Redditor Massenus has found the perfect solution for his dead Nintendo by making a lunch box out of it. Who carries around a lunch box these days? I don’t really know, but if I worked at a “real” office and had to bring my lunch with me everyday, I would not mind using this cool Nintendo lunch box! (By the way, if you have lots of Nintendo Games, try this cool boys’ “toy” made with the cartridges.)

Nintendo Lunch Box

So what happened here? Massenus says that some of the connection pins had corroded and the console just stopped working. Whatever the reason for the death of his beloved Nintendo, I think the result of his creativity is worth it. This Nintendo lunch box can hold a sandwich.

Nintendo Lunch Box

But wait, there’s more! This baby can really hold a good amount of goodies that will keep that hungry belly full.

Nintendo Lunchbox

Here’s how Massenus came up with this:

1. Unscrew everything.
2. Dremel off the screw mounts inside the case (leave the ones around the edges.)
3. A few pieces of duct tape form a hinge in the back.
4. Front and center are two plastic cylinders used for screws (One top, one bottom.) Trim one down the width of two magnets. Glue magnets to cylinders.
5. Cut controller cord an inch or two over comfortable handle length.
6. Plug in one side. (Add some superglue for stability.)
7. Strip and thread the other side through where the red light was.
8. Glue the wires down on the inside.
9. Dremel two small holes in the sides of the controller.
10. Unscrew controller, reassemble as shown centered on handle.

As he said, it was painfully easy. I think the death of the console was more painful than the transformation to lunch box. Painful or not, I think that this is an awesome way to recycle the iconic gadget that the NES is. What do you think? What would you do with a dead console?

The Legend of Zelda (Zelda) is one of the great video games of all-time with its mixture of action, adventure, and puzzle solving.  For many, their first exposure to Zelda was as a game played on The Nintendo Entertainment System.

For those unfamiliar with Zelda, the game centers on a character named Link, who’s often tasked with rescuing Princess Zelda from Ganon.  To say Zelda is fun, addictive, adored by countless console gamers and an all-around great game, is putting it midly.

The game is admired so much that one enterprising individual, Greg, has taken their love of Zelda and created his very own homemade Legend of Zelda min-arcade game.

How does it work?  According to the creator:

“Basically I modded a nes controller to arcade controls and build a mini arcade cab around a yobo nes. This thing is great! Its fun to play other nes games on arcade controls such as: zelda 1 and 2, donkey kong, punch out, metroid, megaman ect.”

So, there you have it.  Greg took a NES system, built his own Legend of Zelda mini-arcade game casing with the result being a super, small, arcade game that fits on any dresser, book case, or other place you’d think to store a miniature arcade game.

Are you a fan of the Zelda game franchise?  If you could have your very own mini-arcade game, which game would you opt for and why?

Geekologie

It may not look like your usual six-string instrument, but you can’t deny just how cool that looks, can you?

The guitar’s body is made from a reused NES case while the guitar’s neck is one that you would find in any standard guitar. For the purposes of acoustic integrity, the body has solid oak wood inside. Since it works in the same way as your regular electric guitar, this NES electric guitar also has the following features:

• Adjustable height Single coil pickup
• Output Jack and Volume knob
• Strap Buttons
• Intonation has been adjusted
• Stays in tune really well

In addition, the makers have taken into consideration serious musicians who want to play around with the instrument to suit their preferences. As such, there is room inside for custom electronics that you may want to add. Each guitar is custom made so no two are the same. How’s that for uniqueness?

The NES guitar goes for $150 plus shipping, which can be anywhere from $12 to $32.

The sad news, though, is that they only made a couple of these guitars, and they’re already out of stock. On the upside, there is a possibility of the guys making more of these guitars. Just send an e-mail to circuitmaster@gmail.com for more details.

Now to tease you a bit more, here’s a video of the NES guitar in action.

$150 does not seem such a bad price for this, don’t you think?

