Below are the 2 most recent journal entries recorded in jdisbfp's LiveJournal:

Monday, November 26th, 2007
2:10 pm	Bracket 4 Our first round is coming to an end. I'd like to thank the Academy, my producers and most of all, Tom Cruise. Get your votes into: BFPisBuff@aol.com. I am NOT counting votes cast only in the blog. Can't tell you how many times I can stress this, as there are STILL a few of you who have made your picks known, but I haven't seen you show up in my inbox. Don't come whining to me!  Let's see the rest..... GLENNIBUN'S GOODYBAG OF GAMES #1 seed: Metroid vs. #27 seed: Gradius vs. #18 seed: Gyruss   Hey look, Gradius! A side scrolling shoot em up! Hey look, Gyruss, a side scrolling shoot em up! Hey look, Metroid! A game that will destroy the other two.   Sure, I suppose I could play this up as a possible David vs. Goliath battle, but really, Goliath never had a wave beam, so it's not a fair comparison. And of course, the big twist was that Samus was a girl! Want proof? JUSTIN BAILEY this puppy up and play as a green haired chick in a leotard! It's like my lifelong dream come true! #2 seed: Contra vs. #26 seed: Pac-Man vs.  #17 seed: Jackal   OK, everybody together now....up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start! I always hit an extra B A in there. Not sure if it was out of necessity, or an homage to Mr. Barracus of the A-Team. Either way, this is one of those things that video gamers know, and whether good or bad, will never forget.   Pac-Man is an interesting choice, as it's one of the most classic video games ever, hands down. But I wasn't even aware there was an NES port until it got some votes here, and I had to double check and make sure. Obviously, the arcade and Atari version is one that most of us have played. So, for anyone familiar, did the NES version contain any significant changes to Pac-Man as we know it?   Poor Jackal. A little-remembered game that wasn't terrible or anything, just not one of the "big" video game names. And it gets stuck against PAC-MAN AND CONTRA. Even if one doesn't want to vote for Pac-Man, Contra is a similar game that EVERYBODY remembers. I don't see much hope for Jackal moving on here. #3 seed: Tetris vs. #25 seed: Double Dragon 2 vs. #16 seed: Arkanoid   I'll admit, one of the reasons this bracket is going to be just a hodge-podge of games is because I had no idea how to bracket Tetris. I originally thought I'd make it a 1 seed for a puzzle type bracket, but there just aren't enough games to fill that out. So instead, it gets placed at a 3 spot in this bracket.   Even though it's a 3, I think I consider Tetris the favorite to take this bracket. That's what often makes video games so great. Just a basic, simple game that provides endless hours of entertainment.   Double Dragon 2 actually brought on many fights in my household. If you played it, you may know why. It was a pretty fun game, so no complaints there. It looked better than the first DD game, so again, no fighting. In fact, playing it alone wasn't so bad. But when a friend or my brother wanted to join in, well....let's just say it wouldn't take long to re-enact some flying spin kicks. And why? Simple, if you played 2 player, you could beat your partner up. Now, other games have done this, but I think DD2 may have been the first(and only, I'm not sure) to add THIS little twist: Let's say you're down to your last life, and your buddy has 5 left. He's got 1 health bar, so what do you do? Kick him. Why? Because if you kill him, YOU GET A FREE LIFE!! This was sound strategy really, but ultimately it led to somebody being strangled with the controller cord.   Arkanoid was the NES version of a game like Breakout, complete with it's own remote control. Like Tetris, it was simple, easy, and incredibly fun. Featuring several power ups(the ability to shoot with your paddle, increasing size, etc.) it offered some new twists to Breakout and some cooler looking boards. A fun game, but hey, if I'm picking between Arkanoid or Tetris, well.....not a tough choice. #4 seed: River City Ransom vs. #24 seed: Hogan's Alley vs. #15 seed: Tetris 2   BARF! I offer no apologies when I say that River City Ransom was #2 on my list, behind only the original Zelda game. Yes, I'd take River City Ransom over Super Mario Brothers 3. Maybe I'm a sucker for beat 'em ups, maybe I'm a sucker for punching someone until they vomit coins, or maybe I just think there's trouble right here in river city! Either way, this game is one of all time favorites for ANY system, not just the NES.   Hogan's Alley is one of the earlier NES games, and featured the use of the GUN! I can't really offer up much info other than it was a shooting game, so...there ya go.   