Chrontendo Episode 14

# Chrontendo Title Sequence

# Introduction to Chrontendo Episode 14

Thanks for tuning into
Chrontendo Episode 14

and this time we have not one,
but two big new games from Nintendo!

And we'll finally be done with 1986
and moving on to 1987!

Let's start by taking a look at

the last few games released
at the end of December 1986.

# Kid Icarus

Episode 14's [first] game
is a real doozy.

Another F.D.S. release,

it's Hikari Shinwa
or "Myth of Light",

released in 1987 in
The United States as "Kid Icarus".

F.D.S. users could obviously
save their games,

though in [the] U.S. version
we had to make do with passwords.

It was necessary to change some of
the sound effects in the U.S. version

- probably most notably the noise
that Pit makes when he gets hit.

In the U.S. version he makes
a horrifying animal-like squeal.

The ending was changed slightly,

but other than that the two games
are virtually identical.

Here we have the title screen

that's more familiar
to most U.S. viewers:

"Kid Icarus: Angel Land Story".

For those who don't recall
their Greek mythology,

Icarus was the son of Daedalus

and he flew too close to the sun
and his wings melted.

"Kid Icarus" borrows some characters
and imagery from Greek mythology

but doesn't really have anything to
do with the actual story of Icarus.

Now, "Kid Icarus" looks very similar
to "Metroid", in a lot of ways,

and it actually borrows a lot
of that earlier game's code.

And I suppose in current terminology,

we would say that it uses
Metroid's game engine.

However, "Kid Icarus" differs
from "Metroid" in many ways.

First of all, the actual difficulty
has been cranked up considerably.

This is, in many ways, much harder
than any of Nintendo's previous games.

Notice, over here, the enemies,
sort of, fall right out of the sky,

almost directly onto you and, uh,
pretty much come at you non-stop.

Here, for example, is this,
uh, Grim Reaper character.

He takes a lot of hits to kill

and if he happens to be facing
your direction and sees you,

he will send a flock of
mini-reapers to attack you.

And, while all this is going on,
uh, waves of regular enemies

are coming in to attack you
at the same time.

And this is actually only
about one minute into the game!

Notice the way that enemies
sort of fly around you

and then suddenly dive-bomb
you at strange angles.

And, of course, your character
starts out with almost no health

and a weapon that can only shoot

a few feet in front of
him across the screen.

I'm sure that the sheer
difficulty of these early levels

have undoubtedly
dissuaded many gamers

from getting very far
into the game.

Now, just like Zelda, you
collect money from fallen enemies.

They actually look like hearts

and these can be
spent on helpful items

in these very
Zelda-like shops.

Most of the items
have to do with healing.

For example, the barrel enables you
to carry more healing potions.

Each of "Kid Icarus"' world[s]
has four levels,

followed by a difficult
and maze-like fortress.

Occasionally you will encounter
these, uh, sacred chambers,

in which Zeus will bestow, uh,
weapons, uh, power-ups upon you.

Here, for example,
is one right here.

Collecting the arrow will
increase your firepower,

uh, from O...
Level One to Level Two.

As we can see,
they're under Strength.

You will occasionally get health bar
increases, at the end of the level.

This actually has to do

with how many points you've
accumulated, during the level.

Once you reach a certain point,
uh, number of points,

you'll, uh, get, uh,
another health bar.

Here, the points are counted off.

These are almost, in some sense,
I suppose, like experience points,

though I didn't quite
make it to the next level.

And, of course,

Zeus will occasionally send you
to these testing chambers, uh,

where you have to fight off
a large number of enemies, here.

If you survive this,
you can get some special weapons.

In this case, I'm going to choose
that little magic wand-like thing,

which will, sort of, send these little,
kind of, uh, Gradius-like things

revolving around your ship that'll
kill, om, enemies before they touch you.

It's actually very handy.

Now, each world, as I mentioned,
has, uh, four levels.

I think we're, uh, getting near the top.

And, of course, these, uh,
tricky grim reapers keep showing up.

This, right here, is finally
the, uh, first fortress.

And each of these fortresses is packed
with constantly regenerating enemies

as well as hard-to-avoid traps
and lots of dead ends.

The goal is to find the boss that's
actually hidden somewhere in the maze.

While similar in layout
to the dungeons of Zelda,

the "Kid Icarus" dungeons are
actually very hard to navigate.

And, as you can see, some screens
have quite a few enemies on them.

In the fortress, you [will] encounter

one of the most annoying
video game enemies ever created,

namely the eggplant wizard.

These guys can turn you
into an eggplant,

which leaves you
unable to fire your bow.

This means you'll have to
go find the hospital room,

get cured,

and then come all the way
back and try it again.

I'm positive that
the eggplant wizards

have caused many players

to throw their joypads
at the T.V. in disgust.

Here is the first boss,
right here.

And, throughout the
lev... fortress,

you actually use your, uh,
hammers to, uh, k...

smash statues and
get little helpers

that'll assist you in
defeating the bosses.

These bosses are
not really that tough,

but they have a lot of hit points and take a long time to defeat.

Um...

And definitely the bosses in
"Kid Icarus" are not quite, uh,

"Castlevania" or "Zelda"-quality.

Now, I mentioned that "Kid Icarus"
was actually based on "Metroid"

and was, in fact, designed

by the late Gunpei Yokoi
and his protege, Satoru Okada.

In fact, after Yokoi left Nintendo,

Okada continued his work
in portable gaming

and is pretty much
the man behind

the Game Boy Advance
and the Nintendo DS.

Now, all that being said, "...Icarus"
is not really a "Metroid" clone.

Unlike "Metroid",
"Kid Icarus" is completely linear

and doesn't really contain
any hidden items or secrets

or anything like that.

At first, this might seem
like a step backwards,

but it is really only a...
proves that Yokoi and Nintendo

weren't really locked into one
particular s... gameplay style.

"Kid Icarus" ditches
the exploration

and instead focuses on sheer
difficulty of not getting killed.

You are almost always in constant
danger of falling to your death

and in the fortress levels,
you are frequently bombarded

by more enemies than
you can easily handle.

We actually, sort of,
have a little cameo, here,

from the metroids themselves.

And, you know, in many ways,

"Kid Icarus" actually gets easier
the further you get into the game.

As your life bar increases
and your weapons improve,

regular levels become
much less stressful

and actually the game
becomes pretty fun.

Probably the most striking thing
about the "Kid Icarus" level design

is that the game is
almost completely vertical.

You start by climbing out of the,
uh, dark chambers of the underworld

to the surface and then
up to the heavens, as we are here,

which are decorated with all these, sort of,
Greco-Roman-style columns and statues,

and, again, plenty of places
to fall to your death.

The final level is a substantial
change of pace.

It's actually a... a less than
spectacular horizontal shoot-'em-up,

followed by the main boss,
Medusa, herself.

As with "Metroid",
the game has multiple endings,

depending on your stats
when you finish the game.

