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[reviewing-retro-games]

In the late 90's, Pokemon became a global phenomenon that spread across the world like a pandemic and is still going strong today.

Despite being released near the end of the Game Boy's lifespan, the Pokemon games quickly became the best-selling non-bundled Game boy titles as well as being the best-selling RPGs of all time, with more than 30 million copies sold worldwide.

Anyway, Pokemon Red and Blue are absolutely great games with addictive gameplay, charming graphics, memorable music and infinite replay value.

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In the 80's , Capcom enjoyed great success in the arcade market with several titles like Ghosts 'n Goblins, 1942 and Commando. After the astonishing growth of its Arcade business, Capcom sought to gain a foothold in the home console market and specifically to benefit from the huge popularity of the NES .

The company's very first step was to port its greatest hits to the console , but unfortunately, this didn't achieve the hoped-for success. Therefore , Capcom decided to focus more on the home console industry by developing a new platformer game that can attract attention by its innovative design .

In 1987, The game was released in north america under the name of Mega Man. despite its high quality, Mega Man's sales were very weak because of the bad marketing and the horrendous box art, which is often considered as one of the worst game covers ever made .

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Over the last 4 decades , Bomberman games have been released on almost all platforms , including game consoles, personal computers and even cell phones. It is one of the most popular series of all time ; everyone has probably played a Bomberman game at some point in their life.

among more than 80 titles, there is perhaps no more impactful game in the franchise than the 1985 Famicom version. The game was an important milestone that shaped the future of the series by establishing the design, physics and mechanics that would appear on dozens of subsequent sequels .

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In the 80s , Nintendo gained dominance over the global video game market thanks to its famous mascots like Mario, Donkey Kong, Link and Samus. In 1992, Kirby's Dream land was released for the Game Boy and was a commercial success, the protagonist of the game Kirby was highly appealing to kids due to its cuteness and its simple design. Therefore, Nintendo decided to establish kirby as another mascot by pushing the franchise forward with several sequels, and releasing many Spin-offs featuring the adorable character. The very first spin-off saw the light in 1993 and was a pinball game, it is an understandable choice since kerby has a spherical shape .

In general, This little spin-off is well-done and can be enjoyed for short bursts.

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In the whole history of video games, There is perhaps no adventure game that has had such a long-standing influence as the original Legend of Zelda, it not only started one of Nintendo's most popular series, but also helped lay the groundwork for open-world gaming, and can be seen as a spiritual forerunner for both the action adventure and RPG genres.

The Legend of Zelda is a must play for every fan of open world games . It is loaded with secrets, treasures, dangers and surprises. on top of this, it has a charm all of its own that time itself cannot take away.

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Konami was one of the few third party developers which kept supporting the NES in its waning years by releasing several gems like Parodius, teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 and Bucky O'hare. At the time, the animated series Tiny Toon Adventures was a huge success, and as is known, the cach grabs were an inevitability in such cases , but fortunately the license to develop video game adaptations of the series was obtained by Konami.

Anyway, Tiny Toon Adventures is one of the best licensed games for the NES due to its fun gameplay, upbeat music and impressive graphics.

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In the early nineties , Sonic the hedgehog was the killer app for the genesis, and really allowed it to compete against the Super Nintendo in the 16-Bit console war. Beside the genesis, the Master System was at that time still going strong in South America and Europe, And the Game Gear was seeking to gain a foothold in markets. therefore, Sega decided to release a version of Sonic the hedgehog for its 8-Bit consoles.

with its enjoyable gameplay, upbeat music and impressive graphics, the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog is a good game that still holds up today.

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Released for arcades in 1982, Pooyan was popular enough to warrant a whole host of ports to several home computers and consoles including the Famicom.

Furthermore , the game was adapted into a popular Japanese manga called " Famicom Rocky " and into a famous game of the 7 th generation .

