Project Retro

Donkey Kong 3 Review - By Kiet Ho

2008-09-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

During the initial release of Donkey Kong 3, fans had deemed the game as being the scariest thing people had ever seen since "The Exorcist". What made the game so terrifying wasn't its concept of a giant monkey, over 6 times the size of your body slowly decending upon you, with human sized bugs trying to kill you, but rather it was its graphical representation which gave it the title, and use of suspenseful music. The use of graphics on Donkey Kong's expression when he fell on top of stanely and killed him was the catalyst which drove this game to be considered what true fear was. When loading the title, the music that plays gave people the impression of "wild, jungle, forestry, fear, lost in the human psyche and insanity." The image of donkey kong super imposed and thumping his chest only enhances the emotion behind the impressions of the games title. Although the game design was very simplistic, the battle music which plays when you begin the game gives the emotion of "chaos, uneasiness, pandemonium, fear" and as the other music plays whenever an insect captures the plants enhances these feelings. But what truly gave the game its title of "scariest thing since the exorcist" was the moment before donkey kong falls on top of stanely, as the music shifts from chaotic, high paced fear to confusion, questions the players about what exactly is going on....until donkey kong falls, killing your character (no matter where he is) and violently thumping his chest at roughly 180bpm with such a loud and almost sounding like thunder. The cry your character gives off as you die was also very nerve racking to the player, as the concept of death in this game felt so real.

My Bad!

2008-07-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

Ok yeah. I've been pretty lazy. Back at uni now. But I'll try to do some new reviews and stuff seeing as I have 2 days off each week, which is awesome.

Also if you're interested in retro gaming, check out my thread on Whirlpool!

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=991678

And here's a picture of all my games!

Collection Pic

2008-06-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hello. Instead of studying, I took a picture.
Hope you like it!

Microsoft Xbox: A Retrospective Review

2008-06-17T06:03:00.000-07:00

Here we go. Below is some footage of my Xbox for you to watch!
Also please note I included some video of my collection at the start so definitely watch that!

The Xbox. Where do I start?! Microsoft's first attempt at trying to rule the console gaming world. Did they annihilate everyone? Not exactly. But they gave it an awesome shot and left a lasting impression. They have continued in the console business with the Xbox 360.

The Xbox arrived on our shores in March of 2002, a year and a bit after the PlayStation 2. The Xbox had some pretty cool launch titles, one in particular being Halo, which has sold well over 8 million freaking copies! If you're a gamer and you haven't played Halo, there is something seriously wrong with you.

It's funny because I never actually bought an Xbox. I won a PS2 in a competition so I was happy to have that for my gaming fix. (I've never bought a PS2 either, the one that I have at the moment, I got for free.) So it wasn't until last year that I actually managed to get one of a mate for a decent price. I had another mate perform the modifying for the Xbox, and I can tell you, it was an epic idea. Watch the video above for more details.

Anyways back on track. The Xbox debuted with a monstrous controller named the Duke. This thing was a BEAST! I have fairly big hands, and even I have trouble holding it. So bundled with the Xbox, you got all your leads, a controller and I assume a demo disc as well. And one interested thing that the Xbox came built-in with was not only a HDD, but a 100Mb Ethernet input. Sure, the Dreamcast had a Dial-up modem, but I'm pretty sure this was the first console to offer full broadband gaming and system-link options. Innovations such as these help to shape the console gaming world.

In terms of hardware, think of the Xbox as a pretty shitty PC, but fully optimized for some kick ass gaming. It included a 733Mhz processor, 64MB DDR Ram and a 233Mhz GPU made by our good friends at Nvidia. The Xbox managed to produced some incredible graphics, and sure, I was a PS2 fanboy at the time, but I was very impressed with Halo. I didn't tell anyone I thought that though.

So what happened to the Xbox? Well all good consoles have to come to an end, so the 6th generation ended and the Xbox 360 took its place. It came 2nd to the PS2 (which has sold so many units it makes my head asplode). However news wasn't good at the Microsoft HQ, as they had lost over 4 billion dollars due to the Xbox...But you know what? It was worth it :D

I'd like to finish with reminiscing of some of my favorite Xbox titles, such as; Halo, Deathrow, Psychonauts, Amped, Ninja Gaiden Black, Project Gotham, Outrun 2, Dead or Alive 3, Jet Set Radio Future, Flatout, Rallisport Challenge, Panzer Dragoon, Blinx, Burnout 3, Crimson Skies, Fable, Forza Motorsport and many more quality titles.

Thanks for reading!

Consoles Done!

2008-06-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

After I pick up my Dreamcast tomorrow and then get my Gamecube in the mail, I will have collected all the consoles on my list! Now it's just a matter of finding obscurities and collecting lots and lots of games!

I've had to push the Xbox review back a bit seeing as I have an exam on Tuesday, but you can expect the review to be up on Wednesday with a video as well!

Just a quick update anyway.

Coming Soon: Xbox Review

2008-06-09T03:19:00.000-07:00

Evening!

In the next few days I'll be doing a review of the Microsoft Xbox. I'll also do a follow up and review a game of my choice.I wanted to stray away from the really vintage stuff just so we can have a look at a console that I still use every day. I love my Xbox :)

Stay tuned!

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

2008-06-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

Watch the video below first to get a taste of the game and then go ahead and read my wall of text below. Sorry about the quality though, I'll find a better way to do game play movies next time.

Ok Diddy's Kong Quest. First off. Great game. Basically DKQ takes off from where the first Donkey Kong Country game finished. DK has been captured by that big annoying reptile, no other than King K. Rool.

