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 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 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 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.

A Bit of Surprise: The Evolution of Frogger

HOW MANY BITS, MERCER? 6/8 BITS

Everyone, at least once in their life has played some form or another of the game Frogger. Whether it was in an arcade, or in your home there has been a version of this game for every single platform, pretty much. In this post, I'll be going through the history of Frogger, and documenting the year by year growth of our unsquished green friend.

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.