31 Days of Monster Mania: Day 12: Bram Stoker's Dracula The Game

Written by Stu Cooper

For today's Monster Mania entry I am going to take a look at the games based on the 1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula film. In the 80's and 90's it was not uncommon for virtually every big budget film to get some type of video game interpretation. Everything from "Top Gun" to "The Untouchables" got a video game. It should come as no shock then that the 1992 Coppola movie got a series of games. The game was released on pretty much every platform available at the time. All of them were platformers, and most of them were piss poor platformers at that. The NES and Gameboy versions were very simplistic and similar to Mario. The SNES and Genesis versions were actually pretty fun and nicer looking than the NES, but still far from a good game. Then there was the Sega CD version which is such a mess, it's been ripped to pieces by virtually every game critic. Today I'm going to focus on the Super Nintendo version of the game.

Now immediately the game opens up with a rather beautiful and creepy cinematic of the knight version of "The Count" standing on a hill of destruction. It provides you with some pretty creepy imagery and a good start. Once you get to the menu screen I will advise you to go to the options and make sure you are playing on at least Normal or Hard, because if you choose "Trainee" you will not get the full experience of the game. I beat the game in about 20 minutes on "Trainee" mode and the game ended after I killed the witches, there was no confrontation with Dracula. If you play on Normal or Hard, you should be able to access the full game and get the final battle with Dracula. Several games did this at the time as a way to extend the life of a game. In some cases you would go through the entire game, but because you did it on an easy difficulty, you would get a weaker ending or no ending at all. Dracula doesn't quite go that far, but it's a nice tip to have going into it.

Once the gameplay begins you will notice it's a pretty basic side scrolling platformer. You play the character of Johnathan Harker (Keanu Reeves). The sprite for the character does look just like Keanu Reeves, so they did good there. In terms of weaponry you are armed with a sword/dagger type weapon that looks more like a whip when you use it. The weapon is quite weak and has short range, but it will get the job done. You start out in a tavern beating up peasants,cougars, and bats. Then you move around the maze like level, until you find Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) who tells you what kind of new weapon you need to advance to the next stage. The next couple stages range from dungeons within Dracula's castle, to rocky mountains that surround the castle. You continue to fight off mostly wild animals, but later you battle skeletons and spiders. Basically a whose who of random "spooky" enemies.

At the end of each stage you will have to battle one of Dracula's minions such as a giant knight with a whip, the witches, a dragon (I don't remember that in the movie), and then of course Dracula in all his various forms. The sprites for Dracula actually look pretty spot on and quite good. For some reason tho every boss is gigantic, including Dracula. So you will better prepare yourself to fight a 12 foot Dracula. Taking small liberties with the movie there. The game is obviously nothing like the movie because let's face it, the film is not really an action film. You may see a character doing something action oriented twice in the whole film. If you can get over that and just play the game, you will probably have a bit of fun.

The big issue the game has is that it is painfully easy. You can beat the entire game on Hard mode within about 35 minutes. It's similar to the Power Ranger SNES games if you've ever played those. You go through a stage, fight a boss, go through a stage, fight a boss. Occasionally you'll be treated to some kind of transitional image taken from the movie, explaining where in the movie you are but not much else. If you manage to complete the game you will be rewarded with a very poor quality image of the aging Dracula, and a text crawl story telling you what happened. Then like Mario, you see the castle crumble.

For what it is, it's not bad. It's certainly not as bad as movie games like Cliffhanger, Last Action Hero, or Terminator 2. It's quite playable, and it's fun. The big downfall is the incredibly easy difficulty. If you paid full price for this game when it was first released, you'd probably be pretty upset. If you rented it, maybe not. I picked the game up for about 5 bucks off ebay, so it wasn't hurting me too much. From what I've seen this is the best version of the game they made, and if that's the case, it's not saying much. I would just make sure to avoid the Sega CD version of the game, which is an epic gaming failure.

31 Days of Monster Mania: Day 2: Star Trek The Original Series: "Catspaw"

Written By Stu Cooper

It's time for Day 2 of Film Enigma's 31 Days of Monster Mania! Today's choice is something that I hold near and dear to my heart. Those who know me personally know I am a massive Star Trek fan. As a Star Trek fan I always wanted to see a Halloween special the likes of Roseanne or Home Improvement. While they never did any official holiday specials, there was an episode of the original series with a very strong Halloween theme. The episode was entitled "Catspaw" and involved all sorts of iconic Halloween traits.

