While I was watching the direct I already had 1 Metroid game under my belt; Metroid Zero Mission.  Being a remake of the original Metroid for the NES I had a blast playing it.  Only real annoyance for me was trying to get the speed boosts and shinesparks right to snag some tricky missile tanks.  Aside from that I loved playing it and was already in the middle of Samus Returns for the 3DS.  When the Direct came out and the announcement was made I knew I had a ticking clock to finish the rest of the series.  Which meant I needed to not only beat Samus Returns, but Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion as well.  So in essence I had to beat 2 and a half games until October 8th to be fully prepared and up to speed for Dread.  With the clock ticking, I knew I was going to need some help to get through these games quickly.

I don’t claim to be a speed runner.  I like to play games at my own pace and I don’t try to beat them as fast as possible.  I’m willing to give it a shot since the Metroid games have different ending screens depending on your completion time.  Yet these are my first play throughs and even though I had time before October, I still wanted to get these games finished.   I was in the middle of Samus Returns when the Direct hit and I was already over 13 hours into the game.  Mostly because I was going in as blind as possible and trying to figure out the puzzles and how to get missile tanks that were just out of reach.  Some had me scratching my head eventually giving up until I found a new ability I needed to get it.  Eventually I caved and looked up some walkthroughs because I had other things that needed doing and 2 more games to play.  Eventually I did beat it, and vowed one day I would come back to it and beat it with a much better time.

After Samus Returns, I had the most famous of all the games next.  Super Metroid.  A game that many have praised as one of if not THE best SNES game of all time.  This game was nothing but hype, and I was both excited and scared to play it.  Excited to play a masterpiece of a game that I missed out on as a kid, but scared that the game was overhyped for me and I wouldn’t enjoy it like so many others have.  Thankfully my fears of this game being overhyped were quelled the second I started playing.  Going through the space station where Ridley takes the baby Metroid scared me, but motivated me because I wanted to save it.  Full disclosure I did use a guide to help me on where to go.  Zero Mission and Samus Returns help with pointing you in a direction, but Super doesn’t tell you at all.  I was playing this on my SNES Classic and while I could read the manual via a QR code on my phone, I skipped the middle man and looked where to go once things started rolling.  My old fears from getting stuck in Fusion were getting to me, especially with Super Metroid.  I was afraid that if I took one wrong turn or go down the wrong path I would be stuck with no way out.  One area where if I wasn’t using a guide I don’t think I would’ve figured it out would be the glass tube you go through early in the game.  Using a power bomb would break the glass and open up a whole new area to explore.  I don’t think I would’ve figured that out had I not been using a guide.  Now even though I was using a guide, there were multiple times where I solved the puzzles for certain missile tanks before the walkthrough got to them.

If there was one thing I have to critique this game on, it’s the wall jump.  The wall jump was the absolute worst part of this game.  People have mastered this technique flawlessly, there are YouTube videos of gamers doing an infinite wall jump and sequence breaking the game like no tomorrow.  The one part where you are required to do the wall jump took me well over 20 minutes to get out.  It didn’t help that there was a missile tank hidden away in the corner at the very top.  When I finally did nail the wall jump I knew nothing could stand in my way of getting through the rest of the game, and what a game.

Now I had the game I was looking forward to the most, Metroid Fusion.  This was more than just beating the game to catch up, this was a redemption.  My first experience with the game you can read here but after FINALLY beating it I can say for certain that Fusion is my favorite Metroid game.  Replaying it it became very clear to me that as a 12 year old I was VERY impatient when playing Fusion.  Sure having the game be linear with the computer AI Adam telling you where to go has gotten some criticism, but I was thankful for it.  When I was 12 I was just blowing through the text and not reading a single thing other than the manual.  Not reading the text definitely was part of the reason on how I got stuck, also not shooting every square inch of a room to find that one block that would become an exit.

So why is Fusion my favorite?  Yes it was my intro into the Metroid universe, but the game just worked for me.  Super was dark and while I liked it, I loved how Fusion used the GBA’s colors to the fullest.  Playing this on a 101 model GBA made those colors pop like no other game did, only comparison would be Zero Mission since it’s on the same system.  Samus controlled very well and doing the wall jump didn’t drive me up a wall.  Even with a clear mission there was still tons to explore in the game.  Your objective wasn’t always a straight line and along the way you would find little secrets and other ways around an obstacle.  I can definitely say that playing the other games helps with the story threads in this one.  One minor spoiler, I took pause when I saw Ridley’s frozen body in the middle of the game, and then a you discover something later on that definitely boosted the story for me.

