Fave Games Vol. 1: NES

Quite simply, in this blog series, I list some of my favourite games from various consoles. Today, fittingly, for volume one, I start with my first console, the NES. These aren't in any particular order, and this isn't all encompassing. We'd be here all day if it was.

Super Mario Bros.

What can you say about SMB? The game that almost singlehandedly rescued gaming from being relegated to history and nothing more. Great platforming gameplay with eight colourful worlds to explore.

Super Mario Bros. 3

This game is basically SMB on steroids, and made up for the disaster that was SMB2 (if you can even call it that) in a BIG way. The game was huuuge, beautiful, and extremely well designed. And, you could fly!

Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones

One of my favourite beat em ups of all time. People say it was too difficult and perhaps it was but I don't care, it controlled great, looked great, and had two kickass moves for the player to utilize against the street gang scumbags: the guillotine throw/somersault hair toss and the motherf'n spin kick of doom.

Contra

Am I crazy or does that turret look like a middle finger?

Hello, I'm Contra, an unassuming horizontal shooter that will KICK YOUR ASS, and make you come back for more. Thank science for the Konami code. Oh, and am I the only one who thought that the robotic turrets looked like bullet shooting middle fingers?

Castlevania

Take a whip, enter Dracula's castle, and take it to the undead en route to the man himelf....if you can make it there. Another hard ass game and some stiff controls hold it back but it's an early game and thusly forgiven. It's also very fun.

Afterburner

Tengen, Tengen, Tengen. Bad bad. Tisk tisk. You released this game on the NES without gaining the proper license to do so. And I thank you for that. This was one awesome shooter with a really memorable soundtrack.

Shinobi

And Tengen is at it again. Tengen, Tengen, Tengen. Bad bad. Tisk tisk. You released yet another game on the NES without gaining the proper license to do so. And again I thank you for that. One of my all time favorite games, this is. It's a side scrolling ninja action game that has you using shurikens, knives, and even a gun to combat the bad ninja clan (forget their name) through varying levels and areas on the way to fight one of the weirdest end bosses of all time. This game was a huge step down from the arcade version, but it's an NES port, and an unlicensed one at that, so I forgive it.

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos

I think by now you all know what I think of the Ninja Gaiden series. This game is almost perfect. An amazing mix of excellent platforming and intense action with absolutely butter smooth controls. Great animation, awesome soundtrack, and probably some the most excellent balance between fair yet insane challenge you'll ever experience.

Ninja Gaiden

The beginning of Ninja Gaiden on the NES. Great graphics and excellent gameplay, with some ridiculous challenge make this game notorious and both loved and hated. I happen to love it, although I curse level 6-2 and I also think this one is somewhat inferior to its above mentioned sequel.

Blades of Steel

Am I crazy, or is this still one of the best sports games ever made? I mean, when two players get in a fight, the loser goes to the penalty box and the winner gets away with it! You get punished for losing fights (and the fights also happen to be insanely fun). The penalty shots in this game are so much fun, as are the shootout periods. My brother and I always used to tie on purpose so we could go to the shootout and then screw with eachothers' minds when we were shooting and the other sibling was the goalie. I loved telling him I'd shoot in a certain direction and actually do it, since he'd excpet me to be lying.

You Can Rent Games, You Know

Games are pretty expensive, according to most gamers. If not outright expensive, well.....I certainly have not heard many gamers call them cheap. The average price of a new console game is $69.99 here in Canada. For me, it seems logical then, to try a game before you buy it, or at least be very very sure going in you are going to be playing it a lot and want it sitiing on your shelf for use at any time.

So what's a gamer to do?

RENT.

I cannot count how many time I have gone on forums and read posts like Hey, how much can I get if I trade in X or Y, when X or Y JUST CAME OUT WEEKS, even DAYS AGO!!!

