Exposing my socks to the world

For those of you just joining us, Nintendo announced that they would be giving those who pre-order Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker a special disc. The special disc has previews of some games (F-Zero, 1080 Avalanche, Wario World, The Wind Waker {of course}, and some others), but more importantly than that, there’s two versions of one of the best game that I’ve ever played: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the not released in the United States Master Quest.



The Ocarina of Time is exactly the same as the Nintendo 64 version. Right down to the last pixel. If you really want to know about it, there’s about a thousand places on the Internet where you can get a review of it.



The Master Quest is, for all intents and purposes, exactly like the original game with one major exception: the dungeons are harder. How are they harder? The puzzles have been reworked slightly, and there are more enemies to deal with. So far, I only managed to play through the first dungeon (once I figure out how to play and sleep at the same time while getting the benefits of both, I’ll be set).



So the main differences are:

• The L button is used for targeting instead of the Z button.
• The C-Stick is used instead of the C-Buttons (you could also use the X, Y, or Z buttons {C-Up is always C-Up})

So, it’s a perfect translation, and it’s definately more than enough to hold you over until the Wind Waker comes out, assuming you actually are looking forward to it (which I am).

So, what exactly is Konami Collector’s Series: Castlevania and Contra? Essentially, it’s five classic NES games (Castlevania, Castlevania 2, Castlevania 3, Contra, and Super C) packaged with an emulator, and sells for $10 (marked down from $20).


What does all this mean? I don’t have to fight my Nintendo whenever I want to play one of these games and, more importantly, I got them all for really cheap (Castlevania 2 runs $10 by itself in cartridge form around here).



So how does it look?



The games themselves look exactly the same as they did when they were released. No effort was made to ‘bring them up to date’ graphics-wise, and that’s just fine with me.



So how does it sound?



The sound is as close as you can get. It sounds like you have a Nintendo wedged in your computer somewhere.



I think this is a great idea and I hope it sets a precedent for other companies. I’d love to see other classic compilations for my computer. Especially games that are super tough to find (and consequently super expensive), Nintendos starting to finally wear out, and at the bargain price, you can’t go wrong.



Besides, being able to play my NES games on my computer legally still boggles my mind.

• Nightshade Ad



• Nightshade manual scan (PDF)



• Nightshade manual (text only)



• Nightshade review (kind of) at the GGDB



• GameFAQs reviews

Hopefully that will get you started on your quest to help rid Metro City of evil.



Or maybe it will just leave you shaking your head, either way, it’s a win-win situation for me.

Gamespot recently posted Microsoft and Sega’s plans for Phantasy Star Online. The most important parts of the article to point out are as follows:

1. The game will retail for $39.99
2. It comes with a free 60-day online trial
3. It will cost $8.95 per month, IN ADDITION TO the Xbox Live fee
4. The game can be played offline, BUT you must have a valid Xbox Live account

This is the first game on Xbox Live to charge an additional monthly fee… I wonder if this trend will continue.

Retro Kombat is a site that focuses on ‘old school’ games: F-Zero, Lemmings, Mario, Mortal Kombat, Sonic the Hedgehog, Wolf Team/Telenet, Yu Suzuki/AM2, and Zool.



Now, there’s other games that I think deserve to be called classics that aren’t on this list, and some on the list that maybe would be better suited to some other list, but I’m not going to agrue with some guy who takes a Tails Sprite, colors it, and calls himself ‘Roareye’.



I especially like the MIDI’s embedded in each page.



Oh, that and the Dragons.

Anyone who played video games and owned a TV in 1989 should remember the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, featuring Captain Lou Albano, and… some other guys.



It had a theme song that you couldn’t get out of your head, a cheesy dance to do, and it showed Legend of Zelda cartoons on Fridays. With those attributes, how could it not be successful?

IGN has a little video comparing the PS2 to the Dreamcast.



This reminds me of the Nintendo vs. Sega console wars a few years ago.

The Zany Video Game Quotes Page claims that they are the only page “Bad enough to rescue the president”



Yep. I’m convinced. You can find a web-page about anything if you look hard enough.

If you’ve ever played a console RPG, I’m fairly certain the plot probably went something like this.

Dance Dance Revolution is the new arcade video game crack, but those machines cost a small fortune. This version is not only free, but lets you play without even leaving your chair.