Category: Retro

GamerSushi Asks: Favorite Sleepers of 2010?

Pac Man

Every year, there’s a bunch of games that seem to slip through our nets as gamers. As frantic as we are about our hobby, there’s absolutely no way we can manage to grab or buy everything so that we can get a full sample of the year for review. I know that in my life, I pretty much have to narrow down my buys to a handful of games and really cut it off there, for fear of an angry wife or an empty checkbook.

Because of this whole “not enough money and time” thing that reality constantly slams us with, occasionally a few great games slip by the wayside. On top of that, sometimes the gaming media at large doesn’t always properly cover everything in a way that highlights some of the greats. They tend to focus on the Halo: Reach’s, the Valve games, the Call of Duty’s out there while ignoring some of the other sleepers.

For instance, I keep hearing things about the following games: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Vanquish, Enslaved, Super Meat Boy, Donkey Kong Country Returns, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent for PC, but haven’t been able to see or play any of these games as of yet. I think that needs to change.

So what do you guys think? Do you have a favorite sleeper hit of 2010 so far? Is there a game that you’ve been loving lately (or even earlier) that doesn’t always seem to get a lot of buzz? Share!

Dorkly Celebrates Health Item Brawls

One gaming related thing that I miss are the side-scrolling beat-em-up arcade games of my youth, the ones based off my favorite cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The one aspect of that that I don’t miss, however, is the inevitable fight that would ensue whenever a healing item popped up on screen. Even if I was only playing with one other person, we would eventually come to blows. Etiquette is the person with the lowest health gets the item, but we all know it’s survival of the fittest. Dorkly brings back our four favorite Turtles for a trip down memory lane.

Gaming Pop Quiz: Winter Edition

Well fellow gamers, it’s now officially December, so that means that all around the land, people are jumping into holiday mode. It’s kind of funny actually, that once November passes everyone runs around like crazy all the way until Christmas-ish time, and then everything gets calm again. At least that’s the way it is around here.

As we’ve been discussing, winter and holiday season naturally means one thing for all of us and our interests: games, and lots of them. Over the years, I know that all of us have received a bountiful harvest of great gaming goodness, and we’ve played games until we couldn’t stand them any longer. Traditionally for me, December is the time that I play more games than any other.

I’m setting all of this up to give you some sweet gaming questions, naturally. As always with our getting-to-know-you type games, feel free to answer with as much or as little as you like. Answer to the best of your ability. Go! Continue reading Gaming Pop Quiz: Winter Edition

Classic Video Game Characters Race

Here’s a little Thanksgiving gift from us to you (via some dude named Eyspire on YouTube). It’s not a “scientific” race of which set of pixels would win, but it is a stroll down memory lane with a surprise ending.

Enjoy, and Happy Turkey Day to our American users.

[youtube width=”500″ height=”310″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF_3Hyb6IfU[/youtube]

GamerSushi Asks: Would You Rather?

Apparently we’ve been leaving the Would You Rather game off to the side of the road, flopping like a fish out of water. So, being the kind gents we are, we decided to resuscitate it and bring it back to life for your enjoyment. Not that I’d do mouth-to-mouth with a fish. Well, maybe I would.

For the uninitiated, in Would You Rather, I simply ask a series of questions, and you follow up with your answers. Give as much or as little explanation as you want for your choices, but we all know that we like to see the reasoning behind the madness.

But beware, lest your answers be terrible and full of fail. For if they are, Jeff will use his vast eyebrow powers to blink you straight out of existence. Either that or he will call you names that hurt your feelings. He’s good at both, but it really depends on his mood that day. Anyway, have at it, folks.

Would you rather… Continue reading GamerSushi Asks: Would You Rather?

Gaming in the Age of Information Overload

Grand Theft Auto 3The year is 2001. On a rainy October day, I run from the parking lot into the dorm, covering my head with a Best Buy shopping bag as I try to avoid getting swallowed up by the weather. After a not-so-quick elevator trip, I’m in my dorm room, tearing into the packaging of a Playstation 2 game. I curse once or twice as I pull at those little security labels, the ones that cling to your fingers like plastic mosquitoes and refuse to let go.

As the game spins to life, I am in a city. Just like the world beyond my windows, the world in the looking glass of my TV is consumed by rain. Soon enough, I am pulling motorists out of their vehicles with ease. I’m causing mayhem. I can go anywhere I want. I learn fairly quickly that this world has a name: Liberty City. The game I’m playing is Grand Theft Auto 3, and this is the first time I have ever seen it in motion. The experience waiting for me catches me completely off guard. Continue reading Gaming in the Age of Information Overload

I Miss Cheat Codes

Konami Code

The Konami Code. The Blood Code. Debug mode in Sonic 2. Great relics of my youth, tall bastions of gaming greatness. These are a few of my favorite things.

