Monday Update: 4/28/14

I turned 19 this week, for what that's worth.

MechAssault (XBOX): First Appearance

Remember this game? I do. I only had a chance to play it on one of the old "EXHIBITION" demo discs for the XBOX back in 2003. I had only been able to play about two missions from the game, but I never could beat either of them and never knew exactly what was going on. I enjoyed the hell out of it, more than anything else on any of those discs. (For the record, I had two of them, the March 2003 and July 2003 discs.) (Actually, I'm having a bit of a nostalgia trip looking at the list of what was on those. MX Superfly had this short 2:00 minute run mode, and I'd just try to do a double backflip for the whole time. All-Star Baseball 2004 had a home-run derby between modern players and legends. I would just accelerate on MotoGP 2 and crash into things.)

Anyway, MechAssault was one of the first games on XBOX Live (which I desperately desired despite the fact that I was only eight years old and my dad wouldn't let me have an account), and I never owned it until 2011. I played through about half of it then, until I had to stop myself from playing video games due to slipping grades. That XBOX died, then the next XBOX died, then we got to April 2014 and I've started playing MechAssault again. MechAssault is strange, being a part of the MechWarrior franchise, but being developed for the XBOX controller on a series that was already well known for mouse-keyboard controls. I imagine that this was an issue for some of the series' fans, but I didn't go online and look that sort of thing up at that time. But hey, it works on the controller, and it's actually genuinely enjoyable. I'd love to play the multiplayer sometime, though.

Pro Wrestling (NES): First Appearance

I don't really know why, just felt like it.

Ten-Yard Fight (NES): First Appearance

Dear god, this is the SLOWEST FOOTBALL GAME EVER. Why is it enjoyable, though? I can't put my finger on it, but I actually had a very good time with it.

Maniac Mansion (NES): Second Appearance, Last Appearance on 4/14/2014

I need a guide or something. Typically I'm not this dumb, but I'm so used to games that only use one protagonist, and the way that you switch characters throughout the game is really refreshing but still difficult to get used to.

NBA Live 2003 (GCN): First Appearance (I think)

TWO FUN GAMES OF NBA LIVE 2003

FIRST: Michael Jordan versus the Memphis Grizzlies. "Michael Jordan" is a game I invented at camp 2013, originally in NBA Courtside 2002 for the Gamecube. You pick Michael Jordan, and score every point with him. Nobody else puts up a shot. Nobody. Even if he fouls out. If he fouls out, you freeze after half court and wait for the game to end. Here's how it went:

SECOND: Shorts versus Talls 2003. The shortest players (Celtics) versus the tallest players (Hawks). It worked as you may expect. The shorts only had one really good player in Damon Stoudamire. The talls had two in Dikembe Mutombo and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. I might do a deeper look at this particular game in a little bit, actually.

Others That Don't Warrant Mention®

NBA 2K14 (X360): Sixth Appearance, Sixth Straight Appearance: Played nearly one game, but got bored. 2K's reign may end this week

RollerCoaster Tycoon (PC): Second Appearance, Last Appearance on 4/14/2014: It takes some time to get going sometimes, especially on Dynamite Dunes, so I didn't play too much.

Monday Update: 4/21/14

A very busy week for me, as I was writing everything that ended up on adsandgames.wordpress.com, so go check that out please. There were games, however.

F-Zero GX (GCN): Second Appearance, second straight week

I feel like F-Zero and Star Fox never get much respect when it comes to Nintendo franchises. I think they're in what I would consider the third tier (First tier being Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon, second being Metroid and Kirby, then third being Animal Crossing, Star Fox, and F-Zero amongst others and I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two somewhere). I have nothing more to say about the quality of F-Zero GX, though. It's simple racing at abnormally high speeds which is great, and it makes every movement important, because there's a very real possibility that you end up off of the track. The whole series is great with friends, and the Gamecube version is my favorite of all of them.

Also, there's an arcade game, though I've never seen it in person. I have seen the Mario Kart arcade game in person, though. I love the idea of having a camera for the player's face in multiplayer modes (although the machine I tried in tomorrowland at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom had a broken camera so the effect was lost). Apparently the full arcade game is present somewhere within the GameCube game as well.

