Star Fox

I continue on with big Nintendo franchises today with Star Fox.  Developed by Argonaut Software and Nintendo and published by Nintendo, Star Fox was released in March 1993 for the Super Nintendo.  The original is a straight forwards rail shooter, you fly alone a predetermined path with the ability to fly around to dodge shots and aim at enemies. 

As you begin the game, you first get to choose your control type, and then the game begins.  At first you get to choose between the first three levels, for simplicity I've decided on level 1: Venom.  At the beginning of the level, General Pepper informs you that you are counter attacking Venom as a last resort... and that's level one? 

So as you fly forwards across the level, the controls are very simple: move and shoot at enemies.  Being my first rail shooter in a while, I am quite horrible at hitting enemies, but dodging their shots I'm not bad at.  You allies (Slippy, Peppy, and Falco) make appearances every once in a while to talk about the battle.  Slippy kept asking if I saw him at one point, making me think that perhaps I had hit him at one point as he flew in front of me.  They also complain a bit if you shoot the enemies they are chasing, which is sort of funny. 


So the level is built on polygons, so its pseudo-3D has everything looking a bit blocky, but it is still discernible.  There is one section with a few arches before you enter what is obviously suppose to be a city.  The enemies keep coming as you go through, at one point Peppy flew in front of me with an enemy on his tail; he starts asking for assistance before the enemy kills him, an interesting addition. 

And a bit after that I was under the assumption I was about the be facing the boss, mostly because a health bar titled "Enemy" appeared in the top right hand corner of the screen (a real detective am I).  So the boss of the first level is a large ship with a hanger bay to my right that releases fighters to attack me and a missile bay on my left that shoots a few missiles at me.  I have to shoot each of them as they attack to do damage to the boss and lower his health.  Once you destroy one of the two sections, they explode and fall off, and after destroying both, it's just me and the main ship.  But I wasn't paying all too much attention and didn't see all the shots the main ship shot and I'm down quick. 

So the level starts again and I'm back at the beginning, slightly obnoxious, but the level wasn't too long so it's not too much of a bother.  The level moves quick and I'm back at the boss once more and am much more comfortable controlling the ship and hitting things, so the hanger and missile bay both fall off quick.  The ship starts to shoot it's bolts at me, but I'm quicker and stronger (and it's the first level) so he goes down as quickly as I did the first time. 

And another game is played and the work week will be starting again soon.  I think I'll move off Nintendo now, since I've gone through almost a full month of their games, or perhaps I'll just stay on them for the rest of the month... I'll figure that out tomorrow I guess.  Adios for today though.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

I continue on the Super Nintendo today with a game that came out near it's release: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.  Developed and published by Nintendo, Link to the Past was released in November 1991, just a few months after the Super Nintendo release.  It takes the next step with one of Nintendo's franchises and introduces many of the items that have become staples to the series. 

So the game and story begin with Link asleep in his uncle's cabin.  The mysterious voice of Zelda makes you aware that she is captured in the castle dungeon and needs rescuing.  So your uncle wakes you to let you know that he's going out and will be back in the morning, leaving with sword and shield in hand.  Of course, being the hero, you chase after him, but not before opening the chest and grabbing a lamp that you can't use at the moment (you need magic power, and you don't get any for a bit). 

And out into the pouring rain you go, heading north towards the castle, but there is a guard protecting the front gate, and with no weapon, you are a bit out of luck against him.  Continuing on along the wall, you move up a path until you find some bushes that you can pick up and throw, and beneath one is the secret entrance to the castle. 

So of course, I drop in. 


Once entering the castle you find your uncle, he lies against the wall, having been defeated by someone in a sword fight.  With his last breath, he mumbles something about how you must save Zelda and gives you his sword and shield before explaining how to do the spin attack (useful).  So you quickly leave the basement and are within the walls of the castle and must enter the castle to reach Zelda.  Entering the castle itself is just a matter of getting by the three guards and walking in the front door (death by plants is the easiest way to do it).  So once inside the castle, you must run to the back and go down the stairs to get into the basement where the princess is being held. 

In the dungeon, first you must defeat a guard to grab the key he was holding and then can grab the map out of the chest he was guarding.  You continue through, dodging or defeating guards as you go (you can actually knock the guards off the platforms and see them panic before falling to their doom).  You finally get to another room where you are forced to face a guard to receive his key and you can open the chest for his boomerang. 

