During the early 80s, the video game market was in danger of dying off before it could take off. Too many manufacturers were releasing too many consoles no one cared for, and developers were making too many games that were mediocre at best. This would lead to a diminished demand for them in the consumer market as well. If that wasn’t enough, the home computer market was slowly beginning to emerge, as PCs were becoming cheaper and more easily accessible to consumers. It would be a fool’s errand for a company to attempt to reenter the market, yet Japanese developer Nintendo would jump in the market head first.
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Tetris is one of the oldest and most endearing puzzle games ever. Most other puzzle games that have come out since then have not steered too far away from Tetris’s basic design. So how does the age old-formula manage to remain fresh for its Nintendo DS debut? Nintendo has combined Tetris’s classic gameplay with the look and feel of several of its classic franchises, added several new game variations, and added online play to boot. Even the classic version of the game has a new twist; as players create lines, Mario moves through the levels. Puzzle mode, which has its look inspired by Yoshi’s cookie, has players using a set amount of blocks in order to clear the screen. Mission mode, inspired by Legend of Zelda, has players completing lines while having to follow various rules, such as not being able to use a certain block. Touch mode, which is taken from balloon fight, has players use the touch screen to slide blocks into place to clear the screen, kinda like those slide puzzles. A mode inspired by Metroid has players scrolling upwards, kinda like a vertical shooter. You combine falling pieces into clusters of blocks to get rid of them. Finally, a duel mode inspired by Donkey Kong, has players making lines in order to push the stack onto their opponent. In short, Nintendo has done so much more than simply regurgitate another version of Tetris with touch screen controls. They have created an all new way to experience Tetris, and created a must-have title for the Nintendo DS.

You put a “2” behind a game title and you’ve got a safe bet: more of the same. Its makes it easier for developers to release another game, and players get what essentially amounts to more levels of a game they already like.

But there are some that dare to be different, and turn the entire idea of franchise gaming on the ear. For the purposes of this list, games that jump between generations are omitted as upgrades and changes are expected on new hardware.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (NES)

The first in the series is a great linear dungeon crawler. Its proven the test of time, and started a series still going very strong today (in 2D no less!). But wow, Simon’s Quest was really different. Its much more of an open world, introduces RPG elements, and even adds a night & day passage of time. Modern Castlevania games balance elements of exploration and action well, but this was uncharted territory at the time. Castlevania III, while a fantastic refinement of the game play of the first, misses out on the stuff in Simon’s Quest.

TMNT 2: The Arcade Game (NES) [Read the rest of this entry…]

Powet fan Mike Choi sent me this video of some of his arrangements for classic Nintendo themes. Above is Super Mario Brothers, and after the break I’ve posted 2 more.

Enjoy his work, i’m sure he’ll be posting more soon!
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This is the final segment in GameTrailers Metroid Retrospective, constructing the events of the 10 games in the Metroid series into a timeline and also mentioning the few cameos hero Samus Aran and her enemies have made in other games and media. You can see the entire series here. Its a nice refresher course to prepare for Metroid Prime 3, which has just been released and will be stocked on shelves in stores everywhere this week.

This is the new trailer on the Metroid Prime 3 Wii channel. This is especially interesting to fans of the original Metroid and Super Metroid (which should pretty much everybody).

Famicom Dojo is back for its second episode! In this installment, we go over why the Famicom Disk System was such a tremendous boon for console gaming worldwide, even though the peripheral never made it to North American (or other) shores.

Blip.TV Version

YouTube Version
Direct Link: Famicom Dojo: The Battery Backup

Video Netcast Version
 Subscribe to iTunes POWETcast
Direct Link: Famicom Dojo – Episode 02 – Battery Backup

Show Notes
http://famicomdojo.tv/season1/battery-backup

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You’ve got the Varia Suit Samus, Corrupted Samus, and Dark Samus. Enjoy all of them on August 20th.