Legends of the Diamond

Moving on with Nintendo, I move onto Legends of the Diamond.  Developed by TOSE and published by Bandai, Legends of the Diamond was released in 1992.  It is a baseball simulator where you get to play with different baseball legends, from Babe Ruth to Lou Gehrig and Hank Aaron. 

The game is entertainingly simple, there are only two actual modes.  The first is an exhibition mode, the second a championship mode.  When playing one of the modes, instead of being handed a pre-made team, you get to choose the different legends on your team and assign them positions.  Each player's career stats determine how well they play, but the game also generates how well they play each day (whether they feel like they'll play well or not). 

So continuing to the game, I played an exhibition (which defaults to nine innings, but I'll only be playing three).  So I grab my team and am quite happy with it.  My infield consists of Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan, Johnny Mize on the bases and Luke Appling at short stop.  With an outfield of Roberto Clemente, Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron, Mickey Cochrane is catcher with Cy Young as starting pitcher.  So after choosing a random team logo (Titans) and deciding on the field with heavy wind, it's time to play ball!

I start off batting with Ty Cobb and Joe Morgan, without much of a pause, I get struck out twice (I don't remember being this bad at batting).  My third batter (Luke Appling) steps up to the plate and takes two quick strikes, then my team finally shows life and he hits a home run on the third pitch (the score becomes 1-0).  Hank Aaron comes up next, raises the bat, and gets struck out as well.  Guess I'll try my hand at pitching. 

I'm not all too much better at pitching, but my fielders are good.  A grounder towards right gets stopped by Joe Morgan who throws the batter out at first.  Luke Appling catches a short fly to get the second out.  I really shouldn't be complaining, but I really want to strike someone out.  But perhaps the complaining is the problem, the next batter hits it deep to center for a double.  The next guy gives the game some tension: strike one... ball one... and a hit.... straight back at the pitcher for an easy throw to first for the third out. 

Now I'm hoping to get a bit better at batting so I start swinging.  First pitch is fouled hard to the left, but second is a twinge better with another home run.  I get Roberto Clemente on the plate and am able to hit a long one, right into the hands of then center fielder.  The next two batters are out in short order as well, but at least I'm up 2-0.  But not for long.  First pitch I throw is a home run to make the score 2-1.  There next four batters struggle but eventually get a runner in before I finally get the third out. 

So I'm tied 2-2, doing the last inning I was intending to play... I may have to continue.  It looks more that way as I start pitching, get three easy outs and not even getting on base.  Cy Young starts pitching for me and I'm hoping for some magic.  I finally get some with a nice strike out, my first of the game.  As a reward, Cy Young gets to rest his arm and I bring in Dizzy Dean to finish up the round.  He throws a hit which lands in the hands of the second baseman.  Third batter is up, just one more before the inning is over... and he hits a home run. 

Well, I never said I was very good at this game, but it is fun, especially recognizing so many players.  And I'm done with another game and the next weekend starts again tomorrow.  Time seems to be flying.  Adios for today though.

Ninja Gaiden

I'm continuing on the Nintendo Entertainment System and today I've moved onto a more iconic game: Ninja Gaiden.  Developed and published by Tecmo, Ninja Gaiden was released in December of 1988.  Now this one isn't the same as the one for the current generation of systems, it can easily be argued that the original Ninja Gaiden is more difficult.  On the newer version, the difficulty spawns from the absurd number of enemies, the original is difficult due to well placed enemies that require precision in both jumps and slashes to survive.

Ninja Gaiden's story is what sets it apart from games on the NES, it's cut scenes give no question to what's going on.  The story actually begins in the pre-game preview, you see two ninjas dart at each other in a field, jump into the air and trade blows before one falls.  The scene continues from Ryu Hayabusa's view point where he is determined for revenge against the ninja his father dueled and lost to.