As you continue on, you finally reach the prison where Zelda is being held and face the first "boss" of the game.  He's not a true boss, but the closest thing to one this early in the game: an armored guard who has a flail.  There are two tactics that work well against him: the first is to enter the first cell and grab the pots to throw at him, the second is to toss your boomerang at him to stun him before beating on him with your sword.  Either way he goes down relatively quickly and without a problem.  So once you defeat him, he drops the big key and you open the next cell to rescue Princess Zelda!  Yes, you in fact rescue the princess almost immediately in the game. 

But from there I will continue playing but not writing, and another game is played and another day is done.  I'll continue with more games tomorrow and on from there.  Adios for today though.

Spiderman & Venom: Separation Anxiety

So after a depressingly bad Nintendo 64 game, I'm moving back onto the Super Nintendo for games I know won't depress me with Spiderman & Venom: Separation Anxiety.  Developed by Software Creations and published by Acclaim, Separation Anxiety was released in June 1995, just a year after Maximum Carnage, which it is very like.   Separation Anxiety is your general Beat 'Em Up action game were you move across the levels fighting enemies until you face the boss at the end.

The game's story is much like the Venom: Lethal Protector comic, it follows Venom after being captured by the Life Foundation, who have spawned five symbiotes from Venom.  Venom teams up with his foe Spiderman in order to stop the Life Foundation and their symbiotes.

So as the game starts, you get to choose either to play with Spiderman or Venom (if it's two player, player one is Spiderman and player two is Venom).  So the game starts in the city streets, you move forwards and start fighting enemies. The first level's enemies are simply street thugs (most taken from from Maximum Carnage), from the simple trench coat to the thugs wearing bulls-eyes on their shirts. None of them are difficult and they all go down quite simply to being beaten on. The most dangerous part is when they begin to surround you and get on either side, so when you start to beat on one, the other hits you.

So I continue moving forwards, beating on random thugs, when I remembered that each that each of the enemies does something different.  While the trench coat is straight forward, the bulls-eye has a jump kick, which he heavily telegraphs so that you know it's coming.  As I continue forwards more, a girl with a pony tail appears as another type of villain. Unlike the other enemies, the girl is smart: she blocks.

Anyways, I decide to be a true wall crawler, jump onto the wall and begin to climb up it. After hanging around up there for a bit, I just jump down and kick someone on the way... mostly just because I can.  But continuing on, after beating on the enemies for a bit more, the music fades and then a new tune starts and it's boss time. So moving backwards a bit towards a large alley, I meet the first boss a giant robot that is called the Digger. It's pretty bulky but incredibly easy, move towards it, beat on it for a bit, then move away; it goes down quite easily and quickly.

And so another game is played and I'm significantly more entertained then I was for the last one.  I shall continue into the weekend for the next one.  Adios for today though.

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

I'm continuing the Donkey Kong Country series with the third and final game on the Super Nintendo: Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble.   Developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country 3 was released in late November of 1996, just a few months after the Nintendo 64 which significantly hurt its sales.  In this game you play as Dixie from the last game and you are introduced to her baby cousin: Kiddy Kong. 

The game starts off with both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong being captured by the evil robot KAOS, who is actually controlled by K. Rool from the first two Donkey Kong Countrys (he is now known as Bare K. Roolenstien).  The good Baron is controlling an area that Donkey and Diddy had gone to on a fishing trip. 

So since I hate the first world of this game (the levels are a bit of a bore), so I'm skipping forwards a few worlds to one I find more interesting.  I shall start on the fourth world of Mekanos, an island that had multiple factories built on it and has been heavily polluted by KAOS and K. Rool.  The first level in the world goes by the name of Fire-Ball Frenzy, it introduces a new enemy: this stupid little owl that flaps around in the background of the level, shooting fireballs at you from a cannon it holds up. 

So as you run through the level, you are mostly dodging fireballs as you move forwards.  The other enemies are minimal, there are a few porcupines that you have to worry about, but the biggest danger is simply the level (including the owls since you can't actually get rid of them).  So you run past the owl's fireballs and avoid the lava pits, climbing across ropes to move forwards.  There are actually a few points where you actually run past a few of the owls, having to time yourself so you don't get hit, then you climb up onto a platform and have to pass the same owls while hanging from a rope, going in the opposite direction.  One of the more repetitive parts is a point where you actually pass in front of one owl eight times before finally leaving him behind, darting back and forth on different rope lines and dodging his fireballs. 

