Category Archives: RetroRevisited

Retrorevisited: Street Fighter 2/Mortal Kombat 1 & 2 (SNES/Genesis)

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

The Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat series were big hits in the arcades in the 1990’s and that translated to their home editions, becoming big hits in the 16bit era for the SNES and Sega Genesis. The various game ports are translated perfectly to the home systems (complete with cheating AI!) from the graphics, gameplay and soundtracks. Street Fighter 2 Turbo was really the port to own and the one most gamers in that era knew and studied all the move and combo lists.

The Mortal Kombat series had a more creative and public history when it was introduced by midway due to the graphic violence as part of the gameplay. Blood, gore, and violent Fatalities were what everyone wanted to do and see, and what non-gamers were appealed over. Because of this the editions of Mortal Kombat which came home had the more violent elements removed or locked out behind a code. SNES MK had the better graphics and music, but the blood was changed to sweat (which you can easily change to red or any other color with Game Genie codes!), while the blood was behind a code for the Genesis. MK2 and onward everything was intact for gamers!

For the record, I do enjoy fighting games, but I suck at them. I can hold my own to a point, I’ve always had trouble building combos and thinking fast with performing special moves and the like.

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Retrorevisited: Sonic 1-3 (Genesis) & Sonic CD (Sega CD)

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

The Sonic series quickly became Sega’s flagship series when the first game came out in 1991, becoming the pack-in game with the Sega Genesis and later Sonic 2. The first game sported beautiful graphics and a great soundtrack, and faster gameplay not seen on consoles at the time. After Sonic hit it big, the series continued on the Genesis with Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic Spinball, and Sonic & Knuckles (aka Sonic 3 Part 2), which was a continuation of Sonic 3’s story and sported new lock-on technology that allowed gamers to plug the cart into other games for new and exciting bonus levels to test their skills. Of course there was a Sonic for the Sega CD system too! All future games sported even better graphics and soundtracks and faster gameplay! 

I plan to cover Sonic 1-3 for the Sega Genesis and Sonic CD for the Sega CD in this edition of Retrorevisited and my mini-reviews.

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Retrorevisited: Shinobi Series

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

The Shinobi series from Sega started with the arcade game and grew into a franchise with multiple ports of the arcade game on systems, and various sequels for the Sega Genesis and new editions for more modern systems. Great graphics and music, tough action and gameplay define the Shinobi series throughout the series. Some games added to the series while others took a slightly different route, but all games are still tough.

For this Retrorevisited I tried out the Sega Master System ports of the arcade Shinobi, then Revenge of Shinobi (ver 1 with Batman and Godzilla still as bosses), Shadow Dancer, and Shinobi 3 for the Sega Genesis.

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Retrorevisited: Mario Kart (snes, gba, n64)

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

The Mario Kart series has been a long running popular series since the first game was released for the SNES. Since then there’s been a Mario Kart game for every Nintendo system, with various improvements to gameplay, racers, power-ups, tracks and more. Series is so popular it started the “kart racing” genre!

For this edition of Retrorevisited, I started with the SNES Super Mario Kart, then tried out for the first time the GBA edition and finished with the n64 Mario Kart, which is the one i have the most experience with. GameCube was supposed to be a 4th title, but it didn’t work well while streaming so I had to drop it. I played as Luigi (my fav!) and did Mushroom and Flower Cup runs in all 3 games.

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Retrorevisited: Streets of Rage Trilogy (Genesis)

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

The Streets of Rage games were Sega’s answer to brawlers on the SNES like the Final Fight series. Sporting great graphics and music and action, the games depict a team of ex-cops and friends fighting to save the city from the criminal organization run by Mr. X. Each character has their own move sets and stats in all 3 games. The three games of the Genesis trilogy were all released on the Genesis between 1991 and 1994, along with some Sega Master System and Game Gear ports, and included and various Sega collections. a 4th game was released for Windows and modern systems in 2020.

I never really played the SoR games until 2, and I still love it to this day. The music is some of my favorite of the 16-bit era, the graphics and gameplay are fabulous and it’s one of my go-to brawlers. I never fully played SoR or the hard SoR3, but plan to sit down with them in the future.

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Retreorevisited: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out (NES)

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.  

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out was released in the US in 1987, with a re-release in 1990 with Mike Tyson replaced with Mr. Dream. This is a boxing title where you play the role of Little Mac rising up the boxing ladder to fight Mike Tyson. All of your enemies are larger than life and have their own gimmicks and tricks you need to learn to beat them with punches, dodging, ducking, and uppercuts. You beat your opponents by KO, TKO, or referee decision. 

