The well-written subtitle of today is from the opening line of Double Dribble, where a bad English pronunciation of the game's title paired with the NES's fantastic sound chip results in some pretty great hilarity.

I've been playing God of War: Ascension over the past couple of days, and I must say...I'm not all that impressed overall. I felt the games took a dip in quality when they jumped to the PS3 (not in the graphics department, of course, but the overall game feel and storytelling) and Ascension feels like everything God of War became that I didn't enjoy, instead of everything God of War was in the first game that initially drew me to the series. Regardless, I'll have a review up once I beat it. Eventually.

Today I don't have anything too special, but I was thinking about Mega Man X, so here's the best song from that. On with today's batch!

Double Dribble

A little background

Double Dribble is known in Japan as Exciting Basket, which might be the silliest name for a video game. Imagine if you didn't know this game were a basketball game...what would you think of when you heard "Exciting Basket?" The most hardcore basket-weaving game of all time! SIGN ME UP.

Anyway, this was an arcade game turned NES game in September of 1987. It's worth noting this preceded Konami's other sports game, Blades of Steel, by a little over a year. I only bring it up because these games look and play very similarly, except with a sports change-up. Like I know anything about sports! Basketball and hockey are like the same thing, right? Put things into mesh circular other things. Done. I won sports.

First impressions last forever

"DOUBAHL DRABBLE."

That voice is even better than the Blades of Steel voice! Though I can see the tech has improved in that year; at least I can understand the Blades of Steel guy.

Oh right, the game.

The intro scene, where all the people crowd to the stadium, looks kind of awful, but once you get in the game it looks good. I like how the dude shoots a hoop next to each of the settings when you change it, even if that's kind of a massive waste of time. I also like that the controls are super simple.

But as I played further...

This is a very solid NES basketball game, and probably my favorite NES basketball game. The characters look a lot like the Blades of Steel guys, and I'm ok with this. The controls are also similar and simple: one button passes (based on the direction you are currently holding dictates to who), and one button for shoot. Tap the button to shoot, hold it to dunk (if you're close enough). The game moves fast and you can have 5 minute halfs, meaning the game won't overstay its welcome.

The game is ok against the cpu, but really shows its stuff in multiplayer. The fast-paced, extremely smooth ball play reminds me of NBA Jam (which wouldn't come out for a while later), and you can get quite competitive. My only complaint is it's hard to steal a ball back after the other team has it (no shoving like in NBA Jam) but it's a minor issue.

So what's the conclusion?

Double Dribble is surprisingly good! While it isn't Blades of Steel (the addition of fights and being able to "check" opponents make the turnaround of the puck frequently, unlike the ball turnaround in Double Dribble) it's still very fast, very smooth, and a lot of fun. Konami really brought their a-game to the NES, and it shows. I also like that it plays official music during the games. It's cool!

The game is also very cheap; usually under $5 for a copy. If you like two player NES sports games, this one is a must-grab.

Dr. Mario

A little background

Ah, Dr. Mario. Gunpei Yokoi, most famous for being the father of the Game Boy, was the key developer in this Nintendo staple, which came out in the US in October of 1990. It was rumored this game was made after seeing the incredible success of Tetris, and Nintendo wanted in on this action. They'd make other NES puzzle games as well, including Yoshi, Yoshi's Cookie, Wario's Woods, and the awesome Tetris Attack on the SNES, but this was their first successful venture into this type of puzzle game.

The game is similar to Tetris only that things fall from the top of the screen to the bottom. In truth, it's a bit like what Bejeweled became, focusing on matching colors in a row rather than clearing lines. The game since became a classic, re-released on every Nintendo system to date (sometimes multiple times) without every changing the core "three colors, two-sided pill" idea. It was just too good to change.

As a bit of a personal note, my wife and I played this game a lot at a local arcade when we were dating, and she is absurdly good at it. Seriously, I did well against her on almost all other games, but on Dr. Mario she wiped the floor with me. We even bumped her difficulty up to five higher than mine and increased the speed and she still won. I guess I just suck at Dr. Mario.

As a final aside, I think Dr. Mario 64 is the best version of this game released, just because it has four player vs support. Four player Dr. Mario is pretty hectic and fun if you have three friends who are pretty good at the game.

But I'm not. I'm just there as a sacrifice.

First impressions last forever

The music has since been iconic. Interestingly enough, I like Chill over Fever, which seems to be abnormal. Fever's great and all, but I dig Chill's mellow beats. Probably because I first played Dr. Mario as the Wario Ware Inc. unlockable on the GBA, which only has Chill.

Oh yeah, um...the game looks good and is simple: get four in a row, hopefully with viruses. Clear out all the viruses, go on to the next stage. Easy.

But as I played further...

There's a few things that still irk me about Dr. Mario that I still haven't gotten over (and are probably why I suck). First, the second those pills touch something else, they stick forever like super glue. Unlike Tetris, where you have some flipping/moving leniency before a piece "locks," this ain't the case in Dr. Mario.

Second, it's really easy to bury yourself and be stuck beyond fixing. Unlike Tetris, where you can screw up but you always seem to have a way out, it seems like in Dr. Mario the game is out to get you. Pill remains pile up higher than the viruses, burying them under useless colors, and you realize it's going to take ten minutes to just fix the mess you made during the first minute of the game. It doesn't help that...

...Third, the game loves to toss you useless pills. All the red viruses are gone? Dr. Mario tosses down another double-red pill. Um...are you the worst doctor ever? We cured red, you fool! Put that bottle away and only toss down blue or yellow ones!

I'm gonna sue Dr. Mario for malpractice.

So what's the conclusion?

