Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow: 3HN Duck Disappointment

In one of my previous posts, I dubbed the Disney character Donald Duck as the top Sega Genesis game character in terms of personal nostalgia; with a tough and determined demeanor that belies his Disney cute factor and with underrated winners under his belt like Quackshot and World of Illusion, Donald Duck has certainly earned the top spot on my list. So, when I won Super Metroid on eBay last year and a Donald Duck game called Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow was packaged with it, I was pleased to get two games for one.

Unfortunately, unlike Donald Duck's Genesis titles, Maui Mallard on the Super Nintendo is lackluster not because of its graphics (with colorful and sharp backgrounds and character sprites), the animation (which is fluid and comical), or the in-game sound (which is good by SNES standards), but because of its gameplay. One problem is figuring out where to go. Playing the first level, it is initially confusing and difficult to know where to go; for example, I had trouble solving how to enter the background (outside of the house) from the foreground (inside the house). Once I overcame that, I found it annoying trying to navigate in the background with walls and window edges in my field of vision. Even after I successfully returned to the foreground, I could not easily determine where to head (or what to do) to exit the level.

Okay... I realize that it may seem lame that I cannot navigate the first level. Admittedly, Super Metroid is all about figuring out where to go; like Super Metroid, I could just watch someone's longplay video on YouTube or read a walkthrough to solve Maui Mallard. Anyway, it isn't navigation that makes Maui Mallard almost unplayable as much as the slippery controls. In Maui Mallard, jumping feels imprecise, running feels like sliding across ice, and shooting Donald's gun lacks the "fun" factor of Quackshot. What is he shooting -- tomatoes?!

Navigation and controls are the two major gameplay elements that bog down Maui Mallard, but I must also mention the act of collecting objects. Is the point to simply amass a higher completion percentage? I wasn't sure and I grew to not care after a few minutes of gameplay. After a while, the game felt pointless, which is not as much a reflection of gameplay as a lack of a cohesive story. Who is Maui Mallard? Why do I have to wait until later levels to turn into Cold Shadow, the icy, deadly ninja duck? What's the point of having to transform when I could just be a ninja throughout the game?

Yet, more important than these questions was my concern about the "Eastern philosophy" elements in the game, such as the Taoist yin-yang symbol and ninja iconography, as well as the Polynesian-type idolatry present. What kinds of images would be impressed upon my sons' minds when viewing these symbols? All of these questions flooded my mind as I turned off my Retro Duo and pulled out the Maui Mallard cartridge.

As I wrote this post, I pondered how Maui Mallard and Super Metroid share some similar features: laudable graphics, vivid sprites, platform gameplay, somewhat baffling and confusing level navigation, and tracking of percentages of items collected are aspects of both games. Yet, unlike Maui Mallard, Super Metroid features fluid gameplay with accurate jumping and movement along with special abilities gained as the game progresses. Super Metroid also affords Samus Aran wall jumping, which comes with much practice but is available from the game's onset. Maui Mallard is plagued with a feeling that you have little control over where Donald Duck goes and, eventually, little desire to go anywhere. Sadly, because of this game, Donald Duck doesn't rank too highly on my list of nostalgic characters on the SNES.

Zanac: 1HN Fun Frantic Shmup

Ah, Zanac. Wuh, you've never heard of Zanac? Well, it wasn't one of those well-known classics in the NES library -- just a vertical bottom-to-top shoot-em-up flying game with power-ups, lots of bad guys, and stage upon stage of bases to destroy. Just imagine 1942 in the future... And, like most shoot-em-ups (shmups), the action gets frenetic and the projectiles keep coming... and coming... and coming.

Zanac would not stand out too much if it weren't for one bit of programming: apparently, Zanac was programmed with artificial intelligence that made Zanac more difficult the better you played. So, if you start out strong, the enemies come out in droves. The stronger you are, the more the enemies come out. If you die, your ship reappears, but the enemies come out fewer than before. For a long time, when I played Zanac, I believed that this programming existed, but that was when I was a teenager. Recently, I played Zanac again and realized something: the enemies that come out, and the amount that come out, is almost directly related to which power-ups you get and how many you get.

Here's how it works... There are eight possible power-ups numbered 0-7. You start out with 0, which is a special orb-shooting weapon. If you pick up another 0 power-up, you shoot two streams of orbs and more aliens emerge. I noticed that when I picked up 3, which is an orb that circles your ship like a defensive shield, special kinds of enemies that launch barrages of missiles and eject indestructible shells attack. Whichever power-up you get, you get certain enemies; if you get another power-up of the same type, more baddies attack.

