Viewing Thread:
"Console Wars? Ha! The NES beats the lot of 'em."

That's right, give me a good old Nintendo Entertainment System and I'll be happy. Screw 3D graphics and all the over aspects of modern day gaming, the NES is where gaming was, is and always will be at! Sure it's pretty basic and the games are the size of an Xbox controller (now that's big!) but I believe that gaming was at it's best around 10 years or so ago. It wasn't about buying out the competition and making gamers wait months for held back games (although I do believe we had to wait many a year after Japan before we got our 'limey' hands on the NES). Gaming was about what matters, the games.

I was watching Futurama only a week or two ago and saw the episode where classic game characters invade Earth. After seeing this I thought "Damn I would like to play games like that again!". So out to the garage I went and dug up my (not trying to sound like a certain ex-ring bearer) precious grey Nintendo branded box. I of course also found out my old games collection too. It consists of many classics; Super Mario Bros, Mario 3, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong JR, Micro Machines, WWF Wrestlemania steel cage challenge (try saying that with a mouth full of marshmallows), Kick Off, World Cup, Lemmings and The Amazing Adventures Of Dizzy. Also to my amusement I found our Game Genie complete with price sticker reading 'Was £36.90 - Now 90p'. I still remember the day we brought that, it was in Toys R Us in a bargain bin. Bargain being the understatement of the year. But my amusement soon faded when I realised that alas we'd lost the code booklet that contains the codes (duh) to enter into the genie. So if I get real desperate to cheat, I'll have to dig them up on the Internet somewhere. Another NES bargain I remember was the WWF game costing only £2 from WHSmiths, which I brought on the way to my Nan and Grandad's house.

Now I feel like talking a bit about the games that make up my collection, which although small gets the job done nicely (which I'm sure is a comment that one or two of you have used when discussing something else).

Let's start with Donkey Kong. I really get annoyed with this game, be it original or JR mode it annoys the heck out of me. When you’re doing well, and get far it gets fun but the enjoyment soon stops and you soon find yourself ripping the game from the slot. If you don't know what the original Donkey Kong is like you probably don't deserve to be on a computer games website. Clime the ladders of the platforms while avoiding and/or hitting barrels with a hammer, in order to reach the top where D. Kong is holding Princess Peach in a cage (ohh kinky). Donkey Kong Jr is like this only in reverse as Mario is now the baddy, holding Kong in a cage (not so kinky but hey whatever turns you on). You control Kong JR, climbing up vines and avoiding crocodiles that Mario unleashes in order to once again reach the top. I don't like it much but it's a class none the less.

Next a game that needs no introduction...You play as a simple plumber trying to defeat the evil King Cooper (Who younger users will know only as Bowser) and once again sae the princess. This game looks like poo but plays like a dream. Forget Sunshine, Super Mario Bros. is where it's at, baby! The game was genius but sadly I've never completed it, however I'm trying my hardest to change that. It must be one of the quickest games to finish, purely based on the warp zone feature. All you need to do is get a mushroom then on the second level just jump up, break the ceiling and run across it, skipping the level until you reach the warp zone. You can skip one world or three ahead of where you are, then a little later there's another one! Love this game so very, very much. It was re-released on the Gameboy Colour so you may well have it. Classic and genius!

Mario 3 is also great and is a big step up in terms of visuals and gameplay. The levels and characters are more extreme and varied (some look as if the creators were under the influence of drugs when creating. I guess that explains the whole mushroom thing, eh?) And Mario/Lugi both have some new powers to help fight evil and toilet blockage. As well as fighting King Cooper you must also take on his little cousins (or were they nephews?), which is quite nice. In both this and the before mentioned Mario game there's a two player option where two people take it in turns playing. Player one assumes the role of Mario, leaving Lugi in the hands of player numero two. Even though everyone knows the brothers are almost opposites in appearance, the game's characters look identical except for the different fashion tastes. Also a great, genius classic!

The Adventures of Dizzy is confusing to say the least. One minute you’re an egg in his tree house home, the next a rhino is chasing you. Then you walk past a king by a ladder and bump into a pirate and a knight. Strange...very strange. But the game plays brilliantly, forget your Zelda and Final Fantasies, this is the one true classic RPG game. And oh my God! The music is fantastic, must be the best game soundtrack ever, it's just so catchy. The game basically consists of picking up objects (Keys, food, plant spray, planks of wood and what not) then putting them in the right place or hands of the rightful owner. It takes a lot of thought power as you can only hold a maximum of three items at any one time. There are also mini games and did I mention the amazing music? It's very, very hard but (yes you guessed it) classic and genius!

Micro machines were good toys and a nice little Playstation game, but the NES versions runs rings around the both of them. It's a game that defiantly is way ahead of its time and is so addictive. We played it for hours on New Years Eve; if we'd played any longer we wouldn't have time to celebrate. But hey what better way to celebrate the new than with the old (Words that most likely have been spoken by Bruce Forbsides wife). Both the football games I have are good, but footie games aren't really my thing. However World Cup does have a lot of comic value e.g. how the players react when the players get hit. And finally WWF is good, nowhere near Smackdown good but still enjoyable. Basically just taps the buttons and hope for the best although it does come with a nice health/energy system. It's great to play as the classics like The Mountie (who I always thought was the guy from 'Due South'), Jake The Snake Roberts, Sid Vicious, Hulk 'not Hollywood' Hogan and of course The Undertaker (the old Undertaker, not the one who took his part a few years ago).

I really do love my NES the games are just (for lack of a better word) classic! They're simple but so much fun. One thing that must be said though is that the games really were very hard indeed. I'm amazed that we were expected to play such touch games when we were young. The kids today playing Bob the Builder and Tweenies would have had to play games that are equally difficult to the likes of Metal Gear...back in our day. It's probably why a lot of people who played games at a young age are quite the computer games whiz these days.

