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.

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.

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 on 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 they 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 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 they 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 the 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.

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 can actually jump up
one level, 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
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, 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.

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 the 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.

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 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.

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, uh, 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!

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Really not enough time this episode.

And 1987 will turn out to be just as notable.

So let's start with the games!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!