The Gaming Historian - SNES 2

The Super Nintendo Entertaiment System. For anyone who grew up in the 1990's, this might have been their preferred console of choice. Released in August of 1991, it brought graphics and sound that were superior to its #1 rival, the Sega Genesis. Following the success of the NES, the Super Nintendo was another hit for Nintendo. Then came the Sony Playstation. With it's CD-based games and amazing graphical capabilities, Nintendo had to move on. On September 29th, 1996, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 to North America. Despite the rise of CD-based consoles, Nintendo stuck with cartridges for their new console. Then, one year later, in October of 1997, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo 2, a smaller, lighter version of the Super Nintendo. Why?

If you have seen my earlier episodes, I have already covered the NES 2. Now, the NES 2 had some noticeable improvements over the original model and was probably worth buying. But what about the SNES 2? Why even buy this model? I'll admit it, it looks alot sleeker and its much more compact, but there is little incentive to upgrade from the older model. But Nintendo didn't make the SNES 2 for those already owning a Super NES. It was for newcomers to video games, and an excellent budget system.

By examining the specifications of the SNES 2, its easy to determine that the SNES 2 was much cheaper to produce than the first model. By taking out features that seemed unnecessary and redesigning the system, Nintendo saved alot of money by scrapping the old model and continuing with the redesigned model. Many gamers thought the Super Nintendo was being redesigned to incorporate the CD based attachment Nintendo was rumored to release. But the SNES 2 had no expansion slot like the original version. The SNES 2 was released in October of 1997, a full year after the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo 64 retailed for 199 dollars, and the Playstation retailed for around 150 dollars.

With the approaching 1997 holiday season, Nintendo surveyed that many people were still avid 16 bit gamers. They also noticed that many consumers were hesitant to commit to the larger price tags of consoles. Thus, to appeal to those who never had a Super Nintendo, or those who wanted to get into gaming, they released the SNES 2. It retailed for 99 dollars and came bundled with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. It's a perfect successor to the last Super Nintendo Bundle, which came with Super Mario World. They also released a similar looking model in Japan, named the Super Famicom Jr. Surprisingly, one month later, Nintendo released their last first party game for the Super Nintendo: Kirby's Dreamland 3, on November 27th, 1997.

So while not technically a "better" Super Nintendo, the SNES 2 is still a nice substitute for the original. It fits nicely on to shelves, is very lightweight, and it still does what the Super Nintendo is supposed to do: Play games. Production of the Super Nintendo ended in 1999 in North America. By then, the next generation of consoles were in full swing. Still, the Super Nintendo enjoyed a long life span and gave us lots of great games. If you can find a SNES 2, It's a nice piece to add to your collection. I picked mine up at a yard sale for about 10 dollars. If you wanna pay full price, they are about 50 to 60 dollars.

To wrap this up, I wanted to mention that since the SNES 2, Nintendo has not released a redesigned home console in North America. The Nintendo 64 did have some color variations, as did the Gamecube, but thats about it. Will there be a new Wii model for us in the future?...We'll see!

Game Quickie - Super Adventure Island (SNES)

Master Higgins returns in the third installment of the Adventure Island series, but is it worth playing if it is so frustrating?

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - 10-Yard Fight (NES)

10-Yard Fight may be the first football game on the NES, but it certainly is not the best.

Recommended? NO

Game Quickie - Pinball (NES)

The appropriately named Pinball was an original NES launch title but is it worth picking up?

Recommended? YES

Game Quickie - Mighty Final Fight (NES)

Mighty Final Fight is a humorous version of the original Final Fight, and was released on the NES in 1993. How does it stack up to the rest of the series?

Recommended? YES

The Gaming Historian - Halloween Special

In my opinion, one of the scariest things in life is history. All the death...destruction...chaos. Where do you think we got the ideas for Dracula? What about the White Witch of Rose Hall? I mean, this stuff is real! Regardless, scary events, people, and ideas can all be combined into video games, creating truly horrific experiences. So, lets talk about Halloween!

Celtic farmers believed that on one day every year, the season of life would meet the season of death. When the dead would walk amongst the living. Tribes would light up great bonfires and dress up as demons to distract the dead. This holiday was known as Sawin. Because this holiday was considered Pagan, Pope Gregory III established All Hallows Day on November 1st, which honored all the saints throughout history. He hoped to distract the Celts with this holiday and get their minds off demons and the dead. The Europeans accepted All hallows Day, but decided to keep their traditional holiday as well. Sawin then became known as All Hallows Eve...which eventually turned into Halloween. During the mid 1800's, while Ireland was going through a Potato Famine, many Irish immigrants came over to America and brought the holiday with them. Bonfires became Jack o Lanterns, and soon the holiday of Halloween was established. But what about Trick or Treating? Back in the middle ages, this was known as souling, where poor beggars would go from door to door praying for the souls of the dead in exchange for food.

