Game Boy #2: Super Mario Land

 Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Release Date: 7-31-89

I suppose if I made any sense I would've started my Game Boy reviews with Super Mario Land. It is a famous launch title for the system after all. Of course the whole point of the blog is to follow my whims, so I started with the obscure Knight Quest instead. The launch of the Game Boy was subdued by todays standards, but not bad for the 80s when it was common to launch with only a couple of games. Tetris was bundled with the system so everybody had that one, but Super Mario Land was the game that most people bought next. It's like how everyone bought Twilight Princess when Wii came out even though it was bundled with Wii Sports. Because of its place in Game Boy history everybody has fond memories of it. I don't quite have the nostalgia because I got a Game Boy a few years later and never played Super Mario Land during the system's life cycle. Maybe because of this I've never been overly impressed by it. It's not a bad game, but when judging it against every other game in existence it just doesn't rate that well.

Moai!

The developers really took the concept of "Super Mario Brothers except tiny" and ran with it. Almost everything about this game is smaller. It is half the length of SMB and the graphics have been shrunk down even beyond what you would expect. I am sure there is a good reason, but those tiny mushrooms and blocks have always annoyed me. Was it really necessary to shrink everything down that much? Mario is a good size on the screen, and playing it on the blurry old Game Boy screen meant bigger was better. It makes items and coins easy to miss, and it has bugged me for twenty years. 

Luckily it does have the classic gameplay, and nothing's more fun than old school Mario. I'm not going to describe it too much, but if you like platform jumping you're probably going to like this game. I especially like the shooter levels and wish there were a few more of them. Of course I wish there was a few more of everything in this game, but it was designed for early 90s car trips so I suppose brevity is to be expected. I also like that they managed to give each world its own identity using background imagery. I enjoy the pyramids and Moai in the background. Any game with Moai in it automatically gets a couple extra points. Who doesn't like Easter Island? 

So what we have here is a tiny game with good gameplay but a few flaws that keep it from the being a true classic. It is too small and too short to rank overly high on the list, and it's not nearly as good as the other Mario Land games. Still it is going in the green section, and it just eases into the top 40 at #37. I am putting it just below another beloved game that disappointed me, Breath of Fire. I liked it more than I expected, but it's still not one of the better Mario games. I have a feeling it won't stay in the top 40 for long.

Game Boy Quality Percentage 2/2 100%

(images are from mobygames.com)

Game Boy #1: Knight Quest

 Developed by: Lenar Co

Published by: Taito

Release date: July 1992

Pre-Pokemon RPGs on handhelds will always be fascinating to me. RPGs are usually large, time consuming quests which is just the opposite of what they were going for with handhelds in the early days. Games were typically short platformers or powered-down ports of main console games. Games like Knight Quest were limit pushing just by existing. They showed that there was no type of game that that was going to be unavailable to handheld players. Developers just needed to make them. Of course this is 1992 we are talking about so there are going to be limitations. Twenty hours is about the max for Game Boy RPGs before Pokemon, and Knight Quest divides that by almost five. It only runs six or seven hours so it's no epic. Still, shorter RPGs can be charming. So is this is charming mini adventure or lackluster title as generic as its name? 

Knight Quest is an overhead turn-based RPG that takes place in a small but cramped world. You play as a youth named Will trying to become a great knight. In that way it is a very logical title. The monsters roam around freely like in Zelda 2, but they morph into regular battles when you encounter them. The strangest part of the game is in the combat. You have four attacks to chose from, each one named after a bird, and each enemy is weak to one of them. It really is necessary to know the weaknesses, but it can be a little hard to keep up with. I suggest writing them down, or this being 2021 cheating and looking it up online. Being an early RPG it comes with the typical strengths and weaknesses. It can get confusing in spots. There are a couple of obtuse puzzles to solve, and sometimes certain events won't trigger until the right people are talked too. It can be irritating going between towns just to find the right people to trigger a quest. Still, like in every good RPG getting lost is a good thing. It's not a super grindy game, but it is one that requires some extra combats. It only goes up to level thirty and the stat gains are good enough that it doesn't take that long to get Will the knight strong enough to face what's next. 

