Episode #86 - Kirby's Adventure

Kirby's Adventure North American Release Date - March 23, 1993

Well, this episode has a much, much more positive vibe than last week's adventures with Ecco the stupid fish. We're talking about one of the best games on the NES, and frankly maybe the best Kirby game ever made; Kirby's Adventure. If you want to skip over the rambling and get right to Kirby, skip to 22:12.

Before we go on Kirby's Excellent Adventure, I give some shout-outs to our Patreons. I also explain why I think the Final Fantasy VII Remake demo is a GREAT thing, even though I'm not gonna play it. I actually take a pretty long look at that game as a whole. Despite all of the things I don't like about the Remake, it's one of my most anticipated games of the year.

I weigh in on the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X again, because how can you not? Sony isn't saying ANYTHING. Is it because they're getting ready to strike? Or is it because they're looking for something to use as a weapon? And a sealed copy of Megaman sold for $40,000 and I don't get it.

All that before Bradley McCue and I have a great chat about one of the NES's crown jewels; Kirby's Adventure. Enjoy the show!

And please, toss us a good review and a follow, would ya? We'll follow you back!

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Episode #77 - DuckTales

DuckTales North American Release Date - September 14, 1989

**Game Talk starts at 10:50**

This is what 'Remember The Game?' is all about. Old cartoons, old video games, old video games about old cartoons. So much nostalgic goodness this week. (And the entire 8-bit version of the theme song makes this episode worth downloading on it's own!)

So many video games that are based on a popular franchise turn out to be hot garbage (exhibit A: Episode 70 of this show; Ghostbusters), but luckily for all of us 80's kids, Capcom decided to swim against the current and buck that trend. DuckTales isn't just a decent video game adaption of it's cartoon counterpart, it's a great one. 

This game is crazy fun, and while it has a challenge to it, it's not soul crushing like so many of it's NES brothers and sisters. You play the role of Scrooge McDuck, and the game sees you travel all over the planet solar-system in search of treasure. You can play the levels in (almost) any order, and there's a ton of exploration involved. It's not linear at all, and it pushes you to search every nook and cranny of each level if you want to go for a high score. Or worth, in this case. 

DuckTales also features cameos by so many great characters from the show, including Scrooge's nephews; Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Launchpad the pilot, that cranky old Scottish duck that raced Scrooge to the lamp in the intro, and the vampire lady duck. (I'm not caught up on my DuckTales characters). 

It also introduced the cane/pogo stick mechanic, which was so popular it still pops up in games today. Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze and the iconic Shovel Knight both borrow it with great success. 

Mark McCue and I gush about one of the best damned games the NES has to offer this week. Not ponytails or captain tales, no...DuckTales! Whoo-oo!

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Episode #75 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game North American Release Date(s):
Arcade - 1989
NES - 1990

**Game talk starts at 17:40**

Back in the late 80's, everything the Ninja Turtles touched turned to gold. TV, cereal, toys, movies, music, and of course, video games. The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES (covered on episode 18 of this show!) was pretty good, but the sequel is the one everyone still loves and plays today. 

Originally released as an arcade game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II blew the first Ninja Turtles game away. Gone was the "puzzle solving/platforming" single game, and in it's place was a classic side scrolling, beat 'em up that we didn't know we wanted. And it was multi-player!!!! In the arcade version, you and three friends could pump your parents' quarters into a cabinet and stand side by side, pounding on foot soldiers and classic Turtles villains like Bebop, Rocksteady, and of course, Shredder. I remember going to Chuck 'E' Cheese for my birthday as a kid and literally pumping every single token I had into this game. 

Then it released on the NES. Apparently, the graphics and other specs were dialled back so it could run on the NES, but none of us noticed. They also reduced the number of people that could play at once from 4 to 2, but again, we didn't care. Every kid I knew loved this game. Some of my fondest memories are going to sleepovers with my friends when we were young and taking turns playing TMNT 2. And when it wasn't your turn to play the game, you were watching one of the movies or playing with the action figures.  

This game is fantastic. Sure, Turtles in Time on the SNES did everything it did better (frankly, so did the often overlooked TMNT 3 on the NES), but everyone loved this game. I can't believe it took us 75 episodes to talk about it. But it's here now, and you should be as excited as I am. 

My buddy Miklos returns to the show this week, and man oh man did we have a great time talking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. Enjoy the show!

Episode #71 - Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden North American Release Date - March 1989

** Game talk starts around 14:44**

The original NES controller was a brick. It was practically indestructible. Need proof? Ask anyone that played Ninja Gaiden back in the day. 

