Video Games I’ve Beaten with Commentary

• Super Mario Bros. (NES)
  • I beat this one on our original NES that we earned WAY back in the day.  I remember that we got a marble in a jar every time Wendy, Jeff, or I did something good.  When we had earned 100 marbles our Mom and Dad bought us an NES.  It was the model with R.O.B. who, (while worthless) was at least cool looking.  I’m glad I beat this one as a kid, because to be honest, I have zero desire to go back and play it (the later Mario games are much more fun in my opinion – Tanooki suit FTW!)  I only made it through the maze that is World 8 – 4 once, but that’s good enough for me.
  • Here’s a video of someone beating it on YouTube, you have to go through the pipes just right to get to the end:

• Contra (Emulated NES on computer)
  • I remember when I returned home from Brazil and the Internet had just opened up the world.  One thing that I believe Jeff showed me, was that it was now a possibility to download and play NES files (and pretty much all other older video games system files) and play them on your computer.  The fact that they downloaded super fast in dial-up days only sweetened the deal.  I used the Konami Code to beat it, obviously.

  

• Mega Man (Emulated NES on computer)
  • After discovering the illegal magic of emulation, I decided to make my way through the Mega Man series.  I never completed it, but I did make it through the first two.
  

  This picture is from the remake, Mega Man Powered Up!, but it was too cute not to include.

• Mega Man 2 (Emulated NES on computer)
  • The details of me beating Mega Man 2 are sketchy, but I’m pretty sure it did happen, which is good, since it is often considered the best of the NES series.
  • Fun fact:  Mega Man 2 was turned into a novel!  I never read it (and I can’t imagine it’s very good.) Read about it here!
  

  I wish I had created a Mega Man out of post it notes like this guy.

• The Legend of Zelda (Emulated NES on computer)
  • I can remember playing Zelda at my friend Austin’s house when I still lived in California, but we never had it at our house, so it wasn’t until adulthood that I beat it.  It’s still a great game, though I admit to using GameFAQs to figure out where to go next, rather than exploring my way through it for fun.
  • Here is a really weird commercial for the original Zelda game:

• Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues (SNES)
  • Ben, a good friend of mine of mine in High School, and I played this game over and over.  It’s a 2 player simultaneous run-and-gun shooter that is extremely difficult.  The game is not based on any of the books or movies, but is a brand new story in itself (although, let’s face it, the story is just window dressing for having you shoot dinosaurs.)  JP 2 featured an interesting mechanic that you could only kill so many of the peaceful dinos (read: herbivores) in a stage or you would game over.  You had to stun them instead, but feel free to kill all the raptors.  I’m not sure if Ben and I ever beat this without a code, but since I’m making this list, I choose the criteria.  It’s also the first console game I can remember that had full fledged recorded speech on it in the intro cut scene.  Ben, if you’re out there, thanks for playing, I have many happy memories of this one!

