A Little Side Tracking

Today I was going to start talking about my next adventure in gaming but I am not going to do that.
Instead I am going to tell you about a present I bought for myself & forgot to listen to until about an hour ago!


I learnt of a company called Data Discs some months back on a couple of forums & they were also featured on IGN.  The company is printing & remastering some awesome game soundtracks on vinyl. The one I bought for myself was Streets of Rage by Yuzo Koshiro in blood spatter red.

It is an epic soundtrack beautifully remastered with some great cover art & included inside are two lithographic prints (one of which I will be framing), along with 5 character cards.  To the best of my knowledge they did not forget a single track from the original game.  One thing I found very cool is at the end of Side B if you let it run to the end it will play the sound effect of collecting food from the game. I know a few people that when they think of the game they hear that noise before anything else.

Listening to the soundtrack pulled me straight back into my childhood & also makes me wonder if they will ever make Streets of Rage 4. If you have the money I highly recommend the purchase or at the very least go to the site & listen to some of the sample tracks there.

They also have the soundtracks of Shenmue, Shinobi 3 & Super Hang On available now.


Must...buy them...all...Credit Card melting!

End Of An Era......Change is Coming

At this point in my life things were starting to change. Not only was I leaving England & moving to Ireland but also a new era of gaming was about to begin - for me & for everyone else.  The beloved 'cartridge' was being quickly replaced by a new format the 'disc'.

Before I move fully into that I want to make a few honorable mentions.  Just so you know I did not own any of the following consoles but did get to experience them all.

The first time I played a Nintendo games console (apart from the Game Boy of course!) was at a friends house.  The game I played was about an over weight & short plumber wanting to rescue a girl obsessed with wearing pink. Of course I am talking about Mario or more specifically Mario Bros on the original Nintendo Entertainment System.  Like many platforms the objective was simple; move through levels & save the Princess - simple but not easy.  You take on a multitude of enemies & get to visit many colorful worlds.  While Mario was an enjoyable experience it never captured me the same way Sonic did.  Maybe I just prefer animals to people.......hmm.....wait, that's not entirely inaccurate.

The next console I played was the Super Nintendo!  We had a bring something you love to school day & one of the kids brought in a Super Nintendo.  We all got a turn on it & the game I played was Street Fighter 2. Her legs were oh so powerful, cute hairdo & a short blue dress - Chung-Li was my lady.  The first time I achieved her signature move 'spinning bird kick' was awesome - not only because it looked cool but was also the winning move in the match.  After this I continued to play a lot more Street Fighter 2 but I played it on the Mega Drive.

I had a friend in England very religious parents his Dad was even a Vicar.  His parents were against violence & did not like there kids watching a lot of TV.  Naturally they had cable TV with over 200 channels (which at the point & even now is a lot of channels!).  On top of that they had so many toy guns that if they were real you would have an arsenal big enough to take over a small country.  The best thing they had though was N64 more specifically Golden Eye.  While me & my friends enjoyed watching our friend play Golden Eye we did on occasion actually get to play it too.  Without a doubt by today's graphics its look very out dated but the game play itself was superb. They tried using faces that looked like real people - well sort of.  As a whole it was a great game & well worth the play.

I am sad to say this is the end of my time in the UK & with cartridge rich consoles. I own a multitude of consoles & even now I like to play my old cartridge games.  There is just something about those consoles I can't leave behind.  Maybe it is the characters or the games but one thing is for sure I will always go back & play them.

What Kind Of CD? MEGA!!!

I had this 50 year old neighbor living next door to me growing up & she always seemed to buy whatever the latest Sega console was.  She bought the Master System, Mega Drive & then later bought the Mega CD.  I never could of pictured her as a gamer when I first met but as always it proves looks can be deceiving, as was the case with Mega CD.

It was not a stand alone console in its original form & you needed to own a Mega Drive to play it. When you turned the Mega Drive upside down there was a removable section which revealed an expansion port. You then could connect this into the Mega CD. When the two parts were connected together it made the console rather large & not the prettiest looking thing in the world.  What it lacked in visual design it made up for in graphics & game play.

There were two games I played a lot when I used to visit my neighbor. The first was Sonic CD a game that had a very futuristic look & brought in a new enemy - Metal Sonic.  Metal Sonic was bad ass, he was like Sonic but all Metal!  I remember the intro animation for the game it was really fun & it made me look forward to battling Dr Robotnik.  Well worth the look & is available as a downloadable rom.

Then there was Cobra Command. You were a helicopter pilot fighting the good fight against terrorists trying to destroy the free world.  There were two very stand out missions for me; New York & Easter Island (I know its not the real name but I love it).  The first is the opening level which places you in New York. As you begin the mission you are heading towards the Statue of Liberty but wait...look out helicopter fire incoming - PULL UP!! PULL UP!! I was hooked from that moment on.

