Action Maze Game Review: Super Bomberman 4

Super Bomberman 4 is the fourth game in the Super Bomberman subseries of Bomberman games. It does something different this time around as it takes place throughout time.

There are new mechanics such as having to repeatedly bomb an enemy base that is releasing enemies. After the base falls, the level ends.

There are four levels with eight stages. The seventh is a bomber person that has to be defeated and stage eight is a large boss contraption like most boss fights in the series. Like Super Bomberman 3, previous stages can be revisited. The fifth stage has multiple bomber people enemies, followed by a final boss that consists of multiple giant enemies in a row.

The stages take place throughout time. The first takes place in the primitive age, with Jurassic-themed enemies and areas. The rideable creature, which gives Bomberman two hit points, that can be hatched from an egg is a dinosaur. The second stage takes place in old Japan. The mine cart reappears here, and blocks as well as tough ninjas can be destroyed with it. The rideable creature on this stage is a giant squid.

The third stage takes place in the present day. The rideable creature in this stage is a giant green bird-like creature. The fourth stage takes place in the far future. The rideable creature is a giant head.

Super Bomberman 4 is a fun game with new additions. The ridable creatures add a lot to the game, and the time travel plot really adds a lot to the game and the theming. It is a lot of fun, and is well worth playing for any Bomberman fan. Plus, it is on a lot of platforms now, so it is easier than ever to play. With its 2026 rerelease, it even is fully in English officially for the first time as the SNES version was included in the Super Bomberman Collection for Nintendo Switch,  Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S worldwide. I highly recommend it.

Final Verdict:
5 out of 5

Super Bomberman 3 Review

Super Bomberman 5 Review Coming Soon

Action Maze Game Review: Super Bomberman 3

Super Bombermsn 3 is the third game in the Super Bomberman subseries of Bomberman games. It improved upon the first two games in the subseries and added in features from Bomberman games outside of the Super line.

The graphics are as cute and colorful as always and fun graphical environment effects return such as rippling waves for the underwater stage. The musical motifs continue to be fun. The Bomberman games have some of the most catchy tunes in gaming.

There are five levels with five stages. The fifth stage is a boss stage. They are classic large mechanical boss fights. The stages can be revisited. Some stages have multiple areas. The buttons only need to all be switched on to open a door to exit a stage or an area. It isn't necessary to defeat all enemies to open an exit door.

There are new mechanics such as buttons that move and fans that will suck Bomberman toward it and push him back out quickly. The rideable kangaroos that crack from eggs from Bomberman '94. This gives Bomberman two hits as well as an ability based on its color. Green can run really fast, pink can jump over blocks, blue can kick bombs over blocks, yellow can kick blocks, and brown can create a line of bombs based on the maximum amount held. Other new mechanics include a mine cart will jet Bomberman quickly around the level and smash blocks and kill all enemies in the way.

The bosses are fun, including one that can change bombs to apple items that can be picked up for points and your rideable animal to a slow turtle.

Super Bomberman 3 is a fantastic game that has been released on many different platforms. It was released for the Super Famicom in Japan and on its Super Nintendo Entertainment System international counterpart in 1995, as well as for 32-bit Windows in Japan in 2004 as part of Bomberman Collection Vol. 2. In 2026, the SNES version was included in the Super Bomberman Collection for Nintendo Switch,  Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S worldwide. Like its Super precessors, Super Bomberman 3 is well worth playing,

Final Verdict:
5 out of 5

Super Bomberman 2 Review

Super Bomberman 4 Review

Action Maze Game Review: Super Bomberman 2

Super Bombermsn 2 is the second game in the Super Bomberman subseries of Bomberman games. It was released for the Super Famicom in Japan and on its Super Nintendo Entertainment System international counterpart in 1994, as well as for 32-bit Windows in Japan in 2004 as part of Bomberman Collection Vol. 2. In 2026, the SNES version was included in the Super Bomberman Collection for Nintendo Switch,  Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S worldwide.

The game continues the graphical style set in Super Bomberman, which itself was inspired by Bomberman for the PC Engine. Everything looks great, as it is a very cute and pleasing art style. The music is fantastic as always, and the stage music motifs are really catchy and fit the style of the game perfectly.

There are fun new enemy animations such as the two-hit enemy that catches on fire after the first hit and runs quickly around the maze panicked. New mechanics such as buttons that all need to be pushed to exit the stage, magnets that will attract bombs and can have their directions changed after being blown up, and enemies that attract Bomberman toward them give the game more variety.

Some blocks now hide enemies which must be defeated before the stage door opens, and some blocks reform. There are also light puzzles which have to all be hit in order to unlock the door. Bombs blow up all lights in the blast radius and the blocks reform which help to complete these puzzles.

In addition, some paths that will light on fire and kill Bomberman if he is standing on them when they light up after the warning signal comes on.

There are five stages with eight levels. The seventh is a bomber person that has to be defeated like the arena stage in the original Super Bomberman and stage eight is a large boss contraption like most boss fights in the previous game.

Super Bomberman 2 is a fantastic game that builds upon everything established before it. The art and music are fantastic, there are some really creative animations, and the bosses are really creative. The new environment mechanics such as magnets and hidden enemies really add a lot to the experience. Any fan of Bomberman should try this game out at least once.

Final Verdict:
5 out of 5

Super Bomberman Review

Super Bomberman 3 Review

Action Maze Game Review: Bomberman

Bomberman is an action maze game by Hudson Soft that was originally released in 1990 for the PC Engine and in 1991 for its TurboGrafx-16 counterpart in North America in 1991. It was also released for computer platforms in Europe as Dyna Blaster to disassociate it from the terrorist bombings by the Irish Republican Army during the thirty-year period known as The Troubles. 

