Street Fighter 2 - Turbo: Hyper Fighting (1992) - Video Game Review

I am going to say it... I am pleased with the fact that Capcom eventually gave up the whole, (Street Fighter 2) sub-genre of the classic competitive fighting series, but I will admit that I do rather miss it a fair amount as well!

I mean don't get me wrong, I am very much aware of the fact that all good things do have to end, and that there is only so many different ways you can make the same thing new and exciting... But for me, I grew up with this series, and this was the first stylized competitive fighting video game series that I had ever played!

And you know what? The first version of this game was awesome (please click here, for more information on the first game,) but the next game set the tone in my opinion for a fun, fast paced video game series that would entertain both boys and girls for years!

That game being: Street Fighter 2 - Turbo: Hyper Fighting (1992)!

A classic!

Yes... It is true that there is not a hell of a lot of difference between this game, and it's awesome predecessor, but the truth is, is if you are like me, then you are not a fan of the some times over the top slow nature of this video games immediate predecessor... And the fact that the game was sped up helped hugely!

Can you guess which one of these characters had a cameo in, 'Wreck-It Ralph'?

Another cool thing about this game is that there are some new awesome moves that did make it even more fun!

Finally... For me, the best part of what made this game great is that with all the changes that were made to this game, that it still maintained the same basic style and characters that made this series so awesome!

So, if you haven't tried it... Then do so, I do recommend it, if you get a chance!

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The First 5 Video Game Box Designs Used For Nintendo's U.S. Video Games

You know being a fan of art, and being a gammer since the late 1980s, I have begun to find that not just the video games themselves are incredibly fascinating, but I have begun to find just about all other facets of video games to be interesting...

A great example is the box art... well you might not think much about it, but I find the art to be surprisingly well done... And one aspect that I have never really thought about, that I thought for those of you who have played classic video games, is the boxes and cases that they came in, and so I thought that you guys might enjoy: 'The First 5 Video Game Box Designs Used For Nintendo's U.S. Video Games.'

Number 1: The NES Video Game Box.

The box for, 'Mega Man'... A classic NES game!

Back starting the 80s, and all the way up till Nintendo stopped making video games for the NES for the United States, when you bought a video game, you end up buying a similar box to what is mentioned above, with some beautiful uniquely designed cover art on it!

Number 2: The Super Nintendo Video Game Box.

The box for the Super Nintendo video game, 'Super Metroid'... A classic super nintendo video game based on the legendary Sci-fi nintendo game!

Back starting in roughly the early 90s, and all the way up till Nintendo stopped making video games for the SNES for the United States, when you bought a video game, you would end up buying the game in a similar box to what is mentioned above, with some beautiful uniquely designed cover art on it!

Number 3: The Nintendo 64 Video Game Box.

Super Mario 64... A great game on a classic video game system!

Back starting in the mid 90s, and all the way up till Nintendo stopped making video games for the N64 for the United States, when you bought a video game, you would end up buying a game in a similar box to what is mentioned above, with some beautiful uniquely designed cover art on it!

Number 4: The Nintendo Game Cube Video Game Box.

Harry Potter on the Nintendo Game Cube!

Back starting the early part of the new millenium, and all the way up till Nintendo stopped making video games for the Nintendo Game Cube for the United States, when you bought a video game, you ended buying the game with  a similar box to what is mentioned above, with some beautiful uniquely designed cover art on it!

Number 5: The Wii Video Game Box.

The Wii video game box!

Back a few years ago, and uptil the WiiU when you bought a video game, you end up buying a similar box to what is mentioned above, with some beautiful uniquely designed cover art on it!

The First Home Video Game System... wracked With Controversy

The Magnavox Odyssey... The video game system that started the revolution!

We all know video game systems like, 'The XBox One' or, 'The Playstation 4', but before that, and even before such classics as, 'The Sega Genesis', or the, 'Super Nintendo', or even before, 'The Atari 2600', or 'Commodore 64', there was a video game system that could be said to be either directly or indirectly the mother of every thing we as gamer's treasure in our current video game systems!

What I mean by this, is that the first home video game console, a video game console, which was released back in 1972, and which sold 100,000 games in it's first year was Magnavox's 'Odyssey'!

A blast from the past right... I mean when was the last time you bought something that had that label?

Two people playing one of the oldest video games ever made for a home console!