Muse may not be every geek’s choice when it comes to music, but this one has a thing for Matthew Bellamy and his gang.  One, he does have a British accent (yeah, some are suckers for that).  Two, he is not bad looking at all (ask Kate Hudson).  Three, he is a musical genius! (Maybe I should have listed that first…)

So anyway, a friend posted an 8-bit music video of Muse’s Uprising, and I had so much fun listening to it. Never mind that the magical voice of Bellamy is gone or that the “real” instruments cannot be heard – listening to the melody and being transported back to many many summers ago is so worth it.

Non-Muse fans may just give me a blank stare, but I am taking the chance that are some Muse fans on FG. Here’s that video.

Here’s another song – I think my current favorite: Super Massive Blackhole.

If you want to know more about Muse, you can visit their official web site. (I strongly suggest that you do if you want to listen to awesome music.)

Now what about other songs that you might want to hear in 8-bit? Do a quick search on YouTube – you’ll find lots. From what I have read, I think you can DIY. Does anyone know how to do this exactly? (For those times when you feel like tearing your hair out because of boredom…)

As I stare at the empty spot where my now-defunct NES collection used to be, I’m unable to concentrate on much else than the games that carried me through my childhood. So after laboring much on the selection process, I present to you the 5 NES games I mourn most.

5. Metroid
There was something definitely dark about this game, and I don’t mean the fact that most of it was set in a stark space setting. Metroid itself was something of a sinister and scary title for a child, as I was when I spent hours playing it, and that kept it all the more interesting. (I suspect my love of Metroid gave rise to my adoration of horror movies. The same impetus that drives me to watch scary stuff even if it’s from behind a pillow or through my fingers kept me playing this game even when it pretty well creeped me out.) Maybe it was the cold and forbidding space suit on the heroine. Maybe it was the creepy crawly alien enemies. Or maybe I was just a wimp. Whatever the reason, I miss Metroid as a fun little thrill ride.

Jog your memory: Metroid told the tale of a female bounty hunter whose aim it was to stop the Space Pirates from utilizing the powers of various life forms, including the species Metroids. The game took place primarily underground, hence the dark atmosphere. Its story had a distinctive science fiction slant.

4. Mega Man
Whichever version of Mega Man I was playing at any given time, I was loving every second of it. Mega Man is arguably best known and most revered for its colorful cast of characters, and that’s certainly why I adore it. I think that if the grown up me was subjected to Mega Man‘s soundtrack for as many hours as the child me endured, I’d probably end up in a padded cell. But not even the manic music could detract from the epic Mega Man experience. Mega Man, in my mind, earned a place on this brief list due to extraordinary merit – considering it beat other favorites like A Boy and His Blob, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Castlevania, and Bubble Bobble.

Jog your memory: This 2D side-scrolling gem centered around a butt-kicking robotic hero with an arm-mounted cannon, i.e. Mega Man. As Mega Man defeated bosses he assumed their powers, which came in themes like the four elements or weaponry such as napalm. In the end, Mega Man confronted Dr. Wily, the man at fault for the level bosses’ acts of destruction.

3. Final Fantasy
Oh, how it pained me to have to decide between Final Fantasy and Ultima for RPG love affair of my childhood – and really, of my entire life – but in the end, Final Fantasy’s staying power is undeniable. And I don’t mean just because the title’s up to about its billionth edition, but because the first installments of the Final Fantasy tale, with their legendary bouncy sprites, simply measure up to some of the greatest games ever created.

Jog your memory: Four young warriors, the Light Warriors, looked to defeat four enemies called Elemental Fiends in order to restore light to the elemental orbs that each of the Light Warriors carried. The ultimate goal, now predictable to any fan of the series, was to save the world.

