Stephanie Bri

What are the best movie snacks?

Going to the movies or staying home on the couch, watching movies and eating junk food is an all-American past time. So what are the absolute best snack foods for the right movie watching experience?

Popcorn

Buttered is best, the more the better. If the popcorn is not dripping with butter then just add more butter. Weather you are going out on the town or sitting at home, the number one movie snack is of course buttered popcorn.

I don’t like to buy the “movie theater” popcorn. What I prefer is to buy a bag of raw seeds and cook them on the stove in a kettle. I cook them either with melted butter or I use vegetable oil to pop the seeds. I then like to get a bottle of that butter salt and sprinkle that onto the freshly popped corn. Sometimes I will add a layer of melted butter first before adding the butter seasoning. If I am in a hurry, broke, or just stuck doing the microwave popcorn, what I do is cook the corn first, melt the butter in a bowl and then mix it into one bowl, pouring it back and forth into another, larger bowl, to ensure the butter is evenly distributed. If you are going to snack with your movie, you might as well snack right.

Twizzlers

Not red licorice, certainly not black licorice or just licorice for those that know the difference and you can keep those Red Vines to your self thank you very much. The best secondary snack to accompany your movie experience is a package of Twizzlers. Preferably the cherry ones but strawberry are just as good.

Reese’s Pieces

If there was on lesson to be learned from Stephen Spielberg’s alien film E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (aside from how to NOW make a good video game) it’s that the proper sugary movie going snack is those little peanut butter candies.

Pepperoni Pizza

You can scarf down buckets of popcorn, bags of candies, and all the Twizzlers your stomach can handle, but the best meaty snack, by far, to have with a good movie is a slice of pepperoni pizza. The great thing here is it can be cold pizza, it can be thick crust, thin crush, Brooklyn style, Chicago deep dish, it really doesn’t matter but a nice slice of pepperoni pizza on the side of your movie goods is the best way to make sure you get that couch potato thing going just right.

Pretzels

The sugary snacks are fine but movies are best enjoyed with salty snacks. Popcorn is number one salty snack for movie goers, but a good bowl of pretzels can also hit the spot. Just be sure to have enough soda on hand or else you might over do it.

Soda

Normally I would say take your pick, a good cola or a root beer is probably best, but I could sit down with an orange slice, a Code Red Mountain Dew, or even a Dr. Pepper, it’s all good just make sure you have enough to balance out the salty snacks, but not too much to disrupt your movie going experience with unscheduled bathroom breaks.

There you have it, the best snacks for sitting down and watching a movie.

Why the Nintendo Switch doesn’t need ALL of the 3rd party games.

Hear me out those 2 fanboys that find a way to read this. Nintendo is NOT Sony, they do not make the same type of system and their games appeal to a different audience. If the Switch was just a true home console replacement for the Wii U I would make a case Nintendo needed to do better this time around attracting 3rd parties, but since that is not the reality I would like to lay out an argument for why they not only can succeed without that level of AAA support, they are better off without it.

First, the Switch is NOT a home console. Despite Nintendo touting it as a “hybrid” and some in the gaming press towing that line, let’s face it, the machine is weaker than the base Xbox and PS4 consoles which have already been replaced with more powerful iterations. The reality is, more and more reports of the big budget AAA games NOT coming to Switch due to the weak hardware is a reality gamers have to accept. However, Nintendo has traditionally done well attracting handheld and mobile ports or versions of games for their portable consoles, Rock Star who has not made a game for a Nintendo home console ever has made games for the DS family. Microsoft, who competes directly with Nintendo in the home console space, has allowed Rare, a subsidiary of theirs, to release games for the Nintendo handhelds. If Nintendo, and their partners, want to be successful on Switch they have to look at it from that perspective. Sure make a comparable home port running on last gen builds if you must, but the focus needs to be getting the maximum potential out of the handheld side and letting the console shine in that arena.

Second, the Wii sold gangbusters and it was not just weaker, it was pathetic how weak it was compared to it’s big brothers. Unlike Switch, Wii had more than just weak horse power, slow CPU, less RAM and puny GPU going against it, it ALSO had to deal with the issue of the Wii remote, which meant certain games either had to be reworked entirely for motion controls, games like fighting games didn’t work so they were axed after the first few attempts, and that meant some games either had to be compromised, or developers had to spend additional, limited, resources retooling their game to not only run on weaker hardware but to utilize wonky, non industry standard controls. In the end it was easier for them to develop exclusive games for the Wii from the ground up than to try butchering their square games to fit into the round hole Nintendo was selling. Another limitation of the Wii was the memory size. It had 512 MEGABYTES, at least the Switch has 32 Giga Bytes and is expandable up to 512 GB. Wii was only expandable up to 8GB and that was a hard limit. The base Xbox ORIGINAL came with that much memory. So games that required DLC or patches, and such, had to be compromised, or skipped. I wouldn’t pay full price for a Wii game that was missing key features, and most gamers didn’t which is why 3rd party games that did that sold terrible and the ones that sold well were built from the ground up with Wii in mind, or were quick ports of PS2 games with motion controls reworked anyways because they were cheap to port games that were already fully developed.

Third, Nintendo 1st party games always sell best and 2nd party games sell behind there, 3rd party games that DO find success on the Nintendo platform do so by imitating what Nintendo is doing on the console. A game like Mortal Kombat X or Destiny won’t work on a Nintendo Switch, but a 3rd party game in the Mortal Kombat universe that is scaled down to run on the hardware and caters to the retro audience that eats up Nintendo consoles has a better chance of appealing to that audience. Think of it like this. Switch is NOT getting SF5, but it is getting a SFII game that is targeting the Nintendo audience.

Fourth, Nintendo fans = retro fans. Let’s face it, with their roots going all the way back to Atari, Nintendo has been a part of the gaming community and in the hearts and minds of gamers since the first successful home consoles. Sony has been in the game for 20 years, but Nintendo has an additional 15 years on them easily. That means there is a larger audience of classic and retro gamers who identify with Nintendo. Sony has always gone after the more modern, younger gamers and Xbox has always tried to make a PC for the living room, leaving Nintendo the last remnants of the early days of video games. This causes a lot of warm fuzzy feelings with Nintendo gamers that Sony doesn’t and Microsoft never will have. You could make a case that Microsoft was in the game just as long with their PC stuff, but PC gamers and retro console/retro arcade gamers don’t always intersect. That being said, Wii was a retro gamers wet dream and for that reason alone I keep that wonky butt of gaming jokes around. Even now, the majority of launch titles really play on that nostalgia. In fact, ARMS and Breath of the Wild are the only games that I own for the console that aren’t retro themed or inspired in some way.

Nintendo does need to get some of the big name franchises, the Call of Duty games, the sports titles, etc., but they don’t need the latest and more current console iteration, realistically that’s not going to happen anyways, but they can get by with ports that are catered to their audience and the gamers who see it as a second console will play it for the Nintendo games and the retro games with 3rd party ports catered to their tastes leaving them to buy the deeper, more complex and big budget experiences on their preferred Microsoft, Sony or PC of choice.

That being said, there are going to be those who buy the Switch as their primary console and they will want some 3rd party games too. However, the majority of them are likely to be the same pro-Nintendo audience that favors the “Nintendo” style of gaming so they probably aren’t Call of Duty or Destiny gamers to begin with.

Nintendo has learned a long time ago they can’t go toe to toe with the big boys. That is why the had to go the blue ocean route. They found their audience with Wii and DS because they learned what works and what doesn’t. Unfortunately people, mostly short sighted folks that don’t follow the gaming industry, tend to see the failure of the Wii U as an isolated event and pick it apart. I could write an entire article on why that failed and Switch is doing well, but instead I will just say Nintendo knows how to reach their audience and by merging their home console and handheld audience into one market they have finally solved many of the problems they were having.

