1. Mega Man I (NES) - (7/3/10 - 7/7/10) First game of the Mega Man series, so a 'must play'. Something about this game was lacking though, and several of the enemies were repetitious. (OH MY GOD another bouncy thing, but look.. it's GREEN NOW!!!) Frustrating also is that you can't charge up your blaster, making it very important to know what special weapon will destroy what end Boss easier. However, I finally got that damn Dr. Wily once and for all! ... wait... oh.. 100 more games in the series? BRING IT ON!Can I have a Mega Man cannon arm? Please?
Pro tip - If you want to know a really cheap way to beat this game pretty quickly, then boy do I have a treat for you. Beat Elec Man first, and then use his special weapon to defeat the rest of the bosses. Right before the Electric Shock is about to hit the bad guy, hit Select over and over like it owes you money. BAM, instant fried chicken.
SOB Scale - 6.5/10 - I definitely went through more continues than a decent gamer should have, before I succumbed to using the "select" cheat.
2. Mega Man II (NES) - (7/7/10 - 7/9/10) While this game improves on the platforming aspect of the series, it really takes a hit for how easy the bosses are to beat. Also, just when you think you are done with all of the bosses and ready to fight Dr. Wily, he drags you though 6 or 8 more stages at the end, which adds about twice as much gameplay... but kind of drags out the ending... which was SPOILER ALERT! Mega Man walking through a field of flowers.. I dont' get it.
I still want one of my arms to be a Mega Man cannon arm.
Pro Tip - Most of the bosses in this game have been made much easier to beat with your Super Cannon thingy, so if you're out of special weapons, you should be OK with your default cannon.
SOB Scale - 3.5/10 - C'mon Dr. Wily.. is that the best you got?! Don't know what Capcom was thinking, but they really easified this game up. Perhaps they got too many 5 year olds whining about not being able to beat the first one (including myself back in the day).
3. The Legend of Zelda *REVISIT* (NES) - (7/10/10) Yeah, finished it in a day -- a day that I probably should have gone for a run or a bike ride. This was one of many ‘revisits’ that I have on this list, as I played and beat it a LONG time ago so I figured it’d be challenging and a bit nostalgic. Nostalgic.. yes.. challenging? eh, kinda. I remembered most of the dungeon locations and most of the other secrets in the game from my childhood. Amazing that I could remember the exact bushes to burn to get 200 bonus Rupies.. the human brain is an amazing thing, isn’t it? I can remember where to find Link’s blue ring, but I can’t remember where I put my car keys this morning. The first of Link's many adventures still holds up pretty well to this day.
Pro Tip - Finding some of the dungeons is easy, but if you've never played this game, finding a couple of them is almost impossible without help. You may want to consult a map. Oh, and don't go into dungeon 5 when you haven't beaten 1-4 unless you want to DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
SOB Scale - 4/10 - While this is still a 'revisit' I still had a tough time in a couple of the dungeons, especially 6 and 7.
4. Contra (NES)- (7/10/10) Ok, so Contra is a bitch to beat and I’m pretty sure the Konami Code exists so you can beat this game. That said, I did try to beat this game without using it the first 3 times, but after some convincing from my buddy Alex (you can’t play this game alone) we Konami coded it and destroyed the Alien hoard! Woo! This game is actually kind of short (if you're good) at a scant 8 levels. We beat this game in less than 45 minutes, continues and game over included.. however, I don't think I would have been able to beat it in a respectable amount of time without the Konami Code - especially with Alex stealing all of my lives. ;) Still a classic that you can keep going back to for more.
SOB Scale - 8/10 Without Konami Code, 3/10 With Konami Code
5. Castlevania (NES)- (7/10/10-7/20/10) This game is one of those games that you've heard a lot about, but you've never actually played. I was under the impression that Castlevania was a strictly RPG series, but I guess I'm just stupid and ignorant. It's your basic (get to the end) platformer, but you get a whip, and can upgrade it through things that enemies drop when you kill them. You also get special weapons, which were a bitch to find out how to use. Then, you fight some bat thing, Frankenstein's creation, death herself (yeah, I'm pretty sure death is a woman) and ... um.. Dracula, who turns out to actually be a huge monster Demon thing? I guess I missed that in EVERYTHING ELSE THAT DRACULA HAS EVER BEEN IN! Re-dick-u-lous. Besides the crappy graphics, this game holds up decently.
Pro Tip - Use your special weapon by hitting Up and B. If you use your special weapon 10 times to beat enemies, you get a special "II" brick which allows you to fire 2 specials at once. Use it another 10 times and you get a "III" brick. Bet you can't guess what that does!
SOB Scale - 8/10 - This is one TOUGH game, but thank god for continues. At the end of the game, they give you a continue point right before the end boss, but it STILL took me several lives / continues to beat Dracula. It's ALL about the timing.
