NES #22: Donkey Kong 3

 Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: June 1986

When people think of classic arcade shooters they don't usually think of Donkey Kong. However, that's just what Donkey Kong 3 is. The forgotten third game in the trilogy is memorable for just how different it is from the first two games. First off there is no Mario. By this time he had graduated from the Donkey Kong franchise and was starring in his own games. Second it eschews the platforming from the first two games for single-screen shooting action. You now play as a gardener named Stanley out to protect his flower garden from a tired-looking DK. It's an odd premise and definite departure from the first two games, but it's much more fun that people give it credit for.

The easiest way to describe it is a cross between Galaxian and Defender. The main objective is shooting DK in the crotch until he reaches the top of the screen, but besides him there are diving insects everywhere. These insects also have a mind to steal Stanley's flowers. If you can make it through the levels without losing any flowers you get a big point bonus. This is an old arcade game of course so it's important to get as many points as possible. So this game because a bug shootout like Galaxian and an object saver like Defender. 

As odd as it sounds it all works. DK is a big target, but there's enough going on around him that it's always a challenge. In one level caterpillars block your shots. In another level the jumping platforms don't go all the way across in the middle which causes some new strategizing. DK will start to climb down if you don't shoot him fast enough, so you have to figure out a way to shoot him while constantly moving. It all adds up to some old-fashioned frantic arcade fun which is replicated almost perfectly on NES. That system really was great at classic arcade conversions.

I am going to rank Donkey Kong 3 fairly high. I know that it gets mediocre reviews, but I think it is a fun game. It might've done better without the Donkey Kong connection at all. Because it is a Donkey Kong game people expect a certain style. It doesn't meet that expectation so it ends up getting underrated. I can understand why people feel that way. It is, however, a fun game in its own right. I am ranking it at #34 right below Video Pinball. That's a respectable rating I think and still well into the green section. I recommend checking it out if you never have before. It's still a relatively cheap black box game, and now it's on Switch Online. You should check it out. Just don't go into it thinking it's going to be anything like the firsts two games.

NES Quality Percentage: 13/22 or 59.1%

images are from mobygames.com

NES #21: Balloon Fight

 Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: June 1986

While 1986 was a busy year for the NES, it wasn't because of the games Nintendo released for it. 1986 was the first year to see third party support for the console. The fact that Bandai, Capcom, and Data East were now on board greatly improved the machine's chances of succeeding. However, as far as first party support goes it was probably the weakest year until the 90s. Since they didn't even go national until 1986 I suppose this makes sense. Most people hadn't even got to play any of the launch titles until well into the year, and as I have already written there were many good original games to select from. 1987 would be the watershed year that saw Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and Kid Icarus make their debuts. 1986 was relegated to mostly arcade conversions. While it was nice to get such a good home version of Donkey Kong and Popeye, these were mostly games that people likely already had on an earlier console. One of the few original first party games to come out was Balloon Fight, and it's original in only the most liberal sense. In reality it plays almost identical to Williams' classic game Joust. It's a rare case of Nintendo copying some else before becoming the company that would get copied. I'm a little surprised they didn't get sued and are able to keep releasing the game over and over. I guess they changed just enough to make it okay.

The way it works is that you are a floating man with two balloons taking down groups of other men wearing single balloons. The object is to hit them higher than they hit you and thus popping their balloons. If you are reduced to only one balloon flying becomes more difficult. Hitting them again will net you some bonus points. Getting a high score is the main goal of this mode. The main difference between this game mode and Joust is that there are no eggs to collect and there is a greater variety of level layouts. The original Joust used the same layout every time and only varied in the number of platforms that were available. Balloon Fight is a richer world with platforms in all different places. It's still a single screen game, but it does more with the one screen than Joust did. Still the basic gameplay is the same. 

What sets this game apart is the balloon trip mode. In this mode you move along a scrolling screen collecting balloons and avoiding electrified walls. My favorite part about it is the ranking counter in the top right corner. I love rankings in general of course, but it's a good way to have a goal. I considered this game beat when I scrolled the levels in game A and got to first place in balloon trip. It's not an easy task either. You know it's hard when you get points for simply surviving. Still I persevered and managed to get all the way to first place. It was very satisfying.

