Before I begin another mind-numbing round of Dungeon Keeper, which is, to me, one of the best games ever produced by Bullfrog Productions, I’m going back to the basics of the game in hope of retrieving as much useful information that will help me through my relearning phase. No, it’s not cheating. Let’s call it a reconnaissance.

Well, Dungeon Keeper’s interface is pretty much like that of real-time strategy games. For a more detailed, if not accurate, description, I turn to Wikipedia:

The player uses a mouse, represented in the game as a hand, to interact with a bar on the left-hand side of the screen, allowing him to select which rooms to build and which spells to cast. Rather uniquely, the player can use the hand to pick up creatures and objects in the dungeon and carry them around, allowing for tactics such as gathering an assault force and dropping off the creatures en masse once a beachhead has been established.

The hand also allows the player to “slap” objects and thereby interact with them: creatures will hurry up when slapped, chickens in a hatchery will “splat,” and some traps will be triggered. Prisoners in the torture chamber can thus be treated with a hands-on approach.

The main game view is in isometric perspective; however, this view can be zoomed and rotated. The player also has the option of possessing one trap or room section. A smaller part of the map is shown as a minimap in the top left corner of the screen.

Right. Treat it like an RTS. That not only speeds up my understanding of the game, but also my reaction time. Time to research the shortcut keys and a good build order.

Here’s another cool Dungeon Keeper video. It’s actually a review, but since it’s in Deutsch (German), I can’t really understand much. Watching the video helps, though. I’m learning how to make rooms properly. Hurray!

After a few hours (yeah, right) of playing Dungeon Keeper again, I still can’t make heads or tails of how the game works, despite having played it hundreds of times in the past … way baaack in the past.

So my knees finally buckle (or my eyes finally give way to Morpheus’ sand) and I sleep on it. While dreaming of Dungeon Keeper, I get this idea of doing a little research to help speed my understanding of the game.

Still groggy from 12 hours of sleep, I head straight for the computer and drop by YouTube and gamefaqs, my favorite haunts for video game tips and tricks. I’ve found a video!

Labeled Dungeon Keeper Beginner, my first thoughts were of a fantastic step-by-step guide about the game’s basics. Unfortunately, the video failed to help much as the player or the one who recorded the video apparently isn’t a beginner at all but a seasoned veteran.

Well, I can’t really spend too much time learning about the game’s mechanics from web sources. The only way I’ll learn, I guess, is to get down and dirty and just play the game. Here’s to 16 more hours of groping in dark and musty dungeons.

Dungeon Keeper is a PC-based strategy game released by Bullfrog Productions in 1997. Gosh, has it really been a decade? Going back to the topic, the game puts you into the role of (what else!) a dungeon keeper instead of a knight in shining armor or a muscle-bound warrior in search of good booty. Yes, pretty cool, huh?

Your goal as Dungeon Keeper is to 1) build dungeons, 2) recruit monsters to your cause, 3) set traps, and 4) fend off or eliminate computer-controlled heroes (this is the good part).

To whet my appetite, I viewed about a dozen videos. The result: I am thoroughly convinced that I need to play this game, again … and again. Time to chuck my MMORPG characters for a few days and then grab the godstick and wave them at silly adventurers trying to penetrate my lair.

As for you, content yourself with watching this video of the introduction to the game while I put on my work clothes before diving off into my game vault for the Dungeon Keeper installer.

This video …

… has shown me all the little problems I had griped about as a kid, from the lack of intuitive gameplay to the keep-falling-into-holes-and-can’t-get-out bug. Sigh.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the wrinkly ol’ alien, the film and, yes, the Atari game (sort of). It’s just that it’s really hard to forget the shortcomings of this classic when every other Tom, Dick and Harry keeps reminding you.

If anything positive came out of my watching the video, it’s that it gave me a lot of laughs.

Well, borrowing from what he’s written on the About page of his blog, Zack Scott is a prolific videographer. His collection of videos, which is very extensive, focuses mostly on comedy, education, and (gasp!) his cute pets.

So what does his being a, uhmm, cute pet lover have to do with Nintendo and widely or little known facts about the company? Watch this.

You have no way of knowing this just by viewing the video on Re:Retro, but when you hop over to YouTube and check out the Zack Scott’s collection, you’ll discover that his “Amazing Nintendo Facts” video has racked up more than 2.5 million views. Whew!

Kudos to you, Zack! Maybe one day you’ll do a rundown of the Top 100 video games of all time?

