Gaming with lwgrs

Dr. Mario (Game Boy, 1990)

2026-03-09T00:00:00Z

Dr. Mario is a fantastic, simple puzzle game. It was one of the first three games I got with my first Game Boy - the others being Tetris and Super Mario Land. Most people are familiar with the game - it's a simple premise: Mario has somehow become a Doctor and must eradicate viruses with pills. There are three different types of viruses, each with a different colour. On the NES, the viruses were red/blue/yellow, but with a monochrome palette on the Game Boy, the colours are black, gray, and white (or, it's sort of yellow depending on the screen you're looking at).

I consider myself a master at this game. I wish I remembered the highest level I've gotten to but I can get pretty far. The game gets progressively more difficult as you clear the stages. The number of viruses increase and their distribution on the screen makes matching the pills with the different viruses more difficult. There are also three speeds at which you can play, low, medium, and high; so depending on the speed it can get very difficult as more viruses are added to the mix. Last night I played a round and got to 53k+ points and I could have continued longer, but I voluntary turned the Game Boy off and went to do other things.

I played it on a Game Boy Colour and that is probably the least ideal way to play it unless you have a direct light source. The best way to experience the game is probably the original Game Boy, or else a Super Game Boy or one of the Game Boy Advance or DS with a backlight.

This is one of my favourite games and I wish I had the SNES counterpart Tetris & Dr. Mario (SNES, 1994) (I loaned this to a friend years ago, and I never got it back - we lost touch as well, sadly) because it was the perfect combo. I was always very good at the game and defeated my brothers on several occasions.

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Konami NFL Football (Game Boy, 1990)

2025-07-13T00:00:00Z

I logged this game in my media database last week and, memories being fond, I slotted it into my Game Boy Colour and turned it on. I was greeted by a familiar start screen, and a simple choice: 1 player, normal length game, or short game.

I thought I remembered playing this game and having fun with it. It turns out I was confusing it with the NES game Techmo Bowl, which was fun. Konami NFL Football, released in 1990 for the Game Boy, is frustratingly hard to play.

Not only is it slow, but defense is punishing. You immediately start on offense - there is no coin toss. The gameplay is vertical, up and down the screen; yet another thing I was confusing with the NES game. That one is horizontal.

The NFL teams here are licensed in name only - every single one has nameless players and play exactly the same way. Since it's on the Game Boy, there are no uniform colours either. And I'm not the only one who finds this game frustrating to play, either. But...I was determined to try and win a game.

As I mentioned defense is punishing. It doesn't help that your players can't receive the ball at all. You have to try and complete short passes and somehow run past the CPU defense. That usually doesn't work, and because you always start on the 30 yard line on the kickoff (that's as far as you can get before the CPU tackles you, every time), the computer easily scores the first touchdown of the game within a few first downs.

But since defense was crushing me...maybe I could play the same game. I went aggressive on defense, ignoring the pass recipients and letting my CPU teammates deal with them. The CPU was quite predictable and usually goes the same direction on most plays. Many QB sacks. I quickly got used to forcing a turnover or punt (or a field goal, once) but couldn't convert the other way.

While I'm keeping this one for nostalgia's sake, I'm probably never going to play it again. I've deemed it impossible to play.

Digital vs. Physical Copies

2025-03-24T00:00:00Z

I was thinking recently about physical vs. digital copies of games. I'm not new to the idea of digital games, as I had to purchase MLB The Show 16 for the PS3 digitally as the disc version was not available in Canada. I was able to install it on my PS3 without deleting it - a good thing because you can't download purchased PS3 title anymore¹.

It's a debate top-of-mind for me recently as I'm starting to get back into gaming. I see the allure of digital games; no need to get off the couch to switch discs when you want to play a different game. There seems to be more discounts on digital titles; and it's easy & convenient to buy a game when you want to and play it as soon as it installs.

Yet I return to the digital PS3 library, remembering that I don't have access to anything I bought (luckily it's just the one game, but the point stands). Yes, PS4 & PS5 consoles are going strong and there's no immediate danger of losing accesss, but it's still a real possibility. Amazon recently removed the ability to download purchased ebooks; it's a reminder that we don't own digital media. At best we are paying a large upfront fee for a long-term rental.

