Blog Posts from "AndyG's blog"

SNES or Genesis?!?! ROUND TWO! FIGHT!

Wed, 28 May 2008 23:38:03 -0400

HADOUKEN! It's time to test your might once again and see how well you remember SNES games vs Sega Genesis ones. Most of these are pretty easy if you know your ****. It would be cool to somehow keep track of all you g1's scores in a list or something, maybe that feature can come in time. WHO KNOWS? Here's the link or you can click the pic above if that's easier for you or you can even click here. As always comment with your scores or what's broke/stupid/etc.. Also, if you missed the first SNES vs Genesis Quiz, it's right here. PPS, if you want to test your skills on a Transformer vs Gobot Quiz, go here.

The ExciteTruck Marathon! - Bronze Mexico

Wed, 28 May 2008 05:09:33 -0400

So you've got a Nintendo Wii and you've never played ExciteTruck!? WTF? The game rocks. No, seriously it's a blast. I played the HELL out of the game and my only gripe about it is the fact it doesn't have online play. Whatever, it still rocks. I know, I know the controls take a bit to getting used to, but man up there hardcore gamer! Stick with it and the fun actually starts to shine through that cloud of suckery. I think I just made that word up. Matter of fact, I liked the game so much I started a goofy ExciteTruck Marathon showing off all of the levels and started right here with the very 1st track - Bronze Mexico. (P.S. I get an "S" score on it which means I kickass.) Yeah, that's right, an "S". Any of you sissies want any of this, you let ME know! Music by Sage Francis, btw.

The 5 Best GameCube Games for Just Over $50 COMBINED!