So, Zanac is a fun shmup with some cool power-ups, fast-paced action, and lots of chaos, but the aliens are unspectacular and, like most shmups, the cheese is poured on thick. Nothing is worse than dodging a bunch of foes and projectiles only to explode because one stray projectile grazes your ship, as in passes one pixel from your ship. To become really good at Zanac, you have to enter a mental state in which you just focus on dodging while holding down both the standard fire button and the special weapon button. Just move and shoot... Oh, and never, ever get anything but 0, 3, or 7. The rest are a waste of time, especially 2. Trust me.

Super Mario Bros. 2: 1HN Sitting on Airborne Eggs

Ah, Super Mario Bros. 2: the oft-forgotten game in the NES/SNES library of Mario games. As I mentioned in my brief review of SMB: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2 was originally a game called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, which was released in Japan as a title that was completely unrelated to any Mario game before it. However, when Nintendo saw in its infinite wisdom how much of a cheesefest the original Super Mario Bros. 2 game was, they re-worked the characters in Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic and re-badged that game as Super Mario Bros. 2. Thus, for decades, Americans were playing a game that they grew to know and love, but was not originally a Mario game at all.

Here is what I think about that: it doesn't matter at all. The American... I mean, our Super Mario Bros. 2 is an absolute hoot. What better way is there to spend a couple of hours than jumping onto foes, pulling them over your sprite's head, and then throwing them at other foes? There aren't many better options than that! Super Mario Bros. 2 plays unlike other Mario games in this regard: instead of squishing bad guys with your ample posterior, you pick them up and throw them at other bad guys. You can also pick up radishes, keys, and even POW blocks with devastating effect. You can even jump onto enemy eggs as they are shot at you, pick them up in mid-air, and then throw them back at the enemy!

Modes of attack aside, Super Mario Bros. 2 is also unlike its brethren in that there are no raccoon or tanuki suits, no fire-flowers, and no Yoshi. Instead, you get a choice of four characters (the first time a Mario game featured this), a kind of life meter with a maximum of three hits, potions that lead to the negative world where objects turn into coins, and you get annoying phantom faces that chase you around if you pick up a key. This game feels very different from its brethren that it's almost... like an unrelated game. Go figure.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is a lot of fun for all ages. Is it violent? Perhaps, but I contend that Mario/Luigi/Toad/Princess are just trying to defend themselves from these dastardly foes. I am a Christian, I believe in Jesus, and I can say this: the Bible has its violent moments, especially the battles in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. But, the violence was not for violence's sake -- it happened for numerous reasons that were sometimes in God's will and sometimes committed by those who weren't in His will. Anyway, my point is that Super Mario Bros. 2 is not nearly as violent and is a lot more innocent than the kids' shows out there today.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox...

Super Mario Bros. 2 is most fun played with enhanced graphics and sound on the Super Mario All-Stars SNES cartridge, but if you can get your hands on the NES cartridge, it's the same game. By the way, this is a first-hand nostalgia (1HN) game for me: I played this back in the day, and it's as fun now as it was back then.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: 3HN Cheesefest

One month before Christmas, I was determined to get yet another classic game cartridge for my sons (and me): Super Mario All-Stars. This SNES cartridge includes not only all three Super Mario games from the NES, but also a game that had not been previously released in the U.S. -- Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels. This was the selling point to my wife: if I get this cartridge for my sons, it would include three games with improved graphics and sound (compared to the NES), and an additional fourth game. She wasn't fully convinced, but she humored me, so I got it.

Here's a little history: The Lost Levels was actually Super Mario Bros. 2, which was first released in Japan shortly after the classic Super Mario Bros. The prevailing rumor/fact was that the original Super Mario 2 was TOO difficult for U.S. kids (really?) and TOO similar to the original Super Mario Bros. Thus, what the U.S. got was a game (called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic in Japan) that was repackaged as Super Mario Bros. 2; but, The Lost Levels were eventually released as a part of the Super Mario All-Stars compilation.