2. Super Mario Bros.
Duh duh duh duh duh duh! Duh. See? Even in text the opening notes of the Super Mario Bros. theme song trigger our collective memory. (Well, they trigger memories for the obsessed.) Who can forget Mario and Luigi, the lovable Italian brothers, who gallantly fought through level after level of rather repetitive themes to rescue Princess Toadstool (later Peach) from Bowser? Although in the original Luigi was only playable in multiplayer mode, the pair made a serious impact on pop culture and have spawned a veritable dynasty, as well they should. For me, this game was the perfect marriage of challenge and silliness. It certainly tested my youthful skills, but the plot and the graphics were far-fetched enough that escapism might as well have been Mario and Luigi’s last name. Super Mario Bros. sucked me in from start to finish.

Jog your memory: Mario and Luigi traversed a not-so-diverse series of terrains that included outer worlds and underworlds. At the end of each progressively more difficult underworld and mini-Bowser boss battle, they were informed they’d stormed the wrong castle. Oops.

1. The Legend of Zelda
Ah…the sweet sound of the Zelda theme song can send me to my happy place. (In fact, I had it as my ringtone for quite some time.) At heart, it’s another damsel in distress game, so common to the NES platform. But its soul is a thing of beauty. Perky graphics and catchy music and sound effects – yes, even that annoying fairy – made Zelda the stuff of memories. Occasionally tricky but endlessly entertaining game play made Zelda the stuff of legends. No matter how many Zelda titles have followed across countless gaming systems, the original Zelda remains the jewel in the franchise’s crown. R.I.P. my weathered Zelda cartridge. You will be remembered often and fondly.

Jog your memory: The Legend of Zelda was the tale of the brave adventurer Link, who set off on a series of harrowing quests to rescue Princess Zelda from the antagonist, Ganon. In order to accomplish this Link had to collect eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom from various underworlds.

So as I bid adieu to my NES I ask, which Nintendo games captured your heart and an unhealthy portion of your life? Leave a comment & deepen my Nintendo nostalgia – nay, my NEStalgia. Go on, I can take the pain.

Also check out: Get Nintendo classic games on your keyring

Let’s begin with the definition of a speedrun first.

A speedrun is a play-through, or recording thereof, of a video game performed with the intent of completing it as quickly as possible, optionally under certain prerequisites, mainly for the purposes of entertainment and competition.

Wikipedia

Throughout my 25+ years of gaming I have tried a number of speedruns, but have succeeded in exactly zero of them. To accomplish a speedrun not only do you need patience and a thorough understanding of the game’s mechanics, but you also need a bit of memorization and actually be GOOD at video games. Now we are all good at games, but this kind of good is taking things to a whole new level as you will soon see.

The NES era of games is a great test area for speedruns because many of the games were short platformers. Okay they weren’t short when I played them, but these players make quick work of each game. While you may be taking a ten minute break to plant your crops in Farmville, some person is zipping through Batman with ease.

Many of these runs are done with emulators so that they could be recorded. In no way should this take away the achievements that each of these players have accomplished.

1. Contra

There are a number of reasons why I wouldn’t be able to pull this one off and of course the first revolves around not being able to use the Konami code. The second means I would have to beat the game in single player mode. I don’t think I ever tried, but I am pretty sure I never even came close in beating the game without the aid of a partner.

I tend to think that the game was easy only because I had 30 lives and another person had 30 also, but I definitely died more than three times during my runs so the game wasn’t as easy as I remember it to be. I’m not sure if this run is done on memorization or instinct, but the player in it is good. Damn good.

2. Batman

One of my favorite NES games of all time. It was challenging, but not to the point you wanted to throw the controller at the screen. I actually beat this game and I remember feeling like the greatest video game pimp in the whole wide world. Unfortunately this player makes me feel like I should go back to lincoln logs and leave the real gaming to the pros. I didn’t even know you could hit an enemy and just run right through them while they were flashing. I probably took at least 5x as long to beat the game as this guy.

As I mentioned, the game was challenging so I could never pull this off because I was guaranteed a couple of deaths from time to time. My jumping wasn’t as accurate as I would have liked it to be. He must’ve been the true Batman.

