Kraid's Hideout on Piano

Castlevania 3 Clockwork on Piano

This is Dennis Lincoln playing Clockwork from Castlevania 3. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a YouTube account, so I will be uploading it for him

Animal Hodgepodge

And assignment mid way through my Character Design class. This was my first real digital painting without the assistance of lines work in the picture. The assignment was to take a list of animals (each one being selected randomly) and mix them to gether to see what you get. I got an ermine, deer, okapi, finch, and a dugong. None of the creatures have all 5 mixed together, but I get pretty close. I love them all.


This one is a mix of an ermine, finch, and an okapi


This one is a mix of a deer, okapi, finch, and an ermine.


This one is a simple mix of a dugong and a finch


And last but not least; this one is a mix of a deer, okapi, and an ermine.

Danaë

A fun little doodle I did a while ago. Its a copy of Rembrandt's Danaë + a companion cube =D


Here is what the original painting looks like.

Cool Game Stores

Here are some cool NES reproduction stores and Modification kits... and Atari home brewed games.

Retro USB
This site has some really cool modifications, and home brewed games that you can purchase for your Nintendo. I recommend checking it out, there is lots you can do with this stuff. They even have a reproduction of the "Holy Grail" of NES games which is the Nintendo World Championships 1990.

NES Reproductions
I don't know if this legal or whatever, but its pretty cool none the less. You send them a doner NES cart, and they rewrite the information and send you back any one of the games specified on their list! This is really cool because all of those titles were either scrapped before being released in the Americas, or just never released in the Americas in the first place. And there are even some home brewed games there you can get made. It's pretty sweet.

Atari Age
This page is awesome if your a fan of the Atari. Not only do they have allot of information on the Atari systems, but if you check out their store, they also have allot of home brewed Atari games!

Mad-Gear
If you go to any large anime, game, or comic convention, chances are, you will see these guys there. This is their website, and you can buy a tone of import games from their. Their prices are reasonable too considering some of the games are pretty rare or highly sought after.

Play-Asia
This site is already pretty popular, But they sell allot of import games and toys. Really awesome, look through their inventory and you will most likely find something you want. They also sell some things that help you play Japanese games on American systems.

And thats all that I have for now. Check those out and try not to spend to much money!

Pac-Man ODed

Always wandered what those Power Pills would do to Pac-Man. This is a quick picture that i painted in Photoshop. Probably the easiest video game character to draw.

MAGfest 7

Chances are, you have never heard of MAGfest. Well, if your an old school gamer, or a gamer of any kind, i think you would love this. Its an event held in Virginia every January that has tons of live music from many Video Game Bands like the Minibosses, Panels from websites like OverClocked ReMix, Video rooms playing game related cartoons and movies 24 hours a day, Gaming room with all of the major consoles with plenty of competitions going on, and room parties every night! Seriously, you have to check this one out. Its quite an experience.

[SNES] Play Super Famicom Games on your SNES

Ever wanted to buy some Super Famicom games, but didn't, because you don't want to buy a Super Famicom? I'm sure allot of you in this blog haven't thought about it, but i will tell you this neet trick anyway. All you will need is your Super Nintendo and some needle nose pliers, as seen in the picture. I also have a Super Nintendo (SNES) and Super Famicom game to show the difference.

As you can see here in the picture on the right, The SNES cartridge is on the top and the Super Famicom cartridge is the one under it. You can see that the SNES cartridge has 2 notches cut out in it, And the Super Famicom does not. This is because inside the SNES (where you insert the games) There are 2 notches that are designed to prevent a Super Famicom game from being inserted into the system.

Here is a shot of the inside of it. I marked the 2 notches that you must remove. Now, this is where your Needle Nose Pliers come in handy. Insert the pliers into the Cartridge slot and break those plastic notches out.


