Quest 64

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Cassidy

“Evil is Growing and Beasts Will Attack You.”

“Your courage must be rewarded.”
Mystical art by @Drakkel.

The time is 1998. It has been two years since the release of the Nintendo 64, and the library of games for it has continued to grow slowly but surely. Nearly every genre is represented, save for one: Role-playing games. What the console needs now is a hero — a cartridge RPG to stand tall against the PlayStation, and show the likes of Final Fantasy VII what’s for!

… But such a game never really came, did it? In fact, there were barely any who even dared make the attempt. 2000’s Paper Mario is probably the standout example of an RPG on the N64, and while it’s most definitely an excellent game, it doesn’t quite fill the same hole as a Grandia or Xenogears now, does it? The SNES before it had been home to a bunch of depthful [2D] RPGs, featuring the likes of Chrono Trigger and Secret of Evermore (not to mention, a grip of Final Fantasy entries). But the N64 seemed to lend itself more towards “pick-up-and-play”-style action, arcade, and sports titles. By that point in time in 1998, any RPG released for the console would have the opportunity to make a name for itself.

And so begins the story of Quest 64: An inspired attempt by developer Imagineer to bring 64 megabytes of role-playing to the masses. But like so many a great tale, ours shall start before the adventure itself begins, telling of the time prior to the game’s release. Once the journey is officially underway, we will make closer inspection of the title, revealing it’s true worthiness. Finally, we shall explore the aftermath of the adventure, and detail the impact it had on the industry. Get ready to lo and behold, dear reader: Our Quest (64) awaits us!

No, you don’t need to remind me of adventure titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time or collectathons along the lines of Banjo-Kazooie. Obviously, there were some very notable exceptions on the N64, as developed by studios willing to go the extra mile in pushing the 64MB cartridges of the N64 to its limits. But by and large, more substantial games of the era were made with 660MB PlayStation CD-ROMs in mind.

Posted in Game Reviews  |  , , , , , ,  |  3 Comments

Bad Game Music #04

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Cassidy

We’ve got a new group of uploads to the Bad Game Hall of Fame YouTube channel. I’m going to try and settle into a “once a month” update schedule for this little project, so please look forward to it!

  1. Cruis’n USA (N64) – “House Special”
  2. Fire Fly (2600) – “[Gameplay Music]”
  3. Sonic Rush (NDS) – “Vela Nova Pt. 2”
Posted in Bad Game Music  |  Leave a Comment?

Exhibit: From the Arcade to the Living Room

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Cassidy

“The Technology That Changed Our Lives.”

Being a museum employee has its perks, especially if you happen to love visiting other museums. While visiting New York in late March, I took advantage of my credentials and checked out a row of museums on discount, and it just so happened that one happened to be running a “retro games exhibit.” I knew I would have to stop by the Cradle of Aviation Museum.

In addition to touring around a bunch of cool old planes and spaceship components, I found myself playing some of the vintage games on display. As luck would have it, this exhibit covered more than just “the classics,” featuring some games and consoles that you might not expect to get the usual display treatment. As a matter of fact, I recognized a few games and consoles as already being on my shortlist for content to eventually review on the site, as well as one that has received such treatment already. And then I figured, as long as I was there, I might as well document the experience for posterity’s sake.

This article will serve as a review of the games exhibit specifically, as well a catalogue of the games that were on display when I visited. Hopefully, I’ll have opportunities to visit museums across the country in the future, and I can make this sort of thing a semi-regular feature.

Posted in World Tour  |  Leave a Comment?

Bad Game Music #03

Posted on March 25, 2017 by Cassidy

  1. Duke Nukem 3D (GEN) – “Grabbag”
  2. Sonic Spinball (GEN) – “Options”
  3. Tribes 2 (PC) – “Tribes” [as performed by Mötley Crüe]
Posted in Bad Game Music  |  Leave a Comment?

Bad Street Brawler

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Cassidy

“Don’t Get Mad, Get Bad.”

“THUG THRASHING DEFENDER OF FREEDOM!”
North American box art.

I’d consider 1984’s arcade title Kung-Fu Master (Spartan X in Japan) to be the first true entry to the “beat ‘em up” genre. The design of this original arcade game would inspire the likes of such classics as Bruce Lee for Atari 8-bit computers, Karateka on the Apple II, and Renegade in arcades (Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun) — the latter of which introduced so many hallmarks of the genre, I’d dare call it one of the most important video games of the 1980’s. Also, it would mark the beginning of the “Kunio-kun” franchise that would eventually bring us River City Ransom (Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari), so that’s reason enough right there to respect it.

By 1987, the genre was nearing the beginning of its “Golden Age,” marked by most with the release of the arcade version of Double Dragon in June 1987. Of course, with every Golden Age comes a wave of trend-followers and cash-ins, all looking to capitalize on the latest fad. One of the earliest was a 1987 MS-DOS title, which was successful enough to be renamed for and converted to the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1988. By 1989, it was finally time to bring it to the Nintendo Entertainment System, where it could undoubtedly reach the largest audience at that moment in time. And if the game could also be used to peddle a “powerful” new peripheral that publisher Mattel was looking to market at the time, wouldn’t that drum up that much more anticipation for it?

A wise game once said “The first step on the road to wisdom is to understand that you might be on the wrong track.” That game in question is 1989’s Bad Street Brawler for the NES. But before we get into dissecting that release, we’re gonna need to take a look at the game of many names that inspired it, as well as the peripheral that would forever be linked to it. Only then can we take a walk down Bad Street, USA, and nail the no-gooders along the way.

Posted in Game Reviews  |  , , , , , ,  |  4 Comments