Joystiq

The VC Advantage: Double Glitching

JC Fletcher — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Virtual Console, Features, The VC Advantage

Dave was totally right in his VC Monday Madness video: I enjoy Double Dragon glitches. The best-known glitch -- and the most useful -- is the experience factory found in the second level. It's easy to completely fill up your heart gauge and unlock every move simply by walking over to the pile of girders after the climbing fence, then going back across the fence, and back again. This will cause the Williams enemy who was standing in front of the girders to disappear, and you can punch the crap out of his ghost for as long as your timer allows. Later in the same level you can defeat the boss by running away from him. He disappears and the game counts it as victory. I'm also a fan of the glitch-bat, which occurs when you swing a weapon just as it's supposed to disappear, leaving a weird bar made up of other graphical elements from the game.

But my favorite glitch in Double Dragon on the NES is at best useless and actually pretty likely to hurt you. At the end of the first area, you can climb up these -- gutters? Pipes? I don't know what they are. Really, they're just wall decoration. But you can walk straight up that wall. Walk up high enough and you'll come back up to the bottom of the screen. Walk downward and you'll die. Move left and you'll warp back to the ground. Try to jump or attack and you'll fall over. Sometimes one of the Linda enemies will try to follow you up the wall and will just end up in some flickery jiggle maneuver just off the ground.

I pretty much can't get to this part of the game without messing with the wall for a while. I can't even explain why it's so amusing. I could only find one video of this glitch in action (at around 2:50), but be warned -- it's one of those YouTube videos with audio of some guy mocking the game as he plays -- the scourge of the retrogaming blogger.

The VC Advantage is a weekly look at the secrets inside games -- not just cheat codes, but assorted trivia and oddities. We aim to bring back the feeling of the hint columns from game magazines, except when we do something else.

The VC Advantage: Double Glitching originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 14 May 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Merlin's Mystery Shop

JC Fletcher — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

In River City, the streets, parks, and even high schools are populated by gangs of identical-looking, identically dressed teens who spend the day protecting their turf from any interlopers by beating them savagely with chains and throwing garbage cans at them. And yet, despite their efforts, turf can change hands from gang to gang in a fraction of a second -- leave the Frat Boys' area, turn right back around, and it's now the Generic Dudes' property.

Yet, to these violent, truant (except for the ones who inhabit River City High, but even they aren't in class or anything) teens, malls are sacred. A shopping center can stand between two gang warzones, and yet no Jock or Squid dares step foot into the Flatirons Mall. Shoppers walk through the center with impunity, unaware that the Internationals are just a few yards away, being kicked in the face by a guy who is standing on top of a fence and thus invincible.

Chances are those stumpy thugs would be even more reverent of River City's shopping options if they knew about Merlin's Mystery Shop. Conveniently located in the middle of the wall in the Armstrong Thru-Way Tunnel, Merlin's Mystery Shop offers rare items that provide pretty great stat boosts. We've got those items and their effects listed after the break, so you'll know just which items you'll have to beat up Benny and Clyde repeatedly to save up for.

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The VC Advantage: Merlin's Mystery Shop originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: A good old-fashioned code list

JC Fletcher — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Virtual Console, The VC Advantage

We've been diverging lately into video game history and ephemera in these VC Advantage columns, because those are usually a lot more interesting than just plain old cheats, while keeping in the spirit of extending the enjoyment of games through secrets. But sometimes it's nice to get back to the original stated purpose of presenting codes for Virtual Console games as if we were writing a column in an old gaming magazine.

Mega Turrican seems like an excellent candidate for this treatment, because it is hard as all get out. While previous entries in the franchise involved huge, maze-like levels, Mega Turrican is basically Contra but faster (and with backgrounds that don't contrast enough with the enemies) -- a straightforward left-to-right run-and-gun. And that is almost universal code for "punishingly hard game whose first level you will see about fifty thousand times."

With that in mind, an invincibility cheat seems like a perfectly relevant and helpful thing to offer. It couldn't be easier to pull off, either: just pause the game and hit A, A, A, B, B, B, A, A, A. You don't even have to write this one down! You can also skip a level by hitting right, left, down, right, and then B while paused. And now you can pretend to be successful while playing Mega Turrican!

