1994 was a transitionary time for Nintendo's identity, and a deceptively important year in continuum, despite the lack of any new hardware. The good ol' NES saw its final few official releases, though the Famicom would be supported for another decade. Though the US Senate Hearings on video games started in 1993, they dragged on through '94 and resulted in the creation of the ESRB later that year. It's the year that Nintendo started firing back at SEGA in a big way with their "Play It Loud!" campaign. It's the year PlayStation, Nintendo's own self-made nemesis, peered into the scene. Development was well underway for the revolutionary "Ultra 64", and a lot of Nintendo's star players were wrapping up their 16-bit outings and starting to look towards the future behind the Z-axis. In a time of such rapid development, even the present was rapidly entering the realm of past-tense.

I mention all this because this feels perfectly embodied by the 1994 Game Boy release of Donkey Kong (which I will henceforth call "Donkey Kong '94" or just "DK '94"). In some ways, DK '94 feels like a passing-the-torch release: it's a remake of the arcade game, of course, but there's a few signifiers of the near future. This is, I believe, the first game to feature Donkey Kong wearing a tie; sort of a middle-step between Shigeru Miyamoto's classic design and Kevin Bayliss's Donkey Kong Country redesign (though I think the tie was Nintendo's idea, not Rare's?). Mario's moveset has been expanded considerably from the original arcade game - in what feels like a preview of then-in-progress Super Mario 64, Mario boasts his side-flip and triple jump.

At the same time, the game feels like a summation of everything prior. It's a remake of Donkey Kong, of course, but there's quite a bit of 2D Mario's DNA at play here. Donkey Kong Jr.'s moveset (and lead) is here, as is the "jump on and throw enemies" mechanic from Super Mario Bros. 2. Both versions of Mario 2 get love, since Poison Mushrooms are here. Thwomps exist here, kinda, and other enemies take after Super Mario Land's design philosophy, where there's a lot of weird blahthingies with untranslated Japanese names (okay, maybe that's not specifically a Super Mario Land nod).

The end result is a game that almost feels like Mario's valediction to its 2D golden era. It isn't, of course; Yoshi's Island was still a year out and holds far more importance in that respect. But I dunno, Yoshi's Island is almost doing its own thing compared to Mario (there's a reason we'd consider it the start of its own subseries, after all). If you're looking at the Mario series doing Mario things, this feels like the last proper 2D Mario from the era's heyday, even moreso than something like Super Mario Land 2. Bringing it full circle is actually a really cool move, and it makes for a nice signing off.

This would be cool enough as a symbolic gesture, but then Nintendo had to go and make one of the most kickass arcade remakes out there on top of it.

So you fire up the game, you wade through a title screen and file select for some reason, and then you're playing some emmereffing Donkey Kong. The game is way simplified, but that's no surprise - Game Boy limitations are the rule, after all, even five years into the grey brick's lifetime. So you fly through a dinky baby version of 25m, crush the pie factory, trounce 75m, and pull the rivets to send Donkey Kong crashing on down. Short, simple, but decent arcade fun.

Then Donkey Kong gets up, abducts Pauline, and runs away. Mario gives chase, and the text "Stage 0 Complete" appears on screen. You're treated to a little cutscene of Mario demonstrating a new game mechanic - locks and keys - and a couple new lives. Then you enter Stage 1, and the game really begins.

Many video game remakes of this era start with a version of this, where the first level is a variant of the original arcade board before it starts to remix and expand the adventure. Off the cuff: Frogger '97, Centipede '98, and Q*Bert '99 all go this route. The alternative, after all, is to wildly reinvent the property, like what you get with Pong: The Next Level, Elevator Action Returns, and Pac-Man World.

But what really catches my eye with Donkey Kong '94 is its compromise right down the middle. It's clearly no replacement for the original - the tech wasn't there yet on Game Boy - but the game knows that, presents an acceptable simulacrum of the original with a straight face, then uses that to explore what it really wants to do. It's no repudiation of the original, like what you get out of Pong: The Next Level's weird penguin opener, or Elevator Action Returns's swerve towards ultra-violence, or Pac-Man World relegating the original game to a bonus round. But Donkey Kong '94 doesn't present the original as a disposable component, either, the way you feel from Frogger/Centipede/Q*Bert's remakes, where the first board is almost entirely irrelevant. In this case, the player isn't just "doing" more Donkey Kong. Arcade Donkey Kong becomes the language that DK '94 explores within its game design, not just its backdrop. This is also where the other games' mechanics - Donkey Kong Jr.'s vine-climbing, Super Mario Bros. 2's pick-and-throw, Donkey Kong Country's barrel-throwing, Super Mario 64's acrobatics - really give the game its own identity, while also making it feel like a natural part to explore within its series continuum.

