Now Halo is hardly a game that one would consider a lost classic, but given the franchise’s popularity, and since Halo ODST hit stores this past week, now is a good time to take a look at this classic, if for no other reason than to see how far the series has come in the 8 years since Halo sold many an Xbox so long ago. You play as the Master Chief, humanity’s last and best hope against a collective of alien races known as the Covenant. Aided by your fellow crew members and a holographic artificial intelligence known as Cortanta, you blast your way through many covenant soldiers in an attempt to discover the secrets of the artificial planet/space station known as Halo.
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Before Sega’s House of the Dead, there was Konami’s Crypt Killer. While the most recent House of the Dead game takes its inspiration from Grindhouse Cinema, Crypt Killer seems to take inspiration from the B-movies of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. You know, the flicks that made guys like Lon Cheney, Boris Karloff, and Vincent Price into horror icons. They were quite scary at the time, but by today’s standards, they are actually a bit comical. After all, the dialogue was pretty cheesy and it was plainly obvious that the horrible ‘monster’ was actually a guy in a rubber suit. Crypt Killer does a perfect job of capturing that B-movie goofiness. Even if it isn’t the greatest game ever, it’s still fun while it lasts.
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At one time, Square’s Romancing Saga franchise was as big as Final Fantasy. Romancing Saga’s key difference from most other RPGs was its non-linearity. The plot changed dependent on which character you selected as well as what choices were made in certain dialogue situations. However, for the longest time, the series was only released in Japan, necessitating various fan translations. The most the U.S would ever see of the series were the Game Boy Romancing Saga titles, which were released under the name Final Fantasy Legend. Saga Frontier for the Playstation 1 marks the first time that the series has hit North American shores on a console. While the game is a bit on the simplistic side compared to its predecessors, it’s free scenario system made the game enjoyable.
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When this arcade shooter from Konami was released in 2001, it was way ahead of its time. The arcade cabinet was lined with infrared sensors that tracked your every movement, so you could duck and dodge and take cover. Years before the Wii, Police 911 got players in the game like no other game could do so. Playing as either a Japanese police detective or an American police officer, your job was to stop a Japanese crime syndicate. You made your way through several stages, shooting enemies while avoiding fellow officers and civilians. There is a timer not unlike Time Crisis, so it’s best not to dawdle in an area for too long. You can increase your rank and earn bonuses by completing the levels without killing civilians. A sequel was released, featuring more characters and levels. This game would be a perfect fit on the Nintendo Wii, as the Wiimote and the balance board make a perfect substitute for the arcade cabinet’s infrared sensors.

Gyruss is a shooter from Konami. Although Gyruss was originally an arcade game, but like other NES ports of arcade games, players would be more fond of its NES counterpart. Gyruss’s gameplay can best be described as ‘Galaga in a funnel’. You’re assaulted by waves of enemies, and you roll around the screen in a circle blasting at them. You travel throughout the solar system, eventually making your way toward Earth from Neptune. The NES version of the game adds new soundtrack tunes (including a remixed version of J. S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor that’s pretty catchy), a more detailed plot, new power ups, boss battles, an ending, and extra stages (including the former planet Pluto and the Sun). Like other games of its type, Gyruss has little setting apart from the rest of the pack (beside the cool music and 3d effects), but you’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

What if the old-school NES Ninja Gaiden games were two players? Well, they would have played a lot like Natsume’s NES game Shadow of the Ninja. Taking control of either Hayate or Kaede (or both in 2 player mode), your goal is to stop an evil emperor named Garuda, who has taken over New York City in the year 2029 A.D. You’ll travel through 5 stages, each broken into several different subsections. The two ninjas have minor gameplay differences, and they can collect powerups and weapons. Although they can’t climb on walls like in Ninja Gaiden, they can hang on railings. While it may not have been anything players haven’t seen before, Shadow of the Ninja was an excellent game, and you could enjoy it with a friend too. Hopefully Natsum will try to get this game on Virtual Console, as fans of Ninja Gaiden will enjoy it.

Fun Fact: Speaking of Ninja Gaiden, the Game Boy entry of the series, Ninja Gaiden Shadow, was originally intended to be a Game Boy release of this game. Tecmo bought the rights to it from Natsume, and re-christened it into a Ninja Gaiden game, hence the game having a similar plot and gameplay to Shadow of the Ninja, along with some continuity questions.

Before there was Lord of the Rings (the films, not the books) or Harry Potter, there was Willow. Co-produced by George Lucas and Ron Howard, and starring Warwick Davis (who had previously played as one of the Ewoks in Star Wars Episode VI) and Val Kilmer (long before he played his part in the destruction of the Batman film franchise in the mid 90s), Willow told the tale of a dwarf’s quest to rescue a baby from an evil sorceress queen. George had high hopes of Willow becoming Lucas’s fantasy equivalent to Star Wars, but it met low numbers at the box office and mixed reviews from critics. However, enough fans liked it enough for the film to gain cult status, and Capcom was fond enough of the property to release a pair of games based on Willow, one for the NES and the other for arcade.
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Like beat-em-ups, the light-gun shooter is a genre that gained most of its popularity during the 8 – 32 bit generations of gaming. However, as the mechanic is quite simplistic, the shooter genre has slowly been losing its appeal since its arcade heyday, just like the beat-em-up. Moreover, most light gun shooters can be completed in less than half an hour, making them shallow and light on content. To truly gain the attention of gamers, light gun games have to do something innovative and eye-catching. House of the dead featured zombies and showers of blood. Time Crisis featured a duck pedal, allowing players to seek cover and catch their breaths. Silent Scope featured a sniper rifle, and relied on precision and calculation rather than being a simple blast-a-thon. Police 911 (which really should be bought to Wii using the Wiimotion plus and maybe the balance board) translated player’s motions into onscreen action, getting the player’s body involved in the game.

The SuperScope, probably the most beloved of the home console light guns, demonstrated plenty of potential for innovation in the light gun genre. Heck, the 6-game pack that came with it featured a puzzle game and a variation on whack-a-mole. It’s buttons and unique shape gave developers some unique options on to use for gameplay. While most games for the SuperScope never moved far away from the usual Operation-Wolf format, there were a few unique games using the peripheral. One of these games is Metal Combat: Falcon’s revenge.
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