If you aren't at least that level, you're screwed, there's nothing you can do to beat it.

Having 5 different swords was also really cool at first. They're each different types of attacks and can each do different things based on where you use them. Again at first it was cool.....but the flip side rears it's ugly head again. Too often you are forced to switch between your swords as not only bosses but even common enemies can be immune to some of them. Also there are many times in the game where you will come across an area as a wall or lake that you HAVE to change weapons to get by. Having the option of different weapons in the game is nice, even the fact that you have to figure out some puzzles with them, but they wayyyyyy overused it and force you to switch a lot more than you should have to.

There are many more examples but I think I will leave it at just those 2. It's a great game even with it's downsides. It reminds me of a mix between Zelda 1 and 2 both of which I liked. Solid game overall though, worth a try to anyone who likes Zelda.

Faxanadu
<B>Part 1 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vArwTC0Y1Jc&fmt=18

<B>Part 2 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dIEoWwGBzo&fmt=18

<B>Part 3 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWzYtYISZ2I&fmt=18

<B>Part 4 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIgDk0_2eao&fmt=18

<B>Part 5 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPzBt3m75qg&fmt=18

<B>Part 6 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQrNG0nQlkg&fmt=18

<B>Part 7 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMmVqXQQSx4&fmt=18

<B>Part 8 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RID5FmR-mNI&fmt=18

<B>Part 9 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf86RRSoaRk&fmt=18

<B>Part 10 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6GREdySQ6k&fmt=18

<B>Part 11 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XxhBTF0bn4&fmt=18

<B>Part 12 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUthftLOiYg&fmt=18

<B>Part 13 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=penT5wCM1u0&fmt=18

<B>Part 14 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnWtN-PlFbg&fmt=18

<B>Part 15 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kARuR5hszFg&fmt=18

<B>Part 16 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVfNR4Iymc&fmt=18

<B>Part 17 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xzreMJwJ8s&fmt=18

<B>Part 18 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J6b-T4EgQE&fmt=18

<B>Part 19 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIGmy29UH1U&fmt=18

<B>Part 20 - </b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFuDE_kQ-m0&fmt=18

For starters, I want to say that this game does have it's fun, it was a very good idea..........however, this game has some things that just frustrate me to no end and they occur all throughout the game. I know the game was relatively long but I want to keep the writeup shorter than usual. So I'm quickly just going to mention the things I liked and disliked about it.

1. I like the idea this game had. It's kind of like Zelda 2 in the fact that it's an RPG/Platformer and the way many things are done, but it stays completely in the front view never switching to an overhead. It's 1 big world that you explore. This I'm fine with.....but

-1. While I do like the idea of this, it presents some problems, mainly backtracking. I'm ok with a little backtracking but this game requires a little too much of it. Yea, I'll admit that it isn't completely overdone, but it's still a little annoying to have to do so this is just a minor nuisance.

2. Equipment. It's nice that the game has a good amount of equipment. This I think was missing from Zelda 2. Yea there are things to get in Zelda 2 but having better weapons and armor and some nice items wouldn't have hurt it.

-2. The Armor/Weapons and even the Magic is a little on the pricey side. Not to mention that you can only carry 8 items. The fact that you're limited to 8 isn't so bad as the fact that your keys take up some of those slots. And if you need to get rid of keys to free up space only certain shops will buy them off you. If you saw in my videos I had to backtrack 2 towns just to get rid of some keys, that's ridiculous! There is no excuse for this, at the very least they could have given you the option to throw away items.

3. The level design. I actually do like the design on the areas of this game, they connected them all together nicely into the 1 big world that I mentioned. Sure this game isn't the most colorful thing ever, but the game made it to where you can still get a little challenge out of the platforming aspect even though it doesn't focus on that. As focused as you are on the RPG elements, it never lets you forget it's also a platformer.

-3. Sometimes they REALLY messed up. There are many areas where you have to go up a ladder and it's impossible to avoid being hit by something. And in some cases once you get hit you get knocked back down and have to do it all over again. I mean really, how did they overlook this? Once I can understand but there's at least 3-4 instances I can recall off hand. Not to mention the movement of the character isn't very good.

4. The game has a nice variety of enemies, and even uses the method of having bosses as casual enemies later on in the game to make it more difficult.

-4. Some of the enemies are just down right cheap. Again as you may have seen in one of my videos, I shifted from 1 screen to another and got killed immediately without even being able to do anything. How is this fair...or even fun for that matter? Also the part where you get knocked back whenever you get hit, the game loves abusing that with the platforming aspect and it can get real frustrating.

5. Lastly, I want to comment on the leveling system. It's a bit different than usual. You don't get any stronger when you level, instead you get a new title and you are given more money when you die. This can actually be easily abused as I did in a few instances, so it's nice for what it is but I would have still liked it to affect the stats some.

-5. Getting money any other way is a huge pain! So often I had a huge load of money and died and lost all of it except whatever I got for my level, which wasn't that much. And with how often you die in this game due to unfair circumstances and enemies...they really could have been a little more lenient. They can't seriously expect you to be carrying 2-4 red potions all the time can they?

Anyways...there's a few more little annoyances I wanted to mention like keys vanishing after you use them once, or the fact that gold takes so long to run down when you buy something....but I'll end it here.

Overall, the game is a fine little game to have fun with, it has it's moments and while I'm not saying I disliked it there certainly were more things that bothered me about it than I enjoyed.

Friday the 13th
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po4tVo_0Mh4&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pazOoltmv4Q&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzereD1ycMs&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb9Mn1wRLps&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DF5_HXGPOA&fmt=18

Ok, I know this game is iffy for most who have played it.....but, I kinda like it. Sure it isn't the best game on the NES...or even close for that matter, but I do enjoy playing this game.

The thing about this game is, 2 of your characters are almost useless, they're good for nothing but taking hits. 2 of your characters are semi helpful, but not really characters you should focus on. So that leaves you with 2 characters are that are much better than the others, Mark and Crissy. Without those 2, this game can take quite a bit longer to beat, so don't let them die!

Beware the dreaded forest.......that kind of maze is just terrible. The rock is an awful weapon, upgrade it IMMEDIATELY. Do not use George...seriously for your own safety AND enjoyment, STAY AWAY FROM GEORGE! Jason's mother is a huge pain without a good weapon, so be careful there too. And also...after you get a good weapon don't accidentally pick up the BILLIONS of knives that just so happen to be hovering around in the air everywhere, it screws you out of your good weapon, and if you had the pitchfork you can't get it back.

Lastly, don't expect that much out of this game. It's not a long game, it can be beaten pretty quickly if you're really good. But for what it is, I somewhat like it.

Gun.Smoke
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxO7RmAI2vY&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1VqvWnNGw&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvODHGJ_XSs&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvODHGJ_XSs&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSVXeRimuug&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si6QY7tM3SE&fmt=18

Gun.Smoke was a lot of fun, but it was pretty short. These are one of my favorite types of games. Galaga, 19XX, things like that. However, as mentioned seeing as it was so short of a game I have to put it lower than I normally would.

Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors 2
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsXDoGreX9w&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSGRZGvKGjU&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Dmp4KCdWI&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENRCH9B0EvY&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4hmnaqslms&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF8ss4ux3OY&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0baY4LGUsKc&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt6ZLHd-ITM&fmt=18

Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O96IbdizXsc&fmt=18

Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyLyLZDmwkQ&fmt=18

(If you intend on reading this make sure you're comfortable because it's going to be long)

You'll notice right off the bat that this game is dead last so far....yea...dead last and no that's not mistake. I HATE this game, I hate it. I hated it from beginning to end. This is the only game I know, that instead of focusing on killing you, it focuses on annoying you. So there you go Rusty, I finally placed a game below Uninvited.

Good things about this game: The music was ok at times and I really like the last theme in the game. Bad things about this game: EVERYTHING ELSE

So let's start with some of the things that aren't stage specific.

<B>Weapons and Armor</b> *Pushes button to attack* *knight waggles blade not even 1 centimeter away from him*...........WHAT IS THIS?!?! No, seriously, what is that attack, that's horrible. It doesn't even look like he's trying to swing the weapon and kill something, it looks like his buddy has an itch they can't reach and he's too lazy to get up to help so he just reaches over with his sword and attempts to scratch it. This may possibly be the worst attack in any game ever...yes, even worse than Splash Attack. You can waggle the sword in front of you, above you, or duck and waggle it but no matter what you do it's pretty much useless. Sure, you get better weapons later on the game but they're still useless until the final weapon which is only good IF you have magic. As for the armor....I really don't know. My guess would be that things like the helmet and shield reduce the damage you take, I mean...that would be the logical assumption. As for the boots...they seem to make me move faster and jump higher, so at least all the armor is helpful.