But you didnt come here to learn about THAT did you? You want to know about games! Horror and games go hand in hand. It's the thrill of horror meeting the excitement and fun of games. Games like Resident Evil...Silent Hill...Alone in the Dark. But where did the Survival Horror genre orignate from? Believe it or not...it dates all the way back to 1981 on the Sinclair ZX81. If you want to play the very first survival horror game, check out 3d Monster Maze on the ZX81. Not only was it one of the first survival horror games, it was also one of the first 3d games and one of the first FIRST Person games on a home computer.

The game starts out in a carnival I'm assuming, where a creepy looking clown challenges you to enter the maze with T-Rex for "entertainment and exhilaration." If you accept, you are thrown into the Maze with the monster. Due to hardware limitations, the game has absolutely no sound, making it even more creepy. There are only three buttons to learn, go left, go right, or go forward. While trying to find your way out of this maze, a body of text updates you on the T-Rex's whereabouts with statements such as "Rex Lies in Wait", "He is hunting for you" "Footsteps approaching" "REX HAS SEEN YOU" and "RUN HE IS BESIDE YOU" or "RUN HE IS BEHIND YOU." If you die, you are sentenced to roam the maze forever. You can appeal this sentence and have a 50% chance of either starting all over (the game resets) or you are put back into the last maze.

For such a simple game, it has quite a twisted plot. Malcolm Evans, the creator of this game, intended it to be a learning program. Colleagues suggested they add the T-Rex for entertainment, and so you have 3d Monster Maze. Unfortunately this game was never released in the United States. I'm pretty sure it is free to play online though, so turn out the lights and check it out. It's kinda creepy, and a landmark achievement for the video game industry. Now many people, including the Guiness Book of World Records, claim that Alone in the Dark is the first 3d survival horror game. However, I feel that this game should be considered the first.

Alot of people have been asking for the history of the Resident Evil and the Devil May Cry games. Lucky for you, one person had a hand in both. Shinji Mikami. Shinji Mikami, born on August 11th, 1965 is the creator of the Resident Evil Series. After working on a few disney games, including Goof Troop and Aladdin on the Super Nintendo, Mikami started development on a horror adventure game. Capcom had previously released a horror adventure game called Sweet Home on the Famicom, which was based on the movie of the same name. Mikami wanted to take the genre a step further.

The result became known as Biohazard (or Resident Evil to us North American folk). It featured fully 3d characters, pre-rendered backgrounds, and zombies. For promotional purposes, it was deemed a survival horror game. It became one of the best selling games on the Playstation. Resident Evil is one of the top franchises for Capcom to this day. It's popularity even spawned some live action films...which got some mixed reviews.

With the release of the Playstation 2 looming, work began on a new Resident Evil. Hideki Kamiya was set to direct with Shinji Mikami producing. They visited Spain to visit several historical castles for level design ideas. During early development however, many felt the game strayed too far from the resident evil formula. Instead of abandoning the idea, it simply turned into Devil May Cry. Devil May Cry is like the father of intense action games, such as God of War. Not only is it a frightening experience, it's extremely entertaining with puzzle solving, awesome boss battles, and even the awesome game over screen.

Today, Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya are working together at a new company, Platinum Games. Apparently they are developing a new game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 called Bayonetta, and will apparently "blow the doors off the action genre."

The Gaming Historian - Kirby

Kirby is one of Nintendo's most popular franchises. Isn't he adorable? Kirby was created for beginner gamers, but he eventually ended up becoming a staple character for Nintendo and appealing to a wide audience of gamers. But where did this pink puff ball come from? The answer may surprise you. Kirby has always been such a simple character. He's basically a smiley face with two little arms and legs. Nevertheless, he remains one of Nintendos most popular characters, appearing in many different video games, a television show, even manga.

It began...as a blob. It was 1991, and at the young age of 19, Masahiro Sakurai was given the task by his company, HAL Labs, of creating a game boy game for beginners that would be easy to complete.

Sakurai had his idea in place. But before they could begin graphics and coding for the game, he needed a placeholder graphic for his main character, who he dubbed Popopo. So, he drew a blob with two eyes and a smile. Over time, Sakurai and the rest of his staff began to grow quite fond of their little blob. It was cute....simple....it seemed perfect in a game for beginners. Sakurai decided to expand on this character. He added two arms and two legs, and presto, Kirby was born. After the game finished, development, HAL Labs took their creation to Nintendo. His name was soon changed from Popopo, to Kirby.