Nintendo isn’t going to abandon the 3DS/2DS family just yet, but people have to understand how long it takes to make a game and launch a new platform before they go throwing around claims like new games coming to that as proof Nintendo isn’t merging their platforms. The Switch is it going forward. Games that were 1-2 years out from release when Switch launched that were already in development for 3DS were going to continue no matter what. Nintendo wasn’t just banking on if Switch failed they were working on plan b, rather what likely is happening is games that were commissioned and started before Switch was even finalized were just too far along to move over to the Switch and Nintendo always supports their old handheld or console at least a year or two after they replace it. However with Wii U, they stopped cold turkey, just killed it with Breath of the Wild and washed their hands of it.

In a world where Nintendo has to divide their attention between making games for two platforms, a small developer like Nintendo falls into the drought situation more often than they can handle. Once the 3DS winds down and all you see are ports and games coming from the smaller, lesser studios and the interns, you will start to see a shift of full development migrating to Switch and the merging of the two markets into one will be complete. After that point you won’t see six or seven Switch games a year followed by six or seven 3DS games, you will start seeing 10-20 games for Switch and 3DS will just fade away. By then the 3rd party developers who figure out how to make games for the Nintendo audience will have done so.

This is mostly meant to reassure the Switch faithful and those on the fence that while it looks bad on the surface so many developers not bringing their big titles to the system, keep in mind it takes 2-3 years to make a new game and most of those games were in development years before the Switch was finalized. The ones that could run or be made to run on the hardware and that would appeal to the Nintendo audience, will find their way on the system. Those that can’t be done without compromising the games just won’t, and shouldn’t, be ported. I say this as someone who had, and LOVED, the Gamecube, bringing half-baked ports that cut features, severely limiting the appeal and remove key components of the game, are NOT going to sell anyways so it’s just a waste of time bringing them over. I would rather get a Nintendo-style port of a game catered to the hardware, than a watered down port that has to cut features. Some argue that is splitting hairs, after all if they have to cater it to the hardware isn’t that the same as watering it down? Not if done right.

Hand held versions of games, especially on Nintendo consoles, have typically been built from the ground up to utilize the platform’s unique features anyways, so handheld gamers have come to expect that a Call of Duty that does get released on their machine is going to be built to run on that hardware. Does that mean there is hope for WWII coming to Switch? No, Activision already said so. But there is a chance they will find a way to port next years game to the console, or create a specific game tailored for the Switch hardware and catered to that audience. In other words, it’s going to be DS/Wii all over again, but this time the hardware is closer and has fewer hurdles to over come. You won’t get a PS4 game on Switch but you CAN and likely will get last gen PS3 style ports that make use of the unique features of the Switch and, best of all, can be played on the go in full HD console style graphics. In other words a portable PS3 is NOT a bad console to be making games for.

I love my PS3 and while I do want my big budget AAA games, I will get those on my PS4 and be happy with that, sell me games made for the Switch that make use of it’s features or at least give me PS3 quality games I can take on the go and I will be happy. Also, unlike PS2-Wii ports, where the leap from PS2 to PS3 was very obvious, many gamers continue to say the leap from PS3 to PS4 was so minimal it’s barely noticable anyways, getting a ton of late PS3 ports and PS3 “remasters” isn’t going to be bad for Nintendo gamers that stuck to Wii and missed out on those games, even the tiny percentage that migrated to Wii U are still going to find a ton of games they missed out on. For example, I did stick with Wii clear into 2008. I went full PC only until about 2013 when I picked up both a PS3 and a Wii U and I had no trouble going back through the PS3 library and finding tons of great games that never made it to Wii, those gamers, also likely the ones gobbling up all the Switches at the moment, like myself, are probably going to be just as happy playing Skyrim in 2017 on Switch as their friends were who played it when it was new. Think of it as new to you games.

Nintendo gamers are fully accustomed to that mentality and unlike Wii U where development was hindered, Switch at least is easier to make games for, has features people want, is priced fair for what you get, and once game developers get into their groove, late 2018 and beyond the Switch is going to be a gaming behemoth. It’s going to have a short lifespan, sure, but it will be a great 5 years and then Switch 2.0 will be gearing up by then anyways. I know this ran a little long but there was a lot that had to be said.

I remain optimistic that Switch will

Wonder Woman movie review

I don’t often review current films on here. One of the reasons for that is I don’t actually see very many current films. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them or I am getting too old, I just don’t have the time or the money like I did when I was younger and I am more selective about the films I see. The last movie I went to theaters to watch was Batman v Superman, and I can tell you based on my negative experience with that, I was very skeptical to see this Wonder Woman movie.

I could easily begin cracking jokes about how it was basically just Captain America in drag, but that’s doing the underlying movie a disservice. Plus Captain America was a good movie, just remaking it with a female lead isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Joking aside, the movie was good. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I bought Batman/Superman on Blu Ray just because I wanted to check out the extended edition and I kind of have to own every Batman movie since he is one of my favorite comic book characters. That being said, I haven’t even opened the movie let alone re-watched it.

I wasn’t that familiar with the WW back story, I knew there are a lot of connections in the DC universe to Greek mythology so that was to be expected. My first complaint though was the need to tell her backstory, which I understand this was the film to do that in, but I hate when they start off with a flashback in a flashback, just get on with the movie. It definitely dragged on longer than I wanted.

The story was pretty good, it was basically at it’s core just a rehash of Captain America: The First Avenger, with a DC twist, so don’t go into this movie expecting more than that. The major differences being the Marvel movie dealt with science and the DC movie dealt with Greek gods, Cap was set in WWII fighting Nazi’s and WW was set in WWI fighting the pre-Nazi Germans. Other than that there were so many scenes taken directly from Cap I thought I was re-watching that movie at times. One thing this movie did better was the character build up, the characters had more heart in this than the Marvel counterpart and I think that made this one more urgent. Also the opening fight when she first reveals herself to the German soldiers was not only done much better than anything in the Marvel movie, it was very emotional for the people verses just fighting for a cause, she wasn’t just fighting to stop evil, there were people’s lives at stake and she cared about the people whereas Cap was about the ideology.

I wish that was were the differences ended but even the final battle just reminded me so much of the Captain America movie, it even involved a sort of super weapon on an war plane that ended very similar to how the Marvel film ended. It wasn’t exactly the same but I saw so many parallels I really thought that DC just took Marvels movie and thought it best to just remake it as close as they could.

The final boss fight was underwhelming for me though. It felt like the banter and the showing off of powers dragged on too long. The villain wasn’t just doing the normal bad guy speech, he was practically quoting a book on how to justify being evil. I won’t spoil the ending or the big reveal, if it even is a big reveal, but at least the villain was more interesting than a stereotypical German scientist trying to create a super weapon for Hitler.

The comedy, or humor if you will, wasn’t bad, much better than anything they did in the previous two films in this now ongoing franchise. Some of it felt a little like you had to read the comics to get, which was kind of a turn off since you didn’t really get enough time with the characters to understand their quips. Especially the secretary. Sure it was a funny line, but a WWI female British secretary makes that kind of comment about her American soldier boss and there wouldn’t have been a smile on his face, she would have been reprimanded. There obviously was some history between the characters, or you are left to assume so, otherwise it smashes your sense of realism. I can accept throwing gods and mutants into historical events but if you throw modern sensibilities it’s not historical anymore, it’s border line offensive and at the very least alternate reality. Of course you have to sort of accept it as an alternate reality but even the comics were a product of their time so I just felt that scene was mishandled, especially with the one a few minutes later reminding the audience how male dominated that society was at the time when Diana interrupts a meeting of the generals.

Minor issues of historical accuracy aside, and I can put some things aside to enjoy a movie easy enough, that was really my only real issue with the film and even that was so minor I only bring it up because I just finished watching Mad Men and had that stuff on my mind. It didn’t bring the film down just was out of place, or at least needed some context in order to make sense.

