NES #2 Super Mario Bros. 3

Mario 3 stands as a land mark of my gaming history due to it being the first NES game I ever owned or played. I was a little late getting into gaming, but will never forget one Christmas morning unwrapping the Nintendo Entertainment System that came with a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. So I started with 3, then played 1, and finally managed to play 2 later down the line. All three are classics and amazing NES games, but 3 will always be special to me as that first game I ever owned.

The story of Mario 3 is nearly the same as every installment of the series, and will most likely continue to do so. The Princess has been captured, and it is up to our favorite mustachioed plumber to rescue her from the clutches of the evil Koopa King himself, Bowser. However in 3 Mario doesn't just have to deal with Bowser, but his children as well. The Koopa Kids act as the final bosses for each world, seven in total with Bowser himself waiting at the end of the eighth.

Game play follows Mario as he scrolls sideways through the stage, jumping on platforms and enemies and occasionally sliding down pipes into hidden areas. Power ups have always been a staple of the franchise starting with the Fire-ball Mario from game 1. The Fire Flower returns, and is joined by the Super Leaf which grants Mario a raccoon eared cap and tail that allows him to fly short distances and slow his falls. The tail can also be used in a spinning attack to strike blocks and certain enemies. A Frog Suit helps Mario navigate through water levels much easier, and the hard to come by Hammer Suit puts Mario in the duds of a Hammer Bros. giving him the ability to chuck hammers at bad guys.

Aspects of Mario 3 have continued to influence later installments in the series over the years all the way to the present. The overworld map with each stage placed upon the path with branching trails has been used in a number of Mario games including the recently released Super Mario Galaxy 2.

My most fond memories of Mario 3 involve the use of the Game Genie. For those of you who may not know what a Game Genie is, it was a device you attached your NES cart onto before inserting it into the system. It allowed you to hack the game and enable cheat codes. Yes, it was cheating, but who cares if you're having fun? I was just a kid who wanted to mess around with Mario and make him do even more crazy things. The best cheat to use was known as the "Sky Walker" code that allowed Mario to infinitely jump through the air. Most stages could be completely bypassed by flying over the entire stage from start to finish. Sure it was cheap, but as a kid I enjoyed playing with the Game Genie. I have sense moved on from using cheating devices on my games as I grew up and developed more skill as a gamer.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is not the last time Mario will make it onto one of my lists, but for the NES he ranks at number two. Second place isn't to bad, but what could possibly claim the top spot as my all time favorite NES game? Keep a look out cause it's coming soon!

Prince of Persia Review

Films based off video games have a bit of a bad reputation, and for mostly good reason. When put in the same category as Blood Rayne, Mario Brothers, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, and Doom it's difficult to be very enthusiastic toward the concept of video game adaptations. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is definitely better than the films previously listed, but it does not escape unscathed.

Having played a bit of the Sands of Time game I'll start off with how the story differs from the source material. Other than both having a dagger with the power to turn back time to its wielder the movie's plot is completely different. In the movie the title character is a street rat ripped straight from Aladdin who is adopted by the King and becomes a Prince of Persia. Events occur that end with the Prince coming into possession of the magic dagger which thrusts him on an adventure. This isn't ground breaking story telling, but it manages to carry the film along.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the lead role and while he doesn't exactly look Persian, he does manage to capture the appearance and personality of the character from the game. The rest of the cast is also comprised of mostly non Persian actors, but seem to fit well in their roles.

The film's major problems do not rest on the shoulders of the actors, but in how it is all presented. Awkward moments of slow motion break up of the flow of scenes, and prove to be utterly unnecessary. Shots of what are clearly computer generated sand dunes are glaring obvious among fairly well crafted set pieces. Portions of the film feel completely pointless and fail to move the plot forward at all. A number of other flaws keep The Prince of Persia from being truly great, but they aren't enough to make it terrible.

Final Score: B

NES #3 Metroid

Look at how awesome Samus looks on that cover, now imagine you are a ten year old boy looking at it for the first time and how bad ass it must have looked. However this is not the original box art, but the reissue. I'm using this one because it's the one I owned, plus the original was very bland with in game graphics instead of artwork.

Little did I know that the slick looking bounty hunter on the cover that I admired so much was actually female. Hell the instruction booklet even calls Samus a "he" but if you were able to beat the game within a certain time limit you were rewarded with an image of Samus outside of her armor revealing she was in fact a woman. This makes Samus the first major female character I can remember playing as in video games. You would have thought as a young boy I would have been crushed by the revelation cause girls are stupid and can't be awesome bounty hunters, but instead I embraced the character. So what if Samus was a chick? She still had sweet armor and kicked a lot of ass.

Now onto the story of Metroid. Samus Aran is a bounty hunter sent to the Planet Zebes to stop a group of Space Pirates from using the lifeforms known as Metroids as biological weapons. It's a rather complex plot for an NES era game, though nearly all of that is told through the booklet and not the game itself. Samus must face the space pirates Ridley, Kraid, and their leader Mother Brain.

Metroid plays as a side to side platformer with a single large world, instead of being broken up into stages that must be defeated in succession you are given freedom to explore the planet's various zones as you like. Each zone has a primary color and design to identify it from the others, but this can also lead to confusion as portions of each zone begin to look alike. This can leave you lost and wandering for hours. With no in game map how do you manage to navigate this world? Do what I did as a kid, make your own maps! Grab some paper and a pencil and get to drawing.

