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.

Top Ten First-Hand Nostalgia Sega Genesis Characters (1)

It has come down to number one. Like Sonic, this character needs no introduction; but, unlike Sonic, this character has been around much longer than the Sega Genesis, video games, or even color television. My Top First-Hand Nostalgia Sega Genesis character is... Donald Duck.

As almost everyone knows, Donald Duck is one of the marquee characters in the Walt Disney stable. Along with Mickey Mouse and Goofy, Donald Duck is highly visible in Disney entertainment, appearing in cartoon shorts, movies, merchandise, and, of course, video games. Some may thank Donald Duck for the advent of other successful Disney duck characters, like Uncle Scrooge, Launchpad MacQuack, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie of DuckTales fame, and Darkwing Duck. These characters went on to also appear in lucrative game ventures like the DuckTales games on NES and Darkwing Duck's own game. However, the focus here is on Donald Duck, who appears on two games for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive: Quackshot and World of Illusion.

In Quackshot, Donald Duck is an adventurer a la Indiana Jones, sporting a leather jacket and fedora along with a plunger gun. As one progresses through Quackshot, Donald Duck upgrades his plunger gun to plungers that stick to walls for climbing, and then to birds so that he can hitch rides under them. Donald also goes into a "berserker barrage" kind of frenzy when he eats five chilis, though this happens irregularly in the game. In any case, Quackshot was one of the first games I played on the Genesis and was memorable for its colorful sprites and catchy music, not to mention the irrepressible Donald Duck and his standstill animations.

World of Illusion was Donald Duck's second game, which can be played solo or cooperatively with Mickey Mouse. With a magic cape as a weapon, Donald Duck can flick his cape to transmogrify baddies into butterflies and flowers. Yet, the funniest aspects of Donald Duck's character in World of Illusion are, once again, his standstill animations (in which he shows his impatient side) and his big behind: to pass through tight spaces, he needs Mickey Mouse to pull him through because of his substantial derriere.

Admittedly, both games were not side-scrolling, platforming masterpieces, but I cannot deny the Disney mystique present in both games; up until recently, Disney was able to combine cartoon fun with a sense of dignity, as if we must acknowledge the classic nature of their characters and hold them in reverence. Some may count this as hubris on Disney's part (and I may not be making any sense here), but I used to buy into how "special" Disney characters were and how they stood apart from most other cartoon characters. I suppose that multiple trips to Disneyland and watching numerous Disney cartoons would engender such a reverence for drawn characters.

For all of the reasons stated above, Donald Duck stands at the top of my list of nostalgic Genesis characters. When I look back at my high school and college days and my days of Genesis playing, I hold Donald Duck in the highest regard, even though I know that there have been many other wonderful Genesis characters, like Earthworm Jim, Ristar, and Knuckles, whom I just recently got to play in Sonic & Knuckles. Do you disagree? If so, please comment -- I'm always eager to read other people's opinions regarding their favorite or best video game characters.

Sonic the Hedgehog: 1HN Blast Processing Original

In light of my last post about Sonic the Hedgehog 2, I thought it would be appropos to talk about its predecessor: Sonic the Hedgehog. Back in my college days, I owned Sonic the Hedgehog (heretofore Sonic 1), which was the classic side-scrolling platformer that both started the Sonic franchise and convinced Sega Genesis owners (and wannabe owners) that "Blast Processing" was as real as Sonic's speed runs. At that time, the Genesis and Super Nintendo were duking it out for the top spot in the market; I jumped into the Console Wars in media res, buying my Genesis in Spring 1993. I had received Sonic 1 as a part of send-away offer for only the cost of shipping and handling. However, because I was a huge EA Sports game fan and wasn't interested in platformers at the time, Sonic 1 did more to frustrate me than amuse me, so I ended up selling Sonic 1 as a used game to Electronics Boutique, where I most likely purchased some EA Sports game with the proceeds.

Fast forward to 2011: after having played Sonic 2 somewhat extensively, I regret my impatience with Sonic 1. Sure, Sonic 1 didn't have Spin Dash or Tails or many of the speed parts of Sonic 2, but Sonic 1 has three advantages over its successor: Sonic 1 was THE original, which carries with it a unique sense of nostalgia; though the 3D-perspective bonus stages in Sonic 2 are fun and challenging, the bonus stages in Sonic 1 present a directional challenge that appears to be absent from every other Sonic game; and, it is the cheapest cartridge to buy among all the Sonic titles for the Genesis right now... If you perform a search for Sonic Genesis games on eBay, you'll see this bear out.

