Ranking The Beck Albums

I love talking about music (you can tell) and while thus far I've focused on bands from fifty-plus years ago, my tastes are quasi more modern than that... sometimes. So I'd like to look at an artist who actually made his first record after I was born... the incomparable Beck. 

Beck definitely has a varied discography. Always willing to experiment, at the top of his game he truly transcends genres of music while reinventing them (quote courtesy of one B.B Rodriguez).

(as an aside I will not be counting his 1993 album Golden Feelings, as it was re-released in 1999 without his permission and so probably shouldn't qualify. It's also an extremely rare album to own)

All right let's get this devil's haircut.

 

Hyperspace (2019)

*1/2

 

There is a truly awful Beck album and man... this is cringe worthy. Hearing the dude who wrote songs like 'Devil's Haircut', 'The New Pollution' or 'Lost Cause' turn out generic auto-tuned blandness was painful to hear. I couldn't wait for this album to be over once I was three songs in. At least Colors (which I'm not a fan of either) has a couple of groovy dance songs. This is the worst type of generic emotive drab.

Beck is just trying so painfully hard to be modern here. Sure, the production sounds good... but Hyperspace fails so miserably because there's nothing interesting about these songs. They all blend together. I went in expecting a retro-80s pop record, loaded with synth and funky songcraft... instead it just meanders with forgettable moody lyrics, boring melody and the occasional bad rap interjection that makes you wish Adam Yauch was still around to punch some... uh punch into this (RIP). 

Hyperspace just sort of exists and leaves no lasting impression, a mash of lazy modern pop music that lacks any hooks, thoughtfulness or anything melodically redeemable. This is one of the worst albums I've ever heard, and it pains me to say since I obviously love Beck (kinda writing an article about him here) but I never want to hear this album ever again. Holy colon evacuation.

   

Colors (2017)

**1/2

 

Yeah sorry... but this album isn't very good either. At least it's way better than Hyperspace, since this actually sounds fun instead of like doctor's office music. Beck has a unique musical style but here it really sounds like he's trying to follow rather than innovate popular trends. Which... fine! If that's the music that interests him and the kind of thing he wants to create... it's his art and he can do whatever he wants with it. He's given us so much great music these past three decades that he's earned some critical grace (which Hyperspace eats up so much of that I'm seriously worried what his next album will be).

The biggest issue with Colors is every song trying so hard to be a Top 40 radio hit, and mostly failing even that bar. There are moments: the title track is catchy... while "Dear Life" is a damn good Beck song a decade too late, belonging more on Modern Guilt than here. Everything else here is forgettable at best. "Wow" to me is unlistenable (the biggest culprit of Top 40 wishful desperation) and tunes like "Up All Night" or "No Distraction" just don't go anywhere. It's not horrible but well below his high standard.

 

Stereopathetic Soulmanure (1994)

**1/2 

  

This record... is just fascinating. A mishmash of home recordings, bootlegs of live performances, noise experiments and just random clips without context or meaning complied over years. Definitely not good overall, it's a tedious listen at many points... but I can't help respect how it has nothing resembling concept or structure, which is likely the point. And some songs like "Puttin' It Down", "Satan Gave Me a Taco" or the live ramble "Ozzy" show Beck's embryotic songwriting skill, melody and off-ball humour. With early Beck you're never totally sure if he's embracing slacker culture or making fun of it, or both.

 

Midnite Vultures (1999)

***1/2

 

Oh Mr. Hansen...

Finally though, we're getting into actual good records. Like Colors eighteen years later, Midnite Vultures seems an example of Beck trying hard to be modern. The difference is where Colors sounds stale, like music you've already heard before, Midnite Vultures pops with genuine fresh energy. It's a semi-forgotten record in his catalogue (sandwiched by two very acoustic albums) and while the goofiness is often a bit too much, the strength of this album are its really fun grooves. The mood of it is so bizarre it's quite fascinating... it really sounds like a weekend partying in Los Angeles that you hazily remember while stumbling to the next moment of insanity.

