The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Potentially the GOAT of Zelda games, Ocarina of Time did for this series what Mario 64 did for Super Mario Bros, in bringing a flat 2-D world into the collective 3-D realm which previously existed only in the minds of gamers.
What might Link look like in 3-D? Enemies? Labyrinths?
This game kicked down so many doors I’m not sure where to begin. It’s a masterpiece by every standard. Graphically, it still holds up well. The game world is rather large and doubles when using a similar time mechanic from the SNES’ Link to the Past.
Link can also wield a variety of different weapons, there are side quests galore, and the Ocarina serves as a musical component of the game that isn’t “all gimmick”.
Did I also mention he can venture on horseback too?
Boss battles feel truly epic as well and there isn’t really a bad thing that can be said about this game. If you haven’t played it over the years, or you’re looking for something to do on a rainy day, I highly recommend picking this up to play!
The World Is Not Enough
I have to make some apologies for what I said about this game in other 007 reviews: it’s much better than I remember it being.
That said, the story mode is what really makes the game shine, as multiplayer didn’t hold a candle to Goldeneye or some of the follow-up games on the PlayStation 2 (such as Agent Under Fire). However, that’s no reason to skip on EA’s James Bond movie tie-in, as without Goldeneye stealing the spotlight for both a great FPS and credible movie licensed game, this one may have been more fondly remembered.
The controls are a bit funky to get used to, as is the off-centered, nearly “in the corner” gun view, but the rest of the game actually looks more realistic than Goldeneye did, following the same script as its movie namesake.
Also bare in mind, this is not the same game which shared the same name and movie tie-in on the PSX.
The visual style of the game differs from others in the Bond series slightly, but it’s a smooth experience with a lot of the other 007 effects left in place (including tons of gadgets used to complete obstacles). Seeing bullets fly from the weapons was also a nice touch which wasn’t often seen (or as detailed) in other games released at that time.
A wide variety of weapons are also at your disposal, including a harpoon gun!
Overall, the game differentiates itself enough from Goldeneye and other EA published 007 games that it stands on its own and should be a title played by Bond fans who are looking for a retro, FPS fix.
DuckTales: Remastered
Were you a fan of the DuckTales cartoon growing up? Were you a fan of the original DuckTales video game on the NES growing up?
If you answered yes to either (or both) of these questions, or have any such affection toward Disney properties, I urge you to seek out this game!
Published on several systems by Capcom, I gave this classic reboot a spin on Sony’s PlayStation 3 and wasn’t disappointed. In fact, I was practically floored at how faithful it was to the original while bringing that game into the present day with HD graphics, audio voiceovers, and some slick retooling of a few stages (and bosses) that felt exactly like the original game even when it isn’t!
The only thing that might get on your nerves with this game is that it’s short while also being monotonous. The boring parts come with long stretches of animated cutscenes, that while entertaining, could wear you thin. (You can, however, skip them if you like.)
Yet, there’s replay value to this title as well, with a vault full of goodies showcasing items from the games and TV show. Heck, you can even take a dip in, and swim in Scrooge’s vault too! (Which is novel for about the first time only, but still, a cool touch.)
Retro gaming fans shouldn’t dismiss the era of reboots with this game. It’s worth picking up and playing, especially if you were a fan of the game or cartoon.
Punch-Out!!
For as much as I crapped on Super Punch-Out!! I’ll tell you I loved this game sooooooo much more.
Every single part of this game has a nostalgic and fun feel to it. I had strongly criticized for the SNES version for being too easy and lacking any depth. Well… the Wii reboot takes everything from the previous games and ratchets up the level ten-fold.
The graphics look like playing a cartoon and are highly detailed. Fighters even sustain “damage” and each has neatly animated openings and endings.
The gameplay feels as if you’re incorporating some strategy, even with the trademark punches the opponent tosses which you must dodge for an opening.
And did I mention they brought back Little Mac and Doc Louis?! (Who were ominously left out of SNES game?!)
You’re also supposed to be able to use the Wiimote and nunchuck (and even the balance board) to play with motion controls, but I didn’t try it (yet).
Overall this game is an A+ in my book and definitely worth playing. It made me feel like a kid again, and I left out some of the surprises as to not spoil for those who may give this a spin.
Doom
Some people probably aren’t aware that Doom made it to the Super Nintendo. In fact, it should’ve been technically impossible to do, if not for the addition of the Super FX 2 chip.
I, for one, forgot this game existed until recently and revisited it based on having rented it numerous times during my childhood. The premise, of course, is a first-person shooter where the protagonist fights through invading demons from Hell.
Yes, this game was on practically every platform ever, however it wasn’t only the technical limitations of the SNES which made this a surprise, but the content: Doom is all about shooting, killing, horror and gore! Its generally recognized as THE title to popularize the FPS genre and is best known for run-and-gun gameplay where you fly through levels and try your best to not die.
