Back in 1989 some American politicians did believe that Tetris was a weapon launched by the Russians to brainwash western minds and win the Cold War. We don't need to go that far, but we can say Mr. Alexey Pajitnov (or Pazhitnov, as it's written in some games' credits) really started a small revolution in gamers' heads.

Anyway the gaming market has quickly assimilated that "redvolution" and pretty soon dozens of clones (or derivative games, to say the least) were popping up in the shelves. And I'm afraid to say that my game of the month is among them.

In Hatris (for the NES) you work in a hattery owned by two brothers (I believe they are the-already-mentioned Alexey and Vladimir Pokhilko, the programmers), and you must simply heap up hats of the same type in groups of five to make them disappear. The hats fall in pairs from above and grow in variety until the number of six (crowns, top hats, pointy hats and others) as you advance through the shops.

All right, I know this is just another game in the huge Tetris' spawn. But IMO there's a feature that keeps it from being ordinary: the brothers can enter the screen to help.

As you earn money and make hats disappear you can get some little-head-icons that worth a call for help of the respective brother. One of them (which icon is easier to get) can switch places of two columns; the other can throw some hats away. This feature brings some long-term strategy to the game and makes it funnier, since you can even sell the heads for more money at the risk of finding yourself helpless later.

Furthermore seeing the heads of Dracula, Chaplin and Lincoln with different hats is funny too, I can't deny.

GAME OF THE MONTH: HATRIS (NES, 1991)

A picture is worth a thousand words.

In January I talked about a Game Boy game that has used the technology in the Super Game Boy adapter for the SNES to provide exclusive content. Now I'll talk about the first game to do that, in fact developed to show the world the new possibilities: Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong was released in 1994 and snapshots of the game (specially the title screen) have spread around the world because it was the first time we're seeing a GB game in colors. But the gossip has grown cold soon, and never more I'd heard anything about it.

What gamers that HAVEN'T played it at the time don't know is that the game had opened paths for all other Mario's games that were released after it. Mario's handstand in Super Mario 64 is great? It's already in DK. Wire spinning in Mario vs. Donkey Kong is cool? It's already there too. Even the shrinking mushroom in New Super Mario Bros. for the DS is there!

But I must confess: I didn't give it a chance at the time either...

In my opinion the game didn't get the attention it deserved because it was released BEFORE the revolutionary Donkey Kong Country. At the time nobody was interested in Donkey Kong anymore; it was in the same drawer that Pac Man was, for example - just a good memory. When DK Country have been released the Bob-Omb had exploded, but it was too late for the poor GB's DK. What a shame...

(More info in my review of the game here.)

GAME OF THE MONTH: DONKEY KONG (SUPER GAME BOY, 1994)

First of all I must say I'm glad to see that after so many years people are pulling the hair out of the head again playing Contra, since it's among my favorite series. That said I would like to pay my tribute to Konami by remembering theirs Old-West-Contra, Sunset Riders.

I believe Sunset Riders was first released in the Arcades, but I only remember seeing the beautiful snapshots of the game in magazines by the time of the SNES release. As I've already said the game is an Old-West shoot-em up that was based not in filling the screen with enemies, but in taking your lives with little trapping situations during the levels to weaken you before the tough bosses battles.

You can choose between four characters with different guns, and you can improve the strength of those guns a little with power-ups. The characters (including the bosses) are charismatic, and the game becomes really great when you're playing with a friend in a cooperative/competitive mode - you'll help each other killing the enemies, but only the one who kills the boss will get the "dead or alive" reward. The environment design is great, and you'll even ride horses in some stages and shoot in a first-person view to win bonuses in others.

Sunset Riders is a game with its own personality (the voice acting alone makes a "worth-to-play") and is one of the many plain-fun games presented by Konami.

GAME OF THE MONTH: SUNSET RIDERS (SNES, 1993)

We all know that movies turned into games are most of the time just piece of crap. If you dare to make a list of these poor-bad-terrible-abysmal games you may never see the sunlight again. That's why I want to give credit to another underappreciated game that managed not only to be a good movie-based game but also a good Batman game: Batman, for the NES.

In theory the game is based upon the first movie directed by Tim Burton, but in fact it has not much to do with the screenplay; and maybe that's the secret behind the success of this adaptation. Sunsoft has brought to the NES's players a very personal perspective of the character: shady-though-detailed environments, superb original soundtrack and precise controls working near perfection, besides brand new tough bosses. And the high difficult level in the game doesn't make you want to throw the joystick in the wall, because if you die it's your own fault - not controls' fault.

Unfortunately the game remains kinda obscure just because it's movie-related. But I would seriously recommend you a try, especially if you're looking for some terrific platform action.

(You can read a little more about it in my review of the game here.)

GAME OF THE MONTH: BATMAN (NES, 1989)

Here is my favourite composition in Hotel Dusk, "Straight Chaser", composed by Satoshi Okubo (and maybe Yuhri Mori too). And that's the way my Izabella sounds... Courtesy of Crate's reverb.

"Me and Izabella (my guitar) playing Straight Chaser (Satoshi Okubo/Yuhki Mori), from Hotel Dusk. Jazzy."