Retro Arcade: Jersey Devil!

Jersey Devil was an action/adventure game released in 1998 by Behaviour Interactive for the Playstation. I enjoyed this game when I first played it on one of those Playstation Magazine Demo Discs. When I found a used copy at GameStop, I immediately picked it up.

Being from NJ, I loved the history of this elusive cryptid! If you don't know the story of the Jersey Devil, here you go: "Mother Leeds had 12 children and, after finding she was pregnant for the 13th time, stated that this one would be the Devil. Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the Devil himself. In 1735, born as a normal child, it changed to a creature with hooves, a goat's head, bat wings, and a forked tail. Growling and screaming, it killed the midwife before flying up the chimney, circling the villages, and heading toward the NJ Pine Barrens." This is what he was depicted as in a drawing from 1909!

A little different than the hero we got in 1998? Anyway, the game took place in Jersey City and the Jersey Devil must do battle with the mutant vegetables of Dr. Knarf. Dr. Knarf is using his killer cabbages and pumpkin ghouls in attempt to take over the world! It's up to you and the Jersey Devil to stop him!

This game is a lot of fun. It has colorful characters, a fun story to follow and I really like the way they depict Jersey City in the game.

It's just a little different than the one in real life. Wouldn't an HD remake be sweet?

For now all we have is this Playstation version from '98 and that's good enough for me. I'm gonna try to beat this classic video game this Halloween season! Enjoy this old commercial for the game and take a walk down PS1 Memory Lane with me!

Retro Arcade: TMNT 2 Back From The Sewers

Let me start off by saying one of my favorite games for the original Nintendo Gameboy is the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We defeated every bad guy, grabbed every pizza and discovered how to unlock every mini-game! I could beat that game blindfolded. As a kid I never owned the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Back From The Sewers. I don't know why? We were huge into Turtles and had all the NES and Super NES games. Anyway, I purchased a copy of the game for a nice price off ebay recently and was pleasantly surprised when I found the manual in the delivery box with the game. Me, my brother and all my friends used to read these manuals like crazy hoping to find any secrets or tips on how to beat the game. Sometimes stories were included along with some fantastic art you would never see anywhere else. Let's delve into the sewers and check out the TMNT 2 manual and it's contents:

Front Cover

 Pages 2 & 3 (Welcome/Table of Contents)

 Pages 4 & 5 (Story/Control Set Up)

 Pages 6 & 7 (Turtle Profile/Starting New Game)

 Pages 8 & 9 (Screen Set Up/Stages)

 Pages 10 & 11 (Power Up/Bad Guy Pictures)

Back Cover

 I am blown away. The art style is done in a type of manga/Japanese way. I really like this interpretation of the boys in green, especially the back cover work where it looks like Splinter is giving them a high energy pep talk before they go out and kick some shell! The instruction booklet also included a back story for the game, profiles of each Turtle and illustrations of "The Bad News Bunch"! I love finding these old manuals. Most of the ones we had as kids got lost, thrown away or destroyed. This one will find a good place for safe keeping in my house.

Retro Arcade: Atari 2600

I was visiting our local classic gaming store/pawn shop a few months back. They have a great assortment of games for the old NES, Super NES, Genesis and any console since then. Usually the place is overpriced, but today they were running a sale on all Atari 2600 cartridges at $1 each! I dug through the pile and surprisingly they had no E.T. or Pac-Man games, but here is what I did find:

Adventure (Atari 1978)

Baseball (Sears 1978)

Basketball (Atari 1978)

Centipede (Atari 1982)

Pole Position (Atari 1982)

Q*Bert (Atari 1987)

Space Invaders (Sears 1980 & Atari 1980)

Overall, not a bad haul for just $8. I would have paid 20 times that amount for the artwork alone! Some of my favorite classic video games include Space Invaders, Centipede and Pole Position. I had never played Adventure before, but my interest was piqued when I heard that this game contained the first ever Easter Egg in a console game. Basketball and Baseball I grabbed just because I am a fan of sports and sports games and Q*Bert, where do I start. I get so frustrated with the game enough so that I claim "I will never paly this damn game again!" of course I do and then remember why I hate it so much. But Q*Bert the character is one of my faves. He is so iconic and AWESOME! He keeps dragging me back in with his cuteness. Who can forget his appearances in Wreck It Ralph or his cartoon show on Saturday Supercade? Why does this game suck so much! Is it time to get the Atari out of my Mom's attic and try this one again?