A new edition of Retro Corner is up as we take a break from Donkey Kong and focus on the Blue Bomber. After the sleeper hit of the first game, Capcom would work on the next title called Mega Man II in 1988. The sequel follows the events of the previous quest as Rock (Mega Man) defeated Dr. Wily. However, the evil doctor has returned and seeks revenge against Rock with his own Robot Masters. The original game suffered from several issues such as slow frame rate and Mega Man would drop like dead weight from an edge of a platform. I still enjoy it for what Capcom offered in a single title but at times it did ruin some of the fun. The company should have let the studio take some time to iron these problems out. That is the reason the original was often considered a sleep hit in 1987 and it took off from word of mouth.
I wonder how Capcom is going to handle the 11th installment now that its using 3D graphics. It is a style they haven't used since Mega Man X8 in 2004 (even though it ruined the gaming experience). The last Classic Mega Man titles used a concept from the NES 8-bit graphics to render Mega Man 9 and 10. I remember when Capcom started the retro Indy gaming craze back in 2008. Not many companies (aside Konami) had the sense to produce retro style small games. Of course, several years later many studios like WayForward have produced many of these based off the older IPs. I'm truly glad that Capcom jump started this craze of creating newer titles based from the past. However, these studios are also improving on these classic concepts instead of keeping the same flaws. I find this a great step for retro style Indy IPs and now this has become an art style. Mega Man II (NES) Review
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A new edition of Retro Corner is up as I will be looking at the first game of Donkey Kong Country. Tropical Freeze for the WiiU saw a release five years ago and Retro Studios really took up Rare's mantel. In 1994, the original DKC got released on the Super NES and Rare would take the famous ape to a new level. Nintendo at the time rarely (no pun intended) let a third-party studio use their IPs even under their watch. In the end, this paid off for them as the company had an old name they could sell off once again. I think once this came out, it probably was the finally nail in the coffin for the Sega Genesis. By then Sega exhausted its big titles as Phantasy Star IV and Sonic 3 and Knuckles have already came out. With two more DKC sequels and a large catalog of Big games after the next two years made it clear that Sega was truly finished with Gen 4.
If you didn't know, Shigeru Miyamoto wasn't really fond on the idea of taking his concept and changing it. In all honestly, I can see where the guy was coming from and who would want someone changing their concepts around. Despite how he felt, Miyamoto must have trusted Rare to some degree and I'm sure he had a little input. Once the game came together, he probably calmed down a bit and knew these developers weren't amateurs. Of course, I have no proof that this man really had these thoughts so don't take what I say seriously. As for Rare, they would continue producing their version of DK until they got sold off to Microsoft in 2002. Fortunately, that is when Retro Studio came in and after working with Metroid, Nintendo tasked them with a new DKC game. So far, they have been a great replacement for Rare and continued what they did for the series even now. Donkey Kong Country (Super NES) Review A new edition of Retro Corner is up as we review Donkey Kong for the Game Boy. Before Donkey Kong Country hit stores in the 1994 holiday season, earlier that year Nintendo released a game under the series' name. The Game Boy title has nothing to do with Rare's Country and Land series and is a standalone game. It's based on the original Arcade titles from the early 80s that had Mario chase DK to save Paulina.
Of course, the sequels changed the theme and involved two different protagonists. Donkey Kong Jr starred his son (the current DK) who tries to save his father (Cranky) from Mario. What?! Mario acting as a villain and Nintendo actually went there? The theme was a complete role reversal where DK Jr and his father were the good guys but had Mario as the villain. The third game was an entire different theme involving a exterminator named Stanley trying to stop DK. It's about stopping DK in a greenhouse with bees and that basically the theme. So why the hell is he in a greenhouse bothering this exterminator? The third game is often considered the black sheep (next to Donkey Kong Jr Math) because of such a concept. Fortunately, Rare took the reins that year and produced Donkey Kong Country which would send the studio into stardom. The series follow a brand-new theme and starred the son who took the mantel of his father Cranky's name. The Country and Land series introduce a new villain for DK called King K. Rool and the Kremlins. That made sense for Rare to develop a new bad guy for the new series. Who would this be again, Mario? Another thing about the County games is how they would come off like a 3D game for the Super NES. That was literally its biggest selling point as it pushed the console to the limit. Of course, it wasn't actually 3D graphics as everything got digitized and placed on two 2D sprites backgrounds. Like I mentioned in my Doom 64 review, it was a good middle ground technology to use until 3D console became the standard. Donkey Kong (Game Boy) Review A new edition of Retro Corner is up and we take a look at one of Marvel's best games of the 16-bit era. The title is called War of the Gems and it got developed by Capcom and released in 1996 for the Super NES. The game follows the Infinity Gauntlet comic from 1991. The Infinity Stones have crashed on to Earth and Adam Warlock the Infinity Being has asked the warriors of the planet to retrieve the gems. The heroes of Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, and the Hulk get tasked to find the gems. However, Thanos also is on a quest to retrieve the stones so he could use their power with the Infinity Gauntlet to become nearly an omnipotent being. Despite it bearing a resemblance to Capcom's Vs series from the Arcades, this game is not a port and it's a standalone title.