So the first act is very straight forward, you are running down a street with enemies in from of you, it's just a matter of learning the controls are you'll be fine.  The game is very kind as it teaches you to climb by jumping between walls, gives you the different secondary weapons to try out (throwing stars, windmill throwing stars that boomerang back to you, upwards fireballs, and the spin jump).  None of the enemies are all too difficult: the dog is the worst.  The dog runs towards you in a full charge and usually comes from behind so you actually have to turn around.  The most difficult part of the level is right before you enter the bar for the boss fight, there are two boxers guarding it and a dog charges from behind you; it is very easy to get knocked between the two boxers by the dog and take a bit of damage before fighting the boss.  The boss himself isn't hard at all, he actually has less range then you.  As he moves forwards slowly, you slash him, take a few steps back and continue and he's done before you know it.

The act ends with a cut scene where Ryu is trying to figure out why these people are following him.  He notices a woman behind him and ignores her, but she is not one to be ignored and shoots him.  Ouch.  The next scene starts with you realizing that it was a tranquilizer and Ryu was captured, but the same girl releases him, gives him this ugly statue and tells him to escape.  And so the game continues. 

The second act begins with Ryu escaping from the warehouse he was held in.  I started moving and the game begins to lose it's compassion.  I moved through the first area rather easily and climbed the later to the second part of the level, but a dog ran up behind me and I took my first hit of the act, and got knocked into a bottomless pit and died.  That is how this game really makes itself difficult, a miss-timed jump or taking the wrong hit knocks you back and down a life.  It isn't as bad until you actually get outside where the level becomes entirely platforming.  There is no more straight running, you jump from crumbled pillar to crumbled pillar hoping to not be take out by the machine gunner or the running ninja or the dagger juggler. 

The game doesn't completely hate you yet, as it does give you an invincibility flame shield to let you make it through one of the harder sections where almost every pillar has an enemy on it, but the section after that requires more timing and precision.  As you get to the second boss, he's more difficult then the first (but considering how dull the first was, you can't expect much worse).  This guy has a sickle and chain that he spins around his head while moving forwards, then he throws his arm out to try and hit you when he's close.  He's vulnerable as he moves forwards so swipe at him then, but you have to make sure to try and jump over him off the wall when he attacks. 

And so I am going to stop writing at that point (though I continued into the next two acts before biting the dust).  I'll move to another Nintendo game tomorrow and continue with this current trend.  Adios for today though.

Super Dodge Ball

I decided to play my first "sports" game of the year (though to call it a true sports game is a stretch).  The game is Super Dodge Ball: developed and published Technos.  Released in June of 1989, Super Dodge Ball allows you to play dodge ball on an international level.  You play of game of two team game with six man teams, three within the squares and then one man on each side of the opponent's area.  Once the three men in either your or your opponent's area are taken out, the match is over. 

The game itself has no actual story, there are three modes of play: World Cup Play, Versus Play and Bean Ball.  World Cup is the closest thing to a story: you take Team USA through the world to become victorious and win the World Cup.  You start off with the Pro All-Stars and then move across the world (England, India, Iceland, China, Kenya, Japan, and finally USSR) challenging the teams.  I went through the first few matches and will give a slight overview on them.

Before each match, you get a chance to look at the position all of your players are in and switch them if you want.  Your team consists of Sam, John, Mike, Randy, Bill and Steve (really unique names, aren't they).  Each of the players are better at different things but my favorite three have always been Sam (highest throw power), Bill (fastest), and Randy (most ball control).  This usually leaves John (highest defense), Mike (best catch), and Steve (most accurate) as my back court.  So yes, I did take the team built for offense with no mind of defense, but I'll be able to explain that.

So I start the match against Jack, Ben and Paul of the Pro All-Stars on a roof top near the Statue of Liberty.  I give Randy the ball and run forwards with a super throw.  I should probably explain that.  You can regularly just throw the ball at the opponent and try and damage them that way, or you can get a running start.  With a running start and enough space to get a good speed, you're player throws a super throw where the ball glows and changes.  Each player gets two super throws, one while on the ground and another while in the air.

So Randy does his super throw (the ball shrinks and grows before hitting the opponent) and knocks the ever-loving tar out of Paul.  The match goes on with some throws back and forth (I'm not getting too many super throws off, can't get the distance right) but start getting a bit better at my timing for catching: was even able to catch a super throw from Jack when right next to him.  This is part of the reason I take the more offensive team, because defense can be built upon with good playing, but I can't make John or Mike do more damage.

