StarTopic Jeremy Parish's Video Works series |ST|

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video gives us two bad games and a middling one. Toshiba EMI and developer Bear's (aka Shouei System) both debut for Famicom with the absolutely garbo Pachicom, Namco published a port of Data East's Burgertime which we've already seen on NES Works, and Tose and Sunsoft give us Ikki, a bad game that sold more than a million copies but we wouldn't have gotten the Sunsoft greats if Ikki sold terribly probably. Patrons get an episode on the good and historically important game Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken and a NES Works episode on Sunsoft's underwhelming duo of Platoon and Xenophobe. It's also a horrible night to have a curse.

Huh. Was that a non-pack-in release? Because I know I received an Action Set with SMB/DH + a Zapper for my birthday in September which would've had to been in '88 at the latest since I remember SMB2 ads starting soon after in our area plus the NP subscription.

Jeremy says he won't be covering that because it was a pack-in only. So you were right.

 

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In this week's public video, Jeremy shows us Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken, one of the most influential Japanese games ever, and Yuji Horii's first Famicom game. This Enix published game (developed by Chunsoft) was their second on Famicom, and would be the first of many detective games to be on the Famicom. Portopia would be such an important game to the history of RPGs, point and click games, and visual novels. Horii would go on to make another massively influential game in 1986 (but that's a story that will be told in NES Works 1989). Patrons get two videos on NES games, the first on Sunsoft's pair of underwhelming action games Platoon and Xenophobe, and the second on Konami's Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, an ambitious but flawed game that showed us that NES sequels were going to be weird.

 

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This week's public video gives us two disappointing video games published by Sunsoft and both of them ports of games by other companies. Platoon is a bizarre choice for a NES game and is a port of a Data East computer game. Xenophobe is a downgrade from Midway's arcade game and is much better on the Lynx. Patrons get a NES Works video on Castlevania II: Simon's Quest which I love but it definitely has things that make it hard for some to play, and also patrons get a NES Works Gaiden episode on Lunar Ball and Karateka, two games that have already been covered twice by the Video Works series.

 

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This week's public video is on the black sheep of the NES Castlevania games, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, which would presage the direction the Castlevania games would take on Playstation and Game Boy Advance. It's an obtuse game for newcomers and was the game that started off the AVGN series. Both Jeremy and myself both love the game though. Patrons get two NES Works Gaiden videos, one on Lunar Ball and Karateka, the other on Star Luster and Spelunker.

Tomorrow is the launch of the book NES Works 1987 and thus, a Gintendo stream tomorrow.

 

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This week's public video includes two games that got covered twice already on Videos Works: Compile and Pony Canyon's Lunar Ball which most of us know better as Lunar Pool for NES. We also saw it for SG-1000 as Champion Billiards. Soft Pro makes their Famicom debut with a port of Broderbund's computer game Karateka which we've seen the Atari 7800 version and the Game Boy version already (by different developers). Jeremy adds some background about Broderbund on Japanese PCs and the state of Famicom around the time. Patrons get a NES Works Gaiden episode on two other Western influenced games: Namco's Star Luster and Irem's Spelunker and a NES Works episode on Bomberman, Othello and RoboWarrior. There was also episode 2 of the Cassette Vision patron exclusive series. This one on Galaxian (a take or unauthorized port of Moon Cresta believe it or not) and Big Sports 12.

 

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This week's public video shows two more western influenced games. Namco's Star Luster is a very good Star Raiders clone and Irem's Spelunker is a good computer port but I kinda loathe the game. They're both good games. Patrons get the last two episodes of NES Works 1988 with an episode on Bomberman, Othello and RoboWarrior and an episode on the GOAT, Zelda II: the Adventure of Link. Look forward to Master System episodes and when NES Works 1989 happens in late 2023, look forward to Star Soldier.

 

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This week's public video presents two games that could have been December 1988 or January 1989, Hudson's Bomberman and HAL's Othello. Also Jaleco's RoboWarrior which was essentially a Bomberman spinoff. Patrons finish up NES Works 1988 with Zelda II and they also get a Famicom 1985 episode with three mediocre shooters (Volguard II, Macross, and Galg).