(Would we be less incensed if we could rent games and movies digitally for low costs, the same as the days of Blockbuster?)

While changing discs will be forever a nuisance, I will take that trade-off when I can freely borrow games from the library or buy/sell/trade physical copies. I'm fine with "buying" free copies (see Star Trek Online) - I've only invested time if access was removed. It might bug me for a day or two, but I won't be upset over lost money.

So I'll skip the digital copy of Star Trek Resurgence and keep an eye out for local deals.

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Turns out I'm partially wrong - you still can with some workarounds but the PS store is definitely disabled on the PS3 itself.

MLB The Show 24: First Impressions

2025-03-10T00:00:00Z

When I got a PS5 (for the 4K Disc player, remember) one of the games I really wanted to play was MLB The Show 24. Actually I would probably prefer playing 25, but I won't for two big reasons: 1) It's not released until March 18th; 2) It's $80 compared to 24's $40. I have yet to determine if this game tops my experience with MVP Baseball 2005 (PS2), but without giving away too much, it definitely tops my experience with MLB The Show 16 (PS3).

Before I dive into the meat of things, enjoy a couple of spectacular home runs I hit on MLB's beginner mode.

Gameplay #

The gameplay for The Show is largely the same as previous versions. If it weren't for some upgraded visuals (more on that in a bit) and updated rules to reflect changes in the last 9 years, you could easily mistake the two games for each other in terms of how the game plays. As near as I can tell, the controls are mostly the same. By "mostly", I mean that the basics are the same, but the mechanics of how some things work are changed a little.

For example, in MLB 16 your only options for throwing a ball on the field was hitting the button that corresponds with where you want to throw; you can "charge" your throw, and if you charge it too much you could commit an error. Charge it too little and you probably won't beat the runner. Conversely in MLB 24 they introduced a throwing meter - you want to release your throw in the green, middle part of the meter to get the ideal throw. The size of the green area varies depending on the player and how they field it. I like this little tweak a lot.

Hitting and pitching are both the same - all the different options are there. I started off using "Zone" hitting because that's what everyone online giving hitting tips uses, but I decided to drop back to directional hitting. This game is hard, it always has been. The ball moves realistically in every direction - pitching, off the bat, throwing. While I want a challenge and not wallop the computer every game, I also don't want to not be able to hit anything until I figure it out.

I set the difficulty levels for hitting & pitching to "dynamic", so as I get better at both, the difficulty level will increase, and later decrease, if it's too hard, creating a sweet spot of difficulty. In theory.

What I enjoyed was the process of choosing the control styles for each aspect of the game. Because you need to do a full copy and install of the game when you're using the disc on the PS5, you're given a limited version of the game to play while you wait for the rest of the game to be ready. This launches an introductory mode where little boxes pop up telling you the different ways you can control the game.

You can try various methods and see which one works best for you. I appreciated this because it gave me some space to try different things (such as choosing the meter-based throwing mechanism). Even if you don't look at the other mode options, knowing what's available is a good help.

Then the game lets you play through, and every time a new event occurs it tells you - based on the control scheme you selected - how to perform certain actions. I really liked this, because it was always a sort of guesswork for me when I was playing 16 - especially with fielding.

I was finally able to properly time a jump at the wall to make a nice catch.

Visuals #

While the base player models and movements are largely the same as the previous generation game I am used to playing, I can tell there are several improvements to the game. I don't think we'll ever get close to photo-realistic players, I can't see any player accepting the uncanny valley aspect of that. But the movements of the players are more realistic and I believe San Diego Studios has gone through each MLB player (and likely prospects) and meticulously coded individual mannerism. Hair moves the way it should based on real life physics. There's actually detail in said hair¹.

This is one of the few instances where I will concede that upgrading to the current generation is worth it, even though at a base level the game is largely the same.

Other additions are more detailed crowds. They even have player-specific signs - I downloaded an updated roster from the vault² which had Max Scherzer on the Blue Jays. In the crowd at the Rogers Centre was a fan with a sign with something about "Mad Max" (his nickname). So the crowd is dynamic and not stuck in a generic form. And randomly the game will give you a "fan cam" between innings that you can move around using the right control stick. Kind of neat.

