{"id":4878,"date":"2010-08-14T11:29:21","date_gmt":"2010-08-14T17:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/?p=4878"},"modified":"2010-08-14T11:29:21","modified_gmt":"2010-08-14T17:29:21","slug":"prime-pixel-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/14\/prime-pixel-picks\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime Pixel Picks!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So last weekend I was over at a friend\u2019s house and we were playing an Xbox LIVE indie game called Protect Me Knight. It\u2019s a new game, but visually and musically appears like a NES 8-bit title! We played it nearly the whole time I was there, and it got me to thinking about other new games done in 8-bit style. So I figured I would write a blog about other notable 8-bit styled new games. Now, these aren\u2019t remakes of old games or anything, so keep that in mind.<\/p>\n

Protect Me Knight<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a Japanese Xbox LIVE Indie game done by a company called Ancient. It\u2019s headed by Yuzo Koshiro, famous video game music composer. He did the 8-bit tunes for Protect Me Knight, too. In fact, one reviewer said the music sounded like the NES classic Legacy of the Wizard, and it should, as that game\u2019s music was done by Yuzo Koshiro as well.<\/p>\n

Protect Me Knight is a single screen four player beat \u2018em up. The object is to protect the princess in the middle of the screen from getting killed by roves of goblins and other monsters. If she dies it\u2019s game over. So there\u2019s a bit of tower defense gameplay here, too. You can pick from four different classes: Fighter, Mage, Amazon, and Ninja, each with their own upgradable skills and abilities. You can also build and fortify your barriers protecting the princess if you have enough \u2018heart points.\u2019<\/p>\n

It feels just like a NES game, but there are some differences here and there. First, there is no way the NES could handle this many monsters on the screen at once! Plus, the game uses nearly all the buttons on the Xbox controller, and takes advantage of wide screen TVs to show yours and the princess\u2019 stats. Only problem with this game is the multiplayer is local only, no online. Which is too bad, but it\u2019s still fun to play with friends, and you can\u2019t expect TOO much from an indie game. It\u2019s only 240 points, and while that\u2019s expensive for an indie title, it\u2019s well worth the three bucks. Also, there is a little cut scene at the beginning where you must push the A button to blow into a cartridge to get it to work!<\/p>\n

My favorite part is the bad \u2018Engrish\u2019 translations in the game text. I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s on purpose or not, but at the end credits, they even misspell their own company\u2019s name \u201cAncint.\u201d I also like the descriptions of the characters on the demo screen. My favorite is the Amazon. I\u2019ll directly quote her bio:<\/p>\n

Energetic woman but whose mind feel the dark-side. She wanna kill Ninn \u2018cause he said, \u201cWow, pretty a**.\u201d In fact, she got tired.<\/p>\n

Retro Game Challenge<\/strong><\/a> and its Japan only sequel <\/strong>Game Center CX 2<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

These DS games are based on a TV show in Japan called Game Center CX where a popular Japanese comedian tries to complete notoriously hard NES games. Thanks to XSEED, we got the first game in the US under the name Retro Game Challenge, and it\u2019s totally awesome. The host of the show transports you back in time to the 80\u2019s and forces you to play old games to win and make it back to the present. All the games are made up, but play like classic arcade and NES games. There\u2019s a Galaga clone, a few simple platformers, a top down racing game, an RPG, and the finale is a totally awesome ninja game that\u2019s a mix of Metroid, Mega Man, and Ninja Gaiden.<\/p>\n

I loved the first game so much, I imported the sequel even though I don\u2019t know a lick of Japanese. I had to use a guide for the RPG and visual novel games, though. But the rest of the fictional games were fun and simple, and included a Pac-Man clone, a couple of Super Mario Bros. rip-offs, and even a Tetris-like falling block puzzler!<\/p>\n

Half-Minute Hero<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Imagine an 8-bit styled RPG where you must complete each quest in 30 seconds. Sounds impossible? Not the way Half-Minute Hero is designed! Everything from battles to leveling up is super streamlined and it\u2019s really not so much an RPG as it is a clever action game with RPG elements thrown in. You just have to play it to see for yourself. It\u2019s quickly become one of my top five favorite PSP games, and I hear they just announced a sequel in Japan! Come on, XSEED, pick that one up, too!<\/p>\n

