Throwback - Gaming with my Brother

Us gamers can be pretty nostalgic people. We all look back wistfully at old gaming memories we still hold dear to us. Look at the reaction on Twitter when the Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot remasters were confirmed - people who were playing this the first time around were delighting that a piece of their childhood was making a return. 

So, this got me thinking about my fond gaming memories growing up. A lot of my gaming took place sitting next to my brother, handing the controller back and fourth to one another when either of us died in-game. I've brought my brother Jack on board for this one, so join us as we reminisce about a selection of games we both played through together, and loved!

Couldn't seem to find an old video game pic of us,
so here's me and Jack playing Incy Wincy Spider with our Dad instead!

Kayleigh's Experience of London Gaming Con

I've attended many conventions over the past few years, and I was excited to be able to grab a press pass and attend the London Gaming Con at The Rocket House. The thought of a convention devoted to the gaming side of things was pretty appealing afterall.


When I arrived, I was quite surprised at how small the venue was. In fact, if I am being honest, I was a little disappointed, as due to this small space, not as much could happen on this Saturday. The artist section was a little small, and the interest was definitely devoted to the countless televisions and consoles that were set up around the venue for gamers to take a spin on. Perhaps if this event manages to grab a much bigger venue next year, there will be more room for gaming artists? We shall see.

As with all conventions, it seems customary for a few people to turn up in cosplay. The London Gaming Con was no exception. Although the amount of people in cosplay was a little thin on the ground on the Saturday, there was definitely a few standout costumes, including John Marston from Red Dead Redemption, who won the Cosplay Masquerade. 


I managed to grab a go at various games throughout the day, including Blazblue Continuum Shift, which I was surprisingly OK at (beat-em' ups are not always my strongest point, I forget the combo's!), Streets of Rage 3, Guitar Hero: World Tour, which I was roped into after Lewis Terry failed on expert against some Guitar Hero addicts. Alas, expert also proved to be too much of a challenge for me too. How do these people keep up with it?

Me playing Blazblue Continuum Shift

For old time sake, I also played a bit of Mario on the NES, and tried my hand at some Soul Calibur II, which I happily purchased back when it was released, especially due to Link's cameo. As well as these, I tried out a few classics, such as Time Crisis 2 and Bomberman.


There was definitely an impressive amount of games on offer which appealed to the retro and modern gamers tastes. Other games included Halo: Anniversary, Smash Bros Brawl, Tempest, Left 4 Dead 2, Gears of War 3, Sonic 2, Mario Kart Wii and Double Dash, and many more.


The highlights of the day for me was definitely seeing the Brentalfloss Q&A, where the guy himself answered many bizarre, funny and insightful questions. He also performed an exclusive track which will be making it's YouTube debut this coming Thursday as part of his 12 Days of Brentmas. I also really enjoyed hearing the chiptune covers and the OverClocked Remix panel, which also consisted of a few performances.

Brentalfloss

 We also managed to win a copy of their Donkey Kong Country remix album due to being the first to answer a Zelda question correctly, which was brilliant! Expect a review of the album on here in the next few days or so.


All in all, the London Gaming Con was a great day. There were a few slight disappointing aspects, such as the presence of anime which didn't seem to fit in with the largely game focused convention. The cosplay was also rather limited, so those dressed in cosplay for the day seemed a little out of place, and the convention would have benefited from a larger venue, with more stalls and a few more events, as I did feel that you can finish browsing it all rather quickly in all honesty. However, criticisms aside, this was a fun day out, and I got plenty out of it. I look forward to seeing how the next one appears. 

Retro Review: Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong had only previously been known as the damsel-kidnapping ape in the 1981 video game of the same name. However, 1994 marked the release of Donkey Kong Country, a game which allowed this hulking ape to take on the protagonist role.


Released by Rare on the Super Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country allowed gamers to play through 40 side-scrolling platforming levels. Like many retro games, the premise was a simple one-navigate Donkey Kong through each level so that he can finally take back his stolen banana hoard from the Kremlings.

Side-scrollers can sometimes fall victim to repetitive game play, where players can find themselves repeatedly fighting the same styles of enemies, and nothing more. Thankfully, Donkey Kong Country avoids this issue by including a variety of objectives, such as mine-cart riding (my personal highlight), swinging from vines, launching Donkey Kong from barrels, swimming, riding on a host of crazy looking animals, and much more. These activities are only further enhanced by the welcome addition of multi-player functions, so you and a friend can work together to make it through each level. Players get to choose between playing Donkey Kong or his nephew, Diddy Kong. Both have different abilities, so it is up to you which you prefer, but personally, I have always felt that Donkey Kong was the stronger of the two, so defeating enemies was a lesser challenge than with the more weaker, but agile, Diddy.