So now I’ve beaten all the 2D games, what do I think about them?  Easily one of the best franchises in all of gaming and now one of my top favorites.  I won’t however shy away from the fact that these games are difficult (but fair) and may not be for everybody.  There are aspects of all the games that require you to think outside of the box and perform some tricky maneuvers to snag the harder to get ammo upgrades.  As a kid I was definitely confused on where to go first and even though that was my own fault since I didn’t read the dialogue.  Zero Mission and Samus Returns give some hints on where to go, but Super doesn’t.  You’re truly alone in that game and while for fans that’s the best part of the game, I can see it being frustrating for more casual gamers.  Of course games are subjective and maybe a more casual gamer would love the feeling of isolation and exploration.  There is no shame in playing these games with a guide to help you on where to go but I do encourage shying away from the guide and exploring a bit on your own.  Finding a hidden missile tank out of the blue always put a smile on my face.

If you’ve never played these games I highly recommend giving them a try.  Best part is that you don’t have to play all 4 games like I did, the stories do intertwine a bit, but if all you have access to is Super you won’t be confused as to what is going on.  However I would highly recommend playing Zero Mission and Samus Returns instead of the original NES version of Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Game Boy.  Reason being is that these games are far less forgiving and rely more on the player to make a map of the game.  If you want to collect all of them be warned that the physical versions are getting pricey.  Price Charting has a few of the games loose for over $100, mostly the GBA games.  If you have a Wii U you can download almost all of the games digitally for far cheaper.  Only one you would be missing would be Samus Returns for the 3DS if you go the Wii U digital route.  A great game that isn’t too expensive at the moment.  As a whole I am so happy I played all these games and feel more prepared than ever for Metroid Dread.  At the time of this writing I’m currently playing Dread and all of the tricks I’ve learned from the previous games have helped me tremendously.  Even if Dread is your first entry into the series, it’s an amazing series of games that I’m sure you’re going to love.  True there hasn’t been much, and we’re still waiting on Metroid Prime 4, but hopefully Nintendo will get the hint.  Gamers love Metroid, and want to see more.  I know I sure do.

The post Preparing for Dread appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Cataloging games sounds fun but it can also be a bit of a pain.  Depending on how you do catalog your collection it can be extremely time consuming.  I must say that Gameye makes the process much painless and more streamlined.  Gameye doesn’t just catalog your games, but also your systems, peripherals, and even toys to life (like amiibos).  On the Home Screen you can pick which list to go into and and check or add an item.  What I find pretty impressive is that it doesn’t just have the base models of systems either, but also the special editions as well. So if you were to put in ‘Nintendo 3DS’ in the search bar, nearly every model of 3DS ever made will show up.  However it isn’t a perfect list.  Some of the pictures don’t look the best and some don’t have pictures at all.  While trying to add my PlayStation, I entered PlayStation in the search bar and had to scroll quite a ways to get what I was looking for.  It not only included the original, but every version of the PlayStation ever made.  Points for including so many versions but they missed the mark in making me hunt down the correct entry.

What I do think this app does very well is it includes a barcode scanner and it can recognize certain game cartridges as well.  The barcode scanner is by far my favorite feature because all it has to do is scan the barcode on the game and BAM!  It’s right there and you can put in the condition of the game such as if the game is loose or CIB.  It can even tell whether or not it’s a special edition game or a regular print which is handy.  However what it doesn’t do is tell which one is a “Greatest Hits” reprint or not.  My copy of Final Fantasy Tactics is a Greatest Hits copy but when I scanned the barcode, the regular black border popped up.  This can be rectified by just adding a note telling you which version it is.

The game cartridge scanner is a good idea but isn’t my favorite way to scan games into my collection.  In theory it scans the label of the game, you touch it and then enter the information like the condition of the game and what not.  The selection of systems for this scanner is very limited by supporting only 8 systems.  Hopefully in updates to come more systems will be added like the Game Boy Advance.  I have to manually enter nearly my entire GBA collection because the cart scanner doesn’t support GBA games (yet).  Even with a system that it DOES support it’s still a little shoddy.  To confirm the game you have to touch the image over the label on your phone, but I’ve experienced that the game constantly changes and you’ll click the wrong game a lot.  As you can see the scanner doesn’t recognize my copy of Ice Hockey and instead thinks it’s a completely different game.  Also even when I tap the screen to focus my camera, it doesn’t focus in completely.  Hence the blurry photo.  It happened mostly with my Game Boy titles and when I tried to scan my NES games it barely even registered.  At that point entering the game in manually is way easier than the scanner.  Even for games that are on multiple platforms finding the one you have isn’t hard and much less of a pain than the scanner.

