Category: Platform

Categories
4 out of 5 Platform SNES

Castlevania

Publisher: Konami

Designer: Hitoshi Akamatsu

Type: Platform

Platform: NES

Release Date: 1986

Rating: undefined

So, you happen to be this guy with a whip. Yes, a guy with a whip, but you can upgrade it if you find something to do so, namely turn it from a leather whip to a chain whip. Anyway, you happen to be this guy and you wander into a haunted castle of all places, and you have to use this whip to kill all the nasties in the castle, as well as collect other things to help you in your quest (whatever that happens to be).

This is basically a platform game, sort of, because you also get to kill the nasties with your whip, and if you are lucky enough, with some special items that you pick up. Now here is the catch, you can only use these items a certain number of times, and these times sort of corresponding with the number of hearts that you pick up on the way.

However, these items aren’t necessarily visible – they happen to be hidden, behind torches and candles. Now, this is where the other use for the whip comes in, and that is that you hit the torches (or candles) and these special items (or hearts) drop out which you can collect. Now, this was the other tricky part, and that is if you aren’t careful you might end up using all these special items before they are really needed, and that is when you meet the big baddie (otherwise known as the boss monster, in video game parlance of course) at the end of the level.

Yeah, the game was fun, and it certainly does sound like it was pretty popular. I found that the controls were a bit tricky though. It took me a while to work out how to use the special items, and then I’d discovered that because I was mashing the controls as I was moving through the castle, I would end up using all of them before they were needed. Still, I did rather like this game – it was fun.

Anyway, as with a lot of games (but not all), you can find further details on Wikipedia. Also, I have found a few reviews of this game as well, including this one on retrogames as well as a fan site for the game.\

Categories
2 out of 5 Miscellaneous Arcade Nes Platform

Adventure Island

Publisher: Hudsonsoft

Designer: Hudsonsoft

Type: Platform

Platform: NES

Release Date: 1986

Rating:

It seems as if there are just some games that certain platforms don’t get the rights to, and it seems as if Wonderboy is one of them. Yeah, this is the Nintendo version of Wonderboy, right down to the skateboard and the axe that he happens to through at the nasties. In fact, the only difference that I encountered with this game was the title.

Look, it isn’t a bad game, it is fun, and it isn’t too difficult either, and I suspect that if you plugged away at it you could actually get a rather decent way through. However, I’m not one of those people that is willing to plug away with it all that much, particularly since this isn’t really the type of game that I would spend too much time playing, beyond simply checking it out and writing this review of it.

Then again, when I was a kid I did play Wonderboy often because, well, it wasn’t too difficult, and as I’ve suggested, this is the case with this game as well. Interestingly, another version (which I have already talked about) has appeared on the Super Nintendo, which reminds me of how painful it is when you want to upgrade from one box to another. These days though, well, we have emulators, so I guess it is all good then.

So, you can find more details about it on Wikipedia, of course, but you can also find instructions, and a walkthrough, on Strategywiki. Finally, there is another review of this game on Nintendolife.

Categories
Atari Platform

Mario Bros

Publisher: Nintendo

Designer: Shigeru Miyamoto, Gunpei Yokoi

Type: Platform

Platform: Atari 2600

Release Date: 1983

Rating:

Yeah, I really had to comment on how bad the Atari 2600 games really looked, especially since it does happen to be an 8-bit machine, and the games that appeared on other 8 bit machines (cough, c64, cough) were so much better looking. Still, I guess we are still looking at the really early days of the video game era so, well, I guess we can’t expect too much to come from these home machines.

Yet, this game certainly is nothing that you would expect to come from the Mario franchise. All you seem to do is to kill nasties and not even that. There are like three platforms and some nasties appear on them (as well as other rather, well, blocky, objects that I have no idea what they are supposed to be, but they didn’t kill me so I guess that is alright) and you have to knock them off the platforms by jumping into them from underneath, and then jumping onto the platform and kicking them off.