And, like, the first level of the last world is a to-scale recreation of 25m. The game knows perfectly well what it's doing. It could have created a largely-accurate Donkey Kong experience at any time. But the player had to work for it. And with the skills the player's mastered over the course of the game, ones not available to Jumpman back in 1981, the player can really fly through and crush 25m, the way they thought they did at the start of the game.

This isn't just the best conversion of the original arcade game, arcade-perfect recreations notwithstanding. This is a damn good game in its own right. I didn't even get into how the game uses Donkey Kong Jr. as a minor bad guy, or the cutscenes that both inform the player of game mechanics and progress the narrative, or the out-of-the-box world archetypes, or the surprisingly excellent soundtrack! Hot hell, this game rules. Not to be overlooked, whenever Ninty brings this one back.

Had to use a guide to beat this (obviously) and ohhh my god even that was a challenge. Whoever wrote IGN's guide must've written one draft and said "yeah this is fine" cause wow that was confusing as hell.

But the game's okay I guess.

Played on NSO NES

I first played Link's Awakening on my 3DS years ago. I got it on the eShop one day after a Youtuber I liked was let's playing it, and seeing as I was a Zelda fan at this point, I figured I'd enjoyed it. I think I got up until Eagle Tower and dropped it? I at least don't remember ever beating this game. Fast forward to the beginning of 2022, I had just gotten the remake for Christmas and was excited to play it. I actually beat that version this time and had a great time. Now with this marathon, I can finally beat this version of the game. I think overall I might prefer the remake, but this version is still good and Link's Awakening is still a good game overall.

Also quick note before the review: I was originally going to play the three CDI Zelda's next but decided against it so I'm skipping those. I also know this is the DX version, and that technically released after Ocarina of Time, however the majority of this game is still the original Link's Awakening which released 5 years before OOT so I just decided to play this first.

Anyways, Link's Awakening. This released 2 years after A Link to the Past and compared to that game and even the Zelda games before it, this game's plot and general atmosphere is very different. The story this time around is pretty simple. This is the same Link as the one in ALTTP and he regularly goes out to sea to train in other countries in case of further threats. One day, a storm destroys the boat he is on and he is washed ashore on Koholint Island. This girl named Marin finds him and brings Link to her home where he wakes up to see her and her father Tarin. Link leaves the home hoping to learn what this island is about and how he can get off of it. Along the way, he meets an owl that tells him to escape this island he must get the 8 instruments of the sirens and wake the wind fish (who resides in a giant egg) with them. Halfway into the adventure however, Link finds out that the entire island may just be a dream created by the wind fish. Whether that's true or not, Link continues to gather the instruments so he can wake the wind wish and get off the island. It's a simple plot but the first thing you'll notice is that it's WEIRD. I did not mention Zelda because she is not in this game. No Triforce or Ganon either. The big staple characters aren't in this game, instead it's an entire brand new cast. You have Marin and Tarin, the other villagers of the town they're in. There are many animal NPC's through out the world, there's even and animal village too lol. The villagers eventually can't recall how long they've been on the island. Throughout the game you even start seeing things from other Nintendo games like the many different Mario enemies, a girl gives you her photo and she looks just like Princess Peach and there's even an enemy that looks and acts like Kirby. This along with the general plot gives this game such a weird, dream-like atmosphere. That's kind of a joke but it's true, they really did a great job at making this game feel like a dream. This is honestly my favorite aspect of this game; just how weird and different it feels from other Zelda games.


The general gameplay is similar to ALTTP, tho it's not quite as linear as that game. You're still going through dungeons and what not but they aren't marked on your map. It can be a bit cryptic at times, trying to figure out how to get into each dungeon, because now you have to find each dungeons respective key to unlock it. Besides that, the overworld itself is pretty fun tho it can get a bit tedious to backtrack through. There are a couple warp points throughout the world you can warp to, but I think there should've been more because even with them, backtracking is plentiful and it's not super fun in this game. The reason for that is, and it's the game's biggest issue, there's only two item slots in this game and stuff like the power bracelet and even the sword takes up a slot. I know this is a Gameboy game, so there was only A and B to work with but having to constantly switch between items to explore can get a bit tiresome. That plus when you don't have an item, needed to clear an object, equipped, an unskippable message appears every time to let you know you need that item. So, whatever you do, don't touch any rocks without having the power bracelet equipped. Like I said, this is my biggest annoyance in the game and while I still enjoyed the overworld despite this, it can be annoying due to these issues.

Exploring the overworld, you'll find many optional secrets just like ALTTP. Like that game, there are caves all throughout and you'll usually need a dungeon item to get whatever treasure is inside. The puzzles in these might actually be more complex than ALTTP's, either way it's good that they're back in this game. You'll also find those weird NPC's throughout the world as well. There's actually a long trade quest in the game, that you would think would be optional due to how long and exploration based it is but it's not. It's required at several points to progress and also the reward you get at the end of it is too. It's not the worst thing in the world but I had forgotten how to do parts of it so I had to look some of it up online so that might stump new players.

