Jeremy Parish Presents: Retronauts Video Works (Chronological Retrospective Series)

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GP World / Tooru-kun / Hyper Sports / Star Force retrospective: Salarymanifest destiny | Segaiden 16

Sega winds down the cartridge format for SG-1000 in favor of a new media type, and this corner of the console library unfortunately wheezes to a half-hearted ending. Somehow, Sega even managed to completely squander Konami's brief show of support for the platform by turning in a pair of clumsy arcade conversions in the form of Shinnyuushain Tooru-kun (aka Mikie) Hyper Sports (a cousin to Track & Field). On the other hand, GP World does at least innovate a little bit in SG-1000's well-trodden racing lineup, and Tekhan's Star Force puts in a respectable showing, even if it's not quite up to the standards set by Hudson's Famicom/NES conversion.

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Othello / Space Invaders / Dragon Wang retrospective: All in the cards | Segaiden #17

Sega's 8-bit family goes on a diet this episode, with the SG-1000 media format suddenly slimming down from chunky cartridges to the svelte MyCard format, a credit card-sized chip that was so well-received that Hudson ripped it off wholesale for their PC Engine/TurboGrafx HuCards. Of course, this is really just a cosmetic change; the SG-1000 wouldn't enjoy proper technical enhancements until later in 1985 with the arrival of the Mark III. (Well, that was probably later in 1985; as this episode once again explains, Sega did a godawful job of tracking SG-1000 software launch dates.)

As for the games, well... we're right on the cusp of the MyCard renaissance, but this is a pretty unimpressive lot. Another version of Othello for those who didn't buy a Multivision (so, basically, everyone); possibly the first-ever Japanese console adaptation of Taito's Space Invaders (possibly in that Nintendo's might have come first, maybe? Again, awful launch date tracking); and a well-meaning but unwieldy clone of Irem's Kung-Fu.

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Balloon Fight / Ice Climber / Exerion / Galaga / Bungeling Bay retrospective | NES Works Gaiden #28

1985 starts the Famicom on some familiar footing with a couple of future Black Box releases (one great, one meh); two shooters previously seen on SG-1000; and a Commodore 64 conversion from Hudson that would show up on NES under the aegis of its original publisher. No big surprises here (including the apparent Nintendo debut of TOSE, and the fact that the games previously seen on SG-1000 fare a lot better on Famicom), but that won't be the case for long. By the midpoint of 1985, the Famicom library will look wildly different from the NES's as more third parties (and, specifically, more third parties of wildly variable quality) stake their claim on NES.

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Formation Z / Soccer / Championship Lode Runner / Space Invaders retrospective: NES Works Gaiden #29

It feels like Famicom is kind of playing catch-up with SG-1000 this episode, as every game appearing here arrived on shelves in the wake of a Sega-published equivalent—either the exact same game (as in Space Invaders), one exploring the same root concept in different ways (Soccer), or a game with almost suspicious conceptual and mechanical similarities (Formation Z).

Of course, the Nintendo version of these games absolutely eclipsed Sega's, right? Well... maybe not always.

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Bases Loaded & Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf retrospective: Burning fight | NES Works #083

This episode focuses on perception, especially vis-a-vis Bases Loaded. A certain demographic of NES owners LOVES Bases Loaded. However, in my experience, people who discovered the NES later (when better and better-looking baseball sims were available for the console) tend to find it lacking and shallow. And then there is the Japanese Famicom owner's perspective, in which Bases Loaded (aka Moero!! Pro Yakyuu) is almost universally reviled. How could so many people hold such contradictory points of view? This episode delves deeply into that question.

This episode also talks about Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf. (Yes, I am aware of The Simpsons' parody. No, it's not germane to this discussion.)

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But you know what is germane to this discussion?

 

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Life Force & World Class Track Meet retrospective: Vic boss | NES Works #084

We have a follow-up to a 1986 classic here, in deed if not in name: Life Force, the sequel to Konami's Gradius. Well, sort of. It's complicated. But since we never saw the actual Gradius II on NES, this will have to do.

Life Force makes use of the same excellent power-up system as Gradius, with some refinements, including a new weapon option, new handling of Options, a revamped shield, and perhaps most importantly a far more forgiving respawn system upon the player's inevitable demise. Along with these improvements, Life Force also incorporates two-player simultaneous action and introduces a unique dual-format scrolling system seen nowhere else in the Gradius series. It's quality fare, and a real technical and gameplay highlight for the NES... a feat that becomes all the more impressive when you consider how it had to be scaled back from the Famicom release to work within the constraints of U.S. cartridges.

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Kid Dracula retrospective: A miserable little pile of satire | NES Works Gaiden #29

Halloween season is upon us, and you know what that means: Where other people decorate their homes with cobwebs and giant skeletons, I decorate mine with a Castlevania-related video. This time around, it's a look at a Castlevania spinoff called Kid Dracula. Well, technically, this video is about Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-Kun! But it's Kid Dracula. It's a little bit Castlevania, a little big Mega Man, and just a few minor quirks shy of being an all-time Famicom classic.

