Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Metroid

I can still remember the first time I played Metroid. It was within the first year of its release, so I was, at most, seven years old. I might’ve played it for about 10 minutes before deciding it was a terrible game and playing something else. My aunt’s step-son owned it, so when I would visit over the years, I would repeat this process. Get the Morph Ball, not know know that I got the Morph Ball, not know what the hell the Morph Ball does, accidentally morph into a ball, leave that accursed corner of the game, reach a red door, rip game from NES, throw it across the room, put better game in NES. As an adult, my opinion of this game has only slightly improved.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Mega Man

The original Mega Man is the red-headed step-child of Mega Man games and I don’t understand why. Besides working as a graphic designer on Street Fighter, this is Keiji Inafune’s first game! Plus, in a series with 6 games (on the NES), it is far from the worst and you’d think the fact that it was the one to launch the series would temper criticism of its flaws. That is, if you can even find people willing to bother criticising it. Most people seem to forget about it completely. Honestly, I was surprised the game made the list based on this.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Faxanadu

I first played Faxanadu as a kid, likely during the first year it was released, so in 1989 or 1990. One of my aunts had rented it when I came over to visit. I immediately loved the game, despite the fact that it is impossible to kill the first enemy in the game. That might not sound like a big deal, but I probably died twice trying to kill that slow-moving spike-covered bastard, figuring there’s no way a video game would throw you in front of an enemy you can’t kill as soon as it starts. Right? RIGHT?! I’m starting to think I might have a thing for games that are a dick to the player: (e.g., Zelda II, Simon Quest).
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Battletoads

This game is garbage. Ok, the first level is alright. Review over.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Wild Arms

I was very pleased to see Wild Arms make the cut. Ever since I played it for a dozen or so minutes over a decade ago, where I spent most of my time bombing chickens, I’d been waiting for a chance and a reason to play it again. I just wish I could say it met my expectations.

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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Shining Force

Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention for the Sega Genesis was the first turn-based tactics RPG I ever played. I didn’t know that at the time, and frankly, if you had asked me when I was 12, just before I played it at a friend’s house as a rental, I probably would’ve told you I’d never like a game from such a genre. Thankfully, my friend and I went in blind and it became one of my favourite games of all time.

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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

So if any of you have been reading these “reviews” and felt like they sometimes go a little long, you’re in luck! Austin Clark has provided the perfect TL;DR review for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater:

Why do I love THPS 2? Spider-Man on a skateboard. Need I say more? NEED. I. SAY. MORE!? – Austin Clark, 2014

That’s what he had to say when I asked him, and everyone else, why he listed the game. As great as his comments were, I think I’ll still provide my own more detailed thoughts on a game I’ve also grown to love.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – ActRaiser

I played ActRaiser once. It was a long time ago. I didn’t beat it. I don’t remember why I stopped playing, since I recall enjoying it. I mean, I REALLY enjoyed it. It had platforming sections that I remembered being more than solid, combined with some civilization development/god sim stuff that I thought was even more fun than the platforming, which is saying a lot coming from a guy who doesn’t typically like sims.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (Personal Edition)

First thing’s first: Persona 4 did not make the cut. It just missed. But, seeing as it’s my series and I make the rules, I’m going to be writing about it anyway. I refuse to accept the fact that not enough  of “you people” put it on your lists. “You people” are wrong. With that, here’s the first of many post you’ll be seeing from time to time, bonus Game Overkill content I’ll be labeling “Personal Edition”; games I believe everyone should play at least once that didn’t make the official list. I wanted to call it “The Great Games Idiots Forgot to List Edition,” but apparently that’s “insulting.” Babies.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Super Mario Bros.

