Super Castlevania IV Review

By Derek Miller

I was never a big fan of the original Castlevania for NES. While I liked the game, it was never one of my favorites. Super Castlevania IV, however, was easily one of my five favorite games for the SNES. The game was tough, maybe not as tough as the original, but tough nonetheless. Also, the graphics were spectacular for an early SNES game. The music was also great. There was little that I could complain about regarding this game and it ate up a lot of my time when I first got it. Let us journey with Simon Belmonte and help him on his quest to save the land from the evil Count Dracula.

Graphics

Super Castlevania was one of the best looking games on the SNES, if not the best looking game, when it was released. It even looks good when compared to later games on the SNES. Everything looks spectacular in Super Castlevania and there are many great effects that were previously never used on the SNES. Moving backgrounds appear for the first time in a SNES game and they look great. The only problem in this department would be the occasional major slowdown. All slowdown can be suffered through, however, and it only comes up in certain locations. It is the only thing keeping the game from getting a perfect score in this department.

9.5

Sound

The music in Super Castlevania is amongst the best on the SNES. All of the tracks are gloomy and spooky and provide a good backdrop for the creepy levels. This is one of the few early games where the tracks don't sound annoying when listened to outside of the game. The sound effects aren't anything special, though. Simon's whip makes a cracking sound when it hits enemies and there are various other effects but most of the resources are devoted to the music and graphics.

8.5

Gameplay

If you've played the original Castlevania then you can play Super Castlevania. The gameplay is nearly identical with only a few slight tweaks. Simon can now whip his whip in all directions, allowing him to hit enemies below him as well as enemies at angles. This change makes it hard to go back to the original Castlevania and is akin to the change in Super Metroid that allowed Samus to fire diagonally. The game is fun and is also extremely hard. Some of the bosses are nearly impossible to beat but it's gratifying to finally defeat them. The only problem is the lack of an on-cart save system. Instead a password system is used which is mildly annoying. Nothing else to complain about, really. You've probably played Castlevania at some point in your life so chances are you know what the game is like.

8.0

Modern Appeal

The game looks good so chances are the graphics won't turn you off. It's a fun game no matter how old it is but chances are, after you beat it, you won't play it as much. A quick game every once in a while is probably as much as you'll play it after you have it mastered.

7.5

Purchase Price

This game is in fairly high demand so expect to pay anywhere from $10 to $20. You shouldn't have much trouble finding it, though. Just check eBay or your local used game store.

Total (not an average) : 9.0

Donkey Kong Country Review

By Derek Miller

Near the end of the Super Nintendo's life span, things weren't looking too good for Nintendo. Sega's Saturn and Sony's Playstation has already hit the market and had begun to take a chunk of the 16-bit crowd away from the SNES. Not helping matters, the Nintendo 64, known back then as Project Reality or the Ultra 64, was constantly being delayed. 3D was the"in-thing" and the SNES, while it did have some 3D games like Star Fox and Stunt Race FX, was really starting to show its age. That's where a little-known company called Rare came in. They used a large amount of resources, partly donated by Nintendo, to create a make-or-break game that would star Nintendo's own Donkey Kong. When Donkey Kong Country was being released Nintendo promoted it to no end. People were awed by it's graphics and many originally thought it was a game for the upcoming Nintendo 64. Donkey Kong Country even looked better than many of the games on Playstation even though it was really only 2.5D. Donkey Kong Country was one of Super Nintendo's last great games and it helped top off one of the greatest consoles ever.

Graphics

Easily the best graphics on Super Nintendo, bar none. Even compared to the next generation consoles Donkey Kong Country was able to hold its own. Whereas games like Star Fox and Stunt Race FX had the extremely noticeable textures and were really buggy, DKC did a fantastic job putting 3D characters in a 2D environment. The landscapes were awe-inspiring and the characters and enemies looked terrific. Not much to complain about in this department. There was never even any noticeable slowdown.

10.0

Sound

Catchy tunes and funny sound effects helped make this game sound great. The music seemed to fit the stages perfectly and the monkey sounds and grunts from the enemies were just plain hilarious. The sound effects were professionally done and were a foreshadowing of Rare's unbelievably sound tracks and effects for their Nintendo 64 games. I truly think there are very few companies that produce better sounding games than Rare.