So Balloon Fight is fun even if half the game is extremely derivative. I would say it's better than any home versions of Joust out at the time even though the 2600 version is a lot of fun. It's one of those arcade games that doesn't take too long to play and is easy to improve upon. I think it would take a long time for me to reach my ceiling in this game. This is a game that I always enjoy more than I expect, and it's easily going into the green section. 

NES Quality Percentage: 12/21 or 57.14%

Screenshots are from mobygames.com

Intellivision #1: Pinball

Developer: Mattel

Publisher: Mattel

Release Date: October 1983

Atari was king in the early 80s, but by then they weren’t the only console on the block. Both Intellivision and Colecovision would spend time being worthy competitors with the the mighty Atari. Both consoles would be more impressive technically, but both took some wrong turns which kept them from ever being as popular as the 2600. Intellivision’s biggest problem was that it didn’t appeal as much to the casual gamer. It was filled with complicated games utilizing their difficult to use controller. That’s why a fun arcade style game can stand out so much on the console. Pinball might be a minor classic on another console, but on Intellivision it is one of the best. It’s an infinitely replayable game that is more than just a good pinball simulation. It took advantage of the video game format to include things that would be very difficult in a real pinball game.

 It followed Video Pinball by less than two years, but it feels like it’s about a decade newer. Where Video Pinball had a more abstract look Pinball gets it all right. It has the look and the shape of the real thing. Anyone who has played pinball before will recognize the shape of it with the bumpers and lanes in the right place. It also has numerous ways to score points making for almost endless variety. No two games are going to feel that much alike. It has excellent ball physics too. It feels like real pinball, and you can even use the disc on the controller to nudge. It utilizes the controller well. The side buttons can be used for the flippers, but there are also corresponding keypad buttons that do the same thing because they knew pushing down on those hard side buttons starts to hurt after a while. I really don’t like those side buttons very much. Didn’t they know people were going to be using them all the time? It’s nice to have a game that avoids them. The only catch is that there isn’t a keypad button for all flippers at once so you really do have to pay attention to what side the ball is on. No lazy shortcuts in this one, well unless you want to use those painful side buttons.

 What’s especially fun about this game is that with the expanded possibilities of the video game format they were able to pull off a pretty nifty move and add two extra levels to the game. That’s something that pinball tables had never been able to do in the same capacity. The 1982 game Haunted House was the first pinball table to have three levels, but it’s a main table with two smaller, less intricate playfields. In Pinball all three are of equal size and depth. There may even be more to do in the upper tables. It’s impressive that they would put so much into a part of the game that many players wouldn’t even know about without the manual. I didn’t even know about the upper table until I read about it, and yet there it is enticing people with its drop targets and uranium bumpers. I have no idea what a uranium bumper is, but I sure want to keep playing so I can find out. It’s the type of game that writing about it makes me want to go back and play it some more.

 

This game is the gold standard for console pinball games. It wouldn’t be topped at least until the 16-bit era and then only rarely. It’s a game that does everything right, and because of this it ranks high on the list. It’s well into the green section and is all the way up to #24. It’s the highest ranked pre-NES game so far. There are a few better ones that I will review later, but for now that’s very impressive. 

1.  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

2. Super Mario Odyssey

3. The Legend of Zelda

4. Galaga

5. Donkey Kong

6. Super Mario Bros. 2

7. Exodus: Ultima III

8. Pac-Mania

9. Wrecking Crew

10. Super Pac-Man

11. Pac-Man

12. Viva Pinata

13. Dragon View

14. Excitebike

15. Drakkhen

16. Todd’s Adventures in Slime World

17. Arc the Lad

18. Clu Clu Land

19. Tails’ Adventures

20. Scrapyard Dog (Lynx)

21. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

22. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

23. Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars

24. Pinball (Intellivision)

25. Metro-Cross

26. After Burner

27. Double Dragon

28. Alex Kidd in Miracle World

29. Panic Restaurant

30. Felix the Cat

31. Adventure

32. Video PInball

33. Breath of Fire

34. Ice Climber

35. Gaplus

36. Dragon Spirit (arcade)

37. Pinball (NES)

38. Ninja Golf

39. Splatterhouse 2

40. Fast Eddie

41. Super Soccer

42. Gopher

43. Dracula: Crazy Vampire

44. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)

