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Hoskat

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  1. Hoskat
    Genre: Arcade
    Publisher: Bandai
    Total time played: 2 Hours
    Short review: An arcade classic that is easy to learn, tough to master and a ton of fun to play.
    Interesting links related to 
    100k Point Speed Run (3min 46sec) Video Review (Classic Game Room) Soundtrack Demons of Death!!
    The subtitle to Galaga is “Demons of Death” which I never realized even though it is right there on the box and front of the game cartridge. But, for some reason the title screen of the game just says Galaga. Not a big deal, just something I found interesting.

    Less is More
    There are a lot of very simple yet challenging games and Galaga is close to the top of the list. Every stage is the same, enemy ships fly in from all sides of the screen and fly around until settling near the top of the screen. They shoot projectiles at your ship which is at the bottom of the screen. You move left and right and shoot vertically with either the A or B button and try to destroy the ships. If you take too long to defeat the ships they will fly down in seemingly random patterns and try to destroy you.
    The game only requires 3 buttons…left, right and shoot. It doesn’t get much easier than that and somehow it is still challenging and very fun. There is an art in creating something so fun and timeless that is also as simple as it is.
    Shoot them before they shoot you.
    Captured
    The “Galaga” ships are the green ships that always sit at the top of the screen and take 2 hits to kill. If you shoot them one time they turn blue, the second shot makes them explode. Every once in a while one of the ships comes down just past the midway point on the screen and shoots out a beam that if you touch it causes you to lose control of the ship as it attaches to the top of the Galaga ship.
    If you are on your last life when this happens you will get a game over. If not you lose a life. But…if you shoot the Galaga ship that has captured your ship it returns to you and attaches to your current ship. This makes your ship twice as wide and allows you to shoot two bullets at a time.
    Enter the beam to maybe get a nice double ship advantage. But, only if it isn’t your last life and you don’t accidentally shoot yourself.
    This is a double edged sword as it greatly increases your chance of shooting the enemies but it also doubles their chance of shooting you. In my experience it is well worth it to do this. You have to be careful though, if you accidentally shoot your own ship and not the Galaga you get 1,000 points but blow up your captured ship and lose that life.
    How Do You Beat the Game?
    This question depends on who you ask. According to www.NintendoAge.com the game loops after 3 stages so after 3 stages you have seen all the game has to offer.
    The arcade purists say you need to get to the “kill” screen where the game runs out of memory. This happens sometime after level 200 (this may only apply to the arcade version).
    The Mexican Runner, well known to be the first person to beat every NES game and record video of each says to beat the game you need to play to level 32. The reason for this is that after every 3 stages you go to a “Challenging Stage” which is a short bonus stage where 40 ships weave around the screen. If you shoot them all you get a 10,000 point bonus which helps out a lot as you get an extra life at 30,000 points, 70,000 points and every 70,000 points after that.
    After playing through 9 different “Challenging Stages” the pattern and ship types repeat. So, after all of those stages you have seen literally everything the game has to offer.
    What did I do? Well, I really like this game and I know if I let myself I could play an hour every night indefinitely and just kind of zone out. I’m not great at the game and I don’t want to waste too many hours on it so I just played for a couple of hours and consider it beaten since I beat the in game high score of 30,000, in fact I more than doubled that score (even though, this is still a low score to many better gamers than me). The farthest stage I reached was 12.
    Sure, maybe it is cheap to wuss out on not playing to stage 32, but, with 500+ more NES games to beat I have to move on before I get obsessed with this game again.
    Friday Nights
    Back in elementary school I spent a lot of weekends staying the night with my friend Jimmy. We both were huge into Nintendo and spent most of our time playing games. He had around 20 NES games and I had around 10 so I was like a kid in a candy store at his house. Galaga was one of the games he had that we would spend a lot of time playing because it was quick and easy to pick up and play. In fact, the copy of the game I have today is the copy we used to play as kids. I don’t think either of us were great at the game but it was a short enough game that we could easily take turns and neither got bored.
    Move your ship along the bottom of the screen and destroy everything.
    Geometry Wars
    15 years after those Friday nights playing Galaga I lived with another friend named Jeremy who was the first person I knew that owned an XBOX 360 and he bought a digital only game called “Geometry Wars” which has a similar game play style to Galaga. In this game you control a ship that can freely move around the screen and your only job is to shoot enemies which come at you from all directions. We spent an embarrassing amount of hours taking turns playing this game and going for high scores. It wasn’t until YouTube came around that we realized our high scores were not so high at all. There is something humbling about finding out you suck at something you thought you had mastered.
    It looks like a lot is going on but the game is simple. Shoot bullets out of your little white ship and destroy everything on screen.
    Stats
    One thing I really enjoy about Galaga is that when you get game over the game presents you with a few in game stats. It tells you how many shots you made, how many hit a target and the percentage of hits you had. In games today it is very common for dozens of stats to be kept but in early NES days it was a unique and interesting bonus to a really fun game.
    Final Thoughts
    Of all of the arcade classics that were made to make the player keep popping quarters and were later ported to home consoles, I think this is my favorite. The true goal of the game is just to get the highest score possible. As there is no true end I never feel satisfied that I’ve “beaten” it. Even if a game is not fun and has a sub-par ending I still feel satisfaction that I’ve completed it. So, even though I enjoy playing Galaga more than most games I don’t get that endorphin rush that I’ve beaten it. It’s definitely a classic and I can’t wait to play it again in the future.
    In fact, my daughter showed some interest in Galaga today so I let her try and on her first attempt she got 2,000 points. Of course she wasn’t really looking at the TV and just kept saying “Ree” (which is red in her language) referring to the color of the button she was hitting on the controller.


