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

[Nerdkiller]

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What did I tell you about not inserting the description?

The creme de la creme of the chess world? Well, maybe so far as Super NES chess games go; it's easy to come out on top when you're the only one in the running. But The Chessmaster doesn't leave much of an impression. There are better chess simulations, and more satisfying chapters in this particular series, on other platforms. This is like the board game equivalent of a vintage franchise sports game: It probably sold well to a general audience at the time, but it offers very little return for anyone today to return to it.

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With a game like The Chessmaster, it's a necessity. Doesn't also help that the video you linked starts where the review ends.

If it feels like I'm lashing out, well, I'm sorry, but I do have to present this series as best as I can for Jeremy's support. Afterall, this is a series well worth watching. So the next time you do beat me to the punch, can you include the description for me?

Also, I'd hate to be you Jeremy when you try to find something interesting to say upon reaching Chessmaster for NES and Game Boy.

 

[Nerdkiller]

U.N. Squadron retrospective: Top fun | Super NES Works #011

Finally, a great-as-heck third-party Super NES game. Capcom's U.N. Squadron marks a welcome turnaround from the bumpy unpleasantness of Final Fight, with smoother gameplay, fewer conversion compromises, and smart gameplay tweaks to improve replayability. It's a high-water mark for Super NES shooters, and a game worth hunting down all these years later.

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[Man God]

Peach, I could eat a peach for hours.

 

[JeremyParish]

I sincerely enjoy the fact that you posted that remark without this week's video, so it's just a random drive-by pop culture reference with no context.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Peach, I could eat a peach for hours.

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I sincerely enjoy the fact that you posted that remark without this week's video, so it's just a random drive-by pop culture reference with no context.

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I'LL SAVE THE DAY!

Mr. Chin's Gourmet Paradise retrospective: Peaches en regalia | Game Boy Works #095

A strange and obscure little U.S.-only release for Game Boy in which the protagonist of equally obscure NES game Thunder & Lightning turns monsters into peaches and eats them. Developed anonymously and tied inexplicably to a completely unrelated game, this one's a real mystery. Sadly, the gameplay turns out to be far less interesting than the enigma surrounding Mr. Chin's existence.

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[Man God]

I sincerely enjoy the fact that you posted that remark without this week's video, so it's just a random drive-by pop culture reference with no context.

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Its on topic!

 

[Nerdkiller]

HAL's Hole in One Golf retrospective: Links awakening | Super NES Works #012

Another HAL creation: Hole In One Golf follows up on the company's landmark MSX take on the sport, adds in a Japanese golf legend, removes the golf legend for good measure, and allows players to explore a single course with exhaustive detail (via an isometric perspective that just might have served as the basis for Kirby's Dream Course).

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[Nerdkiller]

Fish Dude retrospective: The dude abides | Game Boy Works #096

It's here: The first true Game Boy collector's grail piece (and just in time for our recent "collector's bubble" episode of Retronauts - https://retronauts.com/article/699/ep...). Fish Dude is not a good or memorable game, but it is very, very rare and expensive. Which is… something, I suppose.

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Because Gundam's anime, Jeremy. And no matter how hard we try, anime just won't die.

Also, with the current Patreon situation, they've got to be a special kind of stupid, right?

 

[Nerdkiller]

Jeremy takes an aside as he delves into...

A brief history of region lockouts | NES Works Gaiden #008

By patron request, we look at the horrible and hideous ball that Nintendo got rolling when it localized the Famicom to America and Europe as the NES: Region-locking. This quick (and not at all comprehensive!) overview of the different methods console manufacturers have used to prevent and punish international software importation does at least offer a promising light at the end of the tunnel: It appears to be a dying practice. Once 3DS shuffles off this mortal coil, we'll once again be free to buy games in yen and pretend we understand the mysterious runes in which their menus are written.

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I might just make a new thread specifically for this video.