Some great songs are "Sexx Laws" (as seen on Futurama... usually that song doesn't last three hours but we got into a kind of thing)... "Nicotine & Gravy" seduces you like a charismatic stranger on a seedy street corner... "Beautiful Way" slows down the hedonism and brings this world back into something resembling reality... and "Debra" is an extended closer (most of Beck's 90s albums feature this) that definitely shows some Prince influence. Overall... this album probably isn't for everyone but it's incredibly fun, and is way better than anything he's made in over ten years because he just isn't taking himself too seriously.

The cover is pretty dreadful though.

 

Morning Phase (2014)

***1/2

  

Often referred to as "Sea Change Part Two", which I think is a result of the song "Morning" basically copying the exact chord structure from "Golden Age"... it's weird when you listen to an artist plagiarize themselves.

I kid though. Morning Phase is a grower, but worth some patience. It's mellow as hell (which, now that I think of it... Hell probably isn't mellow). The emotions aren't as intense as on Sea Change: the wishful longing of youth is swapped with wistful acquiesence. It feels too emotionally numb to really hit any delicate spot, but it's played tight and that bit of twang really helps slow these songs enough to let them breathe. Beck is exploring some roots here, with lots of straight-forward folk rock and country influenced atmospheric tunes. It gets rather boring at times, since the production is overloaded to my taste... but he has some terrific songs here underneath the layer of melodrama wanting to insist upon itself. I'd like it more if it were stripped down just a bit, but still the engaged songwriting shines through. In a way this is Beck's Nashville Skyline: not a masterpiece but a solid, interesting record.

 

Mutations (1998) 

***1/2

 

 

 

The problem with Mutations is... well it's kinda boring.

Not to say it's a bad album. It's actually quite good... but it just kinda lulls you to sleep. It takes those slow trippier moments of Odelay and turns it into an entire record... making this an enjoyable, solid-all-the-way-through affair, yet unfortunately that neutral tone of it just bleeds everywhere. Perfect low key background music, but it simply doesn't capture your attention. I've listened to this album dozens of times and I still get certain songs confused with others.

It has some notable songs. "Nobody's Fault But My Own" (not to be confused with the equally great Zep tune) is a standout, as is the off kilter blues of "O Maria". Odelay is in my opinion a masterpiece because each song seems like it exists within its own melodic universe... mixing together so many musical influences to create something new and unique. Mutations instead sticks with one consistent vibe, which in of itself is fine... it's just that this dreamy brand of semi-psychodelic folky blues just kinda passes by. It simply just exists while you listen, leaving little in a lasting impact. Stronger in atmosphere than substance.

 

One Foot In The Grave (1994)

****

 

 

For somebody perhaps popularly known for energetic weirdness... so much of what Beck has actually recorded and released is loaded with bleak dissonance. 

This album is just pure minimalism, which is probably what I love about it. They're essentially home recordings, an adventure in lo-fi, as Beck plays simple folk-ish tunes that sound like covers played in a living room... but most are actually originals and reveal their brilliance through their simplicity. No song is longer than three minutes, some barely longer than one, and there are a lot of them... hurting the overall quality of the album since some of these really sound like he's making up the lyrics as he goes... but this also plays to his advantage more often than not. "He's a Mighty Good Leader" just sticks in your mind with its catchy simplicity, "Outcome" is like falling down a bottomless hole and thinking "meh" the whole time, and "Asshole" is an incredible breakup song with its surreal lyrics that perfectly capture that feeling of losing somebody because of nonsensical circumstance.

This is a very bare bones record and the roughshod production quality might not be for everyone, but it is a record rich with treasures for those willing to look beyond the ramshackle exterior. I consider Beck a very underrated lyricist and he's in excellent form here.

 

Modern Guilt (2008)

****

 

We were blessed in the mid 2000s with some great releases in popular rock music: In Rainbows by Radiohead... Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People, Gimme Fiction by Spoon... just to name a few personal favourites. Beck was rather productive during this period as well: between 2005 and 2008 he released three full length studio albums. Exactly as many as he's released since, and in my opinion none of those new ones are on the same planet of quality. 