Moving on, and I don’t want to nitpick the film to death, my only other complaint was the ruse. I understand they had to have a ‘mad scientist’ villain because that’s what you expect when the bad guys are German. However, the scientist character was so out of place in the movie I just didn’t really accept it either. The general that was pulling her strings was a brooding enough villain but the scientist just didn’t have any motivation, or character at all. I also won’t get too into why the Germans hired a disfigured female scientist to develop their secret weapon during male-dominated WWI culture, because I just don’t care if the film makers want to throw any sense of historical accuracy out the window they you just have to go with it.

I know there were there woman scientists, even the Indiana Jones movies had female antagonists serving the “evil Nazi’s,” but they all made sense in the context, this character walked around like she owned the place in a mans world at a time when women did no such thing. They made it sound like she was the most evil and terrifying mad scientist on the planet, but then you never see her do anything to really make you think sure be afraid of this woman. Every time she kills someone, the brooding general is there looking over her shoulder, so I would have thought his reputation as a no morals general willing to use the skills of this woman would be the real story the men would be telling, not how afraid they were of the woman who developed the weapon, but the general who used it. I don’t know I don’t want to sound like a SJW or a ultra right winger, I prefer historical accuracy and those two things bothered me. The rest of the movie was great. Again neither of them brought it down but what the hell they were on my mind and worth bringing up.

All that aside I enjoyed the movie and if my only complaints are minor nitpicks then I can get passed them and enjoy the rest of the film. Overall the story was good, the special effects were good, the characters weren’t entirely developed but they served a purpose and it all fit together nicely. It wasn’t good enough to erase my dislike of the previous two films, so I am still not sold on the upcoming Justice League movie, but it was, so far, the best standalone super hero movie DC/Warner Bros. has made since The Dark Knight, which was almost ten years ago. Overall I give the movie a 5/5 there wasn’t anything that really made me dislike the movie, it was emotional it had good action and it really only had minor things that a history buff like me would nitpick which bother me but every movie has those things so they don’t reduce my enjoyment just stick out in my mind. That said it’s a good movie, I think easily the best movie in the trilogy so far and from what I have seen might end up being the best film DC puts out in this ill-fated attempt to cash in on Marvel’s success.

30 Sega Carts to start up your collection right

I did a similar post about the NES recently and now this is my stab at naming 30 Sega Genesis carts a new collector might consider getting started with. I will try to venture off the beaten path, this isn’t a list of the top 30 games, or even a list of hidden gems, just a good, well-rounded assortment of games to pick up and get a good start. Also I am numbering these to keep track of how many are on the list, these are not ranked in order of important.

1. Sonic 2

For most collectors and gamers alike, if you are thinking about getting into Sega you need to start with Sonic games. Everyone has their opinion and this list will reflect mine so this is the one I recommend up front. This has a very great single player campaign more with an optional 2-player experience if you know how to do it right and work as a team. However the real fun is in the 2-player split screen competition mode. Everyone has that game they could get their parents to play who weren’t exactly gamers, 2-player competition Sonic 2 was our families entry point for family fun. I think it holds up especially well with today’s “speedrun” culture so it’s worth checking out, plus it still has a pseudo-3D special stage to connect the retro with the modern.

2. X-Men

You will want a brawler or “beat-em-up” right off the bat. The 16-bit era was the golden age of arcade fighting games and X-Men is a great example of how to bring that action to the home screen and make it exceptional. Unlike typical arcade brawlers though, this game has a lot going for it. It’s actually more of an action game than a straight bean-em-up, but it’s a lot of fun. You get to explore the most popular scenes from X-Men lore, facing their more well-known enemies with a roster that samples some of the best members the X-Men have ever had. The game is great. However, there is a trick to it, in order to beat the game you do have to know the right moment to hit the reset button in order to progress and not everyone is going to know that up front. I highly recommend this as a great 2-player and single player action game with fun characters to explore. It is done in the style of the fondly remembered X-Men animated series that ran on Fox in the 90’s so it’s got a double-dose of nostaglia and cool factor going for it.

3. Shinobi 3

On the surface, like Sonic, you could make a case for any of the three Shinobi titles on the console. However, unlike Sonic, I push heavily for the third installment over the others. All games are fantastic but this one just took everything that was great from the previous and upped the ante by about 1000 percent. The action is immediate, urgent, and very heart-pounding from the moment you turn the cart on, the music itself gets you pumped up and ready to start busting your ninja moves to fight the evil criminal monster makers this game throws at you. The horse riding and jetski levels add an extra layer of variety that make the game even more exciting. Ninja Gaiden on NES is a great Ninja game, Shinobi 3 is a fantastic follow through to damn near perfection. The game is the right blend of hard and fun, with varying degrees of difficult options to help you find your perfect game play style.

4. Turrican

If you are going into the Genesis library from the perspective of a SNES fan or gamer, Turrican might be a good starting point. It has some of the Metroid style level and power ups, it has some bullet hail action common in shooters and it has the robot/sci-fi action of any good arcade game from the era. It is basically the perfect storm. This game is also HARD, you think NES hard is a thing, oh no, this takes NES hard and maxes it out. The game can be easy if you use a handy little cheat, but the enemies are non-stop, respawn at the worst place, there are sudden death traps all over and the grand boss battles really remind you of what a boss battle in an action game was supposed to feel like. The game was inspired heavily by Metroid, and it shows. There are other ports out there, some better some worse, but this is a list of Genesis games and the Sega port is a fine entry in the series. Again like above, there are other Turrican games, three total technically, on the Genesis so you are free to explore the library and find more action to keep you entertained. I still enjoy going back to this one the most, especially the music it’s just great fun. I do remember the cheat code, and any NES Contra fan will attest, in some games the cheat code really just makes the game playable, as is the case here.

5. Mortal Kombat

The war between Nintendo and Sega was a blood conflict, and it all started right here with the first volley into the battlefield of violent video games. Sega brought video games to the masses more than Nintendo in many ways, at least to the collective consciousness of the larger public. This game spawned lawsuits and Congressional hearings, leading all the way to the creation of a rating system in place today. Oh and it happens to be a GREAT port of a FUN arcade fighting game. The move set still holds up, the graphics are still passable, for the most part, and the characters and fatalities are as memorable as ever. This is also *THE* game to force you into picking up a 6-Button controller, and it is so worth it. Some criticize it for not being too faithful to the arcade, at least by today’s standards. Well duh, it was released on inferior hardware, but that was common. If Contra or TMNT for NES get a free pass, why does MK for Sega get so much flack? The graphics are mostly the same or at least close enough, all of the levels are there, the minor graphical differences are just that, minor, and the gameplay is spot on plus the music is actually much better in the Sega version, making it a very worthy purchase for a Sega collector even to this day. I can’t, and won’t say that about the subsequent entries in the series, but MK 1 is worth buying and playing today.

6. Toe Jam and Earl: Panic on Funkotron

Stop it right now, I know you are screaming at the computer telling me this game sucks play the original. Slow down, here me out. First, duh, everyone knows the original is a classic, and yes, everyone knows Sega was not very well known for their platformers, but chill dudes, this is still a top notch platformer with great level design, fun characters, an entertaining and humorous story, and it’s one of the brightest and most colorful games on the Genesis. If you were looking for a uniquely Sega game that also felt Nintendo enough then this is it. The game is fun, and the challenge is great and the 2-player mode requires full cooperation of both parties if you want to make any real progress.