This final level is a bit disappointing,

but at least Medusa, herself,
is reasonably cool-looking.

And, as folks who have played Zelda know,

whenever you have an enemy that
has a big ol' eye like this,

you always gotta shoot 'em
right in the eye to kill 'em.

Well, "Kid Icarus" was
pretty well received,

but never actually became
the [recurring] franchise, uh,

like "Metroid" and
"Mario" and "Zelda" did.

Maybe this is because "Kid Icarus"

never really scales the
same heights as those games.

"Kid Icarus" is a flawed game,
but, uh, don't get me wrong;

it's still one of the
best games of 1986

and stands head and shoulders above
most of the platforming competition,

such as "Wing of Madoola",
from last episode.

I'd say it's actually
certainly more enjoyable than

the other game from Nintendo
we'll be looking at, om,

which is actually the last game
we'll be seeing this episode.

So, I'm gonna' go ahead and say

that "Kid Icarus" is the best game
of Chrontendo Episode 14

and, if you've never played it,
by all means give it a try.

Just be prepared to actually
have quite a struggle

getting through the first,
uh, couple levels.

After you get past those, uh,

as long as you kill lots of enemies
and get lots of points,

you'll, uh, do pretty well.

# "Kieta Princess"

Our next title is also an F.D.S. title.

And "Kieta Princess"
is another game from

Imagineer and Wave Jack -
the same team that brought you

the rather unusual Shooter/
R.P.G. hybrid, "Ginga Denshou".

"Kieta Princess" means
"Kidnapped Princess", I think,

and I believe that is
what this game is about.

One might be tempted to
look at that title screen

and think that "Kieta Princess"

is one of those charming and
under-appreciated Japan-only titles,

but, unfortunately, no.

Due to the amount of Japanese involved,

it would be impossible for a non-
Japanese-speaker to really play this game,

but I very seriously doubt
it's any good in any language.

This game seems
vaguely Zelda-esque.

Here's one of the
action sequences

where your character navigates a rather
typical ladders and platform setup.

Though seemingly unarmed,
you are able to defend yourself

by shooting projectiles at
the bears which roam the halls.

What's going on, here?
Where are you?

Why are these bears
running around,
trying to kill you?

Boy, I...
I really don't know.

One strange thing
about this game is,

just like
Din... "Ginga Denshou",

it really doesn't seem
to resemble, exactly,

any previous games,

even though it might remind
you of some earlier games.

But, playing this,
it's really hard to find

an exact example of a
game that's just like this.

Now, one thing
you should know -

it's very difficult to successfully
execute a jump in this level.

Springboard, there, is virtually
impossible to use correctly

and simply jumping up
from one level to the next

is way more difficult
than it should be.

Believe it or not, you actually
can jump up one level,

like I'm trying to do here,

like I'm trying to do here,
but it's so difficult
to actually pull off.

[It] took me a...
rather unusual number of time[s]

to actually find a way to
jump up one level in this game.

Now, the game also contains
some overworld sequences,

well, as we see right here.

Here, you...
(as you can imagine)
...you simply run around.

You can interact with
various townspeople.

Uh...

You can amazingly
even kill townspeople,

though I'm not really sure what
effect this has on the game.

And, typically, you can buy items
with the Yen that you've collected,

save your games,

and hopefully find clues
about the missing princess!

Oh, another thing
that's kind of strange:

there seems to be a clock in
the lower right hand corner

that's actually
running in real time.

That is actually a...

(Oops I just killed a guy, there,
and he turns into a little ghost!)

I'm not sure what the
purpose of that clock is,

but it does actually, sort of,
count off the minutes in real time.

So, what exactly, all these
different elements add up to,

I'm really not sure.

This is clearly a, sort of,

"Zelda"-esque
action-adventure game

with some puzzles
of some sort in it,

but, uh, beyond that,

it's really hard to
make much sense of this.

# Layla

Hey! This game actually has
some pretty decent music.

From dB Soft, it is "Layla" -
a science fiction themed side scroller.

A sort of a run and gun type title!

dB Soft was not the most prolific
developer for the FamiCom.

The last game we saw
from them was "Galg",
back in December of 1985.

"Galg", as you might recall, was that sort of
R.P.G.-esque, S... uh, Shoot-'em-Up title.

They seem to like science fiction themes
and "Layla" is no exception.

It's sort of like a low-rent
version of "Metroid".

You play this well armed young woman,
who seems to have the job of

clearing out these asteroids
of any form of alien life.

However, unlike the rather
business-like Samus Aran,

Layla has a sweet tooth

and finds time to gobble down
slices of cake and ice cream cones

in between blasting creatures
and collecting ammunition.

Occasionally, she'll even
pick up a pair of roller skates.

So, Layla is definitely not
your typical space-hunter girl.

One thing this game does
have is lots of ammo.

I'll try to blow up some of
those crates with a grenade.

Ah! There's some roller skates,
as I mentioned.

You often have to
use your, uh, blaster

to shoot through, uh,
things blocking your way.

Now, one weird thing
about this game is -

the character is absurdly
loaded down with weapons

(you find pistols, rocket launchers,
flame throwers, grenades, swords,

and axes - all kinds of things).

"Layla" is really sort of a predecessor
to the titles like "DooM",

where you walk around with an entire
arsenal strapped on your back.

And, if you think about it,

most games at this time, didn't
let you collect a lot of weapons

- usually two at most.

Think of Commando, "Castlevania" -
those sorts of things.

Shoot-'em-Ups were starting to
have lots of special weapons

but selecting a new one would
usually cause the old one to disappear

(for example, in games like Zanac).

Not so with "Layla",

where you can collect weapons and
ammunition to your heart's content.

We are now in, sort of, one of these
little, sort of, warehouse-like areas.

"Layla" doesn't really have "levels",
so to speak.

Each asteroid contains a
number of different sections.

Some are long; some are short

and you simply go across them
until you come to the elevator.

I like the fact that this is
booby-trapped with these, uh,

gigantic thirty ton weights, here.

Uh...

You can see all the different
weapons that you have.

That's like a throwing dagger, right there.

dB Soft tended to make these unique,
if not great, games.

We'll think of "Galg", for example.
And "Layla" is actually pretty good.

All those different elements
add a sense of fun.

You can sort of explore around
and see what different weapons do.

Uh...

The actual execution isn't
really that exciting.

Um...

The game does suffer from
repetition of the levels.

You tend to move through a
bunch of almost-identical caves

and these futuristic
warehouse-like levels.

Also sort of annoying -

when your health gets low the
fleen... screen starts flashing red.

Uh...

This makes it kind of difficult
to concentrate on what you're doing.

For the most part, though,
the game controls well,

even though the floors seem
a little bit too slippery.

Often it's sometimes pretty difficult

to shoot blocks or walls
that are right at head level.

Apparently, this is what
I came in here looking for.

Not sure what exactly that is,

but it's obviously the object that you
need to find at the end of every level.

Oh yes, and there's also
a boss fight coming up.

