Castlevania: The Adventure

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Cassidy

“Sheer Terror Is at Hand!”

“Your sole means of protection are your Mystic Whip and mindful wits.”
North American box art.

Boy, sure is a shame about Konami getting out of video games, huh? Specifically, the shame is the loss effectively of the franchises that they’ll likely be keeping the rights to, including the likes of Metal Gear and Silent Hill and so on. But the franchise which I might have the most personal attachment to has probably gotta be Castlevania.

The idea that I might not get to see another proper Castlevania in my lifetime is really kind of saddening, even if there are plenty of other games to carry on its legacy. Yeah, I’m definitely excited for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, but I still have an sentimental attachment to that Belmont lineage; and to the goofy, convoluted story nearly 30 years in the making. If I remember correctly (I often don’t), my entry to the series was 1991’s Super Castlevania IV, and from there I made it a point to go back and see the entries I had missed so far on the NES. I’m gonna go ahead and save my thoughts on the often misremembered Simon’s Quest for another article, but I’ll let it be known here that Dracula’s Curse is probably the best action platformer on the NES, if not one of the best of all time.

I could write a defense of the beloathed N64 entries in the series, and how they’re not quite as bad as they’re made out to be. I could go on about the transition into the “Metroidvania” style, and how I feel that Circle of the Moon on GBA actually outdoes Symphony of the Night on PS1. Hell, I could even brag about finishing a “Level 1 Hard Mode” playthrough of the criminally underappreciated Order of Ecclesia, which is probably the single most tedious challenge mode I’ve ever played in a game. But you probably get the point by now, don’t you? I love Castlevania, and I’ll be forever bummed out that Konami seems content reserving it for morally reprehensible pachinko machines. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. But this will not mark the series’ first exercise in disappointment. Far from it.

In this article, we’ll be taking a look at an early handheld installment in the Castlevania series; 1989’s Castlevania: The Adventure for the Game Boy. But of course, we’ve gotta give a brief bit of historical context before that though, and cover a couple other forgotten spin-offs and licensing deals that threatened to derail the franchise before it hit its stride. Because, as it turns out, Konami was ALWAYS looking to make the quick buck.

Close second goes to Silent Scope. I’m gonna miss you, Falcon.

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Radar Scope

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Cassidy

“Complete Attack Mission.”

“Radar Scope demands acute concentration
and coordination.”
North American promotional flyer.

Some games are destined to go down as mere footnotes in history; their names relegated to mere references in the discussion of more successful or more “important” games. Most times, you’ll see it in the example of a game that was years before its time, but where a successor does a better job of putting all the pieces together to become a more popular game. For instance, while Epic Games’ 2006 release Gears of War is lauded for popularizing the cover-based style of third-person shooters, only a small percentage of players will be aware that the mechanic was first innovated by Omega Force’s WinBack way back in 1999 on the N64. Now, I’ve heard that bit of trivia shared more than a few times by more than a few different people, but I never seem to hear much else about the game at all? It doesn’t get passed around nearly as often that it was also the first third-person shooter to feature functional laser sights on weapons, or that the voice acting is awesomely bad in the PS2 version… or that there was a PS2 version at all, for that matter. The point is, it’s a game known to most by name only, if at all.

Let’s try another example. Outside of Japan, Konami’s 1986 MSX title Penguin Adventure is mostly unknown, save for maybe one trivia note that is more well-established than the content of the game itself. That note being, it was the first game Hideo Kojima contributed to during his time with Konami. Humble beginnings, huh? And hey, good on you if you also happened to know that the penguin served as one of Konami’s mascots in Japan, or that the good ending is only unlocked if you pause the game a specific number of times (“That’ll teach them for not keeping a running tally for how many times they’ve paused!” ~ Kojima, probably). But you have to understand that not everyone goes out of their way to fill themselves in on all the details of every game that comes out, and that most folk are content with an abridged, school textbook account of games history. And that’s A-OK!

Time for a little test. Don’t worry; it’s only one question, and there’s no right or wrong answer here. So, when I mention 1979’s Radar Scope, what is the first association you make with it in your head? Answer honestly here: Did you have visions of the game itself, or of another game entirely? Now, don’t feel bad if your brain immediately made the connection to 1981’s Donkey Kong and thought of that instead, as it’s completely understandable. Hey, maybe you’ve never even heard of Radar Scope and so your brain didn’t associate it with much at all, which is fine too! Or maybe, just maybe, you are one of the seemingly few who has actually seen the game for yourself. Again, good for you if you have, but do try to avoid bragging about it, alright?

