Video Works by Jeremy Parish
257 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 31 ratingsA potpourri of classic video games-related video and audio projects from Game Boy World (a complete chronological history of pre-GBA handheld video games), Metroidvania.com (games that are like Metroid and Castlevania all at once), and Anatomy of Games (in-depth analyses of classic game design).
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Episodes
Segaiden #021: Rock'n Bolt / Elevator Action / Soukoban
November 28, 2021 17:00 - 11 minutes - 46 MB VideoA 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...
Segaiden #020: Chack'n Pop & Bank Panic
November 21, 2021 17:00 - 13 minutes - 75.2 MB VideoMore 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 mind), but both merit a close look. 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 pla...
Segaiden #019: Doki Doki Penguin Land & Drol
November 19, 2021 12:33 - 11 minutes - 63.5 MB VideoThis 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...
Segaiden #018: Zoom 909 / Choplifter / Pitfall
November 19, 2021 12:25 - 14 minutes - 70.5 MB VideoBeginning with this episode, I'm 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...
NES Works Gaiden #29: Castlevania Special: Kid Dracula
November 18, 2021 22:25 - 13 minutes - 70.8 MB VideoHalloween 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! Or just Kid Dracula. It's a little bit Castlevania, a little bit Mega Man, and just a few minor quirks shy of being an all-time Famicom classic. Video Works is f...
NES Works 1985: Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode
November 18, 2021 22:19 - 24 minutes - 98.4 MB VideoI 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 l...
NES Works #084: Life Force & World Class Track Meet
November 18, 2021 21:46 - 19 minutes - 155 MB VideoWe 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 ...
NES Works #083: Bases Loaded & Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf
October 10, 2021 16:00 - 17 minutes - 123 MB VideoThis 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 poin...
NES Works Gaiden #29: Formation Z / Soccer / Championship Lode Runner / Space Invaders
October 03, 2021 16:00 - 14 minutes - 98.1 MB VideoIt 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. Video Works is f...
NES Works Gaiden #28: Balloon Fight / Ice Climber / Exerion / Galaga / Bungeling Bay
September 27, 2021 01:54 - 16 minutes - 128 MB Video1985 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 ...
Segaiden #17: Othello / Space Invaders / Card Catcher / Dragon Wang
September 27, 2021 01:52 - 16 minutes - 81.2 MB VideoSega'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 episod...
Segaiden #16: GP World / Tooru-kun / Hyper Sports / Star Force
September 27, 2021 01:50 - 18 minutes - 106 MB VideoSega 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...
Segaiden #15: Zaxxon & Champion Pro Wrestling
September 05, 2021 16:00 - 14 minutes - 105 MB VideoSega enters 1985 with the hottest game of 1982, and the good news is that Zaxxon looks and plays far more convincingly than its sibling release Congo Bongo did back in 1983. This adaptation of the arcade hit makes some curious tweaks to the game's flow and design, and it adds a bit of background music, which sets it apart from other conversions of the game. But in a good way, mostly. Champion Pro Wrestling fares less impressively, especially in hindsight. Apparently we have Sega to blame f...
NES Works #082: Defender II & Iron Tank
August 29, 2021 16:00 - 16 minutes - 144 MB VideoA pair of arcade shooter adaptations leads us into the second half of 1988 for NES Works, both of which deserve attention for entirely different reasons. Defender II sees the publishing debut of HAL Labs (via HAL America), a well-deserved turn of events for a studio that was so essential to the early success of this platform. And this conversion stretches all the way back to those early days, speaking once again to the close relationship HAL and Nintendo shared as the latter made its way i...
NES Works #081: Double Dragon
August 22, 2021 16:00 - 19 minutes - 176 MB VideoTechnos (by way of freshman NES publisher Tradewest) follows up on Renegade with a home conversion of a massive arcade hit that plays extremely fast and loose with the meaning of the phrase "home conversion." Double Dragon on NES may as well be a completely different game than the coin-op smash, as it adds several new mechanics, expands the game environments, introduces platforming sequences, helps invent the one-on-one fighting genre, and—whoops—loses the cooperative gameplay feature that g...
