The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy) Review

I think it’s been pretty obvious that I’ve been on a serious Zelda kick for the past 

few months.  It had been some time since I’ve sat down and played these games,

and this being one of my favorite game series, it was long overdue.  

If someone was to ask me what my favorite Game Boy game was, this is the

game that comes to mind first.  I know I’ve said it before, but developers really

got into the groove and really worked out what the Game Boy was really capable

of by 1991 or so.  This game is an excellent example of just that.  Let me show

you just what I mean.  

From first inspection, you see that for a game with the limited palette of the Game

Boy, it still has great detail to the characters and landscapes.  This footage comes

from my Retron 5 and an Elgato HD capture device, so it looks extra pretty.  But 

even back in the 90’s when I was playing it for the first time on an original Game 

Boy, it really surprised me how good it looked.  Then there’s the music, the music 

is my absolute favorite of all Game Boy titles.  It has so much personality and 

variety to it.  Some of it isn’t as “Zelda like” as music in other games.  But it fits 

this game so well.  Even today, there’s something about “Ballad of the Wind Fish” 

which really stands out to me.  It’s probably one of my favorite bits of music on

the Game Boy.

(me playing “Ballad of the Wind Fish” on guitar, dissolve to Marin singing)

I think the quality of the visuals and sound are testament to the time and care that

went into the creation of this game.  Legend has it that the game had its start as a

port of Legend of Zelda:  A Link to the Past that was being developed as a side-

project by Nintendo staff after hours.  From there it grew and took on its own life

as an original game with an original story.  The influence of Link to the Past is

very obvious in the art design of this game.  While it is a younger sibling to the 16

bit entry to the Zelda franchise, it has it’s own personality and introduces quite a

few elements which carried over into later Zelda titles.  I’ll get into those a little bit

later.  

By now, I think you already know about my opinion and thoughts on the timeline

of the Zelda series.  So I won’t trouble you with that.  This game could really fit

just about anywhere.  There are no returning characters aside from Link and not

unlike Majora’s Mask, it takes place somewhere other than Hyrule.  In this story

Link finds himself shipwrecked and lost at sea.  He washes up, unconscious on 

Koholint Island, and is discovered by a girl named Tarin, she brings him to Mabe 

Village to the home she shares with her father Marin to recover.  Link makes his

way back to the shore and recovers his sword.  Then he encounters a talking owl

who acts as a guide for Link in this game who tells us about the Wind Fish who

needs to awoken in order to return home.  Link then sets out to collect the 8

musical instruments hidden in dungeons across the island.  Playing them all

will open the last dungeon and ultimately wake the Wind Fish.  That’s the story in 

a nut shell… or egg shell if you prefer.

There are a lot of elements to this game which I think are just so great.  Like

how self-aware this game is.  The kids that break the fourth wall and tell you 

things like how to save the game always amused me.  The inclusion of things 

from the Mario series, like Shyguys, Pokeys, Wart, Mario’s face on your wall,

a photo of Princess Peach and some really angry looking Bob-Ombs really 

made things different.  Those aren’t the only characters from other Nintendo 

games.  We’ve got Dr. Wright from the SNES SimCity, and Prince Richard from 

a Japanese Game Boy title which I don’t think was released elsewhere…  and 

hey!  Is that Kirby?  Naturally, I got a huge kick out of this stuff back when I was 

13 or however old I was back when I first played this.

Something I realize now, which I had no clue about before, mainly because

I had never played Ocarina of Time until more recently is how there are a

few elements which this game introduces that carry over into Ocarina.  The

most obvious one of course being the Ocarina, and needing to learn to play

songs on it.  The mysterious owl guide is another obvious one.  Also one

that stands out to me is that you’ll need to ready your shield to deflect things,

that I think has appeared in most Zelda games since this one.  While you

also have to equip it in this one, having to ready the shield becomes a pretty

important element in later games.  That started here too.  Also, while Marin and

Tarin only inhabited Koholint Island, characters named Malon and Talon appeared 

in several later Zelda games.

Interesting elements, good graphics and sound are all important factors in making

a good game, but they don’t mean all that much if the game doesn’t play well.

The gameplay in this game is pretty decent.  You pick up all the familiar sub

weapons and choose where to equip them between the A or B buttons. You can

also change which button uses your sword, or even equip more than one sub

weapon, at the expense giving up use of the sword until you equip it again.  