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Don't know why the video is age restricted, but okay.

 

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Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode retrospective: At any rate, an amazing retrospective | NES Works #085

I may have gone a little overboard with this episode, but it seemed worth doing. For one thing, the creator of the Golgo 13 series, Takao Saito, recently passed away. And for another, upon revisiting this game in the context of its original release chronology on NES, I came away deeply impressed by how much the developers attempted to do here. Did they nail it? Oh, lord, no. But where this game is easily written off as a kludgey mess when viewed in light of the entire nine-year NES release library, back in autumn 1988, it tried to do a LOT with the limited resources and collective game design wisdom of the time. Containing a good half-dozen presentation and gameplay styles, a globe-spanning storyline, and a genuine good-faith effort to recreate the essence of the manga property it's based on, Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode is damn impressive for what it is. (Albeit a heck of a mess.)

Kids: Beware of tiny 8-bit boobies and blood spray.

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Zoom 909 / Choplifter / Pitfall II retrospective: Nasty, brutish, and short | Segaiden #018

Beginning with this episode, I'll be knuckling down to wrap up as much of the SG-1000 video series as possible by the end of 2021. There are only about half a dozen episodes to go after this! It's a pretty small library, but the best times are ahead of us.

This episode looks at, technically, three arcade conversions: Zoom 909, Choplifter, and Pitfall II. Of course, the two latter games got their start on Apple II and Atari 2600, respectively, but around the same time these carts hit stores, Sega also reworked them into pretty good arcade games. The question is whether or not that arcade magic rubbed off on these releases...

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Doki Doki Penguin Land & Drol retrospective: Daycare duology | Segaiden #019

This week brings us two SG-1000 releases that feel miles removed from the console's earliest days of serious-looking war game: Doki Doki Penguin Land and Drol. Rather than involving the relentless destruction of military vehicles (and, by extension, the squishy humans inside them), these two titles see you doing your best to protect children. While some retributive violence is involved here, those polar bears definitely had it coming.

Of the two, Penguin Land feels like the more meaningful work. It really elevates the production values of SG-1000 games and speaks to a Sega that's getting serious about its home development efforts: A wholly original creation for console that contains ample depth and subtle, precise controls and interactions. It's a real stand-out. Drol admittedly doesn't fare quite as well, but it has its merits, too.

With this episode, I think it's safe to say SG-1000 has turned a corner, and you can expect to see more games on Penguin Land's level quality in the coming episodes as the console sunsets into Mark III/Master System.

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Chack'n Pop & Bank Panic retrospective: Stick-ups | Segaiden #020

More arcade ports for SG-1000? Say it ain't so! These titles aren't especially well known in the U.S., since they've never seen a proper console release here (outside of maybe some collection that doesn't come immediately to my mind), but both merit a close look.

EDIT: Moments after this video went live, I became aware of Taito Milestones, an arcade collection for Switch that will include Chack'n Pop. So there ya go.

Taito's Chack'n Pop may not impress quite as much on the technical front as the more familiar Famicom version, but it features better level design... albeit with an absolutely unforgiving difficulty level. Sega's own Bank Panic plays like a clever attempt to capture the spirit of Nintendo's Wild Gunman without the use of a light gun, and the results end up being quite a bit more successful than you might expect.

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Rock'n Bolt / Elevator Action / Soukoban retrospective: Blue collar blues | Segaiden #021

A bit of an emphasis on day jobs this episode, but fortunately one of these games offers more than mere workmanlike effort. Activision's Rock'n Bolt stands out this week as one of the SG-1000's most appealing puzzlers—certainly a more interesting take on the genre than Soukoban, which gets credit for its primal nature but not for possessing any sort of audio-visual flair. And then there's Elevator Action, a perfectly decent arcade game done dirty by the console's hardware. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the SG-1000's limits do more to hamper this conversion than any other game we've seen on the system to date.

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Too many anime intros lately, Jeremy.

 

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Legendary Wings / Xevious / Galaga retrospective: Recursive loop | NES Works #086

This week is a bit of an ouroboros: While the primary feature here is Capcom's Legendary Wings, this episode also touches on the NES release of Xevious, the game that very clearly inspired Legendary Wings (not to mention about a thousand other Japanese arcade games of the era). Xevious is by far the purer of the two, not to mention the fairer, but there is something to be said for that late '80s Capcom house NES style...

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Antarctic Adventure / Yie Ar Kung Fu / Ninja-Kun retrospective: Icecapades | NES Works Gaiden #30

An 8-bit heavy hitter makes its Famicom debut, right around the same time as they first dipped a toe into the SG-1000 market: Konami, eventual creators of Castlevania and Contra, here still a mere stripling of a home games developer. As on Sega's platform, Konami made its debut in Nintendo-land with two games, though I would say both turned out far better than their SG-1000 counterparts. I mean, nobody's going to fall in love with Yie Ar Kung-Fu here in 2021, but Antarctic Adventure (or Kekkyoku Nankyoku Daibouken, if you want to be formal about it) is a good time for all.

