Video Game Hall of Fame: G.I.Joe

I was a huge G.I.Joe fan as a kid. I liked the toys, I liked the cartoon, I liked the idea of G.I.Joe. This persists today, as I'm a strong advocate of red lasers for good guys and green lasers for bad guys, and nobody ever dying in war, people always leaving their vehicle just before it explodes. I like that.

We got the G.I.Joe Nintendo game when my brother had some kind of ear surgery and was given the choice of a single game. Eddie's made some bad decisions in his life, but G.I.Joe was oh so good.

The basic gameplay is a pretty standard platform game. You are assigned a leader for each mission, and select two other soldiers to complete your team. Each soldier has varying capabilities; for example, Captain Grid-Iron is a dominant hand-to-hand combatant, while Snake Eyes can leap through the roof, and Rock n' Roll is your heavy weapons expert. Playing to each guy's strengths is part of the fun of the game, but really the fun is just playing the game.

Each level has a well-constructed boss, and by "well-constructed" I mean that each boss has a particular method to its madness. One of the keys to a good NES game is having tasks that can be figured out and defeated with the proper plan and execution. Newer games work on complex AI that mirrors human thought, but older games tend to work better if they're more like puzzle games. G.I.Joe does exactly that.

As usual with older games that I like, the music kicks ass. Unfortunately, though, OC Remix hasn't produced any remixes of songs from the game. I even posted a request in the forums (which I think is like sending an email to a professional athlete asking for an autograph: good luck). For those of you interested in this or any other old Nintendo game's original music, I've got a post in the works giving you the rundown on how to get the song files and how to set up your machine to be able to play them. It's easier than you think.

Back to the game, it's really one of the all-time greats on the original Nintendo system. I suggest you try it out, if you're able. Be a Real American Hero.