Solar Jetman NES Review

A different kind of game for the NES.  It is pretty fun.  Very hard at first until you get used to the controls.  Actually, it is still hard after you get used to it.  There are 12 planets that you land on, each is progressively harder.  The goal of the game is to collect pieces to a Golden Warp Ship while also collecting power ups such as shields and missiles along the way.  The game is fun and challenging but can get very frustrating at times.  If you take your time and take it slow you will get farther.  This is not a game I would play all the time but it is fun to revisit from time to time.  It is one of those games you forget about and then rediscover.  The game play, graphics, and music are all average.  Overall, I give this game a 6 out of 10 stars.  Worth checking out. 

Destruction Derby Playstation Review

This is an early release game for the Playstation.  Came out in 1995.  This game is not as fun as I remember it.  The graphics are not very good as it is an early release and the music is kind of repetitive.  There are a few different modes you can play.  Practice mode, Race mode, Demolition Derby mode, and race wreckin mode.  The mode most fun is probably the race wreckin mode because you get to race around a track and crash into people.  The game play is not that great and the game get pretty boring after a few minutes.  The annoying voice over guy yelling things like "Get outta my way!" is pretty stupid.  Like I said, this game is fun for a few minutes and then it becomes boring.  Overall, I give it a 4 out of 10. 

Video Olympics Atari VCS (2600) Review

Released in 1978 as one of the Atari VCS's initial launch titles.  For its time it was pretty awesome because it took a basic Pong style game and added different variations to it.  Mediocre by today's standards but pretty cool back then.  I just attempted to play it and realized that my paddle controllers are not functioning correctly.  Nonetheless, the basic concept of what the game is was translated to me as I remember it. Hit a square ball back and forth and try to score on your opponent.  A fun 2 player game to mess with but nothing epic going on here.  Overall, I give it a 5 out of 10.  Atari is very hard to rate due to the huge amount of crappy games but this one stands the test of time.  It does what it is intended to do.  Pong with multiple variations.

Gyruss NES Review

This is a port of an arcade title by the same name.  Almost every NES arcade port is solid and so is this one.  This is a really fun arcade shoot em up that is the raster version of the vector classic Tempest.  You are basically trying to make your way towards Earth and start off at Neptune.  Every 3 screens or so you get a challenging stage and then a boss to fight.  The enemies come from the sides of the screen and then they go into the middle.  Your ship rotates around the middle and shoots inward towards the enemies just like tempest.  You get a double shot power up and eventually start collecting bombs that you can launch.  The game itself is fun and gets harder as you go on.  The music is pretty decent and the graphics are not bad for the NES.  Game play ranks pretty high up on the scale with this one.  Re playability is good as I find myself wanting to play the game every so often.  If you like shoot em ups, check this one out for something a little different and fun.  Overall, I give it a 7 out of 10.   

Elevator Action NES Review

Another port of an arcade game to the NES.  Pretty well done.  The purpose of this game is to go from the top of the building to the basement of the building where your get away car awaits.  There are many elevators, doors, and escalators in the building.  The elevators move on their own but you can also control them by pressing up and down when you enter them.  You have a gun with unlimited ammo to shoot the enemies who are also shooting at you.  You can also crouch and jump.  If you stand in front of a red door and press up, you can enter inside and get a secret file for bonus points.  You have to go into the red doors and get the files or you cannot clear the board.  The sound in the game is kind of generic, nothing special, and the game play is not that great.  What drives me crazy are the escalators.  You have to go all the way to one side and press diagonal down and to the left or right.  When you get off the escalator, sometimes there is an enemy there and you turn back but it goes back up instead.  Overall this game is pretty fun with some quirks here and there.  I give it a 5 out of 10 stars, nothing special but fun to play every now and then.    

Phoenix Atari 2600 Review

Arcade port for the 2600.  Pretty decent game overall.  It is what you expect fast for a VCS game.  There are 4 stages.  The first is small "demon birds", the second stage is small "demon birds" but you can hold the fire button down for rapid shot.  The third stage is big "demon bird" with wings that you can shoot off and they grow back.  You get no points for shooting their wings so it is better to just kill them.  The 4th and final stage is a mothership with an alien in the middle that lowers on you as you try and kill it.  When you kill it, it resets to the first board.  The point of the game is score and that is it.  Overall, I give it a 6 out of 10 stars.  Pretty good graphics for the 2600 and great shoot em up game play.  The sound sucks and is super annoying though, that is a huge negative for the game.

Pac-Man Atari 2600 Review

Alright, There are really no other screen shots to show.  This is it.  An arcade port that was rushed to come out for Christmas and resulted in a horrible game right?  Not quite.  The game is not all that horrible.  The graphics are not very good and the game play is super slow compared to the arcade, but this is an Atari 2600, not a powerful machine at all.  Most people played the game for 5 minutes and then said it was horrible.  The fact of the matter is, when you clear about 5 boards, it starts getting challenging.  It is a bad game, don't get me wrong, but it is not the worst game ever.  I am not a super huge Pac-Man fan anyway so I wouldn't really play this game much, but if you want a challenge, pop it in and clear the first 5 boards and then play the real game.  Overall, I give this game a 4 out of 10 stars (GASP!).  Try it, actually give it a chance.. It's not complete shit like you have been led to believe.  Come at it with a new seasoned gamers outlook..  :)

