Posts

NES AtoZ 44

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  • Fantasy Zone - 1/1

    Fantasy Zone is an original take on the SHMUP which has you flying to the left or the right looking for bases to destroy. After you destroy all of them you are treated to a fun boss fight. The colors are vibrant and pastel, the music is pleasant, the whole experience is pretty excellent. Compared to other more developed shooters, it isn’t competitive, but it has something special going on.

    fantasy-zone-nes-gameplay

  • Faria - 1/1

    As we have learned many times, this isn’t a very good format for RPGs. This game has a hilarious opening cutscene that acceptable gameplay. If you are a diehard retro RPG player give this a shot and report back.

    faria-gameplay

  • Faxanadu - 0/1

    I actually remember playing this game ALOT as a child and i remember it fondly. Rude awakening time. This game isn’t that great. Where the hell is the king anyway? Punching sucks, music sucks, graphics … are pretty ok. I don’t know, it just didn’t make me feel good.

    faxanadu-gameplay

  • Felix the Cat - 1/1

    This game is an awesome platformer! I would be more than happy to pull this one out and play it again. Felix is a high jumping cat who uses one of those accordion punching gloves as a weapon. You get little Felix heads to power up. A power up grants you an extra hit before death and also changes your attack type. I have spent some time with this game off-screen before and find it very excellent.

    felix-cat-gameplay

  • Ferarri Grand Prix - 1/1

    Not the best racing game I have ever seen but I guess there is nothing terrible about it. It’s interesting that you can practice the tracks before actually racing in them since essentially it’s the same experience as just trying the race over and over. Good thinking I guess.

    ferarri-grand-prix-gameplay

Play Along!

Does something look like fun? You want to check it out for yourself? There is nothing stopping you! Emulating these games is easier than ever. If you are a Mac user, go download OpenEmu right now. If you are a Windows user just go get FCEUX NES emulator. All you need now is the games.

how-to-download-roms

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NES AtoZ 43

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  • Excite Bike - 1/1

    It’s a classic. The game couldn’t be any more simple, but the fun is truly stand out. Actually I take it back, it could be more simple, they could have opted NOT to put in the super fun track builder! Making your own tracks for your friends to play on is just awesome.

    excitebike-gameplay

  • Exodus - 0/1

    I confirmed what I said in the video, this game is indeed a Boulder Dash clone. Which isn’t bad I guess, just bland. The game is just pretty boring. I have to admit the little Bible quiz in between levels was the highlight.

    exodus-gameplay

  • F-117A Stealth Fighter - 0/1

    The only good flight simulator is an ULTRA REALISTIC flight simulator. The NES isn’t capable of ultra-realism therefor this is a terrible game.

    f117-gameplay

  • F-15 Strike Eagle - 0/1

    I wish so badly this was just a SHMUP but it’s just the same lump of coal as F-117. Easy 0.

    f15-strike-eagle-gameplay

  • Family Feud - 1/1

    You know there is a distinct trend of TV show games being very awesome on NES. Anticipation was great back in the A, Double Dare was fun and Family Feud is super fun! I have actually played this a few more times offline because it’s so great. I can’t even wait to play Wheel of Fortune!

    family-feud-gameplay

  • Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy - 0/1

    This Dizzy guy, he really gets around. I keep seeing him on Sega Genesis, Master System, I am sure the dumb egg even got himself into GameBoy. It’s pretty much a boring point-and-click adventure game. Give it a pass.

    fantastic-adventures-of-dizzy-gameplay

Play Along!

Does something look like fun? You want to check it out for yourself? There is nothing stopping you! Emulating these games is easier than ever. If you are a Mac user, go download OpenEmu right now. If you are a Windows user just go get FCEUX NES emulator. All you need now is the games.

how-to-download-roms

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NES AtoZ 42

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  • Dynablaster - 1/1

    I guess this is just the European version of Bomberman 2. This game is 3-players all of the time and there doesn’t seem to be any other way to play it. The gameplay is the same except a third player stands around like a sore thumb… Unless you have a multitap. Anyway, the gameplay is as good as before.

    dynablaster-gameplay

  • Dynowarz - 1/1

    I’ve never heard of this game before but it has robot dinosaurs. So right off the bat it’s going to hard to mess this up. I am happy to say, this game did not disappoint. There are actually two different game modes. In one you are the pilot dodging bullets, in the second you pilot a giant robotic T-Rex! Badass.

    dynawarz-gameplay

  • Elevator Action - 0/1

    I have always known of this game, but I have never played it. it sucks. I guess you are trying to work your way down this giant building. It isn’t fun.

    elevator-action-gameplay

  • Eliminator Boat Duel - 1/1

    Now we are talking! It’s a competitive combat speedboat game. Rock and roll! There are even two different gameplay types (side view and from behind view). The music is sweet too.

    eliminator-boat-duel-gameplay

  • LEmpereur - 0/1

    Another one of those slow turn-based historical war games. Five minutes isn’t enough time to even scratch the surface of this monster. Problem is, who is ever going to play this anymore? Go play Civilization 5.

    lempereur-gameplay

Play Along!