Next I want to talk about improvements this game makes compared to past games. This is a Gameboy game so obviously I can't compare its visuals to ALTTP but for a Gameboy game this looks super nice and compared to the first two Zelda games, this also looks nice than them. They did a great job with all the pixel art in this game and I can see why some people prefer this version of the game compared to the remake, based on the art style since it's super charming here. This game also improved on stuff from ALTTP as well funnily enough. You could collect items with you sword in Zelda 1 but not ALTTP for some reason, luckily, you're able to in this game again. I also found the Pegasus Boots better in this game due to you not needing to press and hold the item button again and again when you want to dash constantly. You just need to hold it and Link will start to dash on every screen he's on now. Something that's kinda weird compared to past game is the rupees. Every rupee that spawns in the overworld from cut bushes or defeated enemies is a single rupee. The only way to get more than that at once is with chests and they can give you 20, 50, 100 or even 200 rupees. It's an interesting change but probably a needed one since this was a Gameboy game and this game was already probably pushing the system to its limits.

The dungeons in this game are actually really solid. They're not as vibrant or as memorable visually as ALTTP dungeons however they're full of puzzles, maybe even moreso than ALTTP. That game has a bit more of a focus on combat, and I still might prefer that games dungeons just because of the aforementioned visual memorability. But even still, very good set of dungeons that even stumped me a bit at times. The items you get in these though are pretty solid. You have the aforementioned power bracelet, the magic rod from past Zeldas, the hookshot from ALTTP as well as the flippers. A lot of these are just older items but the standout item, and the one that actually makes the game more fun to play in general tbh, was the roc's feather. When you equip this, you can jump. That's it but it makes a world of difference in how you can play and can absolutely just destroy some bosses super-fast if you're skilled enough. If I didn't need any item to progress, I just went with my sword and the roc's feather. That was my go to set of items. There was an annoyance I had with the items. Since there's no way to speed up text, you'll be seeing the same dialogue for the map and compass over and over again. The map is fine since it's so short but the compass is like three times as long or something and they decided to let you know there's a new sound that plays whenever a chest is in the same room as you. That's cool...you don't have to tell me every time I do a dungeon tho! The bosses at the end of dungeons might also be an improvement from ALTTP. They aren't as flashy of course but they also don't require red/green potions sometimes to defeat, they all have dialogue this time which gives them more character and they're also just really weird or goofy which fits the setting of the game. I'd say they're overall maybe simpler to fight than ALTTP's bosses but simple doesn't equal bad. The final boss tho, had several different phases that took the form of bosses you fought in past games, and it also made use of several of Link's items. Because of that, it was easily the best boss in the game.

The soundtrack in this game, even tho its a Gameboy game, is really melancholic at times and is charming as hell. The signature Ballad of the Wind Fish(I sent Marin's version is easily my favorite song in the game. Mabe Village,Tal Tal Heights and the Ending Theme were my other favorites. The whole soundtrack is good however, and something else this game had over ALTTP is the fact each dungeon had their own unique theme. Now I can't say I prefer any of them over the two ALTTP had but they're still mostly solid here.

While I did have some issues that held this game back from being better than ALTTP, this is still a really solid Zelda game and one that is unique in the story it tells and the atmosphere it provides. It must've been amazing having a game like this on the go back in the day. Like I said as well, I do prefer the remake just because of the some of the improvements it made. I'm kind of known as the original game enjoyer, so for me to prefer a remake over the original is very odd. We'll get to that game way down the line but even if I like that one more, it doesn't stop this version from being good. It certainly has its own charm as well.

I think I'm going to take a small break in between this game and Ocarina of Time. I'm thinking maybe my Plants vs Zombies replay is next? Either way, stay tuned for that and then Ocarina of Time after in the near future!

I've only played Sea of Thieves casually (I haven't even explored any of the crossover content!), so this is hardly an authoritative review. Still, I got thoughts, and this seems to be out of my Sunday night group's rotation, so let's have a go.

Sea of Thieves was a long-overdue win for Modern Rare. I really shouldn't pass judgement on the Kinect Sports games without playing them, so I won't. But following the company's various experiments on Xbox/360, it was really disheartening to see good ol' Rare, which had once had many teams working on big and small rival projects, turn into nothing but a Kinect developer for a few years. This is likely as much a consequence of Rare's internal handling as any external influence, and it may have been what Rare needed at the time. But from the perspective of someone on the bleachers, it looked like Rare traded the graphic tees for polos, so to speak (and mix metaphors). Following Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Rare's output was limited to Kinect software, supervision for the excellent Killer Instinct revival, and a 30th[+3] anniversary compilation of prior works. Good as these may have been, none represented new visions wholly belonging to Rare themselves. This was the state of affairs for a decade, until Sea of Thieves finally sailed along.

