Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (1994) - Video Game Review

Official Score = 2 Devils

You know I will be honest and say that I was pretty sad to see the downfall of Sega's console systems, I mean I can remember a lot of years of playing games on systems like the, 'Sega Genesis' or the, 'Sega Saturn'... And so much more, and one of the games that I found that I really enjoyed is the, 'Sonic The Hedgehog' video game series, I mean you could just about basically say that Sonic was Sega's answer to, 'Mario'!

And so I thought it might be fun to talk a little bit about: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994)!

Not one of the better games in the series!

Published by: Sega, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 told the story of how after Sonic defeats Dr. Robotnik at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, his space station, the Death Egg, crash-lands on a mystical floating landmass called Angel Island (or simply "the Floating Island" as it's called in the game manual). As Dr. Robotnik begins to repair the damaged station, he meets up with Knuckles the Echidna, the last surviving member of an ancient civilization of Echidnas that once inhabited the island. He is also the guardian of the Master Emerald, which grants the island its levitation powers.

Knowing Sonic and Tails will try to track him down, and realizing he can use the Master Emerald to power the ship, Dr. Robotnik dupes Knuckles into believing Sonic is trying to steal his Emerald. Shortly after, Sonic and Tails in their biplane, the Tornado, are in search of Dr. Robotnik. Sonic, possessing the emeralds from the events of Sonic 2, then turns into Super Sonic. As soon as they arrive, Knuckles ambushes Sonic from underground and knocks the Chaos Emeralds from him, returning him to normal. Knuckles steals the Emeralds and disappears inland. As Sonic and Tails travel through the levels, they encounter Knuckles in almost every level, hindering their progress.

Sonic & Tails going up against Knuckles in, 'Sonic The Hedgehog 3'!

Now you might be wondering what makes this awesome video game that was made for the Sega Genesis so great... I mean after so many games running and jumping just seem pretty customary right? Well simply put, this game was supposed to come out at the same time as Sonic & Knuckle (don't worry, that review is coming,) but due to finance issues, this game was released first, and introduced to the world, 'Knuckles'!

In the end, this game is fun, short of Knuckles showing up though, this game is not a very original one, and the graphics...

Anyway, this game is worth trying out if you haven't had the chance... And if this is your first Sonic game... Well I suspect that you will have some fun with it... Otherwise... Don't expect to much more then what you got in other Sonic games... And not much else!

Altered Beast (1988) - Video Game Review

Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils

I don't remember all of them, and to be honest with you, I have not bought all of the video game systems that are out there, but one of the things that video game companies have done since pretty much at the very least the, 'NES', is that video game companies have been adding in a game or 2 to the system itself when you buy it as incentive to keep people motivated when they buy their systems...

A couple of examples of this are:

1. The XBox 360 package that I got came with Halo Reach and Fable 3.

2. For the NES, it was (at least for a while anyway,) 'Super Mario Bros.'

Well for the Sega Genesis I heard that at least at one point that Sega was offering, 'Altered Beast' (1988) as part of their package!

A game definitely worth trying!

Initially developed and produced by: Sega and released as an Aracade game, this game told the story of a Greek Centurion who was resurrected by Zeus in an effort so that the centurion could rescue his daughter, 'Athena' from a demon god by the name of, 'Neff', who lives in the, 'Underworld'...

A fun Arcade/Home Console game that is worth playing!

This game was released during the days of the popular, 'side scrolling' fighting games that were still extremely popular, but this one I remember had a little bit of a twist with it... You see, in this game the character is given the ability to become various beasts when you got, 'power-ups'...

Also the basic graphics of the game could be said to be the direct ancestor of the type of graphics in video games that we see today... What I mean by that is the fact that where as older games... Being graphically fun, still had the strongly pixelated look that was the standard for a lot of the video games of the 1980s... In Altered Beast, it was significantly less pixelated, and starting to seriously come together...

Ultimately this game is not hard to figure out, and it is fun, if you have a chance to play it, I would say give it a try, it is well worth it, and you might find that to be the case as well... I know I did!

5 Classic Japanese Commercials For 5 Classic Video Game Systems

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Nintendo is one of the most historically relevant video game manufacturers of all time... Most of the video games & consoles that we all grew up with had their beginning largely in Japan![/caption]

You know, most people may not know this, but for most of the 20th century, and even today (although not as much today, as it had been in the past), but Japan was the dominating force behind Video Games and their consoles...