45. Entombed

46. Red Sea Crossing

47. Baraduke

48. Demon’s Crest

49. Brave Battle Saga

50. Evoland

51. Tennis

52. Renegade

53. Beethoven

54. Hogan’s Alley

55. Gamma-Attack

56. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

57. Galaxian

58. Action Fighter

59. Dragon Crystal

60. Cosmic Commuter

61. Hot Pixel

62. PocketBike Racer

63. Wild Gunman

64. Defunct

65. Gyruss (2600)

66. Looney Tunes Racing

67. Squidlit

68. Gordo 106

69. Baseball

70. Space Jockey

71. Home Alone

72. Birthday Mania

73. Bad Street Brawler

74. Burly Men at Sea

75. Wayne’s World

76. WeakWood Throne

77. X-Men (HyperScan)

78. My Name is Mayo

79. Marvel Heroes

80. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

81. Ben 10

(Images are from Mobygames)

Atari 2600 #11: Video Pinball

 Atari 2600 #11: Video Pinball

 

Developer: Atari

Publisher: Atari

Release Date: April 1981

I love the way they advertised slightly different variations as completely different video games

 

I don’t know why, but deciding to write about Video Pinball made me want to do some research. It’s always interesting to talk about firsts, so I wanted to know if this was the first console game that truly tried to simulate pinball. It wasn’t, but almost every obscure system had something interesting and pinball-esque. Fairchild Channel F had a game called Pinball Challenge that was actually a breakout clone. RCA Studio II had a mysterious pinball game that I don’t think was actually released in its lifetime and is only listed on Mobygames. Microvision had a game called Pinball which was a pinball, breakout hybrid that had a ball bouncing off flippers and a paddle returning it. Thunderball for Odyssey 2 was the first game that truly tried to emulate pinball, and I probably should’ve written about it first, but Video Pinball is much more fun. So Video Pinball wasn’t first, but despite it not getting all the details right it was the first fun one. How’s that for some insightful research?

This is what the game looks like!

 

Video Pinball is a great example of the simplicity that makes Atari 2600 still fun to play. We all know the 2600 only had one button, but this is almost a no-button game. The button is only used to launch the ball while the joystick controls the flippers. Left and right correspond with the individual flippers and up makes them both move at once. It uses one button once and then mostly uses one direction on the controller. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. The screen doesn’t look much like a pinball machine, but it has everything it needs including bumpers, score multipliers, areas that work a little like ramps, pseudo drop targets, and even a start that works like a skill shot. It looks like nothing, but it’s actually impressive how much the programmers were able to cram into that blue rectangle.

 

It’s also more challenging than I remembered. When we were kids my brother and I used to launch the ball and see how long we could play without using the flippers. The way I remember it we were able to last a long time, but I can’t really see that being the case. Today I find the game to be challenging. The ball moves quickly, and it’s designed well enough that you have to actually pay attention. We played this one frequently though, and I always enjoyed it even though I played it after the more advanced Midnight Magic. Of course its biggest flaw is that it doesn’t exactly look or feel like a real pinball machine. It’s not the right shape, and it doesn’t have the typical rails and bumpers where you would expect them to be. It’s hard to deny, however, that this game is a lot of fun. It could’ve had a different name and still be a good game. However, it is a pinball game, and It’s about as good as it could be from Atari in 1981.

 

I would say that even for a pinball enthusiast this is a fun game. It still has that familiar high score gameplay that appeals to pinball people. I would definitely say it’s one of the better Atari 2600 games which isn’t surprising for 1981. The 2600 existed for over a decade, but 1980-1983 was when the bulk of their best or at least most fondly remembered games came out. It was just a special time after Space Invaders but before the crash. I’m slotting this game in at #31 overall which is good for second overall on the 2600 list. Atari might not have known how to make a game that truly looked like pinball yet, but they sure knew how to make a fun one.

