Does Cuphead look good on a black and white TV? Surprisingly yes... it really does. The games graphical style works well on the old TV and it's made even more pronounced on the black and white TV. Is this the best way to play Cuphead? No but it's a distant second.

I've been watching a lot of Super Nintendo Classic video reviews and most of them say basically the same thing. The Super Nintendo Classic is a great, if imperfect way, to play a really incredible collection of Super Nintendo Games. That said, most reviews don't dig into the differences between the Classic and the original hardware and how the SNES Classic compares to it in terms of graphics, sound and framerate. The video review above by DF Retro is an incredibly complete look at the SNES Classic including all it's quirks such as minor artifacts, sound issues and the like.

His wrap up? The Super Nintendo classic improves on the NES Classic quite a bit to make a really great system that does it's best to capture the feel of the original Super Nintendo but with a ton more detail than the traditional review. I like these kinds of deep reviews as they compare details at a very nerdy level, which I like to bask in. You should too so press play and enjoy.

Portland Retro Game Expo is one of those things I can't miss. Two days dedicated to retro games, panels, a crazy huge free to play arcade and more retro gear you could ever want? What's not to love?

We are running with a much larger booth this year and because of that are doing more awesome stuff. This year we are running 4 Classic NES Tournaments, hosting Wick showcasing his upcoming Indie game Crescent Loom AND selling an incredible collection of VHS tapes!

Win Awesome Stuff In Our Classic NES Tournaments

This year we are having four classic NES Tournaments (two per day) of some amazing NES classics and the winners of each tournament will walk away with a special prize!

Saturday: Super Mario Brothers Speedrun & Bubble Bobble Score Tournament.

Sunday: Marble Madness & Snake Rattle and Roll.

For more information on the tournament dates, times and prizes head over to the PRGE site below:

http://retrogamingexpo.com/tournaments.php#cheerfulghost

All The Cool Kids Will Be Playing Crescent Loom!

We are going sharing a booth with Wick who will be demoing his amazing new Indie game Crescent Loom.

"Crescent Loom is a game about creating life. Knit bones, stitch muscles, and weave neurons into a biologically-realistic simple creature."

We just wrapped up a fun new interview with Wick that will launch on the first day of PRGE so look out for that on Cheerful Ghost October 21st!

http://wick.works/crescentloom/

You Are Selling VHS Tapes? Are You Crazy?

Well, yes but it's also pretty cool too and you are morally obligated to stop by and browse through our VHS tape collection. I've been spending the last 5 months hand selecting our VHS tapes for sale featuring some absolute classics as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Nightmare on Elm Street, Blackula, Stand by Me on Betamax, The Godfather Collection (partially sealed), The Lost Boys, Conan The Barbarian (sealed), Vertigo, North by Northwest, The Abyss, Blade Runner, Alien(s), Point Break and much, much more.

Portland Retro Game Expo is October 20th - 22nd and for more information on ticket prices and times, head over to the site below.

http://retrogamingexpo.com/

Jack & Rich from Previously Recorded review Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and if you are interested in the game or what's out on the Switch I recommend you give this review a shot. They are harder on the game than the general review consensus seems to be (currently 85% on MetaCritic) but they end up recommending the game in the end. Mario + Rabbids is a game I was considering a day one Switch purchase because I do enjoy X-Com like games and Ubisofts particular take on it really looks fun.

Remember that old contest for NES Treasure Master? I do and I wanted to play it but I could only get two NES games per year from my parents and Treasure Master didn't make it to the top of my list. Good thing too because the game doesn't actually look very fun. I always thought i'd be able to beat the game to win the prize and it seems like the Angry Video Game Nerd thought the same thing.

When I bought the original NES Metroid I had already completed Super Metroid and played the heck out of Metroid II on Gameboy. I was at the store and had $20 and wanted to walk away with a new game and Metroid on NES was $20. At that time we were all pretty deep into the Super Nintendo era and heading back to the Nintendo Metroid didn't sit well with me then. I played the game a little bit and used the Justin Bailey code to actually beat the game but I didn't put in any serious time with it.

After getting an NES Classic I decided to come back and look at the original Metroid fresh. Does the original NES Metroid hold up or would I never really be able to enjoy this game?

Metroid Is Awesome If You Have A Map

Well, come to find out, I really like the original Metroid quite a bit but that doesn't mean it doesn't come with a few things to consider. Firstly the original Metroid is difficult and doesn't hold your hand in any way to make it obvious what you are supposed to do. So if you expected to jump in and have the game help you figure out what to do you're gonna have a bad time. Unless you want to map out the whole game yourself, which you can totally do and honestly how we used to do it. As a youngster I had to map out the original Legend of Zelda so I could beat it because it's impossible to do otherwise. Metroid is no different because of my limited amount of time playing games these days, using a map is essential.

