Balloon Fight for the NES is an instant classic. You are a Balloon Fighter who must survive in a sky of bird-masked kids who want to kill you. It’s just you, and perhaps a buddy. Also you must dodge man-eating fish and electric stars of doom in an infinite maze. Great fun, great co-op, and great music. But, is this game still worthy of a buy/download? Read on to find out!
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Microsoft Sam loves video games, especially old ones. Join him each week as he reviews his favorite classic games. This week he reviews Wheel of Fortune for the NES.

Crowned as one of the hardest games for the original Nintendo, Ninja Gaiden brings back a lot of fond memories for me. Growing up in a house where video games and computers were the norm, my Dad introduced me to most of the games on the NES. He usually picked them up from yard sales around the area during the early 90’s. Ninja Gaiden was one of them. Being intrigued by ninjas at a young age, with Ninja

Turtles and the like, I was determined to beat this game. At the time, I certainly realized how frustrating it was learning all the patterns, getting skilled with using the various weapons you could throw. I’m pretty sure I flung out my first string of curse words at this game.

My mother would yell at me for cursing, but I didn’t care, it became commonplace for me to express my frustration that way. In the beginning of trying to conquer this impossible game, I got so excited when I reached the end of the second stage. Watching the anime-style cutscene go by rewarded me for my arduous efforts. I soon reached the third stage, fourth, each time progressing with hidden skills. I learned how to climb back up a wall when I accidentally missed a jump, by flicking the D-Pad quickly left and right. I learned how to throw a boomerang star and time each of the jumps in the stage so that it would swirl around me, creating a maelstrom of destruction as I quickly ran through each level. I found out that with the boss with the spinning sickle, I could get hit and bounce up higher on the wall so that he freaks out, spins the other way, and I could jump over him and take him out easier. (continue reading…)

Captain Skyhawk was an excellent game for the NES that was developed by Rare and released in 1990. Game play is somewhat simple. The player flies an F-14 in an isometric view to shoot down enemies, drop packages or pick up scientists. Music for this game was arranged by the famous David Wise, who worked on games such as Donkey Kong Country (which had fantastic music).

The player has four weapons available to them: Phoenix Air Intercept Missiles, Maverick air to ground missiles, a Cannon and Hawk bombs. The weapons need to be purchased in between missions, except for the cannon which has unlimited ammo. You earn credits by shooting down alien forces.

There are nine missions in the game, with each mission having a variation of another (i.e. different layout for a level to drop supplies). Each of the levels have different routes to take, which can make the game more difficult or easier depending on which you chose. At the end of each mission, you attempt to board a space station while flying in space, very much like that in Top Gun where you land on a carrier.

There really isn’t much else to say except to try the game yourself! It was unique for the NES in that i was not the traditional top view shooter.

You can play the game here.

Back when we were all growing up, or at least some of the older folks here, most of us would marvel at the latest brand-spankin’ new hot game that came out for the Nintendo. Most people can right off the bat, list the favorites: Megaman, Super Mario, Contra, it can go on. But I am here today to bring you a game that I always cherished since I first got it for Christmas when I was about eight or nine in 1990. At first, I looked at the box kinda strange, but I gave it a shot.

Well, I really wasn’t expecting this much pink and joy bundled in one title screen. At first, I was kind of turned off by the girly-styled title screen, but I had to push forward. Here’s a little back-story on what happens during the game.

• You play as Kickle, the white guy with red ear muffs. What happens is the evil Wicked Wizard King turns all of the Fantasy Kingdom (your home) into bags. These people also turn out to be a lot of different types of fruits and vegetables, the stages usually taking the form of a shape, like a heart.

The developers were mostly high when they made it, but then again, this came from Japan. So, what do you do in this game? As mentioned previously, you control Kickle! His main ability is to freeze people with his breath, which anyone can get after sucking on a whole box of spearmint Altoids. He uses his breath to freeze enemies into blocks, and then kick the block into a certain direction. If there’s a certain hole in the ice, you can make a bridge with these blocks, or kick them into enemies or their spawning points (little red orb). In order to get past each and every stage, you must collect all of the red Dream Bags. Also, one additional note, the music for every stage is the same tune. You’re going to hear it the entire game, with only sporadic song changes for beating a stage or beating a boss.
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