When you play these older games you really can tell that it was made for people to enjoy and not to contribute to Bill Gate's tower of money, which he swims in every day (like Scrooge McDuck). They were made for people to have fun with, share with others and ten years later post a message talking about them. I will also say that they can get quite frustrating, one main reason for this is a lack of memory. One thing that modern gaming did right was inventing the memory card. Some NES games use the password system (Lemmings does) but they can only bring you to the start of the last level you reached. When you can't save and don't have passwords it's very annoying to die after reaching a long distance into the game. Yes it's regarding to regain where you were and even do better but it's also repetitive. Imagine having to start Metal Gear Solid every time you died...

There are many great games out there and I’m trying to expand my collection. Today my sister while staying at my Nan's house was able to buy the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles arcade game, which if you can remember was a brilliant game. It's like Streets Of Rage, Double Dragon and even Tekken force mode in Tekken 3. Walk along while kicking butt as the Turtles; it doesn't get much better than that. I'm also hoping to get Metal Gear: Snakes Revenge off eBay when the auction closes tomorrow.

Now the NES wasn't the only great console of the past. The Magadrive, Master System, SNES, Gameboy and Game Gear were all great. I also don't hate modern gaming; I just hate the corporate dominated industry that it has become. I get less and less interested in games by the day; they're just not that good anymore (some exceptions of course...GTA Vice City, Tony Hawk 4 etc). I hope that the industry sorts itself out, cuts the crap and gets back on track to what’s important; The games and the people who play them.

I urge all of you to go forth in search of your old consoles, be they Atari's, NES' or even an Amiga or whatever you have. Go get them and play. Forget about graphics and play, just play and enjoy. Invite some mates around and relive the good times of gaming. By the way I do understand that there's probably no-one still reading at this point so I'll probably be only in my quest for great gaming.

Long live the NES and the classic games it gave us to play and enjoy forever more...forever more.

Mucho thanks for reading
CDouch

PROBOTECTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS IS THE BEST GAME ION THE NES!!! EVER!!!!!!!!

I'M CAPS LOCKING TO MAKE A POINT HERE!!!!!!! PROBOTECTOR OWNED!!!!

and some cump stole my copy of Metroid. SCNELL!!!!

Microchips wrote:
> I remember that Turtles' game so well. I have the one on the NES,
> which was more of an adventure game, then the one on the SNES (Which
> is the SOR-type) was brilliant. The best bit was on the later levels,
> where the bazooka dudes start attacking, and you simply pick 'em up
> and lob them over you shoulder. It was much better playing with two
> players though.

On the NES, was that the one which had you starting in a town, where you could go into a sewer and there was something near you which would chop you to pieces if you went in front?

ANd on the SNES was that Turtles in Time? I had both of, them, and they OWNED

I have that fighting Simpsons arcade game on my PC. I brought it at a bootsale for about 50p-£1. It's made by Konami...which is nice.

Microchips wrote:
> I remember that Turtles' game so well. I have the one on the NES,
> which was more of an adventure game, then the one on the SNES (Which
> is the SOR-type) was brilliant. The best bit was on the later levels,
> where the bazooka dudes start attacking, and you simply pick 'em up
> and lob them over you shoulder. It was much better playing with two
> players though.
>
>
> Anyone remember battletoads? Now *that* was a game...

Where you hit a guy 2 times then you do your special move. Like your hand turns into a hammer and such. Classic

ahhhh 2d side scrolling fighters, Turtles, BattleToads, Streets of Rage, The Simpsons, Fatal Fury, Shinobi, Shadow Dancer, Altered Beast, the list goes on and on.......

gerrid wrote:
> Update2.01 wrote:
> >I remember seeing
> pics of DinoCrisis on DC. On the DC, it looked only slightly better
> than the PS1 version!
>
> Because it was a sraight port of the PSone version. Nothing was done
> to it at all in the graphics department.
>
>
> Metropolis Street Racer can't
> hold a candle to GT3 for graphics.
>
> It's a bettter game though.
>
> While Shenmue for DC was a very
> good try,
>
> Excuse me? A good try at what exactly? Have you played either of the
> Shenmue games? They are nothing like GTA or FF. But in my opinion they
> are far superior games, if you wish to compare them.

I know the games are not identical. Street Racer was not the same game as GT3. But i was just using them to compare specific things. Ie, the graphics of MSR Vs GT3.

Update2.01 wrote:
>I remember seeing
> pics of DinoCrisis on DC. On the DC, it looked only slightly better
> than the PS1 version!

Because it was a sraight port of the PSone version. Nothing was done to it at all in the graphics department.


> Metropolis Street Racer can't
> hold a candle to GT3 for graphics.

It's a bettter game though.

> While Shenmue for DC was a very
> good try,

Excuse me? A good try at what exactly? Have you played either of the Shenmue games? They are nothing like GTA or FF. But in my opinion they are far superior games, if you wish to compare them.

I remember that Turtles' game so well. I have the one on the NES, which was more of an adventure game, then the one on the SNES (Which is the SOR-type) was brilliant. The best bit was on the later levels, where the bazooka dudes start attacking, and you simply pick 'em up and lob them over you shoulder. It was much better playing with two players though.


Anyone remember battletoads? Now *that* was a game...

This topic has turned out quite well, shame I didn't win a real GAD for it but at least it's sparked off some good convo.

Lombardo wrote:
> I am arguing that the
> PS2 is better than the DREAMCAST, not GC/Xbox/PC.

And I'm saying I can't think of 5 games I would want om the PS2. How hard to understand is that?

Okay...

*CDouch has not been here most of the day so is mucho confused*