Perfection of an Era: SNES, 1991

It’s with particular fondness that I recall the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Indisputably one of the best game consoles ever released, the SNES hosted a fantastic library of RPGs, platformers, shooters, and more. The console is still popular today, as shown by Nintendo’s Virtual Console service and by the high prices for used SNES classics.

What makes the SNES so great? I think it’s that the system represents the epitome of 2D gaming. The NES was as impressive in the 80s as the SNES was in the 90s, but the NES was still primitive even by 2D standards. The SNES, on the other hand, perfected 2D gaming to the point that technologically, not much more could be done. The next generation of consoles moved to immersive 3D games, not 2D games with better graphics. That’s because graphics can be improved, but graphics do not a great game make. The SNES combines amazing 2D technology with one of the best libraries in gaming history.

Undoubtedly, someone will ask why the Genesis is not also the epitome of 2D gaming. Well…because it isn’t. There are certainly many Genesis games that, if compared to poor SNES titles, would make the Genesis appear superior. But the totality of the SNES experience beats the Genesis on almost all counts: sound, graphics, quality of games, variety of games, etc.

And let’s not forget that even while epitomizing 2D gaming, the SNES gave us a flavor of things to come with its impressive Mode 7 abilities and add-on chips like the Super FX. From F-Zero to Doom, the SNES hosts surprisingly decent 3D games, which were almost entirely absent on the Genesis.

Sorry Sega fans, but the SNES is the standard-bearer of the 16 bit era, and even of the entire 2D gaming era. And on that note, let’s get to some games.

Final Rating: 10/10

Final Comment: As a retro game enthusiast, the SNES is simply the best system for these kinds of games. I love you, SNES. I want no other.

The Opposite of Awesome Possum: Amazing Penguin, Game Boy, 1990

Though I don't usually expect much of video games about superlative, exemplary animals, Amazing Penguin surprised me. An obscure Natsume title that has nothing to do with Harvest Moon, Amazing Penguin is basically an action/puzzle game. You have a square, and Penguin can move along certain lines in the square. Along the lines are switches you have to flip, and when you flip all the switches on a line, the part of the square inside the line fills with a pattern or part of a background image. Enemies follow you, but are killed if they are on a line when you fill it in. Think a combo of Dig Dug and Qix, two arcade classics.

If my description seems confusing, that's because it is. Get off your couch and go play it yourself if you're so curious. 

The controls are great and the simplicity of the game makes it quick to learn and fun to play. Simple arcade-style games were definitely the Game Boy's technological forte. Amazing Penguin has 40 levels, but I only played up to about 10. The difficulty curve is not too bad, as each level is only slightly harder than the last. But once you've played a few, you realize it's not as easy as when you started and in fact, it's threatening to kick your ass. This gradual difficulty increase actually adds to the game, as most games just unleash hell at you, not slowly boil you like the frog in the pot.

Unfortunately, Awesome Penguin will probably be lost to today's gamers, as will many Game Boy gems. That's because the primitive father of handheld gaming is itself largely forgotten, overlooked by the collectors who are at the forefront of the retro gaming movement.

I wish I could have spoken to Natsume in 1991, and made a suggestion for the game that would have kept it alive today. Instead of filling in silly-looking patterned backgrounds when you complete a square, have Penguin fill in an image of a cute half-naked girl. Base and hedonistic? Sure. But then we would have had ourselves a real game.

Final Rating: 8/10

Final Comment: Fun, addictive arcade-style action/puzzler that runs great on the Game Boy and beats a lot of other similar games

Another Shooter With Space-Sounding Words in it: Solar Striker, Game Boy 1989

Solar Striker is a very, very simple vertical scrolling shooter released for the Game Boy in 1989, by Nintendo. By Nintendo standards the game is simplistic and boring, but it was one of the first shooters released on a system facing a glut of puzzlers and platformers.

I could be rough on Solar Striker, whether for its single, endlessly-repeating musical track, it’s lack of an interesting power-up system, or its easiness. I beat half the game on one try, and I was tired. However, I won’t be rough on it. Solar Striker is actually perfectly suited for the Game Boy.

First of all, it’s very simple. No giant bombs to clear the screen, no real power-up system, and very lackluster backgrounds (including some decidedly non-“solar” looking backgrounds like a highway lined with trees) are the order of the day. The upside, however, is that unlike Gradius (reviewed below) the Game Boy can actually handle it. There’s no lag or slow-down at all, making the controls feel as quick and responsive as an arcade game.

The predetermined enemy patterns and relative lack of bullets (you’re more likely to run into something) make it reminiscent of Tecmo’s Star Force, an arcade and NES classic. Making up for easy levels, however, are a variety of surprisingly well-rendered and challenging bosses, including a base-and-core boss where stationary guns fill the screen while you have to shoot a stationary, protected core.

And let’s not forget, Solar Striker is 1989! For such an early title, it’s really not bad at all. For a veteran gamer who cut their teeth in the arcades, Solar Striker is not even worth a look. But for an inexperienced gamer or a kid – who was the main Game Boy consumer in any case – it’s a decent, even good, game that recognizes the limits of the console and delivers a fun and playable, if ultimately forgettable, shoot-em-up experience.