This all sounds fun, and it is, but it does get somewhat repetitive. The problem is that when you have gleaned the weaknesses of the enemies combat becomes boring. There are some magic items, but they are a waste when saving up for stronger gear, so the combat is all attacking. It's probably more fun if you don't write anything down and just try to remember because then there is the tension of trying to remember everything. So you have to either take a ridiculous approach to it or be resigned to the fact that combat is never going to be anything special. Even the boss fights are just more find the weakness and attack over and over again. They are not much harder than regular enemies if you know what you are doing. Just have enough money to buy some hearts and nothing bad will happen. Luckily it's a short enough game that it never gets tedious, the and there are enough interesting locations and encounters to keep the game interesting. It's still fun, but I wish it had more tactics. They should've thrown in a magic user and made it a party based game. 

This is one of those games that has gotten very expensive in the last few years. It's never been exactly cheap, but now it is regularly over 100 dollars and is in the top 10 most expensive Game Boy games. Such is the hazard of being an RPG fan. They always tend to be among the most expensive games. Both because they don't tend to sell as much and their fan base is a strange and dedicated lot. I should know being one myself. I do not, however, have a copy of this one. If I ever find an inexplicably cheap copy of it though I will buy it. I'm no too proud to buy games. Still if you do decide to shell out 120 dollars just remember that it is fun but only about six hours long. 

I got to do my favorite thing with this game. I got to rank it against Metro Cross. As usual Metro Cross came out on top, but it was close. I enjoyed Knight Quest, and I would certainly play it again even though I already beat it. I love old grindy RPGs more than most any other kind of game. I love a game where you start out as a weakling and slowly turn into a bruiser. I would've loved this game back in 1992 although looking at it now I can see its flaws. Still a good game is a good game and I am happy that I started out my Game Boy reviews on the right foot. 

Also, sorry about the weird formatting on my list. I am posting the whole thing because something weird is happening with my word processor and I'm afraid I'm going to lose it. Enjoy the long, weird looking list.

(Images from mobygames.com and estarland.com)

1. 1.     Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
2. 2.     Super Mario Odyssey
3. 3.     The Legend of Zelda
4. 4.     Galaga
5. 5.     Donkey Kong
6. 6.     Super Mario Bros. 2
7. 7.     Exodus: Ultima III
8. 8.     Pac-Mania
9. 9.     Wrecking Crew
10. 10.  Pac-Man
11. 11.  Super Pac-Man
12. 12.  Viva Pinata
13. 13.  Dragon View
14. 14.  Excitebike
15. 15.  Drakkhen
16. 16.  Todd’s Adventures in Slime World
17. 17.  Arc the Lad
18. 18.  Clu Clu Land
19. 19.  Tails’ Adventures
20. 20.  Balloon Fight
21. 21.  Scrapyard Dog
22. 22.  Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX
23. 23.  Mickey’s Racing Adventure
24. 24.  Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars
25. 25.  Pinball (Intellivision)
26. 26.  Metro-Cross
27. 27.  Knight Quest
28. 28.  After Burner
29. 29.  Double Dragon
30. 30.  Alex Kidd in Miracle World
31. 31.  Panic Restaurant
32. 32.  Felix the Cat
33. 33.  Adventure
34. 34.  Video Pinball
35. 35.  Donkey Kong 3
36. 36.  Breath of Fire
37. 37.  Ice Climber
38. 38.  Gaplus
39. 39.  Dragon Spirit (arcade)
40. 40.  Pinball (NES)
41. 41.  Ninja Golf
42. 42.  Splatterhouse 2
43. 43.  Fast Eddie
44. 44.  Super Soccer
45. 45.  Gopher
46. 46.  Dracula: Crazy Vampire
47. 47.  Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour
48. 48.  Entombed
49. 49.  Red Sea Crossing
50. 50.  Baraduke
51. 51.  Demon’s Crest
52. 52.  Brave Battle Saga
53. 53.  Evoland
54. 54.  Tennis
55. 55.  Renegade
56. 56.  Beethoven
57. 57.  Hogan’s Alley
58. 58.  Gamma-Attack
59. 59.  The Legend of “Valkyrie”
60. 60.  Galaxian
61. 61.  Action Fighter
62. 62.  Dragon Crystal
63. 63.  Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
64. 64.  Cosmic Commuter
65. 65.  Hot Pixel
66. 66.  PocketBike Racer
67. 67.  Wild Gunman
68. 68.  Defunct
69. 69.  Gyruss (2600)
70. 70.  Looney Tunes Racing
71. 71.  Squidlit
72. 72.  Gordo 106
73. 73.  Baseball
74. 74.  Space Jockey
75. 75.  Home Alone
76. 76.  Birthday Mania
77. 77.  Bad Street Brawler
78. 78.  Burly Men at Sea
79. 79.  Wayne’s World
80. 80.  WeakWood Throne
81. 81.  X-Men (HyperScan)
82. 82.  My Name is Mayo
83. 83.  Marvel Heroes
84. 84.  The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
85. 85.  Ben 10

