This Week in Defunct Games - Dec. 22, 2009

What Is It? It's the Ninja Gaiden game that started it all! No, not the 2004 Xbox game. And no, it's not the 8-bit NES trilogy, either. Instead it's the often ignored arcade brawler that ... zzz ... what was I talking about? Oh, that's right, we're talking about the old school arcade version of Ninja Gaiden, a miserable first stab at what would turn out to be an otherwise stellar action game franchise. In this game you (and a friend) mop up the town of similar looking goons and predictably tough bosses. While the NES games featured a rich storyline full of cool cinemas, this arcade game pretty much drops you into an urban landscape and expects you to fight your way out. Instead of playing out like the traditional 2D NES games, this 1988 arcade game feels more like Double Dragon. You are given a few interesting moves and there's a bit of platforming in each level, but it ultimately feels unsatisfying. What's more, the pace feels surprisingly slow. There's a reason why Tecmo never attempted to make another Ninja Gaiden arcade game.

Does It Still Hold Up? It's tough going back to Ninja Gaiden all these years later. The game is awash with terrible gameplay decisions, including unruly controls, terrible jumping mechanics and a general lack of moves. Couple that with the repetitive nature of the game and the complete lack of a story and you have a disappointing first attempt at the Ninja Gaiden franchise.

Is It Worth The Money? For the first couple of levels I was ready to recommend Ninja Gaiden. After all, I can get over some of the disappointing game mechanics and shoddy graphics. Heck, I even liked all of the platformer elements that were not in other brawlers of the era. But the more I played this game, the more I realized that it's just a little too repetitive and monotonous for me. Too often I was fighting the controls and not having a good time. I freely admit that there are people who will find this type of Ninja Gaiden game a nice change of pace, I couldn't stop playing it fast enough.

What Is It? Who says Nintendo doesn't know how to give us a great Christmas girl? This is Super Smash Bros., the first time Nintendo decided to take their beloved characters and turn them into bloodthirsty fighters. This is not only one of the most requested Nintendo 64 games, but it's also the game that spawned two sequels playable on the Wii. In this decade-old fighter, four Nintendo characters go head to head (to head to head) in a small 2D arena. The object is to either knock them off the level or inflict enough damage to send them flying into the background. Much like the GameCube and Wii sequels, this 1999 original was full of classic references, a solid line-up of popular characters and levels that will bring a tear to your eye. Super Smash Bros. proves that even at their first try, Nintendo knew exactly how to design a fun (albeit casual) fighting game.

Does It Still Hold Up? Perhaps the most striking difference between this original Smash Bros. and the two sequels is how far Nintendo went to skirt the whole violence issue. The very first thing you see in this N64 game is a cinema showing plush toy versions of these Nintendo characters, thus telling us that it's not really Link throwing a bomb at Mario, but rather some kid's imagination running wild with toys. If you can get over that cheesy sidestep, you'll find a good looking game that plays almost exactly like the two sequels.

Is It Worth The Money? I hate to be the contrarian here, but there's something a little off about Super Smash Bros. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a terrific game that is easily recommendable at $10. However, seeing as you can already buy Brawl and Melee for the Wii, it makes me wonder why anybody would want to go back to this somewhat antiquated original. Outside of a few different modes and levels, there's not much in this game that you couldn't get in a better package. Either way, this Nintendo 64 game is top quality and worth the purchase, even if it has been done better on two other systems.