One thing has always been true about NES games: They are a pain to start up. My experience with the NES has always gone hand in hand with glitches and freezing, draining my lungs blowing through the back end of cartridges, and furiously tapping the reset button just trying to get my games started. It's almost a game at this point. When I find myself with a game I can't get running immediately, my determination to get it going skyrockets, even if it's some piece of junk that in the long run I end up attempting to start more than actually playing (I'm looking at you, Casino Kid). Everyone has their own tricks for getting games going: from blowing in carts to stuffing wallets into the system's gaping maw, it almost seems as though there are as many tricks to getting a Nintendo working as there are systems themselves. NES owners, I hope you understand what I mean when I say you've got the touch.


You got the power!

I've had plenty of occasions where I've had friends over, looking to hunt duck, only to find a blinking title screen or some glitched mess staring back at them. They sit in front of the NES, growing ever dejected with every tap of the reset button, until I come up, getting the game working in one or two tries. I've even had this happen to me, trying and failing to work a friend's machine until they have to come use their magic on it.
Over the years, I've learned what my NES does and does not like. Things my friends do on their systems don't always work on mine, and vice versa. It's as though each NES has it's own set of flaws and it's up to anyone who owns one to figure out those flaws. Starting a NES game is a rite of passage in itself and any gamer who has ever felt the bitter sting of getting to the end of a game just to have it freeze on you knows it. Some may find this ridiculous, but I think the faults of the NES are one of it's most endearing qualities. My NES might sometimes act like a drunk bastard, repeating the same sentence constantly and spewing garbled pixels all over my shirt, but I'll always carry him to the bathroom and get him cleaned up.



Anyway, while we are on the topic of the NES, I thought I might also talk about a couple of classic shmups I was playing over the weekend. I spent my Sunday nursing a hangover and watching the Puppy Bowl (Moose ftw!) and as such it seemed like a great time to break out the NES Advantage and dig up some games I hadn't played in a while.


Terrible camera phone pic, I know.

On the left is Dragon Spirit, a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up circa 1987, by Bandai. I didn't read the story at all, but I know it involves a guy who turns into a dragon and a princess. I'm sure you can fill in the gaps. The gameplay is what you'd expect from a shmup, shoot enemies, dodge bullets, get the power-up and win the game. You control the aforementioned man-turned-dragon, with two attacks: a fireball to take out flying enemies and a ground attack (dragon eggs? I don't know.) for enemies on the ground.



What I've always found great about this game is the intro level. If you play through the first level without dying, you get to play as the blue dragon, which will get you the good ending. But if you die you play as the gold dragon, who has stronger attacks and more health, but nets you the bad ending. The power-ups are awesome, granting your dragon additional fireball-shooting heads, smaller dragons to fly and fight alongside you, and the ever-welcome spread shot. I managed to get through the game's 10 levels with the gold dragon and received the wimpy ending, but it was still satisfying. The Turbografx iteration of this game is out on the virtual console, so if you have a Wii it's definitely worth a look.

The other game is Square's first North American release, King's Knight. Another vertical scrolling shmup also featuring a damsel in distress storyline, this one has you playing through four different stages, each one as a different character.



There are hidden items for each character to collect in their stage. Power-ups for health, defense, attack, and speed are scattered all over, as well as one special item needed for the fifth and final stage. In that stage all four characters join together and move as one unit, with the lead characters stats becoming the party's stats. Instead of regular power-ups the last stage has items that will rotate your party, changing your leader and in turn the abilities of your party. All of these things I have told you about the game in this paragraph are things I've read online though, as I've never been remotely close to beating this game.



This is a bad screenshot to reflect this point, but I'm lazy and I've already had to retype this entire article thanks to trying out Chrome, so I'll just tell you: this game is tough. I have a hell of a time trying to multitask collecting power-ups for my characters while dodging the enormous bullets and even larger enemies darting all over the screen, but I keep on coming back for more. Most of the runs I played ended with all of my characters dead, but a few times I managed to make it to the fifth level with one or two characters still intact, though I never collected any of the special items to do whatever it is they expect me to do at the end.
Apparently there is also some form of leveling system as well, as it showed a level for each character whose stage I managed to beat, but I am not sure how that really works. Still, I enjoy this game. It's short and challenging, which keeps the replay value up, the sprites definitely look Square-made, whose style in graphics I have always loved, and Nobuo Uematsu provided the score. This game is also available on the virtual console, so Wii owners, get to shooting!