#186 - Donkey Kong 3

      Thank God this is the "original" Donkey Kong 3 and not some Chinese ripoff.

       Stanley's imminent death approaches. Look at those evil worm bastards.

Very few people have played this particular entry in the original Donkey Kong series and it's often seen as the black sheep of the original trilogy. Said haters should go and replay all three Kong entries back to back. Donkey Kong 3 is more of a button masher than the first two, but the replay value for it far exceeds Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. You play as Stanley the Bugman, in his first and only starring role, and your purpose is to push Donkey Kong back up his vines and off the screen where he belongs. Bugs will also come and attack you, and also try to take your flowers at the bottom of the screen. Your flowers will give you extra points once the level is done, so you want to protect them WITH YOUR LIFE. Hit the bugs and Donkey Kong with some bug juice to beat each level. It's simple, fast-paced fun. Much like the first two, the levels repeat, but the arcade style of Donkey Kong 3 lends itself well to this. I definitely don't mind replaying these levels as much as I did in the first two games. Different harder enemies emerge the further you get into the game. Your only real power-up is an add-on that turns your bug spray into mustard gas, and Donkey Kong and the bugs really hate that.

As far as gameplay or overall gaming impact, Donkey Kong 3contributes very little. It came out in 1984, the year of the Video Game Crash. As a result, it wasn't nearly as popular as the first two, and those that did play it, didn't think much of it. Still, time has been kinder to this entry than to its older brothers. Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr may have been more groundbreaking, but Donkey Kong 3 is arguably more fun.

B+

#108 - Burai Fighter

 Covers can lie, but this one doesn't. This game is solid.

  
Holy smokes, this game is hard.


So the name Burai Fighter sounds retarded. I have been known to judge in haste, though, so I discovered, through the power of Google, that the word “burai” means “villain” or “villainy.” Replace “Burai” with “Villain/y” and you have “Villainy Fighter,” which sounds much, much worse. Burai it is, then! For such a silly, misguided name, Burai Fighter is a solid little schmup. It doesn't really break ground in the genre, but it does give me pleasure to die repeatedly in my many attempts to beat its stages.

You play Chuck Thunderstone, retired mercenary for hire. You've been called out of retirement for one last space run. Seems some “villains” have been running amok in space and you're the only one who can “fight” them; floating stingwrays and such – the real baddies of the galaxy. Your task, which you can and will accept, is to destroy everything you can whilst in space. None of the above might be the actual story, but I did summarize the gist of the game. Instead of piloting a spaceship, you are simply a floating body in space with a gun. If you see something that moves, shoot and destroy. There are the standard weapon upgrades to prevent you from getting bored with your weaponry, but apart from that, this is standard stuff.

The whole concept of a man floating in space and shooting works better than it might sound because Senor Thunderstone can turn in eight different directions. That's right: instead of simply being able to shoot to the right in a straight line, you can shoot up, down, left, right, and diagonally. When I first realized this, I was stunned. Surely an NES shooter couldn't be this ahead of its time! The controls work well, although they take some getting used to. Strangely, for a schmup, there aren't a lot of enemies, but that works to your advantage. Since you, as a person in space, are a larger sprite than most ship sprites in other games, it is easier to navigate around the enemies and their blue projectiles they spew at you. Also, unlike most schmups, you can touch the foundations of the level and not die. For example, if you hit a wall in the level, your man will not explode into a million pieces; only enemies can do damage. Beware: your size is a hindrance when you're fighting bosses. There's about a zero percent margin of error you can make in your movements, so deaths will come quickly and without mercy.

Had Burai Fighter been able to distinguish itself more from some of the other schmups of the day (R-Type, Raiden, Life Force, etc), it could have become a solid little franchise. Unfortunately, compared to a lot of other schmups, it lacks any real graphical prowess or a distinguishing feature to call its own. If you're a schmup fan, though, don't write it off. Underrated and undiscovered gems are always a blessing to find in this slowly disappearing genre.

B