DUNGEON EXPLORER
Published by : NEC
Original Release : Turbografx 16, 1989
Dungeon Explorer ? Gauntlet with a town. It?s got the same strengths and weaknesses as Gauntlet ? you can have up to five players at at time in this one, but it?s also all about repetitively throwing weapons at foes who keep spawning out of generators and that tends to get old fast. You can choose from one of six characters initially, and there?s two more unlockable, but since everyone starts with really low health and noone has a melee attack it?s like playing Gauntlet with a handicapped version of the Elf no matter who you pick. The towns are a really limited affair ? a few houses scattered around, and some castle with King who sends you off on quests. Serious level grindage is required to get anywhere in this one and even when you do power up it?s still pretty frustrating. This game has really not aged well at all ? only way I can see this being any fun at all is maybe with a group of sloshed friends.
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS : None really, save the original card
MARIO KART 64
Published by : Nintendo
Original Release : Nintendo 64, 1997
This one admittedly had some of the loosest and most slipshod play control of the series, but we still had a whole lot of fun with it back in the day as it was the first console racer to have split-screen four player racing. With a used copy of Double Dash being not much more than this $10 download, however, I have to question the point of bothering with it. Additionally, issues with the emulation are present ? the Virtual Console doesn?t emulate the N64?s controller pak, so you can?t save ghost data. Were you not playing on a system capable of handling the best version of Mario Kart, and were not said best version easy to find and dirt cheap, I might recommend this just for it?s multi-player action, but it seems rather pointless now doesn?t it?
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS : Nada, save the original cartridge
URBAN CHAMPION
Published by : Nintendo
Original Release : Nintendo Entertainment System, 1984
Another questionable NES choice from Nintendo, Urban Champion puts you in the shoes of some blue-haired drunkard as you endlessly brawl with some green-haired drunkard downtown. Think a really primitive and clunky version of Street Fighter, and you?re most of the way there. Administering socks to the face and gut while blocking the jabs of your foe, you try to push him back across three screens and into an open manhole where he presumably falls to his horrible death, only to revive and start the whole mess over again. And over again, and over again, until you decide to shut off the console. This is an awful game with no redeeming value, and should be avoided.
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS : There?s no need to consider them
MARIO 64
Published by : Nintendo
Original Release : Nintendo 64, 1996
Wahoo! A nice port of the original Nintendo 64 game, this is a nice option to have out there even though this was just re-released for Nintendo DS not too long ago. Mario 64 was the first really good 3D platformer, and is one of a very small handful of games in the genre that managed to do just about everything right. As a bonus, this Wii port features better graphics ? or at least they display better, looking much crisper than they did back on the ol? N64. This version allows you to play with the Gamecube controller, which works out really well for Mario 64?s button setup, and molesting Mario?s face at the beginning will undoubtedly give you a warm nostalgic feeling. It?s rare to go wrong with a Mario platform game and this is no exception ? and after that string of crap I just played I?m glad I can finally unequivocally recommend something!
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS : Mario 64 DS came out not too long ago, but using the stylus weirds some people out a bit
DR. ROBOTNIK?S MEAN BEAN MACHINE
Published by : Sega
Original Release : Sega Genesis, 1993
Mean Bean Machine is yet another incarnation of Compile?s Puyo Puyo, this time with Sonic the Hedgehog enemies as characters. It?s a good game, as you would expect a Puyo clone made by Compile themselves to be, but there?s nothing much to distinguish it from the many many many Puyo games out there (quite a few of them free ? http://www.assertfalse.com/puyo/www/). As such, unless you have only the Wii hooked up and want a 2 player Puyo on your console, I can?t see too many justifications for shelling out the $8 this one costs.
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS : Aside from the millions of Puyo clones out there, this one can be found on Sonic Mega Collection for the Gamecube, PC, PS2 and Xbox, and was ported to the Game Gear
BOMBERMAN ?93
Published by : Hudson
Original Release : Turbografx 16, 1992
The story of Bomberman?s life ? exceptional multi-player, boring single player. No exception here ? solo gamers will get little to nothing out of this, but it?s a riot for a bunch of people to get together and play as a party game. The gameplay is standard for the series ? you?re in a square arena, there?s rocks and whatnot scattered around, maybe some critters roaming. You drop bombs to try to waste other players, and can uncover upgrades that extend the length of the bomb?s explosion and allow you to trigger it remotely among other things. This game has the simpler, cleaner gameplay of the early games in the series before they started throwing in dinosaurs and all this other superfluous weirdness. Up to 5 player support is included with the Wii download version. Cute, colorful, great for get togethers, this is highly recommended to social gamers.
