(Game Sack theme song) (glass breaking) - Hello and welcome to Game Sack. That's right, I'm finally
checking out the NES. Now, my first console was
the Sega Master System, so I don't have quite the
same nostalgia for the NES as a lot of people do, but I do actually have some
nostalgia for this system, which I'll explain as I go. I've always been kind of
hesitant to do this episode, because so many people
have talked at great length about this system that, you know, what else is there really to say? But it is super popular for a reason. Anyway, first up, let's
check out a little bit about the console itself. Just a little bit. The Nintendo Entertainment System. (tape rewinding) In late 1985, Nintendo revitalized the stagnant video game
market in North America by releasing a redesigned version of their hit Famicom console, which was already two
years old at the time. Nintendo was careful not to use popular video game terminology, since retailers were very leery because they didn't
want to get burned again do to the recent crash. The system took off very quickly once it was released nationwide. The console features a
front loading mechanism which can become unreliable over time as well as an on-board chip
to prevent unauthorized games. The games were provided
on very large cartridges and came in cardboard boxes which, of course were
standard at the time. The console came with two controllers which featured a directional
pad, two action buttons as well as two smaller buttons. The shape and layout influenced the controller design to this day. Internally, the NES is powered
by an 8-bit Ricoh 6502 CPU running at a blazing 1.79 megahertz with two kilobytes of RAM. It displays a resolution of
256x240 generating 52 colors with up to 25 of them on screen at once, with up to 64 on-screen sprites. There are five sound
channels, which pump out some of the best 8-bit music you will ever hear. Game cartridges often had their own chips to expand the abilities of the system to include multi-plane
scrolling and other features. Overall, there were 678
officially licensed games released in North America for the system. The console was on the market
and supported in North America for just under 10 years, and sold over 61 million units worldwide. (sweet music) Okay, to start off, I wanna talk about some games and series that pretty much everyone
equates with Nintendo. Everybody's talked about
these a quadrillion times, so I'm gonna keep these fairly short. Still, I feel that I
should be in an episode about the NES. So, let's do it. (cool Mega Man 2 music) (Super Mario Bros. soundtrack) Alright, like I said, we're
starting with the big boys that everyone knows. Super Mario Bros was
includes with the system, and it's a truly iconic game. This, of course, was
designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. You play as Mario or Luigi if
you happen to be player two. Your goal is to rescue the
princess and kill Bowser dead. This is a tiny game, clocking in at only around 40 kilobytes. That's barely over 1/4 megapower or just over 1/32 of a megabyte. And that's amazing what they did with this tiny amount of memory. Beyond that though, I was never really that interested in the game. Still, this game is one
of the most recognizable in all of gaming, and even people who have
never touched a game often know what this is. And this is quite a bit about it. (Super Mario Bros. soundtrack) Then, Super Mario Bros 2 came out about three years later. My friend Tom recorded some gameplay on a videotape for me to watch, since I only had a Sega and he
had both a Nintendo and Sega. I was really intrigued, and he did a full playthrough of the game. I eventually got to play it
on his system and I loved it. Especially all the new
techniques you can use to progress throughout the game and the much improved music. You can even choose from
four different characters, all of them with their own abilities. This was the first Mario
game that I truly enjoyed. And everyone on the planet and probably even some extraterrestrials know that this is a
localization of Doki Doki Panic, so I won't go into that, even though I just kinda did. But that's because I'm a hypocrite! (Super Mario 2 soundtrack) Finally in 1990, Super
Mario Bros 3 was released and boy oh boy, people went nuts. And for good reason. This game is incredible, with lots of new powers for Mario to get. I didn't play this one
until it was released on the Super Nintendo, and that might be why I still
prefer Super Mario World over this one. Still it has the same kind of structure and that can't be bad. It introduced the world map to the series, and I really like that. Though I still like
Mario World's map better. This is a lot of people's
favorite Mario Game. And there's quite a bit that
this one offers, for sure. (Super Mario Bros. 3 soundtrack) The Legend of Zelda was
another prominent release from the creative brain
of Shigeru Miyamoto. This one's more about
exploration, finding items, defeating dungeons and all that. I've got to admit that I never
personally played this one until after I played and