<B>Hit Detection</b> No I don't necessarily mean if you get hit or not, I mean what happens if you get hit. Yes, the collision boxes in this game are whacked too, but my point here is that depending on where you get hit and if you hit them or they hit you determines if you take no damage, take normal damage, or just die. I'm sure you've seen many times in the videos that I ran right into enemies and took no damage, but there were also times where I just barely touched them and keeled over dead. So what determines if you take damage or not? Well....I honestly don't know, so I'll just try to guess here. It seems as if sometimes when I hit things with my head, and even sometimes with my feet, I kill things without taking damage. The thing is though, that only works SOMETIMES...You never know when it's going to work and when it's not. And due to the fact that you can't attack in the air until later in the game and only if you have magic...this will be the way to defend yourself best I assume.

<B>Treasure Chests</b> Ok, now this is really stupid, say you buy a key for 400 gold, then you go open a chest with that key and find treasure, seems normal many games do that. Here's the problem though, you get less than 400 gold for treasure.....so...how was that helpful AT ALL? They least they could do is give you like 425 gold to compensate for you taking time to go to the shop.

<B>Enemies</b> Ok case and point, right off the bat they swarm you, they literally spam the screen. Now normal enemies aren't that big a deal....well, other than you'll have a seriously hard time killing them with that useless weapon. Or at least they wouldn't be a big deal if there weren't so many of them, they're everywhere. Now, when it gets down to having less enemies, they of course do more damage and many of them 1 shot you. Really now...enemies that can 1 shot you on the very first level? That's pretty harsh. And often times you will come across these enemies that can one shot you, and there's no way around them other than to jump right in and hope you don't die.

<B>Slopes</b> OMG...this is one of the most annoying things in the entire game, and they're everywhere. From the first level to the last level there are slopes, and they do nothing more than irritate you. Very rarely do you actually WANT to go down one, so really most of the time they're just there to be an annoyance, and on one occasion the game flat out abuses them to annoy you.

And now, the level by level analysis...

<B>First area, the wind levels</b> Without all the talk about how the enemies were unfair and the weapon was dreadful and all that, I'm just going to touch on some things level by level that were bad. First off you'll notice that your weapon is dreadful and there's so many enemies that it's unfa....oh wait... Anyways, the first thing that bothers me about this level is the layout of it. It's a climbing level and man does it have a lot of those aggravating slopes I mentioned. Also you will notice on this first part something that isn't a problem now...but will bother you the rest of the game, and that's the doors. If you go near them and are in a jumping or crouching state, you automatically go in. Now, I wouldn't object to this so much if it wasn't very simple to fix this problem, just make the button to go in doors be UP, since the up button is next to useless anyway. After you make it past this first section, you get to the clouds. The first thing to mention here is that the clouds alter yor jumping, which....I guess in some way is believable but it still shouldn't be part of the game. You jump once then immediately jump again to bounce higher. This wouldn't be so bad either if the game didn't make it so you HAD to do that in some places or you simply die. Well, other than that there isn't too much to say about this first part of the game other than how badly the jumping is again...

<B>Second area, the water levels</b> The first part of this area is a forest setting. This is where the game starts focusing on annoying you rather than killing you. You've probably seen by now that there are secret passages in some places, and they usually hold items and stuff to help you out which is good....until this level. On this level, there is a treasure chest you need to open and get a waterspout spell, once you do that you can retrieve a golden fly that you need in order to pass this level. Seems simple enough so far, but now here's the bad part about this. As you know, when you open a chest it uses a key, basic stuff, only here if you get the waterspout spell and then go inside any place, secret passages included, you lose the waterspout spell. Well now what are you suppose to do...well, you could use another key to open the chest getting the spell again. Seems just like an inconvenience so far, but the thing is there are secret passages everywhere, and you usually won't know they're there until you go in them. So you constantly lose the spell again and again until you run out of keys, then you have to gather gold to buy more keys. Once you know where all the passages are and manage to avoid them, the enemies on this stage will probably knock you into them once or twice, and it really isn't that rare that they do. It's nothing but a complete waste of time, and the game makers didn't have to do this, it's not challenging it's just annoying. The next part of this area you'll find yourself in a water cavern, and you'll notice that the boss is just a little ways from you. If you're like me, you'll probably see the boss and try to take him on because yo figure that's what you're suppose to do. However, also like me you'll find it's impossible to defeat him at this point so why you run into him now I have no idea. So you go back the other way only to come across one of the most annoying enemies in the entire game....these weird little face things. They drop down on you when you get close like thwomps do, only... there's many of them, and it's almost impossible to fit between them without getting hit. If you get hit 1 bounces you into another which bounces you back into the first one and so on till you die. You can easily have an instant death right there, and if you die the game resets you back in the middle of them but at least you get some invincibility. Should you make it past them you'll find that you did all that for a completely worthless item....all it does it give you points and that's it. The last part of this area that you have to go through before the boss is an underwater cavern. It's actually pretty easy so I don't have anything to say about it.

<B>Third area, the fire levels</b> The first part of this is an annoying climb with enemies that can instantly kill you and waterspouts which bounce you around, which can cause fall damage and usually just causes you to have to climb the same parts of this stage again and again....and that's going to be the theme for the next part of this area too. The volcano.....well, the game has annoyed you with enemies, and then secret passages, so now it's going to annoy you with passages that aren't secret. Should you make it past that first tedious climb, then you've made it out of the frying pan and into the fire, literally. This volcano part is another annoying climb full of doors and lava which seems to follow you. When you walk over a geyser, it erupts which will damage you. So just avoid them right? Well....you can't, you have to walk over some to get where you're suppose to go so expect to be hit many many times. The climb here isn't too long, the problem is the stupid doors everywhere, and if you remember what I said about the ones on level 1 then they are even worse here. If you just go near them you go in and then you instantly slope fall back down to the bottom of the level. Expect this as well to happen many many times. Since you've fall so many times, the geysers have probably killed you a couple times by now. Once you pass all that, you'll come to what might be the most annoying boss fight in this game. You're inside the volcano now, lava is spurting everywhere, flames are coming up everywhere, and there's these weird flying creatures that follow you around. About the boss fight though, as usual you need to find a spell to kill the boss, and it's always in a hidden area, but even once you find the spell you of course need magic to use it. So you make it to the boss which is this weird blob like thing, and you have to fire off shots that arch up and then drop down on him, but they have to hit him in a specific place and you're bouncing at the same time so you're going to most likely run out of magic before he's dead. So how do you get magic? Well.....luck really. You kill one of those weird flying guys and they MIGHT drop magic, like 1 out of every 7 or 8. So you get a little, go back to the boss and if you don't kill him with that little bit you do it again and again till you do. Now if you're like me, you probably won't think of the skull thing giving you magic by getting hit until later.

<B>Fourth area, the earth levels</b> The only real things I found annoying about these were 1. The treasure chests giving you less gold than keys costing and it having so many of them, which I already mentioned. 2. It has some of the worst jumps in the entire NES history.

<B>Fifth area, the all elemental levels</b> Again, not much to say here for the most part, the only thing I would like to point out is the very last level.

The entire level is full of weird snow creatures that don't really damage you but instead blow you off ledges and make you miss magic...basically just there to annoy you.

And then there's the final boss battle....all 4 elementals in 1 fight. Of course, you can take them on 1 at a time but I find this would probably take too long and can still be very difficult if not more difficult. As you saw in my fight with them, they are all swarming around the top of the mountain and you have to kill them all. At this point you'll have the best weapon in the game, and it also shoots projectiles if you have enough magic so make sure you have enough to kill them all. The main problems with this fight though, is that if the elementals touch you they bounce you up and they can keep juggling you one after enough until you die. Sometimes they go behind the mountain where you can't see them but they can still hurt you, which is extremely stupid. Even with full lives and the best gear this is a very tough fight.