This game was designed to make you want to throw your controller against the wall. You would die and start over, and over, and over, and every time you did, you knew you would inevitably lose and slam your controller against something else. You'd swear (quietly), maybe walk away for a couple hours. But you always came back. And that's the great thing about Ninja Gaiden. Despite it's ridiculous difficulty and rage inducing mechanics, it was always fun to play. It might be the "best bad game" on the NES. 

(And to be clear, I don't think it's "bad" necessarily. I just think it's too hard. Call me a bitch, I don't care.)

The enemies re-spawn if you so much as think about turning around after you kill them. They come out of nowhere, and quite often they show up where you need to land after a precise jump. They can be impossible to avoid. Which leads into the second problem. Every time they touch you, you bounce back half way across the fucking screen. If there's a pit behind you, landing in it is a guarantee. Or you'll bounce into another that just re-spawned, and they'll bounce you into the pit. And then you'll start over, and you'll know it's coming, but they'll get you again. And then you'll finally get by them only to die because you dropped down to the next screen instead of taking the ladder. And that'll be your final life, and you'll start over and bounce into a pit again and WHAM!!!

That was your controller hitting the wall.

This game drives me insane. But I can't stop playing it. My buddy and guest Bradley McCue knows the feeling. We'll tell you all about it on this week's podcast. Enjoy!

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Episode #70 - Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters (NES) North American Release Date - Sometime in 1986

**Game Talk starts at 16:05**

Oh Ghostbusters...

I love this damned franchise. Ghostbusters and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were my life as a kid. I had the action figures, movies, cartoons, clothes, books, toys, halloween costumes, and of course, video games. This was one of the games I rented over and over again. Pretty well every time my brother and I convinced our Mom to let us rent games for the weekend, Ghostbusters found it's way into the pile. We refused to admit it wasn't good. 

Well, I'm thirty-five now. And it's time to face the music. The horribly repetitive 8-bit music. Ghostbusters on the NES is not a good video game. I'm sorry, Mr. Aykroyd...

(Many people have said that versions of this game on other consoles, such as Atari, Commodore 64 and Master System are a little better. I've never played any of them, so we're sticking to the NES version.)

I actually beat this game for the first time this week, prepping for this podcast. No cheat codes, turbo controllers, nothing. Just a little patience. OK, a lot of patience. The entire game is one boring grind to save money to buy gear  to beat a boring level where you do nothing but climb 23 flights of stairs. Then you get one fun boss fight, and then the most infamous end screen in gaming history. 

If you just read that and thought, "why the hell would anyone play this??", you get it. We don't know why we played it. But a lot of us did...

I wanted to cover a scary game for Halloween, and seeing as this is a nostalgia podcast, I saw this week as a perfect opportunity to review not only a treasured game from my childhood, but a "scary" game as well. The ghosts won't scare you in this game, but it'll still give you nightmares. 

I'm solo this week, and I hope enjoy this trip down memory lane as we look back at the Walter Peck of NES games; Ghostbusters. 

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Episode #52 - Super Mario Bros 2

Super Mario Bros. 2 North American Release Date - October 9, 1988

Super Mario Bros 2 is the oddball of the NES Mario Bros games. Along with Super Mario Sunshine, it's the oddball of the entire Super Mario series. But you know what? I like oddballs.*

*I rewrote that about ten times, and that was the least creepy sounding thing I could come up with...

I like Super Mario Bros 2. A lot. I owned Super Mario Bros 1 & 3 as a kid, but never got my hands on the second one. So any chance I had to play it, I jumped all over it. I couldn't wrap my little mind around it! You could pick up bad guys and throw them at each other! (Before picking up Koopa Troopa shells, this was crazy). There were weird potions that took you into an alternate universe, and that's the only place you could find mushrooms. Stars floated up from the bottom of the screen. You could play as Princess Toadstool (old school) and Toad!?!? Where'd this game come from????

As we would all later find out, it came from Japan. Because they decided that the kids over in North America that played Nintendo weren't good enough to play the game they originally wanted to release as Super Mario Bros 2. And after playing that original sequel (released everywhere as The Lost Levels years later), there were right. 

But this episode isn't about the sequel we didn't get (there's already an episode of the show about that game, The Lost Levels - Episode 26 if you're interested!), it's about the one we did. Super Mario Bros 2 is a beauty of a game. It introduced gameplay mechanics to the Mario Bros series that still exist today, like Birdo, Shy Guys, and the Princess's floating ability. It's still as fun to play in 2019 as it was in 1988, and it's about damned time it got it's own episode of the podcast. 