In our desire to improve our gaming experience (with the Nintendo Family Computer), we scoured a local Christmas bazaar (yeah, it was that time of year) for not only new games but console enhancements as well. We found this nifty (well, at least we thought it was nifty about an hour before we bought it) add-on to the Family Computer’s controllers.

It was actually a replacement part that would have taken the place of the eight-way direction control by turning the flat cross-shaped key into a mini-joystick. Yeah, right, as if that would work.

Well, it worked, all right, meaning it functioned as it was supposed to function. But we later found out that it could never really replace the flat key simply because the little shlong protruding from the center of the crosspiece delayed reaction time. Oh, and it also made your left thumb (and a few fingers) hurt faster than the D-pad.

Sigh. Now I’m stuck with a single thought: Why did we ever buy the darned thing and, worse, install it in our Famicom controllers!

The little gadget looks kinda like the D-pad on this nifty baby, the Archer Competition Controller. The only difference is, the “joystick” on the cross-shaped key we bought looked more like a cigarette stub than a small marble.

Many thanks to vidgame.net for the image.

Yesterday’s generation, on the other hand, went through the haystack to find the needle, which represents information on how to solve difficult puzzles or finish entire levels unscathed.

This thought has been nipping on my brain these past two weeks (which is probably why I’ve been scouring YouTube and other video sources for quickfixes). So it was no accident when I bumped into this video:

Sigh. It’s days like these when I miss my trusty ol’ Apple IIc, on which I played the most enjoyable games a 10-year-old could ever hope for—Taipan, Othello, The Bard’s Tale, and of course Hard Hat Mack.

So that’s how I finished Super Mario Brothers (back in 1987, that is)! Gee, thanks for the video Jinx505. It brings back good memories.

A warning to new players and old players who aren’t as nimble as their, uhmm, six year old selves: the one playing the game in the video makes it look easy, but doing the stunt is actually hard. Don’t believe me? Try it.

The author of this mish-mash, however, missed the entire Apple line of personal computers. I owned an Apple IIc, so I know first-hand that a lot of video games can be played on the machine—that is, if any Apple computer is still intact to this day.

Good thing I bumped into these videos when I was doing my rounds of the Internet:

Ahhh, Starcraft … playing it again, even against the AI, brings back fond memories of weeks of multiplayer mayhem with close friends at our small network gaming cafe. Starcraft was perhaps the second most played network game at our little nook, the first being (what else?!) Counter-Strike.

Going back to my memories of Starcraft, I recall the time when the game was just a week old (at our cafe). Being the owners of the cafe, of course we had first dibs. We needed to “test” the game before letting the kiddies play it (yeah, right).

Back then, there were no zergling, zealot or marine rushes, no build orders, no massive armies moving across the virtual world. The only thing present that had anything to do with gaming was complete and utter CHAOS (because half the time we really had no idea what we were doing). Soon, discoveries that had been enjoyable at first became boring, much like a static webpage.

Fortunately for us, like the Borg of StarTrek fame, we adapted. Single squad strikes became grand warfare, where battles were fought on land and in the air. Rushes became commonplace, replacing testing-the-water tactics, and racial advantages were not only maximized but exploited as well.

Before I launch into a tirade of Starcraft tactics, it is prudent to teach what all newbies need to know first—the build order. I’ll start with Protoss first, since I played this race more than the Terran and the Zerg.

First, order your initial four probes (peons) to mine the nearby mineral patch. Note that you will be better served by ordering each probe to mine different mineral patches since selecting all of them and right clicking on a single patch will delay your movements (which might be is detrimental to your game).

With that done, click on your Nexus (yes, it’s that big structure in the middle) and churn out one more probe with the initial 50 minerals in your bank. When the probe comes out, order it to another mineral patch, while you wait for another probe to come out. When probe number six steps out of the warp portal, make it mine as well.

By this time, you should have enough minerals to warp in another probe, which you will order to build a pylon. After initiating the warp, slap your probe on its rump and make it mine more minerals, and go back to your Nexus to bring in another probe.

This latest probe belongs to the mineral patch; the next one should build a Gateway (the Protoss ground unit production building) before joining its brothers at mining for minerals. The next two probes are destined to mine. If you have spare minerals, you might as well churn out a Zealot (your basic ground fighting unit) from the Gateway and make it scout as soon as it comes out.

Before you bring in the Zealot, however, make sure you have enough minerals for another probe and another Gateway. At this critical point of the game, you should already have 12 probes mining the mineral patch, two Gateways from which your army will spring, and a few hundred minerals in your bank.

After your short inventory, produce another probe to warp in a new pylon and to help its brothers mine for minerals. Once the pylon materializes, start churning out Zealots.

