 |
Be sure to check out
the Awesome NES game list for brief reviews,
rarity rankings, release dates, and other handy
information about licensed NES games.
The list is updated twice weekly, so be sure to
visit often to stay in the
loop! |
|
|
|
DONKEY KONG
CLASSICS |
  
|
|
NINTENDO |
|
|
ACTION |
|
|
NES |
| | |
|
I must say that I'm both surprised and amazed by
Nintendo's home conversions of Donkey Kong. I'm
surprised the NES version of the popular coin-op, which
was crucial to Nintendo's success as a game publisher,
is not the perfect translation one would expect.
I'm amazed that Nintendo published it a second time
(along with its sequel, Donkey Kong Jr.) with the same
flaws and omissions. Frankly, I think most NES
players expected better, and every Donkey Kong fan
deserved better after putting up with a half-dozen weak
translations for other systems. An incomplete
conversion is understandable on the ColecoVision, but
Donkey Kong is Nintendo's own game, and it should have
been flawless when designed by Nintendo's own
programmers, on Nintendo's own system. Considering
the circumstances, anything less than the absolute best-
anything less- is unacceptable.
I'm certainly not expecting too much, but maybe I am
overreacting... this conversion of Donkey Kong is far
more faithful to the arcade original than any that have
come before it. It blows away the very incomplete,
yet strangely popular, ColecoVision game with brighter,
more colorful graphics, better sound effects, more
accurate physics, and many of the gameplay elements that
punched out around the time the ColecoVision game was
under construction. When Donkey Kong throws a
barrel in the NES version, it rolls all the way to the
bottom of the screen until it reaches the oil can, where
it's reborn as a fireball with beady little eyes.
In the ColecoVision game, the same barrel would make a
sneaky exit off the side of the screen after rolling
past Mario. This makes the NES version a lot more
exciting and intense... all those barrels put a lot more
pressure on the player, even if some of them are no
longer able to harm him. Speaking of pressure,
Mario doesn't get a free ride from the hammer like he
did on the ColecoVision... this less mighty mallet will
only destroy barrels if it physically touches
them. If your back is turned when one of Donkey
Kong's unwelcome gifts hits you, Mario is gonna die,
just as he should. Even those great little point
labels were left intact; leap over something dangerous
and the NES will inform you of your reward, unlike the
same game on the ColecoVision. Apparently, the
designers didn't think they were important... but screw
that! They're important to me!
Although there's no question as to which version is
best, Donkey Kong on the NES is still missing a lot of
things from the arcade game. You could have lived
without them in 1983, but you tend to be less forgiving
five years later, after you've played the more complex
Super Mario Bros. Just like in the ColecoVision
version, the cement factory is gone, and so are most of
the intermissions... the only one that made it is Donkey
Kong taking a dive after you pull the rug (and girders!)
out from under him in the last round. You'd think
it wouldn't be too tough for the NES to draw a black
screen with a few silly looking apes stacked on top of
one another... after all, it was the same system that
turned the otherwise mediocre Ninja Gaiden into a
legendary cinematic experience. This doesn't
really affect the gameplay, but the simplified bonuses
and less reliable hammers definitely do. Jumping
clusters of barrels nets you... 100 points for each
barrel, rather than a much deserved special award.
The new scoring mechanics don't give you much incentive
to take a risk and clear multiple barrels at once.
As for the hammer, you're no longer warned when it's
about to disappear, which is pretty important
information when the barrels get thick. It would
be like Namco releasing a Pac-Man game where the
monsters don't flash white before turning back...
there's just not enough indication of how long you can
count on being protected from the enemies.
The NES version of Donkey Kong Jr. must have been
born a year or two after its pop, because it's a more
complete conversion of the arcade game. You get a
complete set of rounds, including a power plant teeming
with deadly sparks. It's no cement factory, but it
does help close the gap between DK and DK Jr. with its
emphasis on jumping rather than climbing. The
intermissions are still gone (which is doubly
frustrating, because who the hell remembers them from
the arcade game?), but overall, this is a better
translation than Donkey Kong. The other edge of
this blade is that Donkey Kong Jr. is an inferior
game. Mario's not a great villain (I don't buy him
using a whip, not even during intimate moments with the
princess), and Donkey Kong sure as hell doesn't fit the
role of the damsel in distress. Donkey Kong Jr.
fares better than either of them... he lacks the appeal
of today's video game mascots, but he does have a nice
blend of toddler cuteness and gorilla goofiness that
adds personality to the game. However, his
inexperience as a hero really shows when he's climbing
ropes at various inconvenient speeds and leaping to tiny
platforms... then missing them. The level design
isn't very impressive either, thanks to the abundance of
vines and chains that slow the game down and make it
tough to dodge the flocks of parrots and Mario's wind-up
bear traps (I bet these would be a lot more useful to
Mario now, although they don't really fit his current
harmless image. Maybe he'll lend a few to Wario
when he gets his own GameCube game).
