A Bit of Screams: Silent Hill 2

Most people know what Silent Hill is now because of the movie rendition that came out in 2006. While I love that movie just as much as the next person, and while I love the first game as well, Silent Hill 2 (for a number of platforms) was one of the scarier games that I have ever played. Even now with all of the FEAR games, and nail-biters like the Last of Us, the Silent Hill series stands up to the test of time, and will always have a place in my heart. Because of that, I thought it deserved a blog post.

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 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 Love: Appreciating my online (and now offline) friends

Every once in a while I, like many similar to me (I assume), go through a period of wondering whether there are things in my life that I could be doing better. Maybe I could go out more, or try more actively to make friends, maybe I should try cooking more at home and eating less Dominos, or being a better lover. This happens usually about once a month and tosses me into a guilty spiral of feeling like I am not a real adult, or am not living as much of a life as people that I know who are in the Peace Corps or doing capitalized Big Things. But, inevitably, I come out of it with the help of some of my friends — my internet friends, that is — and realize that life is great whether it is filled with capitalized or lowercased things.

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 Lead Pipe: Streets of Rage

Ah, Streets of Rage. From the sassy, prostitute-esque lady cops to the rugged names of the three main characters, this game wins on so many fronts for me. Originally released as a side-scroller for Sega Genesis, this game has since been duplicated on any number of platforms, from virtually online, to iOS, to Steam—it is still well-loved today. With good reason, this game deserves to be noted as one of the most awesome games ever released.

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 Bosses: Mega Man 2

Mega Man 2 is widely known as one of the best games in the series, and to some even as one of the best games of all time. Not only did it evolve the earlier Mega Man game into something that could be more easily playable, but its graphics, sound, and plot are also known as some of the more enjoyable ones in the series.

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 Space: Phantasy Star Online

The Phantasy Star Online series was one of my first introductions to the genre of MMORPG, and it's strange to think that it was released over a decade ago. I remember watching my boyfriend at the time play and being curious about how the whole thing worked, and then once I started playing on my own being so sucked in to the plot, world, and playing online with others that I couldn't stop. PSO was integral to my life as a gamer, and I'm sure many others. After the break you, too, can check out my musings on this awesome series, and partake in the happy remembrance yourself.

A Bit of Marvel: Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer has been claimed, by many, to have been one of the more difficult releases for NES. This is primarily because the main character, Silver Surfer from Marvel Comics, was squishy as all get out and would die after a single hit, no matter what the enemy he was facing. While this may have been frustrating for many players, it was the g-dang NES—I don't really know what you guys were expecting. Also, it is apparently now retailing for close to $125, which obviously speaks to its stellar quality. :]

A Bit of ANNIVERSARY: Doom

For those of you not in the know, recently the 20th anniversary of the release of Doom happened. Doom has a large hand to play in the growth of video game culture: it started as shareware, essentially founded the First Person Shooter genre, and successfully started a multiplayer system. While it has been followed up by two additional games (Doom 2 and 3), Doom was the original and, in my eyes at least, the best. You know what, don't even let my review skew your perception of the game if you haven't played it yet. Go check it out here. For those of you that have played it and want some of that good nostalgia, or for those who prefer to have their games SPOILED check after the break.

A Bit of Balance: Adult Gaming

HOW MANY BITS, MERCER? 0/8 BITS!

Ugh, adulthood. Goodbye to the days of "Which game am I going to play first?" and a resounding hello to "Do I really have time for that right now?" Every day I find myself questioning how best to schedule out my plethora of hobbies: Alright, I'll read for an hour, hula hoop and watch Doctor Who for an hour, then I'll play Pokemon while Jerry showers and maybe get a chance to schedule in an ARAM with Walt. 

No one wants to live like that, but it is how many of us overstimulated adult gamers choose to do it. It's tiring and, for me at least, the provider of a just the right amount of guilt to reconsider if my lifestyle really is worth the effort. It's a far cry from when I spent hours in my basement playing World of Warcraft with whatever boyfriend I had at the time but, ostensibly, it is better.

A Bit of Exploration: Obduction

For those of you who haven't heard the news, Cyan, Inc. the super-sick creators of awesome games like Myst and Riven are coming out with a new game: Obduction. Despite the fact that the name does admittedly irk the spelling nazi in me, I will not be kept from playing (and preaching about) it. From my understanding, anyway, Obduction is meant to be an amalgamation of Obfuscation and Abduction—at least that's what I take from its Kickstarter page.

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 Obsession: World of Warcraft

HOW MANY BITS, MERCER? 8/8 BITS!

I have a serious problem that seems to occur about as regularly as doctor's appointments do for hypochondriacs. Not only do I have ONE character that I have devoted a solid 3 months to leveling (explained later in post), but I also have 8 others on that realm (a server) and several on another realm. Not only has my life been consumed by this game, but so has that of my boyfriend, one of my bestfriends, and a plethora of friends that I have made through other blogging sites.

A Bit of Point & Click: Loom

HOW MANY BITS, MERCER? 7/8 Bits

Alright, so, I know that I already covered ONE lucasfilms' game, but really, how can I resist? This is another fantastic and memorable one filled with fancy and whimsy.

The game ORIGINALLY began with a 30 minute audiotape that came along with the packaging. One was supposed to listen to the tape before playing to be briefed on the history of this guild that the main character is in. Unfortunately, I haven't played that version for a two reasons:

A Bit of Blood: Splatterhouse 3

HOW MANY BITS, MERCER? 6/8 Bits

Just an FYI, my friends, the rejuvenation of this goblet of video-game-holiness will soon be upon us. Thus is foretold by Ye Olde Gaming Magazines. And it looks effing awesome.

I enjoyed both Splatterhouse, and Splatterhouse 2; but neither of them spoke to me quite as...aggressively...as Splatterhouse 3.