But the truth is, is that like every great innovation, there are others that will quickly come out with their own versions of it, trying to make it better...

Well the truth is, is rather it is right or wrong to do that, for everything to go ahead, we always need to be putting out better product right... Well with Magnavox being the first to make it in to the home video game market, they had competition almost immediately!

What I mean by this is that Magnavox started protecting what was theirs when they sued Atari for patent infringement, when Atari released, 'Pong' as it looked extremely similar to Magnavox's, 'Tennis' game...

The Odyssey's 'Tennis', and the Atari 2600's 'Pong'... 2 very similar games that caused some friction at the dawn of the home console games!

Well ultimately, they settled out of court, but in the following years they would end up suing other big name companies such as: Mattel, Coleco, Seeburg & Activision... They would either win or settle these cases!

Ultimately, 'The Odyssey' line would continue to come out with fresh consoles until 1978, when, 'The Odyssey 2' was released... Now apparently this was the first of it's type to be a fully programmable system... Since then, in 1997, an emulator was created for the Odyssey 2...

This system may have ended up having a little bit of a checkered past... But you can't beat the first of it's kind, and the generations of boy and girls that have been entertained because that system will continue on for generations to come!

Five Classic Racing Games From The Past

The 80s saw a major burst in to the mainstream of video games that of racing  games... But it wasn't until the 90s that I would say that these types of video games reached their apex! What I mean by this is that racing games from back in the 80s and 90s were some of the best games to have been released ever.

Don't get me wrong, I imagine there are some good first person racing games that have come out since the new millennium, but the problem is, is that there is just something that is not right about having a first person view of a racing game that you don't control with a steering wheel control, and the truth is is that none of these games from back then really put that type of pretension out there!

So I thought that you guys might enjoy a list of some of the classics that really made racing games great from back then!

At number 5: Excitebike (1985):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Excitebike is one of those games that helped make racing games popular.[/caption]

 

For more information on this game, please enjoy this scene from the classic Nintendo game: Excitebike (1985):

http://youtu.be/k6UZC7nXRHM

At number 4: F-Zero (1991):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="333"] F-Zero... Can you say awesome?[/caption]

 

For more information on this game, please, (click here:) other wise, please check out this scene from the classic Super Nintendo game: F-Zero (1991):

http://youtu.be/2T5u9nD_I0I

At number 3: Rock N' Roll Racing (1993):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="354"] A classic racing game with a brutal twist![/caption]

 

For more information on this game, please, (click here:) other wise,  please check out this scene from the classic Super Nintendo game: Rock N' Roll Racing (1993):

http://youtu.be/1sPrZW2wXP4

At number 2: Super Mario Kart (1992):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] This game is a true classic that has spawned its own separate legacy and franchise from it's parent game, 'Super Mario Bros.'[/caption]

For more information on this game, please check out this scene from the classic Super Nintendo game: Super Mario Kart (1992):

http://youtu.be/sZkxJhsP384

At number 1: The Need For Speed (1994):

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] This is one of the first games that I thought had a better first person racing style then any of the other games to come out before it.[/caption]

For more information on this game, please check out this scene from the classic Playstation game: The Need For Speed (1994):

http://youtu.be/H3ArDaEEMxk

Yesterdays Video Games Become Tomorrows Mobile Phone Games

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="398"] Apparently, 'The Legend Of Zelda' is one of the games that you can play on the iPhone![/caption]

You know when I was a kid, the main video game system had been the, Nintendo Entertainment System... It was sleek, it was beautiful... And for the most part it was still pretty new technology, (when I got to start playing video games, the, 'Nintendo' had only been around for a few years!)

Well as time went on and the, era of the 'NES' turned in to the era of the future of video gaming with such systems as the, 'Super NES' & the, 'Sega Genesis' and their successor systems started to take over these previous generations of systems, it started to become harder and harder for people like myself, who still really enjoy games like, 'The Legend Of Zelda', or 'Super Mario Bros,' or other such now ancient games to find them and the systems that had once been extremely popular!

Well with the advent of the the, 'Smart Phone' I have come to discover something extremely interesting... I came to discover that some of these ancient games are being brought back to life on the mobile phone, in their original format!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="429"] Mega Man 2 is just one of the examples of games that came out for the, 'NES' that you can now play on the Iphone.[/caption]

Now you might be wondering why this is so cool... Well the truth is, is that as the generations go by, there are lesser and lesser NES and other ancient video game systems to play them on... And it would appear that with the exception of, 'Mega Man' that for some reason that a lot of video game makers are instead of keeping the classics alive and well seem to be making the same mistake that a lot of movie studios seem to be doing, and that is, remaking the original video games!