Avengers: Infinity War releases tomorrow in theaters and it too will be following its own version of this arc. It isn't the first time Marvel has made a story arc of this scale before as they have done something similar in the past. In the Avengers: Assemble cartoon, they faced Thanos using this plot in Season 2. I mentioned in another review how crappy Marvel has gotten with its films and cartoons. Well this episode and a couple of others involving Thanos proved that Marvel doesn't care anymore. The fact they written Episode 13 from Season 2 with Ultron draining the Infinity Gauntlet was the dumbest thing they could do. That should obviously be impossible as they are well...infinite in power but yet an android from a Type 0 civilization can easily do it. That's among the reasons I won't see Infinity War because some how they are going to screw it up. The cartoon for years as well as their comics from the last two decades proves this more then ever. Marvel Superheroes in War of the Gems (Super NES) Review A new edition of Retro Corner is up as I tackle the infamous Spider-Man game for the Genesis titled Maximum Carnage. It was a surprise when Marvel Studio was able to strike a deal with Sony who held the film rights to Spider-Man. I always found it strange that the popular Web Slinger wasn't introduced into the MCU in Phase 1. Honestly, it would've been a great idea to bring him in six years ago. If only Sony didn't own the rights to the license back then. It's well-known that Spidy entered the MCU near the end of Phase 2 in Civil War. At least he made it in Infinity War as it would have felt weird for him to not get involved. As for the game, the theme follows the Carnage arc in the Spider-Man comic and in fact it spanned several issues. The story originally came out during the 90s and was in the cartoon at the time. The cartoon even featured both Iron Man and War Machine who helped Spider-Man and Venom face Carnage. I also recall a time when Marvel was the company that raged against the machine (aka DC). They were like the perfect alternative and set themselves in way that connected with kids and didn't coming off childish. Is that to say the original Warner Brothers Batman cartoon came off childish? Absolutely not as DC was still a series of dark theme stories compared to Marvel. Of course, back then I always saw them as a modern brand that had characters you wanted to see kick people's asses. However, ever since the Mouse Empire took over they turned the brand into a shadow of its former self. It also didn't help that Disney reduced these characters I grew up with to a Marvel version of the Power Rangers. Spider-Man/Venom: Maximum Carnage (Sega Genesis) Review On this edition of Retro Corner, let's take a break from the hype around Avengers: Infinity War as I have an old review. When I started my website, I written a review for the first Mega Man game on the NES two-years ago. The reason I'm bringing this review up is because four months ago Capcom announced Mega Man 11. Unlike with Mega Man 9 and 10 where Capcom designed them using 8-bit style graphics, this time they gave this title a massive upgrade to 3D. By using 3D ensures that the game will receive updated gameplay as well as its art style and not become the next Mighty No.9. So from now until its release, I will be reviewing one or two games from the classic series leading up to 11th installment every month.
Mega Man 1 was a game I never played during my youth nor did I try the others titles aside the Mega Man X series. The first game was a sleeper hit and it's because Capcom of America blotched its release in 1987. It was thanks to word of mouth from gamers in 1987 that helped get it a sequel a year later and that would only take Mega Man to new heights. Usually, the first game is always mentioned not for being a sleeper hit but known to have the worst box art in the history of gaming. I refuse to even post an image of it as it poorly represents the Blue Bomber's debut. It wasn't until 2004 when Capcom released the Mega Man Anniversary Collection on PS2, GameCube, and Xbox when I finally played it. Of course, I got the GameCube version and also giving me a chance to play the entire classic series. The collection was great as it included 1 through 8 and two arcade games that never came here to North America called the Power Fighters 1 and 2. The first entry isn't as popular as its sequels or for sending the Blue Bomber into stardom but the series began here. Mega Man 1 (NES) Review A new edition of Retro Corner is up as we come back to classic gaming with Captain America. In this edition, I'm checking out Captain America and The Avengers based on the arcade game for the Super NES. Cap's title was original developed by Data East in 1991 for the arcades. The theme is about the Red Skull mind controlling a list of the Avengers' enemies so he could try to conquer the world. Now I know what you are all thinking as the theme diffidently comes off extremely generic. That's also considering this was at a time when Marvel started releasing darker content. Data East known for developing the Double Dragon series used the Marvel license to produce an original title. The game is not related to any previous comic or cartoon nor is it based off the 1990 film. Similar to the Hulk, Cap also had his own solo movie before his 2010 MCU film. Trust me; the 1990 film was a creative disaster on so many merits. It was so horrid that it makes Batman's bat nipples (from Batman & Robin) look refreshing.
The Super NES version got ported by Mindscape in 1993, a year later after its release on the Sega Genesis. Mindscape is mostly known for porting PC education games to the Super NES such as Mario is Missing. That's not a good thing if a crappy studio known for sending over PC Shovelware titles has handled the port. Perhaps Data East should have brought the rights to bring over the game to both the Genesis and Super NES. I mean they already have experience with development on the Super NES with games like Super Double Dragon. Cap's Genesis version had effort put into it which isn't surprising since the same studio that made this brought it over to that console. However, by 1993, I'm pretty sure Mindscape had some experience with the Super NES. How hard could it be for them to produce a quality port? Captain America and the Avengers (Super NES) Review |
Welcome to Retro CornerIn this section I review retro gaming hence my name and talk about what made the Golden Age so amazing. From the 8-bit era of the NES to the first 3D generation of PC and N64, no classic title will get overlooked. Archives
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