Ongoing Games

Well, I've been playing those GameBoy Advance games, and I've taken a few screenshots of the ones I've had the most interest in playing.

Mario vs Donkey Kong
Mario vs Donkey Kong is probably the one I'm enjoying the most. I've mentioned it earlier, you basically jump around trying to rescue little Mario toys from Donkey Kong. It's pretty fun, and now I'm up to level 3-2. The music and Mario's constant giggling while he's jumping gets annoying, but I keep coming back for more. I'll definitely get this if I ever get a Nintendo DS. When I get tired, I switch over to something else, like Advance Wars 2...

Advance Wars 2
I've been playing Advance Wars 2 as well. I've accomplished some of the initial levels in the Campaign mode, and it's a pretty fun strategy game for on the road. It isn't as in-depth as the stuff on the computer, obviously. I'd still much rather play a game of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri or Command & Conquer Generals, but when you're on the run without a laptop, you have to make do with what you have. I'll probably pick this and Mario vs Donkey Kong up if I should ever manage to lay my hands on a Nintendo DS.

Doom
The last game I've been playing is Doom. Now, let me tell you I went in with low expectations. I played it on the Super Nintendo and it lacked floor and ceiling textures. To put it really bluntly, the game sucked horribly and I would never consider buying it for the system. Well, I went in and played in the GameBoy Advance and it wasn't quite as bad. Now, the frame rate and resolution are nothing to write home about, but at least the game is reasonably faithful to the original computer version. Some of the levels are clearly redone to limit the amount of memory used, but all in all, the game still plays the same. Figuring out how to change weapons and to sprint wasn't so easy. Weird button combinations are needed to change your guns, and they make it difficult for you to dodge enemy fireballs and rockets. I have to suggest jDoom for the PC instead. Doom just wasn't meant to be played on a handheld system, definitely not one with the limited power of the GameBoy Advance. Maybe the DS will be able to handle it alright.

I plan on doing some more posts like this one, maybe every weekend. Expect some interesting screenshots... and for other game shots definitely check out my Miscellany of pictures.

Newer Mario Games for the GBA

I had the opportunity to play two Mario games yesterday; Mario Pinball Land and Mario vs Donkey Kong. They were both recently released for the GameBoy Advance. I've played Mario vs Donkey Kong a bit more, as it has been more fun than Mario Pinball Land. So far I've made it up to level 2-4 in that game, and I've been making decent progress. The puzzles in it haven't been too hard yet, but I know they're going to increase in difficulty soon.

Mario Pinball Land has been a bit of a disappointment. The gameplay is pretty monotonous, even though the pinball levels are unique. You get to fight the usual array of Mario baddies and collect coins and stars, but after awhile it's just boring. I definitely have no interest in picking it up for the GameBoy Advance as it hasn't been very enjoyable.

Well, I'm going to head back and play some more Mario vs Donkey Kong... or maybe I'll try and beat the next level in Advance Wars 2. At least I'll have something to do on my freetime before this Christmas! Afterwards, well, hopefully I'll be able to play a new Nintendo DS!

SimCopter Ready for Takeoff!

My friend was playing SimCopter last night, and today he gave me the CD to install it on my own computer. I'd just like to take a moment and reminisce about the days when you could run an entire game off of a CD-ROM. The smallest install for SimCopter is two megabytes. The nearly complete install, is a massive 38 megabytes. As a matter of fact, you could run several games like these off a USB flash drive. You could literally have all the original Sim games on one small drive that you could plug in and run on any computer with a version of Windows installed. These days, a game's online manual file can be more than 38 megabytes.

After taking about one minute to install, I loaded up SimCopter and gave it a shot. Obviously, in this day and age it's possible to easily run the game at maximum settings with no problem whatsoever. Strangely enough, I had the game crash within a minute though. I restarted it and then put in the infamous I'm the CEO of McDonnell Douglas cheat code, and I had all of the helicopters at my disposal. I always enjoy flying the Apache and firing missiles at buildings. I have actually played through the game and accomplished my missions way back in the day. You can do a variety of things like rescue people, transport people, put out fires, shoot down UFO's, quell riots and summon public services.