Nintendo is a great example of this... Even though, 'Nintendo' and it's accompanying video games and consoles are all over the world, and are still a dominating force in American Video Gamming... The company was formed in Japan with just about all of the generations of their video games originating in Japan.

Sega is another good example of this, It is true that Sega doesn't really do video game consoles anymore, but they still do video games, and just about all of that also has it's roots in Japan as well!

So I thought that it might be fun to see, 5 Classic Japanese Commercials For 5 Classic Video Game Systems:

Color TV Game (1977 - 1980):

http://youtu.be/hvEQIjSNbv8

Famicom (1983 - 2003):

http://youtu.be/2Ll4XbatNB4

Sega: Master System (1986 - 1996):

http://youtu.be/DHReBmIKscs

Atari 2600 (1977 - 1992):

http://youtu.be/0YLwftwWZlQ

Playstation (1994 - 2006):

http://youtu.be/BEuBYE6je_U

Sonic: The Hedgehog (1991) - Video Game Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

I have to admit that I was pretty sad to see Sega stop making consoles, I mean for decades their consoles were truly a total blast, and a lot of the video games for those systems were a lot of fun!

The one that I particularly enjoyed was the, 'Sega Masters System'... Or, 'Sega Genesis' in the United States... This may not have been the first of their video game systems that I have ever played, but it is for me, (probably more so then any other video game system out there to date), is one of the most memorable video game systems that I have ever played!

I mean besides the fact that I had a lot of fun playing video games on this system with my friends, I also found that I really enjoyed playing the video games on this system! Rather it be, 'Golden Axe' (1989), 'Space Harrier 2' (1988) or heck even, 'Sonic: The Hedgehog' (1991)!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="706"] Sonic The Hedgehog Versus Doctor Robotnik in, 'Sonic: The Hedgehog' (1991)[/caption]

Developed by the, 'Sonic Team' for the original Sega Genesis, and first released in 1991, this amazing game told the story of how in his attempt to steal 6 chaos emeralds, Dr. Robotnik has imprisoned a lot of the inhabitants of South Island in to various prisons and cybernetic shells, and it will be up to the player (who plays as, 'Sonic') to stop Dr. Robotnik before his devious plan can be put in to motion!

In the end, this game's gameplay is very similar to the original, 'Super Mario Bros.' and thus is really easy to play... And the graphics are great, the music is fun... In my opinion, the true test of a great video game is its capacity for long term play either in a single day or repetitively over several days... And for me, the main problem with this game, is that it doesn't have that.

In the end though, if you haven't tried it yet, then I would recommend doing so, it is worth it!

http://youtu.be/XAhNkZWvZJ4

Strider (1989) - Video Game Review

[caption id="attachment_557" align="alignright" width="307"] Official Score = 3 1/2 Devils[/caption]

When I was a kid there was a friend of mine who had a ton of now ancient classic NES games, and when I got a Nintendo, he lent me most of these games... Alot of these games were a lot of fun... But there was about a handful of video games that were truly remarkable, and to this day I still remember how fun these games were!

Well one of these games happened to be, 'Strider' (1989)!

This action packed game was just a total blast, and the further you got in to the game, the further you would want to play (as a matter of fact I would say that this was one of those games that could rack up a huge power bill, in that this game is one that you would want to keep on if you couldn't play any longer that day!)

Well when the Sega Genesis came out, I was looking for this game on NES... As luck would have it, 'Capcom' publish it'sversion of this game which I would later discover on the Sega Genesis... But as it turns out, this game would be released on multiple platforms, starting with the, 'Amiga' console, and going on through an arcade version of this game, as well as the, 'Atari ST', 'Commodore 64', 'DOS, (A now defunct operating system that PC's ran off of before Windows) & later, 'The Sega Mega Drive', 'Sharp X68000', 'Turbo Grafx CD', 'Virtual Console', 'Wii' & 'ZX Spectrum'.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350"] This game still freaking rules![/caption]

This game tells the story of how in a dystopic future, a dictator by the name of, 'The Grandmaster', has a stranglehold over the world... The only hope is a group of high-tech Ninja's that call themselves, 'Striders'...And particular Strider by the name of, 'Hiryu', who has been tasked with assassinating, 'The Grandmaster'!

This game had an appropriate level of hardness that I found that I really liked... But what made it a little bit easier is that for the most part the game play on this game was not particularly hard...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] A fun game that is just the right amount of hard![/caption]

I did find the music was pretty decent, but what I found to be the best was the bosses... in the 80s and early 90s, most bad guys ended up being these over the top monsters, and the people who designed this game really did a good job at making them difficult to beat!

