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Retro-ish Reviews


On 05/26/2015 at 08:42 PM by Cary Woodham

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Many of the games in this batch of reviews I’ve written lately over at GamerDad.com aren’t necessarily retro games, but they do have a retro feel to them.  There are a couple of Galaga clones, a couple of video pinball games, a puzzler that’s similar to Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move, etc.  So please click on and read as many reviews as you can, and maybe even post a comment or two.  I’d appreciate it.  Thanks!

Galaga: Tekken 20th Anniversary Edition (iPad)

So apparently it’s Tekken’s 20th Anniversary this year.  Doesn’t seem that long, does it?  I remember first seeing Tekken in an arcade and thinking it was just a fancier Virtua Fighter.  So how do you think Namco is celebrating Tekken’s anniversary?  A new game?  A collection of their old classics?  Nope. Namco just mixed Tekken with Galaga in one of the weirdest mashups I’ve seen in a long time!  It’s basically Galaga with the sprites replaced by blocky versions of Tekken characters.  They added a few small gameplay aspects, like when you get a double ship, a classic Namco arcade character comes out to clear the screen, like Mappy, Rally-X or Dig Dug.  I hear Pac-Man is in there, too, but I haven’t seen him yet.  If anyone has this game and spots another Namco character, let me know because I’m a classic Namco arcade junkie.  There are a few small problems that Galaga purists may not like, but I’ll let you read about them in the review if you have any concerns.  The game is still really fun, and honestly it’s hard to mess up Galaga.  So if you have a mobile device that can play it, I recommend downloading it.  And best of all, it’s free!  In the comments section, let me know who your favorite Tekken characters are.  Mine are Nina Williams, Asuka Kazama, the bear, panda, and kangaroo, and the pink-haired robot lady.

Galactic Nemesis (iPad)

This is another Galaga clone for tablets.  It’s not bad or anything, just a bit generic.  Only problem is that it makes me just want to go play Galaga instead.  And no game should make you want to go play another one.

Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron Pinball (360)

I’ve reviewed a couple of Zen Studios’ video pinball tables recently, too.  This one is based off the new Marvel movie of the same name.  I won’t go into my impressions of the movie right now, as I will save that for a future movie blog later this summer.  But I will say this table is not one of my favorites.  It’s a very silvery table, so it makes it hard to see the silver ball as well.  At the end of the month, Zen Studios is going to release a pinball table based off of Portal, so I hope I get to review that one, too!  I love the Portal games!

Star Wars Rebels Pinball (360)

Another Zen Studios pinball table I reviewed was this one based off of the computer animated cartoon series on Disney XD.  I’ve never seen the cartoon myself, but it does look interesting.  I’ve seen lots of commercials for it since I watch Gravity Falls on the same channel.  But I probably won’t make too much of an effort to see the Star Wars Rebels cartoon.  I like Star Wars and all, and it certainly was a big part of my childhood, but I don’t go ga-ga over EVERYTHING Star Wars related.  I will say that I like this table better than the Marvel one, though, as it’s easier to trigger missions and get a high score.  Still can’t wait for Portal Pinball!

Bubble Bath Blast (iPad)

This is a clone of Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move, which is one of my top three favorite puzzle games of all time (right up there with Puzzle Fighter and plain ol’ Tetris).  In this one you’re a little piggy in a bathtub shooting bubbles to free rubber duckies.  Only problem is that since this is a free-to-play game, after you get so far, it gets impossibly difficult unless you buy items.  And it just makes me want to play Puzzle Bobble instead.  It looks like you can download the original game on iPad, so I may do that.  Although I already have the game on nearly every other console I own, so maybe not.

Skylanders: Trap Team Toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals

When I went to PAX South, I attended a Gamer Parenting panel and they talked about Skylanders so much that I decided I’d post any Skylanders related news I could find on the GamerDad site.  So when I found out they were doing toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals, I had to write about it.  The toys are pretty good quality and about the size of the regular Skylanders figures (you can’t scan them in the game, though).  Just make sure to ask for the ‘boy’ toy because they’re also doing Littlest Pet Shop.  Although I know plenty of girls who would rather have the Skylanders toys.  Anyway, I don’t know how long this promotion is going on, so if you like Skylanders, better get to McDonald’s soon!

