Cover Art: 4 bits out of 16

16-bit: Standard beat em up. Can't touch the likes of TMNT in Time and Final Fight.
15-bit: Playing the levels in the pre-morph can be boring since your ranger does very little cool(besides Zack spinning on his flat top in a dancing move while kicking foes).
14-bit: Zack spins on his flat top.

RIP Trini

13-bit: Fighting styles do match their TV counterparts.
12-bit: Putties don't offer much of a challenge. If anything they are cheap. They hit you during mid attack.
11-bit: Bosses are cool but way easy.
10-bit: No story whats so ever.
9-bit: Besides strike and tossing putties there isn't much to do to them.
8-bit: Morphin effects are pretty great and its all you want since the levels are such a bore before it happens.
7-bit: You get this bomb and it explodes into some sort of power ranger bomb... Its very Golden Axeish. Nothing like this in the show.
6-bit: Graphics are ok. I would say the rangers look good. Everything else(Angel Grove) looks very bland.
5-bit: bulk and scull in the juice bar!
4 bit: Platforming is a bit tricky. Rangers feel like they have weights in their feet.
3-bit: Weapons are included in the attacks which is cool.
2-bit: Where are the zords? I know.. Play the zord fighting game.
1-bit: Again I could have landed on a lot worse but this game feels a bit mailed in and I am sure they just wanted to get it out to make even more money off the Rangers at that point. I remember renting this game and blowing through it in a hour or so on a Friday night and being pissed. It can't hold a candle to other beat em ups and I have yet to play the movie edition which "looks" better. Fun to play to laugh at but not fun to play...to play.

16 bits, bits, snes, nintendo, power rangers

Well I am huge em head and I have never been on board with playing my favorite SNES/NES games on my phone. The virtual game pad feels impossible to me. Like whats the point of dying and being terrible at SMB3? If I had my game controller I would be way better. I hated other 3rd party crap controllers that feels off,cheap and is just terrible. So I just stuck to my roms on my Wii or my 1st gen PSP which are both pretty good but my psp is huge and my Wii is well my Wii.

I gave up on any hope on a controller until now...

Its beautiful isn't? But is it functional? OH YES IT! 8bitdo did a amazing job with this thing. Such an amazing job I can't believe they haven't been sued into outer space. It feels like a real NES controller. From the rubber start button to the amazing but plastic d pad. I have carried this thing everywhere with me and even used it during boring trainings which now fly by as I don't pay attention to my job but play Super Castlevania 4. I have had random strangers come up to me in public and ask "is that what I think it is?" "Are you playing SNES on your tablet or phone?" They love trying it out and want one of their own but when I get into explaining Emulators and roms they look at me like I'm talking Spanish. Which I don't understand its not that hard. It also has some great features like being able to use it with the Wii(which I haven't yet),wall charger and being able to update the firmware. So how does it play?

NES Games

I've played a lot of different NES games with it and they play without a hitch. No lag and very responsive. I will say the set up was a bit confusing as the instructions didn't really help with how my devices(Note II and Nexus 7 Tab) hook up. I was pretty pissed that I could connect my controller to the device but the emulators were not picking it up. Well after searching the 8bitdo site I finally found a app that you download that helps do that. No where in the manual did it say that or what the hell I wasn't doing. Maybe it was just me being dumb and my user error but wasn't very clear how to get this thing rolling outside of connecting it by holding "Start" for 3 secs.
Back to the games. They all tested great and the lag was zero. I mean zero. I was playing Contra on my phone with no lag of any sort. It was amazing. I use Contra to always test out these things since the game mashing is so crazy and it just passed with flying colors. Mapping out the buttons was very easy. My only real gripe is the space of the "Y" and "A" button as they are farther then the real "B" and "A" button which makes sliding your fingers over a bit of a adjustment. But after a 30 mins that goes away the problem isn't much of one anymore.

SNES Games
I was worried about some lag with this one since SNES just demands more but again it preformed with no flaws. NBA JAM TE and MK3 played amazing. No button lag or screen. Lets talk triggers for a bit. This is basically a SNES pad put into NES form and the trigger work and push great but the straight corners can cause some pain after some extended playing where the original SNES pad is rounded and feel much better to the hand. Really if I had my choice I would want a SNES pad over the NES pad for that very reason. The triggers don't cause any issues in the playing but just in your hands.

So buy it?
Yes!! GO BUY IT NOW!  If you are a Em Head like me then this is a must for $33. Plus I know my kids down the road will be all over this when they are a bit older. I plan on buying a 2nd one before they get sued.. I hope not but damn I'd be shocked if they didn't. I don't leave home without this thing and it will make you the coolest kid err..adult at work.