 

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This week's public video brings NES Works 1988 to an end with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. This is still one of my favorite Zelda games, but Zelda franchise fans often put it near the bottom when they rank Zelda games. Jeremy discusses the chip shortage that delayed the game and the uncertainty of when it got released in the US. Computer Entertainer says October but I have a screenshot of a FAO Schwarz ad in mid-December 1988 that said "coming soon" for this game and December 1988 is the universally accepted date. When NES Works 1989 begins in late 2023, we'll look forward to Star Soldier. Patrons get two Famicom 1985 episodes and it's a rough patch with Volguard II, Macross and Galg on one and a trio of war-themed games with Dough Boy, 1942 and Bokosuka Wars on the other. At least we're almost done with the Famicom in 1985. Master System is coming again real soon.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video gives us three shooting games, all very mediocre. dbsoft published two of them (Volguard II and Galg) and one is a Bandai/Namco joint years before they merged (Macross). Volguard II and Macross both have transforming mecha. Patrons get two more Famicom 1985 videos, one on a trio of war themed games (Dough Boy, 1942 and Bokosuka Wars) and the other is more Bandai shovelware(which we've already seen on NES Works as Chubby Cherub) and a pair of Hudson games (Binary Land and Bomberman), both of which are good, a refreshing thing.

 

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War, uh, what is it good for? The three games on this week's public video don't help answer that question at all. Kemco and Capcom make their Famicom debuts with Doughboy and 1942 here. Doughboy is probably the worst of the three, 1942 is a not-great port of the arcade game courtesy of Micronics with its soundtrack being mildly annoying. Bokosuka Wars by ASCII might be the best game this episode but it's not very player friendly. Patrons get more Famicom videos with one on Bandai shovelware and a pair of good Hudson games and the other on two games that suck (Thexder and Exed Exes). Episode 3 of NES Works Epoch dropped too. Features Epoch's 1982 lineup of Battle Vader, New Baseball, and Pak Pak Monster.

 

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This week's public video gives us Bandai's Obake no QTarou, a shovelware anime game that we got on NES sans anime license as Chubby Cherub. It sucks but Hudson's twin offerings in Binary Land and Bomberman decidedly don't suck. Patrons got the last two episodes of Famicom 1985 with Thexder and Exed Exes on one (both of those games suck), and Lot Lot and Penguin-kun Wars on the other (okay games that got developed by HAL Labs and PX Softnica respectively). Episode 4 of NES Works Gaiden Epoch dropped with two games, Monster Mansion, a Donkey Kong inspired game and Astro Command, a Scramble inspired game that you could see as a proto-Gradius too. Segaiden episodes are imminent.

 

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This week's public video gives us two bad games by two first-time Famicom publishers. Squaresoft did not make the best first impression with their port of Thexder, which is marginally better than the crappy robot shooters of a few weeks ago. Tokuma Soft similarly did not impress with Exed Exes, a Micronics developed port of a Capcom arcade game. Jeremy also gets to include a brief tangent about Nausicaa. Patrons get the last Famicom 1985 video on Lot Lot and Penguin-kun Wars and a Segaiden video on The Master System, its secret game included in the console, Snail Maze, and the pack-in cart of Hang On & Safari Hunt.

 

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In the last public video of 2022, we close out 1985 on the Famicom finally with two games. Tokuma Soft's Lot Lot Lot developed by HAL Labs which...exists. ASCII's Penguin-kun Wars is a decent little game, and marks the debut on Famicom for developer Pax Softnica, who'd later do second party releases for Nintendo. Patrons get two videos on the Master System, one talking about the system itself and the hidden game in it, and the pack-in Hang-On and Safari Hunt, the other talking about Fantasy Zone (a very good game) and Ghost House (kinda a Euro-style platformer).

 

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And we begin 2023, which will be a Sega year, with a public video on the Master System, its hidden game Snail Maze and the pack-in game of Hang On/Safari Hunt. Patrons get two Segaiden episodes, one on Fantasy Zone and Ghost House, the other on Choplifter, My Hero, and Teddy Boy.

 

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This week's public video has one of Sega's best shmups, Fantasy Zone, and a proto-Eurostyle platformer in Ghost House. Two solid Master System games. Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one on Choplifter, My Hero and Teddy Boy (three difficult games) and the other on Fighting F-16 Falcon, TransBot and World Grand Prix (3 games that throw back to SG-1000 in various degrees. Also the video has a thoughtful endcard).