Anyway , Pooyan is a fun little shooter with interesting ideas and design , but the biggest flaw of the game is its short longevity .

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Released for arcades in 1982, BurgerTime was popular enough to get a port on just about every home console and personal computer of the period .

with its fast-paced , addictive and challenging gameplay, the NES version was really a good conversion that succeeded in faithfully replicating an authentic gaming experience of the arcade original .

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Almost no Nintendo console can get released without some sort of Mario game in its launch. Of course the same held true for the original game boy which received Super Mario Land in 1989.

Super Mario land is simple and fun to experience, but the biggest flaw of the game is its short length ; each level takes one or two minutes to complete and the game only consists of 12 levels .

Anyway , Nintendo’s first attempt at a handheld Super Mario title is still well worth a shot despite its age and flaws.

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For one reason or another, there were several Famicom gems that never made it out of japan.

Released by Konami in 1990 , Moai-Kun was one of these tiltes.

Similar to adventures of Lolo and Solomon's key , Moai-Kun is a mixing of puzzling and platforming elements.

Generally , everything in this game is well-done : distinctive theme, engaging gameplay , challenging puzzles and colorful graphics.

in other words , Moai-Kun is an overlooked treasure that's definitely worth checking out.

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Despite never having any commercial success, Telesys released some good games during its brief life of just over a year, the most promising among them was Fast Food.

Fast Food is just one of those games that remind retro gamers what the atari 2600 was capable of. it's whimsical, fast-paced and oddly addictive, i have often found myself vowing to " play just one more game " after the Mouth has eaten his sixth purple pickle and burped out .

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There are only a few video games that took the circus as source of inspiration, and Circus Charlie is one of the most popular among them.

Circus Charlie was released for the Famicom ( The Japanese NES ) as a downgraded port of the Arcade version.

The game consists of 5 events : lion taming, tightrope walking, ball balancing, trick riding and finally trapeze swinging.

After completing the last event the game loops back to the first stage with an increased difficulty.

Anyway, Circus charlie is a simple little game that can offer some brief moments of fun.

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Has anyone here ever played this game ? 🤔

Bowling games have a tendency to be bad because of the difficulty to recreate the large number of variables that define the physics of this sport, but for an NES game, championship bowling was a good attempt.

The developers of the game do a great job in introducing in the gameplay a lot of factors that can affect the outcome of a throw.

Furthermore, It's one of the few games that support the NES 4 score accessory, allowing for up to 4 players to play simultaneously.

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The earlier titles in the NES sports series are probably not remembered by many for being great games, but the latecomer " Ice Hockey " certainly bucks that trend.

The game has amazing gamplay mechanics , strategic elements in team customization, steady graphics, and overall amazing music .

These aforementioned aspects help elevate Ice Hockey beyond a basic 80’s sports game into something special. While the bulk of sports titles are quickly forgotten, Ice Hockey is among a handful of the timeless classics in the genre .

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E.T. the Extra Terrestrial has a terrible reputation and is often considered to be one of the worst games ever made, also it is cited as a major contributing factor to the video game crash of 1983 .

But is it really that bad ?

Could one game cause a crash of a whole industry ?

While the game has significant problems in terms of gameplay , there is a couple of interesting original ideas even if they aren't fully developed.

Furthermore, the graphics and the sound effects are very decent for an atari 2600 game.

Anyway , E T the Extra Terrestrial is a bad game to be honest, but it's far away from the worst .

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Road Runner was originally released for arcades in 1984 and later ported to several home computers and consoles including the NES.

The port was developed by Tengen, the famous Atari's subsidiary which challenged Nintendo's control system during the 8-bit era by producing unlicensed NES games.

Based on one the most popular cartoon franchises, The game tried hard to replicate the atmosphere of the show , but it failed to impress in terms of gameplay.

Anyway , Road Runner is not a masterpiece, by any stretch of the imagination , but if you are a fan of the show, then, it is a game definitely worth checking out.

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