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  2. Hoskat

    Battle Chess

    By Hoskat,

    Genre: Board Game
    Publisher: Data East
    Total time played: 1.5 Hours
    Short review: If you are a fan of chess and looking for a challenge this game will give it to you. But, if you want to play a 30 year old chess game there are better options.
    Interesting links related to 
    Speedrun (3min 29seconds) Video Review (CGRundertow) Soundtrack Let’s Talk Box Art
    If you were a kid in the early 90’s and a fan of video games the cover art of this game would really grab your attention as it looks like an action role playing game. If I saw the box without the title I would guess it was a Gauntlet or Golden Axe game. If I had rented this game as a kid I would have been very mad when I got home.
    It’s Chess
    This is chess, nothing more (well, a little more that I’ll complain about later). If you look at it as a chess game only it is ok. But, there are a couple of major issues. First, it is very very slow. When you make a move it can take the computer up to a full minute to make their move. Yes, I realize that this is realistic to actual chess, but this is a video game and if you can’t improve on the real world version of the game then it shouldn’t exist.
    One Thing Sets It Apart
    The one thing that sets Battle Chess apart from other chess games is related to the “3d” game mode where all of the pieces have a bit more detail and when one piece captures another you are treated with a short animation battle between the pieces. The animations are actually pretty good for the NES but they are very slow and you will get tired of watching them before the first game is over.
    Thankfully the developers realized that not everyone would want to see the animations and allows the player to turn them off. But, turning the animations off removes the only thing that differentiates this game from other chess games.
    What’s that brown blob that appeared after the pawn jumped?
    Speaking of, the game Archon (which as of April 2019 I have not played for this blog) features chess battles where the player actually controls their piece in battle and has to defeat the enemy. So, if you want to play just chess, The Chessmaster is a much better game and if you want to control chess pieces that fight, Archon is the better game.
    Take Your Time
    Conceptually I understand why it takes so long for the computer to make a move in this game. There are near infinite possibilities for moves and there is obviously some logic happening behind the scenes to make sure the computer makes a move that is competent for the difficulty setting the player is playing on. I could forgive this if I hadn’t played The Chessmaster which looks better, plays better and has many more difficulty settings without the long wait between each moves.
    Difficulty
    There are 6 difficulty levels. Novice and Level 1-5. I decided to give Level 2 a try as I figure it would be like playing on Medium difficulty. After about 10 attempts I realized I was not that good at chess so I dropped down to level 1. I attempted a few more times and wasn’t getting any closer to outsmarting the computer. I’m honestly not sure if I am that bad at chess or if the computer is just insanely hard. So, I ended up playing on novice and still losing more than a few times before finally beating the computer. This has been a rather humbling experience for my confidence in my chess skills.
    Final Thoughts
    I’ve pretty much said everything that needs to be said…If you are looking for a great chess simulator, play The Chessmaster, if you are looking for an action game based around chess, play Archon. If you are looking to be disappointed by an overly difficult game with cool box art play Battle Chess.

     

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  3. Hoskat
    Genre: Golf
    Publisher: Nintendo
    Total time played: 30+ Hours
    Short review: Easily the most fun, most accurate and prettiest Golf game on the NES.
    Interesting links related to NES Open Tournament Golf
    Soundtrack Video Review (Drink A Beer and Play A Game) Instruction Manual (PDF) Wow!
    When I saw I was going to have to play a golf game that required winning $1,000,000 I was not looking forward to it. I have played a few golf game on the NES over the years and all were mildly entertaining and have very little replay value. I should have known that the game with Mario on the cover was going to be great. In fact, this may be the best sports game on the entire NES (Excluding Mike Tyson’s Punch Out).
    Why Is It So Good?
    First off, the graphics are good enough to pass for an early 16 bit game and the controls are easy to understand but deep enough to satisfy seasoned golfers (I am not a seasoned golfer).
    Unlike most other golf games on the NES there are also multiple modes of play. These modes may be fun to pick up and play but if you want to earn $1,000,000 as quickly as possible you will most likely not see everything the game has to offer.