 

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This week's public video gives us Choplifter, which is a familiar name but this is an arcade port not a computer port. My Hero is a very downgraded arcade port that is punishingly difficult and Teddy Boy is the localized version of Teddy Boy Blues already seen. Patrons get two more Segaiden episodes, one on Fighting F-16 Falcon, TransBot and World Grand Prix and the other on the good pair of games that is Action Fighter and Black Belt.

 

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This week's public video gives us three games that all somehow tie back into the SG-1000. First, we have flight simulator Fighting F-16 Falcon which would be best played with a keyboard, one that came with the SG-1000. The game also looks like an SG-1000 game. Next, TransBot or Astro Flash was a spiritual successor to Orguss, an SG-1000 game. Finally World Grand Prix is essentially a souped-up GP World, which was a SG-1000 game. Whew. Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one on the good pair of games that is Action Fighter and Black Belt and the other on two games that are well suited for the Sega Sports Pad peripheral, Great Ice Hockey and Astro Warrior.

 

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This week's public video brings two good Master System games, Action Fighter which is a fun take on Spy Hunter and Black Belt which was known as Hokuto no Ken in Japan and which gives us an amusing image of Kenshiro during his Ryu phase. Probably the best retro Fist of the North Star game. Patrons get two more Segaiden episodes, one on Great Ice Hockey and Astro Warrior and the other on two middling Master System games Marksman Shooting/Trap Shooting and Rambo. The last video on the Epoch Cassette Vision was also released to Patrons of that tier this week with the games Monster Block and Elevator Panic.

 

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This week's public video comes to us on a fine day for a Nintendo Direct. Anyway, it features the Sega Sports Pad and two games that play with it, Great Ice Hockey where it's required and Astro Warrior where it's optional but very helpful. Neither are great games but they're good enough. Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one on middling games Marksman Shooting/Trap Shooting and Rambo, the other on two games with male protagonists based on two games that had a female protagonist, The Ninja and Pro Wrestling.

 

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We turn the page and we have this week's public video with two of the weaker offerings of 1986 for Master System: Marksman Shooting/Trap Shooting which is a lesser take on Nintendo's light gun games. And we also have Rambo, an Ikari Warriors clone that is somehow less fun. Patrons get two more Segaiden episodes. One episode on The Ninja and Pro Wrestling and the other wrapping 1986 for Master System with Super Tennis and Alex Kidd in Miracle World.

Threadmark 70- Segaiden 37: The Ninja and Pro Wrestling
Threadmark 71 - Segaiden 38: Super Tennis and Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Threadmark 72 - Segaiden 39: Great Soccer (JP & EU), Great Golf (JP) and Pit Pot.
Threadmark 73 - Segaiden 40: Comic Machine Gun Joe and High School Kimengumi
Threadmark 74 - Segaiden 41: Great Baseball and Space Harrier
Threadmark 75 - Segaiden 42: Shooting Gallery and Quartet
Threadmark 76 - Segaiden 43: Ghostbusters and Wonder Boy
Threadmark 77 - Segaiden 44: Great Football, Sports Pad Football and Rocky
Threadmark 78 - Segaiden 45: State of the Master System in 1987 and Enduro Racer
Threadmark 79 - Segaiden 46: Gangster Town and Great Volleyball
Threadmark 80 - Segaiden 47: Sega 3-D Glasses and Missile Defense 3-D
Threadmark 81 - Segaiden 49: Kung Fu Kid and Great Golf
Threadmark 82 - Segaiden 50: Zillion
Threadmark 83-Segaiden 51: Great Soccer, Great Basketball and Fantasy Zone II
Threadmark 84 - Segaiden 52: Sukeban Deka II and Mahjong Sengoku Jidai
Threadmark 85 - Segaiden 53: Great Baseball [JP], Satellite 7, Woody Pop and Alex Kidd BMX Trials
Threadmark 86 - Metroidvania Works 15: Rambo and Magic of Scheherazade
Threadmark 87 - Metroidvania Works 16: Battle of Olympus, The Guardian Legend and Exile
Threadmark 88 - Metroidvania Works 17: Blaster Master and Bionic Commando
Threadmark 89 - Metroidvania Works 18: Clash at Demonhead and XZR
Threadmark 90 - Metroidvania Works 19: Strider and Willow
Threadmark 91 - Metroidvania Works 20: Ys III and River City Ransom
Threadmark 92 - Metroidvania Works 21: Wonder Boy III The Dragon's Trap, Neutopia and Golden Axe Warrior
Threadmark 93-Metroidvania Works 22: A Boy and His Blob and Crystalis
Threadmark 94- Metroidvania Works 23: Gargoyle's Quest and Metal Gear 2.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week, we have a follow-up to SG-1000's Ninja Princess in The Ninja which plays better than its predecessor but has a less interesting protagonist. And we also have Pro Wrestling which dumped its women characters for men when it came to Master System. Anyway, Patrons get two more Segaiden episodes, one that wraps 1986 Master System with Super Tennis and Alex Kidd in Miracle World and the other on 1985 Mark III Japanese games that the US didn't get (two Great sports games and Pit Pot).

