WOW! 2021 saw me finishing off 33 NES carts last year! A great achievement that I've probably never done (well maybe as a teenager?). But 2021 was a banner year for sure. Off to see how many I can beat over the course of 2022.
And of course, time for my pick of RETRO GAME OF THE YEAR!
This year it's going to a game that haunted me from my childhood. One game I finally took the time to research and use some online help to get me through it. DEADLY TOWERS! Yes, it's not a perfect game. But once you find out where the secret items are and get equipped with a better sword and armor, it gets better!
Congratulations to Deadly Towers for winning my Retro Game of the Year!
JANUARY:
Ikari Warriors 3 (NES) Not the greatest game, but the music is pretty good! Still infinite continues makes this the most forgiving of the three Ikari games.
Arch Rivals (NES) Here's a fun basketball game with no rules! The precursor to the NBA JAM series and a really fun nintendo game too. One of the best basketball games for sure. Won by a score of 71 to 64 points.
Gotcha! The Sport (NES) There's only 3 levels in the game and it loops once you see the snow field. So yeah, its counts as a finished game. Pretty good capture the flag game and it uses both the zapper and the controller too!
Hydlide (NES) It took me 27 years but I finally sat down and put some big time effort into beating Hydlide! A game I had as a child (since 1995) and one of the first games my twin brother and I got after moving into the city. Not a great game, but not horrid.
Balloon Fight (NES) Game Mode A I beat all 12 rounds (loops after)and a high score. Balloon Trip cleared with high score and Rank 1 achieved! Fun game but Balloon Trip can be a HUGE pain!
Magic Johnson's Fast Break (NES) Finished the game and beat the computer by at least 10 points. Simple game and any difficulty will get you the same ending. Not a bad game, but not the best basketball game.
Baseball Stars (NES) THE best baseball game on the system hands down.
River City Girls (Steam) An excellent successor to the Double Dragon and River City franchise. Lots of fun and Matt and I finished it together! Got the secret ending too!
FEBRUARY:
Best of the Best Championship Karate (NES) Finished off Cogneur to claim the gold and beat all the other contenders. Pretty darn good fighter on the old Nintendo too.
Wayne Gretzky's Hockey (NES) The worst hockey game on the system hands down. Fortunately, one of the easiest games to beat as you have to win any one game against any team. So I picked the Edmonton Oilers and defeated The Great One's own LA Kings 5 to 1.
Harlem Globetrotters (NES) Not the worst basketball game but certainly not the best. Around average but you do get some trick shots as the Globetrotters which was pretty cool!
Snow Brothers (NES) A cool little Bubble Bobble clone but not nearly as difficult! Two players too and quite fun!
Metal Storm (NES) Solid platformer with good music. The anti gravity mechanic to the game is very interesting, although the fifth and sixth stage can become nightmares. However, with the password system and the very generous checkpoint system in the last boss rush made things a little easier. Also, this is my 300TH NES GAME FINISHED!! An odyssey that began as a child in 1991 has reached this point as a man in 2022. Time flies when you're having fun!
Puss n Boots (NES) A generic but cute little platforming game. Very short too! Did a 1CC of it as well. Not bad!
Jeoparty 25th Anniversary (NES) Had a heck of a time finishing this one and only one more Jeopardy game to go on the nintendo!
MARCH:
Kid Niki (NES)
Art of Fighting (Genesis) Good game but damn is it tough! Broke out my genesis to play it on real hardware and I couldn't finish it with 3 credits. Made it to Mr. Karate and it was too much so I opted for my emulator and finished it with save states to essentially give myself infinite credits. Still had to do the legwork to get there, I call it a win and I don't ever want to play single player mode again in this one.
Primal Rage (Genesis) Beat the game using Chaos, used the one hit kills cheat code so I may come back to this one later. Still, that last boss gauntlet would seem like a real run killer.
APRIL:
World Heroes (Genesis) Beat the game with a 1cc on Normal mode with Dragon. Very disappointing game but it has some charm to it.
Thundercade (NES) Good lord the last area with all the multiple canons was NOT fun to plow through. But got the job done even if I used a stage select code. Glad to have this one in the finished pile.
