Pokemon Snap (Nintendo 64)

What happens when you combine Pokemon with a first person shooter? You get Pokemon Snap. Only, in this case your gun is replaced with a camera and you throw apples vs. grenades or other weapons. Pokemon Snap was one of the first console based Pokemon games and a spinoff that is not part of them main series which is more RPG/adventure oriented and was originally based on the Game Boy.

Pokemon Snap had originally been planned for the 64DD Nintendo 64 expansion. This was a rewritable magnetic disk system (kind of like a Zip or Jazz drive) that attached to the bottom of the Nintendo 64 and plugged into the expansion port there. However, the 64DD was a commercial failure in Japan and never released in North America so it was instead released as a regular Nintendo 64 cartridge. Pokemon Snap had a mostly positive reception by fans and critics alike but if you are looking for a more in depth game then this is not the Pokemon game for you. Pokemon Snap was released on the Wii’s Virtual Console in 2007 and on the Wii-U’s Virtual Console in 2016. It’s a decent diversion if you are a Pokemon fan (or possibly even if you aren’t) but it isn’t a terribly long or involved game.

Stargate (Atari 2600)

Stargate was the arcade sequel to Defender and is sometimes known as Defender II. The original arcade game was Stargate but most home ports were retitled Defender II because of copyright concerns. The Atari 2600 version was originally released as Stargate but a later release changed the name to Defender II. Other ports include the Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, Atari 5200, NES, Apple II and DOS. The arcade version was also included in Midway Arcade Origins released in 2012 though it was also titled Defender II and not Stargate.

The game itself is similar to defender but with many more enemies and a stargate that serves different functions depending on the circumstances. For example, it may be used to transport your ship instantly to where a humanoid is in trouble or it may be used to skip levels.

Stargate/Defender II was a very good game though it never really came close to the popularity of Defender. The Atari 2600 port was also very good which was not always the case with arcade translations.

Conker's Bad Fur Day (Nintendo 64)

Most games developed by Rare are very good and Conker's Bad Fur Day is no exception. In many ways, it is very similar to Rare's other platformers for the Nintendo 64 like Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. However, one key difference is that it is targeted towards a more mature audience. Despite the cartoony appearance, the game is full of not so kid friendly things like profanity, adult humor and over the top violence.

Initially, the game sold below expectations partially because of limited advertising and the fact that the game was released in 2001 which was pretty late in the life of the Nintendo 64. However, the game was a hit among critics and it eventually developed a cult following. Enough so that in 2005 a remake (Conker: Live & Reloaded) was released for the Xbox. The original was also re-released as part of the Rare Replay compilation for the Xbox One in 2015.

Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo 64)

Super Smash Bros. is a must have game for the Nintendo 64 and is essentially a fighting game, Nintendo style. It was released in 1999 and it added quite a bit of variety to your typical fighting game while at the same time simplifying things. Here’s the comparisons that matter:

In your typical modern fighting game you have to learn a bunch of different complex control combinations for each character. In Super Smash Bros., the control scheme is the same for each character.

In your typical modern fighting game your environment is typically limited to a relatively small arena, stage or whatever and movement is limited. In Super Smash Bros., the levels or stages are more like a screen from a Super Mario Bros. or another platformer with tons of stuff to jump on to and special items to grab.

In your typical modern fighting game, you are limited to two players fighting at once. In Super Smash Bros., up to four players can beat each other up.

Finally (though there are probably more), most fighting games have their own set of characters unique to that game. Super Smash Bros. lets you play various Nintendo characters from different games.

Super Smash Bros. has become one of Nintendo’s most popular franchises with a new iteration being released on every new Nintendo console (though there hasn’t been one for the Switch yet). The original Nintendo 64 Smash Bros. was released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2009.

Amiga Force (June 1993)

Amiga Force is a gaming magazine for the Commodore Amiga that was published in in the U.K. in the 1990s. The June 1993 issue includes:

Amiga Force (June 1993)

Computer Gamer (May 1986)

Computer Gamer is a computer gaming magazine that was published in the U.K. in the 1980s. It covered gaming on home computers that were popular there. Some of which were not familiar to us in North America (like the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC) and some were (like the Commodore 64). the May 1986 issue includes:

Computer Gamer (May 1986)

Mindshadow (Activision/Interplay)

Mindshadow was first released in 1984 and is essentially and illustrated text adventure game. The text adventure genre is perhaps best illustrated by Infocom and the Zork series. Adding illustrations was basically the next step in the evolutionary development of these games. This game was developed by Interplay and published by Activision.