Or at least they were, back when cheat codes were still the cool thing to do. Growing up, finding ridiculous cheats was like taking the shackles off of a game, making it some feral beast that could do what it willed. Why, you could see Lara Croft’s pixel jubblies. Or spawn a tank in GTA III. Or become completely unstoppable and play Doom on Nightmare with God Mode turned on (my personal favorite).

Anyway, seeing the news that Goldeneye 007 has a big head mode stirred up whatever center of my brain produces nostalgia. Seriously, whatever happened to cheat codes? Are they still a part of games and I’m just missing them, or what?

What are some of your favorite cheat codes in video games?

Source – Kotaku

Call of Duty Remembered

Call of Duty

Only in this fast-paced, Internet-savvy world in which we live could a series that is only 7 years old warrant a retrospective, but in all honesty, it’s probably a good thing that GamePro has created one. Personally, I didn’t pay attention to Call of Duty until the first Modern Warfare, mainly because I had been a Medal of Honor fan and after I soured on that franchise, I wasn’t looking to get into another World War II FPS. But after borrowing Call of Duty 4 from a friend, it only took an hour of multiplayer and I was hooked. It also helped that I tried the game out on a Double Experience Point Weekend.

After that, I rented World At War and was pleasantly surprised and I own and still play Modern Warfare 2, although I know many of you are still upset with that one. Now I am looking forward to playing Black Ops when I get it for Christmas. So that’s my personal Call of Duty dossier. What about yours? After reading the retrospective, I realize I missed out on quite a bit. When did you enter the series? What was your favorite entry? Answer now, that’s an order!

Source: GamePro

Where You Thought Gaming Would Be

Back to the Future 2Over the last few weeks, I’ve been on something of a Back to the Future kick. I suppose this may have something to do with the classic trilogy’s recent release on Blu-ray, or simply because I am a science fiction nut that loves awesome movies. Regardless, there is something about the movies that always strikes me when I watch them, especially when dealing with Back to the Future II’s projections about the future.

If for some reason you’re not remember correctly, or a large rock fell on your head and deleted megabytes from your brain, Back to the Future II has some fairly outlandish predictions about where humanity’s technology and sense of style was supposed to be in the year 2015. The notable (and laughable) examples would be that of shoes that tie themselves, flying cars, and home fusion reactors.

While this movie is obviously a comedy, it’s still something that I think that people tend to do in general when we talk about the future: in some ways we wildly over project, and in others we are floored by things we never thought of. The same is true for video games. Continue reading Where You Thought Gaming Would Be

Defending Your Favorite System

Playstation 2

This is me putting on my flame suit and stepping out into the sweltering heat of the system wars, folks. While I have many systems that I’ve played the heck out of and cherished, I’ve maintained that the Playstation 2 is one of the greatest systems we’ve had to date, if not the greatest, simply due to its long resume of excellent games during its tenure on the gaming throne.

Apparently GamesRadar agrees with me in a recent article where they detail Six Reasons the PS2 Is the Best System of All Time. They actually give some compelling thoughts, including the fact that the PS2 was both casual and hardcore simultaneously, and that it had real backwards compatibility. Oddly enough, they actually fail to leave one of the most important things off the list: first party games.

Now, I know we’ve talked about what our favorite systems are plenty of times, but this gave me an idea to start the same discussion with a new twist: tell us your favorite systems and give your top six reasons why. Continue reading Defending Your Favorite System

Sonic Fan Remix is Just What the Fanboys Ordered

While I have not played the newly released Sonic the Hedgehog 4, I have heard that some sniping exists between two differing viewpoints on the game. Some complain that the game is too similar to the old school Sonic games from the Genesis days, while others complain that it doesn’t feel similar enough. In my mind, that probably means that Sega probably nailed it on the head, but that’s a topic for another time.

On the discussion board for today is an impressive demo of Sonic Fan Remix, a lovingly crafted HD remake of a few Sonic the Hedgehog levels. It might be hard to tell from the gameplay video, but this bad boy was conjured up by a development team of just two people. If you want, you can download that sweet thing and play it on your PC. Apparently it’s a bit CPU intensive, but you’ll have to judge that for yourselves. Or just watch.

Although some are a bit premature in claiming that it might be better than Sonic the Hedgehog 4, I’m going to say that it is certainly stunning for a fan made project, and begs the question, yet again – why didn’t these guys just make their own game? Have we not learned from Notch that there’s a killing to be made for small indie teams with great games?

