goldenvortex's Cyber Shinobi review

I usually don't comment on reviews that are quite THIS old, but I do have to say that this has one of the worst lists of supposedly bad titles I've EVER seen:

"Every series has one, even the most popular games have one, Mario had Super Mario Bros. 2, Sonic had Sonic 3D blast, Zelda had Majoras Mask and Metroid had the dreaded Metroid Prime on the Gamecube. Shinobi also had one of those bad games, the twisted and battered Cyber Shinobi released in 1990 on the Sega Master System."

I can't tell if he's being sarcastic, but my god that list takes the punch out of his argument (except for Sonic 3D blast, which sucked enough that some Sonic collections advertise themselves proudly as NOT having it included).

I think he meant that each of those games is a black sheep, as in "not popular compared to the other installments." Aside from "Mario 2," each of those could certainly pass for a black sheep. (Even "Metroid Prime," which received a mixed reception from longtime Metroid fans.)

Now, the real problem is that these games are being lumped together with "Cyber Shinobi." None of those games are bad enough to be lumped together with "Cyber Shinobi." A more appropriate list would have titles like "Mario is Missing," "Sonic Labyrinth," and the CD-i Zeldas.

One of goldenvortex's favorite techniques was to find something that a lot of people like and, in an off-hand manner, trash it while talking about something completely unrelated. You'll find examples of that practice in a lot of his older reviews, though he toned it down some for his later stuff. It's kind of fun now to read some of his reviews and see how far out of left field some of those references really are. It's a shame, though, because aside from that quirk he was actually a decent writer who produced a handful of very good reviews before he stopped coming here.

Well, it's half way intelligent... because it certainly would generate press and get the review passed around by the internet bigots who love to disagree with the obviously extreme. But it also totally discredits the point, so... yeah. Don't remember what I was starting to say here. I'm watching The Maxx, it's kind've distracting.

Sonic 3D Blast wasn't bad, unless someone was expecting a serious rival to Mario 64. I remember actually enjoying the game quite a bit when it was new.

//Zig