Mindshadow (Activision/Interplay

Mortal Kombat Trilogy (NES)

I posted previously about "demakes" on the Atari 2600 which are basically just clones of newer games on an older system. There can be a fine line as to what is legal and not, particularly when selling such products. But then there are those who just don't give a crap.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy was released officially on various home platforms in 1996 and 1997 but these were 32-bit releases on the PlayStation, Saturn, Nintendo 64 and DOS/Windows. There were no official releases on older platforms. However, that didn't stop Cony Soft from developing an unlicensed bootleg version for the original Nintendo in 1998.

Cony Soft, a Hong Kong based company that went by a variety of other names made a number of bootleg games for the NES from 1993 through at least 1998. Most of them were fighting games. I suppose there must have been some demand for them somewhere at some point but it's hard to imagine that they are very good. Though I suppose given the limits of the system, Mortal Kombat doesn't look half bad on the NES.

Super NES Buyer's Guide (May 1993)

Super NES Buyer's Guide was a relatively short-lived Super Nintendo specific magazine published by the same people who published EGM. It was very much a Super Nintendo specific version of EGM. However, you didn't get very many pages for the price and at least some of the material was reused from EGM. The first issue was included free with an issue of EGM. The May 1993 issue includes:

• Feedback - Letters about Super Star Wars, video game mascots, sports games, mail order sales, release dates, batteries in games and more.

• SNES Hi-Tech - The Super Scope's lack of sensitivity to the color red, and Nintendo lists all the reasons you shouldn't play import games and plans encoding games to prevent simple adapters from working.

• Future Play - Coverage of future releases in the U.S. and Japan including R-Type III, G-2, Alien 3, Doremon, Septentrion, Super Air Diver, Y's IV: Mask of the Sun, Art of Fighting, Neugier, Battle Royal, Bio-Metal, Air Management 2, Fatal Fury 2, Tekkaman Blade, Great Battle 3, Kamen Riders-SD, Super Godzilla, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Ren & Stimpy, Crash Dummies, Special Tee Shot, and Superman.

• SNES Tricks - "Tricks of the Trade" section including detailed instruction for how to find the black hole in StarFox, passwords for Tiny Toon Adventures, a stage select for Super Valis IV, secret options for Street Combat, a password to max out your abilities in Best of the Best, car customization for Test Drive 2, how to get 75 lives in Death Valley Rally, and more.

• SNES Review Crew - Reviews of The Lost Vikings, Family Dog, Mechwarrior (more fun on the PC if you ask me), Troddlers, and Dream Probe.

• Game Over - This section would show the ending of games. This month Firepower 2000 is featured.

• Special Feature - A detailed preview of Alien vs. Predator by Activision. There were a lot of unrelated games with this name. This one is a beat 'em up though it is not related to the arcade version by Capcom. There was also a first person shooter game with this name for the Jaguar. All of these were released around the same time period (1994).

• Super Reviews - More detailed reviews of games including Bubsy, StarFox (the first to use the SuperFX chip), Tuff E Nuff (yet another fighting game), Saber Run (never played this one but it reminds me of Strider on the NES a bit, and Mario is Missing (an educational game for kids).

• Super Previews - Previews, only more super... Games featured include Taz-Mania (you play the role of the Tazmanian Devil but this one plays like a racing game), Alien vs. Predator (the Special Feature above), Brawl Brothers (another mediocre fighting game), Rocky Rodent (an obscure side-scrolling adventure game by Irem), Rock & Roll Racing (an excellent racing game featuring a heavy metal sound track and originally developed as a sequel to RPM Racing. and with roots in Racing Destruction Set and R.C. Pro-Am.), Black Bass (seriously, just go fishing), Dracula (based on the movie), Super Baseball 2020 (a futuristic baseball game despite being a bit anachronistic now), P.T.O. (a World War II naval sim/strategy game), Caribbean Kawasaki Challenge (a motorcycle and jet ski racing game), and Wolfchild (a horror themed side-scrolling adventure).