Anyway, we've had the cartridge for about a month. My sons have had little desire to play any of the games on it as they are currently fascinated with Super Mario World, but I have dived into the games, particularly Super Mario 2 and 3. However, I have been playing Lost Levels for the last couple weeks, and I can say with some certainty that this game is littered with cheese. Indeed, this game is hard... really hard, and needlessly so. How can a game be "needlessly hard?" Let me give you an example: in World 2, Level 2, there is a point where there is an impossible chasm across which you have to jump. You can't jump it, you can't turbo jump it, and you don't have the benefit of a tanuki suit, raccoon suit, or cape (from Super Mario World) to help you across the chasm. Okay, there's a pipe way up in the sky, but how do you get to it?! Well, if you jump around enough, you will eventually find a secret block. Okay, so I found that block, but I still can't reach the pipe. What do I do?! Once again, if I jump around, I will eventually find ANOTHER hidden block. If I jump on THAT block, I can reach the pipe, but then I have to turbo jump from atop THAT pipe to make it across the chasm. Sheesh! Though I'm up for a good challenge, hiding blocks that necessitate reaching a point that would already present a difficult jump takes away from the fun of this Super Mario game and renders the game more of a test of patience than a pick-up-and-play classic. Thankfully, you have unlimited chances to continue and try again, but gaining an intimate familiarity with the Continue screen is no way to enhance one's life.

Throughout Lost Levels, the frustration is in full effect with nigh-impossible jumps, crazy falls that require accurate placement, and death mushrooms which come out of Question blocks that kill you! I have a funny story about these mushrooms: in World 1, Level 1, the first special mushroom that I encountered when I first played Lost Levels was this purple mushroom that emerged from a Question block. "Ooh, this must be for some new ability," I thought. Little did I know that it was a poison mushroom that would automatically kill me upon consumption! Oh, and there are surprise areas that actually hinder gameplay! For instance, if you over-jump one stage-ending flagpole in World 3, you are taken to a Warp Zone, but that's not a good thing: it's a Warp Zone to World 1! Who'd want to do that?! It can all be frustrating...

Furthermore, I must comment on the game's controls -- more so than the first three Marios (which we know as 1, 2, and 3), Mario's momentum sends him forward and off many platforms if you're not especially careful. Mario also hangs longer when he jumps, which threw off my timing when bouncing off one foe to land on another. I have lost count of how many times I have died bouncing off one opponent only to land behind another, thus touching the foe while on flat ground and dying instantly. The controls feel different from Super Mario 1, 2, or 3, as if Mario were on the moon. It's difficult to describe, much like it's difficult to control Mario with any accuracy.

The Lost Levels plays with your Mario sensibilities, turning what we've been conditioned to accept as "rewards" such as mushrooms and Warp Zones into bad things! Now, you have to be careful about where you go and what you get. You also have to contend with a Mario that hangs in the air just a bit too long and had a braking distance that is just a bit too long. This is not challenging -- this is cheesy. I mean, I like the first three Mario games because they're challenging, but they're fun and the challenges are right in front of you instead of compelling you to find hidden blocks to advance... for the most part. Anyway, there's a feeling I have when playing The Lost Levels as if I have to get every move just right in order to succeed -- there is no margin for error, and this is what separates this game from the fun of the first three Mario games and Super Mario World after it. In my opinion, games have to have even a small margin for error to preserve the fun of the challenge. After all, we are all human and incapable of performing perfectly every time. We all need the space to make a mistake or two. You may disagree, but that's why I liked Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, or 3; you didn't have to stick a perfect jump every time, but you did need to do it occasionally.

Nonetheless, truth be told, I will return to this game again and again... until I beat it. Wouldn't that mark a "great game?" Let me get back to you about that. In the meantime, I had better get used to cheese.

Updated Info about the Retro Duo

Today, I added an update section to a review I wrote for Epinions about the Retro Duo, a NES/SNES clone console:

Retro Duo: Crisp SNES, Cruddy NES

If you are only interested in reading my update excerpt, here it is:

"After 9 months of irregular use of the Retro Duo, one of the controllers became problematic; I could push the D-pad or any of the buttons, but I couldn't do both at the same time and get any game response. I cut the controller cable from the internal control board and resoldered it, but the connection problem seemed more inherent to the board and less inherent to the cable. Thus, I confirmed that the Retro Duo's controllers are somewhat flimsy and I suspect that the internal control board is the reason.

"To resolve this, I recommend buying original Super Nintendo controllers (not the cheap knock-offs, but bona fide controllers) through eBay or Amazon Marketplace. I won two controllers through eBay, received them last week, and then cleaned them up with alcohol and cotton swabs. The controllers work flawlessly with the Retro Duo and feel much better than the controllers that come with the system. However, I would keep the Retro Duo controllers as back-ups or for spare parts (e.g. the internal button contact parts).

"Also, I found that the Retro Duo is very sensitive to any jarring movements, such as when children accidentally jerk their controllers while playing. If inserted cartridges experience any kind of quick movements, any active game is disrupted; this is because the cartridge insertion ports on the Retro Duo are wider than the actual cartridges and the pin contacts inside the console allow for leeway. So, don't jerk your controllers.

"Other than these complaints, the Retro Duo is still a viable replacement solution for failing SNES or NES consoles, even though NES performance is sub-par."