Also, this level has my favorite song in the entire game...but then it's the only one I actually like. XD

In conclusion....Yea, even after getting all that off my chest I STILL HATE THIS GAME!!! No, it's not the challenge of the game, it's what about it that's challenging. Your controls should not be a challenge. The tediousness of jumps is ok but it was wayyyyy overused. Enemies should not be able to 1 shot you so often. Your weapon shouldn't be more worthless than trying to fight a dragon with a toenail. It's just bad....it's really bad, and the game could have been fun, it had some nice ideas that could have been enjoyable, but in every possible instance they butchered it and made it a pain to play. I don't know if the 1st and 3rd games are like this, but if they are I hope I NEVER have to play them, this game is permanently burned into my memory with how terrible it was.

Kid Icarus
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3u450nrkuU&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0joEAWP0DM&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsYegdXaNlM&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw40o-DgSIY&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW4_wPRc0qo&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZatWsMREQxs&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkeBVdsRQ8Y&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgea8K51lLM&fmt=18

Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCAN7zpmvXw&fmt=18

Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvgJh0mlDdg&fmt=18

Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwVRcMZSQ6E&fmt=18

Part 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp6KmhbYEnU&fmt=18

Part 13 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv8sZwsb_bY&fmt=18

Part 14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY5pCaKMG2s&fmt=18

Part 15 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7CQs6HqcuU&fmt=18

This was another really difficult game to place, it had drastic ups and downs for me. I didn't dislike the game so it was at least above Battletoads, but I didn't REALLY like it either so it had to be below Super Mario Bros. So what's good, what's ok, and what's bad?

<B>Good</b> The 2nd set of 4 levels. Sure it was your basic sidescrolling platformer, but it was fun. The challenge was not overly done but wasn't really simple either. The boss fights other than the last one. The training grounds I guess I'd call them. In one you get a special item for surviving and in the other you kill stuff to get the hearts to buy things with. The dungeons. I almost decided to bump this down to the ok category, but I decided that even though it's a maze, the fact that they added shops, a healing spot and a place to remove the curse off you makes it a little be more than just average.

Ok The variety of enemies. There were plenty of enemies, but some of them were just slightly altered. Though tons of games have this so I'll just leave it here in ok. The way you power up. It goes against you when you either don't know how to do it or when you're doing videos of it like me and don't want to wait around. The Controls, for the most part, are ok but not as good as I think they should be. Hitting a ceiling makes you come to a complete stop which can really throw you off. Ice makes you continue going forward even if you jump off it. And you can't jump while holding up... Item prices....a bit too much but not terrible I guess. The difficulty, which is completely nuts. The game is quite hard until you get powerups, or at least I think so. Once you do get powerups though, the game is a lot more balanced and fun.

<B>Bad</b> The room with the pots.....hit the wrong one and not only do you get nothing but you lose your special items and with no warning that you will. Not only that, I hear there is a pattern to knowing which pot the guy is in but how would you know that by just playing? The climbing stages, ugh....so many places to fall and die and so many ways to do it. Enemies falling out of the sky on top of you or when you're trying to make jumps. STUPID EGGPLANT WIZARDS!!!! The amount of enemies, which can many times lag the screen. The final level, which I felt was very boring including the boss fight once you realize his pattern.

So in closing, the game is just ok for me, not awful, not outstanding, but can be fun.

Legend of Zelda
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuBz-Zn4ZD0&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RFY6cxf4iQ&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdYl-TWgp0c&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFqXtum4-48&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGSXDt6cRs&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTh7WGK20oM&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpum_5tsUEA&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpFneW5Zr3Q&fmt=18

Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAYzAdbqbCc&fmt=18

Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92wOHzUUWts&fmt=18

Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWLYEg5uW3I&fmt=18

Part 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtpvFW2NEu4&fmt=18

Part 13 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8RiBYDkKWM&fmt=18

Part 14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAIOBmIcBPs&fmt=18

Part 15 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkWZidk1gHY&fmt=18

Part 16 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEV5q51oblY&fmt=18

Part 17 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnbQ7Oo2wcw&fmt=18

I'm not overly huge Zelda fan, but come on...it's Zelda.

Little Nemo - The Dream Master
<B>Part 1 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KevzRvA6plA&fmt=18

<B>Part 2 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9naUcX0xerI&fmt=18

<B>Part 3 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FH3yeKsmE&fmt=18

<B>Part 4 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwj9K91-Dps&fmt=18

<B>Part 5 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXOADXw0GF8&fmt=18

<B>Part 6 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6qByV3_SM&fmt=18

I really wanted to put this game higher because I love this game and it has so many fond childhood memories, but I just couldn't do it. Clash at Demonhead has been in the top 5 since the very beginning...though Mega Man 5 will probably knock it out. <_<

Anyway what can I say about this game? If you like platformers and haven't played it, PLAY IT! I doubt anyone could say they're a platformer fan and not like this game, especially if you grew up in that era of video games as I did. This game is a complete classic in every sense of the phrase. Oh I know, some people may think "Typical Capcom platformer, good but just the usual stuff" but no...this is a good bit different than what you'd usually expect.

So what makes this game different? Well the main thing is that you're playing as Nemo. He isn't a fighting robot, he isn't a commando, he isn't a super hero, he isn't even rich. He's just a little boy that throws candies which don't even damage enemies. Now that may not sound good, but that's where the uniqueness of the game comes in. Instead of being one of those things able to fight hordes of enemies, you enlist the help of various creatures by feeding them the candy.

The creatures you find can be a bee, gorilla or even a lizard. They all have different abilities they can use, some can fly for a brief period of time, some can climb walls, some can kill enemies. This really changes up the expectations of a normal platformer. In a normal platformer, if you need to kill an enemy you just do, if you need to get up to a high ledge you usually climb yourself. But here, you have to remember you're just a young boy, you don't have super powers or magical abilities, but you don't need them to be a hero.

As you go through each level, you have to find a certain number of keys to finish the level. This seems like it would be a tiresome search, but the game manages to make it so that they aren't that difficult to find, yet still fun to find. You got to search high and low, literally, seeing as sometimes you have to go above or below the screen to find secret areas. Now....that part of the game is just fine and all, but my 1 problem with this is that sometimes the holes aren't secret areas but pits that will kill you if you fall into them, and there seems to be no way to tell them apart until you go down there.

The last thing I want to point out here is the challenge of this game. This game can actually surprise you. It's more difficult than it looks as capcom manages to make it so enemies pop out at you in the worst of times. This is not a complaint mind you, just a slight annoyance I felt I had to mention. The overall difficulty of the game scales pretty nicely, it has a few minor concerns at first as it gets you use to the game, and by the time you reach the last levels you'll definitely notice some challenge. The 2nd last stage is a perfect example of this.

After you make it through all the regular stages, now it's time to step your game up and take on the Nightmares. You're finally given a weapon, and you no longer need keys, but now you have to deal with bosses.

The bosses aren't too challenging if you can get their patterns down, but they probably won't be easy your first time through either. The first boss honestly seems to be the hardest of the 3 due to the fact that his attack spreads so much. The second boss is not that tough really, he's just very evasive at times and he may kill you through patience and persistence. The final boss in the game can be difficult due to him having a homing attack, the only thing is he isn't really that hard to dodge. The challenge from the final boss is mostly trying to attack him WHILE doding as your charged shots move you backwards just a little bit.

Anyways, this is a great game, but feels a little short. Not that it is short, it's just one of those games that when you beat it you think "It's over already? =(" because it was such a fun game and you want it to keep going. And outside of a few minor problems like your companions running into you and killing you, or you actually being hurt because of their abilities, this is an amazing game. Highly recommended!

Marble Madness
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Mhzdsx8II&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvVd0NX4N4U&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1eJEBs8oQU&fmt=18

Ok, here's the thing about Marble Madness. Yes, it has it's annoying moments, yes it can be a really difficult game, but I like it. It would be higher if it were a longer game, the fact that you can beat it in less than 6 min really brings it down. I have both many fond and many irritating memories of this game. For anyone interested in trying this game, it may not look that hard, but that's where it will catch you off guard. The input presses for this game have to be spot on in a lot of occasions. Maybe not to the extent of Snake Rattle n Roll, but it can still be a really nice challenge.

Mega Man 5
<B>Part 1 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UGWhZV1lI0&fmt=18

<B>Part 2 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNvI4rPnfeE&fmt=18

<B>Part 3 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRNIp5RQ8MI&fmt=18

<B>Part 4 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1NaOLl5pas&fmt=18

<B>Part 5 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE3KyFgnIfM&fmt=18

<B>Part 6 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9XvtZ7KH7Q&fmt=18

<B>Part 7 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C91j2BIKbWs&fmt=18

<B>Part 8 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4ZMGmsiApY&fmt=18

And thus, we finally have a new entrant in the top 5, and although it just barely made it in it is there. It is making me think about changing the order on some of those rankings though.