What makes Donkey Kong Country so memorable, even in today's standards is the graphics adopted within the game. Back in 1994, Rare adopted some rather revolutionary pre-rendered 3D graphics, which resulted in an impressive and memorable look which had not been seen on the SNes previously. Coupled with a catchy and crisp soundtrack, it is evident that a lot of time and effort went into making this game. 

As for the negative points, in all honesty, there are not many. My only concerns is that the game can get rather challenging, especially if played on the single player mode. However, rope in a player who you know deals well with a tough challenge for the multi-player mode, and you should be able to sail through the game with less struggling points.


So, after all these years, is it still worth trying out Donkey Kong Country? My answer to that would be a solid yes. The game is full of exciting and well-designed levels that are enhanced when played with another player in one of the multi-player modes. The graphics for it's time definitely helped to make Donkey Kong Country stand out above the rest, and for this, I feel that it is worthy to be checked out. Donkey Kong Country Returns has since been released on the Nintendo Wii, but I suggest giving the original a go first before  launching yourself into this re-vamped version.



Donkey Kong had only previously been known as the damsel-kidnapping ape in the 1981 video game of the same name. However, 1994 marked the release of Donkey Kong Country, a game which allowed this hulking ape to take on the protagonist role.


Released by Rare on the Super Nintendo, Donkey Kong Country allowed gamers to play through 40 side-scrolling platforming levels. Like many retro games, the premise was a simple one-navigate Donkey Kong through each level so that he can finally take back his stolen banana hoard from the Kremlings.

Side-scrollers can sometimes fall victim to repetitive game play, where players can find themselves repeatedly fighting the same styles of enemies, and nothing more. Thankfully, Donkey Kong Country avoids this issue by including a variety of objectives, such as mine-cart riding (my personal highlight), swinging from vines, launching Donkey Kong from barrels, swimming, riding on a host of crazy looking animals, and much more. These activities are only further enhanced by the welcome addition of multi-player functions, so you and a friend can work together to make it through each level. Players get to choose between playing Donkey Kong or his nephew, Diddy Kong. Both have different abilities, so it is up to you which you prefer, but personally, I have always felt that Donkey Kong was the stronger of the two, so defeating enemies was a lesser challenge than with the more weaker, but agile, Diddy.


What makes Donkey Kong Country so memorable, even in today's standards is the graphics adopted within the game. Back in 1994, Rare adopted some rather revolutionary pre-rendered 3D graphics, which resulted in an impressive and memorable look which had not been seen on the SNes previously. Coupled with a catchy and crisp soundtrack, it is evident that a lot of time and effort went into making this game. 

As for the negative points, in all honesty, there are not many. My only concerns is that the game can get rather challenging, especially if played on the single player mode. However, rope in a player who you know deals well with a tough challenge for the multi-player mode, and you should be able to sail through the game with less struggling points.


So, after all these years, is it still worth trying out Donkey Kong Country? My answer to that would be a solid yes. The game is full of exciting and well-designed levels that are enhanced when played with another player in one of the multi-player modes. The graphics for it's time definitely helped to make Donkey Kong Country stand out above the rest, and for this, I feel that it is worthy to be checked out. Donkey Kong Country Returns has since been released on the Nintendo Wii, but I suggest giving the original a go first before  launching yourself into this re-vamped version.

A Collection of Posts

Hello all,


Once again, I've been busy writing elsewhere on the web as well as my personal gaming blog, which you are currently reading from right now.

Retro Kingdom
First of all, I've recently started writing for Retro Kingdom, a collaborative retro blog by myself and Lewis Terry from App Kingdom.


Here are my most recent posts:
Donkey Kong Country
Dragon Warrior Monsters
Mario Paint
Aladdin

MCM Buzz
I'm pleased to announce that I've bagged myself a press pass to cover the London MCM Expo in October for MCM Buzz! I shall be doing a few interviews, writing up coverage for all the events, browsing the stalls, etc. 


Do not be shy! If you see me, by all means come and say hello. I shall be handing out some 8-Bit Girl flyers (I hope) during the convention as well!


Here are latest articles:
Dragon Quest X Goes Online for the Wii and Wii U
Red Dead Redemption "Myths and Mavericks" DLC Revealed
An Interview with Christaan Gough (The Sci-Fi Guys)

Gamers Daily News
I was appointed as a guest contributor for Gamers Daily News this month. This means that I shall be posting up any of my game musings whenever I feel I have something worthy enough to share.


My first (and hopefully not my last!) article for the site:
My Favourite Game: Link's Awakening


I know many of my readers like to read my other posts around the internet, and so I shall be doing regular update posts like this from now on to let you all know what else I have been writing.


I hope you continue to enjoy my writing on and off of 8-Bit Girl, and please do not hesitate to get in touch via my email address!


Kayleigh Powis