The crew of the enterprise beamed down a landing crew consisting of Sulu, Scotty, and a red-shirt named Jackson to a seemingly uninhabited planet called Pyris VII. When the crew is unresponsive, the crew grows concerned when the red-shirt beams back up to the Enterprise and is apparently dying. Before he dies he warns the crew that they are now cursed! The crew responds the only way they know how, by beaming down to the planet to check things out. When Kirk, Spock, and Bones beam down to the planet they are immediately confronted with haunting imagery starting with screaming ghost like creatures. The screaming ghosts warn the crew members, but Spock is not alarmed because when he scans them, he realizes they are not real. Soon after this, Kirk notices a black cat that is wondering around the planet and the planet is covered in fog, creating a very familiar horror like environment. The ghostly environment only gets creepier as the crew stumble upon a castle! The castle is obscured by fog and looks like something straight out of Dracula.

The crew follows the black cat into the castle and encounters a wizard like man that looks like something straight out of Flash Gordon. The wizard begins talking to the black cat as if it understands, and the crew is quite confused. The crew also learns that the Wizard appears to have control over Sulu and Scotty and has put them into a zombie like state. The zombie crew members appear to be under the wizards command. So now not only do you have ghosts, a foggy castle, a black cat, but also zombie crew members! After Kirk, Spock, and Bones continue to investigate they realize that the wizard Korob is some type of alien that can control imagery and create illusions. To make this episode even more scooby doo-ish, the Wizard Korob uses a magic wand to do this.

After being held hostage by Korob, the crew witness the black cat turn into a human looking woman named Sylvia. Sylvia reveals herself to be in charge of the Wizard, and tells the crew that they serve a higher purpose, and are merely creating images that they've read about in human culture. Kirk and Bones make references to "Trick or Treat" which puzzles the Vulcan Spock. Kirk challenges Sylvia's powers and she demonstrates her magical powers by turning the enterprise into a toy, and threatens to burn the toy, which would of course kill the entire crew. After talking Sylvia down, Kirk is able to reason with Sylvia even if only for a brief moment. Sylvia then takes control of Bones, and adds him to her zombie army. Now it's up to Kirk and Spock to figure out how to stop Sylvia, and save their zombified friends.

After being held captive in a dungeon, Kirk and Spock are able to talk their way back into the good graces of Sylvia and the Wizard Korob. Kirk uses his powers of seduction to show Sylvia what it is like to experience a man's touch. We then learn that Sylvia is not humanoid, and actually has no understanding of sensations, sexuality, or power. Kirk uses his sexuality to show her a sample of what sexy sensations feel like, and of course Sylvia falls for Kirk. Sylvia tempts Kirk by showing him that she can transform into any kind of woman. Kirk appears to be interested in this but of course it's all a trick! Kirk is able to trick Sylvia and figure out that the magic wand is the source of her power. After taking her source of power, Sylvia turns into the cat, except this time, it's a giant cat! The cat goes on a rampage, and the Wizard Korob decides to stop Sylvia, sacrificing himself in order for the crew of the enterprise to get away. After a very goofy chase with a giant cat, the crew is able to escape and get back to the ship. Soon after this, the crew finds out that Korob and Sylvia actually aren't even powerful beings, they are merely tiny prawn like creatures. That's right, space prawn trick the crew into entering an imaginary haunted house. The crew would study these prawn, but unfortunately without their power, the prawn die, and the enterprise pretty much forgets about them and flies off into the great beyond.

"Catspaw" is known for being one of the most ridiculous Star Trek episodes and rightfully so. From the first scene the episode is just absolute insanity and comes off like a "Star Trek Meets Scooby Doo" special, which is great for the Halloween season, but in terms of good Star Trek, you could certainly do a lot better. The episode works as a goofy Halloween Special but the effects are pretty awful, and when you find out the aliens are basically prawns who are apparently huge Edgar Allen Poe fans, you can't help but laugh. The chase with the giant cat is also one of the more ridiculous scenes in Star Trek history. So if you're looking for a really hammy Halloween feeling episode of Star Trek, this is a good choice. Don't expect to be scared, but expect to get some serious Halloween Scooby Doo vibes. Unfortunately no crew members sneak off to indulge in scooby snacks, but the ga-ga-ga-ghost scares are riddled throughout this one. If you're looking for a Star Trek episode to give you the October Halloween feel, this is the one for you.

Checkout the full episode here:

Star Trek-Catspaw by Supercylon

Dreamcast Anniversary: Top 10 Dreamcast Games

Written by Stu Cooper

Today marks the Anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast launch and I thought I'd take the time to think back on this wonderful system. The Sega Dreamcast was a true underdog console that actually revolutionized gaming in several different ways. The console was released September 9th, 1999 which was just a few months before the Playstation 2 release. The Dreamcast had some stiff competition ahead of them not only with Playstation but Xbox and the Gamecube. With that said, I won't be focusing on why the system failed, I want today to be about the positive things the console left behind.

