Enough blathering, here’s our new episode. I can already hear the faint typing of angry fingers in the distance.

Episode 8 – Re-shelled

For now, please subscribe via the iTunes store and check out some our fellow retro comrades in the sidebar.

Until next time,

Drew

Is this like cold fusion or something?

This description holds true for the majority of Natsume’s catalogue, truthfully. Most of their games were analogues of more popular titles released earlier. It could be said that it wasn’t until Harvest Moon that Natsume did anything particularly original; perhaps that is why it became their most enduring title. One could say “Whats so bad about a company developing their own versions of popular games as long as they are well done?” and I would agree completely! It just seems that, perhaps in their quest of producing a better Ninja Gaiden or Life Force, most of Natsume’s games suffered as a result of not being able to stand out amongst the crowd.

One can certainly see this in Wild Guns (SNES). On the surface, its another in a long line of Cabal clones. The Wild Guns difference is that it is the most refined of the lot. While watching the game in motion it could easily be mistaken for a Capcom or Konami produced title. Action never slows as you fire at a small army of opponents, explosions come quickly and the environment is fully destructible. The aesthetics are particularly enjoyable: stylized steampunk robots and vehicles blended with the feel of a classic western. Think Wild Wild West, except no Will Smith and not completely abysmal. Wild Guns is an actual fun, enjoyable take on the concept.

Can we at least get Kevin Kline?

The attention to detail is what makes this simple shooter a joy to play. Parts of giant enemies explode as you wear them down. Furniture is splintered, bottles shattered, vehicles destroyed. Natsume really understood what makes games like this fun to play: cheap visceral thrills. To that end, a lot of the appeal comes in blowing everything up. Not to say the game isn’t challenging. Far from it, as a lot of time will be spent dodging enemies and frantically shooting around for power ups to survive. Luckily the control is fluid and responsive, allowing freedom of movement while shooting and employing a handy quick dodge feature. You can even play 2 player co op, which as always does wonders to ramp up the fun factor.

Blowing the shit out of everything with your friend: a cultural touchstone.

It is always nice to see someone take a tried and true genre and hit on every point that illustrates what makes them so fun and timeless. Natsume certainly does that here. This is an unappreciated gem that should be played. Unfortunately, the game is rather rare. It came out late in the lifespan of the SNES, and went largely unnoticed. The prices for a cart are now exorbitant (no Virtual Console release here). Of course, the wonders of emulation make it a lot easier to experience this title for yourself.

filed by Eric.

Drop in that controller overlay and GET HYPE, SON!

This week we change gears and dial it all the way back to 1979 to discuss the most intelligent video game console ever produced: Mattel’s favorite son, the Intellivision. We pour over the short history of the console as the merits, drawbacks, strange oddities and software library of the Intellivision are all covered.

In addition, we talk shop about Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril, a brand new independently released NES game. We also go over a unique Adidas marketing strategy involving a videogame, and Micro Reviews return with Dark Arms (NGPC), Shadow of the Ninja (NES), and M.U.S.H.A. (GEN)

Episode 5 track listing:

Battle Kid - Stage 1 Theme

Intellivision Lives! – Theme Song

M.U.S.H.A. – Stage 1 Theme

Ducktales – Moon Stage

filed by Eric.

soles made of neapolitan ice cream

I’ve always found it funny how our modern culture revels in nostalgia; thrift stores filled with irony-hunting hipsters, college dorms plastered with posters of films they’ve never heard of. Hell, even shag carpeting is having a resurgence! Save the cries of hypocrisy, obviously we are implicit in glorifying all things retro where video games are concerned, albeit for substantive reasons.

It is in this spirit of revival that Adidas has brought back it’s “ZX 500″ brand of shoes, which were popular in that most revered of decades, the 80′s. It’s not the shoe thats interesting however, companies can always be relied on to recycle popular products, its what comes with the shoe: a PC game called ZX Runner, which is based on the shoe.

The game is packaged in a USB-wrist band (one hyphenated word I had never planned on typing) and graphically the game looks like it could of been made on the Atari 2600. Unfortunately, not much has been released in the way of extended game footage or screenshots, but a pretty underwhelming teaser video has been released. Obviously we shouldn’t be expecting much from an “neo-retro” game based on a shoe, but I hope other companies will jump on this gamer-pandering bandwagon for the sake of hilarity. Who knows, there could be a 7-up game in our future…oh wait.

filed by Drew.

Hardcore Gamers Rejoice!

Rounding out the show is a veritable bounty of retro topics, including the VC releases Sonic and Knuckles and Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. We discuss the eagerly anticipated Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, a 13,000 dollar NES cart(!) and review Ninja Cop (GBA), Pulseman (GEN), and Gyruss (NES).

Episode 4 track listing:

Sonic and Knuckles - Minor Boss Theme

Gunstar Heroes - Boss 4 Theme

Radiant Silvergun – Debris

Ducktales – Moon Stage

filed by Eric.

The most important Pixel Dreams Episode of all time.

This weeks show concerns the short rise and quick death of FMV games, their connections to 3D gaming, and a few 2D franchises who failed to make the jump to three dimensions. Also featured are reviews of El Viento (GEN), Survival Kids (GBC), and Umi Hara Kawa Se (SFC). In addition, as always we explore the latest Virtual Console releases and also engage in a bit of discussion regarding the upcoming Sonic 4.

