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

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Sat 04/01/03 at 21:08
Regular
Posts: 787
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
Sat 04/01/03 at 23:03
Regular
"All about the Beats"
Posts: 1,998
gerrid wrote:
> Actually that's made me quite angry. I could try and explain to you
> why the Dreamcast was and is a fantastic console, but I don't want to
> because I know it's great.
> And the GBC version of Metal Gear Solid lasted longer and was arguably
> more fulfilling than MGS or MGS2.

You read minds for a living dont you?
Sat 04/01/03 at 23:00
Regular
"bit of a brain"
Posts: 18,933
Actually that's made me quite angry. I could try and explain to you why the Dreamcast was and is a fantastic console, but I don't want to because I know it's great.
And the GBC version of Metal Gear Solid lasted longer and was arguably more fulfilling than MGS or MGS2.
Sat 04/01/03 at 22:57
Regular
"bit of a brain"
Posts: 18,933
Lombardo wrote:
> (excluding the Dreamcast which is filth)

And I thought you were intelligent. Fool.
Sat 04/01/03 at 22:56
Regular
"All about the Beats"
Posts: 1,998
Lombardo wrote:
anyone played MGS on the gameboy colour? Terrible. The
> PS2 version wins.

I have to totally disagree, the PS2 version too boring too quickly.
Sat 04/01/03 at 22:52
Regular
"Plotting Your Demis"
Posts: 342
My SNES was amazing! I think SNES is better than NES, the graphics were not overly complicated, but they were half-decent. Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda, E.V.O Search for Eden, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, the Final Fantasies, and the list goes on... Don't forget Super Mario Kart!
Granted, the NES rocked, but I think the SNES just went that little bit further. A good way to complare "retro" consoles is to take one amazing game from each console, and copare those (in terms of gameplay).
PS2: Final Fantasy 10
SNES: Final Fantasy 5
The gameplay of FF5 is superior, it can't possibly match FF10 in sound, lifespan or graphics, but I recently re-played FF5 (on an emulator) and found it more fun than FF10. This doesn't apply to other games though, anyone played MGS on the gameboy colour? Terrible. The PS2 version wins. All consoles have bad points and good points (excluding the Dreamcast which is filth) whether they are old or new.

SMW RULES!!
Sat 04/01/03 at 22:50
Regular
"bit of a brain"
Posts: 18,933
Judah Ben-Hur wrote:
> Yay for Duck Hunt and Super Mario 3 and Track and Field and Turtles
> and all the other games I had back in the days.


Yes we sure did broked your controllers playing track and field. And Mario 3. And RC Pro Am. Can't forget that.
Sat 04/01/03 at 22:45
Regular
"Being Ignorant"
Posts: 2,574
Those NES pads were nothing special like were they?...but, they kept me going through the years and where the pinnacle of button bashing, especially with Track and Field.
Sat 04/01/03 at 22:43
"period drama"
Posts: 19,792
My NES broke.
You know how all the colours have numbers for them?
Well it showed all the numbers up. Including the black ones, meaning you couldn't see anything. Although it was quite intersting.

NE swas my first console.
My first RPGing experiences.
My first Mario experience
I loved my NES.
Dum-de dah
Sat 04/01/03 at 22:38
Regular
"All about the Beats"
Posts: 1,998
I think im going to selling my NES.
Not sure though

I might miss Turtles!
Sat 04/01/03 at 22:33
Regular
"Festivus!"
Posts: 6,228
Damn caps lock

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