Living the High Life

I just had another great week of gaming with Kris, Kelley, Jordan, Hayley, Evan, Matt and Tillman!

It started with Big Brain Acadamy for Wii wherein my score dropped from a B++ to a C. Just goes to show that you should train your brain every day not once every four months! Kris' score went up to a B++ as she perpetually gets smarter. Kelley got a C, she couldn't handle the Locomotionesque train game.

Then came the weekend and Jordan came back into town for a classic game reunion the likes of which are only seen every few months. New friend Hayley came into the fold as well.

Before the party started, Tillman and I slashed bears with a burly muscleman in Magic Sword! The SNES jewel is a side-scrolling platformer port of a Capcom coin-op. The goal is to reach the top of the dark tower, kill baddies and rescue prisoners who can aid you in your quest. The game is extremely easy, simple and fun with lots of varied enemies, helpers, bosses and words of wisdom like "Do not be beguiled by the Black Orb." I miss the loincloth-clad musclebound Adonis vacant in today's games! They appeared to have died off with the 90s. The game is an excellent fantasy action game, you should get it.

Next we tried the sequel, Knights of the Round. This game played more like a beat 'em up with weapons a'la Golden Axe. But with a block button and fewer attacks. The character's level up with experience points at the end of most stages and actually change in appearance by gaining armor. It wasn't as fun as Magic Sword in my opinion. It was missing too many frames of animation and didn't give the satisfying CHUNCK! of better brawlers.

Now the other friends have arrived and we played Dudes with Attitude for the NES. I have to admit, this game was put in to laugh at. The concept is solid: Collect treasure before your friend and avoid enemies. First you must paint yourself the matching color of the treasure you want to collect by running into a paint bucket. But that is a little too simple for an NES game. Players control smiley faces that bounce from left to right automatically, you can only move them up and down the screen. The game has the biggest "what the hell is happenning" factor of any NES game i've played. It is an unlicensed cart. The good side is that it has a level editor.

I told everyone that the game reminded me of Orb 3D so we tried it. I really got into that game at one time but the crowd was unimpressed and now I have added the 3D glasses that originally came with the game to my want list.
After all of this we challenged the gods themselves to predict our future in Taboo for the NES. I love the presentation and idea behind this game. It simply has you enter a few stats like age and name then allows you to type in a question. What follows is a Tarot style fortune telling with cards and everything. Let me just say this, Hayley's future looks pretty bleak. At the end of the fortune tellin, you enter what state you are from. Unfortunately, NC and VA among other states are not listed as options. As you know Gamebot is based in NC. What gives! The game then gives you lucky numbers to play the lotto (or do whatever your superstitious brain can concoct) with. I really love the idea, its a great addition to any NES collection and is fun to play with friends.

Atari time! Yes, we broke out the 2600 for a goodwill-found good time (by Jordan) with Math Grand Prix. I had never played this game before and I must say, this was the most exciting game of the night.

The gameplay is very simple: Take turns against an opponent answering math problems. You may select the difficulty of the problem and the higher difficulty allows you to move further on the race track. Th first to cross the finish line wins. Here is the play by play as it happened:

# Jordan answers first and moves ahead, we laugh at how easy the problems are.

# 1/4th in I land on Jordans space, knocking him off the road.

# Frustrated Jordan intentionally screws up, now he's really behind.

# Not taking things seriously I decide to screw up too.

# To my surprise, Jordon zooms past!

# Jordan accidentally selects the wrong number, I take the lead again.

# Now Jordan knocks me off the road, how could this happen!

# Jordan crosses the line and the room erupts in cheers and high fives.

# Later, I hire an arsonist to burn Jordan's dorm to the ground!

# The drama continues...

The last game of the night was Dragster one of my favorite 2600 games of all time! In dragster the goal is to get to the finish line in the least amount of time. The game is set up for two player competitive play but can be played alone as well. The button accelerates and left changes gears. You can also restart your run by pressing right if you have a false start or blow your engine. This game is all about timing and you can get better with practice. It is extremely addictive and races only last about 6 or 7 seconds, it's very fast paced. Check out my best time under "Impressive Human!" in the forums.

The weekend ended with Rock Band on the 360. Highlights included, Epic by Faith No More, Detroit Rock City by Kiss and Last Train to Clarksville by The Monkees. Another golden memory secured in the annals of time. Thanks for the fun guys. It was a blast!

- Blake Leftwich, gamebot

Venture

Gamebot Live number 9 is here! In episode 9 we have a new coin-op puzzler, Joe & Mac for Genesis is reviewed, we discuss the upcoming XBLA Lode Runner and what it is that makes a good classic game remake, Matt and Blake go head to head on NES Dig Dug II and a surprise stranger takes the lead in a past Impressive Human Challenge. Plus Finds in the Wild, music from DJ NES and Alpha Channel, Donkey Kong, LOZ: Windwaker, Pac-man, Bomberman and more! Download it at iTunes or on the media page.

Submit your best top score to mail@gamebotonline.com to be added to the Impressive Human scoreboard! Thanks for listening!