If you ever want to know why wearing a life jacket is important then try this scrolling game.  This game doesn't really have a category unless it may be a story game.  You are a french man in a sailboat on a nice day when you get knocked off the boat and fall into the ocean.  You have to continuously scroll with your mouse or mouse pad.  You work on keeping the energy of the sailor up until the boat turns around and comes back.  The water is cold and your blood pressure slowly falls.  Your hands and feet go numb and you do anything to keep the feeling in your limbs.  You begin to hallucinate and freak out.  Eventually your life flashes before you eyes and you lose your energy and drown.  

This game looks like it was filmed, but it is hard to tell where the video ends and the CGI begins.  It is an artwork of a game and it really makes me want to always wear a life jacket.  It scared me when he pulls his finger nail off to keep feeling his fingers.  I made it for 6 min and 37 sec.  If you want an interesting experience while gaming then play this game.

Kingdom Rush is a tower defense game.  It is a casual game for an app on a smart phone.  You strategically put towers along a defined path to kill enemies.  After winning all the rounds in a section, you get stars to improve you defenses fom the start of the game.  You upgrade the towers to kill big hordes of the enemies and take down the bigger and badder foes.  It reminds me of Civilizaion and Actraiser in the fact that you control many players that help defeat enemies. You also grow you defenses during each section.

I love TD games! I have a very strategic mind to expertly place the towers in such a way that I get three stars in almost every section.  It is aesthetically pleasing so I don't mind playing it for a long time.  It really hard to find a good TD game, but I think Kingdom Rush has the right formula.  The only thing I wish they had was a fast forward button to kill the slow strong enemies faster.

Line Rider

Line rider is a game that really makes us focus on the 'art' of video games.  You draw lines with the mouse or a drawing pad to create a path for the rider to ride along.  The original version is much simpler than its successors.  You are given one type of ink to draw with and physics does the rest of the work.  It is a very physics-oriented game.  

I like this game in the fact that it gives the player a creative ability.  You are not the character, but you do help the character.  This game has not goal or task to complete.  This game created alot of user videos of what can be done with some creative thinking and physics.  It is hard to relate this game to other games.

Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back is an 8-bit-like game.  You start out at a tombstone and move from static screen to static screen.  You are given a gun to defend yourself from the monsters along the way.  If you go back a screen you reset the screens ahead of you.  If you die you reset the screen you are on or the set of screens you are on. 

This game frustrates me when I either have to go back or I die.  It is really simple game play, yet you have to use skill to overcome the obstacles.  It could be seen as having heavy influence from Super Mario Bros.  It can be seen as a throwback game to a time when graphics were simpler and game play was extremely skill based.

ActRaiser

Before being given this game to play I had never heard of this game.  It is a mix between a side-scroller and a RPG.  You are a angel who has been weakened and must clear up the world for people to inhabit.  The people find object to offer up to you and you control the weather and keep monsters at bay.  You control how the people grow and try to seal up the monsters' layers.

I would like this game better if I had an actual console in my possession to play it on.  It is tons of fun, but still challenging enough to make me want to keep playing it.  It reminds me of Civilization and Castlevania rolled together to make one big game.  I was annoyed at the bat-like monsters and the dragons that kept killing my people.

NHL '95

I love hockey and I was so excited when I heard that I was getting a chance to play NHL '95.  You can have any team you want face each other or you can play through a season.  It lets you customize your game. You can turn on and off penalties and line changes.  It lets you manage the team and be a GM for the team.  It reminds me of the current hockey and most sports games of the day.  I really like the face-off focus and the goalies in the game.

I don't like the fact that it changes the player your controlling when you have control of the puck.  This is unlike most games today where you are a specific character and play almost the entire game as that character.  In my opinion the players and game move slowly when compared to a real hockey game and the video games of today.  It seems to drag on until someone manages to score.  Overall it is a fun game to play with friends.

Chrono Trigger is an RPG by Square, where the main character, Crono, spans time to fix history and save the future from the alien life-form that fell to earth in the prehistoric ages.  This game features turn-based fighting that occurs in the same setting where general navigation occurs. It also lets you control the main character and his companions.  The are lots of places to travel in the world.  There are thirteen different endings to the game.  

The artwork is by the same artist, Akira Toriyama, that did Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball.  I love this art style in games, it is really easy to draw them in an 8- or 16-bit system.  There is strong influence from Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but it is still a game all its own.  Square really understands how to make a great RPG.

The King of Kong

The King of Kong is a movie about Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe.  I was slightly surprised by the competitiveness of the two men.  They devoted a good portion of their life to tackling Donkey Kong.  For Billy, being the top man at arcade games is his life in a nutshell, but for Steve it was the driving force to keep him moving forward after he lost his job.  At first it seems the movie pushes for Billy's side of things to keep him the winner, but it soon turns to Steve as the honest family man that is trying to impress his wife and kids.  It makes a fool of Billy, showing that he submits a video rather than compete in person.  Steve Wiebe works hard to earn the respect of the officials and eventually Beats Billy's record.