...and more!

Outlander (Super Nintendo)

Outlander was released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo and would have been right at home as a Mad Max license. The theme is much the same. You drive along a post apocalyptic wasteland searching for weapons, food, fuel and other items while you fend off various enemies. In addition to the vehicular battle, there are also some side-scrolling walking around and fighting parts.

Unfortunately, while the theme of the game certainly resembles Mad Max, it doesn’t live up to the standard set by the movie. The graphics on the Super Nintendo have a digitized look and aren’t terrible but aren’t great either. The animation and frame rate seem pretty bad as well. Control is passable but the graphics and gameplay are extremely repetitive.

There was a Genesis version of this game also. The primary difference between the two was that the driving parts of the Genesis version were from a first person perspective while on the SNES they were from a third person perspective. Either way, it isn’t a very good game.

Other than owning a Super Nintendo (or Genesis) there really isn’t any other way to play this game besides emulation. It hasn’t had any re-releases and given the quality of the game I wouldn’t expect any. This is one of those games that would have been really disappointing had you bought it based on what the box art promised.

Mecarobot Golf (Super Nintendo)

If you like golf games, there were a number of good ones released for the Super Nintendo. This really isn't one of them. Mecarobot Golf features an odd story about a robot who is discriminated against on the golf course. Somebody purchases Eagle (the robot) and builds a course for him to practice on. It is up to you to determine if robots or humans are the better golfers.

The Sound is pretty minimal and while the graphics feature a couple of interesting effects, overall they are pretty subpar. In Japan this game was endorsed by a famous Japanese golfer but when it was released in 1993 in North America, the robot got all of the credit. It really isn't a terrible game but there were just so many better ones.

I don't think this game had any sequels or any subsequent releases so if you want to play it you'll have to break out your Super Nintendo and find an original cart. Or just resort to emulation. But unless you just want to see how the story ends, you will probably be better off picking from one of the better alternatives.

T&C Surf Designs (NES)

Town & Country Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage was released in 1987 and reminds me a little bit of California Games. In part, this game seems to be an advertisement for the surfboard manufacturer of the same name. Where California Games has multiple events, this game has only two: skateboarding and surfing.

The skateboarding subgame is the better of the two. In it you maneuver through an obstacle course while performing as many tricks as you can. The surfing subgame works in much the same way. You are attempting to ride the wave all the way to shore while performing tricks and avoiding obstacles. It's kind of like the surfing part of California Games with a few more complexities.

Overall, the game isn't great and there isn't a enough to keep you interested for very long. The graphics are well done and the music is pretty good if limited but there just isn't enough game. This would be a good game to rent if such games were still rented.

You'll have to emulate or find an original NES cart for this one because there have been no re-releases I know about. However, there was a somewhat better sequel called Town & Country II: Thrilla's Surfari released for the NES several years later in 1992.

The One (April 1993)

The One is a computer gaming magazine that was published in the U.K. in the 1980s and 1990s. It covered various computers over its life but by 1993 it was exclusively covering the Amiga. In fact, at that time it was called The One Amiga. The April 1993 issue includes:

The One (April 1993)

Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

Super Mario Bros. 2 is of course the sequel to what was at the time the most popular video game ever, Super Mario Bros. However, Super Mario Bros. 2 in North America and most of the rest of the world was not the same sequel that was released in Japan. Nintendo of America deemed the Japanese sequel to be too difficult and too much like its predecessor to be successful. Instead, an unrelated game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic was improved upon and retrofitted with Mario Bros. related graphics, characters, etc. and released as Super Mario Bros. 2.

Despite being derived from a non-Super Mario Bros. game, SMB 2 was still a huge success. In fact, it was so successful that it was later also released in Japan as Super Mario Bros. USA. The original Japanese sequel was also later released to the rest of the world as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels as part of Super Mario All-Stars on the Super Nintendo.

Super Mario Bros. 2 as a whole is very similar to the original. It is the epitome of the side-scrolling platform adventure game. However, gone is the two-player mode of the original and you now have four protagonists to chose from instead of just two. In addition, each one has slightly different abilities as opposed to all playing identically. One key new feature was the ability to lift and throw enemies and objects. This ability, along with a several new characters, have been included in a number of sequels and spin-offs since.