While dispatching enemies with your guns & missiles you also had to pay attention to what your co-pilot told you.  If that guy told you swing left you did it or died pretty quick.  As for Easter Island what can I say?  You got to fly around the island nearly colliding with Giant Heads (which would be a great name for a Talking Heads tribute band!) & blowing up enemies whilst doing your best not to destroy the island itself. Very very cool!

Honorable mentions on the Mega CD; Sol-Feace, okay that is all. I really only played these three games.  I would have loved to play others but I was kid - didn't exactly have the money to buy the games plus it was my neighbors console!  Playing the console all those years ago was a great experience & I wonder should I buy myself a Mega CD for Christmas? Hmm - maybe, maybe.


Your order has been dispatched it should be with you in the next 3-5 business days.

Amstrad-ing To Like This!

My parents came home with a computer one day. I had no idea where they got it from & being honest I still don't.  My memory is a little fuzzy as the Amstrad was just a foot note in my gaming life but I think I owned the 386SX.  The floppy disks were 8 half inches which was a crazy big, to give you an idea check out the image below (far left is the 8 half floppy, far right is or was the standard floppy).

For the time I had with Amstrad (which was not long as it disappeared one day with out a trace) I did two things on it. Use paint which was great fun & play the two games I had. One of those games was
called The Dam Busters. The objective was to destroy dams, to do this you had to; set your route, fly your plane to a dam & then blow it up - simple, easy - no, no it was not.  Getting your plane off the runaway into the air was not too bad but the flight to your destination took a long time.  Once near the dam you had to be at the right altitude & speed. If you dropped the bomb too early you, fly too fast or be at the incorrect altitude you would fail.  The moment was over quickly & although you had multiple bombs (3 if I remember correctly)  you had to fly a distance away before retrying your approach.

I don't have that much patience now I had even less then so I usually got frustrated & walked away from it. I then would go back to it the next day looking forward to playing & then realise why I had quit it the day before.

The game I loved on the Amstrad was called Sleuth (turns outs out that's not the name or I just can't find it anywhere - I never had the original box just a copy).  It was a basic top down image of house, black & white.  Your character a detective who was a small white cube. A murder was committed & through asking questions & investigating rooms you had to work out who the killer was & how they did it (yes it sounds like Cluedo but it wasn't already check FYI I used to watch the show on TV).  I loved trying to work out who the killer was & going through the different rooms even though with the exception of their size there was no visual difference. I remember in one of the hallways there was a secret door way which led to as you can guess a secret room.  There was not a lot there really but occasionally the killer was waiting for you.

It was a great game & I loved playing it.  I just wish I knew what it was really called. If anyone knows please let me know.

That is all I have for my first PC but I will leave you with the image of the great Amstrad & my Alienware Aurora A3 as a reminder as to how far we have come with home computers.

Game Boy More Than Just Tetris

My first handheld console was the Game Boy. I bugged my parents for a long time about getting me this & they eventually did.  They were nice enough to get me the magnifier light as well - why would you need that? Problem was if you were not in a really well lit room it was sometimes a struggle to see what was happening on the screen.  But hey I still loved it!

You know what game I got with it? Tetris? No actually it was Terminator 2 Judgement Day which was pretty awesome. While it is nowhere near as enjoyable as Robocop vs The Terminator it was still a good platform game.

Batman Return of the Joker was probably one of my favorite games on the Game Boy. You get to be Batman chase after the Joker & use cool gadgets.  I began a love affair with Batman after I watched the 1990 movie.  Before you judge to harshly I had not read any Batman comics after I did I realised the movie was not as great as I first thought.  Being honest I still think Micheal Keaton's portrayal of Batman is the best to date & yes I have seen that gravelly voiced actor try to play Batman & I was not impressed.

Tetris. I think that is all I need to say about this game really - alright fine I will expand a bit.  This game if you excuse the pun was a game changer. A simple to play game that was hard to master & anyone with even slight OCD tendencies loved this game.  Even now typing here I long to be playing my old Game Boy - that come to think of it my parents may have.  If you have not played Tetris or have never heard of it there is a chance your dead or zombie - wait no zombies were human once so no your dead.  Wait a second dead people were alive.......  so nope there are no valid reason not to have played this masterpiece.

A big shout out to Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.  A brilliant game with awesome bosses including the 3 little pigs - turns out not so innocent & I feel sorry for the wolf! Who could forget Mega Man: Dr Willy's Revenge - the name made you laugh & also made you wonder what it would be like to have a blaster for an arm. A tough but brilliant action platform game.

Before moving on to the next console in my gaming life I wanted to give some shout outs to some other great titles:

Game Boy Gallery 5 Games in 1 (one of first games I tried - loved it!),
Battletoads
Pokemon
Alleyway
Battle City
Dr Mario
Donkey Kong
Kirby's Dreamland.

See you next post!

In The Beginning There Was Pong!