[Codes via GameFAQs]

The VC Advantage: A good old-fashioned code list originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Planet Motavia Travel Guide

JC Fletcher — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Virtual Console, The VC Advantage

People who bought Phantasy Star II upon its original Genesis release knew what they were getting into immediately upon opening the box. This Phantasy Star II Hint Book was the first warning that the game was brutally hard (well, that and the Phantasy Star name, which was equally foreboding for Master System gamers). The 110-page Hint Book, clad in ALARM YELLOW (actually kind of a subdued yellow) was players' official notice that Phantasy Star II was the kind of game that you needed a hint book for.

We didn't have GameFAQs back then -- if a dungeon was complicated, we usually got lost; if a boss was challenging, we usually died. Sega's thoughtful inclusion of a hint book provided a nice alternative to assured failure: possible success -- with a side of failure.

We've excerpted the hint book for your perusal. Check it out if you just downloaded the Virtual Console version of Phantasy Star II and want help getting started, or if you'd just like to see the state-of-the-art in strategy guides circa 1990. If that's not enough (and it isn't), check Phantasy-Star.net for more transcribed information from the book!

The VC Advantage: Planet Motavia Travel Guide originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: The Meijin Advantage

JC Fletcher — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:30:00 EST

Filed under: Virtual Console, Features, The VC Advantage

At last week's Hudson WiiWare event, two very awesome things were displayed: 1) Hudson's awesome WiiWare games, and 2) Hudson's spokesperson and mascot, Takahashi Toshiyuki, known to the world as Takahashi Meijin ("Famous Takahashi"). He's managed to carve out quite a career for himself based on his ability to jiggle his index finger sixteen times a second.

He first came into the public eye for being awesome at Star Soldier, which, in the days of the Hudson Shooting Caravan (a national, traveling shooter competition put on by Hudson), was a big deal. Hudson even began selling a device called the Shooting Watch that gauged your button presses per second. Beat 16 and you've beaten the Meijin! (You can simulate the Shooting Watch experience on the DS, or pick up a miniature version from Play-Asia).

Why do we bring up Takahashi now? Star Soldier R on WiiWare is based around the idea of the Shooting Caravan, with timed challenges designed to test your skill in a short period. Unlike previous Shooting Caravan games, you'll be able to compete from home, thanks to Wi-Fi leaderboards. With the competition opened up so, the next Takahashi Meijin could pop up any time now, from anywhere.

Both Super Star Soldier and Soldier Blade on the Virtual Console feature timed "Caravan Modes," so you can start training your reflexes, and your index fingers, now. Or you could get a Hori Periborg Ore-Commander and become a Takahashoid cyborg.

The VC Advantage: The Meijin Advantage originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Square's Knight

JC Fletcher — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Virtual Console, The VC Advantage

King's Knight is fairly bizarre, much like anything else Square did before, say, Final Fantasy. A medieval shooter is at the very least more original than Square's takes on OutRun and Space Harrier. What is most interesting to us is how related it seems to be to what eventually became Final Fantasy.

We wanted to provide just the endgame sequence here, but we were limited to what YouTube would provide. If you'd like the ultimate spoiler, you're free to watch the entire video (or, hey! Gameplay strategy: do exactly what this guy does) but our interest is around the 17-minute mark, when the final boss fight is about to begin. By now, the four player characters -- the knight, the wizard, the monster, and the thief -- have united to form a party, moving in concert, and have all leveled up significantly. Each character has gained the ability to use powerful spells -- the knight's, shown here, is a Pegasus transformation that is extremely similar to a summon. The final boss is a giant dragon who seems to have crawled up through the floor.

We like to imagine King's Knight as an evolutionary relative to Final Fantasy, and think of what would have happened if Hironobu Sakaguchi had decided to continue down this path instead of lifting Dragon Quest's gameplay wholesale. Would Square have turned into a hardcore shooter company? Would they be making games with flashy graphics, memorable characters, anime-like storylines, excessive cutscenes, baroque character leveling systems -- and blazing-fast arcade gameplay?

The VC Advantage: Square's Knight originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: A Field Guide to Psychological Hazards in Spelunker

JC Fletcher — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Virtual Console, The VC Advantage

Today's VC Advantage breaks with the exploit coverage and veers -- however tenuously -- into strategy territory. Sort of. Talking about how the game works is a little bit like discussing how to play the game. Right? Right?

The title character of Spelunker is beset by obstacles and dangers in his quest to, well, spelunk (get used to the word "spelunker" and its variants). Bats, steam vents, and even ghosts put his life in danger as he searches for treasure. He also has to deal with high explosives, not to mention the danger of equipment failure. But the deadliest adversary in Spelunker is one that you can't avoid: moderate heights. If you fall any farther than the height of your own body, you'll die, blinking out of existence, and a surprisingly pleasant little "you died!" jingle plays that, despite its upbeat adorableness, still manages to be painfully annoying due to the magic of repetition.

