Link Between Worlds is the direct sequel to Link to the Past and a game I’ve been playing since I got my 3DS in December. It’s a good pickup and play Zelda Adventure that’s a must buy for any 3DS owner. Recently I beat it while on vacation and felt that the ending was a satisfying conclusion to the “To the Past” trilogy consisting of Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening and Link Between Worlds. The “To The Past” trilogy isn’t a formal Zelda trilogy but one I noticed as Link’s Awakening is a direct sequel to Link to the Past and Link Between Worlds is a direct sequel to that. I might be the only person to consider these three games a trilogy but I think I can handle that.

The entire Link Between Worlds story is a direct parallel to Link to the Past. Lorule in LBW is similar, if not the same place as the Dark World in LTTP. It’s not really spelled out if Lorule is the exact same place as the Dark World in LTTP but the dungeons line up in location, theme and even boss encounters. Even though there is that built in similarity LBW verges in that it gives Lorule a bit more personality and actual characters. That said, there is a pretty fun story based switcheroo at the end that I won’t spoil even though a few dungeons away from the end I saw coming. The switch at the end isn’t particularly hidden if you are paying attention and is a fun play off the typical Zelda style story.

Like many elements of Link Between Worlds the music is heavily influenced by themes from Link to the Past but breaks new ground stylistically. The music by Ryo Nagamatsu takes the retro SNES bit themes and arranges them with live orchestra, small ensembles and an Celt flavor that really gives the game a much more earthy tone to it. The Hyrule Dungeon theme song in Link Between Worlds is based on the original theme but Nagamatsu arranges it for a modern ensemble and his choices for the natural instruments to play the parts of the 16-bit score are well made. Linked below is the original Hyrule Dungeon theme and Nagamatu’s version that shows off how well he translated and built on the original score.

Link to the Past Dungeon Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1UyVXN13SI

Link Between Worlds Hyrule Dungeon Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyn4A52jkxg (dat woodblock & trumpet!)

Nagamatu’s original music is also quite good and never felt out of place with the old themes.

Link Between Worlds is a game I plan on coming back to which is one of the highest bits of praise I have. I really hope Nintendo rereleases this on the Switch so more people can play it because it’s such a sharp game worthy of more attention. If the past Zelda games are an indicator Nintendo should rerelease it, it’s just a matter of time. I’m not entirely sure if Link Between Worlds is a reason in itself to buy a 3DS but if you were close to picking one up and were a huge Link to the Past fan, i’d check it out. The Link Between Worlds game cart doesn’t seem to be available from Nintendo new so I picked it up used on Amazon but it’s also available digitally from the 3DS shop.

Ben Paddon reviews a very specific port of Marble Madness packed in with Klax on the Game Boy Advance. As always the video drops some history on Game Boy Advance and several others games ported to it. Oh yeah and Ben doesn't actually recommend you get Marble Madness on the GBA as it's ... terrible. I can vouch for the NES port though, that one seems quite good and that's the one i've played the most as my cousin had in on Nintendo and we played it a lot.

Recently I picked up an NES Classic and have been playing it a lot. I'm a huge fan of retro games and the NES Classic is a fun nod to Nintendo's past. The hardware, Operating System and choice of games are all top notch and I decided to dive in an focus on games I haven't played much before. I also have been playing all the two player games that have the ability for two players to play at the same time. Most 2 player games have each player take turns playing, one after another like in Super Mario Brothers 3 and the like. But I prefer two player games where we can play at the same time like Dr. Mario, Mario Bros. and Bubble Bobble. In fact, i'd say two player gaming is where the NES Classic shines. I plan on reviewing each game on the NES Classic separately but nothing says "frantic couch co-op fun" like Mario Bros. and trying to beat those levels with a friend.

All that to say, the NES Classic is one of the best things i've got in gaming recently and I can't wait to get to each of the games, which given how many there are should take me quite a bit to do.

One single player game I decided to focus on first was a game I played a bit in middle school called Mega Man 2. I'd say Mega Man 2 is one of the more enjoyable Mega Man games i've played and also very very challenging. It doesn't feel too punishing once you figure out how to beat a boss or complete a level but it's really unforgiving and if you don't time a jump just so or learn a particular way a boss attacks you will die. A lot. Which is one of the biggest strengths of Mega Man 2, it's really hard but balances it so well as to be an amazing amount of fun.