3. X-Men

This game was crap. It was easily one of the worst games on the NES and if you know the NES games catalog you know that means a lot. It hurt even more that the X-Men were my favorite superheroes and there was a time where I would do anything to make enough money to buy the new comic book editions that came out each month.

The fact that this person was able to even get through the game without smashing his head through the TV is nothing short of amazing and reason #1 why I would never have been able to finish the game. The fact the this person doesn’t even switch toons in midlevel is another amazing feat.

If you watch the video you will see that it’s almost impossible to even tell what is going on and you aren’t even playing it. Man this game blew.

4. Marble Madness

This game was hard enough to control with a trackball, it was even more difficult to control with the rigid NES gamepad. The run shown above unfortunately isn’t the NES run, which doesn’t let you embed, but it is the exact same game.

I first played this game on my Grandmother’s Amiga computer and don’t remember how far I got, but I definitely never beat it. Each level took me forever because I felt you had to be super precise when apparently you could just fly through corners if you wanted to. I’ll have to keep this in mind next time I decide to give the game a shot. Of course I will need to put down Plants vs. Zombies first. Hm, maybe Marble Madness would be a good iPhone game. Someone get on it.

5. Mega Man 2

My second favorite NES game of all time. It might be weird calling this a speedrun considering the video is over 39 minutes long, but if you played the game then you know there are just delays in it that you can’t speed through. There are definitely two specific parts in this game that would trip me up. I did beat the game, however these two parts always took me a couple tries. The first one is the Quick Man stage, the second level the player in the video runs through. The second one is the Dragon in Dr. Wily’s castle. Of course I would die many more times in other parts, but I know if I had a perfect run going, those two parts would be my downfall.

Instead of Marble Madness give me Mega Man on my iPod Touch.

6. Super Mario Bros. 2

Of course I am referring to the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2. The only reason I wouldn’t be able to accomplish the speed run as this player has done is because he uses Luigi and makes him look godly. Seriously, has Luigi ever looked so good before? Then he moves to Toad and you would think he was Arnie in Predator. Excuse me while I just run through everyone to the end of the board.

Although this game was fun it was my least favorite of the trilogy. Super Mario Bros. 3 being my all-time favorite and the original just being a classic. I guess I didn’t like stopping to pick up some radish to throw at some weird looking bird hopping my way. Stupid enough we had to kill Bowser each level in the original, now you give us Birdo to throw eggs at every 30 seconds? I pass.

7. Super Mario Bros.

This run just leaves me speechless. The amount of close calls and exploits performed by this player go to show I would never even come close to perfecting a run like this. Every jump is well-timed and executed to perfection. Rarely do you see the player do a full jump and apparently there is no need when you can just hop and skip over every bad guy. Some claim that this was run using cheats, but I can see it happening like this due to it being one of the first Nintendo games around so glitches are bound to be part of it.

8. Double Dragon 1, 2 & 3

You read that right. This is a speed run of all three games run back to back. Solo. No restarts. Under an hour including endings. I shouldn’t even have to explain why I wouldn’t be able to pull this one off, but I know I never beat any of these games without a partner. Maybe I just like playing video games with others or maybe I wasn’t as skilled a gamer as I thought as a 10 year old.

There you have it, my top 8(+2) speedruns of games from the NES era. Did you ever try a speedrun and succeed?

My wife and I are pretty avid video game fans. We own every Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft console produced in the past 20 years, with a few handhelds and a Genesis in there for good measure. Up until recently though, we didn’t own a PS3, and there was a pretty big reason for that.