In any case, Sonic 1 is still an excellent platformer with much to offer to the wayward gamer, such as creative level design, bilateral movement (i.e. you can go left to right to left, which was new compared to Super Mario Bros. 1), and, honestly, superlative 8-bit music (Yes, I said "8-bit music" -- the Genesis had a 16-bit processor, but an 8-bit Zilog Z80 sound controller). More importantly, Sonic 1 raised the ante in the Console Wars between Sega and Nintendo by both giving Sega a marketable mascot and a viable rival in gameplay and presentation to the Mario series of games on the NES and SNES. For all of these reasons, if you have a chance, buy Sonic 1; I'm sure you won't regret it nearly as much as I regret having sold it for some forgotten EA Sports game.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: ?HN Speed Ringer

It's the Christmas of 2009. Wanting to expose my young sons to games from a more innocuous gaming era, I bought Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and gave it as a Christmas present along with several other Genesis and NES games and a Gen-X Dual Station clone console. I am not sure if I had played Sonic 2 before that time, but the presence of Tails seemed to trigger a latent memory from long ago... In any case, my boys really enjoyed Sonic 2 because it was fast, you could make tons of mistakes and still survive, and the first levels are really easy. The level of difficulty gets ramped up, though, as soon as Sonic and his buddy enter the Chemical Plant Zone. From there, the platforms become harder to land on and speed, if used at the wrong time, can kill more than it can help.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2, like its predecessor, Sonic the Hedgehog, is a classic game. Some fanboys acknowledge it as the best of the Sega Genesis era, though some may tout Sonic 3 ahead of it. With everything from the standstill Spin Dash (which you perform by pressing down on the D-pad and tapping any one of the Genesis controller's buttons repeatedly) to more speed parts (e.g. a lot more loops, bumpers, and slopes to dash down) to Tails (who is especially helpful when a second player grabs the controller at the end portions of each zone where Sonic fights Dr. Robotnik), Sonic 2 introduced many of those Sonic gameplay aspects many have grown to love. Yet, Sonic 2 can also be frustrating with the underwater zone (and the need to catch air bubbles before drowning), annoying critters that shoot barely visible projectiles that cause Sonic to burp up all his rings, irritating jumps that can be difficult because of Sonic's inertia (think Chemical Plant Zone), and Tails (who dies endlessly at any obstacle). Nonetheless, for a seasoned platform gamer, this game is essential.

All of that said, it wasn't until recently that I began to appreciate platforming games. Back in college, I had no patience for the pinpoint accuracy some of the jumps in platformers like Sonic 2 and Super Mario Bros. required. I also couldn't stand the monotony of level after level of moving platforms and hazards -- at least, that is what I used to think. Now, with sports games ascending to a new height of gameplay difficulty, platformers have an inherent simplicity that is refreshing and escapist. For these reasons, I now enjoy Sonic 2, though I must say that with all of his speed and coolness, Sonic is a less accurate jumper than Mario of Super Mario World. Compare the two games: you'll find that there is a lower margin for error in Sonic 2 than Super Mario World. Just an observation...

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.

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.

Mega Man X: 2HN Stiff Shooter

Back in the mid-90s during my college days, I was a loyal Genesis player, particularly of EA Sports games on that console. Occasionally, I bought and tried other games, like Sonic and Ecco the Dolphin. While I wasn't an ardent side-scrolling platform game player, I respected them enough to acknowledge them.

Today, as I plumb the depths of not only platforming side-scrollers, but also Super Nintendo games, I stumble upon games that even gamers now hold in high regard. One of those games is Mega Man X, which was one of Capcom's early SNES releases after a successful franchise run on the NES. In college, I wasn't directly aware of Mega Man X, but I did recognize the Mega Man character, who I believe is robot boy/man made out of metal. This recognition compelled me to buy the game from a co-worker, who happens to still own SNES cartridges.

Mega Man X starts up with a rocking soundtrack and the main character "X" leaping into the title screen. The game looks good and sounds great, but when I started playing I realized something: I can't duck! I can jump, I can shoot, but I can't duck! And, I can't shoot at a angle, which means that I have to jump to shoot. This is how it is in the first stage: X is capable of firing charged beams, jumping or sliding off walls, and jumping. There is no turbo run, no ducking, and no angle shooting from the start; the lack of such abilities sometimes led to character death. Super Metroid gets this right, but it appears that X has to gain certain abilities as he finishes missions, such as sliding on the ground. I haven't investigated what other abilities X can inherit, but you don't start off ducking and that bothers me.

After I passed the first stage and endured an "event battle" (i.e. a battle you are destined to lose, but must happen to advance a paper-thin plot), I found myself able to choose which stage I could try out. Which stage do I do first? I don't know, but apparently there is an optimal order because some stages are harder than others without certain upgrades. If any game needed a walkthrough, Mega Man X is such a game. How about an indication of which stage is "Stage Two?" No such indication, sadly.

Overall, the look and sounds of Mega Man X are awesome, but the gameplay is stiff and restrictive from the beginning. I've heard that this is how Mega Man games were on the NES, so I can see why my friends never recommended it (if the stiffness was the reason). I must compare it to Metroid; even on the NES, you could angle your shot up or diagonally up, and you could duck. With X, all you can do is jump to avoid missiles, rolling robots, and other baddies. Why Mega Man X is a classic is beyond me.

By the way, in Mega Man X, you blow up robots with your arm cannon. This technically qualifies as violence, but there is no blood though X writhes in agony whenever he's shot. If this game sits well with you, you could try it out, but be prepared to be a little frustrated.