Entry #661: 64 Memories - War Gods

 Gotta love generic green dudes. This game loves generic green dudes.

 Part I: The Flashback
 War Gods was one of the first games I rented(So many firsts!) for the console, although I wouldn't buy it until much later down the line. I remember for a fact that I rented this game a bunch of times, for whatever reason. I don't know, alright? I loved fighting games and it's not like the N64 had many to choose from!

 Part II: The Entry
 War Gods is pretty much Mortal Kombat 4 beta. It plays like Mortal Kombat, High and Low variations of both punches and kicks, alongside fatalities. The characters even look like Mortal Kombat rejects. It's only got two modes, Arcade and VS, so there isn't much you can do. The gameplay is fairly basic, but it's kinda fun and kinda stiff. It's alright.

 One advantage it has over the PS1 version is that there are absolutely no loading times, making fights seamless, making the game as a whole much more tolerable. It's nothing worth writing home about, but I wouldn't write it off either. And the N64 version makes the PS1 version completely obsolete, the five-button control scheme works really well with Nintendo's clunky trident, so even the much more comfortable Dual Shock won't sell you on its version.

 5.0 out of 10

Review #660: 64 Memories - Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards

 All you can eat buffet of powers.

 Part I: The Flashback
 I'm pretty sure I rented this game at least once, but I can't really say for certain, what I do remember is that my parent purchased it for me once we crossed the border into the Chuy and found all these amazing low prices on Nintendo 64 games.

 This is my favorite Kirby game for the simple reason that it's the only one, as far as I know, in which you can mix powers. I loved, LOVED using the Fire Sword and the Electric Glave.

 Part II: The Review
 Kirby 64 - The Crystal Shards is a 2.5D platform game in which you play as the infamous pink blob with a massive appetite. As per usual, you use the B button to suck your enemies into your mouth and eat them to steal their power, and jump/float with the A button. But here's where things get interesting... If instead of eating an enemy you shoot it towards another enemy, a power-wielding enemy, you'll be able to merge both powers together.  So, while this Kirby doesn't have so many powers(Electricity, Ice, Fire, Bomb, Needle, Cutter and Stone) you can combine any of them for a total of 49 different powers. And there's a lot of variety: Bomb+Fire turns Kirby into a firework shower, Fire+Stone turns him into a volcano. Electricity + Needle turns him into a lightning rod! There's a lot of variety here, and it's always fun to see what powers you can get.

 The game is made up of 6 world, 4 of them having 5 stages and 2 of them having 4. Every world ends with a boss fight. In this game your main objective is helping a fairy collect all the crystal shards, 3 per stage, and finding all of them is the only way to fight the true boss and get the good ending. The game is a bit on the short side, but it's a lot of fun and all these different powers make it highly replayable, even if just to fool around. There are 3 multiplayer minigames that, while simple, are a decent diversion.

 Kirby 64 holds up very well to this day. Something about the powersets he can acquire in this game makes it feel fairly different from the other games in the series, so it's worth checking it out. I don't know if I can still call it my favorite Kirby game, but it definitely has my favorite ideas, and I'd love to see Nintendo tries this concept once more.
 8.5 out of 10

Review #659: 64 Memories - Killer Instinct Gold

 I hate Killer Instinct. But at least it's got a killer soundtrack.

 Part I: The Flashback
 This is gonna get me into some hot water, but... I never liked Killer Instinct. I've always loved fighting games. Even though nowadays I say that classic Mortal Kombat was never good to begin with and only got good with 9 onwards, games like Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mortal Kombat 4 entertained me a lot during my childhood. I loved fighting games, and I loved Mortal Kombat. But I hated Killer Instinct Gold. I even gave the Arcade originals a try via Emulation, and I never ever found what people found so appealing about the franchise.

 This was among my earliest games, probably among the first ten and I do have some fond memories of playing this game against friends or my father. But I never really liked it as much as my other fighting games. Even back then I couldn't ignore just how ugly the characters looked, how weird their proportions and animations were. Nowadays its even worse, the females have HUGE heads and smaller bodies with HUGE breasts which looks all kinds of deformed and ridiculous, heck, even TJ Combo gets a huge neck and tiny T-Rex arms. Tusk and Maya both have orangutan arms that reach down to their knees. Some of the character designs, like Jago, are just dumb.... and the animations aren't far behind, even though it has a few well animated moves, others, like Jago's walking cycle, are just unappealing. The music, however, is amazing.