7. Biohazard Battle

I will get this off my chest before I move forward. Those people who “claim” the Turbo Graphix-16 is the “best” console for arcade shooters (shoot-em-ups or shmups) are either lying, or have been lied to. Just by sheer numbers alone the Genesis beats the TG-16. I mean there were a grand total of 21 shooters for Turbo, you can bring that up to the mid 30’s if you add Turbo CD, and yes they were ALL great games, but Genesis has 50+ shooters, and among them is this amazing gem of a game. While not every shooter is golden, this game is great. It has 4 ships, each organic in nature, has a lot of imagery to nuclear war and alien invasions, and the levels get progressively more difficult with the weapons and bosses increasing in intensity at each stage. Oh and as any Sega fan with gladly point out to those Nintendo fanboys, despite the so-called limitations of the hardware, the music in this game is FANTASTIC. This is easily one of the top tier, hidden gem arcade style shooters you will ever discover. Are there better shooters on the console, oh sure, but this game is totally worth buying a Genesis for if nothing else. That doesn’t mean Turbo is not a GREAT console for shooter fans, but come on, it’s got nothing on the Genesis and this game proves that.

8. Cool Spot

I will keep this short, this game is the definitive platforming game based on a licensed non-Disney character. Sure that’s a lot of qualifiers but this game is fun. Sure it is also on SNES but we are focused on Sega right now. Anyways pick it up its fun, its cheap and yeah not perfect still a great game to get started.

9. Bubba N Stix

I won’t spend a lot of time on each game, and here on out I am going to move pretty quick, but this game is just a good blend of 90’s weirdness, Sega coolness, and platforming goodness. It’s not the greatest platformer ever, but it’s a good time nonetheless.

10. D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun

There are not that many great RPG’s on the console. As a D&D fan, I always recommend this game to anyone collecting for the Sega. It’s not a traditional JRPG it blends elements of both western and Eastern style gameplay and features some pretty good customization based on one of the better rulesets of the game. It’s fun, and a good action RPG to get you started.

11. Sonic Spinball

Once again not to take a “dig” at Turbo fans who brag about the “awesome” pinball games on their console but Sega has you beat with this gem. Take pinball action with multiple boards, multi level boards, mix it with sci-fi themed Sonic, throw in some platforming and amazing 90’s techno inspired music and you got yourself a good time. ‘Nuff Said.

12. Raiden Trad

Keep this quick, a great arcade port of a fun shooter game. It’s a fun game with a lot of action to keep the shmup fans happy and it plays well enough for a Sega game.

13. Decap Attack

Now if you want a quirky game that really shows how different from Nintendo Sega was, this is the place to start. The main character throws his head at enemies, really it’s a lot of fun. It has a very early 90’s vibe and plays quite well for a platformer. It’s a good game all around.

14. Comix Zone

I would be burned at the stake if I mentioned Genesis games and didn’t bring this up. It’s plays into the X-Men/comic book vibe Sega was really great at in the 90’s. Hell, even in the later years their consoles were well known for having fantastic super-hero themed games. This is no exception. Best of all, it’s completely original and hard as hell while remaining fun to play at the same time. Pick it up, I can’t say more good things about it than what is already out there.

15. Disney’s Aladdin

Hey Nintendo fanboys, you want to talk about the awesome Disney afternoon games on your NES, okay good for you those cute little 8-bit games sure were fun, when I was 8. Now, let me show you a real game, oh and it’s Disney and based on one of the greatest animated films of all time. Everyone knows the Sega version of Disney’s Aladdin is *THE* version of Aladdin to get, so I am not teaching you anything new. But seriously if you buy a Sega console to game or collect and you wait too long to get this game, you lose all your gamer cred.

16. Thunderforce/Lightning Force

These games are all good, I won’t force you to pick which one is the best, grab the first one you come across that is within your budget and enjoy more proof Sega was *THE* shmup fans dream console, not the Turbo what’sitcalled.

17. Joe Montana Sports Talk Football

I am not a huge sports fan but every collector knows they have to have that one sports game to show off, and if you have a Sega console, this is probably it. Moving on.

18. Boogerman

I used to go into a video game store with my sister all the time. There was one employee there who no matter what console you were looking for he would always say, have you played Boogerman yet? He wasn’t wrong in how much he hyped this game. Sure, I already had it and if you want to get into Sega collecting you might as well pick it up first chance you get, it’s pretty good and really captures the whole spirit of the console, well the 90’s in general.

19. Clayfighter

This is another one that falls under the quirky category of games. Basically it’s a stop motion animated arcade style 1 on 1 fighting game. Is it the best fighting game on the system, not by a long shot, but it will look damn nice sitting on your shelf and it makes for a great conversation piece.

20. Spider-Man

There are a few different Spider-Man games on the console, this one is just titled Spider-Man no subtitle. It’s loosely based on the animated cartoon, and has some similarities to the Sega CD counterpart. In this game you are Spidey, armed with his spider-powers, and his trust camera that he uses to sell photos to earn money to buy extra equipment. It has a learning curve but once you get the hang of it this wall-crawling action platformer is sure to make your spider senses tingle with joy.

21. Gunstar Heroes

Tell the Nintendo Fanboys they can keep their umpteenth Contra sequel/knock off while you sit back and have a blast shooting down enemies with some of the best run n gun action you will ever come across outside of a Neo Geo. This game captures the spirit of something like a Metal Slug while offering a grounded Contra-esque experience. Sure you could just go for the (not lame) Contra Hard Corps anyways, but any self respecting Sega fan will tell you Gunstar Heroes is where it’s at.

22. Ghouls N Ghosts

Yes it was a launch title. Yes it was a sequel to a (fantastic) NES game, and yes it’s HARD as hell, but you know what, I am almost certain that if you are brand new getting into Sega collecting you will find no better game than this to pick up and get you into the awesome 16-bit mood. Sure there is the (superior) Super Ghosts N Goblins on SNES, which if you have a Super Nintendo get that game too, but this is all about Sega and this arcade style classic is sure to keep you coming back for more. The levels are fun, the bosses battles are challenging, the atmosphere is dark and the music is great for getting you pumped for action.

23. Columns

Everyone is going to tell you get Sonic, get Altered Beast, and get Columns. I am going to tell you get Sonic 2, and get Columns. Columns is a simple, but fun and addicting puzzle game. There aren’t that many good puzzle games on the system unfortunately and Columns is one of the best, it’s a great common game so it won’t break the bank, and it’s a good pick up and play casual game to try to get your friends into the Sega experience. The music is also very good, it will put you in a trance but that’s okay.

24. Streets of Rage 2

Skip 1, wait to get 3 when you are good and ready and just dive into one of, if not the best, 16-bit arcade-style brawlers ever made. This game is just too much fun, the music is just fantastic, the action is great, the levels are perfectly designed and the boss battles are just the right mix of fun and challenge. This is the definitive arcade beat-em-up and it’s exclusive to Sega Genesis* (Or the Genesis Rom is available on various compilations but it was never released in arcades)

25. Vectorman

I wasn’t going to pick too many obvious choices at the same time I wanted to stay away from too many of the “hidden gems” that are probably too expensive or hard to find. Instead I wanted to focus just on getting you a decent collection of games relatively quickly and your first 30 games for Genesis absolutely must include Vectorman. This is Sega action at it’s peak. The graphics are top notch, the music is fantastic, the level design and boss battles, sounds familiar? Sega actually did make GREAT games during the 16-bit era, in fact they made such great games that this honestly explains why despite their total suckage these days, they still have such a devoted fanbase, because hey even if they never make a game as great as Vectorman again, at least they made this one for the world to enjoy, and hell they did us a solid and made a sequel too. Just shut up and buy this game already.

26. Virtua Racing

Nintendo has their F/X Chip, Sega gas their SVP chip. Now Nintendo went on to release a good number of F/X games, Sega released just one for their SVP chip. Fortunately for gamers, and unfortunately for Sega investors, they topped Nintendo by forgoing the expensive chip and replaced it with the, much maligned, Sega 32X add-on. Now I would highly recommend just getting a 32X, but until you are ready for that, or if you decide to stick to the basics, fine but at the very least get this game. The arcade original was a game changer and yes it actually won awards and accolades. Is this version fun, you bet your ass it is. Sure it is clunky by today’s standards, hell it was clunky by the standards of the time, but it’s a great demonstration of what they were trying to do, demonstrates that Nintendo weren’t the only ones desperate to beef up their console with some 3D graphics, oh and it’s actually a fun racing game. Also if you are into collecting, which these guides are aimed at collectors, you KNOW you want this beast of a cartridge sitting on your shelf for your gamer friends to stare at. Yes you do, we know you do.