That last aspect, speed, is well-translated to the SNES version. I often felt a heart-pounding intensity to finish each level, set to revised audio tracks which still thump to this day and made this game playable… because the graphics, an obvious setback, made it a struggle to do otherwise. Enemies were often difficult to see in the distance and were pixelated, as you might imagine on 16-bit hardware, even when they were up close.
Truth be told, even with cheats enabled in spots, this game was rough to play through the first episode, where I left off. (In total there are three episodes, a total of 22 levels lifted from the PC games.) The visuals were rough enough on the eyes and almost made it feel like the game had an unfair advantage on the player. (The game ran on a bordered window within a window in order to have a respectable resolution and framerate!)
Ditto for the controls, which were also tough. I mean, come on, it is a D-pad on the SNES controller!
Yet, for its shortcomings this game didn’t age terribly bad. You already expect the worst and it’s totally playable for the time, if not an enjoyable experience overall. I couldn’t justify spending time to complete it due to the few shortfalls, but, I’d still recommend it to any Doom/FPS/retro gaming fan just for the technical achievement of being playable on the Super Nintendo back in 1995!
Luigi’s Mansion
The GameCube was the first Nintendo console to launch without a dedicated “Mario” title opting instead to make his brother Luigi the star of one of the first games available for the new system launched in 2001 in North America.
The game was unlike any other in the Mario series to date. While Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64 brought us into the third dimension, Luigi’s Mansion had another dimension in mind: the paranormal one that is!
Armed with a vacuum cleaner reminiscent of the Ghostbusters “proton pack” Luigi would aide a creepy yet lovable mad scientist type “Professor E. Gadd” in clearing each room of the haunted mansion of ghosts, all in search of his brother, Mario, who had gone missing.
Yes, Mario was missing from the GameCube and this storyline was built into the launch title!
The humor and subtle details of this title made it an instant classic as Luigi goes from room to room, clearing them of spirits (and boos) while turning the lights on in each and gaining keys to access others. He moves from floor to floor to accomplish this, with four “levels” in total, each ending in a main boss.
I had some gripes with the gameplay in some aspects, as I feel the controls in the 3DS sequel are a bit easier/better to use, however, it wasn’t enough to get in my way of enjoying this game, which itself, has fantastic graphics and sound, really showcasing how underrated the GameCube was while competing with Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Microsoft’s Xbox consoles.
The game has a long-lasting charm to it, and the usual “scavenger hunt” schemes often seen in Mario games, where players will want to find every hidden item and make it to 100% completion.
The game also has some great surprises in it, of which I won’t ruin here. It’s a game you’ll definitely want to pickup and play; if you do, you’ll understand why it has spawned sequels and also become a part of the Super Mario culture, inspiring items and appearances throughout other Mario-themed games.
DuckTales
Ever play a game that was so great when you were a child only to come back to it and not have as fond of a memory of it years later?
Well, that’s not the case with DuckTales, an NES title which should’ve easily been the usual “slap the license on the box and sell it” game that was anything but. In fact, this particular game even saw a high definition remake years later, but for now, I’ll concentrate on the original… as this game was so successful it not only spawned a sequel, but was also ported to the Nintendo Game Boy and became Capcom’s bestselling title on both consoles!
The premise follows a key element of the cartoon series: Scrooge McDuck has lots of money and is the richest person on Earth. He wants to expand his fortunes and thus you travel around the world to exotic locations such as the Amazon, Transylvania, and the Moon in search of loot. Along the way he faces obstacles, such as rescuing his nephews or the random boss (some of which are or aren’t lifted from the cartoon series).
What made this game a classic is Scrooge’s “pogo stick” jump from his cane, which added a unique jumping element to the game, along with non-linear (think not side-to-side, like Super Mario Bros) levels. Throw in text (speech) lines and cameos which remained faithful to the already immensely popular TV program, and its not difficult to see why this game was a winner.
Even the opening screen hums an 8-bit instrumental rendition of cartoon’s opening song, sending nostalgic goosebumps along one’s skin!
If you’ve never had the pleasure of playing this game and were a fan of the cartoon growing up, I would drop everything and check this out. You won’t be disappointed!
New Super Mario Bros.
We didn’t start the fire… It was always burning… Since the world’s been turning…
That’s the way I feel about “New” Super Mario Bros. Such an emphasis had gone toward turning everything into three dimensions that the classic 2-D side-scrolling platformer appeared to be lost in the shuffle.
Then, in 2006, Nintendo unleashed this behemoth upon us which has, in itself, spawned numerous sequels and also pushed other franchises to return to their roots (such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Spyro).
The best-selling DS game of all-time, NSMB picks up where Super Mario World left off, giving us a side-scrolling Mario adventure spanning multiple levels through multiple worlds with a slew of new features or freshly recycled ideas borrowed from a number of Mario games.