The story sees the Black Bomber go beserk and kidnap Dr. Mitsori's daughter Lisa. Bomberman climbs to the top of the mechanical tower to rescue her, blowing up Black Bomberman's army of monsters along the way.

Bomberman was the first game to get the 16-bit aesthetic that the series would become known for throughout the 1990s. It also set the musical style that the series would be known for, as the stages each got their own musical motif. It was also the first appearance of bosses. They require multiple hits or multiple parts of a boss body to be hit multiple times. There are also sometimes common enemies included as well. Thank goodness for the time bomb powerup.

In this game, the block with the item flashes orange when the final enemy is defeated. The portal pulses when the last enemy is defeated as well, which signals that the stage is ready to be exited.  There is a helpful timer sound when invincibility is about to run out.

There are sixty-four areas that Bomberman has to go through, seperated into eight stages with eight levels each. The boss battles are the final levels in these eight stages. 

Bomberman is a game that is very easy to recomend. The music is great, the graphics are fantastic, and the gameplay is as timeless as always. The boss fights really add a lot to the formula, and this is the game from which they all started. This game is available on a ton of platforms, from the original PC Engine console to many computer platforms. It didn't receive a port to the Wii platforms like the other PC Engine Bomberman games, but the 2002 Bomberman Collection compilation for Windows is still readily available to purchase on second-hand marketplaces and works well to this day. It is well worth playing if you can track it down.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

Bomber Boy Review

Bomberman II Review

Action Maze Game Review: Bomber Boy

Bomber Boy, known as Atomic Punk in North America, and as Dynablaster in Europe and Australia, was the first Bomberman game for the Game Boy. It also included a conversion of Bomberman for the Famicom with the mazes adjusted to fit the smaller screen.

It has sixty places to traverse split up in between eight stages with five to ten levels. There are no boss fights at the end of the stages. The stages are layed out by difficulty and they are more than just themed in this game, they have unique mechanics. For instance, in the ice-themed area, ice blocks have to be blown up twice. Here, the penguin enemy can freeze bombs into blocks and an enemy can destroy blocks. In the cavernous area, rocks open up cave entrances allowing access to other areas of the map in a similar fashion to various warp mechanics in other games in the series. Enemies sometimes are destroyed by these caves if the entrance closes on them. The desert area has shifting sands that move Bomber Boy along with them. In the forest area, Bomber Boy and enemies can walk through grass and some enemies  hide inside of it. There is a stage with fire in place of blocks that will destroy Bomber Boy if he goes inside of it. These unique aspects help to give the game a bit of variety.

Most pickups are different than expected, with the exception of pickups that give bonus points. Other than that, which acts as usual by giving points automatically, unlike other games in the series, the powerups are not automatically set to be used as they are selected at the beginning of a stage. Some pickups are available in levels, such as extra bombs and time freezing powerups. 

However, most of the time, a stage has to be completely completed to unlock a powerup. The powerup to be unlocked shows at the beginning of a stage. This will allow it to be aquired in the store, as the option for that powerup and other unlocked powerups only show as question blocks before hand. The store is the biggest departure from other games in the series. 

Currency is collected while completing stages, and will be shown in the heads-up display at the bottom of the pause screen. At the store, Bomber Boy can purchase powerups. When choosing powerups other than bombs, roller skates, or range increase for fire blasts, which are available from the start, the powerups will become used up and unavailable to use in further stages unless multiples of them had been purchased beforehand. The store is only accessible after completing the full eight levels in a stage, so it is necessary to purchase a load of them in order to use them in multiple levels of any given area. There are some interestimg powerups available.. The fire resistant powerup protects Bomber Boy from bomb blasts as well as fire blocks.

Bomber Boy is a great start to the Game Boy series of Bomberman games. The graphics and music are improved upon compared to the Famicom Bomberman game so that they more closely resemble their 16-bit counterparts. The lack of bosses is a shame, but the uniqueness of the game mechanics and areas makes up for it. It was included in compilations twice. The first was in Bomberman Collection for the Game Boy in Japan in 1996, which included Bomberman GB and Bomberman GB 2. The second compilation was a South Korean exclusive, Bomberman Selection, which was released for the Game Boy Color late in its lifespan in 2003. This second version is the best way to play the game, as the color really enhances the game, especially the water and fire effects. Unfortunately, it is extrodinarily rare. I have stripped out Bomber Boy from the color compilation and have created IPS patches for all three versions of the Game Boy title (not including Bomberman Collection), which you can download here. I highly recommend playing the color version of the game. It is a very unique Bomberman title and is well worth playing.

Final Verdict:
4½ out of 5

Bomber Man Review

Bomberman Review

Puzzle Game Review: Pac-Attack

Pac-Attack, also known as Pac-Panic, is a home port of Namco's 1991 arcade game Cosmo Gang the Puzzle to consoles with a Pac-Man theme. The Pac-Man theming actually worked exceptionally well for this game, arguably bringing it to higher heights than the original.

Pac-Attack is a falling tile puzzle game. There are three-piece puzzle items that drop down that contain a combination of tiles, ghosts, or Pac-Man. The goal is to line all of the ghosts together in a line. Once Pac-Man is placed on top of a ghost, he will make a straight trip down and then across, depending on the tile placement. The tiles themselves can be removed from the board, Tetris style, if they fill the entire playing area horizontally. The game ends if the puzzle pieces reach the top of the playfield.

The Pac-Man themed graphics do a lot to elevate this game beyond Cosmo Game the Puzzle. The style is street graffiti-inspired, with a brick motif. The score, stage number, and preview of the next puzzle piece are presented as signs on the bricks. The playfield itself is inside of a nook behind the bricks, and the background of the playfield features graffiti-style art of Pac-Man himself. The art changes periodically as the stage numbers increase, giving it some needed variety.