It seems incongruous for someone who has chosen such a dangerous vocation to have such a weak constitution when it comes to falls. We imagine spelunkers as rugged types who are used to braving inhospitable conditions in their zeal for cave exploration. Why would someone so tough not be able to survive a little tumble?

Continue reading The VC Advantage: A Field Guide to Psychological Hazards in Spelunker

The VC Advantage: A Field Guide to Psychological Hazards in Spelunker originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Irritating Pause Noise Man

JC Fletcher — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Virtual Console, The VC Advantage

This one goes out to all our PALs in Europe and Australia who have the option of downloading Mega Man. It's not like Mega Man is hard to acquire if you don't live in one of the regions on which it's VC-available. If you're in the U.S. and playing along at home, feel free to get out your Mega Man cartridge or Mega Man Anniversary Collection disc.

Mega Man is the only game in the series with a pause option other than the menu screen, and it is this pause option that provides the game's best-known exploit. Simply put, if you pause the game while a projectile is connecting with an enemy, and then unpause, you'll score another hit. This works with any weapon, but is most effective with slower shots like the Thunder Beam. Using this method, you can beat any enemy in (effectively) one shot, and also make the game very boring and annoying! For some of us, "boring and annoying" is preferable to "freaking impossible."

The VC Advantage: Irritating Pause Noise Man originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: A link to the past (of Zelda II)

JC Fletcher — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The Internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

We used to think that Nintendo's programming was above reproach, when, in reality, Nintendo's work -- even EAD's top-shelf games -- are just as riddled with bugs and glitches as anyone else's. And that's to our benefit, since without Nintendo's occasional gaffes, there'd be no Minus World, no secret Metroid maps, and no Chris Houlihan's Room (or no way to get there, anyway).

In the case of Zelda II, you can use a weird glitch to give yourself an advantage early in the game, provided you can get through, uh, the early part of the game. First, complete a palace level. Pause the game, save, and quit while the experience points are tallying (using the in-game save system, not the Wii's). Open a game in another profile. The experience points will be added to this player's profile instead of the first. Completing any of the later palaces would send multiple levels' worth of points into a new game.

As we mentioned, the catch is that you have to be able to complete palaces before you can benefit from this. The difficulty of the freaking palaces is what makes this glitch worth exploiting in the first place.

The VC Advantage: A link to the past (of Zelda II) originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Finding a way to spoil Kirby 64

JC Fletcher — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The Internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

It can be hard work figuring out how to totally ruin surprises in games, as we like to do in the VC Advantage. Case in point: this week's highest-profile release, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, which is notable for being a good game on the Nintendo 64. Kirby games don't really have stories anyone cares about, and there aren't really any huge secrets to reveal. But there is one aspect of the game that invites experimentation and discovery and, thus, revealing Internet posts: the ability system.

What makes Kirby 64 great is that Kirby can inhale two abilities: if he inhales two of the same power, it's amplified, and two different powers creates a new power. It's really fun to go through the game mixing powers to see what kind of crazy stuff Kirby can do -- or you can just watch this video from YouTube user Cloud8745, which reveals every ability in sequence. Also it has some very excited narration.

In case you're wondering (and you aren't!) our favorite ability in terms of utility is Bomb + Cutter, and our favorite in terms of hilarity is Fire + Electricity.

The VC Advantage: Finding a way to spoil Kirby 64 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Phantasy Spoiler II

JC Fletcher — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

My dad bought Phantasy Star II when it came out, and played it relentlessly. It wasn't until later that I picked up RPGs myself, but I loved watching and listening as he played along, consulting hintbooks and helping to draw maps. I especially loved listening to Phantasy Star II, whose MIDI music fit the brightly-colored sci-fi look of the game. When I saw this particular trick in a magazine, I was pretty excited about being able to help my dad do the impossible in the game. He had already passed the relevant section, as it turned out, so I never got to see it work. This little trick doesn't seem like such a big deal now, but it was a major glitch in 1990.

Even though Phantasy Star II is totally old, and thus seemingly fair game for spoilers, be warned that this VC Advantage is entirely concerned with the major spoiler of Phantasy Star II. If you don't want the story to be ruined, don't read this. If you're all about gameplay only, or if this is the second time through for you, then come on in!

