Every Thursday Defunct Games wants to take a moment and reflect on all of the classic games that were given new life. Thanks to video game compilations, Nintendo's Virtual Console, the Xbox Live Arcade and even the PlayStation 3, fans of retro games are able to find all sorts of crazy old games. But what games are good? How well have these games held up? Which ones should you spend your money on? In This Week In Defunct Games we plan on answering those questions in both written and audio podcast form. So without further ado I give you the podcast version of This Week In Defunct Games, followed by our full guide to the best (and worst) classic games of the week.
NOTE: There's no MP3 Podcast this week, This Week In Defunct Games writer Cyril Lachel is recovering from his injuries and will return next week. For now enjoy my take on these games. I'm sure you'll understand. The good news is that we have our usual written installment brought to you by Patrick O'Connor
Castlevania (Virtual Console)
What Is It?
Konami is really good at making classic games that people remember to this day, when they strike gold on an idea it carries on through the years with solid sequels. The 1980's spawned a few franchises including Metal Gear and Castlevania on the NES. Castlevania is one of the games that if you owned an NES, you owned Castlevania and maybe it was the reason why you owned an NES. In the game you take on the role of Simon Belmont in which you must take hold of the legendary whip and defend the land against Frankenstein's Monster, the Grim Reaper, and even Count Dracula himself. The story of the game is quite compelling and is loosely based on Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.
Does It Still Hold Up?
This game could not be more welcome for anyone looking to have a great time and enjoy a good story. The game play and controls hold up really well and the game has always had that special feel to it that made it a Castlevania game, and it is still strong and present. What also makes this game still relevant and hold up very well is the fact that the Virtual Console lacks the ability to save stages, which provides a true, and sometimes annoying, authentic NES experience.
Is It Worth The Money?
It is no secret that the Castlevania series is very much loved here at Defunct Games, we probably wouldn't even talk to you if you said you didn't like it, we may even shun you and report you as working with the terrorist if you didn't agree that this is a great game. Truth be told, this game is well worth the money if you don't already own it, or you want to have it in a more accessible and less rare experience. Even though you can technically beat the game in about 20 minutes, it is still a work of art worth your 500 Nintendo Points.
Legend of The Mystical Ninja (Virtual Console)
What Is It?
Legend of the Mystical Ninja or Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyuushutsu Emaki for short is one of the only game in a long running Japanese franchise to actually ever be released in the United States. This game was originally released on the SNES and provided quite a few laughs and some confusion as well. When you first start the game there are five types of people on the street ... a woman, a ninja, a spearman, a monk, and a guy fighting to hold onto a huge fish, take a guess which one will hurt you if it touches. If you guessed all but the woman then give yourself a pat on the back, because apparently the rest of these guys are just out to kill you and take your sandals ... which is yet another story.
Does It Still Hold Up?
The controls in this game don't feel sluggish at all, moving around the screen is fluid and attacking enemies is easy enough. One thing though that makes this game feel dated and can be beyond annoying is the continue function of the game, which allows you to start over exactly where you left off... just with out any of your stuff or money. If I had to grade this game on holding up, I wouldn't be giving it an A. Even with this minor annoyance, the game is till fun and worthwhile.
Is It Worth The Money?
For 800 Nintendo points I am having a hard time suggesting this as a game people should buy, It is in fact a great game that everyone should buy, but with it not selling very well in the first place, and not having any sequels since released in America I am trying to figure why they think they can fetch 800 while Castlevania only wants 500. Maybe if people buy this game, it will spur the release of the other games in this series... so yes, go buy it, BUY IT NOW!
Shockman (Virtual Console)
What Is It?
Just like any successful video games series there is most times someone trying to ride the coattails and make a quick buck. Today we see this with countless Grand Theft Auto clones, and back in 1991 people saw Mega Man and its respective clones, which included Shockman. Shockman may just be another clone of a popular video game series, but it does add something new to the table. Multiplayer support is allowed in this game allowing for two players to play at the same time as Arnold and Sonya. The story pretty much is that you are both android school kids who also moonlight as super heroes who fight enemies by shooting them with your arm cannon.
Does It Still Hold Up?
This is a game that wasn't the best in the world to start off with as it wasn't very original and was really only created to copycat the success of the Mega Man series. This game will probably get lost in the shuffle of Virtual Console games as most people haven't heard of it, and others who have will probably just wait until Mega Man it's self is released on the Virtual Console. This game is not relevant at all, but it does manage to kind of hold up when it comes to control and game play, but it all just seems so unoriginal.
Is It Worth The Money?
If this game were 200 or maybe even 300 Nintendo Points, I would tell you pick it up and try it out, the game is still fun to play. But at 600 I can not suggest that you pick this game up, for 100 less you can get a great Castlevania game, so why spend 600 on a clone of Mega Man? When it comes to having set pricing for the games based on system it comes with some good and some major bad.
Centipede & Millipede (Xbox Live Arcade)
What Is It?
When I first heard that Centipede & Millipede were being released on the Xbox 360 I was skeptical about the whole thing, I was thinking to myself that it was kind of odd that they would release two games at the same time that were essentially the same exact thing, but then I noticed that they came packaged together! Centipede & Millipede are both classic arcade games that anyone who is over the age of 20 or has visited any form of an arcade including Chuck E Cheese is familiar with. These games are served up in all their glory by not only offering the classic arcade version of each respective game, but also an evolved mode that has bigger explosions, better graphics and rumble. One may ask what the differences between these two games are, and the answer is ... not much at all. Centipede & Millipede are the same game at heart but with one difference, the field of mushrooms that you must shoot to redirect the creepy crawly critter will move around in Millipede making your job all the much harder on trying to survive.
Does It Still Hold Up?
These are both classic games that were designed to perform one simple task and make it highly addictive. These games still hold up on any system they are on, but now they are much easier to get a hold of, and with the new evolved mode it is even more fun to watch the animations and feel the action in your hands with the rumble. I never grew up in the arcade era, but the instant I got my hands on these two games I was hooked, and now I am glad that I can play them without having to drag out my cell phone or visit my local Chuck E Cheese and look like a total child stalker. I'm not sure there will be a time when these games don't hold up.
Is It Worth The Money?
At about $5 bucks or so (400 Microsoft Points) this bundle is certainly worth the buy. Alone I'm not sure I would buy them each individually, but I assume that is why they decided to put them as one package. If you are looking for a highly addictive game to waste some time on while you are still waiting for Halo 3 to launch, then this is the game(s) to buy!
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