8.5

Sound

Donkey Kong Country was a classic 2D platform that added a few tricks to make things interesting. The buddy system worked great in the game. Donkey and Diddy each had their stregths and weaknesses and you'd soon learn which situations each excelled in. Playing the game with two players was a lot of fun. You could either make it a competition and try to get farther than your opponent or you could each control either Donkey or Diddy to try to beat King K. Rool. This was one of the first games to use a lot of different mini-games and it was something that would be used in later games again and again. In order to truly beat the game you had to find all of these mini-games which was a task in and of itself. And who could forget the minecart races? While there weren't many of them, they were so much fun to play over and over again. Donkey Kong Country was not just another 2D platformer, it was an incredibly addictive game that would bring Rare into the spotlight as a videogame developer.

8.0

Modern Appeal

Even today Donkey Kong Country looks good. The game has a polished look and the graphics won't turn people off like many NES games sometimes do. The classic platforming action is just plain fun and it's the kind of game you can pick up and play for a few minutes or a few hours, depending on what you're looking for. A thoroughly addictive game if you haven't played it or are a fan of 2D platformers.

8.0

Purchase Price

Donkey Kong Country is a very common game and should be easy to find. Expect to pay anywhere from $10 to $20 for it. Don't pay much more than $20, even if it's brand new.

Total (not an average) : 8.5

Snake, Rattle, & Roll Review

By Derek Miller

Snake, Rattle, and Roll was one of Rare's last NES games. They weren't called Rare back in the NES days but they were churning out fun games none the less. Snake, Rattle, & Roll was one of their best. Even if you haven't played it, chances are you've seen or heard of it. Who can forget the images of the snakes destroying enemies with their tounges and getting power ups to increase their length? It was also one of the few semi-3D games on the NES. Marble Madness and Q-Bert come to mind as some other games that utilized a 3D grid. SNR was simply a fun, arcade-action game, and it would even be ported to the Sega Genesis years later. Not many NES games were ported to other systems, mostly due to Nintendo's strict rules, so Snake already stands out from other NES games.

Graphics

Excellent graphics for an NES game. The 3D grid looks pretty good and bright colors are used to increase the happy mood of the game. The snakes look good as well as the enemies. Even the water graphics are decent. Overall, one of the best looking NES games.

9.5

Sound

The music in the game helps to increase the happy mood of the game as well, but it can get slightly annoying. The sound effects sound pretty good, though. The audible thwomp when you kill an enemy is great as well as the noise when you attack. Decent sound for an NES game.

6.5

Gameplay

Snake, Rattle, & Roll is very fun and very addictive. The point is pretty much to make your way through the 3D levels and get to the exit. The catch is that you have to eat little balls along the way that increase your snake's length (Please no sick jokes). You need to have eaten enough to open the door when you get to it. A scale we determine if you weight enough to open the door. Of course, there are numerous enemies and traps along the way to try and stop you. The game is really challenging and will take some time to master. You can also compete with a second player to add to the fun of the game. The multiplayer option makes the game ten times as fun. It's a tough game but you'll find yourself not wanting to put it down.

9.0

Modern Appeal

Snake, Rattle, & Roll can be placed in the same category as Ms. Pacman, Pong, and Asteroids. It's the kind of game that is fun no matter how old it is and how dated the graphics look. SNR is a great arcade-type game that will keep you hooked like so many quarter-eating arcade games used to do. The good thing is this game is for NES and you won't spend all your quarters trying to beat it.

8.5

Purchase Price

Snake, Rattle, & Roll is a very common game and it won't cost you much at all. Look for it to be less than $5. At this price you'd be crazy not to pick it up. You aren't crazy, are you?

Total (not an average) : 9.0

P.O.W. Review

By Derek Miller

P.O.W. is really an unheralded game. That may be because it was overshadowed by the better Double Dragon series. That doesn't mean P.O.W. doesn't deserve a shot, though. It had similar gameplay to Double Dragon but is set in a war zone which provides for, in my opinion, a more interesting scenario. If you liked the Double Dragon series then give P.O.W. a chance.

Graphics

P.O.W. had similar graphics to Double Dragon but looked just a little better. The people in the game all looked pretty good, at least better than the clunky, cartoonish enemies from Double Dragon. It's good enough so that it won't turn you off but it's nothing spectacular.

7.5

Sound

Nothing special here and I really mean it. The sound track can get annoying and the sound effects are almost nonexistant.

4.5

Gameplay

This is your standard Double Dragon-type game. You know the type of gameplay. There are weapons and powerups you can pick up along the way such as brass knuckles, knives, and machine guns. This makes the war zone seem all the more realistic and makes the game a heck of a lot more interesting. You can also play with a second person which is always fun.

8.5

Modern Appeal

If you liked this type of game back in the day then you will like P.O.W. If you've never played this type of game you might enjoy P.O.W. anyway simply because it's fun arcade-type action. The graphics are decent so they won't turn you off. That's a good thing.

