A Look Into Video Games: Nuon

 The Nuon was a DVD player/Video Game console released in the early 2000s which allowed users to play DVDs and access certain features and bonuses. Only a few movies supported the extra features, but it did allow people to play a few video games designed for the system.

 One of it's biggest and really only games was Tempest 3000. The sad thing is that many companies made Nuon players, and certain games would play on one brand and not on another.

For example The Next Tetris only played on Toshiba players, and the system failed to sell many units without decent software to hype consumers. I thought it was a joke when it came out, and I would have never bought it even if they were cheap.

A Look Into Video Games: Donkey Kong's Fun With Music

Donkey Kong's Fun With Music (Donkey Kong no Ongaku Asobi) was a game planned for the Famicom (Japanese NES) in 1983. It was cancelled before release however.

 The game apparently had two modes of play. The first was Music Quiz which was a two-player mode. Donkey Kong would play notes then Mario and Pauline would copy it.

The other was Donkey Band, but little is known. Most people thought it would be a free-style mode to compose music. I don't know, but despite the audio limitations it would have been a neat little title at the time. 

Ironically about 2 decades later, Nintendo gave Donkey Kong his own music series with the Donkey Konga games. Which feature great gameplay but a lousy music tracklist for the American release.

A Look Into Video Games: Chao

 Chao are a group of small creatures from the Sonic series. They generally are good, and were used as virtual pets in the Sonic Adventure games.

I missed out on the Dreamcast version, so I eventually played Sonic Adventure DX after Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Which was a bit weird on how Sega chose to re-release the two games. I had some fun, but the features on how to raise your Chao were gimp compared to the sequel.

 I had a lot of fun raising my chao in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on my Gamecube, and I'm not afraid to admit it. They could evolve, change color, hairstyles, and play around. Sure they didn't do much, but it was a neat idea for the time at least. I can't believe a game like Sonic Adventure had this but not something like a RPG.

 You even had a few world stages you could later unlock for your chao. From Heaven, to Earth, and to a Dark-setting with red "water"...yes water. 

You could also battle and race your Chao. Which was a fun time-waster but got boring a little quick. 

What was really cool is that in both versions, you could transfer your Chao into a more portable world. 

Dreamcast owners got a few quests on their VMUs, though I never got a chance to play those. A few friends had nice things to say about them though. 

Gamecube owners could transfer their Chao to their select Sonic games on Gameboy Advance. I put some of mine in my copy of Sonic Advance 2. 

 I think my favorite Chao is the huge walker robot from the battle mode of the Gamecube version. It has a huge beautiful laser attack that I loved using.

My brother would always man the Dark-Chao walker to make it an equal match. Good times.

A Look Into Video Games: Dinosaur Planet

Dinosaur Planet was an unreleased game for the N64 which later was pushed to the Gamecube, and remade into the Starfox universe as Starfox Adventures. While the N64 version lacked Fox McCloud it did show some promise. 

It seemed to be Rare's answer to Zelda just as Banjo-Kazooie was their response to Super Mario 64.

Krystal was even a playable character, and no that intro to Adventures doesn't count.

While I rode the hype train for both Dinosaur Planet and the eventual Starfox Adventures, I was extremely disappointed with the final game. But it's still neat to see it's origin.

A Look Into Video Games: PSone

The PSone was a redesigned Playstation released in the summer of 2000 right before the release of the PS2. It was compact, sleek, and had less hardware issues than the original console. It actually outsold all other consoles in the year 2000.

They even sold a portable screen to it, which was fairly popular. Many gamers brought it with them to wait for the PS2 to come out on the midnight launch. I never had the version, but man did I want one.

A Look Into Video Games: Tingle's Balloon Fight

Tingle's Balloon Fight was a Japanese only video game for Nintendo DS given to only Club Nintendo members under certain conditions. The game featured Tingle from the Legend of Zelda series and giving him his own game in the Balloon Fight series.

It basically what it was. Tingle in the old school NES game Balloon Fight. Though there was the 2 split screens, new backgrounds, and whatnot. 

I do wish I had a chance to play this game, but due to it's limited availability I doubt it. Oh well there's always someday.

A Look Into Video Games: Raiden (Mortal Kombat)

Raiden was an original fighter in the Mortal Kombat series. Even though I've always preferred other characters, I didn't mind using Raiden from time to time.

Raiden is based on the Japanese god of Thunder of the same name (also known as Raijin). Except they did mispronounce his name. In Mortal Kombat they call him RAY-DEN. Except it's really pronounced like RYE-DEN.

At least Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty got the name right with their own Raiden character.

My favorite Raiden version is his Mortal Kombat 2 form. 

I liked him the movie as well. 

He's decent in the more recent titles.

A Look Into Video Games: NES-101

The NES was a redesigned version of the NES released in 1993-1994. It was made to look like the SNES with it's redesigned controller and top-loading cartridge slot. The console itself made the system's hardware a bit more modern with less defects and problems later down the road. The controller was also nicked the "dogbone" controller. My friend had one of these, it was pretty awesome.

A Look Into Video Games: Dodongo

 Dodongo was a boss and eventually regular enemy in the Zelda series. He appears as the 2nd boss for the original game. Despite his small size, he killed me on the first go. That fight was alright.

They eventually became regular foes in Ocarina of Time. Though they were pretty tough for the time. 

The reason for the demotion was for King Dodongo. He was awesome.

Not all Dodongos were bad though. Dimitri from the Oracle games helped Link as a side-kick. Never got to play that game, so I missed out.

I don't remember this form of Dodongo from Twilight Princess, though most of the game is like a blur to me.

A Look Into Video Games: Aquamentus

Aquamentus was the first boss to ever appear in the Zelda series. He serves as the threat at the end of the first dungeon. One of my favorite boss battles in the series. 

Even though his NES form is a little wimpy today, back then he was force to be reckoned with.  Well at least to my 5 year old self.

He made a return appearance in Oracle of Ages, sadly though I never had a chance to play that game. 

He also had a cameo in that awful cartoon series.

A Look Into Video Games: Street Fighter 1

Did you ever wonder why you've played a lot of Street Fighter II, but never played the original game? Well it actually existed, and it stayed mostly in the arcades for years. You mainly controlled Ryu, and fought with a more basic combat set-up. There was apparently a 2 player mode as well.

 Capcom eventually ported the game to the TurboGrafx-16. The version was known as Fighting Street.  It's currently available on the Wii's Virtual Console.

I hear the TG-16 version is pretty decent, but the game has apparently aged quite a bit. I still want to try it out though. 

From all the opinions I've heard of the original game, it's not a surprise that the series didn't take off into stardom until the excellent Street Fighter II.

A Look Into Video Games: Power Glove

The Power Glove was an accessory produced by Mattel for the NES. It provided semi-motion control to the platform.

The controller's biggest claim to fame was probably the 1989 movie The Wizard. Some kid pulls out the controller and plays a racing game badly. Serious stuff for real.  

A few games were made for the Power Glove while others worked with it. Only 2 games were really made for the accessory the first being the obvious Super Glove Ball. 

 The other was Bad Street Bawler which was heavily panned by critics.

The device barley worked if at all most of the time, was too expensive, and didn't support many games. Thus it sold pretty bad and was never much of a success fiscally or critically.