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The VC Advantage: Phantasy Spoiler II originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: A Chris Houlihan to the Past

JC Fletcher — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

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The VC Advantage: A Chris Houlihan to the Past originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 13 Feb 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Sonic and the Secret

JC Fletcher — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

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The VC Advantage: Sonic and the Secret originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Street Spoiler II

JC Fletcher — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

With all the hoo-ha over the new Super Smash Bros. Brawl spoilers (warning: spoiler link contains spoilers) I got nostalgic about classic fighting game spoilers. You know, as happens in this little corner of the website. I love fighting game spoilers. I love spoilers in general, preferring the buildup of anticipation to a "surprise" to the actual feeling of surprise, but fighting game spoilers are especially delightful, for the simple reason that nothing in a fighting game's storyline matters. Also, fighting game storylines are usually incredibly hilarious, whether this is intentional or not.

Street Fighter II is the canonical fighting game, and appropriately has the best goofy ending animations in the genre. If you haven't played this seventeen-year-old game, you should be warned: the above YouTube link contains spoilers that will blow the whole game wide open. If you are sensitive about such things, you should go through the game yourself to learn the motivations that drew eight people to fly around the world and punch each other in one-minute intervals.

But if you live in 2008 and have already finished Street Fighter II, then revel in some ending videos with us! Now it's time to celebrate in our appropriate fashion.

The VC Advantage: Street Spoiler II originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Continuous Fight

JC Fletcher — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

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The VC Advantage: Continuous Fight originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Down, R, Up, L, Y, B

JC Fletcher — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:45:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

Immediately following the release of Street Fighter II for the SNES, my dad was out delivering mail when he saw a blurb on some game magazine's cover about a secret SF2 code. He cracked open the magazine (which was either on a magazine stand in a store he delivered to, or was part of a delivery to a residence -- either way, he didn't buy it and it was slightly rogue of him) and transcribed the code. When he got back to the post office after his route, he called me (which happened quite rarely from work) to tell me of his discovery. Expecting to unlock some aspect of Champion Edition, I found that "DRULYB" unlocked the ability to play as the same character in two-player games. Surprisingly, I didn't mind not being able to play as M. Bison.

Continue reading The VC Advantage: Down, R, Up, L, Y, B

The VC Advantage: Down, R, Up, L, Y, B originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Dear Mike

JC Fletcher — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

Chances are, even if you've never played StarTropics, you have heard about its gimmick. The letter included in the box is by far the best-known aspect of the game. Nintendo may be able to get away with changing the name of the basic weapon in the Virtual Console release, but there was no way they could excise the letter and get that by us. As much fun as playing the actual game is (and it really is the nearest successor to Zelda on the NES), this addition made digging around in the box even more fun.

In case you've been exiled on a remote island for the last seventeen years, we'll refrain from spoiling the game -- until after the break. Then it's on.

Continue reading The VC Advantage: Dear Mike

The VC Advantage: Dear Mike originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Bobble heads

JC Fletcher — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

Now it is the beginning of a fantastic story! This week, one of the iconic classic game experiences made it to the Virtual Console in its NES incarnation. Bub and Bob are synonymous with video games and gamer culture, for two unsurprising reasons: 1) they're really damn cute, and 2) Bubble Bobble is awesome. With that in mind, we thought we'd focus a bit on the cheating options available in the NES version of Bubble Bobble.

Now, Bubble Bobble is best experienced with two players, in which case progress isn't really as important as kickin' back and having a good time bubblin' up some baddies with your dino-pal. There's a whole host of level passwords for your single-player excursions, available ~~where fine passwords are sold~~ at GameFAQs.

More interesting than the plain level passwords, however, are the "special" passwords, that give you options beyond starting at a certain level. DDFFI allows you to access a level select mode for the "normal" Bubble Bobble levels, and HEAGD does the same for the advanced Super Bubble Bobble levels. BACCF starts you off with 99 lives. If you complete Super Bubble Bobble mode, you'll get access to a sound test. Of course, by that time you'll be so freaking tired of the music, you won't want to go into a menu and listen to it again. The music's totally great when you haven't been playing the game for five hours, though.

Should you decide not to employ the 99 lives code, then you and a friend can play cooperatively, or be huge jerks to each other, depending on your temperament. In two-player mode, when you die, you can pause the game and hit the Select button to steal a life from your friend.