The sound aspects of the game are top-notch as well. The background music is fittingly mellow, with a nice sounding groove to it. The stage ending music is fittingly upbeat and congratulatory, which fits great. The Pac-Man eating sounds from the Pac-Man arcade games make an appearance when Pac-Man eats the ghosts, which is a nice touch. 

Pac-Attack is a fun puzzle game that is one of those diamonds in the rough. It is not as well known as its brethren such as Tetris, Puyo Puyo, or Columns, and that is a shame. Cosmo Gang the Puzzle did not capture the interests of the puzzle game fans in Japan, and the Pac-Attack reskin sadly did not do much to improve upon that. It deserves more than what it got though, as it is a really solid game. The art style, music, and sound effects are really pleasing, but more importantly, the puzzle gameplay is really fun. This really a game that puzzle game fans should give a try at least once. It's really a lot of fun.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

Platform Game Compilation Review: Donkey Kong Classics

Donkey Kong Classics compiles the Nintendo Entertainment System ports of the first two Donkey Kong arcade games, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior, into one multicart. 

As noted above, the two most popular games in the original trilogy were both included, which is great since they were the best in the series up to the time of this multicart's release in 1988. It does not include Donkey Kong 3, which likely contributed to that game becoming lesser known than the others.

Donkey Kong was a solid conversion of the arcade game. However, since it was also an early release before mappers extended the capabilities of the Nintendo Entertainment System, it lacks the cement factory stage. That stage would not be added to the Nintendo Entertainment System version until Donkey Kong Original Edition was released for the Virtual Console for Wii in 2010 and Nintendo 3DS in 2012.

Donkey Kong Junior, on the other hand, survives in-tact in its conversion from arcade to NES. Although it was also an early NES game, all of the levels are here. The only real difference, as with Donkey Kong, is the change from a vertically-oriented arcade monitor to the horizontally-oriented, nearly square resolution of the NES hardware.

The multi-cart has one small difference in the games. The title screen in both games are replaced by a single blue Donkey Kong Classics title screen. The games can be selected via the right and left buttons on the NES controller, and the number of players can be selected via a menu below the game select area. The neat thing about this change is that the title screen music from the two games are alternatingly played on the multi-cart's title screen.

Donkey Kong Classics is an interesting compilation of the Nintendo Entertainment System conversions of the first two Donkey Kong games. Unlike Nintendo's earlier multi-carts, such as the Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt pack-in cartridge, the menu is not silent. The games lack title screens, in favor of a single title screen that controls the options of both games. This isn't a bad thing, especially since the title screen music from the both games are alternated on the multi-cart menu. It's a shame that Donkey Kong 3 wasn't included, but the game was the weakest of the original trilogy, so its exclusion is not a big loss.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

Shoot 'Em Up Review: Donkey Kong 3 - The Great Counterattack

Donkey Kong 3: The Great Counterattack was one of the weirder games that Hudson Soft designed and published during their deal with Nintendo to release the games of the latter on Japanese consoles. 

The original arcade version of Donkey Kong 3 was already a weird game. Nintendo took Mario out of the question and replaced him with a now-forgotten character named Stanley the Bugman. In doing so, the genre was changed from platformer to static shoot 'em up as Stanley used his bug spray to blast a parachuting Donkey Kong out from his greenhouse.

Hudson Soft takes this weird premise further by eschewing the greenhouse completely and replacing it with stages set in lands near and far. Without Stanley's greenhouse, the bugs no longer try to take his plants. Instead, they now act like the bugs from Galaga, coming after Stanley in various attack patterns. They now also shoot blasts downward at the erstwhile greenskeeper.

To be able to tie this oddball of a setup with Donkey Kong 3, Stanley still uses his bug spray to blast not only the bugs, but Donkey Kong as well. This works the same as the arcade game, as when Donkey Kong is blasted far enough up the screen, the location changes and Stanley starts the battle anew.

Donkey Kong's initial appearance is greeted by the classic tune from the original arcade game. The end of each stage has a little fanfare of a tune. Most of the game is silent, interspersed by blasting sounds and the dropping sound of Donkey Kong's parachute.

There are twenty-five stages that see Stanley spraying baddies. He first is on the highway with a rocky hillscape during sunset. He then finds himself at night on a strange bridge, which appears to be a normal bridge with a safety fence on both sides. Things become even weirder after this, as Stanley finds himself leaving the Earth, now battling Donkey Kong in the black vastness of space with the third planet from the sun appearing behind them. 

The Galaga connection deepens, as after every five levels, Stanley finds himself dealing with bugs on a challenging stage with no background. Like Namco's classic, he has to try to get rid of as many bugs as he can while a timer ticks away until the bonus round completes.

They then fight in the Astron Belt, a rocky outcrop in space that shares a name with a Laserdisc arcade game by Sega. The sparring pair travel around Saturn, past a mysterious planet that does not appear to be part of the Milky Way galaxy, and back to Earth again. Back on terra firma, they fight in a desert, by a pyramid, in a cave. They then tussle outside an active volcano before heading inside the active crater. Things get more mundane as they fight outside a dome, above Nazca lines, and on a runway.

Weirdly, they then find themselves at the site of a nuclear explosion with a mushroom cloud behind them. They apparently face introspection after that, as they take in the sight of seagulls at sunset. Finally they show up at a city, on a country road, in front of non-descript giant green aliens. Finally, at level 25, the two spar inside of a UFO. This must be the way the two made their way back to Earth, as Donkey Kong has been in many more projects after this. As for Stanley, the experience must have made him put away his bug spray for good, as he has become relegated to the history books after the release of this game.

