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: 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: 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: 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.

The Legendary Starfy Review

Even though the series was Japanese-only throughout the GBA days, I was intrigued to see the series come stateside. However I decided to wait for a price drop, and then forgot it's total existence for awhile. My girlfriend got me this for Christmas so I was happy to take Nintendo's "new" series out for a spin.

While the game might share some similarities with the Kirby series, it's not a shameless clone. Starfy absorbs no enemy's powers, and swims rather than floats. The marine platforming is interesting to say the least, but yet the underwater gameplay at times makes you want to swim back to the surface and come back for air.

Starfy does many things right; it's cute, colorful, has fun levels, whacky bosses, and even 2 player co-op. However despite what it does right, it just never breaks the mold. Starfy feels like a basic platformer with decent levels that anyone can enjoy. That's all fine and good, but it doesn't hold a candle to the finest Kirby games out there. I know that's a rather unjust comparison, but I'm not exactly going to pre-order a sequel. 

Score: 7 out of 10

Things I Hate: Link's Crossbow Training

Despite being a huge Zelda fan, I felt nothing but rage and hate for this title. Sure it was a "free" spin-off, but I felt no joy while trying out this dude of a "shooter".

 Now the game came about because shooting things in Twilight Princess was pretty rad. I loved every chance I had with my bow and arrow.

 So Nintendo makes the Wii Zapper to "help" with shooter games on Wii. Except it's more or less a useless shell of an accessory that you'll end up never using at all.

 Link's Crossbow Training is just a bunch of linear stages of either target practice lessons or gigantic shoot-outs.

The problem was that the game was often too demanding of your actions. Sorry if I didn't get all 1000 enemies or bullseyed all the countless targets. It was too mindless for my tastes, and the dull shooting never kept my attention for long.

My The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Impressions

 It's hard to believe it's been over five years since Twilight Princess. Now it's time for me to take on another epic Zelda quest. Even though I wasn't as excited as I had been for previous Zelda games, this game is really impressing me a lot.

It seems like Nintendo fixed everything that was growing stale in the Zelda series. Even though previous games had plots, this is one of the few games in the series to have a full-fledged story. They also reboot the setting and characters (for those who care about the timeline, it's suppose to be a far-back prequel to all the games), so everything is fresh and you don't know what to expect.

I think the new combat is pretty rad. I like the sword swinging and meter that allows you to run and do physical stuff.  I can't wait to get some new weapons.

I also tried riding the Loftwing for the first time.  The controls are a little confusing at first, but I think we'll be having fun on Mr. Birdie here.

Things I Like: Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland

I remember buying this game years ago when it first came out which also followed the release of the cartoon series. I was surprised to find out that this is just a GBA remake of the NES game Kirby's Adventure. 

Which isn't such a bad thing I suppose. It's cute with lots of color, and simple gameplay.  

 

 

 It also added some decent mini-games that weren't in the original NES release. 

 

 Despite it's very easy difficulty, and short length, I still love this game. One of Kirby's best quests in video game history.