The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Second wave of 'Classics' a bit Lacking

With the release of the Nintendo DS only a few weeks away, one might think the company would make great strides to prove the Game Boy Advance is still a viable platform. There are some big titles coming out, sure, most notably "Grand Theft Auto," but where are the AAA must-haves?

Nintendo's hoping we all consider $20, repackaged classics killer games worthwhile.

Instead of providing a new Mario or Metroid, it has released 8-bit NES titles, hoping we'll all buy them one more time. A few are definitely tempting, and overall it's a better lineup than the previous Classics series, but there should be more for the asking price.

Most everyone remembers "Dr. Mario," "Castlevania," "Metroid" and Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link." Buying any one of these titles is a smart choice. The problem is you're paying $20 for a strict port of a 15-year-old game. Why not toss in some new features, unlockable art or something? There's literally nothing new about these games.

What you do get are three tried and true adventures and one solid puzzler. "Castlevania" came out in 1987 and introduced us to the Belmont clan's struggle against Dracula. There are six levels, six bosses and one crappy ending. Each level is completely linear, so those familiar with post-Playstation vampire hunts may be turned off at first. But the game's dead-on play control and legendary music will suck in any fan of the action-adventure genre.

Alas - it's just the first "Castlevania." If Sega could cram the first three "Phantasy Star" games on one cartridge, why can't Nintendo push Konami to give us all three NES Castlevania titles? It's a great game but it's absurd to buy it alone. It's sheer marketing BS, and even hardcore collectors may pass up an excellent memory like this.

Then we have "Zelda 2." Comparisons are often made to black sheep or neglected children (anything derogatory, really) when the game is brought up. Why this remains the case today is a mystery; "Zelda 2" may be a drastic departure from the original (and every title since), but it stands alone as a respectable foray into the action-RPG genre.

In it, you gain levels, use magic and talk to villagers - all things the previous "Zelda" didn't have. It's also presented as a side scroller, with Link jumping and navigating multi-layered mazes. It wouldn't make a great introduction to the world of Zelda, but for those somewhat familiar with the series it's a good choice for handheld adventure. But again, some extra content would have been nice.

The most questionable release of the group is the first "Metroid." Initially it seems like an obvious inclusion. It's the first game in a long and successful franchise, the first to use passwords and one of the first to use a female as the lead character. You guide bounty hunter Samus Aran through planet Zebes searching for the Mother Brain and its cronies, all while grabbing tons of power-ups and uncovering secret locations.

Why is this bad? Because if you bought February's "Metroid Zero Mission" you have the original for free! If that's not crazy enough, it's also unlockable in "Metroid Prime" for the Gamecube. There's no good reason to buy it for GBA, unless you're a diehard collector or fan of the series.

Time has not been kind to this seminal piece of software. Many classic games have faults you can forgive because they're signs of the times, but the utter confusion in "Metroid" is downright obnoxious in 2004. No map, no clues, nothing. In the late '80s these aspects weren't expected, but now are the norm.

True, this is not a remake, it's a perfect port. But "Zero Mission" is an excellent remake for $10 more, maybe less. Buy it instead.

Finally there's "Dr. Mario," one of the few games you could have caught your parents playing in 1990. Like any puzzler worth its salt, there's a very simple premise here that becomes addicting and increasingly difficult to overcome. Instead of clearing lines like "Tetris" you line up colored vitamins with similarly colored viruses. More viruses equal less room to maneuver the pill, thus the challenge increases indefinitely.

Luckily two-player gameplay is supported - the closest to a bonus any of us will see out of Classic NES: Series Two.

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