But of course one level won't do it, I moved on from there to the bonus world of Krematoa.  In Krematoa you use the bonus coins you've collected within the game to pay this crazy Bear named Boomer to blow up some rocks between each of the levels.  The first of these levels goes by the name of Stampede Sprint.  In the level, Dixie and Kiddy are transformed into Ellie the Elephant, and as you start the level, Ellie becomes terrified by a few rats and she's off to the races. 

Yup, the entire level is Ellie running scared from the rats, she doesn't slow down to the very end, having to jump with some pretty good timing to avoid porcupines, some chomping kremlings, a few charging kremlings and then buzzers.  So you try and jump early enough to dodge the first enemy, but late enough to be able to land and jump again to dodge the second, but then still early enough to land and go under a flying enemy.  The running continues for the rest of the level, jumping up and down to avoid it until finally get to the end and can stop racing. 

And so I've completed the Donkey Kong Country series on the SNES and will be moving onto another game tomorrow.  Perhaps back to the original Nintendo (I have quite a few games to go on it) or maybe onto another system... maybe not even one made by Nintendo.  Adios for today though.

Donkey Kong Country

I'm moving back to the first of the series I began yesterday, to Donkey Kong Country.  Developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country was released on the Super Nintendo in November of 1994.  It reintroduces Donkey Kong in his first lead role since the original Donkey Kong. 

The game begins with Donkey Kong bursting out of his jungle tree house at the base of Donkey Kong Island.  You can enter Kong's Banana Horde through the entrance beneath the tree house and see the horde is empty and the bananas have been stolen.  So Donkey Kong, together with his friend Diddy Kong, must trek up the island to defeat King K. Rool and retrieve the stolen bananas.

The first level consists of a straight forward run through the jungle, grab bananas, stomp on the gnawtys and kremlings.  A bit into it, you get your first chance to meet an animal buddy: Rambi the Rhinoceros.  Rambi allows you to charge through the level pretty much unimpeded, he even unlocks a few secret areas by running into the walls.  Unlike the sequel, the secret areas aren't mini-games but simply hidden areas to grab extra bananas and extra lives.  As you get to the end of the first level, the sky slowly begins to darken before you go into the exit cave. 

The second level begins much like the last one ended, dark and stormy as you exit the cave.  Donkey Kong Country is pretty good about having each level transition into the next.  It keeps the generalized jungle throughout the entirety of the game, so the transitions are relatively easy.  The second level is mostly rope swings from treetop to treetop.  The game gives a bit more of a challenge then the first level by allowing the life loss if you miss a jump and fall into one of the pits and there are some jumps near the end where you have to jump over some ziggers (hornets). 


After the second level ends, you meet your first "helpful" Kong: Cranky Kong.  Cranky takes his time to ramble on to you about how much is wasted in this game and complain to you about everything while bashing you on the head with his cane.  He is nice by randomly throwing in a hint to you between the complaints and rambling though. 

The game continues much like the first two levels, and while each level is a different design, it seems a lot quicker then the sequel.  Each of the levels seems a lot shorter and, at least in the first world, gives you an easy route to finish the levels.  An example, near the beginning of the first water level, you get Enguarde the Swordfish and the level is just a matter of time from there.  The game is also a bit quicker because without the bonus stages, the secret areas are just extra areas and there is no feeling to go search for them beyond just completing the levels. 

So the first world completes with a boss fight, and the first boss is a cake-walk as you face the Giant Gnawty (beaver).  The Gnawty hops towards you sorta menacingly, and then you jump on it's head, it coughs, laughs a bit, then goes after you again.  After a few bounces, the Gnawty coughs a few times then collapses and the boss is defeated.  And you get your prize: a giant Nintendo banana.  And so another game is played and another day is done.  I'll finish the Donkey Kong Country games on the SNES tomorrow.  Adios for today though.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest

So today I move on from the NES and up onto the Super Nintendo with Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest.  Developed by Rare and then published by Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country 2 was released in November of 1995.  It carries on after the original Donkey Kong Country for the SNES and continues with the platforming and kremling-stomping of the first. 

The game begins with Diddy Kong on a pirate ship.  Once entering the cabin, Diddy finds a note from Kaptain K. Rool stating that he has captured Donkey Kong and he is demanding the banana horde that he failed to obtain in the last game as ransom.  Why a crocodile wants bananas I honestly don't know, but he wants them.  So Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie Kong must travel across Crocodile Island to save Donkey from K. Rool.  Each of the worlds has a few different levels until the end where each world has a boss to fight. 