beat A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo. But, I did see it on videotape made by friends during its time. It's really interesting to
see where it all started, and of course it's
still a challenging game that makes use of battery backup. Everything here is iconic, especially that riveting overworld music. (The Legend of Zelda soundtrack) The sequel Zelda II: the Adventure of Link changed things up. I really liked the music in this one too. The game now has side-scrolling levels placed throughout a large overworld map with random battles. It's an interesting change
and one that honestly takes a bit of time to
get used to initially, but once you do, it's actually really fun. You get experience points which allow you to raise your levels which seems weird for a Zelda game, but hey, I like it. Some enemies will steal
experience, so be careful. I don't like starting over
from the beginning when I die, but hey, at least you
get to keep your levels. (Zelda II: The Adventure
of Link soundtrack) Metroid is an interesting game that was released in 1986. You guide your dude
through a very large maze collecting new abilities and powers, in order to progress even further. Or, is it a dude? My friend Jimmy beat it, and he says you're actually
playing a girl the entire time, but I don't believe him. I mean, Jimmy's lied before about things, and come on, he hasn't finished it! He's lying, you can never believe him. Still, this game requires
a really good memory or a stack of paper to draw the maze. Or maybe an issue of Nintendo power. But, don't toss away that paper because you're gonna need it
to write down your passwords. Good graphics and excellent
music round things out, and it's one of a lot of games that I wish I could have
played on my Master System. (Metroid soundtrack) Mike Tyson's Punch Out
is also another game that most people love. I agree with them, as
it's super-fun to learn each fighter's tells and what not. Combine that with the music
and the unique graphics, and you really can't
go wrong with this one. Of course, if I go a few
months without playing it, I kind of forget how. I covered this one not long ago in an episode called
"Better than the Arcade", so check it out. (Mike Tyson's Punch Out soundtrack) And then of course is
the CastleVania series. I don't wanna talk about them much here, as I plan on doing a future episode with all of the 8-bit games in the series, which includes the Game Boy games. But the three CastleVania games on the NES were ones that I really
wished I could play on the Master System back in the day. Especially once the amazing
CastleVania 3 came out. These games definitely deserve at least a quick mention in this episode. (CastleVania 3 soundtrack) The NES of course, is also
where Mega Man got started, and boy, did Capcom take
this ball and run with it. Honestly, I don't think
most people minded. It all started with the original Mega Man. Then, Mega Man 2. Of course, Mega Man 3 came after that. Then, Mega Men 6. Wait, no, no, I mean Mega Man 4. Yeah. Then, Mega Man 5? Okay, then Mega Man 6. That's a lot of games in the
series on a single console. My favorites are Mega Man 1, 2 and 3. And out of those three,
my favorite is Mega Man 2. Once again, this was one that
Tom videotaped for me to watch and I was just enthralled
with the graphics and music. While I'm certainly not a
huge Mega Man fan or anything, part two is a game that I
pull down and play a lot just because it's really fun. (Mega Man 2 soundtrack) Finally, for this segment,
Contra needs a mention. This one or two player run
and gun is immensely fun. You're just a dude who can
collect a few different awesome weapons in this
quest to defeat the aliens and the humans that
appear to be helping them. You've got side-scrolling
stages, 3D-like stages and even vertically-scrolling stages. Every NES owner should have this one. (Contra soundtrack) That was followed up by Super C, which was arguably even better. This one had proper
top-down stages as well to play through. You can't go wrong with
either of these Contra games. (Super C soundtrack) You can go wrong with
Contra Force, however. It was originally gonna
be an unrelated game called Arc Hound, but hey,
why not sell a few more copies by calling it Contra instead? This game is pretty slow
and nowhere near as good as the first two games. Honestly though, it's not as bad as many people make it out to be. It's not cheap either, since
it's relatively uncommon. Still, there are many
worse games on this system that sell for an even higher price. (Contra Force soundtrack) Okay, okay, I admit, I missed some of the big ones like Tetris for example. Let's review it right now! This is Tetris on the NES. This is the version used at championships. Otherwise, well, it's Tetris. - Boom! Tetris for Game Sack. (explosion) - Thanks Chris. Anyway, let's take a
look at some more games. Some of them are well-known, others not so much, but all of them are interesting. Well, at least they are to me. (Tetris soundtrack) Karnov from Data East is another game that I was first introduced to by watching videotapes that