Tetris 2: Electric Boogaloo is obviously not the mega-hit that the original was, but few games are. Still, it takes a lot to ruin the fun of Tetris, so chances are, you could have some fun with this game. But does it make people barf? #5 seed: Double Dragon vs. #23 seed: Battle Toads and Double Dragon vs. #14 seed: Burgertime   OK, any game that STARTS with a chick getting punched in the stomach and carried away already ranks a minimum 5 out of 10. I mean, why did she get punched in the stomach? Was she talking smack? Is this guy just a woman beater? More importantly, why punch her in the stomach when you can use the bat, or the fancy whip you pick up later in the game? And last, what does Abobo think of all this? We need answers!   Battle Toads and Double Dragon was a game that I SWORE was for SNES, but sure enough, I'm a complete idiot. This one is odd for me, because I liked Double Dragon, and I liked Battle Toads, but I didn't like them together in this game. Perhaps I can equate it to food. I enjoy chicken fried rice. And I enjoy Milky Ways. But I don't think I'd like chicken friend Milky Ways.   Speaking of food, here's Burgertime! One of my favorite things of the NES(and really, I think the Wii is carrying on that tradition) was games like this, that were just such a random idea for a game. In Burgertime, you played a chef, and you had to prepare burgers. How? By running over the items of course! Each board contained several platforms with ladders connecting, and on each platform was a different burger item. Perhaps a bun, the meat, cheese, lettuce. Your job is to run over them, get them to fall into place and serve the burgers. Of course, you have to avoid the pickles who are trying to kill you, and if it's a close call, feel free to pepper them to escape! And if that wasn't weird enough....who are the people eating these burgers? Is the chef preparing them a tiny person, or are these burgers being made for a race of giants? I'm not sure, but it's fun. And once you've played some Burgertime, feel free to wash it down with a round of Tapper! #6 seed: Dr. Mario vs. #22 seed: Life Force vs. #13 seed: Bubble Bobble   I'll admit, though I love Nintendo, sometimes Mario angers me. It's as if the guy feels he needs to invade every major game out there. I mean, Mario DOMINATES the side scroller, but that's not enough. Mario has his own line of sports games, you can't beat Mike Tyson's Punch-Out with Mario counting the victory and now he wants his own version of Tetris? What's next, Mario takes out Ganon and faces off with Link? This man needs to be stopped, he's mad with power! Oh yeah, Dr. Mario is a fun game, as are most Mario games. So I guess it's not so bad if he keeps taking over games. Please though, no Grand Theft Auto: Mushroom Kingdom. I just can't bring myself to murder a hooker while saying, "It'sah me, Mario!"   I never played Life Force, so after looking online, I found out the following: The Konami Code is in effect, and it's a flying game, only the twist is you are in the stomach of a giant alien that eats planets, trying to kill it. Sounds good to me, but it needs more Mario!   Bubble Bobble is the classic story of one man's redemption. You play the role of Tom Bubble and his dog sidekick, Bobble. Who killed your girlfriend, Hooty McBoob? Who stabbed your brother, Ben Bubble on the eve of his wedding? That's for you to find out! Also, I wrote this review to see if anybody is actually reading still at this point.   #7 seed: Kung Fu vs. #21 seed: Jaws vs. #12 seed: Maniac Mansion   I think I smell an upset here. Why? Because Kung Fu is very, very basic. It's not terrible or anything, but I don't think any kids opened birthday or Christmas presents back in 1986 or 87 and said, "YES! I FINALLY GOT KUNG FU!!!" I mean, it's fun kicking the midgets and, the hunchback guy was kind of rough, but still...   Jaws ruled. Flat out, it ruled. We all know Jaws, and sure, it didn't stick to the movie much, but who cares? It was Jaws, and it was cool! Take your ship, look for sharks, collect shells. That's pretty much the game, but you know what I loved? Killing Baby Jaws, and thinking I was the man, only to have REAL JAWS show up and essentially make me pee myself! And once you get enough shells to get the submarine, all bets are off. It's you and Jaws, and for some reason, he's bigger than the submarine!   