Underground (Wii U)

This is a Lemmings style puzzle game where you must guide robots and a little girl through an underground cavern.  You control two giant robot arms that can pick up and carry objects as well as manipulate the environment with tools.  The interesting thing about this game is that it was originally designed to help surgeons practice the skills they need to use some of their tools they use in operations.  You can even buy a special controller for the game at the company’s web site.  But the controls in the Underground game are so bad it makes me wonder if the surgical tools are this imprecise and clumsy.  Now I’m worried if I ever have to go to the hospital.  Of course, it could always be ME that’s clumsy at this game, in which case you should be thanking your lucky stars that I’M not a surgeon!

Krinkle Krusher (PS3)

This is a cartoony tower defense style game where you are a magic glove and use rings like spells to prevent little walking balls with teeth from reaching the castle.  It’s not very good because it is really hard, and looks like it would’ve been a better fit for a touch screen tablet game.

Reader Review: Oblitus (PC)

And finally, one of my friends reviewed this PC game for me.  It’s a ‘Metroidvania’ style game where you are some tribal dude who uses a spear to throw and stab enemies.  I don’t think my friend liked it very much, though.

Conclusions

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading my reviews and posting comments.  I really do appreciate it.  In June I plan to have blogs up about E3 and the Nintendo World Championships.  Not the one in 2015, but the original one from 1990.  It’ll be a trip down memory lane!  And of course I’ll probably have more reviews by then, too.  Let me know if there is anything else you’d like for me to write a blog about.  Later!  --Cary


 

Comments

VisuaLIES

05/26/2015 at 10:51 PM

Galaga Tekken is awesome.  I'm still trying to unlock the last character (I was never really good at Galaga).  The ads make me want Tekken 7 even more though.  My favorite character will always be Nina Williams, no matter how much they change/nerf her.  I've been using her since Tekken 2 because she's so versatile.  I want to like Anna too, but she plays so much like Nina, I sometimes try to do Nina's moves while playing as her lol.  The only characters I dislike are Lili and Eddy Gordo because people always try to spam the same crap with them to try to earn cheap wins.

Cary Woodham

05/27/2015 at 07:32 AM

Yeah I haven't unlocked the last character either.  The game is a lot easier than regular Galaga, but stage 50 is a long ways away.  Which classic Namco characters have you come across in the game?  I'm curious because I'm a classic Namco arcade junkie.

I'm not as familiar with Tekken characters.  Nina wasn't my favorite until Tekken Tag Tournament 2.  She's pretty cool and tough and strong and one of her alternate outfits in the Wii U version is Princess Zelda's dress.  Yeah I don't like Lili either.  I don't know why, but I don't like her.

VisuaLIES

05/27/2015 at 11:57 PM

Idk, only Mappy I think.  I didn't really pay attention, beyond thinking "oh that's a cool cameo".  I miss all the classic collections that we used to get before companies realized they could just sell us everything one game at a time.  Namco Museum, the Capcom Classics Collections, SNK Arcade Classics vol. 1 (still waiting for vol. 2), Sega Genesis Collection.... those were great, and a good value considering they contained 30-40 games for $20.  Now they charge us $5-10 per game via download.  I'd kill for a Konami collection or a Capcom fighting game collection with all their forgotten games like Star Gladiator/Plasma Sword, Rival Schools/Project Justice, Power Stone, Tech Romancer, Cyber Bots, etc.  While I'm dreaming, a Square Enix SNES/PSone collection would be pretty sweet.  I'd like to get Einhander without paying a fortune.

Cary Woodham

05/28/2015 at 07:48 AM

I love classic arcade collections and really miss them.  The five Namco Museum volumes collectively are one of my top five favorite games of all time.  Konami did have a classic collection on PSOne and GBA.  The imaginary Square collection better have Brave Fencer Musashi on it (and ActRaiser since Enix is a part of them now).

VisuaLIES

05/29/2015 at 12:37 AM

I vaguely remember that Konami collection.  It had no games that anybody wanted.  The best collections were for PSP--Gradius, and in Japan, Parodius and maybe Salamander/Life Force.  At least they supported Wii Virtual Console.

Cary Woodham

05/29/2015 at 02:02 PM

Oh I really liked the games on the PSOne Konami Collection. Circus Charlie, Time PIlot, Kicker, Gyruss.  Lots of good stuff!  I have the Gradius Collection on PSP and I imported the Parodius, Twinbee, and Salamander collections, too.  They're all good.  Konami really did support the Wii a lot.  I downloaded their Gradius Rebirth game.

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