Donkey Kong 3 - The Great Counterattack is one of the weirder Nintendo-licensed games by Hudson Soft, but it is also strangely one of their better games. Outside of Excitebike, Hudson Soft didn't really make straight ports. Hudson Soft was licensed by Nintendo to make games for the 8-bit Japanese computers of the time. They couldn't really handle most Nintendo games, which is why the world got the ambitious but lacking Super Mario. Bros Special. With this game, they were able to make a game that stayed within the specifications of the hardware, but still remained fun. It's certainly a oddball of a concept, but it smartly follows the static shooter framework made famous by Namco's Galaga series. It's a far cry from any game in that series, but it's competent and worth trying for its utter weirdness alone.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

Free-to-Play Endless Runner Video Game Review: Super Mario Run

Super Mario Run is Nintendo's successful attempt to take the tried-and-true Super Mario series and blend it with the popular endless runner genre for Android and iOS devices.

It's a no-brainer really. The Super Mario series consists of 2D and 3D platforming games that are all about running and jumping. Super Mario Run takes these elements and wraps them in 3D graphics on a 2D scrolling playfield. Of course, when you simplify Mario's moves down to a single screen tap, things have to be changed up a bit. Tapping the screen when Mario is on a wall causes him to perform a wall jump, an acrobatic leap first seen in Super Mario 64. There are also pause blocks on the floor which cause Mario to stand in place. They don't appear often, but when they do, Mario can use them to better time his jumps.

There are also many other characters that can be unlocked, including Luigi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toad, Toadette, and multiple colors of Yoshi including green, red, blue, yellow, and purple. These characters have their own quirks that help out in game play. Many of these abilities stemmed from the international Super Mario Bros. 2, including Luigi's high jumps, Peach's glide ability. The speed inherent to Toad in that game also applies to Toadette's by proxy. Yoshi's flutter jumps from the Yoshi's Island subseries of Super Mario games also appears here. Daisy gains an ability unique to this game, which is the capability to perform a double jump.

Since this was Nintendo's first mobile game, it employed the fair process of upgrading from free to premium as seen in most of Nintendo's free-to-play Nintendo 3DS games. Paying a set fee of $10 USD enables the entire game. This unlocks worlds past 1-4 in World Tour mode. It also opens up the ability to unlock Peach, as the ability to play as the Princess Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom unlocks after she is saved from Bowser's clutches in world 6-4.

The music in these World Tour levels are at a quality expected from a Nintendo title. It really has a nostalgic feeling, only heightened by the use of classic sound effects and short vocals from the same actors who portray the characters in other games.

Other playable game modes include Toad Rally, a fun game where the goal is to play against a saved run from another player to see try to collect more toads than your opponent. Picking up coins cause more toads to flock to your side. Picking up a star or wonder flower causes a coin rush, in which many coins appear in the game field. The winner of the game is the player with the most coins, which means they have amassed the most Toads.

Coins can be used in Kingdom Builder mode to purchase items to place in the player's Mushroom Kingdom. This is highly customizable and gives each player a unique kingdom, although sadly it's for your eyes only as other player's kingdoms can not be visited. Some unique decorations have also appeared periodically to promote various games in the wider Mario series.

The last game mode is Remix 10. This adds some spice to the World Tour levels. The goal is to complete short remixes of these levels. Each level contains three bonus medals. Collecting these range from easy jumps to harder jumps that require Mario to jump off objects or enemies. A special award, a decoration to use in your Mushroom Kingdom, is gained after completing ten levels. After thirty levels are completed, the player will unlock Princess Daisy.

Super Mario Run is a fun little mobile game that places Mario firmly in the endless runner genre. It contains all of the hallmarks of games in the wider Super Mario series, including the fantastic cartoony backgrounds and character models, music, sound effects, and vocals. The fact that there are five unique playable characters and five variants gives it more variety, as does the various play modes. The standard world-based gameplay of World Tour is the game's bread-and-butter, but once that is completed there is still fun to be had in Remix 10, which adds short remixes of these levels and collectibles for the player to use to decorate their Mushroom Kingdom. The real standout here is the online Toad Rally mode. It's a lot of fun to play against ghost runs from other players to see if you can do better than them before time runs out. Chances are this is where most of your time playing this game will accrue. The game didn't light the world on fire, but for a reasonable price to unlock everything, it's a satisfying little time-waster.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Arcade Platform Game Review: Popeye

Valentine's Day is here, so what better arcade game to celebrate the day than Popeye? It is the arcade game that Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto was finally able to create after the plans to make a game based on the Popeye series earlier fell apart and was reworked into Donkey Kong. The Popeye we did receive doesn't quite reach the heights of Mario's premiere, but does have its own charm.

The graphics capture the look of the characters quite well. The sprites are large and expressive, and the animation is well done. This is especially true of the animation of Bluto reaching under a platform to try to knock Popeye into the water. That's still the image that immediately pops into my head decades after the game was released. It's just that well animated.

Like the Popeye comics and shorts that inspired it, Popeye tries to earn the love of Olive Oyl while avoiding the aggression of the competitor for Olive's heart, Bluto. Olive Oyl throws out hearts, and Popeye catches them. When the hearts completely fill up the Popeye-tagged house at the top of the playing field, the game will go to the next level. Other levels swap out the hearts for other items such as musical notes, and letters spelling out the word help.

There are three unique levels that repeat at higher difficulties as the game goes on. These include the docks, a village, and a pirate ship. These three levels will include some of the secondary characters from Popeye media including Swee-Pea, Wimpy, and the Sea Hag. It really is a visual treat for fans of the Popeye franchise.

Popeye has several ways to fight back against Bluto. He can punch an object that will drop on top of his nemesis. The most fitting way to fight back is using the spinach cans that appear on the side of the platform, much like the hammers in Donkey Kong. When Popeye punches a spinach can, the famous Popeye the Sailor Man music will play in chiptune format, Popeye will turn red, and Bluto will run away. When Popeye connects his fist with Bluto, the latter will bounce around the screen and fall into the water.

