Game: Final Fantasy
System: NES
Year: 1990
Some perspective: Edmonton Oilers win their fifth Stanley Cup
Other games released that year: Bonk’s Adventure, Dr. Mario
Compare to: Final Fantasy XII, Shadow Hearts, KOTOR

The first time I played Final Fantasy was at my friend Tim’s house. It was completely different from anything I’d seen before. I was used to fast action and button mashing, but here was a game that allowed you to explore a vast world at your own pace. You could choose your own group of warriors, decide when you wanted to fight the bosses and decide what weapons and armor you wanted to equip. The closest thing to this I had ever experienced in a game was deciding whether or not to use a warp zone in Super Mario Bros.

It wasn’t long before I rented the game myself, and then bought it with my allowance money. I would pour over the strategy guide I received from Nintendo Power, looking for any hints that would give my party an edge. I remember the joy and sense of freedom I felt when I finally acquired first the boat and then the airship. On weekends I would stay up late into the night trying to get past one last dungeon, cast one more spell and defeat one more monster. When I finally destroyed Chaos, I bragged about it at school and felt like I had truly accomplished something extraordinary.

Now, almost two decades later, how would I feel about the game? Over the past years, I had often started a game of Final Fantasy just to relive the nostalgia, each time promising myself that I would finish it again this time. Now, however, I was more dedicated. I knew to truly review Final Fantasy, I couldn’t just plug my way around for an hour one lazy afternoon. I had to complete the game, from Garland to Chaos.

I chose a party of two Fighters, a Black Mage and a White Mage. The first few missions in the game were relatively easy. I killed a few imps, gained a few levels then went off to defeat Garland and rescue a princess. Nothing to it. As I progressed further into the game, though, I found that I once again needed a strategy guide. Not having access to Nintendo Power, I turned to the internet. This is when I discovered that there are still active forums dedicated to this game.

This led to two interesting finds. First, several people have set up a competition to determine the lowest level at which your party can complete the game (I believe it was decided level 8 is the lowest, as there are enough forced encounters that you can not run from to keep you from reaching the end at a lower level than this). Second, I was completely lost while reading the forums because most of the people playing the game were playing re-released versions on consoles I never owned. There were enough minor differences between the versions that I found it difficult to understand what they were saying. Most of these people never experienced the game on the NES. This made me feel old.

Nevertheless, I found the maps and guides I needed to continue to progress through the game. This is when one of the game’s biggest weaknesses reared its ugly head. To make your party strong enough to safely travel the world, they needed to gain levels. And to gain levels, they needed to fight monsters. Lots and lots of monsters. I found that a majority of my time was spent wandering aimlessly, hoping for a chance encounter with a high-experience-point-yielding enemy. I had forgotten how time consuming this could be.

I also forgot how frustrating it could be when you encountered waves of easily-defeated monsters when you were not seeking experience points. And how slow and repetitive the fights could be. And how long it could take to walk through a dungeon or a desert. And how it was impossible to buy more than one heal potion at a time. And how you couldn’t save your game inside a cave.

It seemed that there were plenty of ways this game was disappointing me, but I was determined to stick it out until the end. Besides, it wasn’t all bad. I still thought the graphics were interesting and the music was catchy. I liked being able to tackle the four fiends in the order I saw fit. I still felt the tension when I knew Warmech was afoot.

In the end, I brought my party before Chaos and slew him, using a combination of Nuke and my Knights’ best swords. My White Wizard kept Chaos at bay with Cure spells. All four of my party members survived the encounter.

As I looked back on replaying a game I considered one of my favorites of all time, I wondered what happened. Yes, I enjoyed playing it, but I knew I could no longer keep it in my top five. Those days of staying up late and killing monsters when I was 11 years old still rank among my favorite gaming experiences, but upon playing the game again, I knew that it was only those experiences I loved now, not the game itself. Maybe it is that we’ve come to expect so much more from an RPG than Final Fantasy could possibly have given in those days, or maybe it’s that I simply no longer have the time and patience to sink myself properly into a world of wizards and ogres. Maybe it’s both. And maybe I can still love the game for what it gave me then, but recognize that I do not have to love it for what it is now. But I’ll always have the memories.

Nostalgia fun: ********** (10/10)
Actual fun: ******~~~~ (6/10)

Game: Super Mario Bros
System: NES
Year: 1986
Some perspective: Chicago Bears win a Super Bowl
Other games released that year: The Legend of Zelda, Gauntlet II, Painterboy, King’s Quest III
Compare to: New Super Mario Bros, Viewtiful Joe

Everybody knows the story behind Super Mario Bros. It represented a huge leap in what a home console could do. It was bright and imaginative. Before the Nintendo DS and Wii brought around New Super Mario Bros, this was the original side-scroller. And everybody owned it.

But was it any good?

This game seemed like a great place to launch my quest to revisit 100 classic video games to see if they are really any good and hold up well today, or if our nostalgia has gotten the best of us.

Super Mario Bros is a basic platformer. You control a plumber named Mario (or Luigi if your childhood included friends) in his mission to save the princess. In the process you jump over and on top of turtles, bullets, pipes and coins. Power-ups can be obtained by catching a mushroom and are taken away by running into an enemy. Pretty straightforward.

I played through Super Mario Bros struggling to balance the fond memories I had of this game with what I was actually experiencing. Those memories include sneaking out of my bedroom at night and watching my parents play in the family room until they caught me and sent me back to bed. I also remember the first time I ever reached what my sister and I called a “lava level.” I had no idea there were eight of them throughout the game. I remember that I didn’t actually beat the game until years after I got it. Finally, I remember loving it.

But now. Now I’m not so sure. Playing the game again a few things popped out at me. First, the controls are a little soft. I found myself leaning to the side, urging Mario to land where I wanted him to. Second, the levels are incredibly short. There were several times when I couldn’t believe I’d just beaten an entire level – it felt like I had just started. Finally, the game is very easy. To beat this game you really just had to keep moving. If you just kept going to the right, your momentum keeps your leaps and bounds out of harm’s way.

And yet. And yet. There is still something infectiously enjoyable about the game. Something so simple and so pure. It’s like a game that has been boiled down to its basic elements so there’s no fluff.

So what is the final verdict? Is this game still any good? Does it hold up? Are we blinded by our past?

Nostalgia fun: ********** (10/10)
Actual fun: *******~~~ (7/10)