We all knew this day was coming, so I chose to get it out of the way early. As if Super Mario Bros. wasn’t going to make the cut. For a lot of gamers around my age, if it wasn’t the first game we’ve ever played, it was usually one of the first, if not the first, NES games we’ve ever played.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Doom

If you follow me on Twitter and were paying attention (by following #GameOverkill), you might have noticed that as I started playing Doom, I slowly came to the realization that this game I thought I loved for two decades… yeah, I had never played it. Turns out I had it confused with Doom II all this time. I even had the original on my personal list of games everyone should play at least once, but not its sequel. Also, I played the DOS version via DOSBox. I also used the Doomsday Engine, which allowed me to play an enhanced port while easily configuring the controls. I should’ve played the PS1 version as well, since it was listed, but I wasn’t able to. I hear it’s good.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – God of War

I remember the first time I played God of War… or was it God of War 2? Maybe it was God of War 3? It was definitely the one where you have to fight your way out of Hades at some point.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Gradius

As the lists came in, I got to see certain games slowly move up in number of votes. Sometimes this made me excited because it was a game I loved, and other times it made me anxious because it was a game I had absolutely no interest in playing. Gradius fits into the latter category. I’d never really played it before, but I’ve pretty much never liked a single shmup I’ve played beyond 2nd generation of consoles (think Atari 2600). To say I wasn’t excited to see it make the list would be an understatement.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy was one of the first NES games I played. I can still remember first turning it on and being disappointed almost immediately. I was 9 years old and wouldn’t start studying English for another two years, so all that text that was meant to tell me important things was practically unintelligible. Luckily, I lived in Canada, and for some awesome reason, almost everything on the box and in the box was in English AND French.
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Interview with the creator of Atlantic Canada: The RPG

As someone who grew up on the East Coast of Canada playing RPGs like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy on the NES, when I heard that a game called Atlantic Canada: The RPG had been created, and by a band from my hometown, I knew I had to try and get an interview with the person behind it. On a sunny afternoon in downtown Moncton, I met up with Don Levandier, the main person behind the game and lead singer and guitarist of The Motorleague, at The Laundromat Espresso Bar. We had a chat about the game, games in general, nerdom, and how it all relates to the band.
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Game Overkill

Game Overkill – The Update

So a few weeks ago, I announced my new project, Game Overkill. As of today, you officially have 3 weeks left to send me your lists. For those of you unfamiliar with what I’m talking about, I have asked everyone who wishes to participate to send me a list of every single video game they think everyone should play at least once to create a kind of retro gamer-sourced greatest games list. Here are the rules: Read More

Game Overkill

Game Overkill: The Announcement

Hi folks,

First of all, I’m not here to announce the triumphant return of Atari Poop. I’m here to ask all of you for some help with my feature here on 1MoreCastle.

After a short Twitter project where people sent me their favourite albums, which I then listened to while sharing my thoughts, I realised that I’d listened to a lot of music I never would have and it was an amazing experience. Almost immediately, I knew I wanted to something similar with video games, but much, much bigger.
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Atari Poop

Atari Poop – Top 5 Reasons E.T. 2600 Was Better Than the Movie

Just so you know, everything you think about this game is wrong. It’s not the worst game ever made. In fact, it’s even better than the movie it’s based on. Here’s how:

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Atari Poop

Atari Poop – Pole Position

Pole Position, or Stripper Pole Position as it was known in Japan. It is one of the rare (I can think of no other) sex games released for the 2600 that was actually made by a real video game company (Namco, to be precise), and, unlike those terrible “Swedish Erotica” games made Mystique,this game is kinda fun and has decent graphics.
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Atari Poop

Atari Poop – The Game That Could Not Be Pooped

Listen, let me get something out of the way right from the start.  This will not be a typical Atari Poop. Look, I tried, I really did: conspiracy theories, alternate realities, inspired by something stupid before it, inspired something ridiculous that came after it. I also had a list of random celebrities I could possibly shoehorn into the article, but alas, it’s like everything I threw at it just wouldn’t stick, like the game is Poop-proof! I tried to write an Atari Poop article on Pitfall!

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