My buddy/fellow comedian/improv king David Rae is my guest this week, and we have a great chat about the Cousin Oliver of the Super Mario Bros series; Super Mario Bros 2. Enjoy!

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Episode #49 - Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey North American Release Date  - March 1988

In a world where sports video games have become deep, complex, virtual simulations of their real-life counterparts, Ice Hockey still stands out. It's the epitome of the saying "Less is More". Sure, if you're looking for a hockey game where you can develop rosters, play 100+ hours of a franchise, and manage my salary cap, there are better options. But if you just want to play a quick game of hockey against a friend, and have a really good time doing it, it's still hard to beat Ice Hockey. 

It's not a very deep game. You play against either the computer or a friend in a single game, and that's it. No seasons or tournaments. You get to pick from one of six national teams, and then you make up your four man roster. You can pick between skinny players (fast but wimpy), medium players (meh), and heavy/fat players (slow but powerful), and you can mix and match to create any combination of four that you want. And within that lies the genius of Ice Hockey. Do you roll with a team of four skinny players, skate circles around your opponent, but get knocked off the puck every time somebody sneezes? Or do you load up on heavyweights and just hope the other team skates into one of your guys? It might not be as deep as navigating the AHL looking for a fourth line winger, but it works perfectly. The combinations are practically endless. 

I guess technically there's 256 combinations. But whatever.

The gameplay is insanely simplistic and easy to pick up. Steer your highlighted player with the D-pad. "A" passes or steals, and "B" shoots or changes players. The D-pad controls your goalie at the same time, which is also really fun. I'd argue that controlling the goalie in Ice Hockey is as fun as controlling the goalie in any hockey game ever made. And that's it. Most of the basic rules from hockey are here, and you just try to score more goals than your opponent. There's no load times, no rosters updates, it's just simple, arcade hockey. And it's awesome. 

Most people compare Ice Hockey to it's NES counterpart Blades of Steel. I knew a ton of people that owned one, but I don't think I knew anybody that owned both. I preferred Blades of Steel as a kid, but I think Ice Hockey has held up infinitely better over the years. It recently released on the Nintendo Switch as part of their NES Online service, and I can confirm it's as fun to pick up and play today as it was over thirty years ago. It's not perfect; and it certainly isn't worth paying anymore than a few bucks for these days. But for my money, it's the Ric Flair of Nintendo sports games. One of the all-time greats, and I love it. 

My buddy David Rae does too. He's my guest this week, and we had a ton of laughs talking Ice Hockey. I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as we did!

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Episode #45 - A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia

A Boy and His Blob North American Release Date - January 1990

The whole concept behind this podcast was to talk about the games we played as kids and to stir up those feelings of nostalgia, and that's exactly what A Boy and His Blob does for me. My brother and I played the hell out of this game as kids. 

We never owned it, but we rented it. Over and over and over. Everyone remembers doing that with a game or two back in the day, right? By the time you stopped renting it, you could have just bought the damned game with all the money you spent! We never came anywhere close to beating it, either. And honestly, without the internet, I doubt we ever would have. But we didn't care.

This game was built to be played alongside the internet. Tons of trial and error, and hard to solve puzzles. You play as "boy" - I don't remember them actually saying what his name was - and this blob thing follows you around. I didn't know it back in the day, but apparently the object of the game was to collect treasure (that was in caves under the ground) to buy vitamins to feed bad guys back on Blob's home planet. Oh yeah, and you had a ton of different jellybeans to feed blob, and when you did, he turned into different things like a ladder, a bubble, and a blowtorch.

Yeah...

It didn't tell you what each flavour of jellybean did to blob, either. You had to feed him different kinds of beans, and see what happened. We kept a handwritten list of what bean did what. And then once you knew you could make blob into, you had to figure out where to use him to stay alive. Because everything killed you. Falling, enemies, spikes, water, falling rocks, ugh. 

This game had a ton of flaws, but I still have a soft spot for it. My buddy and fellow comedian Ty does too. He's my guest this week, and we look back at our adventures dying alongside Blob as kids. Grab a bag of ketchup jellybeans, put your feet up, and go for a ride back in time with us, won't you?

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Episode #39 - The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda North American Release Date - July 1987

What can I possibly say about The Legend of Zelda that hasn't already been said?

It's one of the most influential and iconic games of all-time. It launched one of the greatest franchises in the history of the industry. It's an absolutely masterpiece that - for my money - is as enjoyable today as it was over THIRTY years ago. It might even be better now, because the internet is around to help you. 