Modern Guilt is the weakest mid-2000s Beck album, since it gets a bit too experimental with its song structure at times and they don't all land... but frankly all of his 00s records are good and yet extremely different. This album definitely reflects its title: while not slow in tone or melody, it finds the artist back in a mode of bleakness after the off kilter fun of Guero and the futurism of The Information. Beck is no stranger to this, of course, except here he mixes minimal production (lots of empty space and drum machines) with strange beats, occasional keyboard and vocal delay. There's a subtle sense of impending and accepted doom to the music, like a world preparing for inevitable apocalypse. Geez, maybe this album came out twelve years too early.

My only issue is how it loses steam in the middle (when it goes for weird sound over stronger songcraft). Modern Guilt really has some exceptional songs though. "Profanity Prayers" is an all-time great Beck song, the way its groove picks up like a chugging train yet sounds dissonant at the same time. "Orphans" (the opening track featuring Cat Power) is a perfect introduction to the poppy desolation present throughout this record, and "Volcano" carries you up to the summit with its bizarre disturbing story, like you're on the precipice staring into the lava and cannot look away.  

Modern Guilt, despite having a couple tunes that miss, is in my opinion the last great album Beck has made. There's still time though. Crossed fingers.

 

 Mellow Gold (1994)

****1/2

 

 

This is where I suspect fans will disagree with me, since Mellow Gold is considered by many a seminal album of the 90s and one of his masterpieces.

Hey, I agree. This is a great album and I always enjoy it whenever I pop it on. "Soul Suckin' Jerk" with its incredible bassline and insane lyrical washout story.... mixing hip-hop with grunge with a wink. What makes Beck so good on albums like this is his vocal adaptability: he does so many different things that are perfect for each of these diverse, bizarre songs. He can rap well, he can adopt a Jim Morrison type brood... he can wail like Ozzy Osbourne if he wants.  

Mellow Gold isn't quite as strong, in my opinion, as him truly at his pinnacle. I find it somewhat uneven: a mishmash of raw experimentation but lacking the charm One Foot In The Grave carries. Still, this is an incredibly capable musician exploring what he could do and, unlike his noisy earlier bootlegs, really tightening up and delivering on those talents. It's a terrific record and really showcases his incredible range of songcraft... but he has albums that do even better.

 

Guero (2005)

****1/2

 

 

I'm gonna come out and say it: I don't think "E-Pro" is an amazing song. It's fine, but I hope people don't judge this album (and my high ranking of it) because of that song. Honestly, I usually skip it to get to the good stuff I like more.

And yes my friends, this album is full of good stuff. You have the wandering semi-salsa flair of "Missing" (which looks long when you realize it's a five minute song... but it doesn't linger)... the amazing groove of "Scarecrow" (great bassline)... the urgency of "Black Tambourine" (the song sounds like a close friend whispering in your ear about something completely meaningless)... "Hell Yes" is an enjoyable electro stomp finding Beck back in weirdo hip-hop mode (always reliable, at least until Hyperspace)... 

Honestly, this album is "Odelay 2005", but done exactly how that kind of album should sound. It was fun back then, and it holds up now as just a good reliable listen. Each song gives you something different. Just a greatly enjoyable album front to back, full of Beck at his funky unpredictable best.

 

The Information (2006)

****1/2

 

I probably like this album more than anyone I know. Heck, most of my musician friends aren't even too familiar with it.

General consensus is that this is a solid Beck album... so my deeper affinity for it is tied to a few situational aspects. It was released around the time I started working at the Drake Hotel (I was barely 19) and during a staff party we all booked it from a staff party because we got word that Beck (the man himself) was completely out of nowhere going to perform in the Drake Underground within the hour. Luckily we all made it in time and... oh man... it's something I'll never forget. A surreal moment. 

