A Nerdicus Year in Gaming : Top Ten List of 2013

With 2013 coming to a close, I figured what better way to end it than by taking a look back and listing my favorite games of the last year. Now this will be a quickie, as I'll just speak a little bit about each game. I also wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has kept up with my little attempt at a video game based Blog for the last few months. Last month happened to be my highest traffic month, so I really appreciate everyone...

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Nerdicus NES Review #44 : Arkanoid

Title : Arkanoid Publisher : Taito Genre : Breakout Players : 1 / 2 Player Release Date : 1987 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $10 - $15 (upwards of $100 with the controller) Ah, Arkanoid. The classic and seemingly perfect breakout game. Endless hours of fun, and countless incidents of absolute frustration when you lose your last damn "ship" on the later levels. Seeking a puzzle / breakout game...

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Nerdicus NES Review #43 : Archon

Title : Archon Publisher : Activision Genre : Strategy Players : 1 / 2 Player Release Date : 1989 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $4-$7 I'll admit it. I was a member of the Chess Club in Junior High School. I didn't care if that stamped a giant NERD label on my forehead. I loved chess. The strategy, the thought process involved, and the utter satisfaction in defeating your opponent. Now being an...

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Nerdicus NES Review #42 : Arch Rivals

Title : Arch Rivals Publisher : Acclaim Genre : Sports Players : 1 / 2 Player Release Date : 1990 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $4-$7 Looking at the box art, I don't even know what to expect with this. Are we going to be slipping on banana peels and giving each other wedgies on the basketball court? I mean, I don't mind parody sport games as there were quite a few on the NES that I actually liked,...

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Nerdicus NES Review #41 : Antcipation

Title : Anticipation Publisher : Nintendo Genre : Board game Players : 1 / 2 Player Release Date : 1988 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $3-$4 I always found Anticipation to be a really odd choice for a video game. If I wanted to play a board game, I'd play an actual board game. Board games are meant to be played on a table, surrounded by family and friends. I like to hold the cards, or game pieces,...

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Nerdicus NES Review #40 : American Gladiators

Title : American Gladiators Publisher : GameTek Genre : Sports / Gameshow Players : 1 / 2 Player Release Date : 1991 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $4-$8 When I was a wee lad, American Gladiators was the Pinnacle of late 80's early 90's television. It was something I watched all the time, especially when there wasn't anything else on TV at the time this aired. It was also something I dreamed of being a...

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Nerdicus NES Review #39 : Amagon

Title : Amagon Publisher :  Sammy / Vic Tokai Genre : Platformer Action Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1989 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $5-$8 Ah, Amagon. Also known as Tostuzen! MACHOMAN! in Japan. Ahem, I think the game would have sold much better if it had a name like that in the US. Anyway, I remember first seeing this game at RKO video, which was a local video rental store about 10 blocks...

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Nerdicus NES Review #38 : Alpha Mission

Title : Alpha Mission Publisher :  SNK Genre : Vertical Shooter Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1986 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $2-$4 Yay! Another vertical shooter! I haven't played one in so long........ahem - I have inserted heavy sarcasm there in an attempt to make a valid point. Anyway, so this bad boy comes from the early years of the NES right before it hit its prime around 1988-1990. And...

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Nerdicus NES Review #37 - All-Pro Basketball

Title : All-Pro Basketball Publisher :  Vic Tokai Genre : Sports Players : 1 / 2 Player Release Date : 1989 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $3-5 Well, I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Sport games. Ugh, how I hated them on the NES. Seriously, I think ICE HOCKEY was one of the only ones I actually enjoyed playing when I was a kid. Biased since I'm a huge hockey fan, and the fact that you...

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Nerdicus NES Review #36 : Alien Syndrome

Title : Alien Syndrome Publisher :  Tengen Genre : Run and Gun Players : 1 / 2 Player Release Date : 1988 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $6-$8 Looking for a mindless, alien shoot 'em up? Then look no further than ALIEN SYNDROME by our favorite non-licensed Nintendo publisher, Tengen. This game actually started out in the Arcades and moved on to the SEGA MASTER SYSTEM before being shoved into the NES...

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Nerdicus NES Review #35 : Alien 3

Title : Alien 3 Publisher :  LJN Genre : Platformer / Action Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1993 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $5-7 You're all gonna die. The question is how you check out. Before we get started on this, let me go on to say that I am probably one of the few people that actually enjoyed the movie, Alien 3. Not long ago I was involved in a very long and grueling twitter debate...