I'm sure most of you know the drill by now. Fight the 8 Robot Masters, Do the castle stages, fight the Robot Masters again, then defeat Wily. It's the order most of us Mega Man fans are use to, and even though we do it time after time after time it works, and it works well! Sure Capcom tried to change it up a little here and there, but the traditional way was always the most fun to me. It also allows things like "Metal Man gets owned by his own weapon". =p

So, what is it that makes Mega Man so great? Well, this is a difficult thing to answer as it's based completely on preference, what I like about it though is simple to answer.....everything about it. The gameplay, music, controls, even the short story of it which wasn't much even back in those days.

You start up the game and it has epic music right at the title screen. This completely sets the mood for an amazing game that will follow. The controls are spot on, the graphics for it's time were good, the music is awesome, the difficulty is good but not overbearing, the story is what it is.....and the gameplay is some of the bet you'll find in this category. Granted, Mega Man 5 isn't my favorite Mega Man, but as far as the NES is concerned 2-5 is greatness, 6 is pretty good, and 1 is ok.

I've said this on a few rare occasions, but this game is one of those that even newer gamers today can pick up and enjoy. The NES Mega Man games, 2-5 at least, have a distinct charm about them. They're extremely nostalgic for those of us that were there for them, and an exhilarating experience for those that weren't. Yes I know the tried and true way of going from 1 end of the stage to another has been done to death but remember 2 things here.... 1. These NES Mega Man games are part of history. They started many of the ideas later games would use. 2. These games are incredible. I urge anyone who likes this time of game to play all 6 of the original Mega Man games, you won't be disappointed. Even as far back as Mega Man 2 has withstood the time moreso than most games out there.

While this game isn't something I could see myself playing through a 2nd time right after beating it, it is something that I could come back to later and play again because it's just that fun.

Overall, the Mega Man series is one of the best game series out now that has been around since the old NES and this game is no exception. Yes the series has had it's share of games that didn't stand up to the rest, but you'll find no game series that's been out nearly as long as Mega Man that doesn't have 1 game that's below great. Mario has them, Zelda has them, Final Fantasy has them, Castlevania has them, Metal Gear has them even Dragon Warrior has them. They all have games that just didn't match up to the rest. So if you hit a Mega Man game you don't like, you should still try others.

Metal Mech
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1hjkYIdCVU&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64J4E-Q5nVI&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Kh-ycwAJQ&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KZEohRBchE&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHNShZtH214&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T37o1dIwkNQ&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PurUHfoacsg&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ3T_be2tR8&fmt=18

As bad as this game is, I was actually planning on putting it above Spelunker and Snake Rattle n Roll. Yes the game is terrible, aggravating, and kinda boring, but that last level really did it. The last level in this game is a total PAIN IN THE...........well you get the point.

I had read this game was like Blaster Master at first, and I am extremely disappointed. The mech itself is nearly invincible, but so extremely slow. It's jumping is terrible, it's movement is terrible, even the shooting isn't that great but it's the best of the 3 things. Then once you are using the guy instead of the mech, your jumping gets a little better, your movement gets a little better, but then you become extremely weak.

The hunting for keys is absolutely terrible. You aren't given any kind of clue where it's at, and often times it's in things you didn't even know you could destroy. Then once you get the key you don't know where the end of the level is. To make matters worse, that last level is one of the most frustrating things ever. Your enemies can 1 shot you. Your controls are terrible, if you try to move up or down it moves you slightly forward as well. If you're trying to aim the gun, you have to move in that direction to do so. Often enemies come from straight up or down and you can't hit them there, but if you don't kill them quickly you get 1 shotted.

In closing, I'll have to make a statement I didn't think I ever would. If this entire game were all like the final level, it would have placed below Uninvited. Thankfully for me though, Uninvited remains the worst pile of garbage I've had to play for this topic.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
<B>Part 1 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJjQJdx0sDk&fmt=18

<B>Part 2 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4irS7yo-LH8&fmt=18

<B>Part 3 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXFrwsQlbXc&fmt=18

<B>Part 4 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGt20C053OI&fmt=18

<B>Part 5 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWaN4JHEiFA&fmt=1

Ok, I know, Punch out may seem a tad low....but the main thing that keeps this game from making it higher is that it isn't a very long game. If I had sat there and practiced the game and then played it to where I hadn't gotten knocked down so much I may have been able to do it in 3 videos. I'm aware however that same concept can be applied to many other games, however....there are 2 aspects which really make a difference.

1. How much fun it was playing through it. While Punch Out is a fun game there are many other games I prefer over it.

2. Replayability. If a game is slightly less fun to play through the first time than Punch Out, but stays more consistent so that it retains that same level of fun again and again I can still put it higher than Punch Out. This game's replayability, to me at least, is pretty low. You can come pick it up a long time later and play through it again and maybe enjoy it as much....but that's just it, it's only a maybe and you have to wait a while.

So now that we've gotten it's placement explanation out of the way, let's get into the game itself.

This is the game I would say started the entire boxing video game franchise. Yes, there were boxing games before it, but this was the first big name one to my knowledge and for a good reason. This game is simple yet addicting fun.

It's what you'd expect in a boxing game, dodge when your opponent tries to hit you, hit them when the chance comes up, but the game added a few additional features that make it much more fun...

1. The opponents have all kinda of attack patterns. This of course doesn't play nearly as much of a roll as later games in the series, but it is still present in this game. It's a good way to keep you guessing on what's coming next. Even after you get use to the patterns you still have a chance of messing up at some points though.

2. Star punches. This is a pretty cool way to help you out with certain opponents or just give you the ability to crush them quickly. It's kinda fun to find out when attacking would give you a star punch, but be careful about being too experimental or you'll be tasting an uppercut to the chin.

3. Join the Nintendo Fun Club today Mac!

4. The challenge in the game scales well. When you finally get the hang of a difficult opponent you move on to the next wondering what could possibly be harder and the game usually doesn't disappoint.

Anyway...going to stop this writeup here and just say that it's a fun game, but unlike games like Super Mario Bros. 3 it's sequels have really taken their tole on the original and made it not nearly as fun as it once was. Still a good game though.

RC Pro AM 2
<B>Part 1 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_jPzaTrCmA&fmt=18

<B>Part 2 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvUQl_MurnM&fmt=18

<B>Part 3 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HxF4Cm8Az0&fmt=18

<B>Part 4 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzsp6XcayWI&fmt=18

<B>Part 5 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeqbYXlX_GY&fmt=18

Ok, just going to come right and out and say I like this game. Yes it has many things about it that would absolutely annoy many people, but it's a fun simple little game. This is completely an underrated and probably little known game due to the time of it's release being after the SNES had already come out.

Now, that's not to say some of those annoyances don't bother me, they certainly do, though probably not as much as they would others. I have the first RC Pro AM, and I'm use to some of the things already, not everyone will be able to say that due to these 2 games not being that popular despite them being good.

So let's get down to it here...

<B>Things that kept this game from placing higher</b>

1. The first and most important reason is the cheating computer. It doesn't matter if you have all the best equipment and are fully powered up they can just run off and leave you easy. Some just zoom by you in straightaways, some can rush over rugged terrain like it's nothing, some move faster on the speed arrows. For whatever reason, this was a bad idea IMO. What's the point of having the computers be able to use their money to buy upgrades and things if they're always going to come out better than you anyway? As you probably noticed in the video, if I hadn't bought weapons I'd have had no way of doing so well in the final few races.

2. The uncertainties of the track. Sure you can see the shape of the track, but when they display the track they should show you where the oil slicks, water spots, speed arrows, etc are. This isn't like Mario Kart where you can see everything that's coming up. Usually though, it's more than one lap so if you can memorize quickly you can do better the 2nd round, only problem is by that time many of the items you need are gone and the computers can be way ahead.

3. The Point/Continue System. As you see, when you place 4th you use up a continue, pretty normal, only thing is the points still get distributed and later in the game you have to redo the stage. Looking back at Mario Kart here, think about it....you have a bad race and get last, you still get the least amount of points and have to redo that stage. It would completely mess up your game and you'd probably have to reset. Now here of course it isn't nearly as bad, but it is unfair still.