27. Super Street Fighter II

Did you honestly think I, a devoted Fighting game fanatic and self proclaimed Sega nerd (seriously my handle online is Segagamer12) was going to not mention *the* fighting game of fighting games? Well think again. Shut your Nintendo fanboy friends up with a good 6-button pad and a copy of the best 16-bit version of SF2 in existence, and yes this one is actually better in every way to the SNES counterpart, especially if you have the 6-button pad, or hell a REAL gamer/collector would even have a 6-button arcade stick so there you go pick this up and show off that HELL YEAH the Genesis blast processing was good for more than just shooting blue rodents through rollercoaster-like loop-d-loops. This is the definitive cartridge version of this arcade classic that to this day continues to impact the gaming world. Hell the Switch is itself getting a port of this game, okay the Arcade game, but it’s still proof that at one time Capcom knew how to make some of the very best games on the planet. Hyperbole and fanboyism aside, this is a great version of the game.

28. Mutant League Hockey

Sega were the MASTERS of making sports games back in the 90’s, in fact they were more known for their SEGA SPORTS branding than E.A Sports was in the later half of the decade. Their hockey games are among the best of the best and while they didn’t actually make this game, in fact it was Electronic Arts, the fact that the console is so known for it’s hockey games is pretty much common knowledge. This is also a great example of a 90’s theme that was done well, monsters and mutants. This game is probably one of the most fun sports titles and non sports titles on the console. Before EA became the butt of many jokes, they were one of the most respected developers on the Sega platform that we all know and love.

29. Garfield Caught in the Act

So you got your Cool Spot do you? Good. Got your Sonic 2 and your Decap Attack? Fine. And of course you got your Disney’s Aladdin. Now if you want a really fun game starring everyone’s favorite furball then this is it. No it’s not a great game by any stretch of the imagination. But it is a great character, it has some great ideas and hell it’s not the normal boring old Golden Axe or Altered Beast everyone else is recommending. Seriously you are going to get those games but don’t you want your Genesis collection to stand out from the crowd? I mean if everyone bought the same 25 games life would get pretty boring. And I know I already throw enough of the super common picks everyone is going to suggest, with good reason of course. No this game belongs in your collection because it’s different, while familiar at the same time. This game tried what Gex perfect on the next generation of consoles. It’s not entirely bad, some people like it but it’s nothing more than an average platformer, which to be honest isn’t even all bad as platformers are the true appeal of the 16-bit era of gaming anyways.

30. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. This is a great game. Also I am sure I have mentioned by now I am a HUGE fighting game fan and while I could suggest something else that isn’t another fighting game, seriously come on now you want to get some games that others are going to shake their head at. This is a one on one arcade style fighting game with monsters and levels taken directly from the show. The play mechanics are simple, it’ actually a very easy game, nothing special but you get that Go Go Power Rangers tune stuck in your head while playing and that alone should get your pumped up for a few minutes.

I didn’t want to just recommend the same old games everyone does, but I also didn’t want to dig too deep into the obscure. I tried to pick games that were iconic for the time yet would be great talking points for a Genesis collector to point to and give their friends something to be in awe of. Maybe there are better lists of games out there, this is by no means comprehensive it’s just a jumping off point, but a good list of games to get you started. And there you have it, a good set of Sega 16-bit carts to get your going.

What Independance Day means in 2017

Right now much of the world is scrambling to make sense of how the people of the United States of America could elect a man like Donald J. Trump as President. The truth is, for all our divisions, there is one day we all come together and put aside those differences, July 4. We wave American flags, light up firecrackers, rush out to see the latest summer blockbuster, and gather with friends and family for some good music and eating.

We all know the story of how 13 scrappy colonies of the once mighty British Empire stood up to political tyrrany and cried with one voice, give me liberty, or give me death.

That story is only the beginning. Sure, we do celebrate how our forefathers triumphed over that oppression. Sure, we also acknowledge it took a while longer for that blood fought liberty to trickle down, and sure we all know the story of how that young nation nearly tore itself in two when political differences were so divisive, both ideologies tried to squash the other. The real story is how, despite all those problems, trials, and forks in the road, somehow those 13 scrappy colonies who stood up for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, have grown into a 50-state coalition force for good, becoming a beacon of hope as the worlds first, and last remaining true super power.

It’s not just that swelling of pride we all get when we remember that despite our imperfections, we remain the greatest nation to exist on this great Earth God put us on to be stewards of. We might disagree on what it means to be a steward, or how to make use of those natural resources at our disposal, but we always agree, at the end of the day, we all enjoy the same freedoms those former British ruled country folks rose up to fight for. Love him or hate him, at least this 1 day, salute our Commander-in-Chief, salute the flag he serves, respect the Constitution he has sworn to defend, and just be proud to be American on this special day we all are free to observe in our own way.

Are console generations really outdated?

Last year Microsoft released the Xbox One S and Sony released the PlayStation 4 Pro. This year Microsoft is planning on releasing the Xbox One X, some people are using this that’s proof that console generations have become a thing of the past. But the thing is when you look back at the history of video gaming, I don’t necessarily think that is accurate. If you prescribe to a linear timeline of console Generations and you ignore everything that’s not made by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Atari, and Microsoft, then yes you could argue that there have only been a linear progression of console Generations every 5 or 7 years. But that’s disingenuous to all of the less successful but equally Innovative consoles that hit the market.

So if you started the 1970s everything starts in 1974 with pong 2 years later you have the Atari 2600 and the Magnavox Odyssee. By 1979 you have the Mattel intellivision, the home computers including Apple to and Atari 8-bit line, and within a year or two of that you have the Atari 5200 followed by the ColecoVision.

Even if you discount all of the pre NES stuff which a lot of collectors do because of the crash that occurred in 1983, they make a case that everything reset with NES. Even if you say that is true, you still have NES in 1986 Sega Master System that same year, and then the turbo Graphics 16 in 1987 followed by the Sega Genesis in 1988 and then the turbo CD in 1989 the Neo Geo in 1990, the Super Nintendo in 1991, the Phillips CD – I in 1992, the Sega CD in 1993; as well as the 3DO also in 1993. Then beginning in 1994 you have the Atari Jaguar, the Sega 32x, and the Neo Geo CD. 1995 you have the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation. Also a 1995 you have the Nintendo Virtual Boy, followed by the Nintendo 64 in 1996 you don’t have any new game consoles in 1997 or 1998 but you do get the Dreamcast in 1999, which was followed by the Sony PS2 in 2000 and then the Nintendo GameCube and the original Microsoft Xbox both in 2001. This is the first point in the timeline where there’s a break the next game console won’t be released until 2005 which was the Xbox 360 followed by the Wii and PS3 in 2006 and then you won’t get another new console until the Wii U in 2012.

If you look at that time line it appears as though a new console hit the market every year or every other year pretty much non-stop since 1974. If you continue to include handheld game systems and portable game systems then it’s not just every other year it’s literally every year because those off yours you always had a new handheld system coming out. 1997 was an offer for consoles but was the year of the Gameboy Pocket 1998 was an offer for consoles but was the year of the Gameboy Color 2003 was an offer for consoles but that was the year of the Gameboy Advance SP and 2004 was an off year for consoles but that was also the year that the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP launched 2010 was an offer for consoles but that was the year the PS Vita launched in 2011 was an offer for consoles but that was the year than Nintendo 3DS launched. That takes us to 2013 where the original Xbox One released and the PS4 making 2014 the first year to not have a new game console or a new handheld launch, unless you count the NEW 3DS as a new console, or game platform, which Nintendo clearly did bringing us back to 2015 the launch of PlayStation Pro, and in 2016 being the PlayStation VR and in 2017 currently having lunch than Nintendo switch and soon to launch the Xbox One X.