 Fun fact, I'm writing this after I finished my conclusion. As I finished writing I noticed that all of my complaints were leveled against the graphics, but as far as gameplay went... I liked it. I also took a step back and realized something: I actually had fun playing the game before writing this, but my negative bias I held towards the game since my childhood... was making me think I actually hated the game. I didn't. I even popped the cart back in just now to check, and I really liked the game. And I'm not changing the rest of this write-up because I found it so interesting how much a 'bad memory', or a memory of something, can twist your feelings towards it. Curious.

 Part II: The Review
 As I said before, I don't very much like KI:Gold. It's a 1 on 1 2-D fighting game with ugly 2-D digitalized sprites over surprisingly pretty 3-D backgrounds. It's a six button fighter, 3 punches and 3 kicks, with input commands for special moves. It has a few original mechanics, like auto-combo and combo-breaker, but I don't much care about it. The usual normal-into-special cancels are here, as they should, and you can also cancel from an auto-combo into a special move. That said, if I can say one thing in its favor, is that the game is fast, and I really liked that. Controls are very responsive, moves come out quickly and it feels really nice to land combos.

 The game also deserves props for having a nice amount of modes: Arcade, VS Player, Team, Team Elimination, Tournament, Practice and even a tutorial that teaches you the basics as well as a few simple combos for whatever character you choose. Fairly ahead of its time if you ask me, most fighting games of the era  expected you to either read the instruction manual or figure everything out on your own.

 As you can tell by how quickly I wanted to get Killer Instinct Gold off my platter, I don't have much love for this game. If it's worth anything, I'm clearly in the minority since people seem to love this series. And, in the game's defense, if the sprites weren't so darn ugly I would've enjoyed the game a lot more, and I'm usually not one to care for graphics, but when the presentation is so sloppy it takes you out of the game completely. I could've done with simpler, less detailed sprites if the proportions were better.

 7.0 out of 10

Review #658: 64 Memories - Mystical Ninja - Starring Goemon

 Also starring FERNANDEZ!

 Part 1: The Flashback
 I really liked this game way back then, it wasn't one of my favorites, but I quite liked it. I discovered this game through Club Nintendo magazine, and I knew I had to have it. I feel extremely lucky to have owned this game, and it made me really happy to get my hands on it again, because this game wasn't available anywhere. I never saw it up for rent, I never saw it up for purchase(Besides the store in which I found the single copy I owned), none of my friends had it, heard about it or cared about it.

 I really loved having the first person Impact fights, and I thought there were a lot of them.... there were only three. And they are not as fun as they were for the younger iteration of myself, but what the heck. I loved the Japanese intro and the Impact songs, added a lot of flair to the game.

 Part II: The Review
 Mystical Ninja - Starring Goemon is basically Zelda. It's a 3-D adventure game in which you explore various cities, talking to NPCs to learn how to proceed, clearing dungeons, each dungeon having a map, a compass and keys to collect, finding items that'll let you clear obstacles and even collecting Cat-Dolls, and every four dolls you get a new heart. It's 3-D Zelda before Zelda hit 3-D. Although, unlike Zelda, Mystical Ninja never takes itself seriously, being a silly, humor-filled adventure from beginning to end.

 In this game you play as a team of four characters: Goemon, the Ninja-thief, Ebisumaru, his friend, Yae, the Kunoichi and Sasuke, the Robot Ninja. All characters share the same life bar, but each one has their own weapons and magic needed to progress trough the game. For example, Sasuke has bombs that can destroy cracked walls, Yae can turn into a mermaid and go underwater, Goemon has a hookshot-pipe. You can easily swap characters at any time by pressing C-Down. It sounds fun 'n all, but the game is very short, about 8 hours in all, so the game fails to capitalize on puzzles requiring their different abilities. For instance, there are only three walls in the ENTIRE game that require Sasuke bombing them, and after you clear the submerged submarine, unless you hunt for the cat dolls, you'll never have to touch Yae's mermaid powers again.

