Weathering the Storm

Hurricane Sandy. Lovely little storm. We lost power for about 24 hours, so it wasn't too bad. The circle near us and the river overpass both flooded, which makes it impossible to get around. Part of the problem is tidal, so it happens a few times each year when it rains a lot. It would be nice if they could do something about it to keep it from happening. I'm not holding my breath, though. Anyways, here's some pictures of the flooding.

Top 100 NES Games of All Time

If you grew up in the 80's you most likely played the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). A lot. Unless you were one of the unfortunate few fans of the Sega Master System (which had better specs than the NES; it just didn't have the Number One Video Game Mascot of All Time, namely, Mario). I remember when I got my Nintendo. I spent days playing Super Mario Brothers until I utterly mastered the game.

The first game that I bought with my own money was Commando, which was an overhead shooter that was tough as nails. You played as the soldier, Super Joe (who looked kind of like a munchkin). Commando was a long game. There were four levels. Each level was made up of four zones, each with its own boss that would block the gate which would let you into the next area. There were also regular grunts who simply couldn't wait to get in the way of your bullets, sneaky fellows in foxholes who would try to ambush you, grenade lobbing soldiers, soldiers with shields who could only be taken out with grenades (or if you could get behind them), guys with bazookas, bunkers with machine guns, the aforementioned stage bosses, and prisoners you had to rescue. There were also the requisite power-ups, such as super grenades and long-range bullets. It had an enjoyable (albeit repetitive) musical score, and a single-bladed helicopter to drop you off and pick you up at the beginning and end of each level. It was a very cool game, one which gave me blisters on my thumbs for a long time.

The next game I got was Rad Racer. I remember that my dad bought it for me. It was the only game he ever bought for me without it being either a) my birthday or b) Christmas. Rad Racer was awesome. In it you could play as either a Ferrari or an F1 Racer. And it also had a 3D setting and came with plastic 3D glasses. I never really used the 3D setting because it didn't work very well. If I remember correctly, the game was made up of 8 races, each of which built upon the difficulty of the last. I only beat the game a few times. I miss that game. Rad Racer was a precursor of sorts to games like the Grand Theft Auto series in that by pressing "down" on the D-pad, you could change the music to one of three scores. Revolutionary.

Then Christmas came along and I got Mickey Mousecapades and The Legend of Zelda. Mickey Mousecapades was a lot of fun. It was a fairly challenging puzzle game that was much cooler than its name suggests. And I shouldn't need to tell you that The Legend of Zelda was one of the NES's best and most influential games. Ever.

Anyway, I could go on and on and talk about such amazing games as Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Stinger (my friend, Ray, had that game), Castlevania, Tecmo Superbowl, Battletoads, Dragon Warrior, Contra, Gradius, Rygar, Ikari Warriors, Ninja Gaiden, Rush'n Attack (one of the most infuriating games ever, in my opinion), Kid Icarus, Metroid, Final Fantasy, the list goes on and on.

But I don't need to because this past week, IGN.com counted down their Top 100 NES Games of All Time (their choice for #1 may surprise you. It surprised me, though I can't argue with their decision). Reading through the list brought back so many great memories of some of the best games ever made. And awesome memories of days long since past spent playing them at my house, Ray's house, Adam's or Phil's house. Even in the dorm during freshman year in college.

It's amazing the staying power of these titles; I just wish that kids today had easier access to these titles. I think that kids today see these titles as simplistic, sometimes silly and maybe not worth their time. But just because these games were made when games weren't (couldn't be) as complex as the games of today doesn't mean that they were "simple". Or easy, for that matter. Kid Icarus has the reputation of being one of the hardest games of all time. That game was a monster. And I loved it. But these are the games that made the industry what it is today and each one deserves to be appreciated.

Enjoy the list.

Again, Just Because I Care...

Because I care about you, my dear friends and family, here I present you with a very important website. Read it and please, be careful.

The History of the Nintendo Game Boy

I owned a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) when I was a kid. I got it in 1987 and that day was the happiest day of my life. Prior to that, the only other video game system I owned was the Magnavox Odyssey, which played Atari game cartridges. When that system died, my friend, Dave, who had an actual Atari would bring his to my house after school nearly daily. We would play games until dinner time. My favorite game was Food Fight and his was Xevious, which I was never any good at (Dave had a great story about a bird - I think it was a relatives, maybe? - who would emulate the 'beep' and 'boop' sounds from the game. There was another story about goldfish and carrots that doesn't have anything to do with video games, but was pretty funny, as well. I don't think Dave wants me to tell that story, though...).

