Take Banjo-Kazooie, with some automatic weapons and grenade launchers. Sprinkle in a never ending fetch quest and poor controls and you have Fur Fighters for the Dreamcast. Read more
When I dug out my copy of Police Quest IV: Open Season, I remembered finding dead bodies in dumpsters, collecting ballistics evidence from cinderblock walls and arresting crazy knife wielding Read more
Jones in The Fast Lane is yet another gem from the golden years of Sierra On-Line. Released in 1991 for DOS, this competetive time management game features support for up Read more
Random encounters, moderate grinding, too long, slow story, uninteresting
Try to think of the last 16-bit JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) you played, because Albert Odyssey is more or less that game. Albert Odyssey has all the fare of Japanese RPG's; random encounters, grinding through levels, rigid character progression and a long drawn out story.
You start the game as Pike, a 14 year old boy with a legendary talking sword. Your parents were killed by goblins when you were a baby (because no story is complete without dead parents!). You are going about your daily life, when the crystal that supplies your town with some unexplained power is stolen, and the woman who has been caring for you since your parent’s death has been turned into stone. So now, you must venture out in search of a priest to reverse the spell and become the hero. The story of the game is overall merely "so-so"...my biggest complaint is that it progresses VERY slowly. You spend a large chunk of your time being strung along from town to town, trying to find this person or that person. For instance; when you arrive in the first town, where the priest you are looking for is supposedly hanging out, the townsfolk just give you an awkward stare and say; "Priest? There is no priest here you dumbass!" (although admittedly with less snarkiness). So you go to the next town, get more of the same, until you eventually find the priest. But of course, something happens and you have to look for the descendant of Albert, who (big surprise) is nowhere near where you currently are. If you don't mind grinding for a few hours before the game decides to throw you a new piece of the plot, my gripes probably won't bother you.
On the plus side, the game won't make your eyes bleed; the Saturn does a good job of presenting all the 2D art. It is however a bit annoying when it tries to toss in the 3rd dimension. It tries to use a flicker effect to pull off 3D transparencies and 2D shadows, which the Saturn doesn't seem to have the beef to back up. But because the game rarely uses these effects, it really isn't that bad, and is not a deal breaker. As far as an obligatory comment on the music goes; it’s as generic as it gets. In particular, the single track of battle music, (which is a dingy sounding guitar riff with some sort of xylophone beat thrown in) is especially lackluster. After awhile, I just turned down the game audio and found it more enjoyable to listen to podcasts in the background, rather than hear the same music for the 800th time.
Overall, Albert Odyssey is a decent game if you are looking for a 16-bit style JRPG and have several hours to devote to playing this game. Just make sure you have a fresh battery in your Saturn so you don't lose your saves!
Spy game that does everything right. Cutscenes are funny, voice acting superb, and game is perfectly paced
The Bad
Sneaking is hard work...can be somewhat frustrating in do not be seen levels.
If you are thinking that No One Lives Forever sounds like the title of a James Bond movie, you wouldn’t be far off. The classic James Bond movies almost demand to be made fun of and imitated, and people have taken every opportunity to do so (if you don’t believe me, read this Wikipedia entry on James Bond parodies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_parodies). Typically it would seem that spoofs of James Bond are very hit and miss, or age poorly. In the case of Casino Royale (the David Niven/Peter Sellers satire Bond film), the film is so off kilter it is very difficult to understand what the heck is going on (and it seems like they ran out of money towards the end of the movie). In the case of Austin Powers you have stuff that was very funny at the time of its release but has aged poorly…it’s almost cringe worthy material now. No One Lives Forever is heavily influenced by the early James Bond movies, yet has a very obvious flair that makes it different in a very good way.
Unlike the above mentioned film spoofs, NOLF does a gender switch on the title character. Cate Archer is the protagonist in NOLF; she’s a past thief who becomes a UNITY agent (she’s a British secret agent). She gets tossed into real missions by those in charge rather reluctantly when several agents are killed (thus leaving UNITY shorthanded). The instant you start the game, there is one thing that sets it apart from probably any other game. You actually want to watch the cutscenes. In almost any other game, the cutscenes are basically reasons to figure out how to skip watching them…in NOLF they are not only necessary to understand what’s going on, but they are actually entertaining! They are built and shot more like movies than the typical cutscene, and the voice acting (both within the cutscenes and within the game) is excellent (which, after playing through both games, is certainly on par with that in Freedom Force, if not as over the top). Even the enemy conversations that go on when you can’t be seen (while you sneak around the corner to accomplish your objectives) are usually funny enough to make you crack up in laughter (watch the goat video for proof).