8.0

Purchase Price

Shouldn't cost you much. Probably about $5. You shouldn't have much trouble finding it on eBay or at a used game store.

Total (not an average) : 8.0

The Legend of Zelda Review

By Derek Miller

Incredible game after incredible game, created by Shigeru Miyamoto and other brilliant game designers,was released for the NES in the early days. The market was still in itsinfancy and there was a lot of room to innovate. The Legend of Zeldawas one of those innovative games. Not only was it the first game to featurescreen scrolling in four different directions, but it was also the firstNES game to feature a save system. While the save system wasn't perfectthere is no way you could complete Zelda without the ability to save unless you had a lot of time on your hands or you used the trick I used sometimes and left the NES on while you were away. The Legendof Zelda didn't only bring about technical innovations, it also provided us with a seemingly never-ending quest that would keep us playing until our eyes were bleary. Then what happens? We are given a second quest, asomewhat new quest with brand new dungeons in new locations that was much harder than the original quest. The Legend of Zelda marked the birth of a series that is highly regarded in the gaming community as one of, if not the best series of games in existence. No review can really do the game justice but I'll give it a try.

Graphics

For it's time, Zelda had decent graphics. While it wasn't anything mind blowing like Donkey Kong Country was for the SNES, it looked up-to-par with the other early NES games. A limited number of colors were used to provide the mood of the different areas of the game. The early parts that Link could explore were bright and the green really made the place seem nice. Whereas the dungeons were dark and gloomy, and did a good job setting the tone along with the music. There were only a few occurrence of slowdown in the game, mainly in the dungeons, when there were a lot of enemies on screen but it didn't take much away from this great game.

7.5

Sound

Who doesn't remember the Zelda over world theme? Many gamers were shocked when the theme didn't reappear in Ocarina of Time. The sound, along with the graphics, provided the mood for this epic quest and the tunes, while some people may be annoyed by them, were good for the limited resources that the NES had to devote to sound. Not much you can do in the way of sound with an the 8-bit NES.

8.5

Gameplay

This is where the Legend of Zelda really shines. You start out as Link and you have nothing but your wits about you. When an old man gives you a sword, the fun really begins. You have to fight your way through a never-ending onslaught of monsters as you attempt to locate all the dungeons. Finding the dungeons was fun, but it didn't match the appeal of fighting your way through the dungeons themselves. Every dungeon contained at least one weapon or item for you to find, each essential to completing your quest. Not only did you have the main quest to keep you occupied, but the Zelda overworld contained many hidden secrets that you wouldn't find if you didn©ˆt explore. Hidden heart containers would boost your maximum heart containers and there were also secret places where you could buy these heart containers. There were also secret areas where people would give you money to help you along or sell you items at a discount. There were also two locations to upgrade your sword, but only if you were strong enough. While none of this was integral to the main quest it provided a sense of satisfaction when you finally found the most powerful sword or another heart container. Zelda was a game that was unmatched in it's time.

10.0

Modern Appeal

Zelda is the type of game that you yearn to play every once in a while. While it isn't the same type of epic quest as Ocarina of Time or Final Fantasy, it does provide hours of pure 8-bit entertainment. It's not the type of game you will pick up and put down in a hour. When you are bored and don't have any new games to play, pick up the Legend of Zelda and go on a quest to save Princess Zelda and the Land of Hyrule from the evil clutches of the monster Ganon.

8.5

Purchase Price

Even the gold cartridge of Zelda, which isn't as rare as some might like you to think, won't cost you too much. You shouldn't pay more than $10 for this game.

Total (not an average) : 9.5

http://www.borgerisd.net/soapbox/soapbox.htm

Or just look up to. Whatever. Anyways, I saw this posted at another board, and it was a fun topic, so I thought I'd post it here.

Anyways, here's my most admired rock stars. Just post who they are, a picture of them, what band they're from, and some good songs by them. :)






Maynard James Keenan - A Perfect Circle - Judith, The Hollow, 3 Libras (etc.)


Maynard James Keenan - Tool - 46 & 2, Lateralus, Schism, Opiate, Prison Sex, Eulogy (etc. etc.)


(Yes, they're the same person, but he's in 2 bands :p)

Phil Anselmo - Pantera - Slaughtered, 5 Minutes Alone, Goddamn Electric, Revolution is my Name, Rise (etc etc.)


Till Lindemann - Rammstein - Ich Will, Sonne, Du Hast (etc.)


Marilyn Manson - Marilyn Manson - The Dope Show, I Don't Like The Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me), The Reflecting God, The Nobodies (etc. etc.)