Super Mario Bros. 2 was hugely successful, selling in the neighborhood of 10 million copies and becoming the third highest selling video game for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Because of its success, it has seen several re-releases. In 2001 it was released as Super Mario Bros. Advance for the Game Boy Advance. It was also included as part of Super Mario Bros. All-Stars for the Super Nintendo which was itself expanded and re-released multiple times for the Super Nintendo and Wii. It has also seen various Virtual Console releases for multiple subsequent Nintendo systems. This is one of those games that every gamer should at least try and it's pretty easy to come by in one form or another so what are you waiting for?

Personal Computer Games (January 1985)

Personal Computer Games was a U.K. based magazine that was published in the 1980s. It covered games on popular computers of the time. The January 1985 issue includes:

Personal Computer Games (January 1985)

Exile (TurboGrafx-CD)

Exile was released by for both the Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-CD in 1992. It was a remake of a game originally released in Japan in 1988 for various computers mostly unknown to those of us in North America, including the NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-9801, MSX2 and the X1 turbo. The game is an action RPG and features both a top down perspective like the original Zelda and other similar games, as well as a side-scrolling action perspective depending on what you are doing.

While the the Genesis and TurboGrafx-CD versions are very close, the TurboGrafx version has a slight edge in some areas. Because it is CD based, there are more cinematics and better music (though this might be a matter of personal preference to some degree). The graphics are very close but the TurboGrafx-CD version has slightly more colors. The translation also seems to be a little better and the story more coherent on the TurboGrafx version. However, these are all mostly minor differences. One interesting difference is the fact that the Genesis localization (done by Renovation) censored certain aspects of the game (e.g. naked girls in one scene) while the TurboGrafx-CD localization (done by Working Designs) did not.

Overall this is a very good game even if it is not as well known as some others. While I wouldn't say it is as good as Ys I and II, it's still quite good and fans of those games will likely enjoy this one. I am not aware of any remakes or re-releases so you will have to resort to emulation or track down and original Genesis or TurboGrafx-CD versions if you want to play.

Exile was followed up by Exile: Wicked Phenomenon the following year for the Turbo Duo or TurboGrafx-CD with the Super System Card.

GamePro (April 1998)

Next to Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro was perhaps the most popular video game magazine for many years, at least in North America. I always preferred EGM but GamePro had some great content to. The April 1998 issue includes:

GamePro (April 1998)

The Nintendo 64

For better or worse, Nintendo has always done things their own way. The Nintendo 64 is a good example. In an era when multimedia was king and CD-ROM was not only the wave of the future but had been well established, Nintendo decided to stick with cartridges for one more console generation. This is a little surprising given that Nintendo had worked with both Phillips and Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo (the latter famously leading to the development of the PlayStation). However, at the end of the day, Nintendo felt that CD-ROM just did not have the performance characteristics they desired.

The cartridge format has its advantages and disadvantages. The big advantage of course is speed. Accessing game data from solid state memory is far faster than reading it off of a CD. This meant virtually no load times. The disadvantages are price and memory limitations. While a CD costs pennies, ROM cartridges were far more expensive. A single CD could hold 650 to 700 MB whereas Nintendo 64 cartridges were limited to 64 MB primarily for cost reasons. These limitations led to there being only 388 games released for the N64 during its lifetime. By comparison there were around 1,100 games released for the PlayStation and close to 600 for the Sega Saturn. Both the NES and SNES had well over 700 games. However, despite the lower game count, the N64 still outsold the Saturn in the U.S. and the expense of producing cartridges meant that developers had to be much more careful with what they released, something that Nintendo tended to enforce to one degree or another over the years anyway. The average game quality was much higher on the N64 than other systems and a number of very influential games came from that system, including Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007 and a number of others. Ironically, Nintendo has come full circle by eliminating optical media and supporting a ROM cartridge format on the Switch (though digital distribution is also supported).

