Abadox: The Deadly Inner War

Natsume/Milton Bradley 1989/1990

Star Soldier 1986

Hudson Soft, 1986

Metroid (Disk System)

Metroid for the Famicom Disk System in 1986 by Nintendo

Genghis in Space

I've been revisiting Gyruss is recent days. It's a classic space shooter game made by Konami released in 1983 as an arcade game. Since then it's been on pretty much every system since. Despite it's age and the many versions on various hardware, there's never been a sequel. That's really weird in gaming, perhaps Gradius and other Konami's shooters fill that role. Still, I wouldn't mind a follow up. The only thing else is a bootleg game called Venus. You know I'm talking about an old arcade game when the subject of bootleg versions comes up.

Game play is pretty standard shooter fair. Though instead of your ship residing in the foreground, it can rotate around the entire screen similar to Tempest. This style of game is called a tube shooter, though it feels more like a hybrid of styles to me in Gyruss. Enemies come in waves as do obstacles with a boss at the end of the levels. Plot is light, you're flying through the solar system ridding the universe of evil along the way. Depending on the version you're playing, Genghis Khan is the main villain behind the forces you're fighting. Don't ask me how Genghis Khan came back as a galactic threat, or where he got all those eyeball space ships... but I dig it.

Weekly Halloween- The Cute Devil

Kid Dracula/Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun is a very fun little game where you take control of a young Kid Dracula (as the name implies) and take on Galamoth the demon. Kid Dracula uses his Dracula's (his father) cape as a weapon on his adventure. Kid Dracula is the self proclaimed Demon King, or was until Galamoth challenged him for the title. After defeating Galamoth, his title is restored and all the monsters in Transylvania want to be his friend. Despite all the monsters and demons, the game is obviously pretty cute.

It's intended to be a parody of the Castlevania series, though depending on who you ask, is part of the series. Kid Dracula being a young Alucard prior to growing up and becoming a more serious character. I prefer to take it on it's own though. It's hard not to enjoy the cute monsters and the fun platforming action. The game is available on most platforms now, but was originally a Famicom/NES game. Later the Gameboy version was released which is supposed to be both a remake and a follow up at the same time. I'm not sure how that works, but I am much better at the Gameboy version for some reason.

Super Joanie loves Chachi

I'm not into sports. Wrestling is the closest I come and that's not really the same thing. Athleticism, sure, but not really a sport. I'm obviously not playing many sports based video games. There's a few I do enjoy, and it's not really the actual game that I mind... it's just I'm largely not interested. One game that's technically a sports game that I do like, however, is Super Doge Ball/Nekketsu Kōkō Dodgeball Bu. Just in-case the name wasn't clear, it's a dodge ball video game and part of the Kunio- Kun game series.

You know, I appreciate the Kunio-Kun games so much that one day I should take a deep dive into the series proper and not just the old Nintendo Games. I didn't even know it was an ongoing series as a kid, I just noticed all the characters in the seemingly unrelated games looked alike. I got some insight (thanks to the internet) and I for the most part like all the games in the series I've played (Renegade, not so much). So maybe a deeper dive should go in the 'to do' list.

Daiva VI Opening Story

 

Daiva Story 6: Imperial of Nirsartia was added to the Switch Online NES channel a few weeks ago. It's pretty cool when they add random games like this. It gives me a chance to play them for the first time and experience something new that was released off my radar back in the day.  If you're wondering about the 6 in the title, this is the 6th game out of 7. The only one released to the Famicom as it was a home computer (MSX and others I think) series. To appeal to the younger players that the system would no doubt bring in, the game was simplified a bit from it's PC version. The series isn't an ongoing story, but the same galactic war story told from the perspective of other characters in the various parts. 

Game play is pretty fun, but not completely obvious when first starting. Instruction come in handy. You'll need to travel to different locations on a star map and take over them. You'll also need to protect your locations from invaders. Once entering one of these areas the game switches to a side scrolling shooter where you take command of a mobile suit. Progress through the area and defeat the boss to take control the area. At the beginning of this stage, there's a map with three different power ups (health refill, a bomb that kills everything on screen, and missiles to be fired repeatedly from off screen) to be placed where they'd come in handy on the fight. The computer roots of the series is very obvious here as the controls are pure 80's micro computer style. One fire button and push up to jump. That was hard to go back to after all this time.

