Books & Comics

Movies & Music

 

Technology

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Home
 

 
100. Donkey Kong (Arcade)


Staring at the screen, littered with ladder type structures, you found yourself wondering if the person who designed this arena had ever heard of a tool called the level. You then realize that this area is totally out of whack because of the huge ape that has decided to climb up top and jump around a bit. Taunting you with what appears to be an easy question of "how high can you get?" Donkey Kong seems like a piece of cake. It's in this game that you are first introduced to Jump Man, who's a little rough around the digital edges.  He moves at a rate slower than year old molasses and his jumps also leave much to be desired. Later in his life, this character gets an upgrade to the much loved Mario, who is much more agile. As for Donkey Kong, your only goal is to reach the girl at the top of each level, while avoiding falling barrels and flames. The barrels follow random routes, sometimes falling down a ladder, and sometimes just continuing onto the end of the screen. The randomness of the barrel's path adds to the frustration and poor visual quality of this game. Overall this was a great game for its time, and most importantly it introduced us all to Mario.    
 
99. Rampage (Arcade)
 
 
Rampage is one of the most popular games in the coin-op industry to come to the NES, missing nothing of the greatest of the former. In this game you get to choose between a giant gorilla (George), a dinosaur (Lizzie) or werewolf (Ralph), and knock down buildings, and each other!  Like all great fighting games, the option of throwing your ostensible partner in the river gives the game an always welcome tension with the 2nd player.  I myself always geared the entire game towards knocking my partner off a building right when he thinks that I'm stopping the mayhem on him.  The levels are numerous (North American cities) and so are the enemies.  Tanks, Helicopters, Boats, Taxis, and even residents of buildings try to stop you from wreaking havoc on the innocent cities (although it's a stretch that a dinosaur could be hurt by a coffee cup).  When you are out of energy you turn into a little man wanting to escape the carnage, the perfect time for the 2nd player to eat you and gain some energy. All in all, this is an extremely fun game to play.  Once again, this game shows that simplicity and playability always make for the best gaming experiences.
 
98. Batman (NES)
 

 
Gotham's resident superhero, Batman, came to the NES with some doubts based on how poor most movie-turned—to-videogames are.   Batman though was not one of these failures.  The controlling is smooth, the levels are dark and stealthy, and Batman can use numerous weapons besides his fists. The game play resembles Castlevania 1 both aesthetically and thematically which is never a bad thing.   The graphics are crisp, conspicuous and magnificently detailed in the cut scenes.  Seeing the cut scenes in Batman made one understand how far you can push 8-bit graphics.   The difficulty level of Batman is certainly challenging but never overbearingly difficult, mostly because of how responsive and fluid the controlling is.   In terms of the storyline, Batman follows the chronology of the Batman movie exactly, level for level ...which is fine.  This is a better idea than coming up with a worse story than the original just to give the game a sense of "originality" that's all too often lacking in effort.   There's also the soundtrack for the game was created with a zeal and contagiousness not expected from a movie video game.  You'll certainly find yourself humming to the tune of the first level after you play it 4 or 5 times.   Overall, Batman is simply a very solid 2D side-scroller that has a re-playability value not seen in most movie video games that you can barely stand playing  after the first 5 minutes of playing them. This is one of those games that sell for 10 dollars plus in a used video game store and for good reason. 
 
97. Duck Hunt (NES)
 
 
 
Duck Hunt was easily the most popular game that utilized the Zapper gun for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  With its all grey chassis, and later repainted with some orange accents, the NES zapper gun was undeniably the most loved accessory for the NES, flaunting its super crisp trigger.  Staring at the same scenery, tall neon green grass along the bottom, with a tree to the left, your eyes burned as you stared at the screen waiting for a duck to appear. Finally a duck appears, squawking as it flies upward for safety, not knowing you are on the other side of the TV screen waiting to blast it away. Pulling the trigger, the screen flashing to black quickly, you might momentarily think you're in a techno club when you go on a shooting rampage. The accuracy was moderate for the zapper gun, and in later stages many found themselves putting the tip of the gun straight to the screen for dead on shots.  One knows they have played Duck Hunt for too long when countless attempts to shoot the dog have been tried, with no success.
 
96. NHL 94 (Sega Genesis)
 
 
NHL 94 for Sega Genesis is one of EA sports first forays into the hockey world.  The game was a genuine success that it led to annual installments up to the current year of '08.   The controller movements are perfectly fluid, the teams are represented by an accurate ability for each specific player, and the difficulty is just perfect for entering into a season or playoff race.   Also in this installment of NHL 94, four players could play on the same team or on opposed teams using a specific four player adapter for the Sega Genesis. This is a game like Mario Kart that one could get extremely good at, to the point where no one wants to play with you, especially when you learn the "behind-around the goal" trick of scoring goals.   Within two minutes you can have the other player pinned down to a 15-0 lead and have him wondering why he ever agreed to play with a nerd who spends all his time thinking of ways to dominate his friends in video games. Another addition to NHL 94 is being able to play a shootout mode for more of an ephemeral challenging.   Who could forget the most conspicuous addition to this vigorous EA series, breaking the glass when checking your opponent into it?  This was a sure fire way to have tempers flared in the virtual realm.  The best sports games can be played over and over and over again.  This is a perfect example…

 
 



>