I mean, what a colossal wste of

Why buy a game for 50-70 dollars and then trade it in for 30-40 dollars a couple of weeks later, when you can rent it for 8-12 dollars? You're spending 20-30 dollars on what essentially is a rental.
And the number of people that do this for two or three games and then get a new one, saying I traded in X and Y and got Z for FREE! is astounding. IT'S NOT FREE. IT COST YOU TWO GAMES!

If you spend $120 and get back $80 in trades, you just lost 40 dollars. If you had rented the 2 games, you would have spent half that, and had lots of money left over.

Back in the 80's and 90's we rented all the time. I still do, and I don't understand what happened to the concept. This trade in thing is really stupid, unless you are trading in something really old, although you're still better off selling it online, you'll get more money and you won't be locked in to store credit from a specific store.

So next time you're lining up to spend $69 on th enext big thing and you'll probably be trading it back in within a week, stop, get back outside, and head to the nearest rental place. You'll thank me later. Your wallet will thank me later.

BTW, lot of rental places do monthly plans. You spend between 10-30 dollars a month (depending on the place and plan) and rent all the games you want.

Josh FN Groban

Language Warning !!!!!!



One of my best friends made this for a college media project/ contest and it was voted the best one in the class. The background to this is quite simple, he is always told he looks like Josh Groban, and the idea struck him to play off of that, so he combined the physical similarities between him and Josh with a gag based on Gorban's public image of innocence and thus was borne this crazy and really funny rap video.

Nile Drum Cover by a 15 Year Old!

A very good cover of the song Kafir! by Nile, one of my favourite death metal bands, done by a 15 year old. The only mistake, if you will, that I can see is that he's doing all of the blasts with 2 feet, but who can blame him? George Kolias' one foot blasts are faster than most drummers' two foot blasts!

Hilarious: Online Gamer (In Real Life)

Major Language Warning

This is really quite humourous, but only if you're familiar with online gaming, and these types of players especially. It really demonstrates how the douchebaggery you encounter online, spurred on by immaturity and testosterone meeting anonymity, really does not translate well to real life.

I got some good laughs out of these, particularly the first one:






Credit for these goes to http://www.recklesstortuga.com/ as this is original content produced by the folks there.

The Most Beautiful Woman in the World?

You know, we're so inundated with beautiful women I don't even notice anymore, but there is something absultely alluring about this girl. There's somethig, I don't know..... audrie hepburnish about her. I think she's the most alluring woman I have ever seen.

Learning to Play Drums via Rock Band? Pt. 2

This is an addendum to the last blog:

http://www.magx01.blogspot.com/2010/01/learning-to-play-drums-via-rock-band.html

These are the last 2 parts to that series. If you have not seen the 1st one, I advise you do so, and please read the text either there or here before watching. Thank you.





I started playing drums after playing Rock Band for a year, and believe it or not, that's where I learned the basics. I had always had an acoustic drum kit, but never knew how to play, and the drums just sat there unused, but after a year of Rock Band I decided to give them a look, and right away I noticed a drastic difference. My Rock Band ''skills'' really had transfered over to the real drums.

I had to learn how to use a high hat pedal of course, and relearn positioning and how to play cross handed, but I immediately was able to at least play a few beats, something which I was never able to do before.

Here's a video of me playing a few months into it so you can see the evidence that it is possible to learn drums via Rock Band. The basics, at least.

Few things to preface it:

1) I had not been drumming long at all when this was filmed (May 2009). I was (and still am) a newb, and I have zero musical training. This was filmed after drumming for maybe four months, and only a few hours a week. No lessons or anything.

2) I do have an acoustic kit, but I have a wife and baby at home, so I bought the electronic kit to enable me to play with headphones.

3) I've improved since this, and actually leanred to diversify my fills a bit. I am planning on starting lessons sometime this year, so I can take it to the next level and really become the intermediate drummer I know I can be :)

Alright, now that I got that out of the way, here it is:

Enjoy (?) and now if anyone says Rock Band won't teach you anything, you can tell them otherwise.