Jeremy Parish Presents: Retronauts Video Works (Chronological Retrospective Series)

[Nerdkiller]

Nobunaga's Ambition retrospective: Downsizing Japan | Game Boy Works #098

Strategy and simulation powerhouse Koei makes its debut on Game Boy with… a strategic simulation game. Nobunaga's Ambition does a pretty respectable job of bringing a huge PC war simulation into a tiny, monochrome format. As the world's first proper handheld simulation game, it's pretty respectable, if not precisely something you'd want to spent a lot of time with today.

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[ThankDougie]

Oh hell yes. Every now and again I get a hankering for Koei games like this or Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Then I remember how complex they can be and back away. I have a hard enough time keeping track of stats in Disgaea 5.

 

[Nerdkiller]

HOW IS RABBY FORMED!?

Astro Rabby retrospective: Lapin it up | Game Boy Works #099

A pleasant surprise this week, as one of the most charming game boxes to have appeared in some time contains… a thoroughly pleasant and enjoyable little game. Astro Rabby turns out to be a little-known Japan-only release that isn't a puzzler, isn't shoddily made, and isn't painful to play. It's a good-natured top-down platformer for flexible controls and a decent difficulty curve that steadily ramps up from breezy to brutal. Not a classic, but in a way it's better than a masterpiece: It's just a fun little diversion with no frills and no expectations attached.

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Seems import friendly given that the whole game seems to be in English.

 

[JeremyParish]

I really liked this game, in case it wasn't clear from the video.

 

[Radarscope1]

Yeah, this one looks really cool.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Pop 'N Twinbee retrospective: Cute the messenger | Game Boy Works #100

The series hits its 100th episode and to celebrate… uh, well, it's business as usual. Thankfully, this episode tackles a pretty good (if somewhat unfairly balanced) shooter by none other than Konami: Pop 'N Twinbee. This shooter originally appeared in Japan in 1990 as Twinbee Da! (pictured in the video); the European version showed up four years later and is almost impossible to find complete these days (hence the lack of European packaging photos).

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[halcali]

100 episodes in the can!

I'm hoping (wishing) Jeremy makes the eventual Link's Awakening episode a longer 'deluxe' retrospective/review.
It deserves at least 20 minutes.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Palamedes retrospective: An unlucky roll of the dice | Game Boy Works #101

Ah, here we go: The second set of 100 Game Boy Works episodes begins with the quintessential Game Boy experience. Yes, it's a mediocre puzzle-ish game that plays better on other platforms. Not an auspicious beginning, perhaps, but at least it's a realistic one.

It appears I missed a play mechanic here (clearing rows by pressing down) due to the manuals to this game only being available in German and Japanese, so I will revisit this game in some capacity in the future to make a small note. Just a small one — the added mechanic makes it a little less difficult but doesn't fix the color ambiguity issue.

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Next up...



But in portable form.

 

[angelgrievous]

Love the series Jeremy. Thanks for the thread OP. Looking forward to watching this tonight after work.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Ghostbusters II retrospective: We're ready to relieve you | Game Boy Works #102

What a relief: A genuinely great game, and a licensed one to boot!? Yes, Ghostbusters II defies the odds by ditching all connections to Activision's other Ghostbusters games and going with a portable adaptation of HAL Labs' charming-as-heck Famicom game New Ghostbusters II. Sure, it has some rough patches, but it's sweet and entertaining — a nice, breezy, personality-packed rendition of the movie.

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Next time...pretty much this.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Monster Truck retrospective: Monstrously underwhelming | Game Boy Works #103

It's weird that someone in Japan made a game about the all-American pastime of monster trucks and didn't bring it to the U.S., right? Well, mystery solved: The game is a terrible Excitebike clone with inscrutable mechanics, and it would have bombed terribly here in America. It certainly didn't win many fans in its own home territory…

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You know your game is bad when Jeremy starts cursing it.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Roadster retrospective: From Game Boy to turbo teen | Game Boy Works #104

Who says Game Boy racing games have to be awful? Not TOSE and Tonkin House, who evidently took the likes of Monster Truck as a challenge. Roadster is everything previous Game Boy racers weren't: Fun, a joy to control, fairly balanced, thoughtfully designed. Will wonders never cease?

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Next time...

 

[HosannaExcelsis]

Wait, another adaptation of the Battleship board game? I can understand multiple versions of chess on a console, but Battleship?

 

[JeremyParish]

Never doubt the ability of Game Boy publishers to run a concept into the ground.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Radar Mission retrospective: War is much better, down where it's wetter | Game Boy Works #105

As if to prove there's no idea so good that you can't do it several times over in mostly identical ways, here is the third Battleship-like naval combat game for Game Boy. This one is from Nintendo themselves, which means that it's less offbeat than Use's Battleship/Navy Blue or NTVIC's Power Mission, but it's a lot more polished. And it includes an entirely original secondary sub combat mode, too! Just be sure to play with a friend, because the computer cheats like crazy in this one… as usual.

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It's Kirby Plays EELS and ESCALATORS SNAKES and Ladders, Jeremy. Hmph. Yanks.

That being said, a shame another Game Boy game by Nintendo has a single player with unforgiving AI, because what they did seems like an interesting take on the Battleship formula.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Soreyuke!! Amida-kun retrospective: Fakes and ladders | Game Boy Works #106

Another Game Boy puzzler? Yes, but at least this one is different. Rather than involving boxes and tiles, Amida-kun riffs on the traditional Japanese lottery game, amidakuji… the same game that inspired Konami's Amidar. It's pretty basic as games go, but the underlying principle is fun, and challenging, so this one's not so bad.

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[Nerdkiller]

THE MASAYA IS HERE!

After Burst retrospective: Solve-'em-up | Game Boy Works #107

An interesting spin on the puzzle platformer as only Masaya could deliver: This time, you solve puzzles by blowing up stuff. Unfortunately, the unconventional premise is let down by the clunky tech and programming. It's pretty good, but it should have been great.

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[Nerdkiller]

Trump Boy II retrospective: Executive disorder | Game Boy Works #108

Game Boy gets its second quick-iteration sequel to a previous release for the platform, and it's even less noteworthy than Boxxle II. Like the original Trump Boy, this follow-up contains three card game variants based around a pack of 52. The visuals look a little nicer and have some personality this time, and there's a four-player mode (that we'll look at in a different episode), but it's pretty just, you know, Trump Boy. Again.

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I'm with Jeremy on this one. I'd do anything to warp to 1990.

 

[JeremyParish]

Don't read the YouTube comments on this one, folks. I admittedly leaned in to the inevitable here, but yikes.

 

[Varjet]

Don't read the YouTube comments on this one, folks. I admittedly leaned in to the inevitable here, but yikes.

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You're just afraid of coming out of your bubble.

/s

 

[Nerdkiller]

Pac-Man retrospective: When a Man becomes a Boy | Game Boy Works #109

NOTE: After uploading this video, I discovered Pac-Man on Game Boy contains a hidden full-screen option, which would somewhat mitigate my criticisms of the game. Unfortunately, since I'm currently traveling and don't have access to video recording equipment, I can't amend the video. Expect a revised look (along with a second chance for Palamedes) once this "season" of Game Boy Works ends.

Namco buries the axe with Nintendo long enough to bring its classic maze-chase arcade hit to Game Boy, and the results are… mixed. A strong game gets a slow, cramped rendition here. It's playable, yes, but this icon loses a few vital details in the process of squeezing down to fit Game Boy's limits, which means this is far from the definitive handheld take on Pac-Man… something that was true even back in the day.

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What an unfortunate oversight. Still, next week...

Did you manage to get a 4 player game with Bob Mackey and the lads for this one?

 

[dubc]

Awesome! I didn't know this was a thing. I've been listening to Retronauts on and off for the last couple months. Looking forward to checking this out!

 

[Cantaim]

Went digging for a thread like this thanks for making it Nerdkiller! Got a backlog of 50 episodes for his Gameboy series and I'm gonna slowly get through them this weekend. Would also recommend Hyperlinking the video's instead of embedding. As the embeds cause the thread to load really slowly once they start piling up.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Went digging for a thread like this thanks for making it Nerdkiller! Got a backlog of 50 episodes for his Gameboy series and I'm gonna slowly get through them this weekend. Would also recommend Hyperlinking the video's instead of embedding. As the embeds cause the thread to load really slowly once they start piling up.

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You should do what I do and download Greasemonkey and the YouTube Me Again script for it if you're using Firefox. Should probably solve your embedding issues.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

The production on these videos has become so good.

 

[Nerdkiller]

F-1 Race and the Nintendo 4-Player Adapter: A mess o' multiplayer | Game Boy Works #110

Game Boy shipped with the ability to allow two systems to link together for multiplayer sessions. But in late 1990, Nintendo took their portable multiplayer options one step further through the Four-Player Adapter, which shipped in the U.S. as a pack-in with the game F-1 Race. This week, we look at both game and peripheral.

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Now where can I find that Faceball 2000 video Bob Mackey took?

 

[Nerdkiller]

The Rescue of Princess Blobette retrospective: About a boy, and a blob | Game Boy Works #111

Another Game Boy follow-up to an NES game appears this week, and it's just as compromised and frustrating as you've come to expect. The Rescue of Princess Blobette consists almost entirely of recycled material from A Boy and His Blob, but it's a much smaller game — and a more limited one. And slower. And more cramped. And it sounds a lot worse. But on the plus side, uh… well, it won't melt down your Game Boy, probably. So that's something.

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[Nerdkiller]

Rolan's Curse retrospective: Hackneyed slash | Game Boy Works #112

The second volume of Game Boy Works comes to a conclusion (look for the book this fall!) with a look at the system's first Zelda-style game. Uhhh… kinda. Rolan's Curse offers a glancing tangent to the top-down action-RPG, but there's not a lot of substance here — just the appearance of the thing. A brief, clunky, fast-paced, and ultimately linear adventure, this feels like a relic from an older time. But at least the dialogue's weirdly amusing. That's something, right?

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[Worthintendo]

No more Game Boy World for awhile bums me out, its so rare to see anyone give much love to the old grey brick. Shame this season couldn't end on a good note.

 

[Nerdkiller]

WOAH, in camera appearance of Jeremy!

Paperboy 2 retrospective: A game about nothing? | Super NES Works #018

Tengen scored a hit with its home rendition of Atari Games' arcade classic Paperboy, so naturally they wasted no time following up on it. But was this sequel really necessary? Did Tengen improve on a masterpiece, or merely spin their wheels? Find out by watching this video... next time you drop by my apartment unannounced to raid my pantry for cereal.

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Your comedy still beats the end of series 2 NXT.

 

[HosannaExcelsis]

I am continually amazed at Jeremy's willingness to go above and beyond in his coverage of even mediocre games.

 

[Radarscope1]

I greatly enjoyed this vid. Of course, I have a soft spot for all things Seinfeld, too, so...

 

[pirata]

One of the cool things about Gameboy Works and other chron-gaming projects is the attention it gives to forgotten and mediocre games. I've come to realize that only focusing on the best and most well-remembered titles from gaming's past only gives you a really incomplete picture on how video games have evolved and what good design is.

 

[JeremyParish]

I am continually amazed at Jeremy's willingness to go above and beyond in his coverage of even mediocre games.

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Honestly, turning a video about a game into an elaborate goof like this keeps me sane.

 

[Nerdkiller]

The remasters just keep coming.

Tennis retrospective: 40-love affair | Game Boy Works #005 [remastered]

We revisit the first Game Boy sports game that you wouldn't want to throw off the side of a cliff if someone handed it to you. Tennis was pretty swell — clearly patterned after the NES game by the same title, but a lot better in most regards.

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[Why would you do that?]

So there's a new SNES Works video on John Madden Football.

I'm not a fan of sports games either, but one thing I always said was that EA made awesome music for their sports games.

Back in the day, this was my jam:


Turns out the composer for many of EA's earlier sports games (including John Madden Football) is Rob Hubbard, the very accomplished and very notable Commodore 64 composer. Here's one of his C64 tunes:


A bit surprised Parish didn't mention that, because I kinda got the impression that he's a big video game music connoisseur, haha. But it's one of the reasons why I'm sad EA just started using licensed music for all their games.

 

[Nerdkiller]

I am now bald from the rage caused by Jeremy for constantly referring to the Mega Drive by its incorrect US name in the new video.

A bit surprised Parish didn't mention that, because I kinda got the impression that he's a big video game music connoisseur, haha. But it's one of the reasons why I'm sad EA just started using licensed music for all their games.

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Well, Monty is a rather, how should I say...British game. C64 (and microcomputer) culture in the UK was a lot different compared to the US, so I wouldn't be surprised if Jeremy only has a passing knowledge of such a game.

 

[JeremyParish]

I backed Hubbard's Kickstarter..

 

[Dream Machine]

Nobunaga's Ambition retrospective: Downsizing Japan | Game Boy Works #098

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I keep meaning to get a poster of this box art framed. I love it.

 

[Nerdkiller]

I backed Hubbard's Kickstarter..

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God, I cannot wait for you to tackle the Disk System game for the next year of NES Works, considering I can't seem to find any footage of that game running online.

 

[JeremyParish]

NES Works is just U.S. releases!

 

[HosannaExcelsis]

If you want some footage of Monty on the Run and a little talk about how little like the C64 original it is, Chrontendo has you covered.

 

[Nerdkiller]

NES Works is just U.S. releases!

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Sigh. How much for a Patreon request?

 

[Deleted member 21709]

God, I cannot wait for you to tackle the Disk System game for the next year of NES Works, considering I can't seem to find any footage of that game running online.

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Isn't Monty supposed to be a mole? That's what I remember from the C64 games. This box art looks great.

 

[Tom_Cody]

NES Works is just U.S. releases!

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Sigh. How much for a Patreon request?

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I would toss in an extra contribution for sure.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Isn't Monty supposed to be a mole? That's what I remember from the C64 games. This box art looks great.

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Yes, actually, but for whatever reason, when Jaleco picked up the licence to produce the game, they seemed inclined on taking it on a wholly different direction.

 

[Steeped in a Sea of Games]

These videos are just super relaxing to me and incredibly informative. They really deserve more attention.

 

[JeremyParish]

I don't know if you guys are seriously about a Monty on the Run FDS request, but it would be fun. In any case, I do appreciate this modest, steady expression of interest in the Video Works project here.

 

[fiendcode]

I'd second the request. Actually I'd like to see a FDS Works series in general. You totally have time/money/willpower for that right?

 

[HosannaExcelsis]

I'd second the request. Actually I'd like to see a FDS Works series in general. You totally have time/money/willpower for that right?

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I'm sure Jeremy is capable of creating compelling videos about such FDS titles as I Am A Teacher: Super Mario's Sweater and Miho Nakayama's Heartbeat High School, but I'm not sure he wants to go down that rabbit hole.