Games Beaten 2019

[noiseredux]

I love Castlevania: The Adventure, though I realize that nostalgia is a powerful drug.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Man Super Mario World is just so damn addictive. I shoot for that *96 every time I play.

[nullPointer]

@null: YEAH! I replayed SMW earlier this month, and yup - it's still my favorite of those early 2D games. By far.

I saw that! And what's funny is that I had already mentally earmarked SMW as my first game of the year when I saw that you had beaten it. Great minds thinking alike and all that.

SMW has tighter controls though - breaking and acceleration is faster, you have more mid-air control, block carrying/throwing is more advanced and the spin attack is better. I actually think they're a bit too good for the difficulty level of the game.

I've certainly seen justification on both sides of this debate. I'm sure there is some objective truth to be had somewhere, but what that might be I honestly have no idea (nor am I sure what metric one would apply to determine). Ultimately I think it comes down to which control set feels better to you, and for me SMB3 takes a slight edge as far as that goes. I feel like SMW has more fluid feeling controls, but that doesn't necessarily translate as feeling tighter to me. The moveset (as well as the plentiful availablity powerups) in SMW definitely border on being OP though. If you have Yoshi and a cape, a combination that's relatively easy to aquire, you're nigh on unstoppable!

Man Super Mario World is just so damn addictive. I shoot for that *96 every time I play.

Heck yeah man! Somehow I missed a couple of exits this time around though. I wasn't quite as methodical in my approach.

[ElkinFencer10]

I'm so behind on these reviews....

Games Beaten in 2019 So Far - 3
* denotes a replay

January (3 Games Beaten)

1. Army Men 3D - PlayStation - January 1*
2. Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished - NES - January 4
3. Mega Man - NES - January 6

3. Mega Man - NES - January 6



Mega Man is for Capcom what Mario is for Nintendo, what Sonic is for Sega, and what a blinking red ring is for Microsoft. He's their most recognizable and iconic image, and while that image is more than a little disturbing on the box art for the series' first release on NES in North America, the game itself holds up surprisingly well today. It's not without its bullshit to be sure, but it's still a good time for those who enjoy action platformers.



Mega Man is, at its core, an action platformer. This first game in the series is an extremely unbalanced action platformer, but the gameplay itself is simple - make your way across a level, shoot the bad guys, avoid the traps, and then beat the boss. Each boss has a special weapon that it drops upon being defeated, and each boss has a specific boss weapon to which it's weak. The levels can be played in any order (except for the last area), but given that the bosses are WAY easier if you exploit those weaknesses, there is a "best" order in which to play the game's levels.



The biggest issue I had with Mega Man was the balance. Some levels would seem brutally difficult only to be capped with a total pushover boss. Other levels would be a breeze but end with a boss that left me wanting to snap my controller. There would be abrupt difficulty spikes in the levels followed by a return to a more normal difficulty. Maybe I just need to git gud (I definitely do), but it seemed like the balance and enemy placements could have used just a little more tweaking. From what I've read and heard from other fans, though, it seems like the first game is pretty widely known for being rough around the edges with regards to balance, a mistake that later entries don't make.



Mega Man definitely isn't a perfect game, but it definitely is a good game, and the series that it spawned is truly fantastic (for the most part). The difficulty balance could use a bit of work as parts of the game are down right inhumane, but all in all, it's a solid action platformer. The original NES cartridge is somewhat valuable (though not nearly as much so as the latter releases), but it's readily available on just about every system under the sun in one form or another given how many collections it's been included with, and I absolutely recommend playing this one however you can.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I LOVE Mega Man, and I really like the first game. IMO, it is better than every Mega Man game in the NES except 2 and 3.

Just yesterday, I downloaded all of the Gameboy Mega Man games to my Nintendo 3DS. With the exception of Wily Wars and Mega Man 11, I’ve played all of the console games to death, and I really need a new Mega Man challenge. Although I’ve already beaten the first two, I’m really looking forward to running through them, and I may follow them up with the Game Gear game (and, if unless someone talks me down, the DOS games).

[BoneSnapDeez]

I still can't beat the original Mega Man.

1. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Famicom)
2. Dragon Scroll: Yomigaerishi Maryuu (Famicom)
3. Ninja-kun: Majou no Bouken (Famicom)
4. Hello Kitty World (Famicom)
5. Galaxian (Famicom)


Taito's Space Invaders was quite the revelation when it launched in 1978. Not only did it revolutionize the arcade scene (and, later, the home console scene), but the game also spawned a legion of single-screen shooting imitators. Truth be told, I've never been head over heels in love with Space Invaders -- those barriers are as much of a curse as they are a blessing, and I find myself tapping out quickly as the alien hive inevitably crushes my hapless ship by stage two or three. Come 1979 Namco crafted their own arcade shooter, known as Galaxian, which soon found itself a heavily-ported smash hit. One such port, for the Famicom (Namco cart #1), arrived in 1984. Oddly enough, despite the game's popularity, a North American NES cart was never released. I can only guess that by the time Nintendo's debut system launched in America games like Galaxian were considered to be a generation behind, too primitive for the fledgling hardware (on a similar note, Space Invaders also never made the leap from Fami to NES).