But my vote in this round is probably going to go to Maniac Mansion. As a kid, we didn't have a computer until I was probably in the 7th grade, so computer games were a mystery to me. Maniac Mansion showed me a whole new world of gaming, and I loved it. Simply being able to pick different characters, and by doing so, changing what you need to do to beat the game, was awesome. It was funny, difficult and just a good game that I'd still probably play if I had it today. #8 seed: Battletoads vs. #20 seed: Rampage vs. #11 seed: Guardian Legend   If you like games where you get to be an animal that punches things, this is the matchup for you! Battletoads was one of those games that only the NES could give you. It was so insanely hard at spots that you wanted to smash the game to bits....yet you keep on playing it. Ah, Nintendo, how you toyed with my emotions as a young man.   Rampage was probably better in the arcade, but it was definitely fun as a 2-player game. Heck, even solo you can't say being a giant lizard that smashes buildings across America isn't a LITTLE fun, can you?   I never played Guardian Legend, so heeeeere's Wikipedia: In The Guardian Legend, the player takes control of the guardian of Earth, a "highly sophisticated aerobot transformer". It is the guardian's mission to infiltrate Naju, a spaceship the size of a planett which is hurtling towards the Earth. While inside, the guardian must activate ten self-destructt switches to destroy Naju before it reaches Earth. However, Naju is infested with alien lifeforms which the guardian must battle in order to successfully activate the switches and escape. #9 seed: Paperboy vs.  #19 seed: Pinbot vs. #10 seed: Super C   And we finish things off with another reminder that games don't have to be flashy looking and world changing, they can sometimes be simple and fun and they'll get played. How else do you explain Paperboy? I WAS a paperboy, and I hated it. But I sure didn't mind playing the video game.   Pinbot was a pinball game. 'Nuff said.   And we finish off our first round with Super C, another Konami installment. The sequel to Contra, it didn't seem to have the same magic as the original, as most people I know didn't have it. Perhaps it's because the Contra Code was messed with, and when you do things like that, really, aren't you asking for trouble? Cast your vote by emailing to BFPisBuff@aol.com. Making your picks in the blog is fun for discussion, but useless in terms of actually getting your picks made. Send them to me! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
10:35 am	Another day, another bracket. Just some quick reminders, I AM NOT COUNTING VOTES THAT ARE LISTED ON THE BLOG ONLY. THEY NEED TO BE EMAILED TO: BFPisBuff@aol.com. Voting for this round ends 1 day after all 4 brackets have been posted, so you have until Saturday! But enough about all the voting rules, let's see who we're voting for! Today's bracket?  MZak's Mega Mario Mish-Mash Masterpiece Bracket: 1. Super Mario Brothers 3 vs. 27. T&C II: Thrilla's Surfari vs. 18. Battle of Olympus For anyone wondering, Super Mario Brothers 3 was the top vote getter. And really, why shouldn't it be? It's Mario, it's awesome, and it lets you ride around in a shoe. Needless to say, it's a heavy favorite not just in this matchup, but probably the whole tournament. Still, let's see what Mario is up against this round. If the name T&C II confuses you, it's a sequel to a game called Town & Country Surf Design. I never actually played this sequel, but the main character is Thrilla, a monkey who surfs and skateboards. No offense Thrilla, but we've seen how Mario handles big apes in the past, and Donkey Kong you ain't. Battle of Olympus is a game I voted for, but was surprised anybody else did. I thought it was one of those games that nobody remembers. We all have them, so it's especially cool to find out somebody else actually knew what it was. I thought this game had excellent graphics for the NES, and was your basic "Guy saves his girl" story, only throw in a bunch of Greek Gods like Zeus and Apollo. Most people would write it off as a Zelda 2 ripoff based on looks, but it was pretty fun. Still, is it cooler than this? I think not. 2. Super Mario Brothers vs. 26. Bionic Commando vs. 17. Fester's Quest OK, here's where I may catch some heat. I just don't get this one. Super Mario Brothers was GREAT, for it's time. But playing it now? It's just not a very fun game. I know it's legendary and all, and if that's why you voted for it, I understand. But if people are picking this based on gameplay, well....I'll have to disagree. The game didn't make my list, but I'm in the minority here, and I can't say I'll be really upset if it wins here, but if it keeps moving on, you'll hear me whining a lot more. Bionic Commando was a very fun game, and one I thought would get more votes, but maybe people forgot it, or maybe I just haven't played it in a long time and it actually sucks. See, the thing is, when you're 9 years old, a game CAN suck, but if you have a grappling hook arm, everything is forgiven. Throw in the