So I always associate this album with that period in my life. That period post high school of not exactly knowing what I'm doing (how things have changed ha), and anytime I listen to this album it takes me back to 2006... my feelings of living at home still, the friends I talked to a lot that summer... working a new job at the insane place that was the 2006 Drake.

All of that said, beyond my obvious nostalgia, this album is so damn good. Even now, 14 years later, it has such a futuristic feel to it... like this is music that we'll be listening to when we get to Mars. Once those drums in "Elevator Music" kick you into the groove, you know you're in for a great album. "Strange Apparation" is a song I've performed live myself, and (when I'm not doing it) it totally sounds like a Rolling Stones song left off of Let It Bleed. It sounds nothing like any other song here, which works since these none of this feels like it should fit together musically. But it does: this is a record imagining a weird, diverse future.

It's a long album, so I suspect folks could be bored listening to it front to back. I disagree, personally, because unlike Mutations this record brings lots of variety, consistent groove and occasional bursts of dance energy. Each song doesn't blend into the previous one, rather it builds off and makes something new and fantastic from that information (see what I did there). Songs like "Solder Jane" with its fast rhythm... "We Dance Alone" with its irresistible disco groove... "Movie Theme" with how it haunts you like being an astronaut lost in space... a collection of out-of-place tunes blended together to create something cohesive.

I love this record so much, and while I suspect most people who are reading this won't like it as much as I, do seek it out and give a listen or two. It's worth the journey and will reward tenfold more than it disappoints.

 

Odelay (1996)

*****

 

 

Gotta keep this short. Odelay is, in my opinion, one of the best albums of the 90s... and yeah I know Nevermind, OK Computer, Day For Night and Mock Tudor exist (among many other greats). This album though is a masterpiece to me because first: this is Beck blending genres of music together in such a way that he makes it seem lazy and easy, when of course the complication and imagination required is substantial. His imagination here is incredible... an album impossible to think about its major influences because there are so many and Beck just throws them into a blender to create something completely different. 

This album is so damn good (just look it up in the Becktionairy... I meant the rhyming Becktionairy). Songs like "Jack-Ass", "Ramshackle", "Hot Wax" and "Minus" are simultaneously rooted in the 90s while still sounding fresh even now. Just listen to "The New Pollution" and yeah you shall understand why I think this album is so damn timeless 24 years later... that song would be a huge hit today. What else can be said? A classic for a reason.

 

Sea Change (2002)

*****

 

 

A very personal choice. It's a breakup record and it will remind you of those demons, but there's a sweetness to the bleakness. Something vulnerable and so human in the atmosphere and songwriting.

Yeah it's definitely a breakup album, in the way Dylan's Blood On The Tracks is a breakup album... filled with themes of lonliness and emptiness from losing somebody who has moved on.

I find Blood On The Tracks dances around those themes more than Sea Change, which is more direct and melancholy in mood, which probably will turn some people off. Bob is often bitter and vengeful on much of Blood, while Beck here is desperate and blinded by loss, struggling to gradually come to terms with reality as the happy memories fade. Sea Change is an album of emotional peaks and valleys where one song like "Lonesome Tears" is loaded with moaning despair and heavy strings, while "Lost Cause" softly laughs grim acceptance of bleak heartbreak. So many emotions grab the mic... tied together by the feeling of losing somebody and knowing (as much as you don't want to admit it to yourself) how they'll be gone and will never be back. It's not a record you play at a party.  

Some people like to think of Morning Phase as the sequel to this, which okay. Sea Change is far superior though because the emotion just breaks through above all else here. I like the production (even if it can be heavy handed at times) because it compliments that overall sense of being emotionally lost, helping those lyrics find melodic context rather than smother them. Morning Phase, while a solid record, doesn't reach the same height and feels too subdued or fabricated in places.

