Back in the 'Old-Is-Cool' game of March I talked about Sunset Riders, the Old-West-Contra released by Konami for the SNES. Now I'll talk about a real Contra game that for some reason didn't become the official 3rd episode in the series (but it should): Operation C for the Game Boy.

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Operation C is a great game simply because it runs smooth.

I say that because there was a known problem on GB: the system couldn't handle big sprites very well. So the games that run faster have tiny, hard-to-see sprites (look at older games, like Super Mario Land or Batman); but games with big sprites run slower (look at one of my favorite GB games, Gargoyle's Quest or the first two games in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series).

Konami has realized that and started looking for balance in the sprites' size. The problem is perfectly solved in TMNT III (1993), but Operation C (1991) works pretty fine already.

The game itself is a little bit easier than other installments of the series especially because of the "H" Gun's advent, which bullets seek the enemies - you'll stay alive the much you can survive with this weapon in your hands. And fights with whole-screen-bosses are still there and kicking.

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Operation C is a game that remains a little bit obscure maybe because people can't associate its name to the Contra series. Some may say that it isn't even called Contra to be counted in; but it follows Super C for the NES, that is considered the 2nd episode. Aside that all that alien stuff we saw later in Contra III - Alien Wars for the SNES starts here. So I really don't get why this is not the 3rd episode in the series.

GAME OF THE MONTH: OPERATION C (GAME BOY, 1991)

As a musician I was always influenced by game music. Mario, Zelda, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Megaman, ActRaiser, and many other series made me learn a lot and I felt from the beginning that real music was there, not only beep-beep-beeps (the games used to sound this way at the time).

Now I'm working a little with soundtracks composition, and I started wandering 'why not to make some game music'. And I did a little piece in tribute to James Banana (Kinuyo Y. for real), who was the composer of the astounding first Castlevania's soundtrack, back in 1986. And I sent it to her at Japan. And she liked it! And she gave me some encouragement.

Maybe I'll try to get at job at Ubisoft since they just opened an office in Sao Paulo...

Listen to the pieces here.

Licensed soundtracks are a common feature in the modern games and even Gamespot's annual "Best of" gives a technical prize for good selections. But 15 years ago it was really, really rare since the games couldn't handle voices' recordings very well.

Because of this I've picked on a game for this month that was the first one I've played with a licensed soundtrack on it; and it did really well avoiding the technical problems at that time.

It was Rock 'N Roll Racing, for the SNES.

The game sends you into an interplanetary racing competition where you must not only run fast but also destroy your enemies with missiles, mines or even by hammering them against the circuits' borders. The environments get harsher as you move from planet to planet in each season, but you'll be able to buy tougher cars with tougher equipment as you advance.

Interplay (a former PC game producer) has developed RRR based upon theirs 2-year-older RPM Racing (a terrible game IMO) by using its biased camera angle, and it brought a good amount of personality to it; and is funny to see some traces left by that old experience they had in PC games, as the secret playable character Olaf (from the old-school PC's The Lost Vikings) or in the use of a screensaver in the game - never saw it before in consoles.

But talking about the most important thing here - the soundtrack - I can say it's amazing. The selection is short, but well made: Paranoid (Black Sabbath) Bad to the Bone (George Thorogood), Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf), the astounding Highway Star (Deep Purple) and another 70's I can't remember the name now (sorry).

It's interesting that the solution found was to make instrumental versions of the songs (but with guitars and drums really sounding as they should) and to fulfill the void with the excellent voice of Larry, the speaker.

In the end the entire thing works pretty fine and the game is a must-play for rock 'n roll fans and for those who like to see explosions in the screen.

GAME OF THE MONTH: ROCK 'N ROLL RACING (SNES, 1993)

The DS is the first handheld gaming system I own (I used to play my Game Boy games in the SNES with the SGB adapter), and after a tough time climbing Mt. Coronet in Pokemon Pearl I started to think about the irresponsibility of making frustrating games to a portable system, since it's a lot easier to throw the entire thing through the window in a moment of fury.

After that I decided to post a new topic in the DS's forums page asking people if they ever wanted to smash theirs DSs in the wall as I wanted to. And it was surprising to see how much people managed not only to get really angry, but also to bust theirs DSs for real!

To pay a tribute to those who lost many buckets because of these unbearably frustrating games here goes the Top-10 list of the most dangerous games for you to put in your DS's top slot.

Akane Tendo Trophy!

10th~7th: Super Mario 64 DS, Sonic Rush, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Mario Kart DS

Votes (out of almost 200): 3% each

OK, here we start with a common complain when talking about online games (Mario Kart and Metroid can go Wi-Fi): cheating. But I'll put this in the gamers, not games account.

Aside that, people get crazy when they get "a generous amount of red shells coupled with 1-2 blue shells and then fall on the flippers and get electrified" in MKDS as Georgemen have said well; or "having to beat the boss, other hunters and then some retarded guardian things in a pointless time limit" in MPH (killking quoted). Luckily I've got only the free demo version of the game...