Need For Speed Underground Gamecube Review

This game is pretty awesome.  Underground (quest mode) and quick race mode are your options.  Playing the underground mode allows you to buy new cars, unlock upgrades and visual mods for your cars.  The graphics in this game are great for the Gamecube.  The music is awesome, a great mix of rock and rap of the time when this came out in 2001.  The game play is awesome.  You can pop this game in and end up playing it for over an hour or two.  It is quite addicting.  The only thing I dislike about the game is the fact that when you get towards the end of the game, it becomes tedious to try and win to move on.  You have to acquire points to unlock mods to continue at the higher stages which means basically switching back and forth between 2 vehicles.  One vehicle will be for handling and one for acceleration.  It is basically those two things you have to worry about.  The game has lots of different tracks and even runs them in reverse on some stages.  There is a Circuit mode where you just race laps and a sprint mode where you race to the finish.  There are also drift modes and drag racing modes which have their own style of play which you have to master.  Overall I give this game an 8 out of 10 stars.  Highly addictive and awesome to play.

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!

Bionic Commando NES Review

This game was not a favorite of mine back when I was a kid.  It is difficult and tedious.  There is no password or save feature, and when you first start, no continues.  Your goal in the game is to infiltrate the enemies areas and save a guy named Super Joe.  You start with a gun, a communicator and a Bionic Arm which you can shoot out and swing from things and go up to other platforms.  It takes a lot of practice to get proficient with the grappling arm.  There are times when this game is so frustrating that you just want to give up.  I can understand why I didn't like it too much when I was a kid.  Now, I think the game is awesome!  You travel to different areas by helicopter and sometimes run into convoys on the map.  When you run into a convoy, you have to fight them.  This fight is a top down, top scrolling, 360 level kind of like the original Commando.  This level is where you can get up to 2 continues per level.  This game has lots of weapons upgrades and although some of the levels are short, they are very challenging.  You can't just run through the game, you actually have to think.  You have to revisit some areas and also use certain special weapons to advance.  You also get bullets when you kill enemies which are like experience points.  If you collect enough of them, you level up and get another bar on your health meter.  Awesome concept to mix in RPG elements into a platforming adventure game.  Overall, I give this game a 9 out of 10 stars.  It would have gotten a perfect 10 if it had a password feature or a save feature and if it wasn't so damn hard.  Seriously, there are points in the game that are absolutely ridiculous.  I won't spoil the ending for you but it is awesome and challenging.  Pick this game up if you have the chance, I recommend it.

Enduro Racer Sega Master System Review

This game is supposed to be a port of the arcade version, I guess.  It is not a very fun game.  It is repetitive and boring.  After you play about 3 levels it gets to the point where it is the same thing over and over again.  It is nothing like the arcade version whatsoever.  The replayability of this game sucks because it is so boring and the same thing every time you play.  There doesn't even seem like there is a way to get faster times.  You can buy power ups between levels but the don't really seem to even do anything.  Overall, I give this game a 2 out of 10 stars.  Terrible.

Raiden Trad Sega Genesis Review

Awesome shoot em up.  Probably the best on the Genesis.  There are only a handful on the Genesis anyway which is sad in itself.  This is an arcade port and it seems to be perfect.  The only thing that stinks about this version is that there is no two player mode.  The game is a top scrolling shooter with power ups.  You can switch between regular shot and laser shot.  Also you can switch between regular "dumb" missiles and homing missiles.  I believe there are 6 or 8 levels of power ups.  I am not sure how many levels there are though because I only make it to like the 4th.  There are 3 difficulty's, easy, normal, and hard.  Easy and Normal don't seem to be much different to me but the Hard setting is pretty challenging.  The game has decent graphics, music, and sound for the Genesis and the game play is great.  I recommend this game for any shoot em up fan.  Overall, I give it a solid 8 out of 10 stars. 

Hyperzone SNES Review

This is an early release shoot em up for the Super Nintendo.  Other than the background scrolling fast taking advantage of the mode 7 scaling chip, the game is sluggish.  As you advance through the stages, you get faster ships but the difficulty increases making it the same.  It doesn't ever feel like you get ahead in this game.  The graphics, music, and sound are good for an early release game.  I made it to the 3rd stage and didn't see any power ups except for the 3rd stage when I got a new ship it had a charge shot feature.  You can use a brake to slow you ship down also and there are power strips that you run through to charge your power back up.  The game play is OK, not great.  The re playability of this game is not very good because it gets tedious and not very fun after a few stages.  Every time you play it is just the same thing over and over.  Overall, I give this game a 6 out of 10 stars.  

Shinobi Sega Master System Review

Solid arcade port for the master system.  The game is pretty similar.  The only difference I noticed is that this version doesn't seem as smooth as the 16 bit / arcade version.  The music is and sounds are awesome and the game play is great.  I believe there are 6 rounds that you have to clear with 3 stages each.  You save tied up kids along the way and fight a boos at the end of each round.  It seems a bit easier than the other versions I have played but that does not detract from the game in any way.  The bonus round is also in the game which is pretty challenging.  Overall I give this an 8 out of 10 stars.  Great game and always fun to pick up and play.

Football Atari 2600 Review

This game is really bad.  The screenshot above is the game, that's it.  You also have to have 2 people to play.  There is no single player mode.  It is sluggish and boring.  Horrible!  I give it 0 out of 10 stars.  I should go -10 on this one.  I understand they were limited with what they could do back then with games but come on!  There are plenty of games from the same era that are awesome.  Lazy programming is what led to the video game crash of the early 80's and it is evident with this piece of crap.