fact that a guy who resembles Hitler swears at you, and you've got a winner! Fester's Quest is a tough one for me. This has been talked about here in the blog, but it's a fairly fun game....for a while. When it's an overhead of Uncle Fester marching around shooting bugs and such, I'm fine. But then you go in houses. And you see the plain white walls. And more of them. And more of them. And more of them. I HATED that part of the game. 3. Super Mario Brothers 2 vs. 25. Balloon Fight vs. 16. Batman Noticing a trend yet? The adopted brother of the Mario family makes its presence known, and got some decent support. This is a game that gets a LOT of negative comments, but it's actually pretty fun. I think the problem is it just doesn't seem like a Mario game. It was different, as you could choose between Mario, Luigi, Toad or Princess and one of your main weapons was a giant radish. Still, if it wasn't for this game, my Mario Strikes team would never have Birdo on it, so thanks Mario 2! Balloon Fight is one I've never played, so let's give Wikipedia the floor: "In Balloon Fight, the player controls a Balloon Fighter who flies around with two balloons on his back. The object of the game is to defeat all of the enemy ducks in each level by popping the balloon on their backs. When the balloon is popped, the duck will float down on a parachute, and either land on the ground and survive, or fall in the water and drown, although sometimes a big fish will come out and eat it before it can touch the water, but it can also eat the player if they are too close. If a duck lands, the player must harm it before it can blow up another balloon or it will change to a different color and be worth more points when killed." Hmmm...OK. My only question is, why would a DUCK drown if it lands in water? Still, any game that rewards duck violence is A-OK with me! Batman did something that most of today's game makers STILL can't do. They made a game based off a movie, and made it ACTUALLY FUN TO PLAY. I got this for Christmas one year, but it was after Batman had been out for a while, so I felt ripped off. But after playing the game, I found it was really quite good and couldn't stop playing it. I still never beat it either. Now, here's some proof that Batman and Robin were totally lovers. 4. Mega Man 3 vs. 24. NARC vs. 15. Rygar If you haven't figured out why this is the Mega Mario bracket yet, you never will. I will let you all know now, I was never a HUGE Mega Man guy. I liked Mega Man, but it was never a "must have" for me. Still, it was a fun game series and this one got significantly more votes than any of the other installments. And why? My guess is HARD MAN. Just kidding! It was Needle Man, obviously. To me, many of the Mega Man games run together, but like I said, you can't really go wrong with any of them, as they're fun, the graphics are good, and it could be fairly difficult. I just wasn't as big a fan as, oh, let's say this guy.... NARC is one you may not remember. I actually remember the arcade version more than the NES release, but the basic message is the same. Drugs are bad, and to make sure people don't do drugs, we should violently murder drug dealers. And then take their money. This is a message that I think America's Youth could get on board with. Rygar was a long time favorite of mine. And then Amodiosys had to go and compare it to sex with an underage girl....which made me love it that much more. which made me realize that it may all be nostalgia as I haven't played it in ages. It's biggest drawback? No save opporunity, so if you wanted to beat this game, you needed to have plenty of free time. 5. Mega Man 2 vs. 23. Donkey Kong Classics vs. 14. Mega Man 5 WHEN MEGA MANS COLLIDE! Mega Man 2 takes on Mega Man 5, and poor Donkey Kong is stuck in the middle of the crossfire. Like I said, I wasn't a huge Mega Man guy, but if you asked me to pick a favorite, it would be Mega Man 2, hands down. Just an excellent game from start to finish, and I still play it from time to time on my PS2. But since it was a 5 seed, most of you already realize that. Donkey Kong Classics is basically Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. on the same game. Everybody knows Donkey Kong, but if you've never played DK Jr, you play the role of, surprise, Donkey Kong Jr. and have to rescue Big Daddy DK.  