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Should Mother 1 have been remastered for the SNES between ‘91-‘93?

When we think about popular NES titles from the 80’s that eventually evolved into video game series going into the 90’s names such as Super Mario Bros, Metroid, The Legend Of Zelda, Donkey Kong and many others all come to mind. But one few video games that came out for the NES during the 80’s that evolved into a set that does not get talked about too much was Mother 1 which came out in July 1989. For those who do not know Mother 1 was also known as Earthbound Beginnings and was the prequel to the famous Mother 2/Earthbound game from 1994. While Mother 2 from ’94 is considered to be legendary and is critically acclaimed as one of the best 16-bit RPG’s of the 90’s the game did very poorly in sales within the United States. Despite, having a bizarre yet expensive marketing campaign for Mother 2 the game really did not become as popular as Nintendo wanted it to be in America during the mid 90’s. Some would argue that Earthbound for the SNES was not successful in America due to the popularity of emerging game systems within the mid 90’s such as the PS1 and Sega Saturn during that time period.

But at the same time its possible that Earthbound was not as popular in as it should of been because its prequel was a Japanese exclusive for the NES. Ever since ’89 Mother 1 has appeared on the NES and Game Boy Advance exclusively in Japan until ’15 when the game was finally released for the Wii-U worldwide. Some believe that having Mother 1 digitally remastered for the 16-bit SNES between ’91-’93 could have been more effective in making Mother 2 a huge success on the SNES. In fact, the plot for Earthbound took place a decade following the events from Mother 1 which was never officially released outside of Japan during the 90’s. Similar to how Nintendo re-released the first three Mario games for the NES on the Super NES as Super Mario All-Stars in ’93 the company could have done the same thing with the very first mother game at some point. While the plot for Mother 2 was very intriguing one of the biggest issues following its initial release was that the American audience was in the dark regarding the events that took place in the ’89 prequel for the NES. If Nintendo had released a SNES version of the first Mother game during the early 90’s its possible Mother 2 could have been more popular than it ended becoming shortly after its initial release in America.

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Retro Gaming 10’s- Metroid: The Other M (2010)

When we looked back at popular Wii games from the early 10’s time period there were so many exciting titles that were released for that console. One of the few games from 2010 that instantly comes to mind aside from titles such as Sonic Colors, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Donkey Kong returns was Metroid: The Other M. Along with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption from ’07 Metroid: The Other M was one of the first major games within the series to appear on the Wii console. One of the most interesting things about Metroid: The Other M is the fact that the setting of the game took place following the events of Super Metroid from ’93 and Metroid Fusion which came out for Game Boy Advance In ’02. If timeline regarding the setting for Metroid: The Other M was accurate Nintendo definitely could have released this game for the N64 between ’96-’00 if the company had plans to make it reality back then. One of the more interesting aspects about Metroid: The Other M is the fact that the game was played mainly from a third person perspective; this was opposed to the Metroid Prime trilogy which emphasized first person shooter gameplay due to how popular the genre was becoming during the 00’s.

The plot for Metroid: The Other M focused on bounty hunter and reoccurring main character Samus Aran as she explores the Bottle Ship after waking up in a Galactic Federation facility. In Metroid: The Other M players make interesting discoveries throughout the game involving the development of a special units for e of bioweapons which closely resembled the race of Space Pirates. The bioweapons were known as Cyborg Zebesians and were created by scientists from the Galactic Federation on BOTTLE SHIP. Samus Aran learns more about the Cyborg Zebrsians and how they ended up becoming uncontrollable from her interaction with Melissa Bergman aka MB; ironically MB ends up becoming the main villain in Metroid: The Other M following her betrayal of the Galactic Federation. The reasoning behind MB’s treachery towards The Galactic Federation stemmed from her disapproval for their some of scientists; they only managed to make things worse by attempting to reprogram her artificial intelligence causing her to be more vengeful towards humans for their misdeeds. While MB was considered to be the main villain her mutiny towards the Galactic Federation seemed somewhat justifiable considering the fact that the higher ups thought very little of her. It should also be noted that MB was considered to be a threat to the operations that the Galactic Federation were carrying out on the BOTTLE SHIP.

