More NES Racing

Posted on April 1, 2008 by Multimedia Mike

Some fellow MobyGamers are steadily whittling away at my list of missing NES games. I thought tonight would be a good night to attack a few more NES titles that looked interesting before they all get snatched up for entry. And I thought I had already purged the NES list of all racing titles. But I found 2 more to play tonight, one that even has “race” in the title.

That race-named title is Race America. The most notable aspect of this game is the opponents– a colorful gallery of 8 brazen stereotypes, such as Mike Linguini here:

Race America — Mike Linguini, Italian stereotype

I suspect Google will soon pick that up as its top image search for “italian stereotype”. Other competitors include Ito Speedo, Pierce Sedan, and Hans Von Brakemann.

Other interesting aspects of this racer include its diversity of perspectives and its control scheme. Depending on the phase of the race, the action might be third-person, side-scrolling, or top-down. You are either allotted 1/2 or 1/4 of the screen depending on whether you are in the lead. And the screen shift can be quite disorienting when you gain or lose that lead.

The control system took a little figuring out. At first, I couldn’t figure out how to move. Then I managed to move but ever so slowly. It was like a race car stuck in 1st — only literally! Eventually, I reasoned out how the control system works (for anyone scouring the internet for help on this forgotten title): Up and down on the control pad upshift and downshift, respectively. However, these only work if you are not pressing the gas button (A).

Oh, and there is more than one way to lose, and the game spells out your failures in a very public manner. This is me losing because I ran out of gas:

The second game tonight was Stunt Kids. I don’t have much to say about this one except that I suspect it’s an Excitebike clone. I can’t be certain at this time because I have never played Excitebike.

I wasn’t very good at this game. I spent most of the game flying off my bike. The computer beat me handily but I think I was only racing against the clock.

The Vanna White Edition

Posted on December 23, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

Let’s begin with an 8-bit representation of the inimitable Vanna White, if only to needlessly gain a bunch of unrelated Google image search traffic:

There were 4 different NES games based on the Wheel of Fortune game show license and 4 more based on the Jeopardy! license. At the time of this writing, MobyGames has 3 of the Jeopardy! games (Jeopardy!, Jeopardy! Junior Edition, Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary Edition) and only 1 of the Wheel of Fortune games. So I made it a goal to slog through the remaining games for the sake of completeness.

So what’s up with all the different versions of these games? There were 4 different WoF games: the standard one, Junior Edition, Family Edition, and the version featuring Vanna White. Perhaps a table is in order:

	Standard Edition	Junior Edition	Family Edition	Vanna White Edition
Release Date	September, 1988	October, 1989	March, 1990	January, 1992
Player characters	None	None	None	Yes, stupid-looking
Wheel animation	Decent	Decent	Decent	Regressed, lame
Letter-flipping sprite

As an elitist gamer — or even a passive, casual gamer — you might be snorting at the fact that there were so many of these games. Frankly, those release dates tell me something — that this license moved cartridges. My first impression upon playing through the series was that the first 3 were developed concurrently and published at the same time (after all, the only changes were the specific puzzles as well as the palette of Vanna’s dress). But, no — the games’ releases were spaced out quite a bit.

The first 3 games are more or less clones of each other. Here’s a representative screenshot:

The player basically gets to look at that same game screen the entire time, broken only by the wheel animation. The games can be played against human players or against computer opponents, and at three different difficulty levels. I selected the ‘hard’ level, which I’m pretty sure is the “No Mercy” level– if the computer gets a turn, it doesn’t lose.

What’s special about the Vanna White edition? Well, it’s the first edition that specifically mentions her by name. Presumably, the earlier 3 games didn’t actually use her likeness (can you tell?). Further, the V.W. edition offers actual player graphics. Stupid player graphics, but player graphics, nonetheless.

The tradeoff here is that the wheel animation is not as interesting as in the previous games.

As mentioned, Jeopardy! has a much better representation in the database thus far. Only Super Jeopardy! is missing. The progression of the Jeopardy titles seems to parallel that of the WoF titles. The Super title was the final one. There can be up to four players participating (unlike standard Jeopardy! where there are but 3 players). All 4 of the games have player avatars, but the ones featured in this game were a departure from the previous ones seen in the series, but bore an eerie similarity to another game I played today:

Indiana Jetson

Posted on December 23, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

I scanned the big list of missing NES games and found 2 licensed titles that came later in the NES’ lifetime (i.e., after the release of the SNES). Titles from this era were generally quite well done by NES standards, even if they were overshadowed by the SNES.