Episode 3 track listing:

Alex Kidd in Shinobi World - Round 1

Sega CD Bios Screen Music

Castlevania 64 - Dance of Illusions

Ducktales – Moon Stage

filed by Eric.

That being said, the only reason I chose to include Level 2 of MC Kids is because it bears a striking resemblance to a song produced by a local electronica band whose members I happen to be friends with. Now I hate electronica, as I have told my electro-inclined brethren ad nauseum, but I do have a special place in my heart for all the bleeps and blurts of old gaming music.

So, without adieu, level 2 of the infamous corporate shit-pile that is M.C Kids:

filed by Drew.

Music for this week’s show includes selected music from:

Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES/GENESIS)

Crusader of Centy (GENESIS)

Great Gianna Sisters (C64)

Heavy Barrel (NES)

Magical Pop’n (SFC)

Ducktales (NES)

We all carry with us an annoying little brat who would beg for change with more shamelessness than a homeless person.

Adult cynicism aside, it’s hard not to miss that era. It’s difficult to avoid romanticizing a time when approaching the local mall arcade filled one with a near mystical sense of anticipation and wonder. One could enter it and discover some rare oddity never encountered again. You could gaze upon graphics that made home console efforts look like cave paintings. If you were good enough at a game like Street Fighter II or Killer Instinct a crowd of admirers could be attained. To a young kid, the arcade was a magical place even if it usually was shoved into the musty back rooms of the adult world.

That time cant be unearthed(and thankfully not the bastard fuckspawn screaming for money either), but many obscurities are to be found in the realm of the arcade. This series aims to focus on the lesser remembered(some deservedly so) titles. Tying in with this weeks podcast topic of clones and ripoffs, I examine a rather uncommon licensed effort released in 1987 by Data East: The Real Ghostbusters.

Ghostbusters in the arcade? Why the hell not?

I wouldn’t exactly call it obscure but its presence certainly wasn’t as ubiquitous as something like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The basic game is another in a long list of arcade games that liberally borrow from Capcom’s Commando and plays essentially the same. Being an arcade game, plot and faithfulness to the source material is eschewed in favor of straightforward action. The player controls an anonymous Ghostbuster who apparently spends most of his time policing other dimensions, as the majority of the levels look like ugly temples, deserts, or swamplands and not much like anything you would see in New York City.

The Ghostbusters going Commando.

Despite that, each level opens up with the Ghostbusters pulling up to an assumedly haunted building which looks vaguely like their firehouse HQ and is conveniently labeled Ghosthouse. I guess the GBs have gone from paranormal investigators to paranormal SWAT officers busting into rundown ghost projects and taking the poor tenants down, which makes me wonder if ghosts are the most powerless minority in our society.

Those fascist scientists are armed with their traditional proton packs, although now they shoot a basic bullet projectile as well as the standard proton beam. The projectile is fairly useless, but you are forced to use it as the proton beam has limited energy and is also the only way to capture ghosts, which give you points, lives, and powerups. You can also find Slimer, who here is given the creative name GREEN GHOST. If you manage to grab him he provides you with limited protection as a sort of shield, an option found in many SHMUP style games.

Yes, you can cross the streams. No, it doesn't do anything.

Theres no traps or anything else though…yep. Thats all you get. The ghosts are trapped by sucking them into your proton pack like a vacuum with the beams. This makes the game quite frustrating at times, since the beams are limited as mentioned earlier. You can collect powerups to replenish and upgrade your beam as well as the shot, but the shot is only decent when fully upgraded and you lose all upgrades upon death. If you were a wealthy young chap with a handful of quarters, however, you could pump them in for extra beam energy and lives.

This is where MAME comes in. As with a lot of arcade games, Ghostbusters is extremely difficult and litters the screen with death at every turn. Play it in MAME, fill it with virtual quarters and then play this game as god intended: proton beam only. It’s still hard to survive, but the beam rips through enemies a lot faster than the pathetic shot and provides a more authentic ghostbusting experience.

When viewed in perspective with all the other Ghostbusters game efforts, Data East’s offering isnt so bad. It’s quite monotonous, lacks replay value and won’t hold your imagination for long, but such is the nature of most arcade games. This is actually one of the few good Ghostbuster games, along with GB 2 on the Gameboy, New GB 2 on NES, and the current gen game released last year. Thing is, there is very little within the actual game to identify it as Ghostbusters. There’s the aforementioned changes to how the proton packs and trapping of ghosts work. There’s the fact that your Ghostbusters all wear extremely bright and colorful suits and look nothing like the cartoon renditions. Hell, the ghosts themselves all look like monsters, strange beasts or demons and only turn into ghosts once they have been destroyed.

Interestingly enough this game is known as Meikyuu Hunter G in Japan and has nothing to do with Ghostbusters at all. The level designs, weapons and enemies are all different. I assume that Data East just went ahead and slapped the GB license on it for the US after editing the graphics and tweaking the gameplay a bit. This explains why the game only feels vaguely GB like.

We aint afraid of no Meikyuu!

Considering that this game is fairly short and supports three player simultaneous play, its worth a glance. Its a quick fix of mindless blasting. Viewed as a Commando clone though, its only adequate. There isn’t much variety in the enemies, weapons, or levels and beyond it having a Ghostbusters theme nothing stands out. It received a few ports on home computer systems such as the Amiga and Commodore 64, but they were all quite horrid and should be skipped. The Real Ghostbusters certainly isn’t a timeless classic, but as a licensed arcade game from the 80s, its good enough.

filed by Eric.