The bosses seem reasonably
well-designed, if not exceptional,

though I suppose that picture
of the guy in the background

has something to do with
the plot of the story.

In between levels, you'll find
these little bonus stages, uh,

where you fly around
on your space bike

and it's sort of like a
little mini Shoot-'em-Up.

You actually can't get killed;
you simply, uh, shoot aliens for points.

If you shoot all of them in a row,
you get, uh, more and more points.

So, "Layla" is a fun,
playable little title

that goes a little beyond your
typical formulaic side-scroller.

I'd say it's definitely worth checking out.

It's really too bad that dB Soft
didn't make more games for the FamiCom,

because, just like Sunsoft, they seem
to be, sort of, improving in quality.

As it stands, I think the, uh,

company stopped making games,
sometime in the, uh, 1980s.

# Star Voyager

Ugh! Speaking of Sci-Fi games,
here's one I don't like.

"Cosmo Genesis" has a
catchy musical theme

and a pretty wicked logo
on the title screen,

but that just sets your
expectations too high!

It even has a nice little introduction

where it shows your guy
getting into the ship.

It seems like the old

'hop into the ship and blast
off into outer space' intro

would become standard for
shoot-'em-ups in later years.

Uh...

Not so much in 1986, however.

It's a nice little touch.

Of course, once the game
itself actually starts,

you'll find it's just another clone
of "Star Raiders", the old Atari game.

Namco had already released a
"Star Raiders" clone for the Famicom,

called Star Luster, back in 1985.

Namco's game was decent,
but certainly not exceptional.

"Cosmo Genesis", on the other hand,
is simply a pain in the ass to play.

You might be familiar with this title,

because it was released in the U.S.
as Star Voyager in 1987

and had the distinction of being

one of the very first games
released by the notorious Acclaim

for the Nintendo.

For those who don't recall
"Star Raiders", it is very simple.

Look at the, uh, radar screen,
warp to the enemy's location,

and then destroy all the
ships in that sector.

You can refuel and repair your ships
at the various space stations.

The enemy ships will be busy

trying to blow up your
home base or something,

so you need to really get cracking!

This, right here, is actually what it
looks like to dock with a space station.

Um...

As is [typical] for...
for these kind of games,

it's usually kind of a [laughs]
slow and tedious process.

I actually don't need to
dock to the space station

because I, um, still have,
pretty much... quite a bit of fuel.

That's, uh...
Well, there's two fuel gauges.

There's one in the upper right-hand corner
and then one along the right hand side.

I believe the one in the
upper right hand corner

represent, like, actual
fuel tanks or something.

One thing you might
notice about this game is,

while it does have opening music,

the game itself doesn't really
have any music at all -

just some rather lame
little sound effects.

So what's wrong with this game?

Well, first of all,
for example, take warping.

Okay, you go ahead and use a D-Pad

to move your, uh, cursor around
to where you want to go to.

Those little "X"s represent enemy ships.

But then it's unnecessarily complicated.

You need to accelerate all the way
(or almost all the way)

and then hold down the button

for the correct number of cells
to appear in the upper left,

based on how far the trip is.

In this case, it's nine units
(whatever that is).

Once you get to nine cells,

then you need to release the button
and you'll start warping.

Then, once you get really
close to where you're going,

hold down the button again and you'll
exit, uh, hyperspace or wherever you are.

And sometimes you can actually
not end up in the right location

because you can get
blown off course.

Apparently some sectors have high
solar winds or something like that.

And the fact that you
have to do all this stuff

simply to warp around,
from one area to another,

doesn't really negate... make the game
any more realistic or deep or anything.

It basically just, uh, makes it
one more thing you have to do.

M'kay I'm at the right spot and
there's enemy ships approaching,

as your little message thing says there.

It actually takes 'em quite
a while to actually appear.

I guess you sorta' have to
fly around and find 'em.

However the combat is actually pretty painful.

The enemy ships fly around very fast
and the animation is pretty jerky,

so I really can't always
tell what's going on.

Once we actually find some ships I'm
sure you'll see what I'm talking about.

Warping uses up a lot of fuel

and getting hit really sucks
around a, uh, huge amount of fuel,

so you'll end up having to go back and
dock at space stations quite frequently.

I usually get killed pretty
quickly, upon engaging enemies.

There are a few new elements to this game.

For example, you can activate shields,
which turns space green.

And you can find power-ups on the various
planets found throughout the solar system.

Of course this will not compensate for the
fact that most of the game is pretty horrible.

Maybe that's why Acclaim
wanted to release this game

- they felt it was somehow tied
into their own video game standards.

As you can see...
Actually...

Well I guess I've pretty much
been killed already.

So, yeah, this is def...

definitely one that you'll probably
want to stay well away from.

It's, uh, really not nearly as good

as some of the games ASCII has
already released for the FamiCom.

# Family Trainer: Running Stadium // World Class Track Meet

"Family Trainer: Running Stadium" is the
second in Bandai's 'Family Trainer' series.

We covered the first game,
"Athletic World", just a few episodes ago.

The Family Trainer Pad is the Japanese
equivalent of the U.S. Power Pad

and, just like in that first game,

you run on the pad in order
to make your character move.

This first event here is just a
very simple, uh, two person sprint.

However, Family Trainer is
much more notorious,

due to the game's release history,
rather than the game itself.

The first U.S. release
was by Bandai themselves,

under the name "Stadium Events".

This version was only sold in
some regional Woolworths stores

and for a very brief time.

As a result, the Bandai "Stadium Events"

is the rarest of all the officially released
Nintendo Entertainment System titles

and copies go for outrageous amounts
of money whenever they surface.

The reason why "Stadium Events" was on
the market for such a short period of time

was that Nintendo had

just bought the U.S. rights to the
Family Trainer Pad and this game.

Nintendo eventually released
the Power Pad in the U.S.

and Stadium Events was re-titled

and given a wide release under
the name "World Class Track Meet".

The Nintendo version,
just like the original Japanese version,

is a pretty easy title to find.

Now, as for the game itself,

well, it's essentially a first-person
version of Konami's "Track and Field",

with racing, jumping,
and hurdle competitions.

Now, the Family Trainer games

were actually developed
by the company, Human,

and they actually do a really nice
job with the pseudo-3D effects

and there are some very nice details.

For example, look at all the little
shadows and everything in this event.

So, "Running Stadium" is a nicely
done up Family Trainer Power Pad game

that has ended up being completely

overshadowed by the collectablity
of one of the release variants.

But as a Power Pad game,
it actually works pretty well.

# Trojan

Released on Christmas Eve is
Capcom's "Tatakai no Banka",

(which might be translated
as "War Requiem").

In the U.S. this game
was known as Trojan.

Never heard of the game?

Well, that's not surprising,
since it really didn't do as...

nearly as well as other Capcom
titles released around this time,

such as "Ghosts 'n' Goblins"
or "Commando".