Despite me sucking and having irrational anger at the game for that, Dr. Mario is still a really solid, very fun and addicting action-puzzler. The Wii port is for babies and shows you the next 4-5 pills, which is cheating for pansies. Men (and my wife) play Dr. Mario only knowing the very next pill and that's it! WIMPS.

Anyway, Dr. Mario on the NES still holds up to this day, and is still a very good version of the game. It has two-player support, so your wife can destroy you at it too (or whatever your significant other may be), so grab two controllers and have a great (?) time.

People love to inflate this game's price (around $10-15), but you can probably grab it for cheaper with savvy shopping.

Dragon Power

A little background

Don't be fooled by the stupid, american-ized cover: this is very much a game based on the Dragon Ball manga. Released by Bandai (ugh...) in March of 1988, Dragon Power also holds the title of being the only Dragon Ball game released on the NES in the US, Z or otherwise. It's important to keep in mind that this is before Dragon Ball Z really took off in the states; Goku and otherwise weren't known over here, so putting some generic Karate Bro on the cover made sense...I guess. In Bandai's mind. Who knows what is going on in there.

The game also had an interesting bit of censorship, where one of the power-ups were woman's panties. They were changed to rice balls in the US, for probably obvious reasons.

First impressions last forever

Man, this game looks like an old NES game. Blocky, badly-drawn sprites with no black outlines, really jittery animation and bad color composition...game looks kind of awful. But also weirdly...charming? The cutscenes with awful writing and their animated faces are kind of endearing, and I like that Goku always has that happy-go-lucky smile on his face. The game, despite being hideous, kind of lured me in with its style.

But as I played further...

The main game is played in an over-head perspective (like Legend of Zelda only...not good), and if you can get the stick early on by going into a secret cave the game is way more fun. If not, punching has horrible range, and enemies with swords will destroy you.

Levels follow a simple pattern: a small, usually one to three screen overhead battle, followed by a fighting game style miniboss. While the overworld stuff is ok (and I like how the enemies fly off the screen when they are killed, like they're yanked off with invisible wire), its the miniboss battles that kill the game. It's hard to deal damage without taking any, with your stick disappearing for these fights and enemies giving no indication they've been hit.

Oh, and if you die even once on a stage, you start the whole stage over. Sure, you have unlimited continues, but we're talking the last five to ten minutes of work here. Yeah, I'm good Dragon Power. No thanks.

Also the music...if we can call it that. It's basically two measures that repeat over...and over...and over...and over...

So what's the conclusion?

I got this game because of the novelty of owning the first Dragon Ball game, and because the contrast between the game (and manga it's based off of) and the actual NES cover art amuses me immensely. While I do think the game's quirky charms are sort of endearing (which is also why I kind of like Kid Niki: Radical Ninja, even though the game is total garbage), it's hard to recommend it as an actual game. The overworld parts are sort of fun, but the one-on-one battles are a wreck. Plus, the continue system will probably turn off most casual players.

It's not a completely broken NES game, but it's not a very good one. Copies are usually around $3.

Dragon Spirit: The New Legend

A little background

Dragon Spirit is "another damn NES shmup," but with a twist: you're a person-turned-dragon! Yes, just like the Dragon Knight in DOTA. Talk about a ripoff.

The game is an actual good Bandai game (shocking, I know) though Namco technically made it. The game also was published by Atari under the Tengen label, meaning there's two versions of this game: the licensed cart version, and the black Tengen cart. As you can see, I have the legit version, though I know people who have the black one. They're the exact same game.

Dragon Spirit is a port of an arcade game by the same name, and sticks squarely into overhead shooting. It came out in June of 1990, and I'm tired of finding background facts for it so screw it, here's impressions.

First impressions last forever

This game actually has a pretty clever way of starting. It gives you a brief title to let you know the game loaded correctly, then tosses you into the action as the Blue Dragon Knight in the opening level. It's a fairly easy opening level, but the neat part is what happens if you die. If you make it to the end, you get another late title card with the "Blue Dragon" beneath it, indicating you're playing the normal difficulty. If you die, however, the game realizes you might need some help, and gives you the same title card with the "Gold Dragon" beneath it, giving you a different dragon and making the game easier. Gold Dragon is missing some levels (and you can't get the "True" ending), but it's cool to gauge a player's skill level through gameplay and then use it to determine difficulty.

But as I played further...

Dragon Spirit is a very good NES shmup. It plays like Xevious or Legendary Wings: you have a regular air attack, but you can also drop limited-ranged bombs on the ground for enemies beneath you. Power-ups are plentiful, which can turn your dragon into a two or even three headed dragon, spraying bullets everywhere, and powering up your attacks. You have a health bar that gives you 3-5 hits before death, but every time you are hit you downgrade a level of attack (also a bit like Legendary Wings) which is obnoxious. Luckily, since the above-mentioned powerups are plentiful, getting downgraded isn't that bad.

The graphics are pretty decent, though they don't hold a candle to the arcade version. The game also runs fairly smoothly without the awful slowdown issues of contemporary Legendary Wings. Plus, you get to travel through time! The first world is you in pre-historic times, burning up dinosaurs with your dragon awesomeness. HOW COOL IS THAT? VERY COOL.

Also the music is good too, every Konami-esque.

So what's the conclusion?

I've said it a lot of times: there's a lot of damn NES shmups available, but Dragon Spirit is an overlooked one that is quite phenomenal. Even on "Blue Dragon" level the game isn't too challenging, and with a turbo controller it becomes even easier. The dragon theme is also pretty rad, turning what might have been a boring space shooter into a dragon apocalypse. I like it, is what I'm saying. I like dragons.

If you like NES shmups and missed this one, I'd say give it a go! It's certainly on my top five in that category, and is loads of fun. The only problem is it doesn't have multiplayer, but hey...you can't win 'em all.

Copies are a bit tricky to find but don't tend to cost much; usually around $5-10.