 

Atari Quality Percentage: 6/11 or 54.54%

Overall: 31/80

 

Atari 2600

 

1. Adventure

2. Video Pinball

3. Fast Eddie

4. Gopher

5. Entombed

6. Red Sea Crossing

7. Gamma-Attack

8. Cosmic Commuter

9. Gyruss

10. Space Jockey

11. Birthday Mania

SNES #6: Breath of Fire

 

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Squaresoft

Release Date: 8-10-94

I always loved this cover when I was a kid. I'm surprised I never played this until my late 30s

 The old adage about Breath of Fire is that it’s only famous because at the time it came out there weren’t very many RPGs to choose from. Most RPG fans in 1994 had already played the American released Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, and Phantasy Star games so Breath of Fire was automatically appealing. It’s a turn-based jrpg about dragons. How could it not be good? Well there are some caveats about this fondly remembered game that honestly do hurt its ranking. It actually is a case where the nostalgia hurts the experience. If I had lower expectations it might not have been so disappointing. I can see why some people are big fans though.

It looks fun, but it is a bit tedious

Some people just need a good story and pleasant visuals to consider a game a success. If that’s what you are looking for than Breath of Fire is probably for you. It has a very deep quest for its time. It has an oddly engaging cast of characters including a fishman and a moleman. It’s always fun when the characters aren’t all spikey haired teenagers. And of course it is a jrpg on Super Nintendo so it looks nice. The earth tones of the backgrounds contrast beautifully with the colorful sprites making for a look that has never went out of style. I know it’s not the first rpg to look like this, but it’s one of the ones to popularize it. It’s the perfect medium between the more muted Dragon Quest games and brightly saturated Final Fantasy games. So far it sounds like a home run. Sadly it falls apart in the actual gameplay.

See, muted backgrounds and colorful sprites

 

Breath of Fire has some of the dullest fighting I have ever experienced in a turn-based game. It’s the type of combat that gives turn-based games a bad name. Especially in the first half it is mind-numbingly boring. It’s just attacking with an occasional heal. There’s even an auto-battle option right from the start, so it becomes a push one button and check your phone kind of game. It takes a while before any of the characters even have spells to use, so you really have to trudge a while before things get interesting. Luckily there are more interesting techniques later on like a character fusion mechanic and the protagonist’s ability to transform into a dragon. However, these skills are well hidden. I am not sure if the original manual talks about any of them, but I wouldn’t have even known they existed without consulting a guide. What kind of game hides all of its best features?

 

It’s also one of those games that’s easy to get lost in, and I don’t mean that in immersive way. I mean that there isn’t enough in game information to know what your next move is. Getting lost in an RPG can be a good thing if done right, but in this game it just means more boring battles. It’s not one of those where going anywhere is going to lead you to something interesting. It does have secrets, but there’s still one main path to take. It’s just not as well-constructed as a Final Fantasy game. Just think of the map for Final Fantasy IV. It’s designed so well that you can always tell when you are going toward the story and when you are off the beaten path. Final Fantasy VI has something to find no matter where you go and is still excellent in construction even in the more intentionally confusing World of Ruin. In Breath of Fire the map just seems random by comparison. Most of the time when I was lost it was because I missed some random thing that was easy to walk right past.

The ol' HP restoring fountain

 

I suppose I shouldn’t say too many bad things about it though because I am looking at my list and am still going to put it in the green section. I guess I am just enough of a sucker for JRPGs to slightly recommend this one especially now that it is on Switch. Still it’s one of the worst good rpgs I have ever played. Since I like most of the RPGs on Super Nintendo it’s probably going to rank fairly low on the SNES curve. I wouldn’t quite call it a classic, but I will rank it at #31 right between Adventure and Ice Climber. Hey if you don’t like it than just let me know in the comments. Seriously, I’d love to get some comments.