That’s one of the biggest issues about the gameplay.  You can switch out the

sword and shield, and sometimes you have to switch them out.  The shield isn’t

such a bad thing, and some of the items or sub weapons are way more useful

anyway, but Link without his sword is like a day without sunshine.  I can

understand why they did things this way, so you can have all the abilities you

did in A Link to the Past, despite the limited number of buttons on the Game

Boy.  I guess they worked out the best way to do it, but having to switch out your

weapons and items constantly can get a little bit annoying at times.  Especially

with the shield, you have to not just have it equipped, but you also have to ready 

it by holding the button you have it assigned to.  Before this game, the shield did 

its thing automatically in the previous Zelda games.  But there are some 

gameplay elements introduced by having the shield used this way, the shield 

push and shield bump moves are pretty neat, and those mechanics probably 

wouldn’t work in previous Zelda games.  So I see why they did it.  But most of the 

time it renders the shield less effective, I’d rather keep the feather or the bracelet 

equipped.

The feather is one of my favorite items they added in this game, giving Link

the ability to jump in the overhead environment, and the side scrolling

sections too.  Side scrolling sections?  You heard me right.  Remember the 

tunnels in the original Zelda?  Well take that and add in a huge helping of

Super Mario Bros. and it’s kind of like that.  Complete with Goombas and 

Piranha plants.  Using the feather you can even stomp on the Goombas like

Mario.  Which is totally out of place in a  Zelda game, but I love it.

Just like with most Zelda games, there is some excellent problem solving

required to get you through the dungeons.  Coming off of A Link to the Past,

there was no way Nintendo was going to slack off when it came to this.  Even

the hints were a puzzle, requiring you to find stone slabs to complete a 

tablet on the walls.  While I feel much of the game is somewhat easier than

it’s 16-bit sibling, there are a few things in the dungeons which will leave you

scratching your head.  Another thing nice about the dungeons is that all of

them have a mid-stage boss encounter, and while you need to defeat the

mid-boss to progress, doing so also activates a teleport which will send you

to and from the entrance room, which is very handy if you get yourself

killed.  Also, much like A Link to the Past, there are tricks to beating most,

if not all of the bosses.  You can’t just dive in, brandishing your sword with

reckless abandon, you need to jump, throw, bomb, launch arrows or use your

hookshot your way past them and to the magical musical instrument of the

dungeon.

As many of you already know, there’s not just a version of this for the original

Game Boy, but one for the the Game Boy Color as well, Link’s Awakening DX

or Deluxe isn’t just a version of the game that was colorized like an old movie,

but there were new features added including synergy with the Game Boy

printer and also an extra dungeon which upon its completion, granted the

player their choice of a red or blue tunic, improving their attack or increasing

their defense.  That dungeon is of course optional, and the core of the game is

identical.  I know most reviewers will talk about that version.  But the original is

the one I have nostalgia for, so I chose this one.  That said, I do have the DX

version downloaded on my 3DS.

As I stated earlier, this is, without any doubt, my favorite Game Boy game.  It

shows it’s age a bit, and while I’d not call it perfect, I still thoroughly enjoy the

game.  Much like with the original Zelda, I’m amazed at how much of it I 

remembered.

Chances are, if you’re a Game Boy fan like me, you’ve already played it, but

if not, check this or the Deluxe version out.

Atari Video Pinball C-380 (Sears TeleGames Pinball/Breakaway)

In the late 70’s video games were mostly simple pong consoles or LED hand-held

games.  Which were kind of neat, but very limited.  In the case of those Pong

consoles, if you don’t have a friend to play with you, you were usually limited to 

the hand ball game which is pretty dull.  My best guess is that 90% or more of

the dedicated gaming consoles of the first two generations of video games are

Pong games.

But there were some alternatives out there.  Atari made one called the Stunt

cycle with a pair of handlebars which is kind of neat.  But what we’re here to talk

about today is their dedicated Video Pinball console.

While more people out there will probably know of the Atari 2600 game called 

Video Pinball from 1980, a game I have a ton of nostalgia for, having played a lot 

of it when I was little.  But a few years prior there was also an arcade machine 

called Video Pinball, and this.  What I consider to be the coolest of the dedicated 

game consoles of the time.

The Atari Video Pinball unit has a model number of C-380, and as you can see

here, the Sears Tele-Games version simply bears the moniker “Pinball/

Breakaway”.  Both systems have the same games, but two of the three have

different names.  What is called Rebound on the Atari version is called simply

“basketball” here; the other game to get a different name is Breakaway, on the

Atari versions of the console, it is called the more fitting “Breakthru”.  To prevent

any confusion, I think I’ll stick with the Atari naming conventions here.

