For Zelda Day, some points of interest regarding Zelda II, the black sheep of the Legend of Zelda series of video games:
posted by JHarris
on Dec 26, 2012 -
62 comments
Super Mario Bros. Special occupies a strange place in Mario history. It's one of the few Mario games produced for a system other than Nintendo's own, licensed by Hudson Soft for the
Japanese PC-8801 computer system. The system was fairly weak compared to an NES, so it didn't scroll; when Mario gets to the edge of the screen, it flips to the next. The game wasn't always designed with that in mind however, leading to a lot of blind jumps. You can play a hacked version of the original Super Mario Bros. designed to recreate this game using the patch found
here. And here's a video playthrough of the whole game:
World 1,
World 2,
World 3,
World 4,
World 5,
World 6,
World 7,
World 8,
Last level & ending. And here's
a trap room in World 4.
posted by JHarris
on Aug 14, 2012 -
45 comments
Pokemon:
Game Freak and Nintendo's series of cartoony monster-training RPGs that kicked off huge crazes among the kids of both Japan and the U.S. In these games, children take up the calling of "Pokemon trainers," capturing the titular animals and then keeping them as pets or fighting them against either wild pokemon or those of other trainers.
Nobunaga's Ambition:
An even-longer-running classic series of historical strategy/simulation games produced by Koei. Noted for their realistic approach, their difficulty, and a high level of dryness. You grow rice, distribute it to your population to keep them happy, send out spies, guard against assassins, raise and train a military, and ultimately attempt to unite feudal-era Japan.
And now...
Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition, a Real Thing that will Soon Exist.
posted by JHarris
on Jan 1, 2012 -
26 comments
Here is a video playthrough of The Legend of Zelda without a sword. It is possible to get right up to the last boss without one, although it requires knowing a
lot of tricks. That is exactly what mev1978 does in his playthrough, without dying. And then he does it again in the second quest.
First quest (1:61:31) -
Second quest (1:13:18)
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Dec 26, 2011 -
33 comments
Vs. Airman is kind of mind-blowing the first time you see it. It is not a PC or flash game, but a romhack that can run on a real NES. But which game is it a hack of?
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Apr 5, 2011 -
17 comments
Chrontendo is a video podcast in which a guy systematically described and discusses
every Famicom/NES game released. Currently up to 33 episodes and counting, and covering hundreds of games.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Nov 1, 2010 -
23 comments
Remember
Super Mario Frustration? Kaizo Mario World is another of those super-hard Mario level hacks, this one of Super Mario World. Someone played through its first level 134 times, with save states, recording all his deaths, then digitally composited them into one trip through the level. The result was
Many-Worlds Mario. (For those interested, here's a
video of a tool-assisted perfect run of much of the game.
Here's the rest. Here's some more.)
posted by JHarris
on Feb 3, 2008 -
36 comments