I found that the easiest way to do this is by wiggling the pliers back and forth, perpendicular to the direction the slot is going. You will eventually have to push the pliers all the way down to finally break it off. You want to get as much of it as possible, if not, you will have a fun time trying to remove more.


Here are the Notches that were removed.


Here is what the inside looks like with the notches removed!

Now that you have your SNES notches removed, Pop in any Super Famicom game and Power it up! You can also do this same trick to the 2nd version of the SNES, which is allot smaller. Have fun with this!





Now you can play SNES and Super Famicom games on your SUPER NINTENDO!!!

Angry Video Game Nerd

The Angry Video Game Nerd is probably my favorite game reviewer. he is absolutely brutal in reviewing the shittiest games ever made. He occasionally does review good games, but bashes the bad ones for the most part. A warning though, he uses allot of strong language, and allot of fecal references. Check it out HERE!

He also does a bunch of other cool videos including a Rocky Documentary... sorta. Its cool stuff. Check it out at http://cinemassacre.com/!

Super Mario Kart on the Force Dynamics 301

A friend sent me this link and I couldn't stop wanting to play on it. Its the original Super Mario Kart being played on this little machine that simulated real movement. Its just awesome. I want one!

[NES Review} Castlevania

Castlevania is a true Nintendo classic. It is one of the most fun and most challenging games, and was the beginning of a huge franchise that still lives on to this day. What makes this game such a classic though? Well, here are some reasons.

The game play in Castlevania is great. The controls take a little while to get use to because you aren’t as maneuverable as you are in some other games. For example, when you jump forward, you can’t stop or change direction in the air, you only jump forward. Same if you jump straight up, you cant move in the air. So this presents an interesting challenge throughout the game. You have to anticipate the enemy’s actions and take them out as soon as possible.

This game is very hard if you’re playing it for the first time. The first 3 levels aren’t too challenging though. And the bosses aren’t to bad as long as you know how to beat them. But the game gets much harder as soon as you hit level 4. Level 5 isn’t to bad, but then the last level (level 6) really tests your patience. It’s the hardest level in the game, and probably the level that you will spend the most time on trying to figure out. Then, when you finally reach Dracula’s part, you have unlimited continues until you beat him (which is VERY nice). Dracula in this game is pretty hard to beat the first time through, But the fact that you never get sent back when you continue on Dracula that makes this game beatable, and fun.

I personally find this game to be VERY replayable. I just pick it up, pop it in, and see how far I can get without dying. There are also “bonus items” that you can find throughout the game. They really don’t mean anything. They just give you extra points like moneybags or something. Its pretty fun trying to find tall of the secret items though. Also, there is a different way to handle each boss battle. You can be super cheep and use Holy Water to destroy each enemy with easy (doesn’t work well on Dracula though). Or you could challenge yourself and use the Cross as your secondary weapon to help you take down the bosses. I think Death is the ultimate challenge with nothing but Cross.

The graphics are some of the best for the time period. Each level is pretty well detailed and have a good atmosphere, which was actually pretty hard to come by in the NES days. Each level has its own unique feel, and its pretty cool to see the transition, and try to figure out where you are as you ascend the castle. And on top of cool graphics, the music is amazing! The music engine has some great dynamics, which help the music sound really good, and the songs themselves have some awesome tunes that are hard to get out of your head. Listen to Vampire Killer in my music and you will hear it for yourself. It’s the music for the first level, and has probably been remixed and reused in more Castlevania sequels then any other song.

This game is legendary, and should be played and remembered for what it is. It is the game that started an awesome franchise that seems to be resurrected more often then Dracula. There were 2 other Castlevanias for the Nintendo, but this is the first. If you have any sort of NES collection and you don’t have this game, then do whatever it takes to get it.

