BEST OF 1988

January 22, 2021 · 1 hr 52 min

Once again, it's time for the best of celebration! Season 4 (1988) is officially complete and now Mike, Sean, Joe, and Sam will recap the highlights and reveal the TOP 10 GAMES of 1988. Who will take the #1 spot?

Show notes

ATTACK OF THE SEQUELS
Introductions
- In the 20th century, the year 1988 has the most Roman numeral digits (11).m
1988 (The Year)
- Nintendo releases the first issue of Nintendo Power magazine. Which we did cover
- Out Run wins Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards, for the year 1987. (We compared Rad Racer to Out Run a lot)
- January 8 – Konami releases Super Contra.
- January 29 – the first commercial versions of Tetris are released.
- February 10 – Enix releases Dragon Quest III.
- Electronic Arts releases John Madden Football for the Apple II, starting its highly successful line of American football games.
- Pool of Radiance the first of the SSI Gold Box games is released, the first computer RPG officially based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
1988 (The Games)
- Gun.Smoke - ESPO
  - The most unique shmup we’ve gotten so far. Capcom was so close to an Essential Game here.
- R.C. Pro-Am - SAM
- R.B.I Baseball - ESPO
  - Refer to tweets
- Life Force - ESPO
  - The most polished SHMUP. This game feels like a super nintendo game at times.
- Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode - SEAN
- Jackal - ESPO
  - A lot of fans wrote in and thought we missed this one. Did anyone revisit or reconsider?
- 1943: The Battle of Midway - ESPO
  - The Shmup attempt at wanting to be more, but forget what is most important.
- Spy vs Spy - JOE
- Bionic Commando - JOE
- Zelda 2 - We need your thoughts Sam
Top 10 Games of 1988 (Each of us will quickly list our 10-3 and then reveal our top 2...so that the #1 isn't so immediately obvious)
Essential Games List Reorg
- Adventure Island
- Castlevania II
- The current EGL
  - Duck Hunt
  - SMB
  - Balloon Fight
  - Gradius
  - Castlevania
  - Kid Icarus
  - Metroid
  - The Legend of Zelda
  - Mike Tyson's Punch Out
  - Mega Man
  - Contra
  - Double Dragon
  - Life Force
  - Spy vs Spy
  - Super Mario Bros. 2
  - Blaster Master
  - Bionic Commando
- The cases
- No one is ready for this convo, but I think Duck Hunt should be replaced by Freedom Force
- Stinger should leave. It’s not as good as Gradius and Life Force. BUT IT IS FUN!
  - BUT speaking of Shmups, any love for Gun.Smoke
THE FINAL STATS
- Refer to NEStalgia Info
What we're looking forward to in 1989
- Ultima III: Exodus
- Mega Man 2
- Track & Field II
- Dragon Warrior
- Faxanadu
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
- Tetris
Next week - 1989 begins with BOMBERMAN

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