Mar 9, 2009

all time favorite video games 11-10

Well, I apologize about the wait for the list to continue. Things have been hectic lately, despite it being spring break and the fun that is supposed to come with it. After doing my own 12 page paper, I'm mired deep in grading at least 150 pages of student reports. I'm down to the final 13 though, so I figured I'd stop for today. Before we get to the games a few highlights of spring break:

1-picking Karen up from the airport in full suit with flowers and a sign I held up for her

2-playing the Mario Kart tourny for Sarah's birthday WNSC--and kicking ass.

3-playing Mario Kart with Justin and Sarah the night before

4-playing Colloseum with Matt, Danielle, and Justin

5-finally reaching 2 miles in 15 minutes on the treadmill

6-talking with Karen about moving places, wedding stuff, and honeymoon ideas

7-cross country skiing for the first time in about 15 years. Karen and I spent a day on the Blueberry Ridge Trail

8-the slim prospect that there might be a job for me in town after all...we'll keep you posted on that one...

9-the ECW guys night with Joe and Sam--that was fun

10-spending a special night with Karen--just the two of us!

11-playing Bang with alcohol--luckily no one was hurt

12-going to Upfront for dinner with Karen

and of course 13-driving Karen to the airport in what was actually classified as a Blizzard...only to have her return 3 hours later and drive to another city to hop on their plane instead!

ON TO THE GAMES!

11. Mike Tyson's Punch Out! (NES)
And so its come to this. Just missing our top ten is Mike Tyson's Punch Out! for the NES, our highest rated NES game on the list! This game was great. I remember finally being able to beat Piston Honda and moving into the Major Circuit and being awed by guys like King Hippo, Bald Bull and The Great Tiger. King Hippo was so much fun when we finally figured out how to beat him!
The simple play mechanics, different strategies for each boxed and ever increasing difficulty still bring me back to this one time and time again. The only real downfall of the game (and maybe its not a downfall) is that I've never seen this screen. In my prime, I could beat The Sandman about 50% of the time and once or twice managed to off Super Macho Man, but Tyson? Holy crap. I think I once lasted like 30 seconds, but that might be a rosy version of the memory. That guy could kill you in under 10 seconds--easy. So hard. How tough was Tyson? Well, after his rape charge, he was removed from all versions of the game and replaced by a white dude, Mr. Dream. Hooper X would have a field day with this decision--if anyone knows who that is...

10. DDRMax Dance Dance Revolution (PS2)
I already reviewed DDRMax 2 in this list, so I'll keep this short. This was the first version of the game I played and easily what sucked me in to this type of game. Skill meets dexterity, something that really hadn't occurred up to this point (no one even mention World Class Track Meet). Plus you could work up a pretty good sweat while playing and actually lose a few pounds in the process.
Max 300 and Paranoia Evolution are the things of nightmares, but they were so much fun. My biggest beef was that my pads always seemed to break on me. I always talked about getting a set of metal pads, but that never materialized. This is the top rated PS2 game on the list.

UP NEXT: A high seas adventure and a ga--crap! What's that you say? There's a sale at Tom Nooks? I'm outta here! Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye!

4 comments:

IXofSwords said...

Ah, Punch Out. I didn't actually get a chance to play this game until later in life, so I'd written off all I'd heard about how difficult it was as the inexperienced skills of people who played it when they were 8. Oh, how wrong I was...! x_x Great game though. :)

- Justin
P.S. I can haz blog now too: http://tarnishedgames.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

You're goddamn right Mike Tyson's Punch Out is on your list! Also...by high seas adventure, you mean Monkey Island, right? Right???

Cody said...

uhhh...can I say yes and lie to you?

Anonymous said...

Man...I totally did not actually read your description of Punch Out before and therefore missed your Hooper X reference. Black rage!!!