• Contra III: The Alien Wars (Super Famicon, Wii Virtual Console.)
  • When I lived in California, for whatever reason, most of my good friends were Asian.  I’m not sure if it’s because they were nerdier than the rest of the population, or what.  Maybe they were just more accepting.  Anyway, I had a great friend named Chester Lin and we spent hours playing video games.  He didn’t have A Super Nintendo, he had a Super Famicon (the Japanese version) so most of the text on games we played were in Japanese.  We beat this game on Hard mode – something I’m still proud of.  I bought this game for the Wii Virtual Console as soon as it came out.  Bren and I have only beat it on Easy so far.
• Super Mario World (SNES)
  • I can’t think of a bad Mario 2D platformer made by Nintendo (i.e. the crappy Phillips CD-i games don’t count-I’m looking at you Hotel Mario.)  I really enjoy all of them, but the one that is nearest and dearest to my heart is Mario World.  I’m not totally sure why.  Maybe it’s because until recently, I never owned it (seeing as I played the SNES era mostly at friends houses.)  I realize it’s not as revolutionarily great as SMB 3, but I think it takes SMB3’s mechanic and takes it up one notch.  Plus, this is where Yoshi was introduced.  The pride of my SNES collection is my Super Mario World and Super Mario All Stars (SMB 1, 2, and 3 and the Lost Levels)  cartridge.  Go me!
• The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (N64, GCN)
• Pokémon Snap (N64 VC)
  • Sometimes trying something new in the video game world pays off tremendously.  Super Mario RPG is a great example - Nintendo let Square take their platforming mascot and put him in a role-playing game and ta-dah, you’ve got Super Mario RPG, the great swan song of the Super Nintendo.  EA garnered much good will (though perhaps not as many sales as they would have liked)  by created a new first person style of gaming with Mirror’s Edge (first person parkour?)  Pokemon Snap is a great example of doing something totally out of left field and having it work.  The first 3D Pokémon game ever wasn’t the battle system that people at the zenith of Pokémania clamored for, it was instead an on-rails safari-style picture taking adventure.  And it actually turned out really good!  There were limitations – it only featured 62 of the 151 (then)-current Pokémon and the graphics now look comically “chunky.”  However, this game does a really good job of distilling the whole Pokemon experience into a safari adventure.  You’ve still gotta catch ‘em all, only now you’re photographing them, not capturing.  You also have to make clever use of items to get the Pokémon to interact and evolve.  I love this game-plus when they added it to the Wii Virtual Conssole, they added the ability to send your pictures to other Wii owners!
• Spider-Man (PS1)
  • This game is hands down the best Spider-Man game up to this point in history.  I remember playing it on the N64 when I was younger (none of my friends had a PS1) but I have since purchased it for PS1.  The game is just fun.  There are great web chase levels (“Move it Spidey, move it!”), a fitting narration provided by Spidey-creator  Stan Lee, a slew of cool alternate costumes, and the first time in a game where I really felt like I was web-swinging (although a lot of the time you seem to be swinging with nothing above you to swing from.)  It was not without it’s problems – swinging to anything not close to you required tedious first-person aiming all hands in the game are blocky fists, and in the end of the game (fitting for the symbiote-crazed 90’s) Doc Ock and Carnage merge leaving you to flee it’s rampage – only it doesn’t let you see where you’re going, you’re looking back to see how close Symbiote-Ock is behind you.  Trial and error and pathway memorization to
  • beat this part was a little tedious.
• Mario vs. Donkey Kong (GBA)
  • Part platformer, part puzzle game, this game originally started development as Donkey Kong Plus, a sequel to the original Donkey Kong game.  It morphed into Mario vs. Donkey Kong somewhere along the way.  DK, jealous that Mario has a highly successful toy line of “Mini-Marios” that he cannot obtain, steals all of them.  Mario chases after DK to take the toys back (possibly, he’s behind on the rent and needs the money.)  Sometimes you controlled Mario as he rescued Minis and then the game would switch to a Lemmings style puzzle that required Mario to keep them safe.
• Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA)
• Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (GCN)
• Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (GCN)
• Batman: Vengeance (GCN)
• Batman: Dark Tomorrow (GCN)
• X-Men Legends (GCN)
• Rogue Squadron: Rebel Strike (GCN)
• The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (GCN)
• Spider-Man 2 (GCN)
• Spider-Man (GCN)
• Ultimate Spider-Man (GCN)
• Pikmin 2 (GCN)
• Lego Star Wars (GCN)
• Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy (GCN)
• Resident Evil 4 (GCN)
• 007: Nightfire (GCN)
• 007: Agent Under Fire (GCN)
• 007: Everything or Nothing (GCN)
• Guantlet Dark Legacy (GCN)
• Luigi’s Mansion (GCN)
• The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (GCN)
• Return to Zork (PC)
• Wolfenstein 3D (PC)
• Doom (PC)
• Star Wars: Republic (PC)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC)
• Star Wars: Republic Commando (PC)
• Half Life 2 (PC)
• Half Life 2: Episode 1 (PC)
• Bioshock (PC)
• Portal (PC)
• Time Crisis 3 (PS2)
• Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
• Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)
• Katamari Damacy (PS2)
• Star Wars Battlefront (PS2)
• Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox)
• Halo 2
• Halo 3
• Call of Duty 2 (Xbox 360)
• Superman Returns (Xbox 360)
• Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360)
• Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (Xbox 360)
• Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (Xbox 360)
• Batman:Arkham Assylum (Xbox 360)
• Super Mario 64 DS (DS)
• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
• Pokemon Pearl (DS)
• Feel the Magic (DS)
• New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
  • While this is of course a fun Nintendo game that hearkens back to the days of yore, one thing is very different – this game is much easier than it’s earlier counterparts from the 1980s.  To compensate for the easiness, I went back through and collected the golden coins from each level.  Stomping through the levels and giant Mario or giant Luigi is a blast and the lack of a flying power really focuses in on the platforming dynamic which pretty much set the foundation for many of the games of the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.  The new koopa shell power-up was a big let-down though- it was pretty much useless.  Sounded really cool, didn’t work out so well in real life.  Overall, a great game.
• Yoshi’s Island 2 (DS)
• Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)
• Super Princess Peach (DS)
• Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS)
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
• Ghost Squad (Wii)
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
• Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
• Red Steel (Wii)
• Elebits (Wii)
• The Conduit (Wii)