There isn't a bad song on Sea Change, really. Each one explores that same theme but with different feeling: expressed through a different melody or a different lyrical perspective. It's an album of desolation and isolation and is so beautiful in that sadness... "Golden Age" is just a gorgeous song so full of longing, soul and just a question of... "what do I do now", with that slight delayed twang adding a perfect touch. It's not an album you listen to all the time, because you have to be in that mood... but it is just a quiet beach to listen to and reflect.

 

 

Woo! That's my look at the fascinating catalogue of Beck. What's next? Who knows. Stand by and be surprised. It'll come with a free frogurt*!

 

(*the toppings are also cursed)

  

East End Eats XX: Bulging Burger

 

2021 hasn't exactly been the sigh of relief most of us were hoping for after the miserable choking hazard that was 2020. With social restrictions tightening once again, local businesses and small restaurants will need our help more than ever to survive. So I'm relaunching my food review series, in hopes that maybe it can give some of my local spots a small bit of coverage. Plus I finally have a phone/camera again so I can take pictures of things.

 

Today I'm looking at the Bulging Burger, a little corner joint just a block away from the Neville Park streetcar loop. Instead of opting for a burger (I've had it before and it's huge, and decent) I really wanted to try their poutine. See, I've been on a mini-quest trying to find the best poutine in the Beaches. No Bull and Fearless Meat, both on Kingston Road, are absolutely exceptional (you'd be crazy not to get smoked meat on the Fearless Meat one). Beaches Brewery, back in the beforetimes, also had an insanely tasty brisket and mushroom concoction which I would probably award the crown to, for now.

 

Bulging Burger keeps it simpler. Just the main elements: thin salty fries, a nice thick rich gravy and tons of cheese curds. Like, an actual ton. I have a habit of removing and saving excess cheese when I order things like this (yeah I'm a weirdo) and while the amount here was excessive to my taste, I will never complain about quantity when the quality is high. This is a basic poutine done very well. Not exciting, and I'd definitely prefer an option to add bacon or mushrooms, but this is a sizeable, sharable meal, reasonably priced (under eight bucks) and is just loaded with the good stuff (gravy and cheese). If you ever fall asleep on the Queen streetcar in the middle of the afternoon and wake up at the end of the line... at least you won't be hungry on the way back.  

My Favourite Video Games I Beat In 2020

 

2020 has been such an unspeakably miserable year for me that it doesn't even deserve me writing about why that is. So screw that, I'm gonna write about video games instead.

 

I haven't always been a consistent gamer, and over the recent years (aside from my annual Christmas tradition of beating Mario 3) I barely played them at all. This changed in 2020, due to a combination of being stuck at home by myself for like 98 percent of this hell year, and discovering YouTube shows like Angry Video Game Nerd that rekindled my love of retro games (especially the Super Nintendo, which I played more than any other console). My actual SNES died a decade ago, so most of these games I beat were using an old emulator (without save states). Anyway lets get into this

 

#12 - Mario's Time Machine (SNES)

Beaten before 2020? - Who cares

Recommend? - Dear god no no no no no

I really only played this (and the Waldo game) just to see if they're as bad as I remember from when I was a kid. At least "Waldo" is short. This game is bloody awful and tedious.... you spend a good chunk of the game as Mario on a surfboard trying to collect mushrooms and go into whirlpools. WTF? Sure, it's an educational game (though several of its facts are historically incorrect) but there are ways they could've combined that and made this actually something resembling fun. Mario traveling through time, thwarting Bowser and his koopas? That could've been awesome! And I enjoy reading about history! 

But no... it sucks and you'll be bored after five minutes. Bad repetitive music, flat graphics, annoying quiz questions, irritating dialogue... combine that with probably the most unsatisfying and lazy ending in any Mario game (apparently there are three endings and I got the bad one, but I'm never playing this shit again so screw that)... this is legit the worst game I've ever played long enough to beat. They should send it back in time to where it can never be found.

 

  

 

#11 - The Great Waldo Search (SNES)

Beaten before 2020? -- Yep. Who can't beat this?