The game is very open-ended, and if you have SimCity 2000, you can import your cities into it and fly around in them unrestricted. It's really helpful to have an airport, although the game will find a place to put a hangar if you don't have one. If you pick this game up, and can look past its dated graphics, you'll see a pretty fun helicopter rescue game underneath looking back at you.

3D Makes the Game Not

Today at lunch my friends and I were discussing all the upcoming games for the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP, and we got on the topic of 3D games. Being the gamer that I am, 3D doesn't have to be in the game for me to like it. I still enjoy side-scrollers, and I still enjoy old games even though new games like Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 model physics, lighting and everything else with a fantastic level of detail. Even if they have 3D up the wazoo, with everything modeled perfectly, and the gameplay sucks... the 3D element isn't going to save it. In fact, it would be safe to say that it probably would suck even more than if it were just 2D, since incompetent game designers would be hard pressed to screw-up a 2D scroller.

Anyways, back to the DS and PSP. I like to make jokes about the PSP since it always looks so large in all of the advertisements for it. and I've taken a real interest in the DS. It really looks to be a fantastic system. I've even had the chance to play Super Mario 64 DS, and I can say that it played very nicely. The graphics were even better than the Nintendo 64 version. Strangely, my friends were saying that the PSP would be more of a PlayStation-on-the-go. I've always been of the impression that the Nintendo 64's graphics were pretty darn good, outshining the PlayStation easily.

They brought up how much better the 3D graphics were going to be, and I daresay, one even said that it would be immersive. Hold on, immersive?? The screen isn't very big. How can it be immersive? We got into an argument over whether 3D really matters... and here I am now, talking about why I'm perfectly happy with 2D games.

I personally don't think it matters. I'm really looking forward to the newest Mario game on the DS, which won't be 3D. As long as the game looks beautiful and of high-quality, 2D is just fine with me. A nice side-scrolling shooter is great too. Ever played Raiden Trad? Very good game! In the end, as long as the game is fun, 3D just doesn't matter.

Quick Rundown of Today's Games

This is just a rundown of the games I've played today. In list format along with a brief opinion on each one. More in-depth reviews will come in time for them.

Race Drivin' (SNES) - slow, unresponsive, worthless
Revolution X (SNES) - slow, boring
Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis) - fast-paced, repetitive
Super Dodge Ball (NES) - repetitive, fun
Super Dodgeball Advance (GBA) - repetitive, fun
Super Battleship (SNES) - fun, valuable
StarFox Competition (SNES) - rehashed time attack

Playing Paperboy 2...

I spent some time playing Paperboy 2 last night... I remember the old days playing the original Paperboy on the Nintendo. You would always go one direction avoiding obstacles and trying to get the paper to the door or in the newspaper bin and then at the end of the level you would drive through a small obstacle course to complete the level.

Well, Paperboy 2 simply adds to that. You can play on both sides of the road now (not at the same time though), and you also have much more to avoid and throw your newspapers at. The game will keep you busy for a few hours before you'll begin to lose interest due to its repetitiveness, but you'll come back to play again later. The game has about 21 levels or more, one for each day of the week on three different courses.

I'll post the review up soon on PrezKennedy.org.

Advance Wars 2 is Pretty Cool...

I now have the opportunity to play some GameBoy games that I would have never bought on my own, so I loaded up Advance Wars 2. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't a big fan of the first Advance Wars. I played it for a little while, and I thought it was at least somewhat amusing on a long road trip, but I wouldn't ever play it when I could play something on the computer instead. My brother brings his GameBoy Advance and Advance Wars along on our long road trips... and thats why I played it.

For the second one, it's very similar to the first. There are new tactics, a few new units, and the graphics have been updated slightly. At the core however, the gameplay hasn't changed a bit. I'm more interested in this game than its prequel, so something must have changed. I've played the first few levels of the game and I'm really enjoying it. Advance Wars 2 also has all the usual options like multiplayer and skirmishes for quicker battles, but I've only been focusing on playing the campaign so far.

I highly recommend you check this game out if you liked the first one, or even if you like strategy games in general. You won't be disappointed that something this nice comes in such a small package!