MB proved to be a very dangerous foe who had the ability to utilize brainwaves in order manipulate bioforms with the exception of Metroids; in fact MB used her abilities to have Galactic Federation scientists killed. In Metroid: The Other M players had the ability to control Samus Aran in order to destroy all kinds of creatures using missiles from her arm cannon similar to previous installments within the series. However, Metroid: The Other M ended up becoming the first game within the entire series where players could utilize melee attacks to combat enemies; while it was something new and unexpected the melee gameplay was one that received a mixed reception from critics. Also, while players had the option to change to a first person perspective in terms of shooting at enemies they could not move in that mode which was subjected to some criticism as well. While the first person perspective was mainly utilized for searching for hidden items it was still a pretty cool feature nonetheless. As an action-adventure game in general Metroid: The Other M is generally regarded as a solid entry within the series even though it was not quite on the same level as any of the Metroid Prime games from the 00’s in terms of popularity.

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Did some of Nintendo’s best Zelda games come from the 90’s?

When we think about highly successful Zelda games that has been released on various Nintendo consoles for the past 30 years there are many games that comes to mind. The original Zelda game appeared on the NES back in ’86 and we also got to see Zelda II: Adventure Of Link the following year in ’87 which had gameplay that was different from its predecessor; Adventure Of Link is often viewed as the black sheep of the series because of its gameplay. By the time Zelda: Link To The Past was released for the SNES in ’91 it ended up becoming one of Nintendo’s most high profile SNES game of the 90’s decade. Since its release Zelda: Link To The Past ended up become one of the best selling titles for the SNES and ended up reaching over 4.6 million in sales. In fact, The Legend Of Zelda: Link To The Past ended up becoming the 7th best selling game for the SNES and is considered to be a legendary action-adventure game that still holds up to this day. Less than, two years later the world got to see the release of Zelda: Link’s Awakening in June 1993. Link’s Awakening was the first Zelda title to ever appear on Game Boy and was also highly successful. Critics praised the soundtrack & story for Link’s Awakening as it went on to sell over 3.8 million on Game Boy.

Following the initial success of Zelda: Link’s Awakening in ’93 the game was eventually ported for Game Boy Color in ’98; this was the same year that Ocarina Of Time was released for the Nintendo 64. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time was arguably the best game within the entire series depending on who you ask. It felt like Nintendo gave new life to the series once it became 3D and it was noticeable in Ocarina Of Time. Features such as good storytelling, level design, robust gameplay, optional side-quests in addition to challenging boss battles made Ocarina Of Time a timeless N64 classic. Since its initial release back in November 1998 Ocarina Of Time has reached over 7.6 million in worldwide sales for the N64 and became the fourth best selling game on that console. Zelda Ocarina Of Time was eventually followed more than a year latter with the release of Majora’s Mask for the N64 in 2000.

As far as visuals and gameplay was concerned Majora’s Mask was similar to Ocarina Of Time but the game had a notice darker tone. It should also be noted that opposed to having Ganondorf as the main antagonist Majora’s Mask saw the debut of a new villain named Skull Kid. Majora’s Mask was a game that also ended up becoming highly successful and reached over 6.3 million copies in sales for the N64. Despite, not selling quite as much as Zelda: Ocarina Of Time it was still impressive to know that Majora’s Mask ended up becoming 12th best selling game on the N64. While there have been some other highly successful Zelda games from other decades such as the first NES games from the 80’s it seemed like they were outshined by the installments for the SNES, Game Boy and the N64 from the 90’s. In the 00’s Majora’s Mask along with Zelda: Twilight Princess from ’06 were also very impressive and stood out in a time where the shooter genre of gaming began to surge in popularity.

In the 10’s decade we got to see the release of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild in 2017 for the Nintendo Switch; the game became way more popular than the likes of Hyrule Warriors and Zelda: Skyward Sword. In addition, we got to see a digitally remastered Switch version of Link’s Awakening from ’93 with 3D graphics and backgrounds during September 2019 which was pretty cool. While everyone has their favorites on which games within the Zelda series are the best there is no question that some of the most iconic titles Nintendo made definitely came from the between the mid-80’s and early-00’s time period.

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Was Donkey Kong a better boss than Bowser?

When we look back one first major titles that Mario appeared in during the 80’s the Donkey Kong arcade game instantly comes to mind. As many people know the original Donkey Kong game is considered to be legendary and sees Mario as the main protagonist as he attempts to reduce his then girlfriend Pauline after being captured by D.K. While Donkey Kong is mainly considered to be more of a heroic figure in gaming nowadays back in the early 80’s he was Mario’s main rival. Similar to Wario who made his debut in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins for Game Boy in ’92 Donkey Kong started off as a villain before becoming popular enough to become a heroic figure. Both Donkey Kong and Wario had their own video game series with difference being Donkey King becoming more mainstream and successful than Wario did. As a villain Donkey Kong seemed pretty generic since all he did was toss barrels at Mario to prevent his Rome rescuing Pauline. Bowser who made his debut in Super Mario Bros in ’85 has remained the main villain in the Mario series for over 30 years.