Recommend? -- Only as a joke

 

This is probably the easiest video game I've ever played. And one of the worst, though it slips into "so bad it's hilarious" territory. I remember getting it probably when I was ten and being excited, since I loved the Waldo books, then being extremely confused after beating it so quickly. I tried it again here 20+ years later... and beat it again in twelve minutes. Twelve. On "Expert Mode" no less. It's the kind of game I like to show people only because it's so funny in its awfulness, but even as a joke it lasts even less time than the game itself. 

 

#10 - MVP Baseball 2005 (PC)

Beaten before 2020? -- not sure. Can't remember if I played 2004 or 2005 back in the day

Recommend? -- If you like baseball games and don't care about updated rosters  

 

There's not much to say with this one. It's a perfectly fine mid-00s sports game and it give me my fix when MLB was shut down during the late spring. The graphics aren't pixelated too much and the different stadiums are distinctive and unique (aside from bad crowd animation, which seems a constant in these games). I like this one, and seeing these old rosters is definitely a nostalgic trip (top of my head I think only Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera are still active players). 

Since you usually can't "beat" a sports game, I count this one since I won the World Series. All right next.

 

#9 - Kirby Superstar (SNES)

Beaten before 2020? -- No

Recommend? - Yes

 

A very colourful game, with tons of fun items for Kirby to use and the graphics are stunning. My only complaint is while the different games have their own unique quirks, overall the game is on the easy side and the levels/bosses do get somewhat repetitive in their design. Still though it has some neat moments, like the one where Kirby has to take down a giant airship, or a boss battle where you fight a trio of enemies in RPG hit point style. It's a fun, lighthearted adventure. 

#8 - Aero The Acrobat 2 (SNES)

Beaten before 2020? -- Yes

Recommend? -- Yes

 

One of my favourite games on the more obscure side, Aero 2 finds you controlling an acrobatic bat (get it) on a quest to destroy an evil clown. The graphics and level design are why I love the SNES, with three dimensional backgrounds and big levels filled with secret bonus stages. It also has one of my favourite soundtracks of all time, and there's an entire level based on disco music! The biggest flaw is that the story, while creating its own world, feels underdeveloped and somewhat vague. Nevertheless this game is fun, hilarious and great to look at, with enough tricky secrets for replay value. I love this game and it feels weird to rank it so low, but I played a lot of great games this year.

 

#7 - Super Mario Bros 2 - All-Stars Edition (SNES)

Beaten before 2020? Yes

Recommend? - Yes, but it's not a typical Mario game

 

Probably my least favourite of the original NES Mario trilogy, but still a wonderful game. It was strange at the time (early 90s) when I first played it, since I was surprised how you could choose between the four different characters and each one has their own strengths and weaknesses. I've always chosen Luigi, which many people have told me is the character they pick the least, but I'm just used to his weird jumping mechanics I guess.

My only faults are I find it the easiest early Mario game, and some of the dungeons can get a bit tedious and predictable in terms of having to grab the key and evade the floating masks, over and over. Still though, the final world is hard as steel to beat and definitely provides a good challenge. A great game and always fun to pop in and listen to the delightful music of the overworld stage. 

(also for you nerds out there yes I now about how it was Doki Doki Panic in Japan etc etc)

 

#6 - Super Mario Bros - All-Stars Edition (SNES)

Beaten before 2020? - Not without Game Genie as a kid

Recommend? - Uhhh... duh?

 

To be totally upfront, if this were the original NES version it would rank higher. The All-Stars version, while more colourful, gets a bit monotonous with the backgrounds and the updated iconic music just doesn't sound as good as the 8-bit classic. 

Other than that, there's not much else to say. It's the first goddamn Super Mario Bros... undoubtedly one of the most important and famous video games of all time. And it's awesome of course. I also find it rather difficult, especially once you get to World 8 and every kind of enemy is coming out to get you (Hammer Bros in this game are evil, man). Actually beating it is extremely satisfying, knowing that finally the princess is not in another damn castle! Anytime I'm in a barcade (which has been a while obviously) I have to give this game a go. 