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Sega Genesis #2: Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle

 Developer: Sega

Publisher: Samsung Electronics

Release Date: 1989

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle is the Genesis debut of a franchise that most people have never heard of. As a launch title for the Sega Genesis it could've been Alex Kidd's Mario moment. Instead the moment fizzled out and Alex Kidd was mostly forgotten. Of course there is more than one reason for this. One was that he just wasn't that interesting of a character. He had a boring design and a boring name. Another was that the Master System never did well enough to establish him as a familiar face. He had four games on the system, including one after Enchanted Castle, but most people hadn't played any of them. The main reason, though, was that the game just wasn't all that good. If he had been more popular than he might've weathered the storm, but for poor Alex there was just no way to survive this fiasco.

(You'd think a game where you can punch cars to death would be more fun)

All the problems from the previous games are in full display in this one. It's like they wanted to remake Alex Kidd in Miracle World but decided to only keep the bad parts. While the controls in Miracle World were somewhat loose Enchanted Castle is downright floaty. Every jump is a crap shoot, and the weird level design doesn't help matters. The game features almost constant jumping. So instead of hiding the game's shortcomings they decided to emphasize it. Be ready to miss a whole bunch of jumps. Much of the most dangerous jumping is reserved for collecting treasure chests. They are fun to collect, but the items you can get with the coins are almost useless. I used and item once the whole game and that was for the weird final boss. It feels like the treasures were put there mostly to put your character in more danger. 

(bad underwater level alert!)

Of course if you know about Alex Kidd than you know what the biggest problem with the game is. For every boss and every attempted item collected you have to play rock, paper, scissors. It came up a few times in Miracle World, but in Enchanted castle it is everywhere. You might play a half dozen times in one level. Luckily the item collections don't kill you if you lose, but with the bosses one wrong move means instant death. There's nothing worse than when success is based purely on luck, and this is one of the prime examples. Imagine fighting your way to the end only to pick wrong and then having to start all over again. It's not a pleasant experience by any means. I was frustrated and I was playing with save states. My favorite part was letting my son pick which one to throw. At least he enjoyed watching me play it.

So this is a bit of a rough one. I liked the final level, the titular Enchanted Castle, but the rest of the game fell flat. I probably liked that last level because it was a fun maze and there weren't so many death falls. I wish the whole game was as well designed, but they hid all the quality in a place that most people would never see. If you played this game back in the day you probably died in the lousy first level and never got much further. Needless to say this game didn't make much of an impact, and age hasn't improved things. Alex Kidd has made a bit of a comeback in recent years, but this isn't the game from the series to rediscover.  

I really thought this was going to end up in the red section, but it's not quite that bad. I got a little enjoyment out of it especially near the end. It's ending up near the bottom of the purple section at #62. You got lucky Alex. Your game is better than boring Atari 2600 games. That's not much of a victory, but this isn't really that much of a game. 

Genesis Quality Percentage 1/2 or 50%

(Images are from mobygames.com)

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)