Released in arcades in 1986,

Trojan is a side-scrolling
proto-beat-'em-up.

This game takes place in a
post-apocalyptic New York.

Armed with a sword and shield, you
take on an endless tide of bad guys.

Here's the FamiCom version,
ported by Capcom themselves.

It actually looks okay, plays pretty
similarly to the arcade version.

Mostly, you just walk to the right
and kill guys with your sword.

Dropping down the manhole will
actually allow you to fight this guy

and then score a pair
of high jump boots.

Unfortunately they can only
be used around three times

before they wear off.

Well, actually, I guess
it'd be four times.

You have to use them once to
actually get out of the manhole.

You can then use them to
take out the little guys

that hide up in the windows
that are throwing dynamite at you.

Each level will usually
have about a couple bosses

and then you're off
to the next level.

Those guys are still pretty hard to hit.

Oops, now my... my jump boots are gone.

These first guys are pretty easy;
just whack 'em with a sword.

Trojan will probably remind you
a lot of "Ghosts 'n' Goblins",

right down to the map at
the beginning of each level.

Unfortunately, this game seems
more or less like an unsuccessful

attempt to make a second game
in the "Ghosts 'n' Goblins" mold.

But Trojan is simply not
as fun as "Ghosts 'n' Goblins"!

It's actually, frustratingly hard at times

and it, sort of, lacks the kind of
personality that "Ghosts 'n' Goblins" had.

We're coming up to the next boss
here, in just a second,

and he's actually quite a bit tougher.

He can block your hits and
will fire projectiles at you;

the projectile can hit you
either high or low.

It'll often turn around and hit you
in the back, after it's passed you.

He sometimes fires short projectiles
and sometimes, uh, long ones.

The short ones will hit you immediately.

And you have to get pretty close
to him to hit him with your sword

and so he can blast
you at point blank.

Now we're onto the next level, here.

Uh... The main problem with this game,
though, is the control scheme.

One button's used to swing your sword,
the other one to hold up your shield.

This means that, in order to jump,
you need to press Up on the D-Pad.

Considering you have to do a lot of
jumping, especially on the bosses,

this makes your character
pretty difficult to control.

If they had stuck with the, uh,

classic "Ghosts 'n' Goblins"
control scheme for ducking and jumping,

Trojan might have been
a pretty cool little game.

As it stands, however, "Trojan"
will remain a little-known game,

surrounded by much better
releases from Capcom.

# Seikima II

Released on Christmas day, it's Seikima II.

And what a wonderful Christmas present
for the people of Japan.

Your first thought might be,
"Seikima II? What about Seikima I?".

Well, no, Seikima II is the
name of a Japanese rock band

who dressed in ridiculous
KISS-like outfits and makeup.

The name is actually
a sort of pun

since "seikimatsu" means
"end of the century" in Japanese.

The band apparently had
some sort of backstory

about being demons who were
announcing the end of the world

or something like that.

But, hell, games like this?

This is why we're actually
playing every single FamiCom game.

What could be more delightful
than discovering a game based on

some obscure old 1980s
Japanese KISS ripoff?

Of course, that's not to
say this is a good game.

Far from it.

It's a pretty irritating platformer,

[in] which you need to collect
every object on the screen,

which include ghosts, and
apparently, band member heads,

in order to, uh, move on
to the next level.

One odd thing...

I'm sure that Konami had
nothing at all to do with this

yet "Seikima II" seems to borrow
the sprite of the holy water

from "Castlevania",
as well as the Moai heads.

Uh...

They make an appearance as
an indestructible enemy.

The actual developer of this game was I.S.C.O.,
which means Intelligent System Corporation.

You probably haven't heard of them.

They're a reasonably obscure
Japanese contract developer

and I think this was
one of their first games.

They continued to develop games
until at least the late 1990s.

I think they might still be around,
but really not as a video game company.

Perhaps more noteworthy is that this is
the first FamiCom game from C.B.S./Sony.

Now, Sony had already been releasing
games for the M.S.X. computers

(which makes sense because they
actually manufactured M.S.X. computers)

but this was really their first foray
into the Japanese home console market.

Obviously they would eventually become
Nintendo's biggest rival in that department.

But, of course, no one could have possibly
guessed that, looking by this game.

Alright, here we are in the second level.

Oddly enough, all the
money bags you collect

actually, uh, have Dollar signs,
rather than Yen signs.

And, throughout the game, you do accrue
funds and you can spend them in shops.

Uh...

One thing that, sort of, gets a little
bit irritating about this game is,

when you get low on health

this incredibly annoying little, uh,
bleeping noise starts, to let you know.

You actually take quite a few hits,
but you will get hit quite a few times,

simply because of the number of enemies

that inevitably drop down, from
the top of the screen, onto you,

and the fact that your character
has a really weird jumping motion.

Here's the shop screen.
Um...

One thing you need to buy are the guitars.

Once you get all of them
for all your band members,

uh, you actually get
the ending of the game.

So, no, this is
definitely not a good game.

Uh...

It's perhaps worth taking a look at,
just for the weird novelty value, but, uh,

this is pretty indicative of the, kind of,
very, sort of, minor, uh,

not very well designed platformers
that were being released for the FamiCom,

at this time, and would
continue to be released for a while.

# Professional Mahjong Goku

Alright, we fired up the F.D.S.,
here, for another Mahjong game.

This is "Professional Mahjong Goku",
as a matter of fact.

This title was released by ASCII,

but, as you may have seen
on the title screen there,

it was actually developed by
a company called Chat Noir.

They're a rather obscure little
Japanese development company

that seem to specialize in Mahjong games.

Mahjong, as I'm sure you know,
is quite popular in Japan

and this is actually the third Mahjong
game released for the Famicom,

which is really not that many.

Altogether there would be over

a dozen Mahjong titles released
for the FamiCom during its lifespan.

And this one looks, well, to my eyes,
pretty much like all the rest.

I don't really play Mahjong and as...

I don't really know how to judge
whether this is a good game or not.

Now remember, this is called
"Professional Mahjong Goku",

so there's gotta' be some sort of
additional element in it

and there's actually a few
different gameplay modes.

This one seems to be the standard,

but, uh, there is a m... mode
where you can actually gamble.

I guess you have some settings, here, you
have to set up before you can actually play.

And then, once the game starts,
it allows you to, apparently, place bets.

And, uh, it's actually a four player
Mahjong game, for this mode right here.

Mahjong is, of course, a... a form of
gambling and is normally played for money.

Well, beyond that, I really don't
have much to say about this game.

Um...

I suppose that this is, uh,
simply notable for being, uh,

one of the, uh, earlier
Mahjong games on the system.

We'll be seeing plenty more of these.

# Arkanoid

Last episode we reviewed
"Nazo no Kabe", (a.k.a. "Crackout")

Konami's "Arkanoid"-inspired game.

And this episode we have a
home version of "Arkanoid" itself,

released on the FamiCom a
mere 13 days after "Nazo no Kabe".

Funny how that works sometimes.