Well, I’ve brought you this far. Go and kick some Terran butts and Zerg tails!

Image downloaded from the Threedy Forums and modified by Joel. Image shows Protoss Zealot, a character from Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft.

Gosh, I remember watching this very commercial, waiting for it during every break in regular programming, almost two decades ago. Needless to say, it pushed me to greater heights in playing my favorite game at the time—what else but Pac-Man!

I’ll make this brief yet informative. I’ve been spending waaaay too much time playing Mega Man that it has begun interrupting my sleep—seriously (LOL!). So after posting this it’s off to lalaland for me and, sadly, my Nintendo Entertainment System (go and gather dust again, my old friend).

So, hmmm, we’re still on the subject of Mega Man, and since I don’t have time, literally, to play all stages and tell you about the experience, I’ll give you a rundown of the bosses, their weapons, and how to defeat them. Let’s start.

If you’re a frequent visitor to Re:Retro, then you already know that I toiled night and day this past week to get through Bomb Man’s stage—and with good reason. You see, there’s a pattern in Mega Man that shows which boss you need to defeat first to have a better chance at vanquishing the next boss.

Just like the elements (earth, wind, fire, water) and their properties (heat, cold, electricity, etc.), bosses in the Mega Man world have their own properties and, unfortunately for them, weaknesses to other elements. Here’s a list of the bosses, their weapons, and which weapons deal the most damage to them:

Bomb Man
Weapon: Hyper Bomb, Weakness: Fire Man’s Fire Storm or Mega Man’s Mega Buster

Guts Man
Weapon: Super Arm, Weakness: Bomb Man’s Hyper Bomb

Cut Man
Weapon: Rolling Cutter, Weakness: Guts Man’s Super Arm

Elec Man
Weapon: Thunder Beam, Weakness: Cut Man’s Rolling Cutter

Ice Man
Weapon: Ice Slasher, Weakness: Elec Man’s Thunder Beam

Fire Man
Weapon: Fire Storm, Weakness: Ice Man’s Ice Slasher

Do you see the pattern now? You need to defeat Bomb Man first and Fire Man last. Of course, you can always be adventurous and do things your way, but considering Mega Man for the Nintendo Entertainment System or Family Computer is the hardest to play among all Mega Man titles, I suggest you give the pattern a try first.

Many thanks to Richard Beast for fueling the fire in the 13-year-old in me.

Now what? Trial and error again, I suppose—unless I rifle through some FAQ or walkthrough for the answer. I choose the easier path since time is a very precious commodity for a write trying to meet a deadline.

A quick glance at one of the best FAQs written about Mega Man classic tells me that after the epic battle with Bomb Man, I should proceed to Guts Man’s stage and kick his ground-shaking butt.

Although most Mega Man experts would say that Guts Man is weak against Bomb Man’s weapon, the Hyper Bomb (which I already acquired after defeating Bomb Man), I think the Mega Man’s Mega Buster is still the weapon to finish the job—and assimilate Guts Man’s Super Arm.

A short hop to YouTube and I find a video that supports my view:

Fortunately, I’ve found both. ZeromusX, the one who posted the video on YouTube, commented that Mega Man is hard. I agree. Now for the video:

Yes, you read that right. I played Mega Man for 12 straight hours with short bathroom breaks and gamer chow in between, and all I got to show for it are the many blisters on my aching thumbs. Good thing I also learned a startling truth in my development as a gamer: I played waaaay to much Super Mario Brothers, Adventure Island, and Battle City when I was a kid.

Man, I tell you, the game is hard! Twelve hours of playing and I never even got a glimpse of a single boss robot. That’s why I’ve come to the conclusion that I didn’t play Mega Man enough while I was growing up. Okay, I admit it … I’m a noob, at least when it comes to Mega Man.

But I enjoyed the gaming run, every freaking minute of it. It made me feel like a, uhmm, 13-year-old again. Yeah, Mega Man was released in 1987.

Forgive my rantings. It’s just my disappointment showing. I mean, I’ve got kilobytes upon kilobytes of research behind me, and yet I couldn’t finish a single stage.

There’s another thing that I couldn’t figure out. I remember Mega Man having the ability to charge his Mega Buster, but couldn’t make him do it. What gives? Do I need a power-up for it? Or maybe the memory is from another Mega Man version?

Anyway, I’ve got a few more hours before I hit the sack. I know my wife’s going to be furious if I spend more of my waking hours on what she considers a “boy’s game,” but I really need to play Mega Man again. Yes, I feel it in my guts that I’m going to make it this time. Regardless, I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Haha!