In this article, we’ll get into why Radar Scope is known by name only to most, and whether or not that’s necessarily fair. We’re going to have go over a brief history of Nintendo’s early foray into the video games industry first though, to see if Radar Scope on its own was truly responsible for “nearly sinking Nintendo” as some have claimed it to be. Also, how many other times am I going to have a chance to talk about 1979’s Sheriff? Sheriff is awesome!

And in the event they do decide to learn more, they should be encouraged to rather that dissuaded from it by weird elitist types who treat games stuff like a lifestyle.

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Pit-Fighter

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Cassidy

“There Can Only Be One!”

When I’m in the Pit [Fighter], I’m gonna
punch and kick.
North American promotional flyer.

Let’s get something out of the way up front here: As a matter of purely personal preference, I am not a fan of fighting games. Simply put, I don’t have the aptitude to play them well, and that’s just as well because I’m not particularly enchanted while playing them. That being said, they make up a fascinating genre with a rich history, and I find myself fascinated by them despite the fact I don’t really care to play many of them. At their best or at their worst, they are spectacles to behold either way… Maybe especially “at their worst,” though.

There really is nothing else quite like a bad fighting game. In developing for a genre where the fundamentals are so well-established, and where the list of things you need to get right is so well-defined, you’ve either gotta be incompetent or misguided to mess it up. Which is to say, you’re either lacking in the technical prowess to put everything together, or your number one priority in developing a game isn’t to “make it entertaining to play.” You’d think that should be number one on any developer’s list, even if only for the ulterior motive of making money! So, if you’re apparently not too bothered by whether your fighting game is actually fun or not, then what exactly are you hoping it manages to sell itself on?

“Eye candy” is a term which gets tossed around a fair amount when discussing fighting games these days. Typically, it’s used in reference to the oversexualization and objectification of female characters in order to engage the horndog demographic. But let us remember that there was a point in time where photorealism in games was not the norm, and where having a game with what even approached “realistic visuals” would qualify it as eye candy. And as the trend seemed to emerge, most of these fighting games which innovated in the graphics department didn’t seem to be very much fun to actually play. Enter 1990’s Pit-Fighter.

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Cassidy

“What Kind of Crazy Planet Is This, Anyway?”

“It was nothing like that, penis breath!”
Art by yours truly.

If you mention the name “E.T.” to most folk, their first thoughts will probably be of the classic Steven Spielberg film and the titular alien within. However, among those who fancy themselves “gamers,” their first thoughts might be of the infamous Atari 2600 game adaptation. There’s also probably some contingent of teeny boppers who might think of Katy Perry, but they’re outliers and shouldn’t be counted.

Gaming history has not been kind to the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game, with many attributing what they call “The Video Game Crash of 1983″ almost single-handedly to it. A handful of documentaries and films have focused their narratives on it, tending to focus on the burial of millions of its unsold cartridges in a New Mexico landfill. Perhaps more interestingly, there are thousands of videos across YouTube dedicated entirely to tearing it apart, perpetuating its reputation as having killed Atari and nearly taken the whole games industry with it. In the wake of its relatively newfound notoriety, and with the myth “it nearly killed gaming” passed around as common fact, E.T. has found itself with the dubious distinction of being called “The Worst Game of All Time.” But is it really? Is it really really? Well, all things are a matter of opinion. In my humble one, it’s not even close. And I’m not just saying that to be some Armond White-esque contrarian jerk! I honestly believe that given a fair chance – while knowing the real history behind it – minutes of forgettable, totally passable gameplay can be extracted from E.T. by today’s modern game-player! Not exactly high praise, I know, but it’s certainly fairer than stringing a bunch of swear words together to the effect of “I’d rather chew a poop than play this game” or whatever.

I’m well aware other defenses have been written and recorded for E.T., and that I’m not the first to take this bold stance. 2014’s Atari: Game Over documentary (as directed by Zak Penn) does a pretty good job of painting a picture of the game landscape at the time and makes a bit of a case for the game itself, but doesn’t dedicate much time at all to discussing the actual mechanics and merits of the gameplay itself. I’ve also read a couple of other articles on the subject which do get into detail about the mechanics, but which fall apart when trying to discuss the historical context. So hopefully, this article should serve to address both aspects of the release, and give them both the proper consideration they have historically been due. Because it is my personal belief that historical context is just as important as the quality of a given game, and that historically hated games are all worthy of reconsideration.

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