Add to that the well-hidden Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Rush and the tiny cloudy platforms in SM64 and you'll get a good start in your way through the patience path. But I must aware you that just here in these last 4 positions we already got 3 busted DSs! Including one that got broken just like a chocolate bar...

6th: Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Votes: 3.6%

This AW is one of my favorite games in the DS; but I must agree it can be quite annoying sometimes.

People talk about the disproportional strength of the enemy's troops, especially in the later levels. As for me, I can say I've had a REALLY annoying time trying to beat the Combat Mode in that "brutal" level. I did it, but I'll never do it again.

5th: Pokemon Diamond/Pearl

Votes: 4%

Pearl is the most frustrating game in my DS collection. I can't stand seeing a pokemon missing four tackles in a row (since tackle has an accuracy of 95%), or "getting confused and hitting itself 5 times in a row" as dark_hero_riku have said. And someone knows someone that has busted TWO Lites playing Diamond. I do believe him.

4th: Contra 4

Votes: 6.66% (the number of the beast? Nooooo...)

Arclight_Blue wrote: "that game crushed my soul". This is Contra.

3rd: Elite Beat Agents

Votes: 7.2%

Now we're getting hot! The 3rd place stamp goes for... The Rolling Stones! Jumpin' Jack Flash is a gas that managed to drive a player to his flashpoint and one DS ended... Bitten! How appropriate!

2nd: Trauma Center: Under the Knife

Votes: 8.2%

Trauma Center is the name of the place to where people go after playing this game. Just keep an eye on your electrocardiogram and you'll be fine.

1st: Final Fantasy III

Votes: 11.8%

A tough boss wiped your entire party out with a final smash? You've walked half an hour and died without finding a save point? Tired of raising levels for hours and still being defeated? You're not alone in the world!

We all know this is how FF works. Why there are so much people who own the card? And why there are even more people (including me) INTENDING to buy the game? SE means "Sadistic Exchanges".

P.S.: Someone got hurt after being hit by the DS hobobski chucked. He lost his "carefully cared" DS and a little-less-important friend!

Dubious Honor

There are some games that couldn't make it to the Top-10 but are still worth of a mention, since they made DSs suffer all around the world. Here are some of them:

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
L00pey had a tough time drawing those seals (I like them, I must say), and in the end a stylus went THROUGH a touch screen. But we can say Nintendo dislikes this part of the game too, since they gave another DS in exchange for the dented one.

Mario Hoops: 3 on 3
This one has made goalring27 not only stab the touch screen but also BITE the DS! How does it taste?

Megaman ZX
It seems like the "Survival Road" doesn't have this name for nothing. darkspineslayer got a broken button because of this.

New Super Mario Bros.
This is an interesting case where a DS was broken not because of a burst of anger. The problem here is CHRONIC frustration. A hinge is now cracking because the player has shaken "violently" the DS every time he died in World 8. For those who think Mario games are kiddy, you got to try ANY World 8 in any Mario game...

Picross DS
hazbazz has slammed a DS to the floor. But anyone can do that when a game freezes.

Pokemon Ranger
Someone hurled an old DS to the wall and can't even say why. Better ask Creatures.

Star Fox Command
Last but not least here is a game that really made a DS fly against a wall. And it survived! Long life to the Phat!

Last word: other 47 games shared 44% of the votes. Players can never complain about some lack of hard games for the DS...

Back in 1989 some American politicians did believe that Tetris was a weapon launched by the Russians to brainwash western minds and win the Cold War. We don't need to go that far, but we can say Mr. Alexey Pajitnov (or Pazhitnov, as it's written in some games' credits) really started a small revolution in gamers' heads.

Anyway the gaming market has quickly assimilated that "redvolution" and pretty soon dozens of clones (or derivative games, to say the least) were popping up in the shelves. And I'm afraid to say that my game of the month is among them.

In Hatris (for the NES) you work in a hattery owned by two brothers (I believe they are the-already-mentioned Alexey and Vladimir Pokhilko, the programmers), and you must simply heap up hats of the same type in groups of five to make them disappear. The hats fall in pairs from above and grow in variety until the number of six (crowns, top hats, pointy hats and others) as you advance through the shops.

All right, I know this is just another game in the huge Tetris' spawn. But IMO there's a feature that keeps it from being ordinary: the brothers can enter the screen to help.

As you earn money and make hats disappear you can get some little-head-icons that worth a call for help of the respective brother. One of them (which icon is easier to get) can switch places of two columns; the other can throw some hats away. This feature brings some long-term strategy to the game and makes it funnier, since you can even sell the heads for more money at the risk of finding yourself helpless later.

Furthermore seeing the heads of Dracula, Chaplin and Lincoln with different hats is funny too, I can't deny.

GAME OF THE MONTH: HATRIS (NES, 1991)