The jumps can be a challenge as each planet has different gravity. Overall these areas aren't too difficult, but of course they gradually increase as you progress. Also during the star map area of the game, you may encounter other ships. Doing so will put your ship in a turn based battle with them. Daiva Story is pretty fun, but I do wish the game was translated so i could understand the story better. Holding up my phone to use camera translation doesn't always work like a charm and gets old fast. Regardless, it reminds me of those summer nights I'd stay up late playing Star Raiders or StarMaster on my Atari. Good times.

Mario's Special Adventure

 

I quite like Mario, always have. Even with a lifetime of him in video games, cartoons, and everywhere else: there's always something else. It's pretty cool that such a long running and well established character can manage to be obscure sometimes. With as many times that the original Super Mario Bros. has been reissued, you'd think you've seen it all. That's not exactly true as when they reissue the game, it's the orignal game. There's actually a few special editions. Then there's a version that's outright just named Super Mario Bros. Special. 

Super Mario Bros. Special is a version of the classic Super Mario Bros. developed (officially) by Hudson Soft for some NEC, Sharp, and Samsung home computers for the Japanese and South Korean markets. It's weird to imagine a time when Nintendo would allow something like this to happen, but many folks in my age range likely remember Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. on Atari and Coleco Systems. Not to mention random titles by licensed developers in the 90's or the recent mobile games. Sometimes they're willing to make a deal I suppose. 

Basically, the game is a port of the classic Super Mario Bros. that was released for certain home computers. The idea of it sounds pretty great, there's even a few new items and villains from other Mario games that make an appearance. However due to the limitations of those older computers as compared to the Famicom, things were a little toned down. The graphics were not as colorful and a little lessened. There was some audio differences too. It sounds like it should, but a little off. 

Luigi was absent, but most noticeably the screen didn't scroll for the most part. When Mario would get to the edge of the screen, instead of that smooth scrolling you're used to, the screen goes black and the updated screen is presented. Not exactly ideal for some of those big leaps of faith. The controls were also a little wonky as Mario just doesn't move normally. I hear the Sharp X1 version handles it a little better though. It's weird to say a PC version of a console game was inferior (I can hear PC gamers scream out in disbelief), but it really was. Regardless of it's faults, Super Mario Bros. Special is a pretty unique side note in Mario's long history. I'm pretty sure it was cool at the time to have the availability of such a popular game for those who may not have had access to it normally.

Load Disk

 

Sometimes it's pretty to look at something you never had the option of using and think that you'd love to have had that. I'm sure we're all that way about a few things. One such thing for me is the Famicom Disk System. Growing up in the States with the NES, it was never available to me. I'd occasionally read about it in various game magazines, but being younger and accustomed to the NES, it wasn't something I thought about until getting a little older. Then it became something that seemed so very cool to me. Like the Satellateview and SEGA Channel, it was another neat way to expand your console. 

A brief explanation for those not in the know. The Famicom Disk System was a disk drive that worked with the Famicom (NES). The games would come on the cheaper disks and re-writable disks were available. Those re-writable disks could be used at kiosks to purchase games at a lower cost that on a cartridge. Buying a new game on a used disk would re-write a new game over the existing game. In Japan, games rentals wasn't a thing and this made a fine substitute. Considering the legal battles going on over game rentals here at the time, I'd like to think it would have replaced that market. 

It was pretty popular and the kiosks could be found up to 2003 still operating. This is something I'd have loved. I can see myself buying boxes of disks and buying up games from machines in early adulthood. Back when I'd travel to different stores toy hunting. Back in those days, I'd often hit up different grocery stores to collect Homies and other coin machine toys. Hey, this one kiosk a few miles away has a special edition game? Off I'd go! I can see it clear as I'd travel an hour just to follow up on a lead. Admittedly, I'm enthralled by Gatchapon machines in general and would probably have a page here with my open trades if I were local to machines.

Here's where I admit that I'm day dreaming. Whenever you mention some older tech looks, someone will chime in with whatever negative things it had. It's probably true, but obviously wasn't a big deal as some of those kiosks were around so long. Cartridges did eventually have tech that wouldn't work on the disks and apparently piracy was an issue. Whatever, right? Piracy is still an issue and technology eventually moves on. It's easy to look back from the future and judge the faults later. I admit that I'm looking through rose tinted glasses on the subject. In my minds eye, it looked amazing.

