1942 (NES) Review

Today's video game review will be about 1942 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. 

1942 originally appeared in the arcades in 1984. It was released by Capcom and is a top-down (vertical scrolling) shooter set in the Pacific theater of World War II. Your character flies a P-38 Lightning fighter against various era Japanese fighters. The game was ported to the NES on November 7th, 1986 in North America. So the game is relatively early in the game library for the NES (which released in North America on October 18, 1985).

The game itself is fairly simple for a shoot em up. You only have one weapon so to speak (though the weapon does get upgraded) and you have a barrel roll move to avoid enemies. There are 32 stages in the game and essentially, you take off from the aircraft carrier, fly through each stage, and land back on the carrier at the end of the stage. 

As you fly through each stage, look for the swarms of brown airplanes that appear. If you shoot them all down they release a "POW" that will upgrade your weapon to the quad shot and later it will upgrade to two planes that fly on your flanks and shoot. 

The game is quite the grind though, as you'll need to make it through the 32 stages...there isn't a password system, but fortunately you can continue where you left off after a game over. At the end of every stage you land on the aircraft carrier and your points and bonus points are tallied.

The good news is that you also get extra lives based off of the points, so it's good to collect points and shoot down as many planes as you can in each level.

Now let's break down the scores for this game:

Graphics 15% - (3.5) The graphics are nothing bad for the time period. In fact I'd say it looks better than a similar NES game like Xevious. So I'm going to give it a slightly above average score of 3.5

Sound 15% - (1) The absolute worst thing about this game is the sound. The sound effects for the planes and stuff aren't so bad. But the music...if you can call it that...is horrible. It's just a constant high-pitched ring the entire time. This is a game that you'd probably want to turn the volume down for and maybe play some of your own music. It gets a score of 1

Control 25% - (4) Solid, simple, accurate. That's how I can describe the controls in this game. Input is solid and each button only does one thing. The simplicity is part of what makes this a great shoot em up. It's a formula that is found in most popular scrolling shooters. For this, it gets a 4

Fun Factor 45% - (3) Good, solid shoot em up is the best way to describe this game. In fact, I'd say if you were going to play your first shoot em up on the NES, this would be the one to try. It's paced well for a beginner and is a pretty fun game. However, the enemies don't change much and the game can seem repetitive as you go along for 32 levels. I still enjoy it a lot though, so it gets a 3

Final Average - 3.025 Average game, average score. Worth a look if you like shooters or want to get into the shoot em up genre.

eBay outlook - Cart alone (June 2020) - price ranges from $12-$20; Complete (June 2020) - $140-$250

Retroachievements (emulation) - 19 achievements worth 140 points (as of June 2020)

My Rating Scheme Ideas

So. I plan on reviewing games (new and retro) soon. And with that I need a rating scheme. With that being said, I think I'm going to use the old GamePro magazine rating scheme. 

That rating scheme is as follows:

Graphics - 0 to 5

Sound - 0 to 5

Control - 0 to 5

Fun Factor - 0 to 5

I'm going to weigh the scores accordingly though, and I think that may help. I'm going to weigh Graphics at 15%, Sound at 15%, Control at 25% and Fun Factor at 45%. I think that is a fair way to evaluate games. I'm also planning on basing sound and graphics on the time period.

NES USB Controller from Amazon review

So, I got a two-pack of generic NES USB controllers from eBay to play emulators with on my computer. I thought that I would be disappointed considering the last NES USB controller that I inherited...boy was I wrong.

This controller has been fantastic so far. I ordered a two pack as well. The specific seller was "miadore"...but I am impressed. The controllers look like this:

But, these are solid. I'm most impressed with the D-Pad...because that seems to be the general complaint. But it was fantastic. I've probably put at least 3 hours on this controller so far...but so far, recommended for USB NES controllers.

For anyone wanting a purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BQMWZZD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I really am impressed though, the other NES controller that I had with a USB had such an awful D-Pad. This controller feels cheap, but it is nice for the price.

Updates

So I bought Mario Maker 2. And so far, it has been an excellent game. I only have made one level so far. Mostly because I have discovered that the easiest way to make a level is to use the touchscreen on the Nintendo Switch. The touchscreen on the Switch is responsive, but it is a little awkward considering that I haven't used it before. So here I am posting an update saying that I bought it and I will be reviewing it sometime soon, I look forward to it.

In the meantime keep your gaming up, and maybe one of these days, I will commit myself to Twitch streaming.

Atari Fun Continues

The Atari fun continues...

This time...Super Breakout:

I really love playing Super Breakout on doubles. Trying to keep up with both balls is both entertaining and very challenging. And I'm playing it on the computer with a controller. With the joystick on the 2600, I'm sure it's got more nostalgia value. I do really like this game though, I always have.

The first time I can remember actually playing Super Breakout, or any kind of breakout for that matter, was playing the MIDWAY Arcade's Greatest hits. And it was great then...and great now.

Difficult though...but you'd like these games to be a little difficult.

Atari 2600 Centipede

Just play centipede on the Atari 2600. Centipede on this is similar to the arcade game. The graphics are good it's a good clone. I would say this is a pretty good arcade representation of this original game. The first time I played centipede was on the Super Nintendo on a collection of arcade classics. I would say the Atari 2600 version of centipede is pretty good I would recommend it.

Atari Asteroids

Today I played the Atari 2600 version of Asteroids again...just to see how well it played to the arcade version. I know a lot of people don't like the port to the 2600, but I think it is pretty decent. Asteroids is one of my favorite classic video games...and while the home version on the 2600 isn't as hard or as "arcade perfect"...it's pretty good for the time. If I had been a kid at the time, I feel like the Asteroids version for the 2600 would have been great. It's definitely way better than the abomination that is the PAC-MAN port for the 2600. It's a good solid game and I like the fact that the asteroids are different colors as opposed to the original arcade vector graphics. Though...the vector graphics are pretty exquisite if you manage to find a solid original cabinet.

Also, congrats to one of my favorite podcasts...Retro Gaming Roundup, on their 10 year anniversary.