Atari Anthology (XBOX): First Appearance
I purchased another original XBOX last weekend. I mainly own the original XBOX for three reasons:
1. Playing the exclusives, like TRON 2.0, MechAssault, or Halo
2. Old Sports Games, because I like this era of sports games
3. Compilations
I've always said that the PSP is the best console for compliations (Mainly because they're the only thing that I ever played on the PSP), but for whatever reason, the XBOX is great for them. Atari Anthology was actually a game I had for the PS2. Anyway, for me, the best compilation games are focused on quantity, not quality. If I can try the entire library from one specific company, I'd be happy with that rather than just cutting down to the hits (which is what most compilations on the PS1 are forced to do).

Atari Anthology perfectly embodies that "quantity before quality" idea, because you can play basically anything put out by Atari post-1975 or so (no Gotcha!, unfortunately, but I think I'm the only one who would be sad because that's an awful game that had breast controllers). That includes both arcade games and VCS games (none on the 5200 or 7800, sorry Ninja Golf fans). They leave almost no stone unturned for the VCS, down to the three infamous SwordQuest games, and even the VCS conversions of arcade games already playable in their original forms. I prefer this compilation to Intellivision Lives! and the Midway Arcade Treasures, though they're both great as well.

Knuckles Chaotix (32X): First Appearance
Sonic fans get upset about the mid to late 1990s because there were no "true" Sonic games for the Saturn after CD. Most of those people forget about Chaotix for a few reasons, mainly that there's no Sonic, it's for the 32X which nobody has but me, and the whole thing with the rubber-banding is weird and unnatural. All three of those things are completely true, but they don't make Chaotix a bad game by any means. I like how the stages are vertically constructed rather than the typical horizontal fare. I like how the characters interact, I like the kind of puzzle platforming, and I think it's a solid part of the 32X library.

For those wondering how I attained a copy, I got it from an eBay auction after this guy's house burnt down and he had to sell off some stuff. There was a warning that there may have been "possible smoke or water damage," but it has worked fine for me. I don't know why I wrote that anecdote out.

Others that don't warrant mention:
NBA 2K14 (360) Fifth Appearance, Fifth Straight Appearance: Played one game very late at night
NCAA Football 2004 (XBOX) First Appearance: Played 1 quarter to see if my new XBOX had a functioning disc drive
WWF: Wrestlemania (32X) First Appearance Sort of like that shot of vodka that the French take before eating dinner, I played this before I played Chaotix

Monday Update: 4/14/14

Well we're back, still sorry about last week, but it would have been literally one game because two weeks ago was unpredictably busy. Look out this week for the return of Old Sports Games, however.
Anyway,
RollerCoaster Tycoon (PC): First Appearance
I constantly forget about what RCT used to mean to me. It was always sort of a forbidden fruit when I was growing up, my friends had the original and RCT2 on their PCs, but I didn't know how to play games on a PC at that point, so I had to purchase it for the XBOX. Oddly enough, I was able to get into it easily despite the fact that it used the XBOX's controller rather than the traditional keyboard-and-mouse. I actually tried going back to the XBOX port a couple of years ago after playing the PC version and I couldn't figure it out at all. But that's a weird thing about playing games as a child: You can adapt to something weird much more easily.

I wrote that above paragraph so I wouldn't just gush about the game. I'm capable of doing that.

Maniac Mansion (NES): First Appearance
Everyone always told me to play the LucasArts games of old, and last year I played through The Secret of Monkey Island (Special Edition). That's one great aspect of the modern remaking trend, as I wouldn't have likely been able to try Monkey Island properly without the Special Edition remake. I know some purists didn't like the voice acting, but for a newcomer like myself, I was happy to have characters with voices, a great idea for 2009.

Anyway I bought Maniac Mansion for the NES is what I'm trying to get at. It's a good start, but I'm gonna need a while to get into it. The fact that I don't have regular access to my NES doesn't help

NBA 2K14 (XBOX 360): Fourth Appearance, Fourth Straight Appearance
I have very little to say other than the fact that I have finally figured out what to do to be successful in MyCareer. Gotta take shots and play good defense, also let other people shoot. I'm surprised by how well I'm doing in the season considering we're .500 even though Dirk and I think Devin Harris are out with injuries. Basketball.

F-Zero GX (GCN): First Appearance
Though I only played through one Cup, this is still an absolute masterpiece when it comes to racing games, especially on the Gamecube.

THERE WAS NO UPDATE THIS MONDAY

You may have noticed that there was NO UPDATE THIS MONDAY. The reasoning for that is essentially that I didn't actually play any games this past week somehow. I have been very busy. HOWEVER, one of the things that I have been busy with deals with video games. I'm writing a research report for a reporting class, and that writing will end up on this site. Nothing of any actual importance is there right now, but it will be updated by the end of the week. So stay tuned.