SoT is also probably the truest realization of Gregg Mayles' love of pirate adventures. You may have noticed his fondness before, but this represents the first time we get a full-on piratey adventure without any caveats. I respect that, after doing your time on Old Sailor's Island, the game just lets you have at it. Yeah, some content is gated behind reputation with the different Trading Companies or progression through Tall Tales. But if you're just someone who wants to grab a buncha mateys and sail the seas looking for booty and baddies, well, by Flameheart's beard, this game has you covered.

I'm of two minds with the always-online, public-only mode of play. You're always playing on a public server as a way to encourage incidental encounters and anarchy. This does mean that if you catch the eye of a griefer or a hacker (I've run into both), you're pretty much screwed or at least are gonna have to waste a bunch of time dealing with them. If you're in the middle of a long quest chain, that sucks. But at the same time, that's super piratey, and having it baked into the gameplay does a lot to sell the experience. Besides, it's not like people outside your party can track you down, or everyone you run into is gonna screw you over; I've also run into other players doing their thing, and we've traded or helped each other out. And the game does always give you an eject button with the ability to scuttle the party ship.

Everything else is pretty darn rad! I really like how easy it is to drop into things, how each session starts with the player character drunkenly waking up in some random Outpost's tavern with their resources dwindled. You got easy access to resources, a buncha quests readily available through the Trading Companies, and a ship ready to go. There's always another island near enough to where you're going, and plenty of prompts available to direct the adventure. Wanna go treasure-hunting? Searching for damned souls? Make a trade run? The game's quick and eager to give these as options. Most critically, while there are unlockables, they're all cosmetic in nature or represent different types of quests - your doofy pirate is as powerful as they're gonna get from the onset.

The game's proclivity towards emergent experiences also really comes through in the types of adventures you end up going on. Sometimes you'll be out and about and find a message in a bottle that'll lead you on a vault run or a treasure on a nearby island. Sometimes you'll be beset upon by g-g-g-g-ghost ships, or you'll run into Flameheart's armada. Sometimes you'll run afoul of a megalodon or kraken, and it'll be time to best that beastie. Sometimes you'll hear a heavenly choir, and you'll know you're passing over sunken treasure. Sometimes you'll pass over a wreck just below the surface, and you'll go diving for treasure. It's a game where so many little things call out to the player, but you don't really mind the distractions, since that's all part and parcel with the experience.

I also love the music! There's a ton of great atmospheric stuff, both moody and adventurous. The absolute highlight is "On the Warpath". I LOVE how Robin Beanland uses it as the game's main leitmotif, incorporating it into a buncha longer tracks as a final movement. It's so damn cool when the player's in the middle of a long conflict, and that tune emerges as the tide turns in the player's favor and the end is in sight. But of course, it's also great fun that the game gives you the ability to take part in a four-piece sea shanty, whenever you feel like it.

I think that encapsulates what the game is to me: context for the player to do whatever silly thing they want, and to feel cool doing it. You're not really here for any particular characters (besides Flameheart and crossover content), you're here because you wanna be a pirate for a li'l bit. Consequently, if that's all you're looking for, this is a fantastic time. Highly recommended.

When my Sunday group was playing, we always had a little ceremony we liked to perform at the end of each session. We'd save some firebombs from our evening's adventures so we could set the ship ablaze and watch it sink beneath the tide. Usually it ended with us bouncing around the dock, playing a sea shanty while our pets alternated between cowering and dancing. I have no idea what other players must've thought of all this, but it never felt complete if we couldn't give our adventure a viking farewell.

anyone else here for the Nintendo Switch icons?

for a lot of people this port holds some nostalgic value to them as maybe it was their first venture into Donkey Kong, but for me NES Donkey Kong will always be that one game in Brawl's Masterpieces section where you only get 30 seconds to play it before you're booted out

this is like Diet Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong doesn't throw that much barrels at you in 25m, there's less Fires in 100m and they're not as aggressive, that's not even mentioning the complete absence of the main man the PIE FACTORY or 50m. granted there's a Donkey Kong Original Edition that actually adds 50m back (as well as the additional scenes of Donkey Kong taking away Lady and climbing the ladder, something that's missing in the vanilla NES version), but this version is difficult to come by so good luck finding a 25th Anniversary Edition Wii! anyway all these factors make NES Donkey Kong an easier, faster, and more boring experience than the Arcade version, I don't even think it gets around to the Arcade's difficulty until the 4th loop and by that point, why are you not playing the Arcade version instead?

