Batman Returns is a 3-Dimensionally challenged sidescrolling beat ‘em up where players assume the role of the Dark Knight as he attempts to murder hundreds of criminals before the Penguin steals Christmas. This is one of those games that as a kid I wanted more than anything but since I was never given Nintendo related gifts outside of my and the lord daddy Jesus’ birthday, it was one of many to slip through the cracks. Well I finally got my hands on a copy not long ago, played it and now I’m writing a little something. Click here to allow more of my words passage into your brain.
And here at the List we all wish our beloved creator of Mario, Link, Pikmin and of course, Wii Music Shigeru Miyamoto a truly wonderful birthday. Just think: By the time the next presidential election rolls around the guy will actually turn 64!
And yes, this port is about as good as you think it is. Maybe even worse but I still can’t help but love it. This whole owning only Nintendo systems my entire life thing definitely had some pros and cons growing up which resulted in a particularly painful stretch of time when PC games started to take off in the early 90’s. Back then there was this massive swarm of entries in some new genre referred to as “first person shooters” that allowed you to play games from the actual point of view of your character in a fully 3 dimensional space. Wolfenstein 3D kicked the craze off and I can clearly remember being at this kid’s house the first time I saw him run through it, killing nazis and wild dogs. Compelled is not a strong enough word but it wasn’t until I first laid my eyes on its spiritual successor Doom, that I realized this was a style of game that I absolutely needed to have access to. Going after a robot with Hitler for a head is a fun concept sure, but tearing through swarms of monsters with a shotgun and chainsaw was what my 12 year old mind would be consumed by. I’d have to wait 3 years before I got my hands on the SNES version for Christmas at the ripe old age of 15 and the end result is an experience and a game that I will always have a tremendous soft spot for.
Let’s throw a few words at this 16-bit miracle, shall we? READ MORE
Well that isn’t a very nice attitude to have now is it 8-Bit Vader? The truth is that me and my pals here at the List have been invited to help put the final nail in the coffin provide our old friends over at Nintendorks.net with our invaluable insight and expertise on all things Nintendo (and maybe even some other stuff) from now on. Now what does this mean for you my dear, faithful reader? Well…nothing really. We aren’t going anywhere and I’ll continue to update regularly until the police find my lifeless, nude corpse at my computer desk surrounded by empty bottles of discount I.P.A. You can look forward to the same high quality self indulgence that we’ve blessed the internet with these past few years only now under both the Shigeru’s List url and the legendary banner of Nintendorks. In fact, I’ll probably be cross posting all of the larger pieces such as news and reviews on both sites but keep the random little mini updates exclusive to my little baby here.
I know, I know. It all sounds too good to be true but please, try and contain yourself. You’re embarrassing us.
Super Ghouls ‘ Ghosts is a game that is so hard it will make sitting on your balls feel like a Summer breeze. Seriously. I don’t know what Capcom’s problem is with this series but every single entry has been inappropriately difficult to a degree that as a kid it felt like borderline child abuse. This SNES entry is a particularly sore spot for me because the graphics and sound are so beautiful that I’m regularly lured in to give it another shot. Always with the thought that maybe, juuust maybe this will be the time I make it if not close to the end (LOL) at least to the midway mark. Of course, this has never happened. So why am I bothering to post about this game at all if it’s such a frustrating experience?
As far as my bedroom is concerned, we are now in full on Halloween time. I’ve got cobwebs spread out, a skeleton hanging on the door, red light bulbs plugged in, these really great gummy-like ghosts and bats stuck on my window/mirrors as well as an awesome jack ‘o lantern lamp thing right here next to me on my desk (2 for $10.00 at CVS!). You may have noticed that I even changed the background of the site to a super cool Ghost house theme from Super Mario World (thank you, google image search). I truly can’t get enough of this season, so with that in mind it’s time to start playing some creepy games whenever my television isn’t occupied with Tales From the Dark Side reruns. Of course I plan on posting any current news that I find interesting as it pops up, but aside from that the month of October (and I guess this last week of September) belong to write ups involving primarily two things: Nintendo and horror.
Beginning with today’s quick look at one of the most memorable stages I can uh…remember playing in a video game: READ MORE
Holy shit, is that Rogue from the X-Mans cartoon!? Yep. Wow, that’s pretty cool. In any case, I’d never heard the term “Nintenpendent” before I watched the special report above, but whatever that might entail certainly has me concerned.
Pretty much every review you’re going to read about Kirby’s 20th birthday compilation will begin with a direct comparison to Nintendo’s own anniversary treatment for their mustached mascot a couple of years ago. And for good reason: When the announcement was made that a special commemorative box would be released to coincide with the 25th birthday of the original Super Mario Bros., a lot of longtime fans (yours truly included) were understandably excited. But as the end result wound up being essentially an unchanged 20 year old rom (Super Mario All Stars from the SNES to be exact) slapped onto a disc and packed in with a flimsy at best scrapbook along with an anemic 13 track CD…well, pissed isn’t exactly the right word but you get the idea. Now with HAL laboratory celebrating the second decade mark for their little friend Kirby with such style, what once simply felt like a missed opportunity for Mario at this point feels like a legitimate insult.