Does something look like fun? You want to check it out for yourself? There is nothing stopping you! Emulating these games is easier than ever. If you are a Mac user, go download OpenEmu right now. If you are a Windows user just go get FCEUX NES emulator. All you need now is the games.

how-to-download-roms

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How to Emulate Retro Video Games

Emulators

First thing’s first. You need to download yourself the emulators you want. If you are using a Mac, look no further than OpenEmu. If you are on Windows I am afraid I can’t be of much help.

about-open-emu

8 and 16 Bit Consoles

This includes consoles and handhelds like Sega Master System, Genesis, NES, SNES, Turbo Grafx 16, Gameboy, Gameboy Advanced and a few others.

There is nothing hard about playing these roms. You can simply google “Whatever NES Rom Download” and get the file. You will probably be directed to Romnation, Coolrom or Emuparadise. Those sites are fine, although if you want to save yourself a bunch of trouble you might want to download the No-Intro collection from Archive.org (https://archive.org/details/No-Intro-Collection_2013-06-14). You can download the whole torrent file, or browse the collection and download the specific titles you want.

If you are dealing with roms from sources other than the No-Intro-Collection you probably want to make sure to get roms that have the suffix (U) for United States and (!) for verified good. Sometimes it’s fun to dabble in (E) European games as some of them never saw US release.

MAME

MAME roms (arcade games) are a special case. Before you can play many of the games you need to download and install some device roms and bios files. Think of these as circuit boards you need to install. Namco games like Pac Man, for example, require the Namco boards to be installed in your “machine.” NeoGeo games like Metal Slug require the NeoGeo hardware. Here are all the bios I currently have installed:

Device Roms

22vp931
bsmt2000
h63484
ldv1000
mb90082
midssio
mie
mpeg573
namco50
namco51
namco52
namco53
namco54
namco62
pr8210
qsound
simutrek
tms32031
tms32032

Bios Files

cpzn1.zip
cpzn2.zip
decocass.zip
konamigv.zip
konamigx.zip
maxaflex.zip
megaplay.zip
megatech.zip
neogeo.zip
pgm.zip
playch10.zip
shtzone.zip
skns.zip
stvbios.zip

That is not an comprehensive list, but I have been trying tons of games so this is a good start. Search for those, download them and drag them.

If a game doesn’t work, chances are it’s because you are missing one or more of these bios files. Figuring out what you need might take some googling.

If you are on Mac and using OpenEmu, you can use Console.app to determine what it is. Just open Console, open the rom that doesn’t work and read the error message. Here is a message I generated as an example trying to play Battle Toads without the right bios installed:

OpenEmuHelperApp[856]: MAME: Audit failed with output:
btoads : bsmt2000.bin (8192 bytes) – NOT FOUND (bsmt2000)

As you can see, bsmt2000.bin was not found. Once bsmt2000 is installed the game will run no problem.

I don’t know how or what is going on from a legal standpoint but Archive.org just has every game. You can download every MAME rom in a huge 42GB file, or you can browse the collection using this link:

http://archive.org/download/MAME_0.149_ROMs/MAME_0.149_ROMs.zip/

Once there, you can just search for any ROM you want. Make sure to download all of the bios files listen above. MAME roms don’t always have obvious names. If you are having trouble figuring out what to download search for your game on MameDB to figure out it’s filename. For example the game Battle Cross is called battlex.zip.

Playstation

Playstation is another special case that requires bios files to run. You will need to download and install: scph5500.bin, scph5501.bin and scph5502.bin. The last one is pretty hard to find (I never could get one that works) but you can instead download scph5552.bin and rename it scph5502.bin and it seems to be the same. Here is the official page of required bios files.

I would link to them to make it easy for you but the links for these things are kinda … sketchy. They are often down, look disgusting, or unreliable so it might take you a bit of effort to find reliable downloads. The good news is once you get them installed, PSX emulation is pretty much flawless.

When you download a PSX game you will need to unzip it. Inside that folder is probably going to be one .cue file and one or a bunch of .bin files. You only need to drag the .cue file into OpenEmu and the PSX game should show up.

Enjoy

Have fun exploring all the games you might have missed, and replaying all your childhood favorites. There are many other games and other systems out there and some require some hoop jumping and I am not equipped to write guides for them all. If you want to dig deeper you can try asking me, but i can’t be sure I can help.

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NES AtoZ 41

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZaffK71g0]

  • Duck Tales - 1/1

    Everyone who has played this knows that it is awesome. Capcom truly delivers in this masterpiece. The controls are crisp, the music is outstanding. You get to choose your starting level, which is awesome at keeping you from getting frustrated. Nothing bad I can say about it.

    ducktales-nes-gameplay

  • Duck Tales 2 - 1/1

    It played exactly like Duck Tales, and there is nothing wrong with that! It’s a classic Mega Man formula, same game every minor modifications, most of witch we didn’t even discover during gameplay. I actually never knew there was a sequel to Duck Tales! Does that make this a hidden gem?

