Kirby's Dream Land

System: Game Boy

Cheats Used: None

This first game in the Kirby series is no less than a classic. While it is very short (only five levels), it is a ton of fun. The level design is fantastic and the music is excellent and very catchy. The game is easy enough that anyone, even young children, can finish it without too much trouble, although there is one boss that I couldn’t get past without being at full health (this is where save states come in handy). From this humble beginning, Kirby would go on to bigger and better things (Kirby’s Adventure for the NES is one of my favorite games for that system) and, although it’s not as high-profile as Nintendo’s other franchises, the series continues to this day with the release of Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the Wii. If you’re interested (and if you can find it) there was a very cute and enjoyable Kirby anime series. The English version was done by 4Kids and I think it’s the second best series they’ve done (after Pokemon, of course). Happy hunting!

The Amazing Spider-Man

System: Game Boy Cheats Used: Infinite Health, Infinite Webbing The Angry Video Game Nerd hated this game, but I think it’s fun. The controls aren’t perfect, but they’re responsive enough not to be a problem. The game has six levels and you get three lives and three continues. At the end of each level, you fight one of Spider-Man’s foes, including Mysterio, Hobgoblin, Scorpion, Rhino, Doctor Octopus and Venom. The main challenge of the game comes from the fact that the bosses’ attacks are hard to avoid while getting a hit in and in the last couple of levels, the mooks you fight are also hard to avoid. Without cheats, I was able to make it to level four and I only turned the cheats on to see the last two levels. There’s not much to say about this one except that I had a good time with it and if you’re a fan of Spidey, you could do worse.

Pokemon Red

System: Game Boy

Cheats Used: None


To prepare for the release of Pokemon Black, I decided to replay the original game, Pokemon Red. I confess that when I first discovered the game in 1999, I became a bit of an addict, buying up all the videos of the cartoon series (which I still watch occasionally) and collecting all kinds of merchandise. There were several nights I skipped sleep and stayed up all night playing the game and when I got to the end, there was a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. The fact that the creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri, is autistic is a great inspiration to me and he’s become one of my personal heroes.

So how does the game hold up after all these years? Not too bad, actually. It does seem rather primitive compared to the more recent installments, but then, the idea was in its infancy when the game was made and things like berries, abilities and online pokemon trading hadn’t been imagined yet. What we’re left with is a relatively straightforward game that’s easy enough for anyone to play, yet challenging enough for even the most hardcore players.

The story here is simple: You are a new pokemon trainer and your aim is to defeat the eight gym leaders and eventually battle the Elite 4 and the champion. Once that’s accomplished, the game is over. Along the way, you must stop the evil Team Rocket and their boss, Giovanni, but this subplot only takes up about a third of the game with the rest of it comprised of capturing, raising and battling pokemon. Like most RPGs, level grinding before fighting a gym leader can get very tedious, but the rewards for doing so more than make up for it. The game does an excellent job of drawing you into this world and making you care about the characters and the pokemon you raise. It’s not at all surprising that the series has done as well as it has

What’s interesting is that before the original game was released, Nintendo didn’t think it would sell and was prepared to write it off as a loss. No one was more surprised than they were when it became an international phenomenon. In fact, the anime was only supposed to last one season and was extended indefinitely when they realized what a massive hit they had on their hands. Since then, they’ve done a great job of providing the fans a steady stream of new games while still maintaining a consistent level of quality such that even a subpar entry (as many thought Diamond/Pearl to be) will outsell just about any other game out there. The series may no longer be in the public eye the way it used to be, but as long as the games are good I imagine it will continue for many years to come.