Had my Atari those days

 

The other day something got me thinking about playing Atari back in the day. I was a 2600 kid, had a few different units. One would seemingly burn out in time to find a replacement at a thrift store. Said replacement would last the same amount of time. I think my last 2600 was actually a Sears Video Arcade. The Sears Video Arcade was the Atari 2600 sold under Sears branding for whatever reason that was. The person who'll inform me why will also correct me that the 2600 was originally the Atari VCS. For that person, thank you for your input. Because of my age it will always be the 2600 as by the time I got mine, it had been renamed.

I loved my Atari and have some fond memories of playing it on my little 13" black and white TV while listening to the radio. Of course the NES surpassed it in every way, but I still played my 2600 during the time as well. After all, a NES game could be pretty exspensive and an 2600 game could be bought for pretty cheap. I had to wait for a holiday to get Megaman 2, but got Vanguard for a few bucks on clearance. Fortunately the same place with those cheap Atari games turned out to be a cheap NES game outlet eventually. Good old Kay-Bee.

One thing that I never liked about my trusty 2600 was all those switches. They served a purpose, but I never liked them. Speaking of things I didn't like, I hated switching between the paddle controllers and joysticks. With my NES, all I needed to swap around was the light gun occasionally, and that was a big occasionally. It wasn't until adulthood that I learned of the Atari 2800. Which would have been the ideal Atari (other than an ST) for me at the time. 

The 2800 started it's life as a Japanese version of the 2600. It featured a more slick looking console to compete with the Famicom and other newer consoles at the time. This was just before Atari updated the 2600 with a sleeker looking box (at a much lower price) to try and compete with the NES. It looked sharp, replaced those switches with much more modern looking buttons. Most importantly, the controller was a hybrid paddle and joystick unit. A good update that corrected some issues.

Unfortunately for Atari, this wasn't much of a success in Japan. It wasn't even their first attempt at marketing the 2600 over there. The 2800 was about $100 (in US dollars) more than a Famicom and was almost a 10 year old system at this point with no real way to compete with the then hot new thing. So the 2800 bowed out of the race in Japan quietly before finding a new life here in America as the Sears Video Arcade 2. Don't ask me how we got back to Sears, history can be weird sometimes.

Super Bowser Bros.

 

Video games are a weird thing sometimes. What may look like a throw away character might be a complete rabbit hole of it's own. Case in point: Bowser's Brother. Whats that? You didn't know Bowser has a brother? He does depending on the source. Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan is a different game. It's essentially a harder version of the original game for 'advanced players'. Released here as 'The Lost Levels', Super Mario Bros. 2 is a VERY HARD GAME. One such challenge is 'fake' Bowsers popping up in locations for a quick boss fight. However hitting these 'fake' Bowsers results in minor villain appearing as he dies. That's because it's a fake, get it? 

However in worlds 8-4 and 9-3 you'll meet a blue Bowser who doesn't revert into a minor Koopa minion. Why is this one different? According to some manuals and guides, that was Bowser's Brother. Does he have a name? So far no, Bowser's Brother is all we have to go by. Maybe he's Kerog. He does have a fake version of himself in level D-4 like his brother. Bowser's Brother also appears in All Night Nippon Super Mario Bro's (a special limited release) and in the upgraded Super Mario Bros. game in Super Mario Bros. All-Stars. Though he's green instead of blue there and depending on the source either a fake Bowser or Bowser's Brother. The blue coloration is often used in various Mario games as an alternative color set for Bowser, and it looks great. It's just not as interesting as a character who only exists depending on who you ask.

Project Doom

 

Vice: Project Doom (known in Japan as Gun-Dec) is an interesting game that's often looked over these days. You play Detective Hart who finds himself investigating the B.E.D.A Corporation, a company that develops electronic and military equipment. Turns out, B.E.D.A is actually ran by a secret alien race and the company also produces a product called 'Gel'. 'Gel' is essentially food for the aliens, but sold as illegal drugs underground. For humans it's super addictive, but has some terrible side effects. Along the way, Detective Hart works with associates and his girlfriend during the adventure.

The story is told through multiple cinema segments between levels. They're quite extensive and make me wish for a CD version with animation. Apparently a Genesis version was in the works named Deep Scanner. I want to believe the developers would have taken advantage of the more powerful system and perhaps those cinemas would have been more impressive. However, as a NES game, they're pretty good. The game is an action platformer, with driving and shooting stages. It's pretty fun, though can get frustrating. Fortunately there's unlimited continues. 