Other than the theme song, there is a song that plays over each level. It is a simple, innocuous tune that doesn't become annoying when it plays on repeat. There is also a small four or five note tune that plays when Popeye collects an item that Olive is dropping. Beyond the music, there are also sound effects including a deep sound when Bluto jumps, a popping sound that plays when Popeye hits objects with his usual non-Bluto obliterating punch, a sweeping sound when Bluto is trying to knock Popeye in the water, and a clip clop sound for Popeye's steps.

Popeye is a cute little arcade game that didn't reach the classic status of those starring Mario and Donkey Kong. Even though it isn't as well known as its arcade brethren, Popeye is still a fun little game with its own charms. The large detailed sprite work matches the look of the characters well, famous characters from the Popeye series make cameo appearances, the classic theme song is translated to chiptune format well, and the new music and sound effects work well alongside the other elements of the game presentation. If you get a chance to play it, chances are you will find the game fun for a play or two.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

Arcade Motorcycle Racing Game: VS. Excitebike

VS. Excitebike was the second game in Nintendo's Excite series, releasing to arcades on the VS. System on December 5, 1984, one day short of a week after the release of the original Excitebike on the Family Computer, the Japanese version of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

The game is graphically identical to Excitebike, taking place on a two-dimensional plane with obstacles such as jumps, hills, and mud. It contained the two-button control set up with a regular accelerator button and a turbo button. The turbo button causes the bike to overheat, but switching to regular acceleration or running over an arrow on the track will cause the bike to cool down.

It contains the same motor running sound effects, jumping sounds, and overheating sounds as the original, as well as the catchy music played at the beginning of the tracks and when a race is won, as well as the downbeat music played when a race is lost.

As it was released for the VS. System, the biggest addition this game added was the ability to play a game for two players, connected through the arcade hardware on two separate screens. Because it is an arcade game, the design function of the original game has been removed. To make up for the lack of the ability to create custom tracks, the total amount of tracks has been increased from five to seven. The game also alternates between playing on tracks with one player or many opponents, playing trough all seven tracks twice rather than having a selection between modes at the beginning of the game.

VS. Excitebike is an interesting follow-up to the original Excitebike that adds two tracks not seen before. The Family Computer Disk System port of VS. Excitebike, which is substantially different enough to the arcade game to deserve its own review, is the best way to play the original 8-bit trilogy of sorts. However, now that VS. Excitebike is available to officially purchase for home use, it might be worth checking out if you enjoyed the original game.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

Motorcycle Racing Game Review: Excitebike

Excitebike was an influential early motocross racing game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. There have been many more realistic games released after this, including Nintendo's own Excitebike 64, but the original game still has retro charm.

The game takes place on a two-dimensional stage with various obstacles in the way such as jumps and hills. If there is a small obstacle on the ground, pressing up at the right time lets the motorbike go over it without crashing, and pressing up at the right level to the ground on a jump will prevent a crash as well. 

Pressing the B button will activate a turbo boost, but if it is held for too long, the bike will overheat. A loud warning sound will play when the overheat meter gets too high. There are arrows on the ground that will immediately reset the turbo meter when you hit it. 

This was an early NES game, predating the NES itself when it was released on the Japanese version of the NES, the Family Computer, in 1984. As such, it is very arcade-like with a simple selection of two modes when the game starts. Game A is the time trial or practice mode and Game B lets you play against the patterns that make up the enemy movements in versus CPU mode.  There are ten stages, which increase in difficulty as they go on. The racers become faster and the obstacles become tougher. If you fail to qualify by finishing in third place or better, you will be returned back to the select stage screen.

As it is such an early game, there wasn't much in the way of music here. For most of the game, you will just here the engine running sound or the engine overheat warning sound. There are musical jingles at the start of the game and between stages. The title screen and winning screen have a happy tune, the start of each race is also pleasant, leading into three beeps signaling the start of a race. Failing to qualify will lead to a fail screen with suitably melancholy music.

The thing that really elevates this game past average status and into the hearts of people who played it in the 1980s or 1990s is the track creation system. This is actually surprisingly quite robust, allowing you to choose from any of the obstacles from any of the stages to be used in your creations. The biggest drawback of this was that early carts didn't come with battery saving so the tracks could only be played on the console where they were created, which at release led to hoping that the game didn't become corrupt while waiting for your friends to come to your house to show off your creations.

The expanded version on the Famicom Disk System fixed this issue when it was released in Japan. International players got the ability to save with the emulation-based services like Virtual Console on Wii, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and New Nintendo 3DS as well as Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Classics for Nintendo Switch.

Excitebike is an interesting little game. It isn't much by today's standards, but there's no doubting its impact on the video game industry. It comes from the age when video games were brutally hard, so there's a lot of challenge in there for people who want to complete all ten courses. Today's emulation-based re-releases of the game definitely help with that. Emulation also helps with those who want to play around with the track maker, but it's a shame that the modern re-releases never came with the option to share your creations with friends over the internet.

Addendum October 8, 2025: There is also an arcade version for the PlayChoice-10. This version is identical to the NES version, except there is a time limit in place where the game will quit when time runs out.

Final Verdict:

3 out of 5

Platform Game Review: Super Mario Sunshine

Super Mario Sunshine is the most divisive Nintendo-produced Super Mario game. Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto has even gone so far as to publicly regret that he and his team created it. With the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Classics GameCube emulator for Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscribers incoming, it is the perfect time to look back and see if the title deserves the hate it gets.