The basics of Galaxian can be understood within minutes, with subsequent hours, days, and years spent chasing high scores. Gameplay is simple. The player controls a ship, the Galaxip, which can only move left and right and fire upward. The upper area of each screen is filled with an assortment of hostile aliens, sporadically firing downward. Unlike Space Invaders, the aliens of Galaxian occasionally break formation, veering off in kamikaze dives towards the Galaxip. Avoid the swooping aliens, and they'll loop from screen bottom back to top. A stage is completed when all enemies are vanquished, whereupon the player is whisked away to a similar environment with progressively more hostile foes.

It's a simple formula, executed quite brilliantly. There's some subtle strategy to the game. Only one player bullet can appear on the screen at once, so button-mashing must be eschewed in favor of well-timed shots. It's surprisingly easy to miss the aliens - even when a new stage has begun and the screen is full of 'em - as bullets can travel through the tiny gaps between each enemy column. The swooping aliens can be tough to contend with as well, especially in later stages, and one has to quickly decide whether to attempt a shoot-down, or quickly dodge the oncoming assault and wait until foes reappear at the screen's top. "Getting good" at Galaxian is really a matter of steady practice -- eventually it becomes easier to judge the speed of oncoming foes and the attack patterns begin to feel predictable. For the most part.

All of the console ports of Galaxian turned out surprisingly well, this one included. This Famicom version feels very close to the arcade original, with the most obvious difference being that of aspect ratio. The graphics here are simplistic, but competent, with a fantastic looking array of alien baddies. The scrolling starfield (revolutionary for the time) is a nice touch, as are the flag icons used to represent the current stage. There isn't much "music" to speak of, but the sound effects are nostalgic gold.

Galaxian is a game that does one thing, and does it well. As there are seemingly countless available North American variations available today I wouldn't say that this specific Famicom release is absolutely essential. But anyone exploring the early days of the console (that pre-SMB era) should give this one a spin.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I still can't beat the original Mega Man.

1. Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Famicom)
2. Dragon Scroll: Yomigaerishi Maryuu (Famicom)
3. Ninja-kun: Majou no Bouken (Famicom)
4. Hello Kitty World (Famicom)
5. Galaxian (Famicom)


Taito's Space Invaders was quite the revelation when it launched in 1978. Not only did it revolutionize the arcade scene (and, later, the home console scene), but the game also spawned a legion of single-screen shooting imitators. Truth be told, I've never been head over heels in love with Space Invaders -- those barriers are as much of a curse as they are a blessing, and I find myself tapping out quickly as the alien hive inevitably crushes my hapless ship by stage two or three. Come 1979 Namco crafted their own arcade shooter, known as Galaxian, which soon found itself a heavily-ported smash hit. One such port, for the Famicom (Namco cart #1), arrived in 1984. Oddly enough, despite the game's popularity, a North American NES cart was never released. I can only guess that by the time Nintendo's debut system launched in America games like Galaxian were considered to be a generation behind, too primitive for the fledgling hardware (on a similar note, Space Invaders also never made the leap from Fami to NES).

The basics of Galaxian can be understood within minutes, with subsequent hours, days, and years spent chasing high scores. Gameplay is simple. The player controls a ship, the Galaxip, which can only move left and right and fire upward. The upper area of each screen is filled with an assortment of hostile aliens, sporadically firing downward. Unlike Space Invaders, the aliens of Galaxian occasionally break formation, veering off in kamikaze dives towards the Galaxip. Avoid the swooping aliens, and they'll loop from screen bottom back to top. A stage is completed when all enemies are vanquished, whereupon the player is whisked away to a similar environment with progressively more hostile foes.

It's a simple formula, executed quite brilliantly. There's some subtle strategy to the game. Only one player bullet can appear on the screen at once, so button-mashing must be eschewed in favor of well-timed shots. It's surprisingly easy to miss the aliens - even when a new stage has begun and the screen is full of 'em - as bullets can travel through the tiny gaps between each enemy column. The swooping aliens can be tough to contend with as well, especially in later stages, and one has to quickly decide whether to attempt a shoot-down, or quickly dodge the oncoming assault and wait until foes reappear at the screen's top. "Getting good" at Galaxian is really a matter of steady practice -- eventually it becomes easier to judge the speed of oncoming foes and the attack patterns begin to feel predictable. For the most part.

All of the console ports of Galaxian turned out surprisingly well, this one included. This Famicom version feels very close to the arcade original, with the most obvious difference being that of aspect ratio. The graphics here are simplistic, but competent, with a fantastic looking array of alien baddies. The scrolling starfield (revolutionary for the time) is a nice touch, as are the flag icons used to represent the current stage. There isn't much "music" to speak of, but the sound effects are nostalgic gold.

Galaxian is a game that does one thing, and does it well. As there are seemingly countless available North American variations available today I wouldn't say that this specific Famicom release is absolutely essential. But anyone exploring the early days of the console (that pre-SMB era) should give this one a spin.

First...start with Bomb Man and take it from there. He’s the easiest to beat with the mega buster. Also, feel free to use the “select button” trick when you take in the yellow devil in the first stage of Wily’s Castle. It’s relatively smooth sailing from there.

Second, great review. What was your criteria for heating Galaxian?

[Ack]

I always started with Cut Man and did Bomb Man second. Now I'm curious if my order in others was ever the "correct" order.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Nope! The “correct” order, if I recall correctly, is:

Bomb Man
Guts Man
Cut Man
Elec Man
Ice Man
Fire Man

[Ack]

What was the order in Mega Man 2? I always started with Flash Man.