Aside from a few entry woes, the app does have some bells and whistles that are really neat.  The app is connected to pricecharting.com and when you put in an entry, the going prices (like loose, CIB and New) for the game will pop up.  As an added bonus the Metacritic score is also shown for the game if that’s available.  You can customize the games you want to see in your collection by title or release date and if you need to see what games for specific consoles you have you can go to the advance settings to change it.  That would be extremely useful when one is going to a retro game expo and can’t remember what exactly they have in their collection.  The app itself isn’t completely perfect but for what it does well it makes it an invaluable tool for my collection.  Once you get it and start playing around with it it’ll be a breeze to enter new games into your catalog and actually really fun to do.  I would highly recommend this app for my fellow retro game collectors who need a new or a portable way to put keep track of their game collection.

The post GAMEYE: A Pretty Dang Good Game Organizer. appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

In my own personal collection I have one modded console.  A GBA SP-101 model that was refurbished with a Super Famicom shell (pictured above with my original Game Boy Pocket).  When I first got my 101 the speaker slider didn’t work very well and the outer shell was scratched to high heaven.  Other than the cosmetic damage and the sound issue the system worked just fine.  I went to a trusted friend who also was selling modded GBA’s and had him fix/mod it for me.  The speaker now works great, the buttons look amazing, and the design on the shell is terrific.  Ever since I’ve been in love with it and it was cheaper to get it fixed than buy one of the models that were on sale.  Now even though I am thoroughly happy with it there is one tiny issue I have with it.  My R button works but sometimes you have to push it with just the right amount of pressure to register in game.  This was most noticeable while playing Metroid: Zero Mission when I needed to fire missiles, I was pushing the button all the way down and it wouldn’t register the command in game.  I had to press the button just right to activate my missiles.  This did cause me to die a few times during harder boss fights, but I was still able to beat the game.  Thankfully if I keep having issues with it I can take it to my friend to get it fixed no questions asked.

Modding consoles can also change the way you play your games too, by expanding the library your console can play.  I mentioned earlier that you can mod your SNES to play Super Famicom games, my roommate has such a SNES.  It’s sad to say but there are so many great games that came out only in Japan and the only way to experience them is either buy and import a whole new console, or just easily mod your current SNES.  Luckily that mod isn’t difficult to perform at home and maybe some used game stores will offer to do the mod for cheap or for free.  Of course not all mods are easy to do, nor are they the cheapest.  Some require serious technical know, deep knowledge of the system, and how to take it apart then put it back together.  Some online sellers may say the system is modded but once you get it to your living room, it could be completely broken and a scammer has ran off with your money.  If you are interested in getting a modded console, I would highly suggest getting one from a used game store or at a trade show where you can test them out to make sure they work.  Home consoles might be a bit tricky to test out and you may have to take some store’s word on them, but most of the time a used game store would only put out a console for sale if it has been rigorously tested.  Handhelds on the other hand I’ve never had issues asking to test out a system be it at a store or a trade show.

As time wears on our gaming systems will show the passage of time.  My original PlayStation may need repairs soon because sometimes it won’t fully load a game.  Some consoles have to be modded in order to keep functioning the way we want them too.  Finding sealed or CIB consoles is only going to get harder as the years go on so us retro gaming collectors will have to rely on mods to play our favorite games.  Asking some of my retro gaming friends on Twitter, one of the systems people mentioned on having to get modded the most was the SEGA Game Gear.  Mods help the system last longer by fixing the screen as well as the capacitors.  Others mentioned modding systems to run HDMI and not needing to get a converter or like the SNES, make it so you don’t have to worry about the region lock and being able to enjoy games we never originally got in the US.  The general consensus among them was that mods are great when you want/need them, and I agree.  Modify the consoles you want, it all depends on you and your tastes.  I wanted a modded GBA but am totally fine with keeping my Game Boy Pocket un-modded.  If you’re willing to put down some money for an already modded console, go for it.  If you have the technical knowledge to change it yourself or a trusted friend willing to do the job, go hog wild.  As long as you’re aware of the dangers and have done your research, mods can only improve your gaming experience.  Of course if you don’t want to mod anything and want to stay with the original hardware, that’s totally cool too.  You have your consoles the way you want them, modded or not, it’s all up to you.