Ballz (Sega Genesis) It's an okay game, nothing great but it has a sense of humor to it.
Clayfighter (Sega Genesis) Not a bad little fighting game, lots of interesting and funny characters. N. Boss is tricky to beat on HARD difficulty though (that's the only way to get an ending is on that difficulty). Played as both Taffy and Tiny.
Infernax (Steam) Excellent new retro game here! Like Simon's Quest and Zelda 2 rolled into one! Got both good and best endings too.
MAY
Final Fantasy Legend (Gameboy) One of the true great RPG's on the handheld! Finished this one up in a few days with a party consisting of 2 Mutants and 2 Humans. Lots of fun!
The Sword of Hope (Gameboy) Another excellent turn based RPG that isn't too long. It's lots of fun and mixes the point and click Kemco NES game style with RPG leveling up and random encounters. A solid game!
Gradius The Interstellar Assault (Gameboy) Wonderful little handheld shooter. Finished it the first time I turned it on. I still think Nemesis is the better game, but this one is no slouch either. And very short too!
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja (Gameboy) What an excellent little platformer! Short and to the point. Plays a lot like TMNT Fall of the Foot Clan which isn't a bad thing!
JUNE
Tetris (Gameboy) Finally finished B-Type mode, 9-5! It even has an ending and doesn't continue on, so it's a true ending here. Wow!
Looney Tunes (Gameboy) A fun platformer but gets pretty tricky towards the end. Still, Sunsoft did a nice job with this game.
WWF King of the Ring (Gameboy) Probably the worst wrestling game on the handheld. You can literally beat the whole game by mashing the B button over and over again.
WWF Raw (Gameboy) This one plays almost like the SNES and Genesis versions out at the time. Lots of slowdown but not bad really!
WWF Rage in the Cage (Sega CD)
TMNT Shredder's Revenge (Steam) Quite possibly....the best Turtles game ever made! Wow what a great game!
JULY
Streets of Rage 2X (PC) Excellent fan game that surpasses the original Genesis game!
AUGUST
World Heroes (SNES)
Super Dodgeball Advance (GBA) Better than the original and that's saying something because the NES version of SDB is excellent! More teams and finished the game with Team Canada and got all the hidden teams too.
WWF Attitude (GBC) A surprisingly good little wrestling game here! It's a slightly upgraded version of WWF Warzone on the gameboy, which I had as a kid. Good game, defeated all the modes, with challenge mode being the main one you want to play. Finished that with Stone Cold, and then beat Career Mode with Undertaker.
ECW Hardcore Revolution (GBC)
SEPTEMBER
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (NES) Not a stellar game by any stretch, but not awful. Best of all the game is very short at only 5 stages.
Thunderbirds (NES) A vastly underrated shmup! This game was a lot of fun and not quite as I had remembered it so long ago as a kid. I got it from my friends and didn't really play it all that much but I'm very glad to have finished it. Was a lot of fun!
Rambo (NES) Not a good game by any stretch and some parts were a chore to get through. Still, glad to have taken this one down!
Power Ranger: The Movie (Genesis) Quite possibly the best Power Rangers game I've played! This one is NOT a tournament fighter but a beat em up! And what a loving nob to the franchise. It even has a flashback level where you beat up Lord Zedd and the Putty Patrol! Zord battles with numerous gigantic robots to pick from....VERY well done!
OCTOBER
Frankenstein: The Monster Returns (NES) Not a bad little game, excellent cutscenes. A little more polish and this could have been something really special.
20 Minutes Till Dawn (Steam) Like Robotron 2084 except with power ups and loads of characters and weapons, very fun!
NOVEMBER
Blazing Chrome: Steam, What a stellar game! Picked it up last year but finally put time into this year. Finished it off on Normal mode and yeah, it is both brutal and awesome!
Cyber Shadow (Steam) Another excellent game that is part Ninja Gaiden and Shadow of the Ninja on the NES. Awesome and a lot of fun to play!
DECEMBER
Zen Nihon Pro Wrestling - All Japan Pro Wrestling (SFC): The japanese version of Natsume Championship Wrestling with a lot more wrestlers and moves! Excellent game!
Zen Nihon Pro Wrestling Dash (SFC): Sequel to the above game and even better!