Super Mario World: 1HN Super Fun

Twenty years ago (on November 20, 1990 to be exact), Super Mario World was released to the... uh, world along with the Super Nintendo videogame console. Rivaling the Sega Genesis, the Super Nintendo delivered 16-bit graphics AND sound, but none of this would have made an impact without the capabilities of the Super Nintendo displayed fully through the play of Super Mario World. I first played Super Mario World in 1992 when I visited a friend of mine. At the time, I had grown weary of side-scrolling platformers and was gravitating more toward sports games like NES Play-Action Football and Kings of the Beach. Anyway, I played Super Mario World and was somewhat impressed by the graphics and gameplay. However, because I wasn't a fan of such side-scrollers, I quickly gave up playing and asked if my friend and I could play Street Fighter 2.

Fast-forward 20 years: it was Christmas 2010 and my wife and I gave our two young sons Super Mario World along with three other cartridges as part of their Christmas booty... er, presents. Upon inserting Super Mario World into our Retro Duo, we (my wife included) were astonished (even in 2010) by the graphics, the sounds, and the gameplay of this classic. The first couple of areas in Level 1 are great for our two boys, but areas after that increased in difficulty as one progressed. Even though areas became more difficult and frustrating for all of us, the "cute" sprites and bright colors made the drudgery of overcoming stubborn obstacles over and over again tolerable. I even found (and sometimes find) myself humming the background music. There was just something undeniably catchy about the game.

Just to mention one aspect of Super Mario World, we all enjoyed that element that was added to Super Mario gameplay with this game: riding Yoshi, a friendly dinosaur who can eat foes, spit fireballs, and lay (!) 1-UP eggs. Of course, Yoshi often proved to be more of a tainted temptation than a helper: whenever Mario or Luigi is hit by a foe whilst riding Yoshi, Yoshi scurries away at high speed. When playing, this led all of us to pursue Yoshi because he was THAT fun to have in the game, but pursuing the wayward Yoshi almost always led to death by contact with a foe or falling down a hole. My wife and I sagely concluded that if one is hit while riding Yoshi, just let him run away...

In short, Super Mario World is a pleasant way to wile away an hour or two with the family. You can play cooperatively on the same map or individually with everyone taking turns. Plus, you can save games at certain key points and go back to them later; nowadays, this is no big deal but for an old-time gamer like me this is huge. Back in the day, it was more the exception than the rule that one could save a gave, so one either had to play all day until one finished the game or just quit and try from the beginning later. In any case, this classic can be acquired as a cartridge through eBay or through the Wii's Virtual Console; either way, you won't be disappointed with this 20-year-old game.

Super Metroid without a Walkthrough?! Ugh!

Last weekend, I had some free time after everyone had gone to bed and I had poured a couple of hours into a presentation for Historical Linguistics class, so I decided to pop Super Metroid into my family's Retro Duo console. Up to the point where I had saved my game, I had been using a walkthrough that was posted on IGN. It has been a good walkthrough, but more written from the perspective of a speed player who is trying to beat Super Metroid under 90 minutes. However, I have found that following a walkthrough word-for-word can be tedious, sapping the fun and adventure out of Super Metroid. So, I decided to just wing it and play without the walkthrough...

For the most part, I did well enough. Because I had saved my game in Maridia after defeating Draygon, I still had to find a reserve tank and a missile tank. I found these items easily enough after navigating for 30 minutes using Samus' map screen. It was after that when things got tough as I worked my way to Norfair, where I spent five minutes trying to get a missile tank located on the other side of some crumble blocks, got into a nasty fight with an evil Torizo, and then acquired the Screw Attack. After that, I tried to screw attack/space jump my way up a massive room, only to have the Space Jump (I loathe Space Jump) work half of the time, while I would fall or crash into nigh-invincible Metal Pirates the other half of the time. After 25 more minutes, Samus drowned in rising acid as she failed to complete her space jumps. Sheesh.

Because I didn't (or couldn't) save after beating that Torizo, all of my progress after acquiring the reserve tank was lost. Thankfully, I at least saved when I did, but I realized how hard Super Metroid is without a walkthrough. I'd like to blame the Retro Duo's controller, though; I mean, why can't I string together successive Space Jumps?!

The Retro Duo: Good with SNES, Bad with NES

Howdy!

I just posted a new review of the Retro Duo video game console at Epinions:

Retro Duo

To summarize, the Retro Duo is a clone console that was manufactured with Nintendo technology from patents that expired a few years ago. You can play NES and SNES games on it. Basically, it does really well with SNES games, but poorly with NES games.

Ciao!