Image downloaded from Press the Buttons and modified by Joel. Mega Man and all characters appearing in the game are owned by Capcom.

Duh! Still don’t know who this dude is? Here, maybe this will help jog your memory:

Yes, it’s starting to come back, eh. Anyway, I’m writing about this because of a weird dream I had last night. Of course, the dream had something to do with our diminutive, metal-encased hero. Maybe it’s my gamer self pushing me to purchase any of the latest video game consoles, or maybe my subconscious is urging me to bring down the ol’ Nintendo Entertainment System from its altar and slap on my Rockman game collection.

Well, whatever the reason may be, it has piqued my interest enough to make me want to write about it. I’ll just have to type in a few more words in this post so the ol’ boss would think I’m doing my job before sitting down in front of the television set (LOL!). I just hope that playing this classic version of the game would be more palatable to spending countless hours trying to figure out the gameplay of Mega Man Battle Network. Don’t ask me about it now. Pfft.

Again, for the benefit of readers who don’t have the vaguest idea who Mega Man or Rockman is, here’s a brief background story:

Mega Man primary role in the game is to battle the mad scientist Dr. Wily and his ever-growing army of robots, stop them from taking over the world by using their own special abilities against them. Using his Mega Buster arm cannon, and his ability to copy a defeated robot’s special weapon, Mega Man travels around the world to bring Wily’s menace to an end. He is not alone in this battle. Helping him along the way is his creator, Dr. Light, and other robot companions.

So far, so good. Well, I’m off to break the Nintendo out of its box. It’s button-mashing time! Stay tuned for Mega Man, erm, Rockman gaming goodness.

Image taken from Mega Man cartoon series and modified by Joel. Capcom owns the rights to Mega Man, Rockman, and all other characters appearing in the series.

This time around, however, she has taken a liking to Hudson’s Adventure Island. I guess Master Higgins’ sex appeal is stronger than we think.

Anyway, Cesky’s fingers hasn’t adapted to the Family Computer’s controller; she’s more of a PC and Internet player. Among her current haunts are Playhouse Disney and Barney’s websites, and the massively multiplayer online game ToonTown.

So it’s but natural that she, well, flops on her first hour of playing Adventure Island, and no amount of tips and tricks can make her play better. Good thing she has a father who has the knack for finding hidden stuff.

And find hidden stuff we did. We accessed the secret level of Adventure Island’s World 1. I wrote about where and how you can access the hidden level in an earlier post. Here’s an excerpt:

To access it, find the two totem poles on the hill (it’s a little farther in … you’ll come across the poles eventually). The totem poles are preceded by a campfire, and just beyond them is a fire-breathing cobra. Before you go crazy looking for the portal to the secret level, go do something about that cobra first. After defeating the cobra, throw your hammers between the totem poles several times to summon a platform that will take you to the cow bonus level.

Here are two screenshots of our adventures looking for and going through the secret level:

Oh, you’re wondering where Master Higgins is in the second screenie? Well, Cesky miscalculated the jump and poor Master Higgins ended up with only a handful of fruits for his efforts.

Screenshots taken by Joel. Characters and elements appearing in images are property of Hudson Soft.

No, I’m not talking about the game and the myriad video game sequels and spin offs it has spawned over the years. I’m talking about the movie … yeah, that 90s flick that flopped.

Special thanks to GeekSugar for shedding light on my dim recollections of Super Mario Brothers history. Here’s her take on the movie:

Despite the success of the Mario franchise, the movie was a total flop at the box office, only bringing in $20 million to cover its $48-million budget. A pretty big number for ‘93. But who would have thought that a movie about two plumbing brothers who get sucked into an alternate universe via an interdimensional portal under the Brooklyn Bridge and end up fighting the evil King Koopa would be a flop?”

Have I ever seen this movie? Yes, several times, in fact. Am I disappointed with it as most fans of Super Mario Brothers are? Yes, I was and still am. Well, the effects were great for a 1993 film. The story needed a lot of work, however, and so did the acting—no offense to the main actors in the movie, Bob Hoskins (Mario) and John Leguizamo (Luigi), and the venerable Dennis Hopper (King Koopa).

I guess what I’m getting at is if the producers planned on making Super Mario Brothers movie a comedy/scifi/adventure flick, they should have tapped the original Mario and Luigi (by original, I mean those who played the plumbers in the cut scenes of the television animated series).

Frankly, I think Lou Albano makes a better Mario than Bob Hoskins.

Image downloaded from Minor Notes and modified by Joel.