The Completist

The Completist Presents: Ninja Gaiden – A Lesson In Insanity

It was June, 1989. I had just finished 4th grade and as Alice Cooper so eloquently put it, school was out for the summer! Those long, hot days in my youth were frequently spent outdoors, climbing trees, building forts in the thorny palmetto’s, exploring the dung filled cow pasture near my neighborhood or doing what most Floridians do in the summer;  going to the beach. However, on the days where I wasn’t getting that “Call of the Wild” I found myself craving some downtime with my Nintendo Entertainment System, or in this case, five of them. Now, I know what you are thinking. I must have been one spoiled brat to own five Nintendo’s! Well, that wasn’t exactly the case.

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The Retro Critic

Sunman

And now for something completely different.

Let’s take a break from Superman and talk about Sunman, a little known superhero who, despite what people say, is nothing like Superman.

Oh sure he has a red cape, flies, shoots lasers from his eyes, has super-strength and a bald arch-enemy but he is nothing like…

Waaaait a minute…

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Two Japanese-flavored Kickstarter projects to consider supporting

Kickstarter has become quite a resource for those looking to support or create, especially within the realm of retro-style games and other related projects. This is hardly news; in fact, sometimes there are so many great ideas on the site that it is difficult to keep up. Today, let us just take a look at two of them. Both have ties to classic gaming, intriguing connections to Japan, and stand a real chance at meeting their fundraising goals.

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Bitter Without Continues

Dressing…for success?

So no goddamn F-Zero this year, huh?

This is arguably one of the best E3’s in recent memory, due to some kind of controversy involving some…console vs. console something…I can’t remember. Maybe it’ll come back to me. And even Nintendo – NINTENDO – Had a pretty amazing showcase of giving the people things that have…been successful before, and can be successful again.

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Atari Poop

Atari Poop – Missile Command

Tom Cruise hates Missile Command. Yes, the arcade classic from 1980 ported shortly thereafter to the 2600. Come on, you remember the game. Even your mom remembers Missile Command. It was fun, addictive, went pew, pew, pew, brrrrcrash, bleep, and prrrrrgrrrcrrrr, had nukes, and was awesome. What most people, including your mom, don’t remember is its backstory, plot, or why Tom Cruise hates it so much.
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Reboot This: Primal Rage

Why Primal Rage should be the next fighting game reboot

I don’t like to say that I hold a lot of weight in the gaming community, because I don’t. That won’t stop me from pretending I do.

I’ve done the research, crunched the numbers, and I can personally guarantee that approximately one person (me) would purchase a new Primal Rage. Day one, 60 bucks, won’t even look for a sale. I’ll even buy the $150 collector’s edition. Just throw in one of those old Primal Rage toys that were all the, ahem, rage back in my youth. I can’t speak for others, but I know what I like, and I like seeing extremely violent (and if possible, scientifically accurate) dinosaur bloodbaths.

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Super Mario World (SNES)

2 Decades Late

Super Mario World

Welcome to the very first edition of 2 Decades Late, my newest series for 1 More Castle. Those of you tuning in to hopefully see some sweet, savory N64 action may be a bit surprised. Fear not, though, the N64 Connoisseur series will alternate with this new series so you will see it back here in two weeks. The premise of 2 Decades Late is that as a child, I skipped the SNES generation. Not out of disinterest or anything, we just couldn’t afford it. That has left me in an interesting position. I have missed out on some of the greatest classics of our time. Super Metroid, Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, all classic games that I have never played by way of not having the hardware when they came out, not to mention the great hidden gems of the system. Well, now that I am all grown up, I am able to go back in time and right these wrongs. I am going to bring you along on the journey as I play these games for the very first time and review them, even if I am two decades late.

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The Fair Shake

Night Stalker / Dark Cavern

Retro gamers come in all forms. From the guy in his 50’s who considers ‘gaming’ to be hanging off an arcade game joystick with a beer in his hand, to the  ‘hipster’ who recently discovered how great Super Mario Kart is on the Super Nintendo. The middle range always surprises me. Like the friend in his mid 30’s who could pull off a convincing Pitbull impression and constantly posts about COD on his Facebook page. Imagine my surprise when a recent conversation went to Intellivison, and one of my favorite games, Night Stalker. 

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The Retro Critic

Superman: The Man Of Steel

Yes, Superman again.

