November Updates

Damn, is it November already? Well folks, I wanted to take a minute to announce a couple of different things in regards to our Youtube channel as well as this blog. First, lets dive into the Youtube announcements.

1. In the last three weeks we have jumped from 12 subscribers all the way up to 37! In our opinion, for a relatively new channel that is pretty damn good and we are very happy to have so many quality folks subbed to us as well as "friended".
2. Charles and I have begun a campaign to search for additional friends and subbers in an effort to expand our viewer base. Basically, we are running searches for channels that are not only related to ours, but who have similar interests and the like. Chances are many of you have received a message from us over the last month or so... anyway, that is what it is and we're glad you checked us out!
3. We are in the process of uploading Super Mario World on the SNES and have new commentary and gameplay recorded for TMNT Hyperstone Heist, Darius Twin, Streets of Rage 2 and Rescue Rangers. Originally the aforementioned videos had no commentary and were not representative of the channel so we decided to polish them up a tad. The other playthroughs (without commentary) will likely be taken down as to limit confusion during searches and the like.
4. We have a playthrough that will be uploading after the SMW videos that will feature our first guest commentator! Definitely stay tuned for that playthrough, it will be great!

Alright, now for the blog news! As you may have noticed (focused toward this blogs main followers from the BlogExplosion days) this blog has been dormant for a while. Well, now we are going to shift this blog away from old school reviews and more toward promotion of the YouTube channel. Currently we have a lot of folks clicking over to this blog from the channel, so I thought it would be pertinent to have something relevant over here. Needless to say, the focus will remain on old school games and gameplay.

Okay folks, that is pretty much it for the November Update, I expect to post a couple of more times this month on this blog. We also ought to have an upload daily up until early January when Kris and I take vacation to the Caribbean, at which point we wont post for a couple of weeks (more info to come soon). Thanks for tuning in everyone!

Super Mario Kart 50cc and Sonic 1

It is that time again; mass uploads! That's right, we have uploaded nearly all of the Super Mario Kart 50cc videos and are about to begin the Sonic 1 playthrough over at the youtube channel. Honestly, if you haven't checked out the channel and subbed, you are missing out on some pretty cool stuff! I have to say our Earthworm Jim, Mario Kart and Sonic videos are definitely our most entertaining in terms of gameplay as well as commentary.

In other news, we are still working out the kinks with our guest commentators, so expect to hear some new.. faces/voices in the near future. I guess that is really it for now, like I said earlier, visit and sub!

Thanks again everyone!

Earthworm Jim Playthrough is Uploading!

This message may be coming a bit late, but the playthrough for Earthworm Jim began uploading over on our youtube channel this week and is nigh complete. I've always wanted to use the word "nigh" in some form, so there it is. Anyway, the playthrough was a lot of fun and features not only some pretty smooth gameplay, but also commentary by both Charles and myself. 

In addition to uploading the Earthworm Jim playthrough, we have a lot of great games coming up in the future as well as more commentary. In fact, we have a couple of other commentors lined up from all around the fricken world! That's right, 8-Bit Memoirs is going global... too a degree.

To recap, Earthworm jim is uploaded (all but 1 video which goes up Monday), Sonic 1 and 2 are complete awaiting commentary by Charles and our friend over at the HumanHighways youtube channel and we have some Mario Kart and most likely some original Final Fantasy on the way, so stay tuned!

Chip'N'Dale Rescue Rangers Playthrough

It's that time again! Well, I'm not too sure what I was thinking there, but nonetheless it is uploading time for Kris' playthrough of C&D Rescue Rangers on the NES! I've been trying to get Kris involved in the classic playthrough business over at the youtube channel and I've finally found success... well kind of. So yeah, Kris played through the game although she had no idea I was recording on the DVR.

Honestly, she is pretty good at this game and managed to romp her way through it in a little less than half an hour. I have to confess, for those of you who might have never played this one, this game is easy. Granted, the game is a Disney title created for children, so there it is. Rescue Rangers for the NES is really fun though despite its easiness. If you have never played this one you really ought to check it out. Infact, I am pretty sure there is a sequel. Now although I've never tried it, I am sure that it is just as enjoyable as this one. Anyway, check out the playthrough as well as some of the other great playthroughs on the 8-Bit Memoirs youtube channel!

Thanks for stopping in!

Super Mario 3 Playthrough

The newest playthrough has begun uploading this week, that's right, Super Mario 3 on the NES! Needless to say, SM3 was one of my favorite NES titles growing up and can still throw its weight around with some of the big-boys in terms of entertainment value. Granted, you're more likely to find me playing Resident Evil or Halo or something similar,  but when it is time to go old school, you know where I'll be.

Anyway, the SM3 upload is going to be a little different... this time Charles and I added in a bit of commentary. Granted, things are a little rough the first couple of videos, but then we seem to find a groove and have a good time with it. You have to give us a break, we just play games, we don't usually comment on them. Having said that, if there are no real objections... hell even if there are, we will likely begin doing commentary on many of the playthroughs.

Alright, so SM3 is uploading, Earthworm Jim is in editing (probably no commentary on that one) and Final Fantasy on the NES is in recording right now, so there is quite a bit coming down the pipe at the moment. In fact, we are set to have our 100th video uploaded this week!!! Granted, the 72 Final Fantasy 2 videos helped a bit, but still... One last thing about the FF playthrough on the NES, this playthrough will be MUCH shorter as there will be some edits (fights, towns, traveling) as I really want to focus on the tasks and "story". 

Anyway, feel free to drop by the channel and comment, rate and subscribe!