The Nintendo 64 had very impressive hardware for its time and was essentially based on a super computing platform. It's use of the NEC VR4300 running at 93.75 MHz made it the first truly 64-bit game system (despite Atari's math with the Jaguar). Perhaps more impressive was the "Reality Coprocessor" which was a derivative of the MIPS R4200 and was developed by SGI. It ran at 62.5 MHz and it's main strength was the vector processing capability it provided. 4 MB of Rambus RDRAM (or 8 MB with the Expansion Pak) rounded out the package. All in all, pretty impressive for 1996 when it was released.

I didn't have a Nintendo 64 when it was first released choosing to go with the PlayStation instead. However, the N64 is an often underrated console and is the favorite Nintendo console of many. It's hard to fault Nintendo for their choice of the cartridge format as it was a good fit for this system but it would be nice to see what kind of games would have come along if there had been a CD add-on. Nintendo did design the 64DD which was a rewritable magnetic disk based add-on. However, it was significantly delayed and only ended up being released in Japan where it was a failure. It also only held 64 MB of data (the same max as the typical cartridge) and I suspect the disks were significantly more expensive than CDs.

The Nintendo 64 is definitely a game system every video game aficianado should try. There are relatively few games compared to other systems but there are still tons of great titles. Like most systems, the N64 has also been emulated fairly well at this point but its never the same as playing on original hardware. And for the collector, cartridges have always been more fun to collect than discs :).

What were your favorite Nintendo 64 games? While I didn't have the system until after its commercial life was over, I'm still fond of Mario Kart 64, Paper Mario, GoldenEye and Cruisn' Exotica among others.

Paper Mario (Nintendo 64)

Paper Mario was the second RPG starring Mario (the first being Super Mario RPG). Paper Mario was released for the Nintendo 64 in 2001 and featured a fairly unique graphics style. The characters were flat 2D objects (like paper) while the backgrounds were rendered in 3D. Mario isn’t exactly my favorite subject for an RPG but there is no denying that Nintendo did an excellent job with this one.

Unsurprisingly, the game is set in the Mushroom Kingdom and the plot revolves around rescuing Princess Peach from Bowser. So far, it’s like every other Super Mario game. The difference of course is that this is not an arcade style game. Instead, you control Mario (and others) to solve puzzles and battle enemies in a turn-based manner.

Paper Mario generally received very good reviews and spawned multiple sequels. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on the GameCube was the first sequel, followed by Super Paper Mario for the Wii, Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS and Paper Mario: Color Splash for the Wii U. If you want to play the original Paper Mario the you don’t have to track down an original cartridge (though that would be my preferred way). It was also released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 and the Wii U Virtual Console in 2015.

The above images were taken from a commercial for Paper Mario and were found on Tumblr.

Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo 64)

Mario Kart 64 was the second Mario Kart game and perhaps one of the most eagerly anticipated. It was originally scheduled to be a launch title but ended up being released about eight months later in early 1997 instead. While fondly rememberd today for the most part, it had somewhat mixed reviews at the time and was regarded by some as somewhat of a disappointement.

There were some pretty major changes from its predecessor (Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo). True 3D graphics were used as opposed to sprites and the Mode 7 effects of the SNES. Mario Kart 64 also added four player support which was a nice addition. The Spiny Shell (or Blue Shell as it is more commonly known) also made its debut with Mario Kart 64 and has been a staple ever since.

Some of the complaints include that that the game was too easy, there were fewer things to discover (secrets to be found), and there wasn't enough to set it apart from the original. There was also slow down with more than two players. The so-called "rubberband AI" was also criticized. This is what makes it difficult to separate from the pack and has been a part of Mario Kart games in some form ever since.

However, the true strength of this game was multiplayer and that's really true of all the Mario Kart games. There was also plenty of variety in regards to the number of tracks. Despite whatever imperfections Mario Kart 64 may have had, this is really a must have game for that system. While perhaps not the best game in the series for single player, multi-player is just as fun as any other version. I somehow missed out on Super Mario Kart on the SNES and didn't have a Nintendo 64 until it was already considered retro. The first Mario Kart I played was Double Dash on the GameCube and it is really still my favorite. I suspect that whichever Mario Kart most people first played is their favorite version.

Mario Kart 64 was re-released via the Wii Virtual Console in 2007 and again for the Wii-U Virtual Console in 2016 so you have a couple of options if you want to give this version a try. As long as you don't want a pristine mint in the box copy, the original cartridges aren't TOO expensive either.