Pros
-No lag
-Authentic feel
-High quality
-Works with the Wii
-Charges with Micro USB
-20+ hours of use

Cons
-Set up is a bit tricky
-SNES trigger pain

Check out Retro Collects review of the NES30 since its more technical and they are just better writers then me.

cool crap, nes, snes, video games, bits, 8bits, 16 bits,

I posted over at Crooked Ninja and I want to thank Crooked Ninja for letting me share my top 10 Turtle toys from my childhood! These toys were with out a doubt some of the best toys I had. They were easily more durable then Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters and M.A.S.K(the main stuff I played with). I never had issues with legs coming off or vehicles falling apart. I still have half of my childhood Turtles. The other half was lost in our move as a kid. My son now plays with them and loves them. On to the countdown!

Turtle toys I always wanted but never got.
-The Shredder Mutant Module
-The Technodrome
-Krangs giant body

Oh and all this Turtle cover art is fantastic. I could do a top 10 just on that alone.

10.Mutagen Man

 I thought this dude was a cool toy. I remember filling him up with water and watching all his guts float around.. Along with a slice of pizza. He was sort of a mess but a unique figure.

9.Movie Foot Soldier
I liked these so much I had three of them. Way better then the hunched over cartoon foot that were "robots".

8.The Foot Cruiser

6.Pizza Thrower
I remember when I got this for Christmas I didn't even know what it really did. I remember turning it on and hearing that "hum" and thinking "This is..." I then shoot a pizza across the kitchen at my mom who is cooking Christmas dinner.. "AWESOME!!" It even says on the toy to not shoot at animals. First thing I did was seek revenge on Cuddles for popping my blimp! Shooting the foot was pretty great. It shot with a lot of velocity.

5.Turtle Sewer
Wow, what a great playset. I know the new one is as tall as a 6th grader but I like this one way more. I could never get enough of the man hole cover. I was always going in and out of it. The tubes were fun for hitting the foot down and then the swing! It made for a great fighting area. My mom even made little sleeping bags for all my turtles! I had the lair and all my turtles set up on a big table in a room that wasn't used. It was pretty great.

4.Super Shredder
This easily the best part of Turtles 2. It gave us Super Shredder who I thought was a bad ass when I was a kid. His figure was soooo much better then the old figure. The original Shredder is all sickly looking and has back problems. This guy could kick the crap Turtles. I have 2 of these guys. Since my brother ripped off the shoulder spikes and arms I got another. I also have one still sealed but its the re issued one not the one with the kick ass card.

3.Movie Turtles

I have a odd love for game art. Maybe its from my days of rushing to the toy department at my local Meijer or Toys R Us(which had the pictures you flip to look at the back.. Oh wait they still have it.) to see the latest games. Back then you didn't really know release dates. The games just showed up in the case for me to drool over.

The cover art used to be your whole choice if you were lucky enough to be buying a game that day. A few games I can remember buying solely based on the cover are:
-Final Fight
-Mortal Kombat 2
-Michael Jordan Chaos in the windy city
-Any of the three Star Wars games
-WWF Royal Rumble
-Bulls vs Blazers

I am glad I still own these boxes.

I think cover today is just awful. Just a bunch of faces most the time.

Here is some honorable mentions.
-Zelda: Link to the Past. Very simple but the black border with the gold Zelda logo just screams greatness at you.
-Bulls vs Blazer. My favorite NBA team on a SNES box? I'm in.
-Super Metroid. Its a great cover but I never played the game through until last year so the effect isn't as great on me
-Royal Rumble(its still real to me damnit!). All my favorite wrestlers(Bret Hart!) with a terrible looking chair photo shopped in with the classic Royal Rumble logo. Man wrestling used to be awesome.

10.Super Punch Out

I took some time to watch the new Documentary Turtle Power. Finally a TMNT doc on its history and fandom. Does it deliver? YES! Skip that pile of garbage at the theater and go buy this and watch it instead. You will be a much happier person. I can't state what a wonderful job they do here. I just wish it was sold on Blu-ray.

Comic history
They give you a inside look from the all the main people who were in on the original comic and how they got their comic to blow up. Having Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman tell this story was the only way to do it and the fact that they got these two guys to give full access with videos and a bunch of their original art just blew me away.
They lay the story and the history down with great home video footage that luckily Mirage Studios had the foresight to record and save on VHS. You see the excitement in the real moment as the turtles become bigger and bigger.

TV show and Toys
To have all the people who was involved in the cartoon and toy line is amazing. All voice actors and toy sculptures and getting to see early versions of some of the cartoon characters is great. You get plenty of insight on how big the show became and how the toys were just flying off the shelves.
Its a time in my life I remember very well. The Real Ghostbusters was my go to toys and then all of sudden out of no where came four green turtles and this amazing opening intro on the cartoon that grabbed you. I was all in and I became a 100% turtle nut. I was lucky enough that my parents bought me so many of these great toys and watching Turtles in the morning was all I look forward to. This doc brings all those great feeling back and seeing the voice actors is a real treat.