NES Works #080: Metal Gear
August 15, 2021 16:00 - 20 minutes - 155 MB VideoOne of the most beloved franchises of all time makes its debut on NES, though not its actual debut; the Metal Gear Nintendo fans knew and enjoyed back in the 8-bit era was in fact a port of a minor hit for MSX/2 home computers that had shipped about a year earlier in Japan. Although Metal Gear gets the broad strokes right on NES, it trips up over a lot of minor details. And some major ones, too. Still, if a compromised take on a classic is the one that a million former NES owners knew and en...
Super NES Works #000: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System
August 08, 2021 16:00 - 22 minutes - 262 MB VideoIt has been three decades since Nintendo launched its first next-generation console in the U.S.: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System. On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Super NES Works returns for a limited-time engagement to wrap up this look at the system's launch window by looking at the system itself. What did the Super NES represent to fans, parents, developers, and Nintendo itself when it arrived in the midst of a burgeoning games market whose revival had been precipitated by...
Game Boy Works #125: Klax, Klax, & Ginga
August 01, 2021 16:00 - 14 minutes - 76.5 MB VideoA curious case here on Game Boy Works: A game that is somehow two games. While Klax on Game Boy plays about the same as the Klax we've already seen on Atari Lynx, it takes two very different approaches to its presentation depending on the region you bought it from. The American release from Mindscape, which actually shipped in 1991, has the same vanishing perspective seen in other versions of the game. The Japanese cart from Hudson, on the other hand, looks like no other rendition of Klax to...
Game Boy Works #124: Nail'n Scale & Pri Pri: Primitive Princess
July 25, 2021 16:00 - 11 minutes - 70.2 MB VideoPuzzle platformers are in their Game Boy; all's right with the world. Yes, this episode brings us not one but two—two!—puzzle action games for Game Boy. As if we'd have it any other way. As often happens, one of these is far more fun and playable than the other in hindsight, reflecting poorly on the lesser of the two. For once, the better game received a U.S. release while the merely-OK one remained stranded overseas. Nail'n Scale from Data East offers much: Two-player simultaneous actio...
Game Boy Works #123: Kung' Fu Master & Kinninkou Maroku ONI
July 19, 2021 12:03 - 11 minutes - 87.2 MB VideoGame Boy turns its focus to the far east this episode, with an action game based on Chinese martial arts and an RPG centered on battling (and being) Japanese yōkai. Neither one is particularly world-shaking, though Kung' Fu Master does have a direct line to the early days of the NES, and ONI kicks off the Game Boy's most prolific exclusive game franchise that I'm aware of (there's probably some pachinko or mahjong franchise I'm overlooking) as the first of five adventures created exclusively...
NES Works Gaiden #027: Nazo no Murasame-jou
July 11, 2021 16:00 - 11 minutes - 100 MB VideoBy request of Peter LaPrade, this week brings us another look at a Famicom Disk System exclusive that ended up being stranded in Japan until fairly recently: Nintendo's own Nazo no Murasame-jou. A brisk, challenge action title with a structure loosely patterned after The Legend of Zelda, Nazo no Murasame-jou seems like the kind of thing that probably would have done fairly well for itself had Nintendo localized it alongside their other FDS titles (Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Volleyball) ...
NES Works Gaiden #026: A Brief History of the NES on a Chip
July 04, 2021 16:00 - 12 minutes - 135 MB VideoBy request of Joseph Adams, I've attempted this episode to explore the history of (and explain the concept of) devices powered by NES-on-a-chip tech. I'll admit up front that this is by no means a definitive or comprehensive history, as a considerable portion of this topic falls into poorly documented spaces: Unauthorized clone consoles, piracy-focused devices, and ventures in territories veiled behind other languages and cultures (not to mention less methodical documentation than you see fo...