Less so the third entry in this episode, Jaleco and TOSE's dire rendition of UPL's Ninja-kun.

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Championship Lode Runner / H.E.R.O. / Champion Ice Hockey: Descent into radness | Segaiden #022

A couple of standout releases in this episode... but first, we have to survive another version of Lode Runner. Look, I like Lode Runner. Great game. But there's been a lot of it here in the mid '80s! This time, the monk/robot guys win.

Beyond that, however, we have the final entry in Activision's brief dalliance on SG-1000 (or maybe Sega's brief dalliance with Activision?): H.E.R.O. It's a strong conversion from 2600 that loses none of the original quality or originality yet manages to spruce up the visuals and replace the retro helicopter backpack with a jetpack, which of course makes this the objectively superior rendition.

And then there's Champion Hockey, a game that actually makes me angry. No, I'm not angry because it's bad; quite the opposite. My brain tells me I'm supposed to find sports games interminable, and yet I love this ice hockey game. Absolutely unacceptable.

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Hang On II / Bomb Jack retrospective: Can Yu believe it? | Segaiden #023

This week bring us the first of a two-part episode—or should that be "the second"? Sega's imprecise SG-1000 launch date documentation makes it difficult to know if Hang On II did in fact debut before or after Hang On (no Roman numeral) for Mark III in October 1985*. But the number II there is just for show anyway, as Hang On II is literally just a downscaled version of Hang On—but a very impressive downscaled version! By far the best and most convincing racer on the console, Hang On II was so impressive Sega made a controller specifically to support it. But it does pale in comparison to what waits in the wings for next time...

[NOTE: A few days ago, we managed to determine that Hang On II actually shipped two months after the Mark III game, which answers the question of which came first! A little too late for this video, but I'll get it right in the Segaiden book.]

Also up is Bomb Jack, seemingly the final home release from Tehkan before they metamorphosed into the butterfly we know as Tecmo and Bomb Jack became Mighty. AN ambitious and accurate arcade port, Bomb Jack runs afoul of his greatest foe on SG-1000: A limited, visually confusing color palette. Alas.

*Note: After I uploaded this episode, information came to light that confirmed Hang On II shipped in December 1985, meaning Sega did indeed position it as a sequel.

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New console time.

Mark III / Hang On / Teddy Boy Blues retrospective: Full throttle upgrade | Segaiden #024

Continuing on from last week, we go from Hang On II to just plain ol' Hang On. But this in no way feels like a downgrade; quite the contrary. With Hang On (and Teddy Boy Blues), Sega brings its home hardware into line with Nintendo's Famicom/NES, boosting the basic SG-1000 architecture with a monstrous upgrade to its graphical capabilities and essentially creating a new console in the process. The continuity created between Hang On and Hang On II offers a remarkably convenient way to compare the SG-1000's state of the art with the capabilities of its successor, and frankly, there simply is no comparison.

Also in this episode: Notes on the Mark III hardware (which will be expanded when we make it to the Master System's U.S. launch) and extensive rumination on the history of pop idol video games. We're not done with SG-1000, though, so we'll resume exploring Mark III/Master System once that little journey is complete.

Master System footage in this episode was recorded from an FM/RGB-modded Mark III SG-1000 with region converter passthrough. SG-1000 footage captured from a combination of Sega SG-1000 II with (with Card Catcher) and @Analogue Mega Sg with card adapter module and DAC. Vintage hardware mods courtesy of @iFixRetro. NES/Famicom footage captured from @Analogue Nt Mini Noir. Video upscaled to 720 with @Retro Tink 5X.

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Okay, you're just toying with me now with the anime intros, Jeremy.

 

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Chack'n Pop / Dig Dug / Flappy retrospective: The inside dirt | NES Works Gaiden #031

A real sense of deja vu this week as we look at three games that have all appeared on this channel in other versions. I would like to say that these iterations are all the superior works, but Mom taught me not to be a liar.

Now, this version of Dig Dug is far and away the best 8-bit home version ever published, an almost arcade-perfect rendition that captures both the broad strokes and the tiny little details that made it a classic (vexing enemy A.I.! Musical walking!). And Flappy is much better on Famicom than it was on Game Boy, its one major downside moving that it moves more quickly to the point of almost being TOO fast.

Chack'n Pop, though. That's a tough one. In terms of looks and animation, this version is much slicker than the SG-1000 release. But in terms of gameplay, it's weirdly worse. The levels have all been redesigned in unfortunate ways, ramping up the difficulty quickly and demanding almost expert-level play right from the start. I suppose for Chack'n Pop pros, this would be the equivalent of Championship Lode Runner, but how many kids out there in 1985 were demanding a hyper-challenging variant of this game!?