With no option to save, and an awkward password system that barely seemed to work, this was another game that required an all nighter to defeat. I remember staying up with a friend until the crack of dawn fighting our way through Ridley, Kraid, and finally defeating Mother Brain. So we beat the game right? Wrong! After killing Mother Brain the planet is set to explode and you must escape through a vertical shaft of platforms. This was our downfall. All that hard work and we couldn't make it out in time before the planet blew up. The fact that I still remember that moment of defeat proves Metroid is worthy of my number three spot. A great game that I'll never forget.

NES #4 Blaster Master

NES games had become so popular that other companies wanted to cash in on the trend. One such company was Scholastic Inc. best known for publishing children's book series. They released a series of books called "Worlds of Power" that were novelizations of popular video games. I own one and only one of these books, and that of course is Blaster Master. To this day it sits upon my book shelf in all its yellow paged glory. My love for Blaster Master began while spending the weekend at a cousin's house who happened to own it. I had never heard of the game until that point, but was sucked in from the first play through.

Blaster Master's plot revolves around a young boy named Jason who chases after Fred, his pet frog, down a hole. The frog had been exposed to what appear to be radioactive chemicals that cause the frog to grow to a large size as it disappeared underground. Jason follows and discovers a four wheeled tank named SOPHIA 3rd in a cave beneath the earth. So Jason does what any young boy would, he hops in the tank and takes off on an adventure to find Fred. You have to admire Jason's determination and loyalty to his pet. I had a number of pets growing up and I loved them all so I can see where Jason is coming from.

Game play is split between two sections. A majority of the time is spent in SOPHIA 3rd hopping to shooting through areas from a side scrolling point of view. Doorways are located in these areas which are to small for your tank and require Jason to go on foot. These portions take on a top down view as you maneuver Jason through maze like stages with a blaster gun in hand. At the end of the stage you will often be faced with a boss battle, either a giant floating brain, crab, lobster, or even your mutated pet frog.

Like a lot of NES games one of Blaster Master's biggest strength's is the music. With different themes playing for each area of the game ranging from good, great, and freaking amazing.

I rediscovered Blaster Masters years later after my first encounter, and fell in love with it all over again while playing through it with one of my best friends. Blaster Master will always be a part of my gaming history, and now thanks to the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console anyone can learn to love it as much as I do. So if you have a Wii go download Blaster Master now, do it! You won't regret it.

NES #5 Kickle Cubicle

Never judge a game by its cover, and no game hits that point home better than Kickle Cubicle. From just glancing at the box it appears as nothing but candy colored kiddy fluff, but inside is a fun little puzzle and adventure game. The most fun I can remember having on the NES originates with Kickle Cubicle. Again this involved long nights of playing with one of my best friends, you know who you are!

So what is Kickle Cubicle about? Well from what I can remember an evil chicken wearing an eye patch, frosty the snowman, and a creepy clown have taken over the land of vegetable people and its up to Kickle with his freezing breath to save the day! Seriously that is the plot in a nutshell. The offical story may be slightly different, but who cares when the game involves kicking ice blocks into a clown's face? Movies like IT and Killer Klowns from Outer Space forever scarred me as a child, so any game that allows me to exact revenge on the evil bastards has to be on the list. Clowns are EVIL!

You control Kickle, a big headed child with freezing breath which he uses to turn enemies into ice blocks that he then kicks into water and form bridges to navigate his way through the area. Stages are simple at fist with few enemies and easy to reach goals, but it becomes more complex as you reach higher levels. Plus the addition of boss fights with said evil chicken and company can prove to be a challenge.

While most prolly have never heard of the game, my fond memories of it have at my number five spot. Keep on kicking Kickle!

MacGruber Review

It's been awhile since a Saturday Night Live skit moved to the big screen, and for good reason. While not all SNL films are bad their track record has been hit or miss. So how does MacGruber fit with the rest? It lands in a strange middle ground, not terrible but not exactly great either. MacGruber is stupid funny, relying on raunchy jokes and gags to get the laughs. It just happens to do so decently well, and benefits from its R rating.

The cast all play their roles well, with Will Forte as the title character being as goofy as he should. Fellow SNL cast member Kristen Wiig does a decent job as the slightly awkward female side kick. Then we have the non SNL actors like Ryan Phillippe and Val Kilmer who surprisingly do not just phone it in. Phillippe's character is the opposite of MacGruber, being grounded more in reality and the contrast helps sell most of the jokes. While Val Kilmer as the film's villain seems to be enjoying himself and having fun playing the part.

MacGruber is not for everyone, but those looking for a bit of fun who aren't afraid of a few dirty jokes and 80's cheese then it will certainly deliver.

Final Score: B-

NES #6 Life Force

This will be the last space shooter on the list, I promise! When you are dealing with NES games you are bound to have a few of them in the mix. Out of all the space shooters for the NES, Life Force is by far my favorite and has the most memories attached to it.

Life Force is a spin off of the Gradius series, but with the addition of a second player joining your flight through space. This is the major reason why it holds such a high position on my list over the other space shooters. I remember to this day staying up all night with one of my friends playing together as we made our way to victory. One of the few star fighter games I can remember actually beating, but it was only thanks to the help of a co-pilot.

Similar to Gradius the game plays as a side scrolling space shooter, and like Abadox would switch up with up to down view. Another Abadox comparison involves entering the body of a giant creature, in the case of Life Force that would be the giant snake on the cover of the box.

So that is the last of the space fighters on my list, rejoice! Now lets move on to the top five, these have got to be good right? Right?!?