The other reason I like these three are their super throws.  Because of his high agility, Bill is able to get up to super throw speed with a short distance or on ground with high traction (Kenya).  His throws are also very useful, as they both home and are difficult to catch because of a built in lag where they stall just before hitting the target.  Sam, on the other hand, is just awesome.  His base throw is the strongest on the team and his ground super throw is just amazing.  It gets squashed a little and looks like a football, but instead of stopping at the first opponent, it keeps going until one of them catches it or the guy in the back grabs it... so it theoretically (and on a few occasions) hits all three opponents. 

But getting back to the match against the All-Stars, they aren't doing well.  Bill gets one of his super throws to remove the first of their team.  At this point, at three-on-two, it's a lot more over then it should be.  But two super throws later, Sam has made it Ben on Team USA and it's just a matter of choosing how I want to beat him. 


So I've played another game and have been going into NES games this week.  I think I'll continue the trend, maybe something more iconic tomorrow, don't know yet what though.  Adios for today though.

Kid Icarus

So I moved back in time today, back to the NES, just because I had the urge to play an older game.  I picked up Kid Icarus for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  Developed and published by Nintendo, Kid Icarus was released late 1986 in Japan and mid 1987 in North America.

The story goes as such: Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness, has declared war on Palutena, the Goddess of Light, and become victorious and even captured Palutena.  Using the last of her strength, Palutena sends a magical bow the the angel Pit who has been trapped in the Underworld.  You lead Pit out of the Underworld, across the earth and into the sky into Angel Land to defeat Medusa and free Palutena. As you advance, you defeat Medusa's most powerful minions to regain the Three Sacred Treasures.  You must travel through each of the worlds until you can enter the fortress maze at the end of each to face Medusa's minions and retrieve the Sacred Treasure to defeat Medusa. 

So I started on the first level, rising out of the Underworld.  As you ascend, you face the smallest of enemies (and one of the few to appear in every level) the miniature snakes.  They slither towards you and then kindly eat your arrows happily. The floor slowly starts to diminish and you advance into more of an open air atmosphere with thin platforms that you can move through.  You continue going upwards, facing groups of Monoeyes (floating eyes that come in fours who circle you for a bit before trying to ram you) once getting.  As you continue, you can grab the harp which gives you a bit of peace for a while as all of the enemies are transformed into slowly falling hammers, which you can collect for mini-games later on. 

I continued upwards and encounter the first appearance of the Reaper.  Now in most games the Grim Reaper is terrifying and considered a boss if nothing else.  The Reaper in Kid Icarus is a bit different though, he moves back and forth slowly, not doing very much... until it sees you.  Then the Reaper panics.  Yes, the Grim Reaper panics and starts to run back and forth calling for help.  It is sort of laughable, if it wasn't for the fact that you still almost die from it.  Because the help the Reaper receives is almost as terrifying as the Reaper itself: it's four mini-Reapers that chase after you.  Yes, the Grim Reaper calls its children after you so that they can devour your soul, or at least annoy you until you die.

Obnoxious?  Yup.  Dangerous?  You bet. 

So, I pass the Reaper, after fleeing from its miniature counterparts, and begin to explore the doorways through out the level.  The first level only has three and I skipped the first at the beginning.  The second door is a room with a bunch of enemies that give you a lot of hearts when you defeat them (hearts are currency in the game, you collect them to buy health potions and such).  The third door is the interesting one.  It contains the first mini-game you find, a guessing game.  Using the hammers you could have collected (but I didn't), you can smash different pots to collect more hearts or more hammers, but you must avoid the God of Poverty that takes everything that you have collected so far in the room and sends you away with nothing. 

But the level itself isn't all too long and it wasn't far from there that you are able to finish it.  And with that I take my leave of the game with one thing else to say: I hate Eggplant Wizards. 

Adios for today though.

Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon

I decided I wanted to actually finish what I started and am playing Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon, the final of the original Spyro trilogy and the final Spyro game to be released on the PlayStation.  Spyro 3 was developed by Insomniac (the last Spyro game developed by them) and once again published by Sony and released mid-November of 2000.  Spyro 3 follows it's predecessors by putting an emphasis on collecting, this time eggs being the main item.