Double Dragon is another classic beat-em-up game.  It features guys and girls in tights punching and kicking the snot out of each other.  It is like river city ransom with less of a storyline. Both games have similar controls and mechanics...even similar maps and platforms.  Other than the bright colors and memorable character design it is just like River City Ransom.  It is best played with a friend for a fun, quick game.

River City Ransom

River City Ransom is a NES game that is a perfect example of a classic beat-em-up game.  It is made by the makers of Double Dragon. You play a tough guy that beats up thugs and is fighting leaders of gangs.  The art style is a simple 8-bit super deformed character.  The game gets old fast, but is fun to play with a friend.  It is always funny when you accidentally beat up your friend after mistaking him for an enemy.  It makes me thing of FPS games today with the text for comments appearing at the bottom while the player is in the middle of a game, it is very distracting and messes up gameplay.  Although the text is distracting, it is funny..."Barf" is the noise you make when you are seriously hurt.

Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden is a platformer/ side-scroller that is very hard to beat.  It has a actual storyline with cutscenes.  It uses the full range of color that an 8-bit system could offer.  The enemies spawn at the most horrible places.  If you dont move forward or back they continue to spawn over and over again. 

It makes me angry when I jump onto a platform only to find that it is not part of the actual platform.  The color and art style is beautiful, but it makes it hard to play the game.  I would rather have very defined platforms han art on the screen that gets in the way of game mechanics.  

The Legend of Zelda

Considered one of the greatest game franchises of all time, The Legend of Zelda is a series of static screens with weapons, monsters, and dungeons.  You are the hero named Link and you have been set on a journey to save Princess Zelda.  

This game is very impossible without the maps and tips that came with the original packaging of the cartridges.  There are eight dungeons to go through.  You start off with a sword.  It takes its bases from the game Adventure for the Atari 2600.  It inspired countless RPGs such as Dragon Quest.  

Contra

Contra is very close to a beat-em-up and a FPS game combined.  The first level is a side-scroller.  As you move through the game you gain upgrades to your weapon.  It has extremely hard bosses and in general is a very tough game to play. 

The characters look like your ordinary tough guys.  Konami used the big action stars and movies of the day to create a game they believed the people wanted to play.  It is almost too hard to play.  Without the use of the Konami Code it is pretty much unbeatable.  

Mega-Man 2

Mega-man 2 has many bright colors and has nine levels.  You choose which level you begin with.  You cannot fight the evil Dr. Wily until you have beaten the other eight 'mans' that Dr. Wily has created.  After you defeat each boss you receive a power-up to help you defeat a new boss.

This game is very tough and requires lots of concentration to beat this game.  This is a successful sequel to the original Mega-Man.  There is a more open world than Mario games and it allows for a changing story and a different feel to the game each time.

Super Mario Bros. 3!!!!

The game that was more successful than its predecessor, Super Mario Bros. 2.  This game features better graphics and more power-ups and more expansive worlds than the original Super Mario Bros. Instead of having a warp-zone it has power-ups that allow you to jump behind the screen and by-pass the level.  The ultimate suit in this game was the tanooki (raccoon-dog) suit.  There were other suits as well, a fireball suit, a frog suit, a boot suit and more.  The story-line is pretty much the same as the original game, but you go into castles and the kings servant, Toad, is freaking out about what happened to the royal family.

This game allows you to go backwards and move around the worlds in your own order and style.  There are also many hidden games (mini games) and more villains to defeat. This game showed that making a successful series of games was possible.  You can also share lives in two player mode, making the game last longer.  This was one of my childhood games that I am always up for playing.

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. is one of the most entertaining 8-bit games around.  It was originally for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES),but has been spread to many consoles and emulators.  It is considered one of the best, if not the best, video games ever made.  I would have to say if it wasn't for this game (and its close descendants) I would never be the enthusiast for video games that I am today.  You are a plumber on a mission to save the princess.  It is a side scroller and has many, many levels and worlds to go through.

The game has definitely influenced many games down the road.  It introduced the concept of multiple worlds to travel through to accomplish a goal, and sub-levels.  It also gives you an extra life for accomplishing a goal, 100 coins.  I love finding the hidden warp zones in the underground levels.  This is honestly one of my favorite games.

Donkey Kong...Help!

In Nintendo's attempt to break out into the American video game market a classic was born.  You play as a little plumber named Mario that has to climb up a building to reach the damsel in distress.  The villain Donkey Kong is constantly trying to stop you in your quest to save her.  He throws barrels at you and some of them catch on fire and move towards you.  I like the fact that there is constant music playing during the game.  It holds my attention longer than the previous games I have played.

This game started the story telling process of most games today.  Although it is very repetitive in the fact that the levels are all similar in look and idea, it does give a better story than all the games up to this point.  It inspired the movie Wreck-It-Ralph, along with coutless other games.  Almost all Nintendo games have been influenced by Donkey Kong in some form or another, for example, Mario, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, ect.