    Seeing the ball enter the cup never got old.
    Let’s Win Some Money
    The goal of the game is to win $1,000,000. You earn money by playing in tournaments or betting on a single hole. Depending on your rank you can win some pretty good money but it takes a long time. The first several tournaments I played in I came in 37th, which I am pretty sure is last place. For coming in last you win $500. Only 2,000 rounds of golf to get $1,000,000!!
    I was getting pretty discouraged early on but kept practicing and eventually got good enough to win a tournament. Of the 27 complete rounds I played I probably won 3 tournaments. I probably also reset about 200 times when I wasn’t doing well. Knowing you are going to come in last after 4 holes it is hard to play 14 more holes. The reset button is your friend.
    This was a rare screen during my play through.
    Of course, I did this a lot before I realized in the “Club House” menu you could see stats. My stats are greatly skewed, I kind of wish I had played through each round now, but, if I did that you would never read this review as I would have never beaten the game.
    Page from the manual showing some ways to win money.
    So Many Choices
    First off, you can choose 14 clubs to keep in your bag from a total 16 clubs. Once you pick your clubs you can set additional defaults such as swing speed and putting power as well as whether to put top/back spin on the ball.
    Choose your club (14 choices) The distance the club can hit in perfect conditions will be shown as well as your distance to the hole. Choose your swing speed (3 choices – slow, med, fast) As you would expect, the faster you swing the farther you can hit the ball. But, it comes with a trade off of being harder to hit the ball straight. Choose where to hit the ball (5 choices – top 2, top 1, center, back 1, back 2) You can hit dead center, put top spin or backspin on the ball. Backspin means when the ball lands it will roll backwards and top spin means it will roll forward. Choose the direction to hit the ball (infinite) Based on the hole direction and wind speed you can face different directions. Now that you have your settings the view changes from showing an aerial view of the hole to showing Mario teed up and ready to go. But, your choices aren’t over yet.
    Choose whether to hit the ball high, low or in the middle. This determines the height of the shot. I ALWAYS hit in the middle, unless there was a tree directly in front of me in which case I’d hit high to try to clear the tree. You can fine tune the angle of your shot on this screen as well aiming more to the left or the right. Finally you are ready to swing. Tap A once to see a white line move to the left across a horizontal meter at the bottom of the screen. The farther left the line goes the more power you put into your shot, but, be careful because if you wait too long you will miss the shot and get a 1 stroke penalty. When the white line is at the desired power level tap A again and the line moves back to the right. Try to stop the line by tapping A a 3rd time in the sweet spot of your horizontal meter. Depending on swing speed this is easier said than done. It is super easy to slice or hook the ball. So pretty for an NES game.
    If you have the 1 wood club equipped and you are able to tap A perfectly 3 times (full power and directly in the sweet spot) you hit a “super shot” which travels farther than a regular shot. The farthest I hit was around 330 yards, without the super shot 269 was my average.
    In the Zone
    Sometimes I’d play a round of golf and just be nailing every shot straight ahead and sinking putts even when the terrain was tricky. Other times I couldn’t hit a straight shot to save my life. I definitely had more bad rounds than good rounds over the course of the game. The saving grace was the bonus challenges…and the reset button:
    2 holes each round would provide an extra challenge. One challenge was “Longest Drive” and the other was “Closest to the pin”. If you won either of these challenges you would get the chance to win some bonus money by sinking a putt into one of 3 holes. There is no skill involved as Mario will always sink the putt, the goal is to randomly pick the hole with the most money. With these two challenges you could win up to $10,000 (each one paid differently but the overall max was $10,000, at least at the amateur level)
    Such an Amateur
    The money you win changes based on your status. You start as a beginner and as you would guess this ranking pays out the least. Once you feel you are good enough you have to play two rounds of golf and score below a certain score to increase your rank to Amateur. You do not win money for these two rounds of golf. I was able to be promoted fairly early on which increased the amount of money I could win. I never tried to go Semi-Pro or Pro because I worried the tournaments would get much harder and I’d end up winning less money in the long run.
    The only difference I noticed between beginner and amateur is that the wind seemed to be more erratic at the amateur level.
    Fore!
    “I played golf once. I did not get a hole in one, but I did hit a guy. That’s way more satisfying. You’re supposed to yell, “Fore!” I was too busy yelling, “There ain’t no way that’s gonna hit him!” – Mitch Hedberg
    Unlike Mitch Hedberg, I did hit a hole in one. In fact, I hit a bunch of them, maybe 7 or 8. I even hit two in a single round, but somehow still finished above par. There were 2-3 par 3 courses on the US course that if the wind was mild and you swing perfectly you could hit a hole in one. The stars had to be aligned, but I was able to do it multiple time.
    While hitting a hole in one is satisfying it is even more so when you realize you get to win extra money like winning the longest drive and closest to the pin challenges. This is easily the most money you can win at once in the game. In fact, at the amateur level, I had a 33% chance to win $55,000 for hitting a hole in one, the minimum is $20,000.
    This was my favorite screen in the game, it means I was about to win a lot of money.
    Oh yea, 2 under par.
    Money!
    Every time you would earn a milestone amount of money you would automatically go to the bank to deposit with who I assume is Donkey Kong. He would usually say a cute phrase about the amount of money you have. My favorite and the most outdated was after winning either 200k or 250k he told me I had enough money to buy a small house in California…pretty sure that isn’t the case anymore.
    Just making a deposit.
    Different Ways to Win
    There are 3 courses you can play but you do not win more money on one course vs the others. So, I only played the US course as I figured I’d master that instead of being mediocre at all 3 courses.
    You have the option to play a tournament with 30+ golfers and can do either an 18 or 36 hole tournament. You win more money for playing 2 18 hole tournaments than a 36 hole tournament so I never did the longer option.
    You can also play a round against just one other golfer. The downfall here is that you win less money overall AND you have to watch the other golfer actually play the course. So, playing 18 holes takes the same time as playing 36 holes by yourself in a regular tournament. I only played 1 one on one tournament for this reason, which included 5 sudden death holes and I lost…so, I basically played 23 holes for nothing.
    You can also bet on a single hole. The betting values start at $1,000 and go up with each hole you win. It is definitely a gamble as the computer seems to get better with each hole.  But, if you lose you actually lose money so I didn’t do this option much. I did however end the game playing the 1 hole bet as I was only $11,000 short of $1,000,000 and figured winning that last bit would be quicker one hole at a time instead of playing 18 holes again.
    NES Can Do That?
    If you visit the club house in the options menu you can view a lot of information. The game is very detailed and allows you to set up many defaults as well as name every golfer who plays in the tournament with you. You can also view instant replays of your last hole in one, albatross, eagle and maybe even birdie. In fact, I think you can watch an instant replay of any shot after you take it, pretty sure no other NES game allows this.
    Even with only 3 courses the added touch of the hole moving on the green each time you played meant you had to actually study the greens as you never knew what the terrain would be.
    This game is very deep and has a lot of customizable options and fun add ons that don’t really do anything to change how you play but are really impressive for an 8 bit game. Basically, no stone was left unturned, there is more attention to detail here than in any other game I can think of on the NES.
    Conclusion
    I spent a lot of time playing this game but was ready to move on by the end. Even so, it is hands down a classic that I never hear others mention. It feels like the first game in the Mario Golf series even though it doesn’t have that title. It is pretty, it is fun and it offers a lot of variety.
    My only gripe is that it doesn’t have a career mode. I would have liked to have been forced into playing the 36 hole tournaments and the one-on-one tournaments and the additional courses just so I could see everything the game has to offer. The fact I could play the same tournament 27 times on the same course and beat the game almost feels unfair, but, with over 500 games left to beat I can’t waste a lot of time, I have to take every shortcut I can without cheating.


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  4. Hoskat
    CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE
    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE TO YOUR COMPUTER
    The guys sit down and talk about some classic game show hosts, game show cheaters, and some obscure shows they enjoy watching.
     

    These guys may never solve this puzzle.

    One of the most famous “cheaters” in game show history. Turns out he just was really good at pattern recognition.

    Trailer for the fascinating documentary on Amazon Prime about the best “The Price Is Right” player in history.

    There was once a serial killer on The Dating Game
    Who’s Line Is It Anyway? – more of an improv comedy troupe than a gameshow…but, they award points so we count it!Probably the most well known gameshow host, Alex TrebekDid you know that Bob Barker hosted another game show for almost 20 years before he hosted The Price is Right?There is not a better name in game shows than Elvis’ close friend, Wink Martindale.Chuck Woolery seemed to host everything in the 80’s.Solitary – a psychology experiment where contestants are trapped in this small room for weeks with no outside contact.Naked Attraction – a dating show where everyone is naked…the how does not censor anything.Singled Out – Jenny McCarthy and Chris Hardwick’s breakout roles. They hosted a dating game with 50 contestants that played out like a live action game of Guess Who?