:)

GameCube review: Pikmin

Review Written by EdenMaster

You are Captain Olimar, and while on vacation your ship crashes on a mysterious planet. The atmosphere contains oxygen, which is poisonous to Olimar. You have 30 days of oxygen in your suit and you must recover 30 missing pieces of your spaceship to go home. Upon landing you find a strange object you name the Onion, as you near it, it stands up on little legs and pop out seeds. Within seconds of embedding in the ground, it sprouts. You pull it out to find it’s not a plant, but a living creature, you name it a Pikmin. You soon find that the Pikmin can carry capsules to the Onion to make more Pikmin. Soon there are enough Pikmin to attack the other creatures on this planet. The defeated creatures can also be made into more Pikmin.

You can have as many as 100 Pikmin follow you at one time, and they can carry spaceship parts you find back to the ship.

Pikmin is a fun game that can get you addicted, and its flaws are that the days can go by kind of quickly, and it takes a bit of practice controlling Olimar and the Pikmin. Nevertheless, I rate Pikmin an 8.5 and recommend it to anyone with a Cube.

If you look on the main forum page in the 'Quick Links' list, you'll now notice our reviews are back. Obviously, the rest of the site will come back piece by piece, but this was always the most important part.

Now, however, our reviews section is much better than before. Instead of static HTML as it was before, the entire review section is based on modified forum code, so now anyone can post a review whenever they want. You'll of course notice that the setup is different than the regular forums, but posting reviews is as simple as making a regular post. Of course, I should remind everyone that this section is for reviews only, and anything in there that isn't a review will be deleted.

EdenMaster is the Reviews Editor, and he'll essentially moderate the section. Contact him or myself if you have any questions regarding the review section.

Now no one has an excuse not to post reviews, so hopefully we'll all start contributing a lot more now that the process has been so simplified! :D

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Review

By Weltall

The Nintendo 64 sold roughly 30 million units in its lifespan. It would not be a bad guess to estimate that a good quarter of those were sold along with, or for this game. It is that damn good. This version of Zelda rode a bumpy road to its November 1998 release. Delay after delay plagued any news of it. But the ends, in this case, justified the means. Ocarina of Time, in this reviewer's opinion, is bar none the greatest title ever released for the console, and one of the best games ever. Rarely does a game present such a complete and satisfying package of gameplay, graphics, atmosphere. Even the N64's oft-maligned sound capabilites were used to the greatest extent

In this installment, chronologically the first in the series, the young Kokiri boy Link is summoned by the Great Deku Tree, via the fairy Navi, for an appointment with Princess Zelda, the evil Ganondorf, and ultimately destiny.


Graphics

Ocarina of Time showcased was is arguably the best real-time graphics of the entire hardware generation. Vast areas like Hyrule Field and Lake Hylia are rendered beautifully without the slightest hitch, and the game keeps a steady 30 FPS from start to finish. Character designs are iffy, except for the important ones. Textures can be a little blurry at times, but there isn't a hint of clipping to be seen, which is no mean feat. Artistically, the game is a wonder to behold. Town and dungeon designs alike fit the their respective themes. And there's nothing like watching your first sunset. There is little to complain about in this deparment whatsoever.

Sound and Music

Koji Kondo performed miracles with limited tools. His musical selections are superb, some of his best works. Even though the game lacks the classic Zelda theme, the new stuff is memorable, and you will be humming it, guaranteed. And though the classic theme is absent, there are certainly a few you will recognize, Kakariko for instance. Sound effects are good for the most part. I say for the most part because there is no option to rip out the vocal cords of your fairy partner Navi, who pops up CONSTANTLY with generally useless information. It's all good everywhere else.

Gameplay

Oh sweet mother, does this game have play! All your favorite classic Zelda weapons, plus a few new ones, brilliantly translated into the 3D arena. The move to 3D made some old weapons more fun to use. The Fairy Bow comes to mind. And the good old Hookshot is far more important than ever. Another wonderful, innovative addition is the Z-Targeting system. When Navi hovers over an enemy or object, pressing the Z trigger will make Link lock on to it. This is an invaluable combat tool, especially when speed is key. While locked on to an enemy you can do the dance of death like never before: sidestep, hop forward, leap backward, shield, thrust, jump-slash for double damage, and perhaps best of all, it gives projectile weapons (Bow, Slingshot, boomerang, etc) a much better chance of hitting it%27s target without fine-precision manual aiming. For a challange, try playing the game without using Z-Targeting. It's a LOT harder!

Purchase Price

Shouldn't be more than $20 by now.

Total (not an average) : 9.5