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Review – Tsuppari Ōzumō
Here come the portly slappers. Tsuppari Ōzumō is an accurate simulation of Japan's national sport. It includes important sumo techniques, such as the suplex and the cartwheel. Check it out!
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Review – The Goonies (Famicom)
If you’re someone who’s really into the NES but knows nothing about the Famicom (which is understandable, I’m not hating), you might wonder why there’s a The Goonies 2, but not a The Goonies 1. And you may start thinking it’s positioning itself as a narrative sequel to the classic 1985 film. Well, that thinking is sort of right but…
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Review – Super Star Force
On the surface, it looks just like any other autoscrolling shmup. Surprise! Underneath is a hybrid game that swaps between shooter and action adventure. Plus, you travel through time to change the future. What more could you want?
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Review – Rampart (Famicom)
Rampart has a formula that can only be stretched so far. Or can it? When Konami took a crack at it on Famicom, they took it to a pretty unusual place. It's time to see Rampart like you maybe never have before!
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Review – Hoshi wo Miru Hito
I’ve spent quite some time mired in the sticky pits of kusoge. Crap games are becoming an area of expertise for me. That’s not simply to say that I know of a lot of bad games, but rather that I know how to appreciate them. That’s right. Did you know you can enjoy bad games? Not just in an ironic…
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Review – Yume Penguin Monogatari
While we got some decent Konami games over here in North America, we didn’t get to see the sort of brand unity that they had in Famicom. We really got ripped off, not seeing a hair of the Ganbare Goemon series until the SNES, never really getting a look at Parodius, and even getting snubbed for Gradius II. I’d have…
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Review – Super Dodgeball
I absolutely love the Kunio-Kun series. Over here, we got about 5 titles on the NES, all confusingly branded differently, whereas over in Japan, they got about a dozen, all confusingly branded differently. The unified artstyle, the cartoonish violence; the Kunio-Kun series is a special series for me for quite a few reasons. Super Dodgeball is also pretty special to…
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Review – Earthbound Beginnings
Earthbound is an extremely meaningful game to me, so of course it feels right to branch out to the other games in the series. Mother (Earthbound Beginnings) was the first game I ever imported on Famicom. However, whether or not I like it is more complicated than just yes or no.
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Review – Ganbare Goemon: Karakuri Douchuu
Konami has had a severe fall from grace in recent years. In actuality, they’ve been in steady decline for a long time, but only recently have they demonstrated an actual derision of the video game market. It’s hard to believe that back in their Famicom heyday they were a machine, churning out great games at an unbelievable pace. A lot…
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Console Command – Famicom Disk System
The Nintendo Entertainment System was a landmark console in North America. It revitalized a faltering marketplace following the video game crash of 1983, and it created the console ecosystem that we enjoy today. Without out it, the industry would be a very different place. At least on this side of the pond. In Japan, the NES was known as the…