The story of Spyro 3 begins when an apprentice steals the dragon eggs from Spyro and the dragon world.  Spyro and Hunter (the cheetah from Ripto's Rage) follow to gather the dragon eggs back from the evil Sorceress.  As you go through the game, you battle against the Sorceress and her rhynoc army to retrieve the eggs.  You also are aided by various other creatures who have been trying to defeat the Sorceress, but first you have to free them from their imprisonment (usually by collecting enough gems to pay the greedy Moneybags who the Sorceress has paid to keep them captive). 

The game I'm playing is a saved game and pretty well complete (93%), so I'm going through some of it to collect the last few eggs. I'm starting out in the third world: Evening Lake, searching for the last few eggs.  The first uncompleted level I found is Lost Fleet, so might as well enter and try to complete it.  The original story is there is Crazy Ed who is trying to find his lost treasure.  You lead Ed through level until you finally find his treasure and the first of the six dragon eggs.

I've already gotten that egg though.  The last one I haven't received in that level is called 'Skate Race Hunter', so my first job is to find the skate race track.  So I wonder the level, filed with ships sunken in the sand and 'ghosts' (rhynocs in sheets).  It seems like a good idea to get a good look around, so I climb to the highest point of the ship and spot a section of the with a few ships in a row that look like ramps.  Seems promising.  After gliding down there, I head through a portal to find Hunter and a few rhynocs skating around him.  Hunter lets me know that the rhynocs think I'm slow and have wagered an egg that I can't beat them.  It doesn't sound hard, but I'm assuming because I believe I've done this before and apparently don't have the egg. 

So the race starts and each of the rhynocs use turbo to boost in front of me.  Racing forwards, I ram through a few crabs to gain a bit of boost and ram the fifth place rhynoc.  I continue on, grabbing a rocket and push my way up towards third place.  It seems like I'll do well and be able to win, and then the third lap ends and I'm still no in first.  Humbug.  I try the race a second time, moving up a bit quicker and getting a pretty good understanding of how I should be doing this.  Apparently if I do tricks (haven't figured out how yet), I can get power for boosts (the other way is to run over the crabs).  I can also gather rockets to blast the rhynocs off the course.

So here goes my third try: I start the race well, getting some good boosts and actually pass one rhynoc without taking him out (not quite what I wanted to do, but I don't think he'll be able to keep up).  I figure I'm pretty safe, and end up passing the rhynoc to get into first by the end of the second lap.  At this point, I want a rocket incase the guy in second passes me, but before I even get close, both the two rhynocs I passed pass me together.  One speeds up and starts to pull away, the second isn't so good though and stays right near me.  A it too near as I am able to simply flame him out of the race.  I grab the first rocket I come up on, blasting the other rhynoc to seal the deal and get my egg.

Or so I thought.

Apparently I already have that egg.  Hunter himself challenges me to a race where I have to run over all the crabs and beat him.  That might explain why I don't have the egg yet.  Hunter is faster then the rhynocs and a single rocket doesn't take him out.  But here I go anyways.  I start off trailing him and doing my best to gather boost by killing crabs and doing tricks.  I eventually remember that I can use my boost, catch up with him and use a rocket to knock him back.  At this point, just doing a few tricks an staying on my board keeps me ahead enough not to worry.  He does catch up and pass me at one point, but just long enough for me to use the rocket I gathered to knock him back again and win the egg.

So I've collected another egg and am taking my leave of the Spyro franchise.  As the work week begins again, I work towards more game and continue into the year.  Adios for today though.

Spyro the Dragon 2: Ripto's Rage

Today I play my first sequel this year (that wouldn't sound as bad if it wasn't the the eighth) Spyro the Dragon 2: Ripto's Rage.  Once again developed by Insomniac and published by Sony, Ripto's Rage was released early November of 1999, just a little over a year after the original.  The game carries on from the original with lots of collecting. 

Spyro 2 takes place in another world called Avalar where Elora, Hunter and the Professor has accidentally pulled Ripto through his portal.  Ripto, deciding he likes this world because it has no dragons, decides he wants to take control of it.  In hopes of driving off Ripto, the Professor teleports Spyro to Avalar to defeat Ripto.  So the plot is more fleshed out then the last and they develop it using cut scenes as you move through the different realms.

