Play Along with Me!

Hello, folks!  You may have noticed a new "gadget" in this blog called "Play Along with Me!"  This gives you information for my characters, codes, and profiles for the online games I play; you can use this information to join me in any or all of these games.  If you add me, though, I'd like you to let me know so that I can be sure to confirm you as a friend the next time I play the game.

This has been a long time coming, but I'm glad I finally put this information up!

"Neutopia" - the TurboGrafx 16's Zelda!

About a month ago, I picked up "Neutopia" and "Neutopia II" from the Wii's Virtual Console.  These games were recommended to me by a great friend and fellow gaming enthusiast, notably for their similarity to, yet uniqueness from, the Zelda series.  So, with his recommendation, I picked these two up and have been, off and on, playing through them.

About two weeks ago, I managed to finish the first game, and I must say that it is very fun to play!  The game, as you might suspect, has a lot in common with "The Legend of Zelda" and "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" for the NES and SNES respectively.  These similarities are mainly the overall structure of its dungeons, the fact that you are collecting eight Medallions (rather than pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom), the inclusion of items similar to compasses, maps, and the master key, and the fact that a terrible demon (Dirth) has kidnapped the princess of Yurious.  Despite all of this, though, the game has a very unique story and the overworld(s) is/are much larger (the game is broken down into four "spheres" of 64 screens or so each!).

 The game involves an ancient demon named Dirth attacking the center of the land of Neutopia - the Yurious Shrine.  Dirth is unable to get the Eight Medallions during his attack, but he kidnaps the princess of the land and takes her to his frozen realm in the North Pole - a domain that can only be unsealed with the Eight Medallions!  Dirth realizes that the princess is the only one who can unlock the power of these ancient stones, and thus he leads Jazetta, descendant of Murdock, on a quest to collect them and, in the process of rescuing the princess, bringing them right to him (sound familiar?).

The game plays out in a similar fashion to the original "The Legend of Zelda," but in this iteration you return to the shrine every time you find one of the Medallions.  Every two Medallions that you collect from your current sphere will unlock a pathway to one of the other spheres (Earth, Subterranean, Sea, and Sky).  Like a Zelda game, Jazetta must collect items that let him advance further in the game (such as the Moonbeam Moss and Rainbow Drop) as well as powerful weapons that make it possible to slay strong enemies.  In fact, most of the items that advance the game are hidden with "Monks of Kee" throughout the land, but weapons, armor, and shields are generally obtained within the dungeons (or Labyrinths, as they call them in the game).

So, how does this game rate?

STORY (7.5/10):  While the game's story is rather original (the idea of medallions, the demon Dirth, etc.), it is a bit too similar to the Zelda games.  Despite this over-similarity, the game does provide a bit of backstory through its dialogue, which is something I can applaud.

GAMEPLAY (8.5/10): The game does a great job of reproducing the gameplay of "The Legend of Zelda" for the NES.  However, I did find that there were some enemies that needed to be hit in very precise places - places that didn't make a whole lot of sense.  This over-sensitivity is a bit frustrating at times.

MUSIC (9/10): This game really shines in the music area, featuring many upbeat and memorable tunes.  In fact, this game has more music than the original "Legend of Zelda," although there are a couple songs that are a bit forgettable.

CONTROLS (8.5/10): As with the gameplay, the controls are pretty much dead-on for the "Legend of Zelda."  However, there are areas where the game is a bit over-sensitive (damaging certain enemies, and Dirth in particular) that make the game a bit unnecessarily frustrating to play.

REPLAY (8.5/10): As with "The Legend of Zelda," this game has a decent replay value, perhaps a little higher than the game its attempting to emulate.  This is mainly due to the fact that the game is a bit larger and longer, though its general monotony makes it a bit less memorable than it could be.

OVERALL: 84% B.

"VB Mario Land" was to be Released in 1995...What Happened?

Nintendo's Virtual Boy was a very short-lived console (even shorter-lived than Sega's Dreamcast was outside of Japan), and therefore the console only had a handful of good games.  When one thinks of the VB, they usually think of "Mario Clash," "Mario's Tennis," and "Wario Land."  In fact, I personally have always been a big fan of "Wario Land" on the VB.  Yet, many of you may not be aware that in 1995 an original Mario game was planned to be released on the console.

The game, simply titled "Virtual Boy Mario Land" (or "Mario Adventure" alternately), was displayed at CES '95 (what is now E3) and was touted as a brand-new installment in the series.  The game sported vibrant (although with limited colors) 32-bit graphics and original gameplay.  In fact, Mario was able to enter doors and pipes that led him to pseudo-3D, overhead rooms and dungeons that are very reminiscent of Zelda games.  The official description of the game reads like this: "Mario! This untitled Mario product looked like being the strongest Virtual Boy title at the CES - Some amazing sprite-scaling and Mode 7 type effects are in evidence should Mario fall through a hole. However, most of the 3D effects are used to show Mario wandering in and out of the screen in a new addition to the Mario formula."