So how exactly do you come up with the name Kirby? The most common belief is that Kirby is named after the vacuum cleaner company, Kirby. It would make sense since a vacuum cleaner sucks, and sucking is kirbys main ability. However, Another belief is that he is named after John Kirby, Nintendo of America's former lawyer who represented Nintendo in the case vs Universal Studios over Donkey Kong. Theres also a rumor that John Kirby received a copy of the game Kirby's Adventure and apparently he got a good laugh out of it. However, Sakurai has been quoted as saying he does not remember how he got his name.

When Kirby was presented to Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario, wanted Kirby to be yellow. Sakurai however, intended Kirby to be pink. Sakurai had his wish granted, and the first game, Kirby's Dream Land (known in Japan as Kirby of the Stars) was released. In the first game however, Kirby lacked the ability to copy enemies. All he could do was suck them in and shoot them out at enemies. The game was relatively easy, but was popular nonetheless. Kirbys Dream Land was in black and white due to being on the Game Boy. Thus, when it was brought to North America, Kirby is depicted as being completely white on the cover.

Less than a year later, Kirbys Adventure was released on the NES. This time, he was correctly shown as pink on the North American cover. Kirby's Adventure introduced Kirby's copy ability. Sakurai added this ability to give the more hardcore gamers some gameplay mechanics to mess with and make the game more challenging. Beginner gamers could still suck up enemies and spit them out as usual as well. Kirbys Adventure was released on May 1st, 1993 in North America. The game really pushed the NES to the limit with its impressive colors, catchy music, and scrolling levels.

After the spinoff games, Kirbys Pinball land, Kirbys Avalanche, and Kirbys Dream Course, Nintendo released the finest evolution of the Kirby series with Kirbys Dream Land 2. It featured new powerups, puzzle solving, and animal friends to help Kirby out. The game also had increased colors when played on the Super Game boy. Kirbys Dream Land 2 is my personal favorite in the Kirby series, because growing up, it was probably the #1 game in my Game Boy. It was just that good. I was obsessed with finding every little secret in the game, as well as experimenting with all of the different powers that combined with each animal.

Kirby reached a milestone in his career with Kirby Super Star, released on September 20th, 1996 on the Super Nintendo. It featured 9 different games on one cartridge, and is widely regarded as the greatest kirby game of all time. A remake of the game, Kirby Super Star Ultra, is currently being made for the Nintendo DS.

After his success with the Kirby games, Sakurai and Hal Labs created a new game that many people are familiar with. Super Smash Bros., which premiered in 1999 on the Nintendo 64. Sakurai left HAL in August 2003 and worked with Q Entertainment. This collaboration resulted in Meteos, an addicting puzzle game released in 2005. He then formed his own company, Sora. He is currently working on new titles since completing Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

The Gaming Historian - Sega Dreamcast (Part 2)

The launch of the Playstation 2 on March 4th, 2000 was a huge success for Sony. On launch day in Japan, 600,000 Playstation 2's were sold. Since there were only about 1 million Dreamcasts sold in Japan, and about 2 Million sold in the United States, Sega concentrated their efforts in the US Market. Peter Moore stated "you have to fish where the fish are biting." Sega also split up their in-house development. Rather than keep top designers such as Yuji Naka, who programmed Sonic the Hedgehog, and Yu Suzuki, creator of Shenmu under Sega's roof, they split them up into independent developers for the Dreamcast. This was actually a smart move, as these new independent developers could experiment and vastly expand the Dreamcasts library. However, the power of the Playstation 2 was obvious. Many developers of Dreamcast games hoped to see their creations on the Playstation 2 one day.

On March 10, 2000, Microsoft announced the X-Box. Microsoft noticed the Playstation 2 taking over living rooms and having the ability to do more than just play games. Their new console was being made to compete against that. Sega was now on a clock. Either they build up their user base now, or fall. Sega of America soon announced SegaNet. For 21.95 a month, you could take advantage of Sega's internet service, which would allow fast online gameplay, web browsing, and more. If you signed up for a 2 year subscription, You would recieve a Dreamcast and a keyboard for free. However, things were still not looking good. Many executives at Sega openly advocated ending Sega's hardware business. The playstation 2 was on it's way, and the Gamecube was announced. But, Sega had a small gleem of hope in September of 2000.

