Retro Sunday - July 20, 2014 - Monopoly

Lazy Sundays are great for board games, especially when those board games are actually video games!

Monopoly (NES) is a great example of how to translate something from the real world to the digital world. Granted, a board game is typically very easy to made into a video game, but my point still stands.

But it takes more than just a direct translation to make a game great. You gotta add polish! And Monopoly for NES has it in spades, especially when you consider the technology available.

First, you pick a token (cool guys always pick the Top Hat), enter your name, and then you decide if you're going to play with friends or against the CPU (pro-tip: the CPU always cheats, but there's a way around that).

Once you've decided who's playing, you start rolling. From here, it's pretty much like the board game. Take turns rolling, buying property, and trying to force each other into bankruptcy. The American Dream at its finest.

The game allows you to auction and trade just like you would in real life. So if an opponent only has $5, feel free to auction a property for $6. Think of the savings!

Naturally, Monopoly for NES has the benefit of not having to count money, which is probably the biggest drag of the board game. It also has the 'benefit' of the CPU players always magically landing on Free Parking when there are hotels nearby. Imagine that. Luckily, there's a way around that.

Simply go into Options, change the CPU player to human, sell all their property to you, and then change them back to CPU. They won't know what hit 'em!

Out of all the board games in the world, Monopoly is one of my favorites. Yes, it can take a long time to play, but it's endless fun. It's great to be able to play this all-time classic on an all-time classic system.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to poop. I mean, play Monopoly on NES.

Monopoly for NES is not available on Virtual Console, but the game is relatively easy to find at used game stores. Also, the Game Boy version is nearly identical.