3-D Dot Game Heroes<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was one of the first games I got for my PS3, which I purchased earlier this year. It\u2019s a 3-D game, but the graphics are all blocky and pixelly. You can design your main character (I made Namco\u2019s Valkyrie) in this shameless Zelda clone (it even uses boomerangs, bombs and arrows and such). But even though it\u2019s a blatant classic Zelda rip-off, it\u2019s a really fun one. Even the text makes fun of other games! In the first hour alone I read references to Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, and even Mega Man 2! If you have a PS3 and love classic Zelda quests, you\u2019ll definitely want to get this one!<\/p>\n

PictoBits<\/strong><\/p>\n

This DSiWare puzzler requires you to tap on blocks to match colors, which will make a classic sprite from a famous NES game like Super Mario Bros., Zelda, and other Nintendo gems. As you add more pixels, the music adds more notes and when your sprite is finished, you\u2019ll be listening to an awesome 8-bit remix of classic game tunes, too! Totally worth the 500 point download price if you like puzzles and NES classics. And it\u2019s a really challenging game, too!<\/p>\n

Dark Void Zero<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is another DSiWare game. Earlier this year, Capcom released a game for the big consoles called Dark Void (I hear it flopped). But to promote it, they made up a fake history about a \u2018lost\u2019 NES game and released it on the DSi download service. What\u2019s funny is that one is better than the game it was trying to promote! Dark Void Zero feels like a classic Capcom game like I would\u2019ve rented as a kid. It plays like a cross between Strider, Mega Man, and a bit of Rocketeer. It\u2019s also pretty tough. And similar to Protect Me Knight, you must blow into the microphone to clear the dust off of a game cartridge! It\u2019s short and sweet, but still worth the 500 Nintendo points!<\/p>\n

Mega Man 9<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>Mega Man 10<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I like the IDEA behind a new Mega Man sequel done like an 8-bit game. I still don\u2019t think they quite get the gameplay down and what makes Mega Man games fun. I think they made them a little bit TOO hard, myself. Luckily, MM10 has an Easy Mode. Still worth the download price if you like Mega Man. I can\u2019t wait to see what kind of game Mega Man Universe is going to be!<\/p>\n

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>its sequel<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This is a clever PSP game where you dig dungeon maze tunnels and create 8-bit monsters to protect your demon from pesky heroes! Yeah, you get to be the bad guy in this one. Only problem is it\u2019s a really difficult game and you make monsters through a little food chain ecosystem that\u2019s kind of hard to grasp sometimes. I recommend the sequel, as it\u2019s a bit more forgiving.<\/p>\n

Cave Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

This indie PC game has been around for years, but it\u2019s still good! It\u2019s an action shooter platformer similar to Metroid and Mega Man. I played it on the PSP (don\u2019t ask me how). I know there is a WiiWare version, but I hear it has some problems so I haven\u2019t downloaded it yet. If you haven\u2019t already, I do recommend that you give it a try, though. It\u2019s a really fantastic and compelling classic-styled game.<\/p>\n

Pac-Man Championship Edition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah I said I wasn\u2019t going to talk about remakes of games, but I just had to mention this one. And even though it sports new graphics, Pac-Man and the ghosts remain their pixelly selves. This new take on the classic Pac-Man gameplay is super fun. It\u2019s one of the best LIVE games and one of the reasons why I bought an Xbox 360 in the first place! I hear they\u2019re making a DX edition by the end of the year in time for Pac-Man\u2019s 30th Anniversary. And in arcades soon will be a similar four player NEW Pac-Man game called Pac-Man Battle Royale! I hope I can find an arcade that\u2019ll have that one!<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, as far as arcade game remakes go, my favorite one is NOT a Pac-Man game! My favorite is actually the Game Boy Donkey Kong remake! Anyone who\u2019s ever played that one knows EXACTLY what I\u2019m talking about!<\/p>\n

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like I said in previous blogs, I have NO interest in seeing the movie. It just looks\u2026dumb. But the game based on the movie, which is styled after 8-bit and 16-bit side scrolling co-op beat \u2018em ups, looks awesome! I haven\u2019t played it yet, but once it hits Xbox LIVE, I\u2019m definitely going to give it a try!<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all I can think of off the top of my head right now. In the comments section, let me know your favorite 8-bit styled yet new games, and if there\u2019s any hidden gems I may have missed in my blog! Later! –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So last weekend I was over at a friend\u2019s house and we were playing an Xbox LIVE indie game called Protect Me Knight. It\u2019s a new game, but visually and musically appears like a NES 8-bit title! We played it nearly the whole time I was there, and it got me to thinking about other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}