Author: FairlyObvious

Sorry we haven’t updated recently, we’re painting a few rooms in Brad’s house so we haven’t had much time to just sit at our computers. Coming soon though will either be a post from Brad himself or me revealing my guilty pleasure game from my childhood days . . . we shall see . . . 

Slán go fóill

To continue, if I may, on my own personal nostalgia, let’s talk about the videogames that Brad used to win my heart.

That’s right guys, videogames, who knew it could be the easiest way to convince a girl to drag herself out of bed when all she really wants to do is curl up on her bed in her dorm room and sleep. 

So, as I’m sure all of you know, I was the weird girl who hung around the guy’s dorm, perched on the couch, watching the boys play their videogames. So, how did I end up getting incorporated into their gaming routine? Brad tempted me with my first love (no, not him, Battletoads!)

Oh yes boys, more beat’em up games. I remember being in the middle of homework, an essay, or simply reading a book, then hearing my phone ring or an IM pop up, and there was Brad. 

“Wanna come down to the common room?”

“I’m in the middle of an essay.”

“I have Battletoads.”

“I’ll be right down!”

That’s more or LESS how it happened. Haha. 

So . . . wooo co op games!! 

Again, I rant because as far as I know this is NOT available for download on the Wii. Seriously?? SERIOUSLY?? I mean who did NOT play Battletoads!?

I will forgive them for creating this co op game to battle Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I thank God that they didn’t try to make a cartoon out of this . . . Did they? (google) Oh wait, they did. Well, at least it didn’t make it to TV. I think I prefer pizza eating turtles to fly eating toads. That might be politically incorrect, but I stand by that statement. 

Anyway, back to Battletoads. Basic beat’em up game, hard as anything. Seriously guys, this game was known among game critics for its difficulty. It didn’t make it any easier that you have to keep separate from your co op partner because you can take them out with one fatal frog kick. No option to disable it. 

Like most NES games there was no save feature, so this could quite possibly be the most frustrating co op game ever. If you die, you die, and you go back to the beginning. Trust me, dying is the easiest thing to do in this game. 

Oh yeah, and the obstacle courses . . . co op is a pain on these obstacle courses guys. If one of you screw up, you both end up back at the beginning. So this ends up being even more difficult as a co op game. However, if you play this single player, you are really missing out on a lot of fun. Half of the entertainment of the game is screaming with your partner after one of you fades off into oblivion.

“You stay on this side! I’m on this side!”

“Dude! Don’t do that!”

“It was an accident!!”

“Get’em, get’em!”

“Stay over there!!”

“AGH!!!!”

So MY advice, if you think you are a hardcore gamer, once this becomes available (and it better), get it, play it. This is another beat’em up game that I have yet to beat, but I am determined TO beat.

YAY!!

yet I still feel as though I’m still in them 😉

Fairly here with what I guess is my first OFFICIAL post in what we like to call Fairly’s Corner (we as in Brad and me.) 

I guess the first order of this corner business is to go ahead and throw some personal and reminiscent childhood moments into the midst of this post. Give me a few sentences, I swear there is a point to all of this. 

As all (or at least most) of you know, I am, in fact, female. I am, in fact, engaged to Brad (aka DrNerocf.) I also am, in fact, a gamer freak (in the most positive sense of the word.) I attribute this trait of mine solely to the fact that I was raised in a culdesac full of boys. Despite the random girl moving in ever so often I was continuously sucked into the circle of gaming, it was necessary for my personal survival. I have two older brothers and one younger brother, all who were constantly spending their allowances on videogames. I was guilty also, I split the difference for new consoles with my younger brother. 

When I was growing up I was surrounded by possibly ever console known to man, if my family didn’t have it our neighbors across the street had it. Consequently, even if I didn’t fully play the game, I ended up getting the full experience by watching it. There is no way I’m going to claim that I am absolutely amazing at all things gaming. I’m probably good FOR A GIRL, but that’s as far as I am going to go with that. I’ll play almost any game, but I am not a fan of first person shooters. Brad has tried to get me into those, but I just can’t, they don’t click with me for some reason. So, unless you count shooting arrows off a horse in Zelda, count me out on first person shooters. After having a brother and a friend who were both ranked in Halo, I hung up my controller on that one and left it to them. 