The console featured the ability to get online which enabled owners the ability to surf the web and play games online. I remember playing around on the internet at a friends and having my mind blown because it wasn't AOL! When the console was first released Sega created the Dreamcast logo and decided to put that logo on all the boxes instead of the Sega logo. This was because of the huge commercial failures Sega had with the 32x and Saturn. Sega attempted to disassociate themselves with those consoles and wanted a fresh start with the Dreamcast. The system was very user friendly, and was very compact. The size is nice when compared to systems like the Playstation 2 and original XBOX which are extremely bulky and heavy in comparison. Almost immediately after the launch developers started releasing some pretty fun games. Some of the games like Crazy Taxi and WWF Royal Rumble were direct Arcade ports, while other games started with the Dreamcast and eventually moved to the PS2 or Xbox. Let's run down some of those remarkable games. I will be counting down what I consider to be the best Dreamcast games out there. There are quite a few gems, so choosing just 10 proved to be difficult.

10. Sonic Adventure

If there is one character that every Sega fan is familiar with, it's Sonic. In Sonic's Adventure you got to play as Sonic but you also get to play as 5 other characters throughout the game. The game was one of the first fully 3-D Sonic games and that provided some pretty intense chase sequences, even one with a giant killer whale. That level makes you feel like you are in Indiana Jones and you're running away from the giant ball! Of course the main enemy of the game is Dr.Robotnik...why won't he just die?! The game breathed new life into the Sonic character and opened the box for more 3D sequels.

9. Power Stone 2

Power Stone 2 was 4 player fighting game that was ported from the Arcade to the Dreamcast, like several other titles. The game featured the ability to have 4 people fighting on screen at once as opposed to the normal 2 characters. The game also featured the ability to pick up items and use them on your opponent. You could pick up chairs, tables, rocks, etc. The game also features the ability to interact with stages, like hopping into cannons that you can use to fire on your opponent. To add more chaos to the mayhem, you can also pick up weapons like a hammer,axe, and flame thrower! With four people playing at once this game is some good ole fashioned arcade fighting fun.

8. Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio)

Jet Set Radio is a beautifully fun skating game with a twist. In the game you play a young punk who is part of a gang in Tokyo. Instead of unleashing gang violence you skate around town and tag parts of the city with graffiti! You will encounter rival gangs, police, and bosses throughout your journey. The game is strangely addictive and kind of feels like an anime version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The art style is absolutely unique and I think that's a big part of what makes this game so memorable. This is a must have for any Dreamcast owner. In fact, most people I knew that had the system, owned this game as well.

7. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing

Ready 2 Rumble was an over the top boxing game developed by Midway. It was an arcade style boxing game like Punchout, but instead of being one single character, you are able to pick from a variety of personalities created for the game. The more memorable ones were guys like Afro Thunder, Boris the Bear, and secret characters like Michael Jackson! The game also featured the voice and appearance of world famous announcer Michael Buffer, which gives it a cool official vibe. Each player would have a special move they could use whenever their rumble meter was full. They were often unrealistic crazy movies, almost fatality level. It was a great game and a lot of fun if you have a buddy over.

6. Resident Evil Code Veronica

The fourth game in the Resident Evil series saw a slightly different approach. The completely 3-D backgrounds made for a crisp and beautiful experience. Some actually consider this one of the better looking games in the series. The game focused on Claire Redfield who was the main character in Resident Evil 2. This game was remembered for it's intense difficulty and badass villains. The villain that gets the most attention is a creepy terminator-esque Tyrant man named Wesker. If you can some how make it to him in the game, I suggest playing him with the lights out! If you want a good zombie survival experience on this console, you can't beat Code Veronica.

5. Typing of the Dead

Speaking of awesome Zombie related things, this game is an absolute gem. "House of the Dead" is a very popular arcade series where you shoot zombies with a light gun as fast as possible. Well "Typing Of The Dead" was a sequel that used a keyboard instead of a light gun. Sounds weird right? Well It was actually a blast! You would have to type words to defeat enemies and sometimes even full sentences. The further you got into the game, the more awkward the words get. Boss fights are especially rewarding because you have to type as fast as you can, and the AI will throw some bizarre sentences at you. I highly recommend picking this one up. It's an odd and addicting game.