UPDATE: right after I typed that last paragraph, I went back and switched over to the "Game B" selection in the title screen and okay nevermind the difficulty here is a bit closer to the Arcade version here. Game B is the way to go for this version but there's still a reason why the Arcade version is better which I'm going to mention right now.

if you're not playing this on actual hardware never reset the game because once you do, your scores are GONE. damn it's already bad enough that there's no in-game leaderboard but the game can't even properly save the scores when the game is turned off? what's even the point of going for scores in this version? is a kid back in the day supposed to take a picture of their score in their old ass 80's camera and show it off to their friends in school? almost all of the game's replayability is destroyed from that alone.

if there's something this port does have going for is that compared to all the other ports at the time where they all tend to look like bootlegs in some shape or form, the graphics are actually really close to the Arcade version outside of a few nitpicks like the darker color palette, more boxed aspect ratio, only using white for the HUD, and the replacement of the Jumpman life sprites with a simple number count instead. on a less nitpicky detail, likely due to the boxy aspect ratio, 100m is missing the platform above Donkey Kong which after he falls down into the ground, the platform drops which allows Jumpman and Lady to reunite together. since it's not there in this version I'm going to assume Jumpman quickly built an extra platform to reach her instead, also the two maintain their distance in this version for some reason, I guess Lady smelled too much like Donkey Kong for Jumpman to get any closer. also this version introduces the iconic title theme that would later be used as a part of Donkey Kong Country's title theme, it's kinda weird to think that this iconic tune wasn't even in the Arcade version.

anyway just play the Arcade version, it's on Switch, you can probably get it to work on your PC, it has the PIE FACTORY without you having to patch the game or find a rare special edition, don't have much else to talk about besides go check out my Arcade review where I actually go into a little more detail. most solid 4/10 game ever.

donkley cough

Another game I've played a couple times but replayed so I could talk about it on Backloggd. There's a bunch of stuff I wouldn't mind revisiting like this, but I'll try not to run through a bunch of 'em all at once. Variety is the spice of life, and all that. Anyway, I'd sorta been meaning to revisit the original, especially after playing through New Pokémon Snap a couple years back.

As I've mentioned before, I was there for Pokémania since the day the anime started its regular broadcast, but I had limited access to the video games themselves. Pokémon Snap is actually one of the few games I played when it was new, thanks to those wonderful Blockbuster kiosks. I think most people reading this will be familiar with them, but just in case: video rental chain Blockbuster Video had a special promotional deal with Nintendo, where they created modified demo versions of Pokémon Snap (and later Pokémon Stadium) to play in arcade-like cabinets. It's been so long that I don't remember entirely how the kiosks were different, apart from the fact that for a couple bucks, you could print out stickers of the photos you took (something I was never able to do). I also seem to remember that you could only play the Beach course, but I don't know if that's a false memory, or if that was just the game at my particular store, or what's up with that. I don't think these demo versions had that much functionality limited?

While not the first Pokémon spin-off produced - heck, it's reusing the models and animations created for the Japanese Pokémon Stadium - Pokémon Snap is the first spin-off released stateside (excluding Smash Bros.). You can't really credit Snap for Pokémania - the one-two-three punch of the anime, the games, and the Trading Card Game are more responsible. But Snap very much embodied Pokémania for me. Conventional wisdom suggests that a photo safari sort of game is not the most enticing hook for general audiences (which is probably why the original "Jack and the Beanstalk" concept never took off). But a Pokémon photo safari? The chance to see these fantasy creatures everyone's talking about just doing their own thing in a world? Now there's your hook!

Pokémon Snap is a short, simple game, actually very much in line with the arcade mentality the demo kiosks would suggest. This isn't to say there isn't any depth; to the contrary, each course is filled with plenty of secret interactions that the player has to puzzle out. I like that a decent amount of Pokémon are tied to puzzles that rely upon the player's curiosity or familiarity with series lore, as is the case with Magneton, Slowbro, Ditto, and Gyarados. I also always forget that the player can't see Haunter, but the camera renders it in full - such a cool way of integrating a ghost into this adventure. But by and large, the game's content to let the player play with a portion of the original 151 Pokémon for a little bit over the course of seven short stages before calling it a day. There's not a ton to do besides go for high scores, but for the scope the game sets out for itself, it's a great little time.

With Blockbuster long gone, most of those old kiosks have ended up in private collections. But at some point in my teenage years, deep into the Wii era, the hospital in my hometown got their hands on one, too. For years, whenever my family had to bring my sister or brother or myself in for a check-up, I'd see it in the pediatric waiting room, there for anyone to play. I've always hoped that whatever the kids waiting there were dealing with, maybe a fun little adventure with Pokémon Snap would help ease things a little bit.

A few years back, a storm knocked down some powerlines in my area, and my apartment was left without power for four days. This happened to be toward the tail end of a long falling-out I was experiencing with my friend groups, so I found myself alone for four days with nothing to do (except go to work; annoyingly, my office still had power, despite being at best a mile down the road). Poking around my apartment, I found an old copy of the NES Game Atlas my mother found at a thrift store years ago, leafed through it, and was inspired to play the original Legend of Zelda - a game I'd tried and failed to get through numerous times over the years. I had a decent amount of battery in my Switch, so I spent a couple days in a powerless apartment playing Zelda, bringing my Switch into work so I could recharge its battery, reading my Atlas with waterpowered flashlights as I tried to navigate Hyrule and put an end to Ganon's reign of terror.