No One Lives Forever is actually a fairly long game. It took me somewhere between 25-30 hours to complete, and if you are new to the game it will probably take longer. The missions are very different in their objectives and locales. There are scuba diving missions, missions in outer-space, missions in the mountains, etc. Usually there is more than one way to complete a mission…as a spy you have certain gadgets on hand that allow you to get around unnoticed by security cameras. You have camera disablers, and a powder that makes bodies disappear, along with other unusual spy gadgets that may come in handy.
No One Lives Forever is a shooter yes, but it is also takes heavy influences from the thief series. Sneaking around is the MO in many cases, and being sneaky is rewarded with better end of the level spy rankings. However, sneaking around without being seen is very difficult, and in the missions that force y
ou to do something unseen (or more accurately, without an alarm being raised) you may find yourself getting increasingly frustrated. Usually you can get away with killing enemies in these levels if you use a silenced weapon (and the bodies aren’t seen by a security camera). The stealth levels are incredibly difficult, and are the one negative of the game. You may play them multiple times before finally being successful. Interestingly enough, while for most games I play with the speakers blaring, this is a game that almost requires headphones to catch everything (preferably ear covering ones). You simply do not catch all the sounds of people walking around, cameras whirring, and funny conversations without headphones. I was prepared to give this game a lower grade because of its difficulty when I realized that my speakers weren’t giving me the whole story and popped on headphones…they make a huge difference, and make those sneaky levels more manageable.
No James Bond spoof would be complete without gadgets, so of course NOLF is full of them. As mentioned, you have the camera disabler and body removing powder. You also have a barrette that can pick locks and be used to poison enemies with cyanide, to go along with a lighter that can be used to break unpickable locks. You have perfumes that cause instant sleep on those who walk through its mist, and you have a robotic dog that distracts guard dogs. There are so many gadgets that you can’t carry them all, so the game forces you to choose what you take with you on missions (or you can choose the default equipment). It shows you how to use new gadgets in a test lab (similar to Q’s lab) before a mission starts throughout the game.
The story is typical spy stuff, but extremely well thought out as far as continuity goes. You are chasing down information on H.A.R.M., an evil organization that (you find out) is using a biological agents to create human bombs. You have to do everything from figuring out the brains behind the operation through interrogation (you question an idiot that claims he hunts lions…then through further questioning you discover that he actually uses a .22 rifle, shoots them from just a few feet away 20 + times, and they are in cages…), general detective work, and killing lots of lackeys. A couple of the missions/gameplay sequences are straight out of Moonraker (which is probably the campiest of the James Bond films, but it has some very entertaining action sequences); at one point, you jump out of a plane in an attempt to catch someone else below you that has a parachute. There is also the deal of the escaping from an exploding space ship while shooting people WITH LASERS that screams James Bond, but luckily the scenes in the game aren’t just throw-ins…they fit extremely well into the game, and (save for lacking Jaws with the blond girl 3 feet shorter than him) hold up favorably to the actual scenes (and probably fit better to boot).
I went back and forth on the grade for this game many times…it is at times frustratingly difficult, and there are a couple of gameplay mechanics that could be improved upon. You can’t move bodies the old fashioned way (Cate looks like she has good “leg” muscles…she should be able to drag bodies across the floor regardless of size); you are forced to use body removing spray, which you may or may not have. As mentioned before, the missions that require no “sounding” of the alarm are very tough and may have you looking for the cheat to go to the next level (I’ll save you time…mpmaphole). However when looking over the entire body of the game, these flaws are minor. Unlike a lot of people who do reviews (PC Gamer, I’m looking at you), a game does not have to be perfect to get a perfect score. I mean, they gave the Orange Box a 94…reviewing should not be the journalistic equivalent of the Windows Experience Index where the lowest score for any of the parts equals the score for the whole. I have played some really good games and some games so painfully awful that even mentioning them hurts (just watch the Pen Pen Trilcelon video, and when you wake up in 2 hours after trying to kill the massive migraine you can fire off the meanly worded email to my inbox). A game does not have to be perfect to get a perfect score…you score it on your slider of what the best of the best is. Having played too many games to count (the majority being pretty bad) I know what I like and what I don’t, and No One Lives Forever is very near the top of the pile.