Young Indiana Jones Chronicles — First boss

The first is The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, based on the TV show that aired in the early- to mid-1990s. As the title implies, a young Indy travels the globe, collects treasures, fights for what’s right, and rescues hot babes. Actually, I’m just guessing on that last one– the opening for stage 1 implies that there’s a damsel, but the trial and error tedium of the first level became too much for me before I finish off the boss. It’s side-scrolling action where Indy actually has a fairly realistically brief jump — a feature that always makes a gamer curse the times they have called for more realistic games. You don’t have much power in this game, but you can collect trademark Indy hats. If you get hit, you lose the hat, but that’s better than losing your weapon, which is what happens if you get hit without a hat. Back to the fist until you can find another weapon. If you get hit without a weapon or a hat, then you die.

Speaking of weapons, this game has an impressive range– whips, pistols, rifles, grenades, throwing knives, little bouncing rocks. Unfortunately, you can only pick up one weapon at a time and you lose it you sustain a hit.

Throughout the adventure, Indy collects gold. I am not sure what this achieves– it probably has some significance at the end of a level, where I never got to. The gold counter never seems to reset, even after a continue. And the strangest thing about the gold counter is that it wraps around after 99:

Before collecting the icon worth 3 gold points…
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles — Gold counter, before

After collecting the icon…
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles — Gold counter, after

Still, it is likely that Young Indy makes for a better gameplay experience than the Temple of Doom for the NES.

Next up is a Jetsons property– The Jetsons: Cogswell’s Caper, to be specific. Take a look at this screenshot and tell me what’s wrong:

The Jetsons: Cogswell’s Caper– Non-canon Astro

Come on– you all watched The Jetsons sometime in your life, you know exactly what’s wrong with that screenshot: there is no way that Astro the Dog is that articulate. It’s well known that Astro pronounced George as “Reorge”.

Putting aside such blatant cartoon canon violations, this game features a curious premise– George Jetson’s employer, Mr. Spacely, has learned that his corporate rival, Cogswell, is oppressing alien workers in order to get ahead in the industry. What’s the best course of action to compete with this threat? How about tasking his laziest and most incompetent employee, one George Jetson, with committing acts of corporate sabotage? Sounds like we have a premise for a game.

So George bumbles through multiple levels of side-scrolling action to achieve this goal, lest he be dinged on his annual performance review. I hesitate to call this a run and jump game because George is too lazy to jump. Instead, he uses a jet pack in short bursts to elevate himself. The offensive action reminds me mightily of Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers in that George picks up the copious boxes and other items that litter the landscape and tosses them at enemies.

The Jetsons: Cogswell’s Caper– Botannical gardens

There are also lots of switches in this futuristic game, switches that activate all kinds of machinery (and Rosie the Robot is on hand to tutor you in how to use the switch). A common switch is the gravity reversal switch that causes you to walk on the ceiling for a brief period. I must give the game credit for its internal consistency here:

The Jetsons: Cogswell’s Caper– Gravity consistency

George is walking along the ceiling. If George walks off the edge, it will have the same effect as walking into a pit.

The Rocketeer

Posted on December 10, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

Let’s try some free association. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when viewing this NES screenshot?

The Rocketeer is one more movie-based NES game that somehow escaped notice during my previous efforts to flush all such titles from the list of unentered NES titles. It wasn’t until I read this Cracked.com article about 5 awesome sci-fi inventions that would actually suck, which happens to illustrate jet packs with a still from the 1991 Rocketeer movie, that I recalled seeing an adaptation in Nintendo Power.

Strangely, this Disney license was sold to Bandai rather than Capcom, the usual Disney partner in video gaming during that period.

All I remember about the movie is that I don’t remember anything about it. According to plot synopses on the internet — which the game follows faithfully in the intro — a crazy inventor develops a jet pack and a benevolent guy uses it to become a hero and save the world, or at least keep the technology out of the hands of Nazis.

The game starts off as a standard run and jump affair as I try to figure out if I’m supposed to be able to fly. I quickly comprehend that I have 6 offensive options at my disposal — fist, pistol, tommygun, spread gun, grenade, and bazooka — all from the get-go, provided that I have enough ammo points collected. The fist is free, the bazooka requires 20 ammo points. Everything else takes some amount in between. This is a nifty feature, save for the fact that it can be cumbersome to constantly cycle through all 6 options during the action (no cycling when paused).

Finally, I stumble upon a gas can powerup that extends a new power meter. This finally allows me to fly in wildly uncontrolled bursts. The game’s flight capability is a bit oversold. I’m guessing that it’s necessary to use both the jet pack and some fierce firepower to take down the first boss, which I was unable to do.