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C-So! / The Castle / Gulkave retrospective: Shoots and ladders | Segaiden #25

The SG-1000 didn't have much going on during 1986, with Sega's attention focused primarily on the shiny new Mark III console, but what little did make its way to the older console was pretty strong. After an indifferent shrug of a vintage-style single-screen arcade-format MSX port with Compile's C-So!, we get to the good stuff: ASCII's The Castle and Compile's Gulkave.

The former, also an MSX port, is a game so demanding and expansive Sega had to bust out the cartridge format again. The Castle simply wouldn't fit onto a MyCard. And as for Gulkave, you may have trouble believing it fit onto the SG-1000, period. Definitely Compile's swansong for the platform, and the culmination of several years of development work for this hardware and architecture, and unsurprisingly a highly sought-after collector's piece.

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Ninja Princess / Super Tank / Champion Kendou retrospective: Kunoichi calamity | Segaiden #26

A brief break in the SG-1000's strong run of final releases with a set of titles that will remind you of the not-so-good ol' days when the console's library was generally pretty rough. This trio earns most of its points for effort from Ninja Princess, which converts an arcade game quite convincingly save for one massive technical hitch that has a hugely disruptive effect on the action. Unfortunately, it's followed up by Super Tank, a much less enjoyable game that basically uses the same basic shooter-action premise as Ninja Princess, but poorly. And finally, Champion Kendou, the final original "Champion" sports creation for this console. It's not good, but as a game about kendou, it has the novelty of being... unique.

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Graphic Tablet / Wonder Boy / Champion Billiards retrospective: Wonderous stories | Segaiden #27

The penultimate set of SG-1000 games arrives as the system does its best to remain current and competitive in the medium's changing landscape with technology built around the expectations of an earlier generation of game design. Although the SG-1000 is woefully underpowered to hold its own amidst the new creative frontiers being explored on Famicom, Mark III, and in arcades, these final releases push the hardware well beyond anything its designers could possibly have intended or foreseen.

The Graphics Tablet peripheral and Terebi Oekeki cart bring the creative functionality of a personal computer to SG-1000. Wonder Boy brings Mario-esque scrolling action to the system. And Champion Billiards... well, you'll recognize it when you see it. You can almost smell the flop sweat as the hardware tries to keep up—but it tries, dammit, and that counts for a lot.

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Vidjagame Apocalypse background music, folks, if this sounds a bit familiar.

Hudson's Adventure Island & Milon's Secret Castle retrospective: The Hudson proxy | NES Works #087

Famicom mainstay Hudson finally makes its American debut this week with two sizable hits from Japan. First, Adventure Island brings a little taste of Sega to NES by converting Wonder Boy with a thinly veiled graphical overhaul. Milon's Secret Castle goes a different route, abandoning linear action for a hunt-and-explore adventure inside a castle full of monsters and annoying hidden objects.

Both games share a single trait: They're designed to be obnoxiously difficult without cheat codes. Yeah, I Game Genied my way through this episode. I am very old, and there's just not enough time left in my life to deal with this nonsense.

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Adventure Island IV retrospective: Famiconclusion | NES Works Gaiden #031

By request of They Call Me Sleeper, here's one last Wonder Boy game until Segaiden gets to the Master System stuff: Adventure Island IV for NES. Or rather, Takahashi Meijin no Boukenjima IV for Famicom, as Hudson has never localized this one in any capacity. That's a shame, because Adventure Island IV belatedly but capably brings Master Higgins' island adventures in line with those of Tom Tom's, transforming the linear Adventure Island series into a free-roaming exploratory adventure. You know. A metroidvania. It's a fine send-off to the Adventure Island series (which would see only one more proper new entry before riding its dino pal off into the sunset), to the Famicom, and to the 8-bit metroidvania format until portable and indie games revitalized the genre a decade later.

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Loretta No Shouzou & The Black Onyx retrospective: Gold Cart slumbers | Segaiden #028

In this episode, we look at the SG-1000's 1987 release lineup in its entirety... and, with those two games, we also wrap up the SG-1000 library as a whole. That's it! Go home! From now on, it's just Master System and beyond here on Segaiden.

These two works are not necessarily the kind of thing you'd want to spend much time playing in the modern day and age, but they are very impressive from a technical perspective. Imagine playing games like Borderline and Space Slalom in the early days of the SG-1000, then ending up with a complete graphical adventure set in Victorian London with Loretta No Shouzou, or playing a sprawling dungeon RPG with The Black Onyx! No question about it, the SG-1000 went down aiming for the fences. Bless this mess of a machine.

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SG-1000 in Review: Happiness is SG-1000 in the rear-view mirror | Segaiden #029

Our shared journey through the SG-1000 library has been illuminating, and in this episode I attempt to encapsulate much of what has been covered here over the past year. This episode isn't simply a recap and recontextualization of the system, though—it's also an attempt to reconcile some issues in my coverage of the individual games.

