A Bit of Ice, Ice Baby: Kickle Cubicle

First, I would like to take the time to express how sorry I am that I haven't been keeping up with posts. While I know this is, by no means, everyone's favorite blog to read, I was doing a pretty good job there at getting regular content out the door at least every other day. Because my PAX East cosplay hit a lot of hinges (my fabric getting stolen by my neighbors, UPS marking my address as not a real address, FedEx losing packages, and so on), I have had to spend a lot of time working on getting that ready. Hopefully, after this weekend when I finish it, I will be back up and running and writing about all those good old games you know and love.

So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce or remind all of you of a little game called Kickle Cubicle for NES. While there isn't much of a plot to this game, the premise is that there is an evil ice king, and that he has taken over Kickle's home planet, the Fantasy Kingdom. The major driver of the game is to collect red "dream bags" in which the Wicked Wizard King has imprisoned all of the citizens of the planet. The dream bags look kind of like Santa's sack, and are strewn haphazardly around each of the many, many levels.

A Bit of Wat: A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia

The first thing that I think of when I think of A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia is: the opening track sounded very similar to the Indiana Jones theme song. The second thing I think of when I think of this game is that the titular "boy" runs like a ballerina on stage. Otherwise, I have no really solid critiques of this game. It was just that awesome. If you never played it for NES, then maybe you played it for the Wii, which is was later released on. If you played it on neither, then you are a sad, sad soul that REALLY needs to play this game.

A Bit of KO: Punch-Out!!

So, while talking to my husband about one of my newest forays into athleticism (Boxing), it was mentioned that now that I know how hard it is, I should write up a post about Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. While I don't, by any means, think that this is one of the best games of all time, I do definitely think it deserves more attention than it typically gets when it comes down to traditional NES games.

A Bit of FPS: Star Wars: Dark Forces

Often called a DOOM-clone because of its release a meager year afterward, Star Wars: Dark Forces was the game that fueled the fire of all Star Wars games to come. Set in the Star Wars universe, ostensibly around the time of the events featured in New Hope, the player controls Kyle Kattarn, a mercenary that has been hired by the Rebel Alliance. While its a possibility that I love this game because it has anything to do with Star Wars, because it was made by LucasArts, or because it was playable on computer its not clear. What is clear is that this is a freaking awesome game that deserves a bit more recognition.

A Bit of Action: River City Ransom

River City Ransom, in my mind, crossed genres as both a fighting game and an RPG. While following the line of a traditional beat-em-up, it is also set in an open world which the player is encouraged to explore while moving onwards in the game. The graphics, while being pretty basic, were good at the time of the game's release in 1989, and the longevity of the game is demonstrated by its having been released for multiple other platforms since the original for NES.

A Bit of Ball: Base Wars

Short for Cyber Stadium Series: Base Wars, Base Wars was a futuristic game that came out for NES in 1991. While any one who reads this blog with any frequency knows that I'm not REALLY a sports game fan, this game deserves a place in the annals because basically everybody else I know loved it.

A Bit of Crates: Crash Bandicoot

I feel like Crash Bandicoot is one of those awesome games that has just gotten forgotten with the passage of time. I spent hours playing this game, yet when someone asks me which games are my favorite, I've never thought of it, which is a shame. This platformer, released for Playstation in 1996, has both an engaging story, beautiful-looking design, as well as being acclaimed globally by critics and players alike.

A Bit of Science: The Lost Mind of Doctor Brain

Apparently, unbeknownst to me, there are other games exactly like this one out there--in fact this is apparently the third in the series. That being said, in my world as a young kid playing PC games, The Lost Mind of Doctor Brain was the only one in existence. And I loved it. This kind of follows the same trend as my post about Zoombinis, so if you didn't like that game, don't like this one, or don't like logic/puzzle games you should probably just kick rocks before you get too frustrated.

A Bit of Weird: Super Dodge Ball

Super Dodge Ball is to the NES what NBA Street was to Playstation. Both games seemed intensely awesome while I was playing them, but looking back both are pretty limited in their scope. Also, it bears noting that Super Dodge Ball is vaguely racist, based on the different fields that it is played. Despite that fact, I loved this game back in the day and think that it deserves mentioning.

A Bit of Speed: Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog. I mean, who doesn't or didn't love Sonic the Hedgehog? While I don't think that I was quite old enough to play Sonic when it first first came out, I definitely did when I was a bit older. I remember myself, and two boys who lived near my dad's house each gave each other nicknames corresponding to the different Sonic characters—I was Tails. Either way, Sonic was a game that defined our generation, to my understanding, and I felt that it deserved to be mentioned here.

