The Bit Wars: An Alternate History Part 1

I’ve always wondered what the console market would be like if things had played out differently during the Bit Wars. If Sega had stayed a top dog after the Genesis, perhaps if Sony had never released the Playstation. What if Microsoft focused on different means of gaming like PC hardware and what if Gabe Newell had never left Microsoft but released Steam and Valve gaming as the head of Microsoft Games Division? The first multi-part series I’ve decided to include is a Command and Conquer: Red Alert style retrospective and alternate history of the 90s console wars. I hope you’ll subscribe and enjoy reading about my ideas for how the face of video game hardware and software could have been radically different from that which we know today.

1984: The Third Generation

Following the video game crash of 1983 in the US, two home consoles from Japan rose from the ashes of the over-saturated market and reclaimed it with superior hardware and quality titles.One was the highly popular Famicom, also known in the United States as the Nintendo Entertainment System. This system dominated in both the US and Japan thanks to innovative and addicting games such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, and also thanks in part to restrictions on software development. The other system was the Sega Master System, while also having high popularity in the US and Japan it didn’t have nearly as many sales in either market. The Sega Master System did however have a substantial lead over its competitor in Europe, Brazil, and Oceania. While long time veteran Atari did release their own 8-bit console, the Atari 7800, to compete with Nintendo and Sega they failed to gain even a small percentage of the market share and finally dropped out of hardware development in 1987. After 5 years on the market at the end of the decade Sega and Nintendo knew it was time to release the new wave of 16-bit consoles and turn the cold-war between them hot.

1987:The Genesis of the 16-bit Era

Noticing the lucrative business models of companies like Nintendo and Sega, Japanese company NEC partnered with Hudson Soft who fell out of an agreement for advanced graphics chips from Nintendo. Thus, the PC-Engine, the world’s first 16 bit game console was born. Thanks to an efficient 3 chip architecture and the use of proprietary game cards rather than cartridges the PC-Engine became a fast seller and rivaled the aging Famicom in Japan. The PC-Engine was then brought out of its native country and into the US, redesigned with composite video out, and an extra controller port to appeal to the US multiplayer market. NEC didn’t want to chance making a big flop outside Japan and made an aggressive ad campaign posing the PC-Engine as Faster and more cutting edge than The NES or Sega Master System.It worked, and following the launch of the PC-Engine in North America NEC/Hudson Soft were on top of the world Console market.

What they hadn’t realized was Nintendo and Sega had both been working on 16-bit machines of their own. They had urinated on sleeping giants, and come 1988 Sega was the first to respond to the PC engine with superior sound and graphics on the Sega Mega-Drive. Fans of the Master System happily upgraded to their brand new Sega systems complete with a new game that was to become the mascot rivaling the edginess of PC-Engine and the cuteness of characters like Mario that had made Nintendo a household name combined, with the launch of Sonic The Hedgehog. It had proved to be a killer app as it appealed to all age groups, whereas the PC-Engine had a more adult feel to its library of arcade games and shoot-em-ups.

Another benefit of the Sega Genesis was the choice of cartridges for its game medium which allowed for much longer and more complex games making the initial cool-factor of the PC-Engine’s rather limiting in size HuCards a major concern for developers who quickly developed an add on using the latest in CD technology in Japan that same year, to increase the space available and as an added benefit the ease of production for the PC-Engine games. The initial japanese CD model was a success and paved the way for a cheaper more marketable model in the United States.

Unfortunately due to failed partnerships and the foresight for a small market relative to an expensive add-on for an already expensive console, Sega decided to shelve their plans of their own 16-bit CD add on, works for many Sega CD games other than those that were to include a gimmick of low quality “Full Motion Video Graphics” were translated into Mega Cartridges. This included what became Sonic 2, with a Sonic 3 done by Sonic team in US following relatively quickly.

Finally in 1990 Nintendo had bided their time riding the continuing success and longevity of NES long enough to acquire more cutting edge and powerful hardware than either NEC or Sega who had already released their 16-bit machines. They released the Super Nintendo with a plethora of launch titles. Although they had considered a CD add-on like Sega and NEC they decided to move their plans and ideas with their partners Sony into a new console project for the next generation, as their cartridge technology still provided better graphics and only lacked the fidelity in sound the the PC-Engine’s audio was capable of rendering.