So I began the first level, rolling over rats and grabbing the first DK barrel to free Dixie and continue on through the level.  So as you move forwards, the game is very kind at the beginning, at one point the game builds an A in the shape of bananas to teach you how to piggyback on one another to reach the first bonus stage.  The bonus stages are new to from Donkey Kong Country, they allow you to play a quick mini-game to grab bonus coins, which are in turn used to unlock the Lost World levels, which enable you to complete more of the game.  The first bonus stage gives you 20 seconds to "Find the Coin", which in this case simply consists of climbing a few barrels and reaching it. 

After coming out of the bonus stage, you are placed near a crate with a Rhino image on it.  Break the box and you meet the first of your animal buddies: Rambi the Rhinoceros.  Each of the animal buddies do different things that the Kongs themselves cannot, such as Rambi's super charge that lets him bust through doors.  This charge gives you access to the second bonus stage.  After exiting that one, you're near the end of the level, running past the No-Rhino sign (Rambi turns into a green balloon that gives you two extra lives) and jump on the target and watch Diddy pull out his boombox to party before the end. 

And the levels continue mostly like that, getting more difficult the further you get into the game.  The first two worlds actually give you a bit of kindness, each level having a warp near the beginning to complete it immediately... useful for speed runs or if there is a level you just don't like (me and the swimming levels). But besides the levels, there are the other Kongs who are around to give hints and help out.  There is Wrinkly Kong at Kong Kollege who can give you guidance and save your game.  There is also Swanky Kong who runs a game show where you can win extra lives.  Then there is Funky Kong who runs a flying service that can reach any world that you've already visited. 

And the final Kong, back by popular demand, Cranky Kong.  Cranky runs the Monkey Museum and is in the game mostly for comic relief.  He rambles on for a bit the first time you meet him, asking about Expresso the Ostrich (one of the animal buddies from the first Donkey Kong Country) and mentions about him being replaced by a spider.  Cranky does offer some hints about the levels in the game, giving a bit of info, but nothing all too useful. 

And another day is done and I shall move on to another tomorrow, more then likely continuing on the Donkey Kong Country line.  Adios for today though.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Zombies Ate My Neighbors was developed by Lucas Arts, published by Konami, and released around the middle of 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.  It's a top-down shooter with simple enough controls. 

The story is very simple, zombies are attacking and you (as either Zeke or Julie) have to save their neighborhood by collecting all of the neighbors.  There is actually a more over arching story with an evil doctor who caused the zombies, but you don't really get into that with the game in the first bit.

So I started the game with Zeke and you begin in a backyard with a water pistol.  All the levels are effectively the same, you run around squirting zombies and collecting neighbors.  You apparently live around a large number of idiots because they won't actually try and flee the zombies.  After collecting all the neighbors (or all the rest if some are killed by the zombies) a magically door appears with a blinking "Exit" sign on it (in case you didn't know).  You get sort of an arbitrary number of points for defeating zombies and saving neighbors (the Teacher you gives you an F- is only worth around 100 but the Cheerleader is worth 1000).

The weapons and enemies are what really make the game different.  Like I said, you start off with only a water gun (with a limit number of ammo to boot) but you get a lot of other weapons, each that (sort of) resembles a "normal" shooter weapon.  In the first level you get a fire extinguisher (equivalent to the flame thrower) and soda (grenades).  The second level, Evening of the Undead, introduces two of the most powerful weapons (excluding the instant kill Pandora's Box): the bazooka and the monster potion.  They both give the ability to break through weakened walls and are some of the only ways to defeat the chainsaw guys (who appear later). 

The zombies also expand as you get further into the game.  The first two levels only have the basic ones that die with a single water gun shot.  In the third level, Terror on Aisle Five, you must run around a mall and are introduced to the evil toys, which are Chucky-like dolls with meat cleavers.  The level after that, you run into these big guys with chainsaws... CHAINSAWS!  You are a kid with a water gun, how are you suppose to kill a guy with a chainsaw.  Is he related to the Witcked Witch of the West, does he melt?  No!  Even the most powerful weapon you have at this point, the bazooka, doesn't kill him in one shot: it takes eight shots!  EIGHT!

Anyways...

Beyond the chainsaw guys, the game is a lot simpler to get further in than Back to the Future was (in a relatively short amount of time, I got through the first four levels, even taking the time to screw around and try collect everything).  And so that was my second game of the year, I shall continue on tomorrow with anothr game and continue moving further up the line of consoles.  Adios for today though.