For the first time, I've decided that I'll release reviews for a series of games in a row. As I promised a No One Lives Forever review last week, that will (obviously) be the first thing pushed out the door. The review will be done very shortly, and the videos have already been uploaded in preparation for the written review being completed. I've already begun playing No One Lives Forever 2 and capturing video, so that comes next, followed by Contract Jack (which I'm sure will be the first game I review that I haven't beaten). I'm going to do some kind of weird split screen comparison video between all three games once the reviews for each are done in order to give a good idea of the major graphical differences between the games in the series (the biggest difference being between NOLF and NOLF2).
As I'm working on reviews somewhat simultaneously for NOLF and NOLF 2 (and the videos for NOLF being done already) I've been playing through NOLF 2. Its gameplay mechanics are obviously superior to the original, but story wise and pacing wise (thus far) it is very good but not as stellar as the original. The interesting thing that has changed (other than a couple of the voice actors) is that there is always more than one way to complete a mission (my only gripe with NOLF).
As always, I played a good amount of Left 4 Dead. The airport terminal level in Survivor is now my favorite level. Along with a couple of friends and a random internet person, my best time on that level is in excess of 13 minutes (Gold Medal baby!). Standing on top of/in front of the newstand was our strategy, and it works very well...although the AI director got really angry at us and punished us after this 13 minute stand. I'm still awful at the Last Stand survivor level, and if anyone has a good strategy for this (I can get bronze, gotten fairly close to silver, gold is way out of reach) to get the gold, let me know. As always, contact me at
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with any questions/comments/concerns.
I've been playing a whole lot of Super Mario Galaxy. As I finally got a Wii, I figured it would be an excellent game to really get into, and I have not been dissapointed. Save for a couple of what the heck moments that are just a little too cutesy Super Mario Sunshine-ish, it is an excellent game that I highly recommend. Interestingly enough, I think my Wii is getting a little confused on the save games for it, as it seems to swallow a few of my lives everytime I load my save on it. I'm serious when I say that it ate my lives from 11 down to 5 when I loaded a save...something I'll have to figure out before I get too much further in.
As the Left 4 Dead gigantic update just came out, I've been playing that pretty heavily the last 2 days. Survivor mode is the biggest new addition, and I will say its awesome to a point...and then the AI director decides to throw two tanks, two smokers, and three hunters at you right after the entire team gets boomered on. There are three medal levels for time survived...4 minutes for bronze, 7 for silver, and 10 for gold. 4 minutes is doable maybe 1/3 of the time on any given map, but much beyond that and you better have good teammates and a better strategy. 7 minutes is very difficult and probably happens 1/15, and I've yet to hit gold on any surivor map. They seem to have a "remove any exploit/strategy that makes things easy" strategy, which ends up meaning there is no longer a room under the stairs in the Death Toll concluding level, and that stuff that may be relatively doable in Campaign is really tough. In the elevator wait level in Survivor mode, I played with a team that wandered around trying to break down locked doors to best find a room that had only one entry. Eventually they found one, and we finally got silver on the level after playing through it about 15 times.
Finally, I'm putting together my review and video for my review of No One Lives Forever. I hope to have the video and review out within the next few days. I took probably a full terabyte of fraps video of the game, which I cut down on heavily to just the good stuff that'll work in a video (hint...VDUB is your friend). One thing I'm thinking about for future reviews is whether or not I actually I should beat a game before reviewing it, or if I should just play it until my opinion of it has stopped changing. So far I've done reviews only on games I have played all the way through in preparation for review. I'm thinking I'll continue that process for really good games, and perhaps play lesser games until my opinion is formed (in the case of some Dreamcast games, 15 minutes is more than adequate).