There is one thing though that I have to admit that I was not a particular fan of, and that is there appears to be a defect in the game itself in which the game slows down at certain intervals, so much so that it can be really annoying and distracting (because not only did the game do that but the music would as well, and you couldn't play during this period!)

Despite this, this game is an awful lot of fun, and well worth it to play, and if you get a chance, I highly recommend checking it out... The defect is annoying, but in the end, this game is worth giving a try!

http://youtu.be/EntpuPbXwKw

Space Harrier 2 (1988) - Video Game Review

[caption id="attachment_325" align="alignright" width="263"] Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]

When I first got in to Video Games, the main system that everyone that I knew, that would play video games on, was on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and well as the late 80s turned in to the early 90s and the technology that made the, 'Nintendo' became old and time to be replaced, they replaced it with the video game system, the, 'Super Nintendo Entertainment System' or, 'SNES'... And that is when things started to get interesting...

What I mean by that is the fact that during this time, Sega would go on to release a system that would not only rival the SNES, but would continue to do so through out most of the 1990s, and that system of course would be the, 'Sega Genesis'!

Now for me, I first got in to this system, like all video game systems that I played at the time, when I played it at a friends house! And you know what? One of the first games that I would go on to play when I was a kid... A game that is still to this day one of my favorite games of all time is, 'Space Harrier 2' (1988)!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Space Harrier 2... What can I say... It freakin rocks![/caption]

Originally developed by: Sega-AM2 and published for the Sega Genesis, this video game told of the year 6236, in which our hero, (Harrier), ends up getting a distress signal light years away from his current position, once he gets there, it looks like he is going to have to go on another one man war against an entire army to defeat the forces of evil that have overrun that area!

The truth is, is this game may seem extremely easy, but it isn't, you see essentially you are constantly moving forward killing enemies and dodging objects... And trust me when I say that it may sound easy... But it isn't... The truth is, is it is extremely difficult... But in the end, what does help is the fact that this games controls are pretty easy to get used to!

In the end, this game was the first that I ever played on the Sega Genesis, and in the end, it is still in my top 10 favorite video games of all time, and if you give it a chance I think you guys might like it as well!

http://youtu.be/OhbrS9tJlic

In Remembrance Of Sega's Home Console Systems

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="685"] Sonic The Hedgehog... One of the most popular games that Sega ever released![/caption]

You know, if you have been playing video games for as long as I have, then I am sure that you have played on a fair amount of systems, everything from the old, 'Atari' systems all the way up to such systems as the, 'Nintendo DS', the, 'X-Box 360' and if you are lucky, the, 'X-Box 1.'

Well there is one video game system that when I was a kid that I found to be just a total blast, A video game system that helped me realize that there was more to gamming then just what was on the, 'Nintendo' a system that to this day I still believe is something that has helped to define my gamming interests, and that system is the, 'Sega Gensesis'!

Sadly, Sega would close down it's console development when they stopped making home consoles after the demise of the, 'Dreamcast.'

But before the death of Sega's video game consoles, they came out with a ton of truly amazing systems that played a lot of classic (and in some cases, 'historic') video games, including their flagship game,  'Sonic The Hedgehog' (1991). So I decided to a little memorial for those classic home console systems, that we all remember enjoying when we were kids was in order!

The first one of course being the. SG 1000 cartridge based home console system that Sega released back in 1983...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] An ad for Sega's first home console system the, 'SG-1000' a system that never saw the light of day in the United States.[/caption]

This one I will admit was a bit before my time, but this system, which was released on July 15, 1983, (Released the same day as, Nintendo's, 'Family Computer' (the forerunner of North America's NES).) This system was release to only moderate success, and was never actually launched in North America or in the UK...

In 1984 Sega would release an update to the SG-1000 called the, 'SG-1000 II'.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sega's, 'SG-1000 II', while functioned essentially the same as the SG-1000 it really only looked newer...[/caption]

With primarily just cosmetic changes, (I,e. The place to plug in the SK-1100 keyboard being moved from the back to the front of the machine, and the shell being changed,) this console basically functioned the same as it's predecessor... The only other difference is that the Japanese version of the SG-1000 II had a game card reader called a, 'Game Catcher' that used Sega Card technology to read these cards (At the time, game cards were only utilized in systems in Japan.)