So what do you guys think? How many of you have played Sonic the Hedgehog 4?

Source – Sonic Fan Remix

What’s In a Game: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

majora's maskI’ve made no secret about my mad love for the Nintendo 64’s Majora’s Mask; I might even go as far to say that it is my favorite Zelda title. Why am I so infatuated with the game, though? The general consensus was that this Ocarina follow-up was OK, but it lacked the magic, the charm and the feel. I couldn’t disagree more, because Majora’s Mask was the darkest, most thematic and most engaging Zelda ever made.

Let’s start with the beginning of the game, where a child Link is riding Epona through a forest, searching for a lost friend. Right away the game established the creepy tone, with a small boy, albeit well equipped for a fight, riding through a dark misty forest. The fact that you play as young Link is meant to make you feel powerless in some respects, particularly more so as you progress through the opening chapters. Adult Link is a favorite of gamers, so right away Nintendo might have alienated some Ocarina of Time fans.
Continue reading What’s In a Game: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Dota 2 and Other PC Modder Victories

Defense of the Ancients 2

One of the advantages that PC gaming still maintains over consoles is its modding community. I’ve stated on numerous occasions that until 360 and PS3 games allow the same kind of tools and access as you’ll find in the PC world, the question of “have consoles surpassed PCs” is a discussion that can’t yet happen. If you’re not too keen on the exciting world of PC modding, you might have missed out on a few pieces of big news that happened this week.

  • Dota 2 (an adaptation of the name Defense of the Ancients 2, probably to avoid legal issues) was announced by Valve for PC and Mac in 2011. For the uninitiated in PC gaming lore, Defense of the Ancients was a Warcraft III mod that pitted teams of heroes against one another as they rushed enemy turrets, with AI controlled units battling it out between them. Valve hired project lead IceFrog to come aboard and develop a Source version.

  • A Duke Nukem 3D fan remake of the game in the Unreal engine titled Duke Nukem: Next-Gen received legal approval by Gearbox and Take Two to continue in production.

  • Derek “Krael” Paxton, creator of the Fall From Heaven Civilization IV mod, was hired by Stardock to fix their maligned and catastrophic release build of their new RTS Elemental.

What do you guys think of all of these pieces of news? Have you played either DotA or Fall from Heaven? What other PC mods would you like to see full releases for?

Source – GameInformer, Shacknews, and for the sake of repetition, Shacknews

What if Retro Games had Achievements?

While there are naysayers in the gaming world about the advent of achievements and trophies, I’ve fervently maintained that they send us back to a simpler and more community-oriented time in gaming. The era of high scores is something that was lost as games migrated from the coin-op to the couch or computer chair, left behind as some kind of relic in the arcade graveyards. What I’ve loved about achievements and trophies is that they feel like a return to that mindset of gaming gone by.

On top of that, I just like seeing where my friends are in the games they’re playing, and vice versa. It’s like displaying your marvelous feats of gaming for your friends to see – not so much for the e-peen factor (as many of its detractors claim), but for conversation and joining in on the shared experience and joy that only gaming can bring.

How awesome would it have been for your friends to see that you completed Super Mario Bros. 3 without the fabled whistle? Or that you located Cloud and Aeris in Final Fantasy Tactics? Or that you can beat Metal Gear Solid in under 2 and a half hours if you skip cut scenes (I swear, it can be done)? The idea that someone could look at one unified profile and see everything I’ve done in games would be incredible. This is sadly not possible, but it got us thinking: what if classic games had achievements?

It might look a bit like this: Continue reading What if Retro Games had Achievements?

X-Men Arcade Comes to Home Consoles, Makes Me Feel Old

Comic-Con NYC 2010 is going down right now and, true to form, there are plenty of video game related goodies for us to peruse. While I might be a bit biased here, I can say with the utmost certainty that this bit of news is the greatest to grace GamerSushi this week. Remember that old side-scrolling beat-em-up starring the X-Men? Well, Konami and Marvel are pleased to announce that this old favorite is coming to the PSN and the XBox LIVE Arcade at some point in the future. Although no date was given, the downloadable title looks to be a straight-up port, but garnished with a new feature, six player drop-in co-op! Consider me psyched! Take a look at the trailer (shot off-screen, unfortunately):

I didn’t realize that this game came out eighteen years ago, which is why I feel old. However, a brand new generation of gamers can now experience the Earth-rending difficulty that this game featured, so that’s good news. Anyone excited about this? What other old arcade classics would you like to see re-released?

