Is this the beginning of the end for Nintentunes?

Just kidding!

Today’s episode of Nintentunes is brought to you by the letter R. 

NES – Adventure Island II
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJmWVRoGvT4&feature=related[/youtube]
Remember Hudson Soft? That little bee mascot was as iconic as they come in the NES era, and the Adventure Island series had a lot to do with it. Adventure Island II was released relatively late in the NES lifecycle and let players take control of Master Higgins, one of the best character names in video games. My favorite addition to the game not found in the original was the ability to ride one of four different dinosaurs. Who doesn’t want to ride a camptosaurus!?

SNES – Rock N’ Roll Racing
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2947SGpG14&feature=related[/youtube]
Did you know that Blizzard Entertainment used to make console games? Before the company behind World of Warcraft was making millions off of subscription fees, they went by the name Silicon & Synapse and were making console games. Rock N’ Roll Racing was a rather fantastic isometric racer, with each race an instrumental version of a classic rock n’ roll song. If you haven’t experienced the game, there is a Game Boy Advance port that can give you that rockin’ racing fix. Give it a shot.

N64 – Magical Tetris Challenge
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKNjz7M5cwg&feature=related[/youtube]
It seems as if any video game genre can be made better with Disney characters, doesn’t it? Magical Tetris Challenge wasn’t groundbreaking in its execution, but it was a competent and very fun tetris title. The game did feature the very fun Target Tetris puzzle where the player is given a preset sequence of pieces with which all the pieces must be cleared from the board.

Gamecube – Cubivore
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_GTw9TmCFU[/youtube]
Cubivore is one of the strangest titles I have ever played in my life. Here’s the skinny: you are a cube-shaped….creature that is tasked with eating other such creatures to mutate and become stronger. The more mutations your Cubivore goes through, the more powerful your Cubivore becomes, allowing your character to defeat the Killer Cubivore boss.  Did I mention it is possible to mate with other Cubivores in the Love Tunnel to create new Cubivores? Yeah, I told you the game was strange.

Wii – Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezgk2QhsNf0[/youtube]
Sin & Punishment was the first title I ever imported back when it was released for the Nintendo 64, and as such I was really excited for its sequel to be released for the Wii last year. Sin & Punishment: Star Successor developed by Treasure is an on-rails shooter in the vain of Star Fox. For me, the main draw of the game was its fantastic co-op play that gave the title a ton of replayability. This is a title that should be in every Wii owners catalog as it really is one of the consoles hidden treasures.

Eugene lives in New Mexico and has been a life long gamer since getting his hands on an NES. Always partial to Nintendo, Eugene has made it a point to keep informed on all things Mario.