Gaming Flashback: Yo! Noid

Yo! Noid was a commercial opportunity for Domino’s Pizza developed by Capcom. This retro style game revolved around Domino’s Pizza claymation style mascot, the Noid, as he adventures through fourteen stages of side scrolling action.

The game sound was much like any other 8-bit action platformer. It reminded me of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the Nintendo Entertainment System, not the cool arcade one. Minus the turtles, Yo! Noid is a battle against Mr. Green, the Noids evil duplicate, a concept used in so many games; remember Shadow Link?

Unlike Link, Noid lost a life when he hit an enemy similar to the Super Mario Bros. style platformer but with a Yo Yo weapon. You could also gather smart-bomb type scrolls to clear the screen of all enemies, another classic side scroller arcade recipe. Yo! Noid brought nothing to the table in terms of uniqueness and relied on the standard recipe of side scrolling conflict.

This retro game may be one of the first true “total conversion mods.” Later we’d see Counter Strike born out of the Half-Life engine and way before that, Noah’s Ark 3D built out of the Wolfenstein 3D engine. Yo! Noid was a re-creation of the game Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru. Oddly enough, Yo! Noid was probably more well known than its forefather game because Capcom didn’t release Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru in the United States. Instead, we got Yo! Noid and a $1.00 off coupon on the back of the manual so we can get ourselives some Domino’s Pizza.

Although a few of us may recall Yo! Noid from our childhood, the title really didn’t create any huge waves in the game industry. Yo! Noid did show developers that a brand named product could be used as a marketing and brand awareness strategy, something we’d later see Burger King try on the Xbox 360 and find some success.

Can you tell the difference between Yo! Noid and Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru?

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Retro Gaming Moves: Spinning Bird KickRetro Gaming Moves: Spinning Bird Kick

In 1987, Capcom created a new winner with the Street Fighter series. Knowing the demographic, they went for teenage boys with the desire to play fighting games in the arcade in competitive fashion. But is a good fighting game without some eye candy?

Chun-Li was the star, with her Spinning Bird Kick. Actually, Chun-Li never saw the first Street Fighter title… only Ken and Ryu (mainly Ryu) were available in the first series installment. This got our taste wet for battle, and Street Fighter II introduced us to a whole range of great moves and character designs.

Out of all the characters, Chun-Li held her own as a cute skinny yet muscular female with moves like no other. Her Spinning Bird Kick would allow her to flip upside down and whack the opponent upside the head a few times as they fall to their back on the stone.

Chun-Li, or “spring beauty” in Mandarin, was famous for her sexy anime legs and their spinning doom. Gamers would perform the move that the worse possible time for their opponent, such as in mid-jump when your opponent had nothing but death and peril awaiting their landing.

Ken and Ryu had spinning kicks too, but without the inverted impossible moves of Chun-Li it fell short of awesome. When it comes to animated violence, perceived hot chicks and young boys battling for ego and rights to be the winner, the Spinning Bird Kick and Chung-Li was a great choice.

The British rock band Arctic Monkeys have an instrumental song titled “Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick” and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (wikipedia).

It does without doubt, every Street Fighter II player remembers the crazy spinning kicks of Chun-Li and this is what makes her have retro gaming moves!

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This week’s news includes:

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Let us know what you think.