I'm once again started from a saved game, though not as far as the last, I'm still within the first world (Summer Forest).  Unlike the last game, the home world in Ripto's Rage have no enemies, giving me a chance to simply run around and explore before having to worry about combat.  Eventually I found a portal to enter a level I haven't played in this save: Hurrics.  The portal is dark and stormy clouds, looks dark and creepy (it won't be but it still looks like there might be the possibility). 

So I enter Hurricos and discover that the Gear Grinders (large burly guys with monkey wrenches) are making life difficult for the Electrolls (small nerd looking fellows) by creating force fields to keep them apart.  Dastardly, aren't they.  So it's Spyro's job to beat the Grinders into submission and make them play nice.  Much like the last Spyro, the levels are straight forward to the end if you just want to run through but Ripto's Rage allows a bit more exploring so you can't simply finish the level and be done.  So to collect everything, you actually have to get off the beaten path.

So about half way through the level I stumble upon an Orb Challenge.  Orb Challenges are small missions where you complete a certain task to gain an orb (one of the many collectibles in the game).  In this one, the Gear Grinder Thieves have been stealing the lightning stones from the generators and it's my job to replace all the stones and stop the ten thieves.  So it starts off easy, grab a stone, put it in it's spot.  After placing a few stones, the thieves start knocking them away, so just run them down.  Once you take out all ten thieves, it is just a matter of putting the stones in their place and collect the orb. 

So after the challenge, I finished off the Gear Grinders in the next area and deactivated the final force field to gain the talisman.  Now the level is free to explore and finish the remaining Orb Challenges, but at this point, I'm not sure I really want to simply run around doing more collecting, so I'm outta here.  And so another game is down and it's done until later.  Adios for today though.

Spyro the Dragon

I've moved completely towards Sony's little baby the PlayStation.  The first game I'm playing was developed by Insomniac and published by Sony: Spyro the Dragon.  Released in early September of 1998, Spyro the Dragon was the beginning of Insomniac's initial series before moving on to Ratchet and Clank and Resistance (which I shall move onto later).  

So the plot is simple, there are five families of dragons that are living in peace until Gnasty Gnorc attacks there realm and turns them all into crystals using his magic... except for Spyro because he's so small.  It seems that he should have turned Spyro into a crystal because all the other dragons are sort of peace loving and Spyro is the only one who really cares to attack.  But the game is a just a big treasure hunt, where you free dragons, collect gems, and collect the dragon's eggs.

I'm actually started on a previously saved game where I've already defeated the first realm and am in the beginning of the second (a giant desert).  The home world for the realm is filled with these green guys (gnorcs) dressed in the British Red Coat fashion but are easily charged down by Spyro.  After running around a bit to remember the controls, I decided to take on one of the actual levels: Cliff Town.

The Cliff Town level is relatively small, you start in a small building, cross a bridge and then have a cliff (surprise!) to ascend.  Once up top you can either finish the level and go back towards the home world or glide across the river to the desert to search some more.  The entire concept of the level is just the collection (three dragons, one egg and four hundred gems), so I'll just start off.  After exiting the building, I ran down a few enemies and decrystalized the first dragon: Haylor.  Haylor was kind enough to let me know that using my dragon flame would not hurt the armored enemies (you know, the ones I've had to defeat to get to him) and that I had to charge them with my horns.

Before getting to the next dragon, I found a egg bandit.  They are simply described as robbed guys with turbans who run away from you frantically in the same path holding the egg.  Once you run them down, you get the egg.  So I chased him down and grab the egg and continue on, platform up the cliff to climb higher and collect gems.  I'll be honest, I forgot how straight forward this game is: it almost walks you through it.  I got to the second dragon (Enzo) who straight out tells you to glide across the river to see what's over there.  So I did (If the game is going to tell me what to do to advance, I might as well listen). 


And across the river is: more gems and the last drgaon Marco.  Marco is kind enough to let me know that I've reached the highest point in Cliff Town and should be able to glide anywhere now.  So more exploring and looking for gems.  I kept exploring for a bit longer, but am only able to find 367 of the 400 gems (I'm picky) before I decide it's just time to quit and try later.  And so another game is down and it's the weekend now.  Adios for today though.