Meanwhile NEC had designed and released an all in one unit for the PC-Engine and the CD add on which also included more memory and a second set of video chips, known as the PC-Engine Duo. This model completely replaced the core PC-Engine system as well as the add-on and was cheaper together rather than separate. All 3 Systems were in a fierce competition and all had roughly equally 30% of the market share beating out even the newer smaller consoles like the Panasonic 3DO, the Phillips CD-I, and to a lesser extent the Neo Geo by SNK Playmore who still had a niche market of arcade cabinet quality cartridge units and superior arcade joysticks as well as wonderful fighting games and shooters.

By the mid 90s, Nintendo and Sega both knew that CD would be absolutely essential to their success in the coming console generation as the the newcomer PC-Engine rose from nowhere to virtually a 3-way tie with its inclusion this time.

Top 12 Super Nintendo Games

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was the second video game console produced by Nintendo following the Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in the United States in August of 1991 it was the best selling and most popular game console of its time. I have very fond personal memories of this console as it was the first video game system that I ever played. In fact, one of my earliest memories is waking up in the children’s seat of a shopping cart at my local K-Mart to see a green Super Nintendo box bundled with Donkey Kong Country being pulled out of layaway. Little did I know at the time that the Super Nintendo would be one of the most influential pieces of technology in my life. It would instill my love of video games and set me down the path to meeting friends, deciding my career, and shaping the outlook I have on the world. I’ve never really heard any negative criticism on the Super Nintendo. It is generally regarded as a great platform and as such, I’m sure lots of people are already very familiar with the great game library it has to offer. The following is a list of my favorite Super Nintendo games, why I love them, and what I think makes them worth playing even today. I hope that this list will maybe introduce the Super Nintendo and its classics to new people, or maybe act as a reminder to those that have already experienced the Super Nintendo that it truly is a masterpiece of gaming. Maybe after reading this you’ll want to dust off your SNES and play some games and relive times past. So without further ado, let’s get started shall we?


Top 12 Super Nintendo Games



12.Super Street Fighter 2 The New Challengers : The sequel to the virtually unheard of 1987 title Street Fighter. This game essentially birthed the current fighting game genre as we know it today. Even back in the 90s Capcom had the habit of releasing Street Fighter titles every year or so with only slight new additions and characters to the one before it. The New challengers has the most fighters of any other version of Street Fighter 2 so I decided to include it over others in this list.You play as one of 16 fighters and travel the globe to become the world’s ultimate martial artist. While the game is easy to be picked up and played by anyone who can handle a SNES pad, the real challenge is in learning all the fighting styles and nuances of each character as many enthusiasts have been doing since this game was released. Learning how to chain combos and perform special attacks takes time, practice, and discipline almost like a real martial art itself. The characters, music, and stages are all very memorable and the graphics are fantastic for 2-D games of its time thanks to the games ability for certain larger characters like the bulky Zangief to take up more memory than smaller characters.

11.F-Zero: Probably the most fast paced game on the Super Nintendo. As a launch title for the Super Nintendo it was essentially a way for Nintendo to demonstrate the 3-D perspectives that could be made possible by Mode-7 graphics hardware on  the SNES. This futuristic single player racing game has you hurtling past other machines and obstacles at hundreds of kilometers per hour through 15 different stages split up between 3 circuits. What this game lacks in terms of backgrounds and environments it makes up for in the feeling of sheer speed you get and the killer soundtrack will definitely stay in your mind long after you’ve turned off your control deck. This game was widely praised and paved the way for lots of sequels and even its own anime. As an interesting side-note the cars in this game hovered above the ground using the G-Diffuser technology that’s also mentioned in the game Star-Fox 64. That’s another thing I love about Nintendo games, all the subtle in-game nods to other franchises all within the same universe.




10.Star Fox: One of the first 3-D polygon games on a home console, and the first 3-D Nintendo game. You play as an anthropomorphic fox named Fox McCloud, the leader of the Star Fox team, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad. You’re mercenaries hired by the Cornerian army to put a stop to the evil inter-planetary scientist and dictator Andross. The game is a rail shooter which means you move along a predetermined route and moving your ship is primarily a means of dodging enemy fire. Unfortunately due to the nature of the graphics this game hasn’t aged well as many others on this list, but it’s addicting gameplay and amusing characters are more than enough to warrant picking it up today.