I didn't play this much as a kid. It wasn't until A Link to the Past that I really discovered the greatness that is The Legend of Zelda franchise. I finally went back and played through it from beginning to end earlier this year, and I've been jonesing to talk about it ever since. I think it says a ton about this game when literally every thing it did has been improved upon in different games over the years, but it's still a blast to play. It's legendary.

This might be the shortest podcast post I've written so far, but I just don't know what else to say. My buddy David Rae is my guest this week, and we spend almost 50 minutes talking about gaming royalty. It's all about The Legend of Zelda this time around. Enjoy!

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Episode #38 - StarTropics

StarTropics North American Release Date - December 1, 1990

StarTropics is the little game that almost could. Developed by Nintendo of America and released exclusively in North America and Europe (most NES games made their way to North America after being released in Japan), this game gets an awful lot right. And the stuff is gets wrong can be overlooked or chalked up to system limitations and industry standards in the late 80's.

The game stars some guy named Mike, and he travels from tropical island to tropical island (and eventually to spaceship, because video games) in search of his missing Uncle. Each "level" is a cave/temple that you have to find your way out of, battling enemies with yo-yos and baseball equipment. The strict "grid" movement (left/right/up/down one space at a time) can be frustrating, but the puzzle solving and exploration in the caves make up for it. Most of the time, anyway. It starts off pretty simple, but by the third or fourth level, this game gets viciously difficult. And a little cheap. It's still hella fun, though.

This is one of those games I never owned as a kid, but I have fond memories of playing anyways. I had a friend that lived across the street from me, and he owned it. I'd go over to play games with him and we'd spend hours dying on the same boss (that God damned fire guy). But we kept coming back for more. Something about this game just hooks you. As frustrating as it can be, it really is fun to play. 

It also shipped with a letter (an actual physical, piece of paper letter), that had to be dipped in water to reveal a secret code necessary to finish the game. It might sound hokey in 2019, but in the early 90's, that was some crazy innovation! My friend and I never had that paper, but luckily for us we never got that far in the game, so it didn't matter. 

StarTropics is a beauty, and it just released on Nintendo's Switch Online Service. If you haven't played it, I strongly recommend giving it a shot. But not until after you listen to my buddy Chris and I talk about it for half an hour on this week's podcast!

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Episode #35 - Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!

Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! North American Release Date - October 18, 1987 

For my money, there may not be a game in the NES library (at least, not without "Mario" in the title) that has aged better than the masterpiece that is Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!

Punch Out!! was one of the first sports video games to really nail it. The controls are snare drum tight, the graphics are still gorgeous today, and the gameplay mechanics strike a perfect balance between "simulation-y" and "arcade-ish". Aspects like stamina that depletes as you get punched and have your strikes blocked makes it feel like you're in a real boxing match, but at the same time the idea of your opponent teleporting around the ring while he throws punches at you reminds you that this is still a video game. It's a magical combination that works splendidly. And it makes it's insane difficulty tolerable.

Because make no mistake - this game is hard. Like, really hard. Mike Tyson is considered one of the most difficult "final bosses" in the history of gaming, and that's assuming you can even get to him. I never have. In classic Nintendo style, the first few levels (opponents) are pretty easy, slowly introducing new game mechanics and teaching you everything you need to know. But once the difficulty starts to ramp up, it punches you right in the face. Because it's a boxing game, you get it?

I've always preferred the Super Nintendo sequel to this game, but after spending some serious time with Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! in preparation for this podcast, I've remembered what an absolute classic it is. It's as fun to play in 2019 as it was in 1987, and it deserves it's spot alongside the Mario Bros, Castlevanias and Mega Mans on the list of the greatest games in the NES's legendary library.

My pal and fellow NES junkie David Rae returns to the show this week, and damned if we didn't spend almost hour talking about how we couldn't beat Mike Tyson. Enjoy the podcast!

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Episode #26 - Super Mario Bros. "The Lost Levels"

Super Mario Bros 2 "The Lost Levels" N.America Release Date - August 1, 1993 

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday season and the 'January Blues' aren't hitting you too hard. If they are, I'm positive a new podcast will help snap you out of it!

We're going with a bit of a black sheep this week (there are only so many Chrono Triggers and Tony Hawks out there). My buddy and fellow comedian David Rae returns to the show, and we decided to have a chat about the 'Cousin Oliver' of the NES Mario family; the REAL Super Mario Bros 2. You may know it as Super Mario Bros - The Lost Levels.