Due to part shortages in Japan, Sony could not ship as many consoles to the US as it had hoped. Not only that, but the launch titles for the Playstation 2 were not impressive. It also cost twice as much as the Dreamcast. Dreamcast sales surged during the 2000 holidays, but it was short lived. On January 24th, Sega announced that they would discontinue the Dreamcast. They had plenty of inventory stocked up, and with bad sales, there was no need to produce any more consoles. Sega officially stated they were pulling out of the hardware business and now making games for multiple platforms.

Many new games were still being released for the Dreamcast and even some accessories, such as a Broadband Adapter that replaced the 56k dial up connection. But basically, the system was ending. It took 22 months for Sega to sell 6.5 million Dreamcasts. It took Sony only 15 months to sell 10 million Playstation 2s. So here is the ultimate question: what went wrong for Sega?

Here are a few reasons why the Dreamcast failed.

#1: The Playstation 2. It was simply much more powerful than the Dreamcast, and the inclusion of a DVD Drive really hurt. Believe it or not, DVD's were not very popular in Japan before the Playstation 2. After the PS2's release, the DVD market exploded. The Xbox and Gamecube announcements were like a nail in the coffin.

#2: The Dreamcast lacked third party support. Many of the Dreamcast games were made by Sega, and some third party developers such as EA Sportsrefused to make games on the Dreamcast after the Saturns failures.

#3: Game Piracy. During the release of the Dreamcast, another new technology was gaining popularity on PCs....the CD Burner. Hacker groups online soon began ripping the images off the GD-Roms via the Serial port or Broadband Adapter, and creating images that could be put on a CD-R. Because the Dreamcast requires no hardware modifications to read CD-R discs, pirated Dreamcast games were extremely popular.

As of now, 10.6 Million dreamcasts have been sold. So why do people love the Dreamcast? Maybe its because it felt like a real gaming system. After Sega's previous flops, the Dreamcast was a breathe of fresh air and a reminder that Sega could still make awesome systems. Even today, independent developers make games for the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast is just a great console, and an amazing finale for the company. Sega...you will never be forgotten...your name will forever be immortalized in history.

The Gaming Historian - Sega Dreamcast (Part 1)

Throughout history, empires have come and gone. The Mongols, The Romans, The Franks, they were all once great empires of the known world. Even in the video game world, once great companies eventually fall. Look at Atari. The once powerful company that brought gaming into households now publishes Dragonball Z fighting games. One company that will never be the same, is Sega. What was once the #1 rival to Nintendo's hardware machine now makes software for various companies, including Nintendo. Sega's final days were with the Dreamcast, the first 128 bit home console, and the first home console to come with a modem out of the box. Although the Dreamcast is basically dead, it is still considered one of the greatest gaming systems ever put out by Sega.

Our story begins with the Sega Saturn. After Sega's repeated attempts to keep the Sega Genesis alive with the Sega CD and the Sega 32x add-ons, they finally decided to release an actual new 32 bit console. It was supposed to be launced in September of 1995, but Sega wanted to jump ahead of the new Sony Playstation, so they pushed the release date forward to May 11th, 1995. This move irritated many developers for games of the Saturn, who suddenly did not have time to take advantage of the saturn launch day. Despite this, Sega launched their new 32 bit console May 11, 1995, about 4 months before the release of the Sony Playsation. However, Sega was about to get a rude awakening.

I'm going to explain this pretty clearly. The Playstation launched on September 9th, 1995. By this time, 80,000 Saturns had been sold. On the first day alone, Sony had sold over 100,000 Playstations. I dunno if I can describe that as an epic fail or just a big slap in the face. To make matters worse, the Nintendo 64 launched on September 29, 1996. Nintendo sold 400,000 systems within four months. Suddenly, Sega was in 3rd place. By 1997, Sega controlled only 12 percent of the console market. It was obvious that this once prominent company was slipping away. Sega realized their situation and decided on their last ditch effort. A brand new 128 bit system. Codenamed "Katana" in development, Sega officially announced the Dreamcast on May 21, 1998. It would include a 56k Modem for online play, stereo sound, and a 3d graphics chip made by NEC. The games were made on GD-Roms, which were double density CD's that could hold over 1 GB of data.

The Dreamcast launched on November 27, 1998 in Japan. The launch seemed successful, but due to a shortage in graphics chips from NEC, Sega felt it went horribly wrong. Sega shipped about 450,000 systems in the first few weeks, but felt "200,000 to 300,000 additional units could have been sold if we could have had enough supply [graphics chips]." Then came the worst news Sega could possibly imagine. On March 2nd, 1999, Sony officially announced the Playstation 2 in Tokyo, Japan. The Playstation 2 was expected to launch in the next year and would have amazing capabilities. To compare, the Sega Dreamcast could render 3 million polygons per second. The Playstation 2 could render 60 million polygons per second. The Dreamcast provided 56k dial up capabilities, while the Playstation 2 would support broadband internet. It would also have games on both a CD and DVD. The Playstation 2 would also be capable of playing DVD movies.