friends from school made me. This is a port of an arcade game and you play as a fat Russian dude who naturally breathes fire. You're on a mission to collect all of the letter Ks that you can because that is what Karnov loves doing. My name is Karnov and I like the letter K. I don't know why I said that, that wasn't even a Russian accent. Oh well. Lots of weirdos are
out to stop you on your quest. This is one of those games where you need to be
really fast on the button and rapid fire would help, but I just press the B
button really, really fast. You can collect items that
affect your status and fire power as well as give you abilities, like a ladder to climb up if you want. Wheeee! Or a bomb to lay down, which will explode when enemies touch it. The collision detection isn't good at all, and the games moves really slow. That means this one can be pretty tough, but you know what? I never get frustrated. It's fun to keep trying again and again. The graphics aren't that
colorful or detailed, but I do like some of
the background designs and even the bosses. The music is extremely
catchy and I love it, despite there not being
very much of it at all. This is a really fun game to
try to power your way through. (Karnov soundtrack) This is Rush'n Attack from Konami. Get it, because it sounds like
the Russians are attacking and you've got to kill 'em all? I guess this made sense
during the cold war days, but actually you're invading their space to destroy their secret weapon. You're rushing in and attacking, so the title is actually accurate. This one or two player simultaneous game is a run and knife. Get it, instead of a run and gun??? Yeah. So, your main weapon is your knife, which means you've got to take
out enemies at close range. You can also jump, but you
need to press UP to do this and that means it can be tough to control. Honestly, it's not that bad
once you get used to it. When you kill certain yellow enemies, a weapon will sometimes drop. This can be a bazooka or a grenade or even an invincibility star. The bazooka is awesome, because it can take out every
enemy on a horizontal line. Since this is a port of an arcade game, you die in one hit. Not only that, but it sets you
back aways to a checkpoint. That can make the game seem pretty tough. But even so, it's still really fun. Basically, you need to learn
how each type of enemy behaves. You need to know which
ones will jump at you, because those guys are dangerous. You also need to know which
ones will run safely past you if you're on a different level, and which ones will climb up
and down ladders to get you. The stages themselves
can be tough, like here, where these guard towers
keep shooting at you while these enemies on the
ground keep running in. The presentation isn't anything special, but it's certainly not a bad
looking or sounding game. (Rush'n Attack soundtrack) Legend of Kage from Taito was
always a game I kinda liked. Of course, I called it Legend
of Cage back in the day. Everyone did. I played it in the arcade, but all of my friends who had
an NES never owned this one. So, the one time I was allowed to rent an NES from the video store, this was one of the games I rented. And I don't care what anyone says, I enjoy this game. In the beginning, you're
just chilling in the trees, doing who knows what, while your babe is hanging
around on the ground. THEN SHE GETS KIDNAPPED!!!!! Of course, being a mighty
ninja, you've got to rescue her. You can throw stars and
slash with your katana, but honestly, I find the stars
the most reliable weapon. You work your way to the left and you can jump super
high and grab onto trees. Sometimes you can get power-ups which will make your attack
stronger for a short time. The next stage, you're still
moving towards the left. I like how you can hide in
the water to avoid attacks. Here you need to kill a
certain number of blue ninjas to beat the stage. Pretty easy. Then, you're jumping up and
up to the top of the wall to the castle where your babe is held. This part is pretty fun. Then, you're inside the castle,
killing tons of bad guys and going up the stairs
to many different levels. Eventually you find your babe unguarded and you rescue her, as you do. Bu only seconds later
she's kidnapped again! What the hell, guys?! Both the graphics and the
music are really simple. But they work for me. I really like the main melody and it stuck in my head for a few days after I returned that rented NES system. This is great fun, for me at least. (The Legend of Kage soundtrack) In 1990, Taito released Demon Sword. This is basically a spiritual sequel to The Legend of Kage. In fact, it controls the exact same way with your stars and your katana, except this time, the
katana is a demon sword, and it's absolutely the stronger attack. This is a more flashed out game designed specifically for the home market. As such, it has a bit more substance, like having your sword
grow a bit each stage and getting more and more powerful. Though, there are still
items at each stage that can make you briefly more powerful. Some items can be collected and stored, then selected on the Pause screen, then you can use them as you play with a press of the Select button. You now also have a life bar