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  7. Hoskat
    CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE
    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE TO YOUR COMPUTER
    The guys bring in a special guest expert, Matt’s wife, Jenny, to talk about their memories with Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.
    *Note*
    We picked an interesting time to talk about MJ. When we decided to record this episode we were not aware of the new allegations and documentary that have come out in recent weeks. Our goal of this podcast is one of nostalgia, we are here to talk about our memories of MJ and what made him the greatest pop star of all time. We are not trying to change anyones mind and we are not downplaying the serious accusations against him. We just want to remember the time when our heroes were heroes and nothing more.
     

    Jenny and her friend Allison perform the Thriller dance around Europe.
     

    Jenny and Allison perform the Thriller dance at MJ’s childhood home.
     

    Lexington, KY Thriller Parade
     
    Some of Jenny’s MJ MemorabiliaMore MJ memorabilia including a framed ticket stub from a concert that never happened. 
    Jenny trespassing on Neverland RanchJenny and Allison performing Thriller at MJ’s childhood home.Jenny at a tribute wall at the O2 Arena in London the day she was supposed to see MJ in concert.Jenny’s 12th birthday cake.Jenny in full MJ Zombie gear for the annual Thriller parade.Jenny meeting Jermaine Jackson at a Jackson’s concert in Atlantic City, NJ. 
     
     

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  10. Hoskat

    Roadblasters

    By Hoskat,

    Genre: Racing
    Publisher: Mindscape
    Total time played: 3 Hours
    Short review: A racing game with a twist, you have a gun and each level is like a puzzle you must solve to complete.
    Interesting links related to 
    Full Playthrough (Arnpoly) (1hr 25min) Written Review (Arnpoly) Soundtrack Guitar Hero Syndrome
    Years ago I was obsessed with the Guitar Hero series of games and would play them for hours on end. I eventually was good enough to play through almost all songs on Expert. The one major side effect was that after playing for a while my eyes would create an optical illusion and everything would feel like it was floating upwards. It could be pretty disorienting.
    Roadblasters does the same thing to me. Each stage has two similar colors in the “off road” area that alternate back and forth to create the illusion of driving along a road. It is almost like a strobe effect and it can be disorienting.
    Those alternating greens may cause epileptic seizures.
    How To Play
    The game is pretty simple. The goal is to reach the end of each of the 50 levels without running out of gas. This is a race, but, not against other cars, just against time, and by time I mean your gas tank.
    But, like a lot of NES games, there is a little more strategy under the hood (pun intended) that will help you along your way.
    Built In Level Select
    When you start the game you have the option to play level 1, level 4 or level 11. There didn’t seem to be any benefit to playing through all 50 levels so I started at level 11. After beating around 5 levels you come to another stage select screen. This happens several times throughout the game. Skipping to the farthest level allowed each time means you can beat the game only racing through around 20 of the 50 stages.
    Each Level Is A Mini Puzzle
    In each level you start with a set amount of fuel and the enemy vehicles always appear in the same place. Because of this you can learn which enemies carry the extra fuel and start to learn where level hazards appear. In the later stages (45-50) the levels become more puzzle like. One stage only features road hazards with no chance for fuel pickups so you must drive extra carefully. One level starts you with almost no fuel so you must learn which cars contain extra fuel. I wish all of the levels were as puzzle like as the last few, if that were the case I would have gladly played through all 50.
    Power Ups
    Throughout the course of the game you will pick up some power ups. They are listed below:
    Green Ball: These are littered along the racetrack and replenish a small amount of fuel in your main tank.
    Brown Ball: These appear after defeating certain enemies (almost always the orange car) on the screen and replenish more fuel than the green ball. The catch is, you have to be traveling at full speed (212mph) to catch them. if you slow down or crash they will zoom off never to be seen again.
    Uzi Cannon: Dropped by a plane that appears in certain levels. This is a rapid fire gun that doesn’t affect your score multiplier. If you crash you lose this gun.
    Electro Shield: Dropped by a plane that appears in certain levels. Gives a few seconds of invincibility. You get three of these, if you crash you lose them all.
    Nitro Inject: Dropped by a plane that appears in certain levels. Increases your max speed from 212 to 298 for a few seconds. You get three of these, if you crash you lose them all. When in nitro boost mode you do not use fuel. This is a necessity in some of the later levels (like level 49)
    Cruise Missile: Dropped by a plane that appears in certain levels. This is by far the best weapon in the game, it completely wipes out all enemies on the screen and can be used up to 3 times, or until you crash. This is the only weapon in the game that can get rid of the mines and the Command Cars.
    Enemies and Road Hazards
    Stinger Car (Orange): Easily killed with a single shot from your gun, UZ Cannon or Cruise Missile.
    Command Car (Blue): Can only be destroyed with a Cruise Missile. Since Cruise Missiles are rare, most of the time you will just have to drive around them.
    Cycle: Can be killed the same way as the Stinger Car, the only difference being they are much smaller and require a more accurate shot.
    Rat Jeep: Luckily these don’t appear too often, they quickly drive in from the bottom of the screen and swerve in front of you. They are killed in 1 hit from any weapon but require very fast reaction time. These things travel in packs, you never see just one.
    Gun Turret: These guns line the right and left side of the screen. I found them to be the most annoying enemies in the game as they are very hard to shoot with your gun or UZ Cannon so your best bet is just to avoid the bullets they shoot at you. The bullets are small so it is easier said than done.
    Mines: Mines appear on the road and must be dodged unless you are equipped with the Electro Shield or clear them out with the Cruise Missile. Your dashboard will flash and you will hear a beep when you are approaching mines in the road. Honestly, the notification didn’t help me avoid them.
    Rocks: Luckily I only saw a few of these in my play through (level 35). They look similar to the Orange Car from a distance but you can’t destroy them and a lot of times I found myself not realizing it was a rock until it was too late.
    Oil Slicks: When you hit an oil slick your car rotates 360 degrees in the road. The slicks don’t really seem to effect your steering or speed, the only negative I found was that you can’t shoot any oncoming cars when your car is rotating and facing the wrong direction.
    Reserve Fuel
    This is the only part of the game that requires luck, strategy and skill that carries over between levels. The only way to earn reserve fuel is at the end of a level. The amount of reserve fuel is determined by your score multiplier.
    The score multiplier starts a 1x in each level and goes up by 1 every time you kill an enemy. If you shoot your gun at an enemy and miss, the multiplier goes down by 1. The maximum score multiplier is 10x meaning you have to kill 10 enemies throughout the stage without missing a shot.
    If you end the stage with a 10x multiplier your reserve fuel fills up completely. If you finish with a lower multiplier it doesn’t. The amount of reserve fuel you have determines how many times you can crash in a stage. Think of the reserve fuel as extra seconds on the clock. You probably could beat the game without ever using reserve fuel, but, you’d have to play perfectly.
    Because you don’t want to miss when shooting at an enemy you may end up not shooting when you have the 10x multiplier and hoping you can just dodge enemies which increases the difficulty of some sections. The UZ Cannon is great for these parts as you can wildly shoot and mow down enemies without risk of losing the multiplier.
    Score Dashboard
    I found this kind of neat, the dashboard you see as you race just raises up to fill the screen and show you the stats at the end of the race. A simple but neat effect. Also, after some stages while your score is being tallied you will see hints like “Sensors Detect Fuel Globes”. This is the earliest game I can recall giving in game hints that are common place today on modern generation games load screens.