Difficulty: Very Hard
Time Duration: 5 hour-30 minutes
Score: 9.5/10 Superb

Final Thoughts: If you are playing through this game for the first time, just note that you will probably die A LOT. Note that I put the time duration from between 5 hours and 30 minutes. I would say anyone can beat it in 5 hours with all the times they will die, but this game can be beaten in about 30 minutes too if you know what your doing and don’t die. Basically, the trick to this game is to get Holy Water and keep it. You can use it to easily defeat the first 5 bosses. But then you will get to Dracula, and you have to figure out a new strategy. Good luck!

Rubber Woes

This is an awesome student film by Jeffery Luiu. He is going to Cal Arts in Las Angeles. Leave comments and as much good feedback for him as possible, he deserves it =D

1 Star Amizon Bible Review

A friend linked me this review and thought it was hilarious. Its a 1 star review of the Bible on Amazon.com. it reads:
"Frankly, I was disapointed. I expected more from God. Definetly not his best work."
Here is the link to it.

Another one that I liked is THIS one.

Here are ALL of them if you care to scroll through them.

[NES] The Legend

Well, this is a pretty funny little story. About 3 months ago, my friend played through this game called Solomon' Key. He spent about 8 hours on the damn game and FINALLY beat it once and for all. AND to celebrate, he thew the game off my balcony and into a relatively busy street in front of my house. It was late at night, so he thought there shouldn't be to many cars, and the odds of 1 car hitting it in the street aren't very high.

Well, in the time it took him to go down and retrieve it, it had already been run over. The game was completely smashed up, but the game chip its self looked like it was still in good condition. So we opened up Urban Champion, took its chip out, and replaced it with the Solomon's Key chip, and it still worked as if nothing happened. Then that gave us the idea, we would take the parts that remained of the game, and rebuild it! A Frankenstein NES game of sorts.

So, my friend picked up some Super Glue, and I started to reassemble all of the pieces that we could find at the time. There were still allot of pieces missing, so it isn't as strong as it use to be. But, we managed to pull it together! We simply call it "The Legend" now. Here are some pictures of it:


Here is the game fully reassembled. You can see some of the chip in the hole in the bottom of it. Its pretty shaky, but still functions.



Here it is in my top loading NES. It was kind of a pain in the ass to get in there, and get it working. I can only imagine how much harder it would be on a regular NES.

Its alive, ITS ALIVE! The Frankenstein Solomon's Key cartridge functions perfectly... though a little battered and bruised. isn't super glue awesome?

As to why my friend threw the game into the street in the first place? Well, the game is so damn hard and tedious! There are 50 levels total, and each one gets harder and harder until its almost imposable. And on top of that, you if you die and continue, you get sent back a few stages, and have to re-beat them. Total pain in the ass. Now, on top of that, you listen to the same song over and over and over and over again. The song never changes. Don't get me wrong, its a cool song, But listening to it for 8 Hours straight? That would drive any man insane!

And why play the game for 8 hours straight? Because the game doesn't have a damn password system. You would think that a game with 50 levels would have some sort of password system, BUT NO, they expect you to play it all the way through in one sitting. THAT is why he did it. It was like taking a massive dump. So relieved that its finally done with and over. So, he will probably never pick the game up again and play it for as long as he lives, so it looks like i got a free game from the ordeal. And thats awesome!

[Art] Legendary Solid Snake

Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series

This started out as a doodle while i was taking notes in class. I then put it into a new window and developed it further. I got the Foxhound logo from Google search, then skewed it into perspective. Its was all made in Photoshop in about 1 hour.

[NES Review] Strider

- This is another review that I wrote a while ago shortly after I beat it -

Well, i have always been a fan of the Strider series, especially the Genesis Strider. But i have never heard of there being a Strider on the NES. So, naturally, as soon as i saw a copy at a flea market, I picked it up immediately!

When i started playing it, i wasn't sure what to do. I would just be in one zone, and i wouldn't know what to do from there. It wasn't like any other Strider game that i have played. Then i figured out that you were suppose to leave the level to read the discs, and from there, the game was pretty straight forward. All of the bosses are pretty easy to take down. The only real problem with the game would be the glitchy jumping. You will get a brain hemorrhage trying to jump on some moving platforms.... or even doing a wall jump.... that is until you learn the trick to doing wall jumps. BUT STILL, its a total pain.