[Jamie's awesome shoes found here]

The VC Advantage: Bobble heads originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: A TurboPlay Holiday

JC Fletcher — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

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The VC Advantage: A TurboPlay Holiday originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: The Wonder Mess

JC Fletcher — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST

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The VC Advantage: The Wonder Mess originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Treasurevania

JC Fletcher — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

Score used to be important in video games. With the rise of Guitar Hero and the Xbox Live Achievement system, it's coming back, but it went out of style for a long time. High scores made a lot of sense in the arcade (which has also gone out of style) since other people played the machines and could thus compete to overtake your three-letter tag as that machine's leader. Home games adopted scoring for two reasons: first, in the older games, there was no other way to determine progression. After twenty minutes of Asteroids, without a score there'd be no evidence that you'd done any better than someone playing for thirty seconds. The game never changes, never reveals new content, and never ends. Score was a very simple way to allow you to progress. Of course, competitive sport-based games like Pong required scoring as a basic gameplay mechanic.

Later (NES and beyond) games adopted scoring mostly as a holdover from classic arcade games. Games like Super Mario Bros. were more about experience than performance, and progress could be tracked by ... actual progress. You moved from place to place, and didn't need some arbitrary number to tell you how far along you were. Even the first Mega Man game had a score display.

The first Castlevania arguably didn't need a score counter at all. Not dying was more than enough of an achievement to wear as a badge of honor. Besides, it already featured another counter in the game (hearts) that also incremented by picking up items. Later Castlevania games adopted experience points, which are exactly like points except that their accrual actually improves your avatar's abilities, but pre-Symphony of the Night games all awarded points for killing enemies and collecting items.

Some of the items, in fact, did nothing but improve your score.

Continue reading The VC Advantage: Treasurevania

The VC Advantage: Treasurevania originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Overdone

JC Fletcher — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

Eternal Champions is one of the best Genesis-exclusive fighting games -- by default. We remember liking it a lot, but now that we look back on it, we realize that we were probably stupid and insane. Or just smitten with the ridiculous voiced taunts found in the game -- more time was spent with a friend trading "punk"s and "SIMPLETON"s than actually competing. Looking back, we see that it's pretty much everything wrong with EXTREME mid-90's comic books combined with way too much Mortal Kombat influence. Given enough time, we may be able to rediscover the classic fighter we thought it was, but right now we're just appalled with Sega and with our past selves.

Check out this video featuring all of the game's "Overkill" stage kills, and be transported back to a time when this kind of stuff was not only okay to put in a video game, but somebody thought it was a good idea to do so. Back then, we were all so enamored with Mortal Kombat that no amount of over-the-top game violence was enough. Now, in a post-1993 world, it's somewhere between hilarious and horrifying. So much so that the video is featured after the break.

Champions fans will notice that the video is actually the Sega CD version of the game. There was no reason to deprive you of the few extra Overkills that come along with the update, we figured, along with the Sudden Deaths, which are ... some other kind of stage kill.. Also, we couldn't find a video of the Genesis version. But mostly the first one that makes us sound nice. Be warned, the content may be considered offensive -- but there's nothing we could do about that nu-metal soundtrack.

Continue reading The VC Advantage: Overdone

The VC Advantage: Overdone originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Staircase of the Moon

JC Fletcher — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:00:00 EST

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The VC Advantage: Staircase of the Moon originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: A Very Special Anniversary Edition

JC Fletcher — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:00:00 EST

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The VC Advantage: A Very Special Anniversary Edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Puyo permutations

JC Fletcher — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:10:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The VC Advantage: Puyo permutations originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Video Armageddon

JC Fletcher — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:00:00 EST

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The VC Advantage: Video Armageddon originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Spooky Halloween edition

JC Fletcher — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

Today is the perfect day to look at some of the spookier games on the Virtual Console, and then help you face your fears and take them on. It would certainly have been a good day to talk about Ghosts 'n Goblins games, as well, but ... we already did that. Uh, as part of our Halloween special, here's a link to that old VC Advantage! It's ... uh, back from the dead!

Luckily, awkward backlinks aren't the only thing we can present for our Halloween edition of The VC Advantage. There are still some gruesome games we have yet to cover!

And that means that it's now totally scary time! Turn out all the lights and stuff! We're making weird "oooooo" spooky noises, but you can't hear it, because we'll have written this hours ago by the time you're reading it, and also we're not in the same room as you!