Fighting the Quantum via Kabuki

 

Unfortunately, not everything works out. Case in point- Kabuki Quantum Fighter (Jigoku Gokurakumaru in Japan). Clearly HAL and Nintendo planned to make this a series. You've got a very recognizable hero who says "I'll be back. Watch for my new adventure." in the end credits. Not to mention a premise that lends itself to those future adventures. Our hero, Colonel Scott O'Connor, whose transferred his brain into the main defense computer system to fight a rouge program. Of course that rouge program resents itself as various monsters and other bad guy types for our hero to fight. As a computer program, Scott's self image is a kabuki as he is the descendant of a kabuki actor.

The Japanese version is a little different. Instead, the game is a tie in to the movie Zipang with a boy named Bobby entering a computer system. Inside the system he's a samurai. The setting got switched up a little to make Quantum Fighter. It's a solid premise, not too unlike Gridman. I do wish they'd made more as it's a good game as well. I was just replaying and having just as much fun as ever. It's an action platformer, which is a favorite type of mine. Scott uses his hair as a melee weapon and various projectile/bomb attacks are obtained as you progress. It's a weird and fun sci fi setting with some scary visuals mixed in. Unfortunately it's also been 30 years since the release and no sequel. I'd love a figure of Scott, unofficial or not. I'd love a new game as well, but at least the original is still fun when revisiting.

Hot New Week Scamble!

 

It's Monday and you know what that means! It's a new week here on Planet Zone! Speaking of a new week... where the hell did the weekend go? Friday morning I went to Target for the new Pokémon game for the Mrs. While there I found Kingdom Slammer and Pipes. The Toei Spider-Man Hot Wheel was also there. Been looking for that one. Still no Studio Series Soundwave. That's now autofilling itself out.

Saturday was spent mostly in bed until the afternoon when the Mrs and I went to Five Below. There I found a neat Stranger Things field guide and grabbed a Siege Firedrive to give Studio Series Hot Rod. The Mrs pointed out neat plush Mario and Luigi bag clips that I also picked up. A bottle of Ramune was also bought as I've been craving it lately. We then took my mother grocery shopping before ordering food and watching this weeks Mandelorian and 1000 lbs Sisters.

Sunday was mostly spent playing Demon Slayer on my PS4 while the Mrs played that new Pokémon game. For dinner Mom came over and the Mrs made low sodium tacos! I helped set up Mom's new Chromebook we had gotten her for Christmas (she apparently hadn't herself yet). 

The weekend's over though and time to enjoy my Monday before heading into work tonight. Did you all enjoy the new episode of Transform Squadron? I'd been planning to do it since December. Things happened though keeping recording it delayed a little. I planned on January, just it ended up being a little late. I've got a fun week in mind for you all. Thanks to each and every one of you for continuing to support Zone Base. Don't forget to share with your friends!

New Week - The Famicom

 

It's Monday and you know what that means? It's the start of a new week here on Planet Zone! I spent the weekend running around more than I'd like. However I did get some downtime and enjoyed some sushi while watching 1,000 lbs Sisters. Good food and bizarre TV. I failed to locate a Studio Series Soundwave. Those Bumblebee movie figures are impossible for me to ignore.

I did get a Cybertron Dead End and an Origins Buzz-Off. Not too shabby. Still looking for that Arrow ATV accessory set on the Final Faction front and some new Transformers that are just trickling out. I do plan on stocking up on more MOTU, especially new Eternia Minis. Not to mention some other GIJOE and Power Rangers figures. It never ends.

I've got a fun week in mind. I hope you all enjoy it. Thank you for continuing to support Zone Base and please share with your friends. It's hard to believe it's already Halloween time, but I guess it's January. I'm in a spooky mood as usual. It's as any a good time for something scary.

Double Dragon 4: Underground Nightmare!

I was a big fan of Double Dragon as a kid. Don't get me wrong, I still love it, but back then... man. I'd draw the characters, play out adventures using action figures and so on. I still remember the first time I played Double Dragon. My brother and I would go to the neighborhood Circle K. We'd play the arcade games, eat candy, and drink Slush Puppies. It was a pretty popular place for kids in the neighborhood. Much to the obvious annoyance of the cashier.

Occasionally the games would be swapped out and one day there was new game called Double Dragon. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before (never played Renegade until years later on the NES). You had these cool guys fighting other guys, they could pick up things to hit the other guys with, and they all looked like Mad Max. It was amazing. I spent the rest of the day talking about it until I was finally told to not say another word for the rest of the night. Which I did and gt in trouble. I was surrounded by folks who never played Double Dragon. They didn't understand.