Of course, there are some people out there who
probably loved Donkey Kong Jr., and wouldn't mind
getting a competant translation of Donkey Kong to go
along with it. I'm sure they'll be satisfied with
this cartridge, but I'm not. I just can't be happy
with a good version of Donkey Kong when I'm sure
Nintendo could have made a perfect one.
|
|
|
FREEDOM
FORCE |
|
|
SUNSOFT |
|
|
LIGHT GUN |
|
|
NES |
| | |
|
Although
it was one of the most widely distributed peripherals
ever, Nintendo's Light Zapper didn't get much use past
the obligatory games of Duck Hunt when players first
took their systems out of the box. How many other
light gun games do you remember for the NES? I'm
guessing that, unless you had a subscription to Nintendo
Power from the very beginning and still haven't let
yours lapse, you can only come up with Operation: Wolf
and possibly Baby Boomer... and that's only if you were
a sadist who thought you could actually fire at the
baby. Whatever you came up with, it's unlikely
that you thought of Freedom Force at all. That's a
shame, because this often ignored Sunsoft release was
easily one of the best NES games specifically designed
for the Zapper.
As the name suggests, Freedom Force has you and a
friend (if you don't mind passing the gun around like a
hot potato between rounds) battling terrorists.
Neither the identity of these bag-headed bastards or
their ambitions are ever really explained in the game
itself, but hey... they're terrorists, and they're
holding Americans hostage. What more motivation do
you need to blow them away?
Like most NES Zapper games, Freedom Force is more a
test of accuracy than today's over the top titles, which
require fast, constant firing. Once a terrorist is
shot, you can put the rest of his body in a bag and
forget about him... this isn't House of the Dead, where
you have to puree' the enemy with bullets before it
finally gets the point and stays down. Speaking of
which, it's worth pointing out that Freedom Force is
pretty simplistic in comparison to Sega's light gun
games. You can't break any background objects, and
there are no hidden items. The few bonuses you can
get are collected from the lower right hand corner of
the screen rather than from enemies. Just be
careful when you try to get these, because the computer
likes to throw in an icon of a terrorist... nick this
with a bullet and the screen will quickly become
congested with angry bagheads.
That's one thing that keeps this admittedly
simplistic game from becoming boring... it can get
intense. You'll have to fire quickly and precisely
to tag all the terrorists and keep yourself from being
injured by their sprays of machine gun fire and
grenades. The hostages and a limited supply of
ammo keep you from getting too reckless, although you
can rack up quite a body count before the game bothers
to punish you for your mistakes. Aside from this,
the game is pretty realistic... instead of shooting cute
duckies or cardboard cutouts, you're in a serious
real-life situation, and the game very nicely reflects
this. Enemies don't just flash when you shoot
them... they'll collapse, sometimes falling out of
windows and always spurting a little blood. The
animation in general is excellent for an early NES
game... you can see just how evil the terrorists really
are when they shove hostages into doorways, hoping to
use them as a diversion, then yank them back out if you
don't take the bait. The music is just as
exciting, especially once the penalty icon's been hit...
after an initial note warning you of your mistake, the
soundtrack becomes incredibly frantic. If you
remember the boss fights in Sunsoft's more popular game
Blaster Master you'll know what to expect.
Unfortunately, Freedom Force's requirement of a light
gun kept players from paying much attention to it when
it was first released, and it's just as detrimental now
that most people play NES games on emulators. Most
emulators just don't have support for light gun games,
and the few that do expect you to play the games with a
mouse instead. As you might imagine, it's a lot
tougher to kill a terrorist with a mouse than a gun, not
to mention a lot less satisfying. That's why I
couldn't really recommend Silent Scope for the
Dreamcast, and it's why I can only recommend playing
Freedom Force on a real NES. Sure, it takes a lot
of effort to actually get a Nintendo Entertainment
System to work, but you'll be happy you struggled with
it after you've played a few games of this outstanding
shooter.
|
|
|
HOGAN'S
ALLEY |
|
|
NINTENDO |
|
|
LIGHT GUN |
|
|
SYSTEM |
| | |
|
Since
picking up Freedom Force, I've gotten into the odd habit
of collecting NES light gun games. However, if
most of them are as bland and uninvolving as Hogan's
Alley, I'll probably kick this habit like a bad... well,
you know.