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:13:57 -0400

http://www.notworksafe.com/50gcgames.jpg> The Nintendo Wii is doing spectacularly well, but let’s not forget about the fact it can also play some great GameCube games! The best thing about some of the GameCube games is that you can get some of the better titles for only $5-$15 making for some great gaming for much, much less than the price of some of the newer Wii titles. Playing through Metroid Prime again, I was amazed at how well the game held up in the sound and graphics department and when compared to some of the Wii titles that are out, you might have more fun buying these five games from the GameCube days than one $50 Wii title. Here’s my picks for five games that rocked on the GameCube; all of which can be had for around $50 combined and links to all of their ratings from GameRankings.com and where to buy them from GameStop. 1) Metroid Prime - $6.99 (used) at GameStop - 96% from GameRankings.com Sure we're all playing Metroid Prime 3 on the Wii, but there is no reason why you shouldn’t check out the original Metroid Prime! Under the guidance of Shigeru Miyamoto, this version of Metroid was the first to venture into the 3D realm and made the crossover gracefully with great graphics, sound, and that keen attention to classic Metroid game play. Starting with the graphics, Metroid Prime surpasses a few of the Wii launch titles I can name in many ways including giving a great sense of atmosphere and throwing all kinds of little things into the mix that make you say, “Wow!”. The way the inside of the mask steams up when you pass through fog, the effects that occur when coming out of the water, the landscapes and atmosphere itself - the game has style and is jaw dropping at times. The sound is also top notch with the very familiar “Metroid item collection noise” that is sure to bring back memories as you play and other very well produced sounds and music that compliments the game nicely. Gameplay revolves around the same concept of exploring and finding items that help power up your suit while you work your way through various levels and baddies, many of which make a return in 3D glory from the 2D days. Fight huge bosses and work your way through levels that vary from looking natural and leafy with rain falling to the snowy Phendrana Drifts and into lava filled depths or even underwater. The controls do take a bit to get used to, but a nice intro level helps acquaint you with the 3D movement and control scheme. Once you pick them up, you’ll be on your way to blasting, jumping, and yes, rolling your way through the spectacular title. I highly recommend this title for anyone that has a Nintendo Wii and at $7, you’re only doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t played the game. 2) Viewtiful Joe - $4.99 (used) at GameStop - 91% from GameRankings.com Let it first be said that Viewtiful Joe is a very challenging game that is relentless with it’s lack of a decent save system, but at the same time, very rewarding with lots of cool game play elements tossed in and a graphical style all it’s own. Done in a very comic book fashion, Viewtiful Joe from Capcom provides you with level after level of beating up bad guys while using special abilities and transforming Joe into a superhero with even more power to get the job done. Slow time down, speed it up, and zoom in close to the action to see every “BIFF!”, “BOFF!”, and “SMACK!” as you whip the enemies into shape along the way. It’s definitely got great visual effects and the game is done in a cell shaded style that really makes the game even more original and fun. Bonus items and minigames are also a plenty in the game which help add to the crazy variety of the nature of the title. If you are a fan of side scrolling beat ‘em ups or just want to have fun with something fresh and different, I highly recommend you try your hand at Viewtiful Joe, especially for $7 and especially the GameCube version which works perfectly with the GC controller. It’s a highly satisfying game and I recommend it to all Wii owners that haven’t given this game a shot. 3) Resident Evil 4 - $12.99 (used) at GameStop - 96% from GameRankings.com If you haven't picked up Resident Evil 4 yet on any platform, the GameCube is just about the best to pick it up for. I happened to have it for both the GC and the Wii and found them both to be excellent in the gameplay and graphics department and while the ability to free aim with the Wii controls was nice, at $13, you can't go wrong with this version at all. RE4 has won many accolades including game of the year by many outlets (for it's release year) and is bar none one of the best titles on the GameCube platform as a whole. With a great cast of characters, an inventory system, some rather frightful enemies (wait until you meet Mr. Chainsaw), and some very nice weaponry, RE4 makes for a great gaming experience. If you're looking forward to RE5 on the current generation platforms, there's no better time to get into the series than now at this price. 4) Zelda: The Wind Waker - $17.99 (used) at GameStop - 95% from GameRankings.com This version of Zelda is one of the best and was panned by some when it came out for it’s choice in art direction. There are plenty of gamers that perhaps missed out on a wonderful Zelda game that made great use of the chosen style of graphics. While you are playing the game, it’s almost hard to forget you’re not watching a cartoon and you are in fact control of a much younger Link. It has a stunning level of presentation from graphics to sound and the controls are tight and top notch. Coming after the Ocarina or Time, this version retains game play elements that helped make the 3D versions of Zelda so much fun to play like the Z-targeting system. Classic Zelda game play is abound in this version, as you take on the role of Link who is set for adventure on his birthday no less after a local is kidnapped by a strange looking bird. Set sail for the seas as you control Link on water and on land through his adventures across many islands and into various dungeons. Item collecting is again the name of the game as you build your inventory, using each new item to explore new areas and sometimes discover hidden secrets. Find new towns, caves, fortresses and more to explore as Link in this version; it’s classic Zelda with some new twists and will keep you busy for dozens of hours. Grab this one and play it before or after the Twilight Princess as the story lines are completely separate. It’s packed full of exciting and beautiful gaming experiences that shouldn’t be missed. Zelda: The Wind Waker was a hit game for the GameCube and a perfect addition to your Wii collection at only $18. 5) Soul Caliber II - $9.99 (used) at GameStop - 93% from GameRankings.com Is that Link from The Legend of Zelda we see on the front cover? Why yes, it is. Super Smash Bros Melee isn’t the only game to feature Link as a fighter, Soul Caliber II from Namco also featured Link in the GameCube version of the game. Featuring over 15 fighters, each with their own abilities and moves, Soul Caliber II didn’t take too many risks this time around and is a great sequel to the original Dreamcast version. The presentation, graphics, and sound are top notch as are the controls; fans of fighters will feel right at home with the familiar play style and the game is easy enough for new folks to the fighting genre to get into. Fight with low, medium, and high attacks on various stages with each character capable of dozens of various moves. You can fight the computer or go toe to toe against your pals; there’s even a weapon master mode which is a mission mode of sorts that pits you against enemies in challenges you must complete with certain conditions needing to be met. Make your way through the mission mode to unlock bonus characters, play modes, and even earn Gold you can spend on buying special weapons and other content for the characters. The graphics are top notch and the game runs at a very smooth 60 frames per second. At $10, it’s hard to pass up this great fighter for the original GameCube that plays very well on your Nintendo Wii system. And there we have it, 5 fantastic titles from the Nintendo GameCube that work flawlessly on the Nintendo Wii and promise to deliver more than their monies worth, all combined right at the price of one new Wii game. Sure, there’s better games from the GameCube and we could go on and on with other titles, but the point here is that you can have a ton of fun on the Wii with these titles for about the same price as a perhaps less than stellar Wii game.

Hey! Check Out the Nyko Perfect Shot.

Tue, 27 May 2008 23:36:47 -0400

The Nyko Perfect Shot for the Wii is a fantastic light gun that I happen to like a bit better than the Wii Zapper due to it's overall feel and price. I got mine a few months ago from Amazon and although I mention our (then) 1 year old son a bit too much perhaps, but here's my video showing off it compared to the Wii "Zyapper". And here's a non-affiliate link to Amazon for the Nyko perfect Shot for a measly $15.

Transformers or Gobots!? YOU Decide!

Tue, 27 May 2008 16:54:17 -0400

http://www.notworksafe.com/TransformersOrGobots/transorgobots.jpg> Now, I swear I'm not going to post only these goofy quizes in my blogs. Nor will I be bombarding the blog with these very frequently although I do have more to come, BUT! I wanted to make the best of this 3x the Points Afternoon offer so I figured it would be worth a shot. Much like my first quiz, the SNES or Genesis Quiz, this one entails you looking at pictures of toys from back in the day when they used to kickass and deciding if they were the super cool Transformers or the Gobots, which I always thought were trying to be Transformers but never were quite as radical to the max. I like to incorporate 80's lingo when talking about 80's stuff to really help take you back. Ok! Here's the quiz, good luck and sorry if any of them are broken!