The broadcast presentation is improved as well, and includes Google Statcast. This is a welcome addition because it gives you some fun in-game stats that you get in real life broadcasts. And the broadcasters themselves are changed from the 2016 edition, which is a welcome change because eventually they become annoying. I imagine this will be the case again, but that's where Quick Play and a music soundtrack on your stereo are a good thing.

Other Things #

There are a bunch of other modes available to explore. I haven't tried online match play (I doubt I will - I feel like I would get crushed against human opponents who spend a lot of time playing online), but I'm enjoying the Storylines feature that features the Negro Leagues. This gameplay mode acts as a mini-documentary (with real movie footage) mixed with gameplay challenges. It's an interesting way to play the game instead of the usual season mode.

There are other things like playing classic situations from MLB history but I haven't checked that out yet. Maybe they have the 1993 Joe Carter at-bat - could you play as the Phillies and strike him out instead of giving up that fateful home run? That would be a fun twist. I enjoy these little scenario-based games and had some fun with them in EA Sports' NHL series on the PS3, so I will check these out for sure.

I can see that there are many different modes of play that will keep me occupied with this game for a while.

Overall Thoughts #

This game is very well-designed and entertaining, and a huge upgrade from the game I'm used to. I actually started playing this series back on the PS1 - it's come a long way. The game is hard and designed to be realistic, but you can tone that side down and play for fun. Having both options is great for players who want to immerse themselves in "real baseball" and for players like me who like a mix of both.

4.5 stars.

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Unfortunately Bo's flow is gone this year, so I guess all we're left with is the memory of it in *MLB 24*.↩
"The Vault" is where players can create logos, rosters, and other things for other people to download. I had this briefly on the PS3 for MLB 16 but it wasn't long before those servers were shut down.↩

Video Game Difficulty

2025-02-23T00:00:00Z

Sometimes I think too much about levels of difficulty in video games. I feel like there is an outside voice somewhere telling me, "you're not good enough if you can't play the game on the hardest difficulty setting." Is this something people say? I heard it briefly in a recent podcast that some people think you should be completing a game at the highest difficulty settings rather than, you know, enjoy the game.

Personally, my difficulty level preference varies game-to-game. I tend to go to the highest difficulty when playing sports games, for example; inevitably the game becomes too easy (I've spoken about this before about NHL Legacy) and I have to find some different ways to play it. For a short while I was still able to play NHL Legacy online, but that was short-lived when the PS5 took over. Playing online tends to give you a more level playing field, because other human players have probably reached the same level as you (and in many cases, higher skill levels).

Me, I like to play games for the challenge, sure, but I don't want to become so frustrated with a game that I don't want to play it anymore.

I recently bought a PS5 (I know, I have said before that I wasn't going to get one - but there are reasons for it that involve buying it as a 4K movie player) and with it, NHL 25. Previously I played this one with my friend at his house, exclusively for online games. The gameplay isn't all that different from what I'm used to in terms of controls; there are some differences but largely it hasn't changed since I think NHL 08 when the skill stick was introduced on the PS3 (it did not have it on the PS2, the last NHL series game to appear on that platform).

So when I brought it home and started up the game I immediately went to the recommended level, "Pro". I figured that it might be a bit tougher than what I'm used to, so I wouldn't want to go to the highest difficulty level just yet. Well...it didn't go so well after a handful of games.

One of my early games I played vs. Montreal, playing as the Ottawa Senators. There was a game before this one where I was outshot by a LOT more. For the fun of it I asked Gemini to extrapolate a possible score based on playing 20-minute periods, instead of 3. Hilarity ensued.

I realized that I needed to lower the difficulty level. Can you believe that I actually felt inferior because I had to do that? I felt like I couldn't handle the game at the default level. Realistically though, I should have expected as much: the gameplay is different from what I'm used to, and plays differently. Players get tired faster, events on the ice increase pressure on players and in turn affects gameplay even more, etc. It's hard to describe it, to be honest.

So I went down to "semi-pro", the next stop down before the lowest beginner level. The results were much-improved! Here's the latest game I played, choosing random teams:

I was still outshot, but more than held my own.