A couple of years after I got my NES, Nintendo introduced the Game Boy, which I really wanted, but never got. My friend, Ray, got the Game Boy and I'd play his. The games were pretty impressive, but to me, the Atari Lynx seemed the better system. I was torn and subsequently passed up on both. Instead, I went the route of the TurboGrafx 16 (Bonk's Adventure and JJ and Jeff were two of the very best games on that system. I wish I still had that system because it was a lot of fun. Instead, I sold that system and all of my games to my friend, Scott, for $50) and Sega Genesis.

It wasn't until the Game Boy Advance (GBA) came out in 2001 that I finally entered the world of portable games systems. The GBA was a phenominal system. The graphics were great (for a handheld system), and the games were engaging. I think one of the reasons I never bought a Game Boy was because the screen only displayed four colors, which seemed rather primitive. In the mid 90's, Nintendo came out with the Game Boy Color to fix that propblem, but by that time, I felt like I was far too removed from Nintendo in general for me to buy it because I was too caught up with the Sony Playstation.

In fact, my only real problem with the GBA was that the screen was not backlit and was very hard to see if you weren't playing in the sun or next to a lamp. The second generation GBA took care of that and I traded in my original GBA for the new one. The second generation GBA became a fixture with me. Heck, I even played it at work when we were slow.

Then Nintendo came out with the DS, their dual screen system which just kicks holy heck out of any other handheld game system I've ever played and/or seen. My DS is one of my favorite possessions. My daughter's friend, Aidan, has a DS, too, and now my daughter, Kenzie, wants one. Nintendo just came out with the DSi earlier this year, so I have been thinking about upgrading to that system and giving Kenzie my DS. We'll see.

What I've given you here is but a small, personal history of the Game Boy and the DS. If you're a fan of handheld video games, then for a more detailed (and much more awesome) history of Nintendo's handheld gaming systems, check out this article over at IGN.com.

Check out the pictures below for a little trip through time.

Enjoy!

Welcome to ReviewLand X!!!

Hey folks, I've started a new website called ReviewLand X (ReviewLand was taken, just like AndyLand, so I've added the 'X' at the end again. Hey, why break precedent?) and as of today it is officially LIVE!!!

Here I will review everything that interests me from restaurants to TV shows to movies, books and various household products. Heck, I'll even review customer service I've received if I think the service warrants being reviewed. I've posted two reviews so far and you can count on much more content in the weeks and months to come.

To make it simpler for you, you can sign up on ReviewLand X to become a follower of the website so that you never miss a review. I've also begun to index all my reviews so that you can find them easier or just read certain ones if you wish.

So come along and check out ReviewLand X and learn what matters to me (and what should matter to you). Make sure that you bookmark ReviewLand X just like you've bookmarked this page (you did bookmark this page, right? Right?!). You can also use the link to the right under the Links I Use section of the page.

Please feel free to leave both positive and negative comments about my reviews or suggestions for things you want me to review in the future. Either way I'd love to hear from you (please leave me comments now and then because it makes me feel like someone other than my wife and my mom are reading my stuff...at least I think my wife and my mom still read my stuff...if not I'm down to nobody because I don't even read my stuff)!

I hope you enjoy my new site!

Zombies!!!

Check out this website for the Asbury Park Zombie Walk. It's an annual event, now in its second year, where people dress up like zombies and, well, walk.

Personally, I like zombies. I love zombie movies (even the bad ones...actually, I should say, especially the bad ones!) and zombie video games. I love the video for Thriller (r.i.p., Michael) when all the zombies dance. Zombies are just cool.

I think I read on the website that the annual zombie walk is held in May so I missed it this year (of course, I wouldn't have known about it if not for this episode of the TV show, Cake Boss). But I want to do it next year. So does my daughter (who thinks that people zombies are scary so she wants to be a zombie monkey). Let me know if you're interested and would like to join us!

In the meantime, don't leave home without your chainsaw and shotgun!

Eli Presley Kovacs

Eli Presley Kovacs, my son, was born on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 10:22 am. He weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was 19.5 inches long. He is at home and is doing well, as is his mother, Tiffany (she is recovering much better this time around, by the way). And Kenzie is enjoying being a Big Sister.

I have posted new pictures on the Andy's Pics page. I have also started a brand new page called Andy's Videos on which I have already started to post a bunch of videos of Eli's first few days, as well as a video of Kenzie at the circus. And I will post some of my latest adventures on the Andy's Adventures page, as well. Check them out! I'll post much more content as time permits.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy all the new stuff here at AndyLand X. Feel free to post comments about what you see! I hope to hear from you all soon!

Welcome to the world, Eli!