Part of what I've learned since early 2021 has been how to properly record the SG-1000 color palette, something I struggled with all along whether I was recording from Analogue clone hardware or an actual SG-1000. The system's limited but distinctive color options are a big part of what defines it! Also, we have a MUCH better sense of the actual release order of SG-1000 games thanks to the work of Gaming Alexandria. So, this episode is one part recap, one part quick review of 70+ games in proper order with proper color.

From here, I'm going to take a brief Sega break before returning late this spring or early summer to dive into the Mark III and transition into the Master System. Stay tuned!

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Godzilla & Nekojara Monogatari retrospective: Hello kitties, hello kaijuu | Game Boy Works 126

You come at the king, you'd best not miss. In this case, they've come at Godzilla, the King of Monsters, and stolen his horrible little son Minilla. I personally would be happy to let Minilla languish forever in captivity, but parental instincts run deep even for a skyscraper-sized atomic-powered dinosaur... and the result is one of the best Game Boy puzzle action games to date. So, hey, thanks for existing, Minilla. I guess.

On the import tip this episode: Nekojara Monogatari, another of Kemco's reworkings of the Shadowgate engine into a role-playing adventure game. This one has a theme of kitty cats. It has never been fan-translated, a state of affairs I would love to see resolved; it's a pretty neat little game, from what I can tell.

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Oh boy. I can't wait to see what show or movie he put in the intro...

*watches video*

Also getting reeeeeally low-fi now, I see. Can't even make out the box when you hold it up.

 

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Gremlins 2 & Pocket Stadium retrospective: The Gizmo grinder | Game Boy Works 127

Sunsoft returns to Game Boy with a soul-crushingly brutal take on a movie that's about as close to being a cult classic as a major blockbuster can be: Gremlins 2 - The New Batch. It really captures the experience of being a small, helpless little fuzzy guy with stubby arms making his way through a skyscraper filled with raving murder-monsters. Although you'd think with Gizmo's gigantic eyes, he'd have better vision than the original Game Boy screen provides.

On the import tip, there's Pocket Stadium from Atlus, a curious baseball simulator... and by "simulator" I really do mean that it's a simulator. No timing or dexterity required!

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No Hulk Hogan, fortunately...but that doesn't mean I can't subject you to him!

 

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Wrecking Crew / Hyper Olympic / Spartan-X retrospective: Smash, mash, bash | NES Works Gaiden #033

Although the three games featured in this week's episode have already appeared in the vanilla iteration of NES Works, I promise that there's merit in revisiting them. All three titles—Nintendo's Wrecking Crew, Konami's Hyper Olympic, and Nintendo (not Irem's!) Spartan-X—hit differently on Famicom than they did on NES. Especially when one of the games came with its own controller designed expressly for the purpose of mindless hitting.

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Star Force / Elevator Action / Field Combat retrospective: Shoot 'em up/down | NES Works Gaiden #034

Three—three!—consecutive vertical shooters hit Famicom in this episode. Well, for a certain value of "vertical." All three of these games about shooting things while moving up or down along the screen, but all three take a very different approach to it. Star Force is the most traditional of the bunch, while Elevator Action combines vertical shooting with the sort of platform-based character movement found in the likes of Donkey Kong. And Field Combat... well, I'm not sure that one even knows what it wants to be. But at least it's interesting.

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Bit of a tangent related to your choice of intro this week, but it must be haaaard to be a Ran fan in America. For the best part of a decade, all you had was an SD upscale of the movie on BD, while we here in glorious YUROP have had a beautiful 4k transfer for years now. And the moment you get a 4k disc, it's a retailer exclusive and went out of print almost immediately with sealed copies now reaching upwards of $70. Still in print here, meanwhile.

No, I'm not gloating.

 

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Road Fighter / Warpman / Door Door retrospective: Port-a-portal | NES Works Gaiden #035

As we move deeper into the Famicom's history, its timeline begins to diverse further and further from the American console's. Witness this week's episode, in which all three releases remained stranded in Japan. (Well, OK, Road Fighter shipped in Europe in 1992, which is such a weird and unlikely turn of events it seems like we all probably hallucinated it.) All three of these titles also came to Famicom from other platforms—Road Fighter and Warpman from arcades, and Door Door from home computers. And! All three come to Famicom courtesy of some of the system's biggest publishers: Konami, Namco, and Enix. Wow!

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A Xevious and Heiankyo Alien reference in the same video? I am both surprised and yet not, somehow.

 

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Robot Block / Geimos / 10-Yard Fight retrospective: Block 'em sock 'em robots | NES Works Gaiden #36

Well, I goofed on this episode—the production order list I work for ended up getting scrambled due a copy/paste error, and I accidentally covered Geimos and 10-Yard Fight out of sequence (they shipped right after Robot Gyro, not Robot Block). This means that 10-Yard Fight wasn't actually Irem's first Famicom! Since I was on the road when I realized this during final caption edits, I couldn't rework this episode. So please look forward to next episode, where I walk it back a bit. Overall, though, the details and sentiments here are otherwise correct—Robot Block is a waste, Geimos is interesting if derivative and shallow, and 10-Yard Fight's history largely holds true. Anyway.

