This December we took some chumps to the mat during our annual Site Competition. Last month, we competed for fastest KO/TKO times and title belts in the classic Nintendo titles, Punch-Out! and Super Punch-Out!. Listen to our Playcast this month as hosts, Rich (singlebanana) and Shawn (GrayGhost81), are joined once again by special guest, RF Generation playthrough all-star, Doug (douglie007) to discuss both Punch-Out! titles and our Top 5 favorite playthroughs of 2017. In this episode, the guys discuss their earliest memories of the Punch-Out! series, what they believe makes these "sports" titles so beloved by so many gamers, and ponder Shawn's possible abduction by alien lifeforms. Do both Punch-Out!games still hold up today? And which game outside of our playthroughs did the guys enjoy playing the most in 2017? The answer to these questions and many more in this month's episode of the RF Generation Playcast. You won't want to miss it!
As always, we are happy to hear your thoughts on this game on our discussion page (linked below). We will respond to your comments and are always happy to discuss the game more. We hope you enjoy our show. Please be sure to rate and write a review of the show on iTunes to help us increase our listenership. Thanks for the listen!
Once upon a time, the strongest desire of most gamers was to duplicate what they played in the arcade on a home console. In this fashion, one could say that arcades ruled the jungles of electronic video game entertainment. While complete faithfulness to the arcade original was the holy grail, it was certainly not a requirement, though individual interpretation on the quality of the port was certainly debated, especially in the playgrounds and hallways of schools.
Today I submit three more titles for your enjoyment; two I truly love more than the arcade originals, and one that I would rather suffer (another) head injury than play on a home console.
While I eagerly anticipate the arrival of October because of my trip down south to meet up with several rfgen members to once again attend the seminal Retro World Expo, I'm making sure I've got my wishlist in order and ready to rock. This trip gives me the opportunity to delve into the stock of dozens of stores and vendors that I'd normally never have access to while at home. My hope is to be able to find some of the more challenging games to obtain in different sets. Since completing my licensed NES and Turbografx 16 collections, I've been focusing on completing a few other full libraries. Some easier than others.....
Most people do not think of the NES when they think of pinball. They would be very right to forget the small library of sub par pinball games on the otherwise heralded system...but SOMEONE has to play'em right? While it only has a few titles, the NES is certainly one of the places you could play.
Today I'm hitting up the Compile shooters again! Compile has made a lot of great games, and released them for many consoles. This one is M.U.S.H.A. on Sega Genesis. I go over the mechanics, weapon choices, level design, boss fights and its kick-ass soundtrack! Will this game replace my beloved Gun-Nac as my favorite Compile shooter?
Back around 2004 I ordered my first box of NES games off of Ebay. There were about 40 games in it and it cost me around $100. I was mostly trying to acquire some games I had as a kid like Hydlide, Karnov, Ninja Gaiden and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was very cool to explore other games that I didn't even know existed that also came in the box, including unusual games like Chiller, hidden gems like Kickle Cubicle, and classics like Contra. In retrospect, it was an amazing deal, but I didn't know that at the time. I had just picked up a cheap NES at a local Pawn Shop and was looking for some software to play on it...simple as that. After enjoying the next couple of weeks of immensely exploring each and every title in the box, I realized I had awakened something I didn't know was inside me.
One of the biggest drawbacks of the NES Model 2, or the "Toploader," is its lack of AV out. Being tethered to coaxial output these days seems almost barbaric, especially since the Model 1 Nintendo has it standard! Thanks to the wonders of the internet, and a neat little circuit board, I fixed that issue in short order.
As a bonus, I did some repair to my GBA SP, which warrants some attention in case any would be handymen decided to undertake the job themselves.