Oh and I beat it the other night for the first time. Completing the game gave me a really high sense of accomplishment but to do it I used the save/load feature of the NES Classic. It's a nice feature that doesn't punish you for dying and allows you to replay sections over and over until you get it just right. After beating it using save/load my current play through is using the normal lives and continue system. So far i'm getting through some stages a bit faster than my first playthrough but one penalty of using a continue is that you lose your energy tanks. It's a pretty negative consequence of using up all your lives but at some point you get so good at the game that using energy tanks isn't needed anymore. I'm not quite to that point yet but I don't need energy tanks to complete the normal boss stages anymore.

Mega Man 2 is rightly considered one of the stand out games of the Mega Man series and i'd say holds up incredibly well today. I respect that each boss stage isn't too long and Dr Wiley's boss stages amp up the difficulty to make the final confrontation seem much more menacing. If you haven't played Mega Man 2 you can get it on Steam XBox One or PS4 as part of the Mega Man Legacy Collection. The Legacy Collection comes with Mega Man 1 - 6 which is a great value at $15 if you haven't played any of these games yet. That said, expect a challenge because Mega Man doesn't hold your hand at all.

Summer Games Done Quick was an amazing event this year packed with so many runs I couldn't watch them all. I've been slowly watching the remaining runs I missed over time and have the last "best of" batch to share.

Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link by Error72 in 49:31 is embedded above. Adventures of Link is a great game but an odd one out compared to the more traditional top down retro Zelda games. 49.31 is Error72's personal best and a minute away from the world record for Any % No Scroll lock.

Luigi's Mansion by HDlax1 in 57:25 is a great run to watch if you've never actually played the game before like me. Luigi's Mansion was a GameCube launch title and gets a lot of love for being a different kind of Mario game by actually being a Luigi game. But don't take my word for it, check out the run and see.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yJ-QP6Z5l7I

It's not a GDQ event without the Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction by MrLlamaSC ran blisteringly fast at 1:42:22. Mr Llama mixes it up by running as the Assassin, a class I rarely played in Diablo II. For me, Mr Llama runs are a GDQ staple and if you haven't seen one, now is the chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE3oUzuJml8

GDQ likes to mix up the game formats and they did something this year I didn't expect in a speedrun race of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX by TGH and BambooShadow. Not only is Link's Awakening one of the best Zelda's but the commentary and runners make this one of the best runs i've seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTOL-vfO9z4

Not only does Alex have some incredible hair but the Portal run in 13:28 is one to watch if you are a Portal fan. This run is inbounds only so this is one of the more watchable Portal runs in that there isn't a lot of stepping outside the map for crazy ways of getting the levels to end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ6SFEH7IMI

I've wanted an NES Classic for quite some time and recently picked one up used. It was fortunate that I actually found one but it didn't come with the original box. I know some people immediately discard the boxes when they buy consoles and games but I've been keeping them all for years now. I was going to buy a box online but recently Will got a NES Classic and let me have his box!

Really excited to finally get this and I want to thank Will for hooking me up!

I think Bethesda might be the kings and queens of next level video game advertising that border on satirical art. With the recent protests of actual Nazi's in the US (can't believe that shit is real and happening) Wolfenstein II is verging into eerily real territory. In an earlier trailer for Wolf II Nazi's and the KKK stand side by side in an American street as buddies. With all that's happening in the US and the story iD Software wants to tell with Wolfenstein II it's just an interesting intersection where art imitates life but in the words of everyone favorite Nazi hunter BJ Blazkowicz...

"I got kids on the way and i'll be damed if i'm gonna raise them in a world run by these Nazi assholes!"

Preach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyOkaHBfdjo

Retro Game Mechanics Explained is a YouTube channel that goes over some of the most highly technical explanations of retro games and systems i've ever seen. In the video i've linked above he talks about the Game Genie which I never really thought about but the explanation of how it works makes sense and it's such an elegant solution to the problem I tip my hat to the developers of it. Bit of a warning though, it's highly technical and discusses some pretty low level computer concepts such as registers and op codes.

Enjoy!

The Super Meat Boy Forever trailer launched today with news of it's upcoming launch in 2018 on PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. This looks to be a good movement for the game and some aspects of it are refined somewhat such as the controls moving to two buttons.