Despite, the never-changing damsel in distress formula that Nintendo uses in Mario games involving Princess Peach various games in the series had different gimmicks or settings which kept player emotional invested in them. Its hard to see Mario being around for over 30 years with Donkey King as the main villain since he ended upcoming a charismatic character within the gaming world. While Donkey Kong may not have been a better villain than Bowser he definitely popular enough to earn Nintendo millions of dollars over the past couple of decades. In fact, if Mario had not become Nintendo’s main mascot it quite possible that Donkey Kong could have ended up being the face of Nintendo. Just about every Donkey Kong game that we have seen since the 80’s has either become very popular or successful in terms of console sales.

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Retro Gaming 00’s- Gradius V: (2004)

When we think about popular Konami games that came out between the 90’s-early 00’s titles such as Contra III: Alien Wars, Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, Dance Dance Revolution and others. It seems like most of Konami’s best video games came out during the 99’s which is a statement that many would agree is accurate. However, in the early 00’s we did get to see some cool games that Konami was involved with such as: Silent Hill 2 and Gradius V which were titles that both appeared on the PS2. Gradius V was considered to be the sequel to Gradius IV which was an arcade exclusive in Japan following its release in February 1999. As people know the Gradius series started back in 1985 back when the scrolling shooter of genre was more popular. The side-scrolling shooter genre started to decline in popularity around the mid 90’s onwards and it a bit surprising that Gradius games were still being made between the late 90’s-early 00’s. Gradius V was an arcade line shooter with optimal visuals that allowed both single and multiplayer gameplay. Throughout, the game power-ups can be acquired through destroying enemies in game modes such as Score Attack.

The Weapon’s Array Screen allowed players to choose what type of power-ups they could utilize throughout different levels; players also had the option of customizing the Vic Viper ship using various different weapon combinations which made Gradius V intriguing. As far as sales were concerned Gradius V obviously did not do too well since the scrolling shooter genre of gaming had declined in popularity by the early 00’s. If Gradius V were released a few years earlier sometime around the mid 90’s between the ’94-’97 Time period it could have possibly of been a much bigger attraction than it was on the PS2. As a side scrolling intergalactic shooter game Gradius V was praised by various gaming publications including GamePro & IGN and was seen as game that looked like it belonged in the 90’s decade

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Retro Gaming 00’s- Jet Set Radio: (2000)

When it comes down to underrated classics from the early 00’s in terms of gaming one of the few titles that often gets overlooked is Jet Set Radio. For those who do not know Jet Set Radio was a game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega before its official release for Dreamcast in June 2000. Jet Set Radio was an action-platform sports game that emphasized the concept of rollerblading along with competition amongst street gangs in order to win turf within Tokyo-ko that was up for grabs. However, the competition in Jet Set Radio involved criminal activity in form of graffiti and was broadcasted by DJ Professor K; this leads to the increased presence of law enforcement lead by Captain Onishima to crackdown on street gangs within Tokyo-to. Jet Set Radio sees the main character Beat and his crew known as GG’s compete and defeat rival gangs such as Noise Tanks, Poison Jam along with the Love Shockers. Following their victories over rival gangs the GG’s end up releasing a mysterious record that has the power to unless a demon. In addition, to dropping a new vinyl record the GG’s acquire new members to their group named Combo & Cube.

The new GG members explain how their hometown Grind City has taken over by a conglomerate known as Rokkaku along with their friend named Coining captured in the process. Players then discover that the Rokkaku plans on stealing the GG’s vinyl record to make a contract with the demon it possesses in order to take over Tokyo-to. The GG members eventually defeat the main antagonist Goji Rokkaku who was the CEO of the Rokkaku conglomerate in end and an interesting discovery was made. Despite, Coin’s fate being unclear its learned that Goji was driven into madnesses by wealth; the streets of Tokyo-to also become free following Goji’s defeat towards the end of the game. As far as gameplay is concerned Jet Set Radio had some cool modes despite being a single-player only game. The Rival Showdown Mode allowed players to unlock new characters. The Street Mode was also plenty of fun because players had two different options in terms of what type of gameplay they could partake in. While one option in Street Mode consisted of tagging turf areas the other involved spraying members of a rival gang.

