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The Tiny Toon side-scroller for the Genny (by Konami). Before that, I played the Genny port of Battletoads. After advancing a quarter of the way through the game, I concluded that any satisfaction derived from the game paled in comparison to how frustrated it made me feel. I vowed never to play it again - something I should have had the nerve to do when I first picked up the game as a kid.

A mouse would have been handy for classic point-&-click adventure games like Deja Vu, Uninvited, & Shadowgate. I'm not sure I'd want to use THAT mouse, though!

Can you recommend some GameBoy Advance games that I should play? As far as my interests go, I like 2D platformers (i.e. Super Mario Bros. 2), side-scrolling action games (i.e. Castlevania), and 2D SHUMPS (i.e. R-Type, Life Force). I have no interest in playing sports games on handheld console, or console-style RPGs like Final Fantasy or Pokemon. Here are the GameBoy Advance games that I already intend on playing: All the Super Mario Advance games (remakes of NES & SNES Mario games) All the Castlevanias (which play like sequels to Symphony of the Night) Mario vs Donkey King Mario Kart Zelda: The Minish Cap The Metroid games Hmm... With the exception of Castlevania, all of the games I'm interested in are first-party titles....

To me, nothing makes me think of the NES like the soundtrack from Super Mario Bros. 2.

I agree with the Nerd's critique of Castlevania 2. Although he went out of his way to be funny, he raised a lot of valid criticisms about how messed up the game is. The game has some redeeming qualities, but I always hated it compared to Castlevania 1 and 3. I appreciate what Castlevania 2's developers were trying to do, but the execution was not very good.

The Silent Hill series The Resident Evil series The Alone in the Dark series - PC (the original AITD is my favourite) The Uninvited - NES Chiller - Arcade The House of the Dead series CarnEvil - Arcade The Splatterhouse series (SH2 is my favourite in the series) Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse - NES Castlevania Bloodlines - Genesis

I'm hardly surprised by this news, but as someone else pointed out, the first incarnation of any SF game is not the best. So as far as this new SF4 is concerned, I'm glad they're including Dee Jay, who was one of the few 'Super' characters I really enjoyed (the other being Cammy). Of all the characters in the SF universe, why bring back T-Hawk? I'd much rather see the return of Karin (SFA3), Urien (3rd Strike), Alex (3rd Strike), or Skullomania (SF EX).

Zelda 3: A Link to the Past (SNES) Bram Stoker's Dracula (Genny) Mickey Mouse in the Castle of Illusion (Genny) Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genny) Castlevania Chronicles (PS1)

Not counting games I have no intention of EVER playing (i.e. Final Fantasy II, Super Mario RPG, etc) here are some acclaimed retro games I have yet to play: Super Mario 64 Both N64 Zelda games Kirby's Dreamland 2 All 2D Castlevania games for the Gameboy Advance Crystalis (NES) A Boy & His Blob 2 (Gameboy)

Which Bonk game is your favourite? I can't remember if I liked Bonk 2 more than the original.

The entire Halo series is terribly overhyped / overrated. Don't get me wrong, the games are good, but the level of praise and hype they've received is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. As great as the enemy's AI is, Halo 1 & 2 are plagued by mostly horrible level design. The Halo games certainly have their qualities and innovative contributions, but they are too seriously flawed to deserve the hype / praise / attention they've received from the press and gamers alike.

Okay, so if you have the doll and you've 'interacted' with it properly (try all of your standard commands), you should have a spell that will allow you to progress once in the chapel.

I disagree. Most fighting games feature special moves which are executed by inputting commands which are almost universal across games. They typically go as follows: Down, forward, attack Down, away, attack Away, down, attack Forward, down, attack Forward, down, forward, attack Away, down, away, attack Hold away for 2 seconds, forward + attack Hold down for 2 seconds, up + attack Once you get the hang of those commands, pulling off special moves in the midst of a fight feels like second nature.

I generally feel the same way that you do. I do not like realistic driving / racing games, but enjoy RC Pro AM, Mario Kart, Rock & Roll Racing, and Death Rally. The only sports games I care to play are hockey games. I like wrestling, but most wrestling games are terrible, IMO. My favourite wrestling game is Muscle Bomber Duo (the sequel to Saturday Night Slammasters) because it plays like a beat-em up. I do not care for games that can only be played online (especially when you have to pay to play them). Admittedly, I do like playing Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament against bots, but I would never have picked up such games if they could only be played online. I do not enjoy console-style RPGs like Final Fantasy and Pokemon. My main gripe with them is that absolutely no strategy is involved when you engage in combat (you can literally win battles with your eyes closed by simply clicking 'attack' over and over and over). I wouldn't mind how monotonous combat is if it was a minor part of the games, but most console-style RPGs feature way too much mindless combat. I much prefer PC-style RPGs like Fallout, where you need to use your brain in order to win battles. In my opinion, even Diablo beats and console-style RPG since you need to be alert and use your reflexes in order to win battles.

What port of the game are you playing? NES / Windows / MS-DOS / Other? The solution for proceeding through the chapel may differ depending on which port you are playing (in the Windows port, you are expected to manually type out spells you wish to cast, whereas in the other ports, you simply select spells from a menu).