Over all, the game is pretty fun, and there are some cool abilities that you get along the way. I found the game to be a little short, with maybe 5 hours of game play.... and now that i have played through it, i can probably get it done in around 1 hour. But, its a pretty cool game, And i recommend checking it out!

Difficulty: Easy
Time Spent: 5 hours
Score: 7/10 Good

Final Thoughts:
Even though the game isn't as solid as some of Capcoms other titles like Bionic Commando or Megaman, this game is still a good Capcom title. Its a fairly easy game that you can easily add to your list of games you beat, and its pretty fun to pick up and play through again. If you see this game for at most $5, get it. But don't spend much more then that on it... because your being ripped off if you are.

[NES Review] Bucky O'hare

- Here is a little review that i wrote for Bucky O'hare shortly after beating it for the first time. -

-Rant
Buckey O'hare, video game turned TV show, and even a toy line. Fortunately they all went belly up shortly after they were conceived because Bucky and the rest of his pals look so stupid... it works alright in a video game, but when its actually an animated series, you see how stupid Bucky looks. Look it up for yourself on youtube... its like the "Poochy" (from The Simpsons) of Saturday morning cartoons. Here is the first episode.



- Anyway, on with the game review -

I heard about this game quite a while ago on a little game site, and thought to myself "hrmmm, i should keep this game in mind so i can remember to buy it when I see it." But i never saw a copy of it anywhere.... its pretty imposable to find. i thought i was never going to find myself a copy until i found someone selling a ton of NES games on Craigslist. I was overjoyed, I have heard so many good things about the game, and now i get to play it for myself.

Well, This game is pretty fun. It is like Megaman in that its a side scrolling shooter, mixed with some heavy platforming parts that will make you grind your teeth. You also must switch between your friends in your party to get through certain obstacles in the level. At first, the game might be a little difficult, but you get use to it, And the rest of the starter levels are pretty... well... not easy... but not super challenging. Then once you finish the starter levels, hell begins. The 1st of the Toad stages isn't that bad, but the next ones will make you want to break your TV and/or throw the game cartrage under a steam roller.

The only thing that keeps this game from being VERY hard, and the only reason why i bothered with so much frustration was because you start at the beginning of the part you died is, even after continuing! So, that means, if your stuck on a boss, you can play him till you beat him and never have to go through the level again. This was very handy for those harder bosses, especially the last boss of the game.

Overall, i must say that this is a great game, and worth checking it out. If you like old frustrating NES games with challenging boss fights, and unforgiving levels, you would love this game. the fact that you don't get penalized for dying makes this game worth playing all the way through.

Difficulty: Hard
Time Spent: 10 hours or less
Overall Score: 8/10 Great

Final Thoughts: If your a collector of NES games, this is one you definitely do not want to pass up. Not only is it a good game, But its also very rare. I managed to get mine for $6 off of Craigslist.com. Thats around the average price for Nintendo games. If you see it, be sure to pick it up.

VG Cluture: The Beginning

Greetings to all who might stumble upon this Blog, and find enough interest to read through it. I am Daniel Adams, more commonly known as Starscream (from the 1984 hit cartoon, Transformers) online. I am an artist who is currently going to college and have my goals set on breaking into the video game industry as ether a concept artist, or a game designer. I also work in 3D, and can easily do modeling and rigging if I have to. I am a huge gamer, having a large library of classic Nintendo, and Super Nintendo games, as well as a plethora of other consoles and games.

I will be using this BlogSpot to review video games that I beat recently, post up my most recent art, and maybe share some other events that I happen to catch wind of. I don't know how often I will post, but i will try to make it as frequent as possible. Any way, thats it for me... for now. Now I have to get back to homework =)