Even before the launch of the Dreamcast in America, the system was already obsolete. The Playstation 2 was simply a more powerful machine, and with an expected release date in the next year, Sega's plan was this. Install a huge fanbase and provide alot of great software before the arrival of the PS2. Sega's Bernard Stolar responded to the PS2 with "Sony's machine sounds impressive, but the fact is, its still on paper. Dreamcast is here now. While Sony is working to create that hardware, Sega will already be in the marketplace with Dreamcast."

As launch day approached however, Sega ousted Stolar and replaced him with Peter Moore. Yes, Peter Moore. Many know Peter Moore today as the President of EA Sports and as the former vice president of Microsofts Interactive Entertainment Business division. Peter Moore began his work for Microsoft based on his experience with the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast was hyped up with ads stating the launch date, 9/9/99 for 199 dollars. The North American launch was a big success for Sega. Retailers were demanding the console after selling out. Sega sold over 500,000 units in just two weeks. Much of the success can be credited towards the great launch titles and online connectivity right out of the box. Titles such as Soul Calibur, Sega Sports NFL2k, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, and of course, Sonic Adventure. In total, there were 15 launch titles with the Sega Dreamcast.

By the end of 1999, Sega had sold 1.2 million Dreamcasts. However, the Playstation 2 was still looming over them like a rain cloud to ruin their day.

The Gaming Historian - Mega Man

Capcom, which was founded in 1979 in Osaka, was looking to expand to the home video game market, particularly the popular Nintendo. They had previously released a few ports from their arcade games, such as 1942, but were hoping to create a whole new franchise for the consoles.

At the young age of 22, Keiji Inafune joined Capcom. He had just graduated from college and was looking to become an illustrator. His first project was working on street fighter, but was then assigned to a new project: come up with a hit franchise for the home consoles.Seemed easy right? Not exactly. While Tokuro Fujiwara was the director of the project, Inafune was given the task of designing the characters, instruction booklet, logo, and boxart. He was even responsible for taking his designs and turning them into pixel form. Thus, Keiji Inafune is the creator, and father, of Mega Man. Inafune grew up on anime and decided that characters were going to be important in the game. Not just any characters, but detailed characters. Inafune noticed many NES games that lacked these qualities. "We wanted to make sure that the animation and the motion was realistic and actually made sense."

Inafune was also limited to a 56 color palette. Knowing that he wanted good detail on this character, he chose the color blue, since it had the most colors in the NES palette. Inafune even admits " The Blue Bomber is really blue because of the Nintendo, not anything else."

Platformers and side scrollers were the top games on the NES. Sales charts could tell anyone that. Thus, the game was going to be a side scroller. The concept of the game was based on rock paper scissors, in that every boss and weapon has a different strength and weakness. Inafune's love for music also played a large part in the creation process. Quote, "to base characters on that, that's something that we all can understand, and we can all...buy that concept." Thus, why the japanese know the blue bomber as Rockman. Rockman's sister's name is Roll. Future characters such as Treble and Bass also had names based on musical references. This is also why the music in Mega Man is so incredible. It is an important part of the game.

Rockman was released to the Japanese and Americans in December of 1987. However, Capcom executives in America made a few changes. They didn't really understand WHY he was named Rockman (also because the name Rockman was copyrighted), so they came up with Mega Man instead. Also, the Yellow Devil Boss was renamed to "Rock Monster" due to Nintendo's strict rules of religious referencing. And of course, the most infamous change of all......the cover art. From what I do know, it seems that this cover art was made overnight by Capcom USA's marketing department.

Mega Man was critically acclaimed and sold more than expected, but it was not the huge hit Capcom thought it might become. However, Inafune and everyone involved in the project still felt that the series had life. Capcom gave them another chance, and Mega Man 2 was released in Japan on December 24, 1988 and in North America in July of 1989. The 2nd game in the series was both critically acclaimed and extremely popular. Since Mega Man 2, the series has become Capcoms leading franchise, even beating out Resident Evil. Now, I know there are tons and tons of Mega Man games out there, but for now I just wanted to show you how the blue bomber was created in the first place.

The Gaming Historian - The DexDrive

The Sony Playstation was released in the United States September 9th, 1995. It was a CD based home console that used memory cards for game saves and data storage, although it is not the first console to use memory cards. That would be the NEO GEO AES, which was released in 1990. The Playstation was a huge success in the video game market, and soon companies were throwing together accessories for it. One such company, InterAct, developed a device that made quite an impact. The DexDrive. So what exactly did it do?