The first reason was the price. I wasn’t down with paying half a grand for a console, no matter how awesome or cutting edge the technology was. I resisted purchasing almost out of principle, because it just wasn’t worth the extra cash. The second reason was the games. I love platformers, and the Ratchet & Clank series seemed like a pretty cool group of games for the PS3 – but not enough to justify the price tag. There really wasn’t any other PS3 game that made me really want the system. Little Big Planet was close, and I considered Batman: Arkham Asylum for the Joker download, but there was still nothing that made me pull the trigger. Besides, I could get almost any PS3 game for my 360, so why spend the money? When the price dropped to $299 though, I was all over it. I was just about to pull the trigger when I received a PS3 Slim as a gift, as well as a copy of Little Big Planet and Ratchet and Clank. Times were good.

So after the Blu-Ray haze had worn off and the games were played, I put the PS3 controller down for a little bit to focus on some family stuff. This weekend I decided to treat myself to a game, but now I had a choice: PS3 or XBox 360?

I was looking at 2 games: MLB2K10 (pictured) and MLB10 The Show. I had played demos of both in the store, and MLB2K10 was looking like the stronger game. As I stood there, holding a PS3 and 360 version of the game in each hand, my wife said to me, “Well, if the PS3 has the better graphics, go with the PS3 version.” So I did.

I get home and I’m playing the game. Almost instantly I’m having controller issues, where the PS3 isn’t responding to my frantic button jabs. Then the cursor starts freaking out when I’m trying to place a pitch, then I have problems stealing second. 30 minutes later I’m cursing my decision. Four hours later I give it another shot, and I find that everything is working great and now it’s all good. No problems at all, like it never happened. So what was it? Hell if I know.

This experience shook my faith in the console. I’ve got an old NES that fires up every time I need it, and never complains. Although I understand that newer consoles are substantially more complex that the NES, that doesn’t mean that they should suffer from problems. Consoles should be reliable electronics, not requiring random updates and constant syncing. That goes for my 360 too, because even though it’s working fine now, I have had two units red ring out on me.

So now, when I go to the store and try to decide what to buy, I think my decision may be a bit easier. If it’s exclusive, I’ll go with that console. Otherwise, I’m getting it for the 360.

If so, the Nintendo Entertainment System Cubecraft is now available for your cutting and folding pleasure. Hey, you don’t even need glue.

Ready to print at 150dpi onto standard A4 paper or card, designed by Chris Beaumont.

Go get it!

Not really much of an “obscure” game, not by a long-shot, but still one of the perennial favorites among SNES-owners and lovers of all 2D fighters. Obviously, since this feature is called “Nintendo Archive”, I will be reviewing the Super Nintendo version of the game. However, let it be known that there were two other versions of this game; one for the original NES and one for the Sega Genesis. Each game had different playable characters, which is sort of a shame, as two of my favorites, Karai and Casey Jones, are not featured in the SNES version.

TMNT Tournament Fighters was inspired by the “sparring match” feature from the TMNT: Turtles in Time brawler. Basically, you could practice your moves in a 2-player sparring match with limited fighting options. That proved to be a very popular feature and so it spawned the Tournament Fighter series. The SNES version has 3 modes you can play the game in; Story Mode, Tournament Mode or 2-Player. The Story Mode is fun, though it only allows you to play as one of the 4 Ninja Turtles. Still, adding a story gives the game a bit more depth and I almost wish more fighters would do it the way Tournament Fighters did. In Tournament Mode you can play as any of the characters, including the villains, to win lots of cash. So you sacrifice the story but you still get to play as any character you want (and there are cheat codes available so you can play as the final bosses, too).

The game had an interesting feature added to give the fights a little more “oomph”. The more blows you threw at your opponent, whether they blocked them or not, your Mutagen Meter would gradually increase. Once it was full you could unleash a super-powerful attack to devastate your enemy. This was appreciated, as I had a buddy who preferred to play “defensively” (as in, he’d cower in a corner, blocking, and just waiting everything out). It got annoying. This feature rewarded the more hyper-active fighter with a killer special attack if you could go crazy and not die before your meter filled up.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, reliving old video game memories, and I remember him telling me that the one thing he hated about Tournament Fighters was all the “made-up” characters Konami put into the roster. Well, I corrected him, of course. While characters like Armagon and War never featured in the cartoon series, they were very popular in the Archie TMNT comic. Meanwhile, characters like Chrome-Dome and Wingnut did appear in the cartoon, though sparingly (and, again, they were more popular in the Archie comic). I believe Aska is the only “made-up” character in the whole game. She was probably tossed in there just for the sake of having an obligatory female character (with April O’Neil and Karai having already been secured for the game on another system). It’s a shame not enough people read the Archie comic back in the 90’s, as it took the characters and origins as they were presented in the TMNT cartoon, but made them royally hardcore.