Sega would also go on to make a computer that was compatible with the SG-1000 video games... But in 1985 Sega would produce it's first system that would truly launch it in to the world of gaming... That system being the Sega Mark III or, 'Sega Master System'.

[caption id="attachment_2070" align="aligncenter" width="450"] The Sega Master System... One of the first truly remarkable video game systems that I believe made, 'Sega' a powerful force in the video game world![/caption]

Now this system was truly an amazing system... I mean I only had the opportunity to play a game on this system once some time around the late 80s - early 90s when I happen to be at my cousin's house (who happened to have one,) and I was so hooked that I believe I played it for almost the entire time I was there... needless to say this system was comparable to North America's, 'NES' and although I don't really remember what games were on here, I remember that I had just as much fun playing with that as I later would with my Nintendo!

At this point Sega's video game consoles were starting to get closer and closer to their, 'Sega Gensesis' console, and the next one here is, Sega Master System II.

[caption id="attachment_2072" align="aligncenter" width="450"] At this point in the game, not only had Sega become a direct competitor, but they had begun to out stripe Nintendo, due to the larger availability![/caption]

In the end, this system did so well, that due to it's larger availability, it had begun to out due Nintendo's, 'NES' due to it's wider availability!

Now for the next one on the list (and a personal favorite of mine), The, 'Sega Genesis'!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] The, 'Sega Genesis' probably one of the most memorable video game systems that was released in the 1990s![/caption]

Known as the, 'Sega Mega Drive' outside of the U.S., this video game system, which would be released in 1988 and later around the world, would become the most successful video game system that Sega ever produced. This video game system,  which released the world wide phenomena, 'Sonic The Hedgehog', would be released 2 years before Nintendo's, 'Super Nintendo', and was so popular that between the 2 systems, there would launch the first real fierce competition war between the 2 systems and companies that would really last through out the 16 bit era of video gamming!

In 1991 in Japan, Sega would go on to release the first real CD based console gaming system called the, 'Sega Mega Drive CD' and then later in 1992 would release it for North American distribution under the label: 'Sega CD'

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] This add on to the Sega Genesis would bring video gamming to an even higher level![/caption]

Personally I played this add on at a friends house in the mid 90s, and where as it did have it's usefulness, it was not one of those systems that had games that particularly jumped out at you... I personally fell like the best thing about this system is what the system brought to the history of, 'home console systems'.

The next one, and I will be honest with you guys, was another system I have only played a handful of times... Fun but not great... That was the, 'Sega 32X'.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="432"] The Sega 32X.[/caption]

I will be honest and say that this add on to the Sega Genesis was for me not particularly thrilling... I would say that probably the best thing about this system is that it brought the graphics level up to 32bit... But to me, the games weren't particularly memorable...

Sega Neptune... I will be honest with you guys and say that I personally never played it... (Hell I never heard of it till now...) And apparently not a lot of people would have heard about it... You see, this system was supposed to be the hybrid version of both the, 'Sega Genesis' and the, 'Sega 32X'... But after a delay, and the closing of the Sega 32X line... The Sega Neptune just became one of the systems that never was...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="390"] The Sega Neptune... A console that died before it had the chance to live.[/caption]

The Sega Saturn... Have you ever enjoyed something for so long that you just knew that there was no where left to go after this? Well the truth is, this system was that for me!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] One of the last truly great systems to be released by, 'Sega' before it stopped making consoles...[/caption]

Released in 1995, and going in to direct competition with Nintendo again, and Sony, (who shortly would be releasing the first, 'Playstation',) this system never had the traction to keep up with the competition, and in all truth, like all great things, the dynasty that Sega had setup for itself was beginning to falter... Although I will be honest with you and say that I was a fan...

The next one up is the un-released, 'Sega Pluto'.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Supposedly this was to be the prototype for the new, 'Sega Pluto'.[/caption]

Not much is known about the systems or the games that would have come out... but supposedly this system was supposed to be a direct update to the, 'Sega Saturn' and if released, probably would have been the first system to offer internet access!

Sega Dreamcast... Now this truly was the last home console that Sega has released to date...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Released as precursor to the coming systems such as, 'Playstation 2' and the like that had taken a technological leap ahead of the rest... Sega's final system had been at first a success... That was until tragedy struck![/caption]

When the Sega Dreamcast had been released, it had started off doing well... But when the new systems such as the, 'Playstation 2', which could support, 'DVD's', Sega ended up realizing that they could no longer keep up and ended up discontinuing their home video game unit...

