Jeremy Parish

NES Works Gaiden #28: Famicom 1985, Pt. 1 (Patreon)

Published:

2021-09-15 12:00:05

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

Jaleco famicom hal labs namco nes nes works gaiden tose video

Content

Well, let's check in with the Nintendo side of things before moseying along to the MyCard era on Sega. Can you believe we're only now seeing the first Nintendo console release developed by TOSE? Oh, also, some extremely good (albeit familiar) releases here in the form of Balloon Fight and Galaga. And even Ice Climber and Raid on Bungeling Bay hold up nicely in this context. Chronology! It's a helluva drug.

Files

Balloon Fight / Ice Climber / Exerion / Galaga / Bungeling Bay retrospective | NES Works Gaiden #28

1985 starts the Famicom on some familiar footing with a couple of future Black Box releases (one great, one meh); two shooters previously seen on SG-1000; and a Commodore 64 conversion from Hudson that would show up on NES under the aegis of its original publisher. No big surprises here (including the apparent Nintendo debut of TOSE, and the fact that the games previously seen on SG-1000 fare a lot better on Famicom), but that won't be the case for long. By the midpoint of 1985, the Famicom library will look wildly different from the NES's as more third parties (and, specifically, more third parties of wildly variable quality) stake their claim on NES. 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! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more! Production note: Footage in this episode was captured from an @Analogue Nt Mini via RGB out. Video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister and @Retro Tink 5X.