This example here is the Sears Tele-Games version.  Atari had a deal with Sears

to sell products under the Tele-Games brand name in their stores and catalogs.

All of the Tele-Games products are the same thing as their Atari counterparts, just

with different cosmetics and names.

Not unlike the classic Pong consoles, the sound effects come right from the

console, just the standard beeps and bloops which were ever so common of

the era.  Unlike many a Pong clone, this one’s in color, always a cool thing.

While there are 7 game choices, two of which are just variations on others.  You

can choose to play either of the the pinball games with either traditional flippers, 

using the flipper buttons on the side of the console, or with a paddle in the style

of a Breakout type game.  Most of the games use a paddle, and the two Pinball

variations are the only ones using the flipper buttons on either side of the console.

Everything else uses the knob on the face of the console.  Personally, I think the

pinball games are more fun than the pin paddle versions, they’re just faster

paced.

Then there’s Rebound.  This is a game that I really can’t comment on, as my

example of this console is showing its age, and the serve button sticks a little,

making this one pretty much unplayable.  Maybe one of these days I’ll try to

open the console up and see if giving the buttons a good cleaning would

help. 

Lastly there are the two breakout variations:  Breakthru and Breakout.  The

only difference between the two is the space between the rows of blocks in

the play field on Breakthru.  Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I think

this is an option on the cartridge version of regular or Super Breakout for the

Atari 2600.  You can’t get more straightforward than these two and they play 

exactly how you’d expect.

When you get down to it.  While the versions of Video Pinball here are unique

to this console, the 2600 game of the same title is a much more fun game.

Same goes for Breakout and Super Breakout.  But ignoring that, if you’re

into these old school dedicated consoles—the original plug and plays, I think

this is the one to get, since you don’t need a player 2 to have any fun.

But if you’re an Atari collector and you don’t have one, it’s probably already

on your wish list.

Mega Man 2 (NES) Review

MEGA MAN 2 REVIEW

I feel like in the late 80’s Capcom really hit their stride, some excellent titles in

the arcades and on home consoles as well.  They had a deal with Disney to make

games for the NES and were also bringing games based on their arcade titles

home to the console as well.

Top it off, they were bringing out some original games, one of which being the

first Mega Man game, which didn’t sell as well as Capcom hoped, but as long as

it wouldn’t interfere with other games they were working on, Mega Man creator

Keiji Inane and his team could create a sequel.  What came of it wasn’t just the

best selling Mega Man game ever made, but also one of my absolute favorite NES

games.

If you’ve never played the original Mega Man, truth be told you’re not missing out

on much.    The gist of the gameplay and story don’t really change all that much 

from one game to the other, at least not until later games in the series.  You just

choose you stage and jump and shoot your way through it.  If you beat the robot

master, you add his weapon to your arsenal, just like every other Mega Man game.

I honestly don’t think I ever played the original until not that long ago.  It’s quite

difficult and pales in comparisons to it’s sequels.  Frankly, I think you can just skip

it and jump right into Mega Man 2.

After defeating Dr. Wily in the last game, the evil doctor vowed his revenge and 

builds 8 new robot masters to take down the blue bomber.  The enemies in this

installment are Air Man, Bubble Man, Metal Man, Flash Man, Wood Man, Heat

Man, Crash Man and Quick Man.  Just as before, each master has a weakness

to another’s attack.  That’s the “rock, paper scissors” mechanic which is why the

main character is called Rock Man in Japan.  With this game, even though the

Masters are all weak to certain attacks, Metal Man’s metal blade attack is kind

of overpowered, and without a doubt the most effective weapon in the game.

Another neat addition in this game are the three travel abilities you pick up as

you progress in the game which create bouncing or hovering platforms, and

even a rocket sled to help you past tricky platforms.  This evolved into Rush the

robot dog which appeared in later games, but that’s for another review.

Making this go around much more manageable than its predecessor, this game

introduced the password feature and the Energy tanks, two features which the

series is known for.  Also the standard difficulty setting of the Japanese version

is what we call the “difficult” setting on the US version.  Enemies take more

damage from Mega Man’s attacks in this “normal” setting, making things even

more approachable for a new player, I didn’t get my NES until December of 

1988, so platform games were all new to me at that point.

From what little I’ve seen of the original Mega Man, it just seems kind of dull

when it comes to the visual design.  Mega Man 2 was a big improvement, the

enemies and stages have a lot more personality and way more interesting to

look at.  The color schemes background detail are so unique and have great

variety to them.