 

#5 - Mega Man X (SNES) 

Beaten before 2020? - No

Recommend? - Yes

 

I came into this with basically no experience playing any Mega Man games. I never owned any of them, and when I first started playing emulators this game slipped through the cracks. Which is a shame because this game is just damn awesome. Cool weapons, distinctive levels, a basic but effective storyline, and of course... the soundtrack is just amazing. I'm not sure if it was my learning curve from being so unfamiliar with the controls or the difficulty of the game itself, but I had a very hard time playing this game at first. The bosses regularly pummeled me until I finally found one I could beat, and it then got quite easier once I got more weapons and more powerups (I've heard Mega Man games usually have a specific order of bosses to beat to make things easier, but I didn't want to cop out and look it up). The final stages are still a great challenge, and beating Sigma felt really damn good. A nearly flawless game.

 

#3 - Super Castlevania 4 (SNES)

Beaten before 2020? - Yes a few times

Recommend? - Oh hell yes

 

I would've really loved to have given the original Castlevania on the NES a solid go, since it's a game I owned as a kid, is notoriously extremely hard and as such I could never get past Stage 10 as a youngster. Unfortunately my NES emulator doesn't even allow a controller to work and beating the game using a keyboard, which while undeniably super impressive, is an experience I'm sure will overwhelm with frustration (I actually did try one night and did get to Stage 12, so take that eight year old me!).

On to Castlevania 4, though, one of my favourite games of all damn time. The game is perfect: awesome controls (whip in any direction), the level design is extremely innovative for the early 90s (like the levels that rotate) and look distinct in their colourful creepiness, while the music is just so kickass. The intro, with the lightning hitting the gravestone as fog rolls in, still gives me chills every time. It might not be as hard as the earlier games in the series (which again are notorious for that) but it always provides a sizeable challenge even for someone like me who has played it so much, especially once to get to the bosses before Dracula (who himself is also a frustrating battle). Straight up, I love this game and the journey is always fun, creepy and satisfying.

 

#2 - Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past (SNES)  

Beaten before 2020? - No

Recommend? - Yes yes yes

 

Before this year I'd only played Link To The Past once a little over a decade ago, and while I got pretty far I guess late-teens me got bored with it (dumbass). I am glad I came back to it, as it is widely considered one of the greatest video games ever made and it lives up to that reputation easily. There is so much I could talk about in this game in regards to the various characters, the story, the diverse overworld etc... and all those elements add to its greatness. This is such an immersive game because it takes you to a world filled with so much detail, so much to explore and gradually uncover that when you think of so many modern games that do the same thing, it's unbelievable a game like this came out thirty years ago. Maybe the graphics aren't as realistic as those newer games, but I like the colourfulness on display here. It's simply a masterpiece that will probably hold up another three decades.   

 

#1 - Super Mario Bros 3 - (SNES/NES)

Beaten before 2020? Many times

Recommend? - Yes yes yes yes yes yes

 

This shouldn't be a surprise if you know that this is my favourite game of all time, and one that brings back so many memories every single time I play it. This year I beat it on my SNES emulator this past holiday season (though not without some public frustration) and on the original NES at a friend's house several months ago. To be honest I don't really have a preference on which version I like better: the classic NES version still looks great by 8-bit standards, while the All-Stars version beautifully spruces up the graphics and adds some really stunning backgrounds. It's also always a harder game than I remember: I think this year I came in a bit overconfident (especially after beating the NES version so recently) and forgot how hard this game gets near the end. Some of the levels in World 8 are just insane with enemies and jumps that need to be perfectly timed. Anyway, it's the best. Love it.

 

Well hope you enjoyed this dive into retro games. Some of you might wonder and ask why don't I play any more modern games. While sure, I have played games like GTA 5, Fallout 4 etc at friend's houses... the desire to buy a modern console just has never been there for me. I stopped around the time of GameCube and never much liked that one anyway. There's something about a game from the 80s/90s done well, I guess I just find it more appealing and nostalgic. Anyway, until next time.