Erase the memory of that Godawful flick where Charleton Heston plays a Mexican Jake Gyllenhaal plays a Persian from your mind right now. There was once a time (and not so long ago) when the Prince of Persia brand was synonymous with quality side-scrolling platform gaming. People would yap on and on about how cool it was to edit your own levels and that the “beautiful” character animation had to be seen to be believed. Actually, I think I’m just quoting the douchebag kid that lived next door to me who couldn’t be torn away from this thing. Personally, I was pretty underwhelmed when I had a crack at it. The theme wasn’t very compelling and I think he had some kind of computer version that required a keyboard to play. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, years later when I decided to wrap my hands around a GameCube controller, I became deeply hooked on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, but by then the series had already (brilliantly) made the leap into full 3D. Based on my deep affection for that game I was convinced that maybe I should go back and give the original stuff another shot but like so much in life, never got around to it. Well for any of you gamers out there that have a similar history with this franchise, as of today you can remedy your mild curiosity by downloading the SNES version for 800 Wii points. Of course you could also pick up Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for the Wii that includes this full game as an unlockable starting at $0.01 used on Amazon instead. Yes, I know its none of my business what you do. Forgive me for mentioning it at all.
“Thank you all. Please be seated. *Ahem*. Ladies and gentlemen, like many of you here today I came across Nintendo Power at a very young age. For me personally, it was the third grade and I was eight years old when I first heard whispers of a magazine that was all about Nintendo and filled with maps, special codes and strategies. These rumors spread like wild fire across the black top during recess but that’s all they amounted to at first: Rumors. Some kid knew a guy from another school who’s brother supposedly had described some book he’d seen as having the small clay Mario you see beside me plastered across the cover. More words were spoken of free pull-out posters and comic strips as well as contests that gave away prizes like t-shirts, toys and most importantly: Nintendo Games. It all sounded too good to be true of course and these second hand (third and fourth even) stories were all I had to tide me over before the truth of the matter would finally be revealed to me. It was a cold, overcast October afternoon when this kid I knew opened his backpack to reveal the beautiful image of a grown man in full body armor holding the decapitated head of Dracula by his hair.
Well, allergies have begun to kick my face’s ass fairly regularly these past few weeks which can mean only one thing: invasion Summer time is here. And as much as I love to make seasonal playlists that usually consist of soft, sweet sounds from the 70’s, I also like to revisit certain video games that lend themselves perfectly to lazy afternoons spent drooling in front of the air conditioner. On this top 5 list that I’ve so lovingly compiled for you dear readers, some of my selections may feel like obvious choices given their settings and themes. But the primary asset required for inclusion was whether or not the game made me nostalgic for those glorious several weeks away from school, a controller in one hand and an ice cold Coca-Cola within reach of the other. As always, all of the games that made the cut are indeed playable on Wii resulting in chosen software that was made for the system, GameCube and anything on the Virtual Console.
So here we go boys and girls: I present to you our top 5 Nintendo games you should be playing before the Fall strikes back. READ MORE
Well, if a quote made by Shigeru Miyamoto to IGN.com (and no doubt taken out of context) is to be believed, Nintendo still isn’t quite sure. Apparently right now the answer is a toss up between remaking the SNES classic Link to the Past or Nintendo 64’s criminally underrated Majora’s Mask (which really should have been included on the Ocarina of Time 3D cart if you ask me. I know you aren’t actually asking that, but you’re welcome to my opinion anyway).
The shot above that leaked this past week supposedly reveals Nintendo’s finalized design for their upcoming Wii U controller. There aren’t really any drastic changes or anything from what was originally displayed at last year’s E3 but some subtle alterations have been made here and there that will hopefully help some of you nerds out there stop pissing yourselves in your sleep. The most noticeable change is in the control sticks. No longer the same flat “nub” sliding pads that 3DS owners have become familiar with, the new analogue input more closely resembles the traditional sticks we’ve been using since the good old N64 days. Also, the start and select buttons have now been moved from under the screen to the right hand side and there’s a mysterious new square right under the cross pad that industry insiders are speculating houses a very important screw that will hold the entire gamepad together. If nothing in this opening paragraph has made you laugh, that’s because we’re talking serious business here. READ MORE
As of 5pm this evening, the folks over at www.themade.org (Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment) have kicked off a potentially weekend long video game playing session in the name of charity and body odor. Their plan is to beat one title for every $1,000 dollars donated and the initial list they’ve come up with should be pretty entertaining. At the moment players are knee deep in Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest for the SNES. But then after that, sights will be set on Super Metroid (SNES), Paper Mario (N64), Streets of Rage 1, 2, and 3 (Dreamcast) and then they’ll finally wash it all down with some Ocarina of Time and Resident Evil 2 for the N64. All of which will be played on the original hardware which personally I feel is a nice touch.
So how about it? Do you have a weekend to kill and some spare cash lying around? Then grab a cold beer (or 12), click right here and watch these guys do what they would normally be doing anyway!
I’ve been watching these limited to 500 Samus Aran action figures come and go on Ebay for about 10 years now. Sure, the sculpting isn’t really all that hot but it comes with a pretty sweet interchangeable head and what can I say? I’ve just always wanted one. There’s an auction currently going with the lowest price I’ve ever seen: A Buy it Now option for $114.99. So uh, if any of you dear readers are feeling…you know, uh…generous or somethin’. Just sayin’.