    duktales2-nes-gameplay

  • Dudes with Attitude - 1/1

    Not much to say about graphics or sound, but the game play reminds me of an old Mac game I used to have called Diamonds. You control one “dude” and he automatically bounces from left to right like a ping pong ball, you must input the up and down commends to effect what he bounces off of. The game is pretty lackluster all around but the 2-player co-op actually puts it over the edge.

    dudes-with-attitude-nes-gameplay

  • Dungeon Magic - 0/1

    As we know it’s impossible to properly review a dungeon crawler like this in 5 minutes. There probably isn’t anything horribly wrong with this game except for the “draw distance.” But I don’t imagine anyone getting to much pleasure for playing it. If you want to play a good modern dungeon crawler go get yourself Legend of Grimrock.

    dunegon-magic-nes-gameplay

  • Dusty Diamonds Softball - 1/1

    This is an off-beat baseball game that has a demon as one of the possible players! Despite constantly bitching about how much I hate sports titles, I actually don’t seem to hate them that much. They are much better than modern sports games because there is almost no “team building” you just hit start and play!

    dusty-diamonds-nes-gameplay

Play Along!

Does something look like fun? You want to check it out for yourself? There is nothing stopping you! Emulating these games is easier than ever. If you are a Mac user, go download OpenEmu right now. If you are a Windows user just go get FCEUX NES emulator. All you need now is the games.

how-to-download-roms

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NES AtoZ 40

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  • Dragon Spirit - 1/1

    What a great SHMUP! You play as a man who turns into a dragon and then goes berserk in this fantasy universe. There are two modes of fire, air to air and air to ground which is not super unique, but pretty refreshing. The power ups are fun and I assume it has cool bosses although we never reached any on our five minutes.

    dragon-spirit-gameplay

  • Dragon Warrior Series - 0/1

    Look, I know Dragon Warrior is a beloved series and it set the stage for hundreds of JRPGs to come. I never played it, I have no nostalgia, compared to games today I consider this pretty unplayable. The graphics are lame, the gameplay is rudimentary at best and I don’t know what the story is. If you want to get a great RPG experience you really should turn to the SNES.

    dragon-warrior-gameplay

  • Dragons Lair - 0/1

    Man! I watched the Angry Nerd play this and it really did look like shit but I almost didn’t believe it. Well he wasn’t kidding, this game controls like shit. Dirk plays like a bathtub full of tar.

    dragons-lair-gameplay

  • Dropzone - 1/1

    I thought “Defender!” as soon as I played it. I was never a big fan of defender for some reason, but I can tell that technically it is a great game. There seems to be more of a point than just shooting your way around like Space Invaders or Galaga. At least you need to save people from aliens. Decent game, even Emily enjoyed it.

    dropzone-gameplay

  • Duck Hunt - 1/1

    The one thing emulation can’t do… Emulate light gun games. I remember playing the HELL out of Duck Hunt when I was a kid and now I feel like i’ll never be able to play it again.

  • Duck Maze - 1/1

    Your hero duck needs to safety roll his egg down some kind of factory. The egg can only withstand a drop from a certain height without breaking unless it lands on something soft. Enemies will also break your egg if they touch it. I did not find this game very fun, but as a puzzle game, it is passable.

    duckzone-gameplay

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NES AtoZ vol 39

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  • Dr Chaos - 1/1

    Me and Eric explored this game further and it turns out to get anywhere you need to wander around and use the “hit” command on every section of wall in the rooms. Often you will punch a hole in the wall which will grant you access to more areas of the house. Story progression based on totally hidden secret rooms? That is pretty annoying writing… Oh well just because it isn’t my thing doesn’t mean the game is bad. It actually controls pretty well and the gameplay is fun enough.

    Dr. Chaos NES gameplay

  • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - 0/1

    One of the most hated games on the internet, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde might be a little misunderstood. I did not feel it was as difficult to play as the other YouTube personalities. There are plenty of annoyances like how your staff attack seems totally worthless and how some towns people attack you and some don’t. But honestly this game’s biggest problem is boredom. The levels are way too long and the only game play, if you are playing well, is to SLOWLY walk to the right and jump. Yawn.

    Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde NES gameplay

  • Dr Mario - 1/1

    My experience with Dr. Mario is very limited. I have probably played Dr. Mario more in Smash Brothers Melee than I have in his original form. Even to the untrained eye, the game certainly feels right. The music is awesome, the gameplay is tight and they even have a competitive 2-player mode. It’s a winner.

    Dr. Mario NES gameplay

  • Dragon Fighter - 1/1

    Never heard of this game. I have never even seen it pop up on any “hidden gems” lists. Why not? The animation is awesome, the graphics are good, the gameplay is solid and you get to turn into a dragon. I am going to give this game some extra play time, but it might enter MY hidden gem list.

    Dragon Fighter NES Gameplay

  • Dragon Power - 1/1

    I actually looked this up, it is a Dragon Ball Z game! But it came out before Dragon Ball Z aired in America so we would have no idea what is going on. So… They changed what Goku looks like, and slightly changed the names but left most of the story totally intact… Not sure how that helps. This game feels like Zelda with slightly goofy looking graphics. The dialogue is hilarious! I liked it.

    Dragon Power NES Gameplay

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