Final Rating: 7/10
Final Comment: Eminently playable and fun shooter, though too stripped down to be a nostalgia-inducing classic. Reminds me why it's a good thing we moved beyond the Game Boy.

A Shooter in the Dark - Gradius, Game Boy, 1990

Let me start off by reminding you that the Game Boy is hardly the system to host a fast-paced arcade shmup. Like a poor man’s NES with a three-inch black and white screen, the Game Boy is best suited for the puzzle games and insipid platformers that made up much of its early library.

Despite being graced by multiple R-Type and Gradius titles as well as a decent variety of other shmups, the Game Boy did not deliver. Neither could the Atari 2600, if they tried to release Gradius for it, and that’s what the Game Boy ends up feeling like too.

Anyway, I’ve stalled long enough. Now I am forced to actually review this god-awful illegitimate member of the Gradius family. First of all, the music is good. It sounds surprisingly like the 1985 arcade music. That’s the only good thing I have to say about the game.

There is some parallax scrolling which, at first, seems like a treat for the Game Boy. Then I discovered that if your ship runs into one of the mountains, or what look like bunches of grass, in the background scrolling layer, it immediately explodes. Yes, the  background scrolling layer is actually in the foreground. Either the programmers didn’t understand what parallax scrolling means (imagine burning into a fiery crisp when you walk in front of the sun at sunset), or they thought to themselves, “Hehe, it’s a crap Game Boy title anyway, let’s make the game even worse and see if anyone notices.”

Actually, I didn’t even figure out I was colliding with the background layer until the third time I died doing so. The graphics are so lacking in detail that it’s difficult to do the kind of precise maneuvering alongside obstacles that Gradius requires.  Add in evil background layers and the game feels more like a boot camp obstacle course than one of the best sidescrollers ever made.

Like almost all Game Boy shooters, Gradius also has an uneven, haphazard feel to the controls. It’s like there’s slowdown, only ALL THE TIME. The enemies  jerk along the screen dropping half their frame rates, and your ship’s controls have a very noticeable lag. That kind of slow processing power can pass on a platformer (Sonic notwithstanding) but not a shmup, and certainly not one that was so awesome in the arcades it essentially started the entire genre.

Gradius on the Game Boy is like if Heinz started making tomato-flavored mud and sold it to poor people who can’t afford real ketchup. Johnny can’t afford an NES? Well then, Johnny gets to play Gradius on Game Boy! I can imagine that being a more effective punishment than a good spanking.

I honestly can’t tell you how the boss battle is because I died before the boss appeared and don’t care to finish the first level to find out. If the boss battles have any of the same mechanics as the rest of the game, they’re probably not much fun and barely playable.

It’s admirable that Konami tried to raise the quality of the Game Boy library with Gradius, but it’s painfully clear that the primitive handheld simply cannot handle an arcade-style shmup. Anyone who thinks otherwise can go put tomato-flavored mud on their next hamburger.

Final Rating: 4/10
Final Comment: It's playable, but hardly. Bad controls, frame rate, and collision mechanics are a constant reminder that this game asks more of the Game Boy than it can give.

1989 - Year of the Game Boy

Welcome to 8-Bit Mind! Here, I will discuss retro games from the 8 and 16 bit era, both console and handheld. Some will be ubiquitous classics, others infamous piles of crap, still others hidden gems and forgotten but fun titles. Let us embark on the journey.

Every time I review a game from a new platform, I’m going to first give some commentary on that platform. Here goes.

Hopefully not mirroring the quality of my new blog here, I’m making my first post about the decidedly mediocre Nintendo Game Boy. Mediocre, you say? The system that revolutionized gaming by making it handheld!? Actually, that honor belongs to the deservedly-forgotten 1979 Milton Bradley Microvision (don’t pretend you’ve heard of it before).

Still, the Game Boy was the first console to actually deliver half-way decent portable gaming to the masses. This I will freely acknowledge. But the Game Boy has not aged very well. It’s small, low resolution monochrome display means that even on an emulator the games still feel cramped and lacking in detail. Graphics, of course, do not make the game – witness the enduring popularity of the pixel mess that is most Atari 2600 games – but Game Boy games by and large tried to be NES games, which the system was not quite capable of. The result is decent, even fun games, but games which usually introduce no innovation and are entirely forgettable.

And you could say the Game Boy accomplished its purpose almost flawlessly. With a nearly 10-year lifecycle, it’s one of the longest-surviving consoles in gaming history. And its mediocre library is due not to the fact that Nintendo lacked creativity, but that as primarily a kids’ platform, it was perfectly acceptable for the Game Boy to merely mirror the NES rather than innovate in its own right.

One more note – some of the best Game Boy titles came in series all bearing the word “Land”: Donkey Kong Land, Super Mario Land, and Kirby’s Dream Land. Odd coincidence, or conspiracy? While you figure that out, I’ll begin my first Game Boy review.

Final Rating: 7/10
Final Comment: Though the Game Boy hasn't aged well, its important role in a whole segment of the video game industry can't be ignored. This is its real achievement. A decent number of great titles are the icing on the cake.