As far as the characters go, you’ve got a good selection. My favorite was always the Cyber Shredder (The Shredder but with cyber-armor), mostly because I thought the Shredder just looked damn cool. He had a good selection of moves, like the Forearm Crusher, the Lightning Crusher (his Mutagen Meter attack), a forearm shield and a nasty throw-move. Leo and Aska were probably the most annoying to play against. Leo was cheap as Hell, constantly using his energy attack on you. Thankfully, Cyber Shredder’s forearm shield could deflect it right back at him. All the turtles also carried-over their special moves from TMNT 3: the Manhattan Project, the classic NES brawler. So Leo also had his spinning sword move and what-not. Raph had his drill-attack from the Manhattan Project intact, and for a projectile move he could hurl red bursts of energy at you, similar to Krillen’s “Destructo Disk” from Dragonball Z. All the turtles also had throw-moves. Mike could spit fireballs at you from out of his mouth
which was very strange. His most annoying move would be his ability to propel himself upward like a helicopter with his nunchakus. So trying to get him with a jumping move was rather difficult. Then there’s Don. He has a great reach with his bo-staff and can smack you around pretty bad with that thing. His projectile attack was his ability to send a bolt of energy at you through the ground. Not a very good move, as it was easy-enough to avoid by jumping.

As for the “extra” characters, some were better than others. Aska was a very defensive player; she could block ANYTHING. So it required a bit of patience to beat her (I hate patience!), as you had to wait for her to make the attack so you could get an opening. She had some stupid tornado move and really nothing very impressive; she’s probably the lamest character in the game. Wingnut, due to his wings, was always hovering above the ground and could dodge attacks real easy. He could also jump really freakin’ high, thanks to those wings. His attacks sorta mimicked break-dancing moves, which looked rather cool. Chrome-Dome was the games “Dhalsim”, if you will. His legs could extend great distances to hit you in the face. He also had rapid-hitting attacks where he could pull-off a half dozen hits on you in the span of a second. Armagon, the shark-guy, could spit big balls of energy at you and smack you up with his tail. And War, well, I never had any trouble beating that guy. His hits were real strong, but he was so big and slow that moving around him was easy. Not designed very well. And the boss characters were both a strange and expected selection. The “mini-boss” of the game is
the Rat King? Don’t get me wrong, the guy’s hardcore in the comics and cartoons, but the second-to-last boss? He also looks like he’s either a pro-wrestler or on steroids, as he’s friggin’ HUGE. His moves are, again, wrestling-inspired and involve no actual rats. Then, the final boss is Krang. Who didn’t see that coming?

The graphics are excellent, on par with any fighter Capcom released for the 16-bit era. This was actually the first Konami 2D fighter I ever played (hell, have I ever played any others from them?) and they did a magnificent job. The overall quality of the graphics, controls, moves, stages and character selection is just as good as anything Capcom has ever released, and they’re generally revered as the premiere company when it comes to 2D fighters (well, the SNK fans would argue that to their graves). The overall quality and entertainment value of the whole game leaves me to wonder why it never expanded. Unless you count that fact that there were three versions released on 3 different systems at the same time, Tournament Fighters never got a sequel. I suppose this had to do with the TMNT’s dwindling popularity toward the mid-90’s. Still, a “Tournament Fighters Collection”, featuring all 3 versions of the game, would be ideal. Especially considering the TMNT’s recent resurgence.