This, I think, is probably the type of experience you have to have to get the intended effect of Zelda 1 these days (well, maybe not the "losing your friends" part). Zelda 1 is a game about discovery, born from Shigeru Miyamoto's childhood nostalgia of exploring the countryside. There's an aimless, directionless design to it; the player is naturally guided along to things like getting the Sword right away and entering the Eagle dungeon right away, but there's no reason they have to. It's a really cool and unique design that the Legend of Zelda series didn't really revisit until Breath of the Wild, but it does mean that unless you have some sort of external aid guiding you along, like a map or friends, you're likely to just flail about aimlessly until you lose steam. At the same time, for me personally, it's such a fine line between "I'm getting help to direct my playthrough" and "I'm experiencing a game vicariously because I followed a step-by-step guide" that I tend to struggle with - so having an official guide to cross-reference, not rely upon, made for the happy medium I needed.

One thing I don't see discussed a lot is the original game's title theme. Like, yes, it's largely an arrangement of the overworld theme, thrown together at the last minute in place of Koji Kondo's original plan, a cover of the not-actually-in-the-public-domain "Boléro". But I've always been entranced by its slow cadence, playing over that shot of a bubbling waterfall, then over the text crawl as the main theme slowly kicks in. It's sort of a majestic first impression the game gives (as much as anything describing 'PRINCE DARKNESS "GANNON"' can be called majestic, anyway), and while I've read testimonials from 80s kids crediting the golden Game Pak and boxart for conveying this, I definitely think the title and opening crawl contribute to this, too.

In some ways, Zelda 1 feels like Gen 1 of Pokémon. The game is extremely janky; everyone knows it's extremely janky; a huge part of the game's reception is around what a moonshot miracle the game represents for its era, in spite or even because of this jank. Like, there's so much to the game that a person just knows and takes for granted through pop culture osmosis, like bombing and burning stuff or shoving blocks around. If you're at all familiar with the original Japanese release, it's interesting just how much stuff is left vestigial in the localization, like how you fight Pols Voices (screaming into the Famicom's second controller's microphone) or certain pivotal late-game hints being completely exorcised. And it's fun to rib it for how weird the translations are - "DODONGO DISLIKES SMOKE", "DIGDOGGER HATES CERTAIN KIND OF SOUND", "ONES WHO DOES NOT HAVE TRIFORCE CAN'T GO IN", etc - but so much of that is also considered to be part of the experience, a sort-of gamer's Shibboleth. It's a rite of passage to be told that EASTMOST PENNINSULA IS THE SECRET, a hint that you likely will not act upon because it's so isoteric (it's referring to the top-right screen in the overworld - there's an invisible passage at the top).

Actually, I appreciate that Zelda 1 is in on its own joke. When so much of the game is bombing and burning random stuff, it's really funny that the game takes the time to riff on it. Everyone knows IT'S A SECRET TO EVERYBODY, ironically, but PAY ME FOR THE DOOR REPAIR CHARGE is also really funny the first time you run into it. I'm also fond of I'D BET YOU'D LIKE TO HAVE MORE BOMBS, delivered immediately after you spent a bomb to open the way into the guy's room. I tend to fall into the trap of seeing things I wasn't around to experience fresh as being these great monolithic statements, where Popular Thing X was this great Thing that came unto and forever changed the face of the world, when in reality it was just a thing that a couple of guys went through a creative process and made. People think about the things they make, and they often try to have fun with it. It's important to remember that, too, and actually experiencing self-aware jokes a creator makes within the same body of work helps with that humanization process.

Zelda 1 doesn't have a ton of music, something you really become aware of when you look at surrounding material (there's a reason the Super Show always reaches for covers of the Overworld/Underworld themes). But I do appreciate that Death Mountain is given its own theme. It's harsh, droning, and oppressive - perfectly in cadence with the massive final dungeon, the sanctum of Ganon's power, and a place friggin' called "Death Mountain". Clearly, I think the music the game does have is well-used; mostly I appreciate that there are legs to it beyond the Overworld theme being (rightfully) iconic.

I did collect all power-ups and hearts during this playthrough. But I did not play the Second Quest, so I'm not marking this as Mastered. Still on the hook for a second playthrough, some ol' day.

I know I'm still in the middle of another marathon (Kirby) but I've decided to also go through every Zelda game I own and can emulate because I've been in a big Zelda mood lately. Not only that, some other Backloggd members have also decided to join this marathon as well. Namely QuentTheSlayer, Ptcremisi,Steinco,Phantasm and a couple others. The four I mentioned plan on playing pretty much every game like I am, while the others plan on picking and choosing games they want to play. Either way, be sure to check out their accounts because they plan on putting out reviews for all the games too!

