Commando

Publisher: Capcom
Released: 1986

I sometimes forget how much fun it is to run up while mashing A. I mean, from a certain point of view, it's the most basic form of interaction with video games. Commando really does this nicely, and returning to it after probably 3 or 4 years, I'm really happy with it.

So, what's there to say? You've played Commando, for sure, I mean, if you've played anything -- it's probably in the top 10 or 15 most popular NES games in my made up mental inventory of whose house I saw it at as a teenager. You're this guy, you get dropped off by a helicopter, and you need, very badly, to get up. Or north. Or wherever. The point is, run and shoot, and don't stop until your thumb falls off.

Commando is a lot of fun. It's simple, it's manic, it's got a little bit of variety in environment and the fact that there's a grenade, and the music is pretty good. And when you beat a stage, they show you smoking, so you can tell you're cool. There are these prisoners you free by touching them, and there are hidden basements that you can only find if you grenade them. It's got a lot going on for a really simple, really early NES game.

Tech wise, there are 3 things to know about Commando. First off, and god bless the developers for this, there are, most of the time, more guys on the screen than your NES can draw. So you get a lot of ghosts and flickering guys who are hard to see. That's what we in the business call accidental fun. Second, everything moves independent of the scenery -- that is, if you throw a grenade, and you want it to land ahead of where it should, you running forward will cause the ground to scroll underneath it. Neat trick. And third, you get stuck on rocks and stuff a lot. This annoyed Laura, but from where I sit, it's that accidental fun again.

Commando is really good. It's fun, it's classic, and it's quirky, which is what you look for. Your thumb is going to hurt like you wouldn't believe. Mine was actually sore two days later. It's that good, and that terrible.

Rating: 8/10
Advice: Shoot. And maybe take some aspirin before you start.
Best Moment: Freeing the prisoners. The first thing they do with their freedom? Run to the right holding a sign reading "$1000" over their heads. That's what I'd do, too.

Clu Clu Land

Developer: Nintendo
Year: 1985

Clu Clu Land is another one of those really early 1st party NES titles that usually turn out to lack depth but be completely addictive. It's impressive how many of those there turn out to be, how much Nintendo got right immediately out of the gate.

If you played Chu Chu Rocket on the Dreamcast (and I assume you did), you'll find that this game feels sort of similar. In Clu Clu Land, you literally bounce around a screen and change direction by sticking your arm out and grabbing a post, which are arranged in a grid around the board. The object is to move over certain parts of the screen that draw a picture, though you don't know before-hand what that picture is going to be.

It's manic, and it's simple, and there's co-op, and it's fun and addictive. What more do you want?

Rating: 7/10 Not a lot of depth, but that's OK.
Advice: Get used to the fact that if you're going down, and you want to go up, you need to press right or left.
Trivia: When I was dating Daisy Klingman, we all used to annoy her by asking her if she'd ever seen the movie Cru Cru. This game made me think of that. Wow. That was annoying.

The cool thing to do

The cool thing to do would be to ignore the 4 months in between posts here, but that's not really how i roll. Truth be told, you can chalk it up to my career change -- my first interview at LL Bean was 3 days after that last post, and things really snowballed from there.

Anyway, we really enjoy doing this, and we're starting back up, effective about four days ago. Now, where were we....