Arch Rivals - Nintendo Entertainment System

    Arch Rivals is an arcade port of a goofy basketball game. Two teams playing dirty to win on a two-on-two match. Instead of stealing the ball, you punch your opponents. The crowd throws trash into the court for you to slip on. Watch out for the short referee, because you can trip over him. Slam dunk hard enough to break the backboard of the hoop. It’s all out bananas in this silly game! 

    Controls are ok. It’s only a little bit janky and delayed. Wish the punching was more fluent. Then again, if the hitting was more efficient, the game would devolve into an endless brawl. I guess it makes sense for the attack to be a bit janky. Other than that, I have no complaints about this cooky. 

    Give this game a try. If you’re looking for a half-hour to kill, you can do worse than Arch Rivals. It’s goofy fun and nothing to be taken seriously. If you got retro buddies, invite them over for some competitive laughs. 

Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck - SEGA Master System

     Son of Chuck has vastly improved from its first game on the Master System. There is stage music, the gameplay mechanics are understandable, and the level designs are coherent. And unfortunately, that’s where the compliments end. Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck is very, VERY Bland. It is as basic as it comes for mascot platformers. Chuck Jr. is not even that appealing to be honest. Sure, he’s a baby on a quest to rescue his dad, but his sprite is kinda ugly. I guess they were going for the whole gross is cool thing they had in the American 90’s. Who really knows? Still, even if he was more appealing, the gameplay is still boring. Not even the boss fights are exciting to beat. You just stand there waiting for the dinosaurs to attack and then you counterattack. It’s very tedious and they have a lot of hit points. Yawnnnnn…. 

 

     This game is a Big Meh. Better than the first, but not really fun or challenging to play. You can try it, if you’re curious. It’s only six levels, but they’re six levels of boring. I wouldn’t blame anyone for skipping this one. 

Anticipation - Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)

     Anticipation is an original virtual board game developed by RARE for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Yes, an exclusive board game for the NES. I Googled it to make sure. This is a solely made to be played on the Nintendo Entertainment System. And what do you know? It’s not a bad game at all. It’s developed by RARE, so it was in good hands. Pretty simple and that is the key to its charm. You pick a token, roll the game’s dice, collect squares by winning the guessing game of that square. The player that collects all the colored squares advances to the next level board. It’s a race to get to the top. And each player has a chance to steal squares, if you’ve not guessed correctly. It’s really well balanced out, so no worries about falling behind the lead. The game can turn around on one miss of a player. 

     Just know, that you only need to press a button once to stop the drawing to guess. You don’t control the drawing, you are only signaling you know the answer to guess as fast as you can. You can lose your chance at guessing, by not pressing the button in time before the drawing is complete. It’s best to guess as soon as possible, because the timer to guess is always ticking from the start. 

     I had a lot of fun playing this. I did struggle a bit, because English is my second language, but I managed to still beat the computer opponent on the Easy mode. I absolutely recommend this game. Get your friends and family together, and have a great time. Even challenge it alone with the highest difficulty, with max three computer opponents. It’s fun and easy to get into.  Another win from the original development team of RARE. 

Chuck Rock - SEGA Master System

     I'm not gonna lie. This game is weird, very bland and bad. The only good things I can say about it is the controls are tight and the title music is nice. Too many flaws make this game unenjoyable. The character itself, Chuck Rock, is just not appealing at all. His belly attack is gross, but at least the enemy hit boxes are not broken. There are many mechanics and controls not obvious to understand. Why are arrows pointing at an alligator that does nothing? Why can't I reach items from high platforms? I guess you need the instructions for this game for those answers. There is no game music. Only the title song. That's it. This game is really, really, underdeveloped. 

     Chuck Rock is a short-lived mascot character. I can see why. You can pass on this game. So many flaws and no appeal. it's a wonder why it even exists.