 

[JeremyParish]

Nah, I wouldn't.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Populous retrospective: Foster the Papal | Super NES Works #013

A look at Nintendo's very own console conversion of Peter Molyneux's god-sim, Populous. Wedged in between the superlative SimCity and the excellent ActRaiser, Populous admittedly struggles a bit to hold its own among its peers. But all credit goes to developer Infinity, who did a bang-up job with the conversion and used this as the cornerstone of a brief but well-intended career transforming Western PC games into forms suitable for Japanese gamers.

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So, Molyneux really is a true believer in the games he produces, eh?

 

[Deleted member 6215]

Fish Dude retrospective: The dude abides | Game Boy Works #096



Because Gundam's anime, Jeremy. And no matter how hard we try, anime just won't die.

Also, with the current Patreon situation, they've got to be a special kind of stupid, right?

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This episode of Game Boy Works needs more love. The intro/outro that Jeremy did was just amazing. Funny, informative, classy - really wish this series got the attention it deserves.

 

[hwarang]

Thank you for sharing this. What would one categorize this as? I want to delve deeper into this subset but don't know what umbrella term to use to pool in via google search.

 

[Radarscope1]

"Chron-gaming" is one term I've heard but it's not a great descriptor and I don't even think it's widely used. It's just chronological retrospectives. There's very few people who do it and even fewer who do it well. Chrontendo (and its sister series) is good and Jeremy's stuff is great. Not even sure who else does it, tbh....

 

[Morfeo]

Just realized this has its own thread, great, Im a huge fan of Jeremys work for more than ten years. Always looking forward to new stuff from him.

 

[HockeyBird]

I watched a few of his Gameboy videogames a few months ago but just subscribed last night. Watching his SNES works videos now. He really does a fantastic job and it makes me want to try out some of these games.

 

[ThankDougie]

Fantastic series. I always look forward to the RetroTube videos and have the podcast bookmarked for my commute to and from work. Has definitely made the 101 between Los Angeles and Ventura County feel a lot less frustrating. Awesome to see he's here. Thanks Jeremy!

 

[Nerdkiller]

Fantastic series. I always look forward to the RetroTube videos and have the podcast bookmarked for my commute to and from work. Has definitely made the 101 between Los Angeles and Ventura County feel a lot less frustrating. Awesome to see he's here. Thanks Jeremy!

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[JeremyParish]

Are you watching videos while driving on the LA freeway system, ThankDougie? Please do not die in my account. (Thank you all for the kind words, though.)

 

[Radarscope1]

BTW, I just got the NES Works Vols. I and II books for Christmas and they are excellent, as you'd expect. I've watched all of the videos in the series and yet still find it easy to get sucked into the written version. Recommended.

 

[ThankDougie]

Are you watching videos while driving on the LA freeway system, ThankDougie? Please do not die in my account. (Thank you all for the kind words, though.)

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me while driving down the 101 and watching the latest Super NES Works:

Spoiler: Typical Day on the 101

(I wish it went that smoothly coming home...)

 

[ThankDougie]

Also, cheers to Nerdkiller - I love seeing Twin Peaks and Retronauts fans in the same thread.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Well, well, well, what have we got here? Super R-Type is getting an official physical re-release with Retro-Bit publishing. I was hoping Street Fighter II's re-release was going to be the start of a trend. Maybe we'll actually see some of the more rare games get a reprint

https://castlemaniagames.com/coming-soon

Also, Holy Diver for NES is also getting a re-release, but that's not important, since it hasn't been covered.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Remaking your old reviews to bring them more up to current production standards, eh Jeremy?

Alleyway retrospective [remastered]: Game Boy's breakout title | Game Boy Works #001

A top-to-bottom do-over of the very first Game Boy Works episode, bringing the series' debut up to current production standards. It's a look at the first of Game Boy's four launch titles in Japan, a standard Breakout-style block-smashing game with a few small fun touches. Nothing incredible as games go, but as a transitional work between Game & Watch and the Game Boy, its limitations are certainly understandable.

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Now, redo Heiankyo Alien.

 

[JeremyParish]

Heiankyo Alien is a good episode and doesn't need to be remade. I'm only remastering the first seven GBW episodes, which had terrible audio and video quality (from the crappy emulation device I was capturing from) and were uploaded in standard definition.