So, as a tribute to my brother J.B., who helped to truly foster my love of videogames I’m going to go ahead and start this whole blog with a series on co op games I loved as a kid. The first one I’m going to talk about is . . .  

There is a NES version of this available for download on Wii Virtual Console, it is THE Double Dragon, not the SNES version you see above. However, I am not going to pretend like I have experience with the NES version of it, but I am going to have to download it and play through it if only to get the experience. 

SUPER Double Dragon is the game that I remember playing the MOST with my younger brother. We never beat it (sadly), it always seems we would get to the last level get right to the last boss and then inevitably die. If this ever becomes available for download for Wii Virtual Console I will have to make him come home for a weekend just to see if we can finally kill those stupid Shadow Warriors. 

Unlike the its predecessors, SUPER Double Dragon was made exclusively for the SNES (the others were derived from an arcade version of the game). This is a simple beat’em up game complete with satisfying punching and kicking sound effects, not to mention the “Hah!” that’s thrown in there after you have done something completely satisfying. 

The weapons, oh the weapons, I still remember trying to beat J.B. to the nunchuks or that random barrel that would show up on screen. What’s even more fun about these beat’em up games is the ability to actually beat each OTHER up. If you aren’t extremely serious about beating the game, it’s always fun to randomly grab an oil drum and toss it at your co op partner. Who doesn’t enjoy watching their faces turn red as they try to throw you over their shoulder to toss you off the next cliff your characters might come to?

The backgrounds to this game are actually quite nice, although if you have ever played Animal Crossing some of the curtains and decor might remind you a lot of what you might buy for 1,250 bells.

Warning: Remember that you can consume your co op partner’s lives, always a sure fire thing to make them mad when you manage to die three times in a row within five minutes. (Now, by consume I do not mean that you will turn into a giant pink fluffy marshmallow that will eat your partner and therefore take his life from him.) 

As I said, this is where most of my childhood memories of co opness come from. Bittersweet memories having never beat the game, but all the same memories. I sure hope that Nintendo has the heart to no longer deny Super Double Dragon to the general Wii public. This is definitely that Saturday game where you grab your best friend and sit down to play the game straight through for about two-four hours (it’s not an uber long game) praying that you have more then half a power bar when you finally get to the end. 

Sorry this isn’t more detailed, but as I said, this is a simple beat’em up game. In MY opinion one of the best of its kind. If you consider yourself a beat’em up connoisseur I suggest your write to Nintedo and demand this become available ASAP lest you be laughed off the gaming stratosphere when your peers find out you have not played this game. 

(and before anyone chooses to mock me for not beating this game with my little brother, I would like to remind you that I was 7 and he was 6 when it was released) 😉

Slán go fóill 

P.S. As for my “guilty pleasure” game, I will reveal that in time . . . for now you can go to the worst games ever and take your pick from the list. If you get it correct I will admit my slip in videogame taste 😉

Brad and I have been talking for a while and he suggested that I begin posting on the actual blog instead of restricting myself to the forum. He’s always so busy and he hates not being able to update his blog and he figured I could help fill in those blank days. 

I probably brought it on myself because I expressed interest in trying to start something where I could attempt to give my personal view on new games and even old games that have disappeared or almost become obsolete. That would include giving reviews of new games I’ve played, first takes on games about to be released (by watching teh previews of them and all that), and relating personal experience with older games. 

Just wanted to get everyone’s opinion on that proposal. I’d hate to shove myself into Brad’s blog and have everyone decide I’ve treaded on ground that’s sacred 😉

If y’all even have some more suggestions on what you’d like to see from me that would be good too. 

Slán go fóill 

=)