I'm going to continue playing these quick games while I get used to the new mechanics. One great thing about the game is that it gives you hints and progress goals to work towards - for example, it tells you to use X to do a stick lift (be careful with that one, I took a few slashing penalties to earn my "progression"). Do that for the requisite number of times and it moves you onto the next defensive technique. And so forth.

Doing this difficulty downgrade has helped me feel better about difficulty levels. If lowering the difficulty means I'm able to progress through a game and maybe even win it, then so be it! I'm not obsessive about unlocking every part of a game. Sometimes I just enjoy playing through. But there are times when it does become too easy, so it's nice to have that buffer to move up a level if I need to.

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NHL 99 (N64) Is An Ugly Game, But It's A Lot of Fun

2024-05-04T00:00:00Z

When I was in high school, we played NHL 99 for the PC all the time. For its time, it was a great game, and on the PC it was completely customizable. There was an online community that would provide graphic modifications - such as replacing the score bug with CBC Hockey Night in Canada graphics, and updating uniforms - as well as the fantastic roster editing software, NHLView. Unfortunately I don't have the capability to play this version of NHL 99 anymore¹, but I've been on the hunt for either a PS1 or N64 copy of the game.

Recently, I found an N64 copy, and I fired it up.

Visuals #

I won't lie; this game is UGLY. Video game hockey has come a long way but I remember playing on PC the player models weren't this bad. Looking at some image search results kind of confirms that for me; the N64 version is just not as great - maybe a limitation of the cartridge, or the system itself?

At any rate, it's not fair to judge this game's visuals because it's from an era that was just on the cusp of good looking 3D elements. We enjoy Goldeneye for its gameplay, not its graphics. Player models aside, the game does look good; arenas are as accurate as they can be (hello, Corel Centre!) and the game itself plays at a smooth pace / frame rate. I would say it's just as smooth as NHL Legacy.

Gameplay #

Speaking of the gameplay; it's good enough. The difficulty range (Rookie > Pro > All Star) is quite good; I had to play a few games at the different levels to find my "sweet spot", which is apparently Pro. I found All Star impossible to score a goal, though that might change the more I play the game. Skaters move pretty fluidly, but the game plays in a more "arcade" style than what I'm used to. Bodies fly everywhere and even with penalties set to max, the only Interference calls are when players bump into the goalie.

I did find it hard to get used to the older rules - this game was before Delayed Offsides were introduced, which means when you get the "Offside" warning in the score bug, the whistle is blown as soon as you cross the line. Thank goodness you can turn off the 2 Line Pass rule - I would go crazy if that were permanently turned on. I do appreciate Touch Icing though, with the unrealistic speed burst you can beat out icing calls.

Disallowed goals are a thing, too. It happened once; though I'm not 100% sure why it was disallowed. But I thought that was cool.

Audio #

Pretty good audio in the game. You get hockey noise, crowd noise, and a play-by-play announcer. Unfortunately the play-by-play announcer, Bill Clement, is only able to provide generic commentary and doesn't use player names. The in-rink PA announcer also only announces goals or penalties by player number - no names. I am pretty sure this is a limitation of the N64 system.

There are nice easter eggs that I remember, for instance there are funny PA announcements throughout the game ("Remember, the floor is not a garbage receptacle. Please use designated trash cans."). The crowds chant "Go [insert team name] Go!" and in the playoffs loudly proclaim "We want the cup!" (which I find sounds like "We want blood", but we won't go there).

Overall #

The game definitely does not match up to modern games; those are almost infinitely customizable and look so much better. But for a console hockey game it is still fun to play and makes it easy to look past the ugly graphics and bland play-by-play commentary.

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I tried downloading an ISO and playing it on my Surface computer, but it kept crashing whenever I started up a game. Oh well.↩

My Ideal Video Game

2024-02-22T00:00:00Z

It's been a long time since I last played The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. I really came to enjoy it as I played along, but eventually I lost interest in general. I doubt I will actually finish the game at this point.