As always, comments or questions can be directed to my email at
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Incredibly fun. The most responsive controls in a boxing game...ever. Oozes nostalgia.
The Bad
Mike Tyson...he will eat your children.
Review
You may as well just go on E-Bay and buy it now. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is one of the best games on the NES, it is incredibly addictive, and it has the best one song soundtrack for any game ever. I recently found Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! on E-Bay for about 10 bucks with shipping, and since I’d been looking for it (and it usually costs around $25) I went ahead and bought it. Back in the day when Nintendo games could be found on every street corner, I sold my NES and all my games for practically nothing and I’m seriously kicking myself now because all the stuff that was easy to find and dirt cheap is worth a fair amount of money now (which you’ll find out if you ever have to buy any retro console games, especially the cartridge ones). I played this game extensively when I was younger, and trust me in saying that it has not lost a thing despite its age.
In Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, you are the boxer Little Mac, a 107 pound 17 year old, who is probably about 4 feet tall (everyone you fight is gigantic by comparison…supposedly Little Mac was made to be so small because the NES didn’t have the power to render the human player as translucent like the arcade game did). You begin your fighting career against the weakest person possible (Glass Joe, who’s 110 pounds with a record of 1-99), all the way up to the Dream Fight of Mike Tyson (from when he basically devoured everyone he fought…he had knockouts in his first 19 fights, 12 in the first round!). While those who don’t remember how Mike Tyson was at the beginning of his career probably find it funny that the game is named after him, it’s time for a little trip onto youtube to see why he has a game named after him (or if you want to go for laughs, search for Mike Tyson quotes on youtube…NSFW).
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! has very simple gameplay, but that is a large part of its appeal. Because it is on the NES, there are only so many buttons that you can use. A is a left body punch, B is a right body punch, and you add in a directional pad up to make them throw a head punch. Push down to block, left and right to dodge in that direction, and that is basically everything you’ll ever use. The game also has a star system, where you get a star for punching your opponents at the right time (such as right before they throw a big punch, or if you surprise them). They are few and far between later in the game, and hitting Start when you have a star allows you to do your powerful, wind-up special punch (which does more damage but takes a little while to throw). This limited control system does nothing to limit the quality of the game however.
Each character is distinctly different and each has a distinct punching pattern and style. MTPO is a game of patterns...different characters have different punches, punch order, and different tells. King Hippo blocks everything until he flashes red when trying to do a power punch. The trick is understanding this…punch him in the face when he flashes, then repeatedly in the stomach to damage him. Piston Honda moves his eyebrows when he’s going to throw a straight punch, and flashes when he’s going to throw a hook. Finally (if you get there) Mike Tyson flashes or winks his eye (left eye for a left punch, right for a right punch) before he decapitates you and eats your children. Each characters pattern is very distinct, and later characters make life much more difficult by having tells that occur almost in synch with their attacks. Bald Bull spinning his hands super fast and swinging is tough to dodge unless you have excellent reactions, and punching Mike Tyson is a crapshoot and involves anticipating when he’ll start to punch. They all follow patterns, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard anyways (and good luck living long enough to discover Mike Tyson’s pattern).
The actual rules of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out are surprisingly simple (although not exactly carbon copies of real boxing). Each round lasts three minutes, and there are only three rounds. Three knockdowns in a round are a TKO no matter what, a ten-count is a KO, and decisions can be had only if you have a set amount of points (awarded on punches and tallied below the health meters) that are never revealed in the game (look online to find out exactly how many, or just knock everyone out). It goes away from boxing in that the clock stops when someone is knocked down, but this is really just so it is more possible to get TKO’s. In between rounds, your opponents will say some fairly ridiculous things (sample Mike Tyson Line: "They say I can't lose...I say you can't win!"), and you can get a general idea of how you're doing based on your characters picture between rounds...eye's swollen shut, you have problems. Likewise if they have their eye covered by tape you have done some damage and knocked him down. The health bars are standard stuff…however having full health matters little if you get lit up by a special punch by anyone Bald-Bull and after (about a third through the game). Because most fighters have moments of weakness after missing with special punches, countering after their miss causes more damage, or (in some cases) knocks them down right away. Bald-Bulls Bull Charge attack will knock you down if he does it successfully, but if you punch him in the stomach at just the right time, it’s a knockdown every time. It’s a high risk/high reward situation if timed incorrectly, but sometimes that’s the only way to win.