One thing I know I’ve mentioned many, many times over is the music.  While

Manami Matsumae, who is one of my favorite game composers did the first 

Mega Man game, it was Takashi Tateishi who did most of the composition and

arrangement in this game, and he did some amazing work here.  I’ve always felt

that the Flash Man stage music was simply infectious and has ben ingrained

into my brain for the past 26 years.  The rest of the music is just as good.

As many of you know, Mega Man went on from this to become one of the

biggest franchises in video games, I think only Mario has more games as a whole

to his credit.  None of it would have happened it if wasn’t for Mega Man 2.  

Inafune-san himself said so.  Capcom could have just as easily swept our

android hero under the rug and the gaming world would have been a completely

different place,

If you’ve never played any Mega Man games, this is probably one of the best

places to start.  Especially if its the classic series that you want to tackle.  It’s

a widely available game, found on many downloadable services, mobile phones,

Virtual Console, you name it.  There was also a compilation of the classic Mega

Man games to the GameCube, PS2 and original Xbox.  I’ve played the PS2

version, and I wasn’t a big fan of the arranged music and the controls seemed a

little off.  Regardless, if you’re into classic platform games, this is one of the

essentials.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Project (NES) Review

Many of you already know I’m a fan of the Ninja Turtles.  When I was young, I

loved the original cartoon, the original film is in my opinion one of the best 

comic book movies ever made.  In speaking of the comic books, the original

Mirage comics were excellent too.  When you have a franchise that big that’s

been around that long, it’s no surprise that there’s going to be a few video games.

In the case of the Ninja Turtles, there’s been over 20 games, not counting stand-

alone hand-held games, mobile games, ports of older games and remakes.  I’ve

talked about a few of the others in the past.  But this time around I’d like to talk

about TMNT 3:  The Manhattan Project.

Manhattan project is of course the third Ninja Turtle game released on the NES,

coming out in February of 1992 in the US.  It is a sequel of sorts to the original

arcade game, or at least the NES port of it.  It opens up with the Turtles on

vacation in Florida, perhaps visiting their buddies the punk frogs, they tune in

to watch April O’Neil’s latest news report only to see it interrupted by their 

nemesis Shredder who has taken their reporter friend hostage, and turned the

city of Manhattan into a floating island.  Shredder challenges the turtles to

come and stop them.  Never the types to back down, the four jump into action

and raise some shell, battling their way back to Manhattan.

The game plays much like its predecessor, typical of a late 80’s/early 90’s arcade

style beat ‘em up with a simple layout with jump and attack buttons.  Pressing

the two at the same time will do what is called here as a turbo attack, a very

powerful attack, unique to each turtle which drains a little health when used.

This game was the first to make the special attacks unique to each turtle.  You

start off your game by choosing which turtle to play as, and you get 3 lives and 3

continues.  When you lose a life, you get the option of selecting another turtle

and carrying on.  Continuing starts you at the beginning of a stage, which is

kind of lame, but console games do that sometimes.

Visually, the graphics are good, slightly better than the NES version of the 

arcade game, with some new enemies and animations, but with a bit more

sprite flickering, which can get somewhat distracting at times.  The bosses in

this game include the usual suspects of Bebop, Rocksteady and Leatherhead, 

Slash, Toka and Rahzar which appear in other games, and also Groundchuck 

and Dirtbag, which I don’t think appear in any of the other games.  Heck, I don’t 

even remember seeing Groundchuck in the cartoon.  While on the subject of the

enemies, it’s kind of funny that they show a Triceraton on the box art, but there 

isn’t any of those in the game.  They were featured prominently in the Fugitoid 

story from the comics.  Anyway, as the levels progress, you start out on the beach 

and are basically fighting your way back to Manhattan, including a level where you 

are on a Foot submarine.  Don’t remember those from the cartoon either.  All the 

levels have unique art design and are all pretty fun to look at.  The sound is 

decent, not too different from its predecessor, but aside from the theme song in 

the intro, the music is all pretty generic.

Like with a few other Konami TMNT games, there is a modified version of the

classic Konami code you can enter which leads to an option screen.  I believe

this feature was actually not hidden in the Japanese version of the game.  In

these options you can increase the number of lives you start with and adjust the

difficulty.  This easy mode reduces the amount of hits it takes to beat enemies,

making the levels stupid easy to get through.

Overall, while I do think this is a very good game, I think I enjoy Turtles II: The

Arcade Game quite a bit more.  This one isn’t quite as common as Turtles II, so

it’ll cost you around $30 for a loose cartridge.  If you’ve never played it, it’s at

least worth a look, especially to a Ninja Turtles fan.