9.Super Mario All-Stars: The Nintendo franchise that started it all! Four Mario Titles from the original NES all revamped in 16-bit glory! The gameplay in 2-D mario games starts out very simple and easy and anyone can pick it up and play. As always there’s a wall in Mario games where in a split second it goes from a delightful romp in the park to an all out war against the Koopas and this game is no exception times four. This game included the first 3 Super Mario Bros titles released in the US and also a game called Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels. The Lost levels is actually the real Super Mario Bros 2 developed for Japan but then at the time deemed too difficult for American audiences. The game that most people know as Super Mario Bros. 2 In the USA was actually a different non-Mario game entirely in Japan called Doki-Doki Panic that was re-skinned and re-branded. In Japan Super Mario All-Stars was called Super Mario Collection and the US Mario 2 was Titled Super Mario USA. Arguably the best title in the bunch, and arguably the best mario game of all time is Super Mario Bros. 3 which was the first mario game to feature an Overworld Map. The game features lots and lots of levels in varied worlds and all kinds of unique power-ups like the Raccoon Tail and the Tanooki Suit which allows Mario to fly and turn into a stone statue and also the frog suit which allows Mario to swim more easily.




8.Kirby Superstar: Much like Super Mario All Stars, Kirby Super Star is a collection of 8 different Kirby Games. For those that don’t know Kirby is a pink anthropomorphic blob that sucks up enemies like a vacuum and copies their abilities sort of like Mega Man. Kirby was made by the legendary game designer Masahiro Sakurai, who is also responsible for the Super Smash Bros. series and the new Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS. Aside from a couple mini games most of the games are 2-D platforming adventures much like Kirby’s Dream Land on the Gameboy and Kirby’s Adventure on the NES. They all tell different stories but the game engine, enemies, power-ups and mechanics are the same in all the games.Kirby’s copy ability makes a return and there are lots of different enemies to make weapons from. One of the best aspects of this game is Kirby’s ability to take a power-up and create a second player from it. This allows for 2 player simultaneous co-op gameplay. A lot of other Super Nintendo platformers that offered 2 player didn’t allow for both players to play at the same time but instead made you switch back and forth between levels. With 8 Different games, 2 player Co-op, and lots of memorable boss battles this game is still an exciting foray into platforming that is still strong even today. It even got a remake for the Nintendo DS called Kirby Superstar Ultra.




7.Yoshi's Island: Serving as a prequel of sorts to the entire Mario series, and also officially the sequel to Super Mario World. Yoshi’s Island focuses on the adventures of Yoshi with baby Mario as they try to rescue baby Luigi from the clutches of Kamek, the head Magikoopa and baby Bowser. This game’s unique and vibrantly colored storybook style and use of Super FX 3D graphics make it one of the most visually appealing games on the Super Nintendo. Eschewing the traditional gameplay of Mario games prior the game does still retain platforming but running is done automatically and institutes a new mechanic of Yoshi eating enemies whole and magically pooping them out into eggs to throw back at other enemies. If yoshi is hit, baby Mario will float away in a bubble and a timer will count down, if the time runs out the toadies will fly and catch mario and you’ll lose a life. This game is big, but the great thing about it is it autosaves after every level. If you collect all the items and get a perfect score of 100 on every level you can even unlock bonus games! There’s even a level early on called “Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy” in which Yoshi touches psychedelic cotton balls that momentarily make him stumble around and hallucinate!




6.Super Mario RPG: A rare collaboration between Square, the makers of the Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger series and Nintendo. Super Mario RPG was meant to be an introductory game into the Roleplaying genre. The game starts off as Bowser has kidnapped the princess for the 1 billionth time and Mario runs to his castle to rescue her. But after the fight with bowser a giant sword comes down from the sky piercing Bowser’s castle and shattering star road. It’s up to Mario and company to collect all the star pieces and defeat the new evil enemy Smithy. This game introduces fan favorite characters Mallow and Geno who are never seen after this game most likely due to copyright issues between Square and Nintendo. The graphics are very similar to those of Donkey Kong Country in which they used digitized 3D models and very beautiful. One big element in gameplay that adds to the enjoyment and detracts from the sometimes monotonous and boring gameplay of turn based RPG’s is the addition of timed hits, where if you press a corresponding button at the right time when your player is attacking you’ll do even more damage. You start off as only being able to play with Mario but as you progress you can make up a team of 3 fighters at a time with 5 characters to choose from. This game oozes character and comedic relief and has lots of little easter eggs like 8-bit Mario in Booster’s Tower and Mario coming out of the shower with a bright red face...This game is a great addition to any fans of Mario and JRPGS alike. 




