Playful-NES

Faithful readers, I have a confession to make to you: I got sidetracked this week.

I had a bunch of cool videos, weird stories and odd websites in the queue, ready to be made into a full-blown Slice of Fried Gold post, but then an alert reader named Ryan sent me a video game. I opened the link, started to play, and suddenly a few days had passed. Whoops.

However, as I was completely ignoring my wife and children, I got to thinking, "Maybe I should make THIS the post for this week." AND SO I SHALL!

Here's the reason I didn't write/eat/bathe/stand-up for all of those hours:

Now, probably only the die hard Nintendo fans will know Abobo by name, but many of you may recognize his face. This is Abobo:

That's right, he's one of the mini bosses from the classic NES game Double Dragon. Apparently Roger Barr and his buddies thought that Abobo would be the perfect protagonist for their love letter to old-school Nintendo games. They take this minor character and place him in the middle of a number of classic NES games as he tries to save his son, Aboboy.

And it's awesome.

Seriously, I had so much fun playing Abobo's Big Adventure. The look, music, controls and gameplay took me back to a simpler time when movies had to rewind and telephones had cords. As Abobo fights to find his son, you'll travel through such games as Super Mario Bros., Mega Man, Contra and more. Plus, it mashes a number of games together, so you have cameos from a variety of NES video game characters.

Half of the fun is being surprised by what Nintendo games and characters make an appearance, so I don't want to spoil Abobo's Big Adventure, but here are a few fun shots from gameplay:

Zombies and a polar bear in the middle of Contra? Why not?

So many characters, so little time.

Even Zelda, which I didn't play that much growing up, still brought back a ton of memories.

Now, I should warn you that this game is a little violent. Abobo has a big appetite and a lot of muscle, so, at times, he doesn't hold back on dispatching an enemy. But it's mostly 8-bit blood and gore, so. . .

And did I mention that this game is completely free?

So there you have it. If you're a fan of the old school NES video games, Abobo's Big Adventure is truly a treat. There are so many cameos, Easter eggs and shout-outs in this game that it's hard to pick a favorite, but I will say that I was surprised to find a secret party at the top of the "elevator," and I'm glad I still know the Konami code by heart.

Oh, and for the sake of your spouse and children, please know that there IS a pause button and the game regularly saves itself, so you can return to the game later and start where you left off.

Happy gaming!