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Zippy Race / Super Arabian / Front Line retrospective: Origin of the feces | NES Works Gaiden #37

OK, this week we have the ACTUAL debut of Irem on Famicom, but it's hard to say TOSE's take on Zippy Race makes for a splashier debut than 10-Yard Fight would have. At least 10-Yard Fight had the benefit of not having been shown up by a conversion of the same game to technically inferior hardware more than a year earlier. TOSE also helps a second publisher make its debut here with Sunsoft's first Famicom release: A similarly underwhelming arcade-to-console conversion of the game Arabian. If you love Ice Climber's jump physics (spoilers: you don't), you'll love Super Arabian (spoilers: you won't).

Finally, wrapping up the episode, we have another arcade port from Taito. Front Line more or less invented a genre, but does that mean this version has any value besides its place in history? (Spoilers: it doesn't.) Yes, it's dark times for Famicom.

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The Tower of Druaga retrospective: Demon-itization | NES Works Gaiden #38

Although I've previously covered The Tower of Druaga on Game Boy Works, this version precedes the portable rendition by half a decade and stands as the more towering achievement of the two. So to speak. Another solid arcade-to-Famicom conversion by Namcot, Druaga's move to consoles felt like a figurative as well as literal homecoming: As an arcade game, Druaga feels frankly unfair thanks to its harsh one-hit-kill combat and mandatory secrets hidden behind abstruse and unintuitive rules. As a home game, however, Druaga offered a more expansive role-playing-style adventure than had ever been seen on consoles, and its design comes off as far less punishing when you don't have to drop 100 yen into the machine every time you run out of lives (which happens frequently).

I don't know that I'd recommend Druaga today, as many games followed in its wake that built and improved on its design... but would those games have had a design to improve on without Druaga? I say they would not.

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Astro Robo Sasa / Honshogi / Robot Gyro retrospective: Welcome to the machine | NES Works Gaiden #39

The machines have risen, taking control of this trio of games and obviating humanity altogether. Well, almost altogether. R.O.B. at least demonstrates the value of mankind working together, hand-in-, uh, claw with its new synthoid overlords to defeat the vile Smicks in Robot Gyro. As for the other games, well, they're all about robo-kind's fight for dominance. If my performance in Honshogi is anything to go by, carbon-based life is doomed.

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Jackal / Wheel of Fortune / Jeopardy! retrospective: I'm givin' up, Don Pardo | NES Works #088

The prevailing theme for NES games in 1988 has been multiplayer. From Contra to Life Force to Jackal, many of the best games for '88 played best with friends. (That was probably also true for games that weren't published by Konami, even.) Fittingly, episode 88 sees not but three games that uphold that trend. First, there's Jackal, a widely overlooked but danged enjoyable co-op shooter, followed by two pretty decent game show adaptations by Rare Ltd. for the sake of newcomer GameTek. Don't despair, though: The NES has some fantastic introvert-friendly single-player titles coming up before long.

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Bubble Bobble & Racket Attack retrospective: Doubles matches | NES Works #089

It's two for two for the road this week with Bubble Bobble, a game specifically designed to be played with another person, and Racket Attack, the second-ever NES tennis game which, like Nintendo's Tennis, offers support for doubles play (though not competitive play). Amidst all the moral panic about the way video games were rotting the brains of America's youth and turning us into violent killers, here's a pair that emphasizes cooperation. Stupid moral panickers.

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Spy Vs. Spy / MagMax / Seicross retrospective: Espionage-à-trois | NES Works #090

More newcomers arrive on NES this episode, each bringing a musty conversion of an even older original work in tow. Kemco-Seika makes its NES debut with a two-year-old port of First Star Software's Spy Vs. Spy, which kinda-sorta puts a bow on the two-player trend of NES software by way of a competitive espionage adventure. Just as dated is the debut duology from Japanese dev Nihon Bussan, courtesy of our pals at FCI: Creaky console ports of arcade obscurities MagMax and Seicross. Not precisely the most inspiring games 1988 had to offer NES fans...

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Ghostbusters retrospective: A haunt mess | NES Works #091

Continuing the trend of "games converted badly to Famicom in 1986 and published in America two years later," we have Bits Laboratory's disastrous adaptation of Activision's Ghostbusters. A fun, frothy, fast-paced little confection in its original Commodore 64 incarnation, Ghostbusters becomes a miserable and tedious experience on NES, bogged down by monotonous driving sequences and a viciously unfair endgame. You get the impression someone at Bits actually thought they were doing a good deed here and improving the material! And that person should be locked up in a ghost trap, or at least never allowed to touch a computer again.