Let me start by saying I love Video Games!  To date I have played well in excess of 600 Video Games which have come in all shapes & sizes.  Growing up I was lucky enough to have a cool Dad who owned Pong (also known as Home Pong).  

While Pong was by no means the first video game ever made it was arguably the first one to become a household name. It also brought to attention to a yet unexplored territory that we know today as the Games industry.

The first console my parents bought me was the Sega Master System 2. It came with Alex the Kidd in Miracle World built into it.  Alex had a powerful fist he used to do everything from killing enemies, breaking blocks & of course playing jan-ken-pon (rock, paper, scissors).  The idea was simple battle through a number of levels & save your long lost brother Prince Egle.  Who is being held by the evil Janken the Great who has taken over the peaceful lands of Radaxian. A brilliant & challenging game!

Unlike a lot of kids my first introduction to Sonic the Hedgehog was on the Master System not the Mega Drive.  The game felt very different to the Mega Drive version & in some ways tougher (although to be fair it is a long time since I played it so in retrospect maybe it was just as tough).  Sonic was & is still a brilliant character; if you ignore some of the bad games & some of his not so cool friends - Vector the Crocodile? When you are trying that hard it's not cool yo!

I am just going to through out a few titles I really enjoyed before moving on; Double Dragon (played this alot with my Dad),Operation Wolf, Asterix, Bubble Bobble, Ghostbusters, Action Fighter & of course Paperboy!

Next up the Sega Mega Drive - 2! I love this console, so many great games, so many hours spent burning my eyes out my head staring at the screen!  

Where to begin.......I guess Streets of Rage!  You get to pick from three awesome characters; Axel, Blaze & Adam - all with there own set of skills.  The city has been taken over by Mr X & his Syndicate.  Unwilling to bend over & take it any more these ex-police officers take to the streets & clean up the city.  Of course it going to be tough as the city is littered with random building supplies, there are payphones which literally fall apart with the smallest touch & empty barrels of oil containing gold & collectible figures inside them - which strangely look like our hero's. To make things worse there are apples & turkeys left out everywhere which as we all know causes ants!  Some of the local entertainers have lost their shit! We have guys who are supposed to just juggle but now they throw axes & fire.  We have Dominatrix's roaming the streets whipping you any time they see you (there is a time & a place for this) & these punks who slide tackle you like your a damn ball! 

If you play only one game on this console then it has to be Streets of Rage I love the whole series & if you get the chance to play the Japanese version (Bare Knuckle) I highly recommend it.

Outside of that there are gems like; Sonic & Knuckles which was awesome for many reasons. One of the best reasons is that it had a slot in the top of the cartridge which allowed space for another Sonic Game to be added to it.  This then would completely change the game (check it out below).

Another great game was Micro Machines 2: Tournament Edition. You have 4 friends that want to play & you don't have the 4 player adapter - what will you do?  No need to worry Codemasters made it a J-Cart giving you two additional ports on the game itself.  A fun game, brilliant tracks, crazy characters & it even came with Game Invites to give to your friends & Certificates for the Winners.

I want to mention some other games that were just awesome as well before moving on: Stryder, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, Mortal Kombat 3, ESwat, Desert Strike, Street Fighter 2, Bubba N' Stix, Earthworm Jim,  Aladdin, Tiny Toons Adventure: Busters Hidden Treasure. A big shout out to Andrea Agassi Tennis- why?  I am not a tennis fan - hell I am not a sports fan at all but this game is what got me & my dad playing Video Games together & I am thankful for it.

So It Begins

It is 12:56 on Sunday morning - December 5th 2015. 

For some people they may be making their way home from a night out.  Others are already at home; relaxing, drinking, maybe eating or perhaps sleeping.  So why is that I picked now of all times to begin writing a blog?  

Maybe it is because my better half is out with her close friend, who has blog of her own & writes about something she is very passionate about. Maybe it's because I have been told previously I should write one or perhaps because I just finished State of Decay on the XBOX One & it has brought back memories of my childhood. Memories like how the zombies attacked my town & then military helped out like they always do & saved us all....wait that doesn't sound right at all. It's all of these & more - with the exception of the last part!


I am & always will be a fan of games & the late great Leonard Nimoy. I have been so lucky to be able to play so many Video Games in my life & look forward to playing many more.  There are so many amazing games on the market all of which would never have been made without the rich history that preceded them.


For me its not about playing a good game or a bad one it's about the journey & experience I take away from it.  With the exception of a few games I play most games through to their conclusion.  I have found that even a game that may not be great still has something to offer.


I have two goals for this blog.  The first one is to give you an overview of my personal gaming history. The second & larger undertaking is to review any & all games I play going forward.  I won't be using a grading system, I will simply be sharing my own thoughts, feelings, musings & general experiences.


I think that about does it for tonight I am tired & my brain is starting to leave me! Take care any all who read this & stayed tuned for more.

-Little Monkey