There are three different modes in Hogan's Alley...
the first is a very simple reproduction of a police
firing range. Three cardboard cutouts are pulled
into the end of a corridor, then flipped around
revealing both dastardly criminals and mild-mannered
citizens. The artwork for these characters is
probably the best part of the game... they're very well
drawn charicatures of sleazy thugs, grumpy old men, and
stick-wielding, big-chinned cops. You can almost
hear the Edward G. Robinson imitation when you blast
that snarling mafia boss, complete with sunglasses and a
corsage. Unfortunately, this silly yet savory
Nintendo cheese is spread across a very thin cracker...
you'll deal with the same number of targets in the exact
same places every single time, and you'll spend more
time waiting for those targets to roll into place than
firing at them.
The game picks up a little in the second mode, which
takes the same six targets and distributes them
throughout a small, simply drawn city. All you'll
find in this town are a construction site, a gun shop
(which makes sense, since nearly everyone in the game
seems to have one), and an apartment building, all drawn
with text and leftover Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong
graphics. They're functional at best, but the
backgrounds do give the targets more places to hide,
rather than lining up in neat little rows just waiting
to be picked off. Some of the cutouts will even
move while they're vulnerable, too, which adds variety
to the game (boy, does it ever need some).
The final mode, the can toss, is the most clever but
also the most frustrating game in Hogan's Alley.
In it, cans will fly from the right of the screen, and
you've got to guide them to the ledges on the left by
firing at them. The lower the ledge, the higher
the points you'll get... however, if the can hits the
side of the ledge rather than landing on top, it bounces
off and forces you to continue firing to keep it in
mid-air. This portion of the game is frustrating
because the cans are very small, and you'll generally
miss them unless you fire several times. After a
few minutes of this, your fingers start hurting because
the Zapper's trigger is so hard to squeeze down... and
because you keep pointing the middle one at the screen
when the cans somehow pass through your hail of bullets
and fall off the screen.
I'm not sure if Hogan's Alley was this dull and
annoying as an arcade game, or if this is yet another of
Nintendo's lackluster arcade translations, with more
accurate graphics than conversions for older systems but
the same incomplete gameplay. Whatever's the case,
you should save your ammo for something better... I
personally suggest the aforementioned Freedom Force.
|
|
|
MECHANIZED
ATTACK |
|
|
SNK |
|
|
LIGHT GUN |
|
|
NES |
| | |
|
|
|
|
OPERATION
WOLF |
|
|
TAITO |
|
|
LIGHT GUN |
|
|
NES |
| | |
|
Please excuse any typos you
might find in this review... I'm typing this with only
nine fingers. The tenth fell off from a frantic
session of Mechanized Attack and I think the cat carried
it under the couch.
That's the problem with both of these games...
they're just not suited to the NES and its light
gun. I didn't have many complaints about the
Zapper before, but after the arthritis-inducing
combination of Operation Wolf and SNK's derivitive
Mechanized Attack, its limitations become pretty
clear. The same gun that was great for simple,
slow-paced target shooting just isn't a match for
hundreds of angry, sometimes bullet-resistant
soldiers... the Zapper's trigger is too tight to squeeze
repeatedly over a long period of time. Also, the
screen flashes that were tolerable in Nintendo's less
demanding light gun games become overwhelming here...
they're enough to make an epileptic's head explode.
If you think you can handle all of that, you're going
to have a lot of fun with Mechanized Attack... although
not so much with Operation Wolf. After milking the
game in arcades for years, Taito evidently didn't think
that it would be important to spend much time porting it
to the NES. The situation was reversed for
Mechanized Attack... this clone of Taito's extremely
popular light gun shooter didn't get much attention in
arcades, so SNK used its second chance more wisely,
making the home version of Mechanized Attack good enough
to keep Zapper fans playing even at the risk of snapping
off their trigger fingers.
