Decent Casino game for the NES - not that it's saying much
This review was originally written for my blog as a companion to my recap of an issue of Nintendo Power.
The Premise:
Casino Kid, the protagonist of the last game, has beaten all the best gamblers in the United States. However, the world remains. Now he must travel the globe, beating some of the best gamblers on Earth at the Roulette wheel, at Blackjack, and at Poker, before facing the King of Gambling at all three games.
The Good:
This is probably one of the best implementations of Blackjack in that, in theory, you could engage in card counting and it would be a feasible strategy – not a lot of other casino games work as well at this.
Additionally, with the Roulette game, your “opponent” gives you a tell as to where the ball will land, so the game isn’t entirely based on pure chance, which would have made it the most obnoxious part of the game otherwise.
The Bad
After playing Texas Hold ‘Em games for the past year or so, going back to Five-Card Stud is difficult. In particular, with Texas Hold ‘Em, the multiple rounds of betting give you an opportunity to feel out your opponent and their hand, whether face-to-face or online. With Five Card Stud, as implemented in this game, we get only 2 rounds of betting, which removes some of the strategy, making it no better in some respects than a LCD poker game like those you can get at most drug stores.
The Ugly:
While early on they try to give the poker players some sort of tell, the top two players and the King of Gambling don’t have tells, so, once again, you might as well be playing Video Poker.
The Verdict:
The implementation of roulette is essentially done to give you a bank-roll so you can build up some cash for later games. However, the implementation of blackjack here is probably one of the best ones I’ve seen for casino game collections. That said, you’d probably be better off getting a collection of Casino Games for your current gen system of choice.