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Nerdicus NES Review #34 : Alfred Chicken

Title : Alfred Chicken Publisher :  Mindscape Sunsoft Genre : Platformer Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1994 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $20-$30 So, yeah. Um.......where do I begin. Oh, okay. So the title is Alfred Chicken. Yup, uh.......basically.....erm. Let's see how do I say this? This game has to be the result of publishers being high out of their minds while developing a game. First of...

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Nerdicus NES Review #33 : Adventures of Gilligan's Island

Title : Adventures of Gilligan's Island Publisher :  Bandai  Genre : Action Sidescroller Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1990 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $10-$14 Come on, everybody! All together now! Just sit right there, and you'll hear a tale! A Tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship...okay fine, don't sing. Bastards. ...

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Nerdicus NES Review # 32 : Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing

Title : Al Unser Jr. TURBO Racing Publisher :  Data East Genre : Racing Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1990 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $1-$3 I'll say this right now. I'm not a fan of racing games. Not then. Not now. I've never even owned a racing game for the modern consoles besides Gran Turismo. In fact, the only racing games I DO own and play religiously, are the Mario Kart games. Give me...

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Nerdicus NES Review #31 : Airwolf

Title : Airwolf Publisher :  Acclaim Genre : Combat Flight Simulator / Shooter Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1990 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $3-5 Happy Cyber Monday, folks! My apologies for the lapse in having a Friday post, but ya know it's the holidays and we should all be spending that time with family. But, now that the holidays are over (for now anyway), it's time to go back...

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Nerdicus NES Review #30 : Air Fortress

Title : Air Fortress Publisher :  HAL Laboratory Inc. Genre : Side Scrolling Shooter / Platformer Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1989 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $4-8 Ahh, Air Fortress. The only game on the NES where you can play as a Scuba Diver with an antenna poking out of his rather large arse, flying through space to kill aliens. But seriously, folks. This was one of the first...

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Nerdicus Rant #1 : Gaming OCD

I swore I would never fall victim to it again, but here I am, putting myself through the same torment that I had done so many times before. I'll even say to myself that now will be the last time I do it, but I know it won't be. It'll suck me back in, just as it has done before.  Of course, I'm talking about Pokemon. I originally realized I had a problem back in 7th grade when I first got my hands on Pokemon Red. I thought that once...

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Nerdicus NES Review #29 : Afterburner

Title : Afterburner Publisher :  Tengen Genre : Combat Flight Simulator  Players : 1 Player Release Date : 1989 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $3-4 Here we go folks, one of the first of many unlicensed NES games brought to you by the amazing TENGEN! Now, unlicensed sounds like a bad word, but most of the games TENGEN that were released weren't half bad. And taking part in an combat...

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Nerdicus NES Review #28 : Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Title : Adventures of Tom Sawyer Publisher :  SETA Genre : Action Players : 1 or 2 Players Release Date : 1989 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $5-8 One look at the box art to this game, and Tom Sawyer appears to be quite the bad ass. Those are roaring rapids he's on, and apparently he had to go face to face with the loch ness monster and travel through a giant mushroom forest. Who knew!? I don't remember...

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Nerdicus NES Review #27 : Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

Title : Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends Publisher : THQ Release Date : 1992 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $10-13 I watched cartoons as if it were my job when I was a kid. I would wake up early every morning, run downstairs and flip on the television just so I could watch as much as possible before the rest of my family woke up to join in on the TV time.  You name it, I had...

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Nerdicus NES Review #26 : Adventures of Rad Gravity

Title : Adventures of Rad Gravity Publisher : Activision Release Date : 1990 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $5-$7 I, er. I don't even know where to begin. This might very well be one of the most painful games I've had to play through. And I'm not using painful as a metaphor here. My eyes were ACTUALLY throbbing halfway through my play through.  ...

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Nerdicus NES Review #25 : The Adventures of LoLo 3

Title : The Adventures of LoLo 3 Publisher : HAL America Release Date : 1991 Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $30-$50 Lolo is at it again in this third, and final installment of The Adventures of Lolo. We've been through a lot, that little blue ball and I. From puzzle filled rooms that I breezed through in a matter of seconds, to rooms that i sold my soul to the devil himself in order to pass. All to save...

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