Donkey Kong was chilling out on the beach when out of nowhere, he vanishes overnight. Diddy and Dixie roll up and find a ton of Kremling footprints around and a note from K. Rool demanding the banana hoard (a shitload of bananas?). So from there Diddy and Dixie head off on a quest in order to take down K. Rool and get good ol' DK back.

Stories in games never really bother me that much, but I thought I'd include my own interpretation anyway. Moving on to the gameplay. What can I say? It's fluent. The controls are pretty much perfect and game is a lot of fun. I've always been a big fan of platformers and DKC2 does not disappoint. Lot's of levels, interesting enemies and boss fights, great graphics and sound.

The game isn't exactly easy, and that's a good thing. I've always liked a challenge, and a few of the bosses definitely fucked me over a few or more times. Another noteworthy inclusion is the amount of secrets and easter eggs in the game. I mentioned in the video that I don't even think I've found half of them.

So in conclusion DKC2 is awesome, and if you can get it, PLAY IT!

Dreamcast?

2008-06-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hmm just a quick post to let you know that I hope to have a damn Dreamcast tomorrow.
There's an auction that finishes at 3 fucking 30 this morning so I have to wake up to bid on it. I'm keen aren't I?

Anyways, I'll be posting my Game of the Week review soon so look out for that.

Hope everyone is well :)

Collection So Far

2008-05-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

Check it out! Not bad for one weeks worth of work huh?

I've been game hunting this weekend and I found some beauties! For the MD2: Altered Beast, Fatal Fury, Alex Kidd in Enchanted Land and Shinobi 3. For the SNES: Super International Cricket and Bubsy (however Bubsy doesn't work, I'll have a shot at fixing it).

What's coming next? I'm going to start doing weekly reviews of games, either by selection of you, by me or by complete randomness. I'm looking at a few Dreamcasts and Saturns on eBay so you never know. I might have one soon! My first game review will most likely be a SNES game, not sure which one yet. Anyways that's enough for today.

Featured Console: SNES

2008-05-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

Alright, I just finished cleaning all my SNES games, and it got me thinking. So I've decided to do a simple review on the SNES and talk about some of the games that have really kicked ass. Let's go!

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released in Australia in 1992, and I'm pretty sure I got mine for Christmas later that year. Over in Japan, they'd already been playing it for over a YEAR and a HALF. That's something that's still going on today that pisses me off. Australia getting everything so much later. Anyways. It was known in Japan as the Super Famicom (Family Computer) and it looked the same as ours. The only really different SNES was the one that was released in the US.

The step up from the NES was incredible. I was amazed the first time I played Super Mario World. Double the bit-rate and double the number of buttons. Fucking sweet. Super Mario World was kick ass, and still is today. It has pretty much everything that makes a great platformer in it. I loved how you got a game when you bought the console, that alone made me think it was the greatest thing ever. These days you're spending well over $400 on consoles and you're lucky if they decide to chuck in a game for you to play.

The SNES has this incredible library of games, and I haven't even touched half, but there a shitload that stick out in my memory. Super Mario World, Super Mario Allstars, Donkey Country (1,2 and 3), Contra, F-Zero, Mario Kart, Earthworm Jim, Metroid, Mortal Kombat II, Super Double Dragon, Zelda, Street Fighter II and more and more and more.

Yesterday I managed to pick up a SNES console from my girlfriends' brother Ross, so massive props to him. Also a mate from uni named Nhu sold me 10 SNES games (and a N64), which I'm stoked about. Massive props to both of them! It's great to play so many sweet games. I love the SNES so much! Nintendo rule.

If I've done it right, you should be able to see my SNES collection below. Thanks for reading.

Upcomming Buys + Reasons

2008-05-28T01:49:00.000-07:00

Oh herro.

I think I've secured a SNES and a N64 so that's pretty sweet. I've got a couple of emails being sent between a few people on the subject of Gamecube and Sega stuff as well.
But one console that I'm busting my balls to find is the Sega Dreamcast. Those things are still freaking expensive. I know there's lots on eBay, but damn, I'd like to find a decent deal before I splash out!

Now, some of you who are reading this probably don't understand exactly what's going on. So let me break it down for you :)

I want to collect heaps of old school gaming stuff for a few reasons. One obviously of course is to play heaps of games like in did when I was younger. Nostalgic value at its best! And now that I have more money, I can try games that I've never even played before! Another reason is that when I eventually have children (don't worry, not for a fucking long time), I'd like to be able to share my gaming stuff that I've collected over the years, and so we can compare them to their gaming equipment! And lastly, I love to collect things. So building up a collect of games and consoles and other crap makes for a cool hobby too!

Anyways, there you go. Now you can understand what Project Retro is in detail.

Thanks.

Checklist

2008-05-27T01:25:00.000-07:00

Alright. So the blog is up and running. Here's my checklist of what's needed, but also what I already have:

~~Sega Master System~~

~~Nintendo Entertainment System~~

~~Sega Mega Drive 2~~

~~Super Nintendo Entertainment System~~

~~Nintendo 64~~

~~Sega Dreamcast~~

~~Nintendo Gamecube~~

~~Sony PlayStation 2~~

~~Microsoft Xbox~~

If you know of anyone who would like to sell me (or donate ^_^) the remaining consoles, please contact me!

Cheers.

Welcome!

2008-05-26T04:16:00.000-07:00

Hey all.

Here I'd like to document pretty much everything to do with my new project entitled: Project Retro.

For those who don't know, my goal is to collect as many old school consoles, games and accessories as possible!

I'll add more informatiom later because I've got some study to do.

Thanks!