Tag: Nintendo

Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins

Ghosts ‘n Goblins took the baddie-battling, princess-rescuing formula and went Medieval, casting Knight Arthur in the hero’s role and pitting him against the combined forces of Hades. Strapping into his suit of armor, Arthur ran to the rescue, braving six levels of ghosts, goblins ‘n much more.

Designed as a scrolling action game, Ghosts ‘n Goblins only required three skills: running, jumping and firing. If it moved, it had to be killed. Arthur began the game armed with throwing lances, but new weapons—fire, axe, dagger and cross—were available by killing certain enemies (those carrying clay pots).

With those implements of demonic destruction, Arthur wended his way through a graveyard, a dark forest, a run-down town, a series of caves, across a bridge and on to the castle where the Princess was held. Each stage was filled with scary beasts of every kind—zombies, ghosts, giants, demons, skeletons, etc.—each capped off by a particularly hideous boss. And just to save you several hours’ worth of frustration, you can only kill that devil boss at the end with the shield weapon. Try anything else, and you’ll find yourself flying back to level one with a teardrop in your eye, bucko.

Arthur began the game with the customary three lives, but that was where the suit of armor came in handy. The first hit on Arthur’s mortal body smashed the armor off, leaving Arthur alive but wearing nothing but his Medieval skivvies. Another hit cost one life, but extra suits of armor were conveniently stashed at certain points in the game if Arthur survived that long.

A hit both in the arcades and on the then-new Nintendo Entertainment System, Ghosts ‘n Goblins won players over with its fundamental action gameplay and its cartoony, yet somehow still creepy graphics. A sequel, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, was released in 1988, adding flashier graphics and new power-ups (including the power-enhancing golden armor) to a brand-new storyline. And yes, it did involve rescuing that perpetually-victimized princess from the devil again (when will these royals ever learn?).

by The Retro Rambler

Nintendo Nostalgia: Game Genie

Now I don’t know about you, but the Game Genie did more to change my video gaming experience than any other device with the exception of the Nintendo itself. Once I got my hands on it, it was in use every single time I played a Nintendo Game. My best friend at the time, Geoffrey, was one of those kids that got whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. He saw the commercial for this thing and went nuts. I still remember the conversation we had on the phone that fateful night. He said he had pitched such a huge fit wanting it, that his Dad drove him the half hour to the nearest department store and bought it for him.

The next day at school, he looked like a hungover zombie, as he had stayed up all night playing Nintendo. I knew that I just had to make the trip to his house that weekend for a sleepover and check it out myself. Sure enough, I had the chance that weekend, and was blown away with just how awesome that thing was.

More Nintendo Nostalgia | My Earliest Video Game Memories

I started saving my allowances immediately, and doing chores for folks around the neighborhood to earn extra money. It actually didn’t take too long to get enough scratch together to go get one for myself. Man, that thing revolutionized my game play. Games that had previously had parts that I go so frustrated with that I quit playing the game, were now easily navigated, and I pulled those old suckers out and gave them new life.

It was some of the best money I’ve ever spent in my life. And yes, I can say that still today. It was revolutionary to be able to have unlimited lives, or unlimited ammo, or be able to make super jumps. Now I know in all reality, it was cheating, but it made crappy games fun, and made fun games incredible. Even now when playing roms on an emulator, I still google those old Game Genie codes and put them in play.

by The Retro Rambler

Retro Comic Book Ads #3

Old comic books often act as a time capsule. They’re full of advertisements of products from long ago, and can tell us a lot about the culture of the time in which they were printed. Some of those products are still with us, while others are not. I often like to crack open the pages of a long forgotten comic book and just browse the advertisements found inside with which to take a trip back in time to another era. Let’s open one of those time capsules here today and see what we find….

This week’s time capsule is Superman #30 from DC Comics, that came out in 1989. The Superman titles have always one of my favorite books to read, but this is from the era just before I started to read his stories on a regular basis. I picked up in the summer of 1990, and read consistently up until about 1998. Let’s see what old advertising goodness is hidden behind this cover.

How appropriate this is to find an ad for Morning Funnies Cereal since I just did a post detailing my love for the cereal a short while ago. You can check out the full article here, but I’ll add to it and say that it was a great idea to spend advertising dollars on it to run in a comic book since the whole gimmick to the cereal is that the box is covered with comic strips. Makes perfect sense.

More: Retro Comic Book Ads #1

It wouldn’t be a comic book from the late 80’s without some advertisements for video games, and Nintendo specifically. These look like some lesser known titles, but Taito was big in the arcade world with Space Invaders and Super Chase H.Q. being two of their bigger titles. I think Bubble Bobble was a moderate success on the Nintendo, but the other three games I have no recollection of.

Continue reading “Retro Comic Book Ads #3” →

by The Retro Rambler

My Earliest Video Game Memories

When Christmas day rolled around, I felt this huge urge to hook up the old Super Nintendo and spend the day playing some of my old favorites like Super Mario World, Duck Dogers, Street Fighter II, and more. Unfortunately I didn’t get to, but I did think back on some of my first memories of video games and shared them with the kids.

The very first memory would actually be about going to the Bristol Mall in Bristol TN and seeing the arcade there that was called The Gold Mine. However, on that fateful trip, I didn’t get to step inside and relish in all the goodness it had to offer. I simply got to walk by it and gaze in amazement at all the flashing lights and tingle with excitement from all the sounds coming from within.

So my actual first experiences with video games in any form would be when my cousin Tim first got his Nintendo. Somehow, I had missed out on all of the marketing and talk surrounding the Nintendo when it was launched. I had never seen nor heard of such a thing. One day while visiting the grandparents, my uncle Ernest mentioned that he had gotten Tim a Nintendo Entertainment System, and that I should come over and play Super Mario Brothers.

Continue reading “My Earliest Video Game Memories” →

by The Retro Rambler

Games I Wish Were Included on the SNES Classic

After the success of the NES Classic Edition, this Christmas season will see the release of a SUPER Nintento Classic Edition! Sadly, I missed out on the NES Classic, but if the rumors of an SNES Classic prove true, I will definitely pick one up if the game selection looks good. With that said, thoughts turn to what games may or may not be included on the system. I know there are a lot of licensing issues with some games that keep them from being included, but for the sake of this post, I’m going to ignore all of that and just focus on the games I WISH were included on it, whether it could ever happen or not. At the end, be sure to drop a line in the comments section about what games YOU want to see included.

Super Mario World

I don’t know how you could release a mini SNES classic and not include the flag-ship game of the original console. Mario IS Nintendo, and Super Mario World was not just the flagship title, but one of the best games on the system. It’s a shoe-in.

Super Mario Kart

Another Mario title, and the last one I’m including in this list. I know there are plenty more great Mario based games on the system, but I never really got into them. Mario Kart on the other hand is a classic with a quite a pedigree in the world of gaming, and is my personal favorite racing game on the system.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Zelda franchise is synonymous with the Nintendo brand, and this game has a reputation as being one of the better incarnations of the game. I played it a few times, and really hope it’s included in the mini version so I can finally get to sit down and play all the way through it.

Mega Man X

Another icon of the Nintendo era was Mega Man, and any system looking to capitalize on its history needs to include a Mega Man title. I never played this Mega Man for some reason, but I always loved the various Mega Man games on the NES, so I’d like to see this included to relieve those days.

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