The DexDrive was actually not a "drive" at all. It was more of a memory card slot than anything. Basically you could hook it to your PC, put your memory card into the device, and transfer game data. The possibilities were endless. The DexDrive had alot of benefits. For one, you no longer needed to buy more memory cards. Just transfer old game data to your PC, clear it off the memory card, and save some more. You could also download other people's game saves, characters, levels, any game data and put it on your memory card. And of course, you could download team rosters for your sports games. EA Sports even endorsed this product. It was that cool. PSM Magazine said it best with "it opens up a whole new world of exchange.."

Luckily, these things are actually not that hard to find. I was able to find a Playstation DexDrive and a N64 DexDrive brand new, for about 5 bucks each. Hooking up the DexDrive is fairly straightforward. Simply plug the device into your computer, plug the AC Adapter up, and install the software with the floppys. Unfortunately, my floppy drive no longer works, but if you simply google Dexplorer, you will be able to download updated software. The Dexplorer is software is simple as well. Open it up, plug in your memory card, and you can view your game data. As you can see, I have Final Fantasy 7 and MedEvil data on here. I can backup, restore, duplicate, re-format the card, e-mail data, and delete data.

Although InterAct went out of business in the following years, the DexDrive's impact had been made. A few years later, The MaxDrive was released by Datel for the XBox and Playstation 2. However, with the advancements in online capabilities for consoles, these types of devices were dying out and simply not needed anymore. The Dex Drive is important because it introduced some of the benefits of going online to consoles. Soon after, the ability to go online became a staple for home systems, and the current generation systems such as the XBox 360 and the PS3 take advantage of some of the features the Dex Drive was capable of. For example, the 60 and 80GB PS3's have flash memory card readers built into the system.

Pick up a DexDrive if you can, it's an interesting piece of history, extremely useful, and well worth it for only 5 dollars. Hope you guys enjoyed this weeks Gaming Historian. Remember, any topic suggestions, e-mail me, gameflop@gmail.com.

The Gaming Historian - Donkey Kong

When you think Nintendo, what is the first character that comes to your mind? Fox McCloud? Link? Kirby? Of course not. Mario comes to mind. Mario is the title character for Nintendo, and easily the most recognized video game character of all time. He has appeared in over 200 video games, and his debut was in the Nintendo arcade game known as Donkey Kong. Yeah, Donkey Kong! Most gamers today know who Donkey Kong is. He has appeared in numerous platform and party games, including Super Smash Bros and Mario Party. But his beginnings in the early 1980's in the arcades saved Nintendo as a company and established them as the leading video game company today.

During the late 70's and early 80's, arcade games were a huge market. Space Invaders even caused a coin shortage in Japan. Japanese companies such as Taito and Namco also made alot of money selling arcade cabinets to Americans. One of these companies was Nintendo. Nintendo was founded September 23rd, 1889 as a card gaming company. During the age of video games however, they saw a huge opportunity in electronic based games. Their first game to hit US shores was Radarscope. It was the 2nd most popular game in Japan (right behind Pac Man), but a huge dissapointment in North America. Out of 3,000 radarscope machines, only about 1,000 sold. Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo, was baffled as to how to break into the US Market. He wanted to make something that would appeal specifically to American audiences. Luckily, he had just hired a young college student who had just received his degree in industrial design. Shigeru Miyamoto.

Miyamoto was asked to design a new arcade game and he happily agreed. He began by doing something that had never been done before in an arcade game...he wrote a story. It's nothing elaborate like a final fantasy game or anything, but the story goes that a carpenter has been mistreating his pet gorilla. To get revenge, the Gorilla escapes from his master, kidnaps the carpenters girlfriend, and begins climbing a construction site. Miyamoto was inspired by several things. One was popeye. Donkey Kong is Bluto, Olive Oil is Pauline, and Popeye is Jumpman. Both are trying to hang on to the girl, and the whole love triangle was very similar. He also took some inspiration from King Kong, as far as kidnapping a girl and climbing a building. Thus, Donkey Kong was born.....well what exactly is a Donkey Kong? Remember, this game was being made specifically for the American audience in mind. Miyamoto chose the name "Stubborn Gorilla", based on the way the gorilla acted in the game. Looking through a thesaurus, two synonyms came to Miyamoto. Donkey for Stubbon, and Kong for Gorilla. Thus...we have Donkey Kong.