    Final Thoughts
    Roadblasters isn’t great but it isn’t horrible. The stages all look pretty similar with the only real difference the different colored grassy areas around the road. The enemies are the same throughout the game and it isn’t until the much later levels that you really need to develop strategies to win.
    The graphics and sound are both mediocre and I imagine most people would get bored by this game pretty fast. But, it is playable and has tight controls so it isn’t all bad.
    I should note…I am also high score “A” I just hit the start button before I could put in my initials on that run.

     

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  11. Hoskat

    #24 TV Shows of 1997

    By Hoskat,

    The guys sit down to discuss the biggest TV shows and events of 1997. Matt and Luke count down their top 5 while Jason goes off script and talks about shows he wishes he watched.
  12. Hoskat

    #24 TV of 1997

    By Hoskat,

    The guys sit down to discuss the biggest TV shows and events of 1997. Matt and Luke count down their top 5 while Jason goes off script and talks about shows he wishes he watched.
  13. Hoskat

    Dragon Fighter

    By Hoskat,

    Genre: Action
    Publisher: Sofel
    Total time played: 3.5 hours
    Short review: A simple side scrolling action platformer that features a neat gimmick where you can turn into a dragon.
    Interesting links related to 
    No Death Playthrough by Shadowserg (27min 07sec) Soundtrack Written Review (Take On the NES Library) Windfall
    Back in 2013 I got a new job and when I left my old job I got to cash in all of my unused vacation time which amounted to about 6 weeks of time. With a portion of that money I decided to buy some rarer NES game to add to my collection. The two standouts were Panic Restaurant and Dragon Fighter. I popped in Dragon Fighter the day the game showed up in the mail and immediately died in stage 1. I tried a few more times with the same result and very quickly decided the game was too hard and put it on the shelf until the time I had to play it for the blog.
    Altered Beast Knockoff
    When I received a Sega Genesis from Santa Claus it came with Altered Beast. My brother and I played the game over and over, collecting the orbs, turning into werewolves, dragons and the like and hearing the “wise fom yar gave” (rise from your grave) at the start of each level. Dragon Fighter, which came out a few years after Altered Beast is in a lot of ways the better game. The two games technically aren’t related at all but have enough similarities that I just wrote this paragraph.
    How to Play?
    The game is quite simple, there are 6 levels that require you to walk to the right fighting enemies until you reach a boss. When you defeat the boss you collect a staff that increases your life bar slightly and go to the next level.
    Upon a deeper dive into the game there is a little bit more to it, not much more, but enough to make it interesting.
    Stage 1 snowstorm
    Items
    Defeated enemies may drop one of the following:
    Small Vase: replenishes a small portion of health
    Large Vase: replenishes a larger (but still small) portion of health.
    Ring: immediately kills all on screen enemies. Conveniently dropped when there are very few or no enemies on screen making it mostly worthless.
    Dragon Head: First off, this looks more like a computer chip to me, but, it fills a portion of your dragon bar.
    Stage 3
    Powerups
    Beginning in stage 2 you will see strategically placed items on the ground that feature one of 3 letters. Picking up one of these changes your character’s color and provides you with different dragon and sword powers. When not in dragon form you can hold B for about 3 seconds on the controller until your character is glowing and then release B to unleash an attack. The attack is based on the color of your character.
    G: This will turn your character green and allow you to charge your sword and shoot a green fireball in a straight line that travels about halfway across the screen. This is the default powerup that you start the game with.
    B: This will turn your character blue and allow you to charge your sword and shoot a heat seeking blue fireball that is attracted to enemies. It is not very strong but I found this the most useful weapon in the game.
    R: This will turn your character red and allow you to charge your sword and shoot 3 fireballs in an arched a pattern into the air, they will then fall and stick on the ground for a second before disappearing. From what I could tell this was the most powerful weapon but was hard to aim.
    I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this, but, I didn’t realize the holding down the B button charge attack existed until I had played the game for a couple of nights and was consistently getting to stage 4…halfway through the entire game.
    Stage 5 – thankfully the giant skeleton is just there for decoration.
    Dragon!!!
    The first time I played this game I didn’t realize you could turn into a dragon. I took the title to mean you fought dragons but it turns out you are a dragon who is a fighter. For each enemy you defeat with your sword you earn a single bar on your dragon meter (located under your life bar). Once the bar is about halfway full you can tap and hold UP+A on the controller for a short time to turn into a dragon. When in dragon form the screen auto scrolls and the dragon meter begins ticking down. When the meter runs out or you hit UP+A again you turn back into a man.
    Green Dragon: Shoots a 3 way shot that is actually pretty useful
    Red Dragon: shoots a heavy fireball that quickly falls to the ground. It is useful if you can drop it on an enemy from above.
    Blue Dragon: heat seeking fireball that isn’t powerful but doesn’t require good aim.
    Blue dragon vs the stage 5 boss.
    Strategy
    I found myself attempting different strategies to get through the stages. Even though the game is very straight forward some trial and error is involved. Here are my keys to success:
    Always make sure you have a full or close to full dragon meter when you get to the boss. I found all of the bosses very difficult to fight in human form. When in dragon form you can only attack towards the right, there are enemies that spawn behind you so being a dragon during the stage is only useful in a few spots. I found the blue power-up with the heat seeking fireball to be the most useful power-up in both dragon and human form. I played around with the red power-up some but didn’t have much success. I found the green power-up to be worthless in human form. Using the charge shot in human form makes going through the levels easier but you do not earn dragon power by killing enemies with the charge shot. Most enemies will re-spawn, find a safe spot with easy enemies in each level and spend some time filling up your dragon meter. Then, use the charge shot to easily get through the rest of the level. Slow and steady wins the race. Stage 6 Change Up
    After 5 stages of the same thing the sixth and final stage turns into a side scrolling shooter that  has a scrolling background that makes you feel like you are flying a million miles an hour. The final stage is played completely in dragon form. I am not sure that I would have liked a full game like the final stage but it was a breath of fresh air after the slow and steady 5 stages before. Ending the game at break neck speeds was fun.
    Luckily the enemy spawns on the final stage are the same every time you play so it wasn’t too bad to learn. There is one enemy, a flying man, who shoots a thin laser beam that is hard to dodge because it nearly blends in with the background, but other than that the stage isn’t too bad.
    I was impressed by the size and design of the final boss.
    So Close
    I utilized the save state feature on my Retron 5 to practice the last two stages as they were a bit tougher than the first 4. After I felt comfortable beating both I started the game over and made it to the last boss without dying. I almost beat the game deathless, and I’m sure I could with a few more attempts but there are too many other games to beat for me to keep trying.
    I should mention, you get 1 life and it is game over, only 3 continues and no way to earn extra lives. The game is brutal in that respect but it is also fair and beatable.
    Final Thoughts
    The music is some of the best music on the system that I never hear anyone talking about. The controls are tight and responsive even if the charge shot and dragon transformation are not intuitive at first. The game is tough but fair, the stages, enemies and bosses are varied. And, even though the game is simple there is a bit of strategy involved. It isn’t quite in the “Classic” tier of games but it is close.

