Konami's Castlevania: The Adventure is an old favorite. It was a birthday gift from my parents at age 13, and the first 3rd party Game Boy game I owned. I have many fond memories of late nights and trips to my grandparents' house, bringing the Game Boy with me, and camping out in the living room to play it while the family talked. However, time hasn't been kind to the game, with many people decrying it as one of the worst entries in the series. What are my thoughts on the game now, as we approach 30 years since its release? Watch my review, and then let's discuss! What do you think of Castlevania: The Adventure? And what are your favorite games in the series?
[img width=320 height=318]https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kAyGzRAku1I/V8G4oy90YLI/AAAAAAAAAf8/KPkZDqxY6fQNSsgQuJgFKcjOY5GbZlkMgCLcB/s320/Castlevania%2BAdventure%2Bbox.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly stolen from the Castlevania Wikia page.
When I was a kid, this was the baddest looking box art in all the land
when it came to Game Boy games. And by bad, I mean AWESOME.
Nostalgia can be a very powerful force. It can make adults look back fondly on all sorts of things that, viewed objectively, probably aren't as great as we remember them. For a child of the 80's, that can be almost anything. From VCRs and teased hair, to classic cartoons and our favorite movies and video games, there are times when it's hard to take a step back and look at those old favorites with a more critical eye. Sure, that one Poison album might be one of your favorites of all time, but musically, does it still hold up? What about your favorite childhood cartoon...could you watch it today without cringing or thinking it's nothing but pure cheese?
Now think about your favorite video games as a child. Sure, some of them probably stand the test of time. But for every Super Mario Bros or Contra, there's always a handful of games that we may still hold in high regard and still have much affection for. If we could set aside our own memories and youthful experiences, would we still hold those works in the same esteem? For me, one of those games is Konami's Castlevania: The Adventure on the Game Boy.
Continue reading Castlevania The Adventure, 1989
[img width=320 height=285]http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/tmnt/tmnt_files/tmnt-gb-us-cover.jpg[/img] Image shamelessly linked from Hardcore Gaming 101.
Now you're playing with power - Turtle Power!
1990 was a fabulous year for Peter Laird, and Kevin Eastman, creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters. They saw the 4 intrepid heroes at the height of their popularity. The comic book was selling, the cartoon series was all the rage among adolescent males, and the live-action movie starring the turtles came out and became the most successful independent film of all time. In addition, TMNT the action figures were selling well, and as such, "Turtle Mania" was in full swing. Pizza Hut even did a TMNT-themed promotional tie-in where they did a concert tour of guys in rubber Turtle suits singing and dancing to 80's rock called the "Coming Out Of Their Shells" tour, complete with pay-per view performance and VHS, and audio cassette. One might even go so far as to say that the 4 turtles had over-saturated the market by that point.
Continue reading Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan, 1990
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