 At three different points in the game, you'll be assaulted by giant robots, in which case Goemon will summon the Ninja Mech Impact to fight. Impact's sections are made up of two phases: One in which Impact runs forwards, and you have to smash and destroy as many things as you can on your way to the boss, in order to get more health for the next phase, when the real fight begins. Mech battles are fought in first person, and they are kinda fun. B is a fast jab, A is a strong punch, R can be used to hookshot your enemy, Z throws projectiles and the C buttons are used to block. There are a few hidden combos(And the all mighty C-UP, C-LEFT, C-DOWN,C-RIGHT+Z beam) that you can use to aid yourself. Besides the final boss, these fights are fairly easy.

 As fun as the game is, it does have one fatal flaw: The camera is horrible. In order to move it you have to hold down R and then press the C buttons. Problem? If you double tap left C or right C, in an effort to move the camera, this will spin out of control even if you let go off of R. Although, sometimes, the camera will refuse to turn at all. Many times you'll enter through a door with Goemon looking towards the camera, so naturally you'll immediately need to turn the camera to see what's in front of you, but even then, sometimes, the camera won't budge until you take a few steps forward towards the unknown. Needless to say, the camera is erratic and one of your biggest obstacles. I lost a ton of health due to the camera getting in my way, mostly by moving while I was trying to jump somewhere.

 When it's all said and done, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is a little gem in the rough that desperately needs more love. The ridiculous world of Goemon is always entertaining to explore, so much so that I wish it was a little longer. But what you get is a bundle of fun.
 7.5 out of 10

Review #657: Super Mario World - Super Mario Advance 2

 Classics never go out of style.

 While I grew up with Mario, I never really did get to finish Super Mario World. To be fair, I skipped the SNES, so for the longest time the only way I had to play the game was through a bootleg NES game on the trusty 'Family Game' Chinese NES knockoff. I played it a lot, and eventually graduated to the SNES rom via emulation, but I never got very far since I never cared very much. Not that that stopped me from proclaiming Super Mario Bros. 3 was better in every way, shape and form. Well, now I can change that, that to the Gameboy Advance port I finally get to take this 2-D platforming classic on a spin. I still think Super Mario Bros. 3 is better, but darn it, I can finally understand why this game is so beloved!

 Same old, same old, Princess Peach has been kidnapped and Mario and Luigi must rescue her. The game is made up of 96 small stages, which lends itself surprisingly well to a handheld console. I also includes the classic Arcade Mario Bros. game because every Mario Advance does. As for this game, you get to move on an overworld between stages, so you can replay any stage at any time. Pressing R allows you to switch to Luigi, who plays very differently from Mario, with higher, floatier jumps but also less precise movement since he slips a lot. This is a great addition, since some levels are actually easier with Luigi. A for powers, this game is a bit lacking in those, Mario only gets the Fire Flower, which lets him shoot fireballs, and the Feather, which grants him a cape, which can be used to fly or attack enemies by spinning said cape. On the other hand, this game introduced the Spin Jump, a lower jump that lets Mario bounce on spiky surfaces and thus avoid harm. This was also Yoshi's first appearance, a dinosaur Mario can ride. Yoshi will take a hit from Mario and start running away, but if you jump back on top of Yoshi, before he runs towards his doom, you can actually reclaim him. Yoshi can jump on any harmful surface as well as eat enemies with his tongue. You can also jump off of him if you are falling to your doom! If you are thorough, you'll also be able to unlock special, colored versions of Yoshi.... By the by, even Yoshi behaves differently while under Luigi's butt.