Galaga

Galaga is a game that connects generations.  It is a Namco game that has stood the test of time.  It is on every Namco classic game pack for multiple consoles.  It is very similar to Space Invaders with the ship stuck at the bottom of the screen and the enemy moving along the top of the screen.  However, it differs greatly in the fact that the enemies swoop down and get in order multiple times throughout the game.  You can also get captured by the top ship and shoot it to get a power-up to shoot two lasers at the same time.

In the modern day you can see the influence of Galaga in lots of games.  Any game with power-ups, like Mario games and The Legend of Zelda franchise, are good examples.  It also give you stats at the end of the game.  Most modern sports games have used this and games like Call of Duty and Battlefield also rely on this innovation from the 1980s.

Namco's Pac-Man

Pac-Man is one of the most iconic video games out there.  It is a bright, colorful static screen with lots of distractions.  The walls help you escape from the ghost, however, the opposite is true as well.  If you can see the patterns that the ghost move in it is very easy to do well at the game.

The avoidance of enemies and the big pills to stop or slow enemies reminds me of the Atari game, Adventure only limited to one screen only.  The big pills are like the spear.  The game also reminds me of Space Invaders or Galaga in the fact that you have to clear the board before you complete the level.  It is hard to relate this game to modern or more recent games, Pac-Man is its own game there is not many other ways to rewrite the game for modern day games.

Space Invaders!

This game almost needs no introduction. It is the classic arcade game by Atari, Space Invaders. You are a green tank moving between shields trying to shoot the little bug-like aliens. The aliens pick up speed as the move down the screen. If you hit the red spaceship you get more points.

I really like this game because, unlike most games around this time, it kind of has a nice rhythmic/musical element to it. It reminds me of the music in Mario that speeds up when time is close to the end. I got a chance at the 2013 Indiana State Fair to play this game on the arcade version. I played two-player with my mom. Needless to say she won, it is one of her favorite games.

Lunar Lander by Atari

This game can seem simple at first and then become a mess of strategy and skill. It is another vector-style game. This is more complicated than the previous vector games I have written about. You are the lunar lander trying to land on the very strangely mountainous terrain of the moon. There are about multiple difficulties that involve a change in gravity, rotation ability, and friction. If you do not slow down enough or come in at the wrong angle, you crash and either lose or get points based on how close you were to landing. The game ends when you run out of fuel.

This is the first game that let you see how much of supplies you have.  I like knowing what I have in my inventory and how I need to counteract forces that could harm me. When the rotation of the module is no longer restricted it make me laugh. The craft begins to spin out of control and nothing gets accomplished. I also really enjoy how the module breaks apart into tiny pieces.  This game has been remade many times as computer flash games. I remember playing it in elementary school during winter recess.

Atari's Battlezone

Battlezone is a vector-style game.  You are piloting a tank around the battle ground trying to avoid and hit enemy tanks and space ships.  There is simple terrain and obstacles to hide behind.  It is very green and seems like a game we would make in to a free app for phones today.

It is clear to see how this game quickly progresses.  As an arcade game is could eat all of a child's lunch money in an afternoon.  There have been many versions of this game made today.  Tanks is a good example of a game based off this game.  I did not realize until it was pointed out to me that you could shoot at the spaceships and get more points.  Its a good classic war game.

Atari's Tempest

Tempest is a creative game.  You are some kind of ship or gun that is shooting at these x-things that are shooting back at you.  It takes some skill to keep up with the changing shape and speed of the game.  It is very colorful and is mostly simple lines and shapes moving across the screen.

I find this game to be very captivating.  If I saw this game in an arcade I would have a hard time not feeding it all of my coins.  It has lots of levels in many shapes.  There are even a few sides that are hard to see until you move down them.

Atari 2600 Missile Command

Atari's Missile Command is a very simple game.  It is very flashy.  The name gives the game's objective, you are shooting missiles at bombs that are falling out of the sky.  You try to protect the six cities and three missile bases on the screen.  The end screen is so flashy that it could trigger an epileptic seizure.

This game gets hard rather quickly.  If I were to make a game like this today it would be a free app for phones  and tablets.  This game is good for wasting a few minutes before you need to go do something.  It is good for a classic game collection.

First Game...Adventure!


To start off this blog, I will talk about the Atari 2600 classic game Adventure.  It is a game where you go around various castles looking for keys, spears, trophies (I think that's what they are supposed to be...) and various other objects.  You fight dragons and try to get bats in the upper levels that steal you objects.  To win the game, all of three levels, you need to acquire the shinning trophy and bring it back to the yellow/original castle you started at.

After playing this game for a good amount of time, I feel that it is well thought out for an 1980s 8-bit game.  It fits the name of the game.  You constantly have to battle dragons and keep track of keys and spears.  The bat moves objects around which keeps a person entertained trying to find all the items.  This game is obviously a precursor to Zelda.