The post To Mod Or Not To Mod? That Is The Question. appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Now if you’re thinking, “But Ben, backwards compatibility on the Game Boy isn’t anything new.  Why does that make the GBA the best?”  Well let me explain.  Myself and possibly a few others may fancy ourselves retro video game collectors but have a bit of an issue with our bank accounts.  We may not be able to go out and buy older Game Boys like the original 1989 ‘brick’ or the classic teal GBC.  As much as we want these old systems for collecting sakes we need to pick and choose what to get.  Even if we were to get a modded Game Boy that IS backlit it’s still an original Game Boy only with a few bells and whistles.  It will take 4 double A batteries to use and good luck if you happen to snag a GBC only game because those aren’t going to work on that modded Game Boy.  You’ll need the GBC for certain games to work properly.  Luckily those games can be pointed out thanks to the shape of the carts but if you only have the one Game Boy, you’re going to need the other one which may drain more money out of your wallet.  That’s where the GBA comes in because it can play every single Game Boy and GBC game that’s out there.  Doesn’t matter if it’s the original version or the SP, a GBA will play any Game Boy game.  For those like me who want to grow their game libraries and not worry about if it can play on my system the GBA is the way to go.  Sure the older carts will be sticking out quite a bit if you have the GBA or the SP version, but that little eyesore is a small price to pay when being able to play your copy of Link’s Awakening DX or Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.

Besides the GBA being the retro collector’s best friend, the games that came out on the system are quite good and highly sought after.  Sure Nintendo’s personal line of Mario games were all ports of older games, but for someone who didn’t own a SNES until much later in his life the Super Mario Advance series was a great way to play classic games.  Until my brother got Super Mario World (Mario Advance 2) we haven’t played this classic game in over 10 plus years.  Besides Mario you had the gems like Metroid Fusion, Golden Sun, Advance Wars, Zelda: The Minish Cap and Fire Emblem.  It was because of the GBA that North Americans were finally able to experience Fire Emblem and Advance Wars.  These titles stayed over in Japan until Nintendo finally brought them over and now these titles are adored all over the world.  Third party titles also made a splash on the system.  Konami made an amazing Castlevania game while Capcom had a slew of different Mega Man titles to choose from.  Square Enix revived the  Final Fantasy Tactics series on the system as well as re-released classic Final Fantasy games.  Granted they went up to VI while skipping III but they updated the graphics for I and II and put both games on a single cart.  THQ developed some of the best Sonic games at the time with Sonic Advance 1-3 whereas all SEGA really did for Sonic on the GBA was help make a really bad port of Sonic 1.  The GBA did have a ton of ports of older NES and SNES games but I can look past that since now classics like A Link To The Past and Super Mario World were now portable and in some cases made better.  Metroid Zero Mission and Kirby Nightmare In Dreamland are remakes of the original Metroid and Kirby’s Adventure which were on the NES.  Both games were remade from the ground up and are now considered the definitive way to play these classics.  Nintendo did release original versions of NES games for the GBA but made them cheap and easy to get.  The games for the system are top notch and I find myself hunting down GBA games more than I do any other system I own.

Now as much as I love the GBA, that doesn’t mean I don’t like the versions that came before it.  I still have my original Game Boy Pocket and would LOVE a modded brick Game Boy and a modded teal GBC in my collection, however I just don’t have the money for those right now.  The GBA takes out the need to get the older systems at all so if you want a Game Boy system I would shoot for the GBA first and save up for the other versions later.  Modded versions of the GBA do exist so if the original model feels the best in your hands but you really want a backlit screen you can find one.  It may be a bit more expensive but they are out there and are completely worth it.  The Game Boys are truly a testament to handheld and portable gaming, and the GBA perfected it with style and substance.  Sure the handhelds Nintendo put out after are great and the Switch is a phenomenal machine, but the GBA got it right the second you opened the box.

The post Game Boy Advance: Handheld Gaming Perfected. appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

I first got Metroid Fusion Christmas of 2002.  I kept seeing the ads for the game, I liked the trailer and thought, “Hey, I should probably give this game a shot.”  It was also my intro into the Metroid universe.  The only thing I knew of Samus Aran was that she was a character in Smash Bros.  Heck I didn’t even know she was a woman until I was reading the instruction manual for Fusion.  At first I wasn’t sure about the game, but the more I played it and the more I explored I was loving it.  It took a while, but eventually I figured out what I needed to do to progress through the game.  Also for a 12 year old, the game was spooky.  Not hard core Resident Evil scary, but scary where I wouldn’t be expecting a monster in the next screen and all of a sudden jumping when said monster attacks me.  Also the infected suit chasing you throughout the whole station you’re in is just nerve-racking.

