For the mean time, I dwell into things that make me entertained like watching TV, movie marathon, surfing the net and updating my blog. Yep, I've considered scribbling thoughts in my sort of online-diary blogger account a major past time these days. But apart from my usual activities, today, I played Famicom games.
I can still remember when I was still a child; a few years before I started going to school until my elementary years, I used to go to our neighbor's house to watch them play family computer games. It was early 90's when such a video game was every child's dream of having. It was sad for me then that I wasn't able to own that kind of dream toy. Maybe my parents can't afford to have me one for some reasons that I did not know because I never asked why. Instead, they bought scrabble, boggle, chess and other board games. I grew up with these kinds of games aside from the outdoor games which I had a lot of good memories too, and I can write another blog about them. However, I still had the chance to play video games whenever I go to our neighbor and that's the reason why I've become reminiscent of my childhood when I got to play them once more.
This time, I need not go to another's house to play. I still don't own the family computer console but the one we have here is a minicomponent system which is capable of downloading games from the disc. We had not used it for years but when it was fixed yesterday, we tried playing the games again. Here are some of the games we played:
Contra
My sister and I usually play this game. The one being controlled in the game are two commandos whose enemies are soldiers, machines and other creatures. Along the game there are metal boxes engraved with a red falcon logo and flying barrels which give the player a chance to upgrade the weapon from a simple rifle to machine gun, laser, fireball, or scatter ball. The goal of this game is of course to move on to the next stages until the enemies are all dead and their camp destroyed. And one thing I remember from this game is the cheat to have 30 lives. "UP DOWN UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A B A." Unfortunately, we don't have the appropriate controller to get it right. Battle City
This game is one of my favorites since then. Unlike the other video games, the map where the game is played is displayed wholly on the screen for each stage. The goal is to shoot all the tanks of the enemies while keeping the base safe from them. There are several types of power-ups collected from those flashing enemy tanks like stopper, shovel, bomb, shield, and the infamous star. This made the game more interesting to play like for instance there are obstacles particularly the steel which can only be destroyed once the right number of power-ups is achieved; three stars that is. Twin Bee
Also, one of the exciting two-player games is Twin Bee. The aircraft being controlled by the player shoots the enemies which are mostly those that are found in the kitchen like utensils and food. At the start, the aircraft has a simple single shot and has the ability to launch bomb for ground targets but once the wings of the craft is destroyed it can't be used anymore unless the ambulance which comes only once is caught. The special weapons and abilities are received from the bells which are shot from the clouds. The type of power-up depends on the color of the bell which is achieved by continually shooting the bell until it shifts color from blue, white or red but overshooting turns the bell into something that is destructible to the player if caught. The goal is to again move on to the next stages. Galaga
Well, I guess, one of the most famous and oldest video game there is. I remember my professor in college telling us that they once created a program like this kind of game. The fighter spaceship being controlled by the player can only move laterally while shooting the insect-like enemies. The goal is to score as much and to move on to the next stages. Sometimes there's an enemy which goes down and tries to capture the fighter. Once captured and successfully shot the enemy, the fighter becomes double and makes the shooting easier. There are bonus stages which gives the player to score more and its quite challenging because you get to see how good you are as a shooter when the number of hits achieved is displayed. Also, at the end of the game, you also get to see your hit-miss ratio. Very interesting indeed! Legend of Kage
This one's a one-player game. The player controls a ninja whose name is Kage. The goal is to save the princess from its captivity by killing the ninja enemies and going into temple where she is believed to be hidden. There are crystal balls that appear in the screen which make Kage change clothes that corresponds to a certain power-up. Also, a scroll seldom appears in the screen and once this is taken, the ninja enemies begin to die simultaneously. What I like about this scene is the sound and visual effects. Sometimes I play this game just to find the scroll because the video effect is really one of a kind! When the princess is saved once, she gets captivated again and the season changes which is noticeable in the changing of the color of the background. Aside from these games that I featured in this blog, there are a lot more that I get to play once more. These includes.. Gradius, Sky Destroyer, Bomber Man, Lode Runner, Adventure Island, Jackal, and many more.
It's really nice to once in a while go back to the things that I used to do when I was still young. And I'm glad that I had a quite colorful childhood because now, I have something good to look back to.
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