Rush 'n Attack: 1HN Knife Knavery

Nostalgia is a funny thing. Even concerning unfavorable events and outcomes, many of us can still wax nostalgic about the results of those situations. However, in my mind, there are some games and hobbies about which I cannot reminisce enthusiastically or even lukewarmly. One of those games used to be Rush ‘n Attack by Konami, but after a decades-long journey I can discuss this one-time stinker.

Rush ‘n Attack was a Nintendo Entertainment System game that was released in 1985. It was a well-rendered platform side-scroller that was somewhat realistic by 8-bit standards compared to relatively cartoonish games like Super Mario Brothers; Rush ‘n Attack had detailed sprites, semi-realistic Cold War-inspired backgrounds, heart-pumping music, and relentless bad guys. Much like Konami's other offerings at the time, characters were strinkingly humanoid in appearance; in fact, character design was similar to characters in Castlevania and Double Dribble, which were two other games from Konami's stable. When I first received Rush ‘n Attack, I was excited because Konami meant quality. Because I liked Double Dribble, I believed I would like Rush ‘n Attack. Even when I first inserted the cartridge into my NES console, I was certain I would enjoy myself thoroughly.

However, I realized rather quickly how arduous a task it would be to play this game. The game opens with your character outside an enemy base somewhere in Russia or someplace. (Of course, it required little imagination to comprehend that "Rush 'n" meant "Russian".) It's a bleak, gray winter day and all you're armed with is a knife. then the bad guys rush at you. what are you supposed to do? Well, you're supposed to rush and attack (Get it?). And so I did. With one button for jump and another button for attack, I rushed at the enemy with deft presses of the D-pad. Suddenly, a barrage of bullets arrived. I leapt to dodge the incoming bullets, but one bullet grazed my boot. In game-speak, it was but one pixel of my boot. Yet, that was enough to kill my character rather unceremoniously. Rapidly, I re-spawned and attacked again. Once again, another bullet grazed me by one pixel and my character was downed. This process repeated once more until all three lives were lost. End of game. No save points. No starting where I left off. When your character died in Rush ‘n Attack, you started from the very beginning. There was not even a Konami code to give me more lives. I was done right there.

Frustrated, I tried again. I got a little farther, but I died again. So, I tried again. Each time, I would advance a little farther and die again. Sadly, each time, I had to start at the very beginning. Eventually, I would get to Level 2 and then Level 3. However, after losing three lives, I had no choice but to return to the very first level. Frustration would turn to angst, and angst would compel me to eject the cartridge in extreme disgust and disdain.

To be fair, controls were responsive and gameplay was brisk, but the mountains of cheese in this game were undeniable. Of course, there was the aforementioned death by a pixel. More annoying than that was having to start at the absolute initial position of the game after losing all your lives. Yet, what was most disheartening about this game was that sinking feeling of powerlessness. Except for your knife, weapons have ammunition limits with no hope of replenishment except for picking up a new weapon. Moreover, there were no super weapons in this game; there was no spread gun like in Contra, no Batman batarangs, and no Marioesque invincibility. Tragically, in the end, it was just you and your knife.

It took little time for me to trade the game away. I could tolerate it no further and had to remove it from my sight as soon as humanly possible. At the time, Rush ‘n Attack seemed like a rare dud from Konami and a stark reminder of how flawed this world truly is. Nonetheless, like God's grace, there was a silver lining to this story: I managed to trade the game away for Solomon's Key, which also proved to be frustrating, but in a challenging, positive way.

For decades, I lived with the psychological trauma of Rush ‘n Attack. However, a few years ago, I found a video on YouTube. Sometimes, people post videos of their speed runs through games, attempting to finish them in record time. For example, one person posted a video of finishing Super Metroid in 90 minutes. Similar to that, someone posted a speed run of Rush ‘n Attack. As I watched, I witnessed something that stoked uncontrollable and hearty laughter. Throughout the entire speed run, the player simply tap the knife button repeatedly and rushed forward to the very far right edge of the screen. Foes scattered like so many leaves. The player persisted in this way with nary an incoming bullet, literally rushing through level after level with just a knife. I was awestruck with how easy the player made it all appear. I wondered why I had not read about this in Nintendo Power magazine so many years ago. (Kids, there was no Internet back in those days!)

Oddly, witnessing that herculean feat redeemed the game in my mind. I took comfort in knowing that there was greater cheese to overcome this game's cheese. I had found solace and rest as if some profound injustice had been addressed. Even stranger was the urge to play that game again after having beheld that indescribable spectacle. Indeed, that game is long gone and it's just as well that it is. Nevertheless, I can now wax nostalgic about Rush ‘n Attack, and it's a miracle that I can wax nostalgic about it, even though it took me decades to do so.

