So, I'm trying something new. I use the Back-Blogged site to post little recaps and reviews of the games, movies, and books that I finish off. But why not take a little time-traveling trip and get an overview of the big picture? Just because the blog began in the summer of 2009 doesn't mean my mission of conquest did. So I'm opening up a new door and attempting to post some quick little recaps of all the things that were finished before the Back-Blogged project became a reality. In an effort to fight back my tendencies to be very verbose, I'm limiting myself to three sentences and three alone per every item. Anyway, up first? All the handheld video games I've beaten through the years. Keep in mind that anything I've beaten since August '09 will not be included here as it's already been posted (likely at length) somewhere in the blog. Here we go!
Civilization Revolution (DS, 2008)
This was the most disappointing game in the Civilization franchise that I have ever played. The tiny DS screens did not allow me to feel the worldwide scope that the games are known for. I'm sure the console versions were better.
Clubhouse Games (DS, 2006)
This is a collection of forty classic board games and card games. It was definitely a total bargain. There's no real originality, but it's fun to play this with other friends who have DSes.
Elevator Action (Game Boy, 1991)
Blech. This was a port of a then-popular arcade game. The slow frame rate and base-level graphics render it nearly unplayable today.
Final Fantasy (GBA, 2004)
Here's a remake of the original game in what is an epic and much-renowned franchise. I had a lot of fun discovering the ancestor of several of my favorite games, but this was by no means a must-play. It was short and sweet, especially compared to contemporary Final Fantasy games.
Final Fantasy II (GBA, 2004)
They tried to do a lot of things in this second installment that they never really went back to. It was a decent game in its own right, but still feels like a black sheep of the Final Fantasy family. You could easily draw comparisons to the second games in other classic series like Zelda and Super Mario Bros.
Final Fantasy IV (DS, 2008)
FF4 was my first RPG and I loved it enough to buy a DS once I heard about this 3D remake. The DS version does the original justice and is even an improvement in a number of ways. Still, there's something nostalgic about the original that this version just can't replicate.
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS, 2007)
To this day I still think this game took advantage of the unique controls offered by the DS like no other DS game. It wasn't my favorite Zelda game but I still had plenty of fun with it. It seemed like it was the perfect length and scope for a landmark handheld game.
Line Rider 2: Unbound (DS, 2008)
They took a neat little Flash application from the Internet, tweaked it to be puzzle-based, and called it a DS game. What's more, they called it a sequel. It made for a nice way to occupy myself during baseball games for a month, but didn't do much else for me.
Marble Madness (Game Boy, 1991)
As was the case with many arcade ports, repetition and practice were the keys to success with this port. This is a six-level, ten-minute game. Of course, it took me hours upon hours to beat due to a lack of forgiving controls and generous time allowances.
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS, 2005)
I loved the first half of this Mario RPG, but then it really slowed down and started to feel stale. My reward for picking it up some two years later and muscling my way to the finish was an incredibly long and difficult final boss battle. This was actually my sister's game until she gave it to me in exchange for the use of my debit card to purchase a $14 Jonas Brothers CD.
Mario Kart DS (DS, 2005)
I prefer most console-originated franchises to stay away from handhelds, but this version of Mario Kart really wasn't half bad. Still, it's just not the same as racing against three friends on a large TV screen. Replay value, therefore, is minimal.
Mario Party DS (DS, 2007)
In a direct contradiction of my previous mini-recap, I'll admit that I was very happy to see Mario Party venture away from its console origins. The franchise was getting far too stale and the DS offered an interesting array of new control schemes for innovative mini-games. Still, once again, the lack of human opponents was disheartening.
Metroid Fusion (DS, 2002)
This may be my favorite handheld game of all time. This may seem like blasphemy to some people, but I think it was a better game than Super Metroid by a landslide. And Super Metroid is almost unanimously considered one of the five or ten best platformer/shooter games ever made.
Metroid: Zero Mission (DS, 2004)
Combine the story of the original Metroid game with the look and feel of Metroid Fusion and you really can't go wrong. I liked this game plenty. But I liked Fusion more.
New Super Mario Bros. (DS, 2006)
Something about this game just didn't blow me away like I wanted. I beat it once without ever really hunting around for secret levels, and I never looked back. For some reason (probably the mutliplayer aspect), I enjoyed the similar Wii game much more.
Pac-Man (Game Boy, 1991)
There's really nothing that needs to be said here. It's an arcade classic. Oh, and I guess my grandparents live down the street from the guy who made it.
Pokémon Blue (Game Boy, 1998)
Like plenty of obsessive fanboys my age, I owned both the Red and the Blue version of this classic game. It's really nothing more than a dumbed down RPG for kids. I did prefer Blue to Red for some reason (probably the Blastoise on the box art).
Pokémon Red (Game Boy, 1998)
See above. If you're wondering, yes, I did play (and beat) both games a number of times. What a marketing scam by Nintendo.
Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition (Game Boy, 1999)
Alright, I suppose this is getting a bit embarrassing. This was nothing more than Pikachu-pushing memorabilia. You could collect all three starting Pokémon from Red and Blue, however, and that made it better than either of its predecessors.
Qix (Game Boy, 1990)
This is an awesome and simple arcade port in which you draw lines within a box. By drawing such lines, you fence off an area from hazards and enemies. Claim 70% of the area and advance to the next level.
Solar Striker (Game Boy, 1990)
This is by all accounts a pretty terrible and difficult game. I'll admit that I needed to use an emulator to beat the five levels. Good luck doing so without save states.
Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll (DS, 2006)
The Monkey Ball games require very precise control schemes because the fundamental gameplay mechanic is altering the inertia of a sphere in order to navigate it to a goal at the end of an obstacle course. The control scheme in this game involved spinning a 2D circle with a stylus to change the 3D sphere's momentum. As such, it was an awful, awful game.
Tetris (Game Boy, 1989)
If Pac-Man needed no explanation, Tetris needs even less of one. A negative one, if you will. So, uh, this game doesn't involve falling blocks of various shapes and identical sizes.
Yoshi's Island DS (DS, 2006)
For a game with so much potential, this was a bit of a letdown. It just felt more cumbersome and frustrating than fun. Sweeney thought so too, and he actually traded it to me for the low price of a couple of non-wireless GameCube controllers.
And that's my recap. Twenty-four video games in a total of seventy-two sentences. I've still got a long way to go - 133 sentence trios just to complete my video games - but I figure there's no rush and I can easily belt these out at a leisurely pace. What does everyone else think about this? Good idea? Bad idea? Feel free to comment on any of the aforementioned games in the comment section. And, hell, feel free to make your own recap of pre-Back-Blogged endeavors. Smell ya later!
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