Here’s a curious feature about the game. Above is the opening shot (apparently, some of the movie’s story takes place against a movie industry backdrop). Note that the sign reads “Hollywoodland”. Next, look at some of the exposition text:

The text reads plain “Hollywood”. Do you know why that is? The answer comes courtesy of a Taco Bell placemat that I read some years ago during one of their many contests. The busy disposable placemat showed the Hollywood logo, probably to showcase a trip to Hollywood as a grand prize. Reading the fine print of the placemat revealed that the famed Hollywood logo in the hills is a registered trademark of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Quattro Arcade

Posted on October 21, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

This past week, the company cafeteria was serving a dish labeled “baked penne pasta with quatro formagio”. It certainly sounds like an authentico Italiano experience, until one recalls that “quatro formagio” just means “4 cheese”. For some reason, though, seeing the dish reminded me of an NES game yet to be played and entered into the database— an unlicensed Codemasters cartridge called Quattro Arcade. Codemasters actually put out a bunch of these Quattro game quartets for various old time systems. In fact, Quattro Arcade is already in the database so I thought this would be a straightforward screenshot recon exercise. No such luck as the NES version has 4 completely different games.

The quality of these old, unlicensed NES games is generally nothing to write home about, so I can’t say I’m excited about this experience. However, Codemasters is unique in the sense that they have endured to this day and are still putting out titles. And there is at least one game of the four that I really get into: F-16 Renegade:

Quattro Arcade -- F16 Renegade, overhead portion

The manual for Quattro Arcade is available online. Wouldn’t you know, the authors saw fit to craft long-winded backstories for each of the 4 games. Look, F-16 Renegade is simply a fun, straightforward, curiously devoid of music, shoot-em-up game that alternates between overhead levels, as seen above, and third person behind-the-plane levels:

Quattro Arcade -- F16 Renegade, third-person view

All normal-looking planes (in the air) and normal tanks and missile batteries on the ground. There are powerups that enhance your offensive capability. The curious aspect of this is that the powerups carry over between the 2 different types of levels. And while one strike does your plane in, you only drop one power level when you get your next plane, instead of losing all of your firepower.

I made it to level 6 in this game. I am not sure how many levels there are, but level 4 was called “Rating… talented amateur”. So I suspect the game continues for some time.

There is a Dizzy title in this set. Dizzy seems to be a mainstay in Codemasters’ early IP repertoire. The game in this set, Go! Dizzy Go! struck me as sort of a bastard stepchild of Pac-Man.

On each map, collect all the fruit. Avoid the threats that are marching about, whatever they may be on this round. I can’t get past the idea of seahorses being a threat, but that’s just me. You can also push around columns of blocks. Okay, maybe it’s a little more reminiscent of a block-based puzzle game, e.g., a Lolo title.

Next up is Stunt Buggies. Drive around in an overhead perspective and collect bombs while enemy buggies work desperately to stop you. You can slow down enemy buggies, apparently by leaving some exhaust.

The final game in the quartet is C.J.’s Elephant Antics. The game actually starts in Paris:

Quattro Arcade -- CJ's Elephant Antics, Eiffel Tower action

It’s a side-scrolling game. C.J. must make his way home to Africa, according to the manual. He has an umbrella to slow descents. He can fire peanuts. Also, he can drop bombs. Until that last item, this seemed like an all-too-delightful kids game.

G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor

Posted on October 1, 2007 by Multimedia Mike

I played G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor a little bit tonight. I long had an aversion to the original G.I. Joe NES title from Taxan– I remember it being somewhat difficult, or perhaps I just was not up to the challenge. The graphics and gameplay were up to par, though. Capcom snared the license for this second title and I had high hopes.

The storyline involves the Cobra organization raising the lost continent of Atlantis. The G.I. Joe team has to infiltrate the place and put a stop to whatever is the bad guys are going. At first, General Hawk goes it alone but collects more team members as the game proceeds.

This is the first miniboss, a giant with an equally large cinder block sledge hammer. He may or may not have been a canon G.I. Joe franchise character with his own action figure; I never kept up with G.I. Joe as much as I did with Transformers.

G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor -- Boss with cinder block sledge hammer

There is no strategy at play here. Just hope you have powered up your primary gun enough, haven’t taken too much damage yet, and give him everything you’ve got, head on.

Another notable feature of this game is the wackiest password system I have ever encountered in any NES game:

G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor -- Huge password

I am ecstatic that I never rented this game and, therefore, never had to copy down a single password for this game.

Gaming Pathology

Piles Of Games, Copious Free Time, No Standards

Category: NES Games