The cool thing about the the Street Mode In Jet Set Radio is that its somewhat similar to Grand Theft Auto; law enforcement presence increases as players partake in more criminal activity in relation to graffiti. Players can eventually unlock Trial Mode through completing certain parts of the game which adds to the overall replay value of Jet Set Studio. Since its release for Sega Dreamcast Jet Set Radio was critically acclaimed by various gaming publications and has received several re-releases on game systems such as the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Vita in 2012. The storyline along with the cartoonish visuals with cel-shaded graphics made Jet Radio Radio standout; the game felt like it was ahead of its time since cel-shaded graphics did not begin to catch on in video games until the second half of the 00’s decade. Despite, the Dreamcast performing poorly in worldwide sales following its ’98 release Jet Set Radio from ’00 was definitely a timeless gem that emerged from Sega 128-bit game system.

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Retro Gaming 00’s- Def Jam: Fight For NY (2004)

When we think about some of the most popular fighting games from the first half of the 00’s decade its almost impossible to have a conversation about the topic without mentioning Def Jam: Fight For NY. For those who do not know Def Jam: Fight For NY was developed by AKI Corporation & EA Canada and published by EA Games and was released in September 2004. Def Jam: Fight For NY was the direct sequel to Def Jam: Vendetta which came out in 2003. Def Jam Vendetta was critic acclaimed for mixing the elements of hip-hop and pro-wrestling together while providing players with high quality gameplay cinematic storytelling; these features were greatly approved upon in Def Jam: Fight For New York. Not only was the storyline in Fight For NY almost twice as long as its predecessor but this game also introduced a new boss character named Crow who was portrayed by famous rapper Snoop Dogg and portrayed as the main villain. It should noted that the final boss in Def Jam Vendetta D-Mob returns in Fight For NY along with various new rappers such as Sean Paul, Lil Flip, Omar Epps, Bone Crusher, Bubba Sparxxx and others. We also got to see returning rappers such as Method Man, Ludacris, N.O.R.E., Joe Budden, Redman and others.

In addition, to having more rappers in Fight For NY the game placed more emphasis on fighting styles than that of Def Jam Vendetta. Fight For NY allowed players to either create or choose characters that could have up to three different fighting styles including submission, wrestling, martial arts, kickboxing and street-fighting. We also got to see brand new modes of battle in Fight For NY. Along with the standard battles that took place in nightclubs Fight For NY included parking lot brawls, subway fights cage matches and was probably the first pro-wrestling based game ever to introduce an inferno match. Similar to the original Def Jam game players had a momentum meter that allowed them to utilize their special move once it was filled which take a significant amount of damage from their opponents; in some instances opponents could be KO’ed if their health bar was low enough. The story mode was very intriguing from the start as the main protagonist of the game is an unknown suspect who helps D-Mob escape the cops after being arrested following the events that took place in Def Jam Vendetta. After helping D-Mob escape the cops the unnamed hero must prove his worth to D-Mob by constantly fighting at different venues and winning various nightclubs such as 7th Heaven, Syn Energy Power Plant, Terror Dome and others by defeating members of Crow’s crew.

At some in the game the main protagonist ends up gaining a girlfriend and she is eventually kidnapped by Crow and his crew due him along with D-Mob’s gang becoming a threat within the nightclub scene. In order to save his girlfriend’s life the main protagonist must win back all of the clubs he earned for D-Mob which end up making the player a traitor against his own will in the process. Afterwards, players eventually discover that Crow never planned on letting the player’s girlfriend live regardless after he refused to finish off one of D-Mob’s right hand men Blaze a.k.a Method Man after being brutally ambushed near the end of the story. In end players had to rescue their girlfriend and defeat one of Crow’s right hand men from a burning building before it collapsed before the final confrontation. After defeating Crow in the end the player ultimately ends up aligning himself with D-Mob once again while clearing his name in the process. Def Jam: Fight For NY was quite possibly the best installment within the entire series and arguably the most popular fighting game of ’04. Not only was the storyline in Def Jam: Fight For NY better than its predecessor but the replay value of the game itself was high since there was plenty of unlockable content and characters in general. Despite, appearing on the PS2 & GameCube in ’04 its a bit of a shame that Fight For NY was never remastered in high definition for current generation consoles. Either way, Def Jam: Fight For NY was quite the best non-WWE pro-wrestling game to have been released within the 00’s decade.