As we mentioned last episode, "Arkanoid"
was a 1986 arcade hit from Taito,

which updated the formula of
the old Atari game, "Breakout".

Due to the huge success
of the arcade game,

it was quickly ported to the
M.S.X. and the FamiCom, in Japan,

and then eventually to pretty much
every home computer system known to man.

"Arkanoid"'s primary additions
to the old "Breakout" formula

are the addition of various power-ups
that drop down occasionally

and the much more
complicated block patterns.

This FamiCom version is pretty
faithful to the arcade game.

It looks virtually identical.

The one main subtraction is the fact
that you don't have that cool,

sort of, animated intro during
the, uh... the title screen, there.

Now the various power-ups
will do things like, uh,

slow down the speed of the ball,
as we see here.

There's a dark blue one that'll
actually make your ship longer,

making it easier to hit the ball.

Another one'll give you multiple
balls in the air at the same time,

and so on so forth.

There's also these enemies that
will now float down from the ceiling;

occasionally you'll have to hit those.

And there's even a final level

that consists of a boss character
which takes multiple hits to destroy.

The home versions of "Arkanoid",
both in the U.S. and Japan,

were released with a special
rotary knob "Arkanoid" controller.

This makes the game a lot
more enjoyable to play,

as it's really difficult to accurately
control your ship using the standard joypad.

Another addition to the
old "Breakout" formula:

some blocks will take
multiple hits to destroy

and a lot of levels have
indestructible blocks,

for example,
the gold ones we see right here.

This is the second to last level
before meeting the boss, himself.

The levels are not nearly as
complicated as the Konami game,

but, uh, still "Arkanoid"
is a lot of fun to play,

especially if you have
the "Arkanoid" controller.

Oddly enough, this boss looks like
something that belongs in a Konami game.

"Arkanoid" actually has
some sort of plot and,

after defeating the boss,
you'll get sort of a story wrap up,

which doesn't really make any sense.

Uh...

Maybe it's badly trap...
translated from the Japanese.

So, we'll say

"Arkanoid", yeah, it's a
pretty good arcade game

that was made into a pretty
accurate home conversion,

definitely worth playing, especially
if you have the "Arkanoid" controller.

Without that, you might find
the game a bit challenging.

# Electrician

One thing about Kemco:
They are nothing if not unpredictable.

They managed to release
two games on December 26th

and the first one we'll
take a look at is Electrician.

This is actually a pretty good,
uh, title screen here.

Kemco's past releases have
been all over the place

but they were mostly junk.

Electrician is a surprisingly fun
old-school game,

but it was a real
'out of left field' release.

It's a port of a pretty obscure
game from Synapse Software,

originally for the Atari
computers, back in 1984.

I have no idea what made Kemco decide
to port Electrician to the FamiCom,

but it turned out to be
a reasonably good idea.

And, yes, this is a
FamiCom Disk System release

(remember, of course, that these were
actually cheaper to make than cartridges)

so, you can actually save your game,

which seems a little
weird for this kind of game.

Electrician starts with New York city

suddenly suffering massive damage
to its electrical infrastructure,

plunging the entire city into darkness.

In real life, this would probably result
in a state of emergency being declared,

but in this game, they decided
to send out a single electrician

to rewire every building, one at a time.

And that electrician is you!

You use one button to lay down wire to
each room and the other button to jump!

You need to connect both
rooms entirely by wire.

They're usually, uh, nodes at the top
and nodes at the bottom.

Once you've got one room wired,
"Blam!", it lights up!

Along the way, you'll encounter
various wire-eating vermin,

such as caterpillars, rats,
and surprisingly large spiders.

There's also a difficulty
setting on here - the speed.

I have it at Low.

Setting it at High will make
the game much more challenging,

almost impossibly so.

The levels are not too large -

usually less than
half a dozen rooms tall.

Occasionally, lighting up a room
will let, uh, r... release a burglar.

And if any of the vermin
actually cross a live wire

(represented by yellow wires,
as opposed to green)

they will get zapped.

Now, for some reason,
you utilize the maze-like sewer systems,

in order to travel from
one building to the next.

Every other level is one of
these underground levels.

We have the first one here.

For some reason, they decided to place
walls randomly in the sewer tunnels,

making it more difficult to get around.

Now, Synapse Software was
an American game developer

that began making games for the
Atari systems in the early 1980s.

By 1984, they had fallen on hard times,
due to the video game crash,

and were acquired by Broderbund.

Shortly thereafter,
they disappeared for good.

Broderbund had already been licensing

games, such as "Lode Runner",
to Japanese publishers.

Presumably Kemco wanted another game
on the market for the holiday season

and they got a really
good deal on this one.

Admittedly, this game
is not fantastic,

but it's a lot better than
earlier titles like "Dough Boy".

One huge failing in the game, however,
is the rather difficult jumping controls.

Avoiding enemies is not that tough,
but jumping across the gaps are

and I've plummeted to my death
many times on this thing.

So, all in all,
how do we feel about Electrician?

Well, like I mentioned,
it's definitely not a great game,

but it is sort of charming in
an old-fashioned kind of way.

This is a style of game that was
really sort of disappearing, uh,

as the FamiCom saw more and more
modern-style platform games.

I have no idea who actually
did this port to the FamiCom

(I don't think Kemco, themselves, did it)
but it is surprisingly well done.

# Crazy Climber

December 26th saw the release of two
games packaged with special controllers:

"Arkanoid" and "Crazy Climber".

This is the port of the old (but very awesome)
1980 Nichibutsu arcade game.

Nichibutsu had already released
FamiCom versions of their other titles,

such as "Terra Cresta", but "Crazy Climber"
was perhaps their defining moment.

The game is clearly inspired by the
'human fly' craze of the late '70s,

most notably, George Willig climbing
the World Trade Center in 1977.

The arcade game had a rather
unique two-joystick control system

(one for each hand)

and this made a rather
simple concept a lot of fun!

And, thus, uh, the release of,
uh, this game for the FamiCom,

in Japan only, was packaged with a
special "Crazy Climber" controller.

For those of you not familiar
with the actual game,

basically you simply climb up the,
uh, side of this very tall building,

watching out for people
dropping objects on you,

windows closing, and later -
things like giant gorillas.

Now, unfortunately,

playing this without the special
controller is not really an option.

If you use emulation,
you can probably rig something up,

but the game is not really going to be a lot
of fun without the correct set of controllers.

Probably the best way to
experience "Crazy Climber"

(other than owning an
original arcade version)

is to, uh, plug a double
joystick system into MAME.

# Toki no Tabibito

This game starts off with some
crazy Suspiria-like music

and it's the last game we'll be
looking at for the year 1986:

"Toki no Tabibito".

And check out those crazy hot pink gloves.

A word of advice:

It's hard to look bad ass,
wearing gloves like that.

Now this game is a FamiCom original

and it's based on an animated movie of
the same name, which came out in 1986.