instead of a one-hit death, and you can get keys to go into rooms. Inside these rooms may be an item or even an enemy to fight. The stages are now meant to be explored, at least to a limited degree. The graphics are
definitely more tile-based and everything looks like
it was built out of squares instead of the slightly
more organic look of Kage. The music sounds better as
far as sound quality goes, since it's not so high-pitched. But the composition here
really isn't anything special. (Demon Sword soundtrack) Overall, this is a really interesting game that I didn't even know
existed, until recently. Well, I knew about the title but I didn't know it
was a spiritual sequel to The Legend of Kage. If I did, I would have
played it much sooner. It's a good game, but I
still feel Kage was more fun. (Demon Sword soundtrack) Okay, Zombie Nation from KAZe
and Meldac is interesting, to say the least. This is a horizontal shooter,
but it's far from ordinary. Evidently, a meteorite crashed into Earth. Seemed harmless enough, happens everyday. But this meteorite turned out to be an evil alien called Darc Seed, and now he's turning all
of America into zombies. He's also brought the
Statue of Liberty to life to help him with his evil deeds. But you are the great head
of the dead samurai Namakubi. And once you hear of this, all you can do of course
is to go the United States and the rid the country
of this evil menace. I mean, what else has a rotting,
dismembered head to do?? Stories in video games really don't get much better than this. I prefer it over Final Fantasy 6's story, and so do you. You control this giant head and
you shoot eyeballs and vomit to defeat your enemies, and I guess, destroy the
United States in the process! The enemies are everywhere and they are hell-bent on taking you down. You have a life bar and only one life for the handful of continues. Good luck, because this
game is crazy tough. Your shots are just about useless. You can upgrade them slightly by catching the helpless people falling out of the background. I guess these guys aren't zombies? They can be found by shooting buildings and even hidden inside solid rock. How did they get in there? The controls suck big time. Imagine a shooter that had an ice level, and you're slipping and
sliding all over the place. That's what this entire game is, though, some stages seem to
be more slippery than others. You keep moving for up to a second after you let go of a direction. This makes it hard to aim your shot, and even harder to dodge enemy attacks. But man, those graphics are really good and the sound is even better,
with lots of beefy effects. Not a great game by any
stretch of the imagination, but it's unique and it really stands out. We really do need more
games that are just crazy. (Zombie Nation soundtrack) The Nintendo Entertainment System sure has a lot of
different kinds of games. Back then, there was
something for everybody. Hell, even today there's
something for everybody, even racing game fans. Can you believe that? Racing games!! I like racing games. (Legend of Kage music) (Rad Racer soundtrack) Rad Racer from Square was
another game I rented along with the NES system,
back in the late 80's. None of my friends had it,
and I was really curious, since I was a big fan of Sega's Out Run. To my surprise, this game had two things that the Master System version
of Out Run didn't have. First was the parallax
scrolling in the background. That's pretty cool. The second thing was smooth hills. Why couldn't Out Run do this? It made me feel like
Sega wasn't even trying. Still though, aside from those two things, this game is far inferior to
the 8-bit version of Out Run. You'll often get behind a row of cars which you absolutely cannot pass. You need to constantly
hold UP on the D-pad to engage your turbo, if you hope to make
any of the checkpoints. This will make your thumb start to hurt after a single course. This also makes the screen shake which I don't find appealing. You'll have to watch this
video with 60 frames per second to see this effect, if you
don't already know what I mean. The music is okay. You select it by pressing down
on the D-pad as you're racing and cycling through three
tunes or just car noise. And let me tell you, you'll accidentally be
changing that music a lot especially as you turn. Not only that, but you
can engage the 3D mode for the red and blue glasses
that come with the game. One thing I like is being
able to coast forever after I run out of time, and actually being able
to make the checkpoint just before I'm about to stop, only to make it and keep going. It was really interesting to see what I felt was Nintendo's
answer to Out Run, and even though it doesn't
quite match that in my opinion, it's still a good game. (Rad Racer soundtrack) Three years later, Square
released Rad Racer II. I didn't even know that this one existed until probably a decade or two later. This is basically more of the same, though it's a bit more polished, for sure. Before each stage, you can now choose from two different
musical tracks or silence. One of the tunes is actually pretty good. You still need to hold up
