Pacman Fever

I listened to Jawbreaker's Dear You for the first time in about 10 years today on my way to eStarland. During the 8th track, “Lurker II: Dark Son of the Night” some of the lyrics caught my attention:

“A can of dinner. Hard to get a rise. Hook up the Sega. Have sex alone.”

Turns out Blake Schwarzenbach, the singer and guitarist for Jawbreaker, is quite the video game fan. In 1997 he reviewed Pandemonium (review), Independence Day (review) and HeliCOPS for GameSpot.

This made me wonder what other video game references are there in music. I can only think of a few

Notorious B.I.G. - “Juicy”

A classic for all hip hop fans. Biggie famously rhymes “Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis when I was dead broke man I couldn't picture this.”

The music video even shows Street Fighter 2 being played on a Super Nintendo!

Del the Funky Homosapien - “Proto Culture”

A video game and anime fan? Del covers the Wex, Gex, Klonoa, Capcom, Donkey Kong, Rival Schools and even Xenogears in this song. See the end of the post for the complete lyrics.

Placebo – “Bigmouth Strikes Again”

Placebo's (unfortunate) cover of the Smiths “Bigmouth Strikes Again” changes the lyrics of the songs from “As the flames rose to her roman nose and her hearing aid started to melt” to “As the flames rose to her roman nose and her Megadrive started to melt” to make to more relevant to the 90s.

Buckner & Garcia - “Pacman Fever”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEGSFk-vCqU

This one does not need an explanation, The whole song is a testimony to the joys of playing Pacman.

I’m sure there's many more songs that reference videos games but those are all that I can think of at the moment. As a closing, here a picture of Tupac and Suge Knight playing Sonic 2.

Del the Funky Homosapien - “Proto Culture”

Let me tell you about the Proto Culture
If you don't know the culture here's the whole structure
We've had enough of the lackluster, trust us
We get the kind of games you can't rent at Blockbuster

Game related, raise it bit by bit
Yo D, link up the cable we'll go hit for hit
Phantasma plasma particle beam means I have you
On the run, the rendered effects hot like magnas

I play games by Capcom with a power glove strapped on
On any platform, I don't spend my dough on Phat Farm
Video games, I got many to play
Before my life expires to fill my desires

Mastering your hardest boss, shattering all stars across
Ain't hard to cross the finish line, floatin' on Daytona
Wex, Gex or Kloana, I get 'em all at cost
RPG, Platform we transform like Macross

Rival schools, Batsu purchase you ought to
It came with one free CD, it's like I bought two
I hope they make part II for Dreamcast
'Cause games I've seen in mags, you won't believe they have

Getting callouses turning over asteroids, graviton bombs destroyed
Getting moms annoyed, now I'm hacking Nightmare Creatures
Their features splattered across the screen
It gets more clean each year

I remember, my homie Ed Coats had the most
A Colecovision, every week I'd visit
Playing Donkey Kong Jr., Venture, Rock and Rope
Games I thought was dope while my mom's was watching soaps

I'm on the next level
I got a double barrel shotgun in the Doomworld
Waiting on the next devil, armor's low, check the arsenal
Rupture the main conductor playin' Disruptor

I remember Ninja Gaiden finished it finally
With Ramone wouldn't answer the phone
This was before getting blown, I own the first Nintendo Power
With the maps of Zelda help me conquer in an hour

Let me tell you about the Proto Culture
If you don't know the culture here's the whole structure
We've had enough of the lackluster trust us
We get the kind of games you can't rent at Blockbuster

Hey KU, you know my SEGA collection is massive
Got all the past hits and classics
Herzog Zwei now Panzer Zwei
Originality that made me a fan today

It's Pandemonium, it's like Toys R Us
Flippin' the next Saturn game brings out the boys in us
It's poisonous taking out the boys in blue
In Grand Theft Auto, snatch a Rolls Royce to use

Yeah, I'll admit PlayStation improved
Come visit Feudal Japan with me and Tenchu
Bushido Blade 2 with sword play so accurate
Mega Man Legends but I had to buy a map for it

I fence Hyo to get a Neo-Geo
For Samurai 64 in full rendered splendor
Rival counter and enter, my sword in his innards
My joint was being Leonardo wuppin' on Splinter

I gotta get Xenogears, that's the type of game that relieves my fears
Get it from overseas to here
I gotta get Psychic Force, authentic arcade that I can endorse
They got me liking imports

I'll need to be at the next E3
What's the next CD? I need to see, me and D signing checks
Let's float overseas, mingle with game companies
Giving tips to Capcom and SEGA, you can't front on these

To anyone who knew me better
Know I chose Saturn first 'cause it's 2-D heaven
Bernie Stolar dropped the ball with the RAM cartridge
X-men Vs. Street Fighter could've expanded the market

Marvel Vs. Capcom beyond fathom
Tell the truth, PlayStation ain't ready to have em
Come on I'll bring the onslaught, Alpha and Omega
Khaos Unique brought to you by SEGA

Let me tell you about the Proto culture
If you don't know the culture here's the whole structure
We've had enough of the lackluster trust us
We get the kind of games you can't rent at Blockbuster

“Get a silk bag from the graveyard duck to live longer” - Castlevania 2 NES

As much as I love classic games, I sometimes wonder, if anyone ever proofread the translation in any of the games. There was so little text in many of the games; I cannot fathom how the publishers would not have at least dedicated some time to edit the translated text.