None of that takes into account Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear, Sega Nomad, Neo Geo Pocket color, Ouya, or any of the Nintendo offshoots like Gameboy micro DSi or even the 2DS family.

If you look at gaming as a whole we’ve had a new piece of Hardware with new software released every single year since 1974 when the first video games were released and that’s also not counting all of The Game and Watch tiger handheld stuff the game calm her countless other game systems that I’m forgetting including all the pong clones or those tabletop Plug & Play TV games.

Personally I’ve never really prescribed to the idea that there are console Generations because the hardware isn’t linear you have Atari 2600 running on a certain spec and then you have the the Mattel intellivision running on slightly more powerful Hardware in 1979 but then you also have the less powerful Magnavox Odyssey 2 coming out the same year.

This happens again in 1986 you have the more powerful NES and Sega Master System followed by the less powerful Atari 7800 which was running on severely outdated technology by that time.

This happens again in 2006 when you have the vastly superior Sony PlayStation followed up literally one or two days later the same weekend by the very very less powerful intendo Wii. So if the technology has never been linear and a new system from dozens of different companies gets released every year with new platforms coming to Market literally every year for what is now going on 40 years I just don’t know if you could argue there ever were console Generations and I don’t know if that proves that they’re no longer relevant I just think that nothing’s ever changed.

No I’ve been specifically talking about closed platforms that Gamers typically defined as consoles going back and forth between Home console and handheld or portable consoles completely ignoring computers which really would be impossible to keep track of in a simple blog post such as this. If you also take into account Hardware revisions such as the NES to NES 2 Super NES 2 Super NES to the three different iterations of the Sega Genesis, the PlayStation 1 followed by the PS1 and not counting all of the difference Slims and recolors that each Hardware manufacturer introduces just about every year.

For me personally, has a collector I do find it easier to just narrow everything down to a hard fast set of rules defining each console generation it makes it easier to collect. But you can’t just start discounting everything that doesn’t fit into your model in order to make it work.

That’s why as a collector I do want to get Oddball systems but as a gamer I have an Xbox 360 e and I have an intellivision 2, neither of those are representations of the original Hardware revisions of those Generations but I consider having them in my collection because I can play the software that was designed to run on those machines.

Again to complicate things I’ve simplified everything by sticking to the North American Market once you add in the Japanese and European and Brazil markets everything goes out the window. I also haven’t talked about clone systems and I also haven’t talked about flashback consoles, mainly because those don’t play new games.

I also don’t subscribe to the notion that if you look back in hindsight you can cut off when the generations began and ended based on which consoles went off to be successful because you couldn’t predict that in at the time in hindsight we know that the Atari Jaguar was a flop but it could have been a success in the PlayStation could have been a flop would that have changed the console Generations would the generation have begun in 1994 instead of 1995? I don’t believe so I believe that every generation starts when a new machine is released which is literally every year for the last 40 plus years.

with all that being said I’m very happy with my current gaming setup I have a PS4 I have an Xbox 360 I have a PS3 and I have a switch and I have a Wii and a Wii U those are my primary consoles. I haven’t decided if I’m going to buy an Xbox one yet, but if I do I’m leaning more towards the Xbox One S not the X. Of course the next console that I really want to buy or system that I want to buy as a Sony PSP or a Sega Dreamcast those are the two that I’ve been really contemplating lately. Even if you want to throw a wrench into this and not count the add-ons like 32x Sega CD or others as actual consoles, it doesn’t change anything there’s your still had either handhelds or at least new computer platforms launching every year. Not to mention the fact that those add-ons all had original software that was exclusive to those machines. Personally I’d rather just have fun collecting and playing games then arguing over which generation lasted for how long and who won which generation and which game should come to which system. If you’re concerned about costs then wait 3 or 4 years and just get into an consoles at the end of its life cycle when the games are dirt cheap I’ve been doing it for 30 years and I always buy games on a low budget. Just have fun gaming and stay cool.

30 NES games to get started

In a few months Nintendo is planning on releasing the SNES Classic Edition. As a follow up to the popular but under-produced NES Classic Edition, I expect this thing to be quite popular with gamers and collectors. However, due to scarcity and the fact the NES mini has already been discontinued, I thought I would write a 30 NES games to start up a collection for the lapsed gamer who might want to get back into NES gaming, but who doesn’t want to shell out the money for an NES mini. This list is based on my own preferences but I think it should be a good reflection of the NES library. I think these are 30 games that any gamer should pick up early on when starting their NES collection. I might write similar guides or lists for other consoles if I enjoy this enough. Also I am not ranking these, this is not a top 30 NES games, so the order is not that important these are just the 30 games I personally feel every NES collectors should get right away.

1. Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt

The first game every collector should have is the most obvious one. Seriously, if you are trying to go back in time to revisit the NES, or you are a kid just discovering it for the first time there is no other game as iconic or important as this game. There are different variations and combinations of these two games, but the classic SMB/Duck Hunt cart is the most obvious one to get.

2. Duck Tales

This game gets a lot of attention, and with good reason. The cartoon was classic, the tune is catchy, the characters are very retro and the game play is fantastic. What more can I say? I was trying to avoid games that rely so heavily on nostalgia, but fortunately Capcom recently upgraded this game on modern consoles as DuckTales Remastered, so it has the potential to reach a younger audience thus not relying entirely on nostalgia.

3. Batman

Probably the best action/platformer on the console and certainly one of, if not the best, comic book/super hero games in the NES library. A great game with good music, fun game play, decent challenge, and great graphics for the console. Also based on an amazing movie that is still worth revisiting while you are at it.

4. Iron Tank

Not everyone is going to pick a random tank combat game, but I think if you are going to get serious about NES collecting you need this game in your collection. It’s not as well known as some of the other games you hear banded about, but it’s still a lot of fun. This is one of those “NES hard” games where the difficulty is going to turn some people away, but the game play, the graphics, and the challenge all make it a very worthy game to add to your collection quite early on.

5. Legend of Zelda

Most people this will be either their first or second purchase. This game is so icon it practically defines the entire NES generation. I can’t say enough good things about this game, I played it to death as a kid, so much in fact the battery died in my cart.

6. TMNT 2: The Arcade Game

I could just say buy all 3 games, 4 if you count the fighting game, but I think this is probably the one to start with. Save the first for when you are padding your collection and get 3 when you are ready for more beat-em-ups. I say start with 2 because it’s the easiest to pick up and play, its the most iconic, it is based on the arcade game so it has that retro arcade feel to it, and it’s the one based most off the cartoons so would be the most familiar to a lot of people. The first game is good too but I recommend 2 for an early collector.

7. Dr. Mario

It shouldn’t take you too long to pick up this game. It’s arguably the best puzzle game on the console, and certainly a higher priority to me than Tetris. Although Tetris is well known, chances are you have multiple copies of Tetris spread across however many gaming platforms you have, so why not put off getting Tetris and start with the, in my opinion, superior game anyways?

8. A Nightmare on Elm Street

I know this game gets a lot of hate, especially since a certain Youtuber trashed it so famously. Still it’s actually not that bad of a game. The common criticism of it not having that much to do with the movies aside, which I would argue it actually does the job of re-creating the nightmare just fine, it does have its flaws. Still, as a HUGE Nightmare on Elm Street fan, I personally love this game, warts and all. It’s actually a decent, crazy fun 4-player experience. Sure you likely won’t beat it without cheating, but honestly how many NES games can you beat without cheating anyways? Also, part of the charm in collecting NES carts is revisiting the 80’s, and nothing is more 80’s than Freddy Krueger.

9. Casltevania

I try not list the obvious games but since this isn’t a top 30 list and it certainly isn’t a list of hidden gems, I figured this is just one of those iconic games every NES collector needs in their collection, and fairly early on too. I won’t get too into it, the game launched one of the longest running horror franchises in gaming history.