In the end folks, Sega's video game systems maybe gone but they are never forgotten!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] R.I.P. Sega's Home Video Game Consoles (1983 - 2001).[/caption]

Flagship Video Games And Their Importance To The Systems They Help Sustain

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="470"] 'Halo'... A classic video game that has proven to be a, 'flagship game' for Microsoft's, 'XBox' video game consoles![/caption]

Over the decades now there have been quite a few video game systems and a slowly growing number of companies that are producing these systems that have such relevance in the pop culture of that time... But what is it that holds their sustainability as well as it does? What keeps throngs of people of most ages coming back for more? Well I am going to have to say that it is the flagship game that is keeping these systems and the companies that build them afloat...

What is a flagship game you ask?

Well simply put, in the Navy a flagship is a ship that distinguishes itself from the rest, (you know, bigger, faster, stronger, or whatever,) and a.'Flagship Video Game' does that for the system it represents, and is so popular that it helps cement the company that makes it for life!

A great example of this is, 'Super Mario Bros.' (1983), this game was so popular that it extremely out paced the competition (including the original, 'Donkey Kong' game, a game which was the first to ever to feature a, 'Mario Bro.')

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Super Mario Bros. (1983), a game which helped make the, 'Nintendo' video game consoles the consoles they are today![/caption]

Since the release of, 'Super Mario Bros.', Nintendo has been a force not to be messed with, both in Japan, and North America, having outlasted all of the Video Game companies that have come before it, and maintaining itself in the current world of Video Gaming between, 'Sony' (with the, 'Playstation') and, 'Microsoft' (with the XBox)!

And as long as, 'Mario' &, 'Luigi' and the rest of the, 'Koopa Troopa' maintain their popularity amongst fans of almost any age at this point, Nintendo will remain a force not to be messed with for ever!

That was an aged veteran of a Flagship game, I thought that I would mention a newer one that I thought that you guys might find to be interesting, and that is of, 'Master Chief' from the, 'Halo' series, and what that series has done for really the world of gaming in the whole!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430"] Master Chief as he is about to kick as in the, 'Halo' video game series, A, 'Flagship video game' for Microsoft's, 'XBox' video game consoles![/caption]

You see, at the time that the, 'XBox' was first released it had some very stiff competition... What I mean by that is that this gaming system was released in 2001, during a time in which, 'Playstation' had already proved itself, having just released its second generation system, and had to go up against 2 seasoned vets like, 'Nintendo' and, 'Sega' (both of whom had by this point, several generations of Video Game systems that had been out for decades, and in which Nintendo was currently marketing their, 'Nintendo Game Cube' and Sega, (which unfortunately would end up being on their final video game system,) would be marketing the, 'Sega Dreamcast'...)

Well, the Xbox ended up doing so well, and with their flagship game like, 'Halo' it was no wonder that they were able to survive, and not only did they survive well, but I would personally say that the, 'Xbox' and, 'Halo' are probably the best of their kind to have been released in the millennium!

Unfortunately though, this would knock Sega out of making consoles (which is a shame seeing as their video consoles and the games that went with them were so much fun!) But for many years though, their video game consoles with the help of their Flagship video game, 'Sonic The Hedgehog', were so popular that I would say that they were barely out matched by, 'Super Mario Bros.' and the various Nintendo video game systems that beat them!

If you were born in the 1980s or before, you might remember the good old days, when you used to sit and run all over that Island as, 'Sonic' as you tried to capture the, 'Chaos Emeralds' from the evil, 'Dr. Robotnik' and his goons that were trying to destroy his world on the, 'Sega Genesis' int he video game, 'Sonic The Hedgehog', and some of the successor games and systems in Sega's repertoire of Video game consoles and games of the time!

[caption id="attachment_1743" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Sonic The Hedgehog is such a popular character and game that even after, 'Sega' stopped making video game consoles, 'Sonic' has still continued on strong![/caption]

 As a matter of fact, their Flagship Video game was so popular, that after Sega stopped making video game consoles and switched over to making Video Games for other companies, 'Sonic The Hedgehog' has continued to be an extremely popular character and video game!

So in the end the question is... Does the Video Game Console make gaming fun, or is it the Video Game that makes gaming fun... Well I will say that obviously that the system does help, but in the end I think it is the video game that makes the experience worth it!

http://youtu.be/xkD7L2QFwR0

http://youtu.be/5A54A2OoNoo

http://youtu.be/v0kHiEME0Vk