     

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  18. Hoskat

    Contra Force

    By Hoskat,

    Genre: Action
    Publisher: Konami
    Total time played: 1.5 Hours
    Short review: By far the weakest of the NES Contra game. It shows signs of intelligent game design but is ruined by slow down and some poor design choices.
    Interesting links related to Contra Force
    Soundtrack Live Speedrun (17min 32sec) Written Walkthrough Where Did I Get This Game?
    At some point over the past 25 years I picked up Contra Force but I have no idea where. The fact that I don’t remember probably means it was cheap or free. However, I am still haunted by what I did after getting my mint condition copy along with the original box and manual, also in mint condition.
    In 2008 after the stock market crash I was laid off from my job. I immediately went into survival mode and started restricting my spending and selling things I didn’t need. One of those things I didn’t need was a box of video game boxes. I decided I would never own all NES games complete so there was no reason to keep the 200 or so boxes and manuals I had. I ended up selling them all for $35 on Criagslist.
    Of all the things I sold, the mint condition Contra Force Box and Manual and complete copy of Rockin’ Kats are the ones that bug me the most. Just those 2 things are worth close to 10 times what I sold the boxes for. Oh well, live and learn.
    Contra?
    What happened? Contra and Super C are both Konami and NES classics. They are fast paced, have great guns, responsive controls and interesting levels and bosses. Contra Force was clearly not supposed to be a Contra game. It feels like this was going to be a stand alone game and at the last minute the developers slapped the Contra name on it to increase sales. Based on how expensive the game is i 2018 I am guessing they didn’t move many copies.
    Sometimes Less Is More
    I don’t even want to get into the initial character selection menu where the up, down, left and right directionals buttons on the control seem to move the cursor in random directions. I’m not going to go into how each character has multiple weapons with an upgrade system similar to Cobra Triangle, Life Force or Gradius. Just know, I have complaints about all of those things too.
    I want to talk about the multiple options you have in game for controlling two characters at one time.
    Sorry for the crappy image quality, it’s the best I could find online and honestly the image quality sums up how useful these options are.
    Pause Menu
    On the pause menu you can use any of the 4 characters at any given time. You start with 3 lives for each but if any one character gets a game over the whole team gets a game over. Luckily there are unlimited continues.
    Notice in the above image that Smith is set to 1Player. You can select any player to be the one you control, in fact, the game lets you set any number of players to 1Player, you just can’t unpause until only one player is set to 1Player.
    You can set a secondary character to any of the 6 options from the screenshot above. This will provide you 5 or so seconds of another character helping you out. The only problem is, you NEVER need the help and even if you did having an extra character on the screen slows the game down so much it is basically pointless.
    It was a good idea, but it just isn’t executed well so instead of being innovative it just becomes an option that you will never use bloating the game.
    Weapons

    Each of the 4 characters has some combination of these weapons. I found the only useful weapons to be HM (Homing Missle) and FT (Flame Thrower). Some of the weapons were so useless I would take an intentional death just to get rid of them.
    5 Levels
    Everyone knows a good Contra game has to have 8 levels, this one only has 5. I will give the game a little credit that in those 5 levels there is quite a bit of variety including 2 overhead and 3 side scrolling stages. The stages are all pretty large and the side scrolling stages give you the ability to move up and down as well, in fact, there is almost a chance you can get lost in the last level as there is no clear direction where to go.
    Wing Walking in Level 4
    Level 4 has to be the highlight of the game though. You get to walk across the wings of a plane, and, when you get to the end another plane flies by and you have to jump across to the wings on that plane. The level even features wind, if you aren’t moving the force of the wind will force you right off the back of the plane.
    Glitchin!
    As cool as Level 4 was the other 4 levels are not cool at all. There are some funky hazards and platforming required that are nearly impossible. Stage 3 features a bunch of chains you have to hang from and jump between but not being able to gain momentum between jumps meant I spent a lot of time getting through this short section of the game.
    That was until I found an interesting glitch that made that section really easy. If you hold down the jump button and pause the game and then unpause the game without ever letting go of the jump button your character jumps again in mid air. Using this technique I was able to jump right past this section of rope jumps.
    Final Thoughts
    The game wouldn’t be that bad if it had more polish. My biggest gripe is how slow the game is and how clunky the controls are. It wouldn’t be that bad if the 2 Contra games that came out first didn’t have such incredible controls and speed. The secondary character mechanic is definitely a nice touch, but it wasn’t implemented correctly. There shouldn’t be a time limit and it shouldn’t cause the game to slow down so much. Having the ability to switch between multiple forms of help that were needed to get through specific sections of the game would have added a nice bit of strategy. Instead we get a feature that isn’t needed at all to beat the game.
    Because of the games sub-par programming I had to rate it 2 stars, with another month of polishing and cleanup of the code and maybe even removing the Contra name which provides insane expectations this could have been a game people remembered.