 

[Abzeronow]

In this week's public video, the Master System in 1986 wraps up with Super Tennis, which plays just like Nintendo's Tennis, and Alex Kidd in Miracle World, which could have been a Dragon Ball game but is a post-Mario platformer whose design holds it back from greatness. Patrons get two Segaiden episodes on Mark III games the US never got from 1985 and from 1986. 1986's Japanese exclusives definitely were not good.

 

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And we look at Mark III games from 1985 that the US didn't get in this week's public video. This version of Great Soccer is a much lesser game than what the US got as Great Soccer (which had a different title in Japan and Europe). The Japanese Great Golf is pretty good but also not as player friendly as Nintendo's Golf. The US got a different game as Great Golf (which was titled Masters Golf in Japan). Pit Pot is a game that was inspired by Tower of Druaga and Dig Dug II and is a game that Europeans have nostalgia for. Patrons get two more videos on Sega, one dealing with two games from 1986 the US didn't get (Comical Machine Gun Joe and High School Kimengumi) and the other on two good games that show just how advanced the Master System was for early 1987 in Great Baseball and Space Harrier.

 

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We go to the bottom of the barrel for 1986 in this week's public video with Comic Machine Gun Joe and High School Kimengumi, two Japanese exclusives that haven't aged well and just aren't that good. And 1987 on the Master System is next which Patrons get two videos on. One on Great Baseball and Space Harrier and the other on Shooting Gallery and Quartet.

 

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Sega swings for the fences in early 1987 in this week's public video. Great Baseball did what Bases Loaded would do later and brought a Hardball style baseball game to consoles. An actually good 8-bit baseball game. Sega also brought an ambitious port of Space Harrier to Master System. Good stuff. Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one on Shooting Gallery and Quartet which are two games that are better than you think, and the other on Ghostbusters and Wonder Boy, two ports that came earlier than their counterparts on NES. SMS Ghostbusters actually does justice to David Crane's C64 game.

 

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This week's public video gives us Shooting Gallery, a fun but difficult light gun game and Quartet, which had four players in the arcade but only two on console (the Mark III version was titled Double Target). Quartet kinda compares well with Section Z. Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one on Ghostbusters and Wonder Boy, two good ports. The other video is on sports games, Great Football, the inexplicable sudden release of Sports Pad Football, and Rocky. Yes, someone at Sega of America must have loved Stallone.

 

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This week's public video shows us Sega doing games that showed up on NES much earlier on Master System. Ghostbusters actually feels like David Crane's C64 game and Wonder Boy is just great as always (much better than the SG-1000 version). Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one on sports games (Great Football, Sports Pad Football and Rocky) and the other on the disappointment that is Enduro Racer and a look at the state of the console wars in 1987.

 

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Sports games are the focus of this week's public video which has one game under two titles and two different control schemes, only released a month apart. Neither Great Football or Sports Pad Football are that great really. Rocky is a good, but difficult and short boxing game. Patrons get two more Segaiden episodes with one on Enduro Racer and a look at the state of things in 1987, the other on Gangster Town (good game) and Great Volleyball (bad game).