10. Super Mario Bros. 3

I would almost suggest getting these games in reverse order, starting with 3, then 2 and ending up with 1. Either way, all three of them belong in your NES collection, but the first and 3rd certainly belong in your first 30 for sure.

11. Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man

Take your pick, get either the Namco licensed ones or the unlicensed Tengen carts, Mr. or Ms. Pac-Man both games are good, and either one should be early purchases. I strongly believe that both of these games are just true staples in gaming history that should never be over looked. Personally I love them both equally and can never choose one over the other. But for the sake of this list, and because money could be an issue for most people, you should be good to pick one and have hours of fun from time to time.

12. P.O.W.

I love arcade games. A lot of the best arcade games from the NES library can certainly be found on modern consoles for sure. If you are going to start a collection, I would recommend going after this game over some of the more common, heavily talked about games. You might be surprised at how much you enjoy it. Sure it’s not the best game to begin with, but it’s a good pick up and play action game for the NES reminiscent of the classic arcade experience.

13. Contra

Speaking of great arcade ports… Seriously Contra is practically *the* NES game to collect at this point. It’s a great run and gun, it’s a great 2 player action game, and it’s a fantastic port of an arcade game. Most people say this version is actually superior to the real arcade version it is based on, I happen to be one of those people.

14. 3-D Battles of the World Runner

You are going to be collecting NES games you have plenty of time to pick up the staples. Why not get a quirky game that makes good use of the 3D gimmick while also being another throw back to awesome arcade game play. It’s a pretty decent “Space Harrier” clone if you want to get down to it, and it’s a lot of fun.

15. Popeye

Another arcade classic. I played Popeye so much as a kid. I actually enjoyed it even more than the famous Donkey Kong arcade hit. Granted the game hasn’t aged all that well and yes it mostly is just a Donkey Kong clone, albeit an official one if you want to get down to it. Still the game is fun, the music is catchy and if you are looking for a nice little arcade game to get you going this is as good a place as any to start, and let’s be honest do you really want to just get DK like everyone else or wouldn’t you rather have this, a game that is unique and probably a little more collectible than DK? I know I would.

16. Ninja Gaiden

I almost didn’t want to pick this one, first, it’s too obvious, second, its super hard. But let’s be real if you are looking to collect NES games this is going to be one of your first 30 purchases for sure. It’s a great game totally worthy of all the praise. Is it hard, HELL YEAH, but it’s also very fun.

17. The Simpsons: Bart vs. The World

You need at least one bad game in your collection to start off with, might as well get one that makes for a good talking piece right? Is the game bad, yes, but let’s be real the purpose of collecting the physical carts if you are going that route is to relive the 80’s, Simpsons games were terrible but we all played them, we all rented them over and over knowing they were bad but somehow hoping against all hope that if we just got good enough we might uncover a good game underneath. Also it’s not all bad, it does have some decent mini games and unlike the other games, it does have a coherent story, at least as coherent as an episode of the cartoon.

18. Zelda II: Adventure of Link

Love it or hate it you need this game in your collection ASAP. I personally loved it. In fact I can’t decide which Zelda game I enjoy more, I honestly put equal amounts of time into playing each one. I have owned every re-release of both Zelda NES games and I highly recommend both as a good starting point, and bonus, you get a little variety in the gameplay if you get this one and the first early on.

19. Blades of Steel

I don’t typically recommend getting sports games right away. I prefer to put them off until I have had a good library of non-sports games and then slowly pick them off one at a time. This is one of the better sports games on the console. Even if you don’t like sports NES sports games are mostly pretty good. This is certainly more fun to play than a game of baseball or golf, in my opinion. I might even do a separate list of the best NES sports games, who knows.

20. Joust

I know, another classic arcade game. What can I say, the NES was billed as an arcade in your living room, and it was so much better at delivering on that promise than everything that came before it. Joust is a good game, it’s a fairly good port, and I think it’s a game any collector should pick up because it’s just so easy to pick up and play.

21. Battletoads

It’s divisive to most but it’s still a good game, mostly. This is another one of those ‘NES hard’ games that is more frustrating than fun, but it has so much 80’s charm it’s just totally worth buying just for the humorous moments. Grab a friend and just have at it. The game is not just hard it is extremely hard, but any NES collector who wants to be taken seriously needs to add this game to their collection as early as they can.

22. Anticipation

One of those quirky NES games that just captures the spirit of the decade perfectly. Over the top, lots of mini games and puzzles, multiplayer, and it’s just got so much going on how can you turn this down?

23. Mega Man 2

I could just say pick any random one but we all know 2 is the one to get.

24. Little Nemo Adventures in Slumberland

I don’t know what the internet reaction to this game is, I haven’t really read many reviews, but I personally enjoyed it so much as a kid. Now, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of my favorite movies, and part of that is I love the idea of a dream world. This game, and the movie, both do a very good job capturing that part of the imagination. This one is hard also, but seriously if you are playing NES games you should expect to pick up a few hard ones as you go.

25. Blaster Master

Here is a game that does get named a lot, but usually in hidden gems discussions. With the recent remaster on Switch, what better time than starting up a new NES collection to buy this classic? The game might not be on the top of anyone’s lists, it’s still a super fun, not overly difficult action game with some pretty original gameplay.

26. Ghosts N Goblins

If you thought I was going to make a list of 30 NES games to start your collection and leave off this game, you were nuts. Again, yes, it is an arcade game, and yes it is difficult, but by now hard/arcade ports are pretty much the best games to get on the NES, at least when you are getting back into it or just getting started.

27. Star Wars

I know the SNES games are better, but it’s Star Wars how can you not get excited? I happen to enjoy the 8-bit version slightly more than the SNES one at times because the driving isn’t as clumsy as it is in the 16-bit versions. They only made 2 for the NES, both are good but this is the one to get first.

28. Kid Icarus

It was either this or Metroid and I think getting started you will have more fun exploring a game that doesn’t have a bazillion sequels/remakes. The game is fun, but hard and this time it’s not even based on an arcade game.

29. Wild Gunman

You need more than one light gun game especially if you do get Duck Hunt early on with the Zapper, you’re going to want a second game to justify having the Zapper and shelling out money on that CRT tube TV set you had to in order to get it to play right. Also it was featured in Back to the Future, albeit as an arcade game which it was not originally. Still a fun game and very much worth getting early on.

30. Chip N Dale’s Rescue Rangers

Much like DuckTales this game is just a blast to play. The 2 player action is fantastic, the game really captures the essence of the show quite well and despite being released recently on modern consoles, it still holds up quite well as a great retro NES game.

There you have it, 30 great NES games to get you started on your journey to collecting for one of the greatest, most beloved home video game consoles of all time.

My experiences with professional wrestling

A couple of weeks ago I did a retrospective where I looked back at all of my near-misses with G.I. Joe and how, for all intents and purposes, I should have gotten really into that franchise, yet somehow didn’t.

I want to do the same thing with the sports entertainment known as professional wrestling. My opinions of this topic has teetered back and forth over the years, I suspect mainly for some of the same reasons I wanted to get into G.I. Joe, but couldn’t. So let’s start at the beginning.

First, I never cared that ti was “fake” or “rigged” or whatever. My earliest memories of pro wrestling was, of course, Sgt. Slaughter who appeared on G.I. Joe, and Mr. T, who not only appeared in the A-Team, which I did watch, but also in Rocky 3, a movie franchise I watched regularly growing up. But, I actually knew of Sgt. Slaughter BEFORE I saw him on the cartoon. I distinctly remember having an uncle introduce me to a WWF wrestling match that had Sgt. Slaughter facing off against some guy who I can’t for the life of me remember anything about. My dad sort of watched wrestling, or wrasslan, as he called it. I also had uncles and friends who were into the “sport” as well. I never got into real sports that much as a kid so it was easy for me to dismiss professional wrestling as just another boring sport. The thing is, I always enjoyed the colorful characters, the way they tried to make it like there was a story, and the video games, if nothing else I can say I did play a lot of wrestling games, especially the ones on NES and Genesis, to me those were definitely worthy games to play.