Darius Twin Playthrough and Commentary on Super Mario 3

As you may have gathered, the playthrough of Final Fantasy 2 on the SNES has finally wrapped up and we have begun uploading Darius Twin for the SNES. The Darius Twin upload is quite short and will likely be complete this coming Monday, but that isn't the "big story". The "big story" is that we will finally have a bit of commentary on the playthroughs now that Charles finally has cleared his insanely hectic schedule...

Alright, maybe his schedule isn't insanely busy, but nonetheless he is back and pitching in with some commentary on the Super Mario Bros. 3 playthrough that will begin on Tuesday or Wednesday over on the 8-Bit Memoirs youtube channel. 

With all that said, I wanted to post the Darius Twin playthrough here in the margin of this blog, so if you are interested in checking it out, feel free to visit the left margin or the actual channel and watch. I pretty much dominate the game (it is on easy) until the final couple of levels where I get my ass handed to me. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I hope you folks check it out!

Gauntlet

Having repressed the memories of mazes of monsters, hidden walls, keys and a steady health meter ticking toward oblivion, I seek to review Gauntlet for the NES. Recently, while surfing Amazon.com for some old school NES games, my wife mentioned the Tengen cartridge for Gauntlet. Having successfully repressed the aforementioned memories, I didn't think much of tossing the game into my cart. Well, about a week later the game arrived and so did the nightmares.

If you have ever played Gauntlet for the NES, you are aware that not only is this game difficult, it is downright unfair. Now that I have that out of my system, let me drop a quick review of the first few levels (as far as I got then and now).

The game begins innocently enough with a quick story scene and a character select screen. You get to choose between four characters with differing stats and skill-sets. In typical fashion, Kris chose the female warrior and I chose the wizard. As you may have gathered, we pretty much got our asses handed to us. It is funny, when you look at the game on YouTube, it doesn't look too hard. In fact, it looks quite easy. Well, this game is anything but easy. The control is extremely rigid. You oftentimes wind up bumping into enemies when you are trying to angle a blast to kill them. Oftentimes you will stop either too far away to attack effectively or you will stop way to close and simply run over the enemy and lose a s@#tload of health (both of which are utter bulls@#t). 

Arggh, I just want to blast this f@#ker not run into him!

Let's see, controls are bulls@#t, what about the rest? The sound and music is what you would expect from an old school NES game so there really aren't any surprises there. As for the gameplay... well you basically need to find your way to an exit while collecting health, treasure and power-ups. Honestly, it isn't too tricky, it is just the fact that the control is rigid and the health ticks away like a timer. 

In all honesty, I hate this f@#king game. I actually wish I had that $2.93 back.

Playthroughs in the margin!

Over the last few weeks I've begun posting numerous playthroughs of classic video games over on YouTube. Needless to say, I've been spending quite a bit of time playing, editing and posting these videos which has caused me to slow down the reviewing aspect of this blog. Well, sometimes things change and we just got to roll with it. I'm hoping to get back to posting a review or two a week on this blog as well as keeping my playthroughs over in the margin where you can watch them or play them as you read different reviews. 

Anyway, I've got quite a few things in the works right now as far as game uploads as well as reviews. I don't expect the two to cross paths very often as I tend to be uploading videos bout two to three weeks after playing them. I plan on keeping my game reviews along the lines of being written shortly after having been played to keep the feel more "organic". 

With that said, I'll be pushing this blog back onto some of the traffic generators to build up some traffic and hopefully some new attention to the YouTube channel as well as this and other projects. Thanks for sticking with me through this "adventure".

Final Fantasy Upload Presses On

Well, the Final Fantasy 2 upload is continuing as planned however it has managed to significantly bog down my iMac as well as iMovie. Honestly, I can't even edit other projects until I finish uploading this one (it is that epic)! I finished my playthrough of Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES last night and was going to upload and edit the playthrough but couldn't even get iMovie to respond. Needless to say, I need to finish the FF upload and then clean up some space to continue on.

Anyway, I've got a handful of SNES games I am looking forward to uploading in the near future, so stay tuned here is some pretty cool retro stuff on the way. 

In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying the Final Fantasy 2 playthrough as much as I did playing it. I had forgotten just how much I really enjoyed that game and also how the story is damn near paper thin. But hey, I'm not here to harp on one of the best SNES titles; I just post the playthrough.

Thanks for dropping in!

Caribbean Cruise this January!

Having spent the last year and a half in the Texas heat, Kris and I have finally decided to book a cruise this coming January. Honestly, playing retro games and uploading video is tiring work. Well, maybe not, but we figured we deserve a break. Having said that, there were a variety of contenders for our vacation plans. Originally we thought about visiting relatives back up in New Hampshire, taking a road trip through New Mexico and Arizona and a host of Caribbean vacations. Well, we ended up choosing the Caribbean vacation and we leave on the 4th.

With that said, there was an insane amount of options on the table now that we had an idea where we wanted to travel. My wife is a giant fan of the all inclusive vacation, whereas I like to explore a bit and run a little more "freelance". Don't get me wrong, an all inclusive vacation package is an attractive thing, it just isn't what I necessarily had envisioned. I mean, yeah you can still leave the resort and travel about, but some of the locations are somewhat desolate once you leave the resort. 

Anyway, Kris and I decided on an Eastern Caribbean vacation where we hope to explore the Mayan ruins of Tulum and Chichen Itza. In addition to exploring the ruins we will likely spend a great deal of time on white sand beaches as well as tipping back some little umbrella drinks. As I said, the trip is booked for the 4th of January through the 10th and should be a lot of fun. Needless to say, the Youtube videos and blogging will likely cease for that week due to our absence. As always, thanks for stopping by and letting me talk your ear off.