Yamauchi was excited about this new title. He immediately notified Minoru Arakawa, head of operations for Nintendo in North America. The timing could not have been better. Arakawa was close to bankruptcy and could hardly pay the rent for the Nintendo warehouse in New Jersey. The landlord of the warehouse, Mario Segale, visited Arakawa to demand his late rent. After some harsh words, Segale was promised the money would come soon. Segale was also immortalized in this moment. Soon after, Jumpman was renamed to Mario. So Donkey Kong was finally coming to the United States. However, two distributors for Nintendo, Ron Judy and Al Stone, were a little worried. Radar Scope was a disaster, and they were risking their future on a game named Donkey Kong. But they soon visited their lawyer, Howard Lincoln, to get the name Trademarked. Howard Lincolns' response was one of awkwardness "Pardon me, what was that? Donkey Kong? How do you spell that?"

What happened next, changed everything for Nintendo. Arakawa decided to test their new game. He placed a Donkey Machine in two bars in the Seattle Area, Goldies and The Spot Tavern. The machines easily raked in 30 dollars per day, so the managers asked for more machines. The game was a hit. Remember those 2,000 radarscope machines that never sold? Nintendo converted them into Donkey Kong Machines, saving them both money and time. Orders were soon pouring in over the new Donkey Kong game. Nintendo went from almost bankrupt to millionaires seemingly overnight. Howard Lincoln soon received a call from Nintendo. He expected them to ask for help with filing bankruptcy, but instead, they asked Lincoln for help in protecting all of their money.Overall, Nintendo sold over 67,000 cabinets.

The rest as they say, is history. Donkey Kong ended up appearing in a few sequels such as Donkey Kong Junior, and Donkey Kong 3. In 1994, Rare took the Donkey Kong name and made a platformer out of it. This is where we get the Donkey Kong we know of today.

Thanks for tuning in for another installment of The Gaming Historian. If you have any topics you would like me to cover, please email me, gameflop@gmail.com.

The Gaming Historian - NES 2

This is the Nintendo Entertainment System. This is what most people think of when they hear the word Nintendo. It was the first home console from Nintendo and anyone who grew up during the time can easily recognize it.When the Nintendo Entertainment System launched, it revolutionized and revitalized the home gaming market. It was an amazing console. The control pad itself was something no one had ever seen before. Nintendo ended up selling 60 million NES Units. To this day, it is Nintendo's best selling home console of all time, and the 3rd best selling home console ever, only behind Sony's Playstation and Playstation 2.

Then, in 1991, Nintendo unveiled the Super Nintendo to America. The 16 bit era was already in full swing and the Nintendo Entertainment System was suddenely looking like and ol system. However, many people still liked the original Nintendo. It was much cheaper than the newer systems, and it had a library of over 800 games.

In 1993, Nintendo bid one last hurrah to it's first system by releasing the NES 2 in October. The NES 2 (sometimes known as the top loader) was designed by Lance Barr, the designer of both the Nintendo and the Super Nintendo. Barr stated "The boxey look was out, and I thought it was time for a more sleek and inviting look". Barr was definitely right.

Comparing it to the old model, the NES 2 was much much smaller and much lighter. The power switch was also similar to the Super NES, in that you simply pushed up the button to turn the system on. The system had 2 controller ports just like the original, and all the old periphrials such as the zapper gun and the game genie worked as well, although some users experienced problems with the game genie, but Galoob, the makers of Game Genie quickly released an adapter to fix this issue. The controller took a new design however. It was changed to look like more like the Super NES controller with rounded ends, giving it the term "dogbone" controller.

The greatest improvement, and this one is obvious, is that the games load on the top now. Remember blowing into the cartridge, catching the game on the edge, pushing down repreatedly only to have that blinking light? This was due to a design flaw in the original NES where when you pushed the game down, the pins that held the game would bend and over time, the metal would get corroded. This would cause the contacts not to read. The NES 2 did not have this problem, and the games were firmly seated in, like the Super Nintendo. (although it can be seated extremely tight, sometimes its difficult to pull the game out).

It sounded too good to be true. This console should have been a hit! Unfortunately, it was not. Within a year, the model was discontinued and the Nintendo Entertainment System's last game was made in 1994. So what was wrong?

Well, as far as the system goes, there are a few flaws. For starters, there are no composite cable hookups. You can only hook up through an RF connection. Second, there is no LED Light. There have been several times when I simply forget that the system is on. Another issue was that Nintendo Games were mean't to be inserted horizontally and locked down. Thus, some games could wobble and distort the image. There are also lines going down the screen, which are faint, but are noticeable. The serial port was also removed from the system. However, the biggest downfall of the NES 2 was that it was released at the end of the Nintendo Entertainment Systems life. The 16 bit era was well under way, and most people had moved on.