My interest began to wind down in the late 1990’s. I tried following wrestling into the early 90’s but we never had cable and we couldn’t watch Pay-Per-View, so my exposure was very limited. As time went on and the characters I remembered went on to do movies or TV commercials, I started to lose interest. I also became even more involved with video games and comic books, which to me I always saw wrestling as a perfect blend of live-action video games and as good as we were going to get, at the time, live-action comic book type stories and characters.

Sometime in the late 90’s, around the PS1 and N64 ere, I took a weird turn. Suddenly as wrestling became more popular, as more of my friends got into it and it grew into more than just some weird things only weirdos like me enjoyed, it became very mainstream, I stopped caring all together. It had nothing to do with it becoming mainstream, in fact I still loved MTV’s Celebrity Death Match, and I would occasionally tune into WCW Nitro or WWF Raw with a friend once in a while, yet I never knew what was going on, my real issue was I got out of it, and I didn’t know what was going on. I tried getting back in when “Hollywood Hogan” was doing his WCW NWO thing, which to this day I still don’t entirely know what was going on. What happened with the N64 and PS1 was, I lost interest in sports and “extreme sports” especially. I didn’t get into Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, or Wave Race, etc., I dug my heals in and played Mario, Mortal Kombat, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, games that, to me at the time, represented real or “pure” gamer games, and I shunned all sports games, including wrestling. I had plenty of sports games on NES, SNES and especially Genesis. Not just the staples either like NBA Jam, or Skate or Die, you know the sports games it was okay for gamers to play. I had NHL 94, RBI Baseball on Sega, I had Joe Montana Sports Talk Football, hell I even had a ton of generic random Nintendo published sports games, not the Mario stuff but Pro Action Football, Tecmo Bowl, etc, Blades of Steel, I played sports games, I didn’t watch them on TV but I played the video games.

I always felt like with wrestling, there was no reason for me to not get into it. I like comic books, I like video games, I like fighting games and beat-em-ups especially, why wouldn’t I get into it? When I was in college I had to do a group presentation and the topic we did was the history of professional wrestling. I discovered that learning the history of the popular form of entertainment did soften my attitude towards it, but still not enough to develop a further curiosity.

Fast forward a few years and I recently started listen to certain podcasts by other gamers with similar interest as myself and they talk about pro wrestling a lot. I guess as I look back over the years the on thing that stands out in my mind the most is how close I came to becoming an actual fan of wrestling. One thing that I am certain happened was as I became more into comic book and super hero movies, and as the quality of those movies improved, I had less of a reason to go back and try to make sense out of what was going on with WWE and everything else.

I never attended any live matches, I never watched any of the pay-per-views, Royal Rumbles, or Wrestlemania’s, so for me I guess I just never got into it, even though a part of me always wanted to. I have been contemplating digging up some old matches online sometime and maybe just seeing if I can get into it. In the meantime I just look back at another thing that I came so close to enjoying, yet somehow missed out on.

Book Review: Abraham Anyhow

I wanted the first book review I wrote for the site to be something unique, not just a Star Wars or science fiction novel that has been talked about to death. So I thought I would start with this interesting little book by Red Dirt Press, Abraham Anyhow.

“The story involves a man who owns a towing business who is facing the threat of losing his land to an expanding highway. He discovers some documents that reveal political back dealings that entangle his family in a feud with another local family that doesn’t abide by the law.”

Those were the words I used to describe the story in a nutshell in a previous article I had written about it elsewhere. The book itself reminded me in many ways of The Outsiders, or That was Then This is Now, in that it really captured the rough and tumble nature of these characters and their rugged lifestyle. I admittedly don’t read a lot of westerns or western themed books, which this is not exactly, but is close. It had been described as “grit lit” to me, which I think is fitting. The author runs a blog that posts short stories in this genre of fiction, that I am only now becoming aware of.

My first take on the book was how easily I could picture the places the author was describing. As someone who grew up in a small town in Kansas, I have seen my share of the stereotypical “redneck wannabe,” in fact it reminded me specifically of a place I used to visit frequently when I was a kid, this old junk dealer whose name I have long forgotten from my early childhood. In that respect the book did take me back to my early days, something a good book should be able to do.

One thing I noticed as I was reading is even though I never met these characters, I got the impression I could picture people I knew who were just like them. They were written as very believable, down-to-earth folks. The nature of this sort of fiction is just that, regular folks living their lives. The story was engaging, there was a conflict and the relationship between the father and son was something I could identify with, I think many of us have had rocky relationships with our fathers at some point in the past.

The story takes a couple twists but it mostly focuses on the central plot, not deviating too far. The author wrote from experience, clearly having a fondness for the area painting a picture of the sights that anyone who has been to these places would appreciate. Someone from a small town in the mid-west could also identify with the situations in the books as well.

The story doesn’t drag on either. He takes a few detours down memory lane, at least from the perspective of the characters, and the flash backs are not too excessive, they do their job in establishing the setting, the characters, and the mood of the story.

While not my preferred type of fiction, I tend to lean more towards either science fiction, or the classics, this is certainly a story that country folks or anyone curious about country folks, could read and get an insight into that lifestyle. It might not have been my exact cup of tea, to be honest, but it was a solid read and if you are into these types of stories, it’s worth picking up. The book is available on Amazon. The authors name is Adam Van Winkle. He grew up around Lake Texoma, a lake that borders Texas and Oklahoma. The book is primarily set in towns around the area.

I would give the book 4 out of 5 stars, not that it wasn’t well-written, it was, but because it just wasn’t my thing. I was able to get into the story and the mindset of the main characters, but it felt a little too down-to-earth, too real, for my tastes. It was still a solid read if you enjoy the genre, it wasn’t bad by any means. The only area of criticism I have is the dialog was a little too salty for my tastes for a story such as this. A few instances of profanity is fine, even necessary in a fiction that deals with criminals and human frustration, sure, but I felt that at times the main characters choice vocabulary was just a bit much for my preferences.

SNES Classic Mini: Thoughts.

Last year Nintendo surprised the entire world by releasing the NES Classic Edition. The handy little rom machine was under produced and now sells for outrageous prices on the after market.

Now with the success of the Switch Nintendo feels emboldened to follow up the insanely popular device with a SNES mini. To be honest, while I did grow up with the NES, I enjoy the SNES much more. The Super Nintendo was the very first game system I ever purchased with my own money, money I earned from working two summer jobs. I worked in the corn fields early in the mornings and then I tossed newspapers at people’s door steps in the afternoon. I earned that Super NES, and I loved it.

What makes me very interested in this is not just all of the great games, nor the cool retro form factor, but it also comes with a copy of an unreleased Super NES Prototype of Star Fox 2. For me, just being able to replay Super Mario World on an actual Super NES Controller on an official Nintendo device would be good enough. Sure I have the game on Wii, and Wii U, and Game Boy Advance… wait, why do I want this thing again?

Right, so the truth is, while I do currently own nearly every game being announced, that isn’t going to stop me from wanting to buy this handy little gadget. Although I see it as more of a novelty than anything, I am sure I will still attempt to pre-order one. I never did get an NES Classic, the price just never came down enough to justify a purchase for what it was.

To be honest, I am not even sure the Star Fox 2 game is what I really want. I have been wanting to get an SNES for a long time. Considering the cost of a used, original, beat up old SNES is the same price as this brand new, in the box, device made directly by Nintendo, I am very tempted to get this just for that reason alone. Sure it won’t be able to play all of the old carts, but honestly I wasn’t looking forward to spending that kind of money anyways so for me this device could be just what I needed to add to my collection.

Hopefully Nintendo can produce enough to meet the demand. Or at least to fill pre-orders which I hope to jump on very soon.