1990 Movie
Ok this was the part of the Doc I didn't expect to be so great but might be the best of all of it. The movie. Getting to hear how it all came together was awesome. From the tech side to the money side and how Jim Henson wasn't so sure he wanted his name on something so dark. I've said this many times but the DVD and the BR release of my favorite childhood movie sucks. Zero extras, no commentaries.. Deleted scenes? Nope. In this Doc we at least get a taste of that with interviews from all the people in on the movie and a few glimpses of deleted scenes and behind the scenes things.
I still feel this movie gets zero credit for a great comic book movie. It was ahead of its time and gets almost no respect. The DVD and BR we have now confirm that. In this Doc at least the move gets some proper light shed on how it all happened and its time in the spot light that it deserves.

The Rest of the doc
The end off the Doc does get a little of track in my mind. It jumps all over the place. Goes from the concert turtles to movies 2&3 but then jumps back to the recent comics and hits the games. Its all over the place. I understand there is so much Turtle stuff to cover but it loses some focus here. It doesn't mention the 2k3 turtles at all which hurts my turtle soul since its now my favorite version of the turtles in cartoon form. Like the movie, I am not sure if the 2k3 turtles will ever get their due since they weren't as big as the original show and the new Nick show.
It wraps up really quick with Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman and how they split up and don't really talk which is sad but they are really different people. All in all this Doc is amazing and even if the end is a bit muddled and rushed the bulk of it is a must for a TMNT fan. It deserves all the credit in the world and doubt any future TMNT Doc will top this.

What I love..
-Lots of Toy inside info
-How the comic got off the ground
-Home videos
-1990 movie extras and interviews
-Shows how crazy kids got for TMNT. It captures that time.

The "meh"..
-End of the doc jumps all over
-NO 2K3 Turtles
-Concert Turtles

tmnt, comics, doc, movies, cartoons,

Had a slow day at work...For once. This is when my Note 2 comes handy.

Crooked Ninja rants about the new TMNT movie..

For a property aimed at kids these turtles are scary as hell. They literally look like roughed up Hulks shoved into battle damaged turtle shells. Their Shrek faces make no attempt at appealing to anyone which may or may not be caused by the absurd amount of growth hormone (mutagen) running through them.

Mikey: Trying way too hard to be funny. Uncomfortably horny.

Donny: Cliche geek. Oddly frog like. Needs glasses because turtles have nearsightedness.

Leo: Bland. Absolutely devoid of character. Has swords!!

Raph: Roid rage mixed with bouts of crying. Can throw shipping containers.

These versions of the turtles are like bad caricatures of what the turtles should be. They strip them down to the most simple form then add a bunch of garbage to them for appeal. Oh look Raph has some sick Ray Bans! You can’t just have them yell “Cowabunga” in the end for a cheap pop. Try harder.

I have to give him credit. He has always kept a open mind going into this movie and I was hating on it from the second I heard Bay was in charge. So its what we thought it was going to be.. A piece of shit Turtle movie that will hang with Turtles 3 as the worst of the bunch.

Crooked also shares about what looks to be a pretty awesome Turtle Doc.
It was released Aug 12th and I hope to watch it very soon. Maybe I will post my thoughts on it after viewing it. Pretty excited to see it.

Branded got his hands on the 30th Anniversary Ghostbusters record. Man I wish I would have picked this up.

 typically not an avid collector of albums on vinyl since I don’t own a turntable and have pretty much all my favorite music at my fingertips digitally, but the allure of a glow in the dark Ghostbusters album that would look pretty darn rad up on the wall of Branded HQ was a bit too much for me to pass up!

The record looks great and I am pretty bummed I didn't get my hands on one.

Dinosaur Dracula got their hands on a 1986 Toys R us ad. Pretty great stuff.

If you’re my age, these were your first iPads. Speak & Spell, Speak & Read and Speak & Math were battery-operated handhelds that taught kids spelling, reading and, uh, mathing. I haven’t played with them in decades, but I can still remember their crude sound effects and weird robot voices.

I always wanted one soooo bad but my parents didn't care about helping me become a better student. I guess they knew I was a Dyslexic and had no hope anyway.

Top Hat Sasquatch Reviews TMN..errrrr Guardians of the Galaxy.

The opinions I’ve read from the people I trust basically let me know that the movie is terrible, and honestly all the people I’ve had telling me it’s good have had to preface their recommendations with things like “If you don’t think about it…” or “It’s just the Turtles…” which is bullshit to me.

We think a like. Unless my son forces me to watch it down the line. I doubt I see this. I just can't.

 I could ramble for days about how much I love this movie, but the bottom line is that everything about this movie is well done. It’s written well, the direction, cinematography, and visual effects are all to notch, and the characters are great. Chris Pratt is perfect as Star-Lord and this movie will be seen as a defining moment in his career.

I pretty much agree with everything here. The movie was amazing and this movie will basically launch Chris Pratt into outer space.

Mike and James review the new TMNT. Same result... Not good. Mattel doing more Ghostbuster figures. They have done such a poor job with this line. I hope Neca gets the licence back. We will see. 38 bucks gets you the best Rom NES controller I've seen yet. MUST HAVE ONE!!!

movies,tmnt, ghostbusters, nes, cartoons, doc