All that to say, I picked up Nintendo's "Playing with Power" guide last year and it includes a really great Metroid map I've been using to play the game. It's fun to look at the map, figure out what to do next and then make it to that point and then refer back to the map. Modern games bring the map in game, as Super Metroid does, but doing it the old way, with a Nintendo guide handy and has been a fun experience.

Metroid Is Ultra Hard, Until You Get Certain Items

Metroid is hard as hell until you get about 3 energy tanks and the Varia suit then it gets much simpler. In fact i'd say Metroid, so far, went from "SUPER CRAZY HARD MODE" to "completely fine mode" the more I play. Since I am making my way through each zone, collecting each missile, item and energy tank I'm pretty well set right now and as such the game has really lessened in terms of difficulty. I'm on my way to take on Ridley now and the difficulty might spike again, but so far things have got much easier.

Metroid is a classic NES game that, until now, hasn't really clicked with me. But playing it now, with a really detailed map and making a breakthrough in terms of being better at playing the game i've reached a pretty fun high of enjoyability. If you don't have any prior experience with the original Metroid and want to give it a shot I seriously recommend you look into some good maps to chart a course through the game. You can take the game at it's own terms and map it yourself, but if you are a bit crunched for time using a guide will save you time and some heartache.

With the launch of the crazy popular Super Nintendo Classic other companies want to board the console remake money printing train. The Ataribox is looking to do that and now Commodore wants a piece with the C64 Mini. The C64 mini is a bit more interesting as it is a pretty faithful representation of the original Commodore keyboard system with full HDMI output and USB support. It comes with the base C64 mini system, HDMI cable, Joystick and 64 games including California Games, Uridium, Paradroid, Hawkeye, Nebulus and Monty Mole.

The Commodore 64 was the computer I start programming on so I was wondering if they'd allow you to program on it and it seems they well.

"As befits a home computer you can also plug in a standard USB PC keyboard and use as a classic C64 to type in those old BASIC computer listings or program new games."

Looks like they are also going to release a larger system later on which there are few details on but if it's a more faithful recreation of the original should be really interesting. I have some fun memories taking programs from C64 magazines and changing them to be fun games I wanted to play and I hope this system is just as fun for a new generation.

THEC64 Mini will hit the shops in early 2018 with a price tag of $69.99.

https://thec64.com/

For the next 24 hours the original Fallout is free on Steam so why not head over and add it to your collection? The original Wasteland adventure calls!

"You've just unearthed the classic post-apocalyptic role-playing game that revitalized the entire CRPG genre. The Fallout SPECIAL system allows drastically different types of characters, meaningful decisions and development that puts you in complete control. Explore the devastated ruins of a golden age civilization. Talk, sneak or fight your way past mutants, gangsters and robotic adversaries. Make the right decisions or you could end up as another fallen hero in the wastelands..."

http://store.steampowered.com/app/38400/Fallout_A_Post_Nuclear_Role_Playing_Game/

I am very excited to let you know that Cheerful Ghost Radio is now available for you to subscribe to on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher & Soundcloud, and more to come soon! We wanted to wait to publish the show more broadly until we had a good amount of episodes "in the can" and with the release of "Episode 5 - Epistle 3 Story Time" we felt it was time to push the button.

If you have access to iTunes, the Apple Podcast App, Google Play or Stitcher I ask that you head over, subscribe and rate the show and leave a comment. Those comments and ratings really help us reach a wider audience and that's something we'd love to see the show get more of. We think the show is really special and we've spent A LOT of time dialing it in, making it the right length and sound quality to be something we are very proud of and we hope you love it too.

I want to thank Travis, Scrypt & WhiteboySlim for making Cheerful Ghost Radio a really fun show to be part of and I hope it has a long life to it! You can always find the the latest episodes if you hit the "Radio" link at the top of the page or you can subscribe to iTunes or Google Play by hitting the links below.

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cheerful-ghost-radio/id1289515550?mt=2

Google Play: https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&isi=691797987&ius=googleplaymusic&link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Iqj37yspffs2cfyve26k62tvrdu?t%3DCheerful_Ghost_Radio%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/cheerful-ghost-radio

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/cheerfulghost/

TuneIn: https://tunein.com/radio/Cheerful-Ghost-Radio-p1035701/

This years Nintendo World Championship 16 qualifiers have been chosen and are heading to NYC to battle for determining who is the best Nintendo player in the land on October 7th! One interesting bit of news that came today was the Nintendo is selected Samus Returns on 3DS to be one of the games played at this years World Championship. To get the players ready for the challenge Nintendo is sending them a new 2DS and the game which is a nice way to get everyone up to speed on the game.

I'm adding a Championship event to the Cheerful Ghost calendar so if you are interested in watching this live with me and head over to the events page click join and then click to add the event to your calendar!