You’re back to collecting coins, breaking bricks, and stomping Koopa shells to save Princess Peach. Yet, this game nor the Mario concept doesn’t feel the least bit tired. Triple jumps, ground pounds, wall jumps… all of the 3-D goodies are here and while sprites have been ditched for 3-D graphics, it’s all set in a “flat” environment that feels every bit as genuine as the original NES Mario games but with a fresh paint job.
Some of the newer power-ups introduced make Mario huge, or incredibly tiny: or he can wear a blue Koopa shell.
This makes for some strategy and hidden areas only accessible with certain power-ups. Add collecting three of the star coins per level and the game has some incredibly sick replay value, where the Mario purist can’t put the game down until it’s 100% complete.
Honestly, if you’ve never played this and you’re a Mario aficionado, you should probably leave my website right now and track this down, because it’s one of the best titles I’ve ever played. (It’s literally that good!)
Mega Man 7
I often say I’m surprised by games at the least likely of moments.
Thus, is the case with Mega Man 7, the first true sequel of the Mega Man series of games on the Super Nintendo.
While it’s true that the Mega Man X games came out first on the SNES, “7” is a true successor of the NES line of games of which there were six, and five other Game Boy titles which shared similarities with their bigger brother.
The X series took the Mega Man stories in a different direction whereas “7” brought us back to the formula we were used too… or, yeah, it’s almost the same. The difference I believe is just being tied to the same ol’ Dr. Wily, who may as well be called Dr. Wile E., after the Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote, as neither can ever defeat their nemesis in the end.
The major wow factor of this game, especially when compared with the early SNES “X” titles, is that the graphics and sound would lead you to believe that this was not an SNES title: in this era of retro gaming remakes, you could’ve sworn this was a reboot of the series made in the present day.
That’s how good MM7 is, in my opinion.
It doesn’t really add much to the previous formula otherwise and that’s a good thing. The gameplay is what you expect, the bosses are just the right difficulty, and the controls are tight instead of cheap.
Alas, it’s still more of the same. I liken MM7 to the “Super” upgrades of every other game which came to the SNES, except it didn’t add a whole lot. Still, why fix something that isn’t broken?
That’s how I felt with MM7 and think any fan would enjoy the trip down memory lane as I did.
James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire
While I was knocking Electronic Arts for screwing up other gaming franchises, I had totally forgotten about a true contender as a Goldeneye successor: Agent Under Fire.
While stumbling with its first foray into the Bond franchise, after acquiring the 007 license with the N64’s The World Is Not Enough, fans would be skeptical to jump on this game. After all, Goldeneye (which was developed for the N64 by Rare) was and still remains a cult classic.
Wisely, EA learned their lesson from their first flop and took the best objects that made Goldeneye a success and ramped them up. Unfortunately, I feel this title may not have gotten the same warm and fuzzy memories as it may have deserved.
For starters, Agent Under Fire is an original story and not based on any of the 007 IP or movies though I had started as a World Is Not Enough version for the PlayStation 2, and while Roger Moore was intended to be cast as the Bond character, a little known actor fit the bill instead before Pierce Brosnan would re-sign to reprise the character for the franchise.
Thus, Agent Under Fire continued on as an almost entirely unique project that was still intended to be a spiritual successor to Goldeneye. And in many ways, it was.
Several nods to the N64 classic can be found in AUF, including the Golden Gun, many of the weapons, crawling through ventilation shafts, or elevators which take you through various stories of a building.
Sniper rifle zooming in and out is also here, and perhaps less nerve-racking as the heavy breathing and erratic movement of using the long-range weapon are gone.
Added are some secondary fire functions to some weapons, and a slew of “Q” tools which turn 007’s flip phone into anything from a laser to a grappling hook.
Nods to previous Bond movies also include a jet pack (which zooms you into the sky) and “rail” levels where Bond is shooting from a moving car or rail cart.
Driving levels are also added for the first time and feel a bit out of place, but at the same time will remind anyone familiar to that of the Grand Theft Auto games. (The size and scope are actually quite incredible as add-ons to the FPS action.) Both of the vehicles chosen are also nods to the entirety of the Bond franchise, which is a great touch.
Special medals are awarded with the traditional James Bond theme playing while executing special achievements in each board. Completing these achievements unlocks special goodies, such as the aforementioned golden gun (which for some reason, doesn’t instantly kill enemies).
I’d also be remiss to mention the level of detail that went into this game, down to the discharged bullets flying out of guns to snipers putting their rifles down and pulling out pistols when you’re discovered nearby.
Multiplayer is of course a big draw here too with splits-screen action that sees red lasers honing in to your eye sights or grappling across the levels.
The only drawback to this game? Some of the boss battles or objectives aren’t obvious as to what it is you need to do to win. Checkpoints are few and far between, meaning your unintended death (due to not knowing where or how to complete the objective) means you start over from scratch.
Regardless this is my favorite of the Bond games next to Goldeneye and it holds up very well even with the jagged old PS2 graphics. If you enjoy first-person shooters or 007 (or both) I highly recommend checking it out.