I'm not sure when I started thinking about my "ideal" video game, but I can tell you that the Zelda games are not it. They can be fun, and reward the puzzle solving side of my brain, but I don't like all of the side quests and moving back and forth from one location to another to unlock everything. It's not the kind of puzzle-solving I want to do. So what is my ideal video game?

This is definitely a cheat of an answer, but I don't have one single ideal. But I do have a specific set of games that I enjoy playing.

The Platformer #

Think Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong, that kind of thing. THESE are the puzzles I like to solve. Each level takes you from Point A to Point B, and there are puzzles in between that you need to solve. The type of puzzle can range from "How do I get around this part?" to "I need to time this jump at just the right time". In general I think I'm describing 2D side-scrolling games, but I think this extends to some modern games as well. Unfortunately though, the games that I like of this variety tend to be older and require either old consoles (at least I have some of those!) or DOS emulators. But at least you can find some of those.

Sports #

This is a much wider category and there is room for some minutea here.

This category - in my mind - includes cartoon-y games like Mario Kart or Mario Tennis, but I am mostly referring to franchise titles such as the NHL and MLB series of games. The problem I have with the NHL/MLB games is that eventually the rosters become so far out of date that it's not quite as fun to play, which has led me to try different tactics to keep the game enjoyable.

On the other hand, and somewhat counter-intuitively, I have some older games like Tecmo Bowl or Tecmo NBA Basketball that are timeless even though their rosters are static; my guess is because the players are so old, it doesn't really matter who I'm controlling, it's all about the gameplay.

Just as timeless are the Mario Kart/Golf/Tennis/etc. games that rely on "mascot" characters and the gameplay doesn't need to be as realistic as the franchise games, so the game developers have the opportunity to make these titles challenging in different ways (imagine if NASCAR had banana peels...I can't!).

So I guess I have two types of ideal games: old-school platformers and sports games. I have tried many different types of games but these are the ones that resonate the most with me.

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NHL Legacy (PS3, 2015)

2023-11-16T00:00:00Z

After finding a new way to enjoy MLB The Show 2016 (and I’ve since found out how to change the control styles to something I’m more familiar with from the MVP Baseball series, which has made the game considerably easier), I turned to NHL Legacy (aka NHL 16). My main beef with this game is that even on Superstar mode, it’s too easy.

The most I’ve been able to do is change the play style to “Hardcore Simulation” which makes the game closer to real life, but the balance is way off. It’s still not quite “real”, and it’s not really very fun. The goals are still easy to come by if you shoot the puck the right way.

Well, in my quest to make MLB The Show 16 more fun to play, I discovered the concept of changing sliders to make the game a little easier to play. Well, “easier” is not quite the right word. More realistic? For example, it’s hard to work the count in the game because the CPU pitchers almost always throw strikes. Solution? Turn down the “CPU Strikes Thrown” slider or whatever it’s called. It’s made a huge difference.

Anyway – I did some searching around and found these sliders from “Mr. Mars”. I played around with them and applied them to my game. I played one period to test it out (I had to get ready for work, no time for a full game), and I was hooked. I ended the first period down 2-1, but shots were even at 10. I had to work to get the goal that I did. I played a little bit of the next period until the next stoppage, which happened to be my game-tying-goal – and shots were 12-10 in my favour. I’ve played some games where I might outshoot the opponent and they get 2 goals on 2 or 3 shots. Or vice versa.

Anyway, this has made me happy to try out a new “Be A GM” mode to try and build a team into a Cup contender. The last BAGM mode I started, I picked one of the worst teams (Arizona) and still ended up with an absurd winning record after a few games. It was not very realistic. So I’m going to try again and hope for some challenging seasons and playoff series.

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MLB The Show 2016 – Playoffs

2023-11-03T00:00:00Z

After the Toronto Blue Jays unceremoniously bowed out of the playoffs this year, I felt disillusioned. I was disappointed with their efforts in general this year and thought they wasted a year of outstanding pitching (and outstanding health when it comes to their pitching staff).

So I turned to sports video games. I wanted to play some playoff or tournament with NHL 2004 but it turns out I must have gotten rid of this game from my Game Cube, so that was a bust. I ended up playing NHL Legacy / 16 and set up a playoff round controlling the Calgary Flames, and I recently completed that run winning the Cup after playing through adversity and coming back from being down 3-1 in two consecutive series.

