One of the earliest FPS in a full 3D environment, so of course it's groundbreaking! Being able to run over bridges, walk above and under each other, look up and down... even just JUMPING was considered pretty new and exciting thing to do in the genre to some players, especially for someone coming straight from Doom. Other games helped intergrate some of these things earlier than Quake, but Quake brought it all together and actually put it in a fully-3D environment rather than trying to emulate one.

The story is fun, and seems to be filled with the classic terror and suspense that FPS are so great for. The gun variety is fun to play around with, and the environments of all the chapters are pretty unique compared to eachother, playing with water, bridges, portals, and all that to help contrast one another. The thing that really makes Quake standout, in my opinion, is its 8-player online multiplayer option. The closest thing I can personally compare it to from before its release is Doom's deathmatch, but Quake's 3D environments and four additional battlemates makes it close to impossible to return to Doom. Of course, in the modern day, I could just go on Fortnite and play a shooter online against 99 random people (and I do!), but in comparison to what was available at the time, Quake was monumental. Here I am almost 30 years later still having a blast with my friend (Hi Roxy!!) trying to shoot each others faces off and grab the lightning gun before the other can attack with it first.

Check out Quake for a good boomer-shooter and a fun piece of gaming history. If you can gather seven friends, you'll have a hell of a good time.

4/5

The age old question in NES gaming always seems to be “Is The Guardian Legend a hidden gem?” The phrase "hidden gem" seems to be made fun of more than used as an actual discussion point, but it's interesting to talk about! Was a game from almost 40 years a bit shafted over something else? Was the game ignored for good reason or did it get its limelight taken away because of some unknown factor? I bought Guardian Legend at a convention because my friend Zack said he’s really interested in looking at it as it mixed two different genres. Later, my friend Frank let me know that it’s one of the earliest video games to have a visibly female protagonist. I thought that was interesting, so I moved it to the front of my “backlog” and found out from there that the game had a bit of a reputation with old school gamers. Why exactly? Why, because of that darn sparkling jewel that this game seems to be, of course! That’s all I knew before I went in, so my expectations were pretty nonexistent.

When the Guardian Legend came out, it didn’t seem to make much of a ripple in either the West or the East. It is apparently a sequel to an MSX game called "Guardic". The Guardian Legend is a very unique combination of a shmup and a sort of overworld Zelda-esque action game, making it one of the earlier examples of mixing genres and still having it work. Both Western and Eastern audiences gave it mixed reviews, with some saying its combining of genres results in both aspects (shooting and overworld) being a bit meh, when focusing on just one genre would have made a stronger game. Others liked the mix and saw it as something future shmups might catch onto.. Overall, it seems like the Guardian Legend was a bit overlooked when it first came out, but was definitely not hated, with it getting an average rating of 75 out of 100. It was something that came and faded into history.

Well, how about my opinion? This is my review after all! Do I think the game deserved more attention? I think the mixed general opinion is a valid one, especially if someone bought the Guardian Legend looking for a shoot 'em up. The game is fun, and definitely unique for the NES, but the gameplay is not remotely challenging, and a lot of the final bosses are just recolors, which can understandably be a little annoying. I personally found the mix of genres fun, as I’ve never played anything like it on the NES before. I found the Guardian Legend really hard to put down actually! It had a really nice flow, with you discovering puzzles and secrets, leveling up your abilities, and finding the dungeons. The dungeons themselves are the shmup section, and are a nice way to keep you interested. It helps switch things up from the overworld.

I personally really, really loved the Guardian Legend, but I can understand it not being for everyone, especially those looking for something that’s solely a shoot ‘em up. I’m sad it wasn’t more popular to get a sequel, because I think it would have been an especially fun concept with the SNES’s gorgeous graphics and additional buttons. Even on the NES, the Guardian Legend looks amazing! In my personal opinion, the Guardian Legend is absolutely one of my favorite games on the NES that I’ve played yet, and if you’re a fan of 3rd-generation gaming, you should do yourself a favor and seek it out, as sadly this treasure was buried a little deep.

4/5

Enemies stopped appearing towards the end of Chapter 7, so it locked me out of finishing the game unfortunately. I don’t care enough to try buying a new disc, but I liked Deadly Creatures and thought the premise was unique and fairly fun for the Wii. Very gritty and violent, which was surprising for a Wii-exclusive. The amount you need to move the controller + nunchuck to make good hard-hitting moves got me more tired than legit sport games on the Wii, but I also have noodle arms lol. I liked playing the scorpion over the spider, but I thought switching between the two was a fun way to keep things interesting, even if the story didn’t make much sense (maybe it would have if I could see chapters 8-10!)

Deadly Creatures is definitely a game to check out if you’re interested in weird Wii-exclusives, just hopefully your disc doesn’t break like mine!!

3/5