NES Works Gaiden #025: The Datach Joint ROM System
June 27, 2021 13:08 - 12 minutes - 109 MB VideoBy patron request, this week's video shifts up the temporal alignment of the NES Works Gaiden series to leap forward from the end of 1984 for Famicom to the end of 1992?! Yes, that's right, we spring forward in time here to look at the Japanese equivalent of the Aladdin Deck Enhancer, except one reliant on an even bigger gimmick than simply packing in universal game chips in order to accept smaller, less expensive sub-cartridges. Bandai dared to push the bleeding edge of what the market woul...
Segaiden #014: Othello Multivision Pt. 2
June 27, 2021 13:05 - 10 minutes - 65 MB VideoWell, I survived. I made it all the way through the Othello Multivision's library. If you thought the first four games were unimpressive, that's only because you had no idea what Tsukuda Original had up its sleeve for 1984: Yet another mahjong game, a glacial Xevious clone, and Video Works' very first (of many...) horse race-betting sim. But at least there's a somewhat inventive golf title and a solid conversion of a beloved (albeit crazy difficult) James Bond game. This version fixes a titl...
Segaiden #13: Othello Multivision Pt. 1 (Othello / Q*Bert / Guzzler / Space Mountain)
June 13, 2021 16:00 - 16 minutes - 101 MB VideoWhile Segaiden has covered every SG-1000 release through the end of 1984 at this point, there's technically still a set of games for the system that need to be touched on. Eight (or technically nine) unique releases for SG-1000 appeared in 1983 and ’84, under a non-Sega publisher, branded for release on a different console. Nevertheless, they're a part of SG-1000 history, as each of them runs on the system with no fuss. Yes, this episode we look at the SG-1000's semi-official clone, the Ts...
NES Works Gaiden #24: Summer Games & Desert Falcon (Atari 7800)
June 06, 2021 16:00 - 11 minutes - 92.8 MB VideoThe other two mid-’88 releases for Atari 7800 consist of yet another computer port and—wow!—the console's first original creation. Although this original creation ended up being ported to several other Atari systems, which rather undermines its exclusive appeal. Still, it's good to see a game on 7800 that hadn't already shown up in arcades and on computers four or five years earlier, you know? Video Works is a patron-funded project. For early video access, exclusive podcasts and mini-zines...
NES Works #23: Ballblazer & Winter Games (Atari 7800)
May 30, 2021 16:00 - 14 minutes - 114 MB VideoBefore we continue with the Sega and Nintendo stuff, Atari deserves a brief stopover to see what the 7800 was up to for the first half of 1988. As it turns out, the answer is "not a whole heck of a lot." Happily, the one game to ship during this period—Lucasfilm Games' Ballblazer—has more than enough history and content behind it to support most of this episode before we jump into summer ’88 and, ironically, Winter Games from Epyx. You'll notice a change in the hosting segments here, as I'...
Metroidvania Works #14: Maze of Galious & Metal Gear
May 23, 2021 12:14 - 14 minutes - 91 MB VideoI haven't forgotten my other child. Metroidvania Works has reached a weird place in its chronology, where it's kind of entangled and overlapping with NES Works—as you can see from the fact that this episode's back-up feature covers the next title that will appear on that series. Of course, the main event here is a game that never reached the U.S., so it's worth looking at here—especially given how influential it was on at least one major metroidvania work that appeared nearly two decades lat...
NES Works Gaiden #22: Mappy / Urban Champion / Clu Clu Land / Excitebike
May 23, 2021 12:11 - 17 minutes - 72.7 MB Video1984 comes to an end for the Famicom with a trio of releases that American fans will recognize from the Black Box launch era of the NES. Arriving singly in 1984 rather than en masse a year or two later amidst dozens of other games with a similar visual vibe, benighted NES releases Urban Champion and Clu Clu Land stand up a bit better here. (Excitebike, of course, rules no matter what the context.) Also this episode, Namco's Mappy brings the company's most uninspired mascot of the early ’80...