So I’m excited about the release of Man Of Steel, so what?

Can you blame me?!

Besides, there are many, MANY Superman games out there, some of them good (see last week’s The Death And Return Of Superman), some of them… Superman 64.

This week, let’s take a look at Superman: The Man Of Steel on the Sega Master System, a game which, on paper, sounds great: it’s a side scroller, Brainiac’s in it, there’s spaceships…

But no.

It’s not good.

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Bitter Without Continues

When not to trust a 38th level Sorceress.

Oh, it is a red letter day for Bitter Without Continues readership, as i have cranked the proverbial bitter-gauge to Eleven.

Three months ago, I started this column at a point in my life that was desperately seeking change in scenery and situation.

One of the major aspects, was that I (unbeknownst to me at the time) was just getting out of a turbulent relationship, which feels like marks the billionth time in a row that I’ve been involved in a crazy pairing that just wasn’t going to work, for whatever various reasons that are at hand.

I’m writing this today, single, and after a couple of months of waiting to get back on the dating circuit, looking like I’m about to get stood up on a goddamn date that was really looking forward to all week. So I’m in less than an enthused mood as I currently write this.

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Virtual View

Homebrew Virtual Boy Games

Although the Virtual Boy may have lasted 8 months, dying in March of 1996, dedicated fans of the red beast have been making a variety of homebrew games and presenting their games to other Virtual Boy fans on Planet Virtual Boy, the site where you can either purchase or download the recently released and fully completed Virtual Boy version of Faceball. I’m not going to be looking at all of the homebrew games, since there are tons of them (24 of them are already finished or nearly finished), but rather I’ll look at select eight games.

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1 More Countdown

Top 10 Sega Genesis Final Boss Themes

“Genesis does what Nintendon’t… except music.”

That is the exact tweet that I tweeted a few days ago. It’s not really my personal belief, but I wanted to gauge the reaction of my followers, and boy did you all let me have it. I received tweets about the audio specs of the Genesis, links to music, and even a few harshly worded responses. All the while I laughed on the inside, for I knew what I had planned for my next 1 More Countdown.

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Atari Poop

Atari Poop – X-Man

X-Man by Universal Gamex (what I’m assuming was Universal Studios’ gaming division at the time) was one of the first comic book licenses, after Superman and Spider-Man, to get a video game treatment. Now, I’m far from being a comic book nerd (considering I’ve probably read less than 10 super hero comics in my life), so I never read the X-Men comics, but I did watch the cartoon, so I totally remember X-Man, the X-Men’s mascot. I also remember that he didn’t have any super powers, which makes him a strange choice for a video game. Nonetheless, I honestly believe that this might be the best super hero-based video game made until the last console generation or two, thanks mostly to the way the people behind the game chose to handle it in light of the hardware limitations of the time.

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RetroHate

The Use of Healing Items by Opposing Pokémon Trainers

Welcome to RetroHate! Our usual columnist in this space, Joshua, is taking a break; in the meantime, he is graciously letting me substitute for him, which is great because I have something I really need to vent about.

I guess I am on a bit of a Pokémon kick lately, but I cannot help it: I adore the series as a whole, and still truly believe that the basic formula (JRPG with an enormous character roster, essentially) is among the best that has ever been executed. For me, the first couple generations of Pokémon games will always be a source of powerful nostalgia.

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The Legacy of Tetris: 29 Years, Never Beaten

Tetris is without a doubt one of the most important games, not just in the history of videogames, but in the history of games in total. It stands alongside chess and other classics as a game that simply works, with no flaws and no possibility of ever truly mastering it.

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The Fair Shake

Destiny of an Emperor

Looking over my body of work here at 1MC, I’m fairly content with the selection of games I’ve chosen. It is *my* column after all, so of course it’ll skew towards things I like to play. I thoroughly enjoy JRPGs, but I feel so much has been written about the Final Fantasy series that I don’t really feel the need to contribute anything further. Then I realized I haven’t talked about one of my personal favorites, Destiny of an Emperor.

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The Retro Critic

The Death And Return Of Superman

You knew this was coming.

With Man Of Steel out soon, I was bound to go all DC and celebrate the film’s release with some Superman-themed retro game reviews. To start with, let’s look at a little Genesis gem (and SNES gem) called The Death And Return Of Superman.

And yes, before you ask, it’s better than Superman Returns.

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