5.The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past: On a dark and stormy night Link’s uncle heads to the castle to try and rescue the princess Zelda who’s been captured by the evil wizard Agahnim. You play as link who awakes and runs to the castle to find his uncle mortally wounded so you carry on in his place. Once Zelda is rescued the real game begins, the quest for the Master Sword, the blade of evil’s bane, and then to vanquish Agahnim  and then Ganon! The game returns the gameplay to that of the first Zelda game on the NES as a top-down aerial view and was the first game to use the Light World/ Dark World theme that was also re-used in Zelda:Twilight Princess. You must travel through many dungeons and places to collect all the items needed to successfully carry out your journey. The game has many difficult puzzles and many memorable boss battles. What I love most about this game has to be the music, Koji Kondo is responsible for a lot of the music in both the Mario and Zelda franchises and definitely didn’t disappoint with this one. From the Dungeon music to the Revamped Hyrule Field, to the Kakariko Village theme, the soundscapes in this game are amazing.




4.Super Castlevania 4: The best Castlevania game of all time. Playing as Simon Belmont again you fight Count Dracula as he is resurrected every 100 years when the forces of good have been weakened. The biggest thing about this game that makes it stand out from the other Castlevanias is the control. Unlike the previous games in the series where the controls are clunky and require lots of patience and perfect timing, the controls in Castlevania 4 don’t hold you back at all. You have a lot of control over your jumps, you can whip in any direction, and you can even walk while crouching! Apart from the controls being absolutely wonderful the game is fairly long. The level design is absolutely gorgeous and the music definitely fits in nicely with its environments. I especially love Simon’s Theme. The game is very difficult like all games in the Castlevania series pre-Symphony of The Night but thankfully you have unlimited continues so there’s really no excuse not to continue to play and play until you finally get good enough to pass on to the next level. The boss battles are very challenging and a lot of them are nods to classic horror films just like in the first game, like Frankenstein's Monster and The Mummy. This is the perfect game to play right around Halloween after watching a bunch of scary movies and a terrific platformer for the Super Nintendo.




3.Donkey Kong Country 2: In my opinion the single greatest game that Rare has ever made! The sequel to the smash hit Donkey Kong country that was praised for its graphical capabilities on a 16-bit machine by using digitized 3D models as game sprites. Donkey Kong Country 2 is simply a masterpiece of game design. You play as Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong in an adventure to save DK who has been captured by Kaptain K. Rool. The atmosphere is perfect, from the creepy overworld theme to the enchanting melodies you experience in the levels, everything about this game has a grander, darker, more epic feel than its predecessor while still managing to include lots of little nods to not only Donkey Kong Country but lots of other games as well. The Overworld is absolutely gorgeous. Taking you from a Pirate ship to an active volcano, to a swamp, to a deadly amusement park, and onward climbing up higher and higher atop Crocodile Isle. I really can’t understate the epic feel of this game, the worlds are so varied and all beautiful in their own dark and mysterious ways. The characters, enemies, levels, and multiple backgrounds are all rendered beautifully. Even more so than the original, the two characters you play as have very distinct trade offs between each other and you’ll definitely have to master both to find all the hidden coins and bonus levels in order to unlock the secret levels and eventually the true ending to the game.




2. Super Metroid: Also known as Metroid 3, one of the biggest and best 2D adventures on any game console. This Sci-Fi adventure originally based on the Alien movies by Ridley Scott, features the galactic bounty hunter Samus Aran as she tracks a metroid (a transparent alien parasite) captured by space pirates to the planet Zebes. What makes this game unique to other platformers on the SNES is that it isn’t broken into levels, but it’s actually one giant overworld that you can explore non-linearly. The game definitely gives you a feeling of solitude, like you really are Samus all alone on a giant planet inhabited by dangers. One big element in creating this feeling is the soundtrack that instills emotions in the right places. Exploration is a big part of this game requiring lots of backtracking to different parts of the game over time after you’ve acquired new items. This game is very challenging as you have to solve lots of puzzles in order to collect upgrades and power-ups that help you advance to other parts of the world.This game still holds up as a masterpiece of gameplay and detail even by todays standards. Surprisingly this is one of the few core Nintendo franchises that didn’t see a sequel on the N64 and gamers had to wait until the Gamecube for another installment. The Nonlinear action platforming gameplay was so good it was even used by Konami, map and all for the hit title Castlevania: Symphony of The Night for the Sony Playstation, thus spawning the term Metroidvania for subsequent installments in that series.