"Two Buttons? That Sounds Dumb! Here’s the thing: shut up. Two buttons doesn’t mean less control, it means we designed levels to use two buttons. You can get a surprising amount of movement and precision by designing levels that complement your controls. Super Meat Boy felt great because there was a marriage of level design and controls, Super Meat Boy Forever is no different."

It's also made of dynamically constructed levels much like Diablo III taking pre-constructed segments and moving them around to make multiple playthroughs different.

"“Procedurally generated” is an overused term that applies to a wide range of things. While the levels are randomly generated, they aren’t truly random and their creation is heavily based on criteria we’ve designed and tested. Each level consists of hundreds of carefully designed “chunks” that are placed together to create a level. Chunks are selected randomly from pools that are categorized by difficulty by us. Each time you beat a level, an increased difficulty criteria is used to generate the harder version of that level. Also, levels need to have a certain cadence to them so they don’t feel like just random stuff thrown at you. We’ve worked on a system that allows us to give a criteria of difficulty and pacing that makes the levels randomly, but still within the confines of what we want the levels to be presented as. Oh and also, it sounds way cooler than “procedurally generated”."

Looks like this Meat Boy will work out just as well on PC as it will on Phones and Consoles and if it's anything like I saw at PAX in 2014 it should be great. Tommy will be at PAX this year showing the game off so I imagine we will hear much more about how the game plays then!

http://www.supermeatboy.com/

Yacht Club games blasted on to the Indie scene with an amazing Kickstarter for Shovel Knight. The game was funded and all of the games strech goals were met giving the base game a TON of extra content. If you've had Shovel Knight since the beginning you've see it get update after update making the game get so much bigger and adding a ton of new story content like Plague Knight and Spector Knight campaigns as well as Gender Swap mode and Co-op. Shovel Knight is set to get it's final set of story based content in Shovel Knight: King of Cards in 2018!

"Shovel Knight: King of Cards is the final campaign in the Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove saga, and it’s bigger and grander than ever! Step into the regal shoes of King Knight, the Gilded Goon himself, as you shoulder bash and spin jump through all those who would oppose your reign! Travel through 4 new worlds and more than 30 all new courses, all on a journey to best the “Three Kings” who lord over the land. Discover what it takes to become a true monarch, meet a friend or two, and amass a King’s ransom in items and loot! Refined platforming, exquisite visuals, story with heart, action-packed courses, glorious new bosses and more await in Shovel Knight: King of Cards!"

Strangely or unstrangely enough Shovel Knight is also getting a mini card game too that seems interesting.

"Had your fill of glamorous adventure? Unwind and sharpen your strategic mind by competing in card battles with future subjects from across the land."

I wonder if this is the first step to Yacht Club releasing a Shovel Knight-verse digital collectors card game in the same way CD Project Red released Gwent? Remains to be seen but the thought that Shovel Knight gets even a mini card game seems like a really interesting idea.. so why not?

http://yachtclubgames.com/shovel-knight-king-of-cards-press-kit/

"We still can't believe it's happened, but SimCity for the NES has been unearthed! Back from the depths of a closet, two protoype carts have appeared like Bowser on the loose in Tokyo, stomping, smashing, and ripping up all guesses on what their value may be!

Yesterday, a longtime NA member BIGDADDYRAMIREZ posted the above two minute video showcasing the first footage seen of this unreleased NES game since it appeared on Johnny Arcade in 1991. Where exactly did they come from? Well, turns out BIGDADDYRAMIREZ is the owner of Back in Time, a chain of game stores in the Seattle area, and like unicorns are want to do, they both walked in the other day. We just got off the phone with him, seeing as we've been waiting for this moment all our lives it seems, and learned that both copies will be making an appearance at PRGE this year."

Finding these lost Nintendo prototype carts is really great because often times nearly completed ports are abandoned and in the case of SimCity revisioned to work on the Super Nintendo. The Super Nintendo SimCity port is incredible and Nintendo was right to release it on the system at launch but losing the Nintendo port to history is a bit sad and I'm glad it's been found so it can be preserved.

NES on SimCity will be at this years Portland Retro Game Expo and I'll be making a point to check it out.

http://nintendoage.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&blog_Id=1&Id=1754