Judging by the poster,

I don't think the movie resembles
the video game very much.

Just like Electrician, it's not
really clear who developed this game

- whether or not it was
Kemco or someone else.

Regardless, "Time Stranger" will

probably be of little interest
to a non-Japanese-speaker.

This is more or less
a text adventure game,

but it's not very complicated -

certainly nothing along
the lines of "Portopia".

The gameplay simply consists
of talking to various figures

from Japanese history, such as, uh,
Oda Nobunaga or General Tojo.

Your character is some kind of
time cop who mostly travels

forward in Japanese history and
stops at various important events,

such as the Ikedaya Affair
or the Battle of Sekigahara.

This game occasionally has
little third-person scenes,

such as this one right here, but
there's really not that much to them.

There's really no action in this game.

You do have to stand underneath
your, uh, spaceship's beam

in order to get sucked
back up into the spaceship,

otherwise the game ends.

But, compared to most adventure games,
this game is pretty simple.

You're limited strictly to Yes or No answers,
uh, which is what you, uh, see right there

- those two boxes with the little
pink dot that goes back and forth.

Compared to something like "Portopia",
there's really not that much to it.

Um...

You can't really, like,
walk around, find objects,

only to talk to one person
at any given time.

The game is pretty simple, uh,
as compared to most adventure games.

Oh here's Tojo here.

He has that funny little, uh,

framed picture of Adolf Hitler
on his mantle place there.

The one unusual thing
about this game is

it actually has,
sort of, branching paths.

Depending on what answers you give,

the game will actually
give you a different ending.

This is unusual, of course, and
might give the game replay value,

but it still seems like a
relatively short simple game.

And with that we have
wrapped up 1986.

Now, let's move on to
the grand year of 1987.

# Introduction to 1987

Wow! So we're finally
done with 1986 and into 1987,

which is the fifth year
of the Famicom's existence.

Normally Japanese video game publishers
seem to slow down after the holiday season,

but at this point the Famicom was so
popular they just kept releasing games,

even in early January!

1986 was a pretty
monumental year for the system

and we'll have to do
a wrap up of the year,

at some point in the
near... near future.

[There's] really not
enough time this episode.

And 1987 will turn out
to be just as notable.

So let's start with the games!

# Hi no Tori Hououhen: Gaou no Bouken

1987 opens with a new game from Konami!
Hurray!

But this game isn't really that great.

In fact, it's based on
a licensed property

and maybe doesn't really have the
typical Konami attention to detail.

Still, it is an interesting title.

"Hi no Tori Hououhen" is based on
a serialized manga from Osamu Tezuka,

that originally ran in 1969 and 1970.

Tezuka was a prolific writer and artist

and probably the most important and
influential figure in manga history.

Certainly his most well-known
creation is Astro Boy.

The original comic took place
in eighth century Japan

and concerns a wandering one-armed bandit.

Not coincidentally, there was an
animated feature released in 1986.

This episode is only one story
from the '"Hi No Tori"' series

that was released over
a period of twenty years.

Not surprisingly, this game doesn't
really follow the original plot,

but is simply a scrolling platformer
- sort of in the "Castlevania" mold.

Your character, Gaou,

travels through various lands
and encounters all sorts of enemies.

Aside from firing a projectile,

his main talent is the ability
to generate a little block,

which can be used as a step.

This seems very similar
to "Solomon no Kage".

Hitting an enemy will cause
him to turn into a block, uh,

which you can then collect,
as long as it's still in motion,

because at any given time, you
have a limited number of blocks,

as shown in the counter up at
the top of the screen there.

Just like "Castlevania", you face a
different boss at the end of each level.

This first guy, here, is
really not that hard to defeat,

as long as you create a little
staircase in order to reach him.

I'm not sure exactly what he's supposed
to be but he is reasonably cool looking.

And these boss battles will probably
remind you quite a bit of "Castlevania".

After defeating the boss, you receive
a piece of a painting of the 'Hi No Tori'.

Um...

Incidentally 'Hi No Tori' is usually
translated into 'Phoenix' in English

and that's what the painting is of.

Now, while "Castlevania"
was pretty straightforward,

"Hi No Tori" does get a little
trickier, as the game progresses.

In order to finish it,

you need to find hidden levels
by uncovering hidden doors.

So this game is sort of
like "Castlevania", uh,

crossed with elements
of "King Kong 2",

not that I've ever
been able to finish it.

The game does look pretty good.

It has sort of a limited color scheme,
as was, uh, typical.

The game does look an
awful lot like "Castlevania",

with, sort of, the, uh, you know,

weird shadows and, uh... uh,
backgrounds and whatnot.

I assume that Konami developed
this game themselves,

even though this doesn't
really quite seem like a, uh,

Grade-A Konami project.

Okay, here's the second boss.

He's some sort of rock kind of guy.

Maybe a little trickier than the first one,

but probably still
nothing you can't deal with.

And the bosses here are pretty
nice-looking, as you can see.

All in all, this is pretty a sol...
pretty much a solid game.

Uh...

Definitely not the best
Konami has ever done.

The main selling point to Japanese audiences
is undoubtedly the manga/anime tie-in,

but you'll probably find
something to enjoy here.

So, while this game does, sort of, have
a, uh, treading water kind of feel to it,

Konami was...
definitely had other things in mind.

In fact, we're gonna' see
a game from them next episode

that is completely different than
anything they've released so far.

# Dragon Buster

Namco decides to usher
in the new year by...

dusting off an old arcade game
and porting it to the FamiCom.

Yep! It's "Dragon Buster",
a port of Namco's 1984 arcade game.

Not very well known
(at least in the U.S.)

the arcade "Dragon Buster"
was a little ahead of its time

and was pretty impressive
upon release.

"Dragon Buster" was
an early side-scroller,

just like Pac-Land and actually
used the Pac-Land hardware.

It was one of the first games
to use a health meter.

As you notice the Vitality
bar in the corner, there,

instead of r... regular lives,

and had a fantasy theme, back before
this was common in video games.

It also used an overworld-style
map between levels.

As you can see here, much of the
game involves busting dragons.

Here's the FamiCom release.

The actual object of the game

is to make your way through various
caves and mountains, towers, et cetera.

Each level has sub bosses to defeat,

like that little dinosaur-type
thing we just killed there.

And, uh, after killing a boss,

you'll receive some sort of helpful
item - usually a one-time-use spell.

And there we have a wizard,
with another helpful spell.

After getting through each level,
you'll be transported to the overworld.

And these screens allow you to
select your path to the castle,

making this an example of, uh, very
basic non-lin... linearity in games.

You can see this in action right here.

Your armed primarily with a sword,
with which you can use several attacks.

For example, you can jump over
someone and do a downward thrust

and you can also cast spells
to do damage to an enemy.

Here we are on the castle and
here's the first dragon boss

- definitely the toughest boss in the game,

since his fire attack makes it difficult
to actually get close enough to hit him.

I just cast a fire spell on him there.

