Smash TV: Great Arcade Game, Fun on the NES

Smash TV is a twin-stick shooter that was originally released in the arcades in 1990. It was later ported to just about everything. Midway developed the arcade game, and Acclaim published the ports. Some of the ports were published by Acclaim’s other publishing labels, such as Flying Edge. Because of the game’s control scheme, I’mContinue reading “Smash TV: Great Arcade Game, Fun on the NES”

Beetlejuice: One of the Worst NES Games

Beetlejuice was a huge deal for a short period of time, much like other fads that entered pop culture. I remember the movie, the cartoon, and some of the merchandise surrounding it. Heck, my school picture from kindergarten has me wearing a Beetlejuice t-shirt. I vaguely remember playing the NES game. My friend Joey rentedContinue reading “Beetlejuice: One of the Worst NES Games”

Acclaim: An Odd Publishing Company

Acclaim is one of those companies that has an odd history. Many of its terrible games were hidden under the LJN and Flying Edge labels, and it had a long relationship with Midway and WWF/WWE. They did publish some great games, especially the ports of Midway’s arcade games. This is one of the companies thatContinue reading “Acclaim: An Odd Publishing Company”

The Best Retro Games I Played on an Emulator

Emulators were a big part of how I discovered and played retro games in the 1990s. Before I could really go anywhere outside of my hometown, I would wander from website to website downloading NES, SNES, Game Boy, and Genesis ROMs. I don’t remember all of the games I played back then, but some madeContinue reading “The Best Retro Games I Played on an Emulator”

Gauntlet II: A Good Sequel but Nothing New

Gauntlet II isn’t too different from the first game. The gameplay is essentially the same, the same four characters are in the game, and the graphics are mostly the same. This isn’t all that surprising given that the game was released shortly after the first in the arcades. This was a conversion kit for theContinue reading “Gauntlet II: A Good Sequel but Nothing New”

Gauntlet: A Good, not Great, NES Game

Gauntlet was originally released in the arcades by Atari in 1985. It borrows heavily from the game Dandy, which was released on Atari’s 8-bit computers in 1983. Like several other arcade games that Atari released, the rights to this game would eventually be bought by another company. I never had the chance to play thisContinue reading “Gauntlet: A Good, not Great, NES Game”

A Weird Arcade Port from Nintendo

I really like weird games, and Clu Clu Land is definitely a weird one. This is one of the games that I didn’t know about until the 2010s. I don’t remember if I ever saw this game when I was collecting games in the 1990s, and I definitely don’t remember any of my friends talkingContinue reading “A Weird Arcade Port from Nintendo”

Donkey Kong Jr is a Great Arcade-NES Port

Donkey Kong Jr is the sequel to Donkey Kong, and is one of the few games that I first played at an after school babysitter. For some reason, my parents had me go to a neighbor’s house after school when I was in the first grade. There were a bunch of kids there, and IContinue reading “Donkey Kong Jr is a Great Arcade-NES Port”

TMNT III on the NES is Great

TMNT III: The Manhattan Project is one of the NES games I discovered when I started collecting games in the late 1990s and early 2000s. With how big a deal TMNT was when I was a kid, I’m surprised I didn’t know about this one. The only reason I could think of was that myContinue reading “TMNT III on the NES is Great”

TMNT II is a Great Game on the NES

TMNT: The Arcade game is one of the few arcade games I remember playing. That’s because it was everywhere, or at least that is how it felt. I didn’t grow up near an arcade, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t play arcade games. They were at movie theaters, restaurants, bowling alleys, and amusement centers. TheContinue reading “TMNT II is a Great Game on the NES”