With that series over I have now turned to MLB The Show 2016. I set up a new playoff round, using the teams from the 2015 playoffs – which had the Blue Jays facing off against the Texas Rangers (who just won the 2023 World Series). I’m not very good at The Show; because of this I don’t play it very often, and because I don’t play it often, I don’t get better.

But I won the first game of the series, lost the second, and then won an absolute laugher 8-2 on the strength of an 8-hit, 7-run inning in which I brought 12 batters to the plate. I lost the next game in a much tighter score so I have to win the next game, but the bottom line is that I’m having a lot of fun.

This is a popular baseball series for good reason, I just wish I was a little better with my at-bats. I am not a patient hitter in this game.

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Mario vs Donkey Kong (Game Boy Advance, 2004)

2023-07-23T00:00:00Z

Mario vs Donkey Kong is the 2004 follow-up to the popular 1994 Game Boy title, Donkey Kong. It was released for the Game Boy Advance handheld, and apparently started its life as some sort of weird GameCube / GBA hybrid:

At E3 2002, a title called Donkey Kong Plus was put on display. During the show, Plus had a feature that allowed players to design and save their own levels on the GameCube, then copy them to the Game Boy Advance using a link cable. It was essentially an updated version of Donkey Kong ’94, but the game had disappeared by the following year.

This sounds really cool! And is probably something that eventually became real in the Super Mario Maker series; apparently the level creator exists in the code on the Mario vs DK cart, and can be accessed with modification. I’m not ever going to try that, but kudos to those who have figured it out.

Going back to Mario vs Donkey Kong, this game pulls many elements from the 10-year-old Donkey Kong title for the Game Boy, and adds quite a few more to try to make the game a little more challenging. Plus, the graphics are massively upgraded. Mario has a lot more definition to him – in the original game, Mario only looked vaguely like Mario. In MvsDK, Mario looks like the one we’re familiar with on the handheld platform. The levels are colourful and some of the puzzles rely on this use of colour to activate various switches in specific order. In many ways some of the elements from 1994 are made easier to identify because things have different shades.

The level design is different too – instead of working through one level from start to finish, you’re presented with levels that are two stages. The first stage has you bringing a key to a door, similar to Donkey Kong. In the second stage, you have to retrieve a mini Mario (a toy that DK has stolen…there’s a whole story to this thing). Since it’s a checkpoint, if you die in the second stage you don’t need to begin all over again to get the key and go through the locked door, etc. etc. So while the level designs are a tad more challenging, the game is a little bit more forgiving when it comes to completing a level. The other challenging part is that it’s not super easy to reach 99 lives anymore. On my recent replay of the original Donkey Kong I had already racked up 60+ lives within the first few world maps. In MvsDK, I haven’t even reached 20 and I’m on level 3. I appreciate that a little.

The sound design is both good and bad, though. The good: the game takes full advantage of stereo speakers. Sounds eminate from the left or right speakers depending on what side of the screen they’re on. The game has great stepping sounds when Mario runs, and the original sounds from the 1994 game are back and improved here.

The bad: Mario’s voice during the game. It’s gotta go. I know that’s not going to happen…see: “Just what I needed!” in the GBA version of Super Mario Bros. 3. Donkey Kong makes some weird “Ugh” voice when you pick his 0 Up prize in the bonus game. I don’t know about you but despite the improvements above I really appreciate the simplicity of the 1994 game. All you need are some minor flourishes, and sound/music cues for different events in the game (like when you have a hammer for a limited time, when ladders and platforms are in place for a limited time, and so on).

Really…that’s what holds me back from truly enjoying this game. I can go back to 1994’s Donkey Kong any day, but I wouldn’t be upset if I couldn’t play this game anymore. It just doesn’t have the same charm.

I recommend playing it for the strong puzzle aspects of the game but it’s not nearly as fun for me as the original DK.

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The Legend of Zelda The Minish Cap (Game Boy Advance, 2005) – First Impressions

2023-07-16T00:00:00Z

I’m not a great player of Zelda games. I tried Ocarina of Time at a friend’s house, and thought it was cool. I wasn’t very good at it. I played A Link to the Past on the SNES, but I got stuck on one level (which was fixed in a GBA re-release). I can’t remember which level it is but if you perform certain actions in the wrong order, you can’t beat the level. I digress.