Splatterhouse (TG16)
Hard mode: What's scarier than a game in which the main character dies, over and over and over again, forced to relive the same horrific period of a few seconds before he's ripped apart yet again by disgusting, nightmarish monsters? Probably a lot of stuff. Dentistry comes to mind. Loneliness. But what's scarier in the context of video game alterations caused by input of preprogrammed button sequences? Probably still some stuff. To access hard mode, hold Select at the title screen until the word HARD appears.

Castlevania (NES)
Hard mode: Yes, it's another hard mode, but this one seems pretty notable. We had no idea that Castlevania even had one of these, and we doubt anyone else ever would have were it not for cheat devices and ROM hacking-- because you access Castlevania's hard mode by completing the game, and that is impossible. Of all the games to put a hard mode in. Also we heard that if you finish the hard mode, Koji Igarashi will ride a Medusa head to your house and give you a million dollars. And nobody will ever know if that's true.

Kid Chameleon (GEN)
Level skip: Kid Chameleon isn't really that scary, but it is about dressing up in costumes. And that is the true meaning of Halloween (also, candy, which is delicious, when eaten.) To skip straight to the last boss, find some blogs above the flag in the Blue Lake Woods level and jump to the last one. Then press down, right, jump, and special.

[Codes via GameFAQs]

The VC Advantage: Spooky Halloween edition originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Ax Battler

JC Fletcher — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

Golden Axe has some weird inconsistencies regarding names. First, the name Golden Axe implies that there would be some kind of golden axe in the game. But the axe-wielding character's axe is silver. And, more confusingly, the axe-carrying warrior is not the guy named "Ax Battler"-- he uses a sword.

We don't care if people don't like the Golden Axe games anymore. We still love playing them. We love riding chicken monsters as a huge cat-guy. We love the "bleah" sound all the enemies make when they die in Golden Axe II.

Golden Axe (GEN)
More Continues: At the character selection screen, hold down-left, A, and C. Release all the buttons and press Start. You'll have nine continues, which should help make up for all the jerks hitting you in the back while you're in the middle of a combo. Also the jerks running and jumping into you when you're trying to ride the chicken monster. The hard part is releasing the buttons at the appropriate time to choose your character (Gilius Thunderhead, of course) since holding down-left causes you to cycle through characters.

Golden Axe II (GEN)
Tons of magic: This glitch requires a little bit of inconvenience, but it's totally worth it. When the boss music starts to play in one of the first four levels, hold the A button and don't release it until the screen turns black. During the bonus stage, don't press any buttons at all. When the next stage starts, you'll have 255 magic points. If you try to use more than your character's maximum in one spell, you'll freeze the game.

Altered Beast (GEN)
Beast select: There don't seem to be any cheats for the once Japan-and-Sega Channel-exclusive Golden Axe III, so we decided to sub in another Genesis game that features anthropomorphic monster guys. This code will let you play as any of the game's beasts, including the rolling bear guy! At the title screen, hold all three buttons, then press Start. You'll be taken to a menu in which you can choose the beast transformation for each of the game's five stages!

The VC Advantage: Ax Battler originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: One ship

JC Fletcher — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The Internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

Everyone likes shooters, except for people who don't. And even they might, if they played the right one! We like them anyway, and guess who picks the games for the column? That's right, ~~a groundhog looking at his shadow~~ ~~a random number generator~~ us. Besides, shooters are really hard, and it's nice to have some kind of advantage. Here are some codes for a very small sample of the VC's many shooters.

Gate of Thunder (TG16 CD)
Stage Select: Whenever we see the name Gate of Thunder, all we can think about is the KISS song "God of Thunder." So instead of cleverly trying to work it in to the text here, we're just going to link to it, and then tell you how to select stages in Gate of Thunder. Sometimes the direct approach is the best approach. To access the stage select, press I, II, II, I, select, I, II, I, II, select, select, run.

Xevious (NES)
Skip the Fortress: We've kind of avoided playing Xevious in the last few years, since our only contact with the game was the annoying Atari 7800 version. Luckily, the NES version is less annoying and totally worth looking into-- if nothing else, as one of the first vertical shooters. It's possible to skip the Andor Genesis fortress by pausing the game right before getting to it, then unpausing it. We miss pause-glitch cheats!

R-Type (TG16)
More continues: Today, we're going to help you learn two surprising things about R-Type. First: you can give yourself more credits by holding select and jamming on the I button at the title screen. Here's the second thing.