 

SNES Quality Percentage: 4/6 or 66.66%

Nintendo DS #1: Sonic Rush Adventure

Developer: Sonic Team

Publisher: Sega

Release Date: 9-18-07

For a change Sonic battles a robot with a moustache instead of a guy with a moustache who makes robots

 There are few games that highlight the most fatal flaw in 21^st century Sonic games than Sonic Rush Adventure. In an age where games need to be long, Sonic games only work when they are short. The classic Genesis games were meant to be quick bursts, so the levels went racing by for one or two hours. This was alright in the 16-bit era where permadeath was the norm and games would have to be played many times before they were beaten. By the time the 21^st century rolled around permadeath was no longer acceptable in action games and Sonic suffered a major identity crisis that he never really recovered from. Sonic Rush Adventure might be a good game if it was only two hours long. It would also be hard to recommend for purchase. Unfortunately they didn’t think of a good way to extend the game and so its overall quality really suffers.

Joel and the Bots would say this game is a lot of fun...at first

 The levels themselves are set up like a classic sonic game and they are admittedly fun. They go by quickly and offer a decent level of challenge. The problem all boils down to execution. Each level gives you items, and Tails uses these items to build machines to progress through the game. So the only way to progress through the game is to play through the same levels over and over. Even a fun level gets old if played multiple times in a row. There is an overworld, but it’s mostly for show. There are a few NPCs to talk to, but they just give you quests, and these quests just give you more opportunities to play the same levels again. And there are a hundred of these quests. I couldn’t imagine feeling motivated enough to not only earn the highest rating on the levels but also complete all the side quests. I can’t think of a game I have ever played where I wanted to play side quests less. I just wanted to hurry up and get to the end. At least it had some fun bosses.

 

I did enjoy the water sections

I wish I had more to say about this one. It’s just one of those games where one element of it dominates the whole discussion. I just can’t get past the repeating levels. It’s the same problem I’ve had with almost every other modern Sonic game. They just don’t know how to expand the gameplay. Because of this I can’t rank this game very high. Remember Beethoven? I seem to be coming back to that game a lot these days. I am going to rank this one #51 right behind Beethoven. It’s better than Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 which suffers from the same problem except even worse. It’s a game I thought I would like and certainly did until I played it for a while. The fun levels keep it out of the red, but it’s still not a very fun experience. 

1.  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

2. Super Mario Odyssey

3. The Legend of Zelda

4. Galaga

5. Donkey Kong

6. Super Mario Bros. 2

7. Exodus: Ultima III

8. Pac-Mania

9. Wrecking Crew

10. Super Pac-Man

11. Pac-Man

12. Viva Pinata

13. Dragon View

14. Excitebike

15. Drakkhen

16. Todd’s Adventures in Slime World

17. Arc the Lad

18. Clu Clu Land

19. Tails’ Adventures

20. Scrapyard Dog (Lynx)

21. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

22. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

23. Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars

24. Metro-Cross

25. After Burner

26. Double Dragon

27. Alex Kidd in Miracle World

28. Panic Restaurant

29. Felix the Cat

30. Adventure

31. Ice Climber

32. Gaplus

33. Dragon Spirit

34. Pinball (NES)

35. Ninja Golf

36. Splatterhouse 2

37. Fast Eddie

38. Super Soccer

39. Gopher

40. Dracula: Crazy Vampire

41. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)

42. Entombed

43. Red Sea Crossing

44. Baraduke

45. Demon’s Crest

46. Brave Battle Saga

47. Evoland

48. Tennis

49. Renegade

50. Beethoven

51. Sonic Rush Adventure

52. Jeremy McGrath’s Supercross 2000

53. Hogan’s Alley

54. Gamma-Attack

55. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

56. Galaxian

57. Action Fighter

58. Dragon Crystal

59. Cosmic Commuter

60. Hot Pixel

61. PocketBike Racer

62. Wild Gunman

63. Defunct

64. Gyruss (2600)

65. Looney Tunes Racing

66. Squidlit

67. Gordo 106

68. Baseball

69. Space Jockey

70. Home Alone

71. Birthday Mania

72. Bad Street Brawler

73. Burly Men at Sea

74. Wayne’s World

75. WeakWood Throne

76. X-Men (HyperScan)

77. My Name is Mayo

78. Marvel Heroes

79. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

80. Ben 10