 

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This week's public video shows us how things were shaping up in 1987. We also see Enduro Racer, a game that the US only got half of compared with the Mark III version and it was a definite downgrade from the arcade version. Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one on Gangster Town and Great Volleyball, the other on the Sega 3-D Glasses and 3-D Missile Defense. There was also a Patron exclusive episode on the Super Cassette Vision this week with Super Baseball, Super Mahjong and Super Golf, all 1984 games.

 

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This week's public video brings us a good game (Gangster Town) and a bad one (Great Volleyball). Such is life. Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one on the Sega 3D Glasses and 3D Missile Defense and the other on Outrun and the FM Sound Unit (both of which were innovative).

 

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The Z-axis enters the fray in this week's public video on the peripheral the Sega 3-D Glasses and a game that used that peripheral, 3-D Missile Defense, which had Mark Cerny working on it. See a game that used two peripherals that don't work on modern TVs complete with Reagan era allusion to SDI. Patrons get two more Segaiden episodes, one on Outrun and the FM Sound Unit and the other on Kung Fu Kid (a sequel to Dragon Wang) and Great Golf (which lives up to its name).

 

[Abzeronow]

Driving and music are the focus of this week's public video on Outrun, the SMS's port of the Super Scalar arcade game and the Japan-only FM Sound Unit which will really make some of these games sound good in future Segaiden episodes. An all-time classic video. Patrons get two more Segaiden episodes, one on Kung Fu Kid and Great Golf and the other on Zillion and a new minisegment called What Did Sega Visions Say? (Sega Challenge newsletter may have started in late 1987). Jeremy is also currently running a poll on Patreon on whether Segaiden continues straight into 1988 or if we take a short break from the Master System. Short break is narrowly winning.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video gives us a sequel to Dragon Wang in Kung Fu Kid, and Great Golf which is actually a good game. Patrons get two more Segaiden episodes with one on Zillion and a minisegment on what Sega's marketing newsletter said about it, and the other on the last three Master System games of 1987: Great Soccer, Great Basketball, and Fantasy Zone II. The sports games are bad but Fantasy Zone II is pretty good so all things in balance. Patrons also got a NES Works Epoch episode on two November 1984 Super Cassette Vision games that are hampered by bad design or the console's spongy controller. There is also a new road map for the rest of this year: we're getting Segaiden 1988 bimonthly, Metroidvania Works is coming back for alternating months up to Super Metroid, and we'll be getting one NES Works 1989 episode a month. So Great Convergence now happens in April 1989.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video has Zillion, which was Sega's attempt at getting in on a multimedia franchise with a video game and anime that were made of it. It's actually not bad for a licensed game. There's also a small look at Sega's marketing efforts. Patrons get two more Segaiden videos, one that ends 1987 with Fantasy Zone II and the subpar Great Soccer and Great Basketball, and the other is an age restricted video on two 1987 Mark III exclusives: Sukeban Déjà and a cleaned up port of an arcade strip mahjong game. Yes, mahjong and age gating strikes again.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video ends 1987 on the Master System with two clunker sports games: Great Soccer and Great Basketball, and the pretty good Fantasy Zone II. Patrons get two episodes on 1987 Japanese exclusives and as well as two 1985 Mark III games Jeremy had forgotten to include. After those, we dive right into 2 or 3 months of Metroidvania Works which will take us through 1987, 1988 and 1989 and beyond.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video is an aged gated one which deals with two Mark III exclusives from 1987: Sukeban Deka II, which was based on the TV series, and Mahjong Sengoku Jidai, which was a completely clean version of a strip mahjong game (and Jeremy's discussion of the history of those games is the reason for the age gating). Patrons get another Segaiden video that wraps up the 1987 exclusives as well as two 1985 games that were previously omitted and a Metroidvania Works video on two 1987 Famicom releases, Pack In Video's Rambo and Culture Brain's The Magic of Scheherazade.