Anyways, The Legend of Zelda. I first played this game years ago on my brother's 3DS XL. He randomly bought this off the eShop and when he wasn't using his 3DS, I decided to actually try the first Zelda game out. I don't think I got far, and I didn't love it but it was neat finally trying this game out. Fast forward to 2020, I was trying to beat some games I started but never finished. Since I still had NSO, and I knew this game was on it, I decided to finally beat it once and for all. I did, and yeah I didn't like it all too much. I think I had to use save states, and definitely had to use a guide for most of it and that hampered my experience a lot. Coming back to it today tho, I say I still don't really like it all too much but it has its merits.

I guess I'll first go into the story of this game. Most future Zelda games also go by this same story structure as well, so get used to what I'm about to say. You play as Link, a young boy from the kingdom of Hyrule. You must rescue the princess of Hyrule, Zelda, from the big bad of this series, Ganon. You must collect the pieces of Triforce, which are used to stop Ganon, and they are split into 8 shards and are all found at the end of dungeons. The three pieces are the Triforce of Courage, Wisdom and Power. The specific pieces don't really come into play until later games, because that's if. That's the entire story of the first Zelda game. It's incredibly simple but it works, and these story details are the backbone of the entire Zelda series.

When you first start the actual game, the first thing you see on the first screen you're on, is an empty cave. You meet an old man, and he utters the now famous dialogue "It's dangerous to go alone, take this!". He hands you a sword and with that, you're free to explore the world of Hyrule. Exploring Hyrule can be pretty fun and frustrating on your first playthrough. On one hand, you'll be exploring everywhere trying to find each dungeon and trying to find any secrets you can. That can be very fun for people that just love to explore with almost zero direction, this is a game from 1986 so the best direction you'd get back then were vague hints or using an issue of Nintendo Power for help. This is 2024 tho, and you've been able to just look up a guide online for a while now, so that's what most players will do. And honestly, that's what I did and it's the best way to get through the overworld portions at least. See, this game's overworld relies on you finding random secrets you would only find by randomly guessing their locations or by using a guide. This game loves random bombable walls or random bushes you can burn, and while this only affects actually dungeons near the end, this is used for required items and also several rupee locations (that you WILL need) and so I think this is an unfun part of the overworld. If there was any indication the walls or bushes had secrets, it would be fine, but there isn't unless you find some very vague dialogue in game. That, plus just bombing a wall or burning a bush isn't really puzzle-like, which I would prefer in my Zelda overworlds. This is something future Zelda games improved on, but here, you might as well just use a guide to get most of the overworld stuff done first and then move onto the dungeons (that's what I did). I can see why some other people might find it more fun to constantly replay this game and actually memorize all the secrets, however I just don't think that's good game design and so I decided to do the whole overworld with a guide.

The dungeons themselves, while not great, are definitely the best part of this game. They are way less cryptic than the overworld, and thus are more fun. They can get pretty brutal near the end of the game, and also more confusing (they start to rely on bombable walls too) so I had to use a guide for the last couple as well. But in general, despite the simplicity, the dungeons are pretty fun. The bosses at the end of each dungeon are pretty easy but with this type of game, I'm fine with that since the bulk of the game is exploration. Something I didn't like, and I'm mentioning it here because it happens mostly in dungeons, is the fact you start with 3 health when you die. No matter how many heart containers you have, you'll always just start the game with 3 health and it's my biggest issue in the game because it's tedious having to get more health to have a fighting chance (since it's so easy to get hit in this game). Luckily, there are a couple fairy fountains that restore your health fully throughout the world, and there are caves that give you potions (believe me you will need these) so they make that whole health system a bit more tolerable. Going back to "since it's so easy to get hit in this game" whenever you get hid, there enemy pushes you back a bunch and because the invincibility frames are relatively short, it's not hard to get comboed by enemies and die. Now this didn't happen too much in my playthrough, but it can still be annoying. Outside of getting hit tho, Link plays well otherwise.

Inside the dungeons, and also outside in caves, you can collect different items that aid you in your adventure. You have some iconic items like the boomerang, bombs, a bow and arrows and ofc the iconic Rupees. You also have heart containers in this game, that you will want to find in all the caves and after each dungeon boss. There aren't heart pieces in this game, only containers, so each of them is super valuable. I won't get into all the main dungeon items, just know they're all pretty solid, but I will get into the clock. Sometimes when you kill an enemy, it drops a clock. When you pick up the clock, it stops every enemy in place if they're on the same screen you collected it on. This can be SO helpful in later encounters if you somehow are able to get one, it's very random tho so you better hope you get lucky. I also will say, one time during my playthrough, I killed three of these boomerang enemies and got three fairies at once from them. Idk how lucky that is but it seemed pretty insane.