[Codes via GameFAQs]

The VC Advantage: One ship originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Art of Unlocking

JC Fletcher — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The VC Advantage: Art of Unlocking originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Shout at the Devil

JC Fletcher — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

Continue reading The VC Advantage: Shout at the Devil

The VC Advantage: Shout at the Devil originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Grass skirts and skateboards-- a winning combination

JC Fletcher — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The Internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

Hudson's Adventure Island series stars a real-life Hudson executive called Takahashi Meijin, who is known as "16shot" for his famous ability to push buttons 16 times a second. In the game, he's a chubby kid in a grass skirt who finds weapons and stuff in enormous eggs. Just like in real life. (The game made a little more sense when it was called Wonder Boy and starred someone who didn't have a real job). What is it with Hudson and putting real people in their games?

Takahashi Meijin may be able to jam on some buttons, but you can influence his fake life with cheat codes. Advantage: you.

Adventure Island (NES):
Continue: Close to the "G" sign at the end of stage 1, jump up and down to make an egg appear, which contains the Hudson Bee. You can then continue your game by holding any direction and pressing start.

New Adventure Island (TG16):
Level Select: New Adventure Island is only new now in comparison with the original NES game. Given that it came out in 1992, it's a pretty Old Adventure Island itself. Press left, left, I, right, right, II, up, down, up, down at the title screen to select levels in this (much better, actually) semi-remake.

The VC Advantage: Grass skirts and skateboards-- a winning combination originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Kinda like a pirate

JC Fletcher — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The VC Advantage: Kinda like a pirate originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Dungeon Exploiter

JC Fletcher — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

We were inspired to talk about some Turbografx-16 games again this week when we remembered one of our favorite secrets ever: the secret Dungeon Explorer ending. We aren't sure if we ever finished the game the real way; the secret ending is so much funnier and more awesome than any "straight" ending could be. We don't want to spoil it for you, because you should experience it for yourself.

But we couldn't do the whole post about Dungeon Explorer (well, we could), so we decided to throw some codes for a couple more role-playing-esque Turbografx-16 games in, specifically, the Neutopia games, which you were under strict orders from Dave not to download.

Continue reading The VC Advantage: Dungeon Exploiter

The VC Advantage: Dungeon Exploiter originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Pithecanthropus cheaterurus

JC Fletcher — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The Internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

The Bonk series isn't especially hard. In fact, in the tradition of other mascot platformers, the games are designed to be playable by pretty much anyone (with the exception of Air Zonk, which, like any shooter, is pretty challenging). But that's no reason not to use these codes and mess around with the games. Some of the codes even make the game more difficult. Any excuse to talk about the Bonk series is a worthwhile one, anyway. More of you should be playing these games.

Bonk's Revenge (TG16):
Bonus Level Select: At the difficulty menu, hold button II, then press Run. You can play any of the bonus levels from this menu. Of course, the whole game is like one big bonus level, and if you'd played it, you'd know that. Oh, and now we're crying.

Bonk III: Bonk's Big Adventure (TG16):
Cheat Mode: Bonk III has a pretty extensive cheat mode that allows you to start at any level (even the bonus levels), change the height of your jumps and even the speed of the game. To access the cheat mode, highlight "QUIT" in the start menu, then hold down and left on the control pad, hold buttons I and II, and press RUN. You may have to press Select a few times to move the cursor back down to QUIT before pressing Run.

Air Zonk (TG16):
Expert Mode: On the "Configuration" screen, hold right and press Select to access the Expert Mode. The difficulty settings are all labeled with flavors: sweet, spicy, bitter; we don't know what flavor would correspond to Expert Mode, except for maybe the taste of blood. Oh, but that's kind of gross and extreme for a kid-friendly game. Let's say "Yucky Mode."

[Codes via GameFAQs]

The VC Advantage: Pithecanthropus cheaterurus originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Take a key for coming in!

JC Fletcher — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:00:00 EST

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Continue reading The VC Advantage: Take a key for coming in!

The VC Advantage: Take a key for coming in! originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Totally sweet

JC Fletcher — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:45:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

Much like real-life ninja used anonymity and darkness to flout bushido, we enjoy using codes to violate the established laws of our favorite ninja games. This week's VCA features a selection of codes from the Virtual Console's already ninja-rich library.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES):
Share Boomerangs between turtles: It takes some serious Turtles devotion or NES nostalgia to convince yourself to play this game for more than five minutes, so we think it's a good idea to give you a little help. Short of a Make the Game Stop code that involves turning off your system, there's not too much that can be done, but there is at least a glitch that allows you to use the same set of boomerangs with multiple turtles. It's easy, too: just throw the boomerangs, switch turtles, and catch them.