I had played this on occasion, but I didn’t own this until I got Punch-Out. I loved this as a kid from the characters to the challenge and learning my opponents moves. I never finished this or got past Great Tiger as a kid. But I still enjoyed this for it’s fast paced action, the way you had to think in each fight and the amazing graphics.

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Retrorevisited: Sports Night

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.

So for this edition of Retrorevisited I wanted to do something different. I’m not that big into sports games, or sports in general. I enjoyed some sports games growing up and now if they get my interest and easy to pick up and not complicated. For this Retrorevisited, I thought about the various sports games I’ve played growing up for Atari 2600, NES, and SNES, and wrote them down. This edition will be mini-reviews of each game I played, from what I remember of it then and revisiting it now. From the following list I put them into a randomizer wheel and played which game came up:

Tennis – Virtua Tennis (Dreamcast)
Racing – Mario Kart 64 (N64)
Bowling – Bowling (Atari 2600)
Racing – F-Zero (SNES)
Golf – Golf (NES)
Basketball – NBA Jam TE (SNES)
Football – Tecmo Bowl (NES)
Golf – Nes Tournament Open Golf (NES)
Hockey – Blades of Steel (NES)
Baseball – Ken Griffey Presents Major League Baseball (SNES)

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Retrorevisited: Ghouls & Ghosts Series

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.

The Ghouls & Ghosts series by Capcom is known to strike fear in the hearts of gamers due to their high difficulty, cheap deaths, and having to complete the game twice for the ending. I’ll be covering the NES, Sega Master System, Genesis and SNES ports in this edition of Retrorevisited. Prior to this I had only played the arcade version, NES and the SNES games, and had forgotten the Genesis and SMS ports existed. Each port brings something new to the table, especially the SMS one with its rpg elements. The NES game being based on Ghosts & Goblins, the prequel title to the Ghouls & Ghosts series. The Genesis and SNES ports are close to the same as the arcade G&G, but with a key gameplay mechanic difference: the Genesis one lets you shot up while the SNES port has the double jump and you cannot shoot up. I’ve never really been that good at any of these, especially the NES one, but willing to give these a try again. After doing this edition of Retrorevisited I still enjoy the SMS port and plan to finish both loops on stream sometime, and I really enjoyed the Genesis port too! I did enjoy the SNES game to a point when it was released in my teenage years and I was surprised with how well done and how much I enjoyed the SMS and Genesis ports too! least they all have unlimited continues!

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Retreorevisited: SMB 1-3 & Super Mario World (NES & SNES)

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.

Who doesn’t know the Super Mario games if you’ve played any Nintendo system throughout the years? SMB1 was probably the first NES game anyone played when the game was first released. First time i played i was horrible since I wasn’t used to a gamepad, having mainly used keyboards and joysticks on Atari systems and the C64. SMB1 was a great showcase to what the system had to offer in 1985, as did the later releases of SMB2 in 1988 and SMB3 in 1990. SMB2 was so different than the previous game, it wasn’t until later we learned it was a repackaged Famicom Disk System game called Doki Doki Panic. SMB3 we saw for the first time in the movie The Wizard and it was another big hit and added so much to the series.

First time I played SMB before I had a NES I was amazed at the gameplay and graphics, and i was horrible at it learning how to use a gamepad rather than a joystick. When i got my NES i still enjoyed SMB quite a bit. SMB2 first time i played was at friends homes, and I enjoyed the difference between that and the first game, never really owned it i think until getting Mario All-Stars. Like most people i got my first glimpse of SMB3 watching The Wizard and the advertisements in Nintendo Power. this game was perfect and i loved exploring all the worlds, warping to see what was up ahead, and the new outfits for Mario!

Remember your first time playing Super Mario World, seeing Mario and the gang in 16bit colors? Then trying to learn how to use a snes controller with 4 buttons and the 2 shoulder pads on the side? I didn’t play SMW till later when I got my snes, but I think first time might have been the cart when I first got my SNES, or when it was repackaged with Super Mario All-Stars.

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Retrorevisited: Contra/Super C (NES)

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Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.

So I decided to redo my first Retrorevisited on Contra and Super C since the original blog post was in a different format than the one I use currently, and the video wasn’t very good. I don’t have much experience with Contra, but I played the heck out of Super C when I rented it or played it with friends. Somehow i always liked Super C more than Contra itself. I loved the music, graphics and the non-stop action of both games, even if they were both quite hard, and that was even after the Konami Code discovery. For both games I ran it with and without the Konami Code. Contra without the code I got stuck up in stage 2, with the code I finished it!! Super C without i got up to stage 4, with it I got up to stage 6.

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