4. Prices. The prices in the shop are incredibly high at first, and if you go through and buy every part 1 at a time you won't have enough to get the best engine/tires later on. You buy the wrong things, you'll slowly start lagging behind the computers, get less money, and not be able to get better parts. It's a fairly long game, and while you can buy more continues that doesn't really help much when your cash flow is too low for you to be able to win a race. What I personally would have done is given the option to sell parts back for a partial price or give partial refunds based on what you had when you buy an upgrade.

<B>Now for the things I do like</b>

1. The most important thing again first, you do not have to finish in first place to advance, you can get 1st 2nd or 3rd.....sometimes even 4th. I feel that this makes the videos a lot more entertaining because you don't always know if I'm going to win a race or not.

2. Car upgrades. I like the fact that you collect the letters to get car upgrades and that the computers also must do so to get them. That much seems very fair to me at least.

3. Upgrades in general. You can buy better speed, better turning, weapons, shields, even oil slicks and nitros. For it being an NES game, it's a pretty nice selection I think. And also the fact that computers also buy these, it does determine how well they do until near the end of the game apparently when they just blow past you like you're standing still.

4. The Mechanics of the game. From the way you race to the way you buy upgrades, even the fact that it's an overhead view, I had a lot of fun with this game, and it's a nice improvement over the first game yet the first game would still be fun to play.

Anyways, I could keep going but this writeup is getting too long. This game is one of those that I could play again and again and again. Fun Fact about this game is that the last 8-10 tracks are randomly picked from the rest of the tracks in the game so it won't always be the exact thing every time you play. Maybe I'm a little biased for this game, but I like it, I really do. And if not for the cheating computer I could see this game placing a spot or two higher.

River City Ransom
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly524fvcbVo&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU5JCGbYCj0&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sps3VBOzzyQ&fmt=18

Let me just start out by saying, I LOVE THIS GAME!!! Playing this game is one of my best memories as a child. When I was really young, 7, 8, w/e, and I had any of my friends stay the night we would always play through this game.

Anyway, this game is one of the earliest beat-em-up type games that I know of and it is also one of the best IMO. The combat format is simple but expanded upon. Punch, Kick, use a weapon, use your opponent as a weapon. XD Generally, I would say this is a Beat-em-up with RPG elements. Although you can't really tell in the videos, you do have statistics for nearly everything you do. Punch power, kick power, throw power, jump height, dexterity, etc. The game is really done well, makes me sad that there are only a few other games like it.

So anyway, let's get down to discussing the game itself. The controls are very fluent, you tell it to move and it moves. The graphics are ok for it's time, they aren't amazing but not many graphics on the nes are so that isn't really meant to be taken into account. The difficulty can be pretty hard if you aren't EXTREMELY knowledgeable about the game as I am. The replayability of this game is also pretty high I'd say. There are a good 6-7 powerups and you most likely will not get them all your first run. There's even a couple of secret places in the game. Lastly, the fun factor of the game. If you like beat-em-ups at all I can almost assure you that you will love this game, maybe not as much as I, but hopefully you will. =p

The RPG Elements of the game are pretty noticeable even though you didn't see much of them in the videos. You have a status screen just like most if not all RPG games which has a number representing how good each stat is. Due to me knowing the game so well, and playing it on normal difficulty, we didn't really have to focus on improving our stats much. The format for it is pretty simple. Beat enemies, get money, buy stuff that helps increase your stats, typical RPG stuff, but considering the time this game came out I think it's pretty amazing.

Now the 2 player aspect of the game, this is where the game gets REALLY fun. I know in most games, like Double Dragon 2 or Battletoads, hitting your teammate can be a real nuisance because it can really mess you up, but that isn't the case for this game. You don't have a set number of lives or continues, so no matter how many times you die you just go back to w/e your last town was. So the real fun is being able to kill your teammate anytime without having to worry about the consequences, sure you may die, but the game won't take you back very far. When you're playing with someone, and hopefully they're a good sport, just surprise them by picking them up and throwing them at someone when they're low on health killing both the enemy and them, it's load of fun to do. In fact, all the deaths in the vid actually made the game that much more fun to go through.

So, definitely one of my fondest memories growing up and a game that's sure to stay near the top for as long as I'm a gamer.

Silver Surfer
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayng69-zqYo&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cENfdjOwXdw&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGshid1GTu8&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSdT65d-6f4&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEgx5gQThZQ&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akDMrH3fTQk&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg7sLMrIkCQ&fmt=18

I will go ahead and say right off the bat, when you're fully powered up and blowing up tons of enemies the game actually can be a tiny bit of fun.....until you bump your head on a wall or ceiling, die, and then RAGE at the game...

Just looking at the game it doesn't seem like it would be that bad, and it wouldn't be if they would have just changed a couple things. 1. Walls/Ceilings should NOT be lethal to the touch. The walls aren't some living organisms that attack you if you get too close. More than that, even if you had a life bar they shouldn't even damage you. Silver Surfer is in complete control over how he moves and he isn't going that fast. He isn't some machine that gets scuffed up by running up against a wall. 2. Life Bar, Life Bar, Life Bar. I won't lie, this game CAN be easy with a life bar if you know exactly what to expect, but that's just it...unless you've played through it a few times or watched someone else you won't know what to expect. Enemies that take multiple hits fly out of no where at you and you just barely make it out of the way if you even do. Battletoads has this same kind of problem but at least it gives you a life bar. 3. Enemies. Enemies take way too many hits unless you're powered up and the game apparently expects you to be powered up the whole time. Fully powered the enemies are pretty easy to kill, but fully unpowered is a nightmare. The game REALLY should have distributed the difficulty better. Have there be some enemies other than the final boss that are still hard to kill fully powered, and have there be enemies that aren't hard to kill fully unpowered.

Well, given those 3 major problems with the game, if they had fixed at least 2 of them the game could have been ok. With all 3 of those problems though, this game is terrible.

You can get a pretty good example by watching the videos but let me map out one for you.

You start off very weak, enemies take tons of hits and you have no way of knowing which drop powerups and which don't. You could try to kill them, but you may die due to touching a wall or hitting one of them and having no life bar. So you decide to play it safe by going for the powerups that are already visible. Soon as you grab it, enemies jump out of no where at you killing you because you have no life bar and they take too many hits. So you go through many plays to get the layout of the first level down, you get your powerups and enemies are going down pretty easy now, but oooo, you touch a wall causing you to die thereby making you weak again and enemies now take a billion shots and kill you because you have no life bar. Yea....the game is bad, it was just bad. Fixing even ONE of those problems could have made it a good bit more enjoyable.

In closing, I feel I should point out that the game does have some codes to make the game easier. But wouldn't you know, the first one I got is a code for higher difficulty, everyone wants that right? XD

Snake Rattle n Roll
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvPeUqL7kiY&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2fyoe3jV8M&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxCy70-hc6c&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF2pa-sWzdk&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIsb-V01bTQ&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgmgzHoSMzQ&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVVDalFQBhw&fmt=18

The game is just too tedious to make it any higher. I would say without a doubt the hardest thing about this game is controlling the movement added with the fact that you can die in the later stages very easy if you don't control it right. The sliding panels seem to take effect on you the moment you jump over them, even if you haven't touched them yet, and that can really throw someone off quickly.

Spelunker
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLkejk9WtfQ&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alNOJmE6id8&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnyI3kbIBX8&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HWZoxGTBU8&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=488Pz63C5nY&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_ErQv3uk5o&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykrdvFXDnp4&fmt=18

This game....is an annoying mess. You jump, you die, you walk, you die, you sit there, you die. Even using your weapon drains your time, WHAT IS THAT?! I have never heard of that. Ammo I could understand, but using your weapon shouldn't be able to kill you. Then there's the terrible controls in this game. Whenever you decide to jump to a vine or ladder, let go of forward IMMEDIATELY or expect the guy to let go of the vine/ladder and die, what kind of logic is? Ok, I want to jump to that vine there, but I can't hold forward or I die? To make matters worse, you can't jump up and then push forward to ease into the jump.

Then there's the fact that even your own weapons can hurt you. This isn't bomberman so why am I dying from my own Bomb? Are they trying to make it realistic? If so, how does a firework kill me?! Let alone the fact that it's my own firework. And on the note of jumping again "Oops, you missed a platform and fell half a centimeter, guess you're dead lawl"..........Yes, if you want to get technical and take the size of the guy into account, yes you fall further than half a centimeter. However...I'm a little over 6 foot, if I was on a ladder and jumped down 6 feet IT WOULDN'T KILL ME! And let's not forget about the Ghost, sure he isn't much of a threat himself but don't let him catch you on an elevator because you're helpless on there as the game won't let you shoot.