1. Mega Man X: Back in the 90s Capcom actually made good choices. One of them was to take everything great about the classic NES series Mega Man and translate it into 16-bits by adding new gameplay elements like dashing and wall-climbing. The Result was Mega Man X. In the game the title character is actually a new android created by Dr.Light who was put in hibernation for 30 years because of his unique quality to think for himself and make his own decisions. Another robotics expert by the name of Dr.Cain later discovers X and creates a new paradigm of “reploids” based on X’s original designs.There’s really nothing about this game that I don’t love. The gameplay is smooth and the controls are pretty much self explanatory. The characters are all quite unique and memorable from X to your reploid friend Zero who serves as a foreshadow for how powerful you’ll be with all the upgrades you can find hidden in the different levels. All the stage bosses are themed after different animals like a penguin and a mandrill, rather than just basic themes or elements like in the original series. The main boss in this series is Sigma, who sort of resembles Sagat from Street Fighter and is bent on creating a new civilization solely for reploids. The music is absolutely wonderful and memorable, it’s like a combination of 80s hair metal and techno and you’ll be humming along with every tune from start to finish. There’s plenty of challenge but the game isn’t too hard to beat and there’s plenty of power-ups hidden in the stages like armor that halves your damage and a helmet to break rocks with your head that adds another level of depth to the gameplay. This game is still fun to play even today and has aged well thanks to it’s nice crisp 2-D graphics and fun platforming environment.

Well, that’s my list. Thanks for reading! What are your favorite Super Nintendo Games? Post it in the comments!

Cherished Pokemon

Have you ever had a cherished piece of gaming memorabilia stolen from you? A couple years back I used to rent a house with 3 other guys my age (I was 18 at the time, terrible, terrible idea in retrospect.) and my little carrying case with my original DS and all my pokemon games went missing. I had nearly seven years worth of pokemon collecting ripped from me in an instant. And I never found out what happened to them or where they went. I had pokemon all the way back from Ruby version when I was 10 years old. My lvl 100 Swampert, and all my event legendaries like Jirachi and Deoxys were all lost. I remember one summer I spent nearly two months EV training a team for a pokemon tournament, all perfectly bred with beneficial natures and everything. My favorite pokepal was my Salamence, Ryuu. I remember I was so excited when Heart Gold and Soul Silver came out so I could actually walk around with him :D. If anything that’s one thing about Pokemon that I don’t know of a whole lot of games replicating very well. That bond you make with friends that’s so strong you actually almost feel an emotional connection to them. I guess what I’m saying is always be thankful for what you’ve got, and don’t take anything for granted.Whether it be video games, pokemon, or a relationship, because you never know when you may not have it anymore. 

Have you ever had a similar experience? What do you cherish? Post it in the Comments, I'd love to hear from my readers. And if you've got any suggestions for future articles or even if you want me to do something crazy on camera and post in on this blog I'd love some feedback :D

My Dream E3 Presentation

With E3 less than a week away, and all the major game news sites buzzing with anticipation over what new surprises wait in store. I decided it would be fun to write my idea of a perfect E3 keynote from my favorite major video game hardware company ever. Nintendo!

Nintendo's E3 Keynote presentation starts off with announcing new 3DS titles. Of course titles already mentioned will be talked about. Luigi's Mansion 2,Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, New Super Mario Bros. 2, etc. In addition to Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 the Re-make companion games for this generation of Pokemon games will be Pokemon Land Ruby and Ocean Sapphire exclusively for the 3DS. On-board Poke-walker functionality will be included thanks to the built-in pedometer and street-pass features on the 3DS. A teaser trailer for the new Legend of Zelda game in works is shown. Not much about game play or how far along they are in the development is mentioned. Just a small clip of Toon Link Barreling out of the 3DS screen with moblins chasing after him. Once talks about the already established 3DS going strong into it's second year of life and the new software that will be coming to it is over, Reggie Fils-Aime hands the Mic over to Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto as they begin to talk about Nintendo's console for the future. Iwata talks about how last year he mentioned that with the Wii U they hoped to give an experience that is deeper and wider. And so to appeal to more fans they decided to add the color black as an option for the console from launch. A new surprise feature is shown in the form of a DS card slot right next to the SD card slot in the door on the front of the console is shown allowing you to play your hand-held titles on your TV just like you could with the Gameboy Player and Super Gameboy of yore. The robust library of classic games and download-able software available via the Nintendo E-Shop is shown, as well as details on the Nintendo Network including voice and video chatting with the new controller. Gabe Newell of Valve is brought on-stage to talk about Nintendo's partnering with Steam so even more titles especially enhanced ports of both Portal games will be available from day one. Finally the meat and potatoes of already announced launch titles as well as Pikmin 3, and a new F-Zero and Starfox game are announced to uproarious applause and cheers. Nintendo asserts itself as the forerunners of the 8^th generation of video games and Sony and Microsoft mutually pee themselves.

What would you like to see at E3? Post it in the Comments!