Alpha Mission NES Review

This is supposed to be a port of an arcade game.  Not a good port at all.  I have played the arcade version before and it is pretty good.  This game is not good at all.  Unfortunately, shoot em ups on the NES are historically not good and this one falls right into place with that mantra.  It is super slow (that is not always a bad thing) and the game play is horrible. First off there are way too many power ups (yes, you can have too many power ups) and that makes the game not very fun.  When you upgrade your shot, it is still weak and the enemies move way to fast.  Don't get me wrong, I love a challenging game but if the game play sucks, it ruins the whole thing.  You can press select to go into a power up select mode and you have energy that depletes when you use these power ups.  The boss fights are super challenging because they move about 5 times faster than your ship does even when fully powered up.  It is also frustrating that you can't tell if you are doing damage to a boss because it appears that your shots pass right through them.  There is no sound of flash to indicate that you are doing damage.  The game kind of plays a lot like Xevious with a double shot and the slowness.  Overall I give the game 3 out of 10 stars.  This one will sit of the shelf for a long time.

Donkey Kong Classics NES Review

Donkey Kong Classics contains 2 games, the original arcade port of Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong Jr.  I am not going to review these games individually because everyone knows them.  They are both really close versions to the arcade and play quite well.  There is a difficulty select for each game.  Both of these games were released as single carts in the initial NES 30 release games.  Not really too much to say about this cart except that in true NES fashion, arcade games are well ported and represented here.  Overall, I give it a 8 out 10.  It does what it is supposed to do.  The only drawback is no pie factory level for Donkey Kong.  :(

Circus Atari. Atari 2600 Review

This game uses the Atari analog paddles.  You play the role of 2 acrobats in a circus.  you control a teter totter / trampoline?  You goal is to pop the balloons that are scrolling along the top of the screen.  The button on the paddle controller will flip the trampoline around (which is sometimes required).  The purpose of the game is nothing more than to accumulate score.  It is an OK game to play but it does get boring.  The problem with the game overall is the fact that there is not much going on and I find myself "zombied" out playing it.  It is not a game that I would play very often and overall I give it a 6 out of 10 stars.  I am being generous with the rating due to the fact that most of the Atari 2600's library is complete shovelware.

Great Golf Sega Master System Review

Typical 8 bit golf game here.  Nothing special.  I am not a big fan of golf games at all.  This one seems to play really slow and sluggish.  It seems to be about the same as any other 8 bit golf game.  I don't really have much to say about it.  Sorry.  I give it a 4 out of 10 stars.  Average to a bit below average.

Airwolf NES Review

This game has the potential to be good but it falls short.  First off, it is so repetitive that it becomes tedious and boring after doing 3 missions.  You have a small area which you fly around in and shoot at planes and ground targets.  Your objective in every mission is to pick up a female P.O.W.?  Very weird story line.  After you pick up the P.O.W. you fly out of the zone and the mission is over.  You can choose to stay and go for more score by shooting down planes and blowing up the enemies' air field control tower.  The game is not very challenging and does not have very good replay value.  I never say to myself, "Man I wanna play Airwolf."  The game is just mediocre and not fun at all.  Overall it gets a 2 out of 10 stars.

Hunt For Red October NES Review

I guess you would this game a shoot em up.  It takes place underwater in a sub.  It is loosely based on the movie.  The game is alright, nothing really special.  It is pretty difficult and is also kind of repetitive.  There are power ups for your missiles, forward shooting and surface shooting.  You also can pick up repair power ups.  There is no time limit on the stages but you will slowly be forced forward.  You can take your time but not forever.  There are many tight squeezes in the many underwater obstacles you must overcome to advance.  Once you get the hang of the controls, it is not too bad.  Not one of my favorite games but it is OK I guess <shrug>.  Overall, I give it a 5 out of 10 stars.  Nothing special, just a typical NES game.

8 Bit Evoultion

I found a really cool website / store / online store.  Its called 8 Bit Evolution.  You can find their store in the state of PA or here: http://8bitevolution.com/   Awesome site / store.  They sell all kinds of unique items from custom painted game consoles to awesome gaming T Shirts.  You can also sell you games to them by sending them a list of what you want to sell and they will email you a quote.  One of the coolest things I think that they sell are a complete set of N64 top labels!  Check these guys out today!