Round One's clear and
we're off to the next level,

which is simply slightly larger
and has more branching paths.

Now, while "Dragon Buster" was an innovative
and under-appreciated game, in its time,

it doesn't really hold up that well today.

The game is pretty repetitive

and while the arcade version
holds a certain appeal,

due to the nice graphics
and decent sound,

this F.C. port looks awfully plain.

There is a certain amount of
climbing and jumping in the game,

like you saw a second ago, but you
wouldn't really call this a platformer.

It's mostly just walk, walk,
walk, then fight a boss.

And the fact that you get mo...

more or less the same four
bosses over and over again

does make the game a little dull,
after a while.

Some levels, like, as you get later on
the game get a bit more complicated,

but, uh, still it's...

the game is the same sort of thing
over and over again.

So, unfortunately "Dragon Buster"
is a good example of fine game

that became obsolete by the better
games that followed in its wake.

"Ghosts 'n' Goblins" came out
just a year later,

but is massively more playable
by today's standards.

# Labyrinth

Episode 14 is winding down, and we
have one really big game to cover,

but first we have to do "Labyrinth",
published by Tokuma Shoten

(the monstrous Japanese publishing
and entertainment company).

As the, uh, credits scroll, here,
notice the Activision copyright.

We'll discuss that a little later.

"Labyrinth" is, of course, based on

the popular Jim Henson/George Lucas
movie, starring Jennifer Connelly

(and David Bowie as the Goblin King
who doesn't really look like a goblin).

Just like in the movie,

Sarah's brother has been kidnapped
and must be rescued in thirteen hours.

By the way, this game was
only released in Japan

and we are playing an
unofficial English translation.

Of course your character in this game doesn't
really resemble Jennifer Connelly, but has

rather been transformed into a
typical Japanese super-deformed girl,

who looks to still be
around grade school age.

Now, "Labyrinth" is a rather large
ambitious action-adventure game,

taking place in a series of
interconnected maze-like levels

(which makes sense because the game
is about a "Labyrinth", after all)

and it sort of resembles,
well... "King Kong 2", perhaps.

I just grabbed the necklace,
which will grab me some money

and then there is the hearts.

You can apply the hearts to
one of your, uh, companions.

Get enough hearts and they'll appear
in the game with you and assist you.

Your character can't die, in the
normal sense, but can run out of time.

You can see the timer in the
upper right-hand corner there.

Getting hit will cause you
to lose a few minutes.

When it reaches zero, the game is over.

You need to collect a series of keys,
but there are other items as well,

such as books that will restore some time,
hearts that can be given to your companions,

the necklaces which are, uh,
money that can be used in shops,

and so on so forth.

The main challenge of the game is to
find your way around the various levels,

which are mostly pretty tricky to navigate,
however once you've mapped the game out...

(Oh, I got some sort of little scroll there
that

gave me just about an hour or so worth of
time.)

Once you've figured a way around, uh, the
game, it's actually really not that difficult.

Regardless, you do have a, sort of,
a constant stream of enemies

coming out at you and attacking,
which can get pretty irritating.

And I mentioned Activision
is listed in the credits,

which raises the question,
"Who developed this game?".

Uh...

Some game sites list
Activision as the developer,

but they were the publisher of
another "Labyrinth" game -

the one developed by Lucasarts
for American computers,

such as the Apple II
and the Commodore 64.

Both games are based on the movie,

but they are otherwise
completely different games.

I assume Tokuma Shoten had to license
the game rights from Activision.

Intriguingly, in one of the levels,

the word 'Atlus' is spelled
out in the background,

which makes you wonder,
"Is this an early Atlus game?".

They seem to specialize in
fantasy and R.P.G. games,

so "Labyrinth" is certainly
consistent with their style.

Well, no matter who developed "Labyrinth",

it is a solid attempt at making
a big Zelda-like adventure game,

but is let down by the gameplay
and lack of variety of the levels.

And speaking of disappointments, let's
move on to the last game this episode.

# Zelda II: The Adventures of Link

Our last game this episode is a huge one:
"Zelda II: The Adventures of Link".

The first 'Zelda' game,
released in February of 1986,

was an enormous hit in Japan
and, eleven months later,

Nintendo has put out
a sequel on the F.D.S..

Though, what we're looking at here
is actually the western version.

This is a pretty nice little intro

and we're eventually given
a title scroll, detailing the plot,

though the manual, itself,
tells a slightly different story.

Rather than Zelda, herself,
being under a sleeping spell,

it was actually some distant
ancestor, also named Zelda,

who was put under a
Sleeping Beauty-style curse,

many years ago.

As a result, Link has to find
the Triforce of Courage

(apparently a different Triforce

[Triforce number three,
according to the title scroll]

than the one found in the first game)
to awaken her.

[I'm] not sure what happened
to Triforce number two.

Now, Nintendo is known for
making some odd sequels

and "Zelda II" is no exception.

Uh...

It's often called the
black sheep of the 'Zelda' family.

It' s quite a bit different
than its predecessor

and not nearly as popular,

though of course it still
sold several million copies.

The basic idea is the same:
you move around on an overworld,

enter dungeons
(or 'palaces' in this game),

defeat bosses,
and then repeat.

The most obvious difference
is that all the battle sequences

are now from a more standard
side-view perspective

and scrolling is used in the game.

Also, while "Zelda II"
is not really an R.P.G.,

it does borrow a number of
elements from the genre.

This shouldn't really be surprising.

Japan was becoming very
fascinated with R.P.G.s

and virtually every game genre,
from Platformers to Shoot-'em-Ups

were adding in R.P.G. elements.

With Zelda, this means enemies
are appearing randomly on the overworld,

which, uh, (let's face it)

looks an awful lot like it was
taken straight out of "Dragon Quest".

Also, there are experience points and
leveling up of Attack, Defense, and Magic.

That's right;
Link has magic in this game,

though he won't be
using it that frequently.

There's also a number of platforming
elements, such as scenes like this.

Unlike the first game,

falling to your death is a
common occurrence in "Zelda II".

Also taken from R.P.G.s, there are
lots of towns and N.P.C.s to talk to

- not just crazy old guys in caves.

One thing about "Zelda II" is it
doesn't always play by R.P.G. rules.

Some common enemies don't
drop any experience points.

And then there's this woman,
who refills your life bar,

when you go inside
the house with her.

Uh...

This particular scene sort of makes you
wonder exactly what they were thinking of.

The N.P.C.s give you little hints

and occasionally send you on short
little quests to find some object,

such as a trophy or a lost child.

The reward?

You can usually mmm...
learn a new magical spell!

Now, some of the spells
are generally useful,

while others have
very specific purposes,

such as defeating a particular boss.

Ah... For example, I had just,
uh, found this woman's trophy.

Now she'll invite me in to meet
her little wizard-like grandfather.

These guys, uh, always live in
some sort of basement in the game.

He's going to give us
the Jump spell,

which is necessary to make
some of the jumps in the game.