There are two prime examples of this that I can remember from playing the NES during my childhood. Metal Gear and Castlevania 2: Simons Quest. Even at 5 years old I knew the dialog made little sense.

Metal Gear was relatively the better of the two in the grammatical sense. I can only remember four errors in the dialog

The Guards saying: “I feel asleep"
Snake stating: “Uh – oh! The truck have started to move!”
And two of Big Boss's radio messages:
“First, attempt to contact missing our “Grey Fox,” then try to find the Metal Gear.”
“Now, locate the Grey Fox’s hidden cells, check the way! Over.”

Castlevania 2’s dialog made little or no sense. The game was very open ended and one of the few was to actually progress in the game without a strategy guide was to talk to Transylvanian villages whose English was obviously not their first language.

One clue a villager gave really stuck in my head:
“Get a silk bag from the graveyard duck to live longer”

I’ve always read this has if I needed to get a Silk Bag from a graveyard duck in order to live longer. But alas, there is no duck in Simons Quest, but there is a graveyard with a silk bag in it. That only leaves one explanation, the clue should read:

“Get a silk bag from the graveyard.” AND “Duck to live longer”

The second half of the clue should be interpreted as “Crouch to progress further.” This makes a reference to a part where you much crouch with a crystal to reveal a secret staircase to one of the many mansions in the game.

Then there’s always the “You now prossess Dracula’s rib.” Simons Quest doesn’t just have the wrong tense. It flat out just has the wrong words.

Speaking of errors:

I love the NES power glove… It's so bad

NES Power Glove is so hard to come by around here at eStarland. The second we get it in stock, it sells out. I’ve always wondered what people do with them. Do they keep it as a collectible item? Do they actually PLAY with something this bulky, uncomfortable and impossible to program? Or do they just want to be as awesome as this guy:

I’ve never understood why they sold out so quickly. Can you really experience ULTRA video game action-adventure with the power glove as it states in the box? Do “ultrasonic sensors” send wavy light ways to my TV to make game images move as my hand moves as it shows on the box?

I guess it doesn’t. But these questions where answered when I saw Shaun Phase from Temp Sound Solutions play live with a Power Glove on:

Then it hit me, the NES and its culture isn’t just in our memories. It’s all around us. There’s a huge community that embraces the old NES days and celebrate it. And I ask you, what do you think of the Power Glove? What do you use it for?

Ninja Gaiden and the Death of a NES Controller

It’s mid 1990. There we are, three of us in our L.A. Gear shirts and parachute pants. My cousins had just brought over the NES and we were enjoying the frustrating bliss known as Ninja Gaiden. After a few hours of wearisome playing avoiding enemy ninjas and their annoying bats and hawks - that blindly hover near the top of the screen yet that cause the most damage – we made it to the Guardia de Mieux, the Jaquio himself.

“Jump off the walls, and hit him with your sword as you drop down” we yell to oldest cousin playing the game

“Man, don’t worry I got this… damn, my nose is starting to itch”

“WHAT!?” we yell as he does the one action that crushes our dreams of that night, the dream of finding out what happens at the end of Ninja Gaiden – he takes his hands off the controller and scratches his nose. Our Ninja, Ryu, after traversing through impossible tasks and even saving his father from the Masked Devil spell, dies thanks to a simple nose scratch.

So flash forward to the present day. I’m doing my shift for the eStarland Star-tacular Sale and I see it. Some one is buying Ninja Gaiden and the memory comes back, the dreaded nose scratch incident. I pickup the game and this time I’m taking on Jaquio my self, nothing will stop me now!

As soon as I get home I find my NES and Ninja Gaiden. I start to play, but what is this!? Ryu cannot stop moving left, as if he remembers the original incident and is attempting to avoid the start of his journey.

Looks like he wins this time. After years of no use my NES controller seems to be dead. Sticky buttons galore. Looks like I won’t be able to take on Jaquio this time.

So a few days late we at eStarland get this thing in called the “Controller Repair Kit,” it’s suppose to solve issues with the sticky or dead buttons on a controller. I pick one up and give it a shot.

I grab a small Philips head screwdriver and hastily remove the screws from the back of the NES controller. I grab the repair kit, and replace the now worn out rubber button pads on the controller, and put the controller back together. The old rectangle has come back from the dead. Now I know I’m playing with power. Who needs ergonomic controllers anyway?

I start Ninja Gaiden again and only get up to the extremely long fourth level. I get frustrated and give up. At this point getting to Jaquio seems to be an impossible mountain to climb and I give up.

So to all your classic gamers out there, don’t let a worn out controller crush your dreams of reliving the golden age of gaming. Don’t settle with 3rd party controllers and fix that original Nintendo controller, that old friend doesn’t deserve thrown away. It deserves to be fixed and be brought back to life.

The controller repair kit includes all the necessary parts to repair two(2) first party controllers and is available at eStarland.com for the following platforms:


Nintendo NES - $6.95

Nintendo SNES - $6.95

Sega Genesis - $5.95