Jeremy Parish

NES Works Gaiden: Star Force / Elevator Action / Field Combat (Patreon)

Published:

2022-03-16 12:28:21

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

Jaleco Taito hudson micronics nes works nes works gaiden tecmo tose

Content

Yes, this week's episode once again goes back over a couple of games that have already appeared here—in this case, Elevator Action and Star Force have shown up on both NES Works and Segaiden. I promise I have new things to say about them! Plus, you'll want to stick around for the all-new, all-different Field Combat, which to my mind is one of the earliest attempts by Japanese developers to take existing genres and combine them in a simple, streamlined way... something that would become a trademark of that side of the industry throughout the latter ’80s (and the NES era in particular).

Files

Star Force / Elevator Action / Field Combat retrospective: Shoot ’em up/down | NES Works Gaiden #034

Three—three!—consecutive vertical shooters hit Famicom in this episode. Well, for a certain value of "vertical." All three of these games about shooting things while moving up or down along the screen, but all three take a very different approach to it. Star Force is the most traditional of the bunch, while Elevator Action combines vertical shooting with the sort of platform-based character movement found in the likes of Donkey Kong. And Field Combat... well, I'm not sure that one even knows what it wants to be. But at least it's interesting. Production notes: SG-1000 footage captured from a combination of Sega SG-1000 II with (with Card Catcher) and @Analogue Mega Sg with card adapter module and DAC. Vintage hardware mods courtesy of @iFixRetro. NES/Famicom footage captured from @Analogue Nt Mini Noir. Video upscaled to 720 with @Retro Tink 5X. 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!