Back in the day, I managed to beat the overwhelming majority of the video games I played, but there were a few titles that remained above my humble gaming skills, so playing for completion was a hopeless effort (like smashing your head against a wall). Blaster Master was one of those games. I loved playing Blaster Master, but the ending always seemed unattainable, like the summit of the infamous K2 mountain in winter. Now, just over twenty-five years later, and I feel ready to climb that mountain again. Being older and generally less skilled at gaming than in my youth, do I have a chance to finally beat this notoriously difficult game?
Join RF Generation Playcast hosts, Rich (singlebanana), Shawn (GrayGhost81), Floyd (Fleach), and special guest, Duke.Togo from the Collectorcast, as we discuss our August NES playthroughs, Jaws and The Legend of Zelda. In this episode, we discuss whether each of these classic games hold up in the modern generation. What's different about playing these games now and playing them when they came out? Were these games good picks for a monthly playthrough, or were they a bit too polarizing for our audience? You won't want to miss this fun and entertaining episode of the RFG Playcast!
As always, we are happy to hear your thoughts on this games on our discussion page (linked below). We will respond to your comments and are always happy to discuss these games more. We hope you enjoy our show. Please be sure to rate and write a review of the show on iTunes to help us increase our listenership. Thanks for the listen!
Jaws was one of the August community playthroughs here at RFGen and it was the first time I had played this particular game. I have to say, it's a bit of an oddity. The majority of the gameplay is non-scrolling horizontal shooter, but there are a few different mechanics thrown in to change things up a bit. On paper, the game doesn't sound impressive - an LJN published tie-in to the fourth (and arguably worst) Jaws movie, Jaws: The Revenge. But how does it play?
Game:Tecmo World Wrestling Developer: Tecmo Platform(s): NES Average Member Rating: 70%
Recently, I had a run in with one of my favorite NES games as a kid, and thought that it might be worth a closer look. Tecmo World Wrestling or Gekitou Pro Wrestling!! Toukno Densetsu (that is a mouthful) is the premiere choice of wrestling games on the NES, which is surprisingly a pretty crowded category. Not to spoil things, but of them all, TWC stands far above as the clear winner here.
Every year, at least once or twice, I get what I like to call "Retro Game Depression." Symptoms include irritability (at overly complex controls), sleepiness (falling asleep while pondering beautiful, yet functionally dead vistas), and short attention span (perhaps from open world game burn-out). The treatment is simple; a barrage of games that both tickle my nostalgia as well as my love of retro gaming. Please join me, my friends, as I embark on a Late Summer Retro Gaming Expedition.
Compile is well known for making excellent shoot'em ups and of all the ones I've played, Gun-Nac is my favourite. This is not a game I played as a kid. I only tried it for the first time within the past year, but I was immediately hooked and I now consider it one of my favorites on the NES.
Aside from very solid controls and a variety of weapons and power-ups, the thing that stands out most is the amazing, somewhat bizarre, environments. Each stage has a theme that's a little different than your average shmup. In one, you battle sentient vegetables, while in another you're up against currency. Boss battles that include giant robot rabbits and Maneki Neko are a nice change from battling other spaceships.
Video game collectors, as a kind of purist rule, don't like emulators...that is unless Nintendo wants to sell us one, then we're cool with it. The recently announced NES Classic Edition will be here before you know it and I suspect that most Nintendo fans out there will do their best to pick one up. Let's take a look at some of the details.
So far I've been sharing reviews of games I adore and have gushed over them accordingly. Today I thought I'd share a review of a game that evokes a lot of nostalgia, but very little love.
The original Prince of Persia is a game that was quite ubiquitous in the early 90's. Originally developed for the Apple II, it was soon ported to over a dozen other platforms. It's the NES version that made its way into my game library when I was a kid, and did it ever make me feel terrible at video games. Between the jerky movement, odd controls, and inexplicable 60 minute time limit, I never managed to get very far in this game back when I first played it. It rarely managed to stay in the console for more than a few minutes before I got frustrated by constantly dying and swapped it out for Star Tropics, Felix the Cat or solo games of Monopoly.
Give the video a watch to hear my thoughts on playing this game many years later.