The Crazy Monster Truck in ExciteTruck

Tue, 27 May 2008 15:49:20 -0400

Yes, that's the actual name of the vehicle, the "Crazy Monster Truck" from ExciteTruck for the Wii. It's the ultimate truck you can unlock in the game and despite what you might have heard, the game is actually a blast on the Wii. The controls can be zany at first to get used to, but once it clicks the game becomes something very enjoyable. Ok, without further ado, the ultimate truck from the game in all of its flashing, sparkling glory with endless turbos and me kicking ass and doing all kinds of tricks. Music by Sage Francis and Korn (from their first album when they rocked the hardest).

WTF is Wii Play All About!?

Tue, 27 May 2008 15:46:13 -0400

http://www.notworksafe.com/zzappoweee.jpg> I finally got the time to sit down and enjoy out Wii Play last night at a pals house and I know I’m a little late to the party, but if you haven’t checked it out and are wondering what the minigames are all about, read my thoughts below. We played all nine minigames and overall I would have to say they were quite fun with none of them standing out as being overly bad. I’ve played all of the minigame titles out including Monkey Ball, Wario Ware, and Raving Rabbids, and in the case of Monkey Ball and Raving Rabbids, they both had a couple of minigames that just didn’t work or were flat out no fun. Read along for my take on all of the minigames and overall thoughts on Wii Play: Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as ping pong to some, is similar to Wii Sports Tennis, only this time you are doing more than just swinging the racket to volley the ball back. You have to actually line up your paddle with the ball as it’s coming at you then volley it back. After playing both, Wii Sports Tennis and Table Tennis, I have to say I appreciate the more simple mechanics of Wii Sports Tennis a bit more. While the Table Tennis game was overall enjoyable, some of the fun was taken away trying to lineup the paddle with the ball. Where I thought I had the paddle ready to swing was sometimes just out of reach of the ball. Given the fast paced nature of the game, this turned out to be a fatal error based on perhaps a learning curve of where to hold the Remote to correspond with the on-screen paddle. We did have a couple of heated volley exchanges going on during the game and it’s not bad or boring by any means, I just enjoy Wii Sports Tennis a bit more. Laser Hockey Laser Hockey is like everyone’s favorite game of air hockey, only on a TV screen from a top down perspective with glowing laser graphics. The controls handled a tad easier than Table Tennis perhaps due to the fact you are only dealing with a 2D plane and didn’t have to deal with the 3rd dimension. Twisting the remote causes your paddle to change it’s angle, allowing for some very tricky shots. We never really felt like the paddles didn’t respond as we had intended, the connection between our in-air Wii Remote movements and the on-screen paddles were spot on with no lag whatsoever. The graphics were very clean and added to the experience with their futuristic looking “lasery” feel. We played a few rounds of this and agreed it would be in our top three favorite games on the disk. Fishing Fishing in Wii Play is much like the first fishing mission in Zelda: Twilight Princess. Nothing fancy, it’s actually quite basic, just drop the lure into the pond and as a fish bites, whip the Wii Remote up to catch it. When playing this against a friend, you will want to attempt to catch larger fish than your opponent to add to your overall score. There are various types of fish swimming around and eventually, the game throws in some rather comically large fish for you to attempt to catch. Catching a small fish detracts from your score so just let them bite and move on. You can move the lure to a better spot in the pond at any time if you see a bigger fish you’d like to catch. While a fun little minigame overall that did a great job of handling the fishing controls for the system, it wasn’t one we spent too much time playing. There were just other games that brought more fun to us than this one, but it is a great addition to the title. Find Mii This minigame is very “Where’s Waldo”-y having you search groups of Mii’s for a certain type according to the current level’s rules. Playing against an opponent can get frantic as you are scanning through the on-screen Mii’s looking for the matching pair or for the one who is running faster than the other. To pick out the Mii’s the game is asking for, you simply aim your Wii Remote at the TV and the corresponding target reticule will hover over them, then you push the A button to select that Mii as your choice. It’s a very simple game that is fun for everyone and very easy to pick up and play. It also uses your collection of Mii’s so it’s fun to find the matching Chewbaccas or Uncle Earls or whatever other crazy creations you might have in your Mii collection. Overall, very fun and I can see us playing this one as a way to introduce new people to the Wii system along with a few other titles on the disk. Pose Mii Pose Mii is similar to the Find Mii game in the sense that it’s easy to pick up and uses the recognizable Mii’s as the main characters in the game. It actually uses the Mii you chose to play as and the object in the game is rotating the Mii and getting them into various poses to match the silhouettes in bubbles floating down the screen. To rotate your Mii, you rotate the Wii Remote. To put them into the positions shown in the bubbles, you will need to use a combination of A+B button presses. As the levels go on, the poses will rotate and change