4. Soul Calibur

Soul Calibur is the second in the now famous Soul series. The game was developed by Project Soul but produced by Namco. It started out as an arcade exclusive but then it was ported to the Sega Dreamcast with updated graphics and a bigger roster. The game was basically a 3-D weapon fighting game. It was like Tekken with weapons. The game featured many interesting characters that would later become iconic as the series continued. My personal favorite would have to be the boss of the game "Cervantes". The story is kind of hard to pick up on in the game, but it apparently is all about possessing the "Soul Edge" sword, which is held by Cervantes and eventually turns another character into "Nightmare". The gameplay was almost identical to Tekken except for the inclusion of weapons. The weapons would provide a deeper element to the moves. This game is about as fun as it gets and if you grew up going to Pizza Hut, you probably played this in their lobby at some point. You can't go wrong with a "Soul" game.

3. Crazy Taxi

In the game Crazy Taxi you play a taxi driver who likes to play things close to the edge. You are basically in some type of cartoon world where you can drive like a maniac, get outrageous speed and high jumps, and above all else you get to pick up random people. You will be tasked with delivering certain people to certain places in a short span. This is what causes you to amp things up. Not only is the driving a blast, but the world you play in is also a lot of fun. The range of people you pick up are endless. It's quite funny when the passenger comments on your driving skills, or in some cases their brush with death. Another big highlight of this game would have to be the soundtrack! It's mostly a bunch of Offspring songs that mesh PERFECTLY with the tone and pace of the game. The main track is stuck in my head as I type this.

2. Shenmue

Perhaps one of the most beautiful titles of it's time, Shenmue was a game that many instantly fell in love with. It was an action adventure game that featured nonlinear gameplay that would allow you to walk and do whatever you wanted. This was executed beautifully in the game, but it would come at a cost. The game was one of the most expensive in history! It cost 47 million dollars to produce, which is about 65 million adjusting for inflation. Unfortunately while there was a sequel, the game creators never got to complete the trilogy, most likely due to financial losses on the game. I had heard somewhere that almost every dreamcast owner would have to buy 2 copies of Shenmue for them to make their money back. It's quite sad because it really was a remarkable game that opened the door to many other games like it. I think it was really before it's time.

The gameplay revolved around a young guy named Ryo who is trying to solve the death of this father. You escalate the story by traveling around the city and finding different items. In terms of combat it has a nice 3-D RPG feel to it, as you fight the Yakuza and street thugs, then eventually you solve the mystery. It was a very deep game for it's time and it was very easy to get immersed in it. Fans of the game are still hoping and praying that someday we will finally see the completion of the series.

1. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes

Now I know this may be a controversial pick for number one, but I just had to do it. I've dumped countless hours into this game, and I've got the thumb blisters to prove it! This game is possibly one of the best sequels in gaming history. The original Marvel vs. Capcom was your basic 2-D fighter but featured comic book characters squaring off against characters owned by Capcom. It was quite a cool idea and it allowed fans to live out dream matches. The sequel took this idea and increased the roster ten fold. You get to pick a team of 3 characters and you battle your way through some pretty epic combinations of characters.

The game became famous on the arcades and was eventually ported to the Dreamcast, then later on other consoles. Many consider the Dreamcast version to be the definitive version and the one that reminds people the most of the arcade. Not only was the gameplay an absolute blast, but the competition was also very steep. The game became so popular that it spawned a series of gaming tournaments, where the best face off. I never was one for playing against strangers in the arcade, plus if they know combos you're probably going to lose anyways. To top the game off, it features an extremely catchy menu select song which I'll post below. All of these things combined with the adrenaline rush of fighting as fast as you can, make for the perfect Dreamcast experience!

Honorable Mentions:

Well folks that wraps up our list for today, but please comment and tell me what were some of your favorite Dreamcast games? Do you agree with my list?

Happy Easter: Don't Eat The Gum Basket

Written by Stu Cooper

I wanted to take the time to wish you all a Happy 4/20 and a Happy Easter! Earlier this year I received a special Easter basket from a company called "Don't Eat The Gum". This company specializes in a very unique kind of gift basket. The gift baskets are made up of a mix of vintage/current nerdy items. These things usually consist of trading cards and various nerd accessories. The focus of the basket usually revolves around trading cards from the 70's and 80's that included bubble gum. Thus the name "Don't Eat the Gum". If you are a fan of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, then there is something in these sets for you.

If you are a fan of nerd culture as much as I am, you will absolutely love these sets. There is nothing like it. I'm actually surprised local comic book stores haven't thought of this idea already. Also the pricing is very fair considering how much it costs to put together and ship. Here is a picture of another one I got as well, just so you can see the different types:

For more information on "Don't Eat the Gum" please visit:

Don't Eat The Gum on Facebook