Super Mario Bros 2 (NES, 1988)

 Today I'm taking a look at one of the biggest games of all time. Super Mario Bros 2 revolutionized the platformer genre and made vegetable-throwing into America's pastime. This game transpires not in the Mushroom Kingdom, but in the peaceful land of Sub-Con. It...isn't really all that much of a Mario game. Read on as we probe the depths of this fantastic work.

Nintendo Power, Volume 23 (April 1991)

I recently tracked down the first Nintendo Power that I ever read. I was eight, and the local library had a ton of Nintendo Power back-issues. This was the most recent issue at the time, and despite barely playing any video games yet I was enraptured.

Highlander: The Series 2x02 - Studies in Light

Season 2's second episode is really, really good. It's one of the better efforts this season has to offer, and the best episode for at least the next ten or so.

Dragonball Z Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku Finale - The Trouble With Tuffles

 

DBZ Gaiden - and DBZ Month - winds to a conclusion as our heroes face the ghosts of the past.

Dragonball Z Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku (Famicom, 1993)

Dragonball Z Month ends with a bang, as I bring you a mega-post on the last Famicom DBZ RPG. This one follows the events of Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans.

Dragonball Z: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (1993)

The fourth and final NES RPG, Dragonball Z Gaiden, is based on a TV special from 1993. Or more accurately, the TV special is based on the game. Today I'm looking at the TV special before I start the game. It seems to function as a little bit of a video guide to the game itself, which is... actually pretty cool. Dragonball Z Gaiden already looks higher-budget and more thought-out than that Android Saga game. This one takes place during the ten days before the battle with Perfect Cell. There's no Cell here, and the heroes haven't gone through their final Room of Spirit and Time training just yet. As a result, this movie features regular Super Saiyans rather than any of the weird Ascended/Ultra/1.5 forms.

Dragonball Z: Ressen Jinzouningen (Famicom, 1992)

 The next game covers the Android Saga. The title is, literally, "Violent Battle Against the Androids". It isn't as good as the previous game, as much as I wanted it to be. The thing is, the Freeza Saga is pretty much MADE to be an RPG. It has an overworld, townspeople, item-collecting, lots of fodder minions, and a real party. The Android Saga, on the other hand, is a lot like the Saiyan Saga. It's all either building-up/training or one-on-one fights. Not a whole lot else happens in-between. This doesn't make for a very good RPG.

Dragonball Z: Gekishin Freeza Finale - Valar Morghulis

The best of all the DBZ RPGs continues as Gokou takes on Freeza in a shocking finale for the ages.

Dragonball Z: Gekishin Freeza (Famicom, 1991)

THIS is the best Dragonball Z RPG out there for a retro system. It's better than the other Famicom games, it's better than the Super Famicom games... the newer ones on DS and whatnot likely have it beat, but if you want to play a retro DBZ game look no further than this one. It's seriously really good, you guys.

Dragon Ball Z: Kyoushuu Saiya-Jin Finale - The Merciful End

 

 With Nappa and Vegeta imminently arriving, how many hours of grinding will it take to win at Assault of the Saiyans? Tune in to find out!

Dragon Ball Z: Kyoushuu Saiya-Jin (Famicom, 1990)

The first Dragonball Z RPG is INSANELY BAD. I can't even begin to express just how bad this game is. I think it got a DS remake that was highly-acclaimed, but this game is just.... ehhhhhhh. I mean, yikes. Roughly translated, it's called Assault of the Saiyans.

Dragonball Z: Hyper Dimension (Super Famicom, 1996)

The best of the side-scrolling 90's DBZ games is, without a doubt, this one. The Super NES in 1996 was a vastly different system than it was in 1991. I don't know if any other system had graphics improve so much over its lifespan.

Dragonball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 (Playstation, 1995)

 The next game doesn't even bother having non-Gokou characters on the cover. This one is ALL GOKOU, ALL THE TIME! It's also a pretty bad game, but we'll get to that. Ultimate Battle 22 is so-named because it features 22 characters, the largest roster in a DBZ game yet. It actually has 27 characters if you punch in a code, so I don't know why they didn't just unlock those characters from the start and call it Ultimate Battle 27.

Dragonball Z: Buyu Retsuden (Sega Megadrive, 1994)

 Today I'm looking at the Genesis addition to the Super Butoden series, dubbed Retsuden. This one plays largely the same, but the graphic and sound styles are quite different. It covers up through the Cell Saga.

Dragonball Z Super Butoden 3 (Super Famicom, 1994)

Time for the weakest game in the trilogy. It's kinda fitting, given that the Buu Saga itself is weaker than the rest of DBZ.

Dragonball Z Super Butoden 2 (Super Famicom, 1993)

The next game in the series is most definitely Gohan's game. He's the star here, and the whole story mode revolves around him. That said, look at Gokou back there trying to steal all of Gohan's thunder.

Dragonball Z Super Butoden (Super Famicom, 1993)

Super Butoden is a trilogy of fighting games developed by Bandai in the early 90's. They should perhaps be called Super Butt-oden, because they're butt. That said, they have great soundtracks, and the novelty of just seeing these characters in a 16-bit fighting game was amazing.

Final Fantasy: All The Bravest (iOS/Android, 2013)

This is the worst thing Square-Enix has ever done.