A good example of this is the video game, 'Contra'...

Contra, in my opinion, this game was not just a game that helped keep the, 'Nintendo' popular through the 80s and the early 90s, (when the Super Nintendo would replace the system.) In the case of this game, This game you could almost say is not just a video game that helped to make 2D shooters what  they would be for the rest of their run, but I believe is something that helped make the first person shooter what it is today!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="504"] Contra... A true classic![/caption]

I recently discovered that there is a remade version of this game that came out for the XBox... So of course I got really excited about it and immediately picked it up... You know what? I hate to say it, but the game was freaking horrible! I mean besides the fact that the game's controls are absolutely despicable, the graphics were changed just enough to be a tease... (basically they changed just enough of it so that it looked different from the original, but not so different that you couldn't tell that you were playing a  bad 2D game!)

So if you have a smart phone, and are like me, and love ancient games, then give them a try on your phone, you might like it!

http://youtu.be/F6np9ub8uZI

http://youtu.be/XAhNkZWvZJ4

http://youtu.be/qsAkqFusYic

RoboCop Vs. Terminator (1993) - Video Game Review

[caption id="attachment_385" align="alignright" width="353"] Official Score = 2 Devils[/caption]

You know I will say that crossovers in my opinion have always been a blast no matter what the format, rather it is, 'Star Trek & The X-Men', (which had been done in a novel) or even, 'Aliens & Predators', (Which there is an entire movie series that is based on this very concept!)

But there is one that I never thought would come out... Although I will be honest and say that the concept always seemed really cool! That is, 'RoboCop Vs. Terminator (1993)!

This game having been published by Virgin Games, originally for the, 'Sega Genesis', would later be released on the, ' Game Gear', 'Sega Master System', 'SNES', 'NES' & 'Game Boy'.

Now this game... (Which since I have only played the SNES format, I am going to use that story), tells of how in the future, 'John Connor' discovers the fact that, 'Skynet' (the Artifical Intelligence that is responsible for destroying the world in the future), has as part of it's construction some of the technology that had been used to build, 'RoboCop'...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="409"] RoboCop Vs. Terminator... Unfortunately a long forgotten topic... Which worked for a fairly unmemorable video game![/caption]

So in the end, John Connor sends a soldier back in time to destroy RoboCop, but before RoboCop can be destroyed, he will have to face Terminators, OCP and other such barriers not just to his freedom, but to his very survival!

In the end, this game was fun, but not overly memorable... I do remember the controls seemed to be pretty easy to master, and the story is always fun... If you get a chance to give it a try, I do recommend it... Just remember that it is dated, so don't expect some new level of enjoyment!

http://youtu.be/qsAkqFusYic

 

 

5 Great Soundtracks From 5 Classic Video Games From 5 Classic Video Game Consoles

It is an unfortunate stereotype that most of the time people associate older video game music with computer generated sounds that didn't have any vision or originality to it... This couldn't be further from the truth! As a matter of fact I would say that these unsung geniuses actually deserve a lot of credit for assembling some truly amazing music for people to enjoy while playing their video games!

I learned this one day, when I was writing a guest blog and I happened to stumble on to the original, 'Contra' soundtrack from the original NES video game from the 1980s! So I thought that would be kind of fun to discuss here, '5 Great Songs From 5 Classic Video Games From 5 Classic Video Game Consoles.'

At number 5: Contra (1987) for the NES:

http://youtu.be/O04bPRzqEEk

At number 4: Sonic The Hedgehog (1991) for the Sega Genesis:

http://youtu.be/cDd_GlynA6A

At Number 3: Super Mario Mario World (1990) for the Super Nintendo:

http://youtu.be/R0aoqbDNKaA

At Number 2: Earthworm Jim Special Edition (1994) for the Sega CD:

http://youtu.be/VCbEBGcPagA

At number 1: Final Fantasy VII (1997) Composed By: For the Playstation:

http://youtu.be/l-EH6r9sSmQ

I hope you enjoyed these soundtracks, and I hope that it gives you a bigger insight in to how awesome some of these video game soundtracks truly were!