Soon enough I was hooked on the NES version and it's sequels. What really added to it all was the instruction manuals. Back in those days game manuals were usually more than just instructions booklets. Often they were the source for a lot of the games fiction. The backstory and characters would get covered with some cool art usually. It was somewhere during this time that I came up the perfect Double Dragon game. Double Dragon 4: Underground Nightmare! Being 12 and not having much of an understanding how the video game world worked, my solution to creating this game was to write and draw the story and characters for the instruction book. Then send it in to the game companies and they'd just throw it together. To be fair I was 12 and admittedly a pretty weird kid. Not at all like the well adjusted adult I grew to be.

*cough*

That story? Those characters? After the events of Part 3, Jimmy turned evil again (he was the villain of the original after all) and kicked Billy out of the Double Dragon dojo. Now homeless, Billy lives underground in the sewers (like the TMNT). It's there that he finds his long lost other brother Timmy! Timmy also is  martial arts master and reveals Jimmy has been evil THE ENTIRE TIME and was behind the events of part 2 and 3 THE ENTIRE TIME! Jimmy also wasn't really their brother, but an evil robot from the future (like T2). Now that Billy is living in the sewers and has found Timmy, Jimmy sends The Black Shadow gang to get rid of them once and for all. But now, they're all mutants!

To be honest, I kinda still want to see it made.

Forcing A Soldier Into The Stars

I remember thinking Star Force was pretty similar to Star Soldier as a kid. However lots of space shooters were pretty similar, so I just chalked it up to that. Later I'd learn that Star Soldier is a spiritual follow up. Really this post isn't as much about either game as it is about playing shoot 'em ups more as a kid. I was pretty good at them at the time. During the Atari and NES years I'd often find myself in front of the TV just shooting bad guys at a frantic pace. It was a lot of fun and often gave way to playing out levels with toy space ships bought from gumball machines. Which ironically may have been bootlegs of keshi based on the very games I was playing out.

Sword Of Demons

Demon Sword/The Legend Of Acala is a game that might just be the definitive hidden gem of all time. Chances are you saw an ad or two for the game and later lucked up upon it in a clearance bin. That's what happened to me. I saw an ad or two then later got it dirt cheap at KB Toys. From what I can tell, this is pretty much the only way to get the game.

Demon Sword plays a lot like Legend of Kage or maybe even Ninja Spirit in that you run like crazy and mow down enemies with your sword. Jumping propels you forward into the air turning your swordsman into a helicopter of death. You play as Victar and must gather all the piece of the titular sword to defeat the demon currently ruling the world. As you play through the levels and gather pieces, the sword gets bigger and more powerful.

In addition to your growing sword, there's also projectiles like darts. These obviously come in handy for bad guys just out of range. You'll acquire magic spells that come in handy when fighting level bosses. The bosses and bad guys are various demons and yokai in bizarre hellscapes. It's pretty awesome. As normal during the time, the U.S box art depicts more of a standard mid evil fantasy setting, however Japanese advertising gives a better idea of the actual game.

Speaking of difference between the American and Japanese versions, in Japan the game is longer and has more items/magic. I remember thinking I achieved the impossible upon beating the game that one weekend in the seventh grade. Now I wonder if I could repeat history with the Japanese version. Probably not. Demon Sword was one of those things that was MY thing. I'd draw (badly) the characters on my notebooks, and dream up potential sequels. I'm sure to this day though, that I've never said Victar correctly.

A Soldier Of The Stars

I love to play Star Soldier even though I'm terrible at it. Flying around in space ship Caesar and taking down Starbrains (dying a lot in the process). It's a particularly old school space shooter that's still fun. It's on a few different systems, but I grew up playing it on my NES. Like other shooter games, repetition is the key to really getting good and working your way through the levels. 

These day's I regularly pay it on the Switch Online service. Of course there's a big difference between starting over and over during summer break in middle school and being an adult. So admittedly after dying a few times I tend to give up. Still I love to play it on occasion. It's got a bunch of sequels and I'm bad at those too. At least I'm consistent.

The Strange Case Of A New Week

It's a new week here on Planet Zone! Like you I have a busy work week. The stress and pressure can really make a monster out of you! Fortunately I've got a fun week of posts in mind to make things better! There's a new episode of Not As Brightly Lit for your weekly dose of something spooky. ToyLanta is in a few weeks and I'm making plans. Dusty and I have been planning the Transformers panel, not to mention it'd be nice to go to a con again. Not sure how many people will brave it considering everything, but if you're there, feel free to say hi! As always, thank you so much for reading Zone Base and please share with your friends!