In spite of its simplicity, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is an excellent game of boxing…just don’t expect any multiplayer. It runs lightning fast on the NES…in fact compared to running it on an emulator, you’re better off playing it on an NES. The NES controllers have lightning fast response, letting you dodge and throw punches the instant you push (it seems even a good controller on the pc still can’t match that responsiveness). My minor complaint about Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is the fact that I can’t beat Mike Tyson, even after all the times I’ve fought him in the game…he is probably the most difficult boss in any game I’ve ever played. In the first 90 seconds of the first round, he knocks you down in one punch, which is a problem since he has the shortest tells in the game…you need lightning fast reflexes to dodge him for very long. I’ve beaten him in an emulator only, by saving often and reloading after every knock down. The video included was made on the NES, recorded on a DVD recorder (so I didn’t cheat, except for using the Mike Tyson code a few times after getting killed by him over and over again…fyi 007-373-5963).
Overall, Mike Tyson is in my top 3 of NES games (behind Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3). It is an amazingly addictive, fun game. I’ve played it over and over again to figure out the boxers’ patterns so that I can beat them more efficiently (or just so I can beat them). After dodging Super Macho Man’s tornado-like punch where he spins a punch at you anywhere from 3-7 times, you’ll appreciate the difficulty of the game, even if you know all the patterns. Mike Tyson is epically tough, and if you beat him on the NES, congratulations, you have done what I could not do despite having fought him hundreds of times. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is simply put my favorite boxing game ever, despite its dated graphics and lack of complexity….sometimes simple controls and premise (figure out the punch patterns) mask the depth and how difficult a game really is. The complexity is hidden under the surface of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!...you’ll notice it when you get later in the game, being forced to act on minute punch tells, dodging or blocking, and then pick the proper hand and punch to throw to do the most damage possible. This game has the sharpest and most responsive controls of perhaps any game I’ve ever played, and you will not be disappointed playing it. This game is simply put, a must buy if you have an NES, even if you don’t like boxing games. Time to dust off the NES and cause Mike Tyson to go into retirement.
Fun, entertaining, fast paced game of boxing. More depth than it appears, and fun to play with friends
The Bad
Rumble Meter over-emphasized and overly beneficial. Some of the vocal taunts get old and are used too frequently. They are making a sequel on the Wii that kills the franchise because it is so terrible.
Since we have been playing/reviewing a lot of terrible games lately on the Dreamcast (and trust me when I say they are terrible), we at RetroPixels decided to review a good game for once. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 is almost certainly the most played game on my Dreamcast and it is a fun game of boxing that is not exactly heavy in the complexity department (which is perhaps why I keep playing it). One thing that will be obvious if you’ve ever played the original Ready 2 Rumble Boxing on the Dreamcast is that Round 2 is better in every possible way. Much tighter controls, better graphics, and better sound (Michael Buffer is in this one as well) mean that the game looks and plays very well…there is no compelling reason to play the original over Round 2, although it is a good game as well.
There are the standard arcade modes, a story driven (if you can call it a story) championship/career mode, and a multiplayer tournament modes to fill out the typical roster of game types. The championship mode is basically a walk through the career of whichever boxer you pick. Each boxer has a very distinct personality and none of them are alike. You can pick from a super cocky Afro Thunder (who yells out stuff like “Better call the Doctaaaaa”) to Mama Tua, a large Hawaiian woman who likes to tell you “I put my weight into my punches”. In between fights you are forced to suffer through training your boxer, through things like jumping rope, hitting a speed bag, etc. You can put them on auto, but the benefits for doing so suck, so to level your boxer up you have to do timed button pressing nonsense. Not a favorite in my book.
In addition to made-up boxers, there are also a few real people tossed in the game as fighters, including the first family (Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, as the First Lady and the President), Shaq, and Michael Jackson. An interesting note on Michael Jackson in the game is that it would almost seem he gave permission to use his name and likeness. He is probably the fastest puncher in the game, has some ridiculous combos, and at the end of the credits there is a “very special thanks to Michael Jackson” (the same line from a Simpson’s episode where he voiced a character). It all makes for an entertaining game, especially when you hear the First Lady say things like “Now you’ll know who’s really in charge” and The President saying things like “Your punch has been vetoed” while taunting.