When the Nintendo 64 was released in 1996, Super Mario 64 was one of its launch titles. It proved to be a game changer, as it popularized the 3D platformer genre and was instrumental in the change from pixel-based two-dimensional development to polygonal-based three-dimensional development in the video game industry. When the GameCube came around, fans were looking forward to the next installment. The Super Mario 128 tech demo at the 2000 Nintendo Space World trade show had 128 Marios running around the screen, leaving many people hoping that the next Mario game would move the platformer genre forward as much as the previous game. Instead, Super Mario Sunshine was released in 2002 and the next truly inventive 3D Mario game would come five years later on the Wii in the form of Super Mario Galaxy.

Super Mario Sunshine played mostly like its predecessor, except this time Mario is forced to be a janitor of sorts. Mario, Peach, and her Toad entourage take a trip to a tropical island. When they arrive, they learn of a shadowy figure shaped like Mario. This doppelganger is going around the island painting everything and ruining Mario's reputation. As punishment, Mario is given a device named the FLUDD, or Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device. This allows him to shoot out water forward as well as to shoot it underneath him to propel himself upward.

The FLUDD mechanics bring a completely new feel to the game. Bosses are now fought with water rather than jumps and the propelling mechanics allow Mario to hover for a bit. The drawback is that Mario needs to be in water in order to fill the FLUDD and once it is depleted, he has to head back for a refill. This doesn't take long, as Mario is on a tropical island with water all around it.

Alongside the frustration of FLUDD refilling, the setting of the game is among its drawbacks. While Super Mario 64 was filled with level variety, including sunny fields, platforms high in the sky, snowy mountain tops, and undersea exploring, Super Mario Sunshine is a completely tropical experience. The only breakup in the pattern is the challenge stages that take away the FLUDD and make Mario jump across spinning blocks with only his Super Mario 64 moveset. These levels are well made and feel like a true continuation from Super Mario 64, making it weird that there weren't more levels that used this style of gameplay. They were a welcome breakup of the overly familiar setting of every other level in the game.

The other welcome addition to the game is the return of Yoshi as a rideable companion. He does everything he did in Super Mario World, running, jumping, and eating anything he can get his tongue on, provided the would-be food is not covered in spikes or spines. The Sunshine team even brought one of the fun aural pleasantries that came with riding Yoshi on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Whenever Mario rides his dinosaur steed, bongos are be added to the current music track, and once you are no longer atop Yoshi the bongos stop.

Speaking of music, as with all Super Mario games, Super Mario Sunshine is full of wonderful compositions. With each change of audio hardware, Koji Kondo and the music team had more freedom as to what music they could produce. With Super Mario Sunshine, they went all in on the tropical setting and made some island music that lifts the game and gives it a charm that it would likely be lacking otherwise. I sometimes pop in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars compilation on my Switch and play some Super Mario Sunshine just to hear the amazing soundtrack.

The game ultimately does not deserve all of the hate it gets. It's an inventive, enjoyable 3D platform game. The FLUDD does slow down the gameplay, making it feel like something other than a Super Mario game, but judged on its own, it is a fantastic platformer. It didn't light a fire in the industry like its predecessors, so companies did not use the Sunshine formula in its own games. That works out in its favor, however, since its unique gameplay makes it different than almost every other game out there.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Super Mario

Super Mario 64 Review

Super Mario Galaxy Review coming soon

Mario

Mario Kart 64 Review

Super Mario Galaxy Review coming soon

Arcade Boxing Game Review: Punch-Out!!

Most gamers know Punch-Out!! as the story of a small boxer named Little Mac who rises up the ranks against boxers way out of his weight range in order to become the champion.

However, Punch-Out!! didn't begin on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It originated in the arcades with a third-person boxing game with an unnamed boxer. The goofy boxers from different countries originated here, However, it only has one circuit with only six boxers, most of whom returned in the NES classic. These boxers are Glass Joe, the French boxer who lives up to his name, Japan's Piston Hurricane, Turkey's Bald Bull, America's Kid Quick, Italy's Pizza Pasta, and the American champion, Mr. Sandman.

The original Famicom Punch-Out!! lacked the Mike Tyson, or Mr. Dream, fight just like the arcade original. It also began with Glass Joe and ended with Mr. Sandman. Piston Hurricane and Bald Bull also returned. However, Italy didn't get representation in the NES game and the United States of America had to settle with just Mr. Sandman.

The game is a bit hard to get into for fans of the NES game and the Wii game since the third-person view that looks through the body of the unnamed boxer is a very different gameplay representation. The boxer is also the same height as his opponents, making the boxing mechanics vastly different. Once you get used to the different gameplay styles, the goofiness of the game still shines through. There are no Doc Louis intermissions, however. He originated in the NES game and added some extra goofiness to the franchise.

Punch-Out!! for arcades is an important milestone as the start of the well-regarded Punch-Out!! series. However, it is very different from the more well-known NES game. So, if you began your Punch-Out!! gaming with that title, or the Wii sequel, then it will take a while to get used to the differences. When you do, however, it is a fun boxing game with the unique goofiness for which the Punch-Out!! series is known. The arcade version is now available through Hamster's Arcade Archives series on Nintendo Switch, so it has never been easier to play.

Final Verdict: 

3½ out of 5

Action-Adventure Review: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time changed up the formula, successfully bringing The Legend of Zelda series into the 3D era.

The game followed a child Link, who has been raised by the ageless Kokiri. With an ocarina, he can play tunes that act as spells to control time and space around him. One song will send him forward and backward in time. Link resembled the ageless Kokiri he was raised with as a child, but as an adult, he towers over them. Adult Link can explore areas that have changed dramatically as a child, but he can also use the ocarina to go back in time to when he was a child to influence things in order to change them.  This aspect reminds me of Sonic CD, albeit with a lot more interaction between time periods due to the fact that Ocarina of Time is a story-rich action adventure.