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Mickey Mousecapade/ Joust/ Millipede/ DK Classics retrospective: Slip 'em a Mickey | NES Works #092

Capcom kicks off one of the most important creative threads of the NES's history: Their collaboration with Disney, back in the days when Disney was simply an animation studio struggling to reinvent itself for a new era rather than an all-consuming media megalith. Ah, but this isn't really a Capcom Disney game, is it? Appearances (and packaging logos) can be deceptive... but the proof is in the gameplay, which is pretty uninspiring in this case.

Also this episode: A salvo of classic games from HAL and Nintendo. The former gives us acceptable ports of arcade masterpieces Joust and Millipede, while the latter simply slaps a new wrapper on two Famicom launch ROMs without bothering to tidy up those releases' shortcomings despite the availability of more advanced cartridge tech that could have made for, say, a proper conversion of Donkey Kong. For shame.

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Donkey Kong / DK Jr. / Mario Bros. / Centipede retrospective: Ape escape | NES Works Gaiden #40

As we head into the final quarter of 1988, we have three classic Nintendo games appearing on what is decidedly NOT a classic Nintendo console. Atari published ports of three vintage Nintendo creations (Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, and Mario Bros.) on a variety of platforms in late 1988, including the 2600, their various 8-bit platforms, and as seen here the 7800. While the 7800 releases can't quite punch with the actual Nintendo-programmed NES versions, the fact that these three carts exist at all turns out to be more than enough to fill an episode with speculation and musings.

I'm pretty sure I accidentally mixed up the names Atari Inc. and Atari Corp. here once again, so apologies for that, sticklers.

Also this episode, a little touch of errata: I somehow overlooked the fact that Centipede appeared at the 7800's launch in May 1986, so that also gets some air time this week. Unlike the Nintendo conversions, this take on Centipede is top-notch, with some surprisingly cool additions courtesy of General Computing Corp.

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BattleCity / Super Mario Bros. retrospective: Tank you, Mario | NES Works Gaiden #041

The Famicom finally reaches maturity with the arrival of Mario's greatest adventure—and perhaps the greatest action game anyone had ever created to this point in history. Pushing the Famicom hardware to its absolute limits, Super Mario Bros. would become one of the most beloved games of all time and transformed a character that began as the star of a string one-off arcade machines into a reliable, franchise-carrying cultural icon. Not that Mario wasn't recognizable before, but Super Mario Bros. turned him into true video game royalty.

Also, Namcot delivers a pretty fun arcade conversion called BattleCity, which would have likely been the highlight in any other NES Works Gaiden episode. But, well, Super Mario Bros.

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Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels retrospective: A real kick in the disk | NES Works Gaiden #042

By a perfectly timed request by patron TheyCallMeSleeper, this episode arrives just in time to be positioned between this channel's coverage of Super Mario Bros. and its American sequel. Of course, this Japan-only sequel has almost nothing to do with that latter game besides the addition of Luigi as the Mario Bro. whose controls and physics turn his adventure into hard mode. But every mode of Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels amounts to hard mode, doesn't it? Nintendo took no prisoners with this one. No, they took those prisoners and tossed 'em in the wood chipper, laughing cruelly the entire time. Harsh.

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Super Mario Bros. 2 & Nintendo Power retrospective: Presstige | NES Works #093

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3cNZbIIXyM

If Super Mario Bros. was the culmination of the Famicom's early history in Japan, Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES served the same role here in the U.S. Debuting as the console hit critical mass in time for its first major holiday season in America, SMB2 sent players into a huge, imaginative game world that they could tackle with their choice of four different characters, not just Mario. Despite its complicated history, SMB2 became one of the system's greatest hits and did a great deal to define Mario in the West.

Nintendo took no chances with this one, and this episode also looks at one of the keys to SMB2's staggering success: Nintendo Power magazine.

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Blaster Master retrospective and Tengen check-in: One froggy evening | NES Works #094

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0FRJzkauRk

Sunsoft gets a major glow-up this episode after a mediocre start as a publisher of ancient arcade ports and one neat-but-meager light gun shooter. No one would accuse them of half-assing it this time around, though; Blaster Master shot instantly to the top of the NES all-time greats list as soon as it debuted, and it still holds up remarkably well despite some unforgiving design choices that make for some incredibly difficult scenarios. The plot may not make much sense, and the weapon degradation system can be deeply demoralizing, but on the whole Blaster Master did a lot to advance the state of the NES art.

Also this episode, I take a moment to provide proper context for the whole Tengen thing I erroneously tackled back in the 1987 chronology.

Special thanks this episode to Stefan Gancer of Gaming Alexandria, whose work documenting Sunsoft's history (http://www.twitter.com/sunsofthistory) proved a HUGE help for keeping details straight as I organized my notes for this episode.

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Any mention of Thunderbirds is more than welcome.

 

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Might update thread with the rest later.

1943: The Battle of Midway & Bump'N Jump retrospective: Flight risks | NES Works #095

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMqc7-V7Zmg

Remember 1942? That really bad top-down shooter? Capcom would prefer you didn't. And, to wash that bad memory from our collective mind, we have its sequel, 1943: The Battle of Midway, simultaneously a sequel and a heartfelt apology for that previous misstep. Although this arcade adaptation fails to carry over the multiplayer element from the original 1943 coin-op, it makes up for that shortcoming by introducing a permanent skill-upgrade system. One of the better vertical shooters for NES!

Meanwhile, Vic Tokai inexplicably publishes Data East's upgraded NES conversion of Bump'N Jump... well, kind of. In Japan, the home port of Bump'N Jump shipped as "Buggy Popper," which suggests it was meant to be a separate game entirely from the arcade game (alias "Burning Rubber"). Anyway, it's super dated. But still kinda fun?

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Dr. Chaos & Superman retrospective: Injustice for all | NES Works #096

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clO57WpROfs

I can't believe I completely failed in this episode to draw attention to the fact that Dr. Chaos is, in fact, a Superman villain. But then again, both games this episode read like latter-day comic book villains: Good-hearted souls with the best of intentions yet who somehow strayed from the straight-and-narrow path and now simply cause pain and suffering (especially among Gen X kids). The ambitions greatly outstrip the execution with this episode, as two attempts to tap into the exploratory action trend that dominated the NES in 1988 utterly fail to provide players with compelling reasons to delve into their worlds. Suffering from grievous design, visual, and technical shortcomings, both Dr. Chaos and Superman rank among the bottom tier of NES games to date despite their creators' obvious and admirably grandiose visions.

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Cobra Command & Anticipation retrospective: White flight | NES Works #097

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQH3AZTqd0Y

This week we have a pair of perfectly tolerable games that seemingly no one remembers. Yes, by late 1988, the NES library had grown sufficiently large that it could contain games beyond "brilliant" and "execrable"—works of competent mediocrity doomed by their lukewarm nature to be relegated to the dustbin of obscurity.

Cobra Command takes a mundane auto-scrolling shooter and turns it into a Choplifter-inspired adventure with a touch of exploration and puzzle-solving. A fine start! But utterly relentless in its difficulty level and saddled with some very strange, almost "sticky" controls. It's fine, almost good, but it just misses the mark.

Meanwhile, Anticipation offers inclusive thrills (if you are a preppy, 30-something Caucasian) and demands you deduce the nature of premade connect-the-dots puzzles before your competition does. It's fine. It exists, and it rounded out the NES library with more family-friendly board games. But does anyone want to play it today? I can't imagine.

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Blades of Steel & Super Team Games retrospective: Body checks and balances | NES Works #098

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X1ZezBejnQ

In this episode, I learned that the Power Pad is not really designed for use on hardwood floors. Bring back that deep-pile '70s shag, baby. My feet are killing me.

Super Team Games gives us the last of Nintendo's casual-appeal titles for 1988. There's still one final Nintendo-published game for the year, but it's kind of the opposite of casual-appeal—really, the closest Nintendo themselves ever got to "git gud" difficulty on NES. But Super Team Games is meant for small people to pretend to exercise with, or for big people to be uncomfortably intimate with.

As for the headline feature, Blades of Steel, it's an even more casual-appeal approach to hockey than Nintendo's Ice Hockey. You don't have to make any meaningful choices in this game besides deciding when to shoot for the goal... and how hard to hammer the punch button during player-versus-player fights.

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Skate or Die! and Paperboy retrospective: Pre-teenage wasteland | NES Works #099

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5wxpNkdBMw

Two games about American youths wasting their lives. Two games with various ties to Atari. Coincidence? Yes, actually. Sometimes, this stuff just happens.

Skate or Die! may bear the Ultra Games branding, but it really owes its existence to Electronic Arts—and ultimately, to the former Epyx crew that EA hired up when Atari Corp. sabotaged that company. And while Paperboy for NES comes to us from Mindscape, the original game debuted in arcades under the Atari Games label, only to be converted to NES by Tengen (AKA Atari Corp.), who was also filing charges against Nintendo and pilfering documents in order to attempt to sabotage THAT company. It's like poetry... it rhymes.

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Bionic Commando retrospective: This machine-arm kills fascists | NES Works #100

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtoQr2GzgS4

One of December 1988's all-timers arrives this week, and while it may not be the best-remembered of the bunch (not when the other two big releases belonged to huge ongoing franchises), but I'd argue that it's the best and most polished. It's also the most fearless; Bionic Commando didn't so much ask players to learn an entirely new style of platform gaming as demand it as the price of entry. But once you got a handle on the grappling mechanics, Bionic Commando played like nothing else on the system, becoming a fast-paced action game with breezy, high-speed action through a dozen stages linked by an interesting narrative and well-conceived adventure gameplay flow. It remains the gold standard for grapple-based action gaming to this day, and for good reason: It rules.

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Not usually one to criticise your production, but the voice over is a bit loud for this one, isn't it? No pop filter too, from the sound of it?