 

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This week's public video gives us two 1985 games that were missed before and wraps up 1987 for the Mark III and puts us on a pause of Segaiden for about a few months. Great Baseball [JP] is a serviceable baseball game for 1985, Satellite 7 is a mediocre Xevious clone that nobody cares about, Woody Pop is an Arkanoid clone that uses a Japan-only paddle controller which is also used for Alex Kidd BMX Trials. Patrons get two Metroidvania Works episodes, one on 1988 Famicom releases Rambo and Magic of Scheherazade and the other that features Battle of Olympus for Famicom/NES, The Guardian Legend for Famicom/NES and Exile for the Acorn Electron and ported to other British micros.

 

[Abzeronow]

We return to Metroidvania Works in this week's public video with the Famicom and later NES games Rambo (Pack-In Video) and Magic of Scheherazade (Culture Brain). Rambo is not the last Zelda 2 clone we'll be encountering. Patrons get two more Metroidvania Works episodes, one is on Battle of Olympus, The Guardian Legend and Exile, the other is on two very familiar games now Blaster Master and Bionic Commando.

 

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This week's public video has a Zelda 2 style game in Ancient Greece with The Battle of Olympus, a Zeldalike game that also is a shoot-em-up in Compile's The Guardian Legend, and a British microcomputer game Exile. Patrons get two more Metroidvania Works episodes with one on the familiar Blaster Master and Bionic Commando, the other on Vic Tokai's Clash at Demonhead and Nihon Telenet's XZR.

 

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NES hits of 1988 are revisited in this week's public video with Sunsoft's Blaster Master, a game improved by its sequel/remake, and Capcom's Bionic Commando. Patrons get two more Metroidvania Works episodes, one on Vic Tokai's Clash at Demonhead and Nihon Telenet's XZR, and the other on a pair of Capcom games that are different from their arcade versions: Strider and Willow, one of them manages to be a pretty good game too.

 

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This week's public video takes us to 1989 with Vic Tokai's Clash at Demonhead, a fun nonlinear action platformer with a humorous protagonist and Nihon Telenet's XZR, a fascinating computer game. Patrons get two more Metroidvania Works episodes, one on Falcon's Strider and Willow, the other on Falcon's Ys III and Technos's River City Ransom, which would define the look for future Kunio-kun games.

 

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This week's public video gives us two Capcom NES games, Strider and Willow. They are different from their arcade versions, and one pulls this off better than the other. Patrons get two more Metroidvania Works episodes, one on Ys III and River City Ransom, the other on Sega and Westone's classic Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, and two Zelda clones Golden Axe Warrior and Neutopia. There was also a Patron exclusive video on Super Cassette Vision games Super Soccer and Wheelie Racer, which I don't think we're anybody's favorite games.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video gives us two pretty good games, Nihon Falcom's Ys III which added sidescrolling, and had three different console ports and can excellent remake in Oath in Felghana. Technos's River City Ransom advanced the Kunio-kun series to what we know them as today, it does RPG elements pretty well and it was a childhood favorite. Patrons get two more Metroidvania Works episodes, one on Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, Neutopia and Golden Axe Warrior, the other on David Crane's Adventures of a Boy and His Blob and SNK's Crystalis.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video gives us three non-Nintendo games with Sega and Westone's classic Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap taking up the lion's share. It's a damn fine game from 1989. We also get a look at the Zelda-inspired action RPGs from Hudson (Neutopia) and Sega (Golden Axe Warrior). Patrons also get two more Metroidvania Works episodes, one on A Boy and His Blob and Crystalis, and the other looks at two great games, Capcom's Gargoyle's Quest and Konami's Metal Gear 2. Soon, we'll be getting back to NES Works and Segaiden.

 

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This week's public video takes us to 1990 with David Crane's first original game for the NES: A Boy and His Blob. A game that brings some Atari 2600 sensibilities to the 1990s. Also SNK's Crystalis which has been compared with both Zelda and Ys, it plays more like Ys. Patrons get one more Metroidvania Works episode, which deals with two innovative games, Capcom's Gargoyle's Quest and Konami's Metal Gear 2. And NES Works 1989 debuts with two lacklustre games, Hi-Tech Expressions NES debut game, Sesame Street 1-2-3, and Taxan bringing over Hudson's 1986 schmup Star Soldier, which pales in comparison to the Compile and Konami schmups already on NES. Getting closer to an all-time classic game by Tecmo.

