John's Video Game Vault

Not a lot of "post worthy" things going on in my life lately, so here's something completely different. Recently Sean and I picked up some old video games at "Amazing Heroes" in Totem Lake. Always a fun place to visit, I myself picked up three genesis games for the fair price of 16 bucks. So I figured it might be fun to share my latest vintage gaming experience. Hey who knows? Maybe if I head back to that shop sometime soon this could be an occasional recurring feature, much in the same vain as Sean's "The Stack". I don't know what I'll call mine, maybe just the uninspired "Video Game Vault" any how let's make it happen.


VR Troopers (1995)
The Scoop: Based on the Power Rangers wannabe TV show, VR Troopers is your typical fighting game. You play as any of the three Troopers as you go from monster to monster in order to escape Grimlord's virtual world.

Why?: I picked up this cheap little piece of crap just for a laugh. Of course I didn't actually know it was gonna be a piece of crap but I figured it would be kind of funny to own a copy of a game based off of a campy 90s TV show.

Pros: Uhh... The graphics aren't bad and there are some pretty amusing visuals. There's this one guy who debriefs your missions who looks like a retarded Larry Wilmore (pictured at the top), that's kind of funny.

Cons: Let's see, how about it's difficulty? I played on easy and couldn't even get pass the first monster. I mean if you fall down at the edge of the screen you're basically dead. Time after time I'd fall down and than continually get kicked and kicked until death, without a good opportunity to get back up. I mean this is easy mode and this guy couldn't be more aggressive. Aside from the annoying difficulty, there's the repetitive gameplay and lack of playable characters. Thank god there's a "Kids" mode for losers like me or I would of never played this for longer than five minutes.


Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition (1994)
The Scoop: An action packed sidescroller where you can take on the role of either a weapon clad Alan Grant or a viscous Velociraptor. I'm not entirely sure what the game is about but basically this is a whole lot a shooting and killing dinosaurs and pissed off guys shooting at you.

Why?: I had vague memories of playing this many years ago and enjoying it. Plus, I figured I'd probably have more fun being that I'm definitely better at video games than I once was... I beat it as Grant in like 40 minutes a few days ago.

Pros: Colorful graphics and unique gameplay. Playing as Grant is a blast with all the various weapons and features (such as missions involving riding a speeding boat or a live gallimimus) and though the raptor isn't half as entertaining, it's kind of a nice bonus.

Cons: Playing as the raptor isn't half as satisfying as blowing guys away with a rocket launcher or flame thrower. The raptor's limited attack range as well makes combat far more difficult (it basically just bites and kicks, no tail.) Though I imagine it just takes more practice to get that character down, so it's not too bad.


Superman (1992)
The Scoop: Some super-villain is wreaking havoc on Metropolis... Braniac maybe? There's certainly a lot of robots and it's all up to the man of steel to save the day.

Why?: Of course I knew that Superman was infamous for having bad games but I'd never heard of this one. Staring at the colorful comic book artwork on the cartridge I just had to have it. This one really was more of a curiosity than anything else and hey, it turns out it's somewhat of a collector's item.

Pros: The graphics are umm... Fine I guess.

Cons: Oh my god this game is so hard! You'd expect Superman could take down anyone but I'm yet to even beat the first level. I could try a little harder but frankly I just don't care. You have limited powers (No flying here), it's repetitive, I have no idea what's going and if you die once you have to start from the beginning. They're just trying to piss me off aren't they?

In conclusion, not some of the best purchases but still kind of a fun stroll down 16 bit memory lane. Hopefully I'll be more careful next time, I have my eyes on the Batman movie game and maybe even some Power Rangers? We'll just have to wait and find out.

May Twas the Time for Mandolins!

Here's a brief update just for kicks and giggles. Last Friday was my birthday which was enjoyable. My dad and I went out to lunch at some chinese luncheon (I still have to drive for him for about another month), not great but okay and than he gave me some mullah, Cha-Ching! At about five or so my mom came home with a card and apparently a surprise gift. I hadn't asked for anything but somehow she'd remembered something I'd fondly talked about having some months back. So in all it's glory, I was presented with my very own mandolin. What a great surprise and I've really had no trouble picking it up with all my guitar and ukulele experience.. It's a satisfying feeling to play the mandolin break from '"Stonehenge". Later that evening my dad, my brother and I went to see Drag Me To Hell which was immensely entertaining. I just hope that it's released on dvd before next Halloween, because it really is the perfect Halloween movie and one of the most entertaining movies I've seen this year.

The next day I pretty much just hung out doing nothing but watching the Mariners game. Later that night Sean, Colin and I went to go see Up which I liked okay. I didn't find most of it that funny and never really got into the story but I loved the animation, the music (Michael Giacchino's becoming one my favorite current film composers) and some of the sentimental stuff. I also have a lot of respect for Pixar constantly taking such unconventional approaches to animated films. Tackling such kid's movie taboos as death (In this case our protagonists wife) and the most blood I've seen in an animated movie since Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, well it's not that much but you get the idea. Still I've been more of a fan of the Brad Bird Pixar films and of course the Toy Story series, but this did the trick.

Sunday I went over to AJ's house to help him with a video project for one of his classes. I played a cop who like uh was arresting this guy for like a prank or something? I wasn't about his method of shooting whole scenes from one angle and memorizing a bunch of dialogue (I prefer the Cat Fancy method of quick cuts for conversations) but I got through it alive. I did struggle remembering some lines in this one back-and-forth with AJ until I was like "Can't we make this two shots?" I finally got to do one thing the Cat Fancy way, it was sweet. Aside from that it was weird walking around in a cop uniform around town but as a whole it wasn't so bad... But I really have not interest in ever seeing the finished product.

Now I'm just trying to work on this incredibly annoying paper for my "American Heroes" class, you know; bibliographies, outlines, rough drafts... When will I personally ever need to do a bibliography to aide me in the future? I hate that kind of stuff and I wish classes would just end already. Aside from that I'm still driving my dad around to all his appointments and trying to get some nice free time when I can, it's been busy but that's life, Otteni out.