Mega Man 5 was, I believe, the last Mega Man game for the NES system. I really wish I had more to say about these games, but I don't. So I'll just say that Gyro Man was NOT a guy threw hoagies at you. 6. Kirby's Adventure vs. 22. Donkey Kong vs. 13. Strider I remember when Kirby came out, I thought to myself, "Finally, a game that rewards binge eating." Kirby is still around today, and you can actually get this game on the VC if you've got a Wii. It's your basic platformer, and it's good. I never owned this game. What can I say about Donkey Kong here? Seriously, is there anything I could say about this game that people don't already know? I suppose I could make something up. Fun Fact: If you beat 40 levels of Donkey Kong, the game suddenly cuts to Mario feasting on the carcass of the mighty gorilla. Man, this is a tough bracket for me to write about. You have a game I didn't own, a game that has everything said about it, and a game that I actually thought came out only for Genesis, only to find out it WAS indeed an NES game. Sorry gang, if you're looking for help on this one, you aren't getting it from me. 7. Ninja Gaiden vs. 21. Snake Rattle N' Roll vs. 12. Mega Man 4 OK, NOW we're getting somewhere. Ninja Gaiden! This is one of the first games on our list that represented a huge library of NES games. I'm talking about games that were INSANELY HARD TO BEAT. I was recently playing this game on my VC, and holy crap, how did I do this when I was 11 years old? There's one specific spot in the 5th or 6th level where you have to do the wall jump, but DROP and cling to a wall. It is so incredibly hard that I now blame this game for all of the worlds problems. Snake Rattle N' Roll is one I never played, and I was surprised to find out it was NOT a karaoke Metal Gear game. In fact, it's a game where you are two snakes and you have to eat animals called "Nibbley-Pibbleys". When you do so, you grow, and the object of the game is that you are climbing mountains in a race to the moon. In other words, sometimes games get made while people are experimenting with mushrooms and/or LSD. Mega Man 4 was, well, another Mega Man game. Replace the bosses names and you've got a pretty similar game to Mega Man 2, 3 or 5. Feel free to disagree with me if you want, but if you do, I'll make you fight DUST MAN. 8. DuckTales vs. 20. Ninja Gaiden 3 vs. 11. Adventure Island 2 Thanks to our cartoon tournament, I remembered how much I used to love DuckTales as a kid. But you know what I loved more? The DuckTales video game. This game was incredibly fun and made my list. You are Uncle Scrooge, and shockingly, you are looking for gold or treasure. Fun levels, easy gameplay, and recognizable characters make it an easy thumbs up from me. When I saw that Ninja Gaiden 3 got some votes, I was sure somebody was mistaken. Then somebody else voted for it. And a third person. So I googled, and sure enough, this was an actual game. This actually upsets me, because I really enjoyed the Ninja Gaiden games, and yet not only have I never played this game, I've never even heard of it! If it's anything like the first installment, I'm sold and I'm hoping we'll see it on the VC one day soon, so I can give it a go. Adventure Island 2 is the sequel to Hudson's Adventure Island. I BARELY remember this game, and I apologize folks. Am I correct in assuming you were some sort of Tarzan/Caveman type, who could also skateboard? Or is that just the opium talking? 9. Mega Man vs. 19. Kid Niki vs. 10. Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers  And rounding out the list, the original Mega Man. It got the lowest seed for a reason, because the sequels were clearly the superior game. Still, it's legendary at this point, much like Super Mario Brothers, and I can see why people would give it some votes. Kid Niki is one that I thoroughly enjoyed as a kid. Hopefully enough of you remember it too. But if you didn't, I managed to find the game summary from the NES Instruction manual. Here it is: "KID NIKI is truly AWESOME! This "rad" and "bad" punk dude is out to rescue his spike-haired girlfriend, Princess Margo, from the clutches of the Stone Wizard. Armed with a razor-sharp sword, this miniature madman slices his giant rivals down to size!"  So there you have it. Not only is he RAD, but he's also BAD...and that means good! Also, you fought guys like Death Breath, seen here: Chip N' Dale: Rescue Rangers is a lot like DuckTales, in that it was a good game based on a good cartoon. It's easy, but not TOO easy. It's fun, it's got good graphics and characters we know. Ultimately, I thnk the worst thing for Chip N' Dale is that they will always play second fiddle to DuckTales, and rightfully so. And there you have it. We've got half of our entrants revealed. Some tougher choices in this round, at least for me. Get your votes in, and remember, I AM NOT COUNTING VOTES THAT ARE LISTED ON THE BLOG ONLY. THEY NEED TO BE EMAILED TO: BFPisBuff@aol.com. Voting for this round ends 1 day after all 4 brackets have been posted, so you have until Saturday! Another bracket coming tomorrow! (Comment on this)