     

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  19. Hoskat
    Genre: Arcade/Puzzle
    Publisher: American Softworks
    Total time played: 40 Hours
    Short review: It starts off as an arcade game and very quickly becomes a puzzle game that appears to be more luck than skill. Well known to be one of the most difficult games on the NES.
    Interesting links related to The Mutant Virus
    Forum post where a community is attempting to master the game. Full Playthrough part 1 – TheMexican Runner  Full Playthrough part 2- TheMexicanRunner Video Review – Only Level 1 This Random Game Selection…
    After finally beating Destination Earthstar I was hoping the NES God’s would throw me an easy game. Instead I was presented with a game that if it weren’t for the website NintendoAge.com I would know nothing about. What I learned reading about the game is that it is hard and there doesn’t seem to be a consistent strategy to beat the game. In fact, this post is keeping track of all people on the site that have beaten the game, to my knowledge it is the only game on the site that is tracked this way. As of this writing in 2018, only 7 of the 30k+ members of the site have beaten the game. I’m sure the game has been beaten by way more people than this, but, let’s just say, this information really intimidated me.
    What is the game about?
    The game is about a computer virus that is taking over a computer. Your job is to shrink down, go inside the computer and kill the virus.
    Blue is good, green is bad and the black dots are what causes the virus to expand.
    If This is True it is Super Cool
    When trying to find a pattern for the way that the virus expands I ran across a video about a 1970’s computer program called “The Game of Life” where a programmer named John Conway made a program that showed how it would be possible for non-intelligent life to expand with just a few simple rules.
    After watching the video I am pretty sure the game designers for The Mutant Virus used that program for inspiration. The virus spreads so fast that it would be impossible to test the theory without using an emulator to slow down the frame rate, but, either way, the use of this 1970’s program and thought experiment makes the game way more interesting.

     
    Controls
    B button – Acts a thruster, propelling you forward in whichever direction you are facing
    D-Pad – rotates your character in place if you aren’t moving, changes directions if you are moving.
    A button – this shoots your gun, holding the button acts as a rapid fire.
    B + Up – Turbo boost which moves your character forward at a high speed
    B + Down – Slows your character to a stop almost instantly
    Select – Rotates through your weapons (see below for more info)
    Start – Pauses the game

    Weapons
    SF – Short Fire – shoots your weapon just a few feet in front of you. Handy to use if you are directly on top of the virus.
    LF – Long Fire – shoots your weapon across the screen for attacking virus that is far away.
    AU – Auto something?? – Seems to shoot across the screen until it comes in contact with a virus. Seems to be more handy than SF and LF.
    SG – Super Gun – you won’t get this until level 3. This gun is incredible, it bounces off of walls and seems to clear out the virus much quicker than other guns. But, if you lose a life you lose the gun.
    CM – Counter Measure – These weapons are scattered throughout rooms in each level and are displayed as horizontal tubes with 0’s or 1’s on them. These act as a bomb that continually ejecting antidote to fight the virus. Some explode vertically, some horizontally, some at an angle. I never got comfortable with which color/number combo did what. These can be dropped a single time by pressing A+B with the CM weapon selected. The bomb will pulsate antidote continuously where it is dropped. Even if you leave a room and come back the CM weapon keeps blasting out antidote where you dropped it.
    Puzzle Game?
    Each stage has a number of rooms. Each room has a virus that expands in both a random and predictable pattern. Each room has a virus epicenter where the virus is pumped into the room. This epicenter is not always easy to see as the virus spreads so fast and chaotically it is hard to tell from where it is originating. The CM’s are absolutely necessary to defeat certain rooms.
    If you drop a CM in the wrong location you might as well die and start over as it will be near impossible to beat the stage. The farther into the game you go the more rooms there are to clear and the more possibilities you have for using the CM in the wrong place.
    To my knowledge no one has successfully mapped out a consistent way to beat each stage so there was a lot of trial and error.
    The Difficulty Spike is Insane
    After hearing horror stories on how hard this game is I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the first level was. It gave me a huge confidence boost.
    At the beginning of level 2 I was humbled almost instantly. The virus expanded much more quickly and my gun seemed to do much less damage. I took dozens of attempts before I started making progress. I would say that the difficulty spike between level 1 and 2 is greater than the spike between Level 1-1 and Level 8-1 in Super Mario Bros. 3. It could be the highest difficulty spike I’ve ever experienced in a game.
    You won’t believe this, but, level 3 is even harder. You do gain the super gun in the first room of the level, but, if you die you lose the gun making the level near impossible to beat.
    How to Die
    If you hover on top of the virus you will hear a ticking sound that means your health is being drained. If you hover for too long you will lose a life. This isn’t a big deal as you have 5+ lives with each continue. But, if you are carrying a SG and die you lose the weapon until you get a game over.
    Some rooms have a giant hole that opens/closes and spits out a white fire/ghost thing that flies in a straight line until it hits a wall and then ricochets off the wall. It doesn’t move that fast but it does kill you in a single hit and based on how your character floats as if he is in outer space this thing will kill you a lot.
    Good news, there are infinite continues so losing a life doesn’t cost you anything but time. If you are brave enough to leave on your NES for weeks you could beat the game and never have to replay older levels. I did this, but, in the 21st century way. I used my Retron 5 to create a save state at the start of each level. So, I was virtually pausing the game. Plus, it gave me the ability to practice a particularly hard room over and over. But, I did eventually get good enough to beat each level with a single continue.
    Retron 5 Failed Me!!
    After 50+ attempts I finally beat level 3, and right as the game was transitioning from the final room in the level to the cut-scene before level 4, the system froze. I was devastated because of how long it took me to complete. I took a couple of weeks off as I didn’t have the motivation to continue knowing it would take dozens of attempts to replay through that level.
    I decided to play on the original NES instead of the Retron-5 to minimize the game freezing. I even took apart the game cart and hardcore cleaned the pins inside to make sure it wasn’t a dirty game causing the errors.
    Game Genie to the Rescue
    Since the game has infinite continues and I had been attempting to beat the game on and off for 3+ months I decided that I would just use game genie codes to start on level 4 until I beat it and then use a game genie code to start on level 5. This would mitigate any issues with lost power or leaving the NES on for weeks at a time.
    But, much like I learned there were no cliff notes for Gone With the Wind the day before the test in high school I learned there are no level select game genie codes for The Mutant Virus.
    I emailed my friend Arnpoly from Take on the NES Library to complain about my predicament only to learn that he knows how to create game genie codes from scratch. Less than 48 hours later he emailed me the following codes:

    Confidence was restored thanks to these life saving Game Genie codes. Now, I could start on level 4 each night after my daughter went to bed instead of suffering through the first 3 levels again.
    Level 4
    Thanks to the guys on Nintendoage.com for making this handy map.
    There are 7 rooms in level 4 and 2 SG’s (super guns). That means if you die with the SG you don’t have to restart the game, you can keep going. But, if you die two times with the SG you might as well start over.
    I learned that if you are holding a CM and die you don’t lose it. Also, you cannot hold a CM and a SG at the same time. So my new strategy was to exchange my SG for a CM when my life got low. Then, when I died I could just pick up the SG again after I re-spawned. This is easier said than done but at least it was one way to improve my gameplay.
    I had no problem clearing all 7 rooms, the problem was that I could never clear them all in a single attempt. I’d play through once and one room would be a piece of cake and easily beatable in a couple of minutes, but, the next attempt the room would be nearly impossible.
    I had a lot of confidence when I had cleared 5 of the 7 rooms and still had both SG’s. I felt that I was finally going to beat the level and then the game froze again. It seems the game itself is glitchy as I couldn’t blame the Retron-5 or a dirty game for the issues.
    The next serious attempt I made the game froze again almost in the same spot in the same room. I switched up my strategy and went to the room where the game kept freezing first meaning I wouldn’t lose a half hour of work if it froze again. Eventually the stars aligned and I finally took down level 4.
    Stage 5 – The Final Countdown
    Thanks to the guys on Nintendoage for making this handy map.
    I took a short break after level 4 as the holidays were fast approaching. It was probably two weeks after beating level 4 I actually gave level 5 a shot and I died very quickly. I did a bunch of research and watched TheMexicanRunner’s take down of level 5 multiple times and I read through the NintendoAge strategy thread until I had it memorized.
    I ended up using GuitarZombie from NintendoAge’s strategy to take down the level. Due to the random nature of the virus outbreaks I had to make some on the fly adjustments but this was the general order:
    – Start in room 1, take blue 0.
    – Go to room 3, use blue 0 between VSs, clear it.
    – Go to room 4, clear it, take green 1
    – Go to room 2, use the green 1 on the bottom, clear room. Grab green 0
    – Go to room 6 (room 2 to 5, to 7, to 6) use green 0 on Virus Spitter, clear room, Take SG
    – Go to room 7 (clear room?), take blue 1
    – Go to room 8, use blue 1 on virus spitter, clear room.
    I actually took down level 5 in around 10 attempts, much faster than every level except the first one. Even though it took fewer attempts each attempt took at least 30 minutes because the final level featured 8 rooms to clear, the biggest number yet.
    The virus in level 8 is ruthless, it kills you very quickly and even when you think your blue wave of antidote is making good progress the virus can take back over very quickly. You don’t seem to earn points as quickly meaning you don’t earn extra lives that often. This is the only level where I consistently got game over because I was out of lives and not because I lost my SG and needed to start over. The thing that makes the last level a nightmare is that every few minutes one of the rooms flashes and you are presented with an audio warning and a message that there has been a virus outbreak. If this happens you have to stop what you are doing and go immediately to that room to get it under control.
    The virus outbreaks always seemed to happen when I had a room 90% cleared and was battling the virus for that last 10%. If you leave a room and come back you are pretty much guaranteed that your progress will be erased. On the run that I finally beat the game I would stay put if I was close to clearing a room and hope I made it to the outbreak before it was too late (if you are too late it is instant game over).
    The one saving grace in the final level is that there is a SG that you can pick up that never goes away. That means if you die you don’t lose it. The bad part about this is that it is buried deep in the level and I had 3-4 rooms cleared before I was able to pick it up. I technically could have gone to the room holding the SG at the start but then I would lose several minutes of virus clearing time and give more rooms the opportunity to have an outbreak.
    I Did It!
    I would say The Mutant Virus is 90% luck and 10% strategy. No matter how much you play the game if the computer doesn’t want you to win you aren’t going to win.
    I have been playing The Mutant Virus since August, making it’s 5 months completion time the longest of any game I’ve finished so far. Part of that time was me dreading playing the game and not playing for weeks at a time. That is why I beat Baseball in November, I needed a confidence boost and wanted people to know I hadn’t quit the blog.
    I would say I did play the game for around 40 hours over that 5 month period. If it hadn’t been for Arnpoly and his game genie code creation I don’t know that I could have beaten this one. Our house lost power 2 times during severe storms since August. If I had chosen to leave the NES on I would have twice had to start over. I know some game playing purists would say that I cheated using the level select code on game genie but I gained no advantage by doing this. I did save a bit of time but I beat each level fair and square and felt the greatest sense of victory I have ever experienced playing an NES game. With this game in the rearview I feel unstoppable. I’m sure I’ll change my mind whenever the next broken, slow, boring, or super hard game appears on the list.

     

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  22. Hoskat

    #20 Christmas Songs

    By Hoskat,

    The guys sit down to discuss their favorite and least favorite Christmas songs and go into a little bit of history on the classics. James Brown and Don Knotts stop by for a visit.
  23. Hoskat

    #20 Christmas Songs

    By Hoskat,

    The guys sit down to discuss their favorite and least favorite Christmas songs and go into a little bit of history on the classics. James Brown and Don Knotts stop by for a visit.
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