Actually, I do vaguely remember these old handhold games that we would get when we were kids (or should I say other kids would get because my parents never saw the point in forking out money for such things – so was the deprived childhood that I had – and I will point to the fact that that phrase is dripping with sarcasm) and this game was among them. I’m not going to go into details of these games because, well, I’m talking about Mario Bros from the Atari 2600.

Look, the game wasn’t bad, graphics aside, and it wasn’t too hard either. However, I certainly would be expecting anything on the level of other games from the period though, although this was a very, very popular machine.

Anyway, I can refer you to the Wikipedia article for more information on the game, and you can also go to a site called Moby Games, which also has a bit of a write up.

Categories
4 out of 5 Platform SNES

Donkey Kong Country

Publisher: Nintendo

Designer: Rare

Type: Platform

Platform: Super Nintendo

Release Date: 1994

Rating: undefined

This was certainly an interesting game, and a part of me suspects that it has something to do with the popularity of Super Mario Bros. The thing that that you might not realise that back in the deep dark days of computer history, Mario and Donkey Kong used to go head to head in an attempt to rescue Princess Daisy (whom Donkey Kong had kidnapped and taken to the top of a construction site). No doubt, this goes back to the grand old days of King Kong, hence the name, and hence the fact that Donkey Kong is a pretty big ape.

Well, this game takes us back to Donkey Kong’s home, and of course, there is no sign of Mario anywhere. However, what has happened is that Donkey Kong’s protege was tasked with guarding a cave full of bananas. Unfortunately, some nasties came along, tied up Diddy in a barrel, and scampered off with all the bananas. As such, it is now up to Donkey Kong, and Diddy, to get them all back.

So, the game pretty much plays like Super Mario Bros, though it does happen to be a little more detailed than the previous game. Then again, this is the SNES that we are talking about. You pretty much run, jump, and collect as many bananas as you can. You also have the benefit of having Diddy come along with you, and you can tag team with him. This also means that you get the benefit of having an extra life. Fortunately, if you do lose one of them, all you need to do is find a barrel with DK on it, and you can get them back.

The game has some interesting features, one of them being the ability to save, though to do that you have to get to a save point (though I haven’t managed to actually get that far). You can also find yourself getting some bonus rounds, such as when you collect three Emus, and thus you can then collect a heap of gold by playing the emu game (if it is an emu because this thing flies, and emus don’t).

One really cool aspect is that Donkey Kong happens to wear a tie, which was rather cute. Also, you can get power-ups, such as a rhinoceros which you can ride, and basically splatter as many enemies as you can possibly imagine while charging through the level.
Yeah, this game was pretty cool, though of course it does have the problem of getting somewhat harder as you progress through the levels, but still, I did like it.

Anyway, that’s enough from me for a change. If you want to know more, well, Wikipedia is probably the go to source for pretty much everything these days. Oh, and there is also a wiki page set aside for everything Mario Bros related, so you’ll find this game here as well.

Categories
1 out of 5 C64 Platform

Finders Keepers

Publisher: Mastertronic

Designer: David Jones

Type: Platform

Platform: C64

Release Date: 1985

Rating:

This game was actually rather annoying. You basically play knight and are given a mission by the king to, well, do something, and the next thing you know you are in a dungeon full of nasties. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not some role-playing game or anything, but rather a platform game, that in part also transforms into a maze game in sections.

Well, the story is that you have to go and get a present for the princess, and if you succeed, well, you can be admitted to the royal order of the knights of the polygon table. Yeah, it sounds pretty silly, and honestly, it really did seem to be pretty silly as far as I was concerned. Okay, it was pretty popular in its time, but that probably was because it happened to be an el-cheapo game. However, when I played it, well, I wasn’t all that impressed.

Apparently one of the ideas was that you had to manipulate objects (though I couldn’t figure out how to do that) and of course avoid nasties (which I also couldn’t figure out how to do either). You could also sell the items to collect gold, which no doubt you needed to do to be able to get that present for the princess.

Yeah, with all the other quality games out there, this one is definitely missable.

Though, if you really want to know more about it, well, you can always go to Wikipedia, or just jump over to Lemon 64, which seems to have the heads up on pretty much all of the Commodore 64 games.

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