If you're talking about FMV games then I agree with you that they are a thing of the past. I'm sure the developers WANTED the games to be much more interactive than they were, but interaction was limited by the fact that actual video was used rather than computer animation. The whole point of FMV games was to capitalize on new technology, using life-like visuals to tell more compelling stories than gamers were used to.

I think I played that for the PC (MS-DOS), although I'm not sure if it is the same game you played. Either way, it was an adventure game that I really enjoyed. Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis is an adventure game which is also very good, but I don't like it as much as The Last Crusade since I haven't been able to overcome many of its puzzles.

I haven't played the game in several years, but I'll try to help out. When you say 3 buildings, you're talking about those that can be accessed once you access the backyard via the trophy room, right? If I recall, the 3 buildings were a chapel, a greenhouse, and a laboratory or something of the sort. First, you should mess around in the greenhouse (hint: try to 'resurrect' organic matter, as this will come in handy for the future). Next, you want to make your way into the chapel, where the gypsy doll you got from within the mansion will play a role in revealing a secret passage (remember what you learned when you first discovered the gypsy doll?).

This is a pretty good selection to choose from. I think my favourite beat-em up may be Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder (Arcade), which was never ported to home consoles. The Capcom beat-em up Alien vs Predator is also very good. Streets of Rage 2 is so good that it convinced me to get a Genesis instead of a SNES in the mid-1990s. Its sequel is good too, but the Japanese version of the game (Bare Knuckle 3) is superior to the North American version since Sega of Japan didn't censor it.

Talk about your favourite Point-&-Click Adventure and why it is your favourite. I'm a big fan of the Point-&-Click Adventure game genre, so singling out a particular game isn't easy. I absolutely loved Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh for its (mature) plot, but for an adventure game, it was limited in terms of how much you could interact with your environment. Specifically, you couldn't click on inanimate objects and prompt the game to give you metaphysical descriptions (an entertaining feature of nearly every game in the genre before the original Phantasmagoria). So given the limitations of Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, I'd say my favourite Point-&-Click Adventure game is probably The Uninvited for the NES. I love the game's atmosphere, and although the NES version is slightly censored, I prefer it over the PC port because of it includes haunting music (the PC port lacked background music). I have fond memories playing The Uninvited; my friend and I collaborated in mapping out the game and overcoming its puzzles.

Let's consider some game genres that aren't seeing nearly as many titles as they used to. Also, let's comment on said genres. SHUMPS - You don't see many shoot-em up games (i.e. Gradius, R-Type, The Guardian Legend) being made these days. I think this is a shame, as those games are not only fun to play, but relatively simple for game developers to design. Beat-Em Ups - Beat-Em Ups (i.e. Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Final Fight) seem to have gone the way of the dodo with the popularization of 3D games. I think this is a shame, as the Beat-Em Up genre was one of my favourites. Sure, you see the occasional 3D game with Beat-Em Up gameplay every once in awhile (i.e. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, The Bouncer), but it's not the same! Point-&-Click Adventures - I REALLY regret that we are no longer seeing new games that play like King's Quest, Phantasmagoria, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest, Shadowgate, Deja Vu, The Uninvited, etc. Today, RPGs are all the rage. When I ask gamers why they like console-style RPGs (i.e. Final Fantasy, as opposed to Fallout or Morrowind) so much, the most common reason I get is story. Well, point-&-click adventures typically had TONS of story without all the silly, monotonous combat of console-style RPGs. Bring back the point-&-click adventure genre, I say!

Personally, I love Zelda II the way it is and wouldn't want to see its gameplay changed. Like Mario 2, I consider Zelda II the best in its respective series.

Splatterhouse is a must-play TG16 game, even if it has been slightly censored (A pentagram was removed from the game). Speaking of demonic games, Devil's Crush is another great TG16 game. I consider it one of the best pinball games ever! As far as TG16 / PC Engine CD-ROM games go, you can't go wrong with Dracula X, Ys Book I & II, or any of the Valis games.

There are some games that you just can't help but love in spite of their serious design flaws. Let's talk about them! Here are some seriously flawed games that I enjoy: Mortal Kombat 1-3 (Genesis / Snes). The one serious flaw that all these games share is that they feature very cheap AI. For instance, your AI opponent is capable of throwing you right while you are in the middle of tripping them with a sweep (away + low kick) attack. There's no way you can pull that off against an AI opponent. Hence, the MK games are ultra cheap when it comes to single-player gaming. However, I still love these games because they play GREAT in 2-player mode. Bram Stoker's Dracula (Genesis). The main problem with this game is that it's very easy to die because you do not gain temporary invincibility nor do you recoil when your character incurs damage. This is problematic since you can die within a matter of seconds if you accidentally stand on top of a tiny enemy (i.e. a rat, a spider) or if you get caught on top of a retracting spike. Nevertheless, I still love this game for its atmosphere and especially for its excellent soundtrack. It plays like a decent Castlevania clone with exceptionally wonderful music.

I wouldn't say 'unacceptable' so much as I'd say 'less acceptable.' The only content that seems 'unacceptable' for video games to have in North America is sexual content (You can have all the murder and gore you want, but seeing nudity is completely out of the question in the eyes of North American censors)