 

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This week's public video brings this year's run of Metroidvania Works to a close with two groundbreaking games: Capcom's Gargoyle's Quest for Gameboy and Konami's Metal Gear 2 for MSX. Both would definitely show that exploratory action games would continue to improve in the 1990s. Patrons get two NES Works 1989 episodes with one on Sesame Street 1-2-3 and Star Soldier, and the other on a pair of good Tecmo sports games(Tecmo Baseball and Tecmo Bowl). Also there was a Patron exclusive video on the very weird Gakken TV Boy and the first of its six games: Excite Invader which is Space Invader turned on its side.

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video gives us the start of NES Works 1989 with games from two new NES licensees. Neither are particularly good or memorable games so this is a dull start to 1989. Hi-Tech Expressions with Rare developing with Zippo Games gives us Sesame Street 1-2-3 which was the first third-party edutainment title and the first since Donkey Kong Math. And Taxan brings over Hudson's Star Soldier to NES. Star Soldier is hopelessly outdated by 1989 standards and wasn't exactly cutting edge in 1986 either. Taxan would bring more exciting fare to NES though. Patrons get two more NES Works episodes, one on two good sports games from Tecmo (Tecmo Baseball and Tecmo Bowl), and the other on Ultima: Exodus, the first proper role playing game on NES and one of the first RPGs on console in the West (Sega would beat it with Phantasy Star and maybe Miracle Warriors, for Master System)

Threadmark 96 - NES Works 107: Tecmo Baseball and Tecmo Bowl
Threadmark 97- NES Works 108: Ultima Exodus
Threadmark 98 - NES Works 109: WWF Wrestlemania
Threadmark 99 - NES Works 110: Q Bert and Gyruss
Threadmark 100 - Segaiden 54: Afterburner and Penguin Land
Threadmark 101 - Segaiden 55: Alien Syndrome and Aztec Adventure
Threadmark 102- Segaiden 56: Global Defense and Zaxxon 3-D
Threadmark 103 - NES Works 111: Kung Fu Heroes and Bandai Golf
Threadmark 104 - NES Works 112: Ninja Gaiden
Threadmark 105 - NES Works 113: Friday the 13th
Threadmark 106 - NES Works Gaiden 60: Konami Wai Wai World
Threadmark 107 - NES Works 114: Marble Madness and John Elway's Quarterback
Threadmark 108 - NES Works 115: Track and Field II and World Games
Threadmark 109 - NES Works 116: Mappy Land and Dance Aerobics
Threadmark 110 - NES Works 117: The Guardian Legend
Threadmark 111- NES Works 118: Fist of the North Star and Mystery Quest
Threadmark 112 - NES Works 119: Legacy of the Wizard
Threadmark 113 - NES Works 120: Adventures of Lolo
Threadmark 114 - NES Works 121: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde & Amagon
Threadmark 115 - NES Works 122: Predator and Taboo The Sixth Sense

 

[Abzeronow]

This week's public video gives us two sports games, both by Tecmo and both are good 8-bit sports games. Tecmo Baseball is the lesser one, not quite R.B.I. Baseball but close, and Tecmo Bowl is the best football game of 1989 and the second best football game on the NES. Tecmo has more great stuff for 1989 too. Patrons get two more NES Works episodes, one on Ultima Exodus, and the other on WWF Wrestlemania.

 

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This week's public video marks a NES milestone, the first proper RPG on the console in the West, Ultima Exodus, brought to us by publisher FCI aka Pony Canyon. I did actually try to play this but Dragon Warrior was basically what I could handle at 8 or 9. Phantasy Star on Master System beat that game to the West by about 3 months. The Year of the RPG begins. Patrons get two more NES Works episodes, one on WWF Wrestlemania and the other on a pair of Konami arcade ports published by Ultra Games (which was Konami) Q Bert and Gyruss.

 

[Abzeronow]

What you gonna do when this week's public video of WWF Wrestlemania runs wild on you, brother? (Unfortunately the Hulkamania sticks around even when you loathe the human being that is Hulk Hogan) Anyway, this game, published by Acclaim and developed by Rare, is not good. It has bad controls and Pro Wrestling is a better game than this. Patrons get two more videos, one on Q Bert and Gyruss for NES, the other is Segaiden 1988 starting with After Burner and Penguin Land, both good games.