almost the entire time, but at least the screen doesn't shake. I feel they did a better
job with the color and especially the background
detail with this one as well. Though, the car now slides around on the bottom of the screen, instead of staying fixed to the center like proper racing games do. Not really a big deal though. You still get to have plenty of trouble with the evil enemy cars. It's a decent game, but I
think the most interesting fact at least for me, is that it even exists. (Rad Racer II soundtrack) Kid Niki from Data East and
Irem is such a stupid game. My stupid friends made
me watch them play this. Just look at Kid Niki. He's so stupid. Look at the stupid boss
and his stupid cheeks. Look at the stupid
enemies, they're so stupid. Just look at that! Look at this one. He can't find a way out of that situation. He's stuck there forever. And listen to how stupid the music is. (stupid Kid Niki soundtrack) Oh, that's okay. I love it all. You are Kid Niki and
you are a radical ninja. You spin your sweet blade
to defeat the enemies. It's pretty basic to say
the least, but it's fun. You can get an occasional power-up which will enhance your
attacks for a brief time. I really like this one, where anything that dares
touch me, dies immediately. This game can seem pretty challenging, since it has one-hit death, but honestly it's actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You'll beat this game in no time. But, even if you can't,
there's unlimited continues, so you can keep trying. I like how when you fight a boss, your blade flies away when you get a hit. That means you need to go get it and you're vulnerable in the meantime. Some bosses require a touch of strategy. And is this boss a Kabuki? I talked about Kabukis
in the last episode. The graphics are nice but simple. In fact, some parts of the game
may be a little too simple. Sometimes I notice that
the status and stuff at the bottom of the screen messes up, because that's just asking too much to keep it in place, I guess. Anyway, check this game
out, it's pretty fun. (Kid Niki soundtrack) Japan even got Kid Niki 2,
known as Kaiketsu Yancha Maru 2 for the Famicom. This one has stages with all
sorts of different themes, like a Halloween theme, a train theme, a food theme, where McDonald's
fries try to kill you, stuff like that. Gone are the one-hit deaths, and you now have a small life bar. You can even turn into
a bird and other things. It definitely feels more
grown up and more evolved, but it's still pretty
easy for the most part. It doesn't end there, though, because Japan even got
Kaiketsu Yancha Maru 3, or Kid Niki 3, again on the Famicom. Don't be too jealous though, as this is the worst one yet. You now have a bow instead of your blade. You can use it to bounce
off of vertical surfaces to get to higher areas. Sounds fun, right? But look how damn choppy this all is. Couldn't they afford to use one of the MMC chips or something? This one also has you
grabbing keys to unlock doors. Not to mention, the music is pretty bad. The enemies ar just as stupid as they were in the first game, though. We didn't miss much by not
getting this one localized. (Kaiketsu Yancha Maru 3 soundtrack) Gauntlet was another game
that, you guessed it, I first experienced by
watching a videotape made by a friend. Tengen ported the arcade game home and originally it was
licensed by Nintendo. Though Tengen would eventually make unlicensed copies of the game once their feud with Nintendo started. You choose from a few different characters and then run around the maze destroying enemy generators
while looking for the exit. If you don't destroy the enemy generators, well, they'll keep generating enemies. There are also keys to grab,
which make walls disappear. One thing that I like about this one is that it move pretty quick
and it feels very responsive. And the thing that really makes it for me is the music and sound. The music is super catchy and I even love the muffled voices. (Gauntlet soundtrack)
(muffled voice ) These were fascinating to me at the time because when the Master System did voices, they were harsh and scratchy, so this is quite a stark
contrast in comparison. Be sure to try out this
version if you haven't. (Gauntlet soundtrack) This is Vice: Project Doom from Sammy, the same company who would
eventually go on to buy Sega. Isn't it always amazing how
these tiny nobody companies end up buying the big giant ones? Anyway, this is mainly a
side-scrolling action platformer. You have a sword for your main weapon and it's really fun to use. But by using the mighty Select button, you can cycle through two other weapons for long-range attacks. The first is a gun that shoots maybe only 15 feet away, if that. I think I'd be taking that one back and asking for a refund. But it still can be handy sometimes. The other is a bomb, which
you toss in kind of an arch and it goes much further. You gotta make sure your target is within the arch of your throw though. Each of these long-range attacks needs you to pick up extra ammo, as they don't come in unlimited amounts. But ammo is always easy to find. You also sometimes have to