Although often described as a "remake" of the original "Super Mario Bros.," this is actually not the case.  The game's story revolves around Mario and Luigi countering Wario, who is once again up to no good!  So, if anything, it is more of an enhanced remake of "Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins."

So, what happened to this game?  While it is not entirely clear what happened to this game, it was eventually removed from any release schedules.  It is very possible that this was due to the relative unpopularity of the Virtual Boy console.  As such, no demos of the game were ever officially released, and no one has really seen much regarding it since 1995.

Although there have been no demos of the game made publicly available, at least one demo version of the game exists out there - the one that was shown and playable at CES '95.  While it is uncertain what happened to this demo, it most likely exists somewhere at Nintendo HQ.  Will it ever see the light of day?  No one knows, but the availability of games like "Super Mario's Wacky Worlds" lead me to think we might see it one day.

As for what happened to the game?  Even though it was never released, the bonus-stage elements of the game (which featured gameplay similar to the original "Mario Bros." arcade game) were enhanced and made into a full game: "Mario Clash."  While "Mario Clash" is a decent game, I think I'd much prefer to have been able to play "VB Mario Land!"

Well, perhaps one day we will be able to play this game's demo/prototype, but only time will tell.  Yet, I hope you found all of this information interesting and, until next time, "Game on!"

Another Sonic Platformer for the Saturn?

Many of you are aware that a 3D, "Sonic Adventure"-style game was being developed on the Sega Saturn for quite some time.  The game, called "Sonic X-treme," was at one point meant to be the answer to "Super Mario 64," but as development turned out to be really slow due to problems and technical limitations, the game got canned.  However, elements of the game are seen in "Sonic Jam" and "Sonic R."

Yet, what you may not be aware of is that there was another 3D, pre-rendered Sonic game being developed simultaneously by SGI.  The game, simply called "Sonic Saturn," was to be a more realistic 3D Sonic game, but sadly never got far off of the drawing board (also partly due to limitations and then the Saturn's waning popularity around 1997-98).  Yet, the game did get partially developed, with it's 3D pool-like bonus areas being made, somewhat resembling a more 3D version of the "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" bonus stages.

Since this title didn't get far into development, it is extremely unlikely that any demo (technical or otherwise) will ever be released.  However, as a demo of "Sonic X-treme" eventually surfaced and was released in 2007, I suppose anything is possible.

"Mega Man 3 PC: Misfits and Mistakes!"

Remember those old, rather crappy DOS games in the Mega Man series that were licensed to Hi-Tech Expressions and Rozner Labs?  Well, if you've been following the project to remake the game you should!  Either way, Gauntlet of the Mechanical Maniacs has come up with a nicely animated video showcasing the six Robot Masters from "Mega Man 3" for the PC.  He also made an "alternate" version featuring music and voicing by Meatwad - really fun stuff!  

If you're a Mega Man fan, or just like crazy videos, you should definitely check them out!

"New Super Mario Bros. Wii" Coming Tomorrow!

Super Mario fans rejoice - "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" is coming out tomorrow (at least in North America)!  This latest installment in the series truly builds off of the designs of "New Super Mario Bros." (on the DS), which in turn was built around the styles of "Super Mario Bros. 3" and "Super Mario World."  4-player simultaneous co-op has been added to the mix, some new power-ups are included (such as the Propeller Suit, Penguin Suit, and a "new" version of the Ice Flower), but what is really neat (at least to me) is that the Koopa Kids are making a return in this one!

The trade-off for us getting this game is that "Super Mario Galaxy 2" has been pushed back for a 2010 release so as to give each game a fair chance in the market.  Yet, this really doesn't bother me at all as, to some degree, I'd much rather play this one that SMG2 (though I will definitely get that game whenever it comes out!).

I plan to get this game as soon as possible - what about you guys?

eBay Friday - Friday the 13th Edition!

Well, folks, today is Friday, November 13th, so I figured that a good way to recognize this would be to have an eBay Friday post (as we typically do) that related to Friday the 13th games.  Of course, when you think of strange horror games for the original NES, no doubt "Friday the 13th" comes to mind.  Released in 1989, the game's story revolved around the original film, and you played as one of several counselors who are trying to rescue campers that Jason is out to kill (OK, I realize that is hardly related to the original film's plot, but that's what the developers came up with!).  The game itself isn't terrible, but it's not that good either.  If you look on YouTube, you can find the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of this game and see what its major flaws were.

If you would still like to buy this game for some sort of collector's purposes, you can get a boxed copy of the game for a mere $3.49 on eBay!  For that price, it is probably worth picking it up, even though the box is probably worth way more than the game (but not worth very much!).  Otherwise, you could just pick up a loose cartridge of the game for as little as 99 cents!

Well folks, that's it for today, so I hope you enjoy your Friday the 13th and, as always, "Game on!"