As awful as this game is though, it isn't the worst game I've played, but it's still bad enough to make it on my dislike list without any problems.

Spelunker 2
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHvMhW8A2kU&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EXRDhF5lsY&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1tPAmfrX3o&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7MifFN_INw&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0_qOT97SZg&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvkHSnghtRE&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsMi4l4w5bg&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoS7JoUssG4&fmt=18

Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh-NDdK2cbY&fmt=18

Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fUk_iud4TA&fmt=18

Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG9gGvIKO-Y&fmt=18

Part 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF8ss4ux3OY&fmt=18

Part 13 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHLUqOGVB1g&fmt=18

This game is amazing. Not because it's such a good game, but because it can be buggy, glitchy and tedious....and yet still get me to like it a little.

Well, anyway, this game is much improved over the first game, but it still has it's downfalls as most games do.

<B>The Controls</b> They're ok at best. Yes he moves when you push the button to move, but the attack is the problem. Sometimes when you press the button to attack, it simply doesn't attack. I only noticed this with the knife but it may be all the other items as well. Also, moving up and down stairs is a real pain sometimes as when you're trying to duck to hit something low you end up going down the stairs if you're to close, and if you're on the stairs you can't attack.

<B>The Difficulty</b> It's average. It's not too hard, not to easy, but it does have extreme ups and downs. For starters, the bosses seem to get easier as you go along. Boss 1 - Hard to kill regardless of what you do. Boss 2 - Might be a little hard to kill with the knife but very easy with the gun. Boss 3 - Very easy with the knife or gun. Final Boss - If you fight him with just the sword he can be ok in the difficulty department, but if you use the stun like I did he's a complete joke, even easier than most common enemies. The Common enemies themselves can be kinda hard. The larva that move around and turn into flying bugs either after you hit them a few times or over time can be hard. You don't know when they're going to turn into the fliers and when they do it's usually too late to get away. The Scorpions can be hard as well. At first they just seemed like basic enemies that took more hits but then they started jumping and firing projectiles.

<B>The Gameplay</b> It's kinda like Castlevania but not as good of course. You have your life bar and your holy meter which is a new feature after playing the first. Holy is for 2 things, using the rosary to kill zombies and ghosts, and keeping yourself out of hell whenever you fall into a hole. You get holy by killing enemies and lose it by either falling into the holes, looting sacks(which you usually need unfortunately), or killing deer. Without holy you can't use the rosary and are defenseless against the undead unless you bomb them.

<B>Music and Graphics</b> The graphics are pretty average for an NES game, it's nothing too special but then you can't expect much from an 8 bit game so it's ok. The music on the other hand I like, especially the temple music as it's one of those themes I can sit there and listen to again and again. XD

<B>In comparison to the first game</b> There are many things that this game fixes that were a real problem in the first game, however, it creates some new problems itself along the way. IT DOES fix the falling deaths which I am very thankful for. Now you just take a little damage from falling too far, but that's much better than completely dying. However, if you fall into one of the holes it may not kill you but it will send you back to start and that can get a little aggravating. IT DOES fix having to worry about a timer. In the original game, not only did you die from running out of time, but even using your weapon drains your time. In this game though while you do seem to have some kind of time it never once ran out on me and using your weapon in no way affects it. I'm really not sure what the time has to do with this game though. IT DOES NOT fix the problem with jumping from vine to vine I'm afraid. If you let go of forward too late when jumping from vine to vine you can easily let go and fall. IT CREATES a new problem with the keys. In the original game keys were automatically used when you got near the doors but in this game you have to select them. I find this to be a pointless addition to the game really. IT DOES fix how easy it is to die not only from falling but enemies themselves. You no longer get 1 shotted by everything, now you have a life bar and a really good amount of life at that. IT CREATES traps as I mentioned before. There are places that you can fall and can't get out but don't die immediately. The main problem with this is you have only 1 life and no continues and because these places or under where you have to jump from vine to vine you can easily mess up and have to start the entire game over again. It DOES NOT fix the problem with the bombs. In the 2nd game your own bomb won't kill you, but it will still damage you. The main problem though is that in the 2nd game it's much harder to get far enough away from them that you don't get hurt and in some cases I don't think you even can.

<B>Overall</b> Its not really a bad game despite it's downsides. Sure it can be a little annoying because of it's bugs but it's still a vast improvement over the original game. If you can look past it's flaws though, you may have a little fun with it, though, I recommend getting the english patch for it if you want to play it. =p

Super Mario Bros.
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ0VOHbjxZ8&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb-6nFcKHfQ&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow-JEzFOEVI&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfGbGNrMhPI&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc1pLavK27E&fmt=18

This one I REALLY had a tough time placing in the rankings. Obviously it wasn't going to be first, I mean the 3rd game beats it in pretty much every way, but for the outdated original I think I have it fairly placed.

For it's time, it was revolutionary. But by todays standards age has taken it's tole not to mention later games in the series have outclassed it in every way possible. It's Mario, so if you're a fan of the Mario series and you were around back then you probably loved the game. Though if you were to pick it up for the first time today you may not find it that good. The game has a few drawbacks that were later fixed in Super Mario 2 and 3.

The Controls in this game are good for the most part...but Mario's momentum gain can really throw you if you're use to later games and often cause you to die where you wouldn't expect to. The Difficulty I find is harder than 3. Yes most of us know about the warps where you can get through the game quickly, but without those it's a pretty challenging game. No continues, hard to gain extra lives and many enemies like the flying fish and hammer bros. that take some getting use to in order to be able to deal with effectively. The Gameplay is great for it's time and still good now but overshadowed by later games in the series.

The main thing about this game is it started the most successful video game series ever. Plenty of later games would make little tributes to this first classic game here and there by having parts of it pop up. And for those that were around at the time of the original it's such a feeling of nostalgia and we just love it. Plenty of people today still love the 2D Mario side scrolling the most and for good reason. Whether it was the best way to do Mario or not, it was the original and it can't be denied that it worked wonderfully.

From the first time we got that fire flower, to the first time we discovered the warp pipes in Stage 1-2, for it's time this game was a masterpiece. I doubt that are many today who don't know of it, but for those that haven't played through it give a try. Sure it's primitive, sure it may feel a tad clunky, but for what it was it's a game that deserves the praise it gets.

Super Mario Bros. 3
<B>Part 1</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvafenwIotM&fmt=18

<B>Part 2</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yuoeua-yV0&fmt=18

<B>Part 3</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COaNfTv4IGc&fmt=18

<B>Part 4</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVz0vjEaO80&fmt=18

<B>Part 5</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfUIYgylaNE&fmt=18

<B>Part 6</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9njaAoDiuok&fmt=18

<B>Part 7</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV6MmYSYuDU&fmt=18

<B>Part 8</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCdYzEFgaSY&fmt=18

<B>Part 9</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=934TyxX3nkk&fmt=18

<B>Part 10</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tthc4veWBPs&fmt=18

<B>Part 11</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YdIdH2c0MQ&fmt=18

<B>Part 12</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO8Pm5Xf8NI&fmt=18

<B>Part 13</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHWFnlgPLQ8&fmt=18

<B>Part 14</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4L4_OEjHvY&fmt=18

<B>Part 15</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXs8tRhup7M&fmt=18

<B>Part 16</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzoQGK8423I&fmt=18

<B>Part 17</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6k1mECMWd4&fmt=18

<B>Part 18</b> - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW9FsxCe4vU&fmt=18

What can I say? Easy choice for it's placement. This game had it all, it was amazing for it's time.

Controls are perfect, He moves when you tell him and exactly how much. Difficulty is perfect. It can challenge you without being overly challenging. It keeps you well stocked on lives to where you may not run out, yet you still hit levels that make you go through life after life after life. Gameplay is perfect. Tons of secrets, plenty of powerups, lots of variety, and even a few games for 2 player mode.

I loved this game so much as a kid I even made sure to keep the box for it. I even have more than 1 copy of this game though I'm not sure how that happened seeing as both work just fine. This game starts you off right away having fun. Each and every new thing you discover somehow manages to top the last.

Raccoon Mario - Woah he can fly....BEST POWERUP EVER! Tanooki Mario - Woah he can fly AND turn to stone to kill things you couldn't before....BEST POWERUP EVER Hammer Bro Mario - Ok, this is just awesome, that's all there is to say....BEST POWERUP EVER Frog Suit Mario - Not my favorite, but some people like him best. =p Fire Mario - Even the old traditional powerup has plenty of love.