I think the first Zelda game I remember being able to play through without looking up help was probably Windwaker, Nintendo’s 2003 Game Cube release. This game was beautiful, using cel-shaded animation. I think this makes the game rather timeless in terms of how it looks today vs. 20 years ago. Another game I remember completing was Link’s Awakening for the Game Boy – I own the DX version, and have been re-playing that for a bit¹.

Overall I’d say I’m a Zelda fan. So when The Minish Cap came out, I picked that up for my GBA and was excited to play it. I never finished it, though. I picked it up again this week and started it over from the beginning, again.

I haven’t got very far with the game, only finishing the first dungeon. But I’m remembering why I didn’t get too far with the game. But before I get to the negatives, I will celebrate some positives.

The graphics are great – very reminiscent of A Link to the Past, with some upgrades. It’s your standard Zelda game – mow down grass and shrubs with your sword, smash bottles in people’s houses, that kind of thing. What I like about this game is you can pick up and move objects immediately, you don’t need to wait for the right power-up (I keep getting a warning message in Link’s Awakening telling me I can’t move something with my bare hands as soon as I bump into it accidentally). Being able to use 4 buttons (L, R, A, B) for things is a breath of fresh air compared to the Game Boy’s two.

It has interesting game play mechanics as well, like when you use an air blower thing to propel yourself on a lily pad to get to a different part of the dungeon. The Minish Cap transforming you into a miniature form so you can explore different areas – that’s really cool too, and brings new layers to dungeon and world map puzzles.

But what draws me out of the game are little things, like the transformation process from Regular Size to Minish Size; you get a basic cut scene every time to show the magic sparkles around Link and then as he falls through the tree stump and bounces to the miniature world. But when you go from miniature to regular, it’s a much quicker process. I could do without that cut scene every time I need to make a switch.

It’s also not as enjoyable to me because I find myself needing to consult a walkthrough to figure out how I’m supposed to get from A to B in some places. It’s possible I’m just not thinking of puzzles the same way I do for a game like Donkey Kong, but it’s somewhat annoying to stop and consult a walkthrough every few minutes.

Increasingly I find myself turning back to Link’s Awakening DX, which is just as great to look at for the visuals, but has a much simpler game play and requires less walkthrough help. Maybe a little. But it’s a bit more intuitive than Minish Cap.

However I need to play more of Minish Cap to give it a fair shake before I give up and take a trip to Microplay. Stay tuned for more!

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I think it’s amazing that the team behind Link’s Awakening wanted to make the game “feel like the television series Twin Peaks”.↩︎

Donkey Kong (Game Boy, 1994)

2023-07-15T00:00:00Z

Donkey Kong is my all-time favourite video game. Nintendo released this title for the Game Boy in 1994, designed with some enhanced features when popped into a Super Game Boy cartridge for the SNES. I never really played this on the Super Game Boy, as I grew up with the original gray, bulky original.

What makes this my favourite? For starters, it’s one of the few games I’ve actually completed from start to finish (Super Mario Land is another one of those). As I mention in my About page, I’m not a “gamer”; I play games for fun but don’t always finish them. My most common type of game are sports and puzzle games (Tetris or Dr. Mario) that don’t really end. So being able to complete a game? Bonus.

Donkey Kong though, is a combination of a platformer and a puzzle game. You have a specific quest to guide Mario through the various worlds to rescue Pauline from DK’s clutches, but many levels also contain puzzle elements. Some levels need things placed not only in the right spot, but timed out just right as well.

The animations are fun and characters and backgrounds are well-designed for limited colour pallets. I’ve been playing this recently, and even though I have muscle memory for the gameplay, I feel like this game is easy for anyone to pick up and understand how to play. There’s a learning curve but it’s not steep. In fact the game helps you along the way in the cut scenes between certain levels.

I love this game. If someone asked me to recommend just one Game Boy game to get a feel for the device, I’d give them Donkey Kong. Heck…I would probably recommend this game in general.