When you have full rumble on yellow or red, you can hit the triggers to put you in rumble mode, which basically makes your hands glow and lets you do a flurry of punches that do a ton of damage to your opponent. A glowing silver rumble meter means the game is over for your opponent. Hit the trigger, than hold down X and Y and your opponent will get knocked out of the ring completely. As it is the quickest means of ending a match, it also means you are encouraged to do things that take the game far, far away from logical boxing.
Because of the prevalence of the Rumble Meter, being a smart boxer doesn’t win matches very quickly at all…taking chances and throwing haymakers everywhere does. This almost does a disservice to the game because it makes things seem too easy for almost all of championship mode. Then, you’ll come to a point (usually around when you are fighting the 3rd ranked fighter) where specials are blocked and haymakers are countered, and (after you lose) you’ll wonder what the heck just happened. This is when you’ll realize that cheap wins are good, but knowing how to do it the hard way is better.
If and when you recover from getting pummeled that one time, and discover how to beat the good people, you’ll face Michael Buffer’s alter-ego Rumbleman in the championship fight. Rumbleman is basically 8 feet tall and 500 pounds of pure muscle, and has a reach nearly double that of the average boxer. Rumbleman has another advantage though…when he taunts he goes from no rumble in the meter to full silver RUMBLE. The taunt takes quite a while, so interrupt it or you might as well be prepared to fight him again because you will go flying out of the ring. However, assuming you can keep Rumbleman from rumble-ing, he’s actually a fairly anti-climactic final boss. Beating him is as simple as crowding him…he is a slow puncher, and easy to beat down if you get close (just don’t stand on the outer edges of his reach…he will hurt you).
While overall Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 is an excellent game (one of the best on the Dreamcast), there are still a couple things that could have been better. While all the elements of “real” boxing are there, from counter punches, blocking, dodging, leaning side to side and front to back, etc., there is little use for it in single player until the last 3 or so fights. The vast majority of the game is haymaker to rumble, to knocking your opponent out of the ring. It is a game that has all the tools needed for a great boxing game, but due to the over-prevalence of the Rumble Meter, you’ll only use one of them. Everything in actual boxing matches is geared towards them, and it is certainly possible that it will get old for you after a while. If you can force yourself to play the game as a more real boxing game, the mechanics are certainly there to do so…you can win without resorting to Rumble flurries and haymakers, but it takes a lot longer and is more difficult to win. That is why playing in tournaments against friends is the best way to go…human players are far more likely to try more advanced moves when playing against human opponents because just throwing haymakers only works against computers (or dumb human players…). Overall the game is very fun, and easily one of the best games on the Dreamcast. My only complaint with the game is that boxing the easy (some would say cheap) way and using Rumble all the time gives you far too big of a reward, while boxing the hard way (countering punches, dodging, leaning, etc.) is not nearly as beneficial as it should be.
Recently, the composite audio jack on my NES console broke, after soldering a RCA cable onto the audio header so I could get sound again, I decided to look into buying a NES clone, to help reduce every day wear and tear on my aging console. I picked up a Retro Duo NES clone at a local retailer and have been comparing its performance with my original NES. So far, I have come to the conclusion that this clone provides a passable NES experience for average users, but will fall short for those who have become familiar with the way their games play on official hardware.
I was able to pick up this clone on sale for $35. For that price, in addition to the console and AC adapter, it came with two SNES style controllers and a nice AV cable with three composite and one s-video cable. The first thing I noticed after removing it from the packaging was that the build quality felt very cheap. But I can't complain for $35. The controllers are no different in their build quality. The directional pad is very stiff and one of the controllers seems to have stopped working after an hour of play testing. Fortunately, this machine can use normal SNES controllers, so I plan on picking up two of those to replace the packaged controllers. While I would prefer to use the official NES controllers, the ones that come packaged with the Retro Duo are at least usable, even if they are a bit klugey.