Castlevania: 1HN Self-Sufficient Devil Hunter

Right after I got my NES, one of the first games I received as a gift was Castlevania. I don't remember why I got that game: did I ask for it? Did Mom think it would be a game that I'd like? Did another family member give it to me? I'm not sure, but I do remember that it was one of the first games I had.

What more can be said about Castlevania? For those who are not familiar, Castlevania is a side-scrolling platformer that was one of Konami's flagship titles. In the game, you play Simon Belmont, a whip-wielding nobleman who enter's Dracula's castle with no other mission but to destroy Dracula and break his curse. Along the way, you encounter every cliched horror monster conceived: bats, mummies, zombies, creatures from the Blue Lagoon, dead knights, Frankenstein, and Igor... Or, at least, a bunch of leaping hunchbacks. All the while, you whip candles and walls to get upgrades to your whip (which ultimately becomes a rather elastic ball-and-chain morning-star-like weapon), special weapons like holy water, cross-shaped boomerangs, axes, and daggers, as well as hearts for ammunition, pork chops for health, and treasures for extra points.

As with many NES games, each level of Castlevania is capped with an end boss, whom you must fight to proceed to the next level. After traversing the first level of the castle, you encounter a giant bat who swoops down at you repeatedly. It is defeated somewhat easily, but then an entire castle awaits with more levels and bosses. At the end of the game, you are challenged by Dracula, but he's not the last boss; after you behead Dracula, an immense leaping rock monster attacks you, knocking you around as your life meter decreases to a dangerously low point...

...and, then, you die. At least, that's what always happened to me because I was never able to beat Castlevania -- not as a teenager and not in recent history.

Castlevania is a game about which I used to be quite conflicted. On the one hand, all of the horror film and literature conventions are in the game: ghouls, monsters, Dracula, torches, skeletons (both animated and as piles of bones), holy water, crosses that clear away the undead, and the like. My Christian radar often blipped at every demonic image on the screen I  encountered when I played recently. I thought about what kind of influence this game would have on my boys: would they develop an interest in horror films? Would they pursue knowledge of the occult? Would they pretend to be Simon Belmont or Dracula?! All of the stereotypically Christian concerns crossed my mind as I considered the implications of a horror-themed video game. On the other hand, you are Simon Belmont, who was sent to vanquish evil, armed with holy water and crosses. These are Catholic elements to be sure, but one cannot deny even a slight Christian influence on the protagonists of some horror movies and themes. After all, who is a more frightening adversary than Satan and his minions? In that sense, Castlevania is spiritual warfare played out on-screen: it's good versus evil presented in a blatant and obvious way. In addition, Castlevania is an excellent platformer with fine graphics, a memorable soundtrack, and gameplay that challenges you and gives you some freedom of movement. Except for some cheesy villains, Castlevania plays rather smoothly for an NES game and has replayability, even after you defeat Dracula and his winged beast.

Despite how well-crafted the game is, I sold Castlevania and Castlevania II as a bundle on eBay, along with their original retail boxes and instructions for the first Castlevania. Once again, a personal conviction led me to rid myself of something I didn't think would be a positive influence on my boys. As a teenager, I didn't live a life pursuing Christ, so I did what I wanted to do. At the time, Castlevania seemed harmless to me, but I looked at the game with renewed eyes and determined that it was games like Castlevania that did affect me as a younger person. If anything, like magic, I may have looked at horror themes and demons as entertaining and fun. Even though demons and supernatural monsters were villains, there was always an implied coolness to them; today, with the proliferation of zombie and vampire TV shows, that seems to be Hollywood's opinion. However, I see things differently: in most, if not all horror-influenced TV shows and movies, God rarely plays the role of vanquisher; instead, it is often through human ingenuity and perseverance that supernatural evil is defeated. In this way, what I find as a negative influence in horror-themed entertainment is not the imagery or storylines as much as the insidious idea that we don't need God to vanquish evil; we'll just do it fine on our own, thank you very much. "We don't need Jesus; we just need each other." It's a perspective that infects the mind, convincing us that we are better than we think we are.

Thus, is playing or owning Castlevania a sin? I don't think so, but it's one of those things that plants a seed of doubt in one's mind. For an adult, it may not be so dangerous, but to plant such a seed in the mind of a child could be spiritually damaging. Not everyone else is the same when it comes to the effects of horror themes in entertainment, but when it comes to my boys, since I'm accountable to God for them I shouldn't risk exposing them to the idea that we can conquer Satan and his demons just fine on our own.