The music in this game is simply iconic. The Title Theme(yes I shared the Famicom version, it's the best version) is probably my favorite song in the game and is the main theme of the entire franchise which makes sense since it's amazing. The overworld also uses a version of these theme and it's also very good. Picking up items and finding secrets also play jingles and they've been in pretty much every Zelda game since this one as well. If this game does anything super well, it's the sound design. There's a reason so much of it was reused for future titles lol.

While I don't care for the first Legend of Zelda all too much, due to the exploration secrets not being great and the 3 heart after death thing, I can't deny it's an iconic game and was very important in the grand scheme of things for the Zelda series. I don't love playing it, but I can certainly appreciate it for what it is.

Now that Zelda 1 is done, Zelda 2 is next. I actually have never played that one, and I haven't heard great things, so I'm worried I won't like it much but I guess we'll see. Look forward to that next.

Also, when I get to the 3D Zelda titles, I'll try to sprinkle in some smaller games in between but more importantly, I'll try to mix some Kirby games in between. Basically, I'll be doing a mix of Kirby and Zelda eventually. Just letting you know now since you'll eventually notice, I'm sure.

The remake of Super Mario RPG is an easy recommendation for everyone who likes a good traditional RPG. It has a charming artstyle, silly moments, entertaining soundtrack and a simple, straightforward storyline.

The combat is pretty easy, but that's not really a complaint for me, since it's obviously designed for a younger audience. A higher difficulty setting would've been neat, but who actually plays a Mario game to be challenged? First and foremost games are supposed to be fun and this game certainly hits the mark.

Also as this is my first review of 2024, Happy New Year!

First review of 2024 baby! What a first game to start the year. I first played this back in 2019 and absolutely loved it. I beat all of the chapters, both A and B sides but never did any of the C sides nor did I get all the strawberries. This playthrough I did tho and man it felt good. Before I get into that let me talk about why this game is so great.

Why don't I just get right into the story first. When I first played, I remember being blown away by the story and absolutely loving it. While I do still think it's good, there was something bothering me throughout and it may just be a me thing. Theo, he's not a bad character but why all the mentions of selfies and his social media 😭. I hate to say it but it was really taking me out of the story at points. It was definitely the biggest issue I had when replaying this. Otherwise though, the Madeline side of the story is really good. I like how anyone that plays this game can at least relate to her need to overcome her personal demons and I think the fact they made it so she accepts them for what they are instead of just trying to bury them completely, I like that execution way more. They portrayed anxiety and depression super well and I think that's the game's strongest aspect when it come's to story.

The soundtrack is pretty solid, tho I remember loving it back then which I wouldn't say I love it now. Don't get me wrong, it's good and there are some standout tracks in certain chapters but I didn't like it as much as I did in 2019 I think. Maybe it was because I was more focused on playing the game and didn't pay attention to the music too much this time around? I also maybe wasn't a fan of the voices they gave the characters. Idk some of the time I found it kinda annoying which is a shame.

As for some of the biggest positives, the game is amazing visually. The pixel art is pretty much perfect the whole way through and the backgrounds in some of these chapters are breathtaking. Golden Ridge I think was the standout especially, it was gorgeous.

Now we come to my favorite part of the game, the gameplay. This is easily one of the most fun 2D platformers I've ever played. It's just so polished and the level design is so good. One of my favorite things was just finding all the secrets, there's a ton of them whether it's hidden strawberries or crystal hearts or B side tapes or even that one hidden indie game screen I somehow found by doing the wavedash (that was insane) they're all really fun to find. I also really love just how many different techniques you can perform. A lot of them aren't explained until late late game or not even at all and they can really break the game sometimes, it's awesome. Celeste is also extremely difficult I'm sure you know. Indeed, some of the later levels in the base game can get super duper hard. The B sides and C sides especially, some of those were nuts. As I said, I did everything in the base game...everything except for the golden strawberries. I got the one in chapter 1 A side but that was it. They just don't feel too worth it since it's not new content...just surviving an entire chapter without dying which isn't too fun imo. As for the hardest part of the base game, that hands down has to go to Chapter 7 Side C. Jesus Christ that last fucking screen took me 3 hours in-game time and exactly 1152 deaths. None of the other chapters came close to that many deaths and you know what, I'm so glad I did it. I'll never do it again mind you, but I told myself that if I did it...I'd bump this game to a 9. So for now that's what I'll do tho I may bump it down to an 8.5 who knows.

I do have some issues that are more a me thing but this game is super fun and definitely a top tier indie in my book.

Oh and as for farewell...yes I'll be doing that next and yes I am very scared. I got up to the point where you're required to wavedash back in 2019 and then quit. I've heard it's extremely brutal in the 2nd half so I'm nervous but I will persevere boys. Wish me luck!