After being released in Japan as the original Super Mario Bros 2, it was deemed too difficult by Nintendo of America. It was never made available for the NES, and we ended up getting a different Super Mario Bros 2 altogether. Years later, the game was finally smuggled into North America in the (superb) Super Mario Bros All-Stars compilation on the SNES. The original 8-bit version of the game eventually found it's way onto the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U virtual consoles, as well.

This game is unquestionably the most difficult game of the NES Mario Bros series, and it stands up against any game in the Mario Bros library as far as challenge goes. I love it. If you've played it, you know how brutal and unforgiving it is. If you haven't played it, we probably won't sell you on it in this podcast, but you should give it a shot. It's still a Mario game!

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Episode #18 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles North American Release Date - June, 1989

In the late 80's and early 90's, there might not have been a bigger franchise on the planet than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We all loved them. A lot of people from my generation (myself included), still love them. They had movies, cartoons, action figures, comic books. Video games were inevitable.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES. Some would call it the most "beloved bad game" of all time. I don't think I'd call it bad. It certainly can't hold a torch to it's sequel, which was a port of the amazing Ninja Turtles arcade game, but it's still a fine game in it's own right. It's inventive. Outside of the Tournament Fighter games, it's really the only TMNT video game that isn't just a side scrolling beat 'em up. (At least for the first 15 years of Turtles games). 

Oh, and it's hard. Really hard. Like, if you're reading this, you probably never finished it hard. 

Oh, you did finish it? What Game Genie code did you use? Exactly. Shut up.

This game was merciless. And it was marketed toward children. This was pretty common place with the NES, a ton of those games are borderline unbeatable with their insane levels of difficulty. But I don't remember wanting to play one of those games as bad as this one. This was the freaking Ninja Turtles. You could have designed the game to automatically kill you after 5 minutes and I would have wanted it. 

My buddy and fellow comic David Rae is my guest this week, and we had a lot of fun looking back at this game. From fighting guys made out of fire, to falling into sewer water (and not being able to swim despite being Turtles ??), to the F*CKING seaweed level; it's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES. And it's awesome. 

(If anything, this game deserves an episode of this podcast for one reason; it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Donatello is the best Ninja Turtle).

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Episode #16 - Super Mario Bros 3

Super Mario Bros 3 North American Release Date - February 12, 1990

I don't know what I can say about this game that hasn't already been said. Super Mario Bros 3 for the NES was the peak of 8-bit gaming, the peak of the NES, and some would argue the peak of video games, period. This game is an absolute masterpiece, and I can't imagine anyone listening to this podcast hasn't played it a million times before. 

Super Mario Bros 3 is not only one of the greatest games ever made, it's also one of the best selling. A phenomenal combination of a top quality game and an insane marketing campaign (they made a MOVIE to promote this game, AND they got the kid from The Wonder Years to star in it!) resulted in this game selling like gangbusters. It got it's own cartoon series, toys. That yellow box is as recognizable as any video game box art in history. 

My buddy Miklos is my guest this week, and we spent 40 minutes talking about how perfect this game is. I'm not gonna waste your time with a long post this week. Just check out the podcast.

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Episode #5 - Mega Man 2

Mega Man 2 North American Release Date - June 11, 1989

Featuring more robot masters, a password system, and slightly better box art, every aspect of Mega Man 2 is an improvement over the original game.

If you ask most Mega Man diehards what the best game in the series is, they're almost guaranteed to come back with either MM2 or MM3. 2 seems to hold a slight edge, though. It's the one featured on the NES Classic, and it's the game that shows up on all the "greatest games of all-time" lists. It's a phenomenal video game that's as fun to play today as it was 30 years ago.

I don't often get into a game's history or production notes, but the story of Mega Man 2 is just too great not to bring up. The original Mega Man game didn't sell overly well. However, instead of just writing the series off, Capcom allowed their staff to make a sequel, with a catch; they work on it off company time. That's precisely what they did, and using ideas that didn't make the cut for the first game, they ended up creating a masterpiece. 

I love all the core Mega Man games (except 8. Fuck that game so hard), and excitedly replayed them all when the Mega Man collections came to the Nintendo Switch last year. I don't know if I could bring myself to definitively rank them, but I'd agree with almost everyone that 2 is among the best. the robot masters are awesome, and it features the single most powerful robot master weapon in the series' history; Metal Man's metal blades. Mega Man is one of my go to fighters in the newer Smash Bros games, and that so many weapons from this game made it into his arsenal for Smash is a testament to how awesome they were. 

My buddy David Rae joined me this week, and we remembered one of the greatest games in one of the greatest series in video game history; Mega Man 2.

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