The game mechanics have been translated well into the three-dimensional age. Like Super Mario 64 before it, the game is very different from its two-dimensional counterparts, but it retains enough of the formula that it fits perfectly within the universe. Link can now travel in complete three-hundred-sixty-degree directions. However, the basic gameplay is still there. Link has to buy equipment or acquire it from non-player characters. He travels to dungeons where he gains keys to unlock doors and chests. In some chests, he finds dungeon keys that will unlock large dungeon doors and some chests. He also can find equipment in chests that he needs to use to get through future dungeons.

The music has always been a strong point of the series, and that continues here. There is the obligatory updated theme song, but there is also a lot of music that is unique to this game. It's fantastic, taking advantage of the audio hardware of the Nintendo 64, and a lot of them will remain in your head long after playing the game. There are also the usual fun little musical motifs that play when certain actions are completed. The short chest opening music still acts as an earworm when thinking of the game, even decades after its release. The characters, including Link now have grunts and yells. This aspect is kind of charming, and it remains in The Legend of Zelda series to this day. The one drawback is the voice of Link's fairy companion, Navi, who will yell "hey" or "listen" whenever there is a new piece of information. It is cute the first few times, but it becomes grating after a while. There are only a couple of voice clips, which is a shame, as this could have been alleviated with multiple recordings of the lines or by using multiple words.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a great example of how to translate a two-dimensional game into three dimensions. It gives additional abilities that come with the new perspective but keeps the basic gameplay that made the original games so much fun. It also adds a fun mechanic with the titular ocarina which has musical spells that affect time and space. The graphics aren't as impressive as they once were, but the unique style still shines through the incredibly blocky characters and environments. The music is fantastic, and most of the grunting and yelling voice work is charming. Navi the fairy becomes annoying after a while, but she isn't enough to take away the enjoyment of this fantastic game.

Final Verdict:

4½  out of 5

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Review

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Review Soon

Puzzle Game Mega Review: Wario's Woods

Wario's Woods was a puzzle video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994.

Despite Wario in the title role, he is actually the game's villain. The playable character is Toad, who is also known under the much-cuter name Kinopio in Japan. The story finds Wario using a spell to turn residents of the Peaceful Woods into monsters to act as his minions, renaming the forest Wario's Woods. Toad acts as the Mushroom Kingdom's hero to restore the woods to their previously peaceful form.

Monsters of multiple colors lay at the bottom of a tree. Bombs drop down from the top while Toad runs along the bottom picking up the monsters and stacking them on top of each other. Three colors have to be lined up in order to clear them, and one of those colors must be a bomb. Because monsters can be stacked on top of each other until a bomb is on top, it is possible to line up large amounts of colors.

Toad has some tricks up his sleeves to accomplish his goal besides picking up monsters, stacks of monsters, and bombs. He can also kick monsters and bombs across the ground and climb up stacks to pick up specific bombs or monsters.

Clearing all of the monsters ends a round, leading to the next round with even more monsters. If Toad takes too long to clear a round, the ceiling starts to come down in the form of a Thwomp. If the ceiling reaches the monsters, then the round ends.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System has a gradient background for the tree, whereas the Nintendo Entertainment System version is simply a single color. The sprites are also more detailed in the SNES version, but both games play and look great. The music isn't as memorable as many other Nintendo titles, especially spin-offs of the Super Mario series, but it works well for the game.

Wario's Woods is a lesser-known SNES and NES puzzle game that is one of the few games to feature Toad as the playable character. However, it has an art style befitting a Mario series spinoff, and music that fits the game. It is also a lot of fun if you enjoy puzzle games. It was available for Wii and Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, but those services are discontinued now. The easiest way to play the game now is with the emulator available to subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service or by unlocking it in Animal Crossing for GameCube.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Motion-Sensing Multi-Sports Video Game: Wii Sports

In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii, a console with a motion-sensing controller that managed to bring in multiple generations of players, from toddlers to the elderly. A big part of the console's success was due to its pack-in game, Wii Sports.

Wii Sports is the perfect game to showcase the ability of the Wii. It contains five sports, baseball, bowling, boxing, golfing, and tennis. Four of these require just the Wii Remote itself, while boxing requires the included Nunchuk accessory.

They all control well and promote motion while playing. Because of this, they became popular in assisted living facilities and nursing homes. The low-cardio sports are the ones that are likely to keep you coming back. Tennis and boxing are also fun, but they are strenuous and, unless you are in excellent health, it is likely they will be too much. Of the remaining three, bowling is the most fun. Golf and baseball have their strengths, but bowling is just a fun time, especially playing with friends. Because it is a low-impact sport by design, bowling is also the sport out of the five that feels most like playing the real thing.

A cute aspect of this game is the inclusion of Miis, the Nintendo player avatars that originated with the Wii. It's fun to design an avatar that resembles yourself and then play Wii Sports with that Mii. I have Miis for each of my family members, and it is a lot of fun to see them on the screen when I'm playing with my family.

Wii Sports was a bonafide system seller that is even fun to play years later. I still occasionally boot up my Wii with Wii Sports to get some cardio in when the weather outside prevents walking or if my chronic conditions flare up. For the latter, Wii Sports is a godsend. The five included games, baseball, bowling, boxing, golfing, and tennis are all fun games that are done well. Motion-sensing games sometimes get maligned by long-time gamers, but when it comes to Wii Sports it is unfounded. The game is a bonafide Nintendo classic.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

Action-Adventure Game Review: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link went in a completely different route from its predecessor which led to a game that, other than the Philips CD-i games, is the most polarizing entry in the entire series.

The team behind Zelda II opted for a side-scrolling action adventure with platforming and role-playing elements as opposed to the top-down action-adventure sword-fighting of the original. It did have top-down sections, but only as the map that Link walked through to get from town to town. 

