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.