It can make you jump
a little bit higher.

More traditionally,
some items are found,

hidden in the p...
palaces themselves.

For example,
there is a raft and a flute

and these are actually needed to
make progress into, uh, some areas.

Another major change:
"Zelda II" is much more linear.

Link travels along a winding path
that moves, roughly, from east to west.

There is some backtracking required

but very little, along the way,
of puzzles or exploration.

Combat is obviously very
different in "Zelda II"

and I think this is a
major failing in the game.

Some enemies have
some sort of shield

and can attack
both high and low.

So you are constantly ducking
and then standing up,

trying to shield their blows
and then get a hit in, yourself.

Now, heresh... here's the, uh,
real meat of the game: the palaces.

Unlike the linked rooms in "Zelda 1",

the palaces have these long corridors
with floors connected by elevators.

Keys are required to get past locked doors
and there's even some hidden passages,

so you won't simply be moving
in a strictly linear fashion.

Still, the palaces feel very
different than "Zelda"'s dungeons.

Uh...

Here's one of these difficult
and annoying enemies, right here.

Remember the Darknuts in "Zelda"?

You had to sneak up
and hit 'em from behind.

In "Zelda II" almost
every enemy is like that.

You can't just walk up and hit them.

Additionally, pretty much
all the enemies take multiple hits

(often about five to ten
- sometimes a whole lot more)

even once you're all powered up.

This makes combat kind of
tiresome and repetitive.

I really got tired of
dealing with these guys!

Those little blue things with spikes,
I don't think you can destroy at all.

You have, um, some special attacks
that you learn throughout the game,

like a jump with a, uh, downward
sword thrust, like you saw there,

but they don't seem to actually work
on most of the tougher enemies.

Likewise, throwing your sword
doesn't work on most enemies either,

except for the really weak ones.

Now, that was the raft, required
to get to the eastern continent.

Every palace will end in a boss battle.

And, uh, the one spell you use the most
is probably the Shield spell.

We see this coming up, right here.

These're almost, sort of, like,
"Castlevania"-like rooms, here.

How many of the bosses in this game
are of the, sort of,

'jump and hit them on the head'
variety, just like "Castlevania"?

"Castlevania" seems to be sort of
an influence on this game,

though (oddly enough) "Castlevania II"
seems sort of influenced by "Zelda II".

Well, I guess it's hard to say.

Now, just like in "Castlevania",

you actually, sort of, get pushed
back a bit when you get hit by an enemy

and this makes the platforming
sections all the more difficult

and really, uh, a bit
irritating at times.

Remember those Gorgon heads
that you had in "Castlevania"?

Well, there's tons of flying enemies here.

Ah, here I'm using the raft to
get over to the eastern continent.

There's, uh, some more very basic
enemies there that don't take any, uh...

don't give you any
hit... experience points.

Now, these things are
much like the Gorgon heads,

only they take, like,
five hits to kill.

It seems that, especially
towards the end of the game,

it's very common to, uh, [scoffs]
(as you can see there)

constantly be knocked off

by enemies that suddenly fly in,
from the other side of the screen.

I think this probably invited
the majority of the moments

when I wanted to throw my
controller at the screen.

This boss is a little bit different.

You need to use a special Reflect spell
to bounce his spells back at h... him.

That's the only way you can defeat him.

One cool thing about this game is,
every time you defeat a boss,

they do have a pretty spectacular demise,
which we'll see here in just a second.

Now, after finishing a boss,
you get a life and magic refill

and you also automatically Level Up one.

Now, incidentally, when you Level Up,
you can only choose one attribute.

Defense (which is Life.
Here, Life's at Level 7.),

uh, Weapon (which is at 6),
and Magic (which is also at 6).

Uh...

Leveling up doesn't actually
increase your Life or Magic meter.

That's done by finding
heart containers and

the magic containers
hidden around the overworld.

I've put the crystal in
the little statue, here.

Apparently you have to do this.

Uh...

The game doesn't really
make it clear why.

And then you actually select
what you wanna Level Up, here

(here, I'm going for Magic)
or you can hit Cancel and then

wait until you get more points
to Level Up something else.

Of course, Leveling Up reduces
your points down to zero.

At one point, you find boots
that allow you to walk on water.

This gives Link an additional
messiah-like quality.

Here we're going to get a heart container.

It should be noted there isn't
any, uh, armor or weapons

[to] be found [in] this game
(no bows or boomerangs or bombs).

You only have your standard sword.

Um... Mmm...

You'll see there's
also no shops as well.

Here's more bad news:
invisible flying enemies!

I just hit one, there.

You actually need to find a...

(There! I saw him
there, for a second.)

...need to find a cross
in order to see them.

"Zelda II" is much more difficult
than its predecessor.

It's certainly the most difficult
game Nintendo has released so far.

It makes, uh, "Kid Icarus"
look like a cakewalk.

Though, many of the times
that you get killed,

it feels sort of unfair and cheap.

Like I said, you're jumping,

suddenly an enemy flies out from
the side of the screen, and hits you.

The last boss seems kind of tough.

Um...

Though the boss might be
considered a bit of a cop out.

It's just Link's shadow.

He appears very fast
and difficult to hit,

but it turns out you can just stand
on one side and spam him to death.

Uh...
Sort of disappointing, I suppose.

And then we find Triforce number three.

Now, in the years since
"Zelda II" was released, um,

the game has found a lot of defenders,

who, uh, feel it's
some sort of lost classic

and that the initial bad reaction
was simply a knee-jerk reaction to,

uh, the changes made to the formula.

However, playing the game, now,

I honestly say I don't
really like this game

and much of what made "Zelda"
great has been removed

(the puzzles,
and the variety of items to find,

and weapons, the exploration,
um... all that sort of stuff)

and it's been replaced
with much weaker elements.

"Zelda II" seems like a...
sort of tedious game,

with, uh, irksome
repetitive combat

and downright hateful
platforming sequences.

Princess Zelda seems pretty cheerful,

for someone who has been in a coma
for hundreds of years,

and, uh, how does she even
know is... who Link is?

I guess... the first Zelda really seemed...

not really like anything else that had
been released on the FamiCom so far,

where this "Zelda II" seems
pretty typical of, uh,

side-scrolling platformers
with R.P.G. elements.

So it's not really a terrible game.

Uh...

It's a typical high-quality release
from Nintendo in many regards.

It's just that its flaws
prevent it from being a fun game.

And, as you are probably aware,

there wouldn't be another Zelda game
until 1991 (four years later).

As it turns out, that game was
slightly better received.

And so that was "Zelda II"

- one of the most divisive games
for the entire system.

Either you love it or you hate it.

Or, well, I guess
I fell somewhere in the middle.

# Episode 14 Wrap Up

Ironically, next episode

we'll begin with another sequel
to a popular Japanese game

and a sequel that I feel is
much more successful than "Zelda II".

So definitely tune in next time
for Chrontendo Episode 15!

# Episode 14 Credits