Mechanized Attack benefits greatly from SNK's extra
attention, which you'll see once you compare it to
Operation Wolf. The graphics are more detailed and
clearly defined, making it easier to pinpoint and take
down each enemy. The backgrounds in both games are
pretty repetitive, but you won't mind seeing five
screens of the same jungle quite so much in Mechanized
Attack thanks to the more intricate artwork.
There are enough soldiers in SNK's game to keep you
blasting, but never enough to make you feel helpless,
which was a common occurance in Operation Wolf.
Mechanized Attack also gives you extra lives to go with
your two credits, giving you a shot at beating the
game. Frankly, you'll be lucky to beat the first
round of Op Wolf thanks to its unfair difficulty.
Even the control is better in Mechanized Attack... both
games force you to press a button on the joystick to
launch a grenade, but it's much more reliable in SNK's
shooter... once you press the button, you can count on
your character throwing a grenade in the exact spot
you're holding the Zapper. Finally, Mechanized
Attack has a wide variety of bosses, some very large and
a lot of fun to fight against. I've never found
any in Operation Wolf, although it's possible they do
exist... when you can't make it past the second round of
the game, it's hard to say for sure.
The only thing that Operation Wolf does better than
Mechanized Attack are intermissions from the arcade
game, and even those are a little disappointing... where
once there were detailed backgrounds behind your
soldier, there is only empty blackness. Mechanized
Attack gives you a single picture of your soldier
getting gunned down, and that's more impressive than any
three of Operation Wolf's stills put together.
If you think that Nintendo's more sedate light gun
games are too light on incoming and outgoing lead,
you'll be thankful for Mechanized Attack. As for
Operation Wolf, it's best played with a real gun, using
the cartridge as a target. Just be sure to use a
high calibur weapon on this low calibur game.
|
|
|
NINJA
GAIDEN |
|
|
TECMO |
|
|
ACTION |
|
|
NES |
| | |
|
Sometimes
less is indeed more. Having just gone back and played
both of these games, I can say that the dramatic
departure of the simpler yet almost paradoxically more
clever NES game from its arcade counterpart is something
to behold. How, pray tell? Well, let me attempt to
explain.
The arcade version of Ninja Gaiden is basically a
Double Dragon clone with impressive graphics, poor
controls, unimaginative enemies, and inscrutable action.
Although the scissor leg grab is well-done, that’s about
the only thing I’d say is inspired. Basically you run
around in two and a half dimensions fighting the same
two or three clones (one Jason Vorhees lookalike, one
vest-clad stick-wielding biker type) with poor
moves. All those clones eventually and quite
unfairly gang up on the player... don’t they have the
decency to attack individually like in nearly all other
martial arts contests? Much of the stuff on the streets
is breakable, revealing gems, vitamins, and other items
invaluable to a ninja battling thugs. On the rare
occasion that a sword is given, of course, it only lasts
a short duration. Not that your ninja ever thought of
using the sword on his BACK, mind you. It seems rather
silly that the best attack is performed by grabbing
overhead bars and using the leverage to kick with both
feet. In addition to that, all sorts of unfair objects
like oncoming traffic will cause the player to
mindlessly continue until the enemies and obstacles have
been overcome. The only neat thing about this whole game
is the CONTINUE? screen which depicts our helpless
martial arts expert (deservedly) about to be bifurcated
by a rotating saw. Ninja Gaiden certainly doesn’t have
the ability to hold interest like other quarter munching
fighters like TMNT, Crime Fighters, Double Dragon, The
Simpsons, Shinobi, or even Bad Dudes.
However, the NES version is
quite different. Why this was given the same title is a
mystery. This is your basic side-scroller, but in
addition to your sword are useful powerups including
throwing stars, fire, the ability to freeze time,
"boomerang" shurikens, and others. The appearance of the
levels, characters, bosses, etc. are merely adequate, as
are the sounds. However, the challenge of each level and
surprisingly attractive cinematic sequences will keep
gamers coming back for more. It’s hard as hell to
complete some of these jumps while avoiding and/or
annihilating enemies at the same time, but you just KNOW
you can do it if you persist. A very tough, very
enjoyable game, the original Ninja Gaiden on the NES is
my personal favorite in the series.
So, avoid the arcade game, but don’t miss the NES
version of Ninja Gaiden. Hopefully the update will be
worthwhile,
too...
