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Super Smash TV (N64)
by AverageJoseph
Over 20 years old, Smash TV was made available for 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live's Marketplace. I purchased it when a friend brought it to my attention, mainly because we always try to find decent cooperative games, even classics. Smash TV rightfully holds that title, although rather posthumously. Its reason for success back in the ... early 90s was down to its arcade machines with joysticks, buttons and flashing lights. The point of the game is to advance through levels, shooting enemies and gaining cash, while the host loads of old school phrases, as if it were some sick futuristic game show. It must have garnered some popularity because it was whored out to several other consoles including NES, SNES Sega Master System, Mega Drive and Nintendo 64.
You basically navigate a small man around the static screen using the directional pad, shooting various enemies by mashing the buttons. This is the unique part of it as the buttons act as a d-pad for shooting (A shoots down, B right, X left and Y up). As you finish off the enemies (mostly humans and crazy looking, obscure monsters) you progress to the next level, choosing to go up, down or left. Certain enemies drop power-ups that include better weapons, bombs, money and lives. Get hit by an enemy 6 times and you die - plain and simple. This is what makes it difficult because like all the older games (especially arcade games) the difficulty is quite extreme.. I'd guess because people would keep putting more money into the machine to beat the game. Theres also bosses towards certain area ends which require random amounts of damage and finish the levels. When a level is finished with a partner, you see your money count to make it a bit more competitive. The achievements are equally difficult, or at least some of them are. Some need you to complete levels and defeat bosses without using continues or changing the default settings. For reasons unknown, Microsoft discontinued the ported digital download, perhaps due to lack of sales and / or poor ratings. So it is no longer available on xbox unless you've already downloaded it..
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Bomberman 64 (N64)
by m_illie
As a child I was an avid user of my brother's Nintendo 64 console. He was much more in favour of 'shooting games' like GoldenEye, whereas I preferred multiplayer games, Bomberman being a personal favourite of mine. In the interest of fairness, my Mum would always ask my brother to allow me to play, and if he wanted to join in (which was ... rare, as he was a stubborn kid) while I had a turn playing.
Bomberman 64 is the first 3-D game within the Bomberman series. The amply named Bomberman 64 is a pretty simplistic game, with the idea being to use a bomb to blow up obstacles and blockades in the interest of eliminating enemies on a number of different arenas. If he didn't run away as fast as possible however, he too would go up in smoke. Other than obviously clearing pathways, the advantage of blowing up obstacles is that power up items appear from the wreck area, which are capable of helping or hindering your character.
Power-ups include:
- the kick boot (to throw the bomb forward)
- the glove (to chuck the bombs through the air, further)
- fire (to expand bombs blast area)
- extra bombs (obviously always welcome)
- the skull icon, which grants the formidable Bomberhea (gives a much more disruptive effect with each exposure)
Bomberman always has the ability to kick, pick up, and throw bombs which is how he attacks enemies and defends their attacks. Hearts act as 'power ups' but are a little different as say for example, your character is on the verge of dying, quickly running through a heart icon could potentially prolong his life, provided you then get away from what is presumably an ongoing attack.
The multiplayer challenges are lots of fun and always very addictive. Without a doubt, this is my favourite aspect of the game as it is most challenging and you are always persuaded to keep playing, or to come back at a later date. This is basically where you chase about opponents with the intention of blowing them up before a time limit runs out. My description does a poor job of demonstrating why this game would possibly be interesting, especially because the premise i.e. to bomb someone, sounds awful in the modern day, but you must consider that back in the 90s this was cutting edge, as were the graphics and background settings, and so the game was much more enjoyable than it may at first seem - provided you can overlook a lot of issues which are now only obvious because of modern technology acting as a point of comparison. Once you 'die' you are turned into a ghost figure with the ability to hop onto the backs of your opponents, slowing them down in the process.
Bomberman enters four different worlds (each come with a sub-boss) with a storyline (if you can call it that) that is very easy to follow, and easy to implement the correct actions needed to complete particular 'moves'. At the end of this, he must face a big 'baddie' who is intent on taking over the whole of Planet Bomber. The bosses use the same bomb attacks as Bomberman, so it is much more a case of strategy over ability. They each have individual moves (Artemis shoots fiery feathers, Orion blocks bombs and dizzy Bomberman with a dome shield, Regulus performs a straight gliding dash, Altair is much more complex and is able to transport and fire single projectiles).
Overall, this is very much a game that seemed much better as a child. That doesn't necessarily mean that it is somehow 'bad' or not worth playing, as it is very much a Nintendo 64 game, checking all of the boxes to make it a n64 classic. It is fun, addictive and fast paced, which as a child kept me entertained for ages. However, the graphics are understandably not as great as what we are used to now, and it can get a little repetitive completing the same moves and actions over and over.
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South Park (N64)
by WayneKWilkins
South Park was one of the biggest television shows of the 1990's. The crazy and adult-themed antics of the South Park kids made for some awesome viewing and when I Was a kid, I was amazed that my parents let me watch this show. Then of course, being a kid on an N64 hype, I Was overjoyed when I first played South Park on the Nintendo 64 ... and while it was never really well received, I still hold this game dear to my heart and look forward to playing it whenever I hook up my old N64 console.
Please note: you need the Nintendo 64 memory card attached to your controller to play this. For the record, the same applies for many other games such as Doom and Mario 64. I'm nice for telling you this.
South Park is basically split into two modes. The main mode of the game showcases storylines from the series with added twists for the game. These include a Turkey invasion, an Alien invasion and more. For the record, I thoroughly enjoy the campaign mode and enjoy it whenever I play it; it is one of the games on the N64 that in my opinion has awesome replayability, probably because of how crazy and over the top it is, but also because it uses the DOOM engine with crazy weapons which is very fun.
The multiplayer mode is where this game shines for me. You basically compete against up to four people in DOOM style combat. The last man standing is the winner, or the last person to rack up as many kills as possible is the winner. You need strategy, you need to find weapons and ammo and you need to win. That is basically all there is to it, but the maps make it brilliant, as do the weapons.
The graphics and music of this game are what you would expect for an N64 game and I do enjoy them to and feel that they work really well.
Overall, do not believe anything bad you have heard about this game. If you like South Park and you like DOOM and pretty much any FPS engine, you'll like this game. It really is awesome, has a great roster of characters, some over the top weapons such as the Mad Cow Launcher and the maps prove for some great single player and multiplayer action alike. I love this game and feel it probably is the best South Park themed game out there; give it a go if you like FPS games, the DOOM engine and are a fan of the crazy, over-the-top South Park antics old and new!
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