A Bit of Fleen: Logical Journey of the Zoombinis

When I look back on my favorite games as a child, I start to see a trend—the games that I loved required puzzles, intelligence, and...gasp...learning. Chrono Trigger, Secret of Monkey Island, The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain and, yes, Zoombinis, were all logic games deeply immersed in puzzle solving and riddling. This seems, to me, a pretty far cry from games that we have nowadays, but I guess that is the sign of things evolving and me becoming older. Anyway, if you are one of the few individuals of my generation that has not played Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, here's a breakdown of what you missed.

A Bit of Intelligence: Intelligent Qube/Kurushi

While the gameplay for Intelligent Qube is a basic principle at best, this game for the original Playstation had me obsessed when it was first released in 1997.  This probably is because of the beginning onset of a completionist gamer mentality, but each time the blocks crushed me or I continued to persevere through each of the game's increasingly difficult levels.

A Bit of Possession: Shining Force II

I thought that, given that the last few posts have been about platformers, that it was time to return our gaze to my most loved game genre: RPG. Shining Force II was such an RPG and, while the plot now seems pretty basic, was very advanced for its time. Because of its advanced nature and the fact that this game was a best seller, I thought it deserved mention here.

A Bit of Amphibians: Battletoads

Battletoads, along with being one of the most popular NES and NES ports of all time, won numerous awards. In fact, it won first place in the categories of: Graphics and Sound (NES), Theme and Fun (NES), Best Play Control (NES) and Best Multi-Player or Simultaneous (NES) and was nominated for 9 awards in total at the 1992 Nintendo Power Awards. Despite this, it is most commonly associated with its difficulty, something that sometimes even the most advanced players were not able to overcome. All that being said, I loved the game and I know that many of the people that have played the various versions of the game or watched the cartoon feel the same way.

A Bit of Brainpower: Dynamite Headdy

Originally released for Sega Genesis and designed by Treasure, Dynamite Headdy is a creative platformer which requires you to use your head. Literally. While there were many platformers around this time, it being the main style of game used in 8- and 16-bit games, this one took the typical tropes and skewed them, making for an incredibly unique experience.

A Bit of Bugs: Worms Armageddon

Despite the fact that the principle and play of this game was pretty basic, it still merits a mention as one of the better "old school" games in the memories of myself and fellow players. You could play it as a single player campaign, single player "deathmatch" mode (which essentially was a challenge against the computer, or as a local or online multiplayer. Because of that I think that this game was (and still is) especially versatile in the grand scheme of gaming.

A Bit of Sex: Video Game Condoms

I was lurking around the forums on one of my favorite sites when I ran across THIS gem! Video Game Themed condoms! In little packages that look like the cartridges for old gaming platforms before disks came out. Donkey Schlong!? Sextris? I can't think of something that I would want more than these! They all come in a box shaped like an old gameboy! Ahhh, it brings back all kinds of nostalgia.

Not only is the packaging clever, and the campaign witty--but it promotes safe sex! I commend the creator, Ben Marsh for his innovation and hilarity.

A Bit of Scifi: Earthworm Jim

HOW MANY BITS, MERCER!? 7/8 Bits!

I remember sitting in my grandmother's living room and playing this game, and thinking what a little badass I was. This was the first game that I played that had even the slightest connotations towards adult humor, and I thought it was awesome. In fact, pretty much everyone from my generation that you talk to has the same feeling about Earthworm Jim, it was funny, naughty, and ultimately a great time to play.

Earthworm Jim was originally released for Genesis, and Mega Drive; but I got the later version that was for Super Nintendo. Apparently it has been released for Wii, and Nintendo DS later; but for all intensive purposes (IE, the parameters of my blog) I'm gonna stick to talking about what I know.

Now, with a title like Earthworm Jim, one would wonder how a lowly, normal earthworm could grow to be such an awesome muscly super-hero-y type, guy. Well, it all starts out with Psy-Crow stealing a "Ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit" invented by Dr. Monkey-For-A-Head for Queen Slug-for-a-Butt (you can obviously see why this had my 5 year old self laughing my ass off). Long story short, someone drops the collar of the suit, and it just happens to go around Jim's head. He turns into the aforementioned super-muscly worm hero that everyone knows and loves.