Ninja Spirit (TG16):
Level Select: This is only appropriate for appreciating each level of the sumptuous Ninja Spirit as an individual work of art. We'll know if you use the level select code to fast-track through the game. We'll know and we'll tell IREM. And they'll cry. Press II, I, II, II, I, II, hold Select and press Run to access the level select menu.

Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (GEN):
Unlimited Shurikens: This code, also seen in Revenge of Shinobi, is one of the most iconic and satisfying cheats in any game, because it's so simple to input and remember, and it is immediately visually recognizable. In the options menu, if you set the number of shuriken to 00 and leave the cursor there, after a few seconds the "00" will morph into the symbol for infinity. Neat!

[Codes via GameFAQs]

The VC Advantage: Totally sweet originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: NAR's Revenge

JC Fletcher — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:15:00 EST

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Continue reading The VC Advantage: NAR's Revenge

The VC Advantage: NAR's Revenge originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Getting it out of the way

JC Fletcher — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:45:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

It would be impossible to write a weekly column about classic game codes and leave out the most famous code of all. It's the first code anyone thinks of when they hear about game cheats, and it's become an enduring symbol of classic video games. You know this code by heart; you may even have a t-shirt bearing its pattern. That's right, we could only be talking about one famous cheat code.

The A, B, B, A continue code from Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road. Oh, or the Konami code. That one's pretty good too.

There are actually only two games available on the American Virtual Console that use the Konami code, and they're both Gradius games.

Gradius (NES): Pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, then Start while paused gives you a load of powerups. All of them, in fact, but Speed Up and Double.

Gradius III (SNES): Gradius III is significantly trickier about the code. Entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, rightB, A, Start will give you all the powerups and then kill you. You must use the L and R shoulder buttons instead of left and right on the directional pad.

Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES) refers to the code in Zone IV, when a character informs you that "if you use the code 'Up Up Down Down L R L R B A', nothing will happen." He is correct.

The Japanese VC has a few more Gradii on which the code works.

Gradius (PC Engine): Pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, II, I works just like it does in NES Gradius.

Gradius II (PC Engine): Entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, II, I at the title screen enables all powerups, as usual.

Gradius II (Famicom): The code has two uses in this game: entering up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, then Start at the title screen grants you thirty lives, like in the beloved and missed Contra. Entering the code while paused enables powerups like in other Gradius games.

There are plenty of other games that use this legendary button sequence, but right now on the VC it's the Gradius code. What's your favorite Konami-code-carrying game?

The VC Advantage: Getting it out of the way originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The VC Advantage: Buried Treasure

JC Fletcher — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:40:00 EST

Filed under: The VC Advantage

The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.

Battle Lode Runner (TG16)
Level Skip: The best way to deal with a level that's too hard is, of course, to move on to a harder level! For that matter, why bother playing the game at all? Just skip ahead to the good part: the part where you exit the level and feel triumphant. If there's anything that puzzle games are about, it's instant gratification with no work whatsoever. Pause, then hit Select 24 times, then exit the level. Finding a code on the Internet is just as much of a puzzle as the actual game, right? Right?

Like many codes, timing is important for this level skip. You must make sure that someone enters the room immediately after you enter this code, so they can see you successfully complete the level.

Gunstar Heroes (GEN)
Hidden Move: Perform a half-circle motion on the controller (back to down to forward) and then hit B to do a slide move. This may alter your normal Gunstar Heroes strategy somewhat, as the precision required to input this move disrupts the normal "hit all the buttons on the controller as fast as you can before hyperventilating" method of playing such frenetic action games.

Dynamite Headdy (GEN)
Hard Mode: Unlockable hard modes are the anti-cheat. You enter codes to discover them, but, naturally, they don't make the games any easier. Of course, poor Headdy's life is already one tortuous hardship after another. How would you feel if you were constantly under attack, your only defense to rip off your own head and lob it at your attackers? You wouldn't feel anything, actually, but Headdy does, and that's his sad lot in life. So, in a way, this Hard Mode is merciful to Headdy, as it grants him a restful death after only one hit. As the player, you may feel different emotions toward Headdy's repeated demise, but how could you understand? Your head's securely attached and non-modular. To access the Hard Mode, press Start at the title screen, then press C, A, left, right, B. Press and hold start through the opening scene.

[Codes via GameFAQs]

The VC Advantage: Buried Treasure originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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