slice down obstacles in your way in order to get by. But be careful, because
sometimes these obstacles will grow back and they'll
hurt you if you touch them. The jumping feels pretty smooth as well. However, it's really easy to
come in contact with an enemy, but fortunately you have a
pretty generous life bar. This game also has
exciting cinema cut scenes between each stage, with plenty of riveting dialogue written by the best literary
masters of our time. But, what's more, is that this game has a few different styles of gameplay. You start out in an overhead car scene which is very reminiscent of Spy Hunter. Another one is a side-scrolling, first-person style shooting game, which feels like it could
make good use of a light gun. There are two of this type a stage as well as two of the
driving stages in the game. The rest is all side-scrolling. The graphics are generally really good, with some nice parallax here and there. There are also lots of these
hopping Chinese vampires. I don't know, hopping
vampires seem silly to me. Why do they hop? Dracula is way scarier,
and he doesn't need to hop. The music is pretty good too. You really can't go wrong with this one, and it offers plenty of
challenge over 11 stages. (Vice: Project Doom soundtrack) Games on the NES were
often very experimental. They took a lot more chances back then than they do these days. At least outside of the indie scene. And one of those experimental games really clicked with me in a big way. (Castlevania 3 music) Blaster Master by Sunsoft
is another one that I have a ton of nostalgia for. Yeah, it's another one of those games that I first experienced
watching a videotape full of NES games, made by my friend Tom. And you're also probably wondering, is this the actual videotape
that we're watching right now? Same question for all the
other videotaped games I've shown in this episode. Did I really keep the tape that long? The answer is, no. See, you can't trust anything
anymore these days, can ya? Anyway, I can't tell you how many times I've watched that Blaster
Master segment on that tape. I was enthralled with the concept, as it was unlike anything
I'd really ever seen before at the time. And the music instantly hooked me. By the time I finally got
around to playing it myself, I already had the first
two stages memorized and knew exactly what to do. The game is by no means easy, though. The worlds are huge maze-like things, and I'm usually not too keen on mazes. These can be memorized
pretty quickly, though, or you can be a cheater and
subscribe to Nintendo Power. That's what cheaters do! I'll be honest though, I wouldn't feel too badly
about using Nintendo Power to guide me through this one. As you roam around in your tank, there's lots of places that you can enter by making the little guy hop out. He can run, jump, swim and shoot. Once you get inside, it
turns into an overhead view and you search for the boss. The problem is that a lot of these areas don't yield any decent results at all, so you need to work your way back out and go to the next one,
and hope the boss is there. There's also some
backtracking in this game, sometimes even going all
the way back to area one. Regardless, this game really made me respect Sunsoft and the NES. There's just so much variety
in the games on this machine. (Blaster Master soundtrack) Not much love is often
given to Crystalis by SNK, creators of the Neo Geo. Have you ever wanted your
Zelda to have more RPG, or your RPG to have more Zelda? Well, here you go. In the beginning, you wake up and seem to be some sort of robot, maybe? You're a purple dude or dudette, I can't really tell,
but you is what you is. You get your sword in the first town and enough money to buy some armor. That's right, you have a typical RPG town where you can buy better
equipment for yourself. After equipping it all, you'll see that the action is
like a very slippery Zelda. You attack with your
sword to defeat enemies roaming the map. You can also hold down the
button for a charge attack which has multiple levels,
which you unlock later. The enemies pretty much always
drop a coin for you to grab, and trust me, you'll want that. Once again, just like a real RPG, you gain levels. And yes, it can be a touch grindy trying to get experience
and money in the beginning, but it's not horribly bad. The control in combat is
absolutely nowhere near as refined as Zelda, however. You move fast and feel slippery and the enemies all move in
very unpredictable patterns. This makes it extremely
easy to bump into them and loose some life. In the beginning, I got stuck, because I was supposed
to start this windmill, but I couldn't. I had no idea what to do. I probably should subscribe
to Nintendo Power. You can also learn and equip magic like being able to heal yourself
at the press of a button, or new powers like blowing
through certain walls. It truly feels like pretty
much any game on the Neo Geo. The menu takes some getting used to, as using items can be kind of cumbersome. You need to engage the item
