PixlBit

When I first saw Blaster Master, we only got up the first level boss (the big brain thing) and we didn't realize you were supposed to use grenades to defeat it quickly. But yeah, the game gets pretty difficult fairly quickly in some sections.

I have Blaster Master Zero on the Switch. I haven't played it for long, but I did like what I played so far. From what I have heard, Zero is much more approachable in terms of difficulty.

That 2nd ROB game was Stack Up.

I started playing Phantasy Star IV about 2 years ago. I got probably about halfway through it and never finished. I was trying to play along with a podcast (Square Roots), but I was having trouble keeping up after a while. But I did enjoy was parts I got to finish.

Great RPG for the Genesis. It was just a shame that the names of spells and items were almost incomprehensible. You needed a guide just remember what all the various spells do because they're so poorly named.

Duuuude, Tetris Attack! Yes, I would pick that over Dr. Mario any day. My brother and I used to play Tetris Attack to death. I think what put it's over mane like Dr. Mario is that you can easily build up chain combos. It's always fun to see how many you could string together in Tetris Attack.

The original Japanese version is getting released on Nintendo Switch Online service if it hasn't been already. I'm really looking forward to playing it again.

I had to factor this in when scoring the game. I can tolerate not having a fast drop feature, but only because I'm familiar with Tetris and Dr. Mario back when they first came out, so it doesn't bother me as much. But it's a big ask these days to expect a newcomer to pick up NES Dr. Mario and not feel like something is missing.

I've only attempted to play Gyromite on the NES flash cart I have. Unfortunately, I've never had access to a ROB robot accessory, so Gyromite has been unplayable. I thought I read somewhere that you can play it with just the controller, but I never figured out how it works.

I've always had a hard time with Columns on the Genesis. It seems to speed up too early into the game. But it's been years since I last played it so I could be wrong.

And yeah, I really enjoy Hip Tanaka's music as well.

I didn't discover the Thunder Force series until Working Designs published Thunder Force V on the PSOne. Over the years I had found TF II & III as I was building my Genesis collection. Thunder Force III is one of my favorite shooters. It's deceptively difficult- meaning that the game at first seems like it's so busy an impossible to dodge things (I'm looking at you, fire stage), but I have actually been able to make it to near the end of the game without using up all my continues (a rarity for me).

And that music- some of my favorite tunes on Genesis (again...looking at you fire stage).

Stage Select:

Yay! I get a do-over since I chimed in too late on a previous stage select that asked for our favorite game music. I'll keep it simple and just name one game with music that always makes me smile.

Shining Force II (Town music) - While I had heard of the Shining Force series in my younger years, I didn't really know anything about it until I played them on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on the PS3. When I got to Shining Force 2, I was pleasantly surprised by the happy tune of the town music that plays early in the game. It's so bright and chipper. I haven't heard a happier sounding town song in any other RPG I've played so far. Also, it had been years since I heard music instruments sound this good in a Genesis game. It sounds like something you'd hear in cartoon from that era.

I never got super far in the game, but that happy music actually makes me want to invest the time it would take to complete this strategy RPG (which I usually avoid due to the lengthy battles).

It is with great pride and joy that I say that I did play through the NES version completely 10 years ago when I originally challenged myself to see if I could write a review on a classic RPG (back in my 1Up.com days). The cartridge held up just fine, although I was paranoid that I'd forget to hold the reset button before turning off the power every time!

But I forgot just how much grinding was required just to make it past the first dungeon. So in order to grab screenshots for this review, I totally Game Genied my way through at least half the game.