Overall, the NES 2 is my preferred method of playing Nintendo games, simply because it works consistently. It is also much smaller and easily fits in my shelf. If you have a chance of getting one, get it. It is well worth the money and a nice addition to any collection. Back then, sold for 49.99. That's less than an XBOX 360 game. Most sell on E-bay for around 70 to 150 dollars. However, I was able to get mine with sixty six games for 40 dollars. Another friend of mine found one at a yard sale with 25 games for 10 dollars.

That concludes this episode of the Gaming Historian. If you have any topics you would like me to cover or just questions in general, e-mail me at gameflop@gmail.com.

The Gaming Historian - Super Mario Bros. 2 / Doki Doki Panic!

Of all the Mario Games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario Bros. 2 is the black sheep. When it came out, it was a completely different game than the first Super Mario Bros. While some core ideas such as mushrooms and coins were included, the levels were radically different, as well as the characters, enemies, and the gameplay. Luckily there is a perfect explanation for this change. Super Mario Bros. 2 wasn’t originally a Mario game! It’s interesting how many people are unfamiliar with this neat piece of history. However, some people who know about this get pretty upset and some even don’t consider Super Mario Bros. 2 as a Mario game. Today we are going to take a look at the history behind Super Mario Bros. 2 and the impact it had on gamers and the Mario franchise.

I guess the best place to start would be with the original Super Mario Bros. This game did a lot for not only Nintendo, but for the video game industry. It helped end the North American Video Game Crash and is responsible for the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System. To this day it has sold 40 million copies, which makes it the 2nd best selling video game of all time (right behind Wii Sports). Obviously with such a successful game, Nintendo would release a sequel. Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in 1986 in Japan. It was very similar to the first game, but the difficulty had been increased. Howard Lincoln, the president of Nintendo of America at the time, felt that Super Mario Bros. 2 was simply too hard, and not very innovative. While the game did bring some new ideas, it was essentially the same style of gameplay.

Meanwhile, Shigeru Miyamoto was working on another game known as Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic. Translated, this means Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic. This game was created for the Dream Factory Festival of 1987, which was being hosted by Fuji Television. Everything in the game was created by Nintendo except the four main characters, which were the official mascots of the festival. Doki Doki Panic was released in 1987 on the Famicom Disk System. Nintendo of America decided to take Doki Doki Panic, make some slight changes, and release it in the United States as Super Mario Bros. 2

The four main characters in Doki Doki Panic are Mama, Papa, Imajin, and Lina. Mario replaced Imajin, Princess replaced Lina, Luigi replaced Mama, and Toad replaced Papa. There were also some other minor changes, such as adding a new boss, Clawgrip, at the end of World 5-3, and the flow of the waterfalls in certain levels. To explain all of these radical changes in the Mario Universe, Nintendo changed the ending as well, claiming the entire game was a dream Mario was having. Now, all of these changes are minor, but the impact of what Nintendo did was actually surprising. Word that Nintendo had simply taken another game and made it a Mario game upset a lot of people.

However, in 1993 Nintendo would release Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo. Super Mario All-Stars included remakes of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario Bros 3, as well as a game titled “Super Mario: The Lost Levels”. This game is actually the Japanese Super Mario Bros 2. You can also play the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 on the Game Boy Color game, Super Mario Bros Deluxe. It is an unlockable in the game known as Super Mario Bros: For Super Players, noting the difficulty of the game. It was also remade on the Game Boy Advance known as Super Mario Advance. And Finally, it is available on the Wii Virtual Console as Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels for 600 wii points. Japan would also get a release of the US version of Super Mario Bros 2. known as Super Mario USA in 1992.

It surprises me how many people don’t enjoy the North American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 simply because of the history behind it. However, there are actually quite a few staples of the Mario series that were first introduced in Super Mario Bros 2. Shy Guy has appeared in numerous Mario games, including Yoshi’s Island, Super Mario RPG, and Mario Power Tennis. Bob-omb’s have shown up in just about every Mario game after Super Mario Bros 2. Pokey has evolved since Super Mario Bros. 2, but has appeared in other games, including Super Mario 64. Birdo has become a staple character and has appeared in several Mario games, including Super Mario RPG, Mario Tennis, and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Even the final boss, Wart, has made appearances. The character Wart Jr. is in Animal Crossing, and a character named “Mamu”, who looks very similar to Wart, appears in Links Awakening on the Game Boy.

In my opinion, Super Mario Bros 2. should be considered a Mario game and the impact it had on the series is evident...even if the original game was just one big dream.