Like the original game, Link gained abilities as the game went on that would help him in later parts of his quest. However, this time around, Link earns the ability to cast magic. As such, Zelda II has a health bar as well as a magic bar. Most abilities consume a certain amount of magic, so it is important to use your magic sparingly. Magic can be refilled by talking to specific people in the villages or from certain items dropped by defeated enemies.

Although the combat and exploration were different, it did add some elements that returned in future installments. The villages were explorable and you could talk to villagers who would sometimes do things to help Link or have helpful items in their houses. Future games would revert to using hearts to represent life, but the magic meter bar returned to keep track of things such as energy to cast fire or ice.

The story is, in my opinion, the best part of the game. As this was released in 1987, at a time when cartridge space was tiny due to the cost of memory chips, most of the story was told through the manual. The story in the manual is as follows. Before the events of the first game, the Kingdom of Hyrule was prosperous due in part to a mystical artifact known as the Triforce. The King of Hyrule had two children, a boy, and a girl. After he died, the Triforce of Courage was split into pieces. The prince sought the help of a magician to acquire the pieces of the Triforce that he did not inherit. It was believed Princess Zelda knew much about the Triforce, so the magician interrogated her. He threatened her with eternal sleep if she did not reveal what she knew, and when she remained silent the magician made good on his threats. Distraught by his sister's state, the prince ordered that all female descendants of the Hylian monarchy be named Zelda.

This leads to the game itself. Link sets off to find the missing pieces of the Triforce of Courage to wake the sleeping Princess Zelda. He begins his quest in the palace where the princess lies asleep. If Link fails in his quest, the evil Ganon is resurrected. This leads to a red game over screen, which flickered in the original release but has been toned down in re-releases due to fear of causing epilepsy in the children and adults who play the game. This is accompanied by an evil laugh which is also heard in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and its variations. All of this, combined with the spooky silhouette of Ganon, scared me as a kid. Yet, it also made me determined to do better as I didn't want to see that game-over screen again. I still saw it multiple times, as the game is tough as nails, but it gave me the motivation to keep playing.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a game that doesn't deserve all of the hate it gets. It is the most different of the Nintendo games in The Legend of Zelda series, and it is really difficult. However, it is not more difficult than other games that are still praised from that time, such as the Mega Man series. The Nintendo Entertainment System was chock full of difficult games. The random encounters of enemies on the map were also certainly annoying, but in the late 1980s, this was common in role-playing games developed in Japan. 

The combination of platforming, magic, and role-playing elements was certainly interesting. If this wasn't part of The Legend of Zelda series it would no doubt be better remembered today. The story and atmosphere make it very memorable. The musical pieces, from the classic theme song to the palace combat tunes are also extremely memorable. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link definitely deserves to be played with a fresh set of eyes. You might find yourself actually enjoying it.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

The Legend of Zelda Review

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Review

Action-Adventure Review: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

After the release of the side-scrolling action RPG, Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System follow-up went back to the formula that made the original game so popular.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was a top-down action game much like the original The Legend of Zelda. However, it added many elements that made it the superior game. The story was expanded from the first game's plot. It started off similarly in that the legendary hero Link had to find the powerful Master Sword so that he could rescue Zelda, the princess of the Kingdom of Hyrule.

However, it soon became a much different game when the evil wizard Agahnim accomplishes his goal of sealing the Sacred Realm thus keeping that world plunged into darkness. Now Link has to travel back and forth between the Dark World and the Light World to rescue the young maidens descended from the seven wise men so that they can break the seal.

Unlike its predecessors, A Link to the Past included a world map that could be accessed at any time with the press of a button. This makes it a lot more fun because you don't need to memorize areas or create or use paper maps. It also has new items Link can acquire, such as boots that will allow him to run across areas with his sword stuck out. This makes the game less tedious because you can move quickly across areas.

Music has always been a strong point in The Legend of Zelda games, and A Link to the Past is no exception. It has great, memorable new music as well as a fresh take on the overworld music that uses the extra instruments that are available with the SNES sound chip. The graphics also are pleasing as they take advantage of the upgraded technology available in Nintendo's 16-bit powerhouse.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past improves upon its predecessors in every way. From the great art style and excellent music that takes advantage of the technological leaps between 8-bit and 16-bit hardware, to the larger worlds and an overhead map to make those worlds more enjoyable, A Link to the Past is leaps and bounds above the games that came before.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Review

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Review

Discontinued Free Battle Royal Platform Game Review: Super Mario Bros. 35

It's the tenth of March, and that means it's Mario Day. Today I decided to do something less expected and look at a fun Super Mario game that is still playable only thanks to the hard work of fans. 

Super Mario Bros. 35 was a version of Super Mario Bros. by Arika that was released in 2020 for the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Super Mario series. It was an online game that pit up to thirty-five players against each other. Players would play through the levels of Super Mario Bros. until they died. After that, the game would continue until only one player was left standing.

Along with a leaderboard, the game also kept track of enemies encountered and the levels played. The latter would allow the player to enter a match that started with the level selected.

The levels look, sound, and play just as they did in the halcyon year of 1985. The control is just as tight as it was then, allowing for the precise running and jumping that is needed for this battle royale. The music, graphics, and sound effects are just as they were back then as well, giving the game an authentic retro feel that is all the rage right now.

Like Tetris 99 or Pac-Man 99, which were both also developed by Arika, the game worked as well as it did because it was a classic game that was built to be picked up and played without the need for instruction. This way players new to the game on which it was based would be able to play it just as easily as seasoned players.

Super Mario Bros. 35 is sadly no longer available as of April 1, 2021, since Nintendo only intended to keep it going during Nintendo's thirty-five-year anniversary of Super Mario in 2020. Thankfully, fans have stepped in as they often do and created a server to bring this game back alive once again. It is good that they did, as this fun, free little game is worth playing as long as you have to means to do so.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5