Connecting the AV cables and power adapter was no different than any other piece of equipment. Although I could not get the s-video out to display in anything other than black and white. It may be that my receiver does not like the s-video connection that came with the console, but composite video is more than enough to play NES games. One thing that stood out to me about this console is that it splits the mono audio out of the NES to both speakers, saving the need to use a splitter.
One of the few advantages of the Retro Duo over the NES, is that when you insert a cartridge and hit the power button, you can be almost certain that the game will boot. Unlike the NES, which takes some fiddling around with at times to get games to boot. Part of this is because the Retro Duo does not bother with the copy protection checks that were in the official NES, which prevent the console from booting if the cart is not in the slot just perfect. The other part, is because the Retro Duo takes a death grip to your cart. There is no eject button, like the one you would find on an official Super Nintendo, so you will have to yank the cart out of the console to swap out the game. Not sure if this death grip is good for the cart, but it makes it so games boot nearly 100% of the time.
But even if the game boots, that does not mean that it will work correctly. Since the Retro Duo and all the other NES clones out there are basically just glorified emulators, compatibility is a problem. So far I have tested; Snake Rattle N' Roll, Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda 2, Base Wars and Earthbound Zero. All of which worked, with minor glitches that would only be noticed by someone who had played the same game on an official console. The biggest issue is sound, some sounds have noticeable noise in them, while others sound very quiet and some don't render at all. For example; In base wars, the music sounds staticy on very short or notes at a higher pitch. At the end of a level in Super Mario Bros.3, as the score is being tallied, rather than hear a rapid succession of beeps as the score increases, the console just renders out one single long beep. Also in Mario Bros. 3 as Raccoon Mario, when pressing the A button to hover, the sound does not play, or is barely audible. In base Wars, the voice of the umpire is more distorted than it sounds on the NES in addition to being much quieter. For the most part, the only people who would even notice these things are those who have played these games extensively on the NES and actually care about the complete audio experience.
From the selection I took to test the Retro Duo, most of the graphical glitches were also minor. The most noticeable thing was that blues look somewhat purple, especially in skies and water. Other colors like greens, yellows and whites also look muddy and unclear. Edges of some sprites and text also looked distorted on the clone. But I did not experience anything that prevented me from playing the games. From this small selection of games, the clone does a good enough job of rendering the graphics to get most players through their play sessions, but don't expect anything quite like an official NES.
Feel free to take a look at the screen shots and videos that accompany this article, to help you make the decision to buy a Retro Duo, or go hunt down a NES. Either way, they are not difficult to find and only have about a $20 price difference, depending on where you shop. It is worth mentioning that this system also plays Super Nintendo games in addition to NES games (although I have not had much opportunity to see how well it performs for SNES games, except for a brief test of Star Fox in the store where I bought the machine).
If you want a true NES experience, to play the games exactly the way they were meant to be rendered (on original hardware), buy an NES and take care of it. If you really don't care if you are getting a 100% accurate representation then the Retro Duo may fit your needs. Personally, I am going to continue to use my Frankensteined NES until it decides to kick the bucket. I will use the Retro Duo if I am heading over to a friend's place, or have someone coming over who has a habit of breaking things.
The reviews are coming, I promise! We'll be releasing a review very shortly for Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 on the Dreamcast. We've beaten the game more than once (most recently a couple of days ago) so at the least it can be said we thoroughly played the game before posting a review. As you may also noticed, Pen Pen Trilcelon was played, and after having a massive headache and nausea for a couple hours, we are back as good as new (hint...don't play it...ever...you have been warned).
The game I've been playing the most in the last week has been Sega Tennis 2K2, the renamed sequel of Virtua Tennis on the Dreamcast. While it took me a little while to get into it because of general confusion (hint...when in World Tour mode, it's good to read the map so you actually know when events happen you can compete in), it is easily the best tennis game I've ever played (anyone saying Mario Tennis is better is living in a dreamland...let me know when you beat the level with the moving court sections).
I also played a fair amount of what I consider to be the best Mario themed game (that isn't a Super Mario game), Mario Golf on the N64. It is an excellent game of golf, and fairly representative of the game without getting too cutesy and having weird power-ups like the later implementation of the game. One thing I will say after having played it a bit is that Bowser is horrible in that game...he seems to have no regard for where the ball goes. Every other character (even the ones that have gigantic draws or fades) at least hits it in the vicinity of where the aim is...Bowser hits it a mile, but not necessarily where it should have gone. Overall though, excellent game of golf that is extremely well done, nearly on par with some of the best Tiger Woods games.