NES Works #021: 4 Nin Uchi Mahjong / F1 Race / Pac-Man / Xevious
May 09, 2021 16:00 - 15 minutes - 113 MB VideoTwo Nintendo games and two Namco (Namcot??) titles this week to bring Famicom's 1984 lineup streaking toward its finale. I'm not sure any of these games will set anyone's heart on fire here in 2021, due to (1) the kinda mundane nature of Nintendo's releases and (2) overexposure to Namco's games. But pretend you are a small child in 1984! In that context, these games are pretty great. Except Mahjong. No child wants that.
NES Works Gaiden #020: Lode Runner / Galaxian / Devil World
April 18, 2021 16:00 - 15 minutes - 82.6 MB VideoAnother step along the Road to NES Works this week as we look again at the next round of software releases for Nintendo Famicom. Unlike last time, only one of these games made its way to the U.S. on NES, the other two (Galaxian and Devil World) seemingly being skipped over due to datedness and, uh, satanism? What was this, 2021?
Segaiden 010: Pachinko II / Golgo 13 / Orguss / Home Mahjong
April 11, 2021 16:00 - 17 minutes - 102 MB VideoA couple of follow-ups to 1983 releases this week, as well as a couple of games that appear to have been held over from 1983. Yes, SG-1000 begins 1984 with a hangover. Pachinko II is the affordable and expanded follow-up to Pachinko. Golgo 13 is not a sequel, despite the number in the title. It's a tie-in with a long-running manga and anime series, presumably tied to a big theatrical release. Orguss is another anime property, this one related to Macross and its ilk. You know what that means:...
NES Works Gaiden #19: Famicom 1984, Pt. 1
April 04, 2021 16:00 - 18 minutes - 103 MB VideoNow that we've seen both Nintendo and Sega's offerings for 1983, we move along to 1984 and the first wave of Famicom releases. All but one of these titles have already put in an appearance on NES Works proper as entries in the 1985 and ’86 Black Box NES launch rollout catalog, so the first half of this episode is simple a recap and reminder to give a sense of these games' place in the context of their 1984 debut in Japan. The second half, however, downshifts into low gear to take a leisurely...
Segaiden #009: Space Slalom / Zippy Race / Pachinko / Exerion
April 03, 2021 13:12 - 15 minutes - 89.2 MB VideoThis week we hit on the two most expensive games for the SG-1000. Every console's gotta have at least one of them, right? The ultra-rare collector's chase piece that hits the brakes on any reasonable dream of ever owning a complete set? In this case, those disasterpieces are Space Slalom, a mere slip of an almost-racing game, and Pachinko, the pachinko sim so busted they recalled it. Yes, the great console gaming tradition of incredibly expensive games also being incredibly undesirable for g...
Segaiden #008: Sega Flipper / Pop Flamer / Pacar / Sega-Galaga
April 03, 2021 13:00 - 17 minutes - 64 MB VideoSega has always been an arcade powerhouse—even now, they run arcades in Japan. They've become fan destinations for more than just playing games; I bought taiyaki in the shape of the Sega logo at their Akihabara location a year ago. And this episode showcases just how heavily Sega plowed the arcade-to-home conversion furrow from the very start, with four games based heavily on arcade properties or concepts: Sega Flipper, arguably the first true arcade-style video console pinball game; Pop ...
Segaiden #07: Sindbad Mystery / Monaco GP
March 14, 2021 16:00 - 13 minutes - 82.2 MB VideoOnly two games feature in this week's episode, because both are interesting enough (and contain a rich enough history) to merit a more in-depth discussion. First, Sindbad Mystery brings the maze chase genre to SG-1000 by adopting a number of elements seen in early games from the genre—ranging from Heiankyo Alien to Crush Roller—but approaching these concepts in a fresh and entertaining way. And then, of course, there's Monaco GP, one of the real heavy-hitters for this console. While more con...