SEGA Admits to Making Terrible Sonic Games, Removes Them From the Shelves

Sonic Colors

If you were thinking of wandering in to your local video game store and picking up a new copy of Sonic Vs. The Black Knight anytime soon, you might be out of luck. With the upcoming release of Sonic Colors, Sonic Free Riders and Sonic the Hedgehog 4, SEGA is doing a little house cleaning, de-listing Sonic titles that have a poor or average Metacritic standing.

SEGA’s Senior Vice President of EMEA Jurgen Post explained that this was done to help “strengthen the brand” going forward, stating that having a large number of Sonic titles on the shelves will lead to a “cannibalization” of sorts. While it isn’t unusual for a company to phase out older games in a franchise to make way for newer titles, Sonic is sort of a special case considering how many mediocre games we’ve been plagued with since this generation started.

Fortunately both Sonic Colors and Sonic 4 are looking pretty good, so maybe it’s better to sweep those old ones under the rug. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forget Sonic 2006, but what about you guys? Are the memories of old Sonic games still plaguing your thoughts?

Source – MCV

GamerSushi Asks: What Games Changed How You View Games?

Aeris and Highwind

This is a topic we’ve kind of covered before, but I love talking about it so much you’re not going to get me to stop. In my mind, there’s always that one game that gamers have that changed the way they felt about gaming in general. Somehow, it stretched beyond the boundaries of what we thought a game could be and do, and it stuck with us in ways that other games never did. Whether that’s because of emotional impact, story, a certain mechanic changes depending on who you ask.

For me, that game will always be Final Fantasy VII, and I say that completely unapologetic. As I talked about on our S games podcast, it’s a game that I played at exactly the right time in my life, and it not only turned my expectations of games on their head, but also the way I viewed story. As with anything I liked at that age, it’s by no means perfect, but it was perfect for a young dude like me and I think that matters.

I’ve written at length today about FFVII on my blog, but I thought the question would be pertinent here as well. What games changed the way you viewed games? Which have affected you most deeply, and for what reasons?

GamerSushi Asks: Console Regret?

ConsolesAh, the path not taken. Going down that line of thought can lead one into dizzying paths of despair and eventually, inevitably, to alcoholism. But sometimes, just sometimes, it can be fun. Hopefully, this will be the one of those times. I got to thinking the other day about my video game history and all the consoles I’ve owned. I have no real regrets about anything I bought, although perhaps getting an Xbox during its heyday would have been a smart move, but that was more of a monetary decision than anything else.

Which leads me to our question: are there any consoles out there that you wish you had bought? Perhaps something that, looking back through the clear lens of the present, you know now that you should have experienced? On the other hand, are there any consoles you bought that you regret? Any Virtual Boy owners out there? Commence weeping!

Catching Up with the Castlevania Retrospective

When it comes to original video content, I think that GameTrailers has some of the best retrospective features around. They’re usually informative, entertaining and ridiculously well researched. And to top it off, they’re about some of the biggest franchises in all of gaming.

This week, in honor of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow’s release, they return with part 1 of their Castlevania Retrospective, which is all about the origin of Dracula and his sordid history with the Belmont clan. Having never played a Castlevania game (don’t tar and feather me, Anthony), this whole thing is pretty fascinating to me, and I’d be a crazy person to hear that music and see that gameplay and not start itching to pick those titles up. Going to have to add Symphony of the Night to the list, and soon. I seriously can’t get enough of these things.

Can we get a roll call from the Castlevania fans out there?

GamerSushi Asks: Real Life Video Game Power-Ups?

Mario Fire Flower

Power ups are some of my favorite things created by game developers. Sure, they often take the form of nonsensical things, but what better way to mix up the gameplay in a stale title than to let your hero do something completely out of the norm, whether it be a special spin attack after eating pizza a la the TMNT arcade games or getting the Tanooki suit in Super Mario Bros. 3. Personally, some of my favorite power-ups include quad damage from the Quake series, as well as the Donkey Kong hammer in Super Smash Bros.

But what if we could have power-ups apart from gaming? That’s the question Filefront is asking in one of their recent features, 10 Greatest Game Power-Ups to Have in Real Life, and I found it quite entertaining. They cover everything from Pay n’ Sprays in GTA to skill books from Elder Scrolls. The number one is a bit obvious, but no less desirable. A few notable misses would include the speed shoes from Sonic and the star from Super Mario Bros., because who wouldn’t want to be invincible?

Which video game power-ups are your favorite, and which would you prefer to have in real life? Go!

Source – Filefront