calling for you to constantly alter the position of the twisting Wii Remote as it challenges you to remember which button combos equate into the poses shown. You can imagine how complicated the game can get after a few levels of it changing so much. This was a great 2 player game that emitted laughter from everyone watching as we frantically tried to keep up with the falling bubbles and match the poses inside them. The game caused both of us players to get quite animated throughout as we played and overall, it was a fun time. Shooting Range This minigame could be called Duck Hunt 2 as it features the players shooting at on-screen ducks and targets in efforts to increase their scores. As the targets show up, you both aim your reticules at them and fire, hopefully faster than the other player to rack up points. The position of the targets constantly change and there are sometimes surprise targets that will popup offering more points than the others. Another simple game that anyone could pick up and enjoy, we found this game to also be in our top 3 from the title. Billiards Billiards, or pool as some would call it, is a simplified on-screen game of 9 ball. This game really helps show off the versatility of the Wii Remote by giving players the ability to lineup and take shots using the Remote as the in-game cue stick. You play from a behind the cue ball perspective and once you line up your shot, draw back the Remote and then quickly press forward to strike as if you were playing a real game of pool. Graphics wise, the game is very sharp with a basic pool table and balls rendered on-screen. There is a helpful marker that will let you know which ball you need to strike with the cue ball next. The controls for me were spot on as after my opponent fouled by sinking his cue ball, I ran the table and won the game by knocking in each of the remaining balls needed. I now consider myself the Wii Play Billiards King and if anyone wants to challenge me, you let me know! The game is a good interpretation of billiards and further, how the Wii Remote could be used by a developer to flesh out a more feature filled game that had various types of billiards available. Charge! Charge is a fun little racing game that has you holding the Wii Remote sideways to navigate your player who is riding on a cow down the racetrack. Along the way, you will want to run into scarecrows for more points and twist the controller forward to go faster. You can bounce the Wii Remote up to make your cow jump over obstacles that would otherwise slow him down. He who makes it to the end of the race fastest with the most scarecrows ran over wins! Charge! is a fun game that makes use of the sideways controller racing style very well. Tanks! If you’ve ever played Combat! from the Atari 2600 days, then you have the basics of Tanks!. In Tanks!, you and your buddy take on computer controlled enemy tanks on various levels in attempts to reach the next level. The levels are laid out with various obstacles you must navigate your tank around and one or more enemy tanks which you must destroy. Be careful though as the enemy tanks are also out to get you and are sometimes equipped with fast launching rockets, exploding mines, and other tricks. You control your tank with the nunchuk and Wii remote for best results, driving the tank with the nunchuk and aiming and firing with the Remote pointed at the screen. While rather simplistic for hardcore gamers, out of all the games on the disk, this one is about the most complex but at the same time, the most fun. We had a blast working through the levels as a team trying to destroy the enemy tanks in the simple maze type levels presented. When you both die on a level, the game is over and you start all over again. After getting a gold and finishing the first 20 levels, you can unlock a massive 100 new levels which present new enemies and maps for you to enjoy. Overall, our favorite game on the disk that never got old for either of us. In the end, I found Wii Play to be a very fun title that would make a great addition to anyone’s collection of Wii games. Throw in the complimentary Wii Remote that the game comes with and it’s really a no-brainer to pick up this title if you are already looking for an extra Wii Remote. It’s got something for everyone and will be a hit if you have friends over for parties or even bringing your Wii and this game to holiday gatherings and showing it off to folks that perhaps aren’t into games as much as we are. We all had fun with the title and already can’t wait to play it again when we visit our pal next time.

SNES Or Genesis Quiz (!?!?!?!)

Tue, 27 May 2008 05:06:04 -0400

http://www.notworksafe.com/SnesOrGenesis/snesorgenesis.jpg> This is something I made a while back, but it's still kinda fun to see how people score. Be careful, some of these are tricky. Click to take the SNES or Genesis Quiz #1!! Comment with your score or how badly the game sucks.

WTF is Link's Crossbow Training All About?

Tue, 27 May 2008 03:06:08 -0400

No, it's not the deepest game in the world, but man if it isn't fun in short spurts. This is another old video I made but if you're interested at all in knowing WTF Link's Crossbow training is all about, you can watch this video and get a decent idea.

Super Mario Galaxy Video - Sweet Sweet Galaxy Rocky Road

Tue, 27 May 2008 02:05:59 -0400

I'm really just checking out the ability to post videos in a blog here and this one is kinda old, but hey. It's one of the better ones I've got on YouTube. Check my badass out blasting through the Rocky Road level in SMG using mostly super long jumps. A couple of close calls, but nothing a pro like myself can't handle.