 

[Fuzzy]

Heiankyo Alien is a good episode and doesn't need to be remade.

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But you need to mention the name as many times as possible for the most dangerous of drinking games.

 

[Cyan]

So that's what Heiankyo Alien is...

 

[Nerdkiller]

So that's what Heiankyo Alien is...

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You mean to tell me you've never seen footage of this game?



You disappoint Jeremy.

 

[JeremyParish]

But you need to mention the name as many times as possible for the most dangerous of drinking games.

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Eh, I think the Donald Trump Lies drinking game is the most dangerous of drinking games.

 

[Cyan]

You mean to tell me you've never seen footage of this game?



You disappoint Jeremy.

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Watching that exact video earlier was the reason I made that post. :P

 

[Leo]

Love listening to his insights on Retronauts. Best gaming podcast around, by many miles.

 

[Lupin]

.

 

[julia crawford]

I love how nonchalantly there are clips with Jeremy's own narration playing other games underneath his own voice narrating the current video.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Super Bases Loaded retrospective: Yer out | Super NES Works #014

The Super NES gets its first sports game in the form of an entry in Jaleco's Bases Loaded baseball series, which doesn't offer a whole lot that you couldn't find in Jaleco's simultaneous release for NES, Bases Loaded 3. All this 16-bit iteration really offers over its 8-bit counterpart is a questionable race not for the pennant but rather for a "perfect" game, a task best left to masochists drowning in free time.

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Now, when can I get my Blernsball game?

 

[KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.]

I love these series so much. They're great to put on in the background even. Jeremy has that ASMR voice.

 

[ThankDougie]

Was looking forward to that one. I have memories of renting that soon after the SNES came out and being disappointed that none of the teams were real. I thought all the logos looked silly. But I actually enjoyed the game and probably rented it a few times before moving on to other new SNES games. The flame background on the "vs. screen" brought back some strong memories of being impressed by 16-bit graphics: "wow! look at that effect!"

Also really enjoyed the interview on Steam World Dig 2. I still need to pick that up. Everyone I trust about video games loves it.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Ultraman: Towards the Future retrospective: Leave it in the past | Super NES Works #015

Another game licensed from a Japanese media property hits Super NES, but this one isn't quite as good as U.N. Squadron. In fact, it's really quite poor: A clumsy fighting game based on Ultraman's short-lived push into the U.S. television market. It might not be all bad if not for the unspeakably boneheaded victory condition requirement, which turns this into a jarring example of a faithful video game adaptation that suffers for its accuracy to the source material…

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Don't worry folks, You've got some Yuzo Koshiro goodness next week.



Now, if only there was a Mega Drive Works so we can hear more of his work...no, I will not accept the Yank name.

 

[ThankDougie]

Love the Mega Man X episode this week. I have serious nostalgia for Mega Man 2, 3, and X - some of my favorite games ever, really. Was fun hearing everyone say basically the same thing. Great to revisit details with so much background and context from the group (I never connected some of the boss attacks from X with the bosses from 2 or 3, for instance). I'd also never seen the PSP anime stuff before yesterday, and surprisingly I liked it (I like anime generally I guess, but I would never have thought Mega Man was the right franchise for that kind of addition).

 

[ThankDougie]

Aaaand of course I'm talking about the podcast when I should be talking about the videos. Just watched the Ultraman episode. I remember renting that from the local video store and being tremendously disappointed and confused. For some reason, I had conflated it with 8 Man, which I think was released for the Neo Geo in the same year. I wanted a fast-paced Japanese fighter and ended up with something that was graphically disappointing and as stiff as a board gameplay-wise. Watching video of 8 Man now, I'm surprised these are even from the same era.

 

[Nerdkiller]

SD Gundam Gaiden: Lacroan Heroes retrospective: Gun-dammit | Game Boy Works #097

Our second Game Boy Gundam game, and can you believe it? It's also not very good. This one is bad in a boring, predictable way: It's a game adaptation of a video series designed in the mold of Dragon Quest. You'd think an obvious formula for success as a video game would present itself based on that pretext, but…

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[KINGOFSHIBUYA Ltd.]

SD Gundam Gaiden: Lacroan Heroes retrospective: Gun-dammit | Game Boy Works #097

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Oh no. I never understood how these Gundam games ended up so bad.

 

[HosannaExcelsis]

Oh no. I never understood how these Gundam games ended up so bad.

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The way most licensed games ended up bad, I imagine: the publisher just wants a product on the shelves without caring to give the development enough time or money to create something of quality.

 

[JeremyParish]

Yep. Tiny budget, short development time, lack of give-a-shit on the publisher's behalf. I mentioned in the video that this was a tie-in to a four-part OAV series that appeared over the course of one year, and this appeared halfway through the series. Clearly not a lot of time was given to creating a quality game. But the kids probably bought it, so mission accomplished.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Baseball retrospective [remastered]: Less a home run than a forced error | Game Boy Works #002

(This is the second of eight planned Game Boy Works remastered episodes.)

Nintendo revisits one of their oldest original creations for the Game Boy's launch, and the result is a baseball game even more primitive than one from six years prior. The real star of this show: Link cable support, allowing two baseball fanatics to suffer in unison.

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[Nerdkiller]

Analogue Super Nt overview: 16-bit is so hot right now | Super NES Works Gaiden #001

Analogue launches the Super Nt clone console today, so Super NES Works takes a side jaunt to once again look at a brand new hardware release for the Super NES family. This has become a lot more frequent than you would really expect given that the platform's been dead for two decades.

I can't offer a comprehensive expert-level technical review of Super Nt here, nor do I presume to speak for anyone else's needs. Instead, this overview focuses on (perceived) accuracy, the system's general features, and the ways in which the Super Nt fits (and in my case, doesn't fit) into a gaming setup.

If you would like a little more context for this commentary, I recommend checking out my Super NES Classic Edition review (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4_K1...) and the Classic Edition. vs. real hardware comparisons I posted last fall (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzvXw...) — I have included Super Nt footage of those same games here for reference.

Next week: ActRaiser, finally, for real.

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Well, Kevtris and Analogue...Mega Drive core and Mega Nt when?

Spoiler

No, I'm not gonna call Sega's console by that other name.

 

[Fuzzy]

ActRaiser retrospective: All's right with the world | Super NES Works #016

An in-depth look at one of the most unique games ever to appear on Super NES: The god-sim/RPG/platformer ActRaiser. With its incredible soundtrack, challenging action, and low-calorie simulation mode, ActRaiser manages to be far more than the sum of its decent individual components. It stands as a classic for the ages, and this retrospective attempts to explain why. Special thanks to Steve Lin of the Video Game History Foundation for providing access to the packaged copy of the game for this video.

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[Nerdkiller]

Man, with Era down a couple days back, I forgot to post the latest video.

Super Tennis retrospective: Love-40 is in the air | Super NES Works #017

Nintendo's lone first-party straggler for Super NES's 1991 post-launch period lands in the form of a game by TOSE and Tonkin House that hews so closely to Tennis for NES and Game Boy that it really does deserve the name "Super Tennis." A fast-paced if visually unexciting take on the sport, Super Tennis finally rectifies the shortcomings of its predecessors by incorporating a full array of single- and multiplayer options, as well as a complete, long-term, bracket-based tournament mode. You might say it's… smashing.

Special thanks to Steve Lin of the Video Game History Foundation for providing the game and packaging for this video retrospective.

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[halcali]

Super Tennis was a game I played with my grandma.
It's still a lot of fun to play with others.

 

[ThankDougie]

Loved this game. I played career mode a bunch after renting it from a local video shop. Probably dropped 30 bucks of rentals into it before I finally gave up on total domination of the tennis world.

 

[Nerdkiller]

Super Mario Land retrospective: Oh! Daisy! | Game Boy Works #003 remastered

I was down and out with a cold this past week, so instead of forging ahead with Game Boy Works, here's another remastered episode: An expanded look at Super Mario Land, this time with MUCH better sound and video quality. You know Mario, you love Mario… but do you love Mario Land? You should! It's quality fare.

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HI, I'M DAISY!