Even nowadays, this game is praised for not having been affected by age at all. You can still pick it up after 10-19 years and love it all over again. As far as the NES era goes, this is about as close to perfect as it gets.

The Little Mermaid
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dCJmsXjxEk&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRgxskHG04k&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT9gxhDSjgc&fmt=18

Going to try to get back into shorter writeups here after the monstrosity that is Ironsword.

Let me just start off by saying that this game is not bad. It's a simple little game by Capcom, and Capcom really did the Disney series well. Darkwing Duck, Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, all great games but all 3 surpass this one.

As great a job as Capcom did with this game, it is not without it's problems. The game has minor problems like the shell glitching into the wall, but I'm going to focus on the main problems here.

For starters, the game is just way too short. It only has 5 stages, none of which are that big, and then 1 final boss fight which also isn't much. Stage 5 itself is suppose to be a maze but as you can see I easily figured it out without knowing what to do....of course you are pretty much given a big hint before the stage. Also, you can swim even faster than normal making them feel even shorter as you'll notice I remembered I could do in the 2nd video.

Second off, this game has what I would call miniature Silver Surfer Syndrome. If you're fully unpowered this game can offer you a slight challenge with 1 or 2 boss fights, but if you're full powered up this game is a breeze. Also, if you just have a little patience you can probably beat this game with only dying once or maybe not at all in your first playthrough. I of course have a bit of a problem being patient when I'm recording though, so I did mess up a bit. XD

Third, the final boss is a complete joke. I highly doubt anyone could have trouble with. Now, I'm not gonna say it's Castlevania II easy or even Spelunker 2 easy, but really she could pass as a first boss in all honesty.

Lastly, I gotta mention 1 little thing about the story, it isn't a major thing, just a little thing I found humorous. At the end of the game it says Ariel spent every day looking up at the land and crying, and THEN Triton decided to make her human again. What a jerk to let her wait for days knowing what she really wanted.

Other than that, everything with this game is ok. The controls are fine, the music is fine, the gameplay is fine, though Capcom usually does do a good job with all 3 and especially the music.

Before I finish this writeup.....no, it being a girly game did not affect it's ranking placement though to be honest that is one reason I didn't want to play this. Solid game though, especially for younger kids just getting into video games.

The Smurfs
<B>Part 1 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzTkP-t2g8o&fmt=18

<B>Part 2 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8ivKLa71EE&fmt=18

<B>Part 3 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt_UNhJNG4I&fmt=18

<B>Part 4 -</b> ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRusHQGtMxc&fmt=18

I really don't have too much to say about this game. It's very short and very basic and with the exception of 1 level it was a pretty easy game.

Now don't get me wrong, I had fun with this game, but the fact that it's so easy kinda brings it down. The first video I was dying a lot but I realized after I got use to the controls that this game wasn't going to be that much of a challenge so I switched to hard.

I can't stress the difficulty enough. I find the music to actually be pretty good, the platforming aspect of it is ok, even the item collection in it is a fun touch, but the difficulty is awful. I'm not asking it to have annoyingly hard difficulty, but at least don't allow it to be too easy.

I hate to have such a short writeup but there's not match to say really.

Music, fine Controls, fine Gameplay, fine Difficulty, outside of the sledding level and bosses 5 year old could probably beat this game, because those are the only parts of the game I would even consider hard.

The only other thing I really want to make mention of is the final level and bosses. The final level itself is a bit tedious. They did a pretty good job with it because it actually reaches that difficulty point I was wanting in some areas. The bosses however, can be pretty challenging. The first one has an easy pattern to figure out, but if you mess up you can find yourself getting hit into the water and dying instantly. The second one just requires patiece and timing, if you can do that he's not nearly as difficult as he seems, but there again you can get hit into a pit and die instantly. The final boss though, is the real kicker. You have to get the bird to drop the acorn(or w/e it is) onto the board at just the right place, if you're even a little off you will probably not beat the boss. It only allows you to mess up twice and then you have no hope of winning and the board has a pretty precise place where the acorn has to drop.

Overall, if they fixed the difficulty in the game and made it longer(like they probably did with the SNES version) I could see this game placing a good bit higher.

Uninvited
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG0qst01c9w&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W80Lud6HZLw&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFEduKGSFSY&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzYCppJWbSk&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPpFgGQY3xk&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUjqJj2rzVI&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb2EY2tT01E&fmt=18

Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LCpSsOxT6o&fmt=18

Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8lMKhFegr0&fmt=18

Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0rdYaCSzvA&fmt=18

Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3lPQqgsDcs&fmt=18

Part 12 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmbhkzEcMaE&fmt=18

Part 13 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g1OFlDW3Zg&fmt=18

Part 14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V6SRYbK9R0&fmt=18

Part 15 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlf97YPww5Y&fmt=18

UGH, This game, was so TERRIBLE! Seriously, get it away from me. I hated this game so much that I can GUARANTEE the next 5 games nominated for me to play I will like better. No I'm not kidding, even Cheetahmen II with it's horribly bugged glitchiness was more fun than this awful game. It's so bad, I'm actually recommending that you DO NOT watch the videos of this game.

I'll say it straight out, there are annoying games, there are terribly made games, and then there are games like this that are just flat out BORING. I will take the first 2 over boring games any day. I may not always hate a boring game the most, but I am sure less willing to give it a 2nd chance.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJzkDKIKwmc&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8QaNsI-iFY&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1bEpitKPII&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SnpUrdyBjc&fmt=18

Ugh this game.....just ugh.

Ok, there's no nice way to say it, this game is BAD....oh so bad. It's not one of those games that's bad because it's boring or bad because it's overly difficult, no, this game is just a nice tossed salad of several bad things together. Oh boy where to start...

First off, everything in this game is against you. Whether it's trying to kill you, trying to kill you, or trying to kill you.....or just not being helpful. I mean honestly now, you can get killed by potted plants falling on your head, dogs, cats, MICE, even a PAIR OF SHOES CAN KILL YOU. Yes I'm aware there are other things that kill you, but at least they make sense. Snake Bite...yea, you're dead, makes sense. Weasels take Roger, well..you're suppose to protect him so yea, makes sense to lose a life there even though you don't actually die. Apair of boots running into you and you dying....yea, that's where the sense just stops. I can let it slide a little seeing as the boots are in Toon Town, but come on....just how does a mouse that touches your shoe kill you. This is worse than Silver Surfer in that aspect. Yes, Silver Surfer does just touch a wall, which is ridiculous, but a pair of boots kill you....that's just too much. And if things aren't killing you, they're being as little help as they can. You try to find objects by talking to people, but here's the thing, ONLY the people in rooms seem to ever want to help you. People outside the building don't help and people insidet he building don't help unless they're in a room. That one stupid women in the black outfit not only doesn't help you, she's counterproductive by telling you to search the place and then there's nothing. She won't help you till you give her the heart. Lastly, again, I feel the need to bring up Toon Town and how stuff can kill you while you're talking to someone. <_<

Second thing. Finding stuff. Every time you start the game up, where things will appear is completely random. Now, I'm not complaining about where the stuff is per say, I'm complaining about how you find it. You go from building to building checking furniture again and again and again and again and ugh....make it stop. I honestly can't think of but maybe 1 or 2 games that are as repetitive as this game. And if searching every place wasn't bad enough, the searching part itself is aggravating. Searching....Searching...Searching...and then you find nothing....why does it have to take so long? Then what do they do to make the game even FURTHER annoying? They have it to where enemies can attack you WHILE you're searching in Toon Town. All this does is either cause you to die, or cause yo to have to stop and then research cause you didn't finish. Was this their idea of a challenge? At this point did they realize how awfully boring this game was so they decided to incorporate some timing? Well, you did a great job of it....no, not of timing I mean of ruining the game further, way to go, good job, give yourselves a pat on the back.........oh wait it's made by LJN, well they probably knew the game would be awful before they started.