Segaiden #006: Yamato / Champion Tennis / Star Jacker / Champion Baseball
March 07, 2021 17:00 - 15 minutes - 90.5 MB VideoA few more Sega arcade conversions this week, featuring—unbelievably enough!—shooters and sports games. You sense a theme taking shape here, maybe? Yamato covers a lot of the same ground (so to speak) as SG-1000's earlier ocean warfare shooter, N-Sub, though it mixes things up slightly by focusing on surface warfare. Meanwhile, Star Jacker is a scrolling shooter that plays a little more smoothly than Borderline, though its bizarre central premise and mechanic make for a curious inverted ...
Segaiden #05: Mahjong / Champion Golf / Serizawa Hachidan no Tsume Shougi / Congo Kongo
February 28, 2021 17:00 - 14 minutes - 91.9 MB VideoBeyond the initial trio of Compile-developed shooting games for SG-1000, we have the next four titles in the platform's library, all released on some indeterminate date in 1983. While they do help diversify the system's lineup to include something beyond shooting and combat, none of these releases manage to be particularly inspiring nearly four decades later—and one game in particular, which should have been this week's big triumph, misses the mark so badly it's best forgotten about. I promi...
Segaiden #04: Borderline / Safari Hunting / N-Sub
February 21, 2021 17:00 - 11 minutes - 68.7 MB VideoOur first dive into the SG-1000 catalog covers the three games that the internet seems convinced comprised the console's day-one releases. It's difficult to say when SG-1000 titles actually debuted, as Sega hasn't been especially granular with its published historic information. But these three carts are the first three items in the SG-1000 catalog (Borderline, Safari Hunting, and N-Sub are G-1001, G-1002, and G-1003, respectively), so that seems like a good basis for an argument here. The...
NES Works Gaiden #18: The Famicom Disk System
February 14, 2021 17:00 - 18 minutes - 130 MB Video35 years ago this week, Nintendo launched the Disk System expansion for Family Computer—one of the most important (and one of the few successful) console add-ons ever. Boosting the power, capabilities, and storage capacity of the Famicom, the Disk System helped usher in a new generation of console games... and then, console games caught up with the Disk System, rendering it obsolete. Nevertheless, in its brief lifetime, the FDS gave us major franchises like Zelda, Metroid, and Castlevania, w...
Segaiden #03: An Introduction to SG-1000
February 09, 2021 14:15 - 9 minutes - 85.6 MB VideoThe road to NES Works begins here! It's difficult to know what the year 2021 has in store for us, but you can at least look forward to one constant (fingers crossed): This comprehensive deep dive into the Sega 8-bit catalog. Beginning this week, most of my effort for much of 2021 will be focused on exploring the history of the Sega SG-1000 before rolling into the American Master System launch, bringing these compact Sega overviews into line with NES Works 1988 (which we'll still be checkin...
NES Works #079: Rambo
February 09, 2021 14:11 - 13 minutes - 135 MB VideoIn the year 198X, an elite American ex-soldier traveled into the jungle for a stealth mission that ended in a showdown with a Soviet HIND-D helicopter. Sound familiar? No, this isn't Metal Gear (that's next episode), but instead a game based on a film that very clearly has served as a primary text for Hideo Kojima through the years: Rambo, aka First Blood Part II. Rambo for NES is widely reviled as one of the worst games ever released for the platform. Not only is this a factually incorrect ...
NES Works #078: City Connection & Freedom Force
January 24, 2021 17:00 - 14 minutes - 111 MB VideoEchoing last week's episode, this week we see a decidedly dated-looking game (City Connection) that nevertheless manages to be entertaining enough to transcend its relative age and sit comfortably in the 1988 NES lineup. On the other hand, Freedom Force is anything but dated, with some of the most stylish visuals seen to this point on NES. I'd rather play City Connection, but there's no denying the primal visual appeal of Freedom Force's attract mode.... Also, a bit of housekeeping: The ho...