So what happened that drove me to not beat it?  Well I got stuck.  It wasn’t like Mega Man where I couldn’t make a certain jump but I beat this boss and couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out where I needed to go next.  I kept exploring, kept searching, and got somewhere where I think I destroyed a thing I wasn’t supposed to destroy and I couldn’t get past a certain obstacle.  After that frustrating moment I would put the game away and play something else for a while, then try again, but eventually I just stopped entirely.  The internet was in its infancy back then so I didn’t know I could look up strategy guides or walkthroughs online yet.  The final nail in the coffin came when I was in high school.  A buddy of mine wanted to get a GBA and since I already had a GBA SP, I didn’t need my original Arctic White one anymore.  So I sold the system and gave him a game to play with it.  Of course the game I gave him was Metroid Fusion and ever since I’ve been wanting to play that game again.

So where am I going to go from here?  Well luckily I can find a copy of Metroid Fusion for a decent price at my local collectible show yet when I do I don’t have the money for it.  I will eventually get the game again and beat it in earnest, it’s one of those things where I’ve been bummed out at my younger self because I gave up after a while.  Thankfully the game went to a good home where I hope it was beaten, but soon I will go back and beat it.

The post Games That Haunt Me: Metroid Fusion appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

The game was released in North America in September of 2003 and came out to positive reviews.  It was like the 1997 PlayStation game though not a direct sequel, but the big difference in combat was the Law System.  See when you start a fight (Or ‘Engagement’ as the game calls it) there is a Judge that oversees the battle and has a set of laws for the fight.  These laws could be “No Swords”, “No Potions”, etc.  The trade off is you can earn Judge Points for using the recommended way of fighting, say you can’t use swords but you can use black magic all you want, the Judges will award you these points and once a character gains 10 they can summon a powerful ally.  These laws can range from the obvious to the “Wait I can’t use what?”  As the game goes on, more and more laws are added to the battle and can really mess up your play style and they get more and more obscure.  I can’t tell you how many times I wold be in a fight, commit to an action to win, then find out it’s against the law and have my character thrown into jail (yes there is a jail in this game and you can get your characters sent there.  It’s quite funny).  Besides from the Laws system the game has your standard Final Fantasy classes and jobs.  You got knights, black/white mages, dragoons and all sorts of jobs your characters can take.  Each unit has a name and you can change their jobs based on their stats and what weapons they are attuned for.  Unlike some games (Fire Emblem I’m looking at you) when a unit falls in battle they won’t stay dead.  However!  There are some areas in FFTA where there are no Judges, laws, and if one of your characters DOESN’T get revived with a Phoenix Down then they STAY dead.  Besides those areas there’s no fear in losing a unit.

The story is something we’ve heard before but it’s still fun to watch play out.  4 friends find an enchanted book, get sent to a great fantasy world, main character wants to go home but his best friend doesn’t, fights break out and hijinks ensue.  The best part of the story are the character moments throughout the game.  Especially when Marche (the main character) meets up with his classmates who don’t want to go back home.  He desperately does, but his best friend is not only a prince but his mom is also alive and well and his dad is a respected knight.  With motivation like that, you can’t help but feel a tad bit like the bad guy for taking your best friend’s dream come true away.

Yes I know, the name on the right is a little funny but I was going through a HUGE Final Fantasy VII binge at the time.

I remember playing FFTA for hours on end when I got it.  My characters were so overpowered and I loved playing the game. My biggest gripe however, is that I reached a certain part of the game, where I was in a constant loop of missions that required certain items, and the only way to GET these items was through other missions.  It was a constant loop of trying to get that one item to do a certain mission and I couldn’t figure it out for the life of me.  I checked Wiki’s, online strategy guides, but couldn’t figure out where exactly in the game I was and what I needed to do.  It was so frustrating that I spent over 120 hours playing the game, only to get fed up and starting over.  Erasing the save file where I had so many super strong characters, but no progress to show for it.  I know I must’ve missed something in my initial play through and definitely plan to go back and play it again.  Even with the frustration of not knowing how to progress late game, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a great tactics game to start out with and play.

The post Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: A Really Great Tactics Game appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.