Third off. The flow of the game. Find the dynamite and the detonator, find the 4 pieces of the will, find the baseball and now you can fight the last boss. That's it...sure, it sounds easy, and it honestly isn't that hard if you focus on just doing this and say screw all the weapons I'll use the punch glitch on Doom. The Dynamite and Detonator can both be bought from the store if I remember correctly, and the baseball is always outside a building in toon town and never guarded(again if I remember correctly), so that just leaves the 4 pieces of the will, which are only semi random, you usually know the general area of them but not their exact location. Now of course, the problem comes in when you realize you need other items to get one of the 4 pieces. And as you probably noticed in one of my videos, you need the spring shoes and the rattle to distract the snake. Be careful though, cause I died just by picking up the will cause the game is stupid like that. <_<

Lastly, this game horrible...no seriously it is. Do not play it, please DO NOT PLAY IT. If you need to see more on it, go watch AVGN's review on it, it's short but accurate. I only wish I could list this game lower, but the haunting memories of the games below it just wouldn't allow me to do so. So as I originally said, this game is a tossed salad of many bad games. It's boring, it's annoying, it's extremely unfair when it wants to be, it is completely devoid of fun of any kind, and you will feel no satisfaction at all beating it. It's not even enough of a difficult game to give you a sense of accomplishing something when you beat it, because if you die at all in the game it will almost always been an unfair death and not because the game actually outsmarted you or anything. So the game starts off unfun, continues to be unfun, and then robs you of the joy of beating it if you do. I would say the only redeeming quality I can even find in this game is that I don't mind a couple themes in the game. Unfortunately, none of these are the ones the game makes you listen to a billion times.

Willow
<B>Part 1 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ZiCxoU4zk&fmt=18

<B>Part 2 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SO_vbFqNOE&fmt=18

<B>Part 3 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRlftnC_npI&fmt=18

<B>Part 4 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlAultthFxo&fmt=18

<B>Part 5 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D8GgrP2xgQ&fmt=18

<B>Part 6 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0IdRDlHuxg&fmt=18

<B>Part 7 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXZp2kPqVBY&fmt=18

<B>Part 8 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LaOgO2wxrw&fmt=18

<B>Part 9 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4HLJD9MhU&fmt=18

<B>Part 10 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8l3nQO2hVo&fmt=18

<B>Part 11 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbHMIiOqY5M&fmt=18

<B>Part 12 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu75R_8vg_E&fmt=18

<B>Part 13 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAzMHWiLWps&fmt=18

<B>Part 14 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qibPspuASXQ&fmt=18

<B>Part 15 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0wZ2xTqoxc&fmt=18

<B>Part 16 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Tvpwp3oDs&fmt=18

<B>Part 17 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mwAu0KW8nw&fmt=18

<B>Part 18 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFW_UDBgQ8U&fmt=18

<B>Part 19 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9SCuOJYsU&fmt=18

<B>Part 20 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RVxVemkCUw&fmt=18

<B>Part 21 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HeG2LJ_jyg&fmt=18

<B>Part 22 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwHtwyON2OI&fmt=18

<B>Part 23 -</b> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu8h8btk9Qc&fmt=18

Right away I'm sure there will be people who would question my placement of Willow, especially since many people can easily tell it's similarities to Zelda. However, Willow may look like Zelda in many aspects, but it doesn't feel like Zelda. Since it does have similarities to Zelda though, I'll try to base my writeup off the things that are alike and aren't alike.

As the game starts, it seems kinda the same, you have no weapon, no shield, nothing. You walk around the town and there's people to talk to, some help some done.....but then we hit the first thing that puts Willow lower. Many times during the game, you'll find that a town has empty houses, which serve for nothing more than wasting your time. In Zelda, even places that have no people in them usually serve a purpose, but not so in Willow. Also, for reasons I don't understand, Willow seems to only be able to have 1 house/hut/whatever per screen making it take a long time to walk around town.

After leaving the village, you may encounter some enemies just like in Zelda. However, unlike Zelda you will have screens that do absolutely nothing. Just like the houses, in Zelda each screen "usually" serves a purpose. Whether it has enemies, a secret entrance to some place, an item, or even a mixture of the 3. Willow on the other hand has many completely empty screens that do nothing, and this makes the game feel a lot slower.

Now I'm not saying I want enemies to be bugging me the entire time, but it would be nice to have a lot less emptiness. Also, sometimes you'll come across enemies you can't do anything about. Rocks coming down the mountain, a face in the wall that can only be killed by magic, and some flying things that look like Baxter Stockman from Ninja Turtles and it's rare to kill one of these things until you're most of the way through the game. This game has too many wastes of time.

Once you encounter enemies, you of course have the option to fight them or not just like in Zelda. But here again, another problem that puts this game below Zelda. The attacking itself is pretty odd to get use to. If you stand still and attack, he swipes his sword, but if you're moving and you attack he does a thrust. Now let me ask you something, if you're fighting a moving enemy, won't you normally be moving yourself? Well in that case you won't always be able to directly face them so if you have to move you're going to do a thrust and miss. This is completely stupid IMO, it should be the other way around where moving = swipe and not moving = thrust. The way they chose to do it like this will get you killed many many times. In fact though, why even have a thrust? In at least 90% of all cases swipe is better.

Just like Zelda, this game will have plenty equipment for you to get from chests in dungeons and such. However, in Willow you aren't really getting new items per say, just a new weapon/shield/magic to help you out. Now I don't have a problem with this or anything, this is fine, but what I do have a problem with is that in Willow after you open the chest it stays there. And not only does it stay there but you can actually get too close and activate it again in which case it will just tell you there's nothing in it. Absolutely POINTLESS!

Anyway, it has some other similarities to Zelda but this writeup is getting kinda long so I just want to point out a few more things about this game.

1. This game is more RPGish in the fact that you have stats and experience and this does play a big role. You even have an agility stat that determines how fast you can swing certain swords.

2. Though, because it is RPG like that also presents some problems. If you die, you go back to the starting exp of w/e level you're on, so leveling can be annoying. This wouldn't be so bad if you weren't so fragile.

3. Also when you die, it unequips your stuff.........what is the point of that?! All it does it make you reequip it back and I see no reason for this.

4. If you miss an item, you may not always be able to go back and get it later. When I was playing through the game I missed my chance at getting the first healing magic and had to go most of the game without being able to heal, which slowed me down quite a bit.

5. Like in Crystalis, you will sometimes have to change swords as magical enemies can only be killed by a specific sword and that sword can't kill non magical enemies. This really isn't much of a problem for me, it's 2 swords as opposed to 4 and they don't put nearly as much emphasis on them as Crystalis does.

6. Boss fights. When you're in a boss fight you can't use magic, it's just you slugging it out with the boss. However...most of them are actually really easy if you abuse the sword swipe. Sometimes you can hit them 3 times with just 1 shot. Also, I like the way they list a life meter for both.

7. Finally, I want to comment on the leveling system itself. Like Crystalis it's a slightly forced leveling system. It's not nearly as bad though so it's only a minor nitpick that you have to be at least level 13 to beat the game.

So anyway, it may look like Zelda, but it's not Zelda. A fun game, but don't be fooled thinking it's going to be an epic game, it's not but it is still good. It has many moments where I was enjoying myself, but it also has little quirks here and there that are really frustrating and/or completely pointless.

Yo! Noid
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNcKfYmXia0&fmt=18

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pskc_KWKwyk&fmt=18

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wOi0CWL7Io&fmt=18

Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABGPgPhKNCw&fmt=18

Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQHZQfp0uw&fmt=18

Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hhH8HJ_pEA&fmt=18

Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRL260sCh50&fmt=18

This ones really a weird one for me. At first I absolutely hated this game, but as I went on it began to grow on me. Those things that annoyed me in this game, the moving ice platforms and the water rising and killing you, those kind of things have all been in really good games as well. I dealt with it in good games simply because of how good those games were overall, so I have to give Yo! Noid a break for having them. Sure, this game doesn't shine in any area, it's an overall simple little game, but it wasn't that bad actually.

The controls are smooth, the graphics for it's time aren't bad, and the gameplay is a little lacking but not terribly done. The pizza eating contests look extremely boring, but they weren't surprisingly. I mean sure I couldn't have sat there and played them 1 after another, but being spread out like they were gave you the time you need to not feel like it was being too repetitive.

Invisible items were a nice touch once I found out they were actually in the game. I actually had fun looking for them even though I was pretty much attacking everywhere just to uncover them. The only real downside I can see to this is the fact that the pizza eating contests are already pretty easy to win and finding so many invisible II's and III's makes them completely pointless as you can decimate the other Noid in 3 moves or less.

All in All, it seems like one of those games you have to get use to before you can really enjoy it. I won't lie, I had fun later on in the game, but the game is going to be placed middle of the pack for now in rankings due to the fact that it simply didn't have all that much to it, even the boss fight at the end was extremely easy and pointless.....and not really even a boss fight.