Streets of Rage

I'm trying to go play Streets of Rage and Streets of Rage 2 on my Wii. Both are awesome games, especially for fans of the genre. I found this Streets of Rage Online fansite, and for the last hour I've just been looking through their info. They have all the info. 

Also searching around I found some cool fanart. Tons of dedicated Streets of Rage players, and with good reason. Streets of Rage is one of the best Beat 'Em ups of all time and it was released very, very early in the Genesis's life, in 1991. It would beat out Final Fight to the arcade, although it seems likely that somehow one dev team spied early versions of the others's sprites. I don't know for sure who ripped off whom, but both games defined a genre more than Double Dragon and River City Ransom ever did.

Not that the Technos games are bad, and both Final Fight and Streets of Rage rip plenty of things from both games, while introducing the idea of multiple characters instead of RPG stats (later games like The Bouncer would hybridize the two formats, having multiple characters and allowing the player to level them all up).

The Bouncer also included the traditional 1v1 mode that some many games have. I picked up The Combatribes for a few bucks a month ago and it's versus mode is just awful. All the 1v1 modes were total shit.

Back on topic: Streets of Rage kicks ass and the music kicks ass. 

Below: fan art.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project

There are video games, and then there are video games that define one's childhood. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project is undoubtedly one of the latter. I never owned the game as a kid, but I often rented this masterpiece. Not that it mattered: several friends owned a copy and TMNT3 was one of the first games I ever beat, shortly after it launched in 1992.

The Turtles were my heroes growing up. I knew, watching the cartoon, that I wanted to be a trash-talking slacker who ate pizza at every opportunity and spent his free time fighting crime and playing video games. Eventually I abandoned the fighting crime aspect, but I like to think that I have been successful in the rest.

I distinctly remember staying up until 5:00 a.m. beating the one night because we had to return the cartridge to the rental store the next day. That's the kind of gaming pressure one simply cannot simulate as an adult, and with the internet and its access to everything interesting ever conceived.

Playing through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project again over the last few days totally recaptured some of the mondo times playing turtles games, collecting the action figures, or watching the cartoon religiously. I still have over a hundred TMNT action figures, but with no place to display them they just sit tucked away in my closet, a quiet metaphor for the lost magic of the 1980s.

Even though I own the cartridge, I decided to play through the game on an emulator so I could take screenshots (which you can see below, I've posted the best 19 of the 50-something shots I captured). Even on an emulator, the second I saw the epic sprite flicker and garbage columns on the left and the right, I knew I was home.

TMNT3 is your basic brawler, with a lot of polish and flair for the NES. Konami had been making killer beat 'em ups for years at this point, and the influence of other games (notably Konami's Crime Fighters and especially Capcom's Final Fight) has left a positive aura of perfection on this cart. The only downside to the gameplay is that, by Level 8 you'll start to feel the pressure of the repetitive enemies, some of which seem to hit you no matter what.

The bosses, likewise, can be tedious. Most of the bosses take--and I'm not exaggerating--over 100 jump-kicks to kill. Leonardo's special move proves to be a lifesaver in these situations, and can pretty much destroy any boss you come across.

Despite some minor flaws, TMNT3: TMP is totally worth your time. You haven't played the NES until you've played this game. I just beat the game this morning, but I had to use the secret code to restart Stage 8. After I hit post, it's time to ditch the emulator, turn off all the lights, and sit in front of my giant CRT and NES until Shredder & co. eat dirt.