NES Works #077: Ice Hockey & Major League Baseball
January 17, 2021 17:00 - 12 minutes - 94.5 MB VideoA pair of old-school sports games this week—one whose quality and playability transcends its visuals, and ones whose quality and playability... do not. Nintendo's Ice Hockey, developed in collaboration with NES Volleyball creators Pax Softnica, distills the essence of the sport into a take whose simplistic style makes possible some truly accessible, fast-paced gameplay that transcends its genre. It's a remarkable game in many respects! Major League Baseball is a mediocre Famista clone wh...
NES Works #076: Dragon Power & Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road
January 10, 2021 17:00 - 13 minutes - 106 MB VideoThis week demonstrates the danger inherent in covering two games per episode as fate lands a one-two punch of mediocrity from two of the console's most dire creative combos: TOSE and Bandai, and Micronics and SNK. The results are about what you'd expect. That is to say, not so great. Dragon Power, of course, is another halfhearted attempt by Bandai to bring a Japanese game based on a manga or anime license to the U.S. without making the effort to license or localize the original work. Wher...
Game Boy Works Gaiden #12: The Misadventures of Tron Bonne
January 03, 2021 17:00 - 18 minutes - 218 MB VideoBy patron request of Jon, here's a follow-up to the Mega Man Legends episode from several months back: Its wonderful prequel, the Misadventures of Tron Bonne. No, it's not actually a Game Boy game. It's fine. You'll be fine. Misadventures is a weird little game, a shoestring-budget spinoff of a spinoff of a series whose sales figures were already beginning to flag. I have no idea how it was greenlit, how it was localized, and most of all how it turned out so well. But it did! It's a breezy...
Game Boy Works Gaiden #11: Game Gear 1990, Pt. 3
December 27, 2020 21:27 - 14 minutes - 130 MB VideoThis episode brings the Game Gear launch window, as it were, to a finish by wrapping up the final few Japanese releases of 1990. There are a few old favorites ("favorites") here, a compromised arcade port, and a first-of-its-kind release that admittedly hasn't aged especially well. An interesting combination of titles, though, and a pretty good conclusion for a well-rounded introduction for Sega's portable platform. Special thanks to Stone Age Gamer for helping to make this series possible...
NES Works #075: R.C. Pro-Am & T.C. Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage
December 27, 2020 21:22 - 10 minutes - 82.2 MB VideoWishing you a Meli Kalikimaka this week, despite my rage over a bad game about wood and water. Thankfully, we have Rare to infuse a little holiday gratitude into the season with a very good, very fun, and very inventive take on racing: R.C. Pro-Am. It doesn't erase the nothing of a game that is T&C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage from existence, but it does at least provide balance in the Force or whatever. Also this week: The mysterious NES Max. What could it be?? Special thanks to Stev...
Game Boy Works #122: Final Fantasy Legend II
December 27, 2020 21:20 - 17 minutes - 147 MB VideoThe second entry in the Final Fantasy Legend series—or SaGa, if you prefer—amped up the features, narrative, mechanics, and overall design sensibilities of the groundbreaking first game. With new races, an elaborate cosmology, inventive dungeon design, an unconventional death mechanic, and all kinds of poorly explained gameplay systems to grapple with, Final Fantasy Legend II is in some respects a high point of the SaGa series. And with both a SaGa Game Boy compilation and remaster of SaGa F...
NES Works #074: Contra
December 13, 2020 17:00 - 15 minutes - 163 MB VideoKonami knocks it out of the park yet again with one of the greatest arcade conversions ever to hit the NES: Cooperative platform shooter Contra. It's a rare example of a coin-op title being ported faithfully to NES and somehow improving on the source material. With its tight level design, inventive bosses, impressive weapons, and slightly combative gameplay, Contra is a true NES classic that continues to be a great time more than 30 years later. Special thanks to Steve Lin of the Video Gam...