Jeremy Parish

NES Works Gaiden: The Datach Joint ROM System (Patreon)

Published:

2021-06-16 12:00:05

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

bandai famicom nes works nes works gaiden

Content

As a patron request, here's a companion episode to last year's Aladdin Deck Enhancer retrospective. This one was trickier to put together, because (1) the games are unbelievably expensive and (2) all the games appear to be focused on two-player play; the pack-in Dragon Ball title, so far as I can tell, doesn't even offer solo play! Still, the Datach Joint ROM System is a pretty rad slice of Famicom history, both despite and because of all the weird choices Bandai made here.

Files

Datach Joint ROM System retrospective: Barf-code battler | NES Works Gaiden #025

By patron request, this week's video shifts up the temporal alignment of the NES Works Gaiden series to leap forward from the end of 1984 for Famicom to the end of 1992?! Yes, that's right, we spring forward in time here to look at the Japanese equivalent of the Aladdin Deck Enhancer, except one reliant on an even bigger gimmick than simply packing in universal game chips in order to accept smaller, less expensive sub-cartridges. Bandai dared to push the bleeding edge of what the market would bear here by forcing players to make use of collector cards emblazoned with bar codes in order to be able to play their video game at all. It's a bold innovation! And a terrible one! Learn all about it here. Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut!