Well, we are back with the NES game reviews. We are also back to really short paragraphs used to open up the posts. Yep, I don't really have any long sprawling things to mention this time. Just that I am very happy to be bringing you these reviews. It's quite fun to sit here and talk about NES with you lovable scamps. Anyway we like usual have six games and we are finally getting to the Gs. If I had actually kept up with this blog we would probably have been done by now. Anyway we will finish the F and start the Gs today. As I already said. I hope I can come up with more stuff to bring to these opening paragaraphs because man they are the hardest things to write, especially when you've done it 41 times (counting this one) BLEAH.
I like how similar the box art is to that AD up there. I wonder where the AD showed up in, must have been a magazine because I do not remember ever seeing that on the back of a comic book (or in a comic book) and I own way too many comic books from 1990. Anyway Frankenstein is in an unoffical trilogy of games I like to call "THE BOSS BATTLE SIDESCROLLERS". The other two games are Sword Master and Castle of Dragon. I call them the Boss Battle Sidescrollers because well you fight like 832 bosses in each level. It's really wild. I actually do believe that Castle of Dragon and Sword Master are somehow connected but this is not an actual trilogy of any kind. The games all do the whole shove 8290 boss fights in each level very differently but I actually really like all three games in the "trilogy" it's just they are all kinda jank to some degree. I would say Frankenstein is the least jank and the best of the three but it still has some rough edges they could have smoothed out, some of the enemies are just real fuckin jerks who stink. Anyway this game is worth playing and has pretty good graphics and music and hell you fight Frankenstein how cool is that! Very cool I say. There's only like less than twenty games left for the NES that I actually want to try and beat and Frankenstein is on there. It might be only four or five levels but it gets pretty darn hard when it wants to be! Anyway pretty good game from Bandai here and so far the best game they've made!
Can I say that when it comes to the Zapper games I prefer the simpler ones. Like Duck Hunt and Wild Gunman and Hogan's Alley. You know the ones that if they were sold today poeple would be like FUCKERS THIS IS JUST A DEMO but in 1988 it was bought for us and we would be like YAY and then shoot criminals or western criminals to our hearts content. the bigger Zapper games like this one end up being weirdly way too long or too hard. There is one Zapper game that I think is harder than ANY non-Zapper game and we will get to it when we can. Anyway if I were to give any of this "bigger" Zapper games the best title I would probably give it to this game, even if I do believe it's too damn hard. It's still clear that Sunsoft (who I think should be 3rd place in third party contest for the nes, either them or Taito, behind Capcom and Konami but that's just me) anyway this game is pretty well done but I am not good enough at it to really give you a full review.
This is a game I will be defending however I see now adays that people are way more kinder to it. I remember downloading like all kinds of NES roms and being like HOLY SHIT THAT HAD A GAME and I would play Friday the 13th with my sister being around being annoying because the computer was put in the family room. I used to have at one point go "get on the computer" now everyone is on the computer 24/7. It's wild. Anyway, even though I had no idea what to do I loved this game and would defend it on the old NESescity forums (and other forums) This game was really treated poorly back then and I wonder if it had anything to do with the AVGN video for some people. I dunno. I always thought this game was neat. You have to treat it as some kind of action/stragety game. You need to get the right things to fight Jason or he will wreck your shit. It was also easier at least for me to fight Jason in the houses than in the forest. I dunno. I did beat this game once in like 2006 when I finally learned how to actually play the game and had a great time. The game is still pretty hard but it's totally easier than Freedom Force, at least for me. Even on a emulator where Zapper games are easy as balls Freedom Force will fuck you in the ass. Anyway, I like Friday the 13th for the NES and I will be putting it in the good pile. I don't give a shit BOYOS.
This is a game that is uh, not great for one reason and one reason only, the game controls probably the worse of any NES game out there. It's amazing how bad it is. Despite that I still kinda enjoy this game. I think the levels have a neat about of variety and what you have to do does change a little bit. Sometimes you just gotta get t othe end and sometimes you gotta collect a bunch of shit before hand. So many times I died because I couldn't get to the end after collecting stuff. I am very sure portnoyd is going to yell about this game and uh I cant really blame him because most people yell at this game. I do no remember ever seeing the game show it was based on. I am also amazed that GameTek let someone who wasn't them make a game show game. I wonder if they are still pissed at Hi Tech Expressions for getting this one. I dunno. Anyway this is probably going in the bad game pile even if I do kinda get a kick out of it. Sometimes it's fun to play in the dirt ya know.
G.I. Joe A Real American Hero is a great start for the Gs. Games based on something like a movie or a tv show or a cartoon or whatever can vary ALL the way in quality. In one case you can get The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and in other cases you get G.I. Joe. G.I. Joe is a game where you get to play as several G.I. Joes (all of which have different power ups and play styles) and they go through a bunch of very well thought out levels that have you do different things to stop the evils of Cobra! Apparently to get the "true" ending you had to beat this game five different times, like every game Taxan produced and honestly this game IS worth playing five different times. GI Joe for the NES is a worthy addition to anyones collection regardless of how much you like GI Joe. KID and Taxan did an excellent job here and this game shouldn't just be considered shitty because it was based on something!
Another KID classic. KID was very underrated and GI Joe The Atlantis Factor apparently got mixed reviews in the heyday of the NES and I really fail to see why. This is a great sequel. They said it gets repetitive and I really do not see that. I don't think this game ends up being long enough to be repetitive. The levels are different enough to keep from that feeling coming. I do not know why I am arguing with 33 year old reviews of this goofy shit but man I am because it is my blog and YOU CAN EAT A FARTY POOP! Anyway this game has great graphics and music and I love the level up factor so you can make Snake Eyes (the coolest GI Joe. I don't care who you pick instead portnoyd) into a furious beast that just blows away Cobra agents like no other! It's great. The challenge level is pretty good but I do think some of the later stages get into that "oh FUCK YOU" area of challenge. You know what I mean. Anyway the best thing about this game is how they would have totally be sued for their level select stage. It is SO much like Bionic Commando it's kind of amazing. Seriously. If they weren't working with Capcom it would have happened. I wonder if Capcom wanted that or someone worked on both games or someone liked Bionic Commando and wanted to homage it. I dunno. It's funny to me.
GOOD GAMES: 120
BAD GAMES: 83
OKAY GAMES: 29
IMPATIENT WHATEVER: 3
I mean, it's a pretty good ad, some game covers are bad but this one at least is interesting. Unlike this game. Out of the TRIOLOGY (yes I agree these games are like Armageddon and Deep Impact, SOMEONE WAS SNOOPING AND COPIED EACH OTHER also you can't read this). Out of the TRILOGY, this one is the worst. I mean, did they really need to have you PUNCHING in the first level. There's only 4 stages and they are not especially fun. I beat this as well as CASTLE OF MISSING WORD IN THE TITLE for the bounty SO I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
ReplyDeleteFreedom Force is mostly bad and not fun. It is EIGHTIES COOL but also HARD AS FUCK. I agree that zapper games need less depth and this one needed less depth. It's basically what we wanted out of a Zapper game but wait no not that. I tried to beat this one for the bounty but I kept dying on the airplane level which is like level 2.
Yes, Sunsoft had some ABSOLUTE BANGERS. It's impossible to push Konami (which is first) and Capcom (which is second, fight me) out of those spots but once Sunsoft shook off the utter shit they originally put out in Japan (Arabian is one of the worst games on the FC/NES), they were unstoppable. Arguably the best music out of anyone. I like Taito and they are #4 for sure, but I don't think there is a case to be made to have them above Sunsoft.
Ok so here's the thing. I suck at this game. I know strx is a master of it but I cannot hurt Jason ever. I do respect the game. It has depth and a vibe which matches its subject matter. You have to learn the game as you said *** because if you just jump in, you get stomped. It is really the same way as Jaws, where they took a game and made something out of it that was not just a basic side scrolling platformer. Also Atlus made this to boot.
*** HMMM WHAT OTHER OFTEN CALLED TERRIBLE GAME REQUIRES YOU TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY IT AND THEN IT IS ACTUALLY KINDA NOT BAD COULD IT BE ONE THAT YOU'VE ALREADY REVIEWED AND TRASHED HMMMMMMMMM...... HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
The game just has a lot working against it and it's all NES stereotyping. I am sure AVGN ran all over it because that's his shtick. Then there's LJN and I don't know if you've heard of this game X-MEN (you have, I am just making a joke also I apologize that you can't read this) and that game alone drags down LJN to subatomic levels. And then it's just general not understanding the game. Frankly, I would have love to see Atlus do Elm Street because I am sure it would be better than Rare doing it.
I am pretty sure I rented Fun House back in the day. I did watch the show hosted by JD ROTH itself so this interested me. It is a huge turd. The controls stand out and is ultimately suffered in how do you make a game out of a kids game show that is representative of the show but is still fun to play? It is apparently pretty hard after this and Double Dare.
I love KID. I love their good but somehow still jank game engine. I love their music and the creative games they made like Low G Man and Kickmaster. I feel like knowing who KID even is is a secret handshake kind of thing for genuine NES fans. Like lol Zelda 1 and have you heard of this game no one has heard about BLASTER MASTER but like ask them for their thoughts on BURAI FIGHTER and they will have no idea what you're talking about and think you are talking about the sequel to Urban Champion or something. They also made MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PINBALL GAME THAT YOU HATE Rock N Ball, one of the few games I rented, or rather *remember* renting multiple times (because lol I can't remember shit but you also can't read this, is the joke dead yet hmm let's ask DARREN HATTA and FRANCOIS BATARA. Fun fact, I have been doing this lame joke for some long that when you mentioned them by their actual names, I thought you misspelled both because I have been butchering them so long that their names were unrecognizable to me. Lol).
I personally always enjoyed Roadblock best, JERK.
I don't have a lot to say about both GI Joe games because they are quite GOOD and FUN. As a GI Joe fan as a kid, these were sexual. Not easy by any means but exactly what we hoped for. It was confusing to see the sequel put out by Capcom but I am glad they did.
ReplyDeleteThis almost fit into one reply. Oh well.
My favorite thing about games based on something else on the NES was how fucking weird it got. I mean the NES didn't get ThunderCats or Transformers or a janky ass hell Family Matters RPG, but it did get like at least 8 or so games about the bible, a game based on tom sawyer, and a video game based on gilligans island. it's really weirdl.
ReplyDeleteokay they did make Transformers games but they put them out in Japan and were made by someone who makes shittier games than the Micronics man. Like there's "dated game" bad and then there "we were utter shit garbage from the word go" bad. the transformers game was in the latter.
Yes, both Japanese and white people just made whatever sounded good at the time. Especially the Japanese. Not to mention they made TWO games about Tom Sawyer, both completely different games.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how either Transformers game, especially the first, was deemed acceptable to sell. I guess it goes back to the whole thing where they just made anything. If you make anything, you sell anything, or something.