As always, feel free to email me at
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with any questions/comments/concerns. And yes, Pen Pen Trilcelon did really make me physically ill.
As you may be expecting, we at retropixels will be pushing out our initial podcasts in the next few days. Both ITGeek and myself have finally recieved the last of our equipment, and we are in the process of figuring out what works best for recording. We'll be using Behringer C-1u mic's that in my opinion are excellent mic's, if only because they are USB and don't require a mixer or seperate phantom power (and they make me sound good on playback, so that's something). I'm also working on a retropixels song, but you'll have to wait until I'm done to get any hints on what that'll be like.
I've played through Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 on the Dreamcast, as I'm about to release a review for it in the next day or two. Although I've played it many times before, it is as always a fun boxing game that has style oozing out the sides (but it is not perfect). I've also played some more Dynamite Cop (even though its been reviewed) as a test run with ITGeek for doing game commentary while playing games worked/sounded. The results aren't in yet, but I think with a little tweaking we'll be just fine.
In addition to all that, my Dreamcast video cable seems to have taken a dump as I'm getting no video or audio. My Dreamcast hasn't been working for a while, so when I went to see if it was working yesterday, the sides of the plug on the video cable fell off, leading me to wonder. All that goes through is static, so I'm pretty sure the problem is with the cable and not the system. I'll borrow someones cable for now to see if it decides to work again, otherwise I'm just going to go buy the cheapest Dreamcast I can find.
As always, feel free to e-mail me any questions or concerns. The new email address for me is:
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As you may well have figured out by now, there have been a few changes on the site in preparation for a big content pushout in the next couple of weeks. The written review for Freedom Force is done, and I am now solely focused on putting together it's video.
I'll be the first to admit that I am (at times) easily distracted. I've been playing Burnout: Paradise a lot more than I would care to admit on the PC. It's probably the most entertaining racing game I've ever played (although I think some of the earlier Need for Speed games were excellent as well). Despite not having even touched the multiplayer (and the multiplayer is somethng to behold from what I've heard) there is a ton of stuff to do in the game. As with the earlier Burnout games, there is a lot more than just racing involved (which is good...strict racing games get boring really quickly). My favorite event types are Marked Man and Road Rage. Marked Man involves trying to get to an endpoint without getting totaled by the multiple unbranded Mustangs trying to total your car. Basically you have the choice of driving a fast car and being very susceptible to getting shoved into a wall (and having better ability to maneuver) or having a go at it with a larger, more durable car (or SUV, conversion van, or 4x4 truck) that is less susceptible to getting pushed into a wall, but much slower, with a turning radius roughly equivalent to that of a houseboat. The Road Rage event is exactly what it sounds like...your job is to smash cars into the wall (a specific number in a certain time, which is extended with every car you takedown). This is where the visuals shine brighest in the game...cars flying all over the place trying to wreck anyone they can, with spectacular crashing animations when you manage to takedown another vehicle. Criterion Games was not messing around when they made this game...it always runs butter smooth, looks fantastic, and there is a ton of variety. Is that too much to ask for from every racing game? (And the answer from every other racing game maker is YES). After I've gotten the highest license in single player (which will happen soon I'd imagine) I'm going to finally go online and I'll be sure to tell you if my overall opinion of the game gets better or worse (and at this point I'd give it a 9/10 if I were reviewing it, the only downfalls being the cumbersome menu system and the all over the place soundtrack).
I also played a few hours of Left 4 Dead this week against some former coworkers...I'm still trying to figure out if there is a good way to bull through the final chapter of No Mercy (on the roof of the hospital) without taking massive amounts of punishment. Every other campaign seems to have an almost foolproof gameplay trick on how to get through the last chapter (at least in advanced and below). If anyone knows of a good way to beat No Mercy without getting messed up, let me know, because I'm seriously tired of dying after the helicopter gets there when the third tank shows up.
As always, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to email the retropixels.org staff.