and then come out of the menu and press the button to use it. Saving and loading your game also has a similar level of wonkiness. The visuals are good, but perhaps a step below Neo Geo quality. I do like this part, where
you go under a bridge. Pretty good for the NES but I bet you the Neo Geo
could probably do that too. The music is pretty good. Not some of the best on the system, but it's definitely worthy. The game is really fun
once you get used to it, with lots of things to
discover and areas to explore. Definitely, give this one a chance. (Crystalis soundtrack) On the flip side is StarTropics. If Crystalis was too slippery for you, well, then you're gonna love this, because it's really stiff. You land at C-Island one day for vacation and find out that your uncle, Dr. Jones has been
kidnapped by evil aliens. Now, only you can save
the entire universe. To help out with this the Chief
gives you the village yo-yo. Gee, thanks, Chief. And that's your main form of attack in the Zelda-like dungeons. Except here you need to jump
on boxes and press buttons. You move very slow and you hesitate for what seems like forever,
anytime you change directions. It doesn't look as long as it feels like when you're watching this, though. Eventually, you'll get
some projectile attacks which aren't unlimited, so don't turn on that rapid fire switch. You also take on other missions as you're looking for your uncle, like locating a missing baby dolphin. I mean, come on, this is a dolphin. Your uncle can wait. Some areas seem really cryptic
at first, like this island, but if you look closely at the graphics, you'll see what's what and figure it out, or you could just subscribe
to Nintendo Power. Just know that some obstacles
can be passed through even though there's no visual clue. The game is quite linear, but that doesn't mean it can't be good. And, for the most part, it is pretty good. I really wish my character was more responsive at turning, though. Since this game hides
things that are revealed by jumping on green blocks, you'll find yourself
jumping on every green block you see in the game, just in case. Whether that's a good or
a bad thing is up to you. One final small gripe is that
using magic items is weird, because you need to pause the
game and press Up or Down. And that feels really awkward in battle. This one employs an auto-save feature that recurs at the beginning
of any significant event. Since there's no experience to gain, it resembles Zelda more
than a traditional RPG. The visuals are nice, if a bit basic, and the same can be said with the music. The game is still worth
checking out, though. (StarTropics soundtrack) Four years later, Nintendo brought us StarTropics II: Zoda's Revenge. This game takes place only a
few months after the original, and involves some revenge by Zoda. Most of the things I
said about the first game carry over here with a few changes. You don't start out with a yo-yo. In fact, you don't
start out with anything. But your first real weapon
is an axe that you can toss. It has about the same range as the yo-yo, but you can't pick up
dropped items with it. The controls are still a little bit stiff, but they have been vastly improved. You turn around much more quickly and everything feels more responsive. You can also move diagonally now and even attack diagonally. I love that. This game isn't obsessed
with green switches either, which is a relief. However, there are some puzzle elements, and you'll have to memorize some stuff. Get it even slightly wrong
and guess who gets to do the entire dungeon over
from the very beginning? That part's not too fun, but the first game did similar stuff if you take the wrong exit
from a cave, for example. I feel that the graphics have
been upgraded a little bit, but still aren't
mind-boggling or anything. The music, though, is
much better this time. However, the alarm sound that you get when your life is low, is much worse. (alarm being annoying) Still, all around, it's a nice
improvement on the original. (StarTropics II: Zoda's
Revenge soundtrack) And there you go. That was every single game ever released for the NES bar none. Well, except for the
ones I didn't talk about. And I'm sure you'll let me know which ones I should have
included in this episode. What?! How can you have an NES episode without Felix the Cat? Oh, my God. Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla. Bla, bla, bla. All I know is that this video game console changed the market, in my
opinion, for the better. I mean, it wouldn't be
the same without it. Anyway, what are your
thoughts on the console and let me know, in the meantime, thank you
for watching Game Sack. (Game Sack Credits Theme) - [Announcer] Does playing
with classic controllers make you feel like
you're tangled in wires? Well, why not swap out the
insides of your controllers with the 8Bitdo internal
wireless controller replacement parts? - Isn't it called the 8Bitdo though? - [Announcer] No, it's 8Bitdo. - 8Bitdo. - [Announcer] 8Bitdo. - Well, that's stupid. - [Announcer] You're stupid! - Screw this, I hate them already. I'm going back to the wires. - [Announcer] Wait, no, no! We got a controller to sell. (electronic music)