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS : Available in the Bomberman Collection for PC
GRADIUS
Published by : Konami
Original Release : Nintendo Entertainment System, 1986
Gradius wasn?t the very first space shoot-em-up, but it certainly became the prototype for the genre after it?s release. What?s great about it is that it was designed with the casual arcade player in mind, not the hardcore twitch-jockey demographic that shooters have evolved to cater to over time, so it?s playable and fun for nearly anyone. You guide the spacecraft ?Vic Viper? through 7 levels of shooting, though the game?s areas just sort of blend in to one another rather than having a distinctive separation. Gradius?s ?power up? bar was a unique feature at the time and a distinctive hallmark of this series ? certain enemies drop red artifacts when shot, and you collect these to advance spaces on the power bar. As you move up there are gradually more powerful options, but you don?t have to take them in order, and many things can be upgraded multiple times, which allows you to create a sort of distinctive setup for your play style and also allows you to shift power-up strategies as the level structure calls for it.
The game is pretty difficult, especially by today?s gimpy standards, but it?s nowhere near the insane difficulty that is the hallmark of most popular shooters. The final power-up option is the Shield, which soaks up a good number of hits and gives you a buffer for navigating the more difficult sequences of the game if used judiciously.
The game also has a number of nice touches not emulated by later and more graphically impressive entries into the genre ? for example, the terrain frequently shifts over the course of the level, and the music along with it to keep the mood appropriate. It?s a good game for the more casual gamers ? the pace is a little more relaxed than most shooters, there are frequent ?checkpoints? to pick up from when you die, and the difficulty is challenging but realistically doable. Not too shabby of a download for $5.
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS : There?s an arcade version, and it was ported to the Turbografx 16
XEVIOUS
Published by : Namco
Original Release : Nintendo Entertainment System, 1984
Xevious was a pioneering arcade game (the curious about it?s place in game history would be well advised to check out this Hardcore Gaming 101 article ? http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/xevious/xevious.htm), but of course we?re here to evaluate how fun it is to play at the moment and whether it is potentially worth spending money on. Unfortunately, I don?t think it has aged well enough to be a recommendation. It?s conventional top-down shooter gameplay (with the added twist of being able to bomb the ground below you) was revolutionary in it?s time, but it?s time was some 25 years ago. Add to this that this isn?t even the arcade version, but the graphically inferior NES version, and there isn?t much purpose to having this in your library unless you want it for nostalgic value or historical significance or something along those lines. Thanks for the good old days Xevious, but sorry.
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS : If you?ve really got a Xevious itch (that sounds kind of nasty, sorry) the Xevious Arrangement released in the arcades and for Playstation is a really excellent upgrade/remake
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Following my BBC Radio 4 spot about Family Gaming on a budget, I seem to have become the first port of call for friends and family looking to save money on video games. These various requests have meant I?ve spent quite a lot of time trawling through Amazon?s marketplace and various other second hand or discount websites.
Then last week I discovered Amazon Warehouse ? a bit behind the curve, I think ? which has turned out to be a great way to pass the responsibility for finding deals back to parents. For instance a simple Amazon Warehouse search for DS games returns a list of titles currently on sale. All that remains to do is to work through the list identifying those that would be a good fit for your family.
The bargain bug has also taken hold in my own household and my kids have started their own hunt using Amazon Warehouse to try to find better deals than each other. I recently picked up Zelda Spirit Tracks and Pilotwings Resort for much less than I expected. You do have to check back for these deals regularly as the best prices seem to go quite quickly, but it seems to be worth the time.
To help the kids with their search I?ve setup the following searches for the different consoles we use. The sheer volume makes it hard to work through all the games individually:
- DS Games
- 3DS Games
- Xbox 360 Games and Kinect Games
- PlayStation 3 Games and Move Games
- Wii Games
My kids now look through these each time they have pocket money to spend. They order the results by price and trawl through the list until they have spent their allowance. This has not only meant some cheap gaming, but also that we have started playing older games ? GBA titles on the DS lite and PS2 titles on our PlayStation 3 (having an old launch version of the console has the advantage of good backward compatibility).
We?ve not had any problems with the games we?ve purchased, but it?s good to know that Amazon Warehouse is also supported by Amazon?s excellent returns and shipping policy.
Header Image from flickr/iboy (Ernst Vikne).
Source: http://recommended247.com/game-console-best-sale/
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