5 Minutes/5 Games: Volume 3

Will started this segment a while back, and I really liked the idea. Take 5 random games from your collection, play them for 5 minutes and then report. It's similar to the Games for Lunch segment by Crispy Gamer, but with more focus on a variety of games rather than one focus.


1. The Battle of Olympus
This game moves, feels and looks like Zelda II. In fact, I'm pretty sure it runs on the same engine. I didn't like Zelda II, nor did I like this game that much. The combat is somewhat interesting as you need to time jumps correctly and strike and the right time, but it's been done before with Zelda II, and done better.

Will I play this again? No. Did I mention that this game plays like Zelda II?


2. Bible Adventures
Oh Bible Adventures. I've played you before. Bible Adventures is a platforming game revolved around Bible stories. I played the David and Goliath set, which involves collecting sheep. David was a sheep herder; I think. The premise is hysterical and the game kinda sucks, but it's all in good fun. "Good work, but you forgot Baby Moses." Priceless.

Will I play this again? Definitely. Just for the humor factor.


3. Tecmo Bowl
Wow. The random number generator favors me big time. Tecmo Bowl is only one of the best football games ever made. Yes, it schools Madden hardcore. You have a choice between two run plays and two passing plays and if the defense picks the same one, you're going to lose yardage. If not, you have a chance to make big gains. It's simple, yet tactical and fun. Ready! Down. Hut!Hut!Hut!

Will I play this again? Super definitely. Two-player Tecmo Bowl is INTENSE.


4. Flight of the Intruder
A flight simulator on the NES? Cool. It doesn't play particularly well and the flying is pretty choppy, but it does capture the feel of a first-person flight simulator pretty well. Aiming is hard, and dodges missiles is disorientating but I kinda enjoyed this game. Maybe I'm just in desperate need of good flight sim besides Warhawk.

Will I play this again? Probably not. But I'm glad I tried it.


5. A Nightmare on Elm Street
This is just confusing. You're a dude in an orange jumpsuit and you punch bats and rats. And occasionally Freddy comes out and you have a random pseudo-boss fight with him. Dude, it's TOTALLY like the movie. I mean, did you see the title screen for this game? Scary stuff.

Will I play this again? No way. I'd rather be stabbed in the toe.

Winner: Tecmo Bowl
Loser: A Nightmare on Elm Street

5 Minutes/5 Games: Volume 2

As I said last time, on 5 minutes with 5 games, I shall randomly choose 5 games from my gigantic collection of old games, and give you my 5 minute impression of these games. Hopefully this will give both of us a chance to see games that we never have before.


1. 1943
Wikipedia tells me that this was the sequel to 1942. It's your basic top down scrolling shooter. There's really nothing special about this, or so I could tell from 5 minutes with it.

Will I play this again? Doubtful.


2. Athena
I'm not sure why it's called Athena; maybe I am Athena, or I'm trying to save her? I'm a girl who runs around and hits monsters. Sometimes they drop weapons or armor, which I can pick up and use to hit other monsters. That's about all I gathered, but I'm inexplicably drawn to it.

Will I play this again? For some reason, yes.

3. Championship Pool
The usual site doesn't have a link for you to play it, but here's some captivating gameplay captured on YouTube. I don't have much to say; it's a pool game. A shitty pool game. I regret randomly arriving at this.

Will I play this again? Very much not.


4. Dragon Fighter
It reminds me of Mega Man, if he had a sword, and was in the arctic. I wasn't fighting dragons, but instead they were more like green yetis. If I spent more than 5 minutes with it I might get to a dragon eventually.

Will I play this again? Absolutely.


5. Ghostbusters 2
Enjoy being frustrated by difficult yet not that fun games? Sounds likes Ghostbusters 2 is the game for you! There are many worse games for the NES, and in fact two of them are discussed here in this post.

Will I play this again? Maybe if I was feeling really nostalgic for Ghostbusters.

Winner: Dragon Fighter
Loser: Championship Pool

Godspeed.

5 Minutes/5 Games: Volume 1

On 5 minutes/5 games, I shall randomly choose 5 games that I've never played before from my emulators gigantic collection of old games, and give you my 5 minute impression of these games. Hopefully this will give both of us a chance to see games that we never have before.


1. Captain Planet and the Planeteers
The game starts off as a side-scrolling shooter, like Defender. Wikipedia says that this one of two types of levels in the game. It was actually difficult, I died about 5 times during the course of my 5 minute playing session. The controls weren't smooth, and it was more frustrating than anything else.

Will I play this again? Nope.


2. Castelian
Here's a game I had never heard of before. This is actually really fun. My goal seems to be to climb up this tower, and not die in the process. There are passageways through the tower, falling blocks, elevators, bad guys, and I can shoot. It took a minute of getting used to it, but it's pretty intuitive. There's also a time limit, so you have to act fast. This has been released on the Wii VC as Nebulus. I recommend it.

Will I play this again? Absolutely.


3. Deja Vu
A point and click adventure/mystery game. I wake up in a bathroom not knowing who or where I am, nor where the blood on my hand came from. The controls feel a little clunky, but that's to be expected when you're controlling a cursor with the d-pad. Seems pretty fun, straightforward enough so far.

Will I play this again? Maybe. I wouldn't go out of my way to, but if I came across it again, sure.


4. Genghis Khan
A strategy game where you control the Mongolian armies. It starts off RPG-like, where I'm rolling for my stats, choosing names, etc. I now have the option to give orders, like train, tax, war, etc. I train once, which entails nothing other than being told my skill has gone up. Not very exciting. What is exciting? War! How many troops would I like to send to attack my neighboring country? All of them! Exterminated... me, not them. Next up is an incoming attack from a neighbor. I lose, since I have no troops. This has potential, but it would require understanding the strategy.

Will I play this again? Probably not.


5. Ikari Warriors
It turns out Captain Planet isn't the worst game of the five, Ikari Warriors is. The idea is basic, I'm a commando whose plane crashes, and I have to fight a bunch of bad guys (including ninjas) who shoot at me. How could you go wrong? Awkward controls. It's an NES, so I'm not expecting super smooth controls, but these are just too difficult to play with.

Will I play this again? Certainly not.

Winner: Castelian
Loser: Ikari Warriors

Godspeed.