 The game is as basic as basic can get, A button Jumps and B is your action button: Making Yoshi lash out with his tongue, shooting a fireball or swatting enemies with the game. The R button is used to perform the spin-jump. Controls and movements are not as tight as Mario moved during the NES era, but it's not bad at all. This entry was the one that introduced alternate exits, and I kinda hate the mechanic. Unlocking secret levels and the such is fine and dandy, but some of the hidden exits are hidden way too well, with very few hints as to which levels house these alternate exits. The Illusion Woods world is pretty annoying, since finding the secret exits is mandatory in order to progress through the game. I actually had to look up the exit I needed on Youtube. Bad design is bad. That said, there's a fair amount of types of stages: Fortresses, Castles, Boo Houses, etc

 Super Mario World can be a bit challenging at times, I was cutting it way too close with the time limit in some stages, but it's not has hard as Super Mario Bros. 3's toughest. The game is pretty generous with extra lives, and every stage has a mid-level checkpoint to help you if you die. You can also backtrack at any time and replay easier stages to stock up on power ups or lives. You can also store up to one extra item, but the mechanic is a bit lame. For instance, if you are carrying a fire flower and grab a cape, you automatically equip the cape and you'll store the fire flower. Stored items will pop from the top of the screen whenever you revert to little Mario or press the select button. There's a little annoyance, however. For instance, say that you are Fire Mario and are carrying another Fire Flower power up as your stored item. If you accidentally grab a mushroom, the basic power up that turns Mario into Super Mario, the shroom will overwrite one of your fire flowers, thus screwing you out of the better power up! This can also happen if, for example, you are Super Mario, with a store item(A Fire Flower or a cape) and grab another power up. Your stored item will get turned into a basic shroom. Eventually you'll get the hang of it and learn how to avoid these  annoying situations, but every now and then you'll probably forget and make the mistake again.

 I'm glad I can finally scratch Super Mario World off my bucket list, and I'm glad I finally got to appreciate the game in its entirety. While I'm not a fan of the secret stages, I think this "short length but many different stages' approach was pretty good, and wound up being the perfect fit for a handheld game. I don't think I disliked a single stage, except, maybe, the final Castle, so I'd say that level design is pretty good.

 However, as good as this game is, I feel like controls aren't as tight as Super Mario Bros. 3, and it has much less variety when it comes to power ups. I'd certainly put it above Super Mario Bros. 2 and maybe Super Mario Bros. 1, because this game is a classic through and through.
 9.0 out of 10

Review #656: 64 Memories - Snowboard Kids

 A literal slippery slope.

 Part 1: The Flashback
 Alright, so this is another one of those 'one of my first', but not the one kind you think, oh no, this was one of the first Nintendo 64 games I ever rented. Keep in mind that back then I didn't like racing games, but I loved this one, and eventually I got around getting my parents to purchase it for me.

 Now then, I really don't know why this game means so much to me, but for whatever reason, getting to play Snowboard Kids again was amazing. The music is fantastic, it sounds like cotton candy, if that makes any sense, coupled with the beautiful, silly art direction makes for the kind of game you don't see these days anymore. I swear, videogame music has never been the same as it was back during this era. I can remember the game's Instruction Booklet being quite a treat, with a ton of official art.

 Part 2: The Review
 As the name would lead you to believe, this is a snowboarding game, one in which you race against three other opponents in order to finish the amount of laps up and down a mountain. Or a slope. Or something similar, depends on the stage really! The game offers 5 playable characters, with an unlockable sixth, as well as 9 courses, with 3 extra stages waiting to be unlocked. You can also purchase different boards to race with with whatever price money you accumulate on the various modes. You can race with up to four players, and there are 3 bonus single player modes: Shoot, in which you must shoot down snowmen as you go through a stage, Trick, in which you try to amass the most points and speed in which you try to collect turbos and get down the mountain as fast as you can. There are also Time Trials, but who cares about those? Finally, there's a pretty decent tutorial that will teach you the basics.

 As you can probably tell from the art direction, this is a mascot racer, which means: Items. Peppered through the stage are coins as well as red and blue boxes. Coins are worth $100 each, and you can also earn money by performing tricks. These money can be collected after a race to purchase new boards... or during the race to buy items. You can carry up to two items, a red one and a blue one, each one costing $100. Blue items are utility items, like a stone to trip your rivals, turning invisible or the hilarious pan that hits everyone else on the stage. Red are projectiles which come in threes. I love how incredibly unfair red items can be. You can get turned into a snowman and lose all control until you hit a wall, get hit by an ice shard and get frozen solid(Be careful if you are the one shooting it, if your enemy is close you will probably crash against their frozen bodies!) or even get shot with a parachute and get to endure watching everyone pass you by as you slowly descend. It's particularly annoying, in a fun way, when you get hit with a parachute next to a gap, and now get to spend even MORE time on air. Fun times.

 Playing the game is pretty simple, you use the analog stick to move around, acceleration is automatic, and you can take sharp turns by holding down+the appropriate direction on the analog stick. B is your blue items while Z is the red ones. Tricks are performed by holding A and letting go, in order to jump, but holding a direction on the analog stick before letting go. You can also input special combinations to perform special tricks, longer but with a bigger payroll. The C buttons can be used to hold your board while performing simple tricks for even more money. One of the quirkiest things about the game are the flying chairs waiting at the bottom of the course to take you back to the top. Here characters have to wait their turn, so you'll be crashing against other players trying to be the next in line to go up the mountain and continue the race. This little mechanic is one of the things that set this game apart from others and made it so memorable!

 Snowboard Kids is a wonderful little racing game on the Nintendo 64. It's theme and mechanics set it apart from other mascot racers and turn it into more than a 'Mario Kart clone'. It's a bit skimpy on content, but what you get is pure quality. Game design is great, courses are memorable and the tunes, man, the music is 10/10 would listen to it over and over again. If you ask me, this is what the Nintendo 64 was all about: Cute, colorful, fun games.
 7.5 out of 10

Review #655: 64 Memories - Mario Kart 64

 The one in which Mario Kart became good.

 Part 1: The Flashback

 I hated Mario Kart 64. I must've rented it once or twice and I absolutely hated it. I wasn't much of a fan of racing games back then. Yet, because I often played it at my friends' the music and sounds from this game are just so nostalgic to me.

 Years later I would find myself replaying this game since, for whatever random reason, my ex loved it. Go figure!

 Part 2: The Review

 You know, I came way too late to the party for Super Mario Kart, by the time I tried it out it was already outdated. To this day I still can't understand how people can play that game. But Mario Kart 64? This is when the series got good, timeless kind of good. Featuring 8 different racers(Mario, Luigi, Wario, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong and Bowser) as well as 16 different tracks, Mario Kart 64 feels a bit skimpy when compared to what came afterwards, but what's in the cart gets the job done.

 No other Mario Kart game feels quite like this one, karts are very slippery to the point that turning and drifting feels very weird. You can get used to it though, and once you do you'll actually learn to enjoy how different this one feels. As far as modes go, you've got Grand Prix(Playable with up to two players), VS(2-4 players) as well as Time Trials. This game also started the 'CC' trend of 50, 100, 150 and Mirror(Called 'Extra' in this one), which are pretty much difficulty settings, not only do the cars get faster, the AI gets tougher. That said, this game is already fast at 50cc, which in turn makes the subsequent categories not feel as different, speed-wise. It also makes the game quite less accessible than future games.

 This game isn't as chaotic as future games, however, since not as much stuff is thrown your way. Blue shells are not as common and not as destructive, while Red shells have very poor homing, which is rather disappointing to be honest. While you'd think that'd make Single Player fairer, you'd be wrong, since the Rubberbanding is SO bad in this game, you'll ALWAYS have an NPC right behind you waiting for you to slip and take the lead. It's quite annoying, and it makes this one rather tough. The game is just as unfair as future games, albeit in an entirely different way! The game also has a few framerate issues when too many racers are on-screen at the same time, and not being able to skip the ending ceremony after finishing a Grand Prix is so lame!

 You know, just as with Super Mario Kart, I feel like Mario Kart 64 is completely outclassed by future games, although unlike the former, this one is still fun to play. However, I think the slippery physics